i know i've not been posting much to my site recently this is due to the lack of time, lazyness or working or as of august going to see my new girlfriend.
as seen on my youtube or in some cases my photo site you know what i've done or been up to except for a few things i did in autumn wich i've not yet published but i will be putting these things on my youtube in january 2013
other than that all i can say is happy new year, bring on 2013 and i hope to see you again or meet you for the first time soon
after the NVR steam gala things went back to their usual self with me at the apprentiship, seeing my lady friend and general buisness with the extended family with little in the way of trains
coming back to the NVR,
28/09/11 the NVR was visited by the real Duke of Gloucester who in turn rode behind 71000. i was going to see this but by the time it was anywhere beyond wansford i'd already given up and gone to see my lady. It wasn't long before i was back on NVR soil and firstly because i was on the apprentiship the next day and secondly because the visiting diesels for the diesel gala this weekend were arriving on the railway.
after the apprentiship finished i quickly went home and got my cameras and scooted back to orton mere. fortunately the convoy ran late and gave me more time to set up and sort out. As an added bonus when the convoy arrived i received tip of that 71000 Duke of Gloucester was coming down the line on a photographic charter so i hung around to see that. after the duke arrived the diesels headed to wansford shortly followed by the Duke.
the next day i again went to NVR soil. I was originally going for my apprentiship but due to cancelation for the day due to the tutor not being able to come in i went along with plan B... you probably guessed already... DIESEL GALA!!! i spend most the day out in the blistering sun photting and videoing the diesels on day one of the gala to the nice effect of the trains running. the timetable ran to time and the diesels put on a nice show. they even got appretiation off the horses in the field between ferry meadows and wansford...
This year's steam gala for the nene valley railway appeared to be a stunner for this year with two visiting locos in the form of 4936 Kinlet hall & 71000 Duke Of Gloucester with support from 73050 City Of Peterborough being seen with 71000 for the first time since they met in 1954, 44422 & 22.
i went on the saturday and it seemed a good day but from the start trains were running late. things got to the rediculous point that passenger trains were on top of each other which meant they had to cancel one passenger train and the last outings of the day for the freight and the TPO which left me rather annoyed after waiting over an hour in a field when i could've been home with my lass.
it's such a sham this happened as the nene valley had a chance to redeem itself and bring itself back into the ranks of good railways with good steam galas. maybe next year the gala will work to time and be a bigger crowd puller
20th August 2011
the apprentiship started very well with a few things i already knew but i'm learning a lot about the job they're training me up to do and i hope to get out doing some practical work soon
on this day (20th august) i woke early and scooted off down to london as i was fortunate to be carrying a ticket for a railtour called the limestone cowboy
the tour was brilliant with literally all track i went over was new for me as were all the locomotives on the tour (92042, 66122, 66121 & 92016) all the class 92s were DB red with the 66s being EWS gold
the legs with the class 66s were the more popular with people wanting to get a view but the 92 legs popular for the class 92 fans however all 66 legs ran to time but there was a fair bit of late running with the sheds. the 92s on the other hand ran to time with regular ontime running meaning signal checks
thank fully i arrived back into london euston ontime so i was able to run to king's cross and get on the 22:00 back to peterborough
all praise for this tour must go to UKRailtours for providing yet another fantastic tour which actually sold out and DB Shenker for providing the wonderful locos & of course to my lady for being wonderful
things tbh were on the quiet side in July but i finished off nicely with a holiday to norfolk with the GF for a week, we had an awesome time and met some new friends (more a case of her meeting new friends as i have none)
as for the future things are pretty much dying for my hobby as i dedicate myse
sunday afternoon after having lunch with my extended family most of us went out to thorpe hall in peterborough to visit the miniature railway that's currently based there. the owning group peterboroughsme are in their last season at thorpe hall before needing to go find new facilities in the town. the site is a brilliant place where you can ride trains of 3 1/2" gauge, 5" gauge or 7 1/4" gauge. the track is 1100ft long and offers an excelent ride for just 50p a trip.
i would thoroughly reccoment visiting before their season closes on the 23rd of october (their last public running day at thorpe hall) and they also have an open day on the 20th of august where they will offer free train rides
and now to start July.
wallet funds are low so i had to choose what to do. did i do one yarmouth drag return or do i go and see oliver cromwell at diss, stowmarket or ipswich?
in the end i went with cromwell at diss. this was to make up for my failier the last time i went to see the ol' girl there earlier in the year and the results from this time were much better. after this i had the joy of being able to chase her to norwich. unfortunately due to the time of cromwell taking the ECS out of norwich i missed my 170 to ely so had to get on a scud. despite of this i also got plenty of brilliant photos from the day (check my photos section/panoramio site)
i left norfolk relatively early to go see my GF again fun fun fun :D
apologies all who were expecting me to be more updative with my blog. I recently got myself a new girlfriend which has predominantly diverted my concentration from my site (well you can't just ignore them/drag their attention away)
June (well the rest of it) was spent going back and forth to the seaside/north norfolk.
the 11th of June i went up with mates to great yarmouth for the drags doing all the drags behind a DRS class 47, the 18th i was back on some of the drags as a positioning train to a holiday/camp (tenting kind) ralley in gorleston which is right next door to great yarmouth. the 25th of June i was off course train and place wise as i went with the extended family to hunstanton. by luck of faith my girlfriend and her family were at hunstanton too so i went home with her and her family. that pretty much sums up the rest of June 2011 to be honest. while traffic on the railways was on the up in terms of extras etc i didn't see as much as i normally would've, mind you i'm not complaining as i've been busy elsewhere ;)
thursday the 2nd of July and i was on my travels again and once again via the capital. today i visited the south devon railway. i started off on a poopy class 317 to london and took the same route as my island trip (piccadilly & northern line) to waterloo where i jumped on a class 159 to exeter st davids (had to change there for totnes) the train split at salisbury but i was in the right coach before anyone asks. when i got to exeter i brought my ticket to totnes and by my surprise the next train was a cross country HST (scratching my last TOC of today HST out my books) the flight along the sea wall was delicious and was soon in totnes where i walked to the south devon railway where GWR 2-6-2 5526 was waiting, got this to staverton where i got on collet goods 0-6-0 3205 for a round trip from staverton to totnes and back again where i got the prarie back to totnes and after that departed headed home, this time on an FGW HST changing again at exeter for my 159 to waterloo where i again went bakerloo & victoria lines this time however getting 09 stock on the victoria. at king's cross problems arose, i got lost and missed a peterborough train by secongs and they let it go early so i had to wait half an hour for another FCC (i could only use FCC on this day) luckily this time it was a 365 but i missed out on a 321. route home was delayed by 15 minutes because of a broken east coast train. despite of this it was still a brilliant day and had a nice party to go to when i got back to peterborough with my (not known then but know now) new GF and her/our mates
monday the 31st of may i went to york and the national railway museum to see recently restored 4472 in wartime black livery. as soon as i got to york i was graced by a class 47 from colas rail so copped it and then scooted to the NRM where i was 2nd in after opening. during this time i vegged round the flying scotsman and looked at all the other exhibits. i also got a small steam ride behind a pecket 0-4-0 called teddy after it's owner, in the over flow car park near the museum looking towards the works i also saw the NRM's class 37 and 47 (bonus). after lunch i popped back to the mainline station to bash a grand central, this turned out to be a HST much to my pleasure. i went to northallerton for a bit, after my previous experience with this terrible location i didn't want to stay long so get the next TPE back to york where i went back to the museum for a bit. when 4 o'clock ticked i was off again, this time on another HST in the shape of VP185s owned by east coast (formerly EMT) with new east coast brandings back to peterborough. another brilliant day and i can't wait to see 4472 again
