Richard's Trip Reports

[Segedunum]

Central Scotland Day 2


Day 2 was an earlier start again as I headed to the Central Station via McDonald’s where I picked up a ‘Big Breakfast’ for £3.49 before joining the 0622 to Edinburgh Waverley, which had double duds 43208/43306 working. In all honesty, I fell asleep for most of the journey . I woke myself up on the approach to Dunbar with a splash of cold water from one of the sinks in the loos before starting to make a plan for the day, because indeed, I didn’t actually have one! A plan to shack everything west of but not including Airdrie on the A2B line was formed, as well as all the shacks on the Cumbernauld line. Beyond there, I didn’t have much idea! Arrival was 2 late at 0807 as I now had 68 minutes to kill until my rover was valid.

I’d already thought ahead and bought a Plusbus for a paltry £2 so that I could get a few tram shacks in while I waited for the main part of the day to start. Annoyingly, I then just missed a Tram from Princes Street so I decided to powerwalk to a required West End stop, where the wait time hadn’t decreased. It was still 9 minutes! I groaned and decided to keep walking to Haymarket which was again required! Two shacks in yet not a single chain on an actual tram! From here it was now a 10 minute wait for dud 256 to take me to Bankhead. It was heaving, and I mean damn heaving! There was physically no space to board or alight. I jammed myself into the doorway leaving room for one other gent before we were completely full up. Absolutely pathetic and no explanation as to why there’d been a 30 minute gap in service! I bailed at the aforementioned Bankhead onto a winning 260 to Balgreen where the conductor refused my PlusBus. Bizarrely she then backed down as soon as I sternly told her ‘It’s valid’. Didn’t take much . With time now dwindling considering it had been 0838 until I was able to start the bash, I bailed at Balgreen for winner 263 to Edinburgh Park Station where, naughtily, I boarded dud 334023 and winner 334030 on the 0859 to Helensburgh Central. The conductor didn’t bat an eyelid at me using the ticket before time, so I continued on my merry way.

I bailed at Coatbridge Sunnyside, before crossing platforms onto a winning 334003 for the short hop to Coatdyke, where it was clear that things weren’t going so well. My next service hadn’t left Airdrie as the service in front, a fast Milngavie, was delayed. Eventually, dud 318260 pulled in 5 late for the run to Easterhouse. Another generally okayish looking station, not heard great things about the area though so that’s why I was doing this line earlier in the morning! Dud 334009 was my haulage back to Blairhill where things had really gone a bit pear shaped. The next service was cancelled, and indeed it ran fast through the station, seems like it had started at Bathgate, and only called at Airdrie en route before Glasgow as it was running 12 late! Instead, it was up to winner 334035 to take me down to Garrowhill, where a linear bashing move seemed like the best option, so I stuck around for dud 334017 to take me to Carntyne. The duds continued as double duds 334008/334038 appeared for the run to Shettleston, leaving only High Street. But I changed the plan and headed on winner 318251 to Bellgrove. Why you ask? It was a +19 here onto the Cumbernauld so I went for a walk.

A short walk took me to Duke Street, where I noted that I still had 10 minutes, so I walked along the platform and out the other exit to Alexandra Parade. I would’ve kept going to Barnhill but time wasn’t on my side for that! Winner 334034 was my haulage to Stepps, where a quick swap of platforms was required for winner 318261 straight back to Springburn. Nice timing here as winner 334019 was pulling in for the run to Gartcosh. Lots of 334s out and about today, but at least the books were filling up quite nicely! Gartcosh was probably the quietest of all the stations, not a soul around as I bailed and joined a winning 156509 to Greenfaulds. I now had a choice. Did I go back down to Springburn and scoop High Street? Nope. I took winner 334007 for the insect leap to Cumbernauld where I now had 20 minutes to hang around.

I picked up a can of lemonade from the local shop before returning to the platform and joining 334007 to Motherwell. A 334 down here certainly can’t be that frequent an occurance as I am aware of them previously coming down here before the opening of the A2B but never thought they came this way anymore! Anyhoo, it was off there as it continued via Hamilton and I joined double winners 318266/320311 for the run to Wishaw. A truly dull station to be honest, with a rather snappy woman in the ticket office who promptly yelled at me to remove my completely clean foot from the metal bench. I was stretching my leg for about a second, but okay then A winning 380004 arrived soon after to take me to Shieldmuir. This station is about as bad as it gets for changing platforms. It involved a lengthy walk back up the platform, out of the station, up a spiral ramp, over a footbridge, down a ramp, a u-turn back under said bridge and up onto the platform! Thankfully I had a +9 here so nothing too difficult! Winner 380016 then arrived in for the final WCML station I’d be doing (just leaves Carstairs, really!) which was Carluke. Quite a rural nature by now as I had a short wait for winner 380109 to Haymarket.

A nice, fast, smooth run was had through to Haymarket where I spotted a chance for a usual zero minute connection shack scratch thanks to the delay (in actual fact, a 15 minute delay so I could have scooped Kingknowe if I fancied!) of the eastbound service from Glasgow. This of course was Slateford, so I joined winner 158718 for this journey, where there was around a 10 minute wait for a winning 156439 to appear back to Edinburgh Waverley. Next stop food as I picked up a pasty and a bagel from Sainsbury’s before joining winner 156474 to Shotts. Yes, it was time for a few shacks on the Shotts Line in the dark as I bailed there and awaited dud 158718 to come back from Glasgow, taking me down to West Calder. It was slightly eerie here too. I was completely alone for the short wait before dud 156442 took me to Addiewell. A shack that again, normally has an awkward connection but thanks to the peak extra to Motherwell, it was easier. Duds 156439/156445 transported me to the wonders of Livingston South next, where I had a choice. Bail at Fauldhouse for a service back to Edinburgh, in at 1950, or surrender the one shack scratch, bail at West Calder, and catch a fast service back to Edinburgh.

I picked the latter option, with a winning 156513 taking me to West Calder again, before dud 156474 rolled in to take me to Haymarket. It was on the approaches to Haymarket that the lass I mentioned a few posts above decided to call me so my mind ended up being elsewhere for the next 20 or so minutes! Nontheless, I bailed for double duds 334011/334023 to Waverley, which was rather irritating but I quite fancied making it back for the 68 through the tunnels. A winning 158739 was working the 1918 Cowdenbeath, where dud 68007 was just arriving at Haymarket as we did. Bugger! I absolutely legged it over and found myself a droplight for some noise back into Waverley for around 1930. Now I waited. I’d made a good move too, as the 1950 arrival at Edinburgh was running 11 late, leaving a +1 connection onto my train home! In rolled a winning 221124 back to Newcastle. Standard class this time and it was heaving! I located a seat in Coach B and settled in for the run home, back in at 2141, 7 late.

Another successful day!

Total Mileage: 447mi 02ch
Total Winners: 22+25 shacks
Total Cost: £19.69

 

[Techniquest]

A very good second day too! You certainly were having a ball up there!

 

[Segedunum]

May as well do Wednesday now as there's not much to it really!

North East Round Robin- 28/10/15

This was a day not at all intended for bashing, but instead meeting a member of our female bretheren. And unlike Tech and his friend Lynz, there was err most certainly something going on between us A North East Round Robin seemed like the best option as I needed the flexibility on the ticket, and it opened up a possibility of an evening bash.

Off I went on a late running dud 91108 to York, working the 0825 to London King's Cross, securing an unreserved seat for the run down south. It was a fairly uneventful run, but the delay had started to cause issue for a variety of connections to Leeds. In any case, I opted for dud 185132 on the 0953 to Manchester Airport, which left at 1000. Another peaceful run west, and we were in a shade before 1030.
My companion however didn't turn up until 1130 and this resulted in me wandering around the station for quite a while before ending up sitting on the concourse for a bit.

After...things and the traditional railway station-esque parting kiss I realised now was a good chance for a wee bash. I joined dud 158797 on the 1752 to York, which was quite busy indeed. I bailed at East Garforth for dud 155342 back over to Cross Gates, where dud 185117/185142 were just arriving, and I took them through to York. The stream of duds continued as dud 221138 took me on the 1840 to Bristol as far as Leeds where a beeline was made for dud 158904 back to York thanks to the TransPennine line being a bit broken! Back into York for 2010 where a nice surprise awaited me. Peak extra service, the 1819 from London was on the approach to York, and I thought to myself 'wouldn't it be great if 14 was working...that would just make this day' and lone behold, I grinned to myself as my final 91, winning 91114 rolled in. A nice empty carriage, and I settled in for the journey back home for 2124.

And then of course you know the rest where it all flops, but hey, I got the 91 out of it

Total Mileage: 266mi 51ch
Total Winners: 1
Total Cost: £43.99

 

[47403]

Cracking read indeed, surely had some winners, making big in roads on them shacks too.

 

[Kite159]

Sounds like a good few days

BTW Dunfermline Queen Margaret has nothing on Rhoose Cardiff International Airport station

 

[Segedunum]

Damn, Wikipedia lied again [emoji38]
Lancs Report tomorrow

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Sounds like you had a great time running around central Scotland. All those winning units and shack scores must make you one happy person. Well done on making some of those tight connections; I wouldn't fancy that interchange at Shieldmuir. Your report makes me want to go back to Scotland sooner rather than later. I'm not sure that I can wait until next summer though.

The Central Scotland Rover is definitely up there in the value for money stakes at 12.10 (8.00 railcard) per day for the territory covered.

 

[FQ]

Sounds like another good couple of days!

 

[Segedunum]

Interlude from Scotland for a brief moment as we head to Lancashire!

Lancashire Day Ranger- 29/10/15

Day 4 took a slightly different line of attack when it came to bashing, as I opted for a Lancashire Day Ranger. My initial idea was to go bash some 319s and get the shacks via Chat Moss, but as you’ll find out, I took myself on a very sporadic adventure, and to be honest it was quite fun Sadly, my fluctuating mood that day was down to the aforementioned lass (really get in the way of a good bash don’t they ) starting to turn a bit sour with me, however I didn’t do too badly considering! It was certainly much better to be out and about to take my mind off all that

It was up at stupid o’ clock (4:44 to be precise) for the 0603 to Liverpool which was a winning 185121 working. This was a nice peaceful run down to Northallerton, where we had a constant stream of commuters for the remaining part of the journey through to Manchester Victoria. This was actually quite a stressful journey as I had a +11 onto the 0844 to Southport. A +11 that was in jeopardy straight on departure from Newcastle. Basically, the guard turned up at 0601. He then ran through the train, putting in reservations but then not releasing the doors until 0606. Off we went at 0607 and the delay was constantly increasing in traditional fashion on this service. By Leeds we were down to a 2 minute delay, but of course we crawled through Mossley and Stalybridge, putting me down to a +2. I am sick of the pathetic reliability of the TPE services, honestly. Hopefully future improvements will see these services become more reliable, as right now they’re somewhat of a joke.

We arrived into Manchester Vic at 08:42:30, and I ran as fast as I could to Platform 6 to see a departing 150. My mood was now set as that seemed to be the Southport leaving 75 seconds early! Not so, as it was the late running 0838 to Liverpool. Double duds 142058/142089 eventually bounced in and we left at 0848, making up much of the time by Hindley where I chose to bail, the one shack left on the line between Manchester and Wigan that Atherton Line trains serve. The rain now falling, my mood wasn’t really in the right place to be honest but I pressed on, with dud 156486 irritatingly presenting itself for the run to Kirkby. At least it was winning track! The run was thoroughly yawn-worthy as we rattled into Kirkby and I stood in the rain once more, awaiting a winning 507026 to Kirkdale. The shack scratching had begun as I bailed here, joining a dud 508110 back up to Rice Lane. It was now a nice short walk to Walton. However, me being completely knocked out from a poor nights sleep and a pretty rotten mood, I ended up at Orrell Park so my plan was promptly knocked on the head! Winner 507014 took me on the short run up to Old Roan, where I crossed over fairly sharpish (absolute faff changing trains here!) onto a winning 507018 back south one stop to Aintree.

Getting a little sick already of the Ormskirk Line, I decided on one more scratch, taking winner 507007 to Maghull where there was a short wait for dud 507014 down to Sandhills. Quick linear bash here and I was onto a winning 508117 through to Liverpool Central where I decided to start on the Chat Moss shacks a little earlier than intended . However, Northern had other ideas. The rail conditions were very, very poor indeed and so the 319s were struggling greatly. The 1154 to Liverpool South Parkway limped in late, and instead of being cut short there and sent back to Preston, the bugger was continued to the Parkway, despite having 156420 routed ahead of it on an all shacks service! The driver was bemused to say the least, and in the end he refused to take it any further due to the severe delay and the fact that he was out of hours at 1215! I was now rather fed up, so I just joined whatever was going. The delayed 1132 to Wigan North Western was advertised. ‘Calling at Wigan North Western only’, said the PA. Oh yes, I thought to myself as I joined dud 319364 to Wigan. We left 43 late at 1215, yet we stormed into Wigan at 1244, just 20 down! An excellent run as I bailed onto a dud 390115 to Preston, where another nifty bit of late running saw me diving onto dud 158753 to Poulton-Le-Fylde. New track for me, as we continued towards the coast, there being a nice chance for a shack scratch at Poulton before winner 150146 had me continuing to the infamous Blackpool North.
I hung around for about 45 seconds, to be honest.

The doors were opened onto the concourse as I leapt off the train (odd!) before I ran for a winning 156466 back to Preston. Just a single one on the TPE hire, weird! Turns out that dud 156459 was being joined at Preston, so no great loss as I absolutely legged it for winner 390154 up to Lancaster. I now had a choice, a 350 back to Preston or a run to scratch Bare Lane and a 390 back to Preston. Dud 156438 was working the Morecambe train, so I opted against it and joined winner 350409 back to Preston, where I had a short break, seeking out some lunch in Sainbury’s before adopting a different line of attack, which was a few shacks on the line via Chorley. Winner 156425 and dud 150218 took me to Horwich Parkway, before I crossed platforms onto another winner in the form of 156424 up to Adlington Lancs. Things were starting to look up again as winner 156483 and dud 150139 took me to Lostock, but then the boards decided to have a fit and decide that the service north was 20 late! This was completely untrue as it pulled in 2 late A busy dud 150271 produced for the run to Buckshaw Parkway, where I had a linear bash of winner 150114 and dud 150273 to Leyland.

Back onto the 319s I went with winner 319382 taking me up to Preston, then straight back down to Wigan North Western where to be honest I’d ran out of things to do down here! All the shacks were complete except Westhoughton in this area, and the westbound services were rather broken so I joined dud 150112 to Hindley for a winning 150133 to Manchester Victoria. I now had an hour to go, so I picked up some dinner from the local Co-op, received confirmation that indeed, (I’m mentioning this a lot ) the lass had had a sudden change of heart and wasn’t interested, slight kick in the teeth but I wasn’t too surprised as I boarded dud 185148 on the 1951 back to Newcastle for 2229, 10 minutes behind schedule. I was certainly damn exhausted at this point but, despite some drawbacks, it had been quite a successful day!

So yeah, apologies if the tone was a little more negative here but it's quite reflective of my mood for most of the day, although I promise the stream of winners later in the day and the shacks did put a smile on my face

Total Mileage: 515mi 50ch
Total Winners: 16+15 shacks
Total Cost: £37.15

 

[Kite159]

Sounds like a varied day in Lancashire

 

[Techniquest]

I'm honoured you remembered Lynz's name and the situation, before you ask no we're still friends but that's all either of us want! If it helps you feel better, I've had dates like you had there who suddenly change their minds. Granted, in my case it was the same day! I won't go on about The Witch though, she was much worse. Bunny Boiler I think is the term applied to people like her!

Some very good trips there, aside from the women situation! Certainly getting through the winners well this year, will be harder next year to do so well mind

 

[Segedunum]

Considering my luck with lasses compared to last year I think I've done okay to be honest. I see it all as experience, live and learn eh?

I plan a 14 day ALR next Summer.
So maybe not! It'll be exhausting but I figured that for the price difference, it was best having a spread over the two weeks rather than jamming everything into the one. Considering my 7 day EMR experience this year, it shouldn't be too bad!

Rest of the year is to be a quieter affair, nothing planned apart from a run on the HST to Edinburgh via Carlisle next month.

Back to Scotland for the final report. Hopefully completed in the next couple of days!

 

[Kite159]

Are you planning to try and grab one of the VTEC HST diversions from Newcastle towards York via Sunderland in the new year?

(i.e. - http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y80336/2016/01/17/advanced)

 

[Segedunum]

Indeed I am! I'm planning on getting one with a Northallerton call so I can do it on a Tyne Tees Ranger.

 

[47403]

Good little day that, we all have good days and bad days man, divvent let them get ya doon, you've got plenty time for that, wait sometime before you get in a relationship, after a while, you'll realise, if you br?eathe or smile in the wrong place, when they're talking to you, its, are you listening?, when you say, aye!!!!,you'll get, well what have I just been on about and god forbid, if you don't get it word for word, oh you haven't, then its, sorry if Im boring you, nag nag nag. I'm sure the married lads will confirm this too.:roll::roll:
Chin up kidda, life goes on. Plenty more fish in the sea an all that.

 

[FQ]

Another fun read. I agree about TPEs punctuality being terrible.

 

[Techniquest]

A 14 day ALR? Nice! If you get bored halfway through I'd gladly take the second half of the week off you Mind you I'd have no railcard!

47403, I agree if only from trying to listen to my Mum go on in that fashion about stuff. It can be hard to stay focused after a while

Granted I doubt young Richard will have that problem for years. After all, I'm sure he'll find the really pretty ones he'll listen to every word

 

[55013]

Looks like you got some good moves in the bag.
Once again I hear the sound of Scotland calling me

As for women, there are lots of good ones about, but some are certainly unfathomable - I once went out with one that was very possessive.
I had to tell her I was working nights in order to do a week long all line rover.
She was none the wiser.
I'm not proud of that.

 

[Segedunum]

Last day of the rover coming up later tonight, then I'm off on another free Northern ticket tomorrow! £19.45 duly paid for two first class advances, to York and return with me arriving York at 0757 and returning for the 2053 back to Newcastle. Another spontaneous trip so who knows what I'll be doing
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And here it is!

Scotland- Day 3

The fun continued on Day 5 as I joined dud 43295 and winner 43319 for the journey to Edinburgh Waverley. I was in the EMT Set, as well as in First Class, so another nice experience was on the cards today! I took a seat in Coach L for the 124 miles north, and we departed bang on time at 0622. Papers were handed out, as were the menus and the mug was promptly filled with tea! I was given a full English breakfast as ordered, and it was quite delicious indeed! Other than that, there was a single slice of toast and a glass of juice as well as the constant stream of tea. One cup after Morpeth, one after Alnmouth, one after Berwick and one after Dunbar! After this, I opted to head to the first class lounge which was being manned by a complete grump of a man, who didn’t want to let me in at first, before my ticket was promptly handed over and I was waved through. I only wanted the plug and WiFi really, but I made myself a mocha nonetheless!

I then headed out for the 0915 to Glasgow, being worked by winner 170431. A good start as we made light work of the 47 miles to Glasgow, arriving in on time as I decided on a quick move down to High Street, finally I’d clear that pesky shack! Double duds 320320/318261 had me there within minutes of me leaving the train at Queen Street, and I dived over the bridge onto winner 334025 leading dud 334035 up to Partick, where I was now ahead of schedule so I did a linear bash on winner 320306 to Anderston, followed by dud 320310 through to Airbles. I took the chance for a couple shack scratches on the Hamilton Circle, as fresh dud 320306 carted me along to Hamilton West, and dud 318255 south to Hamilton Central. Next point of attack was Cambuslang, so dud 320312 provided the haulage up there. I opted for a short fester and a run into the high level station. This was a run in the hands of an empty winning 318258 trailing dud 318262.

With that done, it was next stop the A2B line again so I walked my way back to Queen Street and took winner 318253 to Bellgrove before another winner in the form of 334036 crawled me up to Airdrie via all of the shacks. Airdrie in itself was a shack scratch, and that meant that I had one more to do in the SPT area before it was complete! And with that, winner 334028 was carting me along to Drumgelloch. There wasn’t an awful lot here, but I stuck around and did a linear move. I should have really scratched Caldercruix but to be honest, we were dealing with a +1 or no connection at all! And a +30 wasn’t particularly desirable, so when winner 334030 appeared, it was taken through to Armadale. This was on the new part of the line (well, it’s a few years old now ) And, it was actually quite scenic to be honest! Nice fast running on a quiet train, quiet pleasant really. I changed here for a dud 334009 to Blackridge, where a linear bash ensued for the last two shacks. Duds 334034/334038 rolled in for Bathgate, where I had a read of the displays referring to the re-opening of the line beyond there, having previously been a DMU shuttle from Edinburgh, before joining dud 334029 to Uphall.

Longish wait here, so I nipped to the Co-Op for some sugar based energy before joining dud 334024 through to Haymarket. Time for a change of scenery! Winner 158734 took me through to North Queensferry where I decided to nip down for a look at the Forth Bridges. It’s a fun walk down to the Forth, nice steep downhill run and some good views to be had! However, the uphill walk back is positively torturous, and this is coming from a physically fit 16 year old Winner 158867 took me forward then to Inverkeithing, where I joined dud 170401 back to South Gyle. The commuter crowds were beginning to grow as dud 158721 took me over the Forth to Inverkeithing once more, followed by winner 170456 to Waverley where I picked up some dinner.

Having thoroughly confused the revenue block at Waverley with my Rover, I did the mandatory 68 move to South Gyle. Dud 68006 was at the helm as it powered through the tunnels and into South Gyle where I bailed for double winners 170451/158722 to Dalmeny. Good move here as dud 68007 was chasing us. I did a bit of heads out over the Forth, as you do, before planning the final moves of the week. Winner 158723 took me back to Haymarket and I made a dash for an unknown 334 to Edinburgh Park. It was dud 334030, and I bailed there and then as I was able to get to Linlithgow and back in time for my train home. Dud 170461 took me forward to Linlithgow where it was one final rover move. Winner 158782 leading dud 158869 rolled in on the 1908 to Edinburgh Waverley where I collapsed at a table in the empty back carriage of 869. I reflected on an incredibly eventful week which had sent me on incredible emotional highs and lows, but in the end, my ol’ railway hadn’t let me down with a boatload of winners and a boatload of shacks. It had been an incredibly stressful and tiring yet exciting and fun week and one I’d probably repeat with a few *minor* alterations

And with that, I was off at Waverley with 30 minutes to spare until my train home, the ol’ faithful 2002 to Newcastle. It was already delayed, being due in at 2003, so I took the chance to grab some dinner and subsequently gobbled it up on the concourse before taking a short walk into Edinburgh. Back to the station and a look at the boards greeted with me ‘Due 2011..2012…2013..2014…2015…2016’ Ohhhh dear. Something had gone quite wrong near Carstairs. However, at 2017, winner 221135 staggered in and I made a beeline for an unreserved seat so I could get to a power socket! It was a peaceful enough journey, with us getting into Newcastle for 2156, 22 minutes late. However, that stuffed up the connection onto the 2155 to Manchester, so anyone connecting for Leeds would now get in post 1am, and Manchester post 3am! However, who cares, because I was home

Successful end to the week!

Total Mileage: 477mi 61ch
Total Winners: 16+10 shacks
Total Cost: £24.90

So that's 69 winners and 83 shacks through the week as well as 2714 miles at a total food/travel cost of £173.74,

 

[FQ]

That sounds like a good final day of the rover!

 

[Segedunum]

Aye, better than what Northern's throwing out today! Treble Pacer sets and they're all duds....

 

[Techniquest]

An excellent final day there! What a week you had, and for very reasonable money too!

 

[Segedunum]

Not bad, was it? Ironically after my last post, I had 4 winners in a row on Salford leaps [emoji38]
Many shacks scratched today. But it went a bit weird as I got hit on by a lass, ended up listening to the tales of a war veteran and getting invited to a party hosted by Gav from Halifax all on the same service! Roll right up folks, it's the 1743 from Todmorden

Excellent first class service from York this time. I've had to turn down seconds as so much was handed out on departure!

 

[Techniquest]

An interesting day been had then today! I look forward to the trip report

Having to turn down stuff on First Class offerings? Crikey they must like you a lot to offer!

 

[Segedunum]

It was sandwiches, tea, coke, cake and crisps on departure from York.
Then before Northallerton she was just wanting rid but I was pretty full anyway [emoji14]

 

[55013]

Maybe it's being a tight Yorkshireman, but I'd have taken some none perishable stuff like the pop and crisps and stuck them in my bag for later

Anyway, I've got to get back to Scotland.
And London.
And Cardiff.
And Birmingham.
And..........aaaagh, too many temptations, not enough time.

 

[Techniquest]

The Yorkshireman in me would have stocked up on supplies! Mind I'd not have the issue of being full as I can eat quite a bit

55013, I have the same problem. I want to go to everywhere at the same time, the days off and money just aren't on my side though!

 

[Segedunum]

Maybe it's being a tight Yorkshireman, but I'd have taken some none perishable stuff like the pop and crisps and stuck them in my bag for later

Anyway, I've got to get back to Scotland.
And London.
And Cardiff.
And Birmingham.
And..........aaaagh, too many temptations, not enough time.

Sadly this was the 20:53 departure from York so it'd have to have stayed reasonable until morning
I took some biscuit packs from the 06:55 departure in the morning though, they sustained me through the afternoon!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Northern Day Ranger- 07/11/15

So back in September I’d been delayed by Northern, and in reality I was owed very little in compensation. However, a free day pass was thrown at me so yesterday I decided to go on a little jolly. My only real aim was to clear a few shacks, and that’s basically all that happened because Northern wasn’t really throwing out many winners as you’ll soon find out! I looked for some decent advances to York, and it was £16.50 in Standard for my desired trains and £19.45 in First. I stumped up the extra £2.95 because why not really

With my Dad being ill (better today at least!) over the week, I couldn’t catch any insanely early departures with the first bus being at 0549. I opted for the 0655 to York, and with that I was out on Bus 6102 to Newcastle Haymarket, in for around 0608. I took a slow walk to the Central, and plonked myself in the lounge for a while, indulging in a Mocha to wake myself up! Dud 91104 was at the helm of the 0655 this morning, and I found myself a seat in Coach L for about 0645. The service was good but the offering poor to be honest, tea and biscuits wasn’t bad I suppose considering how suspiciously yellow the usual croissant is! We were into York at 0800 and I made my way over to dud 158908 for the long run through to Accrington. Annoyingly, we were perfectly on time until Burnley where my connection was thinned out to a +1 at Accrington! I bailed there and absolutely legged it onto double duds 142038/150146 to Rose Grove. A station that has a strangely high number of seats . It was absolutely pouring at this point as dud 150206 rolled in for Blackburn. We strangely remained on time until the approach to Blackburn where again we lost several minutes, putting another connection into turmoil!

Fear not, as duds 142027/150215 were also delayed, and with that I boarded the much emptier 142 for some new track down to Bolton! It was a reasonable enough run, and we actually made up some time on the way to Bolton, which wasn’t necessary for my +5 as the next train was also late! A 6 car set came into sight which had me punching the air a bit, treble units, gotta be something here! Imagine the look on my face as treble duds 150110/150137/156459 materialised! I sat in the empty 137 for the run to Blackrod, my last shack in GM up this way, leaving Chorley to do before the whole line is cleared via Horwich! At this point, things went a bit wrong. My +17 became a +37 as the delays continued to stack up for the return service. It seemed that the service had been randomly delayed on the approach to Preston, forced to sit for 10 minutes, then had the TPE put in front of it at Leyland! Northern’s Twitter reeled off a few lies about the entire delay being down to having to let the TPE past (Not when you’re timetabled to be 17 minutes ahead!) and with this I changed my plans to go to Chorley as the whole timetable was bound to be pretty screwed now!

Winner (eventually!) 142035 led double duds 142045/142052 through to Manchester Victoria where I decided to start on the shacks up the Calder Valley. Dud (back to the usual then!) 150207 took me through to Castleton where it became apparent that this line was heading in a downward spiral too. The rails were very, very greasy and this was causing some serious problems. The 150 struggled to get power out of Mills Hill and so I was expecting things to go belly up. Dud 158752 also struggled its way back to Mills Hill, but all that had done was reduce my fester there for a winning 142011 to Littleborough. Nice station here, I went for a look at the canal before dud 155342 carted me down to Smithy Bridge. This was my last shack with a more than hourly service, and with the connections at Moston and Walsden being awful at this hour, I just took dud 155347 back to Littleborough for duds 142028/142043 to Manchester Victoria.

My plan next was to do the shacks via Mossley up to Huddersfield, starting with the 1557 to Huddersfield. However, a winning 156423 trailing dud 150139 caught my eye. A quick change of plan ensued and I was off to Salford Crescent! A short wait had me on winner 150134 to Salford Central, before lady luck was showing herself to be truly on my side with double winners 142033/142048 appeared for the insect leap to Manchester Victoria. Back to business and I boarded dud 156452 with the intention of going to Ashton. However, the TPE line was beginning to see issues too so I bailed on that and took dud 158859 to Mills Hill, followed by dud 150147 back down to the normally awkward Moston. However, a nifty +5 here had me on fresh double duds 142011/150134 to what was meant to be Walsden. However, that wasn’t happening as I only had a +1 instead of a +9, and with it being incredibly dark as well as me being completely unfamiliar with the station layout, I flagged that plan, and bailed at Todmorden. However, on this journey things went a bit interesting! A bloke joined me as I sat down on boarding at Moston, where conversation turned to the fact that when he was serving in Kuwait he’d been accidentally shot in the head because of a donkey knocking a gun over! He’d served in Uganda, Serbia, and all sorts of exotic countries it seemed, and he was truly a lovely bloke. Off he went at Rochdale, and the remaining part of the journey to Todmorden was in relative peace.

Here things went even err stranger! A lass of about 19 thought that the service was going through to Leeds, when it was first stop Burnley Manchester Road! The guard was about to close the doors as I yelled over that she needed to get off and get off quickly. Here ensued a conservation started with ‘so do you wanna sit down, or…?’, and she also clearly thought I was considerably older than I actually was judging by how she dropped a couple of hints at me and then when dud 150147 rolled in for Leeds she spent part of the journey sitting next to me and introducing herself, and part of the journey sitting further away while making very awkward eye contact Hit on was probably a massive overstatement, but she did have a certain way about her! Then at Halifax a group of about 10 20 somethings joined me at the bay of 6. They were all having a few drinks before I got talking to them, and it seemed like the ringleader was a bloke named Gav who invited me out with them, as well as offering me a can of Strongbow! Again, I don’t think I seemed 16 to them A handshake was exchanged at Leeds where I now had a long wait until the 1925 to Micklefield. And so, I bought some food before just sitting in a waiting room until dud 158757 produced. It was running about 13 late, which made the fester at Micklefield much better on such a linear move!

The platform was completely empty there, it was quite weird! And, I drew my head upwards to find a very pretty starry sky and the constant rumble of fireworks! It was just such a strange atmosphere to be honest, but it had an odd tranquillity about it. Dud 150201 was soon rolling in on the 2010 to York where I changed for dud 91105 back to Newcastle. The service was fantastic here, tea and coke along with all the food dished out straight on departure and a nice quiet carriage to match, much needed after a day’s bash. We arrived into Newcastle 16 late at 2205 due to congestion caused by the late running slower service in front, and I then had to run like mad for the 2215 bus home!

Considering the cost, not a bad day!

Total Mileage: 401mi 18ch
Total Winners: 5+8 shacks
Total Cost: £21.95

I’ve been updating the books recently, and it turns out that i’ve cleared my 91s and 155s, and I’m 3 off clearing the 185s as well as 2 off the 333s! Trip to West Yorks should sort this out soon, as well as the fact that I’ve not got many shacks left to do there.

 

[Techniquest]

You've certainly been doing well there, quite a few shacks I need and no doubt more than a few DMUs I need. Triple duds must have been most annoying though!

I'm surprised I'm not that far behind you on 185s and 333s, I need 6 and 4 of them respectively. For someone nowhere near the aea that's not too bad

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like an excellent day