1st - 3rd November - Edinburgh (A Day on the Buses) & London Overground

2^nd November – A day on the Buses in Scotland

Another week, another Friday evening trip from Euston!, but now for something completely different, but a break from the trains to do something on my list for a couple years, in having a good day out with my friend Dan on various buses in the central belt of Scotland.  I enjoy a bit of bus travel as you get to see different parts of the country you wouldn’t see from the railway.

I really must stop falling asleep on trains!

The day begins at Edinburgh Waverley when I alighted from the lowland sleeper after an average night (nice temperature until Preston when the AC kicked into the “height of Spanish Summer” mode to turn the coach into a freezer), and I had a short wait before the next route 37 bus to take me towards the Silverknowes area, trying out the new contactless fare acceptance on Lothian Buses (at long last, no need to have exact change available).  My journey was on one of the new tri-axle 100 seater city buses (Bus 1114) which was nice to give them a try.  After a social catch-up and breakfast it was back on the road with another route 37 taken to Muirhouse Hub (Bus 1089), where we changed to a Skylink 200 to Maybury (on the outskirts of the city), bus 497 featuring a very noisy luggage rack.

A short wait at Maybury before my first Lothian County bus with a X17 service towards the Livingston Bus Terminal (Bus 1033, a former London bus on private plates to hide the real age), a nice view of the railway viaduct near Newbridge, and I never knew that Uphall station isn’t in the place called Uphall.  The bus arrived at the bus terminal in the designer outlet (bringing back memories of last year when I took a bus to Breich), and we had a short connection onto a Blue Bus Route 77 service to Lanark (Bus YJ67 FZK) which we took all the way to the Lanark bus terminal, a nice bit of noise as it climbed into the hills after Breich and via a small community known as Forth.  Arrival into Lanark was a bit early allowing us to catch an earlier bus than expected with a Stuarts Bus 241X service (YW68 PDX).

A Stuarts Bus at Lanark Bus Terminal

This bus heads out of Lanark, towards Carluke & Wishaw before heading into Motherwell before running fast to Glasgow, a bit slow in the towns due to roadworks, but after the final pick-up in Motherwell it was onto the M74 for the fast run towards Glasgow’s Buchanan Bus Station, again picked up traffic once in the city centre, but that is to be expected.  After a much needed PNB & lunch break, it was onto a First route 77 service (bus 67807) towards the Braehead Shopping Centre, which goes out of the city towards Partick before taking the Clyde Tunnel to dive underneath the River Clyde, going around a hospital before terminating at the shopping centre, some of the buses on this route extend to Glasgow Airport.

After a short break at the busy shopping centre, it was onto a Clyde Flyer route 901 McGils bus (G3346) which took us back to the Buchanan Bus Station, this time along the M8, so it was a lot faster.  Another short break at the bus station before the next Edinburgh Airport “Airlink” coach arrived, although not one of the newer coaches on this Citylink route (YS16 LML) it was quiet for the run towards Edinburgh Airport via a business park on the outskirts of the city, plus via a motorway service area for the fast run on the M8.  At the airport it was a short walk to board the next “Airlink 100” bus to Edinburgh City Centre; this is the premium bus link from Edinburgh Airport & Edinburgh city centre, for it doesn’t call at many places along the way.  The seats are quite nice on this bus (1129) and we soon reached the terminus at Waverley Bridge, certainly a good way to end the bus trip across the country.

Due to us arriving back in Edinburgh earlier than expected, and with darkness fallen, we decided to do a little jolly towards Tweedbank, mainly because there are a handful of services booked to use platform 2 where you can return to Edinburgh, but first it was a trip on low mileage 170452 to Stow mainly for a station photo (as it saves a job for another time), where we had a bit of fireworks at the chilly station (at this point when I pulled out my jumper from my bag, I must have not noticed my hat being pulled out as well and dropping to the ground).  30 minutes later 170406 rolled in to take us the final few miles to Tweedbank, pausing for a moment before taking the left hand side track to terminate into platform 2 allowing me to tick of this platform.  I believe other than Oban, Stranraer & Mallaig, I've covered all the 'terminal' platforms at ends of line in Scotland now.

Platform 2 at Tweedbank, tick.

170406 joined up with 170452, as we took a seat in the first class area of 406 (as the Borders route is standard class only, and hey it is a little luxury), this line is a trip of two halves, the first being the fast running from Tweedbank towards Gorebridge, before the slow potter towards Edinburgh calling at many stations, but that is a job for another day.  Arrival into Edinburgh was into platform 20 which meant a long walk along a busy platform as the units would be split with the front unit forming the last Aberdeen service (and one of the last fast to Kirkcaldy services), having a walk to a nearby Pizza Hut for a nice dinner before we parted ways with Dan heading back home on a bus and I made my way to a hostel for the night.  Overall, it was a good day, unusual for me that trains didn’t feature until the end (other than the sleeper at the start), but a nice way to spend time with a good friend, with some good fast motorway running and some sightseeing.

And remember Jack Frost is here…

It's Winter, be careful of icy platforms!

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3^rd November – Edinburgh & the Way Home

After a late start, I met up with Dan at Princes Street where we headed to get some breakfast from McDonalds, dodging the showers and popping to a couple shops before I found a cheap hat in Primark (only £2.50, seems to be nice and warm, better than paying £5+ for something with some branding on, and won’t matter if I misplace it).  Due to me being booked on the 12:52(ish) Virgin service, we couldn’t go that far out of the city, so in the end decided on a trip to Edinburgh Airport on tram 271 (no on-board ticket inspection), returning to the city centre on the Airlink 100 bus (1136), this time going upstairs where it was 2+1 seating for a short section, mainly to compare the two main options between Princes Street & the Airport.

Airlink 100 Bus at Waverley Bridge

Certainly for a comparison, the seats on the bus are a lot more comfortable, plus they have USB charging, in terms of speed I would say the tram is slightly faster, but it would depend on traffic, certainly to Haymarket the tram will probably be faster (as after Haymarket it runs on the street).  Anyway it was time to walk to the station, swinging via Boots for lunch and Sainburys for supplies for Dan, before I said farewell at the bus stop and headed back to the station to await boarding of the London Euston train.

*Insert Comment here about using a pair of diesels under those lovely wires all the way to London*

The main reason for going via the West Coast was down to cost, LNER were a bit slow in releasing advances for this weekend, so I decided to gamble on a cheap ticket on Virgin going via the West Coast, also as the 12:52 is booked pair of Voyagers, this gave me an excuse to look out of the window when going via the Lake District (as a voyager has bigger windows than a Pendo).  So it was time to say farewell to Edinburgh as I boarded 221101 leading 221102 for the run towards Crewe, got delayed at Penrith due to a door fault which meant my fester at Crewe was reduced from 20 minutes to 3 minutes as 390130 from Warrington rolled in pretty much after the voyagers had gone (this one would normally come from Liverpool, but due to engineering works were diverted to Warrington for bus connections).

The Pendo was lightly loaded, but annoyingly the plug socket wasn’t working (neither were they working on the voyager, but my plug was working fine on the IET so just bad luck).  Nice and fast after Stafford before it tripped on the overhead wires north of Nuneaton and was nursed to a stop at Nuneaton when the driver reset the train, before carrying on heading to London, but the damage had been done to the time keeping as it rolled into Euston around 18:20.  I had a short walk to Euston LU station to head to the southbound Victoria line with 11037/11038 taken to Oxford Circus, changing over to board 3552/3262 on the Bakerloo line towards Paddington, where after arrival at Paddington noticed it was 18:38 which gave me a little hope to catch the Cheltenham train.

Although I wasn’t prepared and wasted seconds finding which platform it was going from, finding out it was platform 1, meaning it was a fast walk leaping onto 800310 via the local door (thank you Train Manager!).  It took me a few minutes to find an empty seat for the fast run to Reading, where it was a short connection over to platform 1 where 158884 & 158881 were sat working the next Salisbury service, I was expecting it to be busy but the 2^nd coach of 884 was lightly loaded, especially after Basingstoke where there was only half a dozen if most (although I suspect there was some annoyed passengers from the late running Weymouth train behind hoping to make the connection).  It was back to Andover where I got a lift home; arriving earlier than expected (I was aiming for the 19:00 service at Paddington, but got very lucky with connections).

Anyhow, a picture of an Aberdeen bound LNER service departing Edinburgh in the morning:

Under the watchful eye of Edinburgh Castle, an LNER HST heads towards Aberdeen

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1^st November – A day on the Overground, the way to Edinburgh.

Due to falling ill during the middle of the week, coming down which a 24 bug which was doing the rounds and ended up vomiting at work on the Wednesday meant I wasn’t allowed back to work until Monday (as I work in a kitchen so needs to be 48 hours after the event before being allowed back).  Thursday was a lazy day at home which meant the bug has cleared from my system so I decided on the Friday to head to London earlier than planned, although I had many ideas where to head, in the end deciding on the Overground for some unit hunting (710s), station photos & some mileage gains.

Friday morning arrived and it was a gentle walk to the station before boarding a busy 159103 & 159006 on the 08:59 service, made busier than usual as the service beforehand failed at Andover (the usual battle of commuters’ vs families on a day trip).  At Basingstoke it was a gentle walk over to platform 5 to board 165110 for the run to Reading, where I popped out of the station for some breakfast, before heading back to the platform to see what was floating around, ignoring any “formed of 9 coaches” services, instead focusing on the 5/10 coach services.  An hour later I was going to call it a day with a pair of units from Carmarthen as the next couple showing were formed of 9 coaches, however as luck would have it, this service was 800023 leading winner 800001 which cleared the sub-class.

Morning RHTT passing Grateley

At Paddington, I checked the ID of one of the 345s out (007 I believe) before boarding 165117 & 165109 for the run to Ealing Broadway, where after visiting the loos boarded 345049 back to Paddington, so after grabbing lunch from Sainsburys I headed to the underground to head towards Overground land.  For the ease of reading I will do it as summary due to the linear hops, stations in italics were required for photographs:

Paddington –> Oxford Circus, 3261/3531

Oxford Circus –> Blackhorse Road, 11088/11087

Blackhorse Road –> Leytonstone High Road, 710267

Leytonstone High Road –> Harringay Green Lanes, 710266

Harringay Green Lanes –> Leyton Midland Road, 710261

Leyton Midland Road –> Blackhorse Road, 710265

Blackhorse Road –> Leyton Midland Road, 710269

Leyton Midland Road –> Upper Holloway, 710105 (first of the AC-only batch)

Upper Holloway –> Blackhorse Road, 710265

Blackhorse Road –> Gospel Oak, 710269 (this was running a couple minutes late due to a late running freight train at Barking allowing me to pull off a minus 1 connection)

Gospel Oak -> Caledonian Road & Barnsbury, 378201

Caledonian Road & Barnsbury -> Camden Road, 378227 (time wasting move to get photo of the Poppy Roundel)

Camden Road -> Dalston Kingsland, 378230

Dalston Kingsland -> Homerton, 378204

Homerton -> Hackney Wick, 378208 (nice new station building here)

Hackney Wick -> Kentish Town West, 378204

Kentish Town West -> Camden Road, 378222 (time wasting move)

Camden Road -> Hampstead Heath, 378204

Hampstead Heath -> West Hampstead, 378208

West Hampstead -> Finchley Road & Frognal, 378227

Finchley Road & Frognal -> Brondesbury, 378234

Brondesbury -> Finchley Road & Frognal, 378226 (time wasting move)

Finchley Road & Frognal -> Brondesbury Park, 378218

Brondesbury Park -> Kensal Rise, 378224

Kensal Rise -> Willesden Junction, 378216

378 at Caledonian Road

At Willesden I made a much needed visit to the toilets and hung around on the low level platforms to see if any required 710s were floating around on the Watford DC line, but after a couple very busy northbound services, I decided to cut my losses and head back up to the high level platform, where low mileage 378257 had just rolled in on a Clapham Junction service, and due to being around 12 minutes late was running non-stop to Clapham Junction, which was certainly interesting speeding through a busy Shepherd’s Bush & West Brompton.

At Clapham Junction, I had ideas, but decided to hang back to see what was on the next Willesden Junction service once 257 had cleared, as low mileage 378205 rolled in, completely wedged as it took a good few minutes for it to empty out.  I took this 378 to Shepherd’s Bush where I changed over to the Underground with 91001/92082/92044/91223 on the first available Central Line service to take me to Liverpool Street where I had a date with a 321.  Exiting at Liverpool Street I noticed it was a bit chaotic with 5 TfL Rail services on the blocks, but after swinging via Tesco for dinner, I headed over to the Harwich train which was as expected low mileage 321312 leading 321366 which meant I only had one more active GA 321 to hunt down.

I took this pair to Stratford, where I decided to head over to platform 11 where 317651 & 317882 were on the next Meridian Water shuttle, as I might as well get the new track covered when I was in the area.  The train turned onto the new siding after Lea Bridge and ran to Meridian Water where I noticed only a handful alighting and only a handful boarding the return, a few more boarded at Tottenham Hale, where I alighted to head to the underground with 11005/11006 taken for the long run to Victoria, for it was time to hunt down some South Eastern units for mileage.

Meridian Water "Siding" done

Straight away I landed on a 466+465 combo bound for Medway which was low mileage 466017 leading 465921 for the run to Bromley South via Catford, a short wait at Bromley before low mileage 700044 rolled in which I took to Bellingham, returning to Bromley South on 700016, making a connection onto a late running 377501 & 377514 from Ashford to take me to Victoria, looping a stopper at Kent House (where said stopper didn’t actually call there!).  After a quick look, I boarded 465249 & 465242 for a short mileage boost to Denmark Hill (as 249 was one of my few remaining sub mile 465s), a cross platform change over to low mileage 700015 getting a mileage boost for the run to Blackfriars, followed by a further mileage boost to 700041 to St Pancras and 700127 to Finsbury Park.  A walk down the stairs saw me on 11031/11032 for the run to Euston where I walked over to the lowland sleeper where I am led to believe 92010 was leading, as I took my seat in the Edinburgh portion for the run towards Carstairs.  92023 was the loco on the Carstairs – Edinburgh portion which took me to Edinburgh arriving pretty much on time.

Overall a successful day in London, a few more 378s and other units cleared for mileage, as well as a good number of stations revisited for photographs.

Trains at Leytonstone High Road