11th – 13rd September – Norfolk & Midland Main Line
This trip was another use of the Travelodge BOGOF deal with the idea for the Saturday being a trip towards Norfolk to tick off the Norwich bound platform at Shippea Hill and do some other odds & sods in that area, a plan which changed several times due to engineering works (i.e. Ely – Kings Lynn & Peterborough closed). I was based in the Travelodge in Croydon due to the overnight Thameslink services making it easy enough to get to Kings Cross for a Cambridge bound train to intercept the Norwich train which called at Shippea, but even that plan got changed due to engineering works on the Thameslink core.
11th September
Wanting an early night due to an early start on the Saturday, I decided to focus on my remaining SWR stations within Surrey & the Windsor line for photographs, a quiet evening making a couple tight connections to finish earlier than expected. I believe it was the first time I’ve gone into the bay at Weybridge, but the suburban network of SWR is done for photographs.
I was on the 9th floor of the Croydon Travelodge (one of the so called “Business floors”), although it wasn’t the best of nights due to several drunks coming in around midnight having an argument.
Footbridge & platform at Sunnymeads
12th September
My alarm was set for 03:30 as I needed to be on the 04:10 train to London Bridge, there was a few passengers with suitcases on the opposite platform awaiting a train towards Three Bridges which was ‘delayed’ due to a late notice route change. The 700 rolled in, nice and quiet in the rear first class area for a little tour of South London, going via Selhurst then Tulse Hill & Peckham to reach London Bridge, where I had a gentle walk across the River Thames and towards Liverpool Street station (for its only around a mile away by foot).
Breakfast was taken care off from McDonalds before boarding a 317 for a leap to Tottenham Hale via Stratford, where I changed for a pair of 379s for the run to Stansted Airport (judging by the platform displays there might have been at least 2 “745s” out formed of 12 coaches). A short break at Stansted Airport and it was onto a 755 from platform 2 to take me to Shippea Hill where I was the only person alighting and nobody boarded.
One of the most famous least used stations in Britain
I had a choice of 3 (well 4) routes I could walk to get back to another station, either along the main A1101 road towards Littleport (for a bus to Ely), along the A1101 turning left to go via Prickwillow to reach Ely (which is the way I rode back a few years ago), walk towards Lakenheath village & to the station, or following the Hereward Way long distance path to reach Lakenheath station, going via the nature reserve. I decided to pick the slightly longer route of the Hereward Way, mainly due to the nature reserve but also due to it being mainly off-road, it was around 9 miles (estimated) and I had around 3 and a half hours so I had time.
Exiting Shippea Hill station, crossing over the road and straight across into an overgrown patch with an old bridge over a ditch and onto an old road, mostly overgrown but has elements of the old surface ever now and again. A better walking surface was reached with a farm and along a quiet residential road (Sedge Fen Road) carrying on onto another farm track, to re-join a quiet road (Newman’s Drove), passing a couple farms before turning off the road to follow a footpath along another farm track before going onto a grassy path towards the railway line crossing as a foot crossing called “The Drove”.
After the railway crossing it was a rough patch with weeds before the path cleared away, passing an old pumping station and plain walking along a well-kept path running alongside the Little Ouse River through the Nature Reserve, I could tell I was getting nearer the end when I saw other walkers, eventually reaching the road for a short section to reach Lakenheath station itself. Served by 2 trains on Saturdays (one each way) and 3 each way on Sundays, needless to say I was the only passenger getting on the sole Saturday train towards Ely (and nobody getting off). Even though I know GA doesn’t have any request stops at the moment I still put out my arm to request the train.
View from the Lakenheath Nature Reserve
Overall other than a couple rough patches, an enjoyable walk, clocked in at around 9.2 miles, certainly more enjoyable than walking along the main-road to Littleport! My feet was happy to get rested (annoyingly the Norwich bound platform at Lakenheath has 3 benches; the Ely bound side has nothing in the way of seating. At Ely it was a short connection to board the next Norwich bound service to take me to Brandon, returning to Ely once more, this time to have some lunch from the nearby Tesco.
Returning to Ely station after lunch, it was onto a pair of 158s on an EMR shuttle service to Thetford for a short wait before another 755 took me all the way to Norwich (I do like the 755s). My original idea was to head towards Reedham, but I decided instead to head to Stowmarket on another 755 (engineering works between Stowmarket & Ipswich meant the hourly Norwich – Stowmarket services were interworking with the Cambridge services, which gave the novelty of a 755 running via Diss. At Stowmarket I had a short rest before the next Norwich train rolled into platform 2 which I took to Diss, returning to Stowmarket, then remaining on the same train to take me to Cambridge, calling at all the stations.
An unusual visitor to Diss, a 755
It was time to say goodbye to Greater Anglia land (for I will be back in October time) as I made a tight connection onto a pair of 387s on a fast Kings Cross service, followed by a trip on the Northern line to London Bridge, and a triple 171 to East Croydon (for no reason other than the Brighton bound service which departed a couple minutes before this service was busy). For me it wasn’t the end of the day and after a quick visit to grab some food from Sainsburys outside East Croydon station it was onto a Horsham bound 700 which due to engineering works went on the main “quarry” line, using the connection to the “Redhill” line between Earlswood & Salfords stations. I alighted at Horley, before returning to Salfords followed by a pair of 377s to Earlswood, heading to Three Bridges, before 700155 took me back to East Croydon, allowing me to get a picture of the “pride” 700.
700155 at East Croydon
After that photo it was a case of returning to the hotel, having a shower and relaxing for the remainder of the evening before having a good sleep (no drunken idiots tonight).
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13th September
I needed to revisit the EMR stations south of Leicester on the Midland Main Line, and these are easier to do on a Sunday due to the current timetable (i.e. 2 trains an hour between Kettering & Market Harborough at the start of the day, with the 2 trains an hour at Wellingborough being more balanced (can’t remember if it’s northbound or southbound that on a Saturday the 2 trains an hour run within 10 minutes of each other).
Anyhow, checking out of the hotel (and a visit to Sainsburys for breakfast), saw me heading towards London Bridge on a 700 for a Northern line service to St Pancras to board the first departure towards Nottingham. Due to the train being a single 5 coach unit the first class area was declassified so I decided to sit in the posh seats for the long trip to Kettering, first time along this line (in daylight) for a while, the wiring from Bedford to Kettering looks complete.
Kettering itself was a bit of a building site with the platform canopies chopped back for the wiring, lots of scaffolding and a bit of a mess in general. Next train took me to Market Harborough where the time I had was short due to the pair of units running late (caught behind a late running freight train) so I didn’t have time to explore this rebuilt station (on a new straighter alignment to allow non-stop trains to pass at a higher speed and longer trains to call without the need of SDO). Next up was a HST to take me to Wellingborough, a station which has had a new platform built on a new slow line (previously it was 3 tracks at the station, now 4).
A HST departs Wellingborough
Another short wait before a 222 took me back towards Bedford, where I spent the next few hours revisiting some of the Thameslink stations I needed in the area (made harder as they were only half hourly today due to engineering works). I finished the day with a HST into St Pancras, with all the Thameslink stations revisited for photographs. I made my way towards Victoria via the Victoria line with a triple 377 towards Clapham for I had forgotten the Waterloo – Exeter trains got retimed to depart at XX:20 instead of XX:15, it only flagged up when I was looking for the connection to reach Basingstoke for the Reading – Salisbury service.
Needless to say I made a tight connection at Clapham to board the Exeter train to take me to Andover, where I did a loop via a pizza takeaway place before a double 158 took me the last stop back to Grateley. So nice to have an hourly Sunday service back, makes my planning slightly easier.
More photos from the trip are available on my Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/157760463@N05/albums/72157715879787576/with/50346473946/
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