Not been that sunny from Hereford, but it's still quite reasonable. I just hope the Brat Brigade aren't out in force to ram the trains full, I didn't remember it's Easter holidays so my train to Birmingham was packed with them!
Been an otherwise enjoyable day so far, you'll all have to await the trip report to find out why
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Well then, here we go, a bit later than planned but hey! I'm also bringing back the Editor humour (apologies to those reading this on the app, it doesn't seem to like showing the text in italics at all!) which has been left out for a while. Some of it's also translating Basher Speak into English, for those unaware of various terms' meanings.
14/04/2014 Techniquests Return to Merseyside
As I start typing this up upon arrival at Colwall on the outward journey, I cant help noticing how much more awake I am today compared to this time last week! Helped I suppose I got a bit more doss
[sleep -Ed] than last week for a start, and no doubt the large coffee during the fester
[long wait - Ed] at Hereford did too! 0547 comes around and I wake up from some random dream that involves some new line terminating at somewhere like Bromborough on Merseyrail, next to the through lines
. Not sure what that was about but I woke up and spend a couple of minutes returning to reality before getting a bacon sandwich made. Time is running out far quicker than I anticipated and I leave several minutes later than planned. Wasnt as well organised as I thought, as I had left my ticket wallet behind and thankfully hadnt got far before realising, being very glad my brother was still up and let me back in to get it! The journey passes by quite quickly this morning (wish it did that when Im on my commute!) and its then time for the usual fester. A large coffee was £2 with Bite card discount from Pumpkin and I spend a while making observations. 153356 and 170517 are the chariots taking me to Birmingham this morning, the 170 Ive had a little over 166 miles off this year alone (by the time I get to Birmingham at least!), I have a hunch Ill have cleared it for the magical thou by the end of the year!
So why am I heading to Birmingham when I could easily enough get to Chester and thus to Merseyside much more quickly? The short answer is that London Midland still had their online 25% off sale on, so a day return to Birmingham during the sale is £11.45 compared to £15.30, a nice and tasty £3.65 saving. I also booked Advances to/from Liverpool for today, totalling £19.15 in the sale. So Im going to Liverpool, via Birmingham, for £30.60 which is £1.30 cheaper than the day return to Chester
[I'm aware it's possible some people may not be overly keen on reading the fares stuff, but tough it remains as a part of this - Ed]. Getting the 0827 to Chester from Hereford was much more expensive, and as it has worked out, Ill get to Lime Street only roughly 30 minutes after I would have done with ATW/VWC, and I have 2 chances to score a winner 350
[if I had checked my diagrams properly that is! - Ed] unlike going with ATW and VWC, where my chances of a winner were virtually nil (only needing 150235 with ATW, and the odds of that producing on the 0908 from Hereford or indeed the 1828 from Chester this evening were incredibly unlikely! Who knows if going this way will produce a useful result, everything happens for a reason after all! After creating new files for observations and moves, its time to start work on the spreadsheet of stations in the UK and Ireland. As its the Easter holidays, the train gets rather full from Worcester onwards, giving me very little room to move let alone do any work, so by Bromsgrove I give up and shut down for a while.
Arrival into New Street is at 1021, and its off to Tesco Metro to stock up on supplies, then its to Costa to get my usual coffee for the long trip to Liverpool. Dud 350124 is on the 1101 this morning, and much to my surprise I get a table seat without difficulty! The usual problem of people thinking you cant go past First Class occurs many times before we leave
[I'll leave you to imagine the two words I had in my mind for such people! - Ed], and I give up telling people that after a fair few times! Right time away and theres a nice pretty young lady sat opposite me
[see, I am human, I do notice these things! - Ed], poor things struggling to get her iPhone to charge with a dodgy cable. Time to do a little more spreadsheeting as we head north, and Ive seen winners out and about today in the Midlands which is more than frustrating! Its a nice and relaxing journey up to Liverpool playing some banging tunes
[as I re-read this prior to posting, I can't help but remember Kevin and Perry Go Large - Ed], and we arrive at 1243 into platform 8. Although Ive yet to see Birmingham services use anything other than this platform! After picking up my Saveaway, it was straight down to the Wirral line for a quick leap to Central on dud 508110, and I originally planned to have a clearout of stations on the Southport line, however first was a leap to Moorfields on required-for-everything 508112 (just 508136 to find for sight now!), from where I see 508126 is a winner on the 1310 Central-Ormskirk, so I go for that naturally and decide to instead focus on clearing the Ormskirk branch of the Northern line for now. Off we go to Aughton Park, and while waiting for 508126 to come back with the 1350 Ormskirk to Central, I go through the timetable to plan my moves. I can finish this lot back at Central at 1520, not too bad then. That was until I saw winner 508115 going up to Ormskirk, so I bail at Town Green (I know, what a massive bit of mileage...) for the seriously long 1 minute journey and wait 15 minutes for 508115 to come back down. Interesting note here at Town Green, theres a police station on the railway station! I score 508115 on a leap to Aintree next, where I observe the long-disused line towards Bootle is quite overgrown here, so I dread to think what its like further down the line!
Dud 507015 is up next for the trip to Maghull, where its coffee time at the Costa Express machine in the M to Go shop. £2.40 well spent in my eyes! Much to my surprise, I get what turned out to be my only winning 507, 507008, for the insect leap to Old Roan. Thats the Ormskirk branch of the Northern line
[no, not THAT Northern line! - Ed] stations done now, so its time to update the notebook and await 507015 to come back down for the trip to Sandhills. Its now 1513 already (jeez that 2.5 hour spree went by fast! Compare and contrast this trip report with my Derbyshire Wayfarer one, where I spent more time moaning than owt else!) and I end up jumping on dud 507025 to Southport, which is packed to the rafters and I only just manage to get a tiny space to stand in a motor coach. Not that I could hear much of the motors over the ambient noise and especially one guys very loud music. Couldnt quite understand the lyrics
[if it was some of the music I listen to, that's not a bad thing. Got some real cheesy stuff on tonight! - Ed] but the rest of it was loud enough! I alight at Waterloo, and although its an island platform meaning a +0 was technically possible, we are 2 minutes late (after a right time departure from Sandhills) so I miss winner 508125 on a Hunts Cross service. I belt it upstairs and get a 3L bottle of Dr Pepper from Iceland for £1.75 as I was in serious need of liquids again now (I love coffee, but it does dehydrate me somewhat, more so in warm weather), then check what service 508125 was doing back from Hunts Cross. Double check it, yes it is due to do the 1406 from Hunts Cross and I can have a +7 for it at Aigburth, thatll do nicely. Brucie bonus
[kids, this is a Bruce Forsyth saying from The Price Is Right - Ed] with the next one back south, the 1513 Southport to Hunts Cross being due for a pair of 507s/508s, subject to availability.
Sure enough, its 508128 and 508137 on it which are both sadly dud, but I want that winner 508
[yep, Red Pen Fever had struck badly by now! -Ed]! For some reason, we leave 2 minutes late which was a sign of things to come. I dont understand why, of all Merseyrail lines, the Southport to Hunts Cross one gets delays without even trying. As we progress south, were 3 minutes late, 4 minutes late, 5 minutes late, 4 minutes late, 5 minutes late, and eventually reach Aigburth at 1611, 4 minutes late. That made a safe +7 into a risky +3
[+3, or in other cases, -2 refers to a connection onto another train. - connections are always risky and rely on the next one being late, my record being a -63 thanks to a farce on the GWML once. +/-0 is a Man of Steel move, with no time between trains. No idea how many times I've tried a Man of Steel move, although I know it doesn't usually work out! - Ed], although thankfully theres a footbridge here so it was made relatively easily in the end. I was more thankful for the irritating brats getting off at Central, good golly gosh they were annoying! Couldnt really hear any of the motor noise all the way from Waterloo to Central, even with all the hopper windows open around me! Sure enough 508125 was on the 1606 Hunts Cross to Southport so I score it on a journey back to Moorfields. Its 1626 now and although Im not booked away from Lime Street until 1704 Im still anxious Ill miss it somehow
[the Half Hour Left scenario well into play here. This being time to kill before your booked train home but you don't dare do much and plan plenty of time for random farces. This scenario comes into plan a lot when I do a London bash I find! - Ed]. Back on the Wirral line, I see off two dud 508s before I end up on dud 508110 again for the leap to Lime Street. I have time to visit Burger King for tea, which is fortunate as Im getting rather hungry and have no idea if Ill have time for McDonalds in Birmingham. 350124 is back to take me home on the 1704 Lime Street to New Street, its well on the way to being one of my highest mileage 350s! 350118 should still be ahead of it after the last London bash, as should 350120, but Ill have to have a look at some point
[my RailMiles account is currently OOU until I can get it revived, so no gen there yet - Ed]. Right time away which was a good sign although I fail to ID pretty much any of the freights I see!
Nothing of interesting note, other than to observe that the 5 60s that were parked up on Crewe depot recently are now down to 3, and I get my bookwork mostly up to date. Arrival into New Street after a smooth journey is at 1849, and I cant resist the lure of a coffee
[yes, I'm very much addicted to coffee! - Ed] so redeem my full McDonalds collector card and make a few observations before getting 170507 and 153354 on the 1919 to Hereford. For a change, were leaving on time and I get cracking bringing this trip report back up to date. Which takes until Droitwich Spa, and sadly my laptop battery is almost out of charge so I cant really do any more spreadsheet work annoyingly. So Ill finish this later or tomorrow, so I dont expect all the detail to be in there when I do finish this! Its very late (2307 to be fairly precise!) on Tuesday evening by the time I get around to finishing this off. The usual hold just before Rainbow Hill Tunnel, then a slow crawl into Worcester Shrub Hill follows and theres no sign of a 150 on the depot, so maybe there was no 150 in operation in the Midlands today. I get bored during the fester at Shrub Hill, but as always grateful the slack is there in the timetable to soak up delays coming down from Birmingham. Goodness knows how often thats come in handy
[probably not as often as the slack at the Hereford end has before now! - Ed]...Not a lot to note really tonight, except that the Worcester platform at Malvern Link has a rather nice looking new waiting room now. Its also rather dark by now, and as we pass by the MK1 parked up at the west end of Great Malvern I cant help but wonder who owns it, how it got there and whats going on with it.
Arrival into Hereford is at 2057 and I immediately march on to Tesco in town for the bus station there. Reason being that Newmarket Street is closed STILL for the new shopping centres associated roadworks
. Thisll be the third week now of random closures with no pattern whatsoever. One side will remain open, the other side will close without warning, pavements are closed with no suitable provision made for people to get to the buses without walking on very unsuitable materials, very poorly organised roadworks in my mind! Nevertheless, after a very fast non-stop walk taking every shortcut possible, it still takes me 12 minutes to walk from the station and I was covered in sweat by the time I got there! After getting some cash out for a new multi-journey ticket, Im on the bus and Im flabbergasted that its not the usual Solo, YJ59 GFZ, for a change. Couldnt help recalling how many months I was trying to clear that one for the magical thou, only for it to become a most regular performer on my homeward commute! Nothing interesting to note other than I get home around 46 minutes later (yay, no journey down into Credenhill tonight!) off Y876 PWT, which I should imagine is getting close to retirement now. Been a really good day with some good results so Im very happy. Cant wait for the next trip in 2 weeks time! Counting down the days already...
[yes, it's that great at work! Hope you all feel sorry for us lot in the shops this weekend... - Ed]
