Richard's Trip Reports

[Segedunum]

London was fantastic yesterday! Something like 40 winners and 15 shacks.

A report won't be for a while as i'm starting the East Midlands Rover tomorrow

Edit: Sudden WMDR tomorrow! Friend has cancelled so I'm now hastily looking up things like 68 diagrams and track I require in the area. Got 9 hours to kill so plenty time for a good bash

Edit again! No I'm not! I was meant to be on the 0623 off Newcastle, got to the station and forgot my railcard! However, I still have cash to use so I'm currently on the bus back to the station and I'm heading to London again! This will just be a Zone 1-6 bash so no Cheshunt or Brentwood today but I'll probably finish the shacks Stratford-Ilford, scratch Caterham and go fill the books again! I get to London 1045, returning 1830 so plenty of time on my hands

 

[Techniquest]

Oops regarding the forgotten railcard, epic fail! At least you've got an alternative option still

Hope it's gone well!

 

[Segedunum]

On 91127 heading home now. Another productive day filling in some gaps like the Kingston Loop and the Caterham branch. Also finished off the shacks Liverpool St-Gidea Park leaving just Harold Wood (Z6) and Brentwood (Z9).

No time for a report tonight as I'm only at Donny at the moment, and it's a 650 mile adventure to the delights of Cleethorpes, Peterborough, Nuneaton, Tamworth etc tomorrow

 

[FQ]

Believe me, Nuneaton and Tamworth are definitely not delights!

I don't have the info on Cleethorpes or Peterborough so can't comment on them!

Have a good trip

 

[Segedunum]

I have a +36 at Nuneaton so fun times with that, Peterborough is alright, I was there on Thursday.
Cheers

 

[Techniquest]

I have a +36 at Nuneaton so fun times with that, Peterborough is alright, I was there on Thursday.
Cheers

Asda across the road at Nuneaton for a supply run if needs be, small cafe on platform 1 too. There's also a Spoons within 10 minutes walk if you're determined enough

 

[Segedunum]

Ended up at a chippy in Sleaford which should be a good indicator that I'm off plan already [emoji14]
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Right then! Off plan again on day 3/7 of the bash.

Cut out the duplication of track between Kettering and Bedford, nice +3 onto the Corby and I'm an hour ahead! I'm putting myself 45 minutes behind on arrival into Newcastle however by doing the following:

Tamworth-Nuneaton-Leicester-East Mids Pkwy-Nottingham-Grantham-Newcastle

vice Tamworth-Derby-Newcastle.

Just on 153354 now and it's off to Bletchley

 

[Techniquest]

Nice bit of variety there, fair dos! I look forward to the epic trip reports coming our way soon, although I will have little time to read any this week!

 

[Segedunum]

These reports won't be around for a while as I go abroad about 10hrs after arriving back on Friday.

91113 Grantham-Newcastle now. Not stopping until York so a nice fast run to there.

I liked the HST so much that I did it through to Notts then scratched Beeston instead [emoji14]

 

[Techniquest]

Good lad, EMT HSTs sound the best these days! Enjoy while you can!

Fair games about the trip reports, I forgot you were going on holiday!

 

[Segedunum]

Well oh dear oh dear!

Today has been riddled with issues. I booked a £3.55 advance for the 0806 off Newcastle to get myself to Derby earlier. This would then connect to the 0935 York-Derby.

I slept in! However, the 0935 off York was the 0835 off Newcastle which my rover technically isn't valid on, but I legged it into town to catch it anyway and came armed with money to buy a Durham single just in case. In the end, the guard wasn't bothered so I was back on track.

But now, the Worksop line is buggered! So, instead of heading up to Worksop for Lincoln-Nottingham-Grantham-Newcastle, I've devised a pretty intensive plan that should work!

It'll leave the Worksop line and Retford-Gainsboro untouched until later in the week, but it is as follows:

Beeston-East Mids Pkwy-Lincoln-Newark Northgate-Peterborough-Leeds-Selby-Leeds-York-Newcastle.

I have needed Micklefield-Selby for so long that this seemed like a decent chance to scratch it once and for all! Mind you, it does feel a bit odd planning Leeds-Selby moves for the same day when you're trundling out of Derby on 156401 [emoji14]

Edit~ Running mileage total for Sun-Tues currently sits at 1726mi 23ch

 

[Kristofferson]

Pretty epic stuff so far, just caught up! You could give Tech a run for his money in the "engaging trip report" stakes
Shame indeed about the stuff that didn't go to plan, but maybe you used all your luck catching that 390 to Manchester
Enjoy the rest of it!

 

[47403]

By lad Richard your having some epic days out, looking forward to the eventual trip reports, your gonna need that holiday.
I was going to type it in Geordie but to the folk on here it would've looked like Swahili
Keep ganning kidda!!!!!!!

 

[Techniquest]

Pretty epic stuff so far, just caught up! You could give Tech a run for his money in the "engaging trip report" stakes
Shame indeed about the stuff that didn't go to plan, but maybe you used all your luck catching that 390 to Manchester
Enjoy the rest of it!

I dunno about that but he's certainly good at engaging his audience!

The stuff that didn't go to plan could have been worse, it could have been something unusual the other side of the country that isn't gettable very often at all! That's happened to me before in 2007...

 

[Segedunum]

Speaking of unusual, I'm doing the 1636 Derby-St Pancras tonight. It's a bizarre affair, avoiding Leicester and calling Melton, Oakham, Corby, Kettering where I'll be jumping back up to Sheffield.

Cheers for the positive comments folks!

Edit~ Running mileage total for Sun-Wed currently sits at 2420mi 55ch after today

 

[Kite159]

Speaking of unusual, I'm doing the 1636 Derby-St Pancras tonight. It's a bizarre affair, avoiding Leicester and calling Melton, Oakham, Corby, Kettering where I'll be jumping back up to Sheffield.

Cheers for the positive comments folks!

Edit~ Running mileage total for Sun-Wed currently sits at 2420mi 55ch after today

It is, many mentions when at Derby & East Midlands Parkway that "this train does not call at Leicester".

IIRC from last year it sat at Kettering for a good 15 minutes.

 

[Segedunum]

It sits there for 23 now. It was a very peaceful journey, the 4 coach 222 was more than sufficient.

Tonight I finished up at 1815 then proceeded to meander my way back from Tamworth to Newcastle with a short detour to scratch Alfreton. The result? Another 5 winners and a 2256 Newcastle arrival.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
All done! Reports when I return home on August 15.

Total Miles Sun-Fri came to 3734mi 31ch, plus Saturday which is yet to be worked out.

 

[Techniquest]

That's an excellent bit of mileage in that time! Looking forward to the trip reports when you return from holiday, hope it's going well!

 

[Segedunum]

Cheers mate, the weather is absolutely gorgeous. One of the local bus routes is worked by an ex Berlin SD200 (OMSI players will know what I mean) so I'm looking into that.

Also a short rail bash on the mainline wouldn't go wrong later in the week

 

[Kristofferson]

Whoa that mileage ..!

 

[Techniquest]

Whoa that mileage ..!

I know right, it puts me to shame!

*Looks into a mileage marathon week*

 

[Segedunum]

My highest in a day was 707 on the Thursday. Stoke-MK non stop on a 390 (96 miles) certainly helped!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Having received a £16.25 RTV and £30 from another source (I have two scenario packs for Train Simulator on sale, they still make a few bob every so often) I've figured that a North East Rover might be on the cards soon!

It'll be a 4 in 8 variant as the 7 consecutive days of bashing killed me by day 3, although I was recovering by the 7th.

My only required track is the Brigg and Barton lines, but I still have a heap of shacks and units to keep me busy

 

[Kristofferson]

Which scenario pack?

 

[Techniquest]

If you only need that bit of track, it would probably be easier to do on normal tickets, cheaper too! More day ranger trips in certain places may work out better too, more focus in certain areas at a time, rather than trying to do a bit of everything. Lord knows how much of valid territory I didn't cover during my 4 day FONW!

 

[Segedunum]

I shall see, I'm just a bit late for advance fares. Even for the 7 day one, it's £71-£16.25 (£54.75) for the week, which is £7.85ish a day and excellent value
I'd be ignoring the Tyne Valley and Settle/Carlisle as a general rule, done them so many times! But I've got tons of shacks to do down in Yorkshire (yes I've been bitten by the bug of doing shacks!) plus the Supertram to try at a little extra cost.

Either way, something is on the cards

And they're the Isle of Wight/Scottish East Coast Mainline packs on JustTrains

 

[Techniquest]

Aha, another convert to the shack scorers society!

Might a North Country Rover 4 in 8 also be worth considering? It would get you a fair chunk of Yorkshire, albeit mostly East Yorkshire. 72 quid before any railcard discounts, it certainly covers a fair bit of terrain!

 

[Segedunum]

East Yorkshire is also included on the North East Rover. I think it's more focused equally on the west, where I only need Clitheroe in the area.

It is however also another excellent value ticket which I'd like to do again perhaps next year

Back to the present and I've been doing some bashing on Mallorca! Expect a few short reports for that when I get home next week.

 

[Techniquest]

I do like the sound of that, would be interesting to see what that was like!

 

[Segedunum]

Let's just say that operations are a bit more casual.
There was no service due to an 'incident' on Friday and instead of being shown a replacement bus I was told to sod off out of the station!

 

[47403]

Let's just say that operations are a bit more casual.
There was no service due to an 'incident' on Friday and instead of being shown a replacement bus I was told to sod off out of the station!

ah, the luego-manana attitude, the later or tomorrow attitude, always the same with our Spanish friends. Hope your having a good holiday, my mother lives out there and I've never ever had a whizz out on the railways there though.