26th October – A SPT Daytripper day
The SPT Daytripper is a scratch card ticket from the Glasgow
area, covering a wide area for train & bus travel, for the price it is good
value for money. When I was throwing
together a rough plan for this trip it was mainly to focus on platforms, but
the shift changed to photos within the main idea (as there was a couple fixed
moves at the end of the day).
The day began arriving into Glasgow Central on the sleeper,
pretty much on time (maybe a minute or two late), which gave me time to warm up
(as the seated coach has AC set for a Spanish summer, for it be freezing, made
worse with the air vents for the AC being at arm level below the windows. I grabbed some breakfast, picked up my
daytripper from the ticket office and because I had planned for a short delay,
I could take 156430 for the run to Kilmarnock for a photo, returning on
the same unit to Kilmarus. 156456
& 156476 were up next to take me back the couple miles to Kilmarnock where
they split up with only 156476 carrying on towards Stranraer. I always forget how nice this line is, the
run alongside the water around Troon before going into hills after Ayr. I alighted from the 156 at Girvan,
making a tight connection to 156510 working the opposite direction, which was
good as I was an hour ahead of schedule (as I had planned not to have made that
connection and have an hour in Girvan).
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| 156 at Girvan |
156510 took me northwards, back towards Ayr going via
platform 4 and onwards to Troon, where I changed platforms for 380010
& 380021 to take me back towards Newton on Ayr, a short wait before 380003
rolled in from Ayr to take me to the quiet Prestwick International Airport
station where I was the only person alighting with nobody boarding (a group did
alight from the next train mind). A short
wait here before 380006 &
380018 rolled in to take me back the half mile to Prestwick Town, where
it was another short wait (timed passed with the appearance of a rail cleaning
machine) before 380018 & 380006 returned from Ayr to take me to Irvine,
pushing 380006 over ten miles clearing the class (woohoo!). 380112 was up next to take me to Barassie
where I had a short connection to board 380107 to Glengarnock, returning
to Kilwinning on 380115, sadly it was a couple minutes late so missed
the connection to the next Largs – Glasgow service, meaning it was onto 380015
for the run back to Glasgow Central.
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| View from the footbridge at Prestwick Town |
No rest for the wicked as it was a short walk over to 156504
on the next Kilmarnock service which was fast to Dunlop for a platform
score with 156439 taken back towards Barrhead changing over to 156474 on
a stopper for a station photograph. Time
to grab some lunch before heading to the low level station for 320404 to take
me to Carmyle where I made a tight connection but sadly like Mills Hill
the week before the picture was a bit rubbish so I will need to revisit again
for a photograph. 320416 was up next to
take me to Dalmarnock where it was a short platform change onto
318266/318254 to Rutherglen, mainly as a time wasting move before boarding a
late running 320314 bound for Milngavie.
I was expecting this service to be turned short due to late running, but
to my surprise it was allowed to continue (with the service half an hour later
cancelled). I alighted at the platform
score of Bearsden (sadly no bears were spotted in their den), with a
short wait for 334035 to take me one stop up the line to Hillfoot
returning to Westerton on the return of 320314.
A short fester at Westerton before 320416 rolled in to take
me to Hyndland, followed shortly by 334035 to High Street and 320311 to Bell
Grove, returning to High Street as a time wasting move on 334015 before
boarding 318258 to Duke Street where I had a gentle walk along the road
to Alexandra Parade to reboard 318258 when it returned from Springburn,
two more platforms scored and it was back to Glasgow Queen Street, where I
headed to the Euro Hostel to check myself in, getting a free upgrade from a
basic room with shared bathroom to an en-suite room on the top floor, happy
days! (Not bad for £18 a night when booking via the website directly).
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| I spy with my little eye... |
After dropping off some from my bag, it was a case of
swinging via Tesco for dinner before heading back to Glasgow Central, where I
changed my idea of doing a fast to Kilwinning 380 to get a couple annoyances
done, so it was onto a Largs bound 380011 to Johnstone returning to
Paisley Gilmour Street on 380018 & 380006 before heading back towards
Johnstone, but staying on one more stop to Milliken Park and a 25 minute
fester. There is a nice waiting shelter,
and I was joined shortly by some 16-18 year old girls who decided it would be a
good idea to start smoking when inside the shelter, selfish youngsters (at
least if you are going to smoke, do it outside, it wasn’t like it was raining
as this part of the country escaped the heavy rains which flooded other parts).
380021 & 380010 rolled in eventually to take me to
Paisley Gilmour Street, where I made a tight connection to a busy 320303 on a Wemyss
Bay stopper to take me to Bishopton for a short wait for 380007 to take
me to Cartsdyke returning east on 380019 to Langbank where I had
a short wait at this quiet station (with has good views of the River Clyde and
the lights of Dumbarton on the north bank) before 380022 rolled in to take me
to Inverkip, returning a short time later to Port Glasgow which made
Hamilton seem tame in terms of drunken behaviour by youngsters who couldn’t
decide if they wanted the Wemyss Bay train or not (in the end departure was
around 7 minutes down), a station which could do with having security.
Anyhow I took a seat in the motor coach of 318261 for the
run to Wemyss Bay, this being one of the handful of trains which is booked to
use platform 1 (rather than the more usual platform 2), and the first time I’ve
seen a 318 operating these services.
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| Platform 1 at Wemyss Bay, Tick! |
After a short turnaround it was back to Port Glasgow to
await 380022 for the run to Gourock (bumping into Jack heading to his
hotel in Cartsdyke after a day to Roy Bridge), this is one of the few services
which is booked to use platform 2 at Gourock, as the preferred platforms are
either 1 or 3, so it was another rare platform score. Faced with an hour to wait before the next
(and final) Glasgow bound train, I decided to go for a gentle walk towards Fort
Matilda mainly for a station photograph as it would mean I wouldn’t have to
return to these parts for station photos [although I wouldn’t mind revisiting
again in the hours of daylight].
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| Platform 2 at Gourock, Tick |
A nice time spent in the quiet at Fort Matilda before 380013
rolled in from Gourock to take me back to Glasgow Central, calling all
stations, but thankfully the WiFi (and plug socket) was working well, and as
this was one the last arrivals into Glasgow Central any passengers were told to
use a side gate as the other entrances were locked up for the night. Bit odd seeing the departure screens at
Glasgow Central being blank, no more arrivals showing nor any departures, but
the end of a successful day.
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27th October – A Roundabout
After a good inverkip at the hostel (benefit of being on the
top floor is the road noise is reduced), I was soon out and about, grabbing
breakfast before heading to Glasgow Central purchasing a Roundabout. Today was going to be unplanned but with a
rough idea where to head for, as it was to platform 1 for an empty 380103 to
take me to Williamwood where evidence of the long closed chord from the
East Kilbride line is clear to see with an old bridge by the roadside.
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| Old Railway Bridge (Clarkston Chord) |
I wasn’t around for long before 320303 rolled up to take me
back one stop to Muirend where I changed platforms (after a couple
pictures) before getting shocked when 314209 rolled in. I wasn’t expecting to see a 314 out in this
area on a Sunday, I was surprised with the 320 as I was picturing this line to
be all 380s today. A nice surprise as it
meant a decent farewell to the 314s with the run to the end of the line at Neilston
and the usual 25 minute wait before the same unit departs back to Glasgow, the
unit returned from the turnback siding allowing passengers to take a seat, but
it was a bit chilly, especially with the doors wide open.
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| 314209 at Neilston |
Soon the 314 departed getting up to some speed on the fast
run towards Glasgow, and I decided to alight at Crosshill (annoyed that I could
have probably bailed at Cathcart and had a fast walk to Kings Park), with a
short wait before 380103 rolled in to take me to Burnside where I popped
to a nearby Tesco for lunch before returning to the island platform for the 380
to return from Newton to take me back towards Kings Park. A short fester here before 314209 popped up
again to take me to Kirkhill where I decided to take a little walk to
Cambuslang rather than hanging around for the 314 to return. I decided to turn down a Motherwell bound
service via Hamilton (for Blantyre) for 318252 to take me to Uddingston
where I had a short fester before winner 385119
to roll in from Edinburgh to take me the 8 and a half miles back to
Glasgow Central, annoyingly it now appears on my “sub 10 mile” list, but that
will be a job for another day.
Back at Glasgow Central I had a tight connection onto a
Kilmarnock bound 156499 to take me to Priesthill & Darnley where I
crossed over (not the nicest of platform to platform changes here!) with 156435
taken one stop back to Kennishead, where I had a gentle walk along the road to
reach Thornliebank as it will save a job for another day. A busy 156514 rolled in from East Kilbride to
take me to Crossmyloof where once more I set off on another gentle walk
towards Pollokshields East via Pollokshields West (with its 3 totem
poles!). 314209 returned me to Glasgow
Central as I had another tight connection to board 380021 on the Gourock bound
to take me to Paisley St James, sadly this is where things went wrong as
I noticed on RTT the inbound TPE had been cancelled at Carlisle, so instead of
bailing from 380101 at Hillingdon East for a half hour fester I took it to
Glasgow Central to see what the boards were announcing as I was booked on a TPE
service to Preston, then a Virgin service to London (mainly done on grounds of
cost, and to say farewell to the 350s on TPE).
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| Train in the Pollokshields East area |
After grabbing supplies from Tesco, I returned noticing that
underneath the cancelled TPE it had “use Virgin trains for connections” which
was good news for me as it saved messing around, so once the queue for the
delayed 14:35 service cleared, I went towards the front for the 15:35 service
and headed straight towards coach U to get a prime seat for the long run to
London. 390151 would be the unit taking me south tonight. It got quite busy after Carlisle and where it
did empty out at Preston the people on my table were all in it for the long
run, a nice fast run as well as this is fast from Warrington. Slowed down a bit around Crewe due to a late
running service from Liverpool (which was looped at Stafford), but overall an
enjoyable run.
Due to engineering works the line around Surbiton was
closed, so the fastest way home for me was to go via Reading (as half the Salisbury
trains were starting at Basingstoke with nice connections to the XC, half were
coming from London with frankly poor connections at Basingstoke), so it was to Euston
Square (I still think it can be quicker going Euston – Oxford Circus –
Paddington, even with the change at Oxford Circus), where I got lucky as the
first train was Hammersmith bound 21409/21410 which took me to
Paddington. A quick scan of the
platforms highlighted nothing of interest, so after grabbing something from
Sainsburys is was to 165101 on an Oxford semi-fast, which was quite busy on
departure.
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| "Say Mr Turbo, can you remember the HSTs?" |
A good run to Reading, where it was a short wait before
165124 took me to Basingstoke and a short walk before boarding 159016 &
159014 to take me to Andover, where I drove home. In the schemes of things I got lucky as the
network had collapsed (the next Salisbury train was around half an hour
late). Once home, I sorted out my bag
and had a relaxing half hour before bed, a successful weekend for both my
platform & stations needed for photographs list.
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25th October – The Rail to Glasgow
It was another Friday evening trip to London, once more I
seeked out information on what services my last 3, 321s were working (along
with a 317 which had returned to service after being modified), although my
luck wasn’t in as only one of the 3 were out (but in a way lucky as the other 2
are the modified units so should be around a bit longer).
Due to issues outside Waterloo, the 14:05 from Andover was terminating
at Basingstoke (159015), where it was a short wait for the next Waterloo bound
service (the next Reading stopper had been cancelled, and I didn’t fancy
waiting around for the XC as platform 4 looked very busy). 444005 & 444044 took me to Waterloo,
where I was surprised it didn’t call additionally at Woking, but due to the
limited platforms it did arrive around 15 minutes late, so my idea of swinging
via Stratford went out of the window, instead it was to the Waterloo & City
with set 65501/65502 taken to Bank, followed by 91271/92414/92106 & 91137
on the Central line to take me to Liverpool Street.
I wanted to check a couple services as they came from Ilford
sidings, but they weren’t off interest, so it was to board 317884 leading 317506
for the run to Shenfield (didn’t expect to be scoring my last active 317 for
mileage on the GEML!). A short fester at
Shenfield before I returned to Liverpool Street with 321434 leading
321332 & 321431 which clears my active 321/4 for mileage needs (448 escaped
me, but as that hasn’t turned a wheel in service for months I’ve moved it to my
long term out of use list). A quick scan
of the TfL Rail platforms flagged up winner 345047 which I took to Romford, for a short fester, jumping to
Chadwell Heath on 315830/315851 returning to Romford on 315837 & 315839
before winner 345042 returned from
Shenfield to take me to Liverpool Street.
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| 317506 departs Shenfield... Beep Beep Beep |
A gentle walk to the underground platforms with 21061/21062
taken to Baker Street, where having discovered the next Bakerloo line service
wasn’t for another 14 minutes, I returned to the sub surface line platform for
a 8 minute wait for a Hammersmith & City line train to eventually roll in
(21333/21334) for the slow trip to Paddington, where I barely made it onto dud
345027 for the run to Ealing Broadway, intercepting winner 345049 on the other diagram, so back to Paddington remaining on
board for the run back to Ealing Broadway to push it over ten miles, returning
to Paddington on 345027. Bakerloo line
time with 3256/3553 to Charing Cross, and a gentle walk to the mainline station
with 375807 & 375820 getting a
mileage boost to London Bridge, followed by a run to Orpington on 375620 & 375601,
with a short wait before a stopper rolled in from Sevenoaks, as it featured two
low mileage networkers I decided to jump on board an empty 466. 465156, 465020 & 466012 took me back to London Bridge, followed by
465036, 466008 & 466001 back to
Charing Cross, the 466 getting a little mileage boost.
Due to ‘severe’ delays being reported on the Northern line,
I headed to the Bakerloo platforms for 3533/3246 to take me to Oxford Circus,
followed by 11093/11094 to Euston (full of delays from earlier issues), where I
had a gentle walk over to platform 15 where the lowlander was departing
from. Winner 92043 was up front which put a cherry on the cake, it had been a
while since my last required 92 loco, overall a successful day, another 321
bites the dust along with my last active 317 (missed out on 663 & 722, both
are at Ely in storage).
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| 92043 at Euston |
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