When planning a trip

[MidlandJoe]

When planning a trip, I'm interested in how differently people do it. Do you focus on one main spot for the day? Do you visit several stations within a certain area? How do you decide what stations you will visit, in what order, and for how long?

For me personally, I mix. I sometimes focus on one location, and sometimes I go out and cover several (For example, I might do several stations on the Birmingham - Wolverhampton section.) I usually tend to spend an hour at each station, if I'm visiting several, or more if I'm visiting fewer.

When deciding on the order, I simply look at the timetable and work out which is the easiest, with connections that can almost definitely be made (+10 mins ish for delays) and without having to hang around for too long.

Finally, when it comes to deciding on the stations, my main 'Research' task if you like is to check the visibility from each platform, so you won't get caught short. I then check for timetables. I don't see much point visiting a station with an hourly or sometimes half hourly service, unless it is an interesting location (For example, Ribblehead on the Settle - Carlisle line with the Viaduct)

It would be interesting to see if anyone here plans trips differently, and if so, how they go about it. Let me know.

 

[Andy Pacer]

I usually decide what rough area I want to do, see what rover/ranger options there are and then make a fairly rough plan. My main objectives are ticking off stations for boarding/alighting and ticking off units for haulage.
I rarely make a full itinerary as invariably something goes wrong causing a delay somewhere and it goes out the window anyway.

 

[xotGD]

I've usually got my 'moves' worked out in advance, with maybe a Plan B in case things go pear-shaped.

 

[Andy Pacer]

I've usually got my 'moves' worked out in advance, with maybe a Plan B in case things go pear-shaped.

It depends what I'm after really. If I'm looking at station scratching then I'll likely have a rough plan (like this coming Thursday when I'm off on a Heart of Wessex day rover) especially if I'm reliant on a specific train back later. I tend to be more fluid if its units I'm after, or if I'm staying over with no time constraints.

 

[Techniquest]

I don't often plan my trips too far in advance, except for mandatory legs on the way to/from home. To be fair, I don't do trips just on trains much now, like my current journey I type this on. Glasgow to Arrochar & Tarbet. I'm using these 156s purely as a positioning move for a long cycle ride to Loch Lomond and (hopefully) all the way back to Glasgow.

I did spend a few hours hunting haulage requirements yesterday, before the weather improved, though. Got my last 380s, two more 320/4s and got more work done on the huge 385 fleet. Got a 156 I missed 3 years ago, only for my journey today to feature it

 

[MidlandJoe]

I usually decide what rough area I want to do, see what rover/ranger options there are and then make a fairly rough plan. My main objectives are ticking off stations for boarding/alighting and ticking off units for haulage.
I rarely make a full itinerary as invariably something goes wrong causing a delay somewhere and it goes out the window anyway.

Makes sense. Personally, as irritating as it can be, I sometimes (Somehow!) find having to re-shape things when it doesn't go to plan quite it adds an interesting experience to the whole thing, but that's just me.

 

[Andy Pacer]

Makes sense. Personally, as irritating as it can be, I sometimes (Somehow!) find having to re-shape things when it doesn't go to plan quite it adds an interesting experience to the whole thing, but that's just me.

On occasions when I do a full itinerary (one that springs to mind was recently I did most of the stations on the c2c line to Shoeburyness) it usually leaves some wriggle room. If I'm feeling very organised (or more likely when I rarely have enough time and patience to plan) I've been known to even give an alternative for each leg! But to be honest an element of make it up as you go along is more fun!

 

[MidlandJoe]

On occasions when I do a full itinerary (one that springs to mind was recently I did most of the stations on the c2c line to Shoeburyness) it usually leaves some wriggle room. If I'm feeling very organised (or more likely when I rarely have enough time and patience to plan) I've been known to even give an alternative for each leg! But to be honest an element of make it up as you go along is more fun!

Yeah, I've done both in the past, and both are fun.