The Various Random Mutterings of Kite

[Techniquest]

Fast is right! hock: No doubt that'll help a lot towards your next adventure!

 

[Kite159]

27th March - Weekday Bashing in London

Having one days holiday left to use up before end the end of March, meant a day out to London, to meet Techniquest, and try and reduce some of my required units. Today’s travel card was purchased from the least used station in the London area, Sudbury & Harrow Road. 09:59 rolled around and I boarded a busy 159004 (for the first time this year) for the trip to Waterloo, no linear bashing at Basingstoke or Woking in search of winning 450s (or the lesser spotted 444017). With the usual sitting outside Waterloo for 5 minutes waiting for a Haslemere train to get out of the way, before an arrival a couple minutes early.

I was due to meet Techniquest under the clock at Waterloo, after a couple minute wait, the main man himself arrived, and was very nice to meet a regular trip-writer at long last. Deciding the first movement was to head to Waterloo East to see which South eastern units were floating around, also a chance to see the works at the London Bridge rebuild. First up for the 61 chain hop to Charing Cross was a pair of winning 465s, 465026/465170. Into Charing Cross to have a look at what was departing next, spotting a pair of 375s, with required 375611 leading dud 375623. Only able to take it for the first station at Waterloo East as it ran fast to Sevenoaks, with a short wait before dud 375604 arrived to take us to Orpington.

A quick interchange after spotting a required 465 on a Victoria (I think) service, 465023 for the single leap to Petts Wood, a station which I had thought was new, but checking my movements noticed an interchange back in June time. Winner 465187 back to Orpington, and crossing over to the through platforms to score required 465033 leading dud 465007, again a quick change at Petts Wood time for a brief break before double winning 376034/376021 rolled up, to Lewisham, for a quick change for the next London bound service, whatever it was going to be as we were both getting rather hungry, and I needed to get to Seven Sisters to check in and drop off stuff from my bag (as it saves a job for later and frees up evening peak). Winners 465903 & 465920 rolled in for the hop to Waterloo East. Exiting out the side exit and down the many stairs to street level, to visit Tesco for a brief lunch, I had forgotten how long those stairs are, not something you want to be climbing in a hurry.

At Waterloo, it was a RTT moment with the next Vauxhall movement, and we headed towards the SWML side, picking up a double 450, 450090 & 450018 on a Hampton Court run. Looking to the right as we departed and spotted a 455 with a pair of red 456s rolling in, a job for another day to clear my 456s (and I believe Techni has a lot of these required after comparing notes). After a short hop we alighted and went down to the underground for a nice ride along the Victoria line to Seven Sisters. Exiting the station and firing up Google Maps to give me a guide where the guest house was located, and a couple minutes later I had checked in, and back outside, ready for another little trip. Techni wanted to score Cambridge Heath (which is also a station I needed), so it was up to the national rail side, the barriers not liking my travel-card [but they accepted Techni’s card with no issue, might be something to do with Sudbury], first service southbound was in the hands of dud 315821, down to the new station at Cambridge Heath with a 3 minute connection for a north bound service (or 15 minutes to wait for the next southbound, these stations will probably improve once London Overground take over with an increased level of service). Quick dash over as dud 315852 rolled in with winner 315823 behind it. To Hackney Downs with crossing over to P1 to await a fast service to Liverpool Street as I spotted a pair of required 317s rolling in, leading was 317887 which both of us wanted and 317660 behind it.

RTT gave a +5 at St James Street, a new station for me, involving a subway and to the London bound platform as another pair of 317s rolled in, 317668 with a stuck door between SC & FC, and 317890 for a nice run down to Liverpool Street. Next stop was a Circle line service to Moorgate, before heading to the National Rail platforms (which are still in use), arriving a bit early for the 5-minute frequency, but I spotted a required 313 on the 2nd service out, and Techni spotted a required unit on the 1st service out, 313052/313047 for the short hop to Old Street. Dud 313056 with winner 313041 behind took us the next hop to Essex Road, a mix of signs and some First Capital Connect stuff still uncovered. Next service north was winner 313048 & dud 313018 taking us to Drayton Park (skipping Highbury & Islington as it was busy and hasn’t got a good interchange between northbound and southbound GN services).

313 hunting was the name of the game, I needed 7, Techni needed 9, after checking to see what was heading down the tunnel (as they would be coming up later) located a couple winners for both of us (sharing 3 or 4 required), but first up was a trip to Finsbury on 313029/313037 and back down to Drayton on a +1 (jumping on as the doors were starting to close) on 313029/313059. Next up from Moorgate was required 313054 and 313058 to Finsbury Park, the following pair was dud 313051 leading winner 313044 heading north so I could score my 1st new station on Great Northern network, in the shape of Harringay. RTT suggested the next southbound wasn’t due for 10 minutes and there was time to get the following service to Hornsey to make a connection with the same unit, good decision as although dud 313063 was leading, winner 313036 was behind, 4 to go. Making the connection at Hornsey onto duds 313049/313032 for the run down to Finsbury Park, timing it right with a pair of 321s rolling in. Required 321420 was on the front with dud 321406 on the rear. Down to Kings Cross with a connection towards a double 317, both dud for me, but required for Techni, and was nice to get 317347/317344 in the book again to double their miles to just over 5 miles.

Another good connection with a pair of 313s heading north, 313046 was a dud, but winner 313057 was on the rear (3 to go) for a short hop to Harringay, and a connection back to Finsbury on duds 313062/313038. Across to P7/P8 with a single 317 heading north, first stop New South Gate, and it was a winner for the both of us, 317338, and another new station for me. Rather busy, but we alighted at New South Gate, and another RTT spotted a trip to Oakleigh Park could be in order to catch a southbound service, so another new station for me. 313032/313049 did the honours with 313058/313054 doing the honours back south to Alexander Palace. Having spotted 313043 heading down towards Moorgate we made a plan to get it (double winner for Techni) heading back north, so next service was 313039 to Finsbury, then 313064/313059 to Drayton.

A little wait and winner 313043 arrived (2 down) with 313060 behind it, back to Finsbury, and both of us were getting a bit hungry, deciding on the McDonalds at Kings Cross, next service was in the hands of 313028/313050 which took us back to Highbury & Islington, where we transferred to the Victoria line to Kings Cross St Pancras, exiting out at the ticket office of the former Kings Cross Thameslink station, first time leaving that way (normally closed at weekends). Walking back to Kings cross to grab a burger and a little rest before deciding to head to St Pancras to hunt 319s, 377s & 387s on Thameslink.

First service northbound was non-stop to St Albans so that was out of the question, but the first southbound service was in the hands of winner 319216 with 319218 behind doing the short leap to Farringdon. Next up was a pair of duds (for me, winner for Techni I think), 319370/319427 for the 32 chain leap to City Thameslink. Not so bad to change platforms as at Blackfriars, not helped by the random nature of the stopping place of northbound services, northbound was in the hands of duds 319426/319445 to Farringdon, back south on winner 319383, little wait for a pair of dud 377s before being rewarded with winners 319003 & 319005 for the ride to Farringdon. Back to City Thameslink on winners 387126 & 387124 with catching winners 319004 & 319437 (I do enjoy Thameslink bashing in the core during weekdays, lots of options) back to Farringdon. Next southbound was duds, so back over to the northbound platform as dud 319429 had arrived with winner 319451 behind, back to St Pancras.

Decision time was made when winner 377517 rolled in first with dud 377521 behind it, to take us to West Hampstead Thameslink. Time to do a quick new station hop to Cricklewood, dud 319432 out, with dud 319457 leading winner 319431 back to St Pancras where we had hoped to connect up with a 12-car 377 Bedford, sadly that connection was missed, but as it was getting late, we jumped onto duds 319370/319427 as I alighted at West Hampstead, saying goodbye to Techni (brilliant day, nice to have someone to talk to). Thinking about how to get back to Seven Sisters, and I jumped onto 319445/319426 heading towards St Pancras before deciding to get Kentish Town out of the way, so I alighted and jumped onto a northbound service (dud 319383). Bit of a wait for the next southbound so I decided to make a quick dash to West Hampstead, the North London Line London Overground station. A delayed busy 378210 took me to Highbury & Islington, where I had a couple of options, see what was on the ELL for a single station hop or double back to Caledonian Road & Barnsbury, which unusually for a North London line station had an island platform (which is useful knowledge to have for a future 378 hunt). The 378/1 was a dud, and the 2nd didn’t turn up, the 387/2 heading back towards West Hampstead was dud, so no winners, but I was rewarded with a seat(!) on 378216, little hint is to board at the west end, furthest away from the barriers, lots of passengers for the first 2 cars. To Stratford with a fester, looking for a winner, first up was a pair of dud 315s, and then a dud 321 towards Liverpool Street, a dud 317 was on the service running past the Eurostar depot, my wait was rewarded with a pair of winning 315s. 315855 & 315861 for the short hop back to Liverpool Street with a 2 and a bit minute connection for a service towards Hackney Downs, thankfully the barrier was open so didn’t have to waste time with the guard opening up when my ticket failed to work. Rewarded with winner 317503, first stop Hackney Downs.

Bit of a fester at Hackney Downs, waiting for any sort of winner to take me to any of the 3 Victoria line stations, a couple duds later and winner 315838 (33 left) arrived to take me back to Seven Sisters, where I heard the music coming from the pub underneath the guest house before I got there. Thankfully I was away from the noise so it wasn’t so loud, but I overlooked the railway, good for 315 noises, bad as there is a set of points around that part of the track, which were making a bit of noise when services went over then. Not really a good pick for a room for the night, but it’s one to remember when booking future stays in London.

Saturday & Sunday coming up later in the week

 

[Techniquest]

Another excellent read, and it was good to meet up at long last too, I don't do social bashes very often, but last week was an exception and it was certainly nice to 'talk shop' as they say with someone!

I've seen what you mean about Caledonian Road and Barnsbury, very handy indeed! I still like Canonbury though, although until I finish the LO stations (3 west of Willesden to get, plus most of them south of New Cross Gate) I'll be leaving the festering for now. Plus I'd prefer to get the 313s done first!

 

[noddy1878]

You guys did well there. Plenty of units had and all over the place. So close to completing the 313s for GN as well! Do you need the Southern ones still?

 

[Keith Jarrett]

27th March - Weekday Bashing in London

Having one days holiday left to use up before end the end of March, meant a day out to London, to meet Techniquest, and try and reduce some of my required units. Today’s travel card was purchased from the least used station in the London area, Sudbury & Harrow Road. 09:59 rolled around and I boarded a busy 159004 (for the first time this year) for the trip to Waterloo, no linear bashing at Basingstoke or Woking in search of winning 450s (or the lesser spotted 444017). With the usual sitting outside Waterloo for 5 minutes waiting for a Haslemere train to get out of the way, before an arrival a couple minutes early.

Ah, 444017. One of the three "Arkwrights" that I still need for 10 miles. It's reassuring that I am not the only one chasing it.

I was pleased to see that you had a little dabble with West Anglia. I will be probably waiting until LOL take over at the end of May before I go back - we should have all the 317/7s to play with then. But if I end up with loads of free Sunday afternoons before then, I might just be tempted...

As an aside, I am always pleased to read about other folk's "capital capers". With your exploits, a new red red pen must be high on the purchase list!

 

[Kite159]

You guys did well there. Plenty of units had and all over the place. So close to completing the 313s for GN as well! Do you need the Southern ones still?

I need quite a few Southern 313/2s, probably a job for a Daysave around the Brighton area on a weekday or Saturday.

---

28th March – The Orton Towers, or how I learned to stop worrying about the baggage retrieval system at Heathrow

After a rather rubbish sleep in the guest house at Seven Sisters, it was time to get up and go, leaving a bit later than I had hoped (hitting the underground around 6:45) for a 10 minute wait for a Victoria line service, cut short on Saturday to Victoria, and it was quite busy. To Kings Cross St Pancras and up towards the MML platforms at St Pancras, via the little WH Smiths express they have located at the top level (useful to know in future when on Brighton – Bedford runs and I need a quick bite to eat). I wasn’t heading towards a 222, but instead an East Midlands HST.

My previous runs with East Midlands HST have mainly been a short run between Wellingborough & Kettering, plus a couple runs between Luton & Bedford, so not really long distances, so today whatever units were going to be on the train were going to go straight to the top of my pile in terms of miles. My seat was in coach C, and at first I thought I had been unlucky to get an airline seat (more on the seats later), until I noticed the “priority” seat label, extra leg-room seats, happy days. I wasn’t lucky when I noted down the number of the rear power car as dud 43049 (3rd time with that power-car), so I was hoping at the first stop to grab the number of the front power car to get a winner.

Nice little speed run up the main-line, picking up at Luton Airport, Bedford, Kettering & Leicester, leaving the main-line at Syston and onto the Peterborough line, which isn’t the most exciting of lines (having done it previously a couple weeks ago towards Buxton), but pretty soon the train arrived at the north end of Peterborough for a nice 20 minute wait, as it arrived earlier than expected. With the East Coast line closed north of Peterborough, making the services go via Lincoln, meant a 91+Mk4 set was at Peterborough waiting for a bus to meet it. Brief wait at Peterborough for a crew change, before running up towards London in the down slow, being overtaken by HST wearing the Virgin colours. Leaving the main-line for my first new track of the day, and onto the curve at Fletton Junction, around the back of some houses (embankment full of rubbish) to join onto the preserved Nene Valley line.

Running west, passing lots of cameras (first time a HST has visited the Nene Valley according to one of the volunteers) and running to the western most end at Yarwell Junction, a station in the middle of nowhere, but allowed time for passengers to alight and have a walk, which was needed as the seats on a EMT HST set are ok for short 2 hour trips, not good for a 3 and a half hour trip. Not to mention the low fixed arm-rests giving no support to the arms. Give me the seats from a FGW HST, brief moment before walking down the platform, having just been off the end of the platform, walking up to spot a good sight, winner 43046

15 or so minutes later, it was back on the train for the short hop back to the main station on the Nene Valley at Wansford, I headed straight to the cafe to grab some food before the queues started to build up, before heading out to have a look around the various locos and other stuff around the yard. The HST had stopped just short of a level crossing on a little lane which gave me a chance to get a close-up picture of 43049

Some bits in the yard:

The level-crossing signaller decided to “close” the gates on the level crossing to allow people to get some good pictures, sadly as I only had my phone my pictures are not so good

Back to the train for its departure at 12:30 for the run to the eastern end of the line at Peterborough Nene Valley station for another little break. And doing my best to do an “East Coast picture” (of someone walking pass an East Coast service used for many articles when Virgin took over) got this picture of a mysterious gentlemen:

Main line be that way:

Ever spotted that blue and white thing on the west side when arriving into Peterborough from the south (or departing towards London) and wondered what the heck it is (as I have on many times), it’s the prototype hover train.

Anyhow, it was back to the train to run back towards Ferry Meadows for another reversal to get onto the connection track back to the ECML, into Peterborough main station for another reversal to get onto the Peterborough-Ely line, a line which I had forgotten how boring it is, flat featureless land, with the odd level crossing and river bridge, in all honesty I fell asleep for a few minutes, before being woken up and deciding to get some fresh air when stopped at Ely, waiting for a 365 to clear the junction before moving on into Ely station for the final break. Bit of winner spotting with a required EMT 156 on a Nottingham run, a required XC 170 heading down to the airport, a required GA 170 heading towards Peterborough and another required 365 towards Kings Lynn, where we were set to follow, so back on the train for the run to Kings Lynn, stopping for 10 minutes at Littleport to allow another service to pass.

Coming off the main line just before Kings Lynn to go into the yard sidings to reverse back to enter the Middleton Towers branch, a line which used to run all the way to Dereham, but closed by Mr Beeching, only open for a short distance to a sand loading area. The HST stopped at the NR boundary, lack of clearance to get onto the actual site, but quite boring. Back to Kings Lynn yard to reverse for the final time (so back towards St Pancras heading backwards, ah well), down towards Ely, but using a bit of rare track in the shape of the Ely West curve to get back onto the Peterborough line, quick crew change at Peterborough and back towards Leicester, spotting 41001 at Leicester, and back towards St Pancras. When passengers got off it allowed the rest to spread out a bit, this was nice, no point in having a table going unused for the run down the main-line into St Pancras.

Arrival into St Pancras, for me having an hour and a bit to get back to Waterloo for the 21:20 departure to Yeovil Parkway (cut back to Salisbury due to engineering works, I dislike that diversion as it goes out of the Gold card zone to go upto Westbury and comes back into the zone when back on the main-line at Yeovil), so I did a bit of 444/450 hunting, to see if 444017 would be nice enough to show itself, or any other required 450s. First 4 departures on the main-line were duds, but heading towards Portsmouth via Winchester was required 450095, so I jumped on board for the non-stop run to Surbiton, then stopping at Walton-on-Thames & Weybridge before I alighted at Woking. Quick visit to the little Budgens outside the station scored me a winning baguette and it was back onto the station as dud 444003 rolled in to take me to Basingstoke, where 159001 took me back to Grateley, 3rd week running in having 159001 at some-point, which is good as it increases it’s distance to 647 miles.

 

[Iskra]

I've seen the hover train many times from the ECML but was under the impression it was an old aircraft fuselage used for training firemen on- like you see at airports!

 

[Techniquest]

So what was that trip title about, the thing about Heathrow? Confused!

Looks like a good day all in, even though it took in a lot of boring routes. Feels like a very long time since I did Middleton Towers on Pathfinder's The Sandblower in October 2006!

 

[Kite159]

I was listening to Monty Python at the time.
----
Interestingly I've just gone through my movements sheet totalling up my 159 mileage since I stated collecting unit numbers (Feb last year)

Top 3 is 159002 (943 miles), 159104 (834), 159107 (752), with 159022 being my lowest in terms of miles (99 miles) and times travelled on (a mere 3 times) 9 units are in the 500+ miles club.

 

[Techniquest]

Ahhh, I've never really got Monty Python.

You're certainly raking in the 159 mileage!

 

[Kite159]

29th March – Another Sunday rushing around in London

The day begins with a little drive to Andover to meet up with the 07:00 departure to Woking, which runs nice and fast to Basingstoke, terminating at Woking due to early morning engineering works, meaning either a bus or a wait for a service from Basingstoke/Alton or Southampton which does a double reversal via Guildford. Formed of 3 cars comes on the screen at Andover, which seems usual for the service, formed of 159104, but pulled in a bit far until I noticed 158883 attached at the rear. Time to get me some high-speed 158 action to find myself a table and relax.

Before I knew it, Woking had arrived, and it was off the train as it reversed and went into P6 (hence the reason probably for having the 158 attached as it later formed a Woking – Exeter service, a double 159 would probably not fit in Woking bay), the 450 from Basingstoke arrived and it was dud, waiting for the portion from Alton to arrive, and that was also dud. On P5 a 455 had rolled in for Guildford, and checking the number saw it required 455912 so being slightly naughty and going off-route I jumped on board for the short run down to Guildford. Lots of 455s in Guildford sidings, but pretty sure double duds 450546/450021 rolled in from Southampton so I boarded for the non-stop ride towards Surbiton via Oxshott, going a bit slow through the stations, but it was nice for a little diversion.

To Clapham, and a quick look at the “next London trains” screen, the next Waterloo was from the Windsor lines, so I headed across to P3/P4. Winner 455854 rolled in with winner 455868 behind, a double winning red devils, first time in a while. Staying on for the run to the next stop at Vauxhall where I crossed over to the Wimbledon lines side as winner 455723 rolled in. 4 required 455s, excellent score, into Waterloo, where I went down to the underground to a busy heritage line platform (jubilee wasn’t running north of Waterloo), as a Bakerloo set rolled in to take me to Marylebone. I must confess at arriving a tad early for the next Wembley Stadium departure, but I used the time to purchase a couple BZ6 – Watford North tickets. Winner 165031 rolled in to take me the short distance to new shack Wembley Stadium, where due to a football game more trains were stopping.

Across the bridge (in the rain and wind, not a good day weather wise), and down to the London platform, with a 10 minute wait for the next service to Marylebone, with an idea that if the first unit was dud, the next service was a couple minutes afterwards, and if that was dud I would head back to the Down platform to get a new shack in the shape of Northolt Park, and return on the next London service (with another 2 services behind giving chances of winners). I didn’t need this plan as winners 165012 and 165037 rolled in, 2 165/0s for the price of 1, excellent. Back into Marylebone with a 20-odd minute gap for the next departure which called at Wembley (A Stratford-on-avon service), checking it to be a required unit, meant I was going to stick around, apart from a brief hop down on the Bakerloo to tick Edgware Road (Bakerloo) off as a new station call.

Back at Marylebone, 168218 was on duty, so taking a seat at a table to give me phone a quick charge and soon it was on the way to Wembley, crossing over and managing to score 168219 (last 168/2) heading back to Marylebone, quick connection with a High Wycombe bound service, formed of dud 165022, as I had more options at Wembley heading south than from Marylebone heading north. Good call as I scored a busy 168112 back to Marylebone, with a short connection with Aylesbury bound fresh dud 165012, so time to score a new shack in the shape of Northolt Park, an open station with not a lot of activity, probably busier than normal due to people parking in that area and catching a service to Wembley. Which is what I had planned as winner 165024 rolled in.

Wembley was getting a bit more busier now, although the game was due to start which meant services would soon be going fast, first 168 arrived was dud, so the next train was going to be a required movement (or else be stuck at Wembley for 25-odd minutes), thankfully it was a required 168/0, 168004, bringing my total of required 168s down to a mere 5, happy days, although I would have been happier with more 165s, a job for a weekday or Saturday me thinks. Anyways to Marylebone, with a tight connection with a Birmingham bound London Midland from Euston, down to the Bakerloo for the 25 chain trip to Baker Street, then onto a Metropolitan service (which seem to take forever to get going) to Euston Square, a run to Euston itself, thankfully the Birmingham service was going from one of the non-barrier platforms which saved a bit of time, and with 2 minutes to spare I jumped onto a triple 350. Walking through the service to grab the various unit numbers before taking a seat (and overhearing someone saying “I hope the barriers at Watford Junction are open as I haven’t got a ticket”), dud 350128 was leading with winners 350231 & 350104 behind. Nice non-stop run to Watford Junction with a 15 minute connection with the Abbey Flyer.

Required 321414 was the 321 on Abbey Flyer, only 321412 left of the London Midland 321s to get before they head up to Scotland and probably get renumbered into the 320 series when a middle coach is removed, this took me the short distance to Watford North, where I had a 30 minute wait. The wind had picked up when waiting at Watford Junction and was rocking the unit, and remained high, so after a brief look around the area (housing & industrial parks) and deciding not to walk the mile or so back to Watford Junction, I stayed around, reading my book as 321414 rolled back to take me back to Watford Junction. I had potentially an hour and a bit wait to find out which 321 was coming down from Northampton to take over the Abbey duties for the next week, so I caught the next Euston bound service which called at Harrow & Wealdstone, formed of winner 350112 with dud 350242 behind. Crossing over the footbridge to score winner 350235 back up to Watford Junction, back to Harrrow on winning Southern 377703, and back up on a required move with dud 377705, where the heavens absolutely opened up and the rain came down in a thunderstorm, dashing to the little waiting shelter for a breather, as I waited to see not-required 321416 rolling down, maybe I was asking too much for 412 to make an appearance. Looking at RTT suggested that I could catch the new Overground service to Harrow & Wealdstone with connected up with the next Euston service, and as it was a required 378, I jumped on board 378213 for the short run via Watford High Street. Brief connection at Harrow and I was on fresh dud 350104 leading winner 350123 back to Euston.

Victoria line to Kings Cross St Pancras, which felt forever until it rolled in, and up the stairs to see what was heading to Finsbury Park, first up was a pair of 365s for Cambridge, dud 365508 was on the front with winner 365522 on the back, excellent score for a little Finsbury run, not knowing that a friendly was being played at the Arsenal stadium so that Finsbury Park was quick busy. Quick jump across platforms to see what was heading south or what 313s were coming up. Bit of a dud fest, the northbound platform was getting rather busy, same with the Kings Cross bound platform, after 20 minutes I had one last shot at glory before I was going to call it a day, dud 313036 was leading, and my 2nd last 313/0 was on the rear 313053, leaving just 313030 to try and get to clear the Great Northern 313s (although my Southern 313/2s require attention).

A repeat of Friday found me onto the Thameslink platforms at St Pancras, next service was going to be a northbound Bedford, which had dud 377207 on the front with winner 377502 on the rear, nice little ride (sitting in the declassified 1st on 502 for a quick charge as I forgot to plug my phone in on the Saturday night) to West Hampstead Thameslink, back south again on a pair of winning 387s, in the shape of 387122 & 387119, doing its usual refusal to open the doors at St Pancras, but I was back across to the northbound service formed of winner 319001. Out to West Hampstead Thameslink forming an “exit” plan to get me home, try my luck with the next 2 southbound services, if both duds, then exiting to the underground back to Waterloo, winner would be to St Pancras followed by a required Blackfriars to get to Victoria then to Clapham. First service was a dud 319, 2nd was winner 377504 with dud 377509 behind, only 4 more 377/5s left to get. Nice little run down to Blackfriars where I soon changed onto a district line service to Victoria.

At Victoria I had a couple options, on spotting a dud 455 on the 1st option (not sure if there was another 455 in front, didn’t want to risk going through the barriers to check), so across to the “main-line” platforms, next service had dud 377411 on the front with winner 377137 behind, although RTT was suggesting a +2 onto a Salisbury bound service, ouch. So into Clapham and it was a bit of a dash to get to P9, no linear bashing tonight, and it was the same duo I had in the morning, 159104 adding another 62 miles to its total, and 158883. Back to Andover and after a quick detour via an Indian takeaway next to the station (as I was hungry, it was 20:25, I couldn’t think of anything else within walking distance) I arrived home, the end of a busy and successful day. My method of logging required units on my phone is working.

321414 running away at Watford North:

 

[Kristofferson]

444017 eh... I'm on a 444 once a day (strange trains with a lot of wasted space, not suitable for the services they operate at all), so will look out for it! Why is it so rare?

Great to read your report, Mr Kite doesn't sound like the most exciting railtour, but a day bashing with a fellow enthusiast sounds like fun!

Edit: Just read the report from Sunday - thoroughly enjoyable to read, but check a couple of your class numbers as there's a 0 where a 1 should be on a couple of the 321 references I do need to do the Abbey line... Shame there's no way to get to Watford over the bank holiday (apart from the car... shudder...)

 

[Techniquest]

It was fun indeed, I haven't gone bashing with a fellow enthusiast since 1st December 2014 when blindtraveller was in the Midlands (and before that it had been a long time, not including the evening blindtraveller and I had bashing on the Fife Circle last year!), so last week spending two days in a row bashing with like-minded people was quite unusual but very pleasant for me!

You mention 321406 and 321402 in your trip report Kite159, those are GN 321s (321406 was one of the ones we had last week from The Park to Kings Cross!) so I'm assuming you meant 416 and 412 respectively.

Rather productive time had for a Sunday fair dos. I'm sure you already know the best way to score 455s, playing Box Machine Bingo at Vauxhall?

 

[55013]

Funny old game, innit?
Until this year I had only had six 444s, all had on a holiday with the wife in January 2011.
On the 21st of that month we went from Winchester to Poole on.......444017.
Also, at about the same time you boarded 159004 on the 27th I was on....321412!

Anyway, an interesting read as always, thanks for that.

 

[Kite159]

444017 eh... I'm on a 444 once a day (strange trains with a lot of wasted space, not suitable for the services they operate at all), so will look out for it! Why is it so rare?

Great to read your report, Mr Kite doesn't sound like the most exciting railtour, but a day bashing with a fellow enthusiast sounds like fun!

Edit: Just read the report from Sunday - thoroughly enjoyable to read, but check a couple of your class numbers as there's a 0 where a 1 should be on a couple of the 321 references I do need to do the Abbey line... Shame there's no way to get to Watford over the bank holiday (apart from the car... shudder...)

444017 is my last 444 to get ticked off, it has so far escaped me, and I haven't spotted it for a few weeks (normally it makes an appearance when at Waterloo and I'm on an AP ticket, or heading towards London at Woking when I'm heading the other way)

I shall edit the 321s.

Anyways, today I have mainly been around the South of London, and after 12 or so hours of DC electrics, my god a 159 sounds loud.


----

I'm happy tonight, not only have I managed to secure a £20 advance ticket for the 7:30 Euston to Glasgow (Direct service, first stop Warrington), I somehow managed to bag seat C1 (also known as the single seat opposite the Train Manager's office)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
3rd April – Good Friday DC dash

As I walked to the station for the 5:27 service (parking was out of the option owing to SWT wanting to charge the full weekday rate for basically a Saturday service), I was thinking which parts of London I would focus on, so much choice. Boarding a rather empty 159004 for the run towards Woking where I alighted to have a brief wait before a pair of 450s arrived.

Sadly both were duds, with 450103 leading and 450036 behind, but as they called at Surbiton it gave me a chance to make use of a 1st class travelcard (don’t ask me why I decided to buy a 1st class travel-card for today’s trip) and move into the 1st class area, which on a 450 is quite nice. To Clapham Junction where I alighted and decided to head over to the Windsor lines side, to see if my last remaining 378/1 would be nice enough to show itself (sadly not), but my mind was made up when a double 450 rolled in, leading was dud 450073 but winner 450037 behind.

With lack of a better plan I decided to stay on until the boundary zone at Feltham, and back into Twickenham [great station for unit hunting] onto duds 458007/458014. Quick hop across the island platform onto duds 458019/458009, just to get some 458/0 FC action for the 3 and a half mile trip (plus 6 chains). However I mistimed and ended up with a 15 minute wait at Feltham for the next service heading back towards London, so after a brief look around the station (interesting that the station platforms are over a little river). With my phone open to see if the units rolling in were required, and yes they were both required.

455727 & 455913 rolled in, on a service from Reading, where I alighted at Twickenham, to await the stopper behind for a first shack attack deciding to focus on the line of stations between Twickenham & Clapham Junction. First stopper bound for Waterloo was dud 455731 for the quite short 36 chain leap to St Margarets (London) as opposed to the St Margarets on the Hertford East line. Didn’t have much time as I dived over the footbridge to the down platform as a service rolled in formed of winners 455717 & 455720. Next service towards London was slightly delayed so a Windsor bound service formed of winner 458530 and dud 458532 rolled in, so I jumped on board for the short run back to Feltham, and back into Twickenham on dud 458023. Back to the stoppers with winner 455851 taking me to Richmond.
The PIS at Richmond were playing up; it was saying that a London Overground service was calling at Anerley only, but the 378/2 in the station was dud so to P2 for the next stopper. Dud 455711 was leading winner 455724 to take me to the semi-famous (for an old loophole ticket) station at North Sheen, nice little island platform seemingly away from anything else, 54 chain leap back to Richmond on duds 455730/455914 to await the next stopper.

Winner 455704 took me the short distance to Mortlake, where another island platform allowed me to hope back to Richmond on 455731, seemingly to be a station where the stoppers pass so a good connection was made. Next up was winner 450071 and dud 450001 (yippee, making use of my travelcard!) to winning station Barnes, which I must say isn’t the nicest stations to get across from the down up to the down slow, having to exit the station, going over a footbridge to get to the island platform. Next service towards London was duds, so over on the island platform with dud 458534 leading winner 458535 (last of the all ex-460 458/5s units) to Barnes Bridge. Not the easiest to get across to the other platform as it involves exiting and going underneath the road bridge (Barnes Bridge itself) and back up the stairs to the London platform.

Duds 458532 and 458530 had arrived back on the circle to take me back to Barnes, where I alighted to await the next service, formed of duds 450032 & 450554 to Wandsworth Town, jumping underneath the subway and up the stairs as I saw a required 458/5 arrive, with 458503 leading dud 458531. Back to Putney, where I had another quick interchange onto dud 458533 leading winner 458504 back to Clapham Junction. Temporary end of my SWT unit bash, as I wanted to see which 377/7s were on the South Croydon – Shepherd’s Bush runs as I required just 2 of the subclass, however both were not required.

Time to shift my focus onto the many 377s and 455s I have on my required list, and first up was a pair of 377s heading into Victoria, required 377468 was on the back with dud 377154 at front, taking a seat in the First Class cabin for the short run, had a surprise check by a pair of RPOs, who caught someone out who handed over a Oyster which hadn’t even been tapped in (plus a passenger using a staff travel-card who paid up £20 for sitting in First). Keeping an eye at Victoria and the next departure was an Ore/Littlehampton service, a triple, with dud 377418 leading winner 377409 with dud 377118 behind. Back to Clapham and across the platform for the London bound suburban platform with winner 377620 to Victoria, and back out to Clapham with winner 377622. The first class section on the 377/6s is rubbish.

A couple duds later and required 455830 rolled up for the short leap to Battersea Park. Clapham bound service was dud (the return of 620), but the next Victoria service was another required unit in the shape of 455814. No required units on the suburban platforms, so across to the main-line platforms, and there was no required units there either, nothing for the next 20-odd minutes. So out on the first departure in the shape of 377602/377623 to Clapham Junction for a brief fester before winner 455807 arrived, must have been hiding at Victoria.

To the lovely island platform at Balham, and back to Wandsworth Common on the next service formed of winner 455838. Playing winner bingo standing on the bridge at Wandsworth Common to see what was coming up from Balham and what was heading from Clapham, couple dud units later and a surprise came down the line, the light at the front suggested a 377/6, but was in fact winner 377701, I’m guessing with the WCML closed at Watford, Southern had the remaining 7s spare, not like I’m minding as it is required. Back to Balham and straight back to Wandsworth Common on 455845.

I hit a duff spell, so after 5 units decided to head back to Balham on dud 455826, and another duff spell back to Wandsworth on 377705. Thankfully my duff spell ended as the next Clapham bound service was winner 455841, and I decided to head to East Croydon. Next fast service was led by dud 377137 with winners 377152 & 377440 behind. Arrival into East Croydon with the nice new bridge (makes it easier to cross platform islands without having to go up the large ramps).

Handy because I noticed required 455837 pull in, so diving onto it for a new shack at South Croydon. Just missed a service, so a 10 minute wait was in order, and dud 377603 took me back to East Croydon. Time to do a ‘Bridge dash’ to London Bridge, on a pair of winning 375s, yes I did say 375s as Southeastern’s Hasting services were being diverted via East Croydon and terminating at London Bridge Low-Level. Winners 375627 & 375905 took me to the Bridge. A pair of dud 387s were the next departure, so I gave them a miss for another dual-voltage electrostar, winner 377202, staying on board for its first stop at Norwood Junction.

Quick jump across platforms at Norwood saw me onto another winner, this time 455808, back to London Bridge, where I saw the next departure was going to be a quite busy West Croydon service (football fans for Millwall) formed of winner 455812, first I was going to jump off at the first station (South Bermondsey) but that was busy with football fans and many policemen, instead scoring another new shack in the shape of Queens Road Peckham, with 10 minutes to spare before the next service, I dived down to the little Tesco Express located a stone’s throw from the station. Next service rolled in, and it was a winner, a packed 455801, which thankfully emptied out at South Bermondsey, and took me to London Bridge, where I had a short 10 minute gap (couple duds) before winner 455817 took me down to Norwood Junction.

Next service was a stopper, and was a winner, 455844, and so I decided it would be a good time to do a couple shack attacks, so alighted at Anerley, standing on the bridge and noticing the short gap between stations, although at 32 chains it is the shortest gap on the Overground network (17 chains between Rotherhithe & Canada Water must be hard to beat on LOROL’s network, although the 14 chains between City Thameslink & Blackfriars beats that for London, but can that be beaten on network rail metals [so excludes that DLR leap]?. Anyhows, winner 378201 with its brand new 5th carriage took me the tiny leap to Penge West, with winner 455832 taking me down to Norwood Junction, and 455831 back to East Croydon.

Around the same time as I was going up the stairs to the new bridge I spotted 377139 & 377460 on an East Grinstead service, so I jumped on after checking RTT to see which of the 3 stations on that line which are within the zones will be good for a connection, and I alighted at the final station within the zones of Upper Warlingham, over the bridge and a 5 minute wait before a returning service arrived with 377439 leading 377430, double winners plus a new station, I was happy with that. To East Croydon, a double 387 heading to the Bridge was dud, but the South eastern pair were required, so time for another Bridge dash, winners 375625 & 375813 took me to London Bridge, where I hit some duds, I was waiting to see what 171 would roll in to see if that was required, it wasn’t so it was onto dud 455815 to roll to Peckham Rye, the station which has 4 TOCs (LOROL & Southern on 2 platforms, South eastern & Thameslink on the other 2 platforms), crossing over to the South Eastern/Thameslink platforms to jump onto the next service formed of 465153 & 465032 to Denmark Hill, hopping off to await the London Overground service formed of dud 378207 to my final new station of the day in the shape of Wandsworth Road.

The stations served by London Overground on the South London branch now completed, and making use of the ticket machine which sells BZ tickets, gave me an idea of doing a 442 in first class, for that bit extra privacy, well it ticks it off the list. Back to Denmark Hill on dud 378146, and to Victoria on 465173 & 465183, deciding to do a quick Lewisham hop on a triple found me on 465045 leading 465030 with 466012 behind, after completing the crystal maze at Lewisham station to get to the P2/P3 island, and found myself back on 465168 leading winner 466022 and dud 465033 back on a fast to Victoria.

My only regret is not spending more time doing networkers, to get my required 466s down, ah well. Across to the Gatwick Express branded platforms to board a Southern service with Express branding, with 442411 for the peaceful run in an empty 1st class area (getting a free bottle of water and a newspaper), with 442406 doing the honours back to Victoria.

Time was getting on, I was getting a bit tired (14 hours of travelling at this point), so I thought I would call it a day, and jumped onto double winners 377156 & 377463 back to Clapham Junction, a quick dash to make a +1 for an Haslemere bound service, leading was dud 450102 with winner 450035 behind. Alighting at Woking and crossing over platforms for the final service of the day of 159009 & 159101, back to Grateley, strangely this service (20:20) was terminating at Salisbury with passengers for beyond Salisbury being made to move to another train, I would hope the new service would be on P2 or 3 with the terminator arriving into the other platform.

Only downsize is when walking home, I walked into a poorly placed “Diverted Traffic” sign, ouch.

Anyhow, pretty pictures:

A FGW HST in a siding outside Clapham Junction with 458016 passing it on route to Reading


32 chains between stations, tiny distance!


5th car on 378201, hasn’t got Overground route maps on it yet


Nice 1st class seating, I hope the 378/2s will be this nice


Sign 1, Kite 0

 

[Techniquest]

A very busy day indeed there!

 

[Cletus]

Was mooching around London myself Friday, although for not as long a time. Sitting on trains is tiring!

43027 it says on the side
Also 458016 not 458018, unless 2 sets?

 

[Kite159]

Was mooching around London myself Friday, although for not as long a time. Sitting on trains is tiring!

43027 it says on the side
Also 458016 not 458018, unless 2 sets?

My bad, hit 8 instead of 6.

---

4th April – Trip to the Wensleydale Railway

Nice little Easter Saturday forum trip to the Wensleydale Railway making use of the new station at Northallerton West. The day begins with a trip on 159021 to Clapham, and changing over to duds 455873/455919 for the short ride to Vauxhall, with the Victoria line doing the honours to Kings Cross. Once at Kings Cross I had around 50 or so minutes spare before the Grand Central service to Sunderland was due to depart, so I had a quick look around at what units were heading out to Finsbury. One of the first out was required 365517 which I took to Finsbury to fester around, keeping an eye out at what 313s came out (as I reckoned I could have missed two movements when sitting on the 365).

The sleepers came down, the 92s look quite smart in their new colours, but my fester for 313030 was a bit hopeless as I called it a day and jumped onto dud 313031 for the run back down to Kings Cross, and headed towards the Grand Central on P1. A HST set with dud 43465 at the front and dud 43468, 43465 for the 3rd time, and 43468 for the 2nd time, 465 must be high up on my HST 43 millage table if I ever do such a thing. Anyhow, the set included a declassified first coach, so I got myself a seat in the former 1st class coach and removed my reservation label from my assigned seat. Settling down for a nice little trip up the East Coast, first stop York which is where others from the forum were meeting up.

Continuing up and alighting at Northallerton before we set off for a walk to Northallerton West, a basic platform and a bin, access across a field so not one you want to use if it’s wet. The peace was broken when 37674 rolled in with a set of coaches for the shuttle service to the hub of operations at Leeming Bar. Boarding the service and we had a member of the Wensleydale committee on board who told us what to look out for in regards to old stations and other points of interest. Into Leeming Bar and to buy tickets, before boarding a hybrid unit, a driving car from 101678, with a middle car from an unknown 117, with a driving car from former North London Railways 117420. Quite comfy 3+2 seating and it set off along a rather beautiful part of the world with a little break at Leyburn.

20 or so minutes later (timetable stop for a steam engine to take on water?) it continued to Redmire, before reversing back to Leeming Bar, with me in one of the front seats it was a good little ride. At Leeming Bar we decided to head back to Leyburn to visit a pub, before catching the same unit back to Northallerton West, so taking up seats in the former 1st class area in the middle car for an enjoyable time, always good to be with fellow railway fans, hearing stories of former loophole tickets. Alighting at Leyburn and locating a pub before heading back to the station for the final train of the day.

Another walk from Northallerton West back to Northallerton, a couple of the group departed early to catch an earlier train, before the rest of the group went to the station to catch dud 43423 leading required 43480, my final GC power-car which I was very happy with, back down south, majority of the group leaving the declassified first coach at York for a nice trip back to Kings Cross. Saying goodbye as I had a quick search around Kings Cross for any required units, next 3 units heading out over the next 20 minutes were dud (reason why I was staying around, the Grand Central arrived around 20:03, it could be doable to make the 20:20, but I didn’t fancy the rush and wanted to grab a bite to eat, hence a bit extra time).

Across to St Pancras to see what Thameslink was up to, a southbound service was a dud 319, so over to the northbound platform for a Luton service, formed of 8 cars, and a smile came on my face with I saw 319422 was leading and an even bigger smile when the rear unit was required 319439, a double winning 319, happy days. I stayed on board for the first stop to Kentish Town, and caught a Northern line train down to Waterloo, to do some Waterloo stalling to see if any required 450s were around (or maybe that particular 444). No required 444s spotted, but the Alton service was a required 450, and a Portsmouth fast was a triple 450 which was due to depart. Bit of a walk but it was worth it as required 450114 leading double duds 450548/450093, a quick check of RTT saw it calling at Clapham, and also the Alton service calling, so I was a bit naughty and jumped off for a 5 minute wait.

Required 450553 (down to my last 5 450/5s) rolled up to take me to Woking, next service was a Poole bound 444, which I just wanted to double check, but confirmed it was a dud, so with 20 or so minutes spare, I made a quick dash down to visit the McDonalds in Woking (around a 2 minute walk) to pick up dinner and arrived back on the platform, as 159101/159012 arrived 5 minutes early, so I took a seat and went back to Grateley. The end of an enjoyable day 



--------------

6th April – FGW diversions

With Reading being closed over Easter, FGW are diverting via Salisbury for Devon/Cornwall services, and via Banbury for South Wales & Bristol services, meeting up a bit later with some forum members to do the diversion both ways, so it was an early and rather cold start walking to the station to board 159012 (again) staying on board to Clapham Junction, I had around 3 and a bit hours spare before the rough meeting time, so decided to do some 455 hunting, and jumped onto winner 455739 to finally tick Earlsfield from my list, before winner 455848 took me to Wimbledon.

Keeping an eye on what 319s were around on the Sutton loop, one was a dud, so I jumped onto dud 455918 to Raynes Park, 10 minute wait before a returning service formed of dud 455713, it was just too cold to hang around. Over to the Thameslink platform and winner 319002 rolled in, a quick check of RTT saw a potential +0 connection at the first station at Wimbledon Chase, with the other service being 1 minute late.

Both services arrived into Wimbledon chase together and it was a jump across the island platform to board dud 319459 leading unknown winner 319434 (only found it was a winner when I jumped off at Wimbledon. Back to Clapham on 455715 to see what 377/7s were around, see if 377706 would pop up on a Shepherd’s Bush service, both were duds (same pair which were on Friday), but when I was down on P17, a service arrived into P16 which was a required 377, 377147 which I jumped on board, thinking of doing a quick hop to Balham.

Wrong, it was one of the few services from the suburban side which doesn’t call at Balham, instead running fast to Sutton. Arrived around the same time as a 455, which was dud, so I had a brief wait to see what 319s would arrive, a clockwise loop service arrived first, and it was a winner, 319458, so I jumped on board to new station at South Merton, a few minutes later dud 319373 arrived to take me back down the loop to West Sutton. 10 minute wait (used up by popping out of the station to a local shop to buy a newspaper) and dud 319439 took me to Morden South with 319012 working an anti-clockwise loop which at first I took to Sutton. The 319 heading the other way was a dud, so getting back onboard 319012 around the loop a bit more to Carshalton.

Next Sutton service was Epson bound dud 455810 back to Sutton, another dud 455 was on a platform, so I gave that a miss, good thing I did as the next service was winner 377446 on a fast back to Clapham Junction. Heading across to the Windsor lines for want of a better idea, proved to be good as dud 458536 arrived with required 458502 in tow, so doing a bus stop leap to Queenstown Road, proved to be a good move, if it wasn’t for duds, 4th service arrived which I said I would get on (although great location if you need to spot various SWT units working the main-line, and with Southern to the country end and South eastern on the London end, it’s good to see how busy the lines are. Dud 455911 arrived with winner 455869 back to Vauxhall. Crossing over to the main-line side, and after a couple duds noticed the time and jumped onto dud 455860 to Waterloo.

Heading via Tesco for a late breakfast and other supplies, before meeting up on the concourse, the HST had arrived, and with the want to get a couple of table seats which are quite rare on FGW HST sets, saw the group going via P11 to get to P10, a move I’ve done many of times in search of required units. Leading the set was winner 43009 with dud 43003 at the rear for the good trip. Coach F wasn’t as busy as expected, and we managed to get a pair of tables, downside that the power-sockets were not working. Going non-stop through Salisbury was an interesting experience, and pretty soon it had arrived at Westbury for a 15 minute wait before dud 158953 arrived on a Cardiff service. Running around 6 minutes late into Bristol, a highlight having a HST waiting at Bathampton junction, roles reversed as I’ve lost count how many times I’ve waited at that junction for a delayed HST.

Into Bristol and to the pub for the meal, and back at the station to try and get a couple tables, not as good luck as the first set as the tables were not together, but not the end of the world. Leading was winner 43194 with 43139 behind, happy days. Back towards Paddington, the train getting busy at Bath before emptying out at Chippenham, picking extras up at Swindon before taking some new and rare track in the shape of Didcot West Curve and up to Oxford, where the train got rammed, standing room only as it set off 5 minutes late to Banbury, reversing (and holding up a 172-168-168 Chiltern set) and down the Chiltern line, coming off onto the “New North Main Line”, a single track section running side by side with the Central line (sadly no Central line racing this afternoon), and down onto the GWML and into Paddington, arriving a couple minutes earlier.

Saying goodbye to the forum members as I headed down to the Bakerloo to Waterloo, arriving around 19:45, nothing was really happening so after a quick detour to WH Smiths for a light dinner, jumped onto 159006 for the full 72 mile, 49 chain journey home. End of a busy long weekend, I was thankful for the day off on Sunday to recover from the madness of Friday.

319458 departing South Merton

319373 arriving into South Merton

And departing West Sutton

319439 waiting to depart Morden South

319012 at Carshalton

A beautiful day at Queenstown Road

43194 getting ready to depart to Paddington via Banbury

 

[alexf380]

Just finished reading the last couple of reports and you've certainly been busy the past few days! Sounds like a fantastic time though.
Keep up the great reports Kite!

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Kite, I am pleased to see you made it to my local line, albeit in the name of shack bashing. Was that your first visit to Thameslinks backwater namely the Wimbledon Loop? I think yours is the first report that I've read of shack bashing on the loop. If you need any more - I did not see St Helier & Sutton Common mentioned - remember that all the intermediate shacks between Wimbledon and Sutton are island platforms so ideal for those plus zero dash across the platform tight connections. That reminds me, I must try to get your local shack sometime!

 

[Kite159]

First time at stopping at the shacks, I've done the loop a couple times before. A repeat visit for a Sunday is on the cards to clear out the remaining shacks on the loop. Any other winning 319s (9 left which are are still with Thameslink, plus several /3s which have gone to the North) will be a bonus.

Grateley is probably easier from a Waterloo bound service then a +5 onto a Salisbury bound service, nothing really much to shout about around the station, you might get lucky and find the pub open (although currently it is for sale, so might become another closed village pub and turned into housing).

 

[Kristofferson]

Love the images of the 117 and HST (both of them!)

 

[Kite159]

9th April – A trip to the Kent Coast

One good thing with the current £15 SWT day-return offer is that it is valid on the 8:59 departure towards London, however as it is the first off-peak train of the day towards Waterloo from this part of the country it gets quite busy. Today was no different, made busier by the school holidays and the £15 return fare, I managed to get a table seat on 159105/159020, but after Andover the service was pretty much full and standing. I alighted at Basingstoke for 2 shots for winners, first was a fast to Clapham which was a pair of dud 444s, 2nd service calls at Fleet & Farnborough before running fast to Clapham, if you want to get from Basingstoke to Woking on a weekday you don’t have many choices (trains from Salisbury & le stoppers). Anyhow dud 444008 pulled up and I managed to get a table seat in the end coach, the one with the power-sockets to give my phone a quick charge.

It looked like the passenger in the table seat on the other side of me was on this very forum (the voyager logo gives it away) so *waves at random passenger who boarded at Farnborough*, nice little non-stop run through Woking and I alighted at Clapham. My aim was to get onto an Overground service towards Wandsworth Road to make use of the TVM to purchase a BZ6 ticket, dud 378207 took me to Wandsworth Road, where after purchasing my ticket, dud 378137 took me back to Clapham J. Time was getting a bit tight, so it was first service towards Waterloo in the shape of duds 458017/458008, and up the Northern line to Euston. Little over 3 minutes to make the connection from the northbound “Charing Cross” northern line platform to the barrier controlled platforms at Euston (I think it was departing from P8, but it could also have been P11).

I made it with a few seconds to spare (slow moving passengers in the underground, plus what looked like a fight as a fare dodger tried to jump the underground barrier), leading was dud 350128 with winner 350239 behind, happy days another 350/2 crossed off in the book, as it sped away towards Watford Junction. Thanks to a gem from High Dyke that a certain required London Midland 321 was on the Abbey line, I headed across to P11, to wait a few minutes before a 321 was spotted coming in, and yes, it was my final LM 321, 321412, happy days, jumping on for the short 3 mile ride towards new shack Bricket Wood for a 20 minute wait before the same unit took me back to Watford Junction. Only 3 more stations on the Abbey line to clear it, a job for another day. Back to Watford Junction the first 350 service towards Euston was a dud, with another service due 10 or so minutes afterwards so I decided to hang out to see what 350 would appear.

The wait was worth it as I was rewarded with winning 350127 back down to Euston, where I hopped over to Kings Cross St Pancras on the Victoria line, 25 minutes before I was due to do a single station leap on the high-speed to meet up with several forum members doing the same trip, down to the Thameslink platforms to see if anything required was floating around, all 4 services were duds, so back out to the main St Pancras, heading over to the Southeastern side to jump onto dud 395008 for the hop to the White Elephant station known as Stratford International, so called international even though no international services have called, the tracks on the “international” platforms (P1 & P4) look rustier than a 20 year old Ford Transit van, probably not seen use since the Olympic specials.

Next up was a service formed of winner 395016 to take me to the new station at Ebbsfleet International, quite a busy service, with a break at Ebbsfleet for the service in question which goes around the Kent Coast before returning to London, formed of dud 395025, it was quite busy until Folkestone, where we managed to bag a couple table seats for the enjoyable ride around the Kent coast, before coming back onto the High Speed line at Ebbsfleet and back into St Pancras. A nice little 3 hour, 156 mile round trip, Kent is pretty in parts.

Saying goodbye to the forum members who were heading to various places, as I headed down to the Thameslink platforms to see what was floating around in the evening peak. A couple services later dud 319375 rolled in with required 319008 on the back (at this point I required 9 319s which were still in service with Thameslink, so excluding the /3s either off-lease or with Northern), doing a single station hop to Farringdon as I awaited the next winning service. I didn’t have long to wait before dud 387126 arrived with required 387116 in tow, so a 32 chain leap to City Thameslink got 116 in my book. Back up to Farringdon on a pair of duds 319217/319431, misread 217 as 214 at first, so no final 319/2 for me. Although I was rewarded with winner 319444 leading dud 319445 for another short leap to City Thameslink and another dash around to the other platform to score 319007 & 319006, 007 being my final 319/0.

My luck continued with 319460 leading 319423 back to City Thameslink, with 319373 leading winner 319456 back to Farringdon, where I decided to call it a day and head to Blackfriars to get to Waterloo to see what was floating around with the aim of linking up with the 20:20 departure at some-point at either Woking or Basingstoke. Dud 319378 did the honours of the 46 chain leap to Blackfriars, the next northbound service was duds, so down to the underground where a Circle line unit took me to Embankment where I went down the stairs to use the Bakerloo platforms for the first time for a ride to Waterloo, checking the time to see it was 19:45, saw my first idea out of the window, I had work on Friday so getting back to Grateley half an hour earlier would be nice, so I leapt onto 159105 for the 2nd time of the day for a nice run back home.

5x 319s, 1x 321, 2x350s, 1x387 & 1x395 into the book for a good day out 

Anyhow, pictures:
Yippee 321412 arrives into Watford Junction.


321412 running away at the rather quiet station at Bricket Wood


Although London Midland thinks it’s St Albans Abbey


395008 racing away towards Ebbsfleet from Stratford


Rusty tracks at a ‘disused’ platform, maybe one day an ICE train will use that platform

395016 departing Ebbsfleet towards Ashford

In half an hour 2 eurostars called on route to London, here is 373230 bringing up the rear

And 373201 bringing up the rear of another service!

 

[Techniquest]

Not a bad day at all, although there's nicer parts of Kent than the East Kent route. Ashford to Maidstone for one, Faversham to Dover for two and Strood to Paddock Wood (especially around the Cuxton area) for three. Especially when you compare those areas to the dump that is Margate!

 

[Kite159]

10th April – A Friday evening in London

With the Humber Spectre railtour I was on, on the Saturday departing Finsbury Park at 7:13, I decided to stay overnight and do some Friday evening roaming, mainly trying to tick off a couple stations in Chiltern land which are within the London zones are only see a service on weekdays. Finishing work early (last day of Easter leave so it was quiet), and a nice drive to Basingstoke saw me get quite lucky, arrived into the station at around 14:45 with the next service being the Cross Country voyager to Manchester. Formed of winner 221135 it took me up the line to Reading, where another piece of luck saw a HST being held up on the flyover, leading was required 43015 (with dud 43031 behind). Quick crossover at Reading from P8 to P10 and I got a seat on a busy service towards Paddington.

10 minutes to spare before the next Greenford was due to start, and it was running a bit late, and was a dud in the shape of 165134, but it took me to my first new station of the day in the shape of Acton Main Line (or Acton Relief Line as I’m going to call it), reason for the Acton call was to check-in at my guesthouse for the evening, so 20 or so minutes later I was back on the station, checked in with bag weight reduced. Looking at RTT saw a potential leap to Ealing before another Paddington service, sadly the Ealing leap was on dud 165130 (my luck with 165s lately have been rubbish), with 165134 showing it’s lovely face again for the trip back to Paddington. No time to waste as I was down onto the Bakerloo line for the short hop to Marylebone.

The 16:57 to Gerrards Cross was the service I was after, formed of dud 165028, first call was Sudbury Hill Harrow, with half an hour to get back down the line I headed out of the station, walking the short distance to Sudbury Hill on the Piccadilly line for a single hop down to Sudbury Town, visiting a Tesco Express on route to pick up a sandwich and a couple bottles of pepsi to give me some energy, I found what I was looking for, Sudbury & Harrow Road, the least used station in London, with only 5 services calling each day in peak-time. The platforms at quite narrow as services rush past at some speed. Anyhow a few minutes later dud 165019 picked me up towards the next stop of Northolt Park.

Northolt Park gave me the best options for the returning service, and I was rewarded with winner 168110 for the short run back to Wembley Stadium, only 4 168s left to get before the 168/3s come. My luck with 165s continued with dud 165034 back to Marylebone. Next service towards Aylesbury was in the hands of winners 165011 & 165018 which took me to the only station I could use on a standard zones 1-6 card (the other stations being in 7-9 before out of zones), but still a new station at Harrow On the Hill, with time to wait before the next Marylebone service (useful to note that southbound services arrive a few minutes before northbound services so I could use that for 165 hunting on a 1-9 travelcard), I jumped onto a Metropolitan line service to North Harrow before returning to Harrow on the Hill (way too many Harrows and Sudburys in this report!), and I was rewarded with 165038 to Marylebone.

Bakerloo to Baker Street before Circle line to Kings Cross St Pancras was next up, as I headed to see if any required 365s/321s/317s were running to do a Finsbury hop, first departure was in the shape of winners 365536 & 365535, so happy days. Although a fester of 30 minutes before deciding to call it a day (looking to see if 313030 would show itself), next service to Kings Cross was dud 317347 leading required 317339. Next up with a trip to Thameslink where the luck I had on the day before ran out, 15 minutes before my first required units which were calling within the zones, winners 387109 & 387105 to Farringdon, with duds 377506/377208 back to St Pancras, with duds 319442/319433 taking me to West Hampstead Thameslink. Across the street and onto the Overground station with dud 378214 taking me to Acton Central and bus 266 to Brent Cross taking me back to my guest-house.

In terms of new units, not the best evening peak I’ve had, but with my Chiltern stations within the zones (apart from Chorleywood in Z7) being complete, happy with those 2 sudburys. Anyhow pictures:
165028 at Sudbury Hill Harrow

Sudbury Town, nice station building

Not that many services!

172102 (plus another unknown unit behind) rushing passed

Least used station in London, everybody should buy their travel-cards from here!

Take a look at that narrow platform as 165033 rushing passed

When at Northolt Park for 20 minutes I decided to get my phone out to photo the many trains using this busy line, had nothing better to do:
168217 (I think)

168005:

165037

165007

168001

165028

68015

A helpful reminder to LOROL drivers to change from DC to AC At Acton Central:

 

[Techniquest]

Another good read, crikey those platforms really are narrow! I need Sudbury and Harrow Road, as well as Northolt Park. Two to aim for next time the chance comes up!

 

[168lover]

I was behind 68015 when you took that picture of it! I was sitting on the right, right behind the loco! 68s make a great noise!

 

[Kite159]

I was behind 68015 when you took that picture of it! I was sitting on the right, right behind the loco! 68s make a great noise!

Agreed, shame I couldn't get a 67 to compare the noise with (seems that part of the line is at a slight incline)

 

[Keith Jarrett]

Only just bagged Northolt Park myself. Looking at doing both of the Sudburys myself sometime - I was thinking of the 92 bus but the Picc line looks to be the better option for getting between the two.

 

[Kite159]

11th April – The Humber Sceptre

The days begins after a decent-ish sleep in the Acton guest house, and a short walk to Acton Main Line station to catch a service bound for Paddington (deciding to pay the “via zone 1” fare as the “avoiding zone 1 route was going to Ealing Broadway, District to Turnham Green, District to Gunnersbury, then Overground to Highbury & then Victoria to Finsbury. Anyways my rubbish luck with FGW 165/1s continue with duds 165135/165110 forming a 5 car set into Paddington. Easiest way to get from Paddington to Finsbury would have been Circle/H&C to Kings Cross, then Victoria from there, but I don’t do things the easy way.

The Bakerloo took me to Oxford Circus where I made it over to the Victoria line platforms to see “Service held” & “Delayed” on the display, the Victoria line had fallen over, 10 or so minutes later (it felt longer) a Victoria line service decided to show itself, and took me to Finsbury, where after a diversion to the Tesco Express to pick up lunch (and a bit of breakfast), I went upto the platform where 66047 was leading the set of carriages with 66003 at the rear. Finding my seat in coach G, forward facing on the way out, but another aisle seat, once we set off, I headed down the train to meet up with Devonman2014 for a nice little chat. Calling points at Potters Bar, Stevenage, Peterborough & Newark Northgate, and the person who was due to sit next to me was a no-show, so I had the window seat.

Anyways, leaving the ECML at Newark and heading towards Lincoln, going non-stop through the station and arriving at Barnetby for a pathing stop around 10 minutes early, allowing me to get out (after a great walk to the 4th carriage) and get a bit of fresh air. A double 170 set (170304/170308) heading to Cleethorpes is what we were waiting for to clear the line before the train set off again coming off the main-line at Grimsby Marsh Junction, heading into the Grimsby docks area, passing some disused sidings on the left, and crossing over, passing many VW group cars & vans (must be where VW group bring their vehicles into the UK ready to be sent out to various dealerships), and up to Brickpit sidings on the “Union Dock” branch. Reversing down the line before another reversal back onto the “Up Main” and carrying around around some sharp curves (can’t see many freight movements over this part of the line) passing Pyewipe Road signal box to Immingham East junction.

Nice little quiet part of the countryside, some vehicles shocked to see a train on that track, and finishing before a reversal up towards Ridleys Sidings, a seemingly disused area, with some quite rusty tracks on the departure sidings, and back to East junction before heading backwards towards the Transit quay, passing a 60, and finishing near the methane gas holding pen (also near the kerosene and acid, not the best place to be in a fire). Another quick reversal and back to the East junction and continuing along taking the “Engine line”, passing the remains of Immingham TMD, and along a part of line with heavily growing trees, bang bang bang as the train went through the narrow gaps, not the best place to be with your head out of the window (and then moan like hell when someone asks you to move so they can have a look/photo out of the window).

Continuing down the engine line and into reception siding 2 and out onto the down main, highlight being the “dust suppression machine”, also known as a tractor with a sprayer at the rear to spray the ground, another reversal on the down main and to the N.C.B. terminal, continuing right up to the end, now running around 25 or so minutes early, and after a break, we were allowed out back onto the down “Killongholme” line [all references to line names are from the track diagram printed in the little booklet given] and out onto the down main out towards Ulceby junction, with another brief wait before being allowed out onto the main-line and continuing all the way to Cleethorpes, arriving pretty much bang on time.

153301 on the Barton service was waiting for the signal to clear and accelerate out of the way, blowing hard as passengers were taking photos and standing a bit too close to the platform edge. An hour break or so in Cleethorpes, which I made use of by visiting the little Sainsburys to pick up a bite to eat for the journey home, and some reading material before heading back to the station to see 185110 getting ready to depart heading towards Manchester Airport (where I believe a few passengers from the charter were on to get back to Crewe for that class 20s Pathfinder tour the following day), with 153358 locked up on P2 (assume that would found a Sheffield via Brigg service). Back on board with a nice enjoyable trip back, non-stop through Grimsby Town, down towards Lincoln, doing a royal wave when passing through the station (must have been on the central lines if Lincoln has such things) and down onto the ECML.

Pretty much keeping to time, and arriving at Peterborough early, surprised the signaller allowed us to leave 10 minutes early (in front of the 20:16 Great Northern), but that early start was soon wiped out as it grinded to a halt a few minutes down the line for a 20 minute wait, something had happened and the 20:16 service was running at caution (at Potters bar, there was a lot of “cancelled” services on the screens, plus some large delays. Best part was overhearing someone ranting about how he only allowed a 5 minute delay to catch his onward train [didn’t mention where from, but leaving 5 minutes as flush time is rather risky at the best of times]. Arrived into Finsbury was around 10 minutes down on plan.

To the Victoria line to catch a service to Victoria, big mistake, dud 455804 took me out to Clapham (no winners in sight on the suburban platforms and I had been foolish to enter the gates to try and get the number of a 455. Why a big mistake, well I wanted to get back to Basingstoke, and there are few trains which call at both Clapham & Basingstoke that time of night, stoppers excluded, and even fewer trains which call at both Woking & Basingstoke so doing my usual spilt to Woking wouldn’t be any advantage as it would connect with the stopper, something I didn’t really want. Next service to Basingstoke was running fast from Clapham to Farnborough & Fleet, formed of dud 444018 (so close) back to Basingstoke for a nice drive home in the cold.

Anyhow, pictures:

66047 at Barnetby


Long train, short platform

Many tracks at Barnetby & semaphore signals


Passengers heading to Cleethorpes, thankfully TPE put on a double 170

Future 168304 (probably)

Ah 170308 we meet at last...

To the left, many expensive cars (and vans)

I spy with my little eye...

Sod-all, at least Telford had wheelie bins!

Although the cranes are nice

The dust suppression system

Number of trains down the line on the right, not many

The Immingham inland sea

153301 getting ready to leave with the 17:00 departure to Barton on Humber

And it be gone!

185110/153358

Big train, short platform 2

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I must say Bristol Temple Meads at 2:15 in the morning is rather spooky when there is nothing on the platforms and the only passengers are waiting for a 57 with the sleeper stock behind.

(Due to the Train Manager falling ill at Paddington, the sleeper was starting from Bristol last night, so instead of passengers settling down in the berths from 22:45 it was onto a low-speed HST service [lots and lots of work happening that time of night on the GWML, hence the low-speed part], dropping us off at around 2:15, with the 57 bringing the sleeper stock from Paddington and meeting up with a relief TM who had been taxied up from Exeter)