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Richard's Trip Reports
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Kite159
Veteran Member
Another productive day 
Boots at Reading is great
Boots at Reading is great
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Quite a nice bit of variety there! I too am enjoying the memories of my ALRs, although when I collapsed into sleep on my 2011 ALR it was aboard 142079 around the Durham Coast!
Nicely done with the LO PSUL move, although when I did that track it was when Southern had a regular service via that route. Shows how long ago that was eh?
Is the walk in Farnborough signposted?
Getting back to your own bed must have been wonderful!
Nicely done with the LO PSUL move, although when I did that track it was when Southern had a regular service via that route. Shows how long ago that was eh?
Is the walk in Farnborough signposted?
Getting back to your own bed must have been wonderful!
The walk is indeed signposted. Just leave a few extra minutes if you're going TO North and getting on a Guildford bound service as there's a level crossing.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Never knew about that LO PSUL move, probably something required for me in that area of many many little chords
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Cheers, I'm in the area next Sunday and Monday so will be walking from North to Main first, but the tip about the level crossing is most welcome.
I might not have time to investigate Farnborough Main, depending on the timetable. So many shacks to still get between Reading and Reigate it's unreal! Which reminds me to get a PDF of the relevant timetable to get planning...
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
Absolutely great reads!
I don't envy you doing an ALR in this heat, mind... Those couple of weeks were insane.
Re Cardiff... Central/Bay Cardiff is to "Greater" Cardiff & Wales what Central London is to Greater London & England - completely unrepresentative of the rest of the city and country. The Bay and city centre are hugely gentrified, but remember that the suburbs - and most of South Wales - have serious social problems. Only the yuppies who work in the city (Callaghan Square/Porth Teigr) can afford to live in the city centre and Bay - everyone else is completely priced out of the area and jobs are hard to come by.
Apologies for going on there, but I thought I'd give you a bit of an insight into the demographics of the area which may help to explain some of the issues you had!
And yes, Chiltern bashing is my favourite kind too
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I don't envy you doing an ALR in this heat, mind... Those couple of weeks were insane.
Re Cardiff... Central/Bay Cardiff is to "Greater" Cardiff & Wales what Central London is to Greater London & England - completely unrepresentative of the rest of the city and country. The Bay and city centre are hugely gentrified, but remember that the suburbs - and most of South Wales - have serious social problems. Only the yuppies who work in the city (Callaghan Square/Porth Teigr) can afford to live in the city centre and Bay - everyone else is completely priced out of the area and jobs are hard to come by.
Apologies for going on there, but I thought I'd give you a bit of an insight into the demographics of the area which may help to explain some of the issues you had!
And yes, Chiltern bashing is my favourite kind too
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To be honest I didn't really notice masses of difference between any of the areas. Everyone was a bit cold everywhere I went. I do know that the Valleys have their own problems and indeed some of the areas reminded me of the grubbier West End of Newcastle with a few hills plonked in the background! Still though, it was nothing majorly bad. The weather probably didn't help.
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47403
Established Member
Great reading so far Richard, plenty winners, just what the Dr ordered no doubt. The tiredness is a thing about doing Rovers, an ALR I can only imagine being a real killer, especially when you jump off a sleeper and charge round after. However winners or requirements for sight, tend to give you the adrenaline to plough on regardless.
Looking forward to the next instalments.
Looking forward to the next instalments.
Cheers Lord Spoon. I promise I am still around. Year 13 and a bit of flu have just got in the way of reports. Seeing as I'll not be doing much rail related for the foreseeable (though I am determined to clear off as many shacks as possible in the local area, ie Northern land!) they'll be coming out steadily in the not too distant future.
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Sorry to hear you've not been well young sir, hopefully a speedy recovery is in progress!
Indeed i'm all good now, thank you!
Cumbrian Coast Line- 24/09/16
Thanks to a combination of flu and sixth form, I havent been able to get out all the ALR reports as quickly as Id have liked. Similarly, until Saturday I hadnt been out on the rails since then! But, with GTR sending me a £4.20 RTV, I decided that a cheap bash couldnt hurt (Im saving for quite a few breaks and holidays, hence the lack of rail related splurging!) and bought myself a Hadrians Wall Country Line Ranger for £9.65 the night before. I had no idea what I wanted to do, apart from 37s and of course, at this time of year, the drags and HSTs around the Tyne Valley! This may or may not have influenced my decision, considering I wasnt up for a 142 shaking me across the valley Im also well aware that I strayed beyond the validity of the ticket. However, as nearly every station was unstaffed and the ticket actually used to be valid to Ravenglass, I just kept my cash in hand for any guard that wanted to charge me for the journey to the extra couple of stations I went to. In the event, I was never asked, even when asking for request stops! I wasnt looking for units however, as I only require 156471 and 156485 of the 156s, and 153331 from the 153s. The 156s tend to stick to the west side further south, and the 153, god only knows
Come the next morning, I was ready for the 0620 to Edinburgh via Carlisle, and was rather puzzled by the RTT timings. Diesel Locomotive, 100mph, it said. The 15 minute dwell at Carlisle seemed to suggest it was a drag, and indeed it was as I arrived to the sight of winner 67018 hauling a dead 91125 and MK4s! One heck of a way to start a bash, compared to the simmering 156 that would chase us out towards Carlisle. It was however a very limp start out of Newcastle, and thats how it stayed all the way to Carlisle, as we clunked and shuddered our way west, and I nodded off for a bit of shut eye (It was mightily silent in Coach B!) before awakening to our arrival at Carlisle, somehow bang on time at 0743. The first thing I noticed was the alarming yet convenient sight of the 0735 to Whitehaven still at platform 2. I wandered over to the sight of dud 156448 ticking over, with no passengers and the crew chatting on the bench! A quick consultation of Twitter showed that the 0515 to Barrow (a 37) had given up near Aspatria, and was still yet to move.
Oh great. However, at about 0800 it was announced as moving, so I jumped on anyway and headed to shack 1, Dalston. I still also needed Wigton so this was really just a filler, as I jumped off at Dalston at 0809, having a +14 vice a very long fester here (Im sure it was a +40 or something on my original plan) and soon enough, winner 37409 came rumbling in, and I bagged a table for the short hop back to Carlisle where we swapped ends and left late because the failed train still hadnt actually moved. We only left 4L but gradually lost more and more time as we went, ending up stuck behind 156448 as it was still only at Wigton! We limped into Wigton 16L, and I gave up on scratching it as my +4 was long gone, instead focusing on the shacks between Nethertown and Millom. I continued all the way to Ravenglass in the end, which was shack number 2, as it seemed an appropriate place to swap considering we were 23L by the time we trundled in. It also gave me a proper run behind a 37 (last October, the longest run I managed was Parton to Maryport) before I jumped off and made the irritatingly tedious platform change.
Next up was dud 156451 which was taken back up the line to shack 3, Seascale, which looked awfully similar to most of the seaside sorta villages on the route, a bit of a mix between Parton and Harrington really. Another daft platform swap, but I managed it onto the platform just as dud 156475 was arriving which I climbed up onto and asked for Green Road from the guard. She pulled her ticket machine out, but then stopped and said oh youre just requesting the stop? Yeah thats fine. Highlight on this journey was the group of drinkers giving her a standing ovation every time she walked past, which I can imagine would have gotten just a little tedious as they did it six times between Seascale and Green Road I jumped off at shack 4, Green Road, and was greeted by a whole lot of nothing. I had about 25 minutes to kill here (I could have gone for Foxfield as well but Green Road was a bit of a curiosity to me) and couldnt help but notice the abandoned seventies style brick buildings, and the waiting room on the Carlisle platform which had the door ajar and lacked any kind of seating inside. Not that I can imagine anyone bothers, because the station serves absolutely nothing, but it was a bit forlorn.
After a short while, dud 37409 trundled back in, and it was taken back up the line to shack 5, Bootle (Cumbria), which is a manned level crossing shack. Thankfully I had a 10 minute wait until dud 156448 rolled in again, and the guard was quick to ask if I wanted anymore unusual shacks! He was rather disappointed when I said I was going to Millom, and thats shack 6, where I bailed. A quick look at RTT on arrival started to cause some concern though. I was due to connect with what had been the failed 37 at Drigg (or Sellafield if it was to be delayed) and it was showing as at Platform 3 at Carlisle. However, as time went on, it was clear that something was wrong. My worst fears were confirmed when the indicator ticked over to cancelled. Oh well, so Id be connecting to nothing. I decided that I may as well continue to the most annoying shack to get (lots of +0 connections here) when dud 156490 arrived, and headed up to shack 7, Sellafield. Indeed, no sign of a 37 but no sign of any passengers either. In the end, I had a wander up the hill (no phone signal at the station) and sat on the embankment by the nuclear facility for a while. I was tempted to walk to Braystones, but the intimidating looking barriers beyond the station put me off.
Thankfully it was only a +44 at Sellafield for the next service, and I returned to the station (a bizarrely well-appointed one with a waiting room and toilets) to see dud 156451 trundling in once more, and I boarded, asking for Drigg from the guard. Are you really sure? he said, and on bailing at shack 8, the aforementioned Drigg, I could see why hed said that. It was another windswept shack with a few houses and a whole lot of fields as well as a nuclear waste disposal facility plonked behind a rather sinister looking fence. Soon enough though, dud 156448 arrived, and I had a choice. I could go through to Carlisle, back out to Wigton, then back to Carlisle, and scoop Wigton, clearing Carlisle to Nethertown for shacks entirely, or I could get Braystones, removing the need for me to really slog around the coast for shacks in future (Silecroft is easily reached from Barrow and Lancaster really). I picked the latter. It was the colder, less glamourous option, but I had no regrets as I dived down onto the not quite a platform at shack 9, Braystones. I kid you not, there is a small platform then the rest of it is grass with portable steps on As the wind blasted into my face, I took a look at the beach, and watched the cosy 156 wander off along the coast.
Well there was no way I was going to stay here. I had a +64 for the next service (lucky really that id picked a time of day when three services in a row called in the Carlisle direction, the following one was a +41 but if you missed it youd have a several hour long wait to get back towards the border city!) so I decided that just to keep warm and moving, Id go to Nethertown. It was a 33 minute walk according to Google Maps, so I set off down the tarmac track to the main road (a single track road with no passing places) and admired the views of the hills and also of Sellafield as the road dipped up and down. That said, it was perfectly do-able and I made it to Nethertown village in 25 minutes. Here, I deviated off the Google Maps route and went straight across a field, accidentally ending up in a herd of sheep
I then somehow ended up getting trapped as the path was on the wrong side of a barbed wire fence! Thankfully, I spotted a gap and vaulted over the fence onto the path, seemingly trespassing (it was a signposted route but it literally involved walking next to the railway line) my way onto the disused platform, before I huddled my way into the shelter at the even more windswept Nethertown. 20 minutes passed until eventually, dud 156475 was flagged down and I jumped on to the blessed relief of the heaters.
The guard asked if Id like another request stop to which I replied no no no, Carlisle please! and I settled myself in for the trundle up the coast, arriving into Carlisle at 1719, where I decided to call it a day. My original plan involved finishing at 2029 at Carlisle but other than Silecroft and Wigton, there wasnt a load to do and I was getting tired and cold! The perk of ending at this time too was that I was in perfect time for the 1734 to London Kings Cross (it had arrived at 1705!) which had dud 67018 simmering away up front. I laughed at everyone suffering the 142 on the 1728 to Newcastle, but was also rather bemused as to why we werent timed to leave first! 1705 to say 1725 would have been perfectly sufficient to attach the 67 considering it was all ready to leave at 1720 when I arrived in. Oh well. I sourced an empty table up front in Coach B, and this time could actually hear the 67 yinging away over the Tyne Valley, until I nodded off after Brampton. I woke up at Prudhoe, thinking we were near Haltwhistle and were very late (I recognised the location as a different one ) which was excellent as we arrived into Newcastle 2E at 1911.
A quick sandwich was sourced from Sainsburys (a reduced fancy one down to £1.49) before I marched up for the 1931 bus back to home, a Mercedes Citaro that was being worked suitably hard, giving a fair bit of noise down the motorway!
A nice cheap day, with two winning locomotives!
Total Winners: 2+9 shacks
Total cost: £11.14
Cumbrian Coast Line- 24/09/16
Thanks to a combination of flu and sixth form, I havent been able to get out all the ALR reports as quickly as Id have liked. Similarly, until Saturday I hadnt been out on the rails since then! But, with GTR sending me a £4.20 RTV, I decided that a cheap bash couldnt hurt (Im saving for quite a few breaks and holidays, hence the lack of rail related splurging!) and bought myself a Hadrians Wall Country Line Ranger for £9.65 the night before. I had no idea what I wanted to do, apart from 37s and of course, at this time of year, the drags and HSTs around the Tyne Valley! This may or may not have influenced my decision, considering I wasnt up for a 142 shaking me across the valley
Im also well aware that I strayed beyond the validity of the ticket. However, as nearly every station was unstaffed and the ticket actually used to be valid to Ravenglass, I just kept my cash in hand for any guard that wanted to charge me for the journey to the extra couple of stations I went to. In the event, I was never asked, even when asking for request stops! I wasnt looking for units however, as I only require 156471 and 156485 of the 156s, and 153331 from the 153s. The 156s tend to stick to the west side further south, and the 153, god only knows Come the next morning, I was ready for the 0620 to Edinburgh via Carlisle, and was rather puzzled by the RTT timings. Diesel Locomotive, 100mph, it said. The 15 minute dwell at Carlisle seemed to suggest it was a drag, and indeed it was as I arrived to the sight of winner 67018 hauling a dead 91125 and MK4s! One heck of a way to start a bash, compared to the simmering 156 that would chase us out towards Carlisle. It was however a very limp start out of Newcastle, and thats how it stayed all the way to Carlisle, as we clunked and shuddered our way west, and I nodded off for a bit of shut eye (It was mightily silent in Coach B!) before awakening to our arrival at Carlisle, somehow bang on time at 0743. The first thing I noticed was the alarming yet convenient sight of the 0735 to Whitehaven still at platform 2. I wandered over to the sight of dud 156448 ticking over, with no passengers and the crew chatting on the bench! A quick consultation of Twitter showed that the 0515 to Barrow (a 37) had given up near Aspatria, and was still yet to move.
Oh great. However, at about 0800 it was announced as moving, so I jumped on anyway and headed to shack 1, Dalston. I still also needed Wigton so this was really just a filler, as I jumped off at Dalston at 0809, having a +14 vice a very long fester here (Im sure it was a +40 or something on my original plan) and soon enough, winner 37409 came rumbling in, and I bagged a table for the short hop back to Carlisle where we swapped ends and left late because the failed train still hadnt actually moved. We only left 4L but gradually lost more and more time as we went, ending up stuck behind 156448 as it was still only at Wigton! We limped into Wigton 16L, and I gave up on scratching it as my +4 was long gone, instead focusing on the shacks between Nethertown and Millom. I continued all the way to Ravenglass in the end, which was shack number 2, as it seemed an appropriate place to swap considering we were 23L by the time we trundled in. It also gave me a proper run behind a 37 (last October, the longest run I managed was Parton to Maryport) before I jumped off and made the irritatingly tedious platform change.
Next up was dud 156451 which was taken back up the line to shack 3, Seascale, which looked awfully similar to most of the seaside sorta villages on the route, a bit of a mix between Parton and Harrington really. Another daft platform swap, but I managed it onto the platform just as dud 156475 was arriving which I climbed up onto and asked for Green Road from the guard. She pulled her ticket machine out, but then stopped and said oh youre just requesting the stop? Yeah thats fine. Highlight on this journey was the group of drinkers giving her a standing ovation every time she walked past, which I can imagine would have gotten just a little tedious as they did it six times between Seascale and Green Road
I jumped off at shack 4, Green Road, and was greeted by a whole lot of nothing. I had about 25 minutes to kill here (I could have gone for Foxfield as well but Green Road was a bit of a curiosity to me) and couldnt help but notice the abandoned seventies style brick buildings, and the waiting room on the Carlisle platform which had the door ajar and lacked any kind of seating inside. Not that I can imagine anyone bothers, because the station serves absolutely nothing, but it was a bit forlorn. After a short while, dud 37409 trundled back in, and it was taken back up the line to shack 5, Bootle (Cumbria), which is a manned level crossing shack. Thankfully I had a 10 minute wait until dud 156448 rolled in again, and the guard was quick to ask if I wanted anymore unusual shacks! He was rather disappointed when I said I was going to Millom, and thats shack 6, where I bailed. A quick look at RTT on arrival started to cause some concern though. I was due to connect with what had been the failed 37 at Drigg (or Sellafield if it was to be delayed) and it was showing as at Platform 3 at Carlisle. However, as time went on, it was clear that something was wrong. My worst fears were confirmed when the indicator ticked over to cancelled. Oh well, so Id be connecting to nothing. I decided that I may as well continue to the most annoying shack to get (lots of +0 connections here) when dud 156490 arrived, and headed up to shack 7, Sellafield. Indeed, no sign of a 37 but no sign of any passengers either. In the end, I had a wander up the hill (no phone signal at the station) and sat on the embankment by the nuclear facility for a while. I was tempted to walk to Braystones, but the intimidating looking barriers beyond the station put me off.
Thankfully it was only a +44 at Sellafield for the next service, and I returned to the station (a bizarrely well-appointed one with a waiting room and toilets) to see dud 156451 trundling in once more, and I boarded, asking for Drigg from the guard. Are you really sure? he said, and on bailing at shack 8, the aforementioned Drigg, I could see why hed said that. It was another windswept shack with a few houses and a whole lot of fields as well as a nuclear waste disposal facility plonked behind a rather sinister looking fence. Soon enough though, dud 156448 arrived, and I had a choice. I could go through to Carlisle, back out to Wigton, then back to Carlisle, and scoop Wigton, clearing Carlisle to Nethertown for shacks entirely, or I could get Braystones, removing the need for me to really slog around the coast for shacks in future (Silecroft is easily reached from Barrow and Lancaster really). I picked the latter. It was the colder, less glamourous option, but I had no regrets as I dived down onto the not quite a platform at shack 9, Braystones. I kid you not, there is a small platform then the rest of it is grass with portable steps on
As the wind blasted into my face, I took a look at the beach, and watched the cosy 156 wander off along the coast.Well there was no way I was going to stay here. I had a +64 for the next service (lucky really that id picked a time of day when three services in a row called in the Carlisle direction, the following one was a +41 but if you missed it youd have a several hour long wait to get back towards the border city!) so I decided that just to keep warm and moving, Id go to Nethertown. It was a 33 minute walk according to Google Maps, so I set off down the tarmac track to the main road (a single track road with no passing places) and admired the views of the hills and also of Sellafield as the road dipped up and down. That said, it was perfectly do-able and I made it to Nethertown village in 25 minutes. Here, I deviated off the Google Maps route and went straight across a field, accidentally ending up in a herd of sheep
I then somehow ended up getting trapped as the path was on the wrong side of a barbed wire fence! Thankfully, I spotted a gap and vaulted over the fence onto the path, seemingly trespassing (it was a signposted route but it literally involved walking next to the railway line) my way onto the disused platform, before I huddled my way into the shelter at the even more windswept Nethertown. 20 minutes passed until eventually, dud 156475 was flagged down and I jumped on to the blessed relief of the heaters.The guard asked if Id like another request stop to which I replied no no no, Carlisle please!
and I settled myself in for the trundle up the coast, arriving into Carlisle at 1719, where I decided to call it a day. My original plan involved finishing at 2029 at Carlisle but other than Silecroft and Wigton, there wasnt a load to do and I was getting tired and cold! The perk of ending at this time too was that I was in perfect time for the 1734 to London Kings Cross (it had arrived at 1705!) which had dud 67018 simmering away up front. I laughed at everyone suffering the 142 on the 1728 to Newcastle, but was also rather bemused as to why we werent timed to leave first! 1705 to say 1725 would have been perfectly sufficient to attach the 67 considering it was all ready to leave at 1720 when I arrived in. Oh well. I sourced an empty table up front in Coach B, and this time could actually hear the 67 yinging away over the Tyne Valley, until I nodded off after Brampton. I woke up at Prudhoe, thinking we were near Haltwhistle and were very late (I recognised the location as a different one ) which was excellent as we arrived into Newcastle 2E at 1911. A quick sandwich was sourced from Sainsburys (a reduced fancy one down to £1.49) before I marched up for the 1931 bus back to home, a Mercedes Citaro that was being worked suitably hard, giving a fair bit of noise down the motorway!
A nice cheap day, with two winning locomotives!
Total Winners: 2+9 shacks
Total cost: £11.14
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Quite a productive and cheap day there young sir! Glad to hear you're feeling better!
Some of those shacks sound proper grim, but those fester times are tiny compared to some I've done this year. It will take some doing to beat a +216! Even the recent +79 I did on the North Downs was easy!
Some of those shacks sound proper grim, but those fester times are tiny compared to some I've done this year. It will take some doing to beat a +216! Even the recent +79 I did on the North Downs was easy!
Good report, enjoyed reading that. . 37409 is a bit of a favourite from days past, great to think of it still doing it's job and being appreciated 28 years after I had it first. In fact quite unbelievable really!
. 37409 is a bit of a favourite from days past, great to think of it still doing it's job and being appreciated 28 years after I had it first. In fact quite unbelievable really!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounded like a good day
Remote stations seemingly serving nothing in the middle of nowhere with no noise are great to relax
Remote stations seemingly serving nothing in the middle of nowhere with no noise are great to relax
I was thinking that when I was reading your reports! It still sounds in fine fettle too, was treated to a right earful standing at the crossing at Bootle while the driver opened the throttle up.Good report, enjoyed reading that.
Nice! Are these Cumbrian 37 hauled trains awash with bashers then? I'm going to try and get up there at some point. I seem to be getting bitten by bashing bug again.
There's no known cure
Not really because they're there for the foreseeable. Every train normally has one or two in the carriage nearest the loco but quite frankly on such a short consist you can hear the 37 from any part of the train loud and clear!Nice! Are these Cumbrian 37 hauled trains awash with bashers then? I'm going to try and get up there at some point. I seem to be getting bitten by bashing bug again.
There's no known cure
). Thanks Richard.Your advice will be heeded. "I hear the Cumbrian coast is quite nice this time of year darling. Much quieter than Italy".
Keith Jarrett
Member
That Cumbrian Coast leap looked quite fruitful even if there were some sizeable festers at windswept shacks. And Just over £11 for a full day trip isn't bad these days.
Cheers fellas, indeed it was a fun day out, and one I'll have to repeat sometime from the Lancaster side up the Furness Line. Sadly this time I don't think blagging a Hadrian's Wall Ranger will work
Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk
Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk
ALR Day 4/14- 24/08/16
Day 4 of the rover was one that required a very early start, as I rocked up to the station at 0510 to find an already busy 0525 to Kings Cross, being powered by dud 91107. The intention of the day was to go down to Yate to meet some friends for the first time (cue moans from Quinn that I’m giving up too much bashing time! Lots of new track scored in the process though) I did however source a seat for the run down to what was meant to be York, having a doze before looking up to see what should have been an HST on the 0640 service towards Plymouth! When I saw the Voyager in its place, I sighed and decided to keep going down to Doncaster instead, where I then managed to source a nice cuppa from Pumpkin. Annoyingly, my only option to stay on track was dud 142093 on an all shacks working towards Worksop! This also happened to be already full leaving Doncaster, so I did a balancing act and stood up sipping my tea, with the train mercifully emptying a little by Rotherham. It was a punctual enough arrival at Sheffield, where I was then able to make a dash for the 0746 to St Pancras, formed of duds 43055/43060. Annoying having these as duds but was still a first getting an HST out of Sheffield!
The intention of these moves was merely to reduce Voyager mileage as I’d be dropping back onto the ex-York service eventually, and I couldn’t avoid it any longer, joining dud 220005 on the 0828 to Plymouth through to Birmingham Batcave. It was a mercifully quiet rush hour run, getting me in on time at 0908, and giving me enough time to get in an extra move on winner 323205 on a hop to University. Annoyingly though, the next 323 was delayed and meant that it got shoved in front of my 170, delaying it in turn. It was also even more irritating when stalker dud 170398 rolled up to take me to shack 1, Gloucester This was new track from Bromsgrove to Gloucester, albeit a rather flat, sleep inducing run as I indulged in a further doze before leaving the train at the aforementioned shack, spending a few moments admiring the not so inspiring station, full of passengers awaiting a London service. Only a couple of people including myself joined winner 150101 for a rather thrashy run through to shack 2, Yate, calling only at Cam and Dursley on the way.
I resumed my adventures on the 1410 service to Weymouth, annoyingly, due to the 1310 being caped. However, that gave me an extra hour of human interaction and winner 150938 for the short hop to Bristol Parkway. Here, I decided to focus my attention back to the south east, jumping on winners 43015/43133 for the run through to Reading. This was a nice chance to charge up the ol’ phone before I pondered over an evening of Thames Valley bashing, before noting winner 150002 on the Basingstoke service. South West Trains time for me then! I’m aware that 001 and 002 are stupidly difficult to get, so I wasn’t going to pass up a nice run on one of these! It was a lively little run, with me getting plonked at Basingstoke in good time for double winners 444021/444044 through to Woking. I then encountered a platform jobsworth screaming at me to get back behind the yellow line, seems my toe was over the yellow line as I grabbed a shot of treble winners 450089/450120/450561 arriving on the opposite platform, before legging it over onto them and bailing at the next stop, shack 3, West Byfleet.
A short linear move was made here onto a much cosier dud 455904 up to shack 4, Hersham, where I decided that Esher could be left alone for today. It leaves an annoying gap (as I’d literally have cleared all stations from Waterloo to Basingstoke had I gone for it!) but going for it would have taken up heaps of time, and it seemed like a good enough move to do via bus or Boundary Zone 6 at a later date. Bailing at Hersham saw me join winner 455866 trailing dud 455721 for the short hop to shack 5, Walton-on-Thames, where there was a short wait for treble winners 450014/450101/450118 to shack 6, Byfleet and New Haw. One more to get on this line for me, and that required a hasty dash under the platforms for double winners 455705/455733 to shack 7, Weybridge, where I suddenly had a longish (15 minutes) wait on my hands. I had a stroll outside, only to find very little, and instead opted to go back into the station and await winner 455730 trailing dud 455724 for the run back to West Byfleet.
These were shortly followed up by winners 450007/450008/450103 through to Guildford, clearing the Portsmouth Direct Line all the way through to Portsmouth Harbour. Just one shack between Woking and Guildford, and it was down to winner 444003 to take me to a leafy shack 8, Worplesdon. It was indeed a very pleasant wait here, with treble winners 450023/450042/450109 being next up for the run to shack 9, Farncombe. I was actually tempted to keep going for the PDL shacks (Milford and Witley were in my sights) but changed plans and decided to keep pushing for more new track. The winners kept coming though, with winner 444012 taking me back up to Woking. I had also allowed for a food break here, having not had anything since the morning (it was nearly 7pm by now!) but stupidly decided to plough on and see what awaited me at my next stop. This was shack 10, Brookwood, and had winner 444031 doing the honours.
It was suspiciously humid here as I jumped off and went to see what was on offer. Bingo! We had a Chinese takeaway so for the very reasonable sum of £2.50, I ordered myself a sausage and chips and sat down only for the heavens to open spectacularly! The thunder and lightning was insane, but it thankfully faired up in time for me to nip back across the road to the station and onto a very busy winner 444022 for the run to shack 11, Alton. New track on this line for me, with daylight just fading as we approached Alton, and I was in for a shock as I thought that the same train went straight back out! Alas not, as I noticed two 450s on the other platform and ran for my life, just making it onto winners 450009/450021 in time before we departed back as far as shack 12, Aldershot. I was hoping for a 456 pair next, so imagine my annoyance when dud 450075 turned up on an Ascot line service! Never mind, it was only a short hop to shack 13, Ash, where I had a rather eerie fester in the quiet and darkness. Winner 166217 did the honours and I did intend to head for Reading, but instead bailed at shack 14, Wokingham.
This allowed me to grab winner 450113 trailing dud 450038 for the run into Reading, where we arrived in at around 2213, giving me a chance to ponder two options very quickly! I could either go bash the Marlow branch and get my remaining two GWML shacks east of Reading outside the zones (Burnham and Taplow), catching the sleeper from Reading at 0046, or I could be sensible and go straight to Paddington Logic prevailed as I caught double winners 43010/43194 through to Paddington for 2249, giving me a chance to pick up some breakfast items for the next morning (I was NOT finding myself paying £5 at Costa again!) consisting of some soft bake Belvita, a Cadbury Boost Bar, and a nice bottle of orange juice to tide me over until I sourced something more filling later on tomorrow. And with that, it was dud 57603 taking me to Cornwall tonight.
I had made an excellent call going to London for the sleeper as every table was occupied on departure! I had discovered a small travel hack for the less social sleepers among us, as the first seat I’d sat on gave out and fell apart. Instead of fixing it, I left it half off and used it as a footrest for the night If anyone complained, I’d say the seat wasn’t fit for sleeping on! Anyways, I was now nodding off, and had no idea of the weird night I’d have ahead of me.
Day 4 of the rover was one that required a very early start, as I rocked up to the station at 0510 to find an already busy 0525 to Kings Cross, being powered by dud 91107. The intention of the day was to go down to Yate to meet some friends for the first time (cue moans from Quinn that I’m giving up too much bashing time! Lots of new track scored in the process though) I did however source a seat for the run down to what was meant to be York, having a doze before looking up to see what should have been an HST on the 0640 service towards Plymouth! When I saw the Voyager in its place, I sighed and decided to keep going down to Doncaster instead, where I then managed to source a nice cuppa from Pumpkin. Annoyingly, my only option to stay on track was dud 142093 on an all shacks working towards Worksop! This also happened to be already full leaving Doncaster, so I did a balancing act and stood up sipping my tea, with the train mercifully emptying a little by Rotherham. It was a punctual enough arrival at Sheffield, where I was then able to make a dash for the 0746 to St Pancras, formed of duds 43055/43060. Annoying having these as duds but was still a first getting an HST out of Sheffield!
The intention of these moves was merely to reduce Voyager mileage as I’d be dropping back onto the ex-York service eventually, and I couldn’t avoid it any longer, joining dud 220005 on the 0828 to Plymouth through to Birmingham Batcave. It was a mercifully quiet rush hour run, getting me in on time at 0908, and giving me enough time to get in an extra move on winner 323205 on a hop to University. Annoyingly though, the next 323 was delayed and meant that it got shoved in front of my 170, delaying it in turn. It was also even more irritating when stalker dud 170398 rolled up to take me to shack 1, Gloucester
This was new track from Bromsgrove to Gloucester, albeit a rather flat, sleep inducing run as I indulged in a further doze before leaving the train at the aforementioned shack, spending a few moments admiring the not so inspiring station, full of passengers awaiting a London service. Only a couple of people including myself joined winner 150101 for a rather thrashy run through to shack 2, Yate, calling only at Cam and Dursley on the way. I resumed my adventures on the 1410 service to Weymouth, annoyingly, due to the 1310 being caped. However, that gave me an extra hour of human interaction and winner 150938 for the short hop to Bristol Parkway. Here, I decided to focus my attention back to the south east, jumping on winners 43015/43133 for the run through to Reading. This was a nice chance to charge up the ol’ phone before I pondered over an evening of Thames Valley bashing, before noting winner 150002 on the Basingstoke service. South West Trains time for me then! I’m aware that 001 and 002 are stupidly difficult to get, so I wasn’t going to pass up a nice run on one of these! It was a lively little run, with me getting plonked at Basingstoke in good time for double winners 444021/444044 through to Woking. I then encountered a platform jobsworth screaming at me to get back behind the yellow line, seems my toe was over the yellow line as I grabbed a shot of treble winners 450089/450120/450561 arriving on the opposite platform, before legging it over onto them and bailing at the next stop, shack 3, West Byfleet.
A short linear move was made here onto a much cosier dud 455904 up to shack 4, Hersham, where I decided that Esher could be left alone for today. It leaves an annoying gap (as I’d literally have cleared all stations from Waterloo to Basingstoke had I gone for it!) but going for it would have taken up heaps of time, and it seemed like a good enough move to do via bus or Boundary Zone 6 at a later date. Bailing at Hersham saw me join winner 455866 trailing dud 455721 for the short hop to shack 5, Walton-on-Thames, where there was a short wait for treble winners 450014/450101/450118 to shack 6, Byfleet and New Haw. One more to get on this line for me, and that required a hasty dash under the platforms for double winners 455705/455733 to shack 7, Weybridge, where I suddenly had a longish (15 minutes) wait on my hands. I had a stroll outside, only to find very little, and instead opted to go back into the station and await winner 455730 trailing dud 455724 for the run back to West Byfleet.
These were shortly followed up by winners 450007/450008/450103 through to Guildford, clearing the Portsmouth Direct Line all the way through to Portsmouth Harbour. Just one shack between Woking and Guildford, and it was down to winner 444003 to take me to a leafy shack 8, Worplesdon. It was indeed a very pleasant wait here, with treble winners 450023/450042/450109 being next up for the run to shack 9, Farncombe. I was actually tempted to keep going for the PDL shacks (Milford and Witley were in my sights) but changed plans and decided to keep pushing for more new track. The winners kept coming though, with winner 444012 taking me back up to Woking. I had also allowed for a food break here, having not had anything since the morning (it was nearly 7pm by now!) but stupidly decided to plough on and see what awaited me at my next stop. This was shack 10, Brookwood, and had winner 444031 doing the honours.
It was suspiciously humid here as I jumped off and went to see what was on offer. Bingo! We had a Chinese takeaway so for the very reasonable sum of £2.50, I ordered myself a sausage and chips and sat down only for the heavens to open spectacularly! The thunder and lightning was insane, but it thankfully faired up in time for me to nip back across the road to the station and onto a very busy winner 444022 for the run to shack 11, Alton. New track on this line for me, with daylight just fading as we approached Alton, and I was in for a shock as I thought that the same train went straight back out! Alas not, as I noticed two 450s on the other platform and ran for my life, just making it onto winners 450009/450021 in time before we departed back as far as shack 12, Aldershot. I was hoping for a 456 pair next, so imagine my annoyance when dud 450075 turned up on an Ascot line service! Never mind, it was only a short hop to shack 13, Ash, where I had a rather eerie fester in the quiet and darkness. Winner 166217 did the honours and I did intend to head for Reading, but instead bailed at shack 14, Wokingham.
This allowed me to grab winner 450113 trailing dud 450038 for the run into Reading, where we arrived in at around 2213, giving me a chance to ponder two options very quickly! I could either go bash the Marlow branch and get my remaining two GWML shacks east of Reading outside the zones (Burnham and Taplow), catching the sleeper from Reading at 0046, or I could be sensible and go straight to Paddington
Logic prevailed as I caught double winners 43010/43194 through to Paddington for 2249, giving me a chance to pick up some breakfast items for the next morning (I was NOT finding myself paying £5 at Costa again!) consisting of some soft bake Belvita, a Cadbury Boost Bar, and a nice bottle of orange juice to tide me over until I sourced something more filling later on tomorrow. And with that, it was dud 57603 taking me to Cornwall tonight.I had made an excellent call going to London for the sleeper as every table was occupied on departure! I had discovered a small travel hack for the less social sleepers among us, as the first seat I’d sat on gave out and fell apart. Instead of fixing it, I left it half off and used it as a footrest for the night
If anyone complained, I’d say the seat wasn’t fit for sleeping on! Anyways, I was now nodding off, and had no idea of the weird night I’d have ahead of me.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounded like a productive day
At least you didn't lose too much bashing time by meeting friends
I approve of the 220 avoidance move there! I don't approve of getting on the same one from Derby though!
I like the 'calling only at Cam and Dursley' bit - it's the only shack between Gloucester and Yate!
I approve of the 220 avoidance move there! I don't approve of getting on the same one from Derby though!
I like the 'calling only at Cam and Dursley' bit - it's the only shack between Gloucester and Yate!
Didn't have a choice if I wanted to make my connection but did think you'd approve of me getting more Milkfloat miles and Tram miles in favour of the 220
And yeah, it was a fairly long thrashy run with barely any stops. Most enjoyable however.- Status