Spotting 2024 – Week 7

After last week’s class 378 haulage hunt which saw me passing back and forth through the Thames Tunnel, this week has seen more variation though I’ve only been out twice. Tuesday was ruled out by a football match that never took place – Bognor’s pitch being pronounced waterlogged just after 13:00 on the day. Thursday was a day for waiting in – I was expecting a delivery. With the weekly shop planned for Wednesday, that only left Monday and Friday.

Monday was my Birthday – Don’t worry if you missed it, I try to play these things down😅 I decided that I’d treat myself to a new type for haulage. So off I went to St. Pancras where I bought a ticket to Ashford in Kent. I was going to try out the Class 395’s on the high speed route that they share with the Eurostar trains going to the continent. How fast is high speed you may ask. The Eurostar’s are capable of 300kph or around 190mph. But the Class 395’s have a top speed of 225kph – 140mph. This allows them to whisk me to Ashford in 37 minutes with stops at Stratford International and Ebbsfleet on the way. Compare that to the normal ‘fastest’ journey which takes 1hr 17min – quite a saving!

Ashford International station…

…with its central platform dedicated to international passengers, looks a little sorry for itself as Eurostar services don’t stop here. The building is closed and the tracks are rusty. The service was removed during the Covid pandemic and the restoration has been delayed by concerns over the effect of Brexit. Currently, it seems unlikely that Eurostar services will return before 2025.

The rest of the station is quite busy with the high speed services – here’s 395029 arriving from St. Pancras…

…From here the 395’s go on to destinations on the Kent Coast – Ramsgate, Margate and Chatham for example – sharing the normal tracks with the non-high speed services. These services are mainly operated by Class 375’s like 375305…

…arriving from Ramsgate with a service to Charing Cross. There’s also a Southern service from Eastbourne…

…which terminates here – The green making a nice change from the sea of Southeastern blue😅

It was a great day out during which I travelled on two 395’s and logged 64 sightings of which I needed 23! I may use the high speed again in the late spring as we are due to play Margate as our last away game of the season.

Friday and I had a simple plan – go and watch trains at West Ealing. I also had a few additional ideas in the back of my mind so lets see how things played out. A trip down the Northern Line to Tottenham Court Road where I transferred to the Elizabeth Line and 345018 to take me out to West Ealing…

…where I took this shot of sister unit 345031 passing through with a Reading service.

The fast lines were busy as always with Heathrow Express services…

…and GWR services from The West Country, Bristol and South Wales…

…In this case, 800314 heading to Paddington from Swansea. In the distance, on the right you can just see Hanwell station.

One of the main reasons for going to West Ealing is the range of freight services that pass through, providing good photo opportunities. However, while you can rely on the trains to do what you want, the same can’t be said of the travelling public…

…Not quite the shot I had planned 😂 When you’re concentrating on where the train is in the frame, you aren’t likely to notice anything else! Anyway the loco, 66794 ‘Steve Hannam’ is painted in a retro-Trainload Petroleum livery – it’s hauling aviation fuel from Grain Oil Terminal to Colnbrook for the planes at Heathrow Airport.

Coming off the Greenford line with a train of Hoppers from Aylesbury to Willesden Sidings was 60029 ‘Ben Nevis”…

…The Class 60’s where the last BR design locos built – After privatisation, most fell into the hands of DB Schenker who have stored them – So there are only a few actually running which is a shame and a waste. DC Rail have 4 of them of which ‘028 and ‘029 have been active on the Cappagh aggregates trains like this service.

After a couple of hours at West Ealing, I decided it was time to head home. Once more it was a convoluted route, starting with the ‘Greenford Donkey’ which was being operated by 165124…

…This might be my last chance to ride a 165 on this route – GWR are going to trial running a battery class 230 unit on the service and new ‘rapid charging rails’ were noted between the running tracks in the platform.

From Greenford I took the Central Line out to West Ruislip where I caught Chiltern Railways 165014…

…to take me back into Marylebone. I don’t often use this line so I knew I was likely to catch some new sightings along the way, which I did – although 165036…

…seen at Marylebone, wasn’t one of them😅

The rest of the journey went as follows: Bakerloo Line from Marylebone to Baker Street where I grabbed some lunch from Treats on the Metropolitan Line platforms. Then Metropolitan Line across to Euston Square and a quick walk to Euston station. London Overground out to Willesden Junction where I changed, catching a shot of 66546 running through the high level lines…

…with an intermodal service from Wentloog (near Cardiff) to London Gateway Freightliner Terminal near Canvey Island. From Willesden Junction I was lucky enough to get 378228, one I need for haulage, across to Gospel Oak where I also got lucky, riding 710263 for the first time over to Upper Holloway before taking the Northern Line home! Another great day out – 204 logged of which I needed 32. I also got 10 new for haulage 😎👍