Last week saw a lot of activity, starting with Wednesday. A check on the Railtour Info site earlier in the week had alerted me to the possibility that 70000 Britannia would be operating a special on that day. As she didn’t turn up last time I tried to photograph her – it was Royal Scot instead – I thought I should give it another go. There was a bonus; The special was running from Peterborough to Canterbury but Britannia was being attached at Willesden South Western Sidings, so the first part of the trip was being handled by Class 47’s. I looked at various options to try and photograph them as well. The issue is that, as a result of the mean-spirited actions of the previous self-servative government, my Freedom Pass now only becomes available for use after 9:00am. Two choices then, either pay for the trip to wherever I was going to photograph the 47’s or walk part of the way there.
Taking into account my wish to photograph Britannia and needing to get to a suitable location beyond the Willesden changeover, I opted to go to Camden Road. The special was due through there at 09:24. I needed to reclaim 10 minutes somewhere if I was going to get there on time. The option I chose was to walk to Archway and board the Northern Line there just after 9:00am – clawing back that time and allowing me to get from Camden Town station to Camden Road just about in time – The Scots side of me wouldn’t want to pay for something that should have been free. I left home for the hour of walking just after 8:00 and arrived at Archway at 09:05. Let’s be positive, that’s some decent steps in the bag for the day😅There were some issues on the Northern Line which threatened to derail my plans and I entered Camden Road station with only a minute or so to spare – battling my way past exiting passengers and dreading the rumble of passing wheels overhead. I made it up to platform 2 with no sign of the special. A quick check on Realtime Trains showed that it had missed its path south of Finsbury Park and was stuck at Copenhagen Tunnel waiting for a suitable gap to cross the traffic going into Kings Cross. Basically, I got lucky!
The special eventually arrived 15 minutes late with D1924 leading…
…Sister 47 D1935 was bringing up the rear. The train halted briefly to pick up a member of traincrew before continuing on its way towards Willesden. I crossed over to platform 1, stopping briefly to hand in an Oyster Card that someone had dropped on platform 2. My route from here was to travel west to Shepherds Bush where I hoped to be in time for Britannia, or whatever steam locomotive was actually hauling the second leg of the special. But, while I was waiting I was able to shoot 90044 and 90009 on a Basford Hall to Felixstowe North intermodal…
Well, I got to Shepherds Bush and I waited… And waited… The special was delayed and I began to wonder if Britannia had failed – I had passed a Class 67 diesel at Mitre Bridge and I wondered if it had been sent to take over. At around 10:30 I was treated to a pair of Shoeboxes, 73202 and 73109 working a Railhead Treatment Train, which on their own would have made the trip worthwhile…
…Time ticked on and I took the chance to photograph a pair of the London Overground’s 378’s passing each other…
…The guy sitting on the seat in the foreground was waiting for the special as well 😅 Right behind the Stratford service on platform 2 was Southern’ s 377708 on an East Croydon to Watford Junction service which I photographed with an advert for the London Lions as a backdrop…
…Finally, 45 minutes late, the special showed up and I was relieved to see it was 70000 Britannia at the front!..
…She gracefully drifted through the station leaving a scent of smoke and warm oil in her wake…
…A BR Standard Class 7 carrying with her memories of the final years of normal steam working in the UK. There’s a story to be told if I can put the words together, but that’s for another time maybe!
Shepherds bush can be a good place to watch freights but last Wednesday it wasn’t – just about every freight that could have run was cancelled – I guess everyone had enough aggregates to be going on with! I decided to make the best of it and head over to Ealing Broadway on the Central Line before taking a short hop on an Elizabeth Line train to West Ealing. From there I rode the Greenford service and re-joined the Central Line for a trip out to West Ruislip. I photographed a couple of Chiltern’s units there including 168321…
…on an Oxford to Marylebone Service before heading back into Marylebone myself and going home on the Underground. Tally for the day: 176 logged of which I needed 21. I also picked up 6 for haulage – Not a bad return.
This is already a very long post, so I think we’ll need a Week 40 Part 2 as Friday and Saturday also saw some rail action 😎👍
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