Good day trip out there and with no problems! As Kite said 150002 has been gone from Reading for a long while now. As Cowley mentioned the short HST sets, I'm quite looking forward to seeing how much quicker they are off the mark.
They'll be off like a shot, I'm sure of that
. Hopefully they'll live up to their nickname 'pocket rockets'!
XC have a set being fitted with power doors? I didn't know that was happening!
Yep. They're all being done ready for 2020.
Quiz me!
No, I've changed my mind. Don't quiz me. No, really, don't. I don't want to make an utter fool of myself. Oh well, too late for that I guess (15 years too late, really
). Anyway, Saturday the 8th of April 2017 was the date of our next quizmaster meet, this time in Sheffield. This was the day after my previous trip, which involved getting up at 05:20, so I was ready for a rather tiring day with a start at 06:20 for the 07:21 from Leam. I slept fairly well and woke up about 20 minutes before my alarm was to go off. I knew that I wasn't going to get back to sleep now, so I just got up and ready, getting a bit of forum time before heading out. Dad was taking me this morning, for one main reason. Although he isn't really a steam enthusiast, there was a tour with Earl of Mount Edgecombe coming through Leam not long after my train so he wanted to wait for that. It was due to wait in the centre roads at Leamington for 20 minutes before heading off too, so he'd have something to look at before it left. With a fairly good plan for the morning, we set off at just after 06:50 and dad dropped me off at the station before going to park the car in an area that's free, allowing me to get tickets.
I headed to the ticket office and purchased (look at me using posh words) a return to Burton-on-Trent, along with a Sheffield plusbus. Why Burton I hear you ask (with my supersonic hearing)? By buying a ticket to Burton and then a Derbyshire Wayfarer, you save some money on a through ticket, along with extra flexibility with the Wayfarer. Sounds like a good deal! I didn't even bother to try and get my Wayfarer issued at the station, as it wasn't worth the hassle that I was bound to come across, and decided to get that on the Cross Country service as I did last time I used this ticket.
I took a seat on a bench on platform 2, dad joining me not long after. We didn't have too long to wait for my service to Brum, which was running a few minutes late thanks to the late running 221 in front of it (shock horror!). My cart to Brum was soon approaching, and I was pleasantly surprised to see
168112 on it this morning, as it's usually a service worked by one of Chiltern's grotty 170s (the ones they got from TPE). I said bye to dad and got on board, taking a seat in the very front bay of 4 on the right hand side, and we were soon on the move.
The kettle that dad was waiting at Leam for passed us at Warwick, so I text him to say before sitting back and relaxing for the rest of the journey, trying to imagine that I wasn't on a 168 and that I was instead on a cat (not easy, I'll tell you that). Anyway, 68012 soon deposited me at Moor Street. Shoot, did I say 68012? Nope, I meant
168
112. Oops
. Talking of 68012, I saw it at Bordesley while it was heading to Marylebone, so I text dad to say as it wasn't too far from clearance for him, so a run to Marylebone and back would do the job. Alas he wasn't able to today, but thanked me for the gen anyway as I left the cart and headed for the bat cave.
I got there just after 08:00 and immediately headed down to platforms 10/11 (an island platform), as my service was due to leave from platform 10A. I went down at the 'B' end as usual and got there just as 1V44, the service that I'd got to Bristol the day before, arrived. This was a set that we'd had the day before, with 43301 leading, so I got a couple of photos of that before heading down to my 170.
Heading for Devon by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
Any hope of a winner disappeared when I saw that it was a two-car, although I've only ever had
170520 on a run from Cardiff to Newport, so it isn't ultra high mileage (not that it matters for one of XC's grotty 170s). 1st class was towards the front of the train, unfortunately, so I took a seat in the very rear bay of 4 and just hoped that I wouldn't get wedged out. I thankfully didn't, and we were soon on the move towards Derby, running on time with a departure at 08:19.
The guard did a ticket check around Lawley Street freightliner terminal, so I showed him my ticket to Burton and asked for a Derbyshire wayfarer. He apologized and said that the new machines (you know, the ones that issue a ticket that probably took half the Amazon rainforest to create) can't issue them so he gave me permission to travel to Derby and get it there, or on the next train as I only had 5 minutes. I thanked him before putting some music on to reduce the 170 drone on the 41.5-mile journey to Derby.
56303 was in the bay on the approach to the station, with the NMT being sat in the sidings next to the station. I didn't have enough time to get my ticket from the ticket office and get on the 222 at 09:05 (it was now 09:00), so I decided that I'd ask the guard before boarding. To make good use of the time, I went to get a couple of photos of the NMT, which was powered by 43062 and 43014 (typical, two of my last 3 required powercars together and I can't get them despite being a few feet away). While getting a photo of 43062, I was spotted by a forum member, but we couldn't chat long as my 222 forward to Sheffield was approaching. I said bye and changed platforms, seeing that the arriving 222 was...
One of three that I'd already had! What are the odds? Well, 1 in 9, but I didn't want it answered - it was a rhetorical question! Anyway, there was no way that I was going to go for a dud 222 when there was another 20 minutes later, so I headed to the ticket office and got my Derbyshire Wayfarer there, which was laminated onto a piece of card saying about the ticket. Now with a valid ticket to Derby and forward to Sheffield, I headed back over to the NMT to get a photo of 43014 before heading back over to the platform for my 222 north.
Sunbathing by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
Sunbathing by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
I could soon see a 222 approaching, this one thankfully required, and I was soon in a bay of 4 with someone else on
222020. We were soon on the move and I've forgotten how dire these things are. I don't know what it is about them, but I began to feel ill, with both a stomachache and a headache by Duffield. They affected me a little on the runs to Beeston from Nottingham that I've previously done, but I didn't really notice it too much due to the short journey time. I continued to feel worse as the journey progressed and eventually got off at Sheffield feeling really bad, with a thumping headache and evil stomachache. God, they're awful units!
I was now in need of some brekky to try and feel slightly better, so I headed to the tram platform and got on board the first available, dud
125, having seen that, due to Northern being on strike, there was 13 pacers sat in the through roads in the station. I decided to take this only to Fitzalan Square, despite knowing that there was a Greggs right next to Castle Square. I had a reason for this though, just so you know that I hadn't started to go crazy from the 222 illness. I'd seen that a tram was already in Castle Square tram stop, so I wanted to confirm that it wasn't my last one, 117. By the time I noticed that it was a blue one (meaning it was dud), 125's doors had locked so I was stuck at Fitzalan Square. No fear though, as I saw another tram was waiting for the blue one to clear the platform at Castle Square, so I ran up the hill, getting to Castle Square just as the one behind arrived. I couldn't believe my eyes. Winner
117! I'd cleared the Supertram in the space of 10 minutes, with no time festering! I gladly hopped on board and now needed to decide where to go. This tram was bound for Meadowhall, but I wasn't only going to take my last one for a 6-chain journey to Fitzalan Square so I could get brekky sooner. I instead decided to take it down the Meadowhall branch for a while, eventually bailing at Nunnery Square to see the 399s.
There was only one of them viewable, but it was a mere 3 minutes until the next tram anyway, so I didn't mind. I got a photo as a 222 passed, and could soon see dud
109 arriving to take me back to the city centre.
The new one by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
I went through to Castle Square this time, with the plan of heading to Greggs, but that plan went away when I saw that the next tram was arriving at the same time as us, so I just hopped on
116 for the very short ride to Fitzalan Square, with the plan of walking back up. This plan also got put away, as I just managed to make the connection onto
115 back up to Castle Square, where I did now go for brekky.
I went to Greggs and got a sausage and bacon bap and orange juice, which was then taken back to the tram stop. Tram 115 (the one that I'd got off a few minutes ago) had only gone to Cathedral so was now returning. I got back on board and decided to go for a slightly longer run, with
115 taking me to Park Grange Road. I then decided to head back towards the city centre as there wasn't long before we needed to meet up.
123 was the first one in, so I took it up to Cathedral. I then ran back to Castle Square for
114 behind back up to Cathedral, where it terminated and formed a Herdings Park service. I stayed on board and took it back down to Sheffield station, ending my morning of tram bashing. Now, time to meet up with people!
I was soon watching the 10:59 arrival from St Pancras come in, which is the service I would have got if I decided to flag the hour in Sheffield before the meeting (involving the 08:23 from Leam). I was kicking myself and was really, really ticked off when I saw what was arriving on it. Instead of the booked 222, it was 43047 and 43058! Why did I have to decide to go for an extra hour - I would've happily given up clearing the Sheffield trams to get a tram from Derby to Sheffield! Both powercars were required for the year, with 058 also being needed for 100, but there was nothing I could now do other than get photos of them for my collection.
Vice by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
After that, I just wandered around the station for a bit before meeting up with the others. I'm now not going to go into much detail of what we did to avoid boring you (there wasn't much train/tram related stuff, much to my disgust). We had to wait a couple of minutes for the last two members of our group before starting the plan, which I didn't really like. It involved walking over to the bus station to start with (see what I mean?). We had to wait for quite a while before a double decker arrived to take us away from Sheffield. It was a long run, including doing a long loop to end up in the same place before continuing (did I say how I hated this plan?
) but we eventually got to Spinkhill, where we took a walk alongside the road for a while, before trying to get onto an old railway line. We couldn't do this immediately, so we had to walk down a path for a while before joining the railway line. It was a long walk, with quite a lot of ballast in places, but we eventually made it to Westfield tram stop, a winner shack (and one stop away from Halfway).
We were now rather hungry, so had to decide whether to get lunch in Sheffield city centre or at Crystal Peaks, and decided on the former. The PIS was playing games, saying that there was a tram due in 2 minutes heading towards Sheffield. 5 minutes later one had never appeared, so we thought that there probably wasn't one the Halfway side of the station at the moment. Because of this, we got on tram
101 through to Halfway, finding out that there wasn't a tram on that end of the line. A good call then!
We had the prime seats for the journey back towards Sheffield, finding out that there had been problems on the line earlier that had delayed the trams. I got a couple of photos out of the front of the tram en route and, after a long journey, we got back to Sheffield city centre, namely Castle Square, where we met up with BB21.
Driver's eye view by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
Driver's eye view by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
There's a Wetherspoon right next to Castle Square tram stop, which we decided to use for a late lunch/early tea. It was busy, but a couple of people were happy to move so we could all sit together. Food was ordered using the Wetherspoon app, me going for half of a 2 for £8.19 deal (I went for steak and kidney pudding, chips, peas and gravy). It was a great dinner, and I went for pudding after too (half of a 2 for £5 deal), this being chocolate fudge cake and ice cream. It went down rather well, that's for sure. I had to leave before most other people, as I needed to be on the 17:29 to Derby, so I said bye at about 16:45 and headed back onto Castle Square tram stop, where it was onto the first available tram,
124. This was heading to Meadowhall so I bailed at Fitzalan Square for
108 forward to Sheffield station. I bailed here despite having half an hour until my train and decided to head for Granville Road after seeing that I had 5 minutes until the next tram was due out, giving me time to run there for it back. This went smoothly, me getting to Granville Road as
110 was arriving. Back to Sheffield station, where I did a repeat of this move, with
115 taking me from Granville Road back to Sheffield Station. I then got a photo before wandering down to my train, winner
222003.
Waiting time by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
I got to the very rear coach to find that it was completely empty, a nice surprise. I got an interior photo, popping off the 222 for a moment to see 1S51, the same XC tram that I'd seen at New Street earlier in the day, arrive.
Class 222 interior by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
I then got back into my bay of 4 and waited for departure in the ticking timebomb of illness.
All good things must come to and end (typical), as a couple of minutes before departure, a rather loud group of people (a gang, really) came into the coach and were rather loud, but were most certainly soche. While most of the group were singing a loud song, one of the guys in the bay of 4 behind me apologized to me. Then, after departure, the leader of the group came to me and told me to say if they were being too loud. I didn't say anything, as they were having a good time and I didn't want to spoil their fun (as there was no alcohol or anything and they were soche). The 222 had the same effect on me as it had on the journey up, and I was really glad to get off the awful thing at Derby, where I had about 10 minutes to wait. I went up to get a photo of 56303 while waiting before moving down the platform to wait for my 170 south.
Evening 56 by
fishquinn1, on Flickr
This was another 2 coach one according to the boards, so a guaranteed dud, and I could soon see my cart arriving. I was surprised at the one it was,
170520, because it was the same one that I'd had to Derby earlier in the day, having done Derby-Nottingham-Cardiff-Nottingham-Derby since I'd last seen it! I got back in the same coach as the morning, getting one of the single seats at the very front, and we were soon on the move.
There were loads and loads of people waiting at Burton for this service, most of them completely p****d, and it was a very busy service after there, with some loud prats in the vestibule drinking loads of beer, badly singing loads of Proclaimers songs, yelling at random passengers and smoking e-cigarettes. The trolley dolly, who was in the same vestibule as them, didn't bat an eyelid at all either. It wasn't a pleasant journey back to New Street, the best bit (by far) being leaving the grotty 170.
We were a few minutes late, giving me 10 minutes to get to Snow Hell for my cart back, the 19:12. I could go for Moor Street if I wanted, giving me an extra 3 minutes and a shorter walk, but less chance of a decent seat, so I jogged over to Snow Hell, getting there with ample time to get onto my pair of 170s (I really have had enough of them for one, maybe two, lifetimes
). This was
168327 and
168321, me taking a decent seat in the latter for the dull ride back up to Leamington, although it did give me a chance to
eavesdrop on listen to the weird lives of the normals who sat in the bay of 4 next to me after Dorridge.
Back at Leam, there was about 15 minutes until the kettle that dad had seen come through earlier was due to come back through, so dad and I had decided to wait for that. Dad hadn't got to Leamington yet, so I just took our usual seats on platform 3 to wait for him. This changed when I saw a familiar face walking down the platform towards myself and another enthusiast. It was a really, really annoying enthusiast that I know, so I just hid so he walked right past me to the other enthusiast and I made a run for it down the platform and across to platform 2, having received a call from dad to say to meet him there. I did so and we were soon watching an impressive performance from 'Earl of Mount Edgecombe'. After seeing that, it was out into the car park and into the car for the drive back home, picking Nat up for a sleepover on the way back (as we had a trip the next day).
)
.
Reflected 60 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Running round by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Coupling up by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Roof comparison by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Dirt stained by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Hide and seek by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Wansford by fishquinn1, on Flickr
31452 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
47815 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Smiling at Peterborough by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Running round by fishquinn1, on Flickr
47815 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Orton Mere deltic by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Teddybear by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Wansford by fishquinn1, on Flickr
47815 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Peterborough by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Peterborough by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Peeling paint by fishquinn1, on Flickr
