The day started at a cold York Station at 05:45. Although I was catching the 06:00, I got there a tad early to see any freight what would come through and in the 15 minutes, 66748 and 66185 were both noted heading south through Platform 3. The train (ex Newcastle) arrived at 05:50 so there was plenty of time to find a seat. Luckily, the train was largely empty with only around 30 getting on at York. 91130 was providing the power.
An uneventful journey down with the sun coming out only in the Peterborough area, very little was jotted going down. We whisked through commuter packed stations and arrived in Kings Cross bang on time.
The purpose of the trip today was to view Queen Mary University, but I would have 7 hours spare afterwards to do a bit of photography. I bought a Zone 1-4 travelcard on board to avoid any queuing at Kings Cross and boarded a Circle Line train to Liverpool Street before connecting to a Central Line train towards Mile End. I was there in little over 20 minutes and in plenty of time for the open day visit.
The day finished at 1pm and I got a Central Line train from Mile End to Stratford. Mile End station is a personal favourite of mine as it is one of a few where you get a cross-platform interchange. On arrival at Stratford, 66714 in the nice new(ish) GBRf livery. In 20 minutes at Stratford, the only other freight was 66567 heading to Tilbury. I planned to stay until 14:30 to see 57303 towing a 379 to Ilford but sunlight hours were limited and I wanted to visit Clapham Junction before dark to get some photos over the city.
I boarded a Jubilee Line train to Canada Water and changed onto 378214 to Clapham Junction. On the way however, I noticed the trains topped at Wandsworth Road. This is a station I have wanted to visit for a while and decided to jump off there for 20 minutes to get some photos over Factory Junction towards Battersea Power Station. Nothing significant passed, just 465/466/375's and I was back on 378221 one stop down the line to Clapham Junction. By now the sun was low which provided perfect photo opportunities looking towards London. A number of converted 458's were seen, although I had seen all of them at Doncaster when they were undergoing refurbishment, it was nice to see them running on their patch.
455901/914 were the next two units I would catch from Clapham to Waterloo. I went for a walk down the Embankment in the last rays of light to get some shots of the Houses or Parliament and numerous other landmarks beside the river. When I got to the Bakerloo Line at Embankment, it turned out the line was shut becuase of pwoer problems. I was planning on going to Marylebone to see 68012 with the commuter set to Banbury. Fortunately, a bus stop not far away saw me get a 453 straight to the station, travelling through the busy Regent Street. This was a new routemaster. I have travelled on these buses many times now and they are great. I know next to nothing about buses but they are certainly eye catching compared to the Wright Geminis.
A healthy crowd of around 20 was there to see 68012, only on its second day of passenger service for Chiltern. Not stopping long, I walked to Baker Street tube station and got off a couple of stops down at Euston Square. I wanted to visit North Gower Street, the place where 221B Baker Street was filmed for Sherlock, the BBC series. I walked to greys Inn Road for a bite to eat at Eddies fish bar. You know you go to a place too much if they know what you want when you step through the door.......
It was 6 and my train from Kings Cross was at 8. I decided to head back down to Embankment to get some night shots of the London Eye and of the Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge. Back to Kings Cross with half an hour to spare for my 8pm train, I looked at the arrivals board to notice many had been delayed due to a fatality at Chester-le-Street. Although we were allowed to board 91103 at 7:45, it was 9 by the time we departed which meant I would miss the last bus back home from York. Fortunately, it is only a few miles away however and after another uneventful journey back north, I walked through the front door at 23:45.
An uneventful journey down with the sun coming out only in the Peterborough area, very little was jotted going down. We whisked through commuter packed stations and arrived in Kings Cross bang on time.
The purpose of the trip today was to view Queen Mary University, but I would have 7 hours spare afterwards to do a bit of photography. I bought a Zone 1-4 travelcard on board to avoid any queuing at Kings Cross and boarded a Circle Line train to Liverpool Street before connecting to a Central Line train towards Mile End. I was there in little over 20 minutes and in plenty of time for the open day visit.
The day finished at 1pm and I got a Central Line train from Mile End to Stratford. Mile End station is a personal favourite of mine as it is one of a few where you get a cross-platform interchange. On arrival at Stratford, 66714 in the nice new(ish) GBRf livery. In 20 minutes at Stratford, the only other freight was 66567 heading to Tilbury. I planned to stay until 14:30 to see 57303 towing a 379 to Ilford but sunlight hours were limited and I wanted to visit Clapham Junction before dark to get some photos over the city.
I boarded a Jubilee Line train to Canada Water and changed onto 378214 to Clapham Junction. On the way however, I noticed the trains topped at Wandsworth Road. This is a station I have wanted to visit for a while and decided to jump off there for 20 minutes to get some photos over Factory Junction towards Battersea Power Station. Nothing significant passed, just 465/466/375's and I was back on 378221 one stop down the line to Clapham Junction. By now the sun was low which provided perfect photo opportunities looking towards London. A number of converted 458's were seen, although I had seen all of them at Doncaster when they were undergoing refurbishment, it was nice to see them running on their patch.
455901/914 were the next two units I would catch from Clapham to Waterloo. I went for a walk down the Embankment in the last rays of light to get some shots of the Houses or Parliament and numerous other landmarks beside the river. When I got to the Bakerloo Line at Embankment, it turned out the line was shut becuase of pwoer problems. I was planning on going to Marylebone to see 68012 with the commuter set to Banbury. Fortunately, a bus stop not far away saw me get a 453 straight to the station, travelling through the busy Regent Street. This was a new routemaster. I have travelled on these buses many times now and they are great. I know next to nothing about buses but they are certainly eye catching compared to the Wright Geminis.
A healthy crowd of around 20 was there to see 68012, only on its second day of passenger service for Chiltern. Not stopping long, I walked to Baker Street tube station and got off a couple of stops down at Euston Square. I wanted to visit North Gower Street, the place where 221B Baker Street was filmed for Sherlock, the BBC series. I walked to greys Inn Road for a bite to eat at Eddies fish bar. You know you go to a place too much if they know what you want when you step through the door.......
It was 6 and my train from Kings Cross was at 8. I decided to head back down to Embankment to get some night shots of the London Eye and of the Houses of Parliament from Westminster Bridge. Back to Kings Cross with half an hour to spare for my 8pm train, I looked at the arrivals board to notice many had been delayed due to a fatality at Chester-le-Street. Although we were allowed to board 91103 at 7:45, it was 9 by the time we departed which meant I would miss the last bus back home from York. Fortunately, it is only a few miles away however and after another uneventful journey back north, I walked through the front door at 23:45.
