Juliano's World Frenzy/Tech's Trip Reports

[SuperLuke2334]

Hence the plan being to book a Premier Inn at Wilmslow to do it. If the 67 fails to produce, then I can still go off and do some cycling instead

Sounds like a plan! I'm sure you'll be able to gauge it from people on here with the info!

 

[Kite159]

I presume Crewe - Chester might see some use for 67+Mk4s during high summer if TfW get forced to run additional crowd-relief services due to mass overcrowding for coastal services. Like has happened in the past when ATW had the Mk3 set at Holyhead not doing anything at weekends so they pressed it out in service for extra services.

 

[Techniquest]

Morning all,

I was expecting to do some trip reports in June, but I've not got that far. July is fast coming around, and now I've caught up on my moves list, mileage files etc I have nothing lined up for the final few days of June. July is Tour de France month, both the men's race and the women's race, just as well as I spent a lot of money somehow on a family holiday!

That's not to say there was nothing happening in June though. The month kicked off with a visit to Cam & Dursley, the mission being to clear the mind after some non-railway events. That was a nice bit of cycling, and I finally finished the walk along the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal Thankfully that day had much better weather for it than I'd had for the first two-thirds of it!

3 days later, 4th June, I'd been staring at an OS map and the Forest of Dean was calling me. The weather was beautiful, I had to take advantage of that! It was a beautiful bit of walking, once I'd stopped getting lost that is. I have many photos, and I now know what the cycling route is like around the Forest. Absolutely not one for my Blue Beauty, I'd have to investigate hiring a mountain bike. My poor SuperNovas were certainly dusty after that day, and let's not discuss how many buckets of sweat I went through. Or indeed the epic steep climb up and around the Cinderford town centre, that alone was good for leg strengthening. Exhausting, but a great mission overall!

10 days passed before I finally did anything to add to the moves list. June was a month I was wanting a lot of focus on cycling, so other days were still busy! This was the third day of 197s in passenger service to Cardiff, and 197010 became my first decent length journey on a 197. I'd been going to combine it with a ton of 231 action, what with 8 out of 11 of the class I still wanted. A points failure was causing issues and I left Queen Street feeling lucky to have scored a winner 'up the ramp' from Central as it was! Having seen my first coal train in a long time there, I decided that I was better off getting on a cycling tour of Cardiff, despite the hot weather. That ride took me through a tougher route than planned up through Leckwith and Llandough, before finally hitting much easier territory to Barry. The ride took me through more hot weather after a lengthy break, ending up on the A4226 before the A48 to Decathlon and some more coverage before a winner 231 'down the ramp' to Central. 6 more 231s remain to be scored, hopefully next time that'll happen! I can't complain too much though, that was some seriously good cycling and I added a fair bit to my South East Wales Sustrans map.

A few days later began a week long family holiday. Let's not discuss the dramas that caused! The important thing to first mention here though is I finally scored my last 444 on 20th June! It was only on a New Milton to Bournemouth leap, but that was good enough, the class was finally done at long last! Don't ask me how many 450s I still want though, that's a lengthy list and I'm just not on the SWR network enough to do much about that. That same morning, I'd ticked off another item that's been on my exploring to-do list (I have a railway to-do list, an exploring to-do list and a buses to-do list, as well as a more general to-do list) which never comes down for long. That was to sample a Beryl bike in Bournemouth, and wow the coverage area in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole is huge! I had gone on the family holiday requiring just 22.5 miles to clear the Strava 600km cycling challenge, and I made sure the Beryl ride gave me plenty of new coverage and aimed for that 22.5 miles to be completed. I took in some of the seafront around Bournemouth and Sandbanks before heading up and over the hill into Poole, even overtaking one of the triathletes in the Sandbanks area! I also got myself over to places like Rockley Park and Hamworthy railway station (just in case I ever end up down there on a future ride, at least I don't then need to ride east of the station) before I saw I was an hour into my Beryl hire at Hamworthy. I had 118 minutes in total in my Beryl account, I was not wanting to go over that! Back into Poole via a different route, up and over the railway on the steeply graded bridge and I charged my way towards Parkstone. The gradients on the way north were bigger than I'd expected, that sure generated some Sunday morning sweat and strength into the quads! Thankfully once over the top the route into Bournemouth via Westbourne is easy going! With the challenge completed, I had treated myself to a celebratory Pret coffee and cookie £2.95 for a black coffee in Pret was huge, but sorely welcome!

Later that same day, I finally ticked off the Bournemouth to Swanage open-top bus route, having also done the chain ferry by foot the day before (that was just part of an epic walking adventure!) then the Swanage to Poole bus route. I have to say I preferred Route 40 to Poole than Route 50 to Swanage, although that could be in part because I didn't get surrounded by young children on the Poole bus. That was my first encounter with that Baby Shark song, and I felt more glad than ever to have never needed to come across it before! Let's not go there on my views on raising children, we haven't got all day!

19th June was re-positioning day, from Bournemouth to Sandy Bay, and on the way we stopped off at Lulworth Cove. The weather was glorious, so I set off towards Durdle Door while the family (they're very much not active people) took it much more easy. I walked past Scratchy Bottom up the challenging hill and the views were amazing. I wanted to carry on west, but I dared not with no knowledge of what the South West Coast Path would throw at me next, and I was in my SuperNovas not hiking boots. So back down the hill, no easy feat given the path was barely in existence there, and back to Lulworth Cove. Believe it or not, this was my first time on the South West Coast Path, which is incredibly massive at over 500 miles long, but it was good fun to do and I'd like to do more of it at some point.

The day after, 20th June, I was out on a walking expedition and it was one of those without any real plan. Into Exmouth town centre first, to the marina and at the station I was going to stop and pick up a train. Then I came across the Exe Estuary Trail, and Exeter was only 10 miles away. I figured I might as well follow it to at least Lympstone Village, then train it from there. The weather came out gorgeous there, so I wasn't wasting good walking weather! Onwards and upwards, with the trail proper ending just outside Topsham. I kept with Route 2 into Exeter, and after a while it left Topsham Road to follow a meandering route through the suburbs. 3 miles, supposedly, from Exeter on that and I saw a non-National Cycle Network blue sign reading 'Pinhoe 4' which was more like it. I was going there anyway, so after getting slightly lost (as the signs didn't tell me I needed to use the big footbridge) I made my way to Pinhoe using shared-use paths all the way. I made the 1135 to Exeter St Davids with just 10 minutes to spare, having been on the walk for around 3 hours and 45 minutes in total. 16.2 miles in total, and I didn't know there was an electric bike hire scheme in the Exeter area! If it had been regular pedal cycles, I'd have been on one without any doubt. Pinhoe had been the only station I'd not done in my stations visiting days between Plymouth and Basingstoke, so that was finally corrected!

Later the same day, I was in Starcross to do something else on my exploring to-do list, having added more to said list along the way, and this was the Starcross to Exmouth ferry. £5 cash only single (a return currently sells for £7.50) and I had 'Orcombe' on the slow journey to Exmouth. Having finally done that, and with the weather forecast looking more than grim for later in the afternoon, I had one more thing on my railway list for the duration. Lympstone Village was the last station on the Exmouth branch to do, and £3.40 later I had a return ticket to there to finally correct that. 150 out, 158 back, I didn't think the ticket was good value for a 4 mile round trip but it's been a frustrating gap for a long time. Back to Haven I went, and later that evening the weather was still good enough to go exploring. So I went out and did a pre-meal walk, which took me to Budleigh Salterton along the South West Coast Path. I just made it in time for a bus back towards Exmouth, and had a power walk from Littleham Cross to Haven. Averaging 4.9mph, that felt much better, that's the sort of speed I'm more comfortable with!

The day after, 21st June, was a day in Paignton and Dawlish with my little sister. I managed some exploring, but nowhere near as much as I'd have liked. I did get to see the Blue Pullman HST by chance at Paignton though, which was a huge bonus. I'd have loved to see it along the sea wall at Dawlish too, but times just didn't work out for that. The Paignton branch also got scored for an IET, and later on I got the Exmouth branch done on a 166 so some little curiosities on my railway to-do list got cleared.

22nd June was meant to be an adventure to Land's End, but Mum didn't feel up to that. In the morning, I'd got fed up waiting for the family to get their rear ends into gear, so went off on a mini adventure on foot. This time I did the coast path over to Exmouth and linked up with my previous coverage, before then giving up on waiting for the bus to move itself along the promenade. I knew I could easily walk back to Haven and arrive at my specific destination only a few minutes after the bus would have done. So I flicked the switch from 'exploring mode' to 'power mode' and put the legs into high gear via the suburbs to Littleham Cross and over to Haven. The bus might have beaten me to Haven by maybe 8 minutes, but I'd certainly got some good exercise in and that was what mattered. The rest of the day was with family, and in the evening I finally got to try out the bargain wetsuit I'd sourced months ago in Aldi. I wasn't in the mood for anything like paddle boarding or whatever, another time perhaps, but this was just about breaking the wetsuit in as it were.

23rd June was a long travel day all the way back to Hereford, but before that I went with Mum on one of Stuart Lines Cruises on their Jurassic Coast Cruise. I'd highly recommend that at £12 per adult, the views of the coast up to Ladram Bay were fantastic and I enjoyed it more than I expected to. Of course, on the road trip (Mum drives, the rest of us can't) I was making copious notes ahead of any future cycling adventures. There wasn't as much to note on the first part of the trip, as this took on the A376 Exmouth to Exeter, then the A30 to the A37, then the A361 to Frome and around to Bath, where we took the little streets through Batheaston to avoid the city centre. The A46 was bad enough for any future cycling, the A36 into Bath is absolutely off my list now having seen how unpleasant it would be. With a desire to avoid Stroud, we turned off for Dursley and the A4135 is not a pleasant road to do with those monster gradients! Another one firmly off my list, I can assure you! Thankfully after Dursley, it was soon on the A38 which is much better before branching off at Higham (Mum doesn't like the A40) and over around Newent to Trumpet and A438 back to Hereford. It would be faster via the M5, of course, but Mum hates doing motorway journeys so we avoid them like the plague!

So that was June, a busy month but nothing worth making a dedicated trip report for, if that makes sense. July's going to be busy with work and Tour de France, so I'm not expecting to do anything railway until August. In the meantime, over the next few days I'm cutting down my screen time dramatically. When I was away, I found myself with poor data signal at Haven so didn't use my phone too much. That was actually quite nice, not having a screen in front of me too much. Given I'll be increasing my screen time dramatically in July, a few days with minimising it before then will be welcome. So I'll not be active on here for a while! All my photos are on the phone, this got typed up initially as a quick summary but got expanded upon quite a bit! Let's just say there's a good few hundred photos to go through before I can commit to putting any on here

 

[Kite159]

A busy month

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Nice to see that "Orcombe" is still on the Starcross ferry! Enjoyed a ride on her from Exmouth to Starcross, where I rejoined the same 153 that I'd previously travelled on to Exmouth, but which had gone round the estuary.

 

[Techniquest]

Wow, a 153, that must have been a while ago!

Attached are a handful of photos, there are so many more and choosing even a few of interest is not an easy decision!

In order, they are:

1) Beryl bike-selfie at Haven Rockley Park
2) 444039 crossing through Poole town centre on an ECS move
3) Beryl bike-selfie next to the mural at Hamworthy station
4) 444s in both old and new livery at New Milton, taken from the station footbridge
5) Mission complete, with 444020 on the left being my last of the class to travel on Photo taken just before the detach at Bournemouth
6) Beryl bike-selfie at Middle Chine (I think), Bournemouth in front of the scenic forested area
7) Finally, the Hants & Dorset liveried double-decker on Route 40 Swanage-Poole

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Just checked my records, and this was 16 years ago. Memory slightly faulty - 155377 took me to Exmouth (new track), Orcombe to Starcross, 153368 to Newton Abbot, 43092+43033 to Plymouth, where 153377 was waiting (presumably having got there by TARDIS), to take me to Gunnislake (more new track).

 

[Techniquest]

Well I've been away from this thread for longer than I expected, and I never did cut down my screen time! I do have some good news though in this update!

June ended after my previous post, with a rather unplanned adventure to Birmingham. On 28th June 2023, 196012 finally entered service and I took it and 196003 to Birmingham New Street. That day turned into a day on the Midland Metro, scoring 3 trams and following in the footsteps of Kite159, as I'd taken inspiration from one of his recent walks. With the arms swinging in L-shaped forms, I got the shared-use path done between The Hawthorns and Black Lake. I'd have done more in the Midlands, but there were issues between Birmingham and Worcester, caused by a Person Hit By Train incident. Having seen that with a well-timed look at Real Time Trains, I routed myself and fast via Kidderminster.

July was *meant* to be Tour de France/Tour de France Femmes month, but that didn't exactly happen. First though, my good news, and I had to check the calendar for the date I must confess. It's been a busy time with many things all going on at once lately, but given this was a moment for the history books I'm surprised I didn't mark the calendar/have it memorised! 4th July 2023 and I was watching Tour de France on GCN+, patiently but not patiently waiting for a phone call. That finally came through, and that afternoon became much more about getting ready for the life-changing event I'd been wanting for too long. I was finally changing jobs, leaving behind my supermarket job at long last and moving on! 2 weeks today I left that supermarket, and I've moved on into a job that actually allows me to do what I like doing best, helping people Yes, 18th July 2023 was the day I finally left the supermarket and now I've just noticed that I feel like celebrating! I think this calls for a celebratory Earl Grey!

The rail action in July 2023 kicked off on 5th July, with a post-Tour mini evening out in Malvern. This trip finally took on the personal challenge of walking from Great Malvern to Colwall stations via the roads. The cross-border walk from Worcestershire to Herefordshire had been on my to-do list for a long time, and of course I wasn't just going to walk it. No, I was going to do it Tech-style, the arms swinging again and the legs moving as fast as they could. I did allow a couple of brief stops for photos, and while I don't have the details to hand as I'm typing this on the MacBook, it was a time I was very pleased with. Of course, I want to do it in the other direction as well for a comparison, and given some of the gradients in the eastbound direction are rather significant it could be interesting. It's on the to-do list, I can promise you all that, and now I've reminded myself of it I will be doing it soon! I scored 196002 that night too, only for a tiny journey though and it has the novelty of being the only 196/0 I've not had into/out of Hereford yet. Apart from 196010 and 196011, which due to issues on WMR for the billionth time this year just don't seem to be out much/at all. Those two are the only ones I want out of the 196/0s, and my patience is wearing thin!

A week later, 12th July, I was back out to score 196009 and I took it with 196012 to Malvern Link. This time, I was on a coverage/elevation gains mission, and I sure got a lot of both! Oh yes, I forgot to mention, I was doing the 2,000 metres run/walk elevation gains challenge on Strava in July 2023. I had done it the month before as well, and I demolished it a fair number of days before the end of the month as it turned out. Something in the 2,600 metres range I got to, I'd have to load up Strava and I will do that later. My walk ended at a chippy and I ended up taking the same 196s back to Hereford.

4 days later, 16th July, and I was in Oxfordshire scoring Chiltern 165s. I also got some walking adventures going on that day, as well as 3 165s and finally ticking off Bicester Village shopping centre. It had been a curiosity for a long time, and I needed new trainers. I still do as of 1st August 2023, but that will happen soon! It was certainly a day of walking coverage, so much so I ended up getting the OS map for Oxford the day after!

The following day, 17th July, I forked out a fair chunk of change to go to Abergavenny and score 197007 and 197011. Quite, without checking on Strava, the mini coverage mission in Abergavenny cleared the elevation gains challenge! I'd have done more, but I had the chance to take 67013 back to Hereford and I couldn't say no!

The day after, clearly my red pen was not satisfied and I went to Leominster on a pair of 153s to score 197017 and 197001 back to Hereford on a pre-work trip. 18th July was, as mentioned above, my last ever day in Asda and I still haven't been back to that shop. I've been past it, but not into it, I just can't bring myself to do so. I was going to visit some of my squad there by now, but I just can't do it. Put it this way, I was that keen to leave there I finished drying my uniform in the early hours of 19th July and dropped it off there later that morning! 19th July saw some trains as well, frustratingly after my coverage mission in Leominster, which I still haven't marked off on the OS map, 197021 didn't come down and I met up with two fellow Asda escapees upon my return to Hereford.

Fortunately, the next day was better! 20th July saw me make a trip to Manchester for only the second time in 2023. Shocking considering it's one of my favourite cities in the UK! I'd seen my last two 331/0s were paired up, and it was another strike day on the railway. I won't go on about my opinions on that, but I am absolutely fed up of the disruption the strikes/overtime bans/whatever are causing. Fortunately TfW were behaving reasonably well that day, and I was also using this trip as part of a 175 farewell. It still seems crazy that the end of the 175s is coming up so fast, and given I doubt I'll be able to do Manchester again for a good while, this opportunity was absolutely taken up. 4 Metrolink trams also got scored on a beautifully sunny and warm day, and of course there was some epic walking going on. I still need to go and buy the relevant OS maps, but that'll come around soon. My first 197/1 was also had, only from Piccadilly to East Didsbury but it would do. 331007 and 331018 followed it for the massive mileage move from East Didsbury to Gatley. Why there? That was the last station I hadn't visited on that line, which cleared a long line of coverage from Manchester to Exeter St Thomas of stations all done. It used to be Manchester to Plymouth, but Marsh Barton has opened and changed that More importantly, the 331/0s were finally finished and that item had been on my railway to-do list for far too long. I'd wanted them for sight too, so to get them both for haulage at the same time was quite excellent! 5 331/1s remain to clear those EMUs, and yes eventually I'll be going after them too!

The day after, 21st July, I was running low on inspiration. I'd been on the way to the railway station, to go to Pontypool & New Inn for the long-awaited walk to Blaenavon, but I changed my mind and went for the more budget option. It worked out well though, as I ended up scoring two Stagecoach buses so that was good news. I alighted at Huntley, Gloucestershire and it was a day of walking adventures. The majority of the A40 from Huntley to Gloucester is walkable along pavements, and it had been on my to-do list for way too long. This finally got done, although that bit which involves walking on verges of various widths and swapping sides of the road way too often was unpleasant. When I saw a Tim Hortons on Maps, I simply had to go for that as my end point and my large sugary Dark Roast went down a right royal treat after around 9.5 miles. As I allude to near the beginning of this epic post, when I go 'walking' then I usually mean 'power-walking'. Speed-walking is something different altogether, based on what I saw during the 2022 Commonwealth Games. I think my current average speed is up to 4.6mph, especially if I'm in my running gear! Anyway, before we get buried in discussion about that, and trust me I could go on for a while about my non-railway adventures, 21st July then saw me walk into Gloucester city centre with some more new coverage before a stop at Burger King for lunch. Having had issues yet again with the rewards app, I got my food and promptly uninstalled it permanently. With a birthday card then bought, and some new running tights sourced in the Adidas outlet shop, as you do when shopping for trainers, I went on a walking coverage mission once I thought I'd missed the 1450 bus back to Hereford. It turned out it was late, but never mind as the walk took on tons of coverage and scoped-out some potential cycle rides in the future. Oh now there's an idea for this weekend, now I've got the cogs turning! My Blue Beauty had been out of action as it needed a new tyre and other new bits, and by this point I'd got my heart set on beating my previous outdoor walking distance in a month record. On this day, I was still a few miles away, and spoiler alert, I soon had it demolished!

The day after was my sister's birthday, so that weekend I invested a lot of time in spending time with family. 24th July was the first day in my new job, and I was an absolute bag of nerves. This was the beginning of a new start, something I'd been looking forward to and something I knew if I got wrong then I'd always regret. There was and is no way I'm going back to the old job, and I'd underestimated how much I needed to learn. It's all getting a bit easier now, there's a long way to go of course but this feels right. This feels like the beginning of the next evolution of Tech, the old version being left behind and the new, better version slowly coming out. It's fair to say the first week was tough, given there's a lot of names and faces to remember, a lot of personalities to get used to and of course a lot of the job to learn. The difference since leaving Asda is incredible, I get to use the brain properly for example. It's been so dormant that I think I forgot it's actually there, and getting to use it for learning, problem solving and so on is just amazing. Quite, I actually *want* to learn now! Perhaps the most important bit though is that I actually want to go to work now, I like where I am and once I master my art I'll be so much happier it's beyond words. Yes, really, Tech is lost for words!

To celebrate the first week being completed, I took advantage of acceptable weather to go exploring. By now, my Blue Beauty was back from its repairs which included two new-to-me wheels amongst other bits, but the weather was not really on my side. So I kept up my walking mission, having smashed the 231.4 miles record from earlier in 2023. Before March 2023, the record had stood at just 207km, which seems so easy now! 197018 and 197021 were a pair of winners on 29th July 2023, and I took them to Cwmbran. I'd been trying to find a way to score the 197s and combine it with something productive. When I remembered I had an Asda gift card from some of my former colleagues, and needed to do a bit of clothes shopping, I combined that with the trains and some walking in South Wales. I finally took on the former railway route towards Blaenavon, along National Cycle Network Route 492, which I left at the junction with the A472. After sourcing a Costa Express, I took on the canal towards Cwmbran. Well, except I got distracted and didn't check my route properly and was actually walking towards Abergavenny! I realised around Bridge 55, and decided after a consultation with Maps that I'd be better off heading for Pontypool & New Inn instead. I'd not make it to Cwmbran in time, I suspected, as there was no way I could do a power walk down the canal with a large hot coffee in my hand. It turned out that I'd have been close at the least, as the train I'd been going for was rather late due to a short notice substitute train. 175 vice 67, and the 197s failed to materialise, so when 150258 arrived on an additional stop and was rather full, I decided that I'd be better off heading to Cwmbran anyway. The weather had changed but had again changed to being sunny. Still rather windy, but it would be good for walking. So I set off along the canal and made sure I went the right way this time! For a while I'd considered carrying on all the way to Newport, but the need to be back for some family time was there, and a pair of 175s was promised to take me back to Hereford. I absolutely could not turn that down, although only having 175010 available to sit in, with 175103 locked out on the rear, was not terribly helpful. Even so, that will almost certainly be my final pair of 175s so that was nice. The 2-car 175s are due to be replaced in the coming couple of weeks, so the odds are I may never get one of those ever again either!

So that's the big update! Oh, the Tour, I meant to discuss that too. I don't know why, but I didn't really enjoy the 2023 edition of the Tour de France. I know during the 2022 Tour, which was my first, it was different because I was recovering from Covid. Still, I think the 2022 route was a better balance and not an obsession with mountains like it was in 2023. I stopped watching it properly after Stage 14 I think, and didn't even bother with highlights for the finale. Tour de France Femmes, for reasons unknown, the first stage was shown in full but the rest of it was not and quite honestly, I thought the coverage was poor. The commentary definitely wasn't great, and I didn't bother with even the highlights after the second stage. I'd been looking forward to both events for quite some time, and I feel I rather wasted £6.99 on the GCN+ subscription this time. I've decided not to do that again in 2024, I can find better things to spend £6.99 on! I am rather hoping the BBC do some excellent coverage of the upcoming track cycling championships like they did in 2022!

Track cycling, now that I do excited about. I've never tried it myself, but it is a great watch! I can already hear the bell ringing, and things like the elimination race promise to be amazing to watch. I had wanted to go to Glasgow to watch it live, but I never got that organised. If something's going to take me away from trains, it's the UCI track cycling championships While those are on, I can assure you that my red pen is staying happily in the drawer. I've just looked and I see it starts in 2 days time, oh my that's awesome news!

Anyway, what lies ahead for Tech in terms of railway adventures? Well, there's potential for something to happen this weekend. The track cycling will be a big feature, but I also fully expect to be doing something outdoors if the weather behaves. Hopefully in the next 48 hours an actual plan will be formed!

 

[Bald Rick]

Congrats on the job, so pleased you took the plunge.

As for the Tour 2023 - it was superb!!

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Congratulations on escaping Asda.

Another vote for Tour 2023 from me - good stuff all the way through, and mountains with funiculars going up are for me more interesting than circling a banked oval - but I'm not a cyclist myself, so maybe miss some of the nuances.

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks gents, most appreciated

Why I didn't particularly enjoy the Tour is not entirely clear, it could be that I'm not into road cycling as much as I like track cycling. Before I watched the track events last year, I genuinely thought I'd be bored by it but no, I really enjoyed the UCI championships and I hope the same will apply this year.

For what it's worth, I also enjoy speed-skating, that's really good fun. It's intense stuff, not so much with the one-on-one races but the team races are just another level of brilliance.

I went looking at options for this weekend, to get out there and explore, last night and I've still not decided. I'm toying with a London trip, given the Travelcard is to be retired in January 2024. I'll soon decide I hope, I want to commit to something involving walking and/or cycling, but having overdone the indoor exercises on Sunday I've got some very angry leg muscles. They're taking a while to recover, but hopefully I'll be all good by Friday!

EDIT: I forgot to attach some photos!

1) A scenic view from the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border on the Great Malvern-Colwall walk

2) Strava screenshot from the aforementioned walk

3) Old signage and scenery in Great Malvern

4) The day after, 196009+196012 shunting in Hereford to work the 1050 to Birmingham New Street

5) A scenery view on the walking expedition starting from Malvern Link. Thankfully those clouds mostly behaved!

6) By the end of that walk, nearly half 9 in the evening, the sky was most unpleasant looking! Check out the mural in Malvern Link which I hadn't seen before!

7) and 8) Two photos of murals in the Headington area of Oxford, they sure brightened things up

9) Finally, a pair of 197s at Abergavenny

 

[Bald Rick]

I went looking at options for this weekend, to get out there and explore, last night and I've still not decided.

Beware hotel prices in Glasgow are a little lively this weekend - specifically because of the UCI world champs.

 

[Kite159]

Beware hotel prices in Glasgow are a little lively this weekend - specifically because of the UCI world champs.

Also no doubt due to the Edinburgh festival pushing prices up for anywhere in the central belt.

Sounded like a busy July with various smaller adventures taking in required units. I still need to make a start with the 2 coach 196s as I've only had 107 (twice)

 

[GW4117]

Well I've been away from this thread for longer than I expected, and I never did cut down my screen time! I do have some good news though in this update!

June ended after my previous post, with a rather unplanned adventure to Birmingham. On 28th June 2023, 196012 finally entered service and I took it and 196003 to Birmingham New Street. That day turned into a day on the Midland Metro, scoring 3 trams and following in the footsteps of Kite159, as I'd taken inspiration from one of his recent walks. With the arms swinging in L-shaped forms, I got the shared-use path done between The Hawthorns and Black Lake. I'd have done more in the Midlands, but there were issues between Birmingham and Worcester, caused by a Person Hit By Train incident. Having seen that with a well-timed look at Real Time Trains, I routed myself and fast via Kidderminster.

July was *meant* to be Tour de France/Tour de France Femmes month, but that didn't exactly happen. First though, my good news, and I had to check the calendar for the date I must confess. It's been a busy time with many things all going on at once lately, but given this was a moment for the history books I'm surprised I didn't mark the calendar/have it memorised! 4th July 2023 and I was watching Tour de France on GCN+, patiently but not patiently waiting for a phone call. That finally came through, and that afternoon became much more about getting ready for the life-changing event I'd been wanting for too long. I was finally changing jobs, leaving behind my supermarket job at long last and moving on! 2 weeks today I left that supermarket, and I've moved on into a job that actually allows me to do what I like doing best, helping people Yes, 18th July 2023 was the day I finally left the supermarket and now I've just noticed that I feel like celebrating! I think this calls for a celebratory Earl Grey!

The rail action in July 2023 kicked off on 5th July, with a post-Tour mini evening out in Malvern. This trip finally took on the personal challenge of walking from Great Malvern to Colwall stations via the roads. The cross-border walk from Worcestershire to Herefordshire had been on my to-do list for a long time, and of course I wasn't just going to walk it. No, I was going to do it Tech-style, the arms swinging again and the legs moving as fast as they could. I did allow a couple of brief stops for photos, and while I don't have the details to hand as I'm typing this on the MacBook, it was a time I was very pleased with. Of course, I want to do it in the other direction as well for a comparison, and given some of the gradients in the eastbound direction are rather significant it could be interesting. It's on the to-do list, I can promise you all that, and now I've reminded myself of it I will be doing it soon! I scored 196002 that night too, only for a tiny journey though and it has the novelty of being the only 196/0 I've not had into/out of Hereford yet. Apart from 196010 and 196011, which due to issues on WMR for the billionth time this year just don't seem to be out much/at all. Those two are the only ones I want out of the 196/0s, and my patience is wearing thin!

A week later, 12th July, I was back out to score 196009 and I took it with 196012 to Malvern Link. This time, I was on a coverage/elevation gains mission, and I sure got a lot of both! Oh yes, I forgot to mention, I was doing the 2,000 metres run/walk elevation gains challenge on Strava in July 2023. I had done it the month before as well, and I demolished it a fair number of days before the end of the month as it turned out. Something in the 2,600 metres range I got to, I'd have to load up Strava and I will do that later. My walk ended at a chippy and I ended up taking the same 196s back to Hereford.

4 days later, 16th July, and I was in Oxfordshire scoring Chiltern 165s. I also got some walking adventures going on that day, as well as 3 165s and finally ticking off Bicester Village shopping centre. It had been a curiosity for a long time, and I needed new trainers. I still do as of 1st August 2023, but that will happen soon! It was certainly a day of walking coverage, so much so I ended up getting the OS map for Oxford the day after!

The following day, 17th July, I forked out a fair chunk of change to go to Abergavenny and score 197007 and 197011. Quite, without checking on Strava, the mini coverage mission in Abergavenny cleared the elevation gains challenge! I'd have done more, but I had the chance to take 67013 back to Hereford and I couldn't say no!

The day after, clearly my red pen was not satisfied and I went to Leominster on a pair of 153s to score 197017 and 197001 back to Hereford on a pre-work trip. 18th July was, as mentioned above, my last ever day in Asda and I still haven't been back to that shop. I've been past it, but not into it, I just can't bring myself to do so. I was going to visit some of my squad there by now, but I just can't do it. Put it this way, I was that keen to leave there I finished drying my uniform in the early hours of 19th July and dropped it off there later that morning! 19th July saw some trains as well, frustratingly after my coverage mission in Leominster, which I still haven't marked off on the OS map, 197021 didn't come down and I met up with two fellow Asda escapees upon my return to Hereford.

Fortunately, the next day was better! 20th July saw me make a trip to Manchester for only the second time in 2023. Shocking considering it's one of my favourite cities in the UK! I'd seen my last two 331/0s were paired up, and it was another strike day on the railway. I won't go on about my opinions on that, but I am absolutely fed up of the disruption the strikes/overtime bans/whatever are causing. Fortunately TfW were behaving reasonably well that day, and I was also using this trip as part of a 175 farewell. It still seems crazy that the end of the 175s is coming up so fast, and given I doubt I'll be able to do Manchester again for a good while, this opportunity was absolutely taken up. 4 Metrolink trams also got scored on a beautifully sunny and warm day, and of course there was some epic walking going on. I still need to go and buy the relevant OS maps, but that'll come around soon. My first 197/1 was also had, only from Piccadilly to East Didsbury but it would do. 331007 and 331018 followed it for the massive mileage move from East Didsbury to Gatley. Why there? That was the last station I hadn't visited on that line, which cleared a long line of coverage from Manchester to Exeter St Thomas of stations all done. It used to be Manchester to Plymouth, but Marsh Barton has opened and changed that More importantly, the 331/0s were finally finished and that item had been on my railway to-do list for far too long. I'd wanted them for sight too, so to get them both for haulage at the same time was quite excellent! 5 331/1s remain to clear those EMUs, and yes eventually I'll be going after them too!

The day after, 21st July, I was running low on inspiration. I'd been on the way to the railway station, to go to Pontypool & New Inn for the long-awaited walk to Blaenavon, but I changed my mind and went for the more budget option. It worked out well though, as I ended up scoring two Stagecoach buses so that was good news. I alighted at Huntley, Gloucestershire and it was a day of walking adventures. The majority of the A40 from Huntley to Gloucester is walkable along pavements, and it had been on my to-do list for way too long. This finally got done, although that bit which involves walking on verges of various widths and swapping sides of the road way too often was unpleasant. When I saw a Tim Hortons on Maps, I simply had to go for that as my end point and my large sugary Dark Roast went down a right royal treat after around 9.5 miles. As I allude to near the beginning of this epic post, when I go 'walking' then I usually mean 'power-walking'. Speed-walking is something different altogether, based on what I saw during the 2022 Commonwealth Games. I think my current average speed is up to 4.6mph, especially if I'm in my running gear! Anyway, before we get buried in discussion about that, and trust me I could go on for a while about my non-railway adventures, 21st July then saw me walk into Gloucester city centre with some more new coverage before a stop at Burger King for lunch. Having had issues yet again with the rewards app, I got my food and promptly uninstalled it permanently. With a birthday card then bought, and some new running tights sourced in the Adidas outlet shop, as you do when shopping for trainers, I went on a walking coverage mission once I thought I'd missed the 1450 bus back to Hereford. It turned out it was late, but never mind as the walk took on tons of coverage and scoped-out some potential cycle rides in the future. Oh now there's an idea for this weekend, now I've got the cogs turning! My Blue Beauty had been out of action as it needed a new tyre and other new bits, and by this point I'd got my heart set on beating my previous outdoor walking distance in a month record. On this day, I was still a few miles away, and spoiler alert, I soon had it demolished!

The day after was my sister's birthday, so that weekend I invested a lot of time in spending time with family. 24th July was the first day in my new job, and I was an absolute bag of nerves. This was the beginning of a new start, something I'd been looking forward to and something I knew if I got wrong then I'd always regret. There was and is no way I'm going back to the old job, and I'd underestimated how much I needed to learn. It's all getting a bit easier now, there's a long way to go of course but this feels right. This feels like the beginning of the next evolution of Tech, the old version being left behind and the new, better version slowly coming out. It's fair to say the first week was tough, given there's a lot of names and faces to remember, a lot of personalities to get used to and of course a lot of the job to learn. The difference since leaving Asda is incredible, I get to use the brain properly for example. It's been so dormant that I think I forgot it's actually there, and getting to use it for learning, problem solving and so on is just amazing. Quite, I actually *want* to learn now! Perhaps the most important bit though is that I actually want to go to work now, I like where I am and once I master my art I'll be so much happier it's beyond words. Yes, really, Tech is lost for words!

To celebrate the first week being completed, I took advantage of acceptable weather to go exploring. By now, my Blue Beauty was back from its repairs which included two new-to-me wheels amongst other bits, but the weather was not really on my side. So I kept up my walking mission, having smashed the 231.4 miles record from earlier in 2023. Before March 2023, the record had stood at just 207km, which seems so easy now! 197018 and 197021 were a pair of winners on 29th July 2023, and I took them to Cwmbran. I'd been trying to find a way to score the 197s and combine it with something productive. When I remembered I had an Asda gift card from some of my former colleagues, and needed to do a bit of clothes shopping, I combined that with the trains and some walking in South Wales. I finally took on the former railway route towards Blaenavon, along National Cycle Network Route 492, which I left at the junction with the A472. After sourcing a Costa Express, I took on the canal towards Cwmbran. Well, except I got distracted and didn't check my route properly and was actually walking towards Abergavenny! I realised around Bridge 55, and decided after a consultation with Maps that I'd be better off heading for Pontypool & New Inn instead. I'd not make it to Cwmbran in time, I suspected, as there was no way I could do a power walk down the canal with a large hot coffee in my hand. It turned out that I'd have been close at the least, as the train I'd been going for was rather late due to a short notice substitute train. 175 vice 67, and the 197s failed to materialise, so when 150258 arrived on an additional stop and was rather full, I decided that I'd be better off heading to Cwmbran anyway. The weather had changed but had again changed to being sunny. Still rather windy, but it would be good for walking. So I set off along the canal and made sure I went the right way this time! For a while I'd considered carrying on all the way to Newport, but the need to be back for some family time was there, and a pair of 175s was promised to take me back to Hereford. I absolutely could not turn that down, although only having 175010 available to sit in, with 175103 locked out on the rear, was not terribly helpful. Even so, that will almost certainly be my final pair of 175s so that was nice. The 2-car 175s are due to be replaced in the coming couple of weeks, so the odds are I may never get one of those ever again either!

So that's the big update! Oh, the Tour, I meant to discuss that too. I don't know why, but I didn't really enjoy the 2023 edition of the Tour de France. I know during the 2022 Tour, which was my first, it was different because I was recovering from Covid. Still, I think the 2022 route was a better balance and not an obsession with mountains like it was in 2023. I stopped watching it properly after Stage 14 I think, and didn't even bother with highlights for the finale. Tour de France Femmes, for reasons unknown, the first stage was shown in full but the rest of it was not and quite honestly, I thought the coverage was poor. The commentary definitely wasn't great, and I didn't bother with even the highlights after the second stage. I'd been looking forward to both events for quite some time, and I feel I rather wasted £6.99 on the GCN+ subscription this time. I've decided not to do that again in 2024, I can find better things to spend £6.99 on! I am rather hoping the BBC do some excellent coverage of the upcoming track cycling championships like they did in 2022!

Track cycling, now that I do excited about. I've never tried it myself, but it is a great watch! I can already hear the bell ringing, and things like the elimination race promise to be amazing to watch. I had wanted to go to Glasgow to watch it live, but I never got that organised. If something's going to take me away from trains, it's the UCI track cycling championships While those are on, I can assure you that my red pen is staying happily in the drawer. I've just looked and I see it starts in 2 days time, oh my that's awesome news!

Anyway, what lies ahead for Tech in terms of railway adventures? Well, there's potential for something to happen this weekend. The track cycling will be a big feature, but I also fully expect to be doing something outdoors if the weather behaves. Hopefully in the next 48 hours an actual plan will be formed!

Congratulations on the new job, hopefully it'll bring you contentment, fulfilment and prosperity.
First response to your posts, I really enjoy reading your detailed trip reports and views on the railways and travelling around.
I'm off to the UCI World Championships this weekend!! I have tickets for some BMX on Sunday, then the Velodrome on Tuesday evening, plus free to watch Mountain Biking in Peebles and the Road Race finishes in Glasgow, plenty to see and enjoy.
Luckily, we'll be staying with friends in East Kilbride for two weeks, so just a quick trip into the city each time. Hoping to see the rest of my Glasgow units (13 x 156, 3 x 318, 8 x 320, 3 x 334, 4 x 380, and a load of 385s), plus a few rides on the Subway. The only downside is I was hoping to take my new gravel bike to Scotland for some exploring, but still waiting for it to be delivered, never mind I have another I can use.
Looking forward to reading your next adventures.

 

[Techniquest]

Beware hotel prices in Glasgow are a little lively this weekend - specifically because of the UCI world champs.

I couldn't get tickets for the weekend events when I looked last night anyway, can't do the others. So I'll have to be content with it (hopefully) be viewable on iPlayer!

The forecast looked rubbish when I looked this morning, and while on lunch break I booked National Express to/from London for a day out in London on Saturday 0525 for the coach leaving Hereford, 2300 for the one leaving London, with an ETA of 0300. That's going to be a very long day, but it's the only way to make it all work. £25.40 on coach fares was very reasonable, I don't know when that 2300 coach started but it's going to prove very handy!

Congratulations on the new job, hopefully it'll bring you contentment, fulfilment and prosperity.
First response to your posts, I really enjoy reading your detailed trip reports and views on the railways and travelling around.
I'm off to the UCI World Championships this weekend!! I have tickets for some BMX on Sunday, then the Velodrome on Tuesday evening, plus free to watch Mountain Biking in Peebles and the Road Race finishes in Glasgow, plenty to see and enjoy.
Luckily, we'll be staying with friends in East Kilbride for two weeks, so just a quick trip into the city each time. Hoping to see the rest of my Glasgow units (13 x 156, 3 x 318, 8 x 320, 3 x 334, 4 x 380, and a load of 385s), plus a few rides on the Subway. The only downside is I was hoping to take my new gravel bike to Scotland for some exploring, but still waiting for it to be delivered, never mind I have another I can use.
Looking forward to reading your next adventures.

Nice! I should have been organised and booked it all months ago, but given the change of job then I'd have been stuck so it's all good. I hope you have an amazing time!

Thank you for the kind words on the trip reports Detailed is the right word for my reports, I don't think I could shorten them even if I wanted to! Hopefully I'll have a trip report from this weekend up before too long, depends on how I feel on Sunday

Some more photos:

1) A 67 approaching Leominster
2) 175108 at Manchester Piccadilly
3) 331007+331018 at Gatley
4) Heaton Norris signal box (I think) viewed from an overbridge on the A6
5) Conflicting messages on this building on the A6, with a gym right next to a Greggs!
6) Former railway goods shed in Manchester
7) The destination board at Manchester Piccadilly on a strike day, it looks so wrong to see it so empty at peak time!
8) Finally, 175105 at Manchester Piccadilly

 

[Techniquest]

Well, it took me all day to get to it, but the trip report is ready!

05/08/2023 - Tech vs Rick Astley - Travelcard Forever

I had plenty of time during an unplanned wait in Ross-on-Wye to come up with a trip report title, and this is the best I came up with! I'll explain shortly!

0242 and I was awake much earlier than planned, tossing and turning in and out of sleep until 0356. By then I was ready to get up and get prepared for a long day out, on a weekend off from work. As I discussed in a catch-up summary trip report recently, I've changed jobs and no longer work in a supermarket! Yes I finally upgraded my place of employment, and while I'm still mastering my craft and learning a lot, it's going quite well. During the first couple of weeks, I was doing Monday to Friday, with weekends off, and this was the second such weekend. There was an option to go to London and do a Travelcard trip, this was especially important as Transport for London (TfL) are ceasing the sale of Travelcards after the end of 2023. Given that the opportunity to do a Travelcard trip again may not come up, I was absolutely grabbing this chance with both hands!

A few days before the trip, I'd secured National Express coach tickets from Hereford to London and back for £25.40, an absolute bargain. Departure from Hereford was at 0525, due into London at 1005 and due out of London at 2300, to arrive back in Hereford at 0300 the following morning. I finally got out of the house at around 0508, and it was a bit wet but I'd missed the worst of the rain thankfully. It was onto BK15 AKO with an on-time departure, and I was nowhere near my favourite seat this time. I also had plenty of smokers on the coach, oh joy!

During the climb of Callow Hill on the A49, I had Rick Astley's Together Forever playing. It came up on YouTube and it was a nicely catchy tune. Arrival at Ross-on-Wye saw me finish a coffee, and the portside wing mirror got broken. 0558 and we find out a mechanic is on the way and we would have to wait for them before we would know when we'd be continuing. It was during that time I chose my trip report title, I had others but this one felt right. 0633 and we were still waiting, but I'd used the time to start the trip report so it wasn't all bad. I won't proffer an opinion on the self-entitled woman across the aisle who kept complaining she felt sick while we were sat around waiting, while also complaining that she had a wedding to go to. As if that was going to make things suddenly all clear and safe to continue!

0635 and a replacement coach pulled up, after a mechanic looked at the mirror which was hanging by a thread, I was first in line as it turned out and was straight onto the replacement coach, BK15 AKJ. This time I was able to get the seat next to the emergency exit, yes it's by the lavatory but it has exceptional legroom and on this occasion I was nowhere near the self-entitled woman. 0645 and departure for London had resumed, approximately 50 minutes late. The sight of the M50 was most welcome, as it meant that the journey was now truly underway. The coach never spends too long on the M50, and the bumpy and bouncy B4221 to Newent was about as fun as it always isn't!

0735 and we'd done the stop in Gloucester city centre, Longlevens and Arle Court. No more passengers to pick up, yes there was no-one for our coach in Cheltenham town centre, so we turned around at the roundabout and headed the short distance back to the M5 at Junction 11. It was off the M5 soon enough though, to join the A417. Now that was an unexpected choice of route, and some new road coverage! 0815 and it was onto the M4, around 0925 it was onto the A4 at street level. Most of the journey had been filled by music, and I was now officially in London. It had been way too long since I was last in the capital, and thankfully the rain had ceased. Considering how wet it had been on the roads on the way down, that was a big relief! 14 and something hours later, I resumed the epic typing. There was a lot to discuss, as you'll see below:

Arrival at London Victoria Coach Station was, much to my surprise, at 0958. 7 minutes early, after all that delay, very nice! I got a fast walk going on to Victoria mainline station, and after sourcing my off-peak day Travelcard for £15.20 I also opted to get an early lunch. That was formed by my usual order in Itsu, which I ought to mention I've fallen in love with although Wagamama is still better. Veggie meatballs teriyaki rice bowl with Asian vegetables, it's not cheap at £7.99 but it's definitely worth it. My first trains of the day fell to double winners 387210+387212, which I ended up only taking to Clapham Junction. I was going to take a train from there to Richmond, to visit Puccinos for coffee, but ended up doing nothing of the sort.

Instead, I joined what turned out to be winner 387223, dud 387221 and winner 387216 back to Victoria. 4 387 scores in no time at all, happy days! I saw a 377 of potential interest as I arrived, and just made it in time to join what turned out to be dud 377111 with winner 377153. I have way too many wants when it comes to 377s, so when it comes to clearing one of them from my list I'll grab that opportunity with both hands! This time I was comfy and went to East Croydon. Ah yes, an old favourite this station is, it's been way too long and I ended up in Pret nearby. I love a Puccinos coffee, and I hadn't realised they're on East Croydon station on platforms 1 and 2. A bit late when I already had my Pret coffee!

Much to my delight, I got winner 377161 with duds 377104 and 377151 for a trip to Clapham Junction. My luck with 377s is not normally very good, so for it to be so strong here was fantastic! I'd seen some more 387/2s that matched with my wants list, so I was keeping an eye out for them. Why is it that I call it a 'wants list' and not a 'needs list' I hear someone asking, and the ultra short answer is that it's a list of things I want, not things I need. Things I need include food, water and such like, and yes I know that I'm being a touch weird about it but that should surprise the princely sum of no-one!

Anyway, I wasn't having a whole ton of luck and there was industrial action on. A reduced service was being offered as a result, and let's not go there with my views on this sort of thing. I could be here for some time otherwise! Let's summarise it by saying I'm fed up of industrial action disrupting my leisure time! Eventually I got moving again, this time with winner 377163 and dud 377317. I still want a fair number of 377/1s, but this trip had brought the total down nicely! Off to Victoria I went, picking up winner 387209 with dud 387227 for another leap to Clapham Junction. Once there, I made a quick dash for dud 387226 and winner 387217, back to Victoria and only just making it on enough for the doors to close. Have I mentioned this reduced service, on a day with big events on, annoyed me hugely? Oh good, I did. I must follow that with mentioning how I rather dislike weekend travel, an opinion hastily brought to by drunk passengers drinking even more, but again let's not get too into that!

At Victoria I'd had enough of overcrowded Southern services, I knew of a 387/2 of interest but it was not being found, I wanted to move on. Initially I was going to do Southeastern, but the crowds were incredible so headed for the sub-surface Underground lines. Then I changed my mind and went to the Victoria line, and I couldn't even get onto the platform going north. So I ended up on 11019+11020 to Brixton, the logic being I could get a seat and actually onto the train that way! I stayed with the same pair, and decided to tick off an item on my railway to-do list. That was to do Brixton to Walthamstow Central on the Victoria line in one go. Which I ended up doing, and while it's not a long route as such with some fast sections, I was so glad to be done that I ran up the stairs to the mainline station!

With that done, never to be repeated, and bu that I mean the entire Victoria line in one go, I got a coffee from the Coffee Station kiosk on the London-bound platform at Walthamstow Central. £2.30 well spent, and I joined winner for everything 710103 for the journey to Chingford. While I was in the area, I figured it made sense to clear the route on a 710, and I was craving some proper exercise. Given the rain was holding off, this just had to be done, and after taking some photos of the many 710s stabled in Chingford I was off. I had 20-something minutes to fill before the next 710 would be due out of Chingford, so when I saw on the map that it should be doable to walk to Highams Park and pick up the train there, well that was me off!

It was a decent fast walk through the suburbs, and I made it with seconds to spare to join winner for everything 710126 to Liverpool Street. I'd got through a lot of sweat on that walk, so I was glad of a good sit-down! Immediately on arrival at 'The Street' I made my way to winner 745102 on a Stansted Airport service. That was something I hadn't done for a long time, a 'Totty Hale leap'. That is, a journey from Liverpool Street to Tottenham Hale, and this was only my second 745/1 for haulage. By now, Kite159 was in the London area, so I didn't hang around for long and got back onto the Victoria line. 11011+11012 took me to Finsbury Park, where I went upstairs to get a Puccinos coffee, but they were closed. Argh! 11077+11078 took me to Vauxhall once I got back down to the Victoria line, and it was time to meet up with Kite159 (from here on, referred to as Kite).

Our first move was on dud 455852 and winner 455729 for a leap to Clapham Junction, picking up double winners 450027+450058 to Putney. By now, the rain had resumed and got rather heavy, so we didn't go far before eventually picking up winner 450094 and dud 450090 to Clapham Junction. Dud 450029 and winner 450056 took us to Vauxhall, as all day I'd kept seeing a winner 707 and kept missing it. So dud 707030 and winner 707016 was up next, off to Waterloo. 455733 was dud but 455711 very much a winner, which we took to Clapham Junction. In the motor coach on the 455s of course, for the epic noise. The new 701s are still some way off yet, so there's still time to enjoy the 455s as of this trip report, but the day will soon enough be upon us.

Dud 450040 and winner 450048 took us back to Waterloo, and after a rather important stop it was over to Southeastern territory at Waterloo East. First up was a prospective leap to London Bridge, dud 375630 and winner 375925 in charge of that. I want way too many 375/9s, so this was good news that one less would feature on my wants list from now on! Next up, dud 465187 leading winners 466028 and 465022, which we took to Grove Park to have a ride on the Bromley North-Grove Park shuttle. In years gone by, that was in the hands of a 466, but with much more modern (and rightly so) accessibility standards it now sees a 465. Complete overkill, a 153 would be more than enough on this line!

Dud 465189 did the honours for us, and with the rain holding off again we did the short walk through Bromley town centre to Bromley South station. This time both 375s were dud, 375812+375603 which were stopping additionally at Herne Hill. For the novelty, that's where we alighted, just for a 375 at an unusual station! A bit later, we were back on the move with winner 465164 and dud 465192 to Brixton. Once again, it was onto the Victoria line, with 11032+11031 to Vauxhall, from where we headed straight to Waterloo on double duds 455705+455919. We had to get Kite onto a different train than planned, due to disruption west of Basingstoke. So instead of the 2020, or indeed the 1920, we got the honourable forum member of Grateley onto the 1909 Portsmouth service. As always Kite, it was great to see you and I really enjoyed the few hours we had! As of 0142, as I type this on the coach back, I'm sure you can imagine I was a little envious of your arrival home at a much more civilised hour!

My next move was to get food, it had been too long since the last proper feed and I went to Pure at Waterloo. A large portion of Thai green lentil soup for £4.99 was certainly thoroughly enjoyed, and I was soon back on the trains. First up, some more 455 action with dud 455913 and winner 455909 to Vauxhall. Initially I was waiting for another winner heading into Waterloo, but observed something even better on the following service. That turned out to be double winners 455848+455724, and that is pretty much guaranteed to be my last ever pair of winning 455s! To Clapham Junction once again, where I was to have just a few minutes before a trio of 450s on an Alton service. I'd seen a winner on it, so was keen to do it!

Winner 450106 led what turned out to be double duds 450013+450088 on a non-stop Clapham Junction to Surbiton run. Just the one 450 score, but better than nothing! I made a +0, possibly even a -1, onto what turned out to be double duds 455703+455723 back to Clapham Junction, non-stop to Wimbledon, and the motors of 455723 were absolutely howling! That was one of the best 455 runs I've ever had, if not the best! 455714 was dud, with my last 455/9, winner 455911 on the back for company. I took those to Wimbledon, no more looking for 455/9s then! I was by now ready for some exercise again, and wow the wind had picked up something fierce. I nearly turned around and went back to the trains, which I suspect most people would have!

Off I went to Wimbledon Park, just because it took my fancy and it offered a good opportunity to throw the power into top gear, to really drop the hammer and get the legs working! En-route, I'd considered linking up with past coverage at Putney, but in that chilly wind that would have been more at home in October, it wasn't to be. I seriously cannot believe it's August, the weather is disgraceful! I only just made it onto 21338+21337, and I ended up taking them to Westminster. It would have been a shorter journey, but at Fulham Broadway a football match had recently finished, so the train was rather full! I'd also been using Intertube to find my last S7 set, to no joy, as well as my last 2 S8 sets. One of those had been out all day, and I'd just not got to it. That was about to change, and I was taking the Jubilee line to Finchley Road to intercept it.

96030+96023 took me on the very noisy journey, good gravy I'd forgot how loud it is on that line! I had a rather decent length wait, and it was definitely more than chilly enough to put the coat on now. Eventually winners 21096+21095 arrived, and I took them to Wembley Park. I wanted to go further, but time was very much against me by now, I had a coach at 2300 after all and it was well after 2130. No S8 sets were turning up city-bound, and I lost patience after a while. It was cold, dark and windy, and with no gen on when a S8 might actually arrive I jumped onto the Jubilee line again. This time, 96073+96054 took me to Green Park and yes it was just as noisy as before. I could have changed for the Victoria line, but I'd already seen I could do the walk from Green Park and that was more favourable. Yes, the desire for more leg-stretching was going on and it combined with a desire to see the streets of London a bit more!

It was raining again, but it was not going to ruin my mood. I'd had an amazing time, I wasn't ready to leave London but I had no choice in the matter. Soon enough, after adding Green Park to my list of places to explore, I was at Victoria Coach Station. Time passed by rather quickly in the end, and it was an almost on-time departure on BK15 AKJ on Route 445 to Hereford. This time, it was M4-M25-M40-A40 to Cheltenham, and I was getting tired of music before we got to Oxford. So I got around to typing up my trip report, and that kept me rather busy!

The sight of the revellers in Cheltenham was a bit unexpected, until I remembered it was a Saturday night. How some of them didn't get run over I have no idea! After Gloucester, it was up to Newent but then via Dymock and Trumpet, as there was no-one for Ledbury and the A40 was closed beyond Huntley. As it almost always is, that road between Huntley and Lea is out of action a lot! 0214 and I was passing through Bartestree on the A438. It's just a couple of miles out of Hereford, so an early arrival was ahead and I was not complaining! Oh, and given it wasn't reserved I'd gone for epic legroom seat 2A on this occasion, I like it a lot and would be mighty tempted to pay the £2 seat reservation fee for it next time!

Arrival in Hereford was 37 minutes early at 0223, and wow it was cold outside! I don't know what's going on with the weather as of the time of typing this trip report, but August has been very windy, very cold and very much like winter not summer! It felt like November on the walk back to base, and not even a fast walk could keep me warm. My hands when I got in were so bitterly cold I was wondering what had happened. I know I was tired, so the body would have been struggling from being awake for nearly 23 hours at that point, but yikes! To need gloves when outside in August, well that's just ridiculous and unprecedented! Dodging all the drunks was a challenge too for the first part of the walk, I was reminded that once upon a time that would have been me and I'm very glad I put all that behind me! 0236 and I was making an Earl Grey to warm up with, and even the bed was cold. Around 0320 I was tucked up and fast asleep!

So that was that, potentially the last ever Travelcard trip I'll ever do. Despite the weather doing its best to drive me crazy, it was an excellent trip. A long and very tiring day, but a very productive and enjoyable one. Around 2152 the day after, I finished editing this trip report, having spent much of the day recovering and watching the UCI cycling world championships.Was the ultra long day worth it? Honestly?

I was still feeling tired all day, despite plenty of coffee and food, so I wouldn't aim to do such a long one again in a hurry. I came away with 31 scores, which was pretty good going. If I'd not spent so much time on the Underground, I could potentially have done more. There's certainly a lot on Greater Anglia I want for example, same with the 710s amongst many other examples. Equally, I had a good clearout south of the Thames, which I'd been wanting to do for quite some time, although of course there's still plenty to do. I also got a lot of exploring done, which in the past I'd have never done on a London trip. I could easily spent hours analysing all the things I could have done, but it was a very enjoyable time in London. I was not ready to leave, that's for sure!

There is way too much I want to do in London, and that includes walking and cycling expeditions. For example, I was having a nosey at my CityStrides map and I've got a potential cycle ride out of Chingford lined up over to Epping. There's also the desire to link up my walking coverage, and get things like Highams Park-Walthamstow-Central London done to fill in the walking coverage gaps. That's just two examples, I have too many to list! I've said for a lot of years I could spend a week in London and still have lots to do, and that still rings true. Back then, it only applied to the railway, these days it of course covers walking and cycling too. If I ever take up running properly, then I'll have even more to do!

Overall then, a fantastic trip and now to go back to work for a rest!

--------

Attached photos are:

1) Advert at Brixton featuring Team GB athletes, included purely because I felt like it needs to go here!
2) Platform view at Brixton just before departure to Walthamstow
3) 710103 at journey's end at Chingford
4) 701s amongst other SWR EMUs stabled at Clapham Junction
5) Various 710s stabled on Chingford Carriage Sidings
6) Grab-shot on the former Waterloo International platforms
7) Statue at Brixton mainline, on the London-bound platform
8) 465189 at Bromley North, with a new skyscraper block of flats (I'm guessing here) which will change the view there next time I'm at Bromley North (I have some cycling adventures as well as walking expeditions planned for Bromley)
9) 455911, my last 455/9, at Wimbledon

Finally, just to add that I have no idea when my next adventure is. Right now, I've got the Tokyo 2020 Victory Ceremony music playing and it's got me all ready to get some athletic activity done. So it's quite likely I'll be leaving the trains alone for a while! Also though, on that note, I'm really enjoying the track cycling in Glasgow on the UCI championships, but I am missing the medal ceremonies. It just doesn't feel right to not watch those, they're being done in a separate building and that makes no sense to me.

Team GB are absolutely ruling the roost in the track cycling, and I'm loving it. I watched Saturday's action today, hence the delayed trip report, and I could not be prouder of the amazing performance Team GB are putting in

 

[Jamesrob637]

I think you walked from Levenshulme to Stockport down the A6!

 

[Techniquest]

I think you walked from Levenshulme to Stockport down the A6!

If you're talking about the photo taken from the A6, then I did better than that! That trip featured a walk from Gatley to Decathlon in Stockport, then from Decathlon in Stockport to Tim Hortons on Market Street in Manchester. I'll be doing both again, just by cycle next time!

Attached are a few more photos from yesterday:

1) 378224 at Clapham Junction
2) 465189 at Grove Park
3) Bromley North's station building
4) 465164+465192 leaving Brixton
5) 375s leaving Herne Hill
6) The rather outdated route diagram on 21095
7) 455909 at London Waterloo

 

[Kite159]

It was nice to have a little catch up after my random bus madness of Andover to Kingston on various Stagecoach buses, shame I had to cut it short due to the collapse of the railway at Whitchurch.

Hopefully you might get back to London later in the year again for another travelcard day, so much easier than having to remember to touch in/out when using oyster with always that fear of hitting a max journey time

 

[D841 Roebuck]

I note that you (and Kite) got "winner 450094 and dud 450090" on your travels". A couple of hours (ish) earlier (about 2.30pm from memory) I had caught winner 450090 and dud 450094 from Richmond to Twickenham!

Small world, innit!

 

[SuperLuke2334]

It looks like you had a fab day Tech, good job!

 

[Iskra]

Congratulations on the new job Tech! Good to see you're still keeping busy on the railway

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks for your posts everyone, I meant to respond at the time but real life keeps getting in the way. I'm also finding that I've been developing a lazy streak since I changed jobs. That's not something I'm liking, I have to say, and nor is my current knowledge base after 5 weeks. It's getting easier, in terms of being able to do more stuff now than a couple of weeks ago, but I'm behind on where I thought I'd be with knowing the job. There's also been some big confidence knock-backs recently, so it's been tough going. Mentally I'm often drained by the end of my working day, I'm not used to having to use the brain as much as I do now. The desire to learn is there though, and that's been absent for a long time. I also feel that I've got the opportunity to do more where I am now, and that the next stage of the adulting ladder is within reach. Quite, the credit card is due to get a big chunk taken off it, so that's pretty good. Instead of 3 years to clear it, like I'd planned for while at Asda, I could potentially clear it before the end of 2023!

There's plenty more real-life stuff to discuss, but for everyone's sanity I'll leave it at that. For now, here's the latest trip report:

27/08/2023 - Tech's Getting Back To Basics

I had multiple ideas for a trip report title, but this is the one that made sense. I've not been doing proper trip reports for a good long while, preferring to do summaries every so often. Which works well, but this trip felt like it warranted a proper trip report! So with the ears taking a break from nightcore edits of songs I like, I got the thumbs typing!

0700 and with an interrupted sleep, yet again, I was not fully with it for a while but a good breakfast, daily vitamins and supplements and a couple of coffees sorted that out. I had multiple ideas for my adventure, but the weather was not on my side for a good cycling adventure. By 0840, I decided to get the long overdue cleaning of the bathroom done, by which time I figured I'd have decided. I can't honestly imagine many people make decisions on their trips, or lead into an adventure, by cleaning their bathroom! With that essential job done, 35 minutes later, it was time to get into some athletic gear. I had a feeling I'd be doing some power walking, and while the weather was warm enough to wear shorts that wasn't likely to be the case all day!

0929 and I was finally on the move, getting a good pace on and hearing a 175 arrive at 0941 with the 0830 Cardiff Central to Manchester Piccadilly. Until that point, I'd still not fully committed to my plan, but that was me sold. £22.40 for an off-peak day return to Shrewsbury later, I grabbed a couple of photos of 175113 at Hereford and found a table seat. With the retirement of 175s from Transport for Wales not that far away, the opportunity to travel on one had to be taken advantage of. Bristol meant a 150 to Newport, Oxfordshire meant a 172 to Worcester, no thanks!

The journey to Shrewsbury was spent with music on, and the grey clouds certainly made it clear my decision to have a train day was the right one. There was a 9 minute stop in Shrewsbury, and I had considered going into Wales to visit the new station at Bow Street. That plan was deemed unacceptably boring, and when I also saw the 175 was non-stop Shrewsbury to Crewe I could not say no. I'd been wanting to go back to Manchester since before I left there last time, so it just had to be done! Cue a £28.80 day return to Manchester also getting bought, happily so!

With a coffee and flapjack enjoyed from the trolley service, the train got rather busy at Crewe and that was just what I saw in the front coach. I dread to think what the other two were like! Eventually it was an arrival at Manchester Piccadilly at 1208, 6 minutes early, and following the discovery that the filter water point was out of action I went to Metrolink. That was one of my main priorities for the day, given the inclement weather forecasted. However, upon checking Maps I found Decathlon next to Asda Eastlands was only 1.9 miles away. With the next tram not due for around 6 minutes, I loaded Strava up and got moving.

After some rather good exercise had, with the rain briefly returning just before I arrived, I had a good look around Decathlon. I ended up buying a red waterproof jacket for £29.99, as I just couldn't find a new cycling helmet that I liked enough to buy. I don't normally buy red clothing, so that was a bit of a surprise for me. Of course, the rain stopped again before I left, and I made my way to Etihad Campus' Metrolink stop to avoid hanging around at Velopark. The National Cycling Centre will one day get visited, but that's clearly not today. If I had been organised, I'd have planned a full visit but by now that was not an option!

Once I eventually navigated my way around the construction of a new event centre, I did consider doing the march into Manchester alongside the canal. However I persisted with my plan to do Metrolink, and I remain convinced I'd asked for a Zones 1-4 all day ticket. I got issued a single instead, much to my irritation. To rub salt into the wound, with a new plan required, I had dud 3134 to Piccadilly Gardens. Once off the tram, I went to Vegan Shack for some of the amazing Shack Fries, which sure satisfied my stomach nicely. Dud 3118 took me to St Peters Square, and if I'd thought about it I could have gone via Market Street. Oh well, never mind.

Dud 3121 was next up on a Rochdale service, and this one was up for some epic mileage. This one ended up taking me all the way to Milnrow, a required Metrolink stop and one of only two up that end of the line. I triple-checked my old notes on RailUK Forums, yes these were definitely my last two! It was a long, boring and slow journey which I'm grateful I don't have to do again. I want the bay platform at Shaw & Crompton one day, but I couldn't do that today as it wasn't in use. I have vague plans for exploring in that area anyway, so a revisit is on the cards

Maps revealed what I had suspected, that it wasn't far to Kingsway Business Park and it was walkable in the 13 minutes I had before the next tram. So the trainers took in some more new terrain, it wasn't an exciting walk I can assure you, but 0.7 miles later I was stood on my last Metrolink stop at that end of the network. A small number remain to be done on the Trafford Centre line, but that's another day's job as it turned out. They will hopefully get done on a day when there's more trams out, I saw none out that I wanted on this trip which is unusual. Granted, I only want 5 trams that are in service, plus 3027, so it is always going to be down to luck as to whether I get a score or not.

Dud 3105 took me to the end of the line at Rochdale Town Centre, as I had time to play with and I wanted coffee. I'm not terribly impressed with Rochdale, what I saw along the tram route wasn't pretty and I'm in no rush to go back. I hope the rest of the town is nicer than that! With 21 minutes before the 1513 into Manchester, I got my feet moving fast and I had something approaching 12 minutes to spare when I got to the railway station. Coffee sourced for £3 at the surprisingly open cafe on the station, I was soon on 156409+150138 to Manchester Victoria. Lots of noise in the 156, and that wasn't a good noise as it came from a group of youngsters going into Manchester to go pubbing. I'm not too sure they were old enough to consume alcohol, but that's none of my business! I'm on a mission to be less judgmental at the moment, which I can promise you is not easy!

As it turned out, the following two services on Metrolink would have produced duds as well, so I felt glad about that. At 1534, it was into the city centre to go to Itsu in Spinningfields. I was hungry and wanted good quality food, and I had 36 minutes to get from the Sprinters to Itsu and back to Manchester Victoria to join a pair of 195s. Surprisingly, I made it and was aboard the 195s within 30 minutes! I didn't realise how hungry I was, as my usual meal of a veggie meatballs and teriyaki sauce rice bowl, with Asian vegetables, did not take long to devour. Thoroughly enjoyable, as it always is, I fell in love with that meal when I got it some months back on my first Itsu visit. That one was at London Heathrow's Terminal 5, and while the food costs £7.99 it is really enjoyable and always arrives quickly.

So how come I was leaving Manchester so soon, given its status as a favourite city? Well, I was on dud 195023 and winner 195025 on the 1610 from Manchester Victoria to Chester. I hadn't done a 195 to Chester yet, and I'd not scored anything all day. I had had the opportunity to do a 175 from Piccadilly on the 1656 to Chester, and I've never had a 175 on that route. So it had been tempting, but scoring a 195 off was deemed more valuable. There was also an opportunity to explore Chester some more too, and part of the reason for choosing to go the long way back was that it was all showing as 150s and 153s on the direct route back. I wasn't in the mood for that, so when I found that I could also score with Transport for Wales on the way back south, well I couldn't really say no!

To be honest, the journey to Chester on the 195s was boring and I was glad to arrive there. I pulled into platform 7, which I wasn't expecting. One of the bay platforms at the eastern end of Chester is still required, and I'd fully expected to be in one of those. Still, one must not grumble, the route from Chester to Leeds is now cleared on 195s which is something off my railway to-do list. I was also glad to not have been on Merseyrail, given the line to Chester was closed due to flooding!

Once out of the station, I was soon on a power walk and I headed to the river. Last time I was in Chester, some months back now (24th May 2023, I had to look it up), I had wanted to do the riverside walk but there had been some cycling as well that day. There just wasn't the time to do everything, indeed there still wasn't on this occasion! A visit to a Co-Op had to happen too for some essentials, in this case a big bottle of water and some chocolate, then I carried on with the exploring. Some more of the river path on the other side of the river got done, before finding myself on the Queens Park Bridge of 1923. There's some nice views from that bridge, one that I would recommend doing

Grosvenor Park looked like it deserved a fuller explore, but time was not on my side. It will get done, but it would require waiting for a future visit. After a quick look at Roman Gardens, near the Ampitheatre, which also warranted a better visit some day, I found my way up to the famous Chester City Walls. I enjoyed my visit to those walls on my last adventure in Chester, and I did again on this occasion! I soon found myself in the city centre proper, and that's where I found weed smokers, alcoholics, homeless and chavs all over the place. As I said earlier, I'm trying to stop being as judgmental, but it's really proving difficult!

Eventually I got back to the station around 1815, in plenty of time for the 1826 to Cardiff Central and that arrived very busy. One was glad to not be on that west of Chester! This was formed of winner for everything 197104 and was destined to be my first 197 north of Leominster. It was also destined to be my highest mileage 197 of any variation, the previous longest journey on any 197 being Hereford to Cardiff Central at around 56 miles. This one would be cleared for much more than that!

Apart from rubbish data signal all the way to Gobowen, where I gave up trying to play music and resumed typing, it had been a decent enough journey. By the time I was up to date, I was near Church Stretton, and I'd heard there was a Person Hit By Train incident in Hereford earlier in the day. I never have any patience for the Your Herefordshire or Hereford Times websites, so I didn't bother looking for any gen myself, but I did see the 2041 arrival in Hereford was cancelled and that would have been the arrival I'd have wanted. Good thing I chose the route via Chester then!

So, was I glad I chose to go to Manchester instead of Bristol? Well, it would have been nice to get some more Metrolink trams ticked off, however in general the trip was pretty successful. Any day out featuring Itsu is a good one though! Two Metrolink stops ticked off, a winning 195, a winning 197, new coverage for both classes, some good amounts of exploring too, not to mention visiting a favourite city and revisiting another beautiful city. It's hard to argue with that! Next time, I suspect the Metrolink network will be cleared for stops visited and hopefully nearer to completion with the fleet of M5000s too. That's all to play for next time, there's always lots to do in Manchester after all!

------

Attached photos are:

1) 175113 at Hereford on a wide angle lens
2) Another more closed angle of 175113 at Hereford (will I get another from there?)
3) Etihad Stadium, viewed from the A662
4) Queens Park Bridge, Chester
5) Also Queens Park Bridge, Chester, viewed from the riverside path
6) 197104 at Chester
7) 197104 at Hereford, hopefully the photo came out OK!

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like a nice little day trip. The city walls at Chester are on my list to do at some point.

Shame you didn't get any required trams out, more to hunt the next time you visit Manchester

 

[Techniquest]

Sounded like a nice little day trip. The city walls at Chester are on my list to do at some point.

Shame you didn't get any required trams out, more to hunt the next time you visit Manchester

I highly recommend the City Walls, it's a great route and some nice views

With just 5 active trams left to get, it's getting difficult to get a winner with them now, but for all I know they may all turn up next time!

Some photos from my walkabout in Chester are attached, there's a couple others too but that will have to wait due to the limits on here.

 

[shredder1]

Sounds like a good run out Tech, I used to work in Rochdale, Crumpsalls my nearest tram stop these days, or Mills Hill railway station in the opposite direction on the Calder Valley line, I preferred the Oldham loop as an heavy rail line though, despite the fact that Metrolink are more regular. Shame you didnt get chance to sample the TfW 230s on the Bidston to Wrexham central line, I did my first run on one the other week.

 

[Techniquest]

Sounds like a good run out Tech, I used to work in Rochdale, Crumpsalls my nearest tram stop these days, or Mills Hill railway station in the opposite direction on the Calder Valley line, I preferred the Oldham loop as an heavy rail line though, despite the fact that Metrolink are more regular. Shame you didnt get chance to sample the TfW 230s on the Bidston to Wrexham central line, I did my first run on one the other week.

I think that's the one with a tough-to-do bay platform, at Crumpsall? I haven't been up the Bury line for years, indeed I think the line is required for M5000 action. As is Altrincham, and there are plans to change that eventually.

As for heavy rail vs Metrolink on the Oldham line, I remain unconvinced one is definitely better than the other. Both have their pros and cons, without question. If it wasn't so slow, I'd say the improved connectivity and frequency of Metrolink was better. It's way too slow a journey for me, I just can't be dealing with that again any time soon!

Attached are a couple more photos from Chester, just because I can I also attach a random photo of my favourite workplace mug from today's pre-work coffee, as well as some photos of 175009 and 175101 on the 1853 from Hereford to Manchester Piccadilly. I do have another photo, that I rather like, but the forum insists it is too big. Despite being the same size as the others!

In other news, I've got my first hotel stay in a good while coming up on Thursday There's more red pen action on the way, as well as a big life goal due to be achieved on Friday afternoon

 

[Kite159]

I think that's the one with a tough-to-do bay platform, at Crumpsall?

Indeed, only gets used during engineering works at the moment (plus probably times when trams can't run all the way to Bury)

Should see regular use in the future when trams from The Trafford Centre are extended to Crumpsall (I think)

 

[Techniquest]

Indeed, only gets used during engineering works at the moment (plus probably times when trams can't run all the way to Bury)

Should see regular use in the future when trams from The Trafford Centre are extended to Crumpsall (I think)

Fair enough, I'm sure I'll get it done eventually then

I've been in trip planning mode tonight, looking at my maps and there are simply too many plans going on!

 

[shredder1]

Indeed, only gets used during engineering works at the moment (plus probably times when trams can't run all the way to Bury)

Should see regular use in the future when trams from The Trafford Centre are extended to Crumpsall (I think)

Yes I use Crumpsall as my main station and the bay is rarely used, the initial idea was to run to the Trafford Centre, but for whatever reason this doesnt appear to be happening, Ive only use the bay 3 times in all and these have been when the line has had issues.