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.

15 - 17th December – A weekend in Worcester/West Midlands & Railtour

 15 - 17th December – A weekend in Worcester/West Midlands & Railtour

When Pathfinder tours announced a tour of some of the freight bits in the general West Midlands area it ticked my interest with some needed track at both Baker & Quail level, so I looked into options for accommodation selecting Worcester as the most suitable location taking into account both accommodation cost & travel costs, selecting a room in a family house which has converted some spare rooms into basic accommodation with their own entrance (via a converted garage).

15th December – Onwards to Worcester & an evening spin in Birmingham

I put in a half day holiday at work and finished at 12:30, where I dashed home (like road runner, beep beep) where my bag was already packed getting a lift to the station where I arrived with time to spare before a busy 159011 rolled in from Salisbury on the 12:59 service to London Waterloo (so nice to see London Waterloo displayed rather than Basingstoke on off-peak services).  Although old habits die hard as I alighted at Basingstoke to head across to platform 4 to await the next XC service (pair of voyagers) which was reported as running a minute or so late after Southampton Airport and on the approach to Winchester.  This is where things went a bit wrong as there were reports of a police incident in the Winchester area (trespass?) which meant the voyagers were delayed until further notice.

So, I made my way across to platform 5 to take a seat on a busy 165123 on the Reading stopper resigning myself to an hour delay as this stopper gave a +58 into the next Worcester train.  However, in a lucky turn of events the next Worcester train was delayed by a few minutes due to an earlier signalling fault causing delays to many services on the Great Western (again) so once the 165 arrived at Reading I had a fast walk across to platform 9 where 800011 was rolling in just as I came down the stairs.  I was glad I had a seat reservation for this busy service as I settled down and relaxed (originally, I was planning to take the XC service to Oxford to intercept this GWR service).  As expected, the train emptied out at Oxford allowing a quick seat to change to one with a view on the trip via the Cotswold line to reach Worcester Foregate Street near enough on time (although this service did have a timetabled dwell of around 8 minutes at Shrub Hill).

800011 at Worcester Foregate Street

I decided it would be better to locate my accommodation now just in case there was some issues (better to resolve issues at 16:30 rather than 22:30).  I made the slight mistake in deciding to walk a path alongside the River Severn (noticing that part of the path on the opposite bank was underwater) giving some nice views of the cathedral overlooking the river however both options I had to cut across towards Bromwich Road were flooded (Slingpool Walk & Kingfisher Path) which meant I continued along the riverbank in twilight reaching Diglis Bridge where thankfully the path towards Bromwich Road was passable.  Once I reached that road it was a long walk north reaching the accommodation in the St Johns area of Worcester, a bit of mild confusion with the instructions about where my room was located but I managed to find it, dropped off some of the stuff from my rucksack before making my way back out onto the street to walk back towards Foregate Street station, swinging via the little Tesco Express outside the station to grab something to munch on.

The next Birmingham New Street train was running a few minutes late (caused by the previous Hereford train being late with the single-track section between Malvern & Ledbury) and was winner 196004 running solo.  Yep, a 2-coach special, and it departed rather cosy, and it only got worse by the time it reached Bromsgrove.  Eventually the service arrived at Birmingham New Street (with a large crowd waiting for it) where part of my rough plan for the evening got adjusted due to a cancellation to a Shrewsbury service (which was showing earlier as a pair of 2 coach units).  I headed across to platform 4C to take winner 196112 on another Shrewsbury train to Wolverhampton on a late running service where sadly it missed the connection to a random Birmingham train which ran nonstop via Bescot (just for the novelty factor of a 196 via Bescot now that line has returned to limited service).  Next service for me was a busy 350262 from Liverpool to take me back to Birmingham New Street where after discounting the next Hereford train on the 19:50 I made my way towards Birmingham Moor Street as the 2nd evening Chiltern 68 hauled service wasn’t showing any allocations (and I needed one of the 68s for ten miles and it was floating around earlier in the week).  When at Birmingham Moor Street I spotted the Santa train with a 20 at the country end and “Clun Castle” steam engine steaming away at the buffer stop end.

Steam Engine 7029 Clun Castle at Birmingham Moor Street

Anyhow 68012 rolled in from London (woohoo, the 68 I needed for ten miles) with DVT 82309 on the rear as I took a seat at the front of the train to listen to the 68 making a loud noise via the tunnel to Snow Hill then onwards to Stourbridge Junction calling only at Rowley Regis.  I returned towards Smethwick Galton Bridge on 172214 changing platforms to board a late running 350124 on the Walsall stopper to take me to Birmingham New Street (a crowd avoidance measure) where I took a seat onto winner 196108 on the Worcester Shrub Hill service, being sensible to sit at the very front where it was quieter.  This 196 took me towards Worcester Shrub Hill (sadly the connection towards Foregate Street was cancelled) and I headed towards my accommodation via the busy city centre (Christmas party season) and after sorting my bag/clothes out for the morning (and a 05:20 alarm) headed to sleep.

The room was mostly quiet, at the rear of the house so hardly any road noise but there was a low-pitched hum from an electric box (reminded me of the Easy Hotel in Croydon).  Bed was comfy (if not a bit low to the ground) with some free biscuits & cartons of juice thrown into the room price.  Certainly, after the 1st night I would consider using this place again if the need arose (listed on Booking dot com as “Heart of Worcester”).

16th December - The Festive Midland-Ian Tour

My last rail tour of the year was a Pathfinder tour of various freight bits in the West Midlands which turned out to be a sort of farewell tour for the class 60s on DB as they were set to get withdrawn within the next few weeks. Anyhow my alarm went off around 05:30 and I was out of the house and heading towards the city centre swinging via the little Tesco Express outside Foregate Street as that thankfully opened at 06:00 allowing to grab some breakfast items before heading towards Worcester Shrub Hill, arriving to see a XC 170 passing (I always forget about those early morning/late night diverts, something I might need to try and do next year if I get the chance for the novelty of a XC via Kidderminster).  Anyhow 60024 rolled in with the usual Mk2 coaches, after a quick photo of the 60 I located my seat and settled down for the trip towards Kidderminster & Stourbridge (where the 3 others boarded, although 2 were the sort who didn’t even say anything to response to a “good morning” (great one of those sort of tours).

Anyhow the last pick up was at Birmingham Snow Hill where due to a cancelled West Midlands service the train arrived ahead of schedule, allowing a fresh air & walk break (as the legroom on the Mk2 coaches is shockingly bad if you have long legs).  The tour continued towards Moor Street before heading into the goods loop bypassing the platform at Bordesley and via the Caledonia Yard, bypassing the platforms at Small Heath to go towards Tyseley via a line which went round the back of the DMU depot (giving good views of what was on the Vintage Trains depot).  The passenger network was joined again after Tyseley station and the train continued towards Banbury (going via the loops at Dorridge & Ferry Compton)

60024 at Worcester Shrub Hill

Before the tour reached Banbury it reversed in the goods loop to the north of the station to access the Tarmac terminal. After the visit to the Tarmac terminal the train headed into Banbury station for a 50-minute lunch break, time I spent popping to a nearby Morrisons for lunch returning via the Oxford Canal towpath and the eastern entrance to the station (with the modern multi-storey car park).  Winner 66194 hauled the train away from Banbury and taking the branch line towards Kineton MOD, reversing on the Network Rail limit of the former line towards Stratford on Avon.  The tour returned towards Fenny Compton reversing once more before heading back towards Birmingham.

Going via the goods loop at Dorridge before the tour headed towards Birmingham New Street using one of the sidings in between the platforms before carrying on towards Wolverhampton, turning into the Steel Terminal before reaching the station.  A further reversal took the tour back out of the Steel Terminal onto the passenger network once more heading back towards Birmingham before taking one of the Soho curves to head towards Tame Bridge Parkway and then towards Heath Town in Wolverhampton but using the north facing curve to bypass Wolverhampton station itself.  The tour continued although it was now dark so harder to follow if it did anything more unusual towards Stafford, reversing alongside the former Royal Mail platform.

66194 at Banbury (from road bridge)

The tour returned towards Wolverhampton, running early due to a broken loop & a train which was meant to pass the charter just outside Stafford running late (or cancelled), but before Wolverhampton took the non-passenger curve towards the Shrewsbury line where it reversed for the final time in the goods loop alongside Oxley depot.  The last leg took the tour via Wolverhampton station before going via Bescot & Aston to approach New Street from that direction (for it would continue back towards Worcester via Stourbridge).  I decided to bail at Birmingham New Street and after getting news of which units were out on Shrewsbury services headed to the trams.

The trams were a bit of chaos due to heavy bunching up in places (all the idiotic taxi drivers blocking the tram tracks within the city centre ignoring the tram right behind it).  After a while I decided to take a walk following the tram tracks reaching St Chad (formally Snow Hill) where winner tram 54 rolled in.  I took this tram to Brindleyplace, walking back towards the Library tram stop for some photos of the winter fairground rides with 54 to Grand Central where once more I set off on foot towards St Chads stop (got me out of the chaos of the city centre) where tram 39 took me back to Grand Central.

West Midland Metro Tram 21 at Grand Central

Due to many cancellations, it was onto a busy dud 196112 for a train towards Malvern (although might have been for Hereford), the state of play with the “onward connection” screen with 5 out of the 6 trains shown being cancelled.  I alighted at Worcester Foregate Street with announcements of a replacement coach for a cancelled Dorridge service (I dread to think how long that would have taken to reach Birmingham calling at all the stops via Kidderminster).  I was a bit sensible to hold back a few minutes to allow the masses (some slightly worse for wear) to head down the stairs before I headed down myself and walked to my accommodation.

A reasonable day some more unusual track covered, although it was made a bit worse by having 2 people on the table whom were silent with the other person good with tales of the olden days.  I was glad to get out of Birmingham when I did to avoid the chaos of the last stopper to Worcester which no doubt would have been a 2-coach special.

196112 at Worcester Foregate Street

17th December – Walking the Netherton Tunnel

In all fairness I was a bit lost at what to do today, wanting to be on the 14:00 service to Worcester from Birmingham at the latest for the 15:XX GWR service to Paddington as that was the last train which connected into a Reading – Salisbury SWR service (just to avoid the hassle of waiting round both Reading & Basingstoke).  My original idea was to maybe walk the Worcester & Birmingham canal from Worcester towards Droitwich Spa with a section of the Droitwich canal, however research was unfruitful in what the towpath condition was like outside Worcester so I pushed that back to next year (didn’t want to risk the path being too muddy).

So, for lack of a better idea, after playing with Google Maps the night before I came up with an alternative idea involving the Netherton Tunnel branch canal & the Gower Branch canal.  After checking out of the shared house in Worcester I walked into the city centre, swinging via the Spoons for breakfast before heading to Foregate Street for the first train towards Birmingham.  A bonus was with winner 196001 leading dud 196004 on this service, which went via Shrub Hill.  An uneventful trip to Birmingham New Street where I had a short wait before 350124 rolled in on the Wolverhampton stopper to take me to Dudley Port where my walk began.

196004 at Worcester Foregate Street

I headed towards the A461 going underneath the Birmingham Canal (Main Line) Ryland Aqueduct before climbing up to the towpath for a short section along the towpath to the Netherton Tunnel Junction.  This was a short canal built to bypass the narrow Dudley Tunnel back in the canal age, dual towpaths (although the towpath on the Wolves side was better quality hard surface).  I carried on to meet the Old Main line aqueduct where I was forced to swap sides as only one of the towpaths within the tunnel is in use (the other side was gated off).  This is where I had a change of plan as originally, I was going to leave the tunnel itself for another day but decided it would be a good day to walk the 1.75-mile-long tunnel.

A torch (or in my case the flash on my phone) is a must for this tunnel as it’s pitch-black inside with only the odd bit of light from ventilation openings in the roof.  It was also a towpath where a good pair of waterproof shoes is required as there were parts where the towpath was flooded and areas where you needed to keep a watchful eye for any potholes within the path.  It was a unique experience walking in this tunnel being alone, a bit spooky as well but I made it to the end and carried on walking to the end of the Tunnel branch canal to where it met up with the main Dudley Canal.  At the junction I could have turned south to follow this canal for around 2 miles to Old Hill station, but instead did a U-turn and headed towards the tunnel.

Inside Netherton Tunnel

35 (or so) minutes later I came out into daylight once more, restarted my GPS tracker (as clearly it would have gotten all confused had it been running within that tunnel) and headed towards the Birmingham Canal old main line aqueduct, climbing up to walk along the old main line (on a towpath which seemed to have been upgraded recently).  I took this canal towards the start of the short Gower branch canal, a canal which links both the “new mainline” and “old line” via a few locks.  Soon I had reached the new mainline canal, where I had the option to heading back towards Dudley Port or to head towards Sandwell & Dudley station and after a quick check on timings decided to head towards Sandwell as walking that tunnel took longer than I had planned.

I soon reached Sandwell & Dudley station where I only had a short wait before 221110 rolled in on an Avanti London train, I was expecting this train to be a tad cosy (being a single 5 coach voyager rather than a 9 or 11 coach Pendo) but it was lightly loaded (at least in coach D).  Originally, I was planning to heading back towards Worcester Foregate Street, but that train had been missed due to my poor time planning so it was towards a Cardiff bound XC service with 170111 leading 170620.  I ended up in the older /1 unit, one which doesn’t have a lot of legroom, but more importantly I got a seat for the run towards Worcestershire Parkway where I changed to the high-level platform for a short wait before 800316 rolled in on the train from Hereford.

170620 departs Worcestershire Parkway

I boarded this 9 coach IET in the rear coach, mainly for the lack of engine noise (so called “Standard Premium” but also because it was lightly loaded due to being off the platform at all the stations towards Oxford.  Even after Oxford it wasn’t that busy.  All was going well until Didcot Parkway where the train arrived around 6 minutes late, not to worry as it was a 15-minute connection at Reading to the Salisbury train.  For some reason the train lost a further 6 minutes during the call at Didcot Parkway (issue changing over to electric mode?).  Arrival into Reading was still 12 minutes late, so it was a fast walk towards platform 2 where 159020 was waiting on the next Salisbury train, making it with seconds to spare before it departed to take me to Grateley.

A nice short-day trip, other than the mild farce with the tighter than expected connection at Reading.  Certainly, walking the tunnel was an experience I won’t be forgetting in a while, I believe it’s the longest canal tunnel which was built with a towpath inside (rather than expecting the horses to go over the top of the hill and boats to be ‘legged’ through the tunnel.  Another 2 coach 196 into my book was a bonus as those units are going to be harder to locate now the 4 coach units have entered service on Hereford services with the issue at University sorted out for the time being.

Trips 2nd & 3rd December & 9th + 10th December

 Trips 2nd & 3rd December & 9th + 10th December

Scary to think it’s already December, this year feels like it’s going so fast.  A month where I haven’t really got anything booked up other than a railtour of freight bits around the West Midlands in a couple of weeks’ time so it will be a month of day tripping, trying to make the most of the more limited daylight hours and changeable weather for walking to explore various areas.  Sorry this is a bit later than usual, been fighting some internal demons again which have a nasty habit of appearing this time of year.

2nd December – A cold day in North London

I decided to head to London today, with a focus on walking something which I was previously going to do last month but it got rained off, the walk from Cheshunt towards Roydon with maybe extending it further depending how I felt.  Although the weather was dry it was just a bit cold (resulting in wearing multiple layers of clothes to help).  The day began with the 05:56 service (159015 & 159007) from Grateley towards Basingstoke, where I had a short wait before 165107 took me to Reading (the 06:47 XC service not running I presume due to the overtime ban).  At Reading it was a short walk to board 387170 on a service from Newbury for the nonstop run towards Paddington.

For a bit of a time waster, I headed towards the Elizabeth line platforms at Paddington to jump onto 345039 for the run to Woolwich station, for the short walk to Woolwich Arsenal station where originally I was considering using the DLR but there was no service on the DLR, so it was the first available South Eastern service with 465187 + 465194 towards St Johns (for no reason other than wanting some better photos) followed by 707012 running solo to take me towards Cannon Street.  At Cannon Street I undertook the short walk towards Liverpool Street swinging via a little Tesco Express & Greggs along the way for some supplies (making use of the free sausage roll at weekends offer via O2 for some free food).

159007 at Basingstoke

At Liverpool Street I turned down the first train towards Cheshunt (a dud 720 on a Hertford service) to see what was on the next Cambridge service.  Winner 720518 rolled in for the short turnaround before heading back out, being very busy (even in the front coach).  When I alighted, it seemed like the middle seats on the 3 side were mostly empty with passengers preferring to stand in the vestibule than squeeze into the middle.  I still think the 720s are great trains but ruined by the high density 3+2 seating with narrow aisles.  Anyhow at Cheshunt my walk began as I wrapped up against the cold and headed towards the River Lee Country Park, turning north onto a mixed used path which followed the route of the railway, sandwiched between the railway & and water.

I headed away from the railway around Turnford Brook, heading towards the Lee Navigation & the Stansted Mill Stream, dodging various patches of ice.  I followed this path towards the Wildlife discovery centre picking up cycle route 1 which I followed for the next few miles, skirting around Penny’s Hill, although views were a bit limited due to the fog (maybe somewhere I could revisit on a day where the sun is shining for some views from the higher ground).  This path took me towards Lower Nazeing and some fishing lakes (Nazeing Meads).

Small River Lee within the River Lee Country Park near Cheshunt

The path joined the Navigation for a short section (which by far was the worse section for dodging various patches of ice and other flooded sections) turning away from the Lee Navigation near Dobbs Weir lock to follow a path along the northern edge of the Northern Nazeing Mead, before I picked up the River Lee along a peaceful section where the path I was on was sandwiched between the flood relief channel (on the right) and the Navigation (on the left).  I left Cycle Route 1 near Fieldes Lock, crossing the weir to join the River Stort (Navigation).  The towpath at the start was reasonable but narrow in places, very stop-start pausing for other walkers at passing points.  Very peaceful as I headed along the navigation towards Roydon where I was toying with stopping as I headed to the station, but the next London train was a pair of dud 720s which looked very busy, so I turned them down and decided to push on towards Harlow.

The River Stort Navigation went underneath the railway just to the north of the station and headed into the beauty of Hunsdon Mead Nature Reserve before a section which was quite noisy due to being close to the A414 road, and I was glad when the towpath turned south away from that dual carriageway, towards Parndon Mill and Harlow.  I decided a good place to end the walk was at Burnt Mill lock, located close to Harlow Town station (so close you can actually see the platforms) but due to the layout of the land there is no northern entrance of the station forcing a half mile detour via Burnt Mill Lane for the A414 to cross the railway before dropping towards the station to finish the walk.  The towpath between Roydon & Harlow was narrow in places but had a reasonable surface, wasn’t as bad as I was expecting it to have been.

River Stout Navigation, Harlow

I turned down the first London train as that was a Stansted Express service (being run by a Norwich-Spec 745), and onto winner 720113 (along with dud 720558) to take me to Tottenham Hale, where for next few hours I pinged back & forth using Broxbourne as the edge of the Oyster zone getting 720124, 720111, 720544 & 720507 into my book.  I remained on 720507 to Stratford with a trip to Shenfield with winners 720122 & 720130 returning to Stratford on winner 720121 & (dud) 720107.  The temperature had dropped and so I decided it was worth heading back home to avoid the usual Saturday evening chaos.

I jumped onto 345047 to take me to Bond Street, walking the long interchange to the Jubilee line for 96079+96038 to Waterloo, finishing off the day trip with 158881 + 159010 on a Salisbury stopper.  A lot quieter than I was expecting it to be (at least in the front coach).  Quiet until Basingstoke where a group of loud drunks did board at Basingstoke partaking in the usual “I’m the top dog” rubbish drunks have a habit of doing when in a group (needless to say they didn’t have tickets when the guard came round).  Thankfully they alighted at Andover returning peace before I walked home in the very cold air, to warm myself up in front of the fire.

720539 at Tottenham Hale

An enjoyable day in London, all be a bit chilly, but better cold than rain in my eyes.  I’ve made a start with the Stort Navigation (carries on towards Bishop Stortford) as well as enjoying the countryside around the Lee Country Park.  As well as getting 9 winning 720s, my first 720 hunt for a good few months.

3rd December – An unplanned return to a wet London

Originally my plan for today was to head towards Fareham to sample the Gosport guided bus and to walk some of the old railway lines in Gosport (finishing off with a coastal walk towards Lee on Solent) but with the forecast being variable with heavy rain forecasted I decided to put that idea on the backburner and have another trip to London (to try and make a start with getting the list of “sub mile” Underground sets down).  After looking at various options for potential walks within London I settled on something out in the West.

The day began with the 07:36 service from Grateley to take me towards Clapham Junction (a very quiet 159101 & 159014), where I headed towards the Overground platforms for the next Shepherd’s Bush service (morning engineering works I presume), where the train was going from platform 2 (rather than platform 1).  I was a bit surprised when it was a DC only 378 (146) for something a bit more unusual as it terminated into the southbound platform at Shepherd’s Bush station (wearing my BLS hat for the crossover to the south of the station lol).  I exited the station (via the manual barriers because London Overground stations never like the “Sundays Out” Travelcard from Basingstoke).

378146 at Shepherd's Bush Station

I had a gentle walk towards Shepherd’s Bush Market underground, jumping on the next Hammersmith service (formed of 21351/352) going into platform 3 at Hammersmith.  The tiny walk across the road to the other Hammersmith underground station saw me onto a Piccadilly line service formed of 237/132 which I took to Acton Town, stepping back to board 186/123 for the run to Hounslow East, not stopping at South Ealing due to station improvement works (always a strange feeling going nonstop via Underground stations).  Anyhow I exited the station at Hounslow East to begin my little walk.

Following some footpaths took me towards Osterley underground station before Osterley Park (something on my list to return to).  I joined a road for a short distance going underneath the M4 before heading into the “Long Wood” which was a surprising find for being beautiful.  I followed the path via the Long Wood which came out near the Warren Farm nature reserve and I crossed over the Brentford freight line via a foot crossing picking up a path which followed parallel to the railway towards Trumpers field and a steep muddy hill to drop towards the Grand Union canal near one of the Hanwell flight of locks.

Brentford Freight Line from a Footpath Crossing near Trumpers Field, Hanwell

Crossing the canal I picked up the “Brent River Park Path” as well as the long distance Capital Ring, as I followed both paths alongside the river Brent, crossing a main road (due to a flooded underpass) and coming across the beautiful Wharncliff Viaduct, carrying the GWML across the valley near Hanwell station.  Somewhere I will need to return to when the sky isn’t so grey for some nice photos of trains crossing the viaduct.  This path took me into the Brent Lodge Park as I followed the markers (a bit muddy in places, and I had to stop along the way to put my coat on as it had started to rain).

Following the Capital Ring, I soon reached Ruislip Road where I decided on a change of plan as originally, I was going to take the Capital Ring to Greenford but instead followed the Park Path following the river towards an old leisure centre (Gurnell).  The next section was away from the river due to various golf courses as it headed towards Pitshanger Park & Brentham Meadows where the Brent River Park Path came to an end alongside the A40.  The next section was walking along the pavement of this very busy road (which in hindsight I should have gone a bit south to walk along the residential roads as it would have been quieter).

I reached Hanger Lane Underground station, for some photos (although quite hard to do with the location) before carrying on towards Twyford Abbey road to pick up a path via a park to reach Park Royal underground station (on the Piccadilly line).  After pausing for some more photos I carried on along a path towards West Acton, an area which a few nice looking black & white houses.  Originally I was going to carry on towards North Ealing but decided to break my walk up early due to the rain (which had gotten more annoying).  An enjoyable walk (other than the section along the A40), various types of paths and a decent explore.

West Acton Underground Station Building

Back to the trains and a short wait before a Central line service (91197/91161/92174/91099) popped up to take me towards Shepherd’s Bush, crossing over to the Overground station with 378255 for the run to Willesden Junction where I began a little hunt for any sub 10 mile units or 710379.  I did see a couple of low mileage 378s heading towards Stratford, so I formed a plan taking 378205 to Kentish Town West to wait for 378209 on a Richmond service.  Originally my plan was to step back at Willesden Junction for another sub 10 mile 378 to take to Richmond (for something SWR to Waterloo), but this is where things went a tad wrong.

Due to damage to a footbridge near Woking, the railway line in that area was closed so I gave up with the Richmond train following to jump onto a Bakerloo line service (3265/3541) to Paddington.  After grabbing something to eat from Sainsburys I managed to board a busy 800318 on a Great Malvern service (this was the Sunday where GWR was running a heavily cut back service due to the overtime ban).  I took this 800 to Reading and headed towards platform 2, taking a seat as the connections weren’t the best today with the hourly Basingstoke service (no XC running beyond Reading).  The crowd was massive 10 minutes before departure as I made my way towards the area I was predicting the last set of doors would be with the crowd building up.

A busy platform 2 at Reading

Eventually 165104 rolled in running late (the Sunday timetable of 1 train going back & forth is more fragile than some glass with short turnarounds at either end), departed around 10 minutes late extremely busy (I dread to think what it would have been like near the back).  This took me to Basingstoke where I headed towards platform 2, taking a seat and just waited for the next train towards Andover.  Originally it was showing as being semi-fast but soon had extra stops added which was good news for me.  However what wasn’t such good news is that it was a single 3 coach unit (159006).  Thankfully I managed to board, even got a seat for the trip to Grateley, where I walked home to relax for the rest of the night.  Not the best of trips back home but at least I got home, even if 115-odd minutes later than expected

9th December – Buses in Oxfordshire/Berkshire

Today was a day where I had several options at what to do, sadly the poor weather meant walking was out and I didn’t want to head towards London again.  After weighing up various options I decided on dusting off a plan I made for earlier in the year which never happened due to strikes.  The day began with a drive to Andover, parking in my usual spot close to the railway station which has free parking on weekends (every little helps) with a walk in the rain towards Andover bus station.  The first bus being the Stagecoach route 7 to Newbury, although departure time came and went without anything appearing, eventually bus 36920 (An Enviro 300) rolled in to depart around 15 minutes late.  It was only me, mum & another passenger on the bus as it headed away from Andover towards Newbury.  The bus went along the A343 via Enham Alamein & Hurstbourne Tarrant to the Penwood area, doing a loop round a housing estate before heading towards other villages like East End & Ball Hill to reach Newbury.  New coverage for me as when I did a route 7 back in April it was one of the services which went direct to Newbury after Penwood via the A343.  The bus did get busier as time went on, so it didn’t remain quiet throughout.

The next bus was the Thames Travel X34 for Didcot Parkway (bus 622, a double decker).  This bus departed Newbury with only me & mum on board for the trip out of Newbury, doing a loop of Vodafone HQ before a trip along the A34, coming off to do a loop of Chilton (picking up one more passenger) before heading towards the science/business park of Harwell Campus (dropping off that passenger who boarded at Chilton and picking up a few more passengers).  After Harwell Campus it headed towards Harwell village before the housing of the Great Western Park of Didcot, picking up quite a few passengers along the way.  We exited at Didcot Parkway station rather than the terminus on Haydon Road as the connection to the next bus route wasn't the biggest (only 15 minutes) and felt like most of the bus alighted to head towards the railway station.

Thames Travel Bus 622 (BN68 XSO) at Didcot Parkway Station on a route X34

The next bus route on my little tour was the Thames Travel route 23 for Henley on Thames, with bus 442 (a Wright StreetLite).  This was the busiest bus so far as it headed out of Didcot doing a loop of the town before heading towards Wallingford.  The bus had a good turnover of passengers in Wallingford before it continued towards Henley on Thames going via villages like Nuffield & Nettlebed staying on the A4130.  At Henley on Thames, we headed towards some toilets & Boots for some lunch before the next bus route of the day, the Thames Valley operated route 239 for Maidenhead with an Optare Solo (129).

This bus departed with only me & mum on board (only runs twice a day on Saturdays) going towards Hurley (where it picked up a couple more passengers from the nearby mobile home park).  The bus went via the Berks College of Agriculture Campus (no takers) before heading into Maidenhead where it picked up a couple more passengers within the town area.  An interesting route for views and I was glad to have managed to get the timings to work.  When in Maidenhead I had around 90 minutes to waste before my next planned bus, so we remained on board Solo 129 as it formed a route 234, a large loop towards Waltham St Lawrence via a few other small villages to the southwest of Maidenhead.

Thames Travel Bus 442 (SK66 HRO) in Henley on Thames on a route 23

The 234 departed Maidenhead with half a dozen passengers, getting dropped off in some of the villages along the way (another twice a day on Saturdays bus route) before picking up some extra passengers on the way back into Maidenhead in the Knowl Hill area sticking to the A4 most of the way to terminate on the bus stop on Frascati Way.  An enjoyable waste of an hour looking out of the window in an area I’ve never visited before, some nice-looking countryside.  Anyhow in Maidenhead we had a short walk from Frascati Way towards Bridge Avenue, where the Saturdays only Thames Valley Buses route 127 to Reading starts from.  Bus 132 (An Enviro200) was waiting and eventually departed around 10 minutes late, and like other bus routes today it only had me & mum on board as it headed away from Maidenhead.

This route headed towards Reading via the A4 until Hare Hatch before heading towards Wargrave & Twyford.  A little loop into Sonning before heading towards Woodley where it got quite busy as it headed towards Reading town centre (along part of a route shared with other bus routes).  A slightly different way to look out of the window on an oddity of a Saturdays only service.  Anyhow that was the end of the buses for the day as we headed into the town centre to do some shopping (since my last visit to Reading both Primark & Sports Direct has changed locations).  After getting what we wanted, it was to the railway station for a slightly delayed 165106 (delayed due to someone being sick) for the run to Basingstoke before a quiet 159002 + 159005 on the next Basingstoke – Salisbury semi-fast service for the nonstop run to Andover.

159002 at Basingstoke

At Andover, we dropped off the bags into the car and relocated to a town centre car park to visit the local Spoons for dinner (somewhere I hadn’t been to for years), before making our way slowly home, the end of an enjoyable day on the buses.  I can remove some more bus routes from my list of “would like to do”, making the most of the £2 bus fare scheme.

10th December – Brent Cross West & London

Today was a case of heading towards London, visit the latest station to open on the network (Brent Cross West) then have a couple of short walks before the rain moved in.  However, things went a tad wrong due to overrunning engineering works near Woking.  My original plan was to catch the 07:00-odd service from Andover direct into London Waterloo, but when I saw that was only running to Farnborough, I went back to sleep for 15 minutes before heading out to Andover (using Andover solely due to rubbish connections to the Basingstoke – Salisbury stopper from London).

Due to a quirk with the timetable the unit which would normally be ECS to Basingstoke (to form a Basingstoke – Exeter service) has been put in service the last couple of weeks (even with another service 10 minutes behind it).  I decided to board 159005 when it rolled into Andover on a Basingstoke terminator to get out of a cold wind, this proved to be a good move as due to the overrunning engineering works there was nothing heading east of Basingstoke for at least the next hour with two London trains terminating at Basingstoke.  Thankfully there was an escape route via 165121 on the Reading train (which true to form was already running late), not ideal being a 2-coach unit for it was very cosy on board.

165121 at Basingstoke

Arrival into Reading was around 15 minutes late (lost more time along the way) so it was a bit of a fast walk to board 165113 on the Redhill stopper which was departing from platform 15 (first time being on a GWR service via the dive-under giving access to the Wokingham line, pretty sure the only other time I’ve used this bit of track was on a diverted voyager a few years ago).  This turned out to be a wise decision because the next London bound Elizabeth line service only made it to West Drayton due to the failure of the overheads (again).  Anyhow I had a decent seat on this 165 as it headed towards Redhill, where I had a fast walk towards the bus station to catch an Arriva London operated route 405 (double decker HT18) on the next bus to Croydon Town Centre, solely to avoid a 30-minute fester at a station I dislike (due to the habit of “This is a late notice platform alternation” with the trains not waiting for passengers to transfer from P2 to P0).

Back to the bus route, this was an interesting little trip north via Merstham, Coulsdon & Purley to reach Croydon town centre, terminating on Park Street, views from a different angle and allowed me to tick off another London bus route.  Sadly, the rain had arrived as I headed towards East Croydon to jump onto 700124 to London Bridge (where it terminated due to engineering works).  Ironically this would have been the train I would have caught from Redhill, so my little bus adventure didn’t cost me any time.  Once I had managed to get off the platform at London Bridge and towards the Jubilee line, I managed to squeeze onto the next service with 96030 & 96123 to West Hampstead (in hindsight I probably should have used the Northern line to Kings Cross St Pancras) but sadly the delay getting to the platform meant the next northbound Luton stopper had already gone (boo).  So, for the lack of a better plan, I took 700039 to St Pancras (using platform 1), remaining on board for the run out to Brent Cross West to tick off the station.

700039 at St Pancras

This is where I finally had some good luck as the next southbound train was running around 14 minutes late (was late departing Luton) allowing me to make the minus 5-minute connection with ease.  This is a vast station, and an area I will need to return to when the weather isn’t so wet.  Anyhow 700146 rolled in on the next southbound which I took to West Hampstead popping out of the station for some lunch before waiting for 700060 for a little catch-up with my good friend Stu who was back out after spending the night on the underground ticking off the stations (and did the first service from Brent Cross West).  At St Pancras we had a gentle walk (and chat) to Euston where we parted ways as I headed to the Overground platforms with 710272 on the next Watford service.

The train was delayed by around 7 minutes (I presume due to needing BTP to attend for one passenger as they were led away before the train departed).  I took it to Kensal Green, stepping back to board a Bakerloo line service (stepped back to ID a southbound train) with 3534/3299 for the single trip to Willesden Junction.  I relocated myself to the bridge giving a view of the high-level platforms and caught sub ten-mile unit 378217 to Gunnersbury, just enough to push it over ten miles.  Although the next Stratford train was delayed by around 5 minutes which probably would have been enough time to ride this 378 to Kew Gardens but hey-ho.

District Line LU 21546 departs Gunnersbury Station

378230 eventually rolled in on the next Stratford train to take me back to Willesden Junction where I took up residence of the footbridge keeping my eyes on the 710s on the DC lines and for my last 378.  When I saw 378223 rolling in on a Stratford service, I had another fast walk to board my last 378 needed for ten miles.  I was extremely happy as it meant no more festering on the North/East London lines for the dual voltage 378s can pop up in many places.  It was pushed over ten miles by Gospel Oak but the next 710/2 wasn’t needed so I remained on board to Hackney Central, walking to Hackney Downs the idea being to head towards Liverpool Street to see if I could sneak a look at the cleaners’ sheet at the buffers near platform 1 which lists what 710s were out.  Football was on at White Hart Lane so it was all pairs, but sadly I saw my last 710/1 (106) passing through Hackney Downs ECS heading to Chingford for it had worked one of the kickball extras (and hence wouldn’t be back out for a couple hours).

For lack of a better idea, I jumped onto 710112 & 710114 to Walthamstow Central for the short walk to Walthamstow Queens Road on the Gospel Oak – Barking line, where my luck was in as the first Barking Riverside train (woof woof) was sub ten mile 710259, my last of the active 710/2s to push over ten miles.  This was done by Barking as I changed to board a Fenchurch Street bound 357018 & 357038 for the run to Fenchurch Street, going via Stratford and the lesser used Gas Factory chord.  At Fenchurch Street I headed to Tower Hill for a spot of linear hopping to Victoria, firstly with 21498/497 to Blackfriars then 21566/565 to Victoria, both sets I needed for a mile (so some reasonable luck getting two in a row).

710259 at Barking

At Victoria I headed to the Sainsburys Local in the shopping centre to grab some dinner items before boarding a very busy 377429 & 377401 on a Brighton train (when watching a pair of 387s depart for Gatwick Airport containing mostly fresh air).  These 377s took me to Clapham Junction where I boarded 159017 + 159009 on a Waterloo train (you would think with a reduced service between Basingstoke & Woking, SWR would have tried to make sure everything was max length?)  My theory being as these services only had a 15-minute turnaround at Waterloo it was more sensible being on the train before the crowds boarded.  As expected, it was standing room only, even in coach 1 of 6 as it zoomed towards Woking, going via platform 2 to run ‘wrong line’ towards Brooklands to use the crossover to regain the correct line (due to engineering works with the landslip).  Lost some time due to the stopper in front running late so arrival into Basingstoke was around 10 minutes late, not to worry as the train did empty out to some degree before continuing to Andover where I alighted to have a relaxing drive home.

A good day out, the morning wrecked somewhat due to the overrunning works (I worked out I was around 4 hours late in arriving at Brent Cross), the walks I had planned will be pushed back to another trip.  I was happy to have cleared the 378s for 10 miles as well as the active 710/2s (maybe one of these days 710270 will finally enter service), means the end is in sight for the Overground.  More photos from both weekends can be found here: Thanks for reading my random mutterings and I leave you with a photo of a 377:

377401 at Clapham Junction

Trips on 25th & 26th November

 Trips on 25th & 26th November

25th November – Cardiff Valleys

I decided today would be a good day to return to Cardiff, taking my mum for a little day trip (gets her out of the house), although I didn’t really have much of a plan for what we would do in South Wales.  Anyhow I had booked tickets for the 07:30 train from Salisbury & 18:27 service from Cardiff and it was a cold start having to de-ice my car before the morning drive to Salisbury.  I got lucky with securing the last of the free parking spots near to the station (saves forking out the £5.30 SWR want for parking). At the station, after swinging via the ticket office to buy the rangers, we headed to the nice warm waiting room to await the GWR.

The GWR service for Cardiff was a couple of minutes late with 158748 leading 158760 for the 2 and a bit hour journey into Cardiff Central (little bit of luxury with 158s compared to the usual 3+2 seated Turbos).  The coach we were in only really got busy after Bristol Temple Meads (and that was probably due to it being the closest to the entrance steps) as the 158s headed into South Wales, arriving in Newport a few minutes early and into Cardiff Central near enough on time.  Along the way I formed a rough plan which involved a required 197 on a Carmarthen service & my last 231.  Unusually the 158s remained on the platform throughout rather than shunting clear of the station into the sidings to the west of the station.

158748 at Cardiff Central

 

My rough plan didn’t last long as I watched a late running 5 coach IET roll in from London for Swansea looking rather cosy before what RTT was showing as 197110 on a Crewe – Cardiff service (started at Crewe instead of Manchester Piccadilly) which would form the next Carmarthen service [the 2 coach 197 which was allocated earlier got shifted to work a Holyhead train].  A large crowd was building on platform 3 as the train from Crewe rolled in… 67015 with some Mk4 coaches.  Even the train staff for the next leg looked confused (“That’s not right”) and in the confusion I decided on an alternative plan, and we headed to platform 6 to jump onto 150284 on the next Aberdare train.

The original idea was to take that 197 to Bridgend to return to Cardiff going via the coastal route, but instead I was heading towards Aberdare, looking at the various overhead wiring (can’t help thinking the money saved in not wiring up everything will only come back to bite in 10+ years’ time when the batteries on the new trams need replacing).  This trip to Aberdare also allowed me to cover some of the upgrades to the track on the branch itself (a longer loop at Mountain Ash & a loop at the Aberdare end with a new ‘arrival platform’ under construction).  It was also nice to look out at the scenery of mountains.  Probably the last time I will come to Aberdare on a 150.

150284 at Aberdare

We remained on board the 150 during the turnaround at Aberdare as the train got very, very busy with passengers getting turned away by Pontypridd due to sheer overcrowding.  Both I & mum were glad to get off the train at Cardiff Queen Street and onto 153325 for the gentle trip to Heath Low Level.  There must have been signalling issues on the section between Queen Street & Heath junction as the train was very slow, so it was a quick walk between the Heath stations, just missing a 66 passing on a southbound freight service (grr) before winner 231003 rolled in on a Bargoed service.  The last of the 231s I needed to ride so a nice bonus that was it out and about today.

At Bargoed we remained on the same unit to take it all the way to Penarth, looking out of the window.  Although even this was a bit chaotic due to a Ystrad Mynach starter running late, which actually passed us when we were sitting on the platform at Ystrad Mynach meaning the next section was quite slow moving until that late running 231 in front had some stops ripped out after Caerphilly to give more of a gap.  This meant the train we were on was running around 5 minutes late which got further delayed waiting for that train in front to clear the single-track section at Penarth.  All the delays!

231003 at Penarth Station

At Penarth we headed out for a gentle walk towards the pier (going via “The Dingle”), exploring the pier itself before following the Wales Coastal Path towards Cardiff Bay.  I guess at one point there used to be a path which ran along the base of the cliffs at Penarth Head (shows on Google Maps but not on Open Street Map) which has since vanished due to the tides of time. We followed the marked path via housing before going towards Dingle Road station, jumping onto 231002 for the run to Cardiff Queen Street.

An enjoyable walk to the pier, although some of the hills were quite steep in places.  Anyhow we exited the station at Cardiff Queen Street, swinging via a Wetherspoons for dinner (The Central Bar) before mum headed towards Primark for some clothes shopping.  We returned to Cardiff Queen Street after a nice meal (in a noisy pub, but that was to be expected) jumping on the first train towards Central, ironically 231003 for the 3rd time.  At Cardiff Central we had a short walk towards platform 2, avoiding the massive crowd waiting on platform 1 for a 158 to attach to a pair of 153s for a Manchester service.

Northern side of the Penarth Pier (From Land)

Eventually 158748 & 158760 returned from the sidings, hearing Chandler’s Ford announced as a call on this service was a bit strange (engineering works between St Denys & Fareham), but we got a decent seat (near enough the same table seat we had in the morning) as the train headed towards Salisbury.  A bit of a delay between Bristol & Bath due to congestion but that was made up by Warminster so arrival into Salisbury was near enough on time.  We headed back to the car, having to de-ice it once more before a leisurely drive home.  I still need to sample a 231 at the northern end of the Rhymney line so a job for a potential future trip.

26th November – Exploring Thamesmead & Overground Hunting

After doing quite a bit of research into various options (for I have lots of potential walking ideas for London) for today’s explore in London, I decided on an explore of Thamesmead.  This would take into part of the Green Chain Walk and the Ridgeway Walk (a path which runs along top of a sewer embankment).  The trip began with the 07:38(odd) service towards Waterloo formed of 159104 & 159101 which I took to Clapham Junction where it arrived ten minutes early (following an announcement from the guard saying the train would be held there until correct departure time).  I crossed over to platform 10 to jump onto 455721 & 455851 to reach Waterloo quicker before heading across to Waterloo East to jump on the first available train towards London Bridge which was 376017 & 376002 on a Hayes service.

At London Bridge, it was a short walk towards platform 2 to board 700025 on a Rainham service for the trip towards Abbey Wood where I exited the station to begin my little walk to explore the area.  First of all, I headed south towards the remains of Lesnes Abbey via part of the Abbey Woods (which I presume is the reason this area of London is called Abbey Wood).  Anyhow, I picked up the Green Chain Walk which headed north towards South Mere lake within Southmere Park.

Remains of Lesnes Abbey and Abbey Woods behind

I switched to the Ridgeway path for the grass section towards the River Thames going past the “RANG” railway with an old golf course on the northern side of the path.  This is where my plan massively changed as I headed back towards Crossway Park on the opposite side of the closed golf course to follow the Green Chain Walk towards the River Thames.  The next hour or so I did some exploring following various paths with various canals, with a loop of Birchmere lake.  Soon I reached the area underneath the Eastern Way flyover where I was earlier, before following the Ridgway path towards Plumstead, where I decided to end my walk due to the sky looking quite moody (that dark inky black colour).  An enjoyable little explore of a part of London I had never really visited before.

Anyhow it was to the trains (choo choo!) with 376009 & 376027 on the next Cannon Street service (playing South Eastern Metro Bingo, as you never know what might pop up).  The rain started by the time the train reached Charlton, so I remained on board to Cannon Street where a planned walk to Liverpool Street was ditched as I used the new(ish) entrance to Bank underground station near Cannon Street as well as the moving walkway linking the Northern & Central lines.  I jumped on the first available Central line service (formation 91265, 92152, 92428 & 91037) to Liverpool Street, where I popped to Tesco for something to eat as a late lunch before going to play with some 710s.

465916 on Plumstead Sidings

I had noticed that Tottenham were at home in the kickball, which normally means the Overground services are doubled up (as Sundays are normally single units), so with the game kicking off I spent the next couple of hours pinging back & forth clearing 5 out of the 6 AC only 710s I needed for ten miles (710118, 710122, 710110, 710108 & 710102).  Sadly 116 didn’t seem to be out (knowing my luck it was on the Romford – Upminster shuttle) so not a full house.  For the lack of a better idea (and to run away from Liverpool Street as the kickball had finished) I jumped onto 345046 to Stratford (engineering works in the Elizabeth line core so the 345s were starting from the high-level platforms at Liverpool Street).

At Stratford I turned down a 378 on the next Camden Road service and headed to the Central line, heading to Bond Street, stepping back at Holborn (first train being formed of 91067, 92092, 92116 & 91047 with the 2nd being formed of 91283, 92128, 92068 & 91183).  At Bond Street it was a short walk before jumping onto Jubilee line sets 96017/96066 to Waterloo.  This is where I decided it might be worth-while transferring my “sub mile LU” list to Google Keep from Excel as a potential idea for future trips to start trying to knock them down.

378255 at Stratford

Anyhow at Waterloo, I went via Tesco for some dinner items before heading to the station.  I wanted to investigate a pair of 450s on an Alton/Basingstoke service as RTT was only showing the rear unit (and I noticed earlier in the day 065 headed towards Farnham sidings).  I was lucky and 450065 was on the front (450001 on the rear) which I took to Clapham Junction, just enough to tick 450065 for renumbering (from a 450/5).  I was happy as it meant I no longer had to keep an eye out.  10 minutes of waiting at Clapham Junction (watching as a triple 387 crawled through on a Gatwick Express carrying 3 passengers, followed by a Southern service which was wedged out) before a very busy 159020 & 159006 rolled in.  I was lucky to grab one of the few empty seats in the leading coach, so I dread to think what it was like near the rear.

The train did slowly empty out with standing passengers in the front coach going by Basingstoke but when I alighted at Grateley the front 3 coaches were still quite busy (rear coaches looked a bit quieter).  I dread to think what the 17:20 to Salisbury would have been like as that was only a single 159 (according to RTT).  Anyhow I had a gentle walk home (sadly in the rain), before relaxing for the rest of the evening.  A good little day trip to London, exploring Thamesmead before hunting down some Overground units needed for mileage with the bonus of that 450.  More photos taken from this weekend can be found on my Flickr account, link is here Link.  Thank you for reading my random mutterings :)

450065 at London Waterloo