12th October – A trip to Liverpool
The aim of this weekend’s trip was to focus mainly on the
Merseyrail units I needed for mileage as they are due to be replaced at some
point next year. I also had a few
stations in Merseyside I needed to revisit for platforms so that would give me
something to do in the early morning.
Due to being a bit tight with accommodation & travel costs I was in
a hostel around 5 minutes away from Lime Street, the rooms themselves were very
well designed (not simply a room with some bunk beds thrown in along with some
lockers, the room I was in had built in beds with USB/plug sockets by the
bedside (as well with a lockable sizeable locker), the only downside was there
was an annoying buzzing noise coming from an alarm box and some very drunken
people returning at half three in the morning, but I wasn’t expecting a great
night due to the location. (There isn’t
a lot of choice when arriving around 23:30 on a Friday night).
My first focus was on the Northern “City Line” services, so
buying my All Area Saveaway ranger from the ticket office at Lime Street, it
was onto one of the first Crewe stoppers formed of 323232 for the run to
Rainhill, returning to Roby on 319379, this is when my plan changed as the next
Wigan stopper had been cancelled due to a train fault so it was a tiny leap to
Huyton on 319372 returning to Lime Street on winner 331008 (first of the 3-coach 331s, sorry but the interior just
isn’t suitable for local stopping services).
Into Lime Street where it was a case of remaining on the same train back
to Prescot to clear that station, and I made a tight connection onto winner 331005 working a random semi-fast
service from Blackpool. I took this 331
to Lime Street but decided to leave it until later as the run back to Huyton
would mean a long fester for 008 to return from Wigan (as the next stopper from
the Rainhill direction had been cancelled).
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| 323 & 185 at Lime Street |
Onwards to the low level platforms (after visiting a
Sainsburys located outside Lime Street for breakfast, as you can’t beat a
Sainsburys bacon sandwich). The first
Merseyrail service wasn’t of interest, but the next one was low mileage 507026 which I took to Rock Ferry,
508112 up next to Port Sunlight returning to Bebington on 508122, before taking 508139
to Bromborough Rake to clear the platform.
The next Ellesmere Port service wasn’t of interest so it was a case of
heading to the opposite platform just as a very low mileage 508138
rolled in from Chester, it would be cleared for the run to Hamilton Square
after going round the city centre circle.
I crossed over to the “Birkenhead Park” bound platform just to see which
unit was following on a New Brighton service, and it ended up being 507003, I decided to bail at Wallasey
Grove Road to intercept the previous service which turned out to be a good move
as it was 508104, an unit of interest.
The run to Hamilton Square was enough to push it over 10 miles and I
stepped back.
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| Wallasey Grove Road |
The next city bound service was 507028 which I took round the loop to James Street, making a tight
connection (bringing back memories of when I was hunting my last couple units
both on Chester services) with 507003 which I took to Liverpool Central
which was just enough to push it over 10 miles (saves trying to hunt it down
later for the sake of 5 chains!) I
walked back to Lime Street and onto a Blackpool bound 331005 which I
took to Huyton, returning to Lime Street on 319379, for my attention was drawn
to a grey machine on platform 1, for one of TPEs new trains had come out to
play.
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| Ninja Train! |
I took a seat on 802207
for the run to Newton Le Willows, bumping into Jamie who was out hunting down
Spoons. Interior wise it is pretty much
the same as a GWR/LNER model, just bluer.
The run to Newton Le Willows was done on electric, and I had a tight
connection onto a busy 185147 on the next Lime Street service, the future is
bright. I heard announcements that an
Oxford Road stopper was being delayed so my planned trip to Boots for lunch was
put on hold as I walked over to the unbarriered platforms, jumping on a pair of
156s as the rear was the unmissable 156480 (with 156464 leading). The run to South Parkway would have been
enough to push this 156 over the ten mile line, but there wasn’t any decent
connections (other than 2 minutes to reach platform 5) so I remained on for the
trip down the curve to Hunts Cross (because it was cross platform onto
Merseyrail!).
Back onto Merseyrail, this time on the Northern line where I
was only planning on spending a few hours before returning to the Wirral line,
first up was 507018 to St Michaels for the platform, returning to Cressington
on 508111, with 507020 taken to Moorfields. A short wait before 507010 rolled in
from Liverpool Central to take me to Aintree, allowing me to intercept 507006 for
the short run back to Walton. Next up
was 507027 which I took to Maghull
North, giving me another connection onto a southbound service which was 507017
which I took to Sandhills to intercept the last unit on Ormskirk services, a
nice low mileage 508140 for the run back to Aintree, to intercept the
return of 507027 to take me back to Sandhills.
Swapping over to the Southport services, it was a trip to
Moorfields on 507020, crossing over to 507029
for the run to Hall Road, crossing over to the southbound platform with 508114 for the single stop leap to Blundellsands
& Crosby, to intercept 508110 running the next Southport, it was
cleared by Ainsdale, so I crossed over to intercept 507032 for the long
run to Bootle New Strand, crossing over to board 507021 for the mile to Seaforth & Litherland, intercepting 507029 for the 2nd time for
the mile to Bootle New Strand. Back
northbound with the return of 508114 from earlier, which was cleared by
the quiet Hightown, I could have stayed on to Formby but decided to bail at
Hightown for a picture.
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| Hightown Station |
507020 took me back south to Sandhills, where I had a short
wait for 507029 to take me back to the nice island platform of Seaforth
& Litherland, for 507021 to finish my trip to the Northern line back
to Moorfields. Darkness had fallen, as
had the temperature so I headed to the Wirral line, falling onto 507028
from earlier in the day, it was cleared for ten miles by Hamilton Square, as I
crossed over for a 10 minute fester (I’m surprised how soon the frequency
dropped on Merseyrail), before my final Merseyrail service of the day with 507026 taken to Lime Street.
I exited the low level station, swinging via Boots for
dinner (and a late lunch!), noticing the legendary Pigs in Blankets Christmas
Sandwich was back, before boarding 390123 for the slow run to London. Lost some time around Crewe, and lost a bit
more time north of Watford as we got caught up in congestion behind a couple
charter services and some late running Pendos from earlier in the day. Sadly not enough time to push it over half an
hour, I think it was around 23 minutes late in the end so no money back, boo.
When I planned this trip back in July time, my original idea
was to head home on the 23:40 service, but when I checked last month to my
horror it was engineering works between Woking & Basingstoke, and not
wanting to get home around 2:30 or so after a bus from Woking to Grateley I
looked up somewhere to stay on the Saturday night. Everywhere seemed to be pricier than normal
so I ended up in a hostel near Kensal Green, one I’ve stayed in last year and I
had forgotten that it wasn’t the best for road noise, or the staff that
friendly. No drunks tipping up in the
early hours in my room at least (but they did in other rooms, all because I was
a bit tight with money).
Anyhow back on the day, I turned down the first Willesden
Junction bound 378 as I needed to visit the toilet, and got rewarded with
winner 710263 on the next Watford
Junction bound service, which I stayed on to Willesden Junction to push it over
5 miles. Nice bit of comedy when it was
waiting to depart as a large group of kids flooded on thinking it was a
Northampton train, flooded off to a 350 which had arrived but wasn’t in
service, before flooding back over to the 710 after the driver had closed the
doors (the doors being released before shouts of “this is the Watford train,
get off!” as they noticed the Northampton service was the 350 on a different
platform! I wasn’t the only passenger
laughing when the 710 eventually departed.
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| Certainly flies, even on DC! |
At Willesden Junction it was a short wait for Bakerloo set
3256/3548 to take me back the 75 chains to Kensal Green, where I checked in and
attempted to get some sleep. Overall a
very good day for my requirements on Merseyrail, certainly my list of required
units is easier on the eye, probably a job for a return in January time,
although I might be willing to break out the pulse strings for a hotel rather
than a hostel in Liverpool this time!
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13th October – A Zombie in South Eastern Land
I will admit, after 2 bad nights I was a bit on the tired
side this Sunday morning as I checked out of the hostel and headed across the
road to Kensal Green station, buying my travelcard from the TVM, and grabbing a
picture of two Bakerloo line services passing.
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| Bakerloo Line at Kensal Green |
The first Euston bound service was a 378 of little interest
so it was onto Wembley Central on 378224 to intercept the next southbound
service; sadly it was 378226, both of little interest but hey ho. Into a busy Euston station (had I fallen
asleep and woken up around 6pm on a weekday, for it was that level of busyness),
and I headed over to Sainsburys for breakfast before taking 11037/11038 for the
speedy run to Victoria, for it was another day I was spending in South Eastern
land. But the first move wasn’t for a
South Eastern service, but one of the few booked Thameslink services.
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| "If I hide on platform 1, do you think anybody will notice?" |
After making a note of a couple
required units for later on, low mileage 700026
rolled into platform 1 for a quick turnaround, felt strange boarding a 700 at
Victoria and heading towards Denmark Hill.
The unit would have been cleared for ten miles by Bellingham, however
that is where the half hourly services pass on Sundays so I decided to bail at
Crofton Park, mainly as I’ve already got a picture of Catford. A short wait for 700028 to get a small mileage boost back to Nunhead before heading
towards Falconwood on a Dartford bound 465244 & 465167. I had a short wait for 465049 & 465169
to return from Dartford, where 169 needing the full run back to Victoria to be
cleared for mileage as it was a sub-mile unit.
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| Falconwood |
After a quick scan of the platforms, I noted a pair of 377s
on a Sittingbourne Fast service, odd seeing the former Thameslink units working
services towards the Medway towns, but leading was 377522 with 377515 on
the rear, so I took a seat in the former 1st class area for some
phone charge. When waiting for departure
I noted a low mileage 465 rolling in to form the following Sevenoaks
terminator. Anyhow it was to Bromley
South, for a short wait before the next Victoria stopper which was 465152
& 465005, which I took to Kent House which just about pushed 152 over the
line. A tight connection (not so tight
as it once was on a Sunday where the services passed each other here), and it
was back to Bromley South on 465184 leading 465042.
A short wait in the rain as the next service from Dover
rolled in, with 375813 leading 375804 which I took back to Victoria, and
had time for lunch before returning to Bromley on the same pair of units, being
a bit thankful I didn’t hang back at Bromley for a service from Sittingbourne
behind as that got delayed due to a stopper having issues at West Dulwich. At Bromley South it was a short fester, made
a bit longer due to late running (the stopper got put in front, and looped at
Kent House) before 375303 & 375921 returned from Dover. Always nice to get an high density 375
attached to a low density unit as it means I can tick it off without having to
suffer from the 3+2 seating (although I know some other bashers wouldn’t be
happy unless they sat in said unit). Back to Victoria where after one last quick
scan I headed for the long walk to the Victoria line, with a busy 11011/11012
taken to Oxford Circus, before 3534 & 3245 were taken to Paddington,
arriving with 5 minutes to spare before the next Hayes & Harlington
departure.
My red pen came out for winner 345027 which I took to Ealing Broadway to intercept the other unit,
which was 345030 (a dud), a trip back to Paddington and back out to Ealing
Broadway to intercept 345027 for the second time to push it over ten miles, but
another 345 is in the book ahead of the mass rollout in December. One of these days I will make a start with
the 717s but there is no nice fast section within the London Zones, like there
is with the 345s. Anyhow it was time for
me to head towards Waterloo with 3234 & 3567 doing the honours back to
Baker Street with 96095 & 96080 for the fast run to Waterloo with some 1996
stock motor noises. Upstairs and it was
to a Weymouth bound 444041 & 444011 for the run to Woking where like last
week it was buses to Andover, and I stepped back from the stopping coach to
await the semi-fast coach, which was annoyed as serving Andover only
(woohoo!). Amport & District coach WJ16
KCN was the bus, and once it weaved through some small villages to join the M3
at junction 3, it was full speed ahead back to Andover.
Thankfully the next few weekends for me should be rail
replacement bus free, but overall it was a productive few hours on South
Eastern. Once home I had a nice shower
and a good night sleep!
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| Ealing Broadway |
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11th October – The Day before Liverpool
For the first time I have asked for gen on the services for
my last few 321s, although I restricted it to my last 5x 321/4s. I got information for 3 out of the 5, the
other two had no allocation showing when they were checked but it gave me a
start at knowing where to be. Like the
week before I drove to Andover (thankfully not in the pouring rain) and caught
the 14:05 service to Basingstoke, this week it was 159011 & 159010. 165114 took me towards Reading where I had a
short fester before winner 802107
popped up on a service from Oxford which was good as it was my last 802/1 so in
future I can focus on just the 5 coach units (where I need 3, plus 800001).
At Paddington I headed towards the Bakerloo with 3263 &
3556 to Baker Street, followed by 21109/21110 to Liverpool Street, where I had
some time to kill before needing to head to Shenfield for my first known
unit. First up was a low mileage 345 in
the shape of 345022 which I took to Stratford, clearing the original
batch of RLUs, and I took a gentle walk over to platform 10, noticing that
there were some serious delays heading towards London caused by something caught
on the overhead wires near Ilford. First
option wasn’t needed and with one eye on the delays I decided to board 321334
& 321307 for the run to Shenfield, losing a couple minutes in the
process. Sadly these delays meant one of
my known services was being turned round at Shenfield, but at least I managed
to clear 321405 for ten miles with the run back to Stratford, 3213058
& 321407 were the other two units. I
prefer the original 321s for motor noise on this fast bit of line.
I hung around Stratford for a while, noting a few new 7
coach 345s floating around on the TfL Rail side, eventually 321356
rolled in with 321426 & 321327 which I took to Liverpool Street to push it
over ten miles. With some time to kill
before the next departure I popped to Tesco passing some demo outside (might have
been those rebellion folk), before returning to take winner 345039
for the 4 mile run to Stratford, sadly I will need to come back for it as I
headed over to platform 9, but before my known train appeared, an unknown pair
rolled up with 321439 leading
321313. Into Liverpool Street for around
ten minutes before I boarded 321410, 321427 & 321435 for the run
back to Stratford, another ‘dusty bin’ taken over the line, sadly these were
delayed by a late running freight train (surprise suprise!) so it was a short
wait for 321349 & 321433 to take me to Liverpool Street for the final time.
Due to the rain, I decided not to walk from Euston Square,
so headed to the sub surface line where after a short delay (something about
someone rebelling on the tracks near Aldgate) a busy 21537 & 21538 rolled
in from Hammersmith to take me one stop (it would have been quicker to walk!)
to Moorgate, followed by 51506 & 51507 on the Northern line to Euston,
where I arrived to find a station in a bit of chaos.
The set for the last Liverpool service roiled in around the
time it was meant to have departed, so it was a short turnaround for 390123 as
it departed around 15 minutes late, dropping some more time by being caught
behind the sleeper (where it weaved around at Watford going on the slows for a
few miles). Sadly it didn’t lose any
more time so it was around 25 minutes late into Liverpool, where I had a gentle
walk to the hostel to check in and attempt some sleep. Overall, 3 more 321s taken over the line (7
to go, excluding 448 & 902), one more given a 4 mile boost, a 345 in the
book and another 345 over the ten mile line.
Not a bad evening so to speak, it will only get harder with those 321s.
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