Having left my alarm set for 05.30 due to being on earlies the day before and on Christmas day I was able to have a coffee and a shower while still trying to figure out as to where I will be going today, once ready I left home and headed for the tram stop still none the wiser as to whether it will be a CDR or WMDR or today, although I am slowly leaning towards the CDR to really face Barbara full on....plus it is cheaper, Ive decided to make my final decision as I approach the ticket office at Manchester Piccadilly.
At the tram stop I dont have long to wait, but with having decided today to head to Brooklands I knew the tram would be a dud and it was in the form of 3059 for my trip to Piccadilly. At 0730 in the morning the tram is quiet, might have something to do with the fact the all normal sane people are still tucked up in bed with it being a Saturday and Christmas Eve.
At Manchester Piccadilly I head to the ticket office and it was not until I was at the counter I decided on a CDR for today. After purchasing the ticket I head off to get my breakfast from Greggs.....ah, my usual ritual before returning to the station. I find that the next train to Crewe is the all stopping service which is a no go from the start! So, my next option is the Cross Country service to Stoke-on-Trent, which would mean it would take forever for me to get to the area I want to do today (all will become clearer later Ed.) So my final option would be the 0830 for Milford Haven which was half an hour off, so be it I will have to hang on wasting half an hour of travelling, or may be not, as I was logging my numbers I noted that I had committed a faux pas by being on my last page in my note book as I had already written in the back pages and I had not brought spare note book with so it was off to W.H.Smiths to buy a new book....where I nearly needed medical attention when I saw the prices of the note books, I found the cheapest one available for £2.99 and purchased it. I was then off to the platform for my train and was very happy to find it was required 175008 for haulage, not a bad start all in all and was well worth a half hour wait at Manchester Piccadilly.
Arriving at Crewe bang on time I am set a dilemma as we arrive a required 153303 is in the bay platform for a stopping service which includes 3 stations on the CDR, all 3 stations are also required, do I stick to my original plan or change it and head a bit further south, I have 16 minutes to decide before this train departs so I head to the other end of the station and await the arrival of my planned train to decide. At 0915 dud 150208 arrives to form the 0923 to Chester, I instantly decide to stick to my original idea as the overall rewards could be greater than the short term gain so I board the dud 150208 and head to Chester.
We arrive at Chester 2 minutes early which gives me 1 minute to get over to platform 7 for the Merseyrail train, unfortunately it was not quite long enough but in hindsight it was for the best as a PNB was had while waiting. During the wait a required 175103 for Warrington Bank Quay arrived and I was tempted to abandon the plan yet again but decided not to, and was my faith in my plan rewarded? No, a dud 507015 arrived to take me to my first required shack of the day.
At Bebington I score my first new shack of the day and with only a +3 to change platforms I dont hang around, I neednt have worried as it is a quick change as long as you are in the middle coach when you depart your train. Unfortunately a dud 508117 arrives to take me forward, two new shacks in 8 minutes is nice but I would like some new units as well.
I leave the train at Spital and have a +5 for my next train and when it turns up it is also dud unit in the form of 508117, which takes me a short two hop journey to my next new shack Rock Ferry, where with a 15 minute fester I decide to go and find some food for my lunch later on. Back at the station I strike it lucky and required 508138 arrives to take me forward to my next new shack of Birkenhead Head Central.
With a comfortable 4 minutes fester I was able to amble across the bridge for my next train back towards Chester and a dud 508117 arrived to take me, as we passed through Green Lane I noticed a required 507 going in the opposite direction and after consulting RTT I figured out I would be able to pick it up later from Bebington.
At my next new shack of Port Sunlight I left the dud 508117 and waited for my next train which turned out to be required 507009 which took me one stop along the line to Bebington where I was to pick up the unit I saw later, and it all worked out when required 507030 arrived to take me back to Port Sunlight where with a tight +2 was made for a dud 507029 to take me to the next new shack of Green Lane, or so I thought. I was so busy working on this log is was too late when it dawned on me the train was just leaving Green Lane, at that point I decided to put the log down until I was on the way home, so an unplanned and second visit to Birkenhead Central was made where I crossed to the opposite platform and boarded dud 507018.
At Green Lane I did manage to leave the train this time and ironically I still got the same train I would have if I had got off here when I should have done. Yet again it was dud 507015 as far as my next new shack.
At Hamilton Square I leave the dud 507015 and now I have completed the entire length of line and stations on the Chester/Ellesmere Port section of the Wirral Lines (almost there now Ed.) I now turn my attention to the remainder of the Wirral Lines and board dud 507003 which takes me as far as another new shack which this time is Wallasey Village.
As I leave the train at Wallasey Village its the first time I feel Barbaras wind hit me and the weather seems to have taken a turn for the worse, with a +7 I make a leisurely stroll across to the other platform and it is a bit of a walk. Dud 508141 takes me on to the new shack of Conway Park where a +4 turned into a +7 and resulted in a squeaky bump moment seeing that I only had a +4 at my next stop and I was a bit of a walk and with this delay it was down to a +1 and seeing I had all my moves planned for the rest of the trip it was a bit worrying. Finally dud 507011 arrived to take me forward, I was now in the hands of the railway Gods and just had to sit back and be taken for a ride.
At Wallasey Grove Road we had picked a minute up so I now had a +2 together across, so with a quick spurt of energy (dont know where that came from!- Ed.) I made the to the opposite platform for a dud 508134 to take me to my final new Birkenhead shack (how many stations does Birkenhead need!!! Ed.)
At Birkenhead Park I have +12 to wait for my next train (or you serious? The only island platform which takes all of 30 seconds to cross and I have a +12! Ed) which is a dud 508127 which I rain on to my next new shack of Hoylake, during the journey I make note of where all the footbridges are so that I can strategically position myself so that I can make the quickest of platform swaps.
At Hoylake Im down to my usual single digit festers again so with a +4 I make my way to the opposite platform and board another dud 507004 to return me to the new shack of Meols, where with a +5 I make the change to dud 508112 to Manor Park, by the way the shacks come thick and fast now!
At Manor Park a reasonable +6 is had and my luck with units is still no better when dud 508127 arrives for my trip to Leasowe. At Leasowe I have a +10 before my next train which is also dud 507016, which I remain on as far as Moreton.
At Moreton, which is my penultimate Merseyrail station I have a very tight +2 to cross to the opposite platform for my next train which was yet again a dud 508112.
Arriving at Bidston I leave the train and with this being my final Merseyrail shack (although I still need 5 class 507s and 6 class 508s for haulage Ed.) there is a sense of achievement, now I am Bidston I wonder what I am going to do!! Of course, there is no reason to kid, at Bidston there is only one thing to do and that is join the Borderlines. Seeing that I have not done this section of the Borderlines, I would have liked to get several of the stations between Shotton and Bidston however with it being Christmas Eve the trains were finishing early so I had to start heading off home soon so when a dud 150241 (even these I cant get new ones! Ed.) I board and head off to Shotton about 6 minutes late.
Arriving at Shotton and with the train being late I do not have the time to transfer to the opposite platform to pick the train up that was standing there to go back to Bidston so I had to make my way to the lower level section of the station and wait 30 minutes for the next train to Chester. When the train turned up it was also a dud 175104.
Arriving at Chester I have 10 minutes to make my way over to pick up the next shuttle service to, hoping that the train would have been a different one from this morning I was disappointed. Boarding dud 150208 we leave on time to Crewe, during the journey I nod off having not realised how tired I must have been. I must say these trains are connecting very well because on arriving at Crewe into platform 9 (the bay platform) I only have a short walk onto platform 6 for my service back to Manchester which was due in 12 minutes but yet again it was a dud 175007.
Arriving back at Manchester Piccadilly my plan was to head home, however on pulling in to the platform I look across and see a pair of 150 units formed of dud 150272 but also a required 150111, I head round to the platform and plan to take the 150111 to the first available stop as long as it is not too far away, luckily it was operating a service to Chester so I boarded the train for a trip to Stockport. Arriving at Stockport I cross to the Manchester bound platform and let the first service go as it was formed of a dud 323 unit as the following service was a Virgin Train service so I had a chance, but it didnt work out as a dud 390002 arrived to take me back to Manchester. This time on arriving I decide that is that and head down to the Metrolink for a dud 3049 to take me back to Brooklands.
All in all, not a bad day. Storm Barbara has not caused me much of a problem, but it was not too clever on the unit front but for shack clearing I have to say it has been stonking!!!!
NEW UNITS
150111, 175008, 507009, 507030, 508130.
NEW SHACKS
Bebington, Bidston, Birkenhead Central, Birkenhead Park, Conway Park, Green Lane, Hamilton Square, Hoylake, Leasowe, Manor Road, Meols, Moreton, Port Sunlight, Rock Ferry, Shotton, Spital, Wallasey Grove Road, Wallasey Village.
NEW TRACK
Bidston to Shotton.
as I've said elsewhere good to meet you, although it was far to brief!
