Ok, I’ve not been very good at keeping this up to date! Work and various non rail related activities has prevented me from having any chance to write anything up. A lot of this is going to be written from memory (I only have my notes of what I saw and rode on) as I don’t note anything else down!
19/20th April
I headed to the station for the night sleeper off Plymouth and with 57604 at the front we left for London. It wasn’t a solo trip and Dave joined at Exeter. As per usual when not on my own, not much kip was had. Once at London we started to head out to Waterloo. Winning pair of S Class units
21499,
21500 we had to Baker Street before another winning pair (
96023,
96064) were had to Green Park. Behind that was
96011 and 96040 which were taken to Waterloo.
From here we both caught 5867, 5902 and
456011 to Clapham. The joys of a priv pass saw my mate then head off to hunt down 456s that were not in the zone 6 area and I went off to look for my final four 442s! I had a lot of time to kill before off peak kicked in so I decided to do a bit of tram bashing.
5910 and 5733 took me to Wimbledon where I would join the Croydon tram line. From Wimbledon to Croydon was required and now was as good a time as any to just knock off a load of the stops in one go. My moves were as below
2542 Wimbledon –
Merton Park
2555 Merton Park –
Dundonald Road
2541 Dundonald Road –
Phipps Bridge
2548 Phipps Bridge –
Morden Road
2532 Morden Road –
Belgrave Walk
2555 Belgrave Walk –
Mitcham
2557 Mitcham –
Mitcham Junction
2563 Mitcham Junction –
Beddington Lane
2548 Beddington Lane –
Therapia Lane
2553 Therapia Lane –
Ampere Way
2560 Ampere Way –
Waddon Marsh
2550 Waddon Marsh –
Reeves Corner
2562 Centrale – East Croydon
At East Croydon I went and got other tickets I needed for the rest of the day before I headed down to the platforms. Wasn’t long before a pair of 442s arrived. Both dud. But behind that was another pair. The first was 442412 followed by
442417! One down and on into London Bridge. I jumped onto a pair of winning 171s here (
804 and
726) to East Croydon. From here 387127,
202 and 112 were had to Gatwick.
Not long to wait and soon enough I saw 442423 paired with
442419. I jumped on this to Victoria. Not much longer after I got in
442413 appeared. Paired with 442424 I jumped on this back to Gatwick and then headed back into the capital on
377135. So three 442s cleared with one left (it wasn’t out so no point wasting time in this area). Time to head north and meet up with Dave who was back in the zone 6 area.
51713 and 51581 were had to Moorgate before 21489 and 21490 to Liverpool Street. I had a little look round to see what was needed. Not a lot. After a few minutes I found something but was heading in slightly the wrong direction. I looked at my options and saw a move. So
321327 (also required for sight) was had to Stratford before I jumped onto
317659 to
Broxbourne. Two new pairs of 374s spotted at Temple Mills as we passed saw me double my sights of the class. At Broxbourne I met my mate and we jumped on
317512 and
317663 to Cheshunt. We headed back to Waltham Cross on 317883 and 317652. Time for some food. So into the town we went and found the spoons. After a well needed lunch, we headed back to the station where a reasonable haul of 317s would proceed as listed in the moves below!
317661, 317657 Cheshunt – Tottenham Hale
317649 Tottenham Hale – Broxbourne
317652, 317883 Broxbourne – Cheshunt
317651,
317506 Cheshunt – Tottenham Hale
317881, 317501 Tottenham Hale – Enfield Lock
317884,
317671 Enfield Lock – Cheshunt
317886, 317508 Cheshunt – London Liverpool Street
We had about 55 minutes to get back to Paddington from here and what happened was unreal!
21069,
21070 Liverpool Street – Moorgate
21435,
21436 Moorgate – Barbican
21065,
21066 Barbican – Farringdon
21432,
21431 Farringdon – King's Cross St Pancras
21077, 21078 Kings Cross – Euston Square (A dud!!!!!!)
21516,
21515 Euston Square – Great Portland Street
21313,
21314 Great Portland Street – Edgware Road
21471,
21472 Edgware Road – Paddington (Hammersmith)
I couldn’t believe what I had just bagged with letting only two trains (if I remember correctly) go! My mate couldn’t either!
43162 and 43130 were our ride home. A very productive day with 46 units scored, 15 shacks and 694 miles traveled. I now only have one 442 left to clear the class. What I thought was not going to happen was getting ever so close!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
2nd/3rd May
My next trip out was another London adventure. With the ticket for his purchased almost 3 months prior to the trip, I had one aim today. Try and clear the 442s! For the second London trip in a row, the journey to the capital was on the sleeper. 57303 doing the honours, we went via the B&H (which is unusual for the up so I am guessing electrification works somewhere, were the reason). We arrived early into London. I was on my own for this trip so I had a bit more sleep than usual and went and got breakfast.
Was way to early to head out to Gatwick so I hit the tube for a while. I thought I would head out towards Heathrow on the Piccadilly line and clear the shacks along there that I need. I then headed up to Uxbridge for the same reason along the Met line. Here were my moves
21477,
21478 Paddington – Hammersmith
179, 406 Hammersmith –
Hounslow East
168, 321 Hounslow East –
Osterley
154, 229 Osterley –
Boston Manor
180,
431 Boston Manor –
Northfields
142,
363 Northfields –
South Ealing
215, 444 South Ealing – Acton Town
181, 634 Acton Town – Hammersmith
124, 437 Hammersmith – Acton Town
21340,
21339 Acton Town – Ealing Common
226,
367 Ealing Common –
Hillingdon
243,
867 Hillingdon –
Ruislip
21083, 21084 Ruislip –
Eastcote
21007, 21008 Eastcote – Harrow on the Hill
At this stage I had a bit off gen. Not quite what I wanted to hear though. 442418 wasn’t allocated. Another required last unit, 444018 was though. So I made my way to Waterloo. I jumped off at Harrow on the Hill and waited a few minutes for the next train to Marylebone.
165038 and
165007 arrived and I jumped on for the stand to Marylebone. It was then down to the tube and the following moves were had until I needed to be back on the surface.
3238, 3448 Marylebone – Baker Street
96101, 96438 Baker Street – Bond Street
96067,
96066 Bond Street – Green Park
96019, 96406 Green Park – Westminster
96081, 96500 Westminster – Waterloo
96107, 96010 Waterloo – Southwark
96071, 96494 Southwark – London Bridge
96106, 96621 London Bridge – Waterloo
My required lists weren’t quite right so I got a little bit less than I thought at the time but never mind. Upstairs I got a Boundary 6 to Woking and went and found 444018. There it was I didn’t get on though as I saw
450102 which was needed and spotted a move to Clapham and back. 5917 and 5742 were had back and I got on
444018. We left bang on time and off I went to Woking on my final 444. I then got some very good news from my mate! So a short wait at Woking and 450018, 450006 and
450115 soon took me back to Clapham. It was then 377450 to Victoria and off I went to get a BZ6 to Gatwick. You can guess what my news was!!!
I got my ticket and headed to the platform and waited. Things started going a little wrong and a train arrived late. Then the 1230 didn’t materialise (should have been empty off the depot). Then another train arrived and coupled to the one already in the adjacent platform. Everyone (getting irate now) got on it thinking it was the next one (the PIS weren’t helping at all to be fair!). Then in came the empty unit and it was what I needed
442418! Yes! I got on and it left after a couple of minutes with only me on it as everyone else got on the other train! I didn’t care! I had cleared my 442s. A unit not suitable for airport traffic but a damn fine unit for long distance travel but their time is now up to be fair!
With the 442s now cleared it was time to get some lunch. I needed the spoons in nearby Horley so I planned a move to clear the shacks between the zone 6 boundary and Gatwick whilst getting lunch at the same time. First up 377511 and 377501 to
Merstham for 377410 to
Horley and lunch.
After lunch 377452 and 377402 took me to
Earlswood and then
377404 and 377429 back to
Salfords. I had a bit of time here so took some photos from the bridge. It was then 377410 to East Croydon. I now decided that I would hit the trams to clear a few more stops (and hopefully pick up trams at the same time).
2536 East Croydon – George Street
2558 George Street –
Church Street
2542 Church Street – West Croydon
2534 West Croydon – East Croydon
2531 East Croydon – Sandilands
2559 Sandilands – Lebanon Road
2557 Lebanon Road – Addiscombe
2560 Addiscombe –
Blackhorse Lane
2545 Blackhorse Lane –
Arena
2542 Arena –
Woodside
2548 Woodside – Arena
2555 Arena – Elmers End
Another branch of the network clear I moved back on to the trains. At Elmers End I took
466010, 465032 and 465176 to
Eden Park. It was then up to
Clock House on 465024 and 465017 before dropping back to
West Wickham on 466022,
465160 and 165163. Not bad going. This continued.
376036 and
376004 up to
Ladywell before 466022 etc returned and I bailed at Lewisham. Now for some DLR. A mix of everything today!
45, 52, 51 Lewisham –
Deptford Bridge
79,
15, 65 Deptford Bridge – Greenwich
105, 151,
145 Greenwich – Island Gardens
102,
112, 116 Island Gardens – South Quay
74, 97,
11 South Quay – Canary Wharf
111, 129 Canary Wharf –
All Saints
78, 66 All Saints –
Bow Church
26, 91 Bow Church –
Pudding Mill Lane
119,
107 Pudding Mill Lane – Stratford
It was now time to start heading home. I made my to the main platforms and in rolled a late 90006. That’ll do. I jumped into the first carriage vestibule and enjoyed the 4 miles behind the loco.
21477 and 21478 were had to Edgware Road for the cross platform transfer to 21364 and 21363 to Paddington. 43140 and 43163 were doing the honours home.
So I cleared two classes, had 40 winners in total for the day and 24 winning shacks. Very pleased with that. Over the trip I travelled 658 miles.
Not a bad start to May at all and I knew May was only going to get better!
