Juliano's World Frenzy/Tech's Trip Reports

[Techniquest]

Ahh, I'll have to investigate tomorrow and buy a newspaper for the first time in a long time!

 

[Kite159]

The I is a very good newspaper for the price (30p weekdays, 40p Saturdays)

 

[noddy1878]

So where am I going to? Burger King! It’s such a staple of my trips and I’ve not been in ages [well, if you can call it ages when it was a bit over a month ago. I’d forgotten my visit to one in Edinburgh! – Ed], and I know full well they do food I like there. Well, they do in UK outlets, the one we visited here didn’t do my usual meal of a Bacon Double Cheeseburger XL meal, so I settle for the nearest thing, a Whopper with no salad.

Thats what I always have if I go to BK! Good read! Must have taken absolutely ages to type all that up!

 

[scarby]

Nice report.

Techniquest - when you write that you cop things for sight, in this case Swedish SL stock, do you use some kind of stock book for reference, or what do you use?

 

[Techniquest]

Stockholm is lovely. And not as expensive as it once was.

For anyone who refuses to fly Ryanair (like me - one too many p*ss poor customer service experiences), BA will do you a return to Arlanda from LHR starting at £100.

For anyone who also refuses to fly BA (like me - one too many p*ss poor customer service experiences, oddly enough last time I flew to Stockholm) SAS will see you right for between £100-140 from LHR and Manchester.

Alternatively Norwegian will get you to Arlanda from LGW from as little as £75, and you might even get a Dreamliner. Of course you need to book in advance and pick your dates for all these airlines.

Arlanda is far preferable to Vasteras in ease of getting to Central Stockholm, aside from being (much) closer you also get the Arlanda express. We did Hertfordshire to hotel in well under 6 hours, which for me was definitely worth the (marginally) more expensive travel cost.

Simon Calder is travel editor of the Independent, also has a weekly column in the evening standard - tonight he recommended Helsinki. He regularly appears on BBC Breakfast for any travel related stories, usually those involving flying. He does know his trains though, he introduced me at a conference once, nice guy.

Arlanda has that access cost though doesn't it? Not sure what that's about mind!

Ahh, so I bought the I for no reason today (not read it yet), feels like an extreme waste of 30p! I'll have to keep my eye open for his articles, certainly interested in the Helsinki one if anyone has a link

Gatwick to Arlanda for £75 is very good value, and to get a Dreamliner on such a short trip would be amazing! Well worth looking into that one, cheers for the tip
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So where am I going to? Burger King! It’s such a staple of my trips and I’ve not been in ages [well, if you can call it ages when it was a bit over a month ago. I’d forgotten my visit to one in Edinburgh! – Ed], and I know full well they do food I like there. Well, they do in UK outlets, the one we visited here didn’t do my usual meal of a Bacon Double Cheeseburger XL meal, so I settle for the nearest thing, a Whopper with no salad.

Thats what I always have if I go to BK! Good read! Must have taken absolutely ages to type all that up!

Good man! Yeah around 7 hours I think to type that lot up, and considering it was all from memory I think I did OK
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Nice report.

Techniquest - when you write that you cop things for sight, in this case Swedish SL stock, do you use some kind of stock book for reference, or what do you use?

My reference books relating to Sweden are ST Publications' Western Europe Trams 2013 and Metro Systems of Europe 2013. I haven't yet got a book for mainline stuff in Sweden, although I'm aware they exist. I do recommend ST Publications books for content and value.

In the UK I normally use NREA combined books, then also use ST Publications' book for the Underground and Irish stuff.

 

[Techniquest]

Just 4 more days until #30thbirthdaycrankspree all! Make sure you get onto Twitter from 1735 onwards on 13th December until about 2000 on 16th December and follow the action!

I meant to post last week detailing the rough plan, which is:

13th December

Finish work at 1700 and belt it down the road to get on the trains to London, then the overnight Megabus to Glasgow

14th December

Glasgow Roundabout OR Strathclyde Daytripper, depending on the decision that morning

15th December

Roundabout or Daytripper, most likely the latter, then the overnight Megabus to London

16th December

Some trains in London, then back home with LM again

Plan is to go crazy on EMUs this time, although any winner DMUs won't be turned down!

 

[fishquinn]

Just 4 more days until #30thbirthdaycrankspree all! Make sure you get onto Twitter from 1735 onwards on 13th December until about 2000 on 16th December and follow the action!

I meant to post last week detailing the rough plan, which is:

13th December

Finish work at 1700 and belt it down the road to get on the trains to London, then the overnight Megabus to Glasgow

14th December

Glasgow Roundabout OR Strathclyde Daytripper, depending on the decision that morning

15th December

Roundabout or Daytripper, most likely the latter, then the overnight Megabus to London

16th December

Some trains in London, then back home with LM again

Plan is to go crazy on EMUs this time, although any winner DMUs won't be turned down!

I thought you hated the megabits last time?

 

[55013]

Just 4 more days until #30thbirthdaycrankspree all! Make sure you get onto Twitter from 1735 onwards on 13th December until about 2000 on 16th December and follow the action!

I meant to post last week detailing the rough plan, which is:

13th December

Finish work at 1700 and belt it down the road to get on the trains to London, then the overnight Megabus to Glasgow

14th December

Glasgow Roundabout OR Strathclyde Daytripper, depending on the decision that morning

15th December

Roundabout or Daytripper, most likely the latter, then the overnight Megabus to London

16th December

Some trains in London, then back home with LM again

Plan is to go crazy on EMUs this time, although any winner DMUs won't be turned down!

Good luck with that. The weather looks to be turning nasty.
I did a Daytripper last month chasing 156s, jolly good fun.
I look forward to reading the report.

cheers,
55013

 

[Kristofferson]

I wish you luck with the Megabus

 

[Techniquest]

I hated Megabus Gold last time, this is normal Megabus for this trip. Dread to think what the weather will be like, didn't expect it to get as bad as this yet to be fair when I booked it all a while ago!

I've done long journeys on the regular Megabus before, and whilst not the best experience it'll do the job of getting me there and back for reasonable ching.

What will happen north of the border during the trip is unknown for sure but fingers crossed it will be fine!

 

[55013]

Inspired by your forthcoming trip, I've just posted a report of my soiree in October.
Fingers crossed it all goes well.

Cheers,
55013

 

[47403]

I'd be careful when crossing those fingers young sir, the North East is baltic at the minute and colder across the Border, you may not be able to uncross those fingers or use your hands after a few of your infamous bus stop bashes.
Have a cracking time but pack, long johns, thermals, gloves and take a hip flask(purely medicinal ofcourse).

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks for the tip, got my super awesome fleece ready, with hat and gloves in use at the moment anyway (need to find the touch screen gloves I've got somewhere!)

Got my travel mug for hot drinks, and I must get on with packing my bag rather than browsing the forum! Quite, I forgot to print off my tickets this week so will be going like a bat out of hell after work to get to the station and get to the TVM asap lol! And I didn't buy a scarf yet either, I'm actually considering getting one despite my dislike of them!

Wish me luck all regarding the weather, I might need it! Same for the Megabus journeys, I expect they'll go OK but who knows? I'll be back on here at some point this weekend, but of course the updates during the trip will also be on Twitter, hashtag being #30thbirthdaycrankspree (if you're not on Twitter get on there!)

 

[Kite159]

Have a good time in Glasgow

 

[47403]

Thanks for the tip, got my super awesome fleece ready, with hat and gloves in use at the moment anyway (need to find the touch screen gloves I've got somewhere!)

Got my travel mug for hot drinks, and I must get on with packing my bag rather than browsing the forum! Quite, I forgot to print off my tickets this week so will be going like a bat out of hell after work to get to the station and get to the TVM asap lol! And I didn't buy a scarf yet either, I'm actually considering getting one despite my dislike of them!

Wish me luck all regarding the weather, I might need it! Same for the Megabus journeys, I expect they'll go OK but who knows? I'll be back on here at some point this weekend, but of course the updates during the trip will also be on Twitter, hashtag being #30thbirthdaycrankspree (if you're not on Twitter get on there!)

Luck techniquest. have a good un.

 

[fishquinn]

Have fun!

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks guys, first part is over and it was a weird evening all in. Resulted in a good bit of news at least but the stress ruined it and London Midland have gone down in my estimations! Wait for the trip report, which will be up as soon as I can get it done (late next week is my estimate), it'll explain everything!

On the 2345 London Victoria Coach Station to Aberdeen (via Birmingham, Preston, Glasgow, Perth and Dundee) as far as Glasgow obviously, as I type. Managed to get the last power socket seat thankfully, but legroom is far worse than on Ryanair! Time to TRY and doss in a few minutes, hopefully the women next to me shut up shortly and/or get off in Birmingham!
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While I have time for a quick update, during a long wait in Barrhead (55 minutes between trains!), so far today I've had 6 winners and quite a few winner shacks. Enjoying a lush pint of Tennent's for the first time in a pub in Barrhead near the station, and I'm hoping to get a few more winners before heading to base camp for the night. Expecting to reach there around half 8, not certain yet.

Not been as bad weather wise as I thought, still not grand but better than storms! Of course, the full trip report will follow in a few days but for now, the trip's going well. Lots of updates on Twitter to follow

 

[Kite159]

We could have passed each other in Euston without knowing (I was around after the Train Deer Motherwell service got in around 22:45, before slowly making my way to Waterloo to witness the "mad run trying to force open the doors of a 159 which was blocked in by a 450 for an Alton service with seconds to spare" (I forgot how boring it is standing around Waterloo for 45 minutes waiting for the service, so used to spitting the return leg to score potential winning emus)

 

[Kristofferson]

Glad you're enjoying the trip

Also happy 30th!

 

[Techniquest]

Glad you're enjoying the trip

Also happy 30th!

Not 30 til the morning (16th December)

A quick update for now, while enjoying a pint in Spoons before the coach home. Had a lot of winners and scratched off a lot of shacks all over the place! Had a brilliant day, with some surprises although these won't be revealed yet

12 hours and 47 minutes bashing yesterday, 13 hours and 28 minutes today. Shattered at the moment, and as the trip report will reveal I've had my Burger King fix for a while (saying that I'll probably end up in there tomorrow now!), which was most welcome!

Kite159: Very possible then, I arrived at 2239 so we will have come close!

 

[Blindtraveler]

happy 30th mate, this sounds fabby - still need to finish mine off but with work, weather and a pile of other stuff its been a fortnight from Hell!

 

[fishquinn]

Happy Birthday! Glad to hear you had a good trip!

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks both! Aye it was a good day all in, had some drinks in the evening and my first non-Burger King meal in a few days when I got back to Hereford and home respectively

I'm going to make a start on this trip report this morning, as I have some time to get it started on the commute to work. Not so on the way home so let's going!

13th December 2014 - Techniquest's 30th Birthday Crank Spree, Day 1

And so here it is, the final trip of 2014. It felt like forever coming, and after some tough times at work lately it was more than needed! Work is endured for 6 hours vice 8 before the trip, and it's onto 170513 and 170509 on the 1740 Hereford to Birmingham New Street for what turned out to be one of the very few DMU workings I would do on this trip. The journey goes without comment, such is the mundaneness [yes I'm officially making that a word!- Ed] of the journey these days. Birmingham is absolutely heaving with people, thankfully the trip to Tesco goes quickly and without concern. I finally have tea, it now being a long time since my last food, and it's a ham and cheese sub and a Mars Bar. Accompanying the trip tonight are cans of Red Stripe [fellow lager/beer enthusiasts, if you've not tried it I highly recommend it! - Ed], then it's time to fight through the crowds to join the 1954 Birmingham New Street.

Tonight it falls to dud 350127, and I'm glad I booked First Class as my phone is in desperate need of charging. Good thing I got on early too as it's packed full of refugees from Standard Class as far as Coventry. This is with having had 350242 banged onto the rear as well! That one's dud too, I had hoped for 350231/239/255! I should also mention the weird fact that my train on both RTT and the PIS screens was showing as calling at Long Buckby but not Northampton! At Rugby all but one of the refugees leave First Class, and it's here I found the ID of the rear 350, which left me to bellow [in my head! - Ed] "DUD!", still need the aforementioned 350/2s and all the /3s then!

It's time for a song I first heard on Radio 2 almost a year ago, one of my favourite drinking songs, Lily The Pink [I may have mentioned, in the Anglo-Swede trip report, singing along loudly to this on the drive home! - Ed], it's still a firm favourite to this day! I can't find the The Dubliners song I was thinking of though, and I fail to see anything on DIRFT tonight. 350374 is scored for sight on Kings Heath (Northampton) depot, just two more to see with LM! Northampton is where the last refugee from Standard leaves and it's back to my YouTube History list, as full of 'cheese' as it is! We wait to leave, and wait, and wait...

Eventually, after 10 or more minutes [I thought it was 15 minutes, but my notes say otherwise - Ed] of festering the doors are unlocked and I was by the doors waiting to see what's going on. A LM staff member bellows about alighting and going to platform 3. So I run back in and grab everything as fast as I could, racing over with the large number of fellow passengers who had also just found out the same as I did. No warning, no anything, all of a sudden the train was cancelled. I nearly lost my moves book on the race over, thank Goodness it didn't get damaged in the wet conditions!

We all make it somehow to platform 3 for the 2120 to London Euston, which was being held to let us all get over there. By the time I made it there it was already 2118 and we finally leave at 2127, 7 minutes late. The stressful bit of tonight was unnecessary and could have been done so much better. However there was a bright side, as 350255 was leading this stopper to London, so I've managed to score a 350/2 for the first time in quite a while! I also anticipate being at least 30 minutes late into London, so I can claim 25% Delay Repay (£4.50 I worked it out to be), which would help. I'm just glad I booked the train with 90 minutes to get to London Victoria Coach Station!

The last can is enjoyed on the way down the WCML, and the guard kicks someone out of First Class and I hear him tell the woman there's 11 more coaches on this train. This was my cue to find out which other 350s I had on the train, which were 350258 and 350122, both duds. Berkhamsted arrives, and no I'm not mentioning that tour again [I'm sure I mentioned it in my A Good Day To Crank Hard trip report, if not other times too! - Ed], and I notice we're on the mainlines not the slows on tonight's stopper! Not used to that or being on a 12-car 350 at this time of day! Even so, I'll be glad to get to the coach station, let alone London, as I write this it's 2216 and I'd have nornally would have been in London by nown, instead at that time I was awaiting departure from Apsley. I'm also losing patience with stoppers and 350s tonight! If only there were reasonably priced tickets with Virgin that included the run to/from Hereford in one ticket, I'd use those!

Watford Junction finally arrives and we're not far away at long last! The bag packing is done again and as we arrive into Euston at 2239 I double-check I didn't mis-read the numbers and had indeed scored 350255. I did get it right, good news!

I find I haven't brought my Oyster [I have two of them, my old one with the Direct Line holder and a Diamond Jubilee one, the latter is AWOL - Ed] with me so I'll have to use contactless payments. I don't like doing that as I don't know how much they're charging me, but my spending logs have it down as £2.40 which I think is about right. Double winners on the Victoria line with 11031+11032 for the 7 minute run to Victoria, and I race off to the coach station [it was 2301 by the time I got out of the station, not much time left! - Ed] as fast as I could. 7 minutes later and I'm there, ready and waiting for boarding on the 2345 M11 Megabus to Aberdeen. It calls at Birmingham, Preston and Glasgow before Perth, Dundee and Aberdeen, I've done this journey once before, all the way to Dundee in December 2008, which really was an endurance!

SV12 DVW (Megabus 50245) is on it tonight, and we leave 5 minutes late at 2350. It's pretty busy on here tonight, but thankfully I got on at the right time to get a power socket!

That's Day 1, the rest will be continued with as soon as possible!

 

[noddy1878]

Always good to get an unexpected winner when doing a journey you need to do. Last time I forgot my oyster the contactless didn't exist so ended up getting a second oyster! One in my wallet now and one in my train ticket wallet.

 

[Kite159]

Indeed it is always good to get an unexpected winner (i.e. for me would be one of my 2 required SWT 158s unexpectedly attached to a 159 set to/from London)

 

[Kristofferson]

Cracking read as always, that's one hell of a busy day!

Looking forward to the rest

 

[Blindtraveler]

Likewise - just been using the first part as a bedtime story after DJ'ing (yet another) Xmas party! Roll on the end of them

I have the same Oister forgetfulness issues but now have a contactless card too so think will give that a bash on my next visit, I think in Feb next year. I wouldnt have the patients I dont think for the LM BHM>EUS Stopping service so despite there obvious inabilitty to get it correct last Sat your doing well! I too have had issues with noize etc on that overnight Megabus run, not helped I dont think by the Plaxton Interdecks where drivers dont have such a good idea of conditions and are less able to act. Usually improves at iether Man or Pre where a Scottish driver (usually a Glasgow man) gets on and restores order before setting off on that nice long non stop run Pre>Gla. Looking forward to the next installment!

 

[Techniquest]

Glad to see you all enjoyed the read thus far I've wrote up a fair bit of Day 2 on the way to work this morning, so here's wherever I got to (with the rest of it following at some point tomorrow). I have got photos to add when I get the chance, which will be Sunday at the earliest.

14th December 2014 - Techniquest's 30th Birthday Crank Spree, Day 2

So we're cruising through London to the M1 and I continue reading for a while before getting to the point of wanting sleep. It's cramped and crowded on here though, so it's easier said than done. Especially with people playing music next to me at a high volume [those of you who read my updates on Twitter will know how frustrated I was! - Ed], ignorant youth of today...Thankfully at Preston someone near me got off so the ignorant young woman moved to sit by her mates, leaving me room to spread out into a more comfortable sleeping position. A few hours doss at the most were had, and we eventually reach Glasgow at 0756, 6 minutes late. McDonalds was my original choice for breakfast, instead I swung by Burger King at Glasgow Queen Street instead. More expensive than McDonalds, and I still don't enjoy BK coffee but it did the job. A Roundabout was bought for £6.30 and it was off to the low level platforms to begin the main event of the trip!

334005 and 334019 at Dalreoch by 43002, on Flickr

The 0824 to Helensburgh was in the hands of double duds 334005+334019, and I was on a shack scratch mission today so it was on them to Dalreoch. I take the opportunity to go and change my clothes, it being the first opportunity of the day [no, there was no way you could do so on the coach! - Ed] and I instantly feel a little refreshed for it. Double duds 334032+334015 take me back down the line to Dumbarton East for a shack scratch, while here just before the next Balloch train was due in it was cancelled without warning! The curse of double duds continued with 318265+318263 on a leap to Kilpatrick, at least I could enjoy some proper EMU noise! The next Balloch train is running but just 11 minutes late instead, just as well as I score winner 320317 leading dud 320308 for a trip west [the first of many sights of these two! - Ed]. I had intended to shack-attack at Bowling too, but due to the delay I would miss the next Glasgow train. So I continue to Dumbarton Central, thinking it was required but no, I'd forgotten I'd done it on an ALR trip!

334s at Dumbarton East by 43002, on Flickr

318265 and 318263 at Kilpatrick by 43002, on Flickr

Everything's turning up dud going east, although I spot a potential move so jump back on 320308+320317 to Bowling. It's a lengthy wait but observations proved correct, and I score winner 318264 leading dud 318266 for a trip to Garscadden. No sign of my last SR passenger train for sight on Yoker depot, and the 318s there were thankfully dud. I still have time to position myself for another potential move I'd worked out earlier, so I have another 30 minutes wait, again with nothing about, before double duds 318269+320309 take me down the line to Jordanhill.

View of the Clyde at Bowling by 43002, on Flickr

Fortunately they'd stuck to the working I thought they'd be on, and I have dud 318253 leading winner 318251 back to Scotstunhill [I didn't go too far in case I got my times wrong - Ed]. Annoyingly the shop there doesn't take cards, and no ATMs around, so my quest for a drink continues! Winner 320306 leads dud 320321 on my next move to Hyndland, as during my wait at Jordanhill I could see the line towards Westerton and observed 318s working Milngavie trains. When I get there I'd not long missed a train to Milngavie but end up with dud 334035 leading winner 334036 on a leap to Anniesland. I see the DMU shuttle to/from Queen Street is running today, didn't know that was the case! 320317+320308 are back again for the trip to Bearsden, winner shack. I did Hillsfoot on this line years ago during a forum meet, had time to kill waiting for the sleeper to arrive so got some coverage on the Milngavie line done. Of course I wish my recording of these moves was better, but then this was in 2005 I believe when my record keeping was not yet properly organised!

Co-Op to the rescue here and I get a meal deal and large bottle of pop too, that drink went down well considering it was almost 1300 and I'd been needing a drink since about 1045! 320308 and 320317 are back once again to take me to Westerton, where I surmised I had chance to view the next Milngavie train. Which I did (although if it had been on time I doubt it!) and just as well as dud 320313 led winner 318257 on it! Up to the blocks and back down on the pair to Glasgow Central Low Level, enjoying some classic EMU noise as we went and loving it.

318257 at Milngavie by 43002, on Flickr

Costa coffee time now, it being gone 1400 already and a long time since the last one!Shack attack time elsewhere now, and a search for winner 314s instead got me double duds 320318+318262 for a trip to Cambuslang. The return to Centraal High Level was no better, double duds 320303+318258. However that was to change when I got back, as winner 320320 was waiting to leave and I jumped on for a trip to Uddingston. The next Glasgow train was cancelled, so it ended up being a long 30 minutes waiting for 318258+320303 to come down and take me to Bellshill. I was going to wait for the DMU from the Shotts line at Uddingston but fancied my chances at yet another shack attack at Bellshill. Turned out to be an excellent decision as the DMU was rather late. So what do I get on it? Double duds 158740+158867, just my luck! Time's running away with me now so I head back to Centraal on them anyway.

More to come when I can, which should be tomorrow morning then after that Sunday possibly. So much work to do there's not much to do anything else, so this may not get finished until after Christmas.

 

[Kite159]

Not a good day for units so far.

The Queen street to annisland DMU serves stations which otherwise wouldn't have a service. Will continue until it is wired.

 

[55013]

So we're cruising through London to the M1 and I continue reading for a while before getting to the point of wanting sleep. It's cramped and crowded on here though, so it's easier said than done. Especially with people playing music next to me at a high volume [those of you who read my updates on Twitter will know how frustrated I was! - Ed], ignorant youth of today...Thankfully at Preston someone near me got off so the ignorant young woman moved to sit by her mates, leaving me room to spread out into a more comfortable sleeping position.

"Hell is other people" - Jean-Paul Sartre

Anyway, an interesting read, that.
I'm looking forward to the next instalment.