31st October & 1st November – A trip into Southern diesel land

 31^st October & 1^st November – A trip into Southern diesel land

No overnight stays for me this weekend, home both nights (with a lazy day on Friday), originally I was going to have the Sunday off as a day of rest, but due to the announcement on Saturday that lockdown was returning I decided to head out, as I am see more days of rest happening in the next 4 weeks (especially if the weather remains poor).  It was time to switch my focus away from the north, and to the south where the majority of my required stations for photographs were located (in England).

 

31^st October – Coastways

 

The idea of today was to linear hop along the south coast, with an early morning drive to Romsey, having to park in a council run car park due to the inability to pay for parking at the station car park unless you used “RingGo” (a company I do not trust).  An empty 166 rolled in from Westbury to take me to Fareham, going via Eastleigh for the novelty factor (engineering works in the Southampton area), where I did some linear hops to Porchester, then to Cosham, before a longer trip to West Worthing, walking back to Durrington on Sea before the next London train took me to East Worthing.

 

A 30 minute break allowed me time to visit a nearby Tesco Express for some supplies before returning to the trains with another 377 taken to Southwick before a busier unit took me to Brighton, changing over to platform 8, linear hopping to Moulsecoomb where it started to rain, before a 313 took me one stop to Falmer before another 377 took me to Pevensey & Westham (via Eastbourne, where I managed to get a couple photos).  A delayed service to Ore from London was following close behind the Brighton – Ore service which I took to Cooden Beach before a 171 took me to Ham Street.

 

A 313 departs Falmer

 

Another break (although the poor weather meant I was more restricted to the shelter) before the same 171 returned from Ashford to take me to Rye where I managed to connect with the next Ashford train (which lost around 7 minutes between Bexhill & Hastings) allowing me to head back towards Appledore for another 30 minute break, listening to the rain coming down.  The 171 returned which took me to Bexhill (originally it was going to be Cooden Beach but I got that earlier in the day).

 

A 171 at Rye

 

A short break before I was back on the electrics with a Victoria service taken to Eastbourne where it attached with another unit to take me to Polegate for a short wait before a Brighton service took me all the way into Brighton, where I popped out of the station to dash to a nearby Tesco for more supplies, this time for dinner, before returning to Brighton station for a short leap to Hove before a fast walk along the streets to reach the bleak Aldrington station to catch a delayed Littlehampton service, arriving into Lancing.

 

A couple minutes later the Southampton train arrived to take me to Goring By Sea, followed by another short wait before the next Littlehampton service took me to Angmering before the next train took me to Chichester for a short wait before an empty unit for Southampton arrived from London to take me to Cosham, where I changed onto a 165+166 combo to head back to Romsey, once more going via Eastleigh.  I made use of a few minutes dwell at the station to grab a couple photos.

 

Thames Turbos at Eastleigh

 

I arrived at Romsey, for a quiet drive home, ending the day an hour earlier than I had expected due to making that connection at Rye.  A good day (other than the wet weather, making looking out of the window a bit hard at times), certainly my list of stations on the coastway lines have come down.

 

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1^st November – Uckfield & Edenbridge

 

For my final day trip for at least a month (assuming leisure travel is allowed again at the end of the 4 weeks period), I decided to head towards the Uckfield line, as I could tick off the stations I needed from Purley towards Edenbridge (on the Tonbridge line) as well.

 

First time in a while it was a pair of 159s on the 07:36 service from Grateley taking me to Clapham Junction, where thanks to it arriving a few minutes early due to the Sunday timetable (timed for a 2-track railway) I made a connection to a triple 377 on the next East Grinstead service which took me to Oxted, slipping on the rails.  Slightly funny with the display in the coach I was in was telling passengers about a closure of the lines into Victoria which happened back in February!

 

A short connection at Oxted before the 171 arrived from East Croydon which took me to Buxted for a short wait before returning to take me to Eridge (where I note a new path is being built to create step-free access).  Another short wait at the home of the Spa Valley Railway before a pair of 2 coach 171s arrived to take me to the end of the line at Uckfield, returning me back to Crowborough for an hour fester (where I visited a nearby Sainsburys, deciding it wasn’t worth attempting to visit the Tesco as I had a picture it would be busy).  Returning to the station I was treated with a pair of 73s passing working a RHTT.

 

A pair of 73s passing Crowborough.

 

The 171 returned from Uckfield to take me to Edenbridge Town where I had a gentle walk along the road to reach the other station in Edenbridge, with a 377 taken to Nutfield for another short wait before the 377 returned to take me to Godstone for another short wait before the other 377 on Reigate – Tonbridge services returned from Tonbridge to take me to Redhill where I had a tight connection from platform 0 to platform 2 to reach a Thameslink service to take me the one stop to Merstham.

 

A 700 departs Merstham

 

Another short 30 minute wait before a low mileage 700 arrived from Three Bridges to take me to East Croydon, changing over to a trio of 377s from East Grinstead (the same trio I had earlier in the day) to Clapham Junction, where I jumped onto a triple 450 to Woking (mainly for the novelty of terminating in platform 1 due to engineering works), before a pair of 159s took me to Andover for another short fester (I prefer waiting around at Andover than Basingstoke as it’s more peaceful).  My final train before lockdown was a pair of 158s from Reading which took me the 6 and a half miles to Grateley for a gentle walk home.

 

Overall a successful day revisiting stations for photographs, another part of the Southern network cleared.  With any luck come 2^nd December the lockdown will be relaxed to allow leisure travel as the next 4 weeks are going to be hard for me mentally, especially if the weather is crap.

 

Walking in the countryside in the warm summer months where the ground is dry is different to walking in the countryside with a strong chilly breeze and rain, where the ground is muddy in places.  I just need to try and get a few things which were booked up cancelled or rearranged.  For the meanwhile, try and keep safe and hopefully the lockdown will only last 4 weeks.  Although I might need some bread from the Sainsburys in Salisbury at some point ;)