23rd December – A return to Southern, Brighton Main Line

23^rd December – A return to Southern, Brighton Main Line

Little did I know at the time this would be my final trip of 2020, parts of the country were already in tier 4 which had already changed my plans, however with the announcement that the rest of Hampshire would join the highest tier from Boxing Day meant my plans for the week between Christmas & New Year were effectively mothballed until future notice.

 

This trip was originally going to be a trip to Ipswich, with the Thursday spent in Essex, but with Essex in tier 4 I shifted that idea back until later in 2021, so I had a free Wednesday (having finished work for the year on the Tuesday).  After some consideration I decided on a trip to the Brighton Main Line to revisit those stations as well as the smaller stations between Barnham & Horsham, finishing the day with the novelty of a Thameslink service to Littlehampton.

 

The day began with the 10:06 service from Grateley to take me to Salisbury, followed by a 166 to Southampton Central, spotting a new 10 coach 701 (future SWR suburban units) on test at Southampton (guessing it’s doing the fault free mileage running).  It looked unusual at the station, and my first chance to have a nose at what they were like inside.  “Ironing board” style seating with no tray tables for the airline seats but little cup holders for the bays, with a couple toilets, they look nice and I can’t wait to try one out in the New Year.

 

701 at Southampton Central

 

Anyhow back to the trains, as I boarded a Brighton bound 377 service, which is one of those unusual Southern services which goes via Eastleigh (I could swear a couple years ago this was more common, especially on Saturday afternoons).  Anyhow as expected the train was lightly loaded for the trip to Barnham, skipping Fareham (which felt odd), as I waited for the unit from Bognor to come next.

 

"Was I meant to turn right at St Denys?"

 

This 377 took me to Billinghurst, with time to grab lunch from a nearby Tesco before heading back to Pulborough and then the hourly served Amberley, before heading to Horsham, passing many flooded fields, for it has been raining quite a lot in recent days, something which it started to do a few minutes later when I was at Horsham waiting for the unit from Portsmouth (I think) to attach to the 377 from Bognor, to take me to Crawley, followed by a 700 to Three Bridges.

 

Just a tad wet

 

 A short connection saw me onto a Brighton bound 700 to take me one stop to Balcombe, where I started some linear hopping (also an engineer who was looking at fixing a flood on the footbridge showed me an image of some writing on the cliff walks from a strike many years ago, which was interesting to see it zoomed in).

 

Next up was another 700 to Haywards Heath, followed by an Eastbourne bound pair of 377s to take me to Wivelsfield, followed by another 700 to Burgess Hill where the heavens opened with heavy rain.  A short wait before a Littlehampton bound service took me to Hassocks where I popped out of the station to a nearby Sainsburys for some dinner items before taking the next 700 to Brighton, doubling back to Preston Park in order to board the next Littlehampton service.

 

Just a tad of rain...

 

In the current timetable, Thameslink run a couple services to Littlehampton in the evening peak, so like the services to East Grimstead a bit of a novelty.  I took a seat in the rear declassified First Class area for the run to Littlehampton, calling at many stations with short platforms, but an enjoyable run (even though it was dark).  Sadly when I was at Littlehampton my phone camera played silly and couldn’t focus on anything (think the camera lens was wet) so I had to break out the camera on my tablet.

 

700 by the seaside

 

Next up was a 313 to take me to Barnham for a short wait before a Southampton bound service arrived to take me to Southampton, for a short wait before a Salisbury bound 158 to take me to Salisbury.  Along the way I noticed that the final Salisbury – Basingstoke train was showing as cancelled, so after a chat with the station staff they were kind enough to put extra stops in on a train from Exeter which got me home around 30 minutes earlier than expected!

 

Anyhow that pair of 159s from Exeter would be my final train of 2020, 159019 & 159002 having the honours.  I was tempted with heading out during the week to visit some of the stations on the line towards Horsham, but a landslip put those plans in the bin.   Who knows when my first leisure train of 2021 will be (excluding any trains taken to Salisbury for the purpose of shopping for essential items as there is no local shop in Grateley).

 

Stay safe, and remember We'll Meet Again

Don’t know where, don't know when

But I know, We'll Meet Again

But for now, the train has departed the station:

 

Signals at Littlehampton (P1/2)

Now where did I put my OS Maps and walking boots...

18 – 20th December, Kintore

18 – 20^th December, Kintore

Firstly I apologise for the lateness of this blog post, my mind has been all over the place recently and I haven’t been able to focus, secondary this trip only went ahead due to the DFT deciding to only offer fee free amendments for advance tickets (which would have been as much use as a chocolate fireguard as who knows when it will be allowed to travel for leisure).  Also it gave me a chance to meet up with a dear old friend who has been suffering in the last couple months.

 

18^th December

I had a hotel in Edinburgh booked up for the Friday (and Saturday) nights, and I managed to get a cheap split advance on the 18:30 service to Edinburgh.  Finishing work it was to the local station (getting a lift due to the rain) and onto Basingstoke with a triple 159, changing over to a pair of 444s for the run to Clapham Junction, where I touched into the oyster system and boarded an Overground service which unusually departed from platform 17 [rather than the usual platform 1].

 

Mind the Gap!

 

I took this 378 to Willesden Junction, where after a short fester took the 2^nd Euston bound service, another 378.  With time to kill I made my slow walk across to Kings Cross, where I waited for the service to get announced before boarding a 801 for the long run north.  It was quite busy on departure, at least in the coach I was in, and all was going well until Alnmouth where it lost a few minutes, before coming to a stop at Dunbar station, where due to a failed freight train (heading south) meant we were held for some very late running services to pass it going on the opposite line (using the crossover at Stenton).

 

In respect to the train manager, he kept us up to date and gave out refreshments, eventually the 4^th train passed us so we were on the way into Edinburgh running around 75 minutes late, arriving at the same time as the sleeper from Aberdeen rolled in!  I was thankful my choice of hotel was a couple minutes away from the entrance of the station so I was checked in and unpacked ready for the main event on the Saturday.

 

Sleeper arriving at Edinburgh

 

19^th December

 

I met up with my good friend and we visited Greggs for breakfast before heading to board the 09:30 Aberdeen train which is meant to be a booked HST… which had been replaced with a 170.  On the bright side we got seats in the declassified first class area at the front (to decrease the engine noise).  A very nice run towards Aberdeen arriving pretty much on time, allowing us to make a +5 connection to platform 6N for a 158 heading towards Inverness which took us to the network’s newest station, Kintore.

 

Kintore Station, Tick

 

A pleasant enough station with a good number of users, as we were ahead of schedule we took another 158 back to Dyce for a spot of lunch (sadly missed out as the place we were aiming for was closed).  A short wait before the next Montrose stopper arrived from Inverurie which took us to Portlethen as I needed the southbound platform where we got lunch from a nearby McColls before heading back to Aberdeen on a low mileage 158, which was just about pushed over 10 miles which was a bonus.

 

A HST passing Portlethen

 

Next train was a LNER service towards London, sadly not a required 800 but I managed to get a couple seats in the quiet coach, one without an engine underneath, for the run to Kirkcaldy.  The main event of the day was done, but when searching on RTT saw 2 of my last 4 158s needed for mileage floating around the Edinburgh area, a plan was formed.  One of them would be on the next Perth – Edinburgh service an hour (or so) later, which allowed me to head out to collect a pre-ordered pizza for dinner, and settled down in the waiting room to eat said pizza.

 

View of the North Sea

 

As expected low mileage 158728 rolled in from Perth to take us to Edinburgh, where we bid farewell and I headed for the same 170 from earlier in the day to take me to Gorebridge to intercept a northbound service formed of a pair of 158s, the rear unit was required for mileage so was cleared for ten miles by the time it reached Edinburgh.  Along the way I decided to check RTT again to see if there was any news on a 158 which was showing as allocated heading to Corkerhill depot in the early hours, more of a “I wonder if it will work one of those late evening Shotts line services formed of 158s”.  I was in luck as it was due to work to Edinburgh, before heading to Dundee for the night.

 

For lack of anything better to do, I headed back to the hotel to relax for an hour before returning to the station to catch a 385 for the run to West Calder, before the 158 arrived on the next stopper which returned me to Edinburgh.  I was happy as I had grabbed 4 out of my 5 remaining 158s for mileage needs, leaving just one more unit which was working north of Inverness.

 

20^th December

 

A late start for me as after a quick scan of RTT highlighted a couple required 385s out meant a trip to Linlithgow scored both of them, before heading back to the station.  For the first time I had booked a flight back to London (Gatwick), solely down to cost (£15 was hard to turn down, especially as Sunday fares were getting released late and were normally £45+).  Anyhow once back at Edinburgh it was a short walk to the North Bridge bus stop to catch a route 7 bus to the Newhaven area of the city, to meet up with my friend for some lunch.

 

A Lighthouse

 

After lunch, we caught the Lothian Airlink 200 service to Edinburgh Airport, where I said farewell once more, before heading to the security area passing with no issues, and a short wait in the terminal building to find out which gate the flight to Gatwick would be departing from.  The gate was announced and lucky for me it was near to where I was standing so easy enough to queue up before boarding the EasyJet service (plane G-EZRY) for the swift flight to Gatwick Airport.  After departure I swapped from my free aisle seat to a window seat on an empty row to give me some good views of the clouds and the sunset.  First time I have flown since coming back from the Isle of Mann in 2016, and whilst the interior isn’t that luxurious it was suitable for the flight time, seats were more comfortable than on an Azuma.

 

Endless Sky

 

The plane landed in the North Terminal at Gatwick, so after a long walk I arrived at the terminal shuttle train, catching one of the shuttles to the South Terminal and a fast walk to the main station, to board a slightly late running Southern service to Clapham Junction, touching out before boarding a Weymouth bound pair of 444s to take me to Basingstoke (this was the time where SWR were only running the diesels to Basingstoke due to staff shortages).  My luck was in and a Salisbury stopper hadn’t been cancelled and was due to depart a few minutes after I had arrived, which took me home, followed by a gentle walk home.

 

It was a nice trip, good to get Kintore visited and to see my good friend before we were all locked down again.

 

Colourful Bus