FQ's trips around the globe

[FQ]

Kevin picked me up at Stafford once after I was overcarried on a Stockport leap... I knew something was wrong when we passed Mauldeth Road! There were engineering works I didn't know about... he announced the details of our route (including linespeeds and the fact we'd stop at Crewe but the doors would nit be released) in great detail! He found my adventure rather amusing, and neither of us had any words for the geezer who boarded at Stafford and-despite hearing the detailed announcement in the platform-was heading to Stoke...

He really is an excellent guard. Trust you to no realise that there were engineering diverts though

047 I think?
Do EMT powercars not move around like the GWR ones, those pairings are identical to last Thursday.

I'm not sure, I really like the EMT sets (except the seats) I'll be getting a few GWR ones on Tuesday so I'll make my decision then.

BTW I've never had this Kevin bloke before

I know that the powercars do change fairly regularly but some can be together for ages as you say. With 050 and 052 as an example, they haven't been together for all that time because 052 was with 045 when we had it on the Peterborough-Donny run. It just changed back to with 050 (oddly enough) before it failed on you

 

[Cowley]

Just caught up with the last couple of reports fq. Especially enjoyed reading about your Devon trip.
Which pub was it that your dad used to frequent? The Artful Dodger or the long gone Red Cow?
I’m assuming it was the Artful as it was a bit of a bashers haunt back then.

 

[FQ]

Just caught up with the last couple of reports fq. Especially enjoyed reading about your Devon trip.
Which pub was it that your dad used to frequent? The Artful Dodger or the long gone Red Cow?
I’m assuming it was the Artful as it was a bit of a bashers haunt back then.

Cheers! I'll ask dad later: he's currently asleep recovering from a night shift.


The 26 in the north - day 2


After a good sleep at my grandparents I was up at about 07:30. The trains that the forum event was being held on were the 11:00 from Pickering to Grosmont and back and the 14:00 from Pickering to Grosmont and back. These were both apparently booked steam turns but it didn't stop me asking for some gen to find out if either were a diesel (with one in particular wanted). I could've jumped for joy when I saw that it'd be 26038 that should take the return of the 11:00 back to Pickering and then back to Grosmont on the 14:00. Absolute monster!

I wandered over to the station from my grandparents house at about 10:00 as I was already bored stiff. It only takes 20-25 minutes to get to the station so I was there a good half hour before the train was due but was soon recognised. We gradually formed a group and got on board when we could in a private coach. Winner kettle 80136 was many coaches away up front and we were soon on the move away from Pickering.

It was good fun to have a catch up with everyone on the way to Grosmont and was good fun to travel on the Moors again. After arrival at Grosmont most of us got off for a few photos and watched winner 26038 couple up. Yep, a winner. I've started the loco up but have never actually traveled behind it. That was certainly about to change!
Grosmont 26 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Waiting to leave by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Tom Clift by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Tom Clift by fishquinn1, on Flickr
After securing my photos I got back on board and managed to secure a seat right next to the loco. I mean right next to as well; this was the view from my seat:
The view from the coach by fishquinn1, on Flickr
25 and 26 by fishquinn1, on Flickr

The noise on the run back through to Pickering was absolutely amazing and it was great to hear a 26 thrash away. We were soon back where we started but a run to Grosmont on the tiptop and then a kettle back to Pickering were still to come.
Pickering 26 by fishquinn1, on Flickr

A buffet was served while we were sat in Pickering station so the return journey was spent enjoying a rather large lunch. I was very full at the end of it, that's for sure. I spent the rest of the journey chatting and looking at the scenery and after arriving at Grosmont the group split into two.
View from the back by fishquinn1, on Flickr
One group decided to walk to Goathland to pick up our return to Pickering there (for we had quite a while). The other was just going to head to Grosmont shed to see what the NYMR had to offer there and just chill out in Grosmont before the train back. I decided to join the latter group and it gave me the chance to get a few photos in the shed and yard.
Hidden away by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Looking down by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Trying to hide by fishquinn1, on Flickr

After about an hour we had to head back to the station in time for our train back to Pickering. The 'private' coaches that we'd had for the previous three runs had to be taken off now so we had to get into the already rather busy three coach train led by winner 44806. A few tables were reserved for our group, however, so there was no we all had seats for the journey back to Pickering.

Once back at Pickering, it now being about 17:45, people were to start heading home. Some people were taking the car to York, some the bus. I joined the group getting the bus as they needed to head in the same direction as me. I walked with the group for about 75% of the way back to my grandparents, to their bus stop and then continued myself to my grandparents where a funky evening was had with them.

 

[Cowley]

What an excellent day out. Gotta love a 26.
I’m going to try and do the line this year, I’ve wanted to for decades but it’s just not a part of the uk that I ever go too.

 

[FQ]

The Jolly Porter was the pub dad used to frequent (opposite the Red Cow, which he also headed to fairly regularly).
26 action is just brilliant. They fit perfectly well onto a line like the NYMR too. It's a rather nice part of the country so is certainly worth a visit.

 

[Cowley]

The Jolly Porter was the pub dad used to frequent (opposite the Red Cow, which he also headed to fairly regularly).
26 action is just brilliant. They fit perfectly well onto a line like the NYMR too. It's a rather nice part of the country so is certainly worth a visit.

Ha! I used to drink in there. I wonder if we ever stood next to each other in the bar ...

 

[Dhassell]

Sounds like you had a good day on the NYMR! I haven't been since 2012, but I remember it being quiet scenic!

 

[FQ]

Ha! I used to drink in there. I wonder if we ever stood next to each other in the bar ...

Quite possibly . He was a regular thanks to loco haulage from Salisbury.

Sounds like you had a good day on the NYMR! I haven't been since 2012, but I remember it being quiet scenic!

The bit over the Moors certainly is rather scenic. Cheers!


The 26 in the north - day 3

Hometime. After the day in Pickering on the Sunday, going to the NYMR for some photos of 26038 during the day, my travel day back to Leam was to be on Monday the 7th of August. I was to get the 08:45 tram south from York so had to ask granddad to take me to Malton for the 08:01 diesel dez to York. I hate the thought of kicking granddad out of bed early (he really isn't a morning person) but he got up in time and dropped me off at the station with about 15 minutes until my train. Dud 185135 was soon arriving and this service was oddly quieter than the 09:13 has been almost every time I've taken it. The 08:01 gets to York at 08:26 so would be perfect for 9-5ers but the 09:13 is the first off peak service so would be busier with daytrippers. Still, I was surprised to get a bay of 2 to myself.

On arrival at York I headed over to platform 11 because I noticed that there was a West Coast tour to Carlisle meant to depart at 08:40. 47804 and 47245 were soon arriving with the ECS so I got several photos and it was certainly a shame that I couldn't go for it, particularly as 245 was one of my last two operational West Coast brush left for haulage (772 being the other). Still, there's nothing wrong with 43304 and 43303, the same pair that took me to York on Friday. Definitely a mileage boost for them! 303 would go up to 852 miles by Brum and 304, still my highest mileage tram, just under 1000 miles higher than it at 1828.75 miles! Not too bad!
York 47 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Slam doors at York by fishquinn1, on Flickr

The journey south was good fun, seeing a VTEC tram at Leeds vice a 91. New Street was reached about 10 minutes late at 11:20 after a 141-mile run. With an arrival time of 11:20 I had 4 and a half hours until the 15:55 cat back home with dad. I decided to make use of the time to get a couple of my required shacks in the area, these being my last two on the Rugeley branch. I was already valid towards Rugeley in one direction because of the ticket I held so it made sense to go for it.
43304 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
43303 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I headed upstairs and met up with dad, who had decided to meet up with me for coffee and cake before my train towards Rugeley, the 12:12. We headed to the Cafe Nero opposite the station for a hot choc, getting annoyed with normals as we did so. It was good to catch up with dad again after a couple of days. We had plenty of time to drink our hot chocolates before I needed to head back to the station and buy a ticket. I used the TVM and then headed downstairs onto the platform in time for 153354 and 170508. I sat in the 153 and we were soon departing, heading via Soho this afternoon.

The journey up to my first shack score was rather boring so it was a relief to alight at Rugeley Town. There isn't much of interest in the local vicinity of Rugeley Town but I decided to go for a walk anyway as I had 40 minutes and hadn't yet had lunch. I wasn't walking for long before I noticed a Co-op so headed over there. £3 later I had a bottle of water, a bag of sausage rolls and a pack of 6 mini cheddars. Not too bad at all.

I wandered back to the station and had quarter of an hour left to wait. I paced up and down the platform multiple times (it gets boring rather quickly) and was very glad when 170508 and 153354 arrived.
Rugeley Town by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I got a seat in the 170 on this run and a ticket check was soon taking place. I got my ticket out and then realized that I'd made a big mistake. I was using the TVM's 'tickets from another station' facility to get a Rugeley Town-Birmingham ticket but it seems that I made a mistake and ended up with a Brum-Rugeley ticket and didn't realize until just before the check took place. I explained to the guard and showed him both of my tickets (that being two tickets valid for Brum-Rugeley) and he accepted them. Thank god for that!

I alighted at Tame Bridge (a dud shack) as it was a good connection onto the next train up the Rugeley line. 170630 was soon arriving and I got a decent enough seat on board for the journey up to my last required shack on the Rugeley line, Landywood. This is a staggered platform station with a road bridge required to change platforms but I had about 10 minutes to get to the other platform. The road was rather busy but I wasn't waiting for long before getting on the Birmingham bound side.
Landywood by fishquinn1, on Flickr
170513 was soon arriving and I was soon on board heading away from the Rugeley line for a long time. No reason to go back to that rather dull line for a while!

Arrival at New Street was at about 15:40, which gave me quarter of an hour to get to Moor Street for H62. I wandered over, meeting dad there and we got in the front coach of 68010 (excluding business zone). Obviously you can't hear the thrash from up there but all the normals get in the back coach (and there's loads of them on H62) so you have a much nicer environment.

Leamington was soon reached and we took the normal walk back to the car and headed home. So long Yorkshire, see you in 5 days!

 

[Kite159]

Agreed, the Chase Line isn't the most exciting of lines, slow in places and dull traction.

 

[FQ]

Agreed. Definitely not the most inspiring.



Midlands meet-up

On Tuesday the 8th of August, one day after arriving back from my grandparents in Yorkshire, I was out again. Cactustwirly, Nat and I had arranged to meet up for a West Midlands Day Ranger with Nat and I taking part in a Birmingham forum meal later in the day. I'd also have the chance to score a few shacks before meeting up with Cactus if I got the 06:24 in with dad, which was my plan anyway.

The usual early rise and ride into Leamington was had on the Tuesday morning and I bought my West Midlands Day Ranger at the ticket office. The member of staff is one of the really competent ones there and is really soche too. My day ranger was issued with no problems and he also reminded me of the time restrictions. Usually working with tickets that have no time restrictions until I get into area I was glad to be reminded as I'd totally forgotten. I was able to get the extra ticket required in order to make it valid there and then. Anyway, all equipped with tickets dad and I got on board 165005 for the run to Birmingham.

We alighted at Snow Hill as usual and headed to Wetherspoon for brekky. A good breakfast was devoured (a massive heart disease on a plate) here and I worked out my plan while having breakfast. I worked out that for my plan to work I'd need to be on the 08:50 from New Street to Rugby for a dez forward to Long Buckby. This gave me over an hour once I left dad just before 07:45 so needed to decide what to do. My first port of call was going to be the 07:50 cat from Snow Hell through to Moor Street. I wandered over, getting there just before 68012 rolled in. This was one of my last couple needed for 1000 miles so was good. Typical that it would only be 0.75 miles. Or would it? I checked RTT before going into the dead zone that is the Snow Hill tunnels and found out that I'd be able to do Snow Hell-Solihull-Smethwick-New Street in time for my train if I could make a tight connection at Solihull. I decided to go for it and 6.5 miles after I expected to I was leaving 68012 and heading straight onto 172332 and 172345, which had arrived at the same time as us.

The 172s took me to Smethwick Galton Bridge with no problems and I found out that my service to Brum was running 5 minutes late. This, annoyingly, would mean that my connection at New Street would be a zero minute one. I had a backup plan, fortunately, but it wasn't a particularly fun one. I dislike long runs on 350s (particularly those that include multiple stops) so I wasn't looking forward to New Street to Long Buckby in one hit. Still, it was a necessary evil for the winner shack so dud 350240 took me to New Street for 350101 forward from there. The 350/1s are looking incredibly tatty inside now and really need an interior refurb (the seat covers are looking so worn!); hopefully that's something that Abellio plan to do with the new franchise.

A winner 88 for sight was scored at Rugby as we passed, with 86259 also being present and we'd soon reached a very wet Long Buckby. The rain was hammering down so it was a case of sprinting for the underpass after getting off the des. I got very wet just getting there so stayed underneath until it died down and gave me a chance to get to the shelter on the platform. After quite a long time 350120 arrived and took me back to Coventry where it was a 15-minute wait until the 10:42 Nuneaton 153. I headed to the 1st class lounge to pass the time and get some snacks. My train, 153375, arrived on time and I got a bay of 4 on board for the ride to the penultimate station on this service, Bermuda Park. When I alighted it became shack score 2. I went for a short walk while here and spent the remainder of the time waiting for the return of 153375 on the station. Back up to Coventry Arena, clearing the Coventry-Nuneaton line with this shack. I had another fester at this rather odd choice of a station. It's built to serve the Richo arena (which is right next to the station) but is closed for a few hours after an event on the Richo arena due to crowd controls with a 153 or two.

I sat and waited for the arrival of 153375 again, for the last time today. This time I had someone to chat to on board because Cactustwirly had joined this service at Coventry. I joined him at his bay of 4 and, unfortunately, some chav in the bay of 4 opposite heard us talking and started asking random questions that continued to Nuneaton. He left there (thankfully) with Cactus and I heading over to the New Street bound platform for a short wait. The 12:10 New Street was soon arriving and 170636 was soon arriving to take us to Brum.

The Nuneaton to Brum line is really boring so it was good to have someone to chat to on the way. Arrival at New Street was on time at 12:38 so we had 10 minutes to get over to our next train, the 12:49 Hereford. Nathan was meeting us on this service having spent the morning doing his own thing (he started at Rugby). He texted me to say that he was in the back coach of the 170 (the one next to the stairs so likely to be the most busy: why?) so we wandered over and checked it but he was nowhere to be seen. We wandered through and found that he was right at the front, apparently not knowing that where he was was actually the front! Still, it wasn't too busy down here so we could spread ourselves across a couple of bays of 4. I couldn't help but notice an advert London Midland had in the 170. It was one advertising their cheap fares and, in large writing across the poster was 'Find a cheap date'. A new service that London Midland offer?

We took this out to Worcester Foregate Street, where our plan was to get a tram to Malvern and back. Checking the departure board after arriving at Worcester showed that our tram was running late so we decided to check how long it'd take to get to Worcester Shrub Hill for the extra chainage. It didn't seem too far but it wasn't a very fun walk, being quite fast and a long track through not-so-nice areas. We thought that we were lost at one point but ended up getting to Shrub Hill just in time to watch the arrival of 43004 and 43079.
Approaching Worcester by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Approaching Worcester by fishquinn1, on Flickr
We got on board and stayed put for the journey through to Great Malvern, where Cactus and I left Nat for a bit. I wanted to shack score Malvern Link and found out that it was possible by getting a 170 to Malvern Link for the tram forward.
Malvern HST by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Malvern HST by fishquinn1, on Flickr
170516 took Cactus and I forward to Malvern Link where it was a short wait before Nat arrived with 43079 and 43004 again. We got good seats again and had to say bye to Nat once more at Worcester Shrub Hill. Cactus and I were heading back to Brum for his train while Nat was going to Evesham and Pershore for some extra tram time. 172342 and 172222 were already in the other platform so the two of us just wandered over and got on board.
HST at Worcester by fishquinn1, on Flickr

The PIS seemed rather confused on this pairing. Instead of giving the calling pattern it simply said 'Turbostar class 171'. Yep, 171. It seemed to think that it was down south...
Confused class 172 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Anyway, the 172s took us all the way to Birmingham via the dark side and, checking RTT we found out that dad's train home was a +5 off this one at Moor Street. A bit of cat action would go down well and Cactus would be able to get it to Solihull on it so we decided to go for it. 68009 was in the platform at Moor Street as we arrived so the two of us headed over to it and got in the front coach, where dad would be. He wasn't there and didn't turn up oddly but I called him after Solihull and found out that he had to work late. Oh well. Cactus left the cat at Solihull to start his journey home and I decided to stay on to Banbury. Thanks for a great day Cactus!

I was soon alighting off 009 and Banbury and would have 25 minutes here. The time passed fairly slowly (as always with a fester at Banbury) and I was pleased to get on the 17:08 Kidderminster with 68013. This took me back towards Birmingham and I got a text from Cactus in the Warwick area to say that his train to London had hit someone at Marston Green... Hell... Not good at all. I text dad to let him know to get out of Brum ASAP because London services would be much busier than usual. He thanked me and said that he'd leave on the 17:55 from Brum so I ended up passing him at Moor Street. Hairball took me through to Snow Hill and I'd spoken to Nat and arranged to meet him at New Street off his delayed LM 150 from Worcester.
Cat 13 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Cat 13 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I headed down the hill to New Street on tram 25 where I went over to Pret a manger and waited outside there for Nat, who got there a couple of minutes later. Now time for the forum meal.

Nat and I wandered over to the venue next to Gas Street basin, The Pickled Piglet. This was a preorder location that was highly expensive for what it was. We met up with everyone else now and had a good chat for a few hours with everyone while having dinner. What about the dinner? It was small and it was incredibly, incredibly expensive. The food quality was pretty good but I definitely wouldn't recommend.

Nat and I left the venue just before 20:00 and wandered over to Snow Hell in time for the 20:15 back to Leam. 168218 and 168110 were in the station (along with a 168/3 that had worked in from London but uncoupled in Birmingham) so we got a decent bay of 4 in the back of the 168/1. This service isn't a busy one so we weren't wedged out on the journey back to Leamington. It's just a shame that such a funky day had to end with a 168 (yes, even one of the best subclass).

When we got to Leamington it was a case of going out into the carpark and waiting for Nat's mum to arrive to take us home. 15 minutes later I was back home. Thanks to Cactus for a great day!

 

[FQ]

Land of the red day 1

The positioning move. The 12th of August 2017 was to be the start of our 2017 North East Rover. The 12th was a Saturday and we were planning to head north on the 16:03 Glasgow tram from New Street just like we'd planned the previous year but had ended up going via Manchester because of a voyager substitute. The plan was to get the 14:25 cat from Leam to Brum and hang around in Brum for an hour waiting for our tram. That way it would be fully loco hauled from Leamington to York (yes, I know that isn't particularly difficult...)

After getting fully packed on the Saturday morning I got in the car with dad and the two of us headed to Leamington, picking Nathan up on the way to the station. Dad dropped us off in the car park before heading home (it would be a bit pointless if he didn't, wouldn't it) and Nat and I headed to the ticket office to grab our tickets to Birmingham.
Leamington cat by fishquinn1, on Flickr
It was then up to platform 2 for a fairly short wait until 68011 roared in and took us north to Birmingham. Another 22.75 miles in the bag on that monster!

When we got to Moor Street it was a case of heading straight over to the bat cave. Our train wouldn't be for about an hour but there was something rather rare due through working the 15:12 Plymouth that I wanted to see and get a few photos of. We headed over to the platform and 43207 arrived leading the usual Cross Country MK3s and not so usual VTEC 43305. There had been a problem with the Cross Country powercar at Neville Hill a couple of days prior so East Midlands Trains had provided 43043 to take the set to Plymouth and back to Scotland. Then the EMT powercar had a fault so VTEC let XC get 43305 to take it south again, all the way to Penzance. The presence of a VTEC powercar was rather odd at New Street so multiple photos were got before it left.
Lost by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Lost by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Lost by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I then decided that it was time to get some lunch. Nat didn't want anything so I left him at the station and I headed outside to Tesco. As I was passing the tram platform though I noticed that there was a tram about to leave so I just decided to get on board for the hell of it. 19 took me the very short distance to Corporation Street where I walked to Tesco, got my lunch and headed back to the station but as I was passing the tram stop I saw that one was waiting to go... You can see where this is going. Tram 36 took me back up to Corporation Street where I walked back to New Street and actually made it this time. Back over to Nathan where it was down onto the platform for S51 and just waited for a bit. After a while 43384 and 43357 arrived.

A bay of 2 was got towards the front of the train, unfortunately just a couple of seats away from a rather loud family. I was pleased to hear that the guard was, like the week before, the guard was Kev Kramer. When he was performing a ticket check after Derby he came through saying tickets from Derbee (pronouncing it like that). He then said 'also known as Derby'. A member of the noisy family near us (the mother) muttered (slightly too loudly) 'always known as Derby' with a reply of 'not on my trains: Derbee with an E-R'. Brilliant!

26043 was at Duffield Ecclesbourne Valley Railway as we passed (vote tip top) and the journey north was without problem. I couldn't help but laugh when we saw one of Nat's last two EMT powercars in Neville Hill: his reaction was slightly different. Anyway, after a good long ride on this set (141 miles), clearing 357 in the process (and getting 384 tantalizingly close) we were getting off at York, where we found out that the Malton train was half an hour late. Oh joy.

47848 was sat at York in the siding so we wandered down to get some photos after getting some photos of the tram that we'd just arrived on.
Heading north by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Brush and shed by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Brush and shed by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Shortly following the XC tram was a VTEC tram and then a GC a couple of minutes later. All we need is a GWR, an EMT and the NMT to complete the set (and we've seen an EMT at Neville Hill too). Anyway, some photos were got of the brush and trams before wandering back down towards the main station.
York arrival by fishquinn1, on Flickr
York arrival by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Heading to Sunderland by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Then something unexpected arrived. The VTEC milkfloat to Edinburgh arrived with a pair of milkfloats. 91109 was leading a dead 91128 that also looked like it was giving off some smoke. This was noticed by station staff who spent a while looking at it and trying to solve the problem. It turns out that it was dragging brakes and was fixed with the 91s leaving York about 10 minutes after arriving. We were leaving York at a similar time on dud 185106, me having seen one of my last two 91s heading south at York while waiting (typical).
A pair of 91s by fishquinn1, on Flickr
A pair of 91s by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Arrival at Malton was 27 minutes late at about 19:30. We hurried to the car where Granddad was waiting and piled in. The plan for dinner was going to be pie and chips from the chippy in Pickering but it shut at 20:00 so it was kind of a race against time. We made it in time thanks to decent traffic and both Nat and I went for pie, chips and curry sauce. This was taken back to my grandparents where a decent meal and evening was enjoyed.

 

[FQ]

Land of the red day 2

Having spent Sunday with my grandparents (and a wander down to Pickering station with Nat) as usual it was time to start our 7-day North East Rover on the Monday. I was sleeping downstairs on the sofa to let Nat have the small room so my alarm didn't wake anyone (Except me, thank god) when it went off. I headed up to wake Nat, and granny ended up downstairs a few minutes before him. Brekky was toast before we headed out and granddad came down in time to take us to Malton for the 09:13 York. The traffic wasn't too bad so our 'recovery time' was spent on Malton station. This allowed me to get a picture of the delayed Scarborough train which, due to the single platform at Malton, delayed our service by a few minutes.
Approaching the single platform by fishquinn1, on Flickr
I also had a chance to get reservations for the 09:13 to York for each day in the week because it's a busy service and getting seats would be a benefit for sure. After what felt like a long wait on the platform dud 185149 rolled in and took us towards York. This was a busy service as usual and, with no reservations for today (obviously) Nat ended up standing instead of wedging someone out. I took a seat and got some tunes going for the ride through the pleasant countryside to York.

At York it was a case of changing platforms and waiting for the first loco hauled service of our rover, the 0958 Sunderland. Northallerton was going to be our destination on 43423 and (lucky for Nathan due to it being low mileage for him) 43465. It was a pleasant run to Northallerton (and not one that you can do on a GC tram for much longer: actually never again as I type this) in some comfy seats in the declassified 1st class coach.

At Northallerton we'd have half an hour to wait for a 91 north. We've both done these festers multiple times and they're never fun but we at least get to see a tram come through on its way to the cross. 43309 and 315 came through at speed while we were there, closely followed by the noise of a level crossing whining away. There's a freight only line towards the Yarm line that avoids the station that involves a level crossing so we wandered down to it and watched 66142 cross over on a steel train.
Diesel des by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Crossing the crossing by fishquinn1, on Flickr

After our rather boring fester dud (and annoying for both of us) 91129 rolled in and took us one stop north to Darlington. A decent enough bay of 2 was sourced in the quiet coach and we had soon reached the excellent Darlington station. We had a short wait here but time passed fairly quickly (it's a better station than Northallerton for sure) and 43316 was with 43290 on the 11:28 Kings Cross. An excellent pairing for me in particular because both were low mileage. 290 was only on 138.5 but 316 was the one that I was really after being sub-100 at 88.5 (one of my last 3 for 100). The journey to York was with no problems but the connection at York that we were hoping to make (onto the northbound Northern Lights: a -2) failed. There is a benefit with the train at this particular hour, that being that the two-hourly York-Kings Cross stopper gives a +10 and that the 12:03 is a tram. I could see 43319 was at the blocks waiting to work the 12:03 so we wandered up front and I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw which one was there. It was 43314, a powercar that was only 45 miles off from clearance for me. The move with this one is to take it to Retford for a +7, with York-Retford being 50 miles. I feel my second VTEC clearance is on the way! We got on board and 43314 was soon pulling out of York with 43319 pushing on the back. It was nail-biting time because this service can frequently get delayed between York and Donny (or at Donny itself), which can ruin the Retford connection. The amount of times I've had that happen to me is stupid... Luckily we were only a minute or so late arriving at Donny so we stayed on to Retford and got there in time for photos of the powercars, 43314 now safely in the thousand mile club (just: it ended up on 1005.5).
The Retford stopper by fishquinn1, on Flickr
The Retford stopper by fishquinn1, on Flickr
After watching the tram leave it was a platform change for our milkfloat back towards York. Alas this wasn't vice today (there was always a flicker of hope as I've seen this service as the EMT set instead of the booked 91 before) and both of us gave out a groan when we saw that it was 91125, one that we both came to hate after our last North East (it kept on popping up when it was least wanted and on at least two occasions instead of the booked tram). We got on board as there really isn't any other option from Retford and decided that we'd only go to Donny, getting the one 5 minutes behind this at Doncaster instead. Donny was soon reached and the 13:10 Edinburgh was soon coming in. Neither of us had had any luck with 91s for haulage at this point and that wasn't to change because dud 91109 was in charge of taking us to York. Nat was rather ticked off at his luck by now but at least it's better than 125.

Back at York we had 20 minutes until the northbound Highland Chieftain. It was decided that I would do a lunch run at this point so I took Nat's order and headed to the Sainsbury's local a 5-minute walk away. Lunch was sourced and I got back to York in time for the arrival of 43312 and 43251 on the 13:55 to Inverness. Not all the way for us today (by any stretch of the imagination) because, after a 25-minute stand in the vestibule we were arriving at Darlington. There's a decent connection here onto the 09:52 Aberdeen Kings Cross so we were only waiting for a couple of minutes before the lights of 43238 (the NRM liveried one) came around the bend. Nat was rather pleased with the back powercar because he quite likes 43300. We took this set back through to York, where it's difficult to fall onto another tram unfortunately. The options are an hour's fester for the 14:00 Kings Cross-Aberdeen tram or over an hour's fester for the 16:02 York-Kings Cross stopper. Neither of these were useful because we wanted to be on the 16:40 from York back to Malton, which worked for neither of them (both would get us back too late) so it was a case of doing a return to Donny on a milkfloat and calling it a day. The 15:31 was to be our train to Donny and my luck with milkfloats continued with this service (That being dire luck). 91110, a 91 that I'm really starting to dislike was on this service. Nat was happier with it because it's his favourite 91 (still not a winner though).

Doncaster was reached after adding another 32.5 miles to this loco. We wouldn't need to wait long here - just 15 minutes - but that was enough time to get into the 1st class lounge for a drink. Alas a drink was all that it would be because no biscuits were present but a hot chocolate went down well anyway. I headed over to platform 4 (where Nat was waiting) a few minutes before the 16:10 was due to arrive and, once again, we both hated the 91 leading this set. Of all the 91s it could have been 91105 is a real annoyance. In fact, going through the milkfloats, the ones I really object to are the following: 105, 106, 110, 125, 128 and 129.

Arrival at York after a journey in a rather pungent vestibule (I must say the MK4 vestibules do have a habit of smelling even worse than pendolino ones on occasion) was on time, giving us a chance to get over to platform 5 for the 16:40 diesel dez. The wait for this service wasn't too long and having seen the unit earlier in the day (giving away the main reason of aiming for this service back) I wasn't surprised to see winner 185109. We got on board and, thanks to me being quick managed to secure a bay of 2 for us. This is a really busy service; 3 coaches definitely isn't suited for this route, or any of the TPE network really (fingers crossed for a massive improvement when the new stuff comes in). I gave granddad a call when we left York to say that we were on our way and after a nice trek through the countryside we were arriving at Malton. Granddad kindly took us back to Pickering where an excellent meal was enjoyed and a great evening had.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Sounds a cool day. Still yet to do a 185 but once I’ve done one of those and a 144 I will finally have travelled on every type of BR DMU.
Regarding your comment about the vestibules of VTEC’s trains I always think they have a horribly sickly sweet smell, probably freshener.

 

[FQ]

I've never been on a 144 either (that and 171 are the only unbanned DMUs that I haven't traveled on before).
Some do have a very sweet smell (less so with the HSTs) but when next to a MK4 toilet with full retention tanks it can have a really horrid smell a lot of the time (I've seen a set full and standing with at least 3 people in most vestibules except one with a full bog which had no-one stood in).


Land of the red day 3

The Tuesday started in the same way as the Monday in that it was up to an alarm at about 07:00. The morning guff was sorted out (breakfast etc.) and we left to Malton with Granddad, giving plenty of time for traffic in case it was needed. Malton was reached with good time for the train in the end and, after a while on the platform it was onto dud 185134 and into our reserved seats that had been selected the day before. A busy service but it does feel better when you have seats. The plan for today was a similar move to the day before: going for the Grand Central tram to Northallerton. There were two GC tram diagrams out on a daily basis with the HSTs ending up at a different place each night (one at Heaton, the other at Ferme Park). Because of this the trams swap diagrams each day so, by going for the 09:58 York-Sunderland two days running you'd get both sets.

When we got to York it was a case of going over to the required platform for our service, noting a couple of 91s in the station as we did so. After a few minutes a tram set came into view with 43467 leading 43468 with the latter being good for me because of 468's low mileage. It was on 82.25 before this run so the 30 miles to Northallerton would safely see it pass the hundred mile barrier and leave one GC powercar there (484, which was also my only one needed for the year).

Northallerton was reached and thus began our second annoying fester there. There really isn't much to do but a couple of 66s were spotted coming through, along with 156438 on an ECS from Neville Hill to Heaton and my favourite VTEC HST powercar, 43208, leading 1E07 (08:30 Edinburgh-Kings Cross).
125mph by fishquinn1, on Flickr
After what felt more like 30 months than 30 minutes dud 91121 was arriving (so close too: I need 122). Nat was glad at this one because he needed it for haulage; his first on the trip.

The plan was to end up at Newcastle to cover both ex Aberdeen services today. I knew that one of my last two VTEC powercars for 100 was due to come south on one of them. In order to fall onto the first one from Aberdeen at Newcastle we could take 91121 through to Newcastle and wait for a bit there or bail at Darlington, have a 15-minute fester for a different 91 through to Newcastle. The second option was chosen to try and get another winner milkfloat for Nat (or just any winner for me as I still hadn't had one).

After a fester at Darlington we could see our Newcastle train arriving. Both of us got ticked off when we saw which 91 it was: 91128. Both of us hate this particular loco and we agreed that it would've been much better if we'd just stayed on 121 through to Newcastle. Still, we can't do anything about that now (a loco like 91128 would probably struggle to get to 88mph ).

67007 was spotted in Tyne Yard for some reason, with 67028 being present at Newcastle to act as a thunderbird. I had time at Newcastle to get a couple of photos before we had to change platform for the 12:00 Kings Cross.
Newcastle 91s by fishquinn1, on Flickr
This was the first ex Aberdeen and we knew which powercars it could be having traced diagrams of ones we'd seen the day before. The first set wasn't the one that we were looking for but the mileage top up on 43309 and 43315 would certainly be good, this run putting 309 up to 687.5 miles. At least we know what my target will be coming south on now!

Arrival at York was about 10 minutes late, giving us just under an hour until the northbound Chieftain.
43315 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
We both wandered over to the nearby Sainsbury's local, Nathan getting lunch for the two of us today (because I got it the day before). We took lunch back to the station and ate it there while watching movements to and from the station. Our tram could soon be seen in the distance and it turned out to be 43296 and 43306 that would take us one stop to Darlington. Nat was waiting towards the front of the train, me the back (to get the rear powercar) so I got on board and text Nat the powercar. Darlington was soon reached with enough time to change platforms for my train of choice, the second service from Aberdeen. As expected, required for 100 43302 was leading the set with 43320 on the back.

I'd been looking at the York-Leeds via Harrogate services throughout the day and worked out that if the 15:11 from York wasn't a pacer then we could do a return to Poppleton in time for our planned tram north from York at 15:55 (including 43208 - my favourite VTEC one). As we arrived it was clear that the 15:11 was indeed a 150. In fact two. I managed to persuade Nat to come and was pleased to see that one of them was a winner.
York by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Winner 150203 led dud 150207 and it was weird leaving York past the NRM on a 150. Much less civilized than on a VTEC MK3! Anyway, I noticed that the return service was running 5 minutes late so the connection at Hammerton, that looks usually tight, would make. For those of you that know the line you may have noticed my massive mistake but at the time I didn't know the line. The 150s were taken through the rural countryside to Hammerton where a couple of photos were got and we watched them leave towards Harrogate.
Hammerton 150s by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Hammerton 150s by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Hammerton is a rather charming station with a level crossing and funky station building (with signal box on the platform). We sat and waited, noticing that our 150 back was running 5 minutes late arriving at Harrogate. Perfect. We stood out in the lovely sunlight and the time it was meant to come came and went. Another 15-20 minutes passed and there was still no sign of it. At this point both Nat and I were ticked off. We'd have no chance of getting 43208 on the Aberdeen and we now couldn't even make our backup of the 16:02 tram south. It turns out that there's single track after Hammerton so the pair of units that we'd got off would have to clear the single track before the other one could proceed. Damn!

Now running 27 minutes late winner 150269 arrived to take us back to York. We got to York just after 16:10, both trams we were hoping to get already gone, so we had to make an alternative plan. It was decided that we'd get the 16:31 to Doncaster for 17:05 tram back (and then the 17:40 cart back to Malton). We hung around York station and could soon see our milkfloat arriving. I recognized the DVT number for some reason and it suddenly dawned on me, just before I saw the 91 number. It was stupid stalker 91128 from earlier! With no other options we got on board, Nat standing in the vestibule and me wedging someone out. Departure time came and went (well, it had already gone by the time it arrived really) and it was announced that there was a problem with the train and that we'd be waiting. It was now 10 minutes after we were meant to have left so our Doncaster so our connection at Doncaster had been eliminated. Nat and I met up and left the train, sending a few choice words in the direction of 91128 as we passed it. Not only could we not do the run to Doncaster and back, we'd just missed the 16:40 back to Malton so were stuck in York for an hour. Damn milkfloat!

With the time we had it was simply a case of going to teh NRM for a bit. Some photos were got of stuff there (particularly 87001) and we emerged at about 17:20.
York arrival by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Back over to the station for a short wait as dud 185115 was soon arriving.

Back to Malton on this one where it was a simple car journey back to Pickering. Not the greatest of days due to the delay at Hammerton (totally booked...) but at least I managed to clear another tram for 100 (leaving just 239 with VTEC) and get a few more for the year.

 

[FQ]

Land of the red day 4

Day 4. The Wednesday. What we thought would be a perfectly normal day, coming back on the 17:40 from York (giving us an additional hour). It turned out to be slightly different to what we'd hoped in the end. The ride to Malton was without problem but once we left the car in Malton car park, granddad heading off home, we entered the platform and looked up at the departure board. It read: 09:04 Scarborough cancelled and 09:13 Liverpool Lime Street cancelled. This would truly cause havoc with our day so I got on the phone to dad and let him know what was going on. There apparently weren't many other options other than waiting for the 10:13 Liverpool, which was currently displayed as 'on time'. I thanked him and headed to the ticket office to see what they'd suggest (with little help other than waiting for the 10:13). They had no idea what the problem was either.

In the end the 09:04 Scarborough went from cancelled to expected 09:30. It's the first time I've seen something like that happen but I was certainly glad: it turns out a unit restarted the service from York. A pair of 185s, double duds 185115 and 185131, soon arrived. We sat in the back unit of this set and were soon heading towards Scarborough. This was the first time I'd done this move on a unit (and the first time since 2013). Nat had never done the line east from Malton so at least he got some winner track. The reason for us heading this way is because this is the set that forms the 10:13 from Malton so we'd need to wait at Malton for the cart to go to Scarborough and back. It made sense to go for the cart as our tickets were valid anyway. The journey to Scarborough was uneventful, with a soche guard apologising for the delay in person as he checked tickets (apparently it was a PHBT at Huddersfield that caused the delays). At Scarborough there weren't too many people boarding our coach as it was quite afar back. We had soon set off back towards York.

By the time York was reached it was gone 11:00 so our move out would have to be at 11:54, the 10:00 Kings Cross-Aberdeen. We headed to Sainsbury's local to grab some lunch as we had the chance to.

When we got back to the station the ex Kings Cross VTEC stopper had arrived. This one is also a tram and, while not the one we were looking for some photos were taken.
York HST by fishquinn1, on Flickr
York HST by fishquinn1, on Flickr
It was then over to platform 9 for the Aberdeen tram, Nat standing towards the standard class end of the platform, me the 1st class end. The tram was soon approaching and, camera in hand I got a few photos as it arrived. I grinned when the number of the leading powercar came into view. It was 43277, Nat's penultimate VTEC HST for haulage! 43238 was on the back, showing that there'd been a set swap over the last couple of days. Nat was understandably very glad with this set even though he'd only get 44.25 miles from it: York to Darlington.
43277 by fishquinn1, on Flickr

The reason for going to Darlington was because it'd put us onto the first ex Aberdeen. This would be a 50/50 chance of 43208 so we decided it was worth it, knowing that we'd just be getting 43306 and 296 coming back from Inverness if we headed to Newcastle. We left 277 at Darlo as planned and changed platforms in time for the first of our 43208 chances. It turns out that the second one wouldn't be needed (although it's a good move so would still be worth covering) as 43208 was leading 43272 on the 12:28 Kings Cross.

The best VTEC powercar got us to York with no problems. Our move left us with an hour here until the northbound Chieftain so some photos were got of the tram and we watched it leave. Then, having no need to get lunch we headed over to the NRM.
43277 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
York by fishquinn1, on Flickr
After a funky 45 minutes at the NRM we went back over to the station. There wasn't long to wait before 43320 and 43302 arrived. Both were duds for the trip but 302 had only been cleared for 100 the day before so it was a good one to get a mileage boost on. This set took us out to Darlington where another short wait was had for the other ex Aberdeen. I kicked a door shut on my way down the train and a couple of moments after doing that a dispatcher came up to me and told me off saying that it'd damage the door. Hmm... Sounds like someone's having a bad day and wants to take it out on a fare paying passenger...
Darlington by fishquinn1, on Flickr

43308 and 43257 were to take us south once more.
Station approach by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Like the day before I'd been keeping an eye on the Leeds via Harrogate services and found out that the two that we'd ended up getting yesterday were both 150s as well today. I'd learnt the lesson from the day before though and confirmed that both were on time before committing. I had a harder job at persuading Nat today but he eventually agreed and it was off the tram and onto double duds 150269 and 150228 one stop to winner shack Poppleton.
257 away by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Poppleton crossing by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Poppleton is another rather lovely station, with an old style level crossing and a signal box. It was a pleasant wait in the sun here (although the thought of a pacer coming instead of the expected 150 wasn't very nice) and dud 150207 returned the two of us to York on time.

The plan for today was to get the 16:02 to Retford for another tram back up. They day before the plan had been to go to Darlington on the 15:54 for a milkfloat back but the one that we were doing today was better for three reasons. Number 1 was that it'd be a tram both ways instead of a milkfoat back, number 2 that it means we wouldn't be waiting at York for 45 minutes for the 185 and the final reason being that it's an extra 6 miles each way. The reason we'd wanted the 15:54 the day before was simply because 43208 was one of the powercars on it.

43319 was at the blocks waiting to form the 16:02 when we arrived. We'd done one other Retford run so far on the trip and it had been this powercar on the back so assumed that it'd still be dud for 1000 43314 on the front. There must have been a set swap because 43313 now had the honour of being at the head of the train. We got decent seats up towards the front and were soon leaving York for the delights of Retford.

Quite a lot was seen at Doncaster as we passed and arrival at Retford was on time. It was a case of going through the subway and then wandering down towards the end of the platform so both powercars would be gettable before boarding. The headlights of 43312 were soon spotted in the distance and we found out that 43251 was along for the ride. This run pushed it's mileage even higher (up to 879.75) and we were soon back at York.

I got some photos after arrival of both powercars.
York by fishquinn1, on Flickr
York by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Then it was a case of wandering down the platform to get to the part our service back to Malton would depart from. Midway down we heard the unmistakable sound of a 37. Looking through the window of the tram we'd just got off showed 37425 with Caroline. We got back onboard the tram and went to the vestibule to watch it for a moment before continuing our walk to platform 5b. We got there at pretty much the same time as 185106, a dud that we'd already had on the trip.

Granddad was called when we left York to let him know that we were on our way. Malton was reached a couple of minutes late and we were soon leaving Malton for Pickering, which was reached in good time. Other than the really bad start to the day it turned out to be a good one with 6 trams and no 91s. Not too bad at all!

 

[Cowley]

That took some catching up! Some good days out there fq. Interesting photos too.

 

[FQ]

Cheers! I'm putting quite a few reports at the moment thanks to a break in work so I have the chance (until tomorrow when I start an 8 in 15 FOSS).



Land of the red day 5

Day 5 was Thursday the 17th of August. As with every other day breakfast was sourced before heading out and it was granddad who took us to the station this morning (As always). We got there with time to kill so it was a case of kicking our heels and waiting for dud 185103 to arrive. We located our reserved bay of 2 and were at York 25 minutes later.

The plan for this morning was to head south to Retford on the 10:03 milkfloat. We would have to be on a milkfloat in one direction anyway (either heading north for a tram back south or going south to Retford for a tram north) and this one worked out well because we could get the 91 to Retford for a tram back to York and then another one north from York. Getting the tram north from York wouldn't be possible if we went from Newcastle (it'd be a -2) so the better option for this morning was Retford. Dud for both of us 91114 was on the 10:03 this morning and it wasn't difficult to get decent seats towards the front of Standard class.
Grand Central by fishquinn1, on Flickr

The guard did a ticket check between Doncaster and Retford, looking at our tickets (which were still in our wallets). He then asked us to get them out so he could grip them. I pointed out that they were rovers and he looked more closely, seeing that they were. He then confirmed that we were only going to Retford as it's the end of the rover boundary before continuing his ticket check. I'm surprised that he even went to grip them in the first place if he knew what the rover was but he admitted that they didn't need to be gripped, which is better than some guards and RPIs I've seen that would never admit they've made a mistake (although this barely counts as a mistake).

We got off at Retford and I decided to get a couple of photos of the 91 as it left from the low level footbridge.
Heading for the angry monarch by fishquinn1, on Flickr
The camera stayed out to get a few photos of our tram back to York as it approached.
Approaching Retford by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Approaching Retford by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Both of us were rather surprised (and in Nat's case annoyed) at which powercar was leading. It was 43319, with 43313 still on the back. Three times we've done runs to Retford so far on this trip and on all three times 43319 has featured. Back on board this set and we decided to go in coach G. I found out a neat trick while on this service. In VTEC standard class you get 15 minutes free wifi (stupid when you compare it to GWR or Chiltern's unlimited free wifi) but in 1st class you get unlimited wifi. I popped into the buffet coach (which is classed as a 1st class one although standard class passengers are obviously allowed there) and signed up to the wifi in that coach. It gave me the 1st class free wifi and still worked when I took my i-pod back into coach G. A neat trick if you find yourself in G on a VTEC HST!

Arrival at York was on time at 11:27. 40145 was sat in the sidings at York having just worked from Carnforth on the Scarborough Spa Express.
Powered and unpowered by fishquinn1, on Flickr
York by fishquinn1, on Flickr
The kettle on the Scarborough Spa had yet to arrive so Nat and I walked over to platform 5b to watch 45699 steam in and then back out again. It was then photo time with the 40 because what idiot is going to miss out on that? Photos kept me occupied before the 11:54 Aberdeen arrived with exactly the same powercars as the previous day: 43277 and 43238. Nat was still quite happy with this set due to 277's low mileage and I was happy with the additional mileage too. The set took us up to Darlington for another tram south.
York by fishquinn1, on Flickr
York by fishquinn1, on Flickr
York by fishquinn1, on Flickr

43318 and 43307 returned us to York where it was time for lunch. A walk was had out to Sainsbury's where we got our egg and cress sarnies to take back to the station. They were eaten on the platform while waiting for 43290 and 43316 on the Inverness. Another busy service (it always is) and took us on the usual move out to Darlington for another tram back. 43310 and 43367, the latter being one of my favourite VTEC trams (and Nat's favourite of Virgin's bunch) were the other set coming south from Aberdeen today. Seats were found on board and we were soon accelerating away towards York. Ha! Of course we weren't. Being the railway a problem has to occur on each day. A train fault was announced (something to do with one of the coaches I think) and we were told that the driver was trying to fix it. It took quite a while because he had to go down to track level and isolate something. After about 25 minutes we started moving again but just for a couple of moments because the driver had to stop our train again. Then, satisfied that we were OK (presumably) we left Darlington about half an hour after the tram had arrived. I know that Darlington is poor for a speedy dispatch but that's a little over the top

All the delay did was reduce our hour at York, which wasn't a bad thing. The plan was to do the 16:02 to Retford for another tram back up. We didn't have as long to wait at York this time round and could soon see the inbound for our service arriving. It turns out that we'd get 43206 and 43295 today but we stayed on the platform until the Aberdeen that we could also get had arrived, just in case of Nat's last VTEC powercar popping up on it. 43312 and 251 were the powercars on the Aberdeen so were flagged in favour of the Kings Cross stopper, which was fairly lightly loaded. A speedy run was had down to Retford and the journey was rather uneventful.
206 and 428 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
York by fishquinn1, on Flickr
While we were waiting for the train back to York Nat and I were talking about the trams we'd managed to get so far. We worked out that we'd had all but 6 of the VTEC trams on the trip so far. Nat needed all 6 for the year (this was his first time getting VTEC powercars for the year) and one for all time. I needed two of the six for the year and one of them for 100 (this being the same one that Nat needed for all time; 239). We were still chatting when 43299 and 43311, both winners for the trip and 311 a winner for the year for me rolled in. Totally unexpected: we now only need 4 powercars for the trip, none of which we'd seen out on VTEC sets (305 is one of them but we hadn't seen that since New Street on our first day).

York was reached in good time and a wander along platform 5A to get to 5B was required. A 185 was soon arriving and I was very surprised at which one it was: 185115. This is the 4th time we'd had this particular unit on the trip (York-Malton, Malton-Scarborough, Scarborough-York and now York-Malton). Of all the 185s it could be why is it just the same one repeated again and again and again? Still, we were soon leaving York and accelerating away towards Malton. Granddad was called to let him know that we were on our way and it was a case of sitting back and relaxing for the journey through to Malton with the return of the Scarborough Spa Express passing us en route.

Granddad was sat waiting and a quick exit from Malton was had (well, as quick as possible). Back to Pickering as usual after a funky day out.

 

[FQ]

Land of the red day 6

This was the final weekday of our rover (obviously with the weekend still to go). Being the last weekday there was once particular service that Nat and I wanted to get because it doesn't run on a weekend so a plan was formed in advance. I was up at the usual time and the morning routine was performed before granddad kindly took us to the station once more. The 09:13, as usual, was to be our train out and we got in position to get our reserved seats this morning. 185143 arrived to take us to York. No, not the forum member (the chances of him not having overslept are too low for him to be on a train at 09:13 ).

At York we weren't waiting for too long before 91127 arrived on the 09:53 Newcastle. A bay of 2 was got and we were on our way to Newcastle bang on time. The journey north was rather uninspiring although it was a fast service, just stopping at Darlington on the way. 67028 was observed pulling 91104 just after we left York (a 91 failure that had to be dragged away from Newcastle). Arrival at Newcastle was right time which gave us a few minutes to change platforms for the 10:59 Kings Cross tram. This was a set that we'd had the day before, 43310 and 43367 although neither of us minded getting this set due to the decency of the rear powercar. An extra 80.25 miles would certainly go down well.

Arrival at York was right time at 11:55. This gave us and loads of other people plenty of time to change platforms and get onto the 12:03 Kings Cross stopper which was today formed of 43238 and 43277, the same set that we'd had from York two days running on the 11:54 Aberdeen. Three days running out of York and all services started within 10 minutes of each other. This run on 277 was enough to clear it for 100 for Nathan even though we were only going to Doncaster. The 32.5 miles was completed quickly and we simply waited for our next train, getting a few photos. While at Donny we were simply walking around platform 8 and I stumbled upon a cupboard that had a sign on it boating 'highly inflammable liquid'. The question 'what's the point' comes to mind.
91101 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
37025 by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Hired in by fishquinn1, on Flickr

The train we were going to get from Doncaster was the 12:42 Leeds because it's the East Midlands Trains set that VTEC hire. EMT powercars are rather mileage deficient for both Nat and I (compared to other ones) so the 60 miles to Leeds and back would certainly go down well. 43059 and 43061 were to take us to Leeds. 43061 was a dud for the year (and 100 by quite a significant margin as I'd already had it from Kings Cross to Leeds and back this year) but 059 was required for both 100 and the year so was a good one to get. We got in the comfy seats up towards the front and an announcement was made after departure apologizing about the different stock. No different from usual because it's actually booked for this set! Our first run to Leeds of the rover was uneventful and we had soon arrived. This left us with time to get some lunch.

Lunch was sourced and Nat had a bit of a spotting session to get a few more winner units. The time then came for us to get back onto 43061 and 43059 and they got us back to Doncaster without problem.
Leeds by fishquinn1, on Flickr
We were in the second to last coach and a ticket check using two people occurred just before stopping at Doncaster. If there were two people I wonder why it took that long to get to us. Anyway, we got off at Donny with about 10 minutes to kill until our next train. I quickly popped into the 1st class lounge for a hot choc before having to emerge and get on 91112, a winner for Nat, through to Retford. It wasn't until Retford we found out which milkfloat we had but there must have been a swap at some point because the DVT that was now with 112 had been with 129 on the Monday.

A swift platform change was had at Retford to put us onto the 14:49 York. This was a tram as booked and I couldn't help but smile when I saw which powercars (partly because I knew what Nat's reaction would be). We were once again at Retford with 43319 and its partner in crime 43313. Up to York again on these where it was time to decide what we should do next. This would form the 16:02 Kings Cross so we could go to Retford on this for another tram north or we could immediately head north. The plan was to be on the 19:40 back to Malton so we had additional time today and the decision to head back south on 43313 and 43319 won. Alas we were a few minutes late out of York due to a delayed milkfloat and lost another couple of minutes too. By the time we got to Doncaster we were already 7-late so wouldn't have time to get to Retford. This was the only time that the Retford connection failed though, compared to our last rover where it constantly failed. The wait for 43367 and 43310 (which we'd had earlier in the day and decided that we wanted again) wasn't too bad and we were soon on the way back to York. A plan was formed using VTEC's wifi on board. What we were to do now was to get the 17:54 Aberdeen tram up to Darlington for a milkfloat back to York and then the 19:40 home.

Arrival at York was on time, giving us just under half an hour here. I spotted a member of station staff that I know quite well so we just chatted to him to let the time go by before the Aberdeen could be seen approaching. We were both surprised at the set it was as winner for the trip (And year for Nat) 43305 was leading. Another set swap had occurred as it was 43306 on the back. That's just 3 powercars that we haven't had on the trip now and there's still two days to go!

305 had already been cleared for 1000 for me (it was my first VTEC one to pass that barrier) but it wasn't too far past so another run was good to get. Arrival at Darlo gave us time to change platforms and view our planned milkfloat back to York arriving. Once we saw which one was on the back it was a case of flagging it as neither of us wanted 91128. The darn thing would probably fail on us (as it had earlier in the week). There was another train that would get us back in time so our fester just became a Darlington one instead of York. I headed to the 1st class lounge (something that York doesn't yet have but will do soon) to wait in style. There wasn't much on offer but I got a couple of packets of biccies for Nat while in there. Back out onto the platform in time for our train and it was dud 91109 that would have the honour of transporting us back to York.

While on board this milkfloat I went on RTT to see how our train back to Malton, the 19:40 was doing. I definitely didn't like what I saw. Where I was hoping that there last reporting location would have a RT next to it (right time) it instead had 37L and counting. This increased to 40L by the time we got off this MK4 set at York. I called granddad to let him know and said that I'd keep him up to date as and when stuff happened and we went to see the member of staff that the two of us were chatting to earlier. It was good to chat between his duties and the half an hour before the service was announced as cancelled at Leeds was good fun. The cancellation wasn't so fun as our next service wouldn't get to Malton until 2104 (instead of 2004). By chatting to the member of staff we obviously had up to date information and found out that the 2040 wasn't delayed (thank god). We said bye at about 20:30 and headed over to platform 5B where 185108 was soon arriving. After a long wait at York we were finally on the move again and arrival time at Malton was a minute early at 21:02. Granddad was in the car park (I called him when we left York so he knew when to come out) and we had soon reached Pickering after a rather long day out.

 

[185143]

185143 arrived to take us to York. No, not the forum member (the chances of him not having overslept are too low for him to be on a train at 09:13 )

I'm saying nothing

Though to be fair, I could actually make that train at Malton if I wanted-the 06:22 Liverpool-Scarbados lands at Malton at 09:04!

 

[shredder1]

Great stuff, enjoyed reading that, thanks very much.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Scarbados

Excellent! This will join Cas Vegas, Ponte Carlo and Abergavinandstacey in my personal gazzeteer...

 

[Cowley]

Scarbados. Very good .
Most enjoyable reading there fq. I need to get out on the rails somewhere, this is a bit of a busy time for me at the moment.

 

[FQ]

I'm saying nothing

Though to be fair, I could actually make that train at Malton if I wanted-the 06:22 Liverpool-Scarbados lands at Malton at 09:04!

You could make that train but the odds of you making the 06:22 when you have a bed at home are next to zero

Great stuff, enjoyed reading that, thanks very much.

Cheers

Scarbados. Very good .
Most enjoyable reading there fq. I need to get out on the rails somewhere, this is a bit of a busy time for me at the moment.

Thanks! Maybe a Devon day if you get the chance?


I'm still typing my reports but am rather busy at the moment so have had little time. I know that I'm currently in August but I've been writing my more recent trips when they're fresh in my memory so I'm going to post them first and come back to the others. This one was from December:


Being posh

Having been looking forward to a particular trip for quite a while, excitement building the night before, it was finally here. On the 13th of December 2017 dad and I had booked advances on the 12:00 from London Kings Cross to Inverness and back on the sleeper thanks to a VTEC seat sale. £56 for the two of us in 1st class just couldn’t be passed up. With the ‘main part’ booked far in advance, the moves to London and back were booked quite a while after but still about a month in advance. We’d gone for the second cat towards Marylebone, the 0707 from Snow Hill and decided to head to Brum and pick it up there for both extra cat mileage and more chance of a seat.

I didn’t sleep well the night before but still got up for my 05:20 alarm without problems. I got dressed and finished packing for the trip in the morning and we headed out to the rather cold car at about 05:50. The drive to Leamington was completed and the pavement to get to the station was rather icy. There had been lots of snow landing in the midlands on during the night of Saturday the 9th that hadn’t yet melted but had frozen again. Some rain the night before had polished it so the pavement was incredibly slippery. I almost went over multiple times before deciding that it was safer to walk on the road, which had been treated so was no longer icy.

The station looked rather funky with lots of snow on the line. We weren’t stood in the snow for long before 165017 arrived to take us to Birmingham. Someone had decided to leave its coupler cover on so it could keep cosy during this fairly chilly morning. Then again, after looking at the interior, maybe Arriva just couldn’t be bothered to hire someone to take it off. The interior was an absolute disgrace. It certainly hadn’t been cleaned overnight with litter everywhere, including discarded food and drink. I’m fully against leaving rubbish on the train but Chiltern should definitely have given the train a clean overnight and, looking inside the rest of the train showed that it was all similar to the area we were seated. Poor, poor show Chiltern.

Once at Snow Hell it was a case of changing platforms with a 6-minute wait until the 07:07. I knew that 68014, my favourite 68 was amongst those that had ended up at Stourbridge overnight and had seen that the first cat was blue. This gave a 50/50 chance of 014 and I was very pleased to see that it was indeed 68014 pushing 1H17 this morning. 112.25 more miles on what is already my highest mileage loco – hellfire!

We decided to go for one of the few bays of 2 in the back coach on this run so there was no chance of being wedged out. 68014 made some excellent noise as we left Birmingham and headed south, with a ticket check occurring around High Wycombe. We had to slow around Wycombe due to a 3-minute-late cart but it was only due to stop at Wembley Stadium after Wycombe so we got a bit of decent running before having to slow again. Arrival at Marylebone was a couple of minutes later and after I got a few photos of the cat it was time for breakfast.
Marylebone 68 by fishquinn1, on Flickr

We headed to our usual location just across the road and the usual excellent customer service was provided before our massive breakfasts arrived. The breakfasts tasted amazing and filled us both up really well and certainly got us ready for the day. Excellent value for money and highly recommended. After breakfast was over we headed back to the station, dad deciding not to use the cashpoints there as two out of the four wouldn’t dispense cash so there was a queue. It was time to go underground.

Timing was perfect as a Bakerloo line tube was arriving just as we made it to the platform. Double winner 3260 and 3553 took us one stop to Baker Street where it was over to the circle line and onto a busy dud 21341+21342 for the run to Kings Cross St Pancras along with commuters and loads of little kids on a school trip. We were at a perfect point on the S7 for the escalators at Kings Cross and we decided to head up to St Pancras to see what was there. Eurostar numbers were got first before heading over to the EMT side of things to see the HST that was there at the time. Perfect timing too as it was started up just after we got there. After that we decided to get some snacks for later. Paté and rolls was chosen but M&S didn’t have any paté so, after getting the number of a 395, we went over to Kings Cross.

Dad wanted to check if there was any supermarket sort of things in Kings Cross station despite me not recalling any from a previous time. We did so anyway and noticed a Waitrose there. I’m against the stupidly high prices they charge at Waitrose but dad wanted to give it a try and we eventually emerged about 5 minutes later with some paté and rolls. The pate was £1.65, the rolls £0.84 so it could certainly have been worse.

Dad tried to get some cash out of the cash point here but it also said that there was no cash left, just like the ones at Marylebone. Luckily the machine next to it was in full working order and in dad’s 5th attempt to get cash this morning, he succeeded (the 1st was a failed attempt at Leamington, the next two at Marylebone and then at Kings Cross). I now needed to do something at the ticket office so headed there. I was in the queue for 10 minutes thanks to a rather complicated request from the guy in front of me but I was eventually served. Credit to the ticket clerk as he went above and beyond what he needed to and I left with almost all that I needed (the bit that couldn’t be issued wasn’t due to ticket office error: reservations just weren’t available on that train anymore).

Dad and I checked the blocks, seeing my first 700 at Kings Cross while we did so. The EMT set was also there waiting to work the 11:05 Leeds (43055 was at the London end). Once the only tram there had been identified it was a case of going over to the 1st class lounge as we had an hour an a half to kill before booked departure. It’s a rather dramatic entrance to the lounge if going from ground level as you have to go up a lift to get there (or take a slightly longer detour). We arrived at the top, showing our tickets to get in and found that it was rather busy. We had to perch on a sofa in the centre of the lounge for a couple of minutes before dad spotted a pair of seats up at a table overlooking the platforms.
View from the lounge by fishquinn1, on Flickr

I got myself a hot chocolate and found out that the cups VTEC have (all disposable ones, unfortunately) fit two ‘machine’ hot chocolates in perfectly, that meaning you should put the cup under the machine and press the hot chocolate button once and, when it’s done, press it again for a proper size one. We sat enjoying that and looking at the comings and goings of trains below; the first class lounge here is situated in a first class location.

The train that forms the 12:00 Inverness is booked to start the day at Newcastle and work the Sunderland-Kings Cross in the morning before going ECS to Ferme Park for a bit. Because of this I’d asked for gen on which sets were due to end up at Newcastle overnight and, thanks to LA50041 on the forum I found out that, if there weren’t any set swaps, we’d be getting one of 43257/310 or 43309/315. I had no preference out of either as, with the former both powercars would be cleared for 1000 and with the latter, 309 would be cleared and 315 within 5 miles of clearance but 315 was also on dad’s hit list for 100 miles so I kind of wanted it for him. I soon found out that it would be neither. Looking down at the platforms I saw a window label that was one word and looked like it had a small picture towards the bottom. A photo was taken of it and, zooming in, it showed that the destination was ‘Inverness’ and the picture, as expected, a Highland Stag. The powercar at the London end was just about viewable so I decided to do the same trick with the number: take a photo and zoom in. With that I found out that it was 43206, a powercar that would most definitely be cleared for 1000 as its mileage was on 868: one of my higher ones. I’ve no problem with the thousand-mile clearance but it’s typical that it would have to be that one with its mileage already so close to 1000.

We left the lounge at 11:40 and headed to the platforms via the footbridge.
Waiting for departure by fishquinn1, on Flickr
43257 and 43310 was in the platform a couple over from our one and we found out that it was instead going to Newark today. The window labels seemed to disagree with each other on that set though, with some also saying Inverness. RTT had already shown that our service would now depart from platform 5 though so it was confirmed as 206’s set. I was actually quite surprised when I saw the number of the powercar at the country end. When dad and I had done our North East Round Robin a month before, 206 had been with 296. I’d expected the powercars would’ve swapped by now but the set, 43296 and 43206 was still going strong. Some photos were got of 296 before we walked back down to the blocks so I could get some photos there before we got on board in coach L and found our reserved seats: 27 and 29. This was a bay of 2 with a table between and I took the backwards-facing seat. I commented on how nice it would’ve been if we’d got EC64, the ex EMT set with the low seat backs (we didn’t) and just after I’d said that I looked over at a set that had just arrived from somewhere and saw that EC64 was now in the platform next to us with 43367 and 43314. Oh well: another time.
Kings Cross by fishquinn1, on Flickr
A little scruffy by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Departure was one minute late at 12:01 and I always get a rush when pulling away from Kings Cross heading north with the next stop being York. I do like the Southern ECML until Stevenage, where it gradually starts to get more boring. The run out of the capital was good fun, picking up speed quickly. 1st class food orders were taken quickly on departure, us getting asked what we wanted by a very cheery Newcastle based crewmember around Hornsey. Both dad and I, after looking at the menu, decided to go for the chicken option.

A cold drinks trolley and a snacks trolley (featuring a rather tasty muffin) passed not long after and the announcement that was made indicated that there was no staff shortage on this train and that they were even running a trolley service in standard. It had been reported on the forum multiple times that this was now the exception rather than the rule but it was good to hear that there was a full service in both classes. Our lunches had soon arrived and I was pleased to see that it was only really snack sized having had a massive breakfast only 3 hours ago. It was actually rather tasty with the onions having been done in a rather funky way and was about the right size for my appetite at the time. A speedy run was had away from the constant procession of units in the north London area and we were soon clear of Peterborough, which was passed at speed after seeing 90034 heading south about half an hour late.

The section after Peterborough heading north is rather tedious but I was able to go on the forum as we headed north along with chatting to dad and eating another muffin so it wasn’t as bad as doing it in standard (particularly without company too). We passed the Doncaster thunderbird at Newark while it was waiting to head back to base and were 4-early through Retford. Because of this I had a feeling that we’d be slowed for Doncaster and we unfortunately were. It was a crawl past the yards but we got a yellow signal just in time so didn’t stop. An engineering train was slowly passed on the approach with 67012 and a DBS 66 leading. Number 12 is my second favourite 67 so it was funky to see. It had been on the Inverness portion of the sleeper until recently but had been swapped a week or two before this trip for 67007 so no number 12 for us. Still, 007 was needed for 100 for me and needed outright for dad so that wasn’t a bad one to get.

We crawled through the centre road at Doncaster at just over walking pace with a red signal ahead. Both dad and I were pleased when the power was put on before we came to a stop as it meant that the non-stop run to York was still possible. The 32 miles from Doncaster was completed without stopping so, when we came to a stop in platform 9 at York it was the first one in 188.5 miles. Not too bad at all, really.

The 1st class service continued to be excellent with our friendly staff and we left York 3-late. A fast run was had up to the approach to Darlington where we came to a stop for a couple of minutes before proceeding into the station with a 5-late arrival. The dispatch here at the straight platform was an absolute joke. It took ages, with us eventually leaving over 5 minutes after arrival. You look at how long it used to take to dispatch a slam door train and you look at how long it now takes... Stupidity...

We were oddly pathed through the platform at Durham and went through rather slowly, losing another couple of minutes. This wasn’t good with the single line north of Perth so we just needed to make some up. With a 14-minute booked dwell at Waverley, this should be doable. Newcastle housed the first VTEC thunderbird that we’d seen where it was meant to be all day. The Kings Cross one was notable in its absence and the Donny one at Newark so 67022 was, apparently, the only one where it was meant to be. The dispatch from Newcastle with it’s curved platform was much faster than Darlington and we were away from Newcastle 10-down, having seen a Grand Central tram going through on its way to Sunderland to pick up a 180 diagram that would otherwise be cancelled thanks to a failed 180.

A crew change took place at Newcastle, the new crew not being as friendly as the old crew unfortunately. They weren’t bad but didn’t have the same friendly feel as the crew from London. Another muffin was had on a ‘snacks’ trolley after departing Newcastle and I couldn’t help but notice that the muffins were no longer on the hot drinks trolley as it passed: just that snacks trolley that came through once before Edinburgh.

Arrival at Berwick-upon-Tweed, having enjoyed the excellent approach to the station, was 11 minutes late. Dispatch was fairly quick (stop/start was about two minutes) and we moved slightly down the platform before a very sudden stop occurred. There was no announcement so I decided to head to the vestibule window after a minute or so to see what I could see. The dispatchers were quickly talking with the guard and the doors were unlocked again for a minute or two. We moved off again, successfully this time, with a 14-minute-late departure. The reason for this became apparent in the guards announcement: a passenger tried to open the door as the train was leaving. This was eloquently described by a passenger in the bay of 4 opposite us over the phone in the Perth area as ‘a stupid passenger trying to throw themselves off the train’.

Unfortunately it was beginning to get dark so the view of the coast north of Berwick wasn’t as great is it could have been but was still rather pleasant. With our 14-minute delay I was beginning to get worried that a ‘2Z25’ stopper from Dunbar to Edinburgh, booked to depart at 16:12 from Dunbar, would be let out ahead of us. We were now expected through at 16:13 so it wouldn’t cause much of a delay to hold it. We began slowing on the approach to Dunbar and immediately assumed the worst. The reason for slowing must have been because of a TSR or something like that though because we passed through Dunbar at 16:15 with a pair of 385s sat in the platform waiting to leave on a test train. My first pair too, although it was now too dark to get the numbers.

I noticed, using live rail mapping of the Craigentinny area that the 5G13 ECS for the Fife 68 would be waiting to join the mainline from the suburban as we passed. Definitely one to keep an eye out for as the Fife 68s had been 006 and 030, so two different liveries with the latter being needed for sight. Oddly enough, they decided to let the 68 go out in front of us but this wouldn’t cause any delay to us if they could get it into platform 19 immediately. Unfortunately it seems that it was a stupid decision to put the cat in front of us as the 68 came to a stop a couple of signals outside Waverley. Despite it having had quite a head start to get there we still caught it up and came to a stop one signal away from it. That’s where we stayed for the next 14 minutes because the cat had to wait until booked time to go into the platform (and even then it was a couple of minutes late). By this point the 385s from Dunbar had also joined the queue of things waiting to get into Waverley. A bit of a shambles for sure.

We eventually pulled into Edinburgh Waverley 29 minutes late. All we could do now was hope that we made up some time and that we got a good route on the multiple single line sections north of Perth or it might be a case of having to bail at Aviemore for the sleeper: something which neither of us really wanted to do. We also wanted to make sure that they had time at Waverley to load the food for the section north of Edinburgh. After waiting for 6 minutes in the platform at Waverley we left 21-minutes late, seeing that it was 68030 that had held us up outside the station. At least it was a winner for sight. We had a very slow run out to Haymarket, probably following a stopper, and departure from there was 25 minutes late. With a +41 onto the sleeper at Inverness this was going to be very tight and if missed we’d be in the stickiest situation since sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun. I decided to post a thread on the forum explaining the circumstances and asking if VTEC would need to put us in a hotel overnight and let us travel on the southbound chieftain back if the connection missed (thanks to everyone who replied). One of the replies was rather surprising, from 43094. It turns out that he was doing exactly the same move and was sat in coach M! I headed from my seat in L through to M to say hi and we decided to try and get a bay of 4 after Perth, where the train would probably empty out. I headed back to L and dinner orders were soon being taken, with a different menu to earlier. This is a rather good idea, swapping menus at Edinburgh on the ones going through to Scotland so people don’t need to have the same menu if traveling from England. The new menu was, in my opinion, much better than the old one and both dad and I went for beef curry (which was the best onboard food I’ve ever had on VTEC), the now obligatory muffin also being grabbed.

RTT kept on being refreshed to see how late we were and we were back to 20-late after Stirling. Alas we were slowed at Dunblane due to a train that terminated there so lost another 4 minutes. Thanks to a dwell at Perth though we were only 21 minutes late from there but it was still nail bitingly close, particularly with the single line sections north of Stanley Junction. We’d need to pass everything in perfect places in order for this to work...

I looked at RTT and it appeared that we’d be in a good position for passing something at Blair Atholl and again at Kingussie. We just had to hope that it’d work out well as this would cost us a few more minutes. Just after leaving Perth we went to join 43094, who now had a bay of 4, and it was a cracking evening run up towards Inverness. We passed through Blair Atholl non-stop, oddly. All 3 of us were expecting to stop there to let a Scotrail unit pass us but then we remembered that the double track started there so there was no need to stop. Excellent news! It’s a shame that it was dark but there was lots of snow up here as seen by the lights from inside the coach reflecting off it. We were in a perfect position to pass another unit at Kingussie and we were soon on the move to Aviemore. The thought was that that one would be the last that we’d need to pass before Inverness but it turned out that there was another due out of Inverness at 20:15 that we’d encounter somewhere between Aviemore and Inverness. If we got held at Carrbridge or even slightly further on then the connection would miss. We decided to go for it anyway and continued beyond Aviemore, just hoping that the connection would make.

In the end the 170 was passed at speed not far out of Inverness. Thank god for that: the connection had made! It didn’t feel like we’d been on the train for 8 hours, as dad had pointed out, and it was excellent to have a catch up with 43094. We arranged to meet in the lounge car on the sleeper after departure and I got the camera out after arrival to get some night photos at Inverness featuring the tram and our shovel for this evening, 67007.
Night-time Chieftain by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Night-time Chieftain by fishquinn1, on Flickr
The overnight by fishquinn1, on Flickr
The overnight by fishquinn1, on Flickr
After some decent photos had been taken we got checked in and dumped our stuff in the berth, numbers 7 and 8 in coach E (coach number 10519). I do love travelling on the sleeper and one of the funky things about it is the lounge car, which we headed to just after departing Inverness (after popping to the droplight of course, but closing it once I noticed how smoky the clag was looking and not wanting to set the smoke alarms off).

Dad and I got to the lounge car before 43094 and both decided to order hot chocolates. They soon arrived and we randomly talked about funky things, including the idea of having armed lions to protect coaching stock from scroats. Simple lions, we (well, more I) concluded wouldn’t be enough but arming them with high powered machine guns would probably act as a deterrent for some. Don’t worry: I’m not totally crazy...

43094 arrived a few minutes after us and, after a quick look at the menu, decided to go for cheesecake. This sounded like a rather good idea so both dad and I decided to go for it as well but they only had two. Dad instead decided to go for a raspberry based pudding and, when they arrived, both the cheesecake and dad’s raspberry pudding were incredibly tasty (I tried some of dad’s as well). We chatted all the way until Pitlochry, about two hours after getting into the lounge car, and got to witness a rather random act from a member of staff persuading a passenger in the lounge car to have his photo taken while holding up a cardboard cut-out of a Santa hat. The perils of the lounge car, particularly around Christmas .

It was an absolutely cracking evening and I’d like to thank 43094 for making it so enjoyable. We headed back to our berths just before coming to a stop at Pitlochry and the berth dad and I were in was stopped right next to the semaphore signal there. I propped my two pillows up a bit so I could see out of the window and slowly dropped off to sleep at the end of one amazing day.


Day 2


Shovel number 7 headed via Ladybank and the Forth Bridge to get to Edinburgh today because of a line closure between Croy and Stirling. I woke up during a rather violent shunting move at Waverley and, for some unknown reason (all three portions had arrived at Edinburgh either on time or early) it took over an hour for us to depart, doing so 36 minutes late with dud 90016 unfortunately leading. This was the only 90 on the sleeper diagrams at the moment (except the Edinburgh-Carstairs portion) so it was totally booked that we’d end up landing it.

I woke up at a few points on the way south but got to sleep rather quickly again. In the end, the point I got up (and stayed up) was just before we passed through Nuneaton. I just lay in bed for quite a while longer, looking at the outside world as we whizzed through Rugby and Weedon etc. In the Rugby area our orange juices and bit of shortbread arrived and were drunk on the approach to Euston, now back on time. We weren’t stopped at Euston for long before we bailed, 87002 standing over in platform 1 in all its glory as we did so. We stood looking at it for a couple of moments (why couldn’t it have been on our service instead of the rubbish skoda?) before wandering down past 15 coaches to get to the exit of the station.

The two of us wandered over to the Costa on Euston Square (just by the tube stop) and dad ordered a large latte. I didn’t fancy anything at the time so just sat and chatted to dad as he had his coffee. After about 15 minutes we set off on our walk towards Marylebone. It’s quite a nice walk if you go the nice way, although it seems to take less time each time we do it and arrival at Marylebone was about an hour an a half before our train back to Leam, the 10:10, was due to leave. We first headed for brekky at the usual place just opposite Marylebone station. I wanted to check the DVT on the first arrival from Kidderminster first and because it was already in this was no trouble. I was glad to see that it wasn’t 68014 as this would give a 50/50 chance of us getting it back to Leamington later. Either it was on the same turn as the day before or it was ours. I certainly hoped for the latter!

Neither dad nor I fancied our usual massive breakfast so instead decided to go for a sausage and egg sarnie each. This proved to be just what I wanted and was very tasty so I’m certainly glad I went for it. Breakfast didn’t take long to finish so we ended up back at Marylebone station with about an hour until our train (and half an hour before booked arrival). It was decided that we’d wait on the platform and as it was only a few minutes until the second ex Marylebone arrived I’d know if 68014 would be our cat home pretty soon. A silver DVT could soon be seen weaving its way into Marylebone and when the number became clear I was slightly disappointed: 82301. This was the DVT that was with 68014 so no cat 14 for me today. GT was still attached to the stock so I got to see it at least but the honour of taking us back to Leam would now reside with either 008 or 010.

It was a long wait before the service that would form ours arrived. It was running about 10 minutes late on the inbound so we were soon on the platform for about 40 minutes before we could board the set of stock that was currently in the control of 68010. A bay of 4 was got in the front coach and we simply waited for departure, which happened on time at 10:10.

The noise through the tunnels was rather loud and as we crossed the west coast mainline in a gap between tunnels a pair of 350s was passing under. I could get the number of only one and couldn’t believe how unfortunate I must have been to see one of my last two needed for haulage, 350267. The odds of us passing a dez there, let alone me getting the number and it being one of my last two must have been extremely low! It’ll have to land at some point but it’s had a knack at avoiding me for ages; that was actually the first time I’ve seen it in yonks. I can’t even remember the last time I saw 350112, the other one that I need!

We put the brakes on in the Ruislip area and crawled from there onwards. I checked RTT and found out that the reason was due to a delayed Gerrards Cross stopper delaying both us and the 13:05 Oxford. Once we were clear of Gerrards Cross running 11 minutes late we picked speed up again until High Wycombe with our booked stop.

I was rather tired so decided to try and get some sleep while on board. I was successful but woke to some breaking in the Haddenham & Thame Parkway area because of the Oxford’s booked stop. This lead to a 15-minute-late departure from Banbury and we were eventually alighting at Leamington at 11:37, having made up a couple of minutes between Banbury and Leam. The ticket barriers at Leam seemed to be problematic as they were all open with someone fixing a problem; it’d probably be easier to rip them out (and definitely preferable for passengers).

The snow and ice that had been covering the pavements on our walk to the station on Wednesday morning was now mostly gone so despite the additional traffic about now (and there was loads of it for some unknown reason) it was easier to get back to the car than get from the car. The traffic really was oddly busy for mid-day on a Thursday but we were able to leave Leam with only a little delay. The drive home was via the pet shop and we got back between 12:15 and 12:30. A highly memorable trip for sure and thanks to 43094 for putting up with us .

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

That was an awesome report. I’m glad I made use of the current VTEC sale now!

 

[cactustwirly]

Sounds like an excellent trip, some brilliant photos there too!

 

[Kite159]

Dad wanted to check if there was any supermarket sort of things in Kings Cross station despite me not recalling any from a previous time.

For future reference there is a Tesco Metro located a couple minutes walk from Kings Cross. Head out towards McDonalds on York Way, turn left alongside the station and take the first right, Tesco is at the end of that short lane (see map).

Just beware as it be a larger Metro it doesn't open for long on Sundays. But useful to grab some snacks/drinks at reasonable prices

Sounded like a good trip to Inverness and back, bit of a waste not being able to see the scenery of the Highland Main Line due to it being dark.

 

[43094]

I enjoyed the trip as well - thanks to you and your Dad for the company

I was more pleased than you were with the 90, as that's what I'd gone for - I couldn't remember if I'd had it before!

 

[Iskra]

Great report, I thought I was mad with some of my trips, but London-Inverness and straight back makes me look positively sane

 

[FQ]

That was an awesome report. I’m glad I made use of the current VTEC sale now!

Cheers! Helpfully you'll have a great time in VTEC 1st for a long journey too.

Sounds like an excellent trip, some brilliant photos there too!

Thanks!

For future reference there is a Tesco Metro located a couple minutes walk from Kings Cross. Head out towards McDonalds on York Way, turn left alongside the station and take the first right, Tesco is at the end of that short lane (see map).

Just beware as it be a larger Metro it doesn't open for long on Sundays. But useful to grab some snacks/drinks at reasonable prices

Sounded like a good trip to Inverness and back, bit of a waste not being able to see the scenery of the Highland Main Line due to it being dark.

Definitely one to remember for a future trip: cheers!

I'm doing the Highland Mainline again in May so it isn't a big loss. Due to the time of year the tickets were dirt cheap so it was definitely worth the trip.

I enjoyed the trip as well - thanks to you and your Dad for the company

I was more pleased than you were with the 90, as that's what I'd gone for - I couldn't remember if I'd had it before!

Cheers: it was a great time.

I would've much preferred a 92: they're much more rateable!

Great report, I thought I was mad with some of my trips, but London-Inverness and straight back makes me look positively sane

I fully agree


All change on the Western day 1


My last chance for a FOSS before it really does become too hard. Between the 2nd of January and the 12th of February 2018 there were 6 diagrams covered by IETs instead of trams on the Western (excluding Oxfords/Cotswolds). I decided that it was time to do another Freedom of Severn and Solent before it got really hard to dodge the new stuff (another two diagrams would go over on Feb the 12th). I was to have a small break of a month or so between finishing my GCSEs and starting A-levels so decided to start my FOSS on Tuesday the 23rd of Jan, a few days after finishing my last exam.

I'd be using the same tickets as my last FOSS, a combination of the rover and a season ticket. On the Tuesday morning I got up at stupid o'clock (which is code for 05:20) and got ready for the day ahead. All was sorted before dad and I left for the station just after 05:50 and we had soon parked the car and walked over to the station.

As I entered the station building the first thing that I noticed was the fact that the TVMs had been replaced by this new, massive monstrosities. The old ones worked perfectly fine so why they felt the need to replace them with things twice the size I don't know. One of the usual members of staff was in the ticket office this morning so I got a cheery 'good morning' and had my season and FOSS issued (although I did have to say where she'd find the FOSS). After issuing my tickets she commented on how I always seem to teach her something new when I'm there! With the sort of things I've bought that isn't wrong! She also offered me a calendar because they had loads spare so, not yet having one for 2018 I happily accepted. Then, tickets in hand, I headed up onto platform 2 for the 06:24 to Brum.

165021 was soon arriving. Dad and I got the usual bay of 4 for the ride through to Birmingham (legroom is dire in both bays of 4 and bays of 2 but is slightly better in the former). The 20s with London Underground stock were in Tyseley this morning and arrival at Snow Hill was bang on time. We ended up getting more mileage (well, chainage) on this 165 that we'd bargained for because the 165 pulled right down the platform to the 4 car stop board. Delusions of grandeur me thinks...

Breakfast wasn't going to happen today because dad needed to go to Derby early on and wasn't in the mood for brekky at all (because he wasn't feeling good but still hates taking sick leave from work). Because of this I let dad head up to the office and decided to do a little cat bash myself. Using the country end subway at Snow Hill (the first time I've used it: it's a maze!) I changed platform and was only on the platform for a couple of moments before I saw a DVT headlight approaching. 82302 was leading 68012 on this run. The guard took ages to unlock the doors today and the driver was probably only getting used to the 68 because it was a very jerky departure from each stop, something that was constantly happening when they were new. The plug sockets didn't work (annoyingly as my I-pod had run out of charge because I'd stupidly forgotten to charge it). On the upside I had a decent bay of 2 with good legroom (Chiltern: something you're 165s and 168/3s lack) to myself in a pleasant traveling environment (VT please take note with your pendos) and 68012 would be cleared for 900 by Dorridge, where I bailed. We'd lost about 5 minutes between Snow Hill and Dorridge (a long time taken to open the doors at Moor Street and an oddly long dwell at Solihull being the causes) but my connection still worked out. 172217 and 172332 were soon seen approaching from the north (this being the 0708 from Leam). Not too many people got on the 5 coach train at Dorridge and I was easily about to get a seat (going for one in a bay of 4 to get extra room when I get wedged out). Plenty of people got on at Widney Manor (and I was wedged out with one person). By the time we left Solihull I couldn't see any free seats and departure from Olton had it standing through the aisles. By Acocks Green it was approaching crush loaded (people standing all the way through the aisles) and we still had Tyseley and Small Heath to go. Not many people got on at these two thankfully and there was a mass exodus of the train at Moor Street, including myself.

I went to get the rear unit number (having not got it at Dorridge) and then joined the massive queue at the barriers. Whoever said that ticket barriers help reduce crowding should be shot (or maybe forced to go through Moor Street ticket barriers each time a train load of commuters arrives). It took at least 2 minutes for me to get through the barriers. Fortunately I had 15 minutes to get to New Street for departure of my train so got there in good time. The 08:12 Plymouth was running about 5 minutes late this morning (due to following a stopper into Derby according to the guard on board) but 43384 and 43207 had soon arrived and departed, me safely on board. I was happy with 207 for sure as it's my favourite of Cross Country's bunch (followed by 378) and 384 is my second lowest Cross Country powercar for mileage, being on 1014 miles so was also good to get.

The run up the cross city was really slow as we were following a late running 323 all the way to Kings Norton, which we passed 12-late (so we'd lost 7 minutes between New Street and Kings Norton). We were up to speed not long after that and had soon left Cheltenham (running 11-down).

I had my first time going around the curve before Westerleigh Junction this year, getting a decent view of both powercars from the comfort of my seat. By this point, thanks to working plug sockets, both my phone and I-pod had had a good charge. Arrival at Bristol Parkway was at the same time as a Paddington bound service that I was sure was a booked IET but that definitely wasn't what was arriving. I'd checked RTT and seen that it was running on time so thought to myself 'that could be a tram' but was certainly surprised to see that it was one! I quickly threw my stuff together and legged it for the door, sprinting over the bridge and getting onto 43186 and a currently unknown partner for the run to Swindon. By making use of the powercar number on the gangway (if you're on an HST and don't know which powercar is at the 1st class end then just walk through 1st class and peer into the powercar: on the door the number is there) I found out that it was 43169 on the back. Both of these were winners for the year and I was pleased to get 169 because I've heard that it's going off lease soon.

It turns out that this service isn't a booked IET (I was so sure that it was) and that the IETs are on the service half an hour later (well, 40 minutes later when you factor in the 10-minute delay they'd already got). Dad had told me the day before this trip that the newly 'improved' Carmarthen-Paddington turn hadn't been on time for two weeks except for one day when they'd put an HST onto it instead! Anyway, back to what I was on. While looking on RTT I'd found out that it would be possible to make a connection onto a Bristol bound service almost immediately. It's meant to be a 00 connection but the Temple Meads service was running 5 minutes late so I'd be able to get it. The connection pulled off and I could soon see the BTM bound service arriving. The powercars weren't particularly inspiring, 43122 and 43133 although I went for them anyway in order to keep moving (122 was a winner for the year anyway). I could either bail at Chippenham or Bath on this set (Bristol would put me onto an 800) and I decided to go for Bath to get some extra mileage; it'd only put my at Swindon half an hour later anyway (and onto a train away 15 minutes later).

At Bath I watched one tram leave and another arrive. I was rather annoyed at which set had decided to turn up on this. It was 43152 and 43029. So far this year this was my third day out using trams. On all three of them this set had featured (Ledbury-Worcester, Paddington-Reading and now Bath-Swindon). Why couldn't it be a new one for the year? I got it anyway as a good connection would be given at Swindon and arrival time back there was right time.

After a couple of minutes of waiting (and it was only about two minutes) the 11:14 Cardiff was arriving. 43042 led 43171, both winners for the year, into Swindon today. And then out of Swindon (it would've been rather annoying if it hadn't left after all). We'd soon left Swindon and picked up speed. This was lost again at Wooton Basset Junction where we had a rather heavy brake application and took the junction at about 25mph. This speed was maintained for a little bit before it was reduced again to zero. After about 5 minutes, my hoped +4 at Newport now completely dead, we moved forward again, the guard claiming that the reason for our delay was due to following a slower service. Is it just me who thinks that sounds like an excuse plucked out of thin air given the amount of time waiting and the section of line we were on? Anyway, we got moving again but the brakes came back on not too long after and we were stopped at another red signal. This time the guard gave the real reason for our delay; a vehicle striking a bridge ahead. Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Luckily it seemed that the bridge wasn't structurally damaged so we moved forward at an incredibly slow pace after about quarter of an hour. The slow pace was maintained until we were over the bridge when speed was picked up again and we got to Bristol Parkway 25 minutes late. The connection at Bristol Parkway is a +25 but it was luckily running a couple of minutes late so I was able to quickly change platforms (and I mean quickly: we were arriving at exactly the same time) and sprint to get the back powercar before boarding. I got a funny look and a couple of questions from the guard, and RPI and a dispatcher while doing this as I guess it can look a bit weird running down the steps, past every passenger door and towards the end of the platform before turning around again and getting on at the first door. I recognized the back powercar having seen the set on the thamesline but walked up front and into 1st class to confirm that the pairing was still the same. While going through 1st class I had an RPI check my ticket (there was a huge staff presence on this train for some reason) who just asked if I needed 1st class. I replied saying what I was doing and he was fine with it.

43158 and 43154 were still together and I went to get a bay of 2 after getting the leading powercar number. Back to Swindon on this pairing (without getting slowed for the bridge so they must have sorted the problem), noting 60039 going under us at Westerleigh Junction and I had the chance to get a couple of photos before a set that I'd already seen today, 43177 and 43168 arrived on the 12:40 Swansea. Both were unfortunately duds for the year (having had this set on our Thamesline).
London bound by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Going to Cheltenham by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Going to Cheltenham by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Swindon arrival by fishquinn1, on Flickr

My plan was to take this to Newport for a plus 10 onto a tram back to Bristol Parkway and then a unit down the hill to Temple Meads for my Cross Country tram. Whilst on board (on an absolutely storming run, I must say) I noticed that the service that this has a -3 onto at Bristol Parkway was running 4 minutes late. This, coupled with the fact that we were 3 minutes early by Westerleigh Junction meant that I had a tough decision to make. I could either stick with my plan and go through to Newport or I could get some extra mileage by going to Swindon with a +6 (RTT said at the time) onto another Swansea back to Parkway for the same cart to Temple Meads. If that +6 failed at Swindon then I wouldn't be on the tram that I needed to be on towards Brum. I decided that I'd wander up to where the stairs would be at Parkway. This tram is booked to wait at Parkway until 13:09 whereas RTT expected that the connection would arrive at 13:05 so I'd be able to stand in the vestibule of the Swansea tram and view the other one arrived, deciding what to do once I knew the arrival time and which powercars were on it. When we arrived at Bristol Parkway I hopped out onto the platform and wandered down there (for it's easier than walking through the train) and was met with a rather large surprise. A brand new platform! I had no idea that there were even plans to build a new one and despite having been to Bristol Parkway twice so far today I hadn't noticed it (as I was in a hurry for the connection on both occasions). I got on at the vestibule next to the steps and could soon see a tram arriving at 13:05. When I saw that the front powercar was needed for the year I decided to go for it so double winners for the year (the back powercar identified when I got onto the other platform) 43032 and 43175. Another bay of 2 was had on this tram.

I had my fingers crossed that all would go OK on the run to Swindon. There were no problems and we weren't even checked anywhere so it was a clear run that gave me 8 minutes to change platform. 43174 and 43187 (both winners for the year again: a rather successful move) were to take me back to Bristol Parkway and my GWR trams for the day ended with that move.

A couple of photos of the new platform 1 were got now. Why platform 1 though? Did Parkway used to be numbered 2-4 and they decided to add a 1 or did they change the numbering of the other platforms? I changed platforms, seeing that the tram I'd have got if I went to Newport instead of Swindon (129 and 020 so nothing particularly special: just for the year).
Bristol Parkway by fishquinn1, on Flickr
A photo was got before this left and I then got on board winner 166210, which was working the 14:12 Weston-Super-Nightmare. I made sure that a seat was chosen where I had a perfect view of a station clock because any departure after 14:15 was too risky for my train to New Street. This train frequently leaves a few minutes late because it has to wait for the (frequently delayed) XC voyager from Bristol. When that one arrives the Swansea tram is able to leave and we need to follow it out. The voyager was delayed by a couple of minutes so we were too and departure was eventually at 14:14. The run to Temple Meads was uneventful and arrival was at 14:23. I could see that my tram north was already in the station and even though it wasn't due out for 7 minutes, from all the tight connections I've done it was slightly unnerving. We went right up to the end of the platform (the Weston end of it) so I had a long way to go to get over to the waiting 43207 and 43384. It was an oddly busy service for a Tuesday but I wandered down to the quiet coach, noticing that the electronic reservation system wasn't working. Usually XC would borrow GWR reservation labels in this case but it seems they didn't today. Instead someone had ripped up bits of paper and wrote down the seat number and station codes for the journey being done, for example G45 CNM-LDS (Cheltenham-Leeds). Alas they've succumbed to the stupid industry idea of New Street being BHM. It should clearly be BNS and that's actually what the signaling diagrams for New Street resignalling use and some of the catering trolleys that I've seen use. I never use BHM in my notes either. Anyway, rant over.
The paper replacement by fishquinn1, on Flickr

The journey south was rather uneventful. I fell asleep for a little bit before Cheltenham and got woken by the guard doing a ticket check after Cheltenham. He looked at my FOSS (as that's the only thing I presented) and looked at it in detail before asking to see the other half. I showed him my date boxes and he said that he didn't think it was valid this way before moving on without another word! After the stagger through the burbs we were finally getting to New Street.

At this point, 16:00, I hadn't eaten since the evening before (because of a lack of breakfast and no time for lunch because I'd been moving pretty much all the time). I ran up to Snow Hill and got an egg and cress sarnie to eat on the train, the 16:12 Marylebone. 168218, a 3 car unit, was to take me home. I got one of the two single seats at the very back of the train (they're good because they're not over the engine and you have no chance of being wedged out) and the journey back wasn't particularly inspiring. The plan was for me to meet dad at the car because he needed to go somewhere in Leam but he was waiting at the station, having decided not to bother (he was still feeling really s**t). We wandered back to the car and had to do another chore on the way home: pick up veggies. After that we'd finally reached the boats again where a rather nice evening was had and I set my alarm ready for the day tomorrow.

 

[FQ]

All change on the Western day 2


Day 2 was meant to be Wednesday the 23rd of January, the day after the first one. Plans changed at 05:00 on the Wednesday morning. Dad was feeling even worse than the day before and couldn't go into work so I wasn't able to get a lift into Leam (it turns out that I didn't miss out on a day of FOSS: I would've ended up in Manchester on a Cross Country tram). It was a bit of a shame but the main thing would certainly be dad getting better. Dad was feeling better (but still not totally recovered) on the Thursday morning so I got up at 05:20 as usual and got ready for the day ahead. A day late but I'll still get my 8 days.

We got to the station in time to see 66507 pass through and watch 165010 arrive with our train to Brum. I didn't think much of the driver's stopping position this morning, stopping at least 5 meters short of the 2-car stop board but we got our seats on the surprisingly busy service OK. I made use of the free wifi during the ride to Birmingham (asking for gen on 43026 at the same time) and we had soon alighted at Snow Hill with the London Underground bombs being in Tyseley again this morning (they tend to be there on Tuesday and Thursday mornings).

We made our way over to Wetherspoon as usual and got our usual table. Then it was a case of looking at the brekky menu to decide what to go for (despite me already knowing that I wanted the breakfast wrap). Looking at the menu showed that it had been vastly reduces, eliminating pancakes, scrambled egg on toast and multiple other things (only about 50% of what was originally on there remained). Dad unfortunately was in more of a sweet mood and wanted pancakes so he just decided to go for toast and jam instead. The breakfast wrap was still there so I got that and asked why the menu had been reduced while ordering. The guy at the counter didn't know why they'd done it and said that it was a stupid move because they'd eliminated the best sellers and done similar to parts of the main menu. Stupidity if you ask me...

My breakfast wrap went down well and we decided to head off at about 07:40. I wanted to get the 07:50 cat through the tunnel from Snow Hell to Moor Street and needed to get to Sainsbury's in order to get a sarnie for lunch (not making the same mistake as the day before and saying that I'd get one while in the FOSS area and never doing so). An egg and cress sarnie was bought from the self-service checkout at Sainsbury's and I did my usual revenge thing. The Sainsbury's machines, other than being stupidly slow also will give you the most stupid change it possibly can. 20p change may be made up of two 5p, five 5p (or something even worse). What I do provided I have enough time and change is put in all my loose change instead of anything of a decent amount. I got up to £1.02 through small bits of change. My sandwich cost £1.10 but dad obliged for the last 8p, made up of 2p and 1p pieces.

I said bye to dad outside Sainsbury's and headed for Snow Hill. 68010 arrived after a couple of minutes waiting and some tunnel thrash was enjoyed from the vestibule. It was over all too quickly but I sat on a bench and waited for it to leave Moor Street before heading off myself. The bat cave was reached a couple of minutes after leaving Birmingham's nicest station and it was straight over to platform 11 for the Plymouth service. I didn't know what would be on this service today (because I hadn't seen any gen the day before) so I was pleased when 43384 came into view. Provided there were no set swaps it would still be 43207 on the back although I didn't confirm this until I got off.

A fairly dull run south was had (it's not particularly inspiring after Oddingley level crossing) and I decided to bail at Bristol Parkway as usual (now knowing that the first service towards Swindon is an HST). Some photos were got of 384 after leaving the train and I saw the tram leave, 207 confirmed as on the rear. A platform change was done and I decided to load up my I-pod and make use of the station wifi.
To the west country by fishquinn1, on Flickr
To the west country by fishquinn1, on Flickr
To the west country by fishquinn1, on Flickr
The forum was checked and I found that my gen request for 026 had been answered (thanks very much FGW_DID): it would do the 10:00 Paddington-Bristol and the 12:30 back. A check of RTT showed that it'd easily be gettable and, even better, I could do it from Didcot by getting the tram from Bristol Parkway straight there. This proved to be even better (this is going well!) when I saw that my second favourite GWR powercar, 43053, was leading 43040 on the 09:33 Paddington. Excellent!

A bay of 2 was sourced and we were soon on the move towards London. A check of my mileage on 053 showed that the run to Didcot would clear it for 800 (it was on 770.25 before I boarded) and certainly get it within striking distance for the magical thou' on this FOSS. Definitely a good thing as 053 is one of the powercars with an uncertain future as it's going to go off lease (no Scotrail or GWR future for it).

Arrival at Didcot was right time. I watched the set leave and then saw 43127 and 43056 storm through on their way to Swansea. That roar was rather good, I must say (although definitely not as good as a valenta scream). I sat in the waiting room during my 20-minute fester and could soon see a green powercar approaching, telling me that Eavis was on the back (provided there hadn't been a last minute swap at Paddington). 43198 was leading and I was pleased to see the familiar nameplate and white plaque that confirmed that 43026 was indeed on the back. A bay of 2 was found towards the front and I formulated a plan for the rest of the day. Bristol on Eavis was a definite and it was found out that I'd be able to do a return to Filton Abbey Wood before leaving on 026 again back to Swindon for another set back to Temple Meads.

Eavis was cleared for 700 by Swindon and an uneventful journey was had through to Bristol, seeing the set that I'd get later from Swindon-Temple Meads if it stuck to diagram (duds from the day before 154 and 158). Arrival at Temple Meads was a couple of minutes early but was unfortunately on platform 15, which is dire for photos at this time on a sunny day because the powercar is in shade and you're shooting into the sun. I got a couple of (poor) photos quickly before heading over to the Weston-Parkway service with dud from the day before (typical) 166210 doing the honors. I had two options to get my to Filton Abbey Wood and just went for this one. It turns out that this was a mistake because I would've got a winner 158 if I'd done the other. Oh well, you can't have them all.

A short 10 minute wait was had at Filton, calling my brother while there to check in, and I could soon see a newly refurbished 158 approaching. I was rather glad with winner 158950, leaving me with just 3 GWR 158/9s to get (It would be 2 if I hadn't been so stupid back at Temple Meads). A bay of 2 was got towards the middle of this unit and my got the legroom is appalling! My legs were touching the seat in front even when I was sitting as far back as possible and the table wouldn't go down all the way because it was too low and my legs stopped it at a certain point. I could just about manage Filton to Bristol in the seat but any longer than that would be a real struggle. To think that GWR use these on Cardiff-Portsmouth services...

I was at Bristol again by 12:17. This gave me just under quarter of an hour before 43026 was to leave again so I got a few more photos of it. The results still weren't great (I only had the small digi camera with me instead of the DSLR) but at least it got some for the record. I got back on board and secured a bay of 4 towards the back in time for departure with 43026 now leading 43198 towards Swindon.
Michael Eavis by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Michael Eavis by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Michael Eavis by fishquinn1, on Flickr

66514 passed us at Bath and 66722 was in the centre roads at Swindon as we arrived. I headed back up front after arrival, Eavis now sat on a rather healthy 788 miles, and got some photos and a video as it departed. This gave me plenty of time to make it onto the other platform and notice that my service to Temple Meads was going to be delayed by a few minutes. The Cardiff train 10 minutes ahead of it is an IET and was running just under 20-late, formed of half the number of coaches it was meant to have (5 vice 10). A sign of things to come: late and short formed? Once 800011 had cleared the platform the 12:25 Temple Meads could roll in with 43154 and 43158 as expected. These eventually left about 13 minutes late but a few minutes were made up en route.
Swindon by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Swindon by fishquinn1, on Flickr

As we arrived at Chippenham my position on the left hand side showed me something I wasn't expecting. There were ticket barriers installed! I had no idea that they were even planning this: there are multiple places to block with barriers for sure! It seems that loads of things to do with stations have changed since I was last here: Bristol Parkway platform 1, Chippenham barriers... Has a teleporter been installed at Swindon too perhaps? OK, maybe not that last one.
Bristol Temple Meads by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Loco-haulage by fishquinn1, on Flickr
Loco-haulage by fishquinn1, on Flickr

Arrival at Bristol was about 10 minutes late, giving me time to get over to platform 3 and see 70808 in the centre roads on a cement train. Some photos were got before my tram home arrived and I got one with the betty right next to 43207 when it arrived. 43384 was still fixed to the back. I got a seat in the quiet coach on board without any problems and we were soon on the move.

I dozed off again on the ride north (waking at Cheltenham and failing to get back to sleep). With 25 minutes still to go in the journey we passed Bromsgrove (don't you love stopping 323s getting in the way of the express) and eventually got to New Street at 15:57. I headed over to Snow Hell for the 16:12, stopping off at baguette world on the way for a chicken and bacon baguette. This was my first time trying it out and it was actually rather good: better quality than I'd have thought (although still not brilliant). I got to Snow Hell and saw another 3-coach 168 waiting on the 16:12. This time I was quite happy with it though because 168108 was my lowest mileage 168 by quite a margin on only 18 miles. The 23.25 back to Leamington certainly improved that and having made use of Chiltern's free wifi on the journey I eventually arrived back at Leamington and headed over to a waiting dad. We then headed back to the car and drove home after a funky second day to my FOSS. Vote Eavis!