Pre-Christmas Trips (19th - 24th December)

Pre-Christmas Trips

19th December – Sampling the 730s & an evening in London.

I finished work for the year (bit of enforced leave as camp goes into zombie mode) at half-twelve on this wet Tuesday, and after dashing home for a quick turnaround getting a lift to the station arriving with time to spare before 159005 rolled in on the 12:59 to London service.  It was nice just to be able to sit back and relax as the sprinter took me into London without the need to change trains at Basingstoke.  Within London I had a few ideas, but I got news that my last reformed 171 was working a service to London so decided to try and intercept that unit to get it out of the way.

Once I arrived in Waterloo, I crossed over to Waterloo East to board the first available service for London Bridge (a triple networker formation with 465153, 465044 & 466009) and part of me was tempted to remain on board to Elmers End to change for the trams but changed my mind.  I headed towards the Southern part of London Bridge to climb onto 377624 & 377607 on the next “CatTat” service.  I was toying with bailing at South Croydon to walk via Park Hill Park to East Croydon, but the rain had resumed as the train headed south.  The revised idea was to change at Purley for another pair of units back to East Croydon (with the backup being a single 377 from Reigate).

I guess someone must have pulled an alarm after South Croydon as the train came to a stop with the driver walking back to reset (probably someone not hearing the announcements that it’s the front so many coaches for South Croydon).  10 minutes later the train was back on the move, and I jumped off at Purley Oaks, for a quick platform change to 377451 + 377457 back towards East Croydon (overhearing someone talking about how they were going to bounce the barriers as they didn’t have a ticket before putting a facemask on and hood up so any CCTV would barely show his face.  But that’s sadly typical of South London, although I did panic him by saying “there was lots of police at East Croydon earlier” as he remained on the train (so I suspect he was someone of interest to the police).  Anyhow I had a short wait at East Croydon before winner 171809 rolled in from Uckfield, running in a couple minutes early due to a cancelled Thameslink.

171809 at East Croydon

I took this 171 to London Bridge, happy that I don’t have to look out for them again (as I’m not the biggest fan of the 170s).  I headed across to the Thameslink platforms to jump onto 700058 for the short trip to St Pancras to walk to Euston, as I had time before my rough plan to sample the 730s out of Euston.  The 3 coach 730s are going to replace the 323s in the West Midlands as well as working some of the local stoppers (Walsall – Wolverhampton) but have entered service on the southern part of the WCML to allow the 319s to get retired and turned into razor blades.  Anyhow I had a rough plan to get all 3 diagrams as I headed towards the 1st set of 730016 & 730019, boarding at the front.  The good parts are the overhead luggage racks being large and well sited big bins (none of those tiny bins hidden away like on some of the other newer trains), however the biggest negative are the narrow seats.  No spacers between the seats giving the impression of what I call “3-1+2” style seating with a wide aisle but has the disadvantage of said aisle being used as overhang for people who don’t fit on the seats.

As for the seats, I didn’t like them, not sure why but I couldn’t get comfortable, might have been the shape at the back being more suited for someone with a narrower back.  Acceleration was quite good as it headed out of Euston to Harrow & Wealdstone but took nearly 30 seconds for the doors to get released (I believe due to a poorly designed guard release panel as they were designed for driver release, like on the Electrostars).  Anyhow I had around 15 minutes at Harrow & Wealdstone before 730018 & 730013 arrived from Tring to take me back to Euston, this time seating in a standard airline style seat (last time it was in an extra legroom seat).  I think I’ve found a train which rivals the XC 170/1s for lack of legroom as my knees were nearly touching the seat in front.  Sorry but give me a Greater Anglia 720 any day, even with the narrow aisles due to the 3+2 seating.  I can only hope the seating layout on the 730s designed for the longer distance routes (the 5 coach 730/2s) is better, if not I can see careful planning to avoid them on London – Crewe services, even paying over the odds for Avanti.

730016 at London Euston

At Euston I had a short gap before the next pair would arrive (potentially could have been intercepted at Harrow if you can make a couple of tight connections, but as the 730s arrived a minute late any hope of making the Tring train were dashed due to the slow door opening.  With the time I popped to Sainsburys for some dinner items and to get some fresh air before returning to board 730011 & 730012 on the 3rd diagram, this time sampling a table seat.  Again, legroom was crap, probably worse than the legroom on a Mk2 coach or the bay seats on the 456s before they got scrapped.  These trains will be a massive downgrade over the 323s on the Cross City line, would be better if the seats were wider (or even had a spacer between the two seats) even if it meant eating into the aisle, as well as maybe removing some seats to allow for better legroom.  Great trains, but ruined by the seating layout, also needs driver release (and guard close) to speed up dwell times.

Anyhow it was time to switch to the Overground with winner 710375 on the first day of service to South Hampstead to return to Headstone Lane (nearly put Headbolt Lane there!) on 710377 before winner 710379 to take me back to Euston which leaves just 374 of the 5 coach 710s for when that eventually enters service (along with 270).  At Euston it was a short walk to the Northern line for a short hunt in case any of my sub mile sets popped up but sadly time ran out and I took 51577 & 51578 to Waterloo to end the day with 159106 & 159104 on the 21:20 service back to Grateley.  A good evening out, getting my last 171 as well as those 710s.  I was disappointed with the 730s.

20th December – Exploring Seaford & Newhaven

After a trip to London on the Tuesday I decided to head to Southern on the Wednesday (as the weather was looking nice and dry, if not windy).  I drove to Romsey station, getting parked up with ease (one of the few times this year I’ve paid for station parking, but it wasn’t too badly priced).  I used the time I had spare to renew my Hatton – Lapworth season ticket for another year at the ticket office (saved a job for the Friday) before boarding 166204 for the trip to Southampton Central.  I popped out of the station to visit Tesco Express before boarding 377108 on the Brighton service, getting quite full before reaching Worthing and I think leaving passengers behind come Shoreham.

At Brighton it was a short wait for 377312 to roll in to form the next Seaford service which took me to Seaford.  Felt odd not being on a 313 on this branch line, nor seeing any of those old trains floating around (first time in this area since they got withdrawn).  At Seaford I set off for my little walk, swinging via Morrisons before joining the coastal path heading towards Newhaven.  Maybe not the best of ideas to walk this path with that wind being a bit on the cold side.  I continued via the old village of Tide Mills to reach the Newhaven East Pier, walking to the end of this short pier for some photos before heading back inland towards the industrial units around Newhaven Harbour.

377312 at Seaford

After reaching the end of the footpath, I did a U-turn back over the railway and onto a slightly muddy footpath which followed the Mill Creek back towards Tide Mills and doing a loop in the countryside to come back to the Mill Drove, which I followed across the railway (passing the site of Bishopstone Beach Halt) and onto a mixed used path which follows the A259 road giving some nice views of the Ouse Estuary Nature Reserve, doing another loop (involving the McKingley Way road) before heading towards Bishopstone station, arriving just as the light was starting to fade.  The end of a bit of an unplanned walk which changed a few times during the walk based on how I was feeling.  Anyhow it was back to the trains as 377312 rolled in to take me back towards Brighton.  I will return to this area as I ran out of time with the light

Newhaven East Pier

It was time for the 2nd part of today’s trip as I headed towards Haywards Heath on 387206 + 387222 before returning south linearly hopping to Preston Park via Hassocks (377434 + 377406 & 387217 + 387202) before boarding 387209 & 387223 on the daily London Bridge – Littlehampton service, solely for the novelty of 387s on the West Coastway line.  A very quiet train, at least in the back carriage as it headed towards Littlehampton, arriving at platform 1 on top of another 377.  I had a short wait before 377301 rolled into platform 4 to form the next Portsmouth stopper which I took to Havant (for I was comfortable and didn’t mind calling at all the tiny stations between Chichester & Havant).

Not the Gatwick Express, 387209 at Littlehampton station

At Havant it was a short wait before 377407 arrived from Brighton, where I managed to get a decent seat for the run towards Southampton Central, to finish the day with 158885 on the stopper back to Romsey, where I drove home.  An enjoyable little day trip to Sussex, exploring an area which had been on my list for a while, plus the novelty of 387s to Littlehampton outside engineering works.

21st December – A late notice trip to Birmingham

My original idea for this Thursday was to head towards London again, hoping to sample a C2C 720.   However, on the Wednesday evening I had a change of mind and instead planned a trip towards Birmingham to do some walking & to see an old friend.  The day began with the 08:59 service to Basingstoke (with 159022 & 159106) for a short wait before 220023 & 220016 rolled in with the next Manchester service.  It was easy to grab a seat in coach F of 016 before the masses boarded at Reading & Oxford.  I alighted at Banbury for a short wait before 68010 arrived with the next Moor Street service (DVT 82301 was on the rear).

As it looked busy, I headed towards the former business class coach which was quiet (as I suspect people still think it’s business class).  I relaxed with my friend (Jules) boarding at Dorridge with a Daytripper in hand as we continued to Moor Street.  We had a short walk across to the tram stop on Bull Street with winner tram 57 rolling in with the next Wolverhampton service which we took to Soho Benson Road, where the walk began.

68010 arriving into Banbury Station

We headed towards the Soho loop of the Birmingham Canal (old main line), going via All Saints Park.  we followed the towpath of the loop, passing the closed off Hockley Port section (now a marina) and going underneath the railway line before reaching the New Main Line.  A short walk along the new main line towards the remains of the railway bridge of the closed Harborne Railway route, climbing the slope and following a path into Summerfield Park to pick up the start of the Harborne Walkway, a path following the route of the old railway line into the Harborne area of Birmingham,

After reaching the end of the railway route, it was back to the road for a short distance before picking up another path (Old Church Avenue I think it was called) towards Quinton Road.  Once we had reached Quinton Road it was a walk along the road towards University station, doing a little loop at the hospital end to waste some time before the next Hereford train would arrive.  An enjoyable little walk, decent quality paths with only a short shower (which thankfully happened when we were in an area with decent tree cover rather than on open ground).

Harborne Walkway, Birmingham

It was time to go play with some trains with winner 196109 up first to take us to Bromsgrove, I was a bit worried that it would have been shifted to another service due to various issues on the Hereford line with trains not running in full.  At Bromsgrove it was a short wait before 323203 & 323209 took us back towards Birmingham, sadly the coach we were in didn’t have a vocal motor.  At Birmingham New Street we popped to Smethwick Galton Bridge on a busy 350125 (turning down a 4 coach 196 which was a peak time extra), returning to Birmingham New Street on 196105.

After a quick visit to Boots (likely to be the last time I used a Boots on a station as they have hiked the cost of a meal deal up to include a station premium) for some food, we headed back to the platforms to see if anything of interest would pop up on either the 2nd peak time extra for Shrewsbury (a pair of 196/0s I had the previous Sunday) or the peak time extra on the Worcester line.  This service was a pair of 2 coach units (196003 & 009), both I needed so it was back towards Bromsgrove on a delayed service caused by congestion.  This is where I parted ways with Jules as he jumped on the following Hereford service (which ended up getting diverted into Shrub Hill), and I jumped onto winner 196111 back to Birmingham New Street, which clears the active 196/1s as I’m pretty sure 113 & 114 haven’t entered service.

323203 at Bromsgrove Station

I had some time to kill before the Chiltern service I wanted to catch from Snow Hill, so I headed towards the trams, and after around 15 minutes I jumped onto tram 46 towards St Pauls (needed for a photo) before tram 57 took me back towards the city to Bull Street.  A short walk to Birmingham Snow Hill followed as I took a seat onto 168323 & 168214  which were on the next Marylebone service to take me towards Banbury where I was preparing myself for a fester (as the timetable heading south has the XC going in front of the Chiltern at Leamington, one downside of my Gold Card), however I got lucky as the XC which was meant to be in front was running 25-odd minutes late, increasing to 35 minutes by the time 220001 rolled into Banbury (I presume it got held at Coventry due to the single track between Coventry & Leamington).  I managed to get a table seat, useful as I settled down to watch some videos as the voyager headed towards Basingstoke.

At Basingstoke it was another 25-odd minute long fester before 159013 & 159019 rolled in, these were far busier than the voyager (guess it was people heading home after an evening out in London to celebrate Christmas), but I managed to get a seat and half an hour later it arrived at Grateley and I had a gentle walk home, getting home an hour or so ahead of what I had predicted.  It was a good day in Birmingham, a handful of 196s into my book, an extra tram, plus a good social with a friend along an enjoyable walk.

220001 at Basingstoke Station

23rd December – Cambridge & 720 hunting.

After a restful Friday (other than doing a couple more bus routes in Andover) it was back onto the trains for me today with a trip to London.  I can’t remember if it was the 05:27 or the 05:59 this morning which took me to Waterloo with 159002 & 158884.  Not sure if this was the service, I took around this time which did something strange and crossed to the slow line before New Malden to re-join the fast line before the flyover after Wimbledon.  At Waterloo it was towards the Northern line with 51549 & 51550 to Tottenham Court Road changing for the Central line with a service formed of sets 91113, 92410, 92248 & 91221 on the first service to take me to Liverpool Street, both trailer sets needed for a mile which was a nice bonus.

After grabbing something to eat from Tesco I headed towards the low numbered platforms, managing to grab a look at the cleaner’s sheet to have a quick glance at which 710s were out, spotting a particular number.  A quick check of RTT saw that 710106 (and 710125) would be on the next Chingford service so I hung back as those 710s rolled in as I boarded 710106 for the run to Walthamstow Central changing to the Victoria line for 11061/11062 to Tottenham Hale.  I was glad my last 710/1 needed for ten miles had fallen, quite nicely into place.  No more hunting Overground units (until 270+374 enter service).

710106 at London Liverpool Street

Anyhow I arrived at Tottenham Hale with a couple of rough ideas, first was to walk the canal from Harlow Town to Bishop Stortford to finish it off, the 2nd was to head towards Cambridge to walk a path alongside the railway line from Shelford towards Cambridge (followed by the guided busway).  The first few units spotted weren’t needed before winner 720109 rolled in (with 720563) to take me to Stansted Airport for the slight novelty of 720 coverage into Stansted from the south (I believe it is possible from the north but needs engineering works to close the line north of Cambridge so 720s cover for 755s).  Anyhow at Stansted it was across the platform to board 745102 on the next London train to take me to Bishop Stortford before boarding winner 720136 on the Cambridge (North) stopper.

I took this 720 (busy but not overly so) to Shelford to start my little walk, picking up cycle route 11 on a mixed used path which ran alongside the railway line coming to an early end due to works around the future Cambridge South station in the Addenbrooke hospital area (with some good signposting of the temporary diversion route).  I joined the road to cross the railway to head into Hobson’s Park, before reaching the busway in the Trumpington area.  Firstly, I headed towards the Park & Ride site along the busway where it goes down to single track before doing a U-turn at the Park & Ride site to return towards where I joined and continued north.

Stagecoach Bus 21307 (BF65 WKW) on the Cambridge Busway in Trumpington

At the junction where the northbound carriageway of the busway is blocked off for a safety fence I followed the branch across the railway line, getting a couple of photos of the progress of Cambridge South station and the new track layout reaching the end of the busway where it meets Francis Crick Avenue near Addenbrooke hospital.  I did another U-turn back towards the main busway, turning right to follow the path north with the safety fence not being the easiest for photos on this busy path.  This section of busway came to an end to the south of the station, where after swinging via Sainsburys for lunch I headed into the station which was a bit in chaos with a few cancellations and heavy delays caused by issues on the ECML.

The first train to get advertised was a Brighton bound Thameslink which was advertised as first stop Finsbury Park but that got further delayed due to awaiting the driver (who was on a stopper running nearly an hour late).  So, I headed across to platform 8 where a late running 387117 & 387120 rolled in on the next nonstop service, I managed to grab a seat, put my phone on charge and relaxed as the 387s sped towards London.  At Kings Cross I made a fast walk to board a late running York stopper which I was expecting to miss (as I was watching the signal map and I saw it getting a green signal) but I jumped onto winner 801226, the LNER pride train.  This busy(ish) service took me to Stevenage where I jumped onto 700050 to Letchworth Garden City, returning to Stevenage on 387111 & 387125 with the next Letchworth – London semi-stopper.

91107 "Wirefall" passing Stevenage Station

I had a short wait at Stevenage before winner 800210 rolled in from Lincoln, amazingly I even got a seat on this 5 coach baby Azuma as it was quite busy as it sped towards Kings Cross and I headed towards the Victoria line to take me to Tottenham Hale with 11032 & 11031 where I spent the next couple of hours grabbing 720120, 720589 & 720132 which I had seen out earlier.  I ended up in Liverpool Street to grab some dinner before switching to services on the Great Eastern getting quite lucky with winning 720s pinging back between Stratford & Shenfield (giving my Oyster a good workout) with 720508, 720583, 720512, 720131, 720126 & 720528 falling to my little red pen.

I called it a night after 720528 as I headed to the Central line at Stratford with the first service being 91157, 92044, 92214 & 91287 which I took to Mile End (with 91157 needed for a mile), followed with 91071, 92420, 92124 & 91239 to Tottenham Court Road.  Where I switched to the Northern line with 51665 & 51725 to Waterloo where I located the 22:20 service formed of 159016 & 159106, going towards the front of 016 where it was quieter than the back as it sped back into Hampshire and took me to Grateley, where I had a gentle walk home and relaxed.

720132 at London Liverpool Street

An enjoyable day trip to London, a nice walk in the Cambridge area, the bonus of my last 710/1 for mileage and a good handful of GA 720s into my book.  They are good trains if it wasn’t for the high density 3+2 seating meaning the aisles are narrow.

24th December – Going Super-Loopy

Today was another trip to London (with mum) to do some of the super-loop bus routes in outer London.  The trip began with the 07:39 service from Grateley towards Clapham Junction, formed unusually of a triple 159 (159006, 159005 & 159022) and was lightly loaded throughout.  We changed at Clapham Junction to the next Southern service for Victoria (377705 & 377702) before heading to the underground with the run to Walthamstow Central on set 11074/11073 (after the long walk at Victoria underground)

After grabbing some lunch items for later, we headed towards the bus station, locating the bus stand for the SL1 route for North Finchley.  The one thing I will say about the Superloop network is the numbering should have been done differently, starting with the soon to be introduced North Woolwich – Walthamstow bus as SL1 and counting anti-clockwise to the Bromley – Thamesmead section with the ‘non-loop’ services getting higher numbers.  Anyhow it was onto Arriva London bus HA009 (an Enviro400). The bus made its way out of Walthamstow towards Edmonton & Palmers Green before reaching North Finchley where it terminated at the High Road stop rather than going into the bus station.

Stagecoach London Bus 16987 (BV10 WWT) at Walthamstow Bus Sation

We had a short wait at North Finchley before the next SL10 service rolled in, with London United’s BCE47119 bus, my first experience of one of the electric Enviro 400s and I will say the interior was a lot nicer than the interior on the Arriva bus, and quite peaceful with no engine.  This bus went from North Finchley, going via the bus station before heading towards Hendon, Kingsbury, Kenton and finally terminating at Harrow Bus Station.  An interesting way to look at areas of London I’ve not seen before.  Next up for us was the SL9 for Heathrow Central, a busy bus from the start, with another electric Enviro400, this time London United’s BCE47106.  This limited stop route ran from Harrow towards Northolt & Hayes before going into Heathrow Central bus station, got caught up with heavy traffic in the Hayes area due to queues for supermarkets (because everybody panic, supermarkets are closed for 1 or 2 days!)

A Finnair plane coming into land at Heathrow

At Heathrow we had a quick break from the buses, visiting the toilets and eating lunch before heading back out with the SL7 service for West Croydon.  Another busy bus route with Go-Ahead London bus WVL488 (a Wright Eclipse Gemini 2) and felt like a massive downgrade interior wise compared to the other buses (seating wise).  A long-standing route known previously as the X26 hence why it was quite popular.  The bus headed away from Heathrow Airport, calling at Hatton Cross, Teddington, Kingston Upon Thames, New Malden, Worcester Park, Cheam, Sutton & Carshalton before reaching West Croydon bus station.  Another interesting service for looking out of the window at the different scenes of London.

Go-Ahead London bus WVL488 (LJ61 NWA) at West Croydon bus station (Superloop)

Anyhow at West Croydon our bus adventure had come to an end with the Superloop, at least for the time being before routes SL2, SL3 & SL5 get introduced in the next couple of months.  We headed to the tram stop jumping on tram 2560 to East Croydon before 2539 towards the Addington Village interchange where we changed to another bus, this time route 433 run with Abellio’s 1541 (A Caetano e.City).  This bus headed towards Park Street in Croydon going via Selsdon & South Croydon, a lot of housing.  I just wanted to try out one of those Caetano e.City buses as I think they look funky.  After the bus in Croydon, we headed towards Wendys for some food before jumping on tram 2535 (which I needed for a mile) to Lebanon Road (from Wellesley Road) returning to East Croydon tram stop on 2565.

Time to change from trams to trains and it was onto 700115 on the first service towards London Bridge, for a gentle walk across to the Charing Cross bound platforms with a triple networker formed of 465020, 465932 & 466039 for the short journey to Waterloo East before boarding the 17:45 service for Salisbury, a very quiet service formed of 159010, 159011 & 159013 (nobody else in coach 5 after Woking).  An uneventful journey to Grateley, as we walked home after a nice little day trip in London, spent looking out of the window.