coxy
Member
- Joined
- 2 Apr 2011
- Messages
- 183
Having read and enjoyed the various trip reports in this section, I thought it was about time I contributed.
Being based in the Thames Valley, I've seen and travelled on all of the FGW Thames Turbo units (165s and 166s), but having finally got my mileage logs up to date I noticed a big variation in how far I had travelled on each unit - some are well above 150, whilst the lowest (165134) was only 19 miles. I therefore took the opportunity of a few free days to try and track down specific units and see how far I could travel on them to try and bring them up to the 100 mile mark.
Day 1 - Thursday 9th July
You might think it a bad idea to plan a bash during the FGW strike, but I was convinced there would be more Turbos out and about. A quick check on Real Time Trains the previous evening showed several semi fasts between Paddington and Oxford being formed of Turbos instead of the more usual HSTs or 180s, and of course with less intercity services running between Paddington and Reading, they'd be looking to run 5 or 6 cars on the local services right ???
I head off to my local station at Taplow in good time for the 09:49 service to Reading. I purchase a 3 Day Thames Rover, then head over to platform 3 to await the arrival of what I hope will be the first of 26 units I'm trying to track down.
As the train pulls into the platform I can see it's 165113, not one of the units I'm after. So I alight at the next station (Maidenhead) and wait to see what might turn up. With 4 trains per hour in each direction, I hope it's not a long wait. The next train to arrive is the 10:04 to Oxford, with 165110 on the front and an unknown 2 car unit on the rear. I quickly make my way down the platform and lucky for me it's a required unit in the shape of 165120. I hop on board and begin to figure out how far down the line I need to travel before bailing off. As it turns out I'm going to be staying on-board all the way to Oxford to clear this unit for 100 miles.
As we head out of Reading, I have a glance at the "new" depot to see if any of my required units are stabled there. Unfortunately for me, there are long lines of units parked up doing nothing, including at least 6 of the 2 car 165s which I'm after. I also spot both of the 150/0s which normally trundle between Reading and Basingstoke, which means there's a 165/166 on that route today - possibly good news for me later on in the day.
At Didcot I spot 66012, 66130, 66172, 66540 & 67012 in and around the stabling point or passing through on freights. Then as we go past Hinksey Yard I spot 67003 and 70805.
We arrive at Oxford at 11:20, so I head over the footbridge to see what is working the regular shuttle to Banbury. Dud 165127 is parked in the bay platform, so I'm looking to head south again on whatever FGW can provide. Dud 166221 will be forming the 11:31 (semi fast) to Paddington, whilst 165120 appears to be forming the 11:37 stopper back to Paddington. Both services are delayed leaving the stabling point, looks like freight trains are being pathed in front of them, so I watch 66730 & 70020 pass through before deciding to take dud 166221 (which departs 14 minutes late) back as far as Reading.
I get back to Reading at 12:08 and then have to decide where to head next. Required 166214 is on the hourly shuttle service to Newbury, whilst required 166211 is on the 12:18 to Paddington. I decide to head to Paddington, since the 36 miles will enable me to clear 166211 for 100 miles, and I know I can get 166214 later on in the day. So off we go, with the intention of grabbing a spot of lunch at Paddington, then seeing what's working the next semi fast to Oxford, or perhaps a Bedwyn service which will run fast to Reading. As we reach Maidenhead I spot 165128 on the Bourne End branch line services. It's a required unit, but do I want to spend around 90 minutes later on in the day making 2 round trips... not this time
Arrival into Paddington is 3 minutes late at 13:20, so I've missed the Bedwyn and Oxford trains. Best I head to platform 1, grab a "McLunch" and plan my next set of moves. 30 minutes later I'm hopping aboard dud 166206 for the 13:50 service to Oxford, with the intention of bailing off at Slough to see what turns up next.
Slough is reached at 14:07 and since were are on platform 2, I can easily check which unit's working the shuttle to Windsor & Eton Central. It's dud 165125, so I decide to hop onto dud 166217 forming the 14:14 to Paddington and go as far as Hayes & Harlington. My hope is that required 165102 (which I saw heading into Paddington whilst I was on the 13:50 to Oxford) is working a local stopping service to either Reading or Oxford, both of which stop at H&H. As luck would have it, I only have to wait around 10 minutes before 165102 pulls in forming the delayed 14:30 service to Reading, so that'll be 25 miles less for this unit, with just 12 still required.
Arrival into Reading is later than scheduled, leaving very little time to see what's on the 15:18 service back to Paddington. Once again luck is on my side, as not only is it a cross platform change for my required train, it's also formed by required 165107. With platform staff blowing their whistles to urge everybody to hurry up, I jump aboard, find a seat and the doors close ready for departure. And then we wait, and we wait and we wait a bit more. It seems another unit has to couple up on the rear before departure, and that's not happened yet. Eventually there's a big lurch, which signals something has attached itself to our rear, followed by much engine revving and finally a blast on the horn to say all's well and we're on our way around 15 minutes late.
During our wait, I've figured out I only need 6.25 miles on 165107 to clear it for 100 miles, which means I can bail out at Maidenhead and await another service. We reach Maidenhead and I duly alight the train, but then curiosity gets the better of me and I walk to the rear to see which unit was attached at Reading. Lo and behold it's 165102 (which I'd caught to Reading from H&H), so I scramble aboard for those remaining 12 miles and that'll be another unit cleared for 100 miles. The plan is to go as far as H&H once more and see what rocks up as the early rush hour begins. I pay little attention to what's happening outside the windows, so it's only after we leave Slough that I begin to realise things aren't going to plan. We speed through West Drayton (thought we were stopping there, guess I must have been wrong though), and then we don't seem to be slowing for H&H either. The on-board display certainly says we're approaching our next stop, and several passengers get out of their seats and head towards the doors, but we speed through once more. A female passenger begins to panic, she's supposed to be meeting her children from school and will now be late. It turns out that the train is going to run non stop from Slough to Paddington, which was announced on the platforms at Maidenhead and Slough, but was certainly not announced to those already on-board the train at Reading !!!
So at 16:18 I unexpectedly find myself on the suburban platforms at Paddington looking to figure out my next move. There's no other units waiting to depart from the suburban platforms, so I head to the bridge that gives access to all the main line platforms to see if anything suitable is awaiting departure. I spy a long line of Turbos sitting in platform 3, so head down the stairs to see where this train is going. There's nothing displayed on the platform indicator, nor the departures board on the main concourse. A quick check on RTT doesn't throw up any clues either. I walk to the front of the train to check for any destination info on the indicator, but quickly realise all the engines are switched off and the doors are locked - guess this baby is going nowhere fast. In order from the front the units are 165118 165131 165133 and 165121. I've never see an 8 car Turbo formation before, especially one made up of 4 x 2 car units. Can I afford to hang around long enough to see where it's heading. Then I spot a member of staff further along the platform and ask them what service this combination will be forming later on. A quick check on their mobile device reveals it will be the 16:49 to Oxford, which is usually an HST stopping only at Slough, Reading, Didcot along the way. So it all makes sense to me, an 8 car Turbo substitution for the HST. I therefore decide to hang around until the train is announced and we can start to board.
As departure time draws nearer passengers begin to stream onto the platform, so I head towards 165133 which I'll ride as far as Reading before bailing onto 165121 onwards to Oxford. That'll get 121 cleared for 100 miles then I can fester at Oxford until 133 heads south again and ride it until the next station after Reading (Twyford if it's a stopper, or Slough if it's a semi fast) and that'll also see 133 cleared for 100 miles.
But wait, what's happening. Nobody is jumping onto the rear 2 units (the ones I want to ride), they are all walking to the front (dud) units. Turns out it's only the front 4 cars that will form the 16:49 - so no use for me now and I'm back to square one again - where's my next train out of Paddington ??? I dash to platform 14 where the 16:45 to Reading is about to depart. It's formed of 3 car unit 166202, which is required so off we trundle west once more. But then the trundle becomes a crawl, and finally the crawl comes to a halt. Seems there are signalling/track circuit problems outside Paddington this evening. Our driver keeps us well informed of what's happening, almost quoting rules and regs word for word to explain why he has to edge forward 1 red signal (under extreme caution) at a time and then call the signaller to say he's reached the next signal before we are finally able to clear the impacted section of track. I guess most of his words will be lost on the passengers crammed onto the train by now - they are all plugged into their mobile devices and oblivious to what's going on around them.
Fortunately for me, I'd managed to grab a seat at the back of the train in what was previously a first class section - 166s used to have 2 first class compartments (one at either end of the unit), but FGW decided to make one of these 2nd class in (I think) 2014. It's amazing how many passengers still don't know they are no longer 1st class. The number of people I saw today who peered in as they boarded before deciding they couldn't possibly sit in what was virtually an empty cabin.
We finally reach Reading at 18:03, so after a quick PNB I head off to platform 1 to see what's on the 18:12 to Newbury. I'm more than happy to see it's winner 166214, on which I only need a little over 15 miles to clear it for 100 miles. So all aboard to Newbury and then jump onto the first service heading back to Reading. Arrival into Newbury is on-time at 18:42, so off I walk to platform 2 to see what's heading back. As luck would have it, the 18:43 to Paddington (ex Plymouth HST) is running around 7 minutes late, so I grab a seat in the evening sunshine and plot my next moves.
In roll 43030+43132 on what will be my only non Turbo move of the day. A spirited run sees me back at Reading by 19:07, so I decide to head towards platforms 4,5,6 to see if my last remaining 450 for sight (450 020) happens to be around. Sadly not, there's just an 8 car 458/0 formation waiting to head back to Waterloo. So it's back to platform 7 to await the 19:21 service to Bedwyn, which today is being formed by winner 165129. I decide to head all the way to Bedwyn, since it's the final station on the Berks & Hants line to which my rover ticket is valid.
We depart Reading on time, and since I've already been down to Newbury less than an hour ago, I decide to read one of the many discarded newspapers that litter my carriage. We're held at Newbury for some 7 minutes whilst a late running Paddington to Plymouth HST pulls into platform 2 before being signalled to depart ahead of us. I now begin to pay more attention to the countryside around me, I've not been on these tracks for many years and can't remember what's around (I vaguely recall heading this way on a summer Saturday in early 80s BR days behind a class 47 and sitting in very comfy Mk I corridor stock from Slough to Torquay). There seem to be plenty of level crossings on this route, every time we pull into a station the local roads grind to a halt ! To the north I see several hot air balloons tracking the M4 and heading west, wish I was up there with them
On past Kintbury, where I spot a rather fine looking pub/diner called The Dundas Arms - has anybody on the forum ever been there, what's it like ? Then we reach Hungerford, a large but sparse station, with The Railway Tavern offering excellent views of passing trains for those of you who may be interested. I also spot a sign saying the station car park is just £2.40 ALL DAY. How come there's such a huge variation in what we're asked to pay at stations. Slough is £7.10 per day, Taplow is £4.30 before 10am, but then around £2.40 after that !
We reach Bedwyn at 20:25, so I spend a little time looking around this little station, then watch my inbound service pull into the turn back sidings before forming the service back to Reading. To reach the London bound platform, you need to exit the station, walk over the road bridge and then head back down the approach road. It only takes a couple of minutes, but it's a pleasant little walk in the cooling summers air. I'm suddenly aware of an approaching train, and watch a London bound HST rattle through the station. Then a couple of minutes later 59101 appears round the bend forming a Theale to Merehead service. At 20:37 165129 pulls into platform 2 and on I hop, being the only passenger until we reach Hungerford.
Arrival back into Reading is at 21:29, it's nearly dark, I'm feeling tired and hungry, but at least 165129 has now been cleared for 100 miles too. I decide that's enough for today, so jump aboard the 21:33 service back to Paddington formed of winners 165126 and 165134. I decide to ride 134 since that's my lowest mileage unit, adding 13.5 miles by the time we reach Taplow at 21:50.
So a long first day, but plenty of objectives reached:
336.5 miles travelled.
264 miles travelled on required units = 78% overall.
15 services used.
6 additional units cleared for 100 miles.
An earlier start is planned for day 2, so it's off home to freshen up, grab a bite to eat and get some shut eye !
Being based in the Thames Valley, I've seen and travelled on all of the FGW Thames Turbo units (165s and 166s), but having finally got my mileage logs up to date I noticed a big variation in how far I had travelled on each unit - some are well above 150, whilst the lowest (165134) was only 19 miles. I therefore took the opportunity of a few free days to try and track down specific units and see how far I could travel on them to try and bring them up to the 100 mile mark.
Day 1 - Thursday 9th July
You might think it a bad idea to plan a bash during the FGW strike, but I was convinced there would be more Turbos out and about. A quick check on Real Time Trains the previous evening showed several semi fasts between Paddington and Oxford being formed of Turbos instead of the more usual HSTs or 180s, and of course with less intercity services running between Paddington and Reading, they'd be looking to run 5 or 6 cars on the local services right ???
I head off to my local station at Taplow in good time for the 09:49 service to Reading. I purchase a 3 Day Thames Rover, then head over to platform 3 to await the arrival of what I hope will be the first of 26 units I'm trying to track down.
As the train pulls into the platform I can see it's 165113, not one of the units I'm after. So I alight at the next station (Maidenhead) and wait to see what might turn up. With 4 trains per hour in each direction, I hope it's not a long wait. The next train to arrive is the 10:04 to Oxford, with 165110 on the front and an unknown 2 car unit on the rear. I quickly make my way down the platform and lucky for me it's a required unit in the shape of 165120. I hop on board and begin to figure out how far down the line I need to travel before bailing off. As it turns out I'm going to be staying on-board all the way to Oxford to clear this unit for 100 miles.
As we head out of Reading, I have a glance at the "new" depot to see if any of my required units are stabled there. Unfortunately for me, there are long lines of units parked up doing nothing, including at least 6 of the 2 car 165s which I'm after. I also spot both of the 150/0s which normally trundle between Reading and Basingstoke, which means there's a 165/166 on that route today - possibly good news for me later on in the day.
At Didcot I spot 66012, 66130, 66172, 66540 & 67012 in and around the stabling point or passing through on freights. Then as we go past Hinksey Yard I spot 67003 and 70805.
We arrive at Oxford at 11:20, so I head over the footbridge to see what is working the regular shuttle to Banbury. Dud 165127 is parked in the bay platform, so I'm looking to head south again on whatever FGW can provide. Dud 166221 will be forming the 11:31 (semi fast) to Paddington, whilst 165120 appears to be forming the 11:37 stopper back to Paddington. Both services are delayed leaving the stabling point, looks like freight trains are being pathed in front of them, so I watch 66730 & 70020 pass through before deciding to take dud 166221 (which departs 14 minutes late) back as far as Reading.
I get back to Reading at 12:08 and then have to decide where to head next. Required 166214 is on the hourly shuttle service to Newbury, whilst required 166211 is on the 12:18 to Paddington. I decide to head to Paddington, since the 36 miles will enable me to clear 166211 for 100 miles, and I know I can get 166214 later on in the day. So off we go, with the intention of grabbing a spot of lunch at Paddington, then seeing what's working the next semi fast to Oxford, or perhaps a Bedwyn service which will run fast to Reading. As we reach Maidenhead I spot 165128 on the Bourne End branch line services. It's a required unit, but do I want to spend around 90 minutes later on in the day making 2 round trips... not this time
Arrival into Paddington is 3 minutes late at 13:20, so I've missed the Bedwyn and Oxford trains. Best I head to platform 1, grab a "McLunch" and plan my next set of moves. 30 minutes later I'm hopping aboard dud 166206 for the 13:50 service to Oxford, with the intention of bailing off at Slough to see what turns up next.
Slough is reached at 14:07 and since were are on platform 2, I can easily check which unit's working the shuttle to Windsor & Eton Central. It's dud 165125, so I decide to hop onto dud 166217 forming the 14:14 to Paddington and go as far as Hayes & Harlington. My hope is that required 165102 (which I saw heading into Paddington whilst I was on the 13:50 to Oxford) is working a local stopping service to either Reading or Oxford, both of which stop at H&H. As luck would have it, I only have to wait around 10 minutes before 165102 pulls in forming the delayed 14:30 service to Reading, so that'll be 25 miles less for this unit, with just 12 still required.
Arrival into Reading is later than scheduled, leaving very little time to see what's on the 15:18 service back to Paddington. Once again luck is on my side, as not only is it a cross platform change for my required train, it's also formed by required 165107. With platform staff blowing their whistles to urge everybody to hurry up, I jump aboard, find a seat and the doors close ready for departure. And then we wait, and we wait and we wait a bit more. It seems another unit has to couple up on the rear before departure, and that's not happened yet. Eventually there's a big lurch, which signals something has attached itself to our rear, followed by much engine revving and finally a blast on the horn to say all's well and we're on our way around 15 minutes late.
During our wait, I've figured out I only need 6.25 miles on 165107 to clear it for 100 miles, which means I can bail out at Maidenhead and await another service. We reach Maidenhead and I duly alight the train, but then curiosity gets the better of me and I walk to the rear to see which unit was attached at Reading. Lo and behold it's 165102 (which I'd caught to Reading from H&H), so I scramble aboard for those remaining 12 miles and that'll be another unit cleared for 100 miles. The plan is to go as far as H&H once more and see what rocks up as the early rush hour begins. I pay little attention to what's happening outside the windows, so it's only after we leave Slough that I begin to realise things aren't going to plan. We speed through West Drayton (thought we were stopping there, guess I must have been wrong though), and then we don't seem to be slowing for H&H either. The on-board display certainly says we're approaching our next stop, and several passengers get out of their seats and head towards the doors, but we speed through once more. A female passenger begins to panic, she's supposed to be meeting her children from school and will now be late. It turns out that the train is going to run non stop from Slough to Paddington, which was announced on the platforms at Maidenhead and Slough, but was certainly not announced to those already on-board the train at Reading !!!
So at 16:18 I unexpectedly find myself on the suburban platforms at Paddington looking to figure out my next move. There's no other units waiting to depart from the suburban platforms, so I head to the bridge that gives access to all the main line platforms to see if anything suitable is awaiting departure. I spy a long line of Turbos sitting in platform 3, so head down the stairs to see where this train is going. There's nothing displayed on the platform indicator, nor the departures board on the main concourse. A quick check on RTT doesn't throw up any clues either. I walk to the front of the train to check for any destination info on the indicator, but quickly realise all the engines are switched off and the doors are locked - guess this baby is going nowhere fast. In order from the front the units are 165118 165131 165133 and 165121. I've never see an 8 car Turbo formation before, especially one made up of 4 x 2 car units. Can I afford to hang around long enough to see where it's heading. Then I spot a member of staff further along the platform and ask them what service this combination will be forming later on. A quick check on their mobile device reveals it will be the 16:49 to Oxford, which is usually an HST stopping only at Slough, Reading, Didcot along the way. So it all makes sense to me, an 8 car Turbo substitution for the HST. I therefore decide to hang around until the train is announced and we can start to board.
As departure time draws nearer passengers begin to stream onto the platform, so I head towards 165133 which I'll ride as far as Reading before bailing onto 165121 onwards to Oxford. That'll get 121 cleared for 100 miles then I can fester at Oxford until 133 heads south again and ride it until the next station after Reading (Twyford if it's a stopper, or Slough if it's a semi fast) and that'll also see 133 cleared for 100 miles.
But wait, what's happening. Nobody is jumping onto the rear 2 units (the ones I want to ride), they are all walking to the front (dud) units. Turns out it's only the front 4 cars that will form the 16:49 - so no use for me now and I'm back to square one again - where's my next train out of Paddington ??? I dash to platform 14 where the 16:45 to Reading is about to depart. It's formed of 3 car unit 166202, which is required so off we trundle west once more. But then the trundle becomes a crawl, and finally the crawl comes to a halt. Seems there are signalling/track circuit problems outside Paddington this evening. Our driver keeps us well informed of what's happening, almost quoting rules and regs word for word to explain why he has to edge forward 1 red signal (under extreme caution) at a time and then call the signaller to say he's reached the next signal before we are finally able to clear the impacted section of track. I guess most of his words will be lost on the passengers crammed onto the train by now - they are all plugged into their mobile devices and oblivious to what's going on around them.
Fortunately for me, I'd managed to grab a seat at the back of the train in what was previously a first class section - 166s used to have 2 first class compartments (one at either end of the unit), but FGW decided to make one of these 2nd class in (I think) 2014. It's amazing how many passengers still don't know they are no longer 1st class. The number of people I saw today who peered in as they boarded before deciding they couldn't possibly sit in what was virtually an empty cabin.
We finally reach Reading at 18:03, so after a quick PNB I head off to platform 1 to see what's on the 18:12 to Newbury. I'm more than happy to see it's winner 166214, on which I only need a little over 15 miles to clear it for 100 miles. So all aboard to Newbury and then jump onto the first service heading back to Reading. Arrival into Newbury is on-time at 18:42, so off I walk to platform 2 to see what's heading back. As luck would have it, the 18:43 to Paddington (ex Plymouth HST) is running around 7 minutes late, so I grab a seat in the evening sunshine and plot my next moves.
In roll 43030+43132 on what will be my only non Turbo move of the day. A spirited run sees me back at Reading by 19:07, so I decide to head towards platforms 4,5,6 to see if my last remaining 450 for sight (450 020) happens to be around. Sadly not, there's just an 8 car 458/0 formation waiting to head back to Waterloo. So it's back to platform 7 to await the 19:21 service to Bedwyn, which today is being formed by winner 165129. I decide to head all the way to Bedwyn, since it's the final station on the Berks & Hants line to which my rover ticket is valid.
We depart Reading on time, and since I've already been down to Newbury less than an hour ago, I decide to read one of the many discarded newspapers that litter my carriage. We're held at Newbury for some 7 minutes whilst a late running Paddington to Plymouth HST pulls into platform 2 before being signalled to depart ahead of us. I now begin to pay more attention to the countryside around me, I've not been on these tracks for many years and can't remember what's around (I vaguely recall heading this way on a summer Saturday in early 80s BR days behind a class 47 and sitting in very comfy Mk I corridor stock from Slough to Torquay). There seem to be plenty of level crossings on this route, every time we pull into a station the local roads grind to a halt ! To the north I see several hot air balloons tracking the M4 and heading west, wish I was up there with them
On past Kintbury, where I spot a rather fine looking pub/diner called The Dundas Arms - has anybody on the forum ever been there, what's it like ? Then we reach Hungerford, a large but sparse station, with The Railway Tavern offering excellent views of passing trains for those of you who may be interested. I also spot a sign saying the station car park is just £2.40 ALL DAY. How come there's such a huge variation in what we're asked to pay at stations. Slough is £7.10 per day, Taplow is £4.30 before 10am, but then around £2.40 after that !
We reach Bedwyn at 20:25, so I spend a little time looking around this little station, then watch my inbound service pull into the turn back sidings before forming the service back to Reading. To reach the London bound platform, you need to exit the station, walk over the road bridge and then head back down the approach road. It only takes a couple of minutes, but it's a pleasant little walk in the cooling summers air. I'm suddenly aware of an approaching train, and watch a London bound HST rattle through the station. Then a couple of minutes later 59101 appears round the bend forming a Theale to Merehead service. At 20:37 165129 pulls into platform 2 and on I hop, being the only passenger until we reach Hungerford.
Arrival back into Reading is at 21:29, it's nearly dark, I'm feeling tired and hungry, but at least 165129 has now been cleared for 100 miles too. I decide that's enough for today, so jump aboard the 21:33 service back to Paddington formed of winners 165126 and 165134. I decide to ride 134 since that's my lowest mileage unit, adding 13.5 miles by the time we reach Taplow at 21:50.
So a long first day, but plenty of objectives reached:
336.5 miles travelled.
264 miles travelled on required units = 78% overall.
15 services used.
6 additional units cleared for 100 miles.
An earlier start is planned for day 2, so it's off home to freshen up, grab a bite to eat and get some shut eye !
Seriously, sounds like a good time there!
