Keith goes wandering

[Keith Jarrett]

Friday 8th July – KJ’s Grand Tour: Day 3

All too soon, it’s day 3 of the Grand Tour, or Northern Tripe as Mark tends to refer to the annual standing event in the calendar. Mark had decided that he’d had more than enough of pointing his camera at spotty things north of the border and was going to start making his way south, stopping off in Newcastle, Darlington and finally Doncaster where he’d meet Rex and I for the final leg of the homeward run.

Rex’s plan centred around trying to mop up a few more “spotty” DMUs in the Edinburgh area for sight via his camera lens before gravitating towards Glasgow and trying to align his camera with some required spotty 318s and hopefully a Scotrail 156 that had eluded him. My aim was simply to keep the ink flowing through the red pen as best I could but I knew that my ever decreasing requirements would ensure that this would be a far from easy task.

The first thing in my sights this morning would be the Fife commuters. This required a leap out to Inverkeithing and I showed up at Haymarket with a selection of services to get me to Inverkeithing by the appointed hour. I was hoping for a winner or at the very least, a mileage requirement but it was not to be. A procession of duds saw me joining 158867 on the last available service that connected with the first of the Fife commuters – it was only later that I realised that 158867 had been absent from The Haulage Book for a lengthy period. I’d last encountered this unit almost eleven years ago to the day [Ed: 6th July 2005 to be precise] and while I’d seen it around Scotland more recently, hard entries in The Haulage Book were not to be.

158867 staggered all the way to Inverkeithing and the comfortable +7 turned into a nail-biting +1 by the time Inverkeithing was reached. I need not have worried as 158867 was headed for the Kirkcaldy line so the first Cat had to wait patiently for 158867 to clear the junction immediately north of Inverkeithing. Once 158867 had cleared the junction, I heard the unmistakable roar of a Cat and in trundled 68006. I leapt aboard and found one of the few free seats in the front coach for the run down to South Gyle where along with most of the front coach, I bailed. Watching 68006 depart for Edinburgh, I wondered which Cat would be a few minutes behind. I momentarily cursed as a required 158 presented itself but soon banished any thoughts of bagging it.

The wait seemed an age but soon I heard that familiar noise which meant that another Cat was on its way. Within a minute or two, 68025 was grinding to a halt and once the deluge of passengers had alighted, I was able to leap aboard for my second loco score of the morning. While the 3+ mile trip to Haymarket was not the decent trip that I would have preferred, at least it allowed a second stroke of the red pen and it was not even 09:00. Back at Haymarket, I located Rex who’d just photographed the cat and he was already regaling me with tales of a desperate leap out into the Edinburgh suburbs to photograph a required Colas 60 but also advising that Mark was thwarted in his attempt to get south to Newcastle on account of the wires being down in the Morpeth area.

I’d already seen one of my required 170s out to play but I was not going to get that today as the Railway Gods had now decided that a quick spin to Inverness would be the best thing to get it beyond my reach – no 170431 for me today. But within about 15 minutes, compensation arrived at Haymarket in the form of winner 170418 so it was a second visit to Inverkeithing for me. I was resigned to having some totally dud unit back to Haymarket but imagine my surprise when 170460, winning unit number two of the morning, arrived for my return trip. I for one was not complaining!

Back at Haymarket, I again bumped into Rex who was updating me on Mark’s plight – the poor lad was stranded at Berwick and was contemplating getting the service bus to Newcastle as RRBs were non-existent. It appeared that East Coast were slowly coming around to the idea that the Morpeth problems would last some while and we noted a couple of HSTs being diverted via Carlisle. Rex advised me that one of my last Scotrail 170s was active on the Edinburgh-Glasgow circuit so I made a mental note to bag it later but in the short term, I was more interested in lining up an Inverness 158 that was just running through the platforms on the “changeover” turn. I had about 15 minutes to get into Waverley and last night’s winner, 158725 was a suitable means of transport. At Waverley, I hunted down 158713+158715 and took my seat. Given the disruption, we begun thinking about the journey home and at that point, given that ticket acceptance was in place, our preferred option was to get a service out of Glasgow up the West Coast to Euston

158713 was a winner while its friend, somewhat dud, had been absent from The Haulage Book for many a year – in fact 21 April 1997 was its last and only entry when I had it new from Queen Street to Edinburgh. I decided that I might as well knock 158713 on the head for mileage as well so rather than the originally planned Bus Stop Bash to Haymarket, I made a bolder move up to Inverkeithing. Would the Railway Gods look down favourably on me for the return back to Haymarket? I had no choice if I wanted to fall into 170403 so was more than pleasantly surprised when winning 158724 came around the corner. I was almost on cloud nine [Ed: Not quite but pretty pleased]. A fast run to Haymarket ensued and what looked to be a +3 onto my 170 turned into a reasonable +10 due to congestion in Waverley.

The wait for the next diesel to Glasgow seemed an age although Rex had confirmed that my 170 was still working as diagrammed so I was pleased to see 170403+170410 emerge from Haymarket tunnel. Making for 170403 on account of it being a winner, we boarded the leading carriage for the run across to Edinburgh. As a result of the late running (about 14 down from Haymarket) all intermediate stops apart from Croy were binned in order to catch up time and not to lose our path into the low level. Rex had managed to get some gen on one of our mutually required 156s – but it required a visit to Dalmuir as it was on its way back from Oban.

At Queen Street low level, Rex and I parted as he wanted to try for a couple more “spotty” 318s while I made for Central. Continuing the theme of previous visits to Central, the Railway Gods must have been fed up with me scratching winners and put all the other new toys away in the cupboard! All I could muster was a mileage requirement of a 156 heading for East Kilbride so rather than fester, I clambered aboard 156457 as far as Giffnock where I swapped to 156510 back into Central – 156510 became yet another member of the Ten Mile Club long before I alighted at Central. 380112 was another conveniently placed mileage requirement so I could not resist the run out to Paisley Gilmour Street where, My Lords, I got another winner in the shape of 380010 for the swift run back into Central. News was filtering through that the East Coast had re-opened but that poor Mark had done one better in his quest to get to Newcastle – he’d secured a lift from Berwick to Newcastle. Apparently some posh woman who was hoping to travel from Berwick to London had summoned her driver to collect her from Berwick station and offered up two places in her car. Mark leapt forward out of the waiting crowd and accepted the lady’s offer along with another bod. A planned arrival in Newcastle of 09:00 turned into an actual arrival of 12:00 – and he said no RRBs were to be seen at all at Berwick.

I was able to advise Rex that we’d no longer be going back West Coast but would have to get back over to Edinburgh for our booked train. He was sceptical but I’d already had a look at timings and thankfully all would be perfectly doable, and that included bagging that 156 which we had a lead on. Now, I had to hotfoot it to Dalmuir to meet a certain 156 (and to meet Rex) – a conveniently place 318259 would nicely do the trick with around ten minutes to spare. 318259 was also a mileage requirement and once I left it at Dalmuir, I’d have yet another application for the Ten Mile Club to process. Rex was already at Dalmuir when I arrived and already getting edgy. “What if ‘450 is in the middle of the consist?” was his first question to me swiftly followed by “Is it on time and which platform?” I could easily answer his second line of questioning but had to bluff my way out of the first.

At the appointed hour, a six-car 156 appeared from the Dumbarton direction. 156450 (our target) was not on the front, not in the middle but hanging on the rear. Believe it or not, a six car 156 does not fit in platform 2 at Dalmuir with the rear door just hanging off the end so it was local door only for around 40 passengers (plus rucksacks, tents, dogs and other paraphernalia) to alight. Only two of us joined 156446+156450+156492. 156446 and 156492 would be familiar to eagle-eyed readers as I had fallen in to these two jokers the previous day – it’s a little ironic that 156492 has a long term absence from The Haulage Book and then features on two consecutive days! And at least I’d finish the job with 156446 by clearing it for 10 miles but red penning 156450 was the paramount task and with it being on the rear of the train, I made it my temporary resting place for the slow grind into Queen Street Low Level. Meanwhile, Rex had bagged his shots at Dalmuir and managed to get ahead of me and had arrived at Queen Street Low Level before me as his train had run fast via Yoker while we tottered around the Singer route. As soon as the 156 trio had emptied out, it was swiftly dispatched from the platforms at Low Level and seemingly seconds later, 334006+334008 appeared to take us back to Edinburgh and our train home. 334006 was a winner from day 2’s travels but still needed somewhat of a nudge to get over the 10-mile barrier. The run over to Edinburgh would more than sort that out.

First task when we arrived back in Edinburgh was to raid the Sainsburys store on Waverley Steps to top up our dwindling pile of supplies before we returned to Waverley where we heard the unmistakable sounds of a Cat. We simply had to investigate! And as soon as one Cat departed for Fife, another one showed up for the second shift and I was cursing a little as there had been a loco swap from the morning. 68025 had retired and had been replaced by a winning 68007 but there was absolutely nothing that I could do about it as we had less than ten minutes to go before our train south. I’d deliberately booked us on the Aberdeen to Kings Cross service in order to get a HST but as the outbound HST to Aberdeen was around 2 ½ hours late arriving it looked as if it would not be in position for an on-time departure for the southbound leg from Aberdeen (it actually left about an hour late and took up a later path southwards from Edinburgh). Yet the departure board was showing the service as leaving Waverley on-time. We made our way over to the designated platform with some skepticism, only to be confronted with a Class 91 and Mark 4 set which had just arrived from the south – 91126 being our means of propulsion. It was a refurbished set, something that Rex and I had not encountered before, and this meant that for the third time this year, I was subject to an electric vice HST substitution. East Coast now owe me well over 700 HST miles! Within 10 minutes, the set had been turned around and save for reservation labels, was ready to go bang on time. We lost several minutes’ time through the Edinburgh suburbs due to following a freight train but once that was looped, we began to fly. I’d done this train south before on a Friday and it was usually heaving but this time it was half empty on account of missing all the passengers from north of Edinburgh. This allowed Rex and I to spread out a little and relax after some intensive bashing over the previous three days. Some degree of priority was afforded to the consumption of our respective bags of supplies and afterwards we were in touch with Mark as he was planning on joining us at Doncaster.

Mark duly appeared at Doncaster and was keen to give us every gory detail of his day’s activities; particularly playing heavily on his pure “jam” in securing transport from Berwick down to Newcastle. Given his penchant for photographing anything that moved on the rails we asked whether the RRC [Ed: Rail Replacement Car] was the subject of a digital image or two. All we got back in return was abuse! We reflected on the trip as a whole – Rex & Mark were pleased with their respective photographic hauls while I drew comfort from the decent amount of exercise afforded to my red pen; it was called into action no less than 52 times during the three days! Winners comprised
2*68
3*156
3*158
6*170
4*318
4*320
13*334
8*380
9*Tram
So what am I left with in Scotland?
4*156
11*158 (only two Haymarket)
1*170
6*320 (five being Mini ‘Bins)
8*380
And a whole host of Edinburgh trams & Glasgow subway units. Oh, mustn’t forget several bits of track and around 70 units still under the 10-mile barrier. The next trip will definitely see me concentrating on red penning 158s and 380s and in order to grab 158s that might mean a day in Inverness. I’m already in trip planning mode for next year!

To complete the record of the trip, 2009ts 11085+11086 took me south from Kings Cross to Stockwell followed by 1995ts 51675+51676 onwards to Morden and home. For those who like to see the moves in more of a tabular form, here you go!

6th July 2016
LU 51586+51587 Morden -> Stockwell ---
LU 11087+11088 Stockwell -> Kings Cross, St Pancras ---
91132 Kings Cross -> Edinburgh Cleared for 500 miles
334007+334025 Edinburgh -> Airdrie Both - 'WINNER, cleared for 10 miles
334021+334028 Airdrie -> Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) 334021 = WINNER, both cleared for 10 miles
318254 Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) -> Hyndland WINNER
318267+320316 Hyndland -> Westerton 320316 = WINNER
320313 Westerton -> Dalmuir ---
320416 Dalmuir -> Hyndland WINNER
334031+334039 Hyndland -> Westerton ---
320305+320311 Westerton -> Drumry ---
318252+318266 Drumry -> Glasgow Central (Low Level) Both - WINNER
380021 Glasgow Central -> Paisley Gilmour Street WINNER
380011 Paisley Gilmour Street -> Glasgow Central WINNER
380106 Glasgow Central -> Paisley Gilmour Street WINNER
380009 Paisley Gilmour Street -> Glasgow Central WINNER
156432+156506 Glasgow Central -> Pollokshaws West ---
156503 Pollokshaws West -> Glasgow Central WINNER
380018+380104 Glasgow Central -> Johnstone 380018 = WINNER, both cleared for 10 miles
380110 Johnstone -> Paisley Gilmour Street WINNER
380006+380015 Paisley Gilmour Street -> Glasgow Central 380006 = WINNER, 380015 cleared for 10 miles
334005 Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) -> Coatbridge Sunnyside WINNER
334031+334039 Coatbridge Sunnyside -> Edinburgh Park 334039 cleared for 10 miles
170455 Edinburgh Park -> Haymarket WINNER

Milestones
Winners 156503, 170455, 318252, 318254, 318266, 320316, 320416, 334005, 334007, 334021, 334025, 380006, 380009, 380011, 380018, 380021, 380106, 380110
Cleared for 10 miles 334007, 334021, 334025, 334028, 334039, 380015, 380018, 380104
Cleared for 500 miles 91132
New Shacks Aidfrie, Drumry, Johnstone, Westerton


7th July 2016

Tram 269 Haymarket -> Balgreen WINNER
Tram 267 Balgreen -> Haymarket WINNER
Tram 274 Haymarket -> Balgreen WINNER
Tram 253 Balgreen -> Haymarket WINNER
Tram 255 Haymarket -> Balgreen WINNER
Tram 266 Balgreen -> Haymarket WINNER
Tram 271 Haymarket -> Balgreen WINNER
Tram 270 Balgreen -> Haymarket WINNER
170415+170455 Haymarket -> Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) 170415 = WINNER, both cleared for 10 miles
318260 Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) -> Dalmuir Cleared for 10 miles
320322+320412 Dalmuir -> Hyndland 320412 = WINNER
334010+334040 Hyndland -> Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) Both cleared for 10 miles
334014+334027 Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) -> Hyndland Both = WINNER
334001 Hyndland -> Dalmuir WINNER
156446+156492+156496 Dalmuir -> Dumbarton Central 156446 = WINNER
334001 Dumbarton Central -> Dalmuir Cleared for 10 miles
320313 Dalmuir -> Singer ---
320317 Singer -> Dalmuir ---
320310+320318 Dalmuir -> Westerton Both cleared for 10 miles
334011+334022 Westerton -> Milngavie Both = WINNER
334011+334022 Milngavie -> Hyndland ---
334012+334033 Hyndland -> Dalmuir ---
334019+334026 Dalmuir -> Hyndland ---
334017+334020 Hyndland -> Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) Both = WINNER
334002 Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) -> Hyndland 334002 = WINNER, 334032 cleared for 10 miles
318259+320319 Hyndland -> Anniesland ---
320416 Anniesland -> Exhibition Centre ---
318251+320321 Exhibition Centre -> Dalmuir 318251 cleared for 10 miles, 320321 = WINNER
318265 Dalmuir -> High Street WINNER (last of class)
334006+334008 High Street -> Partick 334006 = WINNER (last of class), 334008 cleared for 10 miles
318261+320315 Partick -> Glasgow Central (Low Level) ---
314201+314207 Glasgow Central -> Mount Florida 314201 cleared for 10 miles
314214 Mount Florida -> Glasgow Central Cleared for 10 miles
334024 Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) -> Haymarket Both cleared for 10 miles
Tram 259 Haymarket -> St Andrews Square WINNER
170413 Edinburgh -> Haymarket ---
170393+170456 Haymarket -> Edinburgh 170393 = WINNER
170456 Haymarket -> Edinburgh ---
158725+170394 Edinburgh -> Haymarket 158725 = WINNER

Milestones
Winners 156446, 158725, 170393, 170415, 318265, 320321, 320412, 334001, 334002, 334006, 334011, 334014, 334017, 334020, 334022, 334027
Trams 253, 255, 259, 266, 267, 269, 270, 271, 274
Cleared for 10 miles 170415, 170455, 314201, 314214, 318251, 318260, 320310, 320318, 334001, 334008, 334010, 334024, 334029, 334032, 334040
Classes cleared for haulage 318, 334
New Shacks Exhibition Centre, Milngavie, Singer
Tram - Balgreen, Haymarket, St Andrews Square


8th July 2016

158867 Haymarket -> Inverkeithing ---
68006 Inverkeithing -> South Gyle WINNER
68025 South Gyle -> Haymarket WINNER
170418 Haymarket -> Inverkeithing WINNER, cleared for 10 miles
170460 Inverkeithing -> Haymarket WINNER, cleared for 10 miles
158725 Haymarket -> Edinburgh ---
158713+158715 Edinburgh -> Inverkeithing 158713 = WINNER & cleared for 10 miles
158724 Inverkeithing -> Haymarket WINNER, cleared for 10 miles
170403+170410 Haymarket -> Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) 170403 = WINNER & cleared for 10 miles
156457 Glasgow Central -> Giffnock ---
156510 Giffnock -> Glasgow Central Cleared for 10 miles
380112 Glasgow Central -> Paisley Gilmour Street Cleared for 10 miles
380010 Paisley Gilmour Street -> Glasgow Central WINNER
318259 Glasgow Central (Low Level) -> Dalmuir Cleared for 10 miles
156446+156450+156492 Dalmuir -> Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) 156446 cleared for 10 miles, 156450 = WINNER
334006+334008 Glasgow Queen Street (Low Level) -> Edinburgh 334006 cleared for 10 miles
91126 Edinburgh -> Kings Cross ---
LU 11085+11086 Kings Cross, St Pancras -> Stockwell ---
LU 51675+51676 Stockwell -> Morden ---

Milestones
Winners 68006, 68025, 156450, 158713, 158724, 170403, 170418, 170460, 380010
Cleared for 10 miles 156446, 156510, 158713, 158724, 170403, 170418, 170460, 318259, 334006, 380112
Cleared for 500 miles 91126

 

[D841 Roebuck]

That was an incredibly productive trip. Well done on the class clearances.

 

[55013]

A fantastic few days.
I'm willing to swap you your lost HST miles for my similar lost 91 miles this year

 

[FQ]

Sounds like a great final day except the milk float vice tram!

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Another great time by the sounds of things. Can I ask, do Rex and Mark upload their photos to anywhere such as flickr, etc? I'd like to see how their days panned out as well.

Cheers!

Not. Rex & Mark keep all their photos to themselves but their collection is huge! Locos, units, coaches & wagons plus shots of about 400 stations.

On the subject of photos, I've just inherited about 7,000 colour slides mainly taken in the 70s and 80s. It's going to take some time wading through them but one day, I hope to put them in the public domain.

 

[Kristofferson]

Incredibly interesting and productive trip there, KJ! Not surprised at all to hear about the cleared 318s and 334s... Would be disappointed if you'd gone bashing and not cleared a class


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Techniquest]

Quite the impressive day there, although having to endure a 91 vice HST can't have been entertaining! Mind you Mark can't have enjoyed his morning at Berwick

Rather close to clearing out the fleet now on ScotFail, that's for sure. You won't be surprised to learn I'm now wanting to get back up to Glasgow for a major clearout! Preferably once the strikes are over of course.

As always, an excellent read and well worth the wait. I hope your hectic month is going well so far!

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like an excellent time

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Saturday 16th July – A Southeastern Sojourn

It’s a Saturday and as usual, Mrs KJ is not working. But today is the annual trip for the girls to go and visit a mutual acquaintance who moved out to the sticks many years back. In other words, a perfect excuse for me to go out bashing. The Trip Planning Process threw up several options with me soon settling on the idea of a good old shack bash. Given that I had about eight hours or so to play with, I settled upon sorting out some of the remaining shacks that I needed within the Travelcard area as I’d not waste too much time in getting to my intended area.

With all that decided, the first couple of shacks on my radar were the two that were closest to KJ Towers. I marched up to my local shack of St Helier and boarded 319426 for the short spin up The Wall of Death to Sutton. A comfortable +7 saw me cross the footbridge for 455842 up the Epsom Downs Branch to Banstead. This shack is situated in the middle of some woods and a reasonable distance from the settlement that it purports to serve so after a few minutes’ walk around, I settled down to await 455842 to return and take me back to Sutton. A tightish +4 at Sutton was easily made onto 377114 for the short run down to Cheam which held the accolade of being the closest required shack to KJ Towers. No 19 minute festers here, just another +4 which was sufficient time to walk through the subway and wait for 377704 to whisk me back to Sutton. Now that Cheam has finally been knocked on the head, Purley Oaks now has the dubious honour of being the closest required shack to KJ Towers. Ordinarily that would itself see me casting my net just a little bit wider but I’m planning to leave the Tattenham Corner and Caterham branches for a rush hour bash sometime.

Leaving 377704 at Sutton, I made a +4 over the footbridge onto 455845 which took me to West Croydon. Exiting the station, I made my way to the West Croydon tram stop where 2561 was waiting for me - as soon as I boarded, it was on its way to Elmers End. I went all the way with it, noting one of my two Tramlink mileage requirements on the way; that would be something to pick up later if other plans did not work out. I had a few minutes at Elmers End before 376017+376020 rolled in to take me to my final required shack on the Hayes branch, West Wickham. Leaving the 376 duo behind at West Wickham, I had sufficient time to cross the footbridge before 465016+465031 came in to convey me to London Bridge. These were both low mileage and by London Bridge had cleared 10 miles so yet two more recruits to the Ten Mile Club. But as today was all about shacks, any winners or mileage requirements were going to be very much secondary matter.

I did not have long to wait at London Bridge before 465191+465195+466004 came in to take me to Charlton having gone via Greenwich. 465191 joined the Ten Mile Club and 466004 had been absent from The Haulage Book for many years, the last recorded entry being on 31 January 1998 when I had it from Waterloo East to Grove Park in the company of 465008. I had a ten-minute wait so took advantage of the Sainsburys Local almost opposite the station to secure some lunch. It was not long before 465003+465163 trundled in for the next leg of the journey to shack score number five at Belvedere. Another ten-minute wait ensued before 465164+465176 arrived to take me on to Slade Green and thus clearing the shacks on this particular stretch of line. The ten-minute headway makes shack bashing fairly palatable so after yet another ten-minute wait, 376003+376011 became the next entries in The Haulage Book for a quick spin past Networker HQ to Dartford.

I had all of five minutes in Dartford before 465235+465244 rolled in to take me on to my next shack score of Albany Park. While I’d passed through Albany Park many times, I’d never alighted here previously but in so doing this time, I managed to complete the feat of clearing all shacks between London Terminals and Dartford inclusive. I had a quarter of an hour to wait for the next service and found a shady spot to park myself to consume the lunch secured earlier on from the Sainsburys Local at Charlton. And very nice is was too! Lunch was interrupted by a DB 66 hammering through on an engineer’s train, bound for Hoo Junction I suspect. I’d just finished eating when 376013+376026 rolled in and I jumped aboard. It was then that I realised that I had made a faux pas by trying to save time in going from Slade Green to Albany Park via Dartford rather than waiting for one of the Cannon Street circulars as the Crayford Spur was still on my list of required track. I should have enjoyed the sights of Slade Green for a further 20 minutes (or devised some form of fill-in move) rather than attempting to save time. At least this was something to go for whenever I get around to resuming evening bashes.

I left the 376 duo at Hither Green where I crossed to the main line platforms. While I was waiting for my next train, another engineers train showed up, this time heading into London. The train loco was struggling a bit and eventually all became apparent as the train was almost endless and hanging on the back was a second dead class 66. With a delay of about 10 minutes, 465166+466039 showed up. This was an interesting pairing for me as 465166 was low mileage while the 466 had not been mentioned in dispatches for many a year [Ed: The last recorded entry in The Haulage Book being 19 April 1997 on a Bus Stop Bash from Hither Green to Grove Park]. Continuing the vein of the day, I bailed at Chislehurst to permit the umpteenth shack score of the day to wait for the next train which was only two minutes behind. By now, 465166 had topped 10 miles so smiles all round. Following behind were 465029+465249 and this duo seemed like a suitable means of getting to my next shack score down the line at Chelsfield. I had a +3 here but it seemed more like a +1 as it was a mad scramble to get over to the other platform. I just made it in time to board 465050+465247. Both were dud but unless I fancied a half hour wait, I had no choice.

Bailing at Petts Wood, I had only minutes to wait for 465172 to take me around the corner to Bickley where yet another shack score was racked up. I did not stay long on the island platform as 319453 soon followed up and selecting the motor coach for maximum thrash value, I settled down for a few minutes. Some 319s are superb value for money for traction motor thrash, particularly if the bearings are slightly worn. 319453 did not disappoint but all too soon it was time to bail for the extremely dodgy +0 at Beckenham Hill. But RTT had told me that the service I was aiming for was 2L away from Peckham Rye so I was in with a chance. In fact, it was more than just a chance as 319431 rolled in 3L. The upside of making the +0 at Beckenham Hill had a downside; the +1 down the line at St Mary Cray was now in the bin so there was no need to stick with the 319. To add a bit of variety, I bailed at Bromley South and waited for 465165+465246 to take me on to my 12th and final shack score of the day at St Mary Cray.

I had only ten minutes to wait at St Mary Cray before 375707+375801 showed up bound for Victoria. 375707 was completely dud but 375801 was still not a member of the Ten Mile Club so I was “Right Away” to Victoria in order to correct that error. Now it was a matter of getting home as swiftly as possible so it was a quick trot around to Platform 10 for 455828 to Clapham Junction, resisting the temptation to ascend the escalator to the “Tavern in the Sky” [Ed: for those that are not in the know, Keith is referring to the Spoons outlet where he can often be found socialising with friend Marcus]. At Clapham Junction, it was a simple matter of crossing over to the South West Trains side of the house for 5858 down to Wimbledon and a short wait for 319436 to St Helier.

What a day! No less that twelve new shacks in the bag which almost eliminates requirements around South East London with only Sunridge Park, Crofton Park and Knockholt left to grab – all easily accessible on after work jollies [Ed: they will hopefully recommence in earnest in September]. Otherwise Travelcard area shacks are confined to Caterham & Tattenham Corner Branches, a few along the Great Western mainline and Greenford branch plus some random ones on the Great Northern. A bi-product was six units cleared for 10 miles – the membership secretary of the Ten Mile Club will be pleased – and two old timers featuring in The Haulage Book for the first time in many a year.


POSTSCRIPT

This trip report has taken several weeks to finalise (along with Day 3 of the Scottish jaunt which was nearly four weeks ago). OK not overly long by some folk’s standards but normally I have trip reports posted within a week. However, there have been two inter-related things going on in my life which have taken up huge amounts of my time which have now come to a conclusion.

A very longstanding friend of mine, had been ill for a long time and latterly was almost housebound. I’d been paying him more frequent visits over the past couple of months as I knew he was not long for this world but sadly he passed away at the end of July. A few days prior to that dark day, we worked out that we’d known each other for 45 years and that I was his oldest (in number of years rather than age) friend. Over the years, we became extremely close and were almost like brothers – we’d share a huge amount between us but would then have massive differences of opinion. But we were always there for each other.

A week before he died, my friend passed over his part-time bookselling business to me. It had been discussed many times over the years that he might sell the business to me in a few years’ time but I was not expecting to be taking over so soon. While I had often helped him out selling books, I knew very little about the back end of things and while I was able to learn a lot from him before that dreaded day in July, I have basically spent all my spare time in recent weeks dealing with a backlog of orders, inquiries and general administration. I’m almost there now, thank goodness, and am looking forward to several outings on the rails that I have planned for the second half of August.

 

[Kite159]

RIP to your friend

(Sounded like a productive day within the travelcard area with shacks into your book)

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Sad to hear about your friend.

Hope the books are a success for you, and allow you some spare time for bashing.

 

[Techniquest]

Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend Keith, no wonder you'vd been very quiet on the forum lately. Understandably so with everything going on. I am however glad to hear things are looking up, I suspect you'll be more than glad to get back on a train for leisure.

Quite the productive day there in July, welcome to the club on clearing the Southeastern Metro shacks!

 

[55013]

Condolences on the loss of your friend.
Good luck with the new business venture.

On to railway matters, a very productive trip there - it's always good to get rid of those irritating requirements.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

RIP to your friend

Sad to hear about your friend.

Hope the books are a success for you, and allow you some spare time for bashing.

Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend Keith, no wonder you've been very quiet on the forum lately. Understandably so with everything going on. I am however glad to hear things are looking up, I suspect you'll be more than glad to get back on a train for leisure.
!

Condolences on the loss of your friend.
Good luck with the new business venture.

Guys, many, many thanks for your support. It is *really* appreciated. We gave him a good send off last week and were absolutely staggered at the turnout of almost 100. However, he has one final journey still to make - his request was to have his ashes scattered in the same location as his mother's in his native Devon but that will not be for a few weeks yet.

Thankfully, I was familiar with his business before he passed away, helping him out at busy events. But it cannot be a full time occupation for me (I've already got a full time job) so I will be reshaping it a bit over the coming months so that the focus is more on mail order side of things.

And on top of that, I'm also involved in sorting out his affairs and clearing his house although I'm not the formal executor of his will. I've even come across an unused railtour ticket - see my post in the Railtours section of the forum if any of you are free on August 27th (shameless plug).

 

[Techniquest]

I won't be able to take advantage of the railtour ticket, as I'll be grafting away all day.

Hopefully getting things sorted business wise will go smoothly now, fortunate that you already know some of it.

A good turnout for your friend's funeral, that's for sure. Always touching when you get a decent turnout, and I'm expecting to need to attend a funeral either this year or early in 2017. Not that you need to know that, but advance warning I'll be quiet for a while on here when it happens!

Back to the business of the forum, I hope you can get yourself back on the rails soon!

 

[Segedunum]

Sounds like some excellent days out there, but I add my deepest condolences with regards to your loss. Hopefully the business side of the things with smooth out with time too.

Was about to PM you about the railtour until I noted the departure time off London. A very kind gesture to offer nonetheless.

Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

 

[Kristofferson]

Sorry to hear about your friend, but very glad you're making the most of a new business!

Also well done with the shack clear out. Look forward to reading about you clearing all the travel card shacks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Back to the business of the forum, I hope you can get yourself back on the rails soon!

Don't worry, I've already had three trips out this month and a fourth one is due to start in just a few hours time.

 

[alexf380]

Very sorry to hear of your friend passing, and some well deserved time off has been had. A good trip report nonetheless and I wish you all the best in your book selling endeavors.

 

[Techniquest]

Don't worry, I've already had three trips out this month and a fourth one is due to start in just a few hours time.

Excellent, one shall look forward to the fantastic reads in due course!

 

[Kite159]

I wonder where Mr Keith is heading to today

 

[Keith Jarrett]

I wonder where Mr Keith is heading to today

Patience dear boy! That's about number three in the queue at present

------------------------------

And slowly catching up on trip reports -

Friday 5th August – In the Night

It’s not very often that I spend all day at home – mainly sorting things out in relation to my friend's funeral which will have long happened by the time this report is posted - and then leave to go bashing at 18:30. But this trip had been planned for a long time. The stars were aligned – basically Mrs KJ on a night shift so no filthy looks when I suggest that I’m staying away for the night. Oh, and the title. This weekend we are back to musical references and this time the entertainment is provided by that Canadian rock band Triumph with In the Night coming from that album full of bashers tracks, Progression of Power that will feature all weekend.

Leaving the house with Mrs KJ, we make for Morden station and 1995ts 51621+51622 is our chariot northwards with Mrs KJ bidding me farewell after a few stops. I stay on as far as Stockwell for the usual cross platform leap onto the Victoria line. As I am in plenty, and I mean plenty, of time, I could afford to let a few trains go if they did not match the list in my sweaty little hand; around 25% of 2009ts half-sets are still under 10 miles). I did not have long to wait as the second train up was 11017+11018 with the even numbered half requiring elimination from my lists. The usual Victoria Line efficiency prevails until we grind to a halt just before Euston where we sit with no action. Eventually, driver comes over the PA and advises that there’s a queue due to some defective doors further along the line. Soon afterwards, we’re on the move into Euston.

I’ve still got oodles of time but need to stock up on supplies so head for Sainsbury’s. That was a waste of time as it appeared that I was following in the wake of a plague of locusts. The shelves had been stripped bare of anything vaguely snack-like. Thankfully, it was more tomorrow that I was thinking of so not to worry. I made my way to the platforms at Euston and noted that the first train north was a four-car 350 which was absolutely rammed despite being 10 minutes or so before lift-off. Then I espied a twelve-car 350 arriving with a winner at the front. And right behind, was an eight-car 350, also with a winner. The latter train would be the next one out after the rammed four-car so I immediately leapt aboard 350245+350247 and took my seat right at the front of the train. This was double bubble for me as in addition to 350245 being an outright winner, 350247 was also required for ten miles. Meanwhile, I was frantically trying to download the latest London Midland diagrams from UK Modern EMU to see if I had a chance of also grabbing the winner in the twelve-car without compromising my plans too much – i.e. arrival time at my destination.

We were on the move before I had my answer and poor mobile reception for the first few miles out of Euston, together with the distractions of Willesden and Wembley meant that it was almost Watford before I had a definitive answer. The twelve car set would divide in Euston with the front eight cars forming a stopper to Tring while the rear four would form a Crewe via Northampton service. Given that my target was on the London end, i.e. the rear leaving Euston, I would be in business, especially as the Crewe service would catch my train up at Northampton and if on time, would overlap with mine by a few minutes.

I sat back and enjoyed the evening journey up the West Coast, bailing at Northampton to see if indeed my winner would follow up as predicted by the diagram sheets that I had inspected earlier. 350247+350245 were split with only the higher numbered unit going through to Birmingham and a few minutes later, 350231 showed up in the adjacent platform. I had winner number two in my sights! Watching 350247 leave, I jumped on 350231 which set off for Crewe a few minutes behind 350247. I was only going to the next stop, Rugby, but that was sufficient to clear it for 10 miles. And arrival at Rugby was only three minutes later than planned; in fact I saw the tail lights of 350247 disappearing into the distance as I alighted from 350231. So nothing effectively lost and another winner in the bag!

There was not much left to do tonight; the primary task being to locate my accommodation for the night. That was easy as I was booked into the Travelodge next to the station. Following the failure on the supply front at Euston, the conveniently placed Tesco Metro adjacent to the Travelodge was well stocked and I was soon sorted on the grub front. Once checked into the Travelodge, it was time to hit the hay as my alarm was set for 05:25.

Saturday 6th August – Hard Road

Hopefully you’ve all guessed what takes me to Rugby for an overnight stop given that the home of oddly shaped balls is only about 80 miles or so from the capital but if not, all will be revealed in a wee while so read on! With another track selected from Triumph’s “basher” album, Progressions of Power, it’s time to start relating the day’s events. The 05:25 alarm was not needed in the event (and neither was the 05:30 one) as I somehow managed to wake up just after 05:20. If every day was like that, I could soon dispense with alarm clocks. Twenty minutes later, I was out of the Travelodge and strolling round to the station, ready for the off at 06:01.

In the few minutes that I had to wait, I strolled down to the south end bay platforms to admire 57307 Lady Penelope, the last of the 57s to retain its Thunderbirds name and as far as I am aware, the only nameplate on a mainline loco with a pink background. Before long, the station PA was announcing the arrival of my train which rolled in a few minutes later with 350111. The train was bound for Crewe and I duly leapt aboard. Despite the early hour on a Saturday morning, there were a few other hardy souls also travelling. I stayed on as far as Atherstone where 350111 and I parted company. It was not even 06:30 and I had the first shack score in the book!

Now I had an hour to kill before the main event of the day so I went for a stroll around the town centre in Atherstone. Again, apart from the odd person making sure that the streets had been aired properly [Ed: someone’s got to do the job], the only signs of activity were at the local Aldi supermarket where the staff seemed to be rather industrious – I wonder if that had anything to do with the fact that Atherstone is home to Aldi’s UK HQ? There was a bus waiting patiently in the bus station bound for Tamworth but other activity was non-existent. I also wandered up to the canal but all was quiet there too. After my perambulations around Atherstone, I returned to the station with about 20 minutes before my train was due – time to crack open the breakfast sarnies!

I was not alone though as some photographers showed up on the opposite platform and set up shop – within minutes I could hear the dulcet tones of a class 70 throbbing away in the distance. A minute or two later, a lengthy trainload of boxes rumbled through the station. A few minutes behind was a dud 350124 rolled in – that was a complete surprise (not) as my last two 350/1s always seem to avoid me! I stayed with the dud for all of five minutes before I alighted at that Holy Grail of stations, Polesworth. The train stopped just for me – yes nobody else alighted nor joined. I felt privileged. But I suppose the fact that there was no train out until Monday morning may have had an effect on passenger numbers. That was of no concern to me as I had the shack score in the book

I took a few photos before smartly leaving the station as Google Maps was telling me that there was a bus to Tamworth in under ten minutes from the nearby bus stop. In under 10 minutes I was sitting on Arriva Midlands North Scania OmniLink 3507 (YN08 HZU) for the run to Tamworth station – the fare of £2.50 seemed reasonable for a 20+ minute bus ride. A few folk joined us along the way but at half seven on a Saturday morning, it was not exactly rocking. The bus dropped me conveniently close to Tamworth station and once I made it to the platforms, I was faced with a dilemma. Do I move on somewhere more lively now or shall I wait for something decent? I went for the halfway house and said to myself that I give it a few trains and if nothings any good, I’d make my move. Within a couple of minutes, a Cardiff-bound 170102 shows up and this particular unit had been absent from The Haulage Book for some considerable time. I had this particular unit new, in multiple with 170112 on September 27th 2003 from Leicester to Derby. Little did I know, but 170112 was set to feature in this trip as well. Talk about being joined at the hip!

The journey to Bat Cave Central [Ed: that’s Birmingham New Street to you and I] was uneventful and all too soon I was leaping around the platforms looking for a match with my wants list. That did not take long as my eyes settled on a pair of Arriva Wales 158s. The back unit was no good for anything but the front one was a completely different proposition. I’d just fallen into my last Arriva Wales 158 so it was with great glee that I leapt aboard 158826+158839, naturally sitting in the winning 158839 for the non-stop spin out to Birmingham International. I had a look at a few services floating around International but nothing was of great interest so when it was time for the 158 duo to return towards the Cambrian Coast, I went for my second ride aboard 158826+158839 in order to clear 158839 for 10 miles. On the approaches to New Bat Cave Street, we ran in parallel with a Cross-Country 170 which needed a micro-mileage to push it over the magic 10 miles. Thankfully I had sufficient time to Navigate the escalators at New Street to grab 170637 and board it for a short spin out to University. Missing mileage requirement 323215 by a whisker to get me back into the Bat Cave, I settled for 170112 as second best – at least 170112 was a long term absentee from The Haulage Book. Of course, I do not carry the full version of The Haulage Book with me on my wanderings so it was only when I got home, did I realise the coincidence with 170102, the other long term absentee that I ran across during the day.

Back at the Bat Cave, it was not long before my eyes caught sight of a required Vomit Comet so I trudged over the footbridge to greet a winning 221123 headed for Manchester. I know it’s perverse, but I actually enjoy the industrial decline of the Stour Valley line and all too soon, my scenic tour was over as we were rolling into Wolverhampton. After all, 221123 had now experienced my red pen and had accrued enough Brownie Points to join the Ten Mile Club so no need to go any further. Following up was a 350 on a Liverpool train which also needed the attention of my red pen. Jumping on a winning 350238, I set my compass for Stafford as that would see yet another potential recruit to the Ten Mile Club. It was only half ten and I’d already achieved the two objectives of the trip – getting a certain awkward shack in the book and five strokes of the red pen (two last night and three this morning) so anything else now was a bonus. The first of those bonuses came in the form of 350231, a repeat from last night, which took me to Penkridge and another winning shack. Strolling t6hrough the subway, I had ten minutes to sit in the sun and devour some more grub before a dud 350234 arrived to get me out of the joint and return me to Stafford.

Back at Stafford, thoughts initially turned to doing the new tracks serving Searchlight Junction but the arrival of a required 220026 heading for Birmingham soon banished those thoughts. Instead I “enjoyed” a run back to Wolverhampton where I noticed that I had a couple of minutes to get over the bridge onto 221134 which had experienced my red pen some while ago but was still short of the necessary to join the Ten Mile Club. So it was off to Stafford again – anyone would think that it was my favourite destination!

Arriving in Stafford, I caught sight of a winning 350 bound for Crewe but the return journey was supposed to be my train back south from Rugby later on in the afternoon so rather than waste time now getting it in the book, I headed back towards the West Midlands on a dud 350116 to Wolverhampton. A few Birmingham-bound services showed up with duds before 220016 materialised – while not a winner, this was at least needed for 10 miles so a jumped on board and headed for New Street. The general name of the game was to slowly migrate towards Rugby so that I could pick up that winning 350 later on. 350115 provided a suitable “get out of town” vehicle so I boarded for the leisurely run to Tile Hill and a shack scratch. En route at International, I saw yet another winning 350 heading into Birmingham so it was literally milliseconds before I started doing the arithmetic as to whether I could bag both winning 350s that I had seen. The answer was “yes”, but would be reliant on a +8 at Milton Keynes.

Bailing off of 350115 at Tile Hill, I noted that this was the first small shack between Coventry and New Street to be scratched my yours truly although I have either sped through or called at all of them at some point in time! I did not know what was immediately behind me so was pleasantly surprised when a winning 350375 rolled in. I eagerly leapt aboard my second to last 350/3 and headed out of the old West Midlands county for the last time of the day. Also giving Rugby a miss, I bailed at Long Buckby, my last shack score of the day, for a comfortable +6 to hike from the upside platform to the downside. A dud 350374 rolled in spot on time to take me back to Rugby. This time I was sitting on the correct side of the train for a glance at the ever expanding terminal at Daventry – the highlight being the Malcolm liveried 08 going about its business.

All too soon though, the conductor was announcing our arrival at Rugby where I alighted and wandered through the subway to the up platform. First train up was the winning 350 that I had seen earlier at International but if I was to stand a chance of bagging two winners, I had to reject this one and let it go about its business around the Northampton loop while the winner on the Crewe service ran fast via Weedon. I never like letting winners go like this but I’d already checked RTT and as far as I could tell, my Stafford sighting was on time so I was in with a good chance. Bang on cue, winning 350101 rolls in and I was keen to jump on as there was “business” to be done! Running via Weedon as booked, we lost a few minutes on the way into Milton Keynes so the +8 was whittled down to a +3.

I hared over the footbridge but need not have worried as the train I was aiming for also lost time on the approach to Milton Keynes but nevertheless I was very relieved when 350110 showed up. This meant that I had now exercised my red pen on thirty different occasions on units from the 350/1 sub-class. Unlike 350101 which I had forsaken at Rugby, 350110 called at several stations on the way up to Euston and this reminded me that I still needed to visit several of these. But that would be for another day. I arrived at Euston, somewhat knackered even though it was only late afternoon and all that was left to do was to make for home. The first train up on the Victoria line was 11037+11038 and the journey south to Stockwell saw me travelling in both halves of the unit. Why you may ask? Simple! I needed micro mileage from 11038 to heave it over ten miles and just under three for 11037. By the time I bailed at Stockwell, it was a case of “job done” on both halves.

It was left to 1995ts 51537+51538 to take me south to Morden and onwards to home. I paused to reflect on the past 24 hours. Nine winners these days wherever I go is a pretty good haul. Add in sixteen new membership cards issued for the Ten Mile Club and five shack scores including the awkward to get Polesworth and I certainly was not complaining. I suppose the highlight was jamming both of my last London Midland 350/1s, leaving me with only five LM 350s to bag – four 350/2s and a 350/3. Not bad seeing as before the trip, my LM 350s were in double figures! I was also pleased to see the last of my Arriva Wales 158s which only leaves a few 175s to ensnare there before ATW is cleared out. Anyway it was a relatively short turnaround as I was out again the following day – it’s August after all, the month for bashing!

 

[Techniquest]

Ah now this is better, the master of London area trip reports is back! Once again some excellent reading

Did you endure any difficulty in sleeping in that Travelodge, or were you fortunate not to have a view of the station from your room? That Desiro noise was hugely annoying after a while on my visit, incidentally I used that Travelodge for the same reason as you did.

Atherstone's quite a nice little station isn't it? Certainly nicer than some of them on that line, Rugeley Trent Valley for example! Congratulations on getting Polesworth in, that makes 3 of us I believe now from the regular trip reporters who have got it done. Unlike your visit, I observed someone joining the 350 when I did it on a Monday morning, of course I was the only one to alight on my visit too.

Extremely well done on clearing the ATW 158s, it won't be long until you join the reasonably exclusive club of clearing their fleet. Getting a bit lonely in this club after all! Good fortune on your LM 350s too, hopefully the rest will fall soon for you and you can join me in the LM Cleared Club! You have reminded me though that I need a ton of Marston Vale and St Albans Abbey line shacks to 100% clear the LM empire, maybe in 2017 they'll get dealt with. I still have shacks in a neighbouring country to deal with, and they may well be continued on with tomorrow...

What did 47403 start with the Bat Cave thing? Bat Cave Central is definitely one I'm nicking for my next visit to Birmingham. We have a Bat Cave of the North (Sunderland), Bat Cave of the South (London Euston) so we need to establish which station we're allocating Bat Cave status to in the west and east. Is there a station with such undesired eligibility in either direction though?

I'm most certainly looking forward to seeing where you went next!

 

[Kite159]

Am I the only one who caught that bus to Polesworth from Atherstone?

Agreed with Techni, the Desire door noises from the nearby station at Rugby got annoying after a while when trying to sleep. Well done on a very productive day

Agreed with batcave of the north being Sunderland, a hateful station

 

[55013]

Congratulations on the ATW 158s, no small feat that.
Clearing the 350/1s must be nice as well.
All in all it look like a successful and enjoyable couple of days.

 

[FQ]

Congrats on getting Polesworth in the book and clearing your 350/1s! I'm jealous about 350231 - it's one of my last 2 required dezes.

 

[noddy1878]

Just caught up. Sorry to hear about your friend.

Your West Midlands trip sounded great though. Makes me wonder if I will ever get the opportunity to attempt Polesworth.

 

[45135]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that - the twelve and a bit miles between New Street and Wolverhampton seems to take ages, but looking out for the 'Tojo the dwarf' graffiti helps to kill the time.

 

[FQ]

But looking out for the 'Tojo the dwarf' graffiti helps to kill the time.

Where's that?

 

[47403]

Firstly having just caught up with your travels, may i pass on my belated condolances to you, friends and family of your friend.

An awesome few reads there Keith. Wow tthat red pen took.some battering of late. Congrats on a fair few things, clearing the 318s, 334s and 350/1s and getting them shacks put to bed, ezpecially the elusive shack that is Polesworth. Im no shack hack but even I know you gotta get outta bed at silly o'clock to get that shack scratched.

Glad you went and got the cats on the fife turns too, when i was reading the report, I was kind of expecting you to leave Glasgow for the evening turn. Excuse my ignorance but whats the timings for the morning ones?, as Ive only ever done the evening one.

Many thanks for sharing and lastly good luck witb tbe book shop.