2nd – 5th October – Ever Changing Plans due to Amy

 2nd – 5th October – Ever Changing Plans due to Amy

This weekend was meant to have been a return to Scotland with a long weekend, focusing on my last section of the Union Canal (Edinburgh Park to Linlithgow) and one of the disused railway lines, however when earlier in the week I noticed Storm Amy making the weekend seem like a washout I decided to cancel my accommodation and instead have multiple day trips based on what the weather was doing.

2nd October – Exploring the Rushall & the Wyrley and Essington Canals

For my first walk of October, I decided to head towards the West Midlands to do a walk I was planning on doing in a few weeks’ time, the short Rushall Canal & the remaining parts of the curvy Wyrley and Essington canal.  The day began with the 06:57 service from Grateley to Waterloo with a busy 158883, 159020 & 159017 where I had my usual stroll across the capital to reach Euston and boarding 390047 working the first off-peak train towards Birmingham (on a Glasgow service).  As suspected coach C on this service was quite busy (due to the large cliff-edge in fares between off-peak & peak on the WCML).

At Birmingham New Street I had a short walk over to 730030 which was following the Pendo from Birmingham International to take me to Tame Bridge Parkway where my walk began.  I left the station, following a couple of roads to pick up a path leading up towards the Tame Valley Canal for a short walk alongside the M6 towards Rushall Junction where the Rushall Canal branched off.  This canal is quite straight with a decent tarmac towpath (as it forms part of cycle route 5), although there was a short section after the B4151 where the tarmac disappeared as the canal entered the countryside.

730030 departing Tame Bridge Parkway

I soon reached Longwood Junction where the Rushall Canal magically turned into the Daw End Branch of the Wyrley and Essington canal (not like you could tell the changeover on the ground, other than the straightness turning into curves as the canal follows the contours of the land to avoid expensive locks.  The towpath in this area was a bit rougher, certainly not a canal to do during winter as I would imagine things would get muddy, however it was nice and peaceful as it was near the Park Lime Pits Nature Reserve. Crossing the Sutton Park railway I soon reached Daw End where the ruralness was replaced with industry (and high fences) as the canal skirted round the edge of Aldridge reaching Walsall Wood (and a rude sounding bridge!)

The towpath did change back to being decent tarmac quality as the canal skirted round the edge of Walsall Wood heading towards Catshill Junction where the Daw End branch joins up with the main Wyrley and Essington (although I suspect in terms of boat traffic, most will switch to the 'branch' to do a loop when out boating considering the main line is a dead-end).  Anyhow I crossed underneath the A452 bridge and onto new ground with the canal skirting round the edge of Brownhills, housing to the left of me, fields to the right, wait that's sounding a bit too much like Stealers Wheels.

My walk continued as I reached Ogley Junction where the Lichfield canal branched off and I was now onto the Anglesey Branch, still skirting round the edge of Brownhills and crossing over the former South Staffordshire Railway route (now part a mixed used path towards Walsall, the section towards Lichfield I believe is getting turned into a greenway at some point).  I crossed underneath the M6 Toll and into Burntwood, the canal coming to an end at Anglesey Basin near the Chasewater Reservoir.

Remains of South Staffordshire Railway Line near the Wyrley and Essington Canal aqueduct, Brownhills

I climbed a slope to reach the level of this large reservoir within the Chasewater Country Park (home of a little heritage railway), and I followed a path alongside the south eastern corner of the reservoir to reach a footpath which crossed over the M6 (Toll) towards Brownhills West and a short section of the former Midland Railway branch line towards Watling Street where my walk ended.  I had a short wait before the next route 10 bus (operated by National Express West Midlands with bus 2136) took me towards Walsall, where I got lost trying to find the railway station from the bus station (signage is somewhat lacking).  Once I reached the railway station it was onto 730040 on the next semi-fast service to Birmingham New Street and a reasonably tight connection onto 390129 from Scotland on the next fast London train.

At Euston, I noticed one of the LNR branded TVMs was suggesting that Harrow & Wealdstone was one of the most popular destinations before I headed to the underground to find an unexpected 7-minute gap in service.  I squeezed onto set 51623 & 51719 (bonus of a sub mile pair of 1995 stock units) to Waterloo, where after grabbing some dinner from Sainsburys I headed to the 19:20 service to take me back home to Grateley with 159006, 159018 & 158885.  An enjoyable walk in the West Midlands (and Staffordshire), another canal complete.

Chasewater Reservoir

3rd October – Changeable Weather in Manchester

When I checked the forecast when I woke up it was suggesting the Manchester area would remain dry most of the day with rain moving in around 5pm, so I decided to head that way (although couldn’t decide between the Peak Forest Canal or the Huddersfield Narrow & a disused railway walk).  The 05:50 took me into Waterloo with a lightly loaded (it was a Friday after-al) 159016 & 158888 and another gentle stroll to Euston, this time for the 08:13 Manchester Piccadilly service with 390002 on this service calling at Nuneaton, Stoke & Stockport (speedy!).

Along the way I checked the forecast once more as I was still undecided wherever to jump off at Stockport for a bus towards the Woodley area, or remain on board for a TPE towards Greenfield, however I wasn’t impressed when instead of being dry it was suggesting heavy rain pretty much the rest of the day from around 11am, confirmed by the weather forecast as it looked like the storm had moved a lot further south than it was originally predicted.  Change of plan time it was as I looked up the locations of some required 197s, one wasn’t out, another was in West Wales but the 3rd was on Wrexham – Bidston services so came up with a plan.

The first stage of this revised plan was on a Mk4 set formed of DVT 82216 and being pushed by 67029 (a loco I’ve not had for many years since it popped up on a UK Railtour towards Stratford Upon Avon).  This took me to Crewe, where after confirming the identity of the Crewe – Shrewsbury stopper as being AT02 (as these don’t show on RTT) I headed towards Chester on 197113, changing onto 197002 on a Llandudno Junction bound service to Shotton giving me around 20 minutes to get between platforms.

67029 at Crewe Station

To waste some time, I went via the town centre area, noticing that the little Iceland had closed, before returning to the station and onto winner 197026 for the run to Wrexham General and a reasonable connection onto a pair of busy 158s (it was student kicking out time) bound for Holyhead (158822 & 158833) to take me back to Chester where I transferred to 805003 starting from platform 1 (unusual seeing a 805 using that bay platform!) to take me to Crewe, noticing 197039 on test on platform 9.

I had a short wait before 197027 & 197034 rolled in on the next train towards Cardiff to take me to Whitchurch for a short wait (in the rain) for 153353 & 153528 to roll in (also known as set AT02), taking an airline seat in the 153/5 (as the table seats give rubbish legroom) for the run back to Crewe, another renumbered 153 into my book.  At Crewe I was originally going to turn down the unit from Liverpool for the Pendo from Manchester, but when 807004 rolled in I noticed it wasn’t that busy (in coach H) so boarded it for the run towards London.

153528 (AT02) at Crewe Station

Things were going well, until it hit congestion caused by issues around Hanslope junction, losing nearly 20 minutes, losing more time after Milton Keynes as one of the trains in front called at Watford Junction, so arrival into Euston was nearly half an hour late.  Although this is when I noticed the SWR network was in a state of chaos due to an incident near Surbiton, so I headed into the light drizzle (although judging by the state of the roads, it seems London got hit quite bad with downpours) towards Paddington.

At Paddington, I jumped on the first train towards Reading with a busy 802111 (easily got a seat in the 3rd coach from the front whereas the rear coaches were looking quite busy), this got delayed outside Reading for around 10 minutes for no real reason (nothing showing on the platforms at Reading), which meant I had to dash across to squeeze onto a rammed 165121 on the next stopper which departed late (as it was held for a Penzance bound service to depart first), with many unhappy folk about missing the connection at Basingstoke.

197026 at Wrexham General

The next service towards Salisbury was a heavily delayed service from London which was showing as running non-stop to Salisbury, so I popped out of the station to grab some supplies from Sainsburys before returning with the assumption the next train would start from Basingstoke (considering the outward leg was cancelled at Basingstoke) and in rolled 159019 from Barton Mill to take me back home to Grateley, where I had a walk home in the rain.  A day of mixed results, good that another 197 & 153 is in my book, however I couldn’t help thinking had the weather forecast shown heavy rain in the morning it would have been a different day (probably staying closer to London), you win some, you lose some.

4th October – A Day of Chaos in South Wales

I had 2 ideas for this Saturday, based on the weather being a bit rubbish further north, either a trip to Cardiff with my little red pen, or a trip to London to have a TfL day, when I woke up I did a quick search on RTT which showed that both active 197s I needed were out as well as 3 of the 4x 756s I needed so I decided to head to Wales with a rough plan in my head.  The day started with a damp walk to the station to board 159019 & 158882 to Basingstoke, where I changed onto 221128 to Reading, it was 4 minutes late into Basingstoke due to a dodgy signal near Micheldever, reducing the connection was 4 minutes at Reading (ignoring any allowances), sadly that went up in smoke due to a random signal check near Southcote junction (nothing in the area that I could see).  So, with an hour to kill at Reading (how I wish GWR would bring back the all-day 2tph service to Cardiff on Saturdays) I exited the station for a little stroll, grabbing some breakfast.

Back at Reading station and it was onto 800312 with the run to Cardiff Central, where I had a little time-wasting walk towards Queen Street to take 231011 back down the hill to Central, before transferring onto 150259 on a Lydney service to Newport (a bit of high speed 150 noise as the window near my seat wouldn’t stay shut), however this is where things started to go pear shaped.  My idea was to take 037 which was on a Swansea service from Manchester along with a 197/1 to Bridgend giving an 18-minute connection into 033 (and another 3-coach unit) back to Cardiff.

150259 at Newport Station

197037 rolled in along with another 3-coach unit, however due to the front unit striking a branch (which was sticking out of the coupler) it seemed to have knocked something with the wiper (either the wiper itself or the washer fluid) so the train got cancelled at Newport.  Rats.  Over to platform 1 along with a massive crowd to board 800008 on the next train towards Cardiff Central where I had another gentle stroll near the station (just to waste time and to get away with the noise of various announcements about See it Say it, Sorted etc).  Back at the station, something was wrong as a Rhyl service was sitting on platform 1 as 197033 rolled in along with another 3 coach 197, only to end up getting cancelled due to a tree on the line near Leominster.  Rats (again).  At this point I was tempted to call it a day and to head home but decided to remain and headed over to platform 6 to board winner 756007 to take me to Caerphilly with a non-stop run after Cardiff Queen Street.

I remained on the unit at Caerphilly to take it back towards Queen Street where I had a little trip to Cardiff Bay on 150217 returning on the same unit before winner 756007 rolled in to take me back to Caerphilly, with a speedy run as the previous train had been cancelled (so it had a clear run).  Once more I remained with the same unit (the downside of needing units for 10 miles), taking it towards Grangetown for a +3 onto winner 756005, back to Caerphilly (probably more fun than all the stops to Coryton!).  3rd time today I remained on the same unit to take me back towards Cardiff, leaving me with just one more 756 to get.  At Queen Street I transferred to 756103 to take me to Central as that overtook the 756 towards Penarth.

756005 at Caerphilly Station

Finally, some good luck regarding 197s, as I noticed 033 had ended up on an Ebbw Vale service after getting cancelled at Cardiff, so it was a trip to Risca & Pontymister on a late running 197118 (I was going to bail at Rogerstone had the connection been tight due to the long walk between platforms at Risca station).  The rain had finally arrived as I waited for a busy 197033 to roll in to take me back to Cardiff Central where I noticed 197037 was due to come out from the depot to work a Rhyl service (with the idea of taking it to Newport for a GWR service to Salisbury), however that service just disappeared without a trace.  I did have another little stroll towards Queen Street to grab some supplies returning down to Central with 231007 to waste time.

I was going to call it a day once the Rhyl service disappeared, wait around for the next London train, however a 2-coach unit appeared at Cardiff to attach to 197122 on a busy Manchester train, once the staff managed to remove a dead bird from the coupler, 197037 attached…  Only for the train to get delayed due to another reported tree near Ludlow, thankfully the train got given the signal and it departed as I took it to Newport.  Another 197 into my book, last active one as well, so nice to be on top of the Welsh 197s again.

197037 at Newport Station on a Manchester Train

A short wait at Newport before a busy 800307 rolled in, I easily got a seat near the back for the speedy run towards Reading, losing some time at Swindon.  It was onto 165114 on the next stopper to take me back to Basingstoke for a short wait before a delayed 159003 on a very busy service to Salisbury (didn’t help that the previous couple of trains had been cancelled due to various tree related issues), although I did get a seat for the run back to Grateley.  One of those days which had its positives (the winners) but also the stress of the various cancellations and delays, but thankfully there wasn’t anything too bad.

5th October – Walking the Busway in Bedforshire

Today was a little trip to Bedfordshire to do a walk which had been on my oversized wish list for a while, Leagrave towards Dunstable via cycle route 6 then back towards Luton via a path alongside the busway.  The day began with a drive to Andover to catch the 07:02 service to Waterloo formed of 159107, 159017 & 159101 on this semi-fast service, even if the London end was a bit slow due to the various pathing allowances on a Sunday morning.  Once I reached Waterloo, I headed towards St Pancras on foot to waste some time to board 700142 from platform 2 at St Pancras (usual Sunday morning closure of the Core), for the quick run towards Leagrave where my walk began.

I left the station on the western side, following Toddington Road to reach the cycle route 6 path which broadly follows the Houghton Brook (although from the looks of it, I suspect it's a winterbourne, flowing only during the winter months).  The first section wasn't that interesting as it was the urban area (a case of dodge the dog poo) before the path reached the M1 and the urban area changed to a wide flood plain near a large Lidl warehouse.

700142 alongside 222017 at St Pancras

Following the path, although a couple times I did use some shortcuts via footpaths, I reached Houghton Regis, following the path via the Houghton Hamlets to reach Houghton Hall Park where the brook disappears.  I continued the walk and onto what is called the Dog Kennel Walk (no idea!).  This path took me over the busway with Houghton Regis turning into Dunstable and I had a little detour via the Grove House Gardens before reaching the A505 which I followed for a short distance to pick up the route of the original railway line back towards the busway.

Once I reached the busway, I followed the path towards Blackburn Road, the limit of the busway (as it turns into a normal road in an industrial estate).  I turned round and headed back towards the Portland Ride bus stop and followed the path with the busway on the right-hand side.  Sadly, this section was closed for buses due to gardening so not a lot of traffic (unless you count council vans gingerly avoiding the car trap pits).  Quite an interesting route once it gets outside Dunstable town centre as it gives nice views of the Paddocks with various footpaths giving future options for more walks.  I soon reached Luton and the section where the busway is fenced away with the mixed used path running alongside the busy Hatters Way, passing the football ground of Luton FC.

Luton - Dunstable Busway from the Dog Kennel Walk in Dunstable

I reached the centre of Luton where the busway heads over the top of a large roundabout and heads down a hill towards Luton station interchange, where my walk ended as I headed across to platform 1 to board 700130 for the run towards Blackfriars (I was toying with waiting for the next EMR service for a spin on a 360 but the next southbound was a 4 coach special so decided to avoid that, instead sitting in the declassified first class area at the back of the 700.

Once I reached Blackfriars, I headed towards Waterloo, jumping onto a Weymouth bound service formed of 444029 & 444034 to take me to Basingstoke, making a swift change (how I wish both services would use platform 2 at Basingstoke to make life easier) onto a Salisbury bound 159106 to take me to Andover, where I headed home (via the local chippy) to relax for the rest of the evening and getting myself ready for 6 early shifts.  The first section was a bit rough, but certainly the busway was interesting, gives me a taste for the north Cambridge one (towards St Ives).  As always thanks for reading, more photos (including some buses) can be found on my Flickr *Here*.  Hopefully next weekend I will be able to get away for an overnight stay at the 3rd attempt!