ash39's Trip Reports & Photos

[ash39]

Ah good, I shall download and have a read

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Regarding the blockbusters, I think it was in Preston where I noticed a fully branded JJB Sports shop, untouched since they came to an end. Likewise you have some of the old Poundworld sites untouched, used to be one in the shopping centre next to Forster Square in Bradford.

A busy month, well done on making a start with the 801s, I will probably make a start with them next year on Wakefield leaps.

We still have a fully branded JJB in York too, albeit on a retail park.

I'm taking a bit of stick from my mate for it, but I'm fully on board with the 80X trains. I figured they're going to be around for a while and many of them will be on my doorstep, so to keep the interest up I'm doing them for coach numbers too...

As always, an excellent read and some top photos in there too. Quite a productive time all in, despite things like the farce with that huge delay to Garforth. I could only imagine the dismay of your mate with that XC power car being missed too!

As for those beers, I've not tried them yet. LHG are usually pretty good, not had one of theirs in a good while. Gipsy Hill is a brewery I haven't really got into yet. I've been clearing my beerticking requirements in my local supermarkets quite a bit lately, indeed I've got 3 winners from Waitrose earlier. Still 4 more in there yet I haven't had, but that's for another time. Gutted that I didn't try that seasonal one blood orange one from Beavertown though, knew I should have got it a while back as it appears to have gone now. Oh well!

I recommend giving M&S a try, they've recently got on board with the craft beer revolution. Anything by Amundsen or Mikkeller is definitely worth trying.

I don't know how you export to pdf, but my export has an option to decrease the quality of the images. I find that I can decrease to 5-10% quality without degrading the image unacceptably. This makes the pdf much smaller.

Thanks for the tip - I export straight from Google docs which doesn't have that option, but I just fired August 2019's blog into an online compressor and it now fits - the photos and moves lists are pretty poor quality but hopefully it's still readable...

 

[Kite159]

I suspect a few of my LNER Azumas will be scored on Leeds - Wakefield leaps as well, handy for being over ten miles and being covered by a cheap day ranger. Congrats on clearing the 333s.

Forres has the platform loop, but the loop only gets used by a few trains a day. Sounded like an amazing drive to Scotland and a productive day around Glasgow, plus a productive few days in Yorkshire. Glasshoughton can be a pain as the trains are timetabled to pass there, and IIRC maybe one of the ones between Wakefield & Pontefract as both are level crossings

 

[Techniquest]

Had an ultra quick look at the August PDF, before I go to work so a full read will happen later, but there was a small decrease in photo quality in the compressed file. However, it's not too severe on my device, on a large screen it may be different, until I zoom a long way in.

As for M&S, I agree wholeheartedly there. Some of their own-label stuff is actually pretty reasonable. By far not all of it, obviously, but for the price the majority of it is good

 

[ash39]

Had an ultra quick look at the August PDF, before I go to work so a full read will happen later

Sorry yes, I should have warned that it was a 27-page special

You're right, it looks terrible on the laptop but I viewed it on my phone and it looks fine, so should be readable for most. I've uploaded September to this post - they're not in the right order but I have at least got all of 2019 on here now.

Some numbers for the year - currently on 8,893 miles. Looking like I'll fall just short of 10,000 for the third year running (9,725 in 2018 and 9,749 in 2017). I have got some business travel planned for December, and I'll have my usual Christmas day out, but I don't think it'll be enough to get me over the line. Annoyingly my mate has managed to do 10k for the year, not that we're competitive...

Winners for the year currently sits on 185, way lower than the 400+ totals of 2017 and 2018.

Station scores sit on 106, again trending lower than the previous two years on 196 & 198 respectively.

I put that down to having picked all the low-hanging fruit, but I should still hit 200 winners for the year and next year is looking promising too, with plenty of new stuff to go after in my area.

 

[Techniquest]

You've had a pretty decent year then really, all things considered. I've not actually made it to reading your trip report yet, I got into some movies and, umm, yeah I still haven't yet. Maybe tomorrow...

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like a good September

 

[Techniquest]

Just finished the read of August and of September, wow you had some fortune on your travels! Those scenes in the Highlands, incredible! As always some top reading there

 

[ash39]

About time I caught up a bit - October 2019 was 5 months ago !!

 

[ash39]

And November

 

[Kite159]

A productive November for your red pen , all the loco based fun

 

[ash39]

Just realised I had already uploaded October on the previous page, sorry if anyone wasted their time reading it again

 

[Kite159]

Just realised I had already uploaded October on the previous page, sorry if anyone wasted their time reading it again

No harm in uploading it again

 

[Andy Pacer]

No harm in uploading it again

Funnily enough I got to the part about the girl having a domestic and telling you all about it when I thought "hang on I have read this before"!!!

Never mind though, always a good read!

 

[87electric]

Good to nab your very last 185, at last!

 

[ash39]

Good to nab your very last 185, at last!

It was a nice way to do it! Needless to say, it now follows me everywhere since I had it.

Whilst I'm on a roll, here are December and January. One is a single page, one is 28 pages!

 

[Kite159]

A busy January there

 

[sftfan1909]

Excellent reads, please do keep them coming

I noticed a bit of an issue whilst sitting in Costa. The inbound working of my train was delayed until after the booked departure time. This presented me with a problem, as I only had a +12 at Leeds and as I had two separate 10p tickets, no obligation for Northern to accept my ticket on the next one.

I'm fairly certain that they have to, as long as it's a legal connection - any combination of tickets to make one journey, regardless of whether they're advances or not, should be honoured. Please correct me if wrong

 

[Mills444]

"There were TV crews from Channel 5 on board. Not sure what content they were filming but the guard warned anyone who was skiving from work to make sure they didn't get in any footage." Wonder if they were showing people the magical new Northern.

Sounds like a much busier January then I've had!

 

[Techniquest]

Just caught up with all those reports, definitely a busy time! I ended up re-reading the October one, I thought I'd read it before but it was still a good read.

Doing a full day of travel after that Severn Bridge park-run must have been interesting, and fair play to doing that. I've recently got into cycling, that can be intense enough let alone running. Credit where it's due there, I can't get into running yet. One day, maybe...

All enjoyable reads as is expected from your penmanship good sir, I did feel sorry for you enduring that 180 to Doncaster!

 

[ash39]

Excellent reads, please do keep them coming

I'm fairly certain that they have to, as long as it's a legal connection - any combination of tickets to make one journey, regardless of whether they're advances or not, should be honoured. Please correct me if wrong

That's interesting to know - I assumed missing your second train would be treated the same way as if you turned up to the station late for your first train. Ie - tough !

 

[433N]

A joy to read as always, ash.

I feel tired just reading about that day in Cardiff - a football match thrown in too. I don't think I would have given two monkeys what was passing through Slough at midnight ; you're obviously built of sterner stuff.

 

[ash39]

A joy to read as always, ash.

I feel tired just reading about that day in Cardiff - a football match thrown in too. I don't think I would have given two monkeys what was passing through Slough at midnight ; you're obviously built of sterner stuff.

Another football match features in February's report, though with a much better team

Also includes a pretty rookie error on my part involving some advance tickets

Can't lie though, it doesn't have the sheer number of winners of January's bumper totals.

Report attached below!

 

[Techniquest]

Ouch to the slip-up on the work trip! Easy enough done sometimes mind, just proves you're still human like the rest of us!

A decent month, clearly, and I must confess to reading mega dud 158759 as "MEGA DUD!" Nice work on the Lancashire trip mind, a very nice bit of variety. I too made similar presumptions about Burscough, good to know it's a decent place

 

[Kite159]

A good month for your red pen

 

[Jamesrob637]

Don't think March will make for as good reading as February unfortunately

 

[Techniquest]

Don't think March will make for as good reading as February unfortunately

Same for the majority of us sadly, definitely going to be a quiet part of the forum for a while.

 

[alexf380]

Indeed, we've all pretty much ground to a halt. We'll just need to have really exuberant summer's to make up for it!

 

[xotGD]

Indeed, we've all pretty much ground to a halt. We'll just need to have really exuberant summer's to make up for it!

It might be Santa Special time before we are back on the rails!

 

[Techniquest]

It might be Santa Special time before we are back on the rails!

Possibly, but I really don't see it getting that bad. Now the pubs etc have closed, it might actually help a bit.

It's a good thing we can all still discuss the various bits of the hobby/industry via the forum eh? I might have to get proper into my nostalgia thread again...

 

[ash39]

I might have to get proper into my nostalgia thread again...

I'll be reading if you do!