Trips 2nd & 3rd December & 9th + 10th December

 Trips 2nd & 3rd December & 9th + 10th December

Scary to think it’s already December, this year feels like it’s going so fast.  A month where I haven’t really got anything booked up other than a railtour of freight bits around the West Midlands in a couple of weeks’ time so it will be a month of day tripping, trying to make the most of the more limited daylight hours and changeable weather for walking to explore various areas.  Sorry this is a bit later than usual, been fighting some internal demons again which have a nasty habit of appearing this time of year.

2nd December – A cold day in North London

I decided to head to London today, with a focus on walking something which I was previously going to do last month but it got rained off, the walk from Cheshunt towards Roydon with maybe extending it further depending how I felt.  Although the weather was dry it was just a bit cold (resulting in wearing multiple layers of clothes to help).  The day began with the 05:56 service (159015 & 159007) from Grateley towards Basingstoke, where I had a short wait before 165107 took me to Reading (the 06:47 XC service not running I presume due to the overtime ban).  At Reading it was a short walk to board 387170 on a service from Newbury for the nonstop run towards Paddington.

For a bit of a time waster, I headed towards the Elizabeth line platforms at Paddington to jump onto 345039 for the run to Woolwich station, for the short walk to Woolwich Arsenal station where originally I was considering using the DLR but there was no service on the DLR, so it was the first available South Eastern service with 465187 + 465194 towards St Johns (for no reason other than wanting some better photos) followed by 707012 running solo to take me towards Cannon Street.  At Cannon Street I undertook the short walk towards Liverpool Street swinging via a little Tesco Express & Greggs along the way for some supplies (making use of the free sausage roll at weekends offer via O2 for some free food).

159007 at Basingstoke

At Liverpool Street I turned down the first train towards Cheshunt (a dud 720 on a Hertford service) to see what was on the next Cambridge service.  Winner 720518 rolled in for the short turnaround before heading back out, being very busy (even in the front coach).  When I alighted, it seemed like the middle seats on the 3 side were mostly empty with passengers preferring to stand in the vestibule than squeeze into the middle.  I still think the 720s are great trains but ruined by the high density 3+2 seating with narrow aisles.  Anyhow at Cheshunt my walk began as I wrapped up against the cold and headed towards the River Lee Country Park, turning north onto a mixed used path which followed the route of the railway, sandwiched between the railway & and water.

I headed away from the railway around Turnford Brook, heading towards the Lee Navigation & the Stansted Mill Stream, dodging various patches of ice.  I followed this path towards the Wildlife discovery centre picking up cycle route 1 which I followed for the next few miles, skirting around Penny’s Hill, although views were a bit limited due to the fog (maybe somewhere I could revisit on a day where the sun is shining for some views from the higher ground).  This path took me towards Lower Nazeing and some fishing lakes (Nazeing Meads).

Small River Lee within the River Lee Country Park near Cheshunt

The path joined the Navigation for a short section (which by far was the worse section for dodging various patches of ice and other flooded sections) turning away from the Lee Navigation near Dobbs Weir lock to follow a path along the northern edge of the Northern Nazeing Mead, before I picked up the River Lee along a peaceful section where the path I was on was sandwiched between the flood relief channel (on the right) and the Navigation (on the left).  I left Cycle Route 1 near Fieldes Lock, crossing the weir to join the River Stort (Navigation).  The towpath at the start was reasonable but narrow in places, very stop-start pausing for other walkers at passing points.  Very peaceful as I headed along the navigation towards Roydon where I was toying with stopping as I headed to the station, but the next London train was a pair of dud 720s which looked very busy, so I turned them down and decided to push on towards Harlow.

The River Stort Navigation went underneath the railway just to the north of the station and headed into the beauty of Hunsdon Mead Nature Reserve before a section which was quite noisy due to being close to the A414 road, and I was glad when the towpath turned south away from that dual carriageway, towards Parndon Mill and Harlow.  I decided a good place to end the walk was at Burnt Mill lock, located close to Harlow Town station (so close you can actually see the platforms) but due to the layout of the land there is no northern entrance of the station forcing a half mile detour via Burnt Mill Lane for the A414 to cross the railway before dropping towards the station to finish the walk.  The towpath between Roydon & Harlow was narrow in places but had a reasonable surface, wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to have been.

River Stout Navigation, Harlow

I turned down the first London train as that was a Stansted Express service (being run by a Norwich-Spec 745), and onto winner 720113 (along with dud 720558) to take me to Tottenham Hale, where for next few hours I pinged back & forth using Broxbourne as the edge of the Oyster zone getting 720124, 720111, 720544 & 720507 into my book.  I remained on 720507 to Stratford with a trip to Shenfield with winners 720122 & 720130 returning to Stratford on winner 720121 & (dud) 720107.  The temperature had dropped and so I decided it was worth heading back home to avoid the usual Saturday evening chaos.

I jumped onto 345047 to take me to Bond Street, walking the long interchange to the Jubilee line for 96079+96038 to Waterloo, finishing off the day trip with 158881 + 159010 on a Salisbury stopper.  A lot quieter than I was expecting it to be (at least in the front coach).  Quiet until Basingstoke where a group of loud drunks did board at Basingstoke partaking in the usual “I’m the top dog” rubbish drunks have a habit of doing when in a group (needless to say they didn’t have tickets when the guard came round).  Thankfully they alighted at Andover returning peace before I walked home in the very cold air, to warm myself up in front of the fire.

720539 at Tottenham Hale

An enjoyable day in London, all be a bit chilly, but better cold than rain in my eyes.  I’ve made a start with the Stort Navigation (carries on towards Bishop Stortford) as well as enjoying the countryside around the Lee Country Park.  As well as getting 9 winning 720s, my first 720 hunt for a good few months.

3rd December – An unplanned return to a wet London

Originally my plan for today was to head towards Fareham to sample the Gosport guided bus and to walk some of the old railway lines in Gosport (finishing off with a coastal walk towards Lee on Solent) but with the forecast being variable with heavy rain forecasted I decided to put that idea on the backburner and have another trip to London (to try and make a start with getting the list of “sub mile” Underground sets down).  After looking at various options for potential walks within London I settled on something out in the West.

The day began with the 07:36 service from Grateley to take me towards Clapham Junction (a very quiet 159101 & 159014), where I headed towards the Overground platforms for the next Shepherd’s Bush service (morning engineering works I presume), where the train was going from platform 2 (rather than platform 1).  I was a bit surprised when it was a DC only 378 (146) for something a bit more unusual as it terminated into the southbound platform at Shepherd’s Bush station (wearing my BLS hat for the crossover to the south of the station lol).  I exited the station (via the manual barriers because London Overground stations never like the “Sundays Out” Travelcard from Basingstoke).

378146 at Shepherd's Bush Station

I had a gentle walk towards Shepherd’s Bush Market underground, jumping on the next Hammersmith service (formed of 21351/352) going into platform 3 at Hammersmith.  The tiny walk across the road to the other Hammersmith underground station saw me onto a Piccadilly line service formed of 237/132 which I took to Acton Town, stepping back to board 186/123 for the run to Hounslow East, not stopping at South Ealing due to station improvement works (always a strange feeling going nonstop via Underground stations).  Anyhow I exited the station at Hounslow East to begin my little walk.

Following some footpaths took me towards Osterley underground station before Osterley Park (something on my list to return to).  I joined a road for a short distance going underneath the M4 before heading into the “Long Wood” which was a surprising find for being beautiful.  I followed the path via the Long Wood which came out near the Warren Farm nature reserve and I crossed over the Brentford freight line via a foot crossing picking up a path which followed parallel to the railway towards Trumpers field and a steep muddy hill to drop towards the Grand Union canal near one of the Hanwell flight of locks.

Brentford Freight Line from a Footpath Crossing near Trumpers Field, Hanwell

Crossing the canal I picked up the “Brent River Park Path” as well as the long distance Capital Ring, as I followed both paths alongside the river Brent, crossing a main road (due to a flooded underpass) and coming across the beautiful Wharncliff Viaduct, carrying the GWML across the valley near Hanwell station.  Somewhere I will need to return to when the sky isn’t so grey for some nice photos of trains crossing the viaduct.  This path took me into the Brent Lodge Park as I followed the markers (a bit muddy in places, and I had to stop along the way to put my coat on as it had started to rain).

Following the Capital Ring, I soon reached Ruislip Road where I decided on a change of plan as originally, I was going to take the Capital Ring to Greenford but instead followed the Park Path following the river towards an old leisure centre (Gurnell).  The next section was away from the river due to various golf courses as it headed towards Pitshanger Park & Brentham Meadows where the Brent River Park Path came to an end alongside the A40.  The next section was walking along the pavement of this very busy road (which in hindsight I should have gone a bit south to walk along the residential roads as it would have been quieter).

I reached Hanger Lane Underground station, for some photos (although quite hard to do with the location) before carrying on towards Twyford Abbey road to pick up a path via a park to reach Park Royal underground station (on the Piccadilly line).  After pausing for some more photos I carried on along a path towards West Acton, an area which a few nice looking black & white houses.  Originally I was going to carry on towards North Ealing but decided to break my walk up early due to the rain (which had gotten more annoying).  An enjoyable walk (other than the section along the A40), various types of paths and a decent explore.

West Acton Underground Station Building

Back to the trains and a short wait before a Central line service (91197/91161/92174/91099) popped up to take me towards Shepherd’s Bush, crossing over to the Overground station with 378255 for the run to Willesden Junction where I began a little hunt for any sub 10 mile units or 710379.  I did see a couple of low mileage 378s heading towards Stratford, so I formed a plan taking 378205 to Kentish Town West to wait for 378209 on a Richmond service.  Originally my plan was to step back at Willesden Junction for another sub 10 mile 378 to take to Richmond (for something SWR to Waterloo), but this is where things went a tad wrong.

Due to damage to a footbridge near Woking, the railway line in that area was closed so I gave up with the Richmond train following to jump onto a Bakerloo line service (3265/3541) to Paddington.  After grabbing something to eat from Sainsburys I managed to board a busy 800318 on a Great Malvern service (this was the Sunday where GWR was running a heavily cut back service due to the overtime ban).  I took this 800 to Reading and headed towards platform 2, taking a seat as the connections weren’t the best today with the hourly Basingstoke service (no XC running beyond Reading).  The crowd was massive 10 minutes before departure as I made my way towards the area I was predicting the last set of doors would be with the crowd building up.

A busy platform 2 at Reading

Eventually 165104 rolled in running late (the Sunday timetable of 1 train going back & forth is more fragile than some glass with short turnarounds at either end), departed around 10 minutes late extremely busy (I dread to think what it would have been like near the back).  This took me to Basingstoke where I headed towards platform 2, taking a seat and just waited for the next train towards Andover.  Originally it was showing as being semi-fast but soon had extra stops added which was good news for me.  However what wasn’t such good news is that it was a single 3 coach unit (159006).  Thankfully I managed to board, even got a seat for the trip to Grateley, where I walked home to relax for the rest of the night.  Not the best of trips back home but at least I got home, even if 115-odd minutes later than expected

9th December – Buses in Oxfordshire/Berkshire

Today was a day where I had several options at what to do, sadly the poor weather meant walking was out and I didn’t want to head towards London again.  After weighing up various options I decided on dusting off a plan I made for earlier in the year which never happened due to strikes.  The day began with a drive to Andover, parking in my usual spot close to the railway station which has free parking on weekends (every little helps) with a walk in the rain towards Andover bus station.  The first bus being the Stagecoach route 7 to Newbury, although departure time came and went without anything appearing, eventually bus 36920 (An Enviro 300) rolled in to depart around 15 minutes late.  It was only me, mum & another passenger on the bus as it headed away from Andover towards Newbury.  The bus went along the A343 via Enham Alamein & Hurstbourne Tarrant to the Penwood area, doing a loop round a housing estate before heading towards other villages like East End & Ball Hill to reach Newbury.  New coverage for me as when I did a route 7 back in April it was one of the services which went direct to Newbury after Penwood via the A343.  The bus did get busier as time went on, so it didn’t remain quiet throughout.

The next bus was the Thames Travel X34 for Didcot Parkway (bus 622, a double decker).  This bus departed Newbury with only me & mum on board for the trip out of Newbury, doing a loop of Vodafone HQ before a trip along the A34, coming off to do a loop of Chilton (picking up one more passenger) before heading towards the science/business park of Harwell Campus (dropping off that passenger who boarded at Chilton and picking up a few more passengers).  After Harwell Campus it headed towards Harwell village before the housing of the Great Western Park of Didcot, picking up quite a few passengers along the way.  We exited at Didcot Parkway station rather than the terminus on Haydon Road as the connection to the next bus route wasn't the biggest (only 15 minutes) and felt like most of the bus alighted to head towards the railway station.

Thames Travel Bus 622 (BN68 XSO) at Didcot Parkway Station on a route X34

The next bus route on my little tour was the Thames Travel route 23 for Henley on Thames, with bus 442 (a Wright StreetLite).  This was the busiest bus so far as it headed out of Didcot doing a loop of the town before heading towards Wallingford.  The bus had a good turnover of passengers in Wallingford before it continued towards Henley on Thames going via villages like Nuffield & Nettlebed staying on the A4130.  At Henley on Thames, we headed towards some toilets & Boots for some lunch before the next bus route of the day, the Thames Valley operated route 239 for Maidenhead with an Optare Solo (129).

This bus departed with only me & mum on board (only runs twice a day on Saturdays) going towards Hurley (where it picked up a couple more passengers from the nearby mobile home park).  The bus went via the Berks College of Agriculture Campus (no takers) before heading into Maidenhead where it picked up a couple more passengers within the town area.  An interesting route for views and I was glad to have managed to get the timings to work.  When in Maidenhead I had around 90 minutes to waste before my next planned bus, so we remained on board Solo 129 as it formed a route 234, a large loop towards Waltham St Lawrence via a few other small villages to the southwest of Maidenhead.

Thames Travel Bus 442 (SK66 HRO) in Henley on Thames on a route 23

The 234 departed Maidenhead with half a dozen passengers, getting dropped off in some of the villages along the way (another twice a day on Saturdays bus route) before picking up some extra passengers on the way back into Maidenhead in the Knowl Hill area sticking to the A4 most of the way to terminate on the bus stop on Frascati Way.  An enjoyable waste of an hour looking out of the window in an area I’ve never visited before, some nice-looking countryside.  Anyhow in Maidenhead we had a short walk from Frascati Way towards Bridge Avenue, where the Saturdays only Thames Valley Buses route 127 to Reading starts from.  Bus 132 (An Enviro200) was waiting and eventually departed around 10 minutes late, and like other bus routes today it only had me & mum on board as it headed away from Maidenhead.

This route headed towards Reading via the A4 until Hare Hatch before heading towards Wargrave & Twyford.  A little loop into Sonning before heading towards Woodley where it got quite busy as it headed towards Reading town centre (along part of a route shared with other bus routes).  A slightly different way to look out of the window on an oddity of a Saturdays only service.  Anyhow that was the end of the buses for the day as we headed into the town centre to do some shopping (since my last visit to Reading both Primark & Sports Direct has changed locations).  After getting what we wanted, it was to the railway station for a slightly delayed 165106 (delayed due to someone being sick) for the run to Basingstoke before a quiet 159002 + 159005 on the next Basingstoke – Salisbury semi-fast service for the nonstop run to Andover.

159002 at Basingstoke

At Andover, we dropped off the bags into the car and relocated to a town centre car park to visit the local Spoons for dinner (somewhere I hadn’t been to for years), before making our way slowly home, the end of an enjoyable day on the buses.  I can remove some more bus routes from my list of “would like to do”, making the most of the £2 bus fare scheme.

10th December – Brent Cross West & London

Today was a case of heading towards London, visit the latest station to open on the network (Brent Cross West) then have a couple of short walks before the rain moved in.  However, things went a tad wrong due to overrunning engineering works near Woking.  My original plan was to catch the 07:00-odd service from Andover direct into London Waterloo, but when I saw that was only running to Farnborough, I went back to sleep for 15 minutes before heading out to Andover (using Andover solely due to rubbish connections to the Basingstoke – Salisbury stopper from London).

Due to a quirk with the timetable the unit which would normally be ECS to Basingstoke (to form a Basingstoke – Exeter service) has been put in service the last couple of weeks (even with another service 10 minutes behind it).  I decided to board 159005 when it rolled into Andover on a Basingstoke terminator to get out of a cold wind, this proved to be a good move as due to the overrunning engineering works there was nothing heading east of Basingstoke for at least the next hour with two London trains terminating at Basingstoke.  Thankfully there was an escape route via 165121 on the Reading train (which true to form was already running late), not ideal being a 2-coach unit for it was very cosy on board.

165121 at Basingstoke

Arrival into Reading was around 15 minutes late (lost more time along the way) so it was a bit of a fast walk to board 165113 on the Redhill stopper which was departing from platform 15 (first time being on a GWR service via the dive-under giving access to the Wokingham line, pretty sure the only other time I’ve used this bit of track was on a diverted voyager a few years ago).  This turned out to be a wise decision because the next London bound Elizabeth line service only made it to West Drayton due to the failure of the overheads (again).  Anyhow I had a decent seat on this 165 as it headed towards Redhill, where I had a fast walk towards the bus station to catch an Arriva London operated route 405 (double decker HT18) on the next bus to Croydon Town Centre, solely to avoid a 30-minute fester at a station I dislike (due to the habit of “This is a late notice platform alternation” with the trains not waiting for passengers to transfer from P2 to P0).

Back to the bus route, this was an interesting little trip north via Merstham, Coulsdon & Purley to reach Croydon town centre, terminating on Park Street, views from a different angle and allowed me to tick off another London bus route.  Sadly, the rain had arrived as I headed towards East Croydon to jump onto 700124 to London Bridge (where it terminated due to engineering works).  Ironically this would have been the train I would have caught from Redhill, so my little bus adventure didn’t cost me any time.  Once I had managed to get off the platform at London Bridge and towards the Jubilee line, I managed to squeeze onto the next service with 96030 & 96123 to West Hampstead (in hindsight I probably should have used the Northern line to Kings Cross St Pancras) but sadly the delay getting to the platform meant the next northbound Luton stopper had already gone (boo).  So, for the lack of a better plan, I took 700039 to St Pancras (using platform 1), remaining on board for the run out to Brent Cross West to tick off the station.

700039 at St Pancras

This is where I finally had some good luck as the next southbound train was running around 14 minutes late (was late departing Luton) allowing me to make the minus 5-minute connection with ease.  This is a vast station, and an area I will need to return to when the weather isn’t so wet.  Anyhow 700146 rolled in on the next southbound which I took to West Hampstead popping out of the station for some lunch before waiting for 700060 for a little catch-up with my good friend Stu who was back out after spending the night on the underground ticking off the stations (and did the first service from Brent Cross West).  At St Pancras we had a gentle walk (and chat) to Euston where we parted ways as I headed to the Overground platforms with 710272 on the next Watford service.

The train was delayed by around 7 minutes (I presume due to needing BTP to attend for one passenger as they were led away before the train departed).  I took it to Kensal Green, stepping back to board a Bakerloo line service (stepped back to ID a southbound train) with 3534/3299 for the single trip to Willesden Junction.  I relocated myself to the bridge giving a view of the high-level platforms and caught sub ten-mile unit 378217 to Gunnersbury, just enough to push it over ten miles.  Although the next Stratford train was delayed by around 5 minutes which probably would have been enough time to ride this 378 to Kew Gardens but hey-ho.

District Line LU 21546 departs Gunnersbury Station

378230 eventually rolled in on the next Stratford train to take me back to Willesden Junction where I took up residence of the footbridge keeping my eyes on the 710s on the DC lines and for my last 378.  When I saw 378223 rolling in on a Stratford service, I had another fast walk to board my last 378 needed for ten miles.  I was extremely happy as it meant no more festering on the North/East London lines for the dual voltage 378s can pop up in many places.  It was pushed over ten miles by Gospel Oak but the next 710/2 wasn’t needed so I remained on board to Hackney Central, walking to Hackney Downs the idea being to head towards Liverpool Street to see if I could sneak a look at the cleaners’ sheet at the buffers near platform 1 which lists what 710s were out.  Football was on at White Hart Lane so it was all pairs, but sadly I saw my last 710/1 (106) passing through Hackney Downs ECS heading to Chingford for it had worked one of the kickball extras (and hence wouldn’t be back out for a couple hours).

For lack of a better idea, I jumped onto 710112 & 710114 to Walthamstow Central for the short walk to Walthamstow Queens Road on the Gospel Oak – Barking line, where my luck was in as the first Barking Riverside train (woof woof) was sub ten mile 710259, my last of the active 710/2s to push over ten miles.  This was done by Barking as I changed to board a Fenchurch Street bound 357018 & 357038 for the run to Fenchurch Street, going via Stratford and the lesser used Gas Factory chord.  At Fenchurch Street I headed to Tower Hill for a spot of linear hopping to Victoria, firstly with 21498/497 to Blackfriars then 21566/565 to Victoria, both sets I needed for a mile (so some reasonable luck getting two in a row).

710259 at Barking

At Victoria I headed to the Sainsburys Local in the shopping centre to grab some dinner items before boarding a very busy 377429 & 377401 on a Brighton train (when watching a pair of 387s depart for Gatwick Airport containing mostly fresh air).  These 377s took me to Clapham Junction where I boarded 159017 + 159009 on a Waterloo train (you would think with a reduced service between Basingstoke & Woking, SWR would have tried to make sure everything was max length?)  My theory being as these services only had a 15-minute turnaround at Waterloo it was more sensible being on the train before the crowds boarded.  As expected, it was standing room only, even in coach 1 of 6 as it zoomed towards Woking, going via platform 2 to run ‘wrong line’ towards Brooklands to use the crossover to regain the correct line (due to engineering works with the landslip).  Lost some time due to the stopper in front running late so arrival into Basingstoke was around 10 minutes late, not to worry as the train did empty out to some degree before continuing to Andover where I alighted to have a relaxing drive home.

A good day out, the morning wrecked somewhat due to the overrunning works (I worked out I was around 4 hours late in arriving at Brent Cross), the walks I had planned will be pushed back to another trip.  I was happy to have cleared the 378s for 10 miles as well as the active 710/2s (maybe one of these days 710270 will finally enter service), means the end is in sight for the Overground.  More photos from both weekends can be found here: Thanks for reading my random mutterings and I leave you with a photo of a 377:

377401 at Clapham Junction

Trips on 25th & 26th November

 Trips on 25th & 26th November

25th November – Cardiff Valleys

I decided today would be a good day to return to Cardiff, taking my mum for a little day trip (gets her out of the house), although I didn’t really have much of a plan for what we would do in South Wales.  Anyhow I had booked tickets for the 07:30 train from Salisbury & 18:27 service from Cardiff and it was a cold start having to de-ice my car before the morning drive to Salisbury.  I got lucky with securing the last of the free parking spots near to the station (saves forking out the £5.30 SWR want for parking). At the station, after swinging via the ticket office to buy the rangers, we headed to the nice warm waiting room to await the GWR.

The GWR service for Cardiff was a couple of minutes late with 158748 leading 158760 for the 2 and a bit hour journey into Cardiff Central (little bit of luxury with 158s compared to the usual 3+2 seated Turbos).  The coach we were in only really got busy after Bristol Temple Meads (and that was probably due to it being the closest to the entrance steps) as the 158s headed into South Wales, arriving in Newport a few minutes early and into Cardiff Central near enough on time.  Along the way I formed a rough plan which involved a required 197 on a Carmarthen service & my last 231.  Unusually the 158s remained on the platform throughout rather than shunting clear of the station into the sidings to the west of the station.

158748 at Cardiff Central

 

My rough plan didn’t last long as I watched a late running 5 coach IET roll in from London for Swansea looking rather cosy before what RTT was showing as 197110 on a Crewe – Cardiff service (started at Crewe instead of Manchester Piccadilly) which would form the next Carmarthen service [the 2 coach 197 which was allocated earlier got shifted to work a Holyhead train].  A large crowd was building on platform 3 as the train from Crewe rolled in… 67015 with some Mk4 coaches.  Even the train staff for the next leg looked confused (“That’s not right”) and in the confusion I decided on an alternative plan, and we headed to platform 6 to jump onto 150284 on the next Aberdare train.

The original idea was to take that 197 to Bridgend to return to Cardiff going via the coastal route, but instead I was heading towards Aberdare, looking at the various overhead wiring (can’t help thinking the money saved in not wiring up everything will only come back to bite in 10+ years’ time when the batteries on the new trams need replacing).  This trip to Aberdare also allowed me to cover some of the upgrades to the track on the branch itself (a longer loop at Mountain Ash & a loop at the Aberdare end with a new ‘arrival platform’ under construction).  It was also nice to look out at the scenery of mountains.  Probably the last time I will come to Aberdare on a 150.

150284 at Aberdare

We remained on board the 150 during the turnaround at Aberdare as the train got very, very busy with passengers getting turned away by Pontypridd due to sheer overcrowding.  Both I & mum were glad to get off the train at Cardiff Queen Street and onto 153325 for the gentle trip to Heath Low Level.  There must have been signalling issues on the section between Queen Street & Heath junction as the train was very slow, so it was a quick walk between the Heath stations, just missing a 66 passing on a southbound freight service (grr) before winner 231003 rolled in on a Bargoed service.  The last of the 231s I needed to ride so a nice bonus that was it out and about today.

At Bargoed we remained on the same unit to take it all the way to Penarth, looking out of the window.  Although even this was a bit chaotic due to a Ystrad Mynach starter running late, which actually passed us when we were sitting on the platform at Ystrad Mynach meaning the next section was quite slow moving until that late running 231 in front had some stops ripped out after Caerphilly to give more of a gap.  This meant the train we were on was running around 5 minutes late which got further delayed waiting for that train in front to clear the single-track section at Penarth.  All the delays!

231003 at Penarth Station

At Penarth we headed out for a gentle walk towards the pier (going via “The Dingle”), exploring the pier itself before following the Wales Coastal Path towards Cardiff Bay.  I guess at one point there used to be a path which ran along the base of the cliffs at Penarth Head (shows on Google Maps but not on Open Street Map) which has since vanished due to the tides of time. We followed the marked path via housing before going towards Dingle Road station, jumping onto 231002 for the run to Cardiff Queen Street.

An enjoyable walk to the pier, although some of the hills were quite steep in places.  Anyhow we exited the station at Cardiff Queen Street, swinging via a Wetherspoons for dinner (The Central Bar) before mum headed towards Primark for some clothes shopping.  We returned to Cardiff Queen Street after a nice meal (in a noisy pub, but that was to be expected) jumping on the first train towards Central, ironically 231003 for the 3rd time.  At Cardiff Central we had a short walk towards platform 2, avoiding the massive crowd waiting on platform 1 for a 158 to attach to a pair of 153s for a Manchester service.

Northern side of the Penarth Pier (From Land)

Eventually 158748 & 158760 returned from the sidings, hearing Chandler’s Ford announced as a call on this service was a bit strange (engineering works between St Denys & Fareham), but we got a decent seat (near enough the same table seat we had in the morning) as the train headed towards Salisbury.  A bit of a delay between Bristol & Bath due to congestion but that was made up by Warminster so arrival into Salisbury was near enough on time.  We headed back to the car, having to de-ice it once more before a leisurely drive home.  I still need to sample a 231 at the northern end of the Rhymney line so a job for a potential future trip.

26th November – Exploring Thamesmead & Overground Hunting

After doing quite a bit of research into various options (for I have lots of potential walking ideas for London) for today’s explore in London, I decided on an explore of Thamesmead.  This would take into part of the Green Chain Walk and the Ridgeway Walk (a path which runs along top of a sewer embankment).  The trip began with the 07:38(odd) service towards Waterloo formed of 159104 & 159101 which I took to Clapham Junction where it arrived ten minutes early (following an announcement from the guard saying the train would be held there until correct departure time).  I crossed over to platform 10 to jump onto 455721 & 455851 to reach Waterloo quicker before heading across to Waterloo East to jump on the first available train towards London Bridge which was 376017 & 376002 on a Hayes service.

At London Bridge, it was a short walk towards platform 2 to board 700025 on a Rainham service for the trip towards Abbey Wood where I exited the station to begin my little walk to explore the area.  First of all, I headed south towards the remains of Lesnes Abbey via part of the Abbey Woods (which I presume is the reason this area of London is called Abbey Wood).  Anyhow, I picked up the Green Chain Walk which headed north towards South Mere lake within Southmere Park.

Remains of Lesnes Abbey and Abbey Woods behind

I switched to the Ridgeway path for the grass section towards the River Thames going past the “RANG” railway with an old golf course on the northern side of the path.  This is where my plan massively changed as I headed back towards Crossway Park on the opposite side of the closed golf course to follow the Green Chain Walk towards the River Thames.  The next hour or so I did some exploring following various paths with various canals, with a loop of Birchmere lake.  Soon I reached the area underneath the Eastern Way flyover where I was earlier, before following the Ridgway path towards Plumstead, where I decided to end my walk due to the sky looking quite moody (that dark inky black colour).  An enjoyable little explore of a part of London I had never really visited before.

Anyhow it was to the trains (choo choo!) with 376009 & 376027 on the next Cannon Street service (playing South Eastern Metro Bingo, as you never know what might pop up).  The rain started by the time the train reached Charlton, so I remained on board to Cannon Street where a planned walk to Liverpool Street was ditched as I used the new(ish) entrance to Bank underground station near Cannon Street as well as the moving walkway linking the Northern & Central lines.  I jumped on the first available Central line service (formation 91265, 92152, 92428 & 91037) to Liverpool Street, where I popped to Tesco for something to eat as a late lunch before going to play with some 710s.

465916 on Plumstead Sidings

I had noticed that Tottenham were at home in the kickball, which normally means the Overground services are doubled up (as Sundays are normally single units), so with the game kicking off I spent the next couple of hours pinging back & forth clearing 5 out of the 6 AC only 710s I needed for ten miles (710118, 710122, 710110, 710108 & 710102).  Sadly 116 didn’t seem to be out (knowing my luck it was on the Romford – Upminster shuttle) so not a full house.  For the lack of a better idea (and to run away from Liverpool Street as the kickball had finished) I jumped onto 345046 to Stratford (engineering works in the Elizabeth line core so the 345s were starting from the high-level platforms at Liverpool Street).

At Stratford I turned down a 378 on the next Camden Road service and headed to the Central line, heading to Bond Street, stepping back at Holborn (first train being formed of 91067, 92092, 92116 & 91047 with the 2nd being formed of 91283, 92128, 92068 & 91183).  At Bond Street it was a short walk before jumping onto Jubilee line sets 96017/96066 to Waterloo.  This is where I decided it might be worth-while transferring my “sub mile LU” list to Google Keep from Excel as a potential idea for future trips to start trying to knock them down.

378255 at Stratford

Anyhow at Waterloo, I went via Tesco for some dinner items before heading to the station.  I wanted to investigate a pair of 450s on an Alton/Basingstoke service as RTT was only showing the rear unit (and I noticed earlier in the day 065 headed towards Farnham sidings).  I was lucky and 450065 was on the front (450001 on the rear) which I took to Clapham Junction, just enough to tick 450065 for renumbering (from a 450/5).  I was happy as it meant I no longer had to keep an eye out.  10 minutes of waiting at Clapham Junction (watching as a triple 387 crawled through on a Gatwick Express carrying 3 passengers, followed by a Southern service which was wedged out) before a very busy 159020 & 159006 rolled in.  I was lucky to grab one of the few empty seats in the leading coach, so I dread to think what it was like near the rear.

The train did slowly empty out with standing passengers in the front coach going by Basingstoke but when I alighted at Grateley the front 3 coaches were still quite busy (rear coaches looked a bit quieter).  I dread to think what the 17:20 to Salisbury would have been like as that was only a single 159 (according to RTT).  Anyhow I had a gentle walk home (sadly in the rain), before relaxing for the rest of the evening.  A good little day trip to London, exploring Thamesmead before hunting down some Overground units needed for mileage with the bonus of that 450.  More photos taken from this weekend can be found on my Flickr account, link is here Link.  Thank you for reading my random mutterings :)

450065 at London Waterloo

17-19th November – Weekend getaway to the North

 17-19th November – Weekend trip to the North

This was my last weekend getaway to the north (well Cheshire/Merseyside/Manchester) for the year, although the weather forecast wasn’t promising to be good, but it kept on changing so hard to make any solid plans.  I've tried something new with this blog post in pasting it here from Notepad which might get rid of some of the extra line spacing it gets when I copy it direct from Word.

17th November – Getting to Crewe

My original idea to get to London was with the 17:59 from Grateley, but the train it would have connected into at Basingstoke was running quite late caused by earlier delays around Woking.  Anyhow roll on December when the stoppers get extended to London again so the only time, I would need to change at Basingstoke for the ex-Weymouth will be if I wanted Clapham Junction.  With that issue I got home and got a lift to Andover for the slightly late running 17:37 service (after checking the call at Andover wasn’t being ripped out as SWR are quite good at ripping out stops whenever trains get delayed).

At Andover, it was a short wait before a trio of 159s rolled in (159006, 159022 & 159017) and I managed to get a decent table seat in the rear unit for the trip into Waterloo.  At Waterloo I had around 100 minutes to reach Euston for my booked train (the 20:46 Crewe) so with the weather being dry I decided to do my usual Underground avoidance move and headed for a gentle walk towards Euston.  This time I went on a slightly longer route via Waterloo Bridge & the crowds of Covent Garden (popping into a Tesco Express to grab some dinner items).  After dinner I followed Gower Street towards Euston Square doing a little loop at the Euston end to waste some more time.

455s at London Waterloo

Anyhow, I headed into London Euston and made my way towards platform 4 where the train to form the Crewe service arrived, with 350110 on the rear & 350237 on the front.  No prizes at which unit I sat in for the journey north.  Pretty uneventful journey towards Crewe, running a couple minutes late due to congestion caused by a late running Avanti service but generally quiet as I had a table seat to myself from Milton Keynes all the way to Crewe.  At a wet Crewe I headed towards the shared house, getting myself settled and bag sorted out, thankfully tonight it was very quiet.  Quiet both inside & outside, although a shame the hallway lights are still on (probably for Health & Safety) as the bedroom door has a couple gaps which allows light round the edges.

18th November – A Cheshire Day Ranger Trip

Had the weather forecast been more promising my idea was to head towards Manchester, meeting up with a good friend to walk the Huddersfield Narrow Canal from Mossley towards Standedge Tunnel before returning towards Stalybridge along the remains of the Micklehurst Loop line.  However, I decided that was better leaving it until next year as the weather was changeable (and walking in the rain isn’t much fun).  So as a plan B I settled on a Cheshire Day Ranger (I was also toying with doing an East Midlands Day Ranger to head towards Nottingham but decided that could wait).  Anyhow to the trains!

The day started with the 07:21 service to Chester from Crewe formed of winner 197108, where I changed onto winner 197109 on the Chester – Llandudno service (starting at Chester today due to engineering works on the line via Helsby, I dread to think how busy the Northern services via Northwich would have been with single 150s).   This 197 took me to Shotton where I had a short walk to the high-level platforms for winner 230008 to arrive from Wrexham to take me towards Upton where I decided to alight to have a little walk.

230008 departs Upton

My walk took me along a path running between the railway line & the M53 towards Woodchurch Road before going via Woodchurch back towards Upton.  After passing Upton station I headed towards the Bidston Windmill via Thermopylae Pass & some woodland.  The path was quite uneven with areas where it was wet, but it was a nice walk passing the windmill and onto Bidston Hill with some nice views of Liverpool before reaching the old Bidston Observatory.  I continued along this path as it dropped down into the village centre and headed towards the railway station.

I crossed over the tracks at the station and headed towards a cycle path which followed the railway going underneath the Kingsway flyover (M53) towards Wallasey before heading towards the Bidston Moss nature reserve, going over the hill before doing a loop on another cycle path which goes round the hill before heading towards Birkenhead North station (and the large car park where no overnight parking is allowed).  An enjoyable walk, although my legs did get a bit muddy due to some flooding & mud.

Bidston Windmill

It was time to play with some trains (choo choo!), first up was winner 777036 which I took to Leasowe via the city centre loop (to make sure it was over ten miles) before taking 507018 back towards the city centre, alighting at Hamilton Square, turning down a couple of dud 777s on Chester services (one heading towards Chester & one towards the city centre), with limited time available I jumped on dud 777012 on an Ellesmere Port service towards Eastham Rake with a fast platform change onto winner 777005 back towards Hamilton Square (going via the city centre loop to push it over ten miles).  I crossed over to platform 3 to catch 507004 towards Bidston for a short wait, having arrived 15 minutes earlier than planned.

The Bidston – Wrexham line was in a state of chaos (nothing new there) due to a vehicle striking a bridge in the Neston area, the 13:33 service was running around an hour late when it rolled in (the 150).  I can only assume it was due a staff change at the Wrexham end as it departed at 14:34 being advertised as nonstop to Shotton then all stations to Wrexham [strange it didn’t get advertised as Wrexham General only due to the late running].  That 150 cleared away and winner 230010 rolled in from Birkenhead Depot to work the 14:30 service (it’s the time of day where the 230s swap over) which departed 5 minutes late, getting round the corner away from the mainline and stopped for 10+ minutes due to the 150 being in the long signal section in front.

777005 at Eastham Rake Station

Eventually the 230 got a green signal and resumed heading south and I took it to Shotton.  My original idea was to catch the 150 going back the other way but that had been cancelled and with around 25-odd minutes to kill I headed into the town centre to pick up some bits for a late lunch from Iceland before making my way back to the station to board a busy winner 197105 to Chester.  I remained on board this 197 for the return for a short fester before 197109 arrived to push that 197 over ten miles.  A short connection at Chester saw me onto a very busy winner 777031 to Liverpool Lime Street to jump onto a Hull bound 185122 for the dash to Manchester Victoria on another busy train (all the 3 coach TPE units).

With the next Manchester Airport bound service running 20-odd minutes late, I decided to have a short walk towards Piccadilly via the city centre where originally I was going to take a XC service to Stockport to intercept a pair of 197s but what I didn’t notice is those 197s hadn’t moved in nearly an hour due to a police incident between Wem & Whitchurch so I jumped off the busy voyager to head towards platform 13 jumping onto 331003 to take me to Mauldeth Road to grab some better photos of this basic station.

A short wait at Mauldeth Road before 323237 rolled in from the Airport to take me back to Manchester Piccadilly where I noticed the 19:30 service had been cancelled with the service starting from Crewe, so with that plan into the bin (and not wanting to do the stopper which looked like it would be busy) I headed towards platform 14 to jump onto 158799 & 158854 for the run back towards Liverpool Lime Street (where it joined up with another pair of 158s from an earlier cancellation for the return towards Nottingham).

Metrolink Tram 3121 near Shudehill

At Liverpool Lime Street I headed towards the Merseyrail platform to board a very busy winning 777011 (remaining busy throughout) which I took to Bache.  Originally, I was toying with the idea of taking the same unit back up towards Liverpool to intercept 777006 but I noticed that particular service was running 5 minutes late (where it lost more time within Liverpool and hence ran nonstop from Birkenhead Central to Hooton) so with the connection at Chester in mind I gave that a miss.  I headed towards the large Morrisons next to the station to grab some late-night munchies before having a gentle walk towards Chester station (to waste some time).

I arrived at Chester station in good time, watching as a Colas 70+56 freight reversed on platform 4, which delayed the arrival of winner 197050 from Holyhead, and further delayed that train on the way to Crewe due to the long signal sections, eventually arriving around 20 minutes late.  I was toying with the idea of taking another required 197 for the run to Whitchurch but that train was being delayed due to awaiting a guard (whom was on a late running Manchester train) and the train I would have caught back from Whitchurch (a 158+153 combo from Birmingham) was itself delayed and was caught behind the Shrewsbury stopper.  So, I decided to give that 197 a miss and headed towards the shared house to relax for the remainder of the evening.

197043 at Crewe Station

Overall, a good day, true things didn’t always go to plan but hey-ho.  Thankfully the house was quiet once more, both inside & outside and the weather did hold out for me.

19th November – A South Pennies Day Ranger

Originally the rough plan for today was to head towards Littleborough to walk the Rochdale canal over the hill towards Todmorden, maybe even Hebden Bridge, but that plan got parked in the sidings due to the heavy rain forecasted.  My alternative plan was to make use of one of my Northern freebie single tickets I’ve had for a few years (so old it still has the old logo from Arriva days) but when I saw XC were diverting via Barnsley I decided to do a South Pennies Day Ranger.

I noticed the night before when looking at ticket costs that the TfW Only ticket from Crewe to Manchester has been hiked up from around £10 to 20p less than the any permitted fare (around £16) which is a massive 10p less than the “Avanti only” fare, with them going down the advance fare route (which are not sold by all websites).  A quick play with the Avanti TVM on the Saturday night (more an experiment) sold me a £3.80 advance for the 08:32 service so I was happy with that saving.

Anyhow to the trains, as I checked out of the shared house for the last time this year, swinging via the Tesco at the garage for something for breakfast and to the station, buying my ranger from the ticket office.  I headed to platform 5 to take a seat on the 08:32 service with DVT 82200 leading a former GC set with 67020 on the rear, first time for me having this 67 in England as previously I only had it on a sleeper move from Edinburgh to Stirling.  Reasonably busy in the front 1.5 standard class coaches (first class was empty) with the rear coach being lightly loaded.

67020 at Crewe Station

Departure was on time as the 67 pushed the train towards Manchester, going via Styal as it was a Sunday morning, all was going well until it reached the Heald Green area where the line from Manchester Airport joined, and was held for 5 minutes due to a late running Manchester Airport – Blackpool train (which also called at Heald Green), sadly this meant the set rolled into Piccadilly just as a TPE for Cleethorpes was departing.  It was a completely unofficial but slightly hopeful connection which would have put me an hour ahead of myself but ah-well, these things happen as I headed towards platform 2 to await the next Northern stopper (noticing the next Cleethorpes train was a 3 coach TPE special so something to avoid).

I had forgotten that Northern ran 156s to Sheffield on Sundays, so it was a nice surprise as I was expecting a pair of 150s when I saw it was formed of 4 coaches, a large crowd was gathered round 156428 as 156424 rolled in from New Mills which attached to 428 to form a 4 coach service, and when the doors were eventually reopened (a minute before departure) I managed to get a decent seat at the front of 424.  Pretty sure this would be the first time I’ve had a 156 all the way to Sheffield and it made a decent noise in the various tunnels.  The train did empty out along the way, and I did feel a bit sorry for those going for a hike in the heavy rain, no doubt getting wetter than the average swimmer.  I noticed the construction of the 2nd platform at Dore is coming along well, and also there seems to be a path available following the river towards the city centre which is something I need to research.

156424 at Sheffield

Anyhow, the 156s arrived at Sheffield, a couple of minutes late (mainly at the Sheffield end due to congestion) and after a little walkabout (not going too far due to the rain).  I noticed that the TPE which was following looked very busy when it rolled into Sheffield (other than 1st class which was nearly empty) so a good thing I went for the slower stopper to sit in comfort.  After the 185 departed, 221131 rolled in on an Edinburgh train, expecting the worst I was surprised to get a pair of seats to myself in coach F (even had a view).  The voyager departed (thankfully in front of the Northern stopper) and headed towards Leeds, going via Barnsley due to engineering works in the Wakefield Westgate area.  Certainly, it was interesting going nonstop through Barnsley station and towards West Yorkshire.  The train passed Wakefield Kirkgate and headed towards Leeds, where it got stuck for a few minutes outside the station waiting for a platform to become available.

My next move was towards platform 16 to board a busy 802214 on a Liverpool service to take me towards Huddersfield, diverting via Wakefield Kirkgate due to engineering works on the line via Dewsbury.  Part of me was tempted to remain on board to Manchester Victoria for a 195 towards Bradford but connections were just a bit too tight for comfort.  So up next was 150228 working the next Huddersfield – Bradford – Leeds service, another service where the doors didn’t get opened until a minute before departure.  This unit took me towards Bradford Interchange where I exited the station and headed into the city centre, going into the shopping centre to visit Boots for lunch and also Poundland for a new charging cable for my iPod as my previous cable suffered an untimely demise on the Saturday (and I didn’t trust my iPod’s battery to last until I got home for it is getting quite old).

802214 under the canopy at Huddersfield

After getting hopelessly lost trying to get back to the station, I jumped onto a busy Leeds bound 195022 + 195015 to take me to Bramley, a station I needed for some better photos.  After nearly getting run over by an idiotic driver on a zebra crossing, I took a very busy 195130 back to Bradford Interchange, making my way across to platform 1 where 221142 was idling away on the next Grand Central service.  My original idea was to make use of my free GC single I got from September due to being an hour late into London (due to Grand Central cancelling a service) but when they announced they were doing a £10 seat sale on those services booked to be voyager operated I decided it was too good to turn down.  Sadly, my booked seat was a bit rubbish (airline style with a view of plastic) so I relocated myself to coach D, grabbing one of the unreserved table seats (removing my seat reservation label to make it available for others).

It was my first time on a (former) Avanti Voyager in a couple of years, and I had forgotten how nice the refurb was with the seat covers, the train got very busy throughout the journey (didn’t help that the previous train around midday was cancelled) and was diverted via Pontefract, calling at Monkhill station which I was shocked at the numbers waiting for this service (although not sure if they were passengers from Leeds due to a reduced LNER service).  I think this was the first time since 2015 I had a Grand Central on the ‘alternative’ route via Pontefract, and I had forgotten how painfully slow the Askern branch line was.

221142 & 180105 at Bradford Interchange

Darkness had fallen by the time the voyager reached the ECML, so it was to watch some videos on my tablet as the voyager got up to speed reaching Doncaster.  Before a nonstop run towards the Peterborough area where it got caught up in congestion caused by an earlier issue (with a seriously late running Thameslink service getting put ahead of intercity services for the section of line between Peterborough & Huntingdon which is mostly 2 track.  A bit slow at a couple more times along the way as it caught up with trains in front so arrival into London was around 15 minutes late giving me near enough an hour to reach Waterloo (as SWR had swapped departure times of the West of England services due to engineering works between Salisbury & Yeovil).  Sadly, the rain had returned so I couldn’t do my usual TfL avoidance move with a walk, so it was to the underground, going towards the Piccadilly line where my luck getting any sub mile 1973 stock sets continued to be bad.

Sets 102 & 107 took me to Covent Garden before sets 242 & 117 took me to Green Park (on a South Harrow terminator) where I transferred towards the Jubilee line.  I nearly got knocked flying by someone marching against the flow of passengers on one of the corridors hurting my hand as it hit the dividing barrier. On the Jubilee line I took sets 96059+96016 to Waterloo (god the track is loud), swinging via Tesco for dinner before heading to the concourse to await the arrival of the sprinters to form the 19:15 Salisbury stopper.  158881 was leading 159012 which was quite busy but also quite slow, came to a stop alongside another train at Farnborough for a few minutes before continuing to Basingstoke but felt like the engine underneath the coach I was in wasn’t firing on all cylinders as the delay kept on slipping by a minute or two at each station, getting into Grateley around 20 minutes late.

158881 at London Waterloo

I had a gentle walk home, thankfully it wasn’t raining, sorting my bag out, removing some overnight items which won’t be required for a few weeks as my next overnight adventure is Worcester for a railtour of various freight lines & loops in the West Midlands.  Overall, an enjoyable weekend away, even if the weather at times was quite wet.  More photos can be found on my flickr available here: Flickr

Trips on 11th & 12th November (West Midlands & Poole)

11^th November – Walsall - Wolverhampton Canal Walk & West Midlands Bits

 

Today’s trip was a trip towards the West Midlands to walk another section of the vast canal network in that area, with a focus on the route from Walsall towards Wolverhampton, following the Walsall canal & Wyrley and Essington Canals.  The day began with the 05:56 service from Grateley (autumn timetable) to Basingstoke with a quiet 159012 & 158887 where it was a cold start with a ground frost.  At Basingstoke I sat in the waiting room on platform 4 (because why sit/stand outside in the cold when there is a heated waiting room available?) before the Manchester train with voyagers 220010 & 221128 on this lightly loaded service (at least in coach B of the 221).

 

These voyagers took me to Banbury, where I stepped back to board an unknown Chiltern service (as allocations weren’t showing on RTT, nor were train lengths).  Thankfully it wasn’t a 2-coach special as 168321 & 168002 rolled in to take me to Birmingham Moor Street, with my good friend Jan joining me at Dorridge.  We had a fast walk between stations in Birmingham to board 350267 at New Street on a Rugeley train to take us towards Walsall, going the slow way via Soho on a quiet train (although at this time of the day I suspect most flow is inward to the city).

 

220014 at Banbury

 

The walk began from Walsall station, as we swung via Boots & Greggs on the main street of Walsall (making use of the O2 App freebie sausage roll) before joining the Walsall Canal at the town basin (near the Premier Inn) with the walk towards Bridgeman Street bridge where the town arm joined the main canal.  We turned north to follow the towpath in the Birchills area of the town, climbing the lock flight and crossing an old railway alignment (an old route from Walsall to Wolverhampton via Heath Town).  The Walsall canal came to an end at Birchills Junction where it flowed into the Wyrley and Essington Canal.

 

To save a job for another walking adventure I wanted to do a little double back along the Wyrley and Essington Canal towards an access point at Forest Lane, passing the TX Maxx warehouse and going over the Chase line on a canal aqueduct (getting lucky with a Rugeley bound train not being too long to wait).  On reaching the access point, we did a U-turn and headed back towards Birchills Junction (just means when I get round to walking the rest of the Wyrley and Essington Canal towards Brownhills I can go direct to this point from Walsall station).

 

350257 just about to go under the Wyrley and Essington Canal

Anyhow back to the Wyrley and Essington Canal, as we continued along the towpath (which was quite changeable in terms of surface quality from the smooth to the mud) as we headed in the direction of Bloxwich.  Following the many curves of this canal via a couple of nature reserves and underneath the M6, carrying on towards Shortheath & Wednesfield.  On the outskirts of Wednesfield, things went wrong as we came across a loose black dog (at the time I didn’t think anything of it, thinking it was simply ahead of some people I saw in the background), but it randomly bit Jan on his leg & arm.  Eventually someone came looking for the dog (although he claimed it was his mates and smelt strong of drugs), but the damage had been done.

 

We continued along the canal, flipping sides near Heath Town and the Bentley Bridge Leisure Park, going over a railway (which was in a tunnel), underneath the remains of the old railway route from Walsall & underneath the line used by the Birmingham – Tame Bridge – Wolverhampton – Crewe services which are getting cut back to Stafford from December (something I’m not looking forward to as it means on a Sunday the first LNR service gets into Birmingham nearly 2 hours later).  But it means that section of line goes from a regular hourly service to something like 3 trains a day (2 early morning Birmingham – Liverpool & a Shrewsbury – Birmingham service).

 

Wyrley and Essington Canal in the Wednesfield (Wolverhampton) area

 

The canal came to an end at Horseley Fields Junction where it met the Main Line of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, and we headed south along the BCN before following some roads to reach Phoenix Park and a walk-in NHS centre.  After bidding farewell to Jan as he waited to be seen (more a precaution just in case that random dog had any diseases) I headed towards the main road to jump on a route X8 service to Wolverhampton (National Express bus 6762).  Traffic was very heavy, and I decided to jump off at the stop before the bus station (knowing that the bus goes a long way round to access the bus station and it’s probably just as quick to walk).

 

I reached Wolverhampton station just as the kickball finished so a large police presence to prevent the two sets of fans from attempting to fight each other, and onto winner 196105 from Shrewsbury (I dread to think how busy the next London train would have been with the crowd on platform 4).  This 196 took me to Birmingham New Street where I headed out of the station to the tram stop, moving towards Town Hall as it was a bit quieter.

 

196105 at Birmingham New Street

 

The trams were in a state of semi-collapse with a lot of bunching of services (something like 5 trams arrived within 10 minutes), with 2 of those trams getting spun at Library to head back towards Wolverhampton (not sure if anything got spun at New Street).  Only tram of interest for me was tram 27 which I needed for a mile, that was cleared with a run to Brindleyplace, returning on tram 53 to Grand Central New Street (where it got very busy due to the Christmas markets).  After swinging via Tesco for some dinner items I headed to the station to board a late running 196106 back towards Wolverhampton (sadly not required but I needed to escape the chaos of the city centre).

 

At Wolverhampton I had a short fester before dud 196110 rolled in from Shrewsbury, which I turned down due to having a large crowd waiting for it, instead I headed to platform 3 to gamble with a voyager.  Thankfully when 220021 rolled in I managed to grab a seat at a table in coach F for the trip back towards Birmingham, where I stayed on board all the way towards Basingstoke to avoid playing Chiltern roulette.

 

West Midlands Metro Tram 31 at the Town Hall Stop

 

The voyager did have a good turnover of passengers at Birmingham New Street before emptying out at Coventry before refilling at Leamington Spa & Banbury as it headed towards Basingstoke.  Pretty uneventful other than a random delay near Bramley but that didn’t bother me as I reached Basingstoke, swinging via the Tesco Metro, sorry Tesco ‘Express’ in the town centre to grab something for the Sunday before boarding a very busy 159019 to take me to Grateley, followed by a relaxing walk home.

 

A nice day trip to the West Midlands, a good catch up with a friend I hadn’t seen since March time (other than the crazy dog incident).  The canal had some nice views in places (and also places where the views weren’t the nicest, unless you like razor-wire/glass topped walls for old buildings.

 

12^th November – Walking the Southampton & Dorchester Railway + Roman Road

 

For this Sunday I was in two minds at what I was going to do, even to the morning where it was a toss up between Hamworthy or Havant.  Engineering works at Basingstoke meant my usual “wet day” escape route of heading to London was out of the window.  In the end I decided to head towards Hamworthy as the forecast was slightly more promising.  The day started with a drive to Romsey, before catching 158890 to Southampton Central where things went a bit wrong due to delays on the mainline.  Although did give me a chance to witness parallel departures heading towards the tunnel with a pair of voyagers going from P1 and a very late running Winchester bound 444 going from P4.

 

The train to form the Weymouth service eventfully arrived (444012), departing 18 minutes late, throwing my 20-minute connection at Poole to a bus service in doubt (especially when the bus stop was around 5 minutes away from the railway station).  The train was quite quiet as it sped towards Bournemouth, gaining some time but I decided not to worth risking the connection when it arrived at Poole, so I stayed on to Hamworthy, the train losing an extra 5 minutes near the sidings at the country end of Poole station meaning arrival was around 19 minutes late.

 

444012 departs Hamworthy Station

 

So, I was onto “plan B” as my original plan was to take the bus towards Wimborne to walk an old roman road back towards Hamworthy.  Instead, I headed out of the station to the main road, going underneath an old railway bridge used by the Southampton & Dorchester railway route via Ringwood, gaining access to Upton Country Park.  Within the park I followed an unofficial path for a steep climb onto the railway embankment doubling back over the railway bridge towards where the junction used to be (seemingly a dead-end path).  I did a U-turn, passing over remains of some sleepers and followed the railway via some woodland to reach Upton, where on spotting a little Co-Op popped in there for some lunch items.

 

The next section of old railway had been built over in parts, so it was more urban paths before a little detour to reach a footbridge over the A35 into the Upton Heath Country Park, re-joining the railway route a short distance later.  This section was very beautiful with the trees and the views of heathland, the path itself was a bit muddy in places but I was expecting it to be muddy.  The path reached a bridge which crosses over the old Roman Road where a cycle route (number 25) joins the old railway line path (along with it now being called the “Castleman Trailway”), the path becoming more solid.

 

Remains of the Southampton and Dorchester Railway route within Upton Heath Country Park

 

I continued along the walk as it came out of woods and running alongside a busy road (on an embankment) towards the settlement of Broadstones.  The former station site is now a leisure centre with no evidence remaining as the path goes away from the route of the old railway line due to modern developments before re-joining the route near a golf course.  The next section was also very beautiful with the trees and being peaceful due to not being near any sort of road, instead near Delph Woods (although it was busy with other walkers, joggers & the odd cyclist).

 

The railway line path came to an end in Oakley on the outskirts of Wimborne (the Castleman Trailway continues to Ringwood, but the next few miles are more rural as the route of the railway has been lost until the West Moors area).  I picked up an old road which runs close to the A31 (Wimborne Bypass) (labelled as Willett Road, something I presume got cut off when the bypass opened.  Quite scenic with trees as it is slowly returning to nature, although the road surface was a bit ropey in places.  This old road went underneath the A31 and eventually returned to being an active road for some farms & houses as I continued to take “Lambsgreen road”, a narrow country-lane which was in a very poor condition with potholes.

 

Remains of Willett Road in the Wimborne area

 

I soon picked up a bridleway which took me towards a bridge over the old Somerset & Dorset Joint railway, the section below in private land as I followed a path alongside the cutting to reach the delightfully named hamlet of Happy Bottom.  I headed up a hill to reach the start of the old Roman Road via Happy Bottom Nature Reserve and headed in a south direction near Corfe Mullen.  The road changed a couple times from being a bridleway to an actual road before heading into the Upton Heath Country Park, going underneath the railway line.  Sadly, my gamble with the weather didn’t pay off as it started to rain when I was in this area, thankfully the woodland did help give me shelter but it wasn’t long before I had to put my raincoat on.

 

The Roman Road path came to a temporary end near the A35/A350 road as I headed via the road (getting a tad wet) and into Upton Country Park, dodging the various puddles in the car park to carry on with the roman road path in this beautiful area (somewhere on my list to revisit).  I soon reached the area where I climbed up the embankment and annoyingly looking at Google Maps, I would have just missed a train, or it would have been quite tight.  Not wanting to spend an hour at Hamworthy I decided to instead ditch heading back to that station and do an extra section of the walk, this time picking up a path which ran along the side of Holes Bay.

 

Southampton & Dorchester Railway Line bridge over the Roman Road in the Upton Heath Nature Reserve

 

This was a highlight for me as the views were wonderful, even if it was a bit atmospheric.  I exited Upton Country Park onto a cycle path which carried on round the rim, close to the A350 road.  Soon I reached the outskirts of Poole town centre and Poole Quay, close to the station where I decided to call it an end due to my phone battery being down to 10% (all the photographs) and it being time for the next train.  The station was busy for 444022 to roll in from Weymouth, I got a decent extra legroom seat in the leading coach (one of the extra standard class seats which got installed when these units got refurbished reducing the size of 1^st class) as it ran into the rear of 444008 at Bournemouth.

 

Always amazes me how many passengers at Bournemouth turn down the empty front unit to try and locate a seat in the rear unit which is busy.  Anyhow darkness had fallen as the train carried on towards Southampton calling only at New Milton & Brockenhurst, and I alighted at Southampton Central, popping out of the station to the nearby Co-Op (noticing that since Tesco Express opened some prices have decreased, i.e., the meal deal is now £3.50 rather than £4.50).  I grabbed what I wanted before heading back to the station, sitting in the waiting room on platform 4 relaxing until 165132 & 165112 rolled in from Portsmouth to take me to Romsey.

 

Holes Bay from the Upton Country Park

 

At Romsey, I headed to my car, changing my boots to a pair of trainers (better for me to drive home in), and drove home on a busy road.  An enjoyable day, even if a bit unplanned due to the earlier delays.  I would recommend the walk from Hamworthy towards Poole via Holes Bay for anybody who likes views of water.  Sadly the long range forecast for this coming weekend looks a bit damp on both days, I live in hope that things might change for the better but it’s time to dust off some wet-weather plans.

 

Anyhow more photos can be found here: Flickr