Kite, another excellent read. I initially wondered what you were up to with an evening spent pottering around SE London then of course all was revealed. I get the impression that you certainly do not like the 376s - must be those spartan interiors.
I've only ever been to Goole once; I was on the hunt for the shunters stabled in the docks and that was back in 1977. I didn't find it particularly inspiring then and from what you say, not a lot has changed in the intervening years.
Your Sunday outing sounded fun even if there were some long festers and you kept on bumping into the same units all day. The North Downs Ranger is a good call for shack bashing in that part of town.
Same units were to be expected, as I think there is only 4 units diagrammed for Reading - Surrey International on Sundays.
I don't like the 376s for the lack of AC and crap small windows which are a bit useless.
At least the rain held off until later in the evening
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20th November An evening in the Thames Valley
The aim of this evenings trip was to try and hit my last 5 shacks in the former Thames Trains area of GWR, the intermediate shacks on both the Henley-on-Thames & Marlow branches, plus as a slight bonus getting the unusual track connecting the branches to the relief lines. After a drive to Andover (as I needed to visit a couple shops before my trip), I headed to the station and picking up my rover ticket from the ticket office and went to P1.
159018 was the unit in charge of the 14:06 departure, and arrived into Basingstoke pretty much on time, and I walked under the subway and onto P4 and towards P5 to see which GWR unit was on the 14:37 departure to Reading, and unusually it wasnt a 150/0, and was 165135 (so 2 carriages instead of 3, going to get quite cosy later on), so I did my usual and waited for the 14:49 XC service, and I was in luck as it was winning
221140, only 2 more XC 221s left to locate in their vast network. To Reading, where I had RTT running as I was a bit earlier than expected so it was going to be a run to Paddington.
First up was a dud HST, then a pair of dud Turbos on a stopper, a dud 166 rolled up (although at this point I needed 165101, 165133, 166206, 166209 & 166219, and with 166209 (or was it 166219) doing an impression of a 442 and catching fire earlier in the week [of which I was assuming it is out of commission being investigated/repaired] so the odds were not in my favour) from Bedwyn (although I was so tempted to have a good non-stop run to Paddington on a Turbo, something I havent had for a fair while). Thankfully my 25 minute fester was worthwhile as winner
43164 rolled up along with dud 43010 for the near 36 mile trip to London Paddington.
Arrival into Paddington and I spotted a couple potential services which I could catch to take me to Maidenhead to connect with the Bourne End flyer, and the first up was winner
165101 attached with dud 165106, with a quick look at RTT highlighted a potential +2 at Ealing Broadway to a trio of 2-car units which I passed earlier, so diving off at Ealing Broadway and over to the other platform to await the arrival of the 6 car set, formed of duds 165118, 165123 & 165126 for the trip back to Paddington, arriving onto P14. The service to Bourne End was sat on P13, it was 165120, the doors were locked and a crowd was building, I was expecting to see another unit rolling in to join up as a 2-car unit in a peak-time path which runs fast to Maidenhead seemed a bit silly, doors were opened so it was only going to be 165120 as I grabbed one of the former first class seats, and the train filled up and it departed after several announcements on board that the first stop for this service is Maidenhead.
Relief lines until Acton Main Line, where it transferred to the main-lines until after Airport Junction where it was back into the relief lines for a nice thrash run, speeding passed a busy looking Slough was quite unusual and as expected a lot of passengers alighted at Maidenhead as it crossed over to P4, before crossing over onto the Marlow branch for a spin up the single track arriving into
Bourne End, where I looked over to see a dud 2-car unit working the shuttle between Marlow & Bourne End. I alighted and reboarded 165120 this time sitting in the other coach for the 3 mile run back to
Furze Platt.
A 10-or so minute fester later and 165120 reappeared to take me to my final shack on the branch at
Cookham, quite a nice station, with a little level crossing & shop over the road. It was getting rather cold, the wind was freezing, but some time later 165120 appeared for the 4th time of the day to take me back to Maidenhead where it terminated into P5. I alighted and walked forward to duds 165103 & 165122 which were starting from Maidenhead towards Paddington (with 165120 due to follow as ECS back to London), so another unusual track in departing Maidenhead P5 heading eastbound. To Slough where I wanted to see what was on the Windsor service (just in case it was 165133), but thankfully it wasnt, and over to P4.
First up was a late running stopper, which was a pair of dud Turbos, followed up by the Henley-rocket, formed of dud 166213, of which many many passengers alighted at Slough (it being peak-time and running fast to Slough). I took 166213 to
Shiplake which was sadly not a ship nor a lake, although the station itself is just north of a river bridge (hence why it is less than a mile between stations by rail, but something silly like 6 miles by road). Nothing much around Shiplake to see before 166213 rolled back in to take me to Twyford, where it was a same platform change, with 166213 heading back towards London (taking a note that the 165 taking a rest from Twyford runs was both dud and locked up) before the 3rd and final direct service arrived, formed of dud 166206, my first green 166.
To my final former Thames Trains shack,
Wargrave, which was a bit like a graveyard in having not really a lot there, a very low bench and a little concrete shelter with exposed sides and no sitting. It was a quite a wait before 166206 rolled back in to take me to Twyford, where we were held outside the station for a few minutes for a delayed stopper to clear the platform, over the bridge to watch as 166206 set off back to Reading depot where it was going to bed for the night (I would presume). The next Reading bound service was duds 166217 & 165119 for the near 5 mile trip, over to P1 (or P2) to await the slightly late 150002 which departed 2 minutes down (but made a bit of time up on arrival into Basingstoke). Over to P2 to jump onto 159108 & 159001 for the run back to Andover.
Thankfully I did drive, as I did not fancy walking home, the wind had picked up and the rain had started, I got a bit wet walking back to the side street where I dumped my car (Controlled Parking Zone Monday to Friday between 10:00 and 15:00 where you are only allowed to park for 2 hours, great as it allows me to park after 13:00 for free, also at weekends), via a little Tesco Express for some food.
5 new shacks cleared, 2 required units, 1 required 43 power-car, all in all a good little evening.
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21st November A West Midlands tidy up
The aim of today was originally going to be the shacks out towards Hereford & those 3 XC shacks, but due to that plan being used in September when I had an available day caused by the tour being cancelled, I changed it to a tidy up session, I had 2 shacks on the southern end of the cross-city line, the 4 on the Chase line towards Rugeley, plus Northampton & Bedworth. So I formed a plan, as I like my plans.
To Basingstoke on the 05:56, after a drive to the station, still a tad cold, but I wasnt the only passengers around Grateley at that time of the morning, the 05:56 was formed of 159019. I walked over to P5 to see which turbo would be on the service to Reading, which is normally a 2-car 165, and blimey a good start as it was
165133 my last GW 165, happy days, as I took a seat for the spin to Reading. Heading via Boots to grab an unusual breakfast before heading down to one of the higher number platforms to find my reserved seat on the 07:15 departure which I was taking to Coventry this morning, it was formed of dud 220021 which was only a low mile example whose only appearance was Southampton Central to Southampton Airport back in February. Nice bit of relief line running (fast lines closed?) and a right time arrival into Coventry an hour and a bit later.
First thing is when did Coventry get barriers, as they were operating, as I got let through as I like to keep my tickets, and to the ticket office which was thankfully rather empty, so a couple minutes later I was back with my Daytripper & Add-on/Plus ticket which operated the barrier and it was a quick dash to a late running London Midland service, jumping on as the doors were starting to close. I walked through noting the rear unit was a /2 due to the seating and the front was a /3, and I was in luck, it was required
350372 leading dud 350234. To Birmingham International, looking out at some snow covered platforms.
Next up was the service I was meant to catch from Coventry, bound for glory, but sadly not bound for the red pen as it was dud 390134 for the 8 and a quarter run into New Street. A quick dash over the Navigation Street footbridge to come down to P11 (P12 appears to be closed off for works), and to jump onto Longbridge bound 323202, which was being held for a late running 220 (annoyingly required) bound for Plymouth, departed 7 minutes down which pretty much ate into my +8 at my first new shack of the day, at
Selly Oak. Thankfully it regained some of that time and arrived a mere 5 minutes down, so I managed to dash over the footbridge and onto dud 323218 which was starting from Selly Oak due to the autumn timetable I assume. I didnt stay on for long, only 57 chains as I bailed at University as a Nottingham bound 3-car 170 was up next.
Dud 170109 rolled in to take me to New Street, although doubling its miles covered, and I had 4 options to get back to Coventry to make the connection for the Nuneaton train, and the 4th (Virgin 390 from Glasgow) was running late so that pretty much left 3. First up trying to catch when a train rolls into the A part of the platforms at New Street is a pigging nightmare as you need to use the B-end stairs, so long walks, anyhow 1st option was a dud Virgin 221, 2nd option was a dud London Midland 350 (down to single units already, I only saw one pair of 350s rolling around all day, everything else was singles, money saving by Govia), so I waited for the XC service, which could have been a mistake as the platform was extremely busy with people heading to an event at the NEC, so it was standing room only on dud 220033 as it left passengers behind (with the platform staff saying anybody for Birmingham International to head for the next LM stopper), very cosy standing in the doorway until it emptied out at International, I managed to get a seat for the final leg to Coventry.
Thankfully I did that move as the 390 from Glasgow was nowhere to be seen, as I boarded winner
153356 to get a seat (and only LM ticket check of the day), and it departed on time with no sign of the 390 (looks like it got caught behind a stopper after New Street), and to
Bedworth, passing the not-yet opened joke of a station known as Coventry Arena. I had 30 minutes to kill and Mr Techni suggested the town centre was close by and Google suggested a nearby Tesco, so off I walked to grab some lunch for later. 25 minutes later I was back onto the platform, which was quite busy as fresh dud 153356 rolled in, and for the 2nd time of the day I found myself standing in the doorway, it was rather busy, and back to Coventry.
Next up was going to be a known 350/1 as I saw it earlier full and standing heading to New Street, although probably not as full as a 390/0 I saw departing towards New Street which left passengers behind, and I was correct in my guesswork as dud 350127 rolled in. I managed to grab a seat in the bay of 4 opposite the unused (?) guard cabin just outside First Class, for the run south, I had the option at bailing at Milton Keynes Central for a service which started from Milton Keynes, but that was a dud so I stayed on board until Bletchley, where I walked over to see if the 13:0X to Bedford would depart from P5 or P6, only to see the word cancelled. FFS I through to myself as I had a quick think knowing my original plan to head northbound stopping off at Wolverton and then Northampton wouldnt work out, and with a large police presence (even with a police officer running down the stairs with theyve gone onto the tracks over the radio I decided to get out of the station, lovely football fans, dont you just love them.
I looked up Google Maps and it suggested Fenny Stratford was within walking distance so I decided to go for a walk, gets one more shack out of the way (was originally aiming for Bow Brickhill, so not all bad, just lost the chance of a potential 153 score), so 23 minutes later I arrived at the level crossing at
Fenny Stratford and 4 minutes later I arrived on the platform as it is a long walk from the level crossing to the platform itself, anyhow the next service was formed of 2 coaches which gave me a 66% chance of a winner. Lucky time as winner
150107 rolled in to take me the mile (and a chain) back to Bletchley, only 150105 left to get to clear the 3 LM 150s, and across to P3 as dud 350232 rolled in bound for Northampton to take me northbound to
Wolverton which on a Saturday has 2 northbound services an hour, and 5 minutes later dud 350127 rolled back in to take me to
Northampton. A brief fester to see 350127 depart before taking a seat on 350232 which was waiting to form a Northampton Birmingham New Street service, and it was back to Coventry, where the 350 was due to sit for around 8 minutes to allow a Virgin service to go in front.
Dud 390050 rolled in, to take me back towards Birmingham, I was originally going to bail at International and catch the stopper back to New Street, but that was a dud 323 so decided to remain on board to the end of the service, and with 15 minutes (or so) to kill before the next service bound for Rugeley TV would roll in, so I stood out of the way watching the sky. Dud 170508 rolled in which departed rather cosy, as I looked at RTT for ideas, as my original plan involved bailing at Landywood, catching a service back to Tame Bridge & back up north, which involved some long festers. However RTT suggested a possible connection at
Cannock which like most of the stations on this line is a nightmare to change platforms, but I made it which was good.
However it was duds 170504 & 170513 down the line to
Landywood with a 45 minute fester (!) for the next northbound service, at least I had a little waiting shelter which was covered and hid me from the wind. Dud 170634 rolled in to take me to the last intermediate station,
Rugeley Town, and 15 or so minutes later 170634 rolled back in from Rugeley TV to take me to
Hednesford. at least this station had a nearby Co-Op so I used my 30 minute fester to grab some dinner for later on, before duds 170513 & 170504 came back to take me back down to New Street, this time via Aston (outward was via Soho). My fester from earlier meant I was around 40 minutes ahead of my plan (extra time as the next service turns into a stopper after Walsall) with the next service towards University being a Hereford service, and it was winners
170502 &
170506 to University.
A brief couple minute wait before dud 323210 rolled in to take me to my final Cross-City line shack, in the shape of
Northfield, where a fast platform change saw me onto dud 323240 back to New Street. I had a couple options and so I decided to jump onto dud 323213 for the short 4 mile run to Smethwick Galton Bridge to see which ATW 158 units was coming down from mid-wales, and strangely (probably one unit detached at Shrewsbury) it was only a single 158, and it was dud 158831 for the short run back to New Street. Down from the extreme end of one of the platforms, up the stairs and along the concourse and down other stairs and a fast walk to see what service was forming the York Southampton Central service and I misread the number as 221124 which made me go yippee as it was required and jumped on board. It wasnt 124, but in fact dud 221127, doh! Anyhow heading via Solihull for some speed (I couldnt help noticing some of the delays on northbound Chiltern services were quite large), and I decided to check RTT when sat at Oxford for 5 minutes (due to arriving early) and it highlighted a late running HST from Worcester, so I decided to bail from the 221 at Oxford.
A good call I think, as dud power car 43171 was leading required
43042 for the trip to Reading, going via Didcot Parkway, and was quite empty (coach B of the 221 was empty, only had 3 passengers in it after Leamington!), and it rolled into Reading after getting up some good speed. I had 4 minutes to make the connection back onto 221127 which was sat all Voyager-like on P3 after making its reversal and I jumped on with a couple minutes to spare for a nice fast run down to Basingstoke. The previous Basingstoke stopper had been cancelled due to delays (must have been bad) so it was green lights all the way for a speed run, until the flat junction where it was a red light and we sat for 5 minutes before coming out, either a late running service or the signaler being mean, and onto P1 pretty much bang on time. I had 30 minutes to kill, so decided to head out for some fresh air, avoiding some drunken idiots, and back to the station to await the 23:11 back to Salisbury, the PIS said formed of 5 coaches so a 158 had come out to play.
159012 rolled in, with 159018 in the middle and 158888 at the rear (makes a change from being 158887), however it was strange in that the rear two units were locked out of use, so it was a long walk for most of the passengers waiting on the platform who were waiting in the usual spot near the stairs, and a long walk for me when I alighted at Grateley, back to the car where I attempted to de-ice it, but was rather solid looking, it had rained with the water turning into ice. Not the nicest of things to do at 23:45, but I managed to get it reasonable only for the thing to refreeze on moving, took 10 minutes to drive home, might have to start walking to the station again, even in the dark & cold.
Anyhow, 10 new shacks, the West Midlands Day Ranger area cleared, only LM shacks remaining are the 3 north of Crewe towards Liverpool (plus Runcorn), most of the shacks on the Bedford Bletchley Line & most of the shacks between Watford Junction and Bletchley, annoyingly only 5 new LM units (and one of those was a lucky steal), but clearing the 165/1s made me happy as it means less time searching for 165133.
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22nd November A Sunday in the South Eastern Part of London
My little map of the stations in the London Zones is looking rather empty in the south eastern corner, a couple dotted around here and there but with the rest of the map covered, it was time for some South Eastern action. My original plan changed in the morning, the car was as bad as it was last night, so I decided to do something unusual for me, and walked to Grateley instead of driving to Andover (couldnt be bothered to de-ice the car, and decided to take the risk of an 2-hourly service).
159021 & 159002 rolled in running a couple minutes late due to poor rail-head conditions, taking a seat in 159021 for the trip eastwards, filling up quite nicely at Andover, but kept on losing time, departing Basingstoke 5 down (and that is with the extended dwell times), thankfully I wasnt aiming for any tight connections today as it arrived into Clapham around 7 minutes down and so I alighted and headed over to the Southern side of the station which appeared to be faring no better.
My original plan I worked out I had 4 potential services to get me to Victoria in time to make a connection to a South Eastern services towards Bromley South, the first 2 had gone, and the 4th was looking dodgy as it was running a tad late, so the 3rd turned into a required movement. Well it would have been used anyway as dud 377427 was leading winner
377138 so to Victoria it was, with only 7 377/1s left to locate, heading via Boots to grab some breakfast, and to the South Eastern side of the station. The next Bromley South departure (was terminating at Bromley as the line around Petts Wood was closed) was formed of a pair of winners,
465197 &
465001 which was a good start to the day as I took a seat and awaited departure time.
A good run and I alighted at my first new shack of the day at
Shortlands, which is where my plan almost fell apart as the Thameslink services up the loop from Sevenoaks were being delayed, although it clawed back from being 20 down to a mere 14 when dud 319385 eventually rolled in and clawed back to only being 10 down at
Nunhead, which is a nice island platform. 319458 was up next (very unlikely odds that 214 or 436 would just roll up, would be nice as it would reduce the number of units I will have to stand in the Thameslink core looking for). The next station was
Beckenham Hill a station which normally is the cross over point for the services, but due to delays the -1 connection turned into a +8 (the original plan involved a walk to Bellingham as plan B, as I nearly always have a plan B when it comes to tight connections, which either involves a walk or a bus trip). Dud 319445 rolled in around 9 minutes late to take me to
Crofton Park and it was over to the other platform to see the return of 319385 back down south to
Bellingham.
Another dud 319, this time 319005 was up next to take me the 70 chains to
Catford where it was a fast walk along the street to
Catford Bridge, a mere 2 minute hop, and I was 30 minutes ahead of schedule due to being able to pull off that Beckenham connection, so decided to hit another couple shacks on the Hayes line, so it was duds 465021 & 465189 to
New Beckenham, back up the line to
Lower Sydenham on duds 465153 & 465183 to take a rest on the Hayes bound platform to catch the units I was going to catch originally, it was formed of 10 coaches which could only mean two things, a 465-465-466 which on a Sunday was as likely as London Midland putting out all double 350s for Euston Birmingham services on a Saturday, or a pair of delightful 376s. Ah well, I needed 26 of the buggers (out of 36), so best to try and get rid of them.
Winner
376006 rolled in with dud 376020 behind to take me the 1 and a quarter miles to
Clock House, where it was a nice 10 minute walk to
Kent House on the Victoria Bromley line (the other two shacks on the Hayes line are a bit hard to get on a Sunday without a fester as the units pass each other south of Elmers End, so West Wickham & Eden Park can wait for another day. Anyhow, back at Kent House, and the next Victoria bound service was a pair of duds. 465243 & 466006, taking me through the tunnel to
Sydenham Hill which is in a cutting and was rather chilly (and not the nicest of stations to hang around in). The next Bromley service was being delayed, which meant my tight +3 at Penge East would be in trouble, however the service to Victoria was also delayed, and annoyingly featured a required 465 so I wanted to try and aim for it (plan B would have been a walk to Penge West and catch a Southern stopper to London Bridge).
New duds 465197 & 465001 rolled in around 7 minutes down to take me to
Penge East, where the connecting train was 6 minutes down so the connection was good as I jumped onto dud 465035 leading winner
465164 to Herne Hill, with dud 319453 taking me forward to Blackfriars (as I didnt want to try and use the underground at Victoria as that can take a few minutes to get through), it was on time until it got held up awaiting a delayed pair of 387s on route to Bedford.
Into Blackfriars and after being allowed out of the gateline manually (why does an outer boundary gold card discounted travelcard never seem to work the Blackfriars gates?) and to the underground, where the next service was listed as Held. 5 minutes later D-stock units 083 & 029 rolled in (both new for me) to take me the 45 chains to Cannon Street. Up to the main-line station and I had 2 options before the next Dartford via Charlton service departed [line in Lewisham was closed], the 2nd was the same pair of 376s from earlier, so my eyes shifted to the pair of 375s heading to Hastings. Dud 375815 was leading winner
375715 so happy days another 375 into the book for the bus stop leap to London Bridge. Allowing the 376s to disappear to Hayes, and dud 465181 came in with winner
465172 on the rear to take me eastwards to
Charlton. A quick change saw me onto winner
465250 & dud 465045 to Greenwich, a station Ive previously used but in my pre-recording days.
Next up was dud 465240 leading winner
465235 to
Deptford which is a station you dont want to have to change platforms in a hurry, but was nice in a way with old railway arches used. Winner
465151 & dud 465170 was up next to take me to
Westcombe Park with duds 465186 & 465168 back to
Maze Hill where I made the +3 onto winner
376008 on a Plumstead stopper for the short run to
Woolwich Dockyard.
15 minutes to fester in this dump of a station (sorry for any locals), located in a cutting between two cuttings, wasnt the nicest place to spend 15 minutes waiting for 465235 & 465240 to come back from Cannon Street to take me to the +3 connection at
Erith. I somehow made the +3 which was good, but it was onto 465170 & 465151 making their way back from Dartford to take me back to
Plumstead. Where it was time for a breather and a 10 minute wait before 465168 & 465186 returned to take me back east to
Belvedere and 465240 & 465235 making their 3rd appearance of the day to take me back to Plumstead. 465181 & 465172 returned to take me to
Abbey Wood with the temporary station for Crossrail. The reason why I went back to Plumstead was to see which 376 was on the next stopper, as if required I would go back to Cannon Street and try and connect with it for a nano-leap to Bridge, if not I would have bailed at London Bridge for an unknown service to Hither Green. The 376 was required, so it was to Cannon Street on the next service.
Although looking at the track, I assume the 3rd rail tracks will be moved to one side to allow the Crossrail track(s) to come into Abbey Wood without crossing over on the flat, as it was a nice building site. Anyhow winner
465154 rolled in with dud 465029 from Gillingham, and it was a bit of a dwell fest with long dwells at the stations which it called at (semi-fast), and into Cannon Street pretty much bang on time, so over to
376013 for a 7 minute wait before it departed to London Bridge, another one into the bag, and I waited for the next Gravesend via Sidcup service to roll in, and it was dud 465029 leading fresh dud 465154, same pair as 10 minutes ago!. Anyhow the first shack was the tight connection (a +2), but I made it at
Albany Park and over the platform to jump onto 465242 & 465003 (both duds) to
Lee. Winner
465178 was up next attached with dud 465179 for the run back east to
Sidcup.
Duds 465163 & 465173 were up next to take me back west to
Mottingham, not to be confused with Nottingham, the next pair back east to
New Eitham was a pair of winners,
465195 &
465022, with a bit of a fester before 465154 & 465029 returned from Gravesend to take me back to London Bridge, where it was straight in onto P2, and out of the station (unusually the barriers were wide open), and to the underground with 96 stock 028 & 055 taking me the mile and a bit to Waterloo, and after visiting Sainsburys for some late lunch I headed to the main station, played find the 159 and took a seat on the same pair of units I had in the morning, 159002 & 159021. Nice fast run back to Grateley, and a lift home as it was getting cold.
Anyhow a very successful day shacks wise, Thameslink is complete, and there isnt a lot left of South Eastern, 3 down towards Hayes, 2 on the Sidcup line and the ones on the line via Barnehurst
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