Here we go again then ladies and gentlemen! Dunno if I'll make it all the way through day 11 in one go, not long had a coffee to get myself pumped up though! Without further delay...
14th June 2012 - All Line Rover, Day 11
Up and about at 0500, and as I can spare some time today I return to bed for about 10 minutes after making a coffee. Once that's consumed and everything's prepared, I leave around 0540. No need to rush today either, since I'm so close to Moor Street! The first move of the day, the 0555 Birmingham Snow Hill to Stratford-upon-Avon, is dud 172333. Always my flipping luck with these things! The Travelodge was booked specifically for this PSUL move, and yes I could have done it last night on the other PSUL move, the 2136 from Stratford-upon-Avon, but that would have meant not getting the crossovers at each end of Hatton North Curve done. Surprisingly the journey passed by super quickly, and I noted 67014 on the 0655 to London Marylebone. Will I make it to Warwick later for it? At 0634, it's time to sound the victory horns (no victory coffee as nowhere was open for one earlier), as I've finally completed the London Midland network!
[you try finding a decent victory horn sound on YouTube by the way for the purposes of this report, difficult! This will suffice, the first 4 or so seconds of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i85iMapeTfs - Ed] It's back to Moor Street via the usual North Warwickshire route through Henley-in-Arden and Shirley on 172333 next, after missing the -1 at S-u-A which would have provided 168113+217 to Warwick for 67014 to London. Never mind, I'll get 014 one day!
The way back to Birmingham was just extremely dull and boring, and got very busy after just a couple of stops. I was glad to get back to England's second city for a breakfast and coffee move, but then it dawned on me that I can't use my ALR on Virgin from Birmingham New Street until after 1000, so I plan an XC bash in desperation instead. Ah yes, they're also extremely tight fisted [resists temptation to go into XC rant mode - Ed] so after I double check LM definitely isn't on the list, nor Wolverhampton, I find a LM service to Liverpool at 0801. That'll give me time to get food and coffee in Wolverhampton before getting Virgin north. I stay with dud 350107 though to get that lot at Crewe and check if there was a required 221 going to Chester or London. No such luck, so in the meantime I go over to Pumpkin and get a sausage bap and large coffee for a seriously late running breakfast (could have done with this lot 3 hours ago!) after seeing and photting 37409 with an inspection saloon. That made a nice change for the ears after the 350! The PIS on platform 7 says it's out of use, interesting. Not sure if I accidentally gave the girl £3.83 instead of £2.83 or if I simply lost the other £1, but it sure wasn't in my wallet when I got to Wigan, bah. The walk from North Western to Wallgate was dead short, can't believe I was expecting a marathon journey!
I finally get some cash from the Post Office nearby and get some Papermate pens for just 50p [seemed a bargain at the time...You'll soon see what I mean - Ed]. It's a lovely hot day here up north, lots of sunshine and heat. Compared to the rest of the country, I think I was getting rather fortunate with the weather! I spot some buses for a bit, I'd forgotten they had some decent sounding stuff like Optare Excel 2s up here. Dud 150138 rolls in on the 0953 to Manchester Airport, running several minutes late apparently due to a broken down train in front of it. At least I didn't have to suffer a 142! The bit of track I needed from Wallgate to Wigan Station Junction is finally done, which means I'm almost there with the North West now
The map, Quail and Baker are looking good now with today's progress so far, and I almost left my camera behind when it came to getting off this very busy train. So glad I remembered it! 142037 provides the first win of the day on the 1045 Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield stopper via the Hope Valley. Platform 1 is finally microgriced, and I flick through the Metro and that free Shortlist magazine. It has to be free, it's not worth paying for! 60007 is noted roaring north just before Romiley, I can't remember the last time I heard that sound but it was extremely welcome.
As we join the Hope Valley at New Mills South Junction, a victory parade is called for (this will suffice on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaxVwD-HvNU ) as I finally clear the North West! Lots of good progress made today then, with all my maps and such like looking far better than they did last night. Somehow by Grindleford we've lost 7 minutes, I'm at a loss as to how that's happened. My plus onto the 1211 to Cleethorpes is in jeopardy now! We arrive into platform 8 (surprised it wasn't 2C, but merr) at 1206, 3 late and 185126 is flagged on the Cleethorpes. Perhaps I should check my NREA...D'oh, it was required and realise too late to jump on. Oh well, everything happens for a reason and I get myself a large coffee to celebrate the day thus far from Pumpkin. Winner 144009 takes me forward with the 1224 stopper to Scunthorpe via Rotherham Central. Gotta wonder what they'll do with such journeys if/when Supertram extends to Parkgate. The journey goes by super fast all things considered, we reached Doncaster much quicker than I expected! Nothing worthy of note here, and I get winner 91131 to Newcastle. This journey is a lengthy one, so on with the tunes and out with the trip report now I have new pens! I make my way, once in Newcastle, to platform 7 to join winner 156454 on the 1456 to Hexham.
You're probably wondering why I'm up here. Well I'd forgot until the other day about the short stretches of metal resting on metal attached to concrete/wood up here that I still need. Having studied the PSUL, I found some trains that I could go for that were booked to use the High Level Bridge into/out of Newcastle. With these little stretches being the last two regular bits to do in the North East (as usual, excluding preserved/light/freight railway) it had to be gone for. So after alighting at Metrocentre I get winner 142016 back to Newcastle on one of those trains in the PSUL. I check with the guard if we're indeed booked over the High Level bridge, which he confirms but alerts me to the fact it's not a guarantee. Fingers crossed after Dunston then. YES! We do indeed use the High Level Bridge, so I am now very happy! We arrive a few minutes earlier than expected, so I go to what I thought was platform 3 and redeem my full card at the Pumpkin. The 1528 to Kings Cross arrives in what is actually platform 3 (I was on p2) and full credit to the Pumpkin guy, he noticed what a flap I was getting in and rushed it as much as possible. How I didn't lose all my coffee to the floor on my rush over the bridge I don't know, but make it on with mere seconds to spare and somehow find a seat. No idea which 91 I'm on though, shall have to see which wire scraping machine it is at Peterborough! After updating the Quail and Baker, the trip report is carried on with, and I get up to today with it before I have to get ready to alight.
A level crossing CCTV failure is delaying significantly everything over Daw Lane (a little north of Shaftholme Junction) level crossing. Bet York IECC weren't too happy about that! Fortunately we're not massively affected and we reach Peterborough for the fifty millionth time this fortnight
[seriously, anyone reading this may well be thinking I had a thing going on here! - Ed] at 1754, about 5 down (yes, I use down in my writings not late, high time I used my own terminology). A medium tea is up next as I'm in dire need of refreshment now, 2 hours after my last drink for £1.40. Nowt on Peterborough I need, how many GBRf 66s do I actually need I wonder. 170106 is up next for my first XC journey of the fortnight, a TOC I'd planned to avoid for the whole trip. So long as I don't have to suffer one of their Voyagers, this will be a fine compromise
[I've had to suffer an XC 220 since then, and ugh! Can't avoid them enough! - Ed]. 66734 is a winner sight on March, glad I went this way then now! Especially since we use platform 7 at Cambridge, one of the sides of the new island platform here. Platform 5 is noticeably shorter than p6 I see now too, everything looks much different to my visit here in August 2011!
I get 4 379s I needed for sight here, and with nowt else open for food without a trek into town about the same length as walking to Everest, I set up a loan and head into M&S Food. Everything's so flipping expensive in here compared to Asda [now that's something I'd like to see, Tesco/Asda at stations - Ed], an example being a chicken and bacon sandwich. £3.25 in M&S, £2 in Asda, £1.80 in the latter for me (
). Guess which one tasted far superior and had more in it. If you guessed Asda, congratulations you were right. Same sort of story with everything I looked at. If it cost 90p in Asda, it would be at least £1.75 in here. I know some people over here are rich, but for us normal people this takes the mick! A pack of chocolate digestives and a small bottle of water form the rest of my tea for a total of £4.95. Outrageous price and even some of my most miserable colleagues could do better than this lot. In case it's not obvious, I don't like M&S! 170207 takes me on the last train of the day, the 1943 Cambridge to Harwich International which I take as far as Needham Market. Platform 5 was a winner too, and after eating my first food since breakfast, over 11 hours ago (!) I start feeling really tired.
The green pen, the first of my new batch of pens, has now stopped working. No biggie, I have 9 more. Eventually, after a lot of persuasion, the red one works but to have 8 pens fail out of a 10 pack is outrageous. Especially for Papermate! We finally arrive at 2049 and I start the walk to the Travelodge shortly afterwards. It takes 32 minutes but involved a major roundabout. Glad there wasn't any traffic using it at the time! The usual evening procedures are next and end up watching some of Jimmy and the Giant Supermarket. I couldn't stay awake to watch the end of it though, after all it is around midnight! So then the day's review:
It's been a most productive day with several winners and some fiddly bits out of the way. Finishing the LM network after so many years was a bonus and getting the North West out of the way was great. Lots of mileage today and some new sights, all in all a good day out with a score of 9/10. Stats:
Day 11 mileage: 625m17c
Mileage move of the day: 192m27c on 91117 (winner by the way)
Bus stop of the day: 3m39c on 156454
Best bit: Finishing the LM network at long last
Worst bit: The arduous journey up the normal way to Birmingham on 172333, just so bored tired and hungry at that point!
Bargain of the day: Gonna say that cup of tea at Pumpkin, Peterborough
Rip-off of the day: Those pens. Whilst there was a lot of them for 50p, with only two of them working I was outraged!
Right then, that'll do for now. Days 12 to 14 will come along soon enough, but I've got a lot of work to do this week so doubt it'll be before Sunday.