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FQ's trips around the globe
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Glad to hear that you liked some of my moves!
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The cheap way to London
On the 30th of July, someone had noticed that VTEC's booking engine had gone crazy and saw that it was offering all kinds of ridiculous itineraries and reservations if you used the via points. It was apparently because of an easement while the Banbury block was on (so it's closed now) that had gone slightly wrong so I had spent much of the evening of the 30th and the morning of the 31st (a Sunday) looking for great fares. I found quite a few but one incredibly risky one caught my eye. New Street-Euston-Lancaster-New Street for a £1.50 single from Duddeston to New Street! I showed it to Nat who liked the look of it too so we decided to do it on Tuesday the 2nd of August to begin my August bashing.
I headed to bed on the 1st for 22:30 but didn't get to sleep for an hour or so. The 05:20 alarm wasn't very welcome but after an extra minute lying in bed I got up, dressed and headed onto the other boat. Teeth were cleaned and then it was just a case of waiting for dad to get ready before we could head off, leaving at 05:45. Nathan was picked up en route and we were soon parking the car ready for the walk to the station. Nathan got excited after learning that Chiltern were using the bus company that operates his old school bus for the Bicester RRBs but, other than that, it was an uneventful, drizzly walk to the station. I collected our tickets for the main event from the TVM and Nathan got our tickets to Brum. Due to the Banbury block, our train would be leaving from platform 3. We wandered over to it and got a nice surprise, as it was a 4 coach 168 in the platform. To add to this it was my favorite, 168107. Dad and I walked to the front coach and got in the right-hand side bay of 4 closest to the front. Nathan seemed to take ages to get to us and after a few minutes, he came down, gave me my ticket and then moved back down the train slightly. The antisocial git had decided to sit elsewhere!
By Warwick Parkway Nat had joined us, saying that he didn't want to be wedged out by normals. The journey was certainly faster on a 168 (as they can do 100 compared to a 165's 75) but we had to wait time at Dorridge. 68010 was spotted on its way to Leam, where it'd head ECS to Moor Street to spend the day there. While the Banbury black is in place this service terminates at Moor Street so we (well, more I) bade farewell to 107 there. Dad had to head to work now and Nat and I had to head to the bat cave so I needed to head to the bat cave so we said bye to him and headed our separate ways.
When we got to New Street, Nat and I decided to head for the 1st class lounge before our train, the 07:30 Euston. We were let in without question and immediately headed over to the food/drink place. I got a chocolate croissant, a muffin and hot choc, which we had 20 minutes to enjoy before having to head to platform 4 for our train. We were both very excited about this one, not just because we were in 1st but also because this service is non-stop from New Street to Euston. When we got onto the platform When we got onto the platform we could see our pendo approaching from the Wolverhampton direction. I was sorely hoping for a sub-hundred-mile one so I was glad to ID it as 390136. We got in coach H and found our reserved seats in it - H26 and H29. These were two window seats in a right hand side bay of 4 and we didn't get wedged out. The guard had checked our tickets by Proof House Junction and, after a couple of minutes of confusion, the guard accepted our tickets. We had a printed itinerary showing our timings and had printed reservations (obviously) so he put it down to the TVM not printing the tickets (we obviously had to play dumb). There was a drinks round by Stechford and food orders were taken by Berkswell. It was really weird going non-stop through Birmingham International and Coventry but it was a stagger between Berkswell and Canley. Breakfast, a 'great British breakfast' had a missed comma. It should have been a great, British breakfast
. It was very tasty and was finished by MK, where we began to brake. We were crawling as far as Leighton Buzzard before speed was gained again and we raced to London.
Wembley housed quite a bit, the highlights being 47812 and 87002 (37884 also being there) and, when the pendo arrived at Euston, 92014 was viewable on sleeper stock. After exiting the barriers, we headed over to get numbers in the station, seeing a pair of 319s. After that, we headed over to the 1st class lounge and both went for a PNB. I then got a jam croissant and a cinnamon swirl and took them over to a rather funky chair We were only in the chairs for about 10 minutes before seeing that our train, the 09:30 to Glasgow had a platform. This was 4 so we wandered over, got our ticket stamped by the revenue block and went onto the platform to see sub-100-mile 390127 waiting. Just like on 136, our reservations were in coach H so we boarded there and easily found our bay of 2 with a table in the middle. We got our seats and departure was on time.
A ticket check took place by Wembley and that's where everything went downhill. The guard took one look at our ticket and declared it not valid. We tried and tried to get her to change her mind, showing the itinerary (obviously) but she wouldn't be swayed and said that we'd have to leave the train at Warrington and get the next one to Birmingham, which she'd let us travel on by writing her number on the itinerary so the guard could call her to confirm that it was valid. I'd looked and found out that the next one to Brum was a 221 so we asked if we could wait for our planned train from Lancaster but get it from Warrington but were denied and said that we'd have to pay if we wanted to travel on that one. I certainly wouldn't take the UHT so we said that we'd make our own way back and relaxed to enjoy the 1st class journey. When the brekky orders came round though we were told that we were only allowed toast because we didn't have valid tickets! We were going to go for another Great British brekky as well!
The journey felt quicker than it was and I spent some time texting with 185143 asking the cheapest way to get to get from Warrington to Brum. I rolled my eyes his sarcastic reply (he knew we wouldn't go for a megabus!) but he let us know a good way to get to Mancc where we could get home fairly cheaply after that. We alighted at Warrington Bank Quay after a nice enough journey in 1st.
When we got there we went to look at a departure board to see when the next one across to Mancc was and noticed that the Euston via New Street at 10:39 was running an hour late! This one was a pendo and it was 'the next one to Brum', which the guard on the 09:30 from Euston required us to travel on with our tickets. We were both glad at being able to get this and at 11:40, sub-hundred 390013 rolled in. We boarded in coach A at the very back and walked through the train, finding the guard in his office in coach C before saying what we were doing and giving him the option of calling the guard. He was a really soche guy and said that there was no need for him to call the guard and just told us to go and get seats in 1st and enjoy the journey. Excellent!
We wandered through to the very front coach as we'd be more likely to be spotted by the customer hosts then and, sure enough, a couple of moments after taking our seats in the empty front coach (apart from the staff, obviously) we were asked if we'd like any drinks. I went for an orange juice, Nat a coffee (he'd already had a couple so is turning into a crazy, moaning version of dad) and it was only a couple of minutes more before we were asked if we wanted any food - the brunch menu. We both went for a bacon roll and it was served while we were waiting at Crewe. It was very tasty and helped make the journey even better. We were trying to work out what to do when we got to Brum and I somehow made Nat agree to one of my shack scores. We took 013 through to Birmingham International after a thoroughly good, cheap 1st class spin and, with the ticket that we'd bought to get to Brum in the morning, it was with a short wait before dud 350263 arrived on a Euston bound service. We were to take this one toby last required shack between Rugby and Preston via Birmingham, Tile Hill. This was my first required shack today but I was most certainly glad to get it at long last.
Tile Hill has a large footbridge which is a good time wasting event with the 20-minute fester we had. Unfortunately it didn't take long to change platforms so we had quite a while to wait. It was an awful fester, the only thing we saw being 3 freaking 221s! That wasn't pleasant and it was nice to get away from the awful part of and awful city (Coventry) on dud 350120. Another winner coach scored (every one had been so far today) on the ride to Brummingham and we were both very glad when we got off at the bat cave. We now had no idea what to do but, as Nat had let me get Tile Hill, I let him choose. We wandered over to Moor Street because of this and we chose to get something out to Smethwick. The first thing to arrive was the 14:34 to Snow Hell so we took this through the tunnel and got off 168218 a couple of minutes later. We now had a short wait before the next one towards Galton Bridge, the 14:43. I completely forgot that there was something special about this service before seeing it approach. What's special about it? Well, the motive power was WINNER 153334 and dud 170514, the former being my penultimate LM 153. I was surprised at the 170 too as it is usually a 3 car one. We took this out to Smethwick Galton Bridge as planned and came back on the next available, the 15:05 which was in charge of 172222 and 172215. We spoke to dad en route and he was apparently free to meet for coffee so we took them through to Moor Street where we met up with dad for coffee before walking over to the rank cart on the 15:55. We got a good seat right up front of high mileage 168214 and waited for departure while chatting about the day.
We were contemplating doing another one that wasn't as risky as this one before it went away but weren't sure because we'd been kicked off one of the trains but a very good question came from dad. Did we get away with it? Answer: Yes, decision made!
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The cheap way to London
On the 30th of July, someone had noticed that VTEC's booking engine had gone crazy and saw that it was offering all kinds of ridiculous itineraries and reservations if you used the via points. It was apparently because of an easement while the Banbury block was on (so it's closed now) that had gone slightly wrong so I had spent much of the evening of the 30th and the morning of the 31st (a Sunday) looking for great fares. I found quite a few but one incredibly risky one caught my eye. New Street-Euston-Lancaster-New Street for a £1.50 single from Duddeston to New Street! I showed it to Nat who liked the look of it too so we decided to do it on Tuesday the 2nd of August to begin my August bashing.
I headed to bed on the 1st for 22:30 but didn't get to sleep for an hour or so. The 05:20 alarm wasn't very welcome but after an extra minute lying in bed I got up, dressed and headed onto the other boat. Teeth were cleaned and then it was just a case of waiting for dad to get ready before we could head off, leaving at 05:45. Nathan was picked up en route and we were soon parking the car ready for the walk to the station. Nathan got excited after learning that Chiltern were using the bus company that operates his old school bus for the Bicester RRBs but, other than that, it was an uneventful, drizzly walk to the station. I collected our tickets for the main event from the TVM and Nathan got our tickets to Brum. Due to the Banbury block, our train would be leaving from platform 3. We wandered over to it and got a nice surprise, as it was a 4 coach 168 in the platform. To add to this it was my favorite, 168107. Dad and I walked to the front coach and got in the right-hand side bay of 4 closest to the front. Nathan seemed to take ages to get to us and after a few minutes, he came down, gave me my ticket and then moved back down the train slightly. The antisocial git had decided to sit elsewhere!
By Warwick Parkway Nat had joined us, saying that he didn't want to be wedged out by normals. The journey was certainly faster on a 168 (as they can do 100 compared to a 165's 75) but we had to wait time at Dorridge. 68010 was spotted on its way to Leam, where it'd head ECS to Moor Street to spend the day there. While the Banbury black is in place this service terminates at Moor Street so we (well, more I) bade farewell to 107 there. Dad had to head to work now and Nat and I had to head to the bat cave so I needed to head to the bat cave so we said bye to him and headed our separate ways.
When we got to New Street, Nat and I decided to head for the 1st class lounge before our train, the 07:30 Euston. We were let in without question and immediately headed over to the food/drink place. I got a chocolate croissant, a muffin and hot choc, which we had 20 minutes to enjoy before having to head to platform 4 for our train. We were both very excited about this one, not just because we were in 1st but also because this service is non-stop from New Street to Euston. When we got onto the platform When we got onto the platform we could see our pendo approaching from the Wolverhampton direction. I was sorely hoping for a sub-hundred-mile one so I was glad to ID it as 390136. We got in coach H and found our reserved seats in it - H26 and H29. These were two window seats in a right hand side bay of 4 and we didn't get wedged out. The guard had checked our tickets by Proof House Junction and, after a couple of minutes of confusion, the guard accepted our tickets. We had a printed itinerary showing our timings and had printed reservations (obviously) so he put it down to the TVM not printing the tickets (we obviously had to play dumb). There was a drinks round by Stechford and food orders were taken by Berkswell. It was really weird going non-stop through Birmingham International and Coventry but it was a stagger between Berkswell and Canley. Breakfast, a 'great British breakfast' had a missed comma. It should have been a great, British breakfast
. It was very tasty and was finished by MK, where we began to brake. We were crawling as far as Leighton Buzzard before speed was gained again and we raced to London.Wembley housed quite a bit, the highlights being 47812 and 87002 (37884 also being there) and, when the pendo arrived at Euston, 92014 was viewable on sleeper stock. After exiting the barriers, we headed over to get numbers in the station, seeing a pair of 319s. After that, we headed over to the 1st class lounge and both went for a PNB. I then got a jam croissant and a cinnamon swirl and took them over to a rather funky chair We were only in the chairs for about 10 minutes before seeing that our train, the 09:30 to Glasgow had a platform. This was 4 so we wandered over, got our ticket stamped by the revenue block and went onto the platform to see sub-100-mile 390127 waiting. Just like on 136, our reservations were in coach H so we boarded there and easily found our bay of 2 with a table in the middle. We got our seats and departure was on time.
A ticket check took place by Wembley and that's where everything went downhill. The guard took one look at our ticket and declared it not valid. We tried and tried to get her to change her mind, showing the itinerary (obviously) but she wouldn't be swayed and said that we'd have to leave the train at Warrington and get the next one to Birmingham, which she'd let us travel on by writing her number on the itinerary so the guard could call her to confirm that it was valid. I'd looked and found out that the next one to Brum was a 221 so we asked if we could wait for our planned train from Lancaster but get it from Warrington but were denied and said that we'd have to pay if we wanted to travel on that one. I certainly wouldn't take the UHT so we said that we'd make our own way back and relaxed to enjoy the 1st class journey. When the brekky orders came round though we were told that we were only allowed toast because we didn't have valid tickets! We were going to go for another Great British brekky as well!
The journey felt quicker than it was and I spent some time texting with 185143 asking the cheapest way to get to get from Warrington to Brum. I rolled my eyes his sarcastic reply (he knew we wouldn't go for a megabus!) but he let us know a good way to get to Mancc where we could get home fairly cheaply after that. We alighted at Warrington Bank Quay after a nice enough journey in 1st.
When we got there we went to look at a departure board to see when the next one across to Mancc was and noticed that the Euston via New Street at 10:39 was running an hour late! This one was a pendo and it was 'the next one to Brum', which the guard on the 09:30 from Euston required us to travel on with our tickets. We were both glad at being able to get this and at 11:40, sub-hundred 390013 rolled in. We boarded in coach A at the very back and walked through the train, finding the guard in his office in coach C before saying what we were doing and giving him the option of calling the guard. He was a really soche guy and said that there was no need for him to call the guard and just told us to go and get seats in 1st and enjoy the journey. Excellent!
We wandered through to the very front coach as we'd be more likely to be spotted by the customer hosts then and, sure enough, a couple of moments after taking our seats in the empty front coach (apart from the staff, obviously) we were asked if we'd like any drinks. I went for an orange juice, Nat a coffee (he'd already had a couple so is turning into a crazy, moaning version of dad
) and it was only a couple of minutes more before we were asked if we wanted any food - the brunch menu. We both went for a bacon roll and it was served while we were waiting at Crewe. It was very tasty and helped make the journey even better. We were trying to work out what to do when we got to Brum and I somehow made Nat agree to one of my shack scores. We took 013 through to Birmingham International after a thoroughly good, cheap 1st class spin and, with the ticket that we'd bought to get to Brum in the morning, it was with a short wait before dud 350263 arrived on a Euston bound service. We were to take this one toby last required shack between Rugby and Preston via Birmingham, Tile Hill. This was my first required shack today but I was most certainly glad to get it at long last.Tile Hill has a large footbridge which is a good time wasting event with the 20-minute fester we had. Unfortunately it didn't take long to change platforms so we had quite a while to wait. It was an awful fester, the only thing we saw being 3 freaking 221s! That wasn't pleasant and it was nice to get away from the awful part of and awful city (Coventry) on dud 350120. Another winner coach scored (every one had been so far today) on the ride to Brummingham and we were both very glad when we got off at the bat cave. We now had no idea what to do but, as Nat had let me get Tile Hill, I let him choose. We wandered over to Moor Street because of this and we chose to get something out to Smethwick. The first thing to arrive was the 14:34 to Snow Hell so we took this through the tunnel and got off 168218 a couple of minutes later. We now had a short wait before the next one towards Galton Bridge, the 14:43. I completely forgot that there was something special about this service before seeing it approach. What's special about it? Well, the motive power was WINNER 153334 and dud 170514, the former being my penultimate LM 153. I was surprised at the 170 too as it is usually a 3 car one. We took this out to Smethwick Galton Bridge as planned and came back on the next available, the 15:05 which was in charge of 172222 and 172215. We spoke to dad en route and he was apparently free to meet for coffee so we took them through to Moor Street where we met up with dad for coffee before walking over to the rank cart on the 15:55. We got a good seat right up front of high mileage 168214 and waited for departure while chatting about the day.
We were contemplating doing another one that wasn't as risky as this one before it went away but weren't sure because we'd been kicked off one of the trains but a very good question came from dad. Did we get away with it? Answer: Yes, decision made!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounded like a bargain day using those loophole tickets
Agreed!
Crawling on the trams
Having enjoyed the forum pub-crawl in Mancc, when I heard that there'd be another one on the 5th of August in Brum, it was too good to miss. As the 5th was a weekday, I'd decided to head in with dad and get a few of my shacks done before the 13:00 start, namely Perry Barr, Blake Street and Lichfield City with the potential of Water Orton too. This was all fine until the day before, when I heard that dad wouldn't be taking the 06:24 and would be heading elsewhere for work that day. Darn it! He suggested dropping me off at a station that he'd pass en route though: Stratford Parkway. I needed the track between Wilmcote Junction and Wythall; the last bit in my local area. I obviously needed all the shacks between (and including) Wootton Wawen and Earlswood so a plan was formulated starting from Stratford Parkway on the 07:23. It certainly wasn't one of the greatest possible, especially considering the connection at one of the shacks but it'd get me all of them and have me at Moor Street by 11:18, with time to get Perry Barr.
I got to bed at 23:00 on the Thursday before a disturbed night sleep and an 05:25 alarm (I hadn't bothered to reset it). I did the usual preparation before firing up the computer and going on the forum for a bit. I went over to wake dad just after 06:45 and got a bowl of crunchy nut before heading out, leaving just before 06:40. There wasn't much traffic about and it was a fairly quick drive to Stratford Parkway and, having been worried that I'd miss my train when we left home, I actually had 15 minutes to wait at Parkway before it was due. I waited in the car for about 5 minutes before saying bye to dad, letting him continue. I got my ticket from the machine and headed onto the Wilmcote bound platform to wait the remaining 5 minutes. 172219 and 172213 were in charge of the 07:23 to Stourbridge this morning. Both needed 1 coach to superdud them so I decided to take 219 to that status, for no other reason that it was leading so would've attracted fewer normals than 213. I got a seat on this 'fast' service, stopping at only Henley in Arden before dropping me off at shack score 1, Earlswood. A shack that is usually a +0 or a +60 came to me with a mere +10. A pretty basic shack where you have to use the road bridge to change platforms (front of train from Stratford, rear from Brum). I was only here for a few minutes before 172337 rolled in to take me towards Stratford.
Earlswood by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I now had to go to the guard to request for the train to stop at Wood End, my very first request stop. I alighted there a few minutes later making it shack score 2. My god is it hard to change platforms here! I did it at a sprint and it took 2 minutes! You need to go up a huge flight of stairs, got a very long way along a path to the end of the road bridge, cross it and then go back down a very long path and down another huge flight of stairs. I had a +4 here which became a +7 though so it was easy enough to make a connection onto 172334, which needed 2 coaches to get it to superdud status (337 reached that on the way to Wood End).
172334 at Wood End by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Again, I had to request the stop on this one, it being shack score 3, The Lakes. I had my longest fester of the day here so, after getting a photo of 334, I changed platforms and resigned myself to a 50-minute wait.
I put some music on to kill the time, starting with my 4 favorite Supertramp songs before sticking the latest Rush album on, this being Clockwork Angels. My 172 seemed to be an extra minute late each time I looked, making my connection a +55 by the time Superdud 172339 rolled in on the 7-minute-late 08:56 to Stratford. That's the point I decided where I was going next. My options were Henley or Wootton Wawen. I went for the former and alighted at shack score 4, Henley in Arden, just under 10 minutes later.
Henley in Arden is a pleasant shack with a GWR footbridge and canopy. I found a seat in the sun and chilled out there while waiting for the return of 339 from Stratford. It eventually appeared at 09:46, 4 minutes later, and after saying a photo of it leaving from there before waiting in the shelter on the Stratford platform for 10 minutes before 172336 arrived. I sat in the one coach I needed to make it a superdud and informed the guard that I wanted to leave at Wootton Wawen. Once I bailed, I'd completed the Stratford branch and a line of shacks from Stourbridge Town to Bicester North via Stratford and Dorridge!
I changed platforms here and then just waited in the shelter for 172336 to reappear. I had a PNB before getting a seat and waiting for the guard to issue my daytripper. She came through just after Danzey and issued it without a problem. The 172 didn't stop at Wood End but did at The Lakes (well, the front coach did. Short platforms mean only the front coach is platformed). I'd completed the shacks before the track on the Stratford branch (a first for me) and the track was done by Wythall.
We arrived at Moor Street on time at 11:18 and I immediately exited the station, wanting to be on the 11:27 Walsall. I got there at 11:22 and checked the 11:25 to North Wales, the 11:36 Lime Street and the 11:36 Euston for either my last ATW 158 or one of my last 2 dezes. Neither were spotted so I went over to 350129 and got a bay of 4 for the ride to Perry Barr, which was shack score 7. It was easy enough to change platforms here, there being a simple footbridge and I was waiting on the platform for 5 minutes before 350262 arrived. I found a bay of 4 in one of my two required coaches and after and uneventful journey we were arriving at the bat cave.
I wanted to do some unit hunting with quite a bit of time until we needed to meet but I was also hungry so headed to meal deal to get my usual first. I then headed to Navigation Street footbridge and immediately noticed Theblackwatch, who was also looking out for winners. None for either of us appeared so we gave up looking and headed for the trams to try and get a few of winners for him. This was successful as 32 was already in the platform waiting to head for Wolves. We took this up to Corporation Street and walked back to New Street, knowing that the one behind was also required for theblackwatch. The best tram, 23, took us out to Bull Street where we had less than a minute to wait before another requirement for my company, 33, rolled in. We had time to liniar hop to the bat cave so took 33 to Corporation Street before continuing to New Street on another requirement for TBW, 29. It was now time to head to the first put, the one that we'd be getting lunch in, so we got a couple of photos of the tram we'd just come off before wandering to Baccus Bar, which is less than a minute walk from the tram stop. Midnight Flyer was spotted en route.
New Street trams by fishquinn1, on Flickr
We got there and found seats but, when theblackwatch and I went to get our drinks, we were told that under 18s aren't allowed and that I'd need to leave. I did and decided to do some trams whilst waiting for the others to finish. Tram 29 was in the platform when I got there so I decided to go for the mileage move and take it to The Hawthorns, where I had a minute to wait before a Brum bound tram arrived. I was glad to see that it was 37 as I'd only had one run off it and it sat at a mere 12 chains before this. I headed back to New Street on this as the others didn't think they'd be ready until 16:40, I took 24 out to Bull Street. As the tram was arriving, I got a text from Theblackwatch saying that they'd be 5 minutes. Time to get a creamy cooler? I think so!
I checked the Costa outside Snow Hell first but there was a very long queue so I ran to the one near New Street with 2 minutes before they were meant to finish. Do you ever have it where you're sure that the barista knows that you're in a hurry so tries to go as slowly as possible? I had this here and got back to Corporation Street with my BCCC just as the tram that everyone was one was disappearing around the corner at Bull Street. Darn it!
I text the others to say what had happened and found that they were OK to hang around at Jewellery Quarter before the first pub (which was there) to wait for me. I was certainly thankful at this and got the next available tram, 28, out to Jewellery Quarter where I found Yorkie and Alex2901 waiting for me. We wandered off to the pub but before we'd left the station we saw the rest of the group coming down the stairs away from it, saying that the pub had no beer! Alright then, that's the first pub gone!
We went back down to the tram platform and came off plan, deciding to do a pub that someone had suggested near Soho Benson Road. 31 was in charge to take us there and we were soon alighting and taking the walk through a not so nice part of Brum. The pub was excellent with a great beer garden and a nice bit of time was spent here catching up before we left and headed back to the platform, just missing one going towards Wolverhampton. There was a Brum bound one approaching however so we decided to take 24 to Jewellery Quarter for a fill in move before 25, the same one that we'd have got from Soho Benson Road, took us forward to Kenrick Park. Yorkie and I told Alex2901 about the plan Nat and I had for the Tuesday after this trip (the second VTEC itinerary loophole) on the walk over to the pub where everyone but Yorkie, Alex2901 and I went to get drinks. We stayed and chatted in the part of the pub where our chosen seats were. I didn't get to see much of this pub but it seemed OK.
Back at Kenrick Park, 28 took us to West Bromwich Central where we had another little walk. Alex2901 saw a bus that he apparently always sees when in Bromwich on the walk over to the pub, which was a fairly rough and ready one but we weren't there for too long before moving on, this time with 29 to Bilston Central. The pub we were visiting this time was one that Theblackwatch had suggested and we got there to find that it'd all been boarded up, really going with the atmosphere of the area. We were going to head straight through to Wolves now but found a cafe-pub thing where you could get normal cafe things and normal pub things. We had a nice chat with some locals here before continuing, Yorkie and Alex2901 explaining to me what 'Poceman Go' was before getting a demonstration from Mojo, who fought with one of these monsters on his phone while waiting for our final tram of the day, 37, to take us all through to Wolverhampton St Georges. A couple of shots were got here including one of all of use at the tram front before walking away to our final pub, the Great Western. We got there via the station and it's an easy walk. There were loads of locals in the railway-themed pub, which is right next to the viaduct the Birmingham side of Wolverhampton station. We now needed to decide what train to get back to Brum. The ATW 158s were decided on. A lot of the others needed to get to Kidderminster for the night and were going to get the only 68 hauled train of the day, one that I'd see while at Leamington in the evening on my way back so I suggested that they come to Leam with me and get it from there instead. Most didn't want to and instead wanted to get food in Brum but Theblackwatch decided to come with me to Leam and get it from there.
After finishing at the Great Western we all wandered over to the station again, saying bye to Alex2901 who had to get the bus from Wolves to his house. The rest of us wandered over to the platform for the International 158s, these being duds 158839 and 158828. It was fairly busy but we all got seats near each other so we could chat for the ride back to Brum where I said bye to everyone except theblackwatch and wandered over to Moor Street with him for the 18:43 to Leam. We weren't waiting long at all before 168109 arrived and took us both to Leamington, arriving on platform 4 after an excellent day. Theblackwatch and the others were to get 68011 to Kiddy this eve (vote custard!) I said bye to him and headed for the car park where mum was waiting and I piled in for the ride home after a great day.
Crawling on the trams
Having enjoyed the forum pub-crawl in Mancc, when I heard that there'd be another one on the 5th of August in Brum, it was too good to miss. As the 5th was a weekday, I'd decided to head in with dad and get a few of my shacks done before the 13:00 start, namely Perry Barr, Blake Street and Lichfield City with the potential of Water Orton too. This was all fine until the day before, when I heard that dad wouldn't be taking the 06:24 and would be heading elsewhere for work that day. Darn it! He suggested dropping me off at a station that he'd pass en route though: Stratford Parkway. I needed the track between Wilmcote Junction and Wythall; the last bit in my local area. I obviously needed all the shacks between (and including) Wootton Wawen and Earlswood so a plan was formulated starting from Stratford Parkway on the 07:23. It certainly wasn't one of the greatest possible, especially considering the connection at one of the shacks but it'd get me all of them and have me at Moor Street by 11:18, with time to get Perry Barr.
I got to bed at 23:00 on the Thursday before a disturbed night sleep and an 05:25 alarm (I hadn't bothered to reset it). I did the usual preparation before firing up the computer and going on the forum for a bit. I went over to wake dad just after 06:45 and got a bowl of crunchy nut before heading out, leaving just before 06:40. There wasn't much traffic about and it was a fairly quick drive to Stratford Parkway and, having been worried that I'd miss my train when we left home, I actually had 15 minutes to wait at Parkway before it was due. I waited in the car for about 5 minutes before saying bye to dad, letting him continue. I got my ticket from the machine and headed onto the Wilmcote bound platform to wait the remaining 5 minutes. 172219 and 172213 were in charge of the 07:23 to Stourbridge this morning. Both needed 1 coach to superdud them so I decided to take 219 to that status, for no other reason that it was leading so would've attracted fewer normals than 213. I got a seat on this 'fast' service, stopping at only Henley in Arden before dropping me off at shack score 1, Earlswood. A shack that is usually a +0 or a +60 came to me with a mere +10. A pretty basic shack where you have to use the road bridge to change platforms (front of train from Stratford, rear from Brum). I was only here for a few minutes before 172337 rolled in to take me towards Stratford.
Earlswood by fishquinn1, on FlickrI now had to go to the guard to request for the train to stop at Wood End, my very first request stop. I alighted there a few minutes later making it shack score 2. My god is it hard to change platforms here! I did it at a sprint and it took 2 minutes! You need to go up a huge flight of stairs, got a very long way along a path to the end of the road bridge, cross it and then go back down a very long path and down another huge flight of stairs. I had a +4 here which became a +7 though so it was easy enough to make a connection onto 172334, which needed 2 coaches to get it to superdud status (337 reached that on the way to Wood End).
172334 at Wood End by fishquinn1, on FlickrAgain, I had to request the stop on this one, it being shack score 3, The Lakes. I had my longest fester of the day here so, after getting a photo of 334, I changed platforms and resigned myself to a 50-minute wait.
I put some music on to kill the time, starting with my 4 favorite Supertramp songs before sticking the latest Rush album on, this being Clockwork Angels. My 172 seemed to be an extra minute late each time I looked, making my connection a +55 by the time Superdud 172339 rolled in on the 7-minute-late 08:56 to Stratford. That's the point I decided where I was going next. My options were Henley or Wootton Wawen. I went for the former and alighted at shack score 4, Henley in Arden, just under 10 minutes later.
Henley in Arden is a pleasant shack with a GWR footbridge and canopy. I found a seat in the sun and chilled out there while waiting for the return of 339 from Stratford. It eventually appeared at 09:46, 4 minutes later, and after saying a photo of it leaving from there before waiting in the shelter on the Stratford platform for 10 minutes before 172336 arrived. I sat in the one coach I needed to make it a superdud and informed the guard that I wanted to leave at Wootton Wawen. Once I bailed, I'd completed the Stratford branch and a line of shacks from Stourbridge Town to Bicester North via Stratford and Dorridge!
I changed platforms here and then just waited in the shelter for 172336 to reappear. I had a PNB before getting a seat and waiting for the guard to issue my daytripper. She came through just after Danzey and issued it without a problem. The 172 didn't stop at Wood End but did at The Lakes (well, the front coach did. Short platforms mean only the front coach is platformed). I'd completed the shacks before the track on the Stratford branch (a first for me) and the track was done by Wythall.
We arrived at Moor Street on time at 11:18 and I immediately exited the station, wanting to be on the 11:27 Walsall. I got there at 11:22 and checked the 11:25 to North Wales, the 11:36 Lime Street and the 11:36 Euston for either my last ATW 158 or one of my last 2 dezes. Neither were spotted so I went over to 350129 and got a bay of 4 for the ride to Perry Barr, which was shack score 7. It was easy enough to change platforms here, there being a simple footbridge and I was waiting on the platform for 5 minutes before 350262 arrived. I found a bay of 4 in one of my two required coaches and after and uneventful journey we were arriving at the bat cave.
I wanted to do some unit hunting with quite a bit of time until we needed to meet but I was also hungry so headed to meal deal to get my usual first. I then headed to Navigation Street footbridge and immediately noticed Theblackwatch, who was also looking out for winners. None for either of us appeared so we gave up looking and headed for the trams to try and get a few of winners for him. This was successful as 32 was already in the platform waiting to head for Wolves. We took this up to Corporation Street and walked back to New Street, knowing that the one behind was also required for theblackwatch. The best tram, 23, took us out to Bull Street where we had less than a minute to wait before another requirement for my company, 33, rolled in. We had time to liniar hop to the bat cave so took 33 to Corporation Street before continuing to New Street on another requirement for TBW, 29. It was now time to head to the first put, the one that we'd be getting lunch in, so we got a couple of photos of the tram we'd just come off before wandering to Baccus Bar, which is less than a minute walk from the tram stop. Midnight Flyer was spotted en route.
New Street trams by fishquinn1, on FlickrWe got there and found seats but, when theblackwatch and I went to get our drinks, we were told that under 18s aren't allowed and that I'd need to leave. I did and decided to do some trams whilst waiting for the others to finish. Tram 29 was in the platform when I got there so I decided to go for the mileage move and take it to The Hawthorns, where I had a minute to wait before a Brum bound tram arrived. I was glad to see that it was 37 as I'd only had one run off it and it sat at a mere 12 chains before this. I headed back to New Street on this as the others didn't think they'd be ready until 16:40, I took 24 out to Bull Street. As the tram was arriving, I got a text from Theblackwatch saying that they'd be 5 minutes. Time to get a creamy cooler? I think so!
I checked the Costa outside Snow Hell first but there was a very long queue so I ran to the one near New Street with 2 minutes before they were meant to finish. Do you ever have it where you're sure that the barista knows that you're in a hurry so tries to go as slowly as possible? I had this here and got back to Corporation Street with my BCCC just as the tram that everyone was one was disappearing around the corner at Bull Street. Darn it!
I text the others to say what had happened and found that they were OK to hang around at Jewellery Quarter before the first pub (which was there) to wait for me. I was certainly thankful at this and got the next available tram, 28, out to Jewellery Quarter where I found Yorkie and Alex2901 waiting for me. We wandered off to the pub but before we'd left the station we saw the rest of the group coming down the stairs away from it, saying that the pub had no beer! Alright then, that's the first pub gone!
We went back down to the tram platform and came off plan, deciding to do a pub that someone had suggested near Soho Benson Road. 31 was in charge to take us there and we were soon alighting and taking the walk through a not so nice part of Brum. The pub was excellent with a great beer garden and a nice bit of time was spent here catching up before we left and headed back to the platform, just missing one going towards Wolverhampton. There was a Brum bound one approaching however so we decided to take 24 to Jewellery Quarter for a fill in move before 25, the same one that we'd have got from Soho Benson Road, took us forward to Kenrick Park. Yorkie and I told Alex2901 about the plan Nat and I had for the Tuesday after this trip (the second VTEC itinerary loophole) on the walk over to the pub where everyone but Yorkie, Alex2901 and I went to get drinks. We stayed and chatted in the part of the pub where our chosen seats were. I didn't get to see much of this pub but it seemed OK.
Back at Kenrick Park, 28 took us to West Bromwich Central where we had another little walk. Alex2901 saw a bus that he apparently always sees when in Bromwich on the walk over to the pub, which was a fairly rough and ready one but we weren't there for too long before moving on, this time with 29 to Bilston Central. The pub we were visiting this time was one that Theblackwatch had suggested and we got there to find that it'd all been boarded up, really going with the atmosphere of the area. We were going to head straight through to Wolves now but found a cafe-pub thing where you could get normal cafe things and normal pub things. We had a nice chat with some locals here before continuing, Yorkie and Alex2901 explaining to me what 'Poceman Go' was before getting a demonstration from Mojo, who fought with one of these monsters on his phone while waiting for our final tram of the day, 37, to take us all through to Wolverhampton St Georges. A couple of shots were got here including one of all of use at the tram front before walking away to our final pub, the Great Western. We got there via the station and it's an easy walk. There were loads of locals in the railway-themed pub, which is right next to the viaduct the Birmingham side of Wolverhampton station. We now needed to decide what train to get back to Brum. The ATW 158s were decided on. A lot of the others needed to get to Kidderminster for the night and were going to get the only 68 hauled train of the day, one that I'd see while at Leamington in the evening on my way back so I suggested that they come to Leam with me and get it from there instead. Most didn't want to and instead wanted to get food in Brum but Theblackwatch decided to come with me to Leam and get it from there.
After finishing at the Great Western we all wandered over to the station again, saying bye to Alex2901 who had to get the bus from Wolves to his house. The rest of us wandered over to the platform for the International 158s, these being duds 158839 and 158828. It was fairly busy but we all got seats near each other so we could chat for the ride back to Brum where I said bye to everyone except theblackwatch and wandered over to Moor Street with him for the 18:43 to Leam. We weren't waiting long at all before 168109 arrived and took us both to Leamington, arriving on platform 4 after an excellent day. Theblackwatch and the others were to get 68011 to Kiddy this eve (vote custard!) I said bye to him and headed for the car park where mum was waiting and I piled in for the ride home after a great day.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounded like a good day in the Birmingham area 
Well done on clearing the request stops to Stratford on Avon
Well done on clearing the request stops to Stratford on Avon
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Two very good days indeed there, that VTEC ticket was a major bargain! How do I always find these things out far too late?!
Iskra
Established Member
An excellent loophole trip there. It's quite shocking how much the attitude of TM's vary when it comes to these things!
Thanks Noddy! The ticket was valid but it could be argued that as I pass through New Street on my way to New Street then the ticket validity ended first time round.
In the valley with a western
I'd been invited to a forum meet on the Severn Valley Railway on the 6th of August, the day after the pub-crawl. It would be a return trip on 'Western Courier' taking us from Kiddy to Bridgnorth, leaving at 13:30 and getting back at 16:47. I had worked out a way to get a few shacks beforehand too so I decided to make a day of it and head down on the 08:23.
I got to bed at 22:30 the night before and slept surprisingly well until my alarm went off at 07:02. I got dressed and ready before heading over. I was only on that boat for 5 minutes before going on the forum for a bit. I went over to get dad up at 07:45 and we were en route Leamington with Pippin (one of our two dogs) at 07:50.
As we were driving through Leamington, I noticed a cart sat waiting to get entrance to the station so automatically thought that it'd be mine. The main car park at Leam is closed for RRBs at the moment so we had to go to a different one to drop me off. That's when I noticed the best 168 sat in platform 1 so I really hoped that that'd be mine (platform 1 was my only required platform at Leam). I said bye to dad and got my required ticket (a return to Worcester) before looking at the departure board to check what platform my cart would be departing from. Yes! Platform 1! I happily walked to the end of the platform and got a bay of 4 right at the front of 168107. We left for Birmingham on time and I sat back and relaxed (as much as possible on a 168) for the journey, with Hatton and Lapworth being added in the calling pattern due to the Banbury block.
At Snow Hell, it seemed like the signaler had got the platforms muddled up. A Kiddy bound 172 was in platform 3, a Stratford bound in platform 2 and us in platform 1! The 08:53 to Leam was delayed by just over 10 minutes so I decided to go for that to Moor Street. A winner coach was had in 168106 and I was soon meal deal bound. When I got there I noticed that they're now doing £1.75 meal deals for various pies, burgers and hot dogs. As this was my brekky I went for my usual baguette, which was devoured on New Street while waiting for the 09:30 to Cardiff. I was going to take the 09:49 bound for Tech's local to Droitwich for a 172 to Hartlebury (shack 1), another to Worcester, back to Hagley (shack 2), out to Blakedown (shack 3) and then onto Kiddy so the Cardiff would be good for a liniar hop. It was very good when I saw that it was one of my last 5 Cross Country units, 170637. I got a seat for the ride out to Uni where I had a little wait. I wasn't happy to hear an announcement saying that there were signaling problems between Droitwich and Worcester and that trains were delayed and cancelled. Bugger.
I now didn't see it as worth it to risk my plan so I changed platforms and made 323207 a superdud on the ride back to the bat cave. I decided to wait for another winner now and, as we arrived at 09:55, I had plenty of time to get something...
By 12:30 I'd given up and boarded 390114. It's good to get a forum celebrity again! I didn't know if I should go to Cov or Birmingham International on this but decided to go for the former. The first service to Brum was, as always, the LM but it was a dud so I gave it a miss and opted for the '11 coach pendolino'. That was what the boards at International said so I was surprised when 390130 rolled in. They got something right for once!
I got a seat on what was once 185143's last required pendo for the short ride to New Street, where I decided that it was time to head for Kiddy. I wandered over to Snow Hell via Tesco for a 50p milkshake and a summer fruits oasis, noticing that the midland metro between Snow Hell and New Street was, once again, shut. At Snow Hell I found out that there were quite a few delays. The next service was in 2 minutes and would be heading through the tunnel so I decided to take it. This was 172337 which I took though the tunnel to Moor Street, getting there before the next one heading towards Kidderminster. There was a Snow Hell 168 between our arrival at Moor Street and it's departure so it was onto the best 168, 168107, through the tunnel where I had an island platform change for the next Kiddy bound 172 which was running slightly late. It was 172334 that took me forward from Snow Hell on this fairly busy service.
I looked at RTT when we were on the move and saw that there was another service heading for Kiddy running 15 late only 10 minutes behind us. It stopped at both Hagley and Blakedown so I'd be able to get off this one at Hagley and then wait 10 minutes for the one behind to Blakedown where I'd have a +15 onto one to Kiddy. I bailed at Hagley (shack score 1) as planned and watched 334 head off before checking the PIS and seeing that the next one was in 25 minutes, the same one that I'd get from Blakedown! I looked at RTT again and found that they'd caped the 172 at Stourbridge due to the late running. Darn it!
I knew that I wouldn't be able to get Blakedown so instead took a seat on the footbridge and waited for my 172, which was stalker 172339. This was a lot quieter than the 172 I was on to Hagley and we were soon arriving at Kidderminster. I wandered over to the Severn Valley platforms and spent some time in the sunshine before a forum member who I'd never met before came over and said hi. We chatted for a couple of minutes before Dom395 and MikeWH came over so I spent some time chatting with them. We soon saw a western approaching so got ready to board winner D1062, which would be taking us to Bridgnorth. The forum staff were already on board so we had a quick photo of us all next to the western before getting on board in the lounge car, which we'd all be in today. I spent some time catching up with Dom as I hadn't seen him for a while and it was a great journey, a buffet being served en route. It was good to catch up with other members as well. A wasp came in at Arley and annoyed us for a bit before being sent back out and open window just before we left. It was a thrash filled journey, easily audible from the back coach. We were soon eating cake and arriving at Bridgnorth.
We now split into 2 groups, one going to the pub on Bridgnorth station, the other going into Bridgnorth itself and getting the cliff railway before walking back. I went for the latter group and we took a nice wander over to the bottom of the cliff railway and bought our ticket to the top. We got the second one to arrive as it meant that all of our group could fit in for the ride up to the top. You can't buy single tickets but we just got a return and didn't use the return portion, instead walking through Bridgnorth and down the hill to get back to the station where D1062 was still waiting for the ride back to Kiddy. We went to the lounge car and got seats again. I was at the closest possible one to the Western and with a window at the very front the thrash was just amazing as we roared along with plenty of cake available (mmm... cake...). I got a few photos from where I was too and it was a great run back too.
Western Courier by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Once back at Kidderminster I got a photo of a green bomb before heading back over to the concourse where everyone else had congregated.
Green bomb at Kiddy. by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Quite a few people were going to the pub in Kidderminster but a few of us didn't want to including Dom395 and MikeWH, both of which needed to get to Birmingham to get a train to London. A group of us went over to the mainline station and said bye to the Seven Valley before boarding a 172 that had just arrived from Snow Hell, 172219. We boarded at the rear coach away from all the normals and easily got two bays of four for the ride across to Smethwick Galton Bridge. We bailed here to get a starship to New Street. It was a 15-minute fester with 323243 taking us through to the bat cave, sitting in a winner coach on the ride. When we got to New Street we had to say bye to a few members of our group and it was then a case of deciding what to do for the rest of the time. I had to choose which train to get back to Leam too but I wanted to spend some more time with the forum guys so I told dad that I'd head back from Brum on the 19:12. We decided to head for a walk and took a very long walk to Snow Hell, trying to figure out what midland metro were doing for the engineering work. We ended up at Snow Hell about half an hour later and as we got there we saw a few people from the second group that went to the pub at Kiddy emerged from the station entrance! I didn't have too long until my train back now but I continued on the walk for a few minutes before having to say bye to the others and head for Snow Hell station.
168109, the same one that I'd had the day before, was working the 16:12 this evening, which was good for me as it'd be cleared for 100 by... Bordesley! At least it'll be cleared!
I got the usual seats at the very back and called mum and dad to say that I was on my way back before relaxing for the journey back home, arriving bang on time. It had been an excellent day catching up with everyone again and the western thrash was just excellent!
In the valley with a western
I'd been invited to a forum meet on the Severn Valley Railway on the 6th of August, the day after the pub-crawl. It would be a return trip on 'Western Courier' taking us from Kiddy to Bridgnorth, leaving at 13:30 and getting back at 16:47. I had worked out a way to get a few shacks beforehand too so I decided to make a day of it and head down on the 08:23.
I got to bed at 22:30 the night before and slept surprisingly well until my alarm went off at 07:02. I got dressed and ready before heading over. I was only on that boat for 5 minutes before going on the forum for a bit. I went over to get dad up at 07:45 and we were en route Leamington with Pippin (one of our two dogs) at 07:50.
As we were driving through Leamington, I noticed a cart sat waiting to get entrance to the station so automatically thought that it'd be mine. The main car park at Leam is closed for RRBs at the moment so we had to go to a different one to drop me off. That's when I noticed the best 168 sat in platform 1 so I really hoped that that'd be mine (platform 1 was my only required platform at Leam). I said bye to dad and got my required ticket (a return to Worcester) before looking at the departure board to check what platform my cart would be departing from. Yes! Platform 1! I happily walked to the end of the platform and got a bay of 4 right at the front of 168107. We left for Birmingham on time and I sat back and relaxed (as much as possible on a 168) for the journey, with Hatton and Lapworth being added in the calling pattern due to the Banbury block.
At Snow Hell, it seemed like the signaler had got the platforms muddled up. A Kiddy bound 172 was in platform 3, a Stratford bound in platform 2 and us in platform 1! The 08:53 to Leam was delayed by just over 10 minutes so I decided to go for that to Moor Street. A winner coach was had in 168106 and I was soon meal deal bound. When I got there I noticed that they're now doing £1.75 meal deals for various pies, burgers and hot dogs. As this was my brekky I went for my usual baguette, which was devoured on New Street while waiting for the 09:30 to Cardiff. I was going to take the 09:49 bound for Tech's local to Droitwich for a 172 to Hartlebury (shack 1), another to Worcester, back to Hagley (shack 2), out to Blakedown (shack 3) and then onto Kiddy so the Cardiff would be good for a liniar hop. It was very good when I saw that it was one of my last 5 Cross Country units, 170637. I got a seat for the ride out to Uni where I had a little wait. I wasn't happy to hear an announcement saying that there were signaling problems between Droitwich and Worcester and that trains were delayed and cancelled. Bugger.
I now didn't see it as worth it to risk my plan so I changed platforms and made 323207 a superdud on the ride back to the bat cave. I decided to wait for another winner now and, as we arrived at 09:55, I had plenty of time to get something...
By 12:30 I'd given up and boarded 390114. It's good to get a forum celebrity again! I didn't know if I should go to Cov or Birmingham International on this but decided to go for the former. The first service to Brum was, as always, the LM but it was a dud so I gave it a miss and opted for the '11 coach pendolino'. That was what the boards at International said so I was surprised when 390130 rolled in. They got something right for once!
I got a seat on what was once 185143's last required pendo for the short ride to New Street, where I decided that it was time to head for Kiddy. I wandered over to Snow Hell via Tesco for a 50p milkshake and a summer fruits oasis, noticing that the midland metro between Snow Hell and New Street was, once again, shut. At Snow Hell I found out that there were quite a few delays. The next service was in 2 minutes and would be heading through the tunnel so I decided to take it. This was 172337 which I took though the tunnel to Moor Street, getting there before the next one heading towards Kidderminster. There was a Snow Hell 168 between our arrival at Moor Street and it's departure so it was onto the best 168, 168107, through the tunnel where I had an island platform change for the next Kiddy bound 172 which was running slightly late. It was 172334 that took me forward from Snow Hell on this fairly busy service.
I looked at RTT when we were on the move and saw that there was another service heading for Kiddy running 15 late only 10 minutes behind us. It stopped at both Hagley and Blakedown so I'd be able to get off this one at Hagley and then wait 10 minutes for the one behind to Blakedown where I'd have a +15 onto one to Kiddy. I bailed at Hagley (shack score 1) as planned and watched 334 head off before checking the PIS and seeing that the next one was in 25 minutes, the same one that I'd get from Blakedown! I looked at RTT again and found that they'd caped the 172 at Stourbridge due to the late running. Darn it!
I knew that I wouldn't be able to get Blakedown so instead took a seat on the footbridge and waited for my 172, which was stalker 172339. This was a lot quieter than the 172 I was on to Hagley and we were soon arriving at Kidderminster. I wandered over to the Severn Valley platforms and spent some time in the sunshine before a forum member who I'd never met before came over and said hi. We chatted for a couple of minutes before Dom395 and MikeWH came over so I spent some time chatting with them. We soon saw a western approaching so got ready to board winner D1062, which would be taking us to Bridgnorth. The forum staff were already on board so we had a quick photo of us all next to the western before getting on board in the lounge car, which we'd all be in today. I spent some time catching up with Dom as I hadn't seen him for a while and it was a great journey, a buffet being served en route. It was good to catch up with other members as well. A wasp came in at Arley and annoyed us for a bit before being sent back out and open window just before we left. It was a thrash filled journey, easily audible from the back coach. We were soon eating cake and arriving at Bridgnorth.
We now split into 2 groups, one going to the pub on Bridgnorth station, the other going into Bridgnorth itself and getting the cliff railway before walking back. I went for the latter group and we took a nice wander over to the bottom of the cliff railway and bought our ticket to the top. We got the second one to arrive as it meant that all of our group could fit in for the ride up to the top. You can't buy single tickets but we just got a return and didn't use the return portion, instead walking through Bridgnorth and down the hill to get back to the station where D1062 was still waiting for the ride back to Kiddy. We went to the lounge car and got seats again. I was at the closest possible one to the Western and with a window at the very front the thrash was just amazing as we roared along with plenty of cake available (mmm... cake...). I got a few photos from where I was too and it was a great run back too.
Western Courier by fishquinn1, on FlickrOnce back at Kidderminster I got a photo of a green bomb before heading back over to the concourse where everyone else had congregated.
Green bomb at Kiddy. by fishquinn1, on FlickrQuite a few people were going to the pub in Kidderminster but a few of us didn't want to including Dom395 and MikeWH, both of which needed to get to Birmingham to get a train to London. A group of us went over to the mainline station and said bye to the Seven Valley before boarding a 172 that had just arrived from Snow Hell, 172219. We boarded at the rear coach away from all the normals and easily got two bays of four for the ride across to Smethwick Galton Bridge. We bailed here to get a starship to New Street. It was a 15-minute fester with 323243 taking us through to the bat cave, sitting in a winner coach on the ride. When we got to New Street we had to say bye to a few members of our group and it was then a case of deciding what to do for the rest of the time. I had to choose which train to get back to Leam too but I wanted to spend some more time with the forum guys so I told dad that I'd head back from Brum on the 19:12. We decided to head for a walk and took a very long walk to Snow Hell, trying to figure out what midland metro were doing for the engineering work. We ended up at Snow Hell about half an hour later and as we got there we saw a few people from the second group that went to the pub at Kiddy emerged from the station entrance! I didn't have too long until my train back now but I continued on the walk for a few minutes before having to say bye to the others and head for Snow Hell station.
168109, the same one that I'd had the day before, was working the 16:12 this evening, which was good for me as it'd be cleared for 100 by... Bordesley! At least it'll be cleared!
I got the usual seats at the very back and called mum and dad to say that I was on my way back before relaxing for the journey back home, arriving bang on time. It had been an excellent day catching up with everyone again and the western thrash was just excellent!
Agreed - Westerns do sound just amazing!
Cheap?
The 9th of August was our second, and last, one of the VTEC itinerary loopholes. Unlike the first one, which ended at New Street so could be argued as invalid due to the ticket ending at New Street, this was one from Hampton-in-Arden to Sandwell and Dudley and was the best one that I'd found. Complete with reservations except the first leg (from Hampton-in-Arden to New Street that we wouldn't be using), the second leg and the third leg we had full reservations for it and both Nat and I were very much looking forward to it. What's the itinerary you ask (or, to be more accurate, may be thinking in your head)? It's this:
07:21 Hampton-in-Arden to Birmingham New Street 07:36
07:49 Birmingham New Street to Nottingham 09:06
09:34 Nottingham to Grantham 10:06
10:21 Grantham to York 11:30
11:54 York to Haymarket 14:31
14:57 Haymarket to Sandwell and Dudley 18:54
No kidding! How much? It came up to £5.77 each (splitting an £11.55 1st class single from Hampton-in-Arden to Sandwell and Dudley with family and friends railcard discount) and was an absolute bargain! How did it go?
I got up at the usual 05:25 on the Tuesday morning and got ready for the day ahead, leaving the boats with dad at just after 05:45 for the station. Nathan was picked up on the way and we were soon getting to our usual car-parking place for the walk to the station. We soon got there and, as I picked up our main event tickets, Nat bought our tickets to Brum. It had been agreed that I'd get the main tickets and Nat would get the Brum ones and a creamy cooler to cover the extra cost. It was dad who suggested it and I most certainly wasn't going to complain!
We were up on the platforms in good time for our train and had a good chat before our train arrived. I'd recently cleared my Chiltern 2 car 165s so dad was taunting me saying how likely it would be that my last one, which I'd cycled to Leam for, would certainly appear. My reaction when 165024 was indeed the one to appear wasn't pretty but dad and Nat were laughing a lot. We got our usual seats and took it straight through to Snow Hell as always. It was an uneventful journey and we saw 4 bombs at Tyseley en route with the tube stock move. They included one of the best two, 20107, with 314, 132 and 905 for company. Vote bombs!
Knowing that we wouldn't be able to go to brekky with dad due to the short time until our train to Nottingham, we decided to take 1H17 through the tunnel from Snow Hell to Moor Street. We said bye to dad at the top of the stairs at Snow Hell as he headed for work, us heading for platform 3, getting there before the 07:07 to Marylebone had arrived. I knew the cat as soon as I saw the DVT and let Nat know as it'd be one that he'd be glad with. It was his lowest mileage cat but, being Nat, he naturally found something to complain about, this being the fact that he'd only get a tiny bit of mileage from it at a mere 'one mile'. One mile? Yep! That's what Nat calls it! He rounds his mileage up or down to the nearest whole number so calls it a freaking mile! Anyway, a tiny bit more mileage on 68010 was had through the tunnel to Moor Street where we watched it thrash away towards Marylebone before leaving Moor Street and walking over to New Street, getting there at 07:10.
Just like last time we entered the first class lounge, showing our single to Sandwell and Dudley, which is completely valid for the lounge (obviously). A load of food was got along with a hot choc and was taken to a table for a nice, relaxing brekky before deciding to leave the lounge and head for our first train, the 07:49 to Nottingham. It was a shame to leave the lounge but we could go straight into the 1st class section of dud 170117, away from all the riff-raff in standard. The seats are slightly different to Standard and there was no one else in 1st upon departure which made it nice. Nothing was identified in Lawley Street which was weird but 66077 was seen just outside. The guard came through at Water Orton and did a ticket check...
We showed him our tickets but he immediately questioned them. The itinerary was showed and he was really confused and we both acted like we didn't know what was wrong or where Sandwell and Dudley was. He said that he was going to let us travel to Nottingham but thought that every other guard would question us. He thought that because of the itinerary our tickets were valid but wasn't sure so said that he'd call XC revenue team and ask them but said not to worry anyway as he was just curious. He was a top guard and was incredibly soche and he came to ask for our tickets and itinerary so he could tell the revenue team what they were when he called them at Derby. The rest of the journey on the 170 went smoothly but we didn't get our tickets before Nottingham. The guard came through at Beeston though and said to come to him at Nottingham and we'd get them back then.
At Nottingham we went to the back cab and the guard just told us that he'd be a moment as he wrote on our itinerary to say that he'd checked with XC revenue team and that the ticket was valid, giving his number to call if they had any questions. He then told us what we already knew but pretended not to - that it was a loophole with VTEC's ticketing system and because of this it was issuing tickets with ridiculous itineraries. We both shook his hand before saying bye and wandering over to a tram set in the other platform for the sound of an idling VP185 as we waited for our next train. It arrived a few minutes late with the usual pair of 158s. The rear one uncouples and stays at Nottingham so it was just stalker dud 158813 taking us to Grantham. We got on board and easily found seats on board for the ride and we eventually left 5 late at 09:34. We had a +15 at Grantham so 5 late doesn't really mean anything for our connection. 60076, my last required colas 60 for sight (and last required operational donut), was apparently at Rectory Road but unfortunately it wasn't viewable.
We came to a stop at some random shack on route that we weren't meant to and, after 3 minutes I went to go and find the guard. Apparently there was a problem with the level crossing just ahead of the station but that we should be moving shortly. The guard was right and we were en route the moment I got back to Nathan. The rest of the ride went smoothly and we made up a couple of minutes before Grantham, where we arrived with about 5 minutes before the scheduled departure of our next train. It took a few minutes for the 158 to cross over before we saw our set to York approaching, the 09:08 from Kings Cross to York. This was the first northbound tram from the cross all-day and, sure enough, it was one. Nat was very happy when dud 43320 arrived as it was one of his required trams and was over the moon when he saw that it was dud 43310 pushing on the back. A double requirement for Nat!
We got in our seats in coach L and had a ticket check the moment we departed - no problems at all; he just looked at our tickets and moved onward. We got offered drinks immediately after the ticket check and then got told that we could have a bacon roll, cereal or a Danish or something like that. We weren't actually allowed anything due to the journey being under 70 minutes but we gratefully accepted a bacon roll each. Nat went for a coffee for drink, me going for an orange juice and we sat back to relax with the decent tram thrash, 43320 passing the 100-mile barrier en route. 43310, my first powercar along with 313, was already cleared for 100 and was my first one cleared for 100 back in the summer of '04.
Yorkie said to me to send him a text if we made it to the train out of Grantham as he might be able to get out to York station to have a chat for a bit until our Haymarket tram so we did so and he said that he could head to the station to meet up for a bit. I also got a text from Cactustwirly saying that he was arriving at Doncaster on a Milkfloat to Leeds under 5 minutes after we'd left Donny! Small world!
We had another drinks round just before Donny where we both went for orange juice and it was a relaxing, most certainly not busy service, approaching York on time. Both of us decided to do a bit of window hanging as we arrived at York and I saw Yorkie ass we arrived on platform 6. Nat went to do hanging right next to the rear powercar in coach M, I was in L. We had a nice chat and talked about how the morning had been. We made our way over to platform 9 and towards the end of the platform before saying bye to Yorkie after a nice 25-minute chat. Double duds 43318 and 43314 were in charge, Nat very happy because he also needed 314! 3 winner powercars in one day! I was happy enough with 314 as it was already a high mileage powercar, having had it from Kings Cross to Inverness. It's mileage was sat at 581 and with the extra 206 miles to Haymarket it'd be on 787 miles! This was 'The Northern Lights' to Aberdeen and was quite a busy service but we got our reserved seats in a bay of 4, which didn't have anyone else there. We got our seats and departed about 5 late on the 11:54 to Aberdeen. A ticket check took place and, just like the guard leaving Grantham, he just quickly looked at it and walked past. Then food orders came route, this being lunch. We both went for the chicken curry and they arrived a few minutes later, just after another orange juice. It was excellent and the 1st class host was excellent, even going to the trolley to get us a muffin and pack of crisps each as we'd missed it when it came past. The muffin was excellent as well and the crisps hit the spot. I'm loving this loophole!
We weirdly came to a stop somewhere in County Durham between Darlington and Durham and, after about 5 minutes, an announcement was done to say that there were trespassers on the line ahead and that we should be on the move soon. This started worrying us because of our connection at Haymarket which might not make if we continued getting later and later. We moved forward about 7 minutes after coming to a stop and then proceeded forward with caution before speeding up and arriving at Newcastle 17 late. We had a +26 at Haymarket which was taken down to a +9 at this point but there wasn't any other problems on our journey and we raced towards the Scottish capital with a good run from there. It was the first time that I'd been in Scotland without dad when we crossed the border on the royal border bridge.
We were soon passing Craigentinny, home to several locos including a winner 73/9. At Edinburgh I got one of my last few required 380/1s for sight, which was great, but alas no other winners were there. We couldn't see the platform that our pendo to New Street was in so I assume it was in one of low numbered ones as we were on platform 19. We were soon thrashing out through the tunnel and getting to Haymarket after a great tram journey.
Haymarket was actually a required shack so it was good to get it. A platform change was required here so we did it in the few minutes we had before the 14:57 to Euston. We did it immediately after getting off the tram and watched it thrash away towards Aberdeen.
I need quite a few 334s so it was just comedic in the end to see 6 of them and all duds! 390118 was on the 14:57 today and was a sub-hundred-mile one so I was happy enough with that. It was under 100 now but would be my highest mileage one by New Street! We got on board the pendo and located our seats in coach J, 06 and 07. We didn't like them as they were a bay of 2 just like the kind you get in standard but they had extra leg room. It annoyed us both but we decided to go for them anyway. The trolley came round just after we left Haymarket and we were given chicken salad sarnies, an excellent choccy bite, a pack of crisps and a glass of juice. We liked our afternoon tea and chilled out for the excellent scenery coming south. The guard came through around Carstairs and just muttered Sandwell and Dudley to herself before moving on. I haven't been awake on this stretch of track for years so it was surprising at how excellent the scenery was as we raced south towards Carlisle. The excellent scenery continued as we went south from there and we were soon arriving at Lancaster where it all ended. We passed quite a few TPE dezes in the end and I failed to ID every one of them, much to Nat's annoyance, as he still needed 2 for sight. It was hilarious for me, especially when Nat missed 3 of them when he was next to the window! The journey started to get really long and, even in 1st, it felt like the journey lasted forever. Forward past Warrington and when we arrived at Crewe I was glad because it meant that we didn't have too long until New Street. Another round of chicken sarnies, crisps, choccy, cake and another glass of juice was had here and it helped make me not lose my mind on the rest of the journey to the bat cave where we arrived bang on time. We were glad to get off but unfortunately it meant that the day was all over as all we had left was one of Chiltern's rubbish carts and not in 1st class.
We wandered over to Snow Hell and got ready for what we knew would be a pretty awful ride on the 19:17. This was because it's an all shacks stopper with a 170. It was 168322 that was taking us back to Leamington but we managed to get our usual good seats opposite a rail enthusiast so we got talking for the journey back to Leam. He was heading all the way to London and wasn't too happy to happy to get a 170! When we got to Leamington we said bye to him and exited the station, getting there at 19:50. It was then out to the car where Nat's mum was waiting and took us back on an uneventful ride, getting there 15 minutes later.
Overall, an absolutely brilliant, brilliant day! Did we get away with it? Most certainly yes! It was excellent and just what we got from the 1st class lounge at New Street would have amounted to more than our ticket fare for the day! It was excellent!
Cheap?
The 9th of August was our second, and last, one of the VTEC itinerary loopholes. Unlike the first one, which ended at New Street so could be argued as invalid due to the ticket ending at New Street, this was one from Hampton-in-Arden to Sandwell and Dudley and was the best one that I'd found. Complete with reservations except the first leg (from Hampton-in-Arden to New Street that we wouldn't be using), the second leg and the third leg we had full reservations for it and both Nat and I were very much looking forward to it. What's the itinerary you ask (or, to be more accurate, may be thinking in your head)? It's this:
07:21 Hampton-in-Arden to Birmingham New Street 07:36
07:49 Birmingham New Street to Nottingham 09:06
09:34 Nottingham to Grantham 10:06
10:21 Grantham to York 11:30
11:54 York to Haymarket 14:31
14:57 Haymarket to Sandwell and Dudley 18:54
No kidding! How much? It came up to £5.77 each (splitting an £11.55 1st class single from Hampton-in-Arden to Sandwell and Dudley with family and friends railcard discount) and was an absolute bargain! How did it go?
I got up at the usual 05:25 on the Tuesday morning and got ready for the day ahead, leaving the boats with dad at just after 05:45 for the station. Nathan was picked up on the way and we were soon getting to our usual car-parking place for the walk to the station. We soon got there and, as I picked up our main event tickets, Nat bought our tickets to Brum. It had been agreed that I'd get the main tickets and Nat would get the Brum ones and a creamy cooler to cover the extra cost. It was dad who suggested it and I most certainly wasn't going to complain!
We were up on the platforms in good time for our train and had a good chat before our train arrived. I'd recently cleared my Chiltern 2 car 165s so dad was taunting me saying how likely it would be that my last one, which I'd cycled to Leam for, would certainly appear. My reaction when 165024 was indeed the one to appear wasn't pretty but dad and Nat were laughing a lot. We got our usual seats and took it straight through to Snow Hell as always. It was an uneventful journey and we saw 4 bombs at Tyseley en route with the tube stock move. They included one of the best two, 20107, with 314, 132 and 905 for company. Vote bombs!
Knowing that we wouldn't be able to go to brekky with dad due to the short time until our train to Nottingham, we decided to take 1H17 through the tunnel from Snow Hell to Moor Street. We said bye to dad at the top of the stairs at Snow Hell as he headed for work, us heading for platform 3, getting there before the 07:07 to Marylebone had arrived. I knew the cat as soon as I saw the DVT and let Nat know as it'd be one that he'd be glad with. It was his lowest mileage cat but, being Nat, he naturally found something to complain about, this being the fact that he'd only get a tiny bit of mileage from it at a mere 'one mile'. One mile? Yep! That's what Nat calls it! He rounds his mileage up or down to the nearest whole number so calls it a freaking mile! Anyway, a tiny bit more mileage on 68010 was had through the tunnel to Moor Street where we watched it thrash away towards Marylebone before leaving Moor Street and walking over to New Street, getting there at 07:10.
Just like last time we entered the first class lounge, showing our single to Sandwell and Dudley, which is completely valid for the lounge (obviously). A load of food was got along with a hot choc and was taken to a table for a nice, relaxing brekky before deciding to leave the lounge and head for our first train, the 07:49 to Nottingham. It was a shame to leave the lounge but we could go straight into the 1st class section of dud 170117, away from all the riff-raff in standard
. The seats are slightly different to Standard and there was no one else in 1st upon departure which made it nice. Nothing was identified in Lawley Street which was weird but 66077 was seen just outside. The guard came through at Water Orton and did a ticket check...We showed him our tickets but he immediately questioned them. The itinerary was showed and he was really confused and we both acted like we didn't know what was wrong or where Sandwell and Dudley was. He said that he was going to let us travel to Nottingham but thought that every other guard would question us. He thought that because of the itinerary our tickets were valid but wasn't sure so said that he'd call XC revenue team and ask them but said not to worry anyway as he was just curious. He was a top guard and was incredibly soche and he came to ask for our tickets and itinerary so he could tell the revenue team what they were when he called them at Derby. The rest of the journey on the 170 went smoothly but we didn't get our tickets before Nottingham. The guard came through at Beeston though and said to come to him at Nottingham and we'd get them back then.
At Nottingham we went to the back cab and the guard just told us that he'd be a moment as he wrote on our itinerary to say that he'd checked with XC revenue team and that the ticket was valid, giving his number to call if they had any questions. He then told us what we already knew but pretended not to - that it was a loophole with VTEC's ticketing system and because of this it was issuing tickets with ridiculous itineraries. We both shook his hand before saying bye and wandering over to a tram set in the other platform for the sound of an idling VP185 as we waited for our next train. It arrived a few minutes late with the usual pair of 158s. The rear one uncouples and stays at Nottingham so it was just stalker dud 158813 taking us to Grantham. We got on board and easily found seats on board for the ride and we eventually left 5 late at 09:34. We had a +15 at Grantham so 5 late doesn't really mean anything for our connection. 60076, my last required colas 60 for sight (and last required operational donut), was apparently at Rectory Road but unfortunately it wasn't viewable.
We came to a stop at some random shack on route that we weren't meant to and, after 3 minutes I went to go and find the guard. Apparently there was a problem with the level crossing just ahead of the station but that we should be moving shortly. The guard was right and we were en route the moment I got back to Nathan. The rest of the ride went smoothly and we made up a couple of minutes before Grantham, where we arrived with about 5 minutes before the scheduled departure of our next train. It took a few minutes for the 158 to cross over before we saw our set to York approaching, the 09:08 from Kings Cross to York. This was the first northbound tram from the cross all-day and, sure enough, it was one. Nat was very happy when dud 43320 arrived as it was one of his required trams and was over the moon when he saw that it was dud 43310 pushing on the back. A double requirement for Nat!
We got in our seats in coach L and had a ticket check the moment we departed - no problems at all; he just looked at our tickets and moved onward. We got offered drinks immediately after the ticket check and then got told that we could have a bacon roll, cereal or a Danish or something like that. We weren't actually allowed anything due to the journey being under 70 minutes but we gratefully accepted a bacon roll each. Nat went for a coffee for drink, me going for an orange juice and we sat back to relax with the decent tram thrash, 43320 passing the 100-mile barrier en route. 43310, my first powercar along with 313, was already cleared for 100 and was my first one cleared for 100 back in the summer of '04.
Yorkie said to me to send him a text if we made it to the train out of Grantham as he might be able to get out to York station to have a chat for a bit until our Haymarket tram so we did so and he said that he could head to the station to meet up for a bit. I also got a text from Cactustwirly saying that he was arriving at Doncaster on a Milkfloat to Leeds under 5 minutes after we'd left Donny! Small world!
We had another drinks round just before Donny where we both went for orange juice and it was a relaxing, most certainly not busy service, approaching York on time. Both of us decided to do a bit of window hanging as we arrived at York and I saw Yorkie ass we arrived on platform 6. Nat went to do hanging right next to the rear powercar in coach M, I was in L. We had a nice chat and talked about how the morning had been. We made our way over to platform 9 and towards the end of the platform before saying bye to Yorkie after a nice 25-minute chat. Double duds 43318 and 43314 were in charge, Nat very happy because he also needed 314! 3 winner powercars in one day! I was happy enough with 314 as it was already a high mileage powercar, having had it from Kings Cross to Inverness. It's mileage was sat at 581 and with the extra 206 miles to Haymarket it'd be on 787 miles! This was 'The Northern Lights' to Aberdeen and was quite a busy service but we got our reserved seats in a bay of 4, which didn't have anyone else there. We got our seats and departed about 5 late on the 11:54 to Aberdeen. A ticket check took place and, just like the guard leaving Grantham, he just quickly looked at it and walked past. Then food orders came route, this being lunch. We both went for the chicken curry and they arrived a few minutes later, just after another orange juice. It was excellent and the 1st class host was excellent, even going to the trolley to get us a muffin and pack of crisps each as we'd missed it when it came past. The muffin was excellent as well and the crisps hit the spot. I'm loving this loophole!
We weirdly came to a stop somewhere in County Durham between Darlington and Durham and, after about 5 minutes, an announcement was done to say that there were trespassers on the line ahead and that we should be on the move soon. This started worrying us because of our connection at Haymarket which might not make if we continued getting later and later. We moved forward about 7 minutes after coming to a stop and then proceeded forward with caution before speeding up and arriving at Newcastle 17 late. We had a +26 at Haymarket which was taken down to a +9 at this point but there wasn't any other problems on our journey and we raced towards the Scottish capital with a good run from there. It was the first time that I'd been in Scotland without dad when we crossed the border on the royal border bridge.
We were soon passing Craigentinny, home to several locos including a winner 73/9. At Edinburgh I got one of my last few required 380/1s for sight, which was great, but alas no other winners were there. We couldn't see the platform that our pendo to New Street was in so I assume it was in one of low numbered ones as we were on platform 19. We were soon thrashing out through the tunnel and getting to Haymarket after a great tram journey.
Haymarket was actually a required shack so it was good to get it. A platform change was required here so we did it in the few minutes we had before the 14:57 to Euston. We did it immediately after getting off the tram and watched it thrash away towards Aberdeen.
I need quite a few 334s so it was just comedic in the end to see 6 of them and all duds! 390118 was on the 14:57 today and was a sub-hundred-mile one so I was happy enough with that. It was under 100 now but would be my highest mileage one by New Street! We got on board the pendo and located our seats in coach J, 06 and 07. We didn't like them as they were a bay of 2 just like the kind you get in standard but they had extra leg room. It annoyed us both but we decided to go for them anyway. The trolley came round just after we left Haymarket and we were given chicken salad sarnies, an excellent choccy bite, a pack of crisps and a glass of juice. We liked our afternoon tea and chilled out for the excellent scenery coming south. The guard came through around Carstairs and just muttered Sandwell and Dudley to herself before moving on. I haven't been awake on this stretch of track for years so it was surprising at how excellent the scenery was as we raced south towards Carlisle. The excellent scenery continued as we went south from there and we were soon arriving at Lancaster where it all ended. We passed quite a few TPE dezes in the end and I failed to ID every one of them, much to Nat's annoyance, as he still needed 2 for sight. It was hilarious for me, especially when Nat missed 3 of them when he was next to the window! The journey started to get really long and, even in 1st, it felt like the journey lasted forever. Forward past Warrington and when we arrived at Crewe I was glad because it meant that we didn't have too long until New Street. Another round of chicken sarnies, crisps, choccy, cake and another glass of juice was had here and it helped make me not lose my mind on the rest of the journey to the bat cave where we arrived bang on time. We were glad to get off but unfortunately it meant that the day was all over as all we had left was one of Chiltern's rubbish carts and not in 1st class.
We wandered over to Snow Hell and got ready for what we knew would be a pretty awful ride on the 19:17. This was because it's an all shacks stopper with a 170. It was 168322 that was taking us back to Leamington but we managed to get our usual good seats opposite a rail enthusiast so we got talking for the journey back to Leam. He was heading all the way to London and wasn't too happy to happy to get a 170! When we got to Leamington we said bye to him and exited the station, getting there at 19:50. It was then out to the car where Nat's mum was waiting and took us back on an uneventful ride, getting there 15 minutes later.
Overall, an absolutely brilliant, brilliant day! Did we get away with it? Most certainly yes! It was excellent and just what we got from the 1st class lounge at New Street would have amounted to more than our ticket fare for the day! It was excellent!
Sounds like a couple of good days though I'd be terrified of getting absolutely slaughtered by a guard who took exception! Best to do those things in groups I think...
Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk
Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk
Kite159
Veteran Member
A nice little trip to Haymarket & back.
Although lucky you didn't run into any guards who questioned your tickets and wasn't happy with the reasons given.
Although lucky you didn't run into any guards who questioned your tickets and wasn't happy with the reasons given.
cactustwirly
Established Member
I'm quite jealous, my tickets to Leeds cost double the amount...
Techniquest
Veteran Member
How you didn't have problems I don't know, but fair game to that top day!
Thanks guys!
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The strike on the north day 1: The wrong beginning
Finally! It's here! The trip that Nat and I had been waiting for! This was a 9 day spree in the North East on, just like last year, a 7 day North East Rover. The aim? Trams! We'd be heading up on Saturday the 13th of August and then staying until Sunday the 21st when we'd head home. Heading up we'd booked advances on 1S51 from New Street to York (leaving at 16:03), which is a tram. Coming back we'd booked advances on an ex Aberdeen tram from York to Kings Cross and the only cat from Marylebone to Leam. We were to take the 12:25 cat from Leam to Moor Street on the Saturday with dad, get lunch during our hour fester before the 13:55 cat back to Leam where dad's head home with Nat and I heading back to Brum for our tram up to York. Hopefully an excellent positioning move!
The 13th came round and I got up at about 09:00 and chilled out before we had to leave at 11:45. When we had to leave though I just realized that I hadn't checked HST gen yet so I decided to quickly do that before we left. Dad said that we didn't have time but I just wanted to see what had worked 1V44 (the working that'd form 'S51) so I could make sure that it wasn't vice. My reaction wasn't pretty when I saw that the gen post said that 'V44 was a pair of unspeakably horrible things starting from Sheffield. That's one set of advances down the drain... and the ticket price to get to York. Bugger.
I didn't have time to look up an alternative route before we headed off so I thought via Manchester through (I know the times getting there) and found out that we'd need to take the cat to Moor Street and then leave dad to get up to Crewe on the 13:15. We didn't want to have to do this but I worked it out as the only option and we would get a bit of time in Leeds too along with a tram from Leeds to Donny for a milkfloat up to York, getting there at about the same time as the tram from New Street would have. This was good but it would still cost us the extra tickets and it meant that we would get less tram mileage and less cat mileage. Oh well, at least I know good tickets to get to Mancc.
When we got to the station, dad said that he'd pay for our tickets to Mancc, which was incredibly kind. We were very glad at this but dad said, and I quote 'I'm happy to do anything to help a voyager avoidance move'.
We had a little fester before our train and during the fester; Nat realized that he'd forgotten his phone! There was nothing to be done but he was ticked off as it meant that he couldn't take any photos or anything. I had my phone so calling his folks was no problem though. After the short wait, our cat to Brum was arriving. I was pleased enough with 68009 as it was one of the few AAR fitted ones that I haven't cleared for 500. We got a decent bay of 4 on board and we chatted about the plan that I now had to get up there as I checked times. Timings worked and would give us a good bit of time in Leeds too - enough for me to get a required 333 shack. This was good so we sat back and relaxed on the journey and spent time chatting with dad.
Once in Brum, dad walked us over to New Street where we saw our pendo forward waiting. We said bye to dad and got on board, finding decent enough seats in 390155. We had a few minutes to departure and waved dad off from the pendo as we headed out - pretty ironic because on my positioning move for my North East rover the year before I was waving dad bye on a pendo to Crewe before heading off myself. I headed for the guard on this service when we entered the New Street tunnels so I could get the tickets that would get us onward from Manchester. A return to Huddersfield was surprisingly expensive but we went for that as a west Yorks day ranger is valid from there. The journey north was uneventful and we were approaching Crewe after an hour’s journey. Dad's ride back to Leamington on the cat was apparently OK as well.
The connection onto the Manchester pendo made at Crewe and we had a few minutes to make it. The pendo on the 14:11 to Mancc made me smile but I had to remind Nat the reason why. 390127 was the pendo and the reason why was because it was the one that we had from Euston to Lancaster when we did the first VTEC itinerary loophole thing. We got a bay of 4 towards the front of the train and were soon getting to Manchester.
A departure board was checked after getting here and found that the next one over The Pennines was in 8 minutes. I wanted to get some lunch but decided not to and just get some in Leeds as I only had 5 minutes when I thought of it and I wanted to get good seats on the diesel dezes. I was very happy to see that winner 185121 was on this service and we easily got a bay of 4 in the front coach. We were on the move soon enough and had soon passed Stalybridge where the good scenery began. It was better than I remember and we were enjoying it when a ticket check happened. The guard easily issued our West Yorks day rovers and as he left he said that he was also on RailUK and told us his username (which I'm not going to put in here). I was confused for a second as we didn't even mention RailUK but I then noticed my RailUK pen out on the table and it all fell into place. When he came through we said who we were and let him get back on as we relaxed for the rest of the journey to Leeds, getting there on time at 15:45. I now really wanted lunch so I headed to Sainsbury's local and got a meal deal here before wandering back over to Nathan and getting ready for our next train, the 16:02 to Ilkley. I was glad to see that this was another winner, 333004. This was Nat's first ride on a 333 and it was nice enough, getting to shack score 1, Menston, right time. We had a few minutes to get over to footbridge here and it was only a couple more minutes before dud 333003 arrived to take us back to Leeds where our train to Doncaster was waiting. We were glad to see that it was a tram as booked and Nat was very happy to see that one of his winners was leading, dud (for me) 43272. We wandered up and had a nice chat with the excellent driver who invited us into the cab and let us both sit in the driver's seat. He was an excellent guy and even told us that one of the 1st class coaches in the set was from the original tram set (he was a rail enthusiast). We had a nice chat before departure time neared so we let him prepare for the journey and headed to get the rear powercar. Nat was over the moon when I reported to him that it was dud (for me) 43274 on the back. Now, who needs that I wonder?
This was a refurbished set and my first time traveling in one in standard. I like what they've done with it and it's even nicer when you've got a bay of 4 to yourself on a non-busy service. We left Leeds one late and I glanced across to another platform as we left and absolutely thrilled to see something there. 150214 was sat in the other platform! This is my last 150 for sight so I was naturally very happy to get it. We then moved forward again and maintained a good pace to just before Doncaster, where we waited for a platform before arriving a few minutes late. We had a short fester here but at least we Donny has quite a lot of action so we weren't bored while waiting for our next train. Nat was telling me how few milkfloats he's had for haulage and that he really didn't want to get any of his duds, especially 91106 as it was his highest mileage at 50 miles. This conversation continued and ended when we saw which milkfloat was arriving on our service, the 18:10. 91106! I didn't need this either but we went for it anyway (we had to!). The first thing we noticed when we got on was that the smell coming from the toilet was worse than a pendo! It wasn't a pleasant journey on a pretty busy service to York but we were soon approaching York, getting there on time. It was pretty cool to arrive alongside 1S51 (the train we would've got from New Street if it was a tram) and, as the gen said, it was a pair of UHTs. We were most certainly glad at this as it meant that we didn't come via Mancc for nothing. Anyway, now back on track with our plan, we headed to platform 5 where it was a short wait before the 18:40 to Scarborough arrived, formed of winner 185139 this evening.
It was Nat's first time traveling on this route and he quite liked it. It is a nice little run and a fairly short one to, taking under 25 minutes before arriving at Malton. Granddad was waiting in the car park next to the car so we popped out to the station and said hi and had a nice ride back to the house in Pickering, catching up with granddad on the ride.
Overall, most certainly not the planned start but a good one anyway with 3 winner units and 1 winner shack.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
The strike on the north day 1: The wrong beginning
Finally! It's here! The trip that Nat and I had been waiting for! This was a 9 day spree in the North East on, just like last year, a 7 day North East Rover. The aim? Trams! We'd be heading up on Saturday the 13th of August and then staying until Sunday the 21st when we'd head home. Heading up we'd booked advances on 1S51 from New Street to York (leaving at 16:03), which is a tram. Coming back we'd booked advances on an ex Aberdeen tram from York to Kings Cross and the only cat from Marylebone to Leam. We were to take the 12:25 cat from Leam to Moor Street on the Saturday with dad, get lunch during our hour fester before the 13:55 cat back to Leam where dad's head home with Nat and I heading back to Brum for our tram up to York. Hopefully an excellent positioning move!
The 13th came round and I got up at about 09:00 and chilled out before we had to leave at 11:45. When we had to leave though I just realized that I hadn't checked HST gen yet so I decided to quickly do that before we left. Dad said that we didn't have time but I just wanted to see what had worked 1V44 (the working that'd form 'S51) so I could make sure that it wasn't vice. My reaction wasn't pretty when I saw that the gen post said that 'V44 was a pair of unspeakably horrible things starting from Sheffield. That's one set of advances down the drain... and the ticket price to get to York. Bugger.
I didn't have time to look up an alternative route before we headed off so I thought via Manchester through (I know the times getting there) and found out that we'd need to take the cat to Moor Street and then leave dad to get up to Crewe on the 13:15. We didn't want to have to do this but I worked it out as the only option and we would get a bit of time in Leeds too along with a tram from Leeds to Donny for a milkfloat up to York, getting there at about the same time as the tram from New Street would have. This was good but it would still cost us the extra tickets and it meant that we would get less tram mileage and less cat mileage. Oh well, at least I know good tickets to get to Mancc.
When we got to the station, dad said that he'd pay for our tickets to Mancc, which was incredibly kind. We were very glad at this but dad said, and I quote 'I'm happy to do anything to help a voyager avoidance move'.
We had a little fester before our train and during the fester; Nat realized that he'd forgotten his phone! There was nothing to be done but he was ticked off as it meant that he couldn't take any photos or anything. I had my phone so calling his folks was no problem though. After the short wait, our cat to Brum was arriving. I was pleased enough with 68009 as it was one of the few AAR fitted ones that I haven't cleared for 500. We got a decent bay of 4 on board and we chatted about the plan that I now had to get up there as I checked times. Timings worked and would give us a good bit of time in Leeds too - enough for me to get a required 333 shack. This was good so we sat back and relaxed on the journey and spent time chatting with dad.
Once in Brum, dad walked us over to New Street where we saw our pendo forward waiting. We said bye to dad and got on board, finding decent enough seats in 390155. We had a few minutes to departure and waved dad off from the pendo as we headed out - pretty ironic because on my positioning move for my North East rover the year before I was waving dad bye on a pendo to Crewe before heading off myself. I headed for the guard on this service when we entered the New Street tunnels so I could get the tickets that would get us onward from Manchester. A return to Huddersfield was surprisingly expensive but we went for that as a west Yorks day ranger is valid from there. The journey north was uneventful and we were approaching Crewe after an hour’s journey. Dad's ride back to Leamington on the cat was apparently OK as well.
The connection onto the Manchester pendo made at Crewe and we had a few minutes to make it. The pendo on the 14:11 to Mancc made me smile but I had to remind Nat the reason why. 390127 was the pendo and the reason why was because it was the one that we had from Euston to Lancaster when we did the first VTEC itinerary loophole thing. We got a bay of 4 towards the front of the train and were soon getting to Manchester.
A departure board was checked after getting here and found that the next one over The Pennines was in 8 minutes. I wanted to get some lunch but decided not to and just get some in Leeds as I only had 5 minutes when I thought of it and I wanted to get good seats on the diesel dezes. I was very happy to see that winner 185121 was on this service and we easily got a bay of 4 in the front coach. We were on the move soon enough and had soon passed Stalybridge where the good scenery began. It was better than I remember and we were enjoying it when a ticket check happened. The guard easily issued our West Yorks day rovers and as he left he said that he was also on RailUK and told us his username (which I'm not going to put in here). I was confused for a second as we didn't even mention RailUK but I then noticed my RailUK pen out on the table and it all fell into place. When he came through we said who we were and let him get back on as we relaxed for the rest of the journey to Leeds, getting there on time at 15:45. I now really wanted lunch so I headed to Sainsbury's local and got a meal deal here before wandering back over to Nathan and getting ready for our next train, the 16:02 to Ilkley. I was glad to see that this was another winner, 333004. This was Nat's first ride on a 333 and it was nice enough, getting to shack score 1, Menston, right time. We had a few minutes to get over to footbridge here and it was only a couple more minutes before dud 333003 arrived to take us back to Leeds where our train to Doncaster was waiting. We were glad to see that it was a tram as booked and Nat was very happy to see that one of his winners was leading, dud (for me) 43272. We wandered up and had a nice chat with the excellent driver who invited us into the cab and let us both sit in the driver's seat. He was an excellent guy and even told us that one of the 1st class coaches in the set was from the original tram set (he was a rail enthusiast). We had a nice chat before departure time neared so we let him prepare for the journey and headed to get the rear powercar. Nat was over the moon when I reported to him that it was dud (for me) 43274 on the back. Now, who needs that I wonder?
This was a refurbished set and my first time traveling in one in standard. I like what they've done with it and it's even nicer when you've got a bay of 4 to yourself on a non-busy service. We left Leeds one late and I glanced across to another platform as we left and absolutely thrilled to see something there. 150214 was sat in the other platform! This is my last 150 for sight so I was naturally very happy to get it. We then moved forward again and maintained a good pace to just before Doncaster, where we waited for a platform before arriving a few minutes late. We had a short fester here but at least we Donny has quite a lot of action so we weren't bored while waiting for our next train. Nat was telling me how few milkfloats he's had for haulage and that he really didn't want to get any of his duds, especially 91106 as it was his highest mileage at 50 miles. This conversation continued and ended when we saw which milkfloat was arriving on our service, the 18:10. 91106! I didn't need this either but we went for it anyway (we had to!). The first thing we noticed when we got on was that the smell coming from the toilet was worse than a pendo! It wasn't a pleasant journey on a pretty busy service to York but we were soon approaching York, getting there on time. It was pretty cool to arrive alongside 1S51 (the train we would've got from New Street if it was a tram) and, as the gen said, it was a pair of UHTs. We were most certainly glad at this as it meant that we didn't come via Mancc for nothing. Anyway, now back on track with our plan, we headed to platform 5 where it was a short wait before the 18:40 to Scarborough arrived, formed of winner 185139 this evening.
It was Nat's first time traveling on this route and he quite liked it. It is a nice little run and a fairly short one to, taking under 25 minutes before arriving at Malton. Granddad was waiting in the car park next to the car so we popped out to the station and said hi and had a nice ride back to the house in Pickering, catching up with granddad on the ride.
Overall, most certainly not the planned start but a good one anyway with 3 winner units and 1 winner shack.
cactustwirly
Established Member
You could have saved yourself some money there...
Sounds like a good first day
Sounds like a good first day
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Jammy so and so getting 43274 in! Not at all jealous...You two were lucky you had an escape from hell option with the route via Manchester, imagine if you hadn't checked the gen!
Quite a good set of positioning moves there, good few winners on Mandatory Moves. Nicely done finishing your 150s for sight too, and before you ask I wouldn't have been amused at dud 91106 either
Quite a good set of positioning moves there, good few winners on Mandatory Moves. Nicely done finishing your 150s for sight too, and before you ask I wouldn't have been amused at dud 91106 either
Kite159
Veteran Member
Wasting money just because it was a pair of voyagers instead of a HST...
Sometimes you need to take stuff as it rolls, and if something you don't like tips up then it is the way of the world.
Sometimes you need to take stuff as it rolls, and if something you don't like tips up then it is the way of the world.
cactustwirly
Established Member
Agreed, a Voyager isn't even in the same league as a 142. They are alright for a 2 hour journey
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