87electric jaunts

Kite, have you any plans for other Countries when your UK requirements dwindle?

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87electric said:

Kite, have you any plans for other Countries when your UK requirements dwindle?

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Not at the moment, I will probably try and get across to Ireland next year for route coverage, but at the moment I suspect 2018 will be a lot quieter for me.

Sounds like a brilliant trip. Some of those moves look good, I (incorrectly it seems) thought they went in to city centres in the morning and back at night and that was about it.

fowler9 said:

Sounds like a brilliant trip. Some of those moves look good, I (incorrectly it seems) thought they went in to city centres in the morning and back at night and that was about it.

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The afternoon moves are thin on the ground but it is possible to keep on the move. There's no Clapham Junctions there that's for sure.

Just caught up with your trip to the states. Looked amazing.
What did you mean about the cab cars being controversial? Is it due to the amount of passenger accommodation right at the front?

Cowley said:

Just caught up with your trip to the states. Looked amazing.
What did you mean about the cab cars being controversial? Is it due to the amount of passenger accommodation right at the front?

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It was most enjoyable Cowley. I'm loving USA trains.
It was the safety aspect of them as exposed by the Oxnard rail crash in 2015. Metrolink started a lawsuit against Hyundai.

INDIA JAUNT OCTOBER 11th - 21st 2018

Been a while since my last report. Not much for me to chase on the UK rails until the new fleets enter service en masse so 2018 has been mainly foreign trips.
I'll start off with India (as it's fresh in my mind) and then backtrack with other jaunts from this year.
India was booked up with Rail Discoveries for an escorted tour (Tigers, the Taj Mahal & Mumbai) of the golden triangle - Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.
A couple of rail journeys were included along with some coach travel and an internal flight.

11th
90 029 was in charge of my journey to Kings Cross up the ECML. Piccadilly sets 232/231 onward to Heathrow T4. Set 890 was seen working on the rail adhesion circuit.
Jet Airways used for the overnight flight to Delhi. Not much legroom there in bog standard class i must say.

12th
Landed on time met by the tour guide and coach to get to the Crowne Plaza hotel. Being a curry fiend this holiday would not disappoint on the breakfast, lunch and dinners.
Unfortunately i couldn't get to the Delhi Rail Museum. It looked quite interesting as well.

13th
Tour today included the Red Fort, India Gate, President's House, Qutab Minar and Humayan's Tomb.

14th
After an early breakfast of curry on toast it was to New Delhi station Hazrat Nizamuddin for the 08:10 to Agra Cantt aboard THE GATIMAAN EXPRESS a journey of just under 2 hours. Armed with my 2014 (out of date now) ST Publications Indian Railways spotting book i was crossing off plenty of locos for sight. Rail transport in India today is predominantly broad gauge of 5ft 6in. Electric loco 30020 was my first one for haulage.




30306 arriving into Delhi with the BHOPAL EXPRESS




Diesel 70386 passing through Hazrat Nizamuddin


A snack was served which consisted of a parantha, a small dish of dal along with fruit and water. Perfect.


On arrival into Agra the Maharaja's Express train was noted in the opposite platform. I'd just watched a dvd back home of this and well majestic it is as well.
After settling into the Clarkes Shiraz hotel it was off to Agra Fort followed by the Taj Mahal. Words do not convey the beauty of the Taj Mahal at all. It has to be seen.


Thoroughly amazing day. I've seen 3 wonders of the world now and in the next couple of years the Pyramids of Giza and Machu Picchu in Peru will be visited.

15th
Morning visit to the Jama Masjid, a 17th-century mosque in Fatehpur Sikri (a World Heritage Site) followed by lunch at Laxmi Vilas Palace. Then it was time for my 2nd rail
journey which was headed to Ranthambore for the famous National Park. The JANSHABADTI EXPRESS in the hands of electric loco 30105 departed Bharatpur Junction at 15:50.
A cup of tea onboard was 10 pence. Various locos spotted along the way for the 2 hours journey to Sawai Madhopur Junction.



Diesel 16824 passing through Bharatpur Jn


22702 arriving into Bharatpur Jn with the GOLDEN TEMPLE MAIL on its way to Amritsar from Mumbai


Thameslink isn't so bad in context.


On arrival into Sawai Madhopur Jn. Praise the ISO button an digital cameras.

It was dark around 6pm (but humid) and our 30 strong group jumped into 2 open top jeep type coaches for the very bumpy ride along the country road to the hotel Abhyaran.

16th
There were 2 game drives today. One was at 6am and the other at 2:30pm. This was all about trying to spot tigers in the wild which is quite hard to do if they don't want to play ball. No luck was had in the morning and just as we started driving back to the hotel on the afternoon drive we got lucky. In fact 3 tigers were in the dense forest only 20ft from the jeep. Our party was again split into 2 jeeps and the other group who were elsewhere unfortunately didn't see them. I was quite popular with my photos.






17th
Travel day by coach to Jaipur the pink city. Agricultural life observed all the way. Humbling.

18th
Tour of Jaipur involving the Amber Fort. The amazing Jantar Mantar which is an open air astronomical observatory with a collection of nineteen architectural astronomical instruments and the world's largest stone sundial. Also the Palace of Winds (Hawa Mahal).

19th
Internal flight on Jet Airways from Jaipur to Mumbai. Nice to get the exit row seats for a bit of legroom.
After check in to the Trident Nariman Point hotel i walked to Churchgate station and took a local EMU train to Mumbai Central. 20 pence your return fare. Being near enough the only Westerner on the trains and the platforms it seemed like the whole world was staring at me. I got my fill of photographs and headed back before the infamous rush hour crush started. I know things are a little different in India but seeing a local chap just wander to edge of the platform and urinate onto the track in front of the ready to depart express train was a tad different.






Diesel 36506 at Mumbai Central


Electric 23701 shunting around



20th
Coach journey around Mumbai taking in the Chhatrapati Shivaji Rail Terminus (similar to St Pancras and its Victorian Gothic architecture). Also an inspiring visit to Mani Bhavan which was a former home of Gandhi's. The Prince Of Wales Museum's display of ancient artefacts from the far east was very interesting. I had a few hours before dinner so i went walkabout with my camera taking more pics of buildings and locos.


Diesel 36120 at Chhatrapati Shivaji

21st
Flight back to Heathrow from Mumbai, again on Jet Airways but this time a little more comfy. A few films whiled away the time.
Piccadilly line sets 858/235 to Kings Cross and then high mileage 91 104 back home. Absolutely fantastic jaunt for me. I wouldn't hesitate to book a more Southern India trip in the future.
Stats: 47 locos sighted, 2 in the book for haulage.

Sounded like an excellent holiday to India, sometimes those pre-organised package holidays are good so you don't have to worry about hotels or getting from A to B, with hopefully a good tour guide showing you the sights.

Nice photos (as always)

There's no mistaking the loco in 'Diesel 16824 passing through Bharatpur Jn' as anything but an Alco-powered machine...just look at that 'clag'...

Brilliant pics mate. Many thanks.

Very interesting stuff, looks like a fabulous holiday.
Brilliant photos; my favourite being the tiger in the trees - beautiful animals, although I wouldn't like to be too close to one

Sometimes the organised tours work for me. This one was more about the India experience than doing rail stuff. And it delivered with such an amazing tour guide as well.
ac6000cw - yep the Alco was clagging well and contributing to the pollution levels.

87electric said:

Sometimes the organised tours work for me. This one was more about the India experience than doing rail stuff. And it delivered with such an amazing tour guide as well.
ac6000cw - yep the Alco was clagging well and contributing to the pollution levels.

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Wonderful stuff. I’ve actually been to quite a few of these places, although it was twenty years ago now. That bought back some great memories.
I loved Jaipur too and spent about a week there.
Thanks for that

Some fantastic reads and photos there.
Nice to have a bit of an International flavour, you've certainly clocked up some air miles. Japan, India, Australia, New Zealand and the States, should change your name to Jetlagged87electric.
Love the Tigers pic, like 55013, not sure I'd like to be so close, especially if they'd had nowt to eat.
Thank you for sharing though.

47403 said:

Love the Tigers pic, like 55013, not sure I'd like to be so close, especially if they'd had nowt to eat.

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I wouldn’t be too worried Mickey. We’re quite tough down here you know.
If ever I go to Bodmin Moor I just take a tin of pilchard flavoured Whiskers and the better of my two tin openers with me, just in case I see The Beast...

Cowley said:

I wouldn’t be too worried Mickey. We’re quite tough down here you know.
If ever I go to Bodmin Moor I just take a tin of pilchard flavoured Whiskers and the better of my two tin openers with me, just in case I see The Beast...

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Makes sense to me

Tigers like Frosties

87electric said:

Tigers like Frosties

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Ofcourse cos Theyrrre Grrreeatt!!!

JANUARY 2019
Starting off with a nice pic of the wonderful 87002 at my local shack Peterbog on its way to Doncaster from Wembley on the 9th.


On the 11th I purchased a Thames Valley Day Ranger to track down some 800 and 802 units. I filled my boots and the book looks quite healthy now. As the HST rundown continues apace I jumped aboard 43002, coupled with other celebrity 43185, for a run to Reading.


At Euston 86401 had brought in the sleeper stock for its Scot run later.


On the night of the 13th I positioned myself to Stansted with a XC journey with 170521. 67021 was on the LNER drags to London via Ely and I caught the loco attaching to the train before I departed.

It had been 5 years since my last Benelux bash and having read reports of the imminent decline of 1700 services I booked my flights, accomodation and Inter Rail pass in my attempt to find 9 locos known to be actively in service. When totted up at the end of the trip I'd managed to hit 7 winners taking me 60 of the 81 that were built. Of the remaining, 2 I know are in service, some are scrapped,
some have been sold and the rest are in store. So I'll never clear them all. Also I could make a start on the NS 186/0 locos which were only just being delivered in 2014. I had a handful of haulages by the 186/1 locos and I could also add to that tally as well.
I used EasyJet out of Stansted as it would be cheaper than using rail to Amsterdam. Plus I would land at around 9am so I could enjoy a full day with the start of the 4 day Inter Rail pass.

Monday 14th January
From plane touchdown to entering my first train at Schiphol rail station took only 20 minutes. Result.
The commuter traffic had died down already so I had pretty much empty coaches. I did a few spins with the 186/0 locos
before heading out to cover the 1700 Utrecht - Zwolle and Apeldoorn - Almelo diagrams. Winners were 1749 1757.


1743 at Amersfoort


1832 at Amersfoort looking forlorn with graffiti and peeling vinyls.

Next was to catch the Amsterdam Centraal - Enkhuizen diagrams and 1755 & 1770 were winners there.

1731 off to Enkhuizen


1770 at Amsterdam Centraal


1752 on its way to Germany

Plenty more 186 winners taken before checking into the Meininger Hotel. A great hotel at Sloterdijk station as it was only £100 for 3 nights. Literally a minute walk and of course only a 6 minute ride to Amsterdam Centraal.


Passing Amersfoort, 1831, 1829 & 189207


1829 Rail Force One


Tuesday 15th January
Day 2 provided 2 more 1700 winners, 1759 out of Apeldoorn and 1763 on the Zwolle diagram.
A visit to Haarlem in the evening peak to see the locos working to Alkmaar had some good photo opportunities.

1768


1778


186197 & 186195 taken as winners to Schiphol


Stabled at Amersfoort diesel loco ACTS 6701

Wednesday 16th January
Morning gen gathered using the NS journey app (very useful) told me that 1737 would be working out of Utrecht at 07:48 and after catching the 07:05 direct from Sloterdijk - Utrecht I made the connection with minutes to spare. It's easy when timetables stick to time.

1737 at Amersfoort
This was known to be my last winning 1700 on this trip as 1741 was out of action and 1745 was the spare loco on the Berlin Inter City runs.


9908 ex1830 running through Amersfoort

I turned my attention to picking off the 186s on the Amsterdam - Breda/Rotterdam/Eindhoven/Brussels diagrams.
Tilburg is always good for a visit to photo the numerous freight workings inbetween passenger haulages.

DE6310


193621


475415

It's over 10 years now since I saw the rows of newly delivered Class 77 (66 variant) locos at the Tilburg NedTrain works. All changed now with the work's relocation.

Thursday 16th January
A difficult day as engineering works meant nothing worked south of Schiphol Airport. My flight back to the UK was at 5pm so I covered the 186 turns out of Den Haag Centraal which only produced 2 for me. Bustitutions were in place but I headed back well in good time for airport check in just in case anything went Pete Tong.


Both winners standing at Den Haag Centraal 186041 & 186149


Always good to see 1615 working on freight, this one at Den Haag HS

No nonsense on time flight back to Blighty. I think the Toblerone advertising in Schiphol had worked its way into my head as I purchased 3 large bars as I walked through Stansted.
Trip success with 44 winners. 37 Class 186 and 7 Class 1700. I'll venture back in the Summer when the weather is a little more friendlier and with longer daylight hours.

22nd saw a quick spin up to Newark North Gate and back with newly LNER pooled 90028. My first time with this loco as well.
Looks splendid with its repaint and adorned with Sir William McAlpine nameplate.


On the 23rd I had a decent priced advance return to Edinburgh at £30 bought in the LNER sale last November. 91110 were the horses to Waverley. I bagged a few of the new Class 385 units. I'm pretty disgusted the Edinburgh (and Glasgow) Days Out rover has been withdrawn. Down to poor sales? Or was it such good value? I'm too cynical.
I did have a 1 mile ride on an unrefurbished Scot Rail HST to Haymarket. Such thrash .


That was January, although I do have trips to York and London early next week but I don't think they'll throw up much interest.

87electric said:

I'm pretty disgusted the Edinburgh (and Glasgow) Days Out rover has been withdrawn. Down to poor sales? Or was it such good value? I'

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Join the club, where the Glasgow one wasn't the best of value compared to other day rangers available, the Edinburgh one was good value (considering the area it covered and that there isn't any day tickets available). It probably wasn't promoted that much.

Only option is the 3day Central Scotland rover for ease of use grabbing the 385s (for decent mileage rather than Haymarket leaps).

Sounded like you had a good January

Ironically I'm currently on a Benelux Interrail and I didn't realise the 1700s still had some decent work other than the Apeldoorn-Almelo and International work.

So I've knocked off 1780 on the Haarlem to Alkmaar diagrams today and will be heading to knock a couple off in the morning peak in Utrecht following by another German IC move to Apeldoorn.

I've only had 1739, 1749 and 1780 to date, but seeing as they're on their way out getting another 4 or so in the book would be nice tomorrow.

So thank you for the info on that- sounds like a good trip was had for yourself.

rg177 said:

Ironically I'm currently on a Benelux Interrail and I didn't realise the 1700s still had some decent work other than the Apeldoorn-Almelo and International work.

So I've knocked off 1780 on the Haarlem to Alkmaar diagrams today and will be heading to knock a couple off in the morning peak in Utrecht following by another German IC move to Apeldoorn.

I've only had 1739, 1749 and 1780 to date, but seeing as they're on their way out getting another 4 or so in the book would be nice tomorrow.

So thank you for the info on that- sounds like a good trip was had for yourself.

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Yes, get them while you can. I look forward to reading your trip report on the Benelux.
I always enjoy my time in the Netherlands. It’s easy to do and with frequent services plus I can always fall back on to the trams in various cities if indeed to mix it up.
Glad I could help with some info for you.

87electric said:

Yes, get them while you can. I look forward to reading your trip report on the Benelux.
I always enjoy my time in the Netherlands. It’s easy to do and with frequent services plus I can always fall back on to the trams in various cities if indeed to mix it up.
Glad I could help with some info for you.

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In the end I knocked off 7 yesterday as I fell onto the peak diagrams between Utrecht and Zwolle which are doubles, plus a single on the German IC.

I suspect I'll make a return in the summer and knock off a couple more although I've gone from 1 in the book to 10 which I consider decent going considering I spent only about 80 minutes raking in those 7 yesterday (0818 from Utrecht was first, 0936 from Amersfoort last)

Peterborough - 40 years apart (18.04.1979 and 18.04.2019)

Not really a trip report but I thought it would be fun to post.
While going through old photos last night I saw the 1979 image and decided to recreate it today. My Kodak Instamatic 110 camera pic is just laughable, but as a nipper with no money it was all I had. 43307 was the leading power car today but I didn't log the number on the older pic. Would have been funny if it had been 43107.
I'm facing south standing on the footbridge adjacent to the A47 Leicester road. The line on the left leads to the GBRF depot.
Locos seen alongside 13 HST sets on that day in 1979 were 08094 08272 08406 08427 08438 25032 25073 25132 25296 25302 25323 31149 31174 31219 31239 31251 31305 31323 37109 40078 46037 47038 47115 47131 47404 47407 47471 47522 55003 55005 55006 55017 55018 55022 56051 56053.

I've been enjoying Class 90 haulages this week, 90020 Collingwood was today and 90039 was yesterday. Before the Azumas shortly take over en masse.


1979



2019

East Midlands 7 Day Ranger 18th - 24th July
I like doing one of these ranger tickets each year and I chose these dates as they would correspond with the first withdrawals of the Class 91 locos. The Farcebook media site was awash with keyboard warrior dud gen on 91108 (which was chosen to be first) and all quite amusing/confusing as to which day was its final day. I had 6 more trips with it but I failed to push it over the 2000 mile mark. But I did succeed in placing 91119 & 91132 into that club.
91132 being notable as I’d had an official cab ride on it from Peterborough to Newcastle in 2014 (and for extra info.......HST power car 43313 was had in the cab from Newcastle to Kings Cross, then 43208 back to Peterborough. I was also treated to a go on the Train simulator for trainee drivers at Kings Cross. It’s safe to say my slow, conservative driving would plunge an employing company into the delay/repay scheme and a timetable crash.
So the ranger ticket for moi was accumulating mileage on the 91s and to try out new units where possible. Satsumas, I mean Azumas, were plentiful and shock horror to say I like them. I’ve already bashed over 80 of the GWR equivalents and apart from short formings I’m quite comfortable with them. They are like the proverbial off the shovel.
The seats? Fine for me. I’ve had worse airline bum killers.


37057 in Doncaster yard


Shiny 67005 at Peterborough


Hull Trains HST 43010/020 passing Newark North Gate


LNER Class 801s on test at Doncaster

The Northern Class 331s seem alright. Definitely teething issues for the guard with door issues on my couple of runs out of Doncaster but what train works straight out of the box anyway? In the following days it seems they were taken out of traffic for more attention.
Arriving at Peterborough on the 22nd there was a distressed man walking along the top of the Crescent Bridge. This is the bridge over the rail line at the south end. Trains were proceeding at caution but it was obvious that delays would impact services. He was later safely rescued. I decided to switch my plans and go to Bedford and hope some Class 230s were working. And yes they were. 230003 and 005 doing the Bedford/Bletchley diagrams. Quite funky travelling on ex London tube stock through Bedfordshire fields. I think they are fit for purpose and ideal for this and branch line type of work. Very impressed.

230003 at Millbrook


The twilight of 91108 at Peterborough

On the 23rd 91108 (now withdrawn after 30 years service on the ECML) was doing a light engine (0Z91) run from Bounds Green to Doncaster.


91108 0Z91

I took my pictures at Peterborough and then boarded 91109 to Doncaster and I believe that is was Sir Bobby Robson that brought the wires down. The Hull Trains unit behind got tangled up in the knitting and we glided to a halt alongside 91108 in the Claypole loop.


91108 at Claypole

This was the first of the heatwave days. Loss of power and no air con on the Mk 4 sets means you start cooking. Kids were screaming before passing out while some people had difficulty breathing in the 2 hours we sat down in the Lincolnshire fields. Eventually we took power and arrived at the Newark North Gate stop. Paramedics detrained some ill passengers for attention. Then we proceeded to Doncaster, still with no air con, and I was off onto the platform so quickly. The train was already full and I would estimate 100 people were about to board. They were trying to be told that it was hell on board and to not travel but they crammed on anyway. I had departed Peterborough at 14:18 and arrived at Donny at 18:00. No trains were heading to London now but Real Time trains had an HST showing as a diversion via Lincoln so I could get back to Peterborough. Relief. Home at 21:20.


91108 in Doncaster’s Platform 2 bay was looking defiant in the sunshine the following morning.


91111 passing Grantham

My last day saw the ECML diesel and electric services all swapped out on diagrams and was difficult to follow. There was also disruption at Welwyn to confound matters and of course the heatwave has continued to wreak havoc all over the network since.
I might sneak in another 7 dayer in December which will include night time photography.
Stats for the week.
TOTAL MILEAGE: 3855 miles 30 chains.
CLASS 91 - 2987 miles 73 chains. Annoyingly I have just come up short of 233 miles to clear the Class for a modest 50,000.
20 different 91s travelled with.

WINNERS
230003
230005

331108
331110

800102
800103
800105
800107
800109
800111


Decorative tribute to MALLARD in Grantham's island platform waiting room

And seeing today is 26th July, my nostalgia notes say I took The Badger, 89001, from King's Cross to Peterborough 31 years ago to the day.

Looked a good trip and the photo's I can see are great but only the top 5 images are showing for me?

Nice blast from the past with the 89. I did it on the same turn on 9th September that year.

Shame you got caught up in the issues on the ECML due to the heat, but a good haul for 800s.

The East Midlands Rover is expensive but covers a wide area, and not that expensive with the 7 day version for per day.