I've seen 001 and 004 as 3 coach and I've seen 002 and 005 (very recently) as 4 coach but haven't seen 003 in a while so I can't say about that one. It might be being changed to 3 coach now.
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Here's the next one (yep, already!)
And which coach are you?
This was to be my first trip properly recording coaches and where better to start than Brum (except London, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Norwich and many more places)? It was Monday the 29th of March and, as usual for a Birmingham spin on a weekday, I was going in with dad. My main aim was to get winner units as usual but I also wanted to score a few shacks,
185143 having got me into the mood of that two days previously. You can see why my trip reports are getting later and later can't you? I was obviously going to be on the lookout for my last 5 pendos as well. Will I get some? Will I not? Read on to find out.
I had my alarm set for 05:20, as usual for a trip going in with dad. At 05:35, I was being shook awake. Don't worry, there wasn't an earthquake. It was dad! My alarm hadn't gone off! I quickly got up and ready and we were easily out of the door by 55 minutes past. An uneventful drive to Leamington was had, followed by a 10-minute walk to the station, where I got my first ticket - a Chiltern only return to Brum. We had 5 minutes on the platform before the 06:24 to Snow Hell rolled in, formed today of dud
165014, the same 165 that I had not too long back on this service. 165019 was the one that I had last time but it was 014 the time before that (on the 16th of Feb). We got the usual seats and I claimed my first coach of the day, this being 58814. The usual run was had and I failed to ID the cat that was on the first ex Kiddy this morning. It was certainly slightly lighter than the last time I did the run but was just as peaceful. Who the heck in there right mind is going to be up at 06:30 in the morning except commuters, who'd prefer a quiet journey to a loud one?
The now really familiar (and easy) walk to Subway was had and we got our usual (two mega melts for people who don't have a memory as good as mine) and took them to dad's work. A soche 45 minutes was had with dad and I headed out at the usual time. I got to New Street just after 08:00 and, after buying a Daytripper I headed onto the platforms to see what was around. With Navigation Street footbridge closed, you have to constantly change platform via the B end stairs and you can't see what is there while changing stairs because there isn't loads of huge glass windows where the stairs are to go down onto the platforms. This didn't affect me yet though because winner
350256 was in the very first platform I checked, waiting to work the 08:08 to Wolverhampton. I got on board and we left about 3 late. Smethwick Galton Bridge was reached right time and I'd just missed the 158s towards International (they were both duds anyway). The next train back to New Street wasn't until 08:37 and, with a Snow Hell line train due at 25 minutes past, I decided to head to The Hawthorns and back while waiting for it. I was surprised to see
170634 and
170633 arriving on my service and, although I could superdud 170634 (having had two out of the 3 coaches on the Saturday), I decided to go for a coach in 170633, because I'd probably get 634 solo sometime and get the coach then. The 0.75 miles put them both slightly higher up for mileage as well so it was a good idea. It was the usual traction taking me back, but again a 6 coach one.
172343 and
172345 were my traction back to Galton Bridge and I sat in 56343 in the front unit. Back at Galton Bridge, I had enough time to change to platform 4 for the slightly late 08:37 to Walsall. If this was dud then I'd wait for the 41 from Liverpool, which would have been staggering from Wolverhampton due to it being stuck behind the stopper. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that I wouldn't be needing the ex Lime Street because it was winner
350235 powering the Walsall today! I am doing well!
Tech might have been joining me for this one but he wasn't sure and said that he'd let me know in the morning. It was now 09:00 and I hadn't heard from him so I assumed not (because I'm guessing the 08:46 from Hereford to New Street would have been involved). Turns out that I was right because, at about 10:30, I received a text from him saying that he wasn't coming. This was to be a solo bash for me then! At New Street, I wasn't spoilt for choice because it seems that after that decent bit, LM had decided that duds would be nicer and VT were chucking out my duds left, right and centre. I was there for half an hour, when I discovered what was on the 09:30 to Cardiff. My second winner of the day was
170104. I got in the leading coach (79104) for the short hop, leaving again 5 minutes later at the Uni. I ran across the footbridge and got onto the other platform just before 104 left, continuing its journey to Cardiff. I was stood on the platform less than 30 seconds because dud
170114 had arrived to take me back to the bat cave. Arrival here was at 09:45 s I did a quick platform scan and immediately saw a winner ready to depart on the 09:54 to Euston, so I leapt aboard. This was
350111 and was my penultimate 350/1, leaving 350130 to clear the subclass. I saw a potential shack score from this service, with a mere +7, so I decided to get it. I'd passed through this station hundreds of times but had never bailed so it was nice to finally get Marston Green off the list. There are two footbridges here; one with steps at the New Street end and the other with ramps at the International end. I had time so decided to go for the ramp one to change platforms and got onto the other platform a good 5 minutes until the dez back was due. I glanced at the PIS every now and then and saw it getting later and later. It was booked out at 10:08 and the time that it was expected at got to 10:18, before dropping back to 10:14 a moment later. At the 'expected' time, I could see a dez approaching. It was my first dud one of the day, this being
350102.
After arriving at New Street, I gave the platforms another sca, noticing yet another winner dez, this time on the 10:36 to Lime Street. I wasn't going to let it go, especially considering that I could get another shack out of it, so I leapt aboard winner
350237, getting a bay of 6 to myself. Departure was right time, as was arrival at shack score number 2, Coseley. This cleared the shacks between Wolverhampton and New Street for me so I was quite happy with that.
On the journey out to Coseley, I received a text from Tech to say that he wouldn't be joining me. Because I had two options of what to do after Coseley, both involving a +10, I didn't know what to do. A text was sent to Tech to ask which of my two options he though was best. Number 1 was a dez back to New Street and continue the unit scoring, number 2 being heading on a different dez to Wolverhampton and then going to do some tram bashing. Tech wasn't sure either but I decided to go for the trams in the end, waiting for the Wolverhampton stopper that left New Street 3 minutes after I did. This was dud for the day
350256 but, now that I'm doing coaches, I just sat in a different coach and was happy enough. Once arriving at Wolverhampton, I walked down the platform and exited the station, taking the easy walk to Wolverhampton St Georges that I remembered from last time. I resisted the temptation of a creamy cooler and a Sainsbury's meal deal on my way and got there just before a tram from Brum arrived and terminated. I got aboard dud
34 and got up front so I could view all of the trams going in the other direction to keep an eye out for my winners (17 and 37) or my favorite, 23. The very first tram that I saw (which was between The Royal and Priestfield) was 23 so I decided that I'd want to continue towards Brum on that. I thought that I'd need a 10-minute wait at Priestfield for it to come back, so I bailed there but noticed that the next tram was 2 minutes away, less than 5 minutes after 23 had departed. This meant that I'd be able to make 23 at The Royal so I boarded dud
20 after it arrived for the street run one stop back towards Wolverhampton. I had a 4-minute wait here before
23 arrived and, just like on 34, I sat up front. Several trams passed as we headed towards Birmingham and for winners and duds, the list was dud, dud, dud, dud, dud, dud, dud, dud, dud for the day and soon, after one heck of a long journey, 23 was arriving at Bull Street (yep, I know.) It was now my favorite and highest mileage Midland Metro tram and, since I was at Bull Street, which was very close to dad's work, I gave him a call to ask if he wanted to meet up for lunch, as it was only about 12:00. It went straight to voice mail so I decided that there was no point in hanging around so I did something really crazy and re-boarded
23 for another ride. I wasn't crazy enough to go all the way out to Wolverhampton and instead bailed just before the tram network went away from the heavy rail at The Hawthorns. I didn't want to take another tram now so I crossed over to the heavy rail platforms and took the pair of approaching 172s out to Smethwick Galton Bridge, knowing that I'd still be getting the next 172 back towards Brum but from Smethwick instead of The Hawthorns, getting me a little extra mileage and another coach, which turned out to be in
172211, which was leading
172215 on the 12:19. 0.75 miles later, I was crossing over to the Snow Hell bound platform at Galton Bridge for the 12:24 172. This was single
172336 and I sat in the winner middle coach. Between Jewellery Quarter and The Hawthorns, I got a call from dad. I asked if he'd had lunch yet because I fancied joining him is it was possible. He was apologetic that he'd missed my call but hadn't had lunch yet so I arranged to head over to his work after getting to Snow Hell. We arrived right time and I took the short walk over to dad's work, meeting up with him when we got there. We headed to a Sainsbury's local that was close by and got lunch there. I went for a chicken triple (
) sarnie, an Oasis and a pack of crisps, dad getting a sarnie and pack of crisps, along with a pack of digestives, which we shared. It was a nice lunch - much better than having one solo, and we chatted for quite a while before dad got back on with work and I headed off to New Street, leaving at about 13:15.
It was nearly 13:30 by the time I got to New Street and, after checking of any potential winners out and about, I headed over to platform 12 to check if the 13:30 to Cardiff was required. It wasn't but there really wasn't anything and I didn't want to hang around New Street so I leapt aboard dud
170638, scoring a new coach in the process. I didn't know what the 170 back would be so, by taking the Cardiff, you never know if you'll get a winner one on the way back. That's one of the things I like about this service, another being the fact that it fills a gap between winners at New Street, only meaning you can't view the 36 minutes past 158s to International (because the 38 minutes past Wolverhampton stopper arrives 10-15 minutes before it leaves). 638 provided suitable traction out to the Uni where a mad dash across the footbridge got me onto the other platform just before dud for the day
170104 rolled in. It never struck me that it might be 104 again! I still clambered on, in a different coach from the one that I had earlier, and found a seat easy enough.
Once at New Street, I flagged the 50 and 54 minutes past to Euston and tried to decide what to do next. I could either go for the 14:10 to Euston or the 14:15 to Edinburgh, if they were winner pendos, or I could take the 14:14 LM out to Stechford for a shack score. It was decided for me when a 221 arrived on both the 14:10 and 14:15, so I wandered over and got a seat on dud
350233. It was a short leap out to Stechford, shack score 3, and after crossing over the footbridge, I had a short wait for the International stopper, which I knew would be a starship.
323217 appeared for the short ride to the Bat Cave again, stopping at Adderley park on the way, unlike the ride on the dez. I didn't know what to do after getting to New Street and, having missed the Cardiff service, I didn't have many options. The 36 minutes past to International had a pair of dud 158s on it but, without much else to do, I scored my first 158 coach, with dud
158821 having the honors. Equally dud
158836 led it. I sat in 52821 for the fast, short journey.
At International, I headed up to the concourse as usual and looked at the departure boards to see if the 14:53 to Glasgow was meant to be a unspeakably horrible thing or a pendo. It was the worst of the two (unless you're Kite
) on that so I called dad to say that I'd be getting the 15:05 dez to New Street and then head over to his work for coffee and cake. I headed out to the airport and back twice, having to sprint in order to make the connection onto the dez back, which was dud for the day
350102. I thought it was 350112 at first because I just got the coach number of it as it was already in the platform and it was 66812 that I got the number of. I didn't sit in that coach though and instead planted myself in 63762 and it was only after checking the books that I realized that I was in 102! Hardly matters though - I found out in the end!
Back at New Street, I gave dad a call before heading up the hill towards his work so he could finish up as I walked there. We met up and headed to a local coffee shop for coffee and cake (my turn), which was excellent quality as usual (the rocky road is the best rocky road ever), before taking the very familiar walk to Moor Street where
68009 was sat on a silver set. We headed over to it and got a seat on board, waiting for departure at 15:55. A gentle push from the back at 15:55 and after a couple of minutes, we were screaming towards Solihull and eventually Leam, where we bailed. We let Titan roar away towards London before exiting the station and walking back to the car after a fun, productive day in the Midlands with 5 winner units and 3 winner shacks.
! I put 29/03/16 in my book though so that's why I got it wrong!
