The_Train
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More great outings Kite. Love the pic of the 165, with the darkening clouds above. Very atmospheric (I think that's the right description anyway)
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The Various Random Mutterings of Kite
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Kite159
Veteran Member
Thanks
I like the picture of the 170 at Dullingham as you can see the downpour bouncing off the roof.
(Looks like my revised plan for next Saturday needs to be changed as the three Hull - York services which ran last week have changed to buses, so I might cut my losses and do something else involving Pacers)
Skymonster
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I'm very much enjoying reading about your wanderings Mr. Kite, especially the recent East Midlands bits where I at least understand the geography!
Hahaha... True... I was born not too far from there - I guess it explains a lot!
Kite159
Veteran Member
It was more related to the island platform being rather sparse.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Back on the rails again the past weekend, this time for a trip to Glasgow, which was departing earlier and going via the ECML. Anyhow I made good use of the time I had in London, going via Reading to see if any required IETs were heading towards London, settling on 800003 just to clear it for 10 miles. I had news of the return of my final 321 after nearly 2 years out of service, and it was due on the 17:32 Clacton service from Liverpool Street, so after arriving at Paddington I headed towards Liverpool Street and as expected 321448 was sat on the blocks with a couple other 321s leading.
An unexpected winner as a low mileage 345 took me back into Liverpool Street and a couple linear leaps (featuring my first ever triple 379) took me to Cheshunt where my final couple Greater Anglia stations fell, making use of the additional services. Back to Liverpool Street where my eyes caught required 345022 so my idea of a short 700 hunt were put on hold for a quick hop to Stratford on what I believe is my final 7-coach 345 (and with Crossrail getting delayed, who knows when the 9-coach units will eventually enter service).
After grabbing some dinner from Tesco, I headed towards Euston to check in, getting lucky with a free upgrade to a berth due to the seated coach being out of use, even better as it was a solo berth! Sadly it was dud 92033 leading to Wembley with 90045 ready to take over for the long haul to Glasgow via the ECML, arriving into Glasgow Central pretty much bang on time (maybe a couple minutes early).
I will continue my mutterings for my trip to Glasgow later on, and also upload some pictures, but for now some statistics for August:
4887 miles covered
5 new units (1x 321, 2x 345, 2x 800)
1 new loco (66)
Quite a few stations revisited
No new London bus routes used
Looking ahead to September sees a trip to Glasgow, maybe a trip to Cardiff (if I decide to ditch my trip to East Yorkshire due to the Northern Strike), a trip to Manchester, the 4-day GBRF tour & another railtour to the S&C featuring a Deltic.
An unexpected winner as a low mileage 345 took me back into Liverpool Street and a couple linear leaps (featuring my first ever triple 379) took me to Cheshunt where my final couple Greater Anglia stations fell, making use of the additional services. Back to Liverpool Street where my eyes caught required 345022 so my idea of a short 700 hunt were put on hold for a quick hop to Stratford on what I believe is my final 7-coach 345 (and with Crossrail getting delayed, who knows when the 9-coach units will eventually enter service).
After grabbing some dinner from Tesco, I headed towards Euston to check in, getting lucky with a free upgrade to a berth due to the seated coach being out of use, even better as it was a solo berth! Sadly it was dud 92033 leading to Wembley with 90045 ready to take over for the long haul to Glasgow via the ECML, arriving into Glasgow Central pretty much bang on time (maybe a couple minutes early).
I will continue my mutterings for my trip to Glasgow later on, and also upload some pictures, but for now some statistics for August:
4887 miles covered
5 new units (1x 321, 2x 345, 2x 800)
1 new loco (66)
Quite a few stations revisited
No new London bus routes used
Looking ahead to September sees a trip to Glasgow, maybe a trip to Cardiff (if I decide to ditch my trip to East Yorkshire due to the Northern Strike), a trip to Manchester, the 4-day GBRF tour & another railtour to the S&C featuring a Deltic.
barrowjack
Member
Hope that isn't the case as I am looking forward to 407 coming home so I can clear the 37/4's!!!!
Have Just caught up on all your reports, sounds like some good trips there. Don't know how you do it, I usually start off with good intentions then get bored after a couple of hours and get side tracked!!
Congrats on getting your last 321 and 7 car 345 too, I was waiting for the 345's until Crossrail opened and will probably leave them for now as I am hoping there will be plenty of chance of short linear leaps though the Crossrail core to make inroads quickly but will see.
Looking forward to the rest of your Glasgow report.
Kite159
Veteran Member
I got side tracked on Saturday, when heading towards Queen Street to go down downstairs the main entrance has shifted, and I noticed some Hitachi units waiting to work an Edinburgh service which called at Croy (the northern limit of my Daytripper ticket)
And Dusty Bin 448, one I never thought I would get, shame it wasn't for very long
Kite159
Veteran Member
My trip to Glasgow might have featured a 314 working a Gourock fast service for the novelty of a 314 at what felt like top speed 
My trip to Glasgow might have featured a 314 working a Gourock fast service for the novelty of a 314 at what felt like top speed
I'll be sad to see these go - as a kid I remember riding on them when they first came out in 1979!
318266
Member
My trip to Glasgow might have featured a 314 working a Gourock fast service for the novelty of a 314 at what felt like top speed
View attachment 52153
That happens quite a lot actually!
Also, the daytripper ticket is a ticket that, in my opinion, is at great value and allows bus travel on the buses. (Except McGills and some other small operators)
Kite159
Veteran Member
Doing it for Hee Haw – A trip to SPT land
I suspect only the Scottish readers might get the reference in the title, but anyhow in my quest to board & alight at every station in Great Britain, it comes to a visit to Glasgow to grab some odds & sods which I employed use of my legs over the past few years to walk between stations, a plan was made and I shall start at Glasgow Central, picking up my Daytripper scratch card ticket from the ticket office and heading to the low level platforms for a low mileage 318 to Airbles where I needed to alight. A short connection for a 320 & 318 combo to Newton, then a pair of 314s to Croftfoot, with a time wasting move back to Newton on a 318.
I remained on the same 318 for the trip back towards Kings Park to alight at Shawlands for a short wait for a 320 for the 30 chain leap back to Pollokshaws East, before returning clockwise to Maxwell Park to clear the “Cathcart” lines. A short walk through the park and along some posh looking houses to reach Dumbreck on the Paisley Canal line for a short wait for a 314 to Crookston before returning to Mosspark, a good thing I decided to change my plan as it was originally going to be a fast walk between these stations but I noticed a footbridge at Mosspark station was fenced off. Another 314 took me to the end of the line at Paisley Canal before returning me to Glasgow Central where I had a short time to grab some lunch from a nearby Boots.
Across to the “Gilmour” line platforms at Glasgow Central for some more 314 based noise (I for one will miss the PEPs when they get retired) to Hillington West which is pretty much a guaranteed 30 minute fester due to the half hourly services passing each other here, not a lot around the station so after a walk in the area I returned to the shelter to read my newspaper whilst awaiting a 380 on the next Gourock stopper. I did have a walk avoidance move built in, however that was based on the 380 keeping to time as it was a plus 3, so when the service departed Port Glasgow a couple minutes late (world’s largest pushchair being loaded), I bailed at Bogston and walked alongside the busy main road to Cartsdyke. A quick couple moves followed both involving 314s on tiny leaps with a stopper to Greenock Central followed by a fast to Greenock West, making a tight connection to a fast 314 back towards Paisley Gilmour Street (oh that was very good fun indeed).
314209 departs Hillington West
I needed a PNB so it was across to a service from Ayr to make use of the toilet, remaining on the same 380 for the long run to Ardrossan South Beach. A fast walk took me to Ardossan Town where I made a connection for another 380 for a time wasting move back towards Saltcoats, returning to Ardossan Harbour on the next service (getting lucky as it appeared the following couple services had been cancelled). A quick visit to Asda for someone cold before returning to the 380 for the run back towards Paisley Gilmour Street, crossing the platform for a linear leap to Port Glasgow on a low mileage 314, waiting a few minutes for another 314 to take me onto the single track branch line towards Wemyss Bay. However before I could reach the Bay I bailed at Drumforchar for a short wait for another service back to Whinhill before a rare sight of a 380 on the next Wemyss Bay service, which made use of the Dunrod loop for some microgricing. I noticed the old IBM business park has been flattened, so unless something is built in its place I suspect that station might get closed (or become limited served).
380101 arrives into Whinhill
After a quick visit to the magnificent station of Wemyss Bay it was back to Glasgow Central where I did have a highly hopeful connection to an East Kilbride service which was sadly missed due to this 380 arriving on top of a service from Ayr, but never mind it was onto my split plan of heading towards Alexandra Parade, so it was a short walk across the city to Queen Street, and due to the rebuilding the main entrance to the low level platforms is via platform 2 at Queen Street, and sitting on one of the platforms was the 20:00 to Edinburgh formed of a pair of 385s, which called at Croy...
...A slight delay to my plan it was for a spirited run to Croy (these things can accelerate although for the 10 minutes I was on board I can’t make any judgement calls). I made a tight connection to a 170 from the Stirling direction which was put into the Gartshore loop after Croy to allow a late running service from Aberdeen to pass. Back into Queen Street and it was time for some dinner before a 320 took me to Alexandra Parade for a short walk along the street back to Duke Street for my first 334 of the day to Partick where I said farewell to the national rail network to head underground. Annoyingly just missing a clockwise service which meant a 8 minute wait for a service to Kelvinbridge (used the station before as I stayed in a hotel in this area a couple years ago, but that was before I logged light rail), before a hop to St George’s Cross (required for alighting), and finally a leap to Cowdandens to walk to some student accommodation which gets used during the summer months as a cheap & cheerful youth hostel.
Former IBM buildings
---------
On the Sunday, after a good nights kip (hardly any outside noise), I walked up and down a steep hill to Charing Cross for a pair of 334s on a leap to Queen Street before walking across to Glasgow Central for a visit to Bellshill on a vocal 320, which due to engineering works went via Queens Park for the novelty of a daytime non-stop run and use of the Newton south connecting line. A short wait at Bellshill (as a 390 crawled past looking a bit lost) a pair of 320s returned me to Glasgow Central, this time going nonstop via Maxwell Park.
390151 passes Bellshill
A quick connection at Glasgow Central took me onto a pair of 156s to Busby for a final walk back towards Clarkston, and when the 156s returned from East Kilbride pretty much clears the Central Belt, other than Breich. So it was back to Glasgow Central for a walk across to Queen Street (for Euston was closed forcing a trip via the ECML, I decided to play it safe and board the 11:30 instead of the 12:00 service as this gave me 40 minutes in Edinburgh, and it was a pair of 365s which made things better.
156431 arrives into Clarkston Station
Around 50 minutes later I was in Edinburgh and faced a walk nearly to North Berwick to ID the front 43 of the 13:00 service, which was reasonably loaded until Peterborough where it got busy. A couple minutes late into Kings Cross, however I was sat next to someone who was in no hurry to finish watching her phone and an episode of Loveless Island. A hop to Oxford Circus found the Bakerloo had been closed due to someone going for a walk on the tracks at Marylebone, so to Victoria with a 377 to Clapham Junction to board the ex-18:15 Waterloo – Salisbury, a service which on a normal Sunday I would avoid due to it being very busy and mainly because it doesn’t call at Grateley, however thanks to the strike timetable it was calling there today, so I got home around an hour earlier than I was expecting.
Anyhow a productive weekend trip to Glasgow, I did everything I was hoping to do, with the bonus of my first couple 385s into my book
I suspect only the Scottish readers might get the reference in the title, but anyhow in my quest to board & alight at every station in Great Britain, it comes to a visit to Glasgow to grab some odds & sods which I employed use of my legs over the past few years to walk between stations, a plan was made and I shall start at Glasgow Central, picking up my Daytripper scratch card ticket from the ticket office and heading to the low level platforms for a low mileage 318 to Airbles where I needed to alight. A short connection for a 320 & 318 combo to Newton, then a pair of 314s to Croftfoot, with a time wasting move back to Newton on a 318.
I remained on the same 318 for the trip back towards Kings Park to alight at Shawlands for a short wait for a 320 for the 30 chain leap back to Pollokshaws East, before returning clockwise to Maxwell Park to clear the “Cathcart” lines. A short walk through the park and along some posh looking houses to reach Dumbreck on the Paisley Canal line for a short wait for a 314 to Crookston before returning to Mosspark, a good thing I decided to change my plan as it was originally going to be a fast walk between these stations but I noticed a footbridge at Mosspark station was fenced off. Another 314 took me to the end of the line at Paisley Canal before returning me to Glasgow Central where I had a short time to grab some lunch from a nearby Boots.
Across to the “Gilmour” line platforms at Glasgow Central for some more 314 based noise (I for one will miss the PEPs when they get retired) to Hillington West which is pretty much a guaranteed 30 minute fester due to the half hourly services passing each other here, not a lot around the station so after a walk in the area I returned to the shelter to read my newspaper whilst awaiting a 380 on the next Gourock stopper. I did have a walk avoidance move built in, however that was based on the 380 keeping to time as it was a plus 3, so when the service departed Port Glasgow a couple minutes late (world’s largest pushchair being loaded), I bailed at Bogston and walked alongside the busy main road to Cartsdyke. A quick couple moves followed both involving 314s on tiny leaps with a stopper to Greenock Central followed by a fast to Greenock West, making a tight connection to a fast 314 back towards Paisley Gilmour Street (oh that was very good fun indeed).
314209 departs Hillington WestI needed a PNB so it was across to a service from Ayr to make use of the toilet, remaining on the same 380 for the long run to Ardrossan South Beach. A fast walk took me to Ardossan Town where I made a connection for another 380 for a time wasting move back towards Saltcoats, returning to Ardossan Harbour on the next service (getting lucky as it appeared the following couple services had been cancelled). A quick visit to Asda for someone cold before returning to the 380 for the run back towards Paisley Gilmour Street, crossing the platform for a linear leap to Port Glasgow on a low mileage 314, waiting a few minutes for another 314 to take me onto the single track branch line towards Wemyss Bay. However before I could reach the Bay I bailed at Drumforchar for a short wait for another service back to Whinhill before a rare sight of a 380 on the next Wemyss Bay service, which made use of the Dunrod loop for some microgricing. I noticed the old IBM business park has been flattened, so unless something is built in its place I suspect that station might get closed (or become limited served).
380101 arrives into WhinhillAfter a quick visit to the magnificent station of Wemyss Bay it was back to Glasgow Central where I did have a highly hopeful connection to an East Kilbride service which was sadly missed due to this 380 arriving on top of a service from Ayr, but never mind it was onto my split plan of heading towards Alexandra Parade, so it was a short walk across the city to Queen Street, and due to the rebuilding the main entrance to the low level platforms is via platform 2 at Queen Street, and sitting on one of the platforms was the 20:00 to Edinburgh formed of a pair of 385s, which called at Croy...
...A slight delay to my plan it was for a spirited run to Croy (these things can accelerate although for the 10 minutes I was on board I can’t make any judgement calls). I made a tight connection to a 170 from the Stirling direction which was put into the Gartshore loop after Croy to allow a late running service from Aberdeen to pass. Back into Queen Street and it was time for some dinner before a 320 took me to Alexandra Parade for a short walk along the street back to Duke Street for my first 334 of the day to Partick where I said farewell to the national rail network to head underground. Annoyingly just missing a clockwise service which meant a 8 minute wait for a service to Kelvinbridge (used the station before as I stayed in a hotel in this area a couple years ago, but that was before I logged light rail), before a hop to St George’s Cross (required for alighting), and finally a leap to Cowdandens to walk to some student accommodation which gets used during the summer months as a cheap & cheerful youth hostel.
Former IBM buildings---------
On the Sunday, after a good nights kip (hardly any outside noise), I walked up and down a steep hill to Charing Cross for a pair of 334s on a leap to Queen Street before walking across to Glasgow Central for a visit to Bellshill on a vocal 320, which due to engineering works went via Queens Park for the novelty of a daytime non-stop run and use of the Newton south connecting line. A short wait at Bellshill (as a 390 crawled past looking a bit lost) a pair of 320s returned me to Glasgow Central, this time going nonstop via Maxwell Park.
390151 passes BellshillA quick connection at Glasgow Central took me onto a pair of 156s to Busby for a final walk back towards Clarkston, and when the 156s returned from East Kilbride pretty much clears the Central Belt, other than Breich. So it was back to Glasgow Central for a walk across to Queen Street (for Euston was closed forcing a trip via the ECML, I decided to play it safe and board the 11:30 instead of the 12:00 service as this gave me 40 minutes in Edinburgh, and it was a pair of 365s which made things better.
156431 arrives into Clarkston StationAround 50 minutes later I was in Edinburgh and faced a walk nearly to North Berwick to ID the front 43 of the 13:00 service, which was reasonably loaded until Peterborough where it got busy. A couple minutes late into Kings Cross, however I was sat next to someone who was in no hurry to finish watching her phone and an episode of Loveless Island. A hop to Oxford Circus found the Bakerloo had been closed due to someone going for a walk on the tracks at Marylebone, so to Victoria with a 377 to Clapham Junction to board the ex-18:15 Waterloo – Salisbury, a service which on a normal Sunday I would avoid due to it being very busy and mainly because it doesn’t call at Grateley, however thanks to the strike timetable it was calling there today, so I got home around an hour earlier than I was expecting.
Anyhow a productive weekend trip to Glasgow, I did everything I was hoping to do, with the bonus of my first couple 385s into my book
The_Train
Established Member
- Joined
- 2 Jun 2018
- Messages
- 4,358
A great weekend north of the border
Iskra
Established Member
Sounded like a good trip!
How come you left Breich out?
How come you left Breich out?
Kite159
Veteran Member
I was hoping to do it on the 23rd June...
...The same day it closed for 3 months to be rebuilt
alexf380
Established Member
Had no idea Breich was closed for so long! Here's hoping the new look it shall bear will bring it some more stopping services in the future. A good wee weekend out and the title did indeed make me chuckle.
Iskra
Established Member
I was hoping to do it on the 23rd June...
...The same day it closed for 3 months to be rebuilt
Ah. At least it should be easier to do when you get up there next time.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Kite159
Veteran Member
Looking at this week's strike timetable for Northern, I've decided to cut my losses (£30 for advances) and head out to Cardiff for a valleys day.
Didn't see sense in paying another £38 for the hotel in Hull as well as a rover when all I would probably grab is Howden (and platform 2 at York)
Didn't see sense in paying another £38 for the hotel in Hull as well as a rover when all I would probably grab is Howden (and platform 2 at York)
Kite159
Veteran Member
8th September – South Wales
This weekend was originally going to be a trip to Hull on the Friday night and an East Yorkshire round robin to clear my remaining stations in that area (with a little trip towards Hammerton making use of an additional service), however the Northern Strike put a large spanner in the works. The original timetable for the first strike weekend I could have done something with as Hull – York had 3 trains, but those trains were replaced by buses in the last couple timetables so in the end I decided to cut my losses (around £30 for advance fares), cancel the hotel in Hull and look elsewhere, mainly South Wales.
I managed to pick up some cheap advances from Salisbury to Cardiff which reduced the walk-up cost, but meant an earlier start from Salisbury with the 06:07, but it saved £7 so swings and roundabouts. I drove to Salisbury early on Saturday morning, and awaited the arrival of the service from Westbury, for some reason I was expecting to see a 166, but it was a 150, with one carriage on emergency lights. This 150 took me to Bristol where I had a 25 minute break (when did WH Smiths change their sandwich supplier to Sainsburys?) before a 158 took me the 38 miles underneath the Severn & into a wet Wales.
A low mileage 142 was up first for a little leap to Queen Street, followed by a 143 to Heath Low Level, walking the mega distance to Heath High Level scored me my first pair of stations of the trip, followed by a quiet pair of 143s all the way to Bargoed, where it had started to rain, not the best as I had roughly a mile to walk back towards Gilfach Fargoed with the tiny platforms (local door only here, I suspect a single 153 might just fit). If there was a candidate for closure then this station must be high up on the list (due to it being close to Bargoed)
Gilfach Fargoed station from the little bridge
Anyhow a pair of 142s passed and returned to take me back to Heath High, for another walk to Heath Low as a low mileage 143 rolled in on a City line service to take me to Birchgrove with a short 5 minute walk to Ty Glas, before going across the opposite end of the line to Fairwater for a slightly longer walk to Danescourt (I might note that Google Maps fails to show the footpaths from the road bridges to the platforms). The 143 returned to take me to Cardiff Central for a 150 to Trehafod where my original idea was to walk to Porth but the weather had turned nasty so I gave that a miss. A 150 took me back to Trefforest with another 150 to Porth where I had a lunch break at a nearby Morrisons, before heading back towards Cardiff on the return of the first 150 (150262 got a bit of mileage today!).
My original plan had me heading to Bridgend via the Vale line, however due to ditching the walk I was onto plan B, which gave me 3 attempts at a mileage requirement before the next Maesteg service, first was a Swansea bound GWR service, followed by a Carmarthen unit and then a Llanelli stopper. The Swansea bound service was running a few minutes late, and I was happy as winners 802008 & 802005 rolled in, my first entries of the 802s which was a nice bonus. Half an hour I spent in Bridgend town centre before returning to the station with a 142 to Tondu. A final walk of the day took me via the little village to reach Sarn. The 142 returned to allow me to clear the lines covered by the “Explore Valleys” rover, and at Bridgend I transferred over to platform 1a for a 150 to Grangetown via the coast.
802005 departs Bridgend
A mileage requirement 142 was up next to Cardiff Queen Street, before another 142 took me to Penarth with a little trip to Dingle Road for no reason other than it was raining, before my next fixed move, with 143625 rolling in with 143602, splitting up at Cardiff Central with 143625 continuing to terminate in the bay platform at Caerphilly. A 15 minute wait before the 143 returned me to Cardiff Central where I navigated the chaos of the former bus station to reach Tesco for dinner, returning for a 158 back to Salisbury. This being the final service south of Westbury due to the SWR strike (as the usual final service is the 22:25-ish Bristol – Salisbury) so the 158 got busy and stayed busy until it emptied out at Salisbury.
A drive home saw me heading to bed, the end of a productive day, a dozen more station into my book, taking me underneath 200. Anyhow probably my final ATW service (I say final, but I’m in Manchester this coming weekend so can’t rule out a Stockport leap if a mileage required 150 or 175 pops up):
143625 at Cardiff Central
-----------
I'm now trying to work out if I want to treat myself for 1st class on the Pathfinder pre-Christmas tour to Chester (The Festive Frolic) seeing as I will be on that tour for a while.
This weekend was originally going to be a trip to Hull on the Friday night and an East Yorkshire round robin to clear my remaining stations in that area (with a little trip towards Hammerton making use of an additional service), however the Northern Strike put a large spanner in the works. The original timetable for the first strike weekend I could have done something with as Hull – York had 3 trains, but those trains were replaced by buses in the last couple timetables so in the end I decided to cut my losses (around £30 for advance fares), cancel the hotel in Hull and look elsewhere, mainly South Wales.
I managed to pick up some cheap advances from Salisbury to Cardiff which reduced the walk-up cost, but meant an earlier start from Salisbury with the 06:07, but it saved £7 so swings and roundabouts. I drove to Salisbury early on Saturday morning, and awaited the arrival of the service from Westbury, for some reason I was expecting to see a 166, but it was a 150, with one carriage on emergency lights. This 150 took me to Bristol where I had a 25 minute break (when did WH Smiths change their sandwich supplier to Sainsburys?) before a 158 took me the 38 miles underneath the Severn & into a wet Wales.
A low mileage 142 was up first for a little leap to Queen Street, followed by a 143 to Heath Low Level, walking the mega distance to Heath High Level scored me my first pair of stations of the trip, followed by a quiet pair of 143s all the way to Bargoed, where it had started to rain, not the best as I had roughly a mile to walk back towards Gilfach Fargoed with the tiny platforms (local door only here, I suspect a single 153 might just fit). If there was a candidate for closure then this station must be high up on the list (due to it being close to Bargoed)
Gilfach Fargoed station from the little bridgeAnyhow a pair of 142s passed and returned to take me back to Heath High, for another walk to Heath Low as a low mileage 143 rolled in on a City line service to take me to Birchgrove with a short 5 minute walk to Ty Glas, before going across the opposite end of the line to Fairwater for a slightly longer walk to Danescourt (I might note that Google Maps fails to show the footpaths from the road bridges to the platforms). The 143 returned to take me to Cardiff Central for a 150 to Trehafod where my original idea was to walk to Porth but the weather had turned nasty so I gave that a miss. A 150 took me back to Trefforest with another 150 to Porth where I had a lunch break at a nearby Morrisons, before heading back towards Cardiff on the return of the first 150 (150262 got a bit of mileage today!).
My original plan had me heading to Bridgend via the Vale line, however due to ditching the walk I was onto plan B, which gave me 3 attempts at a mileage requirement before the next Maesteg service, first was a Swansea bound GWR service, followed by a Carmarthen unit and then a Llanelli stopper. The Swansea bound service was running a few minutes late, and I was happy as winners 802008 & 802005 rolled in, my first entries of the 802s which was a nice bonus. Half an hour I spent in Bridgend town centre before returning to the station with a 142 to Tondu. A final walk of the day took me via the little village to reach Sarn. The 142 returned to allow me to clear the lines covered by the “Explore Valleys” rover, and at Bridgend I transferred over to platform 1a for a 150 to Grangetown via the coast.
802005 departs BridgendA mileage requirement 142 was up next to Cardiff Queen Street, before another 142 took me to Penarth with a little trip to Dingle Road for no reason other than it was raining, before my next fixed move, with 143625 rolling in with 143602, splitting up at Cardiff Central with 143625 continuing to terminate in the bay platform at Caerphilly. A 15 minute wait before the 143 returned me to Cardiff Central where I navigated the chaos of the former bus station to reach Tesco for dinner, returning for a 158 back to Salisbury. This being the final service south of Westbury due to the SWR strike (as the usual final service is the 22:25-ish Bristol – Salisbury) so the 158 got busy and stayed busy until it emptied out at Salisbury.
A drive home saw me heading to bed, the end of a productive day, a dozen more station into my book, taking me underneath 200. Anyhow probably my final ATW service (I say final, but I’m in Manchester this coming weekend so can’t rule out a Stockport leap if a mileage required 150 or 175 pops up):
143625 at Cardiff Central-----------
I'm now trying to work out if I want to treat myself for 1st class on the Pathfinder pre-Christmas tour to Chester (The Festive Frolic) seeing as I will be on that tour for a while.
Was that the 1B35 12.45 ex Paddington by chance? (looks like it by the 15.15 time on the board in the picture). Believe it or not that late running train caused me to miss a plus 4 connection at Newport. I wanted to catch the 14.40 from Newport towards Paddington off the 14.36 arrival off the Marches line but those late running 802s were occupying the platform at Newport which caused me to miss the Paddington connection.
(OK 4 mins isn't an official connection but frustrating none the less!)
Looks like you had a good day anyway!
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounds about right, would have been the 14:50 from Cardiff.
Harsh on missing the unofficial connection at Newport
----
I'm looking at RTT and it appears the 17:36 Stratford on Avon - Marylebone uses the bay at Stratford. Booked platform 2 but seems for the most parts it goes from P3.
Harsh on missing the unofficial connection at Newport
----
I'm looking at RTT and it appears the 17:36 Stratford on Avon - Marylebone uses the bay at Stratford. Booked platform 2 but seems for the most parts it goes from P3.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Good going on the Welsh shacks. I'm pondering about a Valleys ticket on Tuesday to clear it (using my rules though!
You got much left in the valleys?
Kite159
Veteran Member
Sounds like they are mostly hourly served.
Only tight one is Rhoose as that be a level crossing (be at the rear of a Cardiff bound service and be prepared for a fast dash as IIRC those barriers drop early
The_Train
Established Member
- Joined
- 2 Jun 2018
- Messages
- 4,358
Another productive trek there Kite
Loving the pic of Gilfach Fargoed station (if you can call it that). Just done a wiki check on it and the platforms are apparently 16m long which can just about accommodate a 153 and according to the latest figures on there less than 9 people a day use it
Loving the pic of Gilfach Fargoed station (if you can call it that). Just done a wiki check on it and the platforms are apparently 16m long which can just about accommodate a 153 and according to the latest figures on there less than 9 people a day use it
Kite159
Veteran Member
Hello 165017, sat in the Stratford upon Avon bay platform
*Removes the tourist hat which I've been wearing today*
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Thanks for the tip!
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
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- 1,132
Had to pop in and read this as you were around my neck of the woods
Sorry I didn’t put 2 and 2 together and say hello at Cardiff - just imagine I tipped my hat to you as you left!
Having never heard of most of those welsh shacks (I just head east usually!), I imagine they’re not the easiest stations to tick off...
Thanks for the read Mr Kite, I hope to be back on the rails once I move back to somewhere with decent trains!
Sorry I didn’t put 2 and 2 together and say hello at Cardiff - just imagine I tipped my hat to you as you left!
Having never heard of most of those welsh shacks (I just head east usually!), I imagine they’re not the easiest stations to tick off...
Thanks for the read Mr Kite, I hope to be back on the rails once I move back to somewhere with decent trains!
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