This week started on Tuesday with an outing to one of my freedom pass boundaries – a trip on the Southwestern to Feltham. I had hoped to start with another Class 701 ride but didn’t make it in time after choosing to take the bus to Brent Cross West and pick up a Thameslink to London Bridge from there. From London Bridge I took the short hop across to Waterloo East and walked across the bridge into Waterloo station, arriving at 10:33. With the Windsor service that the 701’s are working gone I picked up a Class 458 unit out to Clapham Junction.
At Clapham Junction, I know that there is an engineering train booked through platform 2 at around 11:20 so I made my way over to platform 5 with the intention of photographing it. On the way to the end of the platform I was accosted by an estate agent! No, he wasn’t trying to sell me part of the station😅 In fact, he spotted me swapping lenses on my camera and approached me for some photography advice. He has to do a mix of drone views and still photographs of the houses he is selling and was wondering about ISO settings and how they work. We had a friendly 10 minute chat while he was waiting for his train and then I completed my stroll to the end of the platform.
The engineers train duly turned up with recently built 69010 in charge…
…Back in Steam days, newly constructed locomotives were painted in workshop grey for their ex-works photograph before being painted in the company livery prior to entry into service. GBRf (GB Railfreight) however, seem to be quite happy to send out a locomotive in undercoat! These ‘new’ class 69’s are being painted in a variety of colour schemes, so it may be a case of having to enter service while the corporate mind decides what livery the loco will ultimately receive! I have used the term ‘recently built’ and ‘new’ about the Class 69’s but they are actually re-engined Class 56 locos. If you want the full story, look up Class 69 on Wikipedia.
I continued my trip out to Feltham…
…Where I caught a shot of 701043 working the Windsor and Eton run on its trip back to Waterloo…
I wandered back to Clapham with a stop off at Richmond for lunch where I caught this shot of a District Line train passing the 1940 built Southern Railway signal box…
Back at Clapham I was pleasantly surprised to see 378229 – one of the two outstanding 378’s I need for haulage, so I hopped on that to West Brompton before doing some London Underground spotting and riding on my way home. Totals for the day – 162 logged of which I needed 15. I made 12 trips and every one of those was a Winner!
Thursday was another Freedom Pass run – This time to Swanley on the Southeastern…
…Where I photographed 375922 on a fast Ramsgate to London Victoria service. The trip also coincided with a Belmond British Pullman special and I was able to photograph that too…
…although it’s not the most inspiring of images. There are a couple of other vantage spots that I didn’t get to try out but that will give me an excuse to visit again in future.
I broke up my trip home to add some more units for haulage, initially catching a train to Bromley South. I walked across Bromley, picking up some lunch on the way, before boarding 465186 at Bromley North for the short trip to Grove Park. I then train hopped to Hither Green, Lewisham and London Bridge before heading home via West Hampstead and Gospel Oak. Totals for the day; 93 logged of which I needed 11 and 6 new for haulage.
Saturday was a football awayday with Wingate & Finchley visiting Billericay Town. With many of the players living on the east side of London there was no coach to the ground so I decided to turn it into a trainspotting trip. I made my way to Stratford where I spent around an hour and a half spotting before boarding a Southend service to Billericay.
The match was a hard-fought affair in which Billericay took the lead on 10 minutes. They then spent most of the rest of the game protecting their lead – a risky strategy. I was doing my usual photography role and caught this foul on Matty – more fitting to Rugby than Football…
…It earned the ‘Ricay player a yellow card although it must have been borderline red as it looked like he denied a clear goalscoring opportunity. It was still 1-0 to the home side on 90 minutes and the Ref indicated there would be a minimum of 8 minutes of Injury time. One thing our Manager seems to have instilled in the side is the importance of playing to the very end of the game. On 90+5 Zack equalised…
…and on 90+9 we took the lead with Joseph Boachie slotting home. There was just time for ‘Ricay to make a last ditch attack which ended with our keeper gratefully clutching the ball. A 2-1 away win of the ‘Smash & Grab Raid’ variety! Both keepers were seen flaked out on the ground in the aftermath…
It was a very happy group of Wingate fans who walked back to the station to catch the Southend to Liverpool Street train operated by 720’s 524 & 560…
It was an excellent day out for me – An away win, 113 trains logged of which I needed 15 and I also picked up 5 new for haulage😎👍
Week 13 is ahead and it will be a disrupted week with a football match on Tuesday and again on Saturday, so I think I will only get in a single spotting trip. See you soon😀👌
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