Galvanize
Member
17th December, London trip
The trip officially began for me at 08:50, when I left my house and started to wind my way down to Lewisham station, reached it at 09:05. I wasted no time in buying my Travelcard from the DLR ticket machines (as usual), then headed over to Platform 3, to wait for the 09:20 to London Victoria. 465244 was on the 09:16 to Cannon Street, while 465165 was on my train to Victoria, boarded in the second carriage. Passing Peckham Rye, we started racing Southerns 456011, then at Stewarts Lane I saw 09009 plus various mark 1 coaches.
Arrival at Victoria, I saw a steam train (Sherwood Forester) on Platform 2 with FM Rails Slim Jim 33202 Meteor at the rear. But then I descended into the underground station, to hear that the District and Circle line was screwed up again
I boarded a Westbound district line train to Earls Court, then there was trouble because no Edgeware road services turned up, so I was forced to take the Piccadilly line to Hyde Park Corner. The trouble didnt end there, I took the wrong exit (I was meant to take Exit 2 to Park Lane) and ended up in the middle of Hyde Park Corner roundabout, Result? PVL407 stormed past on the 36, so then I walked over to Park Lane where a 436 arrived, how convenient
At Paddington, I waited on the concourse for everybody to arrive, Heart of wessex was first at 10:25, then FGWFan at 10:30, finally Sprinter at 10:50. As soon as we all met, we headed for Platform 13 to get the 10:58 to Greenford, sitting in declassified first class, things like strange dreams involving strange trains in strange places, ATWs new timetable, different locomotive numbers were mentioned. After arrival at Greenford, it was seminar time, then onto the Central line, we mentioned route atlases etc to pass the time before arrival at Notting Hill gate where we changed to the District line. A very packed C stock arrived at the platform, which we took to Earls court, where we doubled back to High Street Kensington on a refurbished District line D stock. Back to Olympia, there was a 25 minute wait for the train, so to pass the time I bought a cup of hot chocolate and a mince pie. The 12:43 to Brighton came 8 minutes early, me and Sprinter secured a table for the 4 of us, then at Clapham Junction we spent a while getting numbers etc. At 13:30ish it was on a electrostar into Victoria, while Heart of Wessex went upstairs to get his KFC meal, me FGWfan and Sprinter went over to Subway to get our lunch.
We found James on the concourse, then we walked towards the Underground station to catch the Victoria Line to Green Park, the 20 mile walk to the Jubilee line Platforms (thank god we didnt walk to the piccadilly line from the Jubilee!), to catch a train to Canning Town. To get the right exit, you have to sit (or stand) in the 3rd coach, second door IIRC. We got the correct one nevertheless, and headed upstairs for the DLR platforms to hear the announcer say The Next train at Platform 3 is for King George the fifth VIA London City Airport. BZZZZZZ! the train arrived and we took the rear seats of the train (its more interesting seeing the DLR backwards at times!)
We soon came back to Canning Town, back on the Jubilee line to London Bridge.
At London Bridge, we spent approx 45 minutes, because Heart of Wessex wanted to see his Box machines but we saw a few interesting stuff Including a Midget 375 on the Tunbridge Wells service, a very frequent thameslink service!! We saw many a Networker including 465244, which I saw earlier in the day, 376s, 375s etc, then halfway through standing at London Bridge, I bought a drink from Upper crust. At around 16:15, we all headed for the bus stop to catch a route 40 to Fenchurch Street, where we got on a 357 forming the 16:50 to Pitsea via Chav-ford hundred and Tilbury. I alighted at West Ham, got a Jubilee line train to Canary Wharf, walked 5 miles to Heron Quays to catch a lewisham train and finally a 484 (LDP190) to Hilly Fields and home.
The trip officially began for me at 08:50, when I left my house and started to wind my way down to Lewisham station, reached it at 09:05. I wasted no time in buying my Travelcard from the DLR ticket machines (as usual), then headed over to Platform 3, to wait for the 09:20 to London Victoria. 465244 was on the 09:16 to Cannon Street, while 465165 was on my train to Victoria, boarded in the second carriage. Passing Peckham Rye, we started racing Southerns 456011, then at Stewarts Lane I saw 09009 plus various mark 1 coaches.
Arrival at Victoria, I saw a steam train (Sherwood Forester) on Platform 2 with FM Rails Slim Jim 33202 Meteor at the rear. But then I descended into the underground station, to hear that the District and Circle line was screwed up again
I boarded a Westbound district line train to Earls Court, then there was trouble because no Edgeware road services turned up, so I was forced to take the Piccadilly line to Hyde Park Corner. The trouble didnt end there, I took the wrong exit (I was meant to take Exit 2 to Park Lane) and ended up in the middle of Hyde Park Corner roundabout, Result? PVL407 stormed past on the 36, so then I walked over to Park Lane where a 436 arrived, how convenient
At Paddington, I waited on the concourse for everybody to arrive, Heart of wessex was first at 10:25, then FGWFan at 10:30, finally Sprinter at 10:50. As soon as we all met, we headed for Platform 13 to get the 10:58 to Greenford, sitting in declassified first class, things like strange dreams involving strange trains in strange places, ATWs new timetable, different locomotive numbers were mentioned. After arrival at Greenford, it was seminar time, then onto the Central line, we mentioned route atlases etc to pass the time before arrival at Notting Hill gate where we changed to the District line. A very packed C stock arrived at the platform, which we took to Earls court, where we doubled back to High Street Kensington on a refurbished District line D stock. Back to Olympia, there was a 25 minute wait for the train, so to pass the time I bought a cup of hot chocolate and a mince pie. The 12:43 to Brighton came 8 minutes early, me and Sprinter secured a table for the 4 of us, then at Clapham Junction we spent a while getting numbers etc. At 13:30ish it was on a electrostar into Victoria, while Heart of Wessex went upstairs to get his KFC meal, me FGWfan and Sprinter went over to Subway to get our lunch.
We found James on the concourse, then we walked towards the Underground station to catch the Victoria Line to Green Park, the 20 mile walk to the Jubilee line Platforms (thank god we didnt walk to the piccadilly line from the Jubilee!), to catch a train to Canning Town. To get the right exit, you have to sit (or stand) in the 3rd coach, second door IIRC. We got the correct one nevertheless, and headed upstairs for the DLR platforms to hear the announcer say The Next train at Platform 3 is for King George the fifth VIA London City Airport. BZZZZZZ! the train arrived and we took the rear seats of the train (its more interesting seeing the DLR backwards at times!)
We soon came back to Canning Town, back on the Jubilee line to London Bridge.
At London Bridge, we spent approx 45 minutes, because Heart of Wessex wanted to see his Box machines but we saw a few interesting stuff Including a Midget 375 on the Tunbridge Wells service, a very frequent thameslink service!! We saw many a Networker including 465244, which I saw earlier in the day, 376s, 375s etc, then halfway through standing at London Bridge, I bought a drink from Upper crust. At around 16:15, we all headed for the bus stop to catch a route 40 to Fenchurch Street, where we got on a 357 forming the 16:50 to Pitsea via Chav-ford hundred and Tilbury. I alighted at West Ham, got a Jubilee line train to Canary Wharf, walked 5 miles to Heron Quays to catch a lewisham train and finally a 484 (LDP190) to Hilly Fields and home.