Last Saturday, I decided to do something a little bit different and got myself a South Pennines Day Ranger and travelled around on trains (although a few buses were used in the day), here's the review.

0719 8 Newton Aycliffe - Darlington (Arriva North East: 1509)
Nice start to the day, more commonly lumbered with the Sapphire 1/5/5A StreetLite's these days so it was nice to have a Pulsar instead.

0759 York (Virgin Trains East Coast: 91105)
Nice journey down in the quiet carriage, busy but not too busy.

0838 CityZap Leeds (Transdev York: 3611)
Gave the York to Leeds stretch of the day to Transdev, 3611 often seems to provide me with the journey through to Leeds, this one ain't too bad, slower journey than normal due to speed restrictions due to replacement of barriers.

0956 Huddersfield (Northern: 153360 +153315)
153 pairing to begin with (153360 at the front) which pleased me as the only other time I've had a 153, it was a East Midlands Trains example although it was paired with a 158 but sat in the 158 end on that journey.

1050 Bradford Interchange (Northern: 150149 + 144017)
Right pee about this, actually departed 16 minutes late, the main aim of the day was for me to catch a 144 and was pleased to have finally bagged one (albeit paired with a 150). Nice quiet journey as I think most of the passengers who boarded sat in the 150 end.

1200 Huddersfield (Northern: 150114)
A yet to be refurbished 150, I previously had not been a fan of these but I actually enjoyed this trip, apart from being held up somewhere for about 10 minutes.

1313 Barnsley (Northern: 158790)
I had been informed that this route was pretty much guaranteed to be a 144 and sure enough a 158 was allocated instead, nice journey but a tad busy by the time we got towards Barnsley.

1424 Sheffield (Northern: 144008)
After a quick chippy break, it was another 144 but only two coaches this time and it was a rather busy trip and was absolutely baking on this with the sun shining down on my face but a otherwise enjoyable journey.

1540 Stockport (East Midlands Trains: 158847 + 156403)
Was originally going to catch a Northern service to Manchester Piccadilly but unsure what happened to that trip, instead caught this and sat in the 156 end, some lovely views are on offer on this line would throughly recommend doing it, was originally going to travel to Manchester Piccadilly but we were delayed due to signalling problems around Manchester Piccadilly, so I bailed at Stockport to keep on schedule.

1654 Sheffield (East Midlands Trains:158863)
A pretty busy trip, I stood in the part where the doors are and was not the best trip, quite warm in this part of the train, probably should have stood in the aisle which is air conditioned but instead got dripped on from the roof leaking water, I've had better trips but I've had much worse trips though.

1750 Leeds (Northern: 158860)
Took this route back to Leeds because I thought that a CrossCountry Voyager would be less fun and more busy. First time I've been through Wakefield Kirkgate Station but have alighted and travelled through Wakefield Westgate a few times now.

1915 843 York (Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner: 3636)
Back onto buses, this journey is marked as being a B9 booked journey on the timetable but chucked up a B5 instead which pleased me as my phone needed charging. I don't mind these but think I would still sooner have a B9.

2032 Darlington (CrossCountry: unknown Voyager)
Travelled back to Darlington in style in First Class as the price difference between first and standard was only pennies, so might as well reap the extra legroom and complimentary drinks.

2115 7 Newton Aycliffe (Arriva North East:1611)
Don't ask me how but I somehow managed to get off the train and run to Feethams in 5 minutes, a journey which Google Maps claims is a 8 minute walk and that doesn't include the time it takes to get out of the station itself. Had a feeling that I would end up on a StreetLite as the Pulsar's have been off lately and E400's on evening 7's are a no, no! supposedly due to the cost of replacing the windows in the E400's, of course there's been issues with windows being put out in Darlington, especially in recent months. Just about every seat taken on this journey upon departure from Darlington.

Hope you enjoyed this insight of how I spent my Saturday.