Techniquest's Annual Review 2011

[Techniquest]

Hi all,

Well as hinted in my last trip report (Techniquest's Epic 4 Day Bash, should still be near-ish the top of this section as I type this), here is my annual review of 2011. Obviously December will have to wait until the year's almost over, but in the meantime I can get started on the rest of the year. So how's this going to work? Quite simply, it'll be done by looking through my moves this year and my books/notes from the year, not to mention memory. Obviously I'm going to only focus on railway stuff, there were some non-railway lowlights in 2011 but no airing dirty laundry here! I don't promise to be totally thorough with this, I'm certainly not going to be looking through the news reports from each month for this thread. Purely a personal review of the year. With that out of the way, let's start the first bit (I'll finish this tomorrow probably, not including December obviously, which will probably follow just before New Year's Eve):

January 2011

The year started well, with an absolutely awesome London bash with heart-of-wessex. The first move of the year was on 158958 from Trowbridge to Bath Spa on the first train northwards of the day. It was followed by an HST to Reading to meet with a SimSig pal of ours, before getting another HST to London to start the London bash proper. With loads of new haulages and sightings (the notebook is hiding somewhere, might update this with the figures tomorrow), we both went home extremely satisfied with the start to 2011.

The year got off to a really, really good start though with the next trip. An implusive decision, with less than 12 hours notice, to use my two days off from work that week on a trip to brand new territory for me was made, a hostel booked and everything steadily prepared through the night. I was never going to be able to sleep with the excitement! I left hoping like mad I'd be able to buy my ticket on board the 0604 from Trowbridge to Cardiff, sure enough I was able to get my RailSail return to Belfast from the conductor (as the ticket office was not yet open). The third 158 for the year, 158959, took me to Newport and a tight connection due to random late running saw me do a marathon trip on 175108 all the way to Holyhead, 221 miles and 29 chains! Without going into massive detail, as that's probably all in a trip report somewhere anyway, the following day saw me start the Northern Ireland adventure proper and got loads of mileage, sightings, haulages and station grices before the exhausting walk from Yorkgate to the Stena terminal for the ferry to Stranraer and the trip home. Which I remember getting my last 156 for sight on, as we were looped somewhere after Stranraer! Without a doubt, the Irish bash could be considered Trip of the Year!

January ended on a less happy note, as I went home for a trip to Stamford, as I was going to my godfather's funeral. Plenty of mileage from that trip, on which I got the latest Book 3 Quail. Still not coloured anything in on that yet hock:

Final scores for January in terms of mileage was a rather massive 1,990 miles and 55 chains! For full details of my moves in January 2011, feel free to browse this link: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-jan11/

February 2011

This month got off to a cracking start with my North West bash. Having wanted something worthwhile to do on my 2 days off in that week, I'd been looking at the Rovers and Rangers page on the National Rail website. I eventually settled, after looking at fares and hostels, on Liverpool for the destination and after another excited night, I eventually left with an extremely packed rucksack on 158950 on the first northbound train of the day. Full details of the trip should be in a trip report on here somewhere, so I'll not go into full details, but I must point out that I discovered my favourite 156, 156471, on the last train of day 1 of that excellent bash on a Lancashire Day Ranger. So much track coloured in the Baker and Quail that day! Day 2 of the trip was on a DaySaver coupled with a single to cover a couple of bits I missed the day before, but it was also an excellent bash although slightly marred by the fact I had a phone call on the way home which ended up with me going to work the following day!

After that, things went downhill for me and that's as much as I'm discussing that matter. I ended up moving back to Herefordshire, and for the rest of February the moves were just commuting stuff so not really much to talk about. Final scores from February in terms of mileage (I should point out my planned stats of new haulages and sights will hopefully be added tomorrow) was a less awesome but still excellent 1,462 miles and 36 chains. Full list of moves available at: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-feb11/

March 2011

An absolutely pathetic month, again I'm not discussing it. All mileage was commuting and on just one day, annoyingly the same day people were doing c2c's Blue Train or Pathfinder's tour to Anglia. Mileage was a sucky 198 miles and 78 chains Full details available at: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-mar11/

Let's move swiftly on...

April 2011

Ah yes, a much better month. Well over a month between one bash and another there, but at least it started well with a trip to Stourbridge for my first ever PPM bash on 139002. 8 days later, I did a Daytripper bash and got loads of station gricing and mileage in. The month ended brilliantly with my first trip on the Vale of Rheidol with No 9 Prince of Wales. Stunningly scenic, but I can't get so excited over narrow guage stuff to be honest. Mileage figures ended up as 329 miles and 57 chains, much better than March but due to a series of farces at work I still couldn't afford to do much :-x. Full details then at: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-apr11/

May 2011

Well, May was a whole junkpile! I'd forgotten just how poor it had been until I looked up the month on RailMiles! Even December, with virtually nothing planned, shall be better than this! I'd gone to Stourbridge Junction to try and get 139001, sadly it wasn't to be so I came straight back. Evidently the farces at work were still ongoing, as I doubt my monthly mileage would have been this low otherwise! Mileage was a shocking 103 miles and 52 chains hock:, and full details at: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-may11/

Moving on faster than the APT...

June 2011

Yes, a much better month which must have been towards the end of the farces at work. Two Daytripper bashes and a West Midlands Day Ranger, although I've since lost my moves book that I was using and annoyingly I've no back up of my Midland Metro moves. So no gen whatsoever on what tram I had when, from where to where or anything. Well harsh, my 2011 mileage figure will therefore never be 100% correct :cry: Some very good times had on this trip with quite a lot of new haulages, some awesome sightings (the light engine 20s at Crewe on the WMDR for one) including my first sightings of 379s at Atherstone on 20th June and plenty of station grices. Mileage for the month was a far superior (to March, April and May at least!) 711 miles and 35 chains. Full details at: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-jun11/

July 2011

A reasonable month, but not very busy somehow. Not sure what happened there now, but a WMDR kicked off July for me on 11th July, which saw me finish off the stations on the Cross City line as well as scooping plenty of stations in general and a lot of new haulages. A week later saw me do a little spin to Droitwich Spa that got me 150124 for haulage finally (the amount of times I'd found it mentioned as a sighting in my notes from other trips was immense, so glad to get it in!), don't know why I didn't do any other trips that month. Mileage was fairly low as a result, at 372 miles and 23 chains. Full details at: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-Jul11/

August to November 2011 will follow later on, and as mentioned already December will follow sometime after Christmas. Comments thus far will be welcomed, although I've other stats I need to add like the amount of new haulages and all that per month, where I can find the gen. Hope it's been an interesting read to some extent so far, any useful tips for making it more interesting will be welcomed.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

139001 is usually out every other week. It's it's service week this week (hoping for no failures!)

 

[Techniquest]

I've got it since on another WMDR bash, some months ago now. Not in a rush to do the branch again! Got loads to do tonight now, been busy all day shopping so unlikely to have much time tonight to continue this review yet. Maybe later, if not it'll be on Sunday.

Slightly later than planned this part is, I got busy with other stuff yesterday and I didn't have the energy/patience for it after work last week. So then, August to November is finally coming and as far as I can tell my figures are accurate now. Finally added via International Journeys the Dhu Varren station grice from January and mileage for the recent-ish PLEG events at Weardale and Shildon. So then, without further ado:

August 2011

Of course, this was my best month of the year thanks to finally doing an All Line Rover after about 6 years of planning them but never succedding in my plan to do one. I recall telling someone in August 2010 I was definitely doing one in 2011, then in January this year it looked unlikely when Pathfinder unveiled some really good tours, but I stuck to it and finally got the trip done. I had been concerned that I'd not enjoy it too much, what with getting tired on epic scales with my plans for the week, but as my trip report on here (http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=50325) will confirm, with a few exceptions through not having proper sleep for most of the week, I had a thoroughly good time and can't wait to do another one. Indeed, just spent a while reviewing some of the report and the week's review summed up things well:

ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT! I’m beyond glad I did this now, I’ve done so much and seen so much it’s unreal. Yes we had a farce yesterday, and if I’d had not had that good night’s sleep I doubt I’d be this happy now. I must have looked odd at Birmingham with that big grin on my face as I wrote this up! Considering I’ve got over 8 hours at work tomorrow, I’m really bouncy. In short, I’ve loved this week and I’d start another one tomorrow if I could! So, a score for the week? 9/10, and I’d highly recommend an ALR to anyone.

Surprisingly, I didn't do any other bashing according to RailMiles afterwards in August, which sounds wrong somehow. Must have been when I was working some ridiculous hours at work. Could have sworn I did the Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway at the end of August. Shall get the diary out later and double-check, so the following link probably isn't totally accurate but contains details of everything I did in August, with mileage being a whopping 5,151 miles and 46 chains!: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-Aug11/

September 2011

A quick look at the full details for September, viewable via this link (http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-Sep11/ - yes I've moved it to the top of this section, fancied a change!) reveals September was a massively awesome month for mileage and action! Took a while to begin the month properly, but it was done well with my first multi-day trip since my ALR - indeed my first trip on a 'proper' train since then - on a bash to the Isle of Wight for the first time. It had been on my list of things to do for an awfully long time, and I finally found a couple of days to fit it in. My first trip on 38 stock was more enjoyable than I had expected, full details for that trip being in my trip report in the relevant section of the forum. Only a few days later I was on a West Midlands Day Tripper before another Travelodge stay was had in Crewe before Pathfinder's Buffer Puffer 9.0, which although it was my only tour of the year I'm marking it up as a potential candidate for Tour of 2011. Details of all trips during the relevant three days are available in trip reports going by names of 'Techniquest's Tour of the Year' and 'Pre and Post Buffer Puffer 9.0'.

A week after returning from an excellent weekend of bashing, I was off again! This time it was on a family holiday at Craig Tara, Ayrshire. The northbound journey didn't start brilliantly, but by the time we were red-penning 390015 (well, my sister's been on Virgin loads so she's probably had it before, but she wouldn't care anyway! ) things were good. I endured my first Premier Inn stay, can't say I rated it well at all. Indeed, since then I've only done two other Premier Inns and the Darlington one was the best of the lot. The next day it was off to Ayr and I did a bit of bashing during the day including some station grices at Irvine and Barassie. The same week also saw me do a Glasgow Roundabout, which involved loads of new haulages, a fair bit of mileage, a lot of required station grices, loads for the Quail and involved getting my last bit of ScotRail track (southbound bore through Dalmuir Tunnels), not including stuff in the Quail mind! I also went to Edinburgh and to the Isle of Arran with my Mum, as she'd never been to Scotland so we did a load of tourist-y things. Not as many as had been hoped, but there wasn't enough time. Red-pen action was had plenty of times during the whole trip, and the southbound trip started off badly too, by the time we got to Preston it was better though. 390047 was finally bagged all the way from Glasgow to Crewe, felt like forever! Got almost all the 380s for sight now, the only one left being 380107. I shall of course be spending some time looking for it in 2012, not to mention red-penning more 380s!

October 2011

October started well for noise and heritage loco action in the form of the Severn Valley Railway diesel gala. I remember getting lost in Wolverhampton trying to find the Premier Inn on the first evening and swearing out loud how much I hated Wolverhampton! I also noted without realising it 390054 for sight that night when I randomly woke up and saw it arriving from somewhere. I got my first 172s for haulage during the two days, didn't enjoy them at all. Star of the show with regards to the diesel gala was 40106, followed closely by the random-looking 14 and Warship combo. I still reckon 40106 was louder than 40145, but it's been a long time since I was behind 40145 so I could be suffering a memory failure. Need more RAM!

As I write this, I'd forgotten to add via International Journeys on RM the Pontypool and Blaenavon Railway diesel gala moves. Bear with me...Phew, that's done and I didn't realise how many miles I didn't have logged! Mileage figures may not be totally accurate, but they're taken from sources that can be traced at least. Anyway, where were we...Ah yes, the rather rateable gala on a railway that deserves more attention than it gets. If it hadn't been for some 37 action on the gala, I probably wouldn't have made a last minute request for a lift to/from Hereford to get to the gala. Rather glad I made the effort though, and effort it was what with lengthy waits for the train in Hereford that morning (16th October, no trip report for this bash), an hour and a bit waiting in Cwmbran to get the bus to Blaenavon, getting off the rather boring Solo ride a stop too early and missing out on some miles meaning a lengthy wait in Blaenavon but with a nice scenic shot in the bag. It was all made worthwhile once we got going up the bank with 37216, super rateable and a lovely bit of noise I hadn't heard for a while. Fortunately, 37219 was later taken off the driver for a fiver and shoved on the back of the train for a double-headed run up the bank later on, which I was glad of otherwise I'd have missed out on it, what with it having been the 37 I missed earlier that day. I've got to go back one day for 37421 and 31203 anyway, but hey. I was most disappointed to have to leave when I did, but the few hours I spent bashing were really enjoyable! Fortunately it was a low-floor ALX400-style Dart (Stagecoach's 34056 for those curious and able to fill me in on what it was) and not a Solo coming back, quite a nice bit of noise up that hill out of Blaenavon!

A week later, I was out and about again, this time for 33035's debut weekend on the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway. Having never been, this was as good an excuse as any to get up there. Even scooped a winner 158, 158774, on the leaps to/from Derby. I have to admit to not being over impressed with the 33, but to be fair when you've sampled the delights of 37s growling up monster gradients just the week before, that could be expected. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it was boring, just I prefer EE stuff. The EVR's website warned of a monster gradient on the short branch to Ravenstor (damn it, forgot to enter that one, back again shortly...Done but not left the forum to do it this time. Hopefully that's all of it now!), so it was worth a go after getting a coffee. Sure enough, I jumped on 50170 (I think it had an 'E' prefix, not sure now), forgetting the number of the other DMU vehicle in the set, and I was treated to an excellent amount of noise as we went up the hill. Worth doing on anything that branch! I had discovered in the latest Baker (edition 12) the Steeple Grange Light Railway and as it was pretty close to the EVR's station at Ravenstor I decided to give it a go. Lots of uphill walking exhausted me somewhat, but I got there and paid the measley sum of £3. As it turned out, it was super value for money as ZM32 on the Killers Branch was quite rateable. We were treated to some history of the line, on the old trackbed of a standard guage railway, and what was going on in the future with it. I'm definitely going back when the line's extended, possibly before. I also did the Quarry Branch whilst I was there, and whilst No 11 was nowhere near as rateable as ZM32 to my ears, I learned a lot of history whilst at the end of the line here too. I'd highly recommended making a visit to the railway, it deserves far more attention than it gets.
Back at Ravenstor, I got 33035 back down the hill and got the trio of DMU vehicles, all from different classes, back to Duffield and started reading a cheap copy of The Railway Magazine I hadn't got. 158774 took me back to Derby and I hoped for a Voyager free trip back to Birmingham, which I got in the form of an XC HST to my surprise. With mega tons of time to fill before the train back to Hereford, I red penned a couple of 172s before getting a 170 home. Full details of everything I did in October now available at: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-Oct11/, with mileage being a surprising 643 miles and 64 chains

Right then, after a short break to do a chore, here's November. December will, as mentioned a while ago, near the end of the year as I've got nothing to add for that yet, other than to say that, despite it being the 12th of December I've yet to step on a train this month! On with the show...

November 2011

November was kicked off well with my first ever London Midland Great Escape bash, and it was a gloriously sunny and warm day for November! I also had a fair few new haulages, sights and station grices during the bash, as well as my first trip on the Marston Vale. I had another day off a week later, and decided not to waste it staying at home and make the most of the last few days of my last ever Y-P. So I went on some more required track bashing, with a trip to Aylesbury Vale Parkway to do Aylesbury to Aylesbury Vale Parkway at last as well as Princes Risborough to Aylesbury. Getting 121034 in the book was also most required, and that turned out to be the big highlight of the day with a super rateable performance. Trip reports for both bashes available on the forum.

Just a few days later I set out on another multi-day bash, as I had some free FCC tickets so decided to get Kings Lynn finally done. I also did a few bits in London that I needed, the plan having changed due to signalling and cable theft farces, the day ending in style on 1K39 with required 90046 in First Class all the way to Wolverhampton, for less than Standard would have cost! Sampled the lager on offer, Cusquena, and loved it. Even managed three bottles of that before Birmingham, the drinks not starting until Wolverton! The day after was the excellent LM Class 150 Farewell, good for company and noise during the day, both days of bashing have trip reports on here.

A week later I was off again after work on a bash to the North East via a TPX overnight. I doubt that would have gone so well if I hadn't had the company of heart-of-wessex though! The overnight coach was dead boring and sleep was not as forthcoming as we hoped sadly, which put a downer on the trip, but the first PLEG event of the day was most enjoyable. The second and main part, not quite so enjoyable but was better after I'd dossed out on the way north. More new haulages and sights were had amongst the micro-gricing and new track for the Baker in the form of the Weardale Railway. The most decent night I've had in a Premier Inn was had after a rather quiet 156 back to Darlington and a taxi move, with the trip home the next day fortunately avoiding a Voyager and involved some new haulage with 185102 and getting plenty of mileage too. A trip report is available for further details.

Instead of a bash with 37s on the 26th, thanks to the tour being cancelled (yes I'm still annoyed!), I did a Chiltern bash with loads of new haulages and station grices before another FCC bash to get the last bit of FCC track I needed, the Welwyn Garden City flyover. The amount of 165s I got on this trip was unreal, looking forward to getting some more of them in soon. The following day saw me finally get the track from Wichnor Junction to Lichfield Trent Valley done, Goodness knows how long it took me to get that in! I also got to enjoy some more Starship action for the first time in ages, which made me most chuffed! Day 4 of the trip saw me do a Cheshire Day Ranger, after a stay in Newcastle-under-Lyme, my 10th Travelodge stay. Without going into massive detail here, as it's all in my trip report, it was an excellent day full of new sights including my last 142, new track for both the Quail and Baker, plenty of new haulages and finishing the Merseyrail network at last! The last big bash of 2011 over, I went home very happy with the trip and the year as a whole. Just a few little bits left to do now, although I still don't know what or when I'll do anything this month due to being rather skint.

Full details for November available at: http://techniquest.railmiles.org/month-Nov11/ and mileage for November was a staggeringly awesome 2,703 miles and 41 chains!

December will be up soon. In the meantime, hopefully this has been an interesting read.

 

[anthony263]

Sounds like you had a good year

 

[Techniquest]

With exception to early February until May, then yes I did, t'was a very good year. Hopefully 2012 will be as good if not better, although I'm working New Year's Day so it won't start as well as I had hoped!

 

[Platform 1]

Sounds good.

I did my first ALR this year too. 7 days FC in July.

The two things I would say are the FC is well worth it and 7 days are enough!

I couldn't believe the number of tight changes we (my father and I) had to make - 30s at Sheffield, and lots of running across London. We even made the EMT platforms at STP to PAD in 15 mins - we just got on the first HST we saw.

Another good thing about the FC ALR though is that we got to travel in FC on services where we wouldn't normally think of bothering - other passengers look at you as if your mad.

I would almost say It's more enjoyable to have done than to do though but this was probably due to getting the 0555 from CPM to PAD on four of the days retuning at at least 11 each night too - I live in Warminster though!! hock::eek:

I've spent the rest of the year addicted to EC first last and seem to have been going up the ECML every other weekend.

Good luck with planning your next one and hope you have some better months next year.

 

[Techniquest]

Sounds good.

I did my first ALR this year too. 7 days FC in July.

The two things I would say are the FC is well worth it and 7 days are enough!

Very nice, must be fun being able to avoid the crowds and travel in First! 7 days were enough for you? I needed a lot more than 7 days on my ALR, I was shocked how fast the week went, indeed I noticed I was quite happy with the ALR straight away when I re-read my paper report for my ALR, by Bristol Parkway on train 2 of the trip I see I'd already decided to do another ALR in 2012! hock:

I couldn't believe the number of tight changes we (my father and I) had to make - 30s at Sheffield, and lots of running across London. We even made the EMT platforms at STP to PAD in 15 mins - we just got on the first HST we saw.

Such connections at Sheffield, that's crazy and I cannot imagine making such a connection in double that time myself! 15 minutes to do the EMT platforms to Paddington is insanely fast, it takes me about 3 times that long by foot but that was also with a fair amount of weight in my bags.

I would almost say It's more enjoyable to have done than to do though but this was probably due to getting the 0555 from CPM to PAD on four of the days retuning at at least 11 each night too - I live in Warminster though!! hock::eek:

I've spent the rest of the year addicted to EC first last and seem to have been going up the ECML every other weekend.

Good luck with planning your next one and hope you have some better months next year.

I guess your Dad or yourself drove at some silly hours from Warminster to Chippenham and vice-versa then. That's quite some dedication! If it were me, I'd be booking Travelodges or similar to avoid the need for such long drives at silly o'clock.

Planning is still at the stage of choosing the dates when I reckon it'll be quiet at work and not having everyone want to book their summer holidays. As for some better months, I hope so too. If I'd had some better luck with those poor months of mine this year, my annual mileage total would be a lot higher! Indeed, this month I've still not been away on the rails and I'm getting a bit desperate for mileage!

 

[Techniquest]

Finally then, as promised the final part of my 2011 annual review is here. Last day off this year and I can't wait for things to go back to normal! Without further ado:

December 2011

I was skint for most of the month, but I had two days off in a row roughly in the middle of the month and was the only opportunity for some bashing. So I made a very late decision on 19th December and booked a Travelodge using a very handy £15 off discount code I'd got from Travelodge a while ago. Full details will be in the trip report, which ideally I should have done before this but I decided to use up my last free FCC tickets for a bit of a monster bash. The plan went rather out of the window after I got to London, as can be seen in the trip report, but it was still a pretty good day. The next day, after what was probably the comfiest bed I've ever slept in, I left for some more bashing in London before heading back home and finishing the year with some unexpected red pen action.

And don't ask about Bah Humbug Day, all I'm saying there is that I was glad to be working on Winter Sales Froth Day. As I write this on 27th December, I can't wait for the year to end so I can get started with 2012 which promises to be pretty good. I've settled on getting through all the stuff involved with getting my driving license in 2012, if only to prove ultra useful for work. Now to get cracking with the trip report and to wish forum members a great New Year, here's to some excellent bashes!