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The Various Random Mutterings of Kite
- Thread starter Kite159
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D841 Roebuck
Established Member
Regarding your mis-transcribed D stock, I can probably help with one of them!
7007 was fastened to 7508 on Friday evening, when I sampled it from East Putney to Parsons Green. I don't know how often they reform them, but its probable that they were still paired up on Sunday...
7007 was fastened to 7508 on Friday evening, when I sampled it from East Putney to Parsons Green. I don't know how often they reform them, but its probable that they were still paired up on Sunday...
Keith Jarrett
Member
Another top drawer read there, Mr Kite. You certainly had a busy weekend dashing about the network. Your leap down the Southminster branch is definitely thought provoking for us shack scratchers. And I suppose that I ought to sort out Southend Airport sometime in the near future as it is the only shack still on the wants list on the Southend Victoria branch.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Indeed it is Keith, my head's swimming with ideas already and I might have to go and start playing catch-up next Friday. That being said, if I stay in town, I can score even more stuff that Kite will also be getting...
No, I'm not competitive at all...
No, I'm not competitive at all...
Kite159
Veteran Member
Cheers for the 360s, at least I don't have to keep an eye out for them anymore. The 159 tour was a cheap (ish) way to get back to the Island, do the Steam Railway and Smallbrook Junction, sadly my last 2x 483s were sat at the depot, so a return visit is in order.
I'm guessing that Sundays during July/August time the services are doubled up for crowd busters, so hopefully I will get lucky (although might be a case of asking for Gem before setting off!)
Regarding your mis-transcribed D stock, I can probably help with one of them!
7007 was fastened to 7508 on Friday evening, when I sampled it from East Putney to Parsons Green. I don't know how often they reform them, but its probable that they were still paired up on Sunday...
Ta, I will update my records for 7508, it's dud so it's better than a set since turned into the 230 demo!
Although it will probably be better to do the first 3 shacks on the Southminster Branch going South Woodham Ferrers to Battlesbridge before going to North Fambridge [if tight on a single 321, 2nd door in the 2nd coach is the easiest for the footbridge], at least you avoid longish festers.
Maybe Southend Airport could be a post work trip on a BZ6 - Southend ticket, head down to Southend Airport, wait 10 minutes to Victoria for the short walk across to Southend Central for some 357 based miles back towards London
Indeed it is Keith, my head's swimming with ideas already and I might have to go and start playing catch-up next Friday. That being said, if I stay in town, I can score even more stuff that Kite will also be getting...
No, I'm not competitive at all...
Whatever we end up doing on Friday you will probably score more than me, especially if we end up out of Liverpool Street doing 315/317 hunting
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
The IOW trip looks great! Nice to see some Anglia bashing too, I hear it's difficult due to the lack of decent rover tickets out that way.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Kite159
Veteran Member
Where I ended up this afternoon...
Techniquest
Veteran Member
The sound of the Eurostars passing is quite something isn't it!
Blindtraveler
Established Member
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2011
- Messages
- 10,544
Phew! Just finally caught up on several months worth of these, great reads. What the hell will u do wen its all done? Carpet bowls? Or do it all again lol
Techniquest
Veteran Member
I reckon Kite's going to do mainland Europe next, or take up planespotting!
Kite159
Veteran Member
29th April A trip to North Kent
The aim of today was to clear the shacks on the Sheerness branch, plus a couple other bits in that area, so it was a drive to Andover parking not in my usual place due to it being quite busy, had to dump the car a bit further from the station than normal. Anyhow the 14:38 this afternoon was the usual 8-coach service, with 158881 leading 159019 & 159022, with taking a seat in the mostly empty front coach of 881 for the hour ride to Clapham Junction.
I was in two minds, either bail at Clapham and jump on the first thing heading east calling at Vauxhall, or stay on until Waterloo and head to St Pancras via Oxford Circus. I decided to bail at Clapham Junction, which features some nice new yellow backed signs (rather than the usual SWT blue), and over to P10 where 455702 & 455709 took me onwards for the 2 mile, 45 chain leap to Vauxhall, where it was a short walk to the underground station, and onto dud 11005/11006 for the near 4-mile trip to Kings Cross St Pancras, arriving with time to spare for the long-ish walk to platforms 13-15 at St Pancras. Which could only mean one thing, and I was amazed that my Andover Sheerness ticket actually opened the barriers for the HS1 platforms.
The first javelin departure was towards Ashford, however as it was formed of winner 395023 I couldnt turn it down, and we departed full and standing (at least in the front coach) as I had my first 395 for a fair few months, the speed these things accelerate out of Stratford International is amazing (although the view isnt so amazing). Arriving into the soulless Ebbsfleet International, where passengers standing by the doors were advised to by the driver to leave the train at Ebbsfleet to allow others off the train, as it wont depart until you are all back onboard. Unsurprisingly my ticket didnt work the barriers at Ebbsfleet as I walked the walk to platforms 5 & 6, to be allowed access to await the next Gravesend bound service, previously noted as required 395029.
Thankfully it emptied out a bit (I would imagine its commuters using the large car-park as a railhead for the local area) and I managed to get a seat as it switched to the DC lines for the journey to the new Rochester station, I previously had the old Rochester a couple weeks before it closed so Im counting it as a semi-new shack score (as will be the case of Bromsgrove in the next few months). The next service due was a Rainham terminator, which was due to use the new Rainham bay platform, which was a micro-grice for me (and was rude to turn it down), in rolled winner 465924, which as expected for a stopper service nearing the end of its journey was mostly empty, and was a bit of a fester fest with a few minutes wait before it carried on, waiting before rolling into platform 0 where it terminated at Rainham.
Over the footbridge to platform 2 to await the next service towards Dover, and my good run of luck continued with required 375906 & 375821 to take me to Teynham, which is a basic shack but allowed me to get it into the bag to clear the route to Faversham. The PIS on the other platform was a tad useless, not showing details of the next train instead stuck on buses replace trains between here and there on Sunday, and RTT was having a mild blip. Departure time came and went, still no 375, 5 minutes later and I knew my 7 minute connection at Sittingbourne was looking tight, 5 minutes after that duds 375811 & 375824 rolled in, running 10 minutes late so goodbye connection and a new plan needed.
To save a fester at Sittingbourne, I decided to bail at Rainham for my first double 395 set, and it was a good call at in rolled winner 395019 attached with dud 395018 [ironically the 395 I used when scoring Rainham a few months ago!], anyhow it was back to Sittingbourne to cross over to a waiting required 466015 working on a Sheerness branch, or I would board it if it wasnt for a rude lady who decided to close the doors after she boarded, and got up to close them again a couple times after people dared to board (and I made her do it again as I swapped ends due to some very smelly food being brought on board). Anyhow with my revised plan I bailed from the 466 at Swale, a couple others got off the train and were picked up from the small lay-by. I could only imagine how busy that road outside would have been before the bridge was built.
After a quick walk I returned to the featureless platform, which features nothing, no shelter, no seating, not even a Permit to Travel machine, why on earth has this station got a half hourly service? Anyhow fresh dud 466015 soon returned to take me back to Kemsley, for a short wait before the 2nd direct service to Sheerness from Victoria was due which was formed of 6 coaches, standard class only going by RTT, and a couple minutes early dud 466038 rolled in with winner 465907 on the rear, which I was happy about as it was another 465/9 into the book, and the 4 mile run to Queenborough was a lot more than some 465s have mileage wise. An easy connection was made to dud 466006 which was the other 466 on the regular branch line service today, and it was back to Sittingbourne.
The original plan was to wait for the next St Pancras service, as I knew the next Victoria was formed of a pair of dud 375/3s (as I had spotted them working earlier), however I had some gem that a certain 455 was floating around and based a plan to try and grab it, so it was onto duds 375309 & 375305 for the run back towards Victoria, the longest run Ive had on a 375 in a fair while, getting some speed up after Rochester (of which the old station hasnt got a lot left, the platforms remain with the platform edge stones being removed, and only feature was some old DOO monitor holders). Arriving into Victoria was on time, and I took a short walk via Boots to the Southern side for a Portsmouth bound service, formed of duds 377422 & 377102. Departure time came and went, as we were waiting for a fresh air carrying Gatwick Express to arrive/depart eventually departing 5 minutes late for the short run to Clapham Junction.
A quick walk between platforms, and it was a case of waiting for the service from Woking, which had 455705 leading required 455732, my final SWT 455, back from being re-tractioned (and having some nice sunflowers put on the side). It certainly sounded different to the usual 455 DC motor noise. I decided to stay on to Waterloo to be in a good place to board the 22:20 for Salisbury, a service known for overcrowding, and as usual it was a single unit arriving a few minutes late, but I got a seat on 159107 for the run back to Andover. If I boarded at Clapham I would have been standing to at least Basingstoke.
Arriving back home after a short drive, to note that somehow I had managed to get 8 new SET units in the book, which is a lot better than I was expecting. Although I was home an hour later than I had hoped, it didnt put a damper on the day (although it did mean not a lot of sleep).
Anyhow, AC motor noise time!
----------------
30th April A Derbyshire Wayfarer
The aim of today was to grab some shacks around Derbyshire, mainly the ones towards Matlock, plus the two limited served shacks on the line towards Tamworth, as it will save a job for next months East Midlands Madness trip. A short walk to Grateley station for the 05:59 service formed this morning of 159013 for the short run to Basingstoke, where I was booked on the 06:50 XC towards Manchester, changing at the Bat Cave for an Edinburgh bound service.
In rolled dud 220008 for the just shy of 114 mile trip towards Birmingham New Street, time spent looking out of the window at the process of the wires on the GWML, and watching the world go by, arriving into New Street pretty much bang on time, maybe a minute late due to waiting outside the station for a platform to become available. Going via the toilet for a quick PNB, before going down to one of the high-number platforms for the Edinburgh service, formed of 220010, which was quite busy (owing to the WCML being closed in parts, and smelt of booze in the doorway.
A few minutes late into Derby caused by some slow running around the junction where the Crewe line came in (late running freight/charter train?), but I could easily make the connection for the next Matlock service. The platform was quite busy and in rolled winner 153311, yep a single dogbox, which we departed rather cosy, and I stayed on nearly to the end of the line at Matlock Bath, which is a nice enough station on the single track section, nothing much of interest apart from a cable car to some large hill, but it wasnt long before fresh dud 153311 returned working towards Nottingham. I had two options in which I could play it safe with bailing at Ambergate or risk a +4 at Belper, as we were on time I decided to risk the +4 and bailed at Belper.
The connection over the roadbridge was easy enough, I even had time for a quick photo and noticing that there appears to be some shops around that area (so useful for anybody not so lucky in making the connection), anyhow the next Matlock service was due and in rolled a 156, and 156470 made it two winners in a roll to take me nearly to the end of the line at Cromford. Another nice station with old station building turned into an office and a holiday home, the sun had come out as I sat to watch the world go by before 156470 returned from Matlock to take me back to Ambergate.
A quite basic shack, although there appears to be the remains of platform carrying on towards Matlock, but it wasnt long before the 3rd unit on Nottingham Matlock services rolled in, and winner 153379 made it 3 out of 3, and also brought the rain which had been threatening to come out, as the heavens opened as I bailed at Whatstandwell, the main shacks on the branch complete, and nearest station to the Tram museum at Crick, but as the signs warned it was a steep uphill walk. A canal ran alongside the railway at this point, so I took some time to relax (as it was a 30-odd minute wait), before 153379 returned, getting quite busy at Belper, as I bailed at Derby for a quick dash to WH Smiths for a meal-deal as I was getting hungry.
Back onto the platform, and it was a short wait for dud 222007 to roll in to take me to Long Eaton, which involves a long walk between platforms (as it is on an embankment), but it was easy enough to make where I noticed the next Matlock service was a couple minutes late, but thankfully it was the return of 156470 so the dwell times werent so great at Spondon, however we were 5 late departing Derby due to a late running XC being late, Duffield had a +4 but the other service last reported as being 2 down, so it was time for the danger music, miss the connection and it would be a bus back to Derby, thankfully Duffield features an island platform, and we rolled in, no sign of the 153. The 156 departed and in rolled a rather busy 153311 back to Derby, of which I was happy as it meant Nottingham to Matlock was cleared.
But now I had a 55 minute wait before the Birmingham bound XC service which called at Willington, so a trip to Long Eaton was on the cards, first up was a dud 222, which I allowed to depart to wait for another XC service bound for Nottingham and in rolled 170638. I previously had this down as a dud unit, however when I was putting my log files together yesterday I did a quick search on Excel to see where I previously had it, and the only reference was logged against a London Midland journey back on my Great Escape weekend in Feb 14 (one of the first trips where I started to log numbers), so I must have made a logging error for a Rugeley TV to Tame Bridge run. Anyhow back at Long Eaton, it was a short walk to the other platform, arriving just as a Sheffeld bound 222 rolled in, and jumped on without checking the unit number (which isnt as easy as it is on the 220/221s as the coach numbers dont match the unit numbers).
Sadly it was dud 222020, but never mind, as I waited at Derby for the Birmingham bound service, which rolled in, it was dud 170637 which took me to Willington, the station with an odd service pattern, i.e. nothing for 3 hours then 2 services half an hour apart, then nothing for 3 hours. As I alighted from the 170 (along with a few other passengers), the heavens opened again as I dashed down the stairs to the subway, passing some passengers heading the other way (which I hope werent hoping to catch that service, otherwise it would have been a 2 hour wait), before heading up the other stairs to hide in the little waiting bus shelter for dud 170519 to roll in to take me back to Derby.
A positioning move was now required to take me to Tutbury & Hatton to connect with a Peartree stopper, and having noticed before that the Crewe-Derby services appeared to be double 153s, I was happy when I logged winners 153385 & 153319 on the next Crewe service for a short run to Tutbury & Hatton, swinging via the Co-Op outside the station (served by some grumpy lady who shouted that we dont accept NUS discount here [as it seems that the Central England Co-Op group has redrawn from the NUS offer in the past few weeks, like I was meant to know that]. Anyhow it was to the platform to await the slightly delayed Derby service, formed of winner 153321 and dud 153310 to take me to Peartree.
A couple other passengers alighted, and after being allowed out of the station by the controller of the gate (a station where I advise its best to arrive by train rather than by foot, just in case you have issues gaining access to the platforms), and its opposite a retail/leisure park with housing, seems very strange why it only gets 2 services a day, give it an hourly service and it would probably capture more passengers, its not like the station is in the middle of nowhere. Anyhow, Google Maps fired up and it was a short walk to a bus stop, with a Sapphire 38 double decker, fleet 4405 took me back towards the city centre, and a short walk back to Derby.
This is where my plans changed as I was originally going to head up to Sheffield and grab a shack on the Hope Valley line to link in with the XC at Sheffield, however I previously noted that the Newcastle bound service was cancelled earlier, and hence the Southampton bound service had been cancelled, with RTT suggesting it would restart in Birmingham. Another spanner in the works was knowledge that my last 7-coach 222 was due to arrive in Derby around 18:25, so I had some time to kill, and not needing that many units which operate around the Derby area (220/221/222s) I had a short wait before the next Crewe service rolled in, which featured a required 153 and also called at Peartree...
...Hence I took a seat on dud 153355 leading winner 153381, back to Peartree, again I wasnt alone in alighting (but nobody was boarding), and was amazed that 4 out of the 6 153s on the Crewe services were required, leaving my EMT 153 requirements as 308 & 384. Anyhow, once more I was let out of the station, but this time I couldnt link up with a bus, so it was a mile and a half walk back towards Derby Midland station, not a walk I would recommend as it involves quite a few road crossings. But I arrived with time to spare, and headed to P1 just as the trio of HST power-cars rolled by, the VTEC/NR/GC trio on route to Bristol for the open day on Monday, sadly I was on the wrong side of the station to grab a picture before they disappeared to hide behind a EMT HST set. Anyhow winner 222003 rolled in, and taking a seat for the speedy run to Chesterfield for a 15 minute fester for a service from York, formed of dud 222012 to take me back to Derby to get confirmation that the Southampton service was indeed cancelled.
I had two options to get back to Birmingham, either the return of 220010 from this morning (which looked a tad busy being from Edinburgh), or the return of 170638 on a Cardiff service, I decided to allow the 220 to depart and boarded the 170 for a speedy-ish run back to Birmingham New Street, being held outside the station for a few minutes eventually rolling into P12. I somehow made the +4 to 9A, where dud 220028 was waiting, which was reasonably loaded, but my reserved seat was available for the run back towards Basingstoke, heading via Warwick this time rather than Coventry, a bit of slack in the timetable meant a 5 minute wait at Oxford and a 18 minute wait at Reading, before arriving into Basingstoke to a busy station, as SWT was in a bit of chaos with delays a-plenty.
Anyhow, it was time to grab a nice pizza and can of pop and eat/drink before the service to Salisbury, with the annual army-navy rugby match at Twickenham (less of a rugby match, more an excuse for a good drinking session), and with this area being very military, I would have expected SWT to strengthen their services to deal with the crowds... Nope, in rolled 159018, where I just managed to get on, for it was rammed, overhearing complaints that some passengers couldnt board the previous service towards Yeovil, and thankfully after the service emptied out at Andover (the taxi-firms must have had a great night), the guard came through [I would guess he was hiding previously next to the driver at the front of the train to open/close the doors] with a list of people requiring taxis for stations west of Salisbury, and it looked quite long.
I alighted at Grateley, with the car-park full of taxis (must have been at least 20 there), and had a short walk home, getting fresh air, but a very poor showing from SWT (whose bill for the taxis west of Salisbury probably would have been a fair few hundred of pounds), would it have hurt to put on additional coaches to make those last few services longer than they usually are?
Anyhow some pictures:
153311 at Belper:
156470 departing Cromford:
153379 in the pouring rain departing Whatstandwell:
156470 departing Duffield:
A wet Willington:
153310 getting ready to depart from Peartree.
And from the other platform
Awaiting signal clearance:
XC Turbostar racing!
The aim of today was to clear the shacks on the Sheerness branch, plus a couple other bits in that area, so it was a drive to Andover parking not in my usual place due to it being quite busy, had to dump the car a bit further from the station than normal. Anyhow the 14:38 this afternoon was the usual 8-coach service, with 158881 leading 159019 & 159022, with taking a seat in the mostly empty front coach of 881 for the hour ride to Clapham Junction.
I was in two minds, either bail at Clapham and jump on the first thing heading east calling at Vauxhall, or stay on until Waterloo and head to St Pancras via Oxford Circus. I decided to bail at Clapham Junction, which features some nice new yellow backed signs (rather than the usual SWT blue), and over to P10 where 455702 & 455709 took me onwards for the 2 mile, 45 chain leap to Vauxhall, where it was a short walk to the underground station, and onto dud 11005/11006 for the near 4-mile trip to Kings Cross St Pancras, arriving with time to spare for the long-ish walk to platforms 13-15 at St Pancras. Which could only mean one thing, and I was amazed that my Andover Sheerness ticket actually opened the barriers for the HS1 platforms.
The first javelin departure was towards Ashford, however as it was formed of winner 395023 I couldnt turn it down, and we departed full and standing (at least in the front coach) as I had my first 395 for a fair few months, the speed these things accelerate out of Stratford International is amazing (although the view isnt so amazing). Arriving into the soulless Ebbsfleet International, where passengers standing by the doors were advised to by the driver to leave the train at Ebbsfleet to allow others off the train, as it wont depart until you are all back onboard. Unsurprisingly my ticket didnt work the barriers at Ebbsfleet as I walked the walk to platforms 5 & 6, to be allowed access to await the next Gravesend bound service, previously noted as required 395029.
Thankfully it emptied out a bit (I would imagine its commuters using the large car-park as a railhead for the local area) and I managed to get a seat as it switched to the DC lines for the journey to the new Rochester station, I previously had the old Rochester a couple weeks before it closed so Im counting it as a semi-new shack score (as will be the case of Bromsgrove in the next few months). The next service due was a Rainham terminator, which was due to use the new Rainham bay platform, which was a micro-grice for me (and was rude to turn it down), in rolled winner 465924, which as expected for a stopper service nearing the end of its journey was mostly empty, and was a bit of a fester fest with a few minutes wait before it carried on, waiting before rolling into platform 0 where it terminated at Rainham.
Over the footbridge to platform 2 to await the next service towards Dover, and my good run of luck continued with required 375906 & 375821 to take me to Teynham, which is a basic shack but allowed me to get it into the bag to clear the route to Faversham. The PIS on the other platform was a tad useless, not showing details of the next train instead stuck on buses replace trains between here and there on Sunday, and RTT was having a mild blip. Departure time came and went, still no 375, 5 minutes later and I knew my 7 minute connection at Sittingbourne was looking tight, 5 minutes after that duds 375811 & 375824 rolled in, running 10 minutes late so goodbye connection and a new plan needed.
To save a fester at Sittingbourne, I decided to bail at Rainham for my first double 395 set, and it was a good call at in rolled winner 395019 attached with dud 395018 [ironically the 395 I used when scoring Rainham a few months ago!], anyhow it was back to Sittingbourne to cross over to a waiting required 466015 working on a Sheerness branch, or I would board it if it wasnt for a rude lady who decided to close the doors after she boarded, and got up to close them again a couple times after people dared to board (and I made her do it again as I swapped ends due to some very smelly food being brought on board). Anyhow with my revised plan I bailed from the 466 at Swale, a couple others got off the train and were picked up from the small lay-by. I could only imagine how busy that road outside would have been before the bridge was built.
After a quick walk I returned to the featureless platform, which features nothing, no shelter, no seating, not even a Permit to Travel machine, why on earth has this station got a half hourly service? Anyhow fresh dud 466015 soon returned to take me back to Kemsley, for a short wait before the 2nd direct service to Sheerness from Victoria was due which was formed of 6 coaches, standard class only going by RTT, and a couple minutes early dud 466038 rolled in with winner 465907 on the rear, which I was happy about as it was another 465/9 into the book, and the 4 mile run to Queenborough was a lot more than some 465s have mileage wise. An easy connection was made to dud 466006 which was the other 466 on the regular branch line service today, and it was back to Sittingbourne.
The original plan was to wait for the next St Pancras service, as I knew the next Victoria was formed of a pair of dud 375/3s (as I had spotted them working earlier), however I had some gem that a certain 455 was floating around and based a plan to try and grab it, so it was onto duds 375309 & 375305 for the run back towards Victoria, the longest run Ive had on a 375 in a fair while, getting some speed up after Rochester (of which the old station hasnt got a lot left, the platforms remain with the platform edge stones being removed, and only feature was some old DOO monitor holders). Arriving into Victoria was on time, and I took a short walk via Boots to the Southern side for a Portsmouth bound service, formed of duds 377422 & 377102. Departure time came and went, as we were waiting for a fresh air carrying Gatwick Express to arrive/depart eventually departing 5 minutes late for the short run to Clapham Junction.
A quick walk between platforms, and it was a case of waiting for the service from Woking, which had 455705 leading required 455732, my final SWT 455, back from being re-tractioned (and having some nice sunflowers put on the side). It certainly sounded different to the usual 455 DC motor noise. I decided to stay on to Waterloo to be in a good place to board the 22:20 for Salisbury, a service known for overcrowding, and as usual it was a single unit arriving a few minutes late, but I got a seat on 159107 for the run back to Andover. If I boarded at Clapham I would have been standing to at least Basingstoke.
Arriving back home after a short drive, to note that somehow I had managed to get 8 new SET units in the book, which is a lot better than I was expecting. Although I was home an hour later than I had hoped, it didnt put a damper on the day (although it did mean not a lot of sleep).
Anyhow, AC motor noise time!
----------------
30th April A Derbyshire Wayfarer
The aim of today was to grab some shacks around Derbyshire, mainly the ones towards Matlock, plus the two limited served shacks on the line towards Tamworth, as it will save a job for next months East Midlands Madness trip. A short walk to Grateley station for the 05:59 service formed this morning of 159013 for the short run to Basingstoke, where I was booked on the 06:50 XC towards Manchester, changing at the Bat Cave for an Edinburgh bound service.
In rolled dud 220008 for the just shy of 114 mile trip towards Birmingham New Street, time spent looking out of the window at the process of the wires on the GWML, and watching the world go by, arriving into New Street pretty much bang on time, maybe a minute late due to waiting outside the station for a platform to become available. Going via the toilet for a quick PNB, before going down to one of the high-number platforms for the Edinburgh service, formed of 220010, which was quite busy (owing to the WCML being closed in parts, and smelt of booze in the doorway.
A few minutes late into Derby caused by some slow running around the junction where the Crewe line came in (late running freight/charter train?), but I could easily make the connection for the next Matlock service. The platform was quite busy and in rolled winner 153311, yep a single dogbox, which we departed rather cosy, and I stayed on nearly to the end of the line at Matlock Bath, which is a nice enough station on the single track section, nothing much of interest apart from a cable car to some large hill, but it wasnt long before fresh dud 153311 returned working towards Nottingham. I had two options in which I could play it safe with bailing at Ambergate or risk a +4 at Belper, as we were on time I decided to risk the +4 and bailed at Belper.
The connection over the roadbridge was easy enough, I even had time for a quick photo and noticing that there appears to be some shops around that area (so useful for anybody not so lucky in making the connection), anyhow the next Matlock service was due and in rolled a 156, and 156470 made it two winners in a roll to take me nearly to the end of the line at Cromford. Another nice station with old station building turned into an office and a holiday home, the sun had come out as I sat to watch the world go by before 156470 returned from Matlock to take me back to Ambergate.
A quite basic shack, although there appears to be the remains of platform carrying on towards Matlock, but it wasnt long before the 3rd unit on Nottingham Matlock services rolled in, and winner 153379 made it 3 out of 3, and also brought the rain which had been threatening to come out, as the heavens opened as I bailed at Whatstandwell, the main shacks on the branch complete, and nearest station to the Tram museum at Crick, but as the signs warned it was a steep uphill walk. A canal ran alongside the railway at this point, so I took some time to relax (as it was a 30-odd minute wait), before 153379 returned, getting quite busy at Belper, as I bailed at Derby for a quick dash to WH Smiths for a meal-deal as I was getting hungry.
Back onto the platform, and it was a short wait for dud 222007 to roll in to take me to Long Eaton, which involves a long walk between platforms (as it is on an embankment), but it was easy enough to make where I noticed the next Matlock service was a couple minutes late, but thankfully it was the return of 156470 so the dwell times werent so great at Spondon, however we were 5 late departing Derby due to a late running XC being late, Duffield had a +4 but the other service last reported as being 2 down, so it was time for the danger music, miss the connection and it would be a bus back to Derby, thankfully Duffield features an island platform, and we rolled in, no sign of the 153. The 156 departed and in rolled a rather busy 153311 back to Derby, of which I was happy as it meant Nottingham to Matlock was cleared.
But now I had a 55 minute wait before the Birmingham bound XC service which called at Willington, so a trip to Long Eaton was on the cards, first up was a dud 222, which I allowed to depart to wait for another XC service bound for Nottingham and in rolled 170638. I previously had this down as a dud unit, however when I was putting my log files together yesterday I did a quick search on Excel to see where I previously had it, and the only reference was logged against a London Midland journey back on my Great Escape weekend in Feb 14 (one of the first trips where I started to log numbers), so I must have made a logging error for a Rugeley TV to Tame Bridge run. Anyhow back at Long Eaton, it was a short walk to the other platform, arriving just as a Sheffeld bound 222 rolled in, and jumped on without checking the unit number (which isnt as easy as it is on the 220/221s as the coach numbers dont match the unit numbers).
Sadly it was dud 222020, but never mind, as I waited at Derby for the Birmingham bound service, which rolled in, it was dud 170637 which took me to Willington, the station with an odd service pattern, i.e. nothing for 3 hours then 2 services half an hour apart, then nothing for 3 hours. As I alighted from the 170 (along with a few other passengers), the heavens opened again as I dashed down the stairs to the subway, passing some passengers heading the other way (which I hope werent hoping to catch that service, otherwise it would have been a 2 hour wait), before heading up the other stairs to hide in the little waiting bus shelter for dud 170519 to roll in to take me back to Derby.
A positioning move was now required to take me to Tutbury & Hatton to connect with a Peartree stopper, and having noticed before that the Crewe-Derby services appeared to be double 153s, I was happy when I logged winners 153385 & 153319 on the next Crewe service for a short run to Tutbury & Hatton, swinging via the Co-Op outside the station (served by some grumpy lady who shouted that we dont accept NUS discount here [as it seems that the Central England Co-Op group has redrawn from the NUS offer in the past few weeks, like I was meant to know that]. Anyhow it was to the platform to await the slightly delayed Derby service, formed of winner 153321 and dud 153310 to take me to Peartree.
A couple other passengers alighted, and after being allowed out of the station by the controller of the gate (a station where I advise its best to arrive by train rather than by foot, just in case you have issues gaining access to the platforms), and its opposite a retail/leisure park with housing, seems very strange why it only gets 2 services a day, give it an hourly service and it would probably capture more passengers, its not like the station is in the middle of nowhere. Anyhow, Google Maps fired up and it was a short walk to a bus stop, with a Sapphire 38 double decker, fleet 4405 took me back towards the city centre, and a short walk back to Derby.
This is where my plans changed as I was originally going to head up to Sheffield and grab a shack on the Hope Valley line to link in with the XC at Sheffield, however I previously noted that the Newcastle bound service was cancelled earlier, and hence the Southampton bound service had been cancelled, with RTT suggesting it would restart in Birmingham. Another spanner in the works was knowledge that my last 7-coach 222 was due to arrive in Derby around 18:25, so I had some time to kill, and not needing that many units which operate around the Derby area (220/221/222s) I had a short wait before the next Crewe service rolled in, which featured a required 153 and also called at Peartree...
...Hence I took a seat on dud 153355 leading winner 153381, back to Peartree, again I wasnt alone in alighting (but nobody was boarding), and was amazed that 4 out of the 6 153s on the Crewe services were required, leaving my EMT 153 requirements as 308 & 384. Anyhow, once more I was let out of the station, but this time I couldnt link up with a bus, so it was a mile and a half walk back towards Derby Midland station, not a walk I would recommend as it involves quite a few road crossings. But I arrived with time to spare, and headed to P1 just as the trio of HST power-cars rolled by, the VTEC/NR/GC trio on route to Bristol for the open day on Monday, sadly I was on the wrong side of the station to grab a picture before they disappeared to hide behind a EMT HST set. Anyhow winner 222003 rolled in, and taking a seat for the speedy run to Chesterfield for a 15 minute fester for a service from York, formed of dud 222012 to take me back to Derby to get confirmation that the Southampton service was indeed cancelled.
I had two options to get back to Birmingham, either the return of 220010 from this morning (which looked a tad busy being from Edinburgh), or the return of 170638 on a Cardiff service, I decided to allow the 220 to depart and boarded the 170 for a speedy-ish run back to Birmingham New Street, being held outside the station for a few minutes eventually rolling into P12. I somehow made the +4 to 9A, where dud 220028 was waiting, which was reasonably loaded, but my reserved seat was available for the run back towards Basingstoke, heading via Warwick this time rather than Coventry, a bit of slack in the timetable meant a 5 minute wait at Oxford and a 18 minute wait at Reading, before arriving into Basingstoke to a busy station, as SWT was in a bit of chaos with delays a-plenty.
Anyhow, it was time to grab a nice pizza and can of pop and eat/drink before the service to Salisbury, with the annual army-navy rugby match at Twickenham (less of a rugby match, more an excuse for a good drinking session), and with this area being very military, I would have expected SWT to strengthen their services to deal with the crowds... Nope, in rolled 159018, where I just managed to get on, for it was rammed, overhearing complaints that some passengers couldnt board the previous service towards Yeovil, and thankfully after the service emptied out at Andover (the taxi-firms must have had a great night), the guard came through [I would guess he was hiding previously next to the driver at the front of the train to open/close the doors] with a list of people requiring taxis for stations west of Salisbury, and it looked quite long.
I alighted at Grateley, with the car-park full of taxis (must have been at least 20 there), and had a short walk home, getting fresh air, but a very poor showing from SWT (whose bill for the taxis west of Salisbury probably would have been a fair few hundred of pounds), would it have hurt to put on additional coaches to make those last few services longer than they usually are?
Anyhow some pictures:
153311 at Belper:
156470 departing Cromford:
153379 in the pouring rain departing Whatstandwell:
156470 departing Duffield:
A wet Willington:
153310 getting ready to depart from Peartree.
And from the other platform
Awaiting signal clearance:
XC Turbostar racing!
Kite159
Veteran Member
1st May Another trip to Kent
The aim of today was a nice relaxing day to grab some shacks around the Ashford area, although relaxing probably wasnt the right word as I drove towards Romsey, caught behind some slow moving traffic, anyhow I arrive in plenty of time for the 08:19 Romsey - Brighton service which was formed of 158958, with 158953 & 150244 tagging along for the ride, all be it them detaching at Southampton causing a slight delay which was recovered by the time we reached Durrington-on-sea, arriving into Brighton a couple minutes ahead of schedule (although that might be down to some timetable padding between Hove & Brighton).
It was a nice enough trip on the 158, not to hear This is the Southern Service to Brighton, calling at many stations every couple minutes when the Southern services call at every little hamlet. Anyhow a brief walk from platform 2 to platform 7 arriving before mega-dud 171728 rolled in, and as usual with the 171s on these services I jumped into the First Class area for one of the single table seats, mainly to charge my phone up and to look out of the window at the beautiful sea after Eastbourne. Nothing unusual until Hastings were we were slightly delayed due to awaiting platforms, meaning a 4 minute late arrival into Ashford so that a pair of units heading to Folkestone were just missed, never mind as I had a back-up plan in the likely event that connection not holding.
A short wait on platform 5/6 island for dud 375916 forming a Canterbury stopper to take me to Wye which is a nice enough station which appeared to have manually operated level crossing gates, thankfully there was a footbridge to avoid the level crossing, although on crossing the train was being shown as delayed, but bang on time winner 375924 rolled up with its 3+2 seating, with signs on the window that an area was reserved for a large group on the previous service. Anyhow it was back to Ashford arriving into platform 1, giving me a nice cross-platform change to duds 375814 & 375623 working a Cannon Street service (would normally be Charing Cross, but closed today due to engineering works).
It wasnt long before I alighted at Pluckley and it is easy why this is only hourly as there is wasteland to the south, and nothing much to the north and it wasnt long before duds 375624 & 375605 rolled in to take me to another new shack at Sandling, running alongside the Channel Tunnel Rail-link (CTRL), but at this point the CTRL was on an embankment away from the station, and hid behind the high noise-fences. A short wait before winners 375912 & 375919 rolled in to take me the short distance back to Westenhanger, at a point where the CTRL runs alongside the classic rails, so I spent the 45-or-so minutes standing on the footbridge at the entrance to the Dover bound platform, RTT focused on the Westenhanger crossovers to tell me when Eurostars were due, because they make a good noise.
A couple 374s rushed past on route to St Pancras, a refurbished 373 and an unrefurbished rushed past on route to France (I think the first was on route to Belgium, the other one to Paris), and to be honest Im amazed at how the pictures came out considering the speed those trains must have been doing. Anyhow, back to the main-line and duds 375821 & 375806 were up next to take me to Folkestone West complete with RPIs dishing out a couple penalty fares to some ticketless passengers (all very high-tech it looked like as he was tapping away on his tablet device). Folkestone West looked like in years gone past to have a couple through lines, but it wasnt a long fester looking at the buses before winner 395014 rolled in to take me to the end of the line (at present) at Folkestone Central, a nice island platform, with what appeared to be a disused island next to it. It must be a fault with the door selection that only the doors on the front 5 coaches open even through all 8 fit on the down platform, it must be a short platform on the up side which causes the issue, I think the same happens at Ford where only the first so-many doors opens on a double 377, as it fits on the Barnham platform, but overhangs on the shorter Brighton/Horsham bound platform.
Frankly I was surprised that Folkestone Central doesnt have ticket barriers, although I guess with the single passageway down from the embankment, it will be easy enough to do manual checks during holiday season. I had around 30 minutes to kill, so decided to head off in search of food (as I was getting rather hungry), Google Maps suggested a nearby Sainsburys, and 7 minutes later I had arrived at the store, 5 minutes after that I found the entrance (went round the wrong way), grabbed a sub-roll from the little choice they had left, a bottle of Pepsi Max and a slice of lovely carrot cake. Back to Folkestone Central station and back up the ramp to the platform, where fresh dud 395014 was waiting , so it was back to Ashford for a 30-odd minute wait for the next London Victoria via Maidstone service was due to depart. I would say arrive, but that would have meant only a 12-minute wait as they sit at Ashford P1 for a good 18 minutes, at least it meant that winner 375807 departed on time to take me to Charing, a nice little village station with a large footbridge.
It was a short wait before fresh dud 375924 returned from Victoria to take me back to Wye, where winner 375920 rolled in to take me to Ashford, another 375/9 into the book, which are normally hard to locate as they normally only come out to play during the evening peak (and so far Ive scored 4 of them today). Time to start to head back towards Tonbridge, with winners 375826 & 375607 doing the honours to my final shack of the day at Headcorn, a station with two through lines and what appeared to be an avoiding freight loop behind the station, a 30 minute wait here and a quick fire up of Google suggested a Sainsburys Local located 6 minutes away, which would save a job for later, as I grabbed a pasta salad from the limited selection they had left.
Back to the station, and sitting in the sun, as duds 375814 & 375623 rolled in to take me to Tonbridge, with a 10 minute wait before dud 377164 working a Southern service to Redhill, arriving pretty much on time. The next service south of Redhill was a Bognor service, which was running a few minutes late, and formed of duds 377446 & 377457, both annoyingly high mileage units, for the slow run via the Arun Valley, nothing much of interest on the run from Redhill towards Three Bridges, other than that First Capital Connect survives (departure screen at Gatwick saying the TOC was FCC instead of Thameslink, on a Bedford service which looked to be a red 387 leading a white one).
Arriving into Ford, still a few minutes late, but ahead of the Southampton service, which was formed of dud 377409 with a very kind and visible conductor for the semi-fast run back towards Southampton, where I decided to bail at Fareham for a same platform change to the final northbound GWR of the evening (previously my plan would have been to stay on the 377 to Southampton and have a very quick dash to the Co-Op outside the station for a meal-deal for dinner). The final GWR of the evening wasnt what I was expecting as in rolled 150925, I was happy I could get some decent miles (and thrash) from this 150, but from the looks on some of the faces of the passengers who boarded at Southampton they werent happy a nice 2+2 regional express layout 158 was replaced with a 3+2 high density airline seating urban unit, with no seat reservations (please note I dont know if the 20:08 Portsmouth to Cardiff is normally booked for a 150 rather than a 158).
Anyhow, back at Romsey, and a short walk to my car, for the short drive back home to Grateley, the end of a productive day scoring 8 new shacks in Kent (everything from Dover towards London is cleared, just need everything from Dover towards Faversham, bar Ramsgate & Margate, both via Sandwich & via Canterbury, the 4 smaller shacks on the Canterbury West line, everything on the Maidstone East line apart from Charing [which is a job pencilled in for a Friday evening peak-time job] and the Strood to Paddock Wood line. I was amazed at scoring 7 new 375s and a 395, which makes a nice dent into my requirements, only 23 left (5x3s, 6x6s, 1x7, 5x8s, 6x9s).
Needless to say I decided to have Monday off, just to get up-to date with my housekeeping as its a busy week for me, but some pictures:
An unknown 395 on route to Folkestone dashing through Westenhanger:
374001/002 roaring pass on route to London
Belgium bound 373015/016, looking all dark blue:
374003/374004 from Paris, looking all Siemens-like
373223 (and 373224 I guess) on route to Paris, looking all grey and tired:
That 395 is back again:
375807 at Charing, did South-Eastern run out of /9s?
Wye oh Wye:
The aim of today was a nice relaxing day to grab some shacks around the Ashford area, although relaxing probably wasnt the right word as I drove towards Romsey, caught behind some slow moving traffic, anyhow I arrive in plenty of time for the 08:19 Romsey - Brighton service which was formed of 158958, with 158953 & 150244 tagging along for the ride, all be it them detaching at Southampton causing a slight delay which was recovered by the time we reached Durrington-on-sea, arriving into Brighton a couple minutes ahead of schedule (although that might be down to some timetable padding between Hove & Brighton).
It was a nice enough trip on the 158, not to hear This is the Southern Service to Brighton, calling at many stations every couple minutes when the Southern services call at every little hamlet. Anyhow a brief walk from platform 2 to platform 7 arriving before mega-dud 171728 rolled in, and as usual with the 171s on these services I jumped into the First Class area for one of the single table seats, mainly to charge my phone up and to look out of the window at the beautiful sea after Eastbourne. Nothing unusual until Hastings were we were slightly delayed due to awaiting platforms, meaning a 4 minute late arrival into Ashford so that a pair of units heading to Folkestone were just missed, never mind as I had a back-up plan in the likely event that connection not holding.
A short wait on platform 5/6 island for dud 375916 forming a Canterbury stopper to take me to Wye which is a nice enough station which appeared to have manually operated level crossing gates, thankfully there was a footbridge to avoid the level crossing, although on crossing the train was being shown as delayed, but bang on time winner 375924 rolled up with its 3+2 seating, with signs on the window that an area was reserved for a large group on the previous service. Anyhow it was back to Ashford arriving into platform 1, giving me a nice cross-platform change to duds 375814 & 375623 working a Cannon Street service (would normally be Charing Cross, but closed today due to engineering works).
It wasnt long before I alighted at Pluckley and it is easy why this is only hourly as there is wasteland to the south, and nothing much to the north and it wasnt long before duds 375624 & 375605 rolled in to take me to another new shack at Sandling, running alongside the Channel Tunnel Rail-link (CTRL), but at this point the CTRL was on an embankment away from the station, and hid behind the high noise-fences. A short wait before winners 375912 & 375919 rolled in to take me the short distance back to Westenhanger, at a point where the CTRL runs alongside the classic rails, so I spent the 45-or-so minutes standing on the footbridge at the entrance to the Dover bound platform, RTT focused on the Westenhanger crossovers to tell me when Eurostars were due, because they make a good noise.
A couple 374s rushed past on route to St Pancras, a refurbished 373 and an unrefurbished rushed past on route to France (I think the first was on route to Belgium, the other one to Paris), and to be honest Im amazed at how the pictures came out considering the speed those trains must have been doing. Anyhow, back to the main-line and duds 375821 & 375806 were up next to take me to Folkestone West complete with RPIs dishing out a couple penalty fares to some ticketless passengers (all very high-tech it looked like as he was tapping away on his tablet device). Folkestone West looked like in years gone past to have a couple through lines, but it wasnt a long fester looking at the buses before winner 395014 rolled in to take me to the end of the line (at present) at Folkestone Central, a nice island platform, with what appeared to be a disused island next to it. It must be a fault with the door selection that only the doors on the front 5 coaches open even through all 8 fit on the down platform, it must be a short platform on the up side which causes the issue, I think the same happens at Ford where only the first so-many doors opens on a double 377, as it fits on the Barnham platform, but overhangs on the shorter Brighton/Horsham bound platform.
Frankly I was surprised that Folkestone Central doesnt have ticket barriers, although I guess with the single passageway down from the embankment, it will be easy enough to do manual checks during holiday season. I had around 30 minutes to kill, so decided to head off in search of food (as I was getting rather hungry), Google Maps suggested a nearby Sainsburys, and 7 minutes later I had arrived at the store, 5 minutes after that I found the entrance (went round the wrong way), grabbed a sub-roll from the little choice they had left, a bottle of Pepsi Max and a slice of lovely carrot cake. Back to Folkestone Central station and back up the ramp to the platform, where fresh dud 395014 was waiting , so it was back to Ashford for a 30-odd minute wait for the next London Victoria via Maidstone service was due to depart. I would say arrive, but that would have meant only a 12-minute wait as they sit at Ashford P1 for a good 18 minutes, at least it meant that winner 375807 departed on time to take me to Charing, a nice little village station with a large footbridge.
It was a short wait before fresh dud 375924 returned from Victoria to take me back to Wye, where winner 375920 rolled in to take me to Ashford, another 375/9 into the book, which are normally hard to locate as they normally only come out to play during the evening peak (and so far Ive scored 4 of them today). Time to start to head back towards Tonbridge, with winners 375826 & 375607 doing the honours to my final shack of the day at Headcorn, a station with two through lines and what appeared to be an avoiding freight loop behind the station, a 30 minute wait here and a quick fire up of Google suggested a Sainsburys Local located 6 minutes away, which would save a job for later, as I grabbed a pasta salad from the limited selection they had left.
Back to the station, and sitting in the sun, as duds 375814 & 375623 rolled in to take me to Tonbridge, with a 10 minute wait before dud 377164 working a Southern service to Redhill, arriving pretty much on time. The next service south of Redhill was a Bognor service, which was running a few minutes late, and formed of duds 377446 & 377457, both annoyingly high mileage units, for the slow run via the Arun Valley, nothing much of interest on the run from Redhill towards Three Bridges, other than that First Capital Connect survives (departure screen at Gatwick saying the TOC was FCC instead of Thameslink, on a Bedford service which looked to be a red 387 leading a white one).
Arriving into Ford, still a few minutes late, but ahead of the Southampton service, which was formed of dud 377409 with a very kind and visible conductor for the semi-fast run back towards Southampton, where I decided to bail at Fareham for a same platform change to the final northbound GWR of the evening (previously my plan would have been to stay on the 377 to Southampton and have a very quick dash to the Co-Op outside the station for a meal-deal for dinner). The final GWR of the evening wasnt what I was expecting as in rolled 150925, I was happy I could get some decent miles (and thrash) from this 150, but from the looks on some of the faces of the passengers who boarded at Southampton they werent happy a nice 2+2 regional express layout 158 was replaced with a 3+2 high density airline seating urban unit, with no seat reservations (please note I dont know if the 20:08 Portsmouth to Cardiff is normally booked for a 150 rather than a 158).
Anyhow, back at Romsey, and a short walk to my car, for the short drive back home to Grateley, the end of a productive day scoring 8 new shacks in Kent (everything from Dover towards London is cleared, just need everything from Dover towards Faversham, bar Ramsgate & Margate, both via Sandwich & via Canterbury, the 4 smaller shacks on the Canterbury West line, everything on the Maidstone East line apart from Charing [which is a job pencilled in for a Friday evening peak-time job] and the Strood to Paddock Wood line. I was amazed at scoring 7 new 375s and a 395, which makes a nice dent into my requirements, only 23 left (5x3s, 6x6s, 1x7, 5x8s, 6x9s).
Needless to say I decided to have Monday off, just to get up-to date with my housekeeping as its a busy week for me, but some pictures:
An unknown 395 on route to Folkestone dashing through Westenhanger:
374001/002 roaring pass on route to London
Belgium bound 373015/016, looking all dark blue:
374003/374004 from Paris, looking all Siemens-like
373223 (and 373224 I guess) on route to Paris, looking all grey and tired:
That 395 is back again:
375807 at Charing, did South-Eastern run out of /9s?
Wye oh Wye:
Keith Jarrett
Member
Another fine weekend there, sir! The south east must be rapidly becoming a desert as far as your requirements are concerned.
The Derbyshire Wayfarer also sounded like a fab trip. The tip re-Peartree will be filed away for future reference. I wonder if Peartree can be combined with that other not so easy shack that's nearby, Spondon. One for me to check out.
The Derbyshire Wayfarer also sounded like a fab trip. The tip re-Peartree will be filed away for future reference. I wonder if Peartree can be combined with that other not so easy shack that's nearby, Spondon. One for me to check out.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
3 excellent reads, as usual, good sir. Having forgot my earphones (as well as my work smartcard and name badge...) today I was more than grateful for something to read on this horribly boring journey!
Some high levels of productivity there, and like Keith I'm making note of the Peartree advice. Let me know when you want advice on the other shacks in Kent, having done them all myself-)) I might as well share my knowledge of them!
Some high levels of productivity there, and like Keith I'm making note of the Peartree advice. Let me know when you want advice on the other shacks in Kent, having done them all myself
-)) I might as well share my knowledge of them!
Kite159
Veteran Member
13:13 from Derby towards Nottingham, gives a +28 at Spondon for a Matlock service the other way
As for Peartree, I would suggest heading out to Tutbury to link up as I would imagine the 17:40 service to Crewe might be quite busy with commuters heading home
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Spondon has a better service in the peaks (0625/0643/0744/0844/0902 towards Derby in the morning, 0632/0714/0748/0818 towards Notts)
And in the evening, it's 1746/1803 towards Derby, and 1718/1758/1818 towards Nottingham. I do recall going out to Long Eaton, getting the 1746 arrival then jumping onto the 1758 back to Attenborough which also has a decent connection back over, whereas its normally a dodgy +3 during the day.
The Saturday service is similar in the morning, but its a little more sparse in the evening.
Indeed, I did Peartree by going out to Tutbury and Hatton, back over to Peartree, before making the rather grim walk (it was January and very dark) to Derby where I still had time to spare before getting Spondon in so it can be done.
And in the evening, it's 1746/1803 towards Derby, and 1718/1758/1818 towards Nottingham. I do recall going out to Long Eaton, getting the 1746 arrival then jumping onto the 1758 back to Attenborough which also has a decent connection back over, whereas its normally a dodgy +3 during the day.
The Saturday service is similar in the morning, but its a little more sparse in the evening.
Indeed, I did Peartree by going out to Tutbury and Hatton, back over to Peartree, before making the rather grim walk (it was January and very dark) to Derby where I still had time to spare before getting Spondon in so it can be done.
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Kite159
Veteran Member
I'm pretty sure I've done Spondon on a couple of XC services, as a stop-gap in between PSUL movements (XC via Lichfield TV, and the service via Coleshill).
Dodgy +3s are good when they is a footbridge/subway which allows you to dive across the platforms, +3s are not so good when it's manually operated level crossing!
I agree with you Richard about the walk back is a bit grim
....
Anyhow, as I had some spare time in Winchester this evening, I decided to ask someone who kindly gave me some tasty information that 2 of my 3 remaining XC voyagers were due to head South within a couple hours of each other, so it was a short wait for winner 221124 for the short trip to Southampton Airport Parkway, a quick change to 444043 (now a super-dud) back to Winchester for a brief walk. Dud 221120 was on the final northbound XC of the evening to take me to Basingstoke along a route less travelled, before my final 220, 220012 rolled in to take me back to Winchester.
Now if only 221133 would be as nice to roll up one evening (and for my last VT 221 to appear around New Street when I'm next up there hopefully on the bank holiday at the end of May)
Dodgy +3s are good when they is a footbridge/subway which allows you to dive across the platforms, +3s are not so good when it's manually operated level crossing!
I agree with you Richard about the walk back is a bit grim
....
Anyhow, as I had some spare time in Winchester this evening, I decided to ask someone who kindly gave me some tasty information that 2 of my 3 remaining XC voyagers were due to head South within a couple hours of each other, so it was a short wait for winner 221124 for the short trip to Southampton Airport Parkway, a quick change to 444043 (now a super-dud) back to Winchester for a brief walk. Dud 221120 was on the final northbound XC of the evening to take me to Basingstoke along a route less travelled, before my final 220, 220012 rolled in to take me back to Winchester.
Now if only 221133 would be as nice to roll up one evening
(and for my last VT 221 to appear around New Street when I'm next up there hopefully on the bank holiday at the end of May)
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Blindtraveler
Established Member
- Joined
- 28 Feb 2011
- Messages
- 10,544
Theres not many on here who actually try to get voyagers in the book, your bluddy mad
Up here that's basically all there is to get until the new TPE/VTEC fleets appear
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
Last VT221s... I know your pain!
Prolific as ever Kite, I'm told by the other half that the island used to grind to a halt every so often when there was only the old bridge - to the extent that people stockpiled food from the local Tesco if there were rumours of bad weather!
Of course, the new bridge comes with its own problems from a road safety perspective
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Prolific as ever Kite, I'm told by the other half that the island used to grind to a halt every so often when there was only the old bridge - to the extent that people stockpiled food from the local Tesco if there were rumours of bad weather!
Of course, the new bridge comes with its own problems from a road safety perspective
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
alexf380
Established Member
A very productive weekend there Kite. As always, putting the rest of the trip writing fraternity to shame! Congrats, also, on clearing the 220s. No mean feat by any stretch of the imagination.
Congrats, also, on clearing the 220s. No mean feat by any stretch of the imagination.Sounds like you're glad that you only need one XC Unspeakably Horrible Thing. Well, that's the main thing. I won't point out how insane you are. Seriously though, congra---
Sorry. Can't bring myself to say it.
Sorry. Can't bring myself to say it
.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
A very productive weekend there Kite. As always, putting the rest of the trip writing fraternity to shame!
He is putting us all to shame, yes, but not through choice do I let Kite get so far ahead! Still, come November I'll be on a trip that will make him jealous...
Should I point out that I cleared the 220s years ago, so long ago I'm sure a T-Rex was awaiting an HST on a Bath Spa leap at the time? 221s, meh I cleared them in 2011!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Well it's another class cleared which runs through Basingstoke, leaving 221133 and 166209 left.
So nice not having to look out for 444s/450s (or even 884)
So nice not having to look out for 444s/450s (or even 884)
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Aye it will be nice to see 884 produce tomorrow, and those 444s will get there eventually. It's only been 11 years since my first 444...
47403
Established Member
By god that took some reading Kite. Very good reading but I think its definitely time for you to be confined to Barracks so we can all keep up, I still think, it'd be easier if network rail built a station outside your house, you spend so much time with the various TOCs. Walk away for a few days and you've trip reports akin to War and Peace. When you've finished the shacks down there, I'll have a word with a few estate agents up here for you to relocate. A top effort kite.
Many congratulations on clearing so many shacks and getting a fair few winners underlined too. I lost count of what you've cleared haulage wise but by god your blazing one helluva trail through stuff.
so we can all keep up, I still think, it'd be easier if network rail built a station outside your house, you spend so much time with the various TOCs. Walk away for a few days and you've trip reports akin to War and Peace. When you've finished the shacks down there, I'll have a word with a few estate agents up here for you to relocate. A top effort kite.Many congratulations on clearing so many shacks and getting a fair few winners underlined too. I lost count of what you've cleared haulage wise but by god your blazing one helluva trail through stuff.
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