All in all the skips aren't as much fun as the filthy, claggy 57s, but it was a great and above all economical day. Set out from Holyhead and rode all the way to Cardiff behind 67003. Then rode out to Fishguard and back (in a 150 - ouch!), before taking skip 1 north to Chester and home. Nice to get a different skip in the evening; I guess they don't swap them over every day.
Basically this came about following my discovery a while ago of a £17 advance ticket from Holyhead to Fishguard using the WAG-Ex, and once I get hold of such a fact it is no longer good enough for it to remain as mere knowledge: it simply has to be tried out. Managing to find a date where all the other moves could be done on the cheapest tier of advances, the date kind of set itself.
On Monday after work I'd used 67003 on the northbound WAG-Ex as a positioning move from Chester to Holyhead, so I'd managed the full length of the return journey for a breathtakingly small amount of money. Bearing in mind I'm waaaaay too old for a railcard, the fares were (started at Morley and returned to Saltaire):
Morley > Huddersfield SDS £3.10
Huddersfield > Chester ADV £8.00
Manchester > Holyhead ADV £14.00 (double booking on 17:50 Piccadilly > Llandudno with Hudds > Chester advance)
Holyhead > Fishguard ADV £17.00
Fishguard > Chester ADV £17.00
Chester > Huddersfield ADV £8.00
Huddersfield > Saltaire SDS £4.90
Travelodge in Holyhead £29. Probably the grimmest place I've dossed down in a long while.
Not only a superb day-and-a-bit covering loads of miles (almost 500 of which loco hauled) through mostly lovely countryside, but the Cardiff > Fishguard train unexpectedly took the Landore north curve instead of the District Line, bagging me my last required 1/4 mile of passenger line in Wales, one which I'd previously had no idea how I would get. Result!
Basically this came about following my discovery a while ago of a £17 advance ticket from Holyhead to Fishguard using the WAG-Ex, and once I get hold of such a fact it is no longer good enough for it to remain as mere knowledge: it simply has to be tried out. Managing to find a date where all the other moves could be done on the cheapest tier of advances, the date kind of set itself.
On Monday after work I'd used 67003 on the northbound WAG-Ex as a positioning move from Chester to Holyhead, so I'd managed the full length of the return journey for a breathtakingly small amount of money. Bearing in mind I'm waaaaay too old for a railcard, the fares were (started at Morley and returned to Saltaire):
Morley > Huddersfield SDS £3.10
Huddersfield > Chester ADV £8.00
Manchester > Holyhead ADV £14.00 (double booking on 17:50 Piccadilly > Llandudno with Hudds > Chester advance)
Holyhead > Fishguard ADV £17.00
Fishguard > Chester ADV £17.00
Chester > Huddersfield ADV £8.00
Huddersfield > Saltaire SDS £4.90
Travelodge in Holyhead £29. Probably the grimmest place I've dossed down in a long while.
Not only a superb day-and-a-bit covering loads of miles (almost 500 of which loco hauled) through mostly lovely countryside, but the Cardiff > Fishguard train unexpectedly took the Landore north curve instead of the District Line, bagging me my last required 1/4 mile of passenger line in Wales, one which I'd previously had no idea how I would get. Result!
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