Well, for good or ill it's back again, in a more appropriate folder this time.
14th January. Fellow forum member 142094 and I had decided that it might be nice to start off the year on a controversial note. Flying in the face of conventional wisdom we did a West Yorkshire DayRover with a difference: all trains taken must be Pacers! For a positioning move we would be allowed a non-Pacer if necessary, but otherwise if a train turned up sans Pacer, we would have to flag it.
142094 was travelling from York and he was going via Harrogate to increase his chances of a 100% Pacer haul. Through a mixture of meanness and fear of the wife (lest I turn down this opportunity to take our sons to school), I waited until DayRover validity started at 09:30 before venturing into Leeds. This meant a 333, but the only possible Pacer before this was on the 07:10 Lancaster > Leeds, which is sometimes a 150/2 anyway, and IMO not worth the risk or expense.
Anyway, 333011 was 12 minutes late on the 09:40 ex-Saltaire. 142094 had caught a 142 on the 08:45 York > Harrogate > Leeds, and was waiting at Leeds when I arrived. We headed over to platform 17 for the 10:32 stopper to Sheffield via Barnsley, and were presented with the sight of a 158 displaying Sheffield via Barnsley on the destination indicator. Good grief! Were we going to have to flag it and change our plans before I had even set foot inside a bouncing bus that day? No worries as it turned out to be the 10:37 semi-fast service via Altofts. 2-car 144011 soon pulled into 17B to form the 10:32, and a few minutes later we left on time, the only other inhabitants of the front coach being two elderly cranks! Not much of the famous bouncing in evidence as we enjoyed quite a smooth ride as far as the appalling Wakefield Kirkgate, reached at 11:04. Last time I bailed here it was to make a very quick cross-platform interchange, so I didnt have the chance to drink in (and inhale: especially in the subway) the atmosphere of the surroundings. This place is truly bleak, and an embarrassment to the city of Wakefield. I cant believe Wakefield Met cant find some money from somewhere to pull half this shack down and superficially tart up the rest, especially as there are now longer distance workings to Nottingham and even London using the place. Having said that, stepping outside the station suggested that it might take a lot more than a mere refurb to sort this problem out. The derelict and badly bricked up pub directly opposite the station was reminiscent of Belfast in the 1980s, and the surrounding neighbourhood appeared to be populated exclusively by people who could charitably be described as a bit rough. From the main road you would never guess that the boarded up semi-derelict hulk behind the apparently blown-up pub was a functioning railway station; if you werent unaware that there was a station in the area at all that is (entirely possible due to the lack of signage).
Back onto the platform, secure in the knowledge that we were doing this day in the right order (best to get Kirkgate out of the way early doors, rather than have it hanging over you all day), and 144006 was waiting to take us and very few others out on the 11:31 to Knottingley. The 11:13 Grand Central working had been cancelled, so maybe there would have been fewer passengers still on the 144 had that taken some of the negligible Pontefract custom. A sedate little trundle on the Worlds Most Pointless Service followed, reaching Knottingley at 11:56. 20 minutes to spare and to get lunch, from a very nice fish and chip shop in the parade of shops near the station. This shop had a strange system in place, consisting of three people cooking the grub, and only one serving. This resulted in a long queue and three people behind the counter not that productively employed, while the server struggled to cope. Still, at least theyre never likely to run out of grub, nor are customers likely to hear that irritating explanation, so unexpected and yet so frequently heard in chip shops, of were just waiting for chips. The chips were excellent and 144006 on the 12:16 to Leeds much more healthily loaded. Passing Stourton I counted six 66s engaged in various themes on doing nothing, and we arrived a couple of minutes down on platform 17 again. We crossed to platform 13 to take the 13:13 to Manchester Victoria via Brighouse, but first noticed 142047 in the adjacent platform 12. Looking at the screen I saw it was on the 13:08 via Bradford, so we jumped at the chance to get a different route to the planned one, and also an ex-Merseyrail 142 in West Yorkshire, something you dont get every day. I suppose this is about as exciting as a visitor gets these days, and as such is to be welcomed, but its hardly an ex-Donny Works class 50 on the 14:20 York > Plymouth now, is it?
Mucho bouncing over the points as we negotiated the Leeds throat, and mucho thrash from the engines as we laboured up the gradient towards Bradford. Wheels screeching hideously as we descended the 1 in 44 round sharp reverse curves into Bradford Interchange. This is what Pacing is all about! More labouring up the long climb through Bowling Tunnel and on to Low Moor and Halifax. Another ex-Merseyrail 142 was in the platform at Halifax. I saw one on Leeds > Huddersfield workings the previous week as well, so is there a concerted effort by Newton Heath to inflict these sets on a wider audience??
At Todmorden we had half an hour to kill before the 14:34 departure back again. There seemed nothing better to do than have a pint, so we tried to find a decent pub. At the first one we approached someone reached out and slammed the window shut as we walked up, so that didnt seem a good sign. TBF it had the dreaded Sky Sports Here notice outside, which is as good a way of saying Crap Beer and Unfriendly Service Here as I can think of, bar slamming a window shut in someones face. The next place also had this notice, but also a sign saying Free House. This presumably means free to sell a terrible selection of corporate smoothflow-type crud, and we left hurriedly without either making a purchase or catching anyones eye. Things improved considerably round the next corner, where there was a large pub with the student-friendly name of The Polished Knob. Several excellent local beers on tap, all at a standard price of £2.30, and R.E.M. circa Document on the jukebox. Excellent. We had delicious pints of Copper Dragon Golden Pippin from Skipton, and if The End Of The World As Wed Known It had occurred at that point in time I would have gone off Feeling just Fine.
Back up to the station for 144023, the first 3-car set of the day, on the 14:34. Bailed at Dewsbury and over the bridge to the West Riding Refreshment Rooms for another pint (I had a Taylors Mild. Mmmm!). At 15:46 we took the next Pacer into Leeds (144017) and headed to Wetherspoons to await the 16:39 to Morecambe. The 16:39 crosses the 16:19 ex-Morecambe at a point that nicely allows 41 minutes in Keighley. Pacers cant be guaranteed on Morecambe trains, but we felt the risk of getting bowled in either direction was worth it for the relatively unusual opportunity to get Pacers to and from Keighley without wasting too much time. Sure enough, 142050 was in platform 9 on the 16:39, so we joined and were lucky to get seats as the train was pretty full leaving. At Keighley most passengers bailed, and we strolled along Cavendish Street to the Volunteers. This is a delightful, tiny Taylors pub tucked away behind a large and awful looking pub called the Cavendish Hotel. Sadly, the dreaded Sky TV has arrived even at this backwater since my last visit, and the volume was spoiling my enjoyment of the Golden Best I held in my hand. Frankly even on silent, the ridiculous game show on offer coupled with Bradley Walshs gurning Cock-er-ney grin would have put me off, so we downed pints and headed for the Boltmakers Arms for a quick half in much more soothing surroundings before heading back for the 17:51. This was it: only this had to produce a Pacer and we would have achieved our goal. Happily 144004 rolled in on time and treated us to a non-stop run to Shipley through lashing, freezing rain. I bailed at Shipley into the awful weather, leaving 142094 to ride on to Leeds, where the same set formed his 18:29 to York via Harrogate, albeit with a 150 coupled on.
Now, who was it that said Pacers cant be fun?
14th January. Fellow forum member 142094 and I had decided that it might be nice to start off the year on a controversial note. Flying in the face of conventional wisdom we did a West Yorkshire DayRover with a difference: all trains taken must be Pacers! For a positioning move we would be allowed a non-Pacer if necessary, but otherwise if a train turned up sans Pacer, we would have to flag it.
142094 was travelling from York and he was going via Harrogate to increase his chances of a 100% Pacer haul. Through a mixture of meanness and fear of the wife (lest I turn down this opportunity to take our sons to school), I waited until DayRover validity started at 09:30 before venturing into Leeds. This meant a 333, but the only possible Pacer before this was on the 07:10 Lancaster > Leeds, which is sometimes a 150/2 anyway, and IMO not worth the risk or expense.
Anyway, 333011 was 12 minutes late on the 09:40 ex-Saltaire. 142094 had caught a 142 on the 08:45 York > Harrogate > Leeds, and was waiting at Leeds when I arrived. We headed over to platform 17 for the 10:32 stopper to Sheffield via Barnsley, and were presented with the sight of a 158 displaying Sheffield via Barnsley on the destination indicator. Good grief! Were we going to have to flag it and change our plans before I had even set foot inside a bouncing bus that day? No worries as it turned out to be the 10:37 semi-fast service via Altofts. 2-car 144011 soon pulled into 17B to form the 10:32, and a few minutes later we left on time, the only other inhabitants of the front coach being two elderly cranks! Not much of the famous bouncing in evidence as we enjoyed quite a smooth ride as far as the appalling Wakefield Kirkgate, reached at 11:04. Last time I bailed here it was to make a very quick cross-platform interchange, so I didnt have the chance to drink in (and inhale: especially in the subway) the atmosphere of the surroundings. This place is truly bleak, and an embarrassment to the city of Wakefield. I cant believe Wakefield Met cant find some money from somewhere to pull half this shack down and superficially tart up the rest, especially as there are now longer distance workings to Nottingham and even London using the place. Having said that, stepping outside the station suggested that it might take a lot more than a mere refurb to sort this problem out. The derelict and badly bricked up pub directly opposite the station was reminiscent of Belfast in the 1980s, and the surrounding neighbourhood appeared to be populated exclusively by people who could charitably be described as a bit rough. From the main road you would never guess that the boarded up semi-derelict hulk behind the apparently blown-up pub was a functioning railway station; if you werent unaware that there was a station in the area at all that is (entirely possible due to the lack of signage).
Back onto the platform, secure in the knowledge that we were doing this day in the right order (best to get Kirkgate out of the way early doors, rather than have it hanging over you all day), and 144006 was waiting to take us and very few others out on the 11:31 to Knottingley. The 11:13 Grand Central working had been cancelled, so maybe there would have been fewer passengers still on the 144 had that taken some of the negligible Pontefract custom. A sedate little trundle on the Worlds Most Pointless Service followed, reaching Knottingley at 11:56. 20 minutes to spare and to get lunch, from a very nice fish and chip shop in the parade of shops near the station. This shop had a strange system in place, consisting of three people cooking the grub, and only one serving. This resulted in a long queue and three people behind the counter not that productively employed, while the server struggled to cope. Still, at least theyre never likely to run out of grub, nor are customers likely to hear that irritating explanation, so unexpected and yet so frequently heard in chip shops, of were just waiting for chips. The chips were excellent and 144006 on the 12:16 to Leeds much more healthily loaded. Passing Stourton I counted six 66s engaged in various themes on doing nothing, and we arrived a couple of minutes down on platform 17 again. We crossed to platform 13 to take the 13:13 to Manchester Victoria via Brighouse, but first noticed 142047 in the adjacent platform 12. Looking at the screen I saw it was on the 13:08 via Bradford, so we jumped at the chance to get a different route to the planned one, and also an ex-Merseyrail 142 in West Yorkshire, something you dont get every day. I suppose this is about as exciting as a visitor gets these days, and as such is to be welcomed, but its hardly an ex-Donny Works class 50 on the 14:20 York > Plymouth now, is it?
Mucho bouncing over the points as we negotiated the Leeds throat, and mucho thrash from the engines as we laboured up the gradient towards Bradford. Wheels screeching hideously as we descended the 1 in 44 round sharp reverse curves into Bradford Interchange. This is what Pacing is all about! More labouring up the long climb through Bowling Tunnel and on to Low Moor and Halifax. Another ex-Merseyrail 142 was in the platform at Halifax. I saw one on Leeds > Huddersfield workings the previous week as well, so is there a concerted effort by Newton Heath to inflict these sets on a wider audience??
At Todmorden we had half an hour to kill before the 14:34 departure back again. There seemed nothing better to do than have a pint, so we tried to find a decent pub. At the first one we approached someone reached out and slammed the window shut as we walked up, so that didnt seem a good sign. TBF it had the dreaded Sky Sports Here notice outside, which is as good a way of saying Crap Beer and Unfriendly Service Here as I can think of, bar slamming a window shut in someones face. The next place also had this notice, but also a sign saying Free House. This presumably means free to sell a terrible selection of corporate smoothflow-type crud, and we left hurriedly without either making a purchase or catching anyones eye. Things improved considerably round the next corner, where there was a large pub with the student-friendly name of The Polished Knob. Several excellent local beers on tap, all at a standard price of £2.30, and R.E.M. circa Document on the jukebox. Excellent. We had delicious pints of Copper Dragon Golden Pippin from Skipton, and if The End Of The World As Wed Known It had occurred at that point in time I would have gone off Feeling just Fine.
Back up to the station for 144023, the first 3-car set of the day, on the 14:34. Bailed at Dewsbury and over the bridge to the West Riding Refreshment Rooms for another pint (I had a Taylors Mild. Mmmm!). At 15:46 we took the next Pacer into Leeds (144017) and headed to Wetherspoons to await the 16:39 to Morecambe. The 16:39 crosses the 16:19 ex-Morecambe at a point that nicely allows 41 minutes in Keighley. Pacers cant be guaranteed on Morecambe trains, but we felt the risk of getting bowled in either direction was worth it for the relatively unusual opportunity to get Pacers to and from Keighley without wasting too much time. Sure enough, 142050 was in platform 9 on the 16:39, so we joined and were lucky to get seats as the train was pretty full leaving. At Keighley most passengers bailed, and we strolled along Cavendish Street to the Volunteers. This is a delightful, tiny Taylors pub tucked away behind a large and awful looking pub called the Cavendish Hotel. Sadly, the dreaded Sky TV has arrived even at this backwater since my last visit, and the volume was spoiling my enjoyment of the Golden Best I held in my hand. Frankly even on silent, the ridiculous game show on offer coupled with Bradley Walshs gurning Cock-er-ney grin would have put me off, so we downed pints and headed for the Boltmakers Arms for a quick half in much more soothing surroundings before heading back for the 17:51. This was it: only this had to produce a Pacer and we would have achieved our goal. Happily 144004 rolled in on time and treated us to a non-stop run to Shipley through lashing, freezing rain. I bailed at Shipley into the awful weather, leaving 142094 to ride on to Leeds, where the same set formed his 18:29 to York via Harrogate, albeit with a 150 coupled on.
Now, who was it that said Pacers cant be fun?
), or if you must do so then be aware that starting the ticket back at Shipley is a good idea. I and 20 other hardy souls joined the 15 people from Forster Square and Frizinghall already on the 333, and we arrived two early at Leeds. I had to go out of the barrier for a few minutes, and when I came back through my ticket wasn’t accepted. These barriers at Leeds are simply terrible. I am very frequently denied access despite having a valid ticket, and this time as all others I marched through the disabled access barrier (permanently left open, presumably for exactly this purpose) with a scowl at the barrier assistant, who is still needed despite ‘automation’ because the system is just so damned rubbish. It seems the same cut-price shonky supplier has recently been allowed to provide similarly useless equipment at Bradford Interchange, where tickets from New Pudsey to Saltaire via route Not Leeds are consistently rejected as ‘not valid at this station’. What’s the alternative then? Stay on to Preston, change for Lancaster, then on the Pacer to Skipton and a 333 to Saltaire? A good lot of mileage there for £2.05! At least this inaccurate message is in understandable English, rather than the meaningless jargon ‘reject passback’ displayed by the barriers at Leeds. This really isn’t good enough and must be intimidating to normals bombarded with media stories about how easy it is to buy the wrong ticket and the sometimes horrendous consequences of doing so. It’s not as if decent, robust barriers can’t be had: London Underground has had them for more than a generation. Can you imagine the chaos at a busy Zone 1 station in the rush hour if a significant proportion of tickets were rejected?
This is almost as good as a Valenta, and certainly it’s good to get the head out for a bit. It’s a bit cold though, so back to my seat before Dore to settle down with the Quail book to study an area that was once commonplace for me, but is now something of a rarity. A pleasant enough run through a dreary morning, and a lot of hanging about at Nottingham. The train had hung around at Sheffield for ages as well, with the result that the train was booked to take 2 hrs 23 to cover 106¾ miles from Leeds to Leicester, an unambitious average speed of less than 45mph. At Trent South Junction there was some graffiti reading ‘Peak power’ in large letters on a bridge, and this seemed like an astonishing surviving relic from a completely vanished world. After arriving at Leicester three down I watched the VPs clag off towards London and boarded Cross Country’s 170519 on the 09:16 local working to Birmingham New St. I did a lot of moaning about ScotRail 170s on here last year, but this seemed much nicer. The interior décor was certainly better, but maybe it was just that a Leicester > Birmingham local seemed a much more appropriate setting for this train than an Inverness > Edinburgh ‘Inter City’ working. 9 minutes later we pulled into Narborough and I bailed.
