Palmersears' Jaunts

Bits and pieces, bits and bobs - 22 May to 18 June

Last we spoke I was planning an all-nighter at Acton Bridge, followed by Scotland for the day. Sadly life got in the way, and I instead had to truncate plans into a single afternoon mini-jaunt around the north west. My first venture through Bolton since electrification allowed for some much sought after 319 whining. I timed it just right to see 70815 waiting at Farrington junction, just after Leyland, with the logs down to Chirk, my penultimate 70. I arrived at Preston with 10 minutes to spare before 158789 rolled in from Blackpool, the ex-Scotrail unit is the last I need to clear the current in-service stock for Northern, and it takes me down to just two 158s to find; one bonafide Scotrail representative, along with one SWR unit which has evaded me for years due to its habit of hiding in Salisbury every time I go to London.

From here it was a 390 down to Crewe, passing a smattering of required OTP at both Warrington Bank Quay and the Springs Branch depot around Wigan, before making a nifty +3 onto a long-since-dudded 323 for some spaceship thrash back to Piccadilly, adding a bonus of mk5a DTSO 12804 sat on the International Depot at Longsight, before heading for home.

The commute passed Edge Hill continues to throw up yet more CAF units readying themselves for eventually serving the good folk of the North, with 195102, 195107, 195119, 195120, 195121 331005 and 331103 all tucked away in the logs. I’ve now seen 20 of the DMUs and 14 of the EMUs already, and I would imagine as they make their way out into the wider world they’ll be replaced on the depot by the next lot of arrivals, which makes things easier for me. Could be that I clear both classes purely based on their initial appearances at Edge Hill depot instead of in service.

A trip to London early this month gave me the opportunity to head out to pick off a few more gen-inspired winners. Newly-arrived 66790 was spied at Longport on the way down - the ex-Nordic shed beginning its transformation into one of three new GBRF locos - as was mobile maintenance unit DR97804 at Rugby. Once in the capital and bags dispatched at the hotel the customary travel card was purchased and it was off to Paddington to greet 800318, my final 800/3. This was swiftly followed by 802010 a few minutes later. At this point I hopped aboard a 387 combo, heading out passed 345041 at the entrance to the Crossrail tunnels, taking a punt that the last of the IETs out and about that evening would be readying itself on North Pole depot for its ECS working into Paddington, and was pleased to see said punt pay off as 802106 was indeed at the exit to the depot. This saved me having to wait a further 20 minutes, and after a quick up and over at Ealing Broadway I was back at Paddington via a 360.

I had a bit of time to kill before my next lot of potential winners arrived, so for lack of a better plan I ventured over to London Bridge and a pair of 465s out into new territory, Grove Park. Picked purely as it allowed for a fairly slow passage adjacent to Hither Green depot, the journey was the typical crawl through the Outer London suburbs, and disappointingly Hither Green only had a few decrepit OTMs, the highlight of which was my first crane, DR78216 doing the honours. I had a comfortable +3 cross-platform interchange onto another pair of 465s at Grove Park, and was back at London Bridge 45 minutes after setting off.

From here it was 700032 up to St Pancras, and a short stroll across to Kings Cross to greet one of the first in-service Azumas, 800102, which had arrived from Leeds. I must say the livery really suits these trains, much sleeker than the GWR green, which is all a bit drab. I hope to grab a ride on one later in the year, probably on a Doncaster-Leeds leg, to see how they compare internally.

Really hammering the travel card now it was back to the Thameslink platforms at St Pancras, this time taking 700118 up to Finsbury Park, before what I reckon will be my last ever 313 spin up to Hornsey. The aim here was to pick up a few further 717s at Ferme Park sidings and Hornsey depot opposite, and I wasn’t disappointed as 717012 and 717022 were both present. As I waited for 717009 to arrived to take me back to Finsbury Park, 800110 flew passed out towards Leeds, whilst our arrival at Harringay saw 800104 pass us. Finsbury Park was to be the site of the last winner of the day, one final IET, this time 800113 on a test run into Kings Cross. With that it was the Vicky line to Euston, and a short walk back to the hotel after a thoroughly productive, if slightly drawn out, evening. The journey home the day after saw signalling problems at Watford Junction delay our progress by 12 minutes, which was just long enough to ensure we blasted through Bletchley just as 230003 pulled in from Bedford. The second 230 in my book, coming two and a half years after I saw my first, 230001 at Tyseley.

And that bring us to today, with yet another London expedition for work. Aboard the 0843 from Stockport, it was more OTMs to kick things off, with DR75008 just outside Stoke, followed by DR73929 as we pulled in to Nuneaton. 230004 was heading into Bletchley to break the OTM stranglehold on the winners enclosure, before normal service resumed with DR73947, but nothing further followed until after work. Here the travel card was used first up to get to Paddington once again to witness 802113 as it started its dispatch process for the long drag down to Penzance. I hung around on the footbridge at the country end of the station to see 802104, before heading back to the sub-surface tube platforms and across to St Pancras.

As with my last visit to London, I had time to kill before the next lot of gen was to potentially bear fruit, so tossed a mental coin and came up with a trip into uncharted territory, namely HS1 out to Ashford. 395003+008 did the honours, and once we got out of Stratford the new territory began in earnest. To be honest, aside from the interesting bits around Tilbury, and the Medway viaduct, it was all a bit bland given the line travels through a cutting or a tunnel for most of the journey. I arrived at Ashford disappointed and, after a 15 minute wait, boarded 375825 for a trip to Westenhanger, purely to see what was on the crane depot. Safe to say this was a goldmine of OTMs and cranes, which I won’t bore you all with, but there were 26 winners, which made it worthwhile.

Westenhanger arrived, and with a 20 minute wait I stood on the bridge to see a couple of Eurostar services blitz through, adding bonus winners 4023+4024 in the process. 375812 duly arrived to carry me back to Ashford, and after a snack stop it was then the turn of 395020 to carry me back to St Pancras, where 4030 and 4031 sat at the country end of their respective Eurostar workings waiting to head back to the continent.

At this point I wandered over to Kings Cross hoping to get a new IET in the book, but sadly disruption at Peterborough earlier in the day had thrown the allocations out slightly, and it turned out to be a dud. Unperturbed I thought I’d chance my arm with a few more 717s, travelling to Finsbury Park via the Victoria line this time, arriving just as 717004 pulled in. Second ride on the new units, which I can safely say are just as bland and sterile as the 700s they are based on. They can pack the punters in though, which I suppose is the main aim.

Little to see on Ferme Park, which was a surprise, but the depot on the other side was more accommodating, with 717011 sat right next to the running lines. I hung around at Hornsey for 45 minutes or so as it’s a station I quite enjoy, even in the drizzle that seems to have followed me around for weeks now, and as well as the ex-GWR HST set that Hull Trains are using, also got another 717 in the book, this time 717020. Eventually 717006 arrived to carry me back to Finsbury Park, where I had a +6 onto a late running Horsham Thameslink service. Its lateness meant it arrived just as 717018 did the same on the adjacent platform, an added bonus. 700123 was taken through to Farringdon, before my third trip along the H&C of the evening, again back to Paddington, where 802005 stood with partner 802014 as they prepared for the evening trip down to Plymouth.

That was pretty much it. To mix things up a bit I took the Bakerloo up to Willesden, mainly for the novelty that a trip through the depot at Queens Park brings, but after seeing a few freight workings pass through the various lines I called it quits as darkness fell and went back to Euston.

All told though, a good few weeks. I’m down to needing just two 802s in order to clear GWR again, and the spotting gods have really smiled down upon me with the 717s, as I need just three of the 25, despite them only being in service for a few weeks. Of the three, one appears to have gone over to Dollands Moor, for reasons unknown, whilst the other two are in storage at West Worthing. I’m happy to wait for them all to come into service before I go hunting them. Pleased to have made a good start with the Azumas as well, but again I’m now happy to wait until there’s a further rollout before needing to plan anything of substance. If I can get the last two 802s out of Paddington, as well as hopefully grabbing that pesky 158, then the reality is I’m pretty much done in London for a while. The only place I need to get to is Scotland for a couple of DMUs, everything else around the country is new stock that isn’t even fully rolled out yet.

A good few days there Mr Ears

The Magical Tamper - 5/7/19

As regular readers will know, I've been hunting my last 88 for six months now. The transfer over of the Daventry to Mossend intermodal from DBCargo to DRS at the start of July was one watched carefully by myself, and with a half day on Friday, and the aforementioned 88 due through Crewe at 14:00 on the newly acquired route, I took the plunge and set off, with a quick prayer to the spotting Gods as I went.

150111 was first up, with a 6 minutes delay from Disley not overly troubling the +20 I had at Stockport for 390156 and the speedy run to Crewe. As we pulled in just a couple late, there were a number of my fellow spotters congregating at the country end of platforms 6/9. I decided to go old school and resist looking at RTT to see what was the much anticipated working, and was treated to 397001 heading back to Crewe works having had a jolly to Carlisle and back. Previously seen at Longsight a month or so ago, the CAF EMU looked even better close up:



With that, and 20 minutes before the 88 was due, I did fire up RTT and my Freightmaster live map (plug is worth a month free, right @Freightmaster ?!) and saw a OTM heading for platform 8. Off I went, strolling up just in time to see DR73116 slide in for a quick reversal out towards Crewe PAD:



After it pootled off towards Gresty Bridge I checked the live map again (more plugs, Mark!) and found 4S44 just diverting into Basford Hall yard, and then disappearing. What to do now? Having gone into the yard the chances of it continuing north through the station had reached 0%, and if/when it continued it would do so via the avoiders, which run behind the station, and offer limited vantage points. Normally this isn't an issue -I go over, see the working trundle through from the bridge, and move on. Being the last of the class required however means I really wanted photographic evidence, so had to head out to the Virgin car park over the road, where the spaces branch out over the avoiding lines. These things are never straightforward...

A brisk walk later, I checked the maps to find 4S44 had just reappeared, and sure enough, three minutes later, there she was, 'Aurora':



Rubbish picture, but a picture nonetheless! Class canon sounding for the first time in bloody ages, that also effectively clears DRS, as the last remaining 57s I need are stored at the MOD base up in Longtown. Not sure I can get them without being added to the MI5 watch list!

I headed back to the station happy to have achieved my mission, and waited around for the next service back to Stockport. Whilst I did, the tamper from earlier arrived back from Crewe PAD, but despite still appearing on the same scheduled working as before, had magically transformed into DR73114:



I asked no questions, for it was another winner, instead heading off to get the late running Carmarthen arrival, a novelty appearance from 150263. That explained the 25 minute late departure, and also why we were subsequently dumped at Wilmslow as it then ran fast to Piccadilly in a desperate attempt to claw back time. Plenty of hot and bothered folk joined me on 390110, and I got off at Stockport to see my original +25 connection to Disley well and truly off into the distance.

For lack of anything better to do I took 319380 to Hazel Grove, watched 66722 blitz through the sun back to Peak Forest, and then rounded the journey off nicely by getting 150111 back to Disley.



That's it! Class cleared, two bonus OTMs added, and a nice afternoon in the sun.

I've got a last minute overnight trip to Scotland this coming week, after realising I need a holiday! Up to Glasgow for 1800ish on Thursday, then returning on the 1908 on Friday. I hope this will allow me to get most of the 385s done, which require more time now they're scattered between Edinburgh and both Glasgow stations, and I will be asking the spotting gods to look favourably upon me again as I search for the last 156 and 158 I need. 320418 is back out as well following a prolonged visit to Kilmarnock. Oh and my last 66 is back up in the region...

that 397 pic I was the next one up from u taking the same picture and 73116 i was taking a pic from the other end lol must say the 397 does look impressive cant wait to try one

It's a small world!

The 397s look a step up from the other CAF stock, certainly. I'm hoping to grab a Liverpool to Glasgow trip on then pretty soon after they're in service.

at first i thought it was a tpe 802 then when it got closer I was after a set number which they don't have i saw 88010 at Warrington later on the only one I've seen and that was at York

11/7/19 & 12/7/19 - Shed 7(46)

Day 1

A day and a half off dropped into my lap a couple of weeks ago, and with the weather set fair I decided on an overnight trip to Scotland.

150132+156441 were first up for the run into Manchester from Disley, noting 66769 waiting at Edgeley Junction for us to pass before heading off to Drax, and arriving a couple late into Piccadilly. After a quick pitstop at Sainsburys for supplies it was over the platform 14 for the 1526 to Glasgow, today formed of a well-loaded 350404. My reserved seat was backwards facing, so I ditched that and found a forward-facing seat that should have been taken from the airport but was unoccupied. The journey up was, as always, beautiful yet uneventful. Indeed the only winners noted were a smattering of OTMs at Rutherglen and Polmadie, which I won't bore you all with. The first real winner arrived as I alighted from my 350, namely 385016 heading off to Ayr, and I then headed off to pick up a couple of tickets for trhe rest of the evening.

First up I popped across to my hotel (The Z Hotel by Queen Street), dropped my bag off, then did a sweep of the Queen Street high-level platforms (sadly picking up nothing new) en-route to the low-level platforms and 320413+314, which delivered me to an old Scottish favourite, Hyndland. A nice warm evening, unlike most of my trips here which are freezing cold February nights, and I hung around for 10 minutes before 320418 arrived, towed along by 318250. An early rollout of the class-clearance cannon, with the 320s now done:



With the 320 off into the distance, I hopped onto 320311+315 back into Glasgow, this time to Central. Another sweep of the platforms saw another winner, 385035, and it was then aboard 380005 for a trip out passed Shields and Corkerhill depots, as I'd had word that my last 156 was lurking at one of them. Sadly, as it was now the end of the evening peak, there were plenty of units heading home for the evening, and a line of 380s blocked a view deeper into the depot at both locations, so I alighted at Corkerhill empty-handed, and slightly deflated as the aforementioned 380 pulled off into the sunset:



I went for a wander around the nearby housing estate to get my steps in for the day, returning 20 minutes later for 380005 to take me back to Central again. At a bit of a loose end, and with the time now pushing 9pm, I had a walk through central Glasgow, got a KFC to eat in St. George's Square, then had one final sweep of Queen Street, which did produce 385021, my final winner for the day.

Day 2

After a decent night in the Z Hotel, it was up and out for 0715, and a quick walk across to Queen Street for the 0730 to Edinburgh, formed of 385113+009, noting 385045 pulling in from Alloa as I boarded. The journey was pleasant, I was certainly expecting it to be busier than it was, having to share my table with one other passenger, but that was it. I'm still undecided on these 385s, which look the part, but as always with modern stock seem to be let down slightly by the seats, or lack of.

I arrived in Edinburgh to find half the teenage population of the city looking to get to Glasgow, which Google informed me was for a three-day festival over at Glasgow Green, and it took a while to battle through the main concourse and get cracking on my traditional circular sweep of Waverley's platforms. There wasn't all that much doing, with 385028 and 385025 the only winners first time around. I took up residence on the elevated walkway that runs across the hear of the station, which allowed me to pick off winners as they arrived, save for the rear units on anything doubled up, which would have to wait for later. 385029 was first, swiftly followed by 385013, before 385014 some 10 minutes later. After a quick PNB the first 4-car 385, 120, found its way into the notebook at the head of a Queen Street arrival, followed by 385027 at the opposite end of the station, working in from North Berwick. There was a 40-minute run of duds that followed, and it was then time to head over to platform 9 for a very special moment:



Headed by 66743 the GBRF charter that had been weaving its way up through the UK all week had reached the end of its expensive journey, and had 66746 on the rear, my last remaining shed (until those two Swedish imports turn up later in the summer). I've been hunting it for a few months now, and to get it at long last is the end of a journey with the 66s that began in February 2016. That it has taken only three years to see all 387 (an average of 110 a year!) really brings it home just how much time I've spent on this quest.

I went to M&S to buy some celebratory Percy Pigs for later (0940 is far too early to be eating that amount of sugar), and came back out just in time to see 800109 arrive, pan up, into platform 6. As a nice contrast 91122 arrived into the adjacent platform not 3 minutes later:



No time to rest however, and I did yet another circular sweep of the platforms, with 385046 from Dunblane first to trouble the red pen, swiftly followed by double winners 385037+032, before joining 380111 for a trip out to Musselburgh, purely to see what was on Craigentinny depot. In the end, the answer was quite a bit, with a smattering of HSTs getting some TLC, the 66s and stock from the earlier charter and, more importantly, winners in the shape of 73967, 73969, 801108 and 801109. A nice juxtaposition between the old and the new, with the added bonus that the 73s were the last of the small and varied locos I needed for sight which operate the Caledonian Sleepers, so a TOC of sorts cleared. Mini cannon!

I'd not timed the return from Musselburgh very well, usually it's a 5-minute up-and-over which is more than doable, and had instead got one of the peak-time extra North Berwick's, so had 27 minutes until the next service back. It was a glorious day however, so I settled in to do the Metro crossword, pausing briefly to see 800109 glide through on its way back to Newcastle:



A busy pairing of 385046+005 eventually arrived for the journey back to Edinburgh, before a quick change onto 334018+005 for the short hop to Haymarket, where I figured I could pick up the units I couldn't identify during my time at Waverley. Sadly there wasn't really anything of note, save for a lot of duds, so I cut my losses and headed for 334035+010 for my first run into Queen Street low level from Edinburgh, picking up 385124 at Edinburgh Park on the way..

With the exception of Hillend Reservoir, which looked most inviting as the temperatures pushed 24 degrees, the journey wasn't all that interesting, so I caught up with the forums and got a bit of gen sorted out for later in the day. From Queen Street I meandered back across the city to Central, heading via Co-op for lunch, then it was off to Hyndland aboard 318261+320303, changing onto 334030+016 for a surprisingly pleasant trip up to Dumbarton Central, where I was hoping to intercept my last 156. Sadly things then went belly up. I'd been tracking the service on RTT down from Oban, and noted it'd lost 10 minutes at Crianlarich, presumably when joining up with the Mallaig portion, and when it was announced at Dumbarton Central that the service was to be short-formed (Four instead of six), I began to fear the worst, given the unit wasn't long out of extensive work at Springburn. Sure enough, two 156s rolled in, neither of which were 156500...

Slightly disappointed to have missed out, I decided to let the service go, given it was six carriages of passengers crammed into four, and instead went for the returning pair of 334s that had dropped me off earlier, again swapping at Hyndland for 320304 back to Central.

The teens had all dispersed by this point (apart from one lad passed out by Burger King), and I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do next. For lack of any better idea, I decided upon heading out to Motherwell, doing so aboard 385016, stocking up with supplies from the nearby shops once there, and then taking 320322 passed Mossend yards and a few dud locos, before jumping off at Coatbridge Central and strolling over to the charmingly-named, if a little iffy, Coatbridge Sunnyside. Eventually, 334025+002 pulled in for yet another visit to Queen Street, where I spent 45 minutes observing the comings and goings, picking up 385026 and 385121 during that time, as well as almost inadvertently paying a visit to Eastfield depot when I only just made it off a parked up 385 before it departed after making use of it for a quick PNB.

Eventually, 1830 arrived, and I wandered back over to Central to await my TPE back south. The final two winners to enter the book were 385034 and 385039, both on the blocks as I arrived, and it was then onto 350404 (again!) and another lovely trip back through the Lakes to Manchester, and 142015+003 to New Mills.

And that was my lot. 32 winners, including the momentous clearance of the 66s, as well as the 320s and the Caley Sleeper locos. 20 further 385s done as well, which takes me down to just 17 of the 70 which are outstanding. It was disappointing not to get that last 156, or the 158 that spent the entirety of the two days I was in Scotland up in the Highlands, but I'm up there again for work in September so, hopefully, the stars might finally align for them.

Looking elsewhere, there's not much that enthuses me really. I'm chipping away at the new Northern CAF stock as each unit comes into service via Edge Hill, and the TPE units/Mk5a DTSO stock crosses my path every now and then, but that aside I probably need a day in London to clear the bits and pieces that I need from SWR, GWR and the 717s, as well as my last 59, and then wait for the new Greater Anglia stock to roll out fully.

Well done on the 66s! One major achievement for sure there.

Certainly looks to have been quite the productive trip all in!

Considering how far into this you are, that's an incredibly productive day North of the border.

Well done on clearing the sheds. Managing that in just 3 years is some achievement

Techniquest said:

Well done on the 66s! One major achievement for sure there.

Certainly looks to have been quite the productive trip all in!

Click to expand...

The_Train said:

Considering how far into this you are, that's an incredibly productive day North of the border.

Well done on clearing the sheds. Managing that in just 3 years is some achievement

Click to expand...

Thanks chaps! You're spot on with classing the trip as productive, I think if I get to double figures on days out these days it can be classed as a success.

I'm actually slightly sad to have finished the sheds, no idea what I'm going to watch out for on the WCML now!

I've had a quick look at a day out in London in August, see if I can polish off the 717s and 802s, so I think that might be next on the agenda.

Summer 2019 Update

I've badly neglected this thread over the summer - I've had a couple of trips I've needed to write-up for ages but never quite got round to it - so I thought a decent-sized Summer update would plug the gap, bring things nicely up to date, and set out what's next.

I've mainly been plugging away at Northern and TPE's new stock on the daily commute, with arrivals at Edge Hill for the 195s and 331s ramping up considerably over July and August. I'm up to 31/58 of the former, and 25/43 of the latter, including all of the four-car 331/1s. In terms of TPE, the 397 sightings have been spread between the Arriva facility in Crewe and either side of the approach to Piccadilly, and again I'm making good progress, with half of the 12-strong fleet in the book already. Very much looking forward to trying them out later in the year. I've added a couple more DTSOs as well, 12803 at Liverpool South Parkway and 12812 at Longsight freshly delivered from Portbury in August. Again I'm now over the half waypoint with these. Finally, I also added three of their new 802s, 201, 202 and 205, all cycling through stays at Edge Hill during various bits of testing and/or crew training.

In terms of trips further afield, 18 July was a work trip to London, with the slim pickings offered up by the WCML restricting me to just 710257 at Willesden, but I had more look when I returned to the capital on 16 August for a nice day out tieing up a few loose ends. Arriving off 390033 I had gen on a few likely candidates, heading firstly across to St Pancras for 700125 up to Finsbury Park, where I had another chance to sample their metro-based relations as 717004 slid smoothly in to carry me north. The units are ok, just 700s minus toilets and with more longitudinal seating, but they'll be perfect for the commuter routes once the teething issues are ironed out. I had originally planned to bail at Hornsey, but instead changed my mind halfway, staying on until Ally Pally and alighting here just as 08580 was shunting a DVT and coaching stock back into Bounds Green. Having watched the gronk chug off I was back to the newer stuff immediately, with 717013 appearing to help chisel away further at the 717s.

From here it was a pair of very tired 313s to Bowes Park, mainly so I could get 08441 round the other side of Bounds Green depot before I walked back to Ally Pally via Tesco for a mid-morning snack. I spent a bit of time here watching the old and new LNER stock tear through, although none of the IETs I saw were required, before catching my last ever pair of 313s back to Finsbury Park, again changing onto a 717 which was diverted into Kings Cross, a bonus which allowed me to score 800103 just before it departed for Leeds.

No time to rest on my laurels, instead it was off to the tube for the always tedious crawl across to Paddington, arriving onto the concourse just at 802006 arrived from Worcester, my penultimate GWR unit needed. Grabbing a quick PNB I then jumped aboard a pair of 387s (I wasn't too great at recording my moves over the summer, as you may be able to tell!), heading towards Ealing Broadway for this beast to clag through:



That, ladies and gents, is 59103, my last 59 (some 18 months after the penultimate one), which also clears Mendip as well. Double cannon!

With Ealing Broadway probably left behind for a few years now I had a brief moment of reflection as to the mammoth number of hours I've spent there over the last 3.5 years, a place I will miss, even the incessant platform announcements to move down the platform that nobody listens to, and the rain that always seems to come in sideways. No time to become too misty-eyed however, as it was aboard 345007 back to Paddington, with enough time to grab a drink before I had to wheel out the TOC clearance cannon, prompted by the arrival of 802018 from Oxford, which signals the end of my quest for GWR units, a journey which began back in May 2016 with 180102. Let us pause for a moment and bask in the glow of a celebratory IET:



With all my mains aims for the trip already done, and with rain now piling in, I was at a bit of a loss. I decided upon Gospel Oak for a bit to see if any further 710s were out that I needed but, after an hour the answer was 'no', so I then reasoned the sensible thing to do was to head all the way out to Bletchley for an old tube train rehashed as an apparently legitimate solution for the Bedfordshire community to utilise. On the plus side, it means the 230s are now cleared until whatever whacky battery concept they're doing on 230002 comes to fruition:



As an added bonus I also got 37600 dragging 345062 for storage at Worksop until Crossrail is eventually opened fully.

The other day out was last month, where I headed back across to an old favourite, Doncaster, for some IET-based fun. I only spent four hours there, but saw all manner of workings, including the 331s on the Leeds runs, 43s crashing through on the fasts, and the new Azumas, which none of the LNER staff I asked seem to actually like. Nonetheless, winners were secured by way of 800105, 800107 and 800112, as well as a bonus 802, 802203, which whilst technically a TPE unit was being used by Hull Trains for driver instructor training between Peterborough and Hull.

At this point I have a confession to make; I've started spotting trams that aren't in Manchester. I don't know how, I went to Sheffield to get the 399s, as technically they're on the mainline, albeit briefly, and I just sort of ended up seeing all this lot whilst soaking up the sun on a bench by the triangle in Sheffield:



Which means I now need to return at some point to get the two remaining 399s and the last Supertram (I must say 'Supertram' is possibly the most inappropriate name for these ever. They're very tired and very, very bland). Does anybody know if it's possible to find out gen for these, by the way? I can't really be bothered sitting around Sheffield for ages to get the last three...

All that means I'm very much approaching the bitter end. I know I've been saying this for a while, but with GWR gone, along with the 59s, the list of what I need from in-service stock/locos is quite short:

67x1: 030 at Toton. can combine it with tram spotting in Nottingham!
70x1: Just 70807 remains.
73x1: 141, which I hope to grab on the RHTT circuit through Clapham on Thursday
92x1: 042, which last I heard was at Crewe for an exam. Need to find out if/when it goes back.

156x1: Just 156500 up in Scotland
158x2: One in Scotland and 887, which I hope is in London on Thursday night
195x27: Lots, but eminently gettable given my daily commute passed their delivery point onto the network at Edge Hill.

331x18: See above
345x17: If Crossrail is ever finished I can then easily spend an evening in London picking these off.
385x13: Contemplating a day or two in Scotland early next year for the last of these, and the two DMUs above.
399x2: See Sheffield chat above

442x4: These are all sitting at Eastleigh awaiting eventual re-entry into service. I'm not holding my breath given the farce SWR has made of this so far.

710x?: Not sure how many of these are actually currently available for service? Trainlogger suggests I've got most of them at present, however.
717x2: Now 001 has been accepted into traffic I'll go and grab these two on Thursday hopefully.

The 8xx family will need work, clearly, but I'll wait until they're all in traffic before heading back over to Doncaster for the LNER/Hull trains stuff. The TPE 802s will be easy enough to get, along with their 397s. I'm also going to wait until the new Greater Anglia stock has come into service a bit more substantially before I make a start on that region again.

And that's that up to date again. I've opened a can of worms with these trams, to the point where I'm already looking at a trip to Newcastle for the T&W Metro, but I suppose given the scarcity of heavy-rail stock I need it give me something else to do! I've got a few work trips to London this month, so alongside the 717s I might start on the DLR. Any advice as to the best places to spot from are appreciated.

A trick with supertram is to head out towards Darnall as you go past the back of the depot.

DLR, spend an hour at Shadwell, before shifting to Poplar and then to Canning Town. Maybe take a trip to All Saints (first stop towards Stratford from Poplar) as you can normally grab some of the units on the depot, sadly Beckton has no viewing points

Kite159 said:

A trick with supertram is to head out towards Darnall as you go past the back of the depot.

DLR, spend an hour at Shadwell, before shifting to Poplar and then to Canning Town. Maybe take a trip to All Saints (first stop towards Stratford from Poplar) as you can normally grab some of the units on the depot, sadly Beckton has no viewing points

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Smashing, I'll give that a go on Thursday and see how I get on. Thanks.

Nice to see you back posting your out and abouts mate. Things have got to be getting tough if you're actively seeking out DLR stuff suppose it's the downside of having such success at hunting stuff down but at least there is plenty of new stuff up Norf for you to go at now and in the 'near' future

The_Train said:

Nice to see you back posting your out and abouts mate. Things have got to be getting tough if you're actively seeking out DLR stuff suppose it's the downside of having such success at hunting stuff down but at least there is plenty of new stuff up Norf for you to go at now and in the 'near' future

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Yeah I'm not sure I'll be chasing light rail with as much vigour as the heavy stuff, but I suppose most of the tram networks are integrated with the rail network in places, so I can use them to pass the time between waiting for 385s in Edinburgh, or going to Toton to see the last 67, for example.

The new stuff arriving up here is keeping me busy enough, it's just nice to see some tangible investment in our area at last (said as I type from a 'refurbished' Northern 150 with half the seats falling apart and mud up the wall opposite!)

palmersears said:

Yeah I'm not sure I'll be chasing light rail with as much vigour as the heavy stuff, but I suppose most of the tram networks are integrated with the rail network in places, so I can use them to pass the time between waiting for 385s in Edinburgh, or going to Toton to see the last 67, for example.

The new stuff arriving up here is keeping me busy enough, it's just nice to see some tangible investment in our area at last (said as I type from a 'refurbished' Northern 150 with half the seats falling apart and mud up the wall opposite!)

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I can't say anything about light rail as I had to drive to Nottingham (well the outskirts) the other week and on my way back out I ran parallel to the tram lines and pretty much brought traffic to a halt so I could get the number of a tram going past

You'll miss the dirty 150s when they are gone mate. That said, mud up the walls probably reflects more on society than it does the TOC

Excellent update @palmersears as always.

Very few left to go for through. Can you get them completed before the decade is out, that should be the challenge!

Funny really I've barely scratched a quarter off, of what you need I have seen though:

67030 - seen at King's Cross as Thunderbird in December 2017

I've a long way to go!

Bezza49 said:

Excellent update @palmersears as always.

Very few left to go for through. Can you get them completed before the decade is out, that should be the challenge!

Funny really I've barely scratched a quarter off, of what you need I have seen though:

67030 - seen at King's Cross as Thunderbird in December 2017

I've a long way to go!

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I highly doubt I'll get all the old BR-era stuff before the year is out, the two sprinters up in Scotland are difficult to pin down and probably need two days up in the highlands, which I don't have spare at the moment. The rest is very much doable, even that 67 that you've already ticked off *shakes first in general direction of nothing*

palmersears said:

I highly doubt I'll get all the old BR-era stuff before the year is out, the two sprinters up in Scotland are difficult to pin down and probably need two days up in the highlands, which I don't have spare at the moment. The rest is very much doable, even that 67 that you've already ticked off *shakes first in general direction of nothing*

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The 156 will be easier than the 158, as they work from Glasgow, so you can combine it with a day for 385 hunting. The 158 on the other hand could be in Inverness, on the other hand it could easily be in Edinburgh.

Kite159 said:

The 156 will be easier than the 158, as they work from Glasgow, so you can combine it with a day for 385 hunting. The 158 on the other hand could be in Inverness, on the other hand it could easily be in Edinburgh.

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The last two times I've been in the Central Belt the 158 was up in Inverness, and then when I finally get up to the Highlands with work last month it was back in Edinburgh...

The last 4/5 385s are due to be in service in time for the December timetable change, so I might see if I can get up there for that, tick them all off in one go.

You've certainly been busy lately! Some very good fortune there, with very little needs too. I still need a good few GWR IETs for sight, so I am a little jealous of you finishing them. My fault for not really trying to be fair!

I did chuckle at your reply to someone about 67030, the shaking fist at nothing is actually making me laugh more and more every time I read it The sort of thing I'd do too, usually when Kite gets 158884. I might actually go that way and have a ride on it one day!

67030 was literally the only need of @palmersears that I had already, so I took that as a very minor "win" for me considering I need about three quarters of the UK rolling stock Small wins eh!

Bezza49 said:

67030 was literally the only need of @palmersears that I had already, so I took that as a very minor "win" for me considering I need about three quarters of the UK rolling stock Small wins eh!

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Fair game! I still need 67007 and 67030 to clear the class for haulage, not likely to ever happen now!

I need a surprising amount of UK trains myself, especially now there's so much new stuff around. Just lacking the motivation to go find it all. Even with GWR IETs coming my way daily, although as almost all GWR runs here are 9-car and I only need a few 802/1s, with the cost of fares up here it's often just easier to say 'ah well, too much effort' and stay at home!

67030 seems to be the resident Toton shunter now, it's been there for ages.

Was having a wee look today at maybe visiting the Severn Valley Railway via Kidderminster at the beginning of November, and then heading into Brum to pick off their trams. Any advice for either? Particularly how long I might need to give the SVR a proper seeing to.

Bull Street is one of my favourite spots for the trams, plenty of shops/takeaways/pubs around in case you get bored waiting for a tram. Not a long walk from Snow Hill either.

As for the SVR, it is a nice run all the way to the end, so I'd personally be aiming to do the whole line. A full round trip does take a good while, but I'm sure others here will concur it's worth it.

For Birmingham trams, don't forget to get a ticket to ride towards the depot as there are normally some trams parked up outside.

Kite159 said:

For Birmingham trams, don't forget to get a ticket to ride towards the depot as there are normally some trams parked up outside.

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Oh yeah that's a good point. Most of the time when I pass and there's much on there, they're a little too far away to ID.

Not helped by being similar to Nottingham (but not as bad as!) with small numbers on the trams!

Just a quick update; a wet 20 minutes at Finsbury Park was had on Thursday night for my last couple of Great Northern units. 717025 was first up, arriving as the night crept in:



After this the heavens opened, and despite seeking shelter, the wind quickly whipped things up, making the station a miserable place to be. I was therefore mighty grateful when 717001 rolled in. To show just how poor the 313s were by the end of their tenure this left Hertford North 18 minutes late, but arrived just 5 late based on the 313 timings it was working to It was only right that, as my last 717, and indeed last Great Northern unit, I took a ride, doing so all the way to Moorgate, where I got a naff picture:



Looking through my records I think the 1 year and 11 days it's taken to clear the 717s is the second quickest I've cleared a class, after the 139s, which don't really count.

I did have gen on my final SWR 158, but it wasn't due for two hours, and I wasn't overly keen on killing time picking up DLR units in the pouring rain, so I called it a night at this point. I did pick up 710121 and 710123 at Willesden on the way home the day after, and a bonus of 66792, which had arrived at Longport from Immingham docks only a few hours earlier, to become the latest Nordic import for GBRF. I'm just waiting for 66791 to come out of the shed at Longport to reclear the 66s.

Next up I think, barring any last minute hiccups, I'll be off to the SVR in a couple of weeks, then a little trip round the Midlands Metro. I've also got my eye on a trip to Peak Rail in Matlock the Sunday after, which it only a 40 minute drive away from home, and has a decent array of shunters and locos that would fill the book of winners quite nicely.

Can I also ask, how do you embed images from Flickr? Tried all sorts but none seemed to work.

Assuming you are on a desktop or laptop, on the picture you want should be a little rightwards pointing arrow on the bottom hand side (with a square and a pen, the right arrow, a downwards pointing arrow & a shopping basket).

That will bring up the "Share" box, select "BB Code" which will look something like this , select the size you want and copy & paste.

You can get rid of the stuff after the hash tags

Hope that helps, and if on a mobile I have no idea!

Congrats on clearing the 717s mate. Not bad to clear a class in just over a year especially considering they couldn't get much further away from your local area.

Peak Rail is on my radar as it appears that Heritage Shunters Trust are based on the line and they have a wide variety of shunters in their ranks (if my information is correct) - examples of every class from 01 to 09. Be interesting to see how accessible they are