15th May & 16th May Trips

 15^th May & 16^th May Trips

15^th  – A trip to the Sunshine Coast, Essex

 

Originally my idea for today was to walk from Walton on the Naze to Clacton on Sea via the seafront, oh! I do like to be beside the seaside.  But due to the weather forecast this idea got pushed back until a future date.  Instead I threw together a plan B which involved a potential walk later in the day if the weather improved.

 

My day began on the 06:30 service which took me straight to Waterloo, where I made my way towards Stratford via the Jubilee line.  To waste some time I took a pair of required 720s to Shenfield, followed by a pair of 321s to Chelmsford before a required 745 took me to Manningtree where I had around 25 minutes to kill before the next Harwich Town service so I popped outside the station for a fresh air break (away from the mask).

 

745 at Manningtree

 

The 321 on the Harwich train rolled in as I took a seat in the motor coach for the ride along the Mayflower line (which I always forget how scenic it is when it runs alongside the River Stour, passing the stored 317s in the sidings (both before International and on the “long siding” beyond International station, first time seeing that long siding being in use).  I alighted from the train at Dovercourt as I needed a photo, waiting the short time for the train to return from Harwich Town to take me back to Manningtree.

 

A short break for a passing freight train before a pair of 321s (including one of the former Northern units) rolled in to take me to Marks Tey, where I returned to Colchester on the following Ipswich service (which I suspect would have gone towards Colchester Town in a normal timetable).  I took another 321 for the short run into Colchester Town itself, taking a seat in the declassified first class area.

 

"This is the Northern service to..."

 

Another short break at the station before the following Walton train rolled in to reverse which took me to Wivenhoe before the following Clacton train arrived to take me to Thorpe-Le-Soken allowing me to change back to the Walton 321 (as it’s timetabled to wait at Thorpe to allow for connections to be made).  I took this unit to Frinton on Sea before heading back towards Weeley, taking the following Walton train back towards Kirby Cross where I had a short walk during a break in the rain.

 

After my little walk, it was back onto the 321 (today is full of dusty bins!) to Great Bentley where I had an hour wait, which I made the most of the time to visit a near Tesco for some lunch and did a little loop via a little used footpath which crossed the railway close to the station, before going up the side of a field to connect with a bridleway near a building site.  Just something to waste some time as this is an area I plan to return to one day to walk part of the old Brightlingsea branch line.

 

A pair of 720s passing Great Bentley on a Clacton - Liverpool Street service

 

The sun was trying to come out when I was at Great Bentley so I decided to do my walk from Wivenhoe so I took the 321 to Wivenhoe and headed towards the start of the “Wivenhoe Trail” which is a shared use path running between the railway line & the River Colne, giving some good views of the river, passing an university campus with a bridge over the railway which has a 3 storey ramp (going round and round).  I continued along the roads to reach Hythe (Colchester) station for some photos before carrying on another shared use path underneath the railway line, following the river into Colchester itself, before I turned off to follow a route towards Asda for some dinner items before reaching Colchester station itself.

 

I had good timing with that walk because 5 minutes after I arrived, the rain returned!  I turned down the first couple options of 321s on stoppers (one from Clacton, another from Ipswich) to chance my luck with the 745 (again from Ipswich as the line was closed beyond), getting lucky with a required 745001 for the run back towards Stratford, where it was onto a busy Jubilee line service to Waterloo, followed before joining the sprinters on the 19:20 service back towards Grateley.

 

Overall a productive day in Greater Anglia for station revisiting for photographs, some stations I will revisit, and others I will need to get back to.  Walton to Clacton can easily be done on a Sunday (engineering works dependent) so that is something to fit into my rough calendar.

 

River Colne near Wivenhoe

 

16^th -1066 Line, East Sussex

 

Another idea where I was going to do a walk between a couple of the stations on the 1066/Hastings Line, but got binned due to the frankly rubbish weather (which couldn’t make up its mind), however the chance of getting some of the stations on the line which normally are only hourly but were half hourly today was too good to turn down.

 

The day began with the 07:37-odd service to Waterloo, where I noticed a 07:33 service towards Salisbury departing, something which in a normal timetable doesn’t run, the first westbound normally being the 08:33 towards Exeter.  It would be nice if that service remained in the timetable as it gives me an extra hour to play with if I headed towards Exeter.  Anyhow the London service was a single unit and got busy after Woking, with the usual Sunday morning dwell at Clapham Junction (timetabled for a 2 track railway).

 

Soon enough I was at Waterloo and crossed over to Waterloo East, I had a couple options before the next Robertsbridge train arrived, but they didn’t match my mileage requirements list so it was onto a pair of 375s for the run into Kent then into East Sussex as I alighted at Frant, in the pouring rain.

 

Rainy Frant

 

A few minutes at Frant before I headed back up the line towards High Brooms on a pair of 377s (former Thameslink units, I was a bit surprised that they worked this line).  Anyhow at High Brooms I made the connection to the next southbound which I took to Wadhurst for a 30 minute fester, time I spent having a little walk along the road then to a footpath towards a foot crossing on the “Sussex Border Path”, returning to the station just as the rain returned.

 

Another pair of 377s took me down the line towards Etchingham, where I had a short wait before doubling back to Stonegate and another short wait before the following Robertsbridge train (due to engineering works the line beyond Robertsbridge was closed for engineering works).  A 3^rd set of 377s arrived which took me to Robertsbridge where I had around 25 minutes before they would head back to London.

 

377/5 at Robertsbridge.

 

I looked at the engineering works poster, noticing that the “North Kent” line was closed (the one which goes via Woolwich), as well as the line between Swanley & Rochester, giving me an idea to look at RTT for the chance of some EMUs on unusual lines (i.e. Thameslink 700s via Lewisham as well as South Eastern 375s along the same route), also a chance to revisit a couple stations in Medway which I needed for photos.  With a rough plan in my mind I took a seat on the 377s in the declassified first class area for the enjoyable run back towards Kent (ticking off the crossover to the north of Robertsbridge station as it departed from platform 2) carrying on to London Bridge before heading over to platform 4.

 

A low mileage 700 rolled in for Rainham, so taking up my usual seat in the rear first class area (got to have a little luxury on the slow trip), with the train going via Lewisham, then the Bexleyheath line, skipping a couple of the stations along the way but not the fastest runs due to being sandwiched between Dartford stoppers.  Anyhow once the train reached Dartford it picked up a bit of speed calling at the usual stations towards Strood, where I stepped back for a pair of 465s from Victoria on a Dover service (non-stop Victoria – Strood).  I took these 465s towards Gillingham to allow me to grab a photo, and a short wait before the next Victoria train arrived.

 

I will admit when the first unit arrived being a high density 375/9 I was hoping it wasn’t going to be a pair of the 3+2 seated examples, thankfully the rear unit wasn’t a /9 so all was good as I took a seat in the 2+2 unit.  I had a couple others in the coach from Strood before it went non-stop towards London, although after Dartford it was following a stopper (it went around 7 minutes ahead of a Dartford – Victoria stopper, the same stopper arrived 10 minutes afterwards at Victoria, to say how slow the route was).  Although I did get lucky at Lewisham with a photo of a 700 for an “2 unusual visitors passing at Lewisham*.

 

Two unusual EMUs visiting Lewisham

Anyhow at Victoria, I noticed a Ramsgate via Maidstone service was quite busy (although how much of that was due to Bromley passengers), as I had a couple options, deciding on a pair of 465s to Denmark Hill, before a low mileage 700 getting a small top-up of mileage to Blackfriars, before heading towards Waterloo East via London Bridge, taking a seat on the 18:45 service towards Salisbury, taking me back home after a busy (if not wet) day.

8th May – A damp day in Hertfordshire & 9th May - Thames Path Cookham Loop

8^th May – A damp day in Hertfordshire

The weather forecast for the day was a bit mixed, and kept on changing when I looked during the week, but on the day it looked like the rain would go away after half eleven or so which allowed me to dust off a plan to walk the “Alban Way” path between St Albans and Hatfield which follows the old railway line.  Also would allow me to revisit a couple stations on the Abbey line I needed for photographs.

 

The day began with the 07:30 service towards London (retimed due to engineering works west of Salisbury meaning it was only hourly between Salisbury & London), which I alighted at Clapham Junction for some time wasting (connections at Watford Junction from ‘fast’ Euston trains to the Abbey Line are a tad poor) with a 378 taken to Willesden Junction before a 710 took me all the way to Watford Junction (been years since I went via the Watford High Street loop).  At Watford Junction it was a short walk over to platform 11 (which looked like it has been resurfaced since my last visit) as the 319 rolled in.

 

The new and the slightly less new Overground stock at Watford Junction

 

I took the 319 to Bricket Wood, before returning to Watford North before finally heading to St Albans Abbey where the rain has indeed ended, so I fired up my OS Map app & Strava to start recording my walk, but before I reached the start of the railway path I swung via Sainsburys for some food items & one last visit to the toilets.  In a way I was lucky I went via Sainsburys as if I went the direct route it would have been a divert due to a path closure.  Anyhow after crossing the railway line I joined the tarmac path which led towards Hatfield

 

It was a nice enough path, tree lined in places, all tarmac and other than a couple points mostly all off-road, the former stations still have platforms in situ with information boards detailing the history of the station and at other parts along the line.  At the Hatfield end there was a bit of road walking to cross over the A1(M) road but soon the path picked up the former railway alignment, but with some ups and downs as parts of it has been built over.  Soon enough I reached the point where the railway would have headed towards the right to join up with the main ECML but the footpath curves to the left, crossing the ECML before heading along the road to reach Hatfield station where my first walk of the day came to an end.

 

Nast Hyde Halt

 

After purchasing my single to Crews Hill (via Stevenage), I jumped on a 717 to Welwyn Garden City before a 700 took me to Welwyn North where I exited the station and headed down the hill to try and get some photos of the viaduct.  Sadly the grey sky meant the trains blended into the sky, but a worthwhile walk down.  After heading back up the hill towards Welwyn North I continued heading north (and uphill some more) to reach a footpath which comes out on top of the tunnel and follows the route of the tunnel.

 

An Azuma on the Welwyn Viaduct

 

A very scenic wooded area, before I came out into an area of open ground with good views of the section of railway between the two tunnels, although somewhere to take a camera with a decent zoom for better photos.   Anyhow the footpath continued north, giving views of the southern portal of the Northern tunnel before the railway disappeared under the hill and the footpath goes over the hill, through some more lovely woods (lots of bluebells). 

 

Soon I reached the village of Oaklands before carrying in a northern direction into Mardley Heath, another scenic wooded area (connecting with nature), certainly a pretty area to live as I crossed the woods to come out on the other side for a footpath which ran alongside an edge of a field to reach the ECML (which was on an embankment) before walking towards Knebworth, reaching the village and I headed towards the station.  Although for my semi-fast walk was for nothing as the next northbound train had been cancelled!  (My first delay repay claim for the year!)

 

Although the extra 30 minutes at Knebworth was spent relaxing on a bench at the northern end of the station, with the odd photograph of passing trains before a 700 arrived to take me to Stevenage, where for my 20 minute fester I popped out to the nearby Tesco Extra for dinner items, returning to the station, but heading to the new platform 5 area, for I wanted to tick off the bay platform and also the new track used by the Moorgate trains.  I boarded the 717 for the trip to Alexandra Palace, stepping back to a train from Welwyn to Highbury & Islington giving me around 40 minutes to reach Waterloo.

 

This is where things went wrong as the Victoria line had fallen over due to a broken down train at Finsbury Park, so to make my escape I headed to the “East London Line” platforms with a low mileage 378 taken to Dalston Junction for a short fester before another low mileage 378 arrived into the bays on a New Cross service.  The run to Canada Water wasn’t enough to clear it, but I had one eye on the time as I headed to Waterloo on the Jubilee Line, before heading towards the sprinters working the 20:20 service.  I was an hour later than I had hoped but never mind.

 

After the sprinter based noise, I walked home, the end of an enjoyable day with two walks carried out.  I would recommend the walk between Welwyn North & Knebworth, also for the walk between St Albans & Hatfield.

 

*

A 378 in one of the bays at Dalston Junction

 

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9^th May – Back to the Thames Path

 

It was another Sunday trip towards the River Thames, this week I was going to walk the section between Cookham & Marlow, but instead of doing it linearly I had plans to do a circular walk going into the hilly area around Winter Hill.  Also I had planned to walk part of the old railway line between Bourne End & High Wycombe, which had been turned into a footpath.

 

Similar to a couple weeks ago, the 08:56 took me straight to Reading, where I changed onto a 345 for the run to Maidenhead, popping out to the nearby Sainsburys for lunch items, before the 165 took me to Cookham.  I set off on my walk heading along a couple footpaths to reach the “Chiltern Way” long distance path, following that across the Winter Hill Golf Course, heading uphill but the views were worth it when the trees gave way.

 

View from top of a hill near Bourne End

 

I followed the path joining the road for a short section to reach the top of “Winter Hill”, although this one was a bit more disappointing as there wasn’t that many views due to the trees (reminded me of last year when I walked up to Bury Hillfort near Andover).  I carried on, heading downhill, quite steep in places but quite scenic for woods.  I reached the busy “Quarry Wood Road”, crossing over into Bisham Woods for a short section before heading across a field to reach a storm drain underneath the Marlow Bypass, before another field before I reached the road, the end of the first section, as I headed towards the River Thames at Marlow Bridge.

 

River Thames from Marlow Bridge

 

Going via the side streets following the signs of the Thames Path, I swung via Marlow lock for a photo, before having lunch on a bench.  After lunch I carried along following the Thames Path, which mostly was between a line of trees (on the river side) grass on the left with the railway line in the distance, only slight issue was with mud around the many “Kissing Gates” along the way.  The path was quite busy in places as it reached Bourne End going via some boat clubs before I came away from the Thames Path at the Bourne End Railway bridge, swinging towards the station to walk part of the old railway line.

 

Not much evidence that it was a former railway line, other some railway style concrete fence posts, but a scenic walk through the trees coming to an end near Wooburn, the old railway line continued but over private land, so after a couple photos I did a U-turn and headed back towards Bourne End, coming off the railway line to walk along the road at one point for a short-cut.  I re-joined the Thames Path, with some congestion around the steps to climb up to the footbridge (which is attached to the railway viaduct), but eventually the crowds moved away from the Thames Path (I would guess a few were heading towards “Cock Marsh”.

 

I continued my way along the Thames Path, this section being better for views of the river (less trees in the way), and soon Cookham was in sight as I followed the path away from the river to the roads through the village of Cookham and out of the other side to walk back towards the station, via Cookham Moor (which car park looked pretty much full).  I arrived at the station with around 10 minutes to spare before heading back to Maidenhead (running into an impatient person who tried to board the 165 at Maidenhead with his bike (held sideways) before I even had a chance to alight [and I was standing by the doors]).

 

A required 345 took me to Reading, where I changed onto a pair of voyagers to Basingstoke to pick up a KFC dinner, before the sprinters arrived from Reading to take me home.  Arriving home as the rain started, but good timing as it only got heavier as the evening went on, another section of the Thames Path walked on a variable day of walking surfaces.  No idea when I will get round to walking the next section as the next few weeks I’m busy (hotels reopen and I’m using up some Travelodge vouchers just to get rid of them).

A Purple Train at a quiet Reading

 

1st May – Ockley - Warnham & Shalford - Guildford.

1^st May – Surrey & West Sussex

 

One of the things which I’m taking out of lockdown is walking between stations I need to revisit for photographs, or interesting looking walking routes in the area which can be fitted in alongside station revisits.  Earlier this year I got shown the Walking Club website which has a lot of walks featured which make use of the railway network to go station to station (or circular walks) of which I made a list of ones which looked interesting, including a couple involving stations on the Mole Valley line (Horsham – Dorking) where I need all 3 stations for photos.

 

My original idea was to head to Gomshall and walk to Holmwood via Leith Hill, however with the forecast being grey skies & rain showers I decided to put that walk back (as I suspect it will be one with much better views on a sunny day).  Instead I decided to walk between Ockley & Holmwood, on a mostly rural route towards a village called Walliswood, involving a bit of woodland which should be good to connect with nature.

 

The day began with the retimed 07:30 service which I took to Woking, followed by a pair of 444s to Guildford before a 165 on the non-stop run to Dorking Deepdene.  Once at Deepdene I walked to Dorking (main) station (which only took a few minutes), and had a short wait before the Horsham bound 377.  Oddly only a single 5 coach unit, where that is plenty for this end of the route but I would imagine it could be busy nearer London.  Anyhow I alighted at Ockley station and after a couple photos began my walk.

 

377626 at Ockley Station

 

The actual route taken is detailed on here: https://www.walkingclub.org.uk/walk/ockley-to-warnham, in summary it was a walk through woods, before entering some grass fields and then some more woods before joining a farm track to reach the main A29, crossing over before heading towards some more woods (this was a walk which involves quite a few trees).  After a church I ran into a film set where I had to pause for around 5 minutes when they filmed some historic costume drama (two lovers having an argument).  Once I cleared the filming I reached the village of Walliswood to begin the first section of road walking before reaching some farms and a footpath leading past several farms, before I got a bit lost trying to find a path near an area called “Wet Wood”.

 

It was one of those where the map & sign points one direction, but in real life the path continues straight on for another 50 metres (crossing over a stile into another field) before the path heads off in the right direction.  I reached the county border to cross into West Sussex and onto another farm track (Monks Farm, before Dawes Farm then finally Chatfolds), the path being quite decent. Another road crossing before another path before a short road to reach a place called “Benland Wood” which was very scenic.  Following the route I soon arrived in the village of Warnham and followed the route crossing over a busy road (A24) to reach the station road.  After what felt like forever I reached Warnham station with around 15 minutes to spare before the next northbound train which gave me time for some photos and to have a short rest.

 

A 377 arriving at Warnham

 

Back on the trains, with another 377 to take me to Dorking before swinging via a nearby Morrisons local (located within the garage on the other side of the road from Dorking Deepdene).  I had some time to kill before the next Reading stopper, and I noticed that called at Dorking West so I decided to have a gentle walk via a lake before reaching Dorking West.  A 165 arrived to take me to Shalford where I began my next walk of the day; the idea was to do part of the old Cranleigh railway line before walking towards Guildford along the River Wey Navigation.

 

Other than a short shower, it was a nice walk, as I did a circular way via St Catherines Lock before walking towards a footbridge near Shalford Junction on the Portsmouth line, before joining up with the former railway line, walking towards the river.  My original plan got foiled by a flooded footpath so I carried on with the riverside walk, coming off to walk along part of the old canal reaching “Stone Bridge” where the old railway line went underneath the Horsham Road, but the bridge has been filled in and replaced with slopes either side.

 

A 165 near Shalford

 

The former railway line was busy and quite scenic as it reached where it would have joined to the Portsmouth line at Peasmarsh (some old track left on the ground), before I headed back towards the River Wey Navigation, passing an old WW2 pillbox coming down to reach the river and started my walk towards Guildford.  The tow path was variable in quality, some dips and rough ground (especially near an old chapel where it looked like it has slipped in the past).  I ran into an issue as the towpath had been closed near a weir (looked like it had collapsed), so a divert via the road was needed as I eventually reached Guildford station, my legs telling me I had walked too far by the time I had reached the station (clearing 18 miles for the day).

 

At Guildford station it was a short wait before a pair of 450s rolled in to take me to Woking, before a short wait for some sprinters back home, where I relaxed after a busy day on my feet.

 

3^rd May

 

After a rest day on the Sunday (went to see a work colleague), it was back on the rails for me.  Although my original idea of walking from West Byfleet to Hampton Court got put on the back burner due to my foot acquiring a blister on the Saturday (plus the weather didn’t look the nicest).  I was due to meet a good friend on the train from Hereford as he made his way towards Brighton, so I changed at Basingstoke from the 07:30 service, where I had a bit of a surprise.

 

I noticed on RTT that the 07:51(odd) Reading service had been cancelled, and saw it had departed the bay platform, but didn’t see it reversing into the main station to terminate onto platform 4, the next GWR service from Reading also ran into platform 4 to attach with the broken unit to haul it back to Reading, giving me the novelty of a GWR service from platform 4 at Basingstoke!  Anyhow once at Reading I had some time to pop out to a nearby Sainsburys (noticing that a large office block had been knocked down).  After grabbing breakfast it was back to Reading station to await the 800 from Hereford to have a good catch up.

 

A 165 looking a bit lost at Basingstoke

 

At Paddington we headed towards London Bridge, doing some linear hops on Thameslink, before a low mileage 700 took me to East Croydon, where I said my farewells and headed back to London Bridge, annoyingly the train I was on got delayed along the way so missed the connection with the hourly Thameslink to Rainham service (which today was starting from platform 6 at London Bridge), so with an hour to play with I did a short section of mileage hunting eventually getting a low mileage 466 which I took to Lewisham returning on a pair of 465s, before I took the 700 from platform 6 to Deptford (some unusual track), returning to London Bridge on another pair of 465s.

 

Canopy at Deptford

 

I decided it was time for a change, so onwards to Liverpool Street, going via Farringdon (Northern line was closed).  I reached Liverpool Street and was a bit surprised that London Overground were only running single units on their services, I eventually got a required 710 which I took to Walthamstow, changing onto the Victoria line (was going to stay around for some more 710 hunting but those trains were just too busy).  I took a Victoria line service to Blackhorse Road to look for some 710s on the Gospel Oak – Barking line, arriving as the wind was picking up.  I was lucky with the 4^th train being required so I headed towards Barking, changing over to board the next Fenchurch Street service, even getting a low mileage 357 (only needed 4 of the fleet, so an extra bonus).

 

Once I reached Fenchurch Street, I headed to Tower Hill and decided to be lazy and take the Circle line all the way to Paddington, where I jumped onto a required 345 to Hayes & Harlington, returning on another required unit, before making a tight connection onto a pair of 387s back out to Hayes & Harlington.  A low mileage 345 was sitting in the bay, so I took that to Ealing Broadway, before another required 345 arrived from Reading to take me back to Paddington where I headed to the Bakerloo line to head towards Waterloo and the sprinters home.

 

Overall a productive mini red-pen day in London, just what my legs wanted after all that walking on Saturday.