The Various Random Mutterings of Kite

[Kite159]

Thanks Alex

Meanwhile in Scotland I braved the horrible weather yesterday to visit a small village in Scotland

 

[alexf380]

Ooooh! Any notable comments on the rebuild?

 

[Kite159]

Ooooh! Any notable comments on the rebuild?

It will come within the report coming later in the week but it is a good job, other than the seats in the waiting shelter being rubbish perch style ones

 

[Skymonster]

Looking forward to your next report from Jockland...

 

[Kite159]

11th – 14th October, A trip to the North East/Scotland

The original plan for this weekend was to focus on the stations north of Newcastle on the Friday (with the Tyne & Wear Metro stations I needed to revisit), heading towards Middlesbrough with the Saturday being Redcar British Steel & the handful of stations on the Esk Valley line I needed to revisit, with the Sunday being North Road and a station in the top 5 of awkwardness. However with the Northern strike, I decided to cancel the room at Middlesbrough, and head towards Edinburgh on the Friday night for a day of 385 hunting & the visit of a recently rebuilt station.

Yes the Esk Valley had services on strike days, but that was no reflection if levels would decrease or get replaced by buses (or become like many other northern lines, is ditched altogether). My accommodation in Edinburgh would be with my good friend Dan in his flat.

11th October – Onwards to Newcastle

I finished a bit earlier than expected allowing me to make the 16:59 service which was running late, I took this 159+158 combo to Basingstoke, changing onto a 220 to Reading for a short session of IET hunting. Nothing of interest came up within 30 minutes so I boarded a pair of 800s heading towards London, which got caught up with some congestion as it was a tad slow. I headed towards platform 16 to jump onto a Circle line service to Kings Cross, swinging via Boots before making my way towards platform 0 (hold your drinks everybody, the barriers at Kings Cross were in operation!).

I was thankful I changed my seat reservation from the default coach to coach F, as the front couple coaches looked busy in terms of seat reservation labels (whereas I had a private table). 43274 “Spirit of Sunderland” was leading 43272 on the 20:00 Kings Cross – Sunderland service, a nice fast to York sprint, although it lost time along the way so was around 15 minutes late into Newcastle. There wasn’t many folk left on board heading towards Sunderland but a good crowd waiting at Newcastle to board a fast service.

43274 at Kings Cross

With options a tad limited for accommodation, I had booked a 4-bed dorm at the Euro Hostel a short walk from the station; somewhere I had previously stayed last December between tours so knew it had a 24 hour front desk. Somewhat expected I had a private room which was a nice little bonus as I didn’t have to keep the noise down when making the bed.

12th October – Newcastle area

An early start with a walk to Newcastle station for the 05:55 Chathill Express, I was making use of a Northern freebie ticket to save on the cost of the anytime fare, and boarded 156471 along with a small handful of others, all of which had gone by Morpeth allowing me the pleasure of a private 156 on the morning northbound fast service to reach Chathill where the unit soon carried on to reverse a few miles up the line. Chathill was as ever quite well kept with flowers on the northbound platform, and a decent shelter on the southbound platform, useful as it was raining (a theme which features a lot).

The 156 returned and I was joined by 3 students, a handful of folk boarded at Alnmouth as the service went into the loop at Wooden Gates to allow a fast LNER to overtake before carrying on, I alighted at Widdrington where a good half dozen boarded (untapped potential), and made use of the time to pop to the nearby Co-Op before heading towards the bus stop, handing over £10.50 for an “explorer” ticket, a very good value for money ticket as it covers bus travel in a very wide area (Carlisle, Berwick, Scarborough), plus the metro & rail services between Sunderland & Blaydon. Arriva bus 1579 was on the 08:05 Max X20 service to Newcastle, going via the coast (Ashington) before joining a dual carriageway for some speedy running. I bailed at the Regent Centre Interchange for a Metro service, jumping on board a service with a few seconds before the door buzzers went.

Arriva Bus 1579 at Regent Centre interchange

Anyhow it was a pair of Metro units which took me to Central Station where I had a short fester to see if 4002 was on one of the last few northbound peak time extras returning towards South Gosforth, before jumping on a pair to take me to Sunderland, mainly Park Lane, where I changed platforms for another service back around the corner to Sunderland station, where I stepped back to wait for a 156 to Newcastle, solely because I needed to use the toilet!

Once at Newcastle, it was downstairs to the metro platforms with another pair of units to Monument, going up the stairs to the coast platforms for a short wait for a coast bound service to take me to Walkergate, making a tight connection (for it was still raining, and I wasn’t going to walk back along the road if I could help it), with a leap to Chillingham Road, confusing some RPIs with going up the stairs from one platform to head towards the footbridge to the opposite platform (after a look at what is on Heaton, a few 156s & 142s, a random 158 plus a Mk4 set). A short wait before another pair of metro cars took me to Whitley Bay, changing over platforms (via the toilets) to board a train back one stop to Cullercoats to clear the Tyne & Wear Metro stops

Cullercoats Metro Station

I was now at a crossroads, as I had around 5 hours to kill before the evening Chathill train, and with 4002 unlikely to make an appearance (4001 & 4083 were floating around earlier, and the last I heard 4040 was being refurbished). I would decide after lunch at the Tesco Metro near West Jesmond, eventually deciding to go hunting for a pacer ride, so headed back towards Newcastle station. First up was a Carlisle bound 156 which I took to the Metro Centre going via the High Level Bridge, which intercepted a coast bound 156 which went back via the high level bridge to terminate into platform 1, with everybody being told to change to another 156 which would resume from platform 12, going via the King Edward Bridge. I remained on board to Sunderland where I decided to go out for a walk to see if there was anything of interest within the city centre area...

...The most interesting thing was a Stagecoach bus with “Here comes the SUNderland bus” written on the side, the city centre area was a bit run down, so I decided to return to the station with my fingers crossed for a northbound Pacer... it was another 156! I took this one to Metro Centre where I got my wish with a 142 back to Newcastle. A good little time wasting move before I was going to head towards South Gosforth for some Metro festering, jumping on the first northbound service to bail at Haymarket where I could ID the first timetabled Pelaw extra, had it been running. Nothing was showing on the destination board, so I headed back to the northbound platform to see everybody getting off the train, catching the end of an announcement that this train was going back south due to an incident around Jesmond. Unexpected microgricing move of the day with the crossover between Haymarket & Monument scored as I headed back to Monument to escape the chaos.

After a brief look around the area, I headed to Central Station where the Metro was back running but with some heavy delays. I took the first southbound service to Gateshead Stadium, grabbing a couple more low mileage units (my rule for “light” rail units is one mile), deciding to head towards Manors to catch an unknown southbound service to the Metro Centre where my plan was to board the Chathill service there for a better chance of getting a decent seat had it be a 142. A good decision as I made my way across the business park, up and over the footbridge to the island platform as 800201 rolled past on test, allowing me to photograph three generations of ECML traction.

91116 leads an Edinburgh bound LNER service at Manors
800201 passes Manors on Test
43306 leads a Scottish bound HST

A refurbished Scottish 156 rolled in from Morpeth as I jumped on board to make use of the charger for a quick boost to my phone, for the trip to the Metro Centre, intercepting a late running 156 from Carlisle to take me back to Newcastle (for it was a mileage requirement), before boarding 156469 which was on the evening Chathil service. I was worried with the large number of passengers at the platform, however they must have been waiting for the late running Middlesbrough bound service behind this one. As expected the train emptied out by Morpeth, with only a few left on board after Widdrington, but surprisingly myself & 3 others got off at Acklington (for I was expecting for it to be only me, as unlike the other two limited served stations, this one isn’t well located).

Nothing on the northbound platform, but thankfully there is a shelter on the southbound platform, which came in handy as it had started to rain once more, with the wind picking up. The only downside is that shelter lacks any sort of lights inside and due to the time of year it was dark, so my plan to waste the hour fester reading my book was soon ditched, instead I had the vocal delights of a 68 heading north on an engineering train. I decided to check on the progress of the southbound service to see how it was getting on...
Acklington Station

....It was a bit confusing, looking at Open Train Times Maps, it was stuck outside Chathill for 15 minutes before seemingly crossing over to terminate in platform 1, where it was around 18 minutes late in departing, losing a couple extra minutes before it arrived, but the 156 sounded poorly. 20 minutes late would be fine for me as I had a +35 at Pegswood for a bus move to Morpeth. The unit lost more time being looped at Chevington for a southbound LNER service, but once more it was like it was only on one engine, as it lost even more time, arriving into Pegswood at 20:22. My bus connection would have been at 20:20 from the Co-Op, with the bus running 5 minutes late (and Google suggesting a 5 minute walk) it was with regrets I decided to remain on the train to Morpeth.

I did have a 2nd backup option, but that bus would have dropped me off in Morpeth town centre instead of by the station (roughly a 10 minute walk), in theory the northbound XC was running late at this point so with the RTT expected timings I could have done it, but didn’t want to risk it (also it was throwing it down with rain, I got soaked walking to a nearby Sainsburys Local for dinner options). (I was a bit annoyed because Pegswood for me is very annoying to visit as it needs an overnight stay; however as a post script I was playing with RTT last night and came up with a good revised plan involving the weekend I revisit Whitby & Redcar). My bad luck continued as the northbound XC service kept on getting later & later due to the increasingly worsening weather conditions, with the voyager eventually rolling into a wet & windy Morpeth 48 minutes late.

It didn’t make any of that time back, and got caught behind a stopper from North Berwick arriving into Edinburgh an annoyingly 58 minutes late, 2 minutes short of getting all my £7 fare back. On the bright side I managed to call at Dunbar heading northbound for an odd microgrice move. Heading towards Dan’s flat was a roundabout move due to the last direct bus route having run, with a route 25 taken towards Leith and then a route 16 taken, where I wasn’t soon enough before collapsing in bed, and for the first Saturday for a long time (excluding the Snow Saturday in March) I didn’t have my alarm set.

To be continued, but I will leave you with a picture of a 365 at Falkirk High, a happy train in the rain.
365537 departs Falkirk High

 

[Iskra]

A good read Kite, looking forward to the next instalment. When you say you need to revisit stations, why is this?

 

[Kite159]

A good read Kite, looking forward to the next instalment. When you say you need to revisit stations, why is this?

To give me something to do, I decided to go back to board at stations I had previously only alighted at, and alight where I've only previously boarded at, for no reason other than I was bored.

 

[Iskra]

Ah fair enough!

 

[Kite159]

13rd October – Edinburgh

As I mentioned on the mutterings for Friday it was a very unusual Saturday where for the first time for ages I hadn’t set an alarm for the Saturday morning, and it was nice to sleep in for a change. My original idea for this brief Scottish trip was to hunt down some 385s however they had been grounded a few days before so that idea was changed. The weather this morning was absolutely terrible with rain, so I was glad it wasn’t too long to wait before a route 37 bus took us towards the city centre.

After buying my ticket it was towards a Glasgow bound service formed of a pair of 365s to take us to Linlithgow, where we bailed to see if anything of interest was heading towards Edinburgh, but decided to carry on towards Falkirk High on another pair of 365s (365529 & 365517), along the way I had spotted a pair of 385s were floating around so it was operation to intercept them. But first a fast pair of 365s took us back to Edinburgh (they can certainly shift and make a wonderful noise), where after grabbing lunch it was back on 365537 & 365525 to Falkirk on another fast service. I think these services would benefit from having assistant ticket examiners located in the front unit as I noticed it a couple times with some folks heading straight towards the front unit when it was a pair of 365s.

365537 departs Falkirk High

Anyhow, a short wait in the rain before 385004 & 385122 rolled in for the 24 mile run back towards Haymarket, where we changed for an Inverkeithing bound 158, mainly to see if a white BMW was still on the top floor of the park & ride car-park which is a long running joke, shockingly it had finally gone (after a good couple years of being parked in the same place). At Inverkeithing it was a short wait before another 158 took us back towards Haymarket before a pair of 334s took us to Livingston North where we made use of a bus connection from a route 25 service to reach the Livingston Bus Terminal/large shopping centres. With a supply raid carried out me and Dan split up with Dan heading back to Edinburgh due to the poor weather (and to be honest I almost was at a point of ditching my main idea and leaving it for another day).

I took a Blue Bus Route 77 (towards Lanark, calls near West Calder station) to the 3rd of the bus stops in Breich village, a tiny village with nothing of real note, but thankfully the rain had stopped but the wind had picked up for my short walk along the pavement to reach the rebuilt station at Breich, saved from the chop with £2.5 million spent on upgrading it with new platforms & a footpath from a road bridge to the Edinburgh bound platform, and it is a good job the contractors of Network Rail have done, although the passenger information displays weren’t working with wrong times, a lack of bins, decent seats in the waiting shelters (more perch style than anything) [although there is a bench outside].

Breich Station
Breich Station
I probably shocked the driver & guard when 156505 arrived with the daily Glasgow service which currently calls, for the short leap to Fauldhouse, changing platforms for a refurbished 156431 back to Edinburgh, where I made use of the WiFi due to it being dark. Once at Edinburgh I met up with Dan once more and we went back to the flat via bus 328, to have some food and a general catch-up, a nice way to spend the remainder of the evening of a lazy day.

14th October – Return to the Airport

Getting back on track to my original Sunday plan was simple enough, so after saying farewell to Dan, it was bus 826 to take me back towards Edinburgh station, where after picking up some breakfast I headed towards platform 8 where the 09:08 service to Plymouth was due to depart, thankfully I arrived before the unit rolled in as it was short formed (was meant to be a pair of units), so I managed to grab one of the unreserved seats in Coach D pretty much as soon as the doors were released of 220026 (same voyager as I had on Friday!).

The voyager departed full & standing, and was a good run towards Darlington, where the rain had returned for my short walk towards North Road station (via a large Morrisons near the North Road station), the less said about Darlington the better. 142064 rolled in to take me back around the curve to Darlington station, although it was held for a good 10 minutes at the junction due to congestion. With the weather being a bit rubbish I decided to step back a train, and it was 142065 which took me to Dinsdale.

142065 departs Dinsdale Station

I had Google Maps up and running to show me the way to reach the airport station, making sure the destination was south of the railway (as it defaults to the main road behind the stations where there is no access) (as I didn't really want to be climbing over a fence like Mr @FelixtheCat did ). The weather was a bit horrid (and yes I was mad for doing this walk), but I had two options, either turning right at a roundabout to follow “Yarm Road” towards Durham Tees Valley Airport, or along a footpath via a nature reserve which is between the railway & the A67. I decided to go for the walk via the nature reserve which mostly was all fine, but the path did turn a bit muddy near the end. The trees gave me cover from the rain, until I decided to head towards a foot crossing to grab a random picture

Autumn colours near Middleton St George

After re-joining the main road, it was over the railway and into airport land, where the road quality did suffer as I walked via an industrial estate to reach the road towards the station, attempting to dodge the larger puddles, and eventually reaching the famous Tees Side Airport station, now served only by a single weekly train due to the poor state of the platform & footbridge, however access wasn’t blocked off, which I was thankful for because the disused platform has a little waiting shelter (which did shake whenever a HGV passed behind).

Teesside Airport Station
Poor condition of platform 2 at Teesside Airport Station

I returned to the Darlington bound platform (which has nothing on it) to await the return of 142065 from Hartlepool. Nobody else boarded or alighted this afternoon (and the only other life around this area was a learner driver going round the turning circle). Back to Darlington and onto a southbound LNER service which had DVT 82229 leading and 91107 pushing for the fast run towards Kings Cross (called only at Northallerton & York).

Back at Kings Cross, it was a Victoria line service to Oxford Circus, followed by a Bakerloo to Waterloo, swinging via Tesco for dinner before boarding the 18:45 fast service to Andover, getting a lift back home, where I could have a nice warm shower and a change of clothes as my trousers were a tad wet. All in summary a good weekend trip, nearly everything was done which I set out to do with my revised plan, Pegswood can wait until next year when I return to Middlesbrough, but at least with Breich revisited I have cleared the Central belt of Scotland and probably one of the most awkward stations in the country.

Next weekend sees a railtour to Scuntorpe steel works, so there won’t be much of a report for that.

 

[Esker-pades]

Whooo! Honorary mention!

It's very interesting to see what Teesside Airport looks like when it isn't covered in snow. I can't work out if it makes the station looks worse or not.

As for Breich, I should probably re-visit that too. It has changed quite a lot since I had the pleasure (?) of visiting. They seem to have removed a lot of the disused charm that it previously had, which is a shame.

 

[Kite159]

Whooo! Honorary mention!

It's very interesting to see what Teesside Airport looks like when it isn't covered in snow. I can't work out if it makes the station looks worse or not.

As for Breich, I should probably re-visit that too. It has changed quite a lot since I had the pleasure (?) of visiting. They seem to have removed a lot of the disused charm that it previously had, which is a shame.

Breich has changed, although hopefully it will actually get a decent level of service when the timetable for the Shotts line is re-written to take advantage of the EMUs, although the old car-park has gone. If services doesn't improve then it will be an epic waste of money

 

[Skymonster]

If the station is run down, the airport isn't much better. I've only been to Teesside Airport (sorry, Durham Tees Valley Airport) once, when I worked for British Midland Airways and there were five flights a day to London. It wasn't much to write home about then, and you've sort of confirmed it isn't any better now. I think this is one station I will never visit. Still, it was enjoyable reading about more of your escapades Mr. Kite.

 

[Kite159]

If the station is run down, the airport isn't much better. I've only been to Teesside Airport (sorry, Durham Tees Valley Airport) once, when I worked for British Midland Airways and there were five flights a day to London. It wasn't much to write home about then, and you've sort of confirmed it isn't any better now. I think this is one station I will never visit. Still, it was enjoyable reading about more of your escapades Mr. Kite.

The airport doesn't get many flights these days it appears, the terminal building is a good 15 minute walk along a potholed road with no pavements so even if the station got a better service it still won't get used for airport users.

The state of platform 2 was shocking, especially since you could still access it. The station could do with just being closed for good with a rail replacement taxi on offer

 

[The_Train]

Interesting read Kite. What sort of service did the airport station receive when it was at its peak of operations?

 

[Kite159]

Interesting read Kite. What sort of service did the airport station receive when it was at its peak of operations?

Wikipedia says it used to have an hourly service until the 'early 90s' although no source is given.

 

[adrock1976]

I had noticed from the 12 October report that one of the Tyne & Wear Metro stations you went to was Whitley Bay.

Myself, my partner, and the dog was on the St James platform at around 11:15 for the train to Monument. We had also got caught up in operational problems and as the train was running at reduced speed, the driver announced that it would be terminating at Monument, with me also unintentionally scoring the crossover before descending into the tunnel before Manors.

 

[Kite159]

I had noticed from the 12 October report that one of the Tyne & Wear Metro stations you went to was Whitley Bay.

Myself, my partner, and the dog was on the St James platform at around 11:15 for the train to Monument. We had also got caught up in operational problems and as the train was running at reduced speed, the driver announced that it would be terminating at Monument, with me also unintentionally scoring the crossover before descending into the tunnel before Manors.

The crossover I unintentionally scored was the one between Haymarket & Monument when the service got turned round to go back South.

I did see some delays "St James" bound, but I suspect the volume of passengers who remain on after Monument who are travelling towards St James would be minimal on non-match days.

-----

I forgot to mention, I managed to get a LNER branded TVM at Darlington to sell me a off-peak day return from North Road to Tees-Side Airport, and I wasn't expecting it to do so (but I suspect there is an easement in place for customers to double back via Allens West due to no eastbound services)

 

[noddy1878]

Some good reads there! Shame about the weather. You been to some places twice now that I have yet to get too once!

 

[Kite159]

Anyhow random picture of a shed in a shed:


A good weekend, a couple more 800s fell into my book on the Friday. On the Saturday was a tour to Scunthorpe Steel Works (UK Railtours "Man of Steel"), 66060 was leading to Barnetby where the train reversed (with winner 66055) hauling the train to nearly the end of the Foreign Ore Branch, with 66055 returning to Barnetby (into the goods sidings), where 66060 returned the train towards some old sidings north of the main-line, before an ultra slow run into the coal unloading terminal. Another couple reversals and it was onto the main site itself with a run towards the "Medium Section Mill", where a Norwegian loco (Di8.702) attached to the rear to pilot the train back towards the Redbourn Semi-Finished Sidings before detaching (they are used for internal steelworks traffic), with 66060 back in charge for the run back towards the mainline using the goods loop to bypass Scunthorpe station itself.

A couple other oddities on the way back (Doncaster Goods yard & Grantham goods loop [behind the platforms]), but it was quite late running in the end.

The Sunday was spent on a BLS trip to the Andover Model Railway Engineers Society track for an easy day of random 7.25" inch traction & track set in woodland, mix of steam/electric/diesel.

---

Next weekend is a lazy trip to Blackpool, it was going to be a Lancashire rover but due to the northern strike that bit was binned, so a day on the trams, might even try out some of the old trams for a laugh.

 

[Kite159]

Due to services from Paddington collapsing onto themselves this afternoon, I was left with two options. Either a crowded SWR service on the slow route to Reading or a SWR to Guildford for a bus of unknown quality to Basingstoke...



Needless to say I caught the slow train to Reading, with some nice motor noise from 455715 & friend (5915)

----

Anyhow random mutterings for Blackpool will be done tomorrow (or Tuesday)

 

[Kite159]

26th – 28th October, A weekend away to Blackpool

This weekend was originally going to be a Lancashire Day Rover, however the Northern strike put that idea back until next year, so my plans changed to be a quiet weekend in Blackpool, the focus being on the trams.

Friday

My original plan (the 14:33) was cancelled due to the SWR strike, so it was the 14:59 service to Waterloo with a triple 159, for a quick trip on the Northern line to reach Euston just as the 16:57 to Glasgow Central was announced as boarding, allowing me to get a prime unreserved seat in coach U of 390127. This was a busy train and most of the seats in this coach were taken on departure from Euston for the fast run north, calling at Tamworth & Lichfield, for a race against a Liverpool bound 390 before this 390 shooting ahead to Warrington/Wigan & finally Preston.

Thankfully Northern hadn’t cancelled the Blackpool South service which was a nice low mileage 142 for the trip to Pleasure Beach, where I remained on the busy platform for the return of the Pacer to Squires Gate which cleared the Blackpool South branch line. A walk in the cold air to look at the lights as I kept my eyes peeled for southbound trams, noting that tram 17 was out to play, so a short fester at Burlington Road West saw that tram into my book for a required leap to Central Pier. I popped via a nearby Tesco before heading to the hotel, meeting up with Daniel.

142060 at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Station

Saturday

A late start with breakfast at 9am, but there was no rush as I needed to visit a branch of my bank to pay in a cheque from GWR (who ignored my request for vouchers). Over the next few hours me & Daniel revisited many of the stops I needed to revisit (as unlike some tram networks, some of the stops on Blackpool are very close together), tram 18 fell within the first few movements which was a nice bonus to clear the modern trams once again.

I had finished with the main task up in Fleetwood around half one, so after some hassle with football fans having a police escort, it was a busy tram back to Central Pier, to visit the hotel and to grab some late lunch, before returning out to the cold wind (but a very sunny day). Once back outside we headed towards the heritage stop on the loop south of the Pleasure Beach stop for a trip on the heritage trams out. Boat Tram 227 took us to “North Pier & Tower” which is located on the loop opposite ‘North Pier South’, before double deck 147 took us back to Pleasure Beach loop, returning to North Pier & Tower, intercepting the return of the boat from Cliffs Hotel on its final run of the day.

Blackpool Tram 006 Blackpool Tram 147

A time-wasting trip to Starr Gate and back as the lights were turned on, and we joined the large queue for the special services, getting onto the 4th departure which was a Millennium Balloon tram, 718 (one of the batch which were modified to be able to run on the upgraded network had there been issues with the new fleet). I would say it was a nice non-stop run towards the loop at Little Bispham, however it was very stop/start as we were caught behind a busy service tram (most of the regular trams were busy today). Around the loop before calling at a couple limited stops as we alighted at North Pier & Tower for a walk back towards the hotel.

On the bright side, the lights are ever so pretty, it is worth a visit just to see them. Once back at the hotel (and a visit to the toilet), we headed to a nearby Chinese restaurant for a very nice Chinese dinner. On reflecting this is probably one of my first Saturdays where I haven’t stepped foot on a railway station or on a network rail train for a good few years.

Blackpool Illumined Train-Tram

Sunday

Another late start with another excellent breakfast, before a 150+142 combo took us to Preston from Blackpool South (via a taxi from the hotel), saying farewell as I jumped to Wigan on a low mileage 221 (which was very busy, so I bailed). Onwards to Manchester Oxford Road on a 319 for some motor noise and a walk to Piccadilly (because for some strange reason someone in planning had the idea of turning back the services from Blackpool at Oxford Road giving a nice 30-minute wait before the next Piccadilly bound service).

Anyhow a nice walk to Piccadilly, as I grabbed lunch from Boots before boarding a 390 which went via Crewe (a low mileage one as well), the idea of going via Manchester was a better chance of a prime seat (one which has good shoulder space). After Crewe is where it went wrong as Paddington had fallen over due to overhead wire damage, which gave me a couple options. Either a highly likely 450 to Guildford (via Cobham) for a bus to Basingstoke or see how bad the Waterloo – Reading slow stopping service was.

By the time I reached Waterloo, the next Reading service hadn’t been advertised on the screens but was boarding by those with RTT (and being able to spot the train which said “Reading” on the rear. As you might have guessed from my picture last night it was a pair of 455s, not ideal but I managed to secure a bay seat in the motor coach. Needless to say, it departed Waterloo leaving folk behind, high peak levels of crowding, where it remained all the way to Reading (with an unusual weave at Ascot to go via platform 1).

But it was better than a bus. I grabbed some food from Tesco before a 165 took me to Basingstoke, where I could board a pair of 159s (Woking area was closed today) for the trip back to Grateley.

Other than the farce at the end of the trip, this weekend was quite relaxing, no early starts on either day, added on a good social. Clearing Blackpool trams means I only have a handful of light rail stops I need to revisit (and visit in the case of Sheffield).

Sea Front at Blackpool near Central Pier
Next weekend sees me having a lazy weekend, I was going to head to North Wales but decided last week to ditch that idea on grounds of “I can’t be bothered hanging around random Welsh request stops this time of year when it gets dark early”. The main reason for my winter slow-down. I might head to the Isle of Wight on the Sunday to clear that network.
------
October in Numbers

3785 Miles covered
11 new units (1x 150, 2x 385, 8x 800)
2 new locos (1x 66, 1x Di8)
5 new light rail (2x Blackpool Flexity, 3x Blackpool Heritage)

Looking ahead to November sees a quieter month compared to previous months, a trip to Inverness, followed by a HST railtour to the Grand Central North line, followed at the end with a long weekend in the Manchester area.

 

[The_Train]

A nice little trip to the North West there Kite and I have to agree that one thing Blackpool does get right is the Illuminations

 

[Skymonster]

Hmmm... Trams.... Blackpool.... No no, I must resist. Nice report Mr. kite

 

[Kite159]

Thanks lads

Mr Skymonster, it might be worth leaving Blackpool until next year as I believe from next week the trams switch to the winter timetable of one tram every 15 minutes (rather than one tram every 10 minutes). But those old trams are worth a go for the novelty of an old tram with a good motor noise

 

[pieguyrob]

Type the Hopton hotel in to Google maps and it takes you straight to the entrance of the heritage tram depot off Lytham rd. Did my work experience there 21 years ago, the tram depot, that is. I bagged all the new trams sat on a taxi stand! The trams go down Hopton rd to enter the Rigby rd depot. The nearest tram stop is Manchester square.

 

[Kite159]

I was in a bit of a reflective mood earlier so I returned to an area where some of my oldest memories are, Bedwyn. When I was younger my parents had a narrowboat which was based near Trowbridge and over the summer we used to bring it up towards the Bedwyn area, moving it every couple weeks (this was before British Waterways/Canal & Riverboat Trust) got so strict on 'you are not allowed to stay in a place for more than X days'). So some weekends it was a move the boat to Hungerford/Kintbury, returning to the car on the train, or if the weather was bad catch the Thames Trains (as it was in those days) service to Reading.

(The old guard at Bedwyn, a 165 waits for the signal to go into the turnback siding as a HST from Penzance passes)

Anyhow time for reflection over, have a GIF of a HST

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks for sending me that GIF earlier, Memory Lane much!

 

[Kite159]

4th November - Return to the Island

Visiting the Isle of Wight again has been on my "to-do" list for a few months, so with nothing better to do today I decided to head out (although to be honest the weather early on in the morning if I hadn't already purchased my tickets I would have stayed home for it was a tad wet). For the first time in a good few months I headed towards Romsey for the 10:50 service to Portsmouth Harbour, formed of long-term absent 158950 (which I had previously had back in Nov 15 from Romsey to Portsmouth for some spooky stuff). This service was delayed so it was a very close connection at Portsmouth Harbour for the 12:15 sailing with Wight Ryder 2 for the hop across the water.

483008 & 483004 were the two 1938 stock (belated happy 80th birthday!) out to play today, with 008 taken to Sandown for a short walk around the station returning via a smelly subway to Ryde St Johns Road for 483009 to mock me (I need it, but it is long term broken), before 004 taken via the tunnel to Ryde Esplanade for a walk into town. I could tell it was off-season as many of the shops were closed, but I managed to get a late lunch from a Sainsbury Local before returning for a full & standing 483008 along the pier to the pier head. Back onto the boat (where it was quite busy), where the sunshine deck had been opened up


A delay into the docking station, meant my highly ambitious connection to a GWR service was missed, so it was plan B with a pair of 450s to Eastleigh via Botley (first time in a good few years I've been along that line), for a 158 to Romsey to end the day. A short and pleasant little spin to re-clear the Island Line for stations

483s at Ryde Depot

483008 arrives into Ryde Esplanade

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I'm checking RTT and it seems ditching North Wales yesterday was a good decision as it appears the Conwy Valley was replaced by buses, and there was some delays to Holyhead bound services. Besides I needed a good sleep and lazy day to recharge the batteries. Next weekend is a trip to Inverness where I think I shall head to Forsinard for a leisurely 3 and a bit hour fester!

 

[Skymonster]

Good stuff - the Island Line is very much at the top of my 'would like to do' list. Mind you I'd have been disappointed not to have identified that unit on the depot. I think I'll park the idea until the spring - but thanks for providing the inspiration.

 

[87electric]

I'm 99% sure it's 483006 in your photo with the Island branding. Relatively newly overhauled.