Nope.
£1 for Glasgow (unoffically mind!) To Thurso. Not too bad!
The 4 hours on 221142 was a real endurance fest at the start of that bash though! Even though it did involve red penning the G&SW. I literally walked up to the 170 at Queen Street, approached the grip and said 'I'm going to Wick...' and got waved onto the train before I'd even asked! (I had a ticket from Tweedbank)
Oh and I got a 158 Perth-Inverness too!
Hell. That sounds like an awful trip...
Puddings and pasties, love it!
Seriously though, great reads so far. I'm looking forward to more to catch up on soon!
Thanks!
Oh FQ, if you think the HST seats are bad you haven't endured NSB trains...
They sound awful if they're worse than the GWR seats!
Beware - it's photo heavy.
Id rather ride on a proper milkfloat day 1
The time has come for my largest trip of the year so far. Mum had a retreat thing up on Holy Island just across the water from Berwick), so the plan was to head up to granny and granddads in Pickering on Friday the 17th of March by car, drive up to Holy Island on the Monday, spend a couple of days on the island, and then drive back to Pickering on the Wednesday. Mum would come back from Berwick by train on the Friday and then wed all head home on the Sunday. This gave me the chance to do a 4-in-8 North East Rover while we were up there, my days being Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. How would I do Tuesday and Wednesday? Easy! On Tuesday, both start and end at Berwick. On Wednesday start at Berwick but end at Malton! There would be a problem with Tuesday and Wednesday, the latter more so. You can only cross from Lindisfarne to the mainland and vice versa at certain times of the day, depending on the tide. When the tide is out you can cross, but when the tide is in the route across to the mainland is underwater, so you cant cross. The tide times would allow us to cross at 10:15 on the Tuesday, which would neatly put me onto the first ex Aberdeen at 11:12 through to York. On the Wednesday it was more of a problem. Wed be able to cross at 11:15, but the 12:12, the Southbound chieftain, doesnt stop, meaning that itd be a long wait until the 13:12 ex Aberdeen, which is the first service Id be able to get. See my problem? Still, itd be a good few days!
Theres one more thing though. On the Saturday after getting to Pickering, dad and I had decided to do a North East Round Robin, driving to York and getting the first northbound tram, at 07:37. Thats exactly what we did, and we got to bed at about 22:00 after a drive up to Pickering on the Friday. I didnt sleep brilliantly, and was up 45 minutes before my alarm (a pretty good feat since it was meant to go off at 05:37), but I stayed n bed for a bit and read my book, getting up at about 05:25. It was then downstairs to go on the laptop for a bit, making use of Grannys awful wifi, and dad had soon also come downstairs. We eventually left at about 06:03, and the drive to York was faster than we thought itd be, just taking 42 minutes from opening the gate from the driveway at Grannys to buying our car parking ticket in York station - £5.50 for the day. We then headed over to York station with about 50 minutes until our train north.
Our first port of call was the ticket office to get our rangers. We then wandered onto platform 3 as there was a Kings Cross service due in that I knew would be a tram as the coach indicator thing said that it had both a coach G and a coach J, instead of an H and a K. We gave mum a call to let her know what wed got there OK, as requested, and we could soon see the tram arriving. Dad hadnt had the leading powercar, 43317, since 1988, and the rear one, 43206, was also on his hit list, as it was only on 49 miles! I got photos of them, but the first ones (including the one of 317) came out poorly because it was slightly too dark and the ISO on the camera was rather low and the shutter speed rather high (Id forgotten to change them). I had a play with it when the tram had come to a stop, getting some brighter ones of 43206 before it continued its journey to Kings Cross.
43206 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
I then went to get a photo of a diesel dez in the old TPE livery (I quite like it and itll soon be gone) but it didnt come out brilliantly, so I just needed to remember to get a better one later in the day. I then went back to the footbridge, and dad, and we headed to Costa. I was going to get a creamy cooler, but it wasnt to be, as they were out of ice! Darn! I got a hot choc with cream and marshmallows instead (dad getting a coffee) and we took a seat on platform 9 to enjoy our brekky. Food wasnt required, as I was still full from dinner last night, which was mountains and mountains of pizza (we got a 14 inch pizza each, 2 14 inch cheesy garlic breads to share and, because we spent over £15, a free 6 inch cheesy garlic bread).
The camera lens seems to put a white cast on things quite often, so my next few photos didnt go to plan either, but Id get a second try at Newcastle with
43312 and
43306, which were on the 07:10 from Leeds-Aberdeen.
Dad was very pleased with this pairing, as 43312 had only ever been had from Donny-York for him, and 43306 hadnt been had since 1991, so was a winner for the century for him. Two on the hit list! Score! Both were duds for 100 for me, although I hadnt had 312 since 2015, so I was glad to get it again.
185118 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We got a decent enough bay of 2 on board and were soon on the move. A kettle was steaming up at the NRM ready for a tour to Whitby, and another was on the stock for the tour with 37706. Other than that not much was seen en route, and it was a relatively fun journey up to Newcastle, stopping at Durham as well today for some unknown reason (a lot of services were in the morning). Five FL 66s were in Tyne Yard, three identifiable, as was shovel 18. It was a clear run in, not stopping on the Tyne bridge, and we were soon leaving our seats, but not before seeing a 156 in the bay. The moment I saw the number I got my DMU platform 5 book out to confirm my suspicions. They were confirmed. Id just cleared my Northern 156s!
We got off and, although photos were needed of 43312, I couldnt be bothered heading down there as we were towards the end of the train. A few photos were got of 43306, followed by a couple of the Newcastle thunderbird, 67016.
43306 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
The thunderbird by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We then began to head back down the platform, trying to get a few decent photos of 156479, which was my last one. Due to the light, getting decent ones wasnt possible so we gave up after a while and just changed platforms to wait for our tram, which would be departing from platform 4. We waited at the northern end of the station for it, and we could soon see the distinctive livery of
43238 coming into view. On the back was yet another powercar on dads hit list,
43313. This was a 100-mile-requirement for him, but it still wouldnt be cleared after the 80.25-mile run to York, as hed only ever had it from Stonehaven to Aberdeen, a journey of 16 miles. Both powercars were duds for 100 for me, but it was still good to get some more mileage on them.
43238 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
43313 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
The journey was uneventful, again abnormally stopping at Durham, and wed got to York an hour after leaving Newcastle, which isnt bad with 3 stops and a TSR for Thirsk.
43313 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We had about 20 minutes until our next service after arrival at York, so a few photos of 43313 were got while waiting for it to leave. We then headed down onto platform 5 as there was a Kings Cross GC due to arrive (wed seen it as we passed Thirsk). 43468, the powercar that dad once needed to clear every passenger one (he now just needs 43013 to clear all powercars, including the scrapped ones), was soon arriving with 43480 on the back. I got one of 480 before running to the front of the set to get a few of 468, but the white cast from the camera lens didnt help them look brilliant. I then saw a VTEC tram approaching from the south. This was at about 10:10, and it looked stationary, but there wasnt one due, so I wondered why. I headed back down to dad and we went onto platform 9 together as our next service, the 10:19 Sunderland (a GC) was to arrive soon. We then saw that approaching, so I assumed that Id mistaken the VTEC one for a GC one. It turns out that I hadnt, and that the VTEC was the Kings Cross-Edinburgh tram tour, which took the York avoider. Im not going crazy then. Dud for the year
43423 was leading the pairing, with
43465 taking up the back. 465 was the only Grand Central powercar that I hadnt managed to get in 2016, so it was good to get it again. We got a bay of 2 on this, which had brilliant leg room as they all do, and we left York 3-late in the end, despite the set having arrived a couple of minutes early. The reason for the delay was the TPE 185 to Newcastle, which was running a couple of minutes late.
We were non stop through Thirsk on the fast lines due to engineering works, but I dont think we were doing 125mph at any point in the journey, as it felt rather slow. Maybe it was pathed that way because of our non stop through Thirsk. Anyway, wed soon completed the 30-mile journey and got to Northallerton, where I got a photo of 43465 before it headed off towards Sunderland.
Reflection by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
Heading for Sunderland by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
A Middlesborough diesel dez was following us, so I got a few photos, and I was snapping away until the arrival of our milkfloat north.
185101 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
The 185 duo by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
It was booked to leave at 10:55 but was running 7-late, but we could eventually see the rubbish front end of a 91, and hear the rubbish sound they make. I was very glad though as this wasnt any old milkfloat. It was one of my last 5 required ones! Even though I dislike the class, I was still glad to get on board winner
91108, taking me down to needing a mere 4 of them. Had it been a dud though, I think Id have preferred to travel on a proper milkfloat. Dad would anyway, even if it were a winner
. Im sure Tech would approve that dad didnt put the move from Northallerton to Newcastle in his moves book
.
91108 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
The milkfloat ride was soon over and we got to Newcastle about 10 down. This only gave us about 10 minutes to get some lunch, but I noticed that our tram back was running 8-late, which would give us about 20 minutes. Neither of us were in the mood for a kebab so we instead went in hunt of a Sainsburys or Tesco for a sarnie. We walked for a little bit but found nothing, so instead just headed to Greggs opposite the station. I recognized the music playing in the Greggs, this being Echo beach by Martha and the muffins (one hell of a cracking song) and I decided to get lunch. Dad went for a couple of saussie rolls and a Belgian bun (they didnt have the apple Danish that he usually goes for), me going for a couple of chicken bakes and a Bavarian slice (they didnt have a custard slice, so this is the nearest thing to it). I needed to pay by card, but the machines were playing up so dad had to pay in the end, as he was armed with cash. Typical.
We headed over to the platforms again and waited for the 12:00 to Kings Cross, which was currently expected at 12:08. There was another rail enthusiast at the end of the platform, who was really soche and also liked HSTs. He was getting the southbound chieftain instead of this one, so we said bye when our tram arrived about quarter of an hour late at about 12:15. The other enthusiast noted that the rear powercar looked like it had vinyl on it, which I didnt notice, and it did indeed. Dud for 100
43319 was leading, and wasnt on either of our lists, but required for 100
43274 was on the back! Dad needed 274 for the century, it having evaded him since 1988, so it was a score for both of us. Dad noted how lopsided the nameplate was, which is pretty poor. You can see how lopsided it is in the photo.
43319 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
43274 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
43274 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We got on board this very lightly loaded service and got a bay of 4, the guard announcing that the delay was due to an incredibly large passenger flow between Aberdeen and Edinburgh, as people were going down to Edinburgh to watch the rugby. It seems that almost everyone bailed at Edinburgh, and not to many people got on, so it gave a very pleasant journey. We got our books out and read for the journey, which passed without trouble, not losing or gaining any time on the way to York, where we had a +45 (it would have been a full hour without the delay.
Photos were got of 274 after arriving.
43274 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
43274 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We waited at the station for a bit, dad getting some photos of the architecture, and we were soon watching the 13:36 Edinburgh milkfloat arrive. I let some choice words come out of my mouth when I saw what was on it, as it was the milkfloat that I most wanted to get of my remaining 4, 91127. This was for 2 reasons. Number 1 was that Id accidently put it in my books as had for haulage a few years book when I hadnt, and the second because Id cabbed it. We obviously werent going to flag a tram for it, so we decided that wed look up its return working when on the chieftain. I know that 91s are pretty crap, but I still wanted to get it.
Heading north by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
After that I decided to go and get my North East Rover for Tuesday-Friday. This was issued without hassle and £50 later I was armed with the ticket to cover me for the rest of my trip. We then headed back over to platform 9 to wait for the northbound chieftain, which was delayed by a couple of minutes due to the Penzance 221 getting in the way (the 221 was running 5-late).
43299 was leading the Highland Chieftain today and I ran to the back powercar to check what it was before we boarded. I was pleased to see
43307 on the back, not because it was on my needs list, neither were, but because it was most certainly on dads. It was the VTEC powercar that hed had the longest time ago, having not had it since an unknown date in 1984! 33 freaking years ago! I last had it less than a year ago
. We were soon in a decent bay of 2, and the book came out again for the fast 44.25 miles to Darlington.
Our service back was slightly delayed, so I had ample time to get a photo of 43299, which was on my needs list for that.
At Darlo' by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
I stayed towards the end of the platform until itd left, getting a couple of 307 as it headed off too, even though it wasnt needed.
Darlington station by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We then wandered over to the other platform and had to wait for a few minutes for the second ex Aberdeen. I had my camera at the ready, although it wasnt needed as both powercars didnt need photos. Neither needed any mileage either, and both had already been had for the year, although not yet today. As Id only had one Virgin set before today, this meant that it had to be the one that Id had from Donny to York earlier in the month. I know that Nat will hate this. Why? Leading the set was one of his last 2 required VTEC powercars,
43277!
43309 was still with it. Dad really is doing incredibly well today because 277 was on his list, having been absent from the haulage book since 1988! This was also another service that wasnt busy so we could spread ourselves out on a bay of 4 for the uneventful ride back to York.
Darlington by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
The -1 back out was missed, which was annoying as it was a tram, but we thought it would so had planned to head to the NRM for some photographic opportunities. We got photos of 309 and watched it leave before exiting York station and heading over to the museum, heading straight for 87001.
York by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
York by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
York by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
Due to the dark corner that 87001 is in, and the annoying sodium lighting, we had to try loads of different things, and loads of different angles, and wed eventually got loads of good ones having spent about 40 minutes next to the loco.
An 87 in 2017 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
An 87 in 2017 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
An 87 in 2017 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
An 87 in 2017 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
An 87 in 2017 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We then didnt have too long until our next tram so it was back to the station and over to platform 5, which the 15:53 Aberdeen was to depart from. It was arriving at 15:45, a couple of minutes early, and I smiled when I saw the leading powercar,
43367. Id had it twice, as had dad, but it was still under 100 miles for both of us. God, it was still under 50, and it still wouldnt be cleared for 100 by Darlo. We got on board, dad going to get a couple of photos of the powercar as it still had over 5 minutes until departure but Id still need to get one at Darlington.
43367 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We were soon on the move, once again in a bay of 4, and we were soon arriving at Darlo. I knew that Id need to run up to the very front to get a photo of 43367 before running past 9 coaches and 2 powercars to get to the rear one in case I needed a photo of it. I was ready just before we arrived, with a normal ahead of me that tried to yank the door open before itd been unlocked, delaying him slightly. I then got a photo of 367 before running back past dad and down to the rear powercar, seeing that it was
43295, another one on dads list as it was required for 100 for him (and was cleared in this run). It wasnt needed for a photo for me, but I got a few anyway.
43367 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
43295 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
Wed done RTT checks on 43277 to see what we could do, knowing that we needed to be on the 17:54 from York to Darlo. Going through to Newcastle on 367 wasnt an option because itd give us a -2 at York onto this. This meant a +30 at Darlington for a +20 at York. With half an hour at Darlo until our milkfloat (I know, but it was the only way) back to York we decided that it was time for an explore and coffee. We left the station, something Ive never done here, and we had son left the rather grand station and took the sign towards the town centre. This looks like an awful part of Darlington, being run down and everything. This is probably because it was the old area for railway workers, who were paid little so the housing was poor and packed together. You could tell the sort of people around here werent exactly pleasant because of what the current owners of the houses have done. One of them had cemented broken glass to the top of their wall to stop people coming over, another few having used barbed wire for the same thing. Even though the station looks fantastic from the outside, the surrounding area certainly doesnt, although I cant base the whole of Darlington on what I saw.
The Costa had been shut when wed left the station but wed seen someone outside the station in what looked like Costa uniform having a smoke when we left, so we assumed that hed be back at the Costa when we got back to the station. He was indeed so we headed over, me ready for my creamy cooler after failing in the morning. Dad was going to get a hot choc, but it seems that I was once again denied the creamy cooler as this one was also out of ice! Typical! What is it, global warming?
I decided to get a cold drink from Smiths instead, just getting a hot choc for dad from Costa. We made use of the buy one get one half price drinks offer in Smiths to get two orange and carrot juice bursts for £3, also getting a couple of bars of choccy. Once wed got them we only had about 10 minutes to kill for our milkfloat, so we headed down to the north end of the station and sat on some benches while waiting for dud
91131 to take us back to York, noticing a rather funky PIS message before boarding.
Near Costa Coffee by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
It again wasnt a busy service so we easily got a bay of 4 on board for the bounce back to York. It was an incredibly jerky ride, one of my worst on a milkfloat, I think Id rather have had a proper milkfloat (you can see why this was the title for the trip
).
Dad had been mentioning before almost every train that he needed to go to the buffet and ask if theyd fill his thermal mug up with boiling water. Hed told me to remind him to head to the buffet before getting on board this milkfloat, so I did so but, like on every train that he remembered to head there on, he decided that he was comfy with his book and couldnt be bothered. Im not surprised... After a Northallerton stop wed got to York and had only 20 minutes until our tram back up to Darlington, which I had unfortunately found out was a dud for the day by doing an RTT check for Kings Cross to see what the 16:00 Edinburgh formed from. It had formed from the first ex Aberdeen, which wed had from Newcastle to York, so it was the return of
43274 and
43319 that took us back up to Darlington, again leaving from platform 5 at York. This service was slightly busier that the ones that wed recently had, so we only managed to get a bay of 2, but it was good enough for our needs. What were our needs? Well, to put it simply, a seat
.
Evening 185 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
We had soon got back to Darlington, where we arrived a couple of minutes early. It was only when we arrived that it sunk in how long our fester was. Wed be stuck at Darlington for 45 freaking minutes! The reason for not getting the service half an hour earlier was simple. By waiting 45 minutes wed get on the return working of 91127, the winner that Id seen heading north at York earlier in the day.
VTEC has put loads and loads of banners all over Darlo station advertising the new, brilliant IEPs, saying stuff like
waiting for a train just got exciting. Yep, really. The reason the waiting is the exciting bit is surely because youve
taken the joy of the train ride away, so the waiting is way more exciting than the actual journey
. Most were absolute garbage, and it really shows how desperate VTEC are if theyre putting so much effort into advertising something as brilliant that they wouldnt have got if theyd had the choice.
We spent 25 minutes by slowly wandering to the far end of the platform (the south end) and back, seeing the NMT on the avoiding line while down there. We took a while to wander back too, via the toilet, and got back to the benches at the northern end with about 10 minutes left. If dad worked this move out wrongly Im not going to be a happy bunny (well, if he worked it out correctly then I also wouldnt be Id simply be a happy person).
We saw the ex Edinburgh tram tour arrive on the avoiding lines while waiting, so I decided to send a text to Kite159, who I knew was on it, for a laugh.
We could soon see the DVT arriving, and I was relieved to see that it was the same one that was with 127 earlier on. I confirmed that it was indeed winner
91127 before boarding, not that it made any difference because wed get it anyway. We got a bay of 4 on board and were soon on the racetrack again for the final move of our round robin. This was actually one of the last few services heading south on the ECML through Thirsk, as it was shut there after 20:00 (this was the 19:02 from Darlo).
Back at York we could see that the huge crowds that had piled in during the day; there must have been some sort of event on, there was that many people, including lots of hen parties (cluck, cluck). We didnt wait to hear the dull sound of a milkfloat before heading over the footbridge and down to the car park, getting in ready for the drive home. Just like in the morning, we decided to head through the suburbs instead of heading to Acomb bar, and we were soon on the move, getting back to Pickering 45-50 minutes later after a terrific day. Bring on the North East Rover!
