37372
Member
Yesterday, I accompanied Jordy on a trip to the North East. We had a plan set out, but we didn't exactly stick to it!
I caught the 08:06 train from Mexborough to Doncaster - formed of a very stuffy 158909. Whilst waiting for Jordy's 185 to arrive, I photted Advenza's latest addition to the fleet (66841) in West Yard.
After a small wait, we boarded the 08:58 NXEC service to Leeds with 91129 at the helm. A reasonably uneventful journey spent trying to connect up to the NXEC WiFi system!
Upon arrival at Leeds we made out way over to catch the 09:57 TPE to Middlesbrough. Despite the fact that it arrived with plenty of time to spare (and with 6 coaches!), we still departed a couple of minutes late for no obvious reason.
At York, the rear 3 coaches were detatched, and our unit (185106) continued solo up the ECML. We managed to get up to Northallerton without a hitch, although it seemed a farce was brewing on the SB lines where trains were crawling past or standing at signals.
Eventually, we arrived at a very sunny Middlesbrough, but instead of being greeted by Phil Sayer's auto announcements, we were met with the awful TPE announcements gibbering away incomprehensibly, and some very smug looking pigeons.
At 12:01 our Saltburn train arrived, formed of 142024. It was rather busy most of the way.
At Saltburn we had a 3 minute turn around, so we got off, photted the unit, and got straight back on
Once we got going again, we alighted at Longbeck, where we waited a few minutes for 142025 to pick us up and take us the very short distance to Marske.
We were quite suprised as to how scenic this place was! From the footbridge we could see colourful fields, the sea, the town itself, and then in contrast to all that, the the industrial backdrop of Middlesbrough in the background!
142025 picked us up again from there a few minutes later, and we began to make out way to Darlington for the next part of the plan. Upon arrival at Redcar Central, we were suprised to see Ms Heidi Mottram herself board the train! After a short hop, she alighted at Middlesbrough having cleared 142025 for the year
During the wait at Darlington we admired the station architecture and photted a pacer. As our NXEC service to take us to Newcastle rolled in, we were delighted to see that it was an HST with a semi-refurbished rake of mk3s where the old style seats had just been given new covers!
As we arrived at Newcastle, we went to look for our train that would take us along the Tyne Valley to Brampton. To our horror, it was 142017 and not the 156 that we were hoping for. There were already large amounts of people waiting to board too. "No." We thought, the plan to go to Brampton and Stockfield was out the window, so after having something to eat (including a free sample of some chocolate cake!) and watching the Highland Chieftain fail upon leaving the station, we went down to go bash the Metro for a bit.
The journey began quite well. Until we got to Shiremoor. The driver came over the PA and told us that due to a points failure in the Monkseaton area, we would be stuck here for about 15-20 minutes.
We attempted to catch a unit going back in the opposite direction but they too were stopped, so we went back over the bridge to our train. It was absolutely roasting both inside and outside, so people just paced around in and out of the train.
Eventually after around 20 minutes we were on the move again. Until we got to North Shields. Just before arriving, we were then told that the train was going to be taken out of service. So we all had to get off, and board the next one which thankfully was not far behind. This leg of the journey went just fine all the way to Monument, where we had a massive loiter before setting off to the final stop of St James.
We stopped on the train so that we could make our way back to Newcastle station again, only to be told that due to a train fault it wouldn't be going anywhere. Cue everyone having a mad dash over the bridge to catch the next one. After alighting at Monument we caught a final Metro to Central Station, which was wedged tube style, not nice.
After getting up to the mainline station, we waited around the catch the delayed 17:32 NXEC to York. The train was about 20 mins late, but no one could give a definitive reason why! We were told it was due to lineside equipment failure, following a slow moving service, and door problems at Dunbar! Make your mind up!
After getting to York, we attempted to get food from Burger King, only to be told they had no burgers left!
We then fancied having a trip around the Harrogate loop to get us back to Leeds to rejoin the original plan, so we did. 150223 was a little warm, and a little tatty, but it was quite an enjoyable run to Leeds. I was suprised at the size of the toilet on those units!
When we got into Leeds, we successfully managed to aquire food from the Burger King there before getting on the 20:40 NXEC service to head back to Doncaster. Never did see the last 333 that I need though
Around the Adwick area we got caught up behind a late running 321 and as a result crawled into Doncaster.
A farce was occuring as we arrived. A freight train (later informed by Jordy it was a 66 that had failed on tanks - rescued by a 60!) had failed near Althorpe. The 20:42 TPE to Cleethorpes was in platform 6 at 21:30, the delayed 321 that had arrived came into platform 8 due to a 158 being in 7, a stopping 142 to Scunny was also delayed at the far end of platform 3B, put up that way to allow my train (a 142/158 combo!) to fit in too.
Eventually Jordy's train (20:42) departed around 21:30, and I left at 21:30 on my random unit combo.
Shortly after heading home, I was told that a fatality had now stopped all trains on the Leeds line, looks like we got in lucky there!
I caught the 08:06 train from Mexborough to Doncaster - formed of a very stuffy 158909. Whilst waiting for Jordy's 185 to arrive, I photted Advenza's latest addition to the fleet (66841) in West Yard.
After a small wait, we boarded the 08:58 NXEC service to Leeds with 91129 at the helm. A reasonably uneventful journey spent trying to connect up to the NXEC WiFi system!
Upon arrival at Leeds we made out way over to catch the 09:57 TPE to Middlesbrough. Despite the fact that it arrived with plenty of time to spare (and with 6 coaches!), we still departed a couple of minutes late for no obvious reason.
At York, the rear 3 coaches were detatched, and our unit (185106) continued solo up the ECML. We managed to get up to Northallerton without a hitch, although it seemed a farce was brewing on the SB lines where trains were crawling past or standing at signals.
Eventually, we arrived at a very sunny Middlesbrough, but instead of being greeted by Phil Sayer's auto announcements, we were met with the awful TPE announcements gibbering away incomprehensibly, and some very smug looking pigeons.
At 12:01 our Saltburn train arrived, formed of 142024. It was rather busy most of the way.
At Saltburn we had a 3 minute turn around, so we got off, photted the unit, and got straight back on
Once we got going again, we alighted at Longbeck, where we waited a few minutes for 142025 to pick us up and take us the very short distance to Marske.
We were quite suprised as to how scenic this place was! From the footbridge we could see colourful fields, the sea, the town itself, and then in contrast to all that, the the industrial backdrop of Middlesbrough in the background!
142025 picked us up again from there a few minutes later, and we began to make out way to Darlington for the next part of the plan. Upon arrival at Redcar Central, we were suprised to see Ms Heidi Mottram herself board the train! After a short hop, she alighted at Middlesbrough having cleared 142025 for the year
During the wait at Darlington we admired the station architecture and photted a pacer. As our NXEC service to take us to Newcastle rolled in, we were delighted to see that it was an HST with a semi-refurbished rake of mk3s where the old style seats had just been given new covers!
As we arrived at Newcastle, we went to look for our train that would take us along the Tyne Valley to Brampton. To our horror, it was 142017 and not the 156 that we were hoping for. There were already large amounts of people waiting to board too. "No." We thought, the plan to go to Brampton and Stockfield was out the window, so after having something to eat (including a free sample of some chocolate cake!) and watching the Highland Chieftain fail upon leaving the station, we went down to go bash the Metro for a bit.
The journey began quite well. Until we got to Shiremoor. The driver came over the PA and told us that due to a points failure in the Monkseaton area, we would be stuck here for about 15-20 minutes.
We attempted to catch a unit going back in the opposite direction but they too were stopped, so we went back over the bridge to our train. It was absolutely roasting both inside and outside, so people just paced around in and out of the train.
Eventually after around 20 minutes we were on the move again. Until we got to North Shields. Just before arriving, we were then told that the train was going to be taken out of service. So we all had to get off, and board the next one which thankfully was not far behind. This leg of the journey went just fine all the way to Monument, where we had a massive loiter before setting off to the final stop of St James.
We stopped on the train so that we could make our way back to Newcastle station again, only to be told that due to a train fault it wouldn't be going anywhere. Cue everyone having a mad dash over the bridge to catch the next one. After alighting at Monument we caught a final Metro to Central Station, which was wedged tube style, not nice.
After getting up to the mainline station, we waited around the catch the delayed 17:32 NXEC to York. The train was about 20 mins late, but no one could give a definitive reason why! We were told it was due to lineside equipment failure, following a slow moving service, and door problems at Dunbar! Make your mind up!
After getting to York, we attempted to get food from Burger King, only to be told they had no burgers left!
We then fancied having a trip around the Harrogate loop to get us back to Leeds to rejoin the original plan, so we did. 150223 was a little warm, and a little tatty, but it was quite an enjoyable run to Leeds. I was suprised at the size of the toilet on those units!
When we got into Leeds, we successfully managed to aquire food from the Burger King there before getting on the 20:40 NXEC service to head back to Doncaster. Never did see the last 333 that I need though
Around the Adwick area we got caught up behind a late running 321 and as a result crawled into Doncaster.
A farce was occuring as we arrived. A freight train (later informed by Jordy it was a 66 that had failed on tanks - rescued by a 60!) had failed near Althorpe. The 20:42 TPE to Cleethorpes was in platform 6 at 21:30, the delayed 321 that had arrived came into platform 8 due to a 158 being in 7, a stopping 142 to Scunny was also delayed at the far end of platform 3B, put up that way to allow my train (a 142/158 combo!) to fit in too.
Eventually Jordy's train (20:42) departed around 21:30, and I left at 21:30 on my random unit combo.
Shortly after heading home, I was told that a fatality had now stopped all trains on the Leeds line, looks like we got in lucky there!
