Your Last Train Journey?

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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Pilot »

Arch9enius wrote:
Pilot wrote: 1313 Malvern Link to Bromsgrove on 170514. This service ended up behind units that were meant to be going via Rowley Regis, however, were now not able to. This caused a delay of around 20 minutes to this train, whilst a decision was made whether to divert the train ahead via Bromsgrove or not, it eventually was diverted.
Would it be quicker to hook a bunch of units together if they are ging in the same direction one wonders? That way you only use one path or slot or whatever the term is ....
Different stopping patterns, the diverted units were going express to New Street, the train I was on was stopping at Bromsgrove, before heading up Lickey, it's better to give diesel trains a non-stop run at Lickey where possible!

----

Well, I've just returned home from a rather intense period of travelling, including all four days of the GBRf 2018 "Out of the ordinary" charity railtour, on which I had booked the Full Works package. Went something like this. As on previous occasions, any services involving new routes for me are in italics.

Wednesday 19th September
0646 Rochdale to Mytholmroyd on 153359 and 158850. It all started at Rochdale station on a chilly Wednesday morning. Fortunately the train was bang on time and no issues!
0709 Mytholmroyd to Leeds on 180107, routed via Bradford Interchange. On the peak-only Northern Class 180 service into Leeds, the set being borrowed from fellow Arriva company, Grand Central. This set also does an evening peak run out of Leeds.
1045 Leeds to London Kings Cross, pushed by 91109. My first ever run down the south end of the ECML, with only a couple of short sections having been previously travelled on. Paid for First Class on this, and it was worth it! The Veggie Chilli was rather lovely!
1321 London Kings Cross to Finsbury Park on 700036.
1338 Finsbury Park to London Blackfriars on 700140. Thought I would get the new Canal Tunnels in whilst in London.
1359 London Blackfriars to London Bridge on 700139.
1417 London Bridge to East Croydon on 377702 and 377614.
1442 East Croydon to Clapham Junction on 377157 and 377436.
1513 Clapham Junction to London Waterloo on 707010.
1532 London Waterloo to London Paddington on the Bakerloo Line. Had to head to Paddington to check into my Hotel, which was near there, to allow me to drop my bag off.
1628 London Paddington to Hayes and Harlington on 387156 and 387149. Decided to head out to Hayes to watch some of the peak trains in/out of Paddington.
1817 Hayes and Harlington to London Paddington on 345007. First journey on a 345, seems to have a decent balance of seats and standing space.

Thursday 20th September (Day One)
0722 London Paddington to Queen's Park on the Bakerloo Line. Or is it Queens Park?
0735 Queen's Park to Willesden Junction on the Bakerloo Line.
0747 Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction on 378204.
0855 Clapham Junction to London Victoria on 377342, 377306 and 377122.
0939 London Victoria to Bristol Temple Meads, hauled by 66782. Ran via Tulse Hill, Woking, Salisbury, Westbury and Bath to Bristol, with 73963 and 73961 hauled on the back.
1340 Bristol Temple Meads to Pengam Receptions, hauled by 73963 and 73961. Ran via Avonmouth.
1532 Pengam Receptions to Llynfi Junction (Signal PT3028), hauled by 66766. Ran via Pontyclun (mainline). Originally, the tour was meant to go into Cardiff Celsa Steelworks, however this was changed late on due to Celsa withdrawing permission onto their site for the tour. Instead, we went up to Llynfi Junction (just beyond Bridgend) with an extra 66 thrown in to compensate. 73963 and 73961 were hauled on the back.
1628 Llynfi Junction (Signal PT3028) to Didcot West End (Signal SB924), hauled by 73963 and 73961. Ran via Pontyclun, Lydney, Gloucester, Kemble and Swindon, with a stop in the Pengam Receptions to drop 66766 back off.
2016 Didcot West End (Signal SB924) to London Paddington, hauled by 87002. The first ever AC Locomotive hauled passenger train to run down the Great Western Mainline into the Brunel's Paddington station.

Friday 21st September (Day Two and Day N)
0553 London Paddington to Euston Square on the Circle Line.
0708 London Euston to Wellingborough Up Yard, hauled by 20311 and 20132. Ran via Bletchley and Bedford, with 66728 was hauled on the back.
0939 Wellingborough Up Yard to West Hampstead Thameslink (Run-round Loop), hauled by 66728. Ran via the Wymington Deviation and the Hendon Flyover, with the two Class 20s hauled on the back.
1137 West Hampstead Thameslink to Tonbridge West Yard, hauled by 20311 and 20132. Ran via Dudding Hill, Kew East Jn, Longhedge Jn (under the London-end approached to Clapham Jn), Nunhead, Bexleyheath, Dartford and Maidstone West. 66728 was left on the back.
1532 Tonbridge West Yard to Tonbridge Signal AD168X, hauled by 73107 and 73141, which remained with us for the rest of the tour (saves me typing them 10/15 more times!). This was advertised as going to the Tonbridge Royal Mail Terminal, which we passed shortly before reversing on the main just beyond there. The two 20s were again on the back.
1548 Tonbridge Signal AD168X to Acton Lane Receptions, hauled by 20311 and 20132. Ran via Otford, Beckenham Junction and Kensington Olympia. We had originally been booked to run via Hither Green, but due to a 15/20 minute delay, we were diverted via the more direct route. At Acton Lane, we swapped for some tanking of the stock, and a loco swap, with the 20s being replaced.
1823 Acton Lane Receptions to London Waterloo International hauled by 73107 and 73141. Ran into P20, which, whilst now in use as part of (ordinary) Waterloo, I'm classing as the International station as it once was! 92033 was hauled on the rear. This marked the last move of Day 2, before the beginning of the overnighter.
1930 London Waterloo International to Blackpool North, hauled by 92033. Ran via Kensington Olympia, Northampton, the Crewe Independent Lines and Preston. First time for me going around the Independent Lines at Crewe, which was rather neat! This was also the first visit of an AC Locomotive to Blackpool North.

Saturday 22nd September (Day N and Day 3)
0120 Blackpool North to Preston, hauled by 73107 and 73141.
0159 Preston to Motherwell, hauled by 92033 via the WCML. This marked the last move of Day N (the overnighter).
0454 Motherwell to Mossend Up Yard, hauled by 92033. During the stop in Mossend, the Class 92 was detached, a Class 73 was ran-around and a Class 56 attached.
0533 Mossend Up Yard to Fort William Jn, hauled by 56113 and 73141. Ran via Glasgow Queen Street Low Level and Anniesland. The Class 56 was detached at Fort William Jn to allow it to be able to get onto the other end of the train for the return. I believe this was also the first arrival of a Class 56 on a passenger train to Fort William.
1055 Fort William Jn to Fort William, hauled by 73141 on it's own. Only a short run into the station. When in the station, 2 and a half carriages, and the rear 73 did not fit onto the platform. The 73 and two carriages were detached, and shunted into the siding to allow 2 Scotrail services to use the other platform. The 56 was also attached during this time.
1257 Fort William to Mossend Up Yard hauled by 56113 and 73107. Ran via Anniesland, Glasgow Central Low Level and Hamilton Central. Again, at Mossend the Class 73 was ran around.
1910 Mossend Up Yard to Rosyth Goods Loop hauled by 56113. This ran via Cumbernauld, Falkirk Grahamston and Dalmeny Jn. Rather cool to have a Class 56 over the Forth Bridge!
2117 Rosyth Goods Loop to Edinburgh Waverley, hauled by 73141 and 73107. 56113 remained on the rear, being hauled.
2219 Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Central hauled by 90041, which had been seen a couple times previous in the trip, and became an obvious candidate for the move. Ran via Cumbernauld, Coatbridge Central and Carmyle.

Sunday 23rd September (Day 4)
0810 Glasgow Central to Paisley St. James, hauled by 73107 and 73141, with 47749 being hauled on the rear. Originally, we had been scheduled to visit Paisley Canal, however, due to difficulties in arranging an Isolation for the line, our routing was changed to Paisley St. James instead.
0827 Paisley St. James to Polmadie Down Holding Sidings, hauled by 47749. Ran via the usually freight-only route from Shields Jn to Terminus Jn.
0925 Polmadie Down Holding Sidings to Glasgow Central, hauled by 73107 and 73141. The Class 47 remained on the rear for this.
0957 Glasgow Central to Carlisle, hauled by 47749. Ran via Mount Florida, Uddingston and the WCML. We had originally been due to go via the G&SW route, however, this was amended to go via the WCML instead due to issues with the G&SW route.
1212 Carlisle to Crewe, hauled by 86637 and 86639.
1500 Crewe to Hanwell Bridge Goods Loop, hauled by 50007 and 50049 (in disguise as 50011 and 50006 (I think those are the right way around)). Ran via Shrewsbury, Bescot, Aston, Coventry, Banbury, High Wycombe and Castle Bar Park. Decent run, the long way around! Crewe was rather chaotic with all the enthusiasts trying to take pictures of the train.
2010 Hanwell Bridge Goods Loop to London Paddington, hauled by 73107 and 73141, with the 50s on the rears. And so marked the end of the tour, this time with a pair of Class 73/1s on the blocks at Paddington.

A couple of words about the tour. It was a brilliant experience, if somewhat tiring. The on-board staff, were absolutely brilliant with us, and 4 of them stayed with us for each day of the tour, so fair play to those four! The food provided was brilliant so top marks to the Chef too! Whilst there was a couple of issues, nothing major happened (having not long passed Abington before the Wires came down on Saturday morning!). We had left London Victoria on Day one 4 minutes late, and arrived at Paddington on Day four just 5 minutes late, so to only lose 1 minute throughout the entire tour isn't bad!

Monday 24th September
0829 London Paddington to Ealing Broadway on 387166 and 387156.
0855 Ealing Broadway to West Ealing on 345013.
0927 West Ealing to Greenford on 165133.
0940 Greenford to South Ruislip on the Central Line.
1057 South Ruislip to North Acton on 165019. Was trying to do the once-daily train between South Ruislip and London Paddington, to get in that line, however, just beyond North Acton (on the adjacent Tube line), the train developed a fault with it's AWS in the leading end, and so we could not proceed. We were instead able to return to South Ruislip, as the rear end was still working.
1131 North Acton to South Ruislip on 165019.
1209 South Ruislip to Oxford Circus on the Central Line.
1244 Oxford Circus to Kings Cross St Pancras on the Victoria Line.
1403 London Kings Cross to Leeds, hauled by 91104. Again, in First Class, where I had the (Gourmet) Sausage Roll, which was rather lovely. The First Class on this service was rather busy, with no free seats in my carriage.
1620 Leeds to Rochdale on 150120 and 150106, running via Mirfield and Brighouse.

All in all, I estimate I travelled a total of 2,500 to 3,000 miles, over 2,000 miles on the railtour itself, with 22 (provided I can count) different classes of trains travelled on or hauled by.

Also, apologies for the Wall of Text :lol:
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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So, October is almost over, and I don't think I'll be doing anymore travelling this month, so here's my travel report for October! I did do a little bit of travel on the 30th September, but nothing too interesting, just the Penistone and Ilkley lines in Yorkshire.

Saturday 6th October
0726 Manchester Piccadilly to Glasgow Central on 350405. The first reasonably timed Glasgow train from Manchester in a morning (you'll see what I mean later). A nice comfortable journey on a 350, up in First Class on a cheap advanced ticket found on the Thursday (70p cheaper to go First Class than get a standard class off-peak return on the day!).
1115 Glasgow Central to Cathcart, via Maxwell Park, on 318258.
1147 Cathcart to Neilston on 314211 and 314202. One of the reasons I went up to Scotland was to travel on a 314, as I'd never travelled on one before, and they are due to be withdrawn soon. Also my first run up to Neilston, having not done a previous railtour I was on up the route.
1228 Neilston to Glasgow Central on 314202 and 314211.
1308 Glasgow Central Low Level to Milngavie on 320301. My first run to Milngavie.
1340 Milngavie to Glasgow Central Low Level on 320301 and 320307. On arrival at Milngavie, we coupled up to 320307.
1418 Glasgow Central to Ardrossan Harbour on 380020. My first run on a 380, and my first journey on the Ardrossan Harbour line. The 380s seem rather pleasant trains, with comfortable enough seating. My main problem is the weird half table things they have.
1536 Ardrossan Harbour to Glasgow Central on 380020.
1648 Glasgow Central to East Kilbride on 156503 and 156507. Another new route on the trip.
1728 East Kilbride to Glasgow Central on 156507 and 156503.
1847 Glasgow Central to Manchester Piccadilly on 350405 (again - my most travelled 350 now!). Another journey in First Class, on the cheap advanced deal I found. This train took me by surprise when I noticed we were going via Holytown, as I hadn't looked at the schedule beforehand, turned out it was the normal WTT routing. Further down the WCML, we were put into Abington Up Loop due to our early running, to allow a delayed Virgin service from Edinburgh to pass us. This worked out well for a group that got on at Carlisle, as they would have missed their connection otherwise!

Saturday 13th October
0755 Manchester Piccadilly to Stafford on 390103. Due to a person being hit by a train between Wilmslow and Crewe, this train was diverted from it's usual route via Crewe to run via Stoke instead, calling additionally at Stafford. As I was trying to get to Crewe at the time, this was the best alternative I had to get there.
0910 Stafford to Crewe on 350266.
0940 Crewe to Llandudno, The North Wales Coast Class Forty railtour, hauled by 40013 (running as D213). I made my connection to the railtour with just 6 minutes to spare, so was quite fortunate there! I was rather thankful I had decided to get into Manchester early on the day as a result. The railtour was never supposed to go to Llandudno, instead meant to go to Blaenau Ffestiniog, however, due to flooding on the route, we were unable to proceed with the original plan, so a move to Llandudno was the alternative. 47853 (running as 1733) was on the rear.
1415 Llandudno to Llandudno Junction, hauled by 47853.
1430 Llandudno Junction to Holyhead, hauled by 40013. My first run beyond Llandudno Junction on the North Wales Coast, on what was an awful day weather wise. Upon Arrival on Holyhead we had a 1 hour 45 minute break, so I explored what was at Holyhead. The answer....? Nothing! Just the port, where the next sailing was over 6 hours away.
1715 Holyhead to Crewe, hauled by 40013. The 40 performed very well throughout the tour, and we got some good high speed running during the return.
2012 Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly on 390119, running via Stockport.

Friday 19th October
1552 Manchester Piccadilly to Warrington Bank Quay on 175009. A very busy 2-car train.
1728 Warrington Bank Quay to Chester, hauled by 67020. A less busy 4-car loco-hauled service, was able to get a seat on this one.
2005 Chester to Rhyl, hauled by 67014. The second loco-hauled diagram that Transport for Wales operate, this being the Cardiff to Holyhead service. This was very quiet by comparison to the earlier two trains.
2055 Rhyl to Chester on 221110.
2201 Chester to Manchester Piccadilly, via Altrincham, on 142011. This was the main reason for the run out,as two 142s that I needed for travel were allocated to this. However, we left Chester without the second unit, so it was slightly disappointing!

Monday 22nd October
1725 Newton Heath and Moston to Manchester Victoria on M5000 trams 3084 and 3119. Having gotten a bus to Newton Heath, I was hoping to get to Victoria in time for the Class 142 that I had missed the previous Friday. Unfortunately, as the bus prior didn't turn up, and the one before that ran early, meaning I missed it, I was too late to make it!
1742 Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly on M5000 tram 3008.
1801 Manchester Piccadilly to Salford Crescent on 185132 and 185133. 2 of the 4 185s that are sub-leased to Northern on a daily basis to do services to places like Barrow-in-Furness. Sat in the declassified First Class on this, with the refurbished First Class looking rather lovely.
1836 Salford Crescent to Manchester Piccadilly on 150276 and 142007.
1919 Manchester Piccadilly to Marple on 142091 and 142038.
2008 Marple to Manchester Piccadilly on 150127 and 142009.

Saturday 27th October
0454 Manchester Piccadilly to Motherwell on 350409 and 350407. 350407 was dropped off at Preston to then run ECS to Lancaster and start at Manchester bound service from there. This was the less reasonably timed Glasgow service I mentioned earlier! Again, in First Class on this train with a cheap advanced single booked the Thursday before again!
0817 Motherwell to Lanark, via Shieldmuir and Wishaw, on 318268. My first time on the Lanark route.
0853 Lanark to Glasgow Central, via Wishaw, Shieldmuir, Motherwell and Bellshill, on 318268. Got me a curve that I hadn't travelled on before in.
1006 Glasgow Central to Patterton on 314211. Another couple of 314s were had for travel!
1034 Patterton to Cathcart on 314207 and 314210.
1047 Cathcart to Patterton on 314209 and 314208.
1104 Patterton to Glasgow Central on 314211.
1145 Glasgow Central to Newton, via Maxwell Park, on 320414. Ran via the final side of the triangle at Cathcart that I hadn't travelled on before.
1223 Newton to Argyle Street on 320305 and 318261.
I had intended on getting the 1300 from Glasgow Queen Street to Croy, in order to meet a pair of Class 385s. However, this was cancelled, so instead, I decided to waste time until the 1400.
1256 Buchanan Street to Hillhead on the Glasgow Underground Inner Circle. The set was formed of 125, 203 and 106.
1304 Hillhead to Partick on the Glasgow Underground Inner Circle. The set was formed of 129, 204 and 113.
1311 Partick to Bellgrove on 334021 and 334033.
1338 Bellgrove to Glasgow Queen Street Low Level on 334018.
1400 Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley on 385104 and 385009. My first ever run on a 385, they seem to be decent trains, fairly okay ride wise (I was sat above the bogie). The seats are standard DfT spec seats that are currently about so rather awful. The main issue I had with them is squeaky brakes!
1515 Edinburgh Waverley to Falkirk High on 385016 and 385103. The only other pair of 385s out on the day.
1557 Falkirk High to Glasgow Queen Street on 365509 and 365513. A pair of lost "Happy Trains", they seem to be doing a rather decent job in Scotland. I'm sure Geo Ghost may have driven these a couple of times!
1635 Glasgow Central to Paisley Gilmour Street on 314215.
1652 Paisley Gilmour Street to Glasgow Central on 380105.
1712 Glasgow Central to Paisley Canal on 314203.
1735 Paisley Canal to Glasgow Central on 314203. The final 314 journey of the day, and the final "new to travel" 314 of the trip, with 7 out of 16 of them travelled on the trip.
1826 Glasgow Central to Greenock Central on 380016. The last trip of the day.

Sunday 28th October
0800 Greenock West to Gourock on 314210 and 314207. Despite Greenock Central being the closest station to where I was staying, it's ticket office didn't open until 0930, whist Greenock West's opened at 0755, so it was a nice chilled walk to the station. On arrival at Gourock, I had some beautiful views over the Clyde towards Helensburgh, Dunoon, etc.
0823 Gourock to Paisley Gilmour Street on 314207 and 314210.
0910 Paisley Gilmour Street to Kilwinning on 380114. On arrival at Kilwinning, I was able to see one of the MPVs I occasionally plan during the Weedspray season.
0935 Kilwinning to Paisley Gilmour Street on 380102.
1002 Paisley Gilmour Street to Wemyss Bay on 380105. My first time on the line to Wemyss Bay. On arrival at Wemyss Bay I was desperate for a cup of tea, so went to the station cafe for one. Wish I hadn't bothered, one of the worst I have ever had!
1055 Wemyss Bay to Glasgow Central on 380105.
1220 Glasgow Queen Street to Dumbarton Central on 156496, 156478 and 156453. A triple 156 set, with the train heading to Oban and Mallaig (splitting at Crianlarich). Was able to get a far better cup of tea on this train, the WHL 156s must be one of the few to regularly have a trolley service on them.
1252 Dumbarton Central to Dalreoch on 318267 and 320318.
1301 Dalreoch to Helensburgh Central on 334018 and 334007.
1355 Helensburgh Central to Dumbarton Central on 334012 and 334024.
1418 Dumbarton Central to Hyndland, via Yoker, on 318266 and 320413.
1454 Hyndland to Dalmuir, via Yoker, on 318256 and 320411.
1520 Dalmuir to Partick, via Anniesland, on 320412 and 320303.
1548 Partick to Motherwell, via Glasgow Central Low Level and Carmyle, on 318253 and 320305.
1643 Motherwell to Glasgow Central, via Belshill, on 318255.
1738 Glasgow Central to Wigan North Western on 390154. Paid £15 for the First Class upgrade on this train. On the trip south, we were delayed at Beattock due to a signal fault, and further delayed between Lancaster and Preston due to running behind an on-time Northern service operated by a Class 158. Fortunately, my connection at Wigan North Western had been held at Balshaw Lane Junction to let us pass, and thus we arrived at Wigan first and I was able to make my connection.
2026 Wigan North Western to Manchester Piccadilly on 319378.

Just the 2,000 miles this month then! :D
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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Pilot wrote:So, October is almost over, and I don't think I'll be doing anymore travelling this month, so here's my travel report for October! I did do a little bit of travel on the 30th September, but nothing too interesting, just the Penistone and Ilkley lines in Yorkshire ………..
Scotland
……….Just the 2,000 miles this month then! :D
You don't half get about!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Pilot »

I certainly do try to get out and about!

Well, I think I'm done for November now, so here's the travel for the month! As per some previous months, I will highlight trains with new routes for me on in italics.

Saturday 3rd November
0830 Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe on 175005. These Northern strikes on every Saturday certainly restrict my options when travelling between Manchester and Crewe to just two trains an hour (down from 4tph, although one goes via the Airport, so isn't really an option). I must say I'd prefer a 323 or 319 to a crowded TfW 175 though!
0949 Crewe to Birmingham New Street on 350372.
1112 Birmingham New Street to Bristol Temple Meads, powered by 43384 and 43321. Due to work on quadrupling the Filton Bank on the approach to Bristol, these trains were diverted via Kemble, Swindon (reverse) and Bath Spa, which was the main reason I went out, as I'd never traveled on the direct route from Swindon to Bristol before (at least not completely).
1344 Bristol Temple Meads to Bath Spa on 166206. I had been intending on staying in Bristol an extra 30 mins or so, however, on seeing a 166 appear on this service, I decided I'd get my first ever 166 for travel in!
1443 Bath Spa to Swindon on 800310. This set arrived at Bath in reverse formation (i.e. First Class at the Country end, Standard at the London end), causing a little confusion and delay there.
1516 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa, powered by 43079 and 43009, running via Gloucester where the train reversed. Another set running in reverse formation, do GWR not like running their trains the right way around? The new bit of track was the Cheltenham bound curve from Gloucester.
1712 Cheltenham Spa to Birmingham New Street, powered by 43357 and 43304. A couple of firsts on this for me. My first run on a sliding door HST set, which has been done rather well to be fair, though I will still prefer slam doors personally. It was also my first run up Lickey with a HST, and we seemed to take it with ease, which I was slightly surprised at.
1815 Birmingham New Street to Crewe on 390009. This train was slightly delayed on route, and we ran slow lines from Stafford to Crewe, which was rather frustrating, as it meant I saw my connection overtake us on the fasts!
2012 Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly on 390044. After missing my connection, I stuck around to see the Empty Stock for the Branch Line Society's "Ruby Vampire" tour the next day, which was a 33 and a 47, with just 4 carriages.

Friday 9th November
1815 Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston on 390040. A lot of 9-car Pendolino's are turning up on Manchester runs at the moment, which is rather surprising, as for the longest time, it was generally 11-car ones!
2038 London Euston to London Bridge on the Northern Line.
2107 London Bridge to East Croydon on 171721, 171402 and 171201. My first ever journey on 171s, and a rather weird sight seeing an 8-car train formed solely of Turbostars.
2139 East Croydon to London Bridge on 171804, 171729 and 171722. As another trio of 171s was due, I decided to take a run back into London Bridge.
2207 London Bridge to East Croydon on 171722, 171729 and 171804.

Saturday 10th November
0615 East Croydon to London Bridge on 700121.
0655 London Bridge to Blackfriars on 700142.
0709 Blackfriars to London St Pancras Thameslink on 700058.
0818 London St Pancras International to Ashford International on 395017 and 395018. The first part of the Victory Javelin railtour, to raise money for the Royal British Legion and remember the end of the First World War. As this tour was doing a lot of routes that I'd never travelled on before, so it was certainly worth the £40.
0857 Ashford International to Redhill on 395018 and 395017.
1006 Redhill to Bognor Regis on 395017 and 395018. Originally, this was advertised as running via Hayward's Heath, and then the South Coastway, but was changed to run via Horsham due to works on the Brighton Mainline which was closed south of Three Bridges. A minutes silence was also observed during this section of the tour.
1129 Bognor Regis to Barnham on 395018 and 395017.
1141 Barnham to Portsmouth Harbour on 395017 and 395018. A nice relaxing run. On arrival at Portsmouth, there was just enough time for me to sprint around to the Pumpkin Cafe to grab some food.
1248 Portsmouth Harbour to Southampton Central on 395018 and 395017.
1410 Southampton Central to Portsmouth Harbour on 395017 and 395018.
1502 Portsmouth Harbour to Redhill on 395018 and 395017. Returned to Redhill via Barnham and Tonbridge.
1711 Redhill to Ashford International on 395017 and 395018.
1826 Ashford International to London St Pancras International on 395018 and 395017. Finished off the railtour with a 140mph run back into St Pancras.
1909 Kings Cross St Pancras to London Euston on the Victoria Line.
2100 London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on 390157. I'd booked onto a later train, in order to give myself a bit of leeway should the railtour become delayed. This is the last Northbound train of the day on a Saturday, so was very busy, especially with Rugby fans. Ran on the Slow Lines from London up to Hanslope Jn (North of Milton Keynes where the Northampton "loop" goes off), and then via the Trent Valley, Crewe and Stockport.

Thursday 15th November
1035 Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston on 390107. Got a cheap first class deal on this, so spent an hour in the lounge before departure, and then had a comfortable journey south.
1305 London Euston to London Bridge on the Northern Line.
1335 London Bridge to East Croydon on 700154. Hopped down to Croydon to check-in to the hotel and drop of my bags. The hotel had the room ready early too, so wasn't going to complain.
1415 East Croydon to Farringdon on 700121.
1443 Farringdon to London Liverpool Street on the Metropolitan Line.
1455 London Liverpool Street to Tottenham Hale on 379012 and 379020. My first journey on 379s, which certainly seem to be the nicest Electrostars I've been on!
1528 Tottenham Hale to Stratford on 317660 and 317883, I was rather surprised when a pair of 317s turned up on this train, wouldn't have thought it was busy enough for 8-car trains (last time I did it, 4-cars was more than enough!).
1546 Stratford to London Liverpool Street hauled by 90011. Always nice to get a Class 90 in, especially ones that are due to leave passenger service in the not too distant future, replaced by Stadler-built FLIRT trains).
1615 London Liverpool Street to Ilford on 315820 and 315827.
1638 Ilford to Romford on 345014.
1656 Romford to Gidea Park on 315842 and 315824.
1706 Gidea Park to Romford on 345008.
1714 Romford to Ilford on 315824 and 315842.
1729 Ilford to Stratford on 315852 and 315839 (Yes, I went 315 bashing!).
1746 Stratford to London Liverpool Street, hauled by 90008.
1809 London Liverpool Street to London Moorgate on the Hammersmith and City Line.
1820 London Moorgate to Finsbury Park on 313031 and 313035.
1839 Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace on 313052 and 313123.
1853 Alexandra Palace to Finsbury Park on 313056 and 313025.
1908 Finsbury Park to Old Street on 313040 and 313037. A little bit of 313-bashing. I wonder if Geo was driving any of these.
1924 Old Street to London Bridge on the Northern Line.
1947 London Bridge to East Croydon on 377625 and 377705.

Friday 16th November
0634 East Croydon to Clapham Junction on 377423 and 377416.
0708 Clapham Junction to Feltham on 458527 and 458529. Despite this service going where I wanted to go, I had to get off at Feltham to tap out of the Oyster zone and buy my new ticket, which wasn't so bad as I was earlier than planned anyway.
0736 Feltham to Staines on 450548 and 450558. Having let this pair of units go at Clapham Junction (as they were going the longer route via Hounslow), I was able to pick them up at Feltham for the hop to Staines.
0807 Staines to Windsor & Eton Riverside on 458532 and 458505.
0859 Windsor & Eton Central to Slough on 165125.
0929 Slough to Hayes & Harlington on 387135.
0947 Hayes & Harlington to West Ealing on 345010.
0957 West Ealing to Greenford on 165136. This connection at West Ealing is technically 1 minute in the timetable, however, the TfL Rail service regularly arrives 2 mins early, so I had a comfortable 3 minute change over.
1009 Greenford to South Ruislip on the Central Line.
1057 South Ruislip to London Paddington on 165019. I returned to complete the daily South Ruislip to London Paddington route. Last time I attempted to do it, the unit running the service (also 165019), had suffered an AWS fault in the leading cab at North Acton and had to return to South Ruislip, so you can imagine my thoughts when I saw the exact same unit was allocated to it earlier than morning! Fortunately, the unit made it this time, finally delivering me to my destination almost 2 months late! :mrgreen:
1203 London Paddington to Reading on 802003 and 802008. First journey on 802s, although purely on Electric, so they felt no different to the other IETs.
1235 Reading to London Paddington, powered by 43098 and 43005.
1315 London Paddington to Reading on 800313.
1346 Reading to London Paddington on 800028 and 800010.
1430 London Paddington to Reading, powered by 43086 and 43069. After this run out of London, I had intended to do another express run in and back out, however, seeing how this one was already full and standing, I decided to give the further runs a miss, knowing it was only going to get worse.
1518 Reading to Twyford on 387158 and 387145.
1538 Twyford to Henley-on-Thames on 165128.
1705 Henley-on-Thames to Twyford on 165128. After some food in Henley, It was back out to Twyford.
1724 Twyford to Maidenhead on 387130 and 387151.
1743 Maidenhead to Bourne End on 165135.
1757 Bourne End to Marlow on 165134. During peak hours, the usually single unit Maidenhead - Bourne End - Marlow route becomes a pair of units, with one shuttling between Maidenhead and Bourne End, and the other working Bourne End to Marlow.
1817 Marlow to Bourne End on 165134.
1828 Bourne End to Maidenhead on 165135.
1839 Maidenhead to Reading on 387164, 387170 and 387135. I do like 12-car trains on that stretch. The first time I ever did it, it was 3-car diesels, so quite the upgrade in 11 years!
1905 Reading to London Paddington on 800026 and 800003.
2001 London Paddington to London Victoria on the Circle Line.
2025 London Victoria to East Croydon on 387217 and 387105. A pair of GatEx 387s running a Southern service.
2049 East Croydon to Clapham Junction on 387219 and 387224.
2113 Clapham Junction to East Croydon on 377135 and 377107.

Saturday 17th November
0624 East Croydon to London Bridge on 387221, 387105 and 387223. More GatEx 387s on a Southern service, on a day of no GatEx services.
0701 London Bridge to Peckham Rye on 455804 and 455836.
0740 Peckham Rye to London Victoria of 465005, 466022 and 466037.
0845 London Victoria to Grain (Old Station Site), hauled by 66151. Part of the Return of the Short Haired Bumblebee railtour. Ran via Nunhead, Charlton and Gravesend.
1115 Grain to Dungness (touching the gates of the Nuclear Waste terminal), hauled by 66177. Ran via Dartford, the Lee Spur, the Chislehurst Reversible, Tonbridge and Ashford International.
1526 Dungeness to London Victoria, hauled by 66151. Ran via Ashford International, Maidstone East, Beckenham Junction and Lewisham.
1851 London Victoria to East Croydon on 377117, 377460 and 377147. Due to engineering works between East Croydon and Balham, the train was diverted from Balham via Crystal Palace.

Sunday 18th November
0710 East Croydon to London Bridge on 700130.
0749 London Fenchurch Street to Barking on 357319. My first time ever using Fenchurch Street, what a bizarre terminus. Every time I have done the C2C network, I have boarded a train at Limehouse instead of Fenchurch Street.
0810 Barking to Shoeburyness on 357202 and 357023.
0940 Shoeburyness to Southend Central on 357211 and 357015.
1006 Southend Central to Upminster on 357210. Ran via Grays and Ockenden.
1127 Upminster to Grays on 357207.
1200 Grays to Barking on 357315. Ran via Purfleet.
1238 Barking to Gospel Oak on 172001.
1319 Gospel Oak to Willesden Junction High Level on 378204.
1352 Willesden Junction to London Euston on 378226.
1657 London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on 390050. A return in First Class where I had my "Afternoon Tea" snack box delivered to me, glad I had had some proper food at the Doric Arch beforehand. Still, when First Class was cheaper than Standard, I'm not going to complain!

Saturday 24th November
0655 Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe on 390049.
0802 Crewe to Stoke-on-Trent on 350115.
0833 Stoke-on-Trent to Derby on 153385.
0940 Derby to Nottingham on 170398.
1023 Nottingham to Peterborough on 158862. Due to the ECML being closed between Newark and Peterborough, these were diverted via Loughborough, Syston North Curve and Melton Mowbray.
1152 Peterborough to Leicester on 170397.
1305 Leicester to Derby on 222003.
1340 Derby to Nottingham on 170107.
1419 Nottingham to Lincoln Central on 158780.
1526 Lincoln Central to Nottingham on 158780.
1641 Nottingham to Derby on 170117 and 170112.
1742 Derby to Crewe on 153311.
1912 Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly on 390005.

Just the 2,850 miles this month!
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Kevo00
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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Woah that's a lot of train travelling!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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Some more travelling was done this month. As usual, trains with new track in Italics.

Saturday 1st December
0741 Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield on 158852 and 158854. Had been planning on getting TPEs 0719 service all the way through to Doncaster, however, this service was cancelled for what sounded like an AWS fault in the leading end following the reversal.
0852 Sheffield to Doncaster on 220020.
0925 Doncaster to Peterborough, powered by 43299 and 43295. Due to the East Coast Mainline being shut between Newark North Gate and Peterborough, these services were diverted via Lincoln Central and the Sleaford Avoider.
1212 Peterborough to Doncaster, hauled by 67028 to Newark North Gate, where 91105 was then allowed to propel the train further north. Due to the need to maintain a service to/from London from Retford and Newark, occasional trains were diesel hauled to Newark via Lincoln and Collingham, before returning to electric haulage for the run north via the usual ECML route.
1538 Doncaster to Peterborough, powered by 43317 and 43311, again diverted via Lincoln.
1812 Peterborough to Leeds, hauled by 67028 to Doncaster, from where 91128 was able to haul the train under electric power to Leeds.
2106 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 185111.

Monday 17th December
1639 Rochdale to Manchester Victoria on 142086 and 150204. A quick trip out to do some more 142 bashing!
1705 Manchester Victoria to Bolton on 142065 and 150225. My first time using the recently reinstated Platform 5 at Bolton.
1740 Bolton to Manchester Victoria on 142036 and 142013.
1904 Manchester Victoria to Rochdale on 150144. Due to an operational incident in the Smithy Bridge area, the 1804 I was originally meant to be catching was cancelled due to a lack of guard. Various later trains were either cancellled, or too dangerous to board due to overcrowding from the cancelled trains, so the 1904 was the first train I was able to get home! This was delayed by the 1837 departure being ahead on the same platform (I had been aboard this, until it was announced this service would be stopping at Dewsbury and Leeds only to make up time), and the 1837 eventually departed late, allowing my service to get away late, before we were then held up by the stopping train ahead.

Friday 21st December
1555 Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston on 390042. The xx55 departure to London runs via Crewe, so I was able to see the first of TPEs 397s that has been delivered there.
1815 London Euston to London Waterloo on the Northern Line.
1835 London Waterloo to Southampton Central on 444002 and 444038. My first journey on 444s, and being a fan of the other Desiro's, I was frustrated to find the 444s no where near that standard ride wise. They seem to pitch in a weird manner, which I would imagine is to do with the increased length of the carriage over the 350/450s, and it was starting to make me seasick!

Saturday 22nd December
0512 Southampton Central to Eastleigh on 450074 and 450110. Despite strike action by SWR on the Saturday, they were still running a somewhat decent service, which gave me a connection to my next train.
0607 Eastleigh to Bescot Up and Down Through Siding 2, hauled by 66077. This was part of Pathfinder Tours' Festive Frolic railtour, and on this section ran via Basingstoke, Reading West Curve, Didcot Parkway, Banbury, Birmingham International and Aston.
1058 Bescot Up and Down Through Siding 2 to Wolverhampton Steel Terminal (Road 9), hauled by 66075. This was part of Pathfinder Tours' Festive Frolic railtour. When originally advertised, the tour was meant to go into Dee Marsh Sidings, however, following a BLS organised charter train derailing there the previous month, a visit to the recently renovated Wolverhampton Steel Terminal was arranged instead. 56105 was hauled dead in tow on the rear.
1250 Wolverhampton Steel Terminal (Road 9) to Chester, hauled by 56105. This was part of Pathfinder Tours' Festive Frolic railtour, and on this section ran via Bescot Stadium, Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Wrexham General. 66075 remained on the rear, being hauled dead in tow.
1640 Chester to Dudley Run Round Sidings, hauled by 56105. This was part of Pathfinder Tours' Festive Frolic railtour, and on this section ran via Crewe's Up Chester Independent (into Basford Hall Yard from the Chester line), and Rugeley Town. At Dudley Run Round Sidings, we got as close to the end of the line as we dare (this being the old route through Wednesbury to Stourbridge), before dropping off the Class 56. The 66 was again hauled on the rear.
1909 Dudley Run Round Sidings to Eastleigh, hauled by 66075. This was part of Pathfinder Tours' Festive Frolic railtour, and this particular section was the main reason I booked onto the tour, running via Sutton Park, the Camp Hill Lines, the Lifford Curve (this was what drew me to the tour!), Birmingham New Street, Coventry, then the outbound routing back to Eastleigh.

Sunday 23rd December
0903 Southampton Central to Brockenhurst on 444016.
0929 Brockenhurst to Lymington Pier on 450543.
0944 Lymington Pier to Brockenhurst on 450543.
1017 Brockenhurst to Southampton Central on 444037 and 444038.
1056 Southampton Central to Romsey on a very clean looking 158959, running via Redbridge.
1135 Romsey to Eastleigh on 158887, running via Chandler's Ford.
1226 Eastleigh to Fareham on 444043.
1246 Fareham to Eastleigh on 444045.
1318 Eastleigh to Brockenhurst on 444015.
1417 Brockenhurst to Bournemouth on 444019 and 444044.
1540 Bournemouth to Manchester Piccadilly on 221121. The journey home that I'd been dreading, nearly 5 hours on a Voyager. Fortunately, as it was a 5-car set, there was a fair few spare seats most the way so there was room to spread out, although at £2.30 a cup, the tea was a bit on the steep side!

Saturday 29th December
0730 Manchester Piccadilly to Shrewsbury on 150255. This unit was the first train I traveled on this year, so I guess it's fitting that it was one of my last for the year also.
0900 Shrewsbury to Swansea on 150283, via the Heart of Wales Line. My lord that's a long drag of a route, at least the 150 meant there was plenty of spare seats until we got to Ammanford where the train started to fill up a bit.
1329 Swansea to Cardiff Central on 800014. This 800 was running slower than usual due to a technical fault, which seemed to be an engine failure, fortunately for GWR, due to works in Bristol, it only had to go as far as Newport.
1441 Cardiff Central to Cardiff Queen Street on 150229. A positioning move for some South Wales Pacer-bashing - I'm trying to travel on as many Pacer's as possible before they are withdrawn from use for scrapping at the end of 2019.
1451 Cardiff Queen Street to Grangetown on 142077.
1505 Grangetown to Penarth on 143625.
1517 Penarth to Cardiff Queen Street on 143625.
1540 Cardiff Queen Street to Radyr on 142069.
1604 Radyr to Cardiff Central on 142010. This service ran via Ninian Park.
1625 Cardiff Central to Cadoxton on 143608 and 143607.
1651 Cadoxton to Grangetown on 143614
1708 Grangetown to Cardiff Queen Street on 143604.
1730 Cardiff Queen Street to Cathays on 143607 and 143608.
1741 Cathays to Cardiff Bay on 142069. Due to works going on at Cardiff Central, one of the 3 Valley Lines platforms was unavailable, reducing capacity. To cope with this, one of the routes was diverted into Cardiff Bay, resulting in the bizarre ability to get a through train to Cardiff Bay, instead of the usual change at Cardiff Queen Street.
1754 Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Queen Street on 142069.
1806 Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Central on 142077.
1825 Cardiff Central to Newport on 800011.
1948 Newport to Shrewsbury on 175010.
2219 Shrewsbury to Manchester Piccadilly on 158841 and 158835.

2,132 miles in December concludes my travels for the year, and if you click on the Spoiler below, you can see a few stats for 2018 below.
[+] Spoiler
Total Mileage: 16,228 miles (not including Genoa Metro) - my target for the year was 12,000!
Number of different TOPS Classes traveled: 73
Highest Mileage Class for 2018: Class 390 (2,716 miles)
Most Mileage in one month: September (3,736 miles)

List of train types traveled on/hauled by
TOPS Classes: 20, 33, 37, 40, 43, 47, 50, 56, 57, 66, 67, 68, 73, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91, 92, 139, 142, 143, 144, 150, 153, 156, 158, 165, 166, 168, 170, 171, 172, 175, 180, 185, 220, 221, 222, 313, 314, 315, 317, 318, 319, 320, 323, 333, 334, 345, 350, 357, 365, 377, 378, 379, 380, 385, 387, 390, 395, 444, 450, 455, 458, 465, 466, 507, 508, 700, 707, 800, 802
A3 Pacific Steam Locomotive.
Tube: S-Stock, 1972 Stock, 1992 Stock, 1995 Stock (All London), Glasgow Subway stock.
Trams: M5000 (Manchester), Flexity 2 (Blackpool).
Non-UK: E464 Locomotive (Italy), Genoa Metro stock - both old and new (Italy), Barcelona Metro 9000 series (Spain), Prague Metro 81-71M (Czech Republic).

Map of routes traveled on in 2018 (low res to reduce file size).
2018 only travel map.png
(1.45 MiB) Not downloaded yet
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NoMorePacers
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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How do you get to travel by train so much? :P
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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Pretty sure its got something to do with working in the railway industry rofl!
Very much a retired regular poster..... If you can say that :mrgreen:
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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Nordic Dragon wrote:Pretty sure its got something to do with working in the railway industry rofl!
Only by the fact it pays my bills! No free travel from the company I work for unfortunately, but it's given me enough already!
NoMorePacers wrote:How do you get to travel by train so much? :P
I just get a load of cheapo tickets from my 16-25 railcard, and I'm fortunate enough to earn a decent wage and have fairly low bills!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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Pilot wrote:
NoMorePacers wrote:How do you get to travel by train so much? :P
I just get a load of cheapo tickets from my 16-25 railcard, and I'm fortunate enough to earn a decent wage and have fairly low bills!
Bit unlike me with a high wage and two house upkeeps to pay for!

Still got a 16-25 card though, until July. Looking to book a 1st class ticket to Wales for the end of Jan.
Very much a retired regular poster..... If you can say that :mrgreen:
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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So, I'm not expecting another rail trip this month (I'm skint as of right now, and pay day is still a little while off yet!). No Railtours this month, however, if I had to give this month a name, it'd be The Month of the Diverts. You'll see what I mean hopefully! As per normal, trains with new track are in italics.

Saturday 5th January
0705 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 220022. I was at Manchester a little bit earlier than planned, and saw a Voyager I'd never travelled on before, so hopped on that up to Stockport, from where I could still get my next train.
0728 Stockport to Doncaster on 185108. Relaxed journey on a 185 that I'd travelled on too many times before.
0853 Doncaster to London Kings Cross, pushed by 91116 as far as Peterborough, before 67003 (my highest mileage 67 as of now) was attached to the front, to haul us via the divert route of March, Cambridge, and Royston. This 2 hours divert between Peterborough and Kings Cross was taken at quite a sedate pace, with many bizarre moves happening compared to what was actually in the timetable, for example, a signaller letting a 7 minute early Kings Lynn - Kings Cross out in front of us at Ely, despite the fact it was due behind us. We were still on-time by Kings Cross though, so not a big problem really - remarkably, this day was also the day that LNER achieved 100% PPM! Here's the tweet from LNERs MD celebrating such
1227 London St Pancras International to Stratford International on 395002. With over an hour to kill between trains due to the reduced service, I decided to have a quick hop out on HS1.
1247 Stratford International to London St Pancras International on 395008. This train ended up about 10 minutes delayed, due to what we were told was a fault with the on-train signalling system. Where this train appeared to fail was on HS1 itself, and the signalling is in-cab, so not something you can really do without!
1346 London Kings Cross to Peterborough, powered by 43208 and 43206. Again, this service was diverted via Royston, Cambridge and March, taking the Flyover at Hitchin (I'm sure it made for a rather unusual sight). The HSTs were timed ever so slightly quicker than the drags, but even so, progress was slow as we were slotted in around the other WTT traffic.
1615 Peterborough to Doncaster, hauled by 91119. The Celebrity Class 91 was found doing Leeds to Peterborough's all day, and given my last train wasn't stopping at Doncaster, it was an ideal excuse to get a look at this locomotive, which I must say looks incredibly smart (although there are already a fair few scratches and bashes to the paint job!).
1735 Doncaster to Sheffield on 153358 and 158793, via Rotherham Central and Meadowhall. The last Northern service of the day on this route as it was a strike day. This was the first time I'd been on a Northern train on a Saturday since September.
1837 Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly on 158862 and 158799. A nice pair of East Midlands 158s on the return to Manchester.

Thursday 10th January
1015 Manchester Piccadilly to Milton Keynes Central on 390134.

Friday 11th January
1247 Milton Keynes Central to London Euston on 390119. With my meeting having finished around 1200, I quickly headed towards London so as to miss the evening peak heading out towards Anglia, where I was spending the weekend.
1332 Euston Square to London Liverpool Street on the Metropolitan Line.
1400 London Liverpool Street to Colchester, pushed by 90005. My first time beyond Gidea Park on the GEML, and always nice to get locomotives + Mk 3 carriages in.
1523 Colchester to Ipswich, pushed by 90012.
1608 Ipswich to Norwich, pushed by 90011. On the way to Norwich, given the fact I was earlier, I decided to hop the 90s, in order to get as many in for haulage as possible.
1736 Norwich to Great Yarmouth on 170273, running via Acle. This service is usually run by DRS Class 37s and Mark 2 coaches, but had been substituted for a 170 on the day.
1817 Great Yarmouth to Norwich on 170273. Again running via Acle, as the route via Berney Arms is currently closed due to ongoing engineering works.

Saturday 12th January
0715 Norwich to Sheringham on 156412.
0822 Sheringham to Norwich on 156412. A quick out and back to Norwich in order to get the line in.
1005 Norwich to Lowestoft on 153306 and 153309. A confusing operation of splitting and joining trains, and platform alterations occured at Norwich before it was eventually established the pair of 153s that had just been coupled together were the Lowestoft train.
1107 Lowestoft to Ipswich on 170208. When people who use the line regularly refer to a 3-car 170 as "a long train", it doesn't fill me with confidence as to what the usual service is!
1258 Ipswich to Felixstowe on 153335.
1328 Felixstowe to Ipswich on 153335. I hadn't checked the football fixtures for the weekend thinking "it'll be fine", oh boy was I wrong! This little 153 was very, very full.
1420 Ipswich to Cambridge on 170204.
1554 Cambridge to Cambridge North on 379005.
1613 Cambridge North to Norwich on 170205.

On arrival back at Norwich, I had intended to get the Saturday loco-hauled trains if they had been running, however, on arrival at Norwich, I was disappointed to find a Class 170 waiting to do the service instead, so I went to my hotel and grabbed some food.

Sunday 13th January
0900 Norwich to Ipswich, hauled by 90010. Due to engineering works between Shenfield and London, these trains were terminating at Shenfield, with passengers for London advised to get off at Ingatestone, from where there was a replacement bus service to Newbury Park Tube Station on the Central Line, which would then take them to Stratford and London. Because of this, most people seemed to have not bothered to travel, and the trains were rather quiet.
0955 Ipswich to Ely on 170272. A very busy 2-car Class 170, which seemed to be full of people moving house!
1057 Ely to Cambridge on 387113.
1127 Cambridge to Cambridge North on 379020.
1154 Cambridge North to Norwich on 170202.
1400 Norwich to Ipswich, hauled by 90002.
1502 Ipswich to Cambridge on 170203.
1627 Cambridge to Cambridge North on 379013.
1644 Cambridge North to Cambridge on 379013. Having travelled on the GA service up to Cambridge North a couple of times over the weekend, I can only feel that the main purpose of these moves is to get the units out the way of Cambridge station, there was no more than 4 people (myself included) on each run.
1722 Cambridge to London Kings Cross on 387121 and 387109. A very busy express train between Cambridge and London, most likely made even busier by the lack of Greater Anglia trains into London Liverpool Street from Cambridge too.
1908 London Euston to Milton Keynes Central on 221101. The repainted Voyager, being in the plain White and Red livery that is now common on the Pendolino's. I was hoping the unit had had an interior refurbishment as well, but it wasn't to be.
1951 Milton Keynes Central to Manchester Piccadilly on 390042.

Saturday 19th January
0705 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 220010. I'm obviously not well, as I'm voluntarily getting on Voyagers at the moment!
0740 Stockport to Crewe on 175115.
0822 Crewe to London Euston on 390046. This set was only 4 minutes earlier than the train I was planning to get from Crewe (which was the 0755 ex-Manchester Piccadilly), however, turned out to work perfectly for me.
1005 London Euston to London Waterloo on the Northern Line. Only 1 minute after our booked arrival at Euston, I was on the tube, thankfully we'd arrived a minute or so early!
1020 London Waterloo to Baskingstoke on 159015 and 159008. Getting the train 4 minutes earlier from Crewe allowed me to make this connection, which I would have no doubt just missed had I gotten on the later train.
1111 Basingstoke to Southampton Central on 221120. This train was the 0728 from Manchester, which my train from Stockport was the 0730 from Manchester, meaning I'd gone the longer route via Crewe and London 2 minutes quicker than the more direct train had! The reason I'd wanted to get on yet another Voyager is due to engineering works between Eastleigh and St Denys, which was forcing the CrossCountry service to divert via Andover, the Laverstock Curve, Romsey and Redbridge.
1226 Southampton Central to Havant on 377425. Now being over an hour earlier than I'd originally planned, I decided I'd unit hop on the way back into London.
1338 Havant to Woking on 444017 and 444022. This was a diverted Weymouth to Waterloo service, being diverted via Fareham, Havant and Guildford, with additional passenger calls at each.
1429 Woking to Clapham Junction on 450112 and 450560. I'd decided en-route to Woking that the next train I wanted onto was a pair of Class 450s. On arrival at Woking, I was looking at the departure board to see when the next one's were likely to be, before hearing some arrive on the platform behind the train I'd just gotten off. A quick sprint over the bridge allowed me to get on them just 2 minutes after arriving.
1521 Clapham Junction to London Waterloo on 456007, 5732 and 5736. The next move I'd decided to do was a 456/455 combination, however, ever train through Clapham when I arrived seemed to be single 455s. Eventually, after letting about 7 455s go, a 456/455 combination arrived to take me into Waterloo.
1538 London Waterloo to London Euston on the Northern Line.
1613 London Euston to Milton Keynes Central on 350108 and 350114. We made use of the 350s 110mph capabilities on the fast lines before slowing for the crossover to the slow lines at Ledburn Jn, slotting in a 6 minute gap between two Southbound Expresses operated by Pendolino's.
1713 Milton Keynes Central to Crewe on 390001, running via Birmingham New Street. This Pendolino was the second one of the day that I'd never travelled on before, a rarity for me to get two in day!
1930 Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly on 175010.

Sunday 20th January
0825 Manchester Victoria to Leeds on 185151. New track?! Between Manchester and Leeds?! For me?! What is this witchcraft! Having thought I'd done all routes between Manchester and Leeds that were possible on a passenger train, Transpennine Express and Network Rail go and throw a curve ball in. With both the Calder Valley and the route through Ashton-under-Lyne blocked to allow engineering works, TPE were not deterred, making use of their usually ECS only route knowledge in order to divert the train via the non-passenger route between Philips Park West Jn and Ashburys West Jn, running around the back of TPEs Ardwick Depot. From Ashburys West Jn, we ran via Guide Bridge to Stalybridge, before picking up the usual route from there.
0940 Leeds to Wakefield Westgate, pushed by 91109.
1001 Wakefield Westgate to Leeds on 322483. Remarkably, my first ever Class 322 journey.
1045 Leeds to Wakefield Westgate, powered by 43075 and 43061. The East Midlands Trains HST power cars running with an LNER Mk3 set (on an LNER service to London Kings Cross).
1110 Wakefield Westgate to Leeds, hauled by 91112. This service was slightly interesting, having only started at Stevenage instead of the usual Kings Cross, I was hoping for a 90 to be on it with such being the case, but unfortunately not.
1148 Leeds to Wakefield Westgate on 142089. A 142 I hadn't travelled on since 2007!
1224 Wakefield Westgate to Sheffield, powered by 43301 and 43378. Due to engineering works taking place between Meadowhall and Sheffield, all services into Sheffield from the East were either terminating early, or diverted via Rotherham Central and Tinsley, a usually freight only line that doesn't see a lot of freight anymore! In order to send through as many trains as possible on the single line, trains were being sent through in batches of 3 in each direction. At Moorthorpe, we had also overtaken the 142 I'd just gotten off at Wakefield.
1333 Sheffield to Wakefield Westgate on 142089 (again), running via the divert route described above.
1438 Wakefield Westgate to Leeds on 43367 and 43309.
1516 Leeds to Castleford on 144022.
1542 Castleford to Leeds on 142040.
1622 Leeds to Keighley on 158870. A Scotrail liveried Class 158 was doing the Settle and Carlisle service from Barnsley all the way to Carlisle. The unit seemed to be missing a table in the carriage I was in, but no doubt it'll be going for a refurbishment soon.
1656 Keighley to Shipley (Platform 5) on 333012. The last side of the triangle at Shipley that I hadn't travelled on, I still need to complete it by going from Shipley Platform 5 over the junction towards Bradford.
1716 Shipley (Platform 1) to Leeds on 144010.
1749 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 185117, taking the usual route back to Manchester Victoria via Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Ashton-under-Lyne, which had reopened during the day.

All in all, a decent month for travel, with a lot of new track and a fair amount of unusual pieces of track. A total of 2,500 miles have been travelled this month, which is already over 10% of the way to my target of 24,000 miles for the year.
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Pilot »

So, the month isn't over, but I've already done a lot of travel, and I also did a bit more in January too. Two railtours were done this month, as well as a Freedom of the South West 8 in 15 rover ticket (£98 for 8 days of travel with my Railcard, not going to complain at that pricing!). Anyways, down to business, as usual, services with new track are in italics.

Expect: Wall of Text
Do not Expect: Any sense from my travels whatsoever.

Saturday 26th January - West Midlands Day Ranger
0655 Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe on 390044.
0749 Crewe to Stafford on 350117.
0825 Stafford to Wolverhampton on 220011. It seems this year I'm trying to tick off as many Voyagers as possible, just a shame they're awful trains.
0845 Wolverhampton to Sandwell and Dudley on 221112.
0904 Sandwell and Dudley to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 323215.
0912 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Stourbridge Junction on 172333. This unit was running in a hybrid formation, with one of it's driving cars replaced with a driving car from 172338.
0937 Stourbridge Junction to Cradley Heath on 172219.
0945 Cradley Heath to Stourbridge Junction on 172337. A quick hop to Cradley Heath and back to kill some time.
0959 Stourbridge Junction to Kidderminster on 172222.
1018 Kidderminster to Worcester Shrub Hill on 172214.
1043 Worcester Shrub Hill to Great Malvern on 800027. My first 800 journey of the year, but definitely not the last!
1110 Great Malvern to Bromsgrove on 172220 and 172211. A weird sight seeing a pair of 172s on a Birmingham New Street service, these units normally being kept to the Snow Hill lines.
1151 Bromsgrove to Longbridge on 323218.
1212 Longbridge to Kings Norton on 323204.
1227 Kings Norton to University on 323207. A little bit of 323 hopping.
1239 University to Birmingham New Street on 170398.
1252 Birmingham New Street to Nuneaton on 170117.
1336 Nuneaton to Rugby on 350105.
1417 Rugby to Coventry on 350104.
1442 Coventry to Birmingham International on 221143 and 221103. The toilet on these seemed to be doing the usual Voyager trick by being broken and absolutely stinking.
1505 Birmingham International to Birmingham New Street on 350375.
1525 Birmingham New Street to Lichfield Trent Valley on 323211. A line that I hadn't done in nearly 10 years was revisited.
1613 Lichfield Trent Valley to Tamworth on 350107.
1633 Tamworth to Birmingham New Street on 170110.
1705 Birmingham New Street to Sandwell and Dudley on 170632.
1724 Sandwell and Dudley to Wolverhampton on 221112 and 221110.
1754 Wolverhampton to Stafford on 350265.
1844 Stafford to Kidsgrove on 350120.
1921 Kidsgrove to Longport on 153372.
1938 Longport to Crewe on 153383 and 153302.
2030 Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly on 175104. Whilst waiting for this train on Platform 6 (it's booked platform), the train beforehand was waiting there due to Police incident involving the train. Eventually the person in question had to be tasered by the Police, and my train was moved over to Platform 5.

This added a further 362 miles to my January total.

Monday 4th February
0931 Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe on 175009.
1019 Crewe to Birmingham New Street on 350255. When going to Birmingham (in this case for a meeting), I avoid CrossCountry. The chances of getting a seat are generally rather slim on the direct Manchester to Birmingham trains.
1525 Birmingham New Street on 158823 and 158827. Decided to unit hop on my way back from my meeting.
1549 Wolverhampton to Stafford on 220005.
1636 Stafford to Crewe on 350254.
1716 Crewe to Wilmslow on 319363.
1727 Wilmslow to Manchester Piccadilly on 390046. This train had been due to depart Crewe before the train I got to Wilmslow, however, due to a track fault further south, all these trains were running 20 minutes late due to being diverted via Northampton, so I was able to make this connection.

Friday 8th February
0629 Manchester Piccadilly to Shrewsbury on 175003. This train, oddly, departed from Platform 13 from Piccadilly, with the ECS coming from Crewe, through P14, before reversing at Manchester Oxford Road and coming back.
0810 Shrewsbury to Cardiff Central, propelled by 67016. The Transport for Wales "Premier" or "WAG" service from Holyhead to Cardiff, stopping only at Hereford and Newport after I boarded. Surprised how quiet this train was really.
1018 Cardiff Central to Llanharan on 150229.
1049 Llanharan to Cardiff Central on 158831. This train is booked to run via the Leckwith Loop, however, due being delayed, it was diverted directly into Cardiff Central.
1126 Cardiff Central to Newport on 800018 and 800026. A quick hop back to Newport to drop the bags off at my hotel, having paid the extra for early check-in.
1227 Newport to Cardiff Central on 158956.
1251 Cardiff Central to Cardiff Queen Street on 143624.
1305 Cardiff Queen Street to Llanishen on 143622. The last two 143s I ever needed to see in the space of the two journey's! Certainly a decent start.
1316 Llanishen to Cardiff Central on 142080 and 142081.
1336 Cardiff Central to Radyr on 143624, running via Ninian Park.
1356 Radyr to Pontypridd on 143604.
1418 Pontypridd to Cardiff Queen Street on 150282 and 143606, running via Cathays.
1455 Cardiff Queen Street to Coryton on 153327.
1515 Coryton to Cardiff Queen Street on 153327.
1536 Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Bay on 153362.
1542 Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Queen Street on 153362.
1556 Cardiff Queen Street to Grangetown on 150240 and 142082. 142082 was, however, dropped off at Cardiff Central.
1619 Grangetown to Cardiff Queen Street on 142085.
1641 Cardiff Queen Street to Penarth on 150262 and 142074.
1702 Penarth to Grangetown on 142074 and 150262.
1714 Grangetown to Cogan on 142076 and 142069.
1700 Cogan to Cardiff Central on 143604. Due to delays on the Barry Line, I was able to pick up a train that should have left Cogan 2 minutes before I left Penarth.
1745 Cardiff Central to Cardiff Queen Street on 150279.
1751 Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Central on 150258.
1806 Cardiff Central to Bridgend on 142006. The last 142 I needed for sight, and also, the last Pacer I ever needed to see.
1940 Bridgend to Cardiff Central on 175011.
2006 Cardiff Central to Cardiff Queen Street on 143622.
2016 Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Central on 142072. This was the last operational 142 that my stepfather needed to travel on, however, 2 days later, Transport for Wales reactivated 142073, which had been used for spare parts previously, much to his annoyance.
2026 Cardiff Central to Newport on 800316.

Saturday 9th February - The Blue Boys Loco Fest railtour
0545 Newport to Chaddesden Sidings Road 2, hauled by 68007. Ran via the Severn Tunnel, Cheltenham Spa, Bromsgrove, Selly Oak, Tamworth and Derby station. We were held for 30 minutes outside Cam & Dursley station, due to a tree fouling the line, however, after being allowed through, we were able to make the time back, as trains that we were meant to be looped for were also stuck, so we were back on time by Bromsgrove.
1040 Chaddesden Sidings Road 2 to Blackburn, hauled by 37218 and 37402, with 68007 dead in tow on the rear. Ran via Uttoxeter, Macclesfield, Denton, the Brewery Curve and the Todmorden Curve. The main draw for me on this tour was this section, running on freight only track in Manchester.
1620 Blackburn to Blackpool North, hauled by 57307, with 88003 hauled dead in tow on the rear. This section was originally meant to be hauled by a DRS Class 66, however, was replaced at late notice by the 57 due to the 66 being needed for engineering works.
1752 Blackpool North to Crewe, hauled by 88003, with 57307 hauled dead on the rear.
2012 Crewe to Newport, hauled by 57002. Ran via Wolverhampton, Birmingham New Street, the Camp Hill Lines, Bromsgrove, Cheltenham Spa and the Severn Tunnel.

Sunday 10th February
0823 Newport to Bristol Temple Meads on 800319, ran via a reversal at Bristol Parkway, due to the line through Swindon being closed.
0920 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Shrub Hill on 150238. I went all the way to Worcester for the little link between the mainline to Birmingham and the Cotswold Line.
1138 Worcester Shrub Hill to Cheltenham Spa on 150238.
1210 Cheltenham Spa to Bristol Temple Meads, powered by 43303 and 43301. A lovely CrossCountry HST.
1310 Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury on 166205.
1419 Westbury to Yeovil Junction on 159008 and 158890. Due to the direct route between Yeovil Junction and Salisbury being closed for engineering works, these services were being diverted via Westbury and Castle Cary.
1512 Yeovil Junction to Westbury on 159005 and 159018.
1604 Westbury to Bristol Temple Meads on 166209.
1653 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach on 166211. One of only two return trains to Severn Beach that run on a Sunday. Had a heavy brake application outside of Clifton Down, with a long blast of the horn, which, upon asking the driver afterwards, appeared to be caused by kids playing on tracks.
1742 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads on 166211.
1848 Bristol Temple Meads to Newport on 166205. Ran via the direct route to South Wales.
1934 Newport to Ebbw Vale Town on 150280. Due to the mainline into Cardiff being blocked for engineering works, these trains were running to/from Newport via the "Gaer Single", a rarely used piece of track.
2030 Ebbw Vale Town to Newport on 150280.

Monday 11th February
0910 Newport to Bristol Parkway on 800008 and 800019.
0941 Bristol Parkway to Bristol Temple Meads on 166218.
1045 Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter St Davids, powered by 43384 and 43303. My initial plan had been to try and get the line through Melksham in, however, due to a signalling failure, all trains that would have connected me to the service were being held at Bristol until it was resolved, so I headed South instead - the joys of a rover ticket and the flexibility it gives!
1208 Exeter St Davids to Newton Abbot on 802021 and 802008.
1240 Newton Abbot to Paignton on 153329 and 153325.
1308 Paignton to Newton Abbot on 153325 and 153329.
1335 Newton Abbot to Exeter St Davids, powered by 43098 and 43092.
1427 Exeter St Davids to Barnstaple on 143611 and 143603.
1543 Barnstaple to Exeter St Davids on 143603 and 143611.
1702 Exeter St Davids to Taunton on 802005 and 802010.
1750 Taunton to Bristol Temple Meads, powered by 43285 and 43304.
1830 Bristol Temple Meads to Chippenham on 800007 and 800021.
1906 Chippenham to Salisbury on 158954, running via Melksham, having returned to get the line missed earlier in the day.
2140 Salisbury to Westbury on 150248 and 150265.
2226 Westbury to Exeter St Davids on 43009 and 43029.

Tuesday 12th February
0844 Exeter St Davids to Penzance on 802020 and 802019. My first "long-distance" journey on a pair of 802s, with them running on diesel all the way. The trains were bearable, the seats are still problematic, but hopefully this will be resolved soon.
1141 Penzance to St Erth on 150265.
1218 St Erth to St Ives on 150221.
1233 St Ives to St Erth on 150221.
1306 St Erth to Truro on 43186 and 43187. This is the first of GWRs short-formed HSTs with sliding doors in place of the old slam doors. My only complaint with them is the fact they have kept the high-density seating layout. I would have preferred more tables personally!
1351 Truro to Falmouth Docks on 150216
1420 Falmouth Docks to Penryn on 150216.
1434 Penryn to Falmouth Docks on 150247. Due to my next train from Truro not being due for a while, I decided to get the second unit on the Falmouth branch.
1450 Falmouth Docks to Truro on 150247.
1528 Truro to Liskeard on 150238. A very busy service, which the 2-car 150 was a little too small for.
1641 Liskeard to Looe on 150239. This service reversed at the Ground Frame, instead of going all the way to Coombe Junction Halt.
1715 Looe to Liskeard on 150239. Again, this service reversed at the Ground Frame, instead of going all the way to Coombe Junction Halt.
1916 Liskeard to Taunton on 802005 and 802001.
2128 Taunton to Bath Spa on 800004 and 800028, running via Weston-super-Mare.
2305 Bath Spa to Bristol Temple Meads on 165118.
2342 Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter St Davids on 800311. Due to engineering works on the direct line between Bristol and Taunton, this service was diverted via Bath Spa, Westbury and Castle Cary. Whilst waiting for this train, there was a little bit of confusion, as the platform this train was due to depart from was occupied, and the train disappeared from all Passenger and Staff information screens. Fortunately it rolled in on-time, on a different platform, and ran as scheduled.

Wednesday 13th February
0926 Exeter St Davids to Plymouth, powered by 43187 and 43186. The GWR short-formed set again.
1054 Plymouth to Gunnislake on 150247.
1145 Gunnislake to Plymouth on 150247.
1243 Plymouth to St Austell on 150239. Another overcrowded 2-car Class 150.
1352 St Austell to Par on 43186 and 43187.
1407 Par to Newquay on 150232.
1501 Newquay to Par on 150232.
1552 Par to Plymouth on 150239.
1657 Plymouth to Newton Abbot, powered by 43153 and 43161.
1744 Newton Abbot to Teignmouth on 150233 and 150238.
1907 Teignmouth to Newton Abbot on 143621 and 143603.
1925 Newton Abbot to Exeter St Davids on 158957.
2020 Exeter St Davids to Paignton, powered by 43079 and 43078. This service was a full, 8-car long HST having come from London Paddington, calling at all stations between Exeter St Davids and Paignton. It was rather bizarre being on a HST stopping at places like Exeter St Thomas and Dawlish Warren.
2135 Paignton to Newton Abbot, powered by 43078 and 43079. This HST returned as far as Newton Abbot in Passenger service, running as a stopping service. As the Guard was sick of running up and down the train shutting all the doors following the previous service, she locked all except on carriage out of use, leaving First Class carriage L as the only one available for passengers.
2206 Newton Abbot to Exeter St Davids on 150002 and 150247.

Thursday 14th February
0815 Exeter St Davids to Exeter Central on 150239 and 150246. A quick hop up the hill.
0827 Exeter Central to Salisbury on 159011 and 158890. When we stopped at Feniton, only 3 carriages of this 5-car train fit on the platform, with the rear two carriages, including the one I was sat in, being stopped over the Level Crossing.
1032 Salisbury to Southampton Central on 166205.
1124 Southampton Central to Weymouth on 444017.
1310 Weymouth to Filton Abbey Wood on 166217, running via Yeovil Pen Mill, Frome, Westbury, Bath Spa and a reversal at Bristol Temple Meads. This train ended up being 10 minutes late, due to a door interlock fault following our stop at Maiden Newton. Fortunately, they were able to resolve it, however, this put me very tight on my next connection.
1558 Filton Abbey Wood to Keynsham on 166213, running via the Rhubarb Curve, avoiding Bristol Temple Meads. This was the connection I had been going for, a once a day train that avoids Bristol Temple Meads.
1619 Keynsham to Bristol Parkway on 166221, running via a reversal at Bristol TM.
1703 Bristol Parkway to Swindon on 800028 and 800024.
1830 Swindon to Taunton on 800034 and 800018, running via Bath Spa, Bristol TM and Weston-super-Mare
2045 Taunton to Exeter St Davids on 43079 and 43078. I would have waited for the next HST, however, a quick check of a certain computer system on my previous train showed that it had a pair of power cars I needed even less on it.

Friday 15th February - Day One of the Here, There and Everywhere Trains - Again railtour
0815 Exeter St Davids to Exeter Central on 150247 and 150207. 150207 was a former Northern Unit, and it was weird boarding a train with a GWR paint job, yet Northern interior seating.
0827 Exeter Central to Salisbury on 159006 and 158885.
1032 Salisbury to Portsmouth and Southsea on 150001.
1150 Portsmouth and Southsea to Fratton on 450081, 450082 and 450095.
1201 Fratton to Hilsea on 313206.
1212 Hilsea to Eastleigh on 450563.
1434 Eastleigh to Dawley Loop, powered by 37402 and 37409 (37402 leading). Ran via the Reading Feeder Lines to access the station. All journey's for the rest of this day, and all of Saturday, were powered by these two locomotives, to save me typing them again and again.
1628 Dawley Loop to Tilehurst, running via a Circuitous route via Acton Wells Jn, Willesden South West Sidings, Clapham Junction, Crystal Palace, Redhill and Guildford. We were delayed for a few minutes outside East Croydon due to an earlier incident still having a impact through a well known bottleneck on the network.
2025 Tilehurst to London Paddington, running across the Old Oak Common Flyover into Paddington.
2233 London Paddington to Heathrow Express Traincare Road T4 - the lovely folks at Heathrow Express allowed the train access to their site, and even watered the train for us. I believe this is the first instance of a train carrying passengers running into the site, and is also likely to be the last, as it is due to be closed soon to make way for High Speed 2.
2318 Heathrow Express Traincare Road T4 to Old Oak Common Engine Siding.
2344 Old Oak Common Engine Siding to Hayes and Harlington. This part of the schedule was meant to take us up to Heathrow Tunnel Jn, just before the start of the tunnels down to the airport itself, however, due to missing paperwork, we were instead rescheduled to go into the bay at Hayes and Harlington.

Saturday 16th February - Day Two of the Here, There and Everywhere Trains - Again railtour
0039 Hayes & Harlington to Brentford Goods, a slow trundle down the freight-only Brentford Branch.
0125 Brentford Goods to Maidenhead Reversing Siding
0220 Maidenhead Reversing Siding to Maidenhead.
0232 Maidenhead to Maidenhead Carriage Siding No. 3
0244 Maidenhead Carriage Siding No.3 to Maidenhead.
0251 Maidenhead to Bourne End.
0323 Bourne End to Maidenhead.
0358 Maidenhead to Henley-on-Thames, taking in the mainline link to the Henley branch at Twyford.
0442 Henley-on-Thames to Slough.
0544 Slough to Windsor and Eton Central, again taking in the mainline link to the Windsor branch at Slough.
0602 Windsor and Eton Central to London Paddington. Due to the timings we were running to having a lot of slack in them, we left Windsor roughly 60 minutes early, and were around 75 minutes early arriving back into Paddington.
0820 London Paddington to Hanwell Bridge Goods Loop. After an extended break at Paddington, which included a trip to the McDonald's and a picture of a Kettle, we were back underway.
0852 Hanwell Bridge Goods Loop to Sheerness-on-Sea, running via Acton Wells Jn, Willesden South West Sidings, Longhedge Jn, Lewisham, Woolwich (diverted from our booked route via Barnehurst due to a landslip), Dartford, Rochester and the Sittingbourne Western Curve.
1200 Sheerness-on-Sea to Ashford International, running via Faversham, Ramsgate and Margate.
1427 Ashford International to South Croydon, running via Hastings, Tonbridge and Redhill. When originally advertised, the tour was meant to continue along the South Coast, taking in Eastbourne, Brighton and Littlehampton, however, due to engineering works on the Brighton Main Line, we would not have been able to get between the two routes at Brighton, so an alternative was thought up instead.
1709 South Croydon to Caterham.
1743 Caterham to South Croydon.
1809 South Croydon to Horsham, running via Redhill and Three Bridges.
1903 Horsham to Reading, running via Epsom, Mitcham Junction, Herne Hill, Longhedge Jn, Willesden South West Sidings and Acton Wells Jn. A nice end to a good, but tiring, 30+ hours on the railtour.

Sunday 17th February
0936 Reading to London Paddington on 800004 and 800015.
1015 London Paddington to Kings Cross St Pancras on the Circle Line.
1130 London St Pancras to Sheffield, powered by 43047 and 43059. Due to engineering works between Kettering and Leicester, this service was diverted via Corby, before running into Leicester from the north end, reversing, and continuing on the normal routing via Derby. I had intended to pay the £12.50 to do the weekend upgrade to First Class that East Midlands Trains do, however, when the guard came through, he had no functioning ticket machine, so unfortunately I had to take the upgrade for free! :mrgreen:
1543 Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly on 158856 and 158864.

A total of 4,229 miles travelled so far this month then! Poor showing I say :lol:
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Badger »

I don't think you get out enough.
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Pilot »

Badger wrote:I don't think you get out enough.
Certainly not! :P

Another month - this one is the Month of the Pacer! This month, I've travelled on twenty Class 142 units that I'd never travelled on before. I'll highlight these in bold, and as usual, services with new track are in italics.

Saturday 2nd March
0606 Rochdale to Todmorden on 158755 and 142079.
0629 Todmorden to Blackburn on 150215, via Burnley Manchester Road.
0718 Blackburn to Bolton on 153360 and 150205, via Darwen.
0755 Bolton to Salford Crescent on 185140 and 185129. The pair of TPE Class 185s that are loaned to Northern on a daily basis.
0814 Salford Crescent to Bolton on 156488 and 142037. Was hoping for a Class 319. as the line had just opened to electric traffic, however it wasn't to be in this case!
0840 Bolton to Wigan North Western on 142090 and 142049. First time getting a direct train from Bolton to Wigan North Western, following their regular introduction in the May 18 timetable change.
0906 Wigan North Western to Preston on 319375.
0928 Preston to Lancaster on 156448. One of the Windermere bound trains, incredibly busy, so hopefully Northern have a plan for capacity on these, as I've heard the 769s won't be doing it anymore.
0958 Lancaster to Preston on 221104.
1029 Preston to Wigan North Western on 319375.
1112 Wigan North Western to Preston on 390020.
1141 Preston to Lancaster on 390128.
1214 Lancaster to Morecambe on 144010.
1232 Morecambe to Lancaster on 144010.
1249 Lancaster to Heysham Port on 142027, reversing at Morecambe.
1320 Heysham Port to Lancaster on 142027. again reversing at Morecambe. I was travelling with my step-father, who hadn't been on the Heysham line.
1446 Lancaster to Carnforth on 144018, running via a reversal at Morecambe and the Hest Bank curve. Again, the Hest Bank curve was some track my step-father needed.
1548 Carnforth to Preston on 185140.
1626 Preston to Ormskirk on 150133.
1704 Ormskirk to Moorfields on 508127.
1736 Moorfields to Liverpool Lime Street on 508131.
1759 Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan North Western on 319371, running via Newton-le-Willows and the Lowton Curve. The Lowton Curve was another piece of track needed by my step-father, but not me!
1908 Wigan North Western to Bolton on 150111 and 142051.
1940 Bolton to Salford Crescent on 142037 and 156488.
1957 Salford Crescent to Rochdale on 150124 and 150140.

Thursday 7th March
1749 Manchester Piccadilly to New Mills Central on 142043 and 142053, running via Belle Vue.
1830 New Mills Central to Romiley on 142061.
1839 Romiley to Marple on 142055 and 142041.
1859 Marple to New Mills Central on 142033 and 142060.
1903 New Mills Central to Manchester Piccadilly on 150128, running via Belle Vue.

Saturday 9th March
0828 Rochdale to Manchester Victoria on 158903.
0855 Manchester Victoria to Salford Crescent on 150120.
0907 Salford Crescent to Manchester Oxford Road on 319368.
0918 Manchester Oxford Road to Bolton on 319369. Finally got a 319 to Bolton!
0940 Bolton to Wigan North Western on 150114.
1023 Wigan North Western to Manchester Oxford Road on 319377, running via the now normal route over Chat Moss.
1104 Manchester Oxford Road to Bolton on 156461 and 156459.
1209 Bolton to Salford Crescent on 142049 and 142025.
1233 Salford Crescent to Atherton on 150101 and 142025.
1238 Atherton to Salford Crescent on 142037 and 142042.
1318 Salford Crescent to Manchester Victoria on 150133 and 142048.
1341 Manchester Victoria to Salford Crescent on 150201.
1353 Salford Crescent to Manchester Victoria on 142014 on 156460.
1408 Manchester Victoria to Salford Crescent on 150122 and 153332.
1441 Salford Crescent to Bolton on 142045 and 142039.
1509 Bolton to Manchester Piccadilly on 156428.
1539 Manchester Piccadilly to Romiley on 142024, running via Guide Bridge.
1612 Romiley to Manchester Piccadilly on 142027, running via Belle Vue.
1653 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Oxford Road on 175114.
1704 Manchester Oxford Road to Bolton on 156461 and 156459.
1740 Bolton to Westhoughton on 156428.
1801 Westhoughton to Bolton on 142049 and 142025.
1826 Bolton to Horwich Parkway on 150123 and 142058.
1846 Horwich Parkway on Bolton on 156461 and 156459.
1910 Bolton to Salford Crescent on 150124.
1928 Salford Crescent to Rochdale on 156483 and 156488.

Sunday 10th March
0945 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 150211 and 150130.
1023 Stockport to Sheffield on 185144. This was my lowest mileage 185 before this journey, at 3.4 miles.
1131 Sheffield to Doncaster on 222004. The Saturday only East Midlands service to York that I forgot that ran. Certainly a step-up from a Voyager.
1237 Doncaster to London Kings Cross, pushed by 90019, running via the ECML to Stevenage, before taking the Hertford Loop as a diversion to allow for engineering works at Welwyn.
1515 London Kings Cross to Doncaster, powered by 43277 and 43319.
1721 Doncaster to Sheffield on 158796 and 158872.
1814 Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly on 150276, running via the Hope Valley, Romiley and Belle Vue.

Monday 11th March
1549 Rochdale to Leeds on 150138 and 142004, running via Brighouse and Dewsbury.
1753 Leeds to Weeton on 142022 and 142018.
1822 Weeton to Leeds on 153380 and 144018.
1920 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 150103 and 142049, running via the reversal at Bradford Interchange.

Friday 15th March
1832 Manchester Piccadilly to Marple on 142096 and 142014, running via Belle Vue.
1908 Marple to Manchester Piccadilly on 142046 and 142041, running via Belle Vue.
2018 Manchester Piccadilly to Bolton on 142032 and 142052.
2022 Bolton to Manchester Piccadilly on 156459 and 150214. This train was significantly late, by about 25 minutes IIRC, however allowed me to make a better connection to my bus.

Monday 18th March
1708 Rochdale to Littleborough on 153307 and 142087.
1725 Littleborough to Todmorden on 142026.
1739 Todmorden to Rochdale on 158754.

Wednesday 20th March
1549 Rochdale to Leeds on 142047 and 150141, running via Brighouse and Dewsbury.
1753 Leeds to Horsforth on 142067 and 142022.
1822 Horsforth to Leeds on 170461
1920 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 142050 and 150274, running via the reversal at Bradford Interchange.

Saturday 23rd March
0949 Rochdale to Manchester Victoria on 150211.
1008 Manchester Victoria to Bolton on 150268.
1052 Bolton to Preston on 142056 and 150275.
1157 Preston to Kirkham and Wesham on 142092.
1215 Kirkham and Wesham to Wigan North Western on 319367.
1250 Wigan North Western to Hindley on 150127.
1259 Hindley to Wigan Wallgate on 150102 and 142050.
1323 Wigan Wallgate to Kirkby on 150269. I went down to Kirkby as it's a line I knew I'd done before, however had no record of, having lost it in a house move.
1358 Kirkby to Moorfields on 507032.
1421 Moorfield to Liverpool Lime Street on 508125.
1437 Liverpool Lime Street to Preston on 319375. I like the fact the Blackpool trains run semi-fast between Liverpool and Wigan.
1544 Preston to Bolton on 150148 and 156496. 156496 is an ex-Scotrail unit that has recently arrived, and as such was still in full Scotrail colours.
1622 Bolton to Preston on 319386. Completing the wires on the recently electrified Bolton line.
1641 Preston to Lancaster on 390013, on a Pendolino I needed. This service actually started at Preston, being formed of a unit that had come from Scotland following an incident at Milton Keynes having cancelled the train that should have ran.
1729 Lancaster to Preston on 350409.
1806 Preston to Manchester Piccadilly on 319376, running Wigan NW and Chat Moss.

Monday 25th March
1534 Rochdale to Hebden Bridge on 158759.
1630 Hebden Bridge to Leeds on 156454 and 153328, running via Bradford Interchange.
1753 Leeds to Weeton on 142066 and 142095. The 1753 off Leeds is quite a useful one for me for picking off Pacers, as it pretty much always has a pair on it, which are going up to Heaton depot in Newcastle, hence why this move has popped up a few times this month.
1822 Weeton to Leeds on 144022.
1936 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 142068 and 153301, running via Bradford Interchange.

Saturday 30th March
1139 Rochdale to Manchester Victoria on 150126.

On arrival at Victoria, I saw the unit on a train I was hoping to get was not the 142 allocated in the system (142054, which I needed, was allocated, however 142095 was actually on it), so the whole point in my trip out was now to hunt down that particular unit, with a couple of other moves in between.

1205 Manchester Victoria to Bolton on 156482.
1255 Bolton to Salford Crescent on 156423 and 156460.
1311 Salford Crescent to Bolton on 319446.
1323 Bolton to Salford Crescent on 142034 and 150112.
1345 Salford Crescent to Wigan Wallgate on 142028, running via Atherton.
1441 Wigan Wallgate to Hindley on 142018.
1453 Hindley to Wigan North Western on 142091 and 142036.
1523 Wigan North Western to Manchester Piccadilly on 319384, running via Chat Moss.
1611 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 150145.
1626 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly on 158864 and 158857.
1647 Manchester Piccadilly to Wigan North Western on 319384 (again!)
1749 Wigan North Western to Salford Crescent on 142036 and 142091 (again!), running via Bolton.
1832 Salford Crescent to Salford Central on 153324 and 150209. My first time getting off a train at Salford Central, and I was surprised how low the platform was compared to the train. At this point, I was also starting to think about heading home, however decided to give my 142 one final chance to appear.
1852 Salford Central to Salford Crescent on 150142.
1857 Salford Crescent to Manchester Victoria on 142095 and 142054! I'd found it, and it was even paired with the unit that had replaced it earlier in the day. I had intended on taking this train all the way through to Rochdale, however, on arrival at Victoria, the two Units were split, with 142054 being put onto a Clitheroe train. I wanted a few more miles on the unit, so stayed with it.
1909 Manchester Victoria to Bolton on 142054.
1954 Bolton to Manchester Piccadilly on 185115, sat in the declassified First Class section.

Only 1,800 miles this month in a month that was less about the mileage and more about getting the units in. I'm now down to my last eight Northern Class 142s that I need to travel on before they are withdrawn later this year (assuming all goes to plan that is!), with just twelve required when including the Transport for Wales fleet. If only I knew someone at Northern who could move my required units onto services in the GM area. A day where I could get all 8 in quick succession would be lovely! :lol:
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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Whoa, that's a lot of nodding donkeys!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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A return to Leeds for work, which incorporated a stop at Gordon Hill on the return, allowing Stevenage-Gordon Hill on 313020 in its final days. That completes the loop for me in both directions, but more importantly allowed me to get some final 313 moves in... I might get a bit more in over the coming weeks but by end of May they’ll probably all have gone.

They were old and creaky, but with the right unit in the right hands they went like the proverbial off a shovel! I shall miss them pootling around the bottom half of the GN network.
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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Dave wrote:but more importantly allowed me to get some final 313 moves in...
Crank!

And good riddance to them! Wake me up when all the 717s are in!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Ameecher »

JamieLei wrote:
Dave wrote:but more importantly allowed me to get some final 313 moves in...
Crank!

And good riddance to them! Wake me up when all the 717s are in!
You came to Brum today behind a 68, I know you did.
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

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Well, another month is coming to an end, and this one is very much the month of the "what the f***" when it comes to various trips I have made. As usual, any journey's that include new routes for me will be listed in italics, and any winning Class 142s will be highlighted in bold.

Monday 1st April
1651 Rochdale to Leeds on 142091 and 142096, running via Brighouse and Dewsbury.
1830 Leeds to Castleford on 142020 and 144001. On arrival at Castleford, I had a 30 minute wait at the station for my next train, which very much seemed to be meeting point for all the town's more interesting characters. This guy and his girlfriend spent the entire time I was there making out - she was crying though, so it probably wasn't very good!
1918 Castleford to Knottingley on 142015.
1939 Knottingley to Leeds on 142015, running via Featherstone and Wakefield Westgate, which gives Knottingley a service to Leeds via two routes. I was the only person on this train from Wakefield Westgate.
2040 Leeds to Manchester Piccadilly on 185118, running via Dewsbury and Guide Bridge.

Saturday 6th April
1009 Rochdale to Manchester Victoria on 142033 and 142054. Normally the way my Pacer chasing goes - I go chasing one, then I end up getting on it a week later without intending to.
1037 Manchester Victoria to Wigan Wallgate on 150226 and 142055, running via Atherton.
1122 Wigan North Western to Manchester Piccadilly on 319378.
1215 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 390155.
1229 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly on 319376.
1255 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport on 175009. My first time, at least that I can remember, getting a TfW/ATW train to the Airport.
1319 Manchester Airport to Manchester Victoria on 185109. A nice slow drag through Manchester calling at Piccadilly and Oxford Road en route.
1350 Manchester Victoria to Bolton on 150122 and 142052.
1440 Bolton to Manchester Victoria on 319372.
1507 Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly on M5000 tram 3049.
1524 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 319372.
1551 Stockport to Cheadle Hulme on 142052 and 150122.
1600 Cheadle Hulme to Stockport on 150117.
1620 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly on 150132 and 150228.

Tuesday 9th April
1518 Rochdale to Todmorden on 142014 and 142034.
1544 Todmorden to Hebden Bridge on 158753.
1614 Hebden Bridge to Leeds on 142043 and 150146, running via Brighouse and Dewsbury.
1753 Leeds to Weeton on 142050 and 142084.
1822 Weeton to Leeds on 144020. This particular set had a minor fault with the door, which wasn't closing properly. Nothing a quick kick wouldn't fix though!
1920 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 156488 and 142070, running via the reversal at Bradford Interchange.

Friday 12th April
1549 Rochdale to Leeds on 150148 and 156425, running via Brighouse and Dewsbury.
1753 Leeds to Weeton on 142021 and 142024.
1822 Weeton to Leeds on 144011 and 144015.
1920 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 156488 and 142020, running via the reversal at Bradford Interchange.

Saturday 13th April
1038 Rochdale to Salford Crescent on 156424.
1111 Salford Crescent to Preston on 156465 and 156468. The leading unit (465) was another ex-Scotrail set, still in full First Scotrail colours.
1217 Preston to Wigan North Western on 390013.
1252 Wigan North Western to Liverpool Lime Street on 150132 and 150101. It's been a long time since I've seen a pair of Class 150s running on this particular route, as it is normally always Class 319s nowadays, so I had to do it!
1400 Liverpool Lime Street to Earlestown on 323232. My first time ever travelling on a 323 on Chat Moss, as some diagrams over the route are now covered by the class, particularly those that include a Warrington service in between.
1452 Earlestown to Lea Green on 319365.
1508 Lea Green to Manchester Victoria on 185110. I still find the fact TPE stop at Lea Green bizarre, however we did have a fair number of passengers board.
1537 Manchester Victoria to Wigan Wallgate on 142035 and 142052, running via Atherton.
1619 Wigan North Western to Preston on 156429. A lone 2-car Class 156 covering a service normally ran by a 4-car Class 319, so this train was quite busy. This connection between two stations was actually -2 minutes, however, due to this train's delay, I was able to make it.
1653 Preston to Kirkham and Wesham on 150224 and 142017. I had just bought a pint from the bar on Preston station, when I saw a North Eastern-based Class 142 (these are distinguishable by their higher seat backs compared to others) pull in on Platform 1, leaving in just 5 minutes. Knowing I still needed a handful of such sets, I quickly checked the carriage number from the 142, saw it was one I needed, and quickly necked my pint and ran over to catch the service - the doors weren't even unlocked by the time I go there!
1702 Kirkham and Wesham to Preston on 150214 and 150116. A connection I shouldn't have made, due to this being due to leave Kirkham as the one I got arrived, I was able to make it on this occasion as it was slightly late.
1848 Preston to Manchester Piccadilly on 350410.

Monday 15th April
1518 Rochdale to Todmorden on 142086 and 142042.
1544 Todmorden to Hebden Bridge on 158752.
1614 Hebden Bridge to Leeds on 142034 and 150274, running via Brighouse and Dewsbury.
1753 Leeds to Weeton on 142093. I normally avoid this service when only a lone set is booked onto it, as I know how busy it is. On this occasion, it was even booked to be a pair of units, however only one ever appeared, and I was already waiting for it at this point!
1822 Weeton to Leeds on 144009 and 144023.
1920 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 150145, running via the reversal at Bradford Interchange.

Thursday 18th April
1001 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Oxford Road on 319364.
1009 Manchester Oxford Road to Manchester Piccadilly on 156421 and 156429.
1105 Manchester Piccadilly to Birmingham New Street on 220005. I payed for a First Class ticket on this journey, my first time travelling in First Class on CrossCountry and on a Voyager - it wasn't as bad as I was expecting for sure! We arrived into Birmingham about 20 minutes late due to a suspected unattended bag at Macclesfield which also resulted on a Police Dog check at Stoke-on-Trent. Turns out it was a lass who had walked up to the front to enquire about a First Class upgrade and had timed it wrong with the Macclesfield stop. Poor woman ended up quite upset as a result of all the fuss she had caused.
1355 Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone, propelled by 68009, with a DVT leading. The Chiltern Mk3s are certainly quite a lovely way to travel when compared to the Pendolino's I would normally get to London.
2015 London Euston to Aberdeen, hauled by 92018 out to Wembley Euro Freight Operations Centre, 92028 to Edinburgh Waverley and then 73968 to Aberdeen. Due to various engineering works taking place on the West Coast Mainline, this particular service was diverted via the East Coast Mainline. As a result, we were hauled out to Wembley EFOC by one 92, which was then decoupled, we then used the second Class 92 (the one that had brought the stock into Euston) to go in the opposite direction, back towards Euston, before turning off at Camden Jn and running via the closed Primrose Hill station, Camden Road station and the North London Incline (although it was more a decline in our case!) in order to reach the ECML to go north. We stopped for about 10 minutes on quite a steep section of super elevation outside of Dunbar to wait for the signals to clear, before it was smooth running up to Aberdeen via the normal route through Kirkcaldy and over the Tay Bridge.

Friday 19th April
0851 Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street, powered by 43146 and 43136, running via Dundee, Perth and Stirling. I tried out Scotrail's First Class product on their HSTs, which is fairly basic, however may have been restricted due to it being a Classic Set. Worth noting if you want to do the same yourself, Scotrail First Class Advanced (as well as any LNER and XC Only) tickets aren't valid to gain access to the lounges! I was only able to get in with my Caledonian Sleeper ticket.
1130 Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh Waverley on 385027 and 385112, running via Falkirk High.
1258 Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Central on 156435, running via the recently electrified Shotts Line. The wiring on this route is so new that it is still in the testing phase.

After arriving at Glasgow, I had been intending on boarding the direct 1508 train to Manchester, however, this was partially cancelled due to a lack of train crew, and was instead starting down at Carlisle. When I first asked staff at Glasgow, they were suggesting we would be bussed down to Carlisle to get a later service, however, eventually, Virgin Trains stepped in and accepted TPE tickets on their next train instead, which worked out better for me, as their First Class product is superior to TPEs anyway! So, I continued homeward bound.

1600 Glasgow Central to Preston on 390040.
1847 Preston to Manchester Piccadilly on 350410. This service eventually deposited me in Manchester 73 minutes late - in particular, this train was around 10 minutes late, due to a fault where a significant portion of Overhead Wires in Manchester were tripped. We were stuck in Deansgate awaiting it to be switched back on, and fortunately were quickly back on the move. TPE have also accepted my Delay Repay claim for this which is a positive! All £40.55 for this journey being refunded to me.

Saturday 20th April
1511 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 150210 and 150118.
1539 Stockport to Preston on 390151, running via Bolton. Due to engineering works on the WCML over the Bank Holiday weekend blocking lines through Warrington, Virgin services heading north were diverted through Manchester and Bolton in order to reach Preston. I believe these were the first passenger uses of a Pendolino on the route operating under it's own power, as the line through Bolton has only been usable by Electric trains in Passenger services since fairly recently.
1658 Preston to Stockport on 390039, again running via Bolton. Officially, these trains were pick up only at Stockport, however there was nothing and no one stopping me (and some others) from getting off at Stockport.
1817 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly on 150136 and 150142.

Sunday 21st April
1022 Manchester Piccadilly to Liverpool Lime Street on 319384. Due to the various engineering works, there was a limited, 1tph (increasing to 2tph later in the day) service between Manchester and Liverpool. This, coupled with a football match between Everton and Manchester United in Liverpool lead to this train being extremely overcrowded. We had to stop people from boarding, and stopped at most stations for significantly longer than normal, causing us to arrive at Liverpool 20 minutes late, even after running non-stop from Huyton into Liverpool, instead of doing all stations as booked.
1212 Liverpool Lime Street to Crewe on 390115, running via Chat Moss, Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport. Another diverted Pendolino due to engineering works, this was also my third attempt to run non-stop through Piccadilly on the weekend, however, due to early running, we were held in Platform 13 briefly.
1357 Crewe to Chester on 158834.
1436 Chester to Manchester Piccadilly on 175003, running via Knutsford and Stockport. Again, due to engineering works, this was diverted to take the slower route usually only served by Northern stopping services. Whilst a diversion I had done before, it had certainly been a long time since I had done it!
1605 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 221131.
1618 Stockport to Crewe on 323224.
1731 Crewe to Liverpool South Parkway on 350370. This was the closest you could get to Liverpool coming on the usual route from Crewe, so people had to use Merseyrail to complete their journey's.
1809 Liverpool South Parkway to Moorfields on 507015 and 507011.
1831 Moorfields to Liverpool Lime Street on 508143.
1900 Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Piccadilly on 158773 and 158770, running via Chat Moss. Again, another diverted train, as these couldn't get to their usual route via Liverpool South Parkway. This was also my first ever journey on 158s on Chat Moss.

Friday 26th April
0559 Manchester Victoria to Leeds on 185151, running via Ashton-under-Lyne and Dewsbury.
0708 Leeds to Aberdeen, powered by 43300 and 43313, running via Micklefield, the ECML, Kirkcaldy and Arbroath. I decided to spend a full day on one LNER HST diagram before they are withdrawn, so booked a bunch of advanced first class tickets for the trip.
1452 Aberdeen to London Kings Cross, powered by 43313 and 43300, running via Arbroath, Kirkcaldy and the ECML. This train was fairly busy in First Class from Edinburgh, as it calls during the evening peak, but was still quiet enough to be able to spread out at least.
2333 London Kings Cross to Leeds, powered by 43300 and 43313, running via the ECML, Shaftholme Jn, Pontefract Monkhill, Featherstone, Normanton (running via the Calder Bridge - Turners Lane curve that avoids Wakefield Kirkgate) and Stourton Jn. The last LNER service off London, this takes a longer route on the northern portion of it's route to allow for route knowledge retention. Occasionally (in particular, Friday nights) this runs the direct route via Westgate, so I was quite fortunate that this ran booked route!

Saturday 27th April
0319 Leeds to Manchester Piccadilly on 185131, running via Engine Shed Jn (reverse), Leeds (reverse), Dewsbury and Huddersfield. Due to a freight train being routed ahead of us at Engine Shed Jn by the Automatic Signalling system, which would have delayed us by about 20 minutes, the signaller decided to reverse us, send us back into Leeds, and then send us via the direct route via Dewsbury (instead of via Wakefield Kirkgate) which was fortunately open on this occasion, as it is usually closed at night.
0511 Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe on 220017. This ran non-stop via Stockport, which is quite a rare thing to do.
0606 Crewe to Mossend Up Yard Reception 3, hauled by 88007 from Crewe to Carlisle Kingmoor, then 88002 from Kingmoor to Mossend Up Yard. This was the first part of the Branch Line Society's "Gourock Growler" railtour, running via the WCML to Law Jn, then running via Wishaw and Holytown round to Mossend Yard. Intially, the two Class 88s were meant to be working in Multiple, however, due a fault, they were not able to do so, and a plan was formulated in order to allow both to haul the train at some point, which involved removing the front one at Carlisle Kingmoor, and returning that to the depot. 68018 was hauled Dead on the rear.
1140 Mossend Up Yard Reception 3 to Gourock, hauled by 37038 and 37218, running via Sunnyside Jn, Glasgow Queen Street Low Level, Anniesland, Possilpark and Parkhouse, Springburn, the City Union and Paisley Gilmour Street. Due to various delays with the loco changes both at Kingmoor earlier in the day, and at Mossend, we were about 45 minutes late arriving into Gourock, and appeared to cause chaos with North Glasgow's suburban rail network, which included a Glasgow - Edinburgh express being held for us to get across at Cowlairs. 68018 was again hauled dead on the rear.
1450 Gourock to Shields Junction hauled by 68018. After our stop at Gourock had been greatly reduced, we were all ready for a departure at 1450. We first attempted to leave 3 minutes late at 1453, however, after the 68s first pull, we quickly realised there was a problem. It would seem as though the Class 37s, which were hauling with us, were not having their brakes released when we were trying to leave, which was problematic for us. We eventually managed to fix the problem, after having had to watch two units depart through red signals (as we had just passed our signal, all other departures had to be SPAD'ed with signaller permission). We had originally been due to run through to Polmadie, however, due to our 20+ minute delay, it was decided to instead reverse at Sheilds Junction to win back some time.
1556 Shields Junction to Carlisle, hauled by 37038 and 37218, running via Barassie, Newton-for-Ayr, Annbank, Mauchline and Dumfries. When attempting to depart from Shields Junction, we again had another brake problem. It appeared as though the brakes on the coaching stock this time were not releasing properly, and we were briefly running with dragging brakes until they finally released. This journey incorporated the usually freight-only route from Newton-for-Ayr to Mauchline on the GSW route from Glasgow to Carlisle via Kilmarnock and Dumfries. Again, 68018 was hauled dead on the rear.
1956 Carlisle to Preston, hauled by 88009. After a loco swap at Carlisle, we left about 15 minutes late. We had a Transpennine train (which was actually my planned train back to Manchester), follow us all the way from Carlisle, and despite ample opportunity for the signaller to put it past us at both Tebay (where we used the loop on the down side, delaying a northbound TPE in process) and Lancaster (where we used Platform 3 and the TPE pulled in on Platform 4 alongisde us), we were allowed to remain in front of it until Preston.
2128 Preston to Manchester Piccadilly on 350404. Due to the tour delaying it, this train unfortunately just missed my bus connection, meaning I had a 1 hour wait in Manchester, but I guess it could have been a lot worse! We also did a little bit of a weird move in Manchester, as we passed through Manchester Oxford Road on Platform 1, which is usually used for trains going in the opposite direction, when it is used at all (using it in normal passenger service is not ideal as there is no lift access to it), so it was certainly a little bizarre.

A little over 4,100 miles travelled on trains this month.
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JamieLei
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by JamieLei »

Ameecher wrote:
JamieLei wrote:
Dave wrote:but more importantly allowed me to get some final 313 moves in...
Crank!

And good riddance to them! Wake me up when all the 717s are in!
You came to Brum today behind a 68, I know you did.
I didn't even think about it to be honest! Was up and back on Virgin
Any opinions expressed are purely mine and not that of any employer, past or present.
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