Back on the platform

Kite159 said:

Bounce Bounce

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The_Train said:

What chances do I have of a cross Pennines journey to Leeds tomorrow being a pacer?

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47403 said:

Great trip.out Mr Train, you done well roping in a fair few more to the book of sights. It's also nice to see 323225 has broken out of Longsight, that's my last Northern Starship I need for sight. I was actually beginning to think it was bust.
The 195s sightings are a barren in my book, I cant even say when I'll actually get a chance to see any in the near future too.
Great read again mate, look forward to reading about your next trip out.

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47403 said:

Which way you going to Leeds. Straight over from Manchester or going via Sheffield. If you go over the Pennistone you might get a bouncing bomb, you'd obviously go the long way and I'd hate going over there on a bouncing bomb but you'd get to pass Midland Road.

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47403 said:

Taking the TPE Cat across? If so I'd be extremely jealous.

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The_Train said:

What chances do I have of a cross Pennines journey to Leeds tomorrow being a pacer?

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The_Train said:

Something about 47s in the darkness

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xotGD said:

The Chester - Leeds should be some form of Sprinter.

If you are catching the Leeds - Southport you might get a Pacer or 150. Otherwise a 158 on the York - Man Vic.

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xotGD said:

Yes they do look better when you can't see them!

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xotGD said:

If you fancy some more single-20 haulage, the Keighley & Worth Valley is a good bet. There is a "Diesel & Ale" day on 12th October but the traction has not been announced yet. Could be the 20, 25 or 37. All very entertaining thrashing up the valley.

Link to gen:

https://kwvr.co.uk/diesel-ale-saturdays/

Here was 20031 two years ago...

View attachment 68472

View attachment 68473

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xotGD said:

Update to the above: 20031 is booked to operate.

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The_Train said:

Thanks for the update mate. This might be an option now as I can tie it in with the Northern £10 offer.

Is the Keighley station on the heritage line the same one as the mainline station?

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xotGD said:

Yes - the same station. Two platforms mainline, two platforms KWVR. Note that if you are able to buy a through ticket including KWVR you get a day rover for the price of a return from Keighley to Oxenhope. I'm not sure how this might work with the £10 deal though.

If you want to maximise the number of kettles you see then you need to pop into the sheds (museums) at Oxenhope and Ingrow to see the static exhibits.

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The_Train said:

Another cheap day thanks to Northern - Tuesday 17th September 2019

Thanks to Northern's fantastic 10p flash sale I was back out on their network just a week after my outing to Manchester and Sheffield. I'd experience zero problems on my previous outings and was hoping for more of the same as I headed to Stafford for my hoping jaunt of the day to Crewe. I went against my instinct on arrival at the station and decided to delay my 2nd coffee of the morning until I got to Crewe so it was straight across to P3 to meet winner for haulage 350245. I managed to see the numbers on a couple of the coaches that must be welded to the rails outside the diesel depot as we arrived into Crewe but there was nothing new on the LNWR side so it was off the train and off for my usual venture here to check out which loco was on thunderbird duties. It was dud 57309 so I headed back across to P5 but as soon as I made it down the steps I noticed a TfW dogbox creeping in behind the 350 unit I'd arrived on. So it was back over the bridge to P8(?) to check out what I'd hoped would be my first real winner of the day. 153303 didn't let me down and I would have grabbed a pic as well but a guy was stood next to the open door with his bike seemingly concerned about getting on this strange little train.....so I decided it probably wasn't going to happen and went back across to P5 in search of coffee. The queue was big and I made an error in deciding to stand back and wait for it to die down as I was worried I might miss something down the North end of the station. I did nearly miss dud 175116 heading through P6 as a Pendo arrived into P5 but I was nimble enough to get beyond it to spy the dud TfW unit - not too old for a platform dash just yet. Some will recall my desire to grab a bit of Pacer haulage during one of these 2 cheap outings and having been let down the previous week my hope was resting on the Chester-Leeds service I would be catching later in the day. That hope was not needed though as I heard that familiar squeal and rumble edging down P1 and my excitement levels went through the roof when 142031, a requirement for haulage only, appeared to terminate in readiness to perform it's next duty to Liverpool Lime Street - the service I would be on. And just to add to it I noticed 031 was not alone so ventured further up P1 to see winner for everything 142007 was attached. 2 for the price of 1....
142031 by The_Train
142007 by The_Train

I stepped onto 142031 to be welcomed by the sight of bench seats, something I missed out on with my last pacer haulage in the North East. This was going to be a journey I never wanted to end The Pacers were soon fired up and we crawled out of Crewe and I spied 150208 arriving into the North bays and also got to see 47192 sat outside the Heritage Centre. We went past 70006, which I'd also seen at Stafford that morning, as it came back up from the avoiding line tunnels but there were no more winners to be seen, even at Manchester Airport where I took advantage of the few minutes layover to swap into 142007 which also had bench seats. Double bonus! We were now heading towards Manchester Piccadilly and this line from the Airport is now littered with the new units and 195120 went into the book at East Didsbury before 195119 joined it at Mauldeth Road. 397006 was still sat at Longsight as it had been the week before but there was nothing else of note right up until I had to leave the Pacers as I alighted at Newton-le-Willows for the first time in my life. I had a 20 minute layover for the hourly train to Leeds so I parked myself to do a quick check of RTT to see if I could expect anything exciting in that 20 minutes. What I saw was not exciting, as my train to Leeds was showing as cancelled. Bugger! I saw a Northen employee so I explained that my train to Leeds had been cancelled of which I had an advance for - I know the protocol but I just wanted that clarity from some 'in the know'. Unfortunately his advice was for me to get on the 11:02 service............to Crewe!?!?!? I was about to what he was on about but he was quick to disappear up the platform where he proceeded to pick an argument with another passenger who 'kept looking at him' before promptly disappearing, never to be seen again. Top class customer service. Anyway I made my way over to the other platform and settled in for the hour or so wait I now had by eating an apple and reading my book. Every so often a unit would come by and it was more of the TfW stock that would at least make this layover slightly worthwhile as 175109 and 175006 went into the book in quick succession. My book kept me entertained sufficiently that the time passed by quite quickly before winner for everything 158861 arrived to finally take me to Leeds. I thought it best to seek out the guard before boarding just to explain my ticket situation but he was more than fine about it so I was finally on my way to Leeds, and after a quick PNB on the 158 I found my seat and settled in for the journey.

There was nothing required that was sighted on route, although we did go past a gronk that was parked up somewhere after we had departed Victoria. Unfortunately I wasn't able to grab the number. I was pretty immersed in my book for much of the journey and also took the opportunity to grab some food before we finally arrived into Leeds, where my 5 hour stint was now down to 4 hours. I did a quick sweep of the platforms and was able to chalk off 142023 and 158867 before I headed to any food outlet that sold coffee. Having missed out at Crewe because I chose not to queue and then getting stuck at Newton-le-Willows, which seems to have nothing around it, this coffee went down an absolute treat as I took up position at the end of P6. It wasn't too long before we were winning again as 150273 was marked off along with 158797 before I got my first sighting of a 331 earning it's keep as dud 331106 came and went
Northern 331106 by The_Train

I'd not expected to see any HSTs now that the Azumas were up and running so it was a pleasant surprise when duds 43296 and 43320 rolled in with a rake of required coaching stock. It was from the old to the new next though as 800112 became my first winning Azuma of the day
800112 'Azuma' by The_Train

The Azuma was quickly followed by 158868 before a first for me next as I got to see my first TPE 68 in service as dud 68027 arrived pushing DBSO 12809 on a service to Scarborough
TPE Mk5A 12809 at Leeds by The_Train
TPE Cat 68027 by The_Train

After that excitement, it was back to the units as 333001 took my needs of this class down to just 2
333001 by The_Train

before 170456 also made its way into the book of sights to keep the winners ticking over. Unfortunately a 30 minute period of duds ensued before 170475 arrived and this was followed by my first winning sighting of a 331 unit in service as 331109 showed it's face.
331109 by The_Train

It's been a while since I've been able to sound the klaxon but 185142 made an appearance to allow me to finally complete the TPE 185s - it's been a long time coming! My next winner got me thinking that the klaxon might get a second use today as 333003 was marked off, leaving just 333007 to go. The winners had started to dry up but 153352 did make it into the book and this prompted a little run as 158787 and 142092 quickly followed. I was heading into my final hour at Leeds when 158853 was followed by 158817 to make it a quick fire double but that would be it for winners for well over 30 minutes when 153316 arrived attached to 158855. This was soon followed by my first Azuma 801 sightings as 801103 and 801110 arrived empty to form a service to Kings Cross.
801110 by The_Train

I did get to see the quirky sight of a double headed 91 working late on as 91124 lead the clearly unwell 91105 into the station but unfortunately the angles and sunlight stopped me from getting a decent picture. My final winning sighting at Leeds was 156488 before it was to 153316 and 158855 for the jaunt back to Manchester. Despite the units having arrived nearly 30 minutes previously, the doors were kept locked until 3 minutes before departure and I joined the hoardes cramming on to the dogbox where I somehow managed to find a table seat free. It was certainly a cosy journey over the Pennines but the train did empty a little more with each stop before we arrived into Manchester Victoria where I would connect to Piccadilly on one of 2 available TPE services to get me to Piccadilly for my 2001 train back to Crewe. That was the plan anyway, but on arrival into Victoria I caught sight of one of the screens which indicated the first TPE option I had was cancelled which would mean me catching the later service and having a bit of a dash across Piccadilly. I picked up a few duds, including the 68 set that I'd seen earlier in the day but I was also monitoring RTT as the TPE train that was showing as cancelled on the screens was still moving towards Victoria although it was getting later and later which in turn was slowly delaying my 2nd option meaning that would no longer be an option. I'd started to wonder whether the service showing as cancelled had become a set down only as it continued with its calling stops and maybe I could sneak onto it if it was - equally though I also wondered if it was going to terminate at Victoria. Luckily I found a TPE employee who was very helpful when I asked about the service and he showed me the data he'd just received indicating it was going to terminate at Victoria. This meant either delaying my journey home or diving onto a tram to Piccadilly and as I noted 150145, I made the decision to tram it so I ventured over to the tram platforms where I noted the following trams:

3017, 3087, 3070, 3105, 3040, 3037, 3042, 3016, 3111, 3118

I was about to purchase a ticket when I noticed one resting on another machine that was still valid in Z1 - whichever kind soul left that saved me a bit of money so it was aboard 3016 for the trip through Manchester and with time ticking towards my 2001 departure from Piccadilly it was going to be tight. Thankfully the tram didn't endure any delays and we crawled into Piccadilly with around 5 minutes to spare but I didn't rest on my laurels and for the first time ever I made a burst up the escalators, brushing the slow people aside and I made it to P4 and my train to Crewe with minutes to spare. 323231 was my steed and as we departed I was able to nab a couple of final winners for sight as 150272 and 150136 went into the book. We were soon back into Crewe where 350368 met me for the short hop back to Stafford to complete a good, but slightly stressful day on the Northern network

For Sight

Winners: 33
Coaching Stock Winners: 11
Tram Winners: 5
Classes completed: 185
Sub classes completed: N/A
TOCs completed: N/A

For Haulage

Winners: 8
Total Mileage: 231 miles 41 chains
Classes completed: N/A
Sub classes completed: N/A

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Far north 37 said:

Looks like a good day out must be one of the first reports where you havent seen a 66 even a dud one or maybe u did.
But as they getting harder to find no doubt duds just go by without a mention.

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Kite159 said:

Other than the farce with the cancelled train (go on claim delay repay for a free return ticket and the TPE services. A good day for your book of sights

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_toommm_ said:

For the super gronk just outside Manchester Vic, it's 09009. Now you've seen it once you'll see it a lot in its spot

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The_Train said:

I'd not even considered delay repay as it only cost 10p haha. To be honest the last 2 times I've been eligible, I've been put off by the form filling

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The_Train said:

Thanks mate. Guessing it is always there then?

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Kite159 said:

It's worth doing, as you will get a return ticket which could be useful for future trips

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xotGD said:

Definitely claim delay repay to get the free ticket. You could go Crewe or Stoke to Carlisle and back - out via the Cumbrian Coast return via the S&C. Beautiful scenery as well as the railway stuff.

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47403 said:

Great read that Mr Train. You certainly did well there. Congrats on clearing the 185s. How frustrating will that 333 be for you now. Hope it's not one of the knackered ones.

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