27th October - West Midland Day Ranger

I wanted to do another West Midland Day Ranger before the year was out and today was the day I decided I would go out. With the stupidly expensive XC train tickets to the area out of the question I decided I would drive to Droitwich Spa and catch my train from there. I was 45 mins late arriving to Droitwich due to an accident on the M5 which was a little frustrating but could do nothing about it.

My first train of the day was an experience on the new London Midland Class 172s. Plenty of leg room and as would be expected at the moment, nice and clean. I decided my first part of the day would be spent ridding as many of these new 172s as possible. But after a while I realised that there were still quite a few Class 150s kicking about. I did see however 150001 was running and this was required so I worked out where I could meet it from and bag a double bonus (153334 was on the back). I went from Solihull to Moor Street on 150001 and Moor Street to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 153334. It was then on down to New Street.

I checked on the Virgin Super Voyager that was almost ready to head to Edinburgh. It was required so jumped on to Wolverhampton. It was then back to New Street on a Pendolino before a Desiro to International. Heading to back to New Street I wondered around until I found a winning train that was due to leave. A London Midland 170 was had to University and the one back was also a winner. Another Super Voyager and Desiro back from Wolverhmapton was caught until I headed back (by foot) to Moor Street. It was off behind the 67 to Leamington Spa. It wasn't a winning 67 but still worth it. At Leamington I decided to get something to eat. A quick walk (in the rain!) to the nearest Wetherspoons and I had my dinner there. Whilst i was in Leamington I decided to head to the 2nd Wetherspoons and tick that one off.

It was now back to the station and to start heading to Droitwich. This was not straightforward. For some reason there was a lot of delays and cancellations. I gradually made my way west and then south to Droitwich. The only consolation for my late arrival into Droitwich was a bagged a few more winning units.

A good day but the weather was awful. It was not good for photos and because I did not want to get wetter than I was I didn't get many (3 in fact!) that I was happy to put up! Next time, hopefully it will be drier!

Just over 200 miles travelled and 18 winning trains ridden on.