Today was a last-minute decision because I had been on nights and was all dependant on if I had a quite night, which I did. Then I had an internal ongoing battle as to whether to do the Midland Metro (for which I need every single tram and all but 2 stops), Nottingham Express Transit (still require 13 trams and 16 stops) or Sheffield Supertram (requiring 15 trams and 37 stops) the argument went on for ages!
Anyhow, one thing I did know was that I would have to get my backside into gear if I was going to go anywhere and it was not until I was on my way to the tram stop I decided to head to Sheffield as it was the cheapest option. At Sale Water Park I decided to pay and extra pound and get a day travelcard just in case I saw 3112 knocking around and I could do an emergency divert to pick it up at some point. After purchasing the ticket I had about a 7 minute fester for my tram to Deansgate-Castlefield, while waiting for my tram 3111 was heading to the Airport, when my tram arrived it was a dud 3062.
On arriving at Deansgate-Castlefield I had only a minute to wait for 3062 to arrive on the service to Ashton, on departure 3113 arrived on a service in the opposite direction, Im sure Metrolink are teasing me.
At Manchester Piccadilly I had just under a 20-minute fester for my train to Sheffield so I had a mooch around and to go and be nosey and see how the modernisation of Greggs was going, it still looked like it was going to have a small shop front which will still mean queuing outside, but we will have to wait and see when it re-opens beginning of next week. Back on the station a dud 185131 arrives to take me to Sheffield. I find myself a table seat and settle down for the journey while working on my logs from my trip last month to Great Anglia, nearly up to date.
At Sheffield, I ignore any of the trains there and head straight for the tram stop and dud 102 arrives to take me to my first required stop where I disembark at Castle Square for a four-minute fester and the arrival of my first required tram 120 to take me to my next new shack of West Street, on the journey there though I did see 399201 going in the opposite direction on a driver training run. I disembark the tram at West Street and have a couple of minutes for a dud 123 to arrive to take me onto my next new shack.
At The University of Sheffield stop after eight minutes required 118 arrives to take me to my next new stop, I decide to skip a stop and remain on it to Shalesmoor, where with a 7-minute fester I hop to the opposite platform where dud 114 takes me back towards Sheffield to required shack of Netherthorpe Road with a quick dash to the opposite platform and straight on to required 109 to head off towards Malin Bridge but only as far as Langsett/ Primrose View with a couple of minutes to wait for required 108 to take me on as far as Bamforth Street, here there is a 6-minute wait for required 113 to take me to Hillsborough Interchange, this is a busy junction!! Not just for the trams but the road traffic too! I only have a few minutes to wait for dud 122 to arrive to take me towards Middlewood.
At Hillsborough Park, I leave the tram and with no PIS (more on the PIS at the end!) I was in the dark as to when the next tram was, however the stop was right outside a butty shop that did hot roast pork and stuffing butty, but I didnt have any cash on me, but across the road was a NatWest, result! So, money withdrawn, butty bought and okay, it was alright but nowhere near the best hot pork butty Ive ever had. After a 13-minute fester here dud 121 arrived to take me to my next stop of Leppings Lane, here I notice a Costa and was so tempted to get a coffee but decide against it and wait for 5-minutes for the next tram which was required 110 to take me to the end of the line.
At Middlewood I leave this tram and let it head off without me hoping that the next tram would also be of the required variety to take me back towards Sheffield city centre, and it was with 107 arriving a few minutes later to take me back to Hillsborough Interchange so that I could do the line to Malin Bridge.
Back at Hillsborough Interchange my craving for a coffee is too overwhelming and I dive into the Costa right at the tram stop, after the purchasing of a Mocha I cross to the other platform and wait for required 105 to take me to Malin Bridge. On arriving I decide to save a bit of time I would walk back the short distance to Hillsborough Interchange, on returning I can no longer hold off from a PNB so start hunting for a public toilet and end up at the Hillsborough Barracks shopping centre and find a Morrisons for the loo. I have to say it is a good use of the old military barracks with its turrets and impressive buildings, the only fault is that during this time I did see trams 116 and 119, both required for haulage and I only hope I manage to catch up with them both later on.
After being suitably refreshed I head back to the stop at Hillsborough Interchange and a dud 123 takes me to my final required stop West of the Sheffield city centre, at Infirmary Road I leave the tram and have a couple of minutes wait for dud tram 122 to take me back through the city centre and on to the required stops East side of the city centre.
At Cricket Inn Road, I leave the tram and cross to the opposite platform with a five minute wait for required 118 to take me to Hyde Road where a quick dash across to the opposite platform for a dud 121 to take me through to Attercliffe with a seven minute fester until my return trip to Woodbourn Road on board dud 122. At Woodbourn Road I have another seven minutes to wait for a tram to take me to near enough the end of the line and it is dud 107 and leave the tram at Tinsley Meadowhall South and wait for the same tram to return to take me to my next new shack of Carbrook. On arriving I see a dud 114 going to Meadowhall and know that will be next tram, however watching the tram I had just got off I realise it is only a short walk to my final stop on the yellow line so to save some time I decide to walk to the next stop.
On arriving at Valley Centertainment the next tram going in the opposite direction to which I was wanting to travel had arrived and was a required tram and seeing this was my last stop on the yellow line I decided to let the next dud tram to the city to go and waited for the next tram which was the required 111 to take me to the dud stop of Ponds Forge, where I board a dud 105 for the start of my run along the blue/purple lines trying to knock off the shacks along these two lines.
At Park Range Croft, I leave the tram and cross to the opposite platform for a return run to Park Range on dud 120. From here I board dud 119 after an eight minute wait to Manor Top and with a seven minute wait a required 112 arrives to take me to Gleadless Townend, while waiting here for my next tram either towards Halfway or Herding Park a required 117 arrives at the opposite platform so with a mad dash across I board the tram for a trip to Hollinsend and cross to the other platform for dud 106 to take me to Herding Park, with this service only being half hourly I was trying to figure out how to do the two stops in the shortest possible time, unfortunately according to Google Maps it was a 13-minute walk to Leighton Road so I wouldnt be able to make it in time for the next one, however I went for it and did it in four minutes, cant figure out what Google Maps was up to!
So, at Leighton Road I had 2-minutes to wait for dud 106 to take me back to Gleadless Townend, now having completed the purple line as well I only had the blue line to deal with. During this time I also looked at the route of the tram to Halfway and it looked a nice route so decided that the tram I got on now I would travel on through to Halfway so I could see the route in daylight. The tram arrived and was a dud 113 to take me through to Halfway. Arriving at Halfway I expected the same tram to take me back but it drew forward for another tram to arrive in the form of dud 103, the tram immediately departed and before I knew it we had passed right through the first two stops so I ended up getting off at Beighton, which was quite fortuitous as a PNB was required which I was able to carry out at Crystal Peaks shopping centre, while there I also ended up spending a bit of money on a new Kindle! I left the shopping centre at the opposite side I had entered it so that I Could pick up a tram at new shack Crystal Peaks to take me back towards Halfway so I can pick up the missed shacks from earlier on board dud 104.
Now, my comment on the PIS. Totally unreliable as the trams never turned up when the PIS said they would, trams would disappear and then reappear, it would be better without them! So going off the information with a pinch of salt I figured out to get the rest of the stops I needed I wouldnt be heading off home until turned 10pm and today was going to be a long day which I wasnt really looking forward to but while I was here I had to complete the stops so I tried to figure out with Google Maps if there was enough time to walk between stops without missing the next tram, more on this later.
I left 104 at required shack Westfield and with only a 3-minute fester (and a change of crew, which seems to be done in a hap-hazard way around this section of line, although there must be method behind the madness Ed.) and re-boarded the dud 104 on its return working as far as Waterthorpe with only a 5-minute wait for dud 117 to take me to my next required shack of Moss Way, here there was only another 5-minute wait for dud 119 to take me to Donetsk Way and after a 10-miute fester dud 105 arrived to take me to Hackenthorpe.
I now do my first walk between stops to save a bit of time and arrive at Birley Moor Road where with a 5-miute fester another dud 109 to take me to my next required shack of Birley Lane which appears to be in the middle of nowhere and a long walk to the next stop so I have a 10-minute fester for the next tram which was dud 112 to take me to Birley Lane. The next tram is another 10-minutes off and seeing that the walk to the next stop which is dud Gleadless Townend I decide to walk it and turned out to be a good move because before the next yellow line tram turned up a purple line tram arrived in the form of dud 120 to take me back to Sheffield station.
I arrive at Sheffield station just before 8pm and could pick up a dud 185124 to take me back to Manchester, success!! 37 new shacks and 12 new trams.
Arriving back Manchester Piccadilly, I head off down to the Metrolink and board a dud 3044 to take me to Deansgate-Castlefield to pick up my Airport tram
. read on, this is where the day falls down majorly and is embedded on my memory for the rest of my life. We left Deansgate-Castlefield without any issues but on arriving at Cornbrook a group of very loud girls get on the tram, this I could deal with as it is all friendly banter, then we get to Trafford Bar and a few lads get on who the girls know, still not too bad however it is not long before there is an incident behind me which I didnt see but involved one of the lads and a lady (terms, I use in a very loose way with what was about to occur!! Ed.) This lady knows the youths in some way but an argument commences with the use of very foul language, threatening behaviour and a very uncomfortable environment, give the girls due they did try and quite the lad down but this lady was having none of it and continued to goad him, by Barlow Moor Road I have had enough, and although only one stop to mine I leave the tram and wait the 12-minutes for the next tram (BIG mistake!!- Ed.) While waiting I observed more anti-social behaviour occurring when a couple of yobs where smashing the glass out of one of the advertisement boards on the opposite platform, so a private message was sent to Metrolink about the incident, well it cant get any worse, can it? The tram going in the opposite direction arrives and departs towards Manchester with only a minute showing for my next tram, which dragged out, in the meantime the tram that was going to Deansgate-Castlefield had come to a stand not too far down the track, after 10-minutes of that tram not moving and no movement in my tram I contact the customer service and find out that at the road junction just down the road a car driver has decided to take their car onto the track so I decide to go and see because no trams where moving and what a sight!!
Arriving at the scene the car had done a grand job! He was about 60 metres from the road junction stuck on the track between the two lines and was apparently going nowhere soon, after taking this in I notice something else, two other cars had been involved in a road accident, one with a smashed in front, the second was a write off as the front was bent in a downwards direction and the back was smashed in with a wheel missing and one of them had had an argument with a traffic light post which was now at a 30 degree angle. I remained there for about an hour where I ended up chatting to a couple of locals and two police cars and an ambulance attended the scene. After just over an hour I decide I have to figure another way home and it wasnt an option to walk from Barlow Moor Road to Sale Water Park as it was across the tram viaduct and then unlit footpaths, then a solution came to me. As you may remember I bought a travelcard this morning so ended up getting directions to walk to St. Werburghs Road where I picked up dud 3050 to take me to Cornbrook and after a 2-minute fester dud 3060 arrived to take me to Dane Road which put me the right side of the Mersey and a 20-minute walk along lit roads to get me to Sale Water Car to pick up my car, while waking past the stop at Sale Water Park a tram was stuck there and the driver looked very bored.
It was a brilliant day until I got back to Manchester it then took me just short of 3 hours to get myself home.