Ricster Diaries Episode 76 - Three Tuesday's In A Row North East 3/3 | 18/07/2023

Filmed on 18/07/2023. So, the final of our Three Tuesday's In A Row brings us to a rather typical British wet Summers day in the North East. This has been a fun series to do as it bought a lot of fun, excitement and of course plenty of railway action. This is again a future project if we don't decide to go on holiday.

Starting the journey at Scarborough, we catch the return of one of Transpennine Express Nova 3 sets return after the recent Crackgate investigation. Anyway, it worked the 06:48 Transpennine Express service to Manchester Piccadilly, riding as far as York. At York, the original plan was to catch the 08:08 Transpennine Express Nova 1 service to our first station, Darlington. But, the train got cancelled due to short notice change to the timetable. But, our tickets was valid on the 08:23 Transpennine Express service to Newcastle instead. This service additionally called at Northallerton along the way.

At Darlington, we had a good few hours spotting just after the morning peak as we enjoy the variety of trains and even a bonus freight train by DRS as it coasts through the station of what looked like a ballast train to Tyne. We even had a go recording announcements at Darlington but was a bit high and low to be honest. The announcements worked well in the waiting room for a few moments but the announcements switched between platforms.

Next, we then caught the 12:22 Northern class 156 service along the Tees Valley Line to our second station, Saltburn which is amongst one of the most popular seaside resort towns in North Yorkshire. After a ride through a rainy Tees Valley, we go straight to an hour trainspotting session. The reason for this is because Transpennine Express, since December timetable changes are now running hourly between Saltburn and Manchester Airport for making 2 trains per hour running between Thornaby and Saltburn via Middlesbrough. After a good trainspotting session, we head down to the seafront for a little bit of sightseeing and a ride on a water operated cliff lift. Perfect weather for ducks and surfers but it won't dampen our spirits for a good time.

Then, we catch the 15:25 Northern service same class 156 back to Darlington to head to our final station of the day, Newcastle. The reason why we travelled back along the Tees Valley via Darlington rather than changing at Middlesbrough is because it is easier for more frequent connections to Newcastle. Anyway at Darlington, we then caught the 16:24 LNER Azuma 'The Northern Lights' service to Darlington which is one of hourly service not to call at Durham along the way. A rainy spotting session at Newcastle but did put on good mixed variety throughout the day.

Finally, the journey home we caught the 19:42 Cross Country pairing of Voyager service to York which was running to Birmingham New Street. At York and with around a 25 minute connection for the 21:03 Transpennine Express service to Scarborough.
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