Thank you. It was indeed.
I'm trying to get the rest of these reports done asap before things start opening up again next month.
Now...
04/08/20 Rail Rover Day 3 of 7
Again starting early with
455 804 + 455 808 from Epsom to London Bridge, this time
700 133 took me through the core with no problems and on to Peterborough, passing
66 125 at Biggleswade. At Peterborough I continued my journey with
801 111 + 801 108, a required pair, to Doncaster. Aside from
66 731 and
66 720, nothing else was sighted until Doncaster itself, where
66 414, 66 533, 66 777, 66 712, 66 714, 66 155, 37 612, 67 001 and
08 724 were present, along with
331 104. My move onwards to York was required
801 221.
From York, a fairly relaxed change to Leeds was had on unfortunately dud
802 202 while
802 213 headed the other way! This was forced because gen was received advising me that the only 158 I needed for photo was at Sheffield - and the quickest way there was to continue on another dud,
158 796. This ability to change plans at a moment's notice really demonstrates the value of the flexibility of an all line rover! Before leaving Leeds, however, I noted
66 780 and
195 114. Midland Road, not surprisingly, provided a fest with
70 013, 70 002, 70 019, 70 011, 70 020, 66 598 and
66 561 all present.
Sure enough,
158 816 was lurking in the west end shed at Sheffield and a picture was duly taken. I then quickly did pictures of
195 013 and
195 014 before getting the first available train back to Leeds in the shape of my third dud haulage in a row,
158 906. This move gave me my first sighting of a traim, with
399 203 passing at Rotherham, where I also snapped a couple of industrial shunters at a steelworks. At Wakefield, we were on the high lines while
66 724 passed below on the low lines and that also fell victim to my shutter.
Following arrival back at Leeds,
68 023 + TP09 was my next haulage; the locomotive at least was required but the rake was dud! Also noted present was
331 107. I bailed at Dewsbury and got dud
158 753 back to Leeds where a quick move from one end of the station to the other allowed me to board
195 007 on one of the York shuttle diagrams.
802 217 was also at Leeds at the time. Neville Hill was host to
195 127, amongst other stuff, and at Crossagtes it was again time to bail out, grab a quick picture and then make the long slog over to the other platform to intercept
195 009 + 195 012 back to Leeds on the other shuttle diagram.
By now I had plotted my moves back to London in such a way as to gain three required zoomy things for haulage. This meant ignoring the temptations of
802 218, 195 010 and
331 103 in favour of
800 204 to Doncaster and
801 213 south from there. Below Doncaster I added
66 733, 66 737 and
66 723 to the morning's collection, saw
195 005 on the low level line at Retford and netted a few more locomotives at Peterborough:
66 788, 66 771, 66 775, 66 786, and
66 951. A photograph was obtained of
700 138 simply because it was at a good angle in good light. Passing northbound were
801 103 + 801 109, but my quarry was
801 206 onwards to King's Cross, from where I again walked to St Pancras and took
700 030 to Sutton for
377 616 home to Epsom.
As usual, below are a few of the images captured on the day.