alexf380
Established Member
Happy new year Richard, with a crazy amount of winners this year I can only hope (through jealous, gritted teeth 
) that 2017 is as good to you.
) that 2017 is as good to you.
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Richard's Trip Reports
- Thread starter Segedunum
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Happy new year Richard, with a crazy amount of winners this year I can only hope (through jealous, gritted teeth
Happy New Year to you too! And I can't be so sure, my money is going on more exotic adventures this year. However I still want to make a couple of big trips out
Next time beat the queues by booking online (Bushey to 0035 will do) and collecting from any TVM. There are always some TVMs with no lengthy queues
Next time beat the queues by booking online (Bushey to 0035 will do) and collecting from any TVM. There are always some TVMs with no lengthy queues
This is what I normally do and it didn't hit me until I was stuck in the queue that i'd done a brainfart and forgotten about it
London- Day 2, 30/12/16
The following day started bright and early with me first setting my sights on my last required ex Greater Anglia shack on the Overground network, Bush Hill Park. However, I did seem to spent a daft amount of time retrieving it as youll soon find out, not helped by my linear moves back down into London constantly throwing up duds Anyways, I was up at 0455 and feeling generally okay, packed up my things and went to check out. This was delayed by nobody bothering to turn up at reception so I pressed the bell over and over before somebody turned up 10 minutes later. My mention of potentially missing a train to him made him suddenly gain a rather worried look, so he opened up the restaurant entrance in order to allow me a direct route out to the station rather than wandering around the back of the hotel, suppose that was nice. I headed to the station, paid my £17.20 for an Anytime Travelcard (Railcards not valid, and Railcards not valid with the Off Peak until 10am) and headed to duds 315808/315817 to take me to Walthamstow Central for 0549.
315808, Chingford by Richard Green, on Flickr
Next up was a McDonalds move, as I got myself a snack wrap to tide me over before taking the Victoria Line to Seven Sisters and awaiting the 0618 to Enfield Town annoyingly formed of dud 315811. However, it shouldnt have come as a surprise, as having looked at my notes, I now only require 315806 in order to clear the LO 315s. Shack 1, Bush Hill Park was reached soon after, and I made the walk over the gloomy footbridge in the fog and onto the other platform, where happily we had the fruitful sight of double winners 317887/317890 taking me back down to Edmonton Green, leaving just 891 and 892 to get until the LO 317/8s are also cleared. Sadly, my attempt as red penning through some linear moves didnt work, with duds 315815/315816 rocking up to take me to Seven Sisters, and even the Greater Anglia service threw up duds 317653/317659 from yesterday to Hackney Downs followed by a walk to Hackney Central. On my move to Highbury, the sight of dud 378234 was just grating on me even more as in two hours Id scored 2 units and a shack
I took the Victoria Line to Victoria and made a beeline for the 0750 Brighton, formed of winner 377610 leading dud 377606 to Clapham Junction. Following straight on our tail were double winners 377617/377620 bizarrely working an East Grinstead service, so they were taken down to East Croydon where I worked out a plan to finish off the branches I needed within the zones. First up was Tattenham Corner but Id just missed one of those, however it was also the one that didnt have a suitable walking connection to Epsom Downs, so no real loss there. As a filler move, I headed to Coulsdon South which bizarrely had dud 377601 working the 0816 to Horsham (Why are all the 377/6s out?) where I then had a sprint to shack 2, Coulsdon Town (Or Smitham as Phil Sayer still referred to it as). Winner 455816 was my haulage to Purley, where I swapped trains and took dud 455801 for the very quiet run to shack 3, Tattenham Corner. Now the fun could begin with the walk to Epsom Downs.
377617, East Croydon by Richard Green, on Flickr
455801, Tattenham Corner by Richard Green, on Flickr
Firstly, do not do what I did and walk it on a damp, foggy day. Because there are no paths. Paths do not exist in Surrey. Everybody owns truck sized cars so theres no need to walk. It was very odd also having foxes for company as I trudged through the wet grass and fog on the depressing walk to the hourly served Epsom Downs, only gaining a path once I entered the housing estate that the station is sited on. Epsom Downs was shack 4, and I was welcomed with the sight of winner 455819. The line itself was a bit forgotten looking, with both Belmont and Banstead being single platform shacks with defective display boards. Patronage was rather low and it felt like a sudden entering of civilisation when I bailed at Sutton for dud 377618 along to Ewell East, shack 5. This was my last one to get within the zones on the line, completing London Victoria to Dorking with the exception of the wee forgotten Box Hill and Westhumble.
455819, Epsom Downs by Richard Green, on Flickr
377618, Ewell East by Richard Green, on Flickr
Daft run number 2 was next, with me having 11 minutes to do a 21 minute walk to Ewell West, shack 6. I made it, but ruined my legs in the process and found myself rather out of puff as I collapsed onto winner 455861 trailing dud 455720 for the journey along to shack 7, Worcester Park. Time for a short early lunch move here as I walked down the main shopping street, grabbing a sausage roll and noting a potential bus move. Shortly after, an Enviro 200 working the Route S3 took me on the 7 minute journey to shack 8, Malden Manor, a rather windswept looking shack too. It was however only a short wait in the cold until I boarded winner 455710 trailing dud 455916 for the journey to the end of the line, shack 9, Chessington South. The rather long turnaround here than enabled me to have a stroll through the park again, making the 455s return very comfortably with only a minute or two to spare at shack 10, Chessington North. They were then taken to Raynes Park in the hope of winners on the Kingston Loop service behind, but alas not as duds 455721/455857 rolled up for Wimbledon.
455916, Chessington South by Richard Green, on Flickr
An annoying +17 was had here for the next line of attack, the Sutton loop. After this fester, I was greeted with winner 700007 around the loop, sitting in First Class, and oh my god if the IEP is getting the same seats that these have in First Class then were utterly doomed! It was a stupidly hard seat, albeit with a socket and complete solitude, but it was actually horrible to sit in. Never mind, I was soon off at shack 11, West Sutton, and frustratingly onto duds 319007/319443 to shack 12, South Merton. The plus side of the Sutton Loop shacks however is the fact that most stations have island platforms, meaning that a swift change was made onto winner 319220 leading dud 319422 to shack 13, St Keith I mean St Helier My intention here had then been to get the 154 bus up to Morden Underground station, but in the 15 minute wait between when the next service north was, nothing actually turned up (great when three went the other way) which was somewhat of a blessing as it saw me catching winners 319215/319217 to shack 14, Morden South. It was then time for another stretch of the legs as I took a walk to the aforementioned tube station which was shack number 15, as Ive never actually cleared the bottom end of the Northern Line south of Balham.
700007, Wimbledon by Richard Green, on Flickr
319217, St Helier by Richard Green, on Flickr
That changed as I jumped on board for the hop to Balham and looked for my next move. I wanted to be in Croydon for the trams and intended to get a service to Clapham and join a fast service, but the ex Caterham service was cancelled (as was another service to Victoria) so instead dud 455838 was taken to West Croydon via Norbury. This was a bit of a stagger but necessary to position myself for winner 2544 to take me along to shack 16, Wellesley Road, where we then had winner 2545 file in behind to take me to East Croydon. It seemed a tad early to be doing the trams yet, being only 1345, so I went down to the mainline platforms to do some deckchairing and look out for anything winning. Within seconds, treble winners 377429/377435/377440 arrived on the London Bridge service, so it was taken to London Bridge where I made a plan of action to get scoring on the Croydon Trams, via a certain West Wickham. I also require Lower Sydenham on the Hayes line, alas I wasnt up for the cold fester in order to get it in from the Hayes direction.
377440, East Croydon by Richard Green, on Flickr
A lucky connection was made onto winner 465180 leading dud 465006 for the journey all the way through to West Wickham, shack number 17. Front of the train is best for the footbridge here, so a swift connection was made over the bridge and onto winner 465179 leading dud 465161 to Clock House. See, I was planning on going to Lower Sydenham still but it wasnt until we were leaving Eden Park that I decided to leave it alone (I need a small clump of shacks in the area on different lines) but at Elmers End Id already missed winner 465033/dud 465040 so I kept going for the next service which was similarly fruitful with winner 465155 leading dud 465171 through to Hayes where I headed out onto the high street for a bus to Addington Village Interchange. Another useful route this was, the 353 which reaches the interchange in around 7 minutes, and also travels the other way towards Orpington station in around 10 minutes. I was soon on the platform at shack 18, Addington Village, and joining winner 2558 to shack 19, King Henrys Drive. Ill be honest, I didnt want to fester so I raced the tram up the hill and just made it to shack 20, New Addington in time to get back on the same tram and take it down to shack 21, Fieldway.
465180, West Wickham by Richard Green, on Flickr
2556, Fieldway by Richard Green, on Flickr
Dud 2556 came in 7 minutes later for the journey to shack 22, Gravel Hill, where I had a play with the rather archaic looking ticket machine. Theyre rather basic things, not allowing railcard discounts and looking like they run on Windows 95 This successfully killed a few minutes until winner 2532 turned up for the race down the hill to shack 23, Lloyd Park. Heck the run into there is fast! A swift changeover saw me join dud 2541 back up to shack 24, Coombe Lane, which completed the Addington Line. Dud 2545 was then my haulage to Sandilands where I tried my luck with a linear move through the core. Fruitful indeed, as winner 2553 took me to shack 25, Lebanon Road, and winner 2549 to shack 26, George Street. A short stroll was had back to East Croydon from George Street where I went to see what we had around. Id just missed a Bedford service so opted for a Three Bridges stopping service, happily formed of winner 700112 for the journey to Purley where I had to alight from coach 11 due to a short platform. Winner 377706 was then greeting me for the journey back to East Croydon where I noted that my intended Bedford service was starting to lag behind.
I decided to instead continue to London Bridge on the 377 (it was a fast ex Tattenham Corner service) and took the Northern Line to Elephant and Castle where the first service in was duds 319011/319381 to Blackfriars. In the meantime, 700115 had passed us and seemed to be 5E which was a bit bizarre, so I made a move for it only it to be leaving as I jumped off the 319. The displayed then flicked over to the delayed 1721 to Bedford, ie the service I should have caught from East Croydon, formed of winner 700109. So it seems that the 1738 had left early to stop a pileup through the Thameslink Core. The 700 was duly taken to Farringdon where I had an easier than usual changeover (the 12 carriages meant that I was plonked directly next to the footbridge) and had a minute or two to await winner 700010 back to City Thameslink. Automatic door opening was in force here, and it seemed to work very well indeed, leaving me with a short jog for winner 387122 leading dud 387115 back to Farringdon. One final Travelcard move, and it was another Bedford service, a fast one originating at Elephant and Castle. Double winners 319437/319459 were in charge for this run to St Pancras, and Im sure that it would have been a monster one if Id continued to Bedford on AC!
700109, Farringdon by Richard Green, on Flickr
387115, Farringdon by Richard Green, on Flickr
319459, St Pancras Intl by Richard Green, on Flickr
Food was then sourced from Boots and Waitrose (Meal deal from the former, big bag of Popcorn from the other for 82p, I was VERY hungry!) before heading to Platform 8 and the wonders of dud 180110 (Ive cleared Hull Trains so no surprise) working the 1850 to Beverley which I was to take to Doncaster. A nice table was sourced at the front of Coach E, and I settled in with my large dinner for the fast run north in the company of some Darts fans. It wasnt as comfortable as the 91 Id had down, but it was cheaper than taking the 1930 VTEC all the way through and gave me a bit more space (it was dead after Grantham) for the blitz to Donny. On getting up, the Darts fan who was rather drunk turned to me and said oh youre off here mate? Im a shareholder. Thanks for travelling with us. Were great, arent we? which explained why the staff were so friendly towards his group I then had a rather long wait at Doncaster so I went off to McDonalds for a cheeseburger to tide me over (every single supermarket was closed, I mean it was 20:45 by now) before coming back to something kicking off on the station. A drunk bloke had decided to grab a womans phone and hurl it onto the tracks, cue BTP and station staff pulling him aside for a merry chat while they worked out how to retrieve it.
A quiet run however was had north behind 91127 to Newcastle, arriving 3E at 2236.
Total Winners- 33+26 shacks (Total for trip- 75+48 shacks)
The following day started bright and early with me first setting my sights on my last required ex Greater Anglia shack on the Overground network, Bush Hill Park. However, I did seem to spent a daft amount of time retrieving it as youll soon find out, not helped by my linear moves back down into London constantly throwing up duds
Anyways, I was up at 0455 and feeling generally okay, packed up my things and went to check out. This was delayed by nobody bothering to turn up at reception so I pressed the bell over and over before somebody turned up 10 minutes later. My mention of potentially missing a train to him made him suddenly gain a rather worried look, so he opened up the restaurant entrance in order to allow me a direct route out to the station rather than wandering around the back of the hotel, suppose that was nice. I headed to the station, paid my £17.20 for an Anytime Travelcard (Railcards not valid, and Railcards not valid with the Off Peak until 10am) and headed to duds 315808/315817 to take me to Walthamstow Central for 0549.
315808, Chingford by Richard Green, on FlickrNext up was a McDonalds move, as I got myself a snack wrap to tide me over before taking the Victoria Line to Seven Sisters and awaiting the 0618 to Enfield Town annoyingly formed of dud 315811. However, it shouldnt have come as a surprise, as having looked at my notes, I now only require 315806 in order to clear the LO 315s. Shack 1, Bush Hill Park was reached soon after, and I made the walk over the gloomy footbridge in the fog and onto the other platform, where happily we had the fruitful sight of double winners 317887/317890 taking me back down to Edmonton Green, leaving just 891 and 892 to get until the LO 317/8s are also cleared. Sadly, my attempt as red penning through some linear moves didnt work, with duds 315815/315816 rocking up to take me to Seven Sisters, and even the Greater Anglia service threw up duds 317653/317659 from yesterday to Hackney Downs followed by a walk to Hackney Central. On my move to Highbury, the sight of dud 378234 was just grating on me even more as in two hours Id scored 2 units and a shack
I took the Victoria Line to Victoria and made a beeline for the 0750 Brighton, formed of winner 377610 leading dud 377606 to Clapham Junction. Following straight on our tail were double winners 377617/377620 bizarrely working an East Grinstead service, so they were taken down to East Croydon where I worked out a plan to finish off the branches I needed within the zones. First up was Tattenham Corner but Id just missed one of those, however it was also the one that didnt have a suitable walking connection to Epsom Downs, so no real loss there. As a filler move, I headed to Coulsdon South which bizarrely had dud 377601 working the 0816 to Horsham (Why are all the 377/6s out?) where I then had a sprint to shack 2, Coulsdon Town (Or Smitham as Phil Sayer still referred to it as). Winner 455816 was my haulage to Purley, where I swapped trains and took dud 455801 for the very quiet run to shack 3, Tattenham Corner. Now the fun could begin with the walk to Epsom Downs.
377617, East Croydon by Richard Green, on Flickr
455801, Tattenham Corner by Richard Green, on FlickrFirstly, do not do what I did and walk it on a damp, foggy day. Because there are no paths. Paths do not exist in Surrey. Everybody owns truck sized cars so theres no need to walk. It was very odd also having foxes for company as I trudged through the wet grass and fog on the depressing walk to the hourly served Epsom Downs, only gaining a path once I entered the housing estate that the station is sited on. Epsom Downs was shack 4, and I was welcomed with the sight of winner 455819. The line itself was a bit forgotten looking, with both Belmont and Banstead being single platform shacks with defective display boards. Patronage was rather low and it felt like a sudden entering of civilisation when I bailed at Sutton for dud 377618 along to Ewell East, shack 5. This was my last one to get within the zones on the line, completing London Victoria to Dorking with the exception of the wee forgotten Box Hill and Westhumble.
455819, Epsom Downs by Richard Green, on Flickr
377618, Ewell East by Richard Green, on FlickrDaft run number 2 was next, with me having 11 minutes to do a 21 minute walk to Ewell West, shack 6. I made it, but ruined my legs in the process and found myself rather out of puff as I collapsed onto winner 455861 trailing dud 455720 for the journey along to shack 7, Worcester Park. Time for a short early lunch move here as I walked down the main shopping street, grabbing a sausage roll and noting a potential bus move. Shortly after, an Enviro 200 working the Route S3 took me on the 7 minute journey to shack 8, Malden Manor, a rather windswept looking shack too. It was however only a short wait in the cold until I boarded winner 455710 trailing dud 455916 for the journey to the end of the line, shack 9, Chessington South. The rather long turnaround here than enabled me to have a stroll through the park again, making the 455s return very comfortably with only a minute or two to spare at shack 10, Chessington North. They were then taken to Raynes Park in the hope of winners on the Kingston Loop service behind, but alas not as duds 455721/455857 rolled up for Wimbledon.
455916, Chessington South by Richard Green, on FlickrAn annoying +17 was had here for the next line of attack, the Sutton loop. After this fester, I was greeted with winner 700007 around the loop, sitting in First Class, and oh my god if the IEP is getting the same seats that these have in First Class then were utterly doomed! It was a stupidly hard seat, albeit with a socket and complete solitude, but it was actually horrible to sit in. Never mind, I was soon off at shack 11, West Sutton, and frustratingly onto duds 319007/319443 to shack 12, South Merton. The plus side of the Sutton Loop shacks however is the fact that most stations have island platforms, meaning that a swift change was made onto winner 319220 leading dud 319422 to shack 13, St Keith I mean St Helier
My intention here had then been to get the 154 bus up to Morden Underground station, but in the 15 minute wait between when the next service north was, nothing actually turned up (great when three went the other way) which was somewhat of a blessing as it saw me catching winners 319215/319217 to shack 14, Morden South. It was then time for another stretch of the legs as I took a walk to the aforementioned tube station which was shack number 15, as Ive never actually cleared the bottom end of the Northern Line south of Balham.
700007, Wimbledon by Richard Green, on Flickr
319217, St Helier by Richard Green, on FlickrThat changed as I jumped on board for the hop to Balham and looked for my next move. I wanted to be in Croydon for the trams and intended to get a service to Clapham and join a fast service, but the ex Caterham service was cancelled (as was another service to Victoria) so instead dud 455838 was taken to West Croydon via Norbury. This was a bit of a stagger but necessary to position myself for winner 2544 to take me along to shack 16, Wellesley Road, where we then had winner 2545 file in behind to take me to East Croydon. It seemed a tad early to be doing the trams yet, being only 1345, so I went down to the mainline platforms to do some deckchairing and look out for anything winning. Within seconds, treble winners 377429/377435/377440 arrived on the London Bridge service, so it was taken to London Bridge where I made a plan of action to get scoring on the Croydon Trams, via a certain West Wickham. I also require Lower Sydenham on the Hayes line, alas I wasnt up for the cold fester in order to get it in from the Hayes direction.
377440, East Croydon by Richard Green, on FlickrA lucky connection was made onto winner 465180 leading dud 465006 for the journey all the way through to West Wickham, shack number 17. Front of the train is best for the footbridge here, so a swift connection was made over the bridge and onto winner 465179 leading dud 465161 to Clock House. See, I was planning on going to Lower Sydenham still but it wasnt until we were leaving Eden Park that I decided to leave it alone (I need a small clump of shacks in the area on different lines) but at Elmers End Id already missed winner 465033/dud 465040 so I kept going for the next service which was similarly fruitful with winner 465155 leading dud 465171 through to Hayes where I headed out onto the high street for a bus to Addington Village Interchange. Another useful route this was, the 353 which reaches the interchange in around 7 minutes, and also travels the other way towards Orpington station in around 10 minutes. I was soon on the platform at shack 18, Addington Village, and joining winner 2558 to shack 19, King Henrys Drive. Ill be honest, I didnt want to fester so I raced the tram up the hill and just made it to shack 20, New Addington in time to get back on the same tram and take it down to shack 21, Fieldway.
465180, West Wickham by Richard Green, on Flickr
2556, Fieldway by Richard Green, on FlickrDud 2556 came in 7 minutes later for the journey to shack 22, Gravel Hill, where I had a play with the rather archaic looking ticket machine. Theyre rather basic things, not allowing railcard discounts and looking like they run on Windows 95
This successfully killed a few minutes until winner 2532 turned up for the race down the hill to shack 23, Lloyd Park. Heck the run into there is fast! A swift changeover saw me join dud 2541 back up to shack 24, Coombe Lane, which completed the Addington Line. Dud 2545 was then my haulage to Sandilands where I tried my luck with a linear move through the core. Fruitful indeed, as winner 2553 took me to shack 25, Lebanon Road, and winner 2549 to shack 26, George Street. A short stroll was had back to East Croydon from George Street where I went to see what we had around. Id just missed a Bedford service so opted for a Three Bridges stopping service, happily formed of winner 700112 for the journey to Purley where I had to alight from coach 11 due to a short platform. Winner 377706 was then greeting me for the journey back to East Croydon where I noted that my intended Bedford service was starting to lag behind.I decided to instead continue to London Bridge on the 377 (it was a fast ex Tattenham Corner service) and took the Northern Line to Elephant and Castle where the first service in was duds 319011/319381 to Blackfriars. In the meantime, 700115 had passed us and seemed to be 5E which was a bit bizarre, so I made a move for it only it to be leaving as I jumped off the 319. The displayed then flicked over to the delayed 1721 to Bedford, ie the service I should have caught from East Croydon, formed of winner 700109. So it seems that the 1738 had left early to stop a pileup through the Thameslink Core. The 700 was duly taken to Farringdon where I had an easier than usual changeover (the 12 carriages meant that I was plonked directly next to the footbridge) and had a minute or two to await winner 700010 back to City Thameslink. Automatic door opening was in force here, and it seemed to work very well indeed, leaving me with a short jog for winner 387122 leading dud 387115 back to Farringdon. One final Travelcard move, and it was another Bedford service, a fast one originating at Elephant and Castle. Double winners 319437/319459 were in charge for this run to St Pancras, and Im sure that it would have been a monster one if Id continued to Bedford on AC!
700109, Farringdon by Richard Green, on Flickr
387115, Farringdon by Richard Green, on Flickr
319459, St Pancras Intl by Richard Green, on FlickrFood was then sourced from Boots and Waitrose (Meal deal from the former, big bag of Popcorn from the other for 82p, I was VERY hungry!) before heading to Platform 8 and the wonders of dud 180110 (Ive cleared Hull Trains so no surprise) working the 1850 to Beverley which I was to take to Doncaster. A nice table was sourced at the front of Coach E, and I settled in with my large dinner for the fast run north in the company of some Darts fans. It wasnt as comfortable as the 91 Id had down, but it was cheaper than taking the 1930 VTEC all the way through and gave me a bit more space (it was dead after Grantham) for the blitz to Donny. On getting up, the Darts fan who was rather drunk turned to me and said oh youre off here mate? Im a shareholder. Thanks for travelling with us. Were great, arent we? which explained why the staff were so friendly towards his group
I then had a rather long wait at Doncaster so I went off to McDonalds for a cheeseburger to tide me over (every single supermarket was closed, I mean it was 20:45 by now) before coming back to something kicking off on the station. A drunk bloke had decided to grab a womans phone and hurl it onto the tracks, cue BTP and station staff pulling him aside for a merry chat while they worked out how to retrieve it.A quiet run however was had north behind 91127 to Newcastle, arriving 3E at 2236.
Total Winners- 33+26 shacks (Total for trip- 75+48 shacks)
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Wow that was a long day! I didn't think it was going to go well for you to begin with but fair game, you pulled it back!
A monster of a trip to end the year with, and I see someone else from this forum has had 319011 before me now. It's my last 319/0 to get and it never produces for me. Everyone else, but not me
Didn't envy that run at Ewell East that you did, no thanks!
A monster of a trip to end the year with, and I see someone else from this forum has had 319011 before me now. It's my last 319/0 to get and it never produces for me. Everyone else, but not me
Didn't envy that run at Ewell East that you did, no thanks!
You can have that 319, it stalks me! I'm more after 003, 005 and 009.
And aye it was a frustrating start but a productive day that has just about cleared mainline rail lines in zones 1 to 6.
Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk
Kite159
Veteran Member
A very productive day in London 
D841 Roebuck
Established Member
A good, mixed day of the type I like.
Gen re the No.353 bus and the Coulsdon/Smitham walk duly noted for future reference!
And, just to wind Tech up, even I've had a certain unit...
. From the moves spreadsheet:
24/06/2010 319011 Swanley Sevenoaks via Bat & Ball
I hope all.goes well for you in 2017.
Gen re the No.353 bus and the Coulsdon/Smitham walk duly noted for future reference!
And, just to wind Tech up, even I've had a certain unit...
. From the moves spreadsheet:24/06/2010 319011 Swanley Sevenoaks via Bat & Ball
I hope all.goes well for you in 2017.
Glad you enjoyed the read and I hope you have a fruitful 2017 too.A good, mixed day of the type I like.
Gen re the No.353 bus and the Coulsdon/Smitham walk duly noted for future reference!
And, just to wind Tech up, even I've had a certain unit...
24/06/2010319011SwanleySevenoaksvia Bat & Ball
I hope all.goes well for you in 2017.
I should stop teasing him about 011 seeing as I know that needing 315806 to clear my LO 315s is gonna bug me forever!
I'm glad you enjoyed the read and aye it was a tad creepy walking to and from the hotel in that fog in the small hours!
Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk
Keith Jarrett
Member
I'm sure that someone will rename the station in my honour one day! Some of the shacks on the loop are definitely walkable, particularly Wimbledon Chase - South Merton - Morden South - St Me.
Good to know you had a good time down in The Smoke
I've walked to the tram stop nearest to Wimbledon Chase before, and did consider walking straight to Morden South from St Helier but the bus seemed a more favourable option considering my legs were shredded to pieces after three previous walks. In the event however, the bus of course didn't show up so I took the train
Just need Sutton Common, Haydons Road and Tooting now to finish off the loop.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Beware both Haydons Road and Tooting are not islands
Beware both Haydons Road and Tooting are not islands
Thanks for that. I don't believe any of them have tight connections involved though so shouldn't be an issue.
It'll be a while until I get around to it though, and i'm probably going on a hiatus with reports for a little while due to other commitments, so there might be the odd older one (Germany still has a couple of days to do) but nothing new for the moment.
I'm there on the 14th and 15th but not for bashing sadly. Hoping to scoop a couple of required units and an LU shack or two though.
Well i've booked myself a night away in Chester next month, taking advantage of the TPE sale to get me to Manchester. Likely to be a Cheshire Day Ranger one day and a North Wales Rover on the other!
Lots of shacks to get, as well as two very annoying bits of track needed to see me clear North Wales, being Wrexham General to Central and Llandudno Junction to Holyhead, along with me needing piles of 158s and 175s as well as the hopefully operating 67 (I've only had 013, 018 and 022) Heck, maybe i'll scoop both the WAG and the Manchester fake WAG
Also need to make a start on those Borderlands Line shacks...
Lots of shacks to get, as well as two very annoying bits of track needed to see me clear North Wales, being Wrexham General to Central and Llandudno Junction to Holyhead, along with me needing piles of 158s and 175s as well as the hopefully operating 67 (I've only had 013, 018 and 022) Heck, maybe i'll scoop both the WAG and the Manchester fake WAG
Also need to make a start on those Borderlands Line shacks...
Last edited:
So, having sufficiently planned what i'm doing, it looks like a Cheshire Day Ranger on the first day with a potential 67 move involved, getting in the shacks between Rock Ferry and Chester/Ellesmere Port in the morning, followed by Ince and Elton/Stanlow and Thornton, then i'm probably going to do the shacks between Stoke and Crewe before this set of slightly crazy moves:
1J74 2212 Crewe-Wrenbury 2226
1W76 2249 Wrenbury-Nantwich 2253
1J76 2322 Nantwich-Whitchurch 2334
1W78 2344 Whitchurch-Crewe 0005
1D19 0015 Crewe-Chester 0037
Then on the 2nd day, the first Holyhead service isn't until 0645 so I can afford a slight lie in (I slept from something like 0030 to 0430 in London, probably about 0115 to 0545 this time!) before getting in every single shack from Chester to Holyhead with the exception of either Bodorgan, Rhosneigr or Llanfairpwll depending on the plan I go for. It'll be a North Wales Rover so my plan also involves walking from Llandudno Jn to Conwy, getting the bus to Penmaenmawr and train to Llanfairfechan so as to avoid any huge festers.
Then i'll be returning home via a fast Birmingham Intl service as far as Chester, Super Vomiter to Crewe and Pendo to Manchester for TPE delights homeward bound. This was a cost thing because of the VT Only single being £4 cheaper than an any permitted, and had more potential for red penning. There was also the option of a £4.30 advance via Delamere on Northern, but having suffered 142043 from Piccadilly to Chester before, it's a no from me
1J74 2212 Crewe-Wrenbury 2226
1W76 2249 Wrenbury-Nantwich 2253
1J76 2322 Nantwich-Whitchurch 2334
1W78 2344 Whitchurch-Crewe 0005
1D19 0015 Crewe-Chester 0037
Then on the 2nd day, the first Holyhead service isn't until 0645 so I can afford a slight lie in (I slept from something like 0030 to 0430 in London, probably about 0115 to 0545 this time!) before getting in every single shack from Chester to Holyhead with the exception of either Bodorgan, Rhosneigr or Llanfairpwll depending on the plan I go for. It'll be a North Wales Rover so my plan also involves walking from Llandudno Jn to Conwy, getting the bus to Penmaenmawr and train to Llanfairfechan so as to avoid any huge festers.
Then i'll be returning home via a fast Birmingham Intl service as far as Chester, Super Vomiter to Crewe and Pendo to Manchester for TPE delights homeward bound. This was a cost thing because of the VT Only single being £4 cheaper than an any permitted, and had more potential for red penning. There was also the option of a £4.30 advance via Delamere on Northern, but having suffered 142043 from Piccadilly to Chester before, it's a no from me
Last edited:
alexf380
Established Member
Have a great time my friend, all new territory for me so I'll be very envious reading about it
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounds like a plan. Make notes of anything around those more rural 2-hourly request stops when I eventually get round to visiting North Wales (as the only ever time I've been in that area was on fast services which only called at the major stations)
Last edited:
Sounds like a plan. Make notes of anything around those more rural 2-hourly request stops when I eventually get round to visiting North Wales (as the only ever time I've been in that area was on fast services which only called at the major stations)
I do believe that Valley and Ty Croes are road level crossings, Rhosneigr involves going down to the main road and crossing back under a bridge (probably a 3 minute walk or so) and Bodorgan is a barrow crossing. Llanfairpwll is a bog standard bridge.
Llanfairfechan and Penmaenmawr are standard bridges, and Conwy (from Platform 2 to 1) involves going up and over the bridge onto the main road, turning left onto the car park and going onto the platform that way.
Thankfully i'll be walking to Conwy then probably getting the bus to Penmaenmawr
Kite159
Veteran Member
I think my rough plan for Conwy is an easy walk back from Conwy to Llanduando (sp) Junction (LJ) within the hour before the next train. Although that plan will probably change at some point as my idea is to be in the premier inn near LJ to be able to walk to the station early morning to spend the day going up and down the Conwy valley line
Last edited:
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Ooh someone else who's doing shack scoring at silly o'clock! I did that sort of thing in October in Anglia!
Wrenbury is a level crossing at the Shrewsbury, nothing but houses and a local car repair garage around the station. Barriers go down up to 2 minutes before a train comes through, so don't hang around until the last moment!
Nantwich is both a level crossing and footbridge (at the Shrewsbury end) shack. There's a pub next to the Crewe-bound platform, but otherwise there's not likely to be much open. Morrisons and Aldi will be long closed by the time of your visit.
Whitchurch (Shropshire) is a footbridge shack (around halfway down the platform. Town centre is about a 10 minute walk away, but again I would expect the pubs and takeaways to be closed by the time you get there.
So make sure you take food and drink with you!
Wrenbury is a level crossing at the Shrewsbury, nothing but houses and a local car repair garage around the station. Barriers go down up to 2 minutes before a train comes through, so don't hang around until the last moment!
Nantwich is both a level crossing and footbridge (at the Shrewsbury end) shack. There's a pub next to the Crewe-bound platform, but otherwise there's not likely to be much open. Morrisons and Aldi will be long closed by the time of your visit.
Whitchurch (Shropshire) is a footbridge shack (around halfway down the platform. Town centre is about a 10 minute walk away, but again I would expect the pubs and takeaways to be closed by the time you get there.
So make sure you take food and drink with you!
All duly noted, I suspect i'll end up nipping to somewhere in Crewe seeing as i'd have probably had some dinner by that point anyway.
The pub might be a decent option for a swift coke to avoid festering in the dark on my own for half an hour
And Kite, I was actually looking at getting in Glan Conwy as well but will have to reserve a trip all on its own for the Conwy Valley Line as i've only had Betws Y Coed and Blaenau
Last edited:
Kite159
Veteran Member
With only a walk between the two Llanrwst stations, and with a lot of festering time if you start with the 05:30 semi-fast service towards Ffestiniog, you can finish at Llandudno Junction for around 18:34, then you can find a cheaper hotel (as that Premier Inn seems to be variable pricing with Sunday nights being the cheapest).
You could probably finish it earlier if you decided to walk between some shacks, or even try for a bus move.
You could probably finish it earlier if you decided to walk between some shacks, or even try for a bus move.
Well having received gen courtesy of the TOPs request thread, I'm off on a sojourn to Hartlepool to capture my last Grand Central HST, 43484. First actual bashing move of the year really!
Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk
Can confirm this little trip to be a success.
Local toddle- 29/1/17
With my killing my 0930 alarm and eventually waking up at 11, I decided that I didn't really want to waste my day, so I ended up putting in a request to the TOPs thread and seeing if anything required was about. Going down to Durham and back to scoop two Voyagers seemed a bit dull so I asked about the Grand Central working in the evening which just happened to have my last Grand Central HST on it. I saw that as sufficient motivation to get up, get ready and catch Mercedes Citaro 5296 up to Newcastle, collecting a pile of tickets for future journeys before perusing the departure boards seeing as it was only 1345.
I ended up deciding that I should really get a decent card and chocolate based gift for Valentines Day (we don't really do this stuff and our anniversary follows close behind so i'm not about to go full froth on what is a pretty cringe day of the year) so I put £1.70 in the machine for a return to the Metrocentre and also £5.60 for a return to Hartlepool for later on, before finding double duds 142026/142093 working the 1410 to Carlisle, even advertised as 4 coaches. HA! Of course not, they shoved everyone in 093 at the front. It was a cosy 7 minute bounce to the centre of shopping heaven/hell before I had an hour wandering around and returning to dud 156481 working the 1529 back to Newcastle. Unusually I then had a work to the main northbound Platform 2 in order to catch the Middlesbrough service.
Dud 156444 sauntered in and I grabbed a table seat for the 30 mile stagger to Hartlepool, as we got stuck behind a Metro after East Boldon, but we clawed back the loss and arrived into Hartlepool on time at 1645. It was then only a few minutes before the moment of truth, and it was a victory moment as the 1653 to Sunderland arrived with dud 43465 leading winner 43484 back up to Sunderland Batcave, with me taking a seat right by the powercar in declassified Coach A. Arrival was on time at 1721 and it took a while for the train to move, being held up by the Middlesbrough service running late (which completely choked the station as it departed, being double 142s) Eventually my onward steed of double duds 142064/142068 turned up with all 4 coaches being open, so it was a quiet bounce back to Newcastle for 1752, where I sourced a bus to get me home a few quid lighter but with my third lot of HSTs by TOC cleared, leaving GWR and EMT.
Total Mileage- 67mi 38ch
Local toddle- 29/1/17
With my killing my 0930 alarm and eventually waking up at 11, I decided that I didn't really want to waste my day, so I ended up putting in a request to the TOPs thread and seeing if anything required was about. Going down to Durham and back to scoop two Voyagers seemed a bit dull so I asked about the Grand Central working in the evening which just happened to have my last Grand Central HST on it. I saw that as sufficient motivation to get up, get ready and catch Mercedes Citaro 5296 up to Newcastle, collecting a pile of tickets for future journeys before perusing the departure boards seeing as it was only 1345.
I ended up deciding that I should really get a decent card and chocolate based gift for Valentines Day (we don't really do this stuff and our anniversary follows close behind so i'm not about to go full froth on what is a pretty cringe day of the year) so I put £1.70 in the machine for a return to the Metrocentre and also £5.60 for a return to Hartlepool for later on, before finding double duds 142026/142093 working the 1410 to Carlisle, even advertised as 4 coaches. HA! Of course not, they shoved everyone in 093 at the front. It was a cosy 7 minute bounce to the centre of shopping heaven/hell before I had an hour wandering around and returning to dud 156481 working the 1529 back to Newcastle. Unusually I then had a work to the main northbound Platform 2 in order to catch the Middlesbrough service.
Dud 156444 sauntered in and I grabbed a table seat for the 30 mile stagger to Hartlepool, as we got stuck behind a Metro after East Boldon, but we clawed back the loss and arrived into Hartlepool on time at 1645. It was then only a few minutes before the moment of truth, and it was a victory moment as the 1653 to Sunderland arrived with dud 43465 leading winner 43484 back up to Sunderland Batcave, with me taking a seat right by the powercar in declassified Coach A. Arrival was on time at 1721 and it took a while for the train to move, being held up by the Middlesbrough service running late (which completely choked the station as it departed, being double 142s) Eventually my onward steed of double duds 142064/142068 turned up with all 4 coaches being open, so it was a quiet bounce back to Newcastle for 1752, where I sourced a bus to get me home a few quid lighter but with my third lot of HSTs by TOC cleared, leaving GWR and EMT.
Total Mileage- 67mi 38ch
- Status