Part 3
It was about half 8ish when we got to Cardiff Central, so we really didnt have that long there to be honest, however we managed to scratch off some welsh units and a few freight trains came through, obviously not as much as we'd have liked but we weren't kidding oursekves, whenever has many freoght trains ran on a Saturday evening, the sight of cop
37426 arriving and terminating, with a rake of coaches, set something away, Glen had one of his lightbulb moments, he said, lets go up to the next station on something loco hauled and wait for one of those back, pointing at the 37. John said, you think we'll have time, for once in his life, Glen never had his timetable, he'd left it on his kitchen table, at home. No such thing as as a mobile, nevermind, such a thing as a real time trains app then. Glen waltzed off and came back 5mins later, we get to Newport we'll have about 25-30mins fester, for the next one back.
We found the ticket office and got 4(Maxy had joined us, his dad would wait for us at Cardiff) returns to Newport. We boarded winner and a cop for us all,
47600 Dewi Sany/Saint David on what service, I couldn't tell you but I was head out the front window, telling everyone what a Welsh Beast it was, as we were leaving, bailing obviously at Newport, I can't honestly remember a lot going through Newport bar a 47 but it went whizzing through on some freight. We were sat on some benches, looking up the line, when we heard a horn in the distance, we saw, 3 lights appear in the dark, then heard the growl and into the light come a wonderful sight, of a large logo 37, Glen just went wooooaaah, John, Maxy and I just went, Get In!!!!!, the 4 of us marched up towards the front coach as
37429 Eisteddfod Genedlaethol pulled in, we were eccsatic, Glen and John got the very front windows, whilst Maxy and I got the next windows down, John Glen and I, were no stranger to 37 haulage but this was our maiden voyage behind one of the 37/4's and as usual with any 37, they were always a pleasure to ride behind, it just topped the whole day off, although by now, we were all absolutely clamming. As we came into the Platform at Cardiff we waved at Maxy's Dad and other lads from the trip. We bailed off and went up to look at the 37 and watch her leave, I have to admit, she looked impressive and I'd just been hauled by her. I remember after I'd been hauled by 37401, on the Cumbrian Coast turn earlier, this year, I stood watching 37401 leave Carlisle up to Kingmoor and it brought this memory back then, I stood smiling to myself, as I am now writing this. WE were snapped out of the day dream of watching 429 leave by Maxy's Dad, come on lads, the coach will be waiting, we made for the coach, when I asked John and Glen if they had any grub left, John had crisps, I had a packet of custard creams and a couple of Wagon Wheels left, Glen had a box full of sarnies but they were at the hotel. We asked the driver of the coach if he'd seen any chippy's on the way, he hadn't but said, if we saw one, he'd stop and let us get some. Unfortunately I cant recall us stopping anywhere, so I imagine, the 4 of us, just sat in 1 room and polished off, glens sarnies, johns crisps and my biscuits, washed down with some warm bottle of pop.
The trip so far had been brilliant to us, I'd copped gronks, Gloucester's very own rushton shunter 97653, a couple of 31's, a 33, a load of the welsh 37's, 47600 and 47901, a few 50's, namely 50149 and 007 among them, the 59's in one foul swoop, 3 58's, a fair ole chunk of welsh units and coaching stock too.
Needless to say we all went to bed, exhausted but happy and with the siding just down the road to explore in the morning before Margam, before ventuing round South Wales, picking off locos in various welsh stabling points to look forward to, before we even ventured down into Devon and Cornwall. It was an exciting thought but all I wanted was sleep.
I conked out before my head hit the pillow, waking at 7am, well I say waking, someone brayed on the door and woke us up. I nipped along the corridor into the shower and toilet block, the showers reminded me of the ones we used to use, when I was at school. Least they were hot but you had to press the bloody button every 2mins to keep the water going, I quickly got dressed and told John to hurry his backside up and went downstairs for my breakfast and a cup of coffee.
Glen was already tucking in, I asked if he'd knocked on the door, he said, aye for 10mins
. I ordered my breakfast and went over to get some juice, I collared the main man with a Cheery Morning, as he was grabbing some toast or something, he grunted back, aye morning son, you ok? aye, I said, a bit better than you, I think, he just puffed out his cheeks and said, some of us didnt come out the railway club till nearly midnight, I laughed, mainly because I was unaware of the evils of drink the morning after, the night before. I said, oh by the way, the London trip, can you count John, Glen and I in for it. He looked at me and said, I'll catch you up later but ok. John eventually arrived, as I was finishing off my breakfast, I've ordered yours mate, you've just gotta tell the wifey(Geordie slang for woman, in this case the waitress), your down. I told him. By half 8, quarter to 9, we were all saying goodbyes to the hotel and making towards the stabling point about 200 yds up the road, there was about half a dozen 37's on. We quickly got them and made back to the coach and set off for Margam.
Off we went about 9.30 to Margam not really knowing what to expect, the main man had recovered slightly to get on the mic, Morning folks, we're off to Margam now, if we get round, lets get round sharpish, then we can go round a few stabling points, pick off the locos and away. Remember we've got to be at Laira for half 2, 3 at the very latest.
We got to Margam, after a few mins we got the nod, we walked into the place and ir was heaving, predominantly 37's but there was 47 and 56's, as well as a few gronks too. It was awesome, we clicked a load of the 37's, I took a photo of John between
37894 and
37901, which were big cops for us too, Glen also clicked 47317
Wilesden Yard which looked ex works and looked immense, Glen also wiped 56055 off his list, meaning he'd wiped 3 out of the 5, he needed for sight, the 37's were certainly keeping me busy, as were the gronks. I walked into a small shed, thinking there's sure to be a gronk in here, there wasn't but
56069 was, my last grid for sight, how I kept a lid on it, I dont know but I said, John theres a 56 in here mate, shout Glen over, inside I was screaming, get in, get in, ha ha ha, yes, yes yes, when Glen walked in with John, I was beaming ear to ear, Glen laughed and said, oh well, John will be happy, John just looked and went, I dont need it. I said, I know you dont but I do, it took a bit for John to twigg but the penny dropped eventually, oh your last one, ah cracking, well done mate. I said, now will you F'in stop with this how many 56's do you need malarkey, before we all broke into hysterics, John turned and said it to Glen, Glen laughed and whilst rubbing his chin mockingly said, hmmm, how many times have I seen 47580 again, whislt counting 1 2 3, before we all laughed whilst wakling off Margam. 47580 was one of John's much needed gap fillers, in his platform 5, we both needed 47596 too but Glen and I always ribbed him about 47580, in fact everytime I see it these days be it on the rails or photo's on line or in a magazine, I always laugh and think of John.
In less than half an hour, we'd done the shed and were back on the bus after a ciggy, the main man was flat out on the front seat, we were buzzing and laughed at him but left him alone. We raced round South Wales, going to places like Radyr, Aberthaw and a few others, sure someone on here will?, that I can't for the life of me remember, not going round them, just picking off what we could with bino's, the odd gronk and welsh 37's, we must've got about 80% of them 37's numbered from 684 to 906. The cops just kept growing big time.
However we bade farewell and made off towards Devon and Cornwall, the driver took a break at a services. so we had our eyes ripped out getting bottles of pop etc, before too long the main man, said we'd have a brief look in Exeter St Davids, before we hit the stabling point, we marched round that, where the was a few required 50's, maybe a gronk too, I maybe wrong here but there may even have been a 33 on there but I can't be totally sure, maybe that was a later visit
From there it was off to St Blazley, where another stabling point/depot was done, some of the cornish 37's were scratched off here as well a gronk, we got stuck at a level crossing, where we clicked another 37, in tandem with 37207
Willliam Cookworthy Glen thought he needed it, John said he definitely did, Glen confirmed he did too, I needed the nameplate for sure. We doubled back and made our way back up to Laira, calling at Plymouth Station first, being a Sunday there wasnt a great deal about, the odd tram, which we probably needed at the time and the odd unit, nothing too startling but we only had roughly half an hour to kill, before we'd go for the depot visit. We left the station and made our way to Laira, I remember pulling up outside Laira Depot and seeing lines of 50's and 47's, we were like, look at this lot!!!.
THE VISIT WAS AWESOME, our guide was excellent, telling us what was in for what repairs, refurbs and exams, even took some of us down underneath the loco's into the maintenance pit, can you imagine that nowadays?, its hard enough to get a depot visit. thanks to the Health and Safety goons. Was really weird seeing the underside of a loco but equally fascinating, our guide seemed very fond of the 50's. After what seemed like 10mins but was actually an hour and a half, we'd done the lot, so he told us, to stand at this point and await the other party to catch up, he went away and came back with a pile of the new Laira depot stickers, clear ones with the boat on, between the LA (Im presuming it was meant to be the ship, the Mayflower) and asked if we'd be interested in buying a sticker for a £1 apiece, we all bought one, even the following party did, mine went straight on my hardbacked notebook and fit perfectly. Glen, chirped up and said to the guide, excuse me, if I give you £2, can I take one of the 50's home to go with this sticker, we all laughed and the guide said, I'll run that past my boss first. We put a huge dint in our 50's requirements there, obviously the gronks were all needed, the odd 37 was copped too,
47650 was a big cop too. We got on the bus and it was like wow, what a place, getting the shed sticker added to the thrill of it and the guide was brilliant. However the downside was now, we'd be journeying homewards, we'd been promised Didcot, on the way home, so going to Acton was scratched, we weren't too bothered though. It meant we could settle down and get some kip for the long journey home, it was as well.
Didcot was off the bus, get what was lying round and back on the bus and away. Aaprt from a gronk, there wasn't much I needed there, we had a few service station breaks but nothing in the way of a railway persuasion. The main man, now a lot better, came up to see John, Glen and I. London trip lads, I hear your wanting to go, we all said, aye definitely, I said, can we pay a deposit?, he said, I know you lads will turn up but if you want to, thats not a problem, we all gave him a fiver apiece, he sat with us asking, how the trip had went, top notch stuff we all agreed, I asked, are we stopping anywhere else or just a straight run home now? Depeds on time, some lads have work tomorrow, I'm told.
We were on that bus for what seemed like an eternity, when it was announced, we'd shortly be stopping at Ferrybridge services and after that we'd stop outside Knottingley and let you's pick of what you can, we wont go and try and get round but you can have 15mins to see what you can, there was a 58 on but not a 1, I needed. I would've loved a walk round, there was loads on but we couldn't ID a lot because of the dark but Glen had more luck, somehow he'd had the fortune of 56021 and 56030, his last 2 grids, being on the line nearest the bank side, he was positively shouting all types of weird and wonderful stuff, it certainly topped a great weekend for him for sure, we got one more gronk added to the list of cops but all too soon we were on the bus, for the final run home.
After drop offs on Teeside, Sunderland, Washington, Birtley services and Gateshead, we were home, suitably shattered but our Platform 5's were all the better for it, it was well after midnight, when I got in the house, my step mother was waiting up for me, she asked if I'd had a good time, to which I said, aw fantastic, just need a cuppa then I'm going to bed. I had a cuppa, said goodnight and slept till well after 10 the next morning, I knocked for John but he was still asleep, so I went back and marked everything up.
I cant remember the exact numbers but I coped in the region of 250-300 locos, units and coaching stock on that trip. It was one of the best trips, I'd EVER had, some great laughs and moments and in the space of 4 days, the 3 of us all cleared the Grids
. Isn't it also amazing how some stuff sticks in the memory like John's and Glen's required stuff but I cant remember some of them stabling points in Wales.
Ayway I hope you've enjoyed this, its been a great memory to recall, thanks for your time and kind words on previous posts. many thanks
47403
sounds like a proper good time and I'm looking forward to more!
