[Track Basher]

Originally Posted by Blindtraveler

its very good! bet you were glato reach INV - thats a pritty intensive day from fortbill

It may appear to be but it isn't. You end up with a 2 hour wait in Fort William between trains, time for breakfast in Morrisons and a walk around the town. Then the train down to Mallaig and with a 15 minute connection on to the ferry which is quite tight and straight on to the bus to Kyle. We were the only four passengers for most of the journey.

You then end up with another 2 hours wait in Kyle for the last train to Inverness. Time for more food. On arrival in Inverness we booked in the B&B before going to the pub until midnight just as it's going dark.

No too busy.
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Originally Posted by 4SRKT

Best was the RPSI jaunt to Limerick and back in September.

Best non-railtour was my trip on the Night Riviera in May, returning to London via Gunnislake, Exmouth and Salisbury.

Biggest wash-out was Spitfire's Edinburgh Explorer II last month.

I would agree with Spitfire being the biggest washout of the year. Creating tours it is impossible to deliver. Advertising routes and traction they cannot provide.

[strathclyde318]

mines got to be the last day of the 318s on the ayrshire line and the freedom of scotland rover

[Blindtraveler]

somebody has offered to book me on a0spitfire tour next year, which one escapes me at the mo but after all the bad press I said by all means buy me an Xmas prezzy, but not that one!
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the move at Malaig is a man of steal one a? Have done it myself starting at EDB and its worth it but lose more than a fem mins on the train and its tight!

[4SRKT]

I've never had a bad Spitfire experience before this one TBF, but others have reported problems this year as well. I only do about 2-3 tours a year, and try to make one of them in Ireland if I can, so my experience isn't particularly representative.

[Techniquest]

Bash of the year? Interesting question, I need to add some sub-categories for this one:

Best trip of the year overall: Well this is kinda obvious, my first All Line Rover! If you've not already read it, my trip report is somewhere in the Trip Reports and Nostalgia section of the forum from that trip and should hint at why it was the best overall trip in 2011. I'm fairly certain it's going to become an annual tradition for me, replacing the previous ones of visiting Fishguard and Ireland at least once a year. I'll still do Ireland once a year I suspect, but an ALR once a year sounds awesome!

Best non-ALR trip of the year: Without a doubt, this falls to my rather amazing 3-day trip to Northern Ireland for the first time. Those of you who haven't been over for the 450s and the 80s, you missed out. Regrettably, I canna do the 450 farewell tour as I'm out of holiday time and won't get any additional time until April Those of you who haven't read the trip report for the bash won't know why it was so good, so I'd suggest popping onto the relevant section of the forum and having a look. I'll try and get links added to this post.

Best railtour of the year: Well, I only did one this year much to my regret. Making up for it a bit in 2012 with two tours in the first two months of the year, and no doubt plenty more to follow those. Anyway, my vote for Tour of the Year goes to Pathfinder's rather excellent Buffer Puffer 9.0. Despite the issues caused early into the tour by the broken windscreen on 37510, it was an excellent trip for track bashing in both the Quails and Baker for me, plus two required 37s, lots of mileage and good company on board made up for it, as did the thrash which was quite audible from coach B without the need to spend all day at the droplights!

Didn't make any forum meets this year, hopefully that'll change in 2012 and this proposed category is thus blank.

Best First Class trip of the year: Only done one, on 1K39 behind 90046 on 11th September 2011. Despite being almost all the way at the back so unable to hear any noise from 90046 until I ran up in the rain after getting off, the company was good and good times were had, especially after my third bottle of Cusquena!

[DanTrainMan185]

Although relatively normal and modern, I loved going up to Blackpool on a 175 and 185, my favourites

[Track Basher]

Originally Posted by Blindtraveler

somebody has offered to book me on a0spitfire tour next year, which one escapes me at the mo but after all the bad press I said by all means buy me an Xmas prezzy, but not that one!
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the move at Malaig is a man of steal one a? Have done it myself starting at EDB and its worth it but lose more than a fem mins on the train and its tight!

It is a bit but I have done it many times and never missed it yet. We were a little late but so was the ferry. I was more concerned about the bus on Skye but this also waited.

There is a fallback position. You can go back to Fort William then get the bus to Inverness along Loch Ness.

[Matt Taylor]

Most satisfying was certainly 455908 on 2O41 from Strawberry Hill to Waterloo on May 8th, it was the first train I worked on my own and the culmination of three months training and twenty years of ambition.

The best overall day was the WMDR on October 26th, the weather was awful but everything else was good. Met lots of new faces and ended up having a good Indian in Birmingham followed by an impromptu night in a Travelodge in Wolverhampton.

[12CSVT]

For me it would be the North Yorkshire Moors diesel gala in September. Some of the highlights of that weekend were 20096+20107 on the 1 in 49 gradient up to Goathland, my first class 25 haulage on the National network for over quarter of a century, 55002 back in action after many years under restoration, class 73 haulage into Whitby on the Saturday evening (albeit with rear end assistance from the 25), mega milage from 31128 and D6515 on the Sunday between Whitby and Battersby, getting drenched in a thunderstorm in Pickering on the Friday evening when looking for a fish & chip shop.

[Crimson_Quiff]

Mainline: Devon & Cornwall 23/9-1/10
Pres: ELR Summer diesel gala 1-3/7
Trams: Blackpool Final week 31/10-6/11

[33056]

Is a bash allowed to last 3 weeks for the purposes of this thread?

If so it would have to be my trip to Austria, Germany and Switzerland in September during which I managed to do plenty of things which have been on a "to do list" for some time.

[TGVDUDE]

A good day photting was mazey day, good all round day that were, although actual bashing is a close call between the rother don rambler, and holy oaks, both were cracking laughs and good sounds from the locos, think holy oaks topped it

[12CSVT]

Originally Posted by 33056

Is a bash allowed to last 3 weeks for the purposes of this thread?

In the mid-1990s when 37s were working the North Wales coast 24 hours a day and pairs of 37s were on the Scottish sleepers I'd sometimes spend 2 or 3days at a time of almost non-stop bashing.

[Blindtraveler]

oo sounds good

[TheJRB]

It's got to be Stratford to Ipswich for me which I did in November. Pushed by an EWS 90 too (90026).

In terms of topical trips, I travelled on the DLR extension, albeit the very northern stretch between Stratford and Stratford International on the very day it opened!

But I also enjoyed Tonbridge to London Bridge via Redhill too which was a little different to the normal route via Sevenoaks.