55013's Contemporary Trip Reports

[Techniquest]

Those tales of 37 action sure had the imagination going!

Very productive time in Glasgow, but I suspect I'll be catching you up somewhat in January, assuming all goes to plan. All will be revealed of course, but now I'm glad to have settled on the plan me and BT have come up. Put it this way, 2017 is to start in an awesome manner!

 

[45135]

Good to see that after the previous shenanigans 320301 is finally in the got you, you b*****d club. They could've given it a clean for the occasion though.

 

[55013]

They could've given it a clean for the occasion though.

They did put on a brass band and semi-naked dancing girls, but they're behind me in that photo
It was good to get 320301, I must admit.

 

[507021]

Just catching up with the last few reports, I really enjoyed reading them.

Looking forward to the next one.

 

[55013]

Another month, another stress relieving trip.
After roping in Cornwall and Glasgow in recent weeks it was now back to more usual 2016 territory, London.

Once again there were no cheap seats available at short notice on my train of choice, the 07.13 off Wakefield.
So, as the 07.28 is very much on my avoid list, I plumped for the 06.53.
This proved to be a good choice as it was sub thousand-mile machine 91128 that propelled me to the capital.
It’s now on 982.99 miles, so it’s gettable on a local move.

Once in the Smoke it was a walk over to St Pancras and dud 395003 to Stratford International.

Last year I’d gone to Upminster in order to get a few 357s but had only managed one winner after a succession of unrequired units had bowled me out.
I needed 49 of the 74, so surely the same thing wouldn’t happen again.
Upminster wasn’t my immediate destination this time, though.
It was West Ham (DLR) that became my first winning station of the day.
I reached this from Stratford International aboard 108, which had 144 for company.
After making my way round to the mainline platforms I awaited a winner.
Half an hour later my enthusiasm had dipped somewhat as I had witnessed a procession made up entirely of unrequired units.
Are there really 74 members of the class?
I was starting to think there was only 25 and I must have cleared them.
Lengthy festers are not on the list of my favourite things and so I abandoned the wait and got on 357012, just to get the NR part of West Ham in the book.
I did this to Upminster and hung around there for a while to see if my luck improved.
First of all brand new 387303 and 387304 came in.
Sadly, they were on test, so no winners for me there.
Once they had cleared the platform 357024 arrived.
At last.
It’ll take me a while to clear the 357s if my 2015/16 average of one a year continues.

I disembarked from 357024 back at West Ham and it was back to the DLR as I had something vaguely resembling a plan.

A 357 that was actually added to my haulage records:
EMU 357024_2016.11.11_West Ham by Phil Wood, on Flickr

103 and dud 152 took me to Stratford where I set out to get the four stations I needed between Liverpool St and Shenfield.
At the start of the move I needed 18 winning haulages to reach my goal of 366 for the year.
Three DLR units and the 357 had taken me that bit closer and I was hoping for a nice catch of 315s to get me closer still.
With seven or so weeks to go, I was happy to take my foot off the accelerator a bit and see what transpired.
My goal edged a bit closer when double winners 315825 and 315861 arrived to take me target number one, Gidea Park.
Unrequired pair 315819 and 315840 were next, to Maryland, before winner number seven of the day 315853 arrived to take me to my penultimate target Manor Park.
315853 was working with 315826.
Dud for the day 315861 & 315825 then powered me to the last of my required stations, Forest Gate.

315861 arrives at Manor Park:
EMU 315861_2016.11.11_2_Manor Park by Phil Wood, on Flickr

So that was that, all the stops served by the Shenfield services have been done.

During my run of winning shacks I had seen several required 315s and so the next order of business was to get them in the book.
I had seen a wanted pair heading to Shenfield and so I followed on 315840/315819 (again).
The service in front of the required pair was unknown, so I bailed at Harold Wood to view it.
Result.
315846, leading 315828, was taken for a decent length run to Stratford where I awaited the pair I wanted ten minutes behind.
315844 and 315822 were the units in question and these were taken into Liverpool Street and then out again as far as Romford where I hoped to pick up another double winner.
My hope was realised when 315824 and 315835 arrived a few minutes after I did.
With no station requirements on that line and my 315 totals now looking pretty healthy I could afford to do longer runs and so I stayed on all the way back to the terminus.
As the train pulled into the platform I spotted another requirement waiting to work the next North bound service.
I got out of 315824 and immediately boarded 315843.
It was 315834 that was the accompanying set.
As is my usual practice I wanted to ride on the other unit of the previous winning pair, so I left 315843 at Romford and ten minutes later climbed aboard 315835.
Once again Harold Wood was where I got off and once again I was met by a combination of one winner and one dud, 315850 and 315838.

My plan now was to bail at Stratford and head back North.
Sadly rush hour was kicking off and it was chaos at Stratford so I decided to abandon the mainline and head to the DLR.

63 and 58 were utilised to take me to Woolwich Arsenal (DLR).
After swapping from 63 to 58 I took the same pair back as far as London City Airport.
I realised that I was fairly close to reaching the eighteen winners for the day that would see me reaching my 2016 goal.
Sadly that auspicious moment would have to wait as next up was a pair that I’d already had today, 152 and 103.
Nevertheless I took them as I realised that, if I didn’t hang about, I could clear all the DLR stops between Stratford International and Woolwich Arsenal.
I left them at King George V.
Winner sixteen of the day was 48 which was teamed up with 02.
These were done to Star Lane.
If the next service provided me with a couple of winners my goal would be achieved.
It did
85, leading 25, was the unit that saw me pass the finish line, with a move or two still to come this year.
I did these to Pontoon Dock.
These proved to be my final winning haulages of the day, although I wasn’t done shack scratching of course.
58 and 63 were used to get my penultimate new stop of the day, Canning Town Low Level before 136 and 150 helped me clear the line by giving me a ride to West Silvertown.
02 and 48 were my last DLR units, taking me from West Silvertown to Stratford International.
My run over to St Pancras was aboard 395025.

Given that it was armistice day it was quite fitting that my journey home was powered by Battle of Britain memorial flight loco 91110.
Even better, it became the fourteenth class 91 to become a member of the thousand mile club on the way back.

Both of the day's 91s side by side:
91110_2016.11.11_3_Kings Cross_& 91128 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

All in all, a very productive day with my 2016 goal met, two lines cleared for all shacks, plenty of winning 315s and DLR sets, not forgetting two mileage requirement 91s.

 

[Kite159]

I shall have to have a word with C2C giving you a required 357

Well done on a productive day with a lot of 315 action (I hope you sit in the motor coach for the motor noise?)

 

[Cowley]

Lots of 315s, they're looking quite old now compared to the new stuff. I love the DLR, really enjoyed reading that

 

[55013]

I shall have to have a word with C2C giving you a required 357

Thanks - I think I definitely need some form of external assistance to increase my scoring rate :grin:
I'm hoping to do another London trip before the year's out so I might give it another go.

Well done on a productive day with a lot of 315 action (I hope you sit in the motor coach for the motor noise?)

I generally sit in the trailer coach when I get a winning four car EMU, just in case they ever decide to make them into three coach units a la the LM 321s.

Lots of 315s, they're looking quite old now compared to the new stuff. I love the DLR, really enjoyed reading that

Cheers.
I've been recording EMU haulages for quite a few years but only started actively chasing them last year so I'm trying to catch up with the older types.
I really enjoy the DLR as well.

 

[FQ]

Shame about the rotten luck with the 357s but it sounds like a brilliant time was had anyway. Congrats on getting your 2016 goal too!

 

[55013]

Thanks.
I've already given some thought to what I'll do in 2017 but I still need to firm up the details
The 357 situation is bugging me, so my next London trip will probably see me heading that way again.

 

[ash39]

Well done on reaching your target for the year, you can have a couple of months off now!

I've never been on the DLR, will have to try it sometime

 

[55013]

Thanks.
The DLR is great fun, especially if you sit at the front.

 

[Techniquest]

Ooh I love a good spin on the DLR! Sadly my next London visit won't see enough time to do a lot on it, but hey ho.

Bad luck on the 357s but well done on clearing your haulages target! As always, an excellent read too

 

[55013]

Cheers.
The irritating thing about the 357s is that when I was doing my later all-liners I wanted to get a few runs on the last of the slammers so I did a few moves to Fenchurch Street.
I was after 310s and 312s but was frequently bowled out by, guess what, 357s.
Such is cranking life.

 

[507021]

Excellent report, congratulations on reaching your target too.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Nice report, and well done on hitting your targets.

Your.mentioning that there are 74 original members of the class 357 gives me an idea to make them a bit less tedious to chase. There were also 74 members of a far more rateable class, back in the day. So if you subtract either 356001 or 356155 from the numbers you can find the appropriate name.

Doing this, the four I've sampled are hereby mentally renamed Essex Venturer, Essex Queen, Essex Consort** and Essex Reliance

**Essex Consort in experimental "Fake Tan" livery, of course...

 

[Cowley]

**Essex Consort in experimental "Fake Tan" livery, of course...

Is that a sort of orange scheme with white around the windows and the carriage ends?

 

[55013]

Every December my mates and I do a Yuletide move.
The last few times this has involved Chiltern loco haulage, driving to Solihull, doing one 68 (previously 67) to Marylebone, heading round to "The Metropolitan" for a mixed grill then heading back on the second loco hauled set.
This year however we have something different lined up.
45135 and I both felt we would be missing out and so decided to do the Chiltern move anyway, just a bit earlier.

He picked me up from a snow covered Bradford at 10.00 and we made our way down to the snow-less, but still cold, midlands.

We arrived in time to cover the first 68 on its way to Moor Street and it would have been rude, not to mention stupid, to ignore it.

68012_2016.11.29_Birmingham Moor Street by Phil Wood, on Flickr

68012 was thus done down and about an hour later, back up.

Once in London we made our way round to The Metropolitan only to find it shut for refurbishment!
Horror of horrors.
We mooched around looking for a place to get some grub.
Being diabetic and not having eaten for several hours in preparation for a lovely mixed grill I was starting to feel unwell and so food was of high importance.
We eventually settled on Pizza Hut and sourced a meal deal

Coma staved off we duly returned to Marylebone and our steed home.
This was 68014 and the train was pretty full.

68014_2016.11.29_4_Marylebone by Phil Wood, on Flickr

The journey back to Solihull was uneventful, as was the drive home.
All in all an enjoyable day with no winners of any description (unless you count the Pizza Hut) but there's more to life than winners

 

[Cowley]

A nice day out with a good friend on a proper train sounds like a winning combination to me.
Nice photos too. It does sound like you pushed yourself slightly too far there with the food situation, obviously fine if the place had been open...

 

[ash39]

Nice day out, though a shame about the restaurant! What's the plan for this year's xmas move?

 

[Techniquest]

Mmm, 68 mileage...

That's probably a better Yuletide move than my series of moves, which involves 170s, 350s, 377s, 390s and LU amongst other stuff!

 

[FQ]

Vote cats, especially Gingertom! Shame about the Metropolitan being shut though.

 

[55013]

Thanks chaps.

What's the plan for this year's xmas move?

There's a bit of track that none of us have done before and is available in mid December courtesy of the BLS so the vote was to do that instead.
The customary mixed grill will still feature

 

[55013]

Sunday November the 27th was Mrs 13’s birthday (I won’t say which one ).
As is our usual practice this meant a long weekend at the seaside.
My wife is a huge fan of Bridlington. Me, not so much.
Knowing that I’m not that keen on the place, she suggested something a bit different this year.
The plan was that she would drive over on Friday morning and I would go to work, coming over on the train in the evening.
She suggested that I do a railway move on the Saturday whilst she did her usual sea side relaxation.
Sunday, of course, was sacrosanct and we would spend all day together before returning home on Monday afternoon.
A simple plan and one that would give us both enjoyment, singularly and together.

I was in work nice and early on Friday and had nothing lined up other than admin.
My immediate boss arrived a while after I did and, knowing what was planned, suggested that I take back some of the extra hours that I have worked recently.
Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I jumped at his offer.
There were a few bits of paperwork that I felt couldn’t wait but once these were out of the way I was gone.
I had arranged to meet my wife at Bridlington station at around 19.00, so I had plenty of time to make my way over there.
I still needed two 185s so decided to start off by going to Huddersfield.
My journey into work had been on 150214 and my trip from Halifax to Huddersfield was on 158842.
Once at Huddersfield I noticed a couple of things, firstly the next Eastbound TPE was late and secondly 156440 was stood in waiting to do the next stopping service West.
Hordes of people were waiting for the 185 and there was a required coach for me in the 156.
These days the Huddersfield to Greater Manchester services are the only trains that my M-Card is valid on that produce 156ers, so I was very tempted.
I viewed the TPE arrive, it was a dud, so I caved in to temptation and boarded 52440.
Whilst sat waiting to leave I observed a 185 pull in on a service to Manchester Airport.
It was 185106 – one of my last two!
RTT was consulted and I knew what time it would be coming back to Huddersfield.
Now I had something to aim for.

156440 was done to Slaithwaite and double Pacers 142045 and 142004 took me back.

A pair of Nodding Donkeys:
DMU 142045_2016.11.25_Huddersfield_& 142004 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I had no intention of spending a couple of hours hanging around Huddersfield and so I did a fill in turn, utilising new liveried 185108 to Leeds and 185110 back.
I made my way over to platform 8 and waited my date with 185106.
There was another late running service five minutes in front of it and I contemplated what I would do if it was my other requirement.
It always pays to have a backup plan, although obviously there was virtually no chance of my last two being on consecutive workings.
Virtually no chance, but still a chance
It was 185102 that pulled in.
I wasn’t going to flag it and so it was duly done to Leeds.
Now I was down to one and it was literally right behind me.
They were so close that 185106 pulled into platform 15 whilst 185102 was still stood in platform 11d.
185106 stopped at Garforth, which is valid on my M-Card, but I decided to start making my way towards Brid and so purchased a Garforth to York single on board.

In the early to mid-1970s I had lived in a small village called Carlton Miniott.
This might not mean anything to most people but it’s actually nearer to Thirsk station than the eponymous town.
I spent many happy hours in and around the station when my age was in single figures and my mates and I even tried our hand at train spotting.
We would stroll onto the platform with a pen and some paper, note down any train we saw and then, because we had no idea what to do with the information we had gained, threw the whole lot away when we went home!!!!!
Binning those potentially fantastic lists of numbers is a great regret of mine, but I still have very fond memories of the old waiting room and a roaring coal fire.
Anyway, I digress.

Standing on a platform when I was 7 or 8 does not count when it comes to my current pursuit of shack scratching and given my history it was a station that I dearly wanted to get in the bag.
Whilst on 185106 I had once again made use of RTT and discovered that I would have a lengthy fester before something that would take me closer to Bridlington.
I also discovered that a Grand Central service was due into York about ten minutes after I got off the 185.
If I did that I would have a plus seven for another one back.
The Sunderland bound service was a couple of minutes late but I was on a roll and decided to risk it.
180105 was thus partaken of to Thirsk where I had three minutes to get over to the platform that had seen my first ever train ride way back in the time of flares and glam rock.
Another aside coming up – my Grandparents all lived in Leeds and we used to drive down ever Saturday to see them.
One particular week we were without a car for some reason and so my parents decided we would go by train.
I don’t remember a lot about it, no idea of the loco type, but it was definitely a long rake of blue and grey coaches.
Back to the present day and it was something much less interesting in the form of HST 43468 and 43423 that took me back to York.

I had no time to get a photo at Thirsk as the HST was pulling in as I came down the steps, but here's a record shot of it at York:
HST 43468_2016.11.25_1_York by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I now continued my journey Eastwards but still had some new stations to visit.
First up it was dud (aren’t they all? ) 185114 to Seamer.

DMU 185114_2016.11.25_2_Seamer by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Back in 2005 I had become irritated by a few bits of line around Yorkshire that I had never covered, so I had done a Freedom of The North East and scratched them all.
The longest and most glaring of these was the Hull to Scarborough line and this was conquered with a round trip on 156479.
To date that had been my only visit to the line and all the intermediate shacks were required.
I had a plan in place for Saturday that would hopefully see them cleared but for now there was just one more to get.
I must admit to having been slightly irritated that my wife, with complete lack of interest, had done the train to Bridlington numerous times before she could drive whereas I never had.
Today would see that particular bugbear put to bed.
158794, a unit that would feature a few more times before the weekend was over, took me on the final leg of my journey, from Seamer to, at last, Bridlington.
There I met my wife - earning valuable Brownie points for an earlier than planned arrival.
So, a day that was intended to see me go from A to B ended up with me swanning all over the place, getting three new shacks and clearing the 185s.
Now, would the Saturday be just as productive?

 

[alexf380]

Nice job on maximising a free day, and hearty congrats on clearing the 185s!

 

[Kite159]

Congrats on clearing the 185s, plus getting three new shacks into your book

 

[55013]

Thanks chaps.
Unexpected extra days are always a nice bonus, especially when they prove so productive

 

[Cowley]

Yes very good work getting the last 185s. One after the other is pretty impressive timing.
I laughed at the thought of you writing down and then throwing those old numbers away. I purchased a 1991 Platform 5 book off eBay last week (I've also got a 1987 one on it's way too) mainly because my old ones are tatty and doodled upon. Just transferred all my haulages into it but absolutely kicking myself at some of the records I've lost, like spotting records, power cars I had etc, these were in books that were lost twenty five years ago , ah well...
Good work rendezvousing with Mrs 013 early, always good to get things right on a birthday weekend

 

[FQ]

A huge congrats on clearing the 185s! I've never been to Bridlington so have no opinion but is it one of those tacky sort of places? If so then I agree with you for not getting it! Also, why on earth did you go train spotting at Thirsk just to chuck the notes away when you got home?

 

[55013]

Yes very good work getting the last 185s. One after the other is pretty impressive timing.
I laughed at the thought of you writing down and then throwing those old numbers away. I purchased a 1991 Platform 5 book off eBay last week (I've also got a 1987 one on it's way too) mainly because my old ones are tatty and doodled upon. Just transferred all my haulages into it but absolutely kicking myself at some of the records I've lost, like spotting records, power cars I had etc, these were in books that were lost twenty five years ago , ah well...
Good work rendezvousing with Mrs 013 early, always good to get things right on a birthday weekend

Cheers.
Really I should consider myself very lucky that my biggest regrets in life are not recording a few numbers properly.
Talk about First world problems.

A huge congrats on clearing the 185s! I've never been to Bridlington so have no opinion but is it one of those tacky sort of places? If so then I agree with you for not getting it! Also, why on earth did you go train spotting at Thirsk just to chuck the notes away when you got home?

Thanks.
Is Bridlington one of those sort of places?
It's not as bad as a lot of seaside towns to be fair, it's just that I've been there so many times that it doesn't have much appeal.
As for writing down numbers then throwing them away, we were small children and knew no better.
None of us had relatives who could instruct us in the ways of crankdom and your logical thinking isn't very well developed at 7 years old.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Day 2 was the Saturday, a day, unlike Friday, when I was actually supposed to be playing trains.
I don’t need any Northern DMUs so there was never any worry about the traction, today was all about shacks.
Having done both Hull and Scarborough many years ago I set off from home needing all eleven intermediate stations.
Seamer and Bridlington had been entered in the book yesterday so my moves today were designed to get the other nine in.
There’s one station, Arram, that’s particularly hard to get as it has a pretty sparse service.
Naturally I had started my planning by working out the best move for that and built up from there.
Luckily there’s a service at 07.30 from Bridlington that gives a mere ten minute or so wait at Arram.
After that the planning was a piece of cake.
Unfortunately, as we all know, sometimes the best laid plans can go awry.

I walked from our B & B to the station and purchased my Yorkshire Coast Day Ranger.
I strolled onto the platform and saw 158792 sat in the bay waiting to work the 07.12 to Doncaster.
I quickly realised that I could do this to Cottingham for another back to Driffield and pick up my intended Arram service there.
Two stations scored earlier in the day than planned – I might be on for an early finish.
I could almost hear the brownie points piling up

I got on 158792 and took my seat.
07.12 came and went.
The guard made an announcement:
“Apologies for the delay but we have a points failure. The signalman has gone to see if he can move them manually, don’t worry he has a big hammer”
A few minutes went by and another announcement.
“I’m sorry ladies and gentlemen but the signalman has been unable to fix the problem and he’s now waiting for a man to come with an even bigger hammer”.
His attempts at humour fell somewhat flat, with no laughter but several utterances of the F word being heard.

Maybe all wasn’t lost, this was after all a bonus move.
158902 pulled in on platform 5.
This was the service I was originally intending on making.
Maybe the points failure was keeping the bay unit blocked in but wouldn’t stop the through service.
I left 158792 and boarded 158902.

I almost immediately left again when it was announced that the fault had been fixed and the service from platform 6 would be the first to leave, with this train going fifteen to twenty minutes later.
With a plus ten at Arram and nothing further from there for about 3 hours my plans were in tatters.
I re-joined 158792, taking up the same seat I had just left and fired up RTT.

A complete re-jig was done and thankfully Arram could still be got, although it would now be a fifty minute wait at the end of the day.
It would also mean a slightly later than arranged arrival back at Bridlington; those potential brownie points disappeared as fast as they had arrived.

I left 158792 for the second and final time at Beverley.
I needed three stations between Bridlington and Scarborough and my idea was to get these out of the way first as they see less services than most of those to the South.
The unit that had taken me to Brid yesterday, 158794, was next and I took it, for the first of four runs that I would have on it today, to Filey.

DMU 158794_2016.11.26_03_Filey by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I had quite a lengthy fester here as I had to wait for the same unit coming back and so it was out of the station and into a local café for a full English breakfast.
Fully sated it was back aboard 158794, this time to Bempton.
158902, already dud today for sitting in and not moving, took me from there to Hunmanby.
Once again I had a bit of a wait, at fifty six minutes the longest of the day, so I used the time to wander about and observe the local flora and fauna.
158902 was taken for a longer run now, through to Cottingham.
That unit’s sister, 158901, was next.
First of all I did it to Nafferton.
It was on a Bridlington terminator and so it was that coming back that I had to wait for.

158901 emerging from the fog at Nafferton:
DMU 158901_2016.11.26_3_Nafferton by Phil Wood, on Flickr

The new plan that I had concocted had a bit of a gap in the middle of the day and so I filled the time by doing 158901 all the way to Hull before doing it for a third time in a row throughout to Bridlington.
Happily it was a change of unit now.
158816 took me to Hutton Cranswick.
This was a station that I had long fancied visiting, if only because an old friend of mine used to insist on calling it “Buttered Cranberries”.
Don’t ask me why, but he thought it was very funny.

It was now starting to get dark and it was to my penultimate score of the day, Driffield, on board the very dud 158794.
It was a forty odd minute wait there before 158794 came back and took me to my last, but definitely not least, required station on the line; Arram.
Huzzah!
After all the angst it had caused me at the start of the day the place was finally in the bag.
I have to say that I enjoyed the three quarters of an hour I spent there.
It was now fully night, it was very cold but it was dry and the station was as quiet as the grave.
The best thing about the place was that there wasn’t another person to be seen for the entire time I was there.
Having seen a few interesting photographs of moving trains at night I decided to have a go myself and managed to get a couple of shots of units flying through.

This is my second attempt, 158910 flying through Arram, I must admit I'm quite pleased with it:
DMU 158910_2016.11.26_Arram by Phil Wood, on Flickr

My peaceful solitude couldn’t last and I knew that Hull City had been playing at home, so I wasn’t too surprised to board 158850 and find it full and standing.
It emptied out a bit after Driffield and I managed to find a seat for the rest of the run back to Brid.
I got in at 18.27, about half an hour later than initially planned, very happy with how the day had turned out.
I don't know what I'll do the next time we have a long weekend in Bridlington