It's time I started doing trip reports...

A nice little trip

It is, yes - pity it takes so long to get there from the London area! Having said that, I still need Dovey Junction to Aberystwth for track coverage, and of course there is some steam interest in that neck of the woods as well...

Certainly looks like that was an enjoyable trip all round, despite the farce heading up! It's been way too many years since I was last up that part of North Wales, I must revisit some day...

Doing the Cambrian without it being a pair of 37s just doesn't seem right!

09/09/18

Once again a rather familiar route... off Epsom with 455 914 + 455 736 to Wimbledon then 21551 + 21552 to, you guessed it, Paddington! This was acting on gen some of my few remaining GWR IETs was out and about, and sure enough I found 800 002 + 800 021, the former being the required one, ready to whisk me to Reading.

Not much at Acton, just 66 069 and 66 754 - later photographed at Reading - with 66 100 passing by at Twyford. While I was at Readung, 66 420 put in an appearance just as I was catching 802 009 + 802 017 back to Paddington, the former again being required. By this time 59 001 had joined in the action at Acton.

Thereafter it was over to King's Cross with 21349 + 21350 to Baker Street and then 21505 + 21506 forwards. A surprise sighting at King's Cross was 717 014, diverted in after minor problems with the Moorgate branch, while I took 700 038 up to Finsbury Park. From there it was a ghost hunt involving 717 021 to Drayton Park, 717 024 to Highbury + Islington, 717 018 to Essex Road, 717 013 to Old Street, 717 016 to Moorgate, 717 015 to Old Street and 717 010 back to Moorgate.

Another S7 ride followed with 21335 + 21336 taking me to Farringdon where I caught 700 025 to Wimbledon, being a bit tight on time and not being able to wait for my usual via Sutton way home. The return to Epsom from Wimbledon was with 455 741 + 455 860.

Aside from the haulages mentioned above, there were a few other units photographed during the day. As usual, a selection of the day's images appear below.

14/09/19

Not really a railway trip as such, but I did get some different from normal photographs, so I should report on it.

This was a canal walk trip, doing the lower half of the Regent's Canal from Limehouse to King's Cross, so very few haulages were involved, these being: 377 606 from Epsom to Victoria, 21499 + 21500 from there to Tower Hill, 357 209 from Fenchurch Street to Limehouse, 700 055 from St Pancras to Sutton and 377 317 + 377 322 + 377 439 onwards to Epsom.

There are a number of railway bridges over the canal, so that is where most of the non-wildlife and non-landscape photographic opportunities came from, as you can see below.

16/09/19

Down to just three GWR IETs, and gen indicated that one of them was out, so 455 868 + 455 726 + 456 012 from Epsom to Wimbledon, 21537 + 21538 from there to Paddington and required 800 319 to Reading. Nice collection of locomotives at Acton on this occasion, 59 002, 59 004, 59 103, 66 13 and 66 100. Knowing neither of the other two IETs were available meant straight back to Paddington on 800 021 + 800 004, noting that 59 204 had joined in at Acton. This was a crackingly fast return; the outward run was particularly fast and I barely caught the return one which also had a smooth run in - I'll have to check next week as I think I mailed GWR in from work with my timings so I don't have the mail here to refer to, but from memory I did Paddington to Paddington via Reading in roughly 50 minutes. If I can find the mail next week, I'll amend this with the actual timings.

Next would be the Goblin again, so 21459 + 21460 to Barking, grabbing pictures of 357 320 and 357 323 at East Ham then collecting various haulages and photos on the Goblin: 710 266, 710 261, 710 267, 710 269, 710 262 all featuring along with 66 124 and 66 615. I finished up at the Barking end again, catching 21539 + 21540 back although changing en route as that was a south side service and I needed north side; 21413 + 21414 being the alternate. While passing East Ham I added 357 319 to the photographic tally.

Following on from this, the moves were Moorgate → Drayton Park → Finsbury Park → Drayton Park → Finsbury Park. This yielded a number of "ghosts" plus also a positioning ride on 313 059 + 313 052. both those, plus 313 048 + 313 030 were photographed along with several "ghosts". Having done that it was 700 107 to St Pancras followed by 700 048 to Elstree and Borehamwood before getting 700 001 to Sutton and finally 377 463 + 377 402 back to Epsom.

21/09/19

Another canal walk trip which afforded some railway photography; this time we walked the full length of the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal - 14 miles from Hayes and Harlington station to Paddington. Ouch - very achy feet and legs...!!! Too much walking for one day!!!

The Wimbleware and the western half of the Circle were, of course, closed for engineering so we had to travel via Victoria. 377 707 conveyed us from Epsom, then we accessed Paddington with the help of 11041 + 11042 and 3260 + 3447. From Paddington to Hayes was 345 027. Acton contained 66 162 and 66 004 while 66 003 was at Southall and 66 544 at Hayes.

Several hours later...

The view of Old Oak Common from the towpath yielded 345 053, 345 055, 345 059 and 37 611. Obviously there were a lot more 345s than that present, but only those were identifiable. Passing North Pole, the West London Line above hosted 66 707, but the only other trains noted were 3266 + 3455 and 11037 + 11038 back to Victoria and 377 614 from there to Epsom.

Hayes to Paddington along the canal sounds like a walk I'd like to do some time. How long did that take?

Techniquest said:

Hayes to Paddington along the canal sounds like a walk I'd like to do some time. How long did that take?

Click to expand...

8½ hours, but I reckon that without my wife along stopping every 5 seconds to photograph every single duck on the canal and every flower on the towpath... oh, I think probably you could do it in 6 hours.

Peter Mugridge said:

8½ hours, but I reckon that without my wife along stopping every 5 seconds to photograph every single duck on the canal and every flower on the towpath... oh, I think probably you could do it in 6 hours.

Click to expand...

Depends how touristy you get then basically. I reckon I'd be stopping every so often too, so with my speed of walking I'd probably do it in about 4 hours maximum.

I may have to investigate doing part of it as a trial run next month...

07/10/19

A summary report because it's basically the same trip as before, albeit without a Reading run as neither of my remaining two GWR IETs was available... a fruitless spin to Acton Main Line gave dud 345s and I followed this by another 710 bash on the Goblin and then more 717s on the Moorgate branch, both sucessfully yielding results. Nothing particularly noteworthy apart from photographing 66 604, 66 154 and 66 603 on the Goblin.

21/10/19

Another routine London mission, but with a bit more of note, so this report is half summary and half detail...

Having again drawn two dud 345s on the Hayes shuttles, I had gen that my last 717 for haulage was out, and also was able to identify which service it was on. By sheer luck, the one I landed on at Moorgate for my positioning move was also the last one I needed to a photo, 717 024. I rode this out to New Southgate for my last required "ghost" haulage back, 717 001, and in the process of this little exercise I managed to photograph 66 087 + 66 181 on RHTT duties.

Later on, I grabbed pictures of 66 847 top and tail with 70 812 on the Goblin. Finishing off with at the end of the day were two triple line up pictures at Cricklewood obtained during one of my dashes up to Elstree before returning south though the core. To answer a question I had about doing that, the reason is that if I've finished everything else I can do and have enough time to do so, I will do the Elstree return in order to guarantee that I'll have a seat through and beyond the core.

Oh - by the way, the first two pictures below are actually from 12/10/19 on a straight out and back shopping trip to Thornton Heath; just happened to need to change trains at Sutton at the same time as the track inspection train was due through... funny that isn't it...?

Congrats on clearing those 717s

29/10/19 to 31/10/19

For this trip I had the family in tow, so there is unfortunately little detail on the journey! We started on the 29th with 455 742 + 455 909 from Epsom to Wimbledon, then 21487 + 21488 to Eatl's Court and from there 541 + 590 to Heathrow Terminal 5. Our next haulage was more "flyage" really; G-MEDN to Hamburg. My first A321, incidentally. From Hamburg Flughafen to Hamburg Hauptbahnhof it was 474 032, to which 474 001 was attached at Ohlsdorf. Five other 474s were noted at Ohlsdorf: 474 049, 474 022, 474 040, 474 015 and 474 055.

On the 30th in mid morning we met someone who used to work where I work, and this person chose a venue at Hauptbahnhof - while we were talking, I noted 182 012 and ICEs 9012, 9015 and 9016. After our chat we spent the rest opf the morning and the early part of teh afternoon walking around Hamburg and then most of the afternoon at the Miniatur Wunderland, the fairly obvious reason for our trip. That evening I managed a photo of 182 003 from the footpath past the south end of the station.

Finally, on the 31st, we had 474 044 + 474 040 back from Hauptbahnhof to Flughafen, the latter detaching at Ohlsdorf. This being daylight as opposed to after dark for the way in two days earlier, I managed to get a lot more numbers on the way! 112 144, 474 118, 474 132, 474 110, 474 108, 472 055 and 490 018 at Hauptbahnhof, 474 016 and 474 004 at Berliner Tor, 474 103 and 474 057 at Hasselbrook, 472 042, 472 048, 472 049 and 472 060 to start with. Rubenkamp produced 474 034 and 474 026, Ohlsdorf yielded 472 047, 472 029, 474 056 and 490 030 while finally 474 095 was in the other platform at Flughafen.

The return to Heathrow was on G-EUOE and from there we had a short hop between terminals on 332 010 + 332 005 where we changed to 360 204; that was partly because of the price differential but also partly because my wife didn't until then have the second flyover at Airport Junction in her atlas... We passed 37 608 with 345 061 in tow at Southall and 66 100 at Acton Main Line. From Paddington to Wimbledon was 21543 + 21544 and thence 455 850 + 455 871 + 456 023 back to Epsom.

Some of the regular photos from the trip are below; I will do a second post in a moment with purely Wunderland photos.

A very small selection of the many Wunderland photos I took on our visit:

04/11/19

Two GWR IETs left at this point... and one of them was active... so I thought I might as well nail it...

This time it was 377 125 + 377 108 to start off with, from Epsom to Cheam. At Cheam I set back by one train to 377 706 + 377 615 that was just a few minutes behind, for no good reason other than that I just could and still catch 700 032 at Sutton to Blackfriars; I was going the long way round to Paddington simply because I had enough time to do so and there was always the chance of getting a 700 off my photo hit list in the process. 21311 + 21312 was my conveyance from Blackfriars to Paddington.

Still with some time in hand, I did a spin to Acton Main Line which gave me required 345 049 outwards - and back again as 345 036 had experienced a failure of some kind and was sent back empty to Paddington. By the time I was back at Paddington, the diagram of my target was confirmed so it was time to work out an interception plan. Having said that, I should say that I made good use of the enforced extra 30 minutes at Acton to photograph 66 513, 66 537, 66 511, 66 525, 66 593, 66 550 and 313 048 on the back of a scrap move hauled by 37 800, with 313 049 in the middle.

Anyhow, my best interception point, not being willing to fester for three hours at Reading in cold wet weather, was Bristol Parkway. 802 016 + 802 019 were to be my haulages there. Passing Acton, I noted 59 102 and 59 004 while 66 777 was at Southall. At Twyford, 345 066 and at Reading 08 836. The last one noted prior to reaching Bristol was 59 205 at Wootton Bassett.

Just before reaching Parkway a Sleeper empties with 57 604 and 57 602 passed heading towards Reading; this was a result of an issue the previous night which had left the train unable to complete the journey. Having overtaken the class 313 scrap move en route, I was able to photograph this again - in a torrential downpour - and had time to note several locomotives, although most were unphotographable as they were behind a rake of wagons. These were 66 532, 66 555, 66 598, 66 605, 66 613, 66 601 and 66 504.

Then, after about 40 minutes since my arrival, my target rolled in exactly on the expected diagram. 800 001. On its own, but not particularly crowded - this was a late afternoon run after all... I stuck with this all the way back to Paddington, then grabbed 21327 + 21328 to Wimbledon where I had the good fortune to arrive just prior to one of the "Boeing" diagrams to Epsom so it was 707 022 + 707 001 home for me, a vast improvement on the normal class 455, and unfortunately something I can't currently do following the December timetable change which removed all the Epsom 707 diagrams.

12/11/19

Almost a carbon copy of the 4th; my final GWR IET was out and was also on South Wales runs!

Starting from Epsom, 455 730 + 455 739 took me to Wimbledon for 21381 + 21382 to Paddington.

This time, however, both Hayes shuttle diagrams were working and both produced new haulages with 345 051 and 345 052. There was also fun and games at Paddington as a failed 332 was in one of the regular platforms so Heathrow Express were having to use alternates for half their services, which gave me the rare chance to photograph a three abreast line up of 332 013, 332 001 and 332 008. I also snapped 332 005 a short while later in a non-regular platform.

Having done that, 800 003 + 800 009 whisked me to Bristol Parkway, with the well publicised presence of 67 012 + 90 035 + 67 028 noted parked up at Swindon, 66 951 also being present. The only other stuff noted en route was 08 836 and 57 306 at Reading. Once at Bristol, there were noticeably fewer locomotives than before around with only 66 601, 66 420 and 66 541 present although the arrival of an RHTT top and tailed by 56 105 and 56 078 livened things up.

Then my target, 800 305, rolled in as expected - all 93 GWR IETs now bashed - and this took me back to Paddington, noting 66 772 and 60 001 at Swindon and 66 767 at Cholsey on the way. 21377 + 21378 took me onwards to Farringdon from where I nipped up to Elstree and Borehamwood on 700 013, but I landed the same haulage for the way back to Sutton - they must have been stepping up the diagrams at St Albans... From Sutton it was 377 708 + 377 614 to conclude the day with back to Epsom.

18/11/19

Having got all the IETs on GWR, I now turned my attention towards the LNER example, of which I only had one for haulage until this point.

Commencing with 377 320 + 33 309 + 377 101 from Epsom to Sutton, then 700 020 to St Pancras, I straight away got a photo at King's Cross of 800 102 plus a load of Mk 3 HST trailers and gained the haulage on 800 105 to Grantham. Bounds Green was host to 800 210 while at Peterborough I did pictures of 700 150, 66 729 and 66 760. After arrival at Grantham I added a picture of the one I had just got off, saw 800 108 and then caught 800 104 back south as far as Stevenage.

Only a few minutes behind was 801 104 + 801 105 which obviously was my next move back to King's Cross, but not before managing a side by side photo of 801 105 with 800 113 which was charging past in the opposite direction. Passing Hornsey, 313 064 was still laid up awaiting a scrap move, this was also photographed. On arrival back in London, several other IETs were noted and photographed.

Next it was down the Underground with 11009 + 11010 to Blackhorse Road for 710 260 to Walthamstow Queen's Road to intercept 710 105 back again, followed by another visit downstairs for 11059 + 11060 to Finsbury Park, getting 700 102 onwards to St Pancras. Once again I had enough time margin to go out to Elstree and Borehamwood, utilising 700 016 for this with 700 042 back south to Sutton and then finishing off with 377 610 + 377 618 to Epsom.

I am now nearly caught up with these; after this one I have three reports to do to cover December then there will be a slight pause as I have yet to write up my January and February notes...

28/11/19

Another LNER IET mission, but also with some TPE and Northern targets in mind... starting with 377 158 + 377 131 to Sutton and then 700 045 on to St Pancras. From King's Cross I had 800 110 to York. There was quite a lot to see on the way, 08 441 at Bound's Green for starters. Peterborough yielded 66 724 and 66 715 and the sight of 801 102 + 801 103 and 802 216. Newark had 802 203 but the prize has to be a southbound stock move at Retford with 43148 + 43026.

There was the usual cluster of locomotives at Doncaster with 66 017, 66 597, 66 770, 66 117 all being present while I also saw 800 208 and grabbed a photo of 142 079. A nice surprise on arrival at York was a steam charter with 44871 on the front of it and 47 804 also being present, along with 68 020 in one of the bays. Unfortunately I could not hang around to get pictures of the stock in the special as I only had a few minutes to get across the station to catch my first TPE Mk5 haulage...

...which was 68 030 hauling set 12 ( 11512 + 12734 + 12735 + 12736 + 12812 ). Quite impressed by it, and while en route to Leeds we passed 802 203 at Church Fenton ( identified by someone who texted me from Leeds ). Neville Hill was host to 195 112 and 195 114 while 195 104 was at Leeds itself, along with 195 103, 195 002 and 66 771. My next move was another first of class for me with 331 104 to Wakefield Westgate.

While waiting at Wakefield for any required IET on to Doncaster, I saw and photographed 801 109 + 801 110 heading towards Leeds; knowing they wouldn't be too long I let the next London train go, that being dud, and also obtained photographs of 800 102 and 144 013. As expected, the pair of IETs returned with that following London working and these duly conveyed me to Doncaster.

Quickly getting to the other side of the station, I added to my photographic total with images captured of 195 011, 195 130, 66 063 and 800 209 while also seeing 67 015, 66 063, 66 737 and 66 772. My next haulage was 801 209 as far as Peterborough, where I changed again and took the opportunity to do more photos; one of the IET that I had just got off, one of 802 216 on test and one of 43306 charging through. Next in was 800 102 on the following service from Leeds - which I had correctly worked out what it would be on - and this took me the rest of the way to King's Cross. Once there, I noticed the 801 from earlier and the 43 were side by side, so that was another quick photo opportunity.

All that remained, then, was to walk back across to St Pancras for 700 010 to Sutton and then 377 601 + 377 609 onwards to Epsom - but not before I had done a picture of 377 405.

I did so much photography on this trip that I am again going to need a second post to show even just a selection...!!!

...here's the rest of the selection from the above trip.

Regarding the image of 43306 passing through Peterborough - picture 089; this was the first time I had done a moving train at night, taking advantage of how bright the lighting is there. A friend of mine did send me a cropped version, but after consideration I have decided to stick with the full version as it's not really intended to be a close up image of the HST itself but is designed to show the surroundings as well; the sign on the lower left and the mast on the whole left was used partly as a framing device and also with an eye on, in future years, showing what the advertising was like "in the ancient days of 2019"! Incidentally, the HST was doing at least 100 mph when I took that picture.

A question about the pictures I post on here - they always seem to be slightly less sharp on here than they do on my computer; does the forum software reduce or compress the files in some way?

You're doing well to get caught up, that's for sure. Certainly been a lot of trips done, and you've reminded me I need to get a trip made on the ECML now there's plenty of Azumas in service over there. Something for me to aim at doing some time later this year, once more 91s go I suspect.

As for the photos, they probably are a bit compressed as there's one I looked at with a file size of less than 2MB. I rather doubt you took them at such a small file size!

I can't offer advice about any kind of forum compression but I have looked at your camera settings.
From your EXIF data I see you have a Nikon D40. You were out on a dull day for sure and also doing night time photos. Some photos are a little blurry but that can be accounted for too low a shutter speed. For instance photo 085 of 41152 is only on 1/15th second and that will account for handshake. Photo 068 of 43148 is also quite low at 1/200th second. Ramping up the shutter will help that.
Most if not all the photos are on 1600 ISO. You can go to Hi1 mode to 3200 ISO but obviously the grain will affect the overall clarity.

I just checked one of your sunny daytime shots and that is also on 1600 ISO. That is too high so I'd recommend adjusting that to a lower setting. Get rid of some grain.

Obviously the resolution that a desktop monitor has will always make a difference when viewing or editing photos.

Hope that helps a little.

87electric said:

Most if not all the photos are on 1600 ISO. You can go to Hi1 mode to 3200 ISO but obviously the grain will affect the overall clarity.

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They should all be on 1600; I leave the camera set to that in order to ensure it gives the fastest shutter speed possible for any given lighting condition without going to too wide an apperture - particularly given that a lot of my pictures are grab shots from a moving train. I have found that when I try on "auto" or "shutter priority" that I don't get such good results overall, so leaving it set to 1600 is the lesser of two evils.

I did test at 3200 but even in low light conditions the grain was very noticeable, so I never use that setting.

Techniquest said:

As for the photos, they probably are a bit compressed as there's one I looked at with a file size of less than 2MB. I rather doubt you took them at such a small file size!

Click to expand...

They're usually a bit over 2Mb when I take them ( I shoot in .jpg not .raw ) but many of them I have either straightened up slightly when I've done a wonky picture or removed dust artefacts in Photoshop or both, so they'll have shrunk slightly from that. At least some of the dust appears to be within the lens elements rather than on the sensor, unfortunately, so I'm sort of stuck with it.


When finance allows, I may well look at getting a much faster camera which would allow me to use the auto settings more without messing up my grab shots and also have the option of doing a wider range of moving trains at night, but it'll be a while yet unless I win the Euromillions, I think...

02/12/19

Something a bit different this time! First off a familiar route with 455 915 + 455 855 + 456 018 to Wimbledon and then 21537 + 21538 to Earl's Court and on to Acton Town with 21383 + 21384 ( having first been a bit lazy and boarded 21541 + 21542 to South Kensington for the cross-platform change ) where I lurked for a bit waiting for my penultimate 1973 stock DM for a photo; I soon realised the angle of the light meant that I would be better off at Northfields - it was on a Heathrow train - so I nipped along further on 649 + 574 and lay in wait; sure enough a short while later 862 fell to my camera and then it was quickly back on 599 + 524 to Hammersmith, across the road to the other Hammersmith, then 21305 + 21306 to Paddington.

There I boarded required 345 038 to Acton Main Line and required 345 055 back again. After that quick spin it was 21409 + 21410 to Baker Street and 21503 + 21504 onwards to Liverpool Street. My next move was 315 853 + 315 848 out to Romford, the idea being to pick off 345s back towards London.

That did not work!

It was dud after dud after dud... only 66 420 and 66 957 passing through on freights providing any interest to the proceedings. Then two required 345s came through empty towards London. Guessing these were for peak extras, I gave chase on the next train in, 315 849 + 315 834, and duly caught 345 039 at Liverpool Street by the tightest of margins. I rode this out to Stratford then got the first one back, dud 345 051, only to narrowly miss the other, 345 040. Probably should have waited at Stratford for it...

At that point I gave up and headed for Farringdon on 21101 + 21102, 700 001 from there to Kentish Town ( my "get a seat in the peak" procedure in operation, but without having the time to go further out! ), 700 056 to Sutton and finally 377 602 + 377 613 to finish off with back to Epsom.

Not a lot of photography on this day, just seven pictures so unusually you have the full set below; the first two being grab shots done from on board 21383 + 21384, hence the reflections - I didn't have time to get properly close to the windows to avoid that happening:

07/12 19

A couple of grab shots of 377 203 + 377 211 at Selhurst from a shopping trip...

10/12/19

Another London end unit hunt; again starting with the Hayes shuttles so 455 716 + 455 723 + 456 018 from Epsom to Wimbledon, 21335 + 21336 on to Paddington and the shuttles yielded required 345 064 and 345 063. Snapped 66 517 at Acton; also 345 054 on a crew training run. I followed this little spin up with 21383 + 21384 from Paddington to Baker Street and 21461 + 21462 onwards to Euston Square.

Dud 710 268 took me from Euston to Willesden Junction, where I waited for a while but only saw further duds heading to Euston, plus 66 723 taking the curve to the North London Line. Moving on with 710 258 to South Kenton, I saw 86 401 still parked up at the back of Wembley while 66 606 and 90 007 were present at Stonebridge Park.

There was another fruitless fester at South Kenton, although 66 540 and 325 008 provided some relief before I caught 710 257 back to Willesden Junction. Photographic progress was made, at least, with 66 732 + 66 703 on an RHTT on the curve to the North London Line. 66 075 also presented itself, but a passing 1972 Stock bowled any attempt at a picture. Heading upstairs I moved on with 378 220 to Gospel Oak, passing 66 762 at West Hampstead, then had 710 105 - already dud for me - on the Goblin.

Passing 37 254 + 37 057 on a track recording train at Crouch Hill gave some much needed proper noise, albeit only for a few seconds, before I waited at Blackhorse Road to check out the rest of the diagrams on the Goblin. All dud. Bit of a fruitless day and with cold, dull weather to match! The passage of 66 538 and 66 504 did liven up the proceedings a bit.

Next I went into mole mode and descended Underground for 11065 + 11066 to Victoria for 455 830 + 455 806 to Thornton Heath for a bit of top up shopping at Tesco, then 455 839 + 455 821 to Tulse Hill, straight across the platform onto 700 056 for Sutton then 377 616 + 377 622 home to Epsom.

16/12/19

Right from the start, this trip was going to have an outbound delay built into it owing to the need to first visit a bag repair shop as the strap on my shoulder bag was showing signs of coming loose at one end! While the start was normal with 377 313 + 377 319 + 377 131 from Epsom to Sutton, the necessity of getting a train to Norbury - where the repair shop is - required me to change to 377 626 + 377 608.

After the repair, which only took a few minutes, I resumed with 455 841 + 455 809 from Norbury to Streatham, where I effected a same platform step back change onto 700 040 that was right behind; I changed again at Blackfriars for 21465 + 21466 to Paddington to do the Hayes shuttles. These again produced one required unit, this time 345 008, which I took all the way to Hayes. Acton yard was quite full with 59 004, 66 183, 66 517, 66 552, 66 593, 66 068 and 66 187 being in evidence.

Waiting at Hayes for a further required 345 ( the Reading diagrams meaning it is now better to wait at Hayes rather than just do an out and back spin to Acton ) saw 66 613 and 66 555 pass through before required 345 057 turned up. From Paddington I proceeded to Farringdon on 21383 + 21384 and then took 700 129 to Finsbury Park, changing there for 717 017 to Alexandra Palace so that I could see if there was anything much of interest at Hornsey. There wasn't, but 800 203 + 800 204 came through while I was waiting for 717 003 back to Finsbury Park.

While waiting for the next Thameslink, several IETs came through and I noted 800 111, 800 107 and 801 104 + 801 108. Then 700 121 took me on to St Pancras for 700 050 out to Elsetree and Borehamwood, next was 700 003 back to Sutton and 377 706 + 377 625 finished the day back to Epsom.

Very few pictures again as it was another rather murky day.

21/12/19

Just an Xmas shopping trip which saw me traipsing all over the west end, but by a great piece of good fortune - an amazing coincidence - I found myself at the gift shops at St Pancras at about the same time something interesting was going on next door...

We are now fully up to date so there will be a pause in my reports until I can get my January and February notes written up, as indicated a few posts ago.

Certainly you did well in December there, plenty of action! I don't think I got around to mentioning it yet either, but congratulations on clearing the GWR IETs. I only need 14 more myself as I type this, and I am still deciding whether to go and try for more today. Weather is good up here in Hereford after all!

Certainly enjoyed the reads while I devoured my breakfast