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