14th December – 19th December Day Trips

 14th December – 19th December Day Trips

14th December – Farewell to the Tilting Voyager

A Saturday where I didn’t have anything planned due to being uncertain about the following week and what shifts I will get put on since completing training, as it turned out I was on an early morning shift on the Sunday which ruined out doing anything too late on the Saturday.  It was also the last day Avanti were running voyagers on the West Coast Main Line, and having a farewell spin was something on my list since the autumn but was something I never got around to doing.

The day began with the 06:59 service from Grateley formed of 159019 to take me towards Waterloo giving me 45 minutes to stroll towards Euston for the 09:03 (odd) Holyhead train formed of 221106 & 221105 as I grabbed a seat in the middle coach of 221106 to relax with the fast run towards Crewe calling only at Stafford.  Bit of a slow run-in places due to issues on the WCML but overall, it was a good way to say farewell considering the last run was a slow train to Birmingham.  Along the way to Crewe, I had multiple ideas of what to do, chase down a 197 on a Llandudno service, chase down a 730 on the Cross City line or head into Liverpool for some 777 hunts.

221106 at London Euston

In the end I decided to keep things simpler, after watching a 4 coach 350 depart Crewe for Liverpool pretty much full due to overcrowding I hung back to board a busy 390134 to Runcorn for a short fester before winner 807001 rolled in from Liverpool.  The theory of heading to Runcorn was I could have bailed at Crewe if the train was overcrowded, but I managed to grab a seat in the standard class area of coach H with ease (the difference with legroom with the newer units & the voyagers stands out, so much legroom on these Hitachi units).  Anyhow the train only got busy at Milton Keynes (in terms of passengers standing), with the train losing some time due to the issues around Polesworth.

At Euston, after grabbing a photo of a steam train on “Polar Express” charter services I headed to the underground taking 51531 & 51556 to Waterloo and towards the 14:50 service at Waterloo.  Not the 14:50 to Salisbury but the 14:50 to Reading for another mini personal farewell, this time to the 5 coach 458s as 458529 & 458535 were on a Reading service, could easily be the last time I have a 458 to Reading considering SWR are down to the last 4 units with the other 458s being converted to 4 coach units.

458529 alongside 165126 at Reading

Some nice speed sections on the Reading train, but also some slow sections due to the multiple stops.  At Reading I headed over to platform 2 to board 165104 on a Basingstoke service, exiting the station at Basingstoke to grab some supplies for later in the week, before taking the 17:38 service back to Grateley with 158881 & 159006 where I relaxed for the rest of the evening before having an early night.

17th December – Visiting Ashington

The Northumberland Line reopened to passenger trains at the timetable change on the Sunday, all be with 2 of the 6 stations on the line opening on the Sunday (the others are in various stages of construction), so I decided to have a little trip to the North East to visit the two opened stations with a plan I put together on the weekend after getting seat reservations for Lumo.  The day began with my old Basingstoke commuting train, the 07:27 to Waterloo with 159105, 159101 & 159016 with this service.  Nonstop after Basingstoke is always a nice treat, even though it got caught up with some congestion at the London end of the journey.

After grabbing some breakfast, I headed to the former International Platforms at Waterloo to jump onto 458405 & 458411 for the run to Vauxhall, getting another 458/4 into my book for renumbering.  455863 & 455735 took me back to Waterloo where I had a gentle stroll towards Kings Cross, relaxing before 803005 rolled in empty from the sidings and I got my reserved seat, settling down for the run towards Newcastle, with the novelty of using the York avoiding line, but with a short delay for trains to go in front, including a late running LNER to Edinburgh (itself delayed by a large delay to the Aberdeen train).

803005 at London Kings Cross

Arrival into Newcastle was a few minutes late, as I exited the paid-area of the station to visit a pop-up tent to buy a Soft Azuma toy from a pop-up LNER sales stand, before taking 158860 all the way to Ashington, bit of new track from the junction with the North Blyth branch to Ashington itself (plus the various areas which have been redoubled to allow for the half hourly passenger service to run along any freight considering it has been a few years since the last time I was on a train on the Blyth & Tyne route (probably the last time being a Deltic railtour in September 2018).  I exited the station at Ashington to have a walk towards the town centre area, mainly to pick up some more liquid.

Back at Ashington station it was onto 158859 for the run to Seaton Delaval, a station which is quite basic but has a well-used car park, as I had a little explore of the area close to the station before 158845 took me into Newcastle, which had quite a few delays to northbound trains due to an incident earlier in the day at Stevenage, but I exited the station to head into the city centre area to grab some dinner and waste time (discovering that Newcastle had a Wendys, yum yum).

158859 at Seaton Delaval Station

I ate my dinner at Newcastle station as 803005 returned from Edinburgh to take me back to London, my fear of it being massively overcrowded due to a cancelled LNER didn’t come to pass as I managed to grab my reserved seat (even if it was next to someone who kept picking his phone up, putting it down on the table before grabbing it 20 or so seconds later).  The service lost time after Doncaster as it had caught up with a late running stopper from York so arrival into King’s Cross was around 20 minutes late.  I guess in theory I could have probably made the 21:20 from Waterloo had I had good fortune with the underground but I decided against the rush and instead had a gentle stroll towards Waterloo, jumping onto 455739 & 455708 to Vauxhall, simply to intercept 458418 & 458401 heading towards Waterloo to get another 458 into my book.

After that little trip to Vauxhall, I relaxed before 159001 & 159005 rolled in to form the 22:20 service, which remained busy throughout in the front coach, and soon I was at Grateley where I had a gentle stroll home.  An enjoyable day to visit a couple of new stations & a return to Lumo.

18th December – “Farewell to the Gold Card” Travelcard Day

My gold card was due to expire on the 20th December and I didn’t think it was worthwhile to invest in a replacement considering the only use it’s had since the end of August has been for Travelcards & a discount on oyster fares.  I will simply buy myself a Network Railcard for future London trips where I will use a Travelcard.  In addition, my good friend Jules was in London as well having returned from a holiday and it would be nice for another catch-up.

The day started again with the 07:27 service from Grateley with 159011, 159010 & 159021 to take me to London, a lot quieter compared with the Tuesday, I guess for some London city workers they had already broken up for Christmas as I had a private table all the way.  Unlike the day before there wasn’t anything of interest running out of Waterloo for the next half hour so I had a gentle stroll towards Cannon Street (of all places) via the Thames Path.  I was actually aiming for Liverpool Street but made a wrong turn near a big junction in the Bank area (oops!)  Anyhow it was past 09:30 so my travelcard was valid so I jumped onto 465023 & 465018 for the slow run to London Bridge.

466036 at London Bridge

At London Bridge it was a short walk to platform 5 to board 700054 on a late running Luton service to take me to St Pancras, where I had another short stroll to Euston, taking a seat on a Tring bound 350256 & 350103 meeting up with Jules with the run to Harrow & Wealdstone, exiting the station to visit the Asda before returning to the station & boarding 730035 & 730018 back to Euston and headed to the underground with 51678 & 51677 on the first available train towards Tottenham Court Road, changing to the Lizzy line onto 345023 to Whitechapel & 345041 to Woolwich where I wanted to do some admin with my oyster card before we headed out towards the town centre and towards North Woolwich via the foot tunnel.

Time for a bus interlude with Arriva’s HA53 on the SL2 service towards Walthamstow, something which was on both our lists of things to do.  An enjoyable run with this limited stop bus route heading from North Woolwich towards Gallions Reach, Barking, Ilford & finally Walthamstow Central station, where it terminated outside the closed bus station.  A bit slow in places with traffic, but for me it ticks off another part of the Superloop network, just leaving the two routes from Bromley to do at some point.  Anyhow it was to the station with 710104 taken to Bethnal Green before 710123 to Liverpool Street where we transferred to the underground.



A Hammersmith bound service formed of 21534 & 21533 took us to Euston Square and a short walk to Euston station where we booked winner 807008 on a Liverpool service with the near 50 mile run to Milton Keynes Central, parting ways with Jules carrying on his journey back to Hereford via a pair of 350s to Rugby and myself back to London on 390107.  Originally, I was going to head towards Liverpool Street to hunt down some 720s but when I saw a Northampton ‘fast’ service was showing as a 3-coach unit, I took a look, and after seeing 730046 working it, I decided that the 720s could wait for the novelty of both a fast run on a 730/0 and also a 730/0 to Northampton.

730046 was lightly loaded (which is no real surprise considering it gets overtaken by a London – Birmingham LNR service) as it headed towards Northampton, calling only at Watford Junction & Milton Keynes, going onto the slow lines around Bourne End.  Due to the late running Birmingham train this service arrived into Milton Keynes 5 minutes ahead of schedule before carrying on to Northampton, terminating on platform 2.  Certainly an unexpected trip to Northampton as I made my way across to platform 1 for a short wait for 350408 & 350237 to roll in on a late running Euston train, which I took to Milton Keynes Central, swapping to a busy 390122 for the final section into Euston, where for the second time of the day I headed to the underground to jump onto 51519 & 51518 to Waterloo.

730046 at Northampton

I was in two minds between going after a winner 701 or heading home, in the end the idea of heading home won as I boarded the 19:20 service with a busy 159003 & 159106 back home to Grateley, and a gentle stroll home to relax.  I didn’t manage to make that much use of my travelcard but hey-ho those things happen.  It was nice to catch up with Jules once more and to do the bus route from North Woolwich.

19th December – A trip to Sussex

A little trip to take mum out for the day, and I ended up deciding on a trip towards Sussex for lack of a better idea (and wanting a change of pace considering we needed to be home for around 6pm).  The day began with a drive to Romsey and 158747 & 158750 to Southampton Central, getting delayed on the approach due to signalling issues.  After exiting the station to grab some supplies we returned to board 387209 on a service for Brighton, the first time I’ve had a 387 from Southampton for the slow run towards Brighton, hitting into the idiotic situation where you can’t simply get from platform 1 & 2 towards the other platforms, instead you are forced to exit the station to re-enter it at another set of ticket gates.  Whatever happened to putting passengers first?

Anyhow it was a short walk to the bus stop outside the station where the route 12X departs from, this limited stop service for Eastbourne (in hindsight I ought to have purchased tickets to Eastbourne instead of Seaford but hey-ho) with one of the newer buses, 714, doing the honours.  A bit slow coming out of Brighton due to traffic but soon it was out along the coastal route towards Newhaven & to Seaford where we alighted at the library bus stop, swinging via Morrisons to waste some time before heading to the station.

Brighton Buses Bus 714 (Dame Gracie Fields, YY73 TLK) in Seaford

At the station it was a short wait for 377162 to roll in from Brighton to take a seat for the run back towards Brighton (I did have a crazy idea of changing at Lewes for something towards Three Bridges to take an Arun Valley line service but the Eastbourne – Victoria was cancelled).  Thankfully the idiotic revenue barriers have disappeared allowing easy access to platform 2 to board 387129, this former Great Northern unit now complete with Southern stickers on the outside & route maps.

We took this 387 to Cosham, making a mistake in changing at Cosham instead of Fareham as the next GWR service (formed of 158745 & 158762) was busy with school kids heading home (the vast majority exiting the train at Fareham).  Soon enough the 158s arrived at Romsey where we headed back to the car to drive home, the end of a little day trip to Sussex, and a little day trip in an area I haven’t been to for a while.

387129 at Brighton Station

Anyhow that’s it for my pre-Christmas rest day trips as it was back to work for me, working until Christmas Eve, getting customers from point A to point B, occasionally via point C.  Have a good day :)

29th November – 1st December – North West Weekender

 29th November – 1st December – North West Weekender

Another short notice booking for a couple nights stay in Crewe, finding the place I’ve used a couple of times already in November was £60 for two nights was hard to turn down, considering I didn’t have any other ideas for the weekend other than maybe a day of 720 hunting on Greater Anglia.  Making the most of my last couple weekends off before my days off will vary week by week.

29th November – London to Crewe via Blackpool?

I had a couple of options to reach Crewe, either going via the West Midlands if my last couple of 730/0s were floating around (or my last couple of leased 2 coach 196s), but nothing appeared to be out, leaving me with a crazy idea of doing the evening 807 service all the way to Blackpool North, solely to say I’ve done an 807 to Blackpool (for the lack of a better idea with the darker evenings).  After completing my latest assessment, I got home, changed and back to the station for a busy 159020 & 158885 to take me towards Waterloo.

With time to kill I decided on a gentle stroll towards Euston arriving with plenty of spare time to allow for some people watching before heading down towards platform 16 where winner 807003 was waiting on the 17:05 service for Blackpool North.  I got a nice table seat in coach H (the composite coach with part for Standard Premium) to allow me to watch some videos on the long journey north.  All was going well until we had to make a special stop at Nuneaton to rescue passengers from a failed Manchester Pendo, meaning this train got quite busy.

807003 at London Euston

Thankfully it emptied out again at Crewe and the train continued heading north towards Preston, although the damage had been done and arrival at Blackpool North was 16 minutes late, cutting down the time I had to make a connection for something back towards Preston, jumping onto a York bound 195117 for the seemingly slow run back to Preston, a station which was its usual state of chaos with cancellations (both Northern & TPE) & delays (Avanti).  I popped out of the station to visit the Tesco Express just to give me something to do before returning to board a Wolverhampton service (vice Euston) formed of a busy 390008 for the run to Crewe.  At Crewe I exited the station (after allowing a crowd to clear the stairs first), heading towards the shared house on Nelson Street to get myself checked in (also known as opening the key box outside the front door to pick up the keys).

After sorting out my rucksack, I relaxed for the remainder of the evening, checking a couple of things for the Saturday (weather forecast, cancellations etc).

30th November – Rochdale Canal over the summit

Walking the gap in my Rochdale Canal coverage had been on my radar for a while, although the times I had it pencilled in was either wet & horrible, roasting hot or I had the day off due to blisters.  I wanted to get it finished this year considering I walked from Littleborough into Manchester way back in October 2022 (and the section towards Hebden Bridge in February of this year).   The weather forecast was looking promising as I headed out of the accommodation, a bit later than I had hoped so I skipped my usual detour to Tesco Express and headed direct to the station to catch 3900049 on a service which starts at Crewe (nice to have a private coach!)

At Manchester Piccadilly I headed towards Victoria on foot, swinging via a couple of shops to grab both breakfast & items for lunch, doing my usual following the tram lines from the city centre (not the quickest way but the safest way to avoid missing a turning in the back streets).  At Victoria after a late running Headbolt Lane departed (nonstop to Wigan where it would terminate), 195001 & 195010 rolled in from Chester to take me into West Yorkshire & Hebden Bridge where my walk began.

156404 at Manchester Victoria

I picked up the canal towpath at the same point I left it earlier in the year and headed towards the town centre of Hebden Bridge, crossing over the canal at a lock near an aqueduct over the river Calder.  The towpath quality in this part was quite decent, other than a couple of flood channels requiring use of a narrow wooden plank walkway.  I soon left Hebden Bridge behind, going underneath the railway and onto a section where the canal runs alongside the river, separated by only the towpath.  A very beautiful area as well with the naked trees.

The walk continued towards Eastwood and towards Todmorden, a place where quite a few dog owners haven't got the memo to clear up poo, based on how much dog poo was on the sides of the towpath.  I soon reached the town centre where the towpath swapped sides via a lock alongside the A6033.  This is where the quality of the towpath changed to being rougher (still a hard surface but bumpier) and wet with puddles as the canal started to climb, going underneath the railway twice as it headed towards Walsden and away from the urban area.

Gauxholme Railway Viaduct over Rochdale Canal

The canal follows the route of the railway (or should that be the other way round considering the canal was here first?) before it climbed away from the railway (which goes via a tunnel).  I was glad when I reached the lock which said "welcome to the summit", with some beautiful views of the countryside as I headed to the place called Summit and the start of the downhill section heading towards Littleborough station.  The walk was over when I reached a small car park near the station, the canal being completed.  Some parts were better than others for both views & surface quality but a walk worth doing.

At Littleborough station I had around 10 minutes to wait before the next train towards Manchester (a Wigan service) so I had lunch as a busy 158759 rolled in from Leeds.  It had managed to get ahead of a delayed semi-fast service at Milner Royd so had picked up the passengers of that service.  Anyhow I took it to Manchester Victoria where I got lucky with a seriously late running Liverpool bound TPE service (one I had predicted would probably get spun at Victoria or even run nonstop due to being something like 50 minutes late at this point)

66770 passing Littleborough Station

Thankfully 802206 was running onward to Liverpool and I even got a seat in the leading coach for the slow run towards Liverpool.  Thankfully a stopper from Manchester Airport was held for the 802 to pass in the Salford area (as that wouldn’t have been much fun following a stopper to the Huyton area), the train getting very busy at Newton-le-Willows & Lee Green to a point I was glad to escape at Lime Street, heading towards platform 10 to board winner 197030 on a Chester service (my original idea when I came up with it at Littleborough was to take a Chester service from Victoria and take this 197 into Liverpool) so I was ahead of my rough plan.

I was in two minds to take this to either Runcorn or all the way to Chester, deciding to bail at Chester as the next TfW service was running a couple of minutes late, allowing a quick cross platform dash to board a very busy 197007 (didn’t help that this was the first train in nearly an hour from Runcorn towards Liverpool due to LNR having a bad day).  I bailed at Liverpool South Parkway (where it used the little used platform 4 on the ‘slow’ line side) and headed towards Merseyrail, taking 777005 to Liverpool Central to start a little Merseyrail hunt (seeing a required 777 on a Southport service).

197030 at Runcorn

To the Wirral line and I wasn’t around for long before winner 777021 rolled in on an Ellesmere Port service which I took all the way to Ellesmere Port (because even to Hooton wouldn’t have been enough to clear it for ten miles).  Remaining on board I took this 777 back to Hooton, keeping my eyes peeled on the other services on Ellesmere Port & Chester, enjoying the late afternoon sun before calling it a day with 777018 from Chester, which passed a winner 777 at Eastham Rake (I had forgotten that Merseyrail had 7 units on Chester services at the moment).  I bailed from 018 at Eastham Rake, waited for the next Chester service (777038) to take me to Bache where I had a nice 5-minute connection for winner 777029 to return from Chester to take me to Hamilton Square.

With delays on city bound services I headed towards the New Brighton bound platform to take 777011 out into the open at Birkenhead Park, with some light rain and 777039 taken to Birkenhead North where I managed to ID a couple more services before deciding to call it a day with dud 777030 back into the city centre and to a Lime Street which was a bit busy with multiple cancellations of services towards Crewe, with a large queue building for the next LNR service.  So, I came up with an alternative idea and headed towards 158788 & 158812 on an EMR service to take me to Warrington Central where I had 20 minutes to stroll towards Bank Quay for a southbound Pendo.

158812 at Warrington Central

5 minutes of that 20 minutes was spent trying to get out of Warrington Central due to a revenue block (catching out those whom think paying the proper fare is optional and think a ticket to Warrington West is good enough to bypass the barriers).  Eventually I escaped and made my way towards Bank Quay arriving with a couple of minutes to spare, only to see the London Pendo had been delayed at Wigan so I could have taken it a bit slower.  A busy 390132 rolled in to take me to Crewe where I exited the station, heading to my accommodation via the nice burger place I used a couple weeks ago.

My day wasn’t quite over as after my burger and a short relaxation, I headed back towards Crewe station to board the 21:00 Holyhead service, grabbing a seat in the “standard plus” area of 197114 as it was a slow run due to following a late running voyager, getting completely rammed at Chester and continued into North Wales where I alighted at Prestatyn for a what was meant to be a 25-minute wait but was reduced to 15 minutes due to the delay.  Thankfully it was worth the late-night trip as winner 197003 rolled in on the last train towards Crewe after spending the day on the Conwy Valley line.  It attached to 197102 at Chester for the final section to Crewe.

197003 at Crewe

On arrival into Crewe, I headed back towards my accommodation to relax for the remainder of the evening, checking options for my walk as the weather was changing once more.

1st December - Biddulph Valley Way

The Biddulph Valley Way is the name given to the mixed-use path which runs along the route of the former railway line between Milton Junction on the (mothballed) Stoke – Leek line & Congleton which ran via the town of Biddulph.  It had been on my list to walk a few times as a Sunday option but was ditched due to poor weather or engineering works at Stoke.  The weather forecast today was rain until half nine then dry so I decided to gamble as I wanted to start December with a long walk.

After departing from the accommodation, I headed towards the railway station via Tesco, pausing at the bus stop outside the Crewe Arms hotel (now closed to the public to all reports).  D&G Bus 102 (an Optare Solo) rolled in on the first route 38 service for Macclesfield, taking me towards Congleton via Sandbach & a couple other places, emptying out along the way.  I alighted at the bus stop near Booth Street where my walk began.  The first section was a path alongside the River Dane, taking me towards Congleton Park and to the start of the old railway line path near a council depot.

Dane River Walkway in Congleton

The light rain which was with me at the start ended and it wasn't long before I took off my coat as I was getting warm, as I headed along the old railway route as it headed towards the Dane-in-Shaw Pastures, quite a wooded path.  I headed underneath the WCML and the Macclesfield canal (a canal on my list to walk next year) with the path leaving Congleton behind, crossing into Staffordshire.

It was a nice rural path, busy at times with a reasonable hard surface.  Some puddles but that was to be expected as it made its way towards Biddulph, skirting round the town centre and passing the remains of the station (the only station on this route still with platforms).  The next settlement was Kynpersley & then Brindley Ford passing some flood protection works.  The path was now within Stoke-on-Trent and headed towards the former Chatterley Whitfield Colliery.

Biddulph Valley Way between Congleton & Biddulph

The path in this section was quite nice with the landscape as it headed towards the Whitfield Valley Nature Reserve where I paused for some lunch before continuing towards Ford Green, running alongside the Ford Green Brook for a short while, going underneath the A53 and passing Holden Lane Pools.  The old railway line path itself ended at the former Milton Junction where it joined up with the mothballed line between Stoke & Leek.  Mothballed but heavily overgrown with trees (reminded me a bit like the track which ran alongside the old railway walk from Frome towards Radstock).

After Milton Junction the path run alongside the old railway route to Birches Head Road where it ended at an old crossing, it looked like a path continued along the mothballed railway, which wasn't shown anywhere (looking at Google Maps Street view it might continue towards Leek Road).  Anyhow I turned down the chance to explore this unmarked path to walk towards the Caldon Canal where I joined the towpath.

Remains of level crossing on the mothballed Stoke to Leek line at Birches Head Road

The Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent & Mersey canal running from Etruria towards Froghall (where it met up with the Uttoxeter Canal) with a branch towards Leek.  I had previously researched the section within Stoke on Trent in having a decent towpath surface (it turns more rural once outside the city limits but a canal which will need some research with the limited bus options at Froghall (twice a day on a bus route from Upper Tean/Cheadle to Leek run by a company called Aimee's whoever they are).  Anyhow back to today as I joined the towpath with the sun out as the canal weaved its way towards Hanley Park (with a short detour via the roads due to a section being closed).  Quite nice in places with woodland & older buildings.  After Hanley Park the canal headed north dropping down some locks towards the Etruria Industrial Museum which sits at the junction where the Caldon canal meets up with the Trent & Mersey.

The last section of the walk was along the Trent & Mersey canal towards Stoke station, passing the yard where the former 460 coaches from the 458/5s are being stored (prior to getting scrapped I would imagine).  I reached Stoke on Trent station with some time to spare before a London train was due so after visiting the toilets I watched as a late running 170 arrived to take a good crowd on the firs train towards Derby.  390016 rolled in and I got lucky to grab a pair of airline seats (all be ones with a view of plastic) in coach C for the run towards Euston, someone only joining me at Milton Keynes.  The delay at Stoke meant by Milton Keynes it was behind a stopper for a short section where it ran along the slow lines delaying it further.

Caldon Canal, Stoke on Trent (31)

Arrival into Euston was near enough 15 minutes late as I headed towards the underground to jump on the first service (51503 & 51502) to take me to Waterloo to board the 17:20 service for Salisbury.  Due to engineering works between Salisbury & Yeovil, the services at Waterloo had been retimed with the semi-fast trains departing at XX:45.  This was formed of a busy 159016 & 159010 which took me to Hampshire, relaxing & getting ready for a busy week ahead.  Two enjoyable walks this weekend, certainly my new phone got a good testing with the camera, even though having the fingerprint reader underneath the screen will take time to getting used to compared to having it on the rear.  Photos can be found on my Flickr, for Saturday the link is here with Sunday’s photos here.  Thanks for reading, I have no idea when my next blog post will be as this coming weekend is a couple of day trips with mum for some Christmas shopping and I’ve got a meeting next week.

I will leave you with a photo from earlier in the week with a 66 at Frome, a Shed within a Shed:

66512 passing Frome Station