Kristofferson
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- 23 Nov 2012
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- 1,132
Nice job chasing down those isolated shacks! Exceptional value too 
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Richard's Trip Reports
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Cheers gents, all the best to you all! 43208/43307 to London at the moment. With Newcastle playing Arsenal today I get the feeling I'll be going via a Leeds service on the way home.
Looks like I'm gonna finish the GWR bash early at around 14:30 so I might go tackle the Hounslow Loop/London Overground before catching the 18:03 to Leeds (Newcastle are at Arsenal today so I'm going via the Leeds train and XC to avoid any farce)
165122 to Twyford from Henley at the moment. All the shacks outside the zones to Reading that are open today now complete with Burnham and Taplow requiring a revisit!
165122 to Twyford from Henley at the moment. All the shacks outside the zones to Reading that are open today now complete with Burnham and Taplow requiring a revisit!
47403
Established Member
Your gonna need a break lad, when was the last time you had a lie in? You've been full tilt, for a good month (at least). Your head must barely hit the pillow and your back up and on your travels again.
Its a tremndous effort, I'd be a walking, babbling corpse
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Right here we go!
01/01/16- New Year in the Midlands
‘Good morning and a Happy New Year to you all, this is the 0708 to Liverpool Lime Street. The one or two seat reservations we actually have this morning are on the seat backs.’ Well, it had begun. Day 1 of 2016 and I was bashing already. Early too, considering that the rest of the world was out drinking and being generally social. However, considering that my friends did either nothing too, or were getting absolutely smashed off their faces, I wasn’t missing out on an awful lot. Dud 185142 kicked off the proceedings as we headed to York. The train was an absolute ghost town. I was alone until Darlington, where a couple of people joined but all six tables around me remained unoccupied for the journey. Bailing at York, and it was much of the same. The station was completely empty bar a few passengers awaiting my service, the 0826 to Southampton which had dud 220021 working this morning. Happily, on boarding, I realised that this service was booked via Thrybergh rather than Swinton, so it was some new track in the bag for me early doors! I managed to secure a table in Coach C and indeed basically had the carriage to myself all the way to Derby where we arrived bang on time at 0951.
Getting hungry, I nipped out of Derby Midland and headed to a 24/7 convenience store for a sandwich which was the oddest tasting chicken I’ve had! Nonetheless, it was food, and I then plodded back for the 1013 to Long Eaton, which had winner 156405 working. A nice peaceful run, which was just a filler until winner 222021 filed in behind to cart me along to shack 1, Loughborough. This was a nice affair, quite a well looked after station, but I only had a few minutes on an empty platform 3 until winner 158862 arrived. It was gonna be a long journey this one, all the way through to deepest darkest Lincolnshire! Off we went with about three people on board, with a long pause at Nottingham where a few people did actually join. After that, it was fast to Newark Castle (turns out that Burton Joyce was basically a lake, good call not wandering that way!) then over the flat crossing where I bailed at a rather eerie Collingham, shack number two. There wasn’t an awful lot around the station, just fields, but I did wander into the village to find some…houses. Thrilling. Back to the station then for winner 153357 to shack 3, Hykeham. Again, this was a little more residential but nothing to write home about. I took up a seat by the station and awaited the return of fresh dud 158862…which had winner 153313 tacked on the back! Sure thing, I’ll take that I took this back through to Nottingham where my focus turned to my mountain of required XC 170s.
Good start with winner 170111 being had to Beeston, where it was a +9 for double winners 170116/170523 back to Nottingham. Next up, I jumped on winner 170102 through to Derby where I was positioning myself for a very awkward shack scratch. However, there was still time for me to jump on winner 170637 back to Long Eaton, where I managed to jump onto dud 222014 back to Derby just as a filler, and for the plug socket! Next stop was shack 4, Willington. The service here is a bit random but I had a +8 today! (The next service being a +188 so I had to not hang around changing platforms). Fresh duds 170116/170523 took me there, and I kicked myself a little when the ever haunting mega dud 170398 pulled in to take me back to Derby. Here, I changed my plans. Drastically. I’d meant to do Langley Mill but in all honesty, I knew I was getting a dud as 158794 was sighted on the diagram I was going for earlier, and I really didn’t feel like doing the line to Nottingham for the 56th time! Instead, I joined double winners 153310/153385 to shack 5, Tutbury and Hatton. This was an unusual area, the air smelling like something between malt, coffee and chocolate thanks to the Nestle factory! I then headed for the Co-op for food only to realise that they’d emptied the shelves of sandwiches. It was 1605 and they closed at 1700, bit premature!
Back to the station I went for winner 158856 to shack 6…Peartree! It had to be done. It was pure coincidence that my train called there and on checking that my other two shack aims could be done with an hour allowed to walk back to Derby, I bailed there and grabbed a few shots of the station before coming face to face with a very intimidating locked gate! No worries, I think to myself, there’s an intercom and an exit button. Of which none worked. I hammered on the call button for a while before looking at possible escape routes (hint, there’s none) before calling the number on the sign. Needless to say, I wasn’t the most friendly, being trapped in the station especially with there being no access to the Derby platform (that’s through another gate!) but after me telling this woman in what seemed like a local office that the intercom was broken and the gate was bolted shut, it opened by itself. She then quizzed me on why I decided to call the number anyway. Odd. Eventually, I was out and walked through the incredibly grim west end of Derby. Really, don’t do it in the dark. There’s some odd types around.
Eventually I was back at Derby for 1650, and I then joined the 1701 to Long Eaton, again with dud 222014 working. This was a positioning move for me again, as I crossed under for double winners 153355/153379 to shack 7, Spondon. Another peak hours only shack bar two services that have a +26 onto each other in the middle of the day, I had a nice quiet wait in the rain, and proceeded to stick 5p in what seemed like a fancier PERTIS machine. Winner 153302 turned up on a ‘peak extra’ to Nottingham, and it took me to shack 8, Attenborough. Nice simple cross of the platforms here, or in actual fact, an insanely winding bridge which would only work well if the usual +3.5 was exactly that! Today, I had a +14 before dud 156470 carted me back to Derby. The platform for the Newcastle service was looking incredibly empty, and indeed I was the only one joining winner 220011 on the 1909 to Newcastle as far as Sheffield. There was a strange alarm coming from one of the doors which I told the TM about, which he dismissed as ‘just the electronics’. That’s not normal! The doors shouldn’t be making a sound above about 3mph as it points towards something like the locks not working properly!
Off at Sheffield and onto dud 158795 just for some peace, before bailing back onto now dud 220011 to York where there was a short wait for dud 91114 to Newcastle, a move made purely for the then free WiFi!
An eventful New Year’s Day!
Total Mileage: 539mi 02ch
Total Winners: 17+8 shacks
Total Cost: £37.99
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
02/01/16- Great Western/TFL Bash
And now for something completely different as the next day, I rocked up to the Central for 0540 and purchased a Thames Ranger along with a Travelcard. To London and the south east it was! Duds 43208/43317 (I still require some HST Powercars on VTEC but the buggers never seem to turn up! Looking at you 43300, 43312 and 43367!) were working this morning, and I put myself in seat 61 for the journey south. I basic ally slept all the way to about Stevenage, before waking up again and staggering off the train at Kings Cross, nicely on time at 0906 at least! Off to the Circle Line I went before realising it was both closed and completely screwed anyway. Correction, off to the Victoria Line I went. The clock said 0914 as we sped off for Oxford Circus so I hadn’t wasted too much time! Quick change onto the Bakerloo and I was soon at Paddington and joining winner 166207 on the 0939 to Oxford as far as shack 1, Maidenhead. I have a growing dislike of Oxford fast services. They always throw out a damn single 166 which is jammed. Thankfully, I was only on the floor until Hayes where I gave up and sat in the luggage rack before getting a seat at Slough!
Off at Maidenhead and I crossed onto the other platform (All stations Reading-Slough were using their fast line platforms meaning that Burnham and Taplow were out of action for the day as was the Marlow branch) to see the crowd of people joining the London HST (I require every one of these so I’m hoping for a day to just bash as many as possible before they go!). But me, I was joining double winners 166212/165137 to shack 2, Langley. Not a lot here to be honest, but there were a few HSTs darting part in the meantime to keep me amused before winners 165103/165135 pulled in to take me back to Slough. Also of use was the free WiFi on all these Turbos, saves the data and my battery very nicely! A quick crossover onto Platform 5 saw me then joining winners 165101/165118 back over to shack 3, Iver. En route, a tissue seller appeared at Langley and was indeed rather pushy! I eventually managed to make him get lost, however. Changing at Iver is a faff, at least when I was doing it (stoppers Paddington-Reading only, change there for Oxford). I had a +2 and a few seconds to absolutely belt it down the platform and over the bridge for arriving winners 165110/165134 to shack 4, Twyford. That seemed to be all the diagrams captured bar one on the Reading stoppers! Face palm moment here too as an RPI told me off for having my ranger issued at Newcastle and told me it was basically invalid! Apparently 'her head couldn't cope with seeing Newcastle on a Thames Rover' well it's nice that she thought it was also a ticket valid far beyond Reading Absolutely awful attitude on her part, but I wasn't surprised. Had she pursued the invalidity nonsense further I would have definitely complained.
Now it was time to make my way onto the Henley branch. Winner 165122 was waiting on the platform, and I joined for a suitably quaint amble through Shiplake and Wargrave (conveniently 4 miles from each other by road, no shack scratches here today, I’m afraid!) before terminating at shack 5, Henley On Thames where I sourced a corner shop for a can of Rubicon and some pork pies to keep the hunger away! Back onto 165122 back to Twyford where everything fell apart. The 1205 Reading had failed at Langley and my 1235 was stuck behind. Cue angry passengers and me facepalming at the fact that no matter when I seemed to bash the Great Western, it would always fall over at some point. At 1254, duds 165101/165118 staggered in and took me to shack 6, Reading where I abandoned the GWR shacks within the zones for a travelcard bash later in the year and decided to head back to London and do something else (I’d gotten all the possible shacks outside the zones, and Tilehurst/Reading West/Earley/Winnersh/Winnersh Triangle all had massive festers before one of their services was to appear) and so it was onto double winners 165136/166214 for the fast run back to Paddington for 1346.
I jumped on the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus before then joining the Central Line to Liverpool Street. It was time to get going on the Overground shacks! I jumped on the first thing to Bethnal Green before getting started, and that was in the hands of dud 315803 before better luck was had with winner 315801 working the next service to Chingford. This was taken to shack 7, St James Street. The frequent service meant that there was no real wait at all until winner 315809 had me back to shack 8, Clapton. Another cross of the platforms here and it was dud 315811 to shack 9, Highams Park. Then everything fell apart again. Another train fault meaning that the next London bound train was stuck at Chingford. Guess I was gonna be 15 minutes behind then! Imagine the look on my face when it turned up 9 late and instead of having repeating dud 315801, winner 317888 materialised! Some genius must have pulled a 317 out of the sidings at Chingford and pressed it into service. A short pleasant run was had to shack 10, Wood Street where dud 315811 was basically behind us anyway at this point. I bailed at Walthamstow Central and ran my way to shack 11, Walthamstow Queen’s Road. Now, I’ve only had one 172/0 ever. It keeps repeating over and over every single time I use the line. The stalker that is 172003. Thankfully, it was winner 172008 working the one stop hop to shack 12, Leyton Midland Road.
I then headed back west and oh geez, it was mega dud 172003! It was duly taken to shack 13, Upper Holloway where my plan ensured that it didn’t appear again! The light was starting to dip now as I joined winner 172006 for the run to shack 14, South Tottenham. I was just timings these moves nicely to avoid long festers, but sadly not to avoid fresh dud 172008 to the final and 15th shack of the day, Crouch Hill. Thankfully we had winner 172002 then taking me back to Blackhorse Road where I joined an empty Victoria Line train to Kings Cross St Pancras for 1710. Next stop, the first class lounge as I wanted to try out my pass here! It was quite fancy indeed, plenty of stuff out as the host warmed me up a croissant and I made myself a coffee for the short wait I had here. Crisps and coke were duly put into my bag Now, I had enough time to do something different so I joined double winners 365514/365519 for the stonking fast run that was the 1740 to Peterborough, non stop to Biggleswade! It was one hell of a run with not many people in the front carriage, making it a good chance to read some History revision before realising I was then the only person in the carriage after Huntingdon!
I was off at Peterborough, and oh dear, the ECML had fallen over behind me! Trespasser at Sandy was delaying everything, but eventually dud 91122 rolled in and took me to…Leeds! Yeah, I wasn’t up for the football fans on the 1916 Newcastle so I took the delayed 1850 through to Leeds where we got in quite late indeed! Thankfully, something else was running a bit late so I wasn’t set for too much of a delay, or so I thought. I joined double duds 43357/43378 on the currently slightly delayed 2008 to Leeds. And we waited, and waited, and waited! I watched the 2043 Newcastle leave which was a sign that we were accumulating a very long delay! Eventually, we found a driver and left 54 late at 2102. Of course we were now following the 2052 to York so the delay mounted to 64 minutes by the time we reached Newcastle at 2232. A nice peaceful run, but I left my phone charger in the plug, only realising once the train doors were getting slammed shut, and I sure as hell wasn’t getting sent to Alnmouth at this time of night!
An eventful but very successful day!
Total Mileage: 709mi 60ch
Total Winners: 20+15 shacks
Total Cost: £81.86
And a new thing...
Winners for the year- 37
Shacks for the year- 25
01/01/16- New Year in the Midlands
‘Good morning and a Happy New Year to you all, this is the 0708 to Liverpool Lime Street. The one or two seat reservations we actually have this morning are on the seat backs.’ Well, it had begun. Day 1 of 2016 and I was bashing already. Early too, considering that the rest of the world was out drinking and being generally social. However, considering that my friends did either nothing too, or were getting absolutely smashed off their faces, I wasn’t missing out on an awful lot. Dud 185142 kicked off the proceedings as we headed to York. The train was an absolute ghost town. I was alone until Darlington, where a couple of people joined but all six tables around me remained unoccupied for the journey. Bailing at York, and it was much of the same. The station was completely empty bar a few passengers awaiting my service, the 0826 to Southampton which had dud 220021 working this morning. Happily, on boarding, I realised that this service was booked via Thrybergh rather than Swinton, so it was some new track in the bag for me early doors! I managed to secure a table in Coach C and indeed basically had the carriage to myself all the way to Derby where we arrived bang on time at 0951.
Getting hungry, I nipped out of Derby Midland and headed to a 24/7 convenience store for a sandwich which was the oddest tasting chicken I’ve had! Nonetheless, it was food, and I then plodded back for the 1013 to Long Eaton, which had winner 156405 working. A nice peaceful run, which was just a filler until winner 222021 filed in behind to cart me along to shack 1, Loughborough. This was a nice affair, quite a well looked after station, but I only had a few minutes on an empty platform 3 until winner 158862 arrived. It was gonna be a long journey this one, all the way through to deepest darkest Lincolnshire! Off we went with about three people on board, with a long pause at Nottingham where a few people did actually join. After that, it was fast to Newark Castle (turns out that Burton Joyce was basically a lake, good call not wandering that way!) then over the flat crossing where I bailed at a rather eerie Collingham, shack number two. There wasn’t an awful lot around the station, just fields, but I did wander into the village to find some…houses. Thrilling.
Back to the station then for winner 153357 to shack 3, Hykeham. Again, this was a little more residential but nothing to write home about. I took up a seat by the station and awaited the return of fresh dud 158862…which had winner 153313 tacked on the back! Sure thing, I’ll take that I took this back through to Nottingham where my focus turned to my mountain of required XC 170s.Good start with winner 170111 being had to Beeston, where it was a +9 for double winners 170116/170523 back to Nottingham. Next up, I jumped on winner 170102 through to Derby where I was positioning myself for a very awkward shack scratch. However, there was still time for me to jump on winner 170637 back to Long Eaton, where I managed to jump onto dud 222014 back to Derby just as a filler, and for the plug socket! Next stop was shack 4, Willington. The service here is a bit random but I had a +8 today! (The next service being a +188 so I had to not hang around changing platforms). Fresh duds 170116/170523 took me there, and I kicked myself a little when the ever haunting mega dud 170398 pulled in to take me back to Derby. Here, I changed my plans. Drastically. I’d meant to do Langley Mill but in all honesty, I knew I was getting a dud as 158794 was sighted on the diagram I was going for earlier, and I really didn’t feel like doing the line to Nottingham for the 56th time! Instead, I joined double winners 153310/153385 to shack 5, Tutbury and Hatton. This was an unusual area, the air smelling like something between malt, coffee and chocolate thanks to the Nestle factory! I then headed for the Co-op for food only to realise that they’d emptied the shelves of sandwiches. It was 1605 and they closed at 1700, bit premature!
Back to the station I went for winner 158856 to shack 6…Peartree! It had to be done. It was pure coincidence that my train called there and on checking that my other two shack aims could be done with an hour allowed to walk back to Derby, I bailed there and grabbed a few shots of the station before coming face to face with a very intimidating locked gate! No worries, I think to myself, there’s an intercom and an exit button. Of which none worked. I hammered on the call button for a while before looking at possible escape routes (hint, there’s none) before calling the number on the sign. Needless to say, I wasn’t the most friendly, being trapped in the station especially with there being no access to the Derby platform (that’s through another gate!) but after me telling this woman in what seemed like a local office that the intercom was broken and the gate was bolted shut, it opened by itself. She then quizzed me on why I decided to call the number anyway. Odd. Eventually, I was out and walked through the incredibly grim west end of Derby. Really, don’t do it in the dark. There’s some odd types around.
Eventually I was back at Derby for 1650, and I then joined the 1701 to Long Eaton, again with dud 222014 working. This was a positioning move for me again, as I crossed under for double winners 153355/153379 to shack 7, Spondon. Another peak hours only shack bar two services that have a +26 onto each other in the middle of the day, I had a nice quiet wait in the rain, and proceeded to stick 5p in what seemed like a fancier PERTIS machine. Winner 153302 turned up on a ‘peak extra’ to Nottingham, and it took me to shack 8, Attenborough. Nice simple cross of the platforms here, or in actual fact, an insanely winding bridge which would only work well if the usual +3.5 was exactly that! Today, I had a +14 before dud 156470 carted me back to Derby. The platform for the Newcastle service was looking incredibly empty, and indeed I was the only one joining winner 220011 on the 1909 to Newcastle as far as Sheffield. There was a strange alarm coming from one of the doors which I told the TM about, which he dismissed as ‘just the electronics’. That’s not normal! The doors shouldn’t be making a sound above about 3mph as it points towards something like the locks not working properly!
Off at Sheffield and onto dud 158795 just for some peace, before bailing back onto now dud 220011 to York where there was a short wait for dud 91114 to Newcastle, a move made purely for the then free WiFi!
An eventful New Year’s Day!
Total Mileage: 539mi 02ch
Total Winners: 17+8 shacks
Total Cost: £37.99
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
02/01/16- Great Western/TFL Bash
And now for something completely different as the next day, I rocked up to the Central for 0540 and purchased a Thames Ranger along with a Travelcard. To London and the south east it was! Duds 43208/43317 (I still require some HST Powercars on VTEC but the buggers never seem to turn up! Looking at you 43300, 43312 and 43367!) were working this morning, and I put myself in seat 61 for the journey south. I basic ally slept all the way to about Stevenage, before waking up again and staggering off the train at Kings Cross, nicely on time at 0906 at least! Off to the Circle Line I went before realising it was both closed and completely screwed anyway. Correction, off to the Victoria Line I went
. The clock said 0914 as we sped off for Oxford Circus so I hadn’t wasted too much time! Quick change onto the Bakerloo and I was soon at Paddington and joining winner 166207 on the 0939 to Oxford as far as shack 1, Maidenhead. I have a growing dislike of Oxford fast services. They always throw out a damn single 166 which is jammed. Thankfully, I was only on the floor until Hayes where I gave up and sat in the luggage rack before getting a seat at Slough!Off at Maidenhead and I crossed onto the other platform (All stations Reading-Slough were using their fast line platforms meaning that Burnham and Taplow were out of action for the day as was the Marlow branch) to see the crowd of people joining the London HST (I require every one of these so I’m hoping for a day to just bash as many as possible before they go!). But me, I was joining double winners 166212/165137 to shack 2, Langley. Not a lot here to be honest, but there were a few HSTs darting part in the meantime to keep me amused before winners 165103/165135 pulled in to take me back to Slough. Also of use was the free WiFi on all these Turbos, saves the data and my battery very nicely! A quick crossover onto Platform 5 saw me then joining winners 165101/165118 back over to shack 3, Iver. En route, a tissue seller appeared at Langley and was indeed rather pushy! I eventually managed to make him get lost, however. Changing at Iver is a faff, at least when I was doing it (stoppers Paddington-Reading only, change there for Oxford). I had a +2 and a few seconds to absolutely belt it down the platform and over the bridge for arriving winners 165110/165134 to shack 4, Twyford. That seemed to be all the diagrams captured bar one on the Reading stoppers! Face palm moment here too as an RPI told me off for having my ranger issued at Newcastle and told me it was basically invalid! Apparently 'her head couldn't cope with seeing Newcastle on a Thames Rover' well it's nice that she thought it was also a ticket valid far beyond Reading
Absolutely awful attitude on her part, but I wasn't surprised. Had she pursued the invalidity nonsense further I would have definitely complained.Now it was time to make my way onto the Henley branch. Winner 165122 was waiting on the platform, and I joined for a suitably quaint amble through Shiplake and Wargrave (conveniently 4 miles from each other by road, no shack scratches here today, I’m afraid!) before terminating at shack 5, Henley On Thames where I sourced a corner shop for a can of Rubicon and some pork pies to keep the hunger away! Back onto 165122 back to Twyford where everything fell apart. The 1205 Reading had failed at Langley and my 1235 was stuck behind. Cue angry passengers and me facepalming at the fact that no matter when I seemed to bash the Great Western, it would always fall over at some point. At 1254, duds 165101/165118 staggered in and took me to shack 6, Reading where I abandoned the GWR shacks within the zones for a travelcard bash later in the year and decided to head back to London and do something else (I’d gotten all the possible shacks outside the zones, and Tilehurst/Reading West/Earley/Winnersh/Winnersh Triangle all had massive festers before one of their services was to appear) and so it was onto double winners 165136/166214 for the fast run back to Paddington for 1346.
I jumped on the Bakerloo to Oxford Circus before then joining the Central Line to Liverpool Street. It was time to get going on the Overground shacks! I jumped on the first thing to Bethnal Green before getting started, and that was in the hands of dud 315803 before better luck was had with winner 315801 working the next service to Chingford. This was taken to shack 7, St James Street. The frequent service meant that there was no real wait at all until winner 315809 had me back to shack 8, Clapton. Another cross of the platforms here and it was dud 315811 to shack 9, Highams Park. Then everything fell apart again. Another train fault meaning that the next London bound train was stuck at Chingford. Guess I was gonna be 15 minutes behind then! Imagine the look on my face when it turned up 9 late and instead of having repeating dud 315801, winner 317888 materialised! Some genius must have pulled a 317 out of the sidings at Chingford and pressed it into service. A short pleasant run was had to shack 10, Wood Street where dud 315811 was basically behind us anyway at this point. I bailed at Walthamstow Central and ran my way to shack 11, Walthamstow Queen’s Road. Now, I’ve only had one 172/0 ever. It keeps repeating over and over every single time I use the line. The stalker that is 172003. Thankfully, it was winner 172008 working the one stop hop to shack 12, Leyton Midland Road.
I then headed back west and oh geez, it was mega dud 172003! It was duly taken to shack 13, Upper Holloway where my plan ensured that it didn’t appear again! The light was starting to dip now as I joined winner 172006 for the run to shack 14, South Tottenham. I was just timings these moves nicely to avoid long festers, but sadly not to avoid fresh dud 172008 to the final and 15th shack of the day, Crouch Hill. Thankfully we had winner 172002 then taking me back to Blackhorse Road where I joined an empty Victoria Line train to Kings Cross St Pancras for 1710. Next stop, the first class lounge as I wanted to try out my pass here! It was quite fancy indeed, plenty of stuff out as the host warmed me up a croissant and I made myself a coffee for the short wait I had here. Crisps and coke were duly put into my bag
Now, I had enough time to do something different so I joined double winners 365514/365519 for the stonking fast run that was the 1740 to Peterborough, non stop to Biggleswade! It was one hell of a run with not many people in the front carriage, making it a good chance to read some History revision before realising I was then the only person in the carriage after Huntingdon! I was off at Peterborough, and oh dear, the ECML had fallen over behind me! Trespasser at Sandy was delaying everything, but eventually dud 91122 rolled in and took me to…Leeds! Yeah, I wasn’t up for the football fans on the 1916 Newcastle so I took the delayed 1850 through to Leeds where we got in quite late indeed! Thankfully, something else was running a bit late so I wasn’t set for too much of a delay, or so I thought. I joined double duds 43357/43378 on the currently slightly delayed 2008 to Leeds. And we waited, and waited, and waited! I watched the 2043 Newcastle leave which was a sign that we were accumulating a very long delay! Eventually, we found a driver and left 54 late at 2102. Of course we were now following the 2052 to York so the delay mounted to 64 minutes by the time we reached Newcastle at 2232. A nice peaceful run, but I left my phone charger in the plug, only realising once the train doors were getting slammed shut, and I sure as hell wasn’t getting sent to Alnmouth at this time of night!
An eventful but very successful day!
Total Mileage: 709mi 60ch
Total Winners: 20+15 shacks
Total Cost: £81.86
And a new thing...
Winners for the year- 37
Shacks for the year- 25
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Kite159
Veteran Member
Not good with losing the phone charger, but sounds like a couple excellent days
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Two very impressive days there,aside from everywhere seemingly set against you!
Harsh on the phone charger, bet you're glad you didn't leave your phone with it mind!
2016 has started well for you, that's for sure. It's started well for me too, as it turned out, but how it happened, well await the trip report
Harsh on the phone charger, bet you're glad you didn't leave your phone with it mind!
2016 has started well for you, that's for sure. It's started well for me too, as it turned out, but how it happened, well await the trip report
Thankfully I have several spare chargers so everything is fine with that. It's the same everytime, get up to leave, pull out headphones and charger from phone, phone in pocket, headphones in bag and normally, pull out the charger too
I shall be awaiting the report with interest.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Well i'm off for a good start to 2016, just being mindful of the pennies by saving my first £100 for my 14 day ALR in July!
So...
16/01/16 is London via the Durham Coast on the 0555 off Newcastle for 0943 and 1700 off London for 2053. £20 thanks to the VTEC Seat Sale!
06/02/16 is probably a West Midlands related bash, plenty to do there!
27/02/16 is a Highland Mainline shack scratch (Probably Pitlochry, Kingussie and Newtonmore) thanks to the seat sale at VTEC and the £1 fare cockup on ScotRail's part. I think there's time to get part of the Borders Line in too. All that for £13.90.
05/03/16 is the same again as hey, may as well take advantage of the situation! Should get Blair Atholl and Aviemore in here. Leaves Dalwhinnie and Carrbridge.
12/03/16 i'm off to London again, had to split the seat sale tickets at Peterborough as there wasn't owt left going straight through! Still pretty cheap at £30.
19/03/16 I have a pair of advances for the 0603 to York and 2008 return so who knows with this one!
I shall be awaiting the report with interest.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Well i'm off for a good start to 2016, just being mindful of the pennies by saving my first £100 for my 14 day ALR in July!
So...
16/01/16 is London via the Durham Coast on the 0555 off Newcastle for 0943 and 1700 off London for 2053. £20 thanks to the VTEC Seat Sale!
06/02/16 is probably a West Midlands related bash, plenty to do there!
27/02/16 is a Highland Mainline shack scratch (Probably Pitlochry, Kingussie and Newtonmore) thanks to the seat sale at VTEC and the £1 fare cockup on ScotRail's part. I think there's time to get part of the Borders Line in too. All that for £13.90.
05/03/16 is the same again as hey, may as well take advantage of the situation! Should get Blair Atholl and Aviemore in here. Leaves Dalwhinnie and Carrbridge.
12/03/16 i'm off to London again, had to split the seat sale tickets at Peterborough as there wasn't owt left going straight through! Still pretty cheap at £30.
19/03/16 I have a pair of advances for the 0603 to York and 2008 return so who knows with this one!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Crikey you did well! I wish I'd taken advantage of that error, I knew I should have gone online last night!
Bargains got there, not at all jealous...
Bargains got there, not at all jealous...
Crikey you did well! I wish I'd taken advantage of that error, I knew I should have gone online last night!
Bargains got there, not at all jealous...
There's still at least one fare left
jayalongtheway
Member
- Joined
- 31 Oct 2015
- Messages
- 241
Only just caught up with your latest trip reports Richard, good effort getting the year up and running so promptly. Took me till the 6th!
Cheers! VSTP trip with a fellow basher tonight. £25 so heavy on the ching but in return I get some HST action via the Durham Coast!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And indeed...
09/01/15- Evening HSTs on the Coast
Following a text from a friend down in Essex who had been bashing up here, I ended up sauntering my way into town for around 16:45 in order to meet him for a short catchup. And indeed, that's what I did. And a little more.
I popped up to the Central and ended up deciding to kill some time by purchasing a return to Manors for £1.40 and meeting his train in, popping into the lounge and grabbing some provisions for him as he'd been bashing since 5am! It was next stop dud 156469 then I as joined it for the 46 chain hop as it worked the 1700 to Chathill. Highly uneventful hop as I bailed and joined dud 142019, complete with friend, back to Newcastle and he suggested I joined him on the HST.
It had a Northallerton call, so a £12.95 return would have sufficed. However, I had one chance at the +16 onto the Middlesbrough TPE, else risking a 2 hour time penalty and ending up home at 1am! On second thoughts, i'd play it safe and head to York instead. Extra mileage and all that. I stumped up the £24.90 (well, £23 of it, I was short on change so my friend kindly gave me the extra £1.90!) which seems hefty but for a 180 mile round trip on HSTs it's not all that bad! I had my eye out for my requirements but alas they weren't to be around tonight (spoilers, sorry) Tickets in hand, we then headed for the 1802 to London Kings Cross, formed of double duds 43290/43305, although my friend required 43290 so he was happy enough 
Next stop was York as we trundled our way onto the Durham Coast Line via the King Edward Bridge (PSUL move here! This route is also being used next weekend) and proceeded between the Metros through Sunderland and Seaham, before I got myself a track score with us using the track at Hartlepool that avoids the platforms! At least I got something winning out of tonight (apart from the HST action and company obviously ). Soon enough we were turning back onto the ECML and it was back to 125mph with us arriving into York at 1950.
I said my goodbyes and leapt over onto Platform 9 for the 1955 back, formed of duds 43306/43316. This service bizarrely had Mallard layout coaches C-M, but B was off the EMT rake? No contest as I plonked myself at a table in Coach B and attempted to get some rest for the dark run back north, the powercar gently rumbling up front. Alas, no sleep came so I just sat up and watched the lights of Northallerton pass before we turned again and up the coast once more, this time through the platform at Hartlepool before trundling through Sunderland. On the approach to Newcastle, I took the chance to get some heads out over the Tyne before we arrived in slightly late and 2136 and ran across town for the 2145 bus
Pleasant little evening!
Total Mileage: 181mi 32ch
Winners for the year- 37
Shacks for the year- 25
Year Mileage- 1430mi 14ch
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And indeed...
09/01/15- Evening HSTs on the Coast
Following a text from a friend down in Essex who had been bashing up here, I ended up sauntering my way into town for around 16:45 in order to meet him for a short catchup. And indeed, that's what I did. And a little more.
I popped up to the Central and ended up deciding to kill some time by purchasing a return to Manors for £1.40 and meeting his train in, popping into the lounge and grabbing some provisions for him as he'd been bashing since 5am! It was next stop dud 156469 then I as joined it for the 46 chain hop as it worked the 1700 to Chathill. Highly uneventful hop as I bailed and joined dud 142019, complete with friend, back to Newcastle and he suggested I joined him on the HST.
It had a Northallerton call, so a £12.95 return would have sufficed. However, I had one chance at the +16 onto the Middlesbrough TPE, else risking a 2 hour time penalty and ending up home at 1am! On second thoughts, i'd play it safe and head to York instead. Extra mileage and all that. I stumped up the £24.90 (well, £23 of it, I was short on change so my friend kindly gave me the extra £1.90!) which seems hefty but for a 180 mile round trip on HSTs it's not all that bad! I had my eye out for my requirements but alas they weren't to be around tonight (spoilers, sorry
) Tickets in hand, we then headed for the 1802 to London Kings Cross, formed of double duds 43290/43305, although my friend required 43290 so he was happy enough Next stop was York as we trundled our way onto the Durham Coast Line via the King Edward Bridge (PSUL move here! This route is also being used next weekend) and proceeded between the Metros through Sunderland and Seaham, before I got myself a track score with us using the track at Hartlepool that avoids the platforms! At least I got something winning out of tonight (apart from the HST action and company obviously ). Soon enough we were turning back onto the ECML and it was back to 125mph with us arriving into York at 1950. I said my goodbyes and leapt over onto Platform 9 for the 1955 back, formed of duds 43306/43316. This service bizarrely had Mallard layout coaches C-M, but B was off the EMT rake? No contest as I plonked myself at a table in Coach B and attempted to get some rest for the dark run back north, the powercar gently rumbling up front. Alas, no sleep came so I just sat up and watched the lights of Northallerton pass before we turned again and up the coast once more, this time through the platform at Hartlepool before trundling through Sunderland. On the approach to Newcastle, I took the chance to get some heads out over the Tyne before we arrived in slightly late and 2136 and ran across town for the 2145 bus
Pleasant little evening!
Total Mileage: 181mi 32ch
Winners for the year- 37
Shacks for the year- 25
Year Mileage- 1430mi 14ch
alexf380
Established Member
Yikes! Almost 1.5k miles on the year and only 10 days in. Some pretty good going there, and it sounds as though a grand evening was had.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
A nice productive evening, and wow on the mileage for the year already! I might be lucky to hit 650 by the end of tomorrow!
alexf380
Established Member
Jealous isn't even the word mate. Have fun!
I will indeed, cheers! A lot of it is down to the ScotRail fare cockup so thanks to them
I'll probably have a few days over Easter before exams kick in. That'll probably be a North East Rover to mop up all of my remaining South and West Yorks shacks and probably use as a base to nip down to Bristol to meet a friend (yes, the same one I was meant to meet way back in July until she cancelled and I ended up going for a WMDR, leaving my railcard in the house, and having to salvage the plan into a London bash!)
I'm looking at focusing on the Southeastern this Saturday on my bash, everything looks to working to a different timetable but they're stopping what looks like faster services at places like Chislehurst so that might be a decent way to get the 375s in!
I'll probably have a few days over Easter before exams kick in. That'll probably be a North East Rover to mop up all of my remaining South and West Yorks shacks and probably use as a base to nip down to Bristol to meet a friend (yes, the same one I was meant to meet way back in July until she cancelled and I ended up going for a WMDR, leaving my railcard in the house, and having to salvage the plan into a London bash!)
I'm looking at focusing on the Southeastern this Saturday on my bash, everything looks to working to a different timetable but they're stopping what looks like faster services at places like Chislehurst so that might be a decent way to get the 375s in!
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Like Alex, I'm not jealous, no not at all...
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
37 winners and 25 shacks this early in the year? That's some good going!
Good reads too
Good reads too
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I can beat that, 66 winners and 59 (I believe!) shack scores in 11 days
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Yes I did mean this year
You've reminded me I want to do a Central Scotland again...
You've reminded me I want to do a Central Scotland again...
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Gotta be less of an issue for you than it is for me
3 days of bottom tier fares is £39.90 in total but they can be difficult to come by
I'm currently planning my London jolly for next weekend and it looks like the Bexleyheath Line is getting shack attacked, with its mix of 1Cxx, 1Mxx, 2Cxx and 2Uxx services rather than all Class 2s. All the shacks Lewisham-Dartford, then a swift change of direction, couple of random ones like Loughborough Junction, then onwards to the shacks via West Dulwich to Beckenham Junction. Relatively short day in London (my standard is 9-6:30, this is 9:45-5 thanks to the ol' engineering works) but I reckon at least 15 winners and 15 shacks should be a safe bet
I'm currently planning my London jolly for next weekend and it looks like the Bexleyheath Line is getting shack attacked, with its mix of 1Cxx, 1Mxx, 2Cxx and 2Uxx services rather than all Class 2s. All the shacks Lewisham-Dartford, then a swift change of direction, couple of random ones like Loughborough Junction, then onwards to the shacks via West Dulwich to Beckenham Junction. Relatively short day in London (my standard is 9-6:30, this is 9:45-5 thanks to the ol' engineering works) but I reckon at least 15 winners and 15 shacks should be a safe bet
Kite159
Veteran Member
Good luck on the bexleyheath line
And enjoy the delightful 376s
And enjoy the delightful 376s
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Yeah you'll be sick of 376s after a while too, I sure was after a while yesterday...
I've managed to avoid them on Southeastern most of the time, I've only had 6 so if they do produce then the books are likely to fill nicely
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Well the Bexleyheath Line has been put on the backburner as i've decided to change strategy and attack the Overground shacks Highbury-Willesden, Kingston Loop shacks, then a few random ones like St Margarets, Fulwell, Streatham and Hackbridge.
Reason being that the revised timetable via Kingston (Kingston-Barnes only with Windsor Line trains also diverted) means that the bashing is genuinely easier on this route with there being 8tph vice 6tph (10tph actually but the Reading trains call only Clapham, Kingston, Feltham) and a reduced fester at some shacks thanks to the altered timetable also such as St Margarets which is a +6 instead of a very likely to fail +1.
So it looks like it'll be 378s and 455s with a couple of 319s in the mix tomorrow (unless 377s/387s produce on the Sutton loop)
Oh yeah, and a total of around 7 and a half hours on an HST
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Well what an odd day! It's not the duds producing on SWT (I quickly bailed after the main shacks I wanted were done as a result) but the people that managed to cause irritance this morning...
First up there was the woman that *had* to sit next to me on the train down, despite the carriage being empty (no, not her reserved seat either)
Then, there was the disgusting excuse for a man relieving himself at Kentish Town West, the platform stank but I think he was positively mortified when he realised I'd noticed [emoji14]
The man on the SWT to Kingston was an odd one, kept looking over at me then gave me a lecture on how it was rude to stare at people, that right royally ruined my mood.
Then I went off and bashed the Southeastern and Southern for a bit, nicer people there
3hrs 53 of HST back to Newcastle now, report soon
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Well the Bexleyheath Line has been put on the backburner as i've decided to change strategy and attack the Overground shacks Highbury-Willesden, Kingston Loop shacks, then a few random ones like St Margarets, Fulwell, Streatham and Hackbridge.
Reason being that the revised timetable via Kingston (Kingston-Barnes only with Windsor Line trains also diverted) means that the bashing is genuinely easier on this route with there being 8tph vice 6tph (10tph actually but the Reading trains call only Clapham, Kingston, Feltham) and a reduced fester at some shacks thanks to the altered timetable also such as St Margarets which is a +6 instead of a very likely to fail +1.
So it looks like it'll be 378s and 455s with a couple of 319s in the mix tomorrow (unless 377s/387s produce on the Sutton loop)
Oh yeah, and a total of around 7 and a half hours on an HST
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Well what an odd day! It's not the duds producing on SWT (I quickly bailed after the main shacks I wanted were done as a result) but the people that managed to cause irritance this morning...
First up there was the woman that *had* to sit next to me on the train down, despite the carriage being empty (no, not her reserved seat either)
Then, there was the disgusting excuse for a man relieving himself at Kentish Town West, the platform stank but I think he was positively mortified when he realised I'd noticed [emoji14]
The man on the SWT to Kingston was an odd one, kept looking over at me then gave me a lecture on how it was rude to stare at people, that right royally ruined my mood.
Then I went off and bashed the Southeastern and Southern for a bit, nicer people there
3hrs 53 of HST back to Newcastle now, report soon
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