Capital Gains - 26/11/18
Another night in London, where I seem to be far more than my own home at present. One of the few pluses is that it gives me evenings to amble around the capital mopping up the last few loose ends of my outstanding sightings. After a peculiar day at work it was off out into the evening, with the Bakerloo from Regents Park down to Waterloo first up. Continuing my record of fast Evening Standard crossword finishes I ascended into the station proper armed with a bit of gen, but firstly decided on a quick trip to Vauxhall to see if the last 456 I needed was out and about.
Half an hour was spent watching duds go by, and I was starting to feel a bit queezy if truth be told, which I put down to a lack of hydration earlier in the day. It's this I blame for a momentary taking of my eyes from the ball, as a 456 passed through at the head of a Strawberry Hill service that I was 95% certain was the missing piece of the SWR puzzle. I was going to mark it down as a winner, but I fired up RTT to plot the next few movements and, noting it was due back in an hour, I put the red pen back in the pocket and set off onto the Victoria line and up to St Pancras.
Here it was the seemingly endless walk to the High Speed platforms, where I dutifully waited in the refreshing cold (still queezy) for the stock to roll in that formed the next Broadstairs service. The gen was good, and leading the way of the ECS was
395008, the last Javelin required:
Sound the cannon!
In celebratory mood it was down to the low level platforms to find the next London Bridge service. My luck was in, as whilst I waited
700130 pulled in heading north, whittling the 700s down to just six remaining. The next Brighton service pulled in a couple of minutes late, and we were then held outside City Thameslink for 5 minutes, so I frustratingly missed the next bit of gen. However I knew it would be back later in the evening...
Instead I decided to chance my arm on the two remaining 375s I need being out during the evening peak. 45 minutes in dudsville sadly seemed to suggest they were not, and with nothing else of note I went down to Leon for tea, polishing it off in good time to get a pair of 465s back to Waterloo East.
Waterloo itself, as was the scene last week, had descended into mild chaos, with signalling issues at Clapham Junction causing all manner of commuter woe. Thankfully the return of what I hoped was 456003 hadn't been capped short, and it eventually arrived 15 late, with the 456 at the far end. Crossing my fingers I walked the 14 miles to the end of the platform, and was greeted thus:
Finally, after what I calculate to be 25 failed attempts over the course of 18 months, I snared the last 456, and the last of the SWR EMUs. Cannon!
To mark the occasion it was only right I took a ride on my old nemesis, doing so for a stop-start journey to Clapham, before changing onto a 377 for the short spin to East Croydon. Again my luck was in here, as
700153 showed up not 5 minutes in to my stay, knocking another 700 off the list, and leaving 5 of the 115 left to find.
The real reason I descended upon the world's coldest station arrived 15 minutes later. The distinct diesel chug of the ex-Uckfield 171s soon broke the silence, with the rear being brought up by
171724, not only the last 171 I needed, but also the last of Southern's entire fleet of 300 units. As with my red friend earlier, it was only right I go for a spin, doing so to London Bridge, where the now traditional photo was captured:
With that it was back onto Thameslink and to Farringdon, before a quick interchange onto the H&C. I briefly toyed with going to Paddington for some IET hunting, but I was still feeling a bit peaky, so instead it was off at Great Portland Street and back to the hotel to type this all up!
All told, an excellent four hours work. Three classes and a TOC cleared, despite my best efforts to let the 456 off the hook again, and a couple of bonus 700s in the bag as well. Next time I'm down I hope I can get a bit of gen on the two 321s and two 375s I need, as after that it's pretty much all 700s, 717s and IETs. I'd set myself a target of getting to that point (needing only post 2016 stock) by March 2019 (when my railcard runs out) so I'm pleased to be very much on track with that. I think that's probably my last trip for 2018, although I might try and sneak one in before I do my end of year review.
) so the rate of winners will go up here.
