Don't worry about that bit Keith! When I head to Mancc I never go directly. Leam to Moor Street/Snow Hell, across to New Street, 390 to Crewe for another to Piccadilly.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Trams R Us
I think it's pretty obvious what I'd got lots of on the 5th of March. It was a Saturday and we (dad, Nathan and I) were planning on taking the Cumbrian Mountain Express. Then West Coast's ban came and we obviously didn't. We still had the day though and it didn't take any of us long to figure out what we should do. A Thamesline to get loads of GWR trams of course!
A few weeks before the Thamesline, I was looking at RTT and wasn't happy to note that there'd be engineering works affecting trains between Paddington and Reading on that date and very Saturday until the 4th of June. None of us wanted to wait that long though and, with the Thamesline being Nathan's birthday pressie from dad and I, we didn't want to postpone. It all went ahead and on the 4th of March (the day after Nat's birthday), Nathan came over for a sleepover. Considering the time that we had to leave for the first train, he certainly needed to! I went to bed with my alarm set for 04:15 and we got to bed at about 22:30, ready for what the next day would give...
I didn't sleep well, the excitement of a tram bash keeping me awake for a while (this always seems to happen). I managed to get some sleep but the beeping coming from my alarm at 4 in the morning wasn't a nice sound. I was up slightly earlier than I had to be so I could ask for some gen on my 7 required powercars in GWR before we headed out. It took me a while to get Nathan out of bed (apparently constantly waking him up doesn't work) but I eventually did so by 04:55, 5 minutes before we wanted to leave. After we all got in the car and headed off, it was just past 05:00 and heading down the virtually empty roads in the fog was quite fun. The direct route to the M40 was shut so we had to go via Banbury but eventually got there and after that, had a pretty uneventful run to Didcot, the unsoche morning Nathan listening to music on his I-phone He does have an excellent playlist (I should know - I was the one who put it together for him) but that's no excuse to not chat to us for the journey!
Didcot was reached at about 06:15 and we got there to find that the ticket office was shut! That means we can't buy our Thameslines here then because the ticket machines wouldn't issue them either. We managed to get the return to Reading though, which would validate us as far as there and we'd just be able to buy the Thameslines from the guard on the 06:29 to Paddington. This is the first Paddington bound tram of the day from Didcot so it gave us maximum time on the ranger, because we needed to be back home fairly early because mum was heading out at 21:30 and Torin needed to be looked after. We went up onto the platform and after only about 5 minutes, we could see the ex Temple Meads approaching. Nat was really happy when he saw the front powercar number, meaning that he'd scored his first one already, in the form of
43169. This was a dud for me, as was the rear powercar,
43003. Dad and I told Nat that he really shouldn't window hang on this service, for his own sake. 125mph HST at 06:30 in the morning + window hanging = freaking cold face! He didn't believe it from us but at least he knows first hand now! The look on his face when he got back was brilliant though! Dad and I headed through the virtually empty train to find the guard while Nat waited at our bay of four. He was found walking through the train and he issued our Thameslines with ease, even being able to give us a railcard discount. After that, we headed back to Nathan and all stayed in the bay of four for the uneventful ride, IDing 9 locos (excluding HST powercars) before Paddington, with the rancid bodysnatchers at Paddington making 10 and 11.
At Padd, were 2 sets waiting to leave within 15 minutes, the first at 07:27 and the second at 07:30. Neither of the sets had any winner powercars for any of us so we decided by looking at dad's 'tram sheet', saying which ones he needs for the centaury and the mileage he's had of each of them. The pair leaving on the 07:27 were lower mileage for him so we decided to go for those but after getting brekky. I got it this morning, getting two sausage baps and two bacon baps to share between dad and I (two each, one of each kind). Nat didn't want anything. After buying, we headed back onto the concourse and over to the 07:27 to Temple Meads, easily getting seats on board. The leading powercar was sub 100 mile (on 89.25 miles)
43181, which had over 100 mile
43150 for company 8 coaches away. It was a speedy enough run (considering there was engineering works) out to Reading, where there was 3 trams within 10 minutes of each other heading to Padd. We changed platforms and headed to the West end of the platform so both powercars could be viewed. I wasn't too happy with the first pair that rolled in, because it was a couple of powercars that were duds for me but the rear (which was well over 100 miles for me) was a required one for Nat. The leading powercar,
43026, was under 100 (on 53.25) so it was good to get that one again but consecutively numbered
43025 was high mileage (on 142.50) and was one that I've had from Paddington to Temple Meads (along with Chippenham to Temple Meads). We got on and dad and I found seats while Nat went to the window for some tram thrash as they headed back towards Paddington on another uneventful run. We checked dad's work phone to see if my request for tram powercars had been answered and I was very happy to see that forum member
MCSHF007 had very kindly answered my request, saying that it was just 43024 and 43139 that were out but it looked like both were gettable. Thanks for the gen!
Back at Paddington, we had a few choices to go back out but none of them were decent for any of us (just like last time) so we went for the one that departed soonest, which was the 08:57 to Weston-super-duper-Mare. The rear powercar was a winner before the last Thamesline so it was sat on a very low 36 miles but the front was on a good 113 miles. It was
43179 and
43009 on this set. This service would put us in position for the first of my two winners at Reading with a +20. Nat was at the window for most of the journey again.
Back at Reading, we headed onto the other platform and Nat luckily wasn't drawn to any of the powercars before the 09:46 to Paddington. As I saw the blue GWR tram set approaching, I had both toes and fingers crossed. It was a dud up front but, since I didn't know what was with my winner, that didn't indicate if it was or wasn't. The last coach finally moved up the platform, just leaving me stood next to a deep blue powercar. I moved forward slightly to get the number before leaping into the air. Dud (for all of us)
43177 was leading winner for me, dud for everyone else,
43024! Of note, before this journey, 177 was sat on exactly 100 miles. 024 was on exactly 100 under that

! We got on board and Nat said something to me that I'd said to him when 025 appeared. 'If one of my winners is behind this then I'm going to kill you'. We were kidding of course but even so, I did wonder what he would do and, since he needs many more tram powercars than me, there was a slight chance that one of his would be behind. Thankfully it wasn't! A nice race to Paddington was had, passing several of GWR's awful units and it was soon arriving at Paddington. Once again there was two sets that would be leaving almost imminently and, once again, none of us needed any of the powercars. Just like all of the other times, we decided to go for the first of them, which was the 10:27. This was worked today by
43158 (which was on 150 exactly) and
43042 (which was below 100 miles on a mere 70.5 for me). It was a slow run after Iver because we were following a cart but cleared 042 for 100, which was good.
Once again at Reading, we waited for a few trams to pass (all duds) before the 11:13 to Paddington arrived. This was a double dud for all of us but we wanted to get back to the capital so we got on anyway.
43183 and
43015 provided suitable traction to get us back to Brunel's fine London masterpiece, where we had a couple of options. That turned into one option when Nat saw that one of them was one of his winners. This was (surprise, surprise) the earlier of the two trams so we got on board the 11:57 and waited for
43091 (Nat's winner) and
43023 (my stalker) to move off. I was happy enough with this combo, 091 being on a mere 64 miles so after the ride out to Reading it was sat on what 43177 was before I got it that day. How's your memory? What was 43091 sat on after we got to Reading? 43023 on the other hand was sat on 103 miles and, while not exactly high, I'd had it 4 times, this move making it 5 and putting it on 139 miles. Once we'd changed platforms at Reading, we saw that the tram set that we'd be getting back would be dud for the day, it having got from Reading to Exeter via Bristol and back via the desert. This was the 1st pair that we'd had out of Padd and was
43150 and
43181. This run was an absolute storm and, even with engineering works, we were on a tram leaving Padd exactly 35 minutes after leaving Reading. This was (surprise, surprise) the 27 minutes past, this time the 13:27. This was dud for us all but we wanted maximum time in Reading to get over to Sweeney and Todd pie shop, dad and I going for a chicken and ham and Nat going for a 5 nations. We also got a venison and boar pie for the creativity. All of them were taken back to the station where we had a little wait for the ex Hereford that should have my winner on. We decided to eat lunch on the tram and, just like with 024, I had both fingers and toes crossed. I wasn't in this position for a while because winner
43139 was leading, with dud
43031 pushing. My chicken and ham pie was huge, excellent and filling, although not as good as the pork and apple on that I'd had last time, which wasn't there this time. We didn't have time to split the second pie and eat it before arrival at Paddington so I had to keep it in my bag until the next tram from Padd. To quote the infamous words of Homer Simpson, doh!
Once again, it was onto the 57 minutes past to Temple Meads.I was very happy at the leading powercar of this one, not because it was a winner, but because it was my favorite GWR one,
43053.It was
43094 pushing for the next 36-mile ride. We wanted to be on the 17:27 from Paddington to Didcot, the engineering works making them hourly stopping at Diddy, meaning that after getting to Reading on 053 and 094, we'd have to head back, hopefully getting the Worcester service to Reading before the Temple Meads to Didcot. Since we needed to be back at Paddington ASAP, the first on that came along would have to do. Dud for all of us
43132 was leading, with equally dud (well, I say equally dud but they are on different mileages)
43069 giving us a shove from behind.
The 16:45 departure from Reading to Padd (the one that we were on) didn't do very well at keeping time after Langley and the Worcester tram passed us at Westbourne Park. There was one of Nat's winners (43017) that had been taunting us (well, not dad and I. Just Nat!) all day and kept on slipping away. Dad and I were sat down when it passed on the Worcester. Nat was at the vestibule window so we both hoped that he hadn't got the number. The moaning we heard when we met up with him again on the platforms of Paddington told us that he had seen it. If only the 16:45 had been quicker...
We had to be quite quick to make the 17:27 but got on board with duds for us all
43098 and
43186 being the powercars that would be on our last train of the day I'd done quite well today, getting 2 of my last 7 GWR powercars. Nat had done very well too but I don't know the exact amount he had got. Poor dad had done awful, getting (and actually seeing) none of his last 13 winners for the centaury in GWR! He did get a few powercars for various milestones though, which is something!
After getting to Didcot, we began to walk over to the car park, stopping at a point where the path is at track level right next to the Swindon bound line. We were only waiting for about a minute before the Swansea bound tram came roaring through non-stop, giving off one heck of a brilliant noise. It was then back to the car for and uneventful drive home, stopping off at a service station for dinner. A thoroughly brilliant day and I'd like to apologize for the lowered amount of detail in this report. This is because I'm beginning to forget the detail after 2 and a half months. I hope you enjoyed it anyway!
093, 142, 159, 162, 194. The final 5.