It's pretty much ideal though and it was quite similar to what I had in mind as it gives a bit of variety. I'd never considered the walk to Moor Street either! It can be done with lots of slack so I might head up to Walsall or something as well.
Right, Glasgow!
Glasgow- 14/2/15
It was time for the long time planned bash to Glasgow which had been in planning since November! It was a slightly later start of 0545, for a bus at 0630 which plonked me at Market Street West in Newcastle for around 0650. On leaving the bus, I almost had a guy attack me as I broke into a jog down the street (it was cold!) and as I was behind him, he got quite the fright as he turned right around and looked like he was about to throw a punch. I guess the dark street didn’t help! Anyway, I had ages until my train at 0743 so I made use of a McDonalds voucher so I went ahead into the McDonalds on Market Street and purchased a Sausage McMuffin and a cappuccino for the princely sum of £1.99. This gave me what felt like a well needed dose of caffeine as I opted to hang around and plug in my headphones until about 0730, to avoid a cold fester at Newcastle Central. When the time came, it was just a case of a light jog down the street and to the marker for Coach K.
To my surprise, the 0743 to Edinburgh Waverley, hauled by
91117, actually arrived in early at 0737, (it gets stuck behind the late running 0734 arrival from Manchester quite often), and I found my reserved seat at a table for two, before being offered the usual hot and cold drinks on departure. Disappointingly, the food offering consisted of a cold, dense croissant with butter that was completely rock solid. But it was free food, and it would tide me over, so I couldn’t really complain :P It was somewhat foggier than the previous weekend, with there being no sunset over the North Sea for my journey north. However, the journey was both relaxing and punctual, and we arrived into Edinburgh Waverley at 0916, two minutes ahead. It was now onto the ScotRail units. And next, it was onto
170453 working the 0930 to Glasgow Queen Street. This always seems to be a very busy service, and I had actually deliberately placed myself at the front of the train so that I could take up minimal time buying my ticket and just get straight on to the bashing, so I was constantly weary that we’d get a hoard of folk on clogging up the aisles, as ticket queues tend to be long at Queen Street. However, I had nothing to fear as we ended up with no standees, and we arrived into Queen Street bang on time at 1021.
Out of the gates I went, and into the ticket office, purchasing my Roundabout ticket for £3.25. I was then quite perplexed when it was issued as a single as ‘’Origin- Glasgow Cen/Qst. Destination- Roundabout’’. This worried me a little as I knew that some gates in Glasgow retain singles, and I wasn’t sure whether this would cause issues later in the day, but no such issues materialised, and I was soon onto the low level platforms awaiting the 1033 to Dalmuir, formed of
320302. I wasn’t actually sure how far to take this train, as it wasn’t going to give me any new track, so I worked out that I could take it to Hyndland, leap back to Partick and then catch the following train from Queen Street to Dalreoch. And I did just that, bailing at Partick for
334032 to take me back to Partick. I wasn’t sure how tight the connection would be, as I knew that my intended train was only ten minutes behind the Dalmuir that I’d bailed from at Hyndland. My connection in reality was 2 minutes and it required a dash over to the other platform. My next train, the 1048 to Helensburgh Central, was formed of
334002. It was new track from beyond Dalmuir, and so we proceeded to run non- stop to there (well I say non-stop, more of a stagger), where the scenery proceeded to get quite nice as we approached Dumbarton East, only for it to turn depressing as we approached Dalreoch. I had to bail here as my ticket was valid no further, where I had a 15 minute fester for the journey back to Hyndland.
My train back to Hyndland was formed of
334029, where I bailed for a service to Central. This train was formed of a combination of
318252 and
320320, which took me on the relatively uninspiring journey to Central Low Level. I had my eyes on a mileage move on a non-stop return to Paisley Gilmour Street, and
380106, working the 1204 to Ayr, was just the ticket. I do quite like the 380s, as they do have quite a bright, airy atmosphere, or that might just be my opinion as I’ve only ever ended up on relatively empty ones in the off peak! The journey was short and sweet, and I was on the platform at Paisley in less than 15 minutes, where I headed straight for a return service. I had had my eye on perhaps doing a 314 on a fast run on the Inverclyde, and I was pleasantly surprised when
314207 and
314209 rolled in on the 1222 to Glasgow Central. It was nice to be on a 314 stretching its legs a bit, and it provided a bit of noise versus the relatively silent 380s. I knew that this all connected pretty nicely with another 314 run over some more required track as I alighted at Central and wandered over to
314211 which was working the 1245 to Newton via Pollokshields and Langside. This was a somewhat more sedate run, but it left me with only Neilston left to do on the Cathcart lines. It was a pretty interesting run however, as we weaved through the suburbs, before arriving into Newton half an hour later.
The station seemed in better nick then when I was last here in June, and it even now had lifts and electronic displays! From here I actually had no plan, so I just decided to board the next train and see where I ended up. This train was the 1322 to Cumbernauld via Motherwell, formed of
320310. A look at RTT showed me that if I took this all the way then I’d be left with a long fester, and if I bailed at Greenfaulds I’d have a +1 onto a train via Gartcosh. We also happened to be a minute or so late so that was unlikely to work. I decided on Whifflet as the last time I’d done it, it was still in the hands of 156s, (For me, 156442), and the Milngavie service going that way via Mount Vernon would follow us in behind, so it seemed like the most logical option. Meanwhile, we were passing Mossend, and I noticed the line of 86s, along with the 325 sat in the sidings, which was certainly a nice sight! And so, our next stop was Whifflet. The station was very cold indeed, and the surrounding area seemed somewhat depressing, so I was relieved at the sight of
318268 and
320307 working the 1359 to Milngavie. I was the only person to join the 318 on departure, so it was a peaceful journey to start before the train gradually filled up. It was nice to cover Rutherglen-Argyle Street again as I hadn’t been along the line in two years, and we proceeded through Partick and Hyndland again, before arriving into Anniesland.
My next move was on the line via Kelvindale into Queen Street High Level, which brought out
170414 complete with declassified First Class! Very nice! I plugged my phone onto charge as I enjoyed complete solitude all the way to Queen Street as no one seemed to realise that it was declassified. The stations seemed incredibly close together as the voice in the cab sounded as soon as we left most stations with ‘Now approaching next station. 3 car.’ I was off at Queen Street, and then went for a ride on the Subway, which required me to obtain a gate pass. Either said than done as I had to wait in the ticket office queue. The clerk seemed to be more interested in engaging in chat with his colleagues than actually issuing my ticket in a remotely efficient manner, resulting in me nearly missing a service. At one point he had my ticket in his hand, but he then wandered off for a second to continue a conversation. He could have at least handed it over first! Grumble over, it was onto an Inner service to Partick, formed of
105/123/119. The subway always has a very quirky feel, although the distinct damp smell from stations seems to have disappeared. The journey was soon over and I proceeded to slap my disposable smartcard on the reader at Partick.
From here, my aim was just to do a few short leaps around the city. This started with dud
320310 from earlier in the day which I just took to Hyndland. This was followed by a return to Charing Cross, out on
318267 and back on
334038. The changeover at Charing Cross was pretty difficult, so many stairs! It was then a leap from Hyndland to Partick on
320315, followed by
320314 to Central and
318260 back to Hyndland. It was then time to head off as I took
320302 to Queen Street. A pretty successful hour or so there bar the repeats of 320302 and 320318, and earlier dud 334038. And so, it was
170416 back to Edinburgh Waverley where I picked up some dinner from Boots (some reduced ham and quinoa salad, it sounds weird but it was pretty tasty). I actually also had 45 minutes until my train, so I took a little walk around a lit up Edinburgh, before returning to the station to catch
91125 which was working the 1830 back to Newcastle. A family was sat around the other three reserved seats at my table (and their bag was in my seat) so I went for an unreserved table at the back of the coach instead. It was now pitch black, so it was headphones on again as I gobbled up my dinner as we followed a late running North Berwick stopper until Drem, and then ate up the miles heading south, arriving into the toon at 2001, 5 minutes late. At this time, buses on my route reduce to every half hour, so I was keen to make quick progress back to the Haymarket.
Metro had other ideas as I didn’t know about the engineering works affecting trains north of Haymarket, as the driver spent five minutes at Monument telling us about them before edging into Haymarket on
4060 and
4065. It was a hasty dash for the bus, getting me home for 20:45.
An excellent day!
Total Mileage: 448mi 15ch
Total cost for the day: £15.50
London will be started on later in the week
I then emerged out onto a very empty concourse at Newcastle, where my train, the 0855 to London Kings Cross was waiting, formed of 43295 and 43310. This was the first service to London of the day, with the 0755 train terminating at York for some reason. As a result, the service was very busy, and full and standing from Darlington. This made the journey rather uncomfortable, as some ‘gents’ with alcohol had joined at Darlington, and the woman on the trolley had complained that one of them was having an argument with her. Not exactly sterling behaviour from grown men.