Jammy, jammy so and so!
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Tram for tram for tram for tram for tram for tram for tram
As the title says, this trip was all about trams. Can you guess what it was? I'll give you a clue. It was a Saturday and the trip was with dad. Still don't know? Well, on the 21st of May, the plan was for Nathan, dad and I to do a Thamesline, the aim (as always) being to get as many trams as possible between Paddington and Reading. Unfortunately Nathan's dad said that Nathan wasn't allowed to go on this one as he had loads of exams and needed to revise. He wasn't happy with that but dad and I had the date in the diary with mum so we weren't going to waste it, not to mention that there weren't any engineering works on the Great Western Railway that day so we'd be stupid not to take up an opportunity for a good running day. It was a shame that Nathan couldn't come but at least it meant that dad and I could go for my winners and dad's requirements instead of his ones.
On the 20th after I'd come back from Manchester, I set the alarm for 04:00 and got to bed for 22:00 so I wasn't too shattered the next day. Little sleep was had before my alarm started beeping and I got up to get ready for the day ahead. I'd asked for some gen on my required powercars the evening before but it never got answered this time. After a little time on the forum at stupid o' clock, I headed over to dad and we set off at about 04:45 in order to get the first Paddington bound tram from Didcot. It was an uneventful drive to Didcot, heading via Banbury and joining the M40 there in order to get to Didcot, eventually getting to the car park just after 06:00. We then headed over to the main station, annoyingly finding out that the ticket office was closed so we wouldn't be able to buy the thameslines, as the ticket machine can't issue them. The ticket machine could issue a return from Didcot to Reading (shock horror) though so we got that, as it'd be needed anyway and then headed to the platforms.
On the way to the main station from the car park, we'd noticed 43010 and 43053 heading towards Oxford. Dad (and Nathan but it didn't matter for him today apart from the fact that I could tell him about it when he next annoys me) needed 43010 for the centaury so, knowing what it was on, we wanted to fall into it later. This should be easy enough using RTT. There was quite a lot stabled at Didcot, including 66102 and 66075, two of our favorite 66s. The reason for 102 was because at some point in the long past, 102 appeared wherever we were in the country, constantly (kind of the 47555 of 2014). The reason for 075 was because of one day spotting at Barnetby when it was on the Scunthorpe iron ore. It appeared at least 10 times when we were there, which was just crazy for one and made us both like it. It was nice to see them both again as neither had been spotted in quite a while, and we spent a nice time chatting in the foggy valley before our first train, the 06:29 to Paddington, was approaching. It was good to see a tram after a long time although it was a shame that it was double duds for 100
43022 and
43122 that appeared to take us 53 miles to Paddington. It was obviously a very lightly loaded service and a bay of four was found very easily in the pretty much empty rear coach. The trams thrashed towards London and, after a few minutes, dad went to knock on the door into the guard's compartment to try and get our thameslines. This went well and after a few minutes we were still speeding along to Reading with our tickets onward from there all ready.
37706 was in Southall, which was nice but it was 47580 in all of its beauty that caught our attention. Hellfire! I really like 580 and dad partly owns it, being a member of the Stratford 47 group. It was great to see her again, that's for sure!
At Paddington, the first thing we saw was 68016, a sight score for dad, at the front of a Northern Belle to Carmarthen. It was one that I'd noticed on RTT a few days before so I knew that it was due out in a few minutes time. We obviously waited for Fearless thrash away on its heavy load. We were both happy to note 68017 was on the back, this being required for sight for both of us. We were both ready for breakfast after seeing them head for Wales so we headed for the Sainsbury's local on the station concourse to get some brekky. I would be getting this today and, after a few minutes, we were walking out with two warm bacon baps and two warm sausage baps so we would have one of each type. Dad was now apparently in dire need of coffee so, while he got that, I got a few photos of the sleeper ECS and the HST that we arrived on.
The sleeper and a tram by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
Once dad had returned to me, we had a choice to make, with 2 options of getting to Reading. This was chosen by a check of dad's tram list to see the mileage on each powercar. After checking, the front powercar on set 1 was found to be pretty low for dad (under 100) so we went for the 07:36 to Newquay, with a powercar that was on exactly 100 for me before this run,
43091, with a powercar that was on 161 miles before this journey,
43181. The guard did his announcement just after we left Paddington and seemed to miss out Reading on it for some reason, saying that the first stop was Taunton. This brought on panic until I'd checked RTT to see that the reason he didn't say it was because this service was pick up only at Reading so at least we'd still be able to get off! We decided to move down a few coaches for Reading as we were in the very front one. That way if someone wanted to get on at our door then it wouldn't be affecting the train in any way (not that it would though because we'd obviously close the door behind us). It was a quick journey to Reading and when we got there, I saw that the cats that we watched leave Padd were sat in the platform just across from us waiting for departure. We headed over to the platform for the Padd bound trams and got a few photos of them before watching 016 thrash away for the second time. Excellent cat thrash!
Reading cat by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
Reading cat by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We didn't have long before our next train, the 08:16 to Padd, arrived with
43148 and
43024 powering it. The former was on 208 miles so was of no interest to me except that it was pushed up to 244 on the journey back to Padd but 024 was on a mere 36 miles from our last Thamesline (when it was a winner) so the ride to London doubled its mileage to 72. This service was a lot busier than the 06:29 from Didcot but was still fairly lightly loaded - I guess the normals would get trains around 09:00. Southall was looked at again but we couldn't see 580 this time, indicating that it had headed out for a bit. The tram set continued to Padd as usual and, as it was arriving, we could see massive, massive crowds all crowding around a kettle on platform 1 or 2. After seeing which kettle it was, all was explained. It was the NRM's stupid 'Flying Moneypit', one of the two kettles that I loathe ('Tornado' being the other). We were more interested on if there was a brush on the back (obviously) and, since 47580 was no longer at Southall, we were naturally curious (which, as we're not cats isn't lethal). We ran over to platform 2 and just saw the ashtray beginning to leave as we got onto the platform. As there was a tram between us and the platform where the tour was on, we leapt in the vestibule (which just happened to be that of the green set) and put the window down on the other side, just in time to see 47580 tick past. Vote brush!
After that great sight, seeing 'County of Essex' moving, even if it wasn't doing anything, we decided to get on the next available tram to Reading. This was completely fine by me, purely because of the leading powercar which, although it was dud, was only on 36 miles and hadn't been had since 2013. The run to Reading got
43078, just like 024, to 72 miles. The rear powercar,
43026, was of no use to me and was one of the powercars that annoyed me because it seemed to like appearing for me. Darn 'Michael Eavis'! These were on the 09:00 to Temple Meads and for some reason we were switched to the slows at the brilliantly named Dolphin junction and raced through the little Thames stations from the 'other' side for a change. We didn't know why until just before Reading. Dad and I were at the left hand side vestibule window and suddenly we saw 47580 again as we passed it. Our speed began to slow and we were running right alongside flying moneypit, saying hi to the driver and fireman as we both arrived at Reading. It was a brilliant experience, even though the kettle was flying moneypit and we immediately headed over to the platform next to the one that the tour was occupying. Dad got all of the photos here so I don't have any to put up but I did get a video of it disappearing, even if that video didn't include the kettle at all and was instead solely the brush being pulled away, sounding good even though it wasn't powering. A great time seeing that, especially that parallel arrival at Reading!
Dad called mum as we waited on the Paddington tram bound platforms (an island platform for people who don't know the layout of Reading) for our next tram. We could see it coming over the flyover and it was a very high leap in the air after seeing the leading powercar - winner
43194! This made me very happy as I had no gen on it or anything and dad, who knows all of my required powercars too, was very pleased too as it was required for the centaury for him. Sub hundred mile (but dud)
43168 was on the back. I was very glad to only need three GWR powercars when we set off towards Paddington on time at 09:48.
Back at Paddington, nothing different apart from several more trams sighted, we wanted to be on the next train out in order to get to Reading in time for the return working of the tram set that we'd seen earlier at Didcot so we went for the 10:21. This had a high mileage powercar on the front,
43129, but
43097 on the back was only on 36 miles, just like some other powercars that I'd had that day. This one stopped at Slough but still managed to get us to Reading in time for our wanted train back to Paddington at 10:57. I was certainly happy to get the front powercar on this set again, it being
43053. This one was cleared for 1000 for dad and was my highest mileage GWR tram but was still quite a way off from clearance. It was also my favorite GWR one so it was certainly nice to see it again. The rear powercar,
43010, was the one that we'd come out for as dad needed it for the centaury. I needed it for 100 too so it was good to get another 36 miles on it as we stormed back to the capital. This was an ex Worcester so stopped at Slough and the guard made lots of people laugh with his announcement. It was the way he said 'Slough' (he said it that way on purpose) that was funny so I can't put it into words apart from saying that he said 'we are now approaching Slough'.
Once getting to Paddington, we decided to head out to Reading again as soon as possible as there was no winners for either of us there. This was up to the 11:45 Swansea with
43197 and
43005 providing the power. Another uneventful run out to Reading and we were soon there in good time to get pies before the next services towards Paddington. We wandered over to Sweeney and Todd pie shop as usual and got a pie for me (a chicken and bacon), a pie for dad and a pie for my brother (they both got a black pudding and a few other things one). We also got two scotch eggs (which are massive things!) to have with our pies. It was then the usual walk back to Reading station in time to view some trams heading to Paddington. There were 3 heading towards Paddington in a short time so we viewed each, me starting my amazing pie on the station bench. There was nothing of interest on any of the 3 so we went for the last one which had a consecutively numbered pair, the front one being on a mere 36 miles, the rear one being well over 100. It was
43125 and horrid liveried
43126 that took us back to Paddington.
We'd seen most of the stuff that was at Paddington when we'd arrived and we had to choose a set to get back to Reading from the mix there. They were all duds so we decided by looking at what was heading out next, as usual.
43162, on 41 miles, was leading and
43032, on 195.75, was pushing. A look at RTT while on board this service showed that there were quite a few services heading to Paddington in a short space of time, quite a few of which we hadn't yet seen today as one came from Penzance and another from Pembroke dock. There was also another couple that we hadn't yet seen even though they'd only gone to Bristol or somewhere fairly close by. We were waiting for a little while at Reading as all of the first few were duds and then the ex Penzance arrived, just 5 minutes before the Pembroke was due. Leading was dud for both of us
43155 but on the back was winner for dad
43086. Dad actually asked me if I wanted to go for it as the Pembroke could have a winner on for me. Of course I did! We weren't flagging a winner for dad! Not to mention that both of them were required for 100 for me, the former being on 36 miles, the latter being on 11.5 miles! I was very glad at the mileage on 086, that's for sure!
We raced back to London and then decided to head back out on the next available one as the trams there were, once again, duds.
43012 was leading and was only on 17.25 miles before this,
43071 on 53.25. We got a seat on the right on this lightly loaded service and got the numbers of the powercars that were on the arriving service from Pembroke. The first was 137, one that I'd had 180.75 miles on. It was the rear that got both of us moaning majorly. It was one of my last 3 required ones and one that dad needed too! Darn it! I immediately checked RTT to see what it was meant to go out on and saw that it should leave on a Cheltenham train 45 minutes later - so not gettable by taking the set that we were on out to Reading and then getting back as soon as possible. I saw that it would be possible to get on its return journey from Cheltenham though, from Swindon to Didcot, by getting out to Swindon for it. Because of this, we hoped that it'd work to Cheltenham so I could get another one off the list.
Once back at Reading, we decided to head back towards Paddington ASAP in case that my winner didn't work the Cheltenham and instead worked something later. The first available was the 16:06 and it was already in the platform when we arrived but not due out for over 5 minutes. I'd identified the front powercar as
43127 as we arrived and I didn't even need to go up to the rear powercar after seeing its livery. I did anyway just to see the livery that
43172 carries properly (the Harry Patch one). Both were cleared for 100, 127 on 356.5 miles, 172 on 113 miles. It was a fairly uneventful return to the capital and I kept looking at RTT for the service to Cheltenham and headed up to the vestibule on the approach to Airport Junction, where we should pass it. This is where the fast line tracks move away from each other slightly, which would make it easier to get the numbers of the Cheltenham to confirm that it was my winner. That and the fact that we slowed loads on the approach because a 'fresh air carrier' was put in front of us. Because of that, we were pretty much stationary when my winner and its partner raced past. The chase was on!
At Paddington, we decided to go for the next one out so we could do another return trip before having to go to Swindon for the tram back to Didcot.
43164 and
43161 were our chariots out to Reading. Both were required for 100, 164 tipping the barrier en route (it was on 91.5 before). Just before we left, another set arrived from the Reading direction with one of my 100-mile requirements up front. I didn't get the powercar on the rear until we were underway because you can't ID it from the coach, even the front one. Lots of cursing was had when I saw that it was another of my winners! We worked out that we could get to Swindon on the winner that was at Paddington and then get back to Reading from there in time to head back out to Swindon in time to get the winner that was on the Cheltenham. This was a good idea so we headed out to Reading on 164 and 161 (obviously).
When we got there, dad headed over to get our incredibly, incredibly expensive ticket to Swindon while I headed over to Costa to get us both a creamy cooler. Then, armed with creamy coolers, we headed back to the platform in good time for our train. It was a short wait before the service that my winner was on rolled in and, sure enough, it was winner
43142, meaning I'd had 50% of my required GWR powercars so far today.
43041 was still on the back and was cleared for 100 by Swindon. The reason we were taking this to Swindon was because it didn't stop at Didcot so it was great to scream through again - something that never gets boring. It took as long as Paddington-Reading but was an extra 5 miles at 41 so it was a good bit of mileage to start 142 off. As usual between Didcot and Swindon, it was a pretty dull ride but it was good overall.
When we got to Swindon, we changed platforms and headed to platform 3 and got ready for the ex Cheltenham service, which was due out at 18:05. I didn't know if I'd seen this tram today but unfortunately we had. Damn you 'Michal Eavis'!
43026 had returned for the second time today (know what I mean when I say that it likes to stalk me?, still with
43078. This service stopped at Didcot so the 41.25 miles took slightly longer but 078 was cleared for 100 en route so there was an upside to the set we had. At Reading, there was a set heading to Swindon that arrived a couple of minutes after we got there. This wasn't the one that we were planning to get but we saw that both this one and the one that we were planning to get stopped at Didcot so we decided to liniar hop to Swindon.
43087 was pulling but we didn't know what was pushing until Didcot, having not seen this set today. I knew that the leading powercar was over 100 and found out that it was by 86.25 miles later on. Now on 203.5! At Didcot it was very suspenseful as the rear powercar came into view. My last GWR powercar that I hadn't seen today (my other one would be the service back from Swindon if all went well) was 43159 so, after seeing the start of the number of the rear powercar, suspense began to build. 4...3...1...5.........
1! Damn! At least
43151 was shoved into the 90s (93.75 to be precise) on the journey to Didcot. Our intended service wasn't too far behind this one and arrived at Didcot after just over 15 minutes of waiting with
43139 and
43037. They were both low mileage, being on 36 and 44.5 miles respectively so the extra 24.25 was certainly welcome on the ride to Swindon, where we had a +35. Dad was in need of caffeine and I needed a drink as well. Upper cost to the rescue! Dad got a coffee and got me a juice, along with two packets of crisps. We then headed to platform to wait for a certain something that was due through about 10 minutes later. We could hear it 5 minutes before we saw it and, at first thought that it was a suitcase on the platform. It got louder and louder and very soon we knew that it certainly was not a suitcase and was in fact what we were waiting on the platform for. When 68017 came roaring through (with 016 on the back) on the return from Carmarthen, the platform vibrated and you could really feel it in your chest cavities! It was just sensational.
It was a little longer before our train back to Didcot was due so we wandered over to platform 3 for the 20:06 back. I had my fingers crossed as I saw the tram come around the corner. Is it? Yes!
43137 was leading (and was on 180.75 before this) but it was
43093 on the back that made me very happy. Winner! This meant that I'd had 75% of my required GWR tram powercars today, leaving me with just one to get. It was a great feeling to just need one GWR one, that's for sure!
We got back to Didcot right time and immediately headed back out to the car park and over to the car, ready for the drive home. I fell asleep on the journey back and woke up as we got home at the end of a long but excellent day.
159. The lonely last spot.
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