The photos from your Scottish trip just reminded me that the scenery in that part of the world is excellent - and the plans for some of the future trips look as though they'll help you score a shed load of shacks.
Of which some might have Manea style sheds on!
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11th June Tactics of a Diversionary means
It was a day of an easy tour, down the ECML towards Newcastle before coming down south via Sunderland, and Lincoln, covering a couple freight lines in the process. A short walk to my local station in the morning to catch the 05:27 towards Waterloo, formed this morning of 159017 for the speedy dash to Waterloo, swinging via Sainsburys outside the station for a supply raid for later in the day (as the tour is mostly continuous).
Once back at Waterloo, it was down to the Bakerloo line where 3531/3258 took me forward to Oxford Circus for the cross-platform interchange with the Victoria line, and duds 11053/11054 took me towards Highbury & Islington, where as I some time to kill had decided to bail for some 313 action to Finsbury. Sadly there wasnt anything showing as coming up from Moorgate for a good 15 or so minutes so decided to cross back over to the Victoria line platform, just as winners
11071/11072 rolled in to take me the fast run to Finsbury Park.
A quick visit to Tesco Express to purchase a newspaper before heading to platform 7 where the tour train had been put into, slightly unusual as it normally gets put into platform 8, but I guess due to the cancellations the signallers put it into the longer (I think) platform. Winner
90019 was at the front for the run to York, with a nice speedy run down the ECML, making use of the electric Stamford line after Peterborough, crossing back onto the ECML and onwards towards Doncaster, taking the line before the flyover to cut through the yard area for a crew change.
Once at York, it was time to say goodbye to 90019 as it was detached, before a few minutes and winner
60017 appeared to attach itself to the front of the coaches for the round trip back to York. I think it is probably the first time Ive done the slow lines north of York before scoring my 2nd bit of new track with the Northallerton low-level freight lines, diving underneath the ECML and onto the line towards Eaglescliffe, taking the curve towards Stockton, and after the historical town, turned left onto the freight line back towards the ECML, running up the freight line on the east hand side after Tursdale Junction towards Ferryhill junction, pausing for a few minutes for clearance to cross the Up line to reach the down line for some speed (well 60 mph) flying through Durham and coming away from the line at Tyne yard using the first reception siding to get us out of the way of a faster express train.
Back onto the main-line, and towards the King Edward Bridge, where we suddenly decided we didnt want to go to Newcastle and turned right to do a loop around to join the Durham coast line around Gateshead area to head towards Sunderland, for a nice run down the coast, looking at all the various old sidings and dock lines in varying states of decay. Rejoining the outward route around Norton junction north of Stockton before heading back towards Northallerton, scoring the other dive-under (went underneath the main ECML twice), and back to York arriving pretty much on time.
The rumours that it was meant to be Tornado taking us back to London (A 60 of sorts), however after having some fresh air and a walk around before heading back to see 60017 still attached, with staff talking with the drivers & DB, with the rumours that Tornado had failed (not like I minded as its a dud steam engine, as I had it a fair few years ago from Bristol to Plymouth, but before I started recording trips). 60017 remained on the front, and was going to London (first time a 60 has hauled a charter train into a London Terminal for quite some time I would reckon).
Anyhow, back on board, and turning of the ECML using the spur towards the Lincoln line (so another new bit of track around Doncaster area scored), and onwards passing Gainsborough 5 minutes early, only to be held due to signals around the Saxilby area, suddenly losing 15 or so minutes, a good non-stop run via Lincoln central lines and onto the line towards Sleaford, and I forgot how featureless the land is in this area, and how far the stations are apart. My last bit of new track was scored with the Sleaford avoider, where some very loose timings (57-odd minutes to do 17-odd miles) between Sleaford south and Spalding (I know a train north of Spalding after 4pm, what would the locals think!), so the time lost previously suddenly turned into 15 up, as we waited north of the station for the 153 to go into the siding to allow us safe passage, 10 minutes ahead of schedule, pausing for 10 minutes at the junction with the ECML to head down to Peterborough.
Which is where I bailed, as I had previously purchased (the night before) an advance ticket for the Ex-Leeds service, mainly because the tour train would take 2 hours to get back to London, and with the Virgin service I would arrive in London with time to spare for the 22:20 (compared to a 22:10 arrival of the charter, so home 80 minutes earlier). A late running service from Edinburgh was up first but thankfully that was a dud 91, so I went off in search of some dinner, coming back empty handed as there was a McDonalds a short walk away the queue was frankly massive. Plus I had some good news that a certain 458 was due from Vauxhall towards Waterloo around 22:01.
On the station and dud DVT 82219 rolled in with winner
91122 on the rear pushing the Ex-Leeds service (happy days, another 91 into the book), a nice refreshed set (lots of red), with a table seat in coach F for the short run back to London, overtaking the charter train a couple miles north of Sandy. 76-odd miles later and we rolled into Kings Cross, with a quick visit to Boots for a meal-deal before heading to the underground with time to spare as I boarded duds 11029/11030 for the run to Vauxhall, heading out to the fresh air with a good 10 minutes to spare. I was happy I did the Boots run as Sainsburys at Vauxhall looked a bit emptied, to the platform 1 & 2 island as I took a seat, relaxing keeping an eye out for movements before the 22:02 (or so) rolled in.
Winner
458501 rolled in, as I climbed on board my final 458 and hence final SWT unit for the tiny bus stop leap to Waterloo, heading over to platform 8 for the 22:20 which tonight was formed of 159009. I grabbed a table seat as the train became quite full until Woking where it emptied out (was an Alton service cut back to start from Woking?). Nice run arriving into Grateley pretty much on time, around 23:40, just as I would have been leaving Waterloo if I stayed on the charter (so I think that was £11 well spent).
Walking home, reflecting on an overall lazy day, a good little tour with some more red lines highlighted in my Baker. Here be some pictures:
90019 at York:
Suddenly changed to 60017:
The next service to arrive at this platform failed to show up:
But thankfully 458501 stayed to diagram:
Nothing on Sunday as I needed to sleep to recharge my batteries:
Ready for this
