The Various Random Mutterings of Kite

[Kite159]

Seeing your last 375/7 can't have been nice! Must have been unexpected too!

Thanks Trentside for the gen on the signal box!

Which XC powercars do you need Kite?

At least it's coming back south.

43357 & 43378 for XC

I'm hoping they will show up tomorrow when I'm having a quiet day in Devon, as well as 150120, 150129, 150265 & 150938, although knowing my luck those four 150s will be sticking around the Bristol area and those two 43s will be the 2 out of 10 not in use

 

[FQ]

378 is my second lowest mileage XC one on 141 miles. 357 is on 415 and I know it was out yesterday (and should have ended up at Craigentinny last night). Hopefully at least one will produce! Take a look at my signature

 

[Kite159]

That be good news that 357 is running around, hopefully it will stay attached to 303 and make its way down to the South West tomorrow

Not Quite Rooming in the East – Day 8

I must admit it was a bit sad as I repacked my bag, to say goodbye to the room in the hotel, a bit of a late start for me, and I was thankful for the hotel owner for allowing me to leave my bag & bike in the front reception until later on the afternoon, which give free me up to do a spot of tram hunting, both Nottingham trams and what Quinn calls trams, those last 2 HST power-cars. A slow and steady walk to Beeston Centre, picking up my Robin Hood day ticket and it was onto dud tram 228 to take me towards Lace Market, keeping an eye out for any of my remaining 5 trams, spotting one heading towards Beeston.

A short wait at Lace Market and I decided to head to Old Market Square on dud 226 before thinking that 222 was required to take me around the corner to Royal Centre (must have forgot to remove it from my “required” list from earlier in the week. Winner 233 knocked my requirements down to 4 for the short run to Lace Market as I intercepted required 225 back up from Beeston for the tiny leap to Old Market Square. Dud 220 did the honours to taking me back to the station, as I had news that the HST which had just rolled in from Leeds featured a required power car, so a quick swing via Tesco to pick up lunch before the TVM to pick up tickets.

My source was correct, required 43045 was at the rear on arrival, front on departure with dud 43081 on the rear, so it was a short trip to Loughborough. Nothing much spotted on route, apart from having a jolly good guard (sounded Irish) and being put into the slow lines after Trent junction until after East Midlands Parkway where we crossed over to the fast lines. It was back to Nottingham on the non-very HST like 222004 (I guessed it was a 222 replacing a HST on the 10:00 St Pancras – Nottingham service due to it arriving early at most stations). Anyhow it was back to Nottingham with a few hours to kill so it was to Old Market Square on dud tram 235 to take up a seat to watch the trams go by, making a mental note of trams spotted heading towards Clifton & Toton so I knew when I saw those come back there was nothing else that side of the network (similarly for northbound trams).

An hour and a half of sitting in the sunshine later, apart from a quick walk around, I made use of the Wi-Fi leaking from the Wetherspoons, but none of my required trio were spotted, so must have been sitting on the depot, so swinging via a couple shops to pick up an ice-cream from Burger King, and having a quick browse, it was back to the station on dud 215, via Tesco to pick up a bottle of water. I had a rough plan so it was onto duds 153357 & 153311 working a Matlock service to Beeston, picking up my bag & bike before heading back to catch 222006 around the corner to East Midlands Parkway to sit and wait 8 or so minutes for the Ex-Leeds train to roll in. My fingers were crossed when I saw the lights of a 43 in the background, and it was winner 43089 with 43046 on the rear, my final EMT 43.

I was pleased as punch as I alighted a few minutes later at Loughborough for a 30 minute fester for the next Nottingham bound service, as 43081/43045 returned from London heading back towards Sheffield via Derby. Nothing else spotted and with the weather not looking the best I decided to stay around the station (not like I could head out as the station is quite far from the town centre). My trip back to Nottingham was on 43055 leading 43058, which was an odd set as it featured a buffet coach in Virgin East Coast colours (but EMT inside), and a random declassified 1st class coach slotted in the middle of standard class, so guess where I sat?

Yep, the declassified 1st class coach, mainly for the power socket (using the Wi-Fi at Old Market Square drained my phone), for the short trip back to Nottingham, where I had roughly an hour wait before my booked connection, the 18:16 Skegness service. Taking a seat near platform 2 I relaxed, waiting for 156410 & 158857 to roll in from Lincoln, with the windows open on the 158 suggested that the AC had failed so I sat in the 156 (ok mainly for some last 156 thrash) which was nice and empty for the run to Grantham, crossing over to platform 1 for the ex-Leeds service. It was a busy dud 91115 pushing DVT 82220, having to kick someone out of my reserved seat (which they spent the rest of the journey cursing me, yes I would have swapped but with my bag & bike in tow I was limited to what I could do). What sounded like a drunken fare dodging passenger refusing to get off the train meant a 5 minute delay on departure (he was met off the train at London by a couple BTP officers), but nothing much on the way down. Passing what appeared to be a failed Edinburgh service in reverse formation at Stevenage, before rolling down to Kings Cross, arriving a couple minutes late due to that passenger.

A slow walk took me to the Victoria line platforms, with dud 11031/11032 taking me to Oxford Circus, before Bakerloo sets 3239/3543 took me to Waterloo, swinging via McDonalds probably wasn’t the wisest of moves with both bike & bag in tow, but I made it to the 21:15 which tonight was formed of 159011, 159006 & 158883 for the speedy run back to Grateley, skipping Overton & Whitchurch.

With a lift at the station meant I didn’t have to walk home pushing the bike and pulling my bag meant the end of my little adventures in the East, but apart from some hassle on the Saturday I set out to complete what I wanted, to clear EMT shacks and a few Northern shacks which are outside any real day ranger area, clearing EMT for haulage was a bonus as well. Anyhow some pictures from my final day:

43089 approaching the hub of activity known as East Midlands Parkway:


It rests at Loughborough:


43046:


Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?


Declassified 1st class coach in the middle of standard class:

 

[FQ]

Sounds like a brilliant final day there! Shame that the fester at Old Market Square gave you no winners but a huge congrats on clearing EMT! I see that my last required EMT power car (045) was one of your last two! 046 is the best tram as well so it's good to see that it getting some action.

Where are you off to next?

 

[Kite159]

Sounds like a brilliant final day there! Shame that the fester at Old Market Square gave you no winners but a huge congrats on clearing EMT! I see that my last required EMT power car (045) was one of your last two! 046 is the best tram as well so it's good to see that it getting some action.

Where are you off to next?

Tomorrow is a 'relaxing' day down to Devon for some unit hunting and sea-side watching, with Sunday probably a trip to Essex.

Next overnight trip is in a couple weeks time for a little trip to Edinburgh, although the Scot-Rail strike on the Sunday might cause me to change my plans (probably something to look into tonight actually)

 

[FQ]

Have fun! I'm in Mancc for a forum meet and then probably nothing until London with Nathan and Cactustwirly the Saturday after that (9th).

 

[55013]

Congratulations on clearing the EMT HSTs
A good day all round by the looks of it.

 

[Blindtraveler]

just caught up with these, well done indeed Sir, sounding good and a lot of fun!

 

[Techniquest]

Many congratulations on clearing the EMT HST power cars, a club I've been in for near enough 8 years

Shame the final 3 NET trams didn't produce but it's something to go back for (if on a weekday maybe tweet NET and ask for gen, I've done that before, and yes they reply!) one day

Another fantastic read good sir, hope Devon is good to you tomorrow. Didn't see any of those 150s except 938 last week down there, so it could happen yet!

 

[Kite159]

Those trams can wait until Ilkeston is finally open, when I can get that station into the book before doing some hunting of trams
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
2nd July – Kiting out in Devon

Originally today I had pencilled in for a trip to Anglia land to grab some stations, but I decided to swap some days around and have a little trip out west, to hunt down some units and to try and get the Summer Saturday 57 hauled service. Sadly apart from Quinn giving me the heads up at which two XC HST services featured my last 2 XC powercars I was going blind for my last 4 GW 150s.

A late (compared to normal) start today and it was a slow walk to the station for the 08:28 Exeter service (to show how late I was this unit would have formed the 05:27 to London), it was 159006 which was busy (first service from London/Basingstoke to west of Salisbury), but it ran into an empty 159014 at Salisbury, which allowed me to jump forward to grab a good table seat (originally on the left hand side, shifting to the right hand side after Yeovil area). A good little run, although I think I spotted what appeared to be an old LU tube unit in a field between Tisbury & Gillingham, which seemed a touch on the random side.

Anyhow running pretty much to time, and into Exeter St Davids, noting that one of the original 150/9s was sat on the siding near to St James Park (opposed to the temporary 150938) due to an earlier broken down train messing up the Exmouth line (for most of the day it felt like), but into Exeter St Davids and my deckchairing started to see if anything required would pop up working Exmouth services. First Exmouth was a 150+153 so I gave that a miss, with the 150/9 running down towards Paignton. I decided to jump onto dud 150202 up the hill to Exeter Central to intercept the next Barnstaple service, sadly that was a pair of pacers (143603/143620) which I took back down to St Davids.

A couple HSTs were spotted heading south, both were dud, so after lunch I jumped onto 150127/153368 down to Exeter St Thomas, where a full revenue blockade was in progress (some sort of event happening around Starcross it seemed like today), duds 143621 & 143617 took me back to St Davids, where my luck didn’t change and the only other service I hadn’t spotted was a pair of dud pacers from Barnstaple. Looked like my 150s were either sitting on the depot, down in Cornwall or up in the Bristol area (ah well, you win some, you lose some). It was lucky I checked RTT as I highlighted a potential linear hop to Newton Abbot on a HST, only to see that, that HST is looped at Dawlish Warren (can’t be many times a HST overtakes another HST).

It was time for my first GW HST since December last year (yes I know, I can’t believe it’s been that long), sadly it was duds 43086 & 43063 to take me down via the sea-wall to Totnes, with a 15 minute connection for the Plymouth – Exeter St Davids summer special. Needless to say the platform was a bit on the busy side with other spotters waiting for the arrival and in rolled 57603, thankfully required (at least the GWR gods are with me today and didn’t throw out 604). A good run behind a modestly quiet loco (probably would give out more noise on the hilly sections), and sadly it wasn’t long on the nice seats on the seated coaches of the Night Rivera before I alighted at Dawlish for a short wait for the first required XC HST to come down from Glasgow.

It was peaceful to listen to the sound of the waves hitting home, a dud 150+153 was turned down heading towards Paignton, before winner 43357 rolled in with 43303 on tow to take me the tiny leap to Teignmouth, with a semi-fast walk over the temporary footbridge to the other platform for the next service from Paignton, duds 43156 & 43028 took me back to Dawlish, where I bailed as they were running a few minutes late and the connection at Exeter wasn’t the strongest. Anyhow a good thing I did bail as the next Paignton service was duds 43188/43187, also known as the 1st Green HST set, and first time I’ve been on board the refurbished set (seems very nice).

I alighted at Newton Abbot after another sea-wall blast, noting that there was a Penzance service due in front of my Newquay, so I was looking up connection times at Plymouth just in case, however it was the other green HST set, certainty made a good impression, just a shame the 1st set departed a minute or so before the 2nd set arrived (as it would have made an interesting picture). As it was dud, I allowed them to go, and a few minutes later 43378 rolled in with 43321 behind, my final XC 43 (and hence final XC requirement). It was back to Totnes for a 10 (or so) minute wait for the “Royal Duchy”, and my bad run with GW 43s came to an end with winner 43182 leading dud 43003 back to Newton Abbot (as it was a busy train I decided to bail to chance my luck with the Leeds bound HST from Paignton),

A couple minutes late and duds 43303 & 43357 returned to take me to Exeter St Davids (at least it clears 43357 for 10 miles ), and like before it was mostly empty in coach E, and the sea-views were wonderful. A few minute wait at Exeter St Davids for duds 153318 & 150246 to roll in on an Exmouth service starting from Exeter St Davids, with 57603 rolling in behind it to form the Penzance service (sounding quite nice ticking over), a short trip up the hill to Exeter Central, where dinner was sourced from the local McDonalds before heading back to the station to eat it.

159104 & 159016 were to be my units to take me back home, and the PIS said it would be the rear 3 coaches continuing onto London after Salisbury, where in fact it was the front 3 coaches, but I stayed in the mostly quiet 159016 for most of the way switching to the memory foam seating on 159104 once we joined the main-line after Wilton. A nice enough run back to Grateley and a short walk home, an early finish compared to my usual Saturday day trips (as 159104 would form the 22:20 from Waterloo).

Anyhow, in summary, sadly those 150s remain, but with a GW 43 taking my requirements down to 19 (I can see some Reading – Paddington moves coming up), clearing XC and getting 57603 into my book made a semi-relaxing day trip worthwhile. Some random pictures:

43063 at the rear of the Penzance bound HST at Totnes, an unknown voyager bound on the other platform:


The former 47349, 57603 “Tintagel Castle” rolls into Totnes:


The driver waiting for clearance from the guard/platform staff at Dawlish, beep beep:


A nice day at the beach:


An unknown HST rushing through on route to London:


43357 arrives at Dawlish:


And departs Teignmouth, just as 43156 starts to arrive, fast platform dispatcher.


43028 bringing up the rear departing Dawlish:


London bound 43093 next to Paignton bound 43187 at Newton Abbot:


Penzance bound 43005:


Fresh from Dundee, 43378 arriving at Newton Abbot


Only another couple hours to go until it reaches Newquay:


Penzance bound 43161 departing Exeter St Davids with Penance bound 57603 waiting:


Good to see 159104 back from Loughborough, as it departs Grateley on route to Waterloo:

 

[Techniquest]

Another top read there

Shame on the 150s not being out, but 3 HST power car scores and a winner 57 is not bad going at all!

 

[47403]

Absolute cracking read kite, where to start. Firstly congrats on clearing everything EMT has to offer for haulage, immense achievements and clearing the shacks, is no doubt a bigger achievement. That bike deserves a retirement and displayed proudly in your house.

Shame you didn't catch up with the 150s, wouldn't mind a spin behind the reincarnation of 47349 myself, not a fan of the bodysnatchers for obvious reasons but at least some of it still resembles its former self and just seeing any of the GWR bodysnatchers would be a nice start.

You've totally blazed a trail this year, when can we expect you to try and put a hole in the North East, I'd strongly advise you to get up whilst a bit warm coz you'll perish to death doing em in the winter.

Top top effort kite, look forward to the next installments.

 

[FQ]

Glad I could be of help with the XC powercars. Congrats on clearing Cross Country too (something I'm not too far off from doing - just a few 170s)! Shame the 150s didn't produce but 4 winners, all locos, isn't bad at all!

 

[Kite159]

Just a little day trip after work saw me bagging my final 166, 166209 on a shamefully tiny leap from Reading to Tilehurst. Gets it into the book on a cheap move (as Grateley to Tilehurst is the same price as GRT to Reading or even to Bedwyn) With the bonus of 159101 becoming member 27 of the 159 thousand mile club

Although in the time spent at Reading I did spot 43002 heading towards Frome, and it looks very impressive in the metal

 

[FQ]

Congrats on the GWR 166s! It'll constantly appear on required moves now though .

 

[Techniquest]

Congratulations on clearing the 166s, another key milestone towards clearing all of GWR!

 

[Kite159]

Congratulations on clearing the 166s, another key milestone towards clearing all of GWR!

And means when I'm at Reading for HST hunting, I don't have to worry about looking out for any Turbos

Cue 166209 popping up tomorrow afternoon on a semi-required leap from Basingstoke to Reading (pending on times)

 

[47403]

Another class cleared for haulage, well done squire, I'd be happy just clearing them 165s and 166s for sight and everything else you've cleared. You've had an unbelievable year scratching things off, so whats next on the hit list?

 

[Kite159]

Another class cleared for haulage, well done squire, I'd be happy just clearing them 165s and 166s for sight and everything else you've cleared. You've had an unbelievable year scratching things off, so whats next on the hit list?

317663 then probably onto the 357s unit wise

 

[47403]

317663 then probably onto the 357s unit wise

that all you need down there? I know you've got the metros in your sights. It took me around 6months to get all them for haulage. Your normally quite clued up but if theres anything I can help you with, while up here, don't hesitate to ask, if I'm not sure, Im sure rg177 will.

 

[Kite159]

that all you need down there? I know you've got the metros in your sights. It took me around 6months to get all them for haulage. Your normally quite clued up but if theres anything I can help you with, while up here, don't hesitate to ask, if I'm not sure, Im sure rg177 will.

I still need many units around London, I just set my sights on clearing a particular class before moving onto something else

 

[iantherev]

At least it's coming back south.

43357 & 43378 for XC

I'm hoping they will show up tomorrow when I'm having a quiet day in Devon, as well as 150120, 150129, 150265 & 150938, although knowing my luck those four 150s will be sticking around the Bristol area and those two 43s will be the 2 out of 10 not in use

150129 seems to be stalking me at the moment although it wasn't in evidence today. In fact I can't get a 150/2 at the moment for love or money - I went for the Paignton - Cardiff this afternoon aiming for one but got 158766 instead:roll:

 

[55013]

As usual, excellent stuff.
I love Devon & Cornwall, it's been far too long since my last visit.
Mrs 13 and I are coming down later in the year but sadly not until after the 57 turn has finished.

 

[Kite159]

8th July – The return of the London Friday evening smash and grab

As per the title, it was the return of my trips to London on a Friday afternoon/evening to grab some units, the idea of today was to try and get my first 700 into the book, my final 317 plus those extra 3x 387/2s which are temporary working for Thameslink (as I reckon it will be easier to get those out of the way when in the core rather than on Gatwick runs, although they will probably feature at some point on a run to Gatwick). Anyhow with information with workings in hand, I formed a rough plan involving a couple tight connections, but hopefully I will get all 5 units into the book.

A good drive to Andover after work and it was onto 158883/159019/159009 on the 14:40, as usual I sat in the empty 158 as it rolled in a couple minutes late (earlier signalling problems somewhere meant 159009 waiting around 15 odd minutes at Axminster), that delay didn’t really go away as such, but apart from spotting a 59/0 sat in Woking yard was an uneventful run, arriving a minute or so late (but going straight into Waterloo rather than waiting around outside). On the way to Waterloo I made use of the Wi-Fi to discover that the 700 had failed at Brighton and hence the 16:12 (or so) London Bridge – Brighton had been cancelled, so I had a quick rethink of my plan, and was ready to go.

To the underground, this time I picked the Northern Line, and was rewarded with winners 51624 & 51625 on a “leap first, check later” move as they were already sat on the platform as I went down the stairs, working out that I needed to be at Blackfriars at 16:10 at the latest to head north, but sadly luck wasn’t with me at Embankment with 2 dud S7s bound for Upminster before deciding to board duds 21411/21412 working a circle line service for the short run to Blackfriars, going up the stairs, as usual the barriers didn’t like my travelcard so got let through manually and jumped on the 377s sat on the platform, a train earlier than plan and I probably should have stayed on until St Pancras as I had bags of time to waste once 377210 & 377518 got another 46 chains for the leap to Farringdon.

A couple southbound services later and the next Three Bridges service was due, crossing my fingers and hoping for the best as dud 387126 rolled in with winner 387206 on the rear, and 46 chains later (gets it into the book!) I alighted at Blackfriars, thankfully the pair of 375/3s on the bay platform ready to form a Dover service were dud so I just jumped on the next northbound service, formed of 387111 & 387124 to take me to St Pancras, where I had a roughly 15 minute fester until my next highlighted service was due in southbound. So with lack of anything else to do I took a seat and just waited keeping an eye out for other movements, but as expected nothing of interest before dud 387120 rolled in with winner 387222 on the back. Once outside into the open at Farringdon where I had internet signal I checked RTT which highlighted the next Bedford service running a tad late so I bailed at City Thameslink giving me a couple minutes to leg it to the other platform to jump onto a busy 319385 & 319421 for the short hop to Farringdon.

The next Brighton service was being advertised as only having 4 coaches, so it would have been rather cosy (as it was now around 17:30!), however the PIS was lying as it was actually another pair, with 387105 leading winner 387223 to take me back to the river at Blackfriars, and with an hour or so to waste before needing to be at Liverpool Street for a service to connect with my last 317, so after checking the next South Eastern service to Ashford (pair of Thameslink 377s), I headed to the underground for a spot of linear hoping. First service was a rather busy winner 21401/21402 which I managed to get on for the short run to Mansion House, a couple dud sets later and the next Upminster District line service rolled in formed of winner 21311/21312 for the tiny leap to Cannon Street.

I previously loaded up RTT at Blackfriars which gave me a rough idea on departures, with a trio of 375s catching my eye as by the time I arose from the underground they were next to depart, dud 375615 was leading 375703 with winner 375601 on the rear, so another 375 into the book for the tiny leap to London Bridge (as I believe the next stop was Rochester!), as I crossed over to P3 to wait, using RTT to give me some ideas of what was due. First 3 services were duds (pair of 376s, a 465+465+466 plus a pair of 465s), so I was just about thinking to give up and head to the underground, but decided to give the next service a shot as dud 376021 rolled in with winner 376009 on the rear to take down my “Evilstar” requirements to 3, and as expected it was nice and warm inside, even with all the little windows open, they do little against the heat.

Anyhow a short trip later and I was at Cannon Street, making use of the time to look at the LU map at the best way to get to Liverpool Street, deciding on either changing at Monument to go to the Central link or waiting for the next Circle line service, but when I reached the underground platform I only had a 3 minute wait for the next Circle line service so decided to go the “long way” round (I guess it saves a long walk at Bank). First up was a couple district line services, sadly both dud S7s, before dud 21473/21474 rolled in to take me to Liverpool Street, having a look at Aldgate East at the next metropolitan line departure, but that was a dud S8 so remained on board around the corner for my potentially last Tottenham Hale leap. I had the choice of a pair of 379s on an airport or a pair of 317s to Hertford East, I decided to go for 317886 & 317654 on grounds that Hertford East services don’t have First Class, so I sat in the small FC area on 886 for the short (and slow) run to Tottenham Hale.

Still as welcoming as ever (as in not at all), I crossed over to the other platform to wait for the next service from Hertford East, and in rolled winner (and final 317) 317663 leading dud 317655, so taking a seat in the front of 663 it was a short trip back to Liverpool Street, highlighting potentially 3 moves to Stratford, the first was a pair of dud 321s bound for Harwich International from the “West Anglia” side of the station, the 3rd was a pair of 360s, and sadly the 2nd was duds 321353 & 321421 to take me to Stratford as I fancied some Jubilee line motor noise, however the next Liverpool Street bound service on P9 was a service from Norwich so I decided to give it a go. In rolled winner 90008 hauling the Mk3 coaches with winner DVT 82107 on the rear (learning to actually note those things as they don’t appear on Trust) for the short trip back to Liverpool Street.

It was down the underground, with jumping on the first Central line service which was already in the platform, noting the numbers at Bank to find I board a service lead by dud 91181, winner 92102 dud 92120 and winner 91109. A short walk later and I found myself on the Waterloo & City line platforms with dud 65509/65510 just rolling in for the short trip to Waterloo, exiting to the main concourse swinging via Boots for a meal-deal (as I didn’t really have time to head down to Sainsburys or Tesco on Waterloo Road, knowing that the 159s are busier than usual due to the £16 promotional deal), nothing of interest in Boots (or WH Smiths for that matter), so I decided to get food when back at Andover as I grabbed a seat in 159103 leading 159015 on the 20:20 service. A few minutes late in departing due to a few late running services and stopping to pick up of the “Pimms o Clock” crowd at Wimbledon before heading back to Andover. A visit to Tesco on the way home scored me a sandwich meal deal before heading home reflecting on a productive evening.

Sadly no pictures, but here is a random picture of 166209, not on fire, at Tilehurst:


I think my next London based unit target will be those last 3 x 376s before either my final dozen 357s or LM 350s. I will probably leave searching for my final 465/9s & 466s until after August where hopefully I will clear the SET stations on a Kent Rover with the hope of coming across some of my requirements on the Maidstone East line.

 

[Techniquest]

Congratulations on clearing the 317s, quite the achievement on its own. Certainly the clearout of 387s is progressing well, although a shame the 700 didn't produce!

 

[FQ]

Shame about the lack of 700 but that was a very productive evening in London! Congrats on clearing the 317s!

 

[55013]

That was the day I was in the Liverpool Street area, trying to increase the number of 317s I'd had from the paltry thirteen that I started the day on
Congratulations on clearing them.

 

[Kite159]

9th July – Into the Valleys of Wales, rode the 150

The idea of today was a nice easy shack scoring visit to South Wales, focusing on those shacks west of Cardiff, so with the tickets booked I had a nice drive to Salisbury to pay my £2 for Saturday parking and had a short wait before the 07:30 GWR service from Portsmouth towards Cardiff rolled in, this morning formed of 158955. A semi-quiet coach B was where my seat was located, sat near a group of lads who I assume were heading to some “stag” weekend as they were already on the cheap mass produced lager (a tad loud, but thankfully they alighted at Westbury). Unusually going into Westbury platform 1 with a short wait for a delayed HST to cross over the line towards Paddington before carrying on, keeping good time to arrive into Bristol a couple minutes early, with the usual 15 minute wait due to reversing and timetable padding.

The AC had failed on the entire train so the windows were open, which gave me some good 158 tunnel thrash (not as a good sound as a 153 via the tunnel), and we were routed onto the “slows” after Severn Tunnel Junction, which are a tad on the slow side compared to the main running lines (which I assume were closed for engineering works of some description ) but we kept to time arriving into Cardiff Central a couple minutes ahead of schedule (again most likely down to some timetable padding), as I already had my “Explore Cardiff & Valleys” rover, it was straight over to platform 7 for a short wait for the next Barry Island service, formed of dud 150257 to take me to my first shack score of the day with Eastbrook into the bag.

A footbridge at the “Barry” end of the station meant it was easy enough to change to the other platform within the 5 minutes I had available before dud 150264 made itself known to take me back the near mile to Cogan, noting from the previous service this station had a footbridge located at the Cardiff end, a couple minutes later and winner 150230 popped up to take me to Dinas Powys which has a nice subway at the Cardiff end of the platform, and not a lot else (apart from some rubbish looking shelters with bars for ‘seats’).

I decided to jump on dud 150217 back to Eastbrook as a mere time wasting move to avoid hanging around Dinas for 15 minutes (plus it gets an extra 58 chains in for 150217, which didn’t need it as I had that 150 to Fishguard and back in December 14). Anyhow a shorter wait at Eastbrook and dud 150242 rolled in to take me to the island platform at Barry Docks before the return of fresh dud 150230 returning from the Island known as Barry to Cadoxton, which like Dinas is a subway to get to the other side. I was thinking to myself that so far I hadn’t had the pleasure of a delightful Pacer, before the next Bridgend service was due to roll in (formed of 2, so I was thinking it would be another 150), and it was dud 142072.

Thankfully I managed to score a seat in one of the bays for the speedy run via the Vale of Glamorgan, passing the site of many of a closed station, some industrial buildings and the airport to reach Llantwit Major, which is in a nice looking town, which I made use of the 35 minute or so fester to hunt for some lunch having noticed a Co-Op being advertised on Google Maps. With lunch ‘scored’ it was a short walk back to the station, nearly getting run over on a zebra crossing, and to the Cardiff platform which looked quite busy. 142072 returned from Bridgend to take me to Rhoose Cardiff International Airport station which was my first level crossing station of the day, which I dived across to the other side in the short time the barriers were up, as they came down a good 4 minutes before the next Bridgend train was due. 150280 popped up on the next train to Bridgend, so it was back out towards the industrial area with some good sea views rolling into Bridgend where the train terminated in platform 1A.

A short wait in the light rain before the next Maesteg bound service was due, another reopened line, but unlike the Vale of Glamorgan it is single track throughout (with a seemingly disused passing loop after Tondu signal box) with a disused freight line crossing the main line at Tondu. Which I guess limits the service frequency to hourly, with no service on Sundays (not even the ‘token’ 2 hourly service seem on the other valley lines). Anyhow I was surprised when dud 175103 rolled in from Cheltenham Spa, a nice bit of luxury compared to the usual 150s (or 158s) found on this line. It was a nice short run (felt like it is a bit of a climb after Tondu) to Maesteg Ewenny Road. Not a lot around the station at Ewenny Road (and probably if I had the bike I could ride like the wind down the line to Garth). 175103 returned from Maesteg to take me down the hill to Wildmill which like the name suggests is wild (strangely only working as far as Cardiff giving a gap in frequency for those stations towards Cheltenham).

Wild in that it was a good way down to the road below and not a lot around the station, I soon returned to the platform to wait for the next Maesteg bound service, and normal service resumed as dud 150240 was up next, so it was back pausing for the token exchange after Tondu before rolling to Garth, which was another basic station, in a housing estate. A short wait before 150240 returned to take me to Sarn where because the weather was nice I decided to have a short walk (less than a mile) to Tondu station itself, taking a couple pictures of the disused freight lines and the semaphore signals. The station itself isn’t really the best located for the “town” centre, involving crossing a busy road and walking up a road with no pavements on, quite easy to miss if you weren’t looking for it. Anyhow a few minutes of festering and 175103 returned from Cardiff to take me to the end of the line at Maesteg which has a small Asda next to the station, and not a lot else. Anyhow changing to the front coach of 175103 for the nice run back down the branch line and onto the main line for some 175 speed, as I alighted at Pontyclun for a 30 minute (or so) fester.

A nice little town with what appeared to be some local shops located on the bridge (a Co-Op, a Spar and a Greggs), but with nothing really better to do I went back to the basic platform, as 43002 rushed through (still looks rather nice) on route to Paddington, a late running 158 rushed through from Fishguard and a 150 rushed through on route to Fishguard, before dud 150217 rolled in to take me to Llanharan, which is a basic station with a nice footbridge. A short wait before dud (not really doing that well on my required units today!) 150231 rolled in to take me back to Cardiff Central.

A short walk to platform 6 with RTT suggesting I had 2 options to get to Queen Street to give me an ID of the unit on the Bay shuttles, with the potential of another winner before the next Radyr service rolled in, as back in March I got bowled out by cancellations and couldn’t complete the City line. First service rolled in was a pair of 143s, with dud 143609 leading winner 143601, so happy days as I jumped onto 601 for the short trip to Queen Street, nothing required was spotted heading down to Central, and the service on the Bay line was a dud 150 so I knew I didn’t have to fit that in later. Anyhow the next City Line bound service rolled in and I was in luck as it was required 142082, my last ATW 142. 3 and a quarter miles later I alighted at Waun-gron Park which is a shack where it is a tad evil to get between platforms in a hurry, but you have more chance making a service from Radyr (middle of the train).

Anyhow, not really a lot around the station (on top of an embankment), so I settled down to read some more of my book as I waited for a known dud 142 to come back round (no 153s out today as the 3rd unit was a 143, with my final 143 (605) sat in the Cardiff sunshine on depot (so unlikely that would be out to play today). Anyhow 142076 rolled in to take me to Radyr, for a short wait for a Pontypridd short working formed of dud 143614 to take me to Trefforest to clear the valley lines from Cardiff to Pontypridd (leaving the three branches north of Pontypridd which will be a job for October or November time, plus the Ebbw Vale line). Anyhow I was soon onto dud 150280 to take me down the line to Taffs Well, where winner 150237 took me back to Trefforest dud 150257 had a nice run down to Queen Street, where I decided to step back a train just in case, but sadly it was dud 150253 to take me down the hill to Cardiff Central, where I was going to call it a day and head towards platform 2 where the last Portsmouth service was due to depart from. However I spotted a pair of 153s heading towards Coryton, with dud 153327 leading winner 153367 it was too good to turn down so it was back to Queen Street, leaping onto duds 143624 & 143610 to take me back down to Cardiff Central.

Which is where thinks went wrong as instead of a nice easy transfer to platform 2, everybody was forced out of the station and around the houses to try and get back in to access the final Portsmouth train (with someone kindly allowing me to bypass the queue after mentioning that it was the final direct train and that nobody informed me of the queuing system, however even GWR seemed to be taken unaware of the extra crowds as they only had the usual single 3-car 158 on the 20:23 service, which was 158961 and was rammed solid, standing room only until Bristol where a good 80% of the train emptied out (a suggestion to GWR, put on extra services for Bristol only to allow passengers traveling beyond Bristol to board the final Portsmouth, as there might be another Salisbury bound service afterwards (a SWT from Bristol), but nothing south of Romsey. Anyhow rant over, and as the morning we were routed via the slow lines after Newport which allowed me to score the flyover (not sure if I previously had it on a rail-tour in 2013 time, as it was dark and due to lateness not sure if we were put onto the slows or onto the ‘fasts’ after rejoining the main-line from the Hereford line.

Anyhow finally getting a seat (no seat reservations were put out), it felt like we ran into another unit at Bristol (normally a 150 taken locked out of use to Portsmouth to form the first Portsmouth – Cardiff on a Sunday morning), but like before I waited until Salisbury to find the ID of the unit (I knew it wouldn’t be 150265 as that was sat on a siding outside Temple Meads attached to a 153). We were around 10 minutes late arriving into Salisbury, and as I alighted, I made a note and found it was winner 150129 that we had run into at Bristol TM. Happy days indeed, no need to search for it later in the year.

Anyhow in summary, 5 more ATW units, leaving just a single 143 & a single 153 to join the single 158 and 5 x 175s left, with the bonus of my 2nd last GW 150/1. All my plans were complete today with no real delays or issues, and apart from the chaos at Cardiff Central, a good day, some small pictures are below, large pictures are available by clicking on the file.

Rhoose Cardiff International *takes a breath* Airport station:


175103 running away from Maesteg Ewenny Road:


Good candidate for a “name the station” competition?


The Junction at Tondu:


Disused line towards Margam:


Semaphores at Tondu:


Disused freight line towards Brynmenyn?


175103 decided it didn’t like Cardiff and wanted to come back to Maesteg:


Pontyclun:


43002 making itself known:


A delightful 142082 on the City Line:

 

[AJM580]

A good read - happy memories of that area as my dad came from a little village called Llandow, which you would have passed on the Vale of Glamorgan line. When he was around we used to visit down that way, but sadly he died in 2009 so I haven't been back for a bit. Hope to one day do the bits I still need down that way

 

[FQ]

Well done on getting all of the ATW 142s! Apart from the faff at Cardiff in the evening, it sounds like a good day was had! Was it a football match that required the queuing system?