Right, I was unsure whether to put this here or in my "Ancient History" thread.
I plumped for this one as it's only a couple of years old and definitely falls into the "modern" category.
So here goes.
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I once mentioned, in a thread about accommodation, that the Birmingham Maypole Travelodge is horrible, indeed I would heartily recommend sleeping in a skip rather than residing there.
This is the tale of my two day adventure that saw me spend a night there.
Never again.
Anyway, that was still in the future when I embarked on my trip.
Day one consisted of an Oxfordshire day ranger and I began by driving from home to Banbury.
I had never done one of these rovers before and I needed most of the 165s and 166s that inhabited the area.
My main motivation, however, was to try and get the two 150/0 units that had taken up residence in Reading and worked the Basingstoke trains.
My first, winning, unit was
165110 and I did this Didcot where I bailed for a HST as this presented a faster way to get to Reading.
Power cars 43122 and 43168 were duly roped in and once at Reading I went and purchased a Reading West return as, unfortunately, the rover doesn’t cover that short stretch.
Although it was a winner, I was disappointed to see the distinctly un-150 shaped
165111 waiting to head to Basingstoke.
Never the less, I did it to
Reading West in the hope that the other diagram would produce.
Passing Reading depot I could see a three car 150 sat doing nothing.
Bah.
Still, that was only one set, maybe the other is out.
Nope, it was
165128 that I did back.
I looked at the timetable and realised that it was just possible I had made a mistake and had got the diagrams mixed up, so back I went, this time on
166217.
DMU 166217_2013.02.08_2_Reading West by
philwood55013, on Flickr
Sadly, I was still out of luck and my return to Reading was aboard a very dud 165123.
People currently on tenterhooks will be pleased to note that I did manage to get both the 150s at a later date.
Having accepted defeat in my 150 hunt I now wanted a 180, a type of unit that I like a lot.
I had researched the diagrams before I set off and, as I required most of the FGW ones, knew that it was highly likely a winner was on its way.
180108 produced as booked and I took this to Oxford.
DMU 180108_2013.02.08_1_Oxford by
philwood55013, on Flickr
There followed a round trip to Didcot, using
166211 and
166201 before a winning Voyager appeared.
I’m not a fan, but this one was empty and so I figured I might as well get it in the book whilst I could get a seat and so it was
220024 to Reading.
I immediately headed back West, doing
165104 to Didcot.
Next up was a winning pair,
165118 and
165113.
When I have a pair like that I count both units, as they’re both providing power, however it does nag me slightly, so after sitting in 165118 to Oxford I then waited around and sat in 165113 back to Didcot.
What can I say?
I’m odd.
Time was marching on and I had my hotel in Birmingham to find and so I began to make my way Northwards.
I took
166214 from Didcot to Oxford and then
165117 on to Banbury.
Then I set off to the Travelodge.
Ah, Maypole – it conjures up images of cricket on village greens, ruddy faced men with mutton chop whiskers sat, supping pints of bitter, watching the game, while ladies in flowery dresses set out the cucumber sandwiches for tea.
Nope.
Birmingham Maypole is as rough as a badger’s posterior.
I drove around, in the dark, for ages trying to find the damn place.
According to Google Maps I was on top of it, but I just couldn’t see it.
Then it caught my eye.
The hotel is on top of a row of shops, on a roundabout, opposite Sainsbury’s(That’s for anyone that has a yearning to visit the place).
I parked in the dubious car park round the back of the shops and went to find the way in.
Eventually I located it, next to a Subway (the sandwich shop, not an underpass) and went in.
Now, the thing about this particular Travelodge is, unlike all the other ones I’ve been in, you can go up to the rooms without passing the reception.
This is very useful if, say, ooh, I dunno, you’re in a gang of youths that fancy having a cannabis smoking party out of the rain.
So I checked in, went to my room and was soon asleep.
In the early hours of the morning I was dragged out of my sleep by the hotel fire alarm.
Should I just ignore it?
Best not to, I suppose.
I got dressed and, bleary eyed, made my way down to the front, where various assorted people in their nightwear mingled.
Then, a crash and a group of youths burst out of the door at the top of the stairs and slowly made their way down towards us.
They seemed angry and one had a huge gash in his head that had blood pouring out of it.
They ignored the crowd of people stood open mouthed and, swearing loudly they made their way outside.
Over the next quarter of an hour they, and others, came and went without once acknowledging the group of, very worried, hotel patrons.
One man had his mobile phoned and, hiding behind the rest of us he dialled 999 and tried to quietly explain to the police what was happening.
They had an air of menace that prevented any normal person from getting in the way and as long as they didn’t approach us, we, as a group just stood back.
Eventually, the police arrived and, like a group of juvenile Keyser Soze’s, the gang had gone.
So what had happened?
Well, it seems that one lad had gone into reception and taken a room for the night.
He had then gone back to the entrance and let his mates in, who had made their way up to the room without having to pass the reception and thus being seen.
Once inside they had proceeded to smoke copious amounts of weed.
People on their floor had begun ringing the bloke on the reception desk to complain about the noise and smell, but he hadn’t done anything about it.
His hopes that if he ignored it, it would go away, were dashed when the alarm went off.
How did one come to be injured?
I’ve no idea.
Why did they keep going backwards and forwards?
That, too, is a mystery to me.
The place was now swarming with police and the alarm had, eventually, been turned off and so I decided to make my way back to bed.
I was up bright and early next morning, I wanted to be away from this hellhole as quickly as possible.
Amazingly, my car was in one piece.
I was convinced it would be wrecked.
It was Saturday and I was doing an LM Great Escape.
I had failed to get the two 150/0 yesterday, but had high hopes that my plan for today would pay off.
I needed two of the three 150/1s that remain with LM and so was intending on going to Bletchley.
I started by driving to Birmingham International and getting my ticket before heading South on
350258.
This train was wedged and everyone on board seemed to have a Great Escape ticket, most were going to London for the day, so I hoped there wouldn’t be too much overcrowding for the rest of my move.
At Bletchley I got my winning sprinter,
150109, which I did to
Asply Guise for another winner,
153366, back.
DMU 150109_2013.02.09_Aspley Guise by
philwood55013, on Flickr
I was now heading back to Birmingham and did this on
350253 to Northampton for
350122 to International and
350116 to New Street.
EMU 350253_2013.02.09_Northampton by
philwood55013, on Flickr
I fancied some of the LM 170s, so a couple of round trips to Walsall followed, using
170504,
170505,
170501 and
170506.
DMU 170504_2013.02.09_Walsall by
philwood55013, on Flickr
Quite a nice haul, that but I wanted some three car ones as well, so it was
170632 to University for
170634 back.
I was now getting quite tired, what with my disturbed night and all, so I started to think about heading home.
I did fancy getting a couple more winners in first, though, so I took
350101 to Coventry before going to International on
350242.
I was intending to have one last round trip to New Street, but International was heaving with exasperated looking parents and twelve year old girls, evidently having attended some event at the NEC.
This is the stuff of nightmares and so I decided to go straight home!
So that was that, all in all a good move, with quite a few winners.
I could have done without the ne’er do wells and would have liked to have got a 150/0, but you can’t have everything.
