Spotting 2024 – Week 28

I’ve had an enjoyable week on and off the rails. On Monday I wanted to go somewhere but my heart wasn’t really in it first thing. I literally forced myself to go out with a vague notion of perhaps going to Oxford. This is one of those slightly further away locations that I have been planning on visiting for a while but have lacked the conviction. The main reason for going to Oxford is to pick up on some of the freight that avoids Reading – The Southampton intermodal services for example, often operated by Freightliner’s class 70’s. There are also the Cross Country services, though these can be seen at Reading.

By the time I got to Paddington station I’d lost my ‘dither’ somewhere on the Elizabeth Line and I hit the ticket machine with reborn enthusiasm. I had planned for the 10:53 departure but was at the station early enough to catch the preceding 10:23 Oxford service operated by 802006.

Those who have watched Morse will know that Oxford is a bland modern station with 4 tracks passing through. The result is a limitation of photographic options. Deteriorating weather would also play a part during the day. Variation was achieved by using the long lens much of the time.

GWR operate their longer distance services using variations of the Hitachi AT300 like the 802 I came out on. Here’s 800321 arriving from Paddington with a service for Worcester Shrub Hill…

GWR’s local stopping services are operated by class 165 like 165121 terminating in Platform 4…

…with an all stations service from Didcot Parkway. Oxford, outside of the rush hour, is populated by tourists and students – a good mix of which can be seen in this shot. If you look closely you’ll also see a photo-bombing Pigeon😅

There are services from London Marylebone operated by Chiltern Railways with a mix of Class 165 and 168 units – usually terminating in platform 2 like 165027…

Cross Country’s services are made up of Class 220 and 221 units – Here’s 220031 on a Bournemouth to Manchester service…

…It was a good day for new Cross Country sightings – I logged 9 and wanted all of them!

Freight services usually take the centre roads through the station. Here’s 59003 on an engineers train from Westbury to Bescot…

…I was disappointed by the lack of class 70’s though. It wasn’t until almost 2pm that I picked up Freightliner’s 70010 with an intermodal service from Lawley Street…

…to Southampton and Colas’ 70805 on a Westbury to Cliffe Hill near Leicester…

…As you can see, the weather had deteriorated markedly by this point and I decided to head home – just about beating the rain to my front door! Generally it was a good day out – I logged 109 of which I needed 32 and I picked up 4 new for haulage.

Tuesday and Wednesday were taken up with other activities although Wednesday was a good day with the Swiss event in Euro Truck Simulator finally getting completed👍Thursday was my next spotting trip and this time I had decided to photo some freight around the North London Line. I’m not going to pick up many new sightings doing that but it’s a good time of the year for photography.

The day started inauspiciously with long delays on the Northern Line – I decided to take the bus instead down to Upper Holloway. From then, everything got a whole lot better. Using Realtime Trains to plan my activities, almost every interception of a freight train went well. Here’s some examples amidst the summer greenery of North London – Gospel Oak…

…66565 on a Basford Hall to London Gateway intermodal.

Willesden Junction…

…66428 on the Tescoliner. This is on the Kensal Green to Harlesden Junction chord and it’s the first time I’ve been lucky enough to get a photo of a train passing the low-level platforms on this piece of track that connects the North London Line with the West Coast Mainline. Services used to be sparse back in the old days though it’s well used now. Often the view is blocked by the regular passenger services at the platform, so I finally got lucky😎

West Hampstead…

…66606 with empty hoppers from Dagenham to Wembley and 66509…

…with the Wentloog to Felixstowe North intermodal.

Gospel Oak once more…

…66726 with a London Gateway to Hams Hall intermodal. Tally for the day: 52 Logged of which I needed 5 and not a single new for haulage – but then I didn’t expect any😅

Friday was a trip to the optometrist and Saturday saw me photographing my first football match of the pre-season. On to next week and I haven’t decided what to do yet – lets go with the flow😂👍