47403
Established Member
think it was a reference to my love of 47's fowler
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Juliano's World Frenzy/Tech's Trip Reports
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
fowler9:2270255 said:
I didn't know there was a Spoons at Lime Street, so not yet no. However I will hunt it down next time I go to Merseyside and get it in!
It's not been there long. Another one I'll be after in a months time.
It is a lovely old building mate. Worth a visit. It used to be the Head Of Steam. Used to be full of railway related stuff, the couple of times I have been in since it opened it has been chocka and I honestly haven't noticed somehow if all the old station signs are still there but they have made a good job of it. Epic views out of the front of St Georges Hall.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
fowler9:2271226 said:
This isn't the one above Burger King is it? It's been months since my last MerseyRail bash, so I've actually forgotten what Lime Street looks like!
*Looks at returning to Merseyside asap*
No mate, it is the one at street level of the old North Western Hotel. Worth a visit. I think the one you are thinking of is called the White Star? Up the stairs by the ticket barriers?
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Ha ha. Good point! Can't beat a good spoon!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
fowler9:2271372 said:
Fair games, cheers for the gen.
Oh we can beat a good Spoon, let's just say Grid
Fair games, cheers for the gen.
Oh we can beat a good Spoon, let's just say Grid
Ha ha, yeah to be fair. My favourites for haulage over the years are 50's followed by 37's followed by 56's.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Good choices, would probably be 37s, 56s then 50s for me out of those three.
Working on Monday now, a financial issue from a long time ago has reared its ugly head so now less well off than I thought I was going to be. Time to re-adjust budgets for the next few months!
Working on Monday now, a financial issue from a long time ago has reared its ugly head so now less well off than I thought I was going to be. Time to re-adjust budgets for the next few months!
Hope you work out the issue mate. What are you thinking of doing? I'm going through my worst month of the last 12 financially but only because I've gone a bit wild on my old trips abroad the last 12 months. Finally caught up with me. Should be square next month.
47403
Established Member
No Im afraid you cant say Grid and win Lord Quest
I like Grids, i have to admit but them sounding like the old HST's put me off them, I like 50's too, had a couple outta the bat cave way back when and a few outta Paddington, I know some 47 bashers hated them. Think theres a lot of people like the 37's, me included but 47's are tops with me.Your all entitled to your opinion however, even when I know your wrong
, no-one mentioned a love of wagons
, so your on the right lines lads be boring if we couldn't have a bit banter about such things.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
fowler9:2272240 said:
5 years old this issue is, comes out of my pay directly. I apparently have an option of paying it all off now instead, but it means raiding my savings to do and I'm not convinced that's the best move yet.
If people wrote letters in English this wouldn't be an issue, but then it's DWP for you...:roll:
Hope you do make it out of the hole you're in this month mate!
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47403:2272254 said:
No Im afraid you cant say Grid and win Lord Quest
Your all entitled to your opinion however, even when I know your wrong
Grids will always be a favourite here, but then I was an HST man for years! You'd have loved The Airean Raider tour years back with 50031 and 50049 (2006 I think), the thrash up the hill towards Cheltenham out of the Bat Cave was epic!
You've got more chance of winning the lottery than me declaring a love of Wagons!
Banter on these things is fun aye, would be dull if we all loved the same thing!
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No Im afraid you cant say Grid and win Lord Quest
Your all entitled to your opinion however, even when I know your wrong
Agreed with pretty much all of that! Grids are brilliant but 47s beat them.
For 47 bashers hating 50s, my dad told me that there was a load of brush bashers on a train opposite Hinksey Yard when the 47 failed. The moment the bashers saw that a 50 was coming to replace it, they had opened the doors and were walking across the line to the fence at the other side (dad not included).
I'll be reet Tech, hope you are to. Money can be a pain and I doubt any of us are overpaid for our labour. Especially when you consider how much the cost of living is increasing. All the best mate.
Now then, Spoons, I love them but when I was in my glory days of bashing they turned up everywhere, I was gutted when they turned up on the Liverpool-Cardiffs. The Liverpool-Cardiffs are where my love of 37's came from. There was a time when there was a Liverpool Cardiff leaving Lime Street at about the same time as a Liverpool Preston behind a 31. The two trains would be going up the hill through the cutting to Edge hill next to each other. It was amazing. I used to do it every day on my Zone ticket because the Cardiff stopped at West Allerton which is pretty much at the end of my road. Loads of non eth 37's used to drop on it as well.
As for grids, I loved them as the noise was good and they were just so damn hard to get. I remember on a Network Northwest Day Ranger once I was out bashing the usual 86's, 87's and 47's and 56015 dropped on a cross country service from Lime Street which I picked up from Runcorn to Crewe. Loads of people had got the gen at Crewe and were waiting for it but it got taken off there.
As for the 50's we obviously just didn't get them at Lime Street so a trip down to Paddington or Waterloo and spending the day bashing them was always welcome. I loved the noise and the way they looked, even the warship names seemed to make them a bit special. I went on the Valiant Thunderer railtour which was amazing. We had 47805 from Crewe to Bristol. 50008 & 50015 from Bristol to Newton Abbot. We then had a 25 on the Paignton and Dartmouth railway (Can't remember which one off the top of my head). Then we had 37142 and the 50's to Plymouth. Next it was 50033 to Newquay. 015 and 008 back to Plymouth and then 008, 015 and 033 all up front from Plymouth to Bristol. Finally 47819 back to Crewe. An epic day.
For the record my favourite locos of all time for haulage are 37427, 50031 and 56015. A few honourable mentions for locos in Auckland and Cusco who's numbers I can't remember off the top of my head (The one in my profile pick at Aguas Calientes near Machu Picchu isn't actually one I was hauled by, was just a good chance for a photo as it went down the street).
Now then, Spoons, I love them but when I was in my glory days of bashing they turned up everywhere, I was gutted when they turned up on the Liverpool-Cardiffs. The Liverpool-Cardiffs are where my love of 37's came from. There was a time when there was a Liverpool Cardiff leaving Lime Street at about the same time as a Liverpool Preston behind a 31. The two trains would be going up the hill through the cutting to Edge hill next to each other. It was amazing. I used to do it every day on my Zone ticket because the Cardiff stopped at West Allerton which is pretty much at the end of my road. Loads of non eth 37's used to drop on it as well.
As for grids, I loved them as the noise was good and they were just so damn hard to get. I remember on a Network Northwest Day Ranger once I was out bashing the usual 86's, 87's and 47's and 56015 dropped on a cross country service from Lime Street which I picked up from Runcorn to Crewe. Loads of people had got the gen at Crewe and were waiting for it but it got taken off there.
As for the 50's we obviously just didn't get them at Lime Street so a trip down to Paddington or Waterloo and spending the day bashing them was always welcome. I loved the noise and the way they looked, even the warship names seemed to make them a bit special. I went on the Valiant Thunderer railtour which was amazing. We had 47805 from Crewe to Bristol. 50008 & 50015 from Bristol to Newton Abbot. We then had a 25 on the Paignton and Dartmouth railway (Can't remember which one off the top of my head). Then we had 37142 and the 50's to Plymouth. Next it was 50033 to Newquay. 015 and 008 back to Plymouth and then 008, 015 and 033 all up front from Plymouth to Bristol. Finally 47819 back to Crewe. An epic day.
For the record my favourite locos of all time for haulage are 37427, 50031 and 56015. A few honourable mentions for locos in Auckland and Cusco who's numbers I can't remember off the top of my head (The one in my profile pick at Aguas Calientes near Machu Picchu isn't actually one I was hauled by, was just a good chance for a photo as it went down the street).
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I like most locos. The only real exceptions are 57s and 66s. Sure, I like it when I get a winner 66 but it is always the same ones that appear (usually 66572, 66953 and 66955). But my 2 favourite classes are definitely 47 and 87.
I love 87's also, was just thinking of diesel locos before to be honest. The 87's are my favourite of the electric classes. Again I used to love the Network Northwest day ranger. Many a happy day spent heading out to Crewe on the morning Cardiff and then up and down to Bank Quay and Liverool/Runcorn behind them mixed in with 86's, 90's and 47's (Plus the odd HST). I also like heading up to Wigan and bombing up and down between there and Lancaster, that did involve the risk of taking a unit all the way to the WCML. Multiple Units really don't do it for me. Probably part of the reason I loved the Auckland commuter network when I was there. That said the one in Wellington was still interesting.
My top locos for haulage are class 55 then 50, 37 & 68, with the latter in danger of moving into top spot!
I love 87s as well.
Baby Sulzers always make me smile.
I've many happy memories of doing Peaks on the Trans-Pennine services and you won't hear me criticising them.
When it comes down to it, I'm content just sat on a moving train, I find it very cathartic.
Fowler9 - I was also on the "Valiant Thunderer", an excellent tour, 37142 topped the train because 50015 had a dodgy speedo at that end, if I remember correctly.
Also, it was 25185 that worked on the P & D.
I love 87s as well.
Baby Sulzers always make me smile.
I've many happy memories of doing Peaks on the Trans-Pennine services and you won't hear me criticising them.
When it comes down to it, I'm content just sat on a moving train, I find it very cathartic.
Fowler9 - I was also on the "Valiant Thunderer", an excellent tour, 37142 topped the train because 50015 had a dodgy speedo at that end, if I remember correctly.
Also, it was 25185 that worked on the P & D.
47403
Established Member
That sounded like a cracking tour, certainly a great variation of noise too.
55013, I had so many arguements with my mate about peaks and 47's on the trans pennine turns and the York Scarborough turns, where he'd froth at the peaks on the Liverpool Scarboroughs, as soon as one of either pulled into central station or York, our other friends used to look at either of us and start counting, before one would pipe up, here they go
he loved peaks and lets just say i didnt. Mind you having returned from a move to Morpeth on the newly refurbed 47/7's on its way home on the 1S15, he said to my friend and I, do you's fancy a quick spin to Darlo(Darlington) on the liverpool turn, it was freezing and hoying it down, my other mate was up for it but I wasn't so keen and money was short, I said it's 47423, we'd seen it parked up at Heaton, I dont need it for haulage do yous?, my mate did but my peak fanatic friend said no but I don't really wanna nash home just yet and then threw some rail riders vouchers my way, ok, few more miles on one of Gods machines wont hurt me I said, he swore and we all laughed. Off we go, tickets purchased, we climb aboard the front coach, in truth without realising at 1st, 47423 was spluttering over the King Eddie bridge, to the point not long after, we got thrown on the slow lines and 47423 coughed and spluttered up to Tyne Yard on the slow line before conking out completely at Ouston Jct, my mate, got on his high horse, giving it the wagon propaganda, then the sight of rescue loco 56115, saw 3 teenagers in a major froth to Darlo
, news had somehow spread fast because there was a few to meett 56115 at Darlo too, no mobiles them days but somehow news had got through. Our first ever grid for haulage too.We got off with big grins, we'd been jammy to say the least. It was too cold to stand at Darlo, so we jumped a zing to Durham, where my mate said, we may as well get a loco back from there, funny how it was too cold at Darlo but not at an equally if more open Durham, where we froze our whatsits off, a peak came round the corner, to my usual, oh christ its a wagon, not just any peak, said my mate but his last required peak for haulage. The sly git had been tipped off by his brother but obviously had neglected to tell me this info, mainly because, his words, well I thought you wouldn't go, for my last peak, I said, I hate them but for something like that, you bite the bullet. plus we got 56115 out of it, and a couple of winner zings, I needed the peak for haulage too, not too often you get a 47/7, a grid for haulage in one night in the North East. Sure we missed out on a rat dragging a dead 101 off the Tyne Valley that night too but that I can't confirm, dunno if it was some bitter soul, saying it because they missed out on the grid.
Sorry I didn't mean to hijack the thread, just thought I'd share the story. My apologies.
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Booked my travel to/from London for next week today. Bargain at 13.20 (using a discount voucher) for a trip with National Express there and back, 10.80 less than I'd have spent on the cheapest rail option!
On top of the significant difference in ching, the other reason to look at the coach was because I'd be on one to Bromsgrove anyway, thanks to engineering works. Then there was another two changes at Birmingham New Street and Northampton to deal with, too much hassle. This way I'm also due to get power sockets all the way to/from London, which is a nice bonus. The other advantage is that I'll finally have Hereford to Gloucester added to my National Express coverage, which is admittedly not very extensive.
In a month where the budget is tighter than it has been for a long time, then saving 10.80 is a huge bonus. It means everything becomes slightly more affordable, and the pressure on the budget is much lower than it was yesterday. Even so, I'm still looking to be tight fisted in places, cutting spending budgets down where possible. This week is one such week, stripping out a tenner from it will make a big difference.
Anyway, enough of me flapping about budgets! I have decided on a hashtag for this trip, which is #techsbyways
Tweets will start around 0830 next Sunday using it, continuing until the evening of the Tuesday (1st September). In the meantime, I've got a 6 day week ahead of me at work, so I'm going to start preparations today, even if that's just finding the relevant books!
On top of the significant difference in ching, the other reason to look at the coach was because I'd be on one to Bromsgrove anyway, thanks to engineering works. Then there was another two changes at Birmingham New Street and Northampton to deal with, too much hassle. This way I'm also due to get power sockets all the way to/from London, which is a nice bonus. The other advantage is that I'll finally have Hereford to Gloucester added to my National Express coverage, which is admittedly not very extensive.
In a month where the budget is tighter than it has been for a long time, then saving 10.80 is a huge bonus. It means everything becomes slightly more affordable, and the pressure on the budget is much lower than it was yesterday. Even so, I'm still looking to be tight fisted in places, cutting spending budgets down where possible. This week is one such week, stripping out a tenner from it will make a big difference.
Anyway, enough of me flapping about budgets! I have decided on a hashtag for this trip, which is #techsbyways
Tweets will start around 0830 next Sunday using it, continuing until the evening of the Tuesday (1st September). In the meantime, I've got a 6 day week ahead of me at work, so I'm going to start preparations today, even if that's just finding the relevant books!
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
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- 1,132
Enjoy the shifts if you can Tech count the days!
count the days!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Kristofferson:2273974 said:Enjoy the shifts if you can Tech
I'll try
I've been counting the days all week! Shall send you a text shortly
47403
Established Member
Happy hunting tech, sounds like it'll be a good ole trip. As regarding the coach, the tenner you save will almost cover the cost of an all day travelcard,
Keith Jarrett
Member
Booked my travel to/from London for next week today. Bargain at 13.20 (using a discount voucher) for a trip with National Express there and back, 10.80 less than I'd have spent on the cheapest rail option!
Anyway, enough of me flapping about budgets! I have decided on a hashtag for this trip, which is #techsbyways
I'd totally missed/forgotten your plans to take The Smoke by storm at the end of the month (I'll put that little bout of forgetfulness down to practising for my old age). Hope you have a great time and if I don't manage to catch up with your "live" reports, I'm sure the trip reports will be guaranteed to reveal everything, warts and all!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
47403:2274219 said:
Indeed, although I won't have time for a big Travelcard bash. However there will be some shack scratching involved, hopefully some winners involved too. Of course the trip report next week will reveal all!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Hopefully the timings for Monday's trip will be confirmed in due course, as time is running out for UK Rail Tours to send the tickets out by post.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Keith Jarrett:2274545 said:Booked my travel to/from London for next week today. Bargain at 13.20 (using a discount voucher) for a trip with National Express there and back, 10.80 less than I'd have spent on the cheapest rail option!
Anyway, enough of me flapping about budgets! I have decided on a hashtag for this trip, which is #techsbyways
I'd totally missed/forgotten your plans to take The Smoke by storm at the end of the month (I'll put that little bout of forgetfulness down to practising for my old age). Hope you have a great time and if I don't manage to catch up with your "live" reports, I'm sure the trip reports will be guaranteed to reveal everything, warts and all!
The plan is to shack attack in Zones 1 and 2 on Sunday, but we'll see. I do need to start a new thread actually on that, which I'll try and do tomorrow when my mobile data signal is better.
Aye the trip report will reveal all, the backstory part is already typed up. The Rolling Review for August 2015 is being worked on too, ready to go next Monday night/a week tomorrow.
I must confess to reading 'warts' as 'wants'
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Gang, this trip report is now complete! It is the first one I've done on my Galaxy Tab 3, which I only got recently. So any formatting errors or whatever, bear with me while I adjust. Here we go:
30/08/2015 - Tech's Byways, Day 1
Can I first of all say how frigging difficult it is to type this on a Galaxy Tab 3 aboard a moving coach, much harder than I expected! It doesn't help that this js my first day of using it, having only sourced it before work yesterday! Hold on Tech, what are you on about with a coach? Find out below
No fancy or clever title I'm afraid, none of the ones I had lined up felt right. As the main part of the trip is UKRailtours' The Yorkshire Byways railtour, this title would do nicely. The tour and accommodation was booked a little over 5 months ago, with the travel to London only booked a week in advance. I was going to have a chaotic journey by rail today, with a replacement coach to Bromsgrove before a train to the Bat Cave, then another train to Northampton and another slow run to London. As I had a 25% off voucher from National Express, it made sense to look into that. I found it came to just £13.20 with booking fee, a £10.80 difference from the Super Off Peak Return, LM Only, for £24 I'd have bought otherwise. Direct journey with no changes and no faff, and for a significant price difference too, and with power sockets too, happy days!
I get a lift into town today as it's Sunday, and I have a winner coach [no shock there! - Ed] with BK15 AKN for the long journey to London, and I immediately remember once out of town how awful the A49 to Ross on Wye is! So very twisty and bumpy, and don't get me started in trying to use my tablet around these parts! More irritatingly is that the power sockets aren't working, but the grumpy crew turn them on after I complain upon arrival in Gloucester. It's a 20 minute break here this morning, and to my horror I find Gloucester City Council have still got those rancid facilities here and the bus station is still a dump! It was upon my last visit here some years ago, although I really shouldn't be surprised as it's still a dump of a city, the approaches to the city centre were rough years ago and still are. It should come as no surprise that I don't like Gloucester, it's about as bad as Leominster and both make Hereford look amazing [which is saying something! - Ed] in comparison.
It's time for some more coffee and my Pumped Up Playlist on YouTube now, which sure gets me awake and ready to take on the day! Once we hit the M4 I'm back on the tablet to get this trip report updated. I'm getting used to the keyboard on it slowly, eventually I will have added the relevant apps and got to work on the spreadsheet I want to do. Thankfully I don't need to buy any office software as I have Polaris Office installed on it already. Hopefully the trip report can easily be transferred from it to the forum, only one way to find out! My mum gives me a call to let me know Notting Hill Carnival is on so to avoid that area. 100% avoiding that part of town later then, will quite happily stick to other parts of the LU empire! Traffic gets heavy near the end of the M4 but we still make it to Victoria Coach Station at 1418, 2 minutes early, happy days!
First things first, it's off to the Tube and to base camp, which tonight is Malmaison in Barbican. I get double winners 21454+21453 heading east on a District line train, and I'm glad I wasn't going west as the platform is ridiculously busy! I get bored of this move and bail at Embankment, with a swift change for the Northern line onto double winners 51504+51505 to winning shack Leicester Square [I know, I can't believe I've not done it before either! -Ed]. Another swift change onto the Piccadilly line, my first use of it in years, and I fail to get the front set but score 122 for the trip to KXSP [Kings Cross St Pancras - Ed]. Another swift change gets me onto the sub-surface lines again, scoring double winners 21362+21361 for a leap to Farringdon The walk to Malmaision isn't too far and wow this hotel is POSH! I feel very, very out of place here it has to be said. After dropping off stuff, it's back out to meet up with Kristofferson, and we have a good natter over food and drink in winner Spoons The Sir John Oldcastle. Time flies by and we're soon on the Tube again, this time I score double winners 21094+21093 to KXSP, where I part ways with Kristofferson as he heads home. Meanwhile I'm onto the Victoria line, which produces double duds 11059+11060 [can you tell I use the Victoria line more than any other Tube line? - Ed] for a trip to Victoria where I meet up with Kite159 for the rest of the day. We decide to do some Southeastern stuff next, starting with winner 465182 and dud 465196 to Lewisham. Kite needs St Johns so we join double winners 465159 and 465018 for the Bus Stop Bash. Mere moments later we join double winners 465043 and 465021 back to Lewisham for some DLR action. 5 winner 465s in the space of 30 minutes, certainly not complaining at that! Winners 126 and 109 have partnered up with dud 108 for the trip to Limehouse, where we change for some c2c action, the first of it I've had in absolutely ages! Dud 357045 leads winner 357206 for the short trip to Fenchurch Street. A slightly confusing walk to Tower Hill gets us eventually onto a Circle line train to Liverpool Street, double winners 21462+21461 providing the power. I only just make it onto winner 315804 for a leap to Bethnal Green, whereas Kite goes for 315812 instead.
As I need it I join him with it for a trip to Hackney Downs. The next one back to Bethnal Green is winner 315811, 3 winner 315s with minimal effort! The next ones are dud for both of us so we walk to the Central line, about 6 minutes away. Quadruple winners 91267, 92110, 92202 and 91337 take us on a mileage move to Holland Park, a winner shack for Kite. Quadruple winners 91103, 93058, 92012 and 91335 take us to East Acton, a winner shack for both of us. Another quadruple winner move next to Shepherd's Bush with 91021, 92460, 93008 and 91159. I believe that's me now on 290 Central line sets to go [yep, I know, awful but I am working on it! - Ed] which I know I'll never get all of them. An easy walk onto the West London Line now with dud 378211 to Imperial Wharf, one of my last 3 LO shacks to score. Winner 378220 takes us forward to Clapham Junction about 15 minutes later, and it's not long at all until the next Waterloo train which produces dud 450078 and winner 450105. We decide to see 2hat else we can score at Vauxhall, which was nothing as it turned out. Dud 455858 takes us to Waterloo and Kite does a McDonalds run. I still had ham sandwiches made this morning so all was good.
After eating Kite hears an announcement indicating some 458/5s were out. We trek over for them and I get double winners 458504+458505 for the leap to Vauxhall. 33 of them to go now, a long mission that will be! Straight to the Victoria line next where double duds 11091+11092 [seriously?! - Ed] take us north and I bid farewell to Kite at KXSP as he is continuing to Walthamstow. My last move of the busy day falls to double winners 21064+21063 for the short trip to Farringdon. Back at Malmaision I get on the blower to home, thankfully my keycard works first time and not the 6th like earlier. I am now shattered, but make sure my winners are marked off first. Eventually after some tunes and preparations for the morning, I get my head down a little after midnight. I'm excited for the tour though and can't sleep just yet so I read the forum for a while. My biggest concern now at this point is that TfL have got the Z1-2 cap right on my contactless card. If so I did exceptionally well for £6.40, if they messed it up I'll be firing off a very stroppy email!
31/08/2015 - Tech's Byways, Day 2
0320 and I get the shock of my life, as the fire alarms are sounding. They are soon turned off but it takes until nearly 0400 for the body to settle back down, not made easy by the brain wondering when or if it will happen again. A call to reception and I find out someone was smoking in their room. I won't tell you the cursing that came out of my mouth, I wanted to strangle the idiots. My night was not going well anyway as the bed was ridiculously uncomfortable. Not as bad as Travelodge, granted! 0600 is here before I know it and with heavy eyes and a pounding head I get up for an extreme de-rancification and a coffee. Next problem, figuring out the shower, which is eventually made to get just above lukewarm. It has to do I tell myself, and around 0632 I hand my keycard back in, ready to unleash a less than positive email to Malmaisio when I get time. I know I only paid £37 for the room, having booked over 5 months in advance, but it's not good enough. I'm actually glad to be leaving, never to return to this hotel, and to hit the Tube!
At least this start to the day's travels was enjoyable, as I score double winners 21349+21350 for the leap to Euston Square. Sainsburys Local at Euston is visited for a supply raid, and it's then off to Kings Cross to have breakfast at McDonalds Eventually I get served and my food is ready well before my coffee, thsnkfully I had allowed plenty of time for this sort of thing! I join Kite again as we're both on UKRailtours' Yorkshire Byways tour today. Dud 66200 is leading with winning 66168 on the rear, and breakfast is devoured before departure time, annoyingly it's a MK2 for us all day, the rest of the train is MK1s! We leave bang on time at 0732, with just under 15 hours to go until we return, booked arrival being at 2226. Good news for me here as we leave, as platform 6 is a required microgrice! Platforms 9 and 3 are my last ones to do here now, a good start to the day. We get treated to a fast line run all the way to Peterborough much to my surprise, and we bear left at Helpston to head towards Leicester.
I had forgotten how boring this line is, so it was a relief to join the MML after Syston Curve! The first winning track of the day, not including micro-gricing of course arrives when we use the Toton High Level lines. Sadly the only two 60s I need for sight, 60070 and 60098, are not visible. Onwards and upwards after a crew change, and we branch right for some more winning track sometime after Langley Mill to take the non-passenger line via Pinxton to join the Robin Hood Line as far as Shirebrook, where we again bear right and I get the highlighter out again for more winning non-passenger track to Thoresby Colliery Junction. By now I've exhausted the flask of hot water I brought with me, and I still need more caffeine [strange usn't it, this is a less taxing day than a usual bash but it's still exhausting! - Ed] so I'm looking forward to the booked 21 minute break at Sheffield!
After a reversal 66168 is scored and we get our first loco noise of the trip so far, just over 4 hours in, with the short journey to Thoresby Colliery itself. Absolutely nothing of interest visible here, and it's thankfully not long until 66200 takes us back to the junction. This colliery is now closed, like almost all of them in the UK now, so it's a reasonable assumption we're the last passenger train to do it now, potentially the last train ever on the branch! One day I'll have to come back and do the rest of the line to High Marnham, depending on when NR let another tour down there! The reversal is again not long away and 66168 has us heading to The Steel City and civilisation again. The top side of the triangle is now done at Shirebrook and we're next scoring the west curve off the Robin Hood Line to join the line from Lincoln [I'm typing this up on the coach home without the atlas or tour booklet in front of me, hence bad descriptions! - Ed] and we get held here for some time due to running early. We get the gen ovet the tannoy, barely audible in coach J, that there is pressure on platforms at Sheffield so we may not get one. Thankfully we do for a short leg stretch, but due to being told to stay by the train in case of a quick turnaround I dare not go hunting a coffee.
Other people made it to Burger King so it could have been done but it was risky! I begrudingly settle for waiting until York for coffee now, At Woodburn Junction we branch left and I score the non-passenger track to Rotherham Central. Aldwarke Junction and we indeed bear right for more winning track. This one has PSUL moves over it but they're not the easiest to do, so I'm glad to finally elminate this bit, the Swinton Avoider, to Mexborough. Yet more winning track next on the Doncaster avoiding line to Bentley Junction, happy days. You can probably see why I chose this tour, the amount of track scored at Baker level, let alone micro-gricing level, has been epic! Hatfield and Stainforth is our reversal point, the last one before York, and we're now heading for the new Doncaster North Chord [or is it officially called North Doncaster Chord? - Ed] which is obviously winning non-passenger track! We have a fast ride north towards Knottingley, and the penultimate winning track of the day is scored with Knottingley East Curve.
A nicely uninterrupted bit of early running sees us arrive at York at 1558, 18 minutes early. I thought we were bound to be held somewhere but thankfully not! We go off to Sainsburys Local on Blossom Street, which I remembered existed but not exactly where, thankfully Google Maps saved us there. A supplies raid done, it's into KFC for some hot food which for me was a popcorn chicken snackbox. Stomach satisfied, we head to Micklegate for a bit of exploring before returning to the station. PNB time before I visit Costa on the footbridge, sourcing my usual coffee and getting down to just 49 points to get before I hit the magical thousand! The break over far too soon, it was back on board to get settled for the remaining 5.5 hours. We depart right time at 1707 and we charge off down the Up Main before branching off for the Dearne Valley line. This time we bear left at Knottingley East Curve and get held on it for a while, which began the spree of lateness for the remainder of the day. Back down dud track, first scored on 180107 years back, to Shaftholme Junction where, even with a 10 minute pathing stop, we were still several minutes late. 458501 is scored for sight here, and it's microgricing paradise for a while, as the crew change is done on the Down Goods 2 line, carrying on via Decoy Yard [dud for a 91! - Ed] and the Down/Up West Goods 2 line to St Catherine's Junction for a long trek to Brancliffe East Junction, the final non-passenger line score of the day. It sure isn't quick and we're 10 minutes late by the end of that bit.
It's fair to say my Baker looks a lot better now, although there's still a ton of non-passenger track to score across the country! We're back to being on time at Retford as we had a 21 minute pathing stop. It is tightly timed all the way to London, but we are on the fasts until Tallington. Microgricing the slow line was welcome, although I should say I was more than glad I had that coffee earlier as I'm beyond ready to call it a day! "Why didn't you use the buffet for coffee?" I hear you ask. Two reasons, the first being that it was that rancid Kenco Rich stuff which on-board catering seems obsessed with and two, I had no cash on me. Slow line running carries on, with it being almost all required to Welwyn, after the two-track bit we stay on the fast lines all the way to London, although we still end up 6 minutes into Kings Cross at 2232. Exactly 15 hours after we left here! It's a very swift race to the Victoria line which gives me double duds 11013+11014. Three Victoria line moves and all 3 dud this weekend, ouch! More racing onwards to platform 17 here where we get double winners 377619+377609 on the 2253 to East Grinstead.
At least the last move didn't disappoint! I race off from the train at East Croydon, having parted ways with Kite at Clapham Junction, to get to base camp which tonight is Lansdowne Hotel, Croydon. Check in is swift and easy after a fast walk of about 5 minutes. Off to my room and this is nice and modern, with a very good size room [402 for reference - Ed] indeed. Breakdast is not included, but then I only paid £22.50 for this stay when it was booked in March! After a call to home, preparations for the morning are made and it takes a little while to get to sleep, gone 0100, but I was glad to be zoning out!
01/09/2015 - Tech's Byways, Day 3
I'm awake a bit earlier than planned at 0750 vice 0830, but I decide to be rather relaxed today as I'm not having to race away. De-rancification is better this morning with a shower that actually gets hot, and a nice large coffee with some tunes made for a pleasant morning. I leave just after 0900 most satisfied with my stay, granted the bed could have been slightly more comfy but still superior to you-know-who! I'll certainly be coming back here and recommend it to anyone. Off for breakfast at McDonalds and I discover after that my spending budget is down to just £3.60 to last until Friday! Thankfully I have accounted for this in a recent re-juggling of the budget for this pay period. I touch in at 0928 with my contactless card after seeing a paper single to Victoria would set me back £6, I wonder how much I'll ve chung for this way! Double winners 377143+377452 roll in on the third Victoria-bound fast I see, I'll have them happily! I decide to try my luck again at Clapham Junction, and after turning down several duds I join double winners 377470+377122 to Victoria. PNB time to avoid the ching in the stations, and after fighting through the crowds I touch out around 1020 and head to McDonalds on the Eastern side of the station.
10 minutes later I have my full coffee collector card redeemed, but it didn't dawn on me to peel off the sticker until I was well on the way home! The rain is back but not as bad as it was at Clapham Junction, so the walk could have been worse. Gate 1 for me this morning for the 1130 National Express roue 444 to Hereford. During the wait I fire up the tablet for the first time since Sunday, and start tapping away as there is a lot to do! It's BK15 AKN again, the same one I had on Sunday, and boarding commences at 1112. We end up leaving 3 minutes late as there was a late running passenger, who our grumpy driver reluctantly let on. We leave London via the north side of the riverbank, for reasons totally unknown to me. Eventually we hit the M4 and we all grind to a halt near Reading, something had to be removed from the road. Later on we pass a Megabus decker, with passengers sat outside it with luggage doors appearing to be open, could have been related to the incident back up the road.
For reasons beyond my understanding, we come off the dual carriageway at Circencester. No booked call there, but we skirt around it to join the A435 instead, a much slower route and less comfortable too. We eventually reach Cheltenham at 1411, where the coach rather empties out. Driver change here with the previous one riding passenger. On the final approaches to Gloucester I finally finsh typing this trip report up, taken less time than expected at least! No proper breaks on this run, which has been disappointing as even just a 10 minute one for comfort reasons would have been welcome. No passengers for Newent so the bypass again there, joining the M50 for some fast running again. I doubt very much we'll be on time into Hereford, due at 1540. Let's have a few statistics for the trip:
49 winners
1 new coach
Around 500 miles by rail
A truckload of new track
At least 30 new sights
Fares cost: £79.50 (not including London area fares, not worked them out yet!)
Hotels ching: £59.50
Coach fares: £13.20
Petrol money: £10.00
General expenditure: £21.39
Total cost of trip: £183.59 (again, not including the London area rail fares)
I get an unexpected lift home which was a nice bonus. Beast of a meal later, and I'm chilling out for a good while until I decide to hurry up and post this!
30/08/2015 - Tech's Byways, Day 1
Can I first of all say how frigging difficult it is to type this on a Galaxy Tab 3 aboard a moving coach, much harder than I expected! It doesn't help that this js my first day of using it, having only sourced it before work yesterday! Hold on Tech, what are you on about with a coach? Find out below
No fancy or clever title I'm afraid, none of the ones I had lined up felt right. As the main part of the trip is UKRailtours' The Yorkshire Byways railtour, this title would do nicely. The tour and accommodation was booked a little over 5 months ago, with the travel to London only booked a week in advance. I was going to have a chaotic journey by rail today, with a replacement coach to Bromsgrove before a train to the Bat Cave, then another train to Northampton and another slow run to London. As I had a 25% off voucher from National Express, it made sense to look into that. I found it came to just £13.20 with booking fee, a £10.80 difference from the Super Off Peak Return, LM Only, for £24 I'd have bought otherwise. Direct journey with no changes and no faff, and for a significant price difference too, and with power sockets too, happy days!
I get a lift into town today as it's Sunday, and I have a winner coach [no shock there! - Ed] with BK15 AKN for the long journey to London, and I immediately remember once out of town how awful the A49 to Ross on Wye is! So very twisty and bumpy, and don't get me started in trying to use my tablet around these parts! More irritatingly is that the power sockets aren't working, but the grumpy crew turn them on after I complain upon arrival in Gloucester. It's a 20 minute break here this morning, and to my horror I find Gloucester City Council have still got those rancid facilities here and the bus station is still a dump! It was upon my last visit here some years ago, although I really shouldn't be surprised as it's still a dump of a city, the approaches to the city centre were rough years ago and still are. It should come as no surprise that I don't like Gloucester, it's about as bad as Leominster and both make Hereford look amazing [which is saying something! - Ed] in comparison.
It's time for some more coffee and my Pumped Up Playlist on YouTube now, which sure gets me awake and ready to take on the day! Once we hit the M4 I'm back on the tablet to get this trip report updated. I'm getting used to the keyboard on it slowly, eventually I will have added the relevant apps and got to work on the spreadsheet I want to do. Thankfully I don't need to buy any office software as I have Polaris Office installed on it already. Hopefully the trip report can easily be transferred from it to the forum, only one way to find out! My mum gives me a call to let me know Notting Hill Carnival is on so to avoid that area. 100% avoiding that part of town later then, will quite happily stick to other parts of the LU empire! Traffic gets heavy near the end of the M4 but we still make it to Victoria Coach Station at 1418, 2 minutes early, happy days!
First things first, it's off to the Tube and to base camp, which tonight is Malmaison in Barbican. I get double winners 21454+21453 heading east on a District line train, and I'm glad I wasn't going west as the platform is ridiculously busy! I get bored of this move and bail at Embankment, with a swift change for the Northern line onto double winners 51504+51505 to winning shack Leicester Square [I know, I can't believe I've not done it before either! -Ed]. Another swift change onto the Piccadilly line, my first use of it in years, and I fail to get the front set but score 122 for the trip to KXSP [Kings Cross St Pancras - Ed]. Another swift change gets me onto the sub-surface lines again, scoring double winners 21362+21361 for a leap to Farringdon The walk to Malmaision isn't too far and wow this hotel is POSH! I feel very, very out of place here it has to be said. After dropping off stuff, it's back out to meet up with Kristofferson, and we have a good natter over food and drink in winner Spoons The Sir John Oldcastle. Time flies by and we're soon on the Tube again, this time I score double winners 21094+21093 to KXSP, where I part ways with Kristofferson as he heads home. Meanwhile I'm onto the Victoria line, which produces double duds 11059+11060 [can you tell I use the Victoria line more than any other Tube line? - Ed] for a trip to Victoria where I meet up with Kite159 for the rest of the day. We decide to do some Southeastern stuff next, starting with winner 465182 and dud 465196 to Lewisham. Kite needs St Johns so we join double winners 465159 and 465018 for the Bus Stop Bash. Mere moments later we join double winners 465043 and 465021 back to Lewisham for some DLR action. 5 winner 465s in the space of 30 minutes, certainly not complaining at that! Winners 126 and 109 have partnered up with dud 108 for the trip to Limehouse, where we change for some c2c action, the first of it I've had in absolutely ages! Dud 357045 leads winner 357206 for the short trip to Fenchurch Street. A slightly confusing walk to Tower Hill gets us eventually onto a Circle line train to Liverpool Street, double winners 21462+21461 providing the power. I only just make it onto winner 315804 for a leap to Bethnal Green, whereas Kite goes for 315812 instead.
As I need it I join him with it for a trip to Hackney Downs. The next one back to Bethnal Green is winner 315811, 3 winner 315s with minimal effort! The next ones are dud for both of us so we walk to the Central line, about 6 minutes away. Quadruple winners 91267, 92110, 92202 and 91337 take us on a mileage move to Holland Park, a winner shack for Kite. Quadruple winners 91103, 93058, 92012 and 91335 take us to East Acton, a winner shack for both of us. Another quadruple winner move next to Shepherd's Bush with 91021, 92460, 93008 and 91159. I believe that's me now on 290 Central line sets to go [yep, I know, awful but I am working on it! - Ed] which I know I'll never get all of them. An easy walk onto the West London Line now with dud 378211 to Imperial Wharf, one of my last 3 LO shacks to score. Winner 378220 takes us forward to Clapham Junction about 15 minutes later, and it's not long at all until the next Waterloo train which produces dud 450078 and winner 450105. We decide to see 2hat else we can score at Vauxhall, which was nothing as it turned out. Dud 455858 takes us to Waterloo and Kite does a McDonalds run. I still had ham sandwiches made this morning so all was good.
After eating Kite hears an announcement indicating some 458/5s were out. We trek over for them and I get double winners 458504+458505 for the leap to Vauxhall. 33 of them to go now, a long mission that will be! Straight to the Victoria line next where double duds 11091+11092 [seriously?! - Ed] take us north and I bid farewell to Kite at KXSP as he is continuing to Walthamstow. My last move of the busy day falls to double winners 21064+21063 for the short trip to Farringdon. Back at Malmaision I get on the blower to home, thankfully my keycard works first time and not the 6th like earlier. I am now shattered, but make sure my winners are marked off first. Eventually after some tunes and preparations for the morning, I get my head down a little after midnight. I'm excited for the tour though and can't sleep just yet so I read the forum for a while. My biggest concern now at this point is that TfL have got the Z1-2 cap right on my contactless card. If so I did exceptionally well for £6.40, if they messed it up I'll be firing off a very stroppy email!
31/08/2015 - Tech's Byways, Day 2
0320 and I get the shock of my life, as the fire alarms are sounding. They are soon turned off but it takes until nearly 0400 for the body to settle back down, not made easy by the brain wondering when or if it will happen again. A call to reception and I find out someone was smoking in their room. I won't tell you the cursing that came out of my mouth, I wanted to strangle the idiots. My night was not going well anyway as the bed was ridiculously uncomfortable. Not as bad as Travelodge, granted! 0600 is here before I know it and with heavy eyes and a pounding head I get up for an extreme de-rancification and a coffee. Next problem, figuring out the shower, which is eventually made to get just above lukewarm. It has to do I tell myself, and around 0632 I hand my keycard back in, ready to unleash a less than positive email to Malmaisio when I get time. I know I only paid £37 for the room, having booked over 5 months in advance, but it's not good enough. I'm actually glad to be leaving, never to return to this hotel, and to hit the Tube!
At least this start to the day's travels was enjoyable, as I score double winners 21349+21350 for the leap to Euston Square. Sainsburys Local at Euston is visited for a supply raid, and it's then off to Kings Cross to have breakfast at McDonalds Eventually I get served and my food is ready well before my coffee, thsnkfully I had allowed plenty of time for this sort of thing! I join Kite again as we're both on UKRailtours' Yorkshire Byways tour today. Dud 66200 is leading with winning 66168 on the rear, and breakfast is devoured before departure time, annoyingly it's a MK2 for us all day, the rest of the train is MK1s! We leave bang on time at 0732, with just under 15 hours to go until we return, booked arrival being at 2226. Good news for me here as we leave, as platform 6 is a required microgrice! Platforms 9 and 3 are my last ones to do here now, a good start to the day. We get treated to a fast line run all the way to Peterborough much to my surprise, and we bear left at Helpston to head towards Leicester.
I had forgotten how boring this line is, so it was a relief to join the MML after Syston Curve! The first winning track of the day, not including micro-gricing of course arrives when we use the Toton High Level lines. Sadly the only two 60s I need for sight, 60070 and 60098, are not visible. Onwards and upwards after a crew change, and we branch right for some more winning track sometime after Langley Mill to take the non-passenger line via Pinxton to join the Robin Hood Line as far as Shirebrook, where we again bear right and I get the highlighter out again for more winning non-passenger track to Thoresby Colliery Junction. By now I've exhausted the flask of hot water I brought with me, and I still need more caffeine [strange usn't it, this is a less taxing day than a usual bash but it's still exhausting! - Ed] so I'm looking forward to the booked 21 minute break at Sheffield!
After a reversal 66168 is scored and we get our first loco noise of the trip so far, just over 4 hours in, with the short journey to Thoresby Colliery itself. Absolutely nothing of interest visible here, and it's thankfully not long until 66200 takes us back to the junction. This colliery is now closed, like almost all of them in the UK now, so it's a reasonable assumption we're the last passenger train to do it now, potentially the last train ever on the branch! One day I'll have to come back and do the rest of the line to High Marnham, depending on when NR let another tour down there! The reversal is again not long away and 66168 has us heading to The Steel City and civilisation again. The top side of the triangle is now done at Shirebrook and we're next scoring the west curve off the Robin Hood Line to join the line from Lincoln [I'm typing this up on the coach home without the atlas or tour booklet in front of me, hence bad descriptions! - Ed] and we get held here for some time due to running early. We get the gen ovet the tannoy, barely audible in coach J, that there is pressure on platforms at Sheffield so we may not get one. Thankfully we do for a short leg stretch, but due to being told to stay by the train in case of a quick turnaround I dare not go hunting a coffee.
Other people made it to Burger King so it could have been done but it was risky! I begrudingly settle for waiting until York for coffee now, At Woodburn Junction we branch left and I score the non-passenger track to Rotherham Central. Aldwarke Junction and we indeed bear right for more winning track. This one has PSUL moves over it but they're not the easiest to do, so I'm glad to finally elminate this bit, the Swinton Avoider, to Mexborough. Yet more winning track next on the Doncaster avoiding line to Bentley Junction, happy days. You can probably see why I chose this tour, the amount of track scored at Baker level, let alone micro-gricing level, has been epic! Hatfield and Stainforth is our reversal point, the last one before York, and we're now heading for the new Doncaster North Chord [or is it officially called North Doncaster Chord? - Ed] which is obviously winning non-passenger track! We have a fast ride north towards Knottingley, and the penultimate winning track of the day is scored with Knottingley East Curve.
A nicely uninterrupted bit of early running sees us arrive at York at 1558, 18 minutes early. I thought we were bound to be held somewhere but thankfully not! We go off to Sainsburys Local on Blossom Street, which I remembered existed but not exactly where, thankfully Google Maps saved us there. A supplies raid done, it's into KFC for some hot food which for me was a popcorn chicken snackbox. Stomach satisfied, we head to Micklegate for a bit of exploring before returning to the station. PNB time before I visit Costa on the footbridge, sourcing my usual coffee and getting down to just 49 points to get before I hit the magical thousand! The break over far too soon, it was back on board to get settled for the remaining 5.5 hours. We depart right time at 1707 and we charge off down the Up Main before branching off for the Dearne Valley line. This time we bear left at Knottingley East Curve and get held on it for a while, which began the spree of lateness for the remainder of the day. Back down dud track, first scored on 180107 years back, to Shaftholme Junction where, even with a 10 minute pathing stop, we were still several minutes late. 458501 is scored for sight here, and it's microgricing paradise for a while, as the crew change is done on the Down Goods 2 line, carrying on via Decoy Yard [dud for a 91! - Ed] and the Down/Up West Goods 2 line to St Catherine's Junction for a long trek to Brancliffe East Junction, the final non-passenger line score of the day. It sure isn't quick and we're 10 minutes late by the end of that bit.
It's fair to say my Baker looks a lot better now, although there's still a ton of non-passenger track to score across the country! We're back to being on time at Retford as we had a 21 minute pathing stop. It is tightly timed all the way to London, but we are on the fasts until Tallington. Microgricing the slow line was welcome, although I should say I was more than glad I had that coffee earlier as I'm beyond ready to call it a day! "Why didn't you use the buffet for coffee?" I hear you ask. Two reasons, the first being that it was that rancid Kenco Rich stuff which on-board catering seems obsessed with and two, I had no cash on me. Slow line running carries on, with it being almost all required to Welwyn, after the two-track bit we stay on the fast lines all the way to London, although we still end up 6 minutes into Kings Cross at 2232. Exactly 15 hours after we left here! It's a very swift race to the Victoria line which gives me double duds 11013+11014. Three Victoria line moves and all 3 dud this weekend, ouch! More racing onwards to platform 17 here where we get double winners 377619+377609 on the 2253 to East Grinstead.
At least the last move didn't disappoint! I race off from the train at East Croydon, having parted ways with Kite at Clapham Junction, to get to base camp which tonight is Lansdowne Hotel, Croydon. Check in is swift and easy after a fast walk of about 5 minutes. Off to my room and this is nice and modern, with a very good size room [402 for reference - Ed] indeed. Breakdast is not included, but then I only paid £22.50 for this stay when it was booked in March! After a call to home, preparations for the morning are made and it takes a little while to get to sleep, gone 0100, but I was glad to be zoning out!
01/09/2015 - Tech's Byways, Day 3
I'm awake a bit earlier than planned at 0750 vice 0830, but I decide to be rather relaxed today as I'm not having to race away. De-rancification is better this morning with a shower that actually gets hot, and a nice large coffee with some tunes made for a pleasant morning. I leave just after 0900 most satisfied with my stay, granted the bed could have been slightly more comfy but still superior to you-know-who! I'll certainly be coming back here and recommend it to anyone. Off for breakfast at McDonalds and I discover after that my spending budget is down to just £3.60 to last until Friday! Thankfully I have accounted for this in a recent re-juggling of the budget for this pay period. I touch in at 0928 with my contactless card after seeing a paper single to Victoria would set me back £6, I wonder how much I'll ve chung for this way! Double winners 377143+377452 roll in on the third Victoria-bound fast I see, I'll have them happily! I decide to try my luck again at Clapham Junction, and after turning down several duds I join double winners 377470+377122 to Victoria. PNB time to avoid the ching in the stations, and after fighting through the crowds I touch out around 1020 and head to McDonalds on the Eastern side of the station.
10 minutes later I have my full coffee collector card redeemed, but it didn't dawn on me to peel off the sticker until I was well on the way home! The rain is back but not as bad as it was at Clapham Junction, so the walk could have been worse. Gate 1 for me this morning for the 1130 National Express roue 444 to Hereford. During the wait I fire up the tablet for the first time since Sunday, and start tapping away as there is a lot to do! It's BK15 AKN again, the same one I had on Sunday, and boarding commences at 1112. We end up leaving 3 minutes late as there was a late running passenger, who our grumpy driver reluctantly let on. We leave London via the north side of the riverbank, for reasons totally unknown to me. Eventually we hit the M4 and we all grind to a halt near Reading, something had to be removed from the road. Later on we pass a Megabus decker, with passengers sat outside it with luggage doors appearing to be open, could have been related to the incident back up the road.
For reasons beyond my understanding, we come off the dual carriageway at Circencester. No booked call there, but we skirt around it to join the A435 instead, a much slower route and less comfortable too. We eventually reach Cheltenham at 1411, where the coach rather empties out. Driver change here with the previous one riding passenger. On the final approaches to Gloucester I finally finsh typing this trip report up, taken less time than expected at least! No proper breaks on this run, which has been disappointing as even just a 10 minute one for comfort reasons would have been welcome. No passengers for Newent so the bypass again there, joining the M50 for some fast running again. I doubt very much we'll be on time into Hereford, due at 1540. Let's have a few statistics for the trip:
49 winners
1 new coach
Around 500 miles by rail
A truckload of new track
At least 30 new sights
Fares cost: £79.50 (not including London area fares, not worked them out yet!)
Hotels ching: £59.50
Coach fares: £13.20
Petrol money: £10.00
General expenditure: £21.39
Total cost of trip: £183.59 (again, not including the London area rail fares)
I get an unexpected lift home which was a nice bonus. Beast of a meal later, and I'm chilling out for a good while until I decide to hurry up and post this!
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Blindtraveler
Established Member
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2011
- Messages
- 10,543
Sounds like a good tour and an enjoyable day. That Kenco coffee aint that bad IMO. We dont really have grumpy NX Drivers round here so Im sorry you had a badun, nice coach though Il bet. Envy you your Networker, 315, 458 and 92 stock bashes and I really should do a day on the District before the D78s go, 09s are fun too! Thanks for writing it.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I'm also spoilt by Costa coffee, which is a million times superior to that Kenco coffee. Mind you I also prefer Caffe Nero to the Kenco stuff! Proper milk makes the world of difference!
Aye it's safe to say I got the London bug and had to fight off the Red Pen Fever!
Aye it's safe to say I got the London bug and had to fight off the Red Pen Fever!
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