shredder1
Established Member
Im knackered just reading that Tech, thats some trip mate.
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Juliano's World Frenzy/Tech's Trip Reports
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
It was exhausting, no word of a lie, but it was absolutely worth it. Just what I needed after work drove me crazy on Tuesday, and I'm fully expecting it to do so again today therefore needing another good ride!
My West to East cycling coverage mission took a big leap forward with that ride too, I've finally decided it doesn't need to be following as straight a line as possible now. I'm still not quite sure where it will end, but I'm looking at the West point being Fishguard. Just the small matter of Llandeilo to Fishguard to do for that bit then, in the East it's looking likely to be Shoeburyness. Which means I still need Southend to Shoeburyness (not difficult at all) and Charlbury to somewhere near Ealing.
Best not ask about the other coverage missions, they're not too well progressed
When am I getting back onto a full trains day out? Honestly, I'm not sure. Now autumn has arrived, I'll be out cycling less and less on these big days out, so we will see. There are other things that need sorting out too, all in progress!
Attached are some more photos!
Attachments
shredder1
Established Member
I need to get a bike for next summer, just for local trips though.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I've finally put my Passenger Eye View video up from Thursday, which is linked below:
Techniquest
Veteran Member
09/10/2022 - Tech's Back To Life, Day 1
[Typing the intro to this at 0615, I was desperately trying to come up with a clever title. I hope, by the time this gets posted, that I have a good one!]
Hello and welcome one and all, I'm back with a railway-focused, multi-day, mini adventure! OK so it wasn't to be quite what I originally had in mind, but this would be the best I could do to fit a badly needed escape between shifts.
It's been a bit of a grim time at work recently, and I've been getting increasingly frustrated. There are many things I could have used the money for this adventure on, but the time to escape the shackles of Hereford had to be taken advantage of. The plan got even better when I revealed to RailUK Forums legend Kite159 that I was to be in London, as we were to finally have a proper meetup this year!
Of course, I didn't sleep too well because of excitement for the adventure, and somehow I fell behind with everything. Just as well the National Express coach left at 0610 and not 0600! I got my favourite seat by the emergency exit, and having been out in the rather bracing weather I was glad to have a travel mug of coffee with me! Bang on time we left, with a surprising amount of seats reserved. I'd booked National Express for £25 single as the trains would not get me to London with enough time to justify the adventure, and the fares requested were taking the redundant waters. I would have much preferred taking the train all the way there and back, but National Express was due to get me to London Victoria at 1050, which sounded much better than mid-afternoon! I would be due to take the train back to Hereford, the route was to be chosen on the morning in question.
So apart from being hacked off recently, what else am I up to? Well, I'm still on my cycling adventures and last weekend saw me take on a 58 mile tour of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and The Forest of Dean, with more than 4,200 feet of hill climbing. By now, I was expecting to have a cycling adventures blog all set up and ready to go, but that is still on my to-do list. Of note, it's been a shade over 2 years since my first cycling holiday! I would have been on a cycling adventure, and not off to London, but I am presently recovering from a work-related accident and I needed a railway-focused adventure even more than a good ride! Talking of, this mini adventure had to happen in case I actually carried out my plan to move up the adulting ladder at long last. That, however, is a story for a future time, but there is a spoiler alert, it might be 2 or even 3 steps up said ladder all at once!
As I passed Starbucks on the outskirts of Ross-on-Wye, the breakaway from even remotely close to home territory was finally underway and it was onto the M50. I'd seen this motorway a number of times on recent cycling adventures, having rode under, over or very near it multiple times this autumn. As the coach left at the junction for Newent, the red sky in the distance was observed. You know what they say about that, red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning. Poor weather will soon be with us, but today it was pretty nice!
I had a lot of studying to do, and with a 17 minute layover in Gloucester I took advantage of the chance to visit Tesco Express. A stretch of the quad muscles really helped, I'm not used to all this sitting around! Until a few miles out from Cheltenham, I did some studying and stopped as we were going up the A40 and not the A419/417/M4 as expected. I finally had the chance to see the route in daylight, having done it in the dark a long time ago. Some rather nice scenery on this route, and as you may expect I was making some notes ahead of a cycling adventure. Soon enough, we were on the M40 and that is also nice and scenic compared to the M4.
Before I knew it, after doing some bookwork, the M40 was done and the pace dropped significantly as we returned to the A40 and entered the London Low Emission Zone. At White City, the A40 was left behind and the coach turned off towards Olympia and Holland Park Roundabout. I now knew where I was, as a result of a cycling adventure quite some time ago, London Victoria Coach Station would be upon us soon enough. Indeed, arrival was approximately 35 minutes early which was very welcome! Pret was originally going to be my first port of call, but I decided to get my feet moving and get to Vauxhall where I was due to meet Kite. I chose to go via Grosvenor Road and Vauxhall Bridge, an enjoyable walk although certainly not direct! Pret was visited here, and it was well received that's for sure.
It wasn't too long before Kite arrived, and after buying a Travelcard for £14.40 we were soon upstairs and we jumped onto what turned out to be winner 458503 to Clapham Junction. I could finally see what people are saying, that the 458s are past their best and that's putting it mildly. I finally got some photos of the new 701s, one day they may actually enter service. They look quite nice inside, and I remain optimistic I'll get to try them before I hit 40. Plenty of time yet! A trio of 450s was next to London Waterloo, with winner 450053 leading the pack with dud 450113 in the middle and winner 450070 on the rear. From there, it was down to the Bakerloo line, as we wanted to get to Tower Hill for a walking mission. Double duds 3442+3265 were in charge of the short leap to Embankment, changing onto 21473+21474 to Tower Hill.
After the filling of bottles and checking of maps, we were soon on our way starting in the park directly outside Tower Hill station. The plan here was to walk the Thames Path to Limehouse Cut, where we would then follow the canal to Three Mills Island, before joining Channelsea Path for the final bit to Stratford High Street DLR station. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a walk, and we took in the scenes of all the old mills, wharfs, basins and all the marine action. Canary Wharf, on the other side of the River Thames, provided quite a contrasting landscape to the old wharfs!
It's rather hard to do the walk justice in this trip report, and I could detail it all in text form quite fully, but it was really nice to do and absorb the history, the long-ago times and how vastly different it all was now. From Limehouse Cut, we walked along a canal towpath for a good while, and not too far from Stratford we reached the surprisingly idyllic and peaceful Channelsea Path, a shared-use path that was so nice to walk it was easy to forget we were in London! Soon enough, after a little more than 2 hours we reached Stratford High Street on the DLR. My data signal was disgracefully poor there, and it was onto 104+116+150 to Stratford, after which I could finally get a working data signal to log the walk on Strava. We were now connecting onto the Elizabeth line, which fell to winner 345030, for the journey to Forest Gate as Kite had reminded me of the existence of Barking Riverside. I hadn't yet done that, so we were going to combine the new track with another walk.
After a quick Co-Op stop for a cold drink and other supplies, it was a short walk (242 yards, I could have walked it backwards in less than 5 minutes!) to Wanstead Park on the Gospel Oak to Barking line for winner 710273. I was all about the post-walk recovery now, the 6.5 mile walk at a modest pace (especially by my usual standard, but this was a social walk with a lot of photo taking) had left a big gap in my stomach, so the sandwich I'd got in Gloucester didn't take long to devour! The new track beyond Barking takes on some impressive civil engineering to reach Barking Riverside, a new and upcoming part of London. It's still mostly under construction, but it's already impressive. We were investigating the riverside walk here, which was nice but it has to be said it was not as exciting as the earlier walk. Still, it was worth doing to explore the new area especially while it was still quiet.
It was dud 710269 that moved us back to Barking, where we alighted for a c2c train to Stratford. Dud 357004 and winner 357321 took us there, and we saw the enormous crowds who'd been to a football match at West Ham. Oh my, that wouldn't have been fun! We were, however, waiting on a train which promised to be triple 321s, going the other way, and this was going to be my last chance to ride a 321. I made my official farewell to the class in 2021, with a number of journeys on 321s made around Essex. Please feel free to watch the video from 2021 if you're interested:
Of course, now it was only refurbished 321/3s in service, and they are just not the same as the non-refurbished 321s. I compared it to wanting a full-sugar Coke and getting Diet Coke instead. It's technically the same core product, but it's just not right!
Winner 321317, with duds 321329 and 321305 on the back, took us to London Liverpool Street and it felt strange to make another and this time final farewell to the class. I am however very glad I got to enjoy 321s the way they were originally designed in 2021 for a proper farewell, this journey a year and a bit later was nowhere near as fun, it almost tainted the memory of better days on the 321s. By now, I had the gen on a particular member of the GWR fleet which I had been waiting patiently for, so my entire evening was centred on that. First though, Kite needed to get home, and we took duds 21005+21006 to Baker Street. From there it was to the Jubilee line, with 96035+96124 providing the racket. I had failed to remember just how noisy it gets on that line!
With farewells made, and Kite managing to get a decent seat, I made my way to the Bakerloo line and joined 3450+3248 to Paddington. 3461 is my final Bakerloo set to get, one day I might actually get it! Upstairs, I tried to find food I wanted but to no avail. Both of my final Heathrow Express 387s were out which was most annoying, as I couldn't find a way to fit them in and achieve my mission for the evening. Grr! Eventually I settled on having the bagels from Aldi in my bag, and they just aren't very good. I won't be buying those again! Winner 345029 took me all the way to Heathrow Terminal 4, and due to service alterations it was on the Down Main all the way to Airport Junction which was a pleasant surprise. 20 minutes of turnround time was filled by trip report typing, and it was back on 345029 to Hayes & Harlington. The Heathrow branch was cleared for 345s at last, an objective finally off my list.
I ended up in KFC after exhausting other options, as they do a vegan burger and I wanted to try it. £4.99 and nearly 12 minutes later, it was OK but to be honest I wasn't impressed. I didn't think I would be, but at least I know now. Soon enough, my train of interest arrived with dud 387168 and winner 387174 for the non-stop journey to London Paddington. This was a move I especially wanted to do because 387174 was my last GWR 387 to get, and after waiting so long to get it I could not turn it down now. It was why I didn't try and do my last two Heathrow Express 387s while they were both out, I could not turn down the GWR machine!
By now I needed to get to North London and to my AirBnb for the night. It had cost £35.09 which I was quite pleased with, I could have done one in Bexleyheath for £23 but this one between Colindale and Mill Hill Broadway made more sense. So despite being at my favourite railway station in the world, I didn't really soak the atmosphere up as much as I should have! Up and over to the Hammersmith & City platforms I went for a short wait before boarding duds 21514+21513, which were taking me to Kings Cross St Pancras.
A nice and easy change there up to the mainline station then over to the Thameslink platforms, just in time to board dud 700021 as it rolled in on a St Albans stopper. It's a shame it wasn't one of the many 700s I want, but it is what it is. More time was spent typing up the trip report, and a 0.8 mile walk ended the day from Mill Hill Broadway to the AirBnb. It was in a nice area, and the place I stayed in was clearly well soundproofed, as I heard no trains all night despite the railway being pretty close. I spent a good while vegging out before finally collapsing into a deep sleep around 2300. An excellent day, not as many scores as I'd have potentially have got if I'd gone purely on a train trip, but I thoroughly enjoyed the walks and the company! I think the day also put me back to all regular passenger track being done too. Of course in a couple of years there will be the new line to Levenmouth in Scotland to do, but for now it's all done again. No more hunting GWR 387s, which will be nice!
[Typing the intro to this at 0615, I was desperately trying to come up with a clever title. I hope, by the time this gets posted, that I have a good one!]
Hello and welcome one and all, I'm back with a railway-focused, multi-day, mini adventure! OK so it wasn't to be quite what I originally had in mind, but this would be the best I could do to fit a badly needed escape between shifts.
It's been a bit of a grim time at work recently, and I've been getting increasingly frustrated. There are many things I could have used the money for this adventure on, but the time to escape the shackles of Hereford had to be taken advantage of. The plan got even better when I revealed to RailUK Forums legend Kite159 that I was to be in London, as we were to finally have a proper meetup this year!
Of course, I didn't sleep too well because of excitement for the adventure, and somehow I fell behind with everything. Just as well the National Express coach left at 0610 and not 0600! I got my favourite seat by the emergency exit, and having been out in the rather bracing weather I was glad to have a travel mug of coffee with me! Bang on time we left, with a surprising amount of seats reserved. I'd booked National Express for £25 single as the trains would not get me to London with enough time to justify the adventure, and the fares requested were taking the redundant waters. I would have much preferred taking the train all the way there and back, but National Express was due to get me to London Victoria at 1050, which sounded much better than mid-afternoon! I would be due to take the train back to Hereford, the route was to be chosen on the morning in question.
So apart from being hacked off recently, what else am I up to? Well, I'm still on my cycling adventures and last weekend saw me take on a 58 mile tour of Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and The Forest of Dean, with more than 4,200 feet of hill climbing. By now, I was expecting to have a cycling adventures blog all set up and ready to go, but that is still on my to-do list. Of note, it's been a shade over 2 years since my first cycling holiday! I would have been on a cycling adventure, and not off to London, but I am presently recovering from a work-related accident and I needed a railway-focused adventure even more than a good ride! Talking of, this mini adventure had to happen in case I actually carried out my plan to move up the adulting ladder at long last. That, however, is a story for a future time, but there is a spoiler alert, it might be 2 or even 3 steps up said ladder all at once!
As I passed Starbucks on the outskirts of Ross-on-Wye, the breakaway from even remotely close to home territory was finally underway and it was onto the M50. I'd seen this motorway a number of times on recent cycling adventures, having rode under, over or very near it multiple times this autumn. As the coach left at the junction for Newent, the red sky in the distance was observed. You know what they say about that, red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning. Poor weather will soon be with us, but today it was pretty nice!
I had a lot of studying to do, and with a 17 minute layover in Gloucester I took advantage of the chance to visit Tesco Express. A stretch of the quad muscles really helped, I'm not used to all this sitting around! Until a few miles out from Cheltenham, I did some studying and stopped as we were going up the A40 and not the A419/417/M4 as expected. I finally had the chance to see the route in daylight, having done it in the dark a long time ago. Some rather nice scenery on this route, and as you may expect I was making some notes ahead of a cycling adventure. Soon enough, we were on the M40 and that is also nice and scenic compared to the M4.
Before I knew it, after doing some bookwork, the M40 was done and the pace dropped significantly as we returned to the A40 and entered the London Low Emission Zone. At White City, the A40 was left behind and the coach turned off towards Olympia and Holland Park Roundabout. I now knew where I was, as a result of a cycling adventure quite some time ago, London Victoria Coach Station would be upon us soon enough. Indeed, arrival was approximately 35 minutes early which was very welcome! Pret was originally going to be my first port of call, but I decided to get my feet moving and get to Vauxhall where I was due to meet Kite. I chose to go via Grosvenor Road and Vauxhall Bridge, an enjoyable walk although certainly not direct! Pret was visited here, and it was well received that's for sure.
It wasn't too long before Kite arrived, and after buying a Travelcard for £14.40 we were soon upstairs and we jumped onto what turned out to be winner 458503 to Clapham Junction. I could finally see what people are saying, that the 458s are past their best and that's putting it mildly. I finally got some photos of the new 701s, one day they may actually enter service. They look quite nice inside, and I remain optimistic I'll get to try them before I hit 40. Plenty of time yet! A trio of 450s was next to London Waterloo, with winner 450053 leading the pack with dud 450113 in the middle and winner 450070 on the rear. From there, it was down to the Bakerloo line, as we wanted to get to Tower Hill for a walking mission. Double duds 3442+3265 were in charge of the short leap to Embankment, changing onto 21473+21474 to Tower Hill.
After the filling of bottles and checking of maps, we were soon on our way starting in the park directly outside Tower Hill station. The plan here was to walk the Thames Path to Limehouse Cut, where we would then follow the canal to Three Mills Island, before joining Channelsea Path for the final bit to Stratford High Street DLR station. It was an absolutely gorgeous day for a walk, and we took in the scenes of all the old mills, wharfs, basins and all the marine action. Canary Wharf, on the other side of the River Thames, provided quite a contrasting landscape to the old wharfs!
It's rather hard to do the walk justice in this trip report, and I could detail it all in text form quite fully, but it was really nice to do and absorb the history, the long-ago times and how vastly different it all was now. From Limehouse Cut, we walked along a canal towpath for a good while, and not too far from Stratford we reached the surprisingly idyllic and peaceful Channelsea Path, a shared-use path that was so nice to walk it was easy to forget we were in London! Soon enough, after a little more than 2 hours we reached Stratford High Street on the DLR. My data signal was disgracefully poor there, and it was onto 104+116+150 to Stratford, after which I could finally get a working data signal to log the walk on Strava. We were now connecting onto the Elizabeth line, which fell to winner 345030, for the journey to Forest Gate as Kite had reminded me of the existence of Barking Riverside. I hadn't yet done that, so we were going to combine the new track with another walk.
After a quick Co-Op stop for a cold drink and other supplies, it was a short walk (242 yards, I could have walked it backwards in less than 5 minutes!) to Wanstead Park on the Gospel Oak to Barking line for winner 710273. I was all about the post-walk recovery now, the 6.5 mile walk at a modest pace (especially by my usual standard, but this was a social walk with a lot of photo taking) had left a big gap in my stomach, so the sandwich I'd got in Gloucester didn't take long to devour! The new track beyond Barking takes on some impressive civil engineering to reach Barking Riverside, a new and upcoming part of London. It's still mostly under construction, but it's already impressive. We were investigating the riverside walk here, which was nice but it has to be said it was not as exciting as the earlier walk. Still, it was worth doing to explore the new area especially while it was still quiet.
It was dud 710269 that moved us back to Barking, where we alighted for a c2c train to Stratford. Dud 357004 and winner 357321 took us there, and we saw the enormous crowds who'd been to a football match at West Ham. Oh my, that wouldn't have been fun! We were, however, waiting on a train which promised to be triple 321s, going the other way, and this was going to be my last chance to ride a 321. I made my official farewell to the class in 2021, with a number of journeys on 321s made around Essex. Please feel free to watch the video from 2021 if you're interested:
Of course, now it was only refurbished 321/3s in service, and they are just not the same as the non-refurbished 321s. I compared it to wanting a full-sugar Coke and getting Diet Coke instead. It's technically the same core product, but it's just not right!
Winner 321317, with duds 321329 and 321305 on the back, took us to London Liverpool Street and it felt strange to make another and this time final farewell to the class. I am however very glad I got to enjoy 321s the way they were originally designed in 2021 for a proper farewell, this journey a year and a bit later was nowhere near as fun, it almost tainted the memory of better days on the 321s. By now, I had the gen on a particular member of the GWR fleet which I had been waiting patiently for, so my entire evening was centred on that. First though, Kite needed to get home, and we took duds 21005+21006 to Baker Street. From there it was to the Jubilee line, with 96035+96124 providing the racket. I had failed to remember just how noisy it gets on that line!
With farewells made, and Kite managing to get a decent seat, I made my way to the Bakerloo line and joined 3450+3248 to Paddington. 3461 is my final Bakerloo set to get, one day I might actually get it! Upstairs, I tried to find food I wanted but to no avail. Both of my final Heathrow Express 387s were out which was most annoying, as I couldn't find a way to fit them in and achieve my mission for the evening. Grr! Eventually I settled on having the bagels from Aldi in my bag, and they just aren't very good. I won't be buying those again! Winner 345029 took me all the way to Heathrow Terminal 4, and due to service alterations it was on the Down Main all the way to Airport Junction which was a pleasant surprise. 20 minutes of turnround time was filled by trip report typing, and it was back on 345029 to Hayes & Harlington. The Heathrow branch was cleared for 345s at last, an objective finally off my list.
I ended up in KFC after exhausting other options, as they do a vegan burger and I wanted to try it. £4.99 and nearly 12 minutes later, it was OK but to be honest I wasn't impressed. I didn't think I would be, but at least I know now. Soon enough, my train of interest arrived with dud 387168 and winner 387174 for the non-stop journey to London Paddington. This was a move I especially wanted to do because 387174 was my last GWR 387 to get, and after waiting so long to get it I could not turn it down now. It was why I didn't try and do my last two Heathrow Express 387s while they were both out, I could not turn down the GWR machine!
By now I needed to get to North London and to my AirBnb for the night. It had cost £35.09 which I was quite pleased with, I could have done one in Bexleyheath for £23 but this one between Colindale and Mill Hill Broadway made more sense. So despite being at my favourite railway station in the world, I didn't really soak the atmosphere up as much as I should have! Up and over to the Hammersmith & City platforms I went for a short wait before boarding duds 21514+21513, which were taking me to Kings Cross St Pancras.
A nice and easy change there up to the mainline station then over to the Thameslink platforms, just in time to board dud 700021 as it rolled in on a St Albans stopper. It's a shame it wasn't one of the many 700s I want, but it is what it is. More time was spent typing up the trip report, and a 0.8 mile walk ended the day from Mill Hill Broadway to the AirBnb. It was in a nice area, and the place I stayed in was clearly well soundproofed, as I heard no trains all night despite the railway being pretty close. I spent a good while vegging out before finally collapsing into a deep sleep around 2300. An excellent day, not as many scores as I'd have potentially have got if I'd gone purely on a train trip, but I thoroughly enjoyed the walks and the company! I think the day also put me back to all regular passenger track being done too. Of course in a couple of years there will be the new line to Levenmouth in Scotland to do, but for now it's all done again. No more hunting GWR 387s, which will be nice!
Attachments
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Some more photos from the Tower Hill-Stratford walk, there are still more and I'm trying to be choosy over which ones to include!
Attachments
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Thanks! Whenever I think I'm nearly there, then it's not long before the body starts cursing at me again, hopefully soon I'll be back to doing what I was pre-July. Quite, just under the left knee it's still a bit visible where it's healing from the collision with the ground in March!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Glad to have had a decent catch up and a varied walk, it was a lovely day once the sun came out 
Also congrats on getting your last GWR 387
Also congrats on getting your last GWR 387
Last edited:
PeterY
Established Member
- Joined
- 2 Apr 2013
- Messages
- 1,363
A great write up Techniquest. It must be a hard thing to do trying to ride in every unit. I remember from my train spotting days (50 years ago) there was also an elusive loco number. 
shredder1
Established Member
Some great write ups and shots there mate, Tilbury Riverside is on my hit list next time Im in London.
All platforms
Established Member
Sounds like a fine day in London with a decent sized walk mixed in with all the winners. What's not to like? Oh and hope the healing process continues unabated too.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Thanks all, glad you enjoyed the read. Shred, Tilbury I have to confess I haven't looked properly at, is there all that much there now? PeterY, I'll never get everything! I've missed a number of 317s and 321s for just two examples, and I'm sure I missed a number of 455s and a handful of 456s for two more examples. The fleets of operators local to me (for now at least that's TfW, WMR and GWR) I do want done, and until next week when the 196s finally enter service that mission is currently complete. Soon the 231s will launch, hopefully the 769s with GWR will too and I'll have plenty to go after.
All platforms, thanks. The healing process is up and down right now, it gets better but then misbehaves, then gets better but not for long. I may have to get it looked at properly soon, but right now that's not really an option as I spent a good chunk of money bringing my credit card balance down a long way. Still a fair bit to go, but I'm getting close. I might be filling it back up again soon though, watch this space!
Without further ado, here is Day 2:
10/10/2022 - Tech's Back To Life, Day 2
0630 and the alarm was sounding, and initially I was going to stay in the comfortable bed and warm room for a good while longer. However by 0640 I was up and getting ready to go, and 35 minutes or so later I was out the door. Presented with rain, I was initially not best pleased but decided to plough on and walk to Colindale's LU station anyway. It wasn't too bad in the end, and I was soon on the platform.
It was quite a few minutes before a Northern line set turned up that I wanted, but eventually on my last choice I got lucky with double winners 51531+51556 for the journey to Euston (Bank Branch). It's been a good long while since I last did a 95er, so it was nice to do again. I hadn't realised the RAF Museum in Colindale is free entry, and I haven't been there since I was a teenager. It's on my list to do, and the walk from the LU station is nice and easy, one day it will be revisited!
Upstairs at Euston and out to street level, there was only one thing on my mind and that was coffee. I'd not yet had one, that had to change and fast, so it was straight into Pret. They filled my travel cup really well, so much that when I put the lid on it somehow popped off and I got a load of boiling hot coffee on my arm! The taps in the facilities at Euston were almost worthless, there was barely a trickle of cold water coming out of all 3 that I tried but it seemed to do the trick as my arm was not happy before that. I've got to give them credit, they filled the cup a lot more than the Pret in Vauxhall had done the day before!
The decaffeinated me was clearly having a moment of idiocy, as while I was happy to buy my ticket in the GWR app and frustratingly had to get it printed (e-tickets exist, so annoying to have to waste paper), I forgot I didn't have my card with me to use at the TVMs! Thankfully the ticket office was able to print it off for me, phew! It's also worth noting I had considered going back the more 'premium' way and using GWR from Paddington. Euston to Hereford Off Peak Single (LNWR/WMR Only) was £35, and a Super Off Peak Single from London to Hereford, valid on the 1018 from Paddington, was £47.40. I did fancy a fast run on an IET, connecting most likely into a 175 at Newport, but I settled with the cheaper option as I would have had a lot of time to fill otherwise and it made more sense to get on the move. If it had been dry, I'd have done some of those so-called 'Boris Bikes' to Paddington but the inclement weather put a stop to that!
After a supply raid in Sainsburys, I was soon on the 0846 to Crewe, with 350252 up front and 350406 on the back. Unsurprisingly, I took a seat in 350406 for the slightly higher level of comfort! With some food now in the stomach, and the coffee enjoyed, I sure felt better and ready for the day. One of c2c's 720s was observed on Wembley, no ID visible, and I saw another as we passed through Wembley Central but couldn't ID that one either. I swear the c2c livery suits the class better than the GA livery, and I look forward to trying them out before too long.
The journey to Rugby passed by quite quickly, and with 18 minutes to fill I went to the nearby Tesco Express. A large Costa for £2.65 was sourced, and before too long I was out of the biting cold wind (but it was also nice and sunny which was good) with 350404+350111 in charge of escorting me to Birmingham New Street. There I had an unofficial +6 onto the 1050 to Hereford, if I missed it I had a backup plan in place at least. With the rest of breakfast/lunch and the coffee fully enjoyed, it was merely a case of sitting back and chilling. The Costa winter cups have landed, mine had a snowman on it. Winter is definitely here now!
6 minutes of delay coming out of Birmingham International, thanks to waiting for a heavily delayed Manchester bound XC train to go past, and I was doubting my connection would happen. It wasn't the end of the world if it didn't, I had plenty of time to get back to Hereford for work yet anyway. Arriving more or less bang on 1046, by 1048 I had marched over to the Hereford train which was in the hands of 172338, and I even got a seat!
So, do I feel better for the mini adventure? Absolutely so, it was a desperately needed escape. I would have loved it to have gone on longer, of course, however this had to do. I managed to get some new track done, I had some excellent company for the main part of the trip, I got a handful of scores and in general it was an excellent time. Many thanks go to Kite for the company and the help in planning the exploring bits, and here's to the next trip whenever that will be. I know what I want it to be, and hopefully it will happen before too long. It'll be an enormous and very expensive trip if it happens, but let's not spoil the surprise! I've already pre-planned some of it, and the big smile I wore when thinking about it is enough to tell me it has to happen!
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
All platforms, thanks. The healing process is up and down right now, it gets better but then misbehaves, then gets better but not for long. I may have to get it looked at properly soon, but right now that's not really an option as I spent a good chunk of money bringing my credit card balance down a long way. Still a fair bit to go, but I'm getting close. I might be filling it back up again soon though, watch this space!
Without further ado, here is Day 2:
10/10/2022 - Tech's Back To Life, Day 2
0630 and the alarm was sounding, and initially I was going to stay in the comfortable bed and warm room for a good while longer. However by 0640 I was up and getting ready to go, and 35 minutes or so later I was out the door. Presented with rain, I was initially not best pleased but decided to plough on and walk to Colindale's LU station anyway. It wasn't too bad in the end, and I was soon on the platform.
It was quite a few minutes before a Northern line set turned up that I wanted, but eventually on my last choice I got lucky with double winners 51531+51556 for the journey to Euston (Bank Branch). It's been a good long while since I last did a 95er, so it was nice to do again. I hadn't realised the RAF Museum in Colindale is free entry, and I haven't been there since I was a teenager. It's on my list to do, and the walk from the LU station is nice and easy, one day it will be revisited!
Upstairs at Euston and out to street level, there was only one thing on my mind and that was coffee. I'd not yet had one, that had to change and fast, so it was straight into Pret. They filled my travel cup really well, so much that when I put the lid on it somehow popped off and I got a load of boiling hot coffee on my arm! The taps in the facilities at Euston were almost worthless, there was barely a trickle of cold water coming out of all 3 that I tried but it seemed to do the trick as my arm was not happy before that. I've got to give them credit, they filled the cup a lot more than the Pret in Vauxhall had done the day before!
The decaffeinated me was clearly having a moment of idiocy, as while I was happy to buy my ticket in the GWR app and frustratingly had to get it printed (e-tickets exist, so annoying to have to waste paper), I forgot I didn't have my card with me to use at the TVMs! Thankfully the ticket office was able to print it off for me, phew! It's also worth noting I had considered going back the more 'premium' way and using GWR from Paddington. Euston to Hereford Off Peak Single (LNWR/WMR Only) was £35, and a Super Off Peak Single from London to Hereford, valid on the 1018 from Paddington, was £47.40. I did fancy a fast run on an IET, connecting most likely into a 175 at Newport, but I settled with the cheaper option as I would have had a lot of time to fill otherwise and it made more sense to get on the move. If it had been dry, I'd have done some of those so-called 'Boris Bikes' to Paddington but the inclement weather put a stop to that!
After a supply raid in Sainsburys, I was soon on the 0846 to Crewe, with 350252 up front and 350406 on the back. Unsurprisingly, I took a seat in 350406 for the slightly higher level of comfort! With some food now in the stomach, and the coffee enjoyed, I sure felt better and ready for the day. One of c2c's 720s was observed on Wembley, no ID visible, and I saw another as we passed through Wembley Central but couldn't ID that one either. I swear the c2c livery suits the class better than the GA livery, and I look forward to trying them out before too long.
The journey to Rugby passed by quite quickly, and with 18 minutes to fill I went to the nearby Tesco Express. A large Costa for £2.65 was sourced, and before too long I was out of the biting cold wind (but it was also nice and sunny which was good) with 350404+350111 in charge of escorting me to Birmingham New Street. There I had an unofficial +6 onto the 1050 to Hereford, if I missed it I had a backup plan in place at least. With the rest of breakfast/lunch and the coffee fully enjoyed, it was merely a case of sitting back and chilling. The Costa winter cups have landed, mine had a snowman on it. Winter is definitely here now!
6 minutes of delay coming out of Birmingham International, thanks to waiting for a heavily delayed Manchester bound XC train to go past, and I was doubting my connection would happen. It wasn't the end of the world if it didn't, I had plenty of time to get back to Hereford for work yet anyway. Arriving more or less bang on 1046, by 1048 I had marched over to the Hereford train which was in the hands of 172338, and I even got a seat!
So, do I feel better for the mini adventure? Absolutely so, it was a desperately needed escape. I would have loved it to have gone on longer, of course, however this had to do. I managed to get some new track done, I had some excellent company for the main part of the trip, I got a handful of scores and in general it was an excellent time. Many thanks go to Kite for the company and the help in planning the exploring bits, and here's to the next trip whenever that will be. I know what I want it to be, and hopefully it will happen before too long. It'll be an enormous and very expensive trip if it happens, but let's not spoil the surprise! I've already pre-planned some of it, and the big smile I wore when thinking about it is enough to tell me it has to happen!
As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!
Attachments
Kite159
Veteran Member
All the 350 based fun getting to Birmingham
If I knew you were walking from the coach station towards Vauxhall, we could have met around Chelsea Bridge instead of Vauxhall as I was coming from that direction, plugging a gap on my Thames Path coverage between Battersea Bridge & Vauxhall.
If I knew you were walking from the coach station towards Vauxhall, we could have met around Chelsea Bridge instead of Vauxhall as I was coming from that direction, plugging a gap on my Thames Path coverage between Battersea Bridge & Vauxhall.
Last edited:
Iskra
Established Member
Looked a good trip Tech and I'm glad you're back out and about and that it's done you some good!
Feels a bit wrong seeing the Christmas cups out already, I'm not sure that's intentional...
I'm intrigued as to what this big trip is, and I'm looking forward to hearing about it when it happens.
Feels a bit wrong seeing the Christmas cups out already, I'm not sure that's intentional...
I'm intrigued as to what this big trip is, and I'm looking forward to hearing about it when it happens.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
All the 350 based fun getting to Birmingham
If I knew you were walking from the coach station towards Vauxhall, we could have met around Chelsea Bridge instead of Vauxhall as I was coming from that direction, plugging a gap on my Thames Path coverage between Battersea Bridge & Vauxhall.
Originally I had planned to go to Pret en-route to the Victoria line onwards to Vauxhall. The coach arriving 35 early changed all that, and I had a beautiful day to go walking. I couldn't stop myself opening Strava and turning right instead of left
Oh wow, so close yet so far from meeting, one day it'll happen I'm sure. Been wanting to put a face to the name of Bald Rick for a while!
Yes indeed it did me a lot of good, cost me a few pretty pennies but totally worth it
If the weather had not been chilly in Rugby, I'm sure it would have felt inappropriate to have the winter cups, but it just had to be done!The big trip is gradually coming together, although quite honestly most of it will end up being down to impulse. There's a few options floating around, I know Kite and I discussed a couple of trips that would be amazing to do. I am due to get holiday time organised on Friday, apparently, but every time that is planned then it doesn't get done. I have something like 4 weeks worth to book, so it needs to happen soon!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
To do the trip that began today any other form of introduction, that I haven't done already, would be wrong so here's my latest trip report!
31/10/2022 - Tech's First In His Class, Day 1
FINALLY! After waiting 7 months for a week off work, I had got some time off booked a little over 2 weeks before this adventure. On the night of 14th October, I spent hours on airline websites and nearly booked a trip to Malta. It would have been cheaper, by a large amount, but to be honest this adventure which I had hinted about on RailUK Forums a number of days beforehand, well this was what I really wanted. I also nearly booked a revisit trip to New York, and nearly my first visit to Seattle, but I went with my gut and it rarely lets me down. That night, I managed to source the bargain of a Premier Inn for the first night at just £42.50. I had looked to book one at almost the complete opposite end of the country for £53, but I'll get to all that.
It's fair to say I was excited and I wanted to hurry up and get going. I hadn't had such freedom in a long time, and yes I haven't lost track of my senses completely, I do still want to go jetting off around the world and explore. In a very short summary of my logic here, I wanted to get some focus on touring parts of the UK I just don't get to very often and, unlike All Line Rover (ALR) trips of the past, this was to be an adventure with a focus on exploring. In the past, I'd say I'd been to somewhere if I'd only been to the railway station. Naturally, 10+ years ago there were completely different priorities, back then you'd have never caught me getting off a train just to go exploring, you'd be more likely to find me by a droplight where they existed, or I'd be simply be trying to mark off as many trains as possible, or as many stations as possible. I'm not going to lie, to this day I still feel, years after giving up on the quirk of the hobby, that I wasted an awful lot of time doing stations. Not as much time wasted as I did in 2018 and 2019, but that's a whole other story, good gravy 2018 feels like a long time ago!
I wanted to do this sort of trip in style, which is why I chose First Class at £818. I'd have loved to do the ultimate ALR, a 14 day First Class ALR, but this would do just fine. For now anyway, but that's an adventure for a future version of me! I wanted to go exploring all sorts of places, but fixing a plan on Advances and in Standard Class just did not appeal whatsoever. Slumming it was not for me this time! Obviously, there would be a lot of time spent on IC operators, but that really isn't a bad thing in my opinion. The freedom to jump off an IET at Paddington, transfer to Euston and jump on a 390 to Blackpool North, go exploring and tram hunting before returning to Preston and letting impulse rule the roost before ending the day on the ECML? Yes please! I would of course have the advantage of going with the wind, almost literally, with my exploring and if the weather was to be rubbish somewhere I could soon change my plan for the day!
This time, there was no plan to use the sleeper trains unless in a desperate situation, but it was all to play for. A few days after buying my ticket, some rail strikes were announced and these were to throw out my plans somewhat, but I'd work around that. There was, when I received that news, a part of me that wondered if I would have been better off flying to a far and distant land instead, but I was sure I'd deal with it just fine!
Anyway, to the trip itself! Work was done and out of the way, and I had a full day off before the adventure began. As I had expected, I didn't sleep too well despite trying to get a good rest, and at 0345 the alarm went off. 0351 and it was decided that I might as well go for the 0449 to London Paddington. I've been wanting to do it, just for the sake of doing the first train of the day! 0428 and I was out of the house, breakfast had kind of been had a few hours before when I couldn't sleep. A fast march saw me clear the 1.05 miles to the railway station in just 12 minutes and 31 seconds, due to no delays in crossing roads. If it hadn't been for 2 bags, I might have done it faster!
800315 received the honour of being the first train of the adventure, and I happily took an available solo seat in coach L. I had so many ideas for the day, but I would see what would happen as I went. Part of the fun of an ALR is to drop all plans and go somewhere completely different/take a different train to the plan or similar, and unlike in 2011 and 2012 there is the useful function on Real Time Trains of looking up trains on selected operators. That is going to be very useful at many points I reckon!
Catering started around Moreton-in-Marsh, and a sugary coffee with a raspberry vegan croissant went down very well! After Oxford I got another coffee, and some vegan flapjack square, which set me up very well for the day. At Paddington, my favourite station in all the world, I had a short time to soak up the atmosphere before heading downstairs to the CrossRail platforms. Dud 345021 took me to the UK's newest station, Bond Street, with winner 345054 taking me to Farringdon soon after. Upstairs, I happened to get straight onto winner 700057 for a one-stop-hop to London St Pancras International. I had been going to Liverpool Street, for a 745, but I had an alternative.
The Class 319s with London North Western Railway are fast approaching their retirement, with the new Class 730s due to enter service in the foreseeable future. With no obvious trip to sample the class in this area before their retirement, the opportunity to enjoy them could not be turned down. A fast march to Euston via the back way got me to Euston in more than enough time to join the 0831 to Tring, which on this occasion was formed of 319012+319217+319219. I took a seat in the First Class compartment of 319217, and they are nice seats it must be said. Quite a difference from Standard Class, but I must say that I wanted some motor coach noise! So I moved back two coaches after Wembley, and the noise was most welcome. I alighted at Kings Langley for a modest plus heading back to London, as I wanted to be on the 0948 out of Kings Cross if I could. 350266+350264 were in charge of taking me back to London, and I must add the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny!
A fast march to Kings Cross was done via Grafton Place and Euston Road, I thought it was longer than 0.4 miles somehow but that is what Strava said. I therefore even had time for a couple of quick photos before joining winner 802301 on Hull Trains' 0949 to Hull. I took one of the last available solo seats, and we were off bang on time. Hot drink service started quite quickly, and kudos to Hull Trains for using proper cups! Not too much later, hot food orders were taken and service was very efficient. It was incredibly welcome too, I had a vegan sausages and caramalised onion ciabatta and it was amazing! 100% recommended, even if you're not vegan, so tasty! I was blown away by Hull Trains' First Class service, and I was very pleased to have chosen to travel with them after all!
Doncaster arrived in no time, and I eventually managed to get access to the First Class lounge on platform 3. It's nice and modern, with a small fridge of Harrogate water and a coffee machine. The snacks weren't of any interest to me I must say, it's a nice place to wait for a train at least. By now I had a plan in place to go after my last Class 333, and I was next due to get on a MK4 set with a 91 up front. Dud 91105 eventually arrived and I took a solo seat in coach L. Mine seemed to be a little broken, as it wouldn't stay upright. No matter, I was only going to Leeds on it anyway. A can of Diet Coke made a nice change, and I was priming the class clearance cannon for the 333s. I have to be brutally honest, I wasn't super impressed with the MK4 First Class, it certainly looks nice but I've had some very nice First Class on GWR and Hull Trains, so the bar has been raised, with LNER's MK4s coming up short!
I made my way straight to my intended target, which was 333004 on the 1226 to Skipton. As it departed Leeds, the Class Clearance Cannon sounded as I had finally got my last 333 in the book! It was just a simple hop to Shipley, with a +7 for 333002 back to Leeds. That one was my penultimate one a little over a year ago, so it was nice to get it again. I had options to go north now, and I didn't really fancy the XC option too much. 91130 and a full set of MK4s and DVT in Intercity livery looked amazing on the 1315 to London Kings Cross, it was dud though so I decided to check out the First Class lounge before getting my first Transpennine Express service in quite some time.
The lounge in Leeds was bigger and in my view nicer than the Doncaster one, although that may be a bit of bias as this time I didn't have a TV blaring out This Morning and their Halloween topics. Let's not go there with my views on Halloween, we may be discussing it for a while! I also had a working data connection in Leeds, Doncaster I did not so that made a big difference, although Leeds only had sparkling water they did have excellent Pipers sea salted crisps!
I had considered going to Scotland via Manchester, but the 397 I'd have been on was dud so I didn't bother! Soon enough I got back to the platform, and winner 802210 rolled in to take me to Newcastle. I considered bailing out at York, to head to Scarborough for the 1534 Scarborough-Manchester Victoria which would have a Class 68 on it. When I looked at how long it would take to get to Aberdeen on that series of moves, I rapidly changed my mind!
By now, having been awake super early and not really slept enough, I was ready to get to the Premier Inn. I still wanted to make the journey north as interesting as possible, and the stomach was ready for a seriously good feed. Looking at the menus on LNER, I wasn't impressed when all I could see was a snackbox for vegans. Full-blown meals for everyone else, which was not great. Transpennine Express' on-board service wasn't much to speak of, I got a cup of tea, PG Tips (ugh!) as I didn't fancy coffee, and that was it. Nothing else all the way to Newcastle. So far, Hull Trains blew everyone out of the water, with GWR a close second.
First stop in Newcastle, after getting a photo of 803002 which was my first confirmed Lumo sighting, was the First Class lounge at the London end of platform 3. It must be said that the fresh air upon arrival in Newcastle did wonders, as did the salted Love Corn packet. I've not had that before, but very much enjoyed it. Along with a coffee, I had new enthusiasm, and this lounge, despite a non-working coffee machine, was my favourite so far. It just had a good vibe! I could have used Lumo, but it's Standard Class only and I am going to save the Lumo experience for 2023. Looking up my options for ScotRail scores while on the 802, I saw that the 1545 Azuma would miss a 158 I wanted by a few minutes. The 1537 Voyager with CrossCountry, however, was due to arrive with a handful of minutes to make the connection.
So it was that I made my way over and joined 221124 for the journey into Scotland. I was rather hungry, so dug through my bag of goodies I'd had with me all day. I found the two satsumas and the pack of blueberries, oh yes that would do nicely! My fruit intake recently has been poor, and I am a little surprised at the lack of it available in LNER First Class lounges. As the journey progressed through Morpeth, a drinks and snacks service was carried out. I had a panel rattling when the engine was powering, not too helpful! The coast was seen for the first time on this adventure at Alnmouth, which was a nice sight. I hadn't planned to arrive in Scotland on a Voyager, but to get one of my last 6 158s in all of the UK, well it was worth it. Once upon a time, I'd have not done it any other way when I rode Voyagers all the time!
Arrival is not until 1710, and thankfully two manual gates were open or I'd have missed the 1711 to Glenrothes. That was made by seconds, and was important as it had 170413 up front with winner 158729 on the back. 5 more 158s to get! A Haymarket leap would do, and I was soon on dud 385106 and winner 385108. I had heard negative things about First Class on these trains, and rightly so as the seats are most uncomfortable! The dull grey really doesn't help, I certainly won't be in a rush to travel in First on one of these again! I noted a pair of 385/1s that I wanted, with just a 10 minute wait at Linlithgow, so I jumped out and took double winners 385115+385123 back to Edinburgh. It was time for a meal, so much so I was ready to call an end to play until food had been enjoyed!
I had been going to Glasgow to pick up a ScotRail HST all the way to Aberdeen, which felt like it would be a mighty fine way to end the day. The 385 First Class is so uncomfortable that it wasn't deemed a good idea after all! I also noted that the 397 I would have been on from Manchester was terminated at Carlisle, reportedly due to problems with the train crew. That sure made me feel better about not going that way!
Subway got visited for a footlong Tastes Like Chicken sub, and that got devoured in no time in the First Class lounge. This one was quite nice, and like the others they aren't that well stocked in terms of food. It is one I'll go back to though, the nicest one of the four I've now done on the LNER route. It was soon time to board the 1835 to Aberdeen, and I made my way to platform 2 to join winner 800113 for my last journey of the day. It's been a successful one, of that I am in no doubt. A very long one too, but it was worth it. 10 winners for haulage, and plenty of new sights, 42 of them!
So let's talk about LNER's First Class service on-board. Service started in the Inverkeithing area, and this was the Let's Eat Dish menu. The only vegan option was the Deli Box, and I don't recommend the Franklin & Sons lemonade, it's not that nice. The box then, well it's some small tortilla chips, served with a surprisingly nice tomato and red pepper hummus, a black olive tapenade which smelt awful and an amazing plant-based coconut and mango dip. I've seen two good options on the breakfast menu, so that may have to get sampled this week. I did get a packet of those excellent Pipers sea salt crisps, as well as an apple and a satsuma, to be fair. I was still glad to have had the Subway meal though!
Based solely on the experience of the day, Hull Trains 100% won the best service, with GWR a close second, Cross Country third, LNER fourth, Transpennine Express fifth and of course ScotRail with its unpleasant First Class in sixth. Best lounge was certainly Edinburgh, a close second for Newcastle (it's just too small for a major station), Leeds third and Doncaster way down in fourth. Has it been worth the extra money to travel in First Class? Generally speaking, I'd say yes. I haven't done all that much exploring yet though, which is not so great!
Fortunately Premier Inn's city centre location in Aberdeen is not too far from the station, and I was rather looking forward to it. As I typed this, it was 2047 so pretty much 16 hours after leaving Hereford. I also noted on Maps that Vegan Bay Baker is close to Premier Inn, and was due to open at 8am. That may have to be visited! At the time of typing, it was anyone's guess as to whether I'd go or not, but it was most likely! 17 hours after leaving the house, I was checked in and this all got proof-read. I was already dreading the 0630 alarm, but looking forward to the shower!
31/10/2022 - Tech's First In His Class, Day 1
FINALLY! After waiting 7 months for a week off work, I had got some time off booked a little over 2 weeks before this adventure. On the night of 14th October, I spent hours on airline websites and nearly booked a trip to Malta. It would have been cheaper, by a large amount, but to be honest this adventure which I had hinted about on RailUK Forums a number of days beforehand, well this was what I really wanted. I also nearly booked a revisit trip to New York, and nearly my first visit to Seattle, but I went with my gut and it rarely lets me down. That night, I managed to source the bargain of a Premier Inn for the first night at just £42.50. I had looked to book one at almost the complete opposite end of the country for £53, but I'll get to all that.
It's fair to say I was excited and I wanted to hurry up and get going. I hadn't had such freedom in a long time, and yes I haven't lost track of my senses completely, I do still want to go jetting off around the world and explore. In a very short summary of my logic here, I wanted to get some focus on touring parts of the UK I just don't get to very often and, unlike All Line Rover (ALR) trips of the past, this was to be an adventure with a focus on exploring. In the past, I'd say I'd been to somewhere if I'd only been to the railway station. Naturally, 10+ years ago there were completely different priorities, back then you'd have never caught me getting off a train just to go exploring, you'd be more likely to find me by a droplight where they existed, or I'd be simply be trying to mark off as many trains as possible, or as many stations as possible. I'm not going to lie, to this day I still feel, years after giving up on the quirk of the hobby, that I wasted an awful lot of time doing stations. Not as much time wasted as I did in 2018 and 2019, but that's a whole other story, good gravy 2018 feels like a long time ago!
I wanted to do this sort of trip in style, which is why I chose First Class at £818. I'd have loved to do the ultimate ALR, a 14 day First Class ALR, but this would do just fine. For now anyway, but that's an adventure for a future version of me! I wanted to go exploring all sorts of places, but fixing a plan on Advances and in Standard Class just did not appeal whatsoever. Slumming it was not for me this time! Obviously, there would be a lot of time spent on IC operators, but that really isn't a bad thing in my opinion. The freedom to jump off an IET at Paddington, transfer to Euston and jump on a 390 to Blackpool North, go exploring and tram hunting before returning to Preston and letting impulse rule the roost before ending the day on the ECML? Yes please! I would of course have the advantage of going with the wind, almost literally, with my exploring and if the weather was to be rubbish somewhere I could soon change my plan for the day!
This time, there was no plan to use the sleeper trains unless in a desperate situation, but it was all to play for. A few days after buying my ticket, some rail strikes were announced and these were to throw out my plans somewhat, but I'd work around that. There was, when I received that news, a part of me that wondered if I would have been better off flying to a far and distant land instead, but I was sure I'd deal with it just fine!
Anyway, to the trip itself! Work was done and out of the way, and I had a full day off before the adventure began. As I had expected, I didn't sleep too well despite trying to get a good rest, and at 0345 the alarm went off. 0351 and it was decided that I might as well go for the 0449 to London Paddington. I've been wanting to do it, just for the sake of doing the first train of the day! 0428 and I was out of the house, breakfast had kind of been had a few hours before when I couldn't sleep. A fast march saw me clear the 1.05 miles to the railway station in just 12 minutes and 31 seconds, due to no delays in crossing roads. If it hadn't been for 2 bags, I might have done it faster!
800315 received the honour of being the first train of the adventure, and I happily took an available solo seat in coach L. I had so many ideas for the day, but I would see what would happen as I went. Part of the fun of an ALR is to drop all plans and go somewhere completely different/take a different train to the plan or similar, and unlike in 2011 and 2012 there is the useful function on Real Time Trains of looking up trains on selected operators. That is going to be very useful at many points I reckon!
Catering started around Moreton-in-Marsh, and a sugary coffee with a raspberry vegan croissant went down very well! After Oxford I got another coffee, and some vegan flapjack square, which set me up very well for the day. At Paddington, my favourite station in all the world, I had a short time to soak up the atmosphere before heading downstairs to the CrossRail platforms. Dud 345021 took me to the UK's newest station, Bond Street, with winner 345054 taking me to Farringdon soon after. Upstairs, I happened to get straight onto winner 700057 for a one-stop-hop to London St Pancras International. I had been going to Liverpool Street, for a 745, but I had an alternative.
The Class 319s with London North Western Railway are fast approaching their retirement, with the new Class 730s due to enter service in the foreseeable future. With no obvious trip to sample the class in this area before their retirement, the opportunity to enjoy them could not be turned down. A fast march to Euston via the back way got me to Euston in more than enough time to join the 0831 to Tring, which on this occasion was formed of 319012+319217+319219. I took a seat in the First Class compartment of 319217, and they are nice seats it must be said. Quite a difference from Standard Class, but I must say that I wanted some motor coach noise! So I moved back two coaches after Wembley, and the noise was most welcome. I alighted at Kings Langley for a modest plus heading back to London, as I wanted to be on the 0948 out of Kings Cross if I could. 350266+350264 were in charge of taking me back to London, and I must add the weather was unseasonably warm and sunny!
A fast march to Kings Cross was done via Grafton Place and Euston Road, I thought it was longer than 0.4 miles somehow but that is what Strava said. I therefore even had time for a couple of quick photos before joining winner 802301 on Hull Trains' 0949 to Hull. I took one of the last available solo seats, and we were off bang on time. Hot drink service started quite quickly, and kudos to Hull Trains for using proper cups! Not too much later, hot food orders were taken and service was very efficient. It was incredibly welcome too, I had a vegan sausages and caramalised onion ciabatta and it was amazing! 100% recommended, even if you're not vegan, so tasty! I was blown away by Hull Trains' First Class service, and I was very pleased to have chosen to travel with them after all!
Doncaster arrived in no time, and I eventually managed to get access to the First Class lounge on platform 3. It's nice and modern, with a small fridge of Harrogate water and a coffee machine. The snacks weren't of any interest to me I must say, it's a nice place to wait for a train at least. By now I had a plan in place to go after my last Class 333, and I was next due to get on a MK4 set with a 91 up front. Dud 91105 eventually arrived and I took a solo seat in coach L. Mine seemed to be a little broken, as it wouldn't stay upright. No matter, I was only going to Leeds on it anyway. A can of Diet Coke made a nice change, and I was priming the class clearance cannon for the 333s. I have to be brutally honest, I wasn't super impressed with the MK4 First Class, it certainly looks nice but I've had some very nice First Class on GWR and Hull Trains, so the bar has been raised, with LNER's MK4s coming up short!
I made my way straight to my intended target, which was 333004 on the 1226 to Skipton. As it departed Leeds, the Class Clearance Cannon sounded as I had finally got my last 333 in the book! It was just a simple hop to Shipley, with a +7 for 333002 back to Leeds. That one was my penultimate one a little over a year ago, so it was nice to get it again. I had options to go north now, and I didn't really fancy the XC option too much. 91130 and a full set of MK4s and DVT in Intercity livery looked amazing on the 1315 to London Kings Cross, it was dud though so I decided to check out the First Class lounge before getting my first Transpennine Express service in quite some time.
The lounge in Leeds was bigger and in my view nicer than the Doncaster one, although that may be a bit of bias as this time I didn't have a TV blaring out This Morning and their Halloween topics. Let's not go there with my views on Halloween, we may be discussing it for a while! I also had a working data connection in Leeds, Doncaster I did not so that made a big difference, although Leeds only had sparkling water they did have excellent Pipers sea salted crisps!
I had considered going to Scotland via Manchester, but the 397 I'd have been on was dud so I didn't bother! Soon enough I got back to the platform, and winner 802210 rolled in to take me to Newcastle. I considered bailing out at York, to head to Scarborough for the 1534 Scarborough-Manchester Victoria which would have a Class 68 on it. When I looked at how long it would take to get to Aberdeen on that series of moves, I rapidly changed my mind!
By now, having been awake super early and not really slept enough, I was ready to get to the Premier Inn. I still wanted to make the journey north as interesting as possible, and the stomach was ready for a seriously good feed. Looking at the menus on LNER, I wasn't impressed when all I could see was a snackbox for vegans. Full-blown meals for everyone else, which was not great. Transpennine Express' on-board service wasn't much to speak of, I got a cup of tea, PG Tips (ugh!) as I didn't fancy coffee, and that was it. Nothing else all the way to Newcastle. So far, Hull Trains blew everyone out of the water, with GWR a close second.
First stop in Newcastle, after getting a photo of 803002 which was my first confirmed Lumo sighting, was the First Class lounge at the London end of platform 3. It must be said that the fresh air upon arrival in Newcastle did wonders, as did the salted Love Corn packet. I've not had that before, but very much enjoyed it. Along with a coffee, I had new enthusiasm, and this lounge, despite a non-working coffee machine, was my favourite so far. It just had a good vibe! I could have used Lumo, but it's Standard Class only and I am going to save the Lumo experience for 2023. Looking up my options for ScotRail scores while on the 802, I saw that the 1545 Azuma would miss a 158 I wanted by a few minutes. The 1537 Voyager with CrossCountry, however, was due to arrive with a handful of minutes to make the connection.
So it was that I made my way over and joined 221124 for the journey into Scotland. I was rather hungry, so dug through my bag of goodies I'd had with me all day. I found the two satsumas and the pack of blueberries, oh yes that would do nicely! My fruit intake recently has been poor, and I am a little surprised at the lack of it available in LNER First Class lounges. As the journey progressed through Morpeth, a drinks and snacks service was carried out. I had a panel rattling when the engine was powering, not too helpful! The coast was seen for the first time on this adventure at Alnmouth, which was a nice sight. I hadn't planned to arrive in Scotland on a Voyager, but to get one of my last 6 158s in all of the UK, well it was worth it. Once upon a time, I'd have not done it any other way when I rode Voyagers all the time!
Arrival is not until 1710, and thankfully two manual gates were open or I'd have missed the 1711 to Glenrothes. That was made by seconds, and was important as it had 170413 up front with winner 158729 on the back. 5 more 158s to get! A Haymarket leap would do, and I was soon on dud 385106 and winner 385108. I had heard negative things about First Class on these trains, and rightly so as the seats are most uncomfortable! The dull grey really doesn't help, I certainly won't be in a rush to travel in First on one of these again! I noted a pair of 385/1s that I wanted, with just a 10 minute wait at Linlithgow, so I jumped out and took double winners 385115+385123 back to Edinburgh. It was time for a meal, so much so I was ready to call an end to play until food had been enjoyed!
I had been going to Glasgow to pick up a ScotRail HST all the way to Aberdeen, which felt like it would be a mighty fine way to end the day. The 385 First Class is so uncomfortable that it wasn't deemed a good idea after all! I also noted that the 397 I would have been on from Manchester was terminated at Carlisle, reportedly due to problems with the train crew. That sure made me feel better about not going that way!
Subway got visited for a footlong Tastes Like Chicken sub, and that got devoured in no time in the First Class lounge. This one was quite nice, and like the others they aren't that well stocked in terms of food. It is one I'll go back to though, the nicest one of the four I've now done on the LNER route. It was soon time to board the 1835 to Aberdeen, and I made my way to platform 2 to join winner 800113 for my last journey of the day. It's been a successful one, of that I am in no doubt. A very long one too, but it was worth it. 10 winners for haulage, and plenty of new sights, 42 of them!
So let's talk about LNER's First Class service on-board. Service started in the Inverkeithing area, and this was the Let's Eat Dish menu. The only vegan option was the Deli Box, and I don't recommend the Franklin & Sons lemonade, it's not that nice. The box then, well it's some small tortilla chips, served with a surprisingly nice tomato and red pepper hummus, a black olive tapenade which smelt awful and an amazing plant-based coconut and mango dip. I've seen two good options on the breakfast menu, so that may have to get sampled this week. I did get a packet of those excellent Pipers sea salt crisps, as well as an apple and a satsuma, to be fair. I was still glad to have had the Subway meal though!
Based solely on the experience of the day, Hull Trains 100% won the best service, with GWR a close second, Cross Country third, LNER fourth, Transpennine Express fifth and of course ScotRail with its unpleasant First Class in sixth. Best lounge was certainly Edinburgh, a close second for Newcastle (it's just too small for a major station), Leeds third and Doncaster way down in fourth. Has it been worth the extra money to travel in First Class? Generally speaking, I'd say yes. I haven't done all that much exploring yet though, which is not so great!
Fortunately Premier Inn's city centre location in Aberdeen is not too far from the station, and I was rather looking forward to it. As I typed this, it was 2047 so pretty much 16 hours after leaving Hereford. I also noted on Maps that Vegan Bay Baker is close to Premier Inn, and was due to open at 8am. That may have to be visited! At the time of typing, it was anyone's guess as to whether I'd go or not, but it was most likely! 17 hours after leaving the house, I was checked in and this all got proof-read. I was already dreading the 0630 alarm, but looking forward to the shower!
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Kite159
Veteran Member
A busy day
telstarbox
Established Member
Crikey that's a heavy day of trains and snacks!
Iskra
Established Member
Sounded a good first day, covering lots of ground. I feel bad the the Mk4's were a let down for you after I talked them up to you!
Looking forwards to hearing about the rest of your trip
Looking forwards to hearing about the rest of your trip
Techniquest
Veteran Member
A busy day
Indeed! Today has been much more chilled out, and thankfully not as caffeinated! That was a lot of tea and coffee yesterday!
Heavy indeed on both counts, but a mighty fine variety it has to be said. 319s, 350s, a 158, 385s, 80x, a 221 even some 333s, and a number of different operators. I can hardly complain about the variety! All the lounges that were ticked off too, no complaints there!
I'd have preferred a healthier diet, indeed the next time I go to a shop I'm buying some fruit to enjoy!
Sounded a good first day, covering lots of ground. I feel bad the the Mk4's were a let down for you after I talked them up to you!
Looking forwards to hearing about the rest of your trip
I might have just been unlucky with the MK4 seat I had. I remain not quite convinced whether the LNER Azuma or MK4 First Class is better, but what I did forget to mention in the trip report was that I did like the interior of First Class on the Azuma better than Standard Class' in-your-face bright red. I plan to sample LNER's Azuma First Class again in the morning, hopefully the vegan breakfast offering will be available. I've specifically reserved a seat in coach M to maximise my chances of getting what I want!
Today has been great too, a completely different one to Day 1 and indeed the original vague plan, but I'll not say more than that right now. The trip report for Day 2 should go live around 11pm!
EDIT: Added some more photos from Day 1!
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50002Superb
Established Member
Great read, look forward to seeing the rest
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Thanks
Day 2 is still going, as I type I was going to be just pulling in on my last move of the day, but I changed plans over a cup of Tetley tea! It meant tripling my red pennage for the day though!Some more photos from Day 1 are attached to this post, and Spoiler Alert! I also include some photos from Day 2's morning!
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
01/11/2022 - Tech's First In His Class, Day 2
Well I was up nice and early at 0520, which was not the plan! I happened to realise I had a bath in this Premier Inn room, and as I had time to spare it made sense to run a nice and hot, relaxing bath. It's not something I get to do too often, and it was a nice way to start the day. After a coffee and a few biscuits, I was soon ready to head out. Originally I'd set my sights on the 0617 to Inverness, as it was showing as having a ScotRail Inter7City HST on it. Once upon a time, Aberdeen to Inverness was rather rare for HSTs, and it was always something I wanted to do in my HST enthusiast days. I was too far behind with preparations for that in the end, but I could easily make the 0639 to Glasgow Queen Street.
What I wasn't ready for was the incredibly heavy rain! Wow that was intense, and I was incredibly glad I hadn't gone to Scotland with one of my cycles after all! The sound of an HST idling welcomed me quite happily, and I didn't realise before last night that there is a First Class lounge at Aberdeen. No time for that today, I was straight over to 43131+43142 on the 0639 to Glasgow. The nostalgia was extreme, and the First Class seating is the same as it was in GWR days. Huge leather seats, a great recline and a marvellous vibe. Granted, they are a little firm which my nostalgia had clearly blocked out, but otherwise the memories were most enjoyable. It's a shame it's not a Paddington to Penzance ride, but this journey was surprisingly fast and felt like a proper inter-city journey. Was I happy with my choice? Absolutely, a great way to start Day 2!
Catering provision was down to just some cans of Radnor water (very local to me in the past!) and shortbread packets. I still haven't seen the Aberdeen to Montrose section in daylight yet, maybe one day! I enjoyed the scenery once the sun came up, and I was trying to come up with a good plan for the day. It had to feature a visit to The Glasvegan, that was mandatory as I was going to be in Glasgow. It also had to feature some red penning, and ideally I'd get that HST coverage from Aberdeen to Inverness too. Base camp was at an Airbnb this time, as it had been £16 cheaper than Premier Inn. So I also wanted to factor that in, and it looked incredibly likely that I'd have to drop the HST coverage bit, it was very much on the nice-to-do list but red penning would take priority.
A very tiny delay into Glasgow Queen Street, and I marched to The Glasvegan as fast as I could. Partly because I was hungry and partly because it was surprisingly chilly in Glasgow. A hash brown and fake bacon pieces breakfast roll was had, £3.70 but oh so worth it! I had considered doing the 1040 out of Glasgow Central, but that had been cancelled north of Preston. Reportedly due to a late arrival of the inward working. I'd considered it for a journey to Carlisle, to pick up a 397 to Haymarket to then get a ScotRail HST to Inverness. Instead, I marched my way, with the wind now behind me it seemed, to Pret near Queen Street station. I was going to do Tim Hortons, but I'm going off that lot slowly. A shame, as I fell in love with the Dark Roast coffee in May 2018 while in Toronto, but it's just not the same in the UK. Maybe it's just me, after all the little doughnut things were quite funky but they're not vegan, and perhaps it's just time to move on!
The 1015 to Edinburgh was my target, but a check on Real Time Trains had it down as 385108+385106, which I'd had on Day 1, so that was no good. Instead, I quickly checked my options and the 1007 to Inverness would give me a +9 onto a 158 of my desires. So I made my way onto platform 5, getting grab-and-go photos of 43026+43136 before settling into a table for two seat. 3 and a quarter hours I would be on this train for, and soon after departure there was a trolley service. I could have saved myself £1.30, but then I had expected to be on the uncomfortable 385 First Class seats, not the nice HST First Class seats! Sadly, the coffee on the train was just Nescafe sachets, so not that great.
All the way I took in the gorgeous scenery, and the Highland Main Line was just stunning in its autumnal colours. A fantastic choice to go this way, without any doubt! With the Airbnb person failing to get in touch, I finally got them to send me the very lengthy check-in instructions, and arrival into Inverness was 2 minutes early at 1324. I went straight into an exploration of Inverness, and that led me to the riverside paths. I followed these to Ness Islands, which were absolutely gorgeous in the leaf-fall season. I was not too far from the Airbnb location, so ended up checking in an hour early. Dropping off the bag was seriously welcome, it was rather full and heavy so it made a nice change to head out with very little! A quick photo from as close to Inverness Castle as I could get (there were works on all around it) was had, then a march to the station. I wanted to do more exploring, but a broken down train changed a lot of allocations and I still had not wielded the red pen all day!
Winner 158723 was on the 1430 to Aberdeen, and it looked wise to take it to Elgin for a reasonable length wait for the train back. Before that though, I got a medium sized coffee from Costa, as WHSmith annoyed me with their food prices and options. Not that I got food in the end of course! I was going to Elgin, but a look at Maps before arriving in Nairn revealed it to be a seafront town, within a reasonable distance of the station. I had to do it! This is what the week was supposed to be about, it wasn't meant to be a train-heavy trip like Day 1 was but instead it was expected to be a lot of exploring. With travel in style of course! I was pleasantly surprised by the nice town that Nairn was, the walk along the seafront was really pleasant. The leisure park was also a nice bit to walk through, and the town in general seemed nice. A stop was made at Co-Op for supplies, and I was back at the pretty little station before I knew it.
When I tried to find the 1341 Aberdeen to Inverness earlier in the day, it didn't show on Real Time Trains. It's normally an HST, hence my interest in it, and sure enough it rolled in with 43138+43127 which I happily took to Inverness. Two sandwiches made and devoured, as well as a cookie, and the raging stomach was finally silenced. I had just over an hour in Inverness to go and explore, so I did just that. I ended up following the road through an industrial area (Harbour Road maybe?) and stopped just before Dolphin Spirit, from where boat tours operate. Something to bear in mind for a future trip! I got a good view of Kessock Bridge from there, and I followed the blue signs for National Cycle Network Route 1. I could have walked the bridge, just for the novelty of it, but I chose not to as time was against me. So I marched back to the station, arriving only around 40 minutes after I'd left, and just as the sun had set.
I clearly wasn't satisfied when it came to food, as I went to Burger King and got a large 9 vegan nuggets meal. I see up here you have to pay 10p for a bag, and I was interested to note CapriSun was my only choice of drink. £7.79 but it was incredibly filling, and my first hot food since the vegan sausage ciabatta aboard Hull Trains on Day 1. I now had a conundrum, board the 1713 to Aberdeen as planned or wait around for the 1754 to Kyle, as that had a winner 158 on it, but also meant hanging around at Dingwall for quite a while. The decision was made by requiring facilities, which charge 50p, and I was not willing to hang around until the 1754 as a result. Doing the HST all the way to Aberdeen, while ticking off the desire for clearing that line on an HST, would mean getting only one winner for the entire day.
I chose to re-join 43127+43138 for the ride to Aberdeen, it made more sense to me as it made use of the First Class validity I had. The last 4 158s I wanted would simply have to wait for another time! I was the only passenger in First Class, so it was incredibly private. So much so I did some movement exercises after Huntley to keep the joints moving! I'm not used to all this sitting around, it must be said, and it's also noteworthy that after many hours of music on Day 1, I've left my earphones unused all day. After the short time of exercises, I had to make a decision on the last few bits of the day.
I could go chasing a winner 158, but it would mean an after-midnight arrival back at Inverness. 2235 would be bad enough! With a plan to be up by 0630 on Day 3, the idea of not getting to bed until gone 0030 was not a fun concept. I had a bath available in the Airbnb, and that certainly was tempting. A winner 158 and a winner Azuma though, that was also tempting, but so was investigating the First Class lounge in Aberdeen if it was open. It was left to fate to decide what I'd do!
In the end, I went to the First Class lounge. It's quite nice, and plenty of windows overlooking the concourse which gave opportunities for people-watching. Nothing weird, just a 'I wonder where they're off to' kind of thing. A cup of Tetley tea was had and I ignored the 158 on its way to Montrose, but I did note I would have less time hanging around in Stonehaven off the 2010 to Edinburgh. I initially said no to that, but I changed my mind and joined 170410 for the leap to Stonehaven. Sitting in the First Class section, of course! The town arrived in no time, and I had a fast walk down to town and back to fill time. That was all I had time for, but it gave me some good exercise so I'm not complaining!
Winner 800111 was up next with the 1400 London Kings Cross to Aberdeen, and I took a seat in coach L. The bright red of Standard Class was enough to burn the eyes, thankfully I was not enduring it for too long before the sanctuary of First Class! With the journey to Aberdeen over in no time, my options now were to sit around the station waiting or go for a walk. It couldn't be a long walk, but it would have to do. Somehow I ended up in the Union Square shopping centre on the way back to the station, wow that place has a lot in it! Over to platform 7N next for the 2141 to Inverurie, which as promised on Real Time Trains was winner 158709. To the end of that train's journey then for me, and with nothing else really to do I got some exercises done. Plenty of squats featured, and soon enough I had defeated the chilly wait.
Double duds 158705+170431 rocked up with the 2200 Aberdeen-Inverness next, my final train of the day. Initially it didn't look like the 158 was in passenger use, so I joined the 170 and made a beeline for its First Class area. That vestibule door really knocks out a lot of noise, and I made myself comfy. It was another very long day for Day 2, over 17 hours from the first train of the day to the last one. Only 3 winners for haulage, and not that many more for sight either, just 5 new sights without counting the HST First Class coaches that I noted, which I don't usually do these days. I ended the day with 3 158s to go, one of them was in Kyle of Lochalsh, one was due to finish in Perth and the other was ending its day in Aberdeen. Day 3 ends in Premier Inn in Southampton, so the odds of me getting all 3 158s in the book are beyond slim it must be said. Not impossible, but certainly extremely unlikely!
What else would Day 3 bring? Well the alarm was due to sound at 0630, ready to get me up and onto the 0755 Inverness to London Kings Cross 'Highland Chieftain'. I fancied trying their breakfast menu out, so much so I had specially made a seat reservation in coach M for it! Would I be on that train? Well, there was only one way to find out! 0012 and an on-time arrival into a very chilly Inverness. 0.45 miles later, I was back at the Airbnb and I ran a bath. With the bags also repacked, I was soon all sorted and ready for bed. It may only be a few hours of sleep, but I reckon it was worth the late night arrival. All I would have to do before departure would be dressed and put the keys back in the lockbox.
More photos from Day 2 soon!
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TT-ONR-NRN
Veteran Member
Your reports are so heavily detailed, which makes them extra enjoyable to read. It's also fascinating to see what's on offer to you as a vegan, and which TOCs cater better with that than others. Looking forward to reading the next - even if it does make me rather jealous... Hope you're enjoying it so far.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Another busy day making use of your ranger
shredder1
Established Member
Enjoying your write up`s Tech, sounds like a great trip, think I would have gone for Seattle though, lol.
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Another busy day making use of your ranger
Quite so! Here's some more photos from Day 2 before I get on and proof-read Day 3
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