Techniquest
Veteran Member
You're canny too Mickey, fair game! Hopefully I might have cleaned my ears out by the time I get on a bash next too, I hate not being able to hear people properly!
-
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
The universe at your fingertips
With the Internet you truly do have the universe at your fingertips. Everything that is, everything that was. Everything you can put in a sandwich to everything you can put in a creamy cooler (which FYI is Belgian chocolate, strawberries and cream, mint choc chip, raspberry and white chocolate, mango and NOTHING ELSE!!!). But when the Internet goes down for 30 seconds you feel like you want to chuck the computer out of the window (which, for me, means that it'll go into the cut!). Well, it was a damn sight longer than 30 seconds for me! And what wasn't good is that I had a forum meet to attend the next day. And I didn't know where we were meeting...
I couldn't get onto the net all evening so I couldn't ask where we were meeting for this important forum meet. Lucky I was travelling in with dad to work really because I could go on the Internet there really!
I got an early night, getting to bed at about 21:30 (I did have to be up at 05:20 after all!), and after a good night sleep, my alarm began beeping. Great. 05:20. I'm not tiered at all... I got dressed and then headed over to the other boat, putting dad's coffee on as I went passed to brush my teeth. He got up 10 minutes later and we were out of the door by 05:50. This gave us ample time to drive the short distance to Leam, get my ticket to Brum and then get onto the platform ready for the train. No freights came while we were waiting and, right on time, winner 165014 arrived, much to my delight. We got the usual bay of two on board and we soon started moving towards Brum. It was an uneventful journey, except the onboard PIS saying that we were approaching Warwick 'for Warwick town center and Warwick Castle' (really? At this time in the morning?) as the train was arriving at Snow Hell. The usual walk over to Subway was taken and it seems that we're becoming regulars because the guy who takes our orders most of the time just asked if it was the usual when we entered and then got on with making the two mega melts. It was my turn to byu this morning so £5.20 later (which for two 6 inch mega melts and two orange juices isn't bad), we began the short walk over to dad's work.
On his work computer, we checked the usual stuff first before I took it over and went onto Rail UK. I had a PM from Yorkie so I left my phone number with him so he could pass it on to Mojo, who was expected to be the first arrival (except me, obviously. I think I win with an 07:00 arrival in Brum!). After that, I chatted with dad for a bit before 08:00, when I headed off towards the bat cave. I needed to buy my Daytripper but also wanted to view the 08:10 to Euston so I had to run down Corporation Street. Daytripper in hand, I got onto platform 1 just as 390134 was arriving on the Euston train. Boring! The Preston was also dud, as was the LM to Euston but, unlike the day before, the 08:25 to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli got my attention. It was boring, dud 158833 leading but the rear unit got my attention, it being winner 158829, my penultimate ATW 158! Off we go!
I left this pair after 4.25 miles at Galton Bridge. No need to run here because I'd missed the 158s to International because they were running on time (shock horror!). The next available was a dud Walsall dez, which was running 5 late. I flagged this and instead waited for the ex Liverpool, which would be 2 minutes behind it if it were on time. Because of the late running, it arrived to a yellow signal, less than a minute after the Walsall service had departed. Waiting turned out to be a good move because it was winner 350368 that would be taking me back to New Street. This arrived at about 08:55, the sort of time where there isn't much that'd interest me at New Street. The 08:57 Walsall was just the dez that I'd flagged from Smethwick so I just got in position on platform 3 to view the 09:15 to Glasgow. This service is booked to arrive at 09:03 but came in slightly late today. It was a dud pendo though so wasn't really interesting. Over to platform 1 then! I didn't know what'd be on the 09:10 to Euston (as it's an ex Lancaster) and after seeing what it was, I didn't know what to do. It was 390122, my favorite Pendo, but I was just getting into the 'good' time at New Street (because you have an ATW to Holyhead and a XC to Cardiff, to name just two). I'd probably just find that they were duds and wait at New Street for ages so I decided to board 390122 for the little ride out to International.
I looked at what was due, heading back to New Street and noticed that there was a dez due to leave at 09:26, running 21 minutes late. There was another one right behind it so I had an idea to shack score Marston Green with a liniar bash. Dud 350239 was working the delayed 09:05 and I leapt on for the short hop. At Marston Green, the first thing I looked at was the PIS to confirm that the next service was right behind it. The thing is, the PIS said that the next service wasn't for half an hour! The moment I saw that, it was back onto 239. Marston Green can wait for another time!
On the approach to New Street, I saw a 170 and 153 combo sat in one of the platforms. I decided to go and take a look to see if the dogbox was required. It was the 09:42 to Walsall and sure enough, the 153 was one of my required ones. I decided to go for it so, with virtually no time on New Street station itself, I stepped aboard winner 153366, which was being led by 170501. It was hands on windows just after the train left New Street though because sat in platform 2 was the 09:50 to Euston with 390013, one of my last 6 pendos! A check of RTT to see what it was meant to work next was mandatory so, with the info, I enjoyed the journey. The first stop for this service is Tame Bridge and, unlike the Rugeley service, this one heads out via Soho. Today was no exception and after a nice bit of DBT I was stood on the Walsall bound platform at Tame Bridge Parkway. There was a Wolves bound de due in 10 minutes so I decided to go for that one to get me back. I was hoping for a winner but unfortunately it was dud 350241 that would take me on the all shacks stopper towards Birmingham. While waiting for it, I had an idea involving the only shack between Aston and Chester Road that I didn't get the day before. I decided to do it as my dez would be passing Aston anyway and a look at RTT said that it was a +2 onto a northbound service towards Lichfield. So I left 350241 at Aston and the slightly late arrival didn't help me in my mission to make the connection onto a starship, which arrived at the same time as us. Even with this, I managed to get onto 323204 before it left for Four Oaks. I was only on this for one stop which was shack score number 1, Gravelly Hill. It was a +4 here onto the one back and after crossing over the footbridge, I decided to look at my Cross City line timetable that was obtained at Erdington the day before to see how easy it'd be to get a few of my other shacks. It would take lots of time by the looks of it and I wouldn't have much time doing some units so I just took 323207 back to New Street.
As we were arriving, I noticed a dez on platform 1 that I recognised the number of. A check of my notes said that it was one of my requirements so I immediately made for platform 1 and 350260. I was sat on it for 15 minutes before it finally decided to leave, about 5 late. My connection at Duddeston was still fine though and after about 2 minutes of waiting there, dud for the day 323204, the one that I had from Aston to Gravelly Hill, arrived and it looks like it found a friend at Four Oaks because 323202 was on the back. I got a seat in the front one for the short ride back. I'd just missed the 11:10 to Euston and, as it passed as we were in the tunnels, I couldn't ID it. The 11:15 to Waverley was a dud as was everything else due around that time was dud, including the 11:30 to Euston. I knew that there wouldn't be anything else to interest me around this time if I stayed put so, after viewing the 11:30 Cardiff as a dud, I got on board anyway. 170103 was in charge of this service today and a short hop out to University later, equally dud 170113 was arriving on the 11:39 to Notty. Boring!
Once back at the bat cave, I decided that it was time for lunch. But first, I headed over to the platform that the arrival of the 12:30 to Euston had supposedly just appeared so I could see what was on the service that I wanted to take out to International to get 390013 back. Okayyy... Nope. You can go to Euston without me you horrid, foul, rancid, disgusting, hateful unspeakably horrible thing! I got off the platform as quickly as possible so not to put myself off the lunch that I hadn't yet got before going to get my lunch. I headed over to Tesco, wanting to get a healthier lunch than the day before, but after seeing that only the bad sarnies were in the meal deal; I dumped that idea and went to get a real meal deal for just over half the price. I received a text from both Yorkie and Mojo saying where they were but trying to reply to them and carry lunch and get to New Street in time for the 12:10 Euston wasn't easy, considering that it was now 12:08. My thought was that I'd be able to make 390013 at Cov by taking the 12:10 out. Since the 12:30 was a waste of pixels, this made sense so I ran for platform 1 and leapt onto the waiting pendo. I then looked over at the other platforms and couldn't see a UHT. In fact, the only thing I could see was a stationary pendo! But I couldn't get the number. I knew that 390045, the pendo that I was currently stood on, was one of my higher mileage examples so I decided to get off in case the 12:30 was a winner. 045 headed out without me and I went over to the platform for the next VT to Euston...
... To see a 221 at the far end of the platform (A end)! I then looked across at the pendo that was sat on the other platform. It then came to me. Blast! I forgot about the Preston! I didn't have long to change platforms now but made it onto dud 350266 before it left on the 12:14 to Euston. This would give me just over 20 minutes to kill at International before 013. That'll be easy enough!
The dez dropped me off at the airport station right time and the first thing I did was exit the station and go to the airport on the cable car. It was the right hand side one (if at International) that came in first and after the short ride to the airport and back; I'd decided what I wanted to do with the remainder of my time. A quick visit to the ticket machine got me a 1st class single to New Street and I headed into the 1st class lounge for 10 minutes. While in there, I got a text from Mojo saying that he was in the 1st class lounge at New Street. What a co-incidence! I said that I'd meet him there after getting back and after a nice time in the lounge, I was on the platform watching a pendo pull in. Yes! Score the winner! It turns out that I read RTT right because it was indeed winner 390013 in charge of the 12:53 to Preston. I got a seat in one of the 1st class bays of two (with a table in between the two seats) for the short ride to New Street. Like my previous 1st class journey between the two, I didn't even get a drink but at least I could get stuff in the lounges and have a much nicer journey on this required pendo.
I text Mojo when I got to New Street to say that I was on the way up to the 1st class lounge and that I'd meet him there. I navigated my way through the maze that is New Street and got to the lounge, where I had to wait for a couple of minutes before someone came along to check my ticket. They let me through and I headed over to Mojo to say hi before getting a drink and cookie. We then chatted for a bit but unfortunately we couldn't have too long in the lounge because it wouldn't be long before the others arrived and we still needed to get everyone else daytrippers for the meet. I'm sure you're wondering what this forum meet is all about. I'm guessing you've all noticed the new light blue username that I now have. This obviously means that I'm now a quizmaster. This trip was before I'd become a QM and the reason for it was so I could meet with the other QMs. Unfortunately, Transportphoto had other stuff on so couldn't make it. Yorkie and OxtedL's train was running slightly late but there was a slight problem. Ainsworth74's 221 (yea, I know...) supposedly passed Water Orton at exactly the same time as Yorkie and OxtedL's. This meant that we had no idea which platform to head to first. Ainsworth's one apparently entered the tunnels first so we quickly headed down into the 8 coach crowds emerging from the 4 coach UHT. Ainsworth was found after the crowds had began to subside and we then made our way over to the platform that the ex Stanstead had just arrived on. We fought our way through the crowds but it seems that they'd walked down the other platform so we'd missed them. Mojo gave Yorkie a ring and we eventually found each other.
I'd drawn up a plan for the main meet (well if you want to be pedantic then I'd drawn up 3), including a couple of things that Yorkie requested we get - a walk down the canal and a bus. The first service that we had on the plan was the 13:52 starship up to Bourneville. We were already on platform 11 for it and in no time at all, 323216 and 323213 came in. It was then something that always takes me ages to decide on. Which unit do we sit in?! It took the others quite a while to decide before Ainsworth just said that there was a fairly empty coach (several bays of 4 free) right next to us. I think it's obvious that we went for that one!
The daytrippers that we'd got were 1 family one (because it'd work out cheaper than 2 adult ones) and another 2 adult ones. The family daytripper requires at least one child and has a maximum of two adults. I obviously already had a WMDT but it was cheaper to get a family one. We'd discussed getting two family ones, showing one ticket first and then the other after, with me swapping over during the ticket change but it was decided that children weren't transferable. It was nice to catch up with everybody because the last time I'd attended a forum meet (excepting Tech, SamGeorge965 and Kite) was that walk around the York walls on my North East Rover! Bourneville was reached and we began the pleasant walk down the Birmingham and Worcester canal. This stretch of canal follows the railway line almost all the way to Five Ways (but there isn't any way to access the station from the towpath from what I remember), just leaving it for a moment to get to Selly Oak station. Unlike my last time down this stretch (which was sby boat), no Cross Country tram was seen but it was a nice enough walk anyway, except seeing one of my required XC 170s arriving at University just before we got there. There were steps leading up from the towpath onto the road bridge just outside Uni, which makes it easy for anyone who wants a nice walk between Bourneville and University (other stations not recommended). The next service towards Brum was the 14:45 and it was apparently formed of 6 coaches so we could walk some distance up the platform for it. It seems that the 'you get it once and then keep on getting it' rule is most certainly true because my last LM starship (back when I needed them), 323204 really was stalking me today! 323202 was leading it meaning that I'd had the leading one twice that day and the rear three times! Class172 was to join us on this one and as he was approaching the station at the same time as the starships, he had to run to get onto the train. Since we were in the front unit, it made it slightly harder but he still made it. We had a couple of bays of 4 again for the journey back to the bat cave. The plan had us on the 15:10 to International for a bus across to Solihull but when arriving at New Street, I put my hands to the window for the second time today...
... about the same class too! 390123, one of my last 5 pendos required for haulage was waiting to work the 15:30 to Euston! Unfortunately, 123 wouldn't get to International in time for our bus so I had to leave that for another time and instead head over to platform 1, ready for whatever pendo may appear on our service to International. Unfortunately it was a dud, 390156, that would be powering us towards the airport. It was easy enough to get seats for the 6 of us and the time whizzed by on the 8.25-mile journey. A couple of the others wanted to get the cable car across to the airport and back so we decided to do that. We did have time before the bus after all! The right hand side one took us there and back again, because the others thought the bus station for the airport was at International. We went down the stairs and looked at the bus times for Solihull to make sure they were correct. During this, we found a bus to Solihull with a really ridiculous bus company name. It was 'Discount travel solutions' (thanks to Yorkie for the name of the company - I'd completely forgotten it but knew it was a daft one)! It didn't matter though because we were meant to be on the National Express West Mids one. There were several bad drivers coming as we waited, parking in the bus stops, some for over 10 minutes. There were buses waiting to go into the stations too! You don't get that on the railways (or I hope you don't get that on the railways)! The discount travel solutions bus arrived first but we didn't take it for several reasons.
1. It was a single decker
2. It looked in worse shape than a 144
3. It looked in worse shape than a 143
4. It looked in worse shape than a 142
5. It looked like it'd break apart at any moment
6. It was rattly and noisy
7. We didn't want to end up in the arse end of... Birmingham on a broken down bus
8. We couldn't bring ourselves to board a bus with that company name
9. We didn't know if daytrippers would be valid on it
10. This is just to get the list to 10
.
We continued waiting... and waiting... and waiting for the NX on to appear. Then just over 20 minutes late (yep, I know that we could have got 390123 from New Street and made the bus with time to kill), it finally arrived. Sorry to the bus enthusiasts, all I know about it was that it was a double decker and that it was late. I don't like buses! At least we managed to get the seats up top right at the front for the ride over towards Solihull.
We thought this was a bus that went straight to the station but it terminated in the town center instead. It would only be a short walk and a couple of the others knew the way there, as did the signs. Although the signs are worse than google maps for the distance it'd take to get between two locations! They were giving about 5 minutes to walk 10 metres! Ridiculous! Eventually we arrived at the station though and it looks like we arrived in the middle of a dead zone because the next available was the 16:37 LM. It was now about 16:25 so we had to wait 10 minutes. Oh, the horror! The plan had us heading to Jewellery Quarter on the 16:17 LM (with a wait of about 15/20 minutes at Solihull for it) for a tram to Bull Street and across to New Street for dinner so by the time we boarded 172217 and 172219, we were only 20 minutes behind the original plan. Even with this though, it appeared that we'd be late for dinner because we had a booking for 17:00. By the time the cart arrived at Snow Hell it was 16:52! Mojo called them up to say that we'd be slightly late and we continued to Jewellery Quarter. It was a short wait for the next Bull Street tram and after a couple of minutes dud 25 came into view. This was taken past St Pauls and onto the relatively new section of track to Bull Street. The others weren't too impressed at the length of the 'extension' but it meant tat we weren't too late arriving at the pub just outside New Street. This was the 'Bacchus bar' and after going down a gran set of stairs we reached the entrance to the pub. A sign on the door wasn't too welcome. It said 'over 18s only'. This wasn't exactly good news for me! We went in anyway and headed over to the table. I tried to look over 18 but it seems that it's very hard because a couple of minutes after sitting down, a waitress came over and asked my age, saying that I wouldn’t have to leave because I was with a booking. I said I was 14 and she was very happy because that's what she thought! Looks like I'm terrible at looking 18 then! I can't remember what everyone else got but I decided to go for macaroni cheese and an orange juice, flagging a starter. For the 1st time we talked about QM stuff and it was agreed that I'd get QM powers about a month after the meet.
Dinner came and we all agreed that the portions weren't great but it was very tasty anyway. OxtedL had to head away first, closely followed by Ainsworth74 because they had trains at 18:22 and 18:30 respectively if I remember correctly. The rest of us could have pudd and I went for a warm choccy sponge pudding with ice cream. This was extremely good and, even though I have a good appetite, I was stuffed after that. The others kindly got my meal and after that we went back up to street level, which was much darker than when we went in. Yorkie and Mojo were booked on the 19:03 tram to Leeds but, since neither had had pudd, they wanted to head across to M&S to see if there was any bargain cakes available. I wanted to be on the 19:14 from Snow Hell and Class172 had an excellent frequency to get back to University. I said bye to everyone as they all went for their trains back/M&S as I began the walk up the hill towards Snow Hell.
I got down onto the platform for the Marylebone and immediately thought that something was wrong because there was no cart in the platform. I was waiting for about 5 minutes before I could see headlights coming through the tunnel and a Chiltern cart emerging. This was at 19:12 and it turns out that this service is actually booked to arrive at this time in order to form a service back 2 minutes later! I wasn't too happy to see an ex TPE 170 would be on my service back to Leam but I could easily get the right hand side bay of 4 right at the back that I like so I was OK with it in the end. Not to mention that I hadn't had this under its new number (not that that changes anything) but I'd only had it once with TPE and that was on a Stockport leap so it was a bit more mileage to add to the total! The journey back was uneventful and I didn't get wedged out at all on the journey back to Leam. Mum was kindly waiting to take me home, while dad tried to get the hub back in action so we could have Internet again. This turned out to only be a temporary fix because it failed again that evening. Oh well! Hardly matters! I'd had a great day out on the rails!
With the Internet you truly do have the universe at your fingertips. Everything that is, everything that was. Everything you can put in a sandwich to everything you can put in a creamy cooler (which FYI is Belgian chocolate, strawberries and cream, mint choc chip, raspberry and white chocolate, mango and NOTHING ELSE!!!). But when the Internet goes down for 30 seconds you feel like you want to chuck the computer out of the window (which, for me, means that it'll go into the cut!). Well, it was a damn sight longer than 30 seconds for me! And what wasn't good is that I had a forum meet to attend the next day. And I didn't know where we were meeting...
I couldn't get onto the net all evening so I couldn't ask where we were meeting for this important forum meet. Lucky I was travelling in with dad to work really because I could go on the Internet there really!
I got an early night, getting to bed at about 21:30 (I did have to be up at 05:20 after all!), and after a good night sleep, my alarm began beeping. Great. 05:20. I'm not tiered at all... I got dressed and then headed over to the other boat, putting dad's coffee on as I went passed to brush my teeth. He got up 10 minutes later and we were out of the door by 05:50. This gave us ample time to drive the short distance to Leam, get my ticket to Brum and then get onto the platform ready for the train. No freights came while we were waiting and, right on time, winner 165014 arrived, much to my delight. We got the usual bay of two on board and we soon started moving towards Brum. It was an uneventful journey, except the onboard PIS saying that we were approaching Warwick 'for Warwick town center and Warwick Castle' (really? At this time in the morning?) as the train was arriving at Snow Hell. The usual walk over to Subway was taken and it seems that we're becoming regulars because the guy who takes our orders most of the time just asked if it was the usual when we entered and then got on with making the two mega melts. It was my turn to byu this morning so £5.20 later (which for two 6 inch mega melts and two orange juices isn't bad), we began the short walk over to dad's work.
On his work computer, we checked the usual stuff first before I took it over and went onto Rail UK. I had a PM from Yorkie so I left my phone number with him so he could pass it on to Mojo, who was expected to be the first arrival (except me, obviously. I think I win with an 07:00 arrival in Brum!). After that, I chatted with dad for a bit before 08:00, when I headed off towards the bat cave. I needed to buy my Daytripper but also wanted to view the 08:10 to Euston so I had to run down Corporation Street. Daytripper in hand, I got onto platform 1 just as 390134 was arriving on the Euston train. Boring! The Preston was also dud, as was the LM to Euston but, unlike the day before, the 08:25 to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli got my attention. It was boring, dud 158833 leading but the rear unit got my attention, it being winner 158829, my penultimate ATW 158! Off we go!
I left this pair after 4.25 miles at Galton Bridge. No need to run here because I'd missed the 158s to International because they were running on time (shock horror!). The next available was a dud Walsall dez, which was running 5 late. I flagged this and instead waited for the ex Liverpool, which would be 2 minutes behind it if it were on time. Because of the late running, it arrived to a yellow signal, less than a minute after the Walsall service had departed. Waiting turned out to be a good move because it was winner 350368 that would be taking me back to New Street. This arrived at about 08:55, the sort of time where there isn't much that'd interest me at New Street. The 08:57 Walsall was just the dez that I'd flagged from Smethwick so I just got in position on platform 3 to view the 09:15 to Glasgow. This service is booked to arrive at 09:03 but came in slightly late today. It was a dud pendo though so wasn't really interesting. Over to platform 1 then! I didn't know what'd be on the 09:10 to Euston (as it's an ex Lancaster) and after seeing what it was, I didn't know what to do. It was 390122, my favorite Pendo, but I was just getting into the 'good' time at New Street (because you have an ATW to Holyhead and a XC to Cardiff, to name just two). I'd probably just find that they were duds and wait at New Street for ages so I decided to board 390122 for the little ride out to International.
I looked at what was due, heading back to New Street and noticed that there was a dez due to leave at 09:26, running 21 minutes late. There was another one right behind it so I had an idea to shack score Marston Green with a liniar bash. Dud 350239 was working the delayed 09:05 and I leapt on for the short hop. At Marston Green, the first thing I looked at was the PIS to confirm that the next service was right behind it. The thing is, the PIS said that the next service wasn't for half an hour! The moment I saw that, it was back onto 239. Marston Green can wait for another time!
On the approach to New Street, I saw a 170 and 153 combo sat in one of the platforms. I decided to go and take a look to see if the dogbox was required. It was the 09:42 to Walsall and sure enough, the 153 was one of my required ones. I decided to go for it so, with virtually no time on New Street station itself, I stepped aboard winner 153366, which was being led by 170501. It was hands on windows just after the train left New Street though because sat in platform 2 was the 09:50 to Euston with 390013, one of my last 6 pendos! A check of RTT to see what it was meant to work next was mandatory so, with the info, I enjoyed the journey. The first stop for this service is Tame Bridge and, unlike the Rugeley service, this one heads out via Soho. Today was no exception and after a nice bit of DBT I was stood on the Walsall bound platform at Tame Bridge Parkway. There was a Wolves bound de due in 10 minutes so I decided to go for that one to get me back. I was hoping for a winner but unfortunately it was dud 350241 that would take me on the all shacks stopper towards Birmingham. While waiting for it, I had an idea involving the only shack between Aston and Chester Road that I didn't get the day before. I decided to do it as my dez would be passing Aston anyway and a look at RTT said that it was a +2 onto a northbound service towards Lichfield. So I left 350241 at Aston and the slightly late arrival didn't help me in my mission to make the connection onto a starship, which arrived at the same time as us. Even with this, I managed to get onto 323204 before it left for Four Oaks. I was only on this for one stop which was shack score number 1, Gravelly Hill. It was a +4 here onto the one back and after crossing over the footbridge, I decided to look at my Cross City line timetable that was obtained at Erdington the day before to see how easy it'd be to get a few of my other shacks. It would take lots of time by the looks of it and I wouldn't have much time doing some units so I just took 323207 back to New Street.
As we were arriving, I noticed a dez on platform 1 that I recognised the number of. A check of my notes said that it was one of my requirements so I immediately made for platform 1 and 350260. I was sat on it for 15 minutes before it finally decided to leave, about 5 late. My connection at Duddeston was still fine though and after about 2 minutes of waiting there, dud for the day 323204, the one that I had from Aston to Gravelly Hill, arrived and it looks like it found a friend at Four Oaks because 323202 was on the back. I got a seat in the front one for the short ride back. I'd just missed the 11:10 to Euston and, as it passed as we were in the tunnels, I couldn't ID it. The 11:15 to Waverley was a dud as was everything else due around that time was dud, including the 11:30 to Euston. I knew that there wouldn't be anything else to interest me around this time if I stayed put so, after viewing the 11:30 Cardiff as a dud, I got on board anyway. 170103 was in charge of this service today and a short hop out to University later, equally dud 170113 was arriving on the 11:39 to Notty. Boring!
Once back at the bat cave, I decided that it was time for lunch. But first, I headed over to the platform that the arrival of the 12:30 to Euston had supposedly just appeared so I could see what was on the service that I wanted to take out to International to get 390013 back. Okayyy... Nope. You can go to Euston without me you horrid, foul, rancid, disgusting, hateful unspeakably horrible thing! I got off the platform as quickly as possible so not to put myself off the lunch that I hadn't yet got before going to get my lunch. I headed over to Tesco, wanting to get a healthier lunch than the day before, but after seeing that only the bad sarnies were in the meal deal; I dumped that idea and went to get a real meal deal for just over half the price. I received a text from both Yorkie and Mojo saying where they were but trying to reply to them and carry lunch and get to New Street in time for the 12:10 Euston wasn't easy, considering that it was now 12:08. My thought was that I'd be able to make 390013 at Cov by taking the 12:10 out. Since the 12:30 was a waste of pixels, this made sense so I ran for platform 1 and leapt onto the waiting pendo. I then looked over at the other platforms and couldn't see a UHT. In fact, the only thing I could see was a stationary pendo! But I couldn't get the number. I knew that 390045, the pendo that I was currently stood on, was one of my higher mileage examples so I decided to get off in case the 12:30 was a winner. 045 headed out without me and I went over to the platform for the next VT to Euston...
... To see a 221 at the far end of the platform (A end)! I then looked across at the pendo that was sat on the other platform. It then came to me. Blast! I forgot about the Preston! I didn't have long to change platforms now but made it onto dud 350266 before it left on the 12:14 to Euston. This would give me just over 20 minutes to kill at International before 013. That'll be easy enough!
The dez dropped me off at the airport station right time and the first thing I did was exit the station and go to the airport on the cable car. It was the right hand side one (if at International) that came in first and after the short ride to the airport and back; I'd decided what I wanted to do with the remainder of my time. A quick visit to the ticket machine got me a 1st class single to New Street and I headed into the 1st class lounge for 10 minutes. While in there, I got a text from Mojo saying that he was in the 1st class lounge at New Street. What a co-incidence! I said that I'd meet him there after getting back and after a nice time in the lounge, I was on the platform watching a pendo pull in. Yes! Score the winner! It turns out that I read RTT right because it was indeed winner 390013 in charge of the 12:53 to Preston. I got a seat in one of the 1st class bays of two (with a table in between the two seats) for the short ride to New Street. Like my previous 1st class journey between the two, I didn't even get a drink but at least I could get stuff in the lounges and have a much nicer journey on this required pendo.
I text Mojo when I got to New Street to say that I was on the way up to the 1st class lounge and that I'd meet him there. I navigated my way through the maze that is New Street and got to the lounge, where I had to wait for a couple of minutes before someone came along to check my ticket. They let me through and I headed over to Mojo to say hi before getting a drink and cookie. We then chatted for a bit but unfortunately we couldn't have too long in the lounge because it wouldn't be long before the others arrived and we still needed to get everyone else daytrippers for the meet. I'm sure you're wondering what this forum meet is all about. I'm guessing you've all noticed the new light blue username that I now have. This obviously means that I'm now a quizmaster. This trip was before I'd become a QM and the reason for it was so I could meet with the other QMs. Unfortunately, Transportphoto had other stuff on so couldn't make it. Yorkie and OxtedL's train was running slightly late but there was a slight problem. Ainsworth74's 221 (yea, I know...) supposedly passed Water Orton at exactly the same time as Yorkie and OxtedL's. This meant that we had no idea which platform to head to first. Ainsworth's one apparently entered the tunnels first so we quickly headed down into the 8 coach crowds emerging from the 4 coach UHT. Ainsworth was found after the crowds had began to subside and we then made our way over to the platform that the ex Stanstead had just arrived on. We fought our way through the crowds but it seems that they'd walked down the other platform so we'd missed them. Mojo gave Yorkie a ring and we eventually found each other.
I'd drawn up a plan for the main meet (well if you want to be pedantic then I'd drawn up 3), including a couple of things that Yorkie requested we get - a walk down the canal and a bus. The first service that we had on the plan was the 13:52 starship up to Bourneville. We were already on platform 11 for it and in no time at all, 323216 and 323213 came in. It was then something that always takes me ages to decide on. Which unit do we sit in?! It took the others quite a while to decide before Ainsworth just said that there was a fairly empty coach (several bays of 4 free) right next to us. I think it's obvious that we went for that one!
The daytrippers that we'd got were 1 family one (because it'd work out cheaper than 2 adult ones) and another 2 adult ones. The family daytripper requires at least one child and has a maximum of two adults. I obviously already had a WMDT but it was cheaper to get a family one. We'd discussed getting two family ones, showing one ticket first and then the other after, with me swapping over during the ticket change but it was decided that children weren't transferable. It was nice to catch up with everybody because the last time I'd attended a forum meet (excepting Tech, SamGeorge965 and Kite) was that walk around the York walls on my North East Rover! Bourneville was reached and we began the pleasant walk down the Birmingham and Worcester canal. This stretch of canal follows the railway line almost all the way to Five Ways (but there isn't any way to access the station from the towpath from what I remember), just leaving it for a moment to get to Selly Oak station. Unlike my last time down this stretch (which was sby boat), no Cross Country tram was seen but it was a nice enough walk anyway, except seeing one of my required XC 170s arriving at University just before we got there. There were steps leading up from the towpath onto the road bridge just outside Uni, which makes it easy for anyone who wants a nice walk between Bourneville and University (other stations not recommended). The next service towards Brum was the 14:45 and it was apparently formed of 6 coaches so we could walk some distance up the platform for it. It seems that the 'you get it once and then keep on getting it' rule is most certainly true because my last LM starship (back when I needed them), 323204 really was stalking me today! 323202 was leading it meaning that I'd had the leading one twice that day and the rear three times! Class172 was to join us on this one and as he was approaching the station at the same time as the starships, he had to run to get onto the train. Since we were in the front unit, it made it slightly harder but he still made it. We had a couple of bays of 4 again for the journey back to the bat cave. The plan had us on the 15:10 to International for a bus across to Solihull but when arriving at New Street, I put my hands to the window for the second time today...
... about the same class too! 390123, one of my last 5 pendos required for haulage was waiting to work the 15:30 to Euston! Unfortunately, 123 wouldn't get to International in time for our bus so I had to leave that for another time and instead head over to platform 1, ready for whatever pendo may appear on our service to International. Unfortunately it was a dud, 390156, that would be powering us towards the airport. It was easy enough to get seats for the 6 of us and the time whizzed by on the 8.25-mile journey. A couple of the others wanted to get the cable car across to the airport and back so we decided to do that. We did have time before the bus after all! The right hand side one took us there and back again, because the others thought the bus station for the airport was at International. We went down the stairs and looked at the bus times for Solihull to make sure they were correct. During this, we found a bus to Solihull with a really ridiculous bus company name. It was 'Discount travel solutions' (thanks to Yorkie for the name of the company - I'd completely forgotten it but knew it was a daft one)! It didn't matter though because we were meant to be on the National Express West Mids one. There were several bad drivers coming as we waited, parking in the bus stops, some for over 10 minutes. There were buses waiting to go into the stations too! You don't get that on the railways (or I hope you don't get that on the railways)! The discount travel solutions bus arrived first but we didn't take it for several reasons.
1. It was a single decker
2. It looked in worse shape than a 144
3. It looked in worse shape than a 143
4. It looked in worse shape than a 142
5. It looked like it'd break apart at any moment
6. It was rattly and noisy
7. We didn't want to end up in the arse end of... Birmingham on a broken down bus
8. We couldn't bring ourselves to board a bus with that company name
9. We didn't know if daytrippers would be valid on it
10. This is just to get the list to 10
.We continued waiting... and waiting... and waiting for the NX on to appear. Then just over 20 minutes late (yep, I know that we could have got 390123 from New Street and made the bus with time to kill), it finally arrived. Sorry to the bus enthusiasts, all I know about it was that it was a double decker and that it was late. I don't like buses! At least we managed to get the seats up top right at the front for the ride over towards Solihull.
We thought this was a bus that went straight to the station but it terminated in the town center instead. It would only be a short walk and a couple of the others knew the way there, as did the signs. Although the signs are worse than google maps for the distance it'd take to get between two locations! They were giving about 5 minutes to walk 10 metres! Ridiculous! Eventually we arrived at the station though and it looks like we arrived in the middle of a dead zone because the next available was the 16:37 LM. It was now about 16:25 so we had to wait 10 minutes. Oh, the horror
! The plan had us heading to Jewellery Quarter on the 16:17 LM (with a wait of about 15/20 minutes at Solihull for it) for a tram to Bull Street and across to New Street for dinner so by the time we boarded 172217 and 172219, we were only 20 minutes behind the original plan. Even with this though, it appeared that we'd be late for dinner because we had a booking for 17:00. By the time the cart arrived at Snow Hell it was 16:52! Mojo called them up to say that we'd be slightly late and we continued to Jewellery Quarter. It was a short wait for the next Bull Street tram and after a couple of minutes dud 25 came into view. This was taken past St Pauls and onto the relatively new section of track to Bull Street. The others weren't too impressed at the length of the 'extension' but it meant tat we weren't too late arriving at the pub just outside New Street. This was the 'Bacchus bar' and after going down a gran set of stairs we reached the entrance to the pub. A sign on the door wasn't too welcome. It said 'over 18s only'. This wasn't exactly good news for me! We went in anyway and headed over to the table. I tried to look over 18 but it seems that it's very hard because a couple of minutes after sitting down, a waitress came over and asked my age, saying that I wouldn’t have to leave because I was with a booking. I said I was 14 and she was very happy because that's what she thought! Looks like I'm terrible at looking 18 then! I can't remember what everyone else got but I decided to go for macaroni cheese and an orange juice, flagging a starter. For the 1st time we talked about QM stuff and it was agreed that I'd get QM powers about a month after the meet. Dinner came and we all agreed that the portions weren't great but it was very tasty anyway. OxtedL had to head away first, closely followed by Ainsworth74 because they had trains at 18:22 and 18:30 respectively if I remember correctly. The rest of us could have pudd and I went for a warm choccy sponge pudding with ice cream. This was extremely good and, even though I have a good appetite, I was stuffed after that. The others kindly got my meal and after that we went back up to street level, which was much darker than when we went in. Yorkie and Mojo were booked on the 19:03 tram to Leeds but, since neither had had pudd, they wanted to head across to M&S to see if there was any bargain cakes available. I wanted to be on the 19:14 from Snow Hell and Class172 had an excellent frequency to get back to University. I said bye to everyone as they all went for their trains back/M&S as I began the walk up the hill towards Snow Hell.
I got down onto the platform for the Marylebone and immediately thought that something was wrong because there was no cart in the platform. I was waiting for about 5 minutes before I could see headlights coming through the tunnel and a Chiltern cart emerging. This was at 19:12 and it turns out that this service is actually booked to arrive at this time in order to form a service back 2 minutes later! I wasn't too happy to see an ex TPE 170 would be on my service back to Leam but I could easily get the right hand side bay of 4 right at the back that I like so I was OK with it in the end. Not to mention that I hadn't had this under its new number (not that that changes anything) but I'd only had it once with TPE and that was on a Stockport leap so it was a bit more mileage to add to the total! The journey back was uneventful and I didn't get wedged out at all on the journey back to Leam. Mum was kindly waiting to take me home, while dad tried to get the hub back in action so we could have Internet again. This turned out to only be a temporary fix because it failed again that evening. Oh well! Hardly matters! I'd had a great day out on the rails!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounded like a good day with several required units and a lovely bus, slowly catching up
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Having no participation in quizzes, I have no idea how that sector works but well done on the forum promotion!
Looks like it was a good day out, harsh you had to flag the winner 390 mind!
Looks like it was a good day out, harsh you had to flag the winner 390 mind!
Again!
The 20th of Febuary 2016 was a Saturday, and also the day of a forum meet in Nottingham to do the new tram extensions. I'd done both already but it'd be nice to get to Notty again and do them with some forum members! I had originally planned to head out to Netherfield and walk back to Carlton with Kite in the evening but dad wanted to come (which meant we'd be able to get trams from Market Harborough) but didn't want to be back too late. This meant taking the 17:32 from Notty and also meant that I wouldn't be able to head out to Netherfield. Oh well, at least we get some fairly good tram mileage (43.25 miles each way)! The reason for the title this time is because I'm meeting up with forum members yet again, if you haven't already guessed that.
The 20th finally came and the alarm went off at 06:30. I got ready and stuff, getting to the car with dad for 07:00. Nathan was picked up en route Market Harborough and we continued the drive, giving ourselves 2 hours to do an hours drive. Why was this? Brekky of course! It was a nice drive around the outskirts of Rugby and onward on the A14. The A14 must be one of the worst roads for rubbish that there is. There was loads and loads and loads of dumped rubbish scattered on the side of the road, in hedges and on the road. Welcome to Northamptonshire indeed! The 'mileage signs' (the ones that tell you how many miles you are from certain places) all included Harwich and Felixstowe, giving a clear indication at where the road went. We came off the A14 at long last and after stopping at some roadworks traffic lights, we continued to Market Harborough. It was now time to find a cheap car park. Why weren't we going to park at Market Harborough station? Easy! It costs a tenner to park there for the day! Instead we found a nice little car park for £2.20. And if we wanted, we could stay there until Monday morning! We’d done the journey in 50 minutes so if we ran (and I meant sprinted) and also had tickets then we could make the 08:10 to Notty. We didn't have tickets though and we weren't in a running mood so instead we went in search of breakfast.
The town centre was reached and we headed up the high street in hunt of something that we all wanted. Apparently the best idea (in my opinion) wasn't the best in the eyes of the others. That was a Greggs and a costa opposite each other! Creamy cooler and pasty! Alas no. A Subway was found on the high street so we got 3 mega melts, a first time for Nathan. I got these today. They were taken back down the high street towards the station but dads and I got eaten on the way. Nat didn't want to eat his on the move so he kept it for when we got to the station. The ticket office wasn't open so we had to use the rubbish EMT TVMs to get the Notty tickets. It was then up onto the Leicester bound platform and into the waiting room (the one towards the end of the platform) to wait for the 09:10 to Nottingham. Several horrid 'Merdeians' passed during our half hour wait for the tram but it passed quickly enough. We discussed many subjects while waiting for the tram, one of which was the fact that the waiting room door opened on the inside (push from the outside, pull from the inside). It was pointed out by dad that that was a terrible idea because the door might be pushed open in strong wind and that it was also a fire hazard because you have to stop and pull the door instead of just pushing it if a fire breaks out. Anyway, enough about EMT's poor doors. How about EMT's good doors! On their trams! The PIS couldn't agree with the announcer about which end 1st class is, the PIS saying that it was at the back and the announcer saying that it was at the front. It was thankfully at the back, meaning we didn't need to walk down the platform to where all the normals were. Dud 43076 was leading the train, with dud 43054 on the back, which I found out at Notty.
Since the meet didn't begin for another 2 hours, we'd decided to get the remaining few shacks that I needed on the Clifton branch and, if we had time, all of the stops that I needed on the 'city centre loop', where it's all one-way traffic for the trams. Nat and I needed Kangaroo tickets so we couldbe Australian animals travel on the EMT cart from Bulwell to Notty. Dad wouldn't do this so only needed a NET day rover. These were all bought from the NET ticket machines so, unlike my last Kangaroo ticket; it was printed on the tram ticket stock. The first Clifton South bound tram that we saw appeared after we got tickets so we were in position for it. Nathan hadn't previously done the NET trams for haulage (only for sight) but has now decided to do them so every tram was a winner for him unless I say otherwise (which would mean it was a repeat). Dad was doing them for haulage too and needed quite a few but not all. Dad and I weren't off to a good start as it was a dud for both of us that was on the Clifton. This was 230. We decided to take this one down to Ruddington Lane, shack score number 1 (for me). I noticed that the journey between Compton Acres and Ruddington Lane didn't take long at all so, after leaving the tram, I looked down at the direction that we'd just come from. I was right and it wasn't far at all to Compton Acres. The next tram wasn't for 5 minutes so, with time to kill, we decided to walk one stop back towards Notty so I could get that shack with no time penalty. Shack number 2 was reached in three or four minutes and we could see the tram coming from Ruddington Lane about a minute after we got there. Yes! Winner (for all of us) 231 was our next tram. We decided to head to Meadows Embankment on this. The plan was to walk the very short distance to Wilford Village but the tram was arriving at Meadows Embankment as we were so it was a quick platform change onto the other tram. This was dud for me, but winner for dad (and obviously Nat), 235. We were in the very back of the tram and, just after leaving Meadows Embankment; dad noticed another tram following ours less than a minute behind. We crossed the river on the tram and bailed at shack 4, Wilford Village. Sure enough, dud 221 (required for dad) rolled in and took us the short distance to my last required shack on the Clifton branch, Wilford Lane. It was the longest fester of the day so far here, of about 5 minutes but time passed quickly and winner for all of us 216 arrived on a Phoenix Park bound. I wanted a celebratory creamy cooler and dad was in dire need of a coffee so we decided to head to Costa. I decided to buy this because Nat and dad had been very patient at getting my shacks done. We decided that the Costa at Old Market Square would be heaving but I knew that there was one right next to Trent Uni tram stop so we decided to go there. There was a Hucknall tram 1 minute behind ours at the station so we decided to leave 216 there and wait for the next one. Bailing was a good idea because, although it wasn't a winner for me, 222 was required for dad. This was taken the west of the way to Trent uni, or, as it was called before being a uni, Trent Polytechnic. The Costa was reached but it seems that we should have gone for the Market Square one because there was an open day at the University the it was very busy. The two baristas had no idea either but both were really soche and got dad's coffee and the two creamy coolers (not both for me unfortunately!) as quick as possible. Now it was time for the 'loop shacks'!
We took our drinks to the platform and waited for the first tram, this being dud for dad and I 219. This was dad's second dud tram of the day (that's road trams - not the EMT beasts)! This was very good considering that we'd had 7 by this point. Anyway, 219 was taken to shack number 6, Noel Street where we had about 5 minutes for the next tram. A short walk up the hill was had and we arrived at shack score 7, Beaconsfield Street, with about 3 minutes until the next tram. I finished my creamy cooler on the walk here so I was wondering where a bin was. How good of NET to provide one at this little shack! Anyway, Nathan's first ever dud NET tram was on this, purely because this was a repeat from earlier. it was 221 that would take us one stop forward. Dad felt like a complete idiot getting the tram to stop just for us after we'd boarded one stop before (we could walk them in about the same amount of time that the tram takes) but I was the one that clicked the button to get the tram to stop at shack number 8, Shipstone Street. I said that someone got on the tram after we bailed but that didn't work so we did stop the tram just for us. Well, that's what you need to do, isn't it!
Next up was Radford Road. This was a simple walk around the corner and after less than a minute of waiting dud for me but winner for everyone else 218 took us back one stop towards the city centre. Pressing the button this time wasn't so bad because we weren't the only passengers leaving the tram and there was a few waiting too at shack score number 10, Hyson Green Market. And that was it! The loop shacks also cleared and a straight line between Clifton South and Phoenix Park (and return) done for them! It'd probably be excessive to celebrate with another creamy cooler (as I type this I'm just thinking to myself 'no! No! It's not excessive! You should have got another! What were you thinking?') so I just stuck my fist in the air after bailing, probably confusing the normals. The next one was only 2 minutes behind and it was repeat number 2, 216. It was now time to be heading back to the station to meet up with everyone else so 216 added more to its mileage on the journey back to the station. I could see Samgeorge965 walking up onto the platform as our tram arrived at the station so we all got off to say hi to the bunch of members that were already there. Kite159 was also there (as I'm sure you all know from reading his report over 2 months ago) so I said hi to him too. We were all waiting for Yorkie and Mojo (at least I think it was them!) who were on a Toton bound from Hucknall (I think!). This meant that we flagged the first Clifton bound and stuck with the plan so they could join us on it. I groaned as I saw what was approaching on the Clifton. It was one of the old ones. Both dad and I don't really like these ones and the new ones are much better. Dad was happy enough with it though because it was one of his last few required ones on the Clifton branch that day. This was 213. The front of the tram must have been very low to the ground because every forum member was stood/sat in the front section of it. It didn't break though!
At Clifton, all the forum members except Nat and I (dad isn't a forum member) left the tram. They were all getting a bus back to Notty but, with trams available, we decided not to do that and head back on 213 instead. Then, an idea came to dad. Someone (I think it was Kite but can't remember) pointed out a Greggs at Clifton Centre on the way down so, with it being about 12:30, we bailed there and headed over to the Greggs to get lunch. Nat and I both got a couple of chicken bakes, dad going for a couple of saussie rolls. We also got 4 packets of cookies (4 cookies in each) to share out when we met up with the forum members again on the tram from Notty to Toton. They were very expensive though, coming out at 50p per cookie (I think - it might have been more). Anyway, it was worth the fester because it was a new, although dud for the day tram, this being 221. We'd noticed that another one of dad's rapidly decreasing required trams (210) should be on the tram behind this one so it was decided to leave at the next stop to get that because we still had a little time. This was Compton Acres but the moment we left the tram, dad noticed that he didn't have his sausage rolls. I leapt back on less than a second before the doors shut and found them easily on board. I then had a think. There wasn't really much point in festering for 8 minutes at Wilford Lane (the next stop) so I decided to go for a nice little walk during this time by taking 221 to Meadows Embankment again. The plan was to walk back to Wilford Village but, just like earlier, there was another tram arriving so dud 217 was had for the leap back over the bridge to Meadows Embankment. I let dad know what I was doing but it was bad new from his end. It wasn't his winner on the one back and we didn't have time to get his winner back to the station before the Toton one with the rest of the forum. Irritating for dad! Dud for the day 235 was the one that took us through to the station instead. We had 5 minutes after arriving at Notty to have a PNB before the tram to Toton, which was due out at 13:05. We had to be done very quickly because it involved heading down onto the mainline platforms but we headed onto the NET platform at 13:03. None of the forum members were there! This was strange because we'd seen them walking up from the bus stop as we went to the toilet but they weren't on the platform. That's when I received a text from Mojo saying that the tram left 3 early! If they're going to have a timetable then they should at least stick to it! All pretty miffed at NET, we waited on the platform for the next one towards Toton. Although I was annoyed that we weren't on the tram with the other members, this was slightly softened by it being 227, one of my last 4 NET trams required for haulage. I knew that another of my winners was right behind but we wanted to catch up with the others, who should have walked across to Toton depot after leaving the tram that they were on. That was the plan but the weather wasn't great so it was decided that it could change. I sent a text to Yorkie asking if they were planning to walk across but they hadn't decided yet. This was all winner track for Nathan (as was Clifton earlier on) so at least he was getting something out of the stagger to Toton. I'm not too keen on the Toton branch, probably because it's so long, but the journey wasn't too bad. I got a text from Yorkie saying that they were going to head back out to Beeston on the tram that they'd just got to Toton and then go across to the heavy rail station for a cart to Notty. They wouldn't have time to wait for our tram in order to get it so dad and I were thinking of bailing at Inham Road and waiting for their tram but Nathan was the one who crumpled that plan, saying he wouldn't clear the track then. This sounded reasonable to us both so we decided to risk Toton to make the connection. It should be just about doable and we weren't very happy when our tram came to a stand just outside the station (if you can call it that) for about 3 minutes, during which time the tram with everyone one raced straight past us. We the moved forward again, going onto the same platform as the one that'd just left! I think what annoys me most about this is the fact that if we'd gone into the other platform then the connection would have been made! I sent Mojo another text (after changing ends of course!) asking if they could wait for us at Notty station, where we'd leave 227. He said that that'd be fine and 227 was had for the long slog back to Nottingham Station 'for Nottingham Railway Station'. Without the end bit, I wouldn't possibly know that I was alighting at the railway station! Anyway, a few of the forum members were waiting on the 'city centre' bound platform as our tram arrived. We went over to join them and apparently the rest of the group had waited an extra 5 minutes at Beeston for a 222! Now that's just shameful. But it was at this point that things went wrong...
There was an announcement saying that trams were currently disrupted due to 'an earlier incident at Old Market Square'. Someone (I think it was Yorkie) suggested that this meant it was a fatality but, even after looking on the twitter site, we were none the wiser. We wanted to head to Phoenix Park before Hucknall but the others came up just after it left. Oh well, 8 minutes until the next one! 210, one of dad's winners, arrived on a Clifton bound, meaning that it was the 3rd time that he'd only just missed it. This tram was very irritating for him! There was a Hucknall following the Phoenix Park by about 2 minutes, this being one of my winners (the one that was following 227). Dad and I excused ourselves and boarded winner 233, putting me down to needing 2 NET trams. This was taken for the mega mileage move to Lace Market where we had what should be a short fester for the Phoenix Park one with all the other forum members. Nope! Apparently the next Phoenix Park wasn't for about half an hour! There was another Hucknall in just under 10 minutes so we thought that everyone would've got on that instead because only a crazy person would wait a half hour for that Phoenix Park when we could go to Hucknall instead. We both groaned after seeing what was approaching. The 'blue' old one. This meant that it was 211, which was dud for both dad and I (but not Nat). It was surprisingly full, not only in the 'RailUK part of the tram', which was the front again. The cookies that we'd bought in Clifton were handed around and, although expensive, tasted quite good. It wasn't a very fun journey, the only good thing being the fact that we could chat with the other members. Dad really didn't want to stay on 211 all the way to Hucknall and, since I needed all of the shacks between Highbury Vale and Hucknall, we decided to alight at shack score 11, Bulwell Forest. It was only a short wait before 227 rolled in. A winner that morning and one of my highest mileage by the afternoon! This was taken to Bulwell for another shack score and after a 2 minute wait, 214 arrived for the ride up to Moor Bridge (shack score 13), which would be my final shack score of the day. It also meant that I only needed Butlers Hill (which I keep on saying and typing as Butlers Lane because I always hear the Cross City line announcements) to clear all the shacks on the NET except the ones on the Toton branch (of which I needed all except Toton Lane). 211 was the next arrival, as we thought. We met up with everyone again on this one, including Nathan, who had headed through to Hucknall. The plan was to take this to Highbury Vale and then go out and back to Phoenix Park so, as planned, 211 was taken to Highbury Vale. A tram was approaching from the city centre direction bound for the park of phoenix so some of the forum members started running for it. Dad, me and a few of the other forum members knew that we had time to get it and when we got up to the platform, the PIS was seen. It was flashing with Phoenix Park, meaning that there was one due imminently (the one in the platform) and after that it said that there was one in 1 minute and another in 2 minutes. The one currently in the platform was beyond full and standing (because it was the first Phoenix Park for over half an hour at a busy time) so we decided to wait for the next one, except a couple of shack scratchers in the group who liniar hopped to Phoenix Park, bailing at Cinderhill. A new one came in almost imminently and this one was almost completely empty because all of the normals had crammed onto the one 1 minute before. I immediately recognized the number. It was 235 from earlier. Why is this of any significance I hear you ask (or not if you A. are more than 50 meters from me, B. didn't say that or C. mumbled it.). Well, following 235 should be the tram that was avoiding dad all day, 210. We decided to stay put and take 210 to Cinderhill or Phoenix Park to connect onto 235 will all of the forum members so, saying bye to the others (including Nat), we waited for the extra winner. Sure enough, it was dad's winner that arrived next so we got on board, finally claiming victory over the annoying thing (for dad). It stayed in the platform for 1 minute... 2... 3... 4... 5. The driver then came over the PA saying that we were just waiting for two trams to come off the Phoenix Park branch! Oh, for goodness sake! We reluctantly left 210 and waited on the platform for the tram with all the other forum members on, 235. It wasn't fun having Nathan laugh at us for what happened! It was at that moment that dad and I decided on something. 210 will be ours...
We decided on a plan to get the tram but it meant leaving the others yet again. We said bye at Basford and had a 2 minute wait for the next tram, which should be another winner for dad that headed to Hucknall. Sure enough it was 237 (dud for me) that was on the Toton. We decided to take this to Wilkinson Street so I could view the depot during the wait for what should be 210. I saw on of my last 2 winner trams in there but didn't know where the other (229) had got to, because we'd seen all the trams that were out already. I headed back to the platform and got ready for the Clifton. Yes! Finally! 210 appeared! My phone was running dangerously low on charge by now and if it lost charge then there'd be no way to contact Nathan. Because of this, I decided not to use it except to call Nathan when needed. This meant I couldn't read the text from Mojo that I'd received but I decided to do so later on after meeting up with Nat again. We decided to take 210 to The Forest and see what was heading back up towards Phoenix Park/Hucknall. We got ready on that platform and didn't really pay much attention to the tram that had arrived on the platform we'd just come from, assuming that we'd seen it. I glanced over to see the number and really quickly told dad and ran over to hop on another of dad's winners, 202. I got hold of Nathan as we were approaching Trent Uni and asked him where he was. Apparently he was solo again and was on a tram at Lace Market. This is how the conversation went.
Me: Hey Nat, where are you?
Nat: I'm on a tram from the station currently at Lace Market.
Me: Cool, which one?
Nat: 229.
Me: What?!
Nat: 229.
Me: Repeat that slowly please.
Nat (slightly annoyed now): 2. 2. 9.
Me: Stay on that tram! We're on one currently at Trent Uni and will bail at Royal Centre to pick yours up.
Nat: OK. See you in a minute.
Me: Bye!
229! Winner!
We got off at Royal Centre and waited for it to arrive and, sure enough, it was winner for both me and dad 229. We discussed where to bail and decided that it was time for another Costa move, but this time for Hot Chocs. So it was off at Nottingham Trent University mouthful. Then over to the Costa and it was the same two baristas from that morning and they recognized us, saying that it had been a hectic day there with all of the students. It had majorly cleared out by now so we had a little chat before heading off, hot chocolates in hand, back to the tram stop. We decided to get on the first one to arrive and this was in dad's favour, it being a winner for him (and Nat) 204. The others had apparently got a train out to Carlton for a bus back in so we wouldn't see them again unfortunately. I guess dad and I win unsoche award of the day (
)...
Since Nat and I had Kangaroo tickets and not regular NET ones, we wanted to use the train from Bulwell to Notty. It was also winner track and a very high chance of getting a winner unit. I'd had 1 EMT 156 and a very, very little amount of 153s so I wasn't worried about a dud appearing. 158s are rare on the Robin Hood line so I wasn't worried about one of them appearing. Because both Nat and I wanted to go (but neither of us wanted to abandon dad), we decided to ask him to see what he thought. Dad said that he was completely happy with us going for the cart and that he'd just get the tram back to Notty instead. Because of this, we decided to take 204 to Bulwell, where it should be just under 5 minutes until the hourly train to Notty.
At Bulwell we said bye to dad as he headed back on a (dud) tram and we crossed to the other platform. After only about a minute of waiting on the platform, we were surprised to see Kite159 walking down the footbridge to get in position for the train. We said hi and began chatting, getting ready for whatever EMT decided to chuck out. No! No, no, no! It was a dud 158! 158865! Ahhhhh! This was a winner for Kite though so at least he could score something on the run to Notty. Kite introduced me to a new name for a junction en route (I think[/B] it was Speedo junction because of a factory but maybe he could confirm?) but the journey was uneventful and we were soon arriving at Nottingham, where Kite was going to do the Netherfield/Carlton turn. It would have been a winner 156 too! But that was softened by the fact that both Nat and my final EMT 158 was sat in the platform next to us, 158889. This was an ex South West Trains one, explaining why it was required for sight. The interior looked much better than the current EMT ones, with 1st class permanently declassified.
I gave dad a call to say that we were heading to the tram platform. We agreed to meet at Lace Market because he was currently at the Market Square on his tram. On the NET platform, we saw bb21 on the city centre bound platform. A tram was approaching so we ran over and said hi, before asking if he wanted to join us on dud 232. It was a winner for him (I think) so he did and we all rode it for the short hop to Lace Market where we met with dad and all had a nice chat for a while, letting several trams go, before a winner for bb21 arrived heading towards the station. He managed to dart across just in time after saying bye and as he headed towards the station, we headed towards a noodle place that dad and I had been to several times before. I had a caramel chicken and a sweet and sour chicken on noodles (I can't remember what the others went for but I think that Nat went for the same as me) to take out and we took it over to Old Market Square (it's about half way between Old Market Square and Lace Market but not following the tram lines) and onto the first tram towards the station. It sounds like the day was going to end well for dad and Nat because it was 236 that would take us back to the station for our train home. We'd decided to eat on the 17:32 to St Pancras, while waiting for it to leave so, once getting to the station, we headed onto the footbridge and down onto the platform, me about 10ft in front of the other two. YES! My fist shot into the air after seeing the powercar at the St Pancras end. Winner 43060 (leaving me with just 2 EMT powercars to get, one of which has now been had) was leading 43083. Nat wasn't too happy, neither of them being one of his last 3. I helped by not pointing out that I'd scored one (too much). It was a nice, although uneventful, ride back to Market Harborough where we alighted to hear some mega tram thrash before walking back to the car and heading homeward after an excellent day. And, even better, we still had an evening because it was only 19:15 when we got it. One brilliant day, even if dad and I were solo for most of it. Thanks for putting up with the constant moving around of us guys!
The 20th of Febuary 2016 was a Saturday, and also the day of a forum meet in Nottingham to do the new tram extensions. I'd done both already but it'd be nice to get to Notty again and do them with some forum members! I had originally planned to head out to Netherfield and walk back to Carlton with Kite in the evening but dad wanted to come (which meant we'd be able to get trams from Market Harborough) but didn't want to be back too late. This meant taking the 17:32 from Notty and also meant that I wouldn't be able to head out to Netherfield. Oh well, at least we get some fairly good tram mileage (43.25 miles each way)! The reason for the title this time is because I'm meeting up with forum members yet again, if you haven't already guessed that.
The 20th finally came and the alarm went off at 06:30. I got ready and stuff, getting to the car with dad for 07:00. Nathan was picked up en route Market Harborough and we continued the drive, giving ourselves 2 hours to do an hours drive. Why was this? Brekky of course! It was a nice drive around the outskirts of Rugby and onward on the A14. The A14 must be one of the worst roads for rubbish that there is. There was loads and loads and loads of dumped rubbish scattered on the side of the road, in hedges and on the road. Welcome to Northamptonshire indeed
! The 'mileage signs' (the ones that tell you how many miles you are from certain places) all included Harwich and Felixstowe, giving a clear indication at where the road went. We came off the A14 at long last and after stopping at some roadworks traffic lights, we continued to Market Harborough. It was now time to find a cheap car park. Why weren't we going to park at Market Harborough station? Easy! It costs a tenner to park there for the day! Instead we found a nice little car park for £2.20. And if we wanted, we could stay there until Monday morning! We’d done the journey in 50 minutes so if we ran (and I meant sprinted) and also had tickets then we could make the 08:10 to Notty. We didn't have tickets though and we weren't in a running mood so instead we went in search of breakfast. The town centre was reached and we headed up the high street in hunt of something that we all wanted. Apparently the best idea (in my opinion) wasn't the best in the eyes of the others. That was a Greggs and a costa opposite each other! Creamy cooler and pasty! Alas no. A Subway was found on the high street so we got 3 mega melts, a first time for Nathan. I got these today. They were taken back down the high street towards the station but dads and I got eaten on the way. Nat didn't want to eat his on the move so he kept it for when we got to the station. The ticket office wasn't open so we had to use the rubbish EMT TVMs to get the Notty tickets. It was then up onto the Leicester bound platform and into the waiting room (the one towards the end of the platform) to wait for the 09:10 to Nottingham. Several horrid 'Merdeians' passed during our half hour wait for the tram but it passed quickly enough. We discussed many subjects while waiting for the tram, one of which was the fact that the waiting room door opened on the inside (push from the outside, pull from the inside). It was pointed out by dad that that was a terrible idea because the door might be pushed open in strong wind and that it was also a fire hazard because you have to stop and pull the door instead of just pushing it if a fire breaks out. Anyway, enough about EMT's poor doors. How about EMT's good doors! On their trams! The PIS couldn't agree with the announcer about which end 1st class is, the PIS saying that it was at the back and the announcer saying that it was at the front. It was thankfully at the back, meaning we didn't need to walk down the platform to where all the normals were. Dud 43076 was leading the train, with dud 43054 on the back, which I found out at Notty.
Since the meet didn't begin for another 2 hours, we'd decided to get the remaining few shacks that I needed on the Clifton branch and, if we had time, all of the stops that I needed on the 'city centre loop', where it's all one-way traffic for the trams. Nat and I needed Kangaroo tickets so we could
We took our drinks to the platform and waited for the first tram, this being dud for dad and I 219. This was dad's second dud tram of the day (that's road trams - not the EMT beasts)! This was very good considering that we'd had 7 by this point. Anyway, 219 was taken to shack number 6, Noel Street where we had about 5 minutes for the next tram. A short walk up the hill was had and we arrived at shack score 7, Beaconsfield Street, with about 3 minutes until the next tram. I finished my creamy cooler on the walk here so I was wondering where a bin was. How good of NET to provide one at this little shack! Anyway, Nathan's first ever dud NET tram was on this, purely because this was a repeat from earlier. it was 221 that would take us one stop forward. Dad felt like a complete idiot getting the tram to stop just for us after we'd boarded one stop before (we could walk them in about the same amount of time that the tram takes) but I was the one that clicked the button to get the tram to stop at shack number 8, Shipstone Street. I said that someone got on the tram after we bailed but that didn't work so we did stop the tram just for us. Well, that's what you need to do, isn't it!
Next up was Radford Road. This was a simple walk around the corner and after less than a minute of waiting dud for me but winner for everyone else 218 took us back one stop towards the city centre. Pressing the button this time wasn't so bad because we weren't the only passengers leaving the tram and there was a few waiting too at shack score number 10, Hyson Green Market. And that was it! The loop shacks also cleared and a straight line between Clifton South and Phoenix Park (and return) done for them! It'd probably be excessive to celebrate with another creamy cooler (as I type this I'm just thinking to myself 'no! No! It's not excessive! You should have got another! What were you thinking?
') so I just stuck my fist in the air after bailing, probably confusing the normals. The next one was only 2 minutes behind and it was repeat number 2, 216. It was now time to be heading back to the station to meet up with everyone else so 216 added more to its mileage on the journey back to the station. I could see Samgeorge965 walking up onto the platform as our tram arrived at the station so we all got off to say hi to the bunch of members that were already there. Kite159 was also there (as I'm sure you all know from reading his report over 2 months ago) so I said hi to him too. We were all waiting for Yorkie and Mojo (at least I think it was them!) who were on a Toton bound from Hucknall (I think!). This meant that we flagged the first Clifton bound and stuck with the plan so they could join us on it. I groaned as I saw what was approaching on the Clifton. It was one of the old ones. Both dad and I don't really like these ones and the new ones are much better. Dad was happy enough with it though because it was one of his last few required ones on the Clifton branch that day. This was 213. The front of the tram must have been very low to the ground because every forum member was stood/sat in the front section of it. It didn't break though!At Clifton, all the forum members except Nat and I (dad isn't a forum member) left the tram. They were all getting a bus back to Notty but, with trams available, we decided not to do that and head back on 213 instead. Then, an idea came to dad. Someone (I think it was Kite but can't remember) pointed out a Greggs at Clifton Centre on the way down so, with it being about 12:30, we bailed there and headed over to the Greggs to get lunch. Nat and I both got a couple of chicken bakes, dad going for a couple of saussie rolls. We also got 4 packets of cookies (4 cookies in each) to share out when we met up with the forum members again on the tram from Notty to Toton. They were very expensive though, coming out at 50p per cookie (I think - it might have been more). Anyway, it was worth the fester because it was a new, although dud for the day tram, this being 221. We'd noticed that another one of dad's rapidly decreasing required trams (210) should be on the tram behind this one so it was decided to leave at the next stop to get that because we still had a little time. This was Compton Acres but the moment we left the tram, dad noticed that he didn't have his sausage rolls. I leapt back on less than a second before the doors shut and found them easily on board. I then had a think. There wasn't really much point in festering for 8 minutes at Wilford Lane (the next stop) so I decided to go for a nice little walk during this time by taking 221 to Meadows Embankment again. The plan was to walk back to Wilford Village but, just like earlier, there was another tram arriving so dud 217 was had for the leap back over the bridge to Meadows Embankment. I let dad know what I was doing but it was bad new from his end. It wasn't his winner on the one back and we didn't have time to get his winner back to the station before the Toton one with the rest of the forum. Irritating for dad! Dud for the day 235 was the one that took us through to the station instead. We had 5 minutes after arriving at Notty to have a PNB before the tram to Toton, which was due out at 13:05. We had to be done very quickly because it involved heading down onto the mainline platforms but we headed onto the NET platform at 13:03. None of the forum members were there! This was strange because we'd seen them walking up from the bus stop as we went to the toilet but they weren't on the platform. That's when I received a text from Mojo saying that the tram left 3 early! If they're going to have a timetable then they should at least stick to it! All pretty miffed at NET, we waited on the platform for the next one towards Toton. Although I was annoyed that we weren't on the tram with the other members, this was slightly softened by it being 227, one of my last 4 NET trams required for haulage. I knew that another of my winners was right behind but we wanted to catch up with the others, who should have walked across to Toton depot after leaving the tram that they were on. That was the plan but the weather wasn't great so it was decided that it could change. I sent a text to Yorkie asking if they were planning to walk across but they hadn't decided yet. This was all winner track for Nathan (as was Clifton earlier on) so at least he was getting something out of the stagger to Toton. I'm not too keen on the Toton branch, probably because it's so long, but the journey wasn't too bad. I got a text from Yorkie saying that they were going to head back out to Beeston on the tram that they'd just got to Toton and then go across to the heavy rail station for a cart to Notty. They wouldn't have time to wait for our tram in order to get it so dad and I were thinking of bailing at Inham Road and waiting for their tram but Nathan was the one who crumpled that plan, saying he wouldn't clear the track then. This sounded reasonable to us both so we decided to risk Toton to make the connection. It should be just about doable and we weren't very happy when our tram came to a stand just outside the station (if you can call it that) for about 3 minutes, during which time the tram with everyone one raced straight past us. We the moved forward again, going onto the same platform as the one that'd just left! I think what annoys me most about this is the fact that if we'd gone into the other platform then the connection would have been made! I sent Mojo another text (after changing ends of course!) asking if they could wait for us at Notty station, where we'd leave 227. He said that that'd be fine and 227 was had for the long slog back to Nottingham Station 'for Nottingham Railway Station'. Without the end bit, I wouldn't possibly know that I was alighting at the railway station! Anyway, a few of the forum members were waiting on the 'city centre' bound platform as our tram arrived. We went over to join them and apparently the rest of the group had waited an extra 5 minutes at Beeston for a 222! Now that's just shameful. But it was at this point that things went wrong...
There was an announcement saying that trams were currently disrupted due to 'an earlier incident at Old Market Square'. Someone (I think it was Yorkie) suggested that this meant it was a fatality but, even after looking on the twitter site, we were none the wiser. We wanted to head to Phoenix Park before Hucknall but the others came up just after it left. Oh well, 8 minutes until the next one! 210, one of dad's winners, arrived on a Clifton bound, meaning that it was the 3rd time that he'd only just missed it. This tram was very irritating for him! There was a Hucknall following the Phoenix Park by about 2 minutes, this being one of my winners (the one that was following 227). Dad and I excused ourselves and boarded winner 233, putting me down to needing 2 NET trams. This was taken for the mega mileage move to Lace Market where we had what should be a short fester for the Phoenix Park one with all the other forum members. Nope! Apparently the next Phoenix Park wasn't for about half an hour! There was another Hucknall in just under 10 minutes so we thought that everyone would've got on that instead because only a crazy person would wait a half hour for that Phoenix Park when we could go to Hucknall instead. We both groaned after seeing what was approaching. The 'blue' old one. This meant that it was 211, which was dud for both dad and I (but not Nat). It was surprisingly full, not only in the 'RailUK part of the tram', which was the front again. The cookies that we'd bought in Clifton were handed around and, although expensive, tasted quite good. It wasn't a very fun journey, the only good thing being the fact that we could chat with the other members. Dad really didn't want to stay on 211 all the way to Hucknall and, since I needed all of the shacks between Highbury Vale and Hucknall, we decided to alight at shack score 11, Bulwell Forest. It was only a short wait before 227 rolled in. A winner that morning and one of my highest mileage by the afternoon! This was taken to Bulwell for another shack score and after a 2 minute wait, 214 arrived for the ride up to Moor Bridge (shack score 13), which would be my final shack score of the day. It also meant that I only needed Butlers Hill (which I keep on saying and typing as Butlers Lane because I always hear the Cross City line announcements) to clear all the shacks on the NET except the ones on the Toton branch (of which I needed all except Toton Lane). 211 was the next arrival, as we thought. We met up with everyone again on this one, including Nathan, who had headed through to Hucknall. The plan was to take this to Highbury Vale and then go out and back to Phoenix Park so, as planned, 211 was taken to Highbury Vale. A tram was approaching from the city centre direction bound for the park of phoenix so some of the forum members started running for it. Dad, me and a few of the other forum members knew that we had time to get it and when we got up to the platform, the PIS was seen. It was flashing with Phoenix Park, meaning that there was one due imminently (the one in the platform) and after that it said that there was one in 1 minute and another in 2 minutes. The one currently in the platform was beyond full and standing (because it was the first Phoenix Park for over half an hour at a busy time) so we decided to wait for the next one, except a couple of shack scratchers in the group who liniar hopped to Phoenix Park, bailing at Cinderhill. A new one came in almost imminently and this one was almost completely empty because all of the normals had crammed onto the one 1 minute before. I immediately recognized the number. It was 235 from earlier. Why is this of any significance I hear you ask (or not if you A. are more than 50 meters from me, B. didn't say that or C. mumbled it.). Well, following 235 should be the tram that was avoiding dad all day, 210. We decided to stay put and take 210 to Cinderhill or Phoenix Park to connect onto 235 will all of the forum members so, saying bye to the others (including Nat), we waited for the extra winner. Sure enough, it was dad's winner that arrived next so we got on board, finally claiming victory over the annoying thing (for dad). It stayed in the platform for 1 minute... 2... 3... 4... 5. The driver then came over the PA saying that we were just waiting for two trams to come off the Phoenix Park branch! Oh, for goodness sake! We reluctantly left 210 and waited on the platform for the tram with all the other forum members on, 235. It wasn't fun having Nathan laugh at us for what happened! It was at that moment that dad and I decided on something. 210 will be ours...
We decided on a plan to get the tram but it meant leaving the others yet again. We said bye at Basford and had a 2 minute wait for the next tram, which should be another winner for dad that headed to Hucknall. Sure enough it was 237 (dud for me) that was on the Toton. We decided to take this to Wilkinson Street so I could view the depot during the wait for what should be 210. I saw on of my last 2 winner trams in there but didn't know where the other (229) had got to, because we'd seen all the trams that were out already. I headed back to the platform and got ready for the Clifton. Yes! Finally! 210 appeared! My phone was running dangerously low on charge by now and if it lost charge then there'd be no way to contact Nathan. Because of this, I decided not to use it except to call Nathan when needed. This meant I couldn't read the text from Mojo that I'd received but I decided to do so later on after meeting up with Nat again. We decided to take 210 to The Forest and see what was heading back up towards Phoenix Park/Hucknall. We got ready on that platform and didn't really pay much attention to the tram that had arrived on the platform we'd just come from, assuming that we'd seen it. I glanced over to see the number and really quickly told dad and ran over to hop on another of dad's winners, 202. I got hold of Nathan as we were approaching Trent Uni and asked him where he was. Apparently he was solo again and was on a tram at Lace Market. This is how the conversation went.
Me: Hey Nat, where are you?
Nat: I'm on a tram from the station currently at Lace Market.
Me: Cool, which one?
Nat: 229.
Me: What?!
Nat: 229.
Me: Repeat that slowly please.
Nat (slightly annoyed now): 2. 2. 9.
Me: Stay on that tram! We're on one currently at Trent Uni and will bail at Royal Centre to pick yours up.
Nat: OK. See you in a minute.
Me: Bye!
229! Winner!
We got off at Royal Centre and waited for it to arrive and, sure enough, it was winner for both me and dad 229. We discussed where to bail and decided that it was time for another Costa move, but this time for Hot Chocs. So it was off at Nottingham Trent University mouthful. Then over to the Costa and it was the same two baristas from that morning and they recognized us, saying that it had been a hectic day there with all of the students. It had majorly cleared out by now so we had a little chat before heading off, hot chocolates in hand, back to the tram stop. We decided to get on the first one to arrive and this was in dad's favour, it being a winner for him (and Nat) 204. The others had apparently got a train out to Carlton for a bus back in so we wouldn't see them again unfortunately. I guess dad and I win unsoche award of the day (
)...Since Nat and I had Kangaroo tickets and not regular NET ones, we wanted to use the train from Bulwell to Notty. It was also winner track and a very high chance of getting a winner unit. I'd had 1 EMT 156 and a very, very little amount of 153s so I wasn't worried about a dud appearing. 158s are rare on the Robin Hood line so I wasn't worried about one of them appearing. Because both Nat and I wanted to go (but neither of us wanted to abandon dad), we decided to ask him to see what he thought. Dad said that he was completely happy with us going for the cart and that he'd just get the tram back to Notty instead. Because of this, we decided to take 204 to Bulwell, where it should be just under 5 minutes until the hourly train to Notty.
At Bulwell we said bye to dad as he headed back on a (dud) tram and we crossed to the other platform. After only about a minute of waiting on the platform, we were surprised to see Kite159 walking down the footbridge to get in position for the train. We said hi and began chatting, getting ready for whatever EMT decided to chuck out. No! No, no, no! It was a dud 158! 158865! Ahhhhh! This was a winner for Kite though so at least he could score something on the run to Notty. Kite introduced me to a new name for a junction en route (I think[/B] it was Speedo junction because of a factory but maybe he could confirm?) but the journey was uneventful and we were soon arriving at Nottingham, where Kite was going to do the Netherfield/Carlton turn. It would have been a winner 156 too! But that was softened by the fact that both Nat and my final EMT 158 was sat in the platform next to us, 158889. This was an ex South West Trains one, explaining why it was required for sight. The interior looked much better than the current EMT ones, with 1st class permanently declassified.
I gave dad a call to say that we were heading to the tram platform. We agreed to meet at Lace Market because he was currently at the Market Square on his tram. On the NET platform, we saw bb21 on the city centre bound platform. A tram was approaching so we ran over and said hi, before asking if he wanted to join us on dud 232. It was a winner for him (I think) so he did and we all rode it for the short hop to Lace Market where we met with dad and all had a nice chat for a while, letting several trams go, before a winner for bb21 arrived heading towards the station. He managed to dart across just in time after saying bye and as he headed towards the station, we headed towards a noodle place that dad and I had been to several times before. I had a caramel chicken and a sweet and sour chicken on noodles (I can't remember what the others went for but I think that Nat went for the same as me) to take out and we took it over to Old Market Square (it's about half way between Old Market Square and Lace Market but not following the tram lines) and onto the first tram towards the station. It sounds like the day was going to end well for dad and Nat because it was 236 that would take us back to the station for our train home. We'd decided to eat on the 17:32 to St Pancras, while waiting for it to leave so, once getting to the station, we headed onto the footbridge and down onto the platform, me about 10ft in front of the other two. YES! My fist shot into the air after seeing the powercar at the St Pancras end. Winner 43060 (leaving me with just 2 EMT powercars to get, one of which has now been had) was leading 43083. Nat wasn't too happy, neither of them being one of his last 3. I helped by not pointing out that I'd scored one (too much
). It was a nice, although uneventful, ride back to Market Harborough where we alighted to hear some mega tram thrash before walking back to the car and heading homeward after an excellent day. And, even better, we still had an evening because it was only 19:15 when we got it. One brilliant day, even if dad and I were solo for most of it. Thanks for putting up with the constant moving around of us guys!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Another excellent read young sir!
Couldn't help but smile when you got the forum celebrity tram, 236, in!
Loved the humour you used in the 'I hear you ask' bit too. I'm nicking that idea to re-word it on one of my next trips!
Jealous of the EMT HST moves, but then again I'm on one for some serious mileage next week
Couldn't help but smile when you got the forum celebrity tram, 236, in!
Loved the humour you used in the 'I hear you ask' bit too. I'm nicking that idea to re-word it on one of my next trips!
Jealous of the EMT HST moves, but then again I'm on one for some serious mileage next week
Thanks! I was tempted to put something in next to 236 but didn't in the end . What is the mileage for you next week on the tram or don't you know yet? You might get some great mileage on an EMT one next week but on the 15th of June I'm on a VTEC one for mega mileage in 1st. Bring on Inverness!
. What is the mileage for you next week on the tram or don't you know yet? You might get some great mileage on an EMT one next week but on the 15th of June I'm on a VTEC one for mega mileage in 1st. Bring on Inverness!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Don't remind me, I'd love to do the Chieftain in FC! No idea how many hundreds of miles will be had off the EMT HST next Saturday yet, it's the UKR tour
Keith Jarrett
Member
Mr Quinn, you've got me all jealous now with this excellent leap around the Nottingham tram network. You certainly had a great time and it seems that you made a good call by getting HSTs to & from Nottingham.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Ah "speedo" junction, as there is some sort of office block there for the company Speedo, I know it's probably called something else but it's a good sign that Nottingham is nearly there.
Sounded like a good day in between meeting up with the rest of the forum, although by the sounds of it you can't have much left shack wise of the NET
Sounded like a good day in between meeting up with the rest of the forum, although by the sounds of it you can't have much left shack wise of the NET
Last edited:
jayalongtheway
Member
- Joined
- 31 Oct 2015
- Messages
- 241
Great reads there Quinn.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Should be easy enough for you to do on a day-trip
Mansfield Junction
Speedo building is always a welcome sight!Some good reports chap - you seem quite adept at zooming around the place!
185143
Established Member
- Joined
- 3 Mar 2013
- Messages
- 5,337
But not quite so quick at putting his reports up![emoji1] [emoji1]Mansfield Junction
Some good reports chap - you seem quite adept at zooming around the place!
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
I blame my brother and GCSEs. The GCSEs mean I have extra work and less free time and my free time is usually after 16:00, when my brother is on. Not to mention that I do lots of trips so it's hard to keep up!
185143
Established Member
- Joined
- 3 Mar 2013
- Messages
- 5,337
Im in the same position as your brother so no sympathy from me Im afraid![emoji1]
It's just the fact that he is almost constantly on it after 16:00 that gets on my nerves.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
OK, I know that it ends kind of abruptly but I thought it was a good stopping point. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
A different kind of again
I start this trip report exactly 2 months after the trip itself, which was on the 26th of February. The title sort of refers to the one in the previous trip report (again) but this 'different kind of again' meant that it wasn't a forum meet of any sort. But just another midlands jaunt!
As per usual, this day out began with the stupid o' clock departure from Leamington with dad. The usual guff was done at about 05:30 before heading out in the 'tin rocket' (which, before you ask, isn't a 153. It's dad's car!) to Leam. A 15-minute drive and a 10-minute walk later and I'm just glad that it is beginning to get warmer at this time of the morning. In December and January (or even September when I did my FOSS) it was absolutely freezing and I took a coat with me just for that morning walk. It was slightly better on the station but only just and, with my ticket in my bag, I was able to board the cart and get into the heat of dud 165019. This is actually the unit that won me Lapworth as a shack on the 20th of May the year before (from Lapworth to Moor Street). Thinking about it, it was also the unit that scored me Kings Sutton, taking me from Banbury to Kings Sutton on the 7th of December. So this was a unit that, until now, had had a winner shack as one part of the journey. The journey went smoothly and the sun rising above the trees and everything made the sky red and pink. We'd unfortunately decided that it was the sun rising and Coventry wasn't on fire. Shame that...
37057 was sat in its BR green livery at Tyseley as we passed and Topcat thundered away towards Marylebone at Bordesley. Other than that it was uneventful and we were soon bailing at Snow Hell with an on time arrival. We walked over to subway and got our usual, taking them to dad's work as usual before staying there for a while. An excellent brekky it was! I had some gen on Gingertom for the day before, which said that it should have ended up at Wembley overnight. This meant that if there wasn't a set swap or a loco change the 'day turn' (07:24 OXP-MYB, 08:41 MYB-BMS, 10:55 BMS-MYB, 13:10 MYB-BMS, 15:55 BMS-MYB, 18:15 MYB-KID) should have GT on. It was currently sat at 916.25 miles so I only needed 83.75 miles to clear it. Because of this, I decided to take it on the 10:04 from Leam to Moor Street, 10:55 back out and then get it on the 15:55 back to Leam, leaving it at 992.25 miles. Why not go for the clearance? Well, I decided that getting it on 1R33 would be too much hassle and that it'd split the day, because I'd need to be on the 13:55 from Moor Street to get to Leam in time. So I decided that 992.25 was very good and I just needed to get it on a shortish run to clear it then.
As per usual, I left dad just before 8 and began the walk to New Street. Before I headed away he said something that made me laugh. It was 'look out for buses on the way! I would say look out for trams but...' This was an obvious reference to how badly progress was going at getting the trams to New Street. Even as I write this, on the 26th of April, they still aren't heading to New Street. It's close though! I did as dad said and avoided all the buses en route to New Street where my daytripper was obtained and I headed to view the 08:10 to Euston. As usual, this was a dud, as was the Preston and the all shacks stopper to Euston (it almost completely is too! It's all shacks to MK except Adderley Park but I stopped listening after that). The 30 minutes past to Euston was also a dud. I headed over to platform 1 to see what dez was on the Walsall but after seeing that it was a dud, I began to head back to the B end to change platforms again. En route, I glanced over at the platform 2 away from me and saw a double dez sat there. I got in a position to get the numbers and instead of walking to the B end, I ran. I didn't know what winner 350376 and dud 350104 would be leaving on! It turns out that it was the 08:33 to Euston so I got a seat in the front unit and waited for us to get the right away.
I could have bailed at Marson Green off this pair but wanting another option if the dez back was dud, I decided to continue to Birmingham International. Apparently the name is misleading and confusing to normals because they can't tell that it's a station for the airport so the railway wants to change its name. I'm not sure what they'd call it but 'Birmingham International Airport' would probably work best. As I thought, the New Street dez was a dud. The boards at International said that the pendo was going to be an 11 coach, meaning it could either be an 11 coach or a 9 coach. It'd be the same if it said that it was a 9 coach. Sure enough, for the billionth time (I'm of course being optimistic. It's surely more than a billion by now), the boards were wrong as it was dud 9 coach 390039. Still, better than a dez!
In order to be on the 10:04 from Leam, I needed to be on the 09:12 from Snow Hell. My pendo arrived at New Street at 09:05 (it was the Edinburgh) so I didn't want to risk Snow Hell because I still had to get out of the station, something that turned out to be very difficult because a rather full 170 had arrived at the same time on the platform next to us so two trainloads of people were all fighting along the platform to get up one escalator (Navigation street footbridge was closed). A couple of people (including me) had sense and, after fighting our way as far as the escalator up to the B end of things, we continued to the A end and away from all of the crowds. I wasn't changing platforms here anyway! It was easy to get out of the A end and after passing through 1 set of barriers (a new record for the new New Street?), I was on the path to Moor Street. I ran it, wanting to get on the platforms A.S.A.P. because I didn't have long until my train was due out. I did it in my usual 3 minutes and got there at the same time as the cart should have been leaving Snow Hell. This one is a booked ex TPE 170 and a 3 coach 168 so I was hoping for one of my lower mileage examples of both (168324 and 168108 would be good - on 6.50 and 16.75 respectively). Unfortunately not as it was 168322 (on 29 miles) and 168112 (over 100 miles) that would be taking me back to my home station. I got a bay of 4 in the very back of 112 easily and after an uneventful journey, I was getting off the double cart at Leam, where I had a +18 onto what should be Gingertom. I crossed to platform 2 and headed to the end of the platform there to wait for it and, in no time at all (well. Not no time at all really. It was quarter of an hour. I apologize for not being good at maths in that last little bit before the brackets), 68014 thundered in...
... And then thundered out with great thrash. I was (obviously) in the front coach and GT was very audible for the thrashmungus (is that a word? If it isn't then in should be!) ride to Moor Street, putting GT to 939 miles, a mere 61 to clearance! I joined all of the normals as they began to leave the train, but only for a couple of seconds because I just slipped into a bay of four on what would be the right hand side on the journey back to Leam. GT, pushing this time, performed well for the journey back to Leam, where I had a tight connection onto my train back to Brum. It was a +2 if we were on time, which we weren't. We were running 1 late out of Warwick Parkway. I made sure that I was near the front of the set and I clicked the door open button the moment we came to a stand and immedietly leapt off and sprinted through the subway. It turns out that I didn't need to run because the cat wasn't in yet but it rolled in just before 014 left. I knew that it couldn't be Topcat or Gingertom, which left Bagpuss or Titan it was the former and 68010 performed very well on the journey back to Brum.
After getting off, I now didn't need to do anything until H62 so I had full reign of the units. But, as it was 11:55, I decided to head to New Street via Meal Deal. I ran this so I could get back in time to view the beginning of the potential winners (8 minutes past to 33 minutes past). On my way over to Meal Deal, I noticed that the 11:57 to Walsall had a winner dez on so, working out that it'd be on the 13:08 out of New Street to Wolverhampton later on, I descended to platform level. Most of the potential winners were duds, until the very end. Winner 350372 was on the 12:33 to Euston! I got a seat for the short ride out to the airport where I had to return on the dez, the thing on the VT behind not a booked Pendo (on a New Street to Glasgow! Under the wires all the way...). The dez, 350118 was also slightly late but it did OK at getting me to New Street, coming to a stand at 13:06:50 (or something like that). My winner was due off at 13:08! I was first off the dez and started running towards the 'B' end to check a departure board but after a couple of moments I screeched to a halt and began running towards the A end again. Until I saw the number of a dez that I'd run right past. It was 350252 on the 13:08! It was a same platform connection! I leapt on, glad that I'd made the connection. We began moving towards Smethwick bang on time at 13:08.
At Galton Bridge, I had two options. Number 1 was a pair of 158s back to New Street, number 2 being a 172 to Jewellery Quarter or The Hawthorns and do trams. It would be a 10-minute fester for the 158s because they were running late and, with a pair of 172s arriving as I got on the platform, it was a no brainer. 172213 and 172222 were the 172s that would be taking me to the trams. A Birmingham bound one had arrived moments before us at The Hawthorns so I knew that there was no chance of making one there, the Wolves one having left just before we arrived. Because of this, I stayed on the 172s to Jewellery Quarter, hoping to overtake the tram that I'd seen at the Hawthorns en route. We did, meaning I had time to get over to the Brum platform for what was currently my highest mileage Midland Metro tram, 18. I'd only ever had it twice before this though (on the same day) but those moves were Birmingham Snow Hill-The Royal and The Royal to The Hawthorns, which is why it's so high. This move was by far its shortest, taking it one stop to St Pauls, where a quick platform change was required because the Wolverhampton bound tram was approaching. I leapt in the air after seeing the number. 19! One of my last 3 Midland Metro trams for haulage, and one that I haven't seen since early 2015! I was having a good think about something that dad said to me earlier and a check of the time told me something. I now knew what I was doing. Nothing was going to stop me. Well, except maybe a delayed tram or poorly timed tram or a missed connection. But other than those, nothing!
Thankfully I didn't miss a tram at the island platform of Winson Green Outer Circle and dud 34 was arriving within 2 minutes of me standing on the platform. This was taken to its terminating point (thankfully not where it blew up!) and the short walk was had across to Moor Street before boarding sub 100 mile 168219, which was sat in the bay platform waiting to work the 13:55 to Marylebone in 10 minutes. Know what I'm doing yet?
We left dead on time and arrived at my station dead on time. Well not my station but my most visited station and my station for this journey. I'm not even going to say what it is! After I'd changed platforms, 66565 rolled through on a loaded rail train, which is due to go through just before 1R33. It was running slightly late, delaying Gingertom, which arrived at 14:30 instead of 14:25. 68014, for the third time today, performed faultlessly, with even more thrash than the previous two occasions to gain the time that it'd lost. And, with Bentley Heath level crossing set for us, we arrived at Moor Street only 3 late (after leaving Leam 7 late). And that's not including padding! Anyway, I called dad from Bull Street tram stop (I'd walked over after getting off the cat) and asked if he was ready to meet up yet. He said that he wasn't just yet but that we'd get something from the buffet at Moor Street instead. Because of this, I decided to take the first tram out a few stops. One wasn't in when I got there so I could see it arriving and was surprised to see dud for the day 34 arriving. This was the tram that I'd had to Bull Street before going to Leam so it did a return trip from Bull Street to Wolverhampton in the time it took me to walk to Moor Street, wait for the train to leave (10-15 minutes), get out to Leamington, wait (10 minutes) for the train back, the journey back and then across to Bull Street again! I didn't really mind though because I knew that the next trams would be ones that I hadn't yet seen. No winners were passed on the run out to Handsworth Booth Street, where I bailed and waited the 5 minutes in some rank air (probably something to do with the scrap works but it stank, felt weird and you could actually see it) before dud 29 arrived to take me back to Bull Street. After arriving, I headed across to dad's work and we walked to Moor Street together. I hadn't yet told dad that I'd had R33 but was planning to leave it until I'd cleared GT on the journey back. But he'd said something that made me tell him.
Dad - 'I can't believe you didn't go for the clearance though.'
Me - 'I got R33.'
Dad - 'You should have gone for it in case you didn't get it again.'
Me (slightly louder) - 'I got R33'
Dad - 'Really? Well done Q!'
Me - 'Yep. Should be cleared by Lapworth'.
We got the usual from the buffet and then joined 1H62 with 68014 once again providing traction. It was an excellent run and I saw Lapworth station zoom past en route. I'd done it. Gingertom was cleared.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
OK, I know that it ends kind of abruptly but I thought it was a good stopping point. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!
A different kind of again
I start this trip report exactly 2 months after the trip itself, which was on the 26th of February. The title sort of refers to the one in the previous trip report (again) but this 'different kind of again' meant that it wasn't a forum meet of any sort. But just another midlands jaunt!
As per usual, this day out began with the stupid o' clock departure from Leamington with dad. The usual guff was done at about 05:30 before heading out in the 'tin rocket' (which, before you ask, isn't a 153. It's dad's car!) to Leam. A 15-minute drive and a 10-minute walk later and I'm just glad that it is beginning to get warmer at this time of the morning. In December and January (or even September when I did my FOSS) it was absolutely freezing and I took a coat with me just for that morning walk. It was slightly better on the station but only just and, with my ticket in my bag, I was able to board the cart and get into the heat of dud 165019. This is actually the unit that won me Lapworth as a shack on the 20th of May the year before (from Lapworth to Moor Street). Thinking about it, it was also the unit that scored me Kings Sutton, taking me from Banbury to Kings Sutton on the 7th of December. So this was a unit that, until now, had had a winner shack as one part of the journey. The journey went smoothly and the sun rising above the trees and everything made the sky red and pink. We'd unfortunately decided that it was the sun rising and Coventry wasn't on fire. Shame that
...37057 was sat in its BR green livery at Tyseley as we passed and Topcat thundered away towards Marylebone at Bordesley. Other than that it was uneventful and we were soon bailing at Snow Hell with an on time arrival. We walked over to subway and got our usual, taking them to dad's work as usual before staying there for a while. An excellent brekky it was! I had some gen on Gingertom for the day before, which said that it should have ended up at Wembley overnight. This meant that if there wasn't a set swap or a loco change the 'day turn' (07:24 OXP-MYB, 08:41 MYB-BMS, 10:55 BMS-MYB, 13:10 MYB-BMS, 15:55 BMS-MYB, 18:15 MYB-KID) should have GT on. It was currently sat at 916.25 miles so I only needed 83.75 miles to clear it. Because of this, I decided to take it on the 10:04 from Leam to Moor Street, 10:55 back out and then get it on the 15:55 back to Leam, leaving it at 992.25 miles. Why not go for the clearance? Well, I decided that getting it on 1R33 would be too much hassle and that it'd split the day, because I'd need to be on the 13:55 from Moor Street to get to Leam in time. So I decided that 992.25 was very good and I just needed to get it on a shortish run to clear it then.
As per usual, I left dad just before 8 and began the walk to New Street. Before I headed away he said something that made me laugh. It was 'look out for buses on the way! I would say look out for trams but...' This was an obvious reference to how badly progress was going at getting the trams to New Street. Even as I write this, on the 26th of April, they still aren't heading to New Street. It's close though! I did as dad said and avoided all the buses en route to New Street where my daytripper was obtained and I headed to view the 08:10 to Euston. As usual, this was a dud, as was the Preston and the all shacks stopper to Euston (it almost completely is too! It's all shacks to MK except Adderley Park but I stopped listening after that). The 30 minutes past to Euston was also a dud. I headed over to platform 1 to see what dez was on the Walsall but after seeing that it was a dud, I began to head back to the B end to change platforms again. En route, I glanced over at the platform 2 away from me and saw a double dez sat there. I got in a position to get the numbers and instead of walking to the B end, I ran. I didn't know what winner 350376 and dud 350104 would be leaving on! It turns out that it was the 08:33 to Euston so I got a seat in the front unit and waited for us to get the right away.
I could have bailed at Marson Green off this pair but wanting another option if the dez back was dud, I decided to continue to Birmingham International. Apparently the name is misleading and confusing to normals because they can't tell that it's a station for the airport so the railway wants to change its name. I'm not sure what they'd call it but 'Birmingham International Airport' would probably work best. As I thought, the New Street dez was a dud. The boards at International said that the pendo was going to be an 11 coach, meaning it could either be an 11 coach or a 9 coach. It'd be the same if it said that it was a 9 coach. Sure enough, for the billionth time (I'm of course being optimistic. It's surely more than a billion by now), the boards were wrong as it was dud 9 coach 390039. Still, better than a dez!
In order to be on the 10:04 from Leam, I needed to be on the 09:12 from Snow Hell. My pendo arrived at New Street at 09:05 (it was the Edinburgh) so I didn't want to risk Snow Hell because I still had to get out of the station, something that turned out to be very difficult because a rather full 170 had arrived at the same time on the platform next to us so two trainloads of people were all fighting along the platform to get up one escalator (Navigation street footbridge was closed). A couple of people (including me) had sense and, after fighting our way as far as the escalator up to the B end of things, we continued to the A end and away from all of the crowds. I wasn't changing platforms here anyway! It was easy to get out of the A end and after passing through 1 set of barriers (a new record for the new New Street?), I was on the path to Moor Street. I ran it, wanting to get on the platforms A.S.A.P. because I didn't have long until my train was due out. I did it in my usual 3 minutes and got there at the same time as the cart should have been leaving Snow Hell. This one is a booked ex TPE 170 and a 3 coach 168 so I was hoping for one of my lower mileage examples of both (168324 and 168108 would be good - on 6.50 and 16.75 respectively). Unfortunately not as it was 168322 (on 29 miles) and 168112 (over 100 miles) that would be taking me back to my home station. I got a bay of 4 in the very back of 112 easily and after an uneventful journey, I was getting off the double cart at Leam, where I had a +18 onto what should be Gingertom. I crossed to platform 2 and headed to the end of the platform there to wait for it and, in no time at all (well. Not no time at all really. It was quarter of an hour. I apologize for not being good at maths in that last little bit before the brackets
), 68014 thundered in...... And then thundered out with great thrash. I was (obviously) in the front coach and GT was very audible for the thrashmungus (is that a word? If it isn't then in should be!) ride to Moor Street, putting GT to 939 miles, a mere 61 to clearance! I joined all of the normals as they began to leave the train, but only for a couple of seconds because I just slipped into a bay of four on what would be the right hand side on the journey back to Leam. GT, pushing this time, performed well for the journey back to Leam, where I had a tight connection onto my train back to Brum. It was a +2 if we were on time, which we weren't. We were running 1 late out of Warwick Parkway. I made sure that I was near the front of the set and I clicked the door open button the moment we came to a stand and immedietly leapt off and sprinted through the subway. It turns out that I didn't need to run because the cat wasn't in yet but it rolled in just before 014 left. I knew that it couldn't be Topcat or Gingertom, which left Bagpuss or Titan it was the former and 68010 performed very well on the journey back to Brum.
After getting off, I now didn't need to do anything until H62 so I had full reign of the units. But, as it was 11:55, I decided to head to New Street via Meal Deal. I ran this so I could get back in time to view the beginning of the potential winners (8 minutes past to 33 minutes past). On my way over to Meal Deal, I noticed that the 11:57 to Walsall had a winner dez on so, working out that it'd be on the 13:08 out of New Street to Wolverhampton later on, I descended to platform level. Most of the potential winners were duds, until the very end. Winner 350372 was on the 12:33 to Euston! I got a seat for the short ride out to the airport where I had to return on the dez, the thing on the VT behind not a booked Pendo (on a New Street to Glasgow! Under the wires all the way...). The dez, 350118 was also slightly late but it did OK at getting me to New Street, coming to a stand at 13:06:50 (or something like that). My winner was due off at 13:08! I was first off the dez and started running towards the 'B' end to check a departure board but after a couple of moments I screeched to a halt and began running towards the A end again. Until I saw the number of a dez that I'd run right past. It was 350252 on the 13:08! It was a same platform connection! I leapt on, glad that I'd made the connection. We began moving towards Smethwick bang on time at 13:08.
At Galton Bridge, I had two options. Number 1 was a pair of 158s back to New Street, number 2 being a 172 to Jewellery Quarter or The Hawthorns and do trams. It would be a 10-minute fester for the 158s because they were running late and, with a pair of 172s arriving as I got on the platform, it was a no brainer. 172213 and 172222 were the 172s that would be taking me to the trams. A Birmingham bound one had arrived moments before us at The Hawthorns so I knew that there was no chance of making one there, the Wolves one having left just before we arrived. Because of this, I stayed on the 172s to Jewellery Quarter, hoping to overtake the tram that I'd seen at the Hawthorns en route. We did, meaning I had time to get over to the Brum platform for what was currently my highest mileage Midland Metro tram, 18. I'd only ever had it twice before this though (on the same day) but those moves were Birmingham Snow Hill-The Royal and The Royal to The Hawthorns, which is why it's so high. This move was by far its shortest, taking it one stop to St Pauls, where a quick platform change was required because the Wolverhampton bound tram was approaching. I leapt in the air after seeing the number. 19! One of my last 3 Midland Metro trams for haulage, and one that I haven't seen since early 2015! I was having a good think about something that dad said to me earlier and a check of the time told me something. I now knew what I was doing. Nothing was going to stop me. Well, except maybe a delayed tram or poorly timed tram or a missed connection. But other than those, nothing!
Thankfully I didn't miss a tram at the island platform of Winson Green Outer Circle and dud 34 was arriving within 2 minutes of me standing on the platform. This was taken to its terminating point (thankfully not where it blew up!) and the short walk was had across to Moor Street before boarding sub 100 mile 168219, which was sat in the bay platform waiting to work the 13:55 to Marylebone in 10 minutes. Know what I'm doing yet?
We left dead on time and arrived at my station dead on time. Well not my station but my most visited station and my station for this journey. I'm not even going to say what it is! After I'd changed platforms, 66565 rolled through on a loaded rail train, which is due to go through just before 1R33. It was running slightly late, delaying Gingertom, which arrived at 14:30 instead of 14:25. 68014, for the third time today, performed faultlessly, with even more thrash than the previous two occasions to gain the time that it'd lost. And, with Bentley Heath level crossing set for us, we arrived at Moor Street only 3 late (after leaving Leam 7 late). And that's not including padding! Anyway, I called dad from Bull Street tram stop (I'd walked over after getting off the cat) and asked if he was ready to meet up yet. He said that he wasn't just yet but that we'd get something from the buffet at Moor Street instead. Because of this, I decided to take the first tram out a few stops. One wasn't in when I got there so I could see it arriving and was surprised to see dud for the day 34 arriving. This was the tram that I'd had to Bull Street before going to Leam so it did a return trip from Bull Street to Wolverhampton in the time it took me to walk to Moor Street, wait for the train to leave (10-15 minutes), get out to Leamington, wait (10 minutes) for the train back, the journey back and then across to Bull Street again! I didn't really mind though because I knew that the next trams would be ones that I hadn't yet seen. No winners were passed on the run out to Handsworth Booth Street, where I bailed and waited the 5 minutes in some rank air (probably something to do with the scrap works but it stank, felt weird and you could actually see it) before dud 29 arrived to take me back to Bull Street. After arriving, I headed across to dad's work and we walked to Moor Street together. I hadn't yet told dad that I'd had R33 but was planning to leave it until I'd cleared GT on the journey back. But he'd said something that made me tell him.
Dad - 'I can't believe you didn't go for the clearance though.'
Me - 'I got R33.'
Dad - 'You should have gone for it in case you didn't get it again.'
Me (slightly louder) - 'I got R33'
Dad - 'Really? Well done Q!'
Me - 'Yep. Should be cleared by Lapworth'.
We got the usual from the buffet and then joined 1H62 with 68014 once again providing traction. It was an excellent run and I saw Lapworth station zoom past en route. I'd done it. Gingertom was cleared.
Last edited:
jayalongtheway
Member
- Joined
- 31 Oct 2015
- Messages
- 241
Impressive Cat mileage Quinn, well done.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Jealous of all that Cat action!
Certainly a good little day there FQ
Certainly a good little day there FQ
Thanks guys! I'm doing quite good on cat miles - nearly at 4000 now with 469 as my average on the cats that I've had.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just wanted to say here that I had 390123 from New Street to Crewe earlier on, clearing the 390s and VT! Trip report to follow in a few months
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just wanted to say here that I had 390123 from New Street to Crewe earlier on, clearing the 390s and VT! Trip report to follow in a few months
Kite159
Veteran Member
Thanks guys! I'm doing quite good on cat miles - nearly at 4000 now with 469 as my average on the cats that I've had.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just wanted to say here that I had 390123 from New Street to Crewe earlier on, clearing the 390s and VT! Trip report to follow in a few months
Congrats on the 390s, but you still got 20 units left to clear VT (excluding 144)
But at least you got the awful ones out of the way first, welcome to big windows and faster acceleration
Last edited:
They're not put in the book and are completely ignored (not to mention that there isn't a mileage tab for them on my mileage) and, to me, don't form VTs fleet! No thanks to the big windows and faster acceleration!
Keith Jarrett
Member
Everyone to their own! And I am not the greatest fan of the Voyager family - a fact that borne out by the numbers that I still need for all-time haulage - some 23% of all my DMU needs.
But from personal experience, I was very pleased in later years that I logged stuff from my younger days even though I had no interest in the traction at the time.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Well done on the 390s FQ, and welcome to the club. One that not even Kite has yet joined
Both kinds of again
Like the previous report, this title refers to the Notty trip report's one. And the one before. For today was a day in the West Mids with a forum member. It was Saturday the 27th of February and forum member 185143 had let me know that he'd be visiting Brum on that date to try and get his last few Daytripper shacks and wanted to know if I could join him. I had no plans so said that I was free and let him know which shacks I needed in the WMDT zones (loads and loads of them!) so he could form a plan involving them. The Friday evening came and, with my alarm set for 06:50, I went to sleep.
I was woken by my alarm and after hitting 'snooze' twice (it goes off every 5 minutes), I decided that it was time to get up so I turned my alarm off. And then went to sleep again! Lucky dad was on his toes and at 07:30 he came to see where the heck I'd got to and woke me up. I quickly got ready and dad took me down to the station at 07:55, getting there 15 minutes later. I needed to get a daytripper but I knew from past experience that they can't issue them at Leam station so I decided to get a return to Solihull and buy one on the train. Why not just get a return to Moor Street and buy one there? Well, it would be £1 cheaper to get a Solihull one and, while not much, it is still a pound saved! I noticed that it was a 3 coach 168 behind the 172 today, meaning that it couldn't be a 168/0. I don't like the first five 168s so I was glad at this. 172101 was the leading unit, with 168004 bringing up the rear. What the heck! 004?! It's a 3 coach! How?! I checked again and confirmed that 168004 was only 3 coaches long. All the 168/0s are four coaches though (well, OK. Fine. Apparently not.)! A check of my platform 5 DMU book revealed that it was indeed meant to have 4 coaches so I don't know what was going on there. I got a seat in the front coach of the 168 because, well, it isn't a rattily suburban 172. Instead it was a rattly suburban 168. If it had vestibule end doors then it wouldn't be a suburban unit. But, even though it was one, it is miles better than the 172 and with the luxury of a table to myself not over the engine, I was fine. The guard came through just after Warwick Parkway and I shown him my ticket to Solihull and asked for a WMDT. He had a look at his machine thingamabob for a couple of minutes before confessing that he couldn't remember the code because it'd been such a long time since he'd had to issue one. He told me to wait as he went to check the rest of the train and then came back to me and said that he'd go into the cab to find the book with the codes in. He came back after a moment and said that he'd just remembered that they were in the 172! He asked me to move at Dorridge to go into the 172 so he could issue me the ticket so I did that and got a bay of 4 (minus table in tatty 172 seats) in that for the journey after Dorridge. Just after Solihull, the guard came and said that he'd found the code and issued me the daytripper. An excellent guard there, that's for sure! Most would probably just tell me to get one at Snow Hell, where I left the pair of carts.
185143 was apparently already at New Street soI needed to get over there for the rarity of a Tippex 185 out of Brum[/B] I began the walk down Corporation Street, getting to New Street in just over 5 minutes. I met 185143 just outside the ticket office and, since the first train on the plan wasn't due for 15 minutes, we decided to get the earlier one. Since it's the Cross City line, there is a 10 minute frequency so it was a very short wait for 323214, which was on the 09:15 to Four Oaks. We decided on a liniar bash for this one in order to get one of my required shacks so 214 was taken to Sutton Coldfield (shack score 1). The train we'd originally planned to get from New Street was the one behind and this was 323206. We now followed the plan, taking this to Butlers Lane for my second shack score of the day. It was about a +5 here (if that!) for the next one. It was nice to catch up with 185143 again as I hadn't seen him for ages (well, alright then pedants. I saw him on the 15th of Jan but hadn't talked to him since Feb last year, almost to the day). The starship from Butlers Lane was 323221. The plan had us taking this to Sutton Coldfield but since it was now a dud shack for me, we decided to get ahead of the plan and go to Wylde Green, which was shack score number 3 for me. It was a short 10-minute wait here before the next Brum bound one appeared, this being 323212. I didn't need any more shacks on the Northern cross city line except Blake Street, Shenstone and Litchfield City so we headed back to Brum. At the bat cave, the plan had us going for the 10:54 out to Berkswell but, since we were 10 minutes ahead of plan, we decided to take the 10:50 out to International first, provided it wasn't a 221. Dud for both of us 390129 was working it today so we got a seat on board, 185143 recording the coach number (which he'd done for everything so far, just like Tech). I needed a drink so I left my stuff with 185143, simply taking my wallet to go and get myself something. I had 10 minutes after we'd got a seat in the bay of 4 so I was quick at exiting the station and getting to the Tesco just outside for a couple of drinks and a *cough, cough* pack of 4 donuts *cough, cough*. I took them back to the train and our bay of 4 before taking my two, letting 185143 have the other two. Mmmmmm... Donuts...
The pendo left and arrived right time, leaving us on the platform that the dez would come alongside in a few minutes. The starship on the International-New Street shuttle today was one of 185143's outright winners (he'd started again for the year) and apparently it always is when he's in Brum. We weren't meant to get it today though so unless we went away from the plan then it was remain a winner for him. Our train was duds 350255 and 350368 but I read the front one as winner 350256 so I wasn't too happy to see that it was in fact a dud. We were only on it for two stops though, to shack score 4 at Berkswell. Across the footbridge and after another very short wait, another dez was arriving. This was my tenth dud of the day, with no winners having yet appeared for it was 350245 that would take us to my next winner shack, in the form of Hampton-in-Arden. It's worth noting that all of these shacks were duds for 185143 so it was really good of him to do them again with me. Anyway, after a short wait there, another dud arrived in the form of 350129 to take us all the way to Coventry. The plan then put us on 350101 for the next leg, which was back past Hampton-In-Arden to Birmingham International.
Crossing platforms at International, we got the usual Subway smell before a much less pleasant smell was had down on platform level. This was the smell of duds 158835 and 158826, which were working the 12:09 to Aberystwyth. Both had required coaches for 185143 so we chose one and both had a PNB before getting seats. It felt like a slow run as far as New Street but after we began to pick up speed for my first run out to Smethwick of the day. Nothing much to note about the rest of the journey but after getting off at Galton Bridge, we had ample time to scrabble up to platform 2, walk along the platform and then drop down to platform 4 (via the stairs of course! I don't want you thinking we jumped off a ledge from platform 2 and somehow ended up on platform 4, without any broken bones) before our next train. As always, the 37 minutes past to Walsall was slightly delayed (I'm surprised that it was only 3 late - it's usually much later) but not enough to put our connection at Smethwick Rolfe Street in jeopardy. 185143 (who'd had the shack before) thought that the way to get onto the other platform was at the front of the train from Galton Bridge, whereas I, having passed through the shack several times more than him (admittedly not really paying attention), thought it was at the back. We decided to go for the middle coach because of this, knowing that the connection off 323242 would be a short one. It turns out that I was right so we really quickly ran into the rear coach as the starship drew to a stop and leapt off the moment it stopped. We then swiftly changed platforms and got onto the other one just as the Wolves bound starship was arriving. 323207 was our chariot out to shack score 7, Dudley Port, an island platform station. Just after the starship whirred away towards Tipton (which, the name would suggest, is a tip), a pendo came through non-stop and I wasn't too happy to see that it was 390047, it being one of my last 5 to get. Oh well! At least I can get...
... Oh. No at least about it. I have a London midland 323. Unfortunately, I had a rank LM starship next (sorry about the bad opinion about them at the moment - I traveled on a couple of Northern ones two days ago and they are thousands of times better), this being 323202. We got on it and the ride wasn't too bad because it was short (note: the same does not apply to pacers or unspeakably horrible things. Even if that pacer is to Manchester Airport to do some shacks on the Metrolink Airport line, Tech). We were soon back at Galton Bridge and we had a good 10 minutes to change platforms before the 13:17 to Stratford, which we'd have a very long run on (well, a long run for a LM 172 compared to most of mine. Not compared to 185143, who's had one from Shirley to Worcester to Old Hill, all in one hit). 172344 would be our next train and we got in a required coach for 185143 for the journey. The journey went OK and it was onto winner metals for me after Hall Green. We were on this one past Whitlocks End, to another required shack for me, Wythall. 185143 needed Earleswood, the next shack up the line, but it's a +1 with an hourly service and it doesn't look so easy to change platforms looking at photos. With the other service running on time, we didn't want to risk it.
A simple platform change was had at Wythall, going up a ramp, over the road bridge and back down onto the other platform, which was home to a very bare station shelter. There wasn't even a seat in it! We weren't there long though because, right on time, 172336 arrived. This one was to be taken to Shirley but we didn't have long to explore the delights of it because the Whitlocks End bound 172 was arriving just after us. It wasn't due out for another 3 minutes after it arrived though. 185143 was happy to see that it was a two coach one, meaning that he'd be able to make it a superdud because we would be on this one out to Whitlocks End and then back out again. A seat was found in the rear coach of 172212 for the short ride out to Whitlocks End, where I leapt off and back on again to score the shack before moving to the other coach in order to claim superdud status for 185143 once it started moving. This wasn't for about 10 minutes as it turned out but it was soon moving back towards Birmingham. We continued to follow the plan, bailing at Spring Road off this one. It isn't the nicest of shacks by a long shot and isn't exactly in a great area but we weren't there for long before another 172 was arriving. This was 172342, and was my first required for 10 miles 172 of the day. The plan had us taking this out to Hall Green (a dud shack) and then a 172 back to Brum but I'd noticed that it'd be a tight, but doable connection at my last required shack on the line between Rowley Regis and Wythall, Yardley Wood. We had to be quick but 185143 had time to check out to Permit to travel machine before getting down onto the platform for 172220. This was the one that we were meant to get from Hall Green anyway so I managed to score another shack that I wouldn't have otherwise got. I didn't have any lunch on me and, since we didn't have long to change over to New Street to continue with the plan after getting to Moor Street, we decided to change it. I didn't have any lunch too so it'd give me a way to get some. As I said, this 172 was taken to Moor Street and, after getting there, we headed over to meal deal via New Street. 185143 had never been here before so I was introducing him to it and I think he quite rated it! I had my usual (a chicken and bacon baguette meal deal) and we took it back to the station and viewed the departure boards. There was a very delayed 14:42 to Rugeley, which was apparently going to be caped short at Hednesford. We both required the shack so that's what we decided to do. 170634 was working this one and we got in the rear coach, forgetting to check which one it was for 185143. The service left about 40 late (lucky for us to be honest!) and headed out via Duddeston and Aston. We realized that the coach number wasn't recorded just after departing so at Tame Bridge I leapt onto the platform to check but the door hustle alarm sounded almost immediately after they opened so I just got back on again and decided to try again at Walsall. The doors stayed open slightly longer there so I managed to ID the coach as 79634.
We wanted to score Hednesford but also another couple of shacks on the Rugeley branch so RTT was checked. I needed to head back from Moor Street on the 17:15 because I needed to babysit Torin (my brother) because mum and dad were heading out for the evening. I asked the guard if the 170 would reverse immediately after arriving at Hednesford and go back to Brum and he said that it would. The thing is that the Rugeley branch takes such a long time so I'd need to take 634 back to New Street in order to get to Moor Street in time. 185143 looked at his options and discovered that by taking the 17:10 from Moor Street to Earleswood he could score that shack with a mere +20. This would mean that I could also get the 17:15 from Moor Street without any difficulty so that'd work.
At Hednesford, we leapt off the 170 to score the shack and 185143 got a photo of the station sign; one of the rules he has to claim a shack is scored. There was loads of people waiting at the end of the platform, where the front coach from New Street was. Because of this, we decided to sit in the middle coach for the journey back, which was another coach score for 185143. The ride back to New Street was on the same route as the way out and we arrived at about 16:45. There was time until our selected trains (well, not selected in my case. Forced upon would be a better word. I'd have much preferred the 19:14 from Snow Hell) so we took our time at getting to Moor Street, getting there just as a pair of Chiltern 170s was arriving (168322 and 168324). We popped on so 185143 could see the new interior and also try and charge his phone, which was completely dead. This wasn't good news because he needed to get a photo of the station sign at Earleswood in order to claim the shack. Unfortunately the plug sockets had been turned off so no charge went into the phone. We left the pair of units as a 172 was arriving on the 16:59 to Kiddy, which we'd be able to take through the tunnel and still join the 17:10 to Stratford for 185143, but from Snow Hell 3 minutes later. This plan was alright with him and a winner coach was scored on 172331 (for 185143) on the short hop through the tunnel. A change of platform there and the 17:07 service to Stratford-upon-Avon was arriving. This had 172345 and, although quite high mileage for me, I still got on. I knew that I'd be getting a rubbish over 100 mile horrid 168/0 (can you tell that I don't like the /0s?) back so lowering the mileage and getting a bit more soche out of it sounded like a good idea.
I was off at Moor Street and I waved bye to 185143 and wished him luck with getting a photo of Earleswood (he couldn't in the end but got one from a train at a later date) before moving to the end of the platform (Snow Hell end) and getting in position for my service. Annoying 168005 was in charge of this one but I managed to get on first at my set of doors and got a bay of 4 to myself for the whole journey back. On the journey I looked at the coach number on my 168 and thought. I kept on looking and the number 58155 got stuck in my head. I was trying to decide if I should start coaches. I looked at my platform 5 books and saw that there was spaces for dots next to each coach number of every class (the pendos being the trickiest to fit) and when I was doing my numbers that night, I decided. A dot was placed next to 58155, and every other coach that I could remember from that day. This was both from 170634 and both from 172212 (although that's just because we had both coaches) because I hadn't paid any attention to the others. But at the same time I decided that I didn't really care if I was in a winner coach or a dud coach. I'd sit in a dud one if it were easier. And I stuck to that, proof being the amount of dud coaches I've had since starting, in units with winner coaches in.
Mum picked me up this eve and we headed home for a brilliant dinner and then an evening watching a movie with my brother. Thanks for a cracking day 185143 and I know that the trip report is really late so there really is no point in pointing that out! Also, if you have the time, please could you post the other coaches that we got that day below so I can put them in my records? Anyway, my winner count for the day was 0 but I had 13 new shacks so I say that it was a very good day!
Like the previous report, this title refers to the Notty trip report's one. And the one before. For today was a day in the West Mids with a forum member. It was Saturday the 27th of February and forum member 185143 had let me know that he'd be visiting Brum on that date to try and get his last few Daytripper shacks and wanted to know if I could join him. I had no plans so said that I was free and let him know which shacks I needed in the WMDT zones (loads and loads of them!) so he could form a plan involving them. The Friday evening came and, with my alarm set for 06:50, I went to sleep.
I was woken by my alarm and after hitting 'snooze' twice (it goes off every 5 minutes), I decided that it was time to get up so I turned my alarm off. And then went to sleep again! Lucky dad was on his toes and at 07:30 he came to see where the heck I'd got to and woke me up. I quickly got ready and dad took me down to the station at 07:55, getting there 15 minutes later. I needed to get a daytripper but I knew from past experience that they can't issue them at Leam station so I decided to get a return to Solihull and buy one on the train. Why not just get a return to Moor Street and buy one there? Well, it would be £1 cheaper to get a Solihull one and, while not much, it is still a pound saved! I noticed that it was a 3 coach 168 behind the 172 today, meaning that it couldn't be a 168/0. I don't like the first five 168s so I was glad at this. 172101 was the leading unit, with 168004 bringing up the rear. What the heck! 004?! It's a 3 coach! How?! I checked again and confirmed that 168004 was only 3 coaches long. All the 168/0s are four coaches though (well, OK. Fine. Apparently not.)! A check of my platform 5 DMU book revealed that it was indeed meant to have 4 coaches so I don't know what was going on there. I got a seat in the front coach of the 168 because, well, it isn't a rattily suburban 172. Instead it was a rattly suburban 168. If it had vestibule end doors then it wouldn't be a suburban unit. But, even though it was one, it is miles better than the 172 and with the luxury of a table to myself not over the engine, I was fine. The guard came through just after Warwick Parkway and I shown him my ticket to Solihull and asked for a WMDT. He had a look at his machine thingamabob for a couple of minutes before confessing that he couldn't remember the code because it'd been such a long time since he'd had to issue one. He told me to wait as he went to check the rest of the train and then came back to me and said that he'd go into the cab to find the book with the codes in. He came back after a moment and said that he'd just remembered that they were in the 172! He asked me to move at Dorridge to go into the 172 so he could issue me the ticket so I did that and got a bay of 4 (minus table in tatty 172 seats) in that for the journey after Dorridge. Just after Solihull, the guard came and said that he'd found the code and issued me the daytripper. An excellent guard there, that's for sure! Most would probably just tell me to get one at Snow Hell, where I left the pair of carts.
185143 was apparently already at New Street so
The pendo left and arrived right time, leaving us on the platform that the dez would come alongside in a few minutes. The starship on the International-New Street shuttle today was one of 185143's outright winners (he'd started again for the year) and apparently it always is when he's in Brum. We weren't meant to get it today though so unless we went away from the plan then it was remain a winner for him. Our train was duds 350255 and 350368 but I read the front one as winner 350256 so I wasn't too happy to see that it was in fact a dud. We were only on it for two stops though, to shack score 4 at Berkswell. Across the footbridge and after another very short wait, another dez was arriving. This was my tenth dud of the day, with no winners having yet appeared for it was 350245 that would take us to my next winner shack, in the form of Hampton-in-Arden. It's worth noting that all of these shacks were duds for 185143 so it was really good of him to do them again with me. Anyway, after a short wait there, another dud arrived in the form of 350129 to take us all the way to Coventry. The plan then put us on 350101 for the next leg, which was back past Hampton-In-Arden to Birmingham International.
Crossing platforms at International, we got the usual Subway smell before a much less pleasant smell was had down on platform level. This was the smell of duds 158835 and 158826, which were working the 12:09 to Aberystwyth. Both had required coaches for 185143 so we chose one and both had a PNB before getting seats. It felt like a slow run as far as New Street but after we began to pick up speed for my first run out to Smethwick of the day. Nothing much to note about the rest of the journey but after getting off at Galton Bridge, we had ample time to scrabble up to platform 2, walk along the platform and then drop down to platform 4 (via the stairs of course! I don't want you thinking we jumped off a ledge from platform 2 and somehow ended up on platform 4, without any broken bones) before our next train. As always, the 37 minutes past to Walsall was slightly delayed (I'm surprised that it was only 3 late - it's usually much later) but not enough to put our connection at Smethwick Rolfe Street in jeopardy. 185143 (who'd had the shack before) thought that the way to get onto the other platform was at the front of the train from Galton Bridge, whereas I, having passed through the shack several times more than him (admittedly not really paying attention), thought it was at the back. We decided to go for the middle coach because of this, knowing that the connection off 323242 would be a short one. It turns out that I was right so we really quickly ran into the rear coach as the starship drew to a stop and leapt off the moment it stopped. We then swiftly changed platforms and got onto the other one just as the Wolves bound starship was arriving. 323207 was our chariot out to shack score 7, Dudley Port, an island platform station. Just after the starship whirred away towards Tipton (which, the name would suggest, is a tip), a pendo came through non-stop and I wasn't too happy to see that it was 390047, it being one of my last 5 to get. Oh well! At least I can get...
... Oh. No at least about it. I have a London midland 323. Unfortunately, I had a rank LM starship next (sorry about the bad opinion about them at the moment - I traveled on a couple of Northern ones two days ago and they are thousands of times better), this being 323202. We got on it and the ride wasn't too bad because it was short (note: the same does not apply to pacers or unspeakably horrible things. Even if that pacer is to Manchester Airport to do some shacks on the Metrolink Airport line, Tech
). We were soon back at Galton Bridge and we had a good 10 minutes to change platforms before the 13:17 to Stratford, which we'd have a very long run on (well, a long run for a LM 172 compared to most of mine. Not compared to 185143, who's had one from Shirley to Worcester to Old Hill, all in one hit). 172344 would be our next train and we got in a required coach for 185143 for the journey. The journey went OK and it was onto winner metals for me after Hall Green. We were on this one past Whitlocks End, to another required shack for me, Wythall. 185143 needed Earleswood, the next shack up the line, but it's a +1 with an hourly service and it doesn't look so easy to change platforms looking at photos. With the other service running on time, we didn't want to risk it. A simple platform change was had at Wythall, going up a ramp, over the road bridge and back down onto the other platform, which was home to a very bare station shelter. There wasn't even a seat in it! We weren't there long though because, right on time, 172336 arrived. This one was to be taken to Shirley but we didn't have long to explore the delights of it because the Whitlocks End bound 172 was arriving just after us. It wasn't due out for another 3 minutes after it arrived though. 185143 was happy to see that it was a two coach one, meaning that he'd be able to make it a superdud because we would be on this one out to Whitlocks End and then back out again. A seat was found in the rear coach of 172212 for the short ride out to Whitlocks End, where I leapt off and back on again to score the shack before moving to the other coach in order to claim superdud status for 185143 once it started moving. This wasn't for about 10 minutes as it turned out but it was soon moving back towards Birmingham. We continued to follow the plan, bailing at Spring Road off this one. It isn't the nicest of shacks by a long shot and isn't exactly in a great area but we weren't there for long before another 172 was arriving. This was 172342, and was my first required for 10 miles 172 of the day. The plan had us taking this out to Hall Green (a dud shack) and then a 172 back to Brum but I'd noticed that it'd be a tight, but doable connection at my last required shack on the line between Rowley Regis and Wythall, Yardley Wood. We had to be quick but 185143 had time to check out to Permit to travel machine before getting down onto the platform for 172220. This was the one that we were meant to get from Hall Green anyway so I managed to score another shack that I wouldn't have otherwise got. I didn't have any lunch on me and, since we didn't have long to change over to New Street to continue with the plan after getting to Moor Street, we decided to change it. I didn't have any lunch too so it'd give me a way to get some. As I said, this 172 was taken to Moor Street and, after getting there, we headed over to meal deal via New Street. 185143 had never been here before so I was introducing him to it and I think he quite rated it! I had my usual (a chicken and bacon baguette meal deal) and we took it back to the station and viewed the departure boards. There was a very delayed 14:42 to Rugeley, which was apparently going to be caped short at Hednesford. We both required the shack so that's what we decided to do. 170634 was working this one and we got in the rear coach, forgetting to check which one it was for 185143. The service left about 40 late (lucky for us to be honest!) and headed out via Duddeston and Aston. We realized that the coach number wasn't recorded just after departing so at Tame Bridge I leapt onto the platform to check but the door hustle alarm sounded almost immediately after they opened so I just got back on again and decided to try again at Walsall. The doors stayed open slightly longer there so I managed to ID the coach as 79634.
We wanted to score Hednesford but also another couple of shacks on the Rugeley branch so RTT was checked. I needed to head back from Moor Street on the 17:15 because I needed to babysit Torin (my brother) because mum and dad were heading out for the evening. I asked the guard if the 170 would reverse immediately after arriving at Hednesford and go back to Brum and he said that it would. The thing is that the Rugeley branch takes such a long time so I'd need to take 634 back to New Street in order to get to Moor Street in time. 185143 looked at his options and discovered that by taking the 17:10 from Moor Street to Earleswood he could score that shack with a mere +20. This would mean that I could also get the 17:15 from Moor Street without any difficulty so that'd work.
At Hednesford, we leapt off the 170 to score the shack and 185143 got a photo of the station sign; one of the rules he has to claim a shack is scored. There was loads of people waiting at the end of the platform, where the front coach from New Street was. Because of this, we decided to sit in the middle coach for the journey back, which was another coach score for 185143. The ride back to New Street was on the same route as the way out and we arrived at about 16:45. There was time until our selected trains (well, not selected in my case. Forced upon would be a better word. I'd have much preferred the 19:14 from Snow Hell) so we took our time at getting to Moor Street, getting there just as a pair of Chiltern 170s was arriving (168322 and 168324). We popped on so 185143 could see the new interior and also try and charge his phone, which was completely dead. This wasn't good news because he needed to get a photo of the station sign at Earleswood in order to claim the shack. Unfortunately the plug sockets had been turned off so no charge went into the phone. We left the pair of units as a 172 was arriving on the 16:59 to Kiddy, which we'd be able to take through the tunnel and still join the 17:10 to Stratford for 185143, but from Snow Hell 3 minutes later. This plan was alright with him and a winner coach was scored on 172331 (for 185143) on the short hop through the tunnel. A change of platform there and the 17:07 service to Stratford-upon-Avon was arriving. This had 172345 and, although quite high mileage for me, I still got on. I knew that I'd be getting a rubbish over 100 mile horrid 168/0 (can you tell that I don't like the /0s?) back so lowering the mileage and getting a bit more soche out of it sounded like a good idea.
I was off at Moor Street and I waved bye to 185143 and wished him luck with getting a photo of Earleswood (he couldn't in the end but got one from a train at a later date) before moving to the end of the platform (Snow Hell end) and getting in position for my service. Annoying 168005 was in charge of this one but I managed to get on first at my set of doors and got a bay of 4 to myself for the whole journey back. On the journey I looked at the coach number on my 168 and thought. I kept on looking and the number 58155 got stuck in my head. I was trying to decide if I should start coaches. I looked at my platform 5 books and saw that there was spaces for dots next to each coach number of every class (the pendos being the trickiest to fit) and when I was doing my numbers that night, I decided. A dot was placed next to 58155, and every other coach that I could remember from that day. This was both from 170634 and both from 172212 (although that's just because we had both coaches) because I hadn't paid any attention to the others. But at the same time I decided that I didn't really care if I was in a winner coach or a dud coach. I'd sit in a dud one if it were easier. And I stuck to that, proof being the amount of dud coaches I've had since starting, in units with winner coaches in.
Mum picked me up this eve and we headed home for a brilliant dinner and then an evening watching a movie with my brother. Thanks for a cracking day 185143 and I know that the trip report is really late so there really is no point in pointing that out! Also, if you have the time, please could you post the other coaches that we got that day below so I can put them in my records? Anyway, my winner count for the day was 0 but I had 13 new shacks so I say that it was a very good day!
Last edited:
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounded like a busy day in the West Midlands, earlswood is a nasty shack to get between in any sort of hurry, a job for the Quinn bike if you still need it
So why don't you like the 168/0s?
So why don't you like the 168/0s?
- Status