Ace Of Pacer
Member
- Joined
- 15 Dec 2016
- Messages
- 40
Hi all - a newbie here, both to the forum and to the world of bashing!
By way of background: I'm 32, have loved railways from a young age but have fluctuated over the years in how this love manifests itself. For many years it was predominantly railway history, when I was younger it was a bit of trainspotting, and throughout I've had a half-hearted focus on photography. But for the past couple of years I have begun carefully logging every rail journey I make, and ticking off both stock and stations. More recently my passion for this has grown somewhat, thanks largely to some of the excellent 'blogs' on this forum, particular 'Keith goes wandering' which is a consistently interesting read.
So why this post? Well, I figure that I'm probably some decades away from catching up with any of the big fish on here in terms of breadth of coverage, number of units/shacks/miles covered etc. I also don't have that much time to spare on this hobby. But perhaps it might be interesting for somebody out there to read a little from the perspective of a relative beginner, and somebody who gets a thrill from little victories, so my thought is to post updates as and when I manage something of vague interest.
To start out, then, my current status. As of 15/12/16 I have boarded or alighted at 127 stations and bashed 249 units/locos. My main stomping ground is West Yorkshire. My current 'projects' are 1) clearing all the Neville Hill units, and 2) clearing all West Yorkshire shacks. Progress on these to date:
Project 1
- Easiest first; I've cleared the three 321 units and five 322 units which ply between Leeds and Doncaster and provide additional capacity on the Airedale/Wharfedale lines.
- I need 2 of the 16 class 333 units (007 and 009)
- I need 6 of the 35 class 158s (4 of the 3-car Calder Valley units and 2 of the ex-Metro liveried 158/9s)
- I'm missing 155346 from the 7-strong fleet of 155s
- Biggest failure to date is the 153s - have only got 9 of 18. Haven't worked out yet where these are most likely to pop up, apart from coupled to a two-car unit on the Harrogate line
- Arguably an even bigger failure from a personal perspective is only bagging 17 out the 23 class 144 units (my favourite!). The clock is ticking on this one...
Project 2
Working my way slowly through this.
I need 20 plus the Penistone line (even as I type, I'm not sure why I don't just include that in the total figure). I've completed all of the Wharfedale line, most of Airedale and Calder Valley, and bits of everything else. On evenings after work over the coming weeks I plan to make such exotic single trips as Streethouse to Featherstone (and bus back), Outwood to Fitzwilliam, and Crossflatts to Steeton & Silsden. Ah Yorkshire how I love thee.
My most recent 'expedition' was so micro that it's scarcely worth a paragraph. Yesterday morning, in a couple of hours away from work, I got two ticks in a single round trip. My mission was to tick off Weeton station, and hope to get lucky with a unit. I began at Leeds (and in buying a return to Weeton, one station outside of the Metrocard zone, I found it to be more expensive than a WY Rail Rover! Ouch) and boarded 2C24 10:59 Leeds-Knaresborough, formed of 155344 and 153307. In a touch over 20 minutes I had reached my destination of Weeton and had an easy eight minutes to walk down a (somewhat slippery and unmaintained) walkway down the back of the down platform (a lot of downs in this sentence), pass under the underbridge, and walk up to Platform 1. The station itself is pretty non-descript and unhistoric, being formed of two wooden platforms and a couple of basic shelters. In several blinks of an eye, the 10:28 train for Leeds (2C23 11:06 ex-Knaresborough) pulled in formed of 155343 and - what's this! - 153324. I hopped aboard along with my four fellow passengers, probably a touch more excited than each of them. The truth is I'd have preferred to have had my eyes lit up by the sight of my final 155 pulling in, but I think that's the nature of this hobby - you're sometimes left feeling like you've slightly missed out, even if you've basically achieved what you set out to at the start of the jaunt. Not that you can call a return to Weeton a jaunt.
Anyway - I hope to post something a bit meatier on Saturday when I have most of the day free from fiance duties to "go Christmas shopping" (and take in some trains on the way!). Keeeeeeep bashing!
By way of background: I'm 32, have loved railways from a young age but have fluctuated over the years in how this love manifests itself. For many years it was predominantly railway history, when I was younger it was a bit of trainspotting, and throughout I've had a half-hearted focus on photography. But for the past couple of years I have begun carefully logging every rail journey I make, and ticking off both stock and stations. More recently my passion for this has grown somewhat, thanks largely to some of the excellent 'blogs' on this forum, particular 'Keith goes wandering' which is a consistently interesting read.
So why this post? Well, I figure that I'm probably some decades away from catching up with any of the big fish on here in terms of breadth of coverage, number of units/shacks/miles covered etc. I also don't have that much time to spare on this hobby. But perhaps it might be interesting for somebody out there to read a little from the perspective of a relative beginner, and somebody who gets a thrill from little victories, so my thought is to post updates as and when I manage something of vague interest.
To start out, then, my current status. As of 15/12/16 I have boarded or alighted at 127 stations and bashed 249 units/locos. My main stomping ground is West Yorkshire. My current 'projects' are 1) clearing all the Neville Hill units, and 2) clearing all West Yorkshire shacks. Progress on these to date:
Project 1
- Easiest first; I've cleared the three 321 units and five 322 units which ply between Leeds and Doncaster and provide additional capacity on the Airedale/Wharfedale lines.
- I need 2 of the 16 class 333 units (007 and 009)
- I need 6 of the 35 class 158s (4 of the 3-car Calder Valley units and 2 of the ex-Metro liveried 158/9s)
- I'm missing 155346 from the 7-strong fleet of 155s
- Biggest failure to date is the 153s - have only got 9 of 18. Haven't worked out yet where these are most likely to pop up, apart from coupled to a two-car unit on the Harrogate line
- Arguably an even bigger failure from a personal perspective is only bagging 17 out the 23 class 144 units (my favourite!). The clock is ticking on this one...
Project 2
Working my way slowly through this.
I need 20 plus the Penistone line (even as I type, I'm not sure why I don't just include that in the total figure). I've completed all of the Wharfedale line, most of Airedale and Calder Valley, and bits of everything else. On evenings after work over the coming weeks I plan to make such exotic single trips as Streethouse to Featherstone (and bus back), Outwood to Fitzwilliam, and Crossflatts to Steeton & Silsden. Ah Yorkshire how I love thee.
My most recent 'expedition' was so micro that it's scarcely worth a paragraph. Yesterday morning, in a couple of hours away from work, I got two ticks in a single round trip. My mission was to tick off Weeton station, and hope to get lucky with a unit. I began at Leeds (and in buying a return to Weeton, one station outside of the Metrocard zone, I found it to be more expensive than a WY Rail Rover! Ouch) and boarded 2C24 10:59 Leeds-Knaresborough, formed of 155344 and 153307. In a touch over 20 minutes I had reached my destination of Weeton and had an easy eight minutes to walk down a (somewhat slippery and unmaintained) walkway down the back of the down platform (a lot of downs in this sentence), pass under the underbridge, and walk up to Platform 1. The station itself is pretty non-descript and unhistoric, being formed of two wooden platforms and a couple of basic shelters. In several blinks of an eye, the 10:28 train for Leeds (2C23 11:06 ex-Knaresborough) pulled in formed of 155343 and - what's this! - 153324. I hopped aboard along with my four fellow passengers, probably a touch more excited than each of them. The truth is I'd have preferred to have had my eyes lit up by the sight of my final 155 pulling in, but I think that's the nature of this hobby - you're sometimes left feeling like you've slightly missed out, even if you've basically achieved what you set out to at the start of the jaunt. Not that you can call a return to Weeton a jaunt.
Anyway - I hope to post something a bit meatier on Saturday when I have most of the day free from fiance duties to "go Christmas shopping" (and take in some trains on the way!). Keeeeeeep bashing!
I have nevertheless managed four ticks in the past 24 hours. Last night I somewhat blurrily managed to catch the last train from Wakefield Westgate to Leeds, the 23:54 departure (1D33 21:35 ex-Kings X) in the charge of 
