26th & 27th February – A trip to Greater Anglia Land
The idea of this weekend’s trip was to head towards Greater Anglia land, staying overnight in the Ipswich EasyHotel with the main idea doing the limited service from Harwich International towards Ipswich (as I had only ever done it towards Harwich, also would be nice to tick off a bit more of the network for “755 coverage”.
Although
in hindsight the weekend I picked wasn’t the best to hunt down 755s due to a
lot of engineering works, basically the only trains running at Norwich were the
London intercity units, everything else was buses. Oops!
Saturday
The trip began with a drive from home to Andover, to avoid using the replacement buses, and a fast run into Waterloo on a single 159, where it arrived around 10 minutes early due to padding. It was straight towards the underground with the Jubilee line taken to Stratford where I had a short wait before a pair of 720s rolled in towards Southend, which I took to Shenfield as it was winners 720551 & 720525.
A couple minutes at Shenfield and the next train rolled in towards Clacton which was a 322 & 321, needless to say I sat in the motor coach of the 322 for some classic motor noise (with windows open), my original idea was to bail at Chelmsford but I decided to stay on to Colchester as I was enjoying the noise. A short wait at Colchester and a 745 rolled in from London to take me to Ipswich where I exited the station in order to purchase my Anglia Plus ranger, noticing that the ticket office at Ipswich has shifted from where it was last year.
"This is the Northern service to Doncaster-on-Sea"
I had a couple options for my next move, and it was onto winner 755326 on a Peterborough service, keeping my eyes peeled to ID the unit which would form the Cambridge train, this wasn’t needed so I stayed on the Peterborough unit to Ely, changing over to a busy pair of 387s for the single stop to Waterbeach, where I began my walk.
Today’s walk was from Waterbeach towards Cambridge, via the River Cam, before a little explore of Cambridge, although my original idea was changed a few times during the course of the walk. The path alongside the river was a bit narrow in places but was reasonably busy with other walkers & cyclists, plus the river was busy with rowers. I remained on the riverbank, crossing over to the opposite side on a footbridge to the south of Cambridge North, doing a loop to come back on myself after going via Stourbridge Common to reach Ditton Meadows.
Baits Bite Lock on River Cam
My little walk continued to Coldham’s Common, before making my way along the streets to reach the enclosed footbridge (Charter Bridge) which crossed over the tracks at the northern end of Cambridge station. Does it say something about the local area when most of the railway bridges are either enclosed or have massively high walls?
Anyhow I made it to Cambridge station, an area on my list for another explore at some-point and had a short wait before a 3 coach 755 rolled in from Ipswich to form the next Ipswich train, it was quite busy from the start as I took it to Stowmarket (my phone getting a much needed boost of electricity). I had a tight connection to board a Norwich bound train (wasn’t alone in making this connection as a few others clearly not wanting to suffer a replacement bus from Ely did likewise). The next northbound Norwich wasn’t needed, but I took it to Diss anyhow, doing a little loop to cross between platforms without using the footbridge (well it wasted 15 minutes).
A 720 heads towards Cambridge North
Back at Diss station and it was a short wait before another 745 rolled in to take me to Ipswich, where I changed onto winner 755424 which was working the Felixstowe branch today (slightly overkill in my eyes). I took this to Felixstowe & back to Ipswich where darkness had fallen, a short wait before winner 745107 rolled in on the next London train which I took to Colchester, having a long walk along the platform from platform 5 to platform 3 (why can’t all London trains at Colchester use the same platform?) as a pair of 720s had rolled in from Clacton. The front unit wasn’t needed but winner 720576 was on the rear, so it was onwards to Witham.
I popped to a nearby Morrisons at Witham for dinner items before returning to the station with a 720 on a Harwich International service which I took to Manningtree, getting a bit of a shock when 755412 rolled in on the Harwich Town branch line. I knew they worked this branch, but I wasn’t expecting to see one today (was expecting it to either be a 720 or a 321). I took this 755 to Harwich Town for a short turnaround before heading back to Harwich International, where I changed over to the bay platform with winner 755416 on the train towards Halesworth (would have been Lowestoft). It was a bit sad seeing the line-up of 379s stored on the long siding beyond platform 1 towards Dovercourt, hopefully they will find use with another operator sooner rather than later.
755416 at Harwich International
The 755 towards Ipswich was quite quiet in terms of passenger loading as it whizzed towards Ipswich, taking the Manningtree north curve to join the mainline, I always forget how fast these bi-mode units are when on AC. Anyhow once at Ipswich and with nothing else of interest floating around, I decided to call it a night and head towards the Easy Hotel, relaxing for the remainder of the day.
Sunday
My original plan for the Sunday changed from walking the Gipping Valley Path towards Needham Market as I reckoned that would be a path best suited for the spring/summer time due to the potential of mud, so after looking at the map I decided to have an explore of Felixstowe, a town I’ve been to a couple times but never left the station area.
As the first train towards Felixstowe wasn’t until nearly 10am, I decided to have a little walk after leaving the hotel, heading in a northernly direction towards Christchurch Park which was quite scenic with trees. I carried on heading north passing a large playing field for a school and across some fields to reach Westerfield station, and relaxed before the first train towards Felixstowe was due.
Christchurch Park, Ipswich
Winner 755330 rolled in from Ipswich to take me towards Trimley, where I started my 2nd walk of the day, taking in some woods before reaching a cliff which overlooked the freight port (all the shipping containers!). I carried on, going across a foot crossing of the railway by the port gates where I spotted a shunter. I carried on with my walk, crossing over the busy A14 road and into Felixstowe itself, swinging via a Morrisons for lunch.
I carried on taking in a couple paths and went via Langer Park to reach the site of the disused Felixstowe Beach station, where only the former platform remains on the freight line towards the port. After a photo stop at the old station I reached the sea front for a walk alongside the seaside to reach the pier. Only part of the pier is open to the public most of it is closed off due to being unsafe but made for a good photo (although only away from the sun, as it was quite bright).
Felixstowe Beach from Felixstowe Pier
After the pier, I made my way towards the town centre, then towards the current Felixstowe station, where I had a short wait before 755330 rolled back in from Ipswich to take me towards Ipswich, where I noticed the next train towards Shenfield was a pair of 321s so I popped out for another walk (wanted to clear 100km on my Strava app for the month), so I did a little loop of the River Orwell using the road one way coming back via the River Path.
755330 at Felixstowe station
Back at Ipswich again, for the last time of this trip I was going to wait for the next 745 but I noticed a former Northern 321 on the next semi-fast service, so I felt it wrong to turn down a fast run on an original 321, especially on the fast section towards Colchester. Needless to say, I was sitting in the motor coach with all the windows open (well it was a hot day) and enjoyed the motor noise as the driver wasn’t holding back. I alighted from the pair of 321s at Witham for a short wait before a 745 arrived to take me to Shenfield. I felt boarding a 745 at Witham was more of a novelty than at Colchester, but alas it wasn’t needed.
I took this 745 to Shenfield where it went into platform 4, where due to engineering works the line was closed towards London, so down the narrow stairs and out of the sidegate to join the queue of passengers for the fast buses towards Newbury Park. Eventually I was at the top of the queue and was invited onto a “Central Connect” double decker, where I decided to sit near the rear on the lower deck. The bus departed and headed along the dual carriageways to reach Newbury Park LU station, where I headed down to the busy platform to wait for the next Central line service for London.
A 745 at Shenfield
Thankfully this service started at Newbury Park so was quiet in the rear coach (would imagine the front coaches were busier), I alighted at Stratford (where due to the kickball at West Ham ending, it got very busy), and headed towards the Jubilee Line for the run towards Waterloo, a slow run due to severe overcrowding in the rear coaches, where it took 4 attempts to close the doors at North Greenwich. Although severe overcrowding was to follow me as I headed towards the next train towards Andover, and even though there was still 20 minutes before departure it was getting busy.
The single 159 departed Waterloo rather full, and it only got worse at Clapham Junction. Nonstop to Basingstoke where a handful of passengers alighted but those were soon replaced by more people boarding, where it remained full & standing all the way to Andover where it terminated. I headed towards my car, swinging via a pizza place and drove home.
A Central Line service departs Newbury Park
A nice weekend trip, not so much action for my red pen but even with the limited services running I still ticked off a few of the GA Stadler units. Felixstowe is a nice little town, has a nice beach and certainly a place on my list to revisit again (maybe working in a trip with the ferry from Harwich).
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