Techniquest's Glorious Escape, 24th February 2014

[Techniquest]

Hi all,

I'm starting this one now, with an aim to finish it off later this week. Hopefully it won't take as long as it has on other occasions...For those of you on Twitter, the Live Trip Report will commence from around 0730, the hashtag will be #LMGEfeb14 (changed it as #LMGE brought up other stuff too) so if you're on there later on in the day a search for that should bring up everything in one go

24th February 2014 - Techniquest's Glorious Escape

The trip name gives a hint as to the purpose of today's trip, and that is to do a London Midland Great Escape. I'm expecting it to not only be great, I'm expecting it to be glorious hence the trip name. As I type the beginning of this write-up at 0109, I'm well excited about the events of the day and how things will go. The opportunity to escape the shackles of home and work again cannot be turned down! However, some doss is required so it's off to bed to get some shut eye. I'll be back soon with more of this, and for those reading the "Trains you've seen working" thread, I expect to have quite the list of entries for that!

By 0400 I've given up sleeping, although I managed a bit of a lie down and finished reading a book of The Avengers a colleague lent me so happy with that As I type this new bit at 0509 I've had a massive coffee and a toasted muffin for a very early breakfast. Need more caffeine...Still, bring on 0630 when I leave for the 0645 bus to Hereford! Having killed some fester time on Burnout Paradise, I finish getting ready and leave at 0630 for the usual stallion on the 0645 to Hereford, where I alight at the station to stock up on supplies for the trip. Time next to get my First Class Great Escape ticket...
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Well, that was unexpected!I happened to bump into a tweet from LM, apparently there had been 3 others regarding Worcester but I didn't find them. It was saying that the 0710 Hereford to New Street was expected to be 35 minutes late. Great I think to myself, still won't make that. As we round the corner to the station however, the 170 is just going to reverse, so I run off the bus at 0744 and find no queue. Phew! The clerk doesn't believe Hereford's in the unrestricted green area on the map (it never used to be!), but after checking the leaflet he reluctantly sells me my First Class Great Escape for £25. 170632+170507 (I'm assuming the 0734 was merged with the 0709 today) roll in to run the 0709 Hereford to New Street, and we leave 43 minutes late at 0752. Never expected to make this train, indeed I've never done it before and I am pretty much the only non-crew person on board!

Fortunately I had some squash with me otherwise it would have been an awkward journey! There will have been some unhappy passengers at Great Malvern today too, as for some reason the doors didn't stay open long enough to let anyone on! So until Malvern Link it remains a ghost town on this train, a most peculiar and abnormal experience for me! At least I'll reach Birmingham much earlier than expected and might be able to squeeze in some extra action!

To be continued later...

 

[GatwickDepress]

I'm sure you'll be wishing it was a ghost town again come the evening rush! Lovely read, I'll be waiting for an update.

 

[Techniquest]

I never got around to typing up more during the day! To be fair, it still wasn't too bad after Droitwich which for the time of the day was mind-blowing.

Not got the patience to type up anything more just yet, but it will be done soon!
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Before I continue this, I ought to provide a reason why it's taken me ages to get on with this today. I was trawling the internet looking for a particular song, and FINALLY found it. Delerium - Silence was the song, it's been pestering me for almost 2 weeks! A most classic tune from 2000, and I'd highly recommend having a listen! Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTLJjoW867g

Right then, since I didn't get it done on my way to/from work yesterday after all, it's time to get this thing finished! Where was I...

After the change of direction at Worcester-super-Mare [this is a joke which started last week for those just joining us on the epic story of my bashing career - Ed], I change sides and re-set up base camp since it was still ridiculously quiet on the train. Never known a peak time train been this quiet, I wonder what it would have like if it had been on time. Droitwich soon comes and goes, after which it's time for some happy hardcore [never let it be said I don't have a variety of different music in my tastes! Rock, pop both old and modern, metal, trance, happy hardcore and the occasional bit of drum 'n' bass! - Ed]! For those who wonder what I'm on about, I'd recommend YouTube'ing Breeze and Styles' You're Shining, Hixxy's Nothing, Breeze and Styles' Let's Fly and Bonkers 9 Connection/Sonic for just a few examples. For those really adventurous folk, Scott Majestic's Acid Dreams is also recommended but I warn thee, it's a monster

Going RA through Bromsgrove is an unexpected but welcome pleasure, and eventually we arrive 45 minutes late at t'Street at 0923. Dud 350128 is on the 0933 to Euston, so I decide to march off to Tesco Metro to stock up on supplies. The 0954 to Euston is dud 350259, so I return to observing the Liverpool train. Thankfully it rolls in on the 0804 from Lime Street with winner 350246, that'll do quite nicely. Couldn't afford to spend any longer here waiting for a winner! Very much nice and relaxed in First Class, until Crewe I was the only one in it! After tweeting an update, it's time for the chicken, bacon and stuffing sarnie I got earlier, it's been almost 6 hours since the muffin I had for breakfast. The Metro gets flicked through, in which I retrieved some useful vouchers. Out of both Basford Hall and the LNWR depot, I could only observe 86501 to my surprise. I see 350108 awaiting time to leave with the 1102 to Euston, it being noteworthy as it's one of my last 350/1s to get. I bail at Winsford for the shack scratch and the 1108 to New Street is significantly late thanks to the earlier signalling problems at Dudley Port. Indeed, the 1034 from Liverpool ended up starting back at South Parkway due to being terminated there on the inbound working, those delays must have been quite major earlier then!

It was definitely worth the wait though as it's winner 350111, two more to get now. Only on to Crewe for the next train back up, this time to Acton Bridge to scratch the shack. Much to my extreme surprise, it's now the third winner of the day and in a row, but more importantly it's 350122 which means it's down to just 350108 to clear the 350/1s now! Cue a hunt for some gen and some scouring of what were trees in a past life [yes I liked this joke from last week so much I'm re-using it. For those unaware, this refers to a paper timetable - Ed] to work out its next working! A fair numbers of freights have been seen all day, but I've not been able to ID many of them yet, thanks to Real Time Trains (RTT) I've managed to find out their origins and destinations at least for the "Trains you've seen working" thread. 70019 works a Garston to Crewe Basford Hall train, which I needed for sight which was a nice surprise! I still need Hartford, but I'll come back another day since I've got it confirmed 350108 is working the 1446 Euston to Crewe, and I'm only just going to be able to catch it where I want it. It's dud 350238 on the next move which I'm on to Stafford.

Just after Crewe I do manage to see 5Z35 Burton on Trent to Carnforth, but I couldn't ID the loco. Time to visit Pumpkin during the short interval at Stafford before the next train, as a coffee was badly needed now. Not had one since 0645 hock: As expected, the 1302 Crewe to Euston is dud with 350120. I double-check my planned connection and I see it's booked for a tight +5 at Milton Keynes Central. I've crossed my fingers in the hope of no delays now! Been a most enjoyable run down t'Valley I must admit, probably helps I'm in First Class mind Not much of note now all the way (and I never realised just how far Stafford to Milton Keynes is, according to RailMiles it's 83 miles) except that it's SO nice to avoid Northampton for a change. We arrive at 1515 and I had no need to be concerned about the connection, as it's late coming up. No worries then, gives me time to get a coffee from Pumpkin and redeem my full collector card. It is indeed 350108 and I quietly celebrated finally getting the last one in the book. A dampner did get put on the day during the wait though, as I get a phone call to say my brother's been very ill and had to go to the hospital. Fortunately he was OK after they got his blood pressure back up but he's still not exactly well yet

It was still nice to finally clear the 350/1s, after all it's been a long time since I started on them [I'm thinking something like 2005? No doubt someone can clarify that one for me. Certainly been a good few years now - Ed] and for a while I thought I was never going to get them done! However, after this my luck was nowhere to be seen, everything was dud regardless of whether I was able to get on it or not for the rest of the day. Well, except for 350267 on the 1935 New Street to Liverpool but that was no good to me! Obviously everything I needed must have been south of Milton Keynes, harsh times. Especially since I spent 1 hour and 24 minutes festering at Coventry later on for a winner, at least I have a ton of stuff to add to the "Trains you've seen working" thread as a result After I get dud 350105 forward from Rugby to Canley and dud 350103 back to Coventry, I eventually end up on dud 350110 on the heavily delayed 1554 Euston to New Street. Unlike the one an hour before, which had been made non-stop to New Street to recover some time and get back out on an Euston service quickly, our one gets pined at Birmingham International instead. Not that it was a bad thing in the end, as I got to micro-grice the crossover from the Down Main to the Up Main and into platform 5!

Dud 350252 takes the massive group of us forward to New Street and it felt like forever getting there. I realise later that, by the time I started eating again, it had been well over 8 hours since my last bit of food. No wonder I was friggin' starving! It also felt like a hundred years getting off the platform at New Street too, as a large group of people were trying to board 350252 going back to London, as an equally large group of people were trying to get down the narrow platform! Finally I reach the stairs and could have challenged Usain Bolt to get up them quicker, as I was glad the Desiro fest had finally ended and I could finally get some food. Yes I could have got something from Pumpkin at Coventry or something, but it would have been heavily chingy and not worth eating! I get up to McDonalds and find the queues are quite reasonable. As soon as I get my Big Mac and fries for the bargain of £1.99, I dive straight into the fries and I swear I let out a massive "MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!" as a result! Shame there was no unexpected bonus cheeseburger this time though!

Back at the station, the 1740 from Hereford is late arriving, when 153371 and 170510 eventually roll in the boarding of everyone is surprisingly quick and we leave 7 minutes late. Now to get some bookwork done, with all of it bar transferring the observations of the day into the notebook, and obviously this write-up done, just after Worcester. Time now to supplement my tea with the packet of Doritos I'd had in my bag all day. How did I forget about those?! After which, the passenger survey I received at Coventry is filled in [must remember to put it in the post later actually! - Ed] and I got so into it I didn't even see Colwall or Ledbury! We arrive back into Hereford at 2055 and I make my way to the bus station, as I don't trust the buses at this time of day at the station's stop, not since being left there stranded on more than a couple of occasions, for the bus home and I get back to the house around 2216, over 15 and a half hours after leaving this morning. By 2325 I was falling asleep watching TV after my ham sandwich and a packet of Wotsits, so I head to bed and don't wake up until 1230 on Tuesday. The same time I normally leave the house for work, I must have needed the deep sleep!

Overall, an excellent day with circa 380 miles in the book, 4 winners and 2 winning shacks. Think it's still 17 350/2s I need, looks like it'll be a lot of time down that way on the next Great Escape! Bring on the next bash I say, wherever it'll be to and hopefully it's not far away!

 

[Galvanize]

A great read as ever, keep them coming!

 

[Techniquest]

Thanks Lord Graves Still waiting for Mr Underwood to comment yet mind

Another one will be coming soon, might be out tomorrow but if not look out for Techniquest's Been On Foreign Territory next week