Freedom Pass Project

There has been a bit of a hiatus of late as I have had some issues with my feet – I think I’ve now got to the bottom of one of the causes so with luck I’ll be progressing the project.

So, back on the hunt for termini and on Saturday, 29/10, when we didn’t have a football match I was able to mix a Freedom Pass trip to Brixton with photographing a special though I had to do some quick walking to make it across from South to North London 😅

Brixton on the London Underground is the terminus of the Victoria Line and opened as recently as 1971. Here’s a view of one of the platforms with a 2009 stock train arriving…

The station entrance on Brixton Road is difficult to photograph as road and pedestrian traffic is very heavy – this is a very busy suburb of London…

Just around the corner, on Atlantic Road, is the other Brixton station – served by trains from Victoria to Orpington. From this station you get a good view of the market on Electric Avenue…

…and can admire the statues of members of the Caribbean Community located on the platforms…

There is some info about these on the BBC website.

After that I had to rush back across London to Cricklewood where I caught up with a Special made up of recently retired HST stock. I was not alone in being there to record the event🤣…

…For many of these youngsters the passing of the HST’s is as traumatic as the end of steam and the withdrawal of the original diesel classes was to previous generations of enthusiasts. I had a chat with a small group of them afterwards – It’s great to see new blood in this venerable hobby😎👍

On Monday, 30/10, I decided to bite the bullet and take a trip out to Heathrow where I needed to clear off the Terminus stations on the Elizabeth Line and also those on the Piccadilly Line. Taking photos here is likely to get the attention of staff because they’re pretty hot on Security. However I was able to get a shot of a Heathrow Express service at Terminal 5…

…After assuring the dispatcher that I was an enthusiast and I wasn’t interested in photographing anything other than the train – In this case a Class 387 unit. The Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express share one Terminal 5 station while the Piccadilly Line has one of its own…

Having arrived on the Elizabeth Line, I took the Piccadilly Line back to Terminals 1,2 & 3 where I then waited for the next Piccadilly line train that was ‘terminating’ there…

…This is a ‘ghost’ terminating situation, the train works around a one way loop from Hatton Cross via Terminal 4 and just continues back eastwards but in the past before the new extension spur to Terminal 5, trains used to actually terminate here.

From ‘1,2 &3 I then travelled out to Hatton Cross where the pillars of the station are adorned with a Speedbird motif…

…recalling the days of Imperial Airways and the British Overseas Airways Corporation. British Airways long-haul flights still use the callsign ‘Speedbird’.

From Hatton Cross, I took the Piccadilly Line back to Terminal 4…

…I had to go into the terminal itself to get to the separate Elizabeth Line station, so I took the opportunity to photograph a couple of buses outside – this one serves car parks and the cargo area…

The Elizabeth Line platforms here are dark and dingy, so out of keeping with the modern stations on the line through central London. I contented myself with a shot of the inside of the Class 345 unit I was travelling back on…

That was my two most recent Freedom Pass trips. I have a number of others still to do so hopefully I’ll be able to report on them in future😎👍