27th December – 31st December – Merseyside getaway & London

27th December – 31st December – Merseyside getaway & London

This was a bit of a late(ish) booking for a few days in Merseyside bolting onto a hotel booking I had in Leatherhead which was meant to be for a railtour I decided not to book onto.  After doing some research at the start of December I located a suitable looking shared house near Edge Hill for a reasonable amount (sometimes it’s worth paying a bit extra to get closer to a station/city centre).

27th December – “It’s a tad wet today”.

The trip began with the 05:27 service from Grateley, originally, I was booked on the 05:59 with a change at Basingstoke for a service to London but the late notice works at Woking reduced the timetable, so the connecting train ceased to exist.  After asking the guard for permission to board this near enough empty service with 159106 all was going well until I noticed the PIS at Whitchurch saying “Basingstoke” rather than London Waterloo with the announcement that due to signalling issues at the Waterloo end this train would terminate at Basingstoke.  Which is all fine other than the next service to London was in an hours’ time (would it have been too hard to have held the stopper which was departing as this service arrived?)

I relocated to the warm waiting room along with many other passengers, being joined by more passengers from the following service from Salisbury terminating at Basingstoke.  Going via Reading & GWR wasn’t really an option due to Paddington being closed, eventually 450050 & 450119 rolled in from Eastleigh (was Southampton Airport but started short due to late arrival of the ECS from Portsmouth).  I managed to get a decent seat (well decent on a 450) in the front coach, and all was going well until the Farnborough area where the signaller decided to put the stopper in front for the section which was operating as a 2 track railway so it was a bit of a crawl until Woking where the 450s headed onto the fast line to overtake the stopper for the run to Waterloo.

159106 at Basingstoke

My original idea was to walk to Euston (as the rain wasn’t due to arrive until the afternoon and to save hanging over money to TfL) but with the late arrival I didn’t really have the time to even use the bus, so it was to the underground with 51581/51713 on the first northbound service to take me to Euston.  With some time to spare I decided to head towards a member of staff to add my latest gold card discount to my oyster, only to discover that it had broken (I used contactless for the tube journey).  That was an extra £7 fee for a replacement oyster card I wasn’t expecting (and I need to somehow link the new oyster to my online account and transfer the remaining few quid on my old oyster, if only I could remember the password I needed to create when it got registered).

Anyhow, Oyster card was updated with my railcard discount (useful for Friday evening), and I swung via Sainsburys for a bit of a late breakfast before heading to the platform to board the 08:46 service for Crewe.  350259 was leading 350409 and I managed to get a table seat in the former TPE unit to watch a movie as the train headed towards Crewe with nothing of note along the way (other than the guard remaining firmly in the middle cab, but at least this time they didn’t lock out the gangway doors to stop pesky passengers from disturbing them).  At Crewe I had some time to kill before the next LNR for Liverpool, so I popped out of the station to visit the Tesco garage before returning for a busy 350371 to Liverpool Lime Street.

350371 at Liverpool Lime Street

Due to the wet weather my planned idea to walk the path alongside the Mersey between Cressington & Brunswick was put back on the shelf as after buying my Saveaway from the ticket office I headed to the Merseyrail platforms to hunt down some 777s.  Since my last visit to Merseyside, I’ve put together a little mileage sheet which comes in handy at determining how far 10 miles is on the various routes.  The first few services round the loop at Lime Street weren’t needed but soon winner 777026 popped up on an Ellesmere Port service which gave me an excuse to revisit the two stations between Ellesmere Port & Hooton for some better photographs as this unit took me to a damp Overpool where I had a short wait before it returned to take me to Little Sutton.  Along the way south I was keeping my eyes out to try and ID the northbound services, which was easier said than done.

Anyhow a short wait at Little Sutton before winner 777010 rolled in to take me to Ellesmere Port for a quick turnaround (it was running late) to take me towards Hamilton Square, stepping back to board winner 777006 on a Chester service going round the loop, which I took to Bache.  I knew from earlier the following Chester unit was also a winner 777 but first I popped to Morrisons to grab something to munch (although options were quite limited) and to make use of the toilets.  I returned to Bache station for a short wait before 777024 returned from Chester to take me back to the city centre at Lime Street where I headed upstairs to jump on the first available Northern service for Edge Hill, a slightly delayed (not like there were any announcements to why it departed 10 minutes late) 331107 on a Wigan service.

777026 at Little Sutton Station

I exited the station at Edge Hill to walk towards the accommodation on Durning Road, near enough opposite a couple of takeaways, hardest part was collecting the front door key from a little key press which was very close to the wet ground.  Once I collected the key, I gained access to the house, 4 bedrooms with a bedroom & a little lounge/kitchen area on the ground floor and 3 bedrooms plus a bathroom upstairs.  Like the place in Crewe the shared bathroom was for 2 of the 3 bedrooms, the 3rd was en-suite.  I located my room (a single room) which was basic but perfectly functional, dropping off things from my bag before heading out, swinging via an Iceland on the way back to Edge Hill station to waste some time before 331022 rolled in from either Wigan or Manchester (Edge Hill is one of those stations which suffers from bunching of services, might get 4tph into Liverpool but when 3 of those trains are within 10 minutes of each other [when not cancelled] it isn’t the best.

Anyhow at Liverpool I had a gentle walk towards Liverpool Central, having the option of a winner 777 towards Hunt Cross (which strangely was being showed as “formed of 8 coaches”) but I went for winner 777030 for the run to Town Green, keeping my eyes on any passing trains to attempt to ID them (made harder with the darkness). After swinging via the Co-Op (picking up a packet of reduced to clear mince pies) I returned to Town Green station for dud 777011 for the run to Orrell Park, was originally going to change at Walton but it lost a couple of minutes.  777014 took me back north towards Aughton Park to intercept winner 777023 for the run to Moorfields where I ran into 507001 on a Southport service, first time seeing this unit since it’s been done up in old style colours, and it looked good.

507001 at Moorfields Station

Winner 777140 arrived on a train from Headbolt Lane, which I took to Liverpool Central, remaining on board for the run to Headbolt Lane, once more going into platform 2.  A station which had a couple of security guards evicting some youths from the train for not having tickets before the train headed back towards Liverpool where I changed at Rice Lane for the short walk to Walton and onto winner 777002 to Liverpool Central, remaining on board for the return to Maghull to push it over 10 miles with a decent connection (for it was the time of night Merseyrail drop to 2tph).  777011 returned me towards Liverpool where I was looking at options to get back to Edge Hill within a sea of Northern cancellations, the fastest option involved changing at Sandhills to board 507021 to Liverpool South Parkway for a short walk to board 156420 on the stopper from Oxford Road to reach Edge Hill.

The rain has returned as I headed back towards the shared house and crashing for the night.  The 04:45 alarm catching up with me.  One slight issue I had was with the heating within the room as it was controlled by a smart portable thermostat with no method of changing the pre-set temperature (as the room was quite warm and I sleep better in a cooler room).  I think I solved the issue by wrapping the thermostat within my jumper to fool it into thinking it was warmer than it was.  The room was very quiet otherwise with both blinds and a thick curtain.

185133 at Liverpool South Parkway

28th December – A Cheshire Day Ranger

The day began with a search on RTT for any wanted TfW 197s (plus for the EMR services in case my last couple 170s wanted for mileage popped up), forming a rough plan to grab some.  I headed out of the shared house, passing Edge Hill station on a gentle walk towards the city centre.  The rain had gone away at least for the time being as I headed down Tunnel Road to reach Smithdown Lane, before going towards Crown Street Park, then via the roads towards St Lukes church (which had been bombed) then into Lime Street.  I was originally going to grab something to eat from Boots, but I noticed they had hiked the cost of a meal deal from £3.60 to £4.50 so I walked out leaving my items behind as I refuse to pay for the station premium Boots think they can get away with.

It was to the trains with 350114 on a Birmingham service to take me to Crewe on a semi-fast service, where I had a short wait before winner 197111 rolled in to form a Crewe – Manchester service.  Engineering works on the line via Shrewsbury meant TfW had split the Manchester trains into a Crewe – Manchester shuttle and a Crewe – South Wales via Chester service.  This lightly loaded 197 took me into Piccadilly where I had around 25 minutes to wait before winner 197115 rolled in on a Llandudno train.  This is the first of the batch of 3 coach units featuring a large area of 1st class (or “Standard Plus” as TfW is calling it) seating, although meant to be running in standard class only for the time being, it didn’t stop the catering trolley host from saying “this is 1st class, you need to move on” as he wanted his own private area.  The seats did look quite decent in all fairness, certainly would be worth the upgrade but I can’t help thinking TfW should have focused more on standard class rather than areas of 1st class which will be barely used.

197111 at Manchester Piccadilly

This busy 197 took me towards Warrington Bank Quay where I risked the 4-minute connection to winner 197051 on the next Manchester service, which was quite busy.  Along the way I looked up the fastest way to reach the Borderlands line as all 3 units out I needed (2x 197s plus the 230).  The train eventually crawled into Oxford Road caught up in congestion (because you must use platform 4 even when platform 3 is empty due to the poor signalling along the corridor), making a tight connection to a late running 158812 to take me to Liverpool Lime Street (was originally aiming for the stopper via Chat Moss but wasn’t going to turn down a faster ride, even if it was busy).  Thankfully it passed the stopper in the loop near Glazebrook and arrived at Lime Street without further delays.

I headed towards the Merseyrail entrance to see it fenced off with a member of staff saying no trains were running due to a signalling issue with replacement buses from Moorfields.  So, I headed towards Moorfields (which isn’t the easiest to reach from Lime Street) noticing that trains had started to run again so ignoring the queue for the replacement bus I headed to the platform with 507004 taken to Hamilton Square on a Chester train before 507017 rolled in on a West Kirby service which got as far as Birkenhead North before getting taken out of service.  I guess in theory I could have probably walked to Bidston to catch the next 197 but it would have been very tight, and it had started to rain.

507017 at Birkenhead North

Communication at Birkenhead North was non-existent, as 3 trains for New Brighton arrived and departed before 777014 rolled in to start at Birkenhead North with a West Kirby service.  I checked RTT and saw I could take this 777 to West Kirby and return to Bidston in time for the next TfW service considering it was running late (so ironically if I remained on 197051 to head to Manchester Airport and took it to Shotton I would have made the +2 connection, but hey-ho, I tried to be smart, but things went wrong).  777014 took me to West Kirby where I remained on board back to Bidston for a short wait before winner 230009 rolled in, my last of the active TfW 230s excluding 230006 which is the depot Christmas Tree.

I took this 230 towards Shotton but was a bit too interested with my game of solitaire and headed to Hawarden instead (oops).  At least it gave me time for some better photos at Hawarden as previously this station was the passing point of the hourly service.  A short wait before winner 197045 rolled in to take me back to Bidston, remaining on the train for the run back towards Hawarden Bridge (which is no longer awkward with all trains calling there by request).  I had a gentle walk towards Shotton via a footbridge and a couple other paths, ending up in the Spoons to have dinner (a burger which was on a special offer).  After dinner I headed to Shotton station to board winner 197006 for the run to Bidston, only to find that the Merseyrail network was still a bit in chaos.

230009 at Hawarden Station... Wheres the bridge?

I jumped onto dud 777026 for the single stop to Birkenhead North, mainly to get away from some loud youngsters and onto 507011 from New Brighton.  It took nearly 30 minutes to travel the short distance between Conway Park & Hamilton Square, no announcements from the guard into why the train was so slow.  I alighted at Hamilton Square with the signalling giving up the ghost with drivers being talked through each red signal.  Didn’t help that Merseyrail sending an ECS into the chaos as well (something for Kirkdale from Rock Ferry).  Eventually winner 777028 rolled in on a West Kirby service which I took round the loop (the signalling seemed to only be around Hamilton Square – James Street) and back out towards Manor Road to see what the unit was following (507001).  I returned to Birkenhead Park on 777028 to see what another couple of services were before jumping onto 507013 to Lime Street with a fast walk to board 195104 on a Warrington Central stopper which unusually called at Edge Hill (normally the Warrington Central services skip Edge Hill).

This 195 took me to Edge Hill, where I had a short walk back to the shared house, relaxing for the rest of the evening listening to some music when having a catch-up on the internet.  A productive but stressful day.

195104 at Edge Hill Station

29th December – Last day in Merseyside

My last day in Merseyside and I was out of the shared house around 8am, a place I will use again if I ever get the need to stay overnight in Merseyside, and like the Thursday I was on foot towards Liverpool city centre (saves hanging around until 09:30).  I went via Gladstone Road and Paddington Village, passing various university buildings (all closed for the duration of the holidays) before swinging via the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral to reach Lime Street.  At Lime Street I headed into Spoons for breakfast before heading to Liverpool Central and onto 507028 on the next Hunts Cross service to Cressington where I started my main walk (something I was hoping to do on Wednesday had it not been raining).

It might not have been raining, but that wind was cold!  I headed towards Grassendale Esplanade alongside the River Mersey before heading in-land to reach the Trans-Pennie Trail on the Otterspool Promenade.  I followed this riverside path via Festival Gardens to reach the Brunswick area with an enforced extra loop due to the gates into the business park being closed.  After going via Brunswick Dock, it was a short walk along the road to reach Brunswick station and back to the trains.  A nice walk which I would recommend, although not on a day of strong wind as the waves nearly got me a couple of times.

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (South Side)

Anyhow it was onto 507033 to Moorfields, where I changed to the Wirral line platform and onto 777028 to James Street, crossing over to the city loop platform for a loop on 777013 to take me to Bidston (via the city centre).  I had a short wait before 197006 appeared for the next Wrexham train which took me to Heswall station.  Sadly, the position of the sun meant no decent photo of the 197 departing this station as I headed across to the opposite platform (going via the One Stop shop to see if they had anything suitable for lunch).

230007 rolled in on the next Bidston train which I took towards Bidston, including a 5-minute dwell at Upton for pathing as it ran into platform 1 at Bidston as 230009 awaited departure on platform 2.  Just a little microgrice of the track into platform 1 as most services use platform 2 from the Wrexham direction (something which I’ve tried to do a couple of times in the past but both times the train was quite late it went straight into P2 rather than going into P1 to hide away for 20 minutes in the reversing siding.

230007 & 230009 at Bidston Station

Next up for me was dud 777026 to Birkenhead Park, crossing the platform to board 507014 to take me to New Brighton, where I exited the station going towards the seafront to visit Morrisons before waiting round for the next Arriva bus to Liverpool.  Meant to be every 10 minutes alternating between a 432 & 433 but there was a large gap in services (didn’t help that there was no real time information shown).  Eventually bus 4505 (a Volvo B5LH Wright Eclipse Gemini) rolled up on a 433.  This route went via Liscard & Poulton before the Kingsway tunnel to reach Liverpool city centre, finishing at Castle Street.  Got very busy after Liscard and I think the following bus soon caught up with us.  I just wanted to do this bus route for the slight novelty of going via the newer Kingsway tunnel underneath the Mersey (having done the Queensway tunnel earlier in the year).

I alighted from the bus at Castle Street, walking to James Street where the next train was already in the platform, winner 777020 on an Ellesmere Port service.  That will do nicely I said to myself as I took it all the way to Ellesmere Port, remaining on the unit for the run back towards Liverpool as sadly time was short, and it was time for me to start heading towards Leatherhead.  350371 was on the 17:08 service to Birmingham New Street, departed late (again with no communication from the guard about why it was 5 minutes late departing) and lost some more time at South Parkway before heading to Crewe.

Approaching the Kingsway Tunnel

The next London Euston train was 350377 running solo (at least it wasn’t a solo 350/2) as I grabbed the extra legroom seat behind the cab for the journey towards London.  An uneventful journey as it arrived into platform 2 at Euston, alongside the highland sleeper, only really got busy after Rugby, although I dread to think what it would have been like heading back to Crewe on the 20:46 service.  I had some time to kill so I swung via Sainsburys before boarding 350242 & 350103 on a stopper (featuring a guard who locked the corridor between units out of use, because ya know, he can’t be bothered by those pesky passengers, even when both toilets in the rear unit were out of use).  I took these 350s to Harrow & Wealdstone for a short wait before 377702 rolled in from Watford Junction (after a pair of 350s from Milton Keynes which on a normal weekday would have been a pair of 730s).

This 377 took me on the slow trip towards Clapham Junction, where I changed from oyster to a paper ticket and onto 377707 & 377703 on the next Dorking service to take me to Leatherhead where I had a short walk to the Travelodge, getting a free upgrade to a Family room (as they didn’t have any double rooms left).  Not like it bothered me as after having a shower and did some research on my phone I headed to bed.  A bit of outside noise as my room overlooked the main entrance, with people arriving late after a night out, but overall, a half decent Travelodge.  One I might use again if the price was right, but the location isn’t that ideal if needed for an early start.

350247 at Harrow & Wealdstone Station

30th December – Grand Union Canal & Mill Hill Walks

My alarm went off around 06:45 and I was out of the hotel by 07:00 to swing via a Greggs located opposite the hotel for a free breakfast roll (via the O2 Priority App) and headed to the station to board 377626 to take me to Sutton where I stepped back to board 700001 on the next Thameslink service towards St Pancras, having a gentle walk in the light rain to Euston.  Today was a day where the weather forecast did a U-turn to what was forecasted at half ten at night and if I hadn’t already purchased my ticket, I was tempted to park the walk but as I had already purchased my ticket, I didn’t want to waste it.

After grabbing some supplies from Sainsburys I headed into the station to board 350242 & 350103 on a Tring service to take me to Hemel Hempstead where it was light drizzling but not the “heavy rain” which was predicted.  I headed out of the station, towards the Grand Union canal at a lock off Fishery Lane for a gentle walk, dodging various puddles along the towpath (which changed in quality a few times along the way from tarmac, to compressed stones, to mud).  I headed underneath the WCML near Bourne End (I dread to think how many times I’ve been on a train over that bridge in the last 10 years) and the towpath walk continued.

Railway Bridge over the Grand Union Canal in the Bourne End area

Some nice scenery along the way as I reached Berkhamsted and a potential break point, but the weather was reasonable, so I decided to push on into the countryside, the railway not being that far away with the soundtrack of trains as I reached Tring cutting which by far was the worse section for mud but was very pretty with the trees.  The canal walk ended at Station Road as I climbed some steep steps and had a short walk along the road to reach Tring station, heading towards platform 4 to take a seat on 350403 & 350123 working the next Tring – London service (along the walk I noticed at least 3 pairs of 350/2s on fast line services so a bit ironic a pair of nice 350s were on the semi-fast).  Got quite busy after Hemel (as the previous stopper from Milton Keynes was cancelled) as I took this pair all the way to Euston.

At Euston, I headed to the underground, boarding an Edgware bound Northern line service (formed of 51613/51612, a sub mile pair) to Colindale to do a walk I was hoping to have done at the start of the month, but it got rained off.  I exited the underground station, heading towards Montrose Park and Burnt Oak underground station, before following a path which followed the Northern line towards Deansbrook Road, before a short section of walking along the pavements to reach the entrance to the Edgware depot where the Mill Hill Old Railway Nature Reserve started.

A Northern line service departs Colindale

This was a random discovery from Google Maps, a path which is only open on weekends which follows the route of the old Edgware, Highgate and London Railway.  This was quite an unusual experience being close to nature within London and being the only person on this slightly muddy path.  The end comes out into Lyndhurst Park with a bit of an overgrown section which I suspect if you started at this end could easily be overlooked.  Anyhow I joined the road network again, missing the back entrance to Mill Hill Broadway station and ended up going via the front entrance, hidden underneath the M1 alongside a small bus terminus.  The train I was hoping to catch sadly was cancelled so it was a longer wait before 700058 rolled in on a Rainham service.  Originally, I was going to take this to London Bridge to change for something South-eastern to Waterloo East, but for some reason it lost around 10 minutes after Mill Hill to West Hampstead Thameslink (think something was coming out or heading into the sidings at Cricklewood).  So, I bailed at West Hampstead Thameslink for the short walk to the jubilee line.

Onwards to London Waterloo with the first available southbound service with 96073 & 96002 where I ended my trip in London with the 15:50 service for Salisbury formed of 159108.  I was feeling a bit tired, and my legs were slightly muddy after the walking so I didn’t fancy waiting round for the 19:50 service due to the PM restrictions on super off-peak tickets on Saturdays.  This 159 was quite busy (until Woking) before it quietened out as I settled down to relax before having a gentle walk home to sort out my bag after an enjoyable few days away.

Entrance to the Mill Hill Old Railway Nature Reserve (Lyndhurst Park)

31st December – A random day in London

Last trip of 2023 and it was another trip to London with mum to get her out of the house for the day.  I had a few ideas in my head but this was very much a make it up as I went along sort of day as we headed to Grateley station for the first train towards London with 159103 & 159022 taking us to Woking, where we changed platforms to board 455848 & 455739 to Walton on Thames, where we exited the station (after noticing the new footbridge under construction complete with lifts) and headed for a gentle walk along a footpath towards a Tesco Express (to grab some supplies for lunch to save a job for later) before heading to the bus stop opposite Felcott Road in what technically was Hersham.

The first bus day was the route 555 operated by Diamond Buses, with a Wright StreetLite (32321) on the Heathrow Central service.  We were the only passengers on board as the bus made its way into Walton on Thames picking up another passenger.  After Walton it went via Shepperton, Sunbury, Ashford before reaching Stanwell where the bus picked up a few more passengers before heading towards Heathrow, firstly via terminal 4 then Hatton Cross before the main bus station at Heathrow Central.  A bus route which felt like it had quite a bit of padding as it kept on stopping at the timing points to wait for correct departure time, interesting to see parts of the country and another bus route into Heathrow ticked off my list.

Diamond Bus 32321 (BD20 ODA) at Heathrow Central Bus Station (Route 555)

We headed into Heathrow itself, swinging via the toilets before walking to the station, where we boarded a busy 345059 for the long run via Central London to Woolwich, for a gentle walk out of the station towards the bus stop on Thomas Street to board the next route 96 service to Bluewater.  Ran with Stagecoach London bus 19867 (an Enviro 400).  The first section after Woolwich was on a diversion due to roadworks as it headed towards Plumstead, Welling & Bexleyheath.  After Bexleyheath it headed towards Dartford via Crayford where it ran semi-fast towards Bluewater shopping centre going via the Darent Valley Hospital.  Felt strange being on a TfL bus outside London where the bus stops weren't in TfL style.  An interesting route seeing this part of South East London from a different angle, rather than travelling by train.

At Bluewater, we headed into the shopping centre Marks & Spencer to visit the toilets (as the toilets at the bus station are long term closed) before boarding Ensignbus route X80 with bus 171 (a Wright StreetDeck Micro Hybrid).  A quiet bus route which I've done before but heading southbound.  Going northbound the bus goes via the Dartford Tunnel to reach the bus station at Lakeside where we left the bus.  Certainly, felt strange going via the Dartford Tunnel, something I’ve not done for a few years.  At Lakeside we had a short wait before the next TfL run route 370 service rolled in, with Arriva London’s DW231 (A Wright Gemini 2).  This bus headed away from Lakeside into the countryside (which felt so strange being on a London bus in open countryside) going towards the Ockendons, Corbets Tey before reaching Upminster.  After the bus did a turn outside Upminster station it headed towards Hornchurch before reaching Romford where it terminated at Mercury Gardens.  Another interesting bus route to do for the difference between rural & urban areas.

Arriva (London) bus DW231 (LJ59 AFA) at Lakeside (Route 370)

The day on the buses was at an end as we walked to Romford station to board 720588 & 720120 to Stratford, changing to the DLR for a Woolwich Arsenal service formed of sets 154 & 109 as the heavens opened with a sudden downpour.  We took this DLR service to the end of the line at Woolwich Arsenal, changing to the National Rail platforms for 707010 & 707001 to Abbey Wood to change for 345045 on a Maidenhead service to take us to Tottenham Court Road, where we changed to the Northern line which was in a state of chaos due to delays.

Eventually the first southbound service arrived with 51701 & 51501 where we managed to get onboard (as who knew how long it would be until the next southbound service and if that would be any better), we took this to Waterloo heading into the chaos of setting up for the fireworks display, grabbing some food from Tesco before heading to board the 17:45 service formed of 159018, 158881 & 159005 for my final train of 2023.  Nothing out of the ordinary happened on the trip back to Grateley, where after a quick photo we walked home to end the day and to end the year.

159005 at Grateley

 

 

The year has had it’s ups and downs, mainly with my mental health.  Some days are better than others, an endless fight against the demons.

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