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Richard's Trip Reports
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Just checked and I'll be getting some 68 action at least 
Enjoy the 374 however, my continental bashing is reserved for the following week.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Time for a retro report, dating back from July 23rd 2015, sadly never done as two days later I was off to London again! (Another unreported jolly that's in the works!)
So, here it is....
London- 23/7/15
Here’s one missing trip that the forum never actually got the chance to hear about, as it came smack bang before I begun the Midlands adventures last summer! So here’s a good old London bash from July 23rd last year. It was quite an interesting one to say the least!
The day started with dud 91126 providing the traction on the 0729 to Peterborough. Peterborough you ask? Again, much like the bash the next month, I was swapping trains at Peterborough in order to save quite a few pennies. At least £20 in this case! Departure was pretty punctual and we maintained a healthy load all the way down to Peterborough, all the while I was checking progress on my connection, the 0845 from Leeds. It was indeed doing well, and I bailed slightly behind schedule at 0950 for the 1009 to London Kings Cross. This, like the next month’s journey, had an absolutely stonking run down to the capital, with us arriving in at around 1056, 4 minutes early. Now, my bashes around this time weren’t so much focused on the shacks, more so mopping up bits of required track and getting units in, and my first port of call was winner 319435 to Blackfriars. Here, I made a swift change onto an S7 Stock for the one stop to shack 1, Mansion House. This was just a case of needing to change onto the train behind, and another S7 was soon taking me to Whitechapel where I bailed for winner 378153 down to shack 2, New Cross Gate where a very dodgy -1 was made back onto winner 378148 for Canada Water.
Job done, track cleared on the East London Line, and I took a 1996 Stock all the way to Stratford where I was up for some Underground track clearance, so a 1992 stock took me through to shack 3, Hainault. With time getting on though, I decided that it was time to go play with some big trains and dived across platforms for another one that was ready to depart back towards shack 4, Newbury Park. You can tell that I was in the mood for some variety here, as I took a little Enviro 200 on Route 66 (The East London bus route, not the US Highway
) through to Romford station for around 1pm. It was time for what was really my first dabble in shack scratching proper, as double winners 315851/315832 appeared for the short hop to shack 5, Gidea Park (I recall doing this as it was a tight connection the other way, so I bailed on the idea and did Gidea Park first). Next up it was winners 315821/315858 to shack 6, Chadwell Heath. This was a tight dash now for winners 315819/315836 bac k to Romford for a +1 onto winners 315818/315842 to shack 7, Seven Kings. I do recall this being another dash for winners 315829/315841 to shack 8, Goodmayes where there was one more move required on the GEML, winners 315845/315860 to shack 9, Forest Gate.
A short walk was required here as I headed to shack 10, Wanstead Park and joined super dud 172003 to Blackhorse Road for the tube one stop to Tottenham Hale. Double winners 379018/379021 then took me along to London Liverpool Street where I caught sight of two 317/7s. I absolutely legged it for winners 317710/317714 and took them along to shack 11, Bethnal Green. Dud 315808 was then trundling in behind so I jumped on to Walthamstow Central where it was back to Tottenham Hale on the tube. Winner 317507 was soon taking me to Cheshunt. This was a packed little service, too! I ended up standing for the stop-start run into zone number 8 where I calculated that a very tight move out and back in 15 minutes was possible as I needed the Stratford train. Winners 317660/317883 trundled in for the short hop to shack 12, Enfield Lock where it was a leap for dud 317672 leading winner 317651 back to Cheshunt. Better timing now as winner 317666 took me all the way to Stratford.
Next port of call was Liverpool Street as rush hour approached, with winners 321304/321330 taking me there. My next service was an incredibly cosy dud 315811 to shack 13, Hackney Downs. Now was the time to take advantage of a peak time service, which was a limited stop Hertford East via Seven Sisters train. Surprisingly too, no carriage had any standing passengers! Winners 317514/317657 came along and I joined the train for the run to shack 14, Edmonton Green. And indeed, one more move on this part of the line was required. Double winners 315814/315815 came along to take me to shack 15, Enfield Town. Time for a sprightly walk as my next desired move was an attack on the 313s out of Moorgate. But wait, didn’t I end up doing that a month later? Well, do read on. All seemed perfectly fine as double winners 313030/313056 turned up to take me to shack 16, Winchmore Hill. Up and over the bridge and we were off to shack 17, Gordon Hill on board a quiet winner 313041 leading dud 313045. I was deposited on the bay platform and it was a simple cross platform interchange back to London on board winners 313027/313052. I didn’t sense that anything was particularly wrong as we slowly trundled our way through the suburbs, non-stopping everywhere except Ally Pally after Winchmore Hill. But, we reached Finsbury Park and it all fell apart.
My next intention had been Drayton Park, and in hindsight, a sensible idea would have been to bail, and get Hornsey/Alexandra Palace in instead. However, we continued into London Kings Cross, as the timetable was now all over the place! We were shoved in on top of another 313, and I was now stuck for what to do. It was 1830. Too early to sit around, too late to go anywhere significant. So, I descended onto the Northern Line and took a train to shack 18, Camden Town in order to change for shack 19, Kentish Town. My intention here was to catch a Thameslink service back to St Pancras but with not another being due for a while, I opted for another tube shack and continued back on myself, joining another train to shack 20, Archway. Now it was 7pm and really time to return, so a change at Camden Town again had me into Kings Cross and I made my way for the 1930 to Newcastle, which had dud 91124 at the helm. It was a punctual, spirited run, with us getting into Newcastle 3 up at 2238. And it was over! My peak time adventures in London had been cut short a little, but I’d still achieved quite a bit in the 8 hours I was bashing.
Total Mileage: 657mi 40ch
Total Winners: 36+20 shacks
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return of the London- 25/7/15
I must clarify that this was a completely unintentional bash to London, but it just seemed to fit in with the circumstances relatively well! This was day 1 of the East Midlands Rover. It had originally been a West Midlands Day Ranger, changed to meeting up with a friend down in Bristol, and subsequently the night before changed back to the ranger! So, I was down at the station for 0530 sorting out my tickets, getting the Bristol tickets refunded but it only occurred to me that I was then lacking my railcard! I asked the clerk what I could do with my Derby-Birmingham advances (if I could get them endorsed on the 0735 then I’d come back and continue 1 hour behind) but she was incredibly stubborn in telling me that I’d be charged full whack (and bizarrely she found the whole thing quite amusing) which just sent my mood straight through the floor. I guess it was time to go home, come up with a rescue plan and find that railcard! Home for 0615, and I located the railcard, as it had slipped between my desk and my bed. Sadly, My Dad had to scarper off to work so I was running for the 0627 bus back to Newcastle instead. I was there for 0645, and back face to face with Mrs Sniggers in the ticket office. ‘So is it that Birmingham return then?’ as she smiles…’nah, I’ll have a Peterborough-London travelcard please’. ‘I don’t think we issue those.’ ‘Yes you do’. And indeed, after a few minutes, I had my travelcard in hand and it was off to Platform 2 for the 0722 Stagger-a-thon to London, with dud 91121 on the back.
This was indeed a stagger express, calling absolutely everywhere VT services could except Retford and Stevenage (ie Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Doncaster, Newark Northgate, Grantham, Peterborough, Kings X) but we kept good time throughout, and so at 1041 I was on the platform at Kings Cross, and my first idea was to finish the shacks to Gidea Park. An S8 Stock took me to Liverpool Street, where winners 315823/315825 were waiting to take me to shack 1, Ilford. Duds 315821/315858 were then next up for shack 2, Maryland. One more to go as winner 315846 led winner 315850 through to shack 3, Manor Park where I then had winner 315829 leading dud 315860 to Stratford. Swift change of scenery was now on the cards, and I joined a Central Line train to Bank. I then absolutely legged it onto the W&C where there was a train ready to depart for Waterloo, nice timing and we were on our way under the river, and I seemingly went off my own way, running down the empty passages and into Waterloo mainline station for a winning 455913 to Clapham Junction. So, what to do now? Winners 450081/450099 were arriving and were first stop Surbiton, so I guess they would do nicely! Off we went, trundling fast down the mainline before I changed for winner 455703 back to shack 4, Raynes Park.
Again, the question came up, what to do? We had a service due for Guildford which I could have taken via Worcester Park, but instead I decided on winner 455905 for Twickenham via Kingston. I do recall multiple dogs being on board for some reason, but they left at Kingston before I changed onto winners 450018/450093 all the way back to Clapham Junction where I then made my way towards the Southern platforms. Next up here was winners 377468/377470 to shack 5, Upper Warlingham, the southern extremity on this line within the zones. This line actually has some pretty decent walking connections. Sanderstead is next to Purley Oaks, and Riddlesdown isn’t particularly far from Kenley although it might still prove faster to continue to Purley Oaks and change that way if you don’t quite have the timings on your side! And me, I was making the short walk to shack 6, Whyteleafe. Winner 455827 rolled in to allow me to complete the track to shack 7, Caterham where a swift cross platform was made onto winner 455844 up to Norwood Junction.
Next move was winner 377613 to Sutton where I realised that instead of waiting for the Sutton Loop service there, I could try my luck with a +1 back up the line. And so, I tried just that with winner 377609 up to shack 8, Carshalton where oh c%$p, winner 319012 was already at platform! I had to run like mad for it, but I just made it, and proceeded all the way around the loop via St Helier. This was actually good timing as I changed onto winner 455715 which contained two basher friends! We ‘talked shop’ per se before I bailed at shack 9, Vauxhall in order to get myself onto the Southeastern. I honestly was split between heading to Victoria or Brixton, but in the end I headed to Victoria on the tube and emerged onto the platforms for winner 465181 to take me to shack 10, Bromley South. It seems that winner 465044 was up next which took me to shack 11, Petts Wood. Another short wait here and it was onto winners 465144/466006 to Orpington where indeed, they were to be the ones that took me all the way back through to Lewisham.
A DLR move was required next to shack 12, Greenwich where we had an approaching treble winning formation of 465165/465250/466039 that were to take me to London Bridge where I joined a Northern Line to Waterloo. I do believe that my intention was to catch a Thameslink from Elephant and Castle but it seems that this was not to be the case. A Bakerloo line did indeed take me to the Elephant but I got a bit lost in having decided that I should really head to Tesco for dinner! It took me seemingly forever to do this and so I cut my losses having found dinner and jumped on the Northern Line all the way through to Kings Cross. I still had plenty of time for catch the 1830 to Newcastle, which had dud 91127 at the helm. Nice quiet run it was too, all the way to York where the traditional drunks boarded. They were pretty tolerable to be honest, although still a nuisance. That’s one thing about my bashing this time of year, it’s too cold for them! However, as we approached Newcastle and I went into the vestibule, one of them decided to fall into me so I returned the gesture by giving them a push in the opposite direction (I might be 6ft tall but I’m not particularly well built so I didn’t take too kindly to a giant bloke pushing me into a door!) and quite comically, he staggered backwards and straight into the toilet, the door closing behind him!
And on that note, we were into Newcastle on time at 2140. A successful day for a VSTP one!
Total Mileage: 669mi 25ch
Total Winners: 27+12 shacks
Enjoy the 374 however, my continental bashing is reserved for the following week.--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Time for a retro report, dating back from July 23rd 2015, sadly never done as two days later I was off to London again! (Another unreported jolly that's in the works!)
So, here it is....
London- 23/7/15
Here’s one missing trip that the forum never actually got the chance to hear about, as it came smack bang before I begun the Midlands adventures last summer! So here’s a good old London bash from July 23rd last year. It was quite an interesting one to say the least!
The day started with dud 91126 providing the traction on the 0729 to Peterborough. Peterborough you ask? Again, much like the bash the next month, I was swapping trains at Peterborough in order to save quite a few pennies. At least £20 in this case! Departure was pretty punctual and we maintained a healthy load all the way down to Peterborough, all the while I was checking progress on my connection, the 0845 from Leeds. It was indeed doing well, and I bailed slightly behind schedule at 0950 for the 1009 to London Kings Cross. This, like the next month’s journey, had an absolutely stonking run down to the capital, with us arriving in at around 1056, 4 minutes early. Now, my bashes around this time weren’t so much focused on the shacks, more so mopping up bits of required track and getting units in, and my first port of call was winner 319435 to Blackfriars. Here, I made a swift change onto an S7 Stock for the one stop to shack 1, Mansion House. This was just a case of needing to change onto the train behind, and another S7 was soon taking me to Whitechapel where I bailed for winner 378153 down to shack 2, New Cross Gate where a very dodgy -1 was made back onto winner 378148 for Canada Water.
Job done, track cleared on the East London Line, and I took a 1996 Stock all the way to Stratford where I was up for some Underground track clearance, so a 1992 stock took me through to shack 3, Hainault. With time getting on though, I decided that it was time to go play with some big trains and dived across platforms for another one that was ready to depart back towards shack 4, Newbury Park. You can tell that I was in the mood for some variety here, as I took a little Enviro 200 on Route 66 (The East London bus route, not the US Highway
) through to Romford station for around 1pm. It was time for what was really my first dabble in shack scratching proper, as double winners 315851/315832 appeared for the short hop to shack 5, Gidea Park (I recall doing this as it was a tight connection the other way, so I bailed on the idea and did Gidea Park first). Next up it was winners 315821/315858 to shack 6, Chadwell Heath. This was a tight dash now for winners 315819/315836 bac k to Romford for a +1 onto winners 315818/315842 to shack 7, Seven Kings. I do recall this being another dash for winners 315829/315841 to shack 8, Goodmayes where there was one more move required on the GEML, winners 315845/315860 to shack 9, Forest Gate.A short walk was required here as I headed to shack 10, Wanstead Park and joined super dud 172003 to Blackhorse Road for the tube one stop to Tottenham Hale. Double winners 379018/379021 then took me along to London Liverpool Street where I caught sight of two 317/7s. I absolutely legged it for winners 317710/317714 and took them along to shack 11, Bethnal Green. Dud 315808 was then trundling in behind so I jumped on to Walthamstow Central where it was back to Tottenham Hale on the tube. Winner 317507 was soon taking me to Cheshunt. This was a packed little service, too! I ended up standing for the stop-start run into zone number 8 where I calculated that a very tight move out and back in 15 minutes was possible as I needed the Stratford train. Winners 317660/317883 trundled in for the short hop to shack 12, Enfield Lock where it was a leap for dud 317672 leading winner 317651 back to Cheshunt. Better timing now as winner 317666 took me all the way to Stratford.
Next port of call was Liverpool Street as rush hour approached, with winners 321304/321330 taking me there. My next service was an incredibly cosy dud 315811 to shack 13, Hackney Downs. Now was the time to take advantage of a peak time service, which was a limited stop Hertford East via Seven Sisters train. Surprisingly too, no carriage had any standing passengers! Winners 317514/317657 came along and I joined the train for the run to shack 14, Edmonton Green. And indeed, one more move on this part of the line was required. Double winners 315814/315815 came along to take me to shack 15, Enfield Town. Time for a sprightly walk as my next desired move was an attack on the 313s out of Moorgate. But wait, didn’t I end up doing that a month later? Well, do read on. All seemed perfectly fine as double winners 313030/313056 turned up to take me to shack 16, Winchmore Hill. Up and over the bridge and we were off to shack 17, Gordon Hill on board a quiet winner 313041 leading dud 313045. I was deposited on the bay platform and it was a simple cross platform interchange back to London on board winners 313027/313052. I didn’t sense that anything was particularly wrong as we slowly trundled our way through the suburbs, non-stopping everywhere except Ally Pally after Winchmore Hill. But, we reached Finsbury Park and it all fell apart.
My next intention had been Drayton Park, and in hindsight, a sensible idea would have been to bail, and get Hornsey/Alexandra Palace in instead. However, we continued into London Kings Cross, as the timetable was now all over the place! We were shoved in on top of another 313, and I was now stuck for what to do. It was 1830. Too early to sit around, too late to go anywhere significant. So, I descended onto the Northern Line and took a train to shack 18, Camden Town in order to change for shack 19, Kentish Town. My intention here was to catch a Thameslink service back to St Pancras but with not another being due for a while, I opted for another tube shack and continued back on myself, joining another train to shack 20, Archway. Now it was 7pm and really time to return, so a change at Camden Town again had me into Kings Cross and I made my way for the 1930 to Newcastle, which had dud 91124 at the helm. It was a punctual, spirited run, with us getting into Newcastle 3 up at 2238. And it was over! My peak time adventures in London had been cut short a little, but I’d still achieved quite a bit in the 8 hours I was bashing.
Total Mileage: 657mi 40ch
Total Winners: 36+20 shacks
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return of the London- 25/7/15
I must clarify that this was a completely unintentional bash to London, but it just seemed to fit in with the circumstances relatively well! This was day 1 of the East Midlands Rover. It had originally been a West Midlands Day Ranger, changed to meeting up with a friend down in Bristol, and subsequently the night before changed back to the ranger! So, I was down at the station for 0530 sorting out my tickets, getting the Bristol tickets refunded but it only occurred to me that I was then lacking my railcard! I asked the clerk what I could do with my Derby-Birmingham advances (if I could get them endorsed on the 0735 then I’d come back and continue 1 hour behind) but she was incredibly stubborn in telling me that I’d be charged full whack (and bizarrely she found the whole thing quite amusing) which just sent my mood straight through the floor. I guess it was time to go home, come up with a rescue plan and find that railcard! Home for 0615, and I located the railcard, as it had slipped between my desk and my bed. Sadly, My Dad had to scarper off to work so I was running for the 0627 bus back to Newcastle instead. I was there for 0645, and back face to face with Mrs Sniggers in the ticket office. ‘So is it that Birmingham return then?’ as she smiles…’nah, I’ll have a Peterborough-London travelcard please’. ‘I don’t think we issue those.’ ‘Yes you do’. And indeed, after a few minutes, I had my travelcard in hand and it was off to Platform 2 for the 0722 Stagger-a-thon to London, with dud 91121 on the back.
This was indeed a stagger express, calling absolutely everywhere VT services could except Retford and Stevenage (ie Durham, Darlington, Northallerton, York, Doncaster, Newark Northgate, Grantham, Peterborough, Kings X) but we kept good time throughout, and so at 1041 I was on the platform at Kings Cross, and my first idea was to finish the shacks to Gidea Park. An S8 Stock took me to Liverpool Street, where winners 315823/315825 were waiting to take me to shack 1, Ilford. Duds 315821/315858 were then next up for shack 2, Maryland. One more to go as winner 315846 led winner 315850 through to shack 3, Manor Park where I then had winner 315829 leading dud 315860 to Stratford. Swift change of scenery was now on the cards, and I joined a Central Line train to Bank. I then absolutely legged it onto the W&C where there was a train ready to depart for Waterloo, nice timing and we were on our way under the river, and I seemingly went off my own way, running down the empty passages and into Waterloo mainline station for a winning 455913 to Clapham Junction. So, what to do now? Winners 450081/450099 were arriving and were first stop Surbiton, so I guess they would do nicely! Off we went, trundling fast down the mainline before I changed for winner 455703 back to shack 4, Raynes Park.
Again, the question came up, what to do? We had a service due for Guildford which I could have taken via Worcester Park, but instead I decided on winner 455905 for Twickenham via Kingston. I do recall multiple dogs being on board for some reason, but they left at Kingston before I changed onto winners 450018/450093 all the way back to Clapham Junction where I then made my way towards the Southern platforms. Next up here was winners 377468/377470 to shack 5, Upper Warlingham, the southern extremity on this line within the zones. This line actually has some pretty decent walking connections. Sanderstead is next to Purley Oaks, and Riddlesdown isn’t particularly far from Kenley although it might still prove faster to continue to Purley Oaks and change that way if you don’t quite have the timings on your side! And me, I was making the short walk to shack 6, Whyteleafe. Winner 455827 rolled in to allow me to complete the track to shack 7, Caterham where a swift cross platform was made onto winner 455844 up to Norwood Junction.
Next move was winner 377613 to Sutton where I realised that instead of waiting for the Sutton Loop service there, I could try my luck with a +1 back up the line. And so, I tried just that with winner 377609 up to shack 8, Carshalton where oh c%$p, winner 319012 was already at platform! I had to run like mad for it, but I just made it, and proceeded all the way around the loop via St Helier. This was actually good timing as I changed onto winner 455715 which contained two basher friends! We ‘talked shop’ per se before I bailed at shack 9, Vauxhall in order to get myself onto the Southeastern. I honestly was split between heading to Victoria or Brixton, but in the end I headed to Victoria on the tube and emerged onto the platforms for winner 465181 to take me to shack 10, Bromley South. It seems that winner 465044 was up next which took me to shack 11, Petts Wood. Another short wait here and it was onto winners 465144/466006 to Orpington where indeed, they were to be the ones that took me all the way back through to Lewisham.
A DLR move was required next to shack 12, Greenwich where we had an approaching treble winning formation of 465165/465250/466039 that were to take me to London Bridge where I joined a Northern Line to Waterloo. I do believe that my intention was to catch a Thameslink from Elephant and Castle but it seems that this was not to be the case. A Bakerloo line did indeed take me to the Elephant but I got a bit lost in having decided that I should really head to Tesco for dinner! It took me seemingly forever to do this and so I cut my losses having found dinner and jumped on the Northern Line all the way through to Kings Cross. I still had plenty of time for catch the 1830 to Newcastle, which had dud 91127 at the helm. Nice quiet run it was too, all the way to York where the traditional drunks boarded. They were pretty tolerable to be honest, although still a nuisance. That’s one thing about my bashing this time of year, it’s too cold for them!
However, as we approached Newcastle and I went into the vestibule, one of them decided to fall into me so I returned the gesture by giving them a push in the opposite direction (I might be 6ft tall but I’m not particularly well built so I didn’t take too kindly to a giant bloke pushing me into a door!) and quite comically, he staggered backwards and straight into the toilet, the door closing behind him! And on that note, we were into Newcastle on time at 2140. A successful day for a VSTP one!
Total Mileage: 669mi 25ch
Total Winners: 27+12 shacks
Last edited:
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Aha, I thought some bits and pieces were missing from last year!
Two very good reads indeed, I take it you don't note your departure and arrival times, going by your leaps on the 315s?
Two very good reads indeed, I take it you don't note your departure and arrival times, going by your leaps on the 315s?
Indeed I usually don't. It was enough of a task running to the centre of the train to get the other 315 noted then running over the bridge to make the +1 at Seven Kings
I'm doing another peak London bash on April 5th, this time getting in at 1040 and leaving on the 2000 home. Would have continued later but with the 2100 being booked in at 0043 and the 2200 being booked in at 0216 i'd be lacking onward travel options
On my radar that day is every single shack between Cannon Street and Dartford via Greenwich (exc. Greenwich), all the shacks to Tattenham Corner from Purley, Purley Oaks, South Croydon, Sanderstead, and a few shacks via Kidbrooke on SE! And oh yeah, a Pig. Preferably the 1749 East Croydon-London Bridge!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounded like a good couple days in London 
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Indeed it sounds hellfire! Deptford platform change needs at least a +3 to comfortably do it, don't bother with a +1 or 2!
Maze Hill and Westcombe Park are both footbridges for platform changes, roughly halfway down at the latter. Nearer the London end of the westbound platform, further down on the eastbound at Maze Hill due to the staggered-ness of platforms there.
Tatty Corner line will take a while to do shacks wise, at least 2.5 hours. Coulsdown Town is walkable from Coulsdon South in around 10 maybe 12 minutes.
Purley Oaks to Sanderstead is easily walkable, I think 5 minutes or less. Can't remember much about the line via Kidbrooke to be honest, not without getting the atlas out to see what stations are on it.
Maze Hill and Westcombe Park are both footbridges for platform changes, roughly halfway down at the latter. Nearer the London end of the westbound platform, further down on the eastbound at Maze Hill due to the staggered-ness of platforms there.
Tatty Corner line will take a while to do shacks wise, at least 2.5 hours. Coulsdown Town is walkable from Coulsdon South in around 10 maybe 12 minutes.
Purley Oaks to Sanderstead is easily walkable, I think 5 minutes or less. Can't remember much about the line via Kidbrooke to be honest, not without getting the atlas out to see what stations are on it.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Line via kidbrooke should be easy enough to do in the peak when it's trains every 5 or so minutes, mostly pairs of 376s with 465+465+466s thrown in as well
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Worth pointing out in the morning peak every train regardless of length was very busy on the Deptford line heading into town. Understandably, of course! Just bear in mind sometimes it's better to do them in the day!
That's indeed the plan! 1100-1400 on the Deptford line, 1420 to East Croydon, +4 onto the Sanderstead, 10 minutes or so to get to Purley Oaks, then i'll be trundling up to South Croydon, back down to Tattenham and then scratching off the shacks with the help of an extra to Victoria as the peak starts to kick off, finishing at Reedham where i'll make the walk back to Purley to connect onto a TL back to East Croydon for the Pig back to the Bridge. Then I think I can get 4 shacks nearest to London in from Blackheath onwards, so i'll get anything after that in on my visit there in March!
I shall bear that in mind for Deptford, although with a 10 minute frequency I shan't be too disheartened by any missed connections! I normally add in some recovery time on the Underground moves, so KGX-LBG is normally about 10 minutes, but i'll allow 30 platform to platform then plan onwards from there.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Going to be a very busy day then!
10 minutes is a long time in London!
10 minutes is a long time in London!
I had a lucky escape then! I was on the 1540 back and we stormed all the way to Bicester.
Tree on the line via Bexleyheath too which I also happened to be using before the disruption.
Nearly missed my train home too, only made it thanks to 3 minutes of padding in the timetable! Lucky escapes all round
Tree on the line via Bexleyheath too which I also happened to be using before the disruption.
Nearly missed my train home too, only made it thanks to 3 minutes of padding in the timetable! Lucky escapes all round
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Crikey I bet you were thanking your lucky stars your connections made in the end. Hopefully it was worth the drama, but just think if you'd stayed in the Midlands you'd have been drama free
Crikey I bet you were thanking your lucky stars your connections made in the end. Hopefully it was worth the drama, but just think if you'd stayed in the Midlands you'd have been drama free
Yes but I would have been soaking wet
Still, I plan to actually bash the Midlands on my summer ALR, probably closer to be honest.Also there was football in Birmingham (had to deal with the fans of that on the trains between there and Sheffield/Derby) so either way I was in for drama. And the almost missed connection at Donny would have happened either way too, wouldn't have minded usually but the next arrival at Newcastle on Virgin wasn't until 2311!
Report in a bit...
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06/02/16- London via Everywhere
So the day had beckoned for my very random trip to London via Sheffield, Birmingham and the Chilterns! This actually wasn’t too bad value, £9.50 return to Donny, £19 return to Brum and £22 Travelcard! And a little help from an RTV courtesy of XC…and with that it was off to the Central for the good old 0559 to…Newark Northgate! Indeed, with diversions to London trains, this one and the 0630 were caped to terminate at Newark and Doncaster respectively. It was relatively quiet run down with dud 91121 nudging us south, practically empty until York! I ended up sitting in Coach D for the journey too as the plugs in B weren’t functioning for some reason, but soon enough we were into Doncaster for 0721 and I made my way to the first class lounge for a quick hot chocolate before realising that I could fit in an extra jump by catching the first TPE to Meadowhall, so I joined dud 185150 for the run to there, getting in at around 0752. Eerily quiet at this hour it was, as I made my way to the Barnsley line platforms. Get in! The move had paid off as winner 158910 rolled in on the 0757 to Nottingham, and some very odd clientele it had too! Everyone looked like they were about to stab me or like they were unbelievably hungover. Nonetheless, a winner was a winner as I made it to Sheffield for 0804. Next move was the actual Newcastle-Brum train, the 0820 to Reading, which was full of football fans. Joy.
Dud 220021 was my chariot as I sat down in Coach F near a bloke so desperate for alcohol that in the absence of a bottle opener, he was whacking the bottles off of each other!
Other highlights included the 10 friends all with the same screenshotted mobile ticket, and they were all promptly kicked off at Derby! Alcohol man was also ticketless, having lied and said he was on at Chesterfield, and off he was forced at Derby too. We were soon into Birmingham New Street for around 0930, and I made the very soggy walk to Moor Street where I’d just missed the 0939 to Snow Hill, so I guess I was festering here! The wait paid off however as winner 68014 pushed the 0955 to Marylebone in, and I took one look at the heaving carriages and decided to upgrade myself to the Business Zone for a tenner. Back up to the front I went, and settled into the empty carriage. The guard was a lovely bloke who referred to me as ‘sir’ about 27 times during the transaction. Shame about the female host who sarcastically told me ‘you’ve got to pay to sit there’, which was met with ‘Mhm, now can I have a cup of tea please?’ The journey was smooth and mostly uneventful as we powered our way south, with a few refills of tea being offered as we went. 3 late into Marylebone at 1147, and I proceeded to run down to the Bakerloo Line platforms.I do love a good run on the 72 Stock, and soon we were at Charing Cross, and I wound my way up onto the mainline station for the 1209 to Gravesend, to the sight of dud 465194. I groaned to myself, but then I discovered winner 465925 was leading, so still a decent start as we had a peaceful run to shack 1, Bexleyheath. My aim here was to complete the stations from Falconwood to Barnehurst, to make a future bash easier so I wouldn’t have to trek out this far again. Short wait here and double winners 465034/466042 were rolling in for the leap to shack 2, Barnehurst where I hopped over the bridge to the sight of another two winners, 465015/465035 which were duly taken to shack 3, Welling. Except dozy me didn’t want Welling, I wanted bloody Falconwood! I was meant to be here after there! I was now off plan and had no idea what to do as I’d already now surrendered two possible winners and the Victoria train was guaranteed duds with a 22 minute fester here. So I did what any sadist would do, I ran through the gale force winds to Falconwood. By this point, I had 12 minutes, when Google quoted me as requiring 24. So by any stretch of the imagination, I was setting myself up to completely ruin my plan.
It was a complete struggle and I actually physically couldn’t run without feeling slightly faint so I powerwalked it there with the wind getting in my ears (my jaw actually seized up for a moment because of it!) and made it in eight minutes! I had time to spare to feel slightly smug about my rescue plan, as I stepped into shack 4, Falconwood and rejoined duds 465034/466042 to shack 5, Nunhead. Top tip here, there’s a linear move available here with the Thameslink service being right behind! And indeed that was the case as a heaving winner 319011 trundled in to take me to Peckham Rye. ‘How can I make up for the lost winners from Falconwood?’ I think to myself…well there was a +1 at the Rye which I could try for, as that should contain two winners I’d noted earlier. By completely good luck, I was right in line with the platform exits so I sprinted my way under and up to find winners 465050/466037 coming into sight, and back to Nunhead I went on them! And right behind again was winner 319427 which I joined to shack 6, Bellingham. Fairly mundane affair here, as I crossed onto winner 319447 back to shack 7, Catford. This was a refurbished example, with a strangely clean smell in it compared to the scarily original feel of 011!
Next job from here was to cross the road and head for shack 8, Catford Bridge where I had sufficient time to get one other Hayes line shack. Playing it safe, I took winners 465156/465159 to shack 9, New Beckenham and had a look around for a shop of some description to buy lunch. Alas not, as I resigned myself to a 10 minute wait for dud 465151 leading winner 465190 through to London Bridge. We were in at 1454, meaning that I now had plenty of time to jump on the Jubilee Line through to Baker Street where I picked up a few reduced snack things from Boots before having a leisurely stroll back to Marylebone where a winning 168106 was waiting on the 1540 to Birmingham Snow Hill. It was a nice fast run to Bicester North, before we picked up most shacks back to Birmingham, all the while the rain coming down quite heavily! We were back in at 1737, 4 late where I made the walk to New Street via a newsagents in order to buy myself a sausage roll for dinner! I was just getting down on the platforms at New Street too as I sighted a winning 170106 on the 1749 to Nottingham and made a run for it! It was a busy old service, but I was quite content with a pair of seats to myself through to Derby by which time, the Edinburgh train had caught up and this is where my very tight connections began!
Thankfully, it was in early at Derby, and was even formed of a winning 221127! Straight to Coach B then, for the cosy, punctual run to just outside of Sheffield where we came to an irritating stand. Oh dear. We nudged ourselves along thankfully and I was making a run for mega mega dud 142021 on the 1925 to Scunthorpe. We didn’t leave until 1928, and then proceeded to lose further time by Meadowhall, leaving six minutes late. There goes my +7. But then, magic recovery time appears after Rotherham and we’re 3 late instead! This holds all the way to Doncaster so by the skin of my teeth, I was then blessed with a cross platform interchange onto a waiting dud 91101 for the quiet run north to Newcastle, with the service having started at Doncaster anyway. We were in at 2142, and that was me suitably exhausted!
An excellent day!
Total Mileage: 690mi 66ch
Total Winners: 17+9 shacks
Total Cost: £64.76
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YTD Mileage: 2789mi 06ch
YTD Winners: 80
YTD Shacks: 58
YTD Cost: £218.14
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Crikey you were lucky with your tight connections! A very productive time otherwise, some very good fortune with your run!
Cheers fellas, glad you enjoyed the read.
Next trip will be the Spanish bash (again, currently looking like an attempt to shack every single station in the Malaga area, so about 45 of them in total!) followed by the run to shacks on the Highland Mainline on the 27th, followed up by a run down to Leeds/Burley Park the next day for reasons err completely unrelated to bashing
Next trip will be the Spanish bash (again, currently looking like an attempt to shack every single station in the Malaga area, so about 45 of them in total!) followed by the run to shacks on the Highland Mainline on the 27th, followed up by a run down to Leeds/Burley Park the next day for reasons err completely unrelated to bashing
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Lusting again are we?
Looking forward to the read on the Spain trip for sure!
Looking forward to the read on the Spain trip for sure!
You know me too well Tech, least I bagged a decent first class fare on the return
And yeah Spain will be a new challenge, as i've cleared the Balearics for track and all but 4 shacks yet i've never set foot on Spanish mainland metals!
And yeah Spain will be a new challenge, as i've cleared the Balearics for track and all but 4 shacks yet i've never set foot on Spanish mainland metals!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I'd have wanted a good First Class fare down too, get some coffee in first
Kite159
Veteran Member
Good luck on the, umm, hunt (if that if the right word)
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
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- 1,132
You were certainly lucky with the tight connections - wouldn't fancy that!
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