tramdan
Member
- Joined
- 4 Aug 2015
- Messages
- 118
Ok so I'm new to this trip reporting business but after being featured in one of TC60054's recent postings in this place, I thought I'd better start writing something here. This is yesterday's trip around the West Midlands. It ended up just a bit longer than I expected!
07/03/17
The general idea for today's came out of an invitation from a mate to meet up in Birmingham for a little bash around the area. I had originally planned to catch the 0713 service towards Sheffield from my home station of Worksop but decided late the night before to drop back to the 0813 instead.
I arrived at the booking office in good time and took care to carefully explain exactly what ticketing arrangement I was working with. From Worksop I typically split my fare at Derby to Birmingham so Anytime Day Returns from WRK to DBY and DBY to Birmingham Stations were duly purchased, alongside my usual West Midlands Day Ranger. Total damage was £43.15. The 0813 turned up to depart bang on time in the form of thoroughly dud 142 095. Not a particularly bad unit for a 142, but much better things were to follow. Whilst on this journey I tried something I hadn't before, CrossCountry's 10 minute reservation system. I had always been sceptical of this system and its necessity however I managed to work out how to reserve myself a seat for the next move on winner 220 025 from Sheffield to Birmingham New Street.
On arrival at New Street I decided to see if I could win some more ATW 158s. There was a fair chance as I had only had four of them to date so I headed to platform 6 to join the 1025 Aberystwyth and Pwllheli service as far as Smethwick Galton Bridge. Winners 158 835 and 158 838 did the honours. Smethwick Galton Bridge station is not known for its picturesque location, nor its tropical temperatures, so I was lucky to be able to make quite a smart connection onto dud 172 341 for a run into Moor Street.
I was quite pleased with myself at this point, having timed it to arrive at Moor Street with 6 minutes to change onto the 1055 68 hauled Marylebone service. However as our departure time at Snow Hill came and went, I was getting increasingly concerned. My concern was not helped by the guard announcing at 1 min late that there was a problem with the train and that a fitter was attending to it. I had pretty much given up hope on the 68 by this point however as if by some miracle only moments later we began towards Moor Street.
Arriving at Moor Street with only 4 mins to go and being stuck behind the crowds of early shoppers was a pain, but with only a minute or so to spare before departure time I jumped onto the mk3s in front of dud 68 014. I would ideally have liked to win a 68 here but no matter, I had yet another stupidly tight connection to try yet! 014 was taken to the limit of the West Midlands Day Ranger at Leamington Spa and a very rapid dash through the subway to the opposite platform brought me onto winner 68 011 back to Moor Street.
By this time I was starting to wonder at what time I would be meeting up with my mate who had spent his morning on the RMT protest in Liverpool against the prosecution of brother Martin Zee. Contact was made and I established that I had nearly two hours to kill before he would be at New Street.
On arrival at Moor Street I decided that I would go for something a little different so made the change onto yet another dud, 172 343. (My luck with the winners was to change). This took me forwards to Stourbridge Junction. Smooth connection was made here over to Platform 1 for the 1235 to Stourbridge Town, formed of 139 001. The 139s had been swapped over early in the morning owing to a gas leak on 002 so although both have been dud for a long while I took the opportunity to get a good ride on 001, my first in a little while. After two round trips and some jovial conversation with the crew, I alighted back at Junction to join winners 172 222 and 172 220 towards Smethwick Galton Bridge to meet my mate on his train down from Liverpool.
En route, I realised that I was going to arrive at SGB with 25 minutes to wait, so by way of reducing that ordeal, I decided to bail at Rowley Regis for the following service, only 8 minutes behind. 8 minutes later and what should turn up? But by now thoroughly dud 172 343, yet again! Arriving at SGB with 15 minutes to kill was better than 25, but by the time my next move had bothered to show up in the form of 350 246 I had just about frozen through. My mate duly located in his favourite spot on 350s, the short hop was made into New Street, whilst I thawed out a little.
A break was had then with a trip to Greggs and various other bits of faffing about before we made our way back to New Street to "find another train to ride on".
Wandering down to the platforms I spotted something that I have never had before, a London Midland 150, so the decision was made to take the trip on the 1448 Hereford as far as University to win 150 105. This is as far as anyone ever needs to go on a 150. In fact at 2mi 49ch it is approximately 2mi 48ch too far. Luckily at University I could finally get to ticking off some more interesting traction, so it was onto 323s. I won't detail the next bit fully but suffice to say we shuttled between University and Five Ways a number of times, UNI-FWY-UNI-FWY-UNI-FWY-UNI, winning 323 206, 323 201, 323 202, 323 214, 323 209, 323 221, and 323 211 in the process. On arrival back at University we decided to head back to New Street for a trip to Boots before our next planned move, so winners 323 222 and 323 217 did the honours.
The next planned move was onto the 1633 as far as Leamington Spa formed of winner 220 021. This was planned to allow us to join the 1726 68 hauled service all the way to its terminus at Kidderminster. Use was made of the pleasantly heated waiting rooms at Leamington Spa before dud 68 013 arrived to take us onward. Over the course of this journey it got progressively darker outside until we arrived at Kidderminster in the pitch black. My mate now having a new appreciation for the 68s, after watching it depart we crossed to the opposite platform to await our next train. I was pleased when a 6 car formation of dud 172 332 and winner 172 338 arrived to take us, once again forward to Smethwick Galton Bridge.
The third time in the day I'd been to Smethwick Galton Bridge, it had got slightly better to look at under the cover of darkness. Perhaps I'm overly harsh on it as I am generally a fan of the 90s architecture on the Snow Hill lines, it very much reminds me of my local Robin Hood line. We had a roughly 15 minute wait again before my final winning 323 of the day arrived to take us forward to New Street in the form of 323 212.
My homeward train was due to depart first, so on it's arrival into the platform at New Street we parted company and I joined winner 221 141, a novel experience for me as this is a 4 car Super Voyager. Indeed there was a moment when I looked at the number, then counted the carriages, then looked back at the number before remembering this quirk of the Voyager fleet.
Finally arriving back in Sheffield for my longest wait yet, of nearly half an hour. I had a wander around the station before standing on the concourse, watching the world go by. After the almost uncontrollable excitement that is an empty Sheffield station on a Tuesday evening, I decided to wander over to platform 4 for my train. After the 185 to Cleethorpes had cleared off from P4 my ride home in the form of thoroughly dud 144 021 arrived. This being an ex Huddersfield service it was of course a 3 car 144 so as per usual I took my space in the centre car and began the process of trying to deal with the boredom that is the Sheffield to Lincoln line as far as Worksop. On arrival back at Worksop my car was still in the carpark, which is a bonus around these parts, so I took the short drive back home.
Total milage was 370mi 59ch with plenty of winners to keep me happy.
07/03/17
The general idea for today's came out of an invitation from a mate to meet up in Birmingham for a little bash around the area. I had originally planned to catch the 0713 service towards Sheffield from my home station of Worksop but decided late the night before to drop back to the 0813 instead.
I arrived at the booking office in good time and took care to carefully explain exactly what ticketing arrangement I was working with. From Worksop I typically split my fare at Derby to Birmingham so Anytime Day Returns from WRK to DBY and DBY to Birmingham Stations were duly purchased, alongside my usual West Midlands Day Ranger. Total damage was £43.15. The 0813 turned up to depart bang on time in the form of thoroughly dud 142 095. Not a particularly bad unit for a 142, but much better things were to follow. Whilst on this journey I tried something I hadn't before, CrossCountry's 10 minute reservation system. I had always been sceptical of this system and its necessity however I managed to work out how to reserve myself a seat for the next move on winner 220 025 from Sheffield to Birmingham New Street.
On arrival at New Street I decided to see if I could win some more ATW 158s. There was a fair chance as I had only had four of them to date so I headed to platform 6 to join the 1025 Aberystwyth and Pwllheli service as far as Smethwick Galton Bridge. Winners 158 835 and 158 838 did the honours. Smethwick Galton Bridge station is not known for its picturesque location, nor its tropical temperatures, so I was lucky to be able to make quite a smart connection onto dud 172 341 for a run into Moor Street.
I was quite pleased with myself at this point, having timed it to arrive at Moor Street with 6 minutes to change onto the 1055 68 hauled Marylebone service. However as our departure time at Snow Hill came and went, I was getting increasingly concerned. My concern was not helped by the guard announcing at 1 min late that there was a problem with the train and that a fitter was attending to it. I had pretty much given up hope on the 68 by this point however as if by some miracle only moments later we began towards Moor Street.
Arriving at Moor Street with only 4 mins to go and being stuck behind the crowds of early shoppers was a pain, but with only a minute or so to spare before departure time I jumped onto the mk3s in front of dud 68 014. I would ideally have liked to win a 68 here but no matter, I had yet another stupidly tight connection to try yet! 014 was taken to the limit of the West Midlands Day Ranger at Leamington Spa and a very rapid dash through the subway to the opposite platform brought me onto winner 68 011 back to Moor Street.
By this time I was starting to wonder at what time I would be meeting up with my mate who had spent his morning on the RMT protest in Liverpool against the prosecution of brother Martin Zee. Contact was made and I established that I had nearly two hours to kill before he would be at New Street.
On arrival at Moor Street I decided that I would go for something a little different so made the change onto yet another dud, 172 343. (My luck with the winners was to change). This took me forwards to Stourbridge Junction. Smooth connection was made here over to Platform 1 for the 1235 to Stourbridge Town, formed of 139 001. The 139s had been swapped over early in the morning owing to a gas leak on 002 so although both have been dud for a long while I took the opportunity to get a good ride on 001, my first in a little while. After two round trips and some jovial conversation with the crew, I alighted back at Junction to join winners 172 222 and 172 220 towards Smethwick Galton Bridge to meet my mate on his train down from Liverpool.
En route, I realised that I was going to arrive at SGB with 25 minutes to wait, so by way of reducing that ordeal, I decided to bail at Rowley Regis for the following service, only 8 minutes behind. 8 minutes later and what should turn up? But by now thoroughly dud 172 343, yet again! Arriving at SGB with 15 minutes to kill was better than 25, but by the time my next move had bothered to show up in the form of 350 246 I had just about frozen through. My mate duly located in his favourite spot on 350s, the short hop was made into New Street, whilst I thawed out a little.
A break was had then with a trip to Greggs and various other bits of faffing about before we made our way back to New Street to "find another train to ride on".
Wandering down to the platforms I spotted something that I have never had before, a London Midland 150, so the decision was made to take the trip on the 1448 Hereford as far as University to win 150 105. This is as far as anyone ever needs to go on a 150. In fact at 2mi 49ch it is approximately 2mi 48ch too far. Luckily at University I could finally get to ticking off some more interesting traction, so it was onto 323s. I won't detail the next bit fully but suffice to say we shuttled between University and Five Ways a number of times, UNI-FWY-UNI-FWY-UNI-FWY-UNI, winning 323 206, 323 201, 323 202, 323 214, 323 209, 323 221, and 323 211 in the process. On arrival back at University we decided to head back to New Street for a trip to Boots before our next planned move, so winners 323 222 and 323 217 did the honours.
The next planned move was onto the 1633 as far as Leamington Spa formed of winner 220 021. This was planned to allow us to join the 1726 68 hauled service all the way to its terminus at Kidderminster. Use was made of the pleasantly heated waiting rooms at Leamington Spa before dud 68 013 arrived to take us onward. Over the course of this journey it got progressively darker outside until we arrived at Kidderminster in the pitch black. My mate now having a new appreciation for the 68s, after watching it depart we crossed to the opposite platform to await our next train. I was pleased when a 6 car formation of dud 172 332 and winner 172 338 arrived to take us, once again forward to Smethwick Galton Bridge.
The third time in the day I'd been to Smethwick Galton Bridge, it had got slightly better to look at under the cover of darkness. Perhaps I'm overly harsh on it as I am generally a fan of the 90s architecture on the Snow Hill lines, it very much reminds me of my local Robin Hood line. We had a roughly 15 minute wait again before my final winning 323 of the day arrived to take us forward to New Street in the form of 323 212.
My homeward train was due to depart first, so on it's arrival into the platform at New Street we parted company and I joined winner 221 141, a novel experience for me as this is a 4 car Super Voyager. Indeed there was a moment when I looked at the number, then counted the carriages, then looked back at the number before remembering this quirk of the Voyager fleet.
Finally arriving back in Sheffield for my longest wait yet, of nearly half an hour. I had a wander around the station before standing on the concourse, watching the world go by. After the almost uncontrollable excitement that is an empty Sheffield station on a Tuesday evening, I decided to wander over to platform 4 for my train. After the 185 to Cleethorpes had cleared off from P4 my ride home in the form of thoroughly dud 144 021 arrived. This being an ex Huddersfield service it was of course a 3 car 144 so as per usual I took my space in the centre car and began the process of trying to deal with the boredom that is the Sheffield to Lincoln line as far as Worksop. On arrival back at Worksop my car was still in the carpark, which is a bonus around these parts, so I took the short drive back home.
Total milage was 370mi 59ch with plenty of winners to keep me happy.
