The last week of June and the start of July have been a quiet period for my Freedom Pass project. Instead I’ve been doing basic trainspotting and combining that with some other photographic objectives.
In my last Freedom Pass post I mentioned that I had hoped to get my last Class 717 on my way to meet my work colleagues. On that occasion it avoided me so on the 23rd of June with nothing specific planned I decided to pop down to Harringay to get some more photographs including some from the northbound side of the station. On this occasion I found 717024 sitting on Hornsey Depot😎 That’s the 717’s cleared – Here’s sister unit 717023 arriving at Harringay on its way north…
With that task completed I went out to Elstree & Borehamwood for lunch and early afternoon to see if I could pick up some more of the classes working that route (222’s, 360’s and 700’s) Here’s 360113 approaching on the slow lines with Elstree Tunnels behind…
June 30th saw trainspotting combined with a trip out to get photos for Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge and also to get a current photo of the railway line through Earls Court for a friend on Twitter – both to be found in the Kensington area. There are many ways for me to get to Kensington and I opted for taking the Northern Line to Euston so I could do some spotting there – Here’s a shot of Platforms 13 & 14…
Sometimes in our travels we meet with human tragedy – sadly over on platform 1 they were dealing with a serious medical emergency so my camera stayed in the bag. Onwards to High Street Kensington using the Circle Line from Euston Square with a change at Edgware Road.
With my photographs collected for Cee’s challenge I continued walking west through South Kensington along Cromwell Road and on to West Cromwell Road where it crosses over the railway line from Willesden Junction to Clapham junction. Back in 2010 I took this photo there…
…377210 heading towards West Brompton and ultimately Clapham with the Earls Court complex forming the backdrop. In 2013 planning permission was given for the Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre to be demolished for a proposed new housing project. This is the scene 10 years on…
…with demolition complete but the project stalled. It is worth reading the Wikipedia entry about Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre to understand why this has happened. On the right of the image is Lillie Bridge depot and that is also supposed to be closed although the tracks still looked in use to me.
July 1st and a short trip up to High Barnet – I was going to see Wingate & Finchley’s first pre-season match. I knew it was probably going to be mainly triallists playing so I took my usual transport photography equipment with me. Here’s my ride to High Barnet arriving at Finchley Central…
July 3rd and another trip that began with getting a photo for someone – The Tubemapper no less. He had a question about Hendon Central Station and the tunnels at the north end – ‘Can they be photographed from the platform?’ So I hopped on the bus over to Hendon Central and took this shot…
…which confirmed my memory of an equipment room at the end of the platform that would make a shot of both bores difficult from the platform. Sorry for the smudges – dirt on the windows of the station footbridge. Mission accomplished, I then travelled down to Camden Town and walked across to Camden Road station to get some freight photographs like this one of 66021…
…working the Dollands Moor to Scunthorpe Steel empties.
With lunchtime just around the corner, I thought I’d head off to Stratford to get something to eat but along the way I decided instead to get off the train at Hackney Central and use the walkway connection to Hackney Downs station. Hackney Downs is a station I’ve never visited before but one that I have passed through on numerous occasions over the years – Indeed as recently as June 1st😅 I got photos of London Overground (710102)…
…and Greater Anglia (720544)…
…trains passing through before catching a train into Liverpool Street where I finally got my lunch. Then it was time to head home. I wonder where I’ll be going during the rest of July? 😅👍
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