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