Northern Free Travel Vouchers Part 1 - 26/01/11

After complaining about being thrown out of Declassified First Class in January 2010 , I was given some travel vouchers and decided to finally use one of them.

The moves were a circular journey around Yorkshire as follows :-

Poynton - Manchester Piccadilly 323235
Manchester Victoria - Selby 158752
Selby - Hull 158903
Hull - Scarborough 158795
Scarborough - Hull 158795
Hull - Sheffield 158851
Sheffield - Manchester Piccadilly 142062
Manchester Piccadilly - Poynton 323239

02/01/11 "The Piccadilly"

My First Bash of 2011, a run into Manchester for a pub lunch at The Piccadilly with Sir Haigh,Alex Roberts,Andy Sheridan,James Howse,Chris Harvey and Jake Shaw. Afterwards we did a bit of GM Rail Ranger bashing. A visit to the Sportsbar to watch the footie and have some more drinks finished the day/night off nicely.

Moves of the day

Poynton - Stockport  Bakerbus 108

Stockport - Manchester Piccadilly 390044

Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport 390040

Stockport - Manchester Piccadilly 150256 (Winning Unit)

Manchester Piccadilly - Salford Crescent 156429

Salford Crescent - Manchester Victoria 150138

Manchester Victoria - Piccadilly Gardens 1025

Piccadilly Gardens - Piccadilly 3003

Manchester Piccadilly - Stockport 220022

Stockport - Poynton 323237

Red Dot Day - The End of 2010

Haven't updated this for a while so I will bring it up to date.

30th December was red dot day at Nottingham which meant for £15 I could have Unlmited Travel for the day on East Midlands Trains. I set off nice and early as it takes time to get to Nottingham. The train was also 20 minutes late which meant that I ended up in Nottingham an hour late.

I got the first Meridian to Leicester,alighted then and got the next Meridian non-stop to London St Pancras Domestic. When I got to London I decided to try out the Class 395 Javelin High Speed service to Ashford so got my ticket, went over to Kings Cross for some photts then came back tried to find the Southeastern High Speed platforms but missed the next train to Margate so had to wait for the next one which was a Dover Priory service. The ride quality wasn't as good as a Pendolino but it was acceptable and the interior was lovely and roomy. We didn't get to go above 125mph as the train was on-time.

43089 was out and about again with it's new MTU engine on thr front of Neville Hill EMT Set 3 so I hitched a ride behind it back to Leicester.

So here were my full moves for the day

150222 Poynton - Stockport

185110 Stockport - Sheffield

158863 (Betty!!!) Sheffield - Nottingham

222018 Nottingham - Leicester

222010 Leicester - London St Pancras

395028 London St Pancras - Ashford International

395018 Ashford International - St Pancras

43089+NL03+43075 St Pancras - Leicester

222016+222102 Leicester - Derby

222004 Derby - Sheffield

185116 Sheffield - Stockport

323227 Stockport - Poynton

Total Mileage 528.01

Total 2010 Miles 12732.60

And that's it for 2010, an immense year that has taken me to many new places :- Sunderland,Newcastle,Peterborough,Lymington Pier for the last 3-CIG slammer door units on the network,ferry cross the Mersey,Gunnislake,Salisbury,Swindon,Portsmouth,Fratton,Fareham,Southampton,Worksop,Lincoln and Whitwell

Thank you to everyone who I've been out with in 2010 and here's to another year of fun!

Climbing the Snow Hill 20/12/2010

So it's -8 Celcius outside, there's snow everywhere and the footpaths are slippy.
Just the right time to go to Birmingham with Purch & Co ? Of course not but to hell with sensible decisions.

The day was Crazy

people everywhere,trains cancelled,trains diverted,birds flying round the train,crazy tones off drivers,trains going nowhere fast, snowfights waiting for delayed trains,a visit to the Pub,passengers waiting hours for trains that arn't coming.

The main rail objectove was to clear the new bay platforms at Moor Street for bash. Slip sliding down the Brummie pavements was an unexpected bonus.

And now for observation of the week :-

Two sets of stairs
one blocked with people and one empty for me to walk casually down, get onto the train and get first dibs of all the empty seats , while Joe Andrews & his wife are still dithering on the other. Rail Passengers they really are like uncoordinated sheep.

The Trains :-

323226 Poynton - Stoke
220013 Stoke - Birmingham New Street
323240 Bimringham New Street - Smethwick Galton Bridge
323219 Smethwick Galton Bridge - Birmingham New Street
170114 Birmingham New Street - Nuneaton
350258 Nuneaton - Stafford
350256 Stafford - Crewe
156410 Crewe - Stoke
220021 Stoke - Birmingham New Street
165039 Birmingham Moor Street - Solihul
165037 Solihul - Birmingham Moor Street

Total Miles : 304.34
Total Miles for 2010 : 12,204