13th & 18th April Day Trips
13th April – A Red Pen Day in London
After a much needed restful Tuesday, I was back on the rails on the Wednesday. I decided to head towards London to see if any of my requirements were needed with a red pen day (my original idea was to head towards Bristol to walk the old railway line path towards Bath, but I decided to give my legs a rest).
In the morning I put a request in for some of my unit wants, getting good news on the location of some of them allowing me to form a rough idea, as I travelled to London on a busy 158+159 combo to Basingstoke for a busy pair of 444s. First up was a trip towards Fenchurch Street, going via the Northern line to Embankment followed by a Circle line to Tower Hill. The goal for this move was to tick off 357325 my last C2C unit needed for mileage, and it was working a Grays via Rainham service.
357325 at London Fenchurch Street
I took this 357 (along with 315) for the run to Barking, pushing it over ten miles, returning to Fenchurch Street on another pair of 357s. Next up was a trip back to Tower Hill with a district line service taken just over a mile to Blackfriars, where I changed to the Thameslink platforms for a short wait for 700132 to roll in on the Horsham bound, taking me to East Croydon. With an hour to wait before another low mileage 700 was due to return northbound, I exited the station going via Sainsburys for lunch and took a spin on a sub-mile tram (2560).
This tram took me to Addiscombe, a place I need to return to one of these days to walk the railway linear park on the old trackbed. I returned to Sandilands for a short wait before sub mile 2557 rolled in which I took to George Street, walking back to East Croydon station (need to get the steps up!). A short wait at East Croydon before low mileage 700121 rolled in from Horsham to take me to London Bridge, another 700 taken over 10 miles (leaving just the 1 12 coach unit and 9 of the 8 coach units).
London Tram 2531 departs Sandilands
At London Bridge, I joined a 466+465+465 combo on a Cannon Street rounder to take me to Abbey Wood, for a short wait before my last standard class only 465 rolled in, with 465155 being in the middle of another 10 coach set (well last unless the 465/2s come back from storage). I had a last-minute change of plan and bailed at Greenwich to take a DLR service to Lewisham to give a mileage boost to 465922 on a Charing Cross service.
I was going to take this 465 back to London Bridge, but when it was waiting on the ramp from Lewisham to join the mainline near St Johns, I noticed a low mileage 466 rolling past, and that was sitting on the platform opposite at Charing Cross, so it was back to London Bridge on 466033, being sandwiched between 2 other 465s. I crossed over to the Thameslink platform to take a 700 to Finsbury Park (first time I’ve visited since the barriers on platform 7-8 have been removed due to the station getting barriers at the main entrance, won’t anybody think of all those fare dodgers who now have to pay when coming into London).
A 717 took me from Finsbury Park to Hornsey for a short wait before sub 10 mile 717014 rolled in to take me to Moorgate, returning on the same unit to Old Street. Sadly, there had been a set-swap and the unit which was meant to come next (018) was swapped over for another unit. I took another 717 to Highbury & Islington, to intercept low mileage 717013 for the run to Moorgate, returning on the same unit back to daylight at Drayton Park, to keep my eyes on any of the other peak time extra services, just in case 018 popped up.
717019 departs Drayton Park, beware of the animals living in the wasteland on the right
Alas it didn’t pop up, a bit disappointed but those things happen with units coming out to play in the evening peak getting swapped over for various reasons. It wasn’t the end of the world as I took a 700 to London Bridge, making a tight connection onto a very low mileage 466013 on the run to Charing Cross, remaining onboard for the return to Waterloo East, where I crossed over the road to board a 159+159+158 combo on the 19:20 service to take me back home. I would have liked to have stayed in London longer, but I had one eye on an early start on the Thursday for my Kent trip.
466013 at London Waterloo East
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18th April – A trip to South Wales
After a restful Easter Sunday, it was back on the rails once more. Bank holiday timetables can be strange in what some operators run, some run a basic Saturday timetable, some run a Saturday timetable but with some extra calls, others run a normal weekday timetable. GWR seems to be the sort who run a regular weekday timetable, giving me a chance for a novelty, the 387s to Cardiff.
It was an early start, driving to Salisbury to catch the 06:06 service (which comes from Fratton), a nice 158 for the run to Bristol Parkway (although it did drag as this one calls at all the stations to Temple Meads). At Bristol Parkway I popped out of the station to head to a nearby Tesco Express for some supplies before returning to the station for 387173 & 387142 to roll in from Paddington, lightly loaded but good fun on the run via the tunnel to Cardiff Central.
387142 at Cardiff Central
With ticking off 387s to Cardiff from my list of things to do, I turned my attention to the 769s as I noticed 3 of my needs were out, with the first being low mileage 769006 which I took to Bargoed for a walk via the Bargoed Woodland Park, an area I want to return to as my walk was quite fast (not the best of planning!) I ended up on a path which runs along the old Brecon & Merthyr Junction Railway line, although there was little evidence of the old railway line.
The A469 road bridge over Rhymney River
769008 at Rhymney
Back at Bargoed station and required 769452 rolled in from Cardiff, and for a change I decided to sit in the former 1st class area (rather than the motor coach). The engine noise wasn’t that bad (especially compared to a 150), and soon I had alighted at Lisvane & Thornhill station for a little walk, a completely unplanned walk based on looking at both Google Maps and Open Street Maps in what could be interesting.
First task was to head to a large Sainsburys at Thornhill for a late lunch, before picking up a woodland path called the “Green Belt”, doing a small loop before ending up crossing the railway on a bridge near Llanishen station. Next up was a trip towards the woods called Coed Y Felin (in the Lisvane area), which were very pretty (worth a visit in my eyes).
After leaving the woods, I followed a couple more paths & roads to reach the Lisvane Nature Reserve, which led on a path close to the Lisvana Reservoir, turning into the Black Oak Nature Reserve before finally the Nant Fawr Meadows near Llanishen Reservoir. I followed the path through the woods, although views of the reservoirs were limited. Eventually I came out in the Heath area, walking to Heath Low Level for no real reason other than wanting a quick revisit to the low-level station.
Lisvane Reservoir
Back to playing with some trains as a pair of 153s rolled in from Coryton to take me to Queen Street, where I changed for a 150 to take me down the hill to Cardiff Central. I popped out of the station to grab items for dinner before returning with required 67025 hauling the Holyhead train. I took the Holyhead train to Newport, changing to a single 166 for the run back to Salisbury. I was expecting it to be busier than it was, at least in the front former 1st class area, but I managed to get a table seat for that bit of luxury.
67025 at Cardiff Central
I alighted from the 166 at Salisbury, for a relaxing drive home. A successful day with some more 769s into my book along with the bonus of that 67, plus a couple enjoyable walks, exploring parts of South Wales I had never previously visited. Although it was the last day of my holiday and normal service would resume on the Tuesday with work.
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