I didn't!
That is one very soche guard on your service! Wow!
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The second trip report today!
The Northern Metro
On the 9th of May (a Monday), I'd been invited to one of my brother's friend’s birthday parties at this funky looking trampolining place. After I heard that it'd coast my brother's friend's mum an extra £15 for me to go though, I said that I wouldn't. Mum then gave m the day off!
Fast forward to Sunday and I was in bed for 22:30 ready for what I knew would be a bad night sleep. I never sleep well on the night before a train trip, even if it's just a mini one to Brum, which this wouldn't be. I was going in on the 06:24 and back on the 15:55 as usual but I was going to Mancc today, not Brum. I could get a bargain ticket for Mancc so I decided that even though 3 hours isn't much, it's better than nothing.
My alarm went off at 05:20 and I was amazed at how light it was. I hadn't been up at this time for ages (at least a month), which is why. I got dressed and headed to the other boat, getting teeth cleaned before putting dad's coffee on because he was still in bed. Dad eventually got up and after a few minutes preparing for the day ahead, I put my shoes on, which were still damp from a water fight that I'd had the day before with my brother and Nathan (don't ask). We headed out just after 05:45 in the car, getting to Leam at about 06:00. I hadn't taken a jumper or anything with me today because it was warm enough and I didn't even regret it on the walk to the station. I got my tickets for the day at the ticket office and dad collected some tickets from the ticket machine for a later trip before we went onto the platform. It was 06:13 when we got on the platform and on the walk to the station, dad wanted to know how many 332s I needed. I looked at my books and told him, also saying the 2 coach Chiltern 165s that I needed (012, 017 and 024). The time soon came to get ready for the 06:24 and I went into position and watched it arrive. Score!
165012! Of all the two coach 165s that it could've been, it was one of my winners! We got the usual seats and there wasn't much to note on the journey down (nothing in Tyseley) except 68015 on 1H15. We didn't hang around at Snow Hell to see the 07:07 cat and instead just exited the hole. Dad asked me if I wanted brekky because he was still full from the Chinese the night before. I said that if dad didn't want it then we'd flag it but just after bull street tram stop, dad said that it wouldn't be right not to go to Subway so we headed down and had a nice chat with the guy who usually gets us brekky as he prepared us our usual. It was dad's turn to pay this time so he kindly got them and we headed to his work, mega melts in hand.
We ate and chatted and I was able to see that 67002 was on the Mancc diagram. This was good because it was the first thing that I planned to get in Mancc, but only for a
185143 leap (out to Occy Road
). I headed out at exactly 8' and got to New Street just 5 minutes later. The 08:15 to Edinburgh was booked out (and in, strangely enough) from platform 6 so I immediately headed down and, when I got onto the platform, I saw my 11-coach pendo curving its way towards me. I walked close to the end of the platform, noting 43304 arriving at the front of 1V44 before, again, turning my attention to look at the arriving pendo.
390124. Rats! This was one of my higher mileage examples and another 52.75 miles would just encourage it. I got a seat in of the only free pairs, this being the backwards facing, left hand side (window) pair at the very front of the train (or sad excuse of one). A 221 rolled in just before the Plymouth left, blocking my view of it as the tram thrashed away. I saw the rear powercar fade away into the tunnel but couldn't ID it. A text was sent to dad saying the following. 'Hi dad! What was the powercar with 43304 this morn? A 221 got in the way of it'. Back on time, 390124 left New Street on the usual stagger through the Midlands.
On the approach to Wolverhampton, the guard announced it as approaching 'Wolverhampton High Level'. I didn't know why at first but when dad suggested that he was probably and enthusiast giving a nod to the old Great Western Railway (the one with kettles, not trams), it all made sense. There were 4 track machines at Stafford but, because I’m not Nathan, I didn't care at not being fast enough to write them all down (they were all duds anyway). Just like the last time I'd passed Norton Bridge on the fasts, we slowed quite a lot for it. I do hope it's just a TSR!
The gherkins at Basford Hall decided to taunt me. I need 66512, 66557 and 66619 to clear the FL ones. Sat in Basford Hall was 66511 and 66617! To make things even more annoying, they were the only two things I could ID in there! There wasn't anything special in or around Crewe and we arrived a few minutes late on platform 11. I wanted to be on the 09:11 to Piccadilly but, because I had a +5 at Piccadilly onto shovel 2, which was now almost definitely going to miss.I saw that it was an 11 coach approaching at 16 minutes past. I was really glad to see which one it was;
390122, the best pendo. I saw a free bay of 4 as it was arriving so I headed for that but found that the other 3 seats were reserved when a couple of people sat opposite me, a third about to sit next to me. I decided for all of our benefit (well, OK. Mine.) that I'd move so I changed from coach B to coach A and went in the same pair of seats that I was in on 390124. Don't worry - I didn't take the seats out of 124 and put them in 122! I meant the same seat number.
I'd got a text back from dad just before Stafford and wasn't amused at what it had said. 'You could get the tram number from your 221 was that
? 43384 was with 304 this morning'. I'd thanked him for the gen but also told him off for suggesting that I'd got on a 221, telling him what happened in detail, including platform numbers. I wasn't happy to see that I'd lost signal by the time my long text was completed and that it had failed to send. Crewe was the first time I had signal since Stafford and, not wanting to redo the text, I just called dad to say. I also intended to call mum at the same time but forgot. I regretted that at Stockport viaduct, when she called me, but was understanding. Soon the pendo was approaching Piccadilly and I was one of the first up in my coach because I wanted to walk down a few coaches so I was in a good place for the footbridge in case we arrived at 50 minutes past. I knew that this was too much to ask because 'Penny the Pendolino' came to a stand at 52 minutes past. I still ran for it in case the shovel was late but it'd left right on time and I was at an empty platform 13 and 14. Oh well. It's only 0.5 miles off a dud shovel! I called dad to say and the moment after I'd hung up, my first winner in Mancc was arriving. Hello
319368!
I got on board for the short hop, just missing a pair of 156s (one winner, one dud) at Occy Road. They were running slightly late, meaning that my next train was held up on arrival but it didn't affect me.
319375 gave me my 3rd winner of the day, two of which were in Mancc. I'd only been there 10 minutes and already scored 2! At Occy Road, I'd heard an announcement saying that the 10:07 to Blackpool was 7 late. It also seems that Northern is stealing reasons from TPE because the reason it's late is because a member of train crew was unavailable. With that announcement, I was surprised to see a pair of 150s (one winner, one dud) leaving Piccadilly on the Blackpool as my 319 arrived. I thought that this might mean that they'd wait at Occy Road for the member of traincrew and, since my aim for today was the Metrolink between Deansgate and Cornbrook, I decided to test my theory (the Blackpool stops at Deansgate). High mileage
185129 provided my duddage out to Occy Road on the 10:07 to Lime Street and, when it was arriving at Occy Road, I could see the pair of 150s in the platform that the 175s heading to Piccadilly use. I crossed over to the 150s after leaving the diesel dez and got a seat in the front unit, winner
150215 This was leading dud
150112. Before boarding, I asked the driver when he though he'd be heading out. He thought that it'd be just after the 185 had left so I got on board. It was slightly after the 185 had left because we also needed to wait for a dud 156 to depart on the Lime Street stopper. I viewed the Hazel Grove when it arrived but it was a pair of duds so I stayed put for the ride out to Deansgate.
0.25 miles later, I was looking at the departure board for trains back towards Mancc. The next train wasn't for another 10 minutes and was an ex Southport (so likely a 142), meaning I didn't have anything to lure me away from the Metrolink. I ran over to the Metrolink platforms and, after checking the numbers of the arriving pair, I leapt aboard winner
3029 and dud
3010 for my first of many Cornbrook runs that day. The first pair of trams that I saw at Cornbrook (excluding the ones that I'd just come off) had a winner on so I got on board winner
3066 and dud
3082. My next few moves were simply Deansgate to Cornbrook leaps so I can't go into much detail about them so it'll simply be a bunch of numbers and stations. I hope it doesn't put you to sleep! At Deansgate, dud
3023 and winner
3030 took me took me back out to Cornbrook for winner
3071 and dud
3067 back. Dud
3089 and winner
3096 were up next for the ride back out to Cornbrook before dud
3077 and winner
3065 took me back to Deansgate. Dud
3011 with winner
3028 took me back to the Cornbrook and, after letting a single dud and a couple of dud pairs go, I boarded winner
3080 and dud
3091 for the ride back to Deansgate. I let one go before winner
3013 and dud
3049 arrived. Back out to Cornbrook!
This is where I did something slightly different, when a double dud arrived heading towards the city centre and a winner with a dud arrived heading to East Didsbury. Since I'd just had track out to Media City and the stop before Eccles in this direction, it was winner track in the East Didsbury/Altrincham/Airport direction. This meant that I'd score
3018, which was with dud
3019, a bit of winner track and a winner shack. Sounds like a good deal! It actually felt like being on heavy rail after leaving Cornbrook. At Trafford Bar tram stop, it looked so much like heavy rail. There was a road bridge just before the high Metrolink platforms and stairs, which led onto the road bridge. You have to cross the bridge and then go down a really long ramp to get onto the other platform. While doing this, I missed a winner but it was only going to Deansgate so I could easily get it later. There was a pair a few metres behind it waiting for my winner to clear the stop so I got on those, even though it was double duds
3020 and
3031. I didn't know if I should go to Deansgate or Cornbrook on this but after seeing that the next tram was only 1-minute behind at Cornbrook, I decided to see if I could score another. This turned out tot be a good call because the trams right behind were
3054 and
3055, the latter being a winner. It was a simple cross platform change at Deansgate onto the winner I'd seen at Trafford Bar and after a couple of minutes,
3006 was taking me back out to Cornbrook. I had two options to get back to Deansgate in the space of two minutes or I'd have an 8-minute wait. The first one was a dud for the day and the second wasn't much better, being double duds
3036 and
3033 but I hadn't had them so far so that made it slightly better. After getting to Deansgate, there was only a dud tram due to leave in the next 8 minutes so I bade farewell to the Metrolink after 12 winners for haulage and 1 winner for sight and headed for the heavy rail.
There was an ex Blackpool pair of 156s due in 5 so I waited for them (they arrived at 11:52). It was a very busy dud
156489 and winner
156468 so I had to stand for my quarter-of-a-mile journey to Occy Road. The horror! After it arrived, the ex Lime Street 319 was right behind, meaning I didn't need to wait long for it. As I waited, I began thinking that 319368 from earlier would appear again on this one but it wasn't and was instead
319363, a dud that was fairly high mileage (for me on a 319). Back at Piccadilly, I decided to view the Lime Street diesel dez, which was due in 3 minutes to see if it was required. I saw that it was expected at 13 minutes past, 6 minutes late, and decided that, instead of waiting, I'd go and get lunch. I decided to go for the Sainsbury's local on the station and get a meal deal. £3.70 later, I had a chicken triple sarnie, a Ribena, a bag of Kettle Chips and 5 custard donuts (which is where the extra 70p came from). I was on the travelator back to platforms 13 and 14 at 12 minutes past (it was a long queue at Sainsbury's) and saw that the diesel dez was already in. I had to run for it so couldn't get the number before boarding and found from the coach number that it was dud
185105, last had on the 28th of August 2012, so it was nice to get it again.
The Hazel Grove service was slightly late meaning that I could start eating my lunch before a dud, wedged, solo 150 rolled in. No thanks; I think I'll wait for the dez! Since I'd had all TPE dezes, I knew that this would be dud. I scored a new coach in
350407 whilst on the ride back to Piccadilly though.
It was now just before 12:30 and I needed to be on the 12:55 to Crewe (I know...) so I had 3 options for a fill in move to Stockport to pick the 12:55 up there (I'd decided that the Buxton service was too much of a risky connection at Stockport). They were the 12:38 to Alderley Edge, the 12:43 to Norwich and the 12:46 to Stoke. The Alderley Edge had a winner starship on but it was all shacks and there was a chance that the Norwich would overtake it en route so I could get two for the price of one. RTT was checked and it turns out that it would be a -2 at Stockport. Oh well!
A couple of moments after the Alderley Edge had left; the service that would form the 12:46 to Stoke arrived. I was happy to note that it was a winner so if the Norwich wasn't a double winner, then I'd go for that. The 158s only had one winner on and, since you can get those on Occy Road leaps, I went for the starship. Getting a seat in one of the motor coaches, I watched as a couple of normals, who I didn't hear speak any English, get on before getting off again, looking down the platform (there aren't any PIS machines up at this part of the platform) and then one of them put their hand in front of the closing door so it reopened before boarding. They did this twice before one of them got onl leaving the other on the platform as the doors shut and locked and winner
323235 whirred away towards Stockport.
I have to say that the best run of the day went to this starship on one heck of a loud, fast run. If fact we did the run 1-minute quicker than the Norwich 158s, which were leaving Stockport as we were arriving. It was a same platform +10 onto the Euston bound pendo, which was arriving at the same time as the Buxton service and happened to be my second favorite pendo,
390010. One of my winner coaches was sat in for the speedy run to Crewe, during which I checked RTT to see if I could do a Sandbach return before the 14:01 from Crewe. I could but it would be really tight at Crewe so I decided to only do it if the one out to Sandbach was a winner.
At Crewe, I actually scored two winners for sight, those being Gatwick Fakespress 387s 387223 and 387222 sat in platform 7. I saw that it was the best 323 on the Mancc service so I wasn't sure what to do. I decided to go for it but wanted a photo of the 387s so I ran over the footbridge and got a few.
On test by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
During this, 66002 rolled in on platform 5.
Crewe by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
I was about to head over to the starship but got stopped by an enthusiast who told me that there was '3 90s' (as it 3 skodas, not a few pendos) behind the read death so I waited and saw a skoda, a dyson and another skoda. After these passed, it was 36 minutes past and the starship was still there (it was due to leave at 34). I headed back over the footbridge and got on board
3232323232323232, which left 5 late. It was a speedy ride out to Sandbach, where I had just over 5 minutes to wait for the 13:51 to Crewe. It looks like I made a good choice at popping out to Sandbach because it was winner
323224 taking me back to Crewe.
Arrival at Crewe was at 13:58 and I noticed that the 14:01 to Euston was 6 late so I gave dad a ring, seeing 70004 come through on an intermodal while talking to him. Eventually, at 14:08, I saw the start of an 11 coach pendo arriving. Oh, you just have to appear don't you, you annoying thing! Why, oh why do you have to appear
390123? Another case of the 'you get it once then you keep on getting it' rule. At least it'll be cleared for 100 on the run to New Street!
After the trip, I realized that I'd had 390122, 390123 and 390124 that day and I'd only had 4 pendos! Like the previous time I was on this service, I went for coach U and easily found a bay of four without anyone else in. I didn't get wedged out and, at Wolverhampton, I called dad and heard that he'd been at Bromsgrove for work and was getting the 14:40 back to New Street, meaning that we'd be back at the bat cave at the same sort of time as me. We left Wolverhampton a few minutes late due to the foul XC UHT being late and let out in front of us. We got moving 5 minutes late and after the usual trundle through the midlands on 125mph capable stock, 123 was entering the New Street tunnels. As we exited them, I looked over and viewed a London Midland 170 arriving from the Uni direction and immediately knew that it was dad's one. We arranged to meet under the departure boards and, since I got there first, I had to choose which train to stand under (we did say under the boards!). I went for the Stanstead 170 and was stood there for less than 30 seconds before dad came. We said hi before walking up the hill towards his work.
Dad still needed to get some stuff done at work before he could head off and, since it was already 15:15 when we left the bat cave, we didn't think that there'd be time to go to our usual coffee shop before 'H62. We were right and dad didn't finish up until 15:40. It gave me a chance to start doing my numbers while waiting for him though, seeing that I'd scored a Metrolink tram for sight (3083). When dad came out, we headed straight to Moor Street, getting a caramel shortcake, a choccy brownie, a latté (for dad) and an oasis (for me). The cakes were cut in half on the rear coach of 'H62, us each having half of each.
68009 was powering us this eve' and, when Titan was thrashing away from Leam, a great day was over, with 19 winners, 12 of which were trams, I think it was a very successful day!
Lady Diana Spencer by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Wansford by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Ped and grid by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Wansford by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Peterborough NVR by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Teddy bear by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Wansford by fishquinn1, on Flickrbefore heading back to the car. 
66768 and a steamie by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Wansford by fishquinn1, on Flickr
66768 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
