19th – 22nd January – Scottish & Newcastle Trip

 19th – 22nd January – Scottish & Newcastle Trip

A little trip away to Scotland & Newcastle with mum for a little January getaway.

19th January – Sleepy Train

The trip began with the 17:59 service from Grateley towards Waterloo, running a few minutes late due to the previous train from Exeter being 25-odd minutes late (with SWR doing their usual in ripping out stops after Salisbury to get it back closer to being on time).  159016 rolled in being quite busy, and it only got busier at Andover before emptying out a bit at Basingstoke (passengers wanting Clapham Junction maybe).  An uneventful run otherwise into Waterloo where we headed towards the bus stop on Tenison Way turning down the first 68 for Euston as it was busy due to bunching with the following route 68 bus (with Abellio’s LT712) following which was nearly empty (and soon caught up with the bus we turned down).  We took this to Euston bus station, heading into the horrors of the railway station finding a seat to relax before the sleeper got called for boarding.

For reasons unknown, mum decided she wanted to try out the seats, hence why we were using the sleeper, otherwise I wouldn’t have considered using it for the cost of a berth is high.  The sleeper started to board, and we headed our way towards platform 1 locating the Inverness seated portion which was 75% full (including a group of lads who were loud & drinking cheap mass-produced lager who were told by the guard to keep it down otherwise he would have thrown them off at Crewe).  92018 was the loco up front where due to engineering works on the Trent Valley route it was diverted to run via Birmingham International then bypassing New Street going via Aston & Tame Bridge Parkway.  A nice little surprise which I didn’t notice was happening until the actual day.

92018 at London Euston

20th January – Inverness & Skye

The sleeper ran ahead of time, having a long dwell at Kingussie & Aviemore before running into Inverness station somewhat 20 minutes ahead of schedule due to the LNER service which it was due to pass in one of the snow-covered loops between Carrbridge & Inverness being delayed (it arrived 2 hours late on the Friday).  Winner 66758 was powering the train with 73966 providing the train power so a little bonus in terms of another GBRf 66 into my book.  At Inverness we made use of the extra time to pop to Morrisons for a little supply raid for breakfast related items before heading to board 158713 on the first train to Kyle of Lochalsh.

66758 at Inverness Station

This was a quiet service from the start, got quieter by the time it reached Dingwall (6 passengers on board including myself & mum) and entered a snow-covered wonderland of scenery.  Such beauty as the snow was melting in places making some of the hills look like zebras, the photos I managed to take simply can’t capture how beautiful the line was.  The only request station which the train called at was Duirinish as it arrived at Kyle of Lochalsh near enough on time as we headed for a gentle walk following a path following the A87 towards the Skye Crossing.   We crossed the Carrich Viaduct to the small island of Eilean Bàn where mum stopped to have a rest as the gradient onto the Skye bridge itself was quite steep (made worse with the strong wind).  Views were wonderful, although not as good as they could have been due to the sea fog.  After I walked to the roundabout near Kyleakin I did a U-turn back across the bridge (this time on the opposite side of the road), meeting up with mum as we made our way back towards Kyle of Lochalsh station going via the Co-Op for lunch items.

The whole Island of Skye (plus all the other various islands in the general area of the Hebrides is on my list for a decent explore, but that can wait until the weather is better & days are longer).  We didn’t have long to wait at Kyle of Lochalsh until 158708 rolled in from Inverness and we took a seat (making sure we sat on the opposite side of the train than before) for the beautiful run back towards Inverness, the light only starting to fade after Muir of Ord.  The train only really got busy after Dingwall due to the uneven timetable on the shared section between Dingwall & Inverness.

View from the Skye Bridge

Back at Inverness, and after swinging via Morrisons for a couple of items we headed towards the guest house on Greig Street where I had booked us a twin room, the Dunskaith Villa (a place I was due to stay early last year before getting an upgrade to the next-door property as both I presume are owned or managed by the same person).  A decent sized triple room (although the 3rd bed wasn’t made up), and after dropping off our bags we headed back into the city centre ending up at the Wetherspoons for dinner for lack of a better idea for food.

After dinner we headed back towards the guest house as the rain had started to fall, the end of a good first day of the break with some beautiful scenery along the way.  I do love the Kyle line.  What was unusual was that both Scotrail trains the guard asked to see our railcard and also scanned it, first time that has happened in a while.

View from Kyle line near Achanalt

21st January – Onwards to Newcastle before the Storm

In a way we got quite lucky as I had planned a night in Newcastle to break up the return journey, as it was the night storm Isha was due to land hitting Scotland quite hard.  Anyhow after checking out of the guest house, we headed to Spoons for breakfast (is it bad that my most used Spoons is likely the one in Inverness?).  After a filling Scottish breakfast, we headed towards Inverness station to locate our seats on the Kings Cross service formed of 800111 for the run south.  As it’s a Sunday it called at near enough every station to Perth (skipping only Dalwhinnie) with a short delay around Pitlochy due to the track layout and a late running northbound HST.  Some beautiful views along the way, especially around the Pass of Drumochter.

After Perth the train had a good turnover of passengers before continuing south but with a 50mph emergency speed restriction due to the high winds meaning by the time it reached Stirling the train was 20 or so minutes late and it got later by the time it reached Edinburgh due to following a Stirling – Edinburgh stopper after Polmont.  As expected, the train did have another good turnover of passengers and departed rather busy, didn’t help that the seat reservation system was broken with the resulting chaos of passengers arguing over reservations.  Annoyingly the train didn’t loss anymore time on the run towards Newcastle arriving around 27 minutes late so not qualifying for delay repay.  I was glad to get off the train at Newcastle for some fresh air as there was someone who boarded at Edinburgh which smelt like they had had a bath of perfume.

800111 at Inverness Station

With light being a premium, I quickly purchased a couple of Metro Day passes (although only 10p less than the day pass allowing use of buses & trains towards Blaydon so getting a bit like Merseyside with the Merseyrail Day Ranger vs Saveaway difference).  It was onto a Whitby bound pair of 156s (156481 & 156471) for the slow run to Sunderland (got caught up behind a late running Metro service so was a bit stop-start).  Where the building at the top of the station is all shiny & new the platform level is still very much a dump featuring some youngsters who were playing with a wet floor sign trying to knock a CCTV camera.

Anyhow it was a short wait at Sunderland before 4014/4048 rolled in to take us back towards Newcastle, featuring the usual Tyne & Wear Metro antisocial behaviour youths messing around on the train (the front half of the first set was very much a no-go area).  At Newcastle we headed out of the station, to locate the Easy Hotel, which I didn’t realise was close to the Quayside area with either a steep hill or steep steps to reach.  Anyhow we checked in, located the twin room (proper twin beds always is better than a double bed & fold-up camp bed you get in some hotels).  Very different to what I was expecting from an Easy Hotel, the room was reasonably sized and didn’t have so much orange.  Only downside was the AC kept on ignoring the control to lower the temperature from 24C or even to be turned off.

We headed back out, heading to the Wetherspoons on Newcastle Quayside, for lack of a better idea.  After dinner we did a little walk across the swing bridge over the Tyne walking along the Gateshead bank towards the Millennium Bridge to cross back to the Newcastle side of the river then back towards the hotel via a closed Tesco Express near a court building.  I left mum to relax in the hotel room and headed back out climbing the steep hill to reach Newcastle station to see if any of my remaining trio of Metro units I need for a mile (having already removed a couple which are long term out of use and very unlikely to enter service again).

River Tyne from Newcastle Swing Bridge towards Tyne & Millennium Bridges

Services were being a bit bounced up due to delays, so I jumped onto 4050/4067 to Gateshead before 4036/4066 to Simonside on the South Shields line (to cover the new track layout from the “Metro Flow” works.  4026/4044 returned me to the shared section of the network at Felling doing a couple of pings to Gateshead Stadium to keep on moving during some gaps.  I alighted from 4078/4013 at Gateshead Stadium which just stayed at the station with news that the train in front had broken down at Gateshead itself, so services were being held.  I was considering what to do as sub mile 4082 & 4073 rolled in on a southbound service which took me to Heworth to push it over a mile and to give me an escape route by using Northern.

There was no movement with the metro other than the occasional departure north with trains heading back south either empty or starting from Gateshead Stadium, so it was onto 158851 & 158817 on a Northern service for Newcastle, a station a bit in chaos due to issues on the line towards Edinburgh caused by the high winds (lots of “Cancelled” showing on the departure screens).  I had a gentle walk back down the hill to reach the Easy Hotel to relax for the remaining of the evening.  I got one more Metro set over a mile; another was out and about which I saw earlier in the day.  The bed was quite comfy as I slept well.

Tyne & Wear Metro Set 4052 at Heworth

22nd January – Saltburn & home

Originally my plan for this Monday was a day on the Metro, maybe also fitting in the Shields ferry but when out on the Sunday I came up with an alternative plan, as the Metro could wait for another day when it wasn’t so windy.  Anyhow we headed to the Spoons again for breakfast, before returning to the hotel to pick up our bags and checking out before making our way to a bus stop located near the guildhall for a Go North East route 54 bus towards Newcastle Central station (with 8807 an Yutong E10 "Voltra") on this loop service.

At Newcastle station it was a short walk to platform 1 to board 156451 on the next Middlesbrough semi-fast service, a recent addition to the timetable calling only at Sunderland & Thornaby so a bit faster than the stopper.  After Sunderland it was carrying around 20 passengers spread across the train so not the busiest train and it felt strange not calling at Hartlepool to see the works continuing for the rebuilt platform (which will allow these semi-fast services to sadly call at Hartlepool as it passed a northbound stopper within the station).  We remained on board to Middlesbrough, turning down a late running 156 for Saltburn for the next TPE with a late running 185138 & 185101 to Saltburn, always sad passing the remains of Redcar works with a lot of the steel works related buildings gone, but hopefully the future remains bright, and the area gets something new built.

At Saltburn, it was very windy as we remained near the station, but for me allowed the coverage of Redcar – Saltburn on TPE.  Up next was a Darlington service with 158861, looking very much out of place alongside the 185s at Saltburn, considering 5 or so years ago Saltburn would have been mostly 142s with the occasional 156 thrown in.  We took this 158 all the way to Darlington passing some works around the mothballed Tees-side airport station (looked like the old turning circle outside the station had been dug up).

158861 alongside a 185 at Saltburn Station

The final leg of our little round trip was onto a late running 801211 bound for Edinburgh which we took back to Newcastle where we had a short wait before boarding 801223 for the run to London, calling only at Darlington & York.  Felt nice to get some decent speed on the ECML but as it was out of path it kept on losing time, eventually reaching Kings Cross 30-odd minutes late (enough to get some cash back from LNER).  At Kings Cross it was a short walk to bus stop L on Kings Cross Road to board Abellio London 3405 (a BYD Enviro400EV) on a route 63 which got quite busy on the run towards the southern entrance of Blackfriars station where we had a gentle walk along the River Thames towards Waterloo Bridge.

We came away from the river near Festival Hall, swinging towards Tesco outside Waterloo station to grab dinner before I checked RTT to see that the 19:20 Waterloo - Exeter was starting from Basingstoke due to the inbound running 45-odd minutes late (and hence terminated at Basingstoke).  So, it was an unexpected trip to Basingstoke on the 19:05 Weymouth train with 444014 & (a rough riding) 444040.  A short wait at Basingstoke as a pair of 450s arrived and departed on the Portsmouth service before 159002, 159012 & 158887 rolled in from the sidings to take us to Grateley, the end of a short break.  Thankfully it wasn't raining for the walk home after this quiet service (I dread to think what the 19:50 Salisbury train would have looked like).  An enjoyable little trip away to the Highlands with a day in the Northeast.

River Thames on South Bank between Blackfriars & Waterloo

Thanks for reading 😃🙂

Trips 13th & 14th January

 Trips 13th & 14th January

Last couple day trips of January before a couple of overnight trips to Scotland later this month.

13th January – A Day trip to Exmouth

This was a bit of a late idea booking after last Sunday where I randomly looked up prices & times for diverted IETs (for the novelty of an IET on the Hawkeridge curve & from Westbury towards Bath), when I noticed a bit of an oddity of a Paddington – Exeter service which was nonstop Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter, not even Taunton.  As it took longer than the services going direct to Exeter via Castle Cary, I managed to get some reasonably priced advances (not sure if they were part of the GWR sale) to Exeter for me & mum (making use of our 2 together railcard), extending to Exmouth was only an extra 50p so made sense.

The day began with the 07:59 service from Grateley, a later start than usual for me on a Saturday but today was a bit laid back as a busy 159108 rolled in from Honiton to take us towards Reading (diverted from Waterloo due to an engineering block between Basingstoke & Woking).  At Reading with around 80 minutes to kill before our booked train we headed to a nearby Wetherspoons for breakfast before heading back towards the station via a couple of shops and Forbury Gardens.  What I like about Reading are the various colours of buses and maybe one of these days I will have a day on the various bus routes within Reading.

Reading Bus 431 (YN14 MYA) on Friar Road, Reading working a route 24

Anyhow we returned to the station, headed towards platform 8 and waited a few minutes before 802102 rolled in from London.  Quite busy but we managed to get a table seat facing forward (the train was in reverse formation so our reserved seats in coach A were facing backwards, and that coach was quite busy).  It was a gentle run towards Newbury, then towards Pewsey the time spent looking out of the window at the passing scenery (and various floods), the train slowed right down for the tight curve near Westbury to join the line towards Trowbridge then had the first call at Bath (Reading was listed as pick-up only) where the coach we were in emptied out quite well.  The train continued to Bristol Temple Meads for a brief dwell before setting off towards Exeter, felt strange being on a GWR service which didn’t go via Weston Super Mare and not calling at Taunton. The service only slowed down near Tiverton where it looked like this train had caught up with the Paignton bound service in front.

Arrival into Exeter was near enough on time, as we headed towards platform 1 to board 166209 for the run towards Exmouth, sitting on the river side of the train for the views after Topsham.  At Exmouth we headed for a gentle walk towards the river side but didn’t hang around for long due to the chilly winds before heading towards the town centre with the bus stop outside the cinema turning down the faster (and more frequent) route 57 for the route 58 for Exeter.  Ran with Stagecoach bus 36237 it was reasonably busy.  This was a bit of a longer route going via the villages of Woodbury, the Nine Oaks business park & Clyst St Mary picking up a few passengers along the way (although most boarding on the shared section with other bus routes).  Some heavy traffic as it reached the outskirts of Exeter and the M5 junction before heading into the city centre bus station.  An enjoyable route of looking out of the window in East Devon.

166209 at Exmouth Station

We had a gentle walk from the bus station towards Exeter St Davids, involving a steep flight of steps on Peep Lane (I would not want to climb them!) and onto the 16:25 service for Basingstoke with 159013 & 159019 to take us to Salisbury, stepping back to board 159009 on the 18:47 stopper for Reading.  For some reason the tickets on the 17:25 service was nearly double in price (just shy off the flexible rate ticket).  Thankfully we didn’t have long to wait at Salisbury for the stopper to roll in so we could take a seat in the warmth before the masses boarded.  Once back at Grateley we had a gentle walk home to relax after an enjoyable day trip.  It had been a few years since I last travelled on the section of line from Bristol to Taunton and doing it on a fast train sure beats a stopper or an overcrowded voyager (also ticks off another section of the GWR network for coverage by IET leaving just the Weston loop & the summer only Carmarthen to Pembroke Dock routes).

159009 at Salisbury Station

14th January – Exploring Gosport & Fareham

With Basingstoke closed for engineering works I decided it would be a good day to visit Gosport to explore the remains of the old railway line before a coastal path walk & an old canal.  The weather was looking fine, a bit chilly but not as cold as it had been during the week.  Anyhow the day began with a gentle drive to Romsey parking up in the library car park for free parking and a short walk to the station for 158883 on the 08:39 service towards Southampton Central.  The train lost a bit of time outside Southampton waiting for a platform to become available due to congestion (a pair of voyagers were on platform 1, the Portsmouth stopper blocking platform 2, a Winchester service on P3 and a Weymouth on P4.  I was glad I wasn’t going towards Weymouth as the connection would have been missed as the 158 got in around 7 minutes late once the late running Winchester service had departed.

Anyhow I popped out of the station, confusing the gate line staff whose concept of break of journey doesn’t exist (“this isn’t Fareham”) to visit Tesco to grab some items for lunch to save some time for later.  I returned to the station to board a busy 444030 & 444042 on a diverted London train for the slow trip to Fareham (does it say something that the Southern replacement bus which departed at a similar time from Southampton and called at Swanwick was only a minute slower to Fareham?).  I exited the station and headed towards the bus stop on the opposite side of the A27 to await the next Eclipse service.

221121 at Southampton Central

I didn’t have long to wait before the next First operated E1 bus rolled in (bus 63417, a Wright StreetLite) which soon joined the unguided busway which runs along the track bed of the former Fareham – Gosport branch line.  Quite speedy (unless you got stuck behind a cyclist) and I alighted from the bus at the Brune Medical Centre stop, the first stop after it re-joined the regular roads, doing a small loop towards the Leisure Centre to pick up a path which ran alongside the busway before carrying on along the old railway route (where the busway rises to join the B3334 road).  The sun was quite low in the sky (at least it wasn’t raining) as I headed along the busy mixed used path passing the remains of Fort Brockhurst station and towards the triangle where the Stokes Bay branch branched off.  I continued along the path to reach the site of the old Gosport station, now housing before doing a U-turn back towards the triangle to follow the Stokes Bay branch towards the end near Fort Road.

After reaching the end of the old railway line, it was a short walk alongside the road to reach the old military road towards Fort Gilkicker (which is currently having a lot of work done to it) reaching the beach to start my sea-front walk heading away from the old fort towards Stokes Bay.  I headed towards the shingle beach of the Browndown military training area which was hard to walk at times due to the depth of shingle but was quite remote and scenic in places.

Browndown Beach, Gosport

I reached the end of the Browndown beach back onto smooth tarmac, pausing at a handy bench for lunch and a short break before continuing along the beach path towards Lee on the Solent where I did have a potential exit point (with a bus) but decided to carry on, watching various light aircraft taking off from the Solent Airport.  Around Hill Head the coastal path moved inland due to the tide being in and blocking the path across the beach before it dropped back down to join the sea front once more at the beautiful Hill Head beach.  Next up was the busy Hill Head harbour (a few little sailing boards getting ready to launch to make the most of the sunshine) then Titchfield Haven Beach near the Nature reserve.  This is where I headed away from the seafront, picking up a path alongside the old Titchfield Canal.

Waterfront at Hill Head

This path was quite pretty in places, also quite muddy as well.  Very peaceful once it moved away from Meon Road running alongside the nature reserve giving some nice views of nature.  An enjoyable walk, other than some areas where the old canal had burst its banks flooding the towpath with some thick mud where I needed to be careful not to slip over (I was glad when one particularly bad section came to an end and the path turned into tarmac for a farm access road).  I reached the canal car park at Titchfield, carrying on along the canal into an area of some heavy flooding.  In hindsight I should have done another U-turn to try and find an alternative route to reach the village centre but I was foolish and carried on into the floods, with water overtopping my walking boots before reaching St Peters Church and a short road to reach the bus stop on Mill Street in the village centre where it was a short wait for the next X4 (bound for Portsmouth, with First’s 35115) for the short run towards Fareham railway station (don’t think the driver sees many Fareham Plusbus tickets).

I had a short walk from the bus stop to the railway station, taking a seat onto a Cardiff bound 158747 & 158951 for an extra bonus as I was aiming for the Weymouth train to connect with a 158 at Southampton but I was running earlier than expected.  I took a seat on this service, plugged my phone into my power bank (as the plug sockets weren’t working and I didn’t fancy moving to find another seat).  Half an hour (or so) later the train arrived at Romsey, with a short walk back to my car where I changed from my wet walking boots & socks into a fresh pair of socks and trainers to drive home, swinging via the Co-Op in Stockbridge for a random supply raid (ending up with various items which were reduced to clear to have chicken burger for dinner rather than a planned pizza).  I was glad to get home and out of the wet & muddy clothes (my legs were a bit muddy), but it was an enjoyable walk, various scenery from old railway line to sea and a rural canal.

Titchfield Canal Path

Thanks for reading :) 😃

Trips 1st January – 7th January

 Trips 1st January – 7th January

Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since I decided that I was going to start logging my various travels across the UK leading into various things over the years.  I might fork out for a 1st Class All Line Rover later in the year for a belated 10th year anniversary trip.  Anyhow here are some more random day trips in the colder month

1st January – Exploring South London

For my first trip of 2024 I was toying with various ideas of what to do, in the end narrowing my options down to some walks in South London which has been on my ‘idea’ list for a while.  Staying within South London made sense with the potential of changeable weather as well.  I find New Years Day strange when it comes to trains, as some operators (GWR) operate a full weekday service and some operators run a Sunday timetable.  Anyhow the first train from Grateley towards London (and hence the 1st train of the year) was with 159108 & 159105 which I took to Basingstoke changing to 165105 on the Reading shuttle for a short walk onto a very lightly loaded 800301 which was running late for some unknown reason.

At Paddington it was a short walk towards the Bakerloo, doing a U-turn when the screens suggested the next Bakerloo for the Elephant was 15 minutes, so I ended up heading to the Lizzy line with 345028 for one stop to Bond Street, followed by the long walk to the Jubilee platforms to find that line wasn’t much better with one train every 10 minutes.  That was a long 8 minutes as the platform got busier and busier before a rammed service with 96097 & 96046 rolled in to take me to Bermondsey, where I exited the underground.  First time I’ve exited LU at this station, and after taking a wrong turn I headed towards the King’s Stairs Gardens leading into the wonderful Southwark Park.

Southwark Park Bandstand, London

I did a little explore of Southwark Park, exiting near Surrey Quays Overground station which was my next destination.  The next southbound service was 378140 which I took to New Cross Gate, exiting the station to begin my next walk which was very much a “make it up as I go along” style heading along New Cross road passing New Cross station before visiting Margaret McMillan Park, then Fordham Park following an old road to Folkestone Gardens.   A visit to Deptford Park followed before crossing the Overground lines on an enclosed footbridge near Silwood Junction (sadly when footbridges over railway lines need to be enclosed it says a lot about the local area that they can't be trusted not to throw stuff onto the railway line).

My walk continued following a path alongside the Overground line for Clapham (sadly no trains as that line was closed for works) taking a brief detour on a path near the Millwall ground, passing South Bermondsey station doing a little loop featuring the closed Bolina Road underneath the various lines near the Bermondsey dive-under.  I headed back towards the Overground track and headed towards Surrey Canal Road (where maybe one of these days the station will get built).  I carried on following a path via the Bridgehouse Meadows, then some roads (passing a vehicle scrap place), before Brimmington Park and some more roads leading to Queens Road Peckham Station.  My idea of grabbing food from the little Tesco outside the station failed as the fridge was broken.  Anyhow I continued, next explore was the Kirkwood Nature Reserve which was an unexpected parcel of quiet within London before heading towards Cossall Park and some more roads (and the Peckham Levels place) to reach Peckham Rye station.

Kirkwood Nature Reserve, Peckham

This is where my rough idea for this walk changed from walking towards Burgess Park to walk the old canal route, to walking via the Holly Grove Shrubbery to reach Warwick Gardens before some more roads to reach Denmark Hill station.  After a brief pause outside Denmark Hill station, I continued towards Ruskin Park (a place I will revisit as it had nice views) before some more roads (and minor footpaths) to reach Loughborough Junction to end the walk where I boarded 700048 for the run to Mitcham Junction giving my phone a much-needed boost of electricity before setting off on my 3rd walk.  This walk took me towards what was shown on the map as the "Old Tramway" path towards Goat Road, where I headed into Mitcham Common along a slightly muddy path within a corridor of trees.  This carried on to a railway bridge where I had good timing with a Dorking bound service passing before I continued along this footpath which took me to Beddington Lane tram stop.  There was a path just after the railway bridge which headed south towards the Beddington Farmlands which is somewhere I will explore later in the year when it should be less muddy.

377603 approaching a footbridge near Mitcham Common on a service to Dorking

Anyhow walking over, it was to the trams with tram 2538 up first to take me to East Croydon where I grabbed a late lunch before sub mile 2532 popped up to take me to Wandle Park where I got lucky with sub mile 2537 back to East Croydon, which cleared the original batch of London trams for a mile (other than for the one involved in that tragic accident).  Just one of the newer trams to hunt down for a mile (2560) but I’m pretty sure I saw it on the depot when I went past earlier but that can wait for another trip to Croydon as I headed into the station and onto 700129 to Farringdon, changing to 345020 for the run to Stratford and 720555 to Tottenham Hale meeting up with a good friend for a brief time and a chat.

Next up was 745107 to Liverpool Street (I always forget how much of a crawl this section is) before 720587 & 720545 to Stratford where we parted ways and I carried on to Romford on 720501 & 720566 to exit the station to visit Tesco for some bits for dinner before returning to the station to board winner 720119 & 720546 on a service from Southend for the trip to Liverpool Street, there were a couple more required 720s floating around on Wickford services but those didn’t call at Romford and connections at Shenfield were a bit ropey so I decided those could wait for another trip as I headed to the underground firing up my list of sub mile LU units.

720512 at Tottenham Hale Station

After a short wait 21071/21072 on a Metropolitan line service took me to Kings Cross St Pancras where I decided to head to the Piccadilly line, getting sets 181, 104, 177, 202, 860, 141 over a mile pinging back between Kings Cross & Caledonian Road a couple of times before linearly to Green Park via Holborn.  I headed to the Jubilee Line to see it was in a state of chaos with delays (again) with 9 minutes for the next train, the crowds getting bigger and bigger before 96027/96012 rolled in as I managed to get on board for the run to Waterloo (who knew what the following service would have been like).  At Waterloo I headed towards 159001 working the 19:45 service for Salisbury, reasonably loaded at least in the front coach, although it did empty out at Woking.  Nothing uneventful happened on the trip back to Grateley, followed by a gentle walk home.

A nice day trip, some more areas of South London explored, some I won’t be in a rush to revisit whereas some I will revisit.  The weather held off as well which was a bonus as the forecast was a bit changeable.  The Tuesday was my last day of annual leave which I did a couple random bus routes in the Salisbury area due to the rain (the 67 from Tidworth to Salisbury & a 37 towards Lockerley via some smaller villages).  Although I regret not doing a 26 to Gillingham when I saw it loading up in Salisbury city centre as that seems to have disappeared from the timetable.

6th January – Canals & old railways in the West Midlands

Today as the weather was decent (after a week of heavy rain) I decided to head towards Birmingham to walk the Titford Canal plus some other bits which have been on my list.  The day began with the 05:59 service to Basingstoke with 159021 & 158888 which were originally meant to carry on to Reading but got cancelled at Basingstoke due to staff shortage.  Next up was a pair of voyagers (220007 & 220005) for the trip towards Banbury, the coach I was in only getting busy after Oxford.  At Banbury it was a short wait before 168328 & 168004 rolled in on the next Birmingham Moor Street service which I took to Solihull meeting up with a good friend (who had already purchased me a Daytripper to save a job).  A short wait before 172219 & 172343 rolled in from Dorridge to take us to Langley Green where our walk began.

We exited the station, heading towards the Titford canal from the Station Road bridge dropping onto the towpath (which was quite decent quality in this section) to walk towards the Titford Pool, partly underneath the M5 motorway.  We did a loop to cover both arms of the canal with a short section of the nature reserve in between the canal before returning to the main canal to head back towards Langley Green, this time continuing pass the remains of Langley Maltings and an old railway bridge which once carried the Oldbury branch line.  We continued along the towpath passing the shorten Tat Bank branch (mostly used to moor boats with no public access) and onto the locks to drop towards the Old Main Line of the Birmingham Canal.  The last section of the towpath turned quite muddy and the junction between the canals is underneath the M5.

Titford Canal in the Oldbury area

Turning left onto the Old Main line we headed towards Oldbury on a section which we walked back in 2022 before heading onto ‘new’ coverage after Round Greens Road where the towpath did get a better quality to give us a short break from uneven ground and mud.  We continued along the canal in the urban area, although there were some nice views along the way but nothing that special as we reached the section I walked back in December when doing the Gower Branch & Netherton tunnel branch.  After the aqueduct over the Netherton tunnel branch we continued towards Tipton, passing a couple dodgy looking youths on off-road motorbikes who looked like the sort who would grab handbags and zoom away safe in the knowledge the police won’t catch them.

Anyhow back to the canal, as we reached a point where I wanted to investigate the Dudley canal as different maps had different things showing as we crossed over a bridge near Baker Street (The so-called Pitchfork Footbridge) to walk along the towpath to reach Tipton Junction where the Dudley Canal branched off.  We followed this canal reaching a gate where I presume the remainder of the towpath is part of the Black Country Living Museum, so we did a little U-turn back underneath the A4123 for a short section along the road back towards the Pitchfork Footbridge (quicker going via the road and avoided a narrow section of towpath).

Dudley Canal in the Tipton Area

Back onto the Birmingham Canal for a short section before another little detour, this time along a path along the remains of part of the old Tipton Green canal before returning to the Birmingham Canal for the last section to Factory Junction where the old main line meets the new main line (which for me marks the completion of the Old Main Line of the Birmingham Canal).  We turned onto the New Main line for a short section coming away underneath the railway and into an area of open land before reaching the car park area at Tipton station.  Going underneath the railway again we had the option of taking the train for a tram to the start point of our next walk or using a bus, so using Google Maps it suggested the bus route was slightly quicker (and had the advantage of being closer to the start) so it was to the bus stop on Wood Street for a Diamond Bus operated route 229 for Bilston (with bus 32126).

This bus went on a little tour towards Sedgley, Hurst Hill & Coseley before reaching Bilston where we alighted at the Industrial Park stop.  We headed along the road to pick up the start of a path along the route of the old Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway route of Millfields Road.  This path was quite new that it didn't even show on my Strava.  This path took us towards Priestfield tram stop, where we continued along the tram track crossing the A41 road and onto the old railway route towards Wolverhampton Low Level (as the tram diverts to run along the road).  This was an unexpected gem of a path, quite peaceful as it ran within a tree lined cutting, although quite a bit of rubbish along the way (popular place for flytipping it seems).  It let us to Lower Walsall Street with the flooded remains of the route heading into a tunnel.  We headed on the road towards The Royal tram stop with tram 46 taking us towards Pipers Row where we walked to Wolverhampton station via Sainsburys so I could grab a late lunch.

Remains of old railway route Priestfield & Wolverhampton (Low Level)

At Wolverhampton station, the next Birmingham train was a service from Shrewsbury with winner 196012 leading dud 196003 for the run into Birmingham New Street, where we exited for a gentle walk towards Bull Street tram stop with tram 46 to Edgbaston Village, returning on the same tram back towards Grand Central where we parted ways with Jan heading back towards Wolverhampton on the stopper and I headed towards the toilets.  Along the way I had noticed 2 winning trams were out, so I decided to give 196 hunting a miss.  I headed to the tram stop to jump onto tram 57 towards West Bromwich Central but my prediction was wrong and tram 40 took me to Lodge Road to waste time before winner tram 50 rolled in from Wolverhampton to take me to the stop at Winson Green (Outer Circle).

Tram 51 returned me towards West Bromwich to the stop at Dudley Street before winner 49 arrived to take me to Bull Street where I had a gentle walk towards Moor Street swinging via the shops outside Snow Hill for dinner items.  At Moor Street it was onto the next Chiltern service formed of 168106 & 168110 to take me to Banbury for a short wait before 221131 rolled in on the next Cross-Country service towards Bournemouth.  I got lucky to grab a table seat in coach B to carry on watching videos on my tablet and was glad at Reading to alight as it got quite busy with some loud drunks boarding.  I had a short wait before 159005 & 158881 rolled in from Salisbury to take me back to Grateley the end of a productive day.  A nice little social catchup as well as some canal walking plus some old railway lines which had been on my list for a while.

West Midland Metro Tram 49 at Bull Street

7th January – “It’s all gone a bit wrong, Plan C it is then”.

The original plan for today was to do a large loop from Reading towards Newport for a TfW to Hereford then a GWR back towards Reading, solely to cover the unusual track on offer due to engineering works (the curve between Heywood Road & Hawkeridge Junction outside Westbury station linking Pewsey & Trowbridge) plus more unusually the Didcot West curve.  I hung back buying the tickets (other than to Reading from Grateley) until the day as following the heavy rain the line via Newbury had been closed.  This turned out to be a wise move as things went a bit wrong (and I’m not talking about the TfW Mk4 loco hauled set getting replaced by a pair of 153s!).

The day began with 159006 & 159013 on a Basingstoke train from Grateley for the short leap to Andover to step back to a busy 159108 on a Reading service.  This took us to Reading, a station which was unusually quiet as due to overhead wire damage at the Paddington end of the route services to & from Paddington had been suspended with a late running IET heading to Slough.  I dread to think how busy the Redhill/Gatwick trains would have been with passengers heading towards London via Guildford (or even Redhill) as I changed my plan to head towards Oxford, plan B would have involved the bus route from Banbury to Oxford, but connections were a bit poor at either end to the trains.

159108 at Reading Station

Eventually a late running 220005 rolled in ECS from Eastleigh (seemed to have got delayed around Basingstoke) which had a large crowd waiting for it.  Thankfully I had a good position to be close to a door and grabbed a pair of non-reservable seats in coach D as the voyager headed to Oxford going the usual route around Didcot (as the engineering works block only came into force in the afternoon).  After a visit to the toilets, we headed to bus 672 working the Oxford Buses X1 for Wantage.  This was a former Park & Ride spec Wright StreetDeck featuring tables and even a sofa on the top deck.

This bus headed away from Oxford diverting from the usual route direct towards the Redbridge Park & Ride via Hinksey due to (I presume) flooding going via Iffley and the by-pass to reach the Park & Ride site.  After the Park & Ride it headed towards Abingdon then Marcham, Hanney and crossing the Great Western Main Line near the site of Wantage Road before going into Grove (lots of new houses being constructed) and finally reaching Wantage Market Place.  The wind had certainly picked up and was quite cold as we headed to a Sainsburys to grab lunch.

Oxford Buses Bus 672 (SK66 HUU) at Wantage Market Place

Next up was the Stagecoach operated S9 route back towards Oxford with bus 10788 (a Gold branded Enviro 400).  This followed a slightly different route out of Wantage into Grove before running a similar route to the X1 until Frilford where it continued along the A338 via a few golf courses and some posh looking houses.  The bus went via Cumnor before heading towards Oxford via Botley and some serious looking floods.  The bus terminated at Osney Island with the works at Oxford station, so it was a short walk along a busy path towards Oxford station in the cold wind.  We had longer to wait as the next train was running late, eventually 802021 rolling in from London, going straight into platform 3 to go back south.  We managed to get seats on this busy service (I dread to think how busy the front coaches would have been with the waiting crowd) with the following Bournemouth bound voyager being put onto platform 4 and following this unit.

Due to engineering works the direct route was blocked (work around Didcot East Junction I think) so this service used the west curve and reversed on the main GWML to go into Didcot on platform 2.  Some delays to northbound services caused by congestion but for this service reversal was quite quick (I suspect driver both ends).  After Didcot the train continued to Reading station, where we alighted, headed across to platform 3 to board the next SWR service for Salisbury with 158887 & 158882, the rear unit was quite busy (the previous GWR for Basingstoke was cancelled to get it back on time due to running hopelessly late).  Nothing unusual along the way back to Grateley, with a gentle walk home in the daylight.  The end of an interesting day trip looking out of the window in Oxfordshire, Wantage seemed a nice enough place for a future explore, but not when the wind was quite arctic.  I think the last time I was on a train which used the Didcot West curve was a diverted HST back in September 2017 when the Reading area was closed for electrification, I think.

802002 at Reading Station

27th December – 31st December – Merseyside getaway & London

27th December – 31st December – Merseyside getaway & London

This was a bit of a late(ish) booking for a few days in Merseyside bolting onto a hotel booking I had in Leatherhead which was meant to be for a railtour I decided not to book onto.  After doing some research at the start of December I located a suitable looking shared house near Edge Hill for a reasonable amount (sometimes it’s worth paying a bit extra to get closer to a station/city centre).

27th December – “It’s a tad wet today”.

The trip began with the 05:27 service from Grateley, originally, I was booked on the 05:59 with a change at Basingstoke for a service to London but the late notice works at Woking reduced the timetable, so the connecting train ceased to exist.  After asking the guard for permission to board this near enough empty service with 159106 all was going well until I noticed the PIS at Whitchurch saying “Basingstoke” rather than London Waterloo with the announcement that due to signalling issues at the Waterloo end this train would terminate at Basingstoke.  Which is all fine other than the next service to London was in an hours’ time (would it have been too hard to have held the stopper which was departing as this service arrived?)

I relocated to the warm waiting room along with many other passengers, being joined by more passengers from the following service from Salisbury terminating at Basingstoke.  Going via Reading & GWR wasn’t really an option due to Paddington being closed, eventually 450050 & 450119 rolled in from Eastleigh (was Southampton Airport but started short due to late arrival of the ECS from Portsmouth).  I managed to get a decent seat (well decent on a 450) in the front coach, and all was going well until the Farnborough area where the signaller decided to put the stopper in front for the section which was operating as a 2 track railway so it was a bit of a crawl until Woking where the 450s headed onto the fast line to overtake the stopper for the run to Waterloo.

159106 at Basingstoke

My original idea was to walk to Euston (as the rain wasn’t due to arrive until the afternoon and to save hanging over money to TfL) but with the late arrival I didn’t really have the time to even use the bus, so it was to the underground with 51581/51713 on the first northbound service to take me to Euston.  With some time to spare I decided to head towards a member of staff to add my latest gold card discount to my oyster, only to discover that it had broken (I used contactless for the tube journey).  That was an extra £7 fee for a replacement oyster card I wasn’t expecting (and I need to somehow link the new oyster to my online account and transfer the remaining few quid on my old oyster, if only I could remember the password I needed to create when it got registered).

Anyhow, Oyster card was updated with my railcard discount (useful for Friday evening), and I swung via Sainsburys for a bit of a late breakfast before heading to the platform to board the 08:46 service for Crewe.  350259 was leading 350409 and I managed to get a table seat in the former TPE unit to watch a movie as the train headed towards Crewe with nothing of note along the way (other than the guard remaining firmly in the middle cab, but at least this time they didn’t lock out the gangway doors to stop pesky passengers from disturbing them).  At Crewe I had some time to kill before the next LNR for Liverpool, so I popped out of the station to visit the Tesco garage before returning for a busy 350371 to Liverpool Lime Street.

350371 at Liverpool Lime Street

Due to the wet weather my planned idea to walk the path alongside the Mersey between Cressington & Brunswick was put back on the shelf as after buying my Saveaway from the ticket office I headed to the Merseyrail platforms to hunt down some 777s.  Since my last visit to Merseyside, I’ve put together a little mileage sheet which comes in handy at determining how far 10 miles is on the various routes.  The first few services round the loop at Lime Street weren’t needed but soon winner 777026 popped up on an Ellesmere Port service which gave me an excuse to revisit the two stations between Ellesmere Port & Hooton for some better photographs as this unit took me to a damp Overpool where I had a short wait before it returned to take me to Little Sutton.  Along the way south I was keeping my eyes out to try and ID the northbound services, which was easier said than done.

Anyhow a short wait at Little Sutton before winner 777010 rolled in to take me to Ellesmere Port for a quick turnaround (it was running late) to take me towards Hamilton Square, stepping back to board winner 777006 on a Chester service going round the loop, which I took to Bache.  I knew from earlier the following Chester unit was also a winner 777 but first I popped to Morrisons to grab something to munch (although options were quite limited) and to make use of the toilets.  I returned to Bache station for a short wait before 777024 returned from Chester to take me back to the city centre at Lime Street where I headed upstairs to jump on the first available Northern service for Edge Hill, a slightly delayed (not like there were any announcements to why it departed 10 minutes late) 331107 on a Wigan service.

777026 at Little Sutton Station

I exited the station at Edge Hill to walk towards the accommodation on Durning Road, near enough opposite a couple of takeaways, hardest part was collecting the front door key from a little key press which was very close to the wet ground.  Once I collected the key, I gained access to the house, 4 bedrooms with a bedroom & a little lounge/kitchen area on the ground floor and 3 bedrooms plus a bathroom upstairs.  Like the place in Crewe the shared bathroom was for 2 of the 3 bedrooms, the 3rd was en-suite.  I located my room (a single room) which was basic but perfectly functional, dropping off things from my bag before heading out, swinging via an Iceland on the way back to Edge Hill station to waste some time before 331022 rolled in from either Wigan or Manchester (Edge Hill is one of those stations which suffers from bunching of services, might get 4tph into Liverpool but when 3 of those trains are within 10 minutes of each other [when not cancelled] it isn’t the best.

Anyhow at Liverpool I had a gentle walk towards Liverpool Central, having the option of a winner 777 towards Hunt Cross (which strangely was being showed as “formed of 8 coaches”) but I went for winner 777030 for the run to Town Green, keeping my eyes on any passing trains to attempt to ID them (made harder with the darkness). After swinging via the Co-Op (picking up a packet of reduced to clear mince pies) I returned to Town Green station for dud 777011 for the run to Orrell Park, was originally going to change at Walton but it lost a couple of minutes.  777014 took me back north towards Aughton Park to intercept winner 777023 for the run to Moorfields where I ran into 507001 on a Southport service, first time seeing this unit since it’s been done up in old style colours, and it looked good.

507001 at Moorfields Station

Winner 777140 arrived on a train from Headbolt Lane, which I took to Liverpool Central, remaining on board for the run to Headbolt Lane, once more going into platform 2.  A station which had a couple of security guards evicting some youths from the train for not having tickets before the train headed back towards Liverpool where I changed at Rice Lane for the short walk to Walton and onto winner 777002 to Liverpool Central, remaining on board for the return to Maghull to push it over 10 miles with a decent connection (for it was the time of night Merseyrail drop to 2tph).  777011 returned me towards Liverpool where I was looking at options to get back to Edge Hill within a sea of Northern cancellations, the fastest option involved changing at Sandhills to board 507021 to Liverpool South Parkway for a short walk to board 156420 on the stopper from Oxford Road to reach Edge Hill.

The rain has returned as I headed back towards the shared house and crashing for the night.  The 04:45 alarm catching up with me.  One slight issue I had was with the heating within the room as it was controlled by a smart portable thermostat with no method of changing the pre-set temperature (as the room was quite warm and I sleep better in a cooler room).  I think I solved the issue by wrapping the thermostat within my jumper to fool it into thinking it was warmer than it was.  The room was very quiet otherwise with both blinds and a thick curtain.

185133 at Liverpool South Parkway

28th December – A Cheshire Day Ranger

The day began with a search on RTT for any wanted TfW 197s (plus for the EMR services in case my last couple 170s wanted for mileage popped up), forming a rough plan to grab some.  I headed out of the shared house, passing Edge Hill station on a gentle walk towards the city centre.  The rain had gone away at least for the time being as I headed down Tunnel Road to reach Smithdown Lane, before going towards Crown Street Park, then via the roads towards St Lukes church (which had been bombed) then into Lime Street.  I was originally going to grab something to eat from Boots, but I noticed they had hiked the cost of a meal deal from £3.60 to £4.50 so I walked out leaving my items behind as I refuse to pay for the station premium Boots think they can get away with.

It was to the trains with 350114 on a Birmingham service to take me to Crewe on a semi-fast service, where I had a short wait before winner 197111 rolled in to form a Crewe – Manchester service.  Engineering works on the line via Shrewsbury meant TfW had split the Manchester trains into a Crewe – Manchester shuttle and a Crewe – South Wales via Chester service.  This lightly loaded 197 took me into Piccadilly where I had around 25 minutes to wait before winner 197115 rolled in on a Llandudno train.  This is the first of the batch of 3 coach units featuring a large area of 1st class (or “Standard Plus” as TfW is calling it) seating, although meant to be running in standard class only for the time being, it didn’t stop the catering trolley host from saying “this is 1st class, you need to move on” as he wanted his own private area.  The seats did look quite decent in all fairness, certainly would be worth the upgrade but I can’t help thinking TfW should have focused more on standard class rather than areas of 1st class which will be barely used.

197111 at Manchester Piccadilly

This busy 197 took me towards Warrington Bank Quay where I risked the 4-minute connection to winner 197051 on the next Manchester service, which was quite busy.  Along the way I looked up the fastest way to reach the Borderlands line as all 3 units out I needed (2x 197s plus the 230).  The train eventually crawled into Oxford Road caught up in congestion (because you must use platform 4 even when platform 3 is empty due to the poor signalling along the corridor), making a tight connection to a late running 158812 to take me to Liverpool Lime Street (was originally aiming for the stopper via Chat Moss but wasn’t going to turn down a faster ride, even if it was busy).  Thankfully it passed the stopper in the loop near Glazebrook and arrived at Lime Street without further delays.

I headed towards the Merseyrail entrance to see it fenced off with a member of staff saying no trains were running due to a signalling issue with replacement buses from Moorfields.  So, I headed towards Moorfields (which isn’t the easiest to reach from Lime Street) noticing that trains had started to run again so ignoring the queue for the replacement bus I headed to the platform with 507004 taken to Hamilton Square on a Chester train before 507017 rolled in on a West Kirby service which got as far as Birkenhead North before getting taken out of service.  I guess in theory I could have probably walked to Bidston to catch the next 197 but it would have been very tight, and it had started to rain.

507017 at Birkenhead North

Communication at Birkenhead North was non-existent, as 3 trains for New Brighton arrived and departed before 777014 rolled in to start at Birkenhead North with a West Kirby service.  I checked RTT and saw I could take this 777 to West Kirby and return to Bidston in time for the next TfW service considering it was running late (so ironically if I remained on 197051 to head to Manchester Airport and took it to Shotton I would have made the +2 connection, but hey-ho, I tried to be smart, but things went wrong).  777014 took me to West Kirby where I remained on board back to Bidston for a short wait before winner 230009 rolled in, my last of the active TfW 230s excluding 230006 which is the depot Christmas Tree.

I took this 230 towards Shotton but was a bit too interested with my game of solitaire and headed to Hawarden instead (oops).  At least it gave me time for some better photos at Hawarden as previously this station was the passing point of the hourly service.  A short wait before winner 197045 rolled in to take me back to Bidston, remaining on the train for the run back towards Hawarden Bridge (which is no longer awkward with all trains calling there by request).  I had a gentle walk towards Shotton via a footbridge and a couple other paths, ending up in the Spoons to have dinner (a burger which was on a special offer).  After dinner I headed to Shotton station to board winner 197006 for the run to Bidston, only to find that the Merseyrail network was still a bit in chaos.

230009 at Hawarden Station... Wheres the bridge?

I jumped onto dud 777026 for the single stop to Birkenhead North, mainly to get away from some loud youngsters and onto 507011 from New Brighton.  It took nearly 30 minutes to travel the short distance between Conway Park & Hamilton Square, no announcements from the guard into why the train was so slow.  I alighted at Hamilton Square with the signalling giving up the ghost with drivers being talked through each red signal.  Didn’t help that Merseyrail sending an ECS into the chaos as well (something for Kirkdale from Rock Ferry).  Eventually winner 777028 rolled in on a West Kirby service which I took round the loop (the signalling seemed to only be around Hamilton Square – James Street) and back out towards Manor Road to see what the unit was following (507001).  I returned to Birkenhead Park on 777028 to see what another couple of services were before jumping onto 507013 to Lime Street with a fast walk to board 195104 on a Warrington Central stopper which unusually called at Edge Hill (normally the Warrington Central services skip Edge Hill).

This 195 took me to Edge Hill, where I had a short walk back to the shared house, relaxing for the rest of the evening listening to some music when having a catch-up on the internet.  A productive but stressful day.

195104 at Edge Hill Station

29th December – Last day in Merseyside

My last day in Merseyside and I was out of the shared house around 8am, a place I will use again if I ever get the need to stay overnight in Merseyside, and like the Thursday I was on foot towards Liverpool city centre (saves hanging around until 09:30).  I went via Gladstone Road and Paddington Village, passing various university buildings (all closed for the duration of the holidays) before swinging via the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral to reach Lime Street.  At Lime Street I headed into Spoons for breakfast before heading to Liverpool Central and onto 507028 on the next Hunts Cross service to Cressington where I started my main walk (something I was hoping to do on Wednesday had it not been raining).

It might not have been raining, but that wind was cold!  I headed towards Grassendale Esplanade alongside the River Mersey before heading in-land to reach the Trans-Pennie Trail on the Otterspool Promenade.  I followed this riverside path via Festival Gardens to reach the Brunswick area with an enforced extra loop due to the gates into the business park being closed.  After going via Brunswick Dock, it was a short walk along the road to reach Brunswick station and back to the trains.  A nice walk which I would recommend, although not on a day of strong wind as the waves nearly got me a couple of times.

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (South Side)

Anyhow it was onto 507033 to Moorfields, where I changed to the Wirral line platform and onto 777028 to James Street, crossing over to the city loop platform for a loop on 777013 to take me to Bidston (via the city centre).  I had a short wait before 197006 appeared for the next Wrexham train which took me to Heswall station.  Sadly, the position of the sun meant no decent photo of the 197 departing this station as I headed across to the opposite platform (going via the One Stop shop to see if they had anything suitable for lunch).

230007 rolled in on the next Bidston train which I took towards Bidston, including a 5-minute dwell at Upton for pathing as it ran into platform 1 at Bidston as 230009 awaited departure on platform 2.  Just a little microgrice of the track into platform 1 as most services use platform 2 from the Wrexham direction (something which I’ve tried to do a couple of times in the past but both times the train was quite late it went straight into P2 rather than going into P1 to hide away for 20 minutes in the reversing siding.

230007 & 230009 at Bidston Station

Next up for me was dud 777026 to Birkenhead Park, crossing the platform to board 507014 to take me to New Brighton, where I exited the station going towards the seafront to visit Morrisons before waiting round for the next Arriva bus to Liverpool.  Meant to be every 10 minutes alternating between a 432 & 433 but there was a large gap in services (didn’t help that there was no real time information shown).  Eventually bus 4505 (a Volvo B5LH Wright Eclipse Gemini) rolled up on a 433.  This route went via Liscard & Poulton before the Kingsway tunnel to reach Liverpool city centre, finishing at Castle Street.  Got very busy after Liscard and I think the following bus soon caught up with us.  I just wanted to do this bus route for the slight novelty of going via the newer Kingsway tunnel underneath the Mersey (having done the Queensway tunnel earlier in the year).

I alighted from the bus at Castle Street, walking to James Street where the next train was already in the platform, winner 777020 on an Ellesmere Port service.  That will do nicely I said to myself as I took it all the way to Ellesmere Port, remaining on the unit for the run back towards Liverpool as sadly time was short, and it was time for me to start heading towards Leatherhead.  350371 was on the 17:08 service to Birmingham New Street, departed late (again with no communication from the guard about why it was 5 minutes late departing) and lost some more time at South Parkway before heading to Crewe.

Approaching the Kingsway Tunnel

The next London Euston train was 350377 running solo (at least it wasn’t a solo 350/2) as I grabbed the extra legroom seat behind the cab for the journey towards London.  An uneventful journey as it arrived into platform 2 at Euston, alongside the highland sleeper, only really got busy after Rugby, although I dread to think what it would have been like heading back to Crewe on the 20:46 service.  I had some time to kill so I swung via Sainsburys before boarding 350242 & 350103 on a stopper (featuring a guard who locked the corridor between units out of use, because ya know, he can’t be bothered by those pesky passengers, even when both toilets in the rear unit were out of use).  I took these 350s to Harrow & Wealdstone for a short wait before 377702 rolled in from Watford Junction (after a pair of 350s from Milton Keynes which on a normal weekday would have been a pair of 730s).

This 377 took me on the slow trip towards Clapham Junction, where I changed from oyster to a paper ticket and onto 377707 & 377703 on the next Dorking service to take me to Leatherhead where I had a short walk to the Travelodge, getting a free upgrade to a Family room (as they didn’t have any double rooms left).  Not like it bothered me as after having a shower and did some research on my phone I headed to bed.  A bit of outside noise as my room overlooked the main entrance, with people arriving late after a night out, but overall, a half decent Travelodge.  One I might use again if the price was right, but the location isn’t that ideal if needed for an early start.

350247 at Harrow & Wealdstone Station

30th December – Grand Union Canal & Mill Hill Walks

My alarm went off around 06:45 and I was out of the hotel by 07:00 to swing via a Greggs located opposite the hotel for a free breakfast roll (via the O2 Priority App) and headed to the station to board 377626 to take me to Sutton where I stepped back to board 700001 on the next Thameslink service towards St Pancras, having a gentle walk in the light rain to Euston.  Today was a day where the weather forecast did a U-turn to what was forecasted at half ten at night and if I hadn’t already purchased my ticket, I was tempted to park the walk but as I had already purchased my ticket, I didn’t want to waste it.

After grabbing some supplies from Sainsburys I headed into the station to board 350242 & 350103 on a Tring service to take me to Hemel Hempstead where it was light drizzling but not the “heavy rain” which was predicted.  I headed out of the station, towards the Grand Union canal at a lock off Fishery Lane for a gentle walk, dodging various puddles along the towpath (which changed in quality a few times along the way from tarmac, to compressed stones, to mud).  I headed underneath the WCML near Bourne End (I dread to think how many times I’ve been on a train over that bridge in the last 10 years) and the towpath walk continued.

Railway Bridge over the Grand Union Canal in the Bourne End area

Some nice scenery along the way as I reached Berkhamsted and a potential break point, but the weather was reasonable, so I decided to push on into the countryside, the railway not being that far away with the soundtrack of trains as I reached Tring cutting which by far was the worse section for mud but was very pretty with the trees.  The canal walk ended at Station Road as I climbed some steep steps and had a short walk along the road to reach Tring station, heading towards platform 4 to take a seat on 350403 & 350123 working the next Tring – London service (along the walk I noticed at least 3 pairs of 350/2s on fast line services so a bit ironic a pair of nice 350s were on the semi-fast).  Got quite busy after Hemel (as the previous stopper from Milton Keynes was cancelled) as I took this pair all the way to Euston.

At Euston, I headed to the underground, boarding an Edgware bound Northern line service (formed of 51613/51612, a sub mile pair) to Colindale to do a walk I was hoping to have done at the start of the month, but it got rained off.  I exited the underground station, heading towards Montrose Park and Burnt Oak underground station, before following a path which followed the Northern line towards Deansbrook Road, before a short section of walking along the pavements to reach the entrance to the Edgware depot where the Mill Hill Old Railway Nature Reserve started.

A Northern line service departs Colindale

This was a random discovery from Google Maps, a path which is only open on weekends which follows the route of the old Edgware, Highgate and London Railway.  This was quite an unusual experience being close to nature within London and being the only person on this slightly muddy path.  The end comes out into Lyndhurst Park with a bit of an overgrown section which I suspect if you started at this end could easily be overlooked.  Anyhow I joined the road network again, missing the back entrance to Mill Hill Broadway station and ended up going via the front entrance, hidden underneath the M1 alongside a small bus terminus.  The train I was hoping to catch sadly was cancelled so it was a longer wait before 700058 rolled in on a Rainham service.  Originally, I was going to take this to London Bridge to change for something South-eastern to Waterloo East, but for some reason it lost around 10 minutes after Mill Hill to West Hampstead Thameslink (think something was coming out or heading into the sidings at Cricklewood).  So, I bailed at West Hampstead Thameslink for the short walk to the jubilee line.

Onwards to London Waterloo with the first available southbound service with 96073 & 96002 where I ended my trip in London with the 15:50 service for Salisbury formed of 159108.  I was feeling a bit tired, and my legs were slightly muddy after the walking so I didn’t fancy waiting round for the 19:50 service due to the PM restrictions on super off-peak tickets on Saturdays.  This 159 was quite busy (until Woking) before it quietened out as I settled down to relax before having a gentle walk home to sort out my bag after an enjoyable few days away.

Entrance to the Mill Hill Old Railway Nature Reserve (Lyndhurst Park)

31st December – A random day in London

Last trip of 2023 and it was another trip to London with mum to get her out of the house for the day.  I had a few ideas in my head but this was very much a make it up as I went along sort of day as we headed to Grateley station for the first train towards London with 159103 & 159022 taking us to Woking, where we changed platforms to board 455848 & 455739 to Walton on Thames, where we exited the station (after noticing the new footbridge under construction complete with lifts) and headed for a gentle walk along a footpath towards a Tesco Express (to grab some supplies for lunch to save a job for later) before heading to the bus stop opposite Felcott Road in what technically was Hersham.

The first bus day was the route 555 operated by Diamond Buses, with a Wright StreetLite (32321) on the Heathrow Central service.  We were the only passengers on board as the bus made its way into Walton on Thames picking up another passenger.  After Walton it went via Shepperton, Sunbury, Ashford before reaching Stanwell where the bus picked up a few more passengers before heading towards Heathrow, firstly via terminal 4 then Hatton Cross before the main bus station at Heathrow Central.  A bus route which felt like it had quite a bit of padding as it kept on stopping at the timing points to wait for correct departure time, interesting to see parts of the country and another bus route into Heathrow ticked off my list.

Diamond Bus 32321 (BD20 ODA) at Heathrow Central Bus Station (Route 555)

We headed into Heathrow itself, swinging via the toilets before walking to the station, where we boarded a busy 345059 for the long run via Central London to Woolwich, for a gentle walk out of the station towards the bus stop on Thomas Street to board the next route 96 service to Bluewater.  Ran with Stagecoach London bus 19867 (an Enviro 400).  The first section after Woolwich was on a diversion due to roadworks as it headed towards Plumstead, Welling & Bexleyheath.  After Bexleyheath it headed towards Dartford via Crayford where it ran semi-fast towards Bluewater shopping centre going via the Darent Valley Hospital.  Felt strange being on a TfL bus outside London where the bus stops weren't in TfL style.  An interesting route seeing this part of South East London from a different angle, rather than travelling by train.

At Bluewater, we headed into the shopping centre Marks & Spencer to visit the toilets (as the toilets at the bus station are long term closed) before boarding Ensignbus route X80 with bus 171 (a Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid).  A quiet bus route which I've done before but heading southbound.  Going northbound the bus goes via the Dartford Tunnel to reach the bus station at Lakeside where we left the bus.  Certainly, felt strange going via the Dartford Tunnel, something I’ve not done for a few years.  At Lakeside we had a short wait before the next TfL run route 370 service rolled in, with Arriva London’s DW231 (A Wright Gemini 2).  This bus headed away from Lakeside into the countryside (which felt so strange being on a London bus in open countryside) going towards the Ockendons, Corbets Tey before reaching Upminster.  After the bus did a turn outside Upminster station it headed towards Hornchurch before reaching Romford where it terminated at Mercury Gardens.  Another interesting bus route to do for the difference between rural & urban areas.

Arriva (London) bus DW231 (LJ59 AFA) at Lakeside (Route 370)

The day on the buses was at an end as we walked to Romford station to board 720588 & 720120 to Stratford, changing to the DLR for a Woolwich Arsenal service formed of sets 154 & 109 as the heavens opened with a sudden downpour.  We took this DLR service to the end of the line at Woolwich Arsenal, changing to the National Rail platforms for 707010 & 707001 to Abbey Wood to change for 345045 on a Maidenhead service to take us to Tottenham Court Road, where we changed to the Northern line which was in a state of chaos due to delays.

Eventually the first southbound service arrived with 51701 & 51501 where we managed to get onboard (as who knew how long it would be until the next southbound service and if that would be any better), we took this to Waterloo heading into the chaos of setting up for the fireworks display, grabbing some food from Tesco before heading to board the 17:45 service formed of 159018, 158881 & 159005 for my final train of 2023.  Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the trip back to Grateley, where after a quick photo we walked home to end the day and to end the year.

159005 at Grateley

 

 

The year has had it’s ups and downs, mainly with my mental health.  Some days are better than others, an endless fight against the demons.