London Again!!! (21st to 24th November 2016)
My Poor Old Red Pen...!!!!!!
21st November 2016
My final trip of the year, and it is back south to London for my customary pre-Christmas visit to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night. Continuing my recent dreadful run on my home turf, with Northern providing 153328/156472 for the trudge round Morecambe Bay for 390104 south to London Euston (I was going direct for a change so the required Pendo was on the via Brum service not mine! Typical!). At the risk of sounding monotonous, the Rail plan for the week was again Thameslink, having thought doing something different for a change, the fact that the 700s are now rapidly taking over meant that this was the only option particularly with my main target being completing the Class 377/5s before they move on. After checking into my usual base camp 30 seconds form Kings Cross, it was over to St Pancras, where I boarded 319008 through to London Blackfriars, to pick up what I knew were 377 diagrams, and dud 377512/377207 duly arrived for the linear leap to City Thameslink, with 377510/377513 up to Farringdon. Finally the return to St Pancras was aboard 319444. Whilst waiting earlier at St Pancras, I noticed my penultimate 319214 heading north to West Hampstead, so hoping I had worked out the diagram correctly, this should be heading back south just after I arrived back, which it duly did with partner 319421, and as time for today was now pressing this was taken through to Blackfriars before heading to the district line and to Embankment (21434/21433), heading to Weatherspoons for some much needed food, before a few evening trips on the Piccadilly line, 126/856 back to base camp before a return trip to Leicester Square, outward with 896/145 returning on 164/131 for a night at the theatre. All in all a disappointing start to the week on the winner front. Things can only get better!
22nd November 2016
An early start, following a full English Breakfast, saw me on the platform at St Pancreas before 08:30. First up was 319438/319008 taken down to Farringdon, before the days first 377 action, 377502/377504 to City Thameslink, and a dud pairing of 319435/319425 into London Blackfriars. Normally I would have ignored these and waited to see if there was anything required following, but in order to pick up the required service at Blackfriars, I wasnt in a position to do so. Moving over to Platform 2, to await a brace of 377s, and first to appear was the required pair of 377214/377516 to City Thameslink. Its only 116 chains, but more than enough for a red line in the book! Unfortunately the second pair was yesterdays 377513/377510, so just some mileage accumulation to Farringdon completing the days Thameslink moves with the required pair of 319439/319381 back to St Pancras. Following the death of my trusty camera on the Monday night, todays plan was to head up to Stratford Westfields to locate a cheap replacement at Argos, as usual my mode of transport is the Javelin and required 395023 for the six minute hop to Stratford International. This leaves me with 13 required, and hopefully i will make huge inroads into these next summer as I have tickets for several sessions of the Para and World Athletics Championships at the Olympic Stadium. After locating a cheap camera, and a PNB I decided it was time for a complete change, so whilst I headed back to Stratford International, this time I took the DLR platform, for winning units 10 and 85 to West Ham. In all my visits to London over the years, I have never been into Fenchurch Street, so it was more than time to rectify boarding 357037. As there was another service following 3 minutes behind I decided to bale at Limehouse for the shack scratch before 357006 took me into London Fenchurch Street for the first time. At this point, I wanted to head back to Central London, but rather than take the easy option of the tube, I made my way over in bracing conditions to the impressive looking London Bridge, looking forward to seeing it fully completed. Making my way to Platform 7, I was soon on my way to Charing Cross utilising 376001/376026, resisting the temptation to split the journey at Waterloo East in order to refuel. With an afternoon at Winter Wonderland (via Harrods!) planned, it was up to Leicester Square to take 146/139 on the Piccadilly to Knightsbridge, eventually making my back to Hyde Park Corner to take winning pair 206/862 back to base camp at Kings Cross. To complete a hectic day I had arranged to meet a friend near Marble Arch, so rather than take the tube all the way, I took the Piccadilly line yet again (155/184) before making my way on foot via the Christmas lights / shops in Regent Street and Oxford Street. Just as I was making my way to the meeting point, it was change of plan and my friend decided she wanted to meet at Kings Cross in 20 minutes!!!!!! Legging it down to the Central line, fortunately there was a train waiting, so a dash on board xxxxx/xxxxx/93436/91347 (The numbering on the Central confuses me though this is actually only the second time I have used a service on this line!) switching to the Victoria Line at Oxford Circus, on required set 11007/11008.
23rd November 2016
My last full day in London until at least late February 2017, so with only 3 377/5s (or so I thought!) required, I set my alarm for the early hours of Wednesday morning and posted the details in the TOPS request thread to try and make the task easier. As yesterday, I was up early and on the platform at St Pancras just after 08:30. Working blind, the aim today was clear as much of my Thameslink requirements as possible. First up, 319010/319444 to Farringdon then winning pair 387115/387127 into City Thameslink. Finally for the third day running 377510/377513 took me up the hill into Blackfriars. Again over to the Northbound platform where 377505/377515 were just arriving. As I said above, I thought it was 3 of these outstanding. It actually turned out it should have been 4 as I had marked 513 down as 515 in error on Monday (My handwriting is shocking at times) so it was very fortunate that this could be rectified by the time we reached City Thameslink. 319011/319443 to Farringdon and by the time 319428/319002 arrived to take me back to St Pancras my red pen was working overtime! At this point for some reason I decided to take the next service to West Hampstead Thameslink, thinking it would be another pair of 377s or 387s so I was disappointed when dud pair 319001/319454 drew in. Carrying on with the plan the journey north took what seemed like an eternity. On arrival I transferred over to the Jubilee line, taking 96011/96070 south to Bond Street. On arrival at Swiss Cottage, I completed the Jubilee line for track coverage though I still have 8 shacks outstanding, 7 of them north of Swiss Cottage. I may eventually get round to doing these but they are nowhere near even getting onto the Reserve list of things to do! From there I meandered along finding myself on the South Bank for a PNB and sustenance. Whilst I was finishing my coffee, i made another check on the forum and saw that 37078xotTE had very kindly answered my TOPS request and had posted the diagrams for my remaining 377/5s. A closer inspection showed that these could all be done within an hour in the late afternoon, so I immediately cancelling all my plans for the afternoon (ok so I didnt really have any plans to cancel!) and headed back to base camp. Making sure I was on the platform at St Pancras well in advance of the 15:34 to Sutton, it was now all about the final three with everything else being ignored, and the first of the 3 377519 duly arrived with its partner 377523 that I took all the way down to Blackfriars. At Blackfriars I had to wait for around 20 minutes but again taking no chances it was straight over to Platform 2. As scheduled my second required unit 377520/377209 drew in, with the added bonus of a winning /2 as well. Taking this to Farringdon, (I hate waiting too long at City). At this point it was all too much for my poor old red pen, and it promptly gave up. I settled down for the 17 minute fester for what should be the last one. After what seemed like forever, 377511 led in 377521. Even though the platform was packed, I made sure I took my place in the leading unit, and on arrival at St Pancras, the Class 377/5s were awarded the prestigious Completed status, the inaugural member in my haulage book! The red line being finally duly applied back at base camp with my substitute red pen. This wasnt quite the end of the day as it was off to the football at the Emirates Stadium, trouble on the Piccadilly meant it was over to the Victoria line for another winner 11067/11068 to Finsbury Park and a walk up to the ground. Returning to avoid the crowds at Arsenal tube station it was back to Finsbury Park and the National Rail for 365511 back to Kings Cross
24th November 2016
My final day, as it was off home late afternoon. After yesterdays success I decided to leave the Thameslink today so after packing up base camp I was back at Kings Cross, waiting until the off-peak had kicked in, with 216/866 to Leicester Square. After collecting supplies, I headed to Charing Cross to pick up 376030/376010 to Waterloo East, baling for the following Dover service couple of minutes later formed of more winners 375624/375620 through to London Bridge. After eventually finding my way out of the station, I made my way slowly back along the South Bank resisting the temptation to have a look upstairs at Blackfriars to see what was around, ending up at the Spoons in Leicester Square for a late lunch. Time now pressing it was back to base camp to collect my belongings, 167/222 doing the honours, before 11087/11088 took me back to Euston. A check of real time trains gave me the platform number long before it was announced, surprisingly there was already about a dozen in the queue so either the 16:30 to Glasgow always goes from here, or alot of people know about Real Time Trains! To continue the mega dud theme with Virgin, 390107 was waiting for the return to Lancaster with another 185124 home to Furness
The trouble with doing short periods of intense moves is that the paperwork takes longer to do than the moves themselves, in fact this report has taken longer to type up than I actually spent travelling in London. Once I was home, the haulage book (aka Excel Workbook) was updated and the numbers counted and verified, I can now reveal the numbers for this trip:
Total Winners 31 (Plus 19 on LU and 2 DLR)
Total Miles 572
New Shacks 3
LU Lines Completed Jubilee
All in all a successful trip the highlight being completing the 377/5s, the last 14 being cleared since 9th November, in only 4 days in London. The only disappointment being that 319217 managed to evade capture (my last 319/2) though I am sure it blew raspberries at me every time it passed going in the opposite direction!
So what next, really think its probably time i made inroads into the Northern stuff considering its my home territory, and must find my last 350/4 350407. London wise, I am not back down now until late February so plenty of time to decide, 319217 is still top of the hit list so hopefully it will still be on Thameslink by then. Otherwise there may be a clue in the latter moves, the 376s look eminently doable on from Charing Cross and only 30 to go, or I am well on the way to clearing the LO 378s so a few things to keep me occupied. One thing, they will still all be done in intensive bursts of short moves, there is too much to do in London to spend all day on the train unless its a rainy one of course.
Only in the capital for 22 hours (including the night!) but it will be a nice little red pen fest!
