25th – 27th May Trips

 25th – 27th May Trips

The second bank holiday weekend in May, and like the first bank holiday weekend it involved a couple of railtours and plans for a canal walk.

25th May - The Hanson Hanse Tour

When this tour (and the tour on the Sunday) were announced back in December I booked onto them as it looked like it would be a good day trip to King’s Lynn with the benefit of a call at Basingstoke which saved the cost of accommodation.  The day began with the 05:59 service to Basingstoke formed of a very quiet 159021 & 158887 giving me just over an hour in Basingstoke.  Time, I spent having a little stroll into the town centre area, a place which was quiet.  I returned to the station swinging via Greggs (for a free sausage bap) and Tesco for some bits for lunch later.

To platform 3 at Basingstoke for a short wait before 50008 rolled in with the London Transport 4TC set and 20007 on the rear, I was in coach D today which meant sitting near the 20.  A coach which sounded like it had a wheel flat (maybe the same wheel flat from the tours at the start of May) which did get a bit annoying after a while (especially in tunnels where it was a bit loud).  I had a private table until Slough where 2 other passengers boarded and the 4th boarding at Ealing Broadway.  After Ealing Broadway the tour headed via Acton yard to join the North London line to head towards Gospel Oak taking the connection onto the Goblin to head towards Crouch Hill and taking the Harringay curve to join the ECML.

50008 arriving at Basingstoke

The tour headed into the Hornsey reversing siding with the 20 taking charge for the trip over the flyover and into Kings Cross for the final pick up.  After Kings Cross the charter headed north along the ECML taking the Hertford North loop to go via Hertford North to rejoin the main line at Stevenage to take the Cambridge line towards Royston where it did the loop before the station and headed towards Cambridge where it had a little pathing stop on platform 4 to allow a XC 170 to depart as well as a 700 on an Ely service (I presume had the loop been available further north near the junction with the Bury line it would have sat in that loop).

Anyhow after Cambridge the train made a call at Ely to set down some passengers before heading onto the Fen Line to head towards King’s Lynn, which unusually for a charter train headed into the station itself (rather than into the yard).  I alighted from the train and headed for a gentle walk along the Sandringham railway path, a path making use of the former railway route towards Hunstanton.  Once I gained the old railway line path, I walked via the Gaywood & Lynnsport area of the town.  The path came to an end at the Edward Benefer Way Road to the north of the town (near North Lynn Industrial Estate) and I did a U-turn to head back towards a path alongside the Bawsey Drain towards the docks.  In the Lynnsport area I had a little detour towards the King's Lynn Miniature Railway which sadly was closed.

Lynnsport Station on the Lynnsport Miniature Railway (King’s Lynn & District Society of Model Engineers)

I randomly came across an old railway crossing for the old disused docks branch with the track still embedded within the road (John Kennedy Road).  I returned towards the station via Morrisons for some supplies for dinner and took my seat as the train headed into the King's Lynn EMU siding running alongside the Middleton Towers branch.  After the trip to the siding the train returned to the station using the other platform to pick up any passengers who didn't want to do the siding (it was a BLS tour after-all).

The tour departed King’s Lynn for the 2nd time heading back towards Ely but avoiding the station by using the curve onto the line towards Peterborough, going via the loop before March before crossing over to reverse on the Ely bound platform at March station.  Departing March via the other goods loop for a XC service to pass before heading towards Ely once more, pausing at the station to pick up passengers before carrying on towards Cambridge.  After Cambridge the train continued south passing the future Cambridge South station (which is coming along well from the looks of things) and onto the Greater Anglia route with pathing stops in the loop to the south of Bishop Stortford, a longer stop at Harlow Town and a stop at Broxbourne.

20007 at King's Lynn Station

After Broxbourne the train continued towards Cheshunt, turning away from the main-line and onto the Overground route via Edmonton Green towards Seven Sisters where it took the curve towards South Tottenham and towards the Greater Anglia line (the route used by that Saturday mornings London Overground PSUL from London towards Enfield).  The train continued towards Lea Bridge and taking the High Meads loop line to approach Stratford from the west which is where I bailed from the charter (it would continue back towards Lea Bridge then onto the Goblin to take the connection towards West Hampstead Thameslink and the Dudding Hill line to rejoin the GWML, nothing I hadn’t done before).

At Stratford I took a Central line service formed of 91157, 92014, 91175 & 91019 to Tottenham Court Road changing to the Northern line with sets 51725 & 51665 to Waterloo.  Made a difference from using the Jubilee line all the way from Stratford.  At Waterloo I headed towards the platform where the 20:50 to Salisbury was located getting on board 158888 (yep, a single 2 coach unit had escaped to London).  Wasn’t too bad in the front coach on departure from Waterloo but soon filled up at Clapham Junction, emptying out somewhat at Basingstoke (the 30-minute gap between fast services doesn’t help).  I was glad when it arrived at Grateley and I had a gentle walk home as that early start twinned with a poor night meant I was tired, had I stayed on the tour I would have got home around 90 minutes later after a near hour fester at Basingstoke.

158888 at London Waterloo

An enjoyable tour nether the less, it had been a while since my last trip to the Fen Line in daylight, although the 4TC set isn’t the best on warm days due to the limited opening of the windows.  20007 made a good noise for the sections it worked, pretty sure the last time I had haulage from a class 20 was back in 2018 on the GBRf 4-day tour.

26th May - The Millbrook Meander Tour

The second of this weekend’s tours involved an Eastleigh start, although as I was a bit uncertain with car parking around Eastleigh (and not wanting to fork out £5-odd to park at the station) I headed towards Romsey, catching 158886 towards Chandler’s Ford station to have a gentle stroll to waste some time, following a path alongside the Monk’s Brook then over the M3 into the Boyatt Wood area of the town with a couple of urban paths followed by a road towards Eastleigh station, swinging via a Tesco Express in a garage to grab some items for lunch.

Revenue protection was in full swing at Eastleigh due to the kickball playoff at Wembley, as well as some additional trains running nonstop towards Waterloo after Eastleigh or Winchester.  Eastleigh station itself was a bit chaotic due to signalling issues meaning everything going south needed to go via platform 3, including the nonstop services so by the time the charter rolled in with Freightliner’s 66509 on the northern end & 50008 on the southern end.  Stopping at the southern end of the platform causing a large surge of passengers (which annoyed one person taking a photograph as he was quite rude when people got in his way at taking the ‘perfect’ shot of the 66).

66509 at Eastleigh Station

Anyhow it was onto the London Transport 4TC set, today I was lucky to be behind the 50 in coach A (and thankfully no wheel flat), as the charter train departed Eastleigh picking up at both Southampton Airport Parkway & Southampton Central before going via the Freightliner terminal at Millbrook (to the north of the tracks) before going towards the Freightliner Maritime Terminal (on the southern side) reversing on one of the lines behind Redbridge station with 08785 attaching to the 66 to haul the train towards the wagon repair sidings, where I was stopped underneath a road bridge.  The shunter detached and 50008 took over to exit the freight terminal and onto the goods line behind Redbridge station to rejoin the passenger network near enough on time and headed towards Romsey & Salisbury for a final pick-up.  I think I saw a couple passengers jumping off at Salisbury as the more unusual track of the Freightliner terminals at Southampton was done.

After Salisbury the charter continued towards Yeovil Junction pausing at Gillingham for a heavily delayed 159 to pass (running an hour late due to earlier issues) before reversing down the hill to Yeovil Pen Mill allowing passengers on the train to tick off 66509 for haulage (which for me makes it my 100th 66 for haulage), a few more passengers alighted at Yeovil Pen Mill to get a taxi back to Junction including the person sat opposite me so I had a bit more extra legroom.  The weather at Pen Mill was heavy rain (compared to sunshine at Junction) and the train got delayed due to a late running Weymouth bound GWR service (which needed to clear the single-track section between Yeovil Pen Mill & Maiden Newton.

50008 at a wet Yeovil Pen Mill Station

The charter departed around 15 minutes late, and I was a bit tempted to bail at Maiden Newton (to walk the short railway line path) where there was another pathing stop.  This stop was extended further as the northbound train the charter was due to pass at Dorchester was passed at Maiden Newton, much to the annoyance of passengers on board as the doors weren’t released for the 10-minute stop.  Anyhow after Maiden Newton the train continued south, much to people’s surprise it didn’t stop at Dorchester West (which was a set-down station) and continued to Weymouth where thankfully the sun was out so I headed away from the station going towards Morrisons via the Radipole Park Gardens, returning towards the station via a cycle path which ran close to the Lodmoor Country Park passing the Weymouth Bay Miniature Railway.  I reached the seafront near the Sea-Life centre and followed the path back towards the town centre in some beautiful sunshine.

Weymouth Beach (Greenhill area of town)

I returned to the station which was a bit chaotic due to a police incident on the line towards Wareham with 2 Waterloo trains cancelled (first time I’ve seen a 444 using the shorter platform at Weymouth where it just about fitted).  The charter returned from the sidings and departed on a detour towards Castle Cary & Westbury with the 66 leading.  A reversal at Westbury with the 50 now leading and I made use of the additional call at Salisbury to bail out to avoid a highly likely hour fester at Southampton for the next Romsey bound service.  After buying a ticket it was onto a Portsmouth Harbour bound 158760 & 158762 for the run to Romsey, walking back to my car and driving home.

158762 departing Romsey Station

An enjoyable day trip made longer due to the tragic event near Wareham but thankfully the route via Yeovil Pen Mill was available with the Sunday frequencies for that line coming in handy (as there was nothing heading south until the charter avoided Frome).  Although the route did get me thinking about my future with rail tours, I prefer to be more active than sitting down for most of the day, especially when you get tables where the other passengers are quite quiet in terms of chatting.  They are certainly getting more expensive and where I’ve got lucky lately with tours which start or pick up in the South which does reduce the cost for accommodation & other travelling costs.  I can see the number of tours I do decreasing again, being more selective with what ones I decide to do.

27th May – A failed attempt to return to Weedon with an unexpected trip to Newport Pagnell

After 2 days of mostly sitting on my rear end I decided on the bank holiday to head towards Northampton to catch a bus to Weedon Bec picking up where I left my explore of the Grand Union canal to walk towards Blisworth before the Northampton arm of the canal back to Northampton, with hopefully not a late finish due to a busy Tuesday.  However, things didn’t go to plan.

The day started with the 06:59 service from Grateley formed of 159022 to take me to Basingstoke where I stepped back to board a very quiet 450100 & 450108 on a nonstop to Clapham Junction service where it arrived ahead of schedule due to not following a late running train from Guildford after Woking (which looped the 450s at Clapham Junction which is I think is the first time I’ve seen a train passing another service there).  After popping out of the station to grab some supplies from Sainsburys I returned to board 377704 on the next Watford Junction service to take me to Watford Junction where I noticed things had gone a bit, Pete Tong.  However, I did see my last 710 heading south on the 09:15 departure which I made a note off.

450100 at Clapham Junction

Due to large scale signalling issues around Cheddington (International Parkway) the WCML had fallen over with nothing expected to move for the next half an hour if not more, so with lack of a better plan (and a massive crowd waiting around) I jumped onto a very busy 710264 to take me towards Kensal Green to intercept winner 710374 on a northbound service with both trains using platform 3 at Watford Junction (one of these days I will score platforms 1 & 2, but it’s like Clacton in being low on my list of things to do).

On arrival at Watford Junction, things had started to move again and I jumped onto a very busy 390013 which was standing room only even in coach A to Milton Keynes Central with plan B in my head, as I headed out of the station and towards the bus stops outside for the next Arriva run route 2a service to Newport Pagnell (A StreetLite 3304), going via various places in Milton Keynes and I alighted at the Fire Station (where the bus does a little loop) to start a cut-down walk.

710374 at Watford Junction

This walk took me along the route used by the former Wolverton – Newport Pagnell branch line, closed in the 1960s and now part of a popular mixed used path (even with the weather being quite changeable with short light showers popping up every now and again).  The walk passed the remains of the stations at Great Linford & Bradwell as it headed towards Wolverton crossing over the Grand Union Canal with a couple short sections where path users had to crossroads on the flat (mostly little residential roads).  The path came to an end near the WCML with the last bit following the canal towards The Secret Garden.  The last section I put up a bit of extra speed to catch a train from Wolverton as the following service was showing as cancelled (and I didn't fancy trying to get to Milton Keynes Central via a bus).

Remains of Great Linford Station (Wolverton to Newport Pagnell line)

Earlier in the day I did see a pair of 730s heading south from Milton Keynes (passed around Bletchley) which I was toying with doing for the novelty of a 730/0 from Milton Keynes, but the northbound service had been cancelled (along with a lot of other services) so that idea was parked as I climbed on board a busy 350235 & 350241 (yay another pair of 350/2s!) on a busy service from Birmingham as I managed to grab a seat in the former 1st class area for the run to London Euston, where I headed out on foot towards Waterloo in a strange case of localised weather as my good friend Jules was in the New Cross area at the same time and reported that it was throwing it down when I had sunshine.  Gave an interesting view from Waterloo Bridge with blue skies to the north and black skies to the south.  Anyhow I made it to Waterloo without getting wet and onto 159003 on the 15:50 service to Salisbury, a service which was quite busy but like on the Saturday did empty out somewhat at Basingstoke (I can’t help think SWR should insert a Basingstoke call on the XX:35 trains for Weymouth to help take some passengers from the XX:50s).

Anyhow an hour and a bit later I alighted from the 159 at Grateley, making my way home (again getting lucky with the lack of rain as an hour later it started to throw it down for the rest of the evening).  Not the best of days with my original plan having to be ditched but at least I managed to knock out an old railway line path and cleared the 710s.  Plus, the early finish was good for getting ready for the busy day on the Tuesday.  More photos can be found on my Flickr, thanks for reading (assuming I haven’t sent you all to sleep).  I shall leave you with the Thames:

River Thames from Waterloo Bridge (eastwards), May 2024