28th July – BLS Steel City Special

28^th July – BLS Steel City Special

Now I come onto the main event of the weekend, a tour of the Sheffield Supertram network, the tour sounded interesting when it went on sale as it covered the track into the depot, plus some other odds & sods.  Worryingly when I checked Google Maps it suggested there was no yellow route trams running all day (seems the revised timetable due to the track closure beyond Hillsborough hadn’t been loaded in), but it did highlight a McDonalds on the route towards Carbrook tram stop which was roughly the same walking distance and would serve me for breakfast.

But before hand, as I was staying in a pub in the Brightside area, it was located pretty close to the old station (the road alongside the pub was even Station Lane), so I walked up the footpath and onto the footbridge which formally gave access to Brightside station, closed in the 90s when Meadowhall opened up.  Funny how even after these years it still has lampposts and old shelters, the stairs from the footbridge are still in place but have had the horizontal bits removed.

Old platforms at Brightside Station

Former staircase to the platform at Brightside

Back to the mainroad, and towards Carbrook, but again passing some old railway as it was in this area the old Sheffield District Railway towards Tinsley branched off at Brightside junction, crossing the road and the River Don on a lovely viaduct, now disused completely (judging by the Satellite view on Google Maps).  I carried on walking along the road via an industrial estate, passing some little used overspill carparks for Meadowhall shopping centre (I guess from the state and the large concrete blocks, they are very rarely used).  Anyhow I got my breakfast from McDonalds and headed towards Carbrook tram stop for the first tram of the day.

Disused Railway Viaduct over the River Don

Tram 122 took me to Cricket Inn Road, where I decided to waste some time with tram 399201 to the Cathedral and back to a lot busier platform.  God knows what the driver of a yellow route service was thinking when he stopped and nobody boarded before tram 108 rolled in, which would be the tram used for the first part of the tour.  The timings sheet we got given with the tickets was incorrect as they changed some bits around a couple days before the tour.

The first leg was via the lesser used side of the “Delta triangle” (direct towards the station) towards Herdings Park where someone forgot to request for the tram to stop and it went into the overrun.  During the time another tram arrived and departed which gave for this unusual picture (as I was lucky enough to get one of the seats by the cab end during the chaos of boarding).

This is what happens when nobody requests Herdings Park!

Once tram 107 has cleared away, tram 108 pulled forward onto the platform before waiting time before heading towards Gleadless Townsend where the driver jumped out to set the points on the crossover to allow the tram to crossover to the other line (jumping out again to reset them) before the tram continued its journey towards Halfway, reaching Beighton/Drake House Lane for another reversal, back towards Birley Lane, causing a bit of traffic chaos as the traffic lights turned red stopping cars as the tram reversed once more for a quick comfort break at Crystal Peaks.

30 minutes (or so) later, we were back on the tram for another quick reversal after Donetsk Way before running to Halfway and going beyond to the overrun.  Not quite as long as the one at Herdings Park, but still causing confusion with regular passengers.  Back for the long run towards the city centre, and out the other side for another reversal at Shalesmoor, heading back towards the city centre area (more confusion by regular passengers when the tram didn’t stop, or it stopped but the doors weren’t opened).  The next leg was into the depot area, where it used the loop after line 4, going via the carriage washer on line 7 to the exit route, before another reversal back via line 7 and out of the Woodburn Road exit to carry on to Meadowhall for another comfort break and a tram swap.

I got a bit lost in the shopping centre when looking for Boots, but eventually found my bearings and headed back towards the transport interchange where tram 108 had magically turned into 399202 for the 2^nd part of the tour.  A random trip to the start of line 10 in the depot before heading back to Meadowhall, before heading towards Arena/Olympic Legacy Park to do a couple trips over that crossover before heading back towards Meadowhall, but this time using the new chord to go towards Parkgate, this time not using the overrun because if anything goes in there it sets alarm bells off at Network Rail HQ and Thunderbird 2 flies in for the rescue! (OK, maybe not).  After a reversal at Parkgate it was back towards Arena, using the rarer side of the Delta triangle again for a final reversal at Sheffield Station before heading back towards Cricket Inn Road, the end of the tour.

Strangely the crossover between the triangle and Hyde Park was dropped (the one near Spring Lane is out of use), otherwise it would have been a near full clearance.  With a couple hours to kill, I jumped on tram 122 to Castle Square because I knew both my last original trams for a mile were out, and I didn’t have long to wait before tram 107 rolled up to take me to Granville Road/Sheffield College, pushing it over a mile.  Tram 104 took me towards the Cathedral with a short wait for 105 to West Street, where I managed to intercept tram 111  for the run to Fitzalan Square/Ponds Forge to push it over a mile (which is my target for ‘light rail’ stuff).  With still time to kill I took tram 109 to the end at Hillsborough to tick that crossover off as it departed rather full (as football had finished), so it was back towards the station to say farewell to the tram network for the day.

Tram 109 at Sheffield Station

I was booked onto the Cleethorpes bound TPE service, a bit of a worry as it was a +10 at Doncaster and TPE services always tend to run late due to the Hopeless valley being hopeless for time keeping, but today I was in luck as 185112 rolled in only a couple minutes down, my reserved seat was taken by a group “reservations have been cancelled mate” [so why was there slips in other seats, did you decide to remove the label to get yourself a nice table seat, roll on electronic reservations!], but I got another seat behind the cab for the fast run towards Doncaster.  I shouldn’t have worried so much as my connection was also running late, as winner 800103 rolled in from Leeds.  It managed to regain some of the lost time but got caught up in congestion south of Stevenage.  It was a busy service with no empty pairs of seats in Coach K, at least after Grantham, but an enjoyable run to Kings Cross, where I walked to London Underground.

Victoria Line set 11043/11044 took me to Oxford Circus, followed by 3242/3540 on the Bakersoven*.  Nothing of interest at Waterloo other than a pair of 73s with the Underground 4TC set on the first of the Swanage Sunday Specials.  It was to a quiet 159101/159108 & 158890 on the 21:15 service, where I settled down to relax for a very slow run towards Surbiton (something had broken down on the fast line, so everything was going via the slows), the guard popping up after Andover to ensure nobody was sat in the wrong part of the train for stations beyond Salisbury.  At Grateley it was a short walk home, to relax for what was left of the evening, reflecting on a good little tour, some little bits covered.  I do like the Sheffield tram system, the seats are comfortable (on the original trams, the 399s are harder than the original trams, not as hard as on the Midland Metro!)   Next weekend sees another return to Yorkshire, this time on mileage hunts before attempting to Snaith victory of the Northern network.

(*Yes I know it’s the Bakerloo, but it’s a joke this time of year at how hot it gets)

27th July – A day in Yorkshire

27^th July – A day in Yorkshire

My alarm(s) sounded and I was out of the hotel, and into the rain, ugū, I noted something was strange when a Brighton bound Gatwick Express service called at East Croydon, as my options northbound were cut in halve with the Bedford bound service cancelled, so it was to the Cambridge bound 700007 for the run to St Pancras, I would normally step back a train at Blackfrairs for a St Albans stopper, but that was also cancelled.  In fact everything heading north from St Pancras was showing as cancelled until the 08:06 Bedford!  (There was some services terminating at St Pancras from the south giving some service, but it was quite bad).

Once at St Pancras, I headed across to Kings Cross and the tesco nearby for some breakfast before heading towards the York stopping service, which could potentially be my last long distance 91 hauled service.  At the front was 91117 with DVT 82228 at the rear as I took my reserved seat in coach F, settled back and watched some more anime on the tablet (passes away the time on a line I’ve done many times).  A bit of delay south of Peterborough and also south of York meant the train was around 15 minutes late into York, the Hull train was a low mileage 158 so it was a quick walk to the ticket office (I was using a Northern Friends & Family Voucher one of my friends kindly gave me), only to be stuck in a queue.

I had given up on making that Hull train (and was quite pleased I didn’t need it for Sherburn), but with 5 minutes to go, the queue jumped forward, and it was a quick transaction by the ticket office lady and with less than 2 minutes to go I exited the ticket office, thankfully the Hull train was on platform 1 as I leapt onto low mileage 158796 with a few seconds to spare.  I decided to bail at Church Fenton because the next York bound service from Sheffield was running a few minutes late (the next Hull – York train was around 20 minutes late!) and it would be a random platform score [previously did Church Fenton linearly heading southbound], with a busy 142022 bouncing me to the island platform of Ulleskelf.  I didn’t fancy attempting to make the tight connection to the next Sheffield service at York!

I was alone in bailing at this little served station, but someone was boarding, and it was quite wet, as the picture below might show:

A wet Ullesklf

The shelter points towards the York bound platform, which is at a higher level, so I got a bit wet waiting for the Sheffield train, formed of low mileage 142009 for the run south (quite busy, with some quite underdressed ladies who I assume had been out all night in York) to Pontefract Baghill.  It was still raining (ugū again), so I got a bit soaked in walking the mile (or so) to Pontefract Tanshelf, via a little Tesco (for shelter, and to get some toilet paper to try and dry my glasses).  Thankfully there is a decent shelter at Pontefract Tanshelf, getting me out of the rain before the next Leeds bound service bounced in.  142091 took me to Wakefield Westgate where I wanted to intercept the Doncaster stopper as it was a low mileage 321/9, the stopping service to Leeds was running late (otherwise I would have headed to Outwood), but the heavens opened, as 321903 rolled in.  It got looped after Fitzwilliam by a late running 800, and gave some good wheel spin (and good motor noise).  I noticed the other unit out was a 331 which gave me an idea for later.

I was considering bailing at Bentley and waiting half an hour for the Adwick starter, but decided against it due to the poor weather, so once at Doncaster it was a short walk via the subway to board 170459 for the run to Meadowhall, on route passing my last 144 for mileage heading towards Adwick, so that again gave me an idea.  At Meadowhall, I exited the station for the first time, via the bus station to the main-road to walk along the mainroad towards Brightside where I was staying in the Crown pub.  Basic accommodation, bit rough around the edges, but a very friendly landlady (seems to be a drinkers pub).  My bag reduced in weight and I was back on the road (thankfully the rain had eased off) walking towards Meadowhall, following someone wearing a belt for a skirt up the stairs to the overbridge to join 142050 for the run to Swinton (which is a random platform score)

The next Sheffield (from Leeds) wasn’t anything of interest, so it was a bit longer wait before 144004 bounced its way in from the Doncaster direction to take me to Sheffield, the class cleared for mileage (which is a good thing as I can just ignore them at Leeds).  The next Leeds semi-fast was a 158 of little interest, but the next Bridlington was a low mileage 170477 which I took to Doncaster (gets them out of the way, and at least something which is fast to Doncaster from Meadowhall is better than a Harrogate line stopper, I’m not the biggest fan of 170s).  With some time to kill it was a quick visit to Sainsburys coming away with nothing, a bottle of pop sourced from Poundland, it was time to sample a 331, in the shape of 331106.  Very much like the 195s inside, but certainly seemed to accelerate well, but the Doncaster – Leeds stopping services is probably not the best place as they don’t get upto much speed.  A reasonable run nether the less, and once at Leeds I popped out to Boots to grab dinner for later.

I had a couple options, either a Sheffield stopper to Castleford (or Woodlesford), or a Knottingley via Wakefield to Kirkgate.   By the time the Knottingley service arrived it was a bit tight to get across to the 144 on the Sheffield stopper so it was onto 153358 & 153304 for the run towards Wakefield, losing a bit of time due to a platform clash at Kirkgate so the connection was gone, so I remained on board to Knottingley, where the units split up.  I was going to head back towards Pontefract with a +10 to the Goole service, but when the doors on the single dogbox were only released 8 minutes after departure I decided to give it a miss.

"I don't want to be with you anymore"

During the time at Knottingley, there was another passenger hanging around who I had down as someone else waiting for the Goole train, and a 60 came past with some coal wagons before 144005 rolled in on the Goole service, it emptied out and I was alone in boarding a private train.  I was trying to decide based on the weather whenever or not to ditch my walk, in the end decided that the weather had dried up and it would allow me to clear Northern with an alight (rather than a board) so I alighted from the empty pacer at Whitley Bridge, not a lot at the station (it has shelters but no seats), but has a nearby pub and some shops close by.  I set about on the opposite walk to August 16, towards the village of Eggsborough, passing the closed power station and branch line (which is slowly returning to nature), along the damp verge eventually regaining pavement as I reached the small village of Hensall, just as a 66 came past with some biomass wagons

Last Northern station to board a train at!

For the levels of service, Hensall has an excellent waiting room, (behind the fence in that picture), a bit like Thorpe Culvert & Havenhouse in that respect.  I wonder when the last traveller to use that waiting room was, and when did the old fire place get removed.  I didn’t see any lights so one not to do during the winter months, but an enjoyable place to rest my feet, as the rain started again.  144005 returned from Goole, this time having another passenger on board as I made a bad decision to bail at Castleford to see what units were floating around (nothing of interest).  I also noticed the Knottingley-Leeds service an hour later was delayed which gave me an idea to grab the Pontefract bound platform at Glasshoughton without an hour fester or a walk back to Castleford (as the hourly trains normally pass here and it isn’t the easiest station to get between platforms in a hurry!)

144005 returned from Leeds (knew I should have done Woodlesford) to take me the mile and a half to Glasshoughton, where I had a 5 minute fester for 153304 to roll in from Knottingley to take me back to Castleford.  144012 took me to Normanton for a linear hop, a few minutes later 142025 was  taken to Wakefield Kirkgate, with 144005 (again!) up the hill to Wakefield Westgate where it terminated.  Another decision time, either I could do a linear hop with Moorthorpe, or hang back for an unknown EMU to Doncaster.  In the end I decided on a linear hop with Moorthorpe for a random platform score, with 158758 taken to Moorthorpe, followed 35 minutes later by 150126 for the run back to Meadowhall, the end of a good day.  Not a good end for a pair of youngsters who was asking how to get back to Manchester! (Bear in mind, this was nearly midnight, the last Manchester train had long since departed, either an overnight stay near the station for the first Manchester train or an expensive taxi I suspect for that couple.

I walked back to the pub, entering via the kitchen/side door, to relax in the bedroom.  A successful day, 4 more stations into my book for revisiting (9 to go in total), plus a handful of low mileage units over the line, plus my first 331, in addition some random platforms were scratched.  I shall leave you with this pair of pacers on the final Leeds service from Moorthorpe on Saturday night.

Pacers at night, Bouncy Bounce

26th July - An Evening in London

26^th – 28^th July – A weekend in Yorkshire

The idea for this trip was formed when the BLS announced a Supertram tour on the Sunday which looked interesting, but due to the timings meant an overnight stay in the Sheffield area (eventually deciding on a pub near to Meadowhall for the Saturday night).  This gave me a few options so I decided it was a good excuse to revisit the Knottingley – Goole line again also to revisit the two stations I needed in Pontefract.  A rough plan was made involving staying in London overnight on the Friday for the 07:06 stopping service to York from Kings Cross (which gave me a nice connection at York, also was quite cheap).  My plan changed from a couple weeks ago when I got Sherburn in Elmet which gave me a little bit extra flexibility (which could have been needed).

Before I get to Yorkshire it was an evening in London.

An evening in London (26/7)

I finished work on time and a fast turnaround at home got me onto the 13:59 service from Grateley, all the while I was considering what to do in London, either a day on SWR, an evening hunting 321s or an evening on South Eastern units.  The weather paid a part in my decision as it was quite warm (well it is summer!) so I decided the South Eastern stuff can wait until a later time.  Also I got given news on the services my last SWR 455 for mileage was working so I came up with a plan of intersection.

159021 & 159013 took me to Basingstoke, where I headed across to platform 5 for the next Reading stopper formed of 165133 (normally a 3-coach unit, bet this service got busy later on, especially since it looked like half the services had been cancelled due to lack of staff).  A good run until the outskirts of Reading where the 165 sat at the junction for around 8 minutes for a late running IET from the West Country (which at the time wasn’t even at Theale so plenty of time for the unit to call at Reading West and reach platform 2), well done signallers for making an on time train late for both its inward & outward journey, as clearly a 45 minute delayed service takes priority.

Eventually when the 165 reached Reading, it was a short walk towards platforms 10-11, knowing that the screens flash “departing” when the trains are ready to leave, the first option was an 800 from Bedwyn which I turned down for winner 802109 from Oxford, and I got pretty much a private coach near the centre of the train, it filled up well with all the tourists at Slough.  On the outskirts of Paddington during a “we are arrived early, waiting for platform to become available”  fester I noticed a new RLU 345 on the Hayes shuttles (028 I think), however I decided that could wait for another day, so it was to the Underground with 3237/3533 on the Bakeroven line to Baker Street crossing over to 96099/96086 on the Jubilee line for the trip to Waterloo, with time to spare to board a Basingstoke stopping service formed of 450101 & 450546 for the fast trip to Surbiton, where the train pretty much emptied out, as I headed across to the London bound platform, keeping my eyes peeled for any of my last 6 low mileage 450s floating around.  The train from Guildford arrived with low mileage 455735 leading 455851 for the run to Clapham Junction, and it was quite warm inside (and I was glad to alight from the train at Clapham Junction).

At Clapham Junction I headed towards the Windsor side (after a cheeky photo on 442403 on the sidings), and took up a location, noticing a required 458 was heading towards Waterloo, but before I could give chase a rare pair of low mileage units rocked up, 455835 & 455834 which I took to Richmond, eventually reaching there (looked liked the unit in front lost a bit of time after Barnes, this was swiftly followed by 458507 running solo for a leap to Twickenham (wedged out and slow).  A few minutes later 458520 & 458506 rolled in to take me to Feltham, where I had a short fester noting a 707 was bound for Windsor (and another 707 was heading towards Weybridge).

After grabbing some food, I returned to the station for 707011 & 707009 for the run to Isleworth, returning to Feltham on 458531 & 458502 to give me a short fester before 707013 & 707027 rolled up to take me to Twickenham.  Another short fester before 707008 rolled in (with 707005) on a Kingston loop service which I took to Clapham Junction (via Kingston), I was quite pleased as this took me down to a single 707 and 2 more 458s for mileage (although both those 458s are very low mileage).  But for the time being it was time to shift across to the Southern side where I had hoped to confirm that hired in 387105 was on the rear of a triple set from Gatwick, but 455836 & low mileage 455844 popped up to take me towards Victoria (not enough for the 455 but gave a little boost), but that triple never fully overtook, got to the 6^th coach before it dropped back and never regained enough to overtake.

So it was a gamble, buy a BZ ticket to Gatwick and hope for the best, ignore it for another day or attempt to get a position to try and ID the rear unit.  I went for the gamble option, and for probably the last time I got a BZ ticket to Gatwick Airport from the TVM and headed towards platform 13, where detached at the far end was indeed 387105, so I boarded and took a seat for the speedy run (and after a few hours of slowness, this speed felt good) to Gatwick Airport which was in a bit of chaos due to Thameslink services towards Bedford getting cancelled due to emergency engineering works due to the heat with the overhead wires north of St Pancras.

The first couple northbound Southern services weren’t of interest, so I hung back for a Cambridge bound Thameslink which was formed of low mileage 700101 which I took to East Croydon, checking into the Easy Hotel for a much needed power shower and relaxation.  Not a super early start like the last couple times I stayed here, but still a 05:40 alarm call.

21st July – Greater Manchester Rail Ranger & a Voyage Home

21^st July – Greater Manchester Rail Ranger & a Voyage

I decided when I was booking my trip to Preston for the tour, that the Sunday would be a Greater Manchester Rail Ranger, followed by a trip to Basingstoke on a voyager, mainly because it was cheaper (£24 for a single to Reading, I could have saved ~ 10p by doing a 3 way split, but for a small saving it wasn’t worth it) on the 15:27-ish service.  Normally on Sundays there is a price cliff with Virgin advances from Manchester where after around 2pm the lowest fare jumps.  Also going via Reading meant I could save money on the Thursday with only an advance fare to London.

My original plan was to head to Wigan, pick up a GM Rail Ranger and sample a diverted Pendo to Stockport, and purchased a £2.20 advance fare for a service from Blackpool for the 15 mile leg to Wigan (bit of a bargain compared to the any permitted fare), this was around 9am, so with the breakfast room opening in the hotel at 8am, it was rude to turn down a breakfast (seeing as I had already paid for it in the room price).  The breakfast was reasonable, just enough to kick start the day as I checked out and headed to a quiet Preston station, noting a few cancellations already showing on the screens (plus looked like the planned cancellation of the Victoria – Blackpool stoppers), has the bad days of Northern in the North West Sunday workings returned?

Anyhow low mileage 319377 was my required move to Wigan, pretty much had the motor coach all to myself, and I even saved time by buying my rover from the guard who was happy to sell it (saved me a job at Wigan).  Once at Wigan North Western it was a short wait before winner 195120 rolled in from Preston, it was time to make a decision because this unit heads back towards Preston via Bolton [but doesn’t call at Bolton, only Lostock] so I wouldn’t get it in my book, knowing the Pendo following wasn’t anything of interest I boarded the 195 for the run towards Piccadilly, where it sits on platform 13 for a while before departing towards the airport.  As the 195 was rolling in I caught note of a Blackpool bound 319 being a low mileage unit so one to chase down later.

I had a quick scan around the platforms to see if there was anything of interest (mainly units I need for 10 miles), but nothing popped out as I returned to platform 13 just as low mileage 156426 rolled in from Liverpool, so it was time to head to the airport.  My time at the airport was brief as checking the unit it was attaching to (I assume) I crossed over to board 195120 once more to take me back to Piccadilly, where it was a cross platform to board low mileage 390138 for the run to Stockport where with 10 minutes before the next Manchester train I popped out to the Sainsburys for some lunch.

Back at Stockport, I noted a Chester bound service was a low mileage 150 attached to an unknown 156, so like the 319 it was one to chase down later.

The next Manchester bound service was a 323 from Stoke, I wasn’t holding out much hope as I only need 2 Northern 323s for mileage (and had done a mini-plan based on the following EMT service), but my luck was in as it was low mileage 323234 which was taken over the line with the run to Oxford Road, where I remained on board for the trip back to Piccadilly, allowing me to get a good seat on a Windermere bound 195121 for the run to Wigan North Western (probably not the last time I will get a 195 into my book with a Manchester – Wigan run).  Anyhow it was to platform 2 to board a Stalybridge bound 142052 & 142046 for the run to Bolton, stepping back to await the train from Blackpool.  I knew something was a bit dodgy when it was losing time at every stop (as the previous Barrow – Manchester train had been cancelled) and I was right as 319382 rolled in pretty much full & standing.  You can tell the difference between crush loading in the south and crush loading in the north, as bags are put in overhead luggage or on people, with little kids sitting on their parents to free up more seats.  I was very lucky in managing to squeeze on for the run to Piccadilly, for it was time to intercept that 150 from Chester.

By the time the 319 managed to roll into Piccadilly, my options to reach Stockport had been reduced, so after a quick check at some of the other options available highlighted nothing, I boarded a busy 390134 from Scotland for the run to Stockport, crossing via the subway to await the arrival of the train from Chester.  A northbound 390 arrived a good few minutes early, as well as 150225 with 156424 behind it, the run to Piccadilly will be enough for the 150, but not for the 156, and annoyingly I could take it back to Stockport there wasn’t anything which would give a good connection to my booked train home (which I had discovered was short formed, 4 vice 8) so I had to let the 156 go.  I had enough time for a quick spin to Oxford Road and back to Piccadilly, just as a time wasting move with 156486 to Oxford Road and 156459/156455 back, before heading towards the voyager sat on one of the terminal platforms.

My home for the next 3 and a bit hours was 220005, thankfully I’ve learnt from previous experiences when booking seats to ignore the 2^nd voyager so I had a seat for the trip south.  The unit in coach F departed full, but nobody standing in the saloon area (standees by the bog), emptied out as time went on before loading up again at Wolverhampton & New Street, but by Coventry most of the standees could get a seat if they wanted.  The trip was its usual slow self, but I was comfortable enough, but I was glad to alight from the voyager at Basingstoke for some fresh air and to have a good walk (mainly to a local pizza place for a pizza, because there isn’t a lot around Basingstoke open on Sunday evenings).  With pizza eaten, I sat on the platform at Basingstoke waiting for the 20:06 service to roll in with 159019, 159022 & 159014 doing the honours for the final leg of the journey.  Worth noting the only time I had a ticket check was between Reading & Basingstoke.

Once I got home, I had time to reflect on a successful day for my unit requirements; Northern is looking a bit better.  I shall have to bare that voyager move in mind for future trips to the Manchester area later in the year; it might not be as fast as going via London, but if it works out to be cheaper than it’s good.  Next weekend sees a return to Yorkshire with hopefully 4 more Northern stations getting the big tick, hopefully I will sample a 331 and with a BLS tour of Sheffield Supertram on the Sunday which should be interesting.