ash39
Established Member
- Joined
- 8 Feb 2012
- Messages
- 1,503
Great read there Ash, being from the Midlands and having been more interested in the past 18 months of clearing Northern pacers etc i've only done one southern rover and that was the Freedom of the South West last October, primarily to scratch my last GWR 143s which I managed to do. I stayed fairly much Exeter and westbound, so there's plenty of scope to do more on the eastern end of the rover area as you have done on your last day or so, so it was definitely useful to see where you went etc. Thanks for sharing!
It sounds like you've had a very similar last couple of years to us! The Northern ones took a lot of effort to clear.
To be honest the trip couldn't have gone better, we planned to go to the South Coast on the last day but had it gone wrong and we still needed a pacer somewhere, we wouldn't have made it. It made a nice change and it shows the versatility of the ticket. HST's in the south west one day, third rail EMUs the next!
Great read from start to finish Ash.
My sympathies on been wedged on a voyager, even more so in the vestibule.
However over the course of 4 days, it's been a very profitable trip indeed.
Eastliegh normally has a few GB Sheds, Colas sheds and Plugs kicking round, the odd ED too, the EDs seem to all congregate in Tonbridge Yard these days. Still I'm quite surprised there was nowt of great interest there, you only have to check on RTT or on youtube and there's always a varied collection of traction heading for the place.
As for Milbrook, if you'd had been a one legged crossdresser, you'd have got yourself a canny haul of new shoes there.
As I said great read Ash, certainly seemed like you both enjoyed the trip.
We didn't spend long at Eastleigh to be fair, too busy chasing units. There were a number of guys on the platforms with cameras so there must have been a decent amount of stuff due through. I suppose in this day and age seeing two moving freights in less than an hour is considered busy!
Absolutely concur to the max.
Could you do another one so that I have something good to read with my cornflakes in a morning.
If you can arrange the time off with my employer, I will happily oblige!
Glad you enjoyed them.
A shame the trip ended in such a negative way, but overall it looks like it was quite productive.
Papa Johns, not really that enthusiastic about trying them to be honest. They certainly haven't made much of an impact here, Dominos and Pizza Hut still dominate the market in Hereford. Maybe everyone who's been didn't like Papa Johns, I never hear anyone talk about going there. Not a good sign!
As for Eastleigh, yeah I'm always reading how great it is too but it's not that amazing. Peterborough is the same, everyone waxes lyrical about it but I've never really enjoyed a visit there.
Never particularly liked Peterborough as it's not very photogenic but it is often busy to be fair.
Need to finish reading your London trip, enjoyed day 1. Welcome back!