Fair enough, with Peartree, just seemed strange that it had a rubbish service.
I shall update my reports for the right name for the tram place. 6 platforms at Ambergate, quite a large downgrade to its current single platform.
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I think this is the end of Kite's mobile "hip-hop" machine (also known as my ancient iPod Classic from 2007), seems to be stuck on the apple boot loop
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6th May An evening in London
Due to being on a rail-tour on the Saturday which started from St Pancras at 7:30 I decided to stay overnight in London, where it is possible to get to St Pancras for that time from the first train from Grateley, I didnt want to risk it in case the service was late. My hotel changed once I heard that Techni had booked onto the same tour and we decided to split the cost of a twin room at the Easy Hotel in Croydon.
The 14:38 from Andover towards Waterloo this afternoon was formed of 158888, 159006 & 159105, sadly no 158884 for Techni to finally get in the bag, and it was a good run, although with crossing over from the up fast to the up slow track just before Brookwood station to allow a seriously late running 444 to overtake, although it did mean a couple minute delay in departing Woking, made worst by a go-slow crawl around the Surbiton area, arriving into Clapham Junction around 10 minutes late. Anyhow meeting up with Tecnhi & Hassaan and we crossed over to platform 13 to jump on the first Southern service towards East Croydon so that we could check in, and more importantly get rid of some weight.
First service was formed of duds 377137/377122 heading towards Eastbourne & Littlehampton (I believe) and it was rather busy, until East Croydon were we bailed, checking into base camp and dumping some weight from the bags. After a quick break we returned to East Croydon and jumped onto duds 171721 & 171802 for the run into London Bridge, where it was a short crossing over to platform 3 to jump onto a pair of slightly warm 376s for the run into London Cannon Street, with 376012 & 376005 the pair of evil-stars in question. When we rolled into Cannon Street, Techni noticed a pair of required 375/9s on front of a trio, and with nothing else to do (as we were hoping to stay close to be able to grab a trio of 387s heading northbound featuring my last Thameslink unit.
Just as we were heading over to platform 1, a trio of networkers rolled in, and the unit at the back stuck out, as it was one of my last 3 standard class only 465s, so I turned down the chance to grab 914 and walked up the platform for the evening peaks only trio 465 working, with dud 465170 leading winners
465246 &
465047, I wasnt complaining as I boarded, overhearing that due to a cancellation of a Sevenoaks service the trio of 375s on platform 1 would be calling additionally at Orpington, however Techni & Hassaan were blocked inside unable to escape at London Bridge, as I jumped on for a standing room only dud 375924, 375908 & winner
375914 for the speedy run down to Orpington, knowing that 387121 would have to wait for another day.
After a PNB, a pair of dud 465/9s rolled in which we turned down in exchange for waiting an extra 5 minutes for a pair of units from Hastings, duds 375605 & 375915 rolled in and we jumped onto the 375/6 as Techni hasnt seen the inside of a refurbished unit, but sadly the AC wasnt working so it got quite warm as we had a slow crawl up towards Charing Cross, caught behind some late running services (but at least both Techni & Hassaan scored the new track alignment between Bridge & Waterloo East. We were getting hungry and were due to meet Kris at a Wetherspoons in Farringdon, so it was a short walk to Embankment, and I scored
21301/21302 on a nano leap to Temple, before D-stock
7516/7042 to Blackfriars.
First northbound service was formed of duds 377504 & 377502 which we took down the hill to City Thameslink, before getting some 319-thrash in the shape of 319444 & 319421 to Farringdon. Heading out to Wetherspoons, and it was nice to put a picture to Kris and we had a good chat and meal. Earlier in the day Techni spotted my last 455 floating around, which gave me a chance to do some tracking, and suggested it was making its way back up from Dorking towards Victoria, with a hope to grabbing it at Balham. However it wasnt to be as duds 377208/377515 took us back to Blackfriars, parting ways with Hassaan who headed east, and we headed west on dud 7046 & winner
7502 to Victoria, sadly the plan didnt hold as we had option 2 to link up at Clapham Junction.
First departure was formed of dud 377106 & 377149 which was taken to Clapham Junction, crossing over to the slow up platform to await for hopefully a pair of 455s, and in rolled 455807 which was a good sign as winner (and last 455)
455842 was on the rear, happy days another class cleared as we took them to Battersea Park. Next service back to Clapham was in the hands of duds 377703 & 377615 as we through about calling it a night as we headed up the stairs to prepare to jump on a 442, however as we walked up I noticed the carriage number of a 377 which had just rolled in on P14 featured 17 at the end, so we just jumped on as I knew I needed all the 17s, and was in luck as it was winner
377117 leading dud 377320 and winner
377302 at the rear, 2 winning 377s for the price of 1, and only 6 more to go (2x1s, 2x3s, 2x4s) so I was happy, even happier when we rolled into the main-line side of Victoria, giving more options.
Techni had spotted a required 377/3 on the 3rd departure towards East Croydon, with a pair of 442s on the first departure and a pair of dud 377s on the 2nd, so we did the long walk up the platform collecting numbers for duds 377326, 377316, 377303 & 377306, Techni happy he got 2 more winners from that quad set, and eventually we got going after an incident, back to East Croydon, where we exited the station for a quick break and supply raid at Sainsburys. A bit of red pen fever came over us as winning tram
2548 rolled in so it was a quick leap to Leananon Road, followed by turning down a winner in exchange for
2556 back to East Croydon as that one was down as heading to Therapia Lane (and was a good chance of going straight to depot afterwards). Dud 2562 was taken back to Lebanon Road, and Techni jumped on a dud tram for me, as I waited for winner
2550, with Techni rejoining at East Croydon for a hop to George Street.
Winner
2563 was next which we took around the loop to Wellesley Road, followed by dud 2539 back to East Croydon, where we called it a night, although 4 more trams in the book, I was happy with the score. Thankfully we got the AC working in the sealed room, which was nice and cool, with alarm set for silly-o-clock tomorrow morning to catch a Thameslink service north to St Pancras.
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7th May The Midland & Great Central HST tour
Alarm was set and we got up and headed to East Croydon station, via Upper Crust for a cold sausage baguette (not the nicest thing especially since I through it would have been warmed up), it was down to platform 1 for a short wait before duds 387113 & 387111 rolled in to take us the usual Thameslink crawl around South London, reaching St Pancras on time, as we exited the station for a quick break & supply grab from Boots for sandwiches for later in the day (as we were due to be on the HST from 7:30 to around 14:00).
I was in coach C, and Techni was in coach E (as we booked at different times), required
43059 was leading dud 43050 and the set was a bit filthy following the set which was cleaned up ready for the tour failing overnight, anyhow taking up my seat with the horrible fixed low armrests, the only good thing about these IC70 seats is that they are low enough to see over the top of. Anyhow, we departed on time and headed north, picking up at Luton Airport, Bedford & finally Market Harborough where the train got pretty much full, and we turned off the main line for my first new coverage of the day with the freight only line via Coalville towards Burton-on-Trent.
It was interesting to look out the window at this freight line, to see the various sidings in varying states of decay, where old stations used to be, but as with most freight routes the speed was slow, but we were still early near the end and sat around the junction with the main Derby Tamworth line for a good 10 minutes before being allowed out, to speed up through Burton and Willington, pausing for a 170 before turning right down the freight line via Castle Donnington, turning left to go via Toton and onwards getting some speed, before turning right crossing country to the Robin Hood line, a similar route taken last August.
Up the Robin Hood line, speeding via the likes of Shirebrook, turning left over the curve via Shireoaks, before we slowed to take the right to go onto the South Yorkshire Joint Line, a line done last year southwards, but this time northwards, and I decided to go and visit Techni for a chat (as the South Yorkshire Joint Line is very slow and quite boring, parts of it are in cuttings, or in heavy trees so its not like I could look out of the window at the scenery. We had a nice chat about various stuff, comparing notes as it was.
Eventually we reached the end, scoring a bit of new track as we carried on to Kirk Sandall junction and onto the main line towards Scunthorpe, going into the goods line passed Hatfield & Stainforth for a few units to pass, before following what appeared to be a required 185 eastwards, through Scunthorpe (is it just me who thinks the bay platform would be better at the other end of the station, so that the Northern terminators can terminate and not have to clear the line?), pausing at Barnetby and at Grimsby Town before carrying onto the single track section to Cleethorpes, after another move forward as the driver stopped short of the buffets (at the usual place where trains stop), and we were released.
We met up with HMS Ark Royal down for the day from Hull, however as himself & Techni wanted to visit a pub for some adult beverages, we parted ways as I picked up a day return to Grimsby Town, scoring
185135 for the short run, crossing over the footbridge to catch a late running winning dogbox in the shape of
153330 working the Barton line services, so it was back to Cleethorpes, and with a required 142 hanging around waiting to form the next Sheffield via Brigg service, it gave me something to come back to (as those 142s will be hard to track down as they work in many places in the Northern network). I went via Sainsburys (via Wetherspoons, but not knowing it had multiple floors) before texting back to find out that Techni & Ark Royal were on the top roof garden, so I went by to say hi and have a chat (and listening to Ark Royals last Northern train adventure).
I said farewell as they headed to Sainsburys to do the time honoured tradition of picking out new brews, and I got
142091 into the bag for the run to Grimsby Town, before a fester as the next inbound TPE was running around 18 minutes late at this point, nothing much to do around the station so it was a time to relax and wait. The automatic station announcer said that the train was in the platform a good minute or two before it eventually rolled up and I through that doesnt look like a 185 and in rolled winner
170308 with dud 170303 on the rear. I wasnt expecting to clear my remaining 170/3 today, as I smiled for the short run back to Cleethorpes, via the toilet before reboarding the HST (43050/43059), with the windows semi-cleaned.
Unlike the way up I stood by the droplight, waved goodbye to Ark Royal (very nice meeting you), and settled down for a good run back towards Lincoln, for a brief stop for a crew change however as we were booked to stay in Lincoln for a while we were allowed out early behind an all station stopper towards Leicester, so it wasnt as fast, stopping for 10 minutes at a manual level crossing for it to be opened up. Into Nottingham for another crew change and the doors were released for passengers to alight if they so wished. A delay in departing (something to do with the new driver getting delayed on route to Nottingham), but we zoomed out, going into the slow lines after East Midlands Parkway, other than to overtake a Network Rail train with top & tailed 73s.
Going via Leicester goods loop scored a micro-grice, but we were on time dropping off at Market Harborough, Bedford & Luton, but then it turned into a right old crawl as we were booked to arrive 45 minutes later into St Pancras (a journey which takes around 19 minutes on a 222) so it was slow line running before swapping over to the fast lines around Hendon (only for another service to loop us), before arriving into St Pancras pretty much bang on time. A quick walk down to the Thameslink platforms saw a dud 319 in the station which we allowed to depart before duds 387201 & 387120 rolled in, although nice to get more than a bus stop leap out of 201, for the slow trip south.
Dinner was sourced from one of the many McDonalds in Croydon, and we made the slow walk back towards the hotel, ready for another early start on the Sunday. It was a good night, other than the AC deciding to go into deep winter mode and start putting out air at 30C around 6am (or so) and refused to be changed, and the room got warm rather quickly (I still prefer the mark 1 window to open up for fresh air)
A couple pictures from the day:
43050 looking all HST-like at Cleethorpes:
The future 168323 looking all 170-like at Cleethorpes:
Leicester Station, from the goods loop:
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8th May A random Sunday in London
Anyhow, bags packed with Techni donating his unopened bottle of Pepsi and nearly full deodorant (to save them being thrown in the bin due to airport security), and we departed for the short walk to Croydon, dodging trams and buses to the platform, where 377121 & 377442 did the honours of a short hop to London Victoria. We headed over to the South Eastern side (nothing of interest spotted in the Southern side), and I said farewell as I spotted a required 466 working an Orpington stopper), so it was onto dud 465003 and winner
466040 for the short run to Penge East. Duds 465248 & 465246 did the honours back to Brixton, where the next Orprington service was another 6 car service, but this time the 466 was dud (so was the 465), so I went down to the underground.
First service was due to depart shortly, so I leapt on, but sadly it was duds 11075/11076 which I took to Vauxhall, for a short fester before winners
11003/11004 took me the tiny leap to Pimlico, and a few other duds before I decided to go with 11001/11002 to Victoria, as I wanted to see what unit was working a Canterbury service, sadly that was a dud 465/9, and nothing else of interest floating around I decided to head down to the district line platforms for a linear hop to Cannon Street.
Winner
21487/21488 provided relief from the heat for the short hop to Westminster, but I didnt want to hang around for long due to armed police so it was to Embankment on duds 21359/21360 before winner
21485/21486 to Cannon Street, where I made it in time for a semi-fast service towards Gillingham, so checking the 376 on a stopper was dud, I jumped onto duds 465176 & 465190 and made use of the toilet for the short run to Greenwich.
The 5 minute frequency on the Lewisham line doesnt kick in until around 11am I think as it was still 10 minute frequency, however I spotted a pair of winners heading down to Lewisham which should be back in 12 minutes, so turning down a trio of duds, I took a seat watching some South Eastern RPIs get their penalty fare books out with fare dodgers, before winners
71 & 60 (and dud 92) took me forward for the longish run to Westferry, where a quick check of RTT suggested a couple of C2C services were due so it was duds 61, 48 & 27 to take me to Limehouse, where I changed over to the C2C platforms, where I spotted my last 357/2 heading away towards Southend, so something to bare in mind I through. First service towards Fenchurch was a pair of duds, but the 2nd service was dud 357028 leading winner
357031 so jumping onto 031 for the short run to Fenchurch Street, and back out again on the same pair of duds I turned down earlier (357030 & 357001) back to Limehouse, crossing over to the DLR platforms to grab a winner DLR unit in the shape of
123 attached with duds 114 & 135 for the tiny leap to Westferry.
Duds 90-22-09 took me forward to Blackwell, followed by a pair of winners from Bank, in the shape of
55 & 25 to Canning Town, where I leapt onto a Jubilee line service a few moments before the doors closed, to find out that it was winners
96069 & 96032, with the next Stratford bound service showing as 5 minutes away (must have been be a North Greenwich terminator up next) I stayed on to Stratford, to cross over to the Central line where I scored a pair of required 92 stock units in the shape of
91303 &
92416 attached to duds 92046 & 91089 for the long run to Liverpool Street (having been faced with a 10+ minute wait for the next Liverpool Street service, which would have been dud as it would be a pair of 315s or a pair of 360s), I crossed over to the Sub Surface Line and allowed a dud Hammersmith & City line service to depart as a metropolitan line service was a minute behind, and I was rewarded with a required S8 in the shape of
21025/21026 for the 2 and bit mile run to Kings Cross St Pancras.
Ive previously noted that there is a period where 4 southbound EMT services are timed to be HSTs and as its Sunday they all call at Bedford and either Luton serviced, and as two are from Leeds it will be a safe bet to say they would be HST. The 12:30 to Sheffield is also timed to be a HST, but that turned out to be a very un-HST like 222004, so it was onto the 12:10 towards Nottingham, formed of duds 222017 & 222023 for the speedy run to Bedford to link up with the first southbound HST, which was dud, so I had a nice 30 minute fester before the first Leeds service was due to roll in. Meanwhile 222004 arrived nice and early and had a good fester before its departure time (as it would be timed for the slower to accelerate HSTs rather than 222s which are like rockets). Anyhow, with Thameslink only being 2 an hour to Bedford (due to engineering works south of Croydon, you could have through they would run a 4 an hour service with 2 an hour being turned around at St Pancras or Blackfriars), so it was a peaceful station, until dud 43061 rolled in with winner
43055 on the rear, first stop Luton Airport.
At Luton Airport it was a short wait before dud 319001 rolled in to take me to Luton where it terminated, and I awaited the arrival of the next HST from Leeds, sadly this was dud, but a northbound HST was due, so it was over to the other platform as winner
43066 rolled in with dud 43076 on the rear, to Bedford, for a short wait before duds 222014/222022 rolled in, I would have waited for the following service (another timed for HST service from Nottingham which comes from the depot), but I wanted to hunt down that 357/2. Back at St Pancras, and to the underground, where I noticed there were still an awful lot of people waiting around for Eurostar departures. The metropolitan line was suspended south of Harrow on the Hill, so it was a 6 minute wait for the next Hammersmith & City line service, formed of duds 21373/21374 which I decided to stay on for the long and slow journey (Is it just me or do the S7s seem to be very slow off the mark) to West Ham.
It was over to the C2C island platform, to await the arrival of what I through was going to be a winning 357/2, it rolled in and both were dud. I decided to await the next service just in case I missed up arrivals and the Shoeburyness service was after the Southend service, and it must have been the case as in rolled my final 357/2,
357207 attached with winner
357019 happy days two winners for the price of one, especially when my 357 requirements are now a mere 6 units (4x /0s, 2x /3s), so I was happy with that, crossing over at Limehouse to the DLR and a blind leap onto a trio of units scored me
120 wedged in the middle of duds 112 & 122 for Westferry. Staying on the same platform and the next service was to Lewisham, and in rolled winners
84, 24 with dud 26 on the end, so it was around the curve to Canary Wharf and back to West India Quay on winners
111 & 129 working a tiny service going backwards and forward between Poplar & Canary Wharf all day long. Over to the other platform, and duds 146-106-113 took me to Westferry, with another couple dud sets before dud 118 and winner
115 popped up to take me to Limehouse, followed by dud another trio with dud 33 leading winner
77 with dud 86 on the end.
I should have stayed on 77 until Bank, but foolishly got off at Shadwell, with the next service going to Tower Gateway, and it was another trio with duds 139 & 110 leading winner
117 to take me to the end of the line with a long walk to Tower Hill, where I leapt on the first service west, to be surprised as it was winner
21305/21306 for the slow trip to Embankment. Firstly I went to the Northern line platform, but the next service wasnt due for 7 minutes going by the PIS, so I crossed over to the Bakerloo line with duds 3255/3565 making a slow way down to Waterloo. Sadly due to large flow of tourists, I made it to the concourse at Waterloo, just as the train doors on the 17:15 were closing, didnt help that it was the front 6 coaches leaving a 159 behind. Bugger it, an hour wait for the next train; roll on next Sunday when it will only be a half hour wait.
To Waterloo East, sadly neither 3 options for a leap to Charing Cross gave me anything required (a couple pairs of networkers, and a pair of electrostars), so it was down to the Jubilee line platforms at Southwark for a short wait before winners
96040/96007 rolled in to take me to Waterloo, back to Southwark on winners
96099 & 96114 and a short wait before warm winners
96076/96027 took me back to Waterloo. I was happy to escape the heat of the underground and walk up to the 18:15 to Bristol & Salisbury, the Exeter part being cut short due to crew shortage, and unusually it was a triple set. 159003, 159016 & 159019 for the short run back towards Andover, and with a short drive home to have some dinner and a much needed shower to cool myself down.
Anyhow, a quite successful day in London, 2 more EMT 43 power-cars in the book, 4 more EMUs, a handful of required LU stock plus a few DLR units, I can see myself returning to Bedford in the next couple months on a Sunday to try and hunt down some more EMT power-cars (not to mention the double 222s)
so we can all keep up, I still think, it'd be easier if network rail built a station outside your house, you spend so much time with the various TOCs. Walk away for a few days and you've trip reports akin to War and Peace. When you've finished the shacks down there, I'll have a word with a few estate agents up here for you to relocate. A top effort kite.
