42277 & 42513 – 18:00 & 18:37 Friday 6th June

I got on two trains tonight – 42277 was Carriage B on the 18:00 Bristol Temple Meads service which I caught to Reading and 42513 which was Carriage E on the 18:37 to Frome.

Then I got off the trains.

It’s not going to get any more exciting as Monday morning next week sees my last train for two weeks. How will you cope without the updates?

Probably very well…..

44003, 42211 & 42285 – 06:57, 18:03 & 18:37 Thursday 5th May

 

Oh yeah baby! Back in the swing of things with a three carriage haul today.

This morning’s train was as quietly boring as ever (44003 – Carriage A on the 06:57) but things got more interesting on the way home when @slowpokesam and FGW’s very own floozy, Jess started making electronic eyes at each other over the subject of on-time trains.

But after this bit of fluffy nonsense it got all dirty and grimy with both Jess and Grant defending FGW’s right to “chuck turds around the country” (my words not theirs) with gay abandon. There’s obviously more to this story than meets the eye (now we know why Network Rail engineers wear goggles on the tracks) but anyone who isn’t outraged by a company who deposits human effluence “willy nilly” has a screw loose.

Anyway, I’m off now to curl one off on my drive.

42263 & 42221 – 18:03 & 18:37 Wednesday 4th June

42263 & 42221

Just as I was bemoaning the fact that the last handful of carriages have all been duplicates, the homeward journey threw up two new victims in the form of 42263 (Carriage D on the 18:03 Penzance) and 42221 (Carriage E on the 18:37 Frome.)

That’s all. You can go back to watching this excuse of an England team struggle against Ecuador.

42275 – 15:06 Wednesday 28st May

42275

Those dedicated readers and BGC stalkers amongst you will know or have realised that I am not at work this week due to having five luxurious days off as I move between jobs. As much as part of me wanted to do nothing more than sit in the same pair of pants for 5 days and watch unending episodes of Judge Judy the other part suggested that I use this spare time to get a new pair of trainers, an exciting piece of shopping I’ve been meaning to do for quite a while.

My journey to town was accompanied by a plethora of tweets from FGW’s Queen of Twitter Jess, who after I’d pestered her for the photo to celebrate my 40th capture, went into full flirt mode and pestered me for the whole journey with improper suggestions and crude language. This culminated with an invitation of coffee in the presence of Mr Brunel, which one of us sadly had to turn down. Still her final tweet on the matter, whilst sounding unnerving ominous, looks like it won’t be the last word on the matter.

So trainers safely bought (you really don’t want details on this part do you?) I returned to Paddington and was just wondering whether to catch a straight through train or an earlier one that would see me change at Reading when who did I spot marching up the concourse, reading for signing on for his shift on the twitter lines, none other than the world renown Ollie, FGW’s original tweet lord.

I’m not sure what the correct protocol in this sort of situation is but I decided on one that saw me jumped out at him from behind a pillar and introduce myself. Luckily Ollie did at least realise who I was and obviously I haven’t cheesed off the twitter crowd too much as he didn’t floor me with a right hook. He was also good enough to advise me on my train dilemma and suggested that I go on the Penzance service in order to get another carriage successfully captured. So that’s why a couple of minutes later I was securely sat in Carriage C on the 15:06 and 42275 can now be ticked off the list.

Of course it was only when I got to Reading that I realised that a cheeky selfie of me and the Ol-Meister would have see Jess’s photo dilemma solved, at least until number 60 anyway.

44024, 42291 & 42212 – 06:57, 17:49 & 18:37

44024

42212

Nothing to report in terms of the carriages – It was a new Carriage A (44024) on the way to work and a combination of a Carriage C (42291 – alas a duplicate) and a Carriage D (42212) on the way home. 

The most exciting thing was sharing a seat with a female cyclist who was wearing a yellow cardigan, a day-glo orange vest and carrying a bright green bag. She was coughing so hard she dropped her helmet (a red one).

But the interesting thing was getting a reply from Leo (remember him – bushy beard, doesn’t clear up after himself) about what Carriage X might mean. He was helped by @Paul_MK5 who sounds like he’s forgotten more about trains than I will know in two lifetimes. Anyway Carriage X might mean any of the following:

A spare carriage used for outsize baggage.

A carriage on the way to a depot.

Used on a 6 standard class carriage train to stop 2 carriages having the same letter.

An extra car on “special” 9 car sets.

A replacement for a 1st class carriage.

So basically anything you want it to be. Mystery solved. 

Excelsior!

44008 & 42166 – 06:57 & 20:45 Wednesday 21st May

44008

Another double entry but a much more exciting one than yesterday.

This morning’s journey was pretty run of the mill. Carriage A on the 06:57 saw me manage to ticked 44008 off my ever bulging list of Carriage A’s now captured.

42166

However the return journey was full of excitement and this report will no doubt have you hanging onto your hats and sitting on the edge of your seats.

I clambered aboard the 20:45 Bristol Temple Meads service after a evening drink and office pub quiz only to find that what should have been Carriage E (well it was in that position anyway) was actually labelled as Carriage X. 42166 was fitted out with the VOLO screens so perhaps it had also previously been a Carriage D but whatever the history of the carriage both I and FGW didn’t have a clue why it was bearing this letter.

X marks the spot.

So there’s a mystery to be solved here and you can rest assured that I will leave no stone unturned to discover the story behind the mystery Carriage X!

Jess…! Jess…..!