OT (apology) but it is amazing how many sounds of that time do, after a gap of many years, 'travel well' (and hence remain on topic
). Maybe room for a music discussion in the relevant part of the forum?
I might have to rename this thread "55013's Contemporary Trip Reports and Music Reviews"
Top tune is, Love will tear us apart and Transmission, are among my tunes on my phone, along with various Punk, Metal and various other rock stuff, which I while away on many a trip, the Voyagers to and from Derby were drowned out by the likes. I like sone New Order songs but they're not a patch on Joy Division. His stuff with Monaco was much better.
I agree New Order can be a bit hit and miss, but when they're good they're very, very good.
Monaco produced some great stuff.
Interestingly Hooky's touring band (The Light) currently has his Monaco band mate David Potts on guitar (gen from 45135), so chucking a few of their numbers in would be nice.
If anyone is interested the Story of Joy Division is on BBC4 at midnight next Friday/Saturday night.
Anyway, enough music.
I'm just in the process of writing something about trains and will post it shortly.
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And Lo, after forty days and forty nights in the wilderness (actually, it was 34 days in West Yorkshire, which is much the same) 55013 returned to the land of bashing in the realm of the third rail.
Enough of that wibble, how people could ever write like that is a mystery to me.
Anyway, it’s been over a month since my last big move, although luckily my sabbatical coincided with the release of the latest version of bashing simulator “Hellfire”, so any free time I had was spent in Summer 1981 doing virtual Deltics on the ECML
I had booked a seat on the 07.13 off Wakefield, my train of choice for a London visit, but decided on a slight change from previous trips.
Having an m-card meant that I could board at an earlier station and so, having checked the timetable to make sure I could get back in the evening, I drove to Shipley.
Free car parking and a shorter drive from home were the deciding factors, although some thirty extra miles of 91 haulage also played a part.
The 07.13 from Wakefield is the 06.30 Bradford – Kings Cross, so no need to change trains.
The day started with sub thousand mile 91125, which was nice.
This hauled me to Leeds and then pushed me to London.
Once in the capital I strolled over to St Pancras and headed down to Platform A as I knew a pair of 387s were due in.
Sure enough winner
387110 and dud 387115 arrived a couple of minutes after I did and I boarded for the run to East Croydon.
As has been my want on recent trips, Gatwick Express 442s were on the agenda and I had decided to do the trip to Victoria via East Croydon in order to get a couple of mainline units done in preference to the London Underground.
A new sub-class for me followed with
377604 being taken for the second leg of my journey to Victoria.
Having now had over half the class naturally means that winning 442s are not a foregone conclusion, but my luck was in.
Doyen of the class
442401, leading 442421, was first up and I didn’t have long to wait at Gatwick as another requirement,
442415 was waiting to head back.
This was another pair and 15s companion was 442409.
My original plan had been to head over to Fenchurch Street for some 357s but I decided against it and plumped for staying South, making it up as I went along.
377136 and 377449 were employed to take me back to East Croydon whilst I thought about what to do.
Essentially, my plan now was to see what turned up, if it was a winner then do it and see where it took me.
It was
171725 that produced and so it was off to London Bridge.
I now fancied some shack scratching and so I made my way to the Eastern Platforms.
I was hoping for a pair of 376s on the Cannon Street – Cannon Street service but it was
465028 leading dud 466011 and
465914 that turned up.
Now, where to bail?
Looking at the list I misread Crayford as Crayfish and so that was the place.
My reasoning really is that pathetic
It was on this leg of the journey that I got a text from 45135 saying he was simultaneously bashing 45041.
I bailed at Crayfish, sorry
Crayford and had only a few minutes before I was heading back the way I had come on
466027, which was in the middle of a ten coach rake, with
465190 and
465165 being the outer units.
Networkers ahoy:
EMU 465190_2015.09.25_Crayford by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
I wanted to be back at East Croydon as I had read on the forum that the 17.49 off there (the 17.06, I think, from Brighton) was now a pair of lovely 442s.
I had plenty of time to do this and so continued the Shark scratching with a Great White.
Oh, hang on.
No, it was shack scratching and I bailed from the 465/466 combo at
New Cross.
378209 was next taken to my third new station of the day,
Whitechapel.
Happily, no Nineteenth Century serial killers or Twentieth Century gangsters were in evidence on my short visit to the East End.
378153 then took me to my final winning shack,
West Croydon.
This unit was quite full when I got on and I stood, leaning on one of those upright seat things.
I’m sure they have a proper name.
As the train progressed it got fuller and fuller.
At Canada Water the train got really full and an elderly couple got on with the crowd.
As the sixth form photography students that filled the coach showed no sign of giving up their seats I stood to one side to allow the old lady to at least perch where I had been.
As my reward she let out a very smelly belch, right under my nose.
Lovely.
No good deed goes unpunished.
I made my way from West to East Croydon on tram
2543.
Croydon Tram 2543_2015.09.25_East Croydon by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
My plan worked and
442423 was the rear unit of the train from Brighton, with 442404 on the front.
I took these to London Bridge, obviously.
I was now thinking of heading home and decided that I had time for another run on the 442s.
It's getting hard to find different views of 442s!
EMU 442404_2015.09.25_London Bridge by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
442404 is one of those units that had been done as the second of a winning pair and so I had never ridden on the unit itself.
That was rectified as I took it, still with 442423 of course, back out to East Croydon.
I was aiming for a Bedford service that was due to arrive at St Pancras half an hour before my train home from Kings Cross.
In theory plenty of time, but I was a bit worried when I saw it was late, not least because I know how much time can be lost trundling along on the line through Elephant and Castle, especially if the train has lost its path.
Luckily,
377518 and 377208 actually clawed back the lost minutes and arrival at St Pancras was on time.
This was a new experience for me.
My journey back to Yorkshire produced low mileage 91132.
This was the third time I’ve had it this year and the mileage is now a much more respectable figure.
I must now confess to a heinous crime.
As mentioned my car was in Shipley.
I had a first class ticket to Wakefield.
My m-card is standard class.
I stayed in First for the bit from Wakefield to Leeds.
I’m truly sorry and repent for my sins.
Anyway, looking on RTT, the train was due into platform 8 at 22.21, with a Skipton unit leaving platform 5 at 22.26.
We had been on time all the way so it looked like a case of stepping off the rear of the London and strolling nonchalantly round for the Skipton.
Jobs a good ‘un.
Or not.
We got held just outside the station.
22.26 came and went.
The unit didn’t pass us.
There is another one half an hour later but I was shattered and really didn’t fancy any sort of fester.
Eventually we started moving and as we pulled into the platform I noticed two things.
One was that the Skipton service was still stood on 5 and the crowd of people indicated that the doors hadn’t been opened yet.
The other was that we were going into platform 9, not 8.
As soon as the door opened I leapt out and broke my “no running” rule.
I ran up the escalator, with many an “excuse me”’, over the bridge and down the other side.
I’m sure I saw the hologram woman at the bottom swoon as she observed an idiot running down a moving escalator.
Maybe I made that bit up.
Anyway, I legged it round and the train was being whistled, but luckily(!) it was so wedged that not everyone was on and so I managed to join the scrum and get a few millimetres of standing space in 153352.
158796 was the leading unit of the train and I bailed at Shipley for the short drive home.
So another enjoyable move in the bag.
Here are the stats:
Winning units:
171725
377136
377518
377604
378153
378209
387110
442401
442415
442423
465028
465165
465190
465914
466027
Croydon tram 2543
Winning Shacks:
Crayford
New Cross
West Croydon
Whitechapel
Winning Sharks:
None
