Wayfarer insanity- 08/11/17
With a remaining RTV needing use, I threw together a quick plan to knock out some Manchester Wayfarer area shacks, before realising it was Northern strike day after i’d booked it
In the end though, I persisted and worked out that in some cases, there was actually a better service for some stations!
Alarm was off at 0510, and I made myself a coffee before walking down for the 0611 to Manchester Airport, this time with
185109 at the helm, and it being well loaded for the run over the dark Hope Valley to Stockport, arrival being at 0654 and seeing me pop down to the ticket office, hand over £2+voucher for the Wayfarer, and go outside for the bus because of course it’s not valid until 0930 on trains! I was meant to catch the 0712 Route 393, and wandered to the Grand Central stop, before having concerns as the bus simply didn’t turn up, and I couldn’t even catch the next one as there wasn’t one! Eventually, at 0726, Optare Solo SR 282 operated by High Peak appeared with a steamed up display appeared and my ticket was accepted without a fuss. The trundle down through the rush hour began, before we hit the main road towards Poynton, and eventually Adlington, where I hopped off and noted that this was actually the only bus of the day to go anywhere near Adlington station!
It was a short walk to shack 1, Adlington (Cheshire) where the first service of the day, formed of
323224 arrived, complete with temporary guard in an orange puffa. Bizarrely, revenue was better than usual as all services came with a dedicated ticket examiner, so I handed over £5.30 for a return from Prestbury to Bramhall (non-railcard fare here, damn minimum fare!) and jumped off at the charming shack 2, Poynton. The temporary guard was clearly very sloppy and not quite used to usual protocol as he locked the doors, shut his cab door, brakes released, then he gets out again and re-releases the doors for a straggler, delaying departure when the next service was 12 minutes behind! I took a seat in the charming waiting room before
323239 rocked up on a quieter relief service, complete with a temporary guard who almost fell into the cab door as she opened it
This was taken along to shack 3, Bramhall, where I had a 30 minute wait in the cold, so I came up with a plan to do something more interesting and cover some good area. It’d involve three consecutive bus moves, but my plan was all set!
323224 returned to take me to shack 4, the poshest Prestbury, where I headed to the Co-Op for breakfast and noted the vast amounts of Mercs constantly trying to knock me over
It was then a return for the Route 19 to Macclesfield, formed of another Optare Solo SR, which is a half hour long trundle down residential streets, though for some reason it makes it halfway down one then does a three point turn! Arrival was at 1002 and I had a 15 minute wait for the next service. Imagine the look on my face TWENTY FIVE minutes later, as 282 reappeared, still late, with the same driver, working Route 58 to Buxton! It was however a thoroughly lovely run through the moors (short but sweet too) with a view of the Peaks before I was dumped at Buxton Market Place for about 1100, just in time for the 1105 Route 199 as far as Dove Holes, this time a pretty shaky ‘04 Reg Wright Eclipse, with the driver snatching my ticket saying ‘what the hell is that?’ before shoving it back. Seems it was his unique brand of customer service.
It was a 5 minute walk (noting the evil platform change) to the platform for
150145/150206 as far as shack 6, Chapel-en-le-Frith. I’d planned a lovely relaxed connection onto the next 199 here, but the bloody station was 15 minutes from the bus stop so that turned into a jog before I ended up waiting 10 minutes anyway for the delayed bus, having my ticket forensically examined again before the stagger to Furness Vale, having to spend 5 minutes at a stand because someone had decided to stand on the A6 cutting down trees. Thankfully I had just enough to get to the platform at shack 7, Furness Vale, and join
150218/150224 to shack 8, Whaley Bridge. Mr Temporary Guard on this service wasn’t exactly my best pal as he proceeded to swing the inner cab door open as I was leaning slightly into the aisle, and I had to dodge getting whacked in the head! I was also trying to work out how to get New Mills Newtown and Hazel Grove in without a massive wait but was stumped so just went outside to source some lunch. That was, until a little white Optare Solo on the 60A to New Mills appeared outta nowhere. That solves that issue!
I had a good few minutes to spare at shack 8, New Mills Newtown, until
156429/156444 rocked up for the run to shack 9, Hazel Grove, with the guard being some random woman in a cardigan. The ticket examiner was also blatantly office staff as her customer service skills were a bit limited
I jumped off at Hazel Grove and walked to the main road, not having long to wait until joining the famous Route 192 to Stockport (Northern had a daft service interval from Hazel, xx08 DMU from Buxton then xx50 EMU all stations), famous for having an endless number of buses an hour and an endless stream of passengers for the 20 minute run back to where i’d started this morning, before I was rewarded with winner
390045 into Piccadilly from Stockport. Next move was a bit weird, as winner
175003 was taken to shack 10, Patricroft, despite there being the usual Northern service off peak! However, some other bloke had seemingly caught on as he alighted with me, though I stayed to join
319448 to Earlestown as a time killer until the 67 hauled service, before
175115 back to Newton-Le-Willows. I now had so long, I ended up strolling back to Earlestown, getting
319362 back to Newton again (the guard being a driver team leader) then
158835 to Earlestown for a third time.
Imagine the screams when
175110 came rumbling around the corner instead of a DVT! I was however somewhat forgiving as the unit was required, leaving just 1 to clear the 175/1s. It was a fast run straight to Piccadilly, where the unit hunt resumed and winner
390148 was taken to Stockport for
175114 back, sadly one digit off my last required 175/1! This was a well calculated filler move until the 1618 to Hadfield, formed of
323226. I had my eye on Dinting and Glossop, and that was looking difficult as the dispatch from the guard was very slow and sloppy meaning that time was lost at every single station, meaning that on arrival at shack 11, Glossop, I had to run. It was a bit of a dodgy walk to do in fading light as it took me down some unlit and muddy tracks, but I survived, and was soon back at shack 12, Dinting, ready to join the 323 back to Manchester for 1741. I had a quick scan of the platforms, and noted winner
390138 on the 1755 to London, so that was duly roped in before a very tight running connection to platform 3 saw me smiling at the sight of winner
175104 coming in, my final 175/1 and leaving 3 to clear the class. On arrival back into Piccadilly, I figured that with the next 390 being dud, I may as well hop on
220016 back to Stockport so I could be in with a better chance of a winner presenting itself.
The next 390 at Stockport was indeed a winner, but it was 11 late, so had I joined it, it would break the connection with anything to Stockport for a good 30 minutes, so I had a cunning plan. Let it go, get the next one (which was a mere 6L), then join this 390 back to Stockport. It worked particularly well as winner
390117 appeared for the run back to Piccadilly where I grabbed a few shots of the new livery winner
390006 before taking it out to Stockport. Sadly, the winning run of 390s halted as it was
390042 taking me back to Manchester where I decided to stop looking at Stockport and nipped downstairs for a tram, winner
3067 obliging to Piccadilly Gardens where I went to Tesco for some evening supplies before
3011 returned me back. I’d now calculated that the 2039 Oxford Road-Notts should be 158785, one of my last EMT 158s, so I hung around and screamed at the sight of
350407 taking me to Oxford Road, as i’ve only had 4 of the blighters but I hit the same ones every single time! The 158 also happened to be late, so I had the chance to eventually stop getting dud TPE 350s as winner
350401 turned up to take me back to Piccadilly. Back to Oxford Road once more, this time on a very long formation of
156427/156483/156487 which promptly failed on arrival at Oxford Road for half an hour and blocked the line
I however was rubbing my hands in anticipation of the 158s coming the other way, and let out a groan as
158812/158866 rolled in instead. Gits. The other diagrams that followed (2137 Liv-Notts and the late night ECS) were 158813 and 158847, so it seems that 785 had been swapped out at Nottingham. With options now thin on the ground (No Northern services at all now), I jumped on fresh dud
390148 to shack 13, Macclesfield, clearing the line from Manchester to Stoke. It was a nice, longer run giving me a chance to eat and put my feet up for half an hour or so before we arrived, and I was rewarded with winner
390151 back to Stockport, dropping back onto the ATW service in hope of a winner but also not as
175006 took me back to Piccadilly.
One final attempt at a Stockport leap was had, and there was success as winner
158832 turned up on the 2236 to Shrewsbury (being a strike special calling at all stations Stockport to Shrewsbury except Cheadle, Handforth, Chelford and Goostrey).
390047 then returned me, having some very shiny internal screens in the vestibule of Coaches B to C and a different type of screen on the outside doors. One last Oxford Road leap produced no luck with
158818 out and
350409 back, so I took a pew for the 10 minute wait on Platform 9 for the 2350 to Sheffield via Crofton and Tinsley.
185112/185140 were in charge tonight, and it was a very sluggish run behind 6E27 all the way from Stalybridge to Wakefield before we roared our way via Rotherham and I scored the track via Tinsley (eventually!) before an arrival time of 0132, 9 minutes late. I was back in my flat for about 0155, and suffice to say, I was a bit tired!
Good day overall, limited by the lack of Northern service but clearing Hadfield, Buxton, Stoke and Chat Moss for shacks isn’t bad going.
Winners- 12+13 shacks
) followed by £3.30 on the 1416 Victoria to Leeds. This gave me eight or so hours to play with, and I hatched a quick plan to knock out some shacks in Greater Manchester, mainly in the western area (I will do Hazel Grove, Hadfield, Dinting and Glossop one day…) before collecting everything up after I got back from an evening bashing in South Yorkshire (not much to write home about, other than the shacks from Sheffield to Kiveton Park along with Thorne North being knocked out, plus 399203) and hoping i’d actually sleep a bit as my flatmates were off on a night out.
