55013's Contemporary Trip Reports

[55013]

Something different indeed! Very interesting and the pics from the last two trips are great

Oh, and that Travelodge sounds properly grim... I thought they were all up to a certain standard at least...

Thanks.
I believe Travelodge have managed to offload their Maypole branch.
Best Western seem to have taken it over.

Anyway, on with the show.

45135 and I have just had a couple of days in Scotland and here is the gist of it.

The main idea behind this move (one we’ve been wanting to do for several years but have never got round to for one reason or another) was to get some loco haulage in, namely the Fife Circle turns and the Fort William sleeper.

When it was first discussed I needed 67011 and 45135 needed 67007 & 67009, so we hoped some or all of them could be roped in.
Of course, the Fife’s are now 68s, so that meant only one 67.
I’d cleared the 67s earlier this year so the Fort William would definitely be dud for me, but we had our fingers crossed that one of 45135’s requirements would work the train.

Anyway, I digress.
Unlike me, 45135 had family commitments to put first, so an early departure from West Yorkshire was out and my usual 5am start to the drive was put back a bit.
I picked him up at 09.00 and we headed North.

To fill the day before heading up for the sleeper we had decided to do some Cathcart Circle bashing.
This was because I needed 314207 to clear the class and 45135, who doesn’t do units as such, doesn’t mind getting new lines and stations in and likes to get photos at new locations.

I had done a bit of research beforehand and thought that Whitecraigs looked like a good place to park up.
As is often the case my research was less than perfect and the car park was full when we arrived at 13.30.
There was, however, some on street parking available just round the corner, so no great drama.

We purchased our Strathclyde Roundabouts a few minutes before the ticket office closed at 14.00.
45135 hadn’t done any of the Cathcart Circle before, including, obviously, the Neilston line and so we decided the right thing to do would be to leap aboard the first thing to Neilston, just so he didn’t have a small gap in his coverage

314205 was the first unit of the move and we did this from Whitecraigs to Neilston and then back as far Cathcart.
Whilst he cares not a jot about individual vehicles, I like to get all the ones in from a set and so this run gave me the opportunity to clear 314205.

Next up was a clockwise run from Cathcart to Glasgow Central on 314211.
This was followed by a run on my second choice 314, 314202 – a unit that was unrequired but I’d had it so long ago that I had no record of doing it, so I was pleased with that.
We did this to Crosshill and then came back as far as Pollokshaws East on 314215.
We spent a bit of time there getting a few photos and then caught the same unit to Mount Florida.
314210 was then taken into Central before we headed out to Cathcart on 314202.
This meant that 45135 had now cleared the full circle

The original idea had been to do the pair on the 17.17 Glasgow – Neilston back to Whitecraigs and then drive to our B & B.
This plan had been changed because we had viewed 314207 heading up to Neilston and so a new plan had been formulated.

We didn’t have lot of time as we had the sleeper on our agenda, but a short run on the winner could be got and so we did 314210 to Muirend.
314207 was taken to Mount Florida.

Yippee, my last one arrives:
EMU 314207_2015.05.21_1_Muirend by Phil Wood, on Flickr

At the start of 2015 I needed 14 of the 16 314s, now I’d cleared them (in fact I’ve had all 16 this year!).
Nice one

From Mount Florida it was back to Whitecraigs and the car on 314209.

Our B & B overlooked Loch Long at Arrochar and we made it there and checked in around 19.00, plenty of time to drive the mile or so to Arrochar & Tarbert station.
I was quite surprised to find that I needed this station, given all the times I’ve been up and down the West Highland Line, but I suppose it was never a convenient changing point.
I needed three Scotrail 156s so I was pleased when one of those, 156492 was the leading unit on the service to Oban and Mallaig.
Naturally this was where we sat.

156492 was the unit that was going to Oban and we were heading for Bridge Of Orchy, so at Crianlarich we bailed and boarded the rear unit, already cleared 156476, that was heading to Mallaig.

Raining in Crianlarich? Never:
DMU 156492_2015.05.21_2_Crianlarich by Phil Wood, on Flickr

At Bridge of Orchy we had about forty minutes to kill and so we walked down to the “Bridge Of Orchy Hotel”.
This had changed somewhat in the 15 years since we were last in there!
We had a drink and then made our way back to the station and after a short wait, what should appear on the front of the sleeper?
It was only blinking 67011.
It took me nearly 15 years to score it and now I’d had it twice in two months.
Still, it’s all mileage and 45135 consoled himself with the fact that he hadn’t had it for many years and his mileage was low.

After reaching Arrochar & Tarbert it was back to the B & B and straight to the land of nod.

The next morning we enjoyed a full Scottish breakfast before driving to Cumbernauld.
Today we planned to cover the Fife’s, but we had a couple of things to do around Glasgow first.
As yesterday, we bought a Strathclyde Roundabout.
334006 was taken to Partick and then it was down to the Subway for a run on the “Clockwork Orange” as no one actually calls it.
I had done this system once before, in 2006, but 45135 hadn’t and fancied it.
Car 109 was taken to St Enoch (chosen because it was about half way round and we liked the name) and then 114 for the rest of the loop back to Partick.
A full circuit in one direction was enough for us and so it was back upstairs.
318255 was then taken to Central.

Next up was some 156 thrash, first up was 156433, which we took to Crossmyloof and this was followed by 156435 one stop to Pollokshaws West, meaning that I've now cleared my Polloks
156467 was then taken back to Central.

We were now thinking of heading over to Edinburgh and had a few possibilities to get us back to Cumbernauld.
Our first choice was to get the 13.22 Falkirk Grahamston service from Queen Street.
We had a bit of time so worked out we could do it by going via Partick, getting a couple of EMUs in as against the walk across Glasgow.
We now headed back down to the low level platforms.
A winning 320, 320301, was stood in and we could have made it, but we were momentarily disorientated and by the time we worked out it was the train we needed, the doors closed and it was off.
Oh well, maybe next time.

We could still make the 13.22 by going via Partick on the next service but elected to get back to the car a different way instead.
318263 was taken to Whifflet and 318264 (not a winner, but it was on my second choice list) from there to Cumbernauld.

We drove over to Ingliston Park & Ride at Edinburgh, just outside the airport, and purchased a tram day ticket.
By now the effects of our full breakfast were wearing off and so we had decided to visit “Jimmy Chungs” all you can eat Chinese buffet just outside Waverley.

I have been on the Edinburgh tram system before, but never further in than Haymarket, so we were unsure where to bail.
We did 268 from Ingliston and got off at Princes Street.
This wasn’t the stop we should have chosen but it wasn’t too far from the restaurant and before long we were tucking in to a mountain of food.
“Jimmy Chung” probably spent that night looking at his books and sobbing, given the amount we managed to put away

After that we waddled down to the station and purchased our next set of tickets.
We still had a bit of time before the 17.08, so we walked up to the tram stop we should have arived at, St Andrew Square, and did 253 to York Place and back, just to make sure we could clear the whole system (apart from the bit from Ingliston to the Airport and that will remain required as long as they insist on charging five quid extra to go there).
Obviously, at this time we still needed the bit between Princes Street and St Andrew Square, but we intended to clear that after the 68s.

We strolled down to platform and watched the first 68, 68002, arrive.
This is the turn that does the full circle and so we rejected it as we were going for maximum mileage from both locos.
A few minutes after 002 left, Scotrail liveried 68007 pulled in on the 17.20 to Cardenden.

A genuine Scottish monster:
68007_2015.05.22_1_Edinburgh by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Some front coach thrash was then enjoyed through to Dunfermline Town
What a beast
I’m really taking to 68s and 68007 gave me the best entertainment of the move and is officially my favourite member of the class

The train was running a couple of minutes late and we had to get over to the other platform at Dunfermline pretty sharpish.
170461 was taken for the fairly short run back to Inverkeithing, where we bailed to await the next loco.
After a wait of about half an hour, 68002 arrived and we took that back to Waverley.
68002 was entertaining, but it certainly wasn’t as loud as 68007.

I can't think of a caption:
68002_2015.05.22_07_Edinburgh by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Once back at Edinburgh we walked up to St Andrew Square and caught tram 265 back to Ingliston, getting the missing bit of line in on the way.

Sunset on our move, tram 265 on the last, expensive, leg to Edinburgh Airport:
Edinburgh Tram 265_2015.05.22_3_Ingliston by Phil Wood, on Flickr

From there it was a fairly smooth drive home, I dropped 45135 off at around half past midnight and arrived home 20 minutes or so later, very tired but happy.

 

[Techniquest]

Quite the productive time there, shame about the lack of winner 67s but jealous of the 68 haulage!

 

[47403]

A good read, productive day and finished off with a couple of cats into the bargain = cracking day. I have to say, I'm quite fond of them cats too.
I'll have to make plans to get up there sooner rather than later for the fife circle turns.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Well done on clearing out the 314s; I'm still after one of the blighters (208) and still need the bulk of them for 10 miles. Hopefully my next trip to Scotland will sort them out unless I get distracted by things like Cats on the Fife circle.

 

[55013]

Quite the productive time there, shame about the lack of winner 67s but jealous of the 68 haulage!

It was a very enjoyable time, no doubt about it.
The 68s were definitely the highlight, but winners aren't necessary for me to have a good time on the railway, I enjoyed the run on 67011 anyway.

A good read, productive day and finished off with a couple of cats into the bargain = cracking day. I have to say, I'm quite fond of them cats too.
I'll have to make plans to get up there sooner rather than later for the fife circle turns.

Thanks. It's just a pity there isn't some form of Edinburgh day ranger, similar to the Daytripper.
68s are hellfire

Well done on clearing out the 314s; I'm still after one of the blighters (208) and still need the bulk of them for 10 miles. Hopefully my next trip to Scotland will sort them out unless I get distracted by things like Cats on the Fife circle.

Cheers.
Taking your lead I had a look, for the first time ever, at my unit mileages and discovered that four of them (314204/314205/314209 & 314213) have been had for over 10 miles.
314208 & 314214 are my joint lowest ones, having only had both of them between Mount Florida and Queens Park, a grand total of 0.97 miles.
Mind you, I still need to ride on two coaches from each of those, so hopefully that will go up at some point.
The Cathcart Circle is not the longest line in the world

 

[Techniquest]

Indeed it isn't! 314208, that one I've had more times than I care to count, kept turning up on when I was clearing the Neilston line shacks in December 2008! It would not surprise me if I get it at least once when I'm up there in early August!

 

[55013]

Being much more conscientious in her work than I am, Mrs 55013 occasionally announces that she has a few jobs to catch up on at the weekend and this usually means a window of opportunity is opened for me to get out on the trains.
Saturday was one such occasion.

Moves such as these are extra to ones that I’ve already arranged and so it’s only fair that I ensure I’m back at a mutually agreed time, in this case 5pm.
This, of course, limits me to things that are fairly local.
No problem, I’ll go to Manchester and see if I can get a run or two on the 319s

I started from Bradford by covering the 08.00 service to Huddersfield.
I cover this because it frequently drops a 142 and I was hoping a required coach might be on offer (I need 11 individual Northern 142 coaches for a ride on).
Sadly, today it was 144017, but I did it to Halifax anyway as it was either that or spend another quarter of an hour on the platform at Interchange.

144017 at Halifax:
DMU 144017_2015.06.06_Halifax by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I’m glad I did the 144, as my next train; from Halifax to Todmorden, which was the following service from Bradford, was 158757.
What’s wrong with 158757? I hear you cry.
Nothing, per se, but this was my THIRTEENTH run on it THIS YEAR!
I make it the 24th week of the year, meaning that I’ve been getting 158757 more than once a fortnight on average.

I bailed at Todmorden as this is where my m-card limit is and also because it gave me a few minutes before the Clitheroe to Manchester service arrived, which I hoped would produce a 156.
Certainly, before the timetable change, when the services were Todmorden terminators I had observed 156s stood on the curve waiting to work the next train.

I purchased a Manchester return and then boarded the aforementioned service ex-Clitheroe.
Not a 156 but 150271.

My plan was to view the first Liverpool service then go and buy my Wayfarer.
I’ve not had a 319 since they came to Northern but I have had few in their Thameslink days, so a winner was not a foregone conclusion.

Bah.
The unit for the 10.02 was 319367, one of the handful I’ve had a good run on in the past.
After buying my ticket I had a change of plan.
I observed that the Metrolink platforms at Victoria had re-opened and so I strolled across to there.

Whilst waiting for my tram there was a disturbing incident.

There were a lot of staff on the platform, I thought at the time that this was because the platforms had just re-opened and they were there to assist punters.
I was wrong on that, but either way it’s lucky they were there.
A double unit arrived heading towards Bury, from the rear set a man got off pulling a pram.
Then the doors shut, with the pram only half way out.
The platform staff were faultless and responded rapidly, shouting “Open the doors, open the doors”.
The doors duly opened, the pram was taken off and then they shut again.
The only problem now was that there were still people wanting to get off, including the child’s mother (presumably).
The tram started to move, with staff running alongside, waving their arms, shouting “Stop the tram, whoah, whoah”.
No avail, the tram shot out of the station and was gone.
My tram had arrived by this time and the last thing I saw, other than the mother staring forlornly out of the door with her palms on the glass, was a platform bloke shouting frantically into his radio.
It is a little worrying that there appears to be no proper system in place to prevent incidents like this when there are two trams running together and the driver seems to have no way of knowing what’s happening with the second unit.
In this case nobody was hurt and the worse that happened was some folk had to do a round trip to the first stop.
However, it would have been all the same if it had been somebody caught in the door by their clothes or bags.

Anyway, my tram was 3039 and I did this to Market Street followed by a short stroll over to Piccadilly Gardens and double set 3021 and 3059 all the way to Piccadilly.

Tram 3059 after reaching its destination:
Manchester Tram 3059_2015.06.06_Manchester Piccadilly by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I got there just a few minutes before a 319 was due and so I made my way over to platform 13.
Shortly before the 319 arrived, a pair of Trans-Pennine hire in 156s were due and I observed them as being cleared 156420 and Heaton beast 156463.
I don’t need any Northern 156s but there are a number that were had so long ago that I have no record of when or where I had them.
156463 fell into this category and so I had a quick look on RTT and a plan was formulated.
Dud 319386 arrived and I did this to the airport before piling round for 156463.

319386 at Manchester Airport:
EMU 319386_2015.06.06_5_Manchester Airport by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I sat in 57463 from the airport to Piccadilly and then moved to 52463 for the short hop to Oxford Road, just to clear the unit

Once there I didn’t have too long to wait for the next 319, at last it was a winning one.
319362 was taken back to Manchester Airport and I now had a choice of units.
There were no 156s this time but there was a winning 185 on a Middlesborough service and so that’s where I headed.

I took 185136 back to Picc and, as this went into platform 1, I started to mooch round to platform 13 for the next EMU.
Something caught my eye.
The next Chester departure was formed of 150142 and 150141.
This was of interest to me as, when I had recently been perusing my haulage details, it had come to my attention that, despite having Northern 150/1s regularly on my way to work, 150142 was in a frankly pathetic situation.
I had one recorded run on it, way back in 2002, and that was a mega mileage downhill move from Wakefield Westgate to Kirkgate.
Since realising that, the unit has been a bit of a bugbear and now it was right in front of me.
Even though it meant missing the third of the Airport 319s it just had to be done for a bit of a decent run.
I duly took the pair of 150s, sat in 52142 which also meant I cleared the unit, to Stockport.
I decided that I wasn’t going to hang around awaiting a winner at Stockport but was going to head straight back to cover the next pair of TPE hire-ins.
Luckily, the first train was a winner anyway, 390134.

The 156s on the ex- Blackpool service were, once again, a perfect pairing.
Cleared 156452 was on the rear and “second choice” 156428 was on the front.
I did 52428 to the airport, got a couple of shots of 319386 arriving and then headed back to Piccadilly in 57428.

Another one cleared:
DMU 156428_2015.06.06_2_Manchester Piccadilly by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Now it was time to think about heading home.
I still wanted the 3rd 319 and so I had worked out a move to get it in.
I did unrequired for the day 319386 from Piccadilly to Newton-le-Willows and after a short wait 319368 appeared to take me back.

319368 arriving at Newton-le-Willows:
EMU 319368_2015.06.06_4_Newton-le-Willows by Phil Wood, on Flickr

One thing that I hadn’t realised before I went was that the “Parklife” festival was on in Manchester over the weekend, this meant that the city centre was heaving.
I had no idea where this event was taking place so I was mortified when I walked onto the Metrolink platform to be faced with a cast of thousands awaiting the next tram (The festival, it turns out, is in Prestwich).
Like any sensible person wanting to get to Victoria I turned right around and set off walking.
Now I knew why there were so many staff at Victoria in the morning!

My arrival at Vic coincided with that of “Tour-De-France” liveried 158849 which was forming the next service to Leeds via Bradford.
I jumped aboard, happy that the festival wasn’t taking place in Rochdale, and was on my way a few minutes later.
Arrival back at Interchange was at 16.46 and I walked through the door at home bang on 17.00.
A nice bonus move in the bag

 

[crispy1978]

Good write up and nice photos as well to compliment the report.

The tram issue is a bit worrying to say the least.

 

[Techniquest]

Worrying indeed with the tram issue, hopefully Metrolink are going to sort that out!

Nice little adventure out there, nice and cheap too! A Heaton 156 all the way down in Manchester, a little unusual that isn't it?

 

[55013]

Good write up and nice photos as well to compliment the report.

Cheers.

The tram issue is a bit worrying to say the least.

Worrying indeed with the tram issue, hopefully Metrolink are going to sort that out!

Yeah, my thoughts were that the driver can't have seen the platform staff running along waving and shouting. I'm sure if he had then he would have slammed the brakes on.
The obvious conclusion is that the driver is unable to see what's going on outside the rear unit.
I presume that there are CCTV cameras that show the outside of the unit that he is driving, but that's just from looking at photos.
I'm no expert so don't pretend to know much about them, so I'm willing to be proved wrong.

Nice little adventure out there, nice and cheap too! A Heaton 156 all the way down in Manchester, a little unusual that isn't it?

Oh aye, it was a very enjoyable move.
I've no idea about the frequency of Heaton 156s on the new TPE services.
I have had one or two around Manchester before, but certainly not many.

 

[Kite159]

Sounds like a couple busy trips.

I love the pictures of industry at work

 

[Kristofferson]

Thanks for the read, most enjoyable good to see a tram pic in there - don't really get much exposure to them down south, unless I'm unlucky enough to end up in Croydon

 

[47403]

Another good read 55013, cunning move too.

 

[55013]

When I did my impromptu move to the West Midlands last month I mentioned in my write up that there was a planned move coming up with me and a couple of mates.
Well, Friday the 19th of June was the day in question and here’s the report.

Mr 45135 picked me up first and then we headed over to Huddersfield to collect the third member of our group before the long, painful, drive along the M1, through 50 miles of roadworks at 20mph.
That’s what it seems like, anyway.

We made it to Solihull about 20 minutes before the loco on the 10.55 ex Moor Street was due, plenty of time to purchase our Daytripper with Leamington add-ons.
During my previous visit I had done 68010 and 68013, so I was hoping neither of these would be out.
I had seen that 68010 had been working the Banbury’s, so thought it probably wouldn’t feature today.
68013 however had been out on the Birmingham services, along with sisters 68011, 68012 and 68014.
We planned on covering three of the four diagrams and so my fingers were crossed.
I uncrossed them when our first train arrived, pushed by 68013.
Bah.
“It’s dud” I said, for the first time with a 68.
A winner for my travelling companions, though.

Never mind.
Winners are nice but I enjoy a good run on an unrequired loco nearly as much.
We bailed at Leamington Spa a few minutes late, although we did get there before the next loco arrived heading North.
We decided to take our time rather than legging it over for the Northbound service as we knew the next one wasn’t too far behind it and there were a couple of freights due through that needed photographing.

Required 68011 was the loco we had rejected, but barring a failure we should get it later on.

After getting some shots of 68013 we mooched down to the South end of the platform and photted 66741 going North, followed by 70019 on a Southbound Intermodal.
This was a good one as it was my 20th and final Freightliner 70.
Nice

I didn't know it was my required one at this point:
70019_2015.06.19_2_Leamington Spa by Phil Wood, on Flickr

After a short wait I managed to bag my first winner of the day, 68014 and this was enjoyed to Moor Street were we crossed straight over on to 68011

We did this to Leamington and then we had a bit of time to kill so we took 168113 to Warwick, a winning station for the other two, but not for me.
The plan was to return to Leamington on a Chiltern unit which gave us a plus seven for 68013 coming back.
Sadly, after a stroll through the underpass, we discovered that the unit was twelve late.
68013 wasn’t booked to stop at Warwick so we had to think about what to do.
It was back through the underpass and 168108 for a short hop to Warwick Parkway.

168108 leaving Parkway:
DMU 168108_2015.06.19_2_Warwick Parkway by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Our decision to not risk what had become a minus 5 at Leamington was vindicated when 68013 arrived more or less on time.
The loss of 3 miles or so of 68 haulage wasn’t too painful and we thoroughly enjoyed the run back to Birmingham.
68013 now had a bit of a fester at Moor Street and so it was back to killing time.
We caught 172331 and 172220 to Jewellery Quarter, climbed the mountainous stairs and went outside to see the view.
The most outstanding thing was a 19th Century grade 2 listed urinal just outside the station entrance!

After marvelling at this wonder of the Victorian age we headed back down to the platforms.
We spotted that a tram was due in before the next DMU and so we crossed over and boarded number 30.

Birmingham Tram 30_2015.06.19_2_Jewellery Quarter by Phil Wood, on Flickr

This was my first run on one of the new trams.
We did this all the way to Snow Hill and then boarded 172344 for the last leg to Moor Street.
This was done in coach 79344, meaning that it was the first (and last) unit that I cleared during this move.

Now it was back to locos and for the third time that day we boarded a train powered by 68013.
As might be expected, we did this as far as our rovers would allow and disembarked at Leamington Spa.

Once again we had time on our hands and we filled it by doing my first winning DMU of the day, 165011.
We intended to do this to Solihull, but we were held at Dorridge to allow a late running express to pass.
This also stopped at Dorridge and so we leapt off the 165 and straight aboard 168107.
We had planned to do this trip to Solihull in order to replenish our supplies and this was duly done before we returned to Leamington, once again on 168107.

Now it was time to start heading home.
68011 was taken for the short run to Warwick Parkway and twenty minutes later 68014 arrived to haul us to Solihull and the car home.

68011 clagging (a bit) out of Warwick Parkway:
68011_2015.06.19_8_Warwick Parkway by Phil Wood, on Flickr

So, two winning locos, one required DMU and a tram.
Not to mention a very sociable few hours including the usual laughs and banter.
Another good day in the book

 

[Techniquest]

Certainly was a good time there, it must still feel like quite a different universe to West Yorkshire though!

Did you use the loop platform from the south at Dorridge? If so that's not something I've ever done!

 

[55013]

Certainly was a good time there, it must still feel like quite a different universe to West Yorkshire though!

Did you use the loop platform from the south at Dorridge? If so that's not something I've ever done!

I've no idea.
<Goes and does some research/>
Looking at the Dorridge station plan on the National Rail website, we went into platform 3 and the following 168 went into 2, so I guess that's a yes, then.
Is that rare?

 

[Techniquest]

Certainly unusual, platform 3 from the north is done all day long but the eastern end is certainly not!

 

[FQ]

I have only had platform 3 from the eastern end! (On 67014 too!)

Sounds like a fun day.

 

[sprinterguy]

Mr 45135 picked me up first and then we headed over to Huddersfield to collect the third member of our group before the long, painful, drive along the M1, through 50 miles of roadworks at 20mph.
That’s what it seems like, anyway.

I tell you what, it really does, and the roadworks feel like they have been going on for donkey's years now. Can't remember how far off finishing they are, either. I absolutely hate the prospect of having to drag our heels through that section whenever I'm heading back up north: It's always a relief to turn off onto the M18 and get back up to "line speed" towards the A1!

 

[Kite159]

I tell you what, it really does, and the roadworks feel like they have been going on for donkey's years now. Can't remember how far off finishing they are, either. I absolutely hate the prospect of having to drag our heels through that section whenever I'm heading back up north: It's always a relief to turn off onto the M18 and get back up to "line speed" towards the A1!

Just be thankful they don't have to repeat them:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-33252106

:roll:

The M3 roadworks are going to get worst before they get better.

 

[55013]

I tell you what, it really does, and the roadworks feel like they have been going on for donkey's years now. Can't remember how far off finishing they are, either. I absolutely hate the prospect of having to drag our heels through that section whenever I'm heading back up north: It's always a relief to turn off onto the M18 and get back up to "line speed" towards the A1!

I'm convinced that such long stretches of motorway at reduced speeds is counter productive.
My feeling is that impatience increases and concentration dips, but what do I know?

Just be thankful they don't have to repeat them:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-33252106

:roll:

Ouch.
That inspires confidence.

About Dorridge:

Certainly unusual, platform 3 from the north is done all day long but the eastern end is certainly not!

Ooh.
I'm not much of a track crank, but I do like it when I get interesting little bits in.
I'm not sure how rare it actually is, but I remember a couple of years ago a unit failed in the platform at Halifax.
I was on the train behind, going from Hebden Bridge to Bradford.
We crossed over West of the station, stopped in platform 1 (the West bound platform) with 155345 looking sorry for itself in platform 2 and then crossed back again just before the tunnel.
It always struck me that this was unusual.
Certainly I've never seen it done before or since.

Anyway, here's some of the usual guff:

When we were at the planning stage for last week’s 68 bash we were unsure which Friday in June would be the chosen one and so I booked two off work, just to be on the safe side.

When we settled on the 19th I had a choice of two options, either I could cancel the leave day I had booked for the 26th or I could do another move.
Hmm.
Tough one.
Oh.
No, it wasn’t actually.

I decided to head to London to continue this year’s theme of bumping up my EMU haulages.
As usual I started by doing the 07.13 Kings Cross service from Wakefield.
This was in the hands of 91103 and en route I passed the 1000 mile mark, making it my ninth 91 to reach that milestone.
Only twenty two to go before they get rid of them

The first order of business on my arrival was to purchase a travelcard and head over to Euston on a Dusty Bin hunt.
As on my previous visit I was after at least one of the trailer coaches that won’t be moving up to Scotland when the LM sets migrate later this year.
To get out to Harrow & Wealdstone I utilised dud 350122 and winning 350255, an improvement over the last time I had done this move.

A winning 350 at Harrow:
EMU 350255_2015.06.26_Harrow & Wealdstone_& 350122 by Phil Wood, on Flickr
After ten minutes or so required 321414 and dud 321412 arrived.
Sadly the potential winner was on the front and wedged, it was almost impossible for people to get on there.
I had done the trailer of 321412 earlier this year and so I decided to flag this set and wait for the next one, which was half an hour behind it.

Prior to this move I had done three of the units in question, the aforementioned 321412 as well as 321415 and 321416.
When the next set turned up, it was formed of 321416 leading 321415.
Bah.
Not too bad, though as I did need the trailer, 71963, of 321415 and so that’s where I went.
Mission accomplished, although I was hoping for an outright winner.

Once back at Euston I headed below ground and caught the tube to Victoria.
It was time for a trip to Gatwick on a 442.

I spent a bit of time with the cheerful, chatty woman on the gate.
Not really.
As I approached with my ticket ready she put her hand down.
It seemed to me that she was covering the ticket slot.
I stopped, thinking there must be something amiss with the gate and showed her my ticket.
She stared at me and sharply pointed at the slot.
She had spoken not a single word, just glared and pointed.
I put my ticket in, the gate opened and I walked through, giving her a cheery “Thank you” as I went.

Required 442413 on its own provided me with my next winner.
Obviously this was done to Gatwick and then it was straight over for winner 442417 and dud 442421 back from whence I came.

I left Victoria on a triple 377, dud 377328 sandwiched between winners 377148 and 377327.
Clapham Junction was my destination but I had decided that I wasn’t going to spend my day shuttling backwards and forwards between there and Waterloo, it gets very tedious and I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m never going to clear the EMUs so I might as well do fewer and go to somewhere different.

One of my objectives for the day was to get a couple of 456s in.
I’d yet to have a winning one this year and was looking to have a decent run.
I made my way to platform 10 and didn’t have too long to wait before required 455729 arrived with a pair of 456s on the back.
I jumped on the middle unit of the set and only then found out that 456018 was dud.
Once at Waterloo I checked the other one and it was another dud in the shape of 456016!
I had intended to do these back out to somewhere beyond Clapham Junction but decided that there must be winners I could do instead and so, despite my earlier good intentions, I bailed off them back at Clapham Junction.

This was a good move as triple winners 455701, 456014 & 456012 soon appeared.
I sat in 456012 to Waterloo, then moved to 456014 and enjoyed a run out to Chessington South, scoring not just the station but also the branch.

Winning unit, winning station, winning line:
EMU 455701_2015.06.26_Chessington South by Phil Wood, on Flickr

The quickest way out of Chessington South was on the same set, this time in the 455 and I stayed on that until reaching the Junction.

456012 at the rear of the train as it leaves Clapham Junction:
EMU 456012_2015.06.26_2_Clapham Junction_& 5701 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Next up was some 5 car 378 mileage as I took 378152 round to Highbury & Islington.
I now had 313s on my mind, but again wanted a change from the usual bit on the Finsbury Park to Moorgate branch.
First up, though, I had to get supplies.
The weather was quite oppressively humid and I had nothing left to drink.
I didn’t want to waste time looking round an area that I didn’t know and so I took 313062 and 313055 to Finsbury Park, visited one of the shops outside the station and stocked up on water and pop.

I had plumped for Hadley Wood as my destination but decided that the best way to do it would be from Moorgate as there was more chance of me getting a seat from there.
In the event I decided to bail off 313040 and 313025 at Old street, not realising that this was a required station (the last one I needed on the branch, so that was lucky) as they were running a couple of minutes late.
It was winner 313064 that, along with 313122, took me from one winning station to another.

After a short wait at Hadley Wood it was dud 313024 that arrived to take me back, this time all the way to Moorgate.

My chariot arrives:
EMU 313024_2015.06.26_2_Hadley Wood by Phil Wood, on Flickr

313024 had another set with it but I couldn’t identify it until the end of the line was reached.
My plan now was to change to the other unit and do the same set to Finsbury Park.
Once at Moorgate I mooched down the platform and was disappointed to see it was another dud, 313026 that I was to get next.
Interestingly I had the same pair out of Moorgate some seventeen years ago (11th June 1998).
The most amazing thing about that is the fact that I’ve got it noted down at all - my unit moves were somewhat haphazardly recorded back then, to say the least.

I was now thinking about going home but fancied getting a run on a type of unit that I haven’t experienced very often and haven’t had at all this year – a 317.
Luckily I didn’t have too long to wait until 317345 arrived to take me to Kings Cross.

A bit of a rarity for me:
EMU 317345_2015.06.26_1_Finsbury Park by Phil Wood, on Flickr

So that was that, all that remained was my train home.
Unfortunately, it was 91118 that did the work.
This is one of the nine that I had already cleared for the thousand miles and I was hoping for a low mileage one.
Still, as disappointments go, I’m sure people have had bigger ones

Here's a shot after arriving at on 91103 Kings Cross in the morning. I obviously didn't know I was going to get 91118 later on:

91103_2015.06.26_3_Kings Cross_& 91118 & 43318 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

 

[Techniquest]

Good day there, well done on clearing another 91 for the magical thou!

Still not had a 456 with SWT, it's been many years (at least 2007, if not before!), really need to get on with changing that. As always there's just not enough time to do it all!

 

[55013]

Good day there, well done on clearing another 91 for the magical thou!

Still not had a 456 with SWT, it's been many years (at least 2007, if not before!), really need to get on with changing that. As always there's just not enough time to do it all!

Thanks.
I hadn't had a 456 since March 2004, that was something I wanted to remedy!
And yeah, too many trains, not enough time.
Well, not enough time, anyway

 

[Techniquest]

Agreed, not enough money is my problem!

 

[55013]

I don't usual do reports on my trips to and from work, "I did a Northern DMU from Bradford to Halifax and a few hours later did one back" doesn't make for interesting reading!
Today, however, I did something a bit different.

As you might be aware, I like to travel in all the coachers of a unit in order to clear it.
There is an 07.52 Interchange to Kings Cross GC service, formed of a 180 and today I arrived at the station a good few minutes before 180107 was due to leave.
I needed 54907, the first class coach, to finish the unit off.
My M-Card expired last week and I hadn't had chance to renew it, so I was going to buy a Halifax return when I had a thought.
I had a look and a Bradford to Halifax first class single was £3.90
Hmm.
It had to be done.
I duly purchased one and took up my seat in the relevant coach.
I even managed to have a complimentary bottle of water on the short run.
So, has anyone done a shorter first class single trip?
According to Railmiles, Interchange to Halifax is 7 miles, 79 chains.
For the record, my journey home was on the much less interesting 158758.

 

[Kite159]

I don't usual do reports on my trips to and from work, "I did a Northern DMU from Bradford to Halifax and a few hours later did one back" doesn't make for interesting reading!
Today, however, I did something a bit different.

As you might be aware, I like to travel in all the coachers of a unit in order to clear it.
There is an 07.52 Interchange to Kings Cross GC service, formed of a 180 and today I arrived at the station a good few minutes before 180107 was due to leave.
I needed 54907, the first class coach, to finish the unit off.
My M-Card expired last week and I hadn't had chance to renew it, so I was going to buy a Halifax return when I had a thought.
I had a look and a Bradford to Halifax first class single was £3.90
Hmm.
It had to be done.
I duly purchased one and took up my seat in the relevant coach.
I even managed to have a complimentary bottle of water on the short run.
So, has anyone done a shorter first class single trip?
According to Railmiles, Interchange to Halifax is 7 miles, 79 chains.
For the record, my journey home was on the much less interesting 158758.

Does Clapham Junction to Waterloo/Victoria in 1st class on a 1st class travel-card count?

 

[Techniquest]

I'm fairly certain I've done shorter trips in First Class before, but those will have been years ago and I don't have the details as to what those journeys were.

Good value First Class fare there, and I've got the same problem with one 180, but I use them so infrequently that making it into a Super Dud will take forever

 

[55013]

Does Clapham Junction to Waterloo/Victoria in 1st class on a 1st class travel-card count?

Well, it's not a competition, but I was thinking more in terms of whole journeys, i.e. not a short section of a larger trip, which presumably would be the case if using a travelcard.

It's just something that I was pondering yesterday.
What's the shortest journey it's possible to buy a first class single for and has anyone been bothered to do it?

 

[45135]

First class - it's the only way to travel old boy. (If only...)

Exeter St Davids-Central is a bargain at £1.60 first class.

 

[55013]

I'm fairly certain I've done shorter trips in First Class before, but those will have been years ago and I don't have the details as to what those journeys were.

Good value First Class fare there, and I've got the same problem with one 180, but I use them so infrequently that making it into a Super Dud will take forever

I just need 54914 to clear all five of the GC fleet, so the next time 180114 is on the 07.52....

First class - it's the only way to travel old boy. (If only...)

Exeter St Davids-Central is a bargain at £1.60 first class.

You done it, then?
I tell you what, the next time I'm down that way, I'm going to be sorely tempted.