Archive Reports - December 2018

These writings were first put on my old Rail UK thread, archived, sorry for the lack of images and poor formatting.

1st & 2nd December - Yorkshire

I booked this trip before the strikes were extended into December so my rough plan changed quite a bit, working with the limited services and needs. Friday night was a 180 to Bradford, with an early start on the Saturday morning with the 06:30 LNER service from Forster Square to Leeds.

After grabbing lunch I noticed the first Selby train had a flashing platform number, changed from 7 to 14, so an unexpected bonus bay score with a former GWR 150 to Garforth. Back to Leeds on a 185 before a 144 took me to Castleford. A cheeky bus move on a route 144 service took me to Glasshoughton which saved a walk in the rain (or a probable hour fester). A busy 142 took me back to Leeds where I made an unofficial connection to a 150 to South Milford for a 45 minute wait for it to return.

A delayed arrival back into Leeds meant a 25 minute wait for my first 333 of the year to Ilkley & back (at this point I was sightseeing from the train), making a connection to a 158 to Halifax, which due to signalling issues went nonstop via Dewsbury. A quick hop to Low Moor to intercept a Hedben Bridge service before returning towards Leeds, hitting into the signalling issues as it took 45 odd minutes to crawl to Leeds via New Pudsey.

A low mileage 185 took me to Huddersfield and another one took me back to Leeds, before a 185 on an all station stopper eventually reached Mirfield for a 180 to Bradford Interchange, with a bus on a route 614 took me closer to the hotel.

The Sunday was a walk to Interchange for a 180 to Wakefield Kirkgate, via New Pudsey, reserving outside Leeds to go nonstop to Kirkgate via Westgate. A 144 took me to Barnsley before a 158 took me to Sheffield. I got lucky as a tram was just pulling in to take me to the Cathedral stop where I waited for a 399 to take me all the way to Parkgate, where I returned to the tram platforms at Rotherham Central. Another 399 took me to Meadowhall South with a regular tram to Meadowhall itself.

The next few hours was spent looking for any mileage requirements, although I only got one more 158 into the club with a small increase to a 144. A couple tram moves saw another couple of trams above a mile before a low mileage 185 eventually took me to Doncaster, before boarding a 180 to London. A fast connection to Paddington with a required 800 to Reading, before a busy 165 to Basingstoke & a pair of 159s back home.

The highlight of the trip was the unexpected scoring of platform 14 at Leeds, as it isn't used by all that many trains at the moment (although I believe it gains an hourly service from the timetable change with Leeds - Yorks stoppers)

Looking back in December

This December compared to previous Decembers was going to be quieter, at the start of the month there was no overnight stays (other than the first weekend), my little advance ticket box was empty.

The first weekend was a trip to West Yorkshire, the plans changed massively due to the ongoing Northern strikes, but I managed to depart from platform 14 at Leeds (an unexpected bonus), board at Glasshoughton & alight at South Milford, before some time wasting bits & pieces (a run to Ilkley on my first 333 of the year, a trip to Hedben Bridge & Huddersfield on some mileage requirements, ending the day with a Grand Central 180 from Mirfield to Bradford.  The Sunday was spent heading towards Sheffield to cover the extension to Parkgate, before some time-wasting mileage moves (as once again I had run out of things to do).  A bonus of a required 800/3 took me to Reading on a bus avoidance move.

The 8th December was a simple West Midlands Day Ranger, basically to recover some lines I hadn’t used for a while.  The usual 159 to Basingstoke followed by a 220 to Banbury (the Reading stopper had been cancelled), a pair of 168s to Dorridge, before a 172 on the long trip to Worcester.  A linear hop on a 158 to Malvern before a 170 to Hereford where I met up with Mr Jules for the first time in ages, as he was heading towards the Christmas markets, we had a little catch up on a 800 to Worcester, before a very crowded pair of 170s to Bromsgrove for another all-station stopper, the 323 up the hill to Lichfield Trent Valley.  A 350 took me one stop to Rugeley Trent Valley before a 170 rolled in with a massive thunderstorm to take me back to Birmingham, probably the last time I will be using a DMU on this route.  A very busy single 3-coach 168 took me to Banbury, before a quiet 221 took me to Basingstoke, attaching to a 220 which had terminated short of Guildford due to staff issues at Reading, before a 159 back home.

The 14th December I was going on a 700 hunt, but sadly it didn’t go to plan as there was a set-swap earlier on with my final 700/1 ending up somewhere else, but I ended the day with 2 of my 4 into my book, and a triple Networker to Orpington, sadly lost time for a series of random moves, so I decided to cut my losses and head home.

The 15th was a day trip to London, previously I was going to do a Thames Valley Branches Day to hunt down various 800 & 802s, but the wind was very chilly, so I ditched that plan to do a travelcard day.  I got lucky at Basingstoke with a late running voyager allowing me to reach Reading earlier than expected, and to score a required 800 pretty much on the first service heading to London.  A pair of 387s took me to Hayes & Harlington before a 360 took me to Heathrow, followed by my first & only 332 of the year (332007) to Terminal 5 on a “there & back” move.  360205 took me to Terminal 4, before returning to Hayes & Harlington with a mileage requirement 387 taken to Ealing Broadway.  Some Central line moves followed with the aim of departing from the centre platform at North Acton, before heading towards Victoria.

A pair of 377/5s took me to Bromley South, so I could cover the crossover from the half hourly Bromley South – Victoria stoppers, before returning to Bromley with a pair of busy 375s returning me to Victoria.  Some time wasting before my final 700/1 was scored on a run from London Bridge to East Croydon, returning on a pair of 377/6s, with a busy 465 taken to Deptford to intercept the hourly service from this line towards Kentish Town.  Back to Farringdon before a hop to Liverpool Street with a triple 321 taken to Stratford, a pair of 357s taken to Barking before a mileage requirement 172/0 taken to Blackhorse Road from platform 7 at Barking.  A Victoria line was taken to Tottenham Hale with a pair of 317s to Hackney followed by a mileage requirement 315 to Liverpool Street.  A pair of 357s to Stratford before heading towards Waterloo and a busy pair of 450s to Clapham Junction before a pair of 707s taken to Brentford, returning to Barnes on a pair of 458s for another pair of 707s to Waterloo, before heading back home on a 159.  A varied day in London and a good one as it was mostly unplanned (I just had a mental list of “things I wanted to do”).

I finished work early on the 17th December, which allowed me to have a random trip to Hungerford for no real reason other than I wanted a little trip on the rails (and, I wanted to visit the bank to pay in a cheque).  A 158/159/159 combo took me to Reading where due to late running missed the connection to the Reading Turbo, so it was to Reading on a busy 221, followed by my jobs in Reading town centre, before a 800/3 took me to Hungerford, returning to Reading on a 165, with another 165 taken to a very busy and manic Basingstoke where eventually a 159/159/158 combo rolled up to take me to Grateley.

With my Christmas leave starting on the 19th December, it was time to head out to London to do some bits & pieces, so it was onwards to Basingstoke with a busy pair of 159s, followed by a 166 to Reading, a short fester drawing blanks ending the session with a 165 to Paddington.  A 345 took me to West Ealing, before boarding 165004 operating the “Wycombe Wanderer” service, the rush from the first couple days had reduced so it was just myself and a group of 3 on the service.  A pair of 168s took me from High Wycombe to Oxford (mainly to score the new layout for services from Oxford Parkway into Oxford), before a 165 took me to Didcot (which departed from platform 4 due to a late running voyager).  A required 800/3 took me to Reading, before another short dud session with 800306 taken to Paddington, for I had a date with a certain 700 at Wimbledon.

I did my usual changing of trains at Baker Street from a Bakerloo to Jubilee as it is a bit quicker, and boarded a pair of 455s to Wimbledon, arriving with time to spare to take a Sutton bound 700 to Wimbledon Chase (mainly so I could grab a decent seat in the 1st class area).  My final 700 rolled in from Sutton which I took to Blackfriars to clear the class.  A trip to Herne Hill on a 466/465 put another couple networkers above 10 miles (heck I have nothing else to hunt down), with a hop to Beckenham Junction to sit on the previous pair of Networkers to eventually depart late (due to a trespasser) from the bay platform to Herne Hill, before heading towards St Pancras and then towards Paddington for I had news on another required 800/3 floating around (one someone else had asked for, but I saw it was gettable for me so a happy bonus move).  Once at Reading it was onto the 166 back to Basingstoke, then back home on the 159.

The Thursday was just a random shopping trip to Basingstoke, featuring the same 159 each way, as happens when I spend 2 hours in Basingstoke.

The 21st December was another London trip, but this time an add-on with a trip to Stevenage.  A similar start to the Wednesday with a pair of 159s to Basingstoke (a lot quieter this morning as I suspect some of the commuters had finished work for the year already or were “working from home” with a hangover).  This time however was a 2-coach 165 to Reading, followed by a fester for a service from Bristol which produced a pair of 802s to Paddington, next up was a trip to Moorgate before grabbing a couple 313s for miles on linear hops to Gordon Hill, before another pair took me all the way to Stevenage, mainly to recover the Hertford loop.  A break in Stevenage before a 700 took me back to Welwyn Garden City, scoring a pair of 313s from platform 1 to Potters Bar, with another 700 taken to Finsbury Park (sadly my gamble didn’t pay off as this 700 was already above 10 miles).  Another 700 took me to Farringdon before making my way to Liverpool Street on Barking service, grabbing a low mileage 321 to Stratford.

A quick hop on the Jubilee line took me to West Ham with a pair of mileage required 357s took me to Fenchurch Street where a quick glance found nothing else of interest as I took the same pair back out to Upminster to intercept the triple 387 service, sadly this was the “odd” trio so not required for miles, but still a nice change.  A quick hop to West Ham got another 357 (357019) closer to 10 miles, with 2 more joining the club (357043 & 357324) back to Fenchurch Street, where 357014 got another 4 miles & 7 chains under its wheels for a hop to West Ham (sadly not enough to clear it for 10 miles).  A short wait before the other triple 387 set appeared, and it was the triple even set to clear the sub-class.  Once at Upminster 387321 rolled in to join the 10-mile club on a run to Barking, followed by 357024 to West Ham.  357208 was next up to join that club with a run back out to Upminster (along with 357201, as I was making use of the quieter loadings).  A 315 took me to Romford before 345015 rolled in to take me to Liverpool Street, followed by a run to Paddington to intercept 800319 (which I had seen earlier in the day at Reading).  At Reading it was onto a voyager to Basingstoke before a pair of 159s to Grateley.

The 22nd December was my only railtour of December & final tour of the year, Pathfinders “The Festive Frolic”.  Due to the late arrival into Basingstoke I decided to drive to Basingstoke (as it would have only given me a +25 to the final Salisbury service which is a tad tight for my liking).  Required 66077 was leading as I took my seat in the posh seats for the run to Bescot yard, where it was replaced by 56105 (dud from a previous railtour) and 66075 on the back, which hauled the coaches into Wolverhampton Steel Terminal (2nd time lucky for me as the last time the tour stopped well short due to communication issues).  The 56 took charge for the run to Chester (back out towards Soho, before heading via Bescot and back towards Wolverhampton, heading towards Shrewsbury & finally Chester, via some loops).  A brief hour at Chester as I headed to Tesco fighting the crowds, before returning, covering the Chester interdependent line before heading towards Rugeley, and into the Dudley Siding.  66075 was back in charge for the run back to Basingstoke via the Sutton Park line, a roundabout trip into New Street via Selly Oak before heading back towards Basingstoke, thankfully the train emptied out by Birmingham International allowing the remaining folk to spread out.  A good final railtour of the year with a couple bits of Baker Track covered, along with some odds & sods at Quail level.

Christmas Eve was a random trip to Bedwyn, no reason other than I fancied a day trip and Bedwyn was cheap.  A pair of 159s (which were quite empty) took me to Basingstoke, before a 221 took me to Reading.  A 165 took me to Newbury on a stopper, before 165108 took me to Bedwyn and back to Reading, where I did some shopping before making my way slowly back to Grateley via 165130 to Basingstoke & 159017.

After a quiet & peaceful Christmas & Boxing Day I was itching to get back out on the rails, and with it being a strike day meant an earlier start with the 09:33 service, which I took to Basingstoke with 166221 taken to Reading which is where I made a bit of a mistake.  The first couple Paddington bound fast services were rammed, the service from Bedwyn was a case of “how many folk can you squeeze onto a 165 challenge”, so I decided to take a stopper to Hayes & Harlington (although the rear unit was 387150 which was required for mileage might have helped).  At Hayes & Harlington, it was a long walk round to access platform 1 before 360204 took me to Heathrow Terminal 4, returning to Paddington as it was nice to get my last 360/2 for 10-miles into the book, also part of the new layout around Airport junction using the connection to the mains).  A Bakerloo & Jubilee line service took me to Waterloo) (changing at Baker Street), where a 455 for mileage was waiting to take me to Wimbledon where I took a break for some lunch.  Returning to the station and it was 700043 which took me to Blackfriars, before a trip to London Bridge, returning to Blackfriars on 700029 which was terminating on platform 1 (microgricing move).  Back at London Bridge, a trip to Lewisham on a triple Networker, before a pair of 376s took me to Grove Park for a run to Bromley North (and back).  Another pair of 376s took me to Petts Wood before a pair of 465s took me back to London Bridge, annoyingly neither of these moves were mileage requirements.  Once at London Bridge it was a case of doing a few runs to/from East Croydon for mileage needs.  700148, 377622, 377619, 377452, 377415, 377602, 377624, 377459 all joined the club, sadly all the 387/2s I saw weren’t needed for miles.  A pair of 465s took me to Waterloo East before a triple 159 took me back home.

On Boxing day I got bored, and hence looked up prices for a little weekend spin to Glasgow, and it was cheaper than expected (especially after using the Ticket Split website to get it to show fares of the more slower route of changing at Crewe, so I booked up to head back to Glasgow on the 28th December, returning on the Saturday.  A 158+159 combo took me to Basingstoke where I decided to step back a service to board a pair of 444s on a fast to Clapham Junction, before changing to a 10-car suburban service where the 456 was needed for mileage but even the near 4 mile run to Waterloo wasn’t enough to push it over.  Grabbing lunch from Tesco before heading across to Waterloo East for a short wait before 375606 & 375704 took me to London Bridge, and 700126 to St Pancras, the extra miles helping but both 606 & the 700 remain underneath 10 miles.  At St Pancras I walked across to Euston and waited for the Chester service to get announced.  A busy (until Milton Keynes) 221107 was taking me to Crewe where I had a 20 minute wait before 221102 & 221101 arrived to take me all the way to Glasgow, new coverage for voyager and coach K was quite empty, and only got emptier as time went by.  After Carlisle there was only 4 other passengers in the nice coach, where after Motherwell I started to move forward as I had a tight connection to grab one of the new 320s, but due to the voyagers arriving early, no queue at the downstairs ticket office and a Dalmuir train running a couple minutes late I got 320404 on a leap to Anderston (attached with 320310).  A brief wait at Anderston before winner 320401 rolled in with 320414 in tow.  I took this pair to Rutherglen making a tight connection onto 320311 for the run to Partick.

My hotel was located in the Kelvinbridge area, so it was downstairs to the subway, leaping onto 102/205/104 as they just rolled in to take me to Kelvinbridge, checking in & grabbing something to eat before returning with 114/207/107 back to Partick.  334029 was taken to Queen Street (after the novelty of seeing a 365 running through ECS), where I had a brief wait before winner 385109 joined my club of winning 385s on a stopper to Croy, sadly it was late arriving and late departing so it missed the +9 at Croy giving me a 20-odd minute wait.  However the service I missed was a DMU and the one I caught back to Queen Street was 385104 & 385003, making a tight connection onto 385115 back out to Croy, and then onto 170429 & 158732 back to Queen Street.  With one eye on the clock for the last subway services, I called it a night and headed back to Kelvinbridge on 106/203/125.

An early alarm on the Saturday saw me heading to Kelvinbridge for the first service which took me to Partick, the same triple I had last night.  At Partick it was onto 318252 & 318260 for the run to Queen Street, and 158736 took me to Ashfield as a time wasting move, returning to Queen Street on 158712 (158736 was completely empty other than myself!).  Back at Queen Street and it was a few unit grabbing moves, with 385014, 385107, 385113, 385012, 385112, 385114, 385007, 385031, 385118 & 385108 falling into my book.  I decided to call it a day and catch 380105 out towards Cumbernauld.  A 25 minute wait at this station before 320414 & 320401 rolled in to take myself (and Dan) to Motherwell, where we changed over to 318257 from Lanark for a fast service to Glasgow Central.

Grabbing lunch and it was a trip to Clarkston on 156514 & 156467, returning on 156494 & 156504, heading out to Cardonald on 314208, returning to Glasgow Central on 314215 which is the same unit we took next to Paisley Gilmour Street to intercept 314214 on a fast service for some noise (because this could be the last time I have a 314 on this route).  At Glasgow Central it was a return to Paisley Gilmour Street on 380016 (mileage requirement) returning on 380022, with 380107 taken to Mount Florida (feels strange not being on a 314 on the Cathcart circle), 380112 was taken back to Pollokshields East with 320315 for the short hop to Crosshill, intercepting 314211 from Newton which could be my final 314 move.  I had time to pop to the First Class lounge to grab some drinks & snacks, before boarding 390151 (a mileage requirement), as when I was booking seats in 1st class were only a couple pound more expensive and all the table seats in standard class were taken, and it was very peaceful in the posh seats as I settled down for the trip to Euston. Arriving a few minutes early was a nice bonus, as I headed down to the Northern line with 51509 & 51510 to Waterloo for a fester before boarding the 22:20, formed of 159108 & 159008 (as yes finally SWR have doubled the 22:20 service on a Saturday as it can be very busy to Basingstoke).

My final day on the rails of 2018 was New Year’s Eve, and due to the strike, it was onto the 09:33 service which I took to Clapham Junction, changing onto a 455+455+456 combo (sadly all above 10 miles).  I changed over to Waterloo East and got onto a pair of 465s, the rear one (465905) getting a nice boost but still keeps being ‘blue’ (I highlight units which are below 10 miles in blue on my spreadsheet, ones which go above 10 miles in a Salmon colour).  This is where I made a mistake, for some reason I had it in my head I was booked on the 13:23 Virgin service to Coventry, but was in fact booked on the 12:23 service, something I should have checked before boarding 377433/377142/377415 to East Croydon, returning to London Bridge on 377411/377474/377106 (nothing required here).  700127 took me to St Pancras where I walked across to Euston, buying an off-peak LNWR single (at least it was only £10 I was wasting, but a worthwhile lesson to check your tickets!).  350102 took me to Rugby where I made a connection onto 350262/350254 to Coventry, this is the service which starts from Northampton around 10 minutes after another Birmingham service, and hence was very empty (and sits at Coventry for 10 minutes).  I picked up my Daytripper (and one for Dan), and boarded 390151 to New Street.  I met up with Dan (Blindtraveller) and we headed to the tram stop for a busy tram 32 to take us all the way to Wolverhampton St George.

Walking to Wolverhampton station, it was onto 221111 from Shrewsbury to New Street, changing onto 170515/153375 to Tame Bridge Parkway (for the 170 was needed for miles).  Changing over the platform and it was onto 323203 to Aston, followed by 323242 to Northfield, followed by 323211 & 323207 to Barnt Green, as I fancied the novelty of boarding a service on platform 2, which before June time was pretty much impossible other than early morning.  323219 rolled in to take us to Bromsgrove, remaining on board for the run up the hill all the way to New Street, where I noticed a Virgin service to Wolverhampton which went via Bescot, which was a nice novelty with 390157 taken on the slow trip to Wolverhampton.  At Wolverhampton it was onto 158825 which would form my final train of 2018 and also my first under the “Transport for Wales” operator.  We took this to Birmingham International, grabbing a taxi to the hotel where we had a socialable evening until the clock stuck midnight, to mark the end of 2018...

...Oops that went on for longer than expected!

December in numbers

4389 miles covered (this being the first December since I started logging journeys in 2014 where I hadn’t cleared 5000 miles in December)

27 New Units (2x 320, 14x 385, 4x 700, 5 x 800. 2 x 802)

2 new locos (2x66)

2 stations revisited (plus 2 new Light Rail Stops)

2018 in Numbers

53423 miles covered

Locos:

3 x 20; 10 x 37; 1 x 41; 3 x 47; 2 x 50; 1 x 55; 1 x 56; 2 x 57; 1 x 59; 1 x 60; 14 x 66; 2 x 67; 2 x 68; 6 x 73; 3 x 86; 1 x 87; 1 x 88; 5 x 90; 1 x 92

Units:

3 x 150*; 2 x 168*; 2 x 320*; 1 x 321; 9 x 345; 6 x 357*; 18 x 385; 16 x 387; 42 x 700; 10 x 707; 33 x 800; 6 x 802

(* for renumbering)

Light Rail:

5 x Blackpool Trams; 1 x 1992 LU Stock; 6 x 1973 LU Stock; 7 x Sheffield Citylink Trams; 2 x 1995 LU Stock; 2 x Tyne & Wear Metro Units

Looking ahead to January

My winter slowdown continues, a London trip was had on the 5th January (report to follow), a question mark weekend this coming weekend (12th January, where I suspect I will probably head to London again), my first big trip of the year with a trip to Perth on the sleeper on the 18th Jan, with some bits & pieces in Edinburgh (grumbles about the withdrawal of the Edinburgh Days Out Pass forcing me to fork out £49 for a Central Scotland Rover), and a trip to Nottingham on the 26th with the idea of clearing my last few stations on the Lincoln line and Doncaster platform 2!