HMS Ark Royal
Established Member
In that case, I'll take the Lordship and Dominion over all Pacers
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The Various Random Mutterings of Kite
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Kite159
Veteran Member
Could be worst, I could have nicknamed Voyagers, Quinns
Techni, did I give you some ideas for a potential Greater Manchester bash?
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5th December – A Manchester Weekender Day 2
It rained a lot overnight, and when I woke, and checked out to head to Stockport station I got a bit wet, however my focus this morning was on a revised plan to clear the Buxton line, involving a rather tight connection with a bus, so it was to Platform 0 for the 07:02 to Buxton, formed this morning of dud 156429 and winner 150115 on the rear and sadly it seemed to lose time due to the poor rail conditions caused by the rain and arrived at Dove Holes 7 minutes late, so bang went my first connection to a stopping bus as I walked fast to the A6 (couldn’t help thinking how it is strange Dove Holes is only 2 hourly where it’s next to a large village, as its’ not like the trains sit at Buxton for 40-odd minutes before starting again. Anyhow the stopper had gone (Skyline 199), which left me with the 08:02 Transpeak service run by High Peak Buses which runs non-stop along the A6 to Furness Vale (can anybody see why I grabbed Chapel last night?) 8:02 came and went, and as I was thinking of calling it a day and walking back to the station (at 8:10, standing in the cold wind on a busy road) as the chance of connecting with the service to Blackpool North train at Furness Vale had pretty much disappeared, bus 527 rolled up, as I took a seat for a nice blast.
Sadly with an arrival into Furness Vale at 8:18 meant I had missed the Blackpool train by a matter of a minute, ah well, it was always a long shot, across the other platform for a mile grab with 150222 & stalker 150150 to Whaley Bridge, before fresh dud 150115 & 156429 took me back towards Manchester and I alighted at Hazel Grove, could have stayed on to Woodsmoor, but decided not to run the risk, although the next Buxton service was running a few minutes late, so eventually duds 150271 & 150136 rolled in to take me the short distance to Disley, nice enough station being decorated for the Christmas trains (although not as much as they would like to owing to the wind), I found a little Co-Op to grab something for a late breakfast and something for later for lunch. Back to the station and 150150 & 150222 was back, and busy, and very colourful inside with Christmas decorations
To Stockport where I alighted from a busy train and headed over to P1 & P2 to await the next Crewe stopper, for some 323 action, and dud 323225 was up first to take me to Goostrey a very basic shack with an hourly service, but nice to sit undercover and watch various movements of freight and overcrowded 2 car 175s heading to Manchester, 323237 was up next to take me to Wilmslow, where a cross platform interchange saw me onto 323226 for the short trip to Alderley Edge, closely followed by 323223 to the other hourly served shack on this line, Chelford and like Goostrey another basic shack. I’m sorry for the lack of photos with this report, but as the weather was so windy I didn’t fancy the risk of my phone being blown from my hands. Anyhow 323226 returned to take me to Wilmslow before 323235 for a nice fast run (lots of motor noise) to Holmes Chapel, another basic looking shack, but the edge of the wayfarer area, sadly this is where my plans to do a certain rare station in Manchester failed, must have been weather related as 323223 was running to Oxford Road rather than Piccadilly, but not any further to the football stadium of some Europa league drop-outs (it was showing on RTT on Wednesday when doing my rough plan, so *insert grumping here*). Anyhow after a large fester at Manchester Airport (15 minutes in which there was nothing else heading north, a TPX departing pretty soon after we arrived.
Time to have a think, as I stayed on 323223 to Gatley making the world’s longest platform to platform change to get to the other side and with 323226 following suit running a bit late (due to late running TPE services, no surprise there) to Heald Green, I decided to remain on the same platform as a TPE service from Blackpool North was due, which was running so late at this point I’m surprised it didn’t get turned around at Piccadilly (as it got caught behind the stopper), anyhow it wasn’t a 185 or even a pair of 156s, it was a trio of 156s, leading was dud 156464 with winners 156420 and 156471 on the rear as it rolled into platform 4 (new score for me) at Manchester Airport, a minute before 323226 was due back out from the front of platform 1, so I decided to stay with the trio of 156s as it made a fast reversal and started back towards Piccadilly.
156464 at the rear of a trio of Blackpool North bound TPE hire-ins:
A bit of a fast walk to see what was happening, and the next Chester bound service was waiting, although the first departure was meant to be a 390 (the 14:15) but that was nowhere in sight, so no chance of a winning 390 hop to Stockport, sadly duds 142057 & 142039 were on the Chester bound service, but as it was rather busy, I decided to change plans and bail at Hale for the slightly tight +2 onto the Piccadilly bound service, formed of winner 150223 leading dud 150206 for the short hop to Navigation Road, I ditched my plan to do shacks down on the Mid Cheshire line, a job for another day. I crossed over to the Metrolink platform and boarded winning trams 3055 & 3021 to Deansgate Castlefield, looking at the timetable on RTT (making good use of the free wifi) saw a potential to clear Warrington Central with the next EMT set, so across the footbridge and to Deansgate station to await the next Piccadilly bound set (from Southport I believe), duds 150210 & 156461 for the 29 chain leap to Oxford Road.
A very windy Oxford Road, and it was very windy indeed, felt unsafe standing on the platform awaiting the EMT service towards Liverpool, but it arrived pretty much on time, and formed of winner 158773 with dud 158788 on the rear, so finding a spare seat in 788 which was a bit of a mistake when it rolled into Warrington Central as the stairs to leave the station are at the front of the units, anyhow I made my slightly tight connection onto 156441 for the short hop back to Padgate, before 156421 & 142045 rolled in and I might have accidently stayed on beyond the rover area to score Sankey for Penketh (the guard didn’t even mention it when he checked tickets). Anyhow another shack done, leaving just Widnes to do on the Cheshire Joint Committee line route to Liverpool which should be an easy steal on a Cheshire Rover or even as a day return when I do my next Merseyrail Saveaway.
Anyhow, another basic shack, but it wasn’t long before 150103 & 142009 rolled in to take me back to Warrington Central, where a very fast walk (12 minutes first time) saw me at Bank Quay station with a couple minutes to spare to jump onto winner 150225 to take me to Earlestown, with a 15 or so minute fester before the next Victoria stopper, formed of 150203 & 150141 (Northern short of 319s?) to take me to the slightly annoying Eccles, annoying in that it normally is the passing point of an hourly service, and I’m guessing it must be peak-time extras stopping at both stations as 156452 rolled in to take me the mile to Patricroft with a 30-odd minute fester before 319365 rolled in to take me to Newton-Le-Willows my final shack on this line (woohoo!).
Next up was an Arriva Trains Wales service, and would it be my lucky day with a required 175? On a busy platform and 175107 rolled in 5 minutes late to take me to Oxford Road, where I had a couple potential moves to Piccadilly, but not that many before the TPE service towards Preston (as I had booked a ticket from Wigan rather than Manchester on grounds that Wigan was a lot cheaper than from Manchester, and would have been more quiet due to the football), anyhow the first was a pair of dud 185s from Blackpool, the next was a dud 185 which was starting from Oxford Road instead of Liverpool, so I decided to jump on the next (and really last I could do) service, dud 319361 to Piccadilly. Grabbing a meal-deal from WH Smiths (unless anybody knows anywhere around Wigan which does a meal-deal?) I headed back to a very busy platform 14, as the TPE service rolled in, and it was Techni’s friend, 350404, and new super-dud for me, as I boarded at the front door and secured a table seat to plug my phone on charge for the near 22 mile trip to Wigan North Western.
Due to Storm Desmond, the WCML was closed north of Preston, and was in a bit of mad state, services cancelled, the first southbound service was to Euston via New Street, and thankfully it was dud, but it was a waiting game to see when the 20:15 to Preston would show up, RTT had it down at being on platform at Preston, the screens were showing it was on time, but the main PIS had a Manchester Airport bound service as delayed (and cancelled), 20:13 rolled around and the PIS updated and dud 390135 rolled in (yep, the same 390 I had on Thursday night) for the peaceful run south, a bit of a mess and some sick in one of the doorways (I’m guessing a fast turnaround at Preston), but I was in C1 and nobody was in C2, so after Warrington decided to shift to going forward and relaxed for the nice run, as usual being delayed after Milton Keynes due to a late running LM stopper.
One reason for picking the 20:15 from Wigan over the 20:35 from Manchester is that the 20:15 takes me all the way to Euston, whereas the 20:35 I have to change at Watford, gives me more time to grab some late evening food from McDonalds and relax on the 23:40 to Salisbury. Northern line sets 543 & 542 took me down to Waterloo, and I noticed a worrying word next to the 23:40, “Cancelled”, with a note at the bottom saying to catch the 23:45 to Portsmouth and change at Woking where it would be starting, basically the doors on the unit forming the 19:25 from Exeter had decided to go on strike and the train was terminated at Basingstoke, and I’m guessing the unit which formed the 20:25 which terminates at Basingstoke was sent up to Woking and hid somewhere (I’m surprised they didn’t put it into P6) as soon after duds 450554 & 450032 departed for Guildford, 159011 rolled in and with a nice speedy run I alighted at Grateley, another 159 cleared for 500 miles, the end of a busy day.
17 more shacks cleared, including some slightly annoying ones inside the GM Rail rover area, my focus must now shift to the north western corner now that the tunnel is due to reopen
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Harsh the 390 was the same one you had on Thursday! 350404 will be mine one day, same as 409!
As always an excellent read, don't envy you festering on the cold platforms and in lousy conditions at bus stops mind!
As always an excellent read, don't envy you festering on the cold platforms and in lousy conditions at bus stops mind!
Keith Jarrett
Member
An excellent few days up in the North West with plenty of winning units and shacks. A great read indeed and the late night set of moves to get some of the more obscure Buxton line shacks was the deffo the best part. I also liked your tease about getting a winning 37 and while I had guessed what you were up to, you did your level best to put folk right off the scent of the trail. The real 37163 would have been a monster score back in the days when loco hauled was the norm.
Your heart must have missed a beat or two when you got back to Waterloo and saw the 23:40 to Salisbury showing up as being cancelled. But well done to SWT for the innovative way to get you all home reasonably on time.
Your heart must have missed a beat or two when you got back to Waterloo and saw the 23:40 to Salisbury showing up as being cancelled. But well done to SWT for the innovative way to get you all home reasonably on time.
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Kite159
Veteran Member
It was indeed Keith, however I knew SWT had to do something to get people home. Arrived around 7 minutes late but that was nothing.
Anyhow:
6th December – A high speed spin to the South East
The main aim of today was to clear the shacks between Dartford & Strood, plus a couple others on the main-line which remained uncovered (got to make a start with South Eastern somehow), and also to get some high speed one action, unusually I was starting at Grateley (due to it having a hourly service today), at 08:38, I would have gone on the 07:38, but that was only running as far as Basingstoke before going onto a stopper, which only gave a 20 minute advantage once at Clapham. The TVM at Grateley was out of order so I had to buy my ticket on the train (and I have no idea what happened with the encoding but it opened no barriers, not even underground).
A busy pair of units from Yeovil Junction rolled in, 159009 & 159016 for the nice enough trip east before going into the slow up around Byfleet, before taking the left turn before Weybridge, yep it was the Staines diversion again, slow and steady progress (so much better on a 450 which can go faster over the bridges & stations), taking another left to go around the Hounslow loop, eventually arriving into Clapham Junction a couple minutes late, so I crossed over to P14 to catch the next Southern unit and it was in a bit of chaos (the usual Southern-ness), the screens changed to “stand back the next train does not stop here” and a pair of 442s rolled through carrying around air (and an average of 3 passengers per coach) before the service from Brighton which was held up to allow the Gat Ex to pass, a pair of 377s, duds 377104 & 377412 which was standing room only (wouldn’t it be a better move in times of reduced capacity due to engineering works to axe the Gat Express services and have that path used up by another service which carries more than 3 passengers per coach?)
To Victoria, where the 377s arrived after they were meant to depart, into Platform 13 using the side gate to exit the platform, and I went down to the underground, one eye on the clock, being allowed through due to dodgy encoding and onto set 008 & 007 of the Victoria line to take me to Kings Cross St Pancras. 5 minutes to get to the HS1 platforms, plenty of time, as I arrived, being allowed through manually after the gateline assistant looked at the ticket (probably looking for anything in which to say “no”) and I was through and onto winner 395005 for the speed run. When I was planning this trip RTT was suggesting that this train would call at Higham, the scrolling display on board suggested it was calling at Higham, however the PIS at the station said otherwise (so did RTT when I checked it again), how odd. Anyhow I alighted at my first new shack of the day at Gravesend.
Barriers were wide open and with 20 minutes to kill, I spotted a Tesco Metro nearby, so an early lunch was purchased, before heading back to the platform, and onto duds 465170 & 465241 to take me to Rochester, passing the site of the new station which is due to open this coming Sunday. Bit of a short wait before winner 395018 rolled in to take me to Rainham (Kent), a nice enough station with a new platform being built, I didn’t have long to wait before 465927 rolled in to take me the hourly served Newington which is on a passing loop. I crossed over the footbridge and waited around 10 minutes before dud 375927 rolled in (XX5927 repeats!) to take me to Gillingham, with 395005 returning to take me to Strood.
Dud 465010 was leading winner 465014 to take me to Higham with a short connection before duds 465015 & 465183 rolled in to take me to Rochester. Brief wait at the old station before dud 465028 rolled in with winner 465191 on the rear, I had identified a possible walk to claw back some time, would be tight but as long as this pair arrived on time I should be able to do it, so I stayed on this pair of units, got held up around Hoo junction for a freight to enter the yard but made it to Greenhithe for Bluewater only a minute late. A fast walk (no running today) saw me do the short distance to Stone Crossing in around 11 minutes.
A quite basic shack with a pedestrian level crossing with a closed road crossing, I didn’t have long to wait before duds 465157 & 465193 rolled in to take me to the basic shack at Northfleet, which had good views of HS1 and Ebbsfleet international, so I spent the 20 minutes viewing various Eurostars speeding through before 465193 & 465157 returned from Gravesend to take me to Swanscombe, another basic shack as it was up and over the footbridge to grab the next Gravesend bound service, duds 465186 & 465032, rolling into the new platform 0.
The next St Pancras service was cancelled (boo), the one following that was also cancelled (double boo), so my plans of heading back to St Pancras, crossing over to Kings Cross to do some Great Northern shacks went into the bin, bit of a fester later before winner 395026 rolled in to take me to Strood as I noted before the next service bound for Victoria had a required 465 on the rear, so in rolled 465182 with winner 465031 to take me back up to Higham (note to anybody at Strood, the trains stop right at the end of the platform, it is quite a walk from the waiting shelter to the rear unit). Duds 465014 & 465010 rolled in to take me to Rochester, and 395005 had returned to take me to Ebbsfleet. Strangely the barriers at the bottom of P5 & P6 were wide open, with the barriers for P2 & P3 were closed with 3 members of staff floating around talking.
Ebbsfleet International is such a soulless station, only good thing is watching as the 373s (and 374) rushing pass, making a good noise. A pair of 395s rolled in heading towards Ashford and annoyingly both were required, but I was on the next St Pancras bound service, formed of 6 coaches and in rolled dud 395016 to take me to Stratford International. It rolled into Ebbsfleet around 4 minutes down (held up for a late running Eurostar), it rolled into Stratford 1 minute down, I’m guessing the driver was allowed to run at 140 mph to regain some time. The 395s take off like a rocket when on HS1, such an amazing feeling. Anyhow I decided to do some DLR bashing as it was needed to be done at some point, so to the DLR station at Stratford International, and annoyingly I was walking down the stairs and a service had just departed, 10 minute wait.
With only 3 DLR units in the book, one thing I was certain about was getting a lot of winners, so it was a front seat on a set formed of 76, 58 & 72 to take me to Abbey Road where I didn’t see the Beatles, before units 22 & 83 to take me to Star Lane the island platform being used to change to units 137 & 128 to West Ham, stupidly I stayed on the DLR platform rather than crossing over to the Jubilee line to save time, as 7 minutes later 88 & 07 rolled in to take me to Canning Town low-level, crossing over to high-level and another close miss as a set on route to Bank had just closed doors, so a 4 minute wait before 146 & 144 took me to East India, where I decided to call it a night with 133, 101 & 152 back to Canning Town and onto a Jubilee line service to Waterloo. Units 042 & 091 were in charge (but it felt so slow, long dwell times, I was looking at my clock and the 15 minute journey went into 20 minutes.
So with only 5 minutes less I went up to the main-line station, played the game of “locate the diesel” [would have to be careful from next Sunday to avoid the xx:45 departures] and found a trio of units, let by 159013 (who joined the 1000 mile club), 159019 & 159022 (which was cleared for 500 miles, leaving just 159103 as my only sub-500 mile unit).
Anyhow a nice little day out, 9 SET shacks cleared (Dartford to Sittingbourne); 3 DLR shacks done (so Canning Town – Stratford International is cleared), plus a handful of new units, and lots of DLR units.
Anyhow:
6th December – A high speed spin to the South East
The main aim of today was to clear the shacks between Dartford & Strood, plus a couple others on the main-line which remained uncovered (got to make a start with South Eastern somehow), and also to get some high speed one action, unusually I was starting at Grateley (due to it having a hourly service today), at 08:38, I would have gone on the 07:38, but that was only running as far as Basingstoke before going onto a stopper, which only gave a 20 minute advantage once at Clapham. The TVM at Grateley was out of order so I had to buy my ticket on the train (and I have no idea what happened with the encoding but it opened no barriers, not even underground).
A busy pair of units from Yeovil Junction rolled in, 159009 & 159016 for the nice enough trip east before going into the slow up around Byfleet, before taking the left turn before Weybridge, yep it was the Staines diversion again, slow and steady progress (so much better on a 450 which can go faster over the bridges & stations), taking another left to go around the Hounslow loop, eventually arriving into Clapham Junction a couple minutes late, so I crossed over to P14 to catch the next Southern unit and it was in a bit of chaos (the usual Southern-ness), the screens changed to “stand back the next train does not stop here” and a pair of 442s rolled through carrying around air (and an average of 3 passengers per coach) before the service from Brighton which was held up to allow the Gat Ex to pass, a pair of 377s, duds 377104 & 377412 which was standing room only (wouldn’t it be a better move in times of reduced capacity due to engineering works to axe the Gat Express services and have that path used up by another service which carries more than 3 passengers per coach?)
To Victoria, where the 377s arrived after they were meant to depart, into Platform 13 using the side gate to exit the platform, and I went down to the underground, one eye on the clock, being allowed through due to dodgy encoding and onto set 008 & 007 of the Victoria line to take me to Kings Cross St Pancras. 5 minutes to get to the HS1 platforms, plenty of time, as I arrived, being allowed through manually after the gateline assistant looked at the ticket (probably looking for anything in which to say “no”) and I was through and onto winner 395005 for the speed run. When I was planning this trip RTT was suggesting that this train would call at Higham, the scrolling display on board suggested it was calling at Higham, however the PIS at the station said otherwise (so did RTT when I checked it again), how odd. Anyhow I alighted at my first new shack of the day at Gravesend.
Barriers were wide open and with 20 minutes to kill, I spotted a Tesco Metro nearby, so an early lunch was purchased, before heading back to the platform, and onto duds 465170 & 465241 to take me to Rochester, passing the site of the new station which is due to open this coming Sunday. Bit of a short wait before winner 395018 rolled in to take me to Rainham (Kent), a nice enough station with a new platform being built, I didn’t have long to wait before 465927 rolled in to take me the hourly served Newington which is on a passing loop. I crossed over the footbridge and waited around 10 minutes before dud 375927 rolled in (XX5927 repeats!) to take me to Gillingham, with 395005 returning to take me to Strood.
Dud 465010 was leading winner 465014 to take me to Higham with a short connection before duds 465015 & 465183 rolled in to take me to Rochester. Brief wait at the old station before dud 465028 rolled in with winner 465191 on the rear, I had identified a possible walk to claw back some time, would be tight but as long as this pair arrived on time I should be able to do it, so I stayed on this pair of units, got held up around Hoo junction for a freight to enter the yard but made it to Greenhithe for Bluewater only a minute late. A fast walk (no running today) saw me do the short distance to Stone Crossing in around 11 minutes.
A quite basic shack with a pedestrian level crossing with a closed road crossing, I didn’t have long to wait before duds 465157 & 465193 rolled in to take me to the basic shack at Northfleet, which had good views of HS1 and Ebbsfleet international, so I spent the 20 minutes viewing various Eurostars speeding through before 465193 & 465157 returned from Gravesend to take me to Swanscombe, another basic shack as it was up and over the footbridge to grab the next Gravesend bound service, duds 465186 & 465032, rolling into the new platform 0.
The next St Pancras service was cancelled (boo), the one following that was also cancelled (double boo), so my plans of heading back to St Pancras, crossing over to Kings Cross to do some Great Northern shacks went into the bin, bit of a fester later before winner 395026 rolled in to take me to Strood as I noted before the next service bound for Victoria had a required 465 on the rear, so in rolled 465182 with winner 465031 to take me back up to Higham (note to anybody at Strood, the trains stop right at the end of the platform, it is quite a walk from the waiting shelter to the rear unit). Duds 465014 & 465010 rolled in to take me to Rochester, and 395005 had returned to take me to Ebbsfleet. Strangely the barriers at the bottom of P5 & P6 were wide open, with the barriers for P2 & P3 were closed with 3 members of staff floating around talking.
Ebbsfleet International is such a soulless station, only good thing is watching as the 373s (and 374) rushing pass, making a good noise. A pair of 395s rolled in heading towards Ashford and annoyingly both were required, but I was on the next St Pancras bound service, formed of 6 coaches and in rolled dud 395016 to take me to Stratford International. It rolled into Ebbsfleet around 4 minutes down (held up for a late running Eurostar), it rolled into Stratford 1 minute down, I’m guessing the driver was allowed to run at 140 mph to regain some time. The 395s take off like a rocket when on HS1, such an amazing feeling. Anyhow I decided to do some DLR bashing as it was needed to be done at some point, so to the DLR station at Stratford International, and annoyingly I was walking down the stairs and a service had just departed, 10 minute wait.
With only 3 DLR units in the book, one thing I was certain about was getting a lot of winners, so it was a front seat on a set formed of 76, 58 & 72 to take me to Abbey Road where I didn’t see the Beatles, before units 22 & 83 to take me to Star Lane the island platform being used to change to units 137 & 128 to West Ham, stupidly I stayed on the DLR platform rather than crossing over to the Jubilee line to save time, as 7 minutes later 88 & 07 rolled in to take me to Canning Town low-level, crossing over to high-level and another close miss as a set on route to Bank had just closed doors, so a 4 minute wait before 146 & 144 took me to East India, where I decided to call it a night with 133, 101 & 152 back to Canning Town and onto a Jubilee line service to Waterloo. Units 042 & 091 were in charge (but it felt so slow, long dwell times, I was looking at my clock and the 15 minute journey went into 20 minutes.
So with only 5 minutes less I went up to the main-line station, played the game of “locate the diesel” [would have to be careful from next Sunday to avoid the xx:45 departures] and found a trio of units, let by 159013 (who joined the 1000 mile club), 159019 & 159022 (which was cleared for 500 miles, leaving just 159103 as my only sub-500 mile unit).
Anyhow a nice little day out, 9 SET shacks cleared (Dartford to Sittingbourne); 3 DLR shacks done (so Canning Town – Stratford International is cleared), plus a handful of new units, and lots of DLR units.
Techniquest
Veteran Member
Nice work there
Quite a productive day out considering there were cancellations. I need all those shacks between Gravesend and Dartford, on the agenda of course to do eventually in 2016!
At this rate you'll have caught up with me on Southeastern shacks too, this cannot stand for long!
Quite a productive day out considering there were cancellations. I need all those shacks between Gravesend and Dartford, on the agenda of course to do eventually in 2016!
At this rate you'll have caught up with me on Southeastern shacks too, this cannot stand for long!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Kite159
Veteran Member
I wonder what will happen to the fare dodger from earlier. I was on a South Eastern service originally from Canterbury West via Maidstone East, and RPIs boarded (along with myself) at Bromley South. After dealing with the "I will have a seat in 1st class when on Oyster" crowd, they discovered someone travelling on a Brixton - Victoria ticket (the service was non-stop from Bromley to Victoria, so most likely Mr Fare Dodger boarded at an open station previously [which to be fare could have been most of the stations the train called at], was hoping not to get caught out and was planning to exit the station barriers with the cheapest ticket.
Quinn - You must do HS1 at some-point, once outside the tunnels in London, rushing pass 357s, a shame SET ditched the £10 return fare promotions from last year [i.e. London to Dover/Margate/Ramsgate for £10 day return]
Hopefully SET will throw the book at them!
Quinn - You must do HS1 at some-point, once outside the tunnels in London, rushing pass 357s, a shame SET ditched the £10 return fare promotions from last year [i.e. London to Dover/Margate/Ramsgate for £10 day return]
Hopefully SET will throw the book at them!
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
HS1 is enjoyable as the wind rushing past really lets you know the train is doing 125-140mph through the tunnel. If only it was a diesel or a more lively electric...
Love the Christmassy 150 photo up there and a station with one service a week? What's the point of having one at all [emoji23]
Love the Christmassy 150 photo up there
and a station with one service a week? What's the point of having one at all [emoji23]Northern have to provide at least 1 service a week to keep the line open IIRC.
Kite159
Veteran Member
11th December A bubble in Bicester
It was time to sort out one of the remaining un-highlighted passenger lines in my rail atlas, mainly the part of line between Oxford Parkway to Bicester Village and the new curve to the main-line, as I didnt get the chance to do the line last year before it closed, so with a nice early finish at work I headed home, got changed and was just about to head out to the local station as the heavens opened, gave it a few minutes and the rain died down a bit, but I did get a tad wet walking to the station.
Anyway, in picking up the first of my tickets (Grateley to Reading, with a ticket for Reading to Islip and Oxford Parkway to High Wycombe purchased online in the time I spent at home waiting for the weather to die down), I noticed that the TVM has changed to the new style tickets, anyhow 159005 was forming the 13:59 departure for Waterloo, which was surprisingly on time (makes a change) for the spin to Basingstoke, where I had a few minutes to kill so I dashed out to pick up my tickets from one of the TVMs before heading back in towards platform 5 to see what GWR would throw out (as I believe one of the 150s is currently away being repainted), it was a green 166, required 166205, happy days only 209 & 219 left of the 166s, so taking a seat in the first class section (which was quite nice) for the run to Reading.
As I didnt have a seat reservation for the XC, I didnt head to Boots to grab something to eat, and headed directly to P8 (ok via the toilet) where dud 221136 rolled in (would have been too much to ask if it was one of my last 2 XC 221s). Grabbing a reserved from Oxford seat in coach F at the front (rear on arrival), phone on charge with a view of plastic, I settled down for the speedy run to Oxford (Do the voyagers hit line speed along the part of line between Reading and Didcot?) Arrival was on time and I exited the station to head towards the bus stop where the route 500 bus departs from (heading to Water Eaton Park & Ride/Oxford Parkway station). It was a fine double decker bus from the Oxford Bus company, with nice seats and free wi-fi, bus number 253. Grabbing the best seat in the house for the 30 minute trip (caused by traffic and stopping to pick up other passengers heading towards the station or the P&R site), I arrived at Oxford Parkway earlier than expected, so knowing I would have a long fester at Bicester if I caught 168321 which was working the 16:17 departure to Marylebone, so I gave that a miss to await the 16:44 to roll in.
Anyhow, I used the time to have a look around the new station, built on the side of the P&R, so large car-parks, and large platforms (the former 170301 looked a bit lost), the building itself has some barriers (which were wide open) and toilets train side of the barriers, a small café which is cash only (in this day and age???), some large touch-screen TVMs and nothing else. The 16:44 departure rolled in (note for anybody after Islip without a wait, this service calls at Islip both ways giving a 15-20 minute wait) and was formed of 168329, not an outright required unit as I had it when it was 170309. Inside was quite nice, power sockets at every seat, free Wi-Fi, for the trip to Bicester Village.
With 40 minutes to kill (seems to be a gap in the timetable), I decided to head into the shopping area going into normal mode to see what was the fuss was about, and just seemed to be many designer shops selling overpriced clothes (coming from someone who mainly wears supermarket clothes) at cheaper prices, anyhow I soon spotted a Tesco and grabbed something to eat for later, and headed back to the station, similar to Oxford Parkway in having a cash-only café, a couple exits and a large footbridge, I was getting a bit worried as the platform was filling up with passengers, but not to worry as it looked like a long train coming and I was in luck as leading was outright winning 168322 (failed to get it when it was 170302) and OMG my last 168/1, 168109, happy days, as I boarded 109 near the rear as it seemed quieter, getting a nice table seat for the 18 mile, 63 chain leap to Princes Risborough.
The title of the report might see more sense now, as I planned my time to give me a +5 with a potential 121 working, and needing one of the 2 bubbles Chiltern has (scoring 121020 last December), will I get lucky, I take a look to my left, pick out the worst and the best as we rolled into Princes Risborough, there was a bubble car in the bay platform, and yes, it had 034 on the rear. Quick visit to the TVM to pick up a day return to Aylesbury before returning to jump onto 121034 for the nice ride (such an experience be the bubble car coming from a modern 168), spotted the Banbury 68 set pulling in (gives a +3 from the Banbury set to the 121 for anybody wanting to do both, as it sounded like some other enthusiasts did). Passing the tree damaged 168s outside Aylesbury, and with a brief pause for a photo, and it was back towards Princes Risborough on fresh dud 121034.
The Bubble I was after:
OMG the 68s sound amazing rushing through Princes Risborough at full power, one heading towards Birmingham way, the other being one for Oxford, but I was going for a miles grab down to High Wycombe (otherwise I would have a wait due to the next Oxford Parkway service calling at Princes and then Bicester, annoyingly not Haddenham), however luck was on my side as a /0 rolled in, and my 168 luck continued with 168005, happy days, to High Wycombe, over the temporary footbridge (which seems to have changed since August) and towards the entrance, next service was said to be formed of 5 carriages, and in rolled 168106 on its own (Im guessing it was meant to be a double 3+2, but due to the tree damage, had to be shorten to a single 4), to take me back to Oxford Parkway.
I stayed on board, as the next service calls at the slightly limited served Islip, giving a +6 for the next Oxford bound service, so it was back onto 168106 for the 2 mile 16 chain leap to my final Chiltern shack at Islip, still being rebuilt (I can see where there will be a path from the road to the Bicester bound platform for disabled passengers), but it was over the footbridge, where my +6 had changed to a +11 due to a delay, so I had a look around the station, 1 minute later my look around the station had finished, as apart from many many CCTV cameras (I counted at least 10 on the platform), and a TVM there was nothing, not even a cash-only cafe
In rolled a surprise, it wasnt a 168, nor a 172, but dud 165037 for the run back to Parkway, and a quick walk to the bus stop to jump onto bus 254, of which I was the only passenger departing the park & ride site (picked up others along the way, but there was only 3 at the end heading to Oxford main). My first option was a Reading bound XC, which was running hopelessly late (26 down at this point), so up first was a HST, leading was dud 43155 with required 43127 on the rear, so I leapt on for the trip to Reading avoiding Didcot. At Reading I had time to dash out to the old station and grab a subway, not the greatest of food but there isnt much else around Reading station that time of night which is open (apart from the rip-off Burger King). I had a couple choices, either a 150/165/166 to Basingstoke or chance the XC, so to play it safe I headed across to P2 and jumped onto dud 165107 for the run to Basingstoke, pausing for a couple minutes outside the station to allow a freight service to clear out of the way before going into the bay.
Across to P2 to await the final Yeovil Junction service (22:13) and in rolled a dud 220 (I wouldnt have been best pleased if that turned out to be 002, 012 or 034), and following that in rolled 159021 & 159005 (hello again) to take me back to Grateley, where thankfully it was raining no longer, and I walked home.
3 new shacks cleared, new track covered, 6 outright winners plus 1 required re-numbered unit, a good evening.
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Not going to bother to do a full report on my little trip yesterday evening to a certain new station (and to my working out, the current newest station in UK, as its first train was 4 minutes after the first train at Apperley Bridge), but it was very wet:
It was time to sort out one of the remaining un-highlighted passenger lines in my rail atlas, mainly the part of line between Oxford Parkway to Bicester Village and the new curve to the main-line, as I didnt get the chance to do the line last year before it closed, so with a nice early finish at work I headed home, got changed and was just about to head out to the local station as the heavens opened, gave it a few minutes and the rain died down a bit, but I did get a tad wet walking to the station.
Anyway, in picking up the first of my tickets (Grateley to Reading, with a ticket for Reading to Islip and Oxford Parkway to High Wycombe purchased online in the time I spent at home waiting for the weather to die down), I noticed that the TVM has changed to the new style tickets, anyhow 159005 was forming the 13:59 departure for Waterloo, which was surprisingly on time (makes a change) for the spin to Basingstoke, where I had a few minutes to kill so I dashed out to pick up my tickets from one of the TVMs before heading back in towards platform 5 to see what GWR would throw out (as I believe one of the 150s is currently away being repainted), it was a green 166, required 166205, happy days only 209 & 219 left of the 166s, so taking a seat in the first class section (which was quite nice) for the run to Reading.
As I didnt have a seat reservation for the XC, I didnt head to Boots to grab something to eat, and headed directly to P8 (ok via the toilet) where dud 221136 rolled in (would have been too much to ask if it was one of my last 2 XC 221s). Grabbing a reserved from Oxford seat in coach F at the front (rear on arrival), phone on charge with a view of plastic, I settled down for the speedy run to Oxford (Do the voyagers hit line speed along the part of line between Reading and Didcot?) Arrival was on time and I exited the station to head towards the bus stop where the route 500 bus departs from (heading to Water Eaton Park & Ride/Oxford Parkway station). It was a fine double decker bus from the Oxford Bus company, with nice seats and free wi-fi, bus number 253. Grabbing the best seat in the house for the 30 minute trip (caused by traffic and stopping to pick up other passengers heading towards the station or the P&R site), I arrived at Oxford Parkway earlier than expected, so knowing I would have a long fester at Bicester if I caught 168321 which was working the 16:17 departure to Marylebone, so I gave that a miss to await the 16:44 to roll in.
Anyhow, I used the time to have a look around the new station, built on the side of the P&R, so large car-parks, and large platforms (the former 170301 looked a bit lost), the building itself has some barriers (which were wide open) and toilets train side of the barriers, a small café which is cash only (in this day and age???), some large touch-screen TVMs and nothing else. The 16:44 departure rolled in (note for anybody after Islip without a wait, this service calls at Islip both ways giving a 15-20 minute wait) and was formed of 168329, not an outright required unit as I had it when it was 170309. Inside was quite nice, power sockets at every seat, free Wi-Fi, for the trip to Bicester Village.
With 40 minutes to kill (seems to be a gap in the timetable), I decided to head into the shopping area going into normal mode to see what was the fuss was about, and just seemed to be many designer shops selling overpriced clothes (coming from someone who mainly wears supermarket clothes) at cheaper prices, anyhow I soon spotted a Tesco and grabbed something to eat for later, and headed back to the station, similar to Oxford Parkway in having a cash-only café, a couple exits and a large footbridge, I was getting a bit worried as the platform was filling up with passengers, but not to worry as it looked like a long train coming and I was in luck as leading was outright winning 168322 (failed to get it when it was 170302) and OMG my last 168/1, 168109, happy days, as I boarded 109 near the rear as it seemed quieter, getting a nice table seat for the 18 mile, 63 chain leap to Princes Risborough.
The title of the report might see more sense now, as I planned my time to give me a +5 with a potential 121 working, and needing one of the 2 bubbles Chiltern has (scoring 121020 last December), will I get lucky, I take a look to my left, pick out the worst and the best as we rolled into Princes Risborough, there was a bubble car in the bay platform, and yes, it had 034 on the rear. Quick visit to the TVM to pick up a day return to Aylesbury before returning to jump onto 121034 for the nice ride (such an experience be the bubble car coming from a modern 168), spotted the Banbury 68 set pulling in (gives a +3 from the Banbury set to the 121 for anybody wanting to do both, as it sounded like some other enthusiasts did). Passing the tree damaged 168s outside Aylesbury, and with a brief pause for a photo, and it was back towards Princes Risborough on fresh dud 121034.
The Bubble I was after:
OMG the 68s sound amazing rushing through Princes Risborough at full power, one heading towards Birmingham way, the other being one for Oxford, but I was going for a miles grab down to High Wycombe (otherwise I would have a wait due to the next Oxford Parkway service calling at Princes and then Bicester, annoyingly not Haddenham), however luck was on my side as a /0 rolled in, and my 168 luck continued with 168005, happy days, to High Wycombe, over the temporary footbridge (which seems to have changed since August) and towards the entrance, next service was said to be formed of 5 carriages, and in rolled 168106 on its own (Im guessing it was meant to be a double 3+2, but due to the tree damage, had to be shorten to a single 4), to take me back to Oxford Parkway.
I stayed on board, as the next service calls at the slightly limited served Islip, giving a +6 for the next Oxford bound service, so it was back onto 168106 for the 2 mile 16 chain leap to my final Chiltern shack at Islip, still being rebuilt (I can see where there will be a path from the road to the Bicester bound platform for disabled passengers), but it was over the footbridge, where my +6 had changed to a +11 due to a delay, so I had a look around the station, 1 minute later my look around the station had finished, as apart from many many CCTV cameras (I counted at least 10 on the platform), and a TVM there was nothing, not even a cash-only cafe
In rolled a surprise, it wasnt a 168, nor a 172, but dud 165037 for the run back to Parkway, and a quick walk to the bus stop to jump onto bus 254, of which I was the only passenger departing the park & ride site (picked up others along the way, but there was only 3 at the end heading to Oxford main). My first option was a Reading bound XC, which was running hopelessly late (26 down at this point), so up first was a HST, leading was dud 43155 with required 43127 on the rear, so I leapt on for the trip to Reading avoiding Didcot. At Reading I had time to dash out to the old station and grab a subway, not the greatest of food but there isnt much else around Reading station that time of night which is open (apart from the rip-off Burger King). I had a couple choices, either a 150/165/166 to Basingstoke or chance the XC, so to play it safe I headed across to P2 and jumped onto dud 165107 for the run to Basingstoke, pausing for a couple minutes outside the station to allow a freight service to clear out of the way before going into the bay.
Across to P2 to await the final Yeovil Junction service (22:13) and in rolled a dud 220 (I wouldnt have been best pleased if that turned out to be 002, 012 or 034), and following that in rolled 159021 & 159005 (hello again) to take me back to Grateley, where thankfully it was raining no longer, and I walked home.
3 new shacks cleared, new track covered, 6 outright winners plus 1 required re-numbered unit, a good evening.
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Not going to bother to do a full report on my little trip yesterday evening to a certain new station (and to my working out, the current newest station in UK, as its first train was 4 minutes after the first train at Apperley Bridge
), but it was very wet:
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Keith Jarrett
Member
The Bicester Bubble sounded like an evening well spent. A few winners, some new shacks and track as well made for a good mix. I agree with you on those designer outlets but must not complain as they seem to bring huge numbers of folk out of London on the trains to places like Ashford and Bicester. I see you had 168109, the only 168 I need for 10 miles - everyone seems to have run into it recently apart from me. But I'll catch up with it sometime.
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
The refurb 166 looks great, I wonder if the same trim is being applied to standard class on the HSTs as they share the same seating type?
Jealous of the bubble car... One of many plans I've not yet got round to.
Good stuff kite
Jealous of the bubble car... One of many plans I've not yet got round to.
Good stuff kite
Kite159
Veteran Member
12th December – A day on the Southern
With an earlier than usual deadline caused by a works Christmas do (i.e. the latest I could be back into Romsey would be 17:50, maybe the 18:20 (but that would mean going straight to the restaurant instead of going via home to get changed first, something I didn’t want to do), so the idea for this short day was to clear my last 3 Southern shacks. So it was an early morning drive to Romsey to catch the 06:50 GWR departure towards Portsmouth & Southsea (engineering works meaning nothing to the Harbour), formed of 158951 running a few minutes late. Rolling into platform 2 at Southampton Central which was a bit unusual, but nice as it gave a cross platform interchange to dud 377116 working the Victoria service.
I stayed on 377116 until Barnham, for a 20-odd minute fester for the next Brighton, keeping an eye out with the 313s just in case I spot a certain unit, taking me to Brighton was winner 377160 so that was a nice bonus, and I spotted a certain unit coming out of Brighton to allow us into the platforms, a quick check with RTT suggested that 313202 was working Brighton/Hove runs, which is probably the best service it could be running, something to build into my way home, anyway across to P7 as dud 171728 had rolled in to empty out (and as always it was quite busy), and I boarded and headed straight to the small First Class area as it was more chance of a seat for the 58 mile (and 13 chain) journey to my first new shack of the day, Dumbledore, sorry Appledore. A level crossing shack with nothing much around, apart from a Pine furniture shop (and what appeared to be a closed pub), and a lot of rubbish, so I decided to settle down in the little bus shelter to read my book, nothing else much to do and I had 40-odd minutes to kill, but did catch a pair of dusty 73s working a Rail Head Treatment Train heading towards Hastings.
171728 returned from Ashford to take me to my final shack on the line to Rye, a passing point on the single track between Ore & Appledore, so I was expecting an hour fester, however dud 171723 was running a couple minutes late which allowed me to cross over the footbridge and get a seat (as Rye did look rather busy with Christmas shoppers) for the run to Ashford International. Looks like Starbucks has taken over the little café on platforms 1 & 2, that be a shame as it was rather busy not giving me chance to grab a newspaper, anyhow it was soon back into the First Class area of 171723 for the run back west. It be a nice enough trip via the marsh lands, both times calling at Three Oaks and around Bexhill I decided to fire up RTT to have a look at the connection at Plumpton, the idea was to bail at Polegate for a quick Co-Op raid before catching a service working an Eastbourne-Victoria service for a +10 at Plumpton (as it is easier to grab it from the south at weekends). Outward would be fine, however the word “cancelled” popped up for the connection, so that went out of the window, so I decided to remain on board 171723 all the way to Brighton.
Anyhow, it wasn’t all bad news as I looked at RTT and saw the next Brighton – Hove service was due out in 25 minutes time, which gave me a chance to visit the little Tesco Express for a late lunch before heading back to the station, and even though “no connections” was on the screen (as it would have normally connected with a service for Littlehampton but that service was cancelled), I took a seat on 313202, my final 313, for the entire length of its journey, all of 4 minutes and 1 mile 35 chains to Hove. I noted the next 377 heading down towards Brighton was also required, so 20 or so minutes later, required 377402 came back up from Brighton to take me to Chichester where it was terminating (would normally have carried on to Portsmouth Harbour), with the next Victoria – Southampton service 10 or so minutes behind, so remaining on board and moving up towards the 4-car stop as there was a lot of passengers on the platform, either waiting for the Southampton or waiting for the Portsmouth 313 stopper.
Dud 377116 rolled in, adding another near 13 miles to its total on a run back to Cosham, where I was going to transfer onto the GWR service (the theory being that Southampton would be busy and I would stand a better chance for a seat), and it was history repeating as 158951 rolled in, and I managed to get a seat in the middle coach, next to someone who got off at Fareham, good thing that I did as Southampton appeared to be very busy. To Romsey the end of a short day out, 2 new shacks cleared at the edge of the network, 3 new winners and clearing the 313/2s made the disappointment of Plumpton seem not so bad as it means I don’t have to keep my eye out for them anymore.
171728 running away from Appledore:
And getting a good clean:
A rather dirt 73136:
Turbostars passing at Rye:
Well hello there: 313202 at platform 2 waiting to form the world’s longest distance trip, Brighton to Hove
And 3 minutes later it has arrived at Hove, the end of it’s very long journey (which must get boring for the driver going back and forward all day long)
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13th December – An unplanned day in London
A completely unplanned day for me, apart from a rough idea to do a couple more South Eastern shacks, unusually I was starting from Salisbury (the reason will become clear), and it was nice for a change to sit on 159104 & 159004 for 10 minutes before departure time, sit in the warmth as it was a chilly wind. An uneventful trip towards Surbiton where we slowed down before stopping next to a 455 at Rayners Park, something had broken down in front so it was down to a single track, eventually we got moving again and into Clapham around 10 minutes late.
Across to the Southern platforms to head to Victoria, and first up was required 377141 attached with dud 377471, nice little bonus (seeing as my numbers of Green 377s are slowly coming down), and it was into Victoria, with a quick walk over to the South Eastern side for a little linear bash to Bromley South if required on an Canterbury East service, formed of required 375706 I hopped on and was meant to get off at Bromley South as the following service for Sole Street ran fast from Bromley to Longfield… I forgot to get off, went into a mild day-dream before all of a sudden the doors closed and we were off to St Mary Cray. Doh!
At least it allowed me to determine that two 319s working Sevenoaks – Blackfriars were dud units (although both were close to 436), but a bit annoyed with myself for over-carrying as it meant a little wait before winner 465027 rolled in to take me to the hourly served Farningham Road, a basic shack, with a lot of walkers alighting. A 30 minute fester for fresh dud 465027 to come rolling back in, I bailed at Swanley and dashed over to the other island platform to leap onto a 319 from Sevenoaks, it was dud 319437 to St Mary Cray (nice fast run it felt like), a very tight connection at St Mary Cray for the next Sevenoaks bound service, my heart skips as I see a 4 and a 6 on the front…
But a 2 in between them, as it was dud 319426, back to Swanley and over to the other platform as dud 465912 rolled in to take me to Meopham where replacement buses were sat outside for any passengers wanting Rochester, Chatham & Gillingham (I’m guessing road access/parking is better at Meopham than at Sole Street), anyhow it was a busy platform for a 10 minute wait before 465912 rolled back in to take me to Longfield. Over the other platform for a short wait before the pair if 375s I was originally going to catch at Bromley earlier on rolled in, winner 375820 and dud 375818 to take me to Sole Street where the train terminated due to engineering works. At least that is the line cleared between Sittingbourne & Victoria, frees up time for when I do my Kent rover not to have to worry about it.
Sole Street is a basic looking station, and after a couple minutes I re boarded 375818 & 375820 to head back towards Victoria, scoring the crossover to the west of the station, and back to Bromley South, a nice fast run after Longfield. At Bromley I had a couple options, first was a dud 319 and the second was a quite busy 375822 from Canterbury (standing room only) to take me back to Victoria, my focus was now onto the 442s working Gatwick Express duties, seeing as their days are numbered, sadly only half hourly today due to works south of Croydon, but I noted a required ‘pig’ when we rolled in, so to the TVM to purchase my BZ6 ticket and through the barriers (which accepted my outer-boundary travel-card) and onto winner 442421 leading winner 442423, a double win as I found a table seat in the centre coach of 421 for some motor noise!
Gatwick Airport was reached and I could have jumped straight back up towards East Croydon on a required 377, as I had previously noted the service following 421/423 had a required unit on, so I focused on 3 services to Three Bridges which gave me 2 options to come back, first up was a trio of 377s heading to Brighton, all 3 were dud, second was a pair of Thameslink 377s heading to Brighton, both were dud, which left me with duds 377462 & 377447 working a Horsham stopper from London Bridge to Three Bridges. A last minute platform swap for the first Victoria service, which was a pair of dud 377s, which left me with a “formed of 4 coaches” Thameslink Bedford service, which was dud 387123. Anyhow, it was soon onto dud 442424 leading required 442414 which was nice and empty for some more motor noise into Victoria.
I had noticed another required 442 floating around heading into Gatwick, so I had a couple options so headed to the South Eastern side, and winner 375918 was working an Canterbury service, to Bromley South clearing it for 10 miles, a quick leap over the footbridge onto a pair of 465s working an Orpington stopper, sadly it was duds 465020 & 465003, back to Bromley on dud 319428, at least it gives me an extra 2 miles (and 10 chains). Next up was an unit from Canterbury, and it was dud 375705 where I noticed the next Sole Street service was late (and had a dark blue /6 on the rear).
Back to Victoria and to the Gatwick Express platforms as I got on required 442415, only a single unit and I think the picture below describes it:
Yes, it was full and standing, mix of it being half hourly and a single rather than a double, departed leaving people behind, shock horror to those who think Gatwick Express branded services only carry around fresh-air, annoyingly I couldn’t catch the numbers of the pair of units which rolled in to form the next service which meant I had a wait at Gatwick for them to pop up, like last time it was duds 377462 & 377447 to three bridges and duds 377518 & 377509 back to the airport, the pair of 442s were both dud, so I allowed them to go to await the next regular Southern service from Lewes (or Brighton). I was in luck as winner 377403 was leading dud 377158 to take me back to Clapham Junction, I could have bailed at East Croydon, but was getting hungry, so I jumped onto the first thing heading to waterloo, duds 450091 & 450557 (from platform 7), headed down to Sainsburys to grab some food and back to the main concourse with a few minutes to spare before looking for the 18:45 to Salisbury.
This is a new service introduced with the new timetable; it calls at Clapham Junction to pick up passengers only and at Salisbury only, a nice 79 mile 49 chain non-stop run, formed of 159001 leading 158883, it was (as expected) rather quiet, lots of announcements from the guard that it stopped at Salisbury only both after departure at Waterloo and when at Clapham. I would say a nice fast run but we were caught behind a slightly delayed Weymouth service, so it was a slow down before Woking & Basingstoke accelerating hard in the platforms (felt good) and a nice fast run via Overton & Andover (must be some reason why it doesn’t call at Andover) before getting caught at “Tunnel Junction”, where the line towards Romsey joins, for a late running GW (the line between Fratton & Portsmouth had gone pear-shaped) and rolling into Salisbury a couple minutes late.
A good enough day, 4 new shacks, 11 new units, although my original idea of hitting the trams disappeared in the long grass.
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I'm forming an idea for the summer months to get the least used station in the UK in the bag (Shippea Hill). Will be a Saturday service to there, and involve a bike along the dead-straight A1101 for 5 miles to Littleport, plus ideas for the other shacks along that Breckland Line... at least it should be mostly flat!
With an earlier than usual deadline caused by a works Christmas do (i.e. the latest I could be back into Romsey would be 17:50, maybe the 18:20 (but that would mean going straight to the restaurant instead of going via home to get changed first, something I didn’t want to do), so the idea for this short day was to clear my last 3 Southern shacks. So it was an early morning drive to Romsey to catch the 06:50 GWR departure towards Portsmouth & Southsea (engineering works meaning nothing to the Harbour), formed of 158951 running a few minutes late. Rolling into platform 2 at Southampton Central which was a bit unusual, but nice as it gave a cross platform interchange to dud 377116 working the Victoria service.
I stayed on 377116 until Barnham, for a 20-odd minute fester for the next Brighton, keeping an eye out with the 313s just in case I spot a certain unit, taking me to Brighton was winner 377160 so that was a nice bonus, and I spotted a certain unit coming out of Brighton to allow us into the platforms, a quick check with RTT suggested that 313202 was working Brighton/Hove runs, which is probably the best service it could be running, something to build into my way home, anyway across to P7 as dud 171728 had rolled in to empty out (and as always it was quite busy), and I boarded and headed straight to the small First Class area as it was more chance of a seat for the 58 mile (and 13 chain) journey to my first new shack of the day, Dumbledore, sorry Appledore. A level crossing shack with nothing much around, apart from a Pine furniture shop (and what appeared to be a closed pub), and a lot of rubbish, so I decided to settle down in the little bus shelter to read my book, nothing else much to do and I had 40-odd minutes to kill, but did catch a pair of dusty 73s working a Rail Head Treatment Train heading towards Hastings.
171728 returned from Ashford to take me to my final shack on the line to Rye, a passing point on the single track between Ore & Appledore, so I was expecting an hour fester, however dud 171723 was running a couple minutes late which allowed me to cross over the footbridge and get a seat (as Rye did look rather busy with Christmas shoppers) for the run to Ashford International. Looks like Starbucks has taken over the little café on platforms 1 & 2, that be a shame as it was rather busy not giving me chance to grab a newspaper, anyhow it was soon back into the First Class area of 171723 for the run back west. It be a nice enough trip via the marsh lands, both times calling at Three Oaks and around Bexhill I decided to fire up RTT to have a look at the connection at Plumpton, the idea was to bail at Polegate for a quick Co-Op raid before catching a service working an Eastbourne-Victoria service for a +10 at Plumpton (as it is easier to grab it from the south at weekends). Outward would be fine, however the word “cancelled” popped up for the connection, so that went out of the window, so I decided to remain on board 171723 all the way to Brighton.
Anyhow, it wasn’t all bad news as I looked at RTT and saw the next Brighton – Hove service was due out in 25 minutes time, which gave me a chance to visit the little Tesco Express for a late lunch before heading back to the station, and even though “no connections” was on the screen (as it would have normally connected with a service for Littlehampton but that service was cancelled), I took a seat on 313202, my final 313, for the entire length of its journey, all of 4 minutes and 1 mile 35 chains to Hove. I noted the next 377 heading down towards Brighton was also required, so 20 or so minutes later, required 377402 came back up from Brighton to take me to Chichester where it was terminating (would normally have carried on to Portsmouth Harbour), with the next Victoria – Southampton service 10 or so minutes behind, so remaining on board and moving up towards the 4-car stop as there was a lot of passengers on the platform, either waiting for the Southampton or waiting for the Portsmouth 313 stopper.
Dud 377116 rolled in, adding another near 13 miles to its total on a run back to Cosham, where I was going to transfer onto the GWR service (the theory being that Southampton would be busy and I would stand a better chance for a seat), and it was history repeating as 158951 rolled in, and I managed to get a seat in the middle coach, next to someone who got off at Fareham, good thing that I did as Southampton appeared to be very busy. To Romsey the end of a short day out, 2 new shacks cleared at the edge of the network, 3 new winners and clearing the 313/2s made the disappointment of Plumpton seem not so bad as it means I don’t have to keep my eye out for them anymore.
171728 running away from Appledore:
And getting a good clean:
A rather dirt 73136:
Turbostars passing at Rye:
Well hello there: 313202 at platform 2 waiting to form the world’s longest distance trip, Brighton to Hove
And 3 minutes later it has arrived at Hove, the end of it’s very long journey (which must get boring for the driver going back and forward all day long)
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13th December – An unplanned day in London
A completely unplanned day for me, apart from a rough idea to do a couple more South Eastern shacks, unusually I was starting from Salisbury (the reason will become clear), and it was nice for a change to sit on 159104 & 159004 for 10 minutes before departure time, sit in the warmth as it was a chilly wind. An uneventful trip towards Surbiton where we slowed down before stopping next to a 455 at Rayners Park, something had broken down in front so it was down to a single track, eventually we got moving again and into Clapham around 10 minutes late.
Across to the Southern platforms to head to Victoria, and first up was required 377141 attached with dud 377471, nice little bonus (seeing as my numbers of Green 377s are slowly coming down), and it was into Victoria, with a quick walk over to the South Eastern side for a little linear bash to Bromley South if required on an Canterbury East service, formed of required 375706 I hopped on and was meant to get off at Bromley South as the following service for Sole Street ran fast from Bromley to Longfield… I forgot to get off, went into a mild day-dream before all of a sudden the doors closed and we were off to St Mary Cray. Doh!
At least it allowed me to determine that two 319s working Sevenoaks – Blackfriars were dud units (although both were close to 436), but a bit annoyed with myself for over-carrying as it meant a little wait before winner 465027 rolled in to take me to the hourly served Farningham Road, a basic shack, with a lot of walkers alighting. A 30 minute fester for fresh dud 465027 to come rolling back in, I bailed at Swanley and dashed over to the other island platform to leap onto a 319 from Sevenoaks, it was dud 319437 to St Mary Cray (nice fast run it felt like), a very tight connection at St Mary Cray for the next Sevenoaks bound service, my heart skips as I see a 4 and a 6 on the front…
But a 2 in between them, as it was dud 319426, back to Swanley and over to the other platform as dud 465912 rolled in to take me to Meopham where replacement buses were sat outside for any passengers wanting Rochester, Chatham & Gillingham (I’m guessing road access/parking is better at Meopham than at Sole Street), anyhow it was a busy platform for a 10 minute wait before 465912 rolled back in to take me to Longfield. Over the other platform for a short wait before the pair if 375s I was originally going to catch at Bromley earlier on rolled in, winner 375820 and dud 375818 to take me to Sole Street where the train terminated due to engineering works. At least that is the line cleared between Sittingbourne & Victoria, frees up time for when I do my Kent rover not to have to worry about it.
Sole Street is a basic looking station, and after a couple minutes I re boarded 375818 & 375820 to head back towards Victoria, scoring the crossover to the west of the station, and back to Bromley South, a nice fast run after Longfield. At Bromley I had a couple options, first was a dud 319 and the second was a quite busy 375822 from Canterbury (standing room only) to take me back to Victoria, my focus was now onto the 442s working Gatwick Express duties, seeing as their days are numbered, sadly only half hourly today due to works south of Croydon, but I noted a required ‘pig’ when we rolled in, so to the TVM to purchase my BZ6 ticket and through the barriers (which accepted my outer-boundary travel-card) and onto winner 442421 leading winner 442423, a double win as I found a table seat in the centre coach of 421 for some motor noise!
Gatwick Airport was reached and I could have jumped straight back up towards East Croydon on a required 377, as I had previously noted the service following 421/423 had a required unit on, so I focused on 3 services to Three Bridges which gave me 2 options to come back, first up was a trio of 377s heading to Brighton, all 3 were dud, second was a pair of Thameslink 377s heading to Brighton, both were dud, which left me with duds 377462 & 377447 working a Horsham stopper from London Bridge to Three Bridges. A last minute platform swap for the first Victoria service, which was a pair of dud 377s, which left me with a “formed of 4 coaches” Thameslink Bedford service, which was dud 387123. Anyhow, it was soon onto dud 442424 leading required 442414 which was nice and empty for some more motor noise into Victoria.
I had noticed another required 442 floating around heading into Gatwick, so I had a couple options so headed to the South Eastern side, and winner 375918 was working an Canterbury service, to Bromley South clearing it for 10 miles, a quick leap over the footbridge onto a pair of 465s working an Orpington stopper, sadly it was duds 465020 & 465003, back to Bromley on dud 319428, at least it gives me an extra 2 miles (and 10 chains). Next up was an unit from Canterbury, and it was dud 375705 where I noticed the next Sole Street service was late (and had a dark blue /6 on the rear).
Back to Victoria and to the Gatwick Express platforms as I got on required 442415, only a single unit and I think the picture below describes it:
Yes, it was full and standing, mix of it being half hourly and a single rather than a double, departed leaving people behind, shock horror to those who think Gatwick Express branded services only carry around fresh-air, annoyingly I couldn’t catch the numbers of the pair of units which rolled in to form the next service which meant I had a wait at Gatwick for them to pop up, like last time it was duds 377462 & 377447 to three bridges and duds 377518 & 377509 back to the airport, the pair of 442s were both dud, so I allowed them to go to await the next regular Southern service from Lewes (or Brighton). I was in luck as winner 377403 was leading dud 377158 to take me back to Clapham Junction, I could have bailed at East Croydon, but was getting hungry, so I jumped onto the first thing heading to waterloo, duds 450091 & 450557 (from platform 7), headed down to Sainsburys to grab some food and back to the main concourse with a few minutes to spare before looking for the 18:45 to Salisbury.
This is a new service introduced with the new timetable; it calls at Clapham Junction to pick up passengers only and at Salisbury only, a nice 79 mile 49 chain non-stop run, formed of 159001 leading 158883, it was (as expected) rather quiet, lots of announcements from the guard that it stopped at Salisbury only both after departure at Waterloo and when at Clapham. I would say a nice fast run but we were caught behind a slightly delayed Weymouth service, so it was a slow down before Woking & Basingstoke accelerating hard in the platforms (felt good) and a nice fast run via Overton & Andover (must be some reason why it doesn’t call at Andover) before getting caught at “Tunnel Junction”, where the line towards Romsey joins, for a late running GW (the line between Fratton & Portsmouth had gone pear-shaped) and rolling into Salisbury a couple minutes late.
A good enough day, 4 new shacks, 11 new units, although my original idea of hitting the trams disappeared in the long grass.
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I'm forming an idea for the summer months to get the least used station in the UK in the bag (Shippea Hill). Will be a Saturday service to there, and involve a bike along the dead-straight A1101 for 5 miles to Littleport, plus ideas for the other shacks along that Breckland Line... at least it should be mostly flat!
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Techniquest
Veteran Member
Well done on re-finishing SWT shacks!
Some really productive trips there good sir. A full and standing GatEx is certainly unusual mind!
I started advance planning a trip today too. Got a few years to plan it
Some really productive trips there good sir. A full and standing GatEx is certainly unusual mind!
I started advance planning a trip today too. Got a few years to plan it
backontrack
Established Member
Wow, it looks like you had quite a good time!
Keith Jarrett
Member
Well done on clearing out the remnants of Marshlink - presumably the trains were busy because amongst other things, it would have been the annual Christmas bash in Rye! And 313202 - it's been a while coming that one.
Kite159
Veteran Member
There was a lot of passengers getting off at Rye, and agreed 313202 was working probably the best service it could have been doing that day.
Then those 171/7s are always busy, as they are semi-fast to Eastbourne/Hastings from Brighton.
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I need to do a rage comic of something which happened yesterday, I think there is one train a day which departs Llanelli heading towards Cardiff which avoids Swansea (the 13:30 from Fishguard) and someone ran to jump on it yesterday at Llanelli... wanting Swansea, next stop was Bridgend. He wasn't a very happy bunny!
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Some general thoughts on my evening peak linear bash down to Hastings, pretty much SET was messed up this afternoon/evening with signalling problems around London Bridge and something around Tunbridge Wells, the average delay for a Hastings bound service was around 15-20 minutes, nothing was cancelled nor made to run fast (as far as I could tell). Compare that to Southern which would have been cancelling services short at say Eastbourne. Quite impressed as I was thinking it wasn't the best of evenings
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Sometimes my random pictures come out quite well
10p on who can guess where I was this afternoon
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HMS Ark Royal
Established Member
There was a lot of passengers getting off at Rye, and agreed 313202 was working probably the best service it could have been doing that day.
Then those 171/7s are always busy, as they are semi-fast to Eastbourne/Hastings from Brighton.
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I need to do a rage comic of something which happened yesterday, I think there is one train a day which departs Llanelli heading towards Cardiff which avoids Swansea (the 13:30 from Fishguard) and someone ran to jump on it yesterday at Llanelli... wanting Swansea, next stop was Bridgend. He wasn't a very happy bunny!
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Some general thoughts on my evening peak linear bash down to Hastings, pretty much SET was messed up this afternoon/evening with signalling problems around London Bridge and something around Tunbridge Wells, the average delay for a Hastings bound service was around 15-20 minutes, nothing was cancelled nor made to run fast (as far as I could tell). Compare that to Southern which would have been cancelling services short at say Eastbourne. Quite impressed as I was thinking it wasn't the best of evenings
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Sometimes my random pictures come out quite well
10p on who can guess where I was this afternoon
Railway station?
Kite159
Veteran Member
But which railway station?
HMS Ark Royal
Established Member
Kite159
Veteran Member
- Status