Techniquest
Veteran Member
Cheers good sir, same for you too! Plenty of Northern 150s to hunt down here but they will eventually fall!
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Tech's Rolling Review 2016
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Kite159
Veteran Member
You just need to get down to Wimbledon to micro-grice the new platform 10B 
Keith Jarrett
Member
You just need to get down to Wimbledon to micro-grice the new platform 10B
And 10a as well as Tramplink stops much further away from the stairs than before (getting on for a whole tram length)
Blindtraveler
Established Member
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2011
- Messages
- 10,544
Wow youve spent a few quid. Worth it though and June was sure good to you
Thanks Tech, the good news is I've just compared my notes and it turns out I've actually done 150218, so that's a bonus!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I have indeed, but I have done a lot this year including a trip across the pond so it was to be expected. Looking at way more than £4,000 before the end of the year.
Figures would have been much higher if you and your lovely wife hadn't put me up on more than one occasion this year!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Oh right, that I didn't know!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Nice one, good news for you! My needs on 150s are:
150113/116/117/119/133/134/135/139/146/147/149/
210/224/225/228/275
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
You just need to get down to Wimbledon to micro-grice the new platform 10B
That I shall, all in good time though as there is far more important stuff to go after down in London!
Sure is. My required 150s are:
150/0: 001/2.
150/1: 101/2, 104-9, 120-4, 127-31, 139, 141.
150/2: 202-4, 208, 213/4, 216/7, 219, 221, 229-35, 237, 239-53, 256-67, 271, 278, 280-5.
150/9: 925, 926, 938.
I'm hoping to tick off the rest of Northern's 150s and at least some of the other required 150/1s with GWR and London Midland before Northern's hybrid 150/9 units are formed. After the 150/9s are formed (looking forward to seeing those), I'll count them as required units as they'll obviously have different unit numbers.
I've not seen 150214 either FQ, hopefully it turns up for us both soon!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Rolling Review - July 2016
Q3's bashing finally begun on 10th July, with a short notice trip to London on Tech's Uprocking Bash. It had originally been an easy and cheap day around the Midlands on 11th July, but with all that was going on lately I wanted a proper bash. Yes it wouldn't be a lot of time in London, but it would have to do! National Express took me there, due to rail replacement buses out of Hereford in each direction, and because of cost and convenience. London was sure good to me, with 103 winners and 17 shack scores, not to mention 92 new sights! Even Birmingham got in on the game, not letting itself get totally outshone by London, by turfing out a winner for everything tram for the fester between one train and the next on the way home. Only 4 trams remain before I can claim Midland Metro for 100% conquerance [probably not a word but it is now! - Ed], it could still happen before the end of 2016!
It won't be a surprise to anyone that I wanted to go back to London as soon as possible, and by the end of 14th July I had another visit organised for August. So much I wanted to get firing away on my needs down there, I was working on a way to go for a second time in August! 18th July was Day 2 of a Tech's Bookwork Weekend, however the weather was amazing and most of it was all done, so I went for a mini bash and got Llanwrtyd in the book. 4 more Heart of Wales shacks left to go, and 3 Welsh ciders enjoyed which put me on 359 unique brews. Only 41 left to go until the Q3 target of 400 at that point, and 43 days to get it!
25th July saw me out one last time this month on 'Tech Won't Be Out Done' on a mission to find 68008. However, the lack of gen on it put me off, and I went shack scoring on ATW instead. My final 4 shacks between Shrewsbury and Crewe were settled upon, and with some lengthy festers involved they were all done at long last. Still 77 or 78 ATW shacks to go, with the vast majority north of Shrewsbury. It won't be surprising to learn I have plans in the works to get them worked upon during 2017, and during 2016 if the opportunity pops up. Of course, the year is going super quickly so time to do them this year is not hugely available. I do intend, however, to start August's bashing with getting one of the ones south of Shrewsbury done...
July's data:
Winners: 104
Shack scores: 22
New sights: 93
Mileage: 527m56c
Rail fares: £47.50 (NOT including TfL fares)
Hotel ching: £26.94
Bus fares: £15.30
Coach fares: £21.60
General expenditure: £58.56
Total: £169.90
Not a bad month overall, mileage was a little lacking of course but the huge collection of winners, shack scores and new sights made up for that. August needs to be a big month for mileage though!
Q3's bashing finally begun on 10th July, with a short notice trip to London on Tech's Uprocking Bash. It had originally been an easy and cheap day around the Midlands on 11th July, but with all that was going on lately I wanted a proper bash. Yes it wouldn't be a lot of time in London, but it would have to do! National Express took me there, due to rail replacement buses out of Hereford in each direction, and because of cost and convenience. London was sure good to me, with 103 winners and 17 shack scores, not to mention 92 new sights! Even Birmingham got in on the game, not letting itself get totally outshone by London, by turfing out a winner for everything tram for the fester between one train and the next on the way home. Only 4 trams remain before I can claim Midland Metro for 100% conquerance [probably not a word but it is now! - Ed], it could still happen before the end of 2016!
It won't be a surprise to anyone that I wanted to go back to London as soon as possible, and by the end of 14th July I had another visit organised for August. So much I wanted to get firing away on my needs down there, I was working on a way to go for a second time in August! 18th July was Day 2 of a Tech's Bookwork Weekend, however the weather was amazing and most of it was all done, so I went for a mini bash and got Llanwrtyd in the book. 4 more Heart of Wales shacks left to go, and 3 Welsh ciders enjoyed which put me on 359 unique brews. Only 41 left to go until the Q3 target of 400 at that point, and 43 days to get it!
25th July saw me out one last time this month on 'Tech Won't Be Out Done' on a mission to find 68008. However, the lack of gen on it put me off, and I went shack scoring on ATW instead. My final 4 shacks between Shrewsbury and Crewe were settled upon, and with some lengthy festers involved they were all done at long last. Still 77 or 78 ATW shacks to go, with the vast majority north of Shrewsbury. It won't be surprising to learn I have plans in the works to get them worked upon during 2017, and during 2016 if the opportunity pops up. Of course, the year is going super quickly so time to do them this year is not hugely available. I do intend, however, to start August's bashing with getting one of the ones south of Shrewsbury done...
July's data:
Winners: 104
Shack scores: 22
New sights: 93
Mileage: 527m56c
Rail fares: £47.50 (NOT including TfL fares)
Hotel ching: £26.94
Bus fares: £15.30
Coach fares: £21.60
General expenditure: £58.56
Total: £169.90
Not a bad month overall, mileage was a little lacking of course but the huge collection of winners, shack scores and new sights made up for that. August needs to be a big month for mileage though!
Definitely a great amount of winners for you this month Tech, shame about the low mileage though. On saying that, I'd happily take a lower mileage total if it meant I got a high number of winner units or units I've been prioritising.
Here's hoping that you get good mileage for the rest of the year!
Here's hoping that you get good mileage for the rest of the year!
Blindtraveler
Established Member
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2011
- Messages
- 10,544
A quiet July but soon to be made up for by a roaring start to August when you break up for Holidays on Wednesday.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Cheers for the feedback gang, August's bashing started today. Trip report to be posted very shortly, and bring on Wednesday's start to the big adventure!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
With my plans for the month, I have a feeling you'll be right. I'm getting more bus mileage than rail mileage for most of my Mondays, but then it's also about getting the shacks done!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
August 2016 - Rolling Review
August's bashing started on the first day of the month, and a last minute decision following some duff weather gen saw me drop everything, pelting it up the road for the bus to Llandrindod. Yes it was indeed time for another Heart of Wales shack scratch, this time it was Llanwrda in my sights. This left just 3 more shacks on the line to get, and of course plans were in place to finish them now!
Only 2 days later I was on the rails again, this time for a proper bashing trip in London. Don't get me wrong, the recent shack scoring trips were fun, but the red pen needed to come out again! London was visited and I came away with 43 winners, about 59 new sights and 6 shack scores. The social with Blindtraveller, as well as the short time we spent with Haassanhc and Kite159, was most enjoyable and to have to say farewell and head home was quite difficult!
8th August saw a good weather forecast for a long fester, so I ended up going for a +199 to score Cynghordy on the Heart of Wales. Only two shacks on that line were therefore left to do, and I came up with a plan to score them both in one day. It would test my sanity quite a lot, but I have a good book to finish and another book to start...
15th August, and it was a gorgeous day for a long fester on the Heart of Wales! I also finished making my plans for October's 6 day bash, the last major bash of the year, so I was already in the mood to celebrate that. Quite, as I was trekking into Mid Wales I was already thinking of a playlist of music suitable for some high speed action! Builth Road was the penultimate one, Llangammarch was the last one to do. It took several years but the mission is finally complete! 7 shacks south of Shrewsbury on ATW to do, there is a plan being formulated to get them in during 2016 as well...
22nd August, unsurprisingly I was on the rails again! More ATW shack scoring was the goal, vice the originally planned winner hunt in London. 3 Cambrian line shacks down, 27 to go and 1,286 across the UK excluding NI. Considering that total was 1,335 on 6th June, it's come down well. 71 of those are on ATW's empire, still a long way to go yet! Things were feeling rather down, as the de-stress I was after didn't entirely produce, and the head was still going at the speed of light to get things figured out. I'm really not going to go into it here, and the first part of my journey home was a trip down Memory Lane with some classic happy hardcore going on. My data allowance will have taken a big hit, but totally worth it. Brisk and Ham's Rock Da Party will be referenced in a forthcoming trip, that much I can promise you! As will Scott Brown's Fly With You, but let's wait until we get to those trips before detailing those...
24th August saw me check the following week's rota, and as I wasn't down to work Bank Holiday Frothday after all, I quickly organised a major de-stress weekender bash. Those close to me already knew I was having a bad time recently, so this was exactly what the doctor ordered! London was incredibly epic, as expected, and I came away with an impressive 106 new sights, 59 shack scores and a massive 105 winners! Clearing all 270 Tube shacks is a feat that will stay with me for a long time to come, one day I'll have everything within Zones 1-9 cleared too. Unsurprisingly, I'm keen to get back down to London and fill my books even more!
Some of you may be wondering if I ever sorted out the issues I was enduring in August. Yes and no is the answer to that Yes in that I have decided what I want to do (just about!) but no in that I haven't quite made a final decision on something. That I'm about to do though! 2017 will be a little different therefore, provisionally setting low targets as a result. All will be revealed...
What's in store for September? Not sure yet to be honest! Since I originally finished this, I've made plans for a bash to Reading for some GWR 165s and 166s, plus some shack scoring, but after that it's all to play for!
August's bashing started on the first day of the month, and a last minute decision following some duff weather gen saw me drop everything, pelting it up the road for the bus to Llandrindod. Yes it was indeed time for another Heart of Wales shack scratch, this time it was Llanwrda in my sights. This left just 3 more shacks on the line to get, and of course plans were in place to finish them now!
Only 2 days later I was on the rails again, this time for a proper bashing trip in London. Don't get me wrong, the recent shack scoring trips were fun, but the red pen needed to come out again! London was visited and I came away with 43 winners, about 59 new sights and 6 shack scores. The social with Blindtraveller, as well as the short time we spent with Haassanhc and Kite159, was most enjoyable and to have to say farewell and head home was quite difficult!
8th August saw a good weather forecast for a long fester, so I ended up going for a +199 to score Cynghordy on the Heart of Wales. Only two shacks on that line were therefore left to do, and I came up with a plan to score them both in one day. It would test my sanity quite a lot, but I have a good book to finish and another book to start...
15th August, and it was a gorgeous day for a long fester on the Heart of Wales! I also finished making my plans for October's 6 day bash, the last major bash of the year, so I was already in the mood to celebrate that. Quite, as I was trekking into Mid Wales I was already thinking of a playlist of music suitable for some high speed action! Builth Road was the penultimate one, Llangammarch was the last one to do. It took several years but the mission is finally complete! 7 shacks south of Shrewsbury on ATW to do, there is a plan being formulated to get them in during 2016 as well...
22nd August, unsurprisingly I was on the rails again! More ATW shack scoring was the goal, vice the originally planned winner hunt in London. 3 Cambrian line shacks down, 27 to go and 1,286 across the UK excluding NI. Considering that total was 1,335 on 6th June, it's come down well. 71 of those are on ATW's empire, still a long way to go yet! Things were feeling rather down, as the de-stress I was after didn't entirely produce, and the head was still going at the speed of light to get things figured out. I'm really not going to go into it here, and the first part of my journey home was a trip down Memory Lane with some classic happy hardcore going on. My data allowance will have taken a big hit, but totally worth it. Brisk and Ham's Rock Da Party will be referenced in a forthcoming trip, that much I can promise you! As will Scott Brown's Fly With You, but let's wait until we get to those trips before detailing those...
24th August saw me check the following week's rota, and as I wasn't down to work Bank Holiday Frothday after all, I quickly organised a major de-stress weekender bash. Those close to me already knew I was having a bad time recently, so this was exactly what the doctor ordered! London was incredibly epic, as expected, and I came away with an impressive 106 new sights, 59 shack scores and a massive 105 winners! Clearing all 270 Tube shacks is a feat that will stay with me for a long time to come, one day I'll have everything within Zones 1-9 cleared too. Unsurprisingly, I'm keen to get back down to London and fill my books even more!
Some of you may be wondering if I ever sorted out the issues I was enduring in August. Yes and no is the answer to that Yes in that I have decided what I want to do (just about!) but no in that I haven't quite made a final decision on something. That I'm about to do though! 2017 will be a little different therefore, provisionally setting low targets as a result. All will be revealed...
What's in store for September? Not sure yet to be honest! Since I originally finished this, I've made plans for a bash to Reading for some GWR 165s and 166s, plus some shack scoring, but after that it's all to play for!
Kite159
Veteran Member
A productive August for shack clearance 
Techniquest
Veteran Member
September 2016 - Rolling Review
It's the end of Q3 2016, so this review will be bigger than the August one. Expect some serious numbers in the data at the end of this update!
September's bashing didn't begin too quickly, as the first weekend of the month I didn't have the cash to do much. With a truely huge pile of bookwork to do, that was allocated to another instalment of Tech's Bookwork Weekend!
Naturally I was keen to get going again and this happened on 12th September. I nearly didn't get out of bed, but I make myself get up and get on the rails! The Cambrian Main Line was calling, but then so was Birmingham, and eventually I decided upon a trip to the big city! Just as well, as I finally get 68008 in the book, a long term irritating gap now filled! I also get down to 3 more Midland Metro trams to get for haulage, all three required for sight too. Eventually they will fall...
Tech's Turbo Power was next, starting in the evening of 17th September. The plan here was to clear out the 12 shacks I need on the North Downs line, plus of course hunt required 165s and 166s. I end up coming away from the 2 and a bit days trip with 22 shack scores, a winner 165, a winner 166, 3 winner 456s and 7 winner 450s, not too bad. I was already in TPP Mode well before the end of the trip, although it was proving difficult to find a way to fit much in. January's week off is still the priority for figuring out, and nothing much can be done between this trip and Tech's October Fest!
The following weekend was allocated to a major Tech's Bookwork Weekend, as I had my new TrackMaps Book 4 to fill in, as well as a RailMiles update to do. No bashing could be justified with that much to do, and in all fairness money wasn't really available for it this time either. I also discover this weekend that I am down to just 1,219 UK shacks left to get, not including Northern Ireland. That number has fallen quite significantly since my first count in June!
September ended on quite the low point, as I received my elderly godmother was severely ill and we needed to see her while we still could. Cue an emergency trip to West Yorkshire to do this on 29th September. I end up scoring 2 new sights and 2 Metrolink trams for haulage, most appreciated pick-me-ups on a less than enjoyable day.
Now bring on Q4 and the fun it promises to bring! Tech's October Fest is 12 days away, that will be a truely epic time. I had hoped to be back on the rails by now, obviously this hasn't happened due to a huge pile of bookwork to get through.
September spendage:
Rail fares: £131.75
Bus fares: £4.10
Hotel ching: £78
Air fares: £0
General expenditure: £100.32
Total: £314.17
Considering some of my monthly figures this year, that was a bargain basement figure, far less than August! October's numbers will be far higher though...
It's the end of Q3 2016, so this review will be bigger than the August one. Expect some serious numbers in the data at the end of this update!
September's bashing didn't begin too quickly, as the first weekend of the month I didn't have the cash to do much. With a truely huge pile of bookwork to do, that was allocated to another instalment of Tech's Bookwork Weekend!
Naturally I was keen to get going again and this happened on 12th September. I nearly didn't get out of bed, but I make myself get up and get on the rails! The Cambrian Main Line was calling, but then so was Birmingham, and eventually I decided upon a trip to the big city! Just as well, as I finally get 68008 in the book, a long term irritating gap now filled! I also get down to 3 more Midland Metro trams to get for haulage, all three required for sight too. Eventually they will fall...
Tech's Turbo Power was next, starting in the evening of 17th September. The plan here was to clear out the 12 shacks I need on the North Downs line, plus of course hunt required 165s and 166s. I end up coming away from the 2 and a bit days trip with 22 shack scores, a winner 165, a winner 166, 3 winner 456s and 7 winner 450s, not too bad. I was already in TPP Mode well before the end of the trip, although it was proving difficult to find a way to fit much in. January's week off is still the priority for figuring out, and nothing much can be done between this trip and Tech's October Fest!
The following weekend was allocated to a major Tech's Bookwork Weekend, as I had my new TrackMaps Book 4 to fill in, as well as a RailMiles update to do. No bashing could be justified with that much to do, and in all fairness money wasn't really available for it this time either. I also discover this weekend that I am down to just 1,219 UK shacks left to get, not including Northern Ireland. That number has fallen quite significantly since my first count in June!
September ended on quite the low point, as I received my elderly godmother was severely ill and we needed to see her while we still could. Cue an emergency trip to West Yorkshire to do this on 29th September. I end up scoring 2 new sights and 2 Metrolink trams for haulage, most appreciated pick-me-ups on a less than enjoyable day.
Now bring on Q4 and the fun it promises to bring! Tech's October Fest is 12 days away, that will be a truely epic time. I had hoped to be back on the rails by now, obviously this hasn't happened due to a huge pile of bookwork to get through.
September spendage:
Rail fares: £131.75
Bus fares: £4.10
Hotel ching: £78
Air fares: £0
General expenditure: £100.32
Total: £314.17
Considering some of my monthly figures this year, that was a bargain basement figure, far less than August! October's numbers will be far higher though...
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I finally got around to finishing off Q3's stats tonight!
Q3 Figures:
Winners: 267
Shack scores: 113
New sights: 262
Q3 Spendage
Rail fares: £319
Hotel ching: £221.89
Bus fares: £46.50
Coach fares: £21.60
Air fares: £0
General expenditure: £280.36
Total: £889.35
Not a cheap 3 months, as I'm sure you'll agree, that being said it was cheaper than Q1! It has been totally worth every penny, it has been an incredibly productive time, of that much there can be no disagreement. Yes there's been some downsides in there, but there's been a lot of highlights too!
Q4 is traditionally the quieter time of year for me, thanks to December and Frothmas. However I do have an intense 6 day bash coming up in October, unsurprisingly the hashtag will be #TechsOctoberFest. November sees me and my colleague and great friend head to Vienna on the next stage of our ambition to see the best of the world. Hashtag will be #VienesseTech. December will see some festive hashtags in use, as well as the return of the Anti-Frothmas bash. This one is yet to be confirmed, but me and Blindtraveller are working on it! There will be some other bits and bobs chucked in there, but they are totally unknown yet.
Q4's update will be enormous, as it will feature the usual End of Year summary, as well as a final count of the year's expenditures. Expect that to be quite the significant set of numbers! It will take some time to decide Move of the Year, Trip of the Year is already known of course and I doubt anyone needs to ask me what it was!
Q3 Figures:
Winners: 267
Shack scores: 113
New sights: 262
Q3 Spendage
Rail fares: £319
Hotel ching: £221.89
Bus fares: £46.50
Coach fares: £21.60
Air fares: £0
General expenditure: £280.36
Total: £889.35
Not a cheap 3 months, as I'm sure you'll agree, that being said it was cheaper than Q1! It has been totally worth every penny, it has been an incredibly productive time, of that much there can be no disagreement. Yes there's been some downsides in there, but there's been a lot of highlights too!
Q4 is traditionally the quieter time of year for me, thanks to December and Frothmas. However I do have an intense 6 day bash coming up in October, unsurprisingly the hashtag will be #TechsOctoberFest. November sees me and my colleague and great friend head to Vienna on the next stage of our ambition to see the best of the world. Hashtag will be #VienesseTech. December will see some festive hashtags in use, as well as the return of the Anti-Frothmas bash. This one is yet to be confirmed, but me and Blindtraveller are working on it! There will be some other bits and bobs chucked in there, but they are totally unknown yet.
Q4's update will be enormous, as it will feature the usual End of Year summary, as well as a final count of the year's expenditures. Expect that to be quite the significant set of numbers! It will take some time to decide Move of the Year, Trip of the Year is already known of course and I doubt anyone needs to ask me what it was!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Rolling Review - October 2016
I still can't believe how fast this year has gone, and that we're in Q4 2016! Prep for 2017 will be getting started soon...
Having had a rather quiet September, October started no better. 2nd and 3rd October saw me on another bookwork weekend, having received my copy of the 14th edition of the Baker rail atlas. This was mostly complete, with almost all of the ticking in the index to do, but there was still a lot to do in my Trackmaps book 4. That got allocated to another bookwork weekend on 9th and 10th October, however this weekend I achieved the approximate sum of...nothing! By 11th October, I was feeling more like a caged lion having not been on a proper bash for over 3 weeks by now. That really isn't a long time, admittedly, but with funds the way they were it had to be endured until Tech's October Fest started on 17th October! November was going to be no easier, and let's not think about how poor December is going to be...The mega bash was quite the success, with 42 winners, 31 shack scores and unexpectedly 50 new sights. GA 153s and 170s cleared and only 1 GA 90 and 2 GA 156s remain apart from a ton of EMUs there now. A ton of required shacks too of course, but they can wait!
26th October saw me back on the rails, however this wasn't for fun, this was to take me to my godmother's funeral in Stamford. As this was a trip through the Midlands, I understandably didn't get much into my NREA, adding just GWR HST trailer 46012 for haulage and making 170105 into a Super Dud. It was a very long day, leaving the house at 0440 and not getting back in until about 2018 that evening. RIP Valerie Perry 1928-2016.
The bright side was ending the month on a very significant 2,172 miles which I was mindblown by and very pleased with! It certainly wasn't a cheap month, and there's only two months left in 2016! So what's left to come?
14th November sees me and my mate go to Vienna, and as this will be my first flight on BA I'm keen to see what they're like. Of course, the trip to/from Gatwick features HSTs and 166s so I'm very much looking forward to that too! There will probably not be anything else in November, possibly a mini bash in there somewhere but that seems only like a remote possibility right now.
December, traditionally my quietest month of the year bashing wise, and all I have there is Tech's Anti Frothmas (2016 edition) 10th-12th December. This takes in London, some Night Tube moves, Crewe and some Northern MU and shack bashing. If anything else whatsoever can be fitted into December I'll be shocked quite honestly, it's an expensive time of year. I do have plans to kick off 2017 in style, I just need to get stuff booked for that now...
October's Scores on the Doors
Winners: 42
Shack scores: 31
New sights: 50
Mileage: 2,172
Rail fares: £271.85
Bus fares: £8.20
Hotel ching: £159.50
General expenditure: £103.77
Total: £543.32
Overall, for the results I came with, I'm very impressed at how cheap October was! Granted, near the end of Tech's October Fest I did get pretty tight fisted and didn't spend half as much on food as I should have, but I clearly survived! As already discussed, there isn't much happening in November after VienneseTech (I must check that spelling in the hashtag!) so November won't be half as productive. I have smashed all my targets for 2016 already, however, so I've done well. I seriously doubt I'll ever get as many winners in one year ever again!
I still can't believe how fast this year has gone, and that we're in Q4 2016! Prep for 2017 will be getting started soon...
Having had a rather quiet September, October started no better. 2nd and 3rd October saw me on another bookwork weekend, having received my copy of the 14th edition of the Baker rail atlas. This was mostly complete, with almost all of the ticking in the index to do, but there was still a lot to do in my Trackmaps book 4. That got allocated to another bookwork weekend on 9th and 10th October, however this weekend I achieved the approximate sum of...nothing! By 11th October, I was feeling more like a caged lion having not been on a proper bash for over 3 weeks by now. That really isn't a long time, admittedly, but with funds the way they were it had to be endured until Tech's October Fest started on 17th October! November was going to be no easier, and let's not think about how poor December is going to be...The mega bash was quite the success, with 42 winners, 31 shack scores and unexpectedly 50 new sights. GA 153s and 170s cleared and only 1 GA 90 and 2 GA 156s remain apart from a ton of EMUs there now. A ton of required shacks too of course, but they can wait!
26th October saw me back on the rails, however this wasn't for fun, this was to take me to my godmother's funeral in Stamford. As this was a trip through the Midlands, I understandably didn't get much into my NREA, adding just GWR HST trailer 46012 for haulage and making 170105 into a Super Dud. It was a very long day, leaving the house at 0440 and not getting back in until about 2018 that evening. RIP Valerie Perry 1928-2016.
The bright side was ending the month on a very significant 2,172 miles which I was mindblown by and very pleased with! It certainly wasn't a cheap month, and there's only two months left in 2016! So what's left to come?
14th November sees me and my mate go to Vienna, and as this will be my first flight on BA I'm keen to see what they're like. Of course, the trip to/from Gatwick features HSTs and 166s so I'm very much looking forward to that too! There will probably not be anything else in November, possibly a mini bash in there somewhere but that seems only like a remote possibility right now.
December, traditionally my quietest month of the year bashing wise, and all I have there is Tech's Anti Frothmas (2016 edition) 10th-12th December. This takes in London, some Night Tube moves, Crewe and some Northern MU and shack bashing. If anything else whatsoever can be fitted into December I'll be shocked quite honestly, it's an expensive time of year. I do have plans to kick off 2017 in style, I just need to get stuff booked for that now...
October's Scores on the Doors
Winners: 42
Shack scores: 31
New sights: 50
Mileage: 2,172
Rail fares: £271.85
Bus fares: £8.20
Hotel ching: £159.50
General expenditure: £103.77
Total: £543.32
Overall, for the results I came with, I'm very impressed at how cheap October was! Granted, near the end of Tech's October Fest I did get pretty tight fisted and didn't spend half as much on food as I should have, but I clearly survived! As already discussed, there isn't much happening in November after VienneseTech (I must check that spelling in the hashtag!) so November won't be half as productive. I have smashed all my targets for 2016 already, however, so I've done well. I seriously doubt I'll ever get as many winners in one year ever again!
Blindtraveler
Established Member
- Joined
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- 10,544
Wouldnt be so sure about the winners in a year, dont forget that theres near enough 600 plus new trains rolling out in the next few years. You missed out the r and ER in your review, were you really that unimpressed?
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Oops! I did rush that at the time, I did enjoy the R&ER, quite an organised setup.
I'm sorry to hear you had to attend a funeral Tech.
Sounds like other than that, it wasn't a bad month by the looks of it. I can't believe how fast 2016 is going either, although as I was able to spend more time out on the rails this year that might be why!
Sounds like other than that, it wasn't a bad month by the looks of it. I can't believe how fast 2016 is going either, although as I was able to spend more time out on the rails this year that might be why!
alexf380
Established Member
Indeed, sorry to hear about your Godmother's passing. Never a happy subject.
However, that aside, October was a very good month to you! Looking forward to hearing your travels form the Continent.
However, that aside, October was a very good month to you! Looking forward to hearing your travels form the Continent.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Cheers lads
October was pretty good overall, 12 days to go until I head to Vienna!
October was pretty good overall, 12 days to go until I head to Vienna!
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