2023 Trainspotting Roundup

Back in February last year I decided to reboot my Trainspotting, noting which trains I saw and checking them off. While I have seen all of those older classes like the 455’s in a previous life, starting afresh means I needed everything out there. It has given me a new impetus to get out and about and I hope to continue hunting trains for the foreseeable future.

Almost all of my activity in 2023 was within the London area – just a couple of trips beyond for football matches and to attend Alasdair’s Graduation in Leicester. Even so, there are a huge number of trains to see in the London area, especially if you include the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway and London Tramlink. In a year of disruption caused by intermittent industrial action and occasional ill health, I managed quite a few days out and logged over 8000 numbers. Of course, many are duplicates – seen on different days or at different locations during the same day. Top scorers in this regard are 378205 and 378218 – each logged on 14 occasions somewhere on the London Overground network! Despite the duplicates, I managed to collect 3348 individual trains over the 10.5 months since I started in mid-February. I still need members of many classes that I can see in London but I have completed the set for quite a few. Let me share a photo of a representative of each completed class: –

Class 222…

Class 345…

Class 378…

Class 700…

Class 707…

Class 717…

Class 803…

I also completed the 1992 Waterloo & City Line units…

…Though I still need 28% of their sister 1992 Central Line units.

Not a bad start to the new collection. I’m very close to completing several other classes so I would like to be showing those in a 2024 review. I’m hoping to expand my spotting area this year, travelling a bit further using my Senior Railcard to reduce the cost. Each longer trip will no doubt result in a post so expect to see some reports on my activities. I hope to open the account for 2024’s sightings on Thursday – And Trainlogger will start showing my ‘year sightings’ alongside the ‘all-time’ ones on each days log😎👍