The Various Random Mutterings of Kite

[alexf380]

Sounded like a very enjoyable tour. Surprised to see so many non-GBRf locos making appearances too.

 

[Kite159]

What’s that guy got in the red rucksack? Did he smuggle another person onboard?

Also what’s the Plantation Room?
I know someone that was raided for having one of them...

No idea, that guy in the red rucksack was waiting for the Glasgow train.

Plantation Room - Plant room, where all the building equipment is kept (boilers etc).

--------

Thanks Alex

 

[Kite159]

Did I mention "Laptop Man"?

Basically this gentleman boarded the tour at Dalmuir on Saturday morning, drew the curtain and pretty much slept all the way to Fort William. On the return leg, the curtain was still closed as he set about watching videos on his laptop/smartphone, and once back nearer Glasgow spent most of the remaining journey on Facebook.

The Sunday he was back with his laptop, boarding at Glasgow the 2nd time round, and once more the curtain was closed as he watched videos on his phone before spending the remainder of the time on his laptop on facebook, not once looking out of the window (because the curtain was closed). He disappeared after Crewe but reappeared at Coventry (I wonder if he missed the train?) and got straight back in watching video/on facebook, drawing the curtain closed once more [someone else had opened it up after Crewe so they could look out of the window]

 

[Cowley]

That’s pretty strange behaviour. I mean we’re probably all guilty of looking at our phones a bit much but there’s something a bit depressing about that.

 

[Darandio]

Indeed, what a strange chap. Really enjoyed that roundup of the GBRF tour though, thanks for taking the time to share.

 

[Iskra]

Great report Kite, thanks for that. Very envious of some of that lot, 86’s on the WCML especially.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

Great report, as usual. And congratulations on clearing LU, something I almost certainly won't do!

 

[The_Train]

Great report on the tour Kite. Lots of variety and time behind and 87 and 86s sounds just about as perfect as perfect can be when it comes to a railway journey

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Great to see a write up of the GBRf Grand Tour. Plenty of winners there for everyone and severe bouts of jealousy from those who could not attend such a bashing fest.

 

[Kristofferson]

One heck of a journey there, thanks for sharing the tale and the photos Kite - I was curious about this since you mentioned it on Twitter!

 

[Kite159]

28th – 30th September
Friday

This Saturday was another railtour, this time being Pathfinder’s “Deltic Deviator”. Due to the timings I decided to stay overnight both days in Sheffield, selecting the Ibis Budget near Sheffield Arena as being the cheapest with decent transport options. I managed to get quite cheap advances to/from Doncaster using Grand Central and my idea was to revisit the Sheffield tram stops I had previously walked between (plus a handful of Northern stations).

An early start and early finish at work and I was London bound on the 13:59 service formed of a single 159, once into Waterloo I decided to save 15p by walking across to Waterloo East for a 465 to London Bridge, with a 700 to Blackfriars to see what else was heading northbound before catching another Bedford bound 700 to St Pancras, walking across to Kings Cross to board refurbished 180104 working the 16:27 Kings Cross – Bradford service, as expected for a Friday evening peak time service it was a tad busy, although nobody was standing in the coach I was in.

180104 at London Kings Cross

Once at Doncaster, it was a short visit to the ticket office to buy my South Yorkshire Connect+ rover, before a 158 took me to Sheffield on a semi-fast service, calling only at Meadowhall along the way. Once at Sheffield I had a short wait before a Leeds stopper via Bolton was due to depart, formed of a double pacer I took in the darkness to reach Goldthorpe, having a short walk along the road to reach Thurnscoe to clear a couple stations in South Yorkshire. Another pair of pacers were on the Sheffield bound, featuring 144012 which I hadn’t had the pleasure of travelling on since it was done up and in all fairness it is a nice job inside.

Returning to Sheffield, and the tram system was in chaos due to earlier football related violence against trams, the yellow route was turning round at Cathedral and the blue route only going towards Shalesmoor, so my original plan to visit the stops at the Hillsborough end was put on hold as I grabbed something to eat before heading towards Woodbourne Road, walked to Attercliffe, caught the next Meadowhall bound tram to Valley Centerainment for a walk via the retail park to Carbrook, returning towards Cricket Inn Road, making a tight connection to another Meadowhall bound tram which took me to the Arena stop, where I had a short walk towards the hotel, getting checked in with a room on the 4th floor.

Saturday

An early start and I was back at the Arena tram stop with a tram taken towards the city centre, I was going to alight at the Cathedral to pop to a nearby Tesco (or Sainsburys) but when on the triangle a 399 on a purple route service was waiting for us to pass, and it was 399207 my final tram-train to get, so I alighted at Ponds Forge with 399207 following up the hill to Cathedral, as I remained on board for the run to Sheffield station, a nice little bonus to kick start the morning.

The tour towards York was hauled by super-dud 68004, nicknamed “Pathfinder” for it appearing on several Pathfinder tours in the past, and due to an issue heading north from Sheffield it has to go via the freight line via Tinsley (68s are not cleared heading north), a further pick up is made in Moorthorpe as I settle down to relax on the Mk2 coaches, as the final pick up was made in York, where Deltic 55009 was dropped onto the front of the 68 (with the 68 shut down, due to lack of time). The Deltic was quite smokey on departure heading north with a speedy run towards Northallerton, turning right to go via the Durham Coast (I had forgotten how pretty this line is north of Hartlepool), and using the King Edward bridge to approach Newcastle from the South (after a brief wait for a platform to become available).

55009 arrives at York

The Deltic continued heading northbound, turning right after Morpeth onto the Blyth & Tyne route to head back south towards Newcastle where a brief pause was had for photographs before heading towards Carlisle, where I will admit my lack of sleep from the night before caught up with me and I had a brief nap for the run along the Tyne Valley. Once at Carlisle we had around a 2 hour break so I headed into the city centre to have a look in a couple shops, grabbing food & making use of free WiFi from a pub to have a catch up with the internet. Back onto Carlisle station and I rejoined the train for the pleasant run south via the Settle & Carlisle line, continuing towards Leeds (needless to say the Skipton EMU sidings were pretty full of EMUs due to the Northern Strike timetable coming to an end of services). The train took the Whitehall curve to bypass Leeds station to head towards Castleford, I’ve done the line beyond Castleford 3 times now and all 3 times it has been in the dark!

Pretty soon the train arrived at York where a good portion of folk bailed, as 55009 was detached and 68004 fired up to haul the train back in a southern direction back towards Sheffield, a special mention going out to a slightly drunken gentlemen who suddenly burst into a random rant about many things (“What people these days don’t realise...”), so I was thankful when the 68 past Meadowhall for a slow crawl into Sheffield, the end of the tour, but not the end of the day for me.

A brief walk to Fitzalan Square saw me onto a delayed busy Middlewood tram towards Shalesmoor for a couple minute fester before a blue route tram arrived for the single stop leap to Infirmary Road for a longer fester before taking the next tram to Leppings Lane where I was close to making it back to Hillsborough Park in time for the return, but got held up by traffic lights which meant a trip to Middlewood on the next tram before heading back for the long run back to the Arena, the end of my busy day.

55009/68004/67010 at Newcastle

Sunday

I checked out of the hotel, and walked to the Arena tram stop, only to find the first tram running late so it would miss a connection at Hyde Park for a Blue route service which used the rarer side of the triangle (for a novelty factor) so it was to Castle Square to pick up breakfast when waiting for a Purple route tram to return from Cathedral. This tram was quiet and didn’t stop until Manor Top after departing Fitzalan Square, even skipped the station! Anyhow I remained on board to jump out at Herdings Leighton Road for a brief wait for the tram to return to take me to Gleadless Townend.

10 minutes later the next blue route tram (had I known it was going to be such a long wait I would have carried on to the next stop), which took me to Hackenthorpe where I managed to intercept a city centre bound service for the single stop leap to Birley Moor Road, 15 minutes later the next Halfway tram arrived which allowed me to tick off the Supertram network as I headed to Halfway, returning back to the station, where I decided to turn down a busy looking Huddersfield Pacer for a quieter looking low mileage 144 on a Lincoln service which I took to Kiveton Park to await the next Huddersfield unit, which would be getting a lot of miles today.

That unit was 144011 as I remained on when it emptied out at Sheffield and headed towards Huddersfield, bailing out at Berry Brow for a short walk down and up the valley to reach Lockwood, mainly as a time wasting move. 144011 returned to take me back into South Yorkshire all the way to Sheffield.

144011 arrives into Lockwood

A quick hop to the city centre via a handy tram to grab some late lunch and other supplies before returning to the station to see if any mileage requirements were floating around, but alas nothing of interest as I turned down a late running TPE 185 on grounds it was the usual TPE wedged out service, in flavour of a Hull bound fast 158, one of the former Scottish units as well. Soon enough Doncaster was reached and I had a brief walk around the town centre before returning to board 180104 back to London, yes the same unit I had on Friday, and again it was very busy.

Once at Kings Cross, I headed across to St Pancras for a 700 to London Bridge, and a pair of 465s to Waterloo East, again mainly for the 15p saving (it all adds up!) and the ability to get a couple extra miles compared to going via LU. Once at Waterloo, it was time to grab dinner before boarding the retimed 19:14 service back home, the end of a good weekend, with 159013’s membership forms for the 3000 mile club being stamped for approval.

--------

September in Numbers

5305 miles covered
10 new units (2x385, 5x 700, 1x800, 2x 802)
13 new locos (1x20, 1x 47, 2x 50, 1x55, 1x 56, 3x66, 1x73, 2x86, 1x90)
2 new light rail (1x 92 stock, 1x Sheffield Supertram)

Looking ahead to October sees another busy month, a trip to Cornwall & Devon to hopefully clear GWR, a trip to the North East with an unexpected return to Edinburgh as a “Northern strike avoidance” day, a railtour to Scunthorpe and followed by a trip to Blackpool where plans are currently awaiting the expected announcement of further strike action by Northern to decide what I will do (but most likely a quiet day on Blackpool Trams)

 

[rg177]

Sounds like you've been keeping yourself busy.

The Supertram chaos would explain why I noted that West Street seemed a bit devoid of trams on Friday night (and my bus swung right before City Hall to run non-stop to the Interchange)

 

[noddy1878]

Only got as far as pre GBRF tour but....

14 & 15th September – A trip to Manchester

Dove Holes Station from the road bridge

That van is still parked across those lines in the car park, as I found last Friday!

Mainly because it's sometimes cheaper going via London, and in days of old when the "VTWC + connections" tickets were reasonably priced sometimes quicker.

I go via London because its cheaper and the time difference isn't that much.

 

[noddy1878]

Won't comment on the GBRf tour other than to say good write up. That Deltic tour sounded good to me. It would have enabled me to cover quite a bit of route that I've not done loco hauled. That gentleman moaning, some people moan about anything and everything. Quite infuriating at times! Oh and one last thing, I haven't even had a 399 yet and you've cleared them! Good reports as always.

 

[Skymonster]

Goo stuff Mr. Kite - although it still bemuses me how you work out all these moves, especially when walking between stations is involved...

 

[Kite159]

Goo stuff Mr. Kite - although it still bemuses me how you work out all these moves, especially when walking between stations is involved...

Google Maps is my friend for planning walks

 

[Skymonster]

Oh I understand Google Maps, but...

bailing out at Berry Brow for a short walk down and up the valley to reach Lockwood

I guess I wouldn't even think of walking between two stations, let alone know which combinations are walkable...

 

[Kite159]

Oh I understand Google Maps, but...

I guess I wouldn't even think of walking between two stations, let alone know which combinations are walkable...

Those two I walked the opposite direction a couple years ago, but during my planning stage I would look up the location on Google Maps and see how close (or how far) the next station is and if it is walkable within the time it takes for the unit to return from Huddersfield. Some stations are nice and close with a direct road between the two, some are close on the map but lack road access between the two [for example if the railway crosses a river but there is no nearby footbridge/roadbridge which crosses the same river close by)

 

[Kite159]

Won't comment on the GBRf tour other than to say good write up. That Deltic tour sounded good to me. It would have enabled me to cover quite a bit of route that I've not done loco hauled. That gentleman moaning, some people moan about anything and everything. Quite infuriating at times! Oh and one last thing, I haven't even had a 399 yet and you've cleared them! Good reports as always.

I would suggest waiting until the extension opens when you can operate get 5 or 6 of the fleet in a single day (3 on the Cathedral - Rotherham services, plus 3 in general use on the regular network)

That gentleman rant isn't as bad as the "Expert in everything" gentleman I had the pleasure of sitting near a couple autumn tours last year, for he was an expert in everything underneath the sun

 

[noddy1878]

I love those people!

I was just waiting for the extension anyway. I'm at a stage where I need to now prioritise when I do what I need to maximise what I need to get, if that makes sense!

 

[Kite159]

5th October – The Day before Cornwall

The idea of this weekend’s trip to the South West was to pick up the odds & sods I needed to revisit on the Newquay, Looe & Gunnislake branches, as well as a small handful of stations on the main-line. After a search located a hotel in the Devonport area of Plymouth, so my plan was based around that. Plymouth isn’t the cheapest for hotels near the station itself, so I think this was a lucky find, even at £40 for the night.

I was in a couple minds what to do this evening, with several ideas in my head. In the end I decided to do a Thames Valley Branches Rover to have an IET hunt, plus do a novelty of that evening fast Didcot Parkway 387 service. I got lucky with a few 800/3s falling into my book, before an incident between Bath & Chippenham meant most of the inbound services were heavily delayed, so I did a time wasting move to Slough & back to Reading on some 387s to pass the time, when waiting for 800310 to return from Exeter.

In the end I picked up 4x 800/3s plus another 800/0 so isn’t that bad considering my time was limited (and some services weren’t running due to the Bristol Parkway block). I had what could probably be my final HST from Paddington to Reading with the 23:30 towards Cardiff, for a short fester at Reading before 57605 came in hauling the sleeper. My first experience with the refurbished 2+2 seating seated coaches, where it is nice you no longer have to play footsie with the person sat opposite, I just couldn’t get comfortable, although a group of youngsters being unable to keep the noise down might have also been a factor.

Pictures to follow, my late night on the Saturday feels like it has caught up with me and my eyes are heavy. But I will warn you in advance, it features a Pacer

 

[noddy1878]

You're right, not a bad haul considering limited time and, I doubt you actually need that many IETs? I need to get back to Reading and do a Thames Ranger find my last GWR 165, 166 (seeing as though it went back that way!) and last couple of 387s. Nearly forgot, I still need quite a few IETs so it could be productive although I can get them near to home.

 

[Kite159]

You're right, not a bad haul considering limited time and, I doubt you actually need that many IETs? I need to get back to Reading and do a Thames Ranger find my last GWR 165, 166 (seeing as though it went back that way!) and last couple of 387s. Nearly forgot, I still need quite a few IETs so it could be productive although I can get them near to home.

Currently 4 more 800/0s (001, 002, 004, 036), 14 of the 800/3s and pretty much all the 802s apart from a couple.

 

[03_179]

Really enjoyed reading through this

 

[Kite159]

6th October – Cornwall

I alighted from the sleeper after not the best of nights at Par, thankfully the sleeper was mostly on time (it had lost a couple minutes between Plymouth & Par due to dwell times at Liskeard), so I could easily make the connection to the first Newquay branch train of the day, with 150232 being the unit on the branch line for most of the day. When the train was unlocked I boarded and I think I was the only passenger boarding the service, as I changed my mind with my plan to request Bugle (originally it was going to be Roche, but I was hungry and my theory that the Spar at Bugle would be better than a BP garage near Roche station).

A quick walk up the road and into the little Spar shop, purchasing some bits for breakfast, plus a sandwich meal deal for lunch later in the day, I decided to fire up Google Maps to just have a look at the bus option (having spotted the “bus connections” map at the station listing Roche station), and was happy to see a connection available departing within 15 minutes, so I walked towards the bus stop to wait for the route 27 bus (Truro – Bodmin), surprised to see it as a double decker (fleet number 33305) going along some twisty country roads to reach Roche village itself, before continuing for another mile or so to reach Victoria, which is where Roche station is actually located (confused yet?). I headed down the side street, crossed the track and went onto the platform, what is good to mention is that it has a decent waiting shelter & bench. 10 minutes later the 150 returned from Newquay, and I boarded, the train skipped Bugle and called at Luxulyan, and due to the rain I headed towards the waiting shelter.

150232 departs Luxulyan Station

I had roughly an hour to fester before the 150 would return from Par, my only company for most of that tine was a horse running around in a field opposite, I spent the time relaxing and reading my book. Eventually the 150 returned from Par, a lot busier than it was before with what appeared to be a Stag party heading for a day to Newquay, the train calling at all the stations along the way to pick up more folk. I remained on board at Newquay, changing coaches to sit on the opposite side for the run back to Par. A HST (43137/43015) took me to Bodmin Parkway where I made a connection to a slightly delayed Penzance bound 150246 back to Par before 150244 took me to Liskeard. This was mainly a time wasting mileage move to avoid a long fester at Liskeard to a Looe train.

Unit 150247 was on the Looe branch today, as I requested the first of my request stops on the branch, the train calling at both St Keyne & Causeland to drop off a passenger, both stations being local door only, as I alighted at Sandplace. Nothing of note around the station (not like I was going far due to the pigging rain), other than it having WiFi fitted. I flagged down the return of the 150 to take me back to Liskeard, remaining on board during the 20-odd minute turnaround, departing a few minutes late due to a late running HST, this time I requested Causeland, another station with nothing much around (some holiday cottages being the only thing on the map), it was quite chilly but at least the rain had stopped. After a walk around I returned to the station to flag down the return of the 150 once more, taking it to Liskeard where I had a fast walk (and I will admit to have broken into a run for a short time before the hill became too steep), and 8 minutes later I had arrived, annoyingly the train had just beaten me to Coombe Junction Halt as the doors were released as I came up the path.

Coombe Junction Halt Station

A trip to Looe and back to Coombe Junction, where I decided to bail for a better picture and mainly to reduce the fester I would otherwise have at Liskeard, and I had forgotten how steep the hill is in places (made worse as the lane was busier than it was before so I had to keep pausing to move into the side of the road), but it took me around 15 minutes, which did reduce my fester at Liskeard before the next Plymouth bound service was due.

Steep hill towards Liskeard

The next stopper was in the hands of a busy 150239 which I took to Saltash for a couple reasons, firstly there was a steam engine at Plymouth so the station could have been busy, secondary my Ride Cornwall ticket is valid on buses which cross the border into Plymouth not on local buses within Plymouth, so it saves a 30 minute walk to Devonport. A Plymouth Citybus Route 5 service took me over the bridge (with a lot of people with cameras for that steam engine, Keyham looked very busy), as I alighted from the bus (fleet number 144) at the “UTC Plymouth” stop, a nice little walk passed the school grounds where I checked into my hotel to drop some weight from the bag.

Back out, I headed towards a Co-Op for something to eat before walking towards Dockyard station, a station where the Plymouth bound platform has no shelter (or seats) and the Penzance bound platform had a shelter at one point, however it was a shell with all the windows broken and even the bars from the seating removed (only the brackets remained). I flagged down a Penzance bound 150249 (yes I did have to check my picture to double check it was previously 150239 as I was expecting to see that one coming back), back across the bridge to Saltash once more, this time I stayed on the station, crossing over to the opposite platform to have an enjoyable 25 minute break before 153325 & 153369 rolled in to give me my first taste of Dog Box action this weekend. The next stop for this service was Plymouth but it did mean Cornwall was clear, but I wasn’t done for the day.


A short fester at Plymouth, before 150246 rolled in from Exeter which took me to Par for no reason other than a time wasting move before 150202 took me back across to Devon where I alighted at Keyham for a short half hour fester before 150244 popped up to take me to Bere Alston for around a 50 minute fester. Once folk had departed there was no sound other than a small fountain and the occasional sound of the train horn rolling in from the hills where it has to stop for open crossings. It was very peaceful, but quite chilly, so I was glad in a way when 150244 returned, empty other than a group of slightly drunk youths heading for a night out.

I bailed from this 150 at St Budeaux Victoria Road, exiting the station and crossing the road to head down the ramp to St Budeaux Ferry Road to board a Penzance – Plymouth service, the final train of the day with 150261 taken for the near 2 mile trip to Devonport, which clears the main-line stations for GWR. With nothing left to do today I walked the short distance to the hotel, and headed to sleep.

7th October – Devon

After a very nice cooked breakfast in the hotel, I checked out and headed back down the slight hill to Devonport station, I had 2 stations on my target list today. 150244 was the first service calling at Devonport but I turned that down instead waiting a few minutes for 150234 to pop up to take me to Bere Ferrers and a near hour wait. The sun was out this morning so after a wonder round I returned to relax and play cards on the tablet. The station got busier as time passed and 150234 returned from Gunnislake to take me to Plymouth and onto a HST (43022/43034) which took me to Newton Abbot. A short wait before 221139 rolled in to take me to Exeter St Davids, crossing over to board 153325 & 143620 to take me up the hill to Exeter Central where I quickly made a dash outside to the Co-Op to buy lunch.

Back at Exeter Central and it was onto the Exmouth bound 143618 & 143620 where I might have accidently alighted at Lympstone Commando when it stopped there to allow some army lads off, how on earth did that happen. I didn’t hang around for long so after a quick photo I started my walk along the Exe-Trail towards Lympstone Village, happy because GWR was complete. At Lympstone Village I had a short wait before 153325 & 143620 took me to Exmouth, and back out to Exeter St Davids where I got lucky with a delay to a Penzance bound HST (43097/43160) which I took to Plymouth because a certain 150 was working back from Penzance.

150125 at Plymouth

150244 was on the rear of this 6 coach formation, 150219 was in the middle and 150125 was leading, finally I was in a position to catch the bugger, and it was mostly empty and gave a good run back towards Exeter St Davids where sadly the next Waterloo service was cancelled, so it was a short walk to grab dinner before returning to board the next Waterloo service, which got later & later (diverted via Yeovil Pen Mill due to the line via Templecombe being closed), but eventually got me into Andover a good 15 minutes late, so does mean I should get some money back from SWR for the hour delay.

Anyhow I’ve got a new Flickr album for pictures from October onwards:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/27666294@N02/albums/72157701990175004

Tomorrow I shall be celebrating the first anniversary of Roman Bridge Day, with a long weekend coming up with some ECML Northern stations on the Friday (mixed up with some Tyne & Wear Metro, hoping that 4002 will make an appearance) before dashing north of the border for a relaxing Saturday trip to Breich before returning towards Darlington on the Sunday with a short walk to an airport.

River Exe at Lympstone

 

[55013]

I've just caught up with your last few moves.
Blimey.
Plenty of interesting moves amongst that lot.
That Deltic tour looked good; I must admit the multi-day job doesn't appeal to me though, maybe thirty years ago it would have done but not now.

 

[The_Train]

Another good read @Kite159. It's impossible to dislike anything about Devon and Cornwall really isn't it?

 

[Kite159]

Another good read @Kite159. It's impossible to dislike anything about Devon and Cornwall really isn't it?

Other than the weather, and the slight overcrowding of the 150s on the Plymouth - Penzance services [which operate to a weird and wonderful non-clockface timetable]

My rough revised plan for Saturday has changed due to the temporary withdrawal of the 385s, a lazy morning it is, maybe a trip to Tweedbank before making my slow way over towards West Calder for a bus to the former post office

 

[noddy1878]

Good job finishing off what was needed in my part of the world!

 

[alexf380]

A very enjoyable weekend there, Kite. The view of the Exe you posted is stunning