55013's Contemporary Trip Reports

[55013]

Looks like a great time was had!

An excellent time had, even with disruption doing its best to mess things up. Tons of winners and required shacks, even a bit of required track!

Sounds like a few good days in Kent

Yeah, it was most enjoyable.
Back to work tomorrow, though

It must have been quite handy with the wife wanting a lazy day, good to have such options.

It's very handy and something we do on just about every holiday we have.

When will you be out on a proper crankfest next?

45135 and I have a Cumbrian Coast 37 bash lined up in the next week or so, which I'm very much looking forward to

Have you done Sandwich to Minster yet? That stretch of track is the only parly service I've been on so far.

No, although I should have done it many years ago.
Back in 1989 four of us booked to go on Pathfinder's "Maid Of Kent" railtour.
It was supposed to have been 45106 (by then the last Peak in service) from Manchester to Kensington Olympia, then a pair of 33/0s to Dungeness, with a 33/2 top and tailing, followed by a run Ashford - Ashford via Minster.
What actually happened was that 45106 went up a flames a week or two before the tour and so we got 97561 (47561/47973), this handed over to 33106, with 33109 going on the rear.
Due to late running (or a signal box being shot at, which was the gen on the train!) the circular bit of the tour was knocked on the head.
It's amazing that we ever did another tour after that farce.

Compared to other rovers the Kent rover isn't that good value for money but it is good value for money compared to the fares charged in Kent (which can be a bit eye watering)

Oh, I don't know. £39.50 for three days isn't too bad, especially when compared to something like the East Midlands DAY Ranger at £36.30.

In an age where interesting loco worked stuff is generally known about well in advance, it's nice that a couple of 73s can still turn up out of the blue! I particularly like the 'jetting' photo.

I was pleased as punch, no doubt about it.
I can't remember the last time I saw a 73 working on third rail.
Looking on RTT it was running about an hour and a half early!

 

[Kite159]

East Midlands is just expensive outright, although that day ranger covers a large area (which can't be done in one day)

 

[55013]

I concur completely, the price of the EM rover has always put me off.
A shame, as I quite fancy it otherwise.

 

[Kite159]

Even the 3 day rover isn't the best value compared to similar rovers. Although the 7 day straight ticket does bring the cost per day down, still £107 for 7 days is a lot.

 

[45135]

Back in 1989 four of us booked to go on Pathfinder's "Maid Of Kent" railtour.
It was supposed to have been 45106 (by then the last Peak in service) from Manchester to Kensington Olympia, then a pair of 33/0s to Dungeness, with a 33/2 top and tailing, followed by a run Ashford - Ashford via Minster.
What actually happened was that 45106 went up a flames a week or two before the tour and so we got 97561 (47561/47973), this handed over to 33106, with 33109 going on the rear.
Due to late running (or a signal box being shot at, which was the gen on the train!) the circular bit of the tour was knocked on the head.
It's amazing that we ever did another tour after that farce.

Ah, I remember it well - despite missing out a huge chunk of route it still achieved railtour standard time (i.e. an hour late) back into Manchester. Still, it was the only time I had 33106 for haulage. And at least locos and track disappearing from railtour itineraries at short notice is a vanishingly rare occurrence, eh?

 

[55013]

Right, having read through a back-log of other people's reports it's time for me to post a short one of my own.
Last Friday (the 16th) 45135 and me took advantage of the Northern newspaper offer to rope in a bit of Cumbrian Coast Tractor mileage.

This move was not about winners, just enjoying some loco haulage.

I picked him up at 08.30 and we drove over to Carnforth, with our fingers crossed that the 10.04 off Preston wouldn't be too late.

Everything went like clockwork, with 37423 arriving just a couple of minutes down and whisking us to Barrow-In-Furness.
We actually arrived a few minutes before the service from Carlisle and so no need to run through the underpass.
We had time to make a leisurely stroll and get some photos, which was nice

37423_2015.10.17_4_Barrow In Furness by Phil Wood, on Flickr

DBSO 9707_2015.10.17_1_Barrow In Furness by Phil Wood, on Flickr

37409 was the beast in charge for the bulk of our day and we did that throughout to Carlisle and back.

37409_2015.10.17_6_Barrow In Furness by Phil Wood, on Flickr

After that it was 142091, the only let down of the day (I was hoping for a 156, I've had 142091 home from work on more than one occasion this year), back to Carnforth.

And that's it, a good old fashioned loco bash.

 

[backontrack]

Sounds like you had a great time! I envy you...

 

[Techniquest]

Some seriously good quality mileage, that's for sure. Rather jealous as the most hellfire thing I had all day was a 166! Hoping to get a bit of HST haulage in tomorrow though, all will be revealed on Tuesday!

 

[Kristofferson]

You're a brave man doing the Sheppey branch line - the missus (from Sheppey!) tolerates my love of railways, but won't allow me to travel on that service! Something about violent youths and drug taking in the bogs??

The 37 bash sounds very enjoyable

 

[noddy1878]

It seems we're all off on the 37s at the moment! But who could blame us! I wish i lived a bit closer to them though!

 

[Techniquest]

The Sheerness branch, on my last visit felt like a right chavvy bit of nonsense. It made Blackpool feel posh, and trust me that is saying something! I don't know what they do in the facilities, but on my visit they were locked out of use. That sure made for a horrid trip!

There's also the fact Sheerness is that exciting you'll want to book your summer holiday there...

 

[47403]

Right, having read through a back-log of other people's reports it's time for me to post a short one of my own.
Last Friday (the 16th) 45135 and me took advantage of the Northern newspaper offer to rope in a bit of Cumbrian Coast Tractor mileage.

This move was not about winners, just enjoying some loco haulage.

I picked him up at 08.30 and we drove over to Carnforth, with our fingers crossed that the 10.04 off Preston wouldn't be too late.

Everything went like clockwork, with 37423 arriving just a couple of minutes down and whisking us to Barrow-In-Furness.
We actually arrived a few minutes before the service from Carlisle and so no need to run through the underpass.
We had time to make a leisurely stroll and get some photos, which was nice

37423_2015.10.17_4_Barrow In Furness by Phil Wood, on Flickr

DBSO 9707_2015.10.17_1_Barrow In Furness by Phil Wood, on Flickr

37409 was the beast in charge for the bulk of our day and we did that throughout to Carlisle and back.

37409_2015.10.17_6_Barrow In Furness by Phil Wood, on Flickr

After that it was 142091, the only let down of the day (I was hoping for a 156, I've had 142091 home from work on more than one occasion this year), back to Carnforth.

And that's it, a good old fashioned loco bash.

Yeah its a good day fleeing round on the Cumbrian Coast with the 37's.
So far (OH MY)Lord Hinton has been the best of the bunch I've had but in fairness, I slept most of the journey's with 422 and 423.
Shame you had to endure the bouncey castle home, my utmost sympathy.

 

[55013]

Thanks lads.
We actually had a holiday in Sheerness back in 2010.
No trains were involved but we did have the dubious pleasure of going round a zoo with Vic Reeves and his family. Mrs Muir was very pleasant and chatted to my wife, but the man himself had a strong "Don't talk to me" vibe and just looked angry all the way round, until everyone got outside and then he turned to his kids, clapped his hands and said "Right, who's for pizza?"
We also visited a museum in Canterbury that had the original Clangers and the entire cast of Bagpuss, which for those of us of a certain age was a real trip down memory lane.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

My wife starts a new job on Monday and so finished at her old one on Friday, however being a conscientious sort she felt that there were still some things unfinished and so decided to go in on Saturday to get things done.
This, of course, gave me the opportunity for a mini move.

I got up in the morning and looked at the weather.
It was atrocious and I almost decided not to bother, but one thing drove me on.
Those that have endured my previous witterings will be aware that I have been trying to get at least one winner from every class of unit that I hadn’t already cleared; this amounted to sixteen DMU types and thirty four EMU classes.
With about ten weeks of the year remaining I only need one of each.
For the EMUs the class 357 remains un-troubled by the red pen, but that will be sorted on a London move I have planned for November.
The real flies in the ointment are the 175s, I only need three of those (175001, 175002 & 175006) and so they have thus far proved the most elusive of my requirements.
I could have gone to the North Wales coast but time wasn’t on my side and besides, I noticed that neither of the Manchester football teams were playing at home, so hopefully things would be a bit quieter than a normal Autumn Saturday.
I also had a few secondary objectives, namely a bit of shack scratching, a couple of runs on 323s and I hoped to get some of the seven Northern 142 coaches that I still required for a ride on.

I began by driving to Brighouse and catching 150277 to Todmorden, where I purchased my ticket to Manchester, before boarding another 150, this time one of the flat fronted ones – 150118.
At Victoria I bought my rover and headed over to Piccadilly on dud tram 3059.
Now, let the games begin.

First, the bad news – engineering work meant that buses replaced trains between Manchester and Warrington, so no 175s that way.
I had just missed an ATW service via Stockport and so I leapt aboard 323231 and followed in its wake.
The North bound services leaves Stockport at xx.58 and so I made it with time to spare.
In my head it was bound to be one of my three requirements.
It wasn’t.
I let 175010 go as it was wedged but decided that I wasn’t going to hang around in the wind and rain for any length of time so took 323237 back to Piccadilly.
As the train approached the station I observed 142046 heading out towards Rose Hill Marple, this was one of the 142s that contained a required coach and so I looked on RTT for its return.
I mooched up and down the concourse looking for opportunities and lo and behold 142052 arrived.
142052 was the holy grail of Pacers for me.
I said earlier that I needed seven coaches from the Northern fleet, well 142052 contained two of them!
I’d had it for haulage in the days before I recorded units properly but it had eluded me since DMU chasing began in earnest in 2012.
Not only was 142052 available to me, it could be used to get 142046.
Via a shack scratch

I boarded in 55748 and headed out to Woodley where I had a short wait before roping in 55637 of 142046.

DMU 142046_2015.10.24_1_Woodley by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Whilst on the train from Piccadilly I had done some research and decided a couple more stations could be got.
I took 142046 to Hyde North before heading back to Hyde Central on 150214.
This shows the vagaries of Northern’s DMU fleet, I have both 150s and 142s regularly on my commute but whilst 142052 had never appeared, I’d had 150214 twice already this month.

Here's 150214 approaching Hyde North under the ex-DC catenary masts:
DMU 150214_2015.10.24_1_Hyde North by Phil Wood, on Flickr

After reaching Hyde Central I spent a short time watching a young bloke try to get his dog on board. It was having none of it and in the end he gave up and they just turned round and walked off the platform, leaving a bemused guard to shut the train doors.

Bailing at Hyde Central meant that I could now get the other vehicle from 142052 and so it was in 55702 that I sat back to Piccadilly.

DMU 142052_2015.10.24_2_Hyde Central by Phil Wood, on Flickr

As I pulled in I spotted 142045, which had been stood dead in platform 2 since I arrived, had been started up.
This contained another required coach and so it was straight into 55636.
It wasn’t long before the train was on the move and I had to decide where to get off.
After 47403’s recent postings about his trips to Crewe and the memories they stirred about my first trip, when my mates and I had called in at Guide Bridge depot to see the withdrawn 76ers there, there was only one place I could go.

Winner 323230 was next up and this was taken back to Piccadilly.

323230 arriving at Guide Bridge, for anyone interested, the old MPD was to the right just off the end of the platform:
EMU 323230_2015.10.24_Guide Bridge by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I was still hoping for a 175 so I jumped aboard 323226 to Stockport.
It was dud 175103 that, in the event, I just missed and so I was in the same position I was earlier and the weather was no better.
Required Pendolino 390020 was taken back to Piccadilly, just to get it in the book.
One more round trip followed, with 323236 out, dud and wedged 175007 rejected and 323229 back.

Winning tram 3060 was then taken to Victoria for 158753 to Hebden Bridge and 158909 to Brighouse then it was a short drive home before a trip to our favourite Chinese restaurant to celebrate the wife’s new job

Not to everyone’s taste, I’m sure, but all in all quite a productive day, with a couple of winning units, three new shacks and four out of the seven 142 coaches roped in.
Only one coach from each of 142060, 142061 and 142078 to go on Northern as well as a further four Welsh ones.
No 175s and it looks like I’ll not achieve my aim for the year, but you can’t have everything.

So in summary:

Winners:
Tram 3060
323230
390020

DMUs cleared for all coaches:
142045
142046
142052

New Shacks:
Hyde Central
Hyde North
Woodley

 

[Techniquest]

A nice little productive trip out, even though the primary aim was not to happen after all.

Fingers crossed the 175s will get a trip on them from you before the year is out, even if it's only an Oxford Road to Piccadilly leap!

 

[FQ]

Good luck with the 175 for the year! Maybe head over to Mancc or the North Wales Coast again in November/December.

 

[Kite159]

BTW if you planning to have a good session on the 357s, wait until the new "metro" timetable comes in, in December where the majority of services will call at Limehouse, West Ham & Barking, linear bashing time (and West Ham has a big benefit of being an island platform)

Good luck with locating those 175s

 

[Cletus]

Love that photo of 150214. Almost looks like another country to me!

 

[47403]

55013 said?- After 47403’s recent postings about his trips to Crewe and the memories they stirred about my first trip, when my mates and I had called in at Guide Bridge depot to see the withdrawn 76ers there, there was only one place I could go.

I regreatably didn't put that in my trip report, about Guide Bridge, that was a reason for going there. Unfortunately. I was too young to ever get to see the 76's or see Guide Bridge Depot but I have read numerous articles in many a Railway magazine, about Guide Bridge, would been nice to see a Tommy in action. However I stood on that end of the platform, whilst waiting for 66519, on the bin liner, to come out from the siding, I was wondering where the depot had been, I did wonder if it would've been amongst what is scrubland, on the end of the trains to Manchester platform and part of the car park.
Great read as usual, also, glad I evoked some memories too.

 

[55013]

A nice little productive trip out, even though the primary aim was not to happen after all.

Fingers crossed the 175s will get a trip on them from you before the year is out, even if it's only an Oxford Road to Piccadilly leap!

Good luck with the 175 for the year! Maybe head over to Mancc or the North Wales Coast again in November/December.

Thanks chaps, I've pretty much given up hope of bagging a 175 this year, I've got a few things already lined up and it's not likely I'll fit anything else in.

BTW if you planning to have a good session on the 357s, wait until the new "metro" timetable comes in, in December where the majority of services will call at Limehouse, West Ham & Barking, linear bashing time (and West Ham has a big benefit of being an island platform)

Good luck with locating those 175s

Cheers for the gen, I'm down that way in November so plan to get one or two then, however that's something to bare in mind for the future.

Love that photo of 150214. Almost looks like another country to me!

Thanks!
I wanted a shot showing the old MSW masts, I really like them, although I can't explain why!

I regreatably didn't put that in my trip report, about Guide Bridge, that was a reason for going there. Unfortunately. I was too young to ever get to see the 76's or see Guide Bridge Depot but I have read numerous articles in many a Railway magazine, about Guide Bridge, would been nice to see a Tommy in action. However I stood on that end of the platform, whilst waiting for 66519, on the bin liner, to come out from the siding, I was wondering where the depot had been, I did wonder if it would've been amongst what is scrubland, on the end of the trains to Manchester platform and part of the car park.
Great read as usual, also, glad I evoked some memories too.

Ah, Guide Bridge
I've seen thirty three 76ers, one at the NRM and thirty two that day at Guide Bridge!
I've never seen one working and other than 76020 have not seen one since that day as the next time I went past they had all gone

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

Last week my wife had a bad cold.
"How’s that relevant to anything?" You might ask.
Well, I awoke on Saturday morning to find myself alone in bed, a somewhat unusual occurrence as I’m normally up and about much earlier than Mrs 13.
It transpired that she had suffered a terrible night, every time she laid flat and drifted off she woke up coughing.
The only way she could get some rest was to go downstairs and try to sleep in an elevated position on our reclining sofa.
Naturally, she was still knackered when I went downstairs and, wanting to let her get a few more hours kip I gallantly volunteered to go out for a while

This would only be for a short time and we agreed I would be back before tea time and so I decided to do a bit of West Yorkshire shack scratching.

I ruled out another 175 hunt as my time was limited and Manchester City were at home, which would mean an even great number of people knocking around than usual.
Also, I could have an essentially free day, the only cost being my fuel.

I began by driving to Brighouse (free parking!) and doing 158758 to my first score of the day, Cottingley, after a wait of less than five minutes I was heading back the way I had come on 142019.

DMU 142019_2015.10.31_2_Cottingley by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I elected to bail at Batley, for one thing this was a convenient place to get a train to Leeds but also it was a station that, although unrequired, was on my wants list.
Back in the mid 1980s I was on a youth training scheme and had to spend a week in Batley on a computer course.
This was before I could drive and so I went every day on the train.
Due to my abysmal recording back then I’ve no idea exactly when, or what the units involved were.
I wanted to get a firm date in the book and so I took my opportunity.

From Batley I headed to Leeds on 158815 (sorry Mr 47403 - it just keeps haunting me!) and then headed to Knottingley.

A moustache, it must be November-ish:
DMU 158815_2015.10.31_Batley by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Knottingley was in the same boat as Batley, I’ve been there several times before (most notably in the early 1990s when I spent a few days digging a pond in the Vicarage garden) but had nothing recorded.
Also like Batley, it was a convenient place to use as a launch pad for some proper shack scratching, so no need to go out of my way.

144010 took me from Leeds and then, after a short wait at Knottingley, on to Streethouse.

The diagrams for the units on these turns are Leeds – Knottingley – Wakefield Kirkgate – Knottingley - Leeds and so it was no surprise when, after about half an hour, it was 144010 that reappeared to take me a short way down the line to Pontefract Tanshelf.

It's 144010. Again:
DMU 144010_2015.10.31_5_Streethouse by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I had a short wait amongst the strange folk of Pontefract (Mrs 13 is from Pontefract, so I can say that ) I boarded 150142 for the last station I needed on that stretch of line, Featherstone.

DMU 150142_2015.10.31_2_Featherstone by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Once again I had to wait for the same unit coming back. At forty minutes, this was outside my usual “acceptable fester” time but it was a nice day and I didn’t want to go back with one station still to do, so I sat in the sunshine and the time soon passed.
Obviously it was then 150142 to Knottingley, a fifteen minute wait and the same unit to Leeds.
At the start of this year 150142 was a unit that annoyed me because I’d only had it once, from Westgate to Kirkgate in 2002.
I’ve had it five times so far in 2015.

Once at Leeds I was looking to head home but figured I could do it via a final new station.
I only needed one shack on the West Yorkshire bit of the Skipton line, Crossflatts and so that’s where I went on 333003, after that it was 333007 to Shipley, 333011 to Forster Square, a walk across Bradford and 142044 from Interchange to Brighouse and I was home in time for tea.

So that was that, a nice little bonus move which saw five new stations plus two that were previously unrecorded, extra value from my M-Card and the gratitude of my wife who appreciated being left in peace for a few hours to recuperate.

 

[Techniquest]

I can only imagine how much Mrs 55013 appreciated the peace, makes for a far easier recovery with no-one else in the way.

Certainly it worked to your advantage, a nicely productive time there. Shouldn't be too long until your monthly getaway I should imagine too!

 

[FQ]

I hope your wife is feeling better now. But sometimes being left alone to rest is always the best thing and at least a fairly productive time came out of it for you.

 

[55013]

Thanks lads, Mrs 13 is much better now and I'm nothing if not opportunistic, so we were both winners

As for next London trip, it's in a couple of weeks, but before that 45135 and I will be doing the East Lancs diesel gala for some good old fashioned EE thrash

 

[Kristofferson]

Sounds like you have a good deal when it comes to being let out when the missus is ill! That's rare indeed.

Shame the 175 chase wasn't so productive, but still looks like a good time.

 

[Techniquest]

Whereas I have Moves Envy for the ELR gala, such a shame I can't do it!

It does however remind me I have a lieu day to book...

 

[55013]

Inspired by 47403's reports of his trips to Crewe I've had a look and dug out some of my similar moves from the 1980s.
I was going to post in my "Ancient History" thread but that seems to have been closed, so I might as well stick them here.

The first few trips I did to Crewe are not documented as I didn't record anything back then, even the loco haulage (I just put "PB" for pulled by next to the number in my book).

The first trip I recorded was on the 10th August 1983 and we started with 45146 from Leeds to Stalybridge, followed by the DMU on the shuttle to Stockport and 86215 to Crewe.
No record of what we saw at Crewe but the return was 86227 to Stockport, DMU, then 47455 from Stalybridge to Leeds.

My next trip was on the 22nd of February 1984 and involved a bit more haulage and showed that my interests were moving on from spotting.
47532 was taken from Leeds to Manchester Victoria as we had discovered the existence of the number 4 free bus between there and Piccadilly (no trams back then).
From Picc it was 86327 to Crewe and then a couple of return trips to Chester.
First up was 47512 for 47537 and then a couple of recently converted machines, 47588 and 47590 (both fitted with ETH and renumbered in June 1983, from 47178 and 47165 respectively). 47590 later became 57601.
Our return to Yorkshire was a bit more complicated than previously, doing 86206 to Liverpool then 45138 to Manchester Victoria and 45137 from there to Leeds.

My third recorded trip was on the 2nd of June 1984 and saw 45101 sampled from Huddersfield to Victoria, the number 4 bus again and then, presumably, a 304 EMU to Crewe.
The return was done similarly to the previous visit, with 87028 the power to Liverpool, 47533 to Victoria and finishing on 45103 to Leeds.

That was it for a few years as things like women got in the way and my railway interest declined, my books weren't exactly binned but certainly weren't looked after and by the time my interest was reignited in 1987 many had been lost forever, although patient searching did mean I managed to find most of it.

I wish you could get to Crewe doing moves like that now!

 

[Techniquest]

Moves like that in this day and age would be monsterous! A good read and insight into the past there too.

You must have been glad to find most of your books and records, thank Goodness we live in the age we do now where it is easy to back everything up!

 

[55013]

Glad you liked it, there's not much detail but it does give an idea of the types of move we used to do.
I've got a few haulages that are properly recorded from the previous couple of years, but they're rare and only exist because they were memorable (55013 Edinburgh to Leeds on 21/11/1981 for example ), but the first one of those Crewe trips was the start of me properly recording loco moves.

Yeah, I'm very glad I found what I did, but I've not lost hope that somewhere in my parents loft there lies a box of old notebooks and Platform 5s

 

[FQ]

It's a shame you an't do stuff like that anymore (now that's an understatement and a half).

But vote 47772 (ex 47537)!

 

[55013]

But vote 47772 (ex 47537)!

It certainly is a shame that the variety we had back then is no more.
I'm on a roll now and have found a move that illustrates the variety even more clearly.
I did loads of West Yorkshire Day Rovers back in the years 1981 to 1984 but I very few properly (well, nearly) recorded.

On the 5th March 1984 my brother tagged along for the ride, despite having zero interest in trains and we started by doing either a unit or a HST from Wakefield to Leeds, followed by 31108 back.
I remember this well as it went over the viaduct line at Leeds and I spotted 40029 sat on Holbeck depot.
This was big news for me as it was my one thousandth loco for sight.
Of course, there were still several thousand locos around at the time, so my book didn't look that full.

After bailing off 31108 at Westgate we headed back to Leeds on something that wasn't a loco and did 47599 on a West bound Trans-Pennine service.
The move at the time was to hang out of the window approaching Dewsbury and then, if the next East bound service wasn't in, bail.
Evidently we missed the tight cross over time at Dewsbury as we stayed on 47599 to Huddersfield.
There can't have been much of interest there as the next loco recorded was once again from Leeds.
This was 45109 and it made the connection at Dewsbury.

Bashing was much more popular back then than it is now and every Saturday produced a large number of teenage lads leaping off one train at Dewsbury, running frantically over the bridge and piling aboard the service back to Leeds.
I remember one occasion when the East bound service was pulling in at the same time as we did, something like fifty youths bailed out and legged it over the bridge, as we were going down the stairs our hoped for train started to move, cue us all turning round as one and racing back to the train we had just got off.
Happy days

Anyway, I digress.
After 45109 it was sister loco 45127 back to Leeds and then the move was repeated with 47553 and 47473.
Next up was something new for the day, sole class 46 namer 46026 "Leicestershire & Derbyshire Yeomanry".
No change in the move itself, though and Dewsbury was once again made, with 45111 taking us back to Leeds.

The Dewsbury leap was done one last time (from Leeds, anyway) on ETH Peak 45139 and then its no heat brethren 45026.

It was now evening and there was a York to Manchester all stations service that produced a "chuck out" from York depot and so this was covered by all and sundry as it could produce something exotic.
On this occasion it was 47484 "Isambard Kingdom Brunel" that took us through to Huddersfield, stopping at places like Morley and Batley.

Now it was time to head home and we started towards the exit when suddenly, from the tunnel, we heard whistling.
I stopped and looked.
40033 pulled in!
I said "We've got to do that" but my brother was fed up and was reluctant to say the least.
I was insistent and so off we ran.
I wanted to do the monster through to Leeds but he was moaning so much that I agreed to bail at Dewsbury.
The loss of mileage was compensated for by another NB Peak, 45069, which took us back to Huddersfield and the bus home.

So there you have it, that was a typical early '80s day for me.

 

[FQ]

That sounds like a brilliant day! I wouldn't take my brother on train trips for that exact reason. And that when I did once he made me miss loads of good connections.