Techniquest
Veteran Member
Oh I know they are, I did several of them back in the day 
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
FQ's trips around the globe
- Thread starter FQ
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
47403
Established Member
Eastleigh and Westbury are high on my agenda, also to get to see and travel on some of kites 159's, if he'd be so kind to share his monopoly on them
. In the not too distant future, I'll be quizzing you all for advice on this.
Them creamy coolers sound really sickly but Im gonna get one for the daughter, she loves owt like that and have a try of it myself too.
When doing a FOSS, I'll mostly be aiming at trams again, for more mileage next time though. I know about Westbury a little but can't help at all about 159s except that Salisbury would be a good place for them.
They're not sickly at all strangely enough! They taste great!
They're not sickly at all strangely enough! They taste great!
backontrack
Established Member
Ooh, a new avatar.
backontrack
Established Member
Very nice. I might change mine again...
The joke is that it's an 'actual' mallard. On my profile there's an 'actual' bittern, too.
The joke is that it's an 'actual' mallard. On my profile there's an 'actual' bittern, too.
Kite159
Veteran Member
In the FOSS area Salisbury is probably your best shot of those heading west, leap between Tisbury (front 3 coaches) and Templecombe unless it's the evening peak where Gillingham is used as a passing point
backontrack
Established Member
Great! Do you think I got them the right way round, or should I have the 'Bittern' as my avatar?
I think you did get them the right way round. Well done! Have yourself a cookie or creamy cooler . Oh, and before I forget, yesterday I had 68013 to Brum and back with a creamy cooler in Leam later on. Mmmmmm... Creamy coolers...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
September big bash day 3: The final score
The end is here. After two days of winner trams how will the last go? 13 winners now so 3 more will complete the goal of 16 but will I get another three? 6 on the first. 7 on the second. How many on the third. Lets see... (cue soundtrack).
Dressed? Yep. Sarnies made? Done. Bag packed for the day? Indeedily doodily. Gen asked for? Damn! I had to fire up the laptop at 05:40 on the last day of my rover, the Friday, in order to ask for some gen on a few tram powercars. I had forgotten to do this the night before as I had on my first two days so I wasn’t sure if it would be answered or not. But that didn’t stop me trying and by the time I had shut the laptop down again, we had to leave. I said goodbye to Mum and Torin for the day before we both piled into the ‘Tin Rocket’ and headed for Leam. We parked on the same street as we had the other two days (and every other day in dad’s case) and headed to the station to catch the cart again. 66155 was the loco that we saw this morning (66594 on the Monday and 66511 on the Thursday) and it came by just before winner 165016 rolled in. Three winner 165 winners in a row? You guys must think that I’m doing terrible for them! At the time of this trip, yep that was true but they have come down loads since then! We got the bay of two again and there wasn't any window view today. Not that we actually needed it as we were just chatting as the cart headed north. 165s are the only stuff in the Chiltern fleet that I need until the 170s come in and even when they are all in service on the Chiltern route then I'll still only need 5 of the 9!
The plan today was the same as the day before: take the cart to the place where hell freezes over and then head to Subway for brekky before eating it in Dad's work. Get it? The place where Hell freezes over? Snow=cold Hell=hell. Shame the Subway isn't the New York subway or the London subway or something like that but I'm sure that it'll taste better!
Most people got off at Moor Street so it was a lot emptier for the rest of the journey through the tunnel. All 50 chains of it! After getting off today, we didn't head straight up the escalator but instead stayed for a couple of minutes to wait for a DVT to appear with Hairball on the back. This is 68013. I'm thinking from now on mainly using the cat names in my trip reports without telling you which ones they are. How would people feel about that? We watched that set leave before heading over to Subway, the same person serving us as we had on the day before. Two mega melts were sourced and we took the very short walk to Dad's work again and headed up to the office for the short time until my train. Brekky went down brilliantly and we were soon sitting down at Dad's desk, him showing me the stuff that he was working on. It was all really funky and at about 07:55, we were heading back down the stairs and towards the bat cave. No gen was received this morning for what would be on my train to Bristol so I would be going out blind. I was hoping for 43378, my second favorite XC tram, because it was still on a fairly low mileage, unlike 207. I bade farewell to Dad outside Smiths and then headed through the barriers and descended the far side steps to get to platform 12, where my tram would arrive.
It came in at about 10 minutes past and I was very happy to see that 43384 was on the front. This one is low mileage too but I was more interested in the one on the back, 43378! A pair of fairly low mileage ones to take me away! I got another bay of four in the coach next to the 1st class section, just like the day before, and immediately checked the tops request thread to see if it had been replied to. I was in luck because at 06:22, 35 minutes after my request, it was answered (thanks again HA25322) with gen for 43031, 43033, 43040 and 43194. The moment I checked it, a plan was beginning to form and by Bromsgrove, I had a solid plan for the first part of my day. It was a very swift run, stopping at Helltenham first before continuing past Bristol Parkway and towards Temple Meads again. 31601 was still at Barton Hill, in the same spot that it had been since at least Monday, which surprised me because I didn't think that it would be there. I had a little time until my next train, which was spent getting unit numbers before heading over to the platform for a service back up to Parkway. In charge of the 09:48 today was winner 150244 and, much to my surprise, it was in a worse state than the ATW ones! The unit was rattily and some of the seats had torn covers but it was nowhere near as bad as most of the northern 150s that I've been on! Still, it did the job of getting me to Bristol Parkway, where I saw two HST sets in either platform. One of these two was my service away. Three guesses which one. Paddington or Swansea? Well, I'll give you a clue. Just before 244 came to a stop, the Paddington bound train left, 43185 on the rear. Luckily, this wasn't the service that I was after so I ran across the bridge, getting the front powercar number as I went. I then headed straight to the back in order to confirm that a certain powercar was on it and sure enough, it was dud 43053 leading the set with winner 43033 on the back. I got a seat on board and waited for the world to pass me by, trying to keep up with an 125 mile per hour tram. Not going to happen!
Dad called me to say that 66200, one of my last two EWS 66s for sight, was currently working in South Wales, the last report being a light engine move to Llanwern. Since this was on the South Wales mainline, I had a high chance of seeing it, leaving just 66103, which has been stored at Toton for over 5 months. I kept my eyes peeled (using a potato peeler) but between Parkway and Newport, the only locos seen were 60024, a UID 70 and 66125. The donut and betty were in the Llanwern area, which made me think that 200 was trying to distract me so I wouldn't see it. But I wasn't distracted from looking through the incredibly dense foliage to try and see a 66... with no avail. This was a big shame but Dad suggested that it was meant to be working steel and might be at Alexandra Dock sidings. Unlike Llanwern, AD is easily viewable from the mainline so I had high hopes about staying on the pair to Cardiff. I was at a vestibule window on the left hand side to see if it was there and I saw a load of steel wagons with an EWS liveried 66 at the Cardiff end. Is this it? Is this it? Ye... No!!! 66120, how I hate you! I sunk into a seat, really annoyed at my failure to get 200 but glad that I had managed to get 43033 already today. Because of this, I only needed two more powercars today in order to get my goal. That should be easy enough!
Cardiff was reached quick enough and I leaped off and headed straight over to the valley line platforms, 6 and 7. Platform 8 is coming on slowly but it will definitly help an already overcrowded station! I was hopeing to do a Queen Street leap if a winner 150 appeared on the first service out but it was a 142 heading away from Queen Street and a 143 pair heading towards. I wasn't going to hang around now waiting for a winner, especially since there was a tram set arriving in platform 1. I went over and slapped my head after seeing the powercars forming it. Duds 43069 and 43129, the pair that I had flagged 43142 for the day before, were forming the 10:55 to Paddington. This annoyed me as 43142 was still required because of this pair! At least it's all mileage though, especially with 43129, which is still my favorite GWR one from when I said in my last trip report. It wasn't due to leave for another 10 minutes so I got a seat near the back in the very empty service and just waited for the whistle. Ow! The whistle is deafening! How can the station staff go round with a whistle like that without deafening themselves! Oh, wait. No, it doesn't matter; it's just a pair of pacers arriving on platform 7. And that's the other side of the freaking station! Imagine if they were arriving on platform 6 or closer...
At 10:55 exactly, my tram set lurched forward and began gaining speed for the race east. It was plan-making time again now! One more look at the gen and I knew where I was taking this set and what was next (and after that and after that). Get ready for a good, long move with some trams, the longest that I had this whole trip. Off to Swindon we go!
A call to Dad was made somewhere on route to say that I had a slight problem about home time conflicting with a winner tram. I was referring to the final powercar on my gen request, 43194. This one is currently going round with 43175 and they both headed to Hereford this morning to work the 06:42 to Padd. It's then meant to head to Old Oak for the day before forming the 16:00 to Temple Mead, arriving at 17:38, 8 minutes after the last service to New Street that I would even think about getting. The Golden Valley also wasn't an option, the latest train that I could take being at 16:38. This left me with one option; one that I was ok at turning to if it would get me another winner although it is nowhere near as fun as a tram from Temple Meads to New Street. Back via Didcot, Oxford and Banbury. I could get a tram to Diddy, cart to Banbury for a plus 4 onto a cat back to Leam. This would mean that I would have to get an extra ticket but for a winner tram (not to mention two guaranteed winner carts), I thought that it would be worth it.
Swindon was reached in good time and I crossed over the platforms, ready for a quarter of an hour fester. But just as it was arriving at the station, I saw something rather strange. Steel wagons. In the sidings the other side of platform 3. I've never seen anything in there and they certainly weren't there yesterday. But it got stranger. I headed to the front of the train in order to get the number of a powercar that was on the back of a set in the other platform and see 069 and 129 leave and saw, again in the rusty railed, grassy sidings was 60017! What the heck is a DB donut doing there! I ruled out running round because the line that it was on ends in bushes if I remember correctly and it didn't have any vegetation sticking out of the engine or a rather battered front. A picture was taken of it (ok, maybe two. Or three. Ok, you got me. 6.), 43069 with 43002, the other powercar that was mentioned, and 069, 002 and 66954 in the center roads, which moved in a few moments before 069 and 002 left.
Donut in the sidings by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Then, I headed onto platform 1, listening to the dull sounds coming from the 66 that was still sat there. Imagine hearing that for hours on end when you are sat at a station bench next to someone. It would be a question of life or death. Which one of us will kill ourselves first? Thankfully it didn't stay long and after letting an ex Cheltenham tram go, it whirred away to go and torture someone else for a bit. Don't get me wrong. I like GM engines. Just not in 66s. I much prefer it in a larger scale and the sort of thing that you would see twisting its way through the Rockies or heading straight through the prairies. But given the choice, would you go for this
Alone in a field of... fields. by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Or this?
Ditton bound! by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Please note, if you choose the bottom one then you are banned from my thread. I'm just kidding. Probably.
Anyway, I was sitting at the far end of platform 1and just before 12:15, my next train arrived and sure enough, it had winner 43031 on the front with dud 43156 providing push power on the back. I was still perfectly on plan after getting off at Bristol Parkway, one brilliant run later. Lunch was had on the train, pre made like the day before. My plan had me on the next train back to Swindon, which meant that I had a fester here until my next one. 66596, Dad's last 66 for sight, which he had managed to get two and a half weeks before while we were on a boat trip. I had seen it over a year and a half before him, at Clapham Junction while there with Nathan. I was now very thirsty but wasn't going to pay the stupid amounts for a drink here so decided to wait for a bit, knowing that my plan would take me to one fairly soon. Eventually, duds 43132 and 43041 appeared to take me back along the mainline. Thrash time!
I didn't see much on the race back to the urban area but had to be at the window ready to get off and sprint. Yes, my plan had me making a -1 at Swindon for a winner. Stupid I know but luckily it was delayed by about 3 minutes so I could get onto the other platform and to the back in good time to identify both powercars. Winner 43040 and dud 43120 were both on this, just as my gen said that they would be. This meant that I had achieved 16 winners over the three days, with another one due later on. There was also the chance to get more before 194, which would be great! Will it be Chippenham, Bath or Bristol on this pair though? What will my next pair be? Why am I posing lots of ridiculous questions? The answers will be revealed soon.
I got a seat in the rear standard class coach and listened to the rumble being emitted from the MTU engine of 43120 as we headed away. My plan had expired after joining this set because, with no gen, I hadn't planned past this point. It was make it up as you go along time now and after a call to dad, I knew where I was heading. Chippenham was left until later on and it continued through Bath until getting to my destination, Temple Meads. I smiled broadly. Sat in the platform opposite us was another winner powercar and its set. This one left in a quarter of an hour, giving me ample time to get over to Smiths for a drink or two. £3 later, I was grabbing unit numbers left right and center, not to mention behind. It was then over to winner 43152 leading dud 43017, where I got a seat. There was time for a Parkway leap from Swindon after getting back instead of just a Chippenham one. This meant that I would get extra mileage while waiting for another winner instead of just a little. It meant that I would also have either a -2 or a +32 onto a service but I still have a chance of making it, right?
Wrong! It left Swindon before even the front powercar was in the station but was double duds so I didn't really mind. This gave me a chance to get my extra tickets for getting home this eve and also wander into town to see if there was a Costa nearby for a certain drink that does not need to be named. After doing the stuff in the ticket office, getting another new ranger, a Cherwell Valley from Didcot. I then exited the station and right next door, less than a meter from the station exit, was a Costa! It's annoying that I only found it on the last day but at least it got me a Belgian chocolate creamy cooler. They also offered me a free coffee because someone had ordered it and then said that they didn't want it. I politely declined because I don't like coffee and headed back up to the platform ready to get my train away from here. I stood at the end of the platform and perfectly on time, double duds 43164 and 43133 appeared on my next service. I've had both of these two powercars between Worcester Foregate Street and Great Malvern before (I stayed in 133 to Hereford) and 43156, another of the four that I've had on that route, is one that I had earlier. Strange co-incidence.
25 minutes later this set was arriving at Bristol Parkway, where I had to leave. Guess what my connection at Swindon was onto 194 after here. Yep, a -2. I know it's completely stupid and that I'll probably fail the connection but I didn't care. Ok, I cared a little bit. Fine, I was really, really hoping that the connection would make. If it didn't then I will have missed out on a Cross Country tram home and got no winner trams out of it. But the 16:31 out of here was on time when I looked at the departure boards a couple of minutes after arriving so I wasn't worried.
The 16:09 XC rubbish was currently 'delayed' at Temple Meads because it was waiting for its train crew to return from their break. I thought this was just code for 'the crew have ran away because of the traction on the Manchester diagram. Quick, search Bristol for them so we can give them the torture that they deserve in the form of a 221!' This apparently wasn't the case because according to the announcements, the heap of *insert your own word here* left Temple Meads just under 15 late. This caused a problem for me. The announcers said that the next train on my platform would be the one for Manchester and that it was currently scheduled to leave at 16:32, a minute after the Paddington is due away! This would almost definitely throw the connection in the bin and there was nothing that I could do about it. I sat waiting for my train to appear my foot now tapping. Then, the announcer said the words that I was dreading. 'Platform 3 for the 16:09 Crosscountry service to Manchester Piccadilly. Calling at...' It was 16:29 with my train due off in three minutes but it would obviously be late due to this. My jaw dropped. A GWR tram set was arriving, not a 221! Just as it entered the station, the announcer said 'this is an alteration. The train now arriving on platform 3 is the 16:31 service to London Paddington. This train is not the 16:09 to Manchester Piccadilly; it's the 16:31 to London Paddington. The 16:09 to Manchester Piccadilly will be the train after this one. My eyes rolled the moment after I saw the leading powercar. For the second time today it would be 43069 and 43129 taking me to Swindon. I sighed with relief as I stepped on board the train but I knew that I still wasn't definitely going to make the connection, by any stretch of the imagination. If you can stretch imagination then I wonder what it's made of.
They left on time but only just as departure was just before 32 minutes past. I was hoping for a clear, thrashy run slowing down closer to Swindon than tram slow bridge. It was a great run but we began slowing at the bridge so I wasn't so sure that the connection would be made. I made sure that I would be in line with the subway steps at the station but as it arrived, I saw a tram in the other platform already. Deep down I knew that it was over and that the whistle would be blown before I got onto the platform. But that didn't stop me from running like hell under the tracks and taking the steps two at a time at the other end. But before I was at the top, I saw the dispatcher getting ready to blow his whistle. But before he did, he looked over and saw me and instead of sending the train away, he swung the door next to him open and slammed it behind me, after I was on. This was the dispatcher that I had had a chat too the day before and kept on seeing for some reason. That reason can't be because I was based out of Swindon for the days I was there can it? Surely not! But I was very glad that he had done that for me so I got a seat on the tram set, glad that I have got 18 winners over the 3 days.
The run to Chippenham was nice and after getting there, I ran straight to the front of the set in order to get the leading powercar, not knowing whether the leading one would be 194 or the back one. But the moment I saw the number, I froze. 43079. But that was with... That was with 189 wasn't it? I got that on my first day didn't I. Maybe 079 is now with 194. Or. No. It can't be. Oh, but it can. Or a set swap occurred and it isn't 194 at all... I watched it leave, fingers and toes crossed that it would be 194 or any winner! Oh for goodness sake! Why do you now stalk me 43189? You avoid Dad but stalk me! Please stop. You're now replacing my winners! No use. I have two more sets to get today but I should be able to have my choice on which one I get with the second. Will 18 be my score or will 17 stay as it? Lets find out!
Right, looks like my first set will be no help as working the 17:25 out of Ham (egg) and Chips is duds for the trip 43148 and 43160. One more chance!
Swindon was reached about 7 down and after getting off here, I had three options of getting back to Didcot for my train away. The third of the three only gave me a +4 onto my cart though so that would be as a last resort. The services were the 18:00 from Cardiff, the 18:11 from Weston-Super-Mare and the 18:29 from Swansea. The departure boards said that the 18:29 was currently 6 minutes late so I didn't want to risk that leaving me with two options. I waited at the west end of the platform so I could get both front and back powercars but the first service was duds for the day. This just left the ex Weston. Will it be a winner? I didn't care at that moment, as I was busy getting a photo of 43087, which had just arrived on the 18:00 to Temple Meads.
Swindon departure by fishquinn1, on Flickr
087 is one of my higher mileage GWR trams on 169 miles but it's also one that I haven't even seen on my trip so far. I watched it head off, seeing the rear powercar was one of the horrid lime green ones with 'Bristol 2015 European Green capital' on the side. Anyway. Bristol isn't even a capital! But that isn't what caught me like a punch to the stomach about it. It was the fact that it was 43012, one of my required trams. This is one of them that I was thinking about putting on my list this morning but didn't because I didn't want to put so many on. Damn! I was still hoping that the ending of my tram bashing would be with a winner but no such luck as it was double duds 43174 and 43158 working the 18:11 to Paddington this eve. It was a fairly loaded train but it's a service that leaves Bristol to London in the evening peak on a Friday so I guess that's to be expected. I wasn't on it for long anyway as my Freedom of the Severn and Solent finished after leaving this pair at Didcot. The end of a fantastic rover and I would love to do it again sometime soon!
Didcot had two 66s in residence at the depot and nothing much else around. Until just after 35 minutes past, 5 minutes after I arrived when the silence (I mean except Mr. and Mrs. Joe normal, the constant announcements and the thoroughly annoying noise coming from 66148) was broken by 43018 and 43137 working an Oxford to Paddington non stop via the avoiding lines. Then, about 5 minutes later, another tram set raced by, this time on a Worcester, wounding me in the process. Leading the set was winner 43097. And just when I thought that it couldn't get any worse, the 18:42 to Bristol arrived with winner 43176 on the back. This was so, so, so, so, so, so annoying and I just thought that someone at GWR hated me so they took 194 off diagram and put 3 winners out that I couldn't get just to annoy me. After a phone call to Dad, I was slightly less annoyed and the thought that I should still have two winner carts and a cat to Leamington was nice. Sure enough, at 18:50, the time it was meant to leave, winner 166216 rolled in. I knew a little about the 166s and some of the info that I had gained was that there is a declassified 1st class area at either the front or the back. It was at the back on this particular trip so that's where I sat for the journey to Oxford. The 166s are actually quite nice units, at least when you aren't sat over the engine and have a bay of four and I'm glad that I managed to get my first one. Not only was this my first 166 though, it was also my first GWR 16x completely. I should have already had two of them though and it's a GWR guard's fault that I didn't get two while on a boat trip to Heyford. I was all in position for one to Tackley in order to get a winner shack and I asked the guard if all GWR services on this line stop at Tackley and that I was planning on taking this there and then coming back on one 10 minutes later. He said that he would have to check (!) and after about two minutes of the unit in the station, the doors locked by the driver and the unit left. He didn't even apologize! But, back to the present.
It was a fast run to Oxford, where I had to get off and await the Banbury service from Paddington. After a 221, it came in, letting me try out one of Great Western's 165s this time, winner 165132. It is by far much worse than the 166s and Chiltern 165s and I ended up at the very front in a bay of six for the journey and we luckily left Oxford on time so I should be able to make the 19:49 from Banbury.
It was a dire journey to Banbury and I really don't like the 165s in GWR after this experience on one. But what made it worse is that it kept losing time until it was about 5 late at Aynho junction. I had a +4 at Banbury. Please let the cat be late, please let the cat be late, please let the cat be late was my only thought as I got off 132 at Banbury and quickly crossed over to the Leam bound platform and looked at the PIS. NO! For goodness sake! This is so freaking annoying! The next train was the 20:08 to Snow Hell, a booked 168. So. By going this route, I pay extra money, get no extra tram winners, get a cart for the whole route, see hundreds of my winners taunting me and don't get some mega tram thrash to New Street. My FOSS has been so great but why does it have to get bad at the very end? I called Dad to say that I wouldn't be arriving at Leam on a cat (it would have been Custard (011) if I had made it) at 20:04 and would instead be getting there at 20:25 on a cart. How...
...Rubbish! I was really annoyed as I waited, 4O29 not even cheering me up with a betty on. The fact that my train went from on time at 20:08 to 20:09, to 20:10, to 20:11 and so on until 20:14 didn't really improve my mood. It finally arrived at 20:13 with a double set, 168215 and 168112, both well over 100 miles already. I sat at the very front of 215 and just about managed to endure the stagger to Leam without killing myself. Stagger? Yep. It left Banbury 6 late and arrived at Leamington just under 15 late. Mum had been waiting for quite a while for me at the station and it was nice to get off the stupid carts and turn away from the station, from my FOSS and from winners. The end of another rover is here. And it was superb.
. Oh, and before I forget, yesterday I had 68013 to Brum and back with a creamy cooler in Leam later on. Mmmmmm... Creamy coolers...--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
September big bash day 3: The final score
The end is here. After two days of winner trams how will the last go? 13 winners now so 3 more will complete the goal of 16 but will I get another three? 6 on the first. 7 on the second. How many on the third. Lets see... (cue soundtrack).
Dressed? Yep. Sarnies made? Done. Bag packed for the day? Indeedily doodily. Gen asked for? Damn! I had to fire up the laptop at 05:40 on the last day of my rover, the Friday, in order to ask for some gen on a few tram powercars. I had forgotten to do this the night before as I had on my first two days so I wasn’t sure if it would be answered or not. But that didn’t stop me trying and by the time I had shut the laptop down again, we had to leave. I said goodbye to Mum and Torin for the day before we both piled into the ‘Tin Rocket’ and headed for Leam. We parked on the same street as we had the other two days (and every other day in dad’s case) and headed to the station to catch the cart again. 66155 was the loco that we saw this morning (66594 on the Monday and 66511 on the Thursday) and it came by just before winner 165016 rolled in. Three winner 165 winners in a row? You guys must think that I’m doing terrible for them! At the time of this trip, yep that was true but they have come down loads since then! We got the bay of two again and there wasn't any window view today. Not that we actually needed it as we were just chatting as the cart headed north. 165s are the only stuff in the Chiltern fleet that I need until the 170s come in and even when they are all in service on the Chiltern route then I'll still only need 5 of the 9!
The plan today was the same as the day before: take the cart to the place where hell freezes over and then head to Subway for brekky before eating it in Dad's work. Get it? The place where Hell freezes over? Snow=cold Hell=hell. Shame the Subway isn't the New York subway or the London subway or something like that but I'm sure that it'll taste better!
Most people got off at Moor Street so it was a lot emptier for the rest of the journey through the tunnel. All 50 chains of it! After getting off today, we didn't head straight up the escalator but instead stayed for a couple of minutes to wait for a DVT to appear with Hairball on the back. This is 68013. I'm thinking from now on mainly using the cat names in my trip reports without telling you which ones they are. How would people feel about that? We watched that set leave before heading over to Subway, the same person serving us as we had on the day before. Two mega melts were sourced and we took the very short walk to Dad's work again and headed up to the office for the short time until my train. Brekky went down brilliantly and we were soon sitting down at Dad's desk, him showing me the stuff that he was working on. It was all really funky and at about 07:55, we were heading back down the stairs and towards the bat cave. No gen was received this morning for what would be on my train to Bristol so I would be going out blind. I was hoping for 43378, my second favorite XC tram, because it was still on a fairly low mileage, unlike 207. I bade farewell to Dad outside Smiths and then headed through the barriers and descended the far side steps to get to platform 12, where my tram would arrive.
It came in at about 10 minutes past and I was very happy to see that 43384 was on the front. This one is low mileage too but I was more interested in the one on the back, 43378! A pair of fairly low mileage ones to take me away! I got another bay of four in the coach next to the 1st class section, just like the day before, and immediately checked the tops request thread to see if it had been replied to. I was in luck because at 06:22, 35 minutes after my request, it was answered (thanks again HA25322) with gen for 43031, 43033, 43040 and 43194. The moment I checked it, a plan was beginning to form and by Bromsgrove, I had a solid plan for the first part of my day. It was a very swift run, stopping at Helltenham first before continuing past Bristol Parkway and towards Temple Meads again. 31601 was still at Barton Hill, in the same spot that it had been since at least Monday, which surprised me because I didn't think that it would be there. I had a little time until my next train, which was spent getting unit numbers before heading over to the platform for a service back up to Parkway. In charge of the 09:48 today was winner 150244 and, much to my surprise, it was in a worse state than the ATW ones! The unit was rattily and some of the seats had torn covers but it was nowhere near as bad as most of the northern 150s that I've been on! Still, it did the job of getting me to Bristol Parkway, where I saw two HST sets in either platform. One of these two was my service away. Three guesses which one. Paddington or Swansea? Well, I'll give you a clue. Just before 244 came to a stop, the Paddington bound train left, 43185 on the rear. Luckily, this wasn't the service that I was after so I ran across the bridge, getting the front powercar number as I went. I then headed straight to the back in order to confirm that a certain powercar was on it and sure enough, it was dud 43053 leading the set with winner 43033 on the back. I got a seat on board and waited for the world to pass me by, trying to keep up with an 125 mile per hour tram. Not going to happen!
Dad called me to say that 66200, one of my last two EWS 66s for sight, was currently working in South Wales, the last report being a light engine move to Llanwern. Since this was on the South Wales mainline, I had a high chance of seeing it, leaving just 66103, which has been stored at Toton for over 5 months. I kept my eyes peeled (using a potato peeler) but between Parkway and Newport, the only locos seen were 60024, a UID 70 and 66125. The donut and betty were in the Llanwern area, which made me think that 200 was trying to distract me so I wouldn't see it. But I wasn't distracted from looking through the incredibly dense foliage to try and see a 66... with no avail. This was a big shame but Dad suggested that it was meant to be working steel and might be at Alexandra Dock sidings. Unlike Llanwern, AD is easily viewable from the mainline so I had high hopes about staying on the pair to Cardiff. I was at a vestibule window on the left hand side to see if it was there and I saw a load of steel wagons with an EWS liveried 66 at the Cardiff end. Is this it? Is this it? Ye... No!!! 66120, how I hate you! I sunk into a seat, really annoyed at my failure to get 200 but glad that I had managed to get 43033 already today. Because of this, I only needed two more powercars today in order to get my goal. That should be easy enough!
Cardiff was reached quick enough and I leaped off and headed straight over to the valley line platforms, 6 and 7. Platform 8 is coming on slowly but it will definitly help an already overcrowded station! I was hopeing to do a Queen Street leap if a winner 150 appeared on the first service out but it was a 142 heading away from Queen Street and a 143 pair heading towards. I wasn't going to hang around now waiting for a winner, especially since there was a tram set arriving in platform 1. I went over and slapped my head after seeing the powercars forming it. Duds 43069 and 43129, the pair that I had flagged 43142 for the day before, were forming the 10:55 to Paddington. This annoyed me as 43142 was still required because of this pair! At least it's all mileage though, especially with 43129, which is still my favorite GWR one from when I said in my last trip report. It wasn't due to leave for another 10 minutes so I got a seat near the back in the very empty service and just waited for the whistle. Ow! The whistle is deafening! How can the station staff go round with a whistle like that without deafening themselves! Oh, wait. No, it doesn't matter; it's just a pair of pacers arriving on platform 7. And that's the other side of the freaking station! Imagine if they were arriving on platform 6 or closer...
At 10:55 exactly, my tram set lurched forward and began gaining speed for the race east. It was plan-making time again now! One more look at the gen and I knew where I was taking this set and what was next (and after that and after that). Get ready for a good, long move with some trams, the longest that I had this whole trip. Off to Swindon we go!
A call to Dad was made somewhere on route to say that I had a slight problem about home time conflicting with a winner tram. I was referring to the final powercar on my gen request, 43194. This one is currently going round with 43175 and they both headed to Hereford this morning to work the 06:42 to Padd. It's then meant to head to Old Oak for the day before forming the 16:00 to Temple Mead, arriving at 17:38, 8 minutes after the last service to New Street that I would even think about getting. The Golden Valley also wasn't an option, the latest train that I could take being at 16:38. This left me with one option; one that I was ok at turning to if it would get me another winner although it is nowhere near as fun as a tram from Temple Meads to New Street. Back via Didcot, Oxford and Banbury. I could get a tram to Diddy, cart to Banbury for a plus 4 onto a cat back to Leam. This would mean that I would have to get an extra ticket but for a winner tram (not to mention two guaranteed winner carts), I thought that it would be worth it.
Swindon was reached in good time and I crossed over the platforms, ready for a quarter of an hour fester. But just as it was arriving at the station, I saw something rather strange. Steel wagons. In the sidings the other side of platform 3. I've never seen anything in there and they certainly weren't there yesterday. But it got stranger. I headed to the front of the train in order to get the number of a powercar that was on the back of a set in the other platform and see 069 and 129 leave and saw, again in the rusty railed, grassy sidings was 60017! What the heck is a DB donut doing there! I ruled out running round because the line that it was on ends in bushes if I remember correctly and it didn't have any vegetation sticking out of the engine or a rather battered front. A picture was taken of it (ok, maybe two. Or three. Ok, you got me. 6.), 43069 with 43002, the other powercar that was mentioned, and 069, 002 and 66954 in the center roads, which moved in a few moments before 069 and 002 left.
Donut in the sidings by fishquinn1, on FlickrThen, I headed onto platform 1, listening to the dull sounds coming from the 66 that was still sat there. Imagine hearing that for hours on end when you are sat at a station bench next to someone. It would be a question of life or death. Which one of us will kill ourselves first? Thankfully it didn't stay long and after letting an ex Cheltenham tram go, it whirred away to go and torture someone else for a bit. Don't get me wrong. I like GM engines. Just not in 66s. I much prefer it in a larger scale and the sort of thing that you would see twisting its way through the Rockies or heading straight through the prairies. But given the choice, would you go for this
Alone in a field of... fields. by fishquinn1, on FlickrOr this?
Ditton bound! by fishquinn1, on FlickrPlease note, if you choose the bottom one then you are banned from my thread
. I'm just kidding. Probably.Anyway, I was sitting at the far end of platform 1and just before 12:15, my next train arrived and sure enough, it had winner 43031 on the front with dud 43156 providing push power on the back. I was still perfectly on plan after getting off at Bristol Parkway, one brilliant run later. Lunch was had on the train, pre made like the day before. My plan had me on the next train back to Swindon, which meant that I had a fester here until my next one. 66596, Dad's last 66 for sight, which he had managed to get two and a half weeks before while we were on a boat trip. I had seen it over a year and a half before him, at Clapham Junction while there with Nathan. I was now very thirsty but wasn't going to pay the stupid amounts for a drink here so decided to wait for a bit, knowing that my plan would take me to one fairly soon. Eventually, duds 43132 and 43041 appeared to take me back along the mainline. Thrash time!
I didn't see much on the race back to the urban area but had to be at the window ready to get off and sprint. Yes, my plan had me making a -1 at Swindon for a winner. Stupid I know but luckily it was delayed by about 3 minutes so I could get onto the other platform and to the back in good time to identify both powercars. Winner 43040 and dud 43120 were both on this, just as my gen said that they would be. This meant that I had achieved 16 winners over the three days, with another one due later on. There was also the chance to get more before 194, which would be great! Will it be Chippenham, Bath or Bristol on this pair though? What will my next pair be? Why am I posing lots of ridiculous questions? The answers will be revealed soon.
I got a seat in the rear standard class coach and listened to the rumble being emitted from the MTU engine of 43120 as we headed away. My plan had expired after joining this set because, with no gen, I hadn't planned past this point. It was make it up as you go along time now and after a call to dad, I knew where I was heading. Chippenham was left until later on and it continued through Bath until getting to my destination, Temple Meads. I smiled broadly. Sat in the platform opposite us was another winner powercar and its set. This one left in a quarter of an hour, giving me ample time to get over to Smiths for a drink or two. £3 later, I was grabbing unit numbers left right and center, not to mention behind. It was then over to winner 43152 leading dud 43017, where I got a seat. There was time for a Parkway leap from Swindon after getting back instead of just a Chippenham one. This meant that I would get extra mileage while waiting for another winner instead of just a little. It meant that I would also have either a -2 or a +32 onto a service but I still have a chance of making it, right?
Wrong! It left Swindon before even the front powercar was in the station but was double duds so I didn't really mind. This gave me a chance to get my extra tickets for getting home this eve and also wander into town to see if there was a Costa nearby for a certain drink that does not need to be named. After doing the stuff in the ticket office, getting another new ranger, a Cherwell Valley from Didcot. I then exited the station and right next door, less than a meter from the station exit, was a Costa! It's annoying that I only found it on the last day but at least it got me a Belgian chocolate creamy cooler. They also offered me a free coffee because someone had ordered it and then said that they didn't want it. I politely declined because I don't like coffee and headed back up to the platform ready to get my train away from here. I stood at the end of the platform and perfectly on time, double duds 43164 and 43133 appeared on my next service. I've had both of these two powercars between Worcester Foregate Street and Great Malvern before (I stayed in 133 to Hereford) and 43156, another of the four that I've had on that route, is one that I had earlier. Strange co-incidence.
25 minutes later this set was arriving at Bristol Parkway, where I had to leave. Guess what my connection at Swindon was onto 194 after here. Yep, a -2. I know it's completely stupid and that I'll probably fail the connection but I didn't care. Ok, I cared a little bit. Fine, I was really, really hoping that the connection would make. If it didn't then I will have missed out on a Cross Country tram home and got no winner trams out of it. But the 16:31 out of here was on time when I looked at the departure boards a couple of minutes after arriving so I wasn't worried.
The 16:09 XC rubbish was currently 'delayed' at Temple Meads because it was waiting for its train crew to return from their break. I thought this was just code for 'the crew have ran away because of the traction on the Manchester diagram. Quick, search Bristol for them so we can give them the torture that they deserve in the form of a 221!' This apparently wasn't the case because according to the announcements, the heap of *insert your own word here* left Temple Meads just under 15 late. This caused a problem for me. The announcers said that the next train on my platform would be the one for Manchester and that it was currently scheduled to leave at 16:32, a minute after the Paddington is due away! This would almost definitely throw the connection in the bin and there was nothing that I could do about it. I sat waiting for my train to appear my foot now tapping. Then, the announcer said the words that I was dreading. 'Platform 3 for the 16:09 Crosscountry service to Manchester Piccadilly. Calling at...' It was 16:29 with my train due off in three minutes but it would obviously be late due to this. My jaw dropped. A GWR tram set was arriving, not a 221! Just as it entered the station, the announcer said 'this is an alteration. The train now arriving on platform 3 is the 16:31 service to London Paddington. This train is not the 16:09 to Manchester Piccadilly; it's the 16:31 to London Paddington. The 16:09 to Manchester Piccadilly will be the train after this one. My eyes rolled the moment after I saw the leading powercar. For the second time today it would be 43069 and 43129 taking me to Swindon. I sighed with relief as I stepped on board the train but I knew that I still wasn't definitely going to make the connection, by any stretch of the imagination. If you can stretch imagination then I wonder what it's made of.
They left on time but only just as departure was just before 32 minutes past. I was hoping for a clear, thrashy run slowing down closer to Swindon than tram slow bridge. It was a great run but we began slowing at the bridge so I wasn't so sure that the connection would be made. I made sure that I would be in line with the subway steps at the station but as it arrived, I saw a tram in the other platform already. Deep down I knew that it was over and that the whistle would be blown before I got onto the platform. But that didn't stop me from running like hell under the tracks and taking the steps two at a time at the other end. But before I was at the top, I saw the dispatcher getting ready to blow his whistle. But before he did, he looked over and saw me and instead of sending the train away, he swung the door next to him open and slammed it behind me, after I was on. This was the dispatcher that I had had a chat too the day before and kept on seeing for some reason. That reason can't be because I was based out of Swindon for the days I was there can it? Surely not! But I was very glad that he had done that for me so I got a seat on the tram set, glad that I have got 18 winners over the 3 days.
The run to Chippenham was nice and after getting there, I ran straight to the front of the set in order to get the leading powercar, not knowing whether the leading one would be 194 or the back one. But the moment I saw the number, I froze. 43079. But that was with... That was with 189 wasn't it? I got that on my first day didn't I. Maybe 079 is now with 194. Or. No. It can't be. Oh, but it can. Or a set swap occurred and it isn't 194 at all... I watched it leave, fingers and toes crossed that it would be 194 or any winner! Oh for goodness sake! Why do you now stalk me 43189? You avoid Dad but stalk me! Please stop. You're now replacing my winners! No use. I have two more sets to get today but I should be able to have my choice on which one I get with the second. Will 18 be my score or will 17 stay as it? Lets find out!
Right, looks like my first set will be no help as working the 17:25 out of Ham (egg) and Chips is duds for the trip 43148 and 43160. One more chance!
Swindon was reached about 7 down and after getting off here, I had three options of getting back to Didcot for my train away. The third of the three only gave me a +4 onto my cart though so that would be as a last resort. The services were the 18:00 from Cardiff, the 18:11 from Weston-Super-Mare and the 18:29 from Swansea. The departure boards said that the 18:29 was currently 6 minutes late so I didn't want to risk that leaving me with two options. I waited at the west end of the platform so I could get both front and back powercars but the first service was duds for the day. This just left the ex Weston. Will it be a winner? I didn't care at that moment, as I was busy getting a photo of 43087, which had just arrived on the 18:00 to Temple Meads.
Swindon departure by fishquinn1, on Flickr087 is one of my higher mileage GWR trams on 169 miles but it's also one that I haven't even seen on my trip so far. I watched it head off, seeing the rear powercar was one of the horrid lime green ones with 'Bristol 2015 European Green capital' on the side. Anyway. Bristol isn't even a capital! But that isn't what caught me like a punch to the stomach about it. It was the fact that it was 43012, one of my required trams. This is one of them that I was thinking about putting on my list this morning but didn't because I didn't want to put so many on. Damn! I was still hoping that the ending of my tram bashing would be with a winner but no such luck as it was double duds 43174 and 43158 working the 18:11 to Paddington this eve. It was a fairly loaded train but it's a service that leaves Bristol to London in the evening peak on a Friday so I guess that's to be expected. I wasn't on it for long anyway as my Freedom of the Severn and Solent finished after leaving this pair at Didcot. The end of a fantastic rover and I would love to do it again sometime soon!
Didcot had two 66s in residence at the depot and nothing much else around. Until just after 35 minutes past, 5 minutes after I arrived when the silence (I mean except Mr. and Mrs. Joe normal, the constant announcements and the thoroughly annoying noise coming from 66148) was broken by 43018 and 43137 working an Oxford to Paddington non stop via the avoiding lines. Then, about 5 minutes later, another tram set raced by, this time on a Worcester, wounding me in the process. Leading the set was winner 43097. And just when I thought that it couldn't get any worse, the 18:42 to Bristol arrived with winner 43176 on the back. This was so, so, so, so, so, so annoying and I just thought that someone at GWR hated me so they took 194 off diagram and put 3 winners out that I couldn't get just to annoy me. After a phone call to Dad, I was slightly less annoyed and the thought that I should still have two winner carts and a cat to Leamington was nice. Sure enough, at 18:50, the time it was meant to leave, winner 166216 rolled in. I knew a little about the 166s and some of the info that I had gained was that there is a declassified 1st class area at either the front or the back. It was at the back on this particular trip so that's where I sat for the journey to Oxford. The 166s are actually quite nice units, at least when you aren't sat over the engine and have a bay of four and I'm glad that I managed to get my first one. Not only was this my first 166 though, it was also my first GWR 16x completely. I should have already had two of them though and it's a GWR guard's fault that I didn't get two while on a boat trip to Heyford. I was all in position for one to Tackley in order to get a winner shack and I asked the guard if all GWR services on this line stop at Tackley and that I was planning on taking this there and then coming back on one 10 minutes later. He said that he would have to check (!) and after about two minutes of the unit in the station, the doors locked by the driver and the unit left. He didn't even apologize! But, back to the present.
It was a fast run to Oxford, where I had to get off and await the Banbury service from Paddington. After a 221, it came in, letting me try out one of Great Western's 165s this time, winner 165132. It is by far much worse than the 166s and Chiltern 165s and I ended up at the very front in a bay of six for the journey and we luckily left Oxford on time so I should be able to make the 19:49 from Banbury.
It was a dire journey to Banbury and I really don't like the 165s in GWR after this experience on one. But what made it worse is that it kept losing time until it was about 5 late at Aynho junction. I had a +4 at Banbury. Please let the cat be late, please let the cat be late, please let the cat be late was my only thought as I got off 132 at Banbury and quickly crossed over to the Leam bound platform and looked at the PIS. NO! For goodness sake! This is so freaking annoying! The next train was the 20:08 to Snow Hell, a booked 168. So. By going this route, I pay extra money, get no extra tram winners, get a cart for the whole route, see hundreds of my winners taunting me and don't get some mega tram thrash to New Street. My FOSS has been so great but why does it have to get bad at the very end? I called Dad to say that I wouldn't be arriving at Leam on a cat (it would have been Custard (011) if I had made it) at 20:04 and would instead be getting there at 20:25 on a cart. How...
...Rubbish! I was really annoyed as I waited, 4O29 not even cheering me up with a betty on. The fact that my train went from on time at 20:08 to 20:09, to 20:10, to 20:11 and so on until 20:14 didn't really improve my mood. It finally arrived at 20:13 with a double set, 168215 and 168112, both well over 100 miles already. I sat at the very front of 215 and just about managed to endure the stagger to Leam without killing myself. Stagger? Yep. It left Banbury 6 late and arrived at Leamington just under 15 late. Mum had been waiting for quite a while for me at the station and it was nice to get off the stupid carts and turn away from the station, from my FOSS and from winners. The end of another rover is here. And it was superb.
backontrack
Established Member
Another great report! Looks like you had a great time, although it's a shame that it ended so badly. You ended up with 19 winners over three days, which is pretty good going.
What did you have in your sarnies?
What did you have in your sarnies?
backontrack
Established Member
Cool! They're best on brown bread for me, with cheddar.
I also like Tuna & Sweetcorn and Cheese, Onion & Spinach.
Waitrose do Tuna Niçoise sarnies too - they are good. But usually I make my own sarnies - cheese, tuna & sweetcorn, cheese & tomato or leftover salad & leftover fish/cheese/whatever.
All on brown or granary bread. Not white, not ever.
I also like Tuna & Sweetcorn and Cheese, Onion & Spinach.
Waitrose do Tuna Niçoise sarnies too - they are good. But usually I make my own sarnies - cheese, tuna & sweetcorn, cheese & tomato or leftover salad & leftover fish/cheese/whatever.
All on brown or granary bread. Not white, not ever.
Last edited:
Techniquest
Veteran Member
What a bad way to end the trip! It was all going so well too.
I kept getting nostalgic just from reading some of those power car numbers, 43152 and of course 43002 for just two examples. Oh I remember 3rd January 2008 (yep, 8 years ago today!) only too well...
I kept getting nostalgic just from reading some of those power car numbers, 43152 and of course 43002 for just two examples. Oh I remember 3rd January 2008 (yep, 8 years ago today!) only too well...
backontrack
Established Member
I don't like it - unless it's crusty. I've never tried salad cream, but I like tuna mayo.
Also, did you know that you'll become minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs???
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=2416427#post2416427
Also, did you know that you'll become minister for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs???
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?p=2416427#post2416427
Hi guys! Here is another trip report. The last day of my FOSS is on the page before so I suggest you read that before this one if you haven't already.
September big bash day 4: What? Day 4?
Ok. What do I mean day 4? The first three days of the September big bash have been my FOSS but day 4 is kind of different. As in it wasn't planned and I wasn't heading out at stupid o'clock in the morning. I had the usual sort of Saturday morning (the day after my FOSS ended) except the fact that my Auntie came down from Chester so both mum and her could travel to a wedding near Uckfield. They left at about 10:00, leaving Dad, Torin and me for the weekend (I bet you thought that I would go with them). Torin was on the computer on the other boat and I was sat chatting with Dad for a bit and came up with a great idea for a very, very cheap trip that I could only do this afternoon. What? A West Mids trip! How is that cheap? To answer that question, we must first ask ourselves, what is physics. Sorry. Wrong question. I mean, we must ask ourselves, what ticket was I using to get into the zones for my Freedom of Severn and Solent? A season ticket from Leam to Worcester! I could go down to Brum then spend some time there using my season ticket and finish off heading back to Rugby, where Dad could pick me up later in the day! Why Rugby? Torin has trampolining there on Saturday evenings so I thought that he could come to the station while Torin was there. I told Dad my plans and he was fine to both drop me off at Leam and pick me up at Rugby so it was going to work! And when traveling to Birmingham on a Saturday afternoon from Leamington, what train do you have to get? The 12:25!
11:55 came and Dad and I got in the car and headed off to the station for my train. I decided that I would get Dad a coffee or something fairly soon to thank him for taking me. I said bye to him after getting to the station and immediately went through the open barriers and onto the platform. I walked a long way down the platform and got a seat at the bench after the canopy to wait for the train. This service is a booked cat and, with no gen available, I had no idea which one. But as I said in the last report, I'll stop telling you the numbers of the cats fairly soon. I'll begin doing that now for most of them. But just so you can keep up, I'll put a reminder list of the Chiltern cat names including 008 and 009 so you can remember those too
68008 - Avenger
68009 - Titan
68010 - Bagpuss
68011 - Custard
68012 - A Shropshire Mog
68013 - Hairball
68014 - Gingertom (best of the bunch)
68015 - Topcat
So then, which cat did I get if working the 12:25 was fairly low mileage Hairball? This one was only on 156.50 miles and was my third lowest cat, the lowest being Titan at 118 miles and then Topcat at 154.50 miles. As I write this, all chiltern cats are above 200 except Topcat, which is at 177.50 miles and my lowest one.
Hairball towards Birmingham by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Hairball gave good thrash for the storm towards Brum and the bit that's better is that it's effectively free because I wasn't planning on heading out today. I was (obviously) in the front coach for the whole journey and it was soon arriving at Moor Street (platform 3) at 12:55. This is where the bashing truly began!
I walked to the Sainsbury's local next to Snow Hell station to see that they had no decent sarnies on offer. Because of this, I headed to a different Sainsbury's local, the one next to Dad's work. This was also terrible so I flagged that too and crossed the road to get to Tesco Express where I got an all day breakfast sarnie. From here, I ran to New Street and scanned the platforms for any winners. There was nothing obvious at that point in time so I just leaned on the handrail of one of the stairs (don't worry, I wasn't on the stairs. That would be somthing that would break the auto announcers at all London Underground stations and pretty much everywhere else. Quick, do it!) down to the platforms at Navigation Street footbridge. I decided to view the 13:15 to Glasgow to see if it would have a winner pendo on. This was before Tech had had his penultimate pendo for haulage so the moment that I saw that winner 390016 was on it, I just had to take it to Sandwell. His other one, 390114, is dud for me and has been for over a year. I got a seat and began eating my sandwich and crisps on the short journey with my first winner of the day. I knew that it would only be about 10-15 minutes to wait until a dez/starship back to New Street but it was more like 25 until a starship appeared about 15 down. There was an ex Shrewsbury right behind this one so I decided to wait for that, letting the very large pax cram onto the 3 coach starship. I was obviously hoping that the slightly delayed (due to the late running Walsall train) 170 would either be 508 or 510 but it couldn't have been one worse as it was my stalker, 170631 that would be taking me back to the city. It was a surprisingly busy train and there weren't many seats free at all. I ended up in a right hand side bay of 4 opposite someone for the little hop with my most used 170.
While at Sandwell, I saw a pair of Arriva 158s race through on a train to the airport. Both of them were required, which is very rare for me now as I only needed 5 at the time of the trip so I decided to intercept them on their way back out to Wales. This involved a 25-minute fester at the bat cave but it went quickly and I wasn't drawn off course by any 170s or 390s or 350s or trams so I was ready and waiting for the 14:25 to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli. I love listening to the announcement for services heading to Pwllheli just because some of the station names are really out there and funky. In fact almost all of my favorite station names are located on that branch, a couple of them being Dyffryn Ardudwy (pronounced duff-rin ar-do-ee) and Tonfanau (pronounced ton-fan-eye). A creamy cooler to anyone who can pronounce all of them! 5p to someone who can pronounce Morfa Mawddach (really! I can't even pronounce this one!) Anyway, they are just a few of the stations that winner 158827 wouldn't call at but winner 158819 would. I had no idea what I would do after getting to Smethwick GB but decided to head to the high level having just missed two trains back to New Street with the next one not being for ages. I looked at the PIS screen to see that the next one was at 14:47 heading to Stratford via Dorridge. I then had an idea of what to do involving this service. A quick check of the timetable revealed that I could do it so I just waited for the 3 coach 172 to arrive, 172344. This 172 was just under 10 miles at 8.75 so my leap would most definitely clear it. Where to? Well, there is a shack that has been bugging me for ages that isn't Tackley, Kings Sutton, Widney Manor (this one is so annoying), Acocks Green, Tysley, Small Heath, Bordesley or any other shack that I really want to get in any other part of the country. I was talking about Olton, where a +10 could be made onto another 172 back to Brum where I could get onto another winner that I had seen earlier in the day.
The journey to winner shack number 1 of...
1 (I don't really know where I was going to there) was uneventful and I was soon standing on the platform of Olton. I usually race past on cats so I haven't had a chance to see that it's actually quite a nice station, especially when the sun is shining. There are nice flowerpots outside the canopy and is probably the nicest of all the London Midland owned stations that I have visited. I called Dad while waiting for my train away to say how it was going and stuff and confirm that he was still ok to pick me up in a bit. He still was. After a short 10 minutes, 172331, one of them that is over 10 miles. This is due to arrive at Moor Street at 15:29, 5 minutes before a winner leaves heading to Solihull at 15:34. This winner was a two coach 165 on to Leam shuttle, which I had seen earlier at... Leam strangely enough! Anyway, my cart arrived at Moor Street on time so I headed across to platform 3 where winner 165008 was waiting to leave. I headed right to the front of the train and got a seat in the very front bay of four, away from all of the normals, who had just crammed in the front coach. While I was waiting for departure, I checked my phone to see what sort of connections there were at Solihull to head back and saw that there was a +2 onto a 168 from Marylebone. Don't mind if I do!
The connection was easily made with the 165 leaving the island platform before 168113 arrived. It was a flat out race back to Moor Street, leaving Solihull one minute late and arriving at Moor Street one early. It was now 15:55 and the train that I had to be on to get back to Rugby was due in 55 minutes from New Street. I immediately headed over there and headed straight over to Navigation Street footbridge to see what was around. I caught a glimpse of a departure board and after seeing that, it was straight down to platform 9 to see 43285 arriving on the 16:03 to Glasgow. I asked if I could cab it and got a positive response so I jumped in and got a very nice view of the tram. I was sorely tempted to take it to Tamworth but decided against it for two reasons. The first is that my season ticket wouldn't be valid and the second that it is a +0 at Tamworth onto the only Rugby train for an hour. With this in mind, I bade farewell to the pair of 43s and went to look at the departure board again. There wasn't really anything that caught by eye because the 10 minutes past Pendo to Euston was about an hour late and the 14 minutes past dez was dud. Because of this, I decided to aim for the 16:30 to Cardiff if it had a winner on it. It did but I suddenly found myself stuck by something that I hadn't thought of until now. This service should just about make a connection at University onto a Nottingham bound 170 which would give me a +2 onto the 16:50 to Euston. For some reason, this connection is a really hard one to make most of the time so if I missed it then I will have missed the 16:50 because of having to get a Starship. I (foolishly) decided to play it safe and just headed up stairs, got a c****y c****r from C***a and sat on dud 390119, which was forming my train away. Why was that foolish? I didn't miss out of 1 winner by doing this, I missed out on two. This is because the 170 that it connects with at Uni was also a winner so I made a stupid mistake by flagging it. Oh well. That's in the past and I don't see a blue police box around to change it. I checked if seat C1 or C2 were free but both were reserved from Birmingham International. The rear of the train was pretty much deserted though so I just cot a bay of 4 in coach B and waited for departure.
When the pendo began to gain speed, I made sure to check which dez would be following us to see if it was a winner and worth baleing at Cov for. It was so I decided to abandon VT there and was very surprised to see that there are already barriers there! That was pretty quick! How to make a terrible station even worse. Put barriers to 'ease the crowds entering and exiting the station. How the heck does putting barriers in make less crowds entering and exiting the station? That is absolute rubbish! I asked one of the barrier staff how long they had been there and got a reply that I wasn't expecting. Two weeks! There have been barriers at Coventry for two weeks before this trip! How didn't I know? Probably because I don't care about Coventry at all and if it got flattened I wouldn't care as long as all of the people and animals are out. I didn't have long to wait until winner 350249 formed my final service of the afternoon and quickly took me to Rugby where I saw that the barriers were coming on there too!
I called Dad to ask how long it would be until he would be here and the answer I get? About an hour! Apparently he was planning on picking me up AFTER Torin's trampolining. If I knew that then I would have got at least two more winners, maybe more! It doesn't matter in the large scale though. The thing that matters is that I got an extra 5 winner units from my neck of the woods when they weren't expected. I had an hour to so some spotting at Rugby now though and during that time, I saw 5 locos! I wasn't really expecting to see any because it's a Saturday afternoon and there was no 57 or 92 at the station but at least I could be surprised in the end! I got a photo of 66717 but just watched the trains pass without the camera for the rest of the time.
An hour later, as expected, Dad came to the station and picked me up before we all headed home, ready for some pizza and a movie. Excellent!
So all in all, it was a good afternoon out and I'm glad that I could do it!
September big bash day 4: What? Day 4?
Ok. What do I mean day 4? The first three days of the September big bash have been my FOSS but day 4 is kind of different. As in it wasn't planned and I wasn't heading out at stupid o'clock in the morning. I had the usual sort of Saturday morning (the day after my FOSS ended) except the fact that my Auntie came down from Chester so both mum and her could travel to a wedding near Uckfield. They left at about 10:00, leaving Dad, Torin and me for the weekend (I bet you thought that I would go with them). Torin was on the computer on the other boat and I was sat chatting with Dad for a bit and came up with a great idea for a very, very cheap trip that I could only do this afternoon. What? A West Mids trip! How is that cheap? To answer that question, we must first ask ourselves, what is physics. Sorry. Wrong question. I mean, we must ask ourselves, what ticket was I using to get into the zones for my Freedom of Severn and Solent? A season ticket from Leam to Worcester! I could go down to Brum then spend some time there using my season ticket and finish off heading back to Rugby, where Dad could pick me up later in the day! Why Rugby? Torin has trampolining there on Saturday evenings so I thought that he could come to the station while Torin was there. I told Dad my plans and he was fine to both drop me off at Leam and pick me up at Rugby so it was going to work! And when traveling to Birmingham on a Saturday afternoon from Leamington, what train do you have to get? The 12:25!
11:55 came and Dad and I got in the car and headed off to the station for my train. I decided that I would get Dad a coffee or something fairly soon to thank him for taking me. I said bye to him after getting to the station and immediately went through the open barriers and onto the platform. I walked a long way down the platform and got a seat at the bench after the canopy to wait for the train. This service is a booked cat and, with no gen available, I had no idea which one. But as I said in the last report, I'll stop telling you the numbers of the cats fairly soon. I'll begin doing that now for most of them. But just so you can keep up, I'll put a reminder list of the Chiltern cat names including 008 and 009 so you can remember those too
68008 - Avenger
68009 - Titan
68010 - Bagpuss
68011 - Custard
68012 - A Shropshire Mog
68013 - Hairball
68014 - Gingertom (best of the bunch)
68015 - Topcat
So then, which cat did I get if working the 12:25 was fairly low mileage Hairball? This one was only on 156.50 miles and was my third lowest cat, the lowest being Titan at 118 miles and then Topcat at 154.50 miles. As I write this, all chiltern cats are above 200 except Topcat, which is at 177.50 miles and my lowest one.
Hairball towards Birmingham by fishquinn1, on FlickrHairball gave good thrash for the storm towards Brum and the bit that's better is that it's effectively free because I wasn't planning on heading out today. I was (obviously) in the front coach for the whole journey and it was soon arriving at Moor Street (platform 3) at 12:55. This is where the bashing truly began!
I walked to the Sainsbury's local next to Snow Hell station to see that they had no decent sarnies on offer. Because of this, I headed to a different Sainsbury's local, the one next to Dad's work. This was also terrible so I flagged that too and crossed the road to get to Tesco Express where I got an all day breakfast sarnie. From here, I ran to New Street and scanned the platforms for any winners. There was nothing obvious at that point in time so I just leaned on the handrail of one of the stairs (don't worry, I wasn't on the stairs. That would be somthing that would break the auto announcers at all London Underground stations and pretty much everywhere else. Quick, do it!) down to the platforms at Navigation Street footbridge. I decided to view the 13:15 to Glasgow to see if it would have a winner pendo on. This was before Tech had had his penultimate pendo for haulage so the moment that I saw that winner 390016 was on it, I just had to take it to Sandwell. His other one, 390114, is dud for me and has been for over a year. I got a seat and began eating my sandwich and crisps on the short journey with my first winner of the day. I knew that it would only be about 10-15 minutes to wait until a dez/starship back to New Street but it was more like 25 until a starship appeared about 15 down. There was an ex Shrewsbury right behind this one so I decided to wait for that, letting the very large pax cram onto the 3 coach starship. I was obviously hoping that the slightly delayed (due to the late running Walsall train) 170 would either be 508 or 510 but it couldn't have been one worse as it was my stalker, 170631 that would be taking me back to the city. It was a surprisingly busy train and there weren't many seats free at all. I ended up in a right hand side bay of 4 opposite someone for the little hop with my most used 170.
While at Sandwell, I saw a pair of Arriva 158s race through on a train to the airport. Both of them were required, which is very rare for me now as I only needed 5 at the time of the trip so I decided to intercept them on their way back out to Wales. This involved a 25-minute fester at the bat cave but it went quickly and I wasn't drawn off course by any 170s or 390s or 350s or trams so I was ready and waiting for the 14:25 to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli. I love listening to the announcement for services heading to Pwllheli just because some of the station names are really out there and funky. In fact almost all of my favorite station names are located on that branch, a couple of them being Dyffryn Ardudwy (pronounced duff-rin ar-do-ee) and Tonfanau (pronounced ton-fan-eye). A creamy cooler to anyone who can pronounce all of them! 5p to someone who can pronounce Morfa Mawddach (really! I can't even pronounce this one!) Anyway, they are just a few of the stations that winner 158827 wouldn't call at but winner 158819 would. I had no idea what I would do after getting to Smethwick GB but decided to head to the high level having just missed two trains back to New Street with the next one not being for ages. I looked at the PIS screen to see that the next one was at 14:47 heading to Stratford via Dorridge. I then had an idea of what to do involving this service. A quick check of the timetable revealed that I could do it so I just waited for the 3 coach 172 to arrive, 172344. This 172 was just under 10 miles at 8.75 so my leap would most definitely clear it. Where to? Well, there is a shack that has been bugging me for ages that isn't Tackley, Kings Sutton, Widney Manor (this one is so annoying), Acocks Green, Tysley, Small Heath, Bordesley or any other shack that I really want to get in any other part of the country. I was talking about Olton, where a +10 could be made onto another 172 back to Brum where I could get onto another winner that I had seen earlier in the day.
The journey to winner shack number 1 of...
1 (I don't really know where I was going to there) was uneventful and I was soon standing on the platform of Olton. I usually race past on cats so I haven't had a chance to see that it's actually quite a nice station, especially when the sun is shining. There are nice flowerpots outside the canopy and is probably the nicest of all the London Midland owned stations that I have visited. I called Dad while waiting for my train away to say how it was going and stuff and confirm that he was still ok to pick me up in a bit. He still was. After a short 10 minutes, 172331, one of them that is over 10 miles. This is due to arrive at Moor Street at 15:29, 5 minutes before a winner leaves heading to Solihull at 15:34. This winner was a two coach 165 on to Leam shuttle, which I had seen earlier at... Leam strangely enough! Anyway, my cart arrived at Moor Street on time so I headed across to platform 3 where winner 165008 was waiting to leave. I headed right to the front of the train and got a seat in the very front bay of four, away from all of the normals, who had just crammed in the front coach. While I was waiting for departure, I checked my phone to see what sort of connections there were at Solihull to head back and saw that there was a +2 onto a 168 from Marylebone. Don't mind if I do!
The connection was easily made with the 165 leaving the island platform before 168113 arrived. It was a flat out race back to Moor Street, leaving Solihull one minute late and arriving at Moor Street one early. It was now 15:55 and the train that I had to be on to get back to Rugby was due in 55 minutes from New Street. I immediately headed over there and headed straight over to Navigation Street footbridge to see what was around. I caught a glimpse of a departure board and after seeing that, it was straight down to platform 9 to see 43285 arriving on the 16:03 to Glasgow. I asked if I could cab it and got a positive response so I jumped in and got a very nice view of the tram. I was sorely tempted to take it to Tamworth but decided against it for two reasons. The first is that my season ticket wouldn't be valid and the second that it is a +0 at Tamworth onto the only Rugby train for an hour. With this in mind, I bade farewell to the pair of 43s and went to look at the departure board again. There wasn't really anything that caught by eye because the 10 minutes past Pendo to Euston was about an hour late and the 14 minutes past dez was dud. Because of this, I decided to aim for the 16:30 to Cardiff if it had a winner on it. It did but I suddenly found myself stuck by something that I hadn't thought of until now. This service should just about make a connection at University onto a Nottingham bound 170 which would give me a +2 onto the 16:50 to Euston. For some reason, this connection is a really hard one to make most of the time so if I missed it then I will have missed the 16:50 because of having to get a Starship. I (foolishly) decided to play it safe and just headed up stairs, got a c****y c****r from C***a and sat on dud 390119, which was forming my train away. Why was that foolish? I didn't miss out of 1 winner by doing this, I missed out on two. This is because the 170 that it connects with at Uni was also a winner so I made a stupid mistake by flagging it. Oh well. That's in the past and I don't see a blue police box around to change it. I checked if seat C1 or C2 were free but both were reserved from Birmingham International. The rear of the train was pretty much deserted though so I just cot a bay of 4 in coach B and waited for departure.
When the pendo began to gain speed, I made sure to check which dez would be following us to see if it was a winner and worth baleing at Cov for. It was so I decided to abandon VT there and was very surprised to see that there are already barriers there! That was pretty quick! How to make a terrible station even worse. Put barriers to 'ease the crowds entering and exiting the station. How the heck does putting barriers in make less crowds entering and exiting the station? That is absolute rubbish! I asked one of the barrier staff how long they had been there and got a reply that I wasn't expecting. Two weeks! There have been barriers at Coventry for two weeks before this trip! How didn't I know? Probably because I don't care about Coventry at all and if it got flattened I wouldn't care as long as all of the people and animals are out. I didn't have long to wait until winner 350249 formed my final service of the afternoon and quickly took me to Rugby where I saw that the barriers were coming on there too!
I called Dad to ask how long it would be until he would be here and the answer I get? About an hour! Apparently he was planning on picking me up AFTER Torin's trampolining. If I knew that then I would have got at least two more winners, maybe more! It doesn't matter in the large scale though. The thing that matters is that I got an extra 5 winner units from my neck of the woods when they weren't expected. I had an hour to so some spotting at Rugby now though and during that time, I saw 5 locos! I wasn't really expecting to see any because it's a Saturday afternoon and there was no 57 or 92 at the station but at least I could be surprised in the end! I got a photo of 66717 but just watched the trains pass without the camera for the rest of the time.
An hour later, as expected, Dad came to the station and picked me up before we all headed home, ready for some pizza and a movie. Excellent!
So all in all, it was a good afternoon out and I'm glad that I could do it!
Attachments
Last edited:
Kite159
Veteran Member
Have a good day 
Just think of all those lovely Quinn's you can bag around Manchester
Just think of all those lovely Quinn's you can bag around Manchester
jayalongtheway
Member
- Joined
- 31 Oct 2015
- Messages
- 241
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
Some long but enjoyable reads there train envy increasing...
train envy increasing...
HMS Ark Royal
Established Member
Who do you think wrote it?
backontrack
Established Member
A great trip report! Five winners, and a creamy cooler too!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Some more enjoyable reading, I didn't know barriers had gone in at Coventry or Rugby either!
Honoured that I got a mention in your trip report with the 390s, as for 114 that one is still annoying me!
Honoured that I got a mention in your trip report with the 390s, as for 114 that one is still annoying me!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Me thinks that had something to do with 67014 
Kite159
Veteran Member
Me thinks that had something to do with 67014
Didn't I hear it failed and ATW hired in a pair of ex- merseyrail 142s from northern to cover the service to Chester?
- Status