sftfan's Track Clearance Adventure

Techniquest said:

Certainly looks like a fun day was had, glad your journey up my local route was good!

Surprised you don't like the Ebbw Vale line, I like it. Been a long time since I last did the Valleys, might be time to revisit them!

Click to expand...

My opinion about the Ebbw Vale line has changed after yesterday, which I'll discuss in my report for it My favourite would probably be Merthyr

Friday 2nd August

In between days of my rover, this was a small social trip on a Devon day ranger, so not a particularly intense day but I hoped to be able to visit a few shacks and get my final 143s. I didn't know which ones I needed when I was out but I knew I needed three. Anyway I immediately messed up by waking up an hour late but I worked out I would only be missing out on Exeter St Thomas and Newcourt by arriving at 10:45 instead of 9:45. So it was to the 7:48 service which was being worked by 150245, a unit I've had plenty of times on my local line. An uneventful run to Cardiff later, I had the choice of either the 8:26 to Bristol Parkway or the 8:30 to Bristol Temple Meads. I picked 165131 + 166209, obviously sitting in the declassified first section, and enjoyed the run down to Bristol.


43304 at Bristol Temple Meads

Running an hour late meant that instead of having a voyager south (which I didn't particularly mind anyway since I need plenty,) 43378 + 43304 rolled in to take me down the line to Exeter. It's been a while since my last proper XC HST ride and I'd forgotten how much more pleasant they were than both voyagers or 170s. I alighted upon arrival at Exeter and had a short wait for my friends to arrive on 143620 + 143617 which I then joined as we took it down to Starcross. I have visited Starcross station before but I have never boarded/alighted a train so I haven't counted it until now. (I also don't count stations where I walk around but arrive and leave on the same service - photo stops on railtours being an example.)

We visited the nearby shop for some lunch before returning and enjoying the wait for 150001 to take us to St James Park, finally getting the other 150/0 for haulage as I've had number 2 a few times. After another short wait 150244 + 150263 arrived which we took for a leap to Exeter St Davids, before 800303 appeared for a run to Newton Abbot, overtaking the 150s at Dawlish Warren. However we then rejoined them at Newton Abbot to take us down to Torre.


Torquay station

From Torre we walked the ~1 mile towards Torquay, a station which I have used previously but before I really got into the hobby. 150244 + 150263 returned for the third time today to take us up to Dawlish Warren. We had 20 minutes to look around (not that there is much there) before we joined 143611 + 143603 to take us back to Newton Abbot. This was our last pacer move, leaving me with just 143612 to get before I've cleared the 143s, although at the time I didn't know if I already had or not.

We had a second pit stop here during our short wait for 43097 + 43170 to take us one stop south to Ivybridge, a station with an odd level of service, I find. This service allowed us to have just a 25 minute wait before 150261 arrived, which we boarded to continue to Plymouth. It was time to return home, and the 17:25 with 43285 + 43321 had the honours of taking me for the 127 miles up to Bristol Temple Meads. I waited around for 158956 to roll in late, before taking a seat for the run back to Cardiff, changing for 143625 on the 21:10 back home. A brief, mainly social day out but definitely productive too


43062 at Taunton

Sounded like a good trip to Devon

A few odd bits:
On Saturday 10th I finally got around to visiting Melksham which has been irritating me for a while. 150233 took me there and back. It was pretty quiet and not really that interesting, so I'm glad I don't have to go back


Then on Sunday 11th I went to do the GWR Okehampton service, but first I went on the heritage line to Meldon Quarry. On the journey up I rode in the brake van, which was a strange but fun experience!


Afterwards 143618 took me to Exeter, which means I have now cleared every GWR line


Meanwhile today I was supposed to be heading towards the West Highland line, but thanks to the weather I'm now instead doing a Strathclyde Daytripper. That is, if the sleeper actually makes it to Scotland

Tuesday 13th August

I've had a trip booked on the Caledonian since just before my 16th birthday (August 4th) with my original intention being to visit the West Highland line, somewhere I have wanted to go to for a long time. I only picked up advances as far as Dalmuir so that I could then use a day return to Mallaig for the onward journey, giving me flexibility as to where I leave and join the sleeper. Unluckily, the WHL then closed due to the landslips caused by the poor weather. Luckily, since my tickets were to Dalmuir, I wasn't going to be stranded in the West Highlands without anything to do, so my plan changed into a Strathclyde Daytripper.

Before booking the trip I was looking at doing a multi-day rover somewhere I haven't been before. Unfortunately, none of the options were within budget. The sleeper wasn't my first choice due to its ridiculous unreliability, but in the end I decided it was worth a try and would be an adventure regardless

Today was a positioning move to London courtesy of the 15:50 National Express from Chippenham. After the last coach fiasco I made sure I arrived in London with lots of time spare for the coach to run late. Fortunately, it ran to time so I proceeded with my plan of Victoria line stock hunting (I am tackling the tube lines one at a time.)

With 90 minutes to play with, I loaded up my requirements note page and decided to first head south to Pimlico where it would be quieter. 11029 + 11030 took me there where I waited on the same platform for 11071 + 11072 to Vauxhall. Changing platforms, I jumped on 11048 + 11047 back to Pimlico and then 11065 + 11066 to Vauxhall again. I had a rule that if two duds passed, I would jump on the third regardless of what it was to avoid hanging around stations for too long. This was why I eventually rejoined 11072 + 11071 to Pimlico before 11054 + 11053 arrived taking me away to Victoria. 11050 + 11049 were next to Green Park, before 11075 + 11076 back south to Victoria, then 11017 + 11018 back again to Pimlico and 11004 + 11003 up again to Victoria. By this point I wanted to start making my way to Euston as time was running out, so it was 11070 + 11069 up to Green Park, 11010 + 11009 to busy Oxford Circus, 11038 + 11037 to quieter Warren Street and 11008 + 11007 to Euston. I had time to hop to Kings Cross St Pancras, but alas it was duds 11018 + 11017 there and duds 11049 + 11050 back. Finally, I took 11043 + 11044 to Warren Street and returned on 11074 + 11073, pushing me to 24/47 sets completed which was my target.


Pimlico station

Happy that I was halfway to clearing the Victoria line stock, I finally left the tube after 80 minutes to swing via Sainsburys for food. I was surprised as a meal deal cost £3, which is 50p cheaper than in Chippenham! I recommend this Sainsburys for a Euston food stop. It was then a long walk to the end of platform 2 to identify what loco would take me to Edinburgh. I was hoping for a 92 but unfortunately it was a 90. I was unable to tell which it was so I took a photo and then walked all the way back to switch to Platform 1. I had 10 minutes to wait before we were allowed to board at 20:30 and I then walked down towards the end of the platform, stopping en-route to reassure a confused lady that I was only taking a picture and knew where I was boarding. I discovered it was 90047 leading tonight before walking back down the platform and boarding.

To be continued...


London Euston station

Wednesday 14th August

Continuing on from where I left off around a month ago, once on board I found and took my large, quite comfortable seat. I had a solo seat forward facing which was good. As fellow 'guests' made their way in I discovered a mother and her son would be sat in the 2 seats across from me. I didn't have a problem with this, of course, until after we left Euston I think around 2 minutes down and they managed to spill drink all over one of the seats. As well as that, they didn't stop talking until well after Preston, meaning I didn't actually get any sleep until about Penrith.

I awoke to see us bypassing Carstairs, onto new track for me as we had what felt like a fairly slow run towards Haymarket, at which point the host checked if I was awake and told me where to go. It was 3:53am when I alighted at Edinburgh, which doesn't actually open until 4:45am but I had no problems walking around and watching some of the shunting going on. I did confuse my friendly host but after telling him I was just having a look around he was totally fine with it. Eventually I made my way out to the street, except it was the wrong exit and I went back through the station, soon coming out at the Market Street entrance. I was unsure if the bus parked up was mine but walking up to it the doors opened and I jumped on without issue.


90047 at Edinburgh

Given that I only had somewhere between an hour or two of sleep, I was very tired and it was only the start of my day. I hoped to maybe snooze a bit on the bus but soon realised that wouldn't be an option for me. Anyway a few minutes behind we left Edinburgh and headed towards Glasgow. I had a theory that the bus would be stopping at Glasgow Queen Street even though the website advertised it as going to Dumbarton first. My theory was proven correct as we turned into Glasgow, so I asked the driver to alight and he let me off after about three attempts of asking. (I don't think my accent is common in Scotland )

As I was now early, I was able to go with my original plan to head to Alloa instead of Cumbernauld. It was freezing at 6am as I headed towards the travel office to purchase both my daytripper and my Alloa return. The man in the office had some issue scanning my RTVs (foreshadowing for later) but eventually put them through by some means, I think typing the code in manually. Regardless I was on my way and took a seat on 385026 before scratching off my daytripper and sealing the cover. We soon left Glasgow and I alighted at Larbert, a pleasant station to wait at for a few minutes before 385016 + 385011 arrived to take me to Stirling. I really liked Stirling station; it may have been cold but it was very nice.

I decided I needed some food and a hot drink, so I headed out towards a well known fast food restaurant to pick up a coffee and a well known brand of bacon and egg roll. Unfortunately though, there were no hot drinks available so I had to make do with a bottle of water instead :/ No matter though, I headed back to the station and awaited my service through to Alloa. I was expecting it to be a 170 so I was surprised when 385003 + 385017 arrived as I didn't realise the line was electrified. I was quite enjoying the 385s and was making sure to always sit in the end carriages to get the best noise The run to Alloa was had which was not unpleasant but a bit forgettable. I jumped out for a photo and to tick Alloa before jumping back on and heading all the way back to Glasgow.


385017 at Alloa

I had time to take a gentle stroll to Glasgow Central, a walk which I did last September so I knew the way. Arriving there I jumped on 380018 to head towards Paisley Gilmour Street, a station which I overestimated the size of for some reason. I had an easy platform change onto 385020 which I took to the end of the line at Gourock. I enjoyed this line although it did feel a little bit slow. Not long after arriving we departed again. This time I bailed at Greenock Central, where it typically started pouring down with rain as soon as I stepped onto the platform. I set off on a walk towards Whinhill station which felt more hilly than some walks I've made in Wales, although nothing on my Johnston walk I soon descended the path onto winning Whinhill and awaited the arrival of 380020 to take me to the end of the line at Wemyss Bay. I had hopes of getting a 314 on this run but wasn't fussed about having a 380 instead. I spent a few minutes admiring the wonderful station before getting back on board and enjoying the ride back to Paisley.

It was time to leave the Inverclyde lines and head to the Ayrshire Coast line. I first headed down to Johnstone on board 380014. My mission was to investigate whether Johnstone was more pleasant than Johnston. Unfortunately, Johnston (the Welsh one) won the battle as the only thing looking around Johnstone (the Scottish one) made me want to do was get out! Get out I did as my getaway vehicle arrived, with 380018 returning to carry me to the end of the line at Largs. I really liked the line after Ardrossan and found Largs a much more pleasant place to have a short stroll around than Johnstone. I made a sausage roll pit stop before jumping back on the 380 to winning Kilwinning. This station annoyed me a little bit as the platforms came before the junction of the two lines, meaning that I didn't cover the tiny stretch of track between platforms 3/4 and the line past the junction. However, for my initial goal, I'm not too worried about being that pedantic as I have plenty of time to mop up things like that. So southbound it was as I boarded another 380, this time 380108 which I took to Barassie. Not much was special about Barassie but I was soon on the move again with 380016, this time as far as Troon. I liked this station a lot and had no issues at all waiting for a short while for my final 380 ride in the form of 380009 down to its terminus at Ayr. Normally I would treat travelling to anywhere but the terminus of a new line as a cardinal sin. However, given the nature of the line onwards to Stranraer I deemed stopping at Ayr acceptable on this occasion.


156431 at Ayr

Time to head back to Glesga, but more importantly it was time for some 156 action which I'd been looking forward to for ages by this point. 156508 became my first SR 156 in the book and I was happy as it was an SPT interior one. I had a speedy run to Kilmarnock where I caught up with old friends 153377 and 153305 looking a bit worse for wear sat in the depot. I was playing the game dangerously at Kilmarnock by not researching the station layout before visiting; all I knew was that if I couldn't find platform 3 in the 3 minutes connection time I had, my plan would be in tatters. Luckily for me, platform 3 turned out to be a whopping couple of yards away from the door, with 156512 already sat waiting for me to board. Happily this was another SPT interior one so I travelled comfortably back up to Glasgow Central. It was now time for a long distance move all the way to Glasgow Central. For this epic trek, I had the privilege of riding my first (and probably last) 314, with steed 314210 producing. I would be doing the Clockwise Cathcart Circle, which was as fun to say as it was to do Or maybe I should reword that to "as fun as I was expecting it to be to do," for my real trip was immediately plagued with the swarm of rowdy schoolchildren as soon as we hit Pollokshields East. RTT reports my train as having arrived and departed RT, although I remember actually sitting in the station for several minutes trying to board everyone. Either way, I still had an enjoyable enough trip around the circle and arriving back into Glasgow Central felt a bit surreal.

While making my way over to my next connection, I spotted filming going on for the next series of "Inside Central Station" which was interesting to see. Anyway next up would be my first 318 spin in the form of 318255 which I was to take to the end of the line at Neilston. Stepping off onto the platform, I slightly regretted not doing my research properly as had I known there was a turnback siding I probably would've chanced staying on as it went in and out. I walked over to the other platform and rejoined, mentally preparing myself for my next challenge of the trip. I'd given myself 9 minutes to attempt the trip on foot between Williamwood and Clarkston, and missing my train would cost me the line down to East Kilbride. Google Maps suggested it was about 14 minutes walking time between the two which I had considered plenty when I planned the trip as I usually take less time. However, the rain throughout the day had made the ground pretty slippy and the last thing I wanted to do was fall over in the middle of a road. So as I arrived into Williamwood I didn't waste any time and hastily headed over the footbridge and out of the station. I usually have a little policy that I refuse to run for trains, although I threw that out of the window on this occasion as I ran towards Clarkston. It dawned on me that I actually had no idea where the entrance to the station was, so as I neared the shops that I knew were just outside I needed to decide where to go. My phone told me I had just 2 minutes to go, which in hindsight was enough time. Unfortunately I made the wrong move in deciding to turn left and head over a bridge, from which I could see my train slowing for the station. It was make or break, turn around and run down past the shops or head down the slope and pray there was an entrance I couldn't see. Alas, by the time I was down the side of the road I could see there was clearly no entrance, and as the train passed I was out of time.


318255 at Neilston

I was exhausted from running on an hour's sleep in the pouring rain, so I took my time in finding the actual entrance which was just at the end of the shops. It was time for plan B, which was to catch the next service to Glasgow, thankfully in just a few minutes time, and then kill time until my planned Paisley Canal train by doing a short Subway bash. I was glad to see 156508 return, this time paired with 156433 which I sat in to sample the newer type of seating. I found the seats bearable but definitely preferred the older ones. Arriving into Glasgow I had 40 minutes before my Paisley train so set off towards St Enoch. There was something about the streets that, when combined with the rainfall, made them extremely slippery. I was glad I wasn't in a hurry as I lost count of the number of times I nearly fell over just by walking normally. Descending the escalator, I headed to the ticket office where I discovered that oddly day rover tickets can't be issued for Daytripper tickets. This confused me as I was given one last year for holding a Central Scotland Rover. After admitting to the lady I actually didn't know where I was going to be going, she gave me a single and told me each time I needed to leave and go back in I needed to get another single. Entering the system I chose to not play the system and just travel one stop to Buchanan Street, a shack I needed anyway. Winners (obviously) 104 + 205 + 102 arrived for my tiny leap of just 25 chains to Buchanan Street. I exited the station and immediately began to walk back exactly where I just came from, once more on the horrible surface that was the streets. I eventually staggered into Argyle Street, intent on catching a service to Glasgow Central as I was unsure if I had covered the short bit of line last year. However I immediately turned back on myself after seeing the next one was cancelled and was soon back in Glasgow Central by foot. I was surprised to discover I would be taking 318264 on the Paisley Canal service. The journey to Paisley Canal passed relatively quickly and before I knew it I was arriving back into Glasgow Central for what felt like the millionth time at this point.

I was amazed at how I'd managed to stay awake the entire time so far given that I was nearly falling asleep over 12 hours previously. It did make me a bit grumpy though. This wasn't helped by what happened next. Having throughout the day debated on using my spare RTVs to buy a single between Shotts and Edinburgh to forego the bus replacement from Dalmuir, I took the plunge and headed to the ticket office at the low level platforms. The RTVs didn't scan, just like this morning, but for some reason I was then directed to the main ticket office to try there. My plan in jeopardy, I hurried over, only to be told that my RTVs couldn't be used if they didn't scan, completely contradicting what had happened in the morning. I had to pay in cash and had frustratingly missed my train to Milngavie. I couldn't be bothered to do much so I decided to head to Larkhall instead, joining 318270 for what felt like a really long journey to Larkhall station. On the plus side, at least I now knew I had covered Central to Argyle Street As a bonus I alighted at Argyle Street on the way back, as my train to Edinburgh wasn't going to leave for another 2-ish hours. It was back to the subway, with the lady from earlier issuing me another single, before I headed down once more and decided to travel clockwise, having only previously gone anticlockwise. 126 + 208 + 111 turned up and I settled on going to Partick to catch a train to either Central or Queen Street. I alighted at Partick, left the subway station, headed up to the NR platforms and upon seeing the wait for the next train I must have immediately decided I couldn't be bothered. It was back down to get another single, which I accidentally went to the ScotRail booth for at first, before jumping on 107 + 110 + 118 to head clockwise once more and alight at St Enoch, having completed the system (I wanted to do it both ways before calling it complete since the two tracks are pretty much separate.)

Satisfied with at least clearing a light rail network, I slipped and slid my way over to Tesco for some evening grub and took a seat in the concourse of Central station. With my eye on the departure boards I spotted something, and a quick check of RTT showed that I had enough time for it, so I made my way over to join a Counter-Clockwise Cathcart Circle service It was back onto 314210 for another trip round the circle in the opposite direction to earlier, which I mostly had an empty carriage for. Arriving back into Glasgow for the final time, I didn't have long to wait before 385010 turned up on the 2303 Glasgow Central - Edinburgh service via Shotts. I took my usual seat at the very front and settled in for the long 1.5 hour journey calling at every station en-route. It was good that I would soon finally have an opportunity to sleep, as on this journey although I had an empty carriage for the latter part of it I could hear very loud music which wasn't there at all. It was a bit scary hallucinating like that so I was very hopeful that my sleeper journey wouldn't have any problems. Arriving into Edinburgh on time I was the only person to alight and I made my way over to the sleeper which was sitting in the platform. The same customer host I had encountered 21 hours previously greeted me before I joined the train and took my seat, which annoyingly was facing another. Very shortly after we started moving, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 90047, dud from the night before, had pulled us into Euston.


350406 at Glasgow Central

More to follow..

At least East Kilbride is easy enough to recover on another day with a half hourly service pretty much all day.

A busy trip in Glasgow

Very enjoyable reports SFT; thank you!

Thursday 15th August

This trip report will be different for a few reasons: no photos as my phone was pretty much dead the entire time, no tube stock numbers as there are so many and they are not really relevant, and no indication of what heavy rail stock won and what didn't as I can't remember.

l was pleased when I woke up that I had actually arrived on time two trips in a row with the Caledonian Sleeper. I was fully prepared to get stuck overnight somewhere on the WCML! Jumping off at Euston I was still pretty tired and I felt pretty daunted that I still had just under 14 hours to go before my coach left. I decided to take it easy and locate some morning food. I stupidly forgot about the Sainsburys outside Euston that I had used just two days before, something I've only realised while typing this up Instead I decided to walk to Kings Cross. I can't remember the exact details of my food search but I know I went in a nearby Sainsburys and Tesco and failed to locate food in either. Heading into the station, I found a WHSmiths that had £3.99 meal deals, so settled for one of those. Then I ate my food while sat down playing catch up on my phone, while having a think about what I wanted to do for the rest of my day.

Eventually I decided I was rested enough to get going. My first mission was to take a winning S stock to Liverpool Street, shockingly my first S stock move since I started noting light rail numbers a month and a half before. I had a rough plan to head to South Ruislip for a second attempt at the Chiltern West Ealing service, but to kill time until 10am when my travelcard would become valid I decided to visit a friend at Charing Cross. At Liverpool Street I made my way towards the Central Line for quad winners to Bank, before taking the W&C to Waterloo also on winners. From Waterloo it was Northern line to Embankment, where I tapped out and spent time at Charing Cross until 10am. I made a big mistake here as the train I wanted to catch from Marylebone left at 10:16, but I didn't actually start walking until the platform until about 10:03, forgetting about the lower frequency of the Bakerloo. As a result, by the time I reached Regent's Park I worked out I was going to miss it. My second huge mistake came here in thinking I had enough time to stay on my (winning) train to Baker Street before taking the Jubilee down to Bond Street and then catching the Central line to South Ruislip. I really should have bailed at Regent's Park and gone straight to South Ruislip. I realised my huge mistake when I stepped onto the platform at Bond Street and saw that the next Central line train was terminating at Northolt! Joining my quad winners, I soon realised that, for the second time, I was going to miss the Chiltern service. I stuck out the Central line until Northolt anyway, before joining the next service behind it (also four new units) to South Ruislip, a pointless endeavour as halfway there I watched the 165 head south.

Slightly annoyed at myself, I decided to take advantage of this opportunity to complete the Central line by doing the Ealing branch. It was onto another four winners as far as North Acton before joining my final Central line service of the day to Ealing Broadway, which needless to say was also four winners. I was going blind at this point with no idea of times for anything since my phone was on the brink of death, so was happy when 345029 appeared to take me from Ealing Broadway (bolded twice as I count the tube and NR stations separately) to Paddington. It struck me that today was probably going to be a very 'light-raily' day, so I wasted no time in forming a plan. I'd been looking for an opportunity to start on DLR stock and finish the network by visiting Beckton, so that's exactly what I did. I jumped on the Bakerloo down to Embankment before going up to Monument, connecting onto 34 + 76 + 37 for a run to Canary Wharf. From here it was onto 105 + 119 to Langdon Park; I believe I was making sure I had covered all the bits of line in the weird complicated junction near West India Quay. I jumped onto 106 + 103 back to Poplar before taking 117 + 123 + 149 to East India. Finally it was onto 44 + 94 + 30 over to Beckton, clearing the DLR for track. After bagging the front seat and beginning the journey back to Tower Gateway, it dawned on me that I'd cleared the Glasgow Subway the day before and now the DLR; a plan for my afternoon was soon formed. First, however, I wanted to clear up the Aldgate area, so after walking to Tower Hill I jumped on the District line over to Aldgate East, where after a short wait a H&C train arrived to take me to Liverpool Street, ensuring I had done all the bits of track in the area. Next, I decided to make use of my special Z1-9 travelcard I was using to head to Cheshunt. 379018 took me one stop to Tottenham Hale before 317649 + 317512 arrived and took me up to Cheshunt.

Once again, upon arriving at Cheshunt I didn't know how long I would have to wait for a LO service back south. Not long after I arrived, however, 317888 turned up to convey me down to Seven Sisters where I changed for my favourite tube line, the Victoria line, down to its namesake Victoria. 377148 + 377160 + 377463 formed my service down to Clapham Junction, before 377452 + 377304 + 377321 arrived to take me down to Streatham Hill. Before continuing with my plan for the afternoon, I had a bit of unfinished business in this area. That happened to be in the form of the 16:17 Streatham Hill to London Bridge, the only service of the day to use the Leigham Spur and head via Tulse Hill. On my last attempt to do this service, it was unfortunately canned. This time however, 455807 + 455844 showed up to take me one stop to Tulse Hill, finally getting that annoying section of track out of the way. I was incompetent enough to not realise that it was green GTR services that used the Streatham - Streatham Common curve instead of 700s, so that bit remains uncovered until my next visit. As a result, I took 700059 to Mitcham Junction, where it was time to put my plan into action.

I didn't have long to wait for tram 2561 to take me to Therapia Lane, where I jumped back a service onto 2565 as far as Lebanon Road, completing the loop around West Croydon. 2532 then took me to Sandilands, before 2545 appeared to take me all the way down to New Addington, my last tramlink branch, which left me with just one more curve to do on the network. I opted to spend my time attacking the shacks on this branch, so took 2532 back to Fieldway. 2538 took me one stop back to King Henry's Drive before 2548 took me up to Gravel Hill, where I failed to spot any hills made of gravel. Next was 2534 to Addington Village before 2560 took me to Lloyd Park. As you might be able to tell from my lack of detail, most of these stops were pretty forgettable. Addington Village sticks out in my mind for having a bus interchange. 2545 returned to take me to Coombe Lane, completing all the shacks on the branch. A small celebration was had (not really) before 2550 popped up to finish my goal I had set coming back from Beckton, taking me over the line between Church Street and Centrale. This tiny stretch of rail made the tramlink my third light rail system I'd cleared in less than 24 hours. This was a more celebration-worthy achievement, which I did by getting another shack in the form of Wellesley Road. Very exciting, I know.

Anyway it was back to the heavy rail, and 700053 had the honour of taking me to London Bridge. I can't remember specifically why I made the next few moves, but I took 700153 to Blackfriars where there was an issue with a 700 being stuck due to no driver. It didn't affect me, however, as I carried on north with 700032 to West Hampstead Thameslink. I walked over to the other West Hampstead station to catch 378255 to Hampstead Heath. I must have looked like a nutter here as I walked onto the opposite platform and down the far end before turning back and jumping on 378225 on the same platform I arrived on. I can't remember if I was waiting for some service west or if I was just bored. Anyway after reaching Highbury & Islington I decided to tidy up the Northern City line by getting my last shack in. 717004 took me to Essex Road before 313047 + 313051 took me back to Highbury & Islington. Finally, I headed to Victoria on various Victoria line services, stopping off at Kings Cross St Pancras, Euston, Warren Street, Oxford Circus and Green Park before finally concluding my 3-day adventure and exiting railway property at Victoria. I had an uneventful coach ride home, bar a stop in the services due to the toilet being broken.

Overall, I loved this trip and would do it again in a heartbeat. Maybe next time, though, I would prefer to actually sleep on the journey north, and maybe reach Fort William like I wanted to in the first place I managed 1337 miles over 3 days on both light and heavy rail, which is an excellent result for me!

Thursday 31st October

A break from the mission this week as I headed off on my first international rail trip. To the Czech Republic I went, but not before getting up at 2am for an early morning drive to Stansted. Breakfast was formed of a large box of donuts we were given free of charge by WHSmiths in a service station as they were going to be thrown out anyway. Soon enough, we arrived in the mid stay car park and caught the free shuttle bus to the terminal. It was freezing and I knew that Czechia was likely to be colder. Passing through security, proper breakfast was had in the Spoons upstairs with a nice view of the apron. I was hoping that we would need to use the monorail, but sadly we were able to walk to it and queue up while waiting for our plane to land. Ryanair EI-DYD arrived and we boarded a short while later before taxiing to the runway and setting off on the 1,000km+ flight to Prague.

Touch down was exactly on time at 11:50 local time and we made it through the border shortly after. The first port of call was to buy a ticket into the city. The system in Prague is fantastic in my opinion: the amount you pay allows you to travel for a certain amount of time on any public transport within the zones specified. I paid just over a pound for an up-to 90 minute journey. After validating the ticket at the bus stop to begin the 90 minutes, we boarded a bus as far as Nádraží Veleslavín, changing for a metro to Staroměstská which is within the city centre. After looking at the river that flows through Prague, we headed in the direction of the Prague City Hall, swinging via the well-known Old Town Square. Within the city hall was something I've wanted to try for a long time, a paternoster lift! We spent a good 15 minutes playing about with it; I use the term 'playing about' light-heartedly as, of course, a paternoster lift can be very dangerous if you're not careful. I enjoyed going over the top and bottom several times and then finally set off for the station, all my limbs intact


Prague

Not long later, we arrived at Praha hlavní nádraží in good time for our first train. A move to Burger King was made and I was able to order some food to eat before heading up to the platform and viewing my first České dráhy trains. 362129 had the honour of being my first European loco for haulage as we took a seat in a compartment (sadly aircon) and settled in for the journey down to České Budějovice. I was fascinated by the completely different style of railways it was in this country - obviously I knew what Czech railways looked like but it was a completely different experience to view it first-hand. It was beginning to fall dark by the time we arrived so no time was wasted in having a look around the station. An ÖBB Taurus was sitting on one track while a RegioPanter was on another. It was strange to exit the station and continue to see overhead wires over the roads, as part of the city's trolleybus system.

After a visit to a shopping centre, it was back onto the station with the next haulage being provided by 242211. This was non-aircon stock so I was very much looking forward to having the window down, even if it was already cold. The journey definitely did not disappointment, and I would put it down as being my favourite of the trip. I fell in love with the ČD 242s as we sped our way through the evening along a vegetation-free rural line. It was so odd to be travelling down a line like this on an electric loco, with a huge opening window right next to our seats and free of most risk. I definitely made the most of it After what felt like a very quick journey, we arrived and terminated at Plzeň hlavní nádraží where our slightly tight 5 minute connection was now a full hour thanks to our intended service being delayed. Using the opportunity to look around the station, which was essentially a huge tall box, we popped into a nearby Lidl for a little supply raid before returning and awaiting our train.

ČD 680001 was our traction on the once-a-day Pendolino service towards Cheb, although we were alighting earlier. I liked the Pendolino a lot and the journey to Mariánské Lázně went fairly quickly. I should mention at this point that we were on first class interrails as they were not much more expensive than second class, and definitely after the trip we were glad we did so! Arrival was fairly uneventful but the final challenge was to successfully book a taxi for 5 people to the hotel. Luckily, even though the person on the other end of the phone didn't speak much English, we successfully got a large-enough taxi and arrived at the hotel, which was for a nearby ski resort I think - needless to say we didn't really fit the usual crowd! After checking in it was up to our rooms and time for some well deserved rest for our 5:30am alarm - or maybe not, as you will find out next time Overall, a fairly relaxed day, but the next two would be more intense and have more going on.


362129 at Praha hl.n.

Certainly an interesting day there, Prague is an incredibly nice city to visit and so easy to get around. Budapest is better though!

Friday 1st November

The plan for today was to head towards the Velim test track before heading to our second night stay in Olomouc via Brno. However, since we were exhausted from being up for so long the previous day, we ditched the idea of the 7:07 train and opted for some extra rest, a hotel breakfast and then the 9:07 instead. I didn't really eat much, just had a glass of some not-so-nice juice before jumping in a taxi that luckily the hotel were able to book for us to save us the hassle. 362130 was a few minutes late in arriving to transport us towards Cheb, during which time we learned that our next service was partly replaced by a bus for one stop due to "an extraordinary event."

Arriving at Cheb, we had a look around the station. It was amusing how the most western place we visited in Czechia looked like the most eastern After looking at some of the shunting going on, we were able to board our train early, the 10:29 towards Praha hl.n. which is actually one of the slower trains to the city. Dropping off my things, I walked up to the front and identified the loco as 242267 which I was happy with as I particularly enjoyed my ride behind one the night before. Our stock was non-aircon which provided a lovely ride as far as Karlovy Vary where we abandoned ship and jumped on a replacement bus. Our guard on the train was great, coming to remind us when we needed to get off the train. It only took 10-15 minutes to reach Ostrov nad Ohří where we discovered our next train would be hauled by 362083. Unfortunately the coaches were back to aircon but the fact that we had a compartment was good enough for me. I was still getting used to the different culture in Czechia surrounding railways, and even sitting at home now I can't say I've fully gotten over it.


742343 at Cheb

Soon enough we arrived at Ústí nad Labem hl.n. where our service changed locomotives. The windows at the end of the coaches proved useful here as soon after we set off, in the opposite direction to which we arrived, I took a walk to pinpoint Vectron 193292 as taking us as far as Prague. I enjoyed this section of line which runs next to a river for a fair amount of the journey. After arriving back at Praha hl.n., a station we didn't expect to be revisiting, I made a pit stop back at Burger King. Amusingly here I was served by the same guy who I saw yesterday, although I was then confused as to why he went on a different till and started serving someone else. It took me a second to realise there were actually two twins working in the same store

After a rush to our platform, since our food took a little while to get to us, we had to share a compartment with another lady who was a bit rude in telling us several times that we were sat in first class. I was pleased when our tickets were checked as I think she was expecting us to be thrown out! Another walk to the front sees 362019 identified as working this service. We bailed about 40 miles later at Kolín, and changed for some CityElefant haulage. 471069 and 471012 were tasked with delivering us to Cerhenice. Oddly enough the Velim test track is located closer to Cerhenice than it is to Velim, so we jumped out there and had a walk over a busy-ish road to the bridge over the track.


Return of a friend at Praha hl.n.

In the sidings there were some staff playing with the doors of a new Leo Express Sirius EMU. Other than that, we couldn't see much, but since we had info that they were supposed to be testing something that evening we stuck around. It was odd to be sat underneath a road bridge so close to the tracks, definitely not something that would be acceptable in the UK. After a longish wait, a shunter arrived but only went back and forth in the sidings before heading into the shed. We began to head back, but it soon emerged with an actual train and pulled it onto one of the test loops. Unfortunately, it took so long to start moving that we needed to get back as it was almost completely dark, even at just 5pm, and we needed to see where we were going to walk back to the station. We did catch a glimpse of it running around eventually though, so I'm satisfied.

A short wait at Cerhenice later, which is actually a rather busy station for trains passing through, 471031 + 471052 arrived to take us back to Kolín, where we left the station for a quick visit to the nearby shopping centre. After arriving back, we awaited our final train for the day which was booked to be a mixture of Czech and Slovakian stock. Sure enough, ZSSK loco 361128 arrived to take us the 115 miles to Olomouc hlavní nádraží. I find it interesting that ZSSK and ČD share stock and partly operate different services - ČD operate the Czech leg while ZSSK operate the Slovakian. Once again, we shared a compartment with someone as far as Pardubice before we put the window down and once more enjoyed some lovely Czech railway thrash. Arrival at Olomouc was uneventful and we sourced two taxis in the nearby car park to take us a couple miles to our apartment for the night. Our hosts were friendly and showed us around our space, which was rather big and great value for the price we each paid after splitting the cost.

Day 2 was excellent and we made good use of the full day we had in the Czech Republic to go from one side of the country to the other via a variety of places. The trip concludes in Day 3, coming soon..


Czech by night

Glad to have shared/been apart of your first European interrail experience with you, was a great time and we all need to do another! Also watch out for the red caps

TGW Bahn said:

Glad to have shared/been apart of your first European interrail experience with you, was a great time and we all need to do another! Also watch out for the red caps

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*waves while passing at 30mph*

Currently on my way to Leeds with 43384 and 43301. In the morning, I'm doing the 7:08 LDS - ABD throughout and then heading to Inverness later, before doing the full southbound Chieftain run on Sunday

I've also finally got 166206 which was my final 166! It's been out of action for months but re-entered service a few weeks ago.

If i don't end up doing a proper write-up of Czech day three, we basically did Olomouc - Ostrava via Krnov, then a Pendolino to Pardubice before another Slovak 350 to Kolin. Finally, we had a trip down to Brno the rural way before heading to Brno Airport for the only flight of the day to Stansted. I slept most of the car journey home


166206 at Stapleton Road

Congratulations on clearing your 166s (I need 206 and 207) there! Just a wee bit jealous!

That's a decent bit of HST action coming up there, I remember doing the HC all the way up and all the way back. Feels like forever since that day, over 12 years now, and I do recall it starting to get tedious in a few places!

Friday 22nd November - Sunday 24th November

Joint report for these days as there wasn't a lot of jumping between trains. I may have left doing an LNER HST farewell very late but I'm very glad I got to do this trip. The main factor was how cheap the tickets were - it cost just £24.40 for an advance single Inverness - London!

Anyway, to start off with, my post-college positioning move was the 17:00 Cardiff - Taunton service, booked for a 2+4 HST but sadly 158749 and 158763 produced. (A quick explanation: I am chasing the reformed 2 car 158s as there has been a change in number and formation, but for something like the 450/5 renumbering, I'm not bothered as nothing has physically changed.) I was leaving well in advance of my train as I had received gen on my final 166, which had previously sat on St Philip's Marsh being used for spares while receiving some modifications for months but re-entered service a few weeks ago.

At Filton, our train was held up as a late-running Weymouth service was put in front and called at both intermediate shacks to Bristol. This reduced my connection to just 2-3 minutes and I had to run back towards platform 7, confirming that the turbo sat on the platform was what I needed. I didn't have a ticket to get on but after quickly checking that the guard was happy to sell me one, I jumped on 166206 which promptly sat in Bristol for another few minutes before leaving, finally clearing the class for me which isn't a bad achievement considering I've only started tracking everything at the beginning of this year. The 166s join the 143s in being classes I've cleared outright

Paying just £1 for a return (after being asked how I got into Temple Meads station - I obviously had a return to Chippenham) I bailed at Stapleton Road to join 158762 back to Bristol, where I made a quick food stop via Subway. Then it was a wait for 43384 + 43301 to haul us 206 miles and 3.5 hours to Leeds, scoring new track between Derby and Sheffield. A short walk through Leeds later and we arrived at our Travelodge for the night.


67023 at Bristol Temple Meads

The next morning, it was up early to be at Leeds in time for food, another Subway, and then on to the 07:08 Aberdeen service. Today's traction was 43272 + 43296 for the run north. We went via York, Darlington and Newcastle before continuing on to Berwick-upon-Tweed which took a lot longer than I remembered it - I covered Newcastle - Berwick twice back in February. After Berwick it was onto new track all the way until we joined the North Berwick branch, passing the sign that marked the border and also pausing at Dunbar. After Edinburgh, the service quietened and it was a nice run over the Forth Bridge along the coast. Entering more new track after the Glenrothes line diverged, we eventually reached the wonderful Tay Bridge, which I probably like more than the Forth purely for the strange feeling of being right in the middle of a huge mass of water. After Dundee, it was onwards towards Arbroath, where I was keeping an eye out for Barry Links as it was the only Barry station I haven't done Finally, 6 hours and 360 miles after leaving Leeds, we pulled into Aberdeen and alighted to head into the shopping centre.

One all-you-can-eat buffet later, we still had time to explore Aberdeen. It looks like a nice city and was especially festive with the Christmas stalls up in one area. Eventually we headed back for the 15:27 Inverness service, today formed of 158704 + 158739. Darkness was taking over so it was a pretty boring trip north, not helped by the whine of a 158 which I don't really like. Arrival into Inverness was uneventful and after swinging via the Waverley Guest House to drop our bags, we went for a supply raid in Tesco and looked around Inverness. It's a very pretty city with all the festive lights and I liked it more than Aberdeen. Then it was a return to our room for a film and TV before sleep.


43272 at Aberdeen

Sunday morning was a later start as the Highland Chieftain did not leave until 9:40. A quick breakfast move later, we arrived back at the station to board 43302 + 43299 which would be getting 568 miles each on the run south to London. I will admit I was looking more forward to the Highland Mainline than the prospect of 8 hours on a HST, although this is probably because of my 17 hour run on the GWR farewell tour. Taking our seats in first class and paying £35 each for the upgrade, we departed Inverness and began our trip south.

I was not disappointed by the scenery of the Highlands and it felt like no time at all before we'd reached Carrbridge and then Aviemore. Continuing south, the line continued to impress as I was making money's worth of the upgrade by drinking plenty of tea. The yoghurts we were given were also lovely. At Dunkeld & Birnam, we were shocked by the absolutely huge drop to the platform. Finally we reached Perth where I bailed for a photo during our 15 minute stop. We would be going via the Forth bridge as the route via Stirling was sadly shut. Departing towards Haymarket, it was another lovely run along the Fife coast and over the bridge before arriving into Haymarket and then Edinburgh, nearly 4 hours after leaving Inverness.

The next leg to Berwick felt like a bit of a drag, not helped by being sat on the opposite side of the coast. Eventually crossing the border, we paused at Berwick before continuing to Newcastle. More people joined here but we were now behind a late running London service which would cause a problem later on. After Darlington and York darkness took over, during which our service became increasingly delayed. Leaving York 13 minutes behind, this developed to 30 minutes at times. Finally, almost 9 hours after boarding, we arrived into Kings Cross 28L, a sad moment but also a chance to reflect on many miles of HST haulage over three days. To get back to Chippenham, it was onto 21358 + 21357 to Paddington before 802114 to take us home. A fine trip and definitely one of my most memorable of the year.


43302 at Perth

Monday 25th November

Just a quick overview of an unexpected trip out on the Monday. We journeyed south to Portsmouth via Reading, Basingstoke and Winchester before stopping for lunch in a Frankie & Benny's. Then we headed to Guildford before I scored new track on the route to Raynes Park via Epsom. Next, we went out and back to Shepperton before having a non-stop run between Teddington and Waterloo due to late running, even though taking out the stops did nothing to make up our delay. Finally we jumped back to Vauxhall before taking the tube towards Paddington and jumping on an IET back towards Swindon, before I bailed and waited for the train behind to take me back to South Wales. One woman and her child got kicked out at Reading for travelling a day early on their ticket and refusing to pay around £200 for a new one!

Mentions of the Waverley Guest House brings back memories of the times I've used it when it was quite cheap for the location (although not the quietest in some of the rooms). Sounded like a good little trip to say farewell to the LNER HSTs

Kite159 said:

Mentions of the Waverley Guest House brings back memories of the times I've used it when it was quite cheap for the location (although not the quietest in some of the rooms). Sounded like a good little trip to say farewell to the LNER HSTs

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Indeed it was your experience that suggested it to me

sftfan1909 said:

Indeed it was your experience that suggested it to me

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Although since I stayed I believe it changed hands and the new owners charge higher prices, certainly for when I've looked it has been £45+ a night

Kite159 said:

Although since I stayed I believe it changed hands and the new owners charge higher prices, certainly for when I've looked it has been £45+ a night

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Still probably our best option when booking a week in advance

sftfan1909 said:

Still probably our best option when booking a week in advance

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Unless you want to fork out for taxis for hotels on the outskirts of the city, by that point paying extra for the city centre makes more sense

A few odds and sods from the past couple weeks. I've been using a FOSS rover between the 5th and 18th December mainly for travel to and from Chippenham but it has let me do a few small things as well to make the most of the rover.

Firstly, if you haven't already, you can read about my and my friend TGW Bahn's trip to Kent on the 7th December here.

Wednesday 11th December

I walked into college to be told that I would be finishing early as it was the festive period so instead of working I figured out how to space the remaining days of my rover, and deciding that to avoid buying extra tickets to/from Cardiff it was a decent idea to use a day today. Finishing college nice and early at 12:10, I made my usual Greggs lunch move (festive bake and ice ring donut!) before jumping on the 12:30 Portsmouth, which to my distaste was solo 158762. I sat down for the 115 mile trip to Southampton, spending some time filling in Sudoku puzzles to save phone battery as I don't take my charger to college.

I had formulated a plan to grab shacks between St Denys and Fareham since I needed no track in the area. Thanks to the strikes, Redbridge was ungettable, so it would have to wait for another day. Anyway arriving in Southampton I made a pit stop in the fake Co-op outside before returning for the 15:44, today formed of 450069 which was one of two units shuttling between Soton and Fratton. Departing on time, we arrived at St Denys and waited. 5 minutes later, it was announced that there was trouble opening the doors, which were eventually opened and resulted in us departing 9 minutes late. I knew straight away my plan would be put down the drain as the shuttles had very limited recovery time, something which was proved on my discovery that the second one was running a consistent 20L anyway.


442420 at Southampton Central

So I watched Hamble come and go and settled on bailing at Fareham, running for the very tight connection onto 450086 + 450091 as far as Botley. I then switched platforms and took 450087 + 450093 back down to Portchester. I was essentially doing the opposite of my plan as these were the shacks I would have remaining in the area after I did the ones I was intending. I opted to take advantage of the late running of one of the SOU-FTN shuttles to pick up another one in the name of Swanwick, reboarding 450069 to get there and taking 450013 back to Fareham. Then it was onto 377149 to head back to Southampton, after asking the guard of course as a FOSS is not valid on GTR

My final moves were to take 221119 for a run up to the airport, before 450011 + 450090 + 450099 arrived to take me back to Southampton Central. 158956 took me back to Bristol before 158745 + 158749 returned me to Cardiff and 142083 had the honours of taking me home. So it was an interesting day; it felt odd to be in Southampton after being in college only a few hours previously, and it was a shame my plan got scuppered, but I feel I made a good recovery effort

Friday 13th December & Saturday 14th December

Without going into huge detail, on the 13th I picked up Avonmouth to finish the Severn Beach line, as well as 220001. The 14th was just a footy spin to Newport, producing 800016 on the way there which takes me down to just 3 800s left

Full reports may follow for the 16th and 17th (which was not a rover day).

Wednesday 18th December

A mainly social day out allowed me to get the annoying shacks of Highbridge & Burnham and Bridgwater out of the way finally, as well as a surprising winner in the name of 43010 which has mainly been working on one of the Hull HSTs. Sadly it was probably my last slam door 2+4 HST ride I also got 221132, 220027, 170115 and my first TFW 170 in the name of sadly dud 170272.

Overall, I made good use of the rover, which was great value at just £42.25 for me for 8 days!


43010 at Newport

I'm heavily reliant on the fake Co-op . Nice to do so many trips with you and spend so much time with you. SWR strikes have been a pain and stopped so many things that would usually be achievable (West of England shacks, Redbridge to name a few) and it was annoying how on both attempts to do St Denys - Fareham shacks it went kaput.

Oh I remember those shacks, oh my days that took ages and was so boring!

The fake Co-Op, was that formerly Spar?

Techniquest said:

Oh I remember those shacks, oh my days that took ages and was so boring!

The fake Co-Op, was that formerly Spar?

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That's the one, next to Subway

sftfan1909 said:

That's the one, next to Subway

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Didn't know it wasn't a Spar now, but then I've not been to Southampton Central since *scrapes the bottom of the memory barrell* I think 2010. Or was it more like 2015, I'm struggling to recall!