The next day was the day we were doing our own thing.
Mrs 13 fancied looking round the local shops, whereas I didn’t
Before leaving home I’d decided to purchase some Strathclyde Daytripper scratch cards.
I knew that I’d use one for my day out and figured that my wife and I could use one each if we fancied a day doing a few trips, otherwise I’d be forced to return to Glasgow in future to use my supply up.
That wouldn’t be a great hardship.
The ticket becomes valid at 09.00 but I was up and out of the caravan, leaving Mrs 13 asleep in bed, much earlier than that.
I had time to get an early morning shack scratch in.
The walk to Stevenston station took about fifteen minutes and it wasn’t long before I was on the first train of my day.
Nice winner
380011 was my ride to
West Kilbride.
EMU 380011_2018.09.25_1_West Kilbride by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
Much to my relief I left the train just as thousands of schoolkids piled on board.
I had thought about getting the other station I required on the Largs branch (Fairlie) but decided to go for that later.
Definitely the right decision.
The morning was nice, bright and dry, which influenced my choice about having the longer wait now rather than later.
Half an hour after getting off 380011, I once more boarded it, this time back to Stevenston.
Stevenston was reached at 08.55.
I didn’t want to pay more to go to the next stop with my rover valid five minutes later.
Mileage requirement 380109 was the first unit that arrived after the validity kicked in.
I took this to
Johnstone.
380003 was next, into Glasgow Central.
At this stage there were only six class 314s that were members of the ten-mile club, one of the other twelve I’d only had for a single run, from Queens Park to Mount Florida.
As this was less than one mile, it was my priority.
My chase didn’t start well; the first four units out of Central were all from the six I didn’t want (and one of the other two, 314213, had just been withdrawn!).
Eventually, one that was on nine and a bit miles produced.
This was 314210.
In addition to the units I was hoping to get I needed two stations on the Cathcart Circle proper.
With 314210 only needing a shove to get it over the ten-mile line it made sense to leave it at
Maxwell Park.
As I was leaving Central I spotted my sub-mile unit going in.
RTT was consulted and I worked out a plan.
If I’d identified the right incoming service, its next working should be the first anti-clockwise after 314210.
This meant I had time to do dud for everything 314208 from Maxwell Park back as far as Pollokshields West.
I’d got it right and 314214 arrived as hoped.
In order to get it over ten miles I took it all the way round to Glasgow Central, then on a clockwise run to
Shawlands.
EMU 314214_2018.09.25_3_Shawlands by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
Another low mileage PEP had been observed, working Neilston services, so I decided that this should be my next target.
Not on the list, but needed to be done to get into position, 314209 took me from Shawlands to Cathcart.
The unit I was hoping for, 314203, turned up and off I went back to Central.
It was still a couple of miles short and I needed two stations on the Neilston line, so I took it back out to
Williamwood.
After a short wait I was surprised to see my ride back to Central would be on
320404.
I didn’t even know this unit had entered service.
It has, though:
EMU 320404_2018.09.25_Williamwood by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
The run to Glasgow is little more than five and a half miles, but I figured the 320 had a greater life expectancy than the 314s so decided against getting it into the club.
I now had nine 314s over ten miles.
None of the ones I seen so far on Cathcart line services fitted the bill, but I had spotted one earlier working to Gourock.
I had some time before it returned from the seaside, so took 380005 to
Hillington East for dud from this morning 380003 back.
EMU 380003_2018.09.25_1_Hillington East by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
The same 380 was then utilised to get me to
Cardonald where I hoped to pick up my wanted 314.
Sure enough, 314215 rolled in a couple of minutes late and I was off back to Glasgow Central.
It was now time to start my journey home.
Mileage requirement 380101 was on an Ayr service, so was taken to Johnstone.
Dud 380108 was next.
This was an Ardrossan service, so I did it to Saltcoats.
Here I had about half an hour before the next Largs service, which I planned on using to get me to the last required station on that line.
It was dud from this morning 380011 that appeared and the run to
Fairlie went without incident.
Fourteen minutes after getting off 380011 I re-boarded it for the last time today.
Arrival at Stevenston was at 17.10, the fifteen-minute walk back to the caravan meaning that I arrived at the agreed time.