Thursday 1st November - A venture into the Northern Powerhouse
Part 3 - Leeds leads the way
My journey through to Leeds was a fairly quiet one with only
150224 troubling the pen as we passed Barnsley Interchange so I spent a good chunk of the journey with my head in my book. That was until we edged nearer and nearer to Leeds as I readied myself to pass by Midland Road where I hoped to sight those 70s that had so far eluded me and we were soon heading past the container depot where I was able to spot dud FLR shed 66544 and then it was to Midland Road where I was immediately hit with another dud 66, this time 501 going into the dud pile. There was also a shed in the very new FLR livery which I couldn't ID but I assumed it to be dud 66413 unless any other sheds have been re-liveried into these colours? It wasn't the sheds that overly interested me, it was more the 70s that have sat here for an eternity with nothing to do and I was soon frantically scribbling as first of all we had dud 70011 but this was followed by winners
70019,
001,
009,
004,
017,
018,
016 and
013 which leaves me just 70010 to find for the FLR 70s. We were soon arriving into platform 17 at Leeds so I made my way over to where the action was and more importantly to locate some toilets but whilst doing this I was able to add
153307 to the winners list and as I headed back to find somewhere to buy a drink from I also chalked off
321902. I found a little stall to buy a drink from but got caught in a bit of a wait as the staff member seemed to take an age to sort out a couple of coffees for someone and I have just found out that this wait meant I missed a freight which passed through whilst I was away from the platforms
I didn't realise this at the time so it had no affect on my day and I decided to venture out to the end of platform 6 where there were already a few spotters knocking about. Having settled, I tucked into a sandwich or 2 as the hunger had kicked in by now but whilst doing so I was able to add
170459 to the book - who says blokes can't multi-task? It didn't take long to realise how busy Leeds was as it was only seconds passed before I was logging another winner, this time my first ever class 333 thanks to
333012 and it wasn't long until I doubled this tally as
333005 was also spotted. Continuing the trend from my time at Manchester Piccadilly earlier,
150214 was next to be chalked off before a pair of TPE 185s got the treatment as
185116 and
185102, taking my tally of winners for the day to 3 figures, arrived as it worked a service to Middlesbrough and then it was back to everyone's favourite unit as
142049 arrived.
153332 came by before ex ScotRail unit
170473 joined it with
144014 and
158753 not far behind. The 333s seemed to come and go very quickly and it was
333015 working a service to Skipton that was the next on the list of successes and just a couple of minutes later
333009 was arriving with a service from Skipton. In between these 333s I was able to chalk off yet another 185 thanks to
134 along with more of the classic sprinter stock in the form of
156464. Talking of classic stocks, next on the agenda was the 1st sighting of a HST for the day and it was being propelled by 43075, loaned from East Midlands Trains, with 43309 at the rear. Both of these were duds but who doesn't enjoy the sight of a HST set?
43075 arriving into Leeds by
The_Train
As nice as it was to see, the HST set was a set of duds so I had to quickly move on and was helped with this by the arrival of
158755 which was almost immediately followed by
142063. The 158 tally was adding up by now and
158756 got in on the act and talking of seeing a lot of something, yet another TPE 185 was finding it's way into the book as
185108 as it headed across the Pennines towards Liverpool. Next it was time for 333 number 5 as
333006, arriving into Leeds with a service from Ilkley, was marked off
Northern Class 333 333006 arrives into Leeds by
The_Train
Trains were coming thick and fast and the pen was working in overdrive but it was all about how many of these were being converted into winners and at the time I had little idea but I was in the middle of a little run of winners and this was continued by
185127 which was quickly followed by a pair of 142s, with
021 and
091 going into the book to make it 6 winners in a 5 minute spell. 185106 broke this little run but we were soon up and running again with
158859 first of all and then 3 winners coming in one set as Northern sent
153351,
153360 and
156426 together. Having seen a good chunk of the LNER stock at Doncaster I wasn't having much luck with it at Leeds and that continued when 91128 arrived with DVT 82223 on the rear
LNER DVT 82223 sits at Leeds station by
The_Train
185146 was certainly not a dud as it headed into the book, as did
144007 and another ex ScotRail unit in the form of
170461 joined these. 2 whole duds broke another mini run of winners but not for long as another 333 arrived with
002 being the latest of this class to be ticked off before
185138 enhanced my TPE numbers further, as does
185107 which was the next winner on my list. A dud Voyager came by to make me feel at home before I hit another run of winners starting with another 150 as
150117 was ticked off before
333013 crawled into the bay platforms and
158759 also showed it's face to become yet another member of my winners club. This mini run continued with TPE units passing each other as one headed further into Yorkshire and the other headed back across the Pennines towards Manchester but they were both needed and that meant
185140 and
185133 get the bold treatment and as this was happening
321903 snuck in and although only a small sub fleet for Northern it does complete the 321s for Northern and also the 321/9 sub class and is worthy of a very small klaxon. Yet another run of winners was then ended by a Voyager but we were soon moving again and it was more of the Pacer fleet as
142087 arrived shortly before a pair of 150s in the form of
150201 and
150119 before
142067 also went into the book.
333008 was next to be chalked off and I think we will finish this installment with yet another TPE winner as
185113 arrived as it worked a service towards the lovely coastal town of Scarborough.
So there we have it, I've been at Leeds for just over 90 minutes thus far and have chalked off 47 winners to go with the 8 class 70 winners at Midland Road and not forgetting the solitary 150 I picked up on route at Barnsley. So that's another 56 winners to go with the 84 built up earlier in the day so it's already a solid haul with 140 winners in the bag with with over 3 and half hours still remaining at Leeds. Is another 200 haul on the cards, maybe even bettering my highest total of 206 at Donny......part 4 will reveal all
GBRf Class 66 66701 heads through Sheffield
20205 working RHTT at Sheffield
Another shot of 20205 arriving into Sheffield
20007 at Sheffield
More Chopper action as 20007 awaits departure from Sheffield
I'd enjoyed a 100% shed success so far today but FLR 66508 ended that particular run as it worked cement hoppers through towards the Hope Valley having originated in Dewsbury. Still no sign of my haulage to Leeds so this gave me time to log a couple of dud 158s and also to nab a couple more of the trams as 105 and 117 went past and then finally 
