Circumstances often play a role in what we decide to do on any given day. Wednesday was a strike day on the railways. Friday was also a planned strike day. Thursday looked like a washout from a trainspotting point of view with many routes recovering from the previous day. I looked at the, very handy, Transport for London website to see what was running reliably. Most National Rail services were disrupted with no service first thing. But those lines not being operated by government controlled companies were running a good service. These included London Overground and C2C. I decided that I’d knock out one of the Overground termini in the form of Barking Riverside and then see where the day took me.
I travelled to Barking via the Northern Line to Bank and the Docklands Light Railway to Limehouse. Here’s 357034 arriving at Limehouse with a Fenchurch Street service…
…As you can see it was a grey day and quite chilly. From Limehouse, I caught a Grays train out to Barking.
Barking Riverside opened in July last year and is part of the London Overground network served by trains from Gospel Oak. I rode on 710267 for the short hop to the new station. It makes quite an imposing view in a utilitarian sort of way…
…It sits beside the Thames and connects with river boat services during morning and evening peaks on weekdays and all day at weekends.
When I’m on one of these largely unscripted outings, I sometimes see something that draws me away from the trains for a while – In this case, some trucks along River Road which leads upstream towards Barking Creek. I photographed this nice DAF XG+ belonging to M.J.Griffiths…
…I also took a look downriver and photographed a dredger at Hanson’s Dagenham aggregates facility…
Having cleared off Barking Riverside for my Freedom Pass Project, I now had to choose what to do with the rest of the day. I decided to head back to Liverpool Street and pick up one of the Overground services from there serving Cheshunt, Chingford or Enfield Town – I need all three termini. So it was back on the Overground to Wanstead Park and a short walk across to Forrest Gate to pick up an Elizabeth Line train to Stratford…
…riding a Class 345 unit. I took a short break at Stratford to grab some lunch before continuing my journey into Liverpool Street on a Greater Anglia service. now fate took a hand in the day – I was thinking of going to Chingford but I was just about to miss that train so I decided to take the next Overground service which happened to be going to Enfield Town.
It’s quite a slow trip with lots of stops along the way but I finally made it to Enfield Town station…
…and once more faced a dilemma – go back to Edmonton Green and pick up a Cheshunt Train or go even further back to Bethnal Green for a Chingford service. I did… Neither!
Remembering that I need to knock off Crews Hill on the Great Northern line to Stevenage, I decided instead to walk across Enfield from ‘Town station to ‘Chase station. Anyone who read about my Ewell West to Ewell East adventure might feel a sense of trepidation but Enfield is almost home territory for me and I know exactly where both stations are😎 So I set off across town and took some bus shots along the way…
…as well as photographing this pair of Swans and their Cygnets on The New River…
…This is a man-made watercourse that was built to provide fresh water to London and still serves that purpose.
At Enfield Chase I was lucky enough to catch a late running Stevenage service…
…delayed when the scheduled driver was unable to get to work on time due to the knock on effect of the previous day’s industrial action – The relief driver was apologetic for the late running. For me the effect was less waiting at Crews Hill for a train back. As you can see Crews Hill station is not exactly brimming with interest🤣…
…But if you’re a gardener or looking for pets – it’s ideally located for a host of nurseries and pet vendors! I have shopped here before but I usually come by car😅
Looking north from Crews Hill you can see the trucks on the M25. What’s that coming?..
…It’s 717004, one of the last two of the class that I need to see and my ride back to Alexandra Palace where I’ll get a train to New Southgate before catching a bus home. A very enjoyable trip out and three more termini cleared off my Freedom Pass Project list😎👍
2e0mca.uk 
Leave a comment