3/8/2016. London Day 2 continued..
Arriving at Stratford, I'd just missed a Broxbourne train. Oh well, lets do some 315s first then!
This section of the day was again an out and back shack scratching effort, although with a small diversion enroute. The full details were:
315857 + 315821 to
Seven Kings, passing 37706 on a test train enroute;
315837 + 315842 to
Chadwell Heath, which has a handy public loo for a PNB, and a handy shop for water and mints;
315852 +
315845 out to
Harold Wood, where 66533 stormed past on a liner;
315842 + 315837 back in to the handy island platform at
Gidea Park;
315839 +
315825 to Romford, for something different.
This was
317887 for a trip to
Emerson Park, a very rural shack downstairs, but with a.very posh restaurant upstairs. Unsurprisingly, the same unit returned me to Romford. Back to the 315s, then:
315844 +
315832 took me to
Goodmayes, where 66558 was on passing ying duties;
315836 + 315826 in to
Manor Park, passing a very smart 86401 on Ilford shed.
Finally,
315831 + 315848 in to Stratford, passing 68023 enroute, and arriving in plenty of time for my next connection
This was formed of
317665 for a ride up the Lea Valley line to
Broxbourne. A cancelled train put paid to my tentative plan to nip back to Waltham Cross, so I waited here for
317651 + 317503, which took me on my first venture onto connection the new track of the Hertford East branch, but which failed to make my +2 at
Rye House.
I had a walk here, spotted a pub by the canal, and decided to chill out for an hour. So I took my pint of orange and bag of crisps to a shady spot, got my book out and kept a wary, and amused, eye on the age 2-5 disobedience competition which seemed to be taking place in the kids play area.
Returning to the station, it was time to complete the branch.
317650 + 317881 took me to
Hertford East and back to
St Margarets, then
317883 + 317506 took me to
Ware, and then back down to Cheshunt.
I crossed over to the bay here, having decided to clear the Enfield Town line shacks on my way back to London:
Firstly,
317668 + 317511 took me to
Stoke Newington
Then came
317719 + 317729 to
Bruce Grove
317888 + 317714 took me to
Bush Hill Park
315803 + 315804 then took me to
Cambridge Heath, where I missed my tight connection northwards.
Deciding to leave Stanford Hill for another time, I nipped out to stock up on cigarettes and chocolate, then caught the returning 317714 + 317888 in to Liverpool Street. From here, I fancied a different class, so
360108 + 360109 took me non-stop to Stratford. From here, well, no visit to London for me is complete without a DLR bash...
Last time I was out here I did the Woolwich extension, so this time I concentrated on the Lewisham route. In skip-stop, liner fashion, I did the following:
23 + 58 to
Devons Road
59 + 60 to
All Saints
110 + 153 to
West India Quay
49 + 56 on the mega mileage move to Canary Wharf
115 + 147 + 103 to
Crossharbour
26 + 44 + 10 to
Island Gardens (I'd done the old high-level terminus here, but the new shack was required);
148 + 149 + 136 to
Greenwich.
Here, I went upstairs, looking for the first train back to London. This was noted as being formed of 10 cars.
"Ooh good, a pair of 376's", I thought. Then the unmistakable outline of a networker appeared.
"Coo, could be a triple winner", thought I. No chance. Whilst the leading
466032 was a winner, middle unit
465158 was not, and tail-end-charlie
465033 seems to stalk me whenever I set foot on South Eastern territory! Anyway, the trio took me to Cannon Street, where my thoughts turned homeward.
Not without picking up some more shacks, though:
21459 + 21460 took me to
Ravenscourt Park
21505 + 21506 then forwarded me to
Chiswick Park
After a while,
21425 + 21426 took me to the interchange at
Ealing Common
Finally,
119 + 124 returned me to Sudbury Hill, and the House of the Rising Sun...
73 winners and 38 new shacks today, which had more of an outer-suburban feel.
*
