Keith goes wandering

[Keith Jarrett]

Monday 3rd August – North East Rover, Day 3

With a weekend off, I was fresh again for my 3rd day of commuting down the East Coast main Line. Today I wanted to see just how many of my remaining 142s (Heaton allocated) and 144s I could knock off of my requirements list. With only three Heaton 142s left to get but ten 144s still needed (including two outright winners) I opted against heading to the Darlington/Newcastle area and to concentrate my activities in Yorkshire instead. Some might argue that this is a waste of a North East Rover but I had the option to go wherever I wanted without any evening peak restrictions. 91122 was my “horse” northwards from Kings Cross and kept excellent time to Doncaster where a marginally early arrival allowed me to comfortably view the 153 on the Lincoln/Sheffield to Scunthorpe/Adwick turn (everything else on this circuit seems to be 142 or 144).

The sight of 153324 ensured that I had a minimal stay in Doncaster as we had a winner on our hands! I had never experienced a lone 153 in this part of the world before so wondered if we would get ant Dog Box Thrash from the Tin Rocket. Heading towards Sheffield, we certainly got some thrash but more importantly was the passing of 144007 in the Swinton area on the Leeds run. That was one of the 144s that I was chasing so I made a mental note of the working in the hope of running into it later in the day. I stuck with the 153 as far as Meadowhall which by now was well over the 10 mile target as that seemed to be the best place to view Northern’s South Yorkshire operations. My stay at Meadowhall only lasted a few minutes when 144018 appeared, heading for Huddersfield. 144018 was rather low mileage so Barnsley seemed a good place to go – this would ensure that 144018 would clear for 10 miles but also give me the option of either heading back towards Sheffield or onwards towards Wakefield and Leeds. As we pulled into Barnsley, 144023 headed the other way (back towards Sheffield). “Rats” was the only thought that crossed my mind. 144023 was an outright winner so the chase was on. Dud 158860 appeared soon afterwards and I soon found myself back at Meadowhall with a +13 on to 144023. But my stay at Meadowhall lasted all of two minutes as 144004 strolled in heading for Doncaster. Knowing that it can be an age before units on the Lincoln/Sheffield to Scunthorpe/Adwick circuit can take ages to come back, I boarded. I made the decision to head out to Conisborough as I thought that 144007 was low mileage but I misread my wants list and a Rotherham Central bail would be sufficient to heave 144007 over the 10 mile barrier. Pity that I only realised this at Coisborough!

I had a reasonable wait at Conisborough for 142021 back (Doncaster would have been a -2) and then the penny dropped. A Swinton bail would allow me, with an approximate 30 minute fester to grab 144007 on its way back from Leeds. Time was pressing on and the attrition rate so far was rather low but that’s bashing! 144007 duly appeared although a bit behind time - a trip back to my favourite Meadowhall cleared it for 10 miles. Now I had to try to intercept 144023 which was on the Sheffield-Huddersfield run but my thought process was interrupted by the appearance of 185145 which needed something short of a Bus Stop Bash to clear 10 miles. Sheffield would do nicely. At Shefgfield, I dropped straight onto 158817, absent from the Haulage book since I scored it as a winner on All Fools Day 1997 from Newport to Cardiff, which would nicely take me to Barnsley for a +18 onto 144023. By the time I got to Barnsley, it was starting to warm up so I decamped to the nearby town centre to source some extra liquid matter. Poundland were quite content to sell me three cans of fizzy Vimto for, you’ve guessed it, one pound. On the way back, I found the smell of the chip shop irresistible so popped in for pie and chips – much better value for money at two pounds than I am used to in The Smoke! Bang on cue, 144023 appeared to make it winner number two of the day. Scoring 144023 was a suitable opportunity to eat my celebratory pie and chips which I washed down with a cold can of Vimto. The train seemed to take an age to stagger to Meadowhall where I bailed to cover all options (only the Cross Country Vomit Comets do no stop). Not too far behind was a winning 158, 158816. This was headed for Nottingham, well outside the remit of a North East Rover so I bailed at Sheffield, making a mental note of the working in case I was stuck for something to do later.

My stay in Sheffield lasted all of four minutes as 170303 rolled in on a Trans-Pennine service to Cleethorpes. 170303 was one of those annoying units as despite two trips already with it, it was still under 10 miles. Both of those trips were with its previous owner South West Trains. A short hop out to Meadowhall would solve the 10 mile conundrum. As we left Sheffield, I passed what I thought was a four-car 158 and I worked out that it was a late running service from the Hull direction. My initial thoughts that four-car 158s were pretty rare in these parts; well Northern examples at least. I simply had to investigate. But I had no opportunity to double back to Sheffield as there was nothing about to take me back to Sheffield. Instead I had yet another enforced fester at Meadowhall before 158853+158905 rolled in. 158853 was of no interest to me as I had already had two decent runs with it but 158905 was a different kettle of fish as that was still firmly on the list as being needed for 10 miles. Next stop on the train was Doncaster and as I felt that I had given South Yorkshire my best, I thought that it was time “to get outta’ town”.

I really wanted to give Leeds a good going over but time was progressing so I vowed that it would be next train to Leeds whatever. I had about five minutes to wait for a Kings Cross to Leeds express. While I was fully expecting a dud 91, that was not what I could make out coming into the station – I’d fallen into a HST with 43208+43290 at the sharp ends of the train. 43208 was one of my higher mileage power cars but the same could not be said of 43290 even though I had three runs logged with it (all when it was 43090) but none were of any distance. The run up to Leeds saw 43290 scoring as a renumber hit and also at last breaching the 100 mile barrier somewhere in outer Leeds. As the train rolled into Leeds, I noted 144017 sitting in one of the bays. That soon woke me up, especially as realtimetrains indicated that a service was due out of that platform within a few minutes. I wasted no time in getting over to, and boarding, 144017 which was about to form a stopping service to Huddersfield via Dewsbury. I’d only ever done s Sheffield-Meadowhall run with my penultimate three-car 144 before. Conveniently, I’d accrue enough mileage from it by bailing at Batley for a +6 onto a complete unknown. Wandering through the subway at Batley, I did not recognise the place at all and thought that I might have a shack score on my hands but a check of the records revealed that this was not to be the case. At least 144017 could now be eliminated from my lists as being required!

The unknown unit soon showed up and I was surprised to see 158872 being offered up as a sacrificial lamb to me. My last encounter with this unit was when I scored it new as part of the old Wessex fleet in 2006. The swift run back to Leeds saw the 158 added to my tally of units cleared for 10 miles so what would the start of the Leeds rush hour have to offer? The first offering of note was a winning 144020 which would be leaving shortly for Huddersfield via Bradford & Halifax. “That will do nicely” I thought as I doubled checked that I could comfortably get back to Leeds before my booked train home (I actually had three trains back, all of which were running!). Not only was 144020 a winner, but also the only three-car 144 that I still needed for 10 miles so it was “Right Away” Halifax as that was the first station call after 10 miles had been clocked up. I rejected the first train back – that was 144017 which I had hit earlier. With 20 minutes until the following train I trekked off into town in search of supplies and soon located a decent Tesco Metro which furnished me with some suitable food for later.

Back at Halifax station, I arrived a minute or so before the next departure back towards Leeds. I had to do a double take when it rolled in – 158842 being the unit that caused me to question my own eyesight. “Winner” was my immediate reaction and once the identity had been confirmed, I leapt aboard feeling quite pleased with myself. At last the Northern 158s were begging to come my way, albeit slowly. Chugging on towards Leeds, I checked on the progress of the train ten or so minutes behind (and yes, it was still running to time). Normally my attempts at squeezing last minute requirements fail miserably but was Lady Luck in Yorkshire that afternoon consorting with the Railway Gods? Once ten miles was on the clock with 158842, I bailed at New Pudsey for a 10 minute fester for the following service, hoping for something useful. That “something useful” showed up around two minutes late in the form of 158909. I’d scored 158909 only the previous week but was unable to clear in for 10 miles so at least the run back into Leeds allowed me to complete the job!

The VTEC HST which was to form my train home was already in the station with the sharp ends being 43251+43317. I’d had a couple of encounters with 43317 in recent years but the last time that 43251 (when numbered 43051) appeared in the haulage log was back in 1991 so it was a case of “welcome back old friend” for the renumber hit. Once the train left Doncaster, we were treated to a storming run up the East Coast. First of all we waited over six minutes time in Peterbough and then the driver must have been on a promise as the run up to Kings Cross was fantastic. Despite a slow approach from Finsbury Park into The Cross and almost coming to a stand in Copenhagen Tunnel, we recorded a five-minute early arrival which nicely set me up for a rapid journey home when I had chance to reflect on the day. It was a slow start and although winners were not too thick on the ground, the fact that I ended up knocking 13 units on the head for 10 miles was not to be sneezed at. Throw in another HST power car cleared for 100 miles and all in all, a reasonable day. I crawled in home, knowing that I would be on the fourth and final day of the rover in nthe morning, albeit with a slightly later departure.

As is now tradition, here are the moves for the day -

LU 51600+51601 Morden to Stockwell ---
LU 11033+11034 Stockwell to Kings Cross ---
91122 Kings Cross to Doncaster ---
153324 Doncaster to Meadowhall WINNER, cleared for 10 miles
144018 Meadowhall to Barnsley Cleared for 10 miles
158860 Barnsley to Meadowhall ---
144004 Meadowhall to Conisborough Cleared for 10 miles
142021 Conisborough to Swinton ---
144007 Swinton to Meadowhall Cleared for 10 miles
185145 Meadowhall to Sheffield Cleared for 10 miles
158817 Sheffield to Barnsley ---
144023 Barnsley to Meadowhall WINNER, cleared for 10 miles
158816 Meadowhall to Sheffield WINNER
170303 Sheffield to Meadowhall Cleared for 10 miles
158853+158905 Meadowhall to Doncaster 158905 cleared for 10 miles
43208+43290 Doncaster to Leeds 43290 cleared for 100 miles & first time current number
144017 Leeds to Batley Cleared for 10 miles
158872 Batley to Leeds Cleared for 10 miles
144020 Leeds to Halifax WINNER, cleared for 10 miles
158842 Halifax to New Pudsey WINNER, cleared for 10 miles
158909 New Pudsey to Leeds Cleared for 10 miles
43251+43317 Leeds to Kings Cross 43251 first time current number
LU 11039+11040 Kings Cross to Stockwell ---
LU 51677+51678 Stockwell to Morden ---
Milestones
Winners 144020, 144023, 153324, 158816, 158842
Cleared for 10 miles 144004, 144007, 144017, 144018, 144020, 144023, 153324, 158842, 158872, 158905, 158909, 170303, 185145
Cleared for 100 miles 43290
First time current number 43251, 43290

 

[55013]

As usual, interesting stuff.
I was also at Halifax that day, sadly due to going to and from work.
I did 155344 from Bradford in the morning then 142035 back again a few hours late.

 

[Techniquest]

Quite the day there, certainly Lady Luck was on your side.

Not many 142s or 144s left to get now by the looks of it, a lot better than me. I need 26 142s (13 from Newton Heath and 13 from Heaton) and I think 8 144s. Really need to get back north and deal with that, but I've got a bit of an obsession with sorting out my tram and Tube needs lately!

 

[alexf380]

A great time was had there Keith! Yorkshire is certainly on the cards for myself, probably around the new year. Can't wait for day 4

 

[Keith Jarrett]

A great time was had there Keith! Yorkshire is certainly on the cards for myself, probably around the new year. Can't wait for day 4

The wait is over. Here's day four, a pure sold haulage bash -

Tuesday 4th August – North East Rover, Day 4

And so dawned the fourth and final day of my North East Rover. Today, I had a slightly later start mainly because I did not fancy another 05:50 departure, especially as it was 22:00 when I got in the previous day. But the availability of cheap tickets to Doncaster would see me arrive (or pass through) only an hour after the time dictated by the 05:50 departure. I rocked up at The Cross to find that dud, and rather high mileage, 91104 was to be my traction northwards. As this was a Leeds train, I had the options to bail at Doncaster (for the South Yorkshire services), Wakefield Westgate or continue through to Leeds. I went for the middle option and in so doing caused 91104 to become my highest mileage 91; this knocked 91129 off of its perch which it had occupied for four years and a week. My thoughts behind a Westgate bail were to observe the Huddersfield shuttle lest one of my required 144s be performing such duties. But no such luck as I was greeted by a dud two-car 144. Cross Country’s 221128 provided a suitable get out clause in my contract – I’d only done Piccadilly to Stockport with it so the run over to Leeds would sort out the 10 mile problem. My arrival at Leeds seemed to coincide with a load of dud 158s arriving and/or departing even though ten of the class were still taking up space on my North East wants list. Then I espied 322482 lurking in the low level platforms. This was far more interesting on several counts. 322482 was a “one trip Johnnie” where the only previous mileage accrued with it was on the well-trodden Scottish Bus Stop Bash from Haymarket to Edinburgh Waverley so well and truly still needed for the 10 mile stakes. Throw in the fact that it was the only 322 needed for 10 miles and, dear readers, you can see why I could not find any excuse to reject this unit. Lady Luck must have stayed overnight in Leeds as by all rights it should have left as I was strolling up the platform just behind the guard. He was looking a little flustered at being late almost as if he had come straight from a dalliance with Lady Luck!

We were away in under a minute with me taking up my favourite spot in the motor coach and 13 minutes later, I was in Shipley having cleared 322482 for 10 miles and as a bi-product, every member of the 322s also happened to now be cleared for 10 miles. Would Shipley’s triangle be kind or would I be haring around chasing my tail trying to find a winner? Kindness must have been following me around as I had only a short wait for 333008 back to Leeds, enabling me to remove another 333 from my lists. Back at Leeds I expected to have to take a look around the station for my next move. But I needed to look no further than the adjacent platform where mileage requirement 333005 was about to head to Skipton. “Oh no, not another visit to Shipley and those widely spaced platforms” was my first thought followed by “Gotta’ get the job done sometime”. So I leapt on board 333005 and settled down for the run out to Skipton. Surely the Skipton Triangle would not throw me another lifeline after I had cleared 333005 for 10 miles?

After rejecting a couple of dud 333s, I vowed to look at two more workings and then decamp. Thankfully, I had only to look at one as 333014 rolled in heading for Bradford Forster Square. This was a winner for me but the measly mileage to Forster Square would not see it clear for 10 miles and I badly wanted to get the job done. I trekked down the branch to Forster Square and I was grateful that this was one of the short turnround jobs – it was only seven minutes before 333014 was off again, bound for Ilkley. I worked out that I had to go a reasonable way up the Ilkley branch to get 10 miles on the clock so I settled for a bail at Burley-In-Wharfedale, partly because this would be a new shack for me. Bailing at Burley-In-Wharfedale and with 10 miles on the clock for 3301, I wondered whether I could be so lucky as to score either of my last two 333s, one of which I had not even seen in my travels in and around Leeds. The invisible 333003 may have continued to elude me but I was well pleased with 333006 as that would clear for 10 miles on the way back to Leeds, leaving the aforementioned 333003 as the sole representative of the class on my wants list.

Back at Leeds there were further rafts of dud 158s for me to reject but the EMT hire-in HST provided a suitable distraction and I elected to go for a quick spin out to Wakefield Westgate with 43073+43075 as a fill-in move. The principle objective was to give the Northern Random DMU Generator time to reset itself and align with my wants list. In recent years, I have not had many EMT HSTs so he addition of these two power cars, albeit for a short mileage, made a welcome addition to the haulage book, especially as it was almost 16 years ago when 43075 last featured! I knew that it was only a few minutes before there would be an East Coast service back to Leeds; just enough time for a PNB! Traipsing over the Westgate footbridge, I was pleasantly surprised to see a HST rolling over the viaduct towards me. I made sure that identified both of the power cars before the train left Wakefield just in case I had to make a dash upon arrival back at Leeds. 43307+43313 were the motive power and while I was hoping for a renumbering requirement it was a case of “not this time m’lord”. Nevertheless the additional mileage was welcome.

Back at Leeds, the reset of the NRDMUG seemed to have worked as 153315+153752 were sitting in one of the platforms and another was occupied by 158755. I had two winners on my hands my but alas they were not coupled together! Choices, such choices. But a winning Tin Rocket trumps almost anything apart from a pacer! The 153/158 combo was about to set sail for Manchester Victoria via Bradford Interchange so I boarded and took up my seat in the Tin Rocket; the majority of passengers shunned it for the 158. At Bradford Interchange the train went through the motions of reversing with the Tin Rocket now leading the combo but that’s about as far as it got. After a minute or so, the driver emerged from his cab and onto the platform, went back to his cab, back to the platform. After repeating this ritual a few times, the guard came over the PA and advised of a delayed departure due to a technical problem. After 10 minutes of fiddling, the driver seemed to have solved the problem but I decided to give this roadshow a miss as while I still needed a bit more mileage to clear the Tin Rocket for 10 miles, I did not fancy being sat in the middle of nowhere on failure.

Trains coming the other way into Bradford Interchange were also experiencing timekeeping issues but the first one through was a Blackpool to York train with 158753. “That’ll do nicely” I thought while double checking my records. I needed to go all the way to Leeds to clear the 158 for 10 miles but that did not worry me as I would be deposited in Leeds in advance of the rush hour so could be in pole position for depot chuck-outs. On arrival back at Leeds, the first unit that I noted was 153331- another winner. I simply had to have it but I had no idea what it would do apart from attach to a service bound for Manchester Victoria sometime soon. I had about 15 minutes to wait until my question was answered. 150206 arrived from Manchester Victoria, discharged it passengers, the guard opened up the interconnecting doors and with a bit of revving of engines 150206 successfully “multipled” with 153331. While most of the punters fancied the 150 (poor taste) I found myself a table in the Tin Rocket. Then my plans were thrown into total disarray as 144001+144002 appeared from Neville Hill to take up duty on the Sheffield via Moorthorpe service. Winning Tin rocket or two 144s required for mileage? T’was a hard decision! In the end the winning Tin Rocket won the day as I anticipated bagging the 144s later on. I stuck with the original plan to have a ride with the 150/153 combo of 150206+153331 to Bradford Interchange again as I could not really afford the time to go to Halifax to clear 153331 for 10 miles.

This turned out to be a good move on my part as no sooner than 150206/153331 had chugged their way out of Bradford Interchange, a 153/155 combo appeared heading back to Leeds. As all 155s were now clear for 10 miles, my focus was entirely on the 153. 153363 was definitely a winner so I congratulated myself on making the right move for once as I boarded 153363+155343. Granted, I would not get the desired 10 miles off the 153 but at least it was no longer on the all-time requirements list. Back in Leeds somewhat sooner than I had expected, I found that I had plenty of time (like over an hour) to get to Wakefield Westgate to meet those 144s on their return from Sheffield so time for a fill-in move. The Harrogate line is always good for quick fill-in moves so I made my way over to the next train which was headed for Knaresborough. The NRDMUG had thrown up a 158! Alas it was dud as on day one of the rover, I had sorted out the 10 mile situation. But what’s that coupled to it? Ah, 153359. Houston, we have a winner on our hands! A consultation of realtimetrains revealed that I could go to Horsforth with 153359+158859 on account of the return train being several minutes late. At least that would improve the mileage situation with the 153 as I was expecting to bail at Headingley. As might be expected for a peak hour departure, the train was busy but we staggered into Horsforth more or less on time so giving me a comfortable +4 onto a complete unknown back. Switching platforms I waited for my surprise – would the NRDMUG be kind to me or would it seek revenge after a reasonable handful of winners? It was 150271+150275 that rolled in. Neither of the units were required and 2015 would be the 4th year in a row that I had logged a ride with 150271. 150275 was in a slightly different category as it was one of those long term absentees – its one and only entry in the haulage book being 21 October 1998 when I had it from Newport to Bristol TM on a Portsmouth working.

The dud 150s lost no further time to Leeds and now I had only one thing on my mind – sorting out those required 144s that had gone to Sheffield a while back. I had about half an hour to get down to Wakefield Westgate. A strategically placed 91113 provided the ideal means to convey me the 10 odd miles to Westgate. A booked +10 at the latter location turned into a +12 thanks to a late running Cross Country service. But That did not really worry me as long as the 144 duo came back from Sheffield. At the appointed hour, I could see a 144 bouncing its way across the viaduct just to the south of Westgate station. But from where I was standing, I could not determine whether it was one or two. I had a few worrying seconds – had one been dropped at Sheffield or even worse, had a swap taken place. Then I realised that I was staring at two two-car 144s, namely 144001+144002. Both were short on mileage as previous runs with each of them were more akin to Bus Stop Bashes. I boarded 144001 simply because it was the more empty of the pair and boy, did that driver thrash the units on the way back to Leeds. He did not want a late arrival scored against his name! As I alighted from 144001 at Leeds, that sinking feeling suddenly came over me – the four day Rover was all but over. All I had time for was to quickly nip outside the ticket barrier to grab a few additional supplies (pork pie and custard tarts) to supplement the food that I already had on board.

I wandered over to the HST that would convey me back south to The Smoke, noting that it was 43277+43318 at the sharp ends of the train. 43318 was dud but it was 43277 that caught my attention on account of it being required for renumbering and it was also just under 100 miles. My only previous run with 43277 was back in 1989 (as 43077) when I had it from Durham to Doncaster when it was partnered with no other that 43073 which I’d had earlier in the day. The first task to undertake once the HST set off for London was to devour my supplies. As well as the pork pie and custard tarts, I still had a sandwich and some other odds and ends to clear up, not forgetting a can of fizzy Vimto from yesterday to wash it all down! I then set about reflecting on the day and the rover as a whole. The day’s “winnings” were high quality even if thin on the ground. I suppose the highlight has to be scoring four winning Tin Rockets in one day – it’s only the second time that I have managed four winning 153s in one day! But equally, I do not have to look at 322s again as all are now on 10 miles or more. Taking things in the round, the four day trip provided me with
• 23 winners across five classes and leaves me with just two 142s and one 333 needed outright;
• All 144s cleared for haulage with only two needed for 10 miles;
• 46 units cleared for 10 miles;
• Three classes where all members are now over 10 miles and the most significant being the HST power cars;
• An additional 1,800 HST miles or to put it another way, almost 10 additional miles for each power car;
• Eight new shacks scratched even though I did not set out to scratch any. This trip was all about haulage; and finally
• Four very enjoyable days roaming the northern rails with no significant delays.
Would I do it again? Definitely “yes”. But as to when? I simply don’t know – I’ll have to see what I grab during the rest of the year before coming to any decisions.

And in case you couldn’t keep up here’s a record of the day’s moves

LU 51509+51510 Morden to Stockwell ---
LU 11085+11086 Stockwell to Kings Cross ---
91104 Kings Cross to Wakefield Westgate ---
221128 Wakefield Westgate to Leeds Cleared for 10 miles
322482 Leeds to Shipley Cleared for 10 miles. Last of class to be cleared for 10 miles
333008 Shipley to Leeds Cleared for 10 miles
333005 Leeds to Shipley Cleared for 10 miles
333014 Shipley to Bradford Forster Square WINNER
333014 Bradford Forster Square to Burley-In-Wharfedale Cleared for 10 miles
333006 Burley-In-Wharfedale to Leeds Cleared for 10 miles
43073+43075 Leeds to Wakefield Westgate ---
43307+43313 Wakefield Westgate to Leeds ---
153315+158752 Leeds to Bradford Interchange 153315 WINNER
158753 Bradford Interchange to Leeds Cleared for 10 miles
150206+153331 Leeds to Bradford Interchange 153331 WINNER
153363+155343 Bradford Interchange to Leeds 153363 WINNER
153359+158859 Leeds to Horsforth 153359 WINNER
150271+150275 Horsforth to Leeds ---
91113 Leeds to Wakefield Westgate ---
144001+144002 Wakefield Westgate to Leeds Both cleared for 10 miles
43277+43318 Leeds to Kings Cross 43277 cleared for 100 miles & first time current number
LU 11053+11054 Kings Cross to Stockwell ---
LU 51511+51512 Stockwell to Morden ---

Milestones
Winners 153315, 153331, 153359, 153363, 333014
Cleared for 10 miles 144001, 144002, 158753, 221128, 322482, 333005, 333006, 333008, 333014
Cleared for 100 miles 43277
First time current number 43277
All of class cleared for 10 miles 322
New Shack Burley-In-Wharfedale

 

[Kite159]

Congrats on clearing the 322s for 10 miles

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Congrats on clearing the 322s for 10 miles

322482 took me slightly by surprise as I had not seen it on any of my previous visits to Leeds. I definitely was not going to let it go. Only a winning pacer would have trumped the 322. And I knew that both of my required 142s were not available.

 

[Techniquest]

An excellent final day to the massive adventure, 4 winning 153s in one day is quite an achievement. I don't think I've ever had such good fortune with the class!

Congratulations on clearing the 322s for 10 mileages and for getting oh so close to done with the Pacer family! I've become more determined than ever to have a rather good go at knocking down my total of 34 requirements in the Pacer family asap!

Certainly the idea of doing a full 7 day FoNE has been set in my plans for 2016. It's certainly not a cheap trip of course, but there's just so much to do it'll be worth every penny. That being said, the North Country Rover is one I've never done at all, so I'm sorely tempted to give it a go, with the advantage of a bit of both worlds with some North West and some North East.

Something to ponder over breakfast and on the commute to work...

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Friday 14th August – The Great Pacer Assault (Round 43)

Another 05:30 alarm could mean only one thing – we are going out on a bashing trip! As the title suggests, I am continuing the great pacer hunt and with my recent successes on the east side of the Pennines, it was definitely now time to turn my attention to the west side of the east/west divide. With only 19 14x units required, by far the single largest concentration should in theory be west of the Pennines. I set myself a target of five winners and ten cleared for the obligatory 10 miles for the day, especially given that I would be spending some of my time looking for non bogied multiple units. I’d even suggested that the five winners would be 1*142, 1*150, 1*156, 1*22x and 1*390. I was also fortunate in that I had recently re-established contact with a mate who could help me some “inside” information.

Leaving home bang on time, I made my way up to Euston via the normal route and arrived at Euston sufficiently early to purchase the day’s rover from Euston rather than waste time when I was at the other end. Courtesy of the Virgin Seat Sale, I was able to get a cheap ticket northwards in the morning peak. Virgin had kindly provided winning 390122 for the trip northwards to Stockport so that was the first prediction right! The run north was marred by a late running London Midland service staying on the fast beyond Ledburn Junction when the slow was available so by the time we left Milton Keynes Central, the deficit was four minutes and I was rather keen to get to Stockport on time. Despite the best efforts of the man up front, he could not reduce the arrears at Stoke but managed to arrive at Stockport only two down where I left 390122 to continue the last few miles to Piccadilly without me.

It was now a case of “Let the real bashing begin”. I knew that I had several options within the first 10 minutes of my arrival and while I had to reject the first train that showed up (a dud 156), the second was far more interesting. Formed of 142013+142095+150205 (with the 150 leading), this was the fabled weekly train to Stalybridge. I did not need any of the track but both 150 and 142013 were deficient in the mileage stakes so it was off to Guide Bridge we went. With the first two 10 milers scored for the day, I alighted at Guide Bridge in pouring rain. I secretly hoped that this would ease otherwise it was going to make for a very grim day. I observed a couple of dud 142s come and go followed by a dud 323 when I then boarded another dud 323 (323239) for Manchester Piccadilly. It appeared that I had made the correct move as sitting in Platform 1 was 142007 being prepared for a run to New Mills Central. As I needed only a Bus Stop Bash to get 10 miles on the clock, I had two options with this - bail at Ashburys for a reasonable wait for a 323 back to Piccadilly or go through to Romiley for an unknown 142/150. I opted for the latter and as things turned out, my judgement was sound. Within minutes I had yet another 10 mile requirement on my hands in the shape of 150145 which needed a reasonable run (i.e. Piccadilly) to sort the 10 mile conundrum out. Four cleared for 10 miles and I had not even been going two hours. There’s got to be a catch somewhere!

Back in Piccadilly, I had a minimal wait before 323223 left bound for Crewe. Again only a Bus Stop Mileage was needed to achieve the 10 mile target so I bailed at Levenshulme for a +3 onto an unknown back. Being one of the Alderley Edge trains, I was expecting a 323 and was not disappointed when 323224 turned up. The run back into Piccadilly would still leave this one short of miles so I was left with the option of leaving it for later or festering for the 15 minutes that 323224 would be on layover at Piccadilly. I looked around Piccadilly during the layover and nothing caught my eye apart from the message coming through on my phone from my mate. He’d checked all my required Northern 142s and the good news was that three more were accessible. The bad news was that I would have to be patient! At least that gave me time to do 323224 back out to Stockport and add it to the units cleared for 10 miles.

Low mileage 175005 duly presented itself almost immediately for the run back into Piccadilly but I still need more off of it to clear it for 10 miles. Now it was time to go in search of one of the 142s that I’d been tipped off about. 150143, itself required for 10 miles, was waiting to take me out to Altrincham to meet my 142 coming back from Chester. On the way out, I hit on an idea. Bail short at Navigation Road and catch the Metrolink down to Altrincham thus scoring two new shacks rather than one. The move worked and with 3009+3046 completing the journey from Navigation Road to Altrincham. Bang on cue, 142044 bounced in from Chester and I selected a nice bus seat for the run up to Stockport making eight units cleared for 10 miles today. A short wait at Stockport saw 220019 appear and I boarded it for the run into Piccadilly to make that number nine cleared for 10 miles today.

I wandered over to the through platforms – I had 40 minutes to get to Oxford Road so could have easily walked it in that time but 156473+158810 proved irresistible as 156473 had not received a mention in the Haulage Book for over 26 years. Its one and only previous entry was 22 April 1989 when I had it new from Havant to Southampton [Ed: Yes the 156s did work on the Western and Southern regions back in 1989 substituting for defective 155s]. OK I only did a Bus Stop Bash to Oxford Road but at least 156473 now gets a 2015 entry in the Haulage Book. Late running 156847+158856 were waiting at Oxford Road to return me to Piccadilly. 150222+150224 then took me back to Oxford Road for the move of the day. I wandered over the footbridge at Oxford Road to find 142030+142043 sitting in the bay platform, advertised as forming the next stopping service to Liverpool Lime Street. 142030 was severely deficient on mileage and normally that would be noteworthy enough. But 142043 held the trump card in that it was a winner, and not any old winner at that; it was my last Newton Heath allocated 142 and my penultimate 142 for haulage (142029 is the offending 142 that has never been recorded in the Haulage Book). I was going to enjoy this. We bounced our way towards Liverpool pausing at various shacks on the way, all of which need scratching but that can wait. At Birchwood (a winning shack) with 10 miles on the clock for both of the 142s, I bade farewell to the pair and watched them bounce their way onwards to Liverpool. I trudged over the footbridge to await the arrival of the next train back to Manchester. 185132 was to take me back to Oxford Road. During the journey, I got back in touch with my mate to thank him for the top class gen and also to check on whether a 156 that I had seen earlier was sticking to diagram. Thankfully it was.

At Oxford Road, I had a short wait before 150103+156489 appeared heading toward Hazel Grove. 150103 was another one of those units that managed a single mention in the Haulage Book a long time ago and passed me by since then. The only previous entry was almost 27 years ago to the day when, on 20 August 1988, I scored it new from Telford to Wolverhampton. 156489 was a more recent entrant to the Haulage Book but was, in contrast, well short of 10 miles. At least the run out to the winning shack of Hazel Grove corrected that. I watch the pair reverse out of the station into a siding where they’d wait for almost an hour before returning to Preston – hardly the most efficient use of resources. But I was not really at Hazel Grove to clear either 156489 for 10 miles or scratch the fourth shack of the day. Soon, the next train from Buxton appeared with 150117+156438. 150117 was dud in every sense of the word but 156438 “Timothy Hackworth” was a winner. I’d seen 156438 in Piccadilly earlier in the day and I thought that I did not recognise the name. It took two checks of the book before the penny dropped that it was a winner! There was only one place to go with the winning 156 (and the accompanying dud 150) and that was as far as possible, i.e. Piccadilly in order to get some mileage on the 156. Pity though I did not clear it for 10 miles and it was going to be a while before it went out again.

With three winners under my belt for the day along with 12 already cleared for 10 miles, there was still about an hour and a half left before I had to meet a mate who had a parcel for me to bring south to a mutual friend. 158799+158806 were just arriving on the through platforms having been to Liverpool. A check of the Bashing Book revealed double winners but all I could do was Stockport with them. At least I got some mileage on the clock and some is better than none! I’d previously had 158806 when it was a three-car unit but given that it lost its centre car some while back, my rules state that I have to reset the clock and do it all over again. At Stockport, the first train heading back to Manchester was a pair of 150s – 150144+150149. Both were deficient in the mileage stakes, particularly 150144. I’d seen this pair of jokers earlier in the day but there was other stuff that got in the way so I was pleased to ensnare them. But could I clear both of them for 10 miles and meet my mate on time. It all relied on a +5 at Salford Crescent. We chugged across central Manchester in the rush hour and were full to the gunnels by the time the train staggered out of Oxford Road to Salford Crescent. Even though we were late, the +5 worked and 150112+150147 were waiting to take me into Manchester Victoria. I’d been in Manchester all day and it was only towards the end of the evening peak that I actually made it over to the north side. There had simply been too much to deal with on the south side of town! 150112 was dud but 150147 was a different kettle of fish in that the only previous run was, you’ve guessed it, from Salford to Manchester Victoria. Ok every contribution gratefully accepted but at this rate, it’ll take several before 150147 clears for 10 miles. At Victoria, I made for the Metrolink and had 3083+3101 back to Piccadilly where I met my mate & grabbed the package for conveying south.

The final move of the day was aboard dud 158773+158866 out to Stockport (simply to boost my 158 mileage) where I picked up 390042 for the run back to Euston. On the way home, I reflected on the day. My predictions of five winners were correct but I got the class mix slightly wrong and I underestimated the number of units that I’d clear for 10 miles. But the most pleasing unit of the day was definitely the winning 142043. That and the other four 142s cleared for 10 miles means that I only need seven 142s for 10 miles. (there’s also the small matter of five 143s and two 144s to sort out) but the next Manchester trip is going to need much more effort to pick up required stuff.

And to round off, here’s the days’ moves -
LU 51515+51703 Morden to Stockwell ---
LU 11087+11088 Stockwell to Euston ---
390122 Euston to Stockport WINNER, cleared for 100 miles
142013+142095+150205 Stockport to Guide Bridge 142013+150205 cleared for 10 miles
323239 Guide Bridge to Manchester Piccadilly ---
142007 Manchester Piccadilly to Romiley Cleared for 10 miles
150145 Romiley to Manchester Piccadilly Cleared for 10 miles
323223 Manchester Piccadilly to Levenshulme Cleared for 10 miles
323224 Levenshulme to Manchester Piccadilly ---
323224 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport Cleared for 10 miles
175005 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly ---
150143 Manchester Piccadilly to Navigation Road Cleared for 10 miles
GM 3009+3046 Navigation Road to Navigation Road ---
142044 Altrincham to Stockport Cleared for 10 miles
220019 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly Cleared for 10 miles
156473+158810 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Oxford Road ---
158847+158856 Manchester Oxford Road to Manchester Piccadilly ---
150222+150224 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Oxford Road ---
142030+142043 Manchester Oxford Road to Birchwood 142043 WINNER, both cleared for 10 miles
185132 Birchwood to Manchester Oxford Road ---
150103+156489 Manchester Oxford Road to Hazel Grove 156489 cleared for 10 miles
150117+156438 Hazel Grove to Manchester Piccadilly 156438 WINNER
158799+158806 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport WINNER x 2
150144+150149 Stockport to Salford Crescent Both cleared for 10 miles
150112+150147 Salford Crescent to Manchester Victoria ---
GM 3083+3101 Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly ---
158773+158866 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport ---
390042 Stockport to Euston ---
LU 11073+11074 Euston to Stockwell ---
LU 51577+51578 Stockwell to Morden ---
Milestones
Winners 142043, 156438. 158799, 158806, 390122
Cleared for 10 miles 142007, 142013, 142030, 142043, 142044, 150143, 150144, 150145, 150149, 150205, 156489, 220019, 323223, 323224
Cleared for 100 miles 390122
New Shacks Altrincham, Birchwood, Hazel Grove, Navigation Road

 

[Techniquest]

Very much well done there, Manchester sure was kind to you!

An impressive haul for sure, the lists must be starting to look impressive now. Rather nice of Virgin to give you a winner 390 on a Mandatory Move, always a happy bonus that.

Oxford Road to Piccadilly will feel like a marathon journey compared to a few of the journeys I've done today...

 

[Kristofferson]

So close to clearing some classes, bet you can't wait to get back up north! Many successes had on the last few trips, and a good time by the sounds of it

 

[ThePannier]

Great read, I really enjoyed it.

 

[Kite159]

Sounds like a very good day in Manchester area

 

[Keith Jarrett]

So close to clearing some classes, bet you can't wait to get back up north! Many successes had on the last few trips, and a good time by the sounds of it

Definitely cannot wait to get north again. Thankfully I am heading that way again later this week and more oimportantly, my man with the gen is working so I'll hopefully be making a few informed moves. At this rate, I will clear all Northern for 10 miles pretty quick but soon it's going to get tough - unless I keep in with Lady Luck of course! Northern's always been neck and neck with Scotrail for requirements but at this rate, Scotrail is definitely going to end up the poor relation.

Anyway, I managed to get out on Sunday afternoon. Here's a brief write up of what I did -

Sunday 16th August – A Swift Sunday Afternoon Sortie

It seems as if the Sunday afternoon jolly is not completely dead in the water yet. There’s still quite a bit that I need around the capital but shack scratching is generally off the agenda unless I happen to score one while changing trains. The big gap in the requirements list at the moment is all of the five-car 378s that are now crawling the East London Line (and rapidly spreading to the West/North London Lines) so easy pickings for me with weekday frequencies and not too far to travel to access either the ELL or the WLL.

However, before I could go bashing, I had arranged to deliver a few things to my son in Greenwich. Given that some were of a perishable nature, I really had to make the delivery first. At least he met me at Greenwich station rather than me having to walk over to his flat. My original plan was that as soon as I had seen my son and handed over the goodies to him, I would get the next DLR up to Shadwell and start ELL bashing from there. Dud 376020 took me from London Bridge and as I arrived, I saw one (of two) mileage 465/0 requirements head toward Cannon Street. My initial reaction was to consult realtimetrains to ascertain the next working. If my son was on time (which he was), I could get the following train to London Bridge for a +3 on the 465’s next working. What I did not bargain for was a mileage requirement 376 showing up – I wanted 10 of them for 10 miles and all bar two only need Bus Stop Bash trips to sort them out! 376001 was one that fell into the BSB category so the trip back to London Bridge would sort that out. All southeastern services were running into Cannon Street as Charing Cross was closed in order to allow GBRf to play with engineers’ trains – I noted 66713, 66739 & 66763 in action. The +3 at London Bridge worked perfectly and at the appointed hour (or should it be minute?) 465003+465034 appeared, bound for Hayes. 465003 was dud but it was 465034 that had attracted my attention; despite three previous runs with it, I still needed a reasonable trip to nudge it over 10 miles so off to Lewisham I went. As the ELL was my target, I crossed through the subway to get something back to New Cross where I could drop onto the ELL. 465168+465173 were my conveyance for the short leap.

At New Cross, I had a short wait before winning 378209 showed up. I thought that I had better maximise the mileage on this so went through to Dalston Junction and if there was nothing else about, I could return south with 209 to clear it for 10 miles. However, 378138 was in front and that needed a bit of a nudge to push it over 10 miles so it was down to the murky depths of Rotherhithe where I dropped back onto 378209 with the aim of clearing it for 10 miles. The train’s arrival at Forest Hill saw that target reached so I bailed. There was nothing heading north that interested me so I joined the next Crystal Palace service with winning 378139. I sat on 378139 during its layover at Crystal Palace – the platforms used by the ELL trains have been restored very well (I remember them when they were one step removed from derelict). 378139 took me northwards again. I was initially going to bail at Whitechapel for a dodgy +1 onto a Clapham Junction service having cleared 378139 for 10 miles but I could not remember the layout of the station. I therefore played safe and bailed considerably earlier at Surrey Quays for the previous Clapham Junction train. That turned in with 378154, another winner. Time was progressing and I still had several chores to do at home so I took the easy option to get home – jump out at Clapham High Street, walk to Clapham North and back on the Northern Line home.

A short trip – I was only away from home for about 4 ½ hours but in that time I managed to deliver goodies to my son (and have a quick natter with him), pick up three winners and clear four units for 10 miles. I wasn’t complaining! To complete the record, here are the afternoon’s moves -

LU 51539+51707 Morden to London Bridge ---
376020 London Bridge to Greenwich ---
376001 Greenwich to London Bridge Cleared for 10 miles
465003+465034 London Bridge to Lewisham 465034 cleared for 10 miles
465168+465173 Lewisham to New Cross ---
378209 New Cross to Dalston Junction WINNER
378138 Dalston Junction to Rotherhithe Cleared for 10 miles
378209 Rotherhithe to Forest Hill Cleared for 10 miles
378139 Forest Hill to Crystal Palace WINNER
378139 Crystal Palace to Surrey Quays ---
378154 Surrey Quays to Clapham High Street WINNER
LU 51547+51548 Clapham North to Morden ---

Milestones
Winners 378139, 378154, 378209
Cleared for 10 miles 376020, 378138, 378209, 465034

 

[Techniquest]

Not a bad score for a very quick trip!

Looking forward to reading about your next trip to Northern land, fingers crossed Lady Luck is with you on that one!

 

[47403]

Brilliant read Keith, just caught up with all your trip reports, you've certainly been a busy chap of late. How you manage to keep track of those under 10 miles is beyond me.
On the GB shed front, please send 66739 up to the NE please, it's required for sight, wondeed where the hell that 1 was. You can keep 66713 down there, I'm pig sick of the sight of that one.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Brilliant read Keith, just caught up with all your trip reports, you've certainly been a busy chap of late. How you manage to keep track of those under 10 miles is beyond me.
On the GB shed front, please send 66739 up to the NE please, it's required for sight, wondeed where the hell that 1 was. You can keep 66713 down there, I'm pig sick of the sight of that one.

All my records are on a series of spreadsheets and by the judicious use of formulae, I have a sheet which lists everything that's under 10 miles. The output is printed and sits in the Bashing Book. Simples!

Next stage is to develop the formulae further so that they also pick up the stuff that has been absent from the Haulage Book for a long time. My current definition of absent is 15 years more. But that'll be a winter job as I seem to be almost non stop bashing at the moment.

 

[Techniquest]

I hope you're not complaining about your recent spree of trips!

Know what you mean about putting it off until the winter, I've got a long list of stuff to sort out in January! By February I'll be on another massive bash I reckon, unless I change all that and start 2016 off in style, hmm that's a good idea actually, a post-Frothmas/New Year trip could be welcome after all of December's chaos!

I wish I could remember all the formulae for spreadsheeting, although I'd also love to be able to use Access properly again. A right pig to get used to but an incredibly useful tool!

 

[Keith Jarrett]

I hope you're not complaining about your recent spree of trips!

Know what you mean about putting it off until the winter, I've got a long list of stuff to sort out in January! By February I'll be on another massive bash I reckon, unless I change all that and start 2016 off in style, hmm that's a good idea actually, a post-Frothmas/New Year trip could be welcome after all of December's chaos!

I wish I could remember all the formulae for spreadsheeting, although I'd also love to be able to use Access properly again. A right pig to get used to but an incredibly useful tool!

Certainly no complaints about the recent splurge of trips - there's still a few more in the pipeline and there's more than a slight chance that work could dump me in Edinburgh for a few days as well.

Putting stuff off until winter is an excellent pastime of mine - trouble is that half of winter ends up being occupied with trip planning, logging the previous years photos, pursuing other interests (e.g. ale supping). Then all the winter projects get heaved to one side

Thankfully, I work with Excel spreadsheets quite a bit - I just look at all those sad souls grappling with Word tables and hang my head in horror. At work, even there's a supposed policy of no complex formulae, I tend to use whatever gets the job done and I'll also experiment slightly ..... I must admit that I am so steeped in Excel that Access just confuses me - I've tried with Access but I'll stick with what I am familiar with.

Regardless, roll on Friday!

 

[Techniquest]

It is indeed to get distracted during the winter months, been there done that. It is a good time of year to plan trips as the weather's not exactly inviting to go out in so might as well get organised.

Tables in Word, oh dear oh dear! I too hang my head in horror.

There's a thought, maybe we should get lessons from you on how to use Excel better, certainly would be better than using a textbook. Another job for the winter perhaps?

 

[Kristofferson]

Excel and Access both confuse me no end and I haven't used them since school, so I'm ridiculously glad that spotting website has appeared recently!

I believe that's built on some sort of fancy NoSQL/json "database", which strangely enough I'm more familiar with...

Anyway enjoyed the read of the short Overground bash - now get back up north!

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Friday 21st August – The Mancunian Reprise (Version 29)

This was another trip to the North West courtesy of the Virgin Seat Sale [Ed: Long may they continue] and all options were being covered with my choice of destination. I’d booked to Wigan rather than my normal destinations of Stockport, Manchester or Liverpool on the basis that if I had no information sources available to me, I could hop up to Preston, pick up a Lancashire Day Ranger, cover the DRS turn out of Preston and do some track bashing as an absolute fall-back position. But I already knew what the DRS out of Preston was booked to be and 37409 was not of interest to me. My mate who had so generously helped me out with some gen last week had confirmed he was able to do so again this week as long as my list was not excessive – the downside was that I had to fend for myself until late morning but any gen is better than none.

The Virgin train-planners were obviously not in a particularly friendly mood today as they thought that it would be good to provide my highest mileage Pendolino for my journey northwards – hello again to 390011 which was my conveyance all the way to Wigan North Western. I went over to Wallgate station initially to see whether there was anything of interest floating around but as was the case last week the NRDMUG needed a reset and I’d forgotten the code to effect a manual reset! I returned to North Western for a Trans Pennine working that should be a six-car 185 having come from Barrow and Blackpool North just in case one of my 185s was around. While the NRDMUG was playing up, at least it did not have any effect on TPE allocations as 185107+185113 rolled in and surprisingly, 185107 was a winner so off we chugged up the West Coast Main Line, swinging left at Golborne Junction onto the Chat Moss line and into Manchester – my first 185 across Chat Moss. I decided to go through to Piccadilly as if the NRDMUG continued to be troublesome, at least there was other stuff around to keep me on my toes. But no, the NRDMUG was obviously in better health now as before we had even ground to a halt at Piccadilly, I espied a winner. Dud 150143 was being towed around by a winning 156428. I dashed off of the 185 duo, up the island platform and managed to scramble in the back door of the 150/156 combo as it was about to leave. Phew!

150143+156428 were on a Hazel Grove to Preston service and I was keen to try and clear the 156 for 10 miles so that meant going to Bolton and this gave me a chance to look at the Farnworth tunnel works. Also, I noted that some of the intermediate stations were being reconstructed although the barely served Clifton looked as deserted as ever. As we arrived at Bolton, a winning 156483 was chugging out to Manchester Victoria. If I’d have shouted my thoughts out loud, the air would have been a delicate shade of blue. And then the gen came through. After thanking my mate as ever for his time and resources I set about trying to plan the rest of the day. The good news was that there were things around to interest me; the bad news was that I was in Bolton! I had to make my way back to Manchester; and fairly sharpish too. But the added complication was 156483 which I’d seen a few minutes previously. 150139 was waiting to form the next departure back to Manchester and within about 20 minutes, I had a set of moves worked out. The plan was to take mileage requirement 150139 through to Manchester Victoria, clearing it for 10 miles in the process and get the tram over to Piccadilly - I had just over an hour to do this. Ordinarily, I have bailed at Salford Crescent but the Preston to Hazel Grove was still stuck at Preston waiting traincrew.

I realised that if I bailed at Salford Central, I had a +1 onto 156483 coming back from Manchester Victoria. The +1 worked but all I could do with the winning 156483 was a Bus Stop Bash back to Salford Crescent and hope that a +0 across the island platform worked. Thankfully it did and I tumbled onto dud 156489 back to Victoria. Then the penny dropped! I could heavy rail it over to Piccadilly if the next Southport to Manchester Airport was on time. A quick consultation of realtimetrains confirmed it was and also that I had a choice of two trains to drop onto it. I opted to play safe and took 156460 “Driver John Axon GC” back out to the Crescent. Within about five minutes I could hear the familiar squealing noise which meant only one thing, I was to have a pacer over to Piccadilly [Ed: Everyone knows that the Southport-Airport runs are good at dropping Pacers]. 142012 was the chosen unit and it duly bounced and squealed its way from Salford Crescent to Piccadilly. Here I had a comfortable 11 minutes to go and find my first 142 requirement of the day.

I eventually found 142036 hiding on the buffer blocks of platform 1. Relief, it had stuck to diagram so I clambered aboard and selected my bus seat. About one minute before departure, the engines shut down. Was I worried? Of course I was, I did not want a required 142 to die on me, even though it was only a mileage requirement. The platform staff were on the phone but as it turned out, they were finding out where the driver had got to. He sheepishly appeared within seconds and did not seemed phased by the fact that the engines had shut down. He simply took up position in his cab and within a few seconds had brought 142036 back to life. We were off soon after that and I was heading for a new shack scratch at New Mills Central. At NMC, I alighted with a handful of others but with a short while, I had the station all to myself. My next prey was sitting in the turnback siding and soon after 142036 had burbled its way off to Sheffield, 142056 dropped into the station. I was the only one to board 142056 at its originating station but more importantly, I was pleased to bag 142056 as my only previous run with it was a Bus Stop Bash from Ashburys to Piccadilly three years ago. Not bad, two 142s (out of seven in total required) cleared for 10 miles. So what next?

Next up was another mileage requirement 142 which was due out for Chester in around 15 minutes. I’d have to go beyond Stockport to get the clock over 10 miles but hang on a minute, could I get something else to Stockport and pick it up there? The answer was a resounding yes and a winning 220032 was the ways and means to get me to Stockport to await the arrival of my third required 142 of the day. Then came the announcement at Stockport advising that there would be a short delay to the Chester service following late arrival of the rolling stock to form the service. “What are they talking about? It’s been sat in the platform for the last 45 minutes at Piccadilly!” My thoughts immediately were along the lines of a failure and a last minute substitution but there were no diesel arrivals showing up on RTT so I was getting confused [Ed: Nothing new there]. Any roar, RTT shows the Chester as departing 5 late from Piccadilly and the correct platform. Imagine my relief when I saw 142034 bouncing across the viaduct into Stockport. My previous (and only) trip was three years ago, almost to the day, on a Bus Stop Bash from Meadowhall to Rotherham Central. The driver was certainly keen to make up time and the five late start from Piccadilly was converted into an on-time arrival at Altrincham.

I still had one more 142 to bag and that was the biggest prize of them all. I had about 40 minutes to get back to Manchester and opted to use the Metrolink to Deansgate rather than await heavy rail back via Stockport. 3018+3052 officiated as far as Cornbrook where I bailed as I still had plenty of time to get to Deansgate and the indicator boards were showing another Deansgate service almost immediately behind – 3089+3094 took me on to Deansgate where I sampled the new footbridge link to the heavy rail station. Much better than descending to street level only to have to climb up onto the viaduct again. The first thing I saw in Deansgate was a pair of TPE 350s (both winners) heading for the Airport. “Wouldn’t mind them” I thought to myself. A few minutes later, I could hear a pair of pacers squealing their way around the curve from Salford Crescent and then I was greeted by the sight of 142029+142053. 142053 was of little interest to me unlike its partner as 142029 was the last 142 that I needed to ride so a pure thoroughbred winner. Celebrations all round; I have now had all 96 of them including the two accident victims 142008 and 142059. The former was secured on 15th March 1986 with my only ever trip to Rose Hill Marple while on 9th September 1989, 142059 fell on a trip from Rose Grove to Blackburn. I certainly enjoyed the ride up to the Airport as by then 142029 was well and truly in the book for 10 miles and I knew that I only needed three more 142s to clear all active 142s for 10 miles (those being 142042, 142089 and 142093). At the Airport, I had all of four minutes to walk across to the opposite platform face as winning double 350408+350410 were waiting to depart for Edinburgh. They whisked me back to Piccadilly on no time and the success story just continued. My mate had been in touch to advise that a winning 150 was at Deansgate and he was wondering whether I could get to it. That was not a problem as at that point we were rolling into Platform 14 at Piccadilly. All I had to do was batter my way through the crowds and walk up to the other end of the platform to await 150103+150113. That was easier said than done as there were loads of intending passengers all wanting the back door of the 150 duet. And I wanted one of the front doors as I wished to travel in the front half with winning 150113. But once clear of all those back door folk, I made my way up to the front half and joined 150113. I was sort of tempted to go all the way to Buxton with it but realising that it would be the same set back, I opted for the +3 at the winning shack of Disley onto a complete unknown back. At least 150113 was now cleared for 10 miles into the bargain.

Three minutes was about right time to amble from one platform to another at Disley and soon afterwards, double duds 150111+150205 appeared. I took these back to Stockport where I thought that I’d give the Stockport “Roulette Wheel” a spin and see whether anything could whet my appetite. I did not have long to wait as the Stockport Roulette Wheel produced a winning 220030 at the first spin so I jumped aboard and had the slowest ever (well it seemed like that) run into Piccadilly. It was getting to that time of the evening where I had to start sorting out my final moves before my homeward train. I wandered along the blocks at Piccadilly when I clapped eyes on 150270 which I should have missed by several minutes. However, even though the platform staff were blowing their whistles, the guard had time to confirm to me that this was the New Mills Central train so I leapt aboard and within seconds we were off. I had another winning 150 on my hands! That leaves only one Northern 150 that I have never had (along with one from first Great Western). I did not have time to do 10 miles with 150270 but instead went as far as I could (Reddish North) before alighting for a comfortable +4 onto something back. I’d used Reddish North many years ago but as there’s no record of my previous journeys to/from Reddish North, I technically scored the shack this time around. 142060+142061 were provided for the run back into Piccadilly.

I wandered over to the Sainsburys store to grab supper before returning to the concourse to check whether there was one more winner (or at least mileage requirement) to take me to Stockport ahead of my booked Pendolino home. Alas there was not so it was with some trepidation that I glanced at what Virgin had provided for me. I was fully expecting a dud nine-car but was pleasantly surprised to see a winning, eleven-car, 390131 “City of Liverpool”. Apart from sloppy station working at Crewe and Milton Keynes, the journey was uneventful so after consuming my purchases from Sainsburys, it was time to reflect upon the day. No doubt, the highlight was securing my last 142 for haulage and knocking the mileage needs on that class down to a mere three. But eleven winners for haulage in a single day? That’s only the second time this year that I have managed to achieve double figure number of winners on a single day – that other auspicious occasion being Good Friday when I amassed no less than thirteen. Throw in ten units cleared for 10 miles and one for 100 miles, I think it’s fair to say that I had a good day out. And many thanks again to my mate on the inside as without his top class gen, I doubt if I would have managed all four 142s that were on my list. I am for ever indebted. This year, I have given my Northern wants a good old battering as I have had no less than eight days up in Northern land and everyone a success. The only thing I regret about this trip was not spending more time on the north side of Manchester as I am sure I could have found a few winners there but as in many cases before, it was the south side that provided my winners.

And here are the days moves -

LU 51661+51662 Morden to Stockwell ---
LU 11091+11092 Stockwell to Euston ---
390011 Euston to Wigan North Western ---
185107+185113 Wigan North Western to Manchester Piccadilly 185107 = WINNER & cleared for 10 miles
150143+156428 Manchester Piccadilly to Bolton 156428 = WINNER & cleared for 10 miles
150139 Bolton to Salford Central Cleared for 10 miles
156483 Salford Central to Salford Crescent WINNER
156489 Salford Crescent to Manchester Victoria ---
156460 Manchester Victoria to Salford Crescent ---
142012 Salford Crescent to Manchester Piccadilly ---
142036 Manchester Piccadilly to New Mills Central Cleared for 10 miles
142056 New Mills Central to Manchester Piccadilly Cleared for 10 miles
220032 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport WINNER
142034 Stockport to Altrincham Cleared for 10 miles
GM 3018+3052 Altrincham to Cornbrook ---
GM 3089+3094 Cornbrook to Deansgate ---
142029+142053 Deansgate to Manchester Airport 142029 = WINNER & cleared for 10 miles.
350408+350410 Manchester Airport to Manchester Piccadilly Both = WINNER & cleared for 10 miles
150103+150113 Manchester Piccadilly to Disley 150113 = WINNER & cleared for 10 miles.
150111+150205 Disley to Stockport ---
220030 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly WINNER
150270 Manchester Piccadilly to Reddish North WINNER
142060 Reddish North to Manchester Piccadilly ---
142061 Reddish North to Manchester Piccadilly ---
390131 Manchester Piccadilly to Euston WINNER, cleared for 100 miles
LU 11061+11062 Euston to Stockwell ---
LU 51586+51587 Stockwell to Morden ---
Milestones
Winners 142029, 150113, 150270, 156428, 156483, 185107, 220030, 222032, 350408, 350410, 390131
Class cleared 142
Cleared for 10 miles 142029, 142034, 142036, 142056, 150113, 150139, 156428, 185107, 350408, 350410
Cleared for 100 miles 390131
New Shacks Disley, New Mills Central, Reddish North

 

[D841 Roebuck]

That looks to be a concentrated and successful trip.

Well done with the 142s - still after 4 of the South Walian batch myself (got 008 and 059 though).

Currently spending an hour or so each day wrestling with an Excel spreadsheet, in an attempt to get my head round this mileage business. As my regular commute for a number of years was Rochdale to Manchester Victoria, I suspect quite a lot of the Northern fleet will have achieved 10 mile status...

Looking forward to your next trip report - a nice mix of detail and description.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

That looks to be a concentrated and successful trip.

Well done with the 142s - still after 4 of the South Walian batch myself (got 008 and 059 though).

Currently spending an hour or so each day wrestling with an Excel spreadsheet, in an attempt to get my head round this mileage business. As my regular commute for a number of years was Rochdale to Manchester Victoria, I suspect quite a lot of the Northern fleet will have achieved 10 mile status...

Looking forward to your next trip report - a nice mix of detail and description.

That was one of the last long distance trips of the year - after frenetic activity in July & August, things return to normali from now on.

I'd certainly regard the South Wales 142s far easier by a mile to get than their Northern cousins - after all, all you have to do is put up a tent at Cardiff Central for a few hours and you'll know what they are up to. But on the other hand if you do not get to Cardiff on a regular basis, then that might be a problem!

I suppose that I am lucky in that I use Excel extensively at work so no grappling for me in that department .....

 

[Kite159]

Very successful trip in Manchester

 

[Techniquest]

Many congratulations on clearing the 142s, a task many of us may never achieve! Certainly not when you include 142008/059, as an awful lot of us were not on the scene (myself included) at the time.

Another incredibly productive trip, at least you made it to the north side this time, albeit briefly.

It must be outrageously useful having a source for gen. So no more long-distance trips for 2015? We've got a while yet until the short days arrive, might as well take advantage of them!

Still say it would be a good idea to perhaps set up a forum workshop for setting up a spreadsheet properly

 

[FQ]

A very successful day there. Congrats on clearing the 142s, a task I never will (want to) achieve.

 

[55013]

I'll add my congratulations for clearing the 142s.
Only got 95 of them myself (142008 escaped me).

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Another incredibly productive trip, at least you made it to the north side this time, albeit briefly.

It must be outrageously useful having a source for gen. So no more long-distance trips for 2015? We've got a while yet until the short days arrive, might as well take advantage of them!

Still say it would be a good idea to perhaps set up a forum workshop for setting up a spreadsheet properly

While it is useful having a source of gen, I tend not to (ab)use it unless I have to. A lot of the thrill of bashing, for me at least, is not knowing what's going to turn up next. But equally, when you are given a list of workings, it can be equally fun trying to work out the diagrams and piece the jigsaw together. Even then there can be problems put in your way ranging from late running or diagram swaps.

Then the 10 mile requirement adds to the whole equation as Bus Stop Bashes are out. For example, last Friday in Manchester, I knew what my last winning Northern 150 (210) was up to but I decided that clearing a couple of 142s for 10 miles was more important. I'm sure that if I did not apply the 10 mile rule, then my requirements list would be a lot shorter than it is now - there's only about 250 units running on the network that I still need although that will ramp up in the coming months once the 387/2s and 700s start delivery; and the remainder of the 378s go up to five-car.

I do have another couple of long distance trips planned for the year but July/August was the really intensive period as it was easy to get leave then. Anyway, my workload ramps up from now on for the remainder of the year (and into the early months of 2016) so large amounts of leave would be politely declined. Weekend trips are also out of the window as Mrs KJ has six weekends off in a row - that in itself has not happened for many a year - so my disappearing from the house at 06:00 and not returning until 22:00 or later would be frowned upon (plus there's shedloads of things that I need to do at home). But August Bank Holiday Monday provides me with a small opportunity to get out (for Mrs KJ that's another working day) but even then, there's house-guests arriving late afternoon so I will have to stay relatively local so that I can be home when they arrive.

As regards the spreadsheet thing, I was thinking of setting up a spreadsheet that would allow folk to record their journeys and also provide some output such as requirements, cumulative miles, date scored, last trip etc. When I get around to pulling it together, I will create a separate thread here and let the discussion begin. The difficulty that I foresee, but it's not in surmountable, is keeping it up to date for new rolling stock etc. I might even have to learn how to write macros!

 

[Techniquest]

Fair games on the trips thing, I sympathise as I won't know what trips I can make (not including the next 3 that have been booked for months) for a while now. Days off may be changing and once December arrives there is virtually nothing until sometime in January, with nothing major likely until February.

I look forward to your thread on spreadsheets, although I hope it will be translateable into OpenOffice (which I'm due to get soon, can't afford Microsoft's version!) when I get my new laptop/tablet. I haven't properly used Excel for just over 12 years so it'll be an experience!