11th January – A trip to Liverpool
For my first overnight long distance trip of the year, I
decided to head to Liverpool, mainly for the idea of hunting down my last few
507/508 units for mileage as they will soon be departing. What I didn’t notice at the time of booking
that I picked a weekend where the Northern line services were pretty much out
of use due to engineering works (doh!)
I arrived into Liverpool on the Friday night, and as I was
booked on the 18:33 departure (same price as for the 21:0X service) all I did
in London was stepping back at Woking for some 442 based noise, some Northern
line and 390050 to Liverpool, with a gentle walk to the Easy Hotel in Liverpool
city centre (near James Street station).
The hotel was quite reasonable, certainly one I would use again if the
price was right.
It was an early start for me, as I walked to Lime Street
(via McDonalds for breakfast) before boarding the first Wigan bound service,
formed of 331111 to Garswood for around a 25 minute fester (I could have
caught a 319 on a stopper, but decided I wanted some speed). The time passed and 331111 had returned from
Wigan to take me a couple stops to Thatto Heath. This is when my rough plan changed as
originally I was going to have a thirty minute fester here (it’s the station
where the Wigan stoppers pass at), but noticed on Google Maps there was a
potential bus move to Rainhill, which would save some time. Over to the bus stop with a route 10A double
decker Stagecoach service (Bus 15564) for the short trip to Rainhill.
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| Garswood at 6am... Quite Quiet! |
The bus was running late, but so was the Liverpool bound
service so I made the connection onto 319367 for the short leap to Whiston,
changing platforms for winner 331107 to take me the 4 miles to St
Helens Junction and a short fester.
Next up was 323232 to take me to Lea Green where I turned down a
68 in exchange for waiting for 331107 to return from Warrington so I
could push it over ten miles, easily done by Edge Hill. Plenty of chances in the future to score 68s
on Lea Green leaps, but for me is was back a couple stops to Broad Green
on 319381 before heading to Lime Street on 319386, which clears the Liverpool –
Wigan & Liverpool – Manchester via Chat Moss for station photographs, and
with engineering works around Hunts Cross there was nothing towards South
Parkway (why Northern couldn’t run a half hourly shuttle between South Parkway
& Lime Street to give those two stations a service, and have the
replacement bus starting from South Parkway is a bit of a mystery).
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| 195127 passing Edge Hill on an ECS from Blackpool |
Anyhow with Northern dealt with, it was time to head
underground where luck was with me as I caught 508115 to Birkenhead Central,
followed with 507004 to Green Lane.
I noticed one unit on Chester services was running around 7 minutes late
so I decided to gamble that it would run fast on its return so ignored the
existence. 508143 took me to Bromborough with 508117 taken back to Spital
(a good decision as that Chester train ran fast from Liverpool Central to
Hooton!). Next up was a low mileage 507026
which I took to Hooton (for it was Ellesmere Port bound), before 507024 took me
to Bache to complete the Chester line.
A short wait for this unit to return from Chester to take me back to
Lime Street where I went off in search of lunch, but first my eye was taken by
a 331 on the Blackpool bound.
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| 507010 at Bromborough |
For some reason when I scored 331005 last October I didn’t
remove the number from my needs list, so I was thinking “winner” as I made use
of the toilet and plug socket for the fast run to St Helens Central, returning
to Lime Street on 319375. I was keeping
my eye out for the northbound Wigan service and noticed it was a 319 ending
with a 1, and with 381 somewhere in the Crewe area I decided it was worth a
gamble (as I only needed one more Northern 319 for 10 miles, that was
319361). Also when running in towards
Liverpool we passed a stopper from Crewe which was a required 331, so once back
at Lime Street, and after lunch it was back towards St Helens Central on winner
331112. I bailed at Eccleston Park to intercept that
319, so not quite enough to push this 331 over ten miles, but my luck was with
me as low mileage 319361 rolled in from Wigan to take me back to Lime
Street. I was quite happy with getting
this 319 as it means I no longer have to keep my eyes peeled for the Northern
319s, especially as they are slowly going off-lease.
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| 319361 at Lime Street, last 319/3 for mileage :) |
Next up for me was a trip back underground, this time
focusing on the Birkenhead North lines, first up was a Chester bound 508115
which I took to James Street, followed by 507006 to the island platform
of Birkenhead Park. A few minutes
later 507002 arrived to take me to Leasowe, where for a time wasting
move I headed to Bidston on 507014 to intercept the next West Kirby
service. This was formed of 507013 which
I took to Moreton (Merseyside), returning once again on 508120 to
Bidston for I managed to make the tight connection. Next up was a low mileage 507011 which I took to Manor Road,
changing over platforms to board 507013 again, for another single station leap
to Meols. 507014 had returned
from the city centre to take me to Hoylake where it was another tight
connection onto the return of 507011 to take me to Birkenhead North,
the run being enough to push this 507 over ten miles. The West Kirby/New Brighton lines had been
covered for stations to photograph, but there were still two more units on New
Brighton services I hadn’t identified.
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| 507013 departs Meols, new lifts not yet working |
The next New Brighton was 508137 which I took to Wallasey
Grove Road for a nice connection onto low mileage 507030 which needed a
run to Conway Park to push it over ten miles, after going around the city
centre loop. At Birkenhead North I
managed to ID that the 4th unit was also low mileage so that was
something to try and intercept later, but for now it was a return to Bidston on
508120, before boarding my first Transport for Wales Rail service of the year,
in the shape of 150262 for the short run to Neston, as I was in this
area it would be foolish not to pay up the extra couple quid to photograph this
station. With 20 minutes before the
northbound service to arrive, it was plenty of time to visit Sainsburys (and
Tesco) for dinner returning to the station for 150236 to arrive from Wrexham,
to take me back to Bidston.
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| Neston Station, not a lot to see around here |
The rain which had been threatening most of the day had
finally arrived for the short leap to Birkenhead Park with 507013, crossing
over to board 508128 for the run to New Brighton, waiting 10 minutes
before the same unit took me to Lime Street.
Sadly not enough time to grab a photograph of Moorfields to clear the
Wirral lines, but that can wait for a couple weeks’ time when I return for a
BLS tour. I was booked on the 18:47
service to London, and when I booked this trip, it was to give a reasonable
connection to the 22:20 service home (or even the 21:50), but after booking I
noticed it was a weekend of engineering works, and when in theory I could have
made the revised 21:47 departure towards Salisbury (or worked out a plan to go
via Reading), I decided to stay overnight, picking up a bargain of a room in
Croydon. Anyhow back to Lime Street as I
took my seat on the repainted 390155, this was a busy train (Brighton were
playing away to Everton in the kickball, so the booze was in free flow). An uneventful trip to London, gaining the
fast lines for the 2-track section which made an early arrival into Euston, no
ticket check (other than the pre-boarding check at Liverpool), and at Euston I
went for a little walk across to St Pancras (deciding that going via Victoria
for Croydon would probably be busy!) [Also walking to St Pancras and going via
Thameslink is cheaper].
I had a short wait once I arrived at St Pancras for the
first East Croydon bound service, first up was a low mileage 700053 which I took for a short run to
London Bridge, giving the unit an extra 3 and a bit miles (every little helps
as they say), and I scored lucky with the first service, a Horsham bound 700120
for the speedy run to East Croydon. A
gentle walk to the Travelodge to check in and relax after a productive day,
scoring 4 of my Merseyrail PEPs was better than expected, plus my last Northern
319, along with a couple more 331s.
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| Rainham bound 700053 waits time at London Bridge |
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12th January – A
London Sunday
As I was in Croydon on the Saturday, it gave me a few ideas
what to do, deciding a day on London Overground for my last LO stations (all
located on the lines out of Liverpool Street), plus a random jolly out Kent way
to photograph a couple of the stations I needed between Dartford &
Gravesend.
The day begins at East Croydon station, thankfully a bit later
than first planned as RTT wasn’t showing the London Bridge terminating
Thameslink services (so it would have been a stopper), the first 700 wasn’t of
interest, neither was 700105, but I took it anyway. Unusually the train terminated in platform 4,
which probably meant I scored a crossover at the southern end of the station, I
was expecting them to use the Southern bays.
For a time wasting move I jumped on 375628 to Waterloo East, returning
to London Bridge on 465034/465020 before making my way across to platform 2
where the first (from London) Thameslink service towards Rainham was
waiting. A low mileage 700055 for
the long trip out towards Kent and Swanscombe, where it was a ten minute
wait for 376013/376027 to take me to Northfleet, yes a pair of the Metro
376s had escaped London on a Gravesend service!
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| That building certainly has improved since I was last here! |
Another short wait here, before 700006 arrived to take me to
Dartford, where I crossed over to the opposite platform to board 465152
& 465033 on the Cannon Street service, only as far as Woolwich Arsenal,
where I transferred to the DLR for something a little bit different. Worth noting that the totem at Dartford by
the roadside had the old “Overground Network” logo uncovered, a throwback to
history that. I managed to get a seat at
the back of this DLR service for the run to Limehouse, where I crossed
over to the C2C station for photograph.
357316 was up first to take me to Barking, where I spotted 710105
on the Gospel Oak bound, a short wait before 357326 arrived to take me passed
the building site for the new flyover for Barking Riverside line, to Dagenham
Dock. A short wait here before
357315 arrived from Grays to take me to West Ham, where I transferred to the
Jubilee line with 96073/96006 taken to Stratford.
The first Liverpool Street bound service was 345009, so I
took that to Liverpool Street, transferring over to the London Overground
platforms. A bit of a shock at seeing a
8 coach set out on a Sunday with 315807 leading 315831 for the short run to Bethnal
Green, stepping back a train for 315803 for the run to St James Street (requiring
use of a parachute due to the large step!)
Crossing over to the opposite platform at a station I suspect I will be
using a few times when the 710s start operating from Liverpool Street, for
315817 to take me to Clacton, and over to the opposite platform for the
former TfL Rail 315836 to take me all the way to the end at Chingford. After a brief turnaround it was back on the
same unit to Highams Park where I visited a nearby Tesco for lunch
during my 15 minute break (note to self, don’t buy the BBQ Pulled Pork wrap as
they are a bit messy to eat).
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| "Wait this isn't the line to Shenfield" |
Back at the station, and 315811 took me to Walthamstow
Central to clear the Chingford branch, and it was to the underground with
11011/11012 taken to Seven Sisters.
This is when my plan changed as the next Liverpool Street service was
running 6 minutes late (as I had planned for a gentle 10 minute walk between
stations, but with the delay it would be too tight for comfort. 315812 eventfully arrived to take me to Rectory
Road, returning to Stoke Newington on 315811. 315808 was up next to take me to London
Fields, where I had a gentle walk along the road to reach Cambridge
Heath, which clears London Overground for stations for photographs
(woohoo!). 315815 was up next to take me
to Hackney Downs, where I had another gentle walk to Hackney Central for the
next Hackney Wick bound service. Due to
engineering works, the North London Line services were terminating at Hackney
Wick, so by boarding 378203 it allowed me to score the crossover between
Homerton & Hackney Wick to arrive on
the “wrong” platform [to quote some other passengers who were a bit confused].
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| Not the train to Stratford |
With a few hours before I wanted to head home, I took a seat
back on 378203 for the run to Highbury & Islington; the next East London
Line service wasn’t of interest so I decided to head to the Northern City Line
platforms for some 717 hunting/mileage building. First up was 707012 which I took to New Southgate, returning to Essex Road on
winner 717013, crossing over to the opposite platform got me 717020
which I took for the 5 mile run to Bowes Park, returning to Finsbury Park on
winner 717018. 3 more 717s
ticked off, although not for ten miles, but due to the weekend timetable it is
quite hard due to the passing points of the half hourly services. Every little helps I say, and the plug socket
gave my phone a good charge, but as I was in need of a toilet, it was a handy
Gatwick bound 700135 at Finsbury Park to my rescue. This unit would be cleared for ten miles by
Norwood Junction, but I decided to stay on to East Croydon as there were more
options (as I know from experience some of the Southern Brighton services on
Sundays can be formed of 377/3s).
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| 717018 waits time at Finsbury Park |
Sadly no such luck for me today (the one from Brighton was indeed a 377/3+377/3+377/4 combo, but neither 3 were off interest), as I called it a day with
377161/377122 from East Grinstead (always a worth hanging back for as these
tend to be quieter with less luggage).
Onwards to London Victoria, with the walk to the Victoria Line reminding
me how much I dislike this station.
11093/11094 took me to Oxford Circus, transferring to 3554/3266 for the
run to Paddington, arriving nice and early for my few options to take me to
Reading to intercept the Salisbury service.
Sadly my remaining 802/0 had no allocations, so it was onto 800007 &
800032 for the run to Reading, and onto 158890 for the run to Grateley, the
unit only getting very busy at Basingstoke.
A productive day in London, London Overground is cleared,
with a trio of C2C stations cleared and a trio of South Eastern stations also
photographed. Some more mileage was
gained on some 717s, plus a couple more 700s pushed over ten miles. As sad as it seems, but I suspect 315815
would be my last 315 move for a fair while.
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| Doing Staines Avoidance Moves has certainly gotten easier! |
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