Best day rover ticket to bash electric units on?

[MCW]

I want to go out on saturday (12 oct) and want to sight, photograph and ride on as many electric units as possible in a day.

My journey will originate in Leicester and I have all day to go out, want to leave LEI at about 7 or 8 in the morning and be back at LEI for 2000hrs thereabouts.

I am mostly interested in slightly older electric kit so 317's, 319's 455's 321's that kind of stuff. I know london is a hive for this sort of thing but I can't find a viable solution to that one as i do like longer journeys and am also not keen on ultra busy places (however passing through london for a change of termini is tolerable for me).

Budget I am not too fussed about but as long as I am not paying outrageous fares I don't mind! I also have a Disabled adult railcard.

any ideas will be handy,

thanks,

Bruce

 

[Trainfan344]

Not sure about older multiple units, but the West Midlands day rover has lots of electric units about, 317s. 319s and 321s your best bet would be to head towards liverpool street.

 

[ATW Alex 101]

I think you both mean Day Ranger (There are a few exceptions, like the West Yorks dayrover). And the West Mids Day Ranger, which is very good value, brings to you the use of 390's,323's and 350's in terms of EMU's.

 

[MCW]

i have done the west mids ones a few times mind.... hmmm could do anglia plus???

 

[Class 92]

I think you both mean Day Ranger (There are a few exceptions, like the West Yorks dayrover). And the West Mids Day Ranger, which is very good value, brings to you the use of 390's,323's and 350's in terms of EMU's.

So does the Cheshire day ranger and it also has Class 507/508s

 

[Mojo]

Surely it would be a Travelcard?

 

[ATW Alex 101]

That's what I was going to say, but then MCW mentioned he didn't like busy places.

 

[gazthomas]

Day trip to Glasgow then a bash around there?

 

[MCW]

Day trip to Glasgow then a bash around there?

probs have to start at about 4 in the morning and spend a lot lol. unless i flew to glasgow then trains on the way back

 

[Searle]

anglia plus won't be very useful as nearly all of it is unelectrified in Norfolk. There's an FCC thameslink ranger thing, if you want to do the 319 between Bedford and Brighton (and Wimbledon Loop), but that's not especially exciting :P

 

[harry42]

Read my timetable for a great Anglia rover; not much electric on there!:

 

[trentside]

Surely it would be a Travelcard?

I'd have to agree, especially if seeking 317/319/321/455.

For the 317s, your best best would be the Lea Valley Lines out of Liverpool Street. You may also find some 315s out and about, but I don't think too many of them get up that way. If you're interested in 315s, then use your visit to Liverpool St to take a Shenfield Metro out to Romford, and pick up a shuttle to Upminster - and then maybe back to Liverpool St on a fast service, which should pick up a 321 (as did the shuttle, when I last used it!).

For 319s, do a rounder on the Sutton/Wimbledon loop service from St Pancras - if you hop off at Blackfriars on the return, you can pick up a Brighton service as far as East Croydon where you can take a ride out to Caterham or Tattenham Corner which should get you a 455 or 456 - if you go to the latter station, you could always walk across to Epsom Downs (takes about 15-20 minutes) and pick up a Victoria service from there, which is also a 455. Most of Southern's inner-suburban services are formed of 455/456 combinations, so you could also take a ride on the outer South London service via Crystal Palace or a London Bridge to Beckenham Junction service. These journeys aren't that long in distance, but as they are usually stopping services they can take quite a while to go not very far, but I always prefer a stopper to an express if I have the time (maybe that's just me!). If you don't fancy Southern, head over to Waterloo and pick up an SWT service to Chessington South, Hampton Court or a Kingston Loop service via Strawberry Hill. These will almost certainly produce an 2x 455 combination.

If you're stuck for ideas, I've spent the last year or so using trips to London to travel over suburban routes in London - so take a look at my RailMiles page (below), as I've had some really good days out and might give you some inspiration? I know it's not everyone's cup of tea, but I do like my trips on London's suburban system, I just find it fascinating!

 

[MCW]

I might try London then... Never really been there so have no clue where I am going or how busy it will be but unless I do it I won't know! However it is down to how good I plan it out, so if I don't find time to plan properly I shall save it for next week.

 

[Searle]

For the 317s, your best best would be the Lea Valley Lines out of Liverpool Street. You may also find some 315s out and about, but I don't think too many of them get up that way.

You will find that 315s frequent the stoppers to Enfield Town and Cheshunt via Seven Sisters. I'd still recommend that you do the Shenfield Metro instead though (unless you want to get some new track in up the LVL )

 

[ChiefPlanner]

456 sets not long now with Southern - off to SWT in December for the 10 car strenghtenng programme.

Find it odd to see a 456 running around solo in the suburbs ...

 

[Class 92]

I'm going down London soon what routes do the Class 456 cover and is there any diagrams? (Saturday 19th October)

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Sign up to the UKModernEMU Yahoo Group, they have Southern 456 diagrams for Weekdays, Saturdays and Sundays

 

[Techniquest]

Worth pointing out the Romford to Upminster shuttle varies vastly on what provides the motive power on it. I've had or at least seen 315s, 317s and 321s on it, seems to be no pattern to what turns up when.

London can be pretty busy, it has to be said. Peak times on weekdays being the worst, which can be handy if you want the maximum number of trains out as possible. London Bridge in the evening peak is insane for busyness just on the SouthEastern side of things. You won't see everything in one go if you're doing the numbers, so do the eastbound stuff first as it may not return the same day.

317s, definitely Liverpool Street, although they're also on off-peak workings with FCC. 315s are every 10 minutes on Shenfield all-stations Metro services, so easy to get plenty of them in. 319s, I'd suggest a fester at City Thameslink for those. 321s, not sure if they do off-peak stuff off t'Cross with FCC or not, but they're also on mostly peak workings with LM on the West (and best!) Coast. Absolutely plenty of them on the Great Eastern though. Absolutely truckloads of 455s out of Waterloo and some off Victoria too, don't ask me about 456s though as I have no idea what happens there anymore. 465s and 466s, although less rateable since being Javelin-ised, work in and out of Charing Cross quite a lot on all manners of workings, same off t'Street too, and you'll get them all at London Bridge. Unless I'm having a memory failure, that'll be all the older motive power to find in London.

However, I also recommend Glasgow for an electrics bash. A SPT Daytripper is currently £11.70 but covers a ginormous area. Plenty of 314s, 318s and 320s for older EMUs to get in the book, as well as plenty of 334s and 380s too. No chance of doing a 390 or 91 up there though unless you are lucky. Also you've got the SPT Subway which is well worth a go as those things are pretty quick off the mark and make a decent noise. I'd highly recommend going up there, if you time it right flights from East Midlands Airport *shouldn't* cost too much but did for me when I looked at that option. Otherwise you can fly from Birmingham like I did, normally cheaper fares from there than East Midlands. Of course, you could also get decent priced Advances if timed right. Without looking I'd reckon a walk-up return for you with a DSB card would be around £65 to Glasgow, might be a little less but worth checking out as that's definitely a lot less than flying.

Hope you manage to get a decent bash going on. As others have mentioned, a West Midlands Day Ranger would yield 323s, 350s and 390s but that's not so much fun if you've done it a few times. Which leads me to this:

Any reason why querying just the electrics? Each option in this post will also yield some decent variety of DMUs too. Just curious is all!