55013's Contemporary Trip Reports

[Keith Jarrett]

Mr 13, managed to catch up with your latest escapades. As ever, top drawer stuff and those photos certainly put things in context. That day excursion from Biggleswade certainly saw some decent stuff although from memory, Crews Hill is not exactly the best place for a lengthy fester.

 

[55013]

Thanks chaps.

Like the pictures Phil, how you don't necessarily put the train in the foreground creates interesting composition.

Cheers - I must admit I'm not keen on the train being too close to the camera, I prefer to get a bit of the surroundings in if possible.
That's not always do-able, of course.

Mr 13, managed to catch up with your latest escapades. As ever, top drawer stuff and those photos certainly put things in context. That day excursion from Biggleswade certainly saw some decent stuff although from memory, Crews Hill is not exactly the best place for a lengthy fester.

Thanks, I didn't mind Crews Hill to be honest.
It was pretty quiet for the twenty minutes I was there.

I've started reporting the moves from our holiday but not yet finished them, so without further ado, here's some more from a very productive week.

The day after my solo outing we were once again London bound.
There was much we hadn’t seen at the V & A, so that was our target.
A nice winning pair, 365503 and 365514 took us from Biggleswade.

I had thought about it and concluded that going into Kings Cross and joining the masses heading down to the Piccadilly line platforms was a bad idea when we could bail at Finsbury Park and have a much simpler transfer to the underground.
This also had the benefit of Finsbury Park (LU) being a required stop for me

158 was our ride for the six and a bit miles to South Kensington.

After spending most of the day in the museum, the highlight for us being one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks, we left with aching feet and retraced our journey home.

121 did the underground bit with another new pair of 365s, 365528 and 365537 doing the mainline bit.
That should have been it for trains this week, but my wife had other ideas.

Once back at base she told me that she’s been having a think and, as she was going to be out campaigning for the local elections all day on Saturday, instead of us both heading home on the Friday as we were supposed to do, why didn’t I find a hotel for Friday night and stay in the area for a couple of days.

A Biggleswade to Bradford single would only cost £34, so she would ride home on the train and not feel guilty about me sitting at home alone.
Needless to say, I was easily convinced


Friday morning arrived; we had our breakfast, loaded the car and drove to Biggleswade.
Here we parted, she caught a Peterborough service whilst I purchased a couple of tickets – a Stevenage return and a similar ticket to the next station down the line.

365540 was my first winner of the day, it was working with 365527, but only for a few miles as I took it as far as Sandy.

My 365 figures were now much healthier than they had been at the start of the week.
Nevertheless, winners could still be had and it proved to be the case as it was 365530 and 365537 that I got from Sandy to Stevenage.

I had no intention of going into London today, instead I planned on attacking those stations that dwell between the zones and Peterborough and ordinarily would be difficult for me to get to.
The first of these was Potters Bar which was reached by riding on 365513 and 365531, both units that had been scored earlier in the week.
It was back to winning 365 ways, with what turned out to be my last new one of the week, 365523 (with 365517), which I did to Knebworth.

EMU 365517_2018.02.02_Knebworth by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Some solo 387 action followed, with 387107 being my transport from Knebworth to Hatfield.

Whilst waiting at Hatfield I was pleased to see his old warhorse come through:
47813_2018.02.02_2_Hatfield by Phil Wood, on Flickr

313051 and 313028 were then utilised, first to Welwyn Garden City, then back to Brookmans Park.

EMU 313028_2018.02.02_Welwyn Garden City_& 313051 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

There remained just one station South of Welwyn viaduct that I needed, so obviously that’s where I went next, on 313018 and 313048.
That station was Welham Green.
Not for the first time this week I boarded 313025 and 313040, this time going back to Potters Bar.

387107, scored earlier in the day but still below ten miles, was next.
This took me through to Letchworth Garden City.

Mileage requirements 313039 and 313054 were next, as far as Stevenage.
The former has now been accepted into the ten mile club, however the latter remains agonisingly short on 9.54 miles.

Dud 387113 was then the traction to my only remaining requirement on the ECML South of Stevenage, Welwyn North.

EMU 387113_2018.02.02_Welwyn North by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Here things went a bit pear-shaped.
I wanted the 17.03 service, it was on-time according to the PIS.
The due time came and went.
People began to get agitated, no information was forthcoming.
Eventually a lady shouted across to a member of staff and he went to find out what was happening.
The unit was sat in the platform at Welwyn Garden City and was having a safety inspection.
Bah.

I envisaged spending hours at Welwyn North and agitated people were already starting to demand taxis.
In the event, the following service was allowed to pass the errant unit and stopped in the platform at Welwyn North 21 minutes after the first service was due to depart.
Yes, people were asking for a taxi less than fifteen minutes after their train was due!

I’ve no idea what the delayed set was, but the one I got on was 387126 and 387118.
I took this through to Biggleswade.

As with my outing a few days previously I had a think – this time it was should I go straight to the hotel or should I seize the opportunity to get my last station on the ECML between Kings Cross and Peterborough?

Hmm, tough one.
365503 and 365504 were used to get me to Huntingdon.

The earlier problem at Welwyn Garden City had caused a bit of a backlog.
The first train back South was formed of 387126 and 387118, which I done earlier.
The next service was just five minutes behind so I rejected them.
That proved to be the right decision as this was formed of winner 387101 and mileage requirement 387123.

Once back at Biggleswade it was into the car and on to my hotel.
Another successful move in the bag.

Although I’d got the stations on the main ECML, I still required four on the Hertford loop.
It was my intention to sort that out on Saturday.

 

[Cowley]

Great couple of reports there. Lovely to see 47813 out and about too. Most enjoyable.

 

[55013]

Thanks.
Anyway, I've just finished the last day, so here goes.

Friday had been a tiring day, I checked into the hotel and went straight to bed.

This resulted in me waking very early.
I had one thought in my head – once I get those four stations on the Hertford loop I’ll have visited every shack on the ECML south of Durham – except one.
I looked on the internet.
The place in question was an hour and a half’s drive from my hotel.
On the plus side it was in the direction of home.
I used RTT and came up with a plan.
The hotel was vacated at 05.30 and I was soon shooting along the A1.

I arrived at Newark North Gate at 06.55.
Tickets were purchased and I strolled on to the platform just a couple of minutes before my train.

I was hoping for a 91, but alas it was a HST.
At least it was the power car with the best name, 43367 “DELTIC 50”.
I didn’t have the chance to ID the rear power car.

My plan involved making a rapid platform change at Peterborough.
I headed over and boarded mileage requirement 365520, which was with 365507.

As my HST pulled out I tried to get the number of the rear power car, however I failed in that endeavour.
Luckily, thanks to “37078xotTE” of this very forum, I now know it was 43318.

The 365s were done to Stevenage.
Now it was back to 313 bashing.

The first of the Hertford Loop stations to fall was Hertford North itself.
This was reached on 313049 and 313052, the former a mileage requirement, the latter dud for the week.

Just to prove that there had been a shake-up of pairings, the pair that I used to get back to Stevenage were 313060 (again!) and another low mileage unit, 313035.
The same pair were then taken to Bayford.

During my time at Hertford North I’d been looking at the bay platform and the associated cross-over South off the station.
I’m not usually bothered by such things, but for some reason I fancied it.

313036 & 313122 were in it at the time:
EMU 313036_2018.02.03_1_Hertford North by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I left Bayford on 313055 and 313053.
Just shy of three miles later I left them and boarded 313056 and 313044 in platform 3.
I got the cross-over in and they left me behind at Cuffley.

I now had just one station left; it was the one with the name that had intrigued me the most.
This was Watton-at-Stone and it was 313036 and 313122 that had the honour of taking me there.

EMU 313122_2018.02.03_3_Watton-at-Stone_& 313036 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

The first train away from there was the same pair coming back, so these were enjoyed to Bayford where I picked up 313044 and 313056 again.

Once back at Stevenage my journey home began.

I would have liked to have finished with a winning 365, but sadly it was not to be as it was 365538 on its own that took me back to Peterborough.

The return to Newark produced a 91, happily.
Even happier, it was a sub-thousand mile example.
91119 is now just forty miles short of that target.

Once back at Newark it was into my car and the drive home.

An excellent week had been enjoyed; with many more new shacks, units and mileage requirements, than I had contemplated before our holiday.
Chester-Le-Street is now my most southerly required station on the ECML – something that I certainly hadn’t expected before we went!

 

[Kite159]

Congrats on clearing the southern reaches of the ECML for shacks

Chester-Le-Street takes some planning off-peak, but it be easier in the peak with more TPE services calling (plus the odd XC)

 

[55013]

Cheers, Chester-Le-Street is in my plans for the near future

Forgetting the future for a while, I'm not quite up-to-date with the past, so here's my latest trip.

The glitz and glamour of London was now well behind me and it was back to reality and time spent loitering around remote stations in the North of England.
Yes, I was back out on one of those useful Northern newspaper promotions.
I say remote, truth be told most of today’s crop couldn’t really be described as such.

I’d purchased my ticket the day before so no need to mess around, I just had to make sure that I got as far as I could, using my m-card, before the 08.45 validity kicked in.
That was Hebden Bridge and I got there from Interchange aboard 158872.
Another 158, 853, then took me to Blackburn from where my day of shack scratching would begin.

I had about twenty-five minutes at Blackburn before 150139 and 153328 arrived.

DMU 150139_2018.02.16_1_Blackburn_& 153328 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

These units were to feature heavily in my day.

I “enjoyed” 153328 through to score number one, Clitheroe.
Here I swapped to the 150 for the return journey, staying aboard until request stop Enwistle.
I found this single-platform halt to be most relaxing.
It was very quiet; I only had a few birds, including a heron and a coal tit, for company.
Having thoroughly enjoyed my short time watching and listening to various avian creatures it was time for me to depart.

The class 156 is my favourite type of Sprinter, so I was more than happy to get on board 156460 for the run to Whalley.

Until this point I had stuck to the plan that I had devised the evening before.
Now things changed, though.
My intention was to hang around until 156460 came back.
The previous train from Clitheroe should have passed me several minutes earlier but I had seen no sign of it.
As I left the platform I saw another 156 crawling into the station, slightly more than ten minutes late.
It’s a bit of a distance from one platform to the other at Whalley and I had no intention of running.
I strolled over in a lackadaisical fashion and was most surprised to find 156468 was still sat there.

The guard was running down the platform, evidently having been in conversation with the driver.
He jumped on, looked at me and said “Do you want this one?”
“Aye, go on then, thanks” I replied.
So, I was away from Whalley some three quarters of an hour earlier than planned.
Now, when I was looking at the timetable the day before I had decided to leave a couple of stations on the line for another day.

This was because the fester times would be too long for me to get the station I particularly wanted and be back home at my intended time.
Now, I was ahead of schedule.

The guard on 156468 apologised for the delay and stated that this was due to signalling problems.
Whatever the problem was, it was evidently only affecting trains heading South as we crawled over Whalley viaduct, just minutes after 156460 had crossed it at line-speed going the other way.
I pondered this.
Maybe I could get the two remaining stations on the line and then return to my original plan.
I left 156468 at Ramsgreave & Wilpshire.

DMU 156468_2018.02.16_2_Ramsgreave & Wilpshire by Phil Wood, on Flickr

The wait there was long enough for me to purchase supplies from the local Co-op before re-joining 150139 & 153328.

This had a minus seven onto 156460 at Langho, but if the signalling problems were still effecting Manchester bound trains then I might, just might, make it.
I didn’t.
The fact that my train was four minutes late didn’t help, although RTT tells me that the 156 was on time away from Langho anyway.

This meant three things; firstly I had a fifty minute wait for the next train, secondly that would be yet another run on the 150/153 pairing and thirdly I would have to abandon my plan of scratching Hall I’ Th’ Wood.
I considered that losing one shack, even if it was one that I’d picked purely because I liked the name, in order to gain two wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever done.
Plus, it means that the Clitheroe branch is complete, so no need to ever return.

My pleasure at watching several horses in the fields opposite the station came to an end about twenty minutes before the units were due when the platform filled up with a surprising amount of people.

Somewhat annoyingly, this train appeared on the PIS as being ten minutes late even before it had left Clitheroe (due to depart from there at 13.46, PIS gen appearing at 13.30).

Sure enough, it rolled in at 14.08 and, for the second time today, I climbed aboard 153328.
According to RTT, it had left more or less on time.

So, given that the late arrival had been predicted either the PIS had magic powers or the signalling problems had affected this service as well.
Somehow, 156460 had avoided the problem that had beset the trains either side of it.

I bid farewell to 150139 & 153328 at Blackburn and had just a short wait before it was time for today’s first bit of Pacer action.
142012 was the unit in question and I enjoyed it (really, this time – I do like a bit of 142 activity. I’ll miss ‘em) to Huncoat, the last station I needed between Accrington and Colne.

DMU 142012_2018.02.16_1_Huncoat by Phil Wood, on Flickr

The main focus of today had been a station that, as so often in my seemingly random station scoring exploits, I’d wanted to get because the name appealed to me.
This was Church & Oswaldtwistle.
I mean, Oswaldtwistle, what’s not to love about that name
150272 was the unit that carried me the two and a half miles to there from Huncoat.

It was now time for me to head home.
There are, sadly, no direct trains between Church & Oswaldtwistle and Bradford so I had to do 142036 the 68 chains to Accrington.

Interchange was reached courtesy of 158859 and I was home for tea with my wife just after five o’clock.
A very relaxing day out had been had, with seven new shacks in the book, which I was pleased with.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Some good days out there. I'll miss the pacers, too...

...but if their going leads to loco-haulage across the Pennines again, I'll put up with it!

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like another productive day, well done on clearing some more northern shacks

I need a return to the Clitheroe branch in the summer time only to get a service train on the Sunday services which use the line between Clitheroe & Hellifield

 

[55013]

Some good days out there. I'll miss the pacers, too...

...but if their going leads to loco-haulage across the Pennines again, I'll put up with it!

Me too

Sounded like another productive day, well done on clearing some more northern shacks

I need a return to the Clitheroe branch in the summer time only to get a service train on the Sunday services which use the line between Clitheroe & Hellifield

Happily, it's not a line I need.
I've done it on a few tours, but most memorably on West Coast drags.
27th March 1989, just the twenty-nine years ago.
45135 and I made our way to Hellifield in order to see what was out.
We did 47447 from there to Preston and en-route we came to a halt.
A look out of the window revealed the driver down on the track, throwing a large amount of bricks from the four-foot to the side of the line.
Apparently local yobbos had seen fit to pile them up in the path of oncoming trains, for reasons best known to themselves.
Our return from Preston was incident free and the power was 47439.
Different times.

Back to 2018 now and another instalment in my on-going journey through life.


Shortly after I’d returned from my first London trip of 2018 I received an e-mail from Grand Central.
As a valued customer I was offered twenty percent off another journey, as long as it was booked by the end of the week.
I’m a Yorkshireman, so words like “twenty percent off” cause me to go into spasms and rush for my credit card.

Friday the 23rd of February was my chosen day and, at 07.00 that morning, I found myself stood at Low Moor awaiting the arrival of 180107 to whisk me once more to the capital.
An uneventful journey followed and Kings Cross was reached four minutes early.

With only four 315s required, along with two for mileage, and time running out for the class, it made sense for me to pay another visit to the East side of the city.
Also, I’d decided it was time for me to scratch a particular station in that part of the world.

Previously, I‘d made my way by either doing the underground to Liverpool Street or, if feeling flush, a 395 from St Pancras to Stratford International and a bit of DLR action.
Today, however, I was trying something new.

Three weeks prior to this move I had been in the area with my wife on our holiday.
My last EMU of that week had been a 365.
It was the same class that got today off to a flying start.
Double winners 365532 and 365534 took me the two and a half miles to Finsbury Park.
Well short of my preferred ten miles, but as both are even numbered units they’ll be around for a while.

As an aside, isn’t this the most ridiculous way of deciding which members of a fleet to keep?
I can just imagine the conversation.

GTR: From 2018 we’ll only be needing twenty of the class.

Rosco: Well, we’ll do some in-depth examinations and establish the twenty in the best condition.

GTR: We want the even numbered ones.

Rosco: Oh. But they might not be the best units.

GTR: We hate the odd numbered ones, leave us the evens!

Rosco: Er, OK.

It probably didn’t go like that
I’m sure there’s a valid reason why that decision was made.


Anyway, I digress.
As well as 315s I was after some of their Pep cousins, the 313s.
I only needed a handful but many more remained in the low mileage category.

The lowest of the low was 313032, I’d only had this from Drayton Park to Highbury & Islington back in 2015.
At only 0.43 miles this was almost as bad as being required.
It was this unit that I just missed at Finsbury Park.
313032 was heading towards Moorgate and so was I.

Luckily, it wasn’t too long a wait before another couple of units, including a mileage requirement, arrived.
This was 313030 and its companion was 313051.

I decided that I had plenty of time to get to Liverpool Street.
313032, which I now discovered was paired with 313122, was duly taken from Moorgate to Harringay.
Still not at the ten-mile mark but much better than it had been before.

This proved a good move as winner 313063 was the first arrival heading back to Moorgate.

EMU 313063_2018.02.23_1_Harringay_& 313056 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

This had 313056 for company.
After this I left Moorgate and made the short walk to Liverpool Street.
My 315 requirements consisted of one London Overground and three TfL units.
In addition, there were two that I wanted some more miles from, both in the TfL batch.

My luck was in; the first pair that arrived was made up of a winner and a sub ten-mile unit.
These were 315831 and 315845.
I was particularly pleased with 845 as this was the unit I had erroneously thought I was chasing on a trip last year.
On that occasion it had turned out to be unrequired 835 that I had miss-identified.
I did these out to Gidea Park as the island platform there makes it preferable to Romford.

EMU 315831_2018.02.23_Gidea Park_& 315845 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

On the journey I had observed several other units working the Shenfield turns and almost half of them were 345s, which were no good to me.
I left Gidea Park, once I was confident I had seen all of the off-peak diagrams and that there was nothing new to be gained, on 315821 and 315858.
These were taken for the short hop to Romford where I left them in order to see if there was a winning 321 on the train from Southend that was due just a few minutes later.

My luck with 321s has been woeful on previous jaunts; despite needing eighty members of the class for haulage it was always dud ones that turned up.
Not today
321357 was my traction back to Liverpool Street.

Proof:
EMU 321357_2018.02.23_Liverpool Street by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Now it was to the Overground side of the station.
I needed three stops on these lines and intended to get them all in before making my way to the station that topped my list.
315816 took me to my first target, Bruce Grove.
I had worked out a move that would see me get the two remaining stations done.
The only thing that could prevent me from doing the planned moves would be if my last LO 315 put in an appearance.
Which is exactly what happened.
As 315816 approached Bruce Grove, the unit I had been looking out for departed heading South.
Rectory Road and Stamford Hill would just have to wait for another day.
RTT was brought into play and I knew what I had to do.

I used 315807 & 315814 to get me from Bruce Grove to Hackney Downs.
A few minutes later I was heading to Chingford aboard 315809.
So that’s it, the London Overground 315s cleared.
809 had 803 for company.

Time was marching on and I was starting to think about the big station of the day.
315809 & 315803 were done back from Chingford to Liverpool Street.

My first winning 317 of the day, 317338 was up next, to Cheshunt.
I arrived there with plenty of time to spare before my intended train to the lightly served station that was in my sights.
I was so early that I figured I had time to get another new one in.
317513 and 317658 were duly done to Waltham Cross.

I had a plus four here for one back to Cheshunt.
My 317s were a bit late, but as I stepped off them I looked down the track and couldn’t see anything coming.
Piece of cake, I thought.
I started over the bridge, then to my horror I saw that I couldn’t see it approaching as it was already in the platform!
There was much gnashing of teeth as it pulled away.
Had I blown the difficult to get station by being shack-greedy?

Once again, RTT was my friend.
The next service to Cheshunt from Waltham Cross gave me another plus four.
I made sure I was stood at the front, so I could leap off 317662 and get straight over the footbridge.
I actually made it onto the correct platform with my next train in the distance.
317662 had been partnered by 317649.

So, what was the shack that I was after?
Some may have already guessed that it was London’s least used station.
Not only that but I believe it’s on borrowed time as it is to be moved and re-named to “Meridian Water”.
Whilst it might technically be “re-located”, to me it looks like it’s being closed – so I wanted to get it in the book.

Winner 317883 and dud 317504 took me to Angel Road.

317504 leaves the salubrious surrounds of Angel Road:
EMU 317504_2018.02.23_Angel Road_& 317883 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I chose this service as it meant I just had quarter of an hour or so to “enjoy” Angel Road.
Another new unit for me, 317666, paired with 317656, then provided my ride back to Cheshunt.

Now it was time to make my way home.
My last winner on the East side was 317344, my second winning ex-Great Northern 317 of the day.
This was working with 317651 and I used them to get me to Liverpool Street.

I had to fight my way against the crowds as the evening rush-hour was taking hold when I walked back to Moorgate and more 313s.
I was quite pleased to see it was a pair from earlier in the day that were waiting to leave first.
My pleasure was caused by the knowledge that this meant I could get 313030 into the ten-mile club.
As before, unsurprisingly, this was working with 313051.
In order to ensure membership of that august club I took them to Alexandra Palace.

I’d had a good day, but it wasn’t over yet.
313041 soon arrived, with 313029, heading South.
I didn’t have time to go to Moorgate on it, but at least it’s in the book.
This now leaves me with just one 313/0 outright requirement, 313045.
Interestingly, 313045 was also my last one for sight.
It took me about ten years from seeing my penultimate one to finally scoring it in 2014.
Now I’ve got to track it down again.
313041 was sat in as far as Finsbury Park.

Another couple from earlier in the day, 313063 and 313056, were my ride into Kings Cross.
063 is another that remains below ten miles, although its figure now is much better than it had been at the start of the move (0.0 miles).
There are no less than twenty GTR 313s that are in single figures on the mileage front.
Something for me to work on, there

My journey provided me with a winning coach for haulage as it was one of Grand Central’s newest units, 180106, that did the deed.


Arrival back into Low Moor was one minute early at 22.30 and I walked through our front door ten minutes later, tired but happy with a very good day in the bag.

 

[Kite159]

We did 47447 from there to Preston and en-route we came to a halt.

Why was I expecting the next line to be something like "as the 47 had done what 47s do best and break down"

--------

Sounded like a productive day in London Well done on scoring Angel Road, it will become re-required for me when it closes and Meridian Water opens in its place

 

[45135]

Interesting move, covering some of the less well-known London stations. Including one that was previously beyond my ken, Bruce Grove.

 

[Cowley]

Why was I expecting the next line to be something like "as the 47 had done what 47s do best and break down"

Or “and the 47 just pushed the bricks out of the way and got on with the job while all the other traction types showed off as usual” .
Great read as always.
Those 315s have got too much black around the windscreens. They remind me of SAS guys that don’t want to be photographed.

 

[55013]

Why was I expecting the next line to be something like "as the 47 had done what 47s do best and break down"

--------

Sounded like a productive day in London Well done on scoring Angel Road, it will become re-required for me when it closes and Meridian Water opens in its place

I've not actually had many 47s fail on me - 47410 on Dewsbury in the 80s (rescued by 47186) and 47814 at Newcastle (37238, done Newcastle - Doncaster ).
I'll be roping Meridian Water in at some point as well.

ken, Bruce

Or “and the 47 just pushed the bricks out of the way and got on with the job while all the other traction types showed off as usual” .
Great read as always.
Those 315s have got too much black around the windscreens. They remind me of SAS guys that don’t want to be photographed.

Thanks - I see what you mean about the black, I must admit I'm not keen on that bit of the livery.

 

[55013]

Well, due to the weather my wife is stuck at work as none of the afternoon staff could get to her ward for their shift.
She may have to spend the night there!
Bad news, but it does mean I had time to knock out a report from my most recent trip.

So, here goes.

The day after my London soiree I was out on the rails once more.
I originally intended to have a day at home, doing my admin, photos and trip-report writing from the day before.
My intention was to do a Northern newspaper rover on the 3rd of March, but a strike meant that wasn’t possible, so it had to be the Saturday before.
This time I was aiming for three stations that sit outside the usual day ranger territories.
If I was in the mood I would also get a couple of South Yorkshire shacks in.
I came up with a plan but if I wanted to be back home at my agreed time of 18.00 I couldn’t start at Low Moor.

I’ve been thinking about this and an Interchange start means paying to park in Bradford.
New Pudsey station has free parking and is only quarter of an hour’s drive from home.
So that’s where I drove to.
I was there in time to get the 08.12 York service, which was worked by 158753.
My first target was an island in the middle of a sea of unrequired stations.
It sits just outside West Yorkshire and hadn’t fallen nicely into any of my previous shack scratching moves.

I left the 158 at Micklefield where I spent a bit of time photographing passing 185s.
The station I was after is between Micklefield and Selby, however I’d worked out a way to get to target number two without the time-consuming trip back into Leeds.
The best way to get it was therefore from the Selby direction.

144003 picked me up from Micklefield and carried me into platform 3 at Selby.
This was a winning bay for me
The same 144 was then my ride to South Milford.
A short wait here was followed by 158860 back to the bay at Selby.

DMU 158860_2018.02.24_4_Selby by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Now I had to zig-zag my way to station number two on my list.
Refurbished 150142 took me from Selby to Broomfleet.

DMU 150142_2018.02.24_3_Broomfleet by Phil Wood, on Flickr

This was followed by 158795 to Hatfield & Stainforth.
The interesting little station at Althorpe was reached aboard 142047.

DMU 142047_2018.02.24_1_Althorpe by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I like Althorpe, the combined rail/road bridge immediately to the East is a fascinating construction.
Unfortunately, it was very cold, which reduced my enjoyment of the forty minute or so wait before the 142 came back from Scunthorpe.
I did manage to add to my day’s tally of 185s photographed whilst I hung around, so that was good.

Crowle was next.
It’s a bit unnerving using the foot crossing in front of the unit you’ve just got off, but that’s what happened.
142047 sat in the platform for ages, everyone else that got off piled across but, like a good citizen, I waited.
The doors remained open and there was no sign of imminent movement, so off I went, getting across in plenty of time to photograph the unit in situ.

DMU 142047_2018.02.24_4_Crowle by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I now had to decide if I was going to brave the cold and get those two South Yorkshire stations in.
Mrs 13 was out on the campaign trail so no need to rush back.
I might as well do them; although it was cold, it was at least dry.
142086 was my ride from Crowle to Scunthorpe and then from there to Swinton.
A short while before getting off it, I cleared it for 100 miles.

My third consecutive 142 was 142067, which was taken from Swinton to the delightful little hamlet of Thurnscoe.
Did I say delightful?
Sorry, I meant complete dump.
Due to my next train running late I spent three quarters of an hour here.
Happily, I should have no reason to ever go back.

My fifth and final shack score of the day was supposed to be Bolton-on-Dearne but the late running in-bound service had seen my plus eleven pretty much disappear.
Luckily, I still needed the station before it, so I left 142026 there; this was Goldthorpe.


There was only a short wait before double 142s, 025 and 036 arrived to take me to Leeds.

The day finished with 144002 to New Pudsey.
I had a quick look round for Mr and Mrs Samuel Brainsample, but they were nowhere to be seen so I drove home.

As an aside, this was my train to work today:
DMU 180102_2018.03.01_Low Moor by Phil Wood, on Flickr

 

[Kite159]

A good day picking up those odds & sods which lie outside the rover areas

 

[Cowley]

Mr and Mrs Brainsample . There’s one for the kids.
Great report and photos sir.

 

[Cletus]

Like the picture of the 180.

Always have a fleeting smug moment when someone local-ish goes to stations I've already been too
Walked from Thurnscoe to Goldthorpe to waste time in January - another delightful walk
(Did them on a SY Travelmaster ticket)

 

[Kite159]

Like the picture of the 180.

Always have a fleeting smug moment when someone local-ish goes to stations I've already been too
Walked from Thurnscoe to Goldthorpe to waste time in January - another delightful walk
(Did them on a SY Travelmaster ticket)

Aye it is a 'delightful' walk, as I did something similar when I visited those stations. Although IIRC it is a walk where a shortcut footpath isn't shown on Google Maps to cut out a couple minutes walk

 

[47403]

Just caught back up with these 55013, 3 excellent reads and the usual excellent photos.
Sounded like a very productive day an all fronts. Loved the pic of 47813, then again, that probably doesn't come as a shock.

Why was I expecting the next line to be something like "as the 47 had done what 47s do best and break down"

Tut Tut Mr Kite

 

[55013]

Thanks chaps.

Just caught back up with these 55013, 3 excellent reads and the usual excellent photos.
Sounded like a very productive day an all fronts. Loved the pic of 47813, then again, that probably doesn't come as a shock.

Cheers - funnily enough, I thought of you when I took it

 

[55013]

A couple of trips from last week for me to mention now.
Firstly, I roped in a new station with a quick post-work shack scratch move.
The day started with the usual move, 150268 on a Selby - Huddersfield as far as Halifax and my place of employment.
Once my graft was done it was back to the station and refurbished 150136 round to Huddersfield.
156441 then took me to Mossley.
After a relatively short wait it was ex-fgw 150122, working with 150223, back to Huddersfield.
The trip finished with 142051 to Low Moor.
Not a bad way to wind down after a hard day at the coal-face.
I plan on doing a similar move at some point to rope Greenfield in.

A few days later I planned on doing another Northern newspaper move.
On Wednesday I went to print to form off.
I looked next to my computer for the vouchers.
Unfortunately, my wife had taken some annual leave and had decided to do a bit of tidying up.
"erm, where are the newspaper pages that I left here?"
"I thought they were just old papers and threw them away"
"oh"
So that was it for that particular type of move.

Obviously; I was going to do something, I just had to figure out what.
I decided that it was time to finish the shacks on the Buxton line.
These can be got on a GM Wayfarer, so had lately been ignored in favoured of stations outside that rover's range.

The day began with me walking to Low Moor and boarding 144010.
I took this through to Huddersfield and purchased my return to Manchester.
185114 was my ride to Piccadilly.
This unit had a single required coach, 51114, so that's where I went for the 25 mile journey.
That's 17 of them cleared now.

Once in Manchester I got my Wayfarer.
Whilst I'd made my mind up that those stations would fall today, I was after some breakfast and there was nothing appealing at Piccadilly.
There was something calling me from the airport, though.
Double duds 156426 and 156459 took me there.
I'm rather partial to a thing they sell in the buffet called a "Breakfast Baguette", with sausage, bacon, omelette and hash browns stuffed into one of the eponymous bread products.

With my stomach full I headed back to Piccadilly aboard mileage requirement 319370; a unit I'd only previously experienced from London Bridge to Kings Cross Thameslink back in 2001.
I got my camera out of my pocket to get a shot and immediately realised something was wrong - it was too light.
I had a look and sure enough, no battery.
What?
Then I realised - it was my old camera!
Mrs 13's tidying had come back to haunt me.
She had put it next to my current camera in order to see if I wanted to keep it or bin it.
Another photo free day, then.

Now it was time for the shacks.
There was quite a wait for a Buxton service, but luckily one of my needs was served by Hazel Grove trains, so it made sense to do that first.

150132 did the deed and took me to Davenport.
I now had a decision to make
I could wait here for the next Buxton service or I could do the train that had originated in the spa town back as far as Stockport in order to pick up the next Hazel Grove unit.
The latter wouldn't give me a new station, but since Northern took on several 150/1s from down South I can no longer say I've cleared their fleet.
Having the chance of a traction score proved to be the deciding factor, so it was onto 150103 that I stepped.
150223 was leading this particular four coach train.
I left them at Stockport and after a short wait 150112 and 150141 pulled in.
Neither of these being recent immigrants to the area.
Nevertheless they were taken to the end of their run at Hazel Grove.

The same pair of Sprinters that I'd done from Davenport, 150103 and 150223, then took me on to my penultimate Buxton line shack, New Mills Newtown.

The line was cleared with a visit to Disley.
As I mentioned, I need a few of the ex-fgw 150s.
In fact, 150122 was the only one that I'd had since they began to migrate North.
This was one that I'd already cleared long before I'd had it from Mossley a few days previously.
I wasn't exactly overjoyed to have my hopes raised when I saw it was one such new-comer approaching Newtown and have them dashed when it was that very unit that pulled in.

At Disley I could either wait for an hour and the next Piccadilly bound service or head towards Buxton and pick it up somewhere along the line.
I'm not a complete idiot, so it was to Whaley Bridge I went on 156425.

I was expecting to get another run on 150103 & 150223 and I was right.
However, 150110 had been added to the rear, making it a six coach Sprinter.
I don't recall ever having such a formation before.
Having already ridden in both 103 and 223 today I would have gone in 110, but sadly it was locked out of use.

The mega-Sprinter was done throughout to Piccadilly.

It was time to head home.
There was a zero connection at Picc for a York unit and I fully expected to miss it.
I didn't.
At that time of day, standing on TPE is a given, so it was no surprise when that was what I had to do on unrequired for everything 185117.

I've had almost all the 185s for over ten miles and am approaching the half way mark in clearing them for all coaches.
So why have I only had 185101 once, from Piccadilly to Oxford Road a few years ago?
It's starting to bug me.

Anyway, another trip without seeing anything of 185101 and not having a working camera aside, it had been a nice, relaxing day on the rails.

 

[507021]

A great report there '013, the first I've read since I returned to the forum. Looking forward to your next one.

I think the Northern £10 day rangers are excellent value. I've done two this time around, I'm hoping to do another two with the coupons I have left before the offer expires. I would have done more, but I gave my partner a few of the coupons I'd collected to travel over to Sheffield to see her family.

I still need 150122 (and most of the other ex GWR 150/1s) for haulage myself, hopefully I can find it and the others I need soon.

 

[55013]

Cheers, I agree that those newspaper vouchers are good value.
Talking of which...
Although I no longer had any vouchers, my mate 45135 did have enough for us to have a trip out the day after my Manchester trip.
As usual when it's the two of us, the Cumbrian coast beckoned.

In the past we have made our way to Carnforth and done the line from the South.
Today we wanted to try something different.

The plan was simple; we would meet up at Shipley and travel up to Carlisle via the S & C.
We would then do the 11.56 Syphon as far as Harrington (because it's a required shack for me) to meet the other rake.
This would be done into Carlisle and then back out as far as Dalston (another new one for me), a unit back to Carlisle and a 158 back to Shipley.
That wasn't quite how it turned out.

The day started as planned, with 153317 & 158790 taking us for the first 102 miles.
The bad news was that gen had come through indicating that one coast diagram was being worked by a 156.
Now, I like 156s, but not as much as 37s!

Luckily, the turn we were planning on doing off Carlisle was a loco as booked.
This turned out be 37402.

37402_2017.03.10_Carlisle by Phil Wood, on Flickr

We talked about what we should do as we made our way South.
No further gen had been forthcoming but we were minded to stick with the original plan, hoping that the other diagram had changed to the booked loco for the run from Barrow.

As we approached Harrington the weather was awful, the rain was bouncing off the windows and it was pretty miserable outside.
This, combined with the continued lack of gen, persuaded us to remain on 37402.

Shortly after leaving Parton, the North bound service passed by.
It was 37423.
Oh well, nothing we can do about it now.
The idea now was to stay on board all the way to Lancaster, following this with the Leeds unit back to Shipley.
Dead easy.
Or not.

After a faultless run we came to a stop just a mile or two outside Lancaster station.
45135 looked on RTT and discovered that a Morecambe unit was sat in our intended platform.
Once that was on the move we would be straight in.
A few minutes later a 153 came past.
We should have started moving but we didn't.
Then the dreaded announcement.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, sorry for the delay but the driver is unable to gain power".
So here we sat, blocking the WCML.

After about half an hour the driver managed to get the fault sorted and we were on our way.
We weren't worried as our unit home had started from Morecambe, so would be stuck behind us.

Once we disembarked at Lancaster we made our way over to the bay platforms.
The Leeds train was up on the PIS as a few minutes late.
Then it disappeared altogether.

Hmm.
A look on RTT revealed that our train had been sent direct to Leeds from Carnforth, missing Lancaster completely.

What to do?
We joined the queue of people speaking to Ian, the platform bloke who is slightly famous as "the selfie king".
No requests for selfies today.
I thought we looked relatively normal but when it got to our turn he took one look at us and said "Have you just got off that rust bucket?"
We had to admit we had.

He informed us that Virgin would accept our Northern rover as far as Preston where we should change for a York service.

So that's what we did.
I never expected to get a winning Pendolino on a Northern rover, but 390043 proved me wrong.

From Preston it was 158752 all the way to Bradford Interchange.
A walk across to Forster Square was followed by the short hop to Shipley on board 333014.

An interesting and enjoyable day had been had, despite several unexpected occurrences.
We had done 299 miles and 21 chains, not bad value from a £10 ticket.
I'm looking forward to the next time they run the offer

 

[507021]

Another excellent report, '013. Sounds like a productive day out!

 

[Cowley]

A bit of free time spent catching up on reports. Great stuff as usual 013. Thanks for posting them.

 

[55013]

Thanks chaps.

Here's some more.

March is traditionally a month in which I take some annual leave.
This is because it’s the end of the financial year and I have to make sure I have no A/L hours left when the new one starts.
This year I decided to devote my last couple of days to 91 mileage accumulation.
There was also a certain ECML station that was on my radar and required a visit.
My plan was simple, four straight days, starting Wednesday and finishing on Saturday.

Day one began with me taking a bus into Bradford as the hourly Low Moor departures to Leeds arrive just after a Kings Cross Train leaves and I wanted to maximise my chances of a low mileage loco.
At this stage there were eleven 91s that I’d had for less than a thousand miles.
My hopes for the move were to get at least two more over that mark.
Even more importantly; some of the ones at the bottom end of the scale, particularly 91120, would be nice.

158754 was my first traction of the day, taking me from Interchange to Leeds.
The first 91 wasn’t on my list but Doncaster is a better location to set out my stall than Leeds, so 91110 was taken anyway.

At Doncaster I was treated to the sight of a pair of former Chiltern (and Wrexham & Shropshire, of course) 67s, still in the colours of their former employer, sat side by side.

67014_2018.03.14_1_Doncaster_& 67012 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

My luck was in; the wait at Donny was just over an hour and was ended when the lowest of the low, 91120, pulled in heading to Scotland.
This loco was my biggest concern; with the new 800s in action on the Western and testing taking place on the ECML I know it won’t be too long before the 91s start being removed from traffic.
91120 sat on a mere 436 miles, a long way behind all its sisters.
The 112-mile run to Newcastle means that that the “below five hundred miles, never mind a thousand” club is now devoid of members and has been closed
Had the service been a Berwick stopper I would have visited the border town, but sadly it was RA Edinburgh after Newcastle.

91120_2018.03.14_2_Newcastle by Phil Wood, on Flickr

The next VTEC South was powered by a machine that has already satisfied my mileage needs, 91116, but was done anyway.
It was now time for me to be thinking of heading home.

I decided to wait at Doncaster until an appropriate loco arrived going to Leeds, or at least until my patience ran out.
In the event it wasn't a long wait, 91116 arrived at 16.02 and I was on my way to the city of my birth just nineteen minutes later.

“For The Fallen”, 91111, was the loco that did the deed – a machine that always gives me pause for thought when I see the livery.
Once at Leeds it sat on 998 and a bit miles.

I pondered doing it straight back to Wakefield to get it over the magic mark but Mrs 13 was expecting me home so it would have to wait for another day.
An absolutely wedged 158908 took me back to Bradford and I was home in time for tea.

It had been a good day, although there were no new members of the all-important club I’d had a good run on my most wanted machine and got another member of the class to within a whisker of joining.

 

[Kite159]

Shame you lost out on the newspaper vouchers (sadly nothing like that anymore around here, since First/MTR took over the South Western franchise, even the old "returns for £X" style promotions have disappeared). No doubt they will be back at some point.

Bah on missing out on that 37 as well, but sounds like a good first day of your FONE trip

 

[55013]

Cheers.
I was a bit miffed about losing those vouchers, that's for sure.
I must admit, since the franchise change I keep expecting them to disappear, but they keep coming back, which is great
Missing the 37 wasn't the end of the world, the full 120 miles on 37402 made up for it.

Anyway, here's day two of my North East.

Thursday was the day I’d allocated for my shack scratch.
This was because my wife and I had plans for the evening, so an early finish was a must.
Appropriate 91s could still feature, though.
And feature they did.

155346 began my day by providing me with transport to Leeds.
Once again, I was in luck; low mileage 91108 was sat in platform 6 waiting to work the next service to Kings Cross.
The 30 miles to Doncaster didn’t see it over the thousand but it helped it get just a little bit closer.

The first loco of the move to pass the magic mark proved to be 91130, this was taken from Donny to Durham but had become member number twenty-one of the thousand-mile club just before York.
Ten to go.
I was extra lucky with this as my station scoring plan meant I had no choice but to do this service.

Leaving Durham, with its membership papers safely tucked away:

91130_2018.03.15_1_Durham by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Those with an interest in such things may be able to guess what my target was.
With just one train in each direction every two hours away from the peaks; I had to make sure that I was on the TPE service that was due off Durham at 11.57.
This was dud for everything 185109.
Five minutes later I disembarked at Chester-le-Street.
Job done.
That’s all the stations on the ECML between Kings Cross and Newcastle – just the fiddly little ones between Newcastle and Scotland to get now.

A wait of just over ten minutes ended with me leaving on mileage and coach requirement 185127.

DMU 185127_2018.03.15_Chester-le-Street by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Just four 185s remain below ten miles, of which 185101 continues to haunt me, sat as it is on 0.53 miles.
As is often the case with traction that has chosen to taunt me, the aforementioned doyen of the 185s put in an appearance when it wasn't gettable - it was sat in platform 11 at York, waiting to work a Manchester Airport service, when I headed North behind 91120 on the Wednesday.
It wouldn’t be the last time I would see it this week.
185127 was taken to Leeds.

The next DMU to Bradford Interchange was a wedged two car Sprinter so I opted for an almost empty four car EMU, 333004, to Forster Square instead.
A short day but a very productive one.
I was pleased with the day’s tally of a new station, a 91 into the thousand-mile club and a 185 cleared for ten miles.

 

[Kite159]

Good news on scoring Chester-Le-Street

Edinburgh - Drem are easier to grab on a Saturday when the North Berwicks are half hourly (vice hourly during the week off-peak), Dunbar is easier from the Edinburgh direction as I believe it can be a +10 between XC services. The worse are those once a day shacks from Morpeth to Chathill, I think you will probably be able to get back to Bradford after the Chathill service returns into Newcastle.

 

[55013]

The Scottish ones are done, several of them on 90s back when they had a brief spell in charge of the North Berwick turns.
The ones I need are all of those, except Morpeth, from Manors to Chathill inclusive.
I shall be giving them some thought, but probably not until after my hopes of getting all the 91s for a thousand miles have died/been achieved.