November 2021 Trips
As November was a bit more quieter than previous months, I’ve decided to do one blog post for the entire month, also to attempt to play catch-up
5th – 7th November, Yorkshire
Friday (5th)
Due to the incident the previous Sunday, the trains were only running as a shuttle between Andover & Basingstoke, connecting into a service from Portsmouth Harbour. My original plan was the 17:38 from Andover to Waterloo to catch the Grand Central train to Bradford (although this was a bit on the tight side and relied on me being able to drive straight from work to the Andover station area to connect with that train). So I decided to play it a bit safe and take the afternoon off work, to give me a bit more time to get towards Kings Cross.
The trip began with a drive to Andover (more a rail replacement bus avoidance move), and the revised 14:35-odd shuttle to Basingstoke. Next up with a trip to Reading on a 165 before a short fester keeping my eyes out for any required 345s (as this was the time of night it was 4 an hour). Sadly no luck with the 345s so I took a seat on a Gatwick Express 387 which was meant to be getting attached to a further 2 units from Didcot, but the leading unit of that service had a bird stuck in the coupler so it wouldn’t talk with the red unit.
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| The Andover - Basingstoke shuttle |
This 387 (387206 in case anybody was interested) took me to Hayes & Harlington where a delayed train from Heathrow was the first arrival but that wasn’t needed, but the unit sitting in the bay platform was required (345036) so I took that for the run to Paddington. Where I had time to waste I decided on a random walk from Paddington towards Kings Cross, going mainly via the backstreets (rather than Euston Road like Google Maps kept on trying to suggest I did).
At Kings Cross the Grand Central service was late boarding due to a late arrival (from memory there had been an issue earlier in the day on the ECML with a broken down train somewhere along the route). 180114 was reasonably busy for the trip north, and it did make back some of the lost time to arrive into Bradford around 10 minutes late. My hotel for this trip was the Premier Inn located less than 5 minutes walk from Interchange station, a place I last used back in 2014 and was quite reasonable (I got lucky to get both nights for £29, as sometimes this place charges more on Saturday nights).
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| Bradford 180 |
Saturday 6th
My rough idea for today involved covering some of the random LNER extensions from Leeds and started with a pair of 801s on the morning train from Bradford Forster Square, where for a bonus featured winner 801107. Along the way to Leeds I made use of the WiFi to look out for the locations of my last few Northern units which operated out in Yorkshire, and it seemed like both my 2 coach 195s were gettable as both were on Leeds – Manchester Victoria (and beyond) services, my last 3 coach 195 was sitting at York for the time being.
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| 801107 at Bradford Forster Square |
Anyhow these 801s took me to Leeds where I had a connection over to the Aberdeen train for the novelty of a LNER service between Leeds & York (something I believe is meant to end in the main timetable recast with the train starting/ending at Doncaster). I took a seat on this 800 for the run to York, spotting the new masts going up between Church Fenton & York (well it’s a start at plugging the gap in the wires). At York I had a short wait before a 170 rolled in from Leeds (via Harrogate) which took me to Knaresborough. I will admit it felt strange departing Leeds on a LNER service heading east rather than west!
I alighted from the train at Knaresborough and headed out on foot towards Starbeck after a short riverside walk before going along a footpath across a field, crossing the railway line before a path next to a golf course. The walk passed the time and I even made good progress to catch the next southbound train which started at Knaresborough (randomly a 3 coach 158). Starbeck to Harrogate, where you depart Starbeck heading north, with the track doing a large loop to come into Harrogate heading south, something caused by the various cuts in the 1960s I believe.
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| Knaresborough Viaduct |
At Harrogate I had a short wait before the next 170 from York arrived before a 5 coach 800 rolled in, which I took for the trip to Leeds, ticking off Harrogate to Leeds for coverage by LNER (it was one of those sorts of random days). When at Leeds I noticed the Doncaster stopper featured a required 331 which wasn’t shown on RTT, so after a quick check saw it was possible to take it to Wakefield and return to Leeds before a low mileage 195 was due to depart. Needless to say I was sat on winner 331105 for the run to Wakefield Westgate, returning on a 8 coach voyager set which was full & standing in the vestibule (I dare say it might have been quieter in other parts but I must have been unlucky to board at that door).
Back to Leeds and I was glad to get off the voyager and made my way across to board a pair of 195s on a Manchester Victoria service (can’t remember if they extended to Chester), which cleared 195004 for 10 miles with the run to Todmorden where with some time to waste before the next required 195 would arrive from Manchester I went for a little walk down towards the canal and to a nearby Morrisons for lunch.
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| Rochdale Canal in Todmorden |
With lunch in hand, I returned to the station and waited for winner 195021 to roll up, yes it was busy on board (and only got worse the closer to Leeds it got) but I could tick off all the 2 coach 195s so a success. Due to the overcrowding it also got later and later so my original idea of taking the Bradford Forster Square stopper was missed, so I took the next train towards Shipley where I was warmly welcomed to the Skipton Train for the run to Shipley (I do have a bit of a soft spot for the 333s).
The rain had arrived so I headed across to the Bradford bound platform from the Ilkley direction to board another 333, sadly this train got later and later so to avoid a tight connection at Bradford I bailed at Frizinghall to await the Leeds train. Less than 5 minutes later winner 331104 arrived which I took to Leeds, this cleared the 4 coach 331s for my red pen, and I also had good news from looking at RTT for my last 195 had decided to come out to place with the next York stopper so after arriving at Leeds I made my way across to platform 7 to board winner 195112 for the run to York to clear the class :).
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| 195s... Tick |
When I was at York, to waste some time I decided to go for another little walk, taking in a bit of the river path and some of the city walls before the 68 hauled service from Scarborough was due. I’m pretty sure this was the first time I’ve boarded a train on platform 4 at York, and it reminds me of some of those stations with level crossings where the train stops part way down the platform (due to the crossing) but all the passenger waiting bits are in the area where the train doesn’t stop, so felt like everybody was waiting in the wrong place (considering that 68030 was leading and an empty 1st class coach was behind).
The 68 took me to Leeds, where I stepped back for a required 802 from Newcastle (217) for the run to Huddersfield where I was expecting that the extra Sheffield train to get cancelled due to large delays on the Penistone line, but the 150 arrived onto platform 4 and began boarding so I took a seat for the run to Brockholes, allowing me to tick off the connection from the mainline to the branch line. I had a few minutes at Brockholes before a late running 150 rolled in which took me back to Huddersfield, being ahead of schedule. Personally I was surprised the unit got sent back out rather than being cancelled due to late running (as it would have caused a delay to the next northbound service).
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| 150220 at Huddersfield, on the extra Sheffield train. |
Anyhow a bit of fun at Huddersfield as the stopper from Manchester arrived into platform 8 and was to form the next Leeds stopper (with the unit having arrived from Leeds going to form the next Manchester stopper), this meant a York bound service would be delayed (as it was meant to depart in front of the stopper). I think to get the York service ahead of the stopper they even ripped out the stop at Dewsbury to allow it to pass there). I decided it would be a good time to quickly exit Huddersfield station and head to the nearby Tesco for dinner items, returning for the next Newcastle service which had required 802216 on.
Back to Leeds once more, as I sadly missed the connection to a required Azuma (as the 802 got delayed along the way), so it was onto a busy 158 on a Sheffield stopper to Wakefield, returning to Leeds on a 155 from Knottingley. I took a walk to one of the bay platforms as a pair of 800s were being split up with one going ECS to Doncaster depot, and the remaining one going to Skipton, which is where I took it to (again to clear Leeds – Skipton for LNER coverage).
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| "Welcome to the Skipton Train" |
At Skipton it was a short walk over to board a 333 on a Bradford Forster Square train (one of the last arrivals into Forster Square) for the run to Forster Square, ending the day with a walk to the hotel. Sadly having to do some replanning for the Sunday due to SWR deciding the last replacement bus from Basingstoke to Salisbury would be at 6pm so my booked arrival into London for around half four would give me something stupid like 5 minutes to get from Kings Cross to Waterloo to catch a train for the magical tour of Staines. I did ask LNER if I could board an earlier train but they said no, so after looking at options decided the cheapest route would be to use a northern freebie single I had in my wallet to reach Crewe for a 350 to Euston (as I didn’t fancy paying £60+ for something along the ECML).
Sunday
With my new plan in hand, I checked out of the hotel and started the day with a little walk along a mixed use path towards Shipley station, getting there in good time to board the Morecambe train (a 3 coach 158). I was following the process of the Sunday only “Dalesrail” service which hadn’t been cancelled the night before and was actually running...
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| Platform 3 at Shipley over the viaduct |
...until it got stuck behind a broken down train around Lostock Hall area (the Colne train), where it seemed to reversed back to Preston to get cancelled so that idea of doing a Northern service from Hellifield towards Clitheroe went back into the box for a future trip [I suspect next summer time]. Anyhow after noticing the issues of that 158 I remained on board the Morecambe train for the run to Carnforth where I alighted to pop to a nearby Co-Op for supplies.
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| This 156s Encounter at Carnforth was all a bit Brief ;) |
Another reason for wanting to board the Manchester train at Carnforth is that I reckon it would have been quieter and easier to get a seat, compared to Lancaster, and I ended up in the table seat at the back of the unit which has a single seat opposite (which that single seat was taped off). I was aiming for an airline seat but those were taken. My idea was good because the train got very busy at Lancaster and after Preston was pretty much full & standing.
Time passed and soon the 195 had reached Manchester as I set about for a fast walk to make a tight connection to a Crewe bound 323, which I managed to do and enjoyed the sound of the 323 motors for the run towards Crewe, with my fingers crossed at what 350s were on the next London train. A 350/2 was on the rear, but thankfully a 350/1 was at the front, and I took a seat in the front coach where it was nice and quiet, until Stafford!
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| 323230 at Crewe |
The train got quite busy along the way to London, but made good time with no random delays at Milton Keynes to allow a late running Avanti overtake. At Euston I made my way towards the underground to Waterloo jumping on a busy pair of 444s on a service towards Southampton, going on the crawl via Staines due to engineering works. These units took me to Basingstoke where I headed outside to join the queue for the next bus towards Andover, a queue which got very big.
The time for the bus to depart came and went, with the only buses arriving being for Reading, eventually another bus arrived which was announced as going to Andover only, a small single decker bus from an operator called “TK Travel”, although It left passengers behind. The benefit of going straight to Andover was speed and the thrash from the bus engine when on the M3/A303. Eventually it arrived at Andover around 20 minutes late (time saved due to going direct rather than via Overton/Whitchurch). I set about with a walk to my car to drive home, thinking to myself that how long it would have been before the next bus to call at Grateley would have been.
The weekend was good, I managed to do pretty much all I wanted to do on Saturday with the bonus of clearing my last few 195s and 4 coach 331s, so I no longer need anything Northern which works out of Leeds, meaning the next time I have a trip to the West Yorkshire area I can focus on LNER & TPE stuff.
20th November – London Day
After the previous weekend where I had it off (car needed a service on the Saturday and all I did on the Sunday was a trip to Basingstoke with Mum to get some bits & pieces for the house). The idea of today was a simple trip to London where I would have my little red pen in hand to try and get some of my required units.
The day started with the 05:56 service to Basingstoke, changing over to a XC service to take me to Reading before a red 387 on a non-stop run to Paddington. I spent the next couple hours going back & forth between Paddington & Hayes to get some required 345s into my book. I even had time to take a 345 to Heathrow Central stepping back to sample a Heathrow Express 387 and in all fairness they are quite nice inside, new seat cushions, certainly suitable for the short Express journey from Paddington to Heathrow.
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| 345061 approaching Hayes & Harlington |
After I took a 345 from Terminal 5 to Hayes, I had a walk along the Grand Union Canal, turning off along the way to walk along the Paddington branch to give a different view point of London. This was rural in parts before it entered some residential areas and finally industrial area around Stonebridge Park area. I carried on to reach Harlesden area and headed towards the station taking a 710 south one stop to Willesden Junction where I had a much needed toilet break.
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| Footbridge over Paddington Arm, near Yeading |
Next up was a required 710 heading towards Watford which I took to Harrow & Wealdstone, changing over to a pair of 350s from Tring (a pair of ex-TPE 350/4s, and yes I did spot a pair of 350/2s on a Birmingham train at Euston). These took me to London Euston where I met up with Stu (Every Last Station) plus his partner, where we headed towards Battersea Power Station for a short walk to Battersea Park for a 377 to Clapham Junction where I said farewell. Might have been a short meeting but it’s always good to meet up with friends unexpectedly.
At Clapham Junction I headed towards Denmark Hill on the first 378 for a spot of unit hunting for mileage needs, but sadly nothing came up which I needed, so I decided to take another 378 to Canada Water to waste a bit of time before heading to Waterloo for the 18:20 service due to meeting up with family later that evening. This is where things went wrong as the first service rolled in and got cancelled due to a train fault which meant the following train was completely wedged out. I managed to get onto it for the run to Waterloo (as my eye was on the clock and it got into Waterloo for around 18:10).
I took the 18:20 Exeter train back to Andover, where I met up with my family for the remainder of the evening, after a good day in London. It was nice to get a decent length walk under my feet after a rubbish week at work.
27th November – Another London Day
Similar to the previous Saturday today was going to be a red pen day in London, this time starting with the 05:24 train from Grateley to Basingstoke, where I changed for a 165 to Reading followed by another red 387 to Paddington. Sadly this time my luck with hunting for required 345s wasn’t with me, so after a trip to Hayes on a pair of 387s I returned to Paddington on a dud 345 from Reading. After arriving at Paddington I transferred to a Hammersmith & City line service to Liverpool Street where my red pen day began.
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| I think the red 387s will miss the best London Terminus |
I spent the next few hours ticking off various 745/1s & 720s towards Tottenham Hale before shifting my attention to 720s towards Stratford, finishing off with a couple 345s for mileage boosts. Quite a productive trip for my red pen as I headed towards Waterloo for the 21:20 service, which was delayed by around 30 minutes due to the inbound being, delayed (this being the day of a named storm which caused lots of rain & wind in parts of the country).
I got back to Grateley and the cold wind hit me hard walking home, for it was very cold (and strong).
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| 720558 at Stratford |
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