20th December – The Day in London before heading to Scotland

20^th December – The Day in London before heading to Scotland

I was booked on the lowland sleeper to Edinburgh on the Friday night for 3 days in Scotland as a Pre Christmas treat, and with having finished work for the year earlier in the week, I decided to make the most of the Friday and head to London, no real plan in mind other than a request at a couple of my last units (as 321448 is making a comeback to all accounts), getting lucky with my last Chiltern 165 being on a service which calls within the zones (as there is quite a few 165 operated services which are first stop Denham or Gerrards Cross, or even in the peak first stop Amersham).

With the strike timetable, it was to Grateley for the 09:33 service to take me to Basingstoke (158881, 159003 & 159012), where it was onto a busy 221132 (which is currently running round as a 4 coach unit due to an incident with one of the coaches) for the run to Reading (something which will be happening a bit more often due to the new GWR timetable meaning the connection to a GWR stopper is lost).  At Reading it was a short walk over to platform 14 where I took a seat on winner 345064 for my first TfL Rail service from Reading to take me to Burnham, a station I needed for both photograph & platform.  30 minutes later winner 345063 rolled in to take me to Southall, where I took 345011 to Hayes & Harlington, followed by 387147 & 387159 to Ealing Broadway, to intercept the 2^nd unit on Hayes shuttles, this being winner 345059 which I took to Hayes, remaining on board for the trip to Paddington.  I got 3 more 345s into my book, which is a good result, as I grabbed some lunch before heading to the underground, where my travelcard stopped working (worked the barriers to exit Paddington, but failed to work for the rest of the day, which is very annoying.

345064 departs the island platform at Burnham

3255/3533 took me to Marylebone, where as a time wasting move I took 168325 to Northolt Park, returning to Wembley Stadium on 165012, before 165034 took me to South Ruislip (with NSE era platform signage), returning to Marylebone on 165024.  Those moves were solely for station photographs and clears Chiltern within the zones, I also noticed there was no queue at the ticket office, so to waste some time I purchased my rover for Scotland from there, before heading back, noticing some busy single 3 coach units on Birmingham services departing rather busy looking, before low mileage 165032 rolled in from the wall siding, and I had a trip to Harrow on the Hill, which was enough to clear it for ten miles, my last Chiltern 165 for this target.  At Harrow I headed over to the Met line platforms and jumped on 21049/21050, flipping a coin in my head at what to do, either mileage hunting on South Eastern, something involving 700s or Great Northern 717s for photographs.

68012 at Marylebone.

I ended up deciding on Great Northern as it hadn’t collapsed (yet), so it was to Moorgate on that S8, changing to platform 10 for winner 717016 to Hornsey (got very busy at Highbury).  Winner 717023 was up next to take me to Grange Park, for a tight connection to 717012 back one stop to Winchmore Hill, before 717001 took me to Cuffley, followed by dud 717024 to Bayford, changing over for the return of 717001 to take me back one stop to Cuffley, with 717016 shortly following to take me to Crews Hill and a short wait before 717025 was my next winner 717 for the run to a busy Alexandra Palace.  All stations needed for photographs and it makes a start with the mileage building for the 717s!

A 717 arrives into Bayford

A busy 717004 was up next to take me to Oakleigh Park, followed by a peak time additional service formed of 700045 to Potters Bar (pushing it over ten miles in the process), a short wait before 717014 was the next 717 to get a tick in my book for the run to Brookmans Park, followed by a short wait for 717016 to get taken over ten miles with the run to Welwyn Garden City (I didn’t need Welham Green for a photograph).  A short wait here before low mileage 700017 took me to Welwyn North, followed by 700058 to Knebworth and a little vocal treat for 365512 & 365504 to take me non-stop to Hitchin (can’t beat some 365 motor noise!).  Low mileage 700023 was up next to take me to Stevenage, followed by 700127 for the long run to City Thameslink.

700049 was up next to take me to Elephant & Castle, followed by 700059 to Loughborough Junction (since when did this station get barriers?), a 15 minute break allowed me to visit a local Tesco Express for dinner, before returning to Blackfriars on 700046, stepping back onto 700129 to take me to St Pancras, where I exited the system for the final time of the day and walked slowly to Euston, where after picking up some cookies from Sainsburys, it was to the platform with the lowlander.  Interesting to note when I walked to the front, the Edinburgh seats was around half full (this was at 23:15), but the Glasgow seats looked lightly loaded.  I was happy as winner 92006 was up front which I believe is my last “Cally” coloured 92 (I think I’ve got one 92 left which has been modified to haul the new stock, 92020).

92006 at Euston

I got settled in for a cold night, the toilet going out of use before the train had even departed Euston, but I was quite pleased, a handful of 700s cleared for ten miles (including a very low mileage 700/1), my last Chiltern 165 has been ticked off, and I’ve made a small start with the 717s, at least for some of the units when they pop up it shouldn’t be a full run to Enfield/Barnet.  Having a 345 out from Reading felt strange, they are a bit rough riding at top speed between Twyford & Maidenhead, but they do take off like rockets.  Also I've cleared the majority of my "717" served stations for photos, just Hatfield & Watton-at-Stone left.

390122 at Euston, forming the last Wolverhampton service on "Manic Friday".