I’d better get these done before 2017 starts!
25/26th October
Days after my trip to the Spa Valley, I was back up in the capitol again. I was on my own and decided I would head out to Foxton and nail all the shacks between there and the Cross on the main line. I didn’t need them all but I would be aiming to plug the gaps.
57605 took me up on the Night Riviera and I headed straight over to the Cross to get my tickets to Foxton. Unsurprisingly, because thats how things work, I got a dud on my outward trip. 321410 was had for the 50 mile journey to
Foxton. It was then a small hop to
Meldreth on 317338 and 317339 before 365508 took me on to
Shepreth.
No winners so far. Bit annoying but half expected. It was a misty morning and took a long time before the sun broke through. 321410 returned and to
Royston I went. I popped out of the station here for cup of tea at the nearby spoons. Back at the station my luck finally turned and a winner, two in fact!
365509 and
365532 took me to
Ashwell & Morden. 365508 made a reappearance and onto
Baldrock I went for my fifth new shack of the day so far. A fill in move back to Ashwell & Morden on winner
365528 before 317338 appeared on it’s own to take me to
Letchworth.
365536 was next up and onto the east coast mainline to Hitchin. Behind that 365513 and 365515 were had to Stevenage. A lengthy walk was had here to pop to the two spoons here (one is close but the other isn’t).
Once I was back at the station 317339 for the second time today returned and I went down to
Welwyn North. 365528 then took me to
Knebworth before 317348 to
Hatfield. From here it was to the other Welwyn (
Garden City) station on 317340.
It was now onto 313s is I started to hit the more local shacks. 313044 and 313040 took me to
Brookmans Park for 313018 to
Welham Green. 313024 and 313039 was had to
New Southgate and then 313050 to
Hadley Wood. Finally 313057 took me to
Oakleigh Park to clear all the shacks between the Cross and Hitchin on the East Coast Mainline.
I was (as you can imagine) very bored of dud 313s and 317s and needed to get away from the area. I noticed a bus and jumped on it to Woodside Park. I decided to hit the tube.
I’m not going to list all my moves here but over the next few hours until I needed to head to Paddington I scored 22 tube units, 17 Northern and 5 S7/8s.
43020 and 43005 took me home. I had scored 25 winners in the end and 18 new shacks.
3rd November
My next bash was another trip to London. This time I was not on my own though. 57605 again provided the power away from the West country. Me and Dave split for a while in the morning peak as we were after different things. I headed to the Cross (no winners there) and started to look from some required 365s.
First up
365505 with 365529 was had to Finsbury Park and I returned on
365518. Another wonder around and I spotted
365531. Off to Finsbury Park once more and I noted another 365 in the cross I needed. I could get back in time too. 317348 and 317338 took me back for
365541 to Finsbury Park. I now decided to go down to the Piccadilly line and get back to Kings Cross that way to meet Dave. By the time I got there I had picked up 5 new units (sorry I am in rush to get these written and haven’t got time to list my moves). It was then over to the Northern line and we headed to Angel on the Northern Line. No winners on here until our return to Kings Cross after breakfast.
It was then time to split once more and we arranged to meet at Stratford later. I stayed on the tube and until we met at Stratford I scored 15 tube units (Piccadilly, Central) and 1 DLR unit.
At Stratford we hit the Jubilee. After a while (and nine winners for me) we hit the DLR. We spent longer on here than planned but I scored 13 winners before we headed out to London Bridge. I scored another Jubilee set en route and once at London Bridge I jumped on
387107 and 387102. We split and arranged to meet at East Croydon. I got to East Croydon and having seen what the Uckfield units were behind deiced to get a ticket extension to Hurst Green.
171402,
171727 and 171804 were then had to winning shack
Hurst Green.
The return was
171401,
171801 and 171723. I stayed on this to London Bridge (Dave joined at East Croydon) and we then jumped on 376034 and 376036 to Charing Cross.
It was then to Paddington via a couple of pints and Fish and Chips! 43130 and 43003 took us home after what was a very productive day! 55 winners but only one new shack!
8th November
My last bash of 2016! A couple of expensive purchases (one wasn’t planned, a new car! The other a 4k HDR TV, its very nice!) meant I needed to save a few pennies. At the time this wasn’t planned as my last bash but it has turned out to be and luckily it was a brilliant one!
Whilst looking around at some tickets I came across a bargain (well I thought so). £42 PLY to NRW and the return was £36.60! A bit of playing round showed it was the same price there and back just to PAD!
The usual train to London was had, this time 57603 was in charge! It was then 21539 and 21540 for the trek across London! The barriers at Liverpool Street threw a hissy fit at my ticket (but was perfectly valid) but I think thats because technically my journey started 7 minutes before midnight (it was late but the ticket didn’t know that) but I obviously didn’t get to my destination until the next morning.
90012 pushing me to Norwich was next up. It was a good run to Norwich and we arrived on time. In the station was 37422 and 37419 which was my next move. Neither were required but onto Great Yarmouth I went. They seemed more lively than my last visit but the problem with East Anglia is it is flat! Once they have got the train moving, that is it! Either way its still a better way to travel (if a bit cold in the coaches!).
20161108-Great Yarmouth-37422 by
Steven Booth, on Flickr
20161108-Great Yarmouth-37419 by
Steven Booth, on Flickr
Once back at Norwich it was time for
68002 to Lowestoft! It had been a long time since my last 68 action and was very welcome! I had just enough time for a photo at Lowestoft before
68005 took me back to Norwich!
20161108-Norwich-68002 by
Steven Booth, on Flickr
20161108-Lowestoft-68005 by
Steven Booth, on Flickr
With those two winners in the book it was now time to find some required 90s! I had a little gen which would help, I just had to hope it produced! First up was
90002 which was waiting when I arrived! I had this to Diss. It was then 90008 back to Norwich where
90007 (had been arriving at Norwich when I left earlier) was waiting. I got on this and had it to Ipswich. I now had a bit of time to wait with nothing on as a fill in before the next train I hoped would be what I wanted.
I went into Ipswich for a pint before heading to the station once more. Would it produce? Yes!
90010, my final GA 90, my final GA train required! This was had to Norwich where I had just over an hour before my train home. I decided a few celebratory pints were needed and into Norwich I went. I hadn’t been into the City centre for a while and found a great brew pub, St. Andrews Brewhouse. Highly recommended.
Back at the station it was time for the trip home. 90009 was had to Norwich. A few hops to get to Paddington saw me get 21089/21090,
21437/
21438 and 21379/21380 before 43183 and 43009 took me back to Plymouth.
A very enjoyable day! 5 winning locos and two tube units. Anglia fleet cleared and 922 miles in a single day!
2016 Summary
So that was 2016 and here are some stats!
852 winning trains.
439 new stations.
25,380 miles travelled.
1449 journeys made taking 3 weeks 4 days 22 hours and 32 minutes.
1 day 6 hours and 49 minutes of delay was incurred in that time!
£2,437 was the cost in rail fares which equated to about 10p a mile!
Highlight
No contest! The GBRF 15 Railtour! To be fair most of the year has been good and as always have mostly enjoyed everything I have done!
One thing for sure is I can not wait until 2017 and I finally go on a bash! Will have nearly been 2 months by the time I next get out! Ouch!
