1st – 2nd October, A trip to a wet Kent

 1^st – 2^nd October, A trip to a wet Kent

I apologise for the large gap between posts, I haven’t been in the right frame of mind to do my writings due to extra duties at work taking energy out of me.

This trip came across by having booked the Travelodge in Eastleigh last December time, but due to Hampshire going into level 4 after Boxing Day I was unable to use the hotel.  Due to Travelodge being unwilling to refund rooms which couldn’t be used, only allowing for a date change I originally changed it to April time before it needed shifting again, this weekend was the first Friday I found where it was reasonably priced (and not £40+)

 

The trip towards Eastleigh started with a very busy single 159 (standing in the vestibules style), which connected with a Southampton bound GWR service, which just happened to be my last GWR 158 I needed (getting very lucky considering most of the trains via Salisbury are Turbos these days).  It was lightly loaded for the trip to Southampton Central where I had a short wait before a 444 rolled in to take me to Eastleigh.

 

158745 at Southampton Centra

 

The Travelodge at Eastleigh is pretty much straight across the road from the station, and I got given room 313 (mmm PEP) which was at the rear of the hotel.  Usual Travelodge style of rooms, needed a bit of TLC and with some outside noise from a nearby pub, but I dread to think how noisy the rooms would be on the station side (as not only would you have the sound of doors opening/closing until the early hours but the main road).

 

Saturday

 

Sadly my luck with the weather ran out on this trip as I had planned a couple medium distance walks along a river from Canterbury area towards Chartham (I’m typing this without internet access so can’t check up on the name of the actual river), but with rain due to arrive my walking ideas went into the file marked “ideas for another date”.  Anyhow back to the trains, the main reason why I originally booked Eastleigh was to do a slight novelty service, a GWR Portsmouth – Brighton service to cover the east facing side of the triangle north of Hilsea.

 

To do this service required being on the first service from Eastleigh towards Southampton, which got delayed due to an ECS XC move from the depot blocking platform 2 (so the 444 had to go via platform 3).  I took this service to St Denys where I crossed over to the Portsmouth bound platform to catch a 450 for the run to Fratton, where I would have around 6 minutes to wait for the Brighton train.  I was expecting to see a 166 but was surprised when a 158 rolled up for a semi-fast run towards Brighton (well until the Worthing area where it goes behind a 313 stopper).

 

Sunrise over Fratton

 

Arriving at Brighton I had around 25 minutes to wait before the next Lewes service, so I popped to Tesco near the station doing a small loop coming back via some back streets for no reason other than to waste some time.  I returned to the station to board a pair of 313s on the Lewes shuttle (football strengthening, only calls at Falmer on the way to Lewes due to short platforms).  At Lewes I headed towards the Eastbourne bound platform for a 377 to take me towards Collington.

 

I could have picked from a few of the stations between Eastbourne & Ore to change to the 171, but picked Coillington just to get some better photos of the station from my previous visit a few years ago.  A short wait at Collington before a 171 rolled in from Eastbourne as I headed towards the declassified first class area at the very rear (4 coach units don’t fit anywhere after Ore towards Ashford so it tends to be quieter).  The rain started near Rye which would remain with me most of the day as it rolled towards Ashford where it terminated.

 

To waste some time (I had planned on a little walk at Ashford before the next Canterbury bound service) I jumped on a pair of 375s to take me to Pluckley for a short wait before another pair took me back to Ashford where I had a cross platform change onto a pair of 377s to take me towards Sturry.  With 30 minutes to waste before the next London service I headed for a little loop (in the rain) due to the shelter on the platform having some youths who were smoking so it was either standing around in the rain or going for a walk.

 

377518 departs Sturry

 

I returned to the station for another pair of 377s to take me back towards Chartham for a short fester before returning towards Canterbury West.  I exited the station at Canterbury West and did something foolish considering the weather; I walked in a western direction towards Canterbury East for a photo before heading back towards Canterbury West (yes I was soaked!)  I made it back with a minute or so to spare before the first pair of 377s returned from Ramsgate to take me to Chilham where once more I crossed platforms before heading back towards Canterbury West (for this station looked like it has a shelter, it’s the sort which leaks and has no seat).

 

This time at Canterbury I did another loop to a nearby Sainsburys Local before returning to a busy station (quite a few passengers waiting for the High Speed service a few minutes after the Victoria stopper from the looks of things, and I was surprised at how many tourists were floating around even though the weather was very wet.

 

Canterbury Westgate

 

The next pair of 377s took me back to Ashford where I had a short connection to a Charing Cross train which took me towards Staplehurst where with another 30 minute break I did another little walk (I was already soaked, what more harm could the rain do).  After returning to the station it was another pair of 375s to take me to Paddock Wood where I had a delayed 375 from the Medway Valley to take me to Tonbridge where they held the connection to the Redhill train.  This 377 took me to Redhill (big suprise!) where I had a couple options.  It was either a 377 on the stopper towards Clapham Junction for a pair of 159s towards Basingstoke (as SWR reduced the timetable so the Salisbury stoppers were starting from Basingstoke, the last connection from London being the Exeter train), or a GWR service to Guildford where I could change to Woking for a pair of 444s towards Basingstoke.

 

I decided to take the 165 as the London train looked busy, and this is where things went a bit wrong as the line south of Guildford had flooded so there was nothing heading north (must have happened after I boarded the 165).  I arrived at Guildford which was in a bit of chaos with nothing showing towards Woking for 40+ minutes so a quick bit of thinking on the outskirts highlighted a possible rescue with staying on the 165 to North Camp giving me around 14 minutes to walk towards Ash Vale for a train from Alton, which connected with a Basingstoke stopper at Brookwood, which would have got me back home at the same time, but with the cost of not popping out to KFC at Basingstoke.

 

The 165 arrived into North Camp and I sprung out of the station towards the level crossing waiting for it to cross as another 165 arrived from Reading, and to my surprise the barriers rose so I managed to get across the tracks before the Reading train had even departed (guess it’s timed for the slower 769s so the 165s hang back at stations).  This gave me an extra couple minutes for a walk I’ve done a couple times in the past, straight along the road to reach Ash Vale, where I arrived with 5 minutes to spare.

 

A busy pair of 450s arrived from Alton to take me 1 stop to Brookwood, where I crossed over to the opposite platform (avoiding some flooding in the subway), I noticed the pair of 159s go past and they looked quite busy, as a pair of 450s rolled in to take me towards Basingstoke.  At Basingstoke I crossed over to await a 159 to arrive from Salisbury where it would have a short turnaround before heading back towards Salisbury.

 

Didn't think I would end up here!

I took this 159 back to Grateley, where I headed home, where the nice hot shower never felt so good after getting out of my soaked clothes (even my bag was soaked throughout.  It was a nice little trip to Kent, exploring a bit of Canterbury, shame about the weather but I guess you can’t always get nice weather.

 (On the Sunday, due to no trains on my local line, I did a local area walk as the weather was a lot nicer, although my backup bag isn't as nice to wear)