Saturday 14th July
Today we were supposed to be heading home. Rex and Mark had arranged an itinerary that saw them stopping off at various points along the East Coast Main Line to photograph various things while I had one stop-off before we were all to meet in Doncaster for the final leg southwards. I managed to log only three journeys on the real railway, the first being
220014 Haymarket to Newcastle This is normally HST but consequent upon engineering work further south, was a Vomit Comet today. Boo Hiss.
At Central, I immediately descended to the subterranean depths and began my patronisation of the Metro system. I needed six cars outright and plenty more to actually ride in, having had them as part of a pair and ridden in the other one of the pair. I also needed some track and a decent number of shacks. I had seven hours to see what I could bag.
4063+4088 Central to South Gosforth - 4063 new to ride
4007+4030 South Gosforth to
Airport All the required track out of the way, a new shack and first time riding in 4030
4060+4066 Airport to
Wansbeck Road - New shack
4051+4065 Wansbeck Road to Callerton Parkway - New shack
4051+4065 Callerton Parkway to
Kingston Park - New shack
4056+4064 Kingston Park to
Bank Foot - New shack. 4064 = WINNER
4015+4052 Bank Foot to
Regent Centre - New shack. 4015 required for a ride
4049+4081 Regent Centre to
Fawdon - New shack and Airport branch complete
4054+4076 Fawdon to South Gosforth. 4054 required for a ride
4004+4067 South Gosforth to
Palmersville - New shack
4012+4032 Palmersville to
Shiremoor - New shack
4070+4079 Shiremoor to
Northumberland Park - New shack
4044+4087 Northumberland Park to
Monkseaton - New shack
4045+4069 Monkseaton to
West Monkseaton - New shack and 4045 required for a ride
4010+4082 West Monkseaton to
Cullercoats - New shack
4009+4068 Cullercoats to
Whitley Bay - New shack and 4068 required for a ride
4032+4053 Whitley Bay to
Percy Main - New shack
4044+4087 Percy Main to
Meadow Well - New shack
4006+4031 Meadow Well to
Hadrian Road - New shack and 4006 required for a ride
4010+4082 Hadrian Road to
Howden - New shack
4063+4088 Howden to
Chillingham Road - New shack
4033+4053 Chillingham Road to Walkergate - New shack
4017+4080 Walkergate to
Manors - New shack
4063+4088 Manors to
Byker - New shack (Tyne & Wear Metro shacks cleared)
4077+4090 Byker to Monument and 4090 required for a ride
4054+4076 Monument to Gateshead
4042+4072 Gateshead to Monument - 4072 = WINNER
4036+4048 Monument to Felling - 4048 required for a ride
4001+4083 Felling to Pelaw
4003+4014 Pelaw to Felling - 4003 = WINNER
4028+4059 Felling to Heworth - 4028 required for a ride
4011+4078 Heworth to Pelaw - 4011 required for a ride
4056+4064 Pelaw to Monument
4041+4086 Monument to Central - 4041 required for a ride
4049+4081 Central to Monument
4035+4074 Monument to Gateshead - 4035 required for a ride
4028+4059 Gateshead to Central
And so that was my time done on the Metro with three outright winners (three more to go) and a further 13 cars previously logged but not actually ridden as I had used the other half of the pair (another 13 of those to go as well). I'd managed to see all the workings that were out to play so the remaining requirements must have been buried in the depotBut the key thing was all Metro track now covered as well as all shacks visited, many albeit for just a few minutes. Now to head south and home.
91127 Newcastle Central to Doncaster - Mark joined me at York and seemed to have had a successful day. We then met up with Rex at Doncaster who had also had an equally successful day. All that was left was to join the next service south and conclude a great four days away.
91128 Doncaster to Kings Cross.
That just left me the task of totting up all the winners etc. The headline here had to be the 15 winners from the real railway which was way beyond expectations. It was a tossup between 156494 and 158701 as to which one would gain the accolade of “Winner of the Trip” as both were significant additions to The Haulage Book - 158701 just edging it on account of IS based 158s being far from easy to nail down. Add in eight winning Edinburgh trams, 11 Glasgow Subway and three Tyne & Wear Metro to give a grand total of 37 winners which, by my standards, is nothing short of excellent . Then there’s over 40 new recruits to The Ten Mile Club, eight Scotrail shacks and 22 Tyne & Wear Metro shacks which simply allows me to say “WOW, that was some trip!”
Alas, there’s no more trips of any sort in the pipeline at present but once I do start wandering again, I’ll report back.
Looks like a great move.
I can't wait to get back to Scotland; as it happens Mrs 13 and I are having a two week holiday up there in September and I'm sure one or two train rides will be enjoyed
As an aside - I starting doing coaches as it made the commute home a bit more interesting.
It's something I do but, other than local stuff, I don't get too bogged down in it - as long as I've a recorded run in at least one vehicle then I'm reasonably happy.
I couldn't imagine trying to ride in every coach that works into London, just getting the units is hard enough!
Mr 13 - cannot wait to hear about your upcoming Scottish escapade! I'm sure that you'll get out and about a bit on the rails . And even not, your tales of visits to various heritage sites are an equally good read. Like you, I started doing coaches as something to liven up the daily commute. Given that my daily commute can easily be adjusted to incorporate any or all of South Western Railway, Southern, Thameslink or Southeastern as well as parts of the Underground network, I have swathes of coaches available. Outside that, I just try not to travel in the same coach a second time as I have them all logged. Trouble is, I only started doing coaches a couple of years ago so it's very much a game of catchup and the lowest priority of all. In descending order, it's winning locos, winning units, Ten Mile Club, track, shacks, coaches to ride in. So a new coach vs a winning unit - no contest!
The big writing made my eyes go funny Keith
. I enjoyed reading about it all though, lots of interesting lines around Glasgow.
Very nice.
Mr Cowley, hopefully your eyes are feeling better now. Yes, I enjoy roaming around Glasgow but there's less and less to get