Spotting 2025 – Week 1

It may seem a bit early to be writing this post but in truth everything pertinent has already happened so I may as well get it done. Of course, the first days of the week were part of 2024 but there was little for me to do due to the weather and some family commitments. So we’re straight away into 2025…

New Years Day is traditionally a local derby match between football clubs. This year we were due to be visiting Potters Bar. There’s one issue with that, Potters Bar are currently playing at King’s Langley FC’s ground while their own is converted to artificial turf. King’s Langley is hardly local for us though it’s not as distant as a local derby for some other clubs around the country. The issue is that it sits outside the M25 and is a good 30 minute walk from the nearest stations with no bus service over the New Year period. Additionally, parking at the ground is very limited and most of that will rightly be taken by the players. I decided that I would be attending. That meant a train out from Euston as far as Harrow & Wealdstone from where I would buy a return for the rest of the journey.

Euston threw up a very nice surprise when I got there: One of Network Rail’s track inspection ‘Dogboxes’…

…My first new sighting of the year!

The trip out to Harrow & Wealdstone went well with a new class 350, ‘122, providing the haulage. Having reached the limit of my Freedom Pass, I bought my return ticket from there and waited for the next train to King’s Langley. I was able to photograph a couple of other services while waiting…

…350249 on its way to Euston. You’ll notice that it was raining heavily – In the back of my mind was the thought that the game might be called off. But I got on the next service – picking up 350112; another new one for haulage. After reaching King’s Langley I walked to the ground in the pouring rain – noting on the way that the River Gade was in full spate. By the time I got to the ground my trousers were soaked through and my coat was soggy (but dry inside). I arrived in time to see the referee doing a pitch inspection. Standing with the players and coaching staff, we all knew what his decision would be – Game Off! So it was time to head home… Gavin, our keeping Coach kindly gave me a lift back to the station.

That should have been an end to the day’s drama but it wasn’t. Joined by one of my fellow fans, we waited on the platform for the 14:16 which was just arriving at Hemel Hempstead a few minutes up the line. Everything was looking good – But we waited and 14:16 drifted to 14:22 – still no train. I checked on Realtime Trains and our train was shown at at Hemel at 14:11 but no further updates after that. Not a good sign. By 14:25 the train was showing on the indicator board as Delayed so I delved further into Realtime Trains and discovered that a person had been struck by a train. That is very bad news. I said to my colleague “Person struck by a train – That’s a minimum of 2 hours before anything moves.” Then the sole station staff member turned up to apologetically close up the station – necessary because some passengers do silly things when left waiting for trains that are not going to come. I asked his advice and he suggested going to either Watford or St Albans by cab.

I’m not sure what my friend would have done if I wasn’t there – he is smart in a non-worldly way. Given the circumstances I took charge and found the local cab office – A £30 cab ride to Watford Metropolitan Line station and then back home from there. This was a major inconvenience for sure but I think it’s important to think beyond yourself. I’d already identified the probable timeframe of the disruption following a railway suicide from previous experience – in the circumstances I knew it would be hard for the member of staff at King’s Langley and I made sure I kept the conversation polite. The actual collision happened at Watford Junction – sadly a popular spot for suicides. My thoughts are with the Family and Friends of the person but especially with the transport staff involved with the aftermath – for some it will be a career ending day as they struggle to come to terms with what they have witnessed. For the record – the first train south from King’s Langley finally happened at 17:12 as services resumed and a full service would not have returned for a couple of hours after that. I was already home and posting on Bluesky at 17:12…

Moving on – Thursday was a quiet day licking my wounds. Friday was my first proper spotting trip for 2025. I had decided to go get some 455’s for haulage and possible a 465 or two also. Both types may well be retired from service in the next 12 months. The sunlight was very harsh on Friday and was a real contrast to the horrible New Years Day weather. I didn’t take a lot of photos as I rode around the network but a couple are worth including here. At Wimbledon I got this shot of London Underground’s S7 stock unit 21439 arriving…

I shuttled back through Waterloo and London Bridge before taking a trip out to East Croydon. From there I picked up one of the services to Watford Junction. As luck would have it, a brief halt at a signal allowed me to catch a shot of 377614 taking the chord that connects Norwood Junction to West Croydon…

…’614 is on her way to Epsom. It’s lovely how the Southern green stands out against the winter landscape. My last shot of the day was taken at Stonebridge Park. 710377 is seen approaching on a Euston to Watford service. The young lady decided to dance out into my photo despite her parents disapproval 😅…

…Such a shame that her moment of fame is out of focus 😅 I actually like having human activity in some of my train shots so if she thought it would annoy me… Guess again 🤣 I should also mention that Transport for London finally implemented the renaming of the various routes with signage and announcements over the Christmas Period. So, 710377 is operating a ‘Lioness Line’ service. I’ll try and get with the programme but this is still the Watford DC Lines to me🙄😅

Today I should have been photographing Wingate & Finchley but… Game Off! Frozen Pitch! – Hey, that’s the first week of January negotiated without a defeat – Result!!! 🤣 Now I have to plan for next week’s spotting – See you then 😎👍