Tech's Rolling Review 2016

[Techniquest]

Hi all,

I meant to post this the other day, but I kept getting distracted! Let's get 2016's Rolling Review underway!

Rolling Review 2016 - January

Welcome to 2016's Rolling Review. I enjoyed reviewing 2015 month by month, although I'm not convinced it was placed in the correct part of the forum or well received. Anyway, here we go again! Before I carry on, I need to mention that all in, not including stuff yet to enter passenger service, I need 2,400 trains, trams and urban rail units in England, Wales and Scotland at the beginning of 2016. The goal is to get that down to 2,000 or less by December 31st 2016. Will I make it? Only one way to find out!

The year started off rather well it has to be said, although I had hoped to start 2016 on something more exotic than 170631! Having to flag my last 390 for haulage in Birmingham was irritating, but the end result was clearing both new tram lines in Nottingham, a worthwhile sacrifice then. More so when I got all 27 shacks I needed on NET! The second day saw me go all out on getting my last 6 trams I needed on NET, sadly my last one wasn't out, but I got 24 out of 25 required trams! So I got back onto the mainline network, scoring 5 EMT served shacks and 4 winners, including my first winner 222/1 in several years! 4 mainline winners all in so a good start had indeed with 28 winners overall. 2,372 to go!

8th January saw an early finish available, and as it was a nice day I wasn't saying no! Off to Shropshire, after much deciding, and my first 150 and 175s of the year were had. I've finally started on the 6 local shacks between Shrewsbury and Crewe, with Wem and Whitchurch (Shropshire) being visited. 7 mainline shacks done already this year, 34 in all, doing well already, and that trip was well worth the £30.80 on fares!

10th and 11th January saw me make my first trip to London in 2016, with more visits due as we go through the year. It was ridiculously productive, and a good social had with Kite159 and Hassaanhc on the 10th. So much variety had and 66 winners had, with 23 (from memory!) shack scores too. There's still megatons to get there but much progress made. A re-count of my requirements was needed on the evening of 11th January, as there were discrepencies in my memo files. Hopefully they're now correct, as it appears I badly counted my S8 half sets and the calculator revealed errors last time too. Less tram requirements than expected though, another error must have been made there. When I get my new NREA later this year, I'll have another thorough count of absolutely everything, but until then I'm on 2,316 requirements. This count still doesn't include preserved stuff mind, nor stuff still to enter service.

As a result of work, I then had a total of 9 days off (including normal days off) from 24th January until 1st February. There were several options, but with Blindtraveller's help a trip to Scotland was organised! Granted it meant a coach journey from Birmingham to Glasgow to get there, and it wasn't as cheap as last time, but it was necessary. I will have to return later this year to Glasgow, to do the rare track involved with the Queen Street diversions mind. A Central Scotland rover trip was had, and on the way home a PSUL trip and a trip to the super limited service shack at Bordesley. My original choice of PSUL move, Hambleton West Curve, was not happening on 30th January, so I had to shop around for another one. Attenborough Curve was chosen, and it meant an early start again for the 0554 Sheffield to Nottingham but hey ho, it had to be done! Later that day, I also got my last NET tram, 236, in the book!

So January was certainly a busy month, unlike most Januarys! 2016 has started well, with 120 winners and 85 shack scores, now if the next 11 months produce well too I'll be laughing!

Oh yes, I'll be posting the data in another thread too, but for interest of completness, a count of my needs:

Locos: 41
DMUs: 213
EMUs: 717
Light rail: 173
LU: 990
DLR: 56
Eurostar: 102

Total: 2,292

Things are coming down slowly, and hopefully Monday will produce a trip bringing those numbers down a bit more!

 

[FQ]

A good start to the year! What's your plans for Monday?

 

[Techniquest]

Depends what the bank balance says later (I really need online banking!), but options yesterday were Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Birmingham and Bristol (to potentially get my last two GWR 150s)

 

[FQ]

If you had a choice of any then I'd most definitely put it down to either Liverpool or Mancc, with Sheffield as a backup.

 

[Techniquest]

I have got to be careful though, as I should also be spending money on a new pair of footwear, flight socks and thermals for New York. Well the latter isn't a major issue, but then new trousers will be, if only to shut Mum up moaning about that!

Expect a confirmation in my TPP Mode thread tonight when I've got it organised!

 

[FQ]

My mum's the same on that front! I guess that if you go to Brum then you'd have trams, possibly 390114, Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park, cats and maybe a 165 is the unit is a winner for you on the Brum one that day.

 

[Techniquest]

That is basically what I'm doing if I go to Birmingham!

 

[alexf380]

A nice start to the year for you there Tech, and I hope you have a similarly enjoyable time across the pond!

 

[Techniquest]

February 2016

This was always going to be a quiet month, with no overtime at this time of year, so it'll be no surprise that I didn't do any major trips this month! It took until the 8th of February to get out on the rails this month, and the mission was to hunt down 390114 and clear out a couple of new shacks. With the gen that the 390 was indeed out, it was game on! The year's first WMDR was done and after more than a few tense moments, including much need for the danger music all morning, it did stick to diagram and the 390s were finally cleared for haulage! Huge smile on the way to Stafford, and later on Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park become the latest shack scores, leaving just Polesworth to get in the WMDR area!

Late in the evening of 13th February, I got all competitive and made a last minute booking and hastily planned moves to go and get Polesworth done. Thank Goodness for the magic plastic for the hotel booking! The next day it was a Daytripper, and at long last the silver 68s were cleared by chance with 68012. I knew the next move should produce a 168/3, but I wasn't expecting a pair, let alone a pair of winners, 3 Chiltern winners in no time, happy days! Only one winning tram out of the 6 running today, which was a shame but hey ho. I also make my first visit to Sheldon Country Park for a bit of plane spotting! Later that day I went out for the northbound 68, just in case there had been a swap, 68012 as booked but no matter, another Chiltern MK3 was scored! Then it was to Rugby for a noisy Travelodge stay.

The next day started with a farce, due to awaiting train crew in Northampton the 0659 off Rugby ended up being 29 minutes late. All the while that I'm festering in a thankfully warm waiting room I worry the stop at Polesworth would be ripped out. The stops between Stafford and Crewe were, but thankfully Polesworth stayed in and at 0751, it's Mission Accomplished, all WMDR area shacks were scored! Much to my surprise, someone got on while I was the only one to alight. A bus farce saw me here much longer than anticipated, but eventually I make it to Tamworth for a much needed coffee and bacon bap. I get some more Starship action onwards from Lichfield Trent Valley, and I can now put a face to the name of Fishquinn!

The 1112 off Snow Hill doesn't produce a 168/3 this time, so we head to the trams. I score 2 out of the 8 or 9 running today, the poor lad didn't get any. After a much needed Costa break, we head to Rowley Regis to spot the brand new GBRf 66s on their way north, most welcome additions to the book! Of course, some Cat action is needed later, then I get some leaps in after seeing off Fishquinn and his dad on their way home, scoring 165028 before a supply raid and heading home. So I've had 3 decent days on my home turf, will I get any more like it this year? Well yes, I did!

A last minute trip, thanks to a good weather forecast, saw me go shack scratching on the Heart of Wales line. Prior to this trip, I needed 10 of the shacks, and despite a significant delay to my first move bowling me out, I still managed to come away with 5 of the 10 which was impressive for a line with limited public transport options! The plan is to get all of the remaining 5 by the end of the year, which will take more than one trip it seems, but I'm working on that already! The month is seen out with a big bash, and for at least a week I was trying to figure out where I'd go. Trying to get much for reasonable ching was going to be hard, what with booking just three days in advance!

Nevertheless, on 29th February I was off to Manchester, and thanks to gen on my last two 350s I end up doing a rail ranger vice a major Metrolink session. I finally meet D841 Roebuck on this trip, and I end up scoring 10 Metrolink trams, a 156, 5 shacks and my last two 350s. Another EMU class cleared at last, the 4th to reach such dizzy heights [the others being 314s, 323s and 390s - Ed] and a fair bit of mileage too. 1,023 miles in all of February, not bad for a quiet month! Now bring on New York!

 

[noddy1878]

I agree with what you have written! You did very well on your local turf!

 

[FQ]

February has been a great month for you!

 

[Kite159]

Indeed, pretty much everything in the West Midlands cleared, units and shacks (just a few chiltern units left IIRC)

Enjoy York New

 

[Techniquest]

February was indeed good to me, my home turf is mostly done which is not bad considering the size of the area. The East Midlands and Wales are high up the list of areas to attack for shacks, hopefully by the end of the year all of ATW's network south of Shrewsbury will be all done!

Kite: Yep just a few Chiltern units now!

 

[Techniquest]

I know this is 2 weeks late going up, but I finally got the ching data sorted last night so I can post March's review now!

March 2016

By far and away the biggest month of 2016 so far, with my first ever trip outside Europe taking me to New York for a taste of the USA! It's fair to say as we got closer it was getting scary, in a good way, and the last few shifts were difficult to keep focus on work! The month's first bit of rail action would take me and my mate James from work to Gatwick Airport via Worcester, Oxford and Guildford on the bargain ticket that is the Gatwick Flyaway Two. £60 for both of us to/from Hereford, incredible. This was more a sightseeing trip than a bashing holiday, although there were plenty of moves on the Subway! On the commute home on 2nd March, I spent much of it totting up how much this year's travels have cost me so far. At that point, not including general expenditure or additional travel funds when in New York yet obviously, I was already on £1,437! When I spent £3,300 or so in 2015, so it's going to be an expensive year with all the trips lined up. Quite, some pruning may have to occur! Having collected up £46.50 in RTVs, I end up using them for a trip to Liverpool on 21st March, joining Fishquinn on a hunt for required MerseyRail units. I went armed with gen this time, and I now need only 507029 to clear MerseyRail, having finally cleared it for sight with 507017 and my last shack with MR at Bootle Oriel Road now done too!

Some figures then as we leave the first quarter of 2016:

Q1 Results:

Winners: 195
Shack scores: 127
New sights: 209
Mileage: I'm so far behind, I've not yet updated my RM since February!

Q1 Ching:

Rail fares: £422.61 (including $15 of tickets)
Bus fares: £49.20
Coach fares: £12.50
Air fares: £418.30
Hotel ching: £312.50
General expenditure: £389.37 (including $172.89 of expenditure, not including present shopping or additional sightseeing stuff)
Total: £1,597.28 (including $187.89 of USD at a rate of 1.40 that I had when I bought my USD. Also, doesn't include the $200 I lost on the way home!)

Q2 has started well, as those who've read the trip reports will already know. I expect April's rolling review will go up in just over 2 weeks' time, as there's no massive figures to work out!

 

[noddy1878]

I just checked how much I have spent on rail fares so far (well by end of March) and its £380.80! I know I have some hefty ones coming though! I haven't kept track of my other expenditure. Mind you the buses I have done have been within Travelcard areas and I certainly don't keep track of general expenditure. The only hotels I stayed in were with my dad and he paid for them.

 

[FQ]

March will probably be the best month for you come December, even if you didn't do anything after NY! Hopefully you'll get lots more winners before the year's end!

 

[Techniquest]

I'm expecting to get a lot this weekend, let alone the rest of the year!

 

[FQ]

I've just seen the line up for the Bluebell railway. It looks EXCELLENT! I'd love to get down but dad is highly unlikely to agree to drive down for it and I couldn't get to East Grinstead before mid-day going by train from Leam.

 

[Techniquest]

If you want to go, ask him!

 

[FQ]

Tried that! Torin's got trampolineing in the evening anyway. Turn's out that 47739 is a dud for me though so I'm not so fussed (had it on the North Wales Coast long back).

 

[Techniquest]

Ahh fair game, well you did the NVR which I'm beyond jealous of! I was supposed to be having next weekend off from the rails, but a viewing of the PLEG website has me strongly considering breaking out the magic plastic...

 

[noddy1878]

Ahh fair game, well you did the NVR which I'm beyond jealous of! I was supposed to be having next weekend off from the rails, but a viewing of the PLEG website has me strongly considering breaking out the magic plastic...

Are you doing Swanage in May?

 

[Techniquest]

I'd love to, but I don't think I can. If I can though I'll let you know! I was looking at the Mid Hants gala next weekend for the 56s, but to afford that would be incredibly difficult, so it looks like I'll be flagging that.

 

[Techniquest]

Rolling Review - April 2016

Well didn't Quarter 2 of 2016 begin well! My 'Tech Knows His Enemy' trip on 3rd April started things off in Manchester, scoring 22 new shacks with 21 Metrolink trams and an ARN 156 also getting added to the books. Thanks must go to forum member 185143 for his most welcome company, without which the day would not have been any near as enjoyable! 4th April saw me continue onwards in my never-ending quest to fill the books and empty my lists, this time I headed to Liverpool for a hunt for 507029. I meet forum member 507021 and we have a top day out. Rainford was the day's only shack score, but it did get me a winner 142 in, as well as 156464 with its excellent thrash. I'm now torn between that and 156491 for my favourite 156! 156491 deserved it for a stellar performance on a Preston to Liverpool run in February 2011, which I still remember fondly 5 years on! I also get 2 more 319s in as well as finally clearing MerseyRail totally with 507029! That thing took some finding (as the trip report will show!) but it was with great pleasure I got it in the book! I now have no late evening bus service (due to cutbacks for the second time!) which has resulted in having to cut back my bashing sadly.

Worth pointing out now that, after that trip, I was down to 2,265 mainline trains/trams/LU/other light rail stuff required for haulage. The number is coming down well, but I still want that number to drop below 2,000 before the end of 2016. So to achieve that, I need to score 266 or more trains, that surely won't be too hard? 990 of that total is on LU, 102 is from Eurostar and 205 is DMUs. By end Q2 I expect to be down to 2,200 or less requirements. Granted, I've now added 700s to my lists so it's bolstered the lists up quite a bit, meaning I now have over 300 trains to hit my target of under 2,000 before December 31st, GAME ON!

11th April was a trip with Mum to visit my elderly and unwell godmother, who I haven't seen for a little over 5 years. Obviously this meant a train trip was in order, and it was off via Manchester and the Calder Valley. I end up only scoring a 150 and a Metrolink tram, but also got Todmorden for a shack score.

On 12th April I discover by chance the Bluebell Railway had a gala on over the weekend, so after much planning and shopping around for bargain fares I was going! Thanks to Blindtraveller and Kite159 for their help on hotel and fares booking, I had that all booked for not that much more than the walk-up fare was going to cost! The line up was just too epic to turn down, with 4 73s, a 66, 2 20s and a 47 all being winners. Needing the Bluebell for track coverage as well, I couldn't turn down a chance to do my first gala in several years! This was my 'Tech's You've Gotta Jump Jump' trip, and the run to London on 16th April was dire, but the Bluebell Railway on 17th April was most enjoyable indeed. 7 winning locos, some decent thrash and even a winner 377 in the evening. Just a shame the 20s weren't working that day! 18th April I was at a loose end, but settled with some c2c action in the end. 5 shacks scored and 10 winners, plus a fair bit of stuff scored for sight. I left my Tube stock book at home on this trip, so that count will change when I get it out. The trip home was via Crewe, and much more enjoyable than the 350 ride two days beforehand! I also score new mainline network track, with the new Norton Bridge flyover!

21st April saw me finally update my D stock lists with the withdrawals to date. I went from 110 sets required to just 36 left to get, which shows how out of date my 2013 book was! With all the D stock sets due to be out of service by mid-2016, this brought a new priority to the front of mind for a day in London on 6th May, but that'll be covered in the May Rolling Review update.

25th April saw me finally fill in my new NREA 2016 book, how the red pen didn't run out of ink before I finished it over two days [and that was a mammoth task! - Ed] I'll never know! I had planned the night before to do a shack or two on the Heart of Wales line, but over-sleeping in the morning stopped that, and the need to get the NREA finished over-ruled doing just one later on.

I have no stats prepared for April, and doubt I will for May either, but if that changes I'll post them here in due course. If nothing else, they'll be in the Q2 round-up.

 

[Techniquest]

Rolling Review - May 2016

May 4th saw me celebrate Star Wars Day with The Imperial March, followed by a major TPP Mode session. This led to giving life to the mantra "If it's worth doing, it's worth over doing", turning Tech's Over Doing It into a 5 day spree!

May's bashing started then on 6th May with 'Tech's Over Doing It', a trip title in loving tribute to Mythbusters, which sadly finished forever in the UK on Discovery earlier this year. It will be very much missed by me and my brother, who have been watching it for years! The reference here of course is one of the Mythbusters' mantras, in this case "If it's worth doing, it's worth over doing". It took me to London on 6th May, where I meet up with Hassaanhc and do some DLR bashing before meeting Kite, when we did a bit of all sorts, prior to meeting up with Kristofferson for a meal and natter.

7th May me and Kite159 were on UKRailtours' The Midland and Great Central HST tour, which I chose as my annual railtour as it covered the line from Knighton South Junction to Burton-on-Trent, a long freight-only line that's been a huge gap in my Baker for far too long! 8th May was going home, this time with GWR [I know, you're as shocked as me that it wasn't via Birmingham - Ed] due to a bargain mTicket having been booked, but due to the TPP Mode session on 4th May I was now heading to Stansted Airport for this year's first Ryanair fix, heading to Edinburgh!

Rare track coverage in relation to the Glasgow Queen Street diversions was the name of the game today, and on 9th May it was a very lazy, social morning before clearing the Borders Railway shacks. Some 334 thrash was also enjoyed and some much needed 68 haulage, before a trip in the early hours of 10th May on the Cally Insomnie to Crewe, ending the 5 day spree that morning with a trip to Hereford to be ready for work. I did say I was over-doing it!

It was such a good trip that I scored 50 winners, 4 shacks and got 26 new sights. Not bad whatsoever, although work was understandably not fun after a less than amusing ride on the Cally Insomnie!

23rd May saw me back on the rails, following enough funds being available after all for a budget day out. Until that morning, I knew not where I was going! An escape from reality was ridiculously needed, as this was my last chance to go bashing in May. I came away with 5 shack scores and a winner 150, which means I end May with these figures for 5 months' work:

Winners: 299
Shack scores: 169
New sights: 280

June's Rolling Review will feature the half-time scores at the end of Q2 2016. Hoping to hit 250 shack scores by the end of 2016, and only 304 more winners to go until I hit my winners target. Only 7 months to do it in...

 

[FQ]

May has certainly been good for you!

 

[Kite159]

May has certainly been good for you!

Agreed there

 

[Techniquest]

Aha, so I haven't posted the addendum yet, it's been sat in a memo file for a while now!

May 2016's Rolling Review Update

Well, I wasn't expecting to be available for a bash on 30th May, but when I could go out I was not turning it down! I was full of cold, due to picking up germs from someone at work, but no way on Earth was I prepared to let Kite beat me to new track in my local area again!

An excellent day and excellent company enjoyed, despite not being well, and I end May with 302 winners, 171 shack scores and 282 new sights in 2016 so far. I've got less to do on my stomping grounds than I did this morning, needing no shacks in the area apart from a few between Shrewsbury and Crewe, and there's only 5 Midland Metro trams left to get for haulage. 3 of them are still needed for sight, so you know what I'm hoping to do soon enough...

June's Rolling Review should go up by 1st July, it's going to be a quiet month sadly. Some different bits will be sampled, in an area I just don't get to much these days...

 

[Techniquest]

It's finally time gang, the referee has blown the whistle for half time 2016. Here then is June's Rolling Review and the much-anticipated figures:

Rolling Review - June 2016

A relatively quiet month this was not in the end! A family holiday was had near the end of the month, so I tried to be careful with my money before then. Metrolink was too much of a lure on 6th June, and a last minute change of plan that morning while in Crewe, I do wonder how I would have done on a Cheshire Day Ranger! Out of 17 required shacks, I ended up only managing 11 of them due to various farces, but I also got 10 required trams and only need 33 more of them now. Which does include 6 of them to be delivered or enter service at the time of typing, so I'm getting there well, considering I needed 77 of them only a few months ago!

On 9th June, I fill most of the work-bound commute by continuing the population the Q2 figures memo file [the rest will need the moves book - Ed] and constructing the half-time figures file. I surprised myself by how much was spent in Q2, when the calculator showed me the figure. Oh isn't this going to be an expensive year...

13th June saw me on a fairly last-minute bash to Manchester, the aim of the game being to clear out the Metrolink shacks. So much for it being a quiet month eh? Only 6 shacks remained before I could conquer the lot up there, I had to go for it! 33 trams, including 5 that were still to enter service as of 12th June 2016, were also waiting to be dealt with. I had to leave Manchester with 2 shacks left to get as it turned out, and 29 trams still to go, but as Blindtraveller pointed out I need to go up again for Second City Crossing at some point so it's not the end of the world! I'm now on something around 500 miles for June, not too bad!

20th to 27th June I was in Devon on this year's family break, and during the week some rail stuff had to be done. 21st June was a day on the rails with my little sister, and I manage to wangle a shack score at Starcross out of it, as well as score 150216 and 150938! 22nd June I met up with noddy1878 from the forum and we both cleared out some shacks we needed, as well as a good social. I haven't forgotten that pint yet good sir!

24th June was the third Devon Day Ranger of the week, and I met up with a local enthusiast during the day. 7 shack scores and my last GWR 150 was finally had, not to mention some winning brews and pubs. By now I was sick of 143s though, having had tons of mileage with them this week. Whenever the opportunity came up, I'd be in the 153 instead but this wasn't always doable. It was an unusual series of moves, in that I didn't type up any of the trip reports as I went along. It was like the old days when I used to type them up post-event, but I used to have it all on paper too!

26th June and the last full day of the break, when I had the opportunity to do the Dartmoor Railway at last. I could hardly turn it down! Meldon Viaduct and 08937 were the two main winners, as well as finally micro-gricing Exeter Central's bay platform 1 and the associated crossover on the final move of the day. June has been very good to me, it has to be said, and far better than expected. It's all cost me a lot more than I expected of course, but I've got a lot done. A lot to do in Devon still, but I'm far more progressed than I expected to be. Getting the last member of the GWR West fleet done was most welcome, as was finally clearing the dull Dartmoor Railway! Below are the all-important pieces of data, including the much-anticipated half-time scores!

Q2 Results:

Winners: 125
Shack scores: 72
New sights: 209
Mileage: 7,494m25c

Q2 Ching:

Rail fares: £562.60
Bus fares: £20.50
Hotel ching: £134.90
Air fares: £30.59
General expenditure: £219.71
Total: £968.30

That's quite a bit of money to spend in 3 months, and as of 13th June that figure is not yet complete! A fair few winners, shack scores, new sights and mileage for it though, not to mention a good time in excellent company on most of the trips!

It's safe to say this will my most expensive year of bashing in a good few years, possibly for all time! I'm thinking of going back to adding these sets of data up every month, as it takes a while otherwise. Mind you, that said, compiling this set of figures helped fill time on my commuting, so maybe not. The final batch was done over a Tech's Bookwork Weekend though.

What will Q3 2016 bring my way? I already know Q4 will be good, what with the Vienna trip in November, but not a single thing is confirmed for Q3 yet. Naturally, that's changing rather sharpish!

Right, here we go, the figures are in and at half time the numbers are:

Gosh half time has come around quick, what a sobering thought! Winter is coming...

Winners: 320
Shack scores: 200
New sights: 303
Mileage: 7,494 miles and 25 chains

Rail fares: £985.21
Bus fares: £69.70
Hotel ching: £447.40
Air fares: £448.89
General expenditure: £609.08
Total: £2,565.55

Holy smokes Batman, that's a fair bit of ching! hock:

 

[507021]

It's certainly been a productive month and first half of the year for you as well, it's a fantastic achievement that you've managed to cover all of the tram networks in the country too, so a big well done from me!

Talking of winner 150s, I've been lucky with those this year and I'm finally down to single figures of Northern 150s still required for haulage (139, 141; 203/4, 214/8 and 271). They've been quite elusive as I've still yet to see a few of them, but I'm sure they'll turn up for me eventually!

Hope the second half of 2016 is as successful for you as the first!