28th – 31st May Trips
I was meeting up with a good friend for a couple days playing with various trains in both Greater Anglia land and in Kent over the bank holiday weekend, staying in Stratford, Ipswich & Southwark over the course of the trip.
Friday
I finished work at 5pm (still miss the old days where I finished at 2:30pm :() and I headed home to get ready and out of the door to board the 17:59 service towards Basingstoke, the station car park at Grateley being the busiest I’ve seen for a while (30 vehicles parked up) with a dozen passengers waiting for the single 159 to Basingstoke (where it terminated). I transferred to a busy pair of 444s for the speedy run to Clapham Junction, trying to understand the idea of making the shopping centre exit to the station “entry-only” forcing anybody to exit to go via the narrower exit nearer the toilets (which were 2-way and a lot busier). It looked like if anybody entered via the shopping centre entrance they either had to go up the narrow stairs to the overbridge via platform 17 or walk all the way to the other end to go up to the overbridge via platform 1, as everything else was “no entry” from the subway with bouncers shouting if anybody dared to go the wrong way or step over a line.
Anyhow after grabbing something from the Sainsburys I was onto the Overground service to Canada Water, changing onto the Jubilee Line to West Ham where I exited the station and had a little walk towards the hotel near Stratford High Street DLR station, going via part of the “Greenway” (a shared used path which is on top of a large sewer) before going on a path alongside the Abbey Creek & Channelsea Island to reach the modern Three Mills Lock.
Channelsea River near Three Mills Island (Bromley-by-Bow area)
I carried on with my walk through the Three Mills Island green area, before walking alongside a waterway (busy with various boats moored up), before I reached the road. I headed right and walked along the road to reach the hotel and relaxing for the remainder of the evening, meeting up with my friend in the hotel room when he returned from meeting others.
Danes Yard Tower (goes colourful at night)
Saturday
The day began with breakfast from the hotel, before we headed to Stratford station and headed up to platform 10. I was surprised when an Overground 378 rolled into platform 10A, a booked move I believe (driver route knowledge, just a bit unusual to see a 378 on the mainline side of Stratford. Anyhow a required 745 rolled in to take us to Ipswich (where it terminated due to engineering works further along the line), and we had a short wait in the sunshine before the next Lowestoft train would depart.
"I want to break free from the North London Line" says the 378 on platform 10A at Stratford
A 3 coach 755 took us along the Lowestoft line towards Halesworth, before returning one stop to Darsham for a short connection before another 755 took us to Beccles where we had a planned hour wait (the trains pass each other at this station). I made use of the time by walking to a nearby Morrisons for lunch & a couple other items before returning to the station to sit in the sunshine eating said lunch. The next northbound was delayed by a few minutes due to track issues around Halesworth, but thankfully was quiet enough.
We took this 755 to Lowestoft, where it had a tight turnaround to form the next Norwich train (as some of the units interwork at Lowestoft). The driver did manage to make up some of the delay along the way with short dwells at some of the stations, but lost some more time on the way towards Norwich (where the unit had another tight turnaround before it needed to go to Great Yarmouth, which looked like it was going to be busy).
But for us it was time for a replacement bus to Wymondham, which got busy on a former National Express coach for the run out of Norwich to reach Wymondham, where train services were due to resume. A busy 755 took us from Wymondham towards Ely, calling at both Eccles & Harling Road and also the famous Shippea Hill; however I didn’t see anybody alighting from the train at any of these stations or anybody boarding the rear coach. Certainly would be an ideal day for anybody walking there from Lakenheath via the Nature Reserve with the beautiful sunny weather.
At Ely we had a short wait before an Ipswich service rolled in, quite busy it was, but once it reached Stowmarket the 3 coach unit went over to electric and absolutely flew towards Ipswich. We exited the station and headed over to a bus stop to catch a First bus towards the Easy Hotel, getting checked in and heading out for an enjoyable pizza from a nearby takeaway, before I headed back out, going on a longer walk loop via the Alderman Canal nature reserve and a path alongside the River Orwell to reach the station. Along this walk I went underneath an old railway bridge for the old line towards Ipswich docks which was a bit on the low side.
River Orwell in Ipswich
I finished my little walk and arrived back at Ipswich station before taking a pair of required 720s for the spin to Marks Tey, arriving a bit earlier than expected so I sat on a bench and relaxed for the 4th attempt at doing the connection from platform 3 towards the mainline, used by the first & last Sudbury trains. First time I got bowled by a fatality at Chelmsford, then by Covid restrictions meaning I couldn’t stay overnight in Ipswich. The connection itself isn’t very long but it shows on the map (as the dashed line).
The connection at Marks Tey
The 755 arrived from Sudbury and I took a seat in the front area for the run to Sudbury, before it turned around and headed back to Colchester. Mission was completed, and I had a short wait at Colchester before a required 745/1 arrived to take me back to Ipswich with a walk back to the hotel collapsing into the bed after a long day.
Last train to Marks Tey at Sudbury, onwards to Colchester!
Sunday (30/5)
A later start than we had planned (I went back to sleep!), but we were soon back out with an Ipswich Bus service from the bus station to the railway station to board a pair of 321s for the fast run to Colchester, stepping back to board the same 745/1 I had the previous night for the non-stop run to Stratford, before we headed to Southwark on the Jubilee line to get checked into a Premier Inn before we headed back out with another Jubilee line service, this time to Canning Town, where we changed over to a DLR service to Stratford International.
My friend was heading towards Kent to meet up with some others and I remained in London, and returned to the DLR station because I noticed that both platforms were in use, something I’ve not seen before. Might be a Covid timetable related thing with the services sitting at Stratford International for 12-13 minutes before heading back out towards Woolwich, but it was a chance to tick-off platform 1 on a run to Stratford.
DLRs at Stratford International
I headed up to the TfL Rail platforms to see what was floating around, as I needed a couple of the 7 coach 345s which were out east. First few services weren’t of interest but the next C2C service towards Shoeburyness had one of my last 357s I needed for mileage, so it was a trip to Upminster, returning to Barking on another pair of units. Keeping one eye on the Overground 710s in case a required unit popped up, when I noticed something slightly unusual with a Fenchurch Street – Shoeburyness service going from platform 7 at Barking, looking into more details saw that C2C were running an hourly service from Fenchurch Street to/from Stratford the usual route via Forest Gate/Woodgrange Park. First time I’ve seen that single track chord getting a regular passenger service other than a few oddities for engineering works. Maybe reduced capacity at Liverpool Street meaning C2C can only run an hourly service into that station?
Anyhow just for the novelty of a passenger service going along that chord, I took the next Fenchurch Street via Stratford service, going via Stratford before that slow connection to skip Limehouse and reach Fenchurch Street. Due to the sub surface lines being closed this weekend, I remained on the same pair of units to head back to Stratford, noticing a required 720 heading towards Southend giving me a rough plan to intercept it coming back a couple hours later at Romford.
720547 at Stratford
A required 9 coach 345 arrived from Gidea Park, which I took to Liverpool Street (bit of a tight squeeze on the extended platform 16), remaining on the same unit to Manor Park (a station which has certainly changed since I was last here with the new entrance). Another required 345 was following which I took to Romford, stepping back until the following Shenfield service which I took to Harold Wood, returning on the 7 coach unit, clearing it for 10 miles by Goodmayes. Back to Romford on the next Gidea Park terminator (seems to be 4tph to Shenfield with an extra 4tph to Gidea Park these days on Sundays). I crossed over to platform 2 to await the return of the 720s from Southend, getting another pair of required units for the run back to Liverpool Street.
At Liverpool Street I had a walk over the Overground platforms, but noticed that once more London Overground were running single units, and both weren’t needed so I headed to the Central Line, taking a reasonably busy Central Line service to Lancaster Gate and walking to Paddington (saved changing at Oxford Circus, plus gave me some time without needing to wear my mask). At Paddington, I headed towards the TfL Rail services, noting that both the Heathrow & Reading weren’t needed, so I decided to take the Heathrow service to Heathrow Central, deciding to cross the platform to board the next Paddington bound service. Originally my idea was to step back to sample a 387 for the short run to Terminal 5 but Heathrow Express were only half hourly today and they didn’t connect with the TfL Rail services.
A Central Line service departs Lancaster Gate
I took this 345 from Heathrow to Southall, changing platforms at another station which is having a brand new station building built. The 3rd unit on Heathrow services was also not required so I turned that down to take the next Reading service to Hayes to catch the next Paddington service from Reading. Sadly both weren’t needed so I stepped back a couple minutes to board a pair of 387s from Didcot Parkway for the run to Paddington where I made a fast connection to reach Victoria in around 22 minutes (Bakerloo & Victoria).
At Victoria I took a pair of 377s to Bromley South (which even had a ticket check along the way), waiting a few minutes for a 375 back towards Victoria, this time going via Denmark Hill, meeting up with my friend as we alighted at Denmark Hill for a cross platform change onto an Overground 378 to take us to Canada Water for a Jubilee line service to Southwark. Far easier than the long walk to reach the Victoria line platforms at Victoria, and also the change at Green Park. We reached the hotel and turned in for the night, quite a decent location for a Premier Inn as there was hardly any road noise.
Platform 3 for the Shoeburyness via Stratford train
Monday (31/5)
Today was a more relaxing day, when looking on RTT I noticed that trains were starting from Minster in Kent and going around the curve to head towards Ashford via Dover. When I was looking for ideas at Ramsgate I also noticed there was a couple additional Cannon Street – Ramsgate services in the morning which were timed for 90mph, suggesting Networkers. So I put together a rough plan, mainly for the novelty of a 465 Networker on an unusual route, besides it has been a few years since I was in that part of Kent so would be nice to revisit the lines to look out of the windows.
The day began with us checking out of the hotel and heading to Southwark underground for the short trip to London Bridge, heading up towards platform 2 (I noticed that platform 1 was again closed), and boarded a pair of 465/9s on the Ramsgate service, taking a seat in the motor coach with the windows open (as it was getting warm). The first section wasn’t the fastest as it was crawling behind a Gravesend stopper going via Sidcup, but as soon as the train cleared Gravesend the power came out for the speedy run towards Medway. Extra fast as it ran non-stop from Gillingham to Faversham (skipping Rainham & Sittingbourne) and then skipping a couple stops along the way.
A pair of 465s on a day trip to the seaside, at Ramsgate
The train reached Ramsgate, where it would go empty to sit in the sidings most of the day. I for one wouldn’t have wanted to be travelling back on those units, not from Ramsgate at least (hot!). A replacement bus took us to Minster where we crossed the footbridge for a pair of 375s for the trip around the coast towards Ashford, changing platforms to board a busy High Speed service for some speed to Stratford International. Been a while since I last had a 395 on the High Speed line, I had forgotten how much fun it is.
Once we returned to Stratford International, it was a case of taking the DLR one stop to Stratford itself, exiting the station to grab some lunch, before returning to take a Jubilee line service back to Southwark where we picked up my friends luggage before carrying on to Green Park then finally the Piccadilly Line (where I noticed the soft seats have been replaced with harder ones) to Kings Cross St Pancras.
I said farewell to my friend as he was heading back towards Edinburgh on an Azuma (in First Class as well). When at Kings Cross I noticed the next Cambridge stopper was departing from platform 0 which gave me an excuse to cover the new layout outside the low numbered platforms at Kings Cross (via the 3rd tunnel). I took the 700 to Finsbury Park, crossing over to the opposite side to see what was floating around; the first Great Northern 717 towards Moorgate wasn’t needed, but the next Thameslink service towards Horsham was a low mileage 700 which I took to East Croydon.
A Hull Trains 802 at Kings Cross
30 minutes of keeping my eyes peeled on anything heading back towards London, before I called it a day jumping on another 700 for the run back towards London Bridge, changing over to a pair of 465s for the run to Waterloo East, crossing over to board a pair of sprinters on the 17:50 service back home. Unusually for a bank holiday Monday, these were due to run non-stop to Basingstoke (although it was a bit of a crawl around Surbiton due to congestion). I had a nice empty coach for the run back home, the end of a good day in London & a nice weekend.
158887 at Waterloo
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