433N Rambling (on and on and on ... )

Kite159 · 12 Mar 2019

It makes perfect sense boarding the services at Charing Cross as you can normally get the pick of the seats compared to the rush at London Bridge. A good day for your book of sights, and yes Paddington has changed in the past couple years, HSTs have mostly all gone with only 1 (or 2) Turbos per hour [Bedwyn & the odd Oxford fast] compared to the mass it used to be.

Those Belmond Pullman are more for the experience, I would love to do something like it one of these days but it's something which needs doing in a group rather than as a solo traveller.

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433N · 12 Mar 2019

Kite159 said:
It makes perfect sense boarding the services at Charing Cross as you can normally get the pick of the seats compared to the rush at London Bridge. A good day for your book of sights, and yes Paddington has changed in the past couple years, HSTs have mostly all gone with only 1 (or 2) Turbos per hour [Bedwyn & the odd Oxford fast] compared to the mass it used to be.

Those Belmond Pullman are more for the experience, I would love to do something like it one of these days but it's something which needs doing in a group rather than as a solo traveller.

It really is amazing how quickly things change in a couple of years. Since it is (allegedly) the last week of 365s, I thought I'd spend an hour or two filming them blast up the E&G to Newbridge junction in the Lothian countryside yesterday. This week it was all 385s and 365s, two years ago to the day it was a festival of 158s and 170s. It'll be all change on the via Shotts line too, soon. There was an HST set arrive in Paddington just as we left, but we couldn't be bothered to go back and ID it.

I'd never really thought about what happens on those Murder Mystery things. What happens at Gillingham ? Do they sit in a siding and have lunch ? Or murder someone ? I'm almost intrigued enough to go on one now to find out !

Kite159 · 12 Mar 2019

I would guess it could sit in the third platform at Gillingham which isn't used by much outside peak times now.

Probably someone gets 'murdered' (on the dance floor) and they have to look for clues at who did it.

I'm looking forward to trying out a 385 via Shotts on a semifast service

433N · 13 Mar 2019

Contribution removed

87electric · 13 Mar 2019

433N said:
Final installment ...

I like your pdf reports and will apply a similar to my rail info. Not to my reports on here though.
I have an affection for the 313s. Glad you got 046 there.
Regards the 180s....... 109 is running around with the middle car of 113 and last week I saw 113 has the middle of 109 as well. All because of Hull Trains issues that have been well documented.

Techniquest · 13 Mar 2019

Extremely productive time in the South East there for you! I shared your pain with the 313s, took me forever to get my last one and when it happened, all those hours spent in cold conditions at Finsbury Park were worth it. Same for my last 180 for haulage, that took a long time but it was nice to finally get them gone.

Agreed on Paddington, it's such a different scene now it's crazy. I've been re-living those days of HSTs everywhere at Paddington a bit yesterday, as close as I could anyway, with XPTs in Sydney. It's not the same but it was still nice to be transported back in time 14 years! Fuller details on the report, as well as a few photos already on Twitter, when I return from Australia. I could post some of it now, but I want to make sure the reports are perfect before I post them. Therefore I'll be going through them all on my flights home first, be warned they will be photo-heavy!

As for that Pullman train you saw, I'd love to do one just to see what they're actually like, but the ching...I could do a multi-day, multi-country trip in Europe for less than that!

Excellent reports from you there, most enjoyable readage while I devour some coffee ahead of another long and, no doubt, wet day in Australia!

xotGD · 13 Mar 2019

87electric said:
I like your pdf reports and will apply a similar to my rail info. Not to my reports on here though.
I have an affection for the 313s. Glad you got 046 there.
Regards the 180s....... 109 is running around with the middle car of 113 and last week I saw 113 has the middle of 109 as well. All because of Hull Trains issues that have been well documented.

As I always say, you ought to count individual vehicles rather than sets due to this sort of thing.

Kite159 · 13 Mar 2019

The number of 365s floating around on Saturdays took me by surprise as well a few weeks ago, but enjoy it when you can before the services return to running via St Pancras and so will become 700s.

Congrats on clearing the GN 313s, certainly they are on borrowed time. I was glad when I got 313062 over the 10-mile line a couple weeks ago as it sadly means no more festering around the tunnels until the 717s start regular service.

433N · 13 Mar 2019

Techniquest said:
Extremely productive time in the South East there for you! I shared your pain with the 313s, took me forever to get my last one and when it happened, all those hours spent in cold conditions at Finsbury Park were worth it. Same for my last 180 for haulage, that took a long time but it was nice to finally get them gone.

Agreed on Paddington, it's such a different scene now it's crazy. I've been re-living those days of HSTs everywhere at Paddington a bit yesterday, as close as I could anyway, with XPTs in Sydney. It's not the same but it was still nice to be transported back in time 14 years! Fuller details on the report, as well as a few photos already on Twitter, when I return from Australia. I could post some of it now, but I want to make sure the reports are perfect before I post them. Therefore I'll be going through them all on my flights home first, be warned they will be photo-heavy!

As for that Pullman train you saw, I'd love to do one just to see what they're actually like, but the ching...I could do a multi-day, multi-country trip in Europe for less than that!

Excellent reports from you there, most enjoyable readage while I devour some coffee ahead of another long and, no doubt, wet day in Australia!

Thanks for that.

Actually, your talk of Paddington made me think of Paddington in Sydney ... just realised that you've just missed the Mardi Gras !

When I was there, Kings Cross (and particularly around Maccy Dee's) used to be the druggie area.

It's raining is it ? Once when the car was pretty dirty, it was lashing down so hard that me and my ex went out with sponges and cleaned the car ... you can do that kind of thing when the rain is warm.

433N · 13 Mar 2019

87electric said:
I like your pdf reports and will apply a similar to my rail info. Not to my reports on here though.
I have an affection for the 313s. Glad you got 046 there.
Regards the 180s....... 109 is running around with the middle car of 113 and last week I saw 113 has the middle of 109 as well. All because of Hull Trains issues that have been well documented.

xotGD said:
As I always say, you ought to count individual vehicles rather than sets due to this sort of thing.

Cheers guys. I don't think I'm good enough at numbers for that kind of malarky. If I were, I'd probably be doing a Maths degree.

(although to be fair, that has less numbers in than you might expect)

433N · 13 Mar 2019

Kite159 said:
The number of 365s floating around on Saturdays took me by surprise as well a few weeks ago, but enjoy it when you can before the services return to running via St Pancras and so will become 700s.

Congrats on clearing the GN 313s, certainly they are on borrowed time. I was glad when I got 313062 over the 10-mile line a couple weeks ago as it sadly means no more festering around the tunnels until the 717s start regular service.

So are these 365 services in lieu of the cross London Thameslink ones which failed so spectacularly ? I hadn't clicked on that. I like the 365s, although their stint in Scotland is allegedly ending (early) this week as they haven't been deemed an overwhelming success.

It's a pretty impressive feat to get all 313s over the 10-mile line. I have quite a few down for haulage but it's not easy to rack up miles on them. I'll be needing to work out a way to go for the Coastway lot soon ... oh, and finish the Merseyrail PEPs but they are a bit more local.

Kite159 · 13 Mar 2019

433N said:
So are these 365 services in lieu of the cross London Thameslink ones which failed so spectacularly ? I hadn't clicked on that. I like the 365s, although their stint in Scotland is allegedly ending (early) this week as they haven't been deemed an overwhelming success.

It's a pretty impressive feat to get all 313s over the 10-mile line. I have quite a few down for haulage but it's not easy to rack up miles on them. I'll be needing to work out a way to go for the Coastway lot soon ... oh, and finish the Merseyrail PEPs but they are a bit more local.

I think they are in lieu of 700s on service which would have been going through the core. When I was in the area the Kings Lynn fasts were 387s and the Cambridge stoppers were 700s, but the Peterborough & Ely services were a mixed bag of 700, 365 & 387s.

I still need to get 11 of the 313/2s over the line when I can be bothered heading towards Southern land on a daysave. But the GN ones are not easy, for the last few times I had a rough mileage picture on my phone for within the tunnels to work out roughly where I needed to bail & which station gave a nice connection (i.e. no point bailing at Oakleigh Park when the next southbound service I could catch at New Barnet). But local stoppers are harder to build up the mileage on compared to other units.

Techniquest · 14 Mar 2019

It has been horribly wet here, but as I type this with a beer in Katoomba the sun has made an appearance briefly! I was about to get the stopper then decided to wait an extra 45 minutes for the express instead. I'd have got to Sydney 30 minutes sooner if I'd got the stopper, but that was an endurance this morning and an excuse to try another Australian beer could not be turned down! Besides, express trains always win over stoppers when available!

I'm staying in the Kings Cross area of Sydney (wasn't meant to be, long story!) but I've had no issues so far thankfully. Never mind on Mardi Gras here, I'm just happy to have finally got to the other side of the world. It still hasn't kicked in yet!

433N · 20 May 2019

Contribution removed

47403 · 20 May 2019

Good read so far, now I know why the question about the roads.
Got a few winners for sight there already, so a fairly productive start. Looking forward to the rest too.

433N · 20 May 2019

47403 said:
Good read so far, now I know why the question about the roads.
Got a few winners for sight there already, so a fairly productive start. Looking forward to the rest too.

Actually, the number of winners starts to get a bit embarrassing. Happy days.
If your lucky, I might have a rage about the Metro Centre on the way back (might have chilled by the time I get around to that part).

Iskra · 20 May 2019

Sounded a good day. Sheffield and Leeds are the 144 hotspots. If you're looking for somewhere with easy car access, Meadowhall could be a good place to spend a bit of time.

433N · 20 May 2019

Iskra said:
Sounded a good day. Sheffield and Leeds are the 144 hotspots. If you're looking for somewhere with easy car access, Meadowhall could be a good place to spend a bit of time.

Don't you worry, I'll be going to at least one of those places .... (probably in about installment 75)

47403 · 20 May 2019

433N said:
Actually, the number of winners starts to get a bit embarrassing. Happy days.
If your lucky, I might have a rage about the Metro Centre on the way back (might have chilled by the time I get around to that part).

Nowt embarrassing about a load of cops. That's the way I plan my trips, see what I need most of and where from.
Don't worry about slagging off the Metrocentre, I only go there cos my daughter needs to go there for stuff, so I tend to moan about the place regularly.

xotGD · 20 May 2019

Tip for Knottingley: Check for "Knottingley West Junction" on RTT and you get the stuff that uses the station avoider and heads south/comes from the south in addition to everything through the station.

"Knottingley South Junction" will show these plus anything heading south to east or east to south that misses the station area entirely.

From the new timetable there seems to be a resurgence of Pacers on Pontefract Line services in place of the 155s we had been enjoying

433N · 20 May 2019

xotGD said:
From the new timetable there seems to be a resurgence of Pacers on Pontefract Line services in place of the 155s we had been enjoying

Tsk, typical ! :frown:

Well the good people of Knottingley can bum right off if they think I'm going back !

I have cleared my 180s but I do like to see them. They look nice, particularly in the GC livery, which is far more important than reliability or comfort.

PS : Here's hoping for you it's just teething problems with the new Random Unit Generator.

433N · 22 May 2019

Contribution removed

Techniquest · 22 May 2019

Hope you get better luck with the Pacers! A rather successful day though otherwise.

Your comment on notes has reminded me I still need to transfer my moves from a recent London trip out of my notebook into a digital back-up file!

433N · 2 Jun 2019

Contribution removed

Techniquest · 2 Jun 2019

Not a bad haul whatsoever there, fair play!

Hereford is another city with no Greggs near the station, by the way. We have two of them in the city centre, but they are both 10-12 minutes walk each way from the station. We do have Morrisons almost right next door though, as well as Lidl, KFC and various takeaways and pubs all within a 5 minute walk each way!

Rush hour at Leeds, ooh that would certainly keep all of us busy!

433N · 2 Jun 2019

Techniquest said:
Not a bad haul whatsoever there, fair play!

Hereford is another city with no Greggs near the station, by the way. We have two of them in the city centre, but they are both 10-12 minutes walk each way from the station. We do have Morrisons almost right next door though, as well as Lidl, KFC and various takeaways and pubs all within a 5 minute walk each way!

Rush hour at Leeds, ooh that would certainly keep all of us busy!

Cheers.

I might start a Name-and-Shame blog for these so-called cities which are so backward that you actually have to go looking for a Greggs.

Carlisle is another one - I've seen people eating a Greggs on the station but haven't actually found it myself (Have had to content myself with the chippy opposite which is pretty decent instead)

I was told that Leeds is the second busiest station outside London in rush hour ... dunno if that be true or nay.

xotGD · 2 Jun 2019

433N said:
Cheers.

I might start a Name-and-Shame blog for these so-called cities which are so backward that you actually have to go looking for a Greggs.

Carlisle is another one - I've seen people eating a Greggs on the station but haven't actually found it myself (Have had to content myself with the chippy opposite which is pretty decent instead)

I was told that Leeds is the second busiest station outside London in rush hour ... dunno if that be true or nay.

The Carlisle Greggs-eaters probably stockpiled in Newcastle before setting off. Now in Newcastle you are never more than 20 yards from a Greggs!

433N · 2 Jun 2019

xotGD said:
The Carlisle Greggs-eaters probably stockpiled in Newcastle before setting off. Now in Newcastle you are never more than 20 yards from a Greggs!

They probably tried to eat it but couldn't find their mouths with it whilst bouncing around on a Pacer for an hour and a half

In any case, this is good news as I have some plans to be in NCL on Friday if the planets align - not principally for spotting, but may be able to fit in an hour or two.

433N · 11 Jun 2019

Contribution removed

Techniquest · 11 Jun 2019

Not counting 144008 seems daft, considering the class' imminent withdrawal. Surely, count it but asterisk it as no photo or something?

An intense day in Leeds for sure, a nice reminder of how busy it gets just in time for me and my trip there in 3 weeks!

433N Rambling (on and on and on ... )

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