So for the last day of March I was back onto a Devon Day Ranger! To be honest this is a bit of a come down after being on a Freedom of the South West Rover as you are obviously limited to Devon and the chances for winning trains are now getting few and far between! But for £6.60 you can't complain about the price.
I decided that the day would include a visit to Exmouth for lunch in The Powder Monkey Wetherspoon but the rest of it would be searching for the winning trains. Would this be my first day without a single winner for haulage (excluding days where it's not a ranger or rover)?
I set off on the usual 0925 XC service from Plymouth. Just as my train was approaching Newton Abbot I saw a winning 150243 heading West. It was heading to Penzance. I managed to work out that it was then returning to Gunnislake, then to Plymouth, back to Gunnislake before heading on to Liskeard. Due to the times involved (and still wanting to go to the Wetherspoons) I worked out that I would need to be in Plymouth for the 1638 to Gunnislake. Ok!
I met Peter at Newton Abbot on another XC service where we changed at Dawlish for the Cardiff - Paignton service. This is sometimes made up of 2 Class 150 units. They were duff so now it was time to make our way to Exmouth. On the way as we stopped at Topsham for the crossover i saw 150130. This was my other required 150 for haulage! Onwards to Exmouth and trying to work out how i can get both units in I worked out that 150130 should be on a service that I could make a quick move on to get it in before heading to Plymouth.
That plan went out the window when we returned from Exmouth and at Exeter St Davids was a winning Voyager. Now seeing as these can be anywhere in the country I went for that to Tiverton Parkway. The return service would allow me to meet 150243 at Plymouth which is what i did.
Now my attention turned to working out where 150130 would now be! My calculations suggested that 1825 off Plymouth would allow me to meet it at Exeter St Davids. This turned out to be correct and i got it! I finished the day by returning to Tiverton from Newton and then back to Plymouth. Seeing as though i was already late out i went for a big mileage day on a Devon. 394 miles in total and that was with a big chunk of time spent on two branch lines!
The moves i made are here and winners highlighted in red.
221123 1S39 (0925) PLY - NTA
220010 1M41 (1013) NTA - DWL
150131 2C67 (1050) DWL - TRR
43005 1A82 (1116) TRR - EXD
143603 2F25 (1218) EXD - EXM
142009 2B78 (1353) EXM - EXD
159020 1L56 (1426) EXD - EXC
159103 1L29 (1436) EXC - EXD
220021 1M93 (1444) EXD - TVP
43190 1C84 (1501) TVP - PLY
150243 2G77 (1638) PLY - GSL
150243 2C51 (1729) GSL - PLY
221135 1M83 (1825) PLY - EXD
150130 2T27 (1928) EXD - NTA
43181 1A35 (2022) NTA - TVP
43033 1C94 (2058 7 late) TVP - EXD
43179 1C95 (2124 3 late) EXD - PLY
What a totally unexpected day! I wasn't expecting much and to be home by my normal time of 1900. But i managed to finish my FGW 150s for haulage and one more 220. It did mean it was a long day but it was worth it.
All that's left on current stock allocations that may come down here is 10 HST power cars, 1 Class 153, 1 Class 220 and 2 Class 221s for haulage. Will my next Devon Ranger produce any thing?
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