What happened to week 3, you may be asking – it was subverted by cold weather and having to wait in for several deliveries and other inconveniences! So here we are with a look at the spotting activities in the 4th week of the month.
The previous weekend had seen a serious storm affecting much of the country with strong winds and heavy rain. The network in Scotland closed down totally on the Sunday from 7pm and didn’t reopen until checks for damage had been carried out across the network. Further south, a number of disruptions due to fallen trees were in place with services south of the Thames disrupted. Then, as if storm damage wasn’t enough, an overnight engineering train derailed in the Mitre Bridge Junction area blocking the Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction section of the London Overground! Things didn’t look promising for a trip out on Monday but I decided to give it a go anyhow.
Northern Line down to Euston where I rode 350232 on a London North Western Tring service out as far as Harrow & Wealdstone. I spent a pleasant if chilly period there watching Class 390 units like 390138…
…Heading north to Glasgow. I need a few of these units since last year’s restart and 3 of them were new for the collection. I also picked up 2 of the outstanding class 350 similar to 350234 seen heading southbound…
It was clear that the long distance services from Scotland were still getting back up to speed so, with the cold starting to make my hip ache, I decided to head back into Euston. From there I hopped over to Kings Cross to do some hunting on the Piccadilly Line. The 1973 stock units on the line will soon start disappearing as their replacements enter service and I still need quite a few of them!
I took the first train, a Heathrow T5 service, as far as Baron’s Court before waiting for the following train – That was terminating at Northfields which I need for my Freedom Pass Project! I spent a short time there, photographing unit 130 heading for Cockfosters…
…There were some extended gaps in the service and Heathrow bound trains were packed with passengers and luggage, as were some trains going into central London. I took the opportunity to do some short hops on my way back to pick up some 1973 stock haulage before changing to the District Line at Earls Court and and routing home via Blackfriars, West Hampstead and Gospel Oak to Upper Holloway. During the course of the day I logged 182 trains of which 32 were first sightings for me.
We were due to attend a family event on Saturday which would double as my first longer distance train trip of the year. As a precursor to that, on Thursday I had to collect the tickets from Paddington. As you might expect, this was not a simple there and back but rather, an opportunity to get some more haulage and spotting at a variety of locations😂
Starting at East Finchley I travelled to King’s Cross & St Pancras, where I logged the trains on each station and got this nice shot of 801210…
…getting ready to depart for Edinburgh. From there I took a train out to Finsbury Park before heading back south to Moorgate where a short trip on the Circle Line dropped me off a Liverpool Street. Once more I logged the trains present before catching another train out to Stratford where I treated myself to lunch!
From Stratford it was a trip on the Elizabeth line across London to Paddington station – at last I could collect those tickets🤣 I then did some spotting at the platform end and got a nice shot of 802106 passing under Westbourne Bridge…
…with a service from Penzance. I finished my visit to Paddington by purchasing a card and box of chocs for Epi’s birthday and headed home. Total for the day – 126 logged of which I needed 10.
Saturday and that first long trip of the year – Paddington to Warminster in order to visit relatives and celebrate some birthdays. The pleasant irony at the start is that for the first leg of the journey, from Paddington to Westbury, it was 802106 that provided the haulage😎
Westbury is a busy freight hub, servicing the Mendip stone quarries as well as being home for engineers trains. There were quite a few locos in the yards like 59003 and 66002 in this shot…
From there it was a short hop on a Portsmouth service to Warminster on 158749 with sister unit 158766, seen here on arrival at Warminster…
…With Alasdair striding purposefully down the platform😅
It was a pleasant family gathering and presented an opportunity for me to be photographed with my Cousins…
…and there was Cake😂 …
All too soon it was time to head back to London, riding 166202 as far as Westbury where I was able to get some night shots on the station including this shot of 166204 arriving…
…and 66775 heading out with an engineers train loaded with rails…
…before boarding 800301 back to Paddington and Journey’s end…
…A very pleasant longer trip and the first time I’ve ridden on the IET (Class 800 etc) types – quite impressive but perhaps not as smooth as the HST’s that preceded them. The acceleration when on electric power is very good!
Time to get Epi back home as she’s tired, so no diversions for me🤣 Total for the day – 55 logged of which I needed 22! There’s train strikes next week but I hope to be able to fit in some spotting and I also have a football match in Dulwich to try and get to – lets see how it goes 😅👍
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