ash39
Established Member
- Joined
- 8 Feb 2012
- Messages
- 1,524
Hi all,
Well here I go again. Some of you may have read about my day in Anglia back in June (report can be found here). Shortly after that trip the plans for AGA to utilise DRS Class 68's to cover for unavailable units became known, and I started to formulate a plan for another trip, this time with an overnight stay in Ipswich.
I had a very reasonably priced first class advance on the 0600 from York which I'd take as far as Peterborough - happily I managed to get to the station in plenty of time for it on this occasion! No awkward explanation to the guard required. Couple of strange things happened before the trip even began - I saw a pink DMU in one of the far platforms poking out from behind the wall. It looked like a 170, but it couldn't be. Had ten minutes until my train so I walked over to have a look, turned out to be 185104 with a new promotional vinyl for Manchester Pride.
185104 York 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
The second strange thing that happened is, as you might have spotted in the background on that picture, my train pulled in whilst I was taking it, a whole 10 minutes early. I dashed back over thinking I might have got the time wrong, but it turns out it left Northallerton 7 minutes early and arrived at York 10 early even though Northallerton was a booked stop. No idea what happened there, but it sat at York until correct departure time.
I wondered if I'd possibly peaked too early on this trip, as I tucked into breakfast in a very lightly loaded refurbished mk4. I quite like the faux leather and red highlights, but the blue mallard spec curtains really need replacing with red or grey ones. After arriving at Peterbrough I found out winner 91119 had shoved me there, leaving nine 91's to get. Good start to the day!
I then boarded EMT 158847 to Norwich - the advance taking me as far as Ely and then the remainder on an Anglia Plus ranger. The guard made a good point which I hadn't considered - that we were booked away from Ely at 0815 and the rover isn't valid until 0845. This hadn't occurred to me before, as I'd only ever done it on weekends. I was prepared to get off at Ely and wait for the first valid Norwich or Ipswich service but the guard offered to let me stay on, as the 158 was practically empty, which was much appreciated.
I hadn't drawn up a thorough plan for the day, but after hearing a pair of 86's were on their way to Ipswich I decided to head there first and then go back to Norwich to do the Wherry lines in the afternoon. I started the day needing five of the Anglian 90's, so seeing 90010 leaving on the 0930 to Liverpool Street was a good sign - possibly one to get in later.
I grabbed a coffee from the new Starbucks on the concourse, watched the 68's arrive from Lowestoft and then went to board the 1000 to Liverpool Street. This was hauled by 90013, which was less welcome than 90010, as this would be the fifth occasion I'd had it. Every time I've done an Anglia Plus it's turned up! As we left Norwich, I saw 90001 pull in on the next arrival, another required one. I had plenty of time to get to Ipswich in time for the 86's, so I left 90013 at Diss and waited for 90001 to take me to Ipswich. Whilst waiting, 90009 passed heading for Norwich - another potential winner. I really like the shot of trains approaching Diss from Norwich, but it's also a fair walk back to the footbridge and the train was about 5 minutes down due to TSR's so it wouldn't be hanging about. I got the shot and put in a spirited dash over the footbridge to board 90001. Four AGA 90's to go...
90001 Diss 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I was in luck at Ipswich, four freights passed in around an hour, including the 86's I was after. However I was keen not to spend too much time here as I was going to be there in the evening and also Saturday morning, so I went back to Norwich. I went blind on this one as I was in the wrong part of the platform to see the loco before boarding, but it turned out to be dud 90015.
At Norwich I wandered off to get some lunch, returning to the station in good time to board 37419 & 37405 on the 1455 to Lowestoft. Same pair I had when I was here in June, but unlike last time the driver was giving them a real hammering. I've since learnt that the through wiring on this set is currently disabled (temporarily?), so the 37's are working harder than normal and going through quite a bit more fuel as well apparently!
37405 Lowestoft 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I'd never been to Lowestoft so I wanted to have a quick look around. Despite being overcast (and occasionally drizzly), it was also rather hot on the mk2's, so I wouldn't have fancied staying on for the return. Lowestoft is OK - marginally nicer than Great Yarmouth I'd say. Didn't see much of it in an hour to be fair. Couldn't believe it had a Wimpy's though, as if they still exist!
Slightly less exotic than the outward journey, I had to make do with pair 153335 & 153322 on the way back. I had a plan for the rest of the evening now - so I took these as far as Brundall. The plan was to photograph the 68's on their way from Great Yarmouth to Norwich, the 37's five minutes later on their way to Great Yarmouth, then walk up the road to the local chippy and wait for the 68's to come back from Norwich for a run to Great Yarmouth and back.
The 68's at Brundall on their way to Norwich
68016 Brundall 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
Winner 68019 returned from Norwich and I jumped on. The 68 sounded great as they always do, but clearly not working anywhere near as hard as the 37's had to. The layover at Great Yarmouth is very short and after changing ends we were heading back to Norwich. Now my moves log is very modest compared to most people on here, but 68016 is actually dud from a run between Edinburgh & Inverkeithing back in February.
My plan had one final move which would get me to my hotel for the night, but it involved a fairly tight +5 at Norwich onto the 1930 Liverpool Street service. I'd worked out from earlier in the day that it should be required 90010, but I'd misjudged somewhat as I was greeted with 3x 321's in the platform. I made the connection so decided to take them anyway for something different - so three winners 321425, 321320 & 321363 were taken to Ipswich. I'd never been on a mk3 based EMU at those kinds of speeds, certainly a noisy and raw experience with the windows open and the motors screaming!
I went to check in at Bridge Guest House, 2 minutes from the station. Highly recommend this place, very reasonable and couldn't be better placed for the station. Even got a room overlooking the line, but I wasn't ready to call it a night yet. The sky was turning a nice dusky purple colour so I intended to make the most of it with some tripod shots at Ipswich.
90011 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
90004 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
90034 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
37608 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
66414 & 66416 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I was open to the idea of another run to Norwich if a winning 90 appeared, but they'd all seemingly disappeared for day. I left around 2230 and returned to the room, satisfied with the shots I'd got. I was surprised just how much goes on even at that time on a Friday night, so I couldn't resist watching out of the window until after midnight. Plenty of locos making their way to and from the Freightliner yard at the side of the station, and container trains still heading through on their way to and from Felixstowe. In addition to the usual traffic, the NR test train pictured above with the Europhoenix 37's pictured above made a couple more runs through on a very convoluted route from Cambridge to Peterbrough via Felixstowe & Norwich!
Day 2, returning home via London, to follow ...
Well here I go again. Some of you may have read about my day in Anglia back in June (report can be found here). Shortly after that trip the plans for AGA to utilise DRS Class 68's to cover for unavailable units became known, and I started to formulate a plan for another trip, this time with an overnight stay in Ipswich.
I had a very reasonably priced first class advance on the 0600 from York which I'd take as far as Peterborough - happily I managed to get to the station in plenty of time for it on this occasion! No awkward explanation to the guard required. Couple of strange things happened before the trip even began - I saw a pink DMU in one of the far platforms poking out from behind the wall. It looked like a 170, but it couldn't be. Had ten minutes until my train so I walked over to have a look, turned out to be 185104 with a new promotional vinyl for Manchester Pride.
185104 York 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
The second strange thing that happened is, as you might have spotted in the background on that picture, my train pulled in whilst I was taking it, a whole 10 minutes early. I dashed back over thinking I might have got the time wrong, but it turns out it left Northallerton 7 minutes early and arrived at York 10 early even though Northallerton was a booked stop. No idea what happened there, but it sat at York until correct departure time.
I wondered if I'd possibly peaked too early on this trip, as I tucked into breakfast in a very lightly loaded refurbished mk4. I quite like the faux leather and red highlights, but the blue mallard spec curtains really need replacing with red or grey ones. After arriving at Peterbrough I found out winner 91119 had shoved me there, leaving nine 91's to get. Good start to the day!
I then boarded EMT 158847 to Norwich - the advance taking me as far as Ely and then the remainder on an Anglia Plus ranger. The guard made a good point which I hadn't considered - that we were booked away from Ely at 0815 and the rover isn't valid until 0845. This hadn't occurred to me before, as I'd only ever done it on weekends. I was prepared to get off at Ely and wait for the first valid Norwich or Ipswich service but the guard offered to let me stay on, as the 158 was practically empty, which was much appreciated.
I hadn't drawn up a thorough plan for the day, but after hearing a pair of 86's were on their way to Ipswich I decided to head there first and then go back to Norwich to do the Wherry lines in the afternoon. I started the day needing five of the Anglian 90's, so seeing 90010 leaving on the 0930 to Liverpool Street was a good sign - possibly one to get in later.
I grabbed a coffee from the new Starbucks on the concourse, watched the 68's arrive from Lowestoft and then went to board the 1000 to Liverpool Street. This was hauled by 90013, which was less welcome than 90010, as this would be the fifth occasion I'd had it. Every time I've done an Anglia Plus it's turned up! As we left Norwich, I saw 90001 pull in on the next arrival, another required one. I had plenty of time to get to Ipswich in time for the 86's, so I left 90013 at Diss and waited for 90001 to take me to Ipswich. Whilst waiting, 90009 passed heading for Norwich - another potential winner. I really like the shot of trains approaching Diss from Norwich, but it's also a fair walk back to the footbridge and the train was about 5 minutes down due to TSR's so it wouldn't be hanging about. I got the shot and put in a spirited dash over the footbridge to board 90001. Four AGA 90's to go...
90001 Diss 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I was in luck at Ipswich, four freights passed in around an hour, including the 86's I was after. However I was keen not to spend too much time here as I was going to be there in the evening and also Saturday morning, so I went back to Norwich. I went blind on this one as I was in the wrong part of the platform to see the loco before boarding, but it turned out to be dud 90015.
At Norwich I wandered off to get some lunch, returning to the station in good time to board 37419 & 37405 on the 1455 to Lowestoft. Same pair I had when I was here in June, but unlike last time the driver was giving them a real hammering. I've since learnt that the through wiring on this set is currently disabled (temporarily?), so the 37's are working harder than normal and going through quite a bit more fuel as well apparently!
37405 Lowestoft 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I'd never been to Lowestoft so I wanted to have a quick look around. Despite being overcast (and occasionally drizzly), it was also rather hot on the mk2's, so I wouldn't have fancied staying on for the return. Lowestoft is OK - marginally nicer than Great Yarmouth I'd say. Didn't see much of it in an hour to be fair. Couldn't believe it had a Wimpy's though, as if they still exist!
Slightly less exotic than the outward journey, I had to make do with pair 153335 & 153322 on the way back. I had a plan for the rest of the evening now - so I took these as far as Brundall. The plan was to photograph the 68's on their way from Great Yarmouth to Norwich, the 37's five minutes later on their way to Great Yarmouth, then walk up the road to the local chippy and wait for the 68's to come back from Norwich for a run to Great Yarmouth and back.
The 68's at Brundall on their way to Norwich
68016 Brundall 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
Winner 68019 returned from Norwich and I jumped on. The 68 sounded great as they always do, but clearly not working anywhere near as hard as the 37's had to. The layover at Great Yarmouth is very short and after changing ends we were heading back to Norwich. Now my moves log is very modest compared to most people on here, but 68016 is actually dud from a run between Edinburgh & Inverkeithing back in February.
My plan had one final move which would get me to my hotel for the night, but it involved a fairly tight +5 at Norwich onto the 1930 Liverpool Street service. I'd worked out from earlier in the day that it should be required 90010, but I'd misjudged somewhat as I was greeted with 3x 321's in the platform. I made the connection so decided to take them anyway for something different - so three winners 321425, 321320 & 321363 were taken to Ipswich. I'd never been on a mk3 based EMU at those kinds of speeds, certainly a noisy and raw experience with the windows open and the motors screaming!
I went to check in at Bridge Guest House, 2 minutes from the station. Highly recommend this place, very reasonable and couldn't be better placed for the station. Even got a room overlooking the line, but I wasn't ready to call it a night yet. The sky was turning a nice dusky purple colour so I intended to make the most of it with some tripod shots at Ipswich.
90011 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
90004 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
90034 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
37608 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
66414 & 66416 Ipswich 19/08/2016 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I was open to the idea of another run to Norwich if a winning 90 appeared, but they'd all seemingly disappeared for day. I left around 2230 and returned to the room, satisfied with the shots I'd got. I was surprised just how much goes on even at that time on a Friday night, so I couldn't resist watching out of the window until after midnight. Plenty of locos making their way to and from the Freightliner yard at the side of the station, and container trains still heading through on their way to and from Felixstowe. In addition to the usual traffic, the NR test train pictured above with the Europhoenix 37's pictured above made a couple more runs through on a very convoluted route from Cambridge to Peterbrough via Felixstowe & Norwich!
Day 2, returning home via London, to follow ...
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