Thursday 11th October 2018 - Reading numbers in Reading
Part 1 - Stafford in the dark
I decided to start my day to Reading a few hours early by venturing for a late evening trip to the local the night before. My thought process was that it was not a time of day I'd spent much time at Stafford so hopefully winners would be heading up a lot of the later freight - the plan worked....a little bit anyway. I was starting to wonder whether it had been a bad decision to venture out (particularly as the warm day had changed into a very cold evening) as the first hour or so was littered with duds before DB
66082 came by with a Bescot to Arpley light engine working before another DB shed went into the book, this time being
66125. Another lull occurred and I was about to give it up only for me to get chatting to another spotter who was in the area for a couple of days having come up from Southampton and this proved to be a good move as a late flurry nudged my winner count up with
66302 coming by with a Crewe-Bescot Engineers train, followed by another 66, this time a GBRf shed in the form of
722 "Sir Edward Watkin". The final success of the evening arrived with yet another variation on a 66 winner as it was Freightliners turn to join the party with
66517 working containers from Ditton to Felixstowe and it was at this point I decided enough was enough and it was time to head home and prepare for the big day out tomorrow.
A short but worthwhile outing which takes my 66 winners ever closer to the 200 mark - 196 to be precise.
Part 2 - A brief visit to Birmingham
My first venture into GWR land (and a first visit to Reading since the turn of the millennium) began with a short stint in the Second City. Even though I'd recently spent a day around the West Midlands I decided to stick to my original plan as you just never know your luck and maybe a 2nd visit would generate some new sightings.
My 6am alarm call threw me into action and having been ultra prepared in getting stuff ready the night before, I was out of the door before 7am and making my way towards the station well before first light. I grabbed a coffee and headed for platforms 3/4 but there was little going on to interest me although a quick check on RTT showed the Tesco train running early and due to pass 2 minutes before my expected departure on the 0724 VTWC service to Birmingham New Street. My interest soon disintegrated though as a later check on Traksy showed that the early running Tesco train was being held outside the station to allow a XC service to make its way into platform 5 and soon enough my first steed of the day arrived in the form of dud for everything
390156. Here it is arriving as dawn slowly arrived over Stafford
A Virgin Trains West Coast Pendolino arriving into Stafford by
The_Train
It was a quiet service so I didn't bother hunting down my reservation, instead opting for a seat that was reserved from New Street and settling in for the run to Birmingham. As we would have to get across the slow lines to head towards Wolverhampton I knew we would crawl out of Stafford but what I didn't expect was to come to a complete halt at the next signal. My decision to sit in a random seat on the right hand side proved a very good choice as it gave me a good sight of the reason for us stopping - the signaller had (surprisingly) allowed the Tesco train to go ahead of us and as we waited
88006 crept past us. My first winner of the day and takes my winners of 88s to 50% of the fleet
After our little break, we were soon on the move and heading towards Wolverhampton and during our stopover there I was able to pick up ATW
175113, my first winner of this fleet, and WMT
170631. Soho offered nothing but its shunter and we were soon making our way through the tunnels that indicate the bat cave is not too far away and before long I was back in my previous position at the end of platforms 6 and 7 to see if I could eat a little further into the 170/323 stocks.
323219 was first in the book just before my first sighting of a HST as dud power cars 43303 and 43301 arrived working a late running XC service from Leeds to Plymouth. A pair of 323s were next in the book as
218 and
222 worked a local stopper for WMT but I wasn't having much luck in tracking down my missing 170s. The 323s kept coming though and
323206 was next to enter the book before I got to chalk off more ATW stuff with
158839 and
158824 pairing up to work a service from Aberystwyth to Birmingham International. Finally I had some luck with the 'Turbo'star stocks as WMT
170508 and
170517 were a double success before it was back to the 323s with
323243 also heading into the book
WMT Class 323 323243 departs Birmingham New Street by
The_Train
XC were not offering much but what was lacking with XC was made up by WMT who were being very kind with what they were putting in front of me and it was their
170501 next to be marked off.
323207 also went into the book but my final half hour or so would be mainly about the duds, including of course more XC 170s such as 170522 seen here with 170523 hidden behind in the darkness
XC Class 170 170522 at Birmingham New Street by
The_Train, on Flickr
Just before my move from New Street to Moor Street I was able to bag a few more WMT winners with a pair of 170s in the form of
512 and
510 before a special guest appearance by Network Rail MPV
DR98908/DR98958 passed through with a railhead treatment working around the West Midlands. My time at New Street ended with another winner, this time
323203 working a local stopper with dud 323209 in tow
Network Rail MPV DR98908 and DR98958 at Birmingham New Street by
The_Train
I made the short trek across to Moor Street (can't believe how close they are!) where there was an immediate reward as
168003 was sat in the bay and my Chiltern 168s were further boosted by the arrival of a treble headed service to Snow Hill which saw each of
168005,
168322 and
168326 chalked off in one swoop of the pen. I'd chalked off a good chunk of the WMT 172 stocks during my last outing in the area and my required numbers reduced further when
172333 came by to leave me requiring just one 172/3 for a sub-class completion and that task was completed just 20 minutes later when
172338 arrived with a service towards Dorridge. There wasn't much else to shout about at Moor Street until
172219 arrived with a service from Whitlocks End to Worcester Shrub Hill to make it a second sub-class completion with all of the 172/2s now chalked off as well. With the remaining 12x 172s due to be with WMT by December (I believe), hopefully I can get the full set completed early next year.
After these mini successes it was left to
68015 and DVT
82302 to take me on the next leg of my journey as I headed down to Banbury before heading off to Reading. Tune in to part 3 to find out what GWR land had in store for me but having managed 27 winners between Stafford and Birmingham, I'd certainly set myself up well enough for the day. Surely I couldn't repeat the plus 200 winners I managed at Doncaster....could I?
Anyway, I shall leave you all with these pics of the absolute stallion (and the DVT) that powered me towards Oxfordshire
Chiltern Railways Class 68 68015 sits at Birmingham Moor Street by
The_Train
Chiltern Railways DVT 82302 at Birmingham Moor Street by
The_Train