H-O-W The Southern Welsh Scratch 'n Bash 23/08/13 - 25/08/13

[heart-of-wessex]

Hello all,

This is a 2 and a half day bash report for my busy weekend I had! The name was something that just came off the top of my head, the Scratch n' Bash referring to the fact it was not only a red pen weekend, but was scratching track off on the Sunday and gained a couple of new station scratches.

So here's the series of events. Look out for some really desperate moves!:

The Positioning Tour - Friday 23rd August

Well I wasn't going to magically appear in London so a 'positioning move' is a necessary one, doesn't run as a 'Q' code! (Q = Runs as required, a code in the Working Timetables).
Actually this day shouldn't actually run, but this Friday is a VSTP..well actually a VVVVSTP!!
Originally I had a £3 advance single to Southampton on the Saturday which I booked with the random impression that it was a Weekday so I'd need to start the pre-booked Southern DaySave later on in the day. I'm too used to Railtours being on Saturdays and the moves being on a Friday!

So the original plan was changed to a CAN status, and the VVVVSTP ran instead. Changing plans before the actual bash is something else! The new plan is to lodge overnight in Northwood so that me and Jerry are in line for an early bash on the Southern DaySave.

So, I looked online at prices and I was shocked that a first class advance to Waterloo was £26.50 for a train in just 3 hours time! It was on the direct through train to Waterloo, however the advance ticket would throw me off at Woking for another train to Waterloo that, somehow, gets to Waterloo 2 minutes before the through train...

I had suspicions that this was actually slower, as the 159's have a lot of padding into Waterloo, and has been timed before to arrive into Waterloo at exactly the same time as another Waterloo express is due, when in reality the 159 would arrive 5 minutes early.
After looking up alternative routes, I decide on the first class advance, but as I go back on to book it, all the advance options have gone

Never mind, the £30.50 Single will do. I arrive at Trowbridge station to get the ticket and await the 1630 SWT service, which arrives 5 down with 159009. It's rather busy on here, so I sit in the vestibule for a ride down the long drag to Salisbury.
Not being tied to an Advance ticket, I decide to leave 159009 behind, though if I still needed 159's for haulage, I'd probably see what was on the ex-Exeter portions first.

I was in need of a refreshment stop so a stop Pumpkin's was made, though I forgot to get a stamp on one of my millions of loyalty cards rammed in my wallet!
It was then onto the next Waterloo service which was a Salisbury starter, a chance of having a seat at least. The 17:46 was formed off the Gillingham service that divided here not long ago, though according to the PIS, this was the Portsmouth Harbour service ! As expected, this changed to Platform 3 and 158955 arrived, but the PIS still reckoned it was from Platform 4. As a result, the 159 doors were not released until the Portsmouth train left the station.
I also had only just noticed something, there was actually a connection from the Pompey to the Waterloo train ! Shocking, it actually happens!

There was plenty of seats on 159019, so I set my office up in the lead coach. By that I mean working through the mundane task of transferring sights and haulages from the old NREA to my new spotters book. I also had some recent tube haulages to update.

This did pass the time on the Mule somewhat, but by Basingstoke my eyes were straining, I had been up at 03:55 this morning for my Asda shift from 05:00 - 13:00. I did nothing more than pack away and watch the scenery for the rest of the journey. Nothing interesting to note, just two Balfour Beatty track machines scored at Woking.

At Waterloo, I called my mate to arrange a London bash next month, and then headed down to top my Oyster up. The plan was to do a cheeky return spin on the W&C for two required 1992 Drain stock cars, but decided to head straight for the Oven Line instead. Required Bakerloo car 4255 took me to Gerry Refferty's station, for a connection onto the 20:07 Met Main Watford starter service. 21045 was the lead coach that I red penned, and took it through to Northwood.
We did leave 2 minutes late, however time was made up by Harrow-on-the-Hill. I did a fair amount of number crunching on the way up, though I'd have probably got more if it was daylight.

After collecting 3 bottles of Bulmers Original at Tesco* and grabbing a burger at the takeaway, it was back to his flat to eat and then straight to bed, as I was wrecked!

* = To any Asda colleagues, I apologise for swearing


To be continued...

 

[Searle]

I do hope you write about the couple of days after, I'm enjoying it so far!

I feel sorry for you with your shift, you must have pulled the shortest of all possible straws to start at 5am! x_x

 

[Techniquest]

On Home Shopping now then? Ugh if so! As for the Tesco swear, I went shopping at Sainsburys today lol!

Sounds like a good trip so far, looking forward to the rest now

 

[anthony263]

Excellent looking forward to reading more. I feel for you having to do the early shifts had enough of very late shifts while working for Iceland

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Looking to move to checkouts Jules, yes Home Shop is a bit trash. It's alright on a good day, nightmare on a bad day when there's no stock!

5am is quite a late start at the moment, can't wait for December for 3am starts...

Anyway, time to play Dave Morales remix of Jamiroquai - Space Cowboy, and crack on:


Southern DaySaver - Red Pen Cowboy

What with the song I'm currently playing, couldn't help that title, sounds quite funky!

So, a 0630 start and time for a coffee and toast whilst deciding on how to get to the Southern area. Watford might be easier from this end, as a Southern service would take us straight there. However the next one is at 0752 for the South Croydon, so it's probably quicker to trek through Zone 1 instead.

Of course there was no plan set in stone, just to get anything required. Jerry only need's 3 unit's of all that Southern operate, 2 377's and one 171. Can't wait to get to that stage!

At Northwood station, I top up the Oyster and then we join 21000 on the 0715 departure for Baker Street. We note a mass of engineers trains line up on the mainline between here and Pinner which included 66705/745/730/726/739/738/729/701 with a variety of engineers from empty flats, loaded sleepers to ballast in tipplers and auto ballaster's. No engineer's in sight but the work might be on beyond Northwood, so there might be a couple of more 66's ahead. Apart from 745, I didn't really score any new sheds at all!

To summarise, the rest of the trip from Baker Street was 3260 on the Oven Line to Oxford Circus, and 13019 on the Vic..to...Victooooorrrriiiiaaaaaa (done in the voice of the Brown Hornet, in Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids).

So, first of all is to get out of the Zones, it's a bit pointless doing 455 bashing and Victoria <-> Clapham leaps! The East Grinstead is noted as being booked for a 6 car set, 2 x 377/3's then, or maybe a 455 and 456, I'd go all the way if that was the case! Otherwise it's worth seeing what's on the 0817 One Hotel Oh Two to Littlehampton. The Grinstead was seen in P17 with two 377/3's in the platform, both were dud anyway, and the 0836 Brighton was seen in P15 with the usual rake of 50 377/3's banged together, two of which were required.

377152 was in the consist of the 0817, so we decided to do that to Clapham as I needed it, and then we'd join the Brighton at Clapham.
However, on arrival at Clapham, we could see on the screens that actually we can make a -3 onto the late running 0821 Victoria service from P12, which involved a mad dash over the footbridge to fall onto 377436 which just happened to be required!!

We were then back into P16 at Victoria where we started, can't keep doing these leaps at this end though! A cross platform interchange saw us onto the 12 car 377/3 set scooping in 313 and 322 for haulage, the other two being dud. Considering I need quite a few of them, there's a lot of dud ones about already!

We didn't get off at Clapham this time, it was right away Brighton for us. Arriving at East Croydon, Jerry pointed out the new footbridge being installed at the north end of the station. Was unaware of this actually being built but apparently along with providing a new entrance from the car park, it replaces the subway. I remember that subway only too well. Countless times I've ran down that ramp and back up the otherside for a +1 onto a Purley bound 455 hoping it was actually required, then crashing out on a seat to get my breath back, especially when I usually have a 2 ton bag in tow!

Now we are RA Brighton on the Capital Coast Express..I think that was the service name given on Connex's Brighton fast's?
We raced over Stoatface Junction at speed, and I mention how bouncy it is on a 377 compared to the ride on a 442, which I suppose is right, as Jerry replies that a 442 is a longer MK3 based unit compared to a shorter 377 wheelbase that sometimes appears to have no suspension at all..

A Coffee move is something that I could do with now, but a proper size cup with a reasonable price would be nice so I flag the idea of a coffee from the trolley, which doesn't come through until just past Burgess Hill.

On arrival into Brighton, not much was noted in Lover's Walk, just a handful of 377's. None of Jerry's last ones were seen.
We arrived into platform 4, as expected, in time to hear the familiar MTU engine with a fan howl which would be the Ashford leaving. Could be a required 171 so we might have to see that later on just in case, I still need one 171 for sight, the ex-SWT 170392 that is 171730. I've been looking for that bloody thing for so long I swear it doesn't actually exist, but I'm assured it still is about...really??

Jerry looks on Open Train Times for a set of moves, which first involves the Seaford to London Road and then the Ore to Lewes for the 171 back to Brighton. This would depend what's out of course. 377445 was on the 0940 Seaford which was required so that was a good start. We took this on the micro leap to London Road (NOT Guildford ) and there we saw 377442 about to leave on the Brighton which would be on the Ore service. Well that was actually dud so it's a bit pointless waiting for that. So already the plan was canned and we awaited the ex-Ore service.

In the meantime I discussed the idea of getting a Network Card, which I picked a leaflet form at the station should I decide to get one. Might one day come in use to get discounted travel from Salisbury, travelcards on Weekends, and might also be of use for Z6 boundary tickets to places in the NSE area. There's a lot of track in the area outside of the zones I still need like bay platforms and crossovers, and a lot of stations to visit too, so this might actually be handy. Would be useful for station bashing in Kent too where I usually buy a lot of returns to do stations and track.

The ex-Seaford arrives with 377412, required but I was expecting a Class 313, since the PIS said it had no toilet on board. Might have been booked for a 313 though.

Back into Brighton, we wander off to see if there's a Hove shuttle any time soon, and the next minute I see Jerry jog over to P2 with excitement...It's just a 377, calm down! There was a good reason, it was 377142, his second to last one, or last one in the ex-375 batch! It was required for me too, so we jumped on this rammed to the rafters Pompey service for a leap to Hove Actually.

From Hove Actually, we'd get the shuttle back to Brighton to view the 1032 Ashford. 313211 was on the duty and arrived into P1 to form the 1024 Brighton. As we sat down, a pair of 377's rolled in. After fumbling through my book, one of the 377's was required so I rammed the book back in my pocket and sprinted out and....oh never mind, of course it's the Victoria service RA to Hayward's Heath, duh! The fact we saw it on the PIS screen beforehand should have been obvious that it wasn't going to get us into Brighton...

313211 was required anyway so I still didn't loose anything. It was decided that we'd try and nail the Ashford diagrams as he needs one and I need a lot having only done one 2 car Turbostar. We then headed to P7 to see what was on the Brighton, and had my finger's crossed for 730 but it was 171727, which was required though so we went on to board it but...holy cow! Talk about busy !! Standing room only on this service, does everyone in Sussex need 171727!?!

It was only a red pen leap so standing to Lewes wasn't much of an issue, but this was the service I originally was going to do through to Ashford to complete the Southern network, but I think I already mentioned that I plan to do that through a station bash between Hastings and Ashford. Just as well we're not going straight through today!

We gas away about something or the other and then I get this feeling that we've stopped, maybe just outside the station. I look out the door window to see us crawling at snail's pace. Of course, I forgot there's a 0.0005 speed limit into Lewes. Imagine how long it would take to crawl a Eurostar through here!

A coffee move was now the plan so we wandered off to the station café. Worryingly, there's a few people in Bluebird's shirt's, not just one or two either..could this mean something at Falmer later or somewhere else?
That was on the back of my mind now as I decided to actually substitute a coffee for a Belgian hot chocolate, with a cheese and ham filled croissant.

Jerry was waiting by the door and suddenly he came running back in 'you'd never guess what's on that, 377437!!' Not just any old number, his last 377 of all time (and by that I mean all 377's, the FCC ones are cleared too)! Jammy git, two last ones in one day! It came to a stop as my hot chocolate was being poured out of the machine in slow motion, damn hit the turbo button!

It was then handed to me and I scooped some sugars and we ran onto the rear set. 437 was dud for me but the bonus was required 451 was in tow so was an all win for all of us. We were RA Hayward's Heath and behind us were a large group of lady's having a good time. When the gripper came through he just said 'Stag party?' to which they replied 'no!'
Hmm...must be the Electrostar Bashers Association Club or Ladies Only AC/DC Unit Bashers Club? Won't be the Dual Voltage Bashers Club, this ain't a 377/2

We got held outside of Keymer Jct probably to allow the ex-Littlehampton to proceed so we could couple to the rear of it. We were then told a couple of times to remain seated as the train couples up then the doors will be released. This ain't no 442, shouldn't need to run up at 50mph to couple up!
The train never did couple up on arrival and the doors were released first.

As we walked to the subway Jerry noticed the front unit number...turns out this was actually a pointless move for him as actually is was 377473!! Bowled!
We now decided on a FCC move to Brighton to save the long wait for a Southern service to Brighton, which we realised on the way up that getting back to Brighton might be a bit of a pain. We managed to grab the 1111 departure which was now sitting in P2, and walked onto dud 319421. This service was our only hope of seeing what the next 171 was on the Ashford.
It was RA to Brighton too which made it better for some non stop GEC thrash

Brighton was reached on time and as we walked to the concourse end I noted the front unit since we didn't see it at Hayward's Heath probably another dud unit but...WOAH Holy Moses!! It's 319371!! My last 319 for sight !! I was over the moon, like 171730 I was wondering if this bugger has been scrapped but here she was, blindingly on the front of the train I just came in on and got it for haulage before I even knew it was there!

a +4 saw us make the 1132 Ashford with ease and this time it was another score, 171728 this time. Hmm, 171727 last time, just 2 more services and it should be 730 !

Just like the last service, it was once again jam packed. Christ this route is demanding, is this normal? If so I suspect Southern would otherwise prefer that all their fleet were 4 car 171's, but got to make use of what you've got with a limited amount of 2 car set's. Even paring would be ideal but you can't really pair them all.

The man with the plan was looking up the moves which involved something about Eastbourne and Polegate. Another Lewes leap was the first part of the plan though. Just as well really, as it didn't appear that any air con was on and was stuffy as hell on here.


...to be continued....

 

[bb21]

As we walked to the subway Jerry noticed the front unit number...turns out this was actually a pointless move for him as actually is was 377473!! Bowled!

Many a time, my son, many a time...

On the bright side, it keeps the game alive.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Too right, just one of those thing's isn't it! Usually more annoying when you divert off your own planned route for no apparent reason! lol!

So, from Lewes:

We crossed over onto the Up/Down Lewes side of the station for a short wait onto F16. It was also a make or break dash over the footbridge should 377437 be on the 13:26 (I believe) Victoria that was just coming in on the Up Lewes Platform 2. It wasn't so that saved a crazy dash. Required units turning up is great, but sometimes there's a point where you just hope there isn't one just to save running around, or to save the annoying scenario of standing there going 'Do I? Don't I? Do I? Don't I?' a thousand times!

377149 formed part of 1F16, and that was one for the red pen. Can anyone tell that I spend more time doing leaps on SWT 455's and FCC 319's on a Travelcard than doing 377's to Croydon or Clapham?

It is also this day that I start counting all units on one set for haulage. I know some other people that do it, and Jerry put some sense into my head. Originally I only counted one just to give it more of a challenge, but then I came to realise that counting pairs, trio's etc is hard enough, counting singles would take forever, especially when you think about far away areas like the North and Scotland, then take into account new builds that start in service too. He had a point so I changed my own rules. There's nothing in my rules about changing rules

Eastbourne P2 was scratched, a requirement for me as the last time I came here was on an ALR and didn't record what platforms I did then.
Our train was split and it formed an Ore service which was due out soon, odd as the other portion that split also went to Ore..

Anyway it was off to the local store across the road for a drink. I noted that there was a vast variety of buses from Stagecoach down here, from N reg Olympians and Wright Cadet's to Enviro 200's and SLF Dart's. It was like a 'Stagecoach Buses Through The Years' bus rally or something!

I bought a 2 litre Dr Pepper bottle for more value for money, being that it's not much difference in price to a small one. The problem I realise after is carrying the thing in my bag. I may as well be taking one of those BOC gas cylinders!

Back at the station we waited for the ex-Ashford turbostar to arrive. I picked up a timetable to see how frequent these Ore services were since there was two close together earlier. Well that's odd, the Ore service that went didn't exist. I was looking at the Saturday table too. Hmm ok, I look at the board to see what the next Ore service is. I check that in the timetable leaflet...nope that don't exist either. I cross-reference the Brighton, Ashford and Victoria services...nope they don't exist either!!!
The front of the timetable may as well read 'do not read: times are different to what they should be!' What was more puzzling was that it was in date too. All I can assume is that all services are under a VAR path.

Then the Brighton service couldn't decide where it's going from. First it was from platform 1, but then altered to platform 2, but this was then taken up by a pair of 377's that arrived into 2. It was then reverted back to 1, then back to 2, then finally to 1. Jerry looked at Open Train Times to see what the train in P2 was doing, but we found that there was no ECS turn on there due in, unless it was one of the other ECS turns in OTT that would either make it stupidly early or stupidly late, but it did arrive roughly the same time as the Horsham RHTT circuit MPV would arrive. It probably formed a non-existing train in the timetable service...

Anyway, our 171 arrived into P1 in the shape of 171722. Argh where the flipping duck is 730! 722 was another red pen though so can't complain too much! As we diverted our way to Hayward's Heath earlier, we didn't see what the 4th diagram was on the Ashford's circuit. Once we'd seen this, we would have covered all the 171's out on the Marshlink.

So we just needed to intercept with it somewhere. Hoping for a half-empty 171, we thought we might get a seat, how wrong we were as it was another rammed 2 car set, with only one coach having working aircon! I said to Jerry 'so where's the best place to meet the Ashford?' hoping he'd check OTT, to which he replied 'You've got the timetable!'

...yeah, so useful that I may as well be reading the Inverness - Thurso/Wick timetable! I'd probably get more useful info out of it!

Onto Open Train Times it was. We could actually meet it at Polegate with a +4, easily done seeing that we are on time too. A trouble free run meant we arrived on time, but just as well we didn't stay on as there was a wall of people wanting to get on!!! Jeeeez!!

A bonus scratch here is that Polegate is a required station .
It was also something else too, as the Ashford soon came into the station, I was busy opening my NREA to the 171 page to which I heard 'You never guess what..' I looked at him like .....??? and stared at the look at his face. Then after a couple of seconds, I thought I knew what that expression was then my face dropped....no way???

I looked on the front of the 171, and...OH MY DAYS! 171730!!!! FINALLY!!!!
So excited I nearly forgot to get on ! Wow, how this turned out well, ALL 171's on the Marshlink were required (usually there's at least one on any circuit anywhere that carries a dud number) and my last 171 for sight to boot too, after decades of finding the damn thing!
Just 171722, 724 and 726 to go.


Again, to be continued...

I would go on but I had a long 11 hour shift today from 5am-4pm, and back in tomorrow at 5 so as I'm shattered, I'll be off to bed!

 

[Techniquest]

Brilliant read, congratulations on finally clearing the 171s for sight and for getting the 319s done too. I didn't manage that until a few months ago, such an excellent feeling. Can't imagine what it'll be like when the big EMU classes like 377s are finished for haulage!

Glad to see too you're doing all powering trains on a move too now Just makes sense!

Gutted for Jerry he misread the 377, been there done that sort of thing before!

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Gosh, forgot to update this!!

Right, so on from the Red Pen Cowboy Southern DaySave...


171730 was like a fridge, which was most welcome over the other oven baked 171's, could have cooked a ready meal in those!

Back to Eastbourne straight into P3, we decided to head out as we've covered the 171 diagrams and starting to see repeat numbers now, so we got on the 13:31 Victoria and bailed at Lewes for an ex-Seaford, which don't seem to be operated by 377's today, aren't all the diagrams 313's on that line? Haulage to Lewes was on a full and standing 377407.

Why? We discovered football was on at Falmer. Great! Honestly, that is now the third time in a row I've done a Southern DaySave where football at Falmer is on that day!! How do I do it!? Last time I made the mistake of scratching off Falmer station too...
To look on the bright side of things, at Lewes there was a good connection onto a Lewes - Brighton part-Football extra like train that was a pair of 377/3's, one of which was required, 377323. The other plus was that it went out of the bay platform that I need, just need to go the other way for the crossover into the bay.

The wedged trio left on time at 1358 which turned into a more-less ECS trip after Falmer! Another 6 car 377 was seen at Falmer which was there before us still tipping out slowly, and we left just as it was about to leave.

We dwindled on to Brighton where on arrival we saw a 10-WES, so we jogged over to see what it was doing. It was on the 1419 Capital Express*, both 442's dud however, but I wanted a ride for the novelty, why not when it's not on the Airport Ching Express?

A brilliant ride in the former snug coach, not as loud in this motor coach as some examples though, but had a decent ride up the BML. Also had a chance to have another look at the Thameslink depot works at Three Bridges.
Honestly can't remember much of the journey to East Croydon, but I do remember the rather slow departure of the WES units leaving P1.

We had a few options here so we looked at the screen to see what we could do. Instead we decided on the 5 mile ramps to platform 3 to see what southbound services were on offer but there was also a Watford due any moment, which would be a 377/2. Is there any point? Well I only have 1 377/2 recorded for haulage...
Well, required 377201 turned up, and yes we did the most ridiculous desperate leap on the DaySave, a micro scratch in a Travelcard zone on 377201 to Selhurst!!!

It had to be desperate, as getting back was something else, the next service was a terminator and the one after was to West Croydon, then it was a Caterham service, so basically a 28 minute wait to get back out of this dump to East Croydon. We sat down and watched the fast trains fly past behind the station. Even Jerry noticed that there was more Up trains stopping here than down!

The Caterham turned up with a pair of required 456's which was nice, and we got on 456004. That was the last time we'd do a Selhurst leap!
This time we did actually go south on required 377446 on 1J82, which if I recall by the headcode is a Soton service? Initially we were going to get off at Gatwick, but at Stoat Face Junction I suggested we do Redhill instead to see what the Tunbridge shuttles that we wouldn't have seen yet.

The Ex-Reigate turned up with 'REIGATE' still on the train's destination screens, which confused a lot of normals. The train came in and went so far up the platform it may as well have stopped in Coulsdon! I guess that the 4 car stop mark is located up there . I don't know why the 4 car stop is so far up, you could fit a Eurostar behind it! Extra bit of mileage I suppose !

We boarded on required 377103, and Jerry looked up the return connections. We could get off at Godstone for a plus 9 for the second unit on the Reigate diagrams. Godstone was a required shack too, haven't done any intermediate shacks down here yet, but when you see the straight black line in the Baker's Atlas, it really does mean straight! Must be some form of American Railroad simulator, where a curve is a strange piece of track. A TASS fitted unit would be pretty pointless down here!!

Godstone is your pretty basic station, platorms and a shelter, with the departure screen showing a windows error, and reckons we have to wait until past 1900 for the next train.
This of course wasn't the case, and 9 minutes later, 377101 turned up, another required 377! Loving this!
We had a grip on the way back and noted the gripper had a Southeastern name badge. Is this one of those joint services like FCC/SET? Do Southern supply the stock and SET run the service or have a share in revenue? Is it even noted in the timetable like the FCC/SET ones are noted in their timetables?

Reigate was a required scratch, as was the crossover for the return so we stayed on for the round the corner trip to Reigate, where we had a 17 minute turnaround, bit of a longer wait than I thought for some reason.

We returned into platform 2 this time at Redhill, where the 4 car stop lines the unit by the exit. A plus 12 saw us onto the 1732 1C36 with required 377464. We too this to Gatwick where we'd then work our way back towards London, or that was the plan anyway. With no timetable to hand we thought this would be easy. Ha!
The next services up to London were either FCC or GEX services, which are Southern...oh let's not start that again.
Does a Southern liveried 319 with FCC logo's or 377/5's with a Southern interior count though?

There was a southbound Southern service due though, so we thought a leap to Haywards Heath wouldn't hurt, providing it was required mind. The lead unit was dud though, but required 377464 was in tow though, so Haywards Heath it was.

We got on this busy service and just as we left, some girl across from us looked out the door window and shouted to her mate 'Oh **** this is Gatwick!' and tried mashing the door buttons as if it would automatically stop the train and let them off. How they missed Gatwick I don't know, but apparently they were both locked into their phones :roll:
They got in a panic and looked at the route map above the doors to work out how they'd get back. They worked out, somehow, that our next stop was Carshalton Beeches....

At HHE, we made a tidy plus 10 onto the 1750 Victoria service which had required 377451 on the rear, well according to my NREA it was, after entering the mileage in RailMiles I discovered that actually, we did 377451 earlier from Lewes to Haywards Heath...

We got off at Gatwick to make a +12 onto an ex-Arun Valley service with required 377114 running via Redhill. We bailed at East Croydon for a leap to Clapham on required 377131 where we waited for the Watford to take us around London to Harrow.

This was a nicely timed move to scratch another 377/2 off. It came in a few minutes early as timetabled with...or you cannot be serious...377201? OH BALLS! You mean we did that desperate leap to Selhurst with a near half hour wait to get back to East Croydon for nothing?!? ARGH!!!!

Well we got on anyway to skip going through London, and took it to Harrow. A slight surprise was at Willesden where for some reason we were routed onto the reception line, bit strange doing this on a service train but this bit of track is dud for me as I've done in on a railtour before. The DRS thunderbird flew by heading north, which looked like it was on the slow lines, which might be why we are on the reception road?

At Harrow, we took 4556 on the Bakerloo to Kenton for a short walk to Northwick Park (required scratch) for and S stock to Northwood Hills. We went for dinner in the usual Weatherspoons (where, no surprise, no Stowford's Press was available!) and then we returned to the station to take a leap back to Northwood. We noted that we finished our day in S stock 21098, the exact same train we started our day in!


Well that was a very good Southern DaySave bash, was very happy to come away with a lot of required 377's and some 171's, but I still somehow need a fair bit of 377's, need even more now with these 377/6's coming out to play!


Next part, the railtour.

 

[bb21]

We returned into platform 2 this time at Redhill, where the 4 car stop lines the unit by the exit. A plus 12 saw us onto the 1732 1C36 with required 377464. We too this to Gatwick where we'd then work our way back towards London, or that was the plan anyway. With no timetable to hand we thought this would be easy. Ha!
The next services up to London were either FCC or GEX services, which are Southern...oh let's not start that again.
Does a Southern liveried 319 with FCC logo's or 377/5's with a Southern interior count though?

There was a southbound Southern service due though, so we thought a leap to Haywards Heath wouldn't hurt, providing it was required mind. The lead unit was dud though, but required 377464 was in tow though, so Haywards Heath it was.

It's a magical train!!

 

[heart-of-wessex]

It's a magical train!!

Hmm yes how did that work!! I read the line in RailMiles wrong, it was 377464 to Gatwick and 377436 to Haywards Heath.

Must have got excited about this direct service to Carshalton

 

[Techniquest]

Sounds like it was an excellent day I need something like 117 (if memory serves correctly) of the 377s although with seemingly a never-ending fleet of them arriving that'll only go up!

Had that same problem you had with 377201 on all sorts of occasions with various trains.If you go out of the way for it as well you usually end up getting it again anyway the day after or so!

YES about Stowford Press,legendary stuff