• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

The Various Random Mutterings of Kite

Status
Not open for further replies.

Cletus

Established Member
Joined
11 Dec 2010
Messages
2,227
Location
Dover
Are there any train you need outright, or are you just after mileage now?

I can never see any photos when I click the "Spoiler" button.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
Are there any train you need outright, or are you just after mileage now?

I can never see any photos when I click the "Spoiler" button.

The only stuff I need outright are the new stuff being introduced (230s, 802s, 717s, 385s) plus 320403/418.

I know it sounds crazy but doing things for mileage has brought back some of the enjoyment of the chase.

I wonder why the pictures are not coming up for you
 

Cletus

Established Member
Joined
11 Dec 2010
Messages
2,227
Location
Dover
Amazing going :)
I just went back to double-check the pictures, and they are now appearing, slowly. I think my internet is slowing down :oops:
 

Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
Photos aren't working here either, which is weird as the first few did but most of them no.

An incredibly busy and productive trip there, and nice work on scoring the new sleeper stock. It will be a shame to see the old stuff go, given how much I used in years gone by. Another era will soon be over.

As always, an excellent read!
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
3rd – 5th May, Mileage hunting in London

My plans for the Friday got thrown out of the window due to getting caught up in delays when heading towards Shenfield, but I managed to recover to clear some more bits for mileage. 4 more 450s, 2 more 455s, 2 more 456s, a 444 & 321, along with 5 more 317s clearing the London Overground batch which was a good moment (knowing I no longer have to keep my eyes peeled out of Liverpool Street for 317/7s (or 317/8s for that matter).

Anyhow during a rough 20 minute fester at Basingstoke, I managed to make use of the free WiFi from a 221 on platform 4 stuck there for over an hour due to a failed freight service around Reading West.
IMG_20190503_204917617.jpg

The Saturday was a day mainly on Great Northern, I need a small handful of 365 & 387s, a few were around the 5-8 mile mark so a couple Finsbury Park leaps would be enough, as I believe come the May timetable change some services are going back via St Pancras (although looking at a random Saturday in June it appears only an hourly Brighton – Cambridge semi-fast with the Ely service running fast) so a better time to try and grab the 365/387s when they are easier (and cheaper!). In the end I ended up with 4 more 387s pushed over the line (with 1 outstanding) along with 3 more 365s (3 more of those outstanding). A couple 700s as well (and also a 450 & 455 on SWR doing linear hops), I even had a microgricing move with a 700 departing St Pancras low level platform B going south, was an odd experience passing a northbound 700 at the old Kings Cross Thameslink station with both services going the ‘wrong way’. I did have one trip to Cambridge (the appearance of 2 of my “core mileage” units together was too much to turn down, linearly hopping back south with not much luck.

IMG_20190504_150154630.jpg

My 2nd Sunday day-trip of the year was today, I wasn’t expecting much but I ended up landing my last 444 for mileage, as well as 2 more 450s, a 456 & 6 more 455s (only 4 more red 455s left). A trip to Stratford area scored me the “Ilford flyover avoiding” line heading back towards Stratford [the connection between the mains & electric lines between Ilford & Manor Park which goes around the side of the flyover, if that makes sense. I also scored a couple more 321s (these are going to be painful to get and get for 10 miles!), a 315, 345, 317 & a couple 357s.

All in all a good ‘quiet’ weekend for new members of the Ten Mile Club, tomorrow sees my deckchair coming out at Reading on the hunt for 802s.

--------------

6th May - 802 Hunting

It was bound to happen eventually, with a Thames Valley Branches Rover and my deckchair to hunt down 802s. A cracking start with 802105 being the first London bound service to arrive at Reading, followed by 802112 on a Slough leap, where I made a mistake in heading back to London instead of heading back to Reading. I turned down a Swansea bound 802/1 for a Penzance bound 802015, racing back to London to grab a Plymouth bound 802103.

A good hour at Reading with nothing of interest popping up, so I did a random trip back to Paddington to see an unit which was thrown out of the depot (105 again), before intercepting the return of 802106 from Bristol, leaping back to Reading on a fast 387 before 802111 returned from Swansea, followed by 802017 back to Reading and back home.

7 winners on a 'lazy' day, not that bad going.
 
Last edited:

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
Right, in light of the issues some folk have faced with the pictures not loading, I've decided to upload them onto a new Flickr account which I will only use for report photos, hopefully this will help things along. As always I will hide them behind Spoiler tags, although I have no idea if that makes any sort of difference in terms of data being used

Anyhow a picture I took on Monday when at Paddington


Pesty Stop board getting in the way
 

Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
Love that photo, and I hadn't noticed the stop marker thing until I saw your comment under the photo!

Can't tell you if it makes a difference to data used or not, most of the time I'm reading the forum on WiFi at home or in another location with WiFi.
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
9th – 12th May, Return to Scotland

This trip would be more of a social trip to have a good catch up with my good friend Dan, as well as doing some bits and bobs around the central belt, as well as having a good hunt for some of the 385s and other units I need for mileage needs. I was booked on the sleeper on the Thursday night so after deciding what to do with a wet day I decided on 321 hunting out of Liverpool Street as these are a pain to get for 10 miles as a good number only work a single trip in the evening peak.

Grateley -> Woking: 159004/159019
Woking -> London Waterloo: 450093/450026
Waterloo -> Bank: 65501/65502
Bank -> Liverpool Street: 91115/92442/92152/91317
Liverpool Street -> Stratford: 321351 & 321356
Stratford -> Liverpool Street: 321332 & 321327
Liverpool Street -> Stratford: 321327 & 321332 (nothing else of interest so might have well get 332 over the line
Stratford -> Liverpool Street: 321325 (positioning move)
Liverpool Street -> Stratford: 321306 & 321447
Stratford -> Liverpool Street: 321346 & 321318
Liverpool Street -> Stratford: 321344 & 321302
Stratford -> Liverpool Street: 345006 (where with a lull in the activity it was time for some dinner)
Liverpool Street -> Stratford: 321329 (positioning move)
Stratford -> Liverpool Street: 321334 & 321421 (saw this pair earlier heading towards Braintree)
Liverpool Street -> Tottenham Hale: 379026 & 379025
Tottenham Hale -> Euston: 11081 & 11082 (time wasting moves)

At Euston, it was a gentle potter over to platform 15 to get checked into the lowlander, tonight getting hauled by 92014 which gains membership into the 2 thousand mile club. A rather cold night in the seats (that AC is too powerful and quite loud). Overall 6 more 321s into my TMC with 2 more onto 8 miles, not that bad going considering the time I got to Liverpool Street.

---------

Friday:

The sleeper was on time to Carstairs when 92018 attached to the rear and took the Edinburgh portion to Edinburgh arriving a few minutes early into the usual platform 7. It was a trip to the bus stop and to Dan’s flat to get changed, refreshed, dropping of my luggage) with Lothian Bus 858 taking me there (and 876 back). After buying my rover (yes I know it was another season ticket weekend, but a quick play with the numbers for today meant a Central Scotland rover would be better value), it was over to required platform 6 for the Tweedbank service formed of 158741 to take us to Newcraighall, returning to Edinburgh on 158706.

I got news on the location of my last 318 mileage need & one of my 320s, so a quick plan was formed with 3858038 & 385114 taken to Falkirk High followed by 385025 & 385103 to Queen Street. Down to the low level with 334020 & 334035 taken to Hyndland to intercept 318253 which we took to Argyle Street, the 318s now joining the club of all active members cleared for 10 miles and my first “BR era” EMU class to do so. As expected 320403 was up next which we took to Clydebank mainly for lunch from the nearby Greggs and for a random platform score. 15 minutes later the former 321403 returned from Dalmuir to take us back to Hyndland its membership into the TMC now confirmed. 334025 & 334008 took us back to Queen Street where it was up to the high level and onto 385026 & 385116 to Falkirk High, followed by 385016 & 385117 to Haymarket.


Next up was 385024 from Dunblane which we took to Edinburgh, followed by 385111 to Edinburgh Park, taking it to Linlithgow would have been just too tight and would mean boarding a certain Glenrothes service at Haymarket. After changing platforms it was back to Edinburgh on 334004 & 334027 making our way across to platform 19 as 68006 purred in, I was hoping for 68007 as I only ever had that one for a leap from South Gyle to Haymarket [and 68006 for Rosyth to South Gyle). Anyhow we took our seats in the leading coach (formerly one from the Cumbrian coast, but with the window bars removed) for the gentle trip round the circle, a few members of the “pay when challenged” tried to dodge the fares but were caught by the assistant ticket examiner/2nd guard.

All was going well with a brief photo stop at Glenrothes with Thornton before continuing down the coast, only to hit into signalling issues around Dalmelly. The service went into the loop after the station as booked to allow a 170 from Inverness to crawl past, but the plan to intercept a 156 bound for Kirkcaldy was binned due in part to the signalling issues, in part to the awful weather (heavy rain), in part due to hunger & tiredness. So we stayed on the service to Edinburgh where it terminated into platform 1, with bus 854 taken back to the flat.


-------------

Saturday:

Due to Dan doing admin work in the morning I was on my own, so a late start and breakfast, it was bus 318 to Edinburgh city centre and down to Waverley where the first thing to catch my eye was a low mileage 158 on a Fife circle service, so it was to Inverkeithing with 158730 & 158729, the next couple southbound services weren’t of interest so it was back to Haymarket on 43317 & 43310 for some HST based fun. At Haymarket, next up was 385036 from Dunblane which took me back to Waverley, crossing over to mileage need 385111 for the run to Polmont, followed shortly with 385015 & 385103 which were taken to Queen Street. A quick visit to the low level before returning to Falkirk High on 385014 & 385122, just to intercept the 8th pair of units out on Queen Street – Edinburgh services, turned out it was 385115 leading winner 385035 so back to Glasgow Queen Street.


A short walk across to Glasgow Central (via the Co-Op, and thankfully not as fast as my last couple times doing this walk), and to the low level platform for 320404 to make an appearance to take me to Hyndland, followed by 320307 & 318253 to Easterhouse, mainly as a platform score but mostly to intercept the return of 334015 & 334032 from Edinburgh (which I saw earlier at Queen Street). I crossed over to the opposite low level platform for a surprise with 334004 & 334027 which were taken to Coatbridge Sunnyside (which was sunny for a change!). A short while later 334040 & 334018 returned from Milngavie to take me to Caldercruix, returning to Drumgelloch with 334031 & 334039 with 334024 & 334003 taken to Edinburgh Park (4 out of 5 requirements scored within an hour, sadly 005 wasn’t out to play).

At Edinburgh Park it was a short wait for 385036 to pop up again from Dunblane to take me to Waverley, where I remained on board returning to Edinburgh Park to clear it for 10 miles. As I wanted to be on the next Dunblane service it was a visit to Tesco (once I forced my way out of the station as the barriers were left in operation when the staff had gone home) before returning to the station with 385027 taken to Dunblane (meeting up with Dan). The main reason for wanting to do this service is down to the route it takes at Stirling, as it goes via platform 6 to allow a faster intercity train to overtake, getting me a little microgrice of the connection at the north end of the station. Unusually the train terminated in platform 2 (I always had these services terminating in platform 3, but I guess as the intercity train passed it at Stirling there was no need for the EMU to use the loop).


170405 pretending to be a HST took us back to Stirling, followed by 385107 on a stopper to Queen Street, where I had noticed the 170 had magically turned into a HST, having mentioned to Dan that my only Scottish powercar need was sat earlier in the day at Eastfields and it wasn’t there as the 385 crawled towards Glasgow (caught up in congestion). 43182 was only sat on the opposite platform with 43164 on an Aberdeen service, so an unexpected return to Stirling was had, returning to Edinburgh on an empty 385009, followed by bus 860 back to the flat and for a late dinner.

----------------

Sunday:

After bidding Dan farewell, it was back to Waverley with bus 885, my original idea had me visiting Alloa for the novelty of Alloa via EMU, but a low mileage LNER 43 heading towards Aberdeen on the Saturday meant my plans changed (I had hoped it would be the 2nd departure but it was the 1st). Nothing of interest at the start once I did a quick scan of the platforms at Waverley, jumping on 334013 to Haymarket before 170396/170416 to South Gyle, returning to Edinburgh on 170419 & 158708. Another brief scan and it was to Haymarket on 385025 & 385112, returning to Edinburgh on 170395 & 170417 making a connection to a busy 170428 which I took to Kirkcaldy (at least it was semi-fast).


15 minutes at Kirkcaldy later and 43277 rolled in with 43320 on the back which I took to Edinburgh, returning to Haymarket on 158730 & 158739 (annoyingly a set swap as 385024 which I needed for mileage rolled in but headed towards the depot with these 158s popping up), with nothing else of interest it was to Inverkeithing on 170417 to intercept an unit from Inverness which was 170426. After picking up something to eat for later, it was over to platform 7 to await the HST from Aberdeen which was 43318 & 43274 (because when I was booking the fast services were the same price as the stoppers and HST beats a 91 pushing on a stopper any day). I had a private table to myself to Newcastle, where the train filled up (lost time due to something around Morpeth, and a bit more time as a 185 was put out in front, which we managed to overtake at Darlington as this is a HST which randomly skips Darlington but sits at York for 15 minutes.

A bit more time was lost due to following the previous stopper from Edinburgh, until we overtook it south of Peterborough and a clear run to Kings Cross arriving a couple minutes late at 18:52. A fast walk to LU with 11005/11006 taken to Oxford Circus followed by 3243/3557 to Waterloo, with a gentler walk towards some diesels on the 19:15, boarding 159009/159001 & 158882 at around 19:12. I needed not rushed as the diesels departed at 19:35, got some of the time back but was still around 16 minutes late by the time it reached Grateley. My back-up option was the 19:45 with a lift from Andover so I was quick happy at making the 19:15.

Anyhow a good little long weekend, some more 385s into my book and my Scottish unit requirements for mileage are looking better (6x 158s, 3x 170s, 1x 314, 1x 334, 2x 380/0, 1x 385/0 for mileage) along with 320418, 5x 385/1s & 23 of the 385/0s). Next weekend sees a return to station scoring with hopefully my last 4 on EMT being ticked off.

That could probably be my last LNER HST run on the ECML from Edinburgh as my next trip to Scotland in June has me going back to London via the WCML and I have no further confirmed trips booked yet
 

Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
Quite a hectic weekend for sure, but a mighty productive one. Your trips to Scotland keep inspiring me to go there in September, on my 5 days off work, but the list of ideas for that bit of holiday time is so long I honestly can't decide on what my moves will be. However those 385s are tempting, as is a spin on an HST with ScotRail. Of course there's also only 5 more 380s to get too, which makes it mighty tempting. By September I would like to hope there's a fair few more 385s in service, and I'm sure you already know which DMU I want to find at long last...

Then again of course, exploring more of Europe...:wub:

As always, some excellent readage there good sir.
 

Iskra

Established Member
Joined
11 Jun 2014
Messages
7,787
Location
West Riding
Sounded like a good, but very busy trip. I still need to do the Fife 68’s, are they a long term thing?
 

Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
Sounded like a good, but very busy trip. I still need to do the Fife 68’s, are they a long term thing?

From what I've read on that very long ScotRail thread (something to do with a second performance warning) recently, the lease of the stock for the Fife commuter sets has been extended until at least May 2020. I believe they were due to be gone by now, then it got extended to December 2019, so you've still got a while yet to try a 68 on ScotRail.
 

Iskra

Established Member
Joined
11 Jun 2014
Messages
7,787
Location
West Riding
From what I've read on that very long ScotRail thread (something to do with a second performance warning) recently, the lease of the stock for the Fife commuter sets has been extended until at least May 2020. I believe they were due to be gone by now, then it got extended to December 2019, so you've still got a while yet to try a 68 on ScotRail.

Thanks Tech
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
Sounded like a good, but very busy trip. I still need to do the Fife 68’s, are they a long term thing?

I suspect they will removed from service in December unless Scotrail get permission to operate slam door stock beyond the end of the year.

That service was lightly loaded in the front coach at Edinburgh (goes from P19 so most will tend to board the rear coaches to save a walk), gets busy after South Gyle.
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
A good thing I've randomly checked the rail rover website as for some reason I had the East Midlands Day Ranger as valid to Skegness, but it seems it runs out at Grantham. Time to look at fare options :(

Edit - Although a quick play and it seems I can do my plan for around the same money
 
Last edited:

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
17 & 18th May – From West to East

An overnight stay in Birmingham before a day in the East Midlands on the Saturday to mop up my remaining 4 stations, 2 were easy with an hourly service but the other 2 were hard with only a couple trains a day so planning was key for this trip (and that plan had changed a few times over the months with other bits getting done).

Anyhow it was to Grateley for the 14:59, picking up my tickets with the announcements that the train was delayed, congestion at Salisbury it looked like with a GWR Brighton service running late. Eventually the SWR service departed around 19 minutes late, with 158883 leading 159004 & 159018 to take me to Basingstoke where the taillights of the voyager I was hoping to catch disappearing off into the distance as the sprinters arrived. My rough plan made with details from the TOCS request thread got put into the bin as I had 40 minutes to come up with a new plan for my evening. Eventually 220031 rolled in running around 10 minutes late (that GWR Brighton service again!) to take me to Banbury, I got lucky and got one of the unnumbered seats in coach D as the train was full & standing after Oxford.

A short wait at Banbury before the next Birmingham train rolled in, which I ignored as it sits at Banbury for 20 minutes and gets overtaken at Hatton, and waited for 168328 & 168323 to huff and puff its way into the station to take me on a slow trip towards Solihull, where I quickly popped downstairs to pick up my next ticket returning to jump onto 172341 for the run into Moor Street (where the barriers were as usual wide open, free trips for all!). A quick walk over to New Street (barriers in operation) and down to platform 1 where low mileage 323204 was on the next Walsall stopper, the run to Duddeston would have been enough but I stayed on to Perry Barr to intercept the next Wolverhampton stopper, which was a nice surprise in the shape of 350371 (which clears the 350/3s for membership of the TMC). Insert joke here about a 350/3 being used on all station stopping services when 350/2s with the luxurious 3+2 suburban interiors were being used on long distance services.


My wait at Duddeston was short before 153365 & 170507 rolled in on an all station stopper towards Rugeley, taking a seat in the 153 for the trip to Bloxwich, crossing over to the opposite platform for the next southbound service which was formed of 153334 & 170517 which took me back to New Street via Soho, this is one unit I wasn’t originally going to get tonight (instead it would be 153364). The barriers at New Street were still in operation (has Virgin got the memo that manning the barriers at 7pm is more fruitful than having them manned at 7am?) as I walked across to Moor Street with a time wasting leap to Snow Hill on a late running Chiltern service formed of 172102 & 172103 & 168112, before 172215 & 172339 took me to Cradley Heath, the original idea was to take these to Lye but these were running 5 minutes late so I played it safe. Needless to say I was working out on Rail Miles to see if the run back to Snow Hill would be enough for the next unit as it was on a bus stop leap between The Hawthorns & Smethwick, thankfully it would just be enough to put it over the line as 172212 & 172216 rolled in to take me back to Snow Hill, clearing my last 172/2 for mileage (just 1x 172/0 & 1x 172/3 remains for the 172s).

I did have a crazy idea of checking into the Hatters hostel before returning to Snow Hill to head towards Solihull to intercept my final 168, but by the time I got to the hostel I was tired and it was raining, so decided to give up on the 168 for some sleep. After a delayed arrival into the West Midlands (roughly 45 minutes) I didn’t do that badly with 4 more members of the TMC. Other than the barrier checks at New Street & Snow Hill I had no ticket checks all day, just a shame Chiltern can’t man the barriers at Moor Street most of the day as the majority of the “pay when challenged” folk will know “don’t exit at Snow Hill, you will have to pay, exit at Moor Street for a free ride”.

----------------

18th May – “How the East was Won”

After a so-so night in the hostel (one of the window blinds was broken so was useless at keeping out the morning light, add in a drunk arriving at 2am and making a bit of noise attempting to get into the bed), it was a short walk to New Street (via the Co-Op outside Snow Hill, and yes the barriers were in operation), to board the 06:30 service towards Newcastle which was a very empty 220002. At Derby it was a quick walk over to platform 3 to jump on low mileage 170109 for the run to Long Eaton, where exiting the station to have a good look around (nothing of real interest) before turning down a pair of 158s & a 222 before 170117 took me to Nottingham

A short fester before 156404 rolled in from Leicester which would be forming the next Worksop service, so I took a seat and had my first ticket check of the day for the run towards Whitwell where like in June 16 when I visited for the first time it was raining. Over the long footbridge (which oddly doesn’t have a connection to the road at the top) to the opposite platform for 156404 to return from Worksop to take me back one stop to Creswell, which clears the Robin Hood line. A quick visit to a nearby Co-Op for supplies for lunch before heading back to the station where 158788 rolled in to take me to Worksop where after a quick photo it was back to Nottingham, where I wanted to attempt a +3 to a Skegness train (just to give me more time for my walk).

It was tight but thankfully nearly cross platform to reach 156415 on platform 2 for the run to Wainfleet, the rain was heavy at Boston but thankfully it was dry further east (and I was a bit happy it wasn’t that nice of weather as these services can be a nightmare had it been very hot & sunny like it was earlier in the week). A gentle potter towards Wainfleet on a semi-fast service, arriving pretty much on time which gave me around 2 and a bit hours for my 3 mile walk, as I picked the longer route via Croft instead of the shorter route along the main A52, because country lanes is better than a busy pavementless main-road (it might be worth mentioning there is a couple bus routes which takes you part of the way from Wainfleet).

Anyhow an enjoyable walk in the countryside, crossing the main-road before I headed down a little dead-end lane to reach Havenhouse which as far as I can tell serves a small handful of houses, but it does has a decent shelter on the Wainfleet bound platform, which came in handy as I had roughly an hour and a bit to wait, but better to arrive an hour early than to arrive 10 minutes late. My fester increasing as the next Skegness bound service was running late, but waiting in the little shelter with my bag keeping the door open was peaceful, listening to the birds.


The sound of the level crossing signalled the return of the late running 158773 to take me 2 stops to Thorpe Culvert, allowing me to tick EMT off my list of TOCs with stations to revisit. Not a lot has changed in the past 3 years, the door to the waiting room on the Skegness bound platform looking a bit worse for wear. In terms of usage it looked like someone else got off the train (didn’t see anybody boarding), but one other person boarded 153311 & 153383 heading towards Skegness (and looked like someone got off), nobody got on or off at Havenhouse. At Skegness it was a case of joining the queue to reboard the 153s for what is likely going to be my last ever EMT service, back towards Grantham, where I crossed over to the southbound platform for my first Hull Trains service since April 2017, in the shape of a lightly loaded 180110 for the fast run to Kings Cross.

Once at London, it was to Waterloo (11025/11026 to Oxford Circus, followed by 3253/3545 to Waterloo), grabbing a bite to eat before boarding low mileage 450552 on a Clapham leap followed by 159020 & 159015 back home to Grateley, the end of a successful weekend.

Next weekend sees a return to Yorkshire to mop up some odds & ends which are outside normal day rover areas, with a Southern Daysave on the bank holiday Monday for some 313/2 based fun.

 

Cowley

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
15 Apr 2016
Messages
15,688
Location
Devon
I’ve missed quite a few of your reports recently, but I do still read them when I get a bit of time.
Enjoyed catching up with a couple of months of your travels there Kite.
 

The_Train

Established Member
Joined
2 Jun 2018
Messages
4,314
More great outings there Kite. Funnily enough on each of the few occasions that I've visited Moor Street, the barriers have been manned. So much so that I enjoyed watching a group of lads discussing how they were going to get off the platforms :E

Interesting that you mention the Southern Daysave ticket as well as I came across this the other day and it's got me wondering if I can make a day out of utilising this as it does seem great value
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
More great outings there Kite. Funnily enough on each of the few occasions that I've visited Moor Street, the barriers have been manned. So much so that I enjoyed watching a group of lads discussing how they were going to get off the platforms :E

Interesting that you mention the Southern Daysave ticket as well as I came across this the other day and it's got me wondering if I can make a day out of utilising this as it does seem great value

It just seems silly, any "pay when challenged" travellers will get caught out at Snow Hill once before using Moor Street which is wide open for a lot of the time in the evenings. Maybe Chiltern don't think it's worth while with all the £2.50 evening day return fares being lost.

A bit like Nottingham where any locals know about the unbarriered exits.

----

Anyhow for a Southern daysave, a couple hours at Barnham will see the 313s on the Portsmouth - Littlehampton - Barnham - Bognor circuit, as well as a few 377s towards Bognor & Havant. A couple hours at Brighton should be enough to capture the 313s on West Worthing services as well as the Seafood/Lewes services (as well as other mainline units). Probably take a train to Three Bridges for other units (or maybe Horley?)

Maybe a little jolly out towards Hastings for the 171s & South Eastern units.
 
Last edited:

The_Train

Established Member
Joined
2 Jun 2018
Messages
4,314
It just seems silly, any "pay when challenged" travellers will get caught out at Snow Hill once before using Moor Street which is wide open for a lot of the time in the evenings. Maybe Chiltern don't think it's worth while with all the £2.50 evening day return fares being lost.

A bit like Nottingham where any locals know about the unbarriered exits.

----

Anyhow for a Southern daysave, a couple hours at Barnham will see the 313s on the Portsmouth - Littlehampton - Barnham - Bognor circuit, as well as a few 377s towards Bognor & Havant. A couple hours at Brighton should be enough to capture the 313s on West Worthing services as well as the Seafood/Lewes services (as well as other mainline units). Probably take a train to Three Bridges for other units (or maybe Horley?)

Maybe a little jolly out towards Hastings for the 171s & South Eastern units.

Just seen your edit Kite, thanks for the info. Certainly seems like a worthwhile trip. I notice that Eastleigh is covered by it.....is it worth heading there for the yard?
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
Just seen your edit Kite, thanks for the info. Certainly seems like a worthwhile trip. I notice that Eastleigh is covered by it.....is it worth heading there for the yard?

Eastleigh is covered by the Daysave however there isn't that many Southern services which go via Eastleigh these days, from a quick glance on RTT seems it's 2x services from Southampton to Brighton on weekdays, 1 service on Saturdays & nothing on Sundays.
 

Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
I don't think Eastleigh is all that some people make it out to be. Peterborough's another place recommended on a regular-ish basis, but whenever I've been there it's not that great either. So @The_Train has nothing to worry about there, after all if he wants GBRf 73s Tonbridge is far better for that. Otherwise pretty much everything at Eastleigh can be found elsewhere.

As usual Kite, some excellent read-age there. Well done on 100% clearing EMT, that's dedication I simply don't have!
 

The_Train

Established Member
Joined
2 Jun 2018
Messages
4,314
Eastleigh is covered by the Daysave however there isn't that many Southern services which go via Eastleigh these days, from a quick glance on RTT seems it's 2x services from Southampton to Brighton on weekdays, 1 service on Saturdays & nothing on Sundays.

Yeah I thought that would be the case just from the info on the RailRover website. It's literally impossible to incorporate into a Daysave ticket (for me anyway)
 

The_Train

Established Member
Joined
2 Jun 2018
Messages
4,314
I don't think Eastleigh is all that some people make it out to be. Peterborough's another place recommended on a regular-ish basis, but whenever I've been there it's not that great either. So @The_Train has nothing to worry about there, after all if he wants GBRf 73s Tonbridge is far better for that. Otherwise pretty much everything at Eastleigh can be found elsewhere.

As usual Kite, some excellent read-age there. Well done on 100% clearing EMT, that's dedication I simply don't have!

Yeah Peterborough is somewhere I've been advised to visit on multiple occasions. I need all 73s (apart from the NR minions) so Tonbridge is somewhere that I need to visit.....and it's on the Daysave as well. I'll do some digging as to if that's somewhere I could do without getting stuck. Thanks for the info Tech
 

Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
Yeah Peterborough is somewhere I've been advised to visit on multiple occasions. I need all 73s (apart from the NR minions) so Tonbridge is somewhere that I need to visit.....and it's on the Daysave as well. I'll do some digging as to if that's somewhere I could do without getting stuck. Thanks for the info Tech

It's served hourly from the Redhill direction (through trains from London Bridge I think, Kite would know) by Southern, and that line runs right alongside the yard/depot at Tonbridge so you could probably easily get at least some of the 73s (and anything else) in there without leaving the train.

I've never done it, but there is supposedly a footbridge a short walk from Tonbridge station which offers better views of the depot. I don't know that one though, so I'm hoping others can help. If you're only doing it from the train (be on the left hand side coming in from Redhill) then it's only a short-ish turnaround at Tonbridge. Time to grab a beverage from the Pumpkin on the platform though, and of course you'd get plenty of Southeastern stuff to see too. Potentially worth an hour between one Southern service and another just for that.

Depending on your journey from the North it could be worth getting done early on, utilising the Northern line from Euston to London Bridge or, perhaps, the Victoria line to London Victoria and having a huge ton of stuff to see with Southern on the way to Redhill first. Of course, the alternative would be a 10 minute walk to St Pancras for a Thameslink service south, and given your dislike of the Tube it's probably your best one.

Of course, you could also take advantage of the Southern services from Milton Keynes Central. They have a small bonus of passing by Wembley EUFOC Yard at about 20mph, so any locos on there can be viewed much more easily. You pass by North Pole on that too, so which getting numbers of IETs and 345s may be virtually impossible from the 377s it's also just a bit different.

Also, if you do the walk between the Edenbridge stations it's a solid 18 minute fast-walk each way, not one I'd highly recommend doing especially if it's a hot day (as it was when I did the walk both ways in 2017).

With such a huge area to cover on a DaySave ticket you're going to be spoilt for choice as to where to go. Please tell me you're not doing it all in one day? If it was me, I'd travel down in the morning of Day 1, spend the rest of the day on the DaySave, set up camp that night and head home the day after.
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
Yeah I thought that would be the case just from the info on the RailRover website. It's literally impossible to incorporate into a Daysave ticket (for me anyway)

Before last May I believe there were a couple more services which went via Eastleigh, especially on a Saturday afternoon. But if you want to visit Eastleigh with a pair of binos it might be hit & miss, I think there is a roadbridge near the station which gives good views.

--------

Tonbridge - Redhill is an hourly shuttle service these days Tech, got cut back last May [with a silly Victoria - Reigate service which can only be formed of a single 377 due to track layout at Reigate, a better idea would be to give Redhill - Tonbridge to South Eastern to allow them to form Strood - Redhill services :lol: The units tend to sit a good 30 minutes or so at Tonbridge. But I would imagine there is nothing which can't be seen from the train which can't be spotted from that footbridge around Tonbridge.
 

Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
Oh right, didn't know the through services had been ended. In 2008 the line was in the hands of Southeastern, which was quite handy.
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
24 – 26th May, A return to Yorkshire

The main idea of this weekend’s trip was to get some odds & sods in Northern land which are outside regular day ranger areas, before hunting down units for mileage. I was staying overnight in the Easy Hotel in Croydon on the Friday (first time in what felt like years) and in the Ibis Budget in Bradford on the Saturday night (my usual hotel for when staying in West Yorkshire).

Friday

As usual I couldn’t quite decide which part of London to focus on, so after tossing a mental coin it landed on 319s out of Euston, so armed with the diagrams I came up with a rough idea which would see all 4 sets covered. I was going via Reading and nearly got caught out when driving to Andover as some of the parking restrictions on the side roads has changed from “2 hours max Monday – Friday 11am – 3pm” to “Permit holders only, Monday – Saturday 9am – 6pm”, so something for me to keep an eye on in future in case the more restrictive restrictions pop up more often.

Anyhow as usual for my Friday trips to London, here is a summary:
Andover -> Basingstoke, 159021/159103/159009
Basingstoke -> Reading, 165109
Reading -> Paddington, 802021 (took around 45 minutes for this to pop up, it was going to be my last chance due to keeping an eye on the clock, unit came from Bedwyn which is unusual to say)
Paddington -> Baker Street: 3255/3541
Baker Street -> Euston Square: 21021/21022
London Euston -> Harrow & Wealdstone: 319005/319433/319218, left Euston around 10 minutes late due to being late in from the depot, god it was warm inside where it had been sat in the Camden sunshine for hours. It missed the connection to a southbound triple giving me 25 minutes to fester at Harrow & Wealdstone
Harrow & Wealdstone -> Clapham Junction: 377211/377215 (took around 10 minutes to get off platform 17!, I had forgotten how slow this route can be)
Clapham Junction -> Vauxhall: 455861/455902
Vauxhall -> Euston: 11085/11086 (for a good fester, the 3rd set of 319s was a pair and both weren’t needed)
Euston -> Watford Junction: 319012/319217/319215, due to late running this got routed on the fasts out of Euston and my god it was good fun with the motor noise on a lightly loaded triple set to Northampton
Watford Junction -> Euston: 350267 & 350102 (I saw this pair heading up towards Tring earlier so made sense to intercept it)
Euston -> Victoria: 11009/11010 (where I used the TVMs to pick up my Southern Daysave for Monday, and decided to head to the suburban platforms to see if anything required for mileage was floating around)
Victoria -> Mitcham Junction, 377117
Mitcham Junction -> East Croydon: 2539

After arriving at East Croydon, it was direct to the Easy Hotel to get checked in, have a shower & put my devices on charge for an early start on the Saturday. 3 of the LNWR 319s off my list, another 350/2 plus a trio of 377s, not that bad going, although a bit of wasted time at Euston.


Saturday

I was out the hotel by 05:50 and headed to the station where I had a choice, either a service to Cambridge or a service to St Pancras, the Cambridge wasn’t anything special, but neither was 700129 for the trip to St Pancras, where due to engineering works at the Kentish Town area it crossed over between Farringdon & the old Kings Cross Thameslink to terminate in the southbound platform at St Pancras. Although I have previously covered that crossover a couple years ago when a southbound service terminated at Farringdon, with time to kill I popped to the little Co-Op near to Kings Cross for a bacon sandwich meal deal (making use of a 50p voucher as well), before returning to Kings Cross to see what was hauling me on the 07:35 to Leeds. DVT 82220 was on the rear, but it wasn’t a 91 up front, instead it was 90039. First time I’ve had that 90 since it did a Carstairs – Edinburgh sleeper move in September 2014. I had a private table in coach C, with a couple others joining me at Doncaster. The 90 lost around 5 minutes overall to Leeds which considering it was a fast service (Stevenage, Grantham, Doncaster, Wakefield) not that bad.

In Leeds, it was straight across to one of the low numbered platforms (thankfully the 90 went into P6), and I jumped on 322484 for the mileage boosting/time wasting/random platform scoring run to Cononley, followed 10 minutes later by 333013 to Skipton. I was surprised to see the Morecambe train being 150270 as I was expecting a pacer for the 15 mile run to Giggleswick where I needed to alight from (having boarded there twice). The 150 was a few minutes late, but so was the next Leeds bound service so the +10 was safe. I was happy when a lightly loaded 144010 rolled in, also a requirement for mileage (leaving me with just the single 144 to go). Nothing of interest at Skipton with the next couple stoppers so I decided to stay on all the way to Leeds, where I managed to grab lunch from Boots before jumping on a Blackpool bound 158869 for the long trip across to Lancs and to Burnley Manchester Road. Back towards Leeds with 158758 taken to Hebden Bridge, followed a short while later with 158797 & 153332 to Halifax, where previous in the day I had spotted my last 180 heading towards Bradford, too good of a chance to grab it, so it was to Low Moor on 142090 & 142092, intercepting 180105 for the short run back to Halifax. Class 180s for mileage tick, a short wait at Halifax with another former Scottish unit in the shape of 158868 taken to New Pudsey where I intercepted the return of 142090 & 142092 to clear 142092 for 10 miles with the run to Bradford Interchange.

For the second time of the day I was shocked when the next Huddersfield – Leeds (via Bradford) stopper rolled in, for it was a 5-coach pacer (such overkill!), although I was happy as low mileage 142089 was leading 144021 to take me down to 10 of the Northern 142s (I know I won’t clear them all as I’ve left it too late). The run to Leeds in a private coach which gave me a few options for various moves, nothing really popped out until low mileage 322483 rolled in from Doncaster, so it was to Wakefield Westgate, followed a few minutes later by a Knottingley bound 144002/142079 (this is formed of a pair of units, which split at Knottingley with the unit left behind forming the next Leeds service in place of the unit which goes to Goole). I took these pacers down the hill to Wakefield Kirkgate where I made a tight connection to a Leeds bound 142078 to a wet Castleford.


The wet weather meant I dusted off “Plan R”, and took 144011 to Rawcliffe for a 55 minute fester. After Knottingley there was 4 passengers (including myself) left on with 2 more passengers boarding at Knottingley, although there was no custom for the first 3 stations and only myself getting off at Rawcliffe. It is a modest little station, decent little shelter with a bench inside (although no light so not one to do during the winter months!), a large step from the train but quite noisy with traffic noise from the nearby motorway. The station house looked like nobody lived there, but with the rain still falling I decided not go for a little walk to the village itself, instead sat in the shelter with some music playing to kill the time (it was too dark to read my book).

144011 returned to allow me to tick off the first of the 4 limited served stations on this route (original plan was to do a walk from Whitley Bridge to Hensall had the weather been decent). In terms of loadings, there was a group of 3 on the train from Goole, all 3 alighted at Snaith, with nobody on/off at the other two stations. I returned to Leeds and had a general look around to see if anything popped up of interest for mileage, nothing for the first 30 minutes before 333001 popped up to take me to Guiseley, with 333011 taking me back to Leeds, followed by 333016 to Shipley, and then finally 333015 to Bradford Forster Square. Exiting the station it was a short walk to the hotel, where once more it was a case of sorting my bag out, putting my devices on charge and having a good shower.


-----------

Sunday

My original plan for this day was thrown in the bin due to a timetable change, previously the first Leeds bound service at Bradford Interchange extended to York, but since May that service terminates at Leeds missing a connection to a York service. Annoying because it meant I had to buy a ticket for TPE (my original idea was to use a Northern freebie single ticket from Micklefield to Horsforth). Never mind, these things happen as they say, it was a walk in the rain to Bradford Forster Square for the first Leeds train from there, formed of 333004 for the run to Leeds, where I crossed over to platform 15 for a reasonably busy 185127 to York.

I had roughly 25 minutes to kill, which was time spent sat on 170459 making use of the sockets as annoyingly my phone didn’t charge up overnight (sockets must have tripped out or the wire must have worked its way loose). 170459 which was my final 170 for haulage back in April 17 becomes my first Northern 170 (yay!), anyhow it was quiet on board for the spin towards Cattal where thankfully the rain from Bradford in the morning had been replaced with sunshine as I set about on a walk back towards Hammerton, the reverse of the walk I did back in February 17 when I was last in this area. When 158903 returned from York it meant I could tick off another Northern station, and I decided to remain on the 158 all the way to Leeds.

Time to fire up RTT to see what was floating around which was needed for mileage, first up was 185137 which was taken to Dewsbury (with a large word of warning for future trips, as it appears Dewsbury has become one of those stations where you need to exit the gateline to access the footbridge to re-enter the gateline on the opposite platform, so not one to do with tight connections!). 185142 took me back to Leeds for a short wait before 185131 took me on the nonstop run to Huddersfield, where I had a short wait (ignoring 185106 on the Manchester stopper because even the run to Marston wouldn’t be enough). 185132 rolled into the bay from Leeds, which is where I sat on the slow trip back to Leeds, gets it out of the way and leaves just 4 of the 185s for mileage needs (or which 2 of those are on bus stop leaps, the other 2 are on ~6 miles).

With nothing else to do in Leeds, before my booked train home, I popped out of the building site of the station to head to a nearby Tesco Express for a bottle of pop and a light snack before returning to take my seat on coach K of winner 800102, for my first LNER Azuma experience. Before anybody asks I only found out it was an Azuma when I went to change my seats as this was the cheapest service back to London, which gave a reasonable connection to an Andover train. It was just like a GWR 800 inside, just red.


Arriving a bit early into Kings Cross, it was to LU with 11081/11082 taken to Oxford Circus where I hit into some congestion from football fans missing a Bakerloo line train in the progress, giving me 5 minutes to wait for 3235/3537 to take me to Waterloo. Had I made that earlier Bakerloo I could have connected into the 18:45 fast service to Andover to get me home earlier, but hey ho. A quick scan of the platforms at Waterloo and I spotted a low mileage 450 on an Alton/Basingstoke service, so it was rude to turn down 450116 for the run to Clapham (with 450018 along for the ride), before a nice triple sprinter formed of 159013, 159105 & 159020 took me to Andover, where I drove home via Pizza Hut.

2 more stations on the Sunday (with 3 more on the Saturday) takes me down to 51 left, a good handful of Northern units over the line, with a trio of TPE 185s (easier to grab in Leeds, compared to Manchester). No real issues with Northern in terms of delays or cancellations either which is a nice bonus.

 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
27th May – Return to Southern

Is it bad I can’t remember when I last did a Southern Daysave trip; it must have been last 2015 when I was visiting Southern stations the first time round. Anyhow to waste a bank holiday Monday I decided to head to Brighton with the main aim of putting a dent in my mileage requirements for 313/2s, of which I needed 11 of them for 10 miles. Unusually there was no engineering works in the area to reduce the service levels so it was a rough Saturday service giving 4 units out on Portsmouth – Littlehampton – Bognor services, 3 units on Brighton – West Worthing, 1 unit on Brighton – Hove shuttles, 2 on Brighton – Lewes shuttles and 3 on Brighton – Seaford services, along with various 377s.

It was a nice drive to Romsey, going via Stockbridge to grab breakfast from the little Co-Op, parking in the library car park (because the local council do free parking on bank holidays) before heading to the station to head to Southampton on one of those random GWR additional services which terminate at Southampton.

Romsey -> Southampton Central: 165132 (first time on a Turbo in these parts)
Southampton Central -> Emsworth: 377465 (random platform scratch)
Emsworth -> Chicester: 313213 (made a mistake in not staying on to Barnham)
Chichester -> Havant: 313202
Havant -> Barnham: 377111
Barnham -> Bognor Regis: 313204 (where I noted 313216 enjoying the sunshine sat in the lesser used platform 4)
Bognor Regis -> Barnham: 313204 (where I made use of the 15 minute fester to pop to Tesco outside the station)
Barnham -> Portslade: 377445 (random platform scratch)
Portslade -> Hove: 377147
Hove -> Worthing: 377160 & 377141
Worthing -> Brighton: 313211 (the other 2 units weren’t required)
Brighton -> Hove: 313206
Hove -> Brighton: 313206
Brighton -> Lewes: 377149
Lewes -> London Road (Brighton): 313203
London Road (Brighton) -> Lewes: 313214 (which clears the 5 units operating towards Lewes from Brighton, as a plan was formed to intercept the 4th unit on Portsmouth – Littlehampton – Bognor services)
Lewes -> Brighton: 377401 (nice little bonus for a required move!)
Brighton -> Hove: 313206 (yes this unit started the day on a mile doing a similar move, every little helps!)
Hove -> Littlehampton: 377424
Littlehampton -> Barnham: 313210 (it was worth the gamble)
Barnham -> Swanwick: 377133 (random platform scratch, also the GWR Cardiff this service would have connected into at Southampton had been cancelled)
Swanwick -> Southampton Central: 377430
Southampton Central -> Romsey: 158886 (going via Eastleigh for the novelty factor)

All in all, a reasonable day, 5 more 313/2s now in the ten mile club, a 6th now up to 5 miles, plus 2 more 377s.

Next weekend sees another overnight stay in London, so I will probably focus on SWR stuff, with the Saturday being the Curvey Weaver railtour to the Liverpool area. Not sure but Sunday might be a trip to London as I note Chiltern are running fast services via Amersham to Aylesbury which could be a bit of a novelty.
 

Techniquest

Veteran Member
Joined
19 Jun 2005
Messages
21,674
Location
Nowhere Heath
Quite the busy weekend! Good for variety too, and of course an excellent read which kept me entertained on the first leg of a coach journey today!

Looks like the relentless mission to clear everything for 10 miles got a big boost there, and well done on being the first regular trip reporter to start on the Azumas!
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
Quite the busy weekend! Good for variety too, and of course an excellent read which kept me entertained on the first leg of a coach journey today!

Looks like the relentless mission to clear everything for 10 miles got a big boost there, and well done on being the first regular trip reporter to start on the Azumas!

Chasing things down for mileage gives me something to do when waiting for new stock to arrive en-mass. Otherwise I will be at home pacing up and down the garden bored with nothing to do
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top