FQ's trips around the globe

FQ · 23 Feb 2016

The first GC guard on my North East examined my ticket and then asked about how my time in the North East currently was and stuff before hoping that I have a nice time on the rest of my rover! I never had any problem with them (and never even knew that it wasn't technically valid!).

As you can see, I required basically everything that day too!

RailUK Forums

Techniquest · 23 Feb 2016

fishquinn said:
Hopefully you'll get 377509 on your next London spin!

I'm slowly getting back up to date and the one that I'm now working on is in 2016 so hopefully I'll get back up to date quickly!

Cheers, I do as well! Good to hear you're almost back up to date with your trip reports, just in time for some more major bashing no doubt! I wish I had memory as good as yours mind!

FQ · 24 Feb 2016

I do have a strangely good memory, that's for sure!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
It's up to the roads in Oxford...

... I'd be well and truly stuffed if I meant that literally wouldn't I! No, thankfully I won't be driving through Oxford in this trip and instead, I'll be a long way away from Oxford. I'll be at the mercy of Manchester Oxford Road.

OK. That was slightly ambiguous. Don't worry; you weren't the only one thinking it! Today, my first big trip of 2016, I'd be in the North West. The date was Wednesday the 6th of January and I was in Penyffordd from Tuesday to Thursday because the 6th of Jan was my Auntie's 40th birthday and we were throwing a surprise party in a restaurant in Chester for her. Because the party was in the evening, I had the whole day to do something, finishing at Chester. Since 'Thomas Telford' was the shovel currently working on the Manchester hauled set, I had decided that I'd get off the 175 that would take me to Mancc at Occy Road and wait to see what was on the hauled diagram. It's an unreliable turn and is often replaced with a cart, sometimes for only part of the day, sometimes for the whole day, so I decided that if 67014 appeared then I'd head to Holyhead and back on it but if it was a unit (or any other shovel) then I'd spend the day in Manchester. Mum was OK with this but there was a slight problem with my plan. The hauled set works back to Llandudno on the 16:50 from Piccadilly, getting to Chester just after 18:00. It's apparently a 15-minute walk to the restaurant and apparently I needed to be there about 5 minutes before Auntie AJ or it'd ruin the surprise. It's in the bad part of Chester apparently and mum really didn't want me walking it in the dark but, after seeing no other way, she went over the route with me a couple of times before bed on the 5th. Granny wanted me to get a much, much earlier train back for it but this time I was adamant that it 'wasn't possible' but after a conversation with dad and a chat with a few of the guys on the forum, I decided that the shovel would have to be flagged as if there was a slight delay then the surprise would be ruined. I'll still have a good day though!

I woke to the annoying beeping coming from my alarm, which wasn't really wanted at 06:30 on a Wednesday morning. Unfortunately it wasn't avoidable as I was planning on walking to the station for the 07:47, something that'd take be a good 20-25 minutes. I got ready and popped on the forum for a bit before heading back up to my room to tell mum that I'd have to leave shortly. She said that she'd be happy to drop me down for my train so I wouldn't need to walk down, which gave me a few minutes to get some brekky as Granny was already up. At 07:30, mum and I left the house and about 5 minutes later, I was standing on Penyffordd station. I bade farewell to mum and gave dad a ring while waiting for my train. He'd have been at work for about half an hour by now so I wouldn't be waking him and we had a nice chat which finished at about 07:45, just in time for me to see that the semaphore had risen for my service. The board said that it was 'on time' but it rolled in about two minutes late with dud 150217 providing the traction. It was just getting light outside but the 150 gave some great thrash up the hill and I was nice and comfy for the short ride, getting my return to Shotton and a Cheshire Day Ranger on board. We arrived at Shotton with about 5 minutes until the 08:04 to Llandudno Junction was due so I could have a fill in move instead of a 45 minute fester at Shotton. The fill in move would get me a winner shack so after a lot of hmmming and haaahing, I decided to take dud 175107 for the short ride to Flint, which was shack score number one of 2016! Flint is a basic station with quite a nice station building but nothing really in the area with a quick look. I changed platforms after getting off the 175 and got ready for my 25-minute fester. I got my hopes up when I saw that the first thing on the boards was an 08:17 to Crewe, giving me a potential move to Chester before my onward service to Mancc but then saw that the service was 'formed of 5 coaches' and wasn't operated by ATW. That's annoying! I gave dad another call, asking him if there was any gen on the Mancc diagram yet and just had a nice chat, which lasted for a very long time and finished just before I boarded the 08:32 to Manchester Piccadilly, formed of dud 175106 this morning. It may start off with lots of duds but if I end up in Manchester today then that'll change very quickly!

A bay of four to myself was sourced very easily on the quiet service, which was vital with what I wanted to do while on the 175 this morning. Use the deck of cards that I got for Christmas (with a tube map on the face down side of them) to play some patience, which is also known as solitaire. This is a card game that you can play without someone else so it was perfect for a long 175 journey and in a couple of moments, I had it all set up. The guard came through just after leaving Flint and after that I had no interruptions (although it isn't exactly a hardship to get my ticket out) to play my game. I cleared it three times between Flint and Runcorn East, where I packed the cards away, having got wedged out by a guy and his laptop at Frodsham. He wanted some room for the laptop so I quickly finished the round and then put them away, something that he was fine with. The sunrise over Chester was brilliant and I almost got a photo but got blocked by a wall as I took the photo. There was nothing much in Arpley and after Bank Quay I was on the lookout for units anyway. At the junction after the WCML but before Earlestown, we came to a stand for some reason. 5 minutes later the guard came over the PA and said that we were waiting for a late running train and that we'd be moving again soon. Then after about 10 minutes of waiting, the 175 lurched forward and arrived at Earlestown. We left Earlestown 10 down, giving me a -3 at Oxford Road onto what should be the shovel. With this in mind, it seemed that even if the 09:54 to Holyhead had 67014 on then I wouldn't make it so I decided to go for the day in Manchester. Thanks to some spirited running after Newton-le-Willows, we made up a minute or so before hitting the motorway and then it was the usual crawl towards Occy Road. At 09:54 we were passing through Deansgate. I just waited for a silver flash followed by blue coaches but for some reason it didn't come. I got ready at the door in order to leap off because, even if I wasn't heading back to Wales just yet, I'd decided to wait at Oxford Road for the ex Blackpool pair of 156s. As we arrived on platform 3, I looked over and saw Thomas Telford sat in the platform next to us; doors still unlocked but were being shut by the platform staff rather quickly. I was first off the cart by a long shot and sprinted over, opening the door closest to the loco just before the whistle was blown. I hopped on and slammed it seconds later, before the guard shut his so I didn't delay departure any more than the two minutes it already was. I'd made it. I was on 67014 once again! Vote best shovel!

It was great to get some more thrash from the best of the 67s again as it left Occy Road before heading to a bay of 4 and giving dad a ring to tell him that I'd made the connection. There was still one slight problem though. I wanted lots of winners and in the time that I'd spent on the cart thinking that the connection would fail, Mancc seemed like a really fun day out. I told dad all of this and he suggested bailing at Earlestown, which would save a lot of money too (about £10). I decided to go for this and made my way to the front vestibule again to get some more thrash from TT, which was still rather dirty from the RHTT workings that it'd been doing around Didcot. It was some excellent thrash being emmited from the loco as it did some brilliant speed away from Manchester and that's when I decided on something and headed away from the loco...

... And to the DVT. "Child off peak day return from Chester to Holyhead please". I was on 67014. I wouldn't give it up for a day on carts in Manchester.

After getting my tickets, I headed back to my bay of 4 and got my pack of cards out of my bag again to have a few more games as the shovel headed down the boring bit of line. I made sure I looked out at the Frodsham viaduct and I also made sure to get thrash from TT as it left both Frodsham and Helsby, getting a photo of it at the latter. I was very glad of the decision that I made, that's for sure! I noticed that the Chester to Crewe shuttle had a winner 150 on so I decided to aim for that later on but continue with my card games for the time being. We continued towards Holyhead and at Rhyl, I packed them away and headed back to the vestibule window for some more thrash along the coast. This service doesn't actually stop at Colwyn Bay for some reason but the guard said it during the announcement by accident and a couple of moments after that you could hear two other people in the DVT tell him that there was no Colwyn Bay stop. I stayed up there until just after Llandudno Junction when I went back to my seat to enjoy the views from there for a bit.

After Bangor it was onto track that I hadn't had in ages and ages so I enjoyed looking at the excellent scenery on this part, away from the sea. Some of the shacks on this route, such as Bodorgan, Ty Croes and of course the one that I can't name at the moment because I don't have access to the internet (no prizes for guessing which one I'm referring to!). Even with a bike, I couldn't see any roads in the area, just flooded fields next to the line. On the line there is a place named Valley, which is terribly named. It didn't look like it was in a valley so it should be called Valley. There should by laws against this sort of thing (and of course the use of pacers and voyagers with anything other than tin cans and things)! Anyway, after passing through the station I saw something else that there should be laws against. There was the two Northern Belle 57s having worked the nuclear flask train! The things that should be illegal with this? It should be 37s or 20s on the Nuclear Flask trains and nothing else, especially not 57s! And the second bit. There shouldn't be 57s! They should all still be 47s and working on passenger trains to replace the 'Unspeakably Horrible Things' that are now tin cans thanks to law number 2 in this trip report. Anyway, that's enough moaning for one trip report, especially since Nathan wasn't even there!

We got held just outside Holyhead and a quick check of RTT said that it was to wait for an ATW service to Maesteg to clear the platform because apparently the two other platforms have some strange problem meaning only things that should be tin cans can enter them. Eventually the 175 passed us and we headed on in, everyone leaving the train because it had quite a wait there before coming back out on the 13:07 back to Mancc. There was a good 40 minutes to get some lunch and, being in the mood for a doner, I headed to the 'town center' in search of a chippy. This involved crossing a long bridge and after a couple of minutes I was on the main road. I noticed a co-op but I wanted something warm if a doner wasn't available so I headed the opposite direction in hint of one. After about 5 minutes of walking, the shops were wearing out and it seemed that there was just houses from there so I just quickly checked my bank balance at the Lloyds there and headed back towards the station. I walked slightly past the co-op but there was just more houses so I ended up in the place about 2 minutes walk from the station for lunch. To find that they had warmed pasties! There was a 2 for £1.50 offer on so I got a couple of them with two drinks and a pack of 5 custard donuts (to make a change from the jam ones that I usually get) before heading back to the station to eat. I got a quick photo of shovel 14 before getting back on board but the sun was in the wrong place so it was a pretty bad photo. Lunch was great and I had two of the 5 donuts, putting the rest and one drink in my bag for later. It wasn't too long before we lurched forward again, this time with the shovel pushing and began storming back towards civilization, getting away from the place that is far from it. I think that describes Holyhead OK. And after visiting again (my last visit being many, many years before), I finally understood why Holyhead has the name that it does. They cut holy people's heads off and put them at the top of each building. That seems like the sort of thing that would happen there (no offence to anyone who has the mis-guided notion that Holyhead is nice)! Anyway, back to the countryside, being powered by the best of the 67s.

We raced through the little shacks again and after a nice non-stop run, the first stop was reached at Bangor. During the stop here, I glanced up at the PIS and had to blink twice when I saw the calling pattern for the service back, particually after Warrington. It was most stops to Warrington (Colwyn Bay, Rhyl, Prestatyn, Flint, Chester, Helsby, Frodsham, Runcorn East and Warrington Bank Quay) but after that the calling pattern was simply Earlestown and Manchester Piccadilly meaning that we wouldn't be stopping at Newton-le-Willows or, even stranger, Manchester Oxford Road! That bit should be a monstrous run then!

It was the usual nice run down the coast, with a few rounds of patience played as we continued towards Chester and eventually the other Chester. Not much to mention about the journey from here except that there was two new 66s at Arpley, only one of them being ID-able. This one was 66131. An enthusiast who had been on the train from Piccadilly earlier in the day and left at Warrington joined again for the return journey so we had a nice chat for the second time that day. He'd been spotting for the day and Bank Quay and saw 59003 come through whilst there. This is one of my last three 59s required for sight (004 and 104 being the other two) so this was quite annoying! I'll get it soon enough though (putting me aside from Nathan who would probably be moaning for the rest of the day)! Dad had called while we were sat at Holyhead waiting to leave and had come up with a plan to get me back to Chester in very good time for the party, which would also get me 150255, the winner that I'd seen working the Crewe-Chester shuttle. This would get me back at about 16:45 but would mean that I'd have an hour and 45 minutes to kill in Chester before the party. I couldn't go to Auntie AJ's because it'd ruin the surprise so I'd just be left floating there for ages. It would also mean getting off the shovel at Warrington instead of heading straight through to Piccadilly and I'd have to get a pendo from Warrington to Crewe. I said that I might go for that option but I'd see what would work best for mum first before definitely saying any time. I said that I'd call dad back after calling mum so I hung up and gave mum a call. I gave three time options - 16:45, 17:45 and 18:00 (cheekily adding in the last one in the hope that she'd say it so I could get the shovel back out). Hoping that she wouldn't pick the first of them, I was glad to hear that 17:45 would be the best bet. Because of this, I called dad back to say that a good route over would be to take Thomas Telford straight through to Piccadilly and then head down to Crewe for the 17:20 150 up. He said that it was a good plan and we had a little chat for a few minutes. The rest of the journey after Warrington went without trouble and, as expected, the bit after Earlestown was a great run. I got up to window hang just before Deansgate so I could hang for the nice non stop run through Occy Road and say bye to Thomas Telford before it stopped. My plan was to view the 15:55 to Euston and take it to Crewe if it had a winner on but if not then go for the 16:30 to Tenby (or wherever the heck it goes). I didn't have any time to lose and after saying bye to TT again and asking it to be out and about on the 15th of Jan, I ran over to the terminus platforms to see what was forming the Euston service.

390138. Boring! I turned around and began walking away from it in hope of doing an Oxford Road leap to spend the time before the 175 is due out. As I began heading over, I noticed that the shovel was heading out ECS so I just stood at watched it fade away before continuing my hike to platform 14. The next service heading towards Occy Road was the 16:03 to Blackpool, which I knew would be a single Northern unit. How did I know that it'd be a single unit and not a double or triple? Short answer. Northern Rail. Long answer. It will be a busy service out of Manchester heading to Blackpool. Northern Rail are the operators of the service so you can tell that it will be a single unit and not a double. Sure enough it was winner 150134 working it. And sure enough, it was a very busy service! I'm only on for 0.5 miles though so it hardly affects me. It was a tight connection at Occy Road because my service back was arriving at the same time as we were so I sprinted over the footbridge and managed to get onto dud 185116 back in. Since this one will arrive at Piccadilly for about 16:10, I had four options that could get me to Stockport to pick up the 175 from there. No, make that three. The 16:17 to Chester is a 142. Nope, two, the 16:15 to Euston is a dud 390. My other options were a 16:20 TPE to Cleethorpes or a 16:23 (or something like that) to Buxton from the Occy Road direction. I viewed the 16:20 arriving (it was an ex Manchester Airport) and saw that there was a winner 185 providing the traction. Excellent! I obviously couldn't confirm that the Buxton wouldn't have a 142 on or a dud 150 and, knowing that a service heading out would have a winner on it, I'd be a fool to turn it down! Onto winner 185131 then! I managed to get a seat on it for the ride to the first stop on the line, noticing the 175 number that'd be taking me from Stockport to Crewe. A winner! Result! I also happened to notice that the Buxton had arrived and had a pair of units on, the front of which was definitely a 150/2. Now I've flagged it, it's going to be a pair of winner 150s isn't it! Time will tell though.

Stockport was reached right time and I had 10 minutes until the 16:39 to rural Wales was due in. It hadn't yet left Mancc according to RTT but I made sure to keep an eye on it because if I missed the +20 or so at Crewe then the party would be ruined. The Buxton service arrived and, just as I expected, it had a double winner 150 on. Oh well, I still got one winner! RTT said that the 175 had left Piccadilly 1 down so I got ready to get on, hoping for a good seat. I was glad to see that it was the one that I'd seen at Mancc earlier so 175111 puts my 175s one step closer to clearance. I managed to get a table seat but on the corridor side and backwards facing, with three other people there. No patience this time then (and to be honest, I didn't have any at that moment in time. I wanted the dismal ride to Crewe to be over!) It was now dark so I couldn't see anything out of the window and, having a crowded train is no fun. Quite a few people left at the posh Wilmslow but no one from my table. We were apparently running two down now but with ages at Crewe anyway, this was fine. The rest of the journey was dull as ditchwater and I was glad to leave at a dark Crewe 'station', as the guard says. Really? I thought we were arriving at Crewe Morrisons! What is the train doing arriving at the train station (I'm just saying train station this time - I use railway station as my preferred term)? That seems oddly convenient! I was wearing a pair of jogger bottoms and a tee shirt that I'd been wearing for a while so I had a change of clothes in my bag for the party, making me look 'smart'. Why do you need to look smart? Surly it'd be better if you were comfy! What do other people think? But mum insisted so I went along with it.

I called dad during the wait at Crewe to say that all was OK and that I was in position for the 17:23 to Chester. It rolled in from Chester on time and it did have the unit that I was hoping for on, winner 150255. Great stuff! I gave mum a call and it went to voice mail but definitely rung. She's probably driving then. I had a table on this journey so got the cards out again to have a few more games before we reached our 'first, last and only stop' according to the guard on board. As we reached an area that'd have signal on the route (right before Chester), mum called and said that the traffic was awful but she was at the station now and would meet me in the car park, telling me where she was. I said that we were now arriving and that I'd be there in a moment and, just after my last train of the day arrived at it's last stop, I was walking towards where mum had said to come to. I said hi and she told me that my help was required in locating the car park. I did that with ease and it took us less than 5 minutes to find the restaurant, an Italian place to see...

... That Auntie AJ and Uncle Julian with my cousins were already there, having arrived really early (before almost everyone!). It was an OK evening. The food was a very good quality but every so often the lights would go out and in a really, really loud voice, the speakers would start playing 'happy birthday' and loads of staff would come out of the kitchen smashing gongs together. For the noise levels from just the speakers, think of the loudest train announcement that you've ever heard. Times the noise by at least 10 and you've got it. This happened more than 5 times while we were there and it was really annoying. The food was also ridiculously priced so, even though I wasn't paying, I kind of wanted to head to the chippy next door and get a kebab and chips for less than half the price it'd be for something in the restaurant. I was told no by mum and also said not to worry about the cash so I just ended up with a very tasty cheese pasta with chicken and bacon.

After finishing in the resteraunt, mum, Torin and I headed back to Auntie AJ's house with all of them for a bit before heading back to Granny's getting there at the very reasonable hour of 22:00 after a very nice day with the best shovel.

Kite159 · 24 Feb 2016

142s are not cleared to buxton

one safe trip for you as it will either be a 150 or 156 (or both)

Sounded like a good day

FQ · 24 Feb 2016

Doh! I wish I'd known that then!

alexf380 · 24 Feb 2016

Hope you enjoyed yourself, Quinn, even if you did have to end it earlier than you wanted to. Looking forward to reading about your next report

Techniquest · 25 Feb 2016

A good day there Quinn, although I still contest the best shovel!

Your trip report has reminded me of the existance of the Coast and Peaks ticket, somethijg I must remember to thoroughly research when my tablet has been charged again!

FQ · 25 Feb 2016

The Coast and Peaks would be a good one for me to do based at Penyffordd although I'd probably end up on the shovel for all of the time! A Cheshire day ranger and a return from Chester to Holyhead was fine for a one day one though.

FQ · 7 Mar 2016

I hope you have a while to read this one!

The capitalcard

A basic title this time, easily stating where I was going this time. On the 9th of January, the day after my birthday, Nathan and I had decided to head to London, with Jackie (his mum) along for the ride. Nathan had some RTVs from LM so we wanted to go from Rugby to use these. I'd been in Nottingham the day before (my birthday) but it was just some trams so I've decided not to write it up. The majority of the day was non-rail stuff anyway. But back to the 9th. Nathan had arranged to pick me up for 08:15 in order to catch the 08:43 fast dez to Euston; MK being the only intermediate stop en route. I was all ready to head out by 08:10, after getting up just before 7' so when Nat appeared, perfectly on time (that's got to be a first!) I was all ready to go. We headed out towards Rugby and the drive was hateful. After turning to head towards Rugby, we got stuck behind a car, which was stuck behind a horsebox that was doing about 40mph as its max speed in a 60 limit. We watched time move as we barely moved. Thankfully it turned off after a while. But then there was the car right in front of us. The limit for when the horsebox turned off to Rugby is 40mph most of the way. This car was really having it on and didn't get past 20! And if that isn't bad enough, he dipped below 20 quite a lot too! We eventually pulled up at the car park with 4 minutes until our train was due out. We ran to the ticket office and tried to get our tickets as quick as possible before running to platform 5 just as the 08:43 to Euston was pulling out. That is just freaking booked. Next LM service via Weedon in an hour. Next one via Northampton in just over 15 minutes and will probably take over an hour and a half to get to the capital. Great. I looked at the PIS, really hopeful that there was another service heading via Weedon shortly that wasn't formed of 5, 9, 10 or 11 coaches and was mightily surprised to see that the next train on platform 5 was supposedly the 09:03 to Euston, first stop Milton Keynes, second stop Euston. Wow! I wasn't expecting that! Nathan had noticed someone that we see very regularly at Rugby station on platform 2 so we went over to say hi and he came back over to platform 5 with us for a bit before our train. We had a nice chat with him before heading back to Jackie and watching our service to Euston arrive, dud 350101 working it. Since most of the normals had crowded onto the service 4 minutes before that headed via Northampton, this one was fairly empty and we got a bay of four for the three of us at the very front of the train. After leaving Rugby, we began to pick up speed and watched the slow lines peel away towards Northampton as we raced down the fasts for the start of the 82-and-a-half mile journey. Someone joined us in the bay of four at Milton Keynes and 8 locos were spotted between Rugby and London, the highlights being 86101 and 86401. It was only about an hour after leaving Rugby that we arrived at Bat Cave south and, wanting to leave as quick as possible, we descended to the Northern line. I've decided to start recording what underground stuff I get from 2016 onwards so this was my first '95 stock action since starting them for haulage. I had records of one 2009 stock and one S7 stock that I'd had back in the London Challenge in November 2014. With these two, I've decided to include them in my count so before the 9th, I'd only had two recorded London Underground units. It was double winners 51665 and 51725 in charge of my first underground move of 2016. Nathan and I had formed a vague plan including some of the things that we wanted to do today so it was on this pair to Waterloo in order to have some spotting time at Clapham Junction. The 1995 stock is quite nice if it's very lightly loaded and you get a seat and it was a nice little ride underground to Waterloo, where we went up from the ground, in a place where I'm likely to get winners, unlike Euston. There were quite a few 458/5s at the blocks and a quick check of the departure board showed us that the next service that we'd make heading to Clapham was the 10:28 to Windsor and, much to my delight, I got to sample my first 458/5 on it with winners 458526 and 458509 being the ones on this service. We headed to the front unit and sat in one of the completely empty coaches there. I like the new interior on the 458s that's for sure. There's a good view out of the windows and you can see stuff from the other side, for example if you're sat on the right then you can see out of all of the left hand side windows easily. Several units were noted on the journey out, Nathan telling me the numbers on the left, me telling him the numbers on the right.

The 458s were shortly arriving at Clapham Junction or, as I like to call it, Clarm because it makes it sounds better. Why is this? It doesn't sounds like it's in Clapham! Or near Croydon for that matter. It was spotting time when we got there so we set up camp at the London end of platforms 10 and 11, the two that the South West trains 455s usually stop on, and immediately began scribing everything. The 378s were fairly tricky to get, the coach numbers being what we IDed them with in the end. I got plenty of winners while there, including a 378/1. The plan from here was to get one of the quarter hourly 378s on winner track across to Shadwell before going onto the DLR to get over to Limehouse. Everyone needed a PNB so we went to find Jackie, who had got a coffee for herself while we spotted. Then it was to the toilets. We all went into the subway to find signs for them but after seeing none whatsoever (!), Nathan told Jackie to wait in a certain spot for us as we went to locate them.

After a couple of minutes of looking, we found a single sign for them on the footbridge and went to fetch Jackie. Then we all had to wander right over to the far side of the station (the Southern side) to get to the ONLY toilets on the whole station. The busiest station in the UK! They charged to use them here too, but Jackie managed to get 20p for Nathan to go in before going to the 'change machine' to get some more. The change machine basically splits your cash into 20ps so if you put £1 in then five 20ps would come out. Well, actually it doesn't. What it does is takes the pound and gives you the same pound back. The stupid thing didn't work! This was told to a SWT member of staff who was there and he let us bother through. From this, I managed to conclude something. The toilets at Clapham Junction are terrible.

We all headed over to the opposite end of the station and found out that the next service to Dalston Junction was at 11:28. It was currently just after quarter past so we had just over 10 minutes until it was due out. It was winner 378201 working this one. We got on to find that it was surprisingly busy. Jackie and I managed to get a seat, with Nathan deciding to stand, so even though it was busy, I was nice and clarm, sorry, calm. We set off right time and it was at that time that the absolute stagger to Shadwell began...

Neither Nathan nor I had had any of this track before so we didn't know what to expect. It started off the same way as any other slow journey, passing another 378 just after we curved onto the line towards Dalston via the big loop. After a few minutes, I spun rather rapidly after seeing something rather funky. From this line you could easily see a part of Selhurst depot! A couple of new red 387s were there along with one of the forum's favorite units that I won't dare say in case I start a huge 80-page discussion! A few 377s were also seen. There was also a loco in there, this being none other than 73202! Vote ED! We passed a winner (for sight) 465 when staggering down the Southeastern part, passing a few 378s heading for Clapham. It took ages and ages to do no distance at all and after what felt like an eternity, the 378 entered the long tunnel. We passed another unit at each station en route, meaning we could ID them with the station lights. I scored my first 378/2 for sight (for the day) putting me down to needing two, with Nathan needing one because it was also a winner for him. We'd both started the day needing three 378/2s but Nathan had scored one of his earlier on at Clapham. Shadwell was eventually reached after an incredibly long journey, and all three of us left the train and began following the signs for the DLR platforms. We headed up hundreds of stairs, across a road and up some more stairs just to see a DLR pair leaving in the Limehouse direction. How can I be expected to wait 1 minute?!

Treble winner 151, 109 and 127 were on the next one for the tiny hop to another winner shack in the form of Limehouse. It was easy enough to change to the city to coast (C2C) platforms just to find that it was a 10-minute wait before the next Shoeburyness service, the 12:24. The wait was spent watching several DLR units that I could be taking out to Shadwell and back before the 357. It eventually arrived with a pair of winners, 357213 and 357029 We boarded the front unit for the leap to Barking, passing East Ham depot en route. There was a lot of winner 357s in there but none beat what I saw just before arriving at Baking. 172007. My last 172 for sight! I'd finally got the stupid unit! Nathan had cleared the 172s before me and would be guaranteed to point it out so I got ready for my response. Sure enough, he mentioned it so I just reminded him who cleared the 185s, 175s, 91s and 87s and several other classes first. That shut him up!

Double winners 357034 and 357035 were on this 12:40 from Barking to Fenchurch Street, which was taken for another shack score, this time at the cooked pig in the East. You guessed it! East Ham! After getting off here, we saw that the next service wasn't due for just under 15 minutes! With the frequency being very poor today, we decided to fester for 15 mins before getting on double winners 357013 and 357324 to Barking and then onto another pair of winners, 357022 and 357045 on the new half-hourly service to Liverpool Street. A mini linear bash to Liverpool Street was decided so we took the 357s to Stratford before heading over to the platofmr that the 13:30 was due off from. I was very surprised to see a 379 waiting there! My first 379 for haulage! We headed up to it and got a seat on winner 379029 for the ride back to the city center. It went smoothly and we were soon arriving at Liverpool Street in dire need of some food. Boots was visited and a meal deal sourced before going to the robot killers: Self service checkout machines. It shows how much technology has advanced now that there are killer robots in Boots at Liverpool Street. How are they killer robots? You use one for 5 seconds and then want to kill yourself. You use one for 10 seconds and then you do kill yourself. These ones were no exception and were probable the worst ones that I've ever used. They wouldn't take the money off for the meal deal and they wouldn't accept Jackie's loyalty card. With minimal staff around, it took us ages to get out of the store with some food. Anyway, what was on the agenda now? Only one thing! Stratford hops! Jackie didn't want to just go back and forth between the two stations so, much to my surprise (and Nathan's), Jackie let us do it solo! The next service heading that way was the 14:02 to Ipswich and, before Jackie could change her mind, we headed over to the platform for it. Unfortunately it wasn't a dusty bin but was instead my first 360. Well, my first two. 360115 and 360110. We got a seat in the empty front unit and got lunch out to eat it as the dezzes zipped away. It was a pretty tacky lunch for some reason, which was a pain, but the journey was nice enough. After getting to Stratford, it was a basic island platform change onto one of the two 14:19 services to Liverpool Street, this one being the one from platform 9. It was a dusty bin (

) so I was very happy when winner 321429 rolled in. I haven't had many AGA dusties (just two recorded) so I was expecting a winner after seeing one approaching but I wasn't sure what class it'd be so I was very happy to see the best EMU on it. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Dusty bins are great!

The plan now was to get onto the 14:30 'skoda' out of Liverpool Street to Stratford and then back in on the next 90, which would be about a +5 at Stratford. I don't like 90001-90015 at all, purely because of the amount of '87' miles that they lost dad and I back in the day. I don't like skodas as a class anyway but Nathan seems to like them and wanted to get a couple today. Since he'd dome some units with me, I decided that it was only fair. The chance of me getting winners on them was high anyway and at least it's decent coaches! The dusty stopped on the high-numbered-platform side of Liverpool Street, coming to a stand at 14:27. SPRINT! We both ran over to the 'West Anglian' side of the station and tried to put our travelcards through the barrier, just for it to decline them! They were rather rapidly shown to a member of gateline staff who let us through and we ran past the loco and got on at the first door before walking through to a Standard Class vestibule and putting our heads out of the dropdown windows, just as winner 90004 began pushing the service towards Norwich. It gained speed rather rapidly and we were soon racing along the Great Eastern Mainline. We got up to a very good speed en route and after asking Nathan a question that was going through my head shown that he was thinking the same thing. Are we going to stop at Stratford?! The departure boards at Liverpool Street say that this service is first stop Chelmesford because it's pick up only at Stratford so we were both wondering if the stop had been axed! Thankfully not as we began braking just in time for the station stop. We changed platforms and got in position for the 14:46 to Liverpool Street, which was 'expected' at 14:44! That one's drop off only at Stratford! In rolled winner 90008 hauling the service, with Nathan and I getting a vestibule window for the run back to 'Bat cave south-east'. Nathan was very happy at the two skodas that we'd got, both being winners for him too so he was happy (I hoped it'd last for the rest of the day too!). The skoda back gave an exceptional performance getting to some excellent speed on the dash to the street. It was the quickest that I've ever got between the two and the point-to-point journey time was a mere 5 minutes (exactly).
We'd arranged to meet Jackie at 15:00 so a wander around was required and after a quick chat, we were allowed another half-hour to do another return trip. The 15:02 to Ipswich had just been missed so we had a couple of options, one of them being a 315 pair out. I wasn't keen to get those right now and, as it turns out, neither was Nathan. Because of this we decided to settle for the 15:13 to Shoeburyness with winners 357018 and 357211 providing the power. We got underway fairly quickly and arrived at the platforms at Stratford next to the Central line. While waiting for the slightly delayed 15:23 back, a few Central line tubes arrived and I noticed that both doors opened, with platforms either side. An easy way to change platforms then!

I was surprised to see the 15:23 come in with a 357, expecting an AGA unit but I didn't really care because it was double winners 357028 and 357325 taking us on the short hop back. We sat in the rear unit and marveled at the new 'metro' style interior in the unit. The journey was uneventful and after arriving, we went to find Jackie again and then headed for the tube. We wanted to be on the 16:46 to Crewe from Euston but, not noticing the time, we headed onto the Metropolitan line and boarded winner 21049+21050 for the journey through the tunnel to Kings Cross. I wanted to try out a famed Finsbury Park leap, as did Nathan so we exited the 'silver worm' line and the moment we got up the stairs (which are outside Kings Cross), I cursed. I could see a tram powercar and, while it isn't possible to get the numbers from here, it was easy to see a 'Spirit of Sunderland' logo on the side of one of them. I truly hate you 43274! One of my last 3 VTEC ones! Jackie got a photo of the exterior of Kings Cross before we walked in, through the open barriers and got the tram numbers. It turns out that there wasn't one but two of my required 18 powercars (including 013/014/062) there, with 43468 being the other. This one is one of dad's last two required ones (013 being the other) so I made sure a piccy was got before we headed over to the surburban side and looked at what was due out next. It was the 16:05 to Cambridge and I was very happy to see that it would by my first GN 321 on this service so we all got on board 321419 and waited for departure. A bay of four was sourced and right on time the dusty lurched forward and headed out towards Finsbury Park. It was at this moment we noticed the time. Hell! We could probably be back at the Cross for just before 25 minutes past, giving 20 minutes until departure of the dez. I'd only walked between the two once so my memory of it was fuzzy but I could probably direct us there but knowing how quickly Jackie and Nathan walked, I wasn't sure that we'd make it. Still, I've got a winner dusty bin out of it so I don't really care! I didn't say this though...

My first ever Finsbury Park leap went smoothly and since I've only ever passed through Finsbury Park (and only 3 times at that!) at speed, I had no idea what the station layout was at this winner shack. I was surprised to see that 419 came in on a line with a platform either side (both platforms looked like they were in regular service) so I got ready to alight at the right hand side door, only to see that it was just the left ones that opened (unlike the LU at Stratford). We left the train and went to find a departure board to see when the next 'Angry Monarch' bound service was. There was a 16:13 that was currently running 7 late and was due on platform 4 so we decided to go for that one and got onto the platform. At 16:20 we saw headlights coming from the distance so thought that it was the 16:13 approaching but it wasn't as 43054 and 43081 came coasting through the platform we were waiting on. Shame they weren't climbing the hill out of Kings Cross but it's still nice to see a tram! Then a platform alteration was announced for our service and everyone had to head down the subway and up onto platform 2. I think what irritated me most about this is the fact that platforms 2 and 3 share the same line so they could have opened the doors on platform 3 to save everyone going through the subway. Everyone got on the service though and I had a big smile on my face as it was winner 321420 that set off just before 16:25 with us on it. This was going to be tricky as we had about 15 minutes to get across to Euston and onto the train but it should be doable. At Kings Cross, we immediately exited the station and I decided to head through St Pancakes so I could ask a member of staff how to get there so we could be quicker that me just trying to remember. After a minute, I had the info of where to go memorized and we headed off on the walk. Jackie and Nathan were going really, really slowly and at points I wondered if they were doing it purposely. I was walking at my 'slow walking pace' and had to stop every 30 seconds for them to catch up! We entered the Euston concourse with 3 minutes until the train was due off and immediately headed down to the platform where dud 350370 was waiting on the 16:46 to Crewe. Nathan and I sat at a table with two people opposite us and Jackie sat in the bay of 4 next to us, with three people in the other seats. I could tell that this would be a long hours ride...

And it was. It was dark outside so there was nothing to see and it was a complete bore fest on the journey back because Nathan was listening to his music (I knew I shouldn't have offered to create a playlist for his I-phone!) but the dez eventually arrived at Rugby about 10 down. Why 10 down? 5 minutes late leaving Euston, 5 minutes lost en route. Still, it was over now and another excellent day cast to memory as the drive back commenced. I got home before Dad and Torin, who had gone to trampolining so I just waited for them to come back and I was very glad at what they were holding. Dinner. From the local Chinese. What a great way to end a great day!

Kite159 · 7 Mar 2016

Sounded like a good day in London, although you would have alighted at West Ham from the C2C service and not East Ham which only has platforms on the LU lines

FQ · 7 Mar 2016

Ah, thanks! I was just getting used to the name of the depot and though that it'd be the same!

55013 · 7 Mar 2016

An excellent day in the capital, there.
A nice bit of variety in the moves, just what I like

Kite159 · 7 Mar 2016

As for the toilets at Clapham, agreed, it's a bit tight to charge for using them when a good percentage of services which call at Clapham don't have toilets on board.

FQ · 9 Mar 2016

Hi all! Here is a special 'photo trip report' that I've put together. The written version can be found under the photos. I hope you enjoy!

Snap! The photos!

Heading to Moor Street by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Gingertom at Moor Street by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Duddeston dez by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Duddeston starships by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Trains at the bat cave by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Departing starship by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Tram to Plymouth by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Sat at New Street by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Picking up the students by fishquinn1, on Flickr

170 at the Bat Cave by fishquinn1, on Flickr

'This tram is for Bull Street' by fishquinn1, on Flickr

'This tram is for Wolverhampton St Georges' by fishquinn1, on Flickr

'This tram is for Bull Street' by fishquinn1, on Flickr

'This tram is for Wolverhampton St Georges' by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Euston bound by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Dezzy at International by fishquinn1, on Flickr

'This train is formed of eleven carriges' by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Ten at International by fishquinn1, on Flickr

New Street pendo by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Not in Wales... by fishquinn1, on Flickr

EMU meets DMU by fishquinn1, on Flickr

The grand Moor Street station by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Blurry cat by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Blurry cat by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Snap (written version)!

Firstly, I'll explain the title for this one. This trip report is a 'special report' that came to me by the creative mind of Backontrack. Sometime last year, he suggested that I do a 'photo trip report', where the main event of it is the photos. He asked if it'd be OK for him to write up but it just got really complicated so it got put into my ever-growing pile. I know that a lot of forum members can't see attachments on mobile devices so I've decided to upload these ones to Flickr and then the forum. I've waited to upload them until the trip report is done so most of them will never have been seen before (except a couple that have slipped onto the forum in places such as my current avatar (the one with the tram arriving at New Street). Also, because the main part of this is the photos, it'll be nowhere near as detailed as most of my reports and will probably be a much shorter read. The 13th of January was different to my trips not only in the fact that I would be taking loads of photos for a trip report, but another reason too, that will be said in the main report. I'd appreciate any input about what people think of this form and if you would want to see it again. Anyway, on with the report!

Wednesday morning - Get up at stupid o' clock (about 07:00) and get on with some maths. Today was a normal Wednesday. A normal morning, a normal afternoon and a normal evening. I thought. In fact, today would be a semi-regular morning, a crazy afternoon and a rather different evening. My Wednesdays usually involve getting up early and getting some work done (notably maths and Environmental Management) before heading out for my brothers 'drama' lesson in Warwick. Sometimes mum will swing via Leam to drop me off to do a return trip to Brum on a cat while Torin did drama and then we'd head on to Leamington swimming pool and meet up with a lot of the other home ed' community for an hour or two. Today, I got my work done and then got all ready for swimming myself. It's Torin's job to make sure we have a towel, goggles and other things required so I didn't worry about them and we all piled in the car a few minutes late. We were heading via Leamington today so I could go to Brum and back while Torin was at drama but it didn't effect me because my planned train left 5 minutes after Torin needed to be at drama but mum didn't want them to be late. Torin had been very annoying that morning and after mum asked if he'd remembered the goggles and towel, he said, and I quote, 'Shoot. No. I thought you'd have got them'! Because of this, mum gave me an option. I could either head to Birmingham for the day and come back with dad, or I could head to the swimming pool and see if one of the home ed' community could lend us a towel to use. I think you know my answer!

This was a trip decided about 15 minutes before the train that I'd have to be on, making it different in the second way. But anyway, mum dropped me off at Leamington before continuing on and I went to get my ticket to Brum and headed up onto platform two and to the end of the platform. I sat thinking about the day for a minute and then remembered Backontrack's idea about a photo trip report and, with the digi camera in my bag; I decided to give it a try. At about 10:02, I could hear a cat thundering its way into the station. This is where the photos began.

Get in there! It was the best cat working my train to Brum! Hello again Gingertom! I leapt aboard 68014 and had a nice ride through to Moor Street where I got a photo, said goodbye to the best cat (for now) and made my way over to New Street. Winner hunting was really easy for a change and one of the first trains I looked at, the 10:57 to Walsall, had winner 350238 working it. Stupidly, I forgot to get a photo of the dez at New Street so I only got one at Duddeston of this unit. The camera was kept out as the 11:06 starship was due imminently and came in with duds 323203 and 323206. Photo got, I jumped aboard the front unit and we raced back to the city center.

Upon arrival at New Street, I saw a certain carriage number and reacted accordingly. Sorry starships, a photo of you here can wait, I can see 170508 and I've no idea where or when it's going! I leapt on the open door just as a procuration in case it left and then checked the boards. It was on the Hereford in just under 40 minutes. Result! I got off and improvised with the photo of the departing 323s that I'd just got off. I heard an announcement for the 11:17 to Plymouth so I headed over to the platform to see a Cross Country tram and get a few photos. I watched it leave (5 late) and then saw that the 170 that was on the 11:30 to Cardiff. A winner. I looked at 170508 and then quickly checked what it'd be coming back from Hereford on. I smiled after seeing what it would be back on. OK then 170103. You're on.

This was taken to University (obviously) where a quick platform change took place along with a photo of both the arriving unit and the departing unit, the former being winner 170111 on the Notty service. I stood for the whole journey, wanting to try to make the connection onto 170508 now so I didn't have to do it later. The XC one came in on an 'A' platform so I sprinted down the platform to Navigation Street footbridge, flew up it and back down, just to make the connection onto my last LM 170, 170508. The doors locked just after I got on and found a seat and the engines were revving up and moving me back to Uni.

After getting off here, I got the camera out and got a photo of it from the other platform as it left, keeping it out so the 12:00 to New Street could have its photo taken when it arrived. Dud (obviously!) 170633 had its photo taken next and I got on for the short ride back to the bat cave where I began festering. Or not! I decided to try out Meal Deal for lunch after hearing that it was pretty good so I got a chicken and bacon baguette, an apple juice and a portion of fries for just £1.74. A true meal deal! I took it back to the station and ate it there, hoping to see a winner. Everything was a dud so I cut my losses after lunch and headed over to Bull Street for some tram bashing. The first one up was ready to leave when I got there so I couldn't get a photo of dud 22 before it left. I forgot to get one of it as it arrived at Soho Benson Road either so I just watched it fade away and dud 30 arrive. I got a photo of this one at both Soho and Jewellery Quarter, where I left it. Dud, but favorite, 23 took me to Handsworth Booth Street, getting photos at both locations before dud 31 came in and took me to Jewellery Quarter. I'd seen a winner tram head to Bull Street and knew that it'd be the next one out so it was winner 20 to Soho Benson Road, where a tight connection (with no photos for that reason) saw me onto another winner, 32 back to Bull Street. Why Bull Street? I'd seen a winner 165 was working the Leamington to Birmingham shuttle earlier so I wanted to take it out to Solihull on the 13:34. It was now about 13:30 so I had 4 minutes to get from Bull Street to Moor Street. So no photo of the tram! I sprinted and made it in 1 minute (a very impressive time) just to see that there'd been a set swap and it was now a dud on it! Apparently the winner had headed back to London on the 12:15 to Marylebone and the dud had replaced it. Oh well. I walked back to New Street and saw that the 13:50 to Euston had a winner pendo on. I got on board and completely forgotten to get a photo of it but I can say that it was 390011. I remembered to get a photo at Birmingham International before changing platforms and flagging a dez. I did get a photo of it though. I then walked to the end of the platform in hopes of a winner 390 but unfortunately it was dud 390115 taking me back. I did remember to get a photo though! At New Street, I didn't have time to get one before winner 350233 was due off so I didn't get one of that either. Yea, yea. I know. Excuses.

At International, I forgot to get one of it again but remembered for dud 390010, which was on the 15:13 to New Street. It arrived just before 15:25 so I arranged to meet dad at Moor Street for some cranberry and white chocolate tiffin to eat on the train. The 15:55 was very rarely on platform 4 so I would have got a photo anyway, even if I wasn't doing this report. Anyway, we got the tiffin and then got in the back coach of 68014's train for a thrashy ride home after a fun and completely unexpected day out. I got a couple of photos at Leamington as it left but they were so blurry that they might even make Backontrack cringe

Once again, please do say how you found this 'photo trip report' and please make sure that all credit goes to Backontrack for the idea. As always, thanks for reading (/looking for this one I guess!)

Kite159 · 9 Mar 2016

Nice little day in the West Midlands, congrats on clearing the LM 170s

backontrack · 9 Mar 2016

fishquinn said:
Once again, please do say how you found this 'photo trip report' and please make sure that all credit goes to Backontrack for the idea.

Just kidding, you deserve all credit for putting this all together - thank you so much for choosing my idea!

All those photos look great (your avatar is in there), but I was surprised that you didn't have a photo of a BCCC from Costa! Joking aside, they're great. And no photo can ever be too blurry...

FQ · 9 Mar 2016

Thanks guys! I know - it's terrible that I didn't get a photo of a BCCC!

47403 · 11 Mar 2016

wow, just caught up with all these, was a cracking read though quinn and some excellent photo's too. Seems like you had some cracking and very productive days out there.

FQ · 11 Mar 2016

Thanks! I've certainly had a great time!

Techniquest · 15 Mar 2016

Another two excellent instalments young sir!

Waiting 15 minutes for a train in London is painful indeed, but you'd have had shocking waits far more in New York, that's for sure, even on a weekday. Oh, and the trains and stations will have been nicer!

As for the photo trip report, it's certainly an interesting idea, I think I'd have enjoyed it more on a bigger screen to be honest than my mobile. I won't comment strongly either way just yet, but the concept is novel!

FQ · 16 Mar 2016

Thanks! It might have been worth a really long wait for what you get over in the states!

Thanks for the input!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I think everyone will know what this new avatar is!

Techniquest · 16 Mar 2016

I wondered when a Costa BCCC would become your avatar!

backontrack · 16 Mar 2016

Product placement does not belong on this forum. :P

FQ · 16 Mar 2016

It was dad's idea this morning. A damn fine one for 06:30!

55013 · 19 Mar 2016

A smashing write up as usual, although I must admit I refer the photos throughout a report rather than in one chunk as it breaks the text up a bit.
It's all personal taste, of course.

Kristofferson · 19 Mar 2016

Have just caught up with your reports over the last week

I had lots of comments in my head as I read them, but didn't make any notes, so I'll just say thank you for the good reads young sir!

FQ · 20 Mar 2016

Thanks guys!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Where did you say you were going for work?

This was a question that I asked dad when on the first train of 2016 (well, OK then. The second one.) It was 68013 from Moor Street to Leamington and I was with dad and Nathan on this one. Dad said that he needed to find a train to get to Mancc for 09:00 on a weekday morning and that it was proving really difficult. I said that I'd take a look when we got home and that I'd happily come along, cutting the price down by using the Family and Friends railcard. Dad was happy with this so I looked, found an excellent itinerary including a really good 1st class fare on the way back and shown it to dad. He liked the look of it to so less than a week before the trip, the tickets were booked. I was looking forward to this all week and finally the Friday morning came, in the form of an alarm clock going off at 04:55. Feel free to call me crazy!

Dad was up 5 minutes after me so after putting a coffee on for him, I just hung around in the galley for a bit before picking up my bag, saying bye to mum and Torin and heading out of the door, bound for Coventry. The train that would take us North would be going from Rugby but we decided to head to Cov because the service back puts us there. Dad decided that dealing with the service to Rugby in the morning would be better than dealing with it in the evening when we were both tiered so we had decided to go for the 05:57 to Rugby to start the day. There wasn't many cars on the road at all and after an 05:25 departure from home, we got to Coventry, parked the car and got into the rank station with about 5 minutes until our train was due out. This is the first London Midland Euston bound service of the day (the very first being a VT 5 minutes earlier) so it started at Coventry and with only a couple of minutes on the freezing platform, double duds 350103 and 350126 rolled in from the sidings. Dad and I hopped on one of the coaches in the front unit, getting a bay of four. We were the only passengers in the coach for the fast ride to Rugby.

Dad needed to get some cash out so that was the first port of call and after visiting the machine on the station, we headed back up to platform level, freezing to death up there. A betty (70) was sat at the end of platform 6 but, after getting the number of that, we headed out of the freezing cold and into the warmth of the waiting room on platforms 2/4 (that's two and four. Not two quarters. This isn't Kings Cross in a slightly different Harry Potter platform). A seat was sourced and we just stayed in the warmth until just after 06:40, when our train was announced. A few people left the waiting room for this one, with dad and I heading towards the end of the platform in position for coach C. We didn't even get in position before dud 390045 crept up behind us, forming the 06:45 to Carlisle, where it'd terminate because of Lamington being shut. Dad had got us reserved seats in a bay of two (C1 and C2 were taken) so after getting in our seats, we just relaxed...

... For all of five minutes! Just after leaving Rugby, dad started badgering me constantly for brekkie, something that I'd agreed to get. I gave in after about a minute and went to get us a bacon roll each and a coffee for dad. We then took it back to our seats and just chatted for my first ride on the Trent Valley on a 390. The tilt was great and after a very fast run so far, Stafford was reached and onto a bit that I used fairly regularly with pendos. But I usually come from the Brum direction so this was different. It continued, stopping at Crewe for a couple of moments before gaining speed again and dropping us off at Warrington Bank Quay about 15 minutes later. It was absolutely freezing here and even with my coat on I was like an ice block. I saw a freightliner 66 approaching from the south though so I stood on the platform for a few extra seconds to see it pass. I was very glad that I did because it was a winner meaning that I only need 4 FL 66s in the country, one of which has now gone to Poland so as I write this, I only need three! We both hurried into the waiting room and a blast of warm air was excellent and we stopped shivering from the cold Warrington air. Coats off, we got a couple of seats and continued chatting for a bit. I got up to go for a PNB, which involves exiting the waiting room and walking down the platform, and I told dad that I wasn't going to take my coat as it was too much hassle putting it back on and I wanted to show him that it wasn't too cold. I exited the waiting room in my short-sleeved top and began walking over. 10 seconds after exiting the waiting room, I entered it again, went over to my coat, picked it up and exited it again without saying a word. Dad was laughing though (as was I after getting out into the cold). I got back and we continued chatting before leaving two minutes before the train was due in. It was getting warmer but was still freezing but we still went outside, both hoping like mad that what was due to form the service to Mancc would be on it. Dad pointed out the lines underneath the station and we discussed them for a minute before the topic changed drastically. When I saw a DVT approaching. Yay! It's the shovel as booked! And it's the same one as booked! Hi Thomas Telford! We leapt in the vestibule right in front of 67014 and instead of getting a seat, we stayed in the (warm!) vestibule and I put the window down for some best shovel thrash leaving Warrington Bank Quay. It was very cold so after gaining a little speed, I put the window back up because my face was starting to freeze.

Dad hasn't traveled on this route in donkeys' years so he'd forgotten how much of a curve there was at Earlestown! Luckily we were doing a very low speed in order to stop here. The shovel continued to thrash away on the very short journey to Newton-le-Willows. Since Earlestown and Newton-le-Willows are so close together, I wonder why the ATW services stop at both. It seems strange, especially since only two people boarded the train to Mancc here. Anyway, it eventually got up to some good speed and before we knew it, the shovel was crossing the motorway. This is where we began to slow and it was an absolute stagger from here all the way to Occy Road because we were following some staggering thing that stopped at Deansgate. Loads and loads of people got off at Occy Road, including dad. I said bye and stayed on TT to Piccadilly where I said bye (for now) and made my way over to the irritating RPOs. I got past and then went to buy a Greater Mancc Rail Ranger. Then it was back onto the platforms and decision time. I decided to start off simple so it was over to platforms 13 and 14 to see what would come along. As I came down the stairs and onto the platform, a diesel dez was arriving. This was the slightly late 09:07 to Scarborough and a quick check of the number showed me that my first winner of the day was here. Too hard to turn down I said to myself as I got onboard 185110. A couple of minutes later, I was leaving it again. I don't think I need to say where I took it too! I ran onto the other platform but there was no need as the next train wasn't in sight yet. The PIS said that it was the 09:16 to Hazel Grove, which was running two down. I decided that if it didn't have a 142/3/4 in the formation then I'd take it back to Piccadilly. A good move too as it was double winners 150201 and 150225! These arrived back at Piccadilly just after 09:20 so I didn't have time for another move before a unit that I'd seen at Piccadilly when I first arrived. It was over to the bay platforms and onto the 09:35 Euston bound service, with winner 390154 providing the power. I wasn't too amused to see another of my winner pendos arrive on the platform next to us forming the service to Euston in 20 minutes! There's no way I'd be able to get to Stockport and back in time for 390130 so I just said to myself that I couldn't get it and stayed on 390154. It left bang on time and after a short ride, it was arriving at Stockport. A quick platform change wasn't needed for once but I ran it anyway and after a couple of minutes waiting, double winners 150276 and 150224 came in on the 09:47 to Blackpool. The stagger to Mancc was over fairly quickly and I very quickly changed platforms for another Stockport leap, this time on the 10:04 to Crewe with winner 323236. 7 units on my GMRR so far and all 7 have been winners! It can't last :lol:

! And unfortunately I was right because after 236 arrived at Stockport, the next thing back was another x36, it being dud 390136.

Once back at Piccadilly, there wasn't anything that got my interest heading to Stockport so I went back over to the through platforms to see what was about. The 10:37 to Lime Street (EMT 158s) was the next Oxford Road bound thing so I waited for that and the wait paid off because it was winner 158813 paired with dud 158846. From past experience, this connects with the 158s back but today it didn't so I missed a winner as it was pulling out as we arrived. Doh! A pair of Northern units was sitting in the bay platform waiting to head out to Lime Street behind the 158s that I'd just come off so I went over to see what was on it. It was a pair of winners so I decided to go for it, getting a seat in the rear unit of 150112 and 156488. It was very musty smelling but I was only on it for a minute or so for the leap to Deansgate. There was a 10:51 TPE from Blackpool and Barrow to the Airport due so I decided to take that back. Expecting a pair of 156s, I was surprised to see a 185 approaching. This lowered the chances of one of them being required but even though they were lowered, it still didn't make it impossible, as shown by the fact that it was dud 185146 leading winner 185138. They were running about 4 minutes late, meaning that there was a Northern 319 from Lime Street running right behind so I bailed at Occy Road and waited for about a minute until winner 319386 arrived, taking me the rest of the way to Piccadilly. I looked across at the bay platforms, trying to ID the 390s from the coach numbers and one of them (the closest) required a closer look. Yep, it was! I leapt aboard winner 390148, which was on the 11:15 to Euston. This was taken one stop out (obviously) and it was another easy connection onto another winner, 323233 back to Mancc. I'd seen a triple winner Northern set heading to Buxton on the 09:49 earlier in the day so I'd tracked it down to see what it'd be coming back on. It was due at Stockport at 12:13 so I decided to head out for it. I had quite a few options to get out but I'd decided to narrow it down to either the 11:46 to Stoke or the 11:49 to Buxton. The Buxton services stop at Levenshulme and Heaton Chapel, whereas the Stoke services don't so I joined on of the THREE 09:46 'starship' departures from Piccadilly, mine being winner 323237. All of the 09:46s (one going to Hadfield, one to Crewe via Mancc airport and the one that I was on going to Stoke) left pretty much at the same second. This meant that there were three starship departures from Piccadilly at the same time, making a strange sight! Soon both of the others had peeled off on their own routes, us taking the main one. Vote starships!

I had agreed to dad that I wouldn't visit any unstaffed stations today because he wouldn't be able to answer the phone. I had seen that there was a 12:05 starship from Stockport that'd stop at both Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme and, with my ex Buxton winners being just 8 minutes behind that, I decided to ask the guard if Heaton Chapel was staffed. She said it was so I decided to give Heaton Chapel a try. I confirmed with a member of station staff at Stockport first and he said the same thing so I waited for winner 323223 to arrive. This was taken to Heaton Chapel where I watched the starship whirr off into the distance. There was two characters hanging around at the exit from the platform and it really didn't feel like a nice place. I couldn't see any staff so just hid in the bus shelter for a bit. It definitely didn't feel like a safe place! I looked at the PIS on my platform and was imminently suspicious after seeing that the next service was the 12:20 to Manchester Piccadilly. 7 minutes from Stockport to Heaton Chapel? It took my starship 2 minutes! I went onto RTT to take a look and saw that the 12:20 was an ex Chester! And that the Buxton service is non-stop from Stockport! It the other way round going from Piccadilly! This thoroughly annoyed me, not to mention the fact that the Chester trains are usually 142s. There was a starship heading to Crewe at 12:17 (it was five late) so I decided that it was a good idea to get out of this horrid station ASAP and began heading over to the other platform. This meant passing the two characters that were still lingering on the long stone ramp. I tried it anyway and started speeding up when getting close to them. Then, just before I passed them, one of them spoke to me. "Ticket please". They were RPIs! I was very relieved as I shown them my Rail Ranger and headed back onto the Mancc platform, feeling a lot safer. I wanted to get back to Manchester and decided to risk the ex Chester. I asked 67014, 47786, 68014 and loads of my other favorite locos to make the Piccadilly service a 150 (it's worked before!) before heading out onto the platform at 19 minutes past and seeing the unit approaching. Thank you locos! Winner 150272 was working the service away from this hell hole! I got back on board and, feeling peckish, I decided to come off the heavy rail stuff after getting to Piccadilly. And onto the trams!

I decended the steps to the underground Metrolink platforms and got onto the 'city center' bound platform. It was only a 2 minute wait before double winners 3076 and 3097 came in. I got on board and, after seeing that there was a tram right behind, I bailed at Piccadilly Gardens. Winner 3082 was the tram right behind and this was taken to Market Street. Winner 3002 and dud 3041 were taken to Shudehill, for dud 3070 back to Piccadilly Gardens. Winners 3046 and 3051 were too hard to resist for the ride to what I thought would be St Peters Square but ended up being Deansgate Castlefield. Why? St Peters Square is closed for work on the second city crossing (I can't imagine Midland Metro needing to shut a station for their work!). This also means that it is single line running though so we were waiting for ages to get a slot through. The same happened on the ride back to Shudehill, with winner 3058 and dud 3032. From there, it was winner 3052 and dud 3045 back to Market Street where I had my first 31xx tram in the form of 3108 back to Shudehill. The tram heading back towards Market Street was dud so I waited to see what was heading towards Victoria. This was winner 3011 so I got on to Victoria. The next tram to Exchange Square wasn't for ages so I headed back to Market Street on winner 3010. I was now really hungry so I popped to the 'Boots' just outside the tram stop and got a sarnie, a pack of crisps and a drink before going back to the trams and taking winner 3106 to Piccadilly Gardens. It was a very tight connection onto double winners 3023 and 3017 for the stagger to Deansgate Castlefield before taking another pair of winners, 3025 and 3031 to Market Street. Then it was dud 3050 to Piccadilly Gardens for winner 3105 to Piccadilly and back to the heavy rail stuff. It was now about 14:00 and the 14:04 to Crewe was getting ready to leave so I decided to take it with winner 323234 providing the power. This was another Stockport leap and it was dud 390114 taking me back on the 14:17 from Stockport. Time for another Occy Road leap! It was another EMT 158 pair for this one, with winner 158780 leading and dud 158810 pushing at the back. The 158s back were missed again so I had three options. There was the Oxford Road to Lime Street pair sat in the bay platform again. The good news is that it was a double winner. The bad news is that it was a pair of 142s. Nope! My next option was a pair of Tinpot Express 156s to Deansgate. And my third was an Arriva 175 to Piccadilly. The 156s were both duds so they didn't get my attention but the 175 did! Winner 175101! I hopped on board and got a seat for the very short hop back to Piccadilly. I wanted to get back out to Occy Road so I took dud for the day 319386, which had got from Piccadilly-Mancc Airport-Lime Street-Mancc Airport-Piccadilly since I had it last, out to Oxford Road. The 319 back was running slightly late because on the Tinpot Express 156s from Blackpool being late so I decided to take the 156s if one was a winner. Sure enough, it was dud 156487 leading winner 156426. Back to Piccadilly where I just missed a pair of dud for the day 150s upon arriving so I decided to take a look at what the next Euston bound train was. Yes! Winner 390130 on the 15:15! I got a seat fairly close to the front because it was 15:00 now and just waited for departure. 15:15 came and went, as did 15:20 and 15:25. At this point I was getting really annoyed so I decided to go and see what the PIS said about my train. 'Delayed'. Excellent! Who knows when we'll leave! I went to get my stuff and leave the train but the moment I came away from the doors, they all locked, a whistle was blown and we moved off. Another 5.75 miles on pendos then! I wanted to get back to Mancc as quick as possible so I took the first available, requiring a quick platform change. It was made and dud for the day 390136 was powering me back to Manchester. An uneventful run and after getting there, I went back over to the through platforms and decided to take the 15:55 319 to Oxford Road. But first, Thomas Telford arrived from Holyhead so I got to say hi before winner 319371 arrived. It looked like it'd be a very full service so I decided to head up front. I actually got a bay of 6 in the pretty empty coach because all of the normals boarded in the coaches nearest to the stairs. It was a pleasant, very long run all the way to Occy Road before changing over to the other platform and getting onto winner 319363 back to Piccadilly.

I tried to get hold of dad but couldn't so I decided to try later and headed over to the Metrolink platforms again, boarding dud 3067 and winner 3084 out to Piccadilly Gardens for double winners 3078 and 3069 back to Piccadilly where I said bye to the Metrolink once more and back to the heavy rail. It was now about 16:30 and our train away from Mancc was due in 20 minutes so I tried dad again and got a response. He said that he'd meet me at Oxford Road on our train out so I got in position for it and flagged a pair of winner 156s that I could have taken to Occy Road in favour of an extra 0.5 miles from TT. 67014 arrived on time and I got in the very front vestibule and headed to the left hand side dropdown window. I was sure that forum member 185143 joined the train at Piccadilly with another forum member but didn't say anything in case I was wrong. I found out later on that I was right and that he thought exactly the same thing! Anyway, 185143 got off at Occy Road but the other forum member stayed on. The train got very full after Oxford Road but I saw dad board and stand in the vestibule. I got my book out and sat on the vestibule floor instead of making the vestibule really cold but at Newton-le-Willows, I opened the door and stepped onto the platform to let people off. Loads and loads and loads of people. Almost everyone got off here! In the morning I was wondering why the train stopped at Newton-le-Willows. Now I know! I got to see dad but, even though we could have got seats, we decided to stay in the vestibule. Thomas Telford's thrash was over to soon because we needed to leave the train at Warrington, where a long fester was ahead of us! We'd booked in 1st class on the 18:39 from Warrington to Coventry and since it was now only about 17:30, we had a long time to kill! I said bye to Thomas Telford and watched it thrash away into the distance before we went over to the waiting room that we'd been in earlier on. There was a colas donut due fairly soon on the Chirk logs so we decided to wait for that. A 221 strangely passed through non-stop heading towards Wigan and something scary happened too. The 17:39 to Euston via Cov, the one that we were going to book on if we hadn't found a good 1st class fare on the 18:39, was a 221! And it was a booked Pendo! Anyway, that didn't affect us! When the donut was due, we changed platforms again and went to the end of platforms 1 and 2 and dad got his work phone out to get a few photos of it. 60095 was the donut in question and it arrived in the passing loop where it waited for a few minutes. Dad then got a video as it screamed away with a heavy load on wet rails. What a noise! It was now 18:10 so we only had 40 minutes to wait before our train away. Back to the waiting room! Dad let me use his work phone to type a PM to 185143 to confirm that it was him but it was time to head onto the other platform before I'd finished it. I got onto platform 2 before dad and immediately looked absolutely horrified. Dad came up and I pointed to what it was. The 18:39 was supposedly 'formed of a virgin super voyager'. I immediately ran over to the timetable and began looking for alternative ways home. Via Mancc? Via Chester? Dad just stood looking absolutely horrified. I came away saying that I'd need to use his phone to check RTT. This was fine and I saw that we could get back to Coventry at 22:52 if we went via Manchester, although it would mean buying new tickets. Dad said that we had to have options. I was adamant that it wasn't a 221. One look at the arriving UHT and he said "you're right. It's not an option". 1st class was rammed, even in the aisles, as was standard class. Mancc would be the best option so, cursing the thing (not a train) that was sat where our pendo home should be, we went into the subway, and across to platform 4.

The Manchester bound train was due at 18:46 and I was looking in the other direction when dad cursed. It was a freaking 150 on the Mancc train! Dad wouldn't travel on a 150 for the journey to Mancc so we were stuck without a plan again. There was 1 option. The 19:41 to Coventry. This is the final direct service to Cov from Warrington this evening and, like the last two, is a booked pendo. Of course, the last two weren't a pendo so it'd be a mega risk. But it was the only option. We went in hunt of some food during the wait. Neither of us knew what we were in the mood for so after about half an hour of walking, we were back at the station with no food. Back to the waiting room, where we asked one of the station staff if he could stamp our tickets for use on the 19:41. He said that he couldn't but to ask the guard on the train. Getting in position for the train in good time, and keeping an eye on RTT, we saw that it had left Preston, it's first stop, on time. An Arriva cart cleared platform 2 and the boards changed to show the 19:41 to London Euston and where it had shown 'Virgin super voyager' the hour before, it read '11 coach virgin pendolino'. Thank god for that!

We watched as dud 390135 arrived and immediately looked down the platform to see where the guard was. He was at the door in coach B so we headed straight to him and asked him if we could travel and stuff. He was very sympathetic and soche and told us to go and get a seat in 1st. We thanked him profusely and went to coach H, planting ourselves down in a bay of 2 in the empty coach. There were no menus on the table and we saw no-one else until departure from Crewe where another really soche VT staff member came along (a 1st class host) and asked us if we wanted any food. We went for the salmon sarnies, which came with some excellent cake, crisps, a coffee for dad (an orange juice for me) and a truly brilliant chocolate rocky road sort of thing. It all went down excellently and, even though it looks fairly small, it certainly hit the spot and filled us up. After the 15-minute wait at Wolves, the 1st class host came through again and filled dad's coffee up and got me another orange juice and it was a delightful ride home. We said bye to the guard and 1st class host at Coventry, where the car was waiting and we were home only an hour late. What a great day, except the truly terrifying moment at Warrington. I don't know what I would have done if I was solo so thank god that dad was with me too.

Techniquest · 20 Mar 2016

It is very much a risk of bashing on Virgin these days I'm afraid, especially when on Advances. Thank Goodness the guard was good to you!

I had hardly got through your trip report at all there before I was getting jealous of your trip to Manchester. It's made me want to go there tomorrow! The temptation is real, but I still want those irritating gaps on MerseyRail filled, so I'll be up there tomorrow!

A brilliant day until those issues coming home, I felt my face drop when I saw USH come up, and I'd be absolutely mortified too!

FQ · 20 Mar 2016

Agreed. Very lucky that the one an hour later was a 390!

Kite159 · 20 Mar 2016

his was the slightly late 09:07 to Scarborough

Wouldn't it have been heading to Liverpool Lime Street rather to Scarborough (otherwise you would have ended up in Stalyvegas

)

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As for St Peters Square, I walked passed it yesterday and the reason why it's closed is because it's been rebuilt completely (and not to mention that it's currently single line running so makes sense to close the station to clear the trams as soon as possible)

Lucky the guard allowed you to travel on that 390 rather than saying no, but what would have happened if that was also a 221? Taxi?

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