17th February – Central Scotland Day 1

A change in the weather meant clear skies greeted us when we left the Travelodge. We headed to a Wetherspoons for a Scottish Breakfast before heading on. It was a Sunday so the earliest train is never early enough. 0900 off of Glasgow Queen Street and we took this to Haymarket. It was a double 170 (units 434, 455 – one required for haulage). We then took the next train along the short mile section through the tunnels. This was a dud 158. Not a good start to the day then! Next up, some new route. We caught 380108 (winner) to North Berwick. Having now completed the route we went straight back to Edinburgh on the same train.

Back at Edinburgh we had a little while until our train to Kirkcaldy. So we did a couple of trips to Haymarket and back. During this I picked up two winning 170s, a 334 and 158. It was then time for a winning 170 to Kirkcaldy. We popped into the Wetherspoons for a quick drink and then headed back to the station for the East Coast service to Haymarket. The big bonus was the leading power car was winning.

After we returned to Haymarket a winning 170 took us to Edinburgh where caught another wininng 170 to Falkirk high. We returned to Haymarket (two more winning 170s) just in time for an East Coast service to Edinburgh. And as we arrived into Edinburgh I saw another East Coast set going the other way! So we jumped on that back to Haymarket. Two more winning HST power cars meant I had picked up 3 in the space of 3 odd hours! Brilliant!

It was soon time for a trip to Berwick Upon Tweed. This wasn't valid on the rover so advance singles had been purchased but it meant I could cover the line that goes through Dunbar station. A winning 91125 propelled us to Berwick where we had enough time to pop into the town and find the Wetherspoons for a quick drink.

We returned on a 220 (not ideal but I didn't want to wait for a later train or pay anymore!). We returned to Edinburgh and checked into the Travelodge (a bargain £13 each per night and that was a room each!). We then went off to get some dinner and a drink before a relatively early night. A great day for east power cars, a bit more new route and we travelled 313 miles during the course of the day.