Just finished typing up the trip report for yesterday and Sunday, so here we go:
03/04/2016 - Tech Knows His Enemy, Day 1
Yep, just for once, my musical reference is something other than Nightcore! This time it's Green Day's Know Your Enemy. This one came to light while browsing my YouTube viewing history on the way home from Evacuate The Lists, the evening I got confirmation of when the 2045 bus home ends. Saturday 9th April the axe falls, from April 11th it's back to the 1815 for the last one home. It is therefore counted as an enemy to my bashing, if that makes sense. As April 4th will be the last time I can use it for bashing purposes, this trip title felt somewhat appropriate! The other enemy is, of course, the large amounts of needs I have across the country. After Evacuate The Lists, and getting down to only needing 507029 to clear the MerseyRail fleet, when the option came up to go after it again I could hardly say no, that itch needs scratching! It took 6 days to get it all organised and booked, but eventually I found what I needed, I was off to Manchester on day 1 of this trip. Liverpool is day 2, will I be victorious this time in my total conquering of MerseyRail? Keep reading to find out...
Manchester was chosen as I still need 67 M5000 trams on Metrolink, not to mention a lot of shacks, so I wanted to bring those numbers badly. I also need a megaton of Northern [sorry, Arriva Rail Northern now - Ed] units and shacks, but that's planned to be dealt with later this year. After a lift in, and a packing of the bag this morning, I get the tickets and board 158837 for the slow journey to Manchester Piccadilly. The plug socket works, much to my amazement, so I charge my phone all the way! Bookwork was the order of the day, as well as Tech's Mobile Disco of course. The trolley eventually came around and a coffee was sourced, and by Cheadle Hulme my notebook and moves book were in agreement with each other! I didn't think to check my NREA and notebook agreed with each other mind! A ham sandwich was devoured on the Slade Lane Junction to Piccadilly section, it was that slow a journey!
Arrival is at 1312, 1 up, and I meet up with forum member 185143. It's stupidly busy today due to Manchester United playing at home [I hate sports season, it interrupts bashing! - Ed], but we go down to Metrolink for several minutes of wait before we join winner
3093 to today's first shack score at Edge Lane. 3083 is dud on the next move west a few minutes later, which we take to winner shack Etihad Campus. Worth pointing out these are all scores for me, 185143 needs nothing we did today. I believe he scored several trams for the year but that's it. I was also glad of his company later on, but I won't spoil that one...
3109 is scored next to winner shack Ashton Moss, and after an 11 minute wait we join winner for everything
3102 for a run to town. Which changed to a shack score at Holt Town, as the Etihad Campus terminators were running now [I swear they weren't when we first joined Metrolink today - Ed], so a short wait gets me a pair of winners, in the form of
3045+3055, happy days! We were taking this beyond Piccadilly originally, and I note 3021 being a required sight on the way into there, but then we saw the football crowds. Oh yeah, this service is to Altrincham, calling at Old Trafford. Yeah, umm, let's bail!
3095+3066 were next up, and I was of the impression at the time 3095 was a winner [those with long memories will remember I had this with 3096 last time I was here - Ed], but it turned out my NREA was incorrectly updated previously, so I was actually on a pair of duds! We take this to Cornbrook, and I see the extent of the work here for Second City Crossing. Quite a lot happening, quite a long wait until it's all back to being open! Next up was to be an East Didsbury line move, but due to a pair of winners in the form of
3057+3025, we squeeze in for a leap to Trafford Bar first! Dud 3033 and winner
3006 take us to a winner shack at West Didsbury, this move getting me 3097 for sight.
Dud 3040 and winner
3009 take us to Withington for another shack score, and a pair of winners next with
3091+3100 to Burton Road, which cleared the East Didsbury branch shacks. 3100 was also a winner for sight! 3006+3033 are back in all their dudness for a trip to Chorlton, where we change for dud 3076 to winner shack Sale Water Park. Yep, the one line I wasn't going to do due to it being boring and I'm on it!
3065 was a surprise win here for the leap to winning shack Barlow Manor Road, and dud 3071 takes us forward to score Wythenshawe Park. Dud 3074 was next to Northern Moor, and by now the need for a PNB was getting quite real. "We'll find somewhere to do that asap" we tell ourselves, joining dud 3078 to Roundthorn in the process. Another shack down, and angry organs getting worse, we then join dud 3082 to Baguley. 3065 is back to take us from one winner shack to another, this one at Crossacres. "Ooh that means 3073 will be down next" I say, which of course means a new plan and further delaying a PNB! Dud 3071 took us to winner shack Benchill for a short wait for winner
3073 to winner shack Shadowmoss.
Oh my lordz the view of planes landing here is excellent! I manage a photo of a Ryanair Boeing 737-800 landing, only just, but failed to get it clear enough to read the reg sadly. Dud 3065 is back again to take us to winner shack Robinswood Road and its staggered platforms, a level crossing in the middle. To my fellow shack cranks [there's a fair few of us these days! - Ed], be warned a +3 is the absolute minimum you need here, a +5 more ideal pending pedestrian crossing luck! 3074 is back again, and this time we head to Manchester Airport. Finally a PNB can be had, and I don't need to tell you that we both needed it with urgency at this point. The perils of light rail bashing! By now only 3 shacks on this line were left to get, and 185143 himself pointed this out. "We might as well finish it for you" I believe his exact words were. I agreed, as much as I hate the Manchester Airport line's dullness. To leave these last ones would be just silly now!
So we join 3074 one last time, although the temptation to jump on a mainline train was very, very real! If I hadn't needed to fork out £4.30 for a single to town [ouch! - Ed] then it would have happened! Off to winner shack Martinscroft now, both of us now relieved. Two to go, and dud 3096 takes us to Moor Road. Here we talk about food, and we both annoy us each other by talking about delicious meals. Yep, another PNB was now needed, this time to silence the stomach! Dud 3078 takes us to the final shack down this way that I need at Peel Hall. Finally done down here, and dud 3071 takes us back to Chorlton. Just over 2 hours to do all the shacks down here, as I had done Wythenshawe Town Centre previously. It felt like more than that, it must be said, and I was more than grateful for 185143's company!
After a cash move, we go to The Atlantic Fish Bar, one that Mr 143 recommended. It must be good as there's a fair wait for food, and stuff was running out thick and fast! I have to settle for a small sausage and chips, with a can of Dr Pepper, weighing it at £3.70. Not the cheapest chippy meal I've ever had, but also not the most expensive either. It was highly worth visiting mind, and it gets the highly sought-after Tech's Seal of Approval! Feeling far better for eating, we join double duds 3015+3010, discovering the dudness after boarding. Just as well mind, as another pair is literally right behind us at Trafford Bar, which was a pair of winners with
3021+3018! We bail at Cornbrook, thankfully the crowds from the frothball game [I might make that a thing, frothball! - Ed] had died down a lot by now. Dud 3084 had winner
3067 for company, and we take them to Deansgate-Castlefield. Winner
3013 was married to dud 3037 today, and these are taken to Piccadilly Gardens. 3057+3025 are back now, which we take to Deansgate-Castlefield as Mr 143 wanted a ride in 3057 this time.
No skin off my nose, as I ended up scoring winner
3086 with 3081 tagging along for the ride with it. Mr. 143 is ready to head home now, so we ride down to Piccadilly this time, and I follow him to his train home.
156455 and dud 150271 are on our Bus Stop Bash to Manchester Oxford Road, another 156 in the book! Double duds 142053+142011, both Super Duds for that matter, are then taken to Deansgate to get me back to Metrolink. We have a ton of football hooligans on board, making a megaton of racket. How they didn't break anything I have no idea, and I felt sorry for Mr. 143 suffering that lot home, but he was sure glad the BTP were around! Put it this way, I couldn't hear the 142s over them!
Back to the trams for me, and I start again with dud 3054 leading winner
3051 for a leap to Cornbrook, as I needed an Eccles tram. That went out of the window when dud 3022 and winner
3005 rolled in, I jumped on those back to Deansgate-Castlefield! An 8 minute wait got me winner
3047 with dud 3060 back to Cornbrook, where I don't get tempted away again now. Especially as by now it was 2110 and I still needed to get to base camp! Double duds 3023+3019 are up next on an Eccles tram, and originally I was going to score MediaCity UK, as 3023 smelt funny. However I change my mind and jump onto 3019 instead to continue the journey to Ladywell for the first winner shack in a while. It was also the furthest out one on this line, so I endure a 12 minute wait in the cold for 3023+3019 to return to take me to the last shack score of the day at Weaste.
Onwards to Trivelles Hotel now, but I get lost finding it. Turns out the place doesn't stay Trivelles Hotel on the side, but London Bitter House or something like that. You'd have thought it was a long shut pub or something! A phone call sorts it out, and I pay my £36 for tonight's stay. My room isn't too bad, the bed's a little hard but also feels quite new. The bathroom's not bad either, decent size TV too. After a text home, I end up monging out a fair bit before finally collapsing into a deep sleep a little before midnight. Some stats then:
Winners: 22
Shack scores: 22
New sights: 4
Rail fares: £30
Hotel ching: £36
Petrol money: £5
General expenditure: £11.12
Total: £82.12
04/04/2016 - Tech Knows His Enemy, Day 2
Much to my surprise, I awake to my alarm quite quickly this morning, and the noise of trams rattling past confirmed I wasn't dreaming, service had started. Eventually the hot water arrived in the shower, and feeling much better I get the bag all packed. The sugar packets contain what was supposed to be sugar, but must have been around a while as it took some banging of the packets to make it all come out! With only 3 packets of sugar here, I wasn't going to bother now with filling my travel mug. Having established last night that the walk to Eccles' mainline station would take 27 minutes, I had set the alarm for 0600, but changed my mind and decided to fork out £1.60 for a single on the trams instead.
This turned out to be a good idea, as after an 8 minute wait [at least I had time to buy my ticket! - Ed] I score a pair of winners with
3077+3080! A 4 minute journey and I have a little over an hour to kill before my booked train to Liverpool. I do a quick supply raid in Morrisons, then walk to the station. It's now 0708 or so, so what do I do here? Make multiple observations and update my notebook with yesterday's moves of course! That took about 25 minutes, and I dread to think how long it will all take to write in all of the last two days worth of moves into the moves book! Eventually it's almost time for my train, the 0802 Manchester Victoria to Liverpool Lime Street, and it's now 7 down, great!
Eventually winner
319382 produces which is more than welcome, as a PNB was now more than required. The thrash off the motor coach was very real [and as I thought that at the time, I'm pretty sure I have a new idea for a hashtag. Now as I type this I have thought of another... - Ed] and incredibly welcome! We left Eccles 9 down and arrived into Lime Street 2 up, the power of 319s! After a short time forum member
507021 is met and I get my Saveaway for £5.20. Will this be the last one I ever have to buy? This trip report will, of course, confirm this, but I think those of you who followed the action on Twitter will know the answer! First up was winner
319378 on a leap to Edge Hill. 507021 doesn't need any Northern 319s, but I still need 7 of them now, even after that move! Double duds 142012+142057 are next up, as he does need 142s and 142057 is one of them. We believe this was his 50th 142 to get in the book!
Off at Liverpool South Parkway after a delay at West Allerton for an unknown reason [stay tuned for more random delays... - Ed], and it's MerseyRail time. Having gratefully received the gen on 507029 this morning, we know we have a while to get into place for it. The moves begin with 507006+508104 [need I mention the dudness? - Ed] to Hunts Cross. We get the same pair out to Liverpool Central, as we can have just a short wait there for 507029. Umm, yeah, no, the 1013 off Southport produced 507008 instead! We hang around a while, in case something else turned up for 507021, but nope. We take 508112 back to Hunts Cross, and await the next one back to town which was 507002. That one I do remember was a winner for the honourable gentleman, and we take it to Sandhills.
A plan formulates, after thankfully checking RTT for the connection onto a Manchester-bound train at Kirkby. We would miss it off this next one, and have ages to wait, so we take Super Dud 507016 to Rice Lane as I hadn't eaten today [except for a toffee on 507002 - Ed] and there's a McDonalds next to the station. There I source a chicken nuggets meal which went down incredibly well, it has to be said! Super Dud 507013 is next to Kirkby, and we have long enough to pop outside and have a nosy at what's around and, more importantly, a PNB before joining the 1344 to Blackburn. This was a very good move, as Sir 021 will confirm, as winner for me
142013 was on it! Off to the day's only required shack at Rainford, and we have a +20 here. 156464 is made into a Super Dud for me, outright winner for Sir 507021.
Oh my LORDZ! The thrash off this one was epic! Put it this way, it at least was on a par with 156491's run in February 2011, and I thoroughly enjoyed that too! It was therefore an extreme shame to say farewell to it and rejoin Super Dud 507016 for a journey to Sandhills. Oh, and don't take my word for it, the honourable gentleman who I had the company of also thoroughly enjoyed it. We declared it Move of the Day [at this point... - Ed], both of us! A short fester at Sandhills declared us both wanting a break and something slightly different now, so we take 508123 to Moorfields to reach the Wirral line. 508131 becomes a new member of the League of Super Duds [MerseyRail Division - Ed] for the leap to Lime Street. 507029 is still on my mind and I'm still annoyed it didn't stick to its planned services. We flag various dud 319s and end up on 156483 on a leap to Liverpool South Parkway, it becoming a member of the Northern Super Dud Club on this move. It was a winner for Sir 021, and while good 156464 was still better in our eyes.
Leaping over to the other side got us 185137, dud for me but not Sir 021, but I score another coach on it. A PNB was welcome by now, although the hand dryer not working was unhelpful. Better than the tap in the 350 I had later refusing to work for ages (after soaping the hands) which was more than awkward! We now definitely want a break, so head to a Spoons a few minutes walk away. I get a half in of required The Celt Experience's The Afanc for £1.80, which in my local would have been no more than £1.25, probably nearer £1.10. Quite a difference! Anyway, after an enjoyable 15 minute break from trains, I got confirmation 507029 would definitely be on the 1558 off Southport, so it was now definitely game on for it, so a short walk to Liverpool Central was had.
The danger music applies to this fester, I won't lie to you it got tense as the 1558 rolled in. I knew thankfully it was a 6-car service so when 507006 rolled in we make movements to the back. I cross-reference the coach number of the middle coach of the rear unit, ooh this could be a mis-read though, check the back cab for the number...YES! Winner
507029 was on the back and I felt the eyes opening wide as I read it. I wanted on quickly, and we jump into a motor coach for the noise on the way to Liverpool South Parkway. Finally, MerseyRail is totally cleared! There's still plenty of units I need to make into Super Duds, but I'm not fussed about that. It took a long time and a lot of money and effort, but victory party, I don't need to do a MerseyRail bash again!
[well, until the new trains one day are delivered... - Ed]
It's not too long until 350257 rolls in on a busy service, but I eventually find a seat after a while. Having not touched the trip report since I did the back story recently, I knew I had to crack on and quick. I have another delay for a seemingly random reason at Winsford [the other being at West Allerton - Ed] which had me worried about my onward move, but we still arrived with a +17 so it was all good. A few more observations are made before 175008 rolls in on the 1730 Manchester Piccadilly to Cardiff Central. Two weeks ago this train was packed with a 3-car 175, 175112 if memory serves correctly, so this could be fun! Very busy to Nantwich, when a lot of people got off, so I got a seat. I'd heard it had been packed full out of Wilmslow, which would not surprise me! 68016 was scored for sight too, so some more progress to clearing them for sight slowly.
Of course, Tech's Mobile Disco was on for this journey, and I get most of the trip report done. A can of Worthington's Creamflow is enjoyed off the trolley after it got on at Shrewsbury, by which time the train had emptied out quite a bit to my surprise. I'm getting a lift home as it turns out tonight, so no last bus for me. From now on though, my bashing will see me needing to be back for the 1815, as the 2045 bus home is no more after 9th April. Which sucks, it really does, as my trips will be far more limited than they have been! Pizza Hut takeaway for tea, which Mum was treating us to so happy days!
So after accomplishing the mission at long last, I was very pleased with the day! Some stats:
Winners: 6
Shack scores: 1
New sights: 1
Rail fares: £6.80
General expenditure: £8.35
Total: £15.15
