20th December Freedom Spirits Day 4
It was another rather early start for me to walk through the empty city centre to reach Glasgow Queen Street, where dud 156465 was on the 05:20 Oban service, it was another mostly empty service with some good noise from the engines, turning left after Crainlarich onto the Oban branch itself pulling into my first shack score of the day,
Tyndrum Lower. My torch was in my pocket, high viz jacket on (for it was rather dark once leaving the lights of the station, walking down a hill to reach the main-road, crossing said main-road before walking up a large hill (the road goes up in a S shape to reduce the gradient). You could probably guess what was at the top of that hill, yep the island platform of
Upper Tyndrum.
Giving me chance to get my breath back, and relaxing as winner
66733 rolled in hauling the Fort William sleeper, with dud 73970 attached on the rear (the day before and in September it was sandwiched between the 66 and the coaches). Anyhow it was another single stop leap on the sleeper to take me to
Bridge of Orchy, where night was starting to give up its battle for supremacy. I had around 50 minutes to kill, so I had a wonder down the hill passing a little primary school, community fire station & village hill, passing a hotel to reach a bridge over the River Orchy for some pictures and some relaxation in a very beautiful part of the world.
Eventually I made my way back to the station (looks like it has a hostel in the former station buildings), to await the service from Mallaig, formed of 156477, which was a bit poorly as the driver jumped down to inspect something before returning to the cab. Daylight meant I could look out of the window at a truly amazing line, dropping back south to reach
Ardlui where we were meant to pass an Mallaig/Oban bound service. 156477 at this point was around 10 minutes down, however the pair of units (both dud) were even later. I departed the station to have a look at the largest Loch within the UK (Loch Lomond, extends right the way down to Balloch), however there must have been another issue with that 156 as it was stuck at the station for a good 15 minutes (I heard it accelerating away when I was heading back).
The next service towards Glasgow was due to pass that pair at Crainlarich, so it was around 10 minutes down when 156465 returned from Oban, thankfully the signaller put the 156 ahead of a stopping service from Balloch at Dalreoch junction, however it was further delayed before Westerton (due to services having to run on the other line to access the line towards Maryhill), so it eventually rolled into Glasgow Queen Street around 20 minutes late. I had time to grab a meal-deal from Boots before jumping onto the 12:30 Edinburgh service, formed this afternoon of dud Borders Line liveried 170414 for the noisy trip across the central belt to Edinburgh Waverley itself (annoyingly spotting required 158707 working a Fife circle service which if I had caught the 12:15 would have been able to get into the bag). My mission this afternoon was the shacks towards West Calder, to clear the WCML Edinburgh branch. First up was dud 156502 for the 16 and a bit miles (it being the first time calling at the local shacks along this line) to
West Calder which has a handy footbridge to reach the opposite platform, although it did look like the footbridge might be getting removed due to the wires coming.
156485 was next up heading to Edinburgh which took me to the good sounding
Wester Hailes, which features a large Odeon cinema nearby, plus a subway to get across to the other platform. My time was short (as Ive heard rumours that this is a rough part of Edinburgh) with 156492 taking me back to
Livingston South. Like Livingston North, South is a hard station to get across platforms in a hurry, however I wasnt in a hurry and had time to visit a nearby Co-Op to get a sandwich for later. 156442 rolled in to take me back eastbound towards
Curriehill, with a short wait before my first 158 of the trip rolled in, dud 158730 to
Kirknewton, the final shack on the WCML branch line itself.
Kirknewton features a level crossing, which did give me a chance to attempt a picture of a passing 390 at speed before 158712 rolled in to take me to
Slateford, and having just missed the next stopper back towards Glasgow I fired up Google Maps for the short mile (and a bit) walk back down the line towards Kingsknowe, another level crossing shack...
...of which the level crossing was closed for upgrade, no access between platforms, a quick fire up of Google Maps highlighted a way back, joining the former trackbed of the Caledonian Line before walking alongside an unknown body of water underneath the railway line to eventually reach the Edinburgh bound platform at
Kingsknowe station. A very quiet station (bar someone else getting caught out who was nearly foolish to trespass to reach the Edinburgh platform), but soon 156485 was back from Glasgow to take me to Haymarket.
Nothing required spotted, and turning down a rather busy 170 heading for the Fife Circle in exchange for dud 170475 heading towards Dundee to call at the newest station currently within GB,
Edinburgh Gateway. I had some issue with the Tram TVM (only takes exact coins with card payments only for above £3) but eventually I got a single ticket and waited at the tram platforms at
Edinburgh Gateway for a couple dud trams, annoyingly I had spotted a couple required trams heading towards the airport but as I had to board within 30 minutes of buying my ticket I had to jump on dud 272 to take me back to Haymarket.
I was at Haymarket waiting for the return of a certain service from the Fife Circle, and in rolled winner
68004 hauling one of the evening peak loco sets (mmm 68 thrash) for the short run to Edinburgh. I had noticed the XC which would form the 21:05 Glasgow Edinburgh was running late (caused by issues in the South West), however the Glasgow bound VTEC was on time which allowed me to use option 91. Broken up with the appearance of winner
170433 on a Haymarket leap with a short wait before dud 91127 rolled in. I say dud but the only previous time Ive had this 91 was for a tiny distance from Kings Cross to the tunnels as it was having power issues, before returning to the platform, so a chance to put some decent mileage to Motherwell going via Carstairs. Dud DVT 82206 was at the rear of the set.
At Motherwell it was hit or miss, but eventually the 21:05 Edinburgh departed 10 minutes late, and as expected it was formed of dud 220014, the front coach was pretty much empty on a non-stop run back to Edinburgh. What not even Haymarket I hear you say? That be right, this service avoids Haymarket and goes via the Suburban line to approach Waverley from the east. I was crossing my fingers as I felt the slow down after Curriehill, felt the crossing over into the Up line and felt the turning right after Slateford. I was happy as I was expecting for it to go straight to Edinburgh with the delay, but it did cause the other person in the coach to panic a bit as we went on a scenic tour of Edinburgh, although eventually rolling into Edinburgh 14 minutes down, meaning the 22:30 Glasgow Queen Street had already departed.
Nothing else of interest (apart from a late running XC HST which got cancelled at Edinburgh running something stupid like 80 minutes late), so it was onto the 23:00 Glasgow Queen Street service formed of duds 170415 & 170402 which calls at every station towards Queen Street, yes even Edinburgh Park. Eventually we rolled into Glasgow Queen Street on time, I was a little deafer from all the 170 noise accelerating, but my mission for the day was complete, another PSUL move into the book. Needless to say I went straight to bed once back at the hotel, not as an early alarm for the final day thankfully.
Some pictures:
Tyndrum Lower:
Not to be confused with Upper Tyndrum:
Bridge of Orchy:
Views from the Bridge over the River Orchy:
Ardlui:
Loch Lomand:
West Calder:
Wester Hailes:
Livingston South:
Curriehill:
Dusk falling at Kirknewton:
Slateford:
A closed level crossing:
Didnt stop me reaching Kingsknowe:
Edinburgh Gateway:
68004 at Edinburgh:
A virgin train calls at Motherwell
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21st December Freedom Spirits Day 5
It was my final day in Glasgow (boo!), final day of an amazing trip to recover my mental state after a busy couple weeks at work. I packed up my bags but left my main bag in the hotel room as I had some unfinished business to take care of, mainly the Subway. I handed over my ticket at the ticket office at St Enoch and they gave me a single ticket for the Subway (happy days, as I was expecting to have to pay). I had two shacks left uncovered, the rest of the time spent hunting down requirements using the peak time 4 minute frequency.
103-
204-133, St Enoch to
Kinning Park
102-202-119 to
Cessnock (system cleared and last Light Rail shack within GB)
127-129-
132 to Ibrox
105-121-
107 to Govan
114-128-108 to Partick
Noting the return of the first set I turned down I hopped over to the Inner Circle side
126-
208-124 to Govan
110-206-106 to Ibrox
117-123-
109 to Cessnock
130-201-101 to Kinning Park (101 in a heritage livery)
113-207-120 to Shields Road
115-
205-118 to St Enoch
I departed the system needing 4 power cars, all the trailers had been cleared with 205, however time was ticking and 115-205-118 was the first I saw at Partick so I had covered all the sets on the Inner Circle. I picked up my bag and checked out of the hotel to head back to Glasgow Central, where I was rewarded with stalker
156509 working an East Kilbride service, which I took to Crossmyloof, noting the next Kilmarnock was dud so turning down both services on Barrhead stoppers, I jumped onto 156507 back to Glasgow Central to grab something to eat for later.
The aim of today was to grab my remaining 3 shacks between Kilmarnock & Dumfries, as the other two can be done on a FONW some when in 2017. The next Carlisle service was in the hands of a familiar unit, yep 156507, which would be getting some good mileage today as it would be the service bringing me back to Glasgow Central later on that afternoon. The service was fast to Dunlop, although we had to pause at Barrhead for the single line section to clear, before carrying on, via Kilmarnock onto the line towards Carlisle, arriving at
Sanquhar for the lowlands way (wasnt there another trip reporter based in Sanquhar?).
Anyhow a nice little town, a few shops in which to waste some time and in a rather nice area with rolling hills. I was happy as the next Glasgow bound service was winner
156504 to take me to
Auckinleck where I didnt have that much time to explore my last SPT shack before 156462 rolled in to take me to
Kirkconnel. Like Sanquhar this shack is in a very nice area, although I didnt see much in the way of shops, so I spent the time relaxing before 156507 returned from Carlisle for the fast run back to Glasgow Central. Funny how 156507 was my first 156 of this trip and is my last 156, anyhow I got news that a required 380 was departing on a Largs service, and so I boarded winner
380109 for the run to Paisley Gilmour Street, my final member of the 4-car subclass (just two members of the 3-coach /0s left).
I wasnt long at Paisley before dud 380014 took me back to Glasgow Central for my last bit of 380 acceleration, before I headed over to see which 390 would be taking me back to Euston on the 16:40 departure. I was happy as it was the forum celebrity, winner
390114 for the 400 miles trip back to Euston, 2 Pandas left
I was in my usual seat (C9), got busy at Preston but mostly wasnt that crowded, a great train manager who checked tickets for passengers when boarding at Glasgow, and also gave connections at Carlisle/Oxenholme/Lancaster/Preston. I spent the time watching some TV on the tablet (for it was dark), arrival into Euston was pretty much on time. First service on the Northern line was winner
51715/51595 which I took to Tottenham Court Road, but the next 3 services were dud and with a 7 minute gap I boarded duds 51620/51619 back to Waterloo.
McDonalds was visited for some dinner, before joining the 22:20 service, formed this evening of 159016 & 159006 to take me back to Grateley, bit sad my trip had come to an end, but I set out what I had planned to do, scoring a lot of required units in the process.
Some pictures of my final day:
Cessnock Subway:
Car 101 at Kinning Park (note the handy island platforms on the stations in these parts)
Sanquahar:
Auckinleck:
Kirkconnel:
Technis favourite 390:
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22nd December The Winner Takes It All
I wasnt planning to hit the rails today, instead I was going to hit them on Friday, however I got news that all the 387/3s had entered service, plus the locations of some of my remaining 465s plus a certain 375, I decided to head to London, with a loose plan in my head. A short walk to the station for the 14:59 which was formed of 5-coaches today instead of the usual 6, for toothy 159103 was joined by 158886 for the run towards Waterloo, arriving pretty much bang on time, maybe even a few minutes early.
I got lucky with the Northern line as I headed down the stairs winner
51637/51721 was just rolling in, for the leap under the river to Embankment where I climbed up the stairs to the Sub Surface Line platform for some linear hops before needing to be at Fenchurch Street for around 17:10. A couple duds up first before
21519/21520 entered my book for a leap to Blackfriars, followed by some more duds before calling it a session with 21423/21424 to Tower Hill, exiting the underground station and walking across to Fenchurch Street, arriving before the ECS had arrived.
In rolled the trio of brand new 387/3s, the first set being formed of
387303/387301/387305 for the short hop to Limehouse, with duds 357323/357312 taking me back into Fenchurch Street, where I had a short wait for the 2nd ECS to roll in, this time it was
387302/387304/387306 back to Limehouse, subclass & TOC cleared. Sadly I wished I could remain on board, but I had a tight connection so it was over to the DLR platforms, just missing a Bank bound service, however the next Bank bound service was a minute or so behind, sadly it was duds 83-44-05 for the short run to Bank, where I attempted to locate the District Line platforms at Monument (hint be at the rear of a DLR set).
I was going to jump on the first service, and I was happy when winner D-stock
7526 rolled in attached with dud 7037 to take me to Blackfriars, where I could relax as I had 5 minutes to reach the bay platforms, with dud 466042 sat attached to winner
465928 on a Rochester service. First stop was Elephant & Castle, where I bailed and crossed over to an Elephant & Castle Bedford service which was waiting to depart once a 700 on a Bedford fast cleared the line. 319008 & 319421 were the units adding 1 mile & 17 chains to their low mileage figures to take me back to Blackfriars, where I headed back to the underground.
A run of duds meant I had to catch 21463/21464 the short distance to Cannon Street, where winner
465932 was waiting for me, attached with dud 465043 on a Barnehurst service. It was the first time over the revised Cannon Street lines at London Bridge, and it was very slow, eventually I decided to bail at Deptford 5 minutes late. Over to the other platform and 376009/376003 did the honours to take me back to Cannon Street. With an hour and a bit to kill before the next 465/9 was due back into London I decided to head to Liverpool Street for some 321 hunting, sadly it didnt go as well as I planned with dud 21471/21472 taking me to Monument as I got lost finding my way to the Central Line platforms, and even landed on the wrong platform, resulting in a 7 minute gap in services heading out east. I decided to remain on board the next Central line service, formed of required
91249/92242 leading duds 92200 & 91081 to Stratford, it was crush loaded but emptied out at Mile End.
Sadly my luck didnt last with a string of dud 321s (with an added kick in the teeth of a pair of required 321s heading into Liverpool Street ECS with no idea of their next working). I cut my losses and headed over to the Jubilee line, with duds 96124/96123 taking me to London Bridge, going out via the maze to reach the main-line station. As I had some time to kill I headed to the free toilets before making my way up the stairs. The service from Tunbridge Wells was running late, which meant it was behind dud 375826 leading winner
375304 which took me to Waterloo East. My final 375 which I was happy about, however sadly RTT decided to have a funny 5 minutes and I couldnt double back towards London Bridge to intercept the late running service from Tonbridge, which eventually appeared around 15 minutes late.
I was going to turn it down, but decided that it was worth delaying myself an hour, as dud 466009 rolled in with 465903 in the middle and winner
465922 on the rear for the short trip over the river to Charing Cross. Only 465917 remains of the 465s (and networker family overall) but I believe that is currently enjoying the South Yorkshire Air getting fitted with the new toilet unit. With an hour to kill before the 22:20 service, I decided to head to the Bakerloo line for some hunting (making use of the handy island platform at Charing Cross to ID both northbound & southbound services). 20 minutes of waiting paid off as 3242 rolled in with winner
3553 on the rear to take me to Embankment, followed by a 10 minute fester before 3263 rolled in with winner
3536 on the rear, my final 3-car 35XX unit of the 1972 stock, so I was happy (just 3266 left to locate to clear the Bakerloo line for stock).
Swinging via McDonalds (again, naughty me!), before joining 159015/159104 forming the 22:20 service back towards Grateley, the end of a quite successful little afternoon trip, knocking down my requirements quite nicely.
Stock operating within London which I require:
700s (as of the list posted here
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showpost.php?p=2821294&postcount=6450)
10x RLU; 6x FLU
7x 387/2s
465917
(9x 395s)
11x 321s
3x 90s
3x 332s
3x 350s
My plan for next week is probably to visit London on Tuesday, Wednesday (staying overnight) with a tour on the Thursday. A day of rest on Friday before visiting Birmingham on the Saturday for unit (and tram) hunting.
I would imagine my London trips will be more focused on LU, seeing as the 321s, 90s & 332s are not running, 465917 I believe is in Doncaster and I may get lucky on Wednesday night if the 20:50/21:20 services run with the usual 387s. I will ask if those 350s are operating within London with services calling at Watford Junction (or even Harrow & Wealdstone if Im lucky) as they have either stayed away or been on Crewes. I suspect a trip to Ebbsfleet/Gravesend might be in order on Tuesday to see if I can get some 395s into the book, maybe festering around the Thameslink core for an hour or so to see if any required 700s pop up
. Congratulations on clearing the 185s and 323s, not to mention clearing Metrolink for shacks. So very much jealous!
) I wasn't far behind in collapsing into sleep myself, think by then it had been very close to 21 hours awake for me too. Now I've realised that, I understand why I was so tired yesterday and today!
