Even though the red pen didn't come out too early, it was still a decent day in the end. Rather long mind, I remember the day after such trips in the past, I'd be up in the morning but I would struggle like mad for energy! A day like yours there, I'd be having at least 5 caffeine hits!
Cowdenbeath for me was done on the way back up from Rosyth (same problem you had) before I got a train back south. It's still nicer than a lot of the places around there mind, I found it dull still as you did, but the Greggs coffee was more than welcome!
Did you enjoy some Cat thrash from North Queensferry into the tunnel there? My fuuuuudddddinnnnnngggg lordz, it's more than worth making the effort for it!
Jealous of 68017 and 68007, both winners for sight let alone haulage for me!
I was actually okay to begin with yesterday, I ended up waking up briefly at 7ish then by 8 I was flat out again! Had I forced myself to get up at 7 however I suspect I probably would have just about managed. I was also functioning on 4hrs sleep from 0100-0500 the night before the bash too!
I did have a cheap can of energy drink at about 2pm, but that was it as far as caffeine was concerned! All I had with me was water. You are also right indeed that Cowdenbeath was probably the nicest place there, considering the look of Lochgelly when I was swapping platforms.
I did indeed enjoy the thrash but sadly I wasn't at the first droplight behind 007, I was at the 2nd as the guard had stationed himself at the first! However 017 seemed to be the noisest of the two, with us having a 2 minute delay out of Haymarket the driver seemed keen to get a move on! I don't think you should have any trouble getting 68007 when you next do the loco hauled however, as it seems to turn up very regularly. Not sure about 017 though, that seemed like a DRS one subbing, much like when I had 68004 last year!
All these Scottish leaps are only serving to make me green with envy - this year's excursion for me is not until early July but the tickets to Edinburgh are booked, hotel arranged, planning already started .... Main things left to do are one, purchase the Central Scotland Rover and two, get bashing. I hope to drive a few holes in my Scottish requirements but I'll need to keep an eye on the Cats. Hopefully, I'll be able to bag a couple.
Back to the trip report - an excellent read even despite the slow start with winners. But as they say, that's bashing! Even so you came away with what I'd class as a decent haul.
Cheers Keith, indeed I do love Scotland. There's not a lot left for me to get in terms of shacks and all but there's still plenty units to go for, and indeed there's always the Cats like you say! It can be hit and miss, as the regulars ie the Saltire branded ones are 68006/68007, but i've had DRS branded ones turn up as with on Wednesday.
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London- 05/04/16
So, following a long previous day (I’d been down in Bradford meeting my girlfriend’s parents, and in the process scored 150103/185145/322485, if you’re interested
) I was up again bright and early for a London bash. I had a few aims, of which only 1 was met in the end, with Plumstead proving too much of an irritance to get, and the prospect of spending 3 hours on the Tattenham Corner branch was slightly depressing
I also decided against spending the evening rush hour on the line via Kidbrooke/Barnehurst, instead becoming a norm and going for a walk, because after all, I don’t go to London all that often! And in order to do it as cheaply as possible I booked myself on the 0603 TPE to York, which had dud
185135 working.
Indeed, I spent most of the journey sleeping with my phone on charge, before waking up to our arrival into York a few minutes late at 0716. I now had a +75, and in the end I just plugged my phone in, in the waiting room and made myself at home. I sat and watched the comings and goings from Platform 9, before wandering onto Platform 5A for the 0831 to London which had dud
91124 nudging it along. The guard on the service, Sean, was amazing, taking 5 minutes to subject me to his endless list of puns
we did quite a bit of staggering, including about 30mph all the way from Hitchin to past Stevenage, but we did arrive into London relatively close to time at 1044. Off I went straight away into the tube, taking the Northern Line to London Bridge and getting ready for an entertaining few hours on the top of the Dartford Loop! First up were double winners
376023/376027 to shack 1, Charlton. This put me quite nicely in the middle of the shacks I needed, so I decided to head in the Dartford direction before coming back over, and with that it was time for dud
465164 leading winner
465019 to shack 2, Abbey Wood. Crossrail work was highly prevalent here, as the station appeared to be somewhat of a work in progress! However, I didn’t have long to wait until dud
465156 sandwiched between double winners
465158/466034 which took me through to shack 3, Erith.
The locals were already beginning to concern me as a dodgy looking bloke demanded cigarettes from me as I walked down the platform and dived onto double winners
465236/465033 for the short run back to shack 4, Belvedere. What a dump! We had some dodgy looking folk rolling cigarettes outside the station entrance, and a granny sat on a bench yelling expletives every time the train was announced as 3 minutes late. Indeed, Belvedere has zero minute connections throughout, so me making double winners
465185/466002 to shack 5, Slade Green, was a bit of luck. However, we were so late that I managed to miss the connection back, so was stuck with a +10 there for winners
376012/376029 to shack 6, Woolwich Dockyard. Awful positioning on the platform on my part, as I missed a +1 on the way back across, and awaited my next service instead. This was all fine until it turned out that my connection from Plumstead had been caped! I wasn’t in the mood for any huge fester there (it would’ve been creeping up to 20 minutes) so I did a linear move and joined double winners
465152/465197 to shack 7, Deptford. For a +4 connection this one was suddenly very difficult! I was in the right place but it was one hell of a run down the stairs, under the bridge and back up again, getting onto the platform just as winner
465016 was approaching.
This was duly taken to shack 8, Westcombe Park where I decided to leave Plumstead for another day (I still need Dartford too) as it would have meant adding a 45 minute time penalty for the sake of 1 shack, and instead crossed over to head to an unannounced service for shack 9, Maze Hill, formed of winners
376006/376017! It was the ‘cancelled’ service from earlier running 9 late! Of course, that meant as soon as I left at Maze Hill, dud
465048 leading winner
465049 was trundling in behind! I took this combination back to London Bridge, where I dropped back onto winner
465046 leading dud
465244 into Cannon Street, where I decided to try and bash the Thameslink Core. Spoilers, I gave up very quickly. Having taken a train of S7 stock to Blackfriars, I somehow ended up on the wrong platform, nearly joining a 387 pair to Three Bridges, and then missed a 377 pair heading north. I’d already decided that Blackfriars was a terrible station for leaps. However, this was a blessing in disguise as 700110 then showed its face in the bay platforms! I was able to have a look in the flesh of one of these Desiro Cities for the first time which was a bonus, before double winners
319005/319220 to me to shack 10, Farringdon. I have no idea how I’ve never had Farringdon, but there we go! Next up was winner
319454 to Herne Hill where I was now in position for another long time required shack.
Indeed, it was double winners
319001/319218 carting me along to shack 11, Loughborough Junction. Bit of a tip. Never mind, double duds
319214/319447 were soon pulling in and for some reason, I took them through to shack 12, Wimbledon Chase. I was going to leap back to Wimbledon but on seeing that it was just 319454 again it seemed rather pointless so I went out and located a Co-Op for lunch. This was followed up by a rather pleasant walk to shack 12, Merton Park. Yes, I was off on the Tramlink! There were Trams due in 1/2/3 minutes so a linear move seemed rather fitting here. Winner
2559 was first up to shack 13, Morden Road, where almost straight away, winner
2539 filed in behind to take me to shack 14, Phipps Bridge. After another short wait, winner
2544 was then next up to take me to shack 15, Mitcham. Things were starting to get a little busier as the evening rush hour hotting up, as winner
2537 took me back along to shack 16, Belgrave Walk. One more, and it was time for dud
2542 to shack 17, Beddington Lane where dud
2551 took me back to Mitcham Junction. I wanted to play with some actual trains again
The next train due in the Sutton direction was the 1620 to Dorking formed of dud
377616 leading winner
377704, so that was duly taken to Sutton where I just went for whatever was leaving first heading towards Croydon. Winners
377603/377702 were first out, so they were taken up to Norwood Junction where I accidentally placed myself miles away from where you could change platforms! My +2 was however made with double winners
377123/377139 to East Croydon, where I was getting out of options until the 1749 Pig to London Bridge, so in the end I just ended up taking double winners
455814/455826 out to South Croydon for a +11 onto double winners
455824/455845 back. Out to Sainsbury’s I then went for a drink, before being teased with many treble winning 377 workings and even a quad winner formation, but for me it was double winners
442401/442411. Excellent, another 2 Pigs in the book, taking me up to 5. We made easy work of the 10 mile sprint, even arriving in early where I decided to take the Jubilee Line to Bond Street, and walked down Oxford Street into Hyde Park.
After a day of bashing it was nice to unwind a little and take a sunny stroll considering London Bridge at rush hour was pretty scary stuff, and I spent about 45 minutes slowly walking from one end to the other before joining a Picc Line train at about 1905 homeward bound. Of course, I wasn’t gonna like that! I bailed at shack 18, Russell Square, walking the last leg to Kings Cross instead. Dinner was picked up and I found double duds
43300/43239 working the 2000 to Sunderland, taking my seat and having what felt like a fast run to York. Alas not, we’d been running below line speed all the way due to engine problems, and the stops at Darlington and Durham only caused further issue as we eventually limped into Newcastle 14 late at 2308, leaving me incredibly tired!
However, all in all, a productive day!
Total Mileage: 623mi 03ch
Total Winners: 38+18 shacks
Total Cost: £55.35
hock:
