18/11 West Midlands Day Tripper
It was a day after my previous trip, and I was back on the rails once again. I headed down to the station for the 06:24 service, which I took to Swindon, this was formed of double duds 43154 + 43174. Here, I headed out to the station and walked 10 minutes out of town to a McDonalds to fetch something to eat for breakfast, before returning to the station, and boarding a ram packed Cross country diverted service. I had to stand all the way from Swindon to Cheltenham, where I got a seat… before being kicked out of said seat, before finding another seat… Dud 220029 took me all the way to Birmingham New Street, arriving just before 10am. I headed straight to the Network West Midlands Ticket office to pick up my Daytripper.
Midland Metro 36, St Paul's 18.11.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
I made my way to the tram platforms, and firstly took dud 36 to
St Paul’s. Before returning to Bull Street on winner
25. I decided to head into Snow Hill station, and quickly made my way onboard winner
172213 for the quick leap down to Moor Street. Before making my way back towards New Street. I boarded winner
350377 for the 10-minute journey to
Smethwick Galton Bridge, Where I then headed upstairs and had a 10 minute wait before winner 172338 rolled in to take me to Jewellery Quarter, where I required the tram side of the station, so I boarded tram 36 again to clear the tram side of
Jewellery Quarter. I took tram 36 all the way back to Bull Street, where I slowly made my way to Moor Street after photographing a few buses along the way.
London Midland 172339, Smethwick Galton Bridge 18.11.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
Once I was at Moor Street, I decided I wanted to clear some shacks in the semi-local Birmingham area, so I boarded winner
172340 to
Tyseley. Before taking a quick walk down to the depot to see what I could see, before re-joining dud 172214 which would take me to
Small Heath. 7 minutes later, winner 172339 rolls in to take me back down the line to
Acocks Green, where I have another 10-minute wait before dud 172337 rolls in to take me back to Birmingham Moor Street, where once again I decide to cross over the road back to Birmingham New Street for the remainder of the afternoon.
London Midland 172339, Acocks Green 18.11.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
I decided to jump onboard dud 221105 all the way back to Coventry, it was absolutely ram packed, and crawled to Coventry after Birmingham International due to a late running LM 350. The service arrived into Coventry. I popped outside the station to Photograph a few buses, and returned to quickly board winner
350120 back to Birmingham International, before having a 5-minute wait before double winners
221103 + 221106 roll in to take me back to Birmingham New Street.
Virgin Trains 221105, Coventry 18.11.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
I join winner
323202 to
Duddeston, before waiting 5 minutes before winner
323243 roll in to take me back through New Street to
Five Ways, and then finally winner
323240 back to Birmingham New Street. Due to the diverted XC services, I had to leave earlier than usual, so I headed to the 17:30 XC service to Cardiff Central, formed of 170113. I had the option of bailing at Cheltenham and waiting for the diverted service via Swindon to Bristol, or stay on this at Cheltenham and taking it all the way to Newport to transfer to a rail replacement coach, the latter would mean I would possibly get home earlier, but I decided I would bail at Cheltenham as I did not fancy the Rail Replacement. What a bad choice that turned out to be! The platform was heaving with those who had gone to Cheltenham races! I managed to nab a pair of priority seats onboard dud 221127 all the way back to Bristol Temple Meads. At one point I thought I might be able to connect to an IET at Swindon, getting back 30 minutes earlier, but that didn’t fall into place when we left Swindon 5 minutes late. The service arrived back into Bristol Temple Meads 1 late at 19:31, after being very early approaching Bath, but getting held at Bathampton Junction for a Keynsham stopper… I boarded a cosy dud 166214 to take me back home, arriving at around half past 8.
2/12 Southampton, Eastleigh and Winchester.
Today was less of a bash, but more of a bus photographing day in the Southampton, Eastleigh and Winchester Area.
07:36 Weston-S-M to Bristol Temple Meads 166208
08:22 Bristol Temple Meads to Romsey 158951
10:07 Romsey to Eastleigh 158886
11:47 Eastleigh to Winchester
444041
14:19 Winchester to Eastleigh
444037
15:00 Eastleigh to Southampton Central 444041
16:10 Southampton Central to Bristol Temple Meads 158957
18:18 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-S-M 43091 + 43030
Great Western Railway 166208, Bristol Temple Meads 2.12.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
Freightliner 66569, Eastleigh 2.12.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
Selection of GBRF & Freightliner Class 66's, Eastleigh Yard 2.12.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
9/12 Bristol
06:00 Weston-S-M to Bristol Temple Meads
67020 +
67003
07:16 Bristol Temple Meads to Redland
166202
07:34 Redland to Bristol Temple Meads 166216
08:51 Bristol Temple Meads to Bath Spa 159102
09:44 Bath Spa to Chippenham 43094 + 43124
10:15 Chippenham to Bristol Temple Meads 800012 + 800011
16:10 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-S-M 150127
DB Cargo 1Z86 Pathfinder Railtours 'The Lincoln Shire Explorer' 67020 + 67003, Bristol Temple Meads 9.12.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
Great Western Railway 166202, Bristol Temple Meads 9.12.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
Great Western Railway 43004, Bristol Temple Meads 9.12.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
16/12 Cardiff & Pontypridd
Once again, this was more of bus photography trip, but managed to fit in a few shacks and required units as well!
07:37 Weston-S-M to Newport 150108
09:01 Newport to Cardiff Central
175009
0936 Cardiff Central to Radyr via Ninian
153303
0956 Radyr to
Treforest 142072
1022 Treforest to
Pontypridd (Bay Platform)
142077 + 143614
12:08 Pontypridd to
Taffs Well 150245
12:28 Taffs Well to Cardiff Central 143622 + 142006
16:26 Cardiff Central to Bristol Parkway 43089 + 43136
17:12 Bristol Parkway to Weston-S-M 150002
Arriva Trains Wales 153303, Radyr 16.12.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
Arriva Trains Wales 150257, Radyr 16.12.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
DB Cargo 60039 'Dove Holes', Cardiff Central 16.12.17 by
DSH Trains, on Flickr
Winning Units: 22
Shacks cleared: 12
Winning Units YTD: 508
Shacks cleared YTD: 184