12th December – The Only Way is Braintree/Southminster

12^th December – The Only Way is Braintree/Southminster

 

This was another trip I threw together within the last couple weeks as I did have a plan to head towards Yorkshire, staying in Bradford overnight with the hope of clearing Northern for station pictures, but hotels have to close in tier 3 so a change of plan was needed.  To avoid wasting the advance ticket to Bradford I shifted it to the 2^nd January (for the lack of a better idea for a day trip).  After looking at potential options I noticed this weekend Greater Anglia had no engineering work taking place so after a quick play with RTT a plan was thrown together to allow me to revisit a couple of the Essex branchlines.

 

The day began with the 05:24 service from Grateley (it felt like a good idea at the time to save on the cost of a hotel!); this took me all the way into Waterloo, where I made my way across to Liverpool Street (Northern line to Tottenham Court Road for a 6 minute (!) wait for a busy Central line (seemed to be running every 5 minutes this morning).  My first Greater Anglia train of the trip was a dud 745 on a Norwich service which took me to Chelmsford, before a former Northern 321 (and another 321) took me the short leap to Witham, where I changed onto the branch line platform for a single 321 to the remote Cressing (which had people waiting for it both ways!), doubling back to a quiet White Notley.

 

The quiet White Notley

 

30 (or so) minutes later (thankfully White Notley had a nice bench under cover as it was a bit damp), another pair of 321s arrived to take me to the shopping centre station of Braintree Freeport, where I had a gentle walk towards the main station, via Tesco for some lunch supplies and also by the entrance to the Flitch Way (a path towards Bishop Stortford which mostly runs along the old railway formation, something to go onto my “to-do” list at some point.  Next up for me was on another pair of 321s which took me to Shenfield, changing over to the Southend branch for a service to Wickford changing over to the Southminster line.  I spotted a former Northern 322 working a London service, which looks a bit out of place!

 

"Welcome aboard this Northern Electrics service to London Liverpool Street"

 

The unit on the Southminster train took me to a wet Burnham on Crouch, for a short wait before it returned to the remote Althorne.  A short wait before the 2^nd unit on this branch line took me to the end of the line at Southminster, for a short turnaround before heading back towards North Fambridge, the passing loop on this otherwise single track line so a 40 minute wait.  I noticed on the “onward travel connections” map there was a round trip possible so I had a time wasting walk via a couple slightly muddy footpaths (probably not the best idea considering what the weather has been like for the last couple days!), a foot crossing of the line before returning to the station via the road.  I did notice another poster advertising a riverside walk towards Althorne (which looking at the map continues towards Burnham) which also goes onto my to-do list as it looks interesting.

 

Passing Dusty Bins at North Fambridge

 

The 321 returned from Southminster to take me to Battlesbridge for one more double back to South Woodham Ferrers in the pouring rain, thankfully it wasn’t too long to wait before the other 321 arrived to take me back to Wickford, clearing the line.  Crossing over to the London bound platform to board a pair of units from Southend to take me to Billericay for a 20 minute wait (nice waiting room with a sofa) before another pair took me to Shenfield where I bailed onto a pair of 360s from Colchester for what will likely be my last trip on a 360 from Shenfield towards Stratford.

 

At Stratford it was a short wait to the Jubilee line platforms for a 5 minute wait before the first departure (I boarded in the front carriage and that got busy after Canada Water).  Talking about Covid, is the wearing of masks optional in Essex? (Solely based on the percentage of those not wearing a mask because “the virus only kills old people”, quoting some youngsters which I overheard).  Anyhow at Waterloo and a case of boarding the first train towards Basingstoke, which was a Wareham bound pair of 444s, fast to Basingstoke after Clapham (speedy!), swinging via the nearby KFC for dinner before boarding an Exeter bound pair of 159s to Andover, solely to waste time and to have a look at the bridge strengthening works.

 

Back at Andover station it was a short wait before the stopper rolled in from Basingstoke to take me the final 6 (and a bit) miles to Grateley, the end of another trip.  I was going to have a farewell to the 332s on Heathrow Express, but the timings didn’t work out as I didn’t want to stay out too late (the days a couple years ago when I was younger and could do the 05:25 service to London, do something before heading home on the 23:40 are gone.  As for station requirements for photographs, for Greater Anglia land it is down to Marks Tey, a few on the Clacton/Walton branch, Dovercourt plus a couple on the Ipswich – Lowestoft line, which with any luck will be visited on the 23^rd/24^th December.

 

A foot crossing of the Southminster branch near North Fambridge

5th & 6th December. Dawlish, Ivybridge & Nutbourne

A post lockdown return to the rails (again)

So the 4 week lockdown has ended, so after 3 nice walks in the Andover area (plus a trip to Salisbury in the rain to get some shopping) it was time to head back to the rails.

 

Originally this weekend would have been a long weekend staying overnight in Stockport, but due to the current restrictions where Stockport is in the highest level with hotels having to close that plan went into the bin.  After looking up various options I decided to head to Devon to get an awkward station done, but a walk along the Dawlish sea wall (which had been on my list of things to do for a while).

 

Nice to be back

 

5^th December – A trip to Devon

 

The day began with the 07:52 service from Grateley (car park had a mere 4 vehicles in) to take me to Sherborne, after an extended wait at Gillingham allowing me time to grab a photograph.  The next Exeter train was delayed (due to a late running Exeter – London service, such is the joy of the single track sections on the line west of Salisbury), so I missed my hopeful connection with a XC HST.

 

As the station was a bit cold I jumped onto a Paignton bound pair of 150s to take me to Newton Abbot where I had a short wait before a Cornwall bound 158 arrived to take me a couple stops to the awkward Ivybridge, annoyingly this 158 was before a late running Plymouth bound IET which I had wanted to take to Totnes to grab a photograph of that station.  I met up with a good friend who was down this neck of the woods on a holiday which made the time at Ivybridge go fast (made faster with the unusual event of having 2x IET sets changing drivers at the station).

Driver change in an unusual location

 

 My next move was on a Castle HST set to take us back to Newton Abbot for a short wait before a 143+150 combo to Dawlish, which is likely to be my final pacer move on the mainline in England as the GWR 143s are due to be retired at the end of this week, bounce no more.  Due to the works around Dawlish with the new wall being installed part of the footpath was closed meaning a walk along the road before joining the path at the first available point.

 

A couple things which jumped out at me when we walked along the wall is there is a large drop one side with no protection and the wall between the path & the railway isn’t the tallest, in the climate of health & safety overkill it was a refreshing change.  We managed to take a couple pictures of passing trains before reaching Dawlish Warren.  I would recommend walking the wall, although maybe wait until the works are complete so you can access it at the Dawlish station end.

 

Sprinters passing the Dawish sea wall

 

 

 

It was onto another pair of 150s to take us to Exeter St Thomas where my plan changed due to the next Waterloo train being cancelled from Exeter (started at Yeovil) [as I was going to walk to Exeter Central via the Tesco for some dinner supplies].  So it was a short fester at the forgotten Exeter station before the next Paignton train took me to Starcross, saying farewell to my friend before a short wait before the following train to take me to Exeter Central to grab some dinner supplies before a busy pair of 159s took me to Yeovil Junction, doubling back on the next service to Crewkerne for a short fester at this quiet station.

 

My last train of the trip was a 158+159 combo to take me direct to Grateley, and it was quite quiet onboard, like most of the trains have been.

 

An IET passing Starcross

 

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6^th December – Going Nutty

 

The idea for today was to revisit the handful of stations I needed in Hampshire, plus the couple on the line towards Chichester, having changed ideas from visiting East Sussex.  It was an early morning drive to Romsey to catch the delayed 08:38 service to Southampton Central where I had a 40-odd minute wait before the next Portsmouth stopper would depart (had it been warmer I would have wasted the time and walked across to Woolston, but it was quite cold, and the doors on the warm 450 were unlocked).

 

I took this 450 to the quiet Bursledon returning to Bitterne (which wasn’t so quiet) before the following stopper took me to the industrial Hilsea, where I returned to Cosham to board the next Southern service to take me to Havant, where I exited the station to have a short walk to Warblington, where I was surprised at how soon the barriers dropped for the train (it was a good 5 minutes before it was due).

 

Warblington station

 

The next Brighton train soon arrived which took me to Nutbourne, and I had a short walk along a nearby road to take me to Southbourne, arriving a bit earlier than expected allowing me to take the Portsmouth train from London to Portsmouth & Southsea for a short wait before a GWR Turbo took me to Portsmouth Harbour.  Another short wait before a 377 took me to Fratton (where in the process of trying to get a photograph of the new footbridge/life combo spotted some youths attempting to bypass the gateline by jumping the night gate.

 

Anyhow it was soon onto a 444 to take me to Hedge End, a station I will probably return to next year as there seems to be some interesting looking paths (judging by the map), but my time was short before the next train took me back to Botley, which featured some bored looking youths smoking/drinking in the waiting shelter.  Thankfully my time here wasn’t for long before the next train took me to Eastleigh, passing an old EMR HST and an old Northern 142 in the sidings to the south of the station.

 

When 2 units become 1 at Eastleigh

 

My time at Eastleigh was short and soon a very quiet 158 rolled in to take me to Romsey via Chandler’s Ford, where I shifted my car from near the station to a car park in the town centre (yes I’m lazy) in order to walk into the town centre to pick up a takeaway pizza (part treat, part needing something hot), before driving home, and relaxing for the remainder of the evening.

 

I am happy with the only SWR stations I need are Upwey near Weymouth plus 3 stations on the Salisbury – Exeter line, with the only station needed on the Havant – Brighton line being Fishersgate.  It was nice to get back on the rails after a month away, plans might change due to the restrictions as things are fast moving, i.e. if London goes tier 3 I will need to change my plans for that week between Christmas & New Year as I've got a couple hotels booked solely as rail replacement bus reduction services as my local line has no trains between Christmas Day & the 3rd January due to bridge works in Andover.