February/March
As the weather begins to improve (he says whilst staring out of the window at sideways rain) I've ventured out a bit more recently, with some good results.
The steady flow of new CAF units arriving at Edge Hill mean I've been able to pick off 20 winners before they've even entered service, with
195108, 195113, 195116, 331107, 331108 and
331110 all ticked off since my last update.
February 26th saw a nice stint chasing my last handful of London requirements. Starting at St Pancras to get
700048 coming in at rush hour to take the unhappy hoards to St Albans, it was then quickly over to Dalston Junction to see if my last remaining 378s were about. I've struggled to locate them over recent trips south, often due to the fact they are confined to the ELL, which is out of the way compared to the other locations I go hunting. The gods must have been smiling on me however, as no sooner had i arrived than
378149 pulled in, swiftly followed not 10 minutes later by the final London Overground unit currently in service,
378148 (we might never see the 710s anyway at this rate!).
With the cannon still warm it was quickly off to Charing Cross for perhaps the biggest moment of my spotting journey yet. I arrived just in time to see
375812 roll in from Hastings, the last of the 112 required, and the last of the 392 SouthEastern units. To celebrate I took a rubbish photo of it before heading for tapas:
March so far has been decent, I've just returned from two fairly hectic days in Scotland. My usual morning 150 from Marple was followed by a well loaded 350 up to Glasgow, seeing nothing but rain-soaked countryside until Carlisle. The DRS depot threw up
57002, the last in-service loco of this class I needed. I was hoping 88010 would show itself, either there or on the Doncaster-Millerhill flow, but sadly it's stuck in Doncaster with a fault.
When Glasgow arrived it was straight to Queen Street, purchasing a Central Scotland Rover on the way (excellent value at the railcard price of £32.35 for 3 days travel around the central belt). The expansion of the place is coming along nicely, but does mean the current temporary setup is a bit awkward. The winners began to flow as I got onto the platforms, with a trip of 385s,
010, 105 and
112 providing a nice start. It was aboard the first two for the run to Edinburgh, picking up
385108 at Eastfields depot not long after departure, but after that it was the metro crossword that passed the time until Edinburgh.
Waverley was fairly quite, being mid-afternoon, so I wandered round to see what was what, including the newly commissioned platforms 5 and 6, before hopping on
385111 for a quick spin to Musselburgh, mainly to see what was on Craigentinney. The answer was not much, only the newly arrived
385024. A quick up and over and onto a 380 back to Edinburgh, there was then a plethora of 385s rushing to and fro for the next thirty minutes, many of which were required:
385008, 385009, 385011, 385012, 385018, 385020, 385116, 385123
More importantly
170426 also pulled in just as I was readying myself to leave, which meant just one 170 remained.
A short hop to Haymarket next, as it's easier to see everything from the cosy sofa in the waiting room on platforms 2/3. I had an afternoon snack here, spending a bit of time doing some crosswords whilst waiting to see if the last 170 was coming through. In the end it didn't, but I got yet more 385s:
385005, 385022, 385033, 385106, 385110, 385114, 385115, 385117, 385122
As i was making to leave
158716 sped through heading to Waverley to strengthen a peak time service, knocking off one of the three 158s that were on my needs list when I started.
With that it was back to Queen Street as news had arrived regarding another of the handful of outstanding units I needed. Arriving 40 minutes later to the unexpected bonus of
158709, the penultimate Scotrail variant, it was the oft made walk back to Central, and the arrival from Kilmarnock of
156445, heralding the chalking off of my penultimate 156.
A bit of a loose end was reached then. I had 7 hours to kill until I needed to be at Queen Steet again, so I went to check in at the Rennie Mackintosh Hotel nearby, dropped my bag off, and then made for Hyndland to see if my last three 320s were out for the evening. It was still surprisingly mild as I settled in, quickly picking up
320420, before a rather long wait of 90 minutes until
320403 showed itself. That was it though, and at half 7 I bailed, walking back to Partick to grab tea from Morrisons. I decided to head to the hotel for a bit of a nap before intending to get to Queen Street at midnight for the ex-Fort Bill 73, which was needed. My body decided otherwise however, as I woke at 1am, still fully clothed...
Day two started with a veggie breakfast at 7am (me and the wife are going veggie on weekdays for Lent), before a barren spell at Central looking for the last 156. When the Rover kicked in I went to Queen Street to head to Edinburgh again, picking up yet more 385 winners by way of
109 and
113, before the now familiar journey to the capital.
The usual sweep of Waverley threw up yet more 385 winners,
015 and
019, then it was back to the sofa at Haymarket again. After yesterday's successes today was more quality over quantity, with
385023 stabled in platform 0. The highlight though was this:
My last 170! Cannons please!
I fired off a cheeky Twitter request to Scotrail to see if any of the final four I needed were about, with limited success, but the info they did give me meant I had time to head back to Glasgow and head for the various depots to see if anything interesting was stabled.
Yoker was first up, with nothing needed, but I did note the 365s being stored ready for their impending departure (indeed I didn't see a single 365 out in service at any point). Back to Central and out on a Paisley Canal service to head passes Shields Depot, where I picked up the last in service 320,
401, and then Corkerhill, which had a trio of 385s on the road nearest the mainline, namely
031, 107 and
118. That was all the time I had, so my final 156 at Springburn would have to wait for another time, as I was due back at Haymarket for an appointment with a HST...
Sadly this is where things went belly up. I rather stupidly decided to go to Waverley for a quick check of whether there were further required 385s on the North Berwicks, but having done this with no success the signalling system at Edinburgh Park went down, stopping the job completely for anything going West. I eventually made it onto a Central via Shotts service, which was packed front to back, and it was a race against time to get to Haymarket for the HST. We waited, departure time came and went, they went to find a 158 to bolt on to the back of our solitary 156, and we then departed 15 late. I briefly contemplated getting off to wait for the HST, but couldn't risk it with the need to get back to Central for half 6, so begrudgingly stayed on and we pulled away just in time to see my final HST,
43132, as we passes between Haymarket and Mound tunnels. Not the way I wanted to catch the last HST, but I just couldn't risk missing my 390 home.
We eventually arrived at Central with 9 minutes to spare, and then it was a 390 through the dark back to Preston, and then the vague novelty of a Northern 158 non-stop to Oxford Road. I walked along to Piccadilly from there to waste a bit of time, then it was a very quiet 142 back home.
And so with all that in the bag I cleared five classes (43, 170, 320, 375, 378) and two TOCs (London Overground, Southeastern). Scotrail is down to just two DMUs and, rather surprisingly, I'm over halfway through the 385s as well. I'll probably leave the remaining units until all the 385s are in service before I return.
Looking forwards, I'm in London next week, so I hope to knock off the last 700 I need, the two 158s for SWR, and the bloody Mendip 59 that's been evading me for years. After that it's just the IETs and 717s to look for.
