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Rhymney 37s

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Met Driver

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I met everyone at Paddington at around 0915 (Marc, Galvanize, Yorkie, Chris). A certain someone ;) was ever so slightly late, so we had to be quick at getting the tickets.

We departed Paddington on the 0945 Swansea service (joy54 joined us at Reading), the journey on which was quite uneventful, that is, until we reached Bristol Parkway!

As we approached Parkway, the conductor informed us of a major power blackout in the Newport area over the PA. All trains were terminating at Temple Meads, with replacement busses being sent in to take passengers across the Severn.

No buses showed up, so we decided to wait for another train instead. We caught a Wessex 158 to Cardiff Central, where we arrived over two hours later than planned! Thankfully, we did arrive in good time to catch a Rhmyney service.

Our loco was EWS liveried 37405, hauling four ex-Virgin MKII coaches. We made our way up through the valley and arrived at Rhymney. Unfortunately it was raining, and thus it was hard to take some decent photos. DLA365 joined our train at Rhymney for the return journey.

We returned to Cardiff Central behind the same loco. FGWFan and HSTFan also joined us somewhere along the branch, but being a rather forgetful chap, I 've forgotten which station! DLA365 and joy54 also left us at another station, but again I have forgotten which one!

We took some photos upon arrival at Cardiff (where we left FGWfan & HSTfan), and then we sprinted over to platform 2 so as not to miss our return HST which was pulling into the platform!

Galvanize and Marc left us at Paddington. Yorkie, Chris and myself decided to go to Willesden Junction to take some photos. We stayed there for a few minutes and then made our way back into London on the Bakerloo Line.

We all alighted at Baker Street. Yorkie left us here in order to get his train home from Kings Cross. Myself and Chris decided to go and catch a Refurb D stock to Olympia.

We boarded the Refurb at High Street and made our way round to Olympia. There were several enthusiasts at Olympia, who seemed to be waiting for a charter to come through. After about 10 minutes, three-cylinder BR '8P' 4-6-2 No. 71000 Duke of Gloucester pulled in with a special. After taking many photos, I filmed the train departing on its way back to Alton.

Chris and myself returned to Earls Court where we went our seperate ways.
 
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yorkie

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AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGHH!!!

What a frustrating day!!

Everything was going fine.... until we heard the reports of the power failure at Newport.

We were considering all sorts of alternative plans (we nearly went to Newquay or Birmingham) but eventually we got a train to Cardiff arriving over 2 hours late! :shock:

The plan was totally out the window, but we (just!) managed 1 trip to Rhymney although we didn't see the others for very long because they had gone to do other lines (understandable in the circumstances). We very nearly missed even doing 1 trip.

Apologies to anyone who tried to phone me, it died on me. I need a new phone. :(

I'm not sure what happened to various people who were meant to meet us but ended up on replacement buses etc, but obviously you either did better than us and got an earlier train to Rhymney or worse than us and got a later train. We couldn't risk doing more than 1 return trip and we almost missed the HST back to London (the less said about that the better, but we did make it by about 1 second), I was worried about getting the last train out of KX after what had happened earlier, but our trip back was fine and we had time to spare.
 

yorkie

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Summary Power supply problems in the Newport area
Time reported 09:20
TOC(s) affected Arriva Trains Wales, Central Trains, First Great Western, Virgin Trains, Wessex Trains
Route affected London Paddington - Reading - Swindon - Newport - Cardiff - Swansea - Carmarthen - Fishguard Harbour & Manchester/Liverpool - Crewe - Shrewsbury - Hereford - Newport - Cardiff
Description Due to power supply problems in the Newport area train services are being disrupted. Short notice alterations, cancellations and delays up to 60 minutes can be expected. Time for normal working to resume is estimated to be 5 hours
Updates

10:16 First Great Western are operating road replacement transport between Cardiff Central and Bristol Parkway via Newport in both directions
12:24 Due to further development there is no estimate for normal working. Train services are now on the move with heavy delays up to 60 minutes, short notice alterations and cancellations can be expected
Time reported cleared 15:00

Note that the 'road replacement bus service' was virtually non-existant, although it's difficult to blame them as they didn't forsee this and you can't suddenly get a whole fleet of buses to arrive.
 

Galvanize

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2nd July 05, Cardiff Trip

I left my house at 07:30 and waited for LPD156 to turn up on the 07:41 Route 484 to Brockley. On arriving at Brockley, I bought my Z1-6 travelcard and got the 07:46 Plastic Box (455, sadly not a refurb). I should of got the 08:04 but got the 07:46 just to be on the safe side. Arrival at London Bridge was on time, I saw a badly gratified 375 on a SET service to Tunbridge Wells (where’s the 508s then?) and I saw that 375609 had broken down at London Bridge’s Platform 5. I then boarded the 8:29 to Waterloo East which was also Marc’s (Southern) train, then we got the Bakerloo line to Paddington from Waterloo.

At Paddington, we met Seth and Chris Jolly, Yorkie arrived a few minutes late and went off to get tickets. As we walked past the train, the formation was wrong; Coach E which was meant to be the family carriage and didn’t have the Easy access WC and coach C was replaced by a First Class coach. If I had known Yorkie was going to walk through the train, we could’ve kept the seats. Departure was suppost to be at 9:45 but we left about 4 minutes down. The First Class coach C really confused everybody, especially those with booked seats. Joy54 joined us at Reading, me and Marc found seats in coach C, even when the train manager was checking tickets. As we passed through Chipping Sodbury, the guard came on the PA telling us some bad news.

There was a Blackout at Newport Power box so this meant all trains in the area were affected and that we’d terminate at BTM and transfer to a coach. We got off the train and headed for the coach and we saw at least 300 people milling about In the taxi/ coach area and we also saw a National Express coach which was hard to tell what it was doing. Yorkie had a few ideas about what to do instead which included SET or Southern slammers, Virgin’s holiday maker ADEXs to Newquay, Virgin 90s to Wolves or just go back home. Then the most bizarre thing happened, we met Joe Holmes (FGW HST Fan!!!! on the other forum) by pure coincidence. We saw a GNER HST on the journey to Newcastle that was also ADEX, then we heard about the 12:50 to Cardiff running as the fault was rectified so it was over to Platform 1 to await the service. It was switched to Platform 3 after a while. The train had turned out to be a 3 car 158 from Portsmouth, I managed to get 2 tables so we spread out round those tables. Despite a trolley service being advertised, there was no way of it getting through this train. Soon we were on our way, past Filton Abby wood, through the severn tunnel and past Newport, we eventually arrived at Cardiff Central 2 hours later than hoped.

There were many pacers and sprinters much to my cameras delight (The photos will be uploaded to my site later today) and at about 14:05, 37405 arrived with 4 ex Virgin Mark 2s. We saw 37411 at Cardiff Queen street, 37425 at Bargoed where DLA365 joined us. Despite the late arrival and the bad weather, we were still enjoying what we could do. We arrived at Rhymney, changed ends, Watched the locomotive couple on and got a decent window at the front on the right. FGWfan and HSTfan!!! Joined at Bargoed on the way down while Joy54 and DLA365 left at Gilfach Fargoed. The driver of 37405 eventually reduce the delay to 2 minutes down at Cardiff Central, after fotting the locomotive, we had to run for the HST to London Paddington which had run out of food from the buffet (almost) and we arrived at Paddington at about 18:30. Yorkie, Chris and Seth went to Wilesden while me and Marc got the 18:38 Heathrow connect to Ealing Broadway.

We then the 18:53 back to Paddington where I bought a BK meal but felt sick after eating it (Didn’t turn out very hungry, full up) then the circle line to Victoria. Marc got the 19:52 to Sutton (I think) and I got the 20:19 SET to Denmark Hill and the 484 bus back home.

This meet was okay but we’ve had better meets than this, there were some good bits; Heathrow Connect, the 37s and the HST but the Power Blackout which caused the disruption was the bad bit. I still want to thank Yorkie for arranging this meet.
There was no sign of Sprinter, Heart of Wessex or Jim but I understand Jim’s reason for not coming.
 

joy54.gen

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* Got the 0731 Southern 455 (refurb) from Gipsy Hill to Clapham Junction

* Caught the 0757, 170 planning to go to Salisbury, in the end I got off at Andover and went back to Basingstoke due to unforseen circumstances

* At Basingstoke I caught the 0937 166 FGWL which got 3 mins delayed to Reading.

* Caught yorkie and the groups train at Reading (see Seth and Joshua's plan up to Gilfach Fargoed)

* At Gilfach Fargoed me and DLA waited for about 10 mins for the delayed 37, this time 425 to take us back up to Rhymney.

* This left still late, 5 mins down. Got to Gilfach Fargoed 5 mins down still.

* We waited for the last 37 of the day 37416, which took ages, in the end it was 17 mins late. This ended up nearly 20 mins at Rhymney, and nearly 30 mins back at Cardiff Central.

* I then had a meal with DLA at Mc Donalds, and I caught the 1925 FGW HST to Paddington. Fell asleep near Swindon, woke up at Paddington.

* I then caught a Circle Line straight away (which was good never happened to me before always had to wait ages) to Victoria.

* Finally I caught the 2222 service to Gipsy Hill, this was packed due to Live 8.

All in all a tireing day with some enjoyable bits.
 

Jim

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I would have been OK & would have come but I had to do some shoe shopping, because, I have a wedding to attend to Nxt Weekend
 

Techniquest

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Right, my version of events:

- After a night of no sleep, I got the X13 off my second local stop at 0654, arriving at the station at 0702.
- Having still got validity on my South Wales Rover (would never have planned to do the trip otherwise, ensured I'd be able to use it on the meet when I bought it, a bit of planning that worked!), I board the 0730, having missed the 0700 by 2.75 minutes!
- Arrived in Cardiff at 0822, got the delayed (we left eventually at around 0840) 0824 to Taffs Well, as far as Waun-gron Park on 142006.
- Got the same unit back on the 0859 to Central.
- Discovered the Voyager leaves at 0905 on Saturdays!
- Boarded 158746, waited to go to Newport, at 0932 we're told a power failure has knocked out all the signals at Newport.
- I then decide to bugger off that, after some decision making I got a service to Caerphilly, 142082 IIRC. 142002 showed up as a surprise here for Rhymney, I went onwards to Llanbradach only.
- Changed here for the 37 (425) to Aber.
- Found out it was around £34 to London from here with a Y-P!
- Got 143609 to Cardiff Central. The power problem wasn't fixed yet.
- Met HSTfan!!! later at Cardiff Central, we then went to Bridgend on a 142.
- Had lunch, got 143609 (IIRC) to Cardiff Central. Found the rest of the crew had eventually arrived in Cardiff and got the 1359 to Rhymney (NOT Rhim-ney as someone says it, I'll explain some basics in saying Welsh station names on the Inverness meet).
- HSTfan!!! and I got 150264 to Queen Street, then 143623 (IIRC) to Bargoed. 37405 eventually shows up 5 down here, we FINALLY meet the gang here. Joy54 and DLA365 jump out at Gilfach Fargoed, the rest of us race to Cardiff.
- The rest of them take pictures of the loco and the various DMUs (why I don't know, but hey). yorkie mentions they have to hurry up for the 1630 to London, I correctly inform them it's due off at 1625 ( :P ), and it's 1623 at this time, so they storm from the west end of platform 6 to platform 2, just making it on board.
-HSTfan!!! and I went to Aberdare via the City Line (that's through Ninian Park for those unknowledgeable of the line) as he needed to do it. I had now started falling asleep a lot more, and the return saw me sleep for much of the journey.
- Our 150 is stuck in Queen Street for ages on the way back, we had let 37416 go as I didn't think we'd make it. We then go for a 143 that was bound to go next, but it ended up going before the 150 went! That left nearly 20 down!
- We eventually arrive, I see off a HST to Swansea without boarding it, as I was the first to arrive, I might as well be last to go home! We got the 1925 HST to Newport, as the 1910 to Gloucester was 142006, we were both sick to death of Pacers by now. We ride behind 43176.
- I see HSTfan!!! off at Newport, then I get the 1942 Voyager (yes, they DO run to Newport and Cardiff!) to Cardiff. We pass the engineers slowly, but still arrive early by 2 minutes. It then soon heads back towards Newport ECS to somewhere.
- I see various trains arrive, watched the 2025 arrive and leave, eventually got on the 2047 (delayed again) to Swansea, delayed by a further 6 minutes at Cardiff due to having to put a terminating service on platform 3, which was clear, unlike p4, which had the Taffs Well service on it, this eventually left and got the hell out of our way. The terminating service should have gone into 4 IMO, leaving the route clear for the HST. Never mind.
- I arrive back in Swansea at 2149, only 4 down, after leaving Cardiff 11 down! I got the (delayed) 2156 service at 2203. This was a surprise, as this service usually runs early or on-time, never that late! I eventually got into the house at around 2215. It was hence discovered that I was out of Swansea for 14.25 hours, out of the house for 14.75 hours!
 

Galvanize

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FGWFan said:
\- The rest of them take pictures of the loco and the various DMUs (why I don't know, but hey). !
Look, FGWfan, I live in London where we don't have any pacers and hardly any decent DMUs. You've got all the decent DMUs (Sprinters, 158s, Pacers- I like Pacers a bit but I prefer 143s) :cry: It was just that the Central Liveried 158 at Cardiff attracted my attention.
 

Techniquest

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Galvanize said:
FGWFan said:
\- The rest of them take pictures of the loco and the various DMUs (why I don't know, but hey). !
Look, FGWfan, I live in London where we don't have any pacers and hardly any decent DMUs. You've got all the decent DMUs (Sprinters, 158s, Pacers- I like Pacers a bit but I prefer 143s) :cry: It was just that the Central Liveried 158 at Cardiff attracted my attention.

Well sorry!

If I may, I'd like to interject that London has a ton of better trains (gets the scroll out for the list), some of them being:

HSTs
LHCS on the ECML and Anglia ML
321s
332s
350s
360/1s and /2s
Electrostars
Turbostars
Desiros
Junipers

To go back to commenting on your post, there aren't many people who'd call Pacers and 158s decent. I know heart-of-wessex and HSTfan!!! are fans of those classes in respective order, but TBH I can't stand them for long. When you live with them as your local lot, trust me they get BORING! Especially after all the Pacer riding I've done lately!

Did you get any phots of the 37? That, I'd imagine, was what you lot came over for. Still seems weird to have seen you all in Cardiff. A bit like how weird it is when I go to somewhere like York I guess.

It always seem weird that people find Pacers worth photting!
 

DLA365

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FGWFan said:
If I may, I'd like to interject that London has a ton of better trains (gets the scroll out for the list),
Not to forget the slam door stock and several varieties of LUL rolling stock :D

To go back to commenting on your post, there aren't many people who'd call Pacers and 158s decent.
Personally, I don't like the 150 series (150-158), but especially dislike the 150's and 153's. They make this horrendous noise when starting but take about half a minute before actually going somewhere - nothing but noise and environmental pollution IMHO!!

142 and 143's are just about ok - they're not great but they do the job I suppose. Nothing like loco-hauled services for me!

Still seems weird to have seen you all in Cardiff. A bit like how weird it is when I go to somewhere like York I guess.

Not really - I have been to Cardiff quite a few times so it doesn't feel weird at all. It gets more and more familiar each time :D
 

Jim

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FGWFan said:
It then soon heads back towards Newport ECS to somewhere.

I think your find the mystry place is......Barton Hill
 

Techniquest

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Yeah, gathered that after speaking to heart-of-wessex last night, he being more knowledgeable than I on everything in the Wessex Trains' operating area, most definately between Bristol/Swindon and Southampton/Portsmouth.

I'll leave it as I have typed it already though in case it wasn't there.

DLA365, there's a reason why I didn't mention the LUL stock and slammers... :lol:

I sort-of agree with your comments on the 150s and 153s, but TBH I don't mind them, as long as it's not a long journey (90 minutes or more). Of course, on the HoW that rule goes out the window, I put up with it as the line is quite nice. I usually have my CD player for such trips too, so if I've a good CD it helps to pass the time.

When I said it still seems weird to see you lot in Cardiff, I was specifically relating to having seen yorkie, Galvanise, Marc, settt and the other guy who isn't on here to my knowledge in Cardiff. I was thinking 'Wow, bet this is the last time I'll see them here' and 'Surprised they all made it'. I see an awful lot of spotters who come down maybe once only down here, but this was a monumentous occasion to see these people who I wouldn't have believed came if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. I will say that I HOPE they come again some day, was nice to see the London lot out in Wales. I guess they'll have to be back at some point, they'll need to cover the rest of the lines in Wales.

Does that explain my last statement a bit better?
 

HSTfan!!!

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My version of events...

got to newport station to find the power was out, bought a cdr for cardiff hoping it would be quickly sorted in order for me to reach cardiff. After an hour sat at Newport Station sat bored with not a single train except the 66's and 37416 at Godfrey road to look at, got a refund on my ticket and wandered down to Newport Bus Station in the hope of a Cardiff Bus being soon. Boarded a packed 30 service to cardiff - cheaper as well! (This may seem shocking seeing as I hate buses...) I quite enjoyed the ride as with a change of scenery and found cardiff bus to be quite satisfactory!
Eventually arrived at Cardiff Central where I met FGWfan and got myself a valleys rover in a 15minute queue.
Me and FGWfan decided to catch the 143 train to Maesteg, however took an early stop at Bridgend for some chips. (FGWfan thought the train was a 142 for some reason!) Went back to Bridgend Station where we joined the same 143 back from Maesteg up to cardiff. Got stuck outside Canton for a 10 minutes at a red light!
Boarded a 150/2 bound for Coryton and got off at Cardiff Queen Street where we joined a pacer up to Bargoed, I got cold and decided to put on my wessex trains blazer, waited for the 37, but took a quick trip to the Texaco Garage outside Bargoed for rations!
Joined everyone else on the 37's at Bargoed
I think it was DLA and joy54 who got off at the next station however everyone else rode down to cardiff, where me and FGWfan saw everyone off on the 1625 HST for Paddington (someone however thought it was the 1630 and when told it was leaving at 1625 - quickly ended up running to the HST hehe - mentioning no names now!)
Me and FGWfan did a trip to Abedare via both lines and when arriving back at Cardiff awaited the HST to Newport, got to Newport and FGWfan joined a voyager back to Cardiff. end off
 

joeholmes

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And how nice it was too see you there, i meant to jump at you at Cardiff but that never happened................

Nice to see you all again though..............

Joe!
 

Techniquest

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Also, forgot to apologise to HSTfan!!! on Saturday for continuously falling asleep! So: Sorry! I was just tired by the afternoon after much DMU riding and no sleep the night before.
 

HSTfan!!!

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Aye so you should apologise lol! there was me bored on the units lol! hehe. hmm I don't think you saw me did you mr. holmes?
 

Southern

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Here's my story:

Wow, what a weekend. :D I left home at 6:30 on Saturday to get the 6:57 into London. I made my way up to the station and bought a CDR to Charing Cross. Two 375's turned up and I got on them. The train arrived at London Bridge 5 minutes early and had to wait outside.

When I pulled into London Bridge, lpd165(Josh) got on and we took the train to Waterloo East. At Waterloo East, I bought a 1-6 Zones travelcard and we got the Bakerloo Line to Paddington.

At Paddington, we waited at the top of the escalators and met Seth, Yorkie and someone else I can't quite remember the name of. Just shows you what a great memory I've got :oops: .

Me, Josh and ? went to board the HST, while Yorkie and Seth went to get the tickets. We lost our seats in the end because we got up to see what was taking so long so. We did some heads out from Paddington - Reading, when Josh told me he had found some seats. Joy54(Steven) joined us at Reading.

On the approach to Bristol Parkway, the driver came over the tanoy and said that a huge signal failure had occurred in Newport and all trains were currently terminating at BTM. Everyone got off and flooded to the front entrance, where coaches were going to arrive. We must have stood there for an hour when suddenly it was announced that trains were running through to Cardiff again. Everyone waiting for the coaches then flooded back into the station where we awaited the arrival of the 12:50 to Cardiff Central. It arrived 4 minutes late and was a 3-car 158. It got so crowded it had to stand for another 3 minutes while everyone tried to fit in and didn't end up leaving till 12:57.

On arrival at Cardiff Central, we crossed to another platform and waited the arrival of the 37 to Rhymney.

The 37 arrived with 4 ex-virgin coaches in tow. Again, we did some more external observations to Rhymney. When we got there, everyone was taking pictures of the loco. It detached and ran around the train and coupled back to it for the return journey. On the return journey, some more people joined us and Joy54 left us at a station I can't really remember.

Back at Cardiff, we got some more shots of the 37 and other trains. Then we crossed to the other side of the station and got a HST back to Paddington. Back at Paddington, Yorkie, Seth and ? went off to Willesden so me and Josh got the Heathrow Connect to Ealing Broadway and back.

Back at Paddington, We got the Circle Line to Victoria. Josh was going to get the train back to Lewisham so we said goodbye at Victoria. I then got a double 455 down to Crystal Palace. Most trains were carrying extra carriages because of the live 8 gig in Hyde Park. At Crystal Palace, I took a 157 to West Croydon and then a 455 to Sutton. Here, I got the 281 to Mitcham, a tram to Wimbledon, a 455 to Clapham and a 377 to Victoria.

Back at Victoria, I got another double 455 to East Croydon and a 319 to London Bridge. It was in the new Thameslink Livery. When I got off at London Bridge, I decided to walk to McDonald's. As I hadn't been to the one in London Bridge in years, I forgot where it was and spent the next 15 minutes looking for it. When I found it, the time was 23:27 and my train was in 10 minutes. I ended up only taking away my drink and this is where the nightmare started.

Chaos :shock: . I had just missed the last train home to Folkestone and was going to have to deal with maybe sleeping at London Bridge. Luckily, I got a call from my mum and I asked if she could call our friends who live in Selhurst. I walked over to the Southern Side of London Bridge to look for a train to Selhurst. The closest thing leaving was the 23:49 to Norwood Junction, a 377. I took that to Norwood and walked up to my friends house in Whitehorse Lane. I got there at about 00:40 and stayed until the early morning.

At about 7:00am, I woke up, had some toast and left to make my way back to Norwood Junction. I thought to my self as I walked down the road, should i go straight home or get another travelcard to have another ride around.

I got to the station and took a 455 into East Croydon. I picked up a Southern Performance leaflet and it said that 90% of their trains were now running on time. Whether this is true, I don't know. I caught a 377 to Victoria, where I bought a Bacon Roll From McDonald's. Over running engineering work meant trains were still being diverted via Lewisham, Grove Park and Chislehurst so I boarded a 375, expecting to go to Chislehurst. Just past Nunhead, it was announced the work was over and the train would now not call at Grove Park and Chislehurst but run, as timetabled, to Bromley South.

I walked to the bus stop to wait for a 61 to Chislehurst. It arrived, though I chose to alight a Orpington for a train back to London. The bus pulled up just as a 375 was leaving so I went to Platform 4 and took a slow 465 to London Bridge. While I was waiting for it, a Eurostar came by. I thought these use the new high speed line, just past Longfield. It wasn't running back empty either as it was full of people.

At London Bridge, I took the Northern Line to Euston. I noticed a Freightliner 90, with a rake of MK3's, awaiting to leave on platform 16 to Macclesfield. I was waiting for the delayed 13:39 Northampton service, which didn't turn up until 13:50. It was a 321, which I took to Harrow. At Harrow, I got the Bakerloo Line to Willesden Junction, a 313 to Gunnersbury and the District Line to Hammersmith.

At Hammersmith, I took the 10 to Knightsbridge, the Piccadilly Line to Green Park and the Victoria Line to Vauxhall. At Vauxhall, I caught a 455 to Motspur Park and then had a walk back to the bus stop in West Barnes Lane. I took a 131 to Raynes Park and then a 455 back to Clapham Junction.

At Clapham Junction, I waited for a train to Victoria. A Vep from Horsham took me there.

Back at Victoria, I took the 11 to Charing Cross and a 465 to London Bridge. At London Bridge, I thought about maybe going home but then one of those new thameslink liveried 319's turned up so I caught that to East Croydon.

Off at East Croydon and then on to a tram to West Croydon and a 250 to Thornton Heath. I stopped off at Tesco's and bought two bottles of Water and some gum. I walked up to Thornton Heath and caught a 455 back to Victoria. From Here, I took the District Line to Embankment, a 465 to Greenwich, the DLR to Lewisham and a 465 back to London Bridge.

Back at London Bridge, I waited for a 465 to Sevenoaks. It was quite a surprise when a 376 turned up as I've never seen them run on a Sunday. For anyone interested in the diagram, it was the 17:42 Charing Cross - Sevenoaks service.

At Sevenoaks, I found that the the 18:45 Hastings Train had been delayed. It was a 375, which finally turned up 10 minutes later. I changed at Tonbridge and took another 375 to Ashford, where I waited for my train back to Folkestone. For some reason, it left from platform 2. I got back to Folkestone Central at 20:30 and got home at about 20:40.

It was a weekend I'll never forget. Thanks for reading :D .
 

Sprinter

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Sorry I wasn't at this meet, I did book a day off but since one of my colleagues was rushed into hospital Friday night, I had to stand in at short notice on Saturday morning.

I will be doing the Ryhmney 37s later in the year, so real loss.

As my name suggests, am I the only one who likes the Sprinter classes, especially 150s and 156s? Great commuter units but I agree shouldn't be used on long distance servics.

There is an art to driving Sprinters in order to get them out of the stations, some drivers haven't mastered the knack yet!
 

bunnahabhain

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I love 156's you know, cant stand 153's, 150's are pretty good as well, they go fast (I'm used to 25mph running nowadays ;)) and 158/159's are ok as well.

Good reliable trains they are, hehe.
 

Techniquest

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Sprinter said:
Sorry I wasn't at this meet, I did book a day off but since one of my colleagues was rushed into hospital Friday night, I had to stand in at short notice on Saturday morning.

I will be doing the Ryhmney 37s later in the year, so real loss.

As my name suggests, am I the only one who likes the Sprinter classes, especially 150s and 156s? Great commuter units but I agree shouldn't be used on long distance servics.

There is an art to driving Sprinters in order to get them out of the stations, some drivers haven't mastered the knack yet!

Never mind Sprinter, you've earned more money to come over again!

Regarding you being the only one to like Sprinters, well I will say I like some of them. However, ATW push the limits of what you're willing to accept when they send (I'm using an example here when I actually did ride in this one) 150260 on the 1044 Cardiff to Manchester! Thankfully I was only going to Abergavenny on it!

Would Fort William to Dalmuir count as long distance? If so, I withstood a 156 on that, even if I did sleep for much of the trip!

Oh, and can you PLEASE teach the drivers down here how to drive a 150/2 properly?!
 

HSTfan!!!

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stuff 150's! 153's rock! and 158's are also very good! I still can't believe that a coupled 158/153 formation pulled into barry island to take me home not so long ago - yes - a 158 on the valley lines! I couldn't believe however it was a hereford bound train :?: it got to newport direct which pleased me though! (I still decided to sit in the 153 mind and I enjoyed coming close to a cabride in the 153 middle cab on the newport approach!

FGWFan said:
Oh, and can you PLEASE teach the drivers down here how to drive a 150/2 properly?!

hehe, wait til I get my hands on one with you riding it FGWfan! :lol:
 

HSTfan!!!

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ever seen my driving?? lol You should see me driving if not - you will never step on a train with me driving if you can help it!
 

Techniquest

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I'm keeping out of your trains then HSTfan!!!

Mind you, if I were driving a HST, my 'zero-tolerance' policy would have to come into play. Longer than normal station dwell times make me late? I'd still arrive at the next station in time! Early probably! Assuming I get greens of course!

Notch 2 out of the station, soon as possible into Notch 5! Look out for the scream at DP!
 
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