August 2020 trips
A brief catch up of my various trips since the 2nd August, as always there are more photos on my Flickr account.
2nd August
Today was a social meet-up with “Every Last Station” as he was down in London, and we did some stations within South East London before heading out towards Kent with the stations between Swnaley & Sevenoaks visited, plus Dunton Green & Hildenborough. We were surprised at how pretty the village of Shoreham is as we had a break there for some lunch before carrying on back towards London, finishing up with a tram move towards Wimbledon and a 345 to Reading, where I was staying overnight. It was nice to have a catch-up with a good friend.
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| River in Shoreham |
3rd August
An early start from Reading saw me heading towards Kingham to intercept the morning Finstock Flyer which I took to Ascott Under Wychwood for the platform score. An enjoyable walk across the fields to Charlbury before I headed to revisit the stations towards Worcestershire Parkway for some photographs, getting lucky at Pershore for a 68+66 movement towards Long Marston.
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| 68 in Pershore |
5th August
A trip towards Ledbury to revisit some of the stations on that line which I had hoped to do in February but got bowled out with a signal failure, also a good excuse to meet up with another good friend for a little social catch-up, as it’s good to catch up in person after the last few months of lock-down.
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| New Measurement HST passing Malvern Link |
6th August
This trip got changed at the last minute due to the lock-down being introduced in Aberdeen, forcing a change of hotel to Dundee, but would be another social with another good friend. My original plan was to go via Manchester to sample a new TPE 397 but that got changed to going via the ECML with a required 801 taken to York before a 800 taken all the way to Arbroath (featuring some diesel use due to a smoking hot Voyager at Darlington). A 170 took us to Insch before a HST back to Aberdeen station before a 158 on a fast to Montrose before another 170 to Dundee.
Sadly the booked use of the loop next to platform 1 at Dundee didn’t happen as this service on RTT is meant to loop an Arbroath stopper and go into Platform 1 South. The Premier Inn outside Dundee was used which gave some good views of the River Tay
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| River Tay at Sunset |
7th August
An early start for me as I headed to Dundee for the first train towards Carnoustie to take the 158 to Barry Links for the platform score, before a walk to Carnoustie heading back to Dundee via Broughty Ferry and breakfast in the Premier Inn. A couple hours later we returned to the station for a required 800 to Stonehaven before heading back to Arbroath for a bus move to Dundee bus station before a bus across the Tay Road Bridge to Leuchars for a flymo to Cupar and a bus move to Springfield.
After giving the guard a shock that passengers wanted on at Springfield, it was one final linear leap to Ladybank for a HST from Inverness to take us to Edinburgh, where after dinner we crashed out in a Travelodge.
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| Early morning at Barry Links |
8th August
An morning spin to Dunbar to score the new platform, before a TPE 802 towards Newcastle before I did some required stations in that area, a couple on the Tyne Valley line (with busy trains, should have been doubled up units with the reduced hourly stopper along this route), before a couple on the Durham Coast, including the recently opened Horden, and Chester Le Street on the ECML. Overnight was in the YHA in the city centre, formally an Euro Hostel which I’ve used a couple times in the past.
In addition to the heavy rail, I took a Tyne & Wear Metro service to Gateshead Stadium in order to tick off the crossover heading back towards Gateshead, deciding to walk from Gateshead itself to the station , getting lost along the way.
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| Tyne Bridge (from Swing Bridge) |
9th August
Today was a little spin to Sunderland before a Grand Central service towards Thrisk (which went via Durham due to engineering works, for the novelty of a 180 along that route), before a pair of 185s to Yarm before returning towards Northallerton to catch a late running 801 to London. Another 800 took me to Reading for a 165 to Basingstoke and an hour wait for a train to Andover, more a bus avoidance move.
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| A 801 at Northallerton |
14th August
Back on the rails with another long weekend, this time I was focused on the Chiltern line towards Bicester North, linear hopping along the way, before ending up heading to Tame Bridge Parkway to finish the West Midlands and a spin to Penkridge to get that station out of the way, certainly a productive day, although not the best of nights in the Travelodge outside Moor Street due to early morning buses.
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| A Pendo passing Tame Bridge Parkway |
15th August – Derbyshire
Working with the reduced EMR timetable for the local services in Derbyshire saw me heading to Derby on an early morning voyager before heading to Tutbury & Hatton, before focusing on the Matlock branch, using the gap in service to have lunch at Duffield (I was planning a bus move to Belper but the timings of the bus didn’t match what was on Google Maps). Some busy trains on this line with tourists to Matlock Bath, and I was surprised at how many passengers boarded an afternoon service at Spondon.
After visiting the Matlock branch stations, it was a trip to Sheffield, working my way towards Langley Mill via Dronfield & Alferton, for a rare EMR service to Chesterfield followed by a HST to Sheffield (one of the former LNER sets). A pacer took me to Bamford before a pair of 150s back to Dore for a short wait for a TPE service to take me back to Sheffield, before taking a voyager back to Birmingham, which due to engineering works went via Lichfield and lost time due to a northbound voyager having issues around Four Oaks. The delay was just over 30 minutes after a short wait outside New Street so should get something back from XC.
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| 37s passing Spondon |
16th August
Final trip of my backlog of rough reports was heading back home, going via Rugeley for my last couple stations in Staffordshire, getting unlucky with a pair of 350/2s (the 3+2 seated ones) for the run to Milton Keynes, for a stopper to visit Kings Langley & Apsley, before heading to Watford for a pair of 377s to Clapham Junction, followed by a couple linear hops to Woking, stopping off at Weybridge & Byfleet & New Haw, before a triple 159 took me home, the end of a successful weekend.
A broken down 390 (looked like the wiper blade had come away) was causing a little bit of chaos at Watford Junction when I was there, with everything forced to use the fast lines, including a freight
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| 390126 arriving at Watford Junction |
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