1st March - 3rd March Trips

1st March - 3rd March Trips

 1st March – Return to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal

My original idea for today was to head towards Leeds & Skipton to walk the section of the canal I need to explore in Yorkshire.  But due to issues on the ECML with a reduced timetable (London – Leeds reduced to hourly) and damage to the overhead wires I swapped over to the WCML.  159104 took me to London Waterloo where I transferred to the Northern Line with 51666 & 51667 to Euston.

At Euston after grabbing some supplies for breakfast I headed to the 07:30 Glasgow service for the non-stop run towards Warrington on 390114 remaining on board to Preston, where I exited the station to grab some supplies for lunch, just to waste some time before the next Colne train.  The south facing bays at Preston are not the nicest place to hang around for trains as they do lack seating, but I was kept busy with various movements before 150127 rolled in from Ormskirk to form the next Colne service, which was quite busy as far as Blackburn (I still say Northern should extend the Blackpool South – Preston trains to run to Blackburn to provide more journey options). I took this 150 to Brierfield where my walk began.

150127 at Brierfield Station

Last year I walked the section from Gargrave over the hill to Brierfield as it was a good stopping point (as the canal runs close to the railway here), so it was easy to pick up the towpath.  Heading in a general Southern direction into some open land (although the sound from the M65 was never far away).  The towpath quality was quite good, a couple sections were a bit ropey in terms of tree roots but nothing that bad.  The towpath took me towards Burnley and the embankment over the town centre.  I passed close to Manchester Road station before heading towards Burley Barracks crossing the M65 and reaching Gannow Tunnel.

The path from the canal up the hill was quite steep as I followed the path underneath a roundabout, picking the canal up at the western portal of the tunnel (and that was a steeper hill!).  I followed the canal towards the Rose Grove area of the town with the canal diving underneath both the M65 and railway a couple times on a loop before running close to the motorway towards Hapton, which felt like a suitable place to end the walk considering the next train was 15 or so minutes away.  After Hapton the railway & canal go separate ways coming together in Church around 6 miles away so that can be a job for another day.  Certainly, a nice return to canal walking with a decent towpath.

150146 at Hapton Station

150140 rolled in from Colne to take me back towards Preston where I had a last-minute idea and bailed at Bamber Bridge.  As I had some unfinished business with an old railway line path.  I headed out of the station towards the A6 but before reaching the dual carriageway I turned onto what was called "Central Park".  This was a nice woodland path (even with the sound of traffic) heading towards Walton-le-Dale before crossing the A6 on a footbridge, heading to pick up the route of the "Old Tramroad" path.  This took me towards the route of the former East Lancashire Railway chord which used to run between Preston & Bamber Bridge.  I had previously walked part of this old railway a couple years ago but branched off to the Tram Road.

On reaching the route of the old railway, I reached the site of Whitehouse Junction where a connecting line used to exist which headed towards the former Preston - Southport line.  I took this old railway route towards Penwortham, doing an U-turn to head back on myself doing the third side of the triangle before resuming heading towards Preston.  I was toying with doing a short section of the former Southport line but decided it would be too tight for timings (so that can be a job for another walk in the Preston area).

Whitehouse Junction (North) on the former West Lancashire Railway in Preston

After grabbing some food from Tesco, I headed to the station and onto 802217 working the next Manchester Airport service, where due to engineering works in the Salford area these were getting diverted via Wigan North Western.  A busy train (didn’t help that Preston – Manchester was reduced to 2tph both running within 5 minutes of each other) but gave me the chance for the novelty of a 802 via Wigan North Western and onto the Chat Moss line at Parkside Junction (the route taken by TPE services when they first switched over to electric units).

At Manchester Piccadilly it was a short walk to board 390137 on the next London Euston train, the service which goes via Crewe, giving some nice speed with the nonstop run from Stafford to London, where I headed to the underground taking 51656 & 51657 to Waterloo, heading across to the 20:50 service which was showing on RTT as a single 158, knowing I had the option of the 21:20 service to fall back onto had it been massively overcrowded, but to SWR credit they made Woking & Basingstoke pick up only to ease overcrowding and I easily got a seat on 158882 for the run to Grateley.

An enjoyable day with 2 different walks, nice weather for it as well.

2nd March – Bure Valley Path

Today was a sort of day where the last few trains were fixed due to a reduced timetable on Sundays on the Lowestoft – Ipswich line, so I decided on an explore of the Bure Valley path. This a mixed used path which runs alongside the Bure Valley heritage railway in Norfolk, along the route of the former East Norfolk Railway.  The day began with 159104 & 159001 on the first train from Grateley to take me towards London Waterloo, detouring via Staines & Isleworth and losing time along the way so I had to walk fast to reach Blackfriars in time for the next Cambridge service which was 700147.

In hindsight I could have changed at St Pancras to head across to Kings Cross for a nonstop service, but I was comfortable in the rear declassified first class section and I know from experience how busy the Cambridge fast services can be on Sundays (especially when there was nothing from Liverpool Street to Cambridge).  This nearly backfired when the train lost 30-odd minutes sitting at Finsbury Park waiting for the driver to take it forward to Cambridge, oddly without any stations ripped out between Stevenage & Cambridge even with the delayed stopper getting held back (resulting in the return journey departing late).

700147 at Cambridge Station

Anyhow at Cambridge I had time to pop outside the station for lunch from Sainsburys before boarding 755413 for the long-ish trip towards Norwich, I do like the Greater Anglia Flirts.  At Norwich I had time to pop outside the station to visit Morrisons for some supplies (and to waste time) before taking 755331 to Hoveton & Wroxham station where my walk began.

I picked up the start of the path alongside a busy Wroxham station as it ran on top of the embankment for the first short section before dropping down to run alongside the narrow-gauge track (with a fence between railway & path).  Some lovely countryside with woodland as I headed towards Aylsham, only one negative with this path is having to cross the A140 (Aylsham bypass) on the flat with no traffic lights.  Certainly, a walk I would recommend as it ends close to Aylsham station, near a Tesco and the start of the longer disused railway path leading towards Norwich.

Spitfire Loco on the Bure Valley Railway between Hoveton & Coltishall

Anyhow I returned to Norwich on the X41 run by Sanders Coaches, with bus 543, a 74 plate Volvo Evora on a fast run along the A140 towards Norwich, terminating in the bus station.  I had a gentle stroll towards the railway station as daylight was slowly giving way to darkness and to waste time jumped onto 755405 with a run to Cantley for some better photos, returning to Norwich on 755331 on a service from Great Yarmouth.  I didn’t hang around Norwich for long before boarding 755401 on a fast Lowestoft service, calling only at Oulton Broad North.  This is one of those random services which is booked to use platform 4 at Lowestoft, which it thankfully did.

After a couple of photos of use of this rare(ish) platform I returned onto 755401 for the slow run towards Ipswich, changing over to 745005 on the next London bound service to take me a couple of stops to Colchester where I had around half an hour to wait for 720558 & 720587 to arrive to take me to Clacton on Sea, where my reasonably priced Travelodge was for the night.  When I first came up with the idea of doing Lowestoft platform 4, I was considering staying in Ipswich as where it was possible to get back home the same night, it would have been late.  However, when I did some searching, I noticed the Clacton branch of Travelodge was the same sort of price it got me thinking to do an awkward platform at Clacton.

755401 at Lowestoft Station (Platform 4)

Anyhow, these 720s took me to Clacton on Sea and 10 minutes later I was at the hotel, getting myself checked in and relaxing for the rest of the night (once the ventilation in the pizza takeaway underneath my room shut down).  An enjoyable little day, even if it nearly all went wrong at Finsbury Park.

3rd March – How the Clacton was One

I know, I should keep to my day job, rather than writing puns.  Anyhow a bit of a short day today as my car was due for its annual service & MOT in Winchester.  It was an early start checking out of the hotel on this freezing cold morning, walking back to Clacton station & boarding the 06:10 service to Walton-on-the-Naze which departs from the lesser used platform 1 at Clacton on Sea.  This platform seems to only get used by this particular train with a random use on a Sunday morning, so a bit of a crazy idea to stay overnight in Clacton to do it.

But then I am a bit crazy as I took a seat on a quiet 720101 for the run to Thorpe-Le-Soken arriving onto platform 2 (another random crossover into my book), leaving me on a quiet cold station as another 720 rolled in from Walton before 720121 & 720564 rolled in from Clacton to take me to Colchester where I stepped back onto dud 720507 and winner 720115 on the next London train from Ipswich (which only cost me a couple of minutes due to the calling pattern).

720101 at Clacton on Sea Station

I took these 720s to Stratford, going nonstop through Shenfield on a 720 felt strange.  At Stratford I changed to the Jubilee line with 96022 & 96043 taken to Waterloo, where after grabbing a late breakfast, I took a seat on 159001, 159016 & 158884 on the 08:50 service for Salisbury to take me to Grateley where I had a gentle stroll home, sorted out my rucksack before heading out on the road to get my car serviced (and MOTed).

During the time my car was in the garage I headed on a random trip to Branksome (as you do), with a gentle stroll towards Bournemouth beach (as it was beautiful sunny weather) via the gardens & Branksome Chime/Wood, being in position for a pair of 458s to pop up on a service to the depot from Wimbledon (at first, I was expecting it to be a 455).  Anyhow more photos from these short trips can be found on my Flickr account *Here*.  I will leave you with a photo from the beach.  Thanks for reading.

Branksome Dene Beach