The Various Random Mutterings of Kite

[Dhassell]

Blimey Kite! You have been busy the past week! Sounds like you have had a good time! The price for the Heathrow Express is a lot considering it's only a 20 minute journey!

 

[Kite159]

A great couple of trips by the sound of it! Well done on only needing 4 dusty bins too - you certainly did well! You'll have been glad that you didn't bump into pulse guy, that's for sure . Congrats on clearing LM's 170s and, of course, 350s.

What's the plan for next weekend then?

Latest UK railtour to Stratford-upon-Avon, strongly rumoured to be 67 hauled:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55183/2017/02/18/advanced
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U55184/2017/02/18/advanced

 

[Cowley]

Well done on clearing the 350s Kite. You also made Grateley look almost romantic with your photos. Enjoyed reading about it all.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Mr Kite

Well done with the 350s - something that I have yet to achieve. I did wonder what was going on when you left the wheels at Andover on Friday night only to return to Grateley Manor ......

 

[postye]

Well done on finally getting that wretched 350105 in the book, and the dusties, always glad to help out where I can

 

[87electric]

Kind of hijacking this thread. But thanks Postye for helping me find my last units and thanks for helping the rest of us out who do not have access to Trust/Tops. It is really appreciated.

 

[Kite159]

Well done on finally getting that wretched 350105 in the book, and the dusties, always glad to help out where I can

Hopefully that wretched Bletchley hating 153365 will fall soon.

At least now I can brush up my plan to try and link in a fast run on a 700 to/from Bedford as well

 

[185143]

Hopefully that wretched Bletchley hating 153365 will fall soon.

At least now I can brush up my plan to try and link in a fast run on a 700 to/from Bedford as well

Dud! On the Marston Vale too you'll love to know!

 

[Kite159]

Dud! On the Marston Vale too you'll love to know!

*throws a Pear at Jamie* :P

 

[Kite159]

17th February – Another evening spin to London

This was a mere positioning move to avoid an early start on the Saturday morning (because I was an idiot who selected the wrong Saturday on RTT and it is next weekend buses replace trains between Salisbury & Andover), but it gave me an idea to hunt down some outstanding units on my reducing lists. I got home, changed and out the door marching up the road to Grateley in time for the 14:59. I even managed to get the TVM to issue me a travelcard from Clapham Junction [that was just playing around with the buy from other (SWT) station feature] which would save me some time when in Waterloo.

A quiet 159018/159020 rolled in, and I took a seat in the leading coach which apart from someone in the 1st class area was empty, allowing me to relax working out my route plan of attack. When searching for rooms I noticed a hotel/hostel in the Earl’s Court area, which when excluding the random ‘rooms for you’ style places came out the cheapest. A right time arrival at Waterloo and my mind was made up as the peak time subway was open, so it was away from the crowds into the subway and down towards the Northern line, rolling onto 51593/51594 which had just rolled in for the short trip underneath the water to Embankment.

Up a couple flights of stairs and I was on the westbound sub surface line platform, and rolling onto a service which again had just rolled in. Thankfully it was a district line service, and was 21309/21310 which sadly was dud. A short while later I alighted at Earl’s Court, exiting the wrong end of the station to where I wanted to be (doh!), however it didn’t matter as I walked down a side street and located the hotel (Barkston Rooms (Londonears Hostel) if anybody is wondering), checked in without any issues and dropped some items off at the room before I headed back out to Earl’s Court station. Thankfully my issue with the travelcard was only temporary and opened the barriers as I headed down to the westbound platform.

A Wimbledon bound service had rolled in and was busy, but checking the “next train” board noted another Wimbledon service was a minute behind I let it go. A minute later 21465/21466 rolled in to take me round the bend to West Brompton. A quick interchange over to the West London Line platforms, and I was surprised when the next Clapham Junction bound service rolled in, for it wasn’t a 378. It was 377326/377321 which was operating the evening peak Clapham Junction – Shepherd’s Bush shuttles to take me to Clapham Junction, rolling into platform 17.

It was the time of day where it takes around 5 minutes to interchange from platform 17 to platform 14 due to crowds trying to exit the steep narrow stairs of platform 17. My first unit on my target list tonight was a temporary formation due to fire damage, however as it was renumbered it counted as a new unit under my rules [renumbered & change of formation]. A few minutes passed before 377342 rolled in with 377311 & 377154 being the other two units on this 10-car service. I took a seat in the former 377442 for the short run to Victoria, a slight bug ticked off (saves going after it if the fire damaged coach can’t be repaired and is written off).

My next move was to be at Liverpool Street for the 18:20 boat-train to Harwich as that would feature a required 321, it was now around 17:30 so I had plenty of time to reach Liverpool Street as I headed to the sub surface line platform (as I didn’t fancy attempting to interchange at Oxford Circus), first up was a dud S7 bound for Barking, closely followed by dud 21329/21330 working a circle line service, the main idea of remaining on board to Liverpool Street, however like all ideas I changed my mind and bailed at Blackfriars. A short wait caused by delayed northbound services meant when 377212/377207 rolled in it was a battle between commuters & families heading home. I messed up my position and had a long walk at Farringdon to reach platform 1. First up was a dud H&C service which I turned down because it was busy, followed a minute later by dud 21091/21092 which was empty. A mile later I alighted at Liverpool Street, doing a mini fist pump at remembering the correct door for a speedy transfer.

The ECS to form tonight’s 18:20 to Harwich (Park Quay) International was just rolling in, another mini fist pump as it was dud 321325 leading winner 321344, taking up a seat in 344 it was a short run to Stratford rolling into platform 10A, another dusty into the book, now I’ve just got to wait before 303/304/448 returns from Doncaster to get them into the book. I had news of a required 90 working the service from Norwich calling at Stratford around 15 minutes later, so I took myself over to the jubilee platforms just to keep an eye out if that 96045 decided to pop up. Sadly no sign of that 96 stock so I headed back over to platform 9 to await the arrival of winner 90014 hauling dud DVT 82132 for the short run to Liverpool Street, leaving just 90009 to get to clear the GA 90s [you can probably guess what has replaced 321344 on my “London top 6 most wanted” list].

For lack of a better idea, I headed to the westbound sub surface line platform (via Tesco for a bite to eat) and after a couple duds decided to cut my losses with dud 21069/21070 to Farringdon, getting into a position to try and ID both northbound and southbound Thameslink workings. My fester wasn’t for long before 700018 decided to pop up to claim its place onto my log for the tiny leap to City Thameslink. Alas 30 minutes later I was still at City Thameslink, no more required 700s popping up so I called it a night (City Thameslink isn’t the nicest place to fester for long periods of time due to it being in a tunnel). 377210/377516 took me up the hill to Blackfriars where I headed down to the westbound platform, just missing a required S7 heading to Wimbledon (doh!).

Dud 21489/21490 took me to Victoria where I decided to have a look in case 387225 had come out to play, Southern were their usual chaotic self with delays & cancelled trains but alas no 387225 in the few services I saw. Without wanting to waste more time I returned to the underground picking the eastbound platform. I think I spotted 21381/21382 heading on a circle line service, but after a short wait I was on the move with 21403/21404 to St James’s Park followed a minute later by 21425/21426 to Westminster.

A few dud sets later I decided to make a move to the island platform at South Kensington on 21401/21402, setting myself a deadline of 22:30 before I would call it a night, so around 40 minutes. A couple D-stock services were spotted heading east, but as the clock hit 22:28 and I was thinking about heading downstairs required 21563/21564 popped up (the one I missed at Blackfriars) to take me to Gloucester Road. It was down the lift to the Piccadilly line platforms and I wasn’t there for long before winner 189 rolled in attached to dud 238 to take me to Earl’s Court. A visit to Burger King for an ice-cream and I headed to the hotel for the night, ready for the main event.

3 more outright main-line winners, 1 temporary formation, a 1973 stock plus 3 more S7s (which leaves 10 sets to go), so a good evening spin. Although I’m slowly running out of things to chase within London, I might have to focus more on those 700s.

 

[Dhassell]

Another productive day in London Kite! Nothing seems to stop you!

 

[Kite159]

18th February – Meandering around the Midlands

It was time for my first Hertfordshire Rail Tours tour of the year, a lazy day trip to Stratford Upon Avon via the world, not an awful lot of new track being scored today but some little bits and pieces outright and a couple pieces which I had only previously covered under the cover of darkness.

I woke up from a very good night’s sleep, I headed to Earl’s Court station (via the handy Co-Op for breakfast) with a few options to reach Euston, deciding to avoid the Piccadilly line as the next service was showing as 10 minutes away, and it was onto the first district line service, heading to Edgware Road on duds 21503/21504, changing to 21519/21520 working a circle line service as far as Great Portland Street. My random decision to bail paid off with winner 21071/21072 for the tiny leap to Euston Square, having a short walk to Euston station itself.

The 07:40 to Stratford Upon Avon had dud 67029 leading (all be it dud for Cardiff – Newport when it was on the Wag express) with required 67022 on the rear which would be entering my book for the leg back from Stratford (I’m ditching the “Upon Avon” part, so don’t get it confused with Stratford in the east end) to Euston, I was in coach G, annoyingly in the slightly narrower seat by the door. Using my coat as a rough cushion (as I prefer to sit more upright) I settled down to relax for the northbound run picking up at Watford Junction and at Bletchley scoring a microgrice of the connection south of platform 5 from the main-lines.

A 153 departed for Bedford in front of us so after departing Bletchley station we came to a stop for 10 minutes before continuing along the Marston Vale line coming to a stop again at the Bedford end for that 153 to clear the single track section via Bedford St Johns, pausing to pick up some passengers (and at a guess to drop some passengers off) it was northbound from Bedford onto the slows all the way to south of Kettering (taking the Sharnbrook tunnel, one of the couple pieces I’m not 100% sure I had previously covered). Onto the main line through Kettering & Market Harborough before turning left onto the Coalville route, one of the longest freight only lines in the country.

I had previously covered it last year on a HST tour, but this time I was the other side of the train giving different views of the window on the slow and steady route passing many of an old line rusting away, the train turned left at the northern end to score that side of the triangle, pausing for a XC service to roar pass before going onto the main-line speeding through Tamworth high level & Wilnecote before coming to a stop as an oil train was being pushed into Kingsbury (annoyingly blocking the 373s being turned into razorblades). The train turned left once more at Kingsbury Junction for that little connection line towards Whitacre junction, which I might have done back in August 15 on a XC 170, but it was dark and a busy train so I couldn’t confirm it.

Passing Coleshill Parkway and Water Orton turning right onto the Sutton Coldfield freight line, pausing for a while at the junction at the Walsall end before passing Walsall in the goods line, pausing in a loop around a busy Bescot, before continuing towards Birmingham New Street via the route taken by some of the Rugeley services, via the Soho junctions for another pause before continuing via Birmingham New Street, crossing over to join the Camp Hill route, taking the route used by some XC services bound for Reading bypassing Coventry.

Another pause at Small Heath before continuing onto the Stratford line, coming to a stop after Whitlock’s End for the stopper to clear the signal section ahead, but eventually we rolled into platform 2 at Stratford Upon Avon, the front loco plus the front 4 carriages being run off the end (I’m guessing to clear the points to platform 3 to allow a 165 to sit there for a short while). When waiting to get off I was in front of someone who was quite rude and kept pushing (so I took my time and allowed others to get up first). Dry land was nice to be after a long time on the train and it was the first time in many years since I went into the town centre, bringing back memories of a love that died, but enough about that I located a cushion in the poundland (along other bits and bobs).

With nothing better to do I headed back to the station, sitting under the canopy but moving towards platform 2/3 island mainly to get away from the noise of the water pump, even if it meant standing up to read my magazine. I bumped into Postye and we chatted when walking back onto the train, by the time the train departed I had nearly finished the magazine and darkness was falling. The route back home was in the hands of winner 67022 and involved turning right after Wilmcote via the single track line pausing at Hatton north before following in the wake of a voyager getting some speed via Dorridge turning right at Small Heath to do a circle, pausing for a fair few minutes around St Andrews Junction before continuing onto New Street, pausing once more on platform 11 before carrying on (thankfully we didn’t get put behind a stopper) towards Five Ways and Selly Oak, turning left around the Lifford Junction chord back onto the Camp Hill line.

A good run onto the Camp Hill route staying on the line to dive underneath the main WCML, passing Washwood Heath, Water Orton and Nuneaton, where the train joined the WCML for a fast run southwards, a brief pause at Rugby and we got dumped onto the Northampton loop due to some late running 390s behind, rejoining the main line and over to the fasts (as the slows were closed tonight), where we paused at Milton Keynes to allow passengers for Bletchley to get off. A storming run southbound pausing at Watford Junction meant the delay was reduced to around 7 minutes late by the time it stopped at Euston. Easy enough time for me to head to Waterloo on 51724/51658 swinging via Tesco for a tuna pasta meal-deal before joining a busy 159017 on the 22:20 to Grateley.

All in all a good little railtour, a required 67 into the book (not like there is much chance of me getting many more with their limited passenger usage), with some small coverage into the book, but with my decreasing coverage requirements I can see my number of railtours being decreased over the next year. Anyhow, next weekend is a trip to Leeds where I’m hoping to clear my remaining 4 shacks on the Harrogate line before having an unit/VTEC hunting session.

 

[Techniquest]

Another couple of great reads! However I'm sure you list 21071/072 in the Friday report as dud but winners on the day of the tour.

Only that curve off the Coalville line was required for me, although the goods line at Walsall and that PSUL line in the southbound direction would have been microgrice scores for me.

With virtually no track needed my tour needs are very low these days too. When there were spin 'n' win tours that also featured rare track, or very unusual track, as well as different to the usual locos then it was always a tough choice of what to do. Working almost every day a tour runs on these days doesn't help, and when I get a brochure in the post I don't rush to open them now. UKR's latest one has been here 3 days I think and my reaction is simply "meh, I'll read it eventually before chucking it into the recycling bag in 5 minutes". Usually when there's a tour on with loads of track needs it's when time off work is barred (hence my lack of appearing on the 'bah humbug' tours at the end of December)!

Anyway, you'll be heading to Ireland soon enough I'd imagine Kite to get your coverage needs dealt with. Few more weeks and you'll have finished the UK!

 

[Kite159]

It was 069/070 on Friday, I've updated.

Didn't you need the tunnel at Sharnbrook?

 

[Techniquest]

I do, yeah. Not at all jealous...

 

[Blindtraveler]

That hotel doesnt get a good writeup on tripadvisor, how was it?

Sounds good that tour, Id hav copped plenty on it.

 

[Kite159]

That hotel doesnt get a good writeup on tripadvisor, how was it?

Sounds good that tour, Id hav copped plenty on it.

I will do a write up tomorrow and post it. I found the hotel to be quite reasonable, looks like they were having some works. Although like other hostels my views will be from a private room rather than a dorm room

 

[Cowley]

I enjoyed the read Kite, I couldn't work out what sort of stock it was though, was it mk1s?

 

[noddy1878]

Good read! I have the same problem as Tech with tours, they mainly clash with work and never start down my way unless it's four day 'need a mortgage' land cruise! Nice to get a winning 67! Both very much dud for me!

 

[Kite159]

I enjoyed the read Kite, I couldn't work out what sort of stock it was though, was it mk1s?

The usual Riviera Mk1s I think.

One carriage looked like it had recently seen some paint!

 

[FQ]

Sounds like you had a good trip there! Vote shovels!

 

[Iskra]

Nice report. There's 2 67's out and about daily for passenger services with ATW, but yes 67's on passenger trains are decreasing now they've been ditched by Caledonian Sleeper and Chiltern although they do seem to work a lot of specials. I can see them coming back into use more in the future though. 022 was definitely dud for me and I've had 029 but only for ETS. I hope 022 isn't on the Shoulder of Lune railtour that I've booked on in March.

I'm not sure that tour was my cup of tea, with it sounding a bit slow-paced and living-up to its name by meandering, but I'm glad you enjoyed it. Apparently it was diverted away from its booked route at somepoint? I'd have been happy with the Northampton Loop as that's needed for me and your post has reminded me that I need to come up with a plan for Bedford-Bletchley too.

 

[Kite159]

Nice report. There's 2 67's out and about daily for passenger services with ATW, but yes 67's on passenger trains are decreasing now they've been ditched by Caledonian Sleeper and Chiltern although they do seem to work a lot of specials. I can see them coming back into use more in the future though. 022 was definitely dud for me and I've had 029 but only for ETS. I hope 022 isn't on the Shoulder of Lune railtour that I've booked on in March.

I'm not sure that tour was my cup of tea, with it sounding a bit slow-paced and living-up to its name by meandering, but I'm glad you enjoyed it. Apparently it was diverted away from its booked route at somepoint? I'd have been happy with the Northampton Loop as that's needed for me and your post has reminded me that I need to come up with a plan for Bedford-Bletchley too.

The only diversion to the booked route (I believe) was coming back via Northampton vice the main line.

Agreed it was slow in places, especially with the various stops on route

 

[Kite159]

24th February – Tu Turu, another Friday evening smash & grab

It is the usual Friday spin up towards London to hunt down some more units, I got knocked off earlier than normal this afternoon which allowed me to steal a lift to Andover station in order to catch the 14:38 which today was formed of a busy 158887 leading 159021 & 159014 noting that the new robotic sounding announcer voice has appeared at Andover replacing Phil (RIP). Nothing much usual happened on the fast run towards Clapham Junction where I decided to bail and head to Victoria on 377159 in order to pick up a BZ6 – Gatwick ticket for later on (you could probably guess which unit was out to play).

My first aim of the day was the inbound working of the 15:00 Norwich – Liverpool Street which was meant to feature my last GA 90, calling at Stratford around 16:46 so I had roughly an hour to get across to Stratford, so it was onto the Victoria line with 11011/11012 taking me the 54 chains to Green Park where I ended up on my usual place on the Jubilee line platform for 20 or so minutes of hunting for that certain 96 stock unit. Sadly it didn’t make an appearance and with a 6 minute gap in frequency being displayed I cut my losses and jumped on a busy 96017/96104 noting that a northbound service had been stuck in the platform for a good 3 minutes.

As regular readers might be aware, I have a weakness for the motor noise on the 96 stock, especially in the tunnel section, the service got busier and busier as it carried on, emptying out and refilling at stations. I decided to bail at West Ham as I was making better time than expected and decided to try and ID the rear unit before it rolled into Stratford, a 96 stock was on the other platform where I heard the news that a train had broken down and service had been suspended. I legged it over to the DLR platform and escaped on 145/108 to Stratford, with a certain 96045 rolling in alongside the DLR units at West Ham (shaking fist moment). Certainly was odd to see all 3 platforms at Stratford full of Jubilee line unit with the doors closed and lots of confused looking passengers [at a random guess I would say 96017/96104 would have tipped out at West Ham before running empty towards the depot to clear the platform for a service behind it to do the same].

A very lucky escape there as I headed over to the mainline platforms, noting that the service from Norwich was running around 10 minutes late (caused by a late running 321 from Southend) so any hope of making an extremely tight +20 at Liverpool Street to Victoria went up in flames. The 321s cleared off as I awaited the arrival of the 90, my hopes dashed as super-dud 90006 rolled in (with DVT 82127 on the rear). I knew my run of luck wouldn’t hold out, as I boarded for the short run to Liverpool Street thinking what to do for the 2 hours before the 19:00 Victoria – Brighton service. In the end I decided it was time for some 700 hunting, but first some S-stock hunting.

I wasn’t at the platform for long before a fast metropolitan line service rolled in, winners 21035/036 and as expected it was quite busy (making a note to board a fast service at Aldgate when I eventually do one for the sake of wanting to do a fast metropolitan line service) as I bailed at Barbican. A few duds later and I cut my losses with 21529/21530 working a circle line service to Farringdon, crossing over to the national rail side of the station with RTT running to show me what was happening. A pair of 319s departed northbound (mmm 319 motor noise) and winner 700021 rolled in for the tiny leap to City Thameslink.

It wasn’t long to wait at City Thameslink before winner 700008 took me back up to Farringdon, for a few more dud units before a 20-minute gap in southbound services meant I decided to jump on busy 377521/377512 to Blackfriars. I wish I had bailed at City Thameslink as a required 700 was rolling in on the other platform and due to idiots deciding to crowd around the doors I missed it by the skin of my teeth [doors were closing just as I climbed the stairs]. I took a seat and did some more watching before winner 700020 popped up to go into my book for the tiny leap to City Thameslink, with a rammed 700025 back to Blackfriars. Some more cancellations were being shown on the boards so I decided to call it a night with Thameslink and headed underground.

10 minutes of waiting at Blackfriars and I was rewarded with winner 21333/21334 to take me to Embankment, followed by another 10 minutes where I called it a night with duds 21349/21350 to Victoria giving me 7 minutes to reach the Gatwick express platforms (I was thankful I had my BZ6 ticket earlier). My travelcard didn’t work the barriers but I was allowed onto the service by the gateline staff with no fuss, hired in 387124 was on the rear and winner 387225 was on the front (woohoo). As it was a Brighton extension it was quite busy (although not as busy as the Brighton service I saw earlier around 15:50 which was a single 377 and was rammed). For the last time I would be departing Victoria on a required unit and it was a speedy run to Gatwick Airport, thinking up an action plan to take me back towards London.

It was going to be a late running Southern service to Victoria, formed of 12 coaches so I walked towards the southern end of the platform, away from all the suitcases as 377407/377101/377403 rolled in, I managed to grab a seat without any issue within 403 for the run to Clapham Junction where sadly it lost more time so I didn’t think it was wise to risk a tight connection at Waterloo, so I hung around Clapham Junction for a while before the 20:27 rolled in, formed of 159018 & 159003, it was unusually terminating at Salisbury with any passengers wanting stations towards Exeter to change to another service at Salisbury. I managed to get a seat after asking a posh looking lady to shift her oversized ‘designer’ handbag from a seat for the run back to Grateley with a short walk home.

4 more RLU 700s into the book along with 2 more S stocks, but the big score was my final 387/2, meaning my London requirements excluding the 700s are looking quite low. I have a feeling some 395 action might feature on a future London trip until those trio of 321s return from Doncaster.

 

[Techniquest]

Wow you did do well on Friday evening! Nice work on getting your last 387/2 in the book as well as endless amounts of 700s getting scored every time you go to London!

 

[Kite159]

Shame 90009 didn't fall, but that can wait until the next Friday spin to see if it's on a service which calls within the zones.

Failing that, it will wait until I head up to Norwich in search of more loco action (and a certain 156)

 

[noddy1878]

Congrats on your last 387/2! I'm still needing 25 of them!

 

[FQ]

A shame you didn't get 90009, but it sounds like you had a great time anyway. Congrats on finally getting 387225!

 

[Kite159]

25th February – Trawling the megahertz in North Yorkshire

The idea of today’s little trip was to visit my last 4 shacks on the Harrogate line with a mild unit hunt following on afterwards. Due to engineering works in the Salisbury area it was an early morning drive to Andover to pick up 159003 working the 06:20 Andover – Waterloo service for an uneventful run into Waterloo. The passengers who decided to walk forward into the first class section for a quicker exit weren’t happy as the driver didn’t key off once in Waterloo (and hence not releasing the front door) due to a planned attachment with a 2nd unit on the platform.

Anyhow I was booked on the 08:33 service to Leeds, one of the new services introduced in December time giving Leeds a rough half hourly service [as it was cheaper than the 08:03 I would normally have booked]. With some time to kill I headed to the Jubilee line platforms for a short fester before jumping on a Stanmore bound set featuring 96033 on the rear [I couldn’t quite move fast enough to grab the ID of the front unit]. 21365/21366 took me onwards to Blackfriars to head up to the mainline station, leaping onto 319440/319428 for the short run to Farringdon (noting how quickly the 319s can change from DC to AC at City Thameslink compared to electrostars). The only other northbound service I could catch was a pair of 377s (at this time I was on the bridge keeping an eye on the westbound LU platform in case of a required S7 or S8. I jumped onto 21343/21344 on a Hammersmith & City working to Kings Cross St Pancras.

Swinging via WH Smiths for a newspaper before the platform was even announced for the 08:33, eventually being announced as platform 0 for a spot of musical chairs as coach C was MIA. Super dud 91132 was leading (taking it to something like 950 miles) with DVT 82205 on the rear. Due to the missing coach reservations for coach C was moved to coach F (with some angry groups that their table seats were suddenly airline seats), with any reservations for coach F shifted mostly to coach H and a declassified FC coach. I ended up in F1 which is a backwards facing “fold-away” seat in the wheelchair space, it was comfy enough (lots of legroom) but the lack of armrest was slightly annoying. The carriage got wedged out at Doncaster with football fans and middle-aged woman driving that sparkling wine for a day out shopping. The service rolled into Leeds roughly on time, sadly it went into platform 6 so was a bit of walk to reach platform 1 where the next Knaresborough service was due to depart.

153363 & 155341 was the dogbox & kennel, taking a seat in the 153 for some DBT for the 20 and a half mile run into North Yorkshire bailing at my first shack score of the day with Starbeck, this is a passing point but if you wanted to attempt the connection you need to be at the Knaresborough/York end for a subway. As I was on a simple Horsforth – Poppleton day return (route Harrogate) I broke my outward journey and had a quick walk to the main road spotting a handy Co-Op in which I purchased some items for lunch, before returning to the station attempting to get into a book (which in the end I couldn’t get into and stopped reading). My fester came to an end with the appearance of 150224/150268 where I was originally going to carry on until Poppleton but I decided to bail at Hammerton instead due to the sky looking stormy. A basic two platform station on a passing loop, beware it is a level crossing with a big sign saying “passengers must not cross the line when the road gates are closed”.

I had Google Maps fired up and headed for a short (1.8 mile) walk back towards Cattal, the first mile was along pavement before the pavement died away exiting the village of Kirk Hammerton for a little country lane, eventually regaining a pavement when joining the main road. Like Hammerton, Cattal was a manual level crossing with another sign saying “passengers alighting must wait for the train to depart” on the Leeds bound platform. I took up a seat and relaxed after my walk (making me a bit hungry) before 144013 bounced in from the single line, for a short run passing the returning 150 pair between the two stations to take me to Poppleton which I believe has a large park & ride nearby for York itself.

Another manual level crossing, and a map suggested a Co-Op was located nearby, as I sat under the shelter watching the rain eating my lunch before a rammed 144013 returned (the PIS was saying “please note formed of 2 carriages instead of 4 today”), the train emptied out a lot at Harrogate allowing me to shift to one of the bays of 4 as it got busier once more for the long run to Leeds [I wouldn’t have minded, but I’ve had this 144 from Morecambe to Leeds before!]. I got news that sadly none of my last 5 requested northern units (150149, 2x 153s & 2x 156s) were around West Yorkshire [seems the 2x 156s have gone home to Heaton], one of my last VTEC 43s was on an Aberdeen service with the other having a lazy day on the depot, with 91114 due to be running to Edinburgh (boo). However with needing 8x 158 at the start of the day I was hopeful of getting at least one winner.

After 90 minutes of general wondering around, sitting outside Starbucks making use of the Wi-Fi, I was seriously considering heading out towards the city centre for some shopping (shock!), I was seeing 158s but mostly were the 3-car versions or 158/9s. My luck turned when a 142+158 rolled in from the depot, with the 142 getting detached to work a Sheffield stopping service, as it was a required 158 which was due to work a service towards Appleby in 30 minutes time. It was nice in a way not to have to keep an eye out on the 185s, but I did notice a good portion were in the new colour scheme. Eventually the doors were unlocked on winner 158850 which took me to Shipley gaining an entry into the 10-mile club.

A few minutes later I was heading back to Leeds on 333014 giving me time to relax and review what other options. It appeared a Manchester Victoria service was coming from a unit from York which itself came from Hull, however that was running a few minutes late so winner 158795 rolled in from the depot. A busy service as I grabbed a fold down seat in the front overhearing some grumpy fizzy wine drinking woman moaning that they boarded with a few minutes to go and they couldn’t get a table seat.

Looking at RTT gave me a +5 at Bramley which I bailed, walking down to the road (is that a new zebra crossing?) underneath the bridges and back up to the other platform for a short run on 158902 back to Leeds. A couple more shots at something required as I boarded winner 158859 heading towards Ribblehead, once more bailing at Shipley crossing over to the Leeds bound platform from the Bradford side with 333008 taking me back to Leeds. With just over 10 minutes (I know it was a tight connection) I didn’t have time to pick up a McDonalds, but had time to grab a sandwich meal-deal from Boots before boarding the 20:05 Leeds – London service. Dud 82207 was leading 91116, with my reserved seat being in coach C, which like most VTEC services was busy so I decided to do something I haven’t previously done and sat in the quiet coach B, spending the time speeding southwards watching a movie on the tablet, noting that we were running around 10 minutes late due to being held outside Wakefield for the Huddersfield bound service to depart and with a passenger alarm being pressed.

However I wasn’t happy, as the 23:40 to Andover was only running as far as Basingstoke (which I swear was a last minute change), with a bus afterwards (boo). However I had some time to play with so it was down to the Victoria line with 11021/11022 taking me to Green Park where I had a short 30 minute session keeping my eyes peeled for either 96033 (in order to see what was on the northern end) or 96045. Alas neither popped up so it was to Waterloo on 96049/96094, swinging via McDonalds before saying “no” as the queue was long. A pasta pot was purchased from Tesco as I headed to the platform where the 23:40 was due to depart, as a mostly empty 159004 rolled in for a fast turnaround. I grabbed a seat in the quiet coach (for no reason other than it was quieter), sadly a group of middle-aged woman boarded sitting in the same table seats completely ignoring the quiet coach signs (I take back everything bad I’ve said about football fans, drunken middle-aged woman are a lot worse).

At Basingstoke the train emptied out, and it was down the stairs to the bus stop where a mini-coach from an operator called “N Trollope Travel” was the replacement [vehicle Reg J1 NDT], it was quite nice inside (as far as coaches go). The driver noted one passenger for Overton and one for Whitchurch, thankfully the Overton passenger wanted to be dropped off in the village centre (rather in the middle of the housing estate the station is located) which did save around 10 minutes, sadly the one for Whitchurch wanted to be dropped off at the station (boo). One more stop near the town centre at Andover before the station was reached. A quick drive home but slightly annoyed it was around 30 minutes later than I had hoped for.

4 more shacks (clearing the Harrogate loop) plus 3 more 158s into the book, overall a good day in my books

Some pictures:

Starbeck:


Hammerton:


Semaphore Signals & manual crossing gates at Cattal:


144013 at Poppleton:


A train in the lesser used platform 7 at Leeds (17:50-ish Selby):


26th February – A ghost immune to radar, return of the Red Doors

After a couple lazy Sundays I was ready and baking at the chance of heading out to London, the late night due to the bus almost took me back to sleep, but I woke up and decided to head to London after all. Driving to Andover to catch the 08:15 (or so) service, once more starting from Andover due to those engineering works, it was formed of 159018 & 159016, the coach by the entrance to the stairs appeared busy but the front coach of 018 was mostly empty. Due to it being the last arrival into Waterloo before the 09:30 super off-peak restriction kicks in I was expecting the train to get busy at Basingstoke & Woking.

Well it didn’t, at least in the leading coach, but a few minutes late arrival meant my ticket didn’t operate the barrier (but the member of staff had the manual gate open as it looked like others had the similar problem), and it was downstairs to the jubilee platform, with a rough working that I should see the vast majority of workings within 80 minutes, with the plan to shift to Green Park if the station got busy... 30 minutes later a Stanmore bound service rolled in, dud 96092 was on the northern end with required 96045 on the Stratford end. I jumped on board jumping for joy that the 1996 stocks have been cleared, the service was semi-busy with Southampton fans heading to the big game, but I decided to stay on board until West Hampstead, getting a good run on my final Jubilee set.

Walking across to West Hampstead Thameslink, it was a short wait as 377509 (I wonder who needs that for sight) plus another 377/5 was heading northbound on a Bedford service, with 319428/319440 returning to my log files for the 2nd day running. Sadly the toilet was locked out of use on 428 but the motor noise made up for it as it crossed over, pausing for a few minutes as 700101 departed on a Luton stopper, rolling into platform 1 at St Pancras high-level (both the Thameslink core and the line north of Bedford was closed). Swinging via Boots at Kings Cross for a meal-deal before boarding 365501 & 365529 for my first Finsbury Park hop in some time [making use of a PNB] before heading down the many stairs to the Piccadilly line platform, my plan was simple, to linear hop on the Piccadilly line to decrease my required 1973 stocks, my moves were as followed:
197/122, Finsbury Park – Arsenal (it was already in the platform so I leapt on board without checking)
112/185 to Holloway Road
872/153 to Caledonian Road
207/196 to Kings Cross St Pancras
206/109 to Russell Square (for a 20 minute fester until)
247/102 to Holborn
106/141 to Covent Garden
179/156 to Leicester Square (where you can hear the platform announcements of Covent Garden!)
860/236 to Piccadilly Circus
212/157 to Green Park
234/209 back to Piccadilly Circus
149/186 to Green Park (noting that the PIS is rubbish, saying trains were 2 minutes away when they were approaching!)
201/198 to Hyde Park Corner
101/224 back to Green Park, where I leapt on a set which had just rolled in without checking the rear unit:
886/225 to Hyde Park Corner
121/100 to Knightsbridge
878/176 to South Kensington (ignoring the urge to go S7 hunting)
240/874 to Gloucester Road
104/237 to Earl’s Court
139/140 to the fresh air at Barons Court, where I monitored the S7s
880/246 to Hammersmith
253/182 to Acton Town, thinking what to do
169/222 to South Ealing
117/230 back to Acton Town
882/152 to Northfields (using the outside line into platform 1 at Northfields)
100/121 back to Acton Town
209/234 to Rayners Lane, to end my little session with the Piccadilly line, with my eyes set on some S8s, I headed over to the other platform (via the handy toilets for a PNB) jumping on the first S8 towards Harrow on the Hill which was 21047/21048. Noting that due to the football trains were a tad busier and it appeared there was at least one semi-fast due to run southbound calling at Wembley Park only. Sadly that didn’t show before a winner was spotted:
21049/21050 to North Harrow
21039/21040 to Harrow on the Hill, standing around the entrance to the subway keeping my eyes peeled on what was coming north
21067/21068 to Rayners Lane (having just missed a service at West Harrow I decided to stay on board)
21007/21008 to Harrow on the Hill
21057/21058 to Northwick Park, where I remained for 30 minutes, nicer place to fester as it had a bench on a basic island platform, sadly the loos were locked up causing a mixture between regret and anger from passengers trying them. Eventually my, self imposed deadline arrived with 21059/21060 getting the near 10 mile run to Kings Cross St Pancras where I remained for 20 minutes for S7s on both Hammersmith & City and Circle line movements. With no winners spotted I headed to the Northern line platforms, where I wasn’t there for long before 51586/51587 rolled in to take me to Euston.

I headed over to the Charing Cross branch platforms (a nice island platform with a secret passageway at the southern end away from the crowds and exit). 20 minutes passed before 51564/51563 entered my book on a leap to Goodge Street, but after another 15 minute fester I gave up and headed to Tottenham Court Road on 51600/51601 for some Central Line hunting (I need to do some research to find out if services on the Northern line interwork between branches or do they keep to the same branch, for example Kennington – High Barnet – Kennington (CX), or Kennington – High Barnet – Morden – Edgware – Kennington (CX))).

Anyhow I followed the wrong signs for the Central line which took me the long way round, but I eventually joined many other passengers for the series of moves:
91123/92456/92422/912936 to Holborn
91299/92184/92252/91161 to Chancery Lane (I never noticed you can see the platform lights of Holborn and watch the services stop before accelerating towards the station, sadly nothing required and with a 8 minute gap [hence the next service would probably be rammed] I went downstairs to the westbound platform
91269/92050/92118/91119 to Holborn
91337/92106/92444/91009 to Tottenham Court Road
91069/92150/92138/91135 back to Holborn
91233/92044/92054/91033 to Tottenham Court Road

That was the end of my Central line hunting of the day, not a bad result for 45 minutes. 51683/51684 rolled in to take me southward to Waterloo, where I exited LU and into the fresh air for one last time of the day to board the 18:45 to Salisbury (for the line had reopened). The express service was formed of 159010 & 158890 and was well loaded [I wanted to escape before the football fans returned from Wembley and the Rugby goers returned from Twickenham]. It sounded like someone was caught without a ticket [£34.60 please), for the fast run back to Andover, only pausing before Surbiton and before Basingstoke where it caught up with services in front, but still just over an hour to get back to Andover.

A quick drive home to grab some food from home, giving me time to reflect on scoring 49 winners, knocking down my requirements for LU quite well:
1x D-stock (of what remains in traffic, 7032)
5x S8s
9x S7s
30x 1973 stock
10x DLR units
18x 95 stocks
48x 92 stocks (24 of both driving sets and 24 trailers)

But the big news of the day was my searching for 96045 came to a successful end:

Followed up by some classic 319 AC motor noise into St Pancras high-level:


Next weekend sees a trip to Bristol dock lines on the Saturday (early morning drive to Didcot Parkway for the service via Birmingham, where it is most likely I will bail at Bristol Temple Meads paying the £23 (or so) for a single back towards Didcot on a HST, before heading to London on the Sunday to hopefully have a good social with Mr Quest.

Still, my eyes are fixed upon the place I last saw you, your signal urgent but breaking, before you became cotton in a blizzard.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Id check if that bustitution was a lastminute or unadvertised change and bang in a delay form on spec.

Nicely done on your London and Yorkshire scores, nice to read that GTR woant get many BZ6 Gatwicks out of you now.

On the RRB pax wanting dropped off in town this has in the past saved me many lengthy trips to/from Stations on coaches and most drivers are game for it. Even had a driver from the same opperater as ran the local service bus phone the driver of the local service and ask him to hold on as he had connecting pax and could do with help with luggage!