Thanks chaps.
Anyway, I'm feeling rather jubilant this morning and I thought I'd post this out of sequence.
There are other write-ups to come later but for now, there's this.
I thought I would do this report slightly differently.
Instead of going through the moves I will cover each loco individually, in the order my goal was achieved.
At the end of March I needed five class 91s to clear the class for a thousand miles each.
There have been times when I really thought I wouldn’t manage it; too many non-railway commitments, coupled with the fact that I regularly go further afield and do moves not involving the East coast meant that things were looking uncertain once the Azuma’s were introduced.
The five low mileage ones were 91112/119/120/126 & 131.
So, in the order that I achieved my aim, here they are.
91126
This loco had sat on 985 miles for several months.
I had no gen and just happened to be at Leeds when I spotted it in platform 6.
It was the 25th of May and a Doncaster run saw it join the club.
A sign of the times was that my return was on my first LNER 800 –
800113.
91119
Celebrity 91119 had been the closest of the five to the magic mark, sitting as it did on 995 miles at the start of April.
45135 and I did another “North East Round Robin” on the 1st of June.
This time we had seen a list of what was working and knew we could head it off at Darlington.
A 185 was taken from Leeds and 119 was intercepted without issue.
Darlington to York saw me clear it, but Carl still needed a few more miles to achieve the same, so we made sure we met it at Darlington on its return North, this time taking it to Newcastle.
91119_2019.06.01_2_Newcastle by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
As an aside, at Newcastle we saw 185127.
Nothing unusual about that, apart from the fact that 51127 was my last 185 coach required for a ride in.
After 91119 we did 91128 to York then hung around before getting my one hundred and fifty third 185 vehicle back to Leeds
I was now left with three requirements.
Since I took the decision to attempt the mileage chase the bottom spot in the list had only been occupied by two locos – 91120 and 91131.
Only a few months ago my thinking was that 19 and 26 would be got, 12 might reach the target but 20 and 31 were impossible.
I was wrong.
91120
I first took close notice of my 91 mileage in 2014, slowly building up to chasing them over the next couple of years.
At that time 91120 had been on just a couple of hundred miles.
Over the ensuing years it continued to prove elusive with me picking up the odd run here and there.
A couple of good runs in March saw it reach the dizzy heights of the mid-700s.
I was on a North East, gen free, on the 27th of May when I was pleased to observe it pulling into platform 4 at Doncaster.
Naturally it was done for the full 112 miles to Newcastle.
As it was next stop Edinburgh that was the maximum I could get that day.
Four days later (it was a four day in eight rover) I did see some gen.
20 was heading South, which meant a trip as far North as I could get, which was Durham.
HST power cars 43307 and 43318 took me there.
A run to Doncaster meant that 120 was now just thirty-five miles short.
The 8th of June was a Saturday.
This was lucky as it meant my latest 4-in-8 rover didn’t have time restrictions.
I had a quick look on-line when I got up and saw that 120 was working to York.
A quick departure from the house saw me reaching Shipley at 06.30 in time for 91114 on the Forster Square to London service.
This was done to Leeds before I transferred to the morning Aberdeen HST, formed of 43311 and 43300.
I was over the moon to get the visual proof that 120 had done what the quote suggested and was stood in the bay at York.
A Doncaster move would leave me just short, but my rover was valid to Retford and the York’s stop there, so that’s where I went.
91120_2019.06.08_1_Retford by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
Of all the class, clearing this one gave me the most satisfaction.
Although I obviously still had two to go.
The 8th was a very good day.
After doing something else that I will come to shortly I had spotted my last LNER HST power car sat facing South in the bay at York, therefore
43272 was roped in for a run from Doncaster to Retford before a second trip of the day on 120.
91131
When April began 131 was the bottom of the heap.
It stood at around the 670-mile mark.
Surely I wouldn’t manage that.
I hadn’t even had it for the year at that point.
My first run on it of 2019 was on the 24th of May.
I wasn’t on anything more than my M-Card so only had it for the ten miles from Leeds to Wakefield – I didn’t really see the point in forking out for a Donny trip when it was so far short of the target but would have felt bad had I just let it go without getting something from it.
A week later and I now had a NE rover.
131 was on Leeds turns and I had a round trip from Doncaster before catching the HST to Durham and my appointment with 120.
The following day, the 1st of June, was the day myself and 45135 cleared 119.
We also managed a run on 91131, from York to Newcastle.
I began another 4-in-8 rover on the 7th.
As with 120 the week before, 131 was on York turns.
I managed to get to Retford for it and had a round trip; just shy of a hundred miles meant that, for the first time since I started this venture, a 91 other than 20 or 31 was my lowest mileage one.
That was now 91112.
I wasn’t finished with 131, though.
It was now about eighty-five miles short.
I said earlier that the 8th of June was a good day.
It was somehow appropriate that, having split the bottom spot between them for most of the time, I should clear 91120 and 91131 on the same day.
After my run on 120 to Retford I now had to get to Durham.
91109, on a York terminator, then 91121, took me there.
It wasn’t without its stress though.
I was supposed to have a plus seventeen but 91121 lost time hand over fist and I reached Durham with three minutes to spare.
Three minutes to get from one platform to the other at Durham is not a comfortable position to be in!
I made a rapid walk over and the DVT was just entering the platform as I walked on.
Durham to York would have left me just short, so it had to be Doncaster.
It was at York that I spotted 43272 waiting to follow.
91131_2019.06.08_Doncaster by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
Then there was one.
91112
For some time I’ve identified 112 as the runt of the litter.
It seems to be a really poor performer and is frequently out of action.
I needed it for ninety miles.
As we entered June it was one of the few I hadn’t sampled for the year.
A couple of years ago it was in mid-table, now it was at the bottom.
Friday the 14th was the last day of my latest rover.
I really didn’t want to keep buying rovers in the hope of it producing, so fingers crossed it would drop today.
I was in luck.
Not only was it working but I could also combine the move with a spin on what is predicted to be the last 90 from Leeds.
It also meant I scooped a new station in
142078 started me off by taking me from Low Moor to Leeds.
Here 90019 was waiting to take the penultimate 90 propelled service, the 10.15.
This was done to Doncaster and after a couple of photos I had a short wait until 112 on the 11.08 departure to Edinburgh.
Newcastle would have seen it cleared but I figured now was as good a time as any to take advantage of the fact that this service calls at
Alnmouth.
147 miles after boarding I bailed out and quietly celebrated a feat that I will almost certainly only achieve with one class.
Unfortunately, Alnmouth is not a good spot to photograph the loco you've just got off:
91112_2019.06.14_Alnmouth by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
I had an hour at Alnmouth during which I got a few photos, triumphantly texted 45135 and pondered my next move.
I knew I had to take a Voyager (or wait a further hour) to at least Newcastle.
However, I also knew that 90019’s supposed last ever working out of Leeds was booked to be the 16.15.
The Voyager I was waiting for was due into Leeds at 16.07.
140 miles on a Voyager?
I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t at least try to make the last one, so 220019 & 220021 were done for much further than I would have liked (had it been a single set I probably wouldn’t have bothered).
At Leeds it was straight off, over the bridge and back into the same coach I’d done in the morning.
A run to Doncaster, more photos and that was that.
The last one?
90019_2019.06.14_2_Doncaster by
Phil Wood, on Flickr
I was now going to get the next thing home.
My blood ran cold when I was stood on platform 4.
There was an Azuma in platform 1, another in platform 3 and my train pulling in was a further example,
800103.
Three 800s and not a 91 in sight.
I don’t think I cleared them a moment too soon.