Well at Romsey when waiting for a service towards Southampton Central I turned down 158960 on grounds that it looked kinda busy and on grounds that the following service terminated at Southampton and is normally a 150 and was 5 or so minutes behind.
And a good call as that 150 was required 150232
Although sadly no 150 thrash as it was on time and there is a bit of timetable padding awaiting clearance to platform 2B East
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Anyhow I threw together a completely random "idea" last night on how to do the shacks on the Conwy Valley Line, it's a long day but my loose plan was (sorry for station codes):
Llandudno Junction 05:30 to Betws-y-Coed
06:50 to Gcw (or start the day here)
07:29 to rmb
08:45 to TLC
10:36 to DWD
11:49 to DLG
13:44 to PYP
15:14 to NLR
Walk to LWR (1/2 mile supply raid in shops)
16:53 to BYC
18:01 to DGY
19'08 to LLJ
I say it "was" because there appears to be nothing in the way of hotels or guest houses around the Llandudno Junction area, and where a service from Holyhead connects with that first train it runs fast from Bangor! Although looking at Google Maps, there appears to be a Premier Inn located around 1.2 miles away, which gives options. However it won't come out to play until summer time next year, probably using a North Wales Rover (which appears to have no time restriction). Involves a lot of festering but only one short walk, which goes pass a Co-Op useful for a supply raid.
I suspect the idea will be revised to start the day in Llandudno itself, maybe even breaking out the big bike as it looks like the A470 follows the railway line so by using the main bike to get between stations would probably knock of some of the long festers, and probably be useful on the North Welsh coast for some of those 2 hourly served shacks.
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3rd June A trip to the Highlands, day 1
Making use of the £1 special tickets from the Borders Line towards the Far North line, and with a forum trip arranged to have a long weekend in Inverness, I signed up for post exam relief (as for the exam, hopefully I have done enough to pass, but I did score 150232 working from Romsey towards Southampton on the day).
It was to the 08:59 service from Grateley, also known as the first off-peak train of the day from this part of the network, and 2nd service from Exeter so as usual it was busy as 159014 & 159008 rolled in, the original plan was to carry on until Waterloo, cross over the bridge to Waterloo East and see if I could score any South Eastern units for the bus stop leap across the river to Charing Cross. However I got news that my final 458 was back in service so foolishly bailed at Clapham Junction for 30 minutes of no luck. 458511 & 458520 did the honours to taking me to Vauxhall, where going via Sainsburys for a meal deal & snacks for the trip to Edinburgh.
Required
11025/11026 was rolling in on the Victoria line platform just as I reached the platform, so happy days as I jumped on board, alighting at Warren Street to make my way towards the rear of the next set for a quicker getaway at Kings Cross. 11011/11012 took me forward to Kings Cross St Pancras a minute or so later, I went up to Kings Cross itself and surprisingly the barriers were in operation this morning, on both the mainline entrance and exit, and my ticket didnt decide to want to work the barriers as I arrived just as the 11:30 semi-fast to Edinburgh had been announced as available to board.
Walking up the platform to grab the ID of the 91, and it was winner
91126, with dud DVT 82204 at the rear of the refurbished set (very red inside), my table was in coach C and nobody came to join me until Peterborough when a couple posh sounding ladies boarded, who both alighted at Durham. A good run up the East Coast; making use of the free Wi-Fi code sent to me by VTEC to have a little catching up session with various internet sites, before changing sides at Newcastle to the right hand side for the best part of the ECML when it runs alongside the actual east coast. Arrival into Edinburgh was pretty much on time, but rolling into platform 19 which meant I had a long walk back towards the main concourse area, to meet up with others heading up towards Inverness this afternoon.
Dud 43311 rolled in with 43316 on the rear, although both low mileage machines, and another refurbished set, finding the tables in coach D for the nice spin via Falkirk, Stiring, Perth before the Highland Main Line, which is a wonderful line in terms of remote wilderness, a semi-fast service which doesnt call at some of the stations heading north towards the capital of the Highlands of Inverness, arriving pretty much on time. I jumped into a shared taxi to reach the hotel to save a long walk, checked in before grabbing some dinner from the nearby pub, to have a relaxing evening, ready for a relaxing day (compared to my usual Saturdays) tomorrow.
4th June A trip to the Highlands, Day 2
The day started with another shared taxi (not like Im complaining on missing out on a 40 minute walk), meeting up with the some of the others in the Wetherspoons (as a couple had departed on the early morning Wick train). A nice Scottish breakfast had and a slow walk to the station to board a quite busy dud 158720 on the first Kyle of Lochalsh service, dud from a Haymarket leap so the run towards Kyle cleared the unit for 10 miles.
I had forgotten how beautiful the run towards Kyle of Lochalsh is, through the remote mountains, running alongside bodies of water, with a number of tiny request stops, no dashing around for me today as we rolled into Kyle, with around 40 minutes before it would depart back towards Inverness, enough time for a couple photos and a supply raid at the nearby Co-Op, the others were going to alight at Plockton to walk to the pub, but I decided to remain on board fresh super-dud 158720 to get
Attadale into the book, semi-famous for appearing in Paul Mertons show.
Attadale is a tiny platform, seemingly in the middle of nowhere overlooking Loch Carron, the peace ruined by a busy road behind the station, but what an amazing view of the Loch, if it wasnt for that road it is somewhere I could easily spend an hour sitting on a proper bench, relaxing. Anyhow I didnt have an hour to wait, a mere 10 minutes before dud 158725 rolled in, already a high mileage unit (Stirling to Alloa and then back to Queen Street), I decided to request for the train to call at the last station
Duirinish, which if you do on the first service you could probably walk back the ~2 miles to Plockton, but due to this service not having as long of a turnaround at Kyle I didnt want to risk it. Instead I got chatting with a local who had finished doing a walk along the Loch in the beautiful sunny weather.
158725 returned, and some of the others boarded at Plockton following their visit to the pub, for the run back across the country, the AC wasnt working so the windows were open allowing the noise of jointed track to come through, for an amazing run back as I alighted at the tiny platform (local door only) at
Conon Bridge, a reopened station from a few years ago to serve the small village. 15 minutes later a short Far North working arrived, formed of my old friend, 158719 (old friend because I last had this unit on both the Kyle line and the Far North line in May 14), a short run down the line to
Beauly another tiny local door only platform station serving a small community.
You wait 2 hours for a train, and 3 come along within 20 minutes, as 10 minutes later dud 158716 rolled in from Wick to take me back to Inverness, but I wasnt quite finished with the shacks, but decided to have a short break (for a nice ice-cold drink from a nearby Co-Op). Back to Inverness station and we were allowed onto 158725 working the final Kyle service of the day (making use of the toilet as I refuse to pay the 30p charge at Inverness station), to
Muir of Ord a crossing point on the mostly single track line where the units go wrong direction and pass each other on the right hand side line (rather than the more common left hand side. Anyhow it was a 30 minute fester here at Muir of Ord, enough time to sit down and relax before 158716 arrived to take me to my final shack of the day at
Dingwall
Dingwall has a handy pub on the platform for any drinkers, over the footbridge and to the southbound platform for the Elgin bound service, formed of dud (I havent had much luck with required Inverness based 158s today) 158721 to take me back down the line, carrying straight on at Rose Street junction to go behind the depot to Welshs Bridge junction, before a reversal into Inverness station for one of the very few services which doesnt terminate or start from Inverness (a quick check on RTT shows two services on a Sunday which comes from Glasgow which reverses to head to Elgin). Arrival was pretty much on time and we were put out of a side gate before a rather loud crowd were allowed onto the platform for a Glasgow bound service.
The HST from London arrived, and we met up before jumping into a taxi back to the hotel, to meet up in the hotel pub/restaurant for dinner and a chat. Once back into the hotel I went into trip planning mode to plan how to do the rest of my Far North shacks, probably wont be until this time next year, but I think (with a couple short walks and a bus) I can do it in a week or so (with long festers).
Anyhow some pictures:
Big platform, little train: 158720 at Kyle of Lochalsh:
Little Platform, big train!
Farewell 158720:
The view from the platform:
158725 at Duirinish-ish:
158 clag!
Outside the station:
158725 returns:
Conon Bridge platform:
180 spin:
Muir of Ord (or Moo)
15716 at Dingwall:
5th June A trip to the Highlands, Day 3
The final day in Inverness, now nice and relaxed, as we met up outside the hotel for a taxi to Wetherspoons for breakfast before heading towards the Kings Cross bound HST, led by dud 43206 (which is now cleared for 1000 miles) and 43314 [which I had back in January via Sunderland] on the stopper towards Stirling, I think the only station we didnt call at was Dalwinnie. Half of the group went to first class to pay the weekend First fare, but a few of us remained in standard class to enjoy the rolling hills as we said farewell to the highlands.
As I wanted a break in Edinburgh, I booked myself onto the 15:30 departure which gave me around 2 hours to waste, a potential shack score was highlighted at Gleneagles as a service from Aberdeen was 10 minutes behind, however annoyingly that one didnt call at Gleneagles, so I alighted from the HST at
Dunblane, and 10 minutes later dud 170429 rolled in to take me to Stirling, where it was a fast walk over to platform 8 for dud 158739 working an Edinburgh stopper, which I took to
Linlithgow for a tiny wait (as the 158 was 10 minutes late in departing Stirling caused by the late running of the HST) before winner
170471 rolled in with dud 170409 on the rear for the nice run into Haymarket.
Time to fire up RTT to highlight what was heading towards Edinburgh, with the first service being a pair of dud 334s, so over to platform 1 to await a service from the Fife circle, with dud 170470 leading winner
158717 for the 1 mile 19 chain leap to Edinburgh, with a 5 minute connection to a pair of 334s heading out west towards Edinburgh and beyond. Dud 334028 was leading winner
334001 for another short trip through the tunnels to Haymarket, with a short walk over to platform 1, noting down a required 390 rolling towards Edinburgh, as a HST was due. Dud 43257 was leading required power-car
43317 for the short run back to Edinburgh, and a long walk from the back end of platform 19. The next Aberdeen HST was a pair of dud power-cars and with nothing else, I headed over to take a seat on winner
390039 for a 15 minute break before departure back to Haymarket.
With the time now being 3pm, I had 3 options left to get back to Edinburgh Waverley in time to grab something to munch from the nearby Sainsburys, and to get my seat on the 15:30, the first was a pair of 334s from Glasgow, the other two were from the Fife circle. It was a bit of a risk as I stood on the overbridge to see which service would roll in first, and I spotted the 334s, and winner
334012 was leading dud 334013, so happy days (2 left to locate, with a lot more 334 served shacks left). Into Edinburgh Waverley noting that the Intercity 225 set was on platform 19 (what is it with East Coast using this platform, great for first class passengers, rubbish for anybody in coach C) and had a dud 91 on the rear. Time to swing to Sainsburys, grab some late lunch before taking me seat at a handy table, with DVT 82227 at the front and dud 91131 at the rear, once more my table seat was empty on departure however a small kid from the other side moved over to get out of the sun.
A good run via the east coast, being a fast service calling only at Berwick, Newcastle, Darlington & York, no ticket check until after York, where I made use of a Wi-Fi code to catch up (once south of Newcastle where the line goes a tad boring), we stopped just north of Peterborough which I originally put down to catching up with a late running service in front, however after Hitchin when we suddenly came to a stop, the AC & lights went off and the emergency lighting came on. A few minutes later the guard came over the PA to say that the 91 had tripped, and once a Great Northern service had passed on the slows, the driver was going to have a walk to see if he could get the loco restarted. Bang went my highly unlikely 20:15 connection (which would have meant a lift from Andover back to Grateley due to the 2-hourly Sunday service), eventually the lights and AC came back on and the driver walked back to the DVT, and we were pulling away just as a Network Rail Response van arrived on a little van, with someone cutting away at the roadside vegetation to gain access to the access gate. Anyhow no thunderbird to the rescue, no detraining at Stevenage, just an annoying 28 minute delay into Kings Cross, not enough to make a delay repay claim, boo.
To the underground and I fancied some 1973 stock, however it didnt like me as the first 3 services were dud, so I bailed onto the 3rd which was duds 176/157 for the long walk at Leicester Square (I forgot how long that walk is to the Northern line platforms), and jumped onto the next southbound service which was duds 51711/51551 to Charing Cross. Once up to the main station I highlighted two services which would get me back to Waterloo East to be able to grab dinner from McDonalds in comfortable time for the 21:15 service.
Both were on the same platform, as I walked up noting neither were 465/9s, however the 2nd appeared to be longer, and featured required
466042 at the end, so I climbed on board, duds 465044 & 465040 were on the rear. A slightly delayed departure and a fast walk down the many stairs at Waterloo East, via the chaos of McDonalds before heading up to the 21:15 to Exeter, formed tonight of 159103, 159021 & 158880, which was nice and empty in the leading coach of 021 for the speedy run back towards Grateley, giving me chance to reflect on a nice relaxing weekend in Scotland, a few new shacks into the book, and a small handful of required units (and a loco).
Anyhow only HST call at Dunblane anyone, a bit more classy than the usual 170
Oh, and it wasn't my lowest mileage 390, that's 104 on a 1m19c leap!
Very easy to find once you know it, same for FQ's favourite Meal Deal. Come out of the main entrance, follow the tram line around the corner towards Corporation Street. When next to the HSBC go up the ramp (as if you were going into the shopping centre) and it's on the left just past McDonalds