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Richard's Trip Reports

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Segedunum

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To be honest having dated two Yorkshire lasses I can say that my experiences have differed!

The one from October turned out to be someone who got through guys like we do winners on our bashing trips and just generally lacked common sense, you get the idea.

The person I'm with now is quite literally the opposite. Can't even put it down to the part of Yorkshire, they're both from Bradford [emoji38]

Coincidentally I went down to see her this evening, 220031 followed by 185119 to Leeds, 221121 followed by 91122 on the return. Don't think there's any winners in there but I shall check. Strathclyde is tomorrow, no plan at all but there's plenty shacks to get!
 

Segedunum

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Well today started with me accidentally standing in a deep puddle in Nitshill. But I worked out that I've had...actually no...we can wait for the report ;)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Strathclyde- 05/03/16

Right, so next up was the second of my cheap Scottish bashes. This was precluded by a sudden run down to Leeds the previous afternoon/evening to see Em as she’d had quite a stressy week (aren’t I nice :lol: ) but sadly there were no winners of note on that trip, other than me sampling Nando’s for the first time :p This got me back to Newcastle however for 2147 meaning that it was basically a short sleep before I was up and about again at 5am in order to join the 0630 to Edinburgh Waverley once more, this time with dud 91132 ‘Jonah’ hauling. Yes, ever since it failed on me twice back in 2013 I call it Jonah :lol:. It was an even quieter run than the last week this time, although I wasn’t able to grab any sleep, instead quickly planning out what to do (Friday night should have been my time to plan!) before disregarding it anyway. I had my sights on the 0934 Ayr, then the 0942 Paisley Canal, then the…0927 Barrhead. A +8 across Glasgow? Bring it on.

We arrived in 4 early at 0811, giving me time to see if Edinburgh ticket office could issue a roundabout ticket. It was a most reassuring experience for once! The bloke scratched his head for a second then leaned over to his colleague asking for the destination code as he pulled out his manual. ‘Ah, it’s a single from Glasgow to Roundabout!’ calls over someone, showing him how to input it. 30 seconds later, I was walking out with ticket in hand, straight onto winner 170454 working the 0830 to Glasgow Queen Street, ensuring it stopped at Croy as that was the routing point to split my Stow-Nairn tickets at (This was meant to be a Highland bash!). I was expecting grief from the guard for such an odd split (Nobody in the right mind would travel via Croy to Inverness as that’d require a stopping train to Glasgow, another to Stirling, probably another to Perth!) but the guard was completely unfazed and gave me the nod! Even better, we were into Queen Street 3 early at 0916 which meant that I was walking into Central by 0920, and onto dud 156501 for the run to shack 1, Nitshill.

From here I needed to take a walk in order to avoid a long fester (Well, 16 minutes!) so I proceeded through what is without a doubt the worst area I’ve ever walked through. I was faced with a very run down looking housing estate (stepping in a deep puddle and covering my foot in mood in the process, thankfully it dried quickly) and a walk down a road with grass for a path (?!!) and through a very creepy walkway before finally arriving at shack 2, Priesthill and Darnley. Now mega dud 156501 was back again and this time it was taking me to shack 3, Kennishead. Barrhead line done (except Pollokshaws West), it was time to walk again! This time however, it was a far more pleasant walk around a curving road to shack 4, Thornliebank. I’d allowed just a little too long for this, so I had a 10 minute wait before winner 156467, still adorning Barbie livery, took me along some winning track to shack 5, Hairmyres. It was damn busy! I took a short stroll around a dull estate just to not look a bit odd in getting off there to go back from the same platform, before 156467 returned to take me to the much quieter shack 6, Thorntonhall. What a difference an hourly service makes! It was near enough dead yet the area was far emptier. I spent my time on the lone station bench before winner 156453 leading dud 156502 came along to take me to the end of the line, shack 7, East Kilbride.

Swift change of direction and I was off to shack 8, Clarkston and again it was time for a walk! I’d left myself Giffnock and Busby to do next time. This time it was a short walk down a pleasant road to shack 9, Williamwood where I took a seat in the rather dated looking booking office before dud 314209 rolled in to take me to shack 10, Neilston. Why was I doing the Neilston line today? Two reasons. Firstly, the fester at the end of the line was only 10 minutes vice nearly the full half an hour and secondly there was some rare track to be had as the train went direct from Muirend to Kings Park and reversed! I’ve checked, and there looks to be no booked passenger service at all! Very strange sight as I caught the 314 back to shack 11, Kings Park, and watched Cathcart go off to the side! Time to get walking again as I had time to get to Croftfoot on err foot! In fact, I made the short walk so quickly that I had time to jump on dud 314211 from shack 12, Croftfoot back to Kings Park where dud 314205 (all duds on here today then!) was soon arriving. The conductor then stuck his head out of the back cab and threw up all over the platform! I looked in and gave him a questioning ‘are you okay?’ look but later on he was merrily collecting fares so he’d clearly just ate something dodgy! Off we went to shack 13, Kirkhill, where a fluffy cat was my company for the next 15 minutes until 314205 came back to take me to shack 14, Burnside. And that was it! The Newton branch of the Circle was cleared, and it was down to dud 314211 to cart me along to Newton. Next stop, the Argyle Line!

Winner 320316 turned up for the run to Argyle Street, and very busy it was too! I was glad to be off and joining double duds 318258/318269 to shack 15, Dalmarnock. I required a bit of a jog over the bridge here in order to join winner 320313 to shack 16, Bridgeton, and that was the shacks through the ‘core’ completed! (The core being High Street/Rutherglen to Hyndland for me) And three minutes later, double duds 320302/320303 were rocking up to take me to Hyndland where a swift change was made onto winner 334027. It had sockets! I’d never known a 334 to have sockets but I charged myself up anyway for the run to shack 17, Clydebank. All the shacks on the Yoker line are very awkward! Only Yoker has a decent connection on 1 in 3 services (a +7 vs a +2) and all the others have +2s or +3s. Duds 318254/320310 were up next to shack 18, Scotstounhill before I joined winner 320311 to shack 19, Garscadden.

Garscadden has an island platform at least but it was just a linear +11 for me onto winner 334039 to the 20th shack, and the final one to complete both routes to Dalmuir, Yoker. What a weird station considering it’s the Yoker line! Lacked any facilities or displays. May as well call it the Garscadden Line :lol:. Dud 320311 took me back along to Partick, passing 320411 (still in Green!) on the way but don’t get too excited, it wasn’t yet in service! I fancied a run on the Subway so it was time to grab a smartcard pass thing from the ticket office and take winners 101/111/115 to shack 21, Kelvinbridge. Cross platform here saw me take winners 125/133 (this one had a trailer in the middle) to shack 22, Hillhead, followed by a linear move onto dud 105 (didn’t get the other one) to shack 23, Kelvinhall where I called it a day and joined a formation containing winner 114 to Buchanan Street.

I had a while still so I just jumped on dud 170471 to what was meant to be Croy but on arriving at Bishopbriggs and seeing that the Glasgow was 2 late (This shack is hell to get, it’s basically luck as to whether you make the zero/+1 connection) I called it shack 24 and ran for winner 156499 leading dud 156442 back to Queen Street. I hopped off to let it be cleaned before I joined it again as the 1648 to Dunblane, indeed this time as far as Croy! Dud 170452 followed us in behind, and being incredibly hungry I decided to stay on all the way to Waverley before sourcing a Falafel salad (nout else around) for the journey back to Newcastle on dud 91105.
An excellent day!

Total Winners: 15+24 shacks
Total Cost: £20.75
 

Segedunum

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It just shows how little I require of Strathclyde! I need a handful of 314s, 318s and 320s at best. Most of my luck lies in the 156s and 380s that way. Sadly, unless I wanted to leap to and from Paisley/Bishopton there's not many 380s on a Roundabout...
 

Kite159

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so I proceeded through what is without a doubt the worst area I’ve ever walked through.

Sounds a bit like the walk from Greenhithe to Stone Crossing on the North Kent line, not the nicest of places to walk.

---

A productive day shack scoring in Glasgow, I need to remember that walk between Nitshill & Priesthill and Darnley as that line towards Kilmarnock I need most of the shacks (one of the few parts in SPT land I need) :)
 

Keith Jarrett

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20+ shacks in one day can't be bad. In fact it's excellent and if you are focused on getting the shacks in, winning rides come as a Brucie bonus.

While there's normally through services from Muirend to Kings Park, the bit of track from Cathcart West Junction to Muirend is covered by Newton services that go out via Maxwell Park /Langside so probably not that rare.
 

Segedunum

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Indeed Keith, it was a most productive day. I know about the Newton via Maxwell Park trains, did one of those about a year ago! At least there's some odd track in there :lol:

Kite, my advice for you on that walk is to do it earlier in the day rather than later. And mind the dogs in the houses on the street by the railway that will bark *quite* loudly (three got me :lol:)

London is next up, probably Southeastern land on my radar again...
 

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Loads and loads of shacks there so I'd call that a productive day, even though you didn't get too many winners!
 

Segedunum

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London- 12/03/16

It was time again to head to London, and this time I was going directly there, not via Brum! In order to make this trip I’d had to get split seat sale tickets, which meant that a return came to £30 in total which was still excellent value considering the insane price of advance fares to London these days which require some creative splitting! I was booked on a favourite, the 0559 to London Kings Cross, bizarrely not diverted unlike nearly every other weekend this time of year! I picked up some breakfast at Sainsbury’s before going to see what was working the train. ‘Hmm this looks different’ I think to myself, before a smile lights up on my face to see that winner 43300 was leading dud 43239 this morning. Well, that means its 43312 and I’ve completely cleared all of VTEC! I went up to Coach B where I was reserved only to find it was incredibly well reserved, so back to coach G I went, sourcing a nice quiet table seat for what was a sleepy journey down to London in a refurbished set! Very nice and bright indeed, and my eyes were firmly on the clock as I looked out for a punctual arrival in London, rarely an issue on 1Y08. This time was no exception as we absolutely hammered our way south after Peterborough, passing Finsbury Park at 0857 and arriving into London 7 early at 0901! No time to waste then, time to take advantage as I ran for a Victoria Line train, before being deposited on the concourse at Victoria for 0915.

First train to Clapham it was, and that was the 0920 to Brighton, which had winner 377616 trailing dud 377622 this morning. Short and sweet, with us being incredibly quiet for the hop to Clapham where I changed plans and headed for the Hounslow Loop thanks to the rugby being on later! I made a beeline for the 0932 to Weybridge, and soon enough winners 458509/458533 came trundling in where I joined what I assume is meant to become a first class area? Ironically it was the worst kept section of the train, but the seats were nice and comfortable for the run to shack 1, Kew Bridge. I had no aims of finishing the loop today, as Brentford just looked plain awkward, and as it turns out I’d stuffed up the planning to include Hounslow so that was omitted too! Quick transfer over the footbridge and winner 458517 was leading dud 458532 for the short hop to shack 2, Chiswick. This was going surprisingly well versus my last run in SW Land which was exclusively 455s, even via Hounslow! The stream of winners continued with 458502/458513 taking me to shack 3, Isleworth. This seemed to be in quite a wealthy setting from first glance, as did all of these loop stations! It was proving to be a thoroughly pleasant experience!

Winners 458508/458512 took me to shack 4, Syon Lane which came complete with tourists posing with the train only for it to lock its doors when they eventually decided to board :lol: However, for me it was across the bridge next to the fields awaiting a train ‘formed of 8 carriages’ at which point my fingers were crossed for a 450. Bingo! Winners 450042/450567 were on the Weybridge train, and they were duly taken to shack 5, Feltham, the extreme of the zones this way, meaning that I was basically complete for track on the Hounslow/Richmond lines within the zones if you bundle in Fulwell/Hampton with the Kingston group! Winners 455718/455739 were next up to shack 6, Whitton, where I contemplated trying for Hounslow as my -1 was now a +2, but of course the delay was going to throw my connection at Hounslow so I decided against it, and stayed put for dud 458526 leading winner 458525 on the all stop stagger to Clapham Junction. We were in at 1119, and my sights were set on the 1123 to Littlehampton to make the 1137 from East Croydon, so a run was in order for dud 377466 leading winner 377473 to East Croydon.

Annoyingly, the run was a stagger and I just missed the 455 (which would have been winner 455836) to Purley so I looked at RTT to see what was next there, and bingo, we had a late running Three Bridges Thameslink! Winners 377512/377514 rocked up to take me to Purley with no real time penalty, and I was still able to connect onto winner 455801 to shack 7, South Croydon. One more and I’d have completed all Southern mainline shacks from Vic and the Bridge within the zones except Coulsdon South. And with that, dud 455807 was taking me to shack 8, Purley Oaks. All done, and it was time for winner 455841 back to East Croydon where I crammed onto dud 377127 leading winner 377454 on the next service to Clapham Junction. Next focus were the remaining old South London Line shacks. Dud 378135 was working the 1244 to Dalston Junction, and it was taken as far as shack 9, Clapham High Street where a quick change was made onto winner 378206 to shack 10, Wandsworth Road. I nipped out here for a quick sugar boost from a corner shop before coming back to find that I was in a nice position to watch the diverted SE Mainline services! (Everything was going to Victoria or Blackfriars today), so I did a few bits of photography before winner 378143 appeared to take me to shack 11, Denmark Hill.

I had changed my plan about a dozen times during the day, such variations including the shacks to Hatch End on the WCML, and shacks such as Cheam and Ewell West, and this new one had me heading to Crofton Park where I’d walk to Honor Oak Park and get Crystal Palace in. However, the Sevenoaks was seriously delayed (ended up being 24L into Crofton Park and 30L by Bromley South) so I went to plan E (yes, this was the 5th redraft :lol: ) and joined winners 465161/465173 to Peckham Rye. Next stop, Tulse Hill. I had quite a wait so I spotted a chance to jump on dud 455825 to Queens Road Peckham in order to fill in some time. I caught sight of winner 378210 on arrival so it was a quick leap back to Peckham Rye where winner 377427 was filing in behind to take me to Tulse Hill. Odd sight having a 377 on the Beckenham Junction trains, but I shrugged and joined the first class section to plug my phone in. It was a +2 here, up to a +4 thanks to a minor delay on the connecting Thameslink. And that’s the connection I made onto winner 319456 to shack 12, Hackbridge. The clientele here did concern me, with at least three of them being off their face drunk! :lol: No hanging around here though as winner 455810 was next up to take me to shack 13, Mitcham Eastfields.

This looked to be a relatively new building but changing platforms looked to be an absolute faff, as it was staggered across a level crossing! There were bridges but I would say that anything less than a +3 isn’t worth trying unless luck is on your side! Plan E had included a Thameslink Core bash for the remaining two hours in order to really get my 387 requirements down but with Thameslink starting to fall over as per, I only took winner 319007 as far as Elephant and Castle. My intention was to get Loughborough Junction in too, but the connection was cancelled and the next one was 15 late before being caped at Wimbledon! Instead, I moved onto Plan F and took a Northern Line to London Bridge followed by the Jubilee to Canary Wharf. Yes, it was DLR time and time to fill the books a bit! I walked up to shack 14, Heron Quays in order to join winners 24/28/79 to shack 15, South Quay. Linear moves seemed best here, with a 5 minute frequency, but I decided to mix things up a little, taking winners 42/76/84 to shack 16, Mudchute and making the awkward platform swap onto winners 73/80/93 back to shack 17, Crossharbour. I wasn’t entirely sure where to stop when it came to these shacks, so I called it a day down here by taking winners 04/11/32 to shack 18, Island Gardens, as that meant I’d completed the line through to Greenwich. Fresh duds 24/28/79 were then my traction for the run back through to shack 19, Limehouse.

A run on the c2c? Sure, why not? :lol: I was really pushing things in terms of variety today (Southern, SWT, Overground, Thameslink, SE, Tube, DLR, and now c2c) but hey ho, winner 357203 was up next to take me to West Ham where there was a +1 onto winners 357317/357036 back to Limehouse where I had just enough time to run under once more for winner 357035 to West Ham once more, followed up by a zero connection onto winners 357207/357019 back to Limehouse. Fastest half dozen mainline winners I’ve had, 1544 to 1604 :lol: Not getting Westferry in was bugging me, so I went back through the gates and took winners 118/134 to shack 20, Westferry for the sake of completeness. Winners 27/57/96 were then next up to Bank where I took the spare hour as I chance to take a walk and find some dinner. At least, that was my intention. Leaving the train at Bank, I was most frustrated by the endless corridors and crowds just to get out, somehow ending up on the Central Line platforms before finding the final escalator to go up! ‘Finally!’ I groan to myself, jogging up what seemed like a bit of a slippery escalator at that! By the time I realise this, I’m casually tripping over before saving myself with my hands and finding my footing again.

‘Ah, smooth’ I giggle to myself before looking at my hand. ‘Bollocks, that’s blood.’ Indeed, the escalator had cut into my hand! I was tempted to continue as normal, just finding a toilet to clean myself up and keep going, but on the other hand it was rather deep looking despite not actually being very painful (I really couldn’t feel anything!) so I called over the gateline bloke who had a panic on not being able to find a first aid kit anywhere (pretty sure that railway stations need these by law?) and I myself was most angered by being shrugged at and told to help myself by another member of staff, although the anger was duly given out by the gateline bod who called her out himself on such an attitude! Eventually, someone found a kit and I was given a plaster to cover the cut until I found myself somewhere to sort myself out. Twas a bit pointless walking anywhere now, so back down I went and joined a Northern Line to Kings Cross where I picked up dinner before finding the provisional FC lounge in the Parcel Yard pub! It was an odd affair, but quite a nice atmosphere as I sat back and sipped a cranberry juice while watching the rugby until my train was announced. And tonight, it was dud 91126 working the 1730 to Newcastle, which was incredibly quiet throughout! Nice peaceful run, into Newcastle at 2036, 4 early. As for the hand, well at the time of writing it’s a mere painless scar about a centimetre long, I think I’ll live :lol:


Total Mileage: 645mi 17ch
Total Winners: 53+20 shacks
Total Cost: £41.85
-----------------------------------
YTD Mileage: 6002mi 21ch
YTD Winners: 212
YTD Shacks: 179
YTD Cost: £541.90
 
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FQ

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Sounds like an excellent day in London except the last little bit with the escalator incident.
 

alexf380

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Another good read there Richard! Making me jealous lately, not gonna lie. Looking forward to whatever the next one may entail. Hope your hand heals alright :)
 

Segedunum

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Cheers gents, that's the last full bash now until April 5th, although i'll be filling in my time until my girlfriend arrives in York next Saturday with a couple of shack scratches so expect a short report on that front!

I've also booked a cheap run up to Glasgow for April 7th, so I can get the Cowlairs curve linking Bishopbriggs and Ashfield, followed by 9 hours of bashing on the Inverclyde and Ayrshire lines, hopefully clearing a lot of the shacks, although I can't see myself clearing Largs, Ardrossan or Wemyss Bay fully..
 

Segedunum

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Indeed Kite, my highest number of winners in a day so far!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Tyne Valley Shacks- 14/03/16

You know, it does cross my mind sometimes that I feel that I’m slipping into the dreaded ‘normaldom’. I mean, I haven’t booked anything new bar the SPT bash for ages, leaving a distinct void between April 7th and May 28th. Then, I have days like today when it crosses my mind: ‘You have a free afternoon. Go clear the Tyne Valley for shacks.’ :lol:

Not one to say no, I dropped my absolute brick of a bag off at home at 1330, and planned out an evening on the line in order to clear everything. With that done, I dropped a novel in my other bag (I’ve recently dropped Maths for English Literature A Level) along with a couple of drinks, and set out for the 1425 bus into Newcastle. For some reason we had a Wright Solar working today too, providing a nice bit of noise vs the usual Optare Versa! Easy work was made of the trip and I had a nice warm stroll to the Central, buying my Hadrians Wall Ranger at £13.65 and proceeding onto Platform 4 for the 1515 to the Metrocentre just to kill some time. Dud 142093 was the traction for this short bouncy hop, with us being held on the bridge to let 66735/66718 pass on a TNT freight working. Into the Metrocentre at 1524, and I had another 10 minutes to kill before dud 156479 rocked up on the 1532 to Carlisle. Out came my book and it was a thoroughly pleasant hours journey in the sunshine, very calm indeed as we wound our way through the Tyne Valley, before I arrived into shack 1, Haydon Bridge.

I had a err +67 now! Seems excessive but I’d never been to Haydon Bridge, so I went for a stroll. Oh bollocks. The lock on my SD Card had fallen off, basically rendering my camera unusable without a functioning SD Card. That was until I discovered online that one could tape the lock area and get the SD card working again! Off I went to the Co-op, forking out £2 for a roll of tape and £1 for a Giant Cornish for dinner before sitting down by the river, successfully fixing my SD card and devouring my pasty, before taking a walk along the river too. Very pleasant indeed and I successfully killed an hour or so, strolling back to the station in order to take dud 156469 to shack 2, Brampton. I was quite weary of having just a +4 here, but it was no cause for issue as I was the sole passenger jumping off at a station which did a terrible job of actually serving Brampton, being sat in a field. There was a Network Rail bod drawing some diagrams in the shelter, but for me, it was straight onto dud 156479 and onwards to shack 3, Haltwhistle. This was an interesting affair, a staggered platform with a nice footbridge and signalbox in the centre. Again, I was the only soul around as I took refuge in the wooden waiting room before we had winner 156435 on the 1813 to Glasgow, which was taken to shack 4, Wetheral.

The sun was just fading away as I bailed at Wetheral and took a walk onto the viaduct just as the last of the light disappeared, wandering back onto the steeply curved platform. Smile on my face again as winner 156506 was working the 1844 to Newcastle, and with that, I settled in for an uneventful sleepy journey back home for 2011.

Basically the best possible outcome for the day, all the shacks done and 2/2 possible winners on the ScotRail workings!

Total Mileage: 138mi 72ch
Total Winners: 2+4 shacks
Total Cost: £16.65
-----------------------------------
YTD Mileage: 6141mi 13ch
YTD Winners: 214
YTD Shacks: 183
YTD Cost: £558.55
 
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FQ

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Congratulations on clearing the Tyne Valley for shacks! Haydon Bridge sounds like a lovely place to spend 45 minutes!
 

Kite159

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Some shacks you just have to do the fester time, as long as it has decent seats and a shelter it's good for me .

Congrats on clearing the Tyne Valley line :)
 

Techniquest

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Wow that was an epic time in London! Well done too on clearing the Tyne Valley shacks, most of us can so far only dream of doing that!

Normaldom, you're finding yourself slipping that way too. I sure felt like that before going to New York, but I'm back with my train head on! Wouldn't be wearing a t-shirt decorated with part of the Subway map otherwise :lol:
 

Segedunum

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To be honest Kite, if the fester is >15 minutes and the area looks nice, I normally go for a walk and try to locate a shop for something to eat etc, unless the station has plenty of passing traffic of interest. It's normally the former with more rural shacks.

Indeed the shacks that way are quite difficult, as Dunston and Blaydon take up enough time as it is! You could probably do them all in a day but you'd need a full day to do it, putting it out of reach of most daytrippers from the south. The 1tp2h frequency at Blaydon, Haydon Bridge, Bardon Mill, Brampton and Wetheral doesn't help either, nor do the awkward change times at Wylam (FROM Hexham and back that way is the only way in the off peak without a +50ish), Stocksfield (basically 30 minutes) and Riding Mill.
 

Keith Jarrett

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Just caught up with your last couple of jollies. The Tyne Valley leap solved something that presumably had been irritating you. And it's good to clear up stuff in your own back yard. That reminds me, I need to sort out a visit to Cheam sometime!

Despite the constant replanting, your London trip seemed to prove very productive. But that's one of the good things about bashing in The Smoke; there's always a plan B and/or another train along soon.
 

Segedunum

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Cheers Keith, aye it's a bit of a bugbear. In terms of local shacks I only really need British Steel Redcar, Pegswood, Acklington and Widdrington to clear the North East for shacks. After that, it's probably Dalston and Wigton on the Cumbrian Coast, along with Penrith that are the next closest.

I need everything after Sutton heading towards Epsom along with the Downs branch so you're not the only one with Cheam!
 
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FQ

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Congrats on clearing the Harrogate line!
 

Techniquest

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Well done on clearing the Harrogate line, I'm 2 or 3 shacks behind you on that one. Good work too on the winning 144, and sounds like you must have had a good day with the lass!

I assume you got to work super early because of cheap Advances?
 

Segedunum

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I was there super early because it was an open ended idea for a bash somewhere else that I booked on January 6th, indeed because the prices were so low! (£7 return) So it was just a case of not buying anything else :lol: Negative side being the combined 4 and a half hours of time I had to kill when she wasn't there (Obviously wasn't up for meeting me at 7am and leaving on what would have been something like the 2027 to Bradford on the return)
 
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