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The Various Random Mutterings of Kite

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Kite159

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What I enjoy about your reports Mr Kite is your enthusiasm always shines through and never wavers.
What Cowley said on The_Train's thread recently rings so true "Sometimes it’s just good for the soul to do something that serves no other purpose than pure enjoyment"

Oh yeah, there is no purpose in revisiting the stations nor any purpose in hunting for units for the reason of mileage (just gives me something to do before I start heading towards Moorgate & LO land with my red pen)
 
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The_Train

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Sorry to hear about the car Kite but at least you're ok.

Enjoyed the last couple of reports, especially that last railtour. I imagine that 37 with its Mk1 stock surprised a few at Stoke who were waiting for a Voyager. They were probably disappointed it wasn't a replacement for the Voyager as well
 

55013

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Ouch, but at least you walked away.
Anyway, I'm just catching up (as usual).
The regular collection of diverse and interesting reports there - most enjoyable.
 

Kite159

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The report from the revised Scottish trip will be slightly delayed, as due to the accident last Thursday evening, my car is a write-off, so it's a case of looking at options as I've only got a hire car for a week.

In the meanwhile, I went for a walk on Monday and came across a little viaduct ;)

IMG_20190617_115516912_HDR.jpg
 

Iskra

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Sorry to hear about your car meeting its end, at least you're okay though.

Nice picture and I'm looking forward to the report- can't go wrong in that part of the world.
 

Kite159

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Sorry for the delay, and the long post.Agreed Rob, cars can be replaced, humans can't

A trip to the Highlands, 14th – 18th June


Background
The plan for this long weekend has changed over time, but the main idea remained the same, a couple days in Inverness, then shifting over to Fort William, the idea to revisit the remaining Highland stations, the sleeper to Inverness on the Thursday night with the Friday spent for the 2 stations on the Kyle line, Saturday for the Far North, Sunday a coach to Fort William with 2 of the Mallaig line stations, with the remaining triple on the Monday, overnighting in Glasgow the Monday night with a lazy day on the Tuesday (a hotel + Virgin was cheaper than the sleeper).

Although things didn’t get off to the best of starts, as you might have already seen in previous posts, I finished work on the Thursday, popped to Tesco to get some supplies and was a couple miles away from home when a lorry coming the other way knocked a branch of a tree into the middle of the road forcing vehicles to do emergency stops, I stopped without hitting the car in front but sadly the van behind couldn’t manage it, and managed to write off my little car (RIP DA11). I was hoping to get home and catch the 17:59 service to London as that would give me an hour & a half to ‘mess around’, with the backup option of the 18:59. I didn’t get home until around 19:15 when the recovery truck driver kindly dropped me off (as annoyingly it was the same day my parents had flown away for a long weekend somewhere hot).

Physically I was fine (although the day after my arm & shoulders were sore), but mentally it was stressful, shocked & slightly depressed. After food I did some research and some sums in my head, basically if I postponed the trip the next time wouldn’t be until October time and as some of the festers at rural Scottish stations were long, I decided to get back on track with a single to Inverness, sort of a farewell to the HSTs on LNER, and at least I could get back on track with only losing out on the Kyle line, which is something which can be done on a Saturday in September/October.

14th June – The long track to Tain

I got up and walked to the station, in-between showers and it was a busy 159014 & 159108 which took me to Basingstoke, where I changed to 165116 for the trip to Reading, striking lucky with the first Paddington bound service which was winner 802114 for the speedy trip to Paddington. 21351/21352 working a circle line service took me to Kings Cross St Pancras, where it was a quick exit to LU and across to Kings Cross. I was a good 50 minutes ahead of myself (damn you 802114 for popping up so early ;), however I noticed the 11:03 Leeds service was an Azuma, so taking a short walk over spotted it was winner 800110 I jumped on board.

It was a busy Azuma, but I found a pair of airline seats in the composite coach for the run to Doncaster, changing for the ex-11:30 Kings Cross - Edinburgh semi-fast service (the 11:06 London – York stopper had been cancelled). Due to points issues around Potters Bar this service was delayed with a XC arriving first which mopped up a few of the York passengers who were floating around Doncaster. 91119 rolled in with DVT 82222 on the rear, I managed to find a seat reserved to Newcastle which was left empty, swapping to the quiet coach after Newcastle for the nice bit of the ECML.


I had originally planned to bail at York, but decided to remain on board to Edinburgh, firstly to say farewell to the 91s north of York, secondary to grab some supplies during a 15 minute break at Edinburgh, thirdly because it was due to terminate in platform 5 at Edinburgh and lastly because I know from previous trips the Inverness HST has a good turnover of passengers at Edinburgh so it would probably be easier to grab a good seat. 91119 ran into platform 5 as expected, and I got some supplies before heading across to platform 8 where the HST was running late, eventually 43257 & 43296 rolled in, emptied out and I managed to get a good table seat in the 3rd coach for the enjoyable run towards Inverness (such beauty). The time the HST lost on the route to Stirling was mostly regained, but was lost again as it went into the loop at Moy for a late running Scottish HST to pass.

Arrival at Inverness was around 10 minutes late in the end, nothing too major as I picked up my rover and went to check into the hostel (next to the bus station) to dump the mobile house & other bits before heading back towards the station for the Tain train, formed of 158711 for the hour or so trip north to Tain (for a random platform scratch), returning to Inverness on the same unit, darkness only falling around 22:30 when the unit was around Invergordon

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15th June – “This is a request stop”

I was a bit glad it was a later alarm than the previous couple Saturdays, but still quite early at 6am, as I wanted to get some supplies from the Co-Op in Inverness before heading towards the Far North, it was quite warm so I needed some drink for my bag as well. Anyhow that was done as I made my way to the station where low mileage 158709 was sat on platform 6 with “Wick” on the train display however platform 5 was being announced as the train to Wick (also confusing for tourists is that, that train was also open (but not running). It was low mileage 158709 on the Wick train, the wrong platform was being announced. It was a good run north (some good scenery along the way), but I was the only person alighting from the train at a chilly Dunrobin Castle, releasing the parachute for the step to the platform.

A very peaceful station, and an enjoyable fester until 158705 rolled in to take me 25 miles in a rough southern direction to once again being the only person alighting or boarding at Culrain, where I had a gentle potter back across the river, on the footbridge next to the viaduct to reach Invershin, where I took up residence in the little waiting room, feeling like the only person around. Around 5 minutes before the train was due I moved to the further end of the platform to give the driver a chance to see me (as this is a station where the only time I’ve stopped is when I alighted back in May 17). 158713 was up next, to take me further north to reach Kinbrace (once again I was the only person to alight at this quiet station).


20 minutes later I flagged down the return of 158709 for the run to Golspie where I had a potter into the village centre and a walk along the beach front, enjoying the sunshine, making my slow way back to the station for 158722 for the short run back north to Brora, to tick off the Far North line. Another little potter around the area, before I returned to the station to carry on reading my book before 158713 returned from Wick to take me back south with me bailing at Muir of Ord to pay a visit to a nearby takeaway for a cheese burger meal, before 158712 took me for the last 13 miles back into Inverness.

Not wanting to end the day yet, I headed to Nairn on a random platform scratch with a busy 158711 on a Huntly terminator (the line from Huntly towards Dyce was closed this weekend), the next Inverness bound service was shown as formed of 4 coaches, which I had down as “a pair of 158s” so I was very surprised when it wasn’t a pair of 158s, but 43141 leading 4 classic coaches and 43144 on the other end for the relaxing trip to Inverness.


I returned to the hostel to find a full house in the room, and went straight to sleep

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16th June – Is that the Loch Ness Monster?

The Sunday was always going to be a quiet day, a coach trip to Fort William and some festering before the first Glasgow – Mallaig service appeared. I was booked on the 11:15 departure of the Scottish Citylink route 919 coach bound for Fort William (which is valid on the Highlands Rover, you just need to pay £1.50 to reserve a ‘seat’)). With a late start it meant I could stay in the hostel room for longer, and chill out, eventually coming out into the day to potter around Inverness, making my way back towards the bus station where coach “K700 SBL” was waiting.

Boarding started around 11:00 and I got a seat near the back, deciding to sit on the left hand side (because looking at the map that gives the better views), I would say around 25 were on the bus as it left Inverness following the A82, the coach emptying out along the way (the bulk alighted at Drumnadrochit which seems to be the hub of Loch Ness tourism), with some more alighting at Fort Augustus, with only one other passenger carrying on towards Fort William, passing the wonderfully named Loch Lochy.


2 hours after departing Inverness, the coach pulled into the Fort William travel interchange, where it was raining, and I had roughly 3 hours to wait. The rain had a short break as I went for a walk to the end of the high street, returning to the station, to relax and made use of the WiFi to catch up on various bits, as the heavens opened, and the 1st steam train returned from Mallaig (a lot of tourist minibuses appeared at the same time to take the tourists to other places). Eventually a pair of 156s arrived, where it was split up with only (a busy) 156458 carrying on towards Mallaig, as I put my request in, the guard was surprised as it seemed like hardly anybody requests Locheilside

To be honest, I can’t blame him, as other than a handful of houses (all with cars outside) the station serves nothing in general; there aren’t any decent views of the Loch due to trees. Anyhow my time here was short as I flagged down 156450 for the trip back a couple stops to Corpach, where I popped to the nearby Co-Op for dinner, and enjoyed the view for an hour and a bit, I will admit this is where my original plan kinda failed as I built this around staying in the same hostel in Banavie as a couple years ago, which would have been a canal side walk. Anyhow a quiet 156458 returned from Mallaig to take me the 3 and a bit miles back into Fort William, where I walked to the hostel for the night.

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17th June – On how the West (Highlands) was won

A good night in the hostel (didn’t hear the majority of the folk leaving at various points during the early hours to go walking in the hills), and I made my way back towards the station and for a mild supply raid at Morrisons (breakfast was calling), before heading to the platform where 156458 had been joined with 156478 [which I assume was part of the evening Glasgow – Mallaig service]. As like with a couple years ago, a pair of 156s towards Mallaig meant it was local door only at every station, including the request stop of Lochailort which is where I was alone in alighting.

The weather this morning was variable, rain mixed with sunny spells, thankfully it was mainly sunny for my ~ 90 minutes at this remote station, flagging down the return of 156478 & 156458 from Mallaig to take me back one stop to Glenfinnan, where the first steam engine was nearly in the platform, you couldn’t hang around the Fort William bound platform as the steam engine needed to pull forward over the barrow crossing to allow the rear to clear the track for the 156s to continue towards Glasgow.


With around 90 minutes to kill, I decided to go for a little walk, following a route taken a couple years ago, via the forest and underneath the railway to climb into the hills. The path has been improved in places, but it was still muddy and rough, however the rough path was worth it for the views over the loch and also coming over the last hill coming down with a beautiful view of the viaduct. One of these days I will return with my decent camera, to try and capture “1440 Fort William to Mallaig” as it passes over the viaduct for a postcard picture.


Anyhow with the walk complete, it was back towards the station, arriving just as the rain returned, and for the slightly late running 156500 & 156476 for the run 22 miles towards Mallaig to reach Morar, where I had hoped to said “Scotland, Tick” but the events of Thursday meant that has to wait, but it does mean “West Highlands Line, Tick”. A sudden downpour happened when I was in the shelter (had it been nice I would have walked to the famous silver sands beach of Morar, but after watching the steam engine pause at the station so the driver could brave the rain to operate the level crossing, I headed towards a little garage to wait for a bus. A route 501 turned up first (vehicle YJ14 BBK) which was a private bus all the way into Mallaig, where I visited the Co-Op for supplies for dinner.

The main reason for the bus trip to Mallaig was the ability to grab a prime seat for the return working, so when the doors were released I grabbed a seat with good views in 156500 (with 156476), and for the first time I did the full run to Glasgow in one sitting (other than a gentle fresh air break at Crianlarich for when 156450 appeared from Oban). Words can’t describe how great this line is, beautiful in places, bleak in others.


5 and a bit hours after setting off from Mallaig, the triple 156 arrived into Queen Street, where I had a quick walk to the Euro Hostel to check in, and loss the mobile house (and other bits), before heading towards Glasgow Central for 320307 to take me to Bridgeton. There was method in heading to Bridgeton, because the next Dalmuir service went via Anniesland and so would clear a certain former 321 for 10 miles straight away, with my fingers crossed it had stayed on diagram, I was happy when winner 320418 rolled in along with 318270 for the run towards Dalmuir (where it went to the depot), the class clearance cannon sounding once more.

334001 & 334008 took me back towards Anniesland where I had hoped the last shuttle to Queen Street high level was a low mileage 158 (the run to Queen Street wouldn’t have cleared it for 10 miles, but the 5 and a half miles would have been welcome), however that 158 headed to Dundee with 170430 sent in its place, arriving a couple minutes late for the final Motherwell bound service to have departed, and waiting 15 minutes for the next 334s didn’t appeal. Back into Queen Street and a slow walk to the hostel, where a private room felt luxurious after a few nights in shared rooms.

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18th June – Bits and bobs around Glasgow

A late start this morning, with details of workings for some of my last Scottish EMUs I need for mileage (excluding the 385s), 3 out of the 4 were gettable, the 4th was sitting on the depot to return for the evening peak. Out of those 3, I had only one chance before it went onto Ayr fasts, so after a shower and breakfast it was to Glasgow Central with 380014 taken to Paisley Gilmour Street for a short wait for 380004 to arrive from Ardrossan Harbour and straight over the 10 mile line.

Once back into Glasgow Central, it was a slow walk over to Glasgow Queen Street to intercept 334005 & 334022 for the run to Hyndland to clear another class for 10 miles (I still can’t believe my luck last month when 4 out of the 5 fell within the space of 30 minutes). At Hyndland it was a short wait for a Helensburgh bound 334009 for the run to Dalmuir; however I noticed it the night before it seems the Helensburgh bound fast services now run via Singer, with the Edinburgh bound services carrying on going via Yoker. I suspect it’s due to pathing, but a nice little novelty with 334007 & 334033 returning us (for I was with Mr Dan) to Partick, followed by 334016 to Glasgow Central.

It was time to say farewell to the class 314s, as I suspect the next time I’m back in Glasgow the number of services they operate would have reduced to zero, so it was onto the anticlockwise Cathcart loop service to Glasgow Central, saying farewell with 314205 joining the 10 mile club, sadly 2 of the class got scrapped before they had the chance to join, but it was nice to say farewell to the class on a service where I had my first experience of the class.


From the oldest EMUs in Glasgow to the newest, with a pair of 385s on an Edinburgh via Shotts semi-fast, dud 385016 was leading winner 385028 for the run to Bellshill (probably won’t be the last time I do a Bellshill leap on a 385), short platforms with only the front 5 coaches being released. The first Glasgow bound service was a dud 385 so I decided to take a seat, which was worthwhile as winner 385030 popped up to take me back to Glasgow Central for the last time of the day.

A final supply raid, before I joined 390122 for the long run to Euston (I always forget how beautiful the Lakes are, as the majority of the time I travel on this bit of line is during the night behind a 92). The train was delayed into Euston by around 10 minutes, caught up in some congestion, and with the SWR strike on my original idea of catching the 19:50 was changed to the 20:20 service, which gave me roughly an hour to get to Waterloo. As I had been on a Pendo for the last 4 and a half hours, I decided to get some fresh(ish) air with a walk to St Pancras, services were delayed due to an earlier train fault in St Albans, but low mileage 700024 was the first southbound service which I took to Blackfriars (being very slow), the next London Bridge service was a 700/0 which was already over the line, with low mileage 700152 following (every little helps they say).

At London Bridge the first available Charing Cross service was a pair of 376s which won’t of interest, but the next service was a nice low mileage triple networker 465908, 466001, 466043, every little helps again as they say. At Waterloo East it was a short walk across to Waterloo to board a busy Salisbury service with 159003 leading 159104 &158885 to take me home, getting a lift due to the heavy rain. The start of the trip didn’t go as planned, but I recovered to complete the remaining of the days. Hopefully I will get some money back from the insurance due to missing the sleeper.

I suspect the next time I’m in Glasgow on a SPT Daytripper, a trip to Gourock might feature...

 
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pieguyrob

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Glad to hear you are ok. Got hit by an uninsured driver myself at the end of last year, the aftermath of an accident is horrible.
Looks like you had a good time in the highlands, not been up the highland line for 20 years, but did the west highland a couple of years ago and the scenery up there is stunning.
 

Mag_seven

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After food I did some research and some sums in my head, basically if I postponed the trip the next time wouldn’t be until October time and as some of the festers at rural Scottish stations were long, I decided to get back on track with a single to Inverness, sort of a farewell to the HSTs on LNER, and at least I could get back on track with only losing out on the Kyle line, which is something which can be done on a Saturday in September/October.

Glad you didn't have to abort the whole trip which would have been frustrating - in fact it looks as if you managed to salvage 75% or so of it!
 

Kite159

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Glad you didn't have to abort the whole trip which would have been frustrating - in fact it looks as if you managed to salvage 75% or so of it!

Ta, I did the bulk of it. The Kyle line is easy enough to do with connections from the sleeper, with an overnight in Inverness on a Saturday as the sleeper connects with the first Kyle departure.

And even if I did abort the whole trip, I would have ended up spending similar doing something on the Friday/Saturday as I get bored hanging around home.
 

Iskra

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A good read Kite. Well done on recovering your plan and completing that trip after the crash. Agreed a 390 through Cumbria (and Beattock) is amazing :)
 

Kite159

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21st & 22nd June – Return to the Esk Valley

This is one of the trips I had planned for last October, but got pushed back due to the strike action (I ended up escaping to Edinburgh for the Saturday in order to revisit Breich before returning for Tees-Side Airport), the plan getting revised due to grabbing a couple stations back in February along with Redcar British Steel allowing me to head home on the Saturday rather than having an overnight stay in Middlesbrough. When booking tickets I was quite surprised to get a £19.50 LNER+ connections fare on the 20:00 HST to Darlington for a pacer across to Middlesbrough, certainly cheaper than the last time I headed to Middlesbrough on a Friday night!

21st June

Due to the SWR strike, the timings from Grateley had been shifted to XX:33, and annoyingly didn’t really connect into the GWR service at Basingstoke, so without wanting to spend half an hour in Basingstoke it was all the way to Waterloo on the 14:33 service formed of 159022/159107 & 159105, the units only getting busy at Woking. I had news on the location of 2 of my last 3, 317s needed for mileage, excluding 506 which is at Kilmarnock (however I understand 317663 is on the broken step and probably won’t be back).

Once into Waterloo, it was down to the Jubilee line with 96023 & 96006 taken to Stratford for a short fester, noting a couple services heading away from London as potential to intercept coming back, but nothing really of interest popped up heading towards Liverpool Street until low mileage 345022 popped up to double to 8 miles, sadly it would have been a tad tight connecting at Stratford back to Liverpool Street had I stayed on board for the return, so it will have to wait for another trip. I transferred to the low numbered platforms (after a visit to Tesco to find it a tad empty) for a short wait (noting that some road-track machines were being stored at the buffer stock end of platform 1 with some temporary buffers forcing LO services to stop further up the platform, I bet some commuters weren’t happy with the extra walk!


The news was correct as a Broxbourne terminating service was formed of 317510 leading 317661 the 6 miles to Tottenham Hale taking it over the line, with a short 15 minute fester (making use of the new footbridge just for the novelty) before 317337 rolled in from Cambridge with 317345 on the rear to clear the former Great Northern 317/3s for mileage. At Liverpool Street it was a fast walk across to a triple 321 for Walton-on-the-Naze & Colchester Town which was late departing due to congestion. 321427 & 321365 getting an extra 4 mile boost to their mileage total (both still under 10 miles), with 321406 along for the trip. Annoyingly this service went into 10A, so it was a bit of a hike back to platform 9 for a pair of refurbished 321s with 321304 leading 321301 to Liverpool Street, sadly missing a connection with a Southend service, but the next service was 321322, 321310 & 321331 which I took back out to Stratford, an extra 4 miles onto both 304 & 322 (both now on 8 miles), with 301 & 310 pushed over the line.


Time was pushing on, so it was back to Liverpool Street on 321364 & 321307, with a metropolitan service taken to Kings Cross St Pancras (21083/21084), where I had a walk to the Tesco Metro near Kings Cross to grab dinner (plus some supplies for the morning as I noticed not a lot would be open around Middlesbrough). Back to Kings Cross and it was towards the 20:00 LNER service to Sunderland, with low mileage 43299 leading 43306 (which means I’m down to only one more LNER 43 for 10 miles), I had a private table seat in a lightly loaded coach F, until around the Stevenage area where a large family suddenly appeared (I suspect from First Class where they probably tried to blag a free upgrade). Anyhow fast to York, then to Darlington, probably the last time I will be on a fast HST to York from Kings Cross. An oddity at Darlington was using the loop next to platform 4a due to a pacer sitting at that end of the platform.


From a HST to a Pacer as 142050 was on the last Middlesbrough service of the night, for some nice pacer based noise. Once at Middlesbrough I noticed the main entrance has finally reopened which came in handy as it’s a shorter walking route to the Travelodge where I was staying the night. It was a reasonable stay, nothing out of the ordinary.

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22th June – Into the Valley of the Esk rode the 156

An early start with a 06:00 alarm, as I swung via McDonalds for a breakfast muffin (all the better now I’ve learnt you can remove the egg!), picking up my rover and deciding to board a private 156483 for the semi-fast run to Nunthorpe (called at James Cook only, with an operational stop at Gipsy Lane), mainly to visit the little Spar shop next to the station for some supplies. I returned to the station with 156483 sitting on the opposite platform ready to work a service towards Newcastle as low mileage 156438 rolled in for the run via the beautiful line to Castleton Moor.


Thankfully the weather today was quite nice, for a gentle 2-mile potter across a bridleway to reach Commondale, some of the views in this area were very nice, and a lot of sheep which run away. It was a nice 50 minutes sat in the sunshine at Commondale, nice outdoor bench, not a lot of noise from traffic due to the rural location, a pleasant way to spend time. 156438 returned from Whitby to take me one stop down the line to Kildale where I had another long-ish fester, so after a walk around the local area (not a lot there), it was to the shelter where a nice bench was made use of to relax, again quite peaceful.

I was expecting the next Whitby service to be cosy (due to the beautiful weather) and when 156438 returned from Middlesbrough I was not wrong, as it was quite heavily loaded, I managed to grab a seat which was being used to store a backpack, for the run towards Glaisdale which clears the line, and a little potter around the area (noting that the toilets had been reopened). After returning to the station it was another relaxing sitting in the sunshine fester (I think I might have caught it a bit too much as my head was red). 156438 returned from Whitby, this time mostly empty as it took me back to Middlesbrough, where I noticed the third Whitby train had been cancelled (with replacement buses showing), so a lucky escape. No wonder why the Danby Express looked busy.


After grabbing lunch & and some drink from a nearby Tesco, it was back to the station, with the Whitby cancelled, I decided it was worth a trip to Saltburn, via Longbeck for a random platform score. 142050 did the honours dropping me off at a platform which has seen better days for it was a tad rotten in places. 25 minutes later 142067 rolled in to take me the final couple miles to Saltburn, where I had a little walk towards the seafront, and ended up riding the Saltburn Cliff Lift down the cliff to the pier to have a gentle walk to the end of the pier (and no my next project won’t be “All the Piers!”). There was a bit of a queue to head back up, with some working out in my head saw me miss one service because I wanted to scratch the other side, also being the first in allowed me to be at the window end to capture the incline. £1.10 each way is a tad steep, but worth it for the novelty factor of a cliff lift.

Back to the main rails, and back at Saltburn station with 142091 taken to Middlesbrough for a trip to Tesco for dinner for later, before returning with low mileage 156449 taken to Thornaby, before 142050 took me to Dinsdale for a random platform score, 15 minutes later 142050 returned to take me back to Thornaby with 142070 taken to Eaglescliffe, on what could probably be my final pacer in the North East. No prizes at guessing why I was alighting at Eaglescliffe as 180103 came rolling into the platform, my reserved seat was in a coach where the power sockets didn’t seem to be working (and the reservation labels were all blank) so I sat in the leading coach, it was a tad warm (AC didn’t seem to be working as efficiently as it should), but it was nice and quiet for the speedy run to London (well until Retford where the train sat for around 10 minutes due to points issues, and then crawled as it had caught up with a HST on a stopper from Leeds which called at Newark, Grantham & Stevenage. Arrival into Kings Cross was around 21 minutes late giving me roughly an hour to get across to Waterloo.

I headed across the road to St Pancras, tapped in and headed to the low level platforms just as 700150 had rolled in from Luton, every little helps with the run to London Bridge, followed by 465920 & 465907 to Waterloo East, another mile into the book for these units, as I tapped out 20 minutes after tapping in, although that did give me around 35 minutes to kill, so after picking up some tickets for future trips, I hung around waiting for the diesels to arrive on the 22:20 [had the strike not been on, I would have aimed for the 21:50 service]. 159103 & 159104 took me back to Grateley, noting much of note other than the guard kicking out a group of slightly drunken Ascot goers from first class.

Overall, I’m down to 29 stations, 15 to alight at, and 14 to board at. The North East is complete, one of these days I will return to Whitby to do the bus move to Saltburn (or even Scarborough). Next weekend sees a return to Wigan, with hopefully the final odds & sods within Lancs falling into place.
 

Techniquest

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Certainly some long reads there, but also enjoyable too! It gave me something to do on my break at work this morning, so happy days!

29 revisits to go must be generating some excitement at the end of the mission coming up! I'll have to check in with you how to do photos with those spoiler tags before I do my trip report for Leeds, I have a gut feeling that I'll be wanting to share photos after sounding the Air Horns of Victory while up there. More than once hopefully! Will the Gods of the Rails be on my side?
 

pieguyrob

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Ah. So Croston( I think is the one with the level crossing and token exchange), Rufford and Bursough junction. That will take all day, there is one train an hour in each direction, if its running! However, through the day, I think its 1 train every 20 mins once you get to Ormskirk and join a properly run railway, in terms of Merseyrail. Though I think both are operated by Arriva, though you can't tell!
 

Kite159

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West of Andover
Ah. So Croston( I think is the one with the level crossing and token exchange), Rufford and Bursough junction. That will take all day, there is one train an hour in each direction, if its running! However, through the day, I think its 1 train every 20 mins once you get to Ormskirk and join a properly run railway, in terms of Merseyrail. Though I think both are operated by Arriva, though you can't tell!

Only need Rufford & Bursough Junction so hopefully one of the services doesn't get cancelled

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In case anybody has been wondering, my writings for my various trips are now being posted on my blog, starting with
https://kitespotterings.blogspot.com/2019/07/28-30th-june-return-of-red-rose-and.html
 
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