Techniquest
Veteran Member
Ahhh fudge it, with little else to do tonight (sleep, watching rubbish on TV and updating my spending/commuting logs don't appeal right now) I may as well type up my WMDR trip report! Armed with a can of Bulmers Original, I bring you my latest bash's excitement:
29th October 2012 - West Midlands Day Ranger, Mission Accomplished
Had a fail this morning when I missed my alarm at 0630. I wake up an hour later and cursed myself somewhat! I consider flagging any bash, but after 10 minutes of consultation between my brain and my heart, I got up to check times and have some breakfast. Turns out I can still have either 4.5 hours in Liverpool or 5 hours in Manchester, depending on which one I fancy doing when I get to the station. That'll do fine I tell myself, adding a mental Post-It to that thought that if I did a WMDR I'd have around 7 hours now in the Midlands. After making some ham rolls for lunch, I eventually leave the house. I get most of the way to the bus stop and realise I've left the rather high value (£50) Rail Travel Voucher at home which would have paid for the bashing in the North West. D'oh! Without enough time to go home and retrieve it, I settle with the WMDR idea. YJ58 CFG turns up for the 0850 bus to Hereford, which is a bonus for me as I need lots of mileage off this Optare Tempo still to clear it. I talk to a colleague from work for the entire journey, and after arrival I head for an ATM.
It dawns on me that I left my ham rolls at home. Double D'oh! Some bottles of flavoured water are sourced from Morrisons, and my WMDR is also got for £21.60 when I get around to the station. It's coffee time again, and a large americano is now £1.92 with Bite Card discount. I finally get onto Facebook for the first time all day (it's well gone 1000 by now), as is RailMiles with my first bash for 22 days. So what's kicked the day's mileage off? Since you ask so nicely, it's 170630 on the 1040 to Birmingham New Street, which left 1 minute early. Dang I'd forgotten how boring this journey is! Still, today's mundane is tomorrow's nostalgia! The amount of times, for example, I did Hereford to Newport and vice-versa on 158s a lot before 175s became the norm. I had got bored of it always being 158s on such journeys, now it's not the norm it's far more interesting. Or for another example, Swansea to Cardiff/Newport. I did it soooooo many times when I lived down in Swansea (7 years ago now, shocking) even doing so on a 'proper' HST. Now, several years later, I'd love to be there at the droplight listening to the now-classic sound of a Valenta-ised HST with Marston coolers and NA-256 turbos
As the saying goes "All we have are memories".
Anyway, enough tripping down Memory Lane, I'll need kneepads at this rate
No 150 on the booked diagram which we cross at Ledbury. I finally finish totting up the EMUs I still need to red pen, not including 390s. A massive 1,311 out of 1,958! That number will of course change when the 390/1s are finally finished and when the 458/5s start running. Even so, that's a LOT to do. We finally get to Stoke Works Junction (I've always wondered why it's called that) and to the mainline again. I see an MPV at Kings Norton, noteable as I have only just discoverable them in my NREA. More to see! Arrival at New Street is at 1206, 5 minutes early and it's straight off to Moor Street. 172219+172215 join forces and I red pen 172215 on the 1218 to Stourbridge Junction (no idea where it came from) on the leap to Snow Hill to pick up the Stratford-upon-Avon train from there.
172334 is on the 1227 to Stratford-upon-Avon which is another winner, two in one day so far! Finally going to get my last Shakespeare Line shack that I need at Danzey, about time I got it done! A London Midland survey was handed out on board, which I quite happily filled in with nothing negative to report. A bit later I do have a complaint though, and that's there's only one lavatory on board this 3-car train and it's out of service! Not amused...We arrive at 1300 and I see there really is nothing nearby, bar 2 or 3 houses. Surprising this place gets an hourly service, albeit a request stop only. Books are updated and I'm bored off my derriere here. My stomach's getting more than a bit angry with me now too, it being over 5 hours since a light breakfast but I will have to wait until I get back to New Street for food. After 44 minutes at Danzey, I leave North Warwickshire behind and head for civilisation aboard 172334.
What to do next though? Lots of red penning opportunities around, but I'll decide after I get food. I end up at Burger King at New Street for a medium size [you're as shocked as me on that one! - Ed] Rodeo BBQ Beef meal for £4.79 with Bite Card discount. Well worth every penny that was too! 350259 is a winner on the 1436 to Liverpool Lime Street, and I decide to bail at Wolverhampton. I redeem my full Pumpkin card for a free medium americano whilst I wait for the 1537 to Glasgow Central, which should have been a pair of 221s as that was what the inbound working was. Will I get a winner at all? Will my luck finally change? I chicken out and jump on board a very full 170510 on the 1525 all-shacks to Shrewsbury so as to scoop Bilbrook. We leave 10 late, and I note 221105 parked up on a siding west of the station randomly. 390134 is noted on Oxley, a winner sight. On arrival, it means I've finally cleared Gobowen to Bletchley for shacks, taken a long time to get there! 158836+822 are filmed on my phone passing on the 1509 Birmingham International to Holyhead. There's a long fester here for the next train, but at least I'll need never to piddle about with the all-shacks 170s on this line again!
Codsall is only a three-quarter mile walk away, but in case I get lost I flag it. Bet those 221s earlier would have been dud...Still 30 minutes here as I write, grr! Time for some tunes, the first of them since turning off my MP3 player as we neared New Street at lunchtime! Also time to update the books, which was followed by the unexpected sight of MPV DR98959+98909 (winner!) heading west on a water jetting train. First time I've ever seen that, let alone capture it on my phone/other device! Didn't even realise it was RHTT season again, that's flown by since 2011's season! 170503+170501 have joined forces today with the 1629 from here to Birmingham New Street, which I join only to Wolverhampton. Sooooo glad I didn't do a Great Escape today to do the shacks between Bletchley and Watford Junction after all, as I receive a text to tell me a fatality at Apsley has screwed up the WCML somewhat royally! Not doing leaps that side of Birmingham then...
Getting rather dark for half 4 in the afternoon, gonna have to get used to that until March
Oh FFS, just because I was expecting a 221 on the 1620 Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh, it was dud 390005. Would have appreciated it if I had been booked on it mind. Still, I should wait for a winner but an alternative is possible. A check, double check and triple check is made and yes, despite it's only a +10 at New Street on the way back I'm off. 323212 is my first 323 in quite some time on the 1649 to Walsall via Birmingham New Street. So you're wondering what I needed to check numerous times aren't you? Well I'm glad you asked, although I'd have mentioned it anyway [I have a feeling this sort of humour won't make a regular appearance - Ed]! It's all in the name of getting my last shack in the WMDR area that I need and avoiding the annoying off-peak ticket restriction in Birmingham. Worth pointing out that Bordesley and Polesworth are still required, but Polesworth has only one train northbound weekdays only and Bordesley is pretty much only served when Birmingham City play at home on Saturdays. No good to me that, so will require a special trip and a day off work (seriously, as I wouldn't be able to do it otherwise with my shift start time and distance to travel to/from Bordesley). If this has confused you, my apologies I've tried to make it clear! This move also gives me some decent 323 miles and the first time I've done Wolvo to Walsall throughout.
I'm getting rather hungry again now, and with only a +10 at New Street on the way home I'll need to do a food move with the +18 at Walsall. Doubt very much there will be much I can get during the wait at my destination of choice. So what shack did I end up leaving until last? Bloxwich North of all places. Eventually we arrive at Walsall at 1746, 2 minutes late and 57 minutes after leaving Wolverhampton. A cash move is made before dashing into McDonalds for my usual meal. I have to wait for fries and the burger to be cooked, which was leaving me pushed for time so I put my best foot forward when I head back to the station. Fortunately the train's a couple of minutes late anyway, and the meal is seriously nom nom nom!
170506+170504 are provided on the 1742 Birmingham New Street to Rugeley Trent Valley, both winning haulage for 2012. Just 170509 to get for yearly haulage out of the LM 170s now, nicely done even if I say so myself. We leave 3 minutes late and arrive with the same delay, nice and busy station after the train had disgorged passengers for Bloxwich North. No wonder we needed 4 coaches! Some tunes are on after a short time into the 25 minute wait, partly to celebrate Mission Accomplished. In this case, it's not the name of a 390, but instead a celebratory term for having finished all of the visitable stations in the West Midlands Day Ranger area Future trips can now focus much more on motive power! Granted this trip was originally supposed to get a lot of red lines in, but at least I've done what's taken many WMDRs to do! 3 red lines will do today, I daresay I had more luck up here than I would have done in Cardiff looking for my last 3 ATW 150s! 170633 soon turns up to take me back to New Street with the 1836 from Bloxwich North, a nice bit of top-up mileage on it at least.
A hold up at Soho South Junction is not welcome, but we're here for a few minutes until soon after an ECS 390 heads east. We arrive 2 minutes late at 1911 and it's a bit of a rush from platform 2a to platform 10b. No DBT (Dog Box Thrash for the uninitiated) tonight, just 2-car 170505 and it's rather packed as a result on my usual train home from a WMDR, the 1919 Birmingham New Street to Hereford. Must admit I'd hoped for 170509 so I could add an 'H' next to the 'Y' (Haulage for the year and Sight for the year before you ask) in my NREA! Mileage move on this one, maybe one day I'll clear a 170 for the magical thou one day! Seems likely 170630 will be first, as it's on 466 miles already. Still going to take a long time mind, I don't really fancy spending a day just doing 170s yet! The 2003 from Shrub Hill to Paddington is rather late tonight, which holds us up significantly while we wait for it to come off the single line. 180106 is on it, the first 180 I've seen in use for FGW in some years and it's nicely dud from some many moons ago. I despise and welcome their return in almost-equal measures, as it means I might finally get my last two, 102 and 108, and clear the class after over 9 years since my first travels on the class!
Tonight's journey seems to be taking allllllll night! We don't get to Ledbury until 2045, definitely not going to be early into t'Ford tonight! After a 2 minute stop which felt like centuries, we leave and speed seems to pick up. On a journey with lots of padding in it, especially at the Hereford end, we could be late. There's only a +13 between the train and last bus home as it is, and the bus is known to leave early on a regular basis. We finally arrive on time at 2102 on my watch, but the station has it as 2103. I walk over to the bus station to meet another colleague briefly before getting my bus home and Y877 PWT does the honours tonight. Overall, it was an excellent day out despite the late start and lengthy festers. A day that was over far too quickly!
29th October 2012 - West Midlands Day Ranger, Mission Accomplished
Had a fail this morning when I missed my alarm at 0630. I wake up an hour later and cursed myself somewhat! I consider flagging any bash, but after 10 minutes of consultation between my brain and my heart, I got up to check times and have some breakfast. Turns out I can still have either 4.5 hours in Liverpool or 5 hours in Manchester, depending on which one I fancy doing when I get to the station. That'll do fine I tell myself, adding a mental Post-It to that thought that if I did a WMDR I'd have around 7 hours now in the Midlands. After making some ham rolls for lunch, I eventually leave the house. I get most of the way to the bus stop and realise I've left the rather high value (£50) Rail Travel Voucher at home which would have paid for the bashing in the North West. D'oh! Without enough time to go home and retrieve it, I settle with the WMDR idea. YJ58 CFG turns up for the 0850 bus to Hereford, which is a bonus for me as I need lots of mileage off this Optare Tempo still to clear it. I talk to a colleague from work for the entire journey, and after arrival I head for an ATM.
It dawns on me that I left my ham rolls at home. Double D'oh! Some bottles of flavoured water are sourced from Morrisons, and my WMDR is also got for £21.60 when I get around to the station. It's coffee time again, and a large americano is now £1.92 with Bite Card discount. I finally get onto Facebook for the first time all day (it's well gone 1000 by now), as is RailMiles with my first bash for 22 days. So what's kicked the day's mileage off? Since you ask so nicely, it's 170630 on the 1040 to Birmingham New Street, which left 1 minute early. Dang I'd forgotten how boring this journey is! Still, today's mundane is tomorrow's nostalgia! The amount of times, for example, I did Hereford to Newport and vice-versa on 158s a lot before 175s became the norm. I had got bored of it always being 158s on such journeys, now it's not the norm it's far more interesting. Or for another example, Swansea to Cardiff/Newport. I did it soooooo many times when I lived down in Swansea (7 years ago now, shocking) even doing so on a 'proper' HST. Now, several years later, I'd love to be there at the droplight listening to the now-classic sound of a Valenta-ised HST with Marston coolers and NA-256 turbos
As the saying goes "All we have are memories".Anyway, enough tripping down Memory Lane, I'll need kneepads at this rate
No 150 on the booked diagram which we cross at Ledbury. I finally finish totting up the EMUs I still need to red pen, not including 390s. A massive 1,311 out of 1,958! That number will of course change when the 390/1s are finally finished and when the 458/5s start running. Even so, that's a LOT to do. We finally get to Stoke Works Junction (I've always wondered why it's called that) and to the mainline again. I see an MPV at Kings Norton, noteable as I have only just discoverable them in my NREA. More to see! Arrival at New Street is at 1206, 5 minutes early and it's straight off to Moor Street. 172219+172215 join forces and I red pen 172215 on the 1218 to Stourbridge Junction (no idea where it came from) on the leap to Snow Hill to pick up the Stratford-upon-Avon train from there.172334 is on the 1227 to Stratford-upon-Avon which is another winner, two in one day so far! Finally going to get my last Shakespeare Line shack that I need at Danzey, about time I got it done! A London Midland survey was handed out on board, which I quite happily filled in with nothing negative to report. A bit later I do have a complaint though, and that's there's only one lavatory on board this 3-car train and it's out of service! Not amused...We arrive at 1300 and I see there really is nothing nearby, bar 2 or 3 houses. Surprising this place gets an hourly service, albeit a request stop only. Books are updated and I'm bored off my derriere here. My stomach's getting more than a bit angry with me now too, it being over 5 hours since a light breakfast but I will have to wait until I get back to New Street for food. After 44 minutes at Danzey, I leave North Warwickshire behind and head for civilisation aboard 172334.
What to do next though? Lots of red penning opportunities around, but I'll decide after I get food. I end up at Burger King at New Street for a medium size [you're as shocked as me on that one! - Ed] Rodeo BBQ Beef meal for £4.79 with Bite Card discount. Well worth every penny that was too! 350259 is a winner on the 1436 to Liverpool Lime Street, and I decide to bail at Wolverhampton. I redeem my full Pumpkin card for a free medium americano whilst I wait for the 1537 to Glasgow Central, which should have been a pair of 221s as that was what the inbound working was. Will I get a winner at all? Will my luck finally change? I chicken out and jump on board a very full 170510 on the 1525 all-shacks to Shrewsbury so as to scoop Bilbrook. We leave 10 late, and I note 221105 parked up on a siding west of the station randomly. 390134 is noted on Oxley, a winner sight. On arrival, it means I've finally cleared Gobowen to Bletchley for shacks, taken a long time to get there! 158836+822 are filmed on my phone passing on the 1509 Birmingham International to Holyhead. There's a long fester here for the next train, but at least I'll need never to piddle about with the all-shacks 170s on this line again!
Codsall is only a three-quarter mile walk away, but in case I get lost I flag it. Bet those 221s earlier would have been dud...Still 30 minutes here as I write, grr! Time for some tunes, the first of them since turning off my MP3 player as we neared New Street at lunchtime! Also time to update the books, which was followed by the unexpected sight of MPV DR98959+98909 (winner!) heading west on a water jetting train. First time I've ever seen that, let alone capture it on my phone/other device! Didn't even realise it was RHTT season again, that's flown by since 2011's season! 170503+170501 have joined forces today with the 1629 from here to Birmingham New Street, which I join only to Wolverhampton. Sooooo glad I didn't do a Great Escape today to do the shacks between Bletchley and Watford Junction after all, as I receive a text to tell me a fatality at Apsley has screwed up the WCML somewhat royally! Not doing leaps that side of Birmingham then...
Getting rather dark for half 4 in the afternoon, gonna have to get used to that until March
Oh FFS, just because I was expecting a 221 on the 1620 Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh, it was dud 390005. Would have appreciated it if I had been booked on it mind. Still, I should wait for a winner but an alternative is possible. A check, double check and triple check is made and yes, despite it's only a +10 at New Street on the way back I'm off. 323212 is my first 323 in quite some time on the 1649 to Walsall via Birmingham New Street. So you're wondering what I needed to check numerous times aren't you? Well I'm glad you asked, although I'd have mentioned it anyway [I have a feeling this sort of humour won't make a regular appearance - Ed]! It's all in the name of getting my last shack in the WMDR area that I need and avoiding the annoying off-peak ticket restriction in Birmingham. Worth pointing out that Bordesley and Polesworth are still required, but Polesworth has only one train northbound weekdays only and Bordesley is pretty much only served when Birmingham City play at home on Saturdays. No good to me that, so will require a special trip and a day off work (seriously, as I wouldn't be able to do it otherwise with my shift start time and distance to travel to/from Bordesley). If this has confused you, my apologies I've tried to make it clear! This move also gives me some decent 323 miles and the first time I've done Wolvo to Walsall throughout.I'm getting rather hungry again now, and with only a +10 at New Street on the way home I'll need to do a food move with the +18 at Walsall. Doubt very much there will be much I can get during the wait at my destination of choice. So what shack did I end up leaving until last? Bloxwich North of all places. Eventually we arrive at Walsall at 1746, 2 minutes late and 57 minutes after leaving Wolverhampton. A cash move is made before dashing into McDonalds for my usual meal. I have to wait for fries and the burger to be cooked, which was leaving me pushed for time so I put my best foot forward when I head back to the station. Fortunately the train's a couple of minutes late anyway, and the meal is seriously nom nom nom!
170506+170504 are provided on the 1742 Birmingham New Street to Rugeley Trent Valley, both winning haulage for 2012. Just 170509 to get for yearly haulage out of the LM 170s now, nicely done even if I say so myself. We leave 3 minutes late and arrive with the same delay, nice and busy station after the train had disgorged passengers for Bloxwich North. No wonder we needed 4 coaches! Some tunes are on after a short time into the 25 minute wait, partly to celebrate Mission Accomplished. In this case, it's not the name of a 390, but instead a celebratory term for having finished all of the visitable stations in the West Midlands Day Ranger area
Future trips can now focus much more on motive power! Granted this trip was originally supposed to get a lot of red lines in, but at least I've done what's taken many WMDRs to do! 3 red lines will do today, I daresay I had more luck up here than I would have done in Cardiff looking for my last 3 ATW 150s! 170633 soon turns up to take me back to New Street with the 1836 from Bloxwich North, a nice bit of top-up mileage on it at least.A hold up at Soho South Junction is not welcome, but we're here for a few minutes until soon after an ECS 390 heads east. We arrive 2 minutes late at 1911 and it's a bit of a rush from platform 2a to platform 10b. No DBT (Dog Box Thrash for the uninitiated) tonight, just 2-car 170505 and it's rather packed as a result on my usual train home from a WMDR, the 1919 Birmingham New Street to Hereford. Must admit I'd hoped for 170509 so I could add an 'H' next to the 'Y' (Haulage for the year and Sight for the year before you ask) in my NREA! Mileage move on this one, maybe one day I'll clear a 170 for the magical thou one day! Seems likely 170630 will be first, as it's on 466 miles already. Still going to take a long time mind, I don't really fancy spending a day just doing 170s yet! The 2003 from Shrub Hill to Paddington is rather late tonight, which holds us up significantly while we wait for it to come off the single line. 180106 is on it, the first 180 I've seen in use for FGW in some years and it's nicely dud from some many moons ago. I despise and welcome their return in almost-equal measures, as it means I might finally get my last two, 102 and 108, and clear the class after over 9 years since my first travels on the class!
Tonight's journey seems to be taking allllllll night! We don't get to Ledbury until 2045, definitely not going to be early into t'Ford tonight! After a 2 minute stop which felt like centuries, we leave and speed seems to pick up. On a journey with lots of padding in it, especially at the Hereford end, we could be late. There's only a +13 between the train and last bus home as it is, and the bus is known to leave early on a regular basis. We finally arrive on time at 2102 on my watch, but the station has it as 2103. I walk over to the bus station to meet another colleague briefly before getting my bus home and Y877 PWT does the honours tonight. Overall, it was an excellent day out despite the late start and lengthy festers. A day that was over far too quickly!