Spotting 2024 – Week 26

After the recent hiatus, I’m back on track this week both figuratively and literally. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that the long drag to get our deliveries done for the Trade Connections Switzerland event is complete – We’ve still got another 2.5milllion tonnes to deliver by July 15th. Mathilda from our company’s bulk division has been doing most of my work for the event…

…Seen here leaving Frankfurt with 24t of Milk bound for Bern. Every trip feels somewhat insignificant against the target – will we get there I wonder🤔

I discovered something interesting about my Garmin Vivoactive 5 watch this week – You can include gaming as an activity! Apparently Garmin recognise eSports alongside more traditional forms of ‘exercise’. Looking at the information available, this provides a view of how you are performing while gaming allowing you to target areas where you could improve. I think this is best for those playing games like Overwatch or similar multiplayer shooter games. However, I tried it while playing Euro Truck Simulator and found it gave some insight into how the game affects my stress level, so I’ll probably do the occasional run with the watch turned on to monitor things 😎

One final note on the Truck Simulator games – The base Euro Truck Simulator 2 and American Truck Simulator games are currently 90% off in the Steam Summer Sale. So if you wanted to dip your toe in the water and try them out, now’s the time!

This week’s Spotting was condensed into Wednesday and Friday but both were successful photographic trips and I discovered a new location as well. On Wednesday I was targeting a special at Harrow & Wealdstone – not a kettle on this occasion. You know how it is when you want to get out early – someone else always does their own thing🙄 So I was 25 minutes late leaving home requiring me to get down to Euston and out to Harrow & Wealdstone (HRW) in around 1hr 20min. That fitness training was to prove beneficial – brisk walk to the station took around 15 mins; much better than the 25mins I used to have to allow just 3 months ago! Made it down to Euston in time to catch the 10:24 Tring service which got me to HRW with 6 minutes to spare!

First photo of the day…

…57601 ‘Windsor Castle’ leads the Northern Belle through HRW while a fellow enthusiast videos the event. I had hoped this would turn up one of the 57’s that I need but ‘601 was partnered with 57313 and I’ve seen both before🙄

I decided to stay for a couple of hours after the special to see what freight photos I could get. It proved to be a good choice. A minor issue at Watford Junction saw a couple of Avanti West Coast passenger services being sent down the slow lines allowing me to get a nice shot of their ‘Pride’ unit 390119…

I also caught one of the ‘Tescoliners’ – DRS’s 66425 hurrying north with the Tilbury to Daventry running around 7 mins late…

…I often see this service when I visit Barking, but 66425 was a new loco for me.

Another interesting freight – DB Schenker’s 66161 (still in old EWS colours) with the 6X11 Toton to Dollands Moor cars…

…These are Toyota vehicles built at Burnaston on delivery to Toyota’s European dealers. We’ll revisit this service later!

Next, an all time first for me – I’ve never logged any of these units before. The Class 325’s have always avoided me by hiding inside the Royal Mail’s Wembley depot! 325007 leads ‘009 through HRW on route to Warrington…

At this point it was getting very hot and my water was running low, so it was time to make my way home. I decided to catch one of Southern’s services to Shepherds Bush where I could swap platforms and take the Overground back to Gospel Oak.

I haven’t actually spent any time at Shepherds Bush – usually I just pass through or get off to change to the Central Line. So while changing trains I took a look at the footbridge at the northern end of the station. A quick check on Realtime Trains showed that a Hanwell to Tolworth freight was due through soon so I decided to wait for that and caught a nice shot of 59101 ‘Village of Whatley’ in its green Heidelberg Materials paintjob…

…framed by a nice display of flowering Buddleia. That concluded Wednesday’s spotting: 100 logged of which I needed 16. Only the 1 new for haulage.

On Friday I decided to visit an old haunt – Kensington Olympia – and to take a more in depth look at Shepherds Bush. Once more it was a good day for freight although the first one wasn’t much of a train…

…66763 ‘Severn Valley Railway’ on it lonesome. This should have been an engineering train from Hoo Junction to Network Rail’s recycling facility at Whitemoor Yard but on this occasion there can’t have been anything to move. Can’t complain – 66763 is one I needed😅 Kensington is Overground territory and here’s 378219 going off duty…

…heading non-stop back to Wembley Carriage Sidings.

Another new one for me passing through Olympia was 66616…

…drifting through with Purley to Willesden empties. With a small gap between freights, I decided to hop back to Shepherds Bush and get myself lunch from the Petit Pret outside the station.

Back on the station and lunch eaten, first freight through was a Stewarts Lane to Wembley empties hauled by 66619 ‘Derek W. Johnson MBE’…

…With a digital advertsing hoarding providing a splash of colour on a grey day.

Remember the Toyota Cars at HRW? Here’s the same service on Friday at Shepherds Bush – This time with DB Schenker liveried 66073 in charge…

…Moving at speed, there’s a little dip in the track here and the cars get their suspension checked out😅

I decided to head home via Clapham Junction where I got a photo of Southwestern Railway’s 701528 sitting on the depot…

…Very few of these Arterio units have entered service and the vast majority are still sitting on the naughty step🙄 Totals for the day – 131 Logged of which I needed 9 and picked up 4 new for haulage. Lets see what next week will bring😎👍