Mighty fine reading, that.
I must admit that it's got me thinking I may have been neglecting the EMUs on my recent trips.
Something I may have to rectify net year.
Well if it helps, I used to focus way too much on HSTs, neglecting the DMUs about, so I spent a long time playing catch up, now of course since I've been neglecting EMUs too I'm only just catching up in some areas at last!
Of course, since I've spent so much time on EMU bashing now I need to make sure I redress the balance and get some more DMUs done too. So my next Glasgow Roundabout bash will feature both EMUs and DMUs, only sensible after all!
Kite159: Oh yes a lot of wins across the board, but the war still wasn't over yet! Keep reading to find out what happened next
It's now time to finish off Day 3, after which I'll add the photos and see what I can do with Day 4
15th December 2014 - Techniquest's 30th Birthday Crank Spree, Day 3 CONTINUED!
It's now 1947 by the time I get back to Centraal and I'm in need of a meal. You'll not surprised to learn I went to Burger King again!
I was booked on the overnight Megabus going back to London tonight, and I wasn't sure if I'd have enough battery charge to get me home or if the coach would have working power sockets either. So I had originally planned, when setting my mileage target for the day, that I'd have a long run to Ayr and back, possibly even twice. It would take me a long way to bumping up my mileage for 2014, but also make sure I had the time to charge my phone to the maximum. However, it was also known that A) this would be less than entertaining; B) that it would result in few if any winners; C) I wanted to make the effort to clear the 314s, 318s or 320s if at all possible. Therefore the decision was taken, after of course scouring the High Level lot for 314213, to drop on down to the Low Level and see what's going on.
Winner 318267 produces for a leap to Dalmarnock, a station that was closed for a big rebuild when I was last up here on an EMU bash, and one I'd accidentally highlighted in my Baker [Baker = rail atlas, for those unknowing - Ed] at the time. I was of course going to fix that silly error now, and I was most happy to get it done on a winner too! By now Red Pen Fever was striking, which as any fellow readers who've suffered it will know is not helpful! It felt like decades getting from platform to platform at Dalmarnock, and even though the rebuild was only done in 2012 it already feels like it needs another tidy up. I flag a pair of 318s that were dud, and dud 318266 is next but it's now quite a wait for another train going west back to 'The Core'. I am well aware that term is normally used for the 'Thameslink Core' [London St Pancras Low Level to Blackfriars - Ed], but it feels quite right for Dalmarnock/High Street to Partick through Centraal and Queen Street Low Levels. I lose track of where I am and bail at Argyle Street mistakenly, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Why is this you ask?
Winner for sight and haulage 320305 is on a Motherwell service, and if I had continued to Centraal I'd have missed it. It's also my last ScotRail passenger train to see, so getting this was a very nice surprise, and made me incredibly glad I didn't do the Ayr trip! I was going to do this to Motherwell, but then it was announced at Rutherglen we were heading there via Whifflet. This is of course one of the newly electrified lines in Glasgow, and it's not in the PIS on board or at stations yet, giving the illusion we were going RA from Rutherglen to Motherwell! So now it's shack attack time, and I end up choosing Carmyle, not wanting to go too far from The Core as it's now 2047 and I want to be back at Queen Street by 2300 at the very latest, but still score away as much as possible in the meantime.
320305 at Carmyle by
43002, on Flickr
It's a long transfer between platforms here, and I am lucky dud 320318 is running a few minutes late and I only just make it. I'm off to Rutherglen now, where I predict I'll have some better luck. So much for sticking to The Core! I eventually settle on dud 318265 taking me over to Mount Vernon for another shack attack, as I was very keen on getting as many shacks as I could scored on this trip, as there's still a lot left in the Glasgow Roundabout area to get, let alone the rest of the Daytripper area. Annoyingly I have a long wait in the cold and wet here, then dud 318261 turns up to take me back to Centraal Low Level. Only vehicle 77255 was available for travel when I got on [the rear vehicle was also available I noticed after I got off, but wasn't open when I got on! - Ed], an unusual instance! Thankfully it was the coach with the facilities! At Centraal I try my luck again but to no avail, and it's dud 318255 forward to Hyndland. At least this move turned out well in the end, as winner 334033 produced to take me to Queen Street Low Level. It was to be my last winner in Scotland on this trip, and I'm there at 2229. 30 minutes earlier than originally planned but by now I was feeling shattered and in need of a break.
334033 at Glasgow Queen Street Low Level by
43002, on Flickr
I visit the Wetherspoon outside Queen Street for a pint of Tennants, which also gave me the opportunity to charge my phone at the table in the corner, to the cost of £3.20. Very nice again of course, and I update some notes on my phone and posted on the forum with a brief update before heading up the hill to Buchanan Street Bus Station. By now it's most nippy, and eventually boarding starts on the 2340 Megabus M11 to London Victoria Coach Station. It's YJ14 LHC (Megabus 50251) tonight, and I'm on before the majority of the crowd this time and score myself a seat at the front of the top deck, a favourite seat on any double decker. Fortunately the power sockets are working, so I settle in for a very long journey. YouTube's on pretty soon and it's on for most of the way to Carlisle too [no wonder my mobile data took quite a hit! - Ed], and we leave 4 minutes late at 2344, and we're not due into London until 0930.
This one really is a stopper to London, and when I looked it up earlier in the evening, when I got fed up of trying to work out why it took 9 hours and 50 minutes to get to London, I found out why. We stop at Carlisle, Lancaster University, Preston, Manchester and then finally RA to London. I regretted not booking the earlier coach that was a lot more direct, but hey ho, I was stuck with it now. Off we go then back to England!
16th December 2014 - Techniquest's 30th Birthday Crank Spree, Day 4
Months ago I had never envisioned starting my 30th birthday on a coach down a Scottish motorway, but that's how it started! Thank you, by the way, to all those of you who tweeted me a birthday greeting! I believe
Ryan125HST on here was first, and it was most welcome!
It's a nice run down the motorways to Carlisle, by which time I was more than ready for sleep. Trying to doss at all was easier said than done, with a window pillar right next to me, but I manage it eventually. We pick some people up here in The Border City and finally leave at 0129, 4 minutes late, despite the driver on the radio or phone saying he was leaving Carlisle on time. I'm not sure how I managed to get to sleep in the end, but I must have slept fairly well as I don't remember seeing Preston or Manchester (I did wake up for Lancaster though), waking up at a driver change at Rugby. I overhear something to do with congestion on the M1, and unfortunately I'm wide awake by now. Well, not wide awake, but not tired enough to go back to sleep as much as I tried!
We do indeed take a diversionary route from the M1, and the traffic is ridiculous! It's awful for many miles, and eventually we return to the M1 after a horrendously boring journey. I count my lucky stars I wasn't going the other way though, as the M1 was closed going north at the point we joined the M1 again [I was informed in the evening that a 6-car pile up had been the cause - Ed], with traffic backed up for miles upon miles upon miles. It's still a long drag of a journey going down the M1, but eventually we get off it and reach the top of London. Can't be much longer now, I keep telling myself, and eventually familiar names are on the street signs, going over Baker Street I'm ready to get going and off the coach, but it's still quite some wait to go yet until we reach Victoria Coach Station's Arrivals area. Then we have to wait for coaches to shunt around the place before we FINALLY arrive 43 minutes late at 1013. I'm out of the coach as fast as I can, banging my head on a low roof which wasn't marked. Thankfully it wasn't much of a bang, and I'm soon storming off to Victoria station, cutting through the shopping centre area. I don't even stop off at Costa for a coffee!
I find a TVM quite quickly, £8.90 I have my Zones 1-6 Off Peak Day Travelcard. I knew I wouldn't really use the full value, but I had done some calculations and all of my planned moves were going to weigh up to about the same amount anyway, plus that was all on Contactless payments, which I'm not a fan of. I make a beeline for the higher numbered platforms and I end up being lucky jumping on a slightly delayed trio of 377s to East Grinstead. I had just enough time to identify winner 377401 in the middle of dud 377432 and [finding out the front one after jumping on - Ed] dud 377113. I was going to bail at Clapham Junction, in a bid to do some SWT stuff for a change, but I stick with the new plan [I had originally been, when planning the contactless payments moves, going to jump straight on the Victoria line to Finsbury Park, but obviously this didn't happen - Ed] and head to East Croydon. Hey, I might as well, I've paid good money for this Travelcard so I might as well go as far as I can! Bonus in that I score my last Colas 66 for sight, 66850, on the way to Croydon so I was very happy about that. I also get a winner 377/6 for sight too, nearly there with sighting all of the passenger trains on the mainlines in the UK now!
RTT tells me there's a Bedford service due soon after we reach East Croydon, bang goes that plan to do Costa or Burger King then! Fortunately it's a few minutes late [we were about 5 minutes late ourselves - Ed] and I'm very glad I pined the Costa/Burger King move in the end, as Thameslink [I was going to type FCC, I have to keep stopping myself doing so! - Ed] have turned out a trio of winner 377/5s for this run today. 377508, 377505 and 377517 are all winners on the 1047 to Bedford, 4 377s scored in no time and 3 of the /5s in one go, nicely done!
Next time I think about doing East Croydon to St Pancras though, at least when I'm on a tight bit of time, smack me! Why? It's such a slow journey, I don't want to think about how long we were sat on the approaches to London Bridge, nor how super slow it is all the way to St Pancras from there! 36 minutes spent doing ECR to STP, I'm so glad I don't do that very often! At least the 377s sounded better after the change to the superior power source, to the overhead lines, at City Thameslink! I don't care what the DC gang say, AC rules the roost! Still plenty of 319s noticed running through The Core [of course, this time I refer to the Thameslink core! - Ed] today, I thought they were a rare breed down here now.
A quick bit of walking to Kings Cross gets me a winner 365, 365520, for the leap to Finsbury Park, excellent! More so I score 66755 for sight on the approaches to Finsbury Park so I'm incredibly pleased with that! Still way too many 66s to see yet though! I'd forgotten how good they sound in the motor coaches, was quite pleased with that. I'm sure that, by now, you've guessed what I've come to Finsbury Park for! If you haven't, or you're new to the tales of my bashing, I've come up here for some more Great Northern 313s. These are due for withdrawal in 2016 if memory serves correctly, after 40 years of service. As I still need quite a few of the GN 313s, and it's an every-10-minutes service with them through here on weekdays, it made sense to have a go again. 313s come and go, several times, before I happened to note a southbound 313 to Moorgate as being 313027. I check the timetable and think I've got it figured which service it's doing. Duds after duds after duds come through, then 313027 is not on the service I thought it was, but the one after it. I eventually get winner 313027 on a leap to Harringay, and when I get there it's 1234.
This would not be an issue normally, but I'm booked home on the 1313 from London Euston and I'm not even close at the moment! I jump on the first southbound 313 that turns up thankfully a few minutes later, which turns out to be dud 313042. I was shocked to only see one winner 313 in all that time, considering I was festering at Finsbury Park from 1139 to 1232, in lovely sunshine but freezing conditions! It's as fast as my feet will carry me onwards to the southbound Victoria line now [I know I haven't included many photos lately, but I didn't have time to take many all day - Ed] and I get there just in time to jump on 11041 and 11042 for a 6 minute ride to Euston. I assumed it was going to take longer than that, but that's what my phone said it was! Sadly they were both duds, but I didn't have time to fester for winners. It's 1247 by the time I'm heading to the stairs up to street level, and I am in dire need of both a drink and food, so no time to hang about! I hadn't had a drink in over 2.5 hours now, having finished my last bit of pop upon leaving the coach station, hence the desperation. I was going to get a coffee at Finsbury Park, but sadly it's not Puccinos these days :cry: I wasn't willing to leave the station to go to Costa either, in case winner 313s turned up!
Burger King to the rescue for food at least, my usual meal was obviously obtained. I should bear in mind I hadn't eaten since around 2000 the previous night, so by now I was beyond starving! I knew my drink here wouldn't last long, and I end up joining the queue at Costa for a much-needed coffee! I needed platform 8, and I was so not with it at this point I hadn't realised I'd just walked up the ramp away from it, some out-loud cursing of myself comes out of my mouth and I head back down the ramp to find 350112 in all its dudness for the 1313 to Birmingham New Street. I find a table seat and start devouring my food as quick as I could, once I'd sugared up my coffee. It's an on-time departure and off we go belting it up the WCML. I see no 350/3s I needed for sight on Camden Carriage Sidings, or anything else I needed anywhere else. With my Burger King meal in me, I start the massive job of getting my books updated, this taking quite a while all in, most of the way to Northampton before the ST Publications book and NREA agreed with each other. After checking out the 350s I could see on Kings Heath depot, I still can't find either of my last two 350/3s for sight, it won't be long until I find them all for haulage anyway.
Nothing of interest on DIRFT (Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal) today, when will I find my last DRS 66 for sight? We're back on familiar territory before I know it, and I'm enjoying the journey through sunny weather. Birmingham International is soon upon me to indicate preparations for alighting to begin. We arrive at one of my favourite places in the UK, Birmingham New Street, at 1517, bang on time. Apologies if any of you nearly fainted at reading the comment on Birmingham New Street being one of my favourite places, you did read right. Why is that, I hear you ask? It's one of the homes of my spotting and bashing career at Birmingham New Street, I've spent much time here and I just like it for that reason, I have some fond memories here, some of which are fading away sadly as parts of the station are long gone thanks to the rebuild of a railway station into another shopping centre. Anyway, I could go on for days with that but won't. I visit Tesco Metro for a drink and pop back to the platforms to have a quick social with a railway friend before his train headed out, then it was to platform 12b for the 1549 to Hereford, the last train of the trip.
170513 is on it and is very busy, thankfully LM had sent 153375 out to attach to it and made for a more enjoyable journey home. Of course, I sat in the 153 for some much needed DBT [Dog Box Thrash - Ed] all the way home. We leave on time, and I get the moves book out to get on with the massive job of getting that up to date, which there was a lot to add to [I still have a fair bit to add to it from this trip yet! - Ed], and with little else to do on the way home it made sense to get on with it now. Otherwise it was a fairly standard journey, and we arrive into Hereford 3 minutes early at 1716.
153375 at Hereford by
43002, on Flickr
I go to the local Wetherspoon for some drinks with a colleague, then I get a lift home about an hour later. A much needed meal was had, although I confess I'm not sure if it was fish and chips or something else now! And so ended an absolutely brilliant trip, one worthy of a budget traveller for his 30th birthday! It was also the last trip of 2014, so it had to be a big one! It cost me a fair bit all in all, although I haven't yet costed everything up. However it was all money well spent, with 37 winner stations scored, 35 winners in the book (2 of which were LU), a truckload of mileage, 2 classes nearly cleared, with plenty of progress made on the others and a good time had overall. And so ends this long trip report, thank you all for having patience while I found time to get it done! The remainder of the photos from Day 3 will be added shortly.
Now bring on 2015 and what I'm expecting to be a fantastic year!