55013's Contemporary Trip Reports

[jayalongtheway]

They are nice machines aren't they, can't wait to have a go myself. So many things to do .....

 

[47403]

They are nice machines aren't they, can't wait to have a go myself. So many things to do .....

I love them, they're definitely worth having a go at jay.

 

[Techniquest]

Jay needs to get in there and enjoy the delights of 68 haulage, I have a feeling he'll be the newest member of the Class 68 Cat Fan Club!

Glad you guys managed to finally get your pre-Christmas trip done, even though it nearly all went to pot! 68012, yeah I want that one so I hope it produces tomorrow. Quite, I need to get genned up on the diagrams again and seek some gen in the morning...

 

[FQ]

I'm sure that you were glad that you got that one instead of a cart back to Solihull! Vote cat thrash though!

 

[Kristofferson]

Full English, a 68, and a mixed grill? I'm sold!

 

[45135]

Full English, a 68, and a mixed grill? I'm sold!

There are certainly many worse ways to spend a day...

 

[55013]

Aye, it's not a bad day out

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

Anyway, as I'm here I might as well mention a little soiree I had yesterday.
I had a few hours to take back from work and so I decided I would take Friday morning off and head West.
What could I possible do on a Friday morning West of Halifax?
Those that guess the Stockport to Stalybridge shuttle are correct and win a prize of nothing at all.
I have done the line many times, especially back in the 1980s when there was an hourly service.
However, in the 80s I had locos on my mind and so the thought of stopping off at obscure shacks never entered my head.
We live in different times and so I'm now a desperate shack scratcher.
I drove to Reddish and found an excellent car park on Rupert Street.
It was excellent because it's near the station, is free and was half empty (half empty beats completely empty in my opinion, as I reckon it's safer).

I arrived there at ten past nine and strolled onto the platform at Reddish South to find a man and his small child already there.
Shortly before the train arrived another bloke appeared.
I was expecting to be the only one there.
The service was made up of 142028 and 150114, with the 150 being locked out of use.

Approached Reddish South, hope it stops:
DMU 142028_2016.02.12_1_Reddish South_& 150114 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Yeah, it's stopping:
DMU 142028_2016.02.12_2_Reddish South by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I surprised the guard when I bought my ticket, he told me that in eleven years he never sold a Reddish South to Denton piece.
As we arrived at Denton he also informed me that he had never known anyone get off there, although a few often get on.
The bloke that arrived at Reddish South after me also got off, so it can't be that rare.

I hung around to get a shot before embarking on the two and a half mile walk back to my car.

Shack 55 of the year:
DMU 150114_2016.02.12_Denton_& 142028 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I think the chap that got on and off with me must also have been a crank as he was about a quarter of a mile in front of me for almost the whole way (he didn't take a photo, so had a head start).
After that it was the delights of the foggy M62 and I was in work by half past eleven.
Quite a nice morning out.

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

Oh, one more thing.
For those that can't sleep at night worrying about my quest to clear the West Yorkshire stations, I have bad news.
Another one has been added to my list.
I only realised the other day and it has been done for the most important thing (I boarded a train there) but I've no record of an exact date or traction ID, so it needs to be done again.
Back in the summer of 1981 my mates and I spent many a Saturday at Doncaster spotting Deltics, one weekend we decided for a change to go on the Sunday.
We arrived at Westgate and purchased our tickets only to be told the line was shut for engineering work and we were going to be put on a bus.
The bus took us to Normanton from where we caught the HST to Doncaster.
So I've done it, on an HST of all things (anyone else done one off Normanton?) but need to do it again.

 

[noddy1878]

It's always nice doing a little something worthwhile before work. I remember my last FGW 150 fell for me by pure chance! I read something (wrongly as it turned out!) a few years back. I thought I read that 150102 was running so I drove over to Saltash to catch it from there and then back before I headed to work in the afternoon! When the train duly arrived it wasn't that at all (was 202!)! I was about to head back to the car and in the opposite direction was a west bound train which was 150102! A quick check to see if I could make it back before work and i jumped on! A good morning before work!

Back to the point, i still need that bit of track and therefore all the shacks on it! Doubt I'll get them all. At the moment its hard enough to get the track for me!

 

[Techniquest]

Nice little pre-work adventure, a well worthy one to get two challenging shacks done.

Normanton on an HST has got to be rather rare for almost everyone, I've certainly never heard of it happening.

 

[FQ]

Congratulations on Reddish South and Denton!

 

[45135]

Mention of Reddish reminded me of this John Cooper Clarke poem:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kLhZTP4ywY

I doubt you went there in a souped up Sheddish though.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Well done on getting two awkward shacks out of the way - you'll have boosted the station usage stats for Reddish South & Denton with that ticket purchase!

I only realised the other day and it has been done for the most important thing (I boarded a train there) but I've no record of an exact date or traction ID, so it needs to be done again.
Back in the summer of 1981 my mates and I spent many a Saturday at Doncaster spotting Deltics, one weekend we decided for a change to go on the Sunday.
We arrived at Westgate and purchased our tickets only to be told the line was shut for engineering work and we were going to be put on a bus.
The bus took us to Normanton from where we caught the HST to Doncaster.
So I've done it, on an HST of all things (anyone else done one off Normanton?) but need to do it again.

Sounds as though you have similar rules to me - if there's no record, it doesn't count. I have about 25 shacks that I have no record of visiting together with several stretches of track. So it has to be done again!

 

[Kite159]

Indeed, well done on those two shacks and buying a ticket from the guard. When I did those two shacks in December the train was 15 minutes late, nobody else was around Reddish and I think 2 or 3 boarded at Denton International.

I think the usage of Denton is higher than Reddish South only because the train calls there at 9:31 which is when a GM Rail Rover/Wayfarer is valid.

 

[55013]

Thanks chaps, I'm not someone who collects tickets, but I've photocopied the Reddish South to Denton single for posterity

Talking of HSTs off Normanton, being a fan (some might say addict) of the excellent bashing simulator "Hellfire" has given me the chance to do a bit of research.
The game is set in 1981 and I've had a look at the Sunday timetable for Normanton and there were five Southbound and four Northbound HSTs between 10.00 and 15.15 (The 23.20 Kings Cross - Bradford Exchange also stopped there at 03.18, booked a HM 40 as well as the Wakefield - Scarborough loco hauled service).

Sounds as though you have similar rules to me - if there's no record, it doesn't count. I have about 25 shacks that I have no record of visiting together with several stretches of track. So it has to be done again!

I have three rules of shack scratching - I have to board or alight from a train there, I must have a positive ID of the traction and the date has to be recorded.
Normanton falls down on two of the three

 

[andyb2706]

Congrats on Reddish South and Denton, two stations within my region that I have still not done, and to be honest many others, but will hopefully get them later this year as shacks 999 & 1000.

 

[Techniquest]

Plenty of shacks in my neck of the woods (granted, all within Wales) that I need, but all a ginormous pain in the neck to do. Hmm, actually, now I think about it a plan for Monday is forming...

 

[Kristofferson]

Nice mini shack scratch there

 

[Kite159]

Congrats on Reddish South and Denton, two stations within my region that I have still not done, and to be honest many others, but will hopefully get them later this year as shacks 999 & 1000.

At least Redddish South is easy enough to reach and there are buses from Denton, so it's not like a random shack in the backend of nowhere with a far walk to the closest station due to rivers

 

[55013]

At least Redddish South is easy enough to reach and there are buses from Denton, so it's not like a random shack in the backend of nowhere with a far walk to the closest station due to rivers

Indeed, I won't be doing anything that requires too much effort, not until I've got all the easier ones out of the way at any rate.
It'll be years before that becomes an issue.

Anyway, on with the show.
We’ve just had a nightmare week in which I was snowed under with expensive, time consuming and incredibly irritating household issues, viz:
The front door lock broke, meaning we had to spend a night with an unlocked door before I could get the parts and change it.
I had a devil of a time plumbing in our new dishwasher thanks to new types of connection not being compatible with our plumbing.
Our computer monitor died and needed replacing.
Best of all we were woken in the early hours one morning by a burglar alarm going off – I lay there thinking “why doesn’t the idiot get up and turn it off?”, then it dawned on me that I was the idiot in question and it was our alarm.
I dashed downstairs and the panel wasn’t working so I had no choice but to cut the power, this then resulted in thirty seconds of peace before the back up battery kicked in and a loud piercing scream began.
With no external power to cut off and the number pad not working there was nothing we could do except brace ourselves for a sea of angry neighbours.
Luckily that didn’t happen.
With sickness being an issue at work I couldn’t stay away and so had to go in, leaving Mrs 13 to ring round security companies, every one of them told her not to worry and that the battery would die after a couple of hours.
It was still screeching when I got back from work at 5pm!
By the time we went to bed it was on its last legs and was now just issuing a pathetic warble, we were glad about this as we could only hear it if we opened our bedroom window, which meant the neighbours wouldn’t hear it at all.
In case you were wondering, it was a fault with the system, we weren’t being burgled.
These were the main, but not only, issues that had blighted the middle of February.
So, given all that it’s not surprising that I needed a railway move to chill me out and as luck would have it I had one arranged for Friday the 19th.

I had booked this move before setting my ludicrous 2016 challenge and it was one that I knew wasn’t going to produce many, if any, winning units.
I hadn’t done a Cardiff move since 2014 and so I had decided to head down there and try and get a few Pacer coaches in as there were five Cardiff 142 and four of their 143 vehicles that I hadn’t yet ridden in.
Naturally I had booked to go there and back on the loco hauled service, which meant an early start as I live in Bradford and the nearest place it stops at is Chester.
I was up and out at 5am and the drive was fairly relaxed, meaning I got to Chester well before the 07.16 departure time.
Better forty minutes early than one minute late is my motto.

The loco for the run down was 67022, a machine that I hadn’t had since 2004 when I did it from Crewe to Preston on one of the Saturday Paignton turns that highlighted that summer.

Cardiff Skip:
67022_2016.02.19_1_Cardiff by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Once at Cardiff I went and purchased a Valley Lines Day Ranger and took up position on platforms 6 & 7.
I was here for Pacer coaches and so resolved to stand my ground until a required one appeared.
I watched two dud services depart in each direction before I got bored and decided I would settle for a new Sprinter coach in the form of 52229 from 150229.
I had decided on the way down that I would try and get at least five new shacks in and so I stayed on board the 150 until it reached Barry Docks, meaning that I’ve cleared my Barrys .
Dud 150252 was the first arrival and I had no intention of hanging around and so took it to Queen Street as I intended to view the Cardiff Bay shuttle.

On arrival at Queen Street, the first time I had been there since the lay out changed, I observed 143616 stood in the place where the shuttle used to depart from.
This is now platform 2 and the Bay service goes from new platform 1.
143616 piqued my interest as this was one of the units that I was looking for.
It was on a late running Penarth service and was held up by a signal failure, which on this occasion worked in my favour as it meant I had time to purchase a sandwich before a leisurely stroll over.
Coach 55657 was sat in and the first one was out of the way.
I planned on taking this to a new station but two seconds before the train left Central it was announced that the service would be going non-stop to Penarth to make up time.
Nobody who wanted an intermediate station had time to get off before the doors closed and we were on the move!
As it happens, staying on 143616 to Penarth and then coming back on it was the quickest way to Dingle Road anyway as the following service couldn’t come down until that had cleared the single line.
Unrequired for everything 150259 arrived after a short wait and I did it to Queen Street, via Penarth.

Dingle Road:
DMU 150259_2016.02.19_1_Dingle Road by Phil Wood, on Flickr

When I was sat on 143616 as it departed Queen Street I had seen the unit on the shuttle and it was required, so had to be done.
The day’s only outright winner, 153362 was thus taken for the short round trip.
I didn’t bother getting off at the Bay as I’ve done that several times before.

New platform for me
DMU 153362_2016.02.19_2_Cardiff Queen Street by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Once back at Queen Street I was pleased to see a double Pacer arrive, 142081 leading 142006.
The latter was on my list and so it was into 55597 I went.
I had a look at the timetable and picked a required station to bail at.
This was Hengoed.
Leaving Queen Street another double 142 came past heading to Penarth, this had 142082 on the front, one that was of special interest to me.
Three of my targets at the start of the day had only been done previously on Central to Queen Street leaps and so were wanted for something a bit more substantial, 143616 had been one, 143610 was another and 142082 was the third.
I worked out, using RTT, that I could make the return service at a new shack and so devised a move.
Dud for the day 150259 took me from Hengoed to Heath High Level and I took up my position.
Do you remember the signal problems I mentioned earlier?
Well they were still going on.
142082 was running very late and so they decided to omit some/all of the stops between Queen Street and Bargoed.
So it was with some frustration that I watched it and its partner fly through the platform.
Bah.

Come back!
DMU 142082_2016.02.19_1_Heath High Level_& 142069 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

RTT was quickly consulted and a new plan was formulated.
I boarded the next service that stopped, which was worked by 143616!
I had to choose between a short wait at an unrequired station or a bit of a fester at a new one.
I got off at Lisvane & Thornhill.

It's 143616 again:
DMU 143616_2016.02.19_3_Lisvane & Thornhill by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I let two city bound services go before my target arrived.
142082 was paired with 142069 and I did them to Penarth (I had no intention of visiting Penarth when I started this move, this was my third visit), in 55778 and back out Grangetown.
Whilst aboard 142082 I had spotted 143610, the third and final unit of my “most wanted” trio, and tried to work out what it was on.
Of course, the signalling issues meant that the timetable had gone to pot but I used my best guest to work out that it should pass the pair I had got off at Central and so Grangetown made sense.
Unfortunately, my best guess was incorrect and the service I was hoping it would be on turned up as a 150.
I decided I’d had enough of Grangetown and so got the next thing into Central.
This was the very familiar 143616.
As the train pulled into the station I watched as 143610 pulled out going towards Penarth.
Bah again.
Never mind, it wasn’t time to head home yet, it could still be done.
It actually proved to be quite fortuitous as it was 143609 that was next up and another required coach, 55675, was roped in on the short run back to Grangetown.
Consecutively numbered vehicle 55676 was the one I required in 143610 and so it was there that I headed when it pulled in a short while later, in partnership with 143607.
Time was now marching on and I could only do it as far as Queen Street, but it was a bit of a longer trip than when I’d had it previously.
Another 143 pairing, 143622 and 143614 were then taken back to Central and it was now half past four.
The service I was booked on departs at 17.16 and I didn’t want to risk going too far afield now, especially with the ongoing signal problems, but I figured I had time for a quick leap to Grangetown and so it was aboard 150282 I went, catching the first thing back, which was 143601.
After that it was a short wait before 67022 arrived to take me back to Chester and the drive home.

So all in all a productive day, I got one winning unit, five new shacks, had all three of the units that had previously only been had for bus stop moves, got five of the required coaches and had nearly three hundred miles of haulage from a loco that I hadn’t sampled in over a decade.
Most of all, I was nicely chilled again after the previous week's shenanigans.

I still need three Cardiff 142 coaches, from 142072, 142074 & 142076 as well as one from 143625, so a return will be done but the lack of outright winner opportunities (I only need 1 x 150, 3 x 153 and 1 x 158 from the CF allocation) might mean I have to leave it until 2017.

 

[Kite159]

I guess platform 5 at Queen Street would also be new for you

Signal problems aside, it sounded like a productive day

 

[55013]

I guess platform 5 at Queen Street would also be new for you

Signal problems aside, it sounded like a productive day

Aye, platform 5 was new.
It was very enjoyable and it's good to get a few of those niggly little things out of the way.

 

[Techniquest]

Crikey you had an awful week there before the trip! At the time you'd have passed through my local shack I was still getting ready to leave for work. 67022 I've not had in a long time either, although it was certainly more recent than 2004!

I had forgot there was new micro-gricing opportunities at Cardiff Queen Street, I need to get those done.

Aside from the signalling farce, and having to visit Penarth 3 times in one day (did you at least enjoy the thrash up the hill all the way along the branch?) it was clearly a good day. A shame there were less outright winners, but with so little to get it was always going to be difficult. A North Wales Rover sounds sensible mind, although that wouldn't normally provide a 153 on the Conwy Valley or Borderlands lines like they used to (150s instead now), but a good place to get shack scores and hunt the 158s and 175s.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Despite the signalling aggro, looks as though you had a productive day out. With those new platforms at Queen street, it certainly makes the old Central to Queen Street Bus Stop Bashes a little more difficult than in days of yore.

I've not been down to Penarth since 1987 when I did the branch as new track with 53083+53820. OK more recently I got as far as Dingle Dangle Road with no less than 142085+143616 (yes, your old mate 616!).

 

[Kite159]

Despite the signalling aggro, looks as though you had a productive day out. With those new platforms at Queen street, it certainly makes the old Central to Queen Street Bus Stop Bashes a little more difficult than in days of yore.

I've not been down to Penarth since 1987 when I did the branch as new track with 53083+53820. OK more recently I got as far as Dingle Dangle Road with no less than 142085+143616 (yes, your old mate 616!).

Agreed there, no more easy hops across the island platform.

When the new platform at Cardiff Central comes online (sorry couldn't think of another word) it will be a bit harder to unit hunt at Cardiff Central, unless that platform will be used mainly by the terminators

 

[45135]

Glad to hear that the move cured the previous week's monkeyshines (you do know I sell and mend hardware stuff for a living don't you! ) and Dingle was done.

 

[FQ]

Shame about how the start of the week went but it sounds like you had a nice time out on the rails. But I can't believe your reason for heading to Cardiff...

 

[47403]

Great read as usual 55013, nice to get some loco hauled mileage too. Shame about the hassles at home, always the same, once one thing goes, everything seems to follow suit, however I must admit, I had a bit of a giggle at the, will that idiot switch off the alarm comment.
Ok so it wasn't as productive as you'd have probably wanted, due to them signalling issues but at least you got a fair ole percentage of your aims and a bit of R n R into the bargain too.

 

[Kristofferson]

Rather jealous of your trips to that part of Wales! Good read and great pics

 

[DarloRich]

Talking of HSTs off Normanton, being a fan (some might say addict) of the excellent bashing simulator "Hellfire" has given me the chance to do a bit of research.
The game is set in 1981 and I've had a look at the Sunday timetable for Normanton and there were five Southbound and four Northbound HSTs between 10.00 and 15.15 (The 23.20 Kings Cross - Bradford Exchange also stopped there at 03.18, booked a HM 40 as well as the Wakefield - Scarborough loco hauled service).(

that is a great game isn't it?

 

[D841 Roebuck]

that is a great game isn't it?

Agreed.

Quite good fun scratching all the shacks on it as well...

(Method - copy shack list into spreadsheet, add a column of random number generation "=RND(0:1,000,000), sort sheet into order based on this column and start at the top. Takes a few weeks and doesn't half boost your Class 26 mileage)