Spotting 2024 – Week 11

This week kicked off with a Mothering Sunday trip down to King’s Cross to buy Epi a new tablet. The weather was awful and I just logged what I saw on the trip to and from on the Northern Line. There were none I needed but I did pick up a new 1995 stock unit for haulage on the way home.

My next trip out had to wait until Wednesday. This was another attempt at fitting in some freight photography on the North London Line, so I travelled from New Southgate down to Highbury & Islington. This time there were no issues when I got there and the day rapidly became a joint photography and haulage expedition. Highbury and Islington is where the East London Line terminates, so I had the possibility of getting my last 378/1 unit there while catching 378/2’s that I need working the North London Line Services.

I should make a brief mention here about the proposed naming of the London Overground lines so that they have separate identities. Under the scheme, the East London Line will be called the Windrush Line while the North London Line will become the Mildmay Line. I think it is a shame that the names applied by the passengers to these routes have been shuffled to one side but I guess in a couple of generations younger passengers will just use the new monikers. I will take the opportunity to introduce the other new names during my travels, and I will try to use the correct name once they’re rolled out on the network maps but you will have to forgive me if I occasionally apply the old name that I have always known these routes by.

Second freight of the day at Highbury & Islington – 66170 with a train of aggregates empties…

…This was an odd service running from Acton Yard to Bow Depot. It isn’t in the normal working timetable and appears to have been a VST (Very Short Term) addition possibly for just the one day to allow some hoppers to be relocated. An interesting human thing to note in the photo – the passengers on the near platform are ignoring the freight while a lot of those on the platform it’s passing through are watching it😅

Not long after, I picked up 378217 for haulage across to Caledonian Road & Barnsbury where the next train going back east was 378216 – another I needed for haulage. 2 down and back to Highbury & Islington👍 Not long after that 378152 popped up on the East London Line operating a service to West Croydon – I noted that for later as I wanted to remain on the North London for the time being. I also let 378234 pass westbound before picking up 378207 west once more to Caledonian Road & Barnsbury.

The island platform at Caledonian Road & Barnsbury is not very good for photography, but there is another platform used only for access to the station that allows for better shots. Here are 90043 and 90049…

…with a Felixstowe North to Trafford Park intermodal service.

I already knew that another 378 I needed, ‘220, was going to be coming through soon after, so I wandered back to the island platform and caught that to Camden Road where I planned to wait for ‘234 returning from Clapham Junction. While there I picked up shots of 66506 eastbound…

…with the Wentloog (Cardiff) to Felixstowe North intermodal and 66556 westbound…

…on a Chelmsford to Willesden aggregates service. Then I was back to Highbury & Islington on 378234. If you’ve been keeping count, that’s five 378’s for haulage so far😀

Back at Highbury, and another freight…

…Doesn’t look like a freight you’re probably thinking! This is a new service set up by Varamis Rail using redundant class 321 units to transport parcels and similar goods. Their first route was from Glasgow to Birmingham. They have now added Wembley and Liverpool Street to their network, permitting fast delivery of packages to the heart of London. Whether the venture will ultimately be a success is unknown but currently things look promising.

I stayed at Highbury until 378152 returned and then I caught that down to Whitechapel before making my way home. That was six of my outstanding class 378’s for haulage and now I only need two to complete the set! During the day I logged 80 individual loco’s / units of which I needed 6.

Last trip for the week was to Dollis Hill – Not somewhere I’d usually be going to do some spotting. The station is served by the Jubilee Line and passed by the Metropolitan Line services as well as Circle line stock going to Neasden Depot for maintenance like S7 unit 21323 in this shot…

Alongside the Underground tracks are the lines into London Marylebone that are served by Chiltern Trains such as 165034 in this shot…

…If you look closely, you can see the Wembley Stadium arch above the tower block on the right. Why was I at Dollis Hill? This year Marylebone celebrates 125 years since it was opened by the Great Central Railway. As part of that celebration, last friday saw Retro Railtours running an HST set recalling the prestigious Master Cutler express that ran from Marylebone to Sheffield. Dollis Hill was one of the few locations easily available to me where I could hopefully get an unimpeded view of the train with its RailAdventure provided class 43 loco’s. I was in luck – no Underground trains in the way…

…Though the Sun had gone behind the clouds once more.

After that I went back to West Hampstead Station, hoping to catch the same train departing from Marylebone on a return run to Banbury. That was always going to be a gamble because the Jubilee Line service is more intense at that point. Unfortunately I would be disappointed along with two other rail enthusiasts who had taken the same gamble. Never mind – I did get the shot I initially went for and I also got this shot of Jubilee Line 1996 stock unit 96116 approaching West Hampstead from Finchley Road…

Back to Baker Street and a short walk in Regents Park…

…where I ate my lunch and also bumped into a gentleman in a morning suit😅…

One of my convoluted trips home completed the day and the week’s activity on the rails. I logged 214 individual trains of which I needed 35 and I picked up 11 new units for haulage (partly because of my odd route home)! I wonder where week 12 will take me😎