55013's Contemporary Trip Reports

[55013]

We don't pack so much as chuck a few things in bags the day before we go (or the morning we set off if leaving in the afternoon).
My wife's out at the moment and I've been feverishly typing, so the Scotland stuff should start coming through very soon (just need to sort out a few photos).

 

[55013]

And here it is (well, part one).

We went for two weeks; the second week was in a railway location that I will come to in due course.
The first week was spent in a caravan site at Eyemouth, just over the border – only six miles from Berwick.

No trains were involved on the Saturday as we were driving up.
Sunday was spent doing the local cliff-top walk, which is most enjoyable.

On Monday we decided to go West and visit Loch Lomond.

I’m in charge of trip planning and didn’t want to drive all the way so it was, naturally, the train that took the strain
Although we were close to Berwick I needed a station a bit further away so that’s where we started.
Dunbar was the first new shack of the week and we got there in plenty of time for the Leeds – Aberdeen HST, which was worked by 43312 and 43239.
We took this to Edinburgh and then did the first Glasgow service.
This was, unfortunately, worked by 170461.
This is one of only a handful of Scottish 170s that I’d cleared for both ten miles and all coaches.
This was a day out with my wife, not a railway move as such, so I didn’t have the option of waiting for something more attractive.

There’s not a lot that I need in Scotland, so I wasn’t expecting much in the way of winners.
That was just as well as our ride to Balloch was provided by double duds 318261 and 318265.

Loch Lomond is a beautiful location, unfortunately the Balloch end of it has been spoilt, in my opinion, by commercial intrusion.

We walked round and found a shopping centre on the banks of the loch.
To make things worse they had loud music blaring out from one of the cafes.
They have a rural idyll and go and ruin it with noise pollution and commerce.
Bah.
As it turned out, our short-lived visit proved beneficial for me, but we’ll come to that shortly.
Disappointed by what we had seen (although the view down the loch was magnificent) we decided to head back.

Mileage requirement 318264 was our chariot as far as Hyndland where we decided to change as it increased our chances of a seat through to Edinburgh.

EMU 318264_2017.09.18_1_Balloch by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Another unit that was below ten miles, 334018, was where we sat through to Edinburgh.
334036 was its partner.

We arrived at about 16.45.
The first of the Fife loco-hauled services leaves at 17.08.
I fluttered my eyelashes at Mrs 13 and she agreed we could have a run to Inverkeithing.

I was more than happy when I saw the beast on the front of the 17.08 was 68006.
Even my wife was impressed by this machine as we stood by it, waiting for the doors to be opened.
A good run was enjoyed and all too soon we were getting off at Inverkeithing.

68006_2017.09.18_2_Edinburgh by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Our journey back to Edinburgh was also beneficial for me as it was 158728 which contained a winning coach, 52728, which was obviously where we sat.

My good fortune continued; as it was sub thousand mile 91108 that propelled us back to Dunbar.
Still not there, but a bit closer.

 

[Cowley]

Excellent. Shame about the noise at Loch Lomond which is so beautiful and peaceful normally. I chuckled at your eyelash fluttering. I've done that a few times. God bless an understanding missus.

 

[Techniquest]

I loved the fluttering the eyelashes comment! I trust Mrs 13 didn't mind too much, or take too much persuasion? If she was impressed by 68006 that does indicate she's quite understanding, fair play to her. Mega ouch to having to suffer a Droner all the way to Glasgow, and to the peace of Loch Lomond being ruined by commercial activity. Especially the noise-polluting cafe, grim times!

Looking forward to more when it's ready, although I suspect I'll not be on the forum for a few days after today. I'm about to go and set up my new blog page ready for my first trip report in a while. Details to be announced on my own report thread soon!

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like a nice little day, I need to revisit Balloch to explore the southern end of the loch

 

[45135]

Well done on getting Spotty in the bag. It's a bit of a beast isn't it?

 

[55013]

Excellent. Shame about the noise at Loch Lomond which is so beautiful and peaceful normally. I chuckled at your eyelash fluttering. I've done that a few times. God bless an understanding missus.

Thanks.
Having a wife that appreciates the benefits of letting me off the leash every now and then is certainly a bonus

I loved the fluttering the eyelashes comment! I trust Mrs 13 didn't mind too much, or take too much persuasion? If she was impressed by 68006 that does indicate she's quite understanding, fair play to her. Mega ouch to having to suffer a Droner all the way to Glasgow, and to the peace of Loch Lomond being ruined by commercial activity. Especially the noise-polluting cafe, grim times!

Looking forward to more when it's ready, although I suspect I'll not be on the forum for a few days after today. I'm about to go and set up my new blog page ready for my first trip report in a while. Details to be announced on my own report thread soon!

Cheers.
Mrs 13 is happy to accompany me on a train ride now and again, she just sits and reads whilst I froth about the traction.
She goes "hmm" occasionally to prove she's listening to my ramblings
99% of Loch Lomond seems to be as good as ever, it was just unfortunate for us that we ended up in the unpleasant 1%.

Sounded like a nice little day, I need to revisit Balloch to explore the southern end of the loch

If you go exploring the loch, my advice is to turn right out of the station, cross the bridge and then follow the footpath along the banks.
That looked much nicer than the way we went.

Well done on getting Spotty in the bag. It's a bit of a beast isn't it?

Cheers murty.
As much as I enjoy them; I think that the Chiltern ones aren't a patch on the Scottish ones, simply because I think the MK3s deaden the sound to a certain extent.
Both 6 and 7 (and the one I had later in the week) were notably loud, which was nice.

 

[55013]

Tuesday was spent doing the same as Sunday, an eight mile walk along the cliff tops near the camp site.

Wednesday, by contrast, saw a nice bonus move.
We went to Dunbar to have a look round.

I’ve mentioned before that my wife is involved in local politics and she had been informed that there was an important interview she needed to attend in Bradford on Thursday.
This would mean she wouldn’t get her “me time” looking around the shops , as is usual on our holidays, so she suggested she stayed in Dunbar and I made myself scarce.

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I had fourteen minutes to get from the seafront to the railway station.
Dunbar isn’t blessed with the greatest service in the world and to miss it meant a lengthy fester.
I got there and purchased a ticket with two minutes to spare

Given the poor service Dunbar sees, I had no choice but to suffer a pair of Voyagers.
At least 220021 was a mileage requirement, although its partner 220029 had nothing positive to offer (I don’t really do Voyagers coaches as such; I try to avoid them altogether – although if I have no choice I do aim for a new vehicle).

On the run to Edinburgh I pondered my bonus moves.
I had two hours or so to kill.

My wife was going to head back to Bradford on the train, so I knew I had a full day on Thursday.
I know, what about one of those new “Edinburgh Days-Out” two-day tickets?
Once at Waverley I made my way to the ticket office and bought one.
They can’t be that popular yet because the lady who sold me it said I was her first one.
Eventually she worked out how to do it and I made my way to platform 4 as I’d decided I would give the Tweedbank line a go.

158714 had a required coach, which was nice, so that’s where I went for the run to Gorebridge.
I'd perused the timetable earlier in the week and decided that the “Borders Railway” would be seeing the bulk of my attention on Thursday; however, getting all the stations in the time I had planned wouldn’t be doable, so it made sense to get a couple now.

Another coach requirement, 52701, was next as 158701 took me from Gorebridge to Brunstane.

DMU 158701_2017.09.18_1_Gorebridge by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Next up was a mileage requirement.
Unfortunately, I’d been in both coaches of 158738 before; but only when I’d done it from Haymarket to Waverley and back.
The 62 chain run to Newcraighall didn’t do much to help its mileage figures but it was time to head back and I didn’t want to risk going further, even though Newcraighall was not required.

DMU 158738_2017.09.18_1_Brunstane by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Dud for everything 158736 took me back to Edinburgh before 380108 Whisked me back to Dunbar, meeting up with my wife bang on time.

We bought her some tickets for the following day and then went to see the sights of Dunbar.
After that we had a walk down to the harbour where we scored local celebrity “Sammy the seal” for sight.
He was fast asleep in a small bay, snoring loudly.
It did give me the opportunity to get some nice close up photos of this lovely animal.

Thus:
DSCN4810 by Ruth Wood, on Flickr

 

[Kite159]

Mmm 158 thrash. I bet that was a good run to Dunbar on the 380

 

[Cowley]

That picture of Sammy just melted my cold cold heart.
Enjoying reading this.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Gosh, you do enjoy a nice big range of trips don’t you! Please, keep them coming; great to read!

 

[55013]

Thanks chaps.
Here's the Thursday from week one.

The day began with us driving to Berwick.
Mrs 13 was booked on the 09.11 Kings Cross service, which she would be taking as far as York.
As I wasn’t doing it I took no notice of the front power car, for it was a HST, but photographed the rear one as it left – it was 43309.

My first move was also a HST, in fact it was the same Leeds to Aberdeen service that we had sampled on Monday.
This time it was worked by 43315 and 43310.

As I mentioned earlier, my plan for today revolved mostly around the Tweedbank line.
There was something else I wanted to do first, though.
One station served by the Edinburgh to North Berwick trains remained un-visited.
I was pleased to see it was a winning unit, 380112, that would be doing the deed.
As the train made its way to Longniddry I saw a pair of three car 380s heading the other way, although I was unable to identify them.
Whilst heading back to Dunbar the previous day I had seen such a combination waiting to head to North Berwick.
That had been formed of one unit that was required and another that was low mileage.
I decided to gamble that it was the same pair.

380112 was picked up again from Longniddry and taken as far as Pestonpans.
My gamble paid off and it was, indeed, 380014 leading 380008 that arrived a few minutes later.
380014 had previously been sampled for 6 and a bit miles, from Ayr to Troon in 2012.
Not only that, but I’d sat in the unit it was partnered with (380010) on that occasion so it was required for a ride in.

EMU 380014_2017.09.21_Prestonpans_& 380008 by Phil Wood, on Flickr

It was 380014 that I went in to North Berwick before changing to 380008 for the run back to Waverley.
Now it was time to hit Borders Rail.

Dud for everything 158704 was my ride to Galashiels.
The same unit, not for the last time today, or even this holiday, took me to Stow.
I was interested to find out this place is pronounced to rhyme with cow; rather than toe as I’d been doing in my head.

Low mileage 158723, I’d previously only had it Waverley-Haymarket, took me from Stow to the end of the line at Tweedbank.
In doing so I rode in 52723, which was required.

Annoyingly; 158722, one of only three Scottish 158s that I need outright, was the spare unit at Tweedbank, going nowhere fast.

158723 was taken to Eskbank before a reunion with 158704.
I took this to my last new shack of the day, Newtongrange.

There remained one station on the line for me to visit, Shawfair, but I decided that would have to wait as I had something on my mind.
I utilised 158714 to get back to Edinburgh and made my way round to platform 19.

Remember 68006, my score from Monday?
Well, it had been great then but had disgraced itself by failing on Wednesday whilst working the afternoon ECS.
This had caused both the loco hauled services to be cancelled as 68007 had been sent to rescue it.
I’d seen a gen message saying that 68001 was to be sent up overnight on Wednesday to take its place.
Now, 68001 was technically dud but I’d only had it for one run at Barrow Hill.
Half a mile of haulage is still haulage, but deeply unsatisfactory.
My plan now was to view the two services and see if it dropped.

The 17.08 was 68007.
A beast, but not what I was after.
The 17.17 was going from platform 2 so I mooched down there.
My mileage bugbear was, as hoped, put to bed when it proved to be 68001 that took me to Inverkeithing.
68001 was a monster, even louder than 68006 had been on Monday – and that had been impressive.

68001_2017.09.21_2_Inverkeithing by Phil Wood, on Flickr

Mileage requirement 158729 took me back from Inverkeithing to Waverley.

Now it was time for me to grab some grub before returning to Berwick.
Oh, no; Jimmy Chung’s Oriental Buffet is no more.
Not in Edinburgh anyway (branches remain in Dundee, Stirling, Inverness and Dublin – I’ve checked).
It’s now a Weatherspoon’s.
The homogenisation of the high-street continues.

After eating I made my way down to the platform and was pleased to see it was another 91 on less than a thousand miles that would be taking me South.
This was 91126 and I arrived at Berwick shortly before Mrs 13 was due to arrive.
She was due to arrive but she didn’t.
I had got a text from her saying that the train was stopped south of Newcastle due to a fatality.
Happily, this proved not to be the case – it was a homeless man who had bedded down in his sleeping bag adjacent to the running line for some reason.
Once the police had sorted him out there was a backlog of trains to clear and Mrs 13 eventually got to Berwick about ninety minutes late.

That was it for rail moves during the first week.
The next couple of days saw us walking and enjoying the local flora and fauna.

 

[alexf380]

Boo to you getting one of my last two Scottish 158s there, mega jealous! Glad you enjoyed yourself up here, and that the Mrs had a pleasant enough journey herself.

 

[Kite159]

Congrats for clearing the North Berwick Line and nearly clearing the Borders Line, with a decent run on the First Cat.

 

[ash39]

Enjoying the read so far as always.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Love Scotland, but still jealous of the 68 trip.

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Sounds like a great start to what is essentially a couple of weeks of R & R. Nice to know that Mrs 13 is so complicit in your bashing habits. And as for those impromptu "days of for good behaviour", it's good to see you making full use of them. And the doyen of the Cats - well done in putting that scarce resource called time to maximum use.

However, the less said about a certain very low-numbered 158 that you encountered the better. Reason being that it is only one of two Mc158s that I need!

 

[Cowley]

This is looking like a very enjoyable break up in bonnie Scotland. Those 68 hauled trains look excellent. Were there many bashers on it did you notice?

 

[Techniquest]

Ooh I need 68001 so I'm rather jealous, one of only a couple of low numbered 68s still needed.

Certainly a nice variety had there too!

 

[55013]

Thanks chaps.
Cowley - there were two or three blokes stood in the front vestibule that I assumed were cranks, otherwise none that I noticed.
They may, like me, have been just sat quietly enjoying the thrash

Anyway, just time for a quickie before I head off to work.

On Saturday we made the five-hour drive, which included the new Forth Road Bridge, to our next base - the station cottage at Duirinish.
See http://www.stationcottage.com/ if you’re interested.

As winning units were going to be rare, at best, shack scratching would be the order of the day.
I needed all the stops between Dingwall and Kyle of Lochalsh, with the exception of Strathcarron, so getting winners shouldn’t prove too difficult.
The question was would I be able to get them all?

After settling into our new temporary home on the Saturday evening we had to come up with something to do on Sunday.
We decided it would be nice to go for a train ride from “our” station and look at the scenery from on board.
This isn’t that easy on a Sunday, with only two trains each way, but I worked out a nice simple move that would satisfy us both.

Before we had our first train ride, though, there was something else I had to do.
When we had reached Duirinish on the Saturday we had driven into Kyle to get something to eat.
Whilst there we had observed “The Royal Scotsman” in the station.
A quick check on-line revealed that it was spending the night there and would be leaving in the morning.
RTT revealed that it was due to pass through Duirinish just after 08.30 on Sunday.
This was too good an opportunity to pass up and so I made sure I was on the platform to get an early morning shot of 66743 passing through in the breaking dawn.

66743_2017.09.24_2_Duirinish by Phil Wood, on Flickr

After that it was few feet back to our front door and breakfast

We left Duirinish several hours later aboard 158715, which we took as far as Lochluichart.

DMU 158715_2017.09.24_3_Lochluichart by Phil Wood, on Flickr

A short wait followed before 158721 appeared.
This had a required coach, which was nice.
We took this unit through to Kyle, went and did some shopping and had a look at the harbour.

DMU 158721_2017.09.24_5_Kyle Of Lochalsh by Phil Wood, on Flickr

158721 was then used again for the run back to base at Duirinish.

So two shacks in the book and I hadn't really started yet

 

[Kite159]

Were you two alone at Lochluichart?

(As IIRC it doesn't really serve anything other than a few little houses and sadly didn't give any good views of the loch itself)

 

[55013]

We were completely by ourselves, it was great
There was only a twenty minute wait, so no time to really explore the place.
I did notice that there appeared to be a locked gate leading to a path that may go down to the loch, it's a shame that there isn't a proper footpath.

As I'm here I might as well post a short piece about the Monday
This was the day we decided to take a look at Plockton.
Slightly annoyingly, the short (1 mile 36 chains) run from Duirinish was done on a unit that was well below ten miles, 158703.
The fact that it remains well under ten miles was mitigated slightly by the winning coach that we rode in.

DMU 158703_2017.09.25_3_Plockton by Phil Wood, on Flickr

After looking round Plockton we returned to Duirinish.
This was 158717 and the situation was exactly the same as it had been with 158703 earlier – I scored a coach but it was still well under ten miles when we got off.

In the afternoon we had another short trip to Kyle Co-Op, using 158706 both ways.
This was already over ten miles but did give me another coach, 52706, to add to the list.

DMU 158706_2017.09.25_4_Duirinish by Phil Wood, on Flickr

That was it for Monday - not much railway action, but I did have a new shack to add to my list

 

[55013]

My wife told me that she was happy for me to go out two days this week, which made the shack scratching a lot easier.

Tuesday was the first of those days and, after reading and re-reading the timetable I concluded that I had no choice but to have an early start.
The first Inverness bound train from Duirinish is at 06.22, with the next being at 12.16.
Luckily it isn’t a long way to the platform from the cottage’s front door

It was still dark when I boarded 158721.
In fact, it wasn’t very bright when I alighted at Garve.
It was actually pretty foggy.

See:
DMU 158721_2017.09.26_3_Garve by Phil Wood, on Flickr

I now had the first fester of the day, two hours.
I spent the time walking round Garve and seeing what was on offer – not much as it turned out.
Other fester hotspots are available that provide far more entertainment.
One of those is Achnanalt which is where I went next, on 158706.

DMU 158706_2017.09.26_4_Achanalt by Phil Wood, on Flickr

By the now the weather was glorious and I spent two hours, three minutes there watching the wildlife, including a pair of buzzards circling overhead and a massive dragonfly that moved too quickly for me to photograph.

Due to the service pattern Achanalt was a linear bash and it was another Kyle bound service, worked by 158716, that took me on the next leg of my trip.
I did this to Achnashellach.
This isn’t a station I would relish spending too long at – it’s in dense woodland and there doesn’t seem to be much about other than some business premises.
The fact that there didn’t seem to be much good walking around didn’t bother me as I only had twenty minutes here.

The unit I was waiting for was the second service from Kyle of the day.
Unsurprisingly, it was 158706 that arrived for the run to Achnasheen.
Once again I had a lengthy fester, an hour and forty two minutes.
When I had passed by around sunrise, and before we hit the fog, the fields adjacent to the station had been full of deer, which was good.
Sadly, as is their usual practice, they had disappeared once it became full daylight, leaving nothing more than sheep in their place.

Achnasheen is actually quite a nice place to spend a while.
There’s a little green with a duck pond right outside and I sat in the sunshine and read, trying not to disturb the two sleeping ducks nearby – although the male did occasionally raise his head and have a look to make sure I was behaving myself.

Ducks:
DSCN5134 by Ruth Wood, on Flickr

I finished the day with a nice mileage score, 158720, which was taken back to Duirinish.
I was back home just after 16.00, allowing me to enjoy the evening with my wife.

 

[Techniquest]

Some very enjoyable and relaxing shack scoring there, that's for sure! I'm fairly sure at least one of those 158s is required for me too.

 

[55013]

It was indeed most enjoyable and relaxing
I didn't score a single 158 the whole time we were in Scotland - although I only need a handful so wasn't expecting much.

 

[55013]

No trains were involved on the Wednesday, we drove to the Isle of Skye and enjoyed a seal spotting boat trip instead.

Thursday was the second day I had to get some solo rail moves in.
With only three stops on the line remaining this didn’t require an early start.

My first move was a nice claw-back.
Having had no less than three units during the holiday that remained under ten miles after I’d done them it was nice that one of them deigned to put in another appearance.
This was 158717 and had joined the ten mile club well before I alighted from it at Attadale.

I didn’t have time to explore the area as my wait here was just eleven minutes, but the view was magnificent.
I'm not talking about the 158
DMU 158717_2017.09.28_6_Attadale by Phil Wood, on Flickr

The most common unit of the week, 158721, was next, to my penultimate station on the line, Duncraig.
I now had to wait while the 158 went to Kyle and back, so I had a look round.
A heavily wooded area, with much activity going on, I didn’t wonder too far, opting to remain on the platform and view the loch and a small island that sits a couple of hundred feet away.
Some wildlife, but nothing too remarkable.

Great view, though:
DSCN5295 by Ruth Wood, on Flickr

Once 158721 came back I took this to Stromeferry and that was that, all the stops from Dingwall to Kyle inclusive were in the book.
Stromeferry is quite a nice little place, very picturesque with good views of the loch.
Also; the road was surprisingly busy (by that I mean I saw at least four cars in the hour and forty minutes I was there).
I walked up the road a bit and sat on the edge of the bridge over the line (but not over the line itself – don’t do it kids!) and read my book, pausing occasionally to look out over the loch (the view from there was better than the one from the platform, also there were people around the station and getting away from everybody is one of the new-found joys of remote shack scratching).

The view, not too shabby:
DSCN5299 by Ruth Wood, on Flickr

The move finished on a high note as it saw another winning coach go in the book.
This was 52725 of 158725 and it was here that I took my seat for the run back to Duirinish.

Friday was the last day and we started by doing what had become our customary circular walk, from the cottage down to the loch then to the neighbouring village and back.
The views on this walk are amazing and the highlight today was a Yellowhammer that obligingly landed on a nearby fern, allowing me a few shots before flying off.

Here's the bird in question, wonderful:

DSCN5256 by Ruth Wood, on Flickr

We wanted to do something before we left so caught the service to Kyle, worked by 158704; before enjoying a walk across the Skye Bridge, just to say we’d done it, getting some shopping and heading back to Duirinish for the last time on 158717.

Saturday saw us doing the long drive from Duirinish to Bradford (eight hours or so), which was not too bad apart from around Glasgow where we had to queue in roadworks.

So; an excellent holiday, with much to ensure we both returned rested. I managed to get quite a few new shacks in the book, not to mention 68006, a decent run on 68001 and a couple of new 380s.
Plenty of walking, wildlife and scenery pleased us both.

The holiday had done me the world of good, but after being back at work for four days I was ready to hit the rails once more

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like a good time on the Kyle Line

 

[Cowley]

What a nice holiday. Just showed the picture of the Yellowhammer to my other half, lovely.
The photos of the mountains are stunning. Mountains, water and trains. What could be better than that?

 

[Techniquest]

I have now been reminded of the awesome scenery of the Kyle line, I really want to go back up there. I know what you mean with the peace and quiet with remote shack scoring, really rather wonderful isn't it!

I also know that feeling about work, it's usually within a day of going back that I start looking forward to my time off. A good few days off coming up next week though, with both a decent bit of Euro cranking and my first UK cranking in quite a while!

 

[Kite159]

You mean you didn't pop to see the castle at Duncraig or sit in the lovely hexagon waiting room?

The view must have improved as IIRC when I did the station last year the view of the loch was of hedges. Lucky having 20 minutes at Achnashellach, I was meant to have the same but the guard misheard my request by accident (which was the only time it ever happened) so instead of 20 minutes I had something like 150 minutes there waiting for a delayed 158 to return from Kyle.