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.