Spotting 2025 – Week 5

The week began in a sad manner – Epi, her Sister and I went to view our Brother’s body. It’s something that I didn’t do for my Father or Mother as I preferred to remember them as they had been in life and I think seeing the dead brings a bit too much finality to the situation. But I appreciate that for others the sense of closure helps complete the cycle of life and death. There was still a lot to be done and we were tied up on Tuesday with more funeral bits and pieces. Epi returned to work on Wednesday. Finally on Thursday, I found myself with some free time.

I had nothing planned that day so I started out on the bus to New Southgate. I’m trying to get the last class 717 unit I need for haulage but it once again eluded me. Once my day was in motion I decided to have a go at picking off some more of the Docklands Light Railway units I need to see. That meant taking a trip out to Stratford to pick up the DLR from there. I changed off 717014 at Finsbury Park and was lucky enough to pick up a class 700 that I need for haulage, 700116, as far as Farringdon. The Elizabeth line took me to Liverpool Street and I then rode another new unit, 720125, out to Stratford.

I opted for an early lunch at Stratford and spent a pleasant hour there watching the passing trains over an avocado and olive paste baguette and a coffee. The lighting was harsh, making photography difficult but I was quite pleased with this black & white going away shot of 90010 being led by 90041 on a Felixstowe North to Trafford Park intermodal…

Lunch over, I took to the DLR. The plan was to travel out to Beckton and see what might be visible on the DLR depot there. Unfortunately the depot sits a long way back from the running tracks and there was no way to identify what I could see.

I decided to do some photography at Cyprus – one of the stranger named stations on the Beckton Branch. It sits close to the Cyprus Estate – a housing development for the workers at the Royal Albert Dock. The estate opened in 1881 and was named to commemorate the UK’s acquisition of the Island of Cyprus in 1878. The DLR station serves the University of East London’s Docklands Campus which is right next door. There seem to be quite a few students using their mobile phones in this photo of DLR’s 79 arriving with a Tower Gateway service…

Along this stretch of its route the DLR acts as the central reservation for the A1020 dropping down below street level to serve both Beckton Park and Cyprus stations. Here are units 89 and 40 passing on the slope up from the western end of Cyprus…

I picked up a Tower Gateway service to continue my journey as far as Poplar then on another unit to Canary Wharf before taking a final trip to Greenwich. This shot taken there of DLR 46 arriving with a Lewisham bound service once more highlights the ups and downs of the DLR…

Greenwich is also served by Southeastern and Thameslink and it was from here that I began my journey home riding a piece of London’s railway history – The London and Greenwich Railway. Opened between 1836 and 1838, it claims to be London’s first steam railway, the first railway built specifically for passengers and the first entirely elevated railway… That’s a lot of firsts! Because of this history, much of the elevated route is subject to Grade II listed status. I shared a photo of 700044 arriving at Greenwich in my Last on the Card post but here’s a different crop of that photo…

…Showing the Deptford Creek Lifting Bridge.

Back home I took stock – I logged 174 of which I needed 4, 3 of which were DLR units – I now only need 2 of the ones still in active use. During the course of the day I also picked up 7 new for haulage. Not too bad a return 😎

Saturday was a footie awayday – A trip down to Chichester where we lost 2-1 against the City side in a keenly fought match where both sides played good football. Here’s a shot from the match with Loic (in blue) contesting for the ball…

…and here’s a shot back at the station showing 377449 on a Brighton service with a small group of our fans in the foreground…

On the way home I surprised our Chairman by getting off at Clapham Junction – “Just going to do some Trainspotting” I quipped😅 In reality, I hate the transfer to the underground at Victoria station so I usually hop at Clapham and pick up a Waterloo bound service which gives me all sorts of routing options for my trip home. It proved to be a good choice as I ducked and dived around the network to boost my day’s haulage collection. The tally was 73 logged of which I needed 2 and I picked up 6 new for haulage, 4 of those after I de-trained at Clapham!

Not a bad end to the week. Next week is looking less certain as I have some things I need to do – Doctors check-up, Optometrists check-up, Mechanics check-up (that’s for the car, not me!). And Saturday’s football is a home game. So I don’t think I’ll get much spotting done 🙄 See you next week 👍