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Techniquest wants to turn back time [Nostalgia]

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Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
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21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
Hey gang,

I've been wanting to bunch up my old trip reports into one place for ages, if only for the benefit of my being able to refer to them easily when discussing stuff on here! :lol: I do have more nostalgia to share eventually, but I'm hours behind my plan for today's epic catch up, so that will have to wait until next week when I am scheduled to have more time. So here we go:

12th August 2005

I awoke earlier than planned, eventually got to the station for the 1230, as far as Newport. £36.90 is exchanged, I then go on to find 43137 heading me out to Newport. This was the same set I used to go home on Wednesday! I board in 42314.

158850 pulls into Newport later, after I invested in a copy of entrain. The train is full of reservations, I eventually find a seat I could use for the time being and we were off. A group of 4 eventually find their seats (where I was sitting), 20 minutes or more after departing Newport! Lazy gits...I find an airline seat, not recommended.

I draw up 'The New Orange' (thanks go to Sprinter, TfL and some other sources for the idea), which I'll reveal eventually. This lot is being written from here on in.

Just realised I've not stated what this trip is for. After MUCH deliberation at work and home, I decided to use my holiday day to go chasing after a VST. Why'd I leave so late? A, I didn't go to sleep very early. B, the train I want doesn't leave for hours yet. C, I need more numbers, so peak times is best.

By now, (1600-ish), we're not that far from the OHLE (another song re-write there...). I was going to go via New Street to MP, but time was of the essence and I didn't know whether the 1408 would be held for our 9 down HST at BP. Plus I had some strange desire to go via the 'atchet Loin. Time to get some numbers.

Didn't get much til Stockport. Got my last FNW 323 on the approach to MP though! My room cost me a grand total of £63.50, as all hostels were booked due to cricket and football being on (neither I knew about). That VST is costing me a lot of money! Got a GM Rail Ranger, boarded the delayed (12 down!) 323 to Hadfield via Glossop. Ticked it off, as well as Dinting, then to Guide Bridge. No such thing as service from Guide Bridge to Stalybridge though, so it's onto another 323 eventually to MP.

I went to my hotel and checked in. It's quite lush! A bit of a break, then it's off to Piccadilly Gardens for a tram to Victoria, more numbers needed!

After getting bugger all at Victoria, I got another tram to Piccadilly. James suddenly surprises me here, then we spend around 2 hours spotting there. At 2358, I get a tram back to Piccadilly Gardens, then into the hotel bar for a pint of Guiness Extra Cold. mmm...It then dawns on me that the service I'd been waiting for was not coming as it was Friday...Never mind, got a few more numbers, the highlight being getting down to just 5 more 150/2s to see! BaaZING!

13/08 report coming soon (ie, when I can be bothered to put it up)

[Just a bit of a difference in trip reporting, compared to the current day, over 10 years eh? :lol: - Ed]

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13th August 2005

In case you hadn't guessed, I went to Manchester for the 0723 Manchester to Newquay HST. I eventually awoke in my room and left, annoyed with the non-working shower. At Piccadilly, which I reach around 0710, James surprises me with his presence again. We note the carriage numbers and 43s, James being back to equal me in 43s, with 14 to see. I decide to go FC on this trip, hence I join 41081, at the front. James will no doubt be able to recall just how happy I was on departure!

We arrive at Wilmslow 3 up! At Crewe, we have 15 minutes before continuing, so I get some pictures of 43089 and 47843. The batteries weren't having me get 47828! A tradition of having coffee in FC was continued, this being the only time I'd have a chance for one (Crewe to Stafford). Updated my book, then started getting ready to grab my window. Got 2 new 350s, a 37, 57, 86 and 90 on this stretch!

At New Street, we obviously need a turnaround, so 089 is on the front now to Bristol and onwards. No more being near the front, but hey, tons of FC and H-O today! Made the most of my £15 upgrade with another coffee at Cheltenham Spa. Again, we arrive early.

At BP, we arrive 7-8 minutes early, plenty of time for a picture of MML at BP! I really didn't want to alight here, but I had to. My HST home is late (typical, the MP - BP bit I was worried about delays on, it's the last 90 minutes to home the delays come in), due to problematic trains between Paddington and Reading. Whilst waiting for the PD HST, I started tucking into my snack box, which was considerably improved since my one in July 2004. Still, the cheese, cherry cake and fruit pieces are left, they stunk, weren't my cup of tea anyway! I board in 40731, behind 43131.

After updating my report, a bit of Green Day is called for. Pity the batteries don't last. I look up after the masterpiece formally referred to as the Severn Railway Tunnel to see a sign say 'Welcome to Wales'. It might as well say 'You're stuck here forever' to me, I can't see my move back to merry ol' England coming soon.

Anyway, enough moping. Time for a coffee and biscuits. Still undecided whether the FGW coffee is better than the VT coffee. At least we run non-stop to Swansea. At Cardiff Central we waited for ages as passengers for the other stations kept joining. 3 or 4 announcements on-board kept telling them it wasn't calling at intermediate stations to Swansea, but hey. The TM got it right when he passed me by and said 'Can I make myself any clearer?'. I won't say what I'd have been wanting to say, suffice to say some choice language would have desired.

Bored by now, I grab the batteries out of my cam (it wouldn't be needed again today) and use them for my CD player. 'Wake me up when September ends', mmm, if only that was possible...The high I had on leaving MP has gone by now, in case you hadn't guessed. Why? I'm back in Wales, not by choice, then there's the fact I'm doing the night shift tonight and a morning shift tomorrow in the worst kitchen I've ever seen...I'm already dying for my next trip to England, and I've not been back in Wales for 1 hour yet! Once again, the phrase 'I'm a trainspotter, get me out of here!' springs to mind. At least passing Bridgend and PTP (the latter we must have passed at 70mph+!) puts a smile on my face. Coffee #5 for today now! The rain is still coming down, with the only dry section of the trip being from BNS to BP departure. 'Here comes the rain again' sums up the weather well. Too busy writing to notice Neath go past. Oops.

At Swansea, we arrive approximately 25 minutes late. I got 46530 on the 110 back home, then I went on here pretty much straight away.

A lot of moping and moaning, but hey, tough.

-----

18th July 2005

Just a brief update before I head out for the scrappers to Newport...

- Got the 0739 off Parc Fforestfach to Pontarddulais
- 37425 arrived at 0819 for Llandrindod.
- Got a lot of pics and some great views all the way to Llandrindod.
- More pics of the 37 and MK2s at Llandrindod, then after picking up some TTs, got the 1026 (delayed as we were 12 down on arrival) 153353 to Cilmeri.
- Took some pics here, got 153310 to Church Stretton
- Updated 100% my new book after finding my old carriage stock book.
- Got some supplies from BP at Church Stretton, spoke to some enthusiasts going for the 37s for some time.
- 150258 came in, got on and started reading my copy of entrain.
- Alighted at Garth, got 153353 back to Llandrindod.
- Disaster strikes, as I discover I don't have my Y-P, tickets or cam! Thankfully at 1743 another spotter found me, this guy had the Y-P et al. As a result, I have no pics of the run-around, etc at Llandrindod. Maybe I'll go up again tomorrow, we'll see.
- Got a window at Pontarddulais, we then head over the Swansea District Line. I alight at PTP, we were surprisingly on time!
- I get a shot of 180114 at PTP, after the 37 and MK2s left (naturally I got pictures, not every day you see 37s and MK2s at PTP!), didn't get a shot of 66021 which had come off the Swansea District Line though. Got 43152 to Swansea.
- With a fair bit of time before my bus goes, I grab some shots at Swansea, after checking which 43 had been on the back.
- Got my bus home at 2157 off the station, returning home by about 2210.

That's possibly my longest day trip in my region. 0730 to 2210, that's over 14.5 hours!

Pictures will be uploaded from this and two other trips as soon as I can.

[Wish I knew where those photos were! - Ed]

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12th October 2005

Well this day began with a lot of 'Shouldn't have bothered going', with delays all the way to New Street, via Bristol Parkway. Only after I got to Leicester (OK, Nuneaton) did things cheer up. You'll see as we go on. The day ended with a lot of 'So very glad I went' by the end of it.

My day began at about 0628, when I was faced with a walk to work to get my bag with my stuff in it back, as I had left it there the previous night (I'll say now that this trip wouldn't have gone ahead if I could have got to sleep). I left work at 0755 or so, having arrived at 0718! On the way to the station, I decided that if I failed to make the 0830, I would not go, as otherwise it meant getting a unit on the 0900 to Gloucester, or waiting for the 0930, neither option I liked. Thankfully I arrived at 0817, and having had 5 decisions to make about which destination to choose, I settled with Birmingham as I announced my declaration to the ticket office staff member that I required a 'Young Persons SuperSaver Return to Birmingham, please'. Near £23 leaves my card, and I head onto the station, not long after I see 43028 pull in the HST from Carmarthen. We depart more or less on time.

En-route to Bridgend, we stopped twice, the explanation I didn't hear. heart-of-wessex rang me at this point.

We eventually reach Cardiff around 12 down. 175107 is seen waiting for time to depart with the 0944 to Manchester. Newport we're 12 down still. By Patchway, we stopped at least twice, once in the station, where we had an announcement to say that passengers for BP should alight here for RRBS, due to problems in the area with signalling (I forget the exact announcement, I heard at least three explanations!). Around 10-11 minutes later, after a 7-minute coach ride, we arrived at BP, at 1029. Naturally, I've missed the 1008 Voyager now, and I'm still not happy about it. The 1038 Voyager shows up at 1044, after an announcement was heard that things are back to normal, at least for services to South Wales. We depart 1046.

Then we stuck behind a train in front of us, which is later revealed to have a broken oil pipe. The depot staff and engineers these days...tut tut. We arrive at Cheltenham Spa around 24 down, and at New Street 20 down!

After a bit of number crunching, which saw me get a new 350, I go up and buy my Y-P CDR to Leicester. £4.80 leaves my card, and I go downstairs to see what Voyager is on the 1248 to Manchester...

(Dramatic drum roll) It's a flaming 90! Well, I see the DVT first, then I remember the diagram! I get the numbers, some of the carriage numbers I needed, but not the 90 unfortunately. Typical, I don't have my cam when I need it. I soon run upstairs after dismissing the idea of buying on-board. The ticket machines won't let me buy the ticket to Stockport (was going to go there as only needed H-O to there from Stafford), so I give up and storm off back to the platforms in a bad mood. The 90 leaves 1 down, and I watch it leave without me. My mood is worsened by the poor weather, and the fact 170520 turns up on the stopper to Leicester! Again! GRR!

I got bored of the 170 not long after boarding it (which I only just made), and decided to alight at Nuneaton for the fast 170 on the Stansted train. Good thing I did, as I got 66406 and 401 here before the Stansted train came in! I dismiss the idea of doing the Cov-Nun route, as I wanted to make my way to Leicester for HST numbers (the whole point of the trip)! 170515 pulls in 3 up to take us to Leicester, where most of the train empties out at.

The exact way things went I forget, but here's the brief:

Down to just 1 more 4-car 222 to see, 012.
Got 43044 and 072 here, taking me to just 12 more 43s to go.
8 sheds through Leicester or near to it, which sparked up a parody of the 'I saw three ships...' song, which went like this 'I saw 8 sheds on my Leicester trip, on my Leicester trip, on my Leicester trip, I saw 8 sheds on my Leicester trip in the afternoon'. I loved it myself, don't know whether anyone else will know what I mean.
Saw 60023 here too.
Got a new CT 153 also, which was good.

I got the 1549 (delayed, arrived 1554, left 1556), which was run by 158856. I consider alighting en-route at Nuneaton in case anything interesting comes through, but I dismiss the idea, especially as I saw 66568 approaching Nuneaton as we did, so I was happy with that score and stayed on the train. Good thing I did too, although I missed the locos on three freights (two were FLs!) unfortunately en-route to New Street, I got my last 323 in the entire class as we arrived! Cue one mini-celebration before alighting!

A bit of number crunching before I head to Moor Street for numbers sees the 90 again on the 1648 (slightly less angry I missed it now), 350103, and some other stock which I didn't bother noting. The platform drains were overflowing with water at New Street, something I can't say I've seen before!

At Moor Street, I see 150013, 14 and 17, as well as 168001, none of which I needed. I wasn't willing to wait for the heavily delayed trains coming from the other direction, so I left to get a drink from the newsagents nearby, then for the 1742 Voyager home. 220006 forms this service. Still I need 221115!

On the way home, at 1750, I fall asleep, and remain that way for most of it. At Cardiff, I alight to find the 1953 to Carmarthen is around 35 minutes late. I go get a Mars bar to eat and hence keep me awake til I get home. The Carmarthen HST eventually arrives at 2029, we leave a couple of minutes later.

We arrive in Swansea at 2125, and I proceed to the shop for a bit of supplies, then leave town at 2128. It took me a record 50 minutes to walk home, with most of it up hills! I indulge in some beans on toast, then a sandwich, with a few episodes of the Simpsons, before going to sleep. By now, I was shattered, as a result of not sleeping the night before.

That sums up my day pretty much. Comments are, as per usual, welcome.

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10th September 2005

I'll open with saying this: WOW! What a day!

I eventually (after little sleep) got up at 0444. My taxi came around 0505, got to the station for around 0513. I find 43127 is heading me out to Cardiff, I join the train in 42268 (I think!).

At Cardiff, I unexpectedly see heart-of-wessex! We saw 3 66s come through, then our 37 came in. H-O for most of the way to Newport, then all the way to Hereford for me. Here we meet Sprinter, I do a spot of H-O then retire to a seat for a while. I'm back by the windows for passing through Craven Arms though! heart-of-wessex and I decide to rest between Shrewsbury and Crewe, both of us rather tired (I believe he was more exhausted than I!).

At Crewe, we see 47848 (I needed this! ), a few 57s, but give up waiting for the 390 to Holyhead. The queue for the bus was incredibly long, we all decided to walk. Got the directions, FINALLY found a copy of VT2! I have a bit of water from the machine in the ticket office (cheers VT!), then we all head off. 25 minutes or so later, we make it to the works. Ticket queues weren't very long at all!

We met Zoltan in the queues, then yorkie, metrocamell, David [formerly known here as Harry Potter, he did have a striking resemblance to him at the time! - Ed] and Mojo near the 89. We all find Zoltan's route coverage shocking, then he reveals the actual coverage map. Even I'm impressed! Naturally, he's covered tons of the North, whilst I've covered tons of the South. I KNEW I should have taken my maps!

Argumentive discussion breaks out in the group, so Sprinter, h-o-w and I leave to do other stuff, with myself saying 'Why come to Crewe to argue? You can do that on the forum.', something us three found amusing.

Lots of phots of everything nearby was done. We then start looking around some of the stalls. Some of the old stock books we looked at were interesting, fascinating pictures. Sprinter then sees the burnt-out 143613! We head for this straight away, especially Sprinter as he needed to see it. I was flabbergasted at how much damage it had received. One half of 143615 was also by it, again Sprinter needed to see it. The 158 from a crash in 1991 was also there.

All of a sudden we see 47150 haul 66951 (AT LAST! I've now seen it!) and 86604 in from somewhere. We soon see 47150 being moved on the traverser. We start getting phots of the other locos around, such as 40145 (AT LAST!), 45112 (third time now for me), various steam locomotives, including 4472 (which appeared to be in steam for the first time this summer!). Phots or video footage of these for me. By now, I was getting sick of people getting in front of my camcorder every few seconds.

We then moved on to check out the Hornby stand, which was quite interesting. Next we went into 40088, h-o-w and I found out how little you can see from the cab!

Our next move was to look at the 55022 stand. We then found out a 55 is due to go to Liverpool in January! We all got a business card with the website on it, I'm determined to check it out. We proceeded to check out some more stalls, then went into the sheds nearest us. Surprisingly here, 150222 was in, and I needed it! 4 more 150/2s for me to see now! Unfortunately I never got a phot of 27000 though. We see a carriage from 221126, 10306 (unrefurbished GNER MK4) and a carriage from 377104 and from 377304 in an area inaccessible to us. We go outside again, and all of a sudden we see 365526. Huge, loud cheer from Sprinter, quieter ones from heart-of-wessex and I. Now got just 4 more 365s to see!

Out here, we proceed to cab 47826 (I've cabbed a 47 at last!), then 31108 (I try locking h-o-w and Sprinter out, I locked myself in! Thankfully someone else had the ingenious idea of giving it a bit of a kick from outside, which worked! Phew!). We discover the time is 1259 now, so we head to where 47815 was moving 86401, ready for the latter's naming. By 1330, we were getting bored of guessing what it would be. Someone from the AC Loco Group was giving out leaflets, the name for 86401 was on the back. 'Northampton Town'. Hmm, at least it's not AC Loco Group!

All three of us were starving by now, so we found the restaurant. We JUST saw 91116 (the number we got off it when it came round closer to us later) passing us at that point. We queued for around 10 minutes for some food, took it outside and consumed it with a few minutes break (our feet, legs, everything were starting to hurt), then proceeded to look for the ATW stand. We eventually found it, got some pictures, carrier bags and pens. No mints left by now. We then looked at some more stalls, then stopped for a couple of minutes at the charity auction. The most surprising thing we saw was the 'Borough of Kettering' nameplate off a 43 go for £1450! I was shocked! At this point we were running out of time, so we decided to move on. We needed to find the VT stand, as people had gotten bags of stuff from VT. We couldn't find it, not even after asking the steward (who apparently worked for VT!). We gave up looking for that, then decided to queue up for the 66951 cab. We thought we'd seen the cab of 43062 open, but it turned out it wasn't. We met back up with some of the others here, then they went to check out the other shed we didn't do. We even saw Dennis here, then finally saw Jim later too! The cab of the 66 was interesting, different certainly. I can finally say I've cabbed one!

By now we were running short of time, we had found out the Warship was open, so we proceeded to do that next. That was certainly fun, as I'd never seen a Warship before! Final bit of business was to check if 89001 was indeed open now. Unfortunately it wasn't, no more steps could be located. We decide to go to the donuts stand before we went.

Sprinter and I had one last thing to do in the works before we left. The ones in the wheelshop were shut. Never mind though, we did see things like axle shafts for 317s and 321s, as well as BT10 wheelsets, 156 slave wheelsets and a 220 motor wheelset. Saw a LOT of wheels too, for things such as Electrostars and Goodness knows what else! We found what we needed in the other shed we were in earlier, then met back up with heart-of-wessex. We then had to leave, as it was already gone 1630 IIRC. We weren't going to queue up for the bus anyway, and walked back. heart-of-wessex and Sprinter went like the clappers up the road. We had a bit of a race, in that h-o-w was a Desiro, Sprinter had his namesake as his choice, and I was falling behind rapidly, so I elected to be in the failing 33s! I soon change to a Super Sprinter, then back to the 33s for a while. I end up on a 37 with severe wheelslip. After most of the way back, we decide to walk at the same speed.

At Crewe, h-o-w and I rush down to platform 12 to see the railtour leave. It was only 67005. Boo! Nevertheless, whilst it was being coupled up, we had a chance for a discussion about what things will be like in 15 and 45 years time. I film it leave, it departing about 12 or 13 down. We then see our 37 on platform 11, so we go for that, myself getting a couple of 390 numbers (good thing I did, I FINALLY scored 390009! Just 3 more of those to go!), then invested in a Mars and Diet Coke, before joining the train to ensure we had our seats. A final bit of chat to Jim and Dennis before we left confirmed they were going via Wrexham on the way, a gesture was made, another after finding out they went non-stop through New Street on the way up! At that point in time, we're off. The number of people on the platforms was incredible! I retire back to my seat just after we re-join the Misery Line, too wet for H-O to Shrewsbury for me.

We had some discussion on the way back, then h-o-w fell asleep (unsurprising, he was up before me!), so Sprinter and I compared our fleet lists. At Hereford, Sprinter departs, and h-o-w wakes up. We look through our Locomaster Profiles stuff, and we're soon at Newport surprisingly. h-o-w gets a bit more rest, whilst I go to chat to some others from another forum. We all alight at Cardiff, got some video footage of 37425 departing for Canton, then we all went our separate ways. I got the delayed 2047 HST back to Swansea, it being delayed by around 13 minutes or so on departure from Cardiff, which ensured I missed my bus home. Well, technically I should have JUST made it, but typically it went early. I waited for a while, just to ensure it didn't run late, but after that while I walked into town for the bus station and awaited the 2255 111 to Llanelli, which was run by 46521.

I got home at 2311 or so. Absolutely shattered, I put my stuff down and went to bed. By 2330, I was asleep. Not surprising that, I was shattered! 18 hours or so after leaving, I had returned. A LONG day out! But was it worth it? Oh my Goodness, yes. I got a good few new numbers, cabbed a fair few beasts, seen stuff I wouldn't normally ever see...Overall, if you haven't been this weekend, I reckon you'll have missed out.

The Open Day gets 9 out of 10 from me, an awesome day out, never to be done again, and I could be seen saluting the works as we walked away from it. It was far too cool, my only regret being that I couldn't do more of it! Expect the pictures soon.

[I may not have the photos, but I do have a YouTube video! https://youtu.be/Nh-f4dms_TQ - Ed]

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12/03 - The day before [I don't know why I was doing an American date thing! This was 3rd December 2005 - Ed]

After work, the mission was clear: Get to the station in plenty of time, taking on drinks and films en-route. Finishing work around 1805, I heaqd straight off to the station, arriving around 1825.

The 1848 duly pulls in on time, and it's 158852. I board and find my reserved seat. The sound of the engine was rather interesting en-route, the sound being akin to one of those spinning tops I recall as a child.

As usual, we're delayed en-route, and at this time of day, we're picking up lots of noisy party-goers. We eventually arrive in Cardiff at 2001, 8 down. I fail to see the group on platform 6, and start talking to a spotter on platform 4 for a while. He foolishly notes 60073 as 60013 when it passes.

I eventually lose him, then check my bus time. Darn, still a while to go. Back into the station, spot some more, hunt the group (who later I found out went to Llanbradach), then get the bus to the hostel. We leave 2.5 minutes early, to my surprise.

Checking in at the hostel was fun, in that the Rhymney line passes not far from the hostel! Later 37s are heard passing over the bridge, the sound is incredible. A little later, joy54 shows up, and we chat for a couple of hours about rail events. I fall asleep around 0100.

12/04 - The day none of us will forget [4th December 2005 - Ed]

joy54 and I, after a good breakfast, set off for the 29 to Cardiff. It arrives a few minutes down, but due to slack timings, we're about on time at Cardiff. We find the ticket office queue to be too much, so we go to platform 6 and await the 47 and 33. 47854 clagged out a fair bit coming out of Canton! Decent shots are hard to get, what with the huge crowds. I phot 33207, then run onto the train. We work our way to the front of the train, meeting the rest of the group.

All the way to Rhymney, the train is insanely packed. Rhymney will never be so busy! A lot of us went to the crossing to get some shots, I gave up and got some shots of the 33 from other angles. It's not long before we're all off again, this time we all alight (pretty much of us in our group anyway) at Bargoed to do 50049 to Rhymney. This was fun! A call from heart-of-wessex tells us he's on a 8-car 158, something some forum members couldn't understand. I tried without success to explain this is something ATW and WSX do a lot, partly for stock moves and to have capacity on the unit's diagram later in the day.

50049 was quite enjoyable, and deserved a lot of photos and attention at Rhymney. This time we had plenty of time before returning, so I headed for the crossing too. The headshunt move took about 3 attempts before it actually went up to it! A doubled-up 142 stopped us using the crossing until it left the station for Cardiff. This really annoyed yorkie!

Soon enough 37411 pulled back into the station, after some of us bought souvenier mugs. My first bit of 37 bashing for some time actually. As we were around 15 down leaving, the driver must have really thrashed off, the sound and clag was awesome! Thankfully I finally got some video footage!

I stayed on this train to Cardiff, the others leaving at Caerphilly or Ystrad Mynach. heart-of-wessex and Sprinter, as well as HSTfan!!! join us here. I point out where joy54 and I stayed the night before en-route, and I enjoy a Diet Coke, curteousy of HSTfan!!!.

Back at Cardiff, we meet up with Joe Holmes. Having been informed that 50031 and 049 were swapping during the day, we ensure we get 049 up to Ystrad Mynach (pronounced Iss-trad Min-ack for those unable to say it on the day), alighting for the 33 back to Cardiff. Our group has a picture under the Ystrad Mynach sign, then we find the 47 and 33 had swapped ends at some point, with 47854 at the front now (it had been on what would have been the rear earlier). Still, it's all good mileage gaining. 47854 thrashed its way south, that's for sure!

Returning to Cardiff, three of us decide to do some bellowing en-route...Hey, it was called for. I've never done it before, now I know I'll definately do it on the last HST runs! At this point, we have another group shot by 43010, then Joe Holmes and HSTfan!!! (unfortunately for him he had to go to work!), with the former stroking the 43!!!

Meanwhile, heart-of-wessex, Sprinter and I head to The Prince Of Wales, the nearest pub, so as to celebrate with a pint the day and the locos on the Rhymney line for the last 10 years. He recorded it on his MP3 player, I'm sure the link will come soon.

1611, and I realise the train to Hereford would be leaving soon, so I ran off to the station for the 1615 (couldn't leave any later, had a lift arranged at the arrival time already) to Manchester, as far as Hereford. Having no buses on Sunday isn't helpful. I find a seat in 153353, and stay there to Hereford. Pity it wasn't a required bash, but never mind, the mileage will come in handy.

My lift home (thankfully my dad was picking my sister up from work around that time. Unfortunately for him he had to return straight to work, having taken a couple of hours off to pick us up. Me thinks a large bottle of whisky would be a good compensation) arrived shortly afterwards, giving me time to use the last two exposures on night shots of 153353 and a 150/2. I hope they come out.

Anyway, that's the rather detailed day from my POV. The pictures were all taken on the SLR, video footage may become available when I figure out how to get it off onto the PC via the USB cable. All in all, an absolutely incredible, unforgettable day (as you might have guessed from my MSN display name). One I wish didn't happen for reasons of now having no locos up the Rhymney line, or with ATW full-stop, but at least they were sent off with flying colours. I for one know that I shall miss the locos on the Rhymney line and with ATW. If I may, I'd like to end this thread with the following line:

Goodbye to the 33s, 37s, 47s and the rest of the locos to have been on the Rhymney line. But in particular to the 37s, the most enjoyable loco class I've experienced ever.

-----

That will do for now. Enjoy the read, I'll be back at some point.
 
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RailUK Forums

Kristofferson

Member
Joined
23 Nov 2012
Messages
1,132
Aha... just stumbled upon this! Definitely less detailed than they used to be ;)

A lot of group bashing going on there, was it a regular forum "thing"?
 

Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
Kristofferson:2196624 said:
Aha... just stumbled upon this! Definitely less detailed than they used to be ;)

A lot of group bashing going on there, was it a regular forum "thing"?

Oh yes indeed, we used to have a lot of forum meets for trips, and I used to do a fair few of them too.

Aye my trip reporting has come on leaps and bounds over the years, but then I suppose it was 10 years ago! More nostalgic trip reports due to be added to this thread at the weekend, if not before :)
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Blindtraveler:2196841 said:
Waw! Never knew you did all that, I have to say I much prefer your modern day style of trip reports but these are facinating! Didnt know any 158s had had accidents! Look forward to more.

Oh I have way, way more trip reports from years gone by to share yet. Put it this way, these came from page 83 of this sector of the forum, so tons to process yet!
 

LowLevel

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Keep em coming - happy days :)

You did prove yourself wrong and escape from Wales too !
 

fowler9

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Ha ha. That was first class. Loved the loco hauled stuff in particular.
 

Techniquest

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Keep em coming - happy days :)

You did prove yourself wrong and escape from Wales too !

Aye I did! I happened to get time on the laptop tonight, so here's a bit more!

17th December 2005 [I don't have the full trip report, I think the group was sharing the burden of writing trip reports at the time! The rest of it was posted by Galvanise, and can be read here http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=4096 - Ed]

Sprinter, heart-of-wessex and I went onto Barking, where we saw 150127 on the Gospel Oak service from a different platform than usual. As this was doing the Barking flyover line, I ran for this with the others. The first diesel of the day since Greenford! We take this straight through to Gospel Oak, changing and ending up running for a 313 to West Hampstead. Here, we buy food from a kebab shop and went on a Kentish Town loop Thameslink train at 1806 to Kings Cross Thameslink. Here, many traffic misses later, we end up at St. Pancras to check the number of a 9-car 222 that went through at West Hampstead. It turns out to be 222002, which I needed, the others having already seen it. We decide to go, as the only HST to depart soon had just left when we reached the platforms.

At Kings Cross, I finally see 317342 and 91110, two numbers I was desperate to see! Two HSTs or three come in and out, none I needed. An un-id'd 91 was near the tunnels for some reason, and after a while we find the only accommodation for the night was £45 or more. Not wanting to pay that, heart-of-wessex and I then decide to make an overnighter of it. Down to the Underground, we went to Liverpool Street. After some number crunching, we do the 1942 to Hertford East, having seen it being formed of 317513, declassified FC, so off we went!

At Hertford, we buy a Permit To Travel, then went back. At Cheshunt, the train is diverted via Seven Sisters due to a fatality, so it's running back to declassified FC (although how it was ever classed as FC I don't know!) to do it down that line! Back at Liverpool Street, I finally finish my Stanstead Express 317/7s! A bit of number crunching on platforms 11-16, we go to the other platforms to see the 'one' MK3 set. We have a good trial of them. FC is WELL nice in these! SC is good too, even the extra seats in SC are reasonable! There was a VT liveried and conditioned MK3 in it still, the DVT also in VT colours. We consider getting this to Stratford, and jump off here, but the barriers stop us doing this. Damn. We take refreshed 315822 to Stratford instead, as I wanted to try one out. The colours! Disgusting!

A bit of number crunching at Stratford follows, then down to the low level station for the 2312 to Willesden Junction Low Level, just to do the limited line off the NLL to the low level station. A freezing cold station makes waiting for the delayed Tube service to Waterloo irritating. But I do see 150128 here, my last SL 150! At last! At 0010, we finally leave for Waterloo.

A bad decision follows at Baker Street, where we change for the 'faster' Jubilee line. It comes about 9 minutes later, but defective doors means we terminate at Bond Street. Turns out I needed to tick this station off! We get a train 2 minutes later, but know for sure we've missed the 0042 via Point Pleasant Junction. Damn. We also miss the 0105, so try the 0142.

At Waterloo, we saw a VERY dirty 66038 on platform 19. Photted this, then went for a box machine to Twickenham via Raynes Park. This is the 0142, which we hoped went via Point Pleasant, but it didn't. Darn. We got off at Twickenham at 0230, got a delayed Night Bus on N33 to Piccadilly. We change here for a bus to Trafalgar Square, then go to a nearby Tesco. We then wait AGES for a bus to Liverpool Street, so as to get the 0430 to Stansted Airport, non-stop all the way. We get there just in time, but it leaves about 15 down. Photos in the meantime of the 317 and a nearby DBSO off platform 12 take some time off the wait for us to go. Sprinter leaves us here to go home. Lucky bugger, considerably warmer there!

I do FC for much of the route to Stansted, leaving it just a few minutes before arrival there. We take some photos here, trying in vain to find the transit to mark it off. We return to the platforms, getting 317668 on the return to Liverpool Street on the 0600 service to London.

Back in London, we buy Z1-4 TCs, then move onto a Circle line train EB to Victoria. Non-stop through Cannon Street, woohoo! Breakfast is the order of the day from Upper Crust next, then we get 377126 to Selhurst.

The reason why we came here is to see the stock in the depot and hopefully find 455835, the only box machine heart-of-wessex needed. Unfortunately, this was not to be. We did see 1705 in here, as well as a 377 without one of the vehicles on it. Which one this was we couldn't tell. We see 171804 I believe (or 805, heart-of-wessex if this was the one we saw, confirm this with me as I need that one!). We see 171722 and 171721 here as well, the latter I needed. 66044 is nearby too, with an engineers train.

We soon find Norwood Junction station, then get the 0851 to London Bridge, the route turning out to be one I needed! Sweet! Some number crunching goes on at London Bridge, then we proceed to Waterloo East, on some 465, I forget which at this time. Short walk onto Waterloo follows, and we get another box machine (poor heart-of-wessex, he hates them!) to Clapham Junction. Some more searching for 455835 goes on, but still no luck.

We go back on a 377 to Victoria, which was so packed we went in FC. I sat down, some ignorant gentleman nearby didn't move to occupy the window seat, so heart-of-wessex stood up. We decide to go to Paddington now, so down to the Circle line for a train WB then, having nearly got a 'D' stock (I was half asleep!). Here, we hear the familar ying-ying (again, third time today!) on the approach to the platforms. We find 67029 is in, with a charter! We go up platform 8 to see what was on the other end, it being 6024 'King Edward I'! On a non-stop run to Stratford-upon-Avon! Lucky gits on that!

Much photting goes on, it eventually leaves with a HUGE amount of steam. I'm standing on platform 8 filming it, the result being pretty impressive on my cam! Lined up against a HST it looked rather out of place! A quick trip to WHSmith, then it's waiting for the 1237 to Swansea, which heart-of-wessex was taking to Chippenham, I decided I would take it too to Reading. Here, it arrives 5 up, 7 down on departure! My HST to Hereford leaves at 1325, down 7 too! Further delayed near Didcot, due to engineers here. Worcester Shrub Hill sees us again delayed waiting for the late-running 180 off the single line from Foregate Street. We arrive 15-16 down at Hereford. A quick phot of 43071 at the front, with a filming of the move to the headshunt, then I get a lift home.

And that, as they say, is that. A VERY successful weekend! Bring on a London trip like THAT again!

-----

13th February 2006 - Mission 43070087 [not sure what the idea was there, I'm sure I was referencing something! - Ed]

The mission was nearly cancelled before it began, having woken at around 0700 with around 4.5 hours sleep. I debated 'Shall I go? Is it worth it?', with a final decision that it was already decided the night before, so that was that. I leave the house at 0722, managing to catch my 0725 bus (I took the second stop, which it reaches at 0727) with 30 seconds to spare. I took off from my house in true Sprinter style! VA51 SAR, Sargeants' Spectra, was running the service, unusual as it's half-term.

Arriving ahead of schedule (0832 booked arrival at the railway station) by around 7 minutes (seemed unlikely en-route, it was a slow journey. The school term driver of the 0650 can do the trip in 40 minutes!), I went to nearby Morrisons to buy meat, bread and a sweet snack to provide the meals of the day. By 0835, the shop opened, and I come out £1.14 lighter, with the quickest service ever! The time before last had seen queues the like you'd expect to see at Kings Cross for LUL tickets! No need for a rush this morning anyway I thought, I'm not due to depart til 0902.

Getting to the station, all ATW services are delayed. The 0828 eventually comes at 0856, departs at 0858! The 0856 arrives and leaves 12 minutes later. The 0902, which I was getting and had 25 minutes to connect at Newport for a BTM service, was originally reported to arrive at 0926. It then gets put to 0930. 175104 arrives at 0927, and we leave at 0929, 28 minutes down on booked arrival time, 27 minutes down on departure time. We leave Cwmbran crawling at about 5 mph. As the unit's rear end, where I was, left the platform, the driver suddenly seemed to realise what was going on and floored it. Pathed straight into Newport's platform 2 (rare! Straight in, never normally happens, usually held at Maindee for mutliple trains to depart first!), we arrive at 1015, 28 minutes down on arrival time. It leaves at 1017, 27 down on departure. So a disappointing morning for Arriva. The name 'Arriva Trains Fail' sprang to mind many times between 0845 and 1015! I had arrived just in time to find 150251 pulling round into platform 3 for Bristol and Taunton. Score, a new bash here too! We leave at 1017 or 1018. Just before this I managed to hear an announcement say a WSX service to Cardiff had been cancelled. Should have known something was up...60054 was seen light engine on platform 4.

Our 150 is pretty full. We stop outside Severn Tunnel Junction, then arrive there. We stay here for a lot longer than usual. We soon get an announcement informing us of an indefinate period of delay, this being due to an earlier train reporting hitting something in the tunnel. ATW's 150260 on the all-stopper to Gloucester pulls in, and I found an interesting to video its departure. It still doesn't depart, then 150251 starts emptying out. I run back to hear the announcement saying to get the Gloucester train and change there for Bristol, as that train could be left there for 3 hours, 4 hours...60074 was seen here going towards Newport.

En-route for Gloucester, I note this has got to be the busiest Gloucester service I've ever seen! Nearly all of us were for Bristol mind. One passenger by me was travelling to Paignton, had been due to catch the 1110 direct Voyager off BTM! I tried advising her en-route of what to do, but she is the sort of person who doesn't like more than 2 changes. An announcement by the conductor tells us we are due into Gloucester at 1125, where we change for the 1135 to Cheltenham, changing again for the 1151 from there to Bristol, where we were due to arrive at 1241! The trainload groaned as if it was a massive theature audience! Many people got on the phones then to advise waiting people for them what was happening. I was annoyed, as I was to miss the event at BTM, and would have covered Severn Tunnel Junction to Gloucester about 15 times now!

We arrive at Gloucester 4 minutes early. I run up the platform to see what was in the yard, which was a good idea, as I scored the CR buffet car and 17173. There was also an ex-VT DVT there, which one I don't know. An un-identified EWS-liveried 60 hauled Murcos down towards Yate, couldn't get the number. Damn. 143618 arrives at about 1136 - 1137, already late. The crowd for this unit on platform 4 is massive. I squeeze on after an exceptionally slow alighter got off with assistance from the conductor. We all squeezed on, and I read a copy of the Metro. We must have left at least 5 minutes late. I was preparing to say goodbye to the connection...

We arrive with many anxious people wanting to alight at 1150, the booked departure time for the Voyager! I jump on 221127, and we leave 4 down. I see a couple more un-identified locos, 662x4 was seen at Standish Junction. Not sure what the middle number was, but I hoped it was 224 (does anyone here know what it was? It was hauling HTAs, where it was going I couldn't tell.). I finally mark off the mail vans at Parkway, and we leave 1 minute down at 1226. Not bad, all things considering. The TSR appeared to have been removed, didn't see it at Westerleigh Junction.

We eventually reach BTM at 1234. I'm about an hour later than I needed to be here, so I continued to Taunton. Booked to have arrived at 1055, an arrival at 1234 is NOT impressive. And they wonder why people drive? We leave on time at 1244, after I see the impressive beast, aka 43002, heading a Paddington service. A boring journey to Taunton ensues, and we arrive dead on the dot at 1317. It seems a loooong time since 0722!

I chat to some spotters on platforms 3 and 4, who confirmed that what I went for indeed ran. So I hung around for some time, and they showed up. Yes, I was here for 43070 and 087 on a stock move from Minehead. It appeared to be moving all the carriages I saw there in September 2005! I video'd this impressive set arriving. Unfortunately I didn't have my digi cam with me, but my camcorder has a photo feature, so I use this and record some sound in the background with it. When I find out how to get them off the camcorder, I'll upload them. They depart only a few minutes later, with me missing the filming of the inital clag from 087, but the rest of the departure was amazing! HELLFIRE! doesn't come close to describing it. Combine it with MY LORDZ!, and you come a bit closer. Didn't take long for the driver to find full throttle, indeed only a couple of seconds after the initial movement he was thrashing it to the maximum it seemed! All in all, I'm glad I video'd it! The sound and clag stayed in the air for a while, which I enjoyed immensely.

After a bit of photting, the others in the gang left. 43004 graced us with its presence shortly. It didn't seem long until the 1451 Voyager now, which was formed of 220031 to Glasgow on a fast via the WCML! I take this with a Newport resident to BTM. The TM advised passengers for South Wales to leave here, as it was a tight connection at Parkway. What she DIDN'T know or see was that the 1550, the next South Wales service, was cancelled, due to a train failure. It had been 30 minutes down when we looked at Taunton. Tut tut. Getting off the 220 was hard, as the passengers at BTM insisted they got on before us, so we politely told them, these being my used words 'Let passengers alight the train first, the train will not go until everyone gets off and on'. I felt like kicking the kid off that had got in our way just before that, especially when he said 'I'm stuck now'. That drove me to the point of kicking him off just enough to fall down the gap between the step and the platform edge... I hang around for a bit, as it's some time until the 1558 to Parkway. We phot the stoneblower and move up to platform 3, where the Newport resident got 158870 to Parkway, which loud and clear announcements were made for passengers to South Wales to get. I go see the airport coach in the lounge, not getting the number of the first one, but got the second. An announcement is made for the 1558, which arrives 11 ahead of departure time! I see the nameplate 'Sir Francis Chichester' from the lounge, thinking 'That one sounds like the one I need...', so a storm out of the lounge to check results in an amazing thing:

IT WAS 221115! YES! I FINALLY HAVE FINISHED MY VVVs! SCORE! GET IN THERE!!!

What a day this was made to be then, getting a new 43 sighting for the first time in 2006, having spent over 2 years looking for it, then finishing the Voyagers! I really, really, REALLY wanted to run down the platform and celebrate football-player style! I held this until I got a couple of photos to prove I've seen it, then having a semi-quiet celebration in the gents. It became difficult to control the celebration, but I resulted to silent, continuous celebrations for a while. I take it to Parkway, where I get another photo and film its departure. I get a toot from the driver and his horn, and it stormed off. I see one of the locals who I hadn't seen for a while, so we have a chat about stuff for a while. I find 67008 and 027 are due up from Avonmouth soon, so I let a HST and 180 go before I get the delayed 1707 to Swansea, as they still hadn't arrived. 43138 continues the recent tradition of not letting me have new 43 haulage to Newport. A nice free cup of tea goes down well now! I alight at Newport to decide whether to get the 1804 to Hereford. I decline this, and get 143611 to Cardiff.

At Cardiff, it's a huge crowd getting on and off surprisingly. I find the 1800 is delayed and this unit goes back to Taunton! Don't know what happened to its original unit, but it left 15 down. I get treated here with sighting 150285, my last 150 with ATW for haulage, and I see why I haven't found it til now. It's got new seating and everything inside! Seeing it from platform 2, it looked pretty nice! I get 43156, my first new 43 haulage in yonks, to Newport. Arrival here sees the ex-VT set in use again to Swansea. I get on this behind 43174. It humours me to remember how this set was only to be used on Swanseas if FGW were desperate. An uneventful trip, apart from the realisation that almost the SC carriages on this set had been had for haulage by me, and I alight in Cardiff again. An unidentified loco passes on the other side of the HST with loaded steel rings. DAMN! Now I have time to waste until the 1920 to Holyhead, so I go to the bus station after the harassment by Axa health insurance (man they're ALWAYS at Newport and Cardiff!) to see if there were any First coaches in. I sight 20364 just leaving on the X2 to Porthcawl. Seeing nothing else of interest, I return to the station. 60047, seen earlier in ADJ, came through with covered steel wagons, and I video its arrival. 158835 pulls in soon to run the 1920 to Holyhead, and I board it. Thankfully I had a copy of The Times to read, I would have been bored otherwise! 60044 in Godfrey Road was the only interesting thing there, with a couple of 66s in there, 037 and 210 I noted.

Back at Hereford, 66053 pulls up soon after us, the loco I had been unable to obtain a number for at Newport on the way back. I soon get my 2107 bus home, to find they were only then working on the barriers to get them up and running just before then! A boring trip home, except our 462 was booked to go via Credenhill and Kinnersley. Did we? Nope! Via Lyonshall we went!

By the time I got home, I was astounded I had drunk no coffee all day, but I was shattered by now! 2205 or so, I get home, and go to bed about 30 - 40 minutes later. Naturally, I had no plans for the 14th, spotting or otherwise, so I get a deserved 11 hour sleep!

Comments welcomed.

[I just wish I had the photos and videos from this one, well from all of my old trips actually! - Ed]

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17th February 2015

Kington - Hereford - Newport - Cardiff - London - Edinburgh

After a late beginning of sleeper, I thankfully awake at 0805. YE52 FHA does the honours of getting me to Hereford on the 0850 461. I alight for a much-needed breakfast in the city centre, making a new plan to get the 1149 off HFD to Newport (NP). Getting the 0930 X3 to Cardiff was disbanded when I couldn't be bothered to get a coach. 175002 does the honours of taking me to NP. I miss a HST by seconds! Darn. I eventually end up doing 170630 to Cardiff Central (CCC). I return to NP behind 43020, which results in me bashing 175105 back to CCC. By this point, I've seen FIVE 60s, all in the NP area. For those interested, they were 013, 015, 039, 060 and 085. 66070, noteably seen at HFD doing a run-round on a freight movement, was seen again at NP. I decide to do more bashes would run the risk of missing the Megabus, so off I go to Cardiff Castle. I arrive here an hour early (I was that keen to get to London!), so it's time to start lunch (at 1415! Long time since breakfast at 1000!) as well as this report. I also decide to get some supplies and have a walk around the area. Doing so loses my first place at the bus stop, but the queue later proves to be non-existant anyway, and I end up forcing my way to person #3 to board after the Neoplan arrives at 1506. Sorted. 50134 does the honours of racing us to London, after a lengthy boarding procedure seeing us depart at 1523. We pick up loads more at Cardiff University's pick-up point, and finally set off non-stop to London. Here's to an all-thrash bash to London Greenline!

The all-thrash trip turns out to be rather slow by J10, due to an earlier accident between J5 and 6. Thankfully our driver diverts after J8/9, and we re-join at J6, after a phone call to another Megabus driver confirms traffic to be OK. We eventually hit the M4 bus lane, which allowed us to THUNDER past LOTS of traffic. Thank the Heavens for that invention! I continue to wish I'd bought that CDS at HFD to board the 1134 Adelante to London, as it would have enabled me to do MUCH more around London, mainly the number crunching I now miss. Still, that would have meant spending quite a bit of money.

We eventually arrive at London Greenline at 1955, 1h 25m down. 4 hours and 45 minutes I spent on that bus, roughly half the time it would have taken to do London to Glasgow on the overnight Megabus! Could have been a LOT worse I suppose, but hey. I had 35 minutes to get to Euston now. A rush through to Victoria mainline enabled me to get three new numbers (ooh! Big amount!), then a lengthy wait to top-up my Oyster at the machine (should have done it online before I left home!) finally leaves me with 20 minutes to hit Euston's mainline concourse in order to hit my target of arriving there at 2030. I eventually get on my Victoria line train, panicking I wouldn't make it. I do, and arrive at the concourse at 2028, 2 minutes ahead of my (very much) guessed arrival time. A couple of phone calls finds the rest of the group. We shortly head off to the platform for the 2115 Caledonian Insomniac. Feltham2104 and I board in 9800, a Seated Sleeper car right at the end of the train. The MK2 noise irritates me soon enough, but at least I scored 47802 in Willesden.

Apparently we didn't go via Northampton as usual, but still arrived at Crewe late and left 12 down! Saw 90027 hauling an ECS movements from the LHCS MAN - BHM service into platform 1 before we left.

By now I've been up for 16 hours when I'm writing this, so I'm exhausted. Not enough to sleep apparently. The whole trip to Edinburgh sees very little sleep attained, but at least I finally mark off Preston to Lancaster as done H-O, after seeing 90043 storm through. A very rough stop at Edinburgh sees me nearly fall to the floor at 0345 - 0350 (the time I couldn't be sure of).

18/02: Edinburgh - Oban - Glasgow - Edinburgh - York - London

After our rough stop, it's time for some serious number crunching. Scoring off a load of units and photting some, I finish my 322s! SCORE! We discover 90040 had hauled us to Edinburgh, and find 37416 will be the mighty fine piece of English engineering to haul us to Oban! Much filming of the movements occurs, with a little more number crunching and photting done before boarding of the 0450 to Oban. It's quite a reasonable take-off sound, but 416 comes to life storming out of Haymarket! I can only guess the neighbours are used to that noise by now! I find some sleeping mask things on this set, which assists me in getting some sleep, albeit only for a short time. Still, that bit of sleep came in useful to keep me going. After Crianlarich, it's time for H-O. It's 100% freezing outside, but 37416 on the Oban line made it all the worthwhile! I got some rather cold (near numb!) hands, ears and face doing it, but what did I expect for February in the West Highlands? I was more than willing to do it, but it wasn't easy. Naturally, I'm getting lots of scenic phots along the route, as I'll not get shots like them again, certainly not from a DMU.

At Taynault, we have to wait for a southbound 156 to clear the way, so we get a bit of time here to phot the 37 in this location. Thankfully for me it's 156465, which I needed to see! Off we go shortly, back to facing the cold. 37416 continues to provide its awesome show all the way to Oban, which we hit on time at 0916. Of course, it's time for a huge amount of photos and videoing (a bit of which I accidentally filmed over the next day. Nothing too serious though thankfully). 416 begins its reversal procedure by first reversing the stock a bit, uncoupling, moving over the crossover, along the other line to reverse onto the other end of the stock and reverse it into the platforms. After this is completed, it's time to go find some food and look around the town. We think about going to Mull, but the time isn't really there, and if it's late, we miss the train...No, not worth the stress. When you're on advance-purchase tickets you don't need worry about missing trains. We eventually get going and yorkie is obsessed with finding a Pizza Hut. Good luck. Maybe the nearest one is Fort William or in the Glasgow area. After a little exploration around town, some of us purchase from the bakery, whilst the others end up in the pizzeria they found. Those of us who did the bakery (they were mighty friendly in there, nicest catering people I'd seen anywhere all weekend) went to warm up in the ferry terminal. After a while, I venture off to indulge in drinks for the trip home, and ended up in the chip shop nearest the station. Never again, they were very expensive and weren't nice at all. Avoid at all costs. I'm soon back at the station, after we had recovered yorkie's mobile, tickets and FAM! Lucky we had rung his mobile there! He'd only gone and left them on the sleeper...Thankfully the nice staff returned it to the ticket office who had answered our call and returned the goods. Imagine if we hadn't made that call...In any case, I return these to yorkie on 156457, which I board shortly after I take the last few photos of Oban. It's a very different environment on the 156 compared to the sleeper! Goodness knows how we passed the time altogether on the lengthy trip to Glasgow! 156496 joins our unit at Crianlarich.

We hit Glasgow at 1543, with thankfully a cross-platform interchange and a high-speed run up to 170433 on the 1545 to Edinburgh. The 170 is by far much nicer than the 156 we'd just stepped off, you could hear your own conversations on the 170 much easier than the 156! The journey is fairly eventless, and we reach Edinburgh with 25 minutes to spare. A bit of number crunching sees me get a few more new numbers, then I get a chocolate dessert from M+S. Not much of a tea that wasn't mind! The HST arrives 20 down from York, and I storm onto it once the doors open up, to the annoyance of the crowd by the door. I did warn that a personality change was imminent when it came to the HST. Which didn't fail to disappoint whatsoever. Even the take-off from Edinburgh was fantastic, the trip down through Drem was HELLFIRE! Having now made the correction to my H-O map, it's time to return to a seat for eating. Passing Berwick-upon-Tweed was a nice little bonus for me. I was surprised how packed the train was though, never expected that! Newcastle revealed one nice little bonus, in that I finally scored off 67022 here! Sweet! The HST becomes very busy from here, was it a match day? It emptied out again at Durham! Now it's time to get some more H-O done, as we would be going over the freight-only line shortly! It's a very slow run over this, never more than 30mph I'm sure. Thankfully things wake up once we hit the passenger lines again at Stockton, and the hellfire trip returns. A doubled-up Voyager seemed to be waiting for something at Stockton. By Northallerton, I deem it time to finish doing H-O, as I'm rather cold again now! Nice bit of red to add to my maps now though! We soon enough hit York, and its time to get a few numbers written down before getting on the coffins to London, although not before finding I had had 43118 at the front to York. Quality bash it had been, I'll be hoping for 118 again sometime! I also end up with just one more ex-FNW 158 to see! SWEET! A connection from Aberdeen runs late, so we leave rather late. 82224 leads us to London, and I'm already bored out of my head. The Mallard experience was not one I will ever recall being pleasant. Indeed, I'll probably be on my death bed still cursing GNER for ever Mallardising the MK4s in such a terrible way...

As it should have been expected, I am pretty hungry soon enough, so a trip to the buffet (at least GNER got the name right, unlike Virgin...) resulted in a bit of snacking. Something feels wrong with the buffet, something not right with it at all. Can't say what it is, I don't know myself, but I have horrid feelings in those coffins.

We discover, thanks to Chris J joining us at Stevenage, that we are going via Hertford North because of a fatality further down the line. At least I get the spur onto the Hertford North line and off it at the other end done now. No announcements south of PBO though, which seemed strange. We certainly wouldn't have known why we went so slowly otherwise if it hadn't been for Mr. J! We FINALLY reach KGX at 2306, 30 minutes down. The rest of us on this trip part off, and I meet Sprinter here. After another Oyster top-up, its onto the Victoria line to Walthamstow, after an unexpected termination at Seven Sisters, as I was staying with Sprinter this evening.

19/02: London - Cardiff - Newport - Hereford - Kington

An early start is still required, as we're due to get the 0718 Victoria line train (how we made it I'll never know!) to Victoria, so that I can make my 0800 Megabus (booked originally as I was planning an overnighter around London) back to Cardiff. We make it to Greenline at 0748, to my surprise, after being surprised how busy our Victoria line train was on the way down. Very busy considering the time on a Sunday morning! Getting a drink and a Mars, it's time to board 13609 to Cardiff, an Olypmian. Nice. I get the seat I'd usually accquire on the Spectra in Kington, which is nice. We reach Cardiff Castle 15 up, a nice surprise! Time for a few FGW HST bashes! Managed to do 5 such trips, including one leaving from platform 4 (not very common that!) from CCC. This had been due to the set running ECS from Bristol due to the other set (which had been late arriving from London) having broken down, apparently. The staff on that train had said something completely different, something about signalling between Reading and London (I forget where now)! The set didn't seem to be broken, as it was running again later back to London!

Time to get the 1456 off NP to HFD comes soon enough. It's run by 158842, and left so busy people (including myself) were packing the vestibules, meaning the trolley couldn't get on and people were actually left to wait two hours for another train up the route! I'd have been MORE than angry if that had happened to me, especially as it was purely due to mean people (I am actually calling them worse than that here, but mean will suffice for the report) not shifting up inside the carriages, and leaving bags on seats or not shifting up to the other seat...This I discovered at Cwmbran, the next stop from NP, where I accquired my seat so as to work on this report, which occupied me all the way to HFD. I decided I'd wait to see the HST come in from London, as I had plenty of time before my lift home, and wrote up the rest of this report in the ticket office. I then went and saw the HST and walked over to where my lift would be waiting for me and my sister shortly.

So all in all, a worthwhile, if expensive and lengthy, trip. Thanks must go to yorkie for having helped with ticketing, as well as to those who attended the trip and made it enjoyable. I still say I'm glad I went because I know I'd have regretted it forever if I hadn't gone, and those who missed it will have missed out too.

Comments are, as always, welcome.

[hard to believe it's been that long ago! - Ed]
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
You should blog them up somewhere via a third party site

Not a bad shout, I'm going to be looking into that when time permits.
 
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David

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Best (or worst, depending on your point of view), is that I'm mentioned in the Crewe Works trip by my old username :oops:

You can edit that for a start!

PS. I think you should post up your memories of the Airean Raider, or the Pembroke Dock HST, or quite possibly Milford Haven (if you did the Western)
 
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Kristofferson

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More great stuff :) an all nighter through London doesn't sound like my idea of fun, but I'm sure it was an experience!
 

55013

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Some good stuff from a few weeks ago there (well, 2005 seems like just a few weeks ago to me!)

It's very interesting to see how your writing style has evolved over time as well.
 

Techniquest

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DarloRich:2197127 said:
Not a bad shout, I'm going to be looking into that when time permits.

you have done most of the hard work typing up the entries for here! ;)

Agreed, but I need time purely for examining the options with blogging sites, something to do on Sunday and Monday!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
47403:2197261 said:
Well well well, just stumbled on this thread tech, another good read and a rght ole trek down memory lane.

Glad you've enjoyed the read so far! Plan is to post all the trip reports from the years gone by, up to where my current trip report starts from. So 8 years of trip reports to scour now!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
David:2197339 said:
Best (or worst, depending on your point of view), is that I'm mentioned in the Crewe Works trip by my old username :oops:

You can edit that for a start!

PS. I think you should post up your memories of the Airean Raider, or the Pembroke Dock HST, or quite possibly Milford Haven (if you did the Western)

Oh yeah, I didn't notice that about your username. I have edited it, but included an editorial comment so confusion doesn't happen in years to come!

I did do the Western to Milford Haven, if you recall correctly you provided assistance with fixing my roll-ups as I was terrible at it back then! :lol:

Not sure when the Pembroke Dock HST was, but if I can find the relevant dates and so on, or if I find the trip report I'll give it a go. The Airean Raider I'm sure I have a trip report for somewhere, should do for the Western tour but not certain there. All will be revealed soon!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Kristofferson:2197377 said:
More great stuff :) an all nighter through London doesn't sound like my idea of fun, but I'm sure it was an experience!

It was rather good fun at the time, a long time ago now mind so wouldn't be much fun these days :lol: Sure was one way to see London from a different perspective!

I don't miss going on those super early morning trips out of Waterloo mind, never getting that bit of track at Point Pleasant in!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
55013:2197378 said:
Some good stuff from a few weeks ago there (well, 2005 seems like just a few weeks ago to me!)

It's very interesting to see how your writing style has evolved over time as well.

I think the writing style has changed a lot over the years (or weeks, depending on your point of view! ;) ) due to growing up! Not that I'm immune from having immature times now and again of course!
 

Cletus

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Did you work out what 43070087 was?

It's further down your write up - 43070 and 43087 :)
 

Techniquest

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Blindtraveler:2197405 said:
Id definately finish them all on here first as I find that more foalk who know you will comment to start with, then when all done put them on a blogsite. Im loving these so far, cheers!

Glad you're enjoying them, and aye you're all going to get to enjoy them here before they get posted elsewhere!

Cletus: Aye it was more trying to remember where the whole mission number thing came from!
 

fowler9

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Glad you're enjoying them, and aye you're all going to get to enjoy them here before they get posted elsewhere!

Cletus: Aye it was more trying to remember where the whole mission number thing came from!

Hey tech, do you take many photos? Was just thinking if you do it would be cool to see them in a blog along with the tales of your travels.
 

Dennis

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Not sure when the Pembroke Dock HST was, but if I can find the relevant dates and so on, or if I find the trip report I'll give it a go.

There were at least two Pembroke Dock HST meets (Jim's annual event!). Have got a few photos buried on a PHD of some young looking forum members....
 

Techniquest

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Dennis:2200039 said:
Not sure when the Pembroke Dock HST was, but if I can find the relevant dates and so on, or if I find the trip report I'll give it a go.

There were at least two Pembroke Dock HST meets (Jim's annual event!). Have got a few photos buried on a PHD of some young looking forum members....

Sadly I've lost the one you sent me all those years ago. I did Pembroke Dock by HST twice too, once on a meet and once with heart-of-wessex.

I've had a bit of an unusual day today, well and an unusual evening yesterday, so my plan to do all my bookwork and then share more nostalgic trip reports today has gone out of the window!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
fowler9:2199140 said:
Glad you're enjoying them, and aye you're all going to get to enjoy them here before they get posted elsewhere!

Cletus: Aye it was more trying to remember where the whole mission number thing came from!

Hey tech, do you take many photos? Was just thinking if you do it would be cool to see them in a blog along with the tales of your travels.

I used to snap away all the time, like cameras were going out of fashion. I'm afraid though that most of my photos have been lost in the depths of time, my own fault for not backing them up etc. 37s on Didcot in the very early days of the hobby, LoadHaul 37s at Newport, Godfrey Road with all sorts on there, 57/0s on liners from Wentloog and absolutely tons more that's gone too :(

However, I am going to try and sort out some of these trip reports with photos and all that if I can. Do be aware I'm pretty much a point-and-click man, I don't have patience to spend time setting up the scene and adjusting settings on the camera etc. So they'll not be owt fancy!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
So then, here we go gang, a bit more of a look back in time through some old trip reports. I appreciate a few people still reading this forum will have read these years ago, but for those who've been here less than a few years (one reason for banging them all into one place!) it'll all be new.

Before you carry on with the reading of this, I should advise that I was very much into experimenting with trip report styles at the time, this one in particular didn't last long thankfully and I was soon enough back to the comprehensive style I use these days. You'll see what I mean in a moment:

Hi gang. Here comes my newly styled trip report. It promises to be very much non-comprehensive, as some of my previous reportings have been, and contains little to no posh wordings (something else my previous trip reportings aimed at). I'd love to hear comments on the styling. Abbreviations will be explained at the end of the report. Here goes:

20/05/2006 - WSXFan's Revenge Day 1 [oh yeah, for a long time I had WSXFan for my username on here. Anyone else remember how several of us, myself included, changed usernames several times? - Ed]

Lift to HFD
43033, in 41157 (NB), HFD - PAD. Held near Foregate Street for 8 minutes for a 180 to move off our way. [yep, I still hadn't at this point learnt to count both HST power cars - as long as they were both powering of course! - on a bash. I seem to recall it was still many months away at this point - Ed]
42217 (R) near Shrub Hill. First new number of the day, 199 to go.
43078 and 43197 (former GNER branded, latter not) at Evesham! Photted both!
Arrived Oxford 0926, departed around 0930, back on time.
Locos at Didcot Parkway: 66098, 182, 101, 209. Locos at Reading: 66519, 609, 550
Arrived Reading 0954, left 0956, sharp stop for a door close further down, left again 0957.
Locos at Acton: 66109, 59201. Black and red 08 too.
Arrived Paddington 1026, 1 down on booked arrival, into platform 1. 32956 and 33194 in Westbourne Park. [buses, for those wondering! - Ed]
3553 (R!, NB) Paddington - Queens Park (Bakerloo)
313114, in 62606 (NB), Queens Park - Willesden Junction. [ahhh, 313s on the Watford DC lines, memories... - Ed]
66721 (R!), 87007 (R!) and 325010 in Willesden Yard. 90045 and 66502 videoed passing on container trains. 41293 also here. 313112 (R!) seen here, finishing the SL [Silverlink. My Lordz, the nostalgia that brings to mind upon thinking about Silverlink... - Ed] 313s! WOOHOO!
Stock noted in OOC: 08919, 56037, UID Mainline 58, 31420, 37892, D1524 (47004) (R!), 56133, 31306, 31427, 08506, 47782, 37513, 08541, 56070, 56112, 47635, 37701, 37719, 08694, 'Apollo'.
Back at Willesden Junction: 321424 seen NB! SCORE!
3555 Willesden Junction - Harrow and Wealdstone (NB, Bakerloo).
87028 near Stonebridge Park. 3252 (R!), 325012 (R!), 10688 (CI carriage), 68346 (motor coach of 325007).
321406 seen here! WOOHOO! 1 more SL 321/4 to go!
377205, in 78775 (NB), Harrow and Wealdstone - East Croydon
Stock in Wembley: 66034, 66250, 66243, 90017, 90020, 92006, 67025, 67020, 67015, 92013, 94509 (R!, mail van), 66502, 90044, 66203.
Noted in Willesden Junction: 325007 (R!), 8 more 325s to go!
456015, in 64749 (NB), EC - Caterham. Finally done this line!
456022, in 78271, Caterham - New Cross Gate.
23019 (SC, R!, NB), on a 453, New Cross Gate - New Cross. 17131, 23003, 17151 here (all R!).
5114 (R!, NB) New Cross to Whitechapel (finally done the ELL!).
8028 (R!, NB) Whitechapel - Mile End.
91255 (R!, NB) Mile End - Leyton.
33023 (R!, NB), on a 158, Leyton to Walthamstow. 32807, 17186, 17911, 17190, 17803, 18236, 17927, 33008 (F) and 18216 (all R!) seen en-route.

Will post the rest shortly, taking a short break from posting (it's quite tiring this!).

Key to abbreviations:

(R!) = Required number
(NB) = New Bash
(R!, NB) = Required number and New Bash
(SC) = Stagecoach
(F) = First

Will finish this in a little bit.
[EDIT]
Here we go with the next bit...

Tea time, so a trip to Planet Pizza
315860, in 64579 (NB), St. James Street - Liverpool Street
315817 @ Liverpool Street! One more GE 315 to go!
315806, in 71286 (NB), Liverpool Street - Stratford
813 near Liverpool Street too! SCORE!!! Finished the GE 315s!
360108, in 68558 (NB), Stratford - Romford
170271 (R!) videoed here, with 56207 in the middle! One more non-FSR 170 to go! Some more filming before...
315820, in 64500 (NB), Romford - Upminster
357204 (R!) seen here.
315820, in 71408 (carriage NB), Upminster - Romford
315806, in 64471 (carriage NB), Romford - Goodmayes.
VLA141 (R!, NB), on a 128, Goodmayes - Gants Hill
91282 Gants Hill - Leytonstone (passed Wanstead!)
PDL101 (R!, NB), on a W15, Leytonstone - Walthamstow Central
3120 (R!, NB) Walthamstow Central - Tottenham Hale
315849 (R!) scored here! One more 315 to go now!
PDL89 (R!, NB), on a 192, Tottenham Hale - Edmonton Green
315859 (R!) here! SCORE!!! FINISHED THE 315s! WOOHOO!!!
315860, in 64580 (carriage NB), Edmonton Green - Enfield Town (finally done this line!)
DLP91 (R!, NB), on a 307, Enfield Town - Oakwood
587 (Piccadilly line, R!, NB) Oakwood - Cockfosters
690 (Piccadilly line, R!, NB) Cockfosters to Arnos Grove
DLD22 (R!, NB), on a 251, Arnos Grove - Burnt Oak
53642 (R!, NB, Northern line) Burnt Oak - Colindale
51530 (R!, NB) Colindale - Edgware (AT LAST! FINISHED THIS LINE!)
6025 (R!, NB), on a 142, Edgware Bus Station - Stanmore

21/05/2006 - WSXFan's Revenge, Day 2

[I've got more creative with trip titles these days! - Ed]

96222 (R?, NB) Stanmore - Baker Street (FINALLY finished the Jubilee line!)
TAL125 (R!, NB), on a UID route, Baker Street - Oxford Circus
SLE39 (R!, NB), on an N13, Oxford Circus - Trafalgar Square
WVL126 (R!, NB), on an N77, Trafalgar Square - Wimbledon Park.
Sighted multiple 458s (including 8022 and 8011 here) and a couple of 455s in WB. [oh yes, the times when I needed plenty of stuff for sight with SWT, and the traditional hunt for said stuff via Night Bus bashing! - Ed]
WVL126, on an N77, Wimbledon Park - Clapham Junction
377154, in 78754 (NB), Clapham Junction - East Croydon
377429, in 73829 (NB), East Croydon - Clapham Junction
458030 in the yard! SCORE! Two more 458s to see!
WVL157 (R!, NB), on an N77, Plough Road - Trafalgar Square.
DLP97 (R!, NB), on an N279, Trafalgar Square - Finsbury Park
MA155 (R!, NB), on an N29, Finsbury Park - Harringay Green Lanes
Walk to Harringay station [and that walk was harder and longer than I had expected, that much I do remember! - Ed], then to Hornsey. Scored 313060 (R!) here!
DLP71 (R!, NB), on a 144, Wightman Road (Turnpike Lane) - Wood Green Station.
VLW53 (R!, NB), on a W3, Wood Green Station - Northumberland Park
Scored an absolute TON of buses here!
PDL91 (R!, NB), on a 192, Northumberland Park - Tottenham Hale.

[makes me wonder whether all these buses are still in service around London a little over 9 years later, but I have severe doubts! - Ed]

Time for another short break, I'll be back with the rest shortly (don't worry, we're only a few hours of bashing away from the end now).

Back from the break now, so let's get this finished...

VLW184 (R!, NB), on a 123, Tottenham Hale - Blackhorse Road
17752 (SC, R!, NB), on a 158, Blackhorse Road - Leyton Station
PDL99 (R!, NB), on a W15, Leyton Station - Homerton Road (Kingsmead Estate)
Did two SC depots and a First depot on Waterden Road here. TONS AND TONS of new numbers! [worth pointing out I was rather the newbie bus spotter at the time! - Ed]
PDL104 (R!, NB), on a W15, Homerton Road - Hackney Central
VLW166 (R!, NB), on a 254, Hackney Central - Clapton Station
17595 (SC, R!, NB), on a 56, Clapton (Kenninghall Road) - Islington
MA39 (R!, NB), on a 73, Angel Station - Kings Cross
Time for breakfast in Subway! Absolutely exhausted and starving!
313029 (R!) and 365509 (R!) scored off at Kings Cross, getting closer now! HST on the 1045 to Glasgow Central! Envious!
Got one new HST trailer scored off at St. Pancras, 45 more to go...
17238 (SC, R!, NB), on a 30, Kings Cross - Marylebone Road
23009 (SC, R!, NB), on a 453, Marylebone Road - Marylebone Station. [Mein Gott, a Stagecoach bendy bus! That's a fairly hefty bit of nostalgia in itself! - Ed]
165029 (R!) scored here, one less of those now!
TP420 (R!, NB), on a 205, Marylebone Station - Paddington Station
43130, in 42029 (carriage NB), PAD - HFD
Locos in Reading: 66530, 581, 519.
Green 20s (paired up) working a single-carriage (observation train?), near Cholsey!!!
Locos in Didcot Parkway: 60093, 66098, 101, 085, 216 (latter four all coupled together)
66510 in yard south of Oxford.
43078 and 197 still in Evesham as of 1445.
Arrived at HFD, after a horrible journey, at 1555, 7 down.
66604, on a train of scrap metal wagons, parked in the old HST sidings at HFD! 66232 on empty HTAs SB later on around 1650.
Lift home.

Thus concludes my trip report for this last weekend's marathon bash around London. I have designated this trip an almighty 8.5/10 on my VFM scale. It would have been a 9 if the HST had been clean and had working toilets (how they allowed that I don't know...), but hey. So far that is the biggest VFM rating I have given any trip, the Oban trip coming a tight second with 7.8/10.

Many thanks must go to Sprinter, who had planned the entire bash pretty much! Without his expertise, I'd have been completely stuck. Also thanks to Galvanise for showing up at Paddington and coming along for much of the meet.

Comments are indeed welcome on the style of this report or the content of it.

Regards,
WSXFan

-------

Don't know exactly what the issue was with the HST, the perils of no notes and a badly written trip report. You'll be glad to know this style did not last long! Hope you appreciate the editorial notes in places above!

-----

So here we go again with another one, the same style as above was used but thankfully it was made a little easier to follow! I never did get the colour done though, nor am I sure what colour I wanted to use and where! Still, here we go. I've had to re-add the underlinings as they didn't come over with the copy and paste annoyingly:

Hi-de-hey chaps. This report will use the same style as the previous one, but using some colour and other useful bits. First of all, an abbreviations key:

HFD = Hereford
GLC = Glasgow Central
GQS = Glasgow Queen Street
INV = Inverness
HA = Haymarket
BNS = Birmingham New Street
BMS = Birmingham Moor Street
BSH = Birmingham Snow Hill
SC = Stagecoach
F = First
R! = Required
SB = Southbound
NB = Northbound
UID = Un-identified
FL = Freightliner
Underlined numbers indicate new bashes

27/05/2006 - Highlander, Day 1 [ooh, I was a genius with trip titles back then :lol: - Ed]

Lift to HFD
Coffee time, due to missing 170512 on the 0850 by mere seconds
52281 (R!) at Maylord Orchards
158783, in 52783, HFD - Droitwich Spa
150016, in 57116, Droitwich Spa - Kidderminster
Missed the SVR volunteer induction start. Damn!
40092 seen here! Hereford allocation! [no, not a Class 40, but a First bus numbered 40092! - Ed]
150005, in 52105, Kidderminster - Smethwick Galton Bridge High Level
Saw the PPP (R!) just south of Stourbridge Junction! Sweet!
342242, in 72472, Smethwick Galton Bridge Low Level - BNS. [you know, this never got noticed or commented on at the time! It would have of course, being ages before 350s were in use on such journeys, 323242 although the coach number confuses me! - Ed]
57311 in BNS. 221128 spare in a through road!
150022, in 57122, BMS - BSH [yes I hear you all sniggering at the incorrect station codes used! - Ed]
168112 in a siding west of BSH. Was due to get 150132 on the 1347 off BSH, but an engine loss in 52132 stopped that. All of us went to the 1252 Chiltern service.
165001 (R!), in 58834, BSH - BMS. Score!
JUST managed to see the 1403 to Newcastle leave BNS, surprisingly on time!
390013, in 69813, BNS - GLC via Law Junction and Holytown. Leaves Motherwell to Law Junction for me on the WCML to do! Left Preston 35 down due to awaiting delayed driver on a mandatory break. [this was the day of that shooting on a Voyager at Oxenholme - Ed]
Numbers @ Crewe: (Nothing viewable in Basford Hall!) 9504, 6142, 5946, 5952, 5910, 9520, 1212, 5931, 5931, Blue 20 (no number), 37383, 86401, D3420, 66403, 90039, 94476, 94334, 94488 (last three Royal Mail vans, all R!), 86101 and 86102.
Numbers @ Warrington: 66144, 08775, 67012, 67027 (R!), 67014, 660xx. ONE MORE 67 TO GO!
Numbers @ Preston: 57601 (on a tour on the far side of the station), 150228, 57307, 150145, 158758
Voyager parked in siding at Oxenholme with a broken window, many BTP officers interviewing passengers here on the SB platform.
66021 seen between here and Penrith on china clay hoppers.
Pendo Neds on the SB platform at Penrith :shock: !
MY LORDZ! Tilting! On the Northerly part of the WCML! [I can only assume this was a new feature for me, although I still enjoy the scenery and tilt up that way! - Ed]
Numbers @ Carlisle: 153332, 153360 (R!). 10 more 153s to go!
Numbers @ Kingmoor: 47237 (R!), 66103, 66189, UID FL 66, UID 08.
An 87, VWC MK3s and VWC DVT passed us NORTH of Carlisle at 1824! DUDE!!! [AlexS corrects me, via a reply, to tell me it was actually a 47 not an 87 - Ed]
334011 (R!) near Newton. 156431 near Cambuslang.
Numbers @ Polmadie: 90034, 90027, UID 325.
Numbers @ Glasgow Central: 334036 (R!), 334040 (R!), 334028 (R!),
334002 (R!), 314202, 156450, 156502, 156477, 156503 (R!), 156442.
53203 (R!) GLC - GQS, on a 398. [Glasgow City Centre bus, normally was and still is as I type an Optare Solo, connects Glasgow Central and Queen Street stations with Buchanan Street Bus Station - Ed]
Buses between GLC and GQS: 31245, 61645?, 61615, 32556, 69100, 61704, 61498, 69032, 61705, 52360 (SC), 61654, 61350, 61479, 31486, 69097, 69080 (all R!)
Numbers @ Glasgow Queen Street: 170471, 170430 (R!), 404, 156447, 170476 (R!), 158711, 170393, 170421, 170473, 170413. Also noted outside GQS were 61496 (F) and 31423 (both R!)
170430, in 79430, GQS - Perth, after getting authorisation from the station manager [due to the delayed arrival into Glasgow - Ed]. 170426 seen en-route.
Numbers @ Stirling: 158710, 170476, 158709, 158738, 158740.
170470 at Dunblane.
Numbers @ Perth: 170461, 170455, 170418 (R!)
Taxi along the A9 Perth - INV. Nice 2 hour ride there, would have been £150 if taken off the rank!
Numbers @ INV: 158701, 158722, 158718 (R!), 170408.
Off to the hostel, who screwed up our booking by putting us down for only one person for the night, not the two of us as booked! Sprinter had the bed, I was allocated (eventually) the sofa. [oh crikey, that's a long time ago then, I haven't done a hostel for many years! Wasn't a pleasant night's stay for sure - Ed]

28/05/2006 - Highlander, Day 2

After a touch of sleep (4.5 hours I think at the most), up bright and early.
Photted and scored off Inverness' depot and the units in the station. 08788 (R!) takes me to 89 08s seen!
158718, in 52718, INV - Kyle of Localsh
Time for lunch, then got DRENCHED walking over to Skye! [oh yes, I had to try and wring the water out of my socks and trainers! - Ed]
Soon time for videoing the tour arriving. 47851 heads into Kyle.
47245, in 4856, Kyle of Lochalsh - Dalmeny via Rose Street Junction [Inverness avoider, for those less familiar with the rail network! - Ed] and Ladybank.

29/05/2006 - Highlander, Day 3

SRPS-hired in coach (AAA Coaches) Dalmeny - Edinburgh.
67011 sits by 90028, noteworthy for one reason...
Scored off a load of units before getting, to our surprise:
37401 (R!), in 9807, Edinburgh - Westerton via Croy and Ashfield! [I also recall it was a dull as dishwater run, with little racket from the 37 - Ed]
334013, in 65113, Westerton - GLC Low Level
Scored off more units here, walked to Buchanan Street Bus Station.
Absolutely TONS of buses here scored off!
Walked back to GLC, seeing 90040 and more units before:
156503, in 57503, GLC - HA via Shotts [tons of time to kill and I needed time to change clothes plus attempt some doss at the time - Ed]
67011 now seen here hauling some sleeper vehicles. Hmm...
Yet more units scored off before:
43115, in 42235, HA - Edinburgh
Photted HSTs, the NMT (196 [crikey it's been a while since that one was on the NMT! - Ed] and 013 on it IIRC) and 67022 where 011 was earlier. It's soon time for:
220018, in 60718, Edinburgh - Crewe
Down 20 at Crewe, missed the connection onto the 1618, so had to hang around with hardly any trains to watch until the 1718 arrived at 1700. Got onboard at this time to update maps (all 5 of them!). Soon time to leave in:
158824, in 57824, Crewe - HFD
Lift home

All in all, a very good trip. I'd rate it 8.5/10 in terms of VFM.
Objectives: See 91101, failed [I believe that was my last 91 to see at the time - Ed]. 50+ new numbers, passed. FC Kyle line, passed. H-O Kyle line, passed. [oh gosh, heads-out, that was a long time ago... - Ed]

-----

Hope you all enjoy that little insight into what happened just over 9 years ago. Hard to believe it's been that long now, it felt like such a modern time we were in back then. I wonder what 2015 will feel like in 2024...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Following the previous trip report, there was a long gap before the next one I felt willing to share. So we're now jumping into 2007, still a long time ago of course now mind!

Neds Do Nuneaton - 03/01/2007

[Oh my, these were of course the dying days of the short-lived Dirty Neds! - Ed]

Thought I would enlighten you all with a little tale about my first bash of 2007.

After gaining approximately two and a half hours sleep, I awaken at 0601. Breakfast is formed of a large mug of coffee [if this was in reference to a Sports Direct mug, then trust me this thing IS massive! - Ed] and a turkey and stuffing toasted sandwich. 0642 and I'm finally sort-of awake and walking up the road to the museum for the 0650 to Hereford.

0655 or so and YJ05 WCW pulls up to enlighten my morning with some Tempo thrash [in 2015 thrash from an Optare Tempo is certainly to be enjoyed! Which reminds me it's back to the routine commute from tomorrow, back to being a MCV top man! - Ed]. 0656 and we are off. The thrash is pretty good, although unfortunately we do not get to Hereford as early as I wanted. We arrive at 0746 at Hereford Railway Station Approach. Not bad, 50 minutes, but could have been far better!

Off I go nonetheless into the station to see 175110 on the 0748 towards Cardiff (probably to Carmarthen can't be sure now) whilst I get my West Midlands Day Ranger. £9.75, up 35p since last year [my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I read that! Of course this was well, well before my Young Persons railcard days were over. These days I'm paying £24.80 or so for a WMDR! - Ed]. If I had been in Hereford in time for it, I'd have gotten the 0735 with a Saver Return to Birmingham and a Cheap Day Return from there. As it turns out, that would have been a daft idea anyway.

0750 and I'm lost for what to do now until 0830. Off I go to the Country Bus Station for an alleviation [that translates, in English, to a PNB! - Ed] and photting of 25102 [if only it was a Class 25! - Ed] working the 0830 39 to Brecon. UK02 DRM soon comes in too to work the 0830 476 to Ledbury. This gets photted too. 52498 soon comes along with the 0616 off Tredegar to work the 0830 X4 to Cardiff Central Bus Station via Merthyr Tydfil [this was of course long before low-floor buses became pretty much complusory around the country. Back then we had coaches like this Volvo B10M! - Ed]. By now I've boarded UK02 DRM, so I can't be bothered with photting it. £2.20 for a single to Ledbury is much better than a Standard Day Single to Ledbury by rail, which is what I'd have to buy at £4.50 otherwise! Turns out the Scania was nice and thrashy! Arrived at Ledbury Railway Station at 0904.

Had a quick check-out of Ledbury ticket office before filming 170112 [yes kids, we really used to have 170/1s up this way, having been displaced by 222s on the MML - Ed] from the footbridge arriving into Ledbury on the 0907 to Birmingham New Street, which I am taking. Cue a dash downstairs to get it!

An eventful bash to Birmingham, so I start making an ALR plan. I also celebrate the first bash of 2007 with a can of Tetleys. Job done. [Not before 12 noon in my book these days, but then to be fair I was only 22 at the time! - Ed]

Arrived into Birmingham at 1022, 2 up by the timetable, having been held for some time at Kings Norton. Rush to the screens, 1024, platform 7a. Dash upstairs and across to p7a, made it with around 30 seconds to go. First things first, another alleviation.

66537, 57006 and 66501 noted in Lawley Street Freightliner Terminal whilst I get a coffee off the trolley. I did also note a Silverlink 321/4 arriving into Birmingham at Grand Junction, but I couldn't tell which one this was. 66066 and 66213 were noted in another depot to the left further on [Washwood Heath - Ed], with another UID EWS 66 noted, number not visible due to containers being in the way. 08993 was in the Washwood Heath area. 66719 in Hams Hall, the only loco I needed so far.

Arrived into Nuneaton at 1051. Discovered it was 170508 that I bashed over to here. Various 390s, a claggy as F**K stoneblower [no, really, it was a monster for clagging! - Ed], 92039, 66572, 66135, 66190, 67005 hauling 4 ex-Anglia DBSOs (one of which was 9708, which I needed!), 60010, 66551, 90044 and 350126 were all noted before we decided to go to Tamworth to try the lineside location at Boles Hill to catch 71000 'Duke of Gloucester' there. 350102 came in on the 1401 to Crewe, which was quite a fun bash! 5 350s in for haulage now. [oh crikey, that takes me back, having had so few 350s! - Ed]

Took quite a while to find Boles Hill, but it was an OK location. 71000 came by with a MK2 not long after we arrived. Then we decided it was time to go back to Tamworth station, with a stop at Aldi on the way. A UID FL 66 and 90016 passed en-route to Boles Hill.

Various 66s were seen here as well as a couple of Voyagers, 170s and a 158 before 170114 arrived at 1631 on the 1634 to Birmingham New Street. A required bash for me! Arrived into Birmingham around 4 minutes late due to being held at Grand Junction.

No problem, I saw and photted 175115 in Birmingham, a sight I've never had before. Also secured at long last was 153381, my last CT unit. I also finished off, at last, my 350s [well, that was the first time! I've cleared them for sight again since then, now I'm nearly done with the process of clearing them for sight for the third and final time! - Ed] ! 350115 arrived around 1711 to run the 1715 back to Northampton, so I was very happy to have let the 1659 go!

170107 was running the 1719 to Hereford, having arrived around 1714, just as I was coming off the stairs on p12b! JUST managed to secure one of the ultra-comfortable seats [former First Class seating, which could be found at the time in the centre coach of 3-car 170/1s. Trust me, they really were comfortable and a whole new level of class in the Midlands - Ed] in 55107. We get held at Stoke Works Junction for some time to allow a late-running unit to clear the single line from Droitwich. We are around 9 minutes late at Droitwich and this goes only down to 8 at Ledbury. Due to an amazing amount of slack in the timetable, we arrive only a few minutes later than the timetabled arrival time. Thankfully my mental run over to the bus stop didn't have to happen then! Walked over at a reasonable rate to the bus stop after picking up some Virgin timetables and a copy of ATW's timetable H [I don't honestly remember ATW having lettered timetables now, they're numbered 1-5 these days! - Ed]. We leave promptly at 1907 on YE52 FHA, with some Solo action tonight. I eventually get home around 2010, thankfully my tea has already been started on for me so I had less cooking to do! Turkey steak burger and chips, mmm, went down well as I was rather hungry!

That's the trip report concluded. Comments are, as always, welcome.

-----

Mmm, I enjoyed that nostalgia there. Hard to believe it was nearly 8 and a half years ago now! I don't have photos to hand, or on Flickr, from this one, but we are getting closer and closer to the days where I have got photos online. As I've mentioned elsewhere on this thread, I'm beyond disorganised with photos, I wish I could change that and add a bit of a photter's hat to my trips, but that's not really likely to happen any time soon. I used to take photos all the time, same with filming all sorts, but I don't really do that anymore. I can't place why, nor can I say what will happen in the years to come, but that's just how it is.

I do, however, have video productions on YouTube for some of the trips I've done in the past! One day we'll get to those, in the meantime I hope you enjoy this one!
 
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Kristofferson

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Dear god I'm glad that "new" style of trip report didn't last long! Would have been a real waste of your travelogue (Travelodge? :p) talents.

Loved the insight into the West Midlands railways of the past! Didn't set foot in New Street until 2013 myself, so only had to experience the "old" dump once. Coming up the stairs on my first day of work in Brum to see the new "half time" concourse was both surprising and most welcome!

Looking forward to more :)
 

Techniquest

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Kristofferson:2203924 said:
Dear god I'm glad that "new" style of trip report didn't last long! Would have been a real waste of your travelogue (Travelodge? :p) talents.

Loved the insight into the West Midlands railways of the past! Didn't set foot in New Street until 2013 myself, so only had to experience the "old" dump once. Coming up the stairs on my first day of work in Brum to see the new "half time" concourse was both surprising and most welcome!

Looking forward to more :)

Hey, don't dump on the old New Street, I actually liked it! Plenty of happy memories of it for me, which I will hopefully cherish for a long time to come! Not 100% I like the new concourse yet, maybe it'll be better when it's finished this autumn.

I too am glad I didn't stick to that experimental trip report style, when I was putting them together in this thread I was a bit cringey!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Blindtraveler:2204268 said:
An emjoyable set of memories there, I much prefer the way you do reports these days!

As do I to be honest, hope everyone's finding the editorial commentary amusing too!

Not sure when the next lot will be going up yet, bound to be more before the end of June though!
 

sprinterguy

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Didnt know any 158s had had accidents!
I'm quite late in replying to this comment, but to add some more detail that one carriage of 158861 was withdrawn and written off after 47343, working light engine to Buxton from Manchester Victoria, ran away and collided with the unit in June 1992.

I can't find a picture of the unit, but here's the state that 47343 was in after the collision (not my photo):
https://www.flickr.com/photos/30268259@N03/3051036072

As the production line for class 158s was still open it was easy enough to build a replacement driving car. There was another spare driving car built as well, numbered 158999, that was used specifically for crash testing at Derby Litchurch Lane works.

158833 was also in collision with the rear of a (stationary) HST at Newton Abbott in March 1994, but was repaired.
 
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47403

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Neds Do Nuneaton - 03/01/2007

[Oh my, these were of course the dying days of the short-lived Dirty Neds! - Ed]

Thought I would enlighten you all with a little tale about my first bash of 2007.

After gaining approximately two and a half hours sleep, I awaken at 0601. Breakfast is formed of a large mug of coffee [if this was in reference to a Sports Direct mug, then trust me this thing IS massive! - Ed] and a turkey and stuffing toasted sandwich. 0642 and I'm finally sort-of awake and walking up the road to the museum for the 0650 to Hereford.

0655 or so and YJ05 WCW pulls up to enlighten my morning with some Tempo thrash [in 2015 thrash from an Optare Tempo is certainly to be enjoyed! Which reminds me it's back to the routine commute from tomorrow, back to being a MCV top man! - Ed]. 0656 and we are off. The thrash is pretty good, although unfortunately we do not get to Hereford as early as I wanted. We arrive at 0746 at Hereford Railway Station Approach. Not bad, 50 minutes, but could have been far better!

Off I go nonetheless into the station to see 175110 on the 0748 towards Cardiff (probably to Carmarthen can't be sure now) whilst I get my West Midlands Day Ranger. £9.75, up 35p since last year [my eyes nearly popped out of my head when I read that! Of course this was well, well before my Young Persons railcard days were over. These days I'm paying £24.80 or so for a WMDR! - Ed]. If I had been in Hereford in time for it, I'd have gotten the 0735 with a Saver Return to Birmingham and a Cheap Day Return from there. As it turns out, that would have been a daft idea anyway.

0750 and I'm lost for what to do now until 0830. Off I go to the Country Bus Station for an alleviation [that translates, in English, to a PNB! - Ed] and photting of 25102 [if only it was a Class 25! - Ed] working the 0830 39 to Brecon. UK02 DRM soon comes in too to work the 0830 476 to Ledbury. This gets photted too. 52498 soon comes along with the 0616 off Tredegar to work the 0830 X4 to Cardiff Central Bus Station via Merthyr Tydfil [this was of course long before low-floor buses became pretty much complusory around the country. Back then we had coaches like this Volvo B10M! - Ed]. By now I've boarded UK02 DRM, so I can't be bothered with photting it. £2.20 for a single to Ledbury is much better than a Standard Day Single to Ledbury by rail, which is what I'd have to buy at £4.50 otherwise! Turns out the Scania was nice and thrashy! Arrived at Ledbury Railway Station at 0904.

Had a quick check-out of Ledbury ticket office before filming 170112 [yes kids, we really used to have 170/1s up this way, having been displaced by 222s on the MML - Ed] from the footbridge arriving into Ledbury on the 0907 to Birmingham New Street, which I am taking. Cue a dash downstairs to get it!

An eventful bash to Birmingham, so I start making an ALR plan. I also celebrate the first bash of 2007 with a can of Tetleys. Job done. [Not before 12 noon in my book these days, but then to be fair I was only 22 at the time! - Ed]

Arrived into Birmingham at 1022, 2 up by the timetable, having been held for some time at Kings Norton. Rush to the screens, 1024, platform 7a. Dash upstairs and across to p7a, made it with around 30 seconds to go. First things first, another alleviation.

66537, 57006 and 66501 noted in Lawley Street Freightliner Terminal whilst I get a coffee off the trolley. I did also note a Silverlink 321/4 arriving into Birmingham at Grand Junction, but I couldn't tell which one this was. 66066 and 66213 were noted in another depot to the left further on [Washwood Heath - Ed], with another UID EWS 66 noted, number not visible due to containers being in the way. 08993 was in the Washwood Heath area. 66719 in Hams Hall, the only loco I needed so far.

Arrived into Nuneaton at 1051. Discovered it was 170508 that I bashed over to here. Various 390s, a claggy as F**K stoneblower [no, really, it was a monster for clagging! - Ed], 92039, 66572, 66135, 66190, 67005 hauling 4 ex-Anglia DBSOs (one of which was 9708, which I needed!), 60010, 66551, 90044 and 350126 were all noted before we decided to go to Tamworth to try the lineside location at Boles Hill to catch 71000 'Duke of Gloucester' there. 350102 came in on the 1401 to Crewe, which was quite a fun bash! 5 350s in for haulage now. [oh crikey, that takes me back, having had so few 350s! - Ed]

Took quite a while to find Boles Hill, but it was an OK location. 71000 came by with a MK2 not long after we arrived. Then we decided it was time to go back to Tamworth station, with a stop at Aldi on the way. A UID FL 66 and 90016 passed en-route to Boles Hill.

Various 66s were seen here as well as a couple of Voyagers, 170s and a 158 before 170114 arrived at 1631 on the 1634 to Birmingham New Street. A required bash for me! Arrived into Birmingham around 4 minutes late due to being held at Grand Junction.

No problem, I saw and photted 175115 in Birmingham, a sight I've never had before. Also secured at long last was 153381, my last CT unit. I also finished off, at last, my 350s [well, that was the first time! I've cleared them for sight again since then, now I'm nearly done with the process of clearing them for sight for the third and final time! - Ed] ! 350115 arrived around 1711 to run the 1715 back to Northampton, so I was very happy to have let the 1659 go!

170107 was running the 1719 to Hereford, having arrived around 1714, just as I was coming off the stairs on p12b! JUST managed to secure one of the ultra-comfortable seats [former First Class seating, which could be found at the time in the centre coach of 3-car 170/1s. Trust me, they really were comfortable and a whole new level of class in the Midlands - Ed] in 55107. We get held at Stoke Works Junction for some time to allow a late-running unit to clear the single line from Droitwich. We are around 9 minutes late at Droitwich and this goes only down to 8 at Ledbury. Due to an amazing amount of slack in the timetable, we arrive only a few minutes later than the timetabled arrival time. Thankfully my mental run over to the bus stop didn't have to happen then! Walked over at a reasonable rate to the bus stop after picking up some Virgin timetables and a copy of ATW's timetable H [I don't honestly remember ATW having lettered timetables now, they're numbered 1-5 these days! - Ed]. We leave promptly at 1907 on YE52 FHA, with some Solo action tonight. I eventually get home around 2010, thankfully my tea has already been started on for me so I had less cooking to do! Turkey steak burger and chips, mmm, went down well as I was rather hungry!

That's the trip report concluded. Comments are, as always, welcome.

These are great reads tech, keep em coming bud but I must ask, which way did the bus go, it took 3yrs to get home? Hope your dinner wasn't burnt;);):lol::lol:
techniquest said;-
Hey, don't dump on the old New Street
Safe to say you certainly have a big affinity with the bat cave
 
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HSTfan!!!

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4th December 2005, hard to believe that's nearly 10 years ago now! Was a good day out I must say!
 

Techniquest

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47403, it took a few moments to work out what you meant there, but when it clicked I was creased up laughing at the idea of a 3 year bus journey! :lol:

HSTfan!!!, aye it was a long time ago indeed, and a good time for sure. I must remember to find my notebook from the Ireland trip me and heart-of-wessex did in December 2004, that really will be a blast from the past for anyone who did Ireland back then! All in the fullness of time of course...

I haven't been of perect health in recent times, hence the lack of my presence on the forums for 4 days in the last week. Have no fear, normal service has resumed and I am slowly catching up with everything! An enormous undertaking on such a busy forum, if you want a quicker reply from me on anything in particular do drop me a PM as it may be at least another 7 days before I get to everything!

There will be more historic trip reports, more of a dive into the past, coming soon don't worry. It is expected to occur on Sunday, as I want to get somewhere towards up to date before my next trip out on Monday. Details of that to come in my current trip report thread by the weekend! Before anyone asks, there will be photos included in some of these nostalgia fests before too long!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
As promised, here's the latest round of nostalgia! I see I didn't type up many trip reports at all for a long time, I've certainly not found any between the 2007 one and this one, which was in December 2008! Without further ado, here we go.

---------

13th December 2008

Hi all,

This was to be a quick post, but it turned into a trip report!

Sorry you couldn't make it Dennis, I hope you got a refund for any tickets already bought.

Hope you're feeling better Josh!

For those who didn't make it, we had quite the good trip.

The meet started for me as I left the house at 0630 and got my lift to Hereford. Arrival was just over 30 minutes later. Thankfully time to check which power cars are on the train. Job done in that I get 43193 and 176. 193 was my final GW power car to get for haulage back in May, so I was glad to increase my mileage with it. We leave promptly with a good noise off 193 at 0722.

Arriving at Ledbury at 0740, I wonder why we then spend some time here. An announcement soon reveals why. Due to flooding in the Malvern area, we have to turn back and go through Hereford and Abergavenny to get to London. This means Maindee Curve! I get rather excited about this, understandably, as that's required track! But as soon as the announcement was over, another one came on to say the signaller had changed his mind and we'd continue via the normal route.

I wasn't happy about that, but when I heard later from Dennis that Swindon and Newbury were out I was rather grateful we hadn't gone round the other way, as we'd have been stuck and I'd have missed the Voyager. Arrival was only slightly late in the end, due to the lengthy pathing stop at Evesham. At which, we passed 180102, which I need for haulage still! Cue a "MEGA-GRR!" at that point. [it's worth pointing out that it took some years until I got that one, clearing the class eventually on 2nd December 2013! - Ed]

The other bit to note now was the screens were showing that the 0955 to London was now going from platform 1 which was a platform change. Since when do London trains depart from anywhere apart from platform 1?!

Going down from Oxford I was joined by Sprinter (not currently on the forum, should be back here soon) [he's certainly back now in 2015! - Ed] and we decided to go First Class for the extra treat. The crew on board were on their last ever AXC working, so must have been in a good mood and we weren't charged for the upgrade. Job done. For the whole trip, Sprinter and I discuss and review route coverage and fleet sightage, apart from when we were looking out of the window to observe passing stock and what lines we were on.

At Kensington Olympia, we see a steam-hauled tour (Earl of something on the front, required sight IIRC for me!) and makstaylor joins the train but remains in Standard for the outward journey and we meet him (almost by chance!) at Brighton.

We didn't do the route mentioned in the opening post of the meet thread, which initially annoyed me. After a wait outside Clapham Junction we pulled into the station and stopped there. I was rather annoyed to begin with, but then 377140 pulled in, which I was mega chuffed about as it was my last one of the class to get for sight. [at the time of course, bear in mind the 377/5s, 377/6s and 377/7s weren't about in late 2008! - Ed]

We continued via the slow lines to Selhurst and into East Croydon's platform 3. Off via the fast lines to Haywards Heath and into the Down Loop there. More Quail scratching! Arrived into Brighton's platform 7, upon which we had a band playing as we all stepped off. Around to the front and "WE LOVE JOHN DEE!" was showing on the destination display. After a short but sweet trip to Brighton we got photos of the farewell message on the platform display before having a seminar at the country end of 220021. Off we went on time towards Gatwick.

Into platform 2 at East Croydon having done the fast lines again. Even more Quail scratching all over the place today! Having left Sprinter at Gatwick Airport, makstaylor and I were all eyes out of the window to keep track of the route we took home. Up through Norwood Junction and Crystal Palace to Balham and the same route back to Oxford now. As one can guess, a bit of track was scratched in once again!

At Kensington Olympia, Steven joined us, which surprised me. As per everyone else, he had wanted to do the last one. He told us that this was indeed the last Voyager to Brighton as the 1633 to Brighton and 1733 to Gatwick (from Birmingham) were cancelled due to the ECS moves for today. That pleased me, having done the last one there AND out of Brighton.

Due to the massive amount of flooding, we got held at Acton Wells for GW services to go in and out of London. Many minutes later, we eventually get going and onto the relief lines all the way to west of Slough, where we hit the mainlines again. Took some time to get there! makstaylor leaves us here to do a 458 to Twickenham for a meeting with a friend and eventual return to Hemel Hempstead.

Having now checked the timetable, I decide to carry on to Birmingham for two reasons. First was to have done the run throughout on the 1422 and second was to scratch in the route via Solihull (which cannot be done now on Voyagers) [at least I thought that at the time, it's still done these days so I must have received duff gen somewhere! - Ed] for the last time for me (indeed, the 1422 was one of the last 3 services booked to go that way). At Reading, we have to wait for crew off the Bournemouth service and eventually leave 18 minutes late.

An uneventful journey really going north, although we had picked up 4 minutes by Banbury and Leamington Spa, so only 14 minutes late by now. Unfortunately, we lost those 4 minutes (and more) outside New Street waiting for a path. We eventually arrived at approximately 1844. Steven had to dash for a Pendolino, due to a lack of decent connections to Tame Bridge for the WSMR service, so no time for another seminar. So I decide to do one on my own.

Off then for a chippy move! Back onto the station 10 minutes or so later, it was onto 323215 to University for a filler move on the 1904. Job done, I needed that one. 6 more LM 323s to bash then! There, 170635 arrives on the 1915 to New Street, this being the unit that *should* work the 1930 to Hereford, I think. Or rather hope. We leave 4 minutes late and all the way I worry in case it doesn't do the 1930 and I miss it. Thankfully, there was no need for concern and we leave New Street again 2 minutes late. Arrival at Hereford was right-time at 2059, despite leaving Worcester Shrub Hill 4 minutes late. The bus was late arriving into Hereford, so having walked further into town for it I eventually leave for home at 2122 and arrive home around an hour later.

So what was supposed to be a quick post has turned more into a trip report! I'll finish with the following thanks:

makstaylor and Sprinter for attending the meet and helping to make it a good 'un.

The AXC crew on the 0933 Birmingham New Street to Brighton. Good luck for the future with Virgin at Euston.

---------

I also found this in a post I made after the trip report:

"Photos are in the process of being uploaded at the moment, the video footage joins a massive pile of tapes waiting to be transferred to VHS, let alone YouTube. It'll be proper heritage by the time I upload it!"

As Fotopic was in use at the time, as was Photobucket, I'm assuming I uploaded the photos to one of those. I certainly haven't got around to finding them and adding them to my Flickr account, although I know for sure the photos exist.

As for the video footage, it's on a MiniDV tape somewhere, like an awful lot of stuff. It is still on the list of things to do eventually, but I haven't got a PC or laptop with a FireWire connection and haven't for years. I'm on the case for sorting that eventually, just I don't know when I'll have the time to do it all yet. Certainly will be heritage video footage by the time I get it all done! :lol:

Not the most exciting trip report, I know, but it did remind me of what was actually quite a good trip! The next one I'm posting below is not the most exciting either, and I don't see any trip reports to share from 2009 :shock: I must have really, REALLY, gone off trip report writing! :lol: The below is another experimental style, not as bad as the previous experiment at least! I'm not convinced whether I want to return to this style, wherein I put the move in a separate line. Maybe I'll go for that again with tomorrow's trip report!

---------

Couldn't think of a better title, and I meant to post this last week but forgot! I got bored on my journey from Trowbridge to Hereford via Reading, so wrote up a trip report of sorts and thought I'd share it with the forum:

14th July 2010

All started off good, woke up and immediately started getting breakfast and so forth when the alarm went off at 0700. Sadly, the good feeling wasn’t to last for too long, as when I requested my ticket I found I now had to get an Anytime Return, not an Off Peak Return as previous occasions have allowed. Thus the ticket was more expensive, obviously not liking that. Still, on we must press with the journey and put up with the random fares change.

150281, in 52281, Trowbridge > Bath Spa (0823)

[note that I hadn't yet got into the habit of noting arrival times, and didn't do so until after I got RailMiles - Ed]

The good feeling disappeared even more so now, as I couldn’t get a seat. Worse still, there seemed to be no fresh cool air whatsoever on this 150, so a lot of sweating was inevitable. Even the Metro failed to be all that interesting today, which was disappointing. We finally arrive into Bath at 0844, observing 43196 on the front of the 0830 Bristol to Paddington.

Time now then for a coffee from Pumpkin, whilst observing movements. 43092+43003 worked the 0730 Paddington to Penzance, whilst 158769+153369 worked the 0709 Worcester Shrub Hill to Weymouth, with 159108 on the 0852 Bristol to Waterloo. I swear that thing works up to Bristol more times than the rest of the fleet!

43174+43030, in 44074, Bath Spa > Reading (0913, 1d)

Bah, I’d been hoping at least one power car would be required for haulage in 2010. Not so on this move sadly, maybe some better luck later. Having no earphones, MP3 player or anything on that front, I was bored once the moves book was updated. Still, a fast run through Didcot should be interesting.

No such luck, we were stuck behind a Cheltenham to Paddington, which was calling at Didcot, so a bit of a crawl through Didcot for us. It feels like a very long time ago when fast HSTs were actually fast at Didcot. 66501 gets noted on an eastbound Freightliner at 1006 between Cholsey and Goring & Streatley. We get delayed further outside Reading for a northbound Voyager to cross to the Down Main in front of us, with us arriving 5 minutes later as a result.

Bonus in that I got a shot of 59002 on the through road, headed for Acton, at 1038. An announcement was made for a through train through platform 8 a bit later, which was 6024 on a westbound Pullman set. I’d totally forgotten that 6024 was due out today, so a low quality video clip was all I managed from platform 4, with it going through approximately 1048.

43126+43037, in 40111, Reading > Hereford (via Evesham) (1052, 1d)

Once I had found a seat, I tried to remember what power car was on the front of this move. I had been so busy getting the rear ID that I forgot the front one in the meantime! I only recall it being dud for the year, was it 43136 I wonder…So a case of waiting until Hereford to get it now! 66016 was noted east of Pangbourne at 1057, then at 1202 we finally caught up with 6024. Surprisingly, I managed to get a decent shot at high speed, which was a welcome bonus. We got to Moreton Cutting and had to stop, an unusual occurrence for this working, then noted 6024 going by us. The sodding signallers had put it in front of us! Since when does a charter get priority over a Class 1 passenger working?!

6024 'King Edward I' on 1Z94 London Victoria to Bristol Temple Meads (VSOE), near Cholsey on 14th July 2010 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr

Half the world gets off at Oxford, so I take advantage of a table to maximise room for writing this up. A slow run up to Wolvercot Junction, which is nothing unusual sadly. A text needs to be sent, but curses, no flipping signal! As usual, my phone’s not working properly when certain people ring. I swear there’s a curse on me with Nokia phones lately! All of a sudden, there’s a good few miles of signal, excellent.

Work at Charlbury is now at an advanced stage, with ground cleared for the re-instatement of the second track and platform. Still a fair bit of time until it’s re-opened of course, but it’s getting there. It’ll be great when the double track reaches right through to Evesham from Charlbury, much less likelihood of delays hopefully. Seems odd though to think there’ll be new track to scratch on one of my old local routes in 2011! With little else to do, I go through the few photos I’ve gotten today, and liked the one of the King so much it’s now my desktop background image.

An hour and a half or so left of the journey, I decide it’s time to have a festering for 56s round on Hellfire. Only 3 red lines in the whole week at Chesterfield, only 1 of which produced anything. Sadly, no 56s all week. We arrive at Evesham, time to now await the Paddington-bound Turbo, which will no doubt be late. It was only slightly late as it turns out, with it arriving at 1227 vice 1226, which I discovered on a timetable near my coach on the platform. We finally leave at 1231, after the poxy 165113 finally departed 3 minutes late. Colas’ tamper 75406 was in a siding at Evesham, so got photted.

Bowled! We passed over the mainline near Norton Junction at approximately 1243, looking to the south I saw a 37! One assumes either Bridgwater to Crewe or Berkeley to Crewe flasks, but what the second loco, if there was one, was I have no idea. Will be looking that up as soon as I get online! Bowled again on the approach to Worcester Shrub Hill, as 66508 was present unexpectedly! I’ve never seen a Freightliner 66 in the Worcester area, so absolutely gutted I missed the phot. More so when we left Shrub Hill and I see it had run round, so I missed the shot again! Not my day for photography today it would seem. A couple of 150s and a 153 are also present, 150216+1533xx on the Middle Siding, 150014 next to platform 2.

Nothing really to report on now, a pretty uneventful, boring journey onwards. 43063+43141 were observed at Ledbury on the 1311 Hereford to Paddington, and we arrived at 1346, just one minute late. A lift to Kington was gotten, although we first had to spend ages in Hereford doing shopping for my sister’s graduation ceremony, the whole point of my trip. I just wonder how bowled I’ll get on my return journey!

EDIT 21/07/2010: Looked up the 37s a few days later, found these were fairly certainly 37610+37611 on a Berkeley to Crewe flask working. Although have yet to find out why 66508 was in Worcester and running around its wagons. I also found out I was mis-sold my ticket and that the Off Peak fare I wanted was indeed valid. A complaint to FGW is being prepared!

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Yes, I know you're all shocked but I have managed to include a photo in this thread! I knew I had it on Flickr in a special folder for charter trains, but everything else I haven't got online. That'll do for now!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I carried on looking at the old trip reports, found one from my Northern Ireland trip and it had a link to my Photobucket page! Therefore I shall be adding photos much more now :D
 

Kristofferson

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The latest "experimental" report style is great - really helps keep track of where you are, which can sometimes be harder to follow in prose. No complaints from me if you go back to this!

Fantastic photo of the steam train (I've gained an appreciation for steam since adding a Flying Scotsman and Princess Royal class to my model railway!) :)
 
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