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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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