Another week passes, and it's been solid, if unspectacular once again:
11/4/16
A grand haul to start the week, from all corners of the class lists. I could sense it was going to be a decent day when, for the first time in seemingly forever, a fresh sighting presented itself on the morning commute, as
150268 rolled in to take me and the significant other to work. I also spied ATW's
158840 as we arrived into Piccadilly.
A glorious day (by Manchester standards) unfolded, and as such I perched at the end of platform 13 for a wee bit on the way home, capturing another XC 220, as well as the daily Trafford Park to Felixstowe freight. Sadly I fear these lovely little half hours will become more and more fruitless as our journey progresses, certainly until the MASSIVE stock cascade/new stock arrives as part of the latest Northern franchise. Going to be quite a wait for that!
The spotting highlight of the day was a pair of 66s bookending
70017 as they sat on Stockport viaduct waiting for their path across Heaton Norris Junction on their way to Leeds. Needed the TOPS thread team to get the numbers, but still, a winner is a winner!
66505
66544
66585
70017
150268
158840
175116
220029
12/04/16
Not much to set the pulse racing today, just a couple of Northern DMUs and two freight workings;
66420 running light engine from Crewe to Trafford, and
66566 doing likewise, but dragging a fair weight with it.
66420
66566
142092
150110
13/04/16
A truly unremarkable day, with nothing other than three further Northern DMUs. Still, better than nothing, eh?
142024
142070
150223
14/04/16
Another busy day work-wise meant I was unable to get to Deansgate for the lunchtime freight, so instead had only two XC voyagers and an ATW 175 to show for my efforts. Exponents of the 'vomiter' tag will be pleased to hear
220034 absolutely stunk as I walked past, even at 07:15 in the morning...
175103
220034
221125
15/04/16
As noted in the opening to this week's round-up, Friday was very good, ala Monday. Once more a required Northern 156 trundled into town to take my and the other half to work (I'm beginning to think she's a lucky charm!), and as we departed Stockport I also caught
66155 coming onto the viaduct on its way from Wakey to Wigan NW (To do what I'm not sure?).
Lunch was split into two halves, the first spent devouring a large bowl of leftover chilli, the second at Deansgate to catch
66415 on the Crewe-Trafford light engine run. I even had time to pop into town and get a nice wee notepad in preparation for Derby next week. Whilst the online spreadsheet does the job whilst in Manchester, when I go on a dedicated spotting pilgrimage I find the sheer weight of numbers coming at me requires a more traditional method. Sadly I appear to have recycled, inadvertently, the old log book, but a newer, sturdier model has been purchased in its place. Rock. And. Roll.
With the girlfriend out for the night (
) I hung around Hazel Grove after work to catch an extremely late
66122 heading towards Peak Forest on it's jack jones, and then returned a couple of hours later to catch the
very prompt 66020 waiting for
158847 to clear Hazel Grove Junction before carrying on up the Buxton line (which I recall only happens once a day for any freight workings?) to Dowlow.
66020
66122
66155
66415
142046
156426
158847
Wishlist
A new feature! Never let it be said that this thread isn't afraid to keep it fresh and cutting-edge!
Here I'll quickly document those classes/sub-classes/operators which I'm tantalizingly close to clearing. It'll help me remember what I'm looking out for/can discount mainly, but is also nice to chart progress in a quick snapshot.
150 (Northern) - 206/220/277
158 (EMT) - 774/783/846/863/889
185 - 106/109/133
319 (Northern) - 367/369/374
390 - 107/115/128
And that's it for another week. I may get down to Stockport tomorrow before watching County v Corby Town, but only if there's any interesting freight workings early afternoon. Other than that I have a two day week, then it's off to Derby for the day!