Keith goes wandering

[Keith Jarrett]

Sunday 21st August – Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon

I had originally contemplated making this a seat sale day but the extended journey times on a Sunday morning on the West Coast put me off – it would have been lunch time before I got anywhere worthwhile and with reduced services, it would probably have to be a track bash. But very little track that I need in the North West has a decent Sunday service so I opted to stay “in town” and see what took my fancy. Even though I’d allocated Queen for the musical references to the Seat Sale trips, I thought that “Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon” summed things up quite well. I was chore-free and spent the time doing what I enjoy most – riding around on trains!

Not having planned anything properly, I thought that I’d play safe and simply rack up some mileage on the tube network and see whether I could find any recruits for the Ten Mile Club. 1995ts 51596+51597 were forming the first train out of Morden and only going as far as Moorgate on account of Camden Town being “engineered”. But I bailed at Stockwell and switched to the Victoria Line in the hope that I might fall into one of the sets of 2009ts still under 10 miles.

From now on, I’ll simply list my moves and comment as appropriate
11019+11020 Stockwell to Finsbury Park
Both half sets were needed for 10 miles but had been removed from my lists by the time I left them at Finsbury Park.

122+205 Finsbury Park to Wood Green
Both need for mileage but the train terminated at Wood Green.

186+237 Wood Green to South Kensington
186 was dud but 237 joined it in the Ten Mile Club

122+205 South Kensington to Hounslow West
Both sets cleared for 10 miles

190+225 Hounslow West to Boston Manor
190 cleared for 10

194+229 Boston Manor to Covent Garden
Two more recruits to the ten Mile Club

100+191 Covent Garden to Holloway Road
100 sorted for 10

234+253 Holloway Road to Green Park
253 now elevated to the Ten Mile Club

11003+11004 Green Park to Stockwell
Home was calling and trumped the fact that both half-sets were very low mileage

51596+51597 Stockwell to Morden
Again!

And onwards to home.

Not a bad afternoon really with two more sets of 2009ts cleared for 10 miles and another eight 1973ts elevated to the heady heights of the Ten Mile Club – still a lot to do there as there’s another 100 or so 1973ts still below 100 miles. Something to keep me occupied whenever I have a few hours spare in the Metropolis in months to come!


Monday 22nd August - In the Lap of the Gods

The third of my Seat Sale trips and like the two previous days, I’m up ultra-early and heading for Euston. 51666+51667, fresh off the depot at Morden whisk me up to Stockwell where the switch to the Victoria Line offers up dud 11015+11016 onwards to Euston. I’m there early enough for a quick wander around the station and immediately, a required Pendolino catches my eye. Bad news is that it will be leaving in front of my booked train and a consultation of the diagrams tells me that I will probably have one shot at getting it on its return journey from Manchester. But things are not that dire as I wander over to inspect my traction for the journey north to Crewe – it’s another winning Pendolino. Time to get the red pen out and eradicate 390136 from my lists!

The train absolutely hammered it down the West Coast, waiting time at Stafford for several minutes followed by a three early arrival at Crewe where I parted company with it. 390002 followed up after a short while to take me on to Stockport. All nine-car Pendolinos are dud but ‘002 was relatively low mileage and managed to tip the 100-mile scales on the short journey. I had a theoretical +8 at Stockport, reduced to a +3, for my second winning Pendolino of the day. A quick trip through the subway at Stockport saw me waiting on the platform to greet winning 390118. The red pen was already complaining that it was too early to make two trips out of my bag but needs must. Bailing at Macclesfield with 390118 also safely in the Ten Mile Club I awaited the next service north. Cross Country provided mileage requirement 220032 to return me to Stockport.
While waiting at Stockport, I try getting in touch with my mate to see if he can extract any data out of the Magic Box, I discover that he’s had to head down to London for a series of meetings. That’s a bit of a bummer seeing as I only want four Northern units and a few clues might save me loads of time. Despite a good start, I was resigned to a poor haul on the winners front and thus thought the consolation prize might be several new recruits to the Ten Mile Club. I was well and truly “In the Lap of the Gods”.

I sort of set up camp at Stockport, expecting no winners and possibly a mileage requirement to get me out of town. After a reasonable wait, winning 175004 in hybrid formation was the way out – I’d seen 175004 and 175005 the previous week and had noted that the 5070x cars were transposed between units. I went into Piccadilly with the mis-formed set and straight back out to Stockport again in order to heave 175004 into the Ten Mile Club. After only a short wait, winning 220002 appeared so I took it into Piccadilly and after wandering around for a short while, I was straight out again with 220002! Another fully paid up member of the Ten Mile Club. On the way back out to Stockport on the 220, I’d seen a required 185 heading to the Airport so vowed to intercept it on its return leg. That meant that I could not be too fussy about how I got back from Stockport to Piccadilly. However, a strategically placed 175110, absent from The Haulage Book for many years (last had on 30th June 2006 from Chester to Manchester Piccadilly) was a useful way of getting into place for winner number five of the day. Bang on cue 185106 chugs in from the Airport and I join the mad scramble for seats but luckily secure a table for the run over the Pennines to Huddersfield. I always enjoy crossing the Pennines and marvel at the way our Victorian friends constructed the railway without many of the modern construction aids that are available now. And I marvel even more at the efforts put in by their forefathers in building the canal that follows much of the trans Pennine route. At Huddersfield, I bid winner number five farewell and set up camp to see if any of my remaining 185s are out to play. I’d even happily settle for a mileage requirement!

It was only 15-20 minutes later before another winner chugs in. Out with the red pen again, this time to eliminate 185116 from my lists. I’m now bound for Leeds! But what am I going to do there. I hope for a mileage requirement to start the journey back over to the west side but the Railway Gods were being very kind – the first train back was winning 185129. That red pen must surely run out soon. I decide against a stopover at Huddersfield as that would be too greedy to expect my last 185 to fall into my lap so I go through to Piccadilly. I’d foolishly booked myself back up from Warrington so had to start thinking about the homeward move but first there was time for a spin out to Stockport with 323233 (another joinee for the Ten Mile Club) where I fell into 323228 straight back (also now in the “Club”). This quick out and back left me enough time for a second Stockport leap. A strategically placed, mileage deficient, 220011 was taken for the final leap of the day out to Stockport and it duly joined the Ten Mile Club. A rapid dash through the subway saw me getting on board 390151 just as the doors were closing – this would be the second time that I’d done 390151 between Piccadilly and Stockport. At least I could add another Pendo to the ever-growing list of members of the Ten Mile Club.

A nice fast run back to Piccadilly saw me arrive in plenty of time to wander over to platform 14 for a peak hour train out to Warrington Bank Quay. That second spin out to Stockport denied me the chance to raid Sainsburys at Piccadilly so I had to hope that I’d have time to source supplies in Warrington. While 175109 was dud, I had no option so squeezed on with all the other regular commuters and was even able to secure a half decent table seat. Alighting at Warrington with what seemed to be half of the train, I scurried out of the station and mounted a raid on the nearby ALDI store. Returning to Bank Quay station with my bag of goodies, I was greeted with the news that my train back to London was over 30 late due to operational difficulties much further north. Initially I thought that I’d simply have to deck chair it for the duration but then 390125 appeared heading north. Swiftly checking RTT, I had a +5 at Wigan North western on to my late running train south so I thought that I’d risk it as after all 390125 was a winner and I am not in the habit of letting winners go! With the red pen getting some rather late use, I left the winning 390 at Wigan with the expectation of a dash through the subway but RTT was now telling me that there was another train in front of my booked service.

390129 duly appears and I join the masses aboard to return myself to Warrington Bank Quay. OK 390129 was dud but at least, I broke the journey up a little by taking it. Right behind was 390009, absent from The Haulage Book for many a year and then getting two entries in the space of a week! As we were running late, an additional stop at Crewe was put in to allow folk to make connections but we had well and truly lost our path and a staggering train just in front of us did nothing to aid recovery of time. Eventual arrival into Euston was well over half an hour late. London Underground excelled though with 2009ts 11049+11050 getting me to Stockwell speedily, combined with a cross platform dash for 1995ts 51558+51559 and I was in Morden in almost record time – about one minute shy of the theoretical minimum. This rapid journey certainly focussed my thoughts on the day’s outcome – eight more winners in the books and no less than twelve more recruits to the Ten Mile Club. With all that activity, it’s hardly surprising that I did not bag any new shacks! I was pleased with the day’s work, leaving just one 185 and three 390s on the all-time requirements list. Add in a few 220/221 along with just three Northern DMUs and there’s not many winners left in the North West. But there’s still one “seat sale” trip still to come so watch this space!

 

[Techniquest]

Some high levels of productivity there good sir! It would appear everyone is doing better with the 185s than I am, it won't surprise you to learn that I plan to rectify that soon, high time I got back to the North!

That Ten Mile Club must have an incredibly huge membership file by now! As always some excellent reading from you, bring on that next Seat Sale trip!

 

[FQ]

Loads of winners in Mancc there! You were certainly very lucky with everything!

Tech - You're probably beating me on 185s - I need 11 of them.

 

[Techniquest]

Loads of winners in Mancc there! You were certainly very lucky with everything!

Tech - You're probably beating me on 185s - I need 11 of them.

I'm only 5 ahead of you then. I'm now thinking of heading to Manchester on Sunday!

 

[Kite159]

Another productive day in Northern land (I'm guessing you must have been on a FONW to have validity to Leeds).

Only one more 185 is good, although that will probably be easier to locate than 153360

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Wednesday 31st August – Magical Mystery Tour

The last of my Virgin seat sale trips this summer sees me heading down the West Coast yet again. For those of you who have a bit of a musical knowledge will have already guessed where I am headed by the title. I am indeed referring to the 1967 album from the Fab 4. While the opening track took the name of the album and was well known, as are most tracks from our Liverpudlian friends, it was surprisingly not released as a single!

It was the usual mega-early alarm and a swift exit from KJ Towers at 05:50 and up to Morden tube station for 1995ts 51655+51656 northwards to Stockwell for the now familiar (to you, dear readers) cross-platform swap onto the Victoria Line and 2009ts 11071+11072. I was pleased to see 11072 as that’s one of the ever-reducing number of 2009ts still needed for 10 miles and by the time I had alighted at Euston, I had issued another invitation to join the Ten Mile Club. Making my way to the mainline platforms at Euston, I see that Virgin Control must have had a sneak look at my wants list as dud 390152 was waiting for me – my luck on the 07:07 from Euston had finally run out.

A lack-lustre run north saw me alight from ‘152 at Liverpool Lime Street within a minute of booked time and within a few minutes, armed with a value for money Saveaway ticket, I found myself on the low level platforms. My target for today was the Merseyrail electrics and for the next nine hours I was expecting to travel solely on DC powered PEP-derived units [Ed: Classes 507 and 508 for those not in the know]. I only needed three 507s outright but a far greater number of 507/508 units for 10 miles along with what seemed to be a shed load of DC-served shacks. Anyway I did not have long to wait before mileage requirement 508127 showed up, bound for West Kirby. Leasowe seemed a decent place to go as I’d kill two birds with one stone – getting 508127 into the Club and hitting a new shack as well. Dud 507009 took me back from Leasowe to Birkenhead North where I festered for a while to see what else was about but nothing tallied with the lists!

Getting bored of festering at Birkenhead North, 507020 was sampled on a Bus Stop Bash to Birkenhead Park where ultra-low-mileage 508143 materialised heading for New Brighton. Still not eligible for membership of the Ten Mile Club by the time I’d reached the seaside terminus, I rejoined 508143 for the run back to James Street. I thought that by now, I’d seen all the units working on the West Kirby and New Brighton services so was planning on transferring my allegiances to the Chester line but the appearance of 508124 proved me wrong. A trip down the West Kirby line to Bidston soon solved the mileage issue that I’d had with this 508. While at Bidston, the Borderlands Line 150 appeared but as it was not required in any way, I stayed put [Ed: to be fair, KJ only needs two Arriva Wales 150s for 10 miles]. Dud 507020 soon appeared to whisk me back to Hamilton Square.

Transferring to the Chester/Ellesmere Port lines, late-running 508120 was the first unit up and “Yippee!” it was needed for 10 miles. A spin out to Eastham Rake soon sorted that out and within minutes, mileage requirement 507001 was rolling in, bound for Ellesmere Port. I could have gone all the way with 507001 and cleared it for ten miles but opted for a bail at Overpool instead, simply to scratch the shack! Overpool was a hive of activity with two guys cleaning the platforms, another doing general maintenance and finally another pair trying to knock life into the ticket machine. 507001 reappeared and took me back to Hooton where we parted company. I was now able to add 507001 to the list of units cleared for 10 miles.

I knew that there was at least one more sub-10 mile unit out on this part of the network and it was not too far away. There were also a couple of unknown workings so I thought that a short fester was the order of the day. First unit (ex Chester) was totally dud so I hopped over the footbridge for the second which was just entering the station. “My Lords!” was the first thought to race through my mind. I hastily boarded winning 507011 and normal folk would have stuck with it to Chester but I went for the bail at Bache, primarily to facilitate the shack score. I had enough time to wander into the adjacent Morrisons supermarket for a PNB and also to top up the supplies before returning to the platforms to be greeted by 507011 returning from Chester. With 507011 over 10 miles, I bailed again at Hooton, knowing that the last working Wirral unit was behind me. I spent 15 minutes on a bench munching my recently acquired fodder before 508122 appeared. Going through with ‘122 to Liverpool Central, I was able to add this unit to the Ten Mile Club.

I relocated to the Northern Line platforms going via the station concourse and the conveniently placed conveniences. The first two services on the platforms were for Ormskirk and Kirkby respectively and were both dud. “But, hey, what’s this?” quickly followed by Oh yessssss!” were the thoughts that passed through my grey matter. Welcome to the second winner of the day in the shape of 507030. Jumping on board, I decided that as well as red-penning it, I might as well knock it on the head for 10 miles as well so we are off to Formby and as a bonus, raking in a shack score as well – the jam is definitely well and truly spread nice and thickly! At Formby, I had a few minutes before the next train was due so I went for a quick walk outside only to see an act of municipal vandalism. Merseyrail had done a half-decent job of restoring the station’s exterior only for the local authority to come along and obscure the station name with the traffic lights that form part of a crossing outside the station. Aaaargh! And of course, after The Lord Mayor’s Show comes the Dustcart in the form of a totally dud 508110 but rather than wait around for something more tasty, I jumped aboard back to Hightown and another shack-scratch. I did not have long to wait for another dud to assert itself, this time 508134 which I took to Ainsdale to continue the shack-scoring spree.

Another change of direction saw me board 507013+507017 to Freshfield where at last I managed to fall into a match with my lists, 507023. I jumped aboard to Blundellsands & Crosby [Ed: Sounds like a firm of solicitors!] With 507023 firmly in the Ten Mile Club, my luck held out with mileage-need 508138 showing up to take me to Hillside. I was particularly pleased to fall into 508138 as previously I had managed only a micro-mileage with it so needed almost the whole 10 miles to allow an application to be made to the Ten Mile Club. The next service with 507014+507026 soon put an end to that little caper! Thankfully the interregnum lasted only a short while as once Waterloo was reached (and yet another shack roped in), 508131 restored my faith in the system.

508131 was taken to Formby where a quick leap over the bridge saw me grab 507006+507007 (alas both dud) for the run down to Bootle New Strand and yet another shack score. The following train was a dud 508110 but given that I had more or less cleared out the Southport line – only Birkdale left to go and no known units left – I jumped on the 508 to Sandhills. Dud 508126 was taken to Fazakerley and after a short wait for it to go to Kirkby, I reboarded 508126 back to Kirkdale. I had literally only a couple of throws of the dice left before I needed to get back to Liverpool for my train home. And was I rewarded? Of course I was rewarded. And rewarded greatly with what proved to be the final winner of the day. No ordinary winner either – 507018 was my last 507 so class cleared. I eagerly jumped aboard 507018+507033, naturally taking a seat in 507018, for the run to Liverpool Central. I was on cloud nine and while 507018 remains under ten miles, at least when I next return to Merseyside, I’ll have something to chase. I had about 20 minutes to raid the Sainsburys store outside the ticket barriers and to walk up to Lime Street – all easily achieved!

390046 was waiting to take me south to Euston and another uneventful run plonked me in Euston close to our booked arrival time. I descended to the Victoria line but found that it was suspended so I diverted to the Northern Line and endured the long trek via Bank back south to Morden with 1995ts 51602+51716. This gave me ample time to reflect on the day’s activities. The highlight has to be bagging my last 507 (and, for now, my last DC-only EMU). But almost equally important is that of the 18 Merseyrail EMUs required for 10 miles, no less than 11 of them have been eliminated from my lists. 508123 now holds the mantle of being my lowest mileage Merseyrail unit with only 1.46 miles on the clock; something that I’ll need to rectify when I next visit the homeland of the Fab Four. Shack-wise, things are looking up with only around 10 or 11 left on the DC Lines left to get. So all in all, a great day out!

 

[Techniquest]

A most excellent day out indeed there, well done on getting so much done!

Many congratulations on clearing the 507s, and welcome to the club! As always an excellent read, a shame on the dud 390s though!

 

[Kite159]

Good afternoon Seer Green & Jordans, I'm calling on behalf of Blundellsands & Crosby reference your ongoing payment dispute with Langwith-Whaley Thorns

Congrats on another productive day, and clearing Merseyrail for units (I assume from your reading the 508s have fallen)

 

[FQ]

A huge congrats on clearing Miseryrail! Sounds like a great day was had there - which two ATW 150s do you need for 10 miles? The guys at Overcool must have managed to get the ticket machine back into life as it was my form of entertainment while festering there the next day - did you know that a 1st class return from Overpool to Penzance is £660 ?

 

[Keith Jarrett]

A most excellent day out indeed there, well done on getting so much done!

Many congratulations on clearing the 507s, and welcome to the club! As always an excellent read, a shame on the dud 390s though!

Thanks - clearing the 507s has been a long time coming and I certainly did not expect to do it this time around

Good afternoon Seer Green & Jordans, I'm calling on behalf of Blundellsands & Crosby reference your ongoing payment dispute with Langwith-Whaley Thorns

Excellent!

Congrats on another productive day, and clearing Merseyrail for units (I assume from your reading the 508s have fallen)

Yes, the 508s fell in July last year with 508111 being the last one. Here's a link to the trip report

A huge congrats on clearing Miseryrail! Sounds like a great day was had there - which two ATW 150s do you need for 10 miles? The guys at Overcool must have managed to get the ticket machine back into life as it was my form of entertainment while festering there the next day - did you know that a 1st class return from Overpool to Penzance is £660 ?

FQ - it's 150236 and 150256 that I am still chasing down. And 236 only has a Central to Queen Street trip on the clock so it's some serious mileage that I need with that one. Presumably the Overpool to Penzance fare that you refer to is the most expensive that the machine will sell you. You'd probably break it if you tried paying for one of those in pound coins or 50p pieces.

 

[FQ]

I need both 236 and 256 for haulage! I couldn't get it to offer a fare any higher than £660 so I'm guessing so. Wick is cheaper!

 

[55013]

Congratulations on clearing the 507s, something that I'm a long way from achieving.
An excellent write up, as ever.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Wednesday 21st September – Back and Fourth

Yes, it’s another early rise for me today and the musical references continue. The tempo is slightly different this time as we have Lindisfarne joining us for entertainment, and in particular, their 1978 album Back and Fourth from which the hit Run for Home was taken. I could have equally chosen The Animals as my band for the day or indeed exploited the tenuous connections with AC/DC but the prog rockers won the day. I’m sure the musically savvy of you will have guessed where I am headed today but if not, I’m sure the suspense will not kill you for another few sentences! Leaving home at a totally ungodly hour, I made my way to Morden station where 1995ts 51531+51556 took me up to Stockwell. I was running a bit early so I hung around for a few minutes in case a low mileage set of 2009ts showed up – I was duly rewarded with low mileage 11003+11004 for the run up to Kings Cross St Pancras.

That short wait at Stockwell cancelled out any lengthy wait at Kings Cross as when I arrived at the Great Northern terminus, my train had just been platformed so I marched straight up to the front to be greeted by high-mileage 91105 which would be my first 91 over 1,000 miles by the time that I alighted from it almost three hours later. I took up my seat at the front with a couple of other folk in that carriage but just before we left, 91130 appeared in the adjacent platform and that started me off thinking – after all it was my last 91. RTT seemed to indicate that it would be following me along the East Coast in about an hour’s time so I started thinking of ways to grab it and even altering the whole balance of the day so that I could grab it.

We had an on-time departure from The Cross and more or less kept perfect time throughout until I alighted at Newcastle. I’d tracked 91130 to see if it would follow me up but it ended up going to Leeds instead! But alighting at Newcastle, I was keeping half an eye peeled for a certain Heaton-allocated 156. Within a minute, I’d found it! It was lurking in one of the west end bays with the PIS telling me that it would form a service to Hexham in about an hour. Another consultation of RTT told me that after going to Hexham, it would be heading back through Newcastle and down the coast to Middlesbrough and Nunthorpe. That was probably the time to intercept it.

Today’s target was to begin my exploration of the Tyne & Wear Metro – my previous encounter had been extremely brief and limited to getting a mere four units and three shacks in the book, leaving 86 of the fleet still required. I set myself a target of 60 winners with a realistic expectation that if I topped 50 that would be good going. I also thought about roping in some track and/or shacks but was not setting out on a concerted shack/track bash. With only the distraction of a 156 running along parallel tracks, that seemed pretty achievable. The idea was to get as many winners in so the normal mileage needs (10 miles minimum) went out of the window as that could be sorted at a later date. But I’d still like to have at least one mile on the clock and this dictated a lot of my moves.

Rather than put a lot of text around each set of moves, I’ll just list them out and flesh out as necessary. So after diving down to the Metro and purchasing a day rover (excellent value at under a fiver) here’s what I got up to -
4028+4073 Newcastle Central – Gateshead Stadium
4019+4046 Gateshead Stadium – Newcastle Central
4055+4068 Newcastle Central – Gateshead Stadium
4032+4071 Gateshead Stadium – Newcastle Central
4011+4080 Newcastle Central – Gateshead Stadium
4011 (along with three other classmates) had been bagged for bus stop bashes on a trip up to the Tyne many years back
4005+4085 Gateshead Stadium – Newcastle Central
4041+4067 Newcastle Central – Gateshead Stadium
4023+4048 Gateshead Stadium – Newcastle Central
I had a ten minute break when I wandered upstairs to check that the 156 was going to Hexham as advised by the PIS and I also took the opportunity to grab some late breakfast/early lunch from the adjacent Sainsburys store
4001+4040 Newcastle Central – Gateshead Stadium
Nice pretty pair with 4001 in original Tyne & Wear yellow & white colours while 4040 had an advert wrap for Emirates Airline
4038+4062 Gateshead Stadium – Newcastle Central
4043+4086 Newcastle Central – Gateshead Stadium
I'd been on Tyneside for around an hour and a half and already twenty winners had been scratched. Not bad going
4013+4014 Gateshead Stadium – Newcastle Central
4065+4078 Newcastle Central – Gateshead Stadium
4034+4074 Gateshead Stadium – Newcastle Central
4022+4036 Newcastle Central – Gateshead Stadium
4082+4084 Gateshead Stadium – Monument
Went for the shack scratch at Monument as I knew that I’d fall into a dud at Central
4069+4079 Monument – Gateshead Stadium
4020+4031 Gateshead Stadium – Haymarket
4038+4062 Haymarket – Newcastle Central
Another shack scratch and my first repeat. Now time to leave the Metro alone for a bit as I had an appointment with a certain 156 so I wandered upstairs and had a short while to await the arrival of the next service from Hexham. Within minutes, I could a 156 approaching and whilst I’d seen the outward service depart, I was still nervous. Had I got it wrong? Was there some weird ECS working that I had overlooked? Fortunately for me, none of the above applied and as soon as 156490 had screeched to a halt, I was standing by the doors, eager to board my last Northern 156. I had the decency to let a few folk off first and then boarded aiming to secure a table. After all, I needed plenty of room to exercise the red pen on a very important move!

156490 chugged off towards Nunthorpe and I felt that I had gone a long way in getting all my Northern 156s finally “red-penned”. I celebrated with some of the provisions that I had bagged earlier on but the celebrations will be significantly greater when my last Northern unit falls and also when my last 156 has received the red pen treatment. All too soon, we arrived at Sunderland and I alighted – at least 156490 was well in the book and also eligible to join the Ten Mile Club. Now back to the Metro and line by line reporting with comments as appropriate
4010+4059 Sunderland – Stadium of Light
4034+4074 Stadium of Light – Millfield
4013+4014 Millfield – Park Lane
4082+4084 Park Lane - Pallion
4034+4074 Pallion - University
4017+4026 University - South Hylton
4017+4026 South Hylton – St Peter’s
4043+4086 St Peter’s – Sunderland
At least I had bagged all the shacks and track in the Sunderland area thus making a future shack and track grabbing trip easier by not having to go to the remote parts of the network. Now it was time to get nearer to Newcastle
4049+4060 Sunderland - Pelaw
4039+4053 Pelaw – Hebburn
4042+4063 Hebburn - Felling
4006+4061 Felling - Bede
4037+4057 Bede - Newcastle Central
By now I’d cleared out all bar one of the all-day workings and I was not in position for that so the aim was to start covering the rush hour only workings that start emerging from the depot in mid/late afternoon. The only problem was that a track fault was stopping anything coming south (I’d passed nothing since Jarrow) but by the time I arrived at Central, things were on the move. The first couple of services to head south were rammed but thankfully were dud so I pitched my tent for a few minutes while all the lemmings crammed themselves into dud units. I did think that with the disruption that the peak hour extras would be binned but only one failed to show.
4056+4076 Newcastle Central – Gateshead Stadium
4008+4050 Gateshead Stadium – Pelaw
4049+4060 Pelaw – Fellgate
Only did this move as there was a significant gap until the next rush hour chuck-out would head north and I needed the connection from the Metro onto the main line to Sunderland
4034+4074 Fellgate - Pelaw
4004+4021 Pelaw - Felling
4030+4052 Felling - Gateshead
4047+4088 Gateshead - Monument
4007+4033 Monument – West Jesmond
4009+4044 West Jesmond - Longbenton
4039+4053 Longbenton – South Gosforth
4035+4075 South Gosforth - Jesmond
4051+4090 Jesmond – South Gosforth
4049+4060 South Gosforth – Newcastle Central
4029+4054 Newcastle Central - Jesmond
4065+4078 Jesmond – Newcastle Central
By now, I’d seen all workings and had missed only one. So ended a fabulous day on the Tyne & Wear Metro with no less than 67 winning metro units. When I next come back there will still be a huge number of shacks to rope in along with a decent amount of track north of the river but only 19 units left to find. Given my targets and initial expectations, what I achieved was well beyond all expectations.

Leaving the Metro behind, there was about 20 minutes before my booked train back to The Smoke and this was sufficient time to think about supplies for the homeward trip. I first went to the Sainsburys store to acquire some provisions and whilst I managed to acquire the bulk of what I wanted, there was no suitable dessert. Thankfully the adjacent Marks & Sparks came to the rescue with my favourite “fruit” – custard tarts! At least I’d be dining in style!

But if my red pen thought that it had made its final strokes of the day, then it was in for a disappointment. Bang on time the Aberdeen to Kings Cross train appeared with 43306+43310 which were both required for MTU engines; I not had either power car since they had surrendered their screaming Valenta power units. In my book, a re-engineering of this sort renders them a new loco. So that made seventy, yes SEVENTY winners for the day. I cannot honestly remember the last time that I logged that number in a day and even in 2016 when I have been chasing winners like fury, I have not topped 70 in most months let alone in one day. I was on cloud nine!

I took my seat, in the TGS of course, and as 43306+43310 powered southwards, I started to tuck into my supper and proceeded to devour the lot within about half an hour; and this included a sandwich lurking in amongst all the other junk in my rucksack that I’d forgotten about. We lost a few minute’s time on the southbound run and were 8L at one point but some spirited running, particularly south of Peterborough saw the deficit reduced to 3L as we rolled into The Cross. It was left to 2009ts 11063+11064 to whizz me south to Stockwell where a quick dash to the opposite platform saw me clamber onto 1995ts 51558+51559 for the run south to Morden. And I was opening my front door a mere 45 minutes after arriving at The Cross which is bare minimum time for the journey.

I reflected on the day and while I had made a massive dent in my Tyne & Wear Metro needs by racking up 67 winners, the star of the show had to be 156490 which represented 25% of my required Northern units. While I’m unlikely to get any more Northern winners this year, I’m hoping that it will not be long before 153360, 158848 and 333003 have a brush with my red pen. I should not forget that I have managed to clear most of the shacks south of the Tyne along with most track save for the outer extremities of the South Shields branch - the shack count ended up at a respectable 21 for the day. That all means there’s still enough needed in the way of shacks, track and units on the Tyne & Wear metro for me to be already thinking of a trip back there next year. And more importantly, I’m up to date (for a few days at least) with trip reports.

 

[FQ]

Holy moly! 70 winners! That's incredibly good going, especially when you think that 156490 is included - a huge congrats on that! Hopefully the others will land soon.

 

[Kite159]

Congrats on a successful day on the Tyne & Wear Metro

 

[alexf380]

Really very well done on the winner front, and for clearing your Northern 156s!

 

[noddy1878]

Wow! 70 winners in a day! I need to get to metro land quick! I need loads of them and nearly all the shacks. Seriously though that was a very good day out.

 

[55013]

I really hoped to have a visit to the Metro in 2016 but sadly it looks like it'll have to wait until next year.
That's a great shame as your report has really whetted my appetite!
Congratulations on clearing the Northern 156ers.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Thanks for all the accolades guys! And I'm glad that I've inspired a few of you to head towards the Tyne even if it is not going to be until 2017 for some of you.

I certainly enjoyed my day on the Tyne and when I come to vote for the best trip of 2016, it'll be in with a shout. The icing on the cake (and the cherry on top of that) was definitely the bagging of 156490. Now, let's see how many more singletons I can round up.

I'm already working on the first cut of a 2017 plan but with less winners out there than ever before, once a good number of those are in the bag, I reckon that nushax and nutrax will be my focus although of course, the Ten Mile Club will still be on the look out for new recruits.

 

[Kite159]

Agreed there, I can see a return visit to Tyne & Wear Metro land next year with the focus of getting my deckchair out at somewhere like Gateshead Stadium in hunt of my last 14 units (although I understand a couple are long-term out of service [4002 springs to mind]).

 

[Techniquest]

When I was flicking down the page to find the latest instalment, I saw floods of red fill my screen. My eyes were going wide just from that!

Many congratulations on such an epic day in the North! 70 winners in one day I've never managed myself, I think I've hit 50 or so once in London but 70, wow!

Many congratulations are more than due for clearing your Northern 156s. Only needing 3 units with Northern now is just amazing, something most of us including myself will be jealous of!

Rather hoping my own mini trip on the Tyne and Wear Metro next month is even a quarter as productive, I need 26 units on that system and about 20 shacks. Unsurprisingly I hope to have a rather good clearout! Didn't it get incredibly boring for you doing endless leaps between Central and Gateshead Stadium?!

 

[47403]

Fabulous reading all those Keith. You've wiped the floor with loads there. Congrats on numerous clearances.

That 10 mile club folder must be fit to bursting now.

Glad to see my neck of the woods was good to you too. 156490 especially. You done extremely well on the metro, certainly got big gains there.

The last few months, the metro has been besieged with problems problems at the moment, failed trains, signalling you name it. Its even prompted a local MP to call for the contract to be taken away from DB reggio or whoever is the.light rail arm of DB Schenker, calling them a disgrace, commuters have nicknamed it the black n yellow peril.. However a while back, there was talk of expanding the system as far out to Washington, Durham and further down the Durham Coast plus pics of new units. So to you folk attempting to get here and bash to and fro. You may have a couple of yrs before the current stock goes the journey.

Has KJ's red pen officially came out of retirement, I've never seen such a splurge of red as in your last few trip reports. As a late railway friend once said to me years ago, get in the right places and you'll get them. Certainly reading your trip reports them words rang true.

 

[Cowley]

Just spent a very enjoyable hour reading back through your trip reports Keith. There's a lot of them so I'll probably carry on tomorrow. Very enjoyable reading, it occurred to me while walking past a magazine stand in the supermarket today that I haven't been buying railway magazines much recently, mainly because there's so much good stuff to read on here.
Looking forward to reading more of your excellent reports.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

OK, it’s a month late but here’s the last “long distance” trip report of the year! I’ll press on and not keep you waiting any longer …..

Friday 30th September – The Cat’s got the Cream

Another day, another early start but this will be the last long distance trip of the season. No musical references this time so it’ll be whatever takes your fancy. This trip had been a long time in planning and rearranged more than once – three times to be precise. So at the fourth time of asking, I was up bright and early with Mrs KJ who was off to work a 12 hour shift while lucky me was playing trains! 1995ts 51542+51543 had the privilege of taking me north from Morden but for once I gave the cross platform interchange at Stockwell a miss, preferring to plod on under the Thames to Moorgate. Leaving low mileage 1995ts 51542 behind, I went upstairs for the sub-surface lines and a Bus Stop Bash with S-8 21061+21062 to Liverpool Street.

At The Street, I met up with my good friend Rex who I had not seen in a while. Rex reckoned that he had not ventured out of The Street for ages save for the odd suburban leap to Stratford - he calculated that it was about six or seven years as most of the East Anglian forays have been covered by Rex’s son Mark. I could not confirm but I certainly cannot recall having Rex’s company in this part of the world in recent years. That was all a by and by, a more important matter was to seek out our train and within seconds 90001 had been logged as my first of the class for 2016. Our plan was to head for Ipswich, acquire our Anglia Plus day tickets, and to drop back one train before going on to Norwich for what would be the main event of the day.

A slow run out of London saw a deficit of 24L by the time we reached Ipswich and this was apparently due to signalling difficulties at Witham. We binned the idea of a quick session at Ipswich as this would potentially put our plans in peril. Thankfully the conductor was more than happy to issue us with our Anglia Plus tickets rather than suggesting that we patronise a ticket office. However our passage through Suffolk’s county town did reveal some useful clues as to the whereabouts of certain units that Rex and I were hunting. The relevant information was noted for later use with the hope that they’d all keep to diagram.

Only a minute or two was gained by the time we reached Norwich but at least Rex and I were on schedule. The first thing to attract our attention was the growling of some approaching 37s. Within milliseconds, Rex had his camera in position to record the arrival of 37405+37425. Both were dud for me so there was no need for me to head to Yarmouth. 37425 was no stranger to The Haulage Book as I’d run across it a few times on the North Wales coast but 37405 had only featured under its old number 37282. Of greater interest to me were the Cats that were top and tailing the second short set and as departure was not long off, I grabbed a couple of photos before taking my seat in the leading coach. Bang on time 68024 gingerly moved out of Norwich station with classmate 68022 hanging on the rear of the short set. Once clear of the station, Centaur was opened up and started to show what the Cats could do, even on speed restricted rural railways. Rex joined me but he bailed at Brundall as he was more interested in viewing the railway through the lens of his camera and thus wanted to return to Norwich without too much delay. With my red pen having made its first stroke of the day, I sat back to enjoy Centaur’s performance all the way to Lowestoft. I’d been to Lowestoft way back in 1974 but had failed to log the journey at the time and as the notebooks from that era cannot be located, I was effectively on new track once we had passed Reedham. After 23 ½ miles of pure Cat heaven, I found myself in the coastal town of Lowestoft having stopped at or passed through several required shacks – those would have to wait. Lowestoft though was a shack score on account of the previously unrecorded visit.

Instead, like the driver, I swapped ends of the train as 68022 awaited and within minutes, we were on the move again. And the red pen came out of hiding for a second time to formally record Resolution’s entry into The Haulage Book. This time, the train missed most of the intermediate shacks and Resolution just purred along back to Norwich. Upon arrival at Norwich, I was expecting the Cats to retire to Crown Point for a few hours rest but it appeared that another spin to Lowestoft was on the cards instead. I set off to locate Rex and check whether he had seen my last “all time” Anglia 170 but his response was negative. He did enlighten me as to the identities of the two units, a 153 and a 156, that I had passed on my way back into Norwich and both were mileage needs. All I needed to do was get myself back out to Brundall to meet them coming back.

68024 Centaur was about to leave again for Lowestoft stopping almost everywhere so provided a convenient way to travel the five-odd miles to Brundall. Having enjoyed a second run out to Brundall, I crossed the footbridge and watched Centaur thrash its way out of the station towards Lowestoft and a few minutes later, 156422 appeared from Great Yarmouth to whisk me back into Norwich. With 156422 safely in the Ten Mile Club and no signs of anything else that I was after, I sought out Rex and suggested whether it was now the appropriate time to drop down to Ipswich as there were things around there that we both wanted. Firstly though, I had to witness the arrival of a rather late running 170206 from Cambridge. Aaaargh, my last Anglia 170! But after the 170 had disgorged its load, it was shunted into a siding so it was clearly going nowhere fast (I gather that it moved again about three hours later). And then 153322 showed up – another mileage need but I knew that I had a chance of that one a little later.

90010 powered us down to Stowmarket where we leapt as there was a Cambridge service close behind. Rex first of all went for a little walk as he wanted a few shots of the station although I think his partner in crime had already photographed the station a few years back but Rex was having none of it! Soon 170202, completely dud apart from logging carriages for haulage, rolled in and we were soon on our way to Ipswich. Arriving at Ipswich, a 156 sat in the opposing bay platform immediately caught my eye on account of it being a suitable target for recruitment to the Ten Mile Club so it was a case of over the northern footbridge and within seconds, or so it seemed, we were on our way with me preparing the paperwork for 156417 forthcoming application to join the Ten Mile Club. Beyond Westerfield, it was technically new track for me as this was another stretch which I know I’ve done but never properly logged. I stayed on to Wickham Market where I bailed for a shack score. In the time available though, I was not able to score the town of Wickham Market which is over two miles away from its station – Google Maps estimated the walk at 45 minutes! So the deck chair came out to await the return service which came in with 153322, required for 10 miles so at least my return to Ipswich was not completely empty handed.

Back at Ipswich, I again located Rex and he seemed to be having a field day photographing loads of required units and carriages. I did not have long to linger though as another Skateboard that was in need of my attention trundled in. This time, it was all-time requirement 153335 which was working to/from Felixstowe all day that needed my company so I boarded for a trip down the Felixstowe branch. The poor recording of the 1970s was coming back to haunt me again as I know that when we did East Anglia in 1974, we did all track but the notebooks in question have long gone without me extracting the necessary data. In more recent times, I have made it as far as Derby Road so I was on a total winner with 153335, new track beyond Derby Road and a required shack of Felixstowe all in one go. Happy Days! At Felixstowe, I had just enough time for a few snaps before retracing my steps to Ipswich with 153335 and by the time I returned to Suffolk’s County Town, 153335 had also passed the necessary tests for membership of the Ten Mile Club. One thing did strike me about the Felixstowe branch – it wasn’t half busy with container trains. I saw no less than four different ones on the move plus those recessing in Ipswich Yard awaiting their allocated path.

I still had an hour to go before we were due to return to London and I sought out a fill-in move. 170202, a repeat from earlier took me back to Stowmarket where I had a choice of 170s back to Ipswich. I settled on 170201 as the preceding one was decidedly cosy. AT Ipswich, I had sufficient time to round up Rex before 90012 appeared to take us back to Liverpool Street. I’d had 90012 before on the Great Eastern Main Line but not into The Street so new track with this one! Rex appeared to have a good day but there were still a few things on his list so I suspect he’ll be back! While back in London at a reasonable hour, I decided to head almost directly home so it was 92095+92120+92134+92181 to Bank for 51570+51571 south to Morden.

I reflected on the day and concluded that while there were only three winners for the day, I had now had 83 in the month of September, the best month so far for 2016 (April was previously the best when 82 were ensnared). I’d also got some new track in and a trio of new shacks as well as some new recruits for the Ten Mile Club. All in all, an enjoyable day and I do not think it will be too long before I am back in East Anglia seeking out my last Greater Anglia DMU (170206) and the last few units still below ten miles. Then it will be knocking out the remaining track (Sudbury branch and Wickham Market to Lowestoft). One for 2017 perhaps?

There’s unlikely to be any trip reports from me until mid-November as I now have a pretty intensive time with the book business as well as the day job on top so I look top others to provide the entertainment from their reports!

POSTSCRIPT

Regular readers will know that my attention has been, and will continue to be, diverted elsewhere on two fronts. I seem to have spent a lot of October selling books but that did not mean that October was completely barren even though I’ve still to restart the mini London bashes. The red pen emerged from its cocoon on several occasions with several 395s falling victim to the red pen’s fatal stroke on a day trip to Folkestone. A regular diet of new S-7 stock falling into my grubby little hands (only six sets now needed) also made a sizeable contribution to October’s tally. Last, but not least, re-tractioned 455s have helped to boost the number of 2016 winners. SWT staff must think that things are odd in that I inspect the undercarriage of every SWT 455 at Waterloo to see whether the tell-tale signs of a new traction package are visible. This all means that October has ended up not looking too bad in the winners’ stats. And yes, October ended on a high with me sampling my first RLU 700 up the Wall of Death on the final day of October!

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Nice report, Keith. Glad to hear that the books are selling!

Anglia is rising up my "to do" list for 2017, those 90s aren't going to last forever, there are oodles of required shacks to go at, and I've an ambition to visit certain East Suffolk villages from where some of my ancestors came...

 

[Kite159]

I was wondering if you would be taking the chance to sample a 700 on the Sutton Loop

Sounded like a good day in Anglia land, with some Cat based action as well as scoring a 153 into your book. I hope your book selling business is going well

 

[FQ]

Sounds like a great time there! It must have been harsh seeing your last AGA 170 but not getting it - at least you got a couple of cats and a 153 though! I thoroughly enjoyed the read as always.

 

[Cowley]

What an excellent report. I need nearly all of those locos apart from one of the 90s

 

[Techniquest]

Welcome back Keith! I had a hunch you must have been rather busy with the books, credit where it's due for managing that and the day job.

68024 is quite a noisy little beast isn't it! One 68 our books have in common, although I need 022. 004 was quite the beast too when I recently had it mind!

Nicely done on the all time winner 153 too, and even though I was only in Anglia just under 2 weeks ago your trip report has made me want to get back over there! I won't mention how 170206 was a score for me too, funnily enough I scored the shack at Wickham Market too on my trip. Glad I didn't go for the walk into the town though, never even occured to me to go for a walk!

Hope you'll get time to do an evening/Sunday London bash again soon, it hasn't been the same without your legendary trip reports!

 

[alexf380]

How lovely it is to have you back, Keith. Anglian trips always have me reeling with jealousy, as it really isn't somewhere I can easily have a day trip to.