Techniquest
Veteran Member
Yes indeed! The trainers have survived OK without a repair job as it turns out, but that's a really good idea!
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Juliano's World Frenzy/Tech's Trip Reports
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I have probably been on SN12EHK (numbered TE1987) here in West London with Metroline!
First London ordered DN33756-775 for Route 92 which after transfer to Metroline have become TE1981-TE2000.alexf380
Established Member
The pleasure's all mine! Next time you're up this way I'll treat you to our finest hot pancakes and vanilla ice cream...or the David Macbeth Moir ('Spoons). Whichever takes your fancy.
Blindtraveler
Established Member
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2011
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- 10,543
Think Il personally go for the Icecream as last time I visited said spoons I had a pint that was distinctly off! The ship now gets my custom if out that way and Thirsty.
andyb2706
Member
Good report there and long! Must of took you some time preparing that. Glad you enjoyed the breakfast inspiration too.
47403
Established Member
Yeah come on lad, wheres the rest?, you'd think you'd been out for 6 days from yon time in the morning till late
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Guys I'm sorry but something is not working right here. I'm trying to make it copy paste from Polaris Office, but either it's telling me it's doing it but it's not, or it is and Chrome is playing up. I've restarted the tablet, I've closed everything and started it all again, but it's not working!
I spent ages tapping it all away, I'll be unamused if I can't post it all now! Bear with me, it'll all go up soon.
EDIT: Right, so if I use the Select All function, it doesn't copy. If I do a manual selection of text, it works! Now to make it let me select alk the text I actually need...
I spent ages tapping it all away, I'll be unamused if I can't post it all now! Bear with me, it'll all go up soon.
EDIT: Right, so if I use the Select All function, it doesn't copy. If I do a manual selection of text, it works! Now to make it let me select alk the text I actually need...
Last edited:
Techniquest
Veteran Member
After much ado, I've finally got it copied over! The whole trip report covers 17 pages, or was it 18? Anyway, enjoy all!
28/01/2016 - Tech's One Step Closer, Day 4
First things first, many thanks are again due to Blindtraveller for his company on this day in particular, as these moves would have been both not been possible without his expert help nor morally made without having someone to talk to!
0730 and the alarm is going off, not particularly welcome as it was near 0100 by the time I got to sleep. Even so, it's up and it's de-rance time followed by some coffee and some go-get-'em, in this case I mean Weetabix. If I'd known how morally draining and mentally taxing today was going to be, I'd have bumped it up to 3 pieces! After a quick supply raid in the nearby shop, and running back to pick up my bag and the sandwiches, we just miss a route 37. So it's a re-plan and we use route 16 instead, Lothian 809 doing the honours of taking us to Foot of Leith Walk. Route 22 is next and 347 takes us along route 22 to Gyle Centre for a leap to Waverley. I need to do some souvenir shopping now, so Blindtraveller takes the opportunity to get some food in McDonalds while I deal with that.
Mission accomplished, we make our way down to the bay platforms and a TTF [Tech's Thriller Filler - Ed] is done before our intended train, as a leap to the market of Hay was necessary aboard winner 170450. I'm now on just 15 more 170s to claim for haulage, 9 of which are Scottish. I predict some severe time being spent next time at Haymarket on future trips! We're now lined up to join winner 156450 on the 1019 Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via Carstairs. We sit around at Carstairs for approximately 12 minutes until our booked departure time at 1110, what a boring fester for the guard, who's apparently been on it all week and naturally a fair bit bored of the hanging around! Carluke is a winner shack for Blindtraveller, dud for me from an ALR according to memory, and what a cold wind! Eventually double duds 320304 and 320310 rescue from it and a most rateable trip to Lanark is had in the motor coach of 320310, and we have a shade under an hour to kill here.
"Ooh Tech, what on Earth are you up to?" I hear you ask. Well yesterday the genius better known as Blindtraveller [seriously, his bus knowledge is absolutely incredible! - Ed] had found an ideal move to get Breich scored. For those who don't know, this is one of the least used stations in the entire country, only seeing one service calling each way, with nothing on Sundays. "But Tech, the train won't be there for hours yet!" I hear bellows of. Correct, but this is basically my rule for shack scratching:
Arrive by one means, and leave happily on the same means, but getting the same train from it (unless of course the service has terminated and is now a new one) is certainly treated as cheating in my head. There are of course special exceptions, these being Lympstone Commando and British Steel Redcar. The former may now have a cycle path between the camp and the station, but it does specifically state on the signs that you must be on official business to use the station, so a call there is enough for me. The latter is unaccessible, from what I've gathered, from anywhere publically, and there's no way on God's green Earth that I'm festering on the platforms for 8 hours! Not with all those steelworks around, it's bad enough just passing through them [credit where its due to the guys and girls who can stomach working in such an environment, I couldn't do it! - Ed], so an exception also applies here too. Nowhere else though. Other rules:
Arriving by foot and leaving again by foot, or arriving by bus, stepping foot on the platform (Clifton Down, well that was a slight bend there at the time...) and moving on by bus or even by car is perfectly acceptable. My only other major rule [I could probably think of other amendments when the brain's not tired - Ed] is that simply stepping off the train and back onto it is serious cheating of the highest order. Oh my didn't the brain go crazy over such an idea earlier! I'll get to that...
Anyway, back we go to the trip report! So the plan was to use Blue Bus' route 77 Lanark to Livingston as far as Breich Post Office, then a taxi move out of there to Addiewell. We need coffee now, so visit the Morrisons assuming a cafe was there, Umm no, OK then there's nothing we need so back out we go, ending up in Valerio's cafe by the bus station [adjacent to the railway station - Ed] for the caffeine and of course to keep warm. The coffee cups are tiny here, and £1.60 a pop so not cheap at all, making one of these last was not going to be easy! Eventually it's doable and we get to the relevant bus stop. A monsterously looking VanHool (OUI something was the reg) was awaiting its next turn on the 240X to Glasgow, oh weren't we tempted to get it in! YJ61 JGX arrives and for a Solo it does a surprising amount of racket, although the hilly route certainly helped generate the interest factor in this run for us both, arriving at 1318. So this Post Office, umm yeah it's been shut down for a long time by the looks of it! The bus stop shelter is almost past it too, although still better than the one at the other side which had very out of date timetables only just visible in it! Oh what God forsaken hellhole had we come to?!
Google Maps reckons it takes much longer than it actually does to walk to Breich station, although to be fair I think it insists in you walking to the road junction, over the bridge then down to the platforms. Very much not needed by foot, but crikey wasn't it a hard walk thanks to the strong winds trying to blow me back east! I arrive on the westbound platform as a result after just an 8 minute walk, and after a quick photo stop, it's back to the bus stop. Mission accomplished there for sure, and at least this time the wind was helping blow me along! We discover a route 71, also with Blue Bus, is due at 1347 to Fauldhouse. Ooh yes this will do us nicely! 4 minutes late but still YJ05 KNT gets us to Fauldhouse station in just 12 minutes. So there you go, a nice and easy way to score Breich! We've not long missed an Edinburgh bound stopper sadly, but instead we get winner 156442 to winner shack Shotts. That leaves just 4 more to get between Shotts and Bellshill before the whole line is cleared, well if we indeed do Addiewell that is!
Yes the weather was still rancid and depressing, and by gum it was more tempting to veg out of EMUs in Glasgow to be honest. Even so, we soldier on to one of the most irritating shacks on the line at Addiewell. Why's it so irritating? It's basically a +0 between one train and the other, and if you miss the other one it's an hour's wait. In this shocking weather, that's not anyone's idea of fun! ScotRail do their best to cheer us both up, providing winner 158703 for the trip to Livingston South. Here is a +10 for the stopper back west, and it's all very tense while we head to winner shack Addiewell. Will it, won't it make? We're almost a minute down on dud 156495 [now yet another Super Dud - Ed] so it's pretty much game over. As we finally get there at 1507, dud 156433 is leaving. Oh much effing grr!
Fortunately, Blindtraveller had managed to work out the move next, and we need to walk to the end of Station Road here to join either route 71 or 77 to Livingston. What we hadn't gathered from Google Maps however is that the road is both narrow and very poor quality! Thankfully we make it to the A71 and we've not long missed the 71 sadly, and the fester in the bus shelter is horrid due to the wind blowing right into the tiny barely sided shelter, with a nice dose of heavy rain mixed in! Oh weren't we glad to see YJ10 MHF, another Blue Bus vehicle, when it arrived 2 minutes late at 1522! Off to Livingston Bus Terminal we go, and by now we're planning a move back to Edinburgh and as fast as possible. We're both that drained, to keep going for longer than necessary in this weather would have been foolish! After a cold but much drier fester in the bus shelter in Livingston, we board First's route 27 to Edinburgh, 37143 doing the honours. It's also lunchtime now, bearing in mind this is now almost 1600, which is why if I'd known what a day we'd have I'd have bumped up the Weetabix a bit!
By now we're learning much more of how bad the weather is tomorrow, which has got to the point of being named Storm Gertrude. What a strange choice of name! It's also a long cold bus journey, not helped by heating seemingly not working. Genius at this time of year, I dread to think what it would have been like on the evening turns! We finally arrive at 1654, and we make our way to the bus station to use both the ATM and the facilities, not to mention warming up. After all that was done, the wind was that fierce [but hey, the rain had gone! - Ed] we were getting pushed about a fair bit by it. It's also so cold any amount of heat is welcome, and we end up doing a taxi back as neither of us are too keen on a bus move or, more importantly, a potentially long wait for one. We're back not all that much quicker than I thought we would be, but then traffic was getting bad even up past Crewe Toll. Getting inside and into the warm for a hot drink was so very much welcome now, and of course we're not hungry as we hadn't long had our sandwiches. An apple pie and custard later though was gorgeous, and after some chillout it was time to prep the bag somewhat and fire away on typing up the day's activities.
Oh, and I tried OpenOffice, the Android version of it is terrible and I don't recommend it. Here's some stats then:
Winners: 4
Shack scores: 3
General expenditure: £8.50
At long last, that's all the shacks in the Central Scotland rover area, at least outside the SPT area, all done! It took some doing to get there today, and it's fair to say the rover didn't end the way I would have liked,. However, I was feeling beyond gross and horrible, not to mention fed up after all that bad weather, so it made far more sense to stop and give up. I doubt I'd have got very much to be fair anyway, certainly there wasn't that much floating around yesterday that I needed after all. It was also one of the first times ever that I can say that almost everything (bar two 156s) out of a fair amount in Waverley was dud. Felt rather strange that! Finally, for those on Twitter, sorry about the very lsrge gap in tweets today, I couldn't get a data signal for much of the day!
Roll on Day 5, although I'll be gutted to leave Scotland, I'm glad I'm not just starting my trip with this storm arriving!
29/01/2016 - Tech's One Step Closer, Day 5
I'm up and wide awake by 0620 this morning, thanks to Storm Gertrude's fierce winds waking me up! After a coffee it was de-rance time, followed by a final bit of bag prep. I'm naturally worried about the journey south in this weather, so I avoid eating as I'm not currently able to find any appetite. After a farewell to Blindtraveller's wife, as well as the cat and dog who I'm going to miss, we head out for a route 37 bus at 0829, the same part route to Sturgeons Hall that I used on Day 3. For the last time this trip, and for an unknown time, I board a Lothian bus, this time 807 is in charge of taking us to Princes Street. Despite leaving 2 minutes late we arrive 7 minutes earlier than I did the other day. FAD [Fresh Air Device, aka Edinburgh Tram - Ed] number 262 is scored for sight, leaving 7 more to eventually tick off. Fortunately the rain hasn't been too bad either side of the bus ride so far, but the wind is still fierce. We make our way to platform 7 for the 0924 to Tweedbank, which turned out to be winner 158731 which was great news for me. I now need 9 Inverness and just 3 Haymarket 158s now, leaving 6 with Northern and 1 with SWT to get before I clear the class. Very pleased is an understatement!
The crew are having great difficulty in starting the 158, to the extent a fitter is required. This didn't sound good, but whatever the fitter did he got it started in no time. Due to the delay we had stops ripped out from Brunstane and Newcraighall, in an attempt to help us recover a bit of time and to avoid delaying the next one from Tweedbank too much more. We leave 8 minutes late, and it feels quite strange to go non-stop to Shawfair. The noise off the 158 is very much welcome however, as was the PNB after all that coffee earlier! We arrive at Galashiels at 1021, the idea to shack scratch having been ripped from our plan today due to the coldness and risk of severe rain. There was enough of that yesterday, no thanks to possibly having that again! The walk to the bus station is done in a matter of seconds, and thankfully the rain that had landed around Newtongrange had disappeared here. Quite, the sun was out and the temperature had rised significantly!
First Borders' SN62 APF initially shows X95 to Hawick, which had us unsure if it was ours. Knowing it should be, we double check with the driver. Sure enough it is, good thing we didn't trust the live tracker which said it was 13 minutes away! Off we go right time, and as Blindtraveller said it would be, the free WiFi is shockingly poor, not even letting me connect. Oh well, just as well I don't really need it! I leave the good sir enjoy his audiobook, while I pull out the tablet and tap away with the trip report. I'm now finally relaxed about the journey, remaining rather optimistic that the onward moves from Carlisle and Leeds will work out OK, so I devour a ham sandwich which went down beautifully. With Tech's Mobile Disco temporarily de-commisioned after the end of Spotify, which I've now uninstalled too, there's now only one option. As I type this bit at 1119, there's 70 minutes left of the journey, so tons of time to enjoy some Flow Free!
After about an hour on there, my eyes can't focus on it any longer so it's off. By now we're getting close to Carlisle, excellent. We arrive just 1 minute late at 1240, and it's off to The Griffin where a monsterous lunch is had. £6.95 got me a scampi and chips with peas and tartare sauce (this one wasn't too bad, had almost all of it!) with a chocolate fudge cake with custard for pudding. My lordz that was good, I can see why it is highly recommended! After which we source gen on a nearby supermarket for a supply raid, which turned out to be a bloody good idea as it turned out...
Back at the station we observe the sound of a 37 thrashing out of the station, my lordz that was more than welcome! I remember I have to buy my Northern day ranger for tomorrow, so we use the ticket office here as they have a reputation for being rather good. Not an issue whatsoever for them to sell it, a tenner well spent that shall be! A 390 is in the platform, but don't worry it's dud 390119. The next one in was dud 390148, so good news for me. I'm still hopefully it'll be a particular one tomorrow, but we'll see how it goes. We discover Blindtraveller is going to get 156444 to Hexham, with a rather tight +6 for his rail replacement all shacks coach to Prudhoe before an onward train to Edinburgh. We then also notice the inward working from Leeds has not arrived yet, which is worrying. Eventually it turns up at 1504, nice and late, and it's Super Dud 158902. Much grr, I was hoping for a winner!
Once on board, we get bad news. Due to a landslide near Armaithwaite, which caused this train to be rather late after waiting for another train that was 82 minutes late, we will also be expected to be at least 80 minutes late into Leeds. This is then followed by an announcement of no trolley service on the train, such service being suspended today due to the emergency engineering works. Great, if we'd been told this at Carlisle I'd have got my coffee from Ritazza! Sadly I will not get to experience the excellent trolley service on this occasion, maybe next time eh? We leave 3 minutes late at 1509, at least platform 6 is a required microgrice! It's a slow journey, and the conductor hands out cards to fill in and send to Northern. 50% of my single would work out at £5.75, which is certainly worth putting a form in for. The worrying thing is that I only have a +87 at Leeds as it is, so an 80 minute delay is not welcome, more so if it gets worse. I'm on split Advances, one to Leeds and one to Sheffield as it refused to sell me such an Advance straight through. While I may well be valid legally to use another train if my connection doesn't make, it does rely on the second train's conductor knowing that much! So the journey is a bit of a worry again. I also thought I had more water than I do, so this extra journey time is so not very helpful.
It's a long boring wait just north of Armathwaite, certainly plenty of time to update the trip report. I have more than enough time too to get the moves book back up to date, so I think I'll do just that now. I so could do with coffee...I start the moves book update [I'm still on Met line moves from Green Eyed Tech! - Ed] but I'm feeling the eyes closing, so I put it all down ready for a nap. 158907 passes us eventually at 1604, and a few minutes later we finally move from our position opposite Howes and Co's Siding signal box and crawl over the crossover. The driver then takes us over it to reverse again opposite the signal box, all the while with Network Rail guys watching carefully at the crossover. We're eventually on the move again, with the first bit of speed for the entire journey so far. I want to close the eyes now, but pack everything up for now and vow to do so once I've seen where we return to the normal running line.
This is some time later at Culcaith, that's certainly two rare crossovers used. I do have to make sure I get all this microgricing marked in [quite, I have some from last year to still mark in! - Ed] this weekend. The conductor comes on just after Appleby, where we leave at something like 1654, to advise us all that we're 72 minutes late, and that we should be into Leeds around 1830 to 1840. My own estimate based on the delay was 1850 to 1855, but we'll see. Eventually the eyes shut themselves and I get comfy, and I must have managed some doss as the next thing I know is we're at Settle. It takes a few moments to realise we're due back on more familiar and better territory soon. It's also crehld territory, who I must remember I owe a Costa or a pint for the tokens. We're now thrashing away properly, about darn time too. It's worth pointing out these 158/9s don't have a facility in the 57 car, which I can't say I knew before. Well they do say you learn something new every day!
Ahh Skipton, FINALLY we reach civilisation! I'm surprised we didn't have any stops ripped out mind, and at Keighley I am definitely on territory I know which is most pleasing. We finally arrive into Leeds on platform 12a [potential micro-grice! - Ed] at 1838, spot on an hour of delay. I'm informed Northern don't do Delay Repay, but I'm sure the Passenger Charter allows for compensation for 1 hour and more of delay. I'll find out when I get in touch with Northern! Oh it was good to get some fresh air, and I can see why there are evening peak restrictions on the West Yorkshire Day Rover, crikey it's busy here even now. Ritazza saves the day with a small coffee, which for £2.10 is not cheap but oh so worth it, after all I've not had any coffee since 0805 or so. That for me is a bloody long time! Back to the platforms where I need 12d, which I suspect involves a micro-grice somewhere. 14 taunts me as being required, as did 158901 going to Manchester Victoria which I need. 333005 really took the biscuit when it rolled up alongside us, one of just 4 333s that I need. Oh how I need a proper serious session here, if only I could do so tomorrow!
Just to make my day [sarcasm - Ed] was Super Dud 158844 on the 1905 Leeds to Nottingham, ah well you can't win them all! Off we go right time, and as it's rather dark I can't spot much on Freightliner's Midland Road depot, except for duds 66520 and 66595. This run is certainly going more smoothly than the previous one, and Techs Mobile Disco is back in use via YouTube on this run. I needed something to keep me going to Sheffield, and I need to find out where St Marys Gate is in relation to the station yet. I see as we pass by Barnsley's bus station is rather large, and so much nicer looking than Preston's one [sorry Blindtraveller, I know you like it! - Ed] is! 22 minutes to go, hang in there! I finally arrive at 2004, 2 minutes late and I end up flagging Burger King despite being rather hungry. "Tech, you must be feeling out of it!" I hear you all bellowing, and yes you would be right. The logic being finding a takeaway for doner meat and chips would be better move, not to mention cheaper.
So when I see such a place near the station, what do I do? Having almost memorised the walking route to the Premier Inn on St Marys Gate [I did use GPS with the maps part way to make sure I got it right mind! - Ed] I end up flagging the takeaway! "OK Tech, you've lost the plot!" I hear you all say to yourselves. Yes, yes I have, no-one in their right mind would want to be up at 0430 after such a day to do a tiny bit of track! Oh how I wish I could stay out all day and make the most of my ranger...
After I check in, the logic being after a tough 14 minute walk to drop bags off then do a supply raid, I end up taking them with me to Sainsburys Local for food and stuff for tomorrow. £5.18 spent, much better value than the takeaway or Burger King would have offered! Back to the room with now 2 very heavy bags, all the way to the 12th and top floor. My room is very well sized, and the bed feels fine too. A call home is made, and I devour the chocolate eclairs before a welcome cup of tea. Time for Tech's Mobile Disco [can it be Mobile if I'm in a hotel room? - Ed] via YouTube again, after checking out some moves on RTT. Kite159 has given me a new idea, but I'll explain that in the final day's trip report. I can't believe we're almost at the end of the epic 6 day adventure, Saturday felt like forever away on Monday, now it's very nearly here! Anyway, let's end this bit with some daily stats:
Winners: 1
Shack scores: 0
New sights: 1
Rail fares: £16.00
Hotel ching: £45.50
General expenditure: £25.77
Total: £87.27
Now bring on the 0430 alarm, a bloody good de-rancification and a strong coffee in the morning, then of course the 0554 Sheffield to Nottingham and Attenborough Curve. I hope it produces now!
30/01/2016 - Tech's One Step Closer, Day 6
It takes forever to get to sleep, thanks to something droning away above my room [1207, for random reference - Ed] and not finding the bed brilliantly comfortable. Believe it or not, I prefer the single beds I've had in the twin/family rooms on previous trips! I spend some time catching up on the forum, and sleep finally arrives sometime around 0030, maybe slightly later. With a disturbed sleep thanks to an unknown cause, and some weird dream where I was trying to persuade Alex Zane [of Rude Tube, an E4 programme, fame - Ed] to come and decorate a room for my sister [as you do! - Ed] which is thankfully interrupted by the alarm going off at 0430 on the other side of the room. It's with dreary eyes I find it to turn it off, and it's straight off for a much needed de-rance. Final prep takes a while, during which process I start Tech's Pumped Up Playlist on YouTube to help wake me up. With everything done, including filling the travel mug with some hot brown magic [actually that sounds wrong! - Ed] I leave the hotel at 0507. It amazed me that a nearby nightclub was only just kicking out, and some people only just going to their rooms!
A 14 minute walk has me at the station at 0521, and I see required 158910 head out to Beverley. Grr, I need that but the booked +1 on arrival back from Meadowhall was pushing my luck a bit too much. As it turned out, it arrived 2 up at 0551 and would have been required 144015. Oh well, the risk was too great to consider doing it, although I'm gutted I couldn't get two winners after all. To rub salt into the wound, dud 158904 is on platform 1b working the 0554 Sheffield to Nottingham. Welcome to the Super Dud Club 158904! We leave bang on time and head south via Beighton Junction, which will be the first time I've had a DMU over that particular route. Sometime after Chesterfield, while the eyes are still heavy [major caffeine break needed asap! - Ed] my stomach is now in need to silencing. Thankfully I was prepared and made up some sandwich thins filled with ham last night! Time to start munching then...
So what was this idea Kite gave you then Tech, I hear you querying. Well while I'm currently planning to do some shack scoring, the idea has also been put in place that instead I could well pop up to Sheffield to do a couple of leaps instead, No word of a lie, that's sorely tempting, and yes that does mean Red Pen Fever has struck! Whether it will happen yet or not depends on what I feel like doing upon arrival, and whether the rain comes down hard or not! As we trek through Toton, I've got my fingers crossed that we use Attenborough Curve, and that we're not routed the other way. It eventually dawns on me that we wouldn't be seeing Toton if we were going the other way, but I wasn't convinced of my rail geography in foreign territory [sorry but the East Midlands will always be treated as such to me! - Ed] so until the slow run picks up speed and I see Attenborough around 0652 I have my fingers crossed. Victory party at that point, as I have indeed done one of the more awkward PSUL moves! Another one bites the dust, although there are still too many to do for my liking. Eventually they will all fall, but I can't help wondering how long it will take to get Hambleton West Curve done. We finally arrive into Nottingham at 0704, and as the formerly conveniently placed Pumpkin on platform 1 is now a Jam Jar [whatever it is they do there! - Ed] there isn't time for a coffee move in the 7 minutes I have, so it's back on Super Dud 158904 with the 0711 to Leeds.
The weather is most reasonable today, so I'm happy to score Langley Mill, the first shack score of the day. We arrive at 0727, making the booked +7 mighty easy. To change platforms quickly, you need to be at the back of a 2-car train, go down the long ramp, cross the road and up the steps to the other platform. It is easy enough to do in 3 minutes if you move quickly, so long as traffic is reasonably quiet. A McDonalds is noted about a 5 minute walk away, and a 24 hour Asda is also noted from the platform, so a good solid 8 minutes of walk away. I'm mighty glad I didn't head back to Sheffield now, as winner 158787 takes me back to Nottingham. Winner winner, chicken dinner! We get swapped from the booked platform 3a to platform 4a when we arrive 2 down at 0756, and anyone who knows Nottingham post-modernisation will know this is one of the furthest away platforms on the station from the concourse. I consider stopping here to hunt NET tram 236, but also need a Costa now, having finished my last coffee around 0532. After trekking to the moon and back [OK, a slight exaggeration! - Ed] I re-join 158787 to make it a Super Dud on the 0817 to Leeds. This one is far busier than the previous 3 moves, so I utilise the 4G signal and get YouTube on for some tunes to Alfreton. I am missing my Nightcore, it must be said!
Dud 158855 is noted heading to Nottingham as we trek north, that's good news for me. Arriving at 0843, I have a +48 for the next Northern back to Nottingham. There is apparently a cafe nearby, but I didn't find it. Ah well, back to a nice warm waiting room! I discover by chance there's free WiFi via The Cloud here, ooh that is handy, I can bang some more tunes on while I type up the trip report. Which is exactly what I do, as I wasn't willing to pay the extra ching to Nottingham to do a St Pancras bound HST, which had 43060 and 43048 on it for the record. Glad I noticed the coaching stock though, as I score HST buffer car 40754 for sight on it. There really aren't many HST trailers I need for sight now, well except for the renumbered lot on GWR. With the trip report back up to date, it's time for a quick PNB before a hopeful winner to Nottingham. Victory party, winner 158784 back to Nottingham! 4 more Northern 158s [754, 901, 905 and 910 - Ed] to go, very happy with that bit of progress! Back into platform 4a again at 0959, and I have an idea...
Certainly a gorgeous day for this one, that's a definite. "What on Earth are you up to Tech?" all your curiosities are asking. Well as you'll probably all know by now, I only need one more tram in Nottingham, the infamous 236. I'm very much making a purchase of faith, and put £2.20 into a TVM for a single ticket. The NET Twitter desk is clearly unmanned today, so I'm making a bold assumption 236 will produce this time. At 1005 I have my ticket, and it's deckchairing time! Every single time one rolls in in either direction the hopes are raised and dash, and at 1030 I was thinking that I was going to run out of time to get it even if it produces. 234, 235 and 237 all taunted me, but eventually at 1037, as I'm "come on 236, come on 236, come on 236" the number is read as 2...3...6. YES! An outloud exclamation of "winner winner, chicken dinner" was audible to anyone within 8' of me, and I jump on double winner 236. 1039 and we leave on a Toton Lane service, and I had forgotten how far away Meadows Way West is, around three-quarters a mile. That might sound like not much, but I was on the 1110 to Cardiff Central and by the time I bail off the tram it's 1041. That's plenty of time, yes I know but I also wanted a celebratory coffee! A fast walk is had back to the station in 8 minutes, and I'm straight into Costa for a large Americano. En-route to platform 3b, a PNB opportunity before joining what will probably be a packed train cannot be passed up. And yep, it is that thing again...
Super Dud 170104, at least the 5th time I've had it now, is on the 1110 from Nottingham. I'm glad I have a seat reservation, despite it being an airline but window seat, as it's very busy indeed. A load of football veg get on my coach and by gum they're noisy! Even with noise cancelling earphones, and some Nightcore at high volume, they were still audible! I remember now why I dislike weekend travel...We're held up for a few minutes in the Trent area, but eventually we get going again. I score 08536 and 20154 for sight on the approach to Derby, two more welcome ticks! The veg get off in Derby and peace is restored thankfully. Now we start flying to Burton on Trent and Tamworth, and for some reason my phone's default music player doesn't like an MP3 I got for it! Oh dear, not good. My data allowance sure took a heavy hit today, but I should be fine now for the next 3 weeks. Hopefully anyway!
We get held outside Birmingham, and just as well for me. Why? Well I suddenly thought to check for my ticket wallet, and it wasn't there! Thankfully it was found before I got off, that would have been more than awkward! Arrival is at 1224, 1 minute up, and a tweet to LM is needed to make sure the gates are open at Bordesley. Which they are, but I revise my original plan to walk there as I needed to deal with more important matters. So I go back to the other plan, train from Moor Street to Small Heath to pick up the train which calls there and walk back to town, The more sensible solution would have been to deal with the urgent matter then walk there, after all I still had an hour and a bit yet. Obviously this didn't click at the time, and I spend £2.10 that I didn't need to on an Off Peak Day Return to Bordesley, ah well it's all extra income for the railway! A blue 68 is seen arriving from London, if I'd thought about the possibility of Cat bashing earlier I'd have got a Daytripper. Bit late now, and eventually I join Super Dud 172218 to Small Heath where a group of young enthusiasts are at the end of the platforms. These being the two-tone brigade types, oh dear...
Eventually it's time for Super Duds 172217 and 172212 [me and Kite had these on Monday yoy may recall! - Ed] and the 2 minute journey to Bordesley just feels strange. As expected, I'm the only one alighting and no-one boards. Of course some photos and a video clip of the 172s leaving had to be got! Google Maps confirms which way I need to go for New Street, and after a while I see I'm back on familiar territory as I pass the coach station. I wish I'd walked around the corner to Moor Street mind, trying to dodge the crowds in the outside areas of the Frothring [aka the Bullring, yep, I'm going to make that a thing! - Ed] and all that uphill walking was tough. 20 minutes after leaving Bordesley, I finally reach New Street. I haven't eaten since around 0635 so I decide to say stuff it to McDonalds, and a meal deal from Tesco would not suffice. Burger King then, so back through the crowds yet again! It's a big queue, but credit to them for getting through to me in 10 minutes. A protest group about protecting cows or some such come in trying to drum up support, although it must be said they didn't find any. No matter how much they chanted "It's not food, it's violence!" on their megaphones. Eventually they left, through choice or not, and as I said to the guy behind me "It's the tasiest violence zi've ever seen here"!
£6.89 well spent as I devour the Dr Pepper on the walk through the shopaholics for the 4th time today, eventually finding a spot near the almost finished extension of the Midland Metro to eat the fries. Time is pressing on, so I out the burger away for a bit until I get to the train home. Platform 7b this afternoon, certainly unusual and I'll need to check my Quails to be certain that's not required. I should be pretty much just on the through roads to get here now, and of course the stabling sidings. 170515 and 170511 are on the 1449 to Hereford, although there is much confusion as the screens all said it was to be 2 coaches. After a while, me and plenty of others decided to sit in 170515 anyway, sure enough we take both 170s home. I spend the journey home updating the trip report, which takes until Malvern Link. Once there, it's coffee time and the 1700 bus home, tonight it's YJ58 CFG, I'm getting tired and just want to veg out. After all, it's been a long and busy day!
No prizes for guessing what music I have on! For the record, it's Cascada's Everytime We Touch and Raver's Fantasy, Nightcore edits of course!
So then, let's get the stats for the day going on, before some to summarise the trip:
Winners: 3
Shack scores: 3
New sights: 4
New track: Attenborough Curve
Rail fares: £15.70
Bus fares: £4.10
General expenditure: £14.19
Total: £33.29
Trip stats then!
Winners: 26
Shack scores: 25
New sights: 10
New track: Attenborough Curve, plus some microgricing
Rail fares: £89.60
Bus fares: £8.20
Coach fares: £12.50
Hotel ching: £45.50
General expenditure: £99.71
Total: £255.51
What a trip, worth every penny! Yes there were times where it didn't feel like it, Thursday was like that a lot. Some exceptional results in all there, and I have to admit to being glad to have two days before going back to work for recovery and bookwork etc! No matter where you stay or what bed you use, it's always nice to go home to your own bed!
To end this trip report, my many many thanks are due to Blindtraveller amd his wife for having me, and for all the help in getting the moves to/from Scotland booked let alone the enormous amount of help whilst on the bash. My thanks are also due to his wife for making all those sandwiches, not to mention the coffee and breakfasts and tolerating us talking trains! I very much enjoyed your company, and I look forward to our next adventure when I come up for the diversions around Queen Street!
28/01/2016 - Tech's One Step Closer, Day 4
First things first, many thanks are again due to Blindtraveller for his company on this day in particular, as these moves would have been both not been possible without his expert help nor morally made without having someone to talk to!
0730 and the alarm is going off, not particularly welcome as it was near 0100 by the time I got to sleep. Even so, it's up and it's de-rance time followed by some coffee and some go-get-'em, in this case I mean Weetabix. If I'd known how morally draining and mentally taxing today was going to be, I'd have bumped it up to 3 pieces! After a quick supply raid in the nearby shop, and running back to pick up my bag and the sandwiches, we just miss a route 37. So it's a re-plan and we use route 16 instead, Lothian 809 doing the honours of taking us to Foot of Leith Walk. Route 22 is next and 347 takes us along route 22 to Gyle Centre for a leap to Waverley. I need to do some souvenir shopping now, so Blindtraveller takes the opportunity to get some food in McDonalds while I deal with that.
Mission accomplished, we make our way down to the bay platforms and a TTF [Tech's Thriller Filler - Ed] is done before our intended train, as a leap to the market of Hay was necessary aboard winner 170450. I'm now on just 15 more 170s to claim for haulage, 9 of which are Scottish. I predict some severe time being spent next time at Haymarket on future trips! We're now lined up to join winner 156450 on the 1019 Edinburgh to Glasgow Central via Carstairs. We sit around at Carstairs for approximately 12 minutes until our booked departure time at 1110, what a boring fester for the guard, who's apparently been on it all week and naturally a fair bit bored of the hanging around! Carluke is a winner shack for Blindtraveller, dud for me from an ALR according to memory, and what a cold wind! Eventually double duds 320304 and 320310 rescue from it and a most rateable trip to Lanark is had in the motor coach of 320310, and we have a shade under an hour to kill here.
"Ooh Tech, what on Earth are you up to?" I hear you ask. Well yesterday the genius better known as Blindtraveller [seriously, his bus knowledge is absolutely incredible! - Ed] had found an ideal move to get Breich scored. For those who don't know, this is one of the least used stations in the entire country, only seeing one service calling each way, with nothing on Sundays. "But Tech, the train won't be there for hours yet!" I hear bellows of. Correct, but this is basically my rule for shack scratching:
Arrive by one means, and leave happily on the same means, but getting the same train from it (unless of course the service has terminated and is now a new one) is certainly treated as cheating in my head. There are of course special exceptions, these being Lympstone Commando and British Steel Redcar. The former may now have a cycle path between the camp and the station, but it does specifically state on the signs that you must be on official business to use the station, so a call there is enough for me. The latter is unaccessible, from what I've gathered, from anywhere publically, and there's no way on God's green Earth that I'm festering on the platforms for 8 hours! Not with all those steelworks around, it's bad enough just passing through them [credit where its due to the guys and girls who can stomach working in such an environment, I couldn't do it! - Ed], so an exception also applies here too. Nowhere else though. Other rules:
Arriving by foot and leaving again by foot, or arriving by bus, stepping foot on the platform (Clifton Down, well that was a slight bend there at the time...) and moving on by bus or even by car is perfectly acceptable. My only other major rule [I could probably think of other amendments when the brain's not tired - Ed] is that simply stepping off the train and back onto it is serious cheating of the highest order. Oh my didn't the brain go crazy over such an idea earlier! I'll get to that...
Anyway, back we go to the trip report! So the plan was to use Blue Bus' route 77 Lanark to Livingston as far as Breich Post Office, then a taxi move out of there to Addiewell. We need coffee now, so visit the Morrisons assuming a cafe was there, Umm no, OK then there's nothing we need so back out we go, ending up in Valerio's cafe by the bus station [adjacent to the railway station - Ed] for the caffeine and of course to keep warm. The coffee cups are tiny here, and £1.60 a pop so not cheap at all, making one of these last was not going to be easy! Eventually it's doable and we get to the relevant bus stop. A monsterously looking VanHool (OUI something was the reg) was awaiting its next turn on the 240X to Glasgow, oh weren't we tempted to get it in! YJ61 JGX arrives and for a Solo it does a surprising amount of racket, although the hilly route certainly helped generate the interest factor in this run for us both, arriving at 1318. So this Post Office, umm yeah it's been shut down for a long time by the looks of it! The bus stop shelter is almost past it too, although still better than the one at the other side which had very out of date timetables only just visible in it! Oh what God forsaken hellhole had we come to?!
Google Maps reckons it takes much longer than it actually does to walk to Breich station, although to be fair I think it insists in you walking to the road junction, over the bridge then down to the platforms. Very much not needed by foot, but crikey wasn't it a hard walk thanks to the strong winds trying to blow me back east! I arrive on the westbound platform as a result after just an 8 minute walk, and after a quick photo stop, it's back to the bus stop. Mission accomplished there for sure, and at least this time the wind was helping blow me along! We discover a route 71, also with Blue Bus, is due at 1347 to Fauldhouse. Ooh yes this will do us nicely! 4 minutes late but still YJ05 KNT gets us to Fauldhouse station in just 12 minutes. So there you go, a nice and easy way to score Breich! We've not long missed an Edinburgh bound stopper sadly, but instead we get winner 156442 to winner shack Shotts. That leaves just 4 more to get between Shotts and Bellshill before the whole line is cleared, well if we indeed do Addiewell that is!
Yes the weather was still rancid and depressing, and by gum it was more tempting to veg out of EMUs in Glasgow to be honest. Even so, we soldier on to one of the most irritating shacks on the line at Addiewell. Why's it so irritating? It's basically a +0 between one train and the other, and if you miss the other one it's an hour's wait. In this shocking weather, that's not anyone's idea of fun! ScotRail do their best to cheer us both up, providing winner 158703 for the trip to Livingston South. Here is a +10 for the stopper back west, and it's all very tense while we head to winner shack Addiewell. Will it, won't it make? We're almost a minute down on dud 156495 [now yet another Super Dud - Ed] so it's pretty much game over. As we finally get there at 1507, dud 156433 is leaving. Oh much effing grr!
Fortunately, Blindtraveller had managed to work out the move next, and we need to walk to the end of Station Road here to join either route 71 or 77 to Livingston. What we hadn't gathered from Google Maps however is that the road is both narrow and very poor quality! Thankfully we make it to the A71 and we've not long missed the 71 sadly, and the fester in the bus shelter is horrid due to the wind blowing right into the tiny barely sided shelter, with a nice dose of heavy rain mixed in! Oh weren't we glad to see YJ10 MHF, another Blue Bus vehicle, when it arrived 2 minutes late at 1522! Off to Livingston Bus Terminal we go, and by now we're planning a move back to Edinburgh and as fast as possible. We're both that drained, to keep going for longer than necessary in this weather would have been foolish! After a cold but much drier fester in the bus shelter in Livingston, we board First's route 27 to Edinburgh, 37143 doing the honours. It's also lunchtime now, bearing in mind this is now almost 1600, which is why if I'd known what a day we'd have I'd have bumped up the Weetabix a bit!
By now we're learning much more of how bad the weather is tomorrow, which has got to the point of being named Storm Gertrude. What a strange choice of name! It's also a long cold bus journey, not helped by heating seemingly not working. Genius at this time of year, I dread to think what it would have been like on the evening turns! We finally arrive at 1654, and we make our way to the bus station to use both the ATM and the facilities, not to mention warming up. After all that was done, the wind was that fierce [but hey, the rain had gone! - Ed] we were getting pushed about a fair bit by it. It's also so cold any amount of heat is welcome, and we end up doing a taxi back as neither of us are too keen on a bus move or, more importantly, a potentially long wait for one. We're back not all that much quicker than I thought we would be, but then traffic was getting bad even up past Crewe Toll. Getting inside and into the warm for a hot drink was so very much welcome now, and of course we're not hungry as we hadn't long had our sandwiches. An apple pie and custard later though was gorgeous, and after some chillout it was time to prep the bag somewhat and fire away on typing up the day's activities.
Oh, and I tried OpenOffice, the Android version of it is terrible and I don't recommend it. Here's some stats then:
Winners: 4
Shack scores: 3
General expenditure: £8.50
At long last, that's all the shacks in the Central Scotland rover area, at least outside the SPT area, all done! It took some doing to get there today, and it's fair to say the rover didn't end the way I would have liked,. However, I was feeling beyond gross and horrible, not to mention fed up after all that bad weather, so it made far more sense to stop and give up. I doubt I'd have got very much to be fair anyway, certainly there wasn't that much floating around yesterday that I needed after all. It was also one of the first times ever that I can say that almost everything (bar two 156s) out of a fair amount in Waverley was dud. Felt rather strange that! Finally, for those on Twitter, sorry about the very lsrge gap in tweets today, I couldn't get a data signal for much of the day!
Roll on Day 5, although I'll be gutted to leave Scotland, I'm glad I'm not just starting my trip with this storm arriving!
29/01/2016 - Tech's One Step Closer, Day 5
I'm up and wide awake by 0620 this morning, thanks to Storm Gertrude's fierce winds waking me up! After a coffee it was de-rance time, followed by a final bit of bag prep. I'm naturally worried about the journey south in this weather, so I avoid eating as I'm not currently able to find any appetite. After a farewell to Blindtraveller's wife, as well as the cat and dog who I'm going to miss, we head out for a route 37 bus at 0829, the same part route to Sturgeons Hall that I used on Day 3. For the last time this trip, and for an unknown time, I board a Lothian bus, this time 807 is in charge of taking us to Princes Street. Despite leaving 2 minutes late we arrive 7 minutes earlier than I did the other day. FAD [Fresh Air Device, aka Edinburgh Tram - Ed] number 262 is scored for sight, leaving 7 more to eventually tick off. Fortunately the rain hasn't been too bad either side of the bus ride so far, but the wind is still fierce. We make our way to platform 7 for the 0924 to Tweedbank, which turned out to be winner 158731 which was great news for me. I now need 9 Inverness and just 3 Haymarket 158s now, leaving 6 with Northern and 1 with SWT to get before I clear the class. Very pleased is an understatement!
The crew are having great difficulty in starting the 158, to the extent a fitter is required. This didn't sound good, but whatever the fitter did he got it started in no time. Due to the delay we had stops ripped out from Brunstane and Newcraighall, in an attempt to help us recover a bit of time and to avoid delaying the next one from Tweedbank too much more. We leave 8 minutes late, and it feels quite strange to go non-stop to Shawfair. The noise off the 158 is very much welcome however, as was the PNB after all that coffee earlier! We arrive at Galashiels at 1021, the idea to shack scratch having been ripped from our plan today due to the coldness and risk of severe rain. There was enough of that yesterday, no thanks to possibly having that again! The walk to the bus station is done in a matter of seconds, and thankfully the rain that had landed around Newtongrange had disappeared here. Quite, the sun was out and the temperature had rised significantly!
First Borders' SN62 APF initially shows X95 to Hawick, which had us unsure if it was ours. Knowing it should be, we double check with the driver. Sure enough it is, good thing we didn't trust the live tracker which said it was 13 minutes away! Off we go right time, and as Blindtraveller said it would be, the free WiFi is shockingly poor, not even letting me connect. Oh well, just as well I don't really need it! I leave the good sir enjoy his audiobook, while I pull out the tablet and tap away with the trip report. I'm now finally relaxed about the journey, remaining rather optimistic that the onward moves from Carlisle and Leeds will work out OK, so I devour a ham sandwich which went down beautifully. With Tech's Mobile Disco temporarily de-commisioned after the end of Spotify, which I've now uninstalled too, there's now only one option. As I type this bit at 1119, there's 70 minutes left of the journey, so tons of time to enjoy some Flow Free!
After about an hour on there, my eyes can't focus on it any longer so it's off. By now we're getting close to Carlisle, excellent. We arrive just 1 minute late at 1240, and it's off to The Griffin where a monsterous lunch is had. £6.95 got me a scampi and chips with peas and tartare sauce (this one wasn't too bad, had almost all of it!) with a chocolate fudge cake with custard for pudding. My lordz that was good, I can see why it is highly recommended! After which we source gen on a nearby supermarket for a supply raid, which turned out to be a bloody good idea as it turned out...
Back at the station we observe the sound of a 37 thrashing out of the station, my lordz that was more than welcome! I remember I have to buy my Northern day ranger for tomorrow, so we use the ticket office here as they have a reputation for being rather good. Not an issue whatsoever for them to sell it, a tenner well spent that shall be! A 390 is in the platform, but don't worry it's dud 390119. The next one in was dud 390148, so good news for me. I'm still hopefully it'll be a particular one tomorrow, but we'll see how it goes. We discover Blindtraveller is going to get 156444 to Hexham, with a rather tight +6 for his rail replacement all shacks coach to Prudhoe before an onward train to Edinburgh. We then also notice the inward working from Leeds has not arrived yet, which is worrying. Eventually it turns up at 1504, nice and late, and it's Super Dud 158902. Much grr, I was hoping for a winner!
Once on board, we get bad news. Due to a landslide near Armaithwaite, which caused this train to be rather late after waiting for another train that was 82 minutes late, we will also be expected to be at least 80 minutes late into Leeds. This is then followed by an announcement of no trolley service on the train, such service being suspended today due to the emergency engineering works. Great, if we'd been told this at Carlisle I'd have got my coffee from Ritazza! Sadly I will not get to experience the excellent trolley service on this occasion, maybe next time eh? We leave 3 minutes late at 1509, at least platform 6 is a required microgrice! It's a slow journey, and the conductor hands out cards to fill in and send to Northern. 50% of my single would work out at £5.75, which is certainly worth putting a form in for. The worrying thing is that I only have a +87 at Leeds as it is, so an 80 minute delay is not welcome, more so if it gets worse. I'm on split Advances, one to Leeds and one to Sheffield as it refused to sell me such an Advance straight through. While I may well be valid legally to use another train if my connection doesn't make, it does rely on the second train's conductor knowing that much! So the journey is a bit of a worry again. I also thought I had more water than I do, so this extra journey time is so not very helpful.
It's a long boring wait just north of Armathwaite, certainly plenty of time to update the trip report. I have more than enough time too to get the moves book back up to date, so I think I'll do just that now. I so could do with coffee...I start the moves book update [I'm still on Met line moves from Green Eyed Tech! - Ed] but I'm feeling the eyes closing, so I put it all down ready for a nap. 158907 passes us eventually at 1604, and a few minutes later we finally move from our position opposite Howes and Co's Siding signal box and crawl over the crossover. The driver then takes us over it to reverse again opposite the signal box, all the while with Network Rail guys watching carefully at the crossover. We're eventually on the move again, with the first bit of speed for the entire journey so far. I want to close the eyes now, but pack everything up for now and vow to do so once I've seen where we return to the normal running line.
This is some time later at Culcaith, that's certainly two rare crossovers used. I do have to make sure I get all this microgricing marked in [quite, I have some from last year to still mark in! - Ed] this weekend. The conductor comes on just after Appleby, where we leave at something like 1654, to advise us all that we're 72 minutes late, and that we should be into Leeds around 1830 to 1840. My own estimate based on the delay was 1850 to 1855, but we'll see. Eventually the eyes shut themselves and I get comfy, and I must have managed some doss as the next thing I know is we're at Settle. It takes a few moments to realise we're due back on more familiar and better territory soon. It's also crehld territory, who I must remember I owe a Costa or a pint for the tokens. We're now thrashing away properly, about darn time too. It's worth pointing out these 158/9s don't have a facility in the 57 car, which I can't say I knew before. Well they do say you learn something new every day!
Ahh Skipton, FINALLY we reach civilisation! I'm surprised we didn't have any stops ripped out mind, and at Keighley I am definitely on territory I know which is most pleasing. We finally arrive into Leeds on platform 12a [potential micro-grice! - Ed] at 1838, spot on an hour of delay. I'm informed Northern don't do Delay Repay, but I'm sure the Passenger Charter allows for compensation for 1 hour and more of delay. I'll find out when I get in touch with Northern! Oh it was good to get some fresh air, and I can see why there are evening peak restrictions on the West Yorkshire Day Rover, crikey it's busy here even now. Ritazza saves the day with a small coffee, which for £2.10 is not cheap but oh so worth it, after all I've not had any coffee since 0805 or so. That for me is a bloody long time! Back to the platforms where I need 12d, which I suspect involves a micro-grice somewhere. 14 taunts me as being required, as did 158901 going to Manchester Victoria which I need. 333005 really took the biscuit when it rolled up alongside us, one of just 4 333s that I need. Oh how I need a proper serious session here, if only I could do so tomorrow!
Just to make my day [sarcasm - Ed] was Super Dud 158844 on the 1905 Leeds to Nottingham, ah well you can't win them all! Off we go right time, and as it's rather dark I can't spot much on Freightliner's Midland Road depot, except for duds 66520 and 66595. This run is certainly going more smoothly than the previous one, and Techs Mobile Disco is back in use via YouTube on this run. I needed something to keep me going to Sheffield, and I need to find out where St Marys Gate is in relation to the station yet. I see as we pass by Barnsley's bus station is rather large, and so much nicer looking than Preston's one [sorry Blindtraveller, I know you like it! - Ed] is! 22 minutes to go, hang in there! I finally arrive at 2004, 2 minutes late and I end up flagging Burger King despite being rather hungry. "Tech, you must be feeling out of it!" I hear you all bellowing, and yes you would be right. The logic being finding a takeaway for doner meat and chips would be better move, not to mention cheaper.
So when I see such a place near the station, what do I do? Having almost memorised the walking route to the Premier Inn on St Marys Gate [I did use GPS with the maps part way to make sure I got it right mind! - Ed] I end up flagging the takeaway! "OK Tech, you've lost the plot!" I hear you all say to yourselves. Yes, yes I have, no-one in their right mind would want to be up at 0430 after such a day to do a tiny bit of track! Oh how I wish I could stay out all day and make the most of my ranger...
After I check in, the logic being after a tough 14 minute walk to drop bags off then do a supply raid, I end up taking them with me to Sainsburys Local for food and stuff for tomorrow. £5.18 spent, much better value than the takeaway or Burger King would have offered! Back to the room with now 2 very heavy bags, all the way to the 12th and top floor. My room is very well sized, and the bed feels fine too. A call home is made, and I devour the chocolate eclairs before a welcome cup of tea. Time for Tech's Mobile Disco [can it be Mobile if I'm in a hotel room? - Ed] via YouTube again, after checking out some moves on RTT. Kite159 has given me a new idea, but I'll explain that in the final day's trip report. I can't believe we're almost at the end of the epic 6 day adventure, Saturday felt like forever away on Monday, now it's very nearly here! Anyway, let's end this bit with some daily stats:
Winners: 1
Shack scores: 0
New sights: 1
Rail fares: £16.00
Hotel ching: £45.50
General expenditure: £25.77
Total: £87.27
Now bring on the 0430 alarm, a bloody good de-rancification and a strong coffee in the morning, then of course the 0554 Sheffield to Nottingham and Attenborough Curve. I hope it produces now!
30/01/2016 - Tech's One Step Closer, Day 6
It takes forever to get to sleep, thanks to something droning away above my room [1207, for random reference - Ed] and not finding the bed brilliantly comfortable. Believe it or not, I prefer the single beds I've had in the twin/family rooms on previous trips! I spend some time catching up on the forum, and sleep finally arrives sometime around 0030, maybe slightly later. With a disturbed sleep thanks to an unknown cause, and some weird dream where I was trying to persuade Alex Zane [of Rude Tube, an E4 programme, fame - Ed] to come and decorate a room for my sister [as you do! - Ed] which is thankfully interrupted by the alarm going off at 0430 on the other side of the room. It's with dreary eyes I find it to turn it off, and it's straight off for a much needed de-rance. Final prep takes a while, during which process I start Tech's Pumped Up Playlist on YouTube to help wake me up. With everything done, including filling the travel mug with some hot brown magic [actually that sounds wrong! - Ed] I leave the hotel at 0507. It amazed me that a nearby nightclub was only just kicking out, and some people only just going to their rooms!
A 14 minute walk has me at the station at 0521, and I see required 158910 head out to Beverley. Grr, I need that but the booked +1 on arrival back from Meadowhall was pushing my luck a bit too much. As it turned out, it arrived 2 up at 0551 and would have been required 144015. Oh well, the risk was too great to consider doing it, although I'm gutted I couldn't get two winners after all. To rub salt into the wound, dud 158904 is on platform 1b working the 0554 Sheffield to Nottingham. Welcome to the Super Dud Club 158904! We leave bang on time and head south via Beighton Junction, which will be the first time I've had a DMU over that particular route. Sometime after Chesterfield, while the eyes are still heavy [major caffeine break needed asap! - Ed] my stomach is now in need to silencing. Thankfully I was prepared and made up some sandwich thins filled with ham last night! Time to start munching then...
So what was this idea Kite gave you then Tech, I hear you querying. Well while I'm currently planning to do some shack scoring, the idea has also been put in place that instead I could well pop up to Sheffield to do a couple of leaps instead, No word of a lie, that's sorely tempting, and yes that does mean Red Pen Fever has struck! Whether it will happen yet or not depends on what I feel like doing upon arrival, and whether the rain comes down hard or not! As we trek through Toton, I've got my fingers crossed that we use Attenborough Curve, and that we're not routed the other way. It eventually dawns on me that we wouldn't be seeing Toton if we were going the other way, but I wasn't convinced of my rail geography in foreign territory [sorry but the East Midlands will always be treated as such to me! - Ed] so until the slow run picks up speed and I see Attenborough around 0652 I have my fingers crossed. Victory party at that point, as I have indeed done one of the more awkward PSUL moves! Another one bites the dust, although there are still too many to do for my liking. Eventually they will all fall, but I can't help wondering how long it will take to get Hambleton West Curve done. We finally arrive into Nottingham at 0704, and as the formerly conveniently placed Pumpkin on platform 1 is now a Jam Jar [whatever it is they do there! - Ed] there isn't time for a coffee move in the 7 minutes I have, so it's back on Super Dud 158904 with the 0711 to Leeds.
The weather is most reasonable today, so I'm happy to score Langley Mill, the first shack score of the day. We arrive at 0727, making the booked +7 mighty easy. To change platforms quickly, you need to be at the back of a 2-car train, go down the long ramp, cross the road and up the steps to the other platform. It is easy enough to do in 3 minutes if you move quickly, so long as traffic is reasonably quiet. A McDonalds is noted about a 5 minute walk away, and a 24 hour Asda is also noted from the platform, so a good solid 8 minutes of walk away. I'm mighty glad I didn't head back to Sheffield now, as winner 158787 takes me back to Nottingham. Winner winner, chicken dinner! We get swapped from the booked platform 3a to platform 4a when we arrive 2 down at 0756, and anyone who knows Nottingham post-modernisation will know this is one of the furthest away platforms on the station from the concourse. I consider stopping here to hunt NET tram 236, but also need a Costa now, having finished my last coffee around 0532. After trekking to the moon and back [OK, a slight exaggeration! - Ed] I re-join 158787 to make it a Super Dud on the 0817 to Leeds. This one is far busier than the previous 3 moves, so I utilise the 4G signal and get YouTube on for some tunes to Alfreton. I am missing my Nightcore, it must be said!
Dud 158855 is noted heading to Nottingham as we trek north, that's good news for me. Arriving at 0843, I have a +48 for the next Northern back to Nottingham. There is apparently a cafe nearby, but I didn't find it. Ah well, back to a nice warm waiting room! I discover by chance there's free WiFi via The Cloud here, ooh that is handy, I can bang some more tunes on while I type up the trip report. Which is exactly what I do, as I wasn't willing to pay the extra ching to Nottingham to do a St Pancras bound HST, which had 43060 and 43048 on it for the record. Glad I noticed the coaching stock though, as I score HST buffer car 40754 for sight on it. There really aren't many HST trailers I need for sight now, well except for the renumbered lot on GWR. With the trip report back up to date, it's time for a quick PNB before a hopeful winner to Nottingham. Victory party, winner 158784 back to Nottingham! 4 more Northern 158s [754, 901, 905 and 910 - Ed] to go, very happy with that bit of progress! Back into platform 4a again at 0959, and I have an idea...
Certainly a gorgeous day for this one, that's a definite. "What on Earth are you up to Tech?" all your curiosities are asking. Well as you'll probably all know by now, I only need one more tram in Nottingham, the infamous 236. I'm very much making a purchase of faith, and put £2.20 into a TVM for a single ticket. The NET Twitter desk is clearly unmanned today, so I'm making a bold assumption 236 will produce this time. At 1005 I have my ticket, and it's deckchairing time! Every single time one rolls in in either direction the hopes are raised and dash, and at 1030 I was thinking that I was going to run out of time to get it even if it produces. 234, 235 and 237 all taunted me, but eventually at 1037, as I'm "come on 236, come on 236, come on 236" the number is read as 2...3...6. YES! An outloud exclamation of "winner winner, chicken dinner" was audible to anyone within 8' of me, and I jump on double winner 236. 1039 and we leave on a Toton Lane service, and I had forgotten how far away Meadows Way West is, around three-quarters a mile. That might sound like not much, but I was on the 1110 to Cardiff Central and by the time I bail off the tram it's 1041. That's plenty of time, yes I know but I also wanted a celebratory coffee! A fast walk is had back to the station in 8 minutes, and I'm straight into Costa for a large Americano. En-route to platform 3b, a PNB opportunity before joining what will probably be a packed train cannot be passed up. And yep, it is that thing again...
Super Dud 170104, at least the 5th time I've had it now, is on the 1110 from Nottingham. I'm glad I have a seat reservation, despite it being an airline but window seat, as it's very busy indeed. A load of football veg get on my coach and by gum they're noisy! Even with noise cancelling earphones, and some Nightcore at high volume, they were still audible! I remember now why I dislike weekend travel...We're held up for a few minutes in the Trent area, but eventually we get going again. I score 08536 and 20154 for sight on the approach to Derby, two more welcome ticks! The veg get off in Derby and peace is restored thankfully. Now we start flying to Burton on Trent and Tamworth, and for some reason my phone's default music player doesn't like an MP3 I got for it! Oh dear, not good. My data allowance sure took a heavy hit today, but I should be fine now for the next 3 weeks. Hopefully anyway!
We get held outside Birmingham, and just as well for me. Why? Well I suddenly thought to check for my ticket wallet, and it wasn't there! Thankfully it was found before I got off, that would have been more than awkward! Arrival is at 1224, 1 minute up, and a tweet to LM is needed to make sure the gates are open at Bordesley. Which they are, but I revise my original plan to walk there as I needed to deal with more important matters. So I go back to the other plan, train from Moor Street to Small Heath to pick up the train which calls there and walk back to town, The more sensible solution would have been to deal with the urgent matter then walk there, after all I still had an hour and a bit yet. Obviously this didn't click at the time, and I spend £2.10 that I didn't need to on an Off Peak Day Return to Bordesley, ah well it's all extra income for the railway! A blue 68 is seen arriving from London, if I'd thought about the possibility of Cat bashing earlier I'd have got a Daytripper. Bit late now, and eventually I join Super Dud 172218 to Small Heath where a group of young enthusiasts are at the end of the platforms. These being the two-tone brigade types, oh dear...
Eventually it's time for Super Duds 172217 and 172212 [me and Kite had these on Monday yoy may recall! - Ed] and the 2 minute journey to Bordesley just feels strange. As expected, I'm the only one alighting and no-one boards. Of course some photos and a video clip of the 172s leaving had to be got! Google Maps confirms which way I need to go for New Street, and after a while I see I'm back on familiar territory as I pass the coach station. I wish I'd walked around the corner to Moor Street mind, trying to dodge the crowds in the outside areas of the Frothring [aka the Bullring, yep, I'm going to make that a thing! - Ed] and all that uphill walking was tough. 20 minutes after leaving Bordesley, I finally reach New Street. I haven't eaten since around 0635 so I decide to say stuff it to McDonalds, and a meal deal from Tesco would not suffice. Burger King then, so back through the crowds yet again! It's a big queue, but credit to them for getting through to me in 10 minutes. A protest group about protecting cows or some such come in trying to drum up support, although it must be said they didn't find any. No matter how much they chanted "It's not food, it's violence!" on their megaphones. Eventually they left, through choice or not, and as I said to the guy behind me "It's the tasiest violence zi've ever seen here"!
£6.89 well spent as I devour the Dr Pepper on the walk through the shopaholics for the 4th time today, eventually finding a spot near the almost finished extension of the Midland Metro to eat the fries. Time is pressing on, so I out the burger away for a bit until I get to the train home. Platform 7b this afternoon, certainly unusual and I'll need to check my Quails to be certain that's not required. I should be pretty much just on the through roads to get here now, and of course the stabling sidings. 170515 and 170511 are on the 1449 to Hereford, although there is much confusion as the screens all said it was to be 2 coaches. After a while, me and plenty of others decided to sit in 170515 anyway, sure enough we take both 170s home. I spend the journey home updating the trip report, which takes until Malvern Link. Once there, it's coffee time and the 1700 bus home, tonight it's YJ58 CFG, I'm getting tired and just want to veg out. After all, it's been a long and busy day!
No prizes for guessing what music I have on! For the record, it's Cascada's Everytime We Touch and Raver's Fantasy, Nightcore edits of course!
So then, let's get the stats for the day going on, before some to summarise the trip:
Winners: 3
Shack scores: 3
New sights: 4
New track: Attenborough Curve
Rail fares: £15.70
Bus fares: £4.10
General expenditure: £14.19
Total: £33.29
Trip stats then!
Winners: 26
Shack scores: 25
New sights: 10
New track: Attenborough Curve, plus some microgricing
Rail fares: £89.60
Bus fares: £8.20
Coach fares: £12.50
Hotel ching: £45.50
General expenditure: £99.71
Total: £255.51
What a trip, worth every penny! Yes there were times where it didn't feel like it, Thursday was like that a lot. Some exceptional results in all there, and I have to admit to being glad to have two days before going back to work for recovery and bookwork etc! No matter where you stay or what bed you use, it's always nice to go home to your own bed!
To end this trip report, my many many thanks are due to Blindtraveller amd his wife for having me, and for all the help in getting the moves to/from Scotland booked let alone the enormous amount of help whilst on the bash. My thanks are also due to his wife for making all those sandwiches, not to mention the coffee and breakfasts and tolerating us talking trains! I very much enjoyed your company, and I look forward to our next adventure when I come up for the diversions around Queen Street!
Good stuff, as expected.
Interesting rules you have about shack scoring.
What's your take on this:
27th June 2006. heading North on 158702.
We're going to Wick and the train gets held at Helmsdale, the Southbound service is heavily delayed coming off the single line section.
We have at least an hour to kill and it's very warm, so everyone gets off and lounges about on the platform - after the guard had told people they might as well.
Would you count it?
I do.
No right or wrong answer, of course, I'm just interested.
DMU 158702_2006.06.27_1_Helmsdale by Phil Wood, on Flickr
Interesting rules you have about shack scoring.
What's your take on this:
27th June 2006. heading North on 158702.
We're going to Wick and the train gets held at Helmsdale, the Southbound service is heavily delayed coming off the single line section.
We have at least an hour to kill and it's very warm, so everyone gets off and lounges about on the platform - after the guard had told people they might as well.
Would you count it?
I do.
No right or wrong answer, of course, I'm just interested.
DMU 158702_2006.06.27_1_Helmsdale by Phil Wood, on Flickr
Techniquest
Veteran Member
That's an interesting one. I'm not sure if I'd count it or not to be honest, it would be a special case. Any and all special cases are judged at the time as to whether make an exception or not. As i type this though, the feeling inside me says that I probably wouldn't though.
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
Ah what a grand week that was! I can't believe how many winners and shacks were had, and how much varied mileage you got for £255. The king of budgeting for sure
Also that last NET tram has to be the score of the week?
Are the two tone brigade the kind that stand the wrong side of the yellow line making "press the horn" gestures?
Also that last NET tram has to be the score of the week?
Are the two tone brigade the kind that stand the wrong side of the yellow line making "press the horn" gestures?
HMS Ark Royal
Established Member
With respect, how do you know what I call my girlfriend...?
A great read as always - was following your progress on twitter with intent
47403
Established Member
top top read tech, see what you meant about the journey over the S&C.
Sounded like an awesome trip, all CSR shacks done, fair few winners for haulage and for sight, PSUL and the NET cleared, as well. I'd say, Mission Accomplished.
Well done Sir.
Sounded like an awesome trip, all CSR shacks done, fair few winners for haulage and for sight, PSUL and the NET cleared, as well. I'd say, Mission Accomplished.
Well done Sir.
Blindtraveler
Established Member
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2011
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- 10,543
Not to mention the West Mids shacks done now too. A pleasure having you as a guest and freeloading companion on my bus pass which Im sure allowed you to get many things done that may not otherwise have happened.
Most interesting as ever! Our paths nearly crossed at one point today
For future reference, the Jam Jar on platform 1 at Nottingham is a re-branded Pumpkin. It does the same stuff and shares stock and staff with the other SSP units on the station, I believe it is/was a trial re-brand though SSP now seem to be keen on Starbucks franchises as well. Each brand seems to last about 10 years - they were 'Lemon Tree Cafe' things before. I try and avoid SSP establishments but if you're short on time they can come in useful.
For future reference, the Jam Jar on platform 1 at Nottingham is a re-branded Pumpkin. It does the same stuff and shares stock and staff with the other SSP units on the station, I believe it is/was a trial re-brand though SSP now seem to be keen on Starbucks franchises as well. Each brand seems to last about 10 years - they were 'Lemon Tree Cafe' things before. I try and avoid SSP establishments but if you're short on time they can come in useful.
jayalongtheway
Member
- Joined
- 31 Oct 2015
- Messages
- 241
Great stuff as always Tech, I admire your stamina! And Phil, being marooned for an hour, I definitely think you can have that shack by default!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
It was an amazing time, no doubt about it. Except Thursday afternoon (the morning had been grand after all!), that wasn't fun at all!
Glad you enjoyed the read good sir, now bring me 390114!
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Thanks, I was concerned I was going to have wasted my £2.20!
Shack scoring takes some guts and effort sometimes, as will be clear now. We were on the brink of defeat, and certainly by the time we got to Livingston that was it, game over!
Your ability to do the same track over and over in London to fill your books up is also impressive, Waterloo to Clapham gets very boring very quickly for me!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounded like a very good week, apart from the weather
I'm sure you will meet 390114 at some point
I'm sure you will meet 390114 at some point
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Ah what a grand week that was! I can't believe how many winners and shacks were had, and how much varied mileage you got for £255. The king of budgeting for sure
Also that last NET tram has to be the score of the week?
Are the two tone brigade the kind that stand the wrong side of the yellow line making "press the horn" gestures?
The winners count would have been far higher if I'd been doing more Haymarket leaps, but by gum doesn't that get boring after a few of them!
That's pretty much the two-tone brigade aye!
The NET tram was certainly one of the highlights, the other being 68003 of course, in terms of red pen moves!
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Glad you enjoyed the read and the Twitter action!
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Mission accomplished indeed, just need to get the SPT Land side of things cleared out now. That should only take 3 Daytrippers to do, or 2 Daytrippers and a Roundabout. Safe to say I'm looking forward to doing that!
Glad you enjoyed the read, I know it was quite a long one all in but imagine reading the lot in one go!
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Well, strictly speaking Coventry Arena is in the West Midlands I'm told. Then in the WMDR area I need Polesworth and Bermuda Park. Polesworth will take some planning, but it is on the agenda to finally be conquered this year!
Without those bus moves, I can promise you I'd have achieved far less in the same time!
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Most interesting as ever! Our paths nearly crossed at one point today
For future reference, the Jam Jar on platform 1 at Nottingham is a re-branded Pumpkin. It does the same stuff and shares stock and staff with the other SSP units on the station, I believe it is/was a trial re-brand though SSP now seem to be keen on Starbucks franchises as well. Each brand seems to last about 10 years - they were 'Lemon Tree Cafe' things before. I try and avoid SSP establishments but if you're short on time they can come in useful.
What one werr you on into Notts, assuming that's where you went? I'm going to guess the 1100 arrival in Notts.
Interesting regarding Jam Jar, that's the only one I've seen like that. As it looked an independant company, I decided they wouldn't take card payments so wasn't worth the risk. SSP LOVE making places Frothbucks, I'm just surprised they haven't yet done it in Hereford. When they do I'll be taking my coffee business elsewhere for sure, although I don't buy many in Hereford these days to be fair.
I remember Lemon Tree, and in particular how small the one in Swansea was!
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Glad you enjoyed it
Stamina is required on big bashes, and if you want to get your books filled you need to have it!
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Sounded like a very good week, apart from the weather
I'm sure you will meet 390114 at some point
It will fall, it will hopefully turn up a week tomorrow when I plan to do a WMDR. Plenty to be aiming for on said day too, with 165/0s, 168/3s, 68s, trams and hopefully that 390 too!
backontrack
Established Member
I'd definitely count that, absolutely definitely! I don't think there's any way that you can avoid counting that.Good stuff, as expected.
Interesting rules you have about shack scoring.
What's your take on this:
27th June 2006. heading North on 158702.
We're going to Wick and the train gets held at Helmsdale, the Southbound service is heavily delayed coming off the single line section.
We have at least an hour to kill and it's very warm, so everyone gets off and lounges about on the platform - after the guard had told people they might as well.
Would you count it?
I do.
No right or wrong answer, of course, I'm just interested.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Well obviously I found a way to not count it, that goes against all my rules (detailed somewhere in the trip report) after all! I think if I'd been there I'd probably have filed it under a special exception and counted it, but I'd leave it to the heart to judge. After all, it wants what it wants!
backontrack
Established Member
Well, we can agree to disagree. For me, it's a shack and always will be.
Same here, it has to be said. That's how I got North Llanwerst (I was there for about 25/20 minutes on the platforms, taking photos and I got almost all of the platform in!)
I would personally count it, I did count Gainsborough Central in a similar fashion when we got stupidly ahead of time and ending up sitting there for 20 minutes. I took a walk, stretched my legs, grabbed some photos, can't really avoid counting it
Excellent reads Lord Tech, jealous of the Shotts Line shacks as I need Kingsknowe, Fauldhouse, Breich (!!), Hartwood, Cleland, Carfin...it goes on
Excellent reads Lord Tech, jealous of the Shotts Line shacks as I need Kingsknowe, Fauldhouse, Breich (!!), Hartwood, Cleland, Carfin...it goes on
Kite159
Veteran Member
I would count it as well, similar to that station on the west highland line which we stopped for 20 minutes for a late running Oban service to join us back to Glasgow
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