Day One:
Manchester!
Today started with an early start from home and onto some dud 458s and a tube to get to Euston! I had planned to travel with London Northwestern Railway and change at Crewe onto a Northern service - the ticket had only cost me £3.50! However, my train was cancelled. While others were told they had to wait for the next one in an hour however, I was swiftly transferred onto a Virgin train by one of the lovely Virgin staff I know from my regular travels with Virgin and enjoyed full tilt all the way upto Stockport (arriving at 9:30am instead of 10:45 as booked!!
I set off on unbranded
390122 (all of Virgin Trains fleet are duds for me), for an enjoyable tiltful journey in a fairly empty Quiet carriage. Changing onto winner
175101 at Stockport, I arrived into Manchester shortly before ten and immediately changed onto winner
150103bound for Wigan. From here it was onto a Clitheroe bound combo of winner
150132 and a dud pacer to Bolton.
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Dud
350405 returned me to Manchester Piccadilly where I changed onto winner
350410 taking me to Oxford Road. The far superior
185124(winner) returned me to Piccadilly where it was onto winner
185130 on the 1205 to Middlesbrough - again, rushing off at Manchester Oxford Road.
Sadly there was quite a few duds here and there then, including
195118 back to Piccadilly, where double duds
142079/150144 whisked me to Salford Crescent again. Fortunately my luck picked up here as
158869 appeared to take me down to Salford Central where I joined winner
150209 and dud
153317 for a ride to Manchester Victoria.
Unfortunately I got a little confused on the dark, murky platforms of Victoria station; when I saw
68025 appear with its sleek trailer of Mark 5 carriages, I hastily boarded and sat down to go to Huddersfield. Sadly, it was going to Liverpool. Ugh. To my relief the guard was very nice and didn’t charge me, she just told me to take a seat and stay on to get back to Manchester.
The Mark 5s are nice; the ambience is definitely superior to a 185 or any GWR/LNER 80x products.
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After my Nova ride,
150147/158791 were the double winners that whisked me to Salford Crescent, returning on a dud. I had then planned to get a Nova 1 to Newton-l.W - but I suddenly heard “Would inspector sands come to the control room immediately!” on the tannoy! TRUE FACT. I was FREAKED OUT so I jumped on the first train I saw - winning
185132. These took me to Oxford Road where double winners
156455 and ex Scot
156465 chugged me to Salford Crescent. I popped to Central and back on 319s in search for my last two required Northern 319s - alas both duds, no luck there, but
150218 was my winner down to Manchester Victoria where at last I caught
802217, which I took to Huddersfield, returning on a combo of dud from earlier
185124 and an unidentified other unit, before heading onto my Pendolino home.
The 18:55 Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston was quiet, calm and staffed by a great crew. I had reserved my usual southbound seat - K18, and as usual the Virgin Trains staff had reserved the seat opposite too so I could stretch out
No, there’s nothing wrong with me. I’m just quite well known among some of the higher Virgin staff, so they often do this for me
I started the journey with a cup of tea, sadly a bit weak, and two cans of ginger ale served to me, alongside two packets of pretzels and a very moist fruit cake. That’s the thing with Virgin Trains; they do love to fill you up. (Do excuse the shocking quality of my iPhone’s camera, I think it needed cleaning here)
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My main course was served after Crewe, a fantastic meat and potato pie, piping hot and unbelievably large for a train meal. Here shows a tablespoon on it for comparison. It was delicious, beef irresistibly lean and potato soft and creamy. Usually I prefer not to go for the meat options (apart from the curry which is very good), or the pasta options as the pasta is often undercooked - normally I choose the fish, having enjoyed sole, salmon and cod over the last few months and enjoyed them all. But today I was in the mood for a change and I’m very glad I did!
Dessert swiftly followed - by this time I was getting full, but decided to plough on
it was a soft banana and treacle pudding today, very sweet and the perfect size. The fantastic first class host J Moli (always a pleasure, he’s a fantastic guy) knows my weakness and insisted on dishing out three more packets of pretzels and another ginger ale can. (I decided to save it for later).
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(Excuse my bad phone quality)
Then, I was offered the cheeseboard as well! I was too full, and I take a healthy diet very seriously (I know, hard to believe what with me being such a pig on this train) so I declined the cheese this time, but I snagged a couple of the Welsh oatcakes - which were very nice and crumbly
The train tilted on at high speed, particularly strong tilt because I was in the leading coach (I deliberately choose it for this
) and later in the journey Nadine - one of my absolute favourite hosts who I always get sterling service from, passed round mint chocolates as Virgin Trains always do as a nice way to conclude dinner. I was stuffed. Stuffed but very satisfied!
I think if I’d eaten anymore it would have been onto a stretcher for me! More tea was poured and then a precise on time arrival into Euston concluded the day.
I love Virgin Trains. The fact you just walk on board and all the staff know you and wave and smile/chat. It’s so different on LNER. Great service - but I know everyone at Virgin Trains! Anyway, more on LNER tomorrow!
I hope you enjoyed my report of Day One of Cram-It-In-Week! Come back for tomorrow’s report -
Leeds! I hope to complete the 322s and get a few more Novas in the book. It’ll be LNER Azuma first up and LNER HST down. COMPARISON TIME
Have a great day my dudes
Until tomorrow
Lates
TT-ONR-NRN
