17th & 18th December – Visiting Soham
The idea for this trip was to visit the recently opened station at Soham on the Saturday with a little evening in London on the Friday (having secured a reasonably priced hotel in Croydon on the Friday night). My Friday evening would also feature the recently introduced random direct train from London Euston to St Albans Abbey, solely to tick off the little bit of track which leads into platform 11 at Watford Junction from the south (BLS hat was on!)
Friday
I managed to finish a bit earlier than usual to allow me to catch the 16:59 service from Grateley to Basingstoke for the usual change to a pair of 444s for the run to Waterloo (at least the 444s allowed me to give my phone a quick boost of electricity!). At London I decided to head towards Liverpool Street at the last moment (my original idea was to head towards Stratford for some 345 hunting). I went via the peak time subway which was completely empty (which felt very strange), and onto a W&C Line service to Bank, having a private coach.
An empty Waterloo & City Line carriage
Next up was a busy Central line train to Liverpool Street, where my luck must have been in as one of my last 3 required 710/1s was on the back of a train towards Enfield (although I will admit at the time I had 4 required units, as my list failed to take into account that 710131 didn’t exist and was a dual voltage unit instead!) Anyhow winner 710110 took me to Seven Sisters, where I took a seat with the next couple southbound trains not being needed; thankfully my wait was worth it as winner 710112 soon rolled in (attached to another 710/1).
This took me back to Liverpool Street, where I managed to ID what was heading back towards Enfield [as the Overground units interwork at Liverpool Street] and was surprised to see it was winner 710106 which I took to Seven Sisters, clearing the AC only 710s (although at the time I was still under the impression that 131 existed so didn’t celebrate so to speak). With one eye on the time I decided to head down to the Victoria Line, taking the train to Warren Street.
AC only 710s, Tick
The reason to take it to Warren Street (other than to waste some time) is because I knew there was a Tesco Express located outside the station, but alas that Tesco Express was pretty much bare bones for meal deal items (only things left were some spicy chicken pasta pots), so I decided to head towards Euston, discovering a little Sainsburys Local which had some bits for dinner. After my supply raid I headed towards Euston via the back streets, entering the station via the back entrance near to platform 18.
After I confirmed the St Albans Flyer was actually running (i.e. it was being advertised) I purchased my boundary zone ticket to Watford North (which is cheaper than buying to Watford Junction), I know not the cheapest of ways to do the flyer (but at least I made use of my new Gold Card to reduce the cost by a third!). 350114 was on the flyer this evening which had (at a guess) around 20 passengers on, most like me alighted at Watford Junction (replaced by another 20 or so passengers heading towards the stations on the Abbey Line). I made my way across to platform 7 to board the first train back to London, this being a pair of units from Crewe.
"This train is for St Albans Abbey"
This train went in on top of another 350 so when I was walking towards the gateline to exit, required 710256 rolled in alongside me, as it only entered passenger service a couple days ago I couldn’t quite bring myself to saying no, so I took it to Willesden Junction to clear for 5 miles. The next London train wasn’t needed, so I decided to head to Clapham Junction on a 378, changing over to board a pair of 377s for the run to East Croydon. I headed to the hotel to find that the lifts were broken (again!), and it was a long climb to the 7th floor!
A productive evening in London, lucky I did that London – St Albans service when I did as due to staff issues the branch has gone back to being buses.
Saturday
An early start for me this morning with the 05:40-odd Thameslink service to St Pancras, where after going via the nearby Tesco at Kings Cross, I jumped on a pair of 387s for the non-stop run to Cambridge, carrying on to Ely, where I had around 35 minutes before the next Ipswich train was due to depart. It was starting short at Ely this morning due to the previous service running late so it was a short wait before required 755408 rolled into platform 1 from a little siding to the south of the station.
Departure was on time and little under ten minutes later I had alighted at the country’s newest station of Soham. Not really a lot around the station itself, bit like Bow Street in Wales in being quite basic. Anyhow I soon began my walk, departing the station via the footbridge to reach a footpath (which previous crossed the railway, a crossing which has been replaced by the footbridge). This footpath (which was muddy in places) took me along the Soham Lode, a water channel which lead towards the River Great Ouse.
755402 at Soham Station
I continued my walk, heading along the banks of the River Great Ouse, reaching the Kingfishers Bridge Nature Reserve (which was quite pretty and quiet). I continued reaching a very muddy farm track, which I will admit was tough work safely navigating the path, avoiding slipping in the mud, thankfully the mud did give way after a while and soon I was near the Wicken Fen Nature Reserve, another pretty area. Reaching the small village of Wicken and it was another path leading towards the southern part of Soham, where it was a short walk through the town to reach the station approach road, arriving with time to spare to see the next Ipswich service before the next Peterborough train rolled in, allowing me to tick the station of for boarding & alighting.
A pair of 387s heading towards Ely near to the Great Ouse
This 755 took me all the way to Peterborough, as it had been a few years since I covered the line between Ely & Peterborough in the daylight. Also I wanted to cover the track between Whittlesea & Peterborough on a Greater Anglia service. At Peterborough the next EMR service towards Norwich was running very late, and it eventually rolled in very busy on board. What didn’t help things was the EMR 158s not having much in the way of luggage space for larger bags so people were putting their suitcases on the seat next to them. Anyway this 158 took me back to Ely, where I changed to score a required 755 for the run to Cambridge North, changing over to a required 720 for the run to Audley End.
755402 at Peterborough
A short break at Audley End and another required 755 took me to Stansted Airport, where sadly my luck with the airport 745s struck again and I landed a dud unit for the run to Liverpool Street. I took a Met line service to Farringdon for a 700 to London Bridge, changing over to a pair of 465s for the run to Waterloo East. It was onto the 20:50 Salisbury service (nice to get a direct train, without needing a 30 minute fester at Basingstoke!) to Grateley, the end of a good day. Just over 12 miles walked on a little loop starting/ending at Soham station, some of the paths were hard work with the mud but it was worth it, for my last “long distance” trip of the year (and also my last hotel stay of the year).
Cambridge North Station Building
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