Trips in November 2022
6th November – London in the rain
The weather forecast was a bit rubbish this entire weekend so any ideas I had for walks got put on hold, however with the Saturday meant mostly at home on the laptop, I headed out to the station for the first London train to take me towards Clapham Junction, where I changed for a busy pair of 450s to Richmond to change over to the Overground (as it has been a while since I last did an Overground from Richmond).
My idea for today was to hunt down some of my Overground units needed for ten miles, so I spent the next hour or so pinging back & forth before ending up at Gospel Oak where the trains were terminating due to engineering works. I did a little ping on the Gospel Oak – Barking line, landing on outright required 710272 which I took all the way to Barking to clear it for ten miles, before changing to a busy pair of 357s to Fenchurch Street.
710272 in the bay at Barking
The subway giving access to the entrance close to Tower Hill Underground was closed (the signs said for flooding) so for the first time I exited Fenchurch Street station by the main entrance, and due to the sunshine, I decided to walk to London Bridge station to meet up with Dan for it was time to head to the Elizabeth line as today was the day it was joined together. A Thameslink service took us to Farringdon where we had a short wait before a Heathrow train took us to Acton Rain Line where the sunshine an hour earlier had been replaced with pouring rain.
345068 departs Acton Rain Line
We crossed over to the opposite platform to take the next Abbey Wood train, changing at Paddington low level for a Gidea Park service to tick off the new section between Whitechapel & Stratford. Another change saw the first service we boarded sent towards Liverpool Street high level when it failed to change signalling systems, but the next Paddington train was right behind which took us to Whitechapel where I said farewell to Dan and headed to the District line for a district line service to West Ham.
My original idea was to head towards Laindon & Basildon for some unusual track, but I decided to ditch that, as I took a C2C service to Barking. A little time-wasting spin to Upney before I took a 710 to Wansted Park, spotting a low mileage 710 on the Barking bound so I took up a seat and waited for it to return (as the next Gospel Oak train wasn’t needed for anything). I took this 710 to Upper Holloway, pushing it over ten miles. After exiting the station, I made my way up the hill (swinging via Tesco for some dinner) to reach Archway underground station for the Northern line to Waterloo.
At Waterloo I took a seat on the 17:45 service to Salisbury which took me to Grateley, the end of a nice little day in London. A short social meet-up with a good friend and some Overground hunting and covering the new track on Crossrail/Elizabeth line.
159017 at London Waterloo
12th November – West Yorkshire (Day 1)
I had booked a room in a place in Dewsbury for the Saturday night and managed to get reasonably priced advances on LNER to take me to & from West Yorkshire for my weekend getaway for November. The weather forecast was looking good which is always a nice bonus as it allowed me to look up options for a walk, although what I had planned [Rochdale Canal] didn’t work out as I had a change of heart.
The day for me started with the 05:24 service from Grateley (as I didn’t fancy paying £50+ for a hotel room in the London area), with a pair of 159s taken for the run to Waterloo, where after grabbing food [for both breakfast and something for lunch] I headed towards Kings Cross [mixing it up with the jubilee to Baker Street followed by the metropolitan line]. I was booked on the 08:03 service to Leeds, with 91130 hauling the Mk4 coaches. First time I’ve seen the new colours and they look quite good in daylight.
91130 at London Kings Cross
A couple hours of bouncing later I alighted from the Mk4 at Leeds and headed towards a 195 for Chester. This train got extremely busy so by Bradford after noticing it called at Low Moor, I decided enough is enough and jumped off at Low Moor. I was going to do the walk I had planned for the Sunday, walking along the former Spen Valley Line which led towards Dewsbury via Oakenshaw, Cleckheaton, Liversedge & Heckmondwike. It was a tarmacked path, bit woody in places and well used. It was easy to reach from Low Moor station due to having an entry point from the Halifax bound platform, although the stations along the way have all but disappeared, no remains of platforms.
In Heckmondwike I turned off the Spen Valley Greenway onto the Spen Valley Ringway, which uses the trackbed of the former “Leeds New Line”. The first section was a bit overgrown before reaching tarmac around the Heckmondwike Cutting, I followed this path to the end at Royds Park around Liversedge. I dropped south to join the Spen Valley Greenway to walk that section again, carrying on via Dewsbury Country Park. I carried on over the River Calder, underneath the main railway line and walked to the end of the Greenway path as it dropped down onto the Calder & Hebble Navigation. I did a U-turn to walk back towards the junction with the A644 and followed the “Calder Valley Greenway” path to reach Dewsbury town centre with a short walk to the station.
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| Spen Valley Ringway in Heckmondwike Cutting |
After a short break, an 802 took me to Huddersfield where I popped out of the station for some supplies from the nearby Tesco, returning for 68029 hauling the Mk5 coaches for a trip to Garforth, returning to Huddersfield on winner 68022 and a short wait before a very busy pair of 185s to Dewsbury, where I went towards my accommodation in a pub to get checked in. A glance earlier at RTT saw only one required LNER Azuma floating around later that night, however issues on the ECML meant it was a bit chaotic so that plan went into the bin.
I got back to Dewsbury station after checking in, and was considering going towards Brighouse, but the 2 coach 158 which rolled in looked very busy, so took a 3 coach 158 on the train from Wigan to Leeds, along the way I noticed a 195 was on another Wigan – Leeds train, so at Leeds I made a tight connection to a 3 coach 195 on a Manchester service, being surprised that I managed to get a seat (all be in the front coach), and I took this to Hebden Bridge.
195133 at Hebden Bridge
A short wait at Hebden and 195128 rolled in from Wigan which took me back to Leeds, solely to tick off the route via Brighouse for 195 coverage (not like I had anything better to do). At Leeds it was a short wait before a 2 coach 195 was on the next train towards Dewsbury [next TPE wasn’t due for 45 minutes as TPE had started to collapse]. This was quite busy, but I got a seat for the run to Dewsbury where I headed towards the pub, to relax for the remainder of the evening, spending time looking at the maps to decide what I could do on the Sunday.
13rd November – West Yorkshire (Day 2)
The day began with a freshly cooked breakfast (yum yum) before I headed out of the pub towards the River Calder in Dewsbury to walk a path close to the river, coming across an old railway viaduct (which I think was the Great Northern route). I went a bit cross-country to reach the Dewsbury – Ossett greenway, built on the former railway route (in places). I walked this route to the end in the fog (so no good views of the countryside), returning via the Earlsheaton Tunnel to the junction.
I carried on along the old railway line as it crossed the river Calder on the viaduct I walked underneath earlier, carrying on over the Calder & Hebble navigation to the end of the path where the rails are still in use for Dewsbury cement works. I did a loop via the housing estate to reach the canal basin joining the towpath to walk the Dewsbury arm to the end at Thornhill Lees. I had the option of either turning left to walk towards Wakefield or turning right to head towards Ravensthorpe area.
Earlsheaton Tunnel on the Dewsbury to Ossett Greenway
I turned right following the canal towpath (which was variable in surface quality), reaching the River Calder and followed the path alongside the river towards the Mirfield area where the next canal cut was available which took me into Mirfield itself, where I swung via a little Tesco for lunch. After lunch I returned to the canal towpath to walk to where it once more joined the river and had a detour via the roads going underneath the railway twice in order to cross the river, returning to the river bank for the quiet walk towards Battyeford where the next canal cut came off.
This next cut was quite busy with fishermen, and I had a little detour to a footbridge over the railway line near Heaton Lodge junction before heading back to the canal to carry on the towpath to the end of that little cut in the Bradley area. I crossed over the river once more and carried on the path underneath the railway (Brighouse line) reaching the next small canal cut, near to where the Huddersfield Broad canal reaches the river Calder and comes to an end.
Railway Lines near Heaton Lodge Junction
The next section was long term overgrown (shows you can’t always trust Open Street Maps), which forced a little detour via the road to rejoin the river path near Bradley Park. This section was a lot more rural, and once it went underneath the railway and onto the “Kirklees Cut” it was very scenic. Underneath the M62 and I reached the outskirts of Brighouse where the river path ceases to exist, so it was onto a rural path which ran towards the railway line coming out into an industrial area.
I carried on the roads, crossing over Blakeborough's Bridge and reached Brighouse canal basin for one final section of the canal, before swinging via Sainsburys for some supplies before making my way to Brighouse station, collapsing onto a bench. I had 2 options to reach Wakefield to pick up my booked train [I booked from Wakefield as it was £4 cheaper than booking from Leeds], either a Northern 158 to Leeds [via Bradford] for something to Wakefield, or a Grand Central service direct to Wakefield [for a 195 up the hill to Westgate].
Calder and Hebble Navigation, Kirklees Cut
I went for the cheaper Grand Central option [using a “Not via Leeds” ticket] with a busy 180112 taken to Wakefield Kirkgate, connecting onto 195025 to take me to Wakefield Westgate [engineering works on the usual route via Woodlesford], so a bit of a novelty of a 195 on the Wakefield connection curve. After a photo of 91111 working a late running Leeds service, I had a short wait before winner 801219 rolled in on the London train. This was quite busy but thankfully nobody was sat in my reserved seat this time, and an uneventful 2-hour journey [arriving around 7 minutes late due to being held at Peterborough for a late running train from Aberdeen and hence losing the path over the 2-track section at Welwyn North].
195023 at Wakefield Westgate
A quick exit at Kings Cross with the underground taken to Waterloo (Victoria followed by Bakerloo), and I arrived with time to spare for the 19:45 Salisbury train, a single 159 for the trip to Grateley, it was reasonably busy but not as bad as I have seen in the past. A quick walk home and I relaxed for the remainder of the evening. An enjoyable waterside walk, seeing parts of West Yorkshire I wouldn’t have seen travelling by train.
19th November – Peterborough
When I saw that trains were using the Werrington Dive Under due to engineering works, I came up with a plan. I had hoped to do the dive-under at the start of the month, but that was the day where the strike got called off at the 11th hour. This time I was doing it “on the cheap” with a day return to Spalding [splitting along the way]. Although with the shorten days it did mean a 2nd Saturday starting with the 05:24 service from Grateley (yay!).
The day started with a single 159 for the run to Waterloo, where I decided to walk towards Blackfriars, staying on the south bank of the River Thames to cross over the Millennium Bridge to walk towards Southwark bridge on the north bank, just to clear a couple small gaps. I ended up at Mansion House underground station for the short trip to Blackfriars, arriving with time to spare before 700122 rolled in on the next Peterborough service.
St Pauls at the end of the Millennium Bridge
I made myself comfortable in the rear declassified first class section for the trip to Peterborough, arriving to find the next EMR train was running late allowing me extra time to pop out of the station to a nearby Tesco for some food items before returning to the station awaiting 156406 to roll in and do a good impression of a clown car in that people kept on coming (must have taken a good 4 minutes for everybody to offload). I managed to get a seat for the run to Spalding, going via the dive-under (big tick) where I had just over an hour before the next Peterborough train so went for a little walk.
This walk took me south, via the long St Johns Road footbridge (where the tracks for the former Midland & GN Joint line came away from the remaining line) and to the overgrown track bed of the GN & GE joint line (towards March). This took me towards an old railway bridge over the river Welland, where I made the wrong call to walk back towards the town centre on the eastern bank (as the pavement switched to the other side of the road). I made it back to the town centre, swinging via Sainsburys to waste time before returning to the station, only to find that the train was both late (15 minutes) and the platform was very busy (I would guess around 50 passengers).
802301 passes Spalding
170515 eventually rolled in, I was lucky to get a seat and I think everybody managed to squeeze on (didn’t help the number of large suitcases blocking aisles). The 170 returned me to Peterborough, going via the dive-under once more, where I exited the station for another walk. Although along the way I changed it from walking alongside the River Nene due to the adverse weather conditions (and that the ground was soaking). After exiting the station, I headed towards the river, crossing over to the south bank and started walking west.
I went underneath the railway bridges, passing the Nene Valley heritage station and followed the heritage railway on a mixed used path. This path took me towards Orton Mere station, carrying on via some woodlands to Overton for Ferry Meadows before crossing over the railway once more in the Orton Wistow area and into Nene Park, where the rain started.
Nene Valley SJ Y6 B-2 Helga
Following a path which went around the edge of Gunwade Lake, then Overton Lake, a couple places it was flooded due to the volume of rain in the last few days, but I made it without major issues. I came across the tracks used by the Ferry Meadows Miniature Railway, before exiting the main park via Bluebell Woods, and onto some more mixed used paths reaching a Rowing lake. I followed the path alongside the lake, before some more paths eventually the station, arriving with a couple minutes to spare before the next Horsham train was due to depart. It was the return of 700122 getting some extra mileage as I grabbed a seat in the rear declassified first class area to dry off (and to give my phone a charge).
It was an enjoyable walk, I wouldn’t mind revisiting Nene Park to explore some more, when it wasn’t raining. I think I made a wise decision as it looked like the river path was more grass so that would have been very muddy in places. Anyhow the 700 took me to St Pancras where I had a short wait before another 700 took me to Blackfriars, popping out to grab dinner before taking a seat on 700050 which I needed for ten miles (my last 700 which was under a mile). I took this 700 to Shortlands, returning to Peckham Rye on another 700 with the idea to intercept a low mileage Overground 378.
700050 at London Blackfriars
However I made a tight connection onto the next Dalston Junction train which was also low mileage (149) which I took to Whitechapel to push it over ten miles. I crossed over to the southbound platform and the first southbound was another low mileage unit, this time 378153 which I took to Rotherhithe which was more than enough to push it over ten miles (it was on something like 8.9 miles before). A short wait before the next Clapham Junction train arrived which was 142. I took this to Wandsworth Road (deciding to give that 378/2 I saw earlier a miss). A short wait before my run of luck ended with 154, which I took to Queens Road Peckham, changing to a Southern 377 to London Bridge (as I needed to use the toilet!).
At London Bridge, I headed up to the Charing Cross bound platforms and jumped on the first train, a pair of 465s, for the run to Waterloo East. I crossed over to Waterloo to take a seat on 159010 working the 20:50 service and watched as it filled up. I was in the front coach and that was busy on departure from Waterloo with people standing in the aisle near the rear of the coach [the front door is locked out of use on the SWR diesels]. After Clapham it was very much overcrowded with people standing in the aisle all the way to the front, with extended dwells at both Woking & Basingstoke [where thankfully it did empty out, still very busy]. It was still quite busy after Grateley (at least in the front 2 coaches), but I got home without further issue.
An enjoyable day in Peterborough (other than the weather!).
378150 at Queens Road Peckham
20th November – Dawlish
There was engineering works at Basingstoke meaning trains from Grateley were only going as far as Andover before replacement buses. I was heading out with mum and was torn between heading towards Dawlish for a wall along the sea wall, or towards Reading [going via Southampton for a XC on tour]. In the end I decided to head to Devon, to make the most of the weather. Mum and I left home to walk to the station to catch the 08:32 Exeter train, a pair of 159s, which got quite busy the closer it got to Exeter.
We alighted at Exeter Central to waste some time before Tesco opened to grab lunch before returning to the station for a pair of 150s to Dawlish Warren where we started the little walk, however by the time we reached the shopping area of the campsite the sunshine had been replaced with a sudden rain shower, it lasted only a few minutes before the sun returned. We got to the footpath alongside the sea, dodging the puddles and taking photos of passing trains. I did this walk back in Dec 2020 but at that time part of it at the Dawlish end was closed for rebuilding, it still is closed at Dawlish, but I got further than in 2020.
800036 on the Dawlish Sea Wall
It was a steep climb away from the path to the road near the Coastguard Cottages, but what goes up must come down as it was a downhill section leading into the centre of Dawlish where we popped via the Co-Op to waste some time before heading to the station to catch a 166 on the next Exmouth train. I looked at the map & timings and decided to jump off at Exeter St Thomas for another walk (the sun had returned at this point).
The 2nd walk took us from St Thomas to the banks of the River Exe, where we followed a mixed-use path alongside the river (then onto the “flood relief channel”), taking us underneath the railway (sadly no trains due) then to Station Road, passing the Exeter depot and the level crossing, before heading to Exeter St Davids arriving with 5 minutes to spare before the next Andover train. We took a seat and where it was busy along the way, by Axminster the coach we were in (5 of 6) was lightly loaded. A couple hours later the train arrived at Grateley where we alighted and walked home in the twilight.
River Exe in Exeter
An enjoyable day in Devon with mum, other than that short shower the weather was perfect.
26th November – Thames Path
The idea for today was to walk some more of the Thames Path, this time starting from Slade Green station to head east along the river towards Greenwich. The day for me started with the 06:59 train to take me to Waterloo, where I set off on foot towards Blackfriars before taking 700012 to Slade Green where I started my walk.
I headed out of the station towards Moat Lane, following the signage for the London Loop, via a scenic path before it reached the banks of the river Darent. I continued along the path as it turned industrial (something which would be a feature of today’s walk), the path quality was reasonable [I had feared it might have been muddy. I reached the Dartford Creek flood barrier where the Darent flows into the river Thames and continued along the path reaching Erith, where I had to join the roads for a short section.
I re-joined the river around Erith Pier (where I had a little detour to visit), the path was a bit narrow in places with some sharp blind bends, it was a bit sad seeing some of the old piers rotting away, even one with an old rusting crane overlooking. Anyhow I carried on leaving Erith behind and entering the industrial area with ships being unloaded and security increased with the fences getting higher with more barb wire at the top.
Old Crane on Erith Waterfront
The industrial area gave way to the Crossness sewage treatment works, which was quite smelly, before reaching Thamesmead, where I paused for some lunch, listening to the door release buzzers of a 710 at Barking Riverside, on the opposite site of the river. I continued along the path reaching Woolwich, passing the ferry (which wasn’t sailing on the day), and having to do a little detour away from the river due to a closure of the path due to construction works.
I re-joined the path, heading towards the Thames Barrier with another short detour from the river, reaching the visitor centre area, and continuing pass the barrier and into another area of industry with Angerstein wharf, soon that industry gave way with the cable car (how very purple) and the O2. The path continued passed some modern houses (I dread to think how much they would be), passing the pier of the riverboat and around the perimeter of the O2 itself (another tall fence for security).
Thames Barrier
The view of Canary wharf was quite nice, especially with the older single storey houses dwarfed by the skyscrapers, the path went a bit industrial again with some boat yards and in one place was flooded due to the high waves going over the wall, so I had to be careful with timing to avoid getting wet legs. Sadly, it didn’t work as my feet got a bit wet (I think I need new boots again). The path got busier the closer I got towards Greenwich with another flooding path (this time I took a detour on a higher path near the old naval college). The queue for the Uber boat was very long as I passed it doing a little loop to finish the walk at Cutty Sark DLR station, just shy of 17 miles.
Canary Wharf from banks of River Thames
Down to the platforms via the emergency stairwell due to the down escalator were closed, and I jumped onto a Stratford bound DLR service (Bank was closed for engineering works so the Lewisham – Bank trains were merged with the Canary Wharf – Stratford services with passengers for stations towards Tower Gateway having to change at Poplar. I’m not sure if I had previously covered the small crossover north of Canary Wharf station, but I was relaxing as I alighted at Bow Church for the short walk to Bow Road, ticking off another “station connection” shown on the TfL route map.
Entrance to Bow Road Underground Station
At Bow Road I took a district line service to Whitechapel, changing to the Overground where I got news that 2 of my last 4 Thameslink 700s needed for mileage were out, so I formed a plan after seeing a couple northbound 378s which were needed. I changed platform jumping onto 378255 as it took me to Dalston Junction, for a short wait for 378225 to Rotherhithe, then 378138 to Honor Oak Park. Swapping over platforms saw me push 378146 over ten miles with the run to Canada Water, which is where things nearly went wrong.
The underground platform was very busy, and the next Jubilee not expected for 7 minutes, so when it rolled in was extremely busy. I was lucky to squeeze on and a couple stations later at London Bridge it was a fast-paced walk to platform 4 to board 700049 on a very busy Rainham bound train [I got a seat after asking a lady to move her oversized handbag]. I was originally going to take this to Charlton, but a mix of the train being delayed and being at the back meant I changed to bailing at Westcombe Park, enough to push it over ten miles regardless.
700049 at Westcombe Park Station
700040 rolled in on the next Luton train, another very busy train (that is what you get when there are no South Eastern services running), I took this 700 to Blackfriars, transferring to platform 3 to take a seat on 700059 on the next Sevenoaks train (I went for the single seat behind the cab at the front), this also got extremely busy after Peckham Rye, and a bit of a delay at Ravensbourne caused by someone pulling on the emergency door release meant I bailed there instead. Although I was rewarded with a pair of 73s working a RHTT passing, before low mileage 700056 rolled in, my last “ultra-low” mileage 700 which was previously only had for just over a mile, the last two I need are on 8 & 9 miles so shouldn’t take that much to push them over ten. Anyhow I took a seat on this 700 for the trip back to Blackfriars, where due to the weather I took the underground to Waterloo [District to Embankment, followed by the Northern line].
I wanted to get to Waterloo in good time for the 20:50, as like last Saturday it was only a single unit and after Clapham it was once more very busy, not as busy as the previous week. I can’t help thinking that SWR should make the call at Woking on these XX:50 services pick-up only to ease overcrowding. Anyhow 159006 took me to Grateley, becoming the 2nd of the 159s to be cleared for 5000 miles. I walked home in the light rain and relaxed for the remainder of the evening.
27th November – London (in the rain)
The forecast for this Sunday kept on changing, on the Saturday evening when I checked it was forecast to be heavy rain most of the day. I checked it again on Sunday morning and it was going to be dry with rain coming in the afternoon, which was better as it would allow a walk, even if cut back from what I had originally planned.
The day began with the 07:36 service from Grateley to Waterloo where it arrived 15 minutes early due to the Sunday morning timetable (which is for 2 tracks operation at the London end). I headed to the Jubilee line for a jubilee line service to Canning Town, changing over to the DLR to Custom House where it was still raining but I started my walk (with the option of ending it early if the weather didn’t improve).
I headed towards the Beckton Corridor, via Cundy Park, a mixed-use path along the trackbed on a former railway route towards Beckton Gas Works. This was very scenic and comes out opposite Beckton DLR station. Thankfully the rain had come to an end allowing me to continue my walk, heading towards a cycle path which runs close to the A1020 road before gaining access to the Greenway, a 4-mile-long mixed-use path which is on top of a sewer.
Beckton Corridor
The first section had some works on the cycle path side of the path (seemed to be getting a new surface), and it was a nice walk in an area of London I had never visited (other than a short section near West Ham). I decided to carry on when I reached West Ham to make the most of the dry weather and finished the Greenway with a detour near Pudding Mill Lane to go underneath the railway lines. The path ends near Hackney Wick where I headed along some roads to reach the River Lea at Old Ford Locks. I did a loop along the water front, going round the Olympic stadium on the City Mill River then Waterworks River towards Carpenters Road Lock, joining the road to walk towards Hackney Wick station just as the rain had resumed. If the weather wasn’t forecast to be wet, I would have followed the Lea Navigation towards Bow then towards Canning Town but that can wait for another day.
River Lea near London Stadium
It was time to play with some trains as I turned down the first Overground service as it was running late (and was very busy), the following one was a couple minutes later and was a lot quieter (378228 in case anybody was interested). At Stratford I exited the station to visit the Sainsburys in the shopping centre, before taking the jubilee line to West Ham for a short wait for a C2C service to Basildon. I was planning to do this a few weeks ago but ran out of time, a bit unusual in going via platform 2 at Laindon to run “wrong line” to Basildon due to engineering works beyond. I took a seat on the pair of 357s for the run (nice to sit down after a 11-mile walk) and put my phone on charge with my battery bank.
The rare track was scored going into platform 2 at Laindon (it’s like Leigh on Sea in having a centre platform used to turn back some peak time extras), then continuing to platform 1 at Basildon. I noticed part of the eastbound platform had been removed (guess same issue with the concrete which caused the high-level platform at Lichfield Trent Valley to be closed for a couple weeks earlier in the year). The same pair of 357s took me to Laindon where I stepped back to await the following service, which was starting from Laindon (I needed some better pictures).
357317 at Basildon Station
I returned to London, changing at Barking to start a short Overground hunting session, pinging back & forth between Walthamstow Queens Road & Wansted Park, the only success being 710268 being cleared for ten miles, the other units out on that line today weren’t needed. I took 273 to Gospel Oak, changing over to the North London Line coming up with a couple plans on how to reach Waterloo, the first couple westbound trains weren’t needed, but low mileage 378231 popped up which I took to Willesden Junction, bouncing back to Brondesbury on another 378 before 378232 took me to Clapham Junction.
A short wait at Clapham Junction before a quiet triple 159 rolled in on the 17:45 Waterloo – Salisbury train which took me back to Grateley to end the day. An enjoyable walk followed by some unusual track in Laindon, and a couple more Overground units pushed over ten miles.
More photos are available
here: Flickr Link
