5th & 6th June – Marston Vale Line & a midnight tour
Saturday – Marston Vale
A couple months (or so) ago when I was reading a copy of a Branch Line News I saw there was a mention about some northbound services being given authority to go via the depot lines at Cricklewood due to engineering works (I presume around the construction of the new Brent Cross West station), something which sounded interesting, solely for the novelty factor. After doing some research for hotels I found the Travelodge in St Albans would probably be ideal for a place to stay overnight and was reasonably priced.
After booking the hotel I had several options what to do on the Saturday, eventually deciding on a visit to the Marston Vale line (which on Saturdays had a train every 2 hours with buses to fill in the gaps) and even then my plan changed during the week as I played with the OS Maps website to generate a rough route taking me on a walking tour from Stewartby towards Woburn Sands mostly along various rights of way swinging via several stations I needed to visit for photographs.
The day began with the 06:59 service to take me to Waterloo, allowing me to grab supplies before heading to Euston to board the 09:15 Birmingham service to take me to Leighton Buzzard, a nice pair of former TPE 350/4s it was, busy even in the front coach. I had a short wait until a pair of 377s arrived from East Croydon to take me to Bletchley, this being solely a time wasting move to reduce the fester at Bletchley before the 10:20 Bedford train would depart from platform 6. My first experience of a class 230 unit (yes I know, it’s taken me this long!) and first impressions were good, although it was quite hot inside, but it seemed to pick up speed well, let down by the doors being a bit slow to operate.
A 230 at Bletchley
Anyhow I alighted from 230004 at Stewartby, a station I didn’t need for a photograph but looked like to have a nice path leading back towards Millbrook alongside a lake in the Marston Vale Millennium Country Park. The route I took was a mixed use path but other than a couple sections where the lake was visible it was tree lined on both sides (although the shade was nice). I noticed there was a closed foot crossing of the railway near Millbrook station as I came out of the park to visit the station for a couple photos before returning heading towards a village called Marston Moretaine picking up the named “Marston Vale Trail” taking me across some fields (the path being clearly marked) to reach the village of Lidlington, crossing over the railway before reaching the station for a quick break and photos.
Back on the feet, my journey continued along a bridleway (more like a farm track) giving way into a footpath. I noticed another closed foot crossing of the line and some of the paths on the OS Map looked like they didn’t exist in real life. After the 2nd foot crossing (which was up a steep flight of stairs) the path disappeared before I crossed over the railway at another foot crossing (for this is a line with many foot crossings), and going off map as the OS Map had a path which was meant to cross over a field, but the evidence on the ground suggested it went around the edge of the field before reaching a wooded area with a steep climb to reach the area of Brogborough picking up another named path (this time being the John Bunyan Trail).
Steps to a foot crossing
The grass turned into a farm track with a bridge over the railway before returning to grass for the walk towards the road, although the path wasn’t the best marked in places (and was a bit rough with the ground conditions). Eventually I reached a road for the short walk towards Ridgmont station, where I decided to have a pause to have lunch and to wait for a passing service (turned out to be a class 60 loco running light) before resuming, picking up another footpath which went behind the signalling cabin underneath the M1 alongside the railway line before crossing over and heading across fields to reach Husborne Crawley, another small village, my walk continued via some lovely woods reaching the village of Aspley Guise where I walked down a hill to reach the station for another couple photographs, this time getting one as a 230 was heading towards Bedford.
A 60 passing Ridgmont
I headed back towards the village, taking a path towards a golf course, swinging away from the direct route towards Woburn Sands station to go towards the town centre to visit a Tesco Express for something to eat but mainly something cold (ended up with a packet of ice creams), before I headed towards the station, taking a seat and relaxing after a ~12 mile walk. The 230 returned from Bedford to take me back one stop to Bow Brickhill to clear the line for photographs and another short fester in the sunshine before the unit took me to Bedford where I crossed over to platform 1 to take a Thameslink 700 to St Albans station, and headed towards the hotel to get checked in, have a shower (it was quite hot!) and head back out.
700154 departs St Albans City bound for London
London
I exited the hotel, and headed back towards St Albans station, I had a few hours to spend in London and the first option was a non-stop service to St Pancras and was a low mileage 12 coach 700, and they certainly fly on a non-stop service! At St Pancras I took a seat to await the St Albans starter which I knew was low mileage; however I messed up my calculations and alighted at Herne Hill with the unit on 9.9 miles instead of being cleared for 10 miles (doh!).
I spent around 20 minutes at Herne Hill keeping an eye on anything of interest, eventually getting another low mileage 700 which was cleared by the time it reached Blackfriars. Another brief pause at the wonderful station before I linear hopped to Denmark Hill via the building site/fare dodgers paradise of Elephant & Castle to take a couple 9 miler units over 10 miles. I didn’t have long at Denmark Hill (where I noticed a much needed new entrance is being built on the side of the station), before a low mileage Overground 378 took me to Rotherhithe where it was cleared for 5 miles (I have a special rule when it comes for mileage for units which operate solely within the London Zones).
377164 passes Herne Hill
I crossed over to the southbound platform and got lucky with another low mileage 378 on a Crystal Palace service which was cleared by Brockley, with the following West Croydon service taken one stop to Honor Oak Park where I had a sit down for around 30 minutes keeping an eye on movements before calling it a night with an Overground unit to West Croydon where I walked to a nearby KFC to grab dinner, making my slow way to East Croydon and a time wasting spin to Victoria & back before the slightly delayed 00:20 Bedford service arrived. Needless to say I was in the rear first class area for the bit of extra comfort for the run north.
The train went via Selhurst (where it paused for staffing reasons) before heading towards Streatham then Herne Hill to reach Blackfriars. Speeding through Farringdon is always a bit of a novelty and it got a bit busy at St Pancras. Before Cricklewood station the unit entered the depot area to run slowly along one of the lines (700s to the left, EMR 360s to my right) before joining back onto the main line south of Hendon. Certainly was a bit of a novelty going via the depot on a passenger service, but I was glad to alight from the service at St Albans (where it crossed over to the fast lines before Radlett) walking to the hotel and collapsing into sleep, for it had been a long day.
Cricklewood Depot
Sunday – London
Due to the late finish on the Saturday (got back to the hotel around 2am!) I had a late start on the Sunday, eventually leaving the hotel around 10am, swinging via a Co-Op for breakfast before heading to St Albans station where I made a bit of a mistake in trying to ID a 700 in the centre siding which would form the stopper. I took the first fast service for the speedy run into St Pancras where I hung back for a couple services only for that stopper to roll in as 031, which I’ve only ever had on a core sub mile leap.
Onwards to Wimbledon on a slow trip, before I headed across to board a pair of 455s for the run to Vauxhall heading to the underground towards Marylebone (which is another station with an idiotic one way system if you want to gain access to the Bakerloo, as it seems to force you to go out of one exit around the side of the building to come in at another entrance, quicker to walk to Baker Street! Anyhow I took a seat on a Chiltern 165 for the run to South Ruislip with my good friend Stu (Otherwise known as Every Last Station) who was down in the London area to visit various stations.
68010 at Marylebone
At South Ruislip we exited the train and head across to the Central Line platforms for a Central line service a couple stops to West Ruislip, crossing over to the Chiltern platforms and exiting the station for a fresh air break before boarding another 3 coach 165 for the run to Wembley Stadium, where we had a little walk through an area which has changed massively for me, all new buildings and even the “pedways” leading to the stadium itself has gone. We reached Wembley Park with good timing as we went straight to West Hampstead on a service which had just arrived as we entered the platform.
Another short walk between West Hampstead stations saw another lucky connection onto a 700 bound for the north which we took one stop to Cricklewood before the following unit took us to Elestree & Borehamwood before returning to Mill Hill Broadway (getting roasted by the sun) then finally to Hendon before heading towards Kentish Town, where we crossed over to board a Rainham service to take us to Blackfriars because the river view is amazing.
A 802 passes Mill Hill Broadway
I said farewell to Stu as he headed off towards the south of the river where lots of hot 455s were waiting for him, and I took another 700 round the corner to London Bridge, jumping on a pair of 465s to Waterloo East, swinging via Tesco for something cold before taking a seat on the 17:45 Salisbury service which was a triple 159, for the run back home to Grateley. End of a good social day, but my bed was calling to catch up on some sleep!
No comments:
Post a Comment