21st September – West Somerset Railway & 22nd September - London & Oxford

21^st September – A Trip to the West Somerset Railway

The West Somerset Railway has been on my list of things to do for a while, although like many other heritage lines I just don’t get round to looking into doing them outside railtours.  When GWR/West Somerset announced that on selected Saturdays they would run a shuttle from Taunton to Bishops Lydeard and hence putting Bishops Lydeard on my list of stations to visit (although it is a bit of a grey area as you can’t buy tickets to Bishops Lydeard which are valid on the train from stations other than Taunton, unlike Corfe Castle or Okehampton).  Anyhow with the list of dates the shuttle was operating I looked up my calendar and picked an available Saturday, and ticket options reviewed.

After a productive Friday in London (mainly pushing 321s over ten miles) it was a later than usual start on the Saturday with a gentle walk to board the 07:51 service to Weymouth, only as far as Salisbury on a busy 159018 where I popped out of the station to visit a nearby Sainsburys for supplies, returning to await the arrival of the service from Cardiff, where due to engineering works the line from Salisbury towards Romsey was closed.  166218 rolled in and I grabbed one of the seats behind the cab for the run towards Westbury, where I had around 12 minutes to wait for the Exeter service to arrive, rolling in alongside a Weymouth bound 166 which for me looked strange.  Anyhow it was a busy 802110 to take me to Taunton, pausing at Castle Cary.  It was another same platform change for the 2^nd Bishops shuttle which was formed of 150221 for the 5 mile trip onto new track, passing the featureless platform of Norton Fitzwarren to Bishops Lydeard.

150221 at Bishop Lydeard

I had a brief look around the station before boarding the next Minehead service, as it would have been foolish to turn down a trip along a new line, this one was diesel hauled by a class 14 loco D9526 for a gentle potter towards Minehead via some nice countryside and some beach front views.  At Minehead I didn’t have long before jumping onto a service hauled by steam engine 9351 to the request stop of Donford Halt.  I had around 15 minutes here before the next Minehead service arrived, which was hauled by steam engine 7828 and was quite busy (due to the glorious weather).  This time I had a little look around Minehead itself, taking a few pictures before returning to board a very busy service back to Bishops Lydeard, and quite warm due to the low speeds.

The Steam Engine running around at Minehead

Back at Bishops Lydeard it was a short wait for 150221 to arrive, empty out and depart back to Taunton, causing confusion with the signalling system as it delayed a Paddington bound service, but for me it was onwards to Exeter with 802110 (again), with around 55 minutes at Exeter (time spent popping out to Tesco for dinner and some drinks).  The reason for going via Exeter was due to the rubbish connections if I went via Westbury.  Anyhow it was onto 159104 & 159007 working the 18:25 service to take me to Grateley, the train emptied out somewhat along the way, and was a relaxing end of a relaxing day (compared to other Saturdays).

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22^nd September – A trip to Oxford & London

For the first time in a while I was having a little Sunday day trip to London, the main aim was the novelty of a Chiltern service going non-stop to Aylesbury via Amersham on a divert due to the mainline being closed.  I drove to Andover in time for the 07:03 service to Waterloo which today was formed of 159011 which was starting from Andover due to engineering works.  I alighted from this busy unit (as it forms the first service from Basingstoke) at Clapham Junction, grabbing breakfast and boarding 377138 for the run to Victoria.

Eventually I reached the Victoria line (I had forgotten how bad it is to reach the Victoria line now at Victoria) with 11011/11012 taken to Oxford Circus with 3537/3299 to Marylebone where I purchased my BZ6 – Oxford ticket up from the ticket office (having failed to buy one with the TVMs at Andover, Clapham & Victoria, the dancing new TVMs at Marylebone no longer have the option available).  I took a seat on the 09:12 service to Birmingham Moor Street formed of 168322 leading 168112, and the front unit was very lightly loaded (I would imagine the rear unit was busier).  A slow start with a pause around the junction south of Wembley before the units picked up speed entering LU rails at Harrow on the Hill where it was very close to stopping, after that it was full speed ahead towards Aylesbury, bit of a delay outside the station waiting for the next London service to depart the platform, and a trip along the rural backwater line to Princes Risborough for another reversal where I alighted at Haddenham & Thame Parkway for a 20 minute fester for the next Oxford train.

Chiltern Turbos at Oxford

A mostly empty 165039 rolled in from High Wycombe, which for me was good as it meant some high speed 165 based noise for the long section before the new junction to Bicester village where the train filled up, before carrying on to a wet Oxford.  I looked at the number of passengers waiting on the platform and sighed as the next Paddington was a 5 coach unit, as 800005 rolled in from the siding north of the station and departed Oxford pretty much full in the rearmost coach, after Didcot the couple remaining seats had gone and it was standing room only at Reading.  A little dance onto the reliefs from Reading to Slough before arriving into Paddington on time, giving me a couple minutes to jump across to 345029 working a Hayes shuttle.  This took me to Ealing Broadway where my plan was to intercept the other unit which was showing on Iris Tiger as “formed of 9 coaches” but that had broken down at Hayes, so 10 minutes later it was back to Paddington on 387161 & 387170.  This is where I made a small mistake as it would probably been just as quick to board a Central line service at Ealing to take me to Liverpool Street but hey ho.

The Hammersmith & City line was closed for engineering works so it was a walk to the Bakerloo line with 3234 & 3567 taken to Oxford Circus, with a longish walk to the Central line platforms with the next eastbound service being formed of 91071, 92230, 92428 & 91259 to take me to Liverpool Street.  After a quick scan of the platforms it was onwards to Stratford with 345003 pushing it over the ten mile line, before 357322 & 357043 taken to Barking where my plan was to play with some 710s.  That plan changed when I spotted a low mileage 357/2 on the Grays bound so when I was on winner 710262 I formed a rough plan, I changed from this 710 at Blackhorse Road (safety putting it over 5 miles which is what my target for the 710s will be), before winner 710257 rolled in to take me back to Barking where my idea was to wait the 20 minutes for that 357 to return from Grays...

...That plan went out of the window with the next Liverpool Street service being low mileage 357209 & 357033 so it was a trip to Liverpool Street, jumping to Stratford on 360116 & 360103 (mainly to use the toilet as the loo on that 357 was out of use), due to the football on at the West Ham stadium I decided to take 357033/357209 back to Barking to jump onto 357025 & 357203 to Limehouse.  A short wait before 357204 & 357016 returned from Fenchurch Street to take me back to Barking where I successfully made a tight connection onto winner 710258 for the full run to Gospel Oak, changing onto 378234 which was starting from platform 2 due to engineering works (BLS Hat time).  I took this to West Hampstead where I decided to head to the Jubilee line with 96099/96100 taken to London Bridge.

A 378 at Gospel Oak

Earlier in the day when heading to Victoria I had spotted a low mileage 377/3 working on Victoria – Brighton services, so I wanted to intercept it to get it out of the way, I had the option of going via Victoria or a London Bridge – Horsham service, due to engineering works (which I’m using a lot of today, sorry) Thameslink services from Bedford/Cambridge were going on a tour of South London.  I decided to go for London Bridge as it was more chance of something needed, a good decision as it was low mileage 700146 (which I believe is the one which escaped last Saturday at Peterborough) for the speedy run to East Croydon.

At East Croydon it was a short wait for a delayed 377438, 377303 & 377325 to roll in from Brighton to take me to Clapham Junction, sadly missing a Poole bound pair of 444s, so it was onto a busy 159002 on the Andover train, yep a single 3 coach unit on a service which would normally be 9 coaches.  Thankfully it was pick up only at Woking which limited the overcrowding but I was lucky to get a seat for the run back to Andover, where it was a gentle drive home.

Overall it was a nice weekend, Minehead was nice on Saturday and I had a good Sunday.

14th September - The Breckland Freighter Tour (and 13/9 - South Eastern Metro Day)

14^th September - The Breckland Freighter Tour

I was booked onto the latest BLS railtour this Saturday, what was formally called the Bow Bells but got renamed when part of the tour got declined due to no path being available (for it was meant to go towards Stratford and into the Bow freight yard, before returning towards the ECML via Carpenters Curve & Canonbury Curve, which would have been a highlight as it’s one of the few bits of track I need within the London area).  Anyhow those things happen as the tour was due to some freight bits around Norfolk, it was starting from Nottingham, calling at a few stations with the last pick up being Peterborough, so I decided to select Peterborough as it would be the cheapest place to reach as I could stay overnight in London on the Friday and head up in the morning.

What I did on the Friday evening in London will follow, but the day began in the Croydon Travelodge after a not-so good sleep, I had things on my mind and got woken up around 4am when some drunken youths arrived causing a lot of noise (so much they were requested to leave after multiple complaints).  I grabbed breakfast from the busy 24 hour McDonalds before heading to board the 05:40(ish) service towards Bedford, due to engineering works it was going via Selhurst & Tulse Hill so journey times were extended, but I had a private declassified first class area on 700151 for the slow trip to Blackfriars where I popped out to grab some supplies from the nearby Tesco (which turned out to be a good thing).  The Cambridge service wasn’t anything of interest, but behind was a service towards St Albans which was low mileage 700016 which I took to St Pancras getting a small mileage boost.  I crossed over the road to Kings Cross, headed to platform 8 to board a low mileage 700103 for the run to Sandy.

An Aberdeen bound HST passing Sandy.

Half an hour later (with some pictures, although the position of the sun meant most were a bit rubbish), I continued my trip to Peterborough on 365536 & 365538, the rearmost coach of 538 was empty, this was the first time I’ve departed Huntingdon heading north, and probably the first time I’ve gone into platform 1 at Peterborough from the south.  I had around 25 minutes to fester before the tour would arrive from the New England yard area, so I did some pictures of the various locos/units around Peterborough, noting a 156 had escaped Nottingham on a Norwich service.  The time for the tour arrived as winner 66088 rolled in with some Mk2 coaches (mix between the repainted ones and some old Anglia coloured coaches) with winner 66041 on the rear.  I was happy for it being Mk2 coaches because it meant half decent seats, but also meant dodgy AC (which kept being turned on & off throughout the day due to diesel in the generator van).  I said good morning to the 3 others on the table which was responded in a deadly silence, and a part of me resigned to being another of those tours where the people on the table were more interested in watching videos on their phone than communicating.  (It got better nearer the end with a couple of the people on the table opening up, but all I got out of the 3^rd was muttering underneath his breath and the odd “excuse me”).

66088 arriving into Peterborough

66041 bringing up the rear

Back to the tour, 66088 was in charge for the run towards March, using the goods loop after the station to be looped by a XC service, before carrying on heading east.  The next bit of unusual track was the Ely West curve which meant the train could continue heading towards Norwich without needing a reversal at Ely, and the train came to a stop just after Brandon station into a goods loop, where 66041 popped into life to take the tour into the DBC sidings, looked like stone loading.  66088 was back in charge, re-joining the mainline before a sudden halt, news filtered through the carriage that the loco was having issues and 66041 hauled the set back into the goods loop with some wrong-line running.  66088 was declared a failure (something with traction motors), and this point I was expecting the tour to be declared cancelled with 66041 hauling the stock back towards Nottingham, but to the credit of the on board team they came up with a new plan to run 66041 around, dumping 66088 in the Brandon sidings.  So it was back into the sidings where 66041 ran round to the front, and 66088 left, getting back on the move around 2 hour late.

The tour passed at the little served Eccles Road as expected, before reversing into the Eccles Road Exchange Sidings and around the curve to the little used Johnston grain loading sidings for some more new track.  Another propelling movement into the other exchange siding before it was back on the mainline and heading towards Norwich where the tour went into the carriage sidings to the side of the station (carriage siding 9 I believe), with the stock being propelled backwards to the Riverside freight area where the stock could be watered and drivers having their break.

A 90 nearing journeys end at Norwich

 Half an hour or so later, the tour continued to go back into the carriage sidings with 66041 running around to attach to the rear of the train and back onto regular passenger metal, pausing at the loop before the junction to allow a 158 to zoom past, before the train resumed with the run towards Ely, going via the goods loop behind the station, and via the Chesterton freight yard (which is behind the platforms of Cambridge North).  The train came to a rest in the new Cambridge reception sidings (number 2), between various 317s & 700s stabled for the weekend.  66041 ran around via the station to the opposite end of the train as it departed back north, a couple freight loops were dropped, but the train did go via the other loop at Ely before heading back towards Peterborough, losing the trip to Littleport which allowed some time to be clawed back.  The train went via a loop before March station, but that was about it as it arrived into Peterborough on platform 4 a mere 15 minutes late (although a lot of time was made up by not having a break in Norwich, much to the annoyance of some who was hoping to use the break to score some beer).

I said farewell and left the train at Peterborough, my first option was cancelled (19:24) so with 40 minutes before the next Thameslink I popped out to walk to a nearby Tesco Metro to grab dinner (and something cold to drink), returning to take a seat on a low mileage 700 which would form the 19:54.  Departure time came and went and 10 minutes later it was announced that service as well was cancelled due to not having a driver.  Over to platform 2 where the 700 was taken to the sidings to get it out of the way for a 153 from Spalding to arrive, taking me back towards London was 365506 & 365504, a bit loud at the start with some youths playing music, but they got off at Huntingdon allowing peace to return to the coach (other than for the motor noise).

The train kept good timing all the way as I alighted at Finsbury Park (because it’s an easier interchange to LU), and headed to the Victoria line platform, hopping into the front coach of set 11049/11050 for the 5 and a half mile run towards Victoria, connecting into 455829/455845 working the first available service to Clapham Junction, followed by 444038 to Basingstoke (handy plug sockets) and then by a busy 159009 & 159016 back to Grateley, where I had a gentle walk home, arriving around 35 minutes later than expected.

Overall the day turned out well, even with one of the locos breaking down which for some operators would have been the end of the trip, but to everybodys credit they pulled it around with only losing a couple minor bits (I think the trip towards Littleport was mainly to get 66041 working back towards Nottingham for some part farers to be parted with some money between set down points).

66041 running around the coaches at Norwich

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13^th September – Another trip in South Eastern land

Staying overnight in Croydon got me thinking what to do in London, eventually deciding on another evening with South Eastern units.  I went via Reading to pay in a cheque at my bank before continuing towards Paddington, for reference purposes my moves are in a summary form.

Grateley ->Basingstoke: 159014 (not sure if this service has gone back to being a single unit as it was a pair of units before the summer)

Basingstoke -> Reading: 165116 (with failed Air cooling)

Reading -> Paddington: 802004 & 802005 (after paying in the cheque I returned to the station around half past three, this was a service from Plymouth)

Paddington -> Charing Cross: 3264 & 3548 (quite busy)

Charing Cross -> Orpington: 377505 & 377506 (took me by surprise seeing a pair of 377s at Charing Cross, last fast to Orpington for a couple hours

Orpington -> London Bridge: 375612, 375704 & 375802

London Bridge -> Charing Cross: 465031, 466023 & 465154

Charing Cross -> London Bridge: 376036 & 376006 (misread the carriage number of the rear unit, oops)

London Bridge -> Hither Green: 465154, 466023 & 465031

Hither Green -> London Bridge: 466040, 465164 & 465024 (via Lewisham)

London Bridge -> Lewisham: 465003 & 465189 (positioning move for an unusual service)

Lewisham -> London Victoria: 376024 & 376025 (runs non-stop, only time 376s visit Victoria in Passenger service outside engineering works)

London Victoria -> Bromley South: 375715 & 375830 (nice pair of very low mileage 375s)

Bromley South -> Orpington: 700044 (first time to Orpington on a Thameslink service)

Orpington -> London Bridge: 465194, 465188 & 466026 (the rear 466 was empty!)

London Bridge -> Abbey Wood: 465908, 466032 & 465907 (via Lewisham, I could have bailed at Woolwich but Abbey Wood has a handy island platform and gave a +2 to the next service

Abbey Wood -> London Bridge: 465174 & 465180 (the Thameslink I was hoping to catch was heavily delayed and was running fast from Dartford)

London Bridge -> London Blackfriars: 700028 (Extra mile for this RLU 700)

London Blackfriars -> East Croydon: 700130

At East Croydon, the station was in a state of chaos due to various issues caused by a trespasser earlier in the day, delayed trains, cancelled trains etc.

I set myself a target of 10 units for mileage, I ended up with 15 units being pushed over the line, plus a little boost for a couple RLU 700s, an enjoyable evening with some nice Networker based noise.

377s depart Orpington

376s at London Victoria

7th September – A Cheshire Day (& 6th Sept - Road to Mac)

7^th September – A Cheshire Day

The idea of this weekend’s little trip was to do a Cheshire ranger to do some bits & bobs around that area (Northern to Chester from Warrington, TfW to Liverpool, 195 via Warrington Central, 68 to Liverpool, along with some other platform scratches.  I was overnight in Macclesfield Travelodge, a hotel I’ve used a few times before as it is generally cheap, quiet(ish) and pretty much next door to the station so an ideal place to tip up at 11pm.  I will do a summary of my Friday bits in London afterwards.

I woke up, checked out of the hotel and headed into the chilly day, crossing the road and into the station, the ticket office was closed so I would have to buy my ranger on the train, and the first Manchester bound 323 was already in the station, but for me I would be heading south with the first Stoke bound service of the day in the shape of 323226.  It emptied out a bit with around half a dozen half-naked ladies who had clearly been up all night in various nightclubs in Manchester, but it was generally quiet for the speedy run to Kidsgrove, the guard happy enough to sell me the ranger.   I crossed over to the Manchester bound platform at Kidsgrove (platform scratch) to await the daily Blackpool service.  Early in the morning a 319 is allowed out on the Stoke line, because there is fewer trains around for it to hold up (because after all a 319 is slower to gain speed than a 323!), today this was 319362 for the run towards Stockport, some time wasted at Bramhall due to a dodgy door, sadly this delay meant no popping out of the station for breakfast.

The Daily 319 arrives into Kidsgrove

 

I stepped back a train at Stockport onto 158854 working a Liverpool service (I assume this has to be a single unit due to it calling at most of the stations on the Valley of Little Hope?), this took me to Piccadilly where I had a fast walk to Sainsburys for a bacon sandwich before returning to board a refurbished 175011 for the run to Earlestown, firs t time on a refurbished 175 and Transport for Wales has done a good job, new carpets/seat covers/other interior bits, plus plug sockets (the sort which has 2 USB sockets above a 3-pin sockets, and they seemed to be quite powerful as it didn’t take long for my phone to gain charge).  The run wasn’t the fastest (I think the 175 was behind a Liverpool bound freight service) but I had a short wait at Earlestown before 153324 & 150274 rolled in from Leeds to take me towards the WCML (brief delay when waiting for a Pendo to pass, spotted a Dalmatian horse in a field), then after Warrington non-stop to Chester.

A restful 153 at Chester

At Chester I had around 15 minutes to fester before the train from Liverpool arrived, oddly onto platform 3, but it was a lightly loaded 150229 for the run towards Liverpool South Parkway, bit of hassle around Frodsham junction as the signaller couldn’t get the points for the single track chord to set, eventually setting off around 15 minutes late, regaining a couple minutes on the run to South Parkway with some speed.  I alighted from the 150 at South Parkway and crossed over to the opposite platform to await the next Manchester Airport service, which was formed of winner 195122 to take me via the new station of Warrington West (not yet open, but looked complete), Warrington Central, Birchwood and into Oxford Road, sadly there must have been a set-swap around York as the Middlesbrough - Manchester train wasn’t 185108 but 185122 which I took to Piccadilly.

Thanks to Paul (TrainStationUK) I had news that my final 323 for mileage was on the Stoke line (must have been the 323 I couldn’t ID around Ponyton this morning), so without a trip to the airport needed for the 185, it was a run to Stockport on 220003 [first available train] for a short wait before a busy 323227 rolled in from Stoke for the run back to Piccadilly, which clears the class for ten miles.  At Piccadilly I popped out to the Co-Op for some lunch before festering around the P13/14 island on the lookout for anything of interest before heading to Manchester Victoria on 185122 for a short delay before 68027 appeared from the east with some new rolling stock.  Due to wanting to attempt a picture of it rolling in (didn’t work out due to the sunlight), and the busy platform I ended up in the 4^th coach, so didn’t get the full vocal experience, still heard the sound of cat purr under heavy acceleration.  As for the coaches, well I was a bit underwhelmed, I couldn’t get comfortable on the seats, which didn’t really line up that well with the windows (which looked like they were meant to have blinds fitted, but like on a cheap car where the buttons are blanked out, there was nothing fitted).  The 68 seemed to shift quite well along Chat Moss and into Liverpool Lime Street.

68027 at Liverpool Lime Street

Next up was a trip to Crewe on 390129 for a short fester, turning down the first Northern service for it was a 323, instead getting ‘rewarded’ with 319382 on the semi-fast to Alderley Edge, stepping back to 150147 & 142045 working an Alderley Edge – Southport service, all was going well until Cheadle Hulme where we were delayed for around 15 minutes due to a 175 which had passed me at Alderley having issues, eventually getting going to Stockport as my planned train to Buxton was pulling out.  Quick change of plan time as it wasn’t a long wait before 150134 rolled up on the following Buxton service which I took to New Mills Newtown, waiting around 25 minutes before 150140 & 150124 to roll in to take me back towards Piccadilly.  I shall have to revisit Buxton next month when I’m on a Wayfarer as I need platform 1 (and I’m not quite sure what happens on RTT as ECS shunts between platforms are not shown).

Anyhow with some time to kill before my booked train home it was a short walk over to platform 13 to board winner 195102 to Manchester Airport, stepping back to have a look at some of the 185s before winner 195116 arrived from Liverpool to take me slowly back towards Manchester Piccadilly (got caught behind a delayed Blackpool stopper).  After popping out to grab bits for dinner, it was onto 390126 working the 19:35 to Euston, noticing that the power sockets in my seat had been upgraded to be a plug and 2x USB sockets which seemed to be a good upgrade).  I spent the trip towards London watching some TV programmes on my tablet, the train lost time, regained time but lost time north of Watford Junction as a 350 was running late on the 2-track section (shock horror!).  Arrival into Euston was around 22:05 and when I checked the train which would form the 22:19 towards Andover was at Clapham Junction so I decided to walk to St Pancras (little did I know that the 159s would somehow lose 15 minutes between Clapham & Waterloo, and not depart Waterloo until 22:30).

First southbound 700 at St Pancras wasn’t anything of interest, next up was a Sutton loop 700022 which I took to Blackfriars (nearly an extra couple miles, every little helps), getting dirty looks from a lady who boarded at Farringdon as I was sat in the rear first class area, probably thinking “this is my private area, why is there someone else in here”, I had to laugh when that area got busy at Blackfriars.  A few minutes at Blackfriars allowing me to attempt a picture of the river, having to hold my phone right against the glass to remove reflections, and a low mileage 700028 rolled in to take me round the curve to London Bridge, where I jumped onto a Charing Cross bound 465196 & 465012 which I took to Charing Cross, returning to Waterloo East, pushing 465012 closer to ten miles (I believe it is on 9 miles, so ideally I should have stayed on to London Bridge, but hey ho).

River Thames from Blackfriars station

I headed across to Waterloo, and was going to catch a delayed 444 to Basingstoke to break up my journey home, but that got cancelled so it was onto a busy 159003 working the 23:40 service to Andover, lost around 10 minutes in the congestion towards Clapham Junction (the main line was closed for engineering works so everything was on the Windsor lines), emptied out a bit at Basingstoke and the train terminated at Andover due to engineering works around Salisbury, so it was to a magical rail replacement bus, this time it was an unmarked “mini-coach”, registration PO15 LFE for the run back towards Grateley where thankfully I wasn’t the only passenger getting off (as the detour to Grateley station adds a good 15 minutes to the journey time from Andover to Salisbury due to the buses having to double back on themselves).  A gentle walk home where I did a few minor things before crashing out for the night, alarm set for a day in Devon with Jack (All Stations) where we visited (the quite colourful) Chapelton, Newton St Cyres & Okehampton.

Flowers at Chapleton

Overall it was a good day in Cheshire, my aims of the day were met with no real delays, shame that 185 got swapped over around York (unless Jamie misread the unit when he saw it at Piccadilly after his night shift).

6^th September – A summary of the road to Macclesfield

Due to a later than expected finish from work, it was the 15:59 service to London tonight, I decided to stay on all the way to Waterloo rather than my original idea of going via Reading, and decided to spend the few hours I had hunting South Eastern units for mileage.  I will do this part as a summary just for reference:

Grateley -> Waterloo: 159001, 158888 & 159013

Waterloo East -> Hither Green: 465910 & 465914 (god that was a slow run!)

Hither Green -> Chislehurst: 466025, 465246 & 465039

Chislehurst -> Orpington: 465180 & 465158  (this train carried on towards Sevenoaks so I could have stayed on to Knockholt, and waited for it to return, but decided to leave it for another day)

Orpington -> London Bridge: 375713 & 375709 (going to the Cannon Street platforms, first time I’ve used that bit of track for a while and not called at St Johns or New Cross)

London Bridge -> Welling: 465013 & 465244 (a very low mileage unit)

Welling -> Blackheath: 465040 & 465030

Blackheath -> London Bridge: 376028 & 376006 (very strong smell of weed)

London Bridge -> Blackfriars: 700107 (popped out to Tesco for dinner)

Blackfriars -> Kentish Town: 700053 (another 3 and a bit miles, every little helps)

Kentish Town -> Euston: 51722 & 51644 (bank branch)

Euston -> Macclesfield: 390132 (mostly on time until south of Macclesfield where it caught up with a delayed Stoke – Manchester stopper which gets looped at Macclesfield.  Featured some youths playing some noise which I guess could be described as music, seemed to be 3 ‘rap’ songs on repeat, the first sounding like the rapper “was so ducking rich I can smash up a supercar” and another being the words “a Warning, she’s calling” repeated along with some other swearly shouting stuff.  They got off at Stoke thankfully.

Overall for the Friday, a few more South Eastern units over the line to join the ten mile club (5 mile club for the 376s), a much more enjoyable evening for me than if I headed towards Liverpool Street for 321s.

Networkers at Welling