Spotting 2025 – Week 34

This week I hit the tracks twice. On Wednesday I chose to go for that 455 hunt I aborted back at the beginning of August. In fact you’ve already seen something about Wednesday in my Time’s Arrow post. So let’s complete the story about class 455’s going to scrap for here is 37800 ‘Cassiopeia’ taking 5908 on its final journey to Sims Metals in Newport…

…passing slowly through platform 7 at Clapham Junction with 5854 bringing up the rear…

…It’s always sad to see trains going off to the scrapyard after many years of service but that’s the way of things.

Some other 455’s were still diligently going about their duties like 5849 seen arriving at Vauxhall on a Chessington South to Waterloo run…

…with 5731 bringing up the rear.

Meanwhile the Class 701’s are appearing on a lot more services and can be found on Shepperton, Windsor and Guildford runs. Here’s 701043 ‘Thames Racer’ on one of the latter arriving at Raynes Park…

…Looks like the vegetation there is getting a bit out of control 🙄

Although I spent much of the day riding 455’s and 701’s I did get to photo a couple of freights. Here’s 69005 ‘Eastleigh’ drifting down the grade from Wandsworth Town into Clapham Junction on the Eastleigh East Yard to Hoo Junction Up Yard engineers train…

…Finished in a version of the old British Railways green livery.

Friday was a day out on the north London freight routes starting out at Upper Holloway on the Suffragette line. When I let the first eastbound train go a curious member of station staff approached me to see if there was a problem. I explained that I was doing a little trainspotting and was waiting to photograph 2 freight trains that were scheduled to pass through. Curiosity satisfied, we passed the time of day in a friendly chat before I had to change platforms as my view of the second freight was going to be obstructed by a passenger service. So I hopped over to platform 1 where I captured 59201 ‘Westbury PSB 1984-2024’ on a Purfleet Foster Yeoman to Wembley Reception Sidings empty stone train…

…Built by EMD at London, Ontario, the loco carries a bell at one end in keeping with American practice – something it shares with 59001.

From Upper Holloway I hopped along to Gospel Oak where I photographed 66717 ‘Good Old Boy’…

…running light loco from Dagenham Dock to Tonbridge West Yard where it will probably be involved in engineering works over the weekend.

A short hop to Hampstead heath and a photo of 66788 on the Mossend Down Yard to Dagenham Dock car empties although the single deck wagons will probably be loaded with vans…

On to Finchley Road & Frognal for a photo of 66725 ‘Sunderland’ on an East Midlands Gateway to London Gateway intermodal service…

All this hopping about was of course courtesy of the resident class 378 and 710 units – Here’s 378255 arriving at my next stop, West Hampstead, with a Stratford to Clapham Junction service…

After catching the Tescoliner that followed soon after, I hurried across to West Hampstead Thameslink in the hope of photographing the 6F93 Churchyard Castle Cement to Ketton Ward Siding tanks. This proved to be another example of a service that didn’t run but was not cancelled by the operator on the system until later 😒Oh well, that’s some more steps in towards my month’s target 🤣 I decided to take a Thameslink in to Farringdon and then use the Metropolitan line to get to Baker Street where I could get some lunch from Treats before returning to West Hampstead via the Jubilee line and another short walk between stations.

I was back on West Hampstead in time to photograph 710374 on a Stratford to Richmond service…

…after which I photographed a couple of intermodals before switching platforms to catch 66952 on a Chelmsford to Wembley Reception Sidings train of empty stone wagons…

Then I decided to head back to Upper Holloway and another possible cement train photo opportunity. This time I was in luck – 66616 hauling the Hope (Earles Sidings) to Dagenham Down Yard tanks…

The member of Overground staff was still on duty and we once more exchanged friendly greetings before, after photographing another intermodal, I said my farewells and headed home😎👍

Saturday was a football match with Wingate & Finchley hosting Whitehawk. Once more we lost 1-0. To rub salt in the wound, I think we had a stonewall penalty turned down by the referee…

Wingate & Finchley 0 vs Whitehawk 1 (2025/26)

…No way has that player touched the ball which maintained its original path and he certainly brought ‘Rams’ down inside the area. I now believe there’s an appendix in the ref’s handbook that says ‘Give Wingate Nothing’ 😠

9 responses to “Spotting 2025 – Week 34”

bushboy

August 24, 2025 at 10:58 pm

I like 66717 ‘Good Old Boy’. Glad the station staff are keeping an eye on what’s going on with dodgy characters lurking on the platforms 😂
Sounds like there is something going on with the footy too

Reply
1. 2e0mca
  
  August 25, 2025 at 6:56 am
  
  Hi Brian – ‘717 was good as it was the only new sighting of the day 🤣 On our stations there are regular security checks with staff required to look for items secreted behind furniture etc. At small stations like Upper Holloway it will done by a staff member as part of their duties. At larger stations there is a dedicated safety and security team which is often provided by a contractor – at Clapham Junction they wear white ‘Trespass and Welfare Team’ bibs and carry out the checks that railway staff do in addition to watching for persons likely to do harm to themselves. Unfortunately suicides have become very common on the railway – Something that has increased significantly over the last 20 years and that’s almost certainly due to the policies of the right-wing governments we’ve had in the UK. Anyway, I make a point of greeting the Welfare team staff as they walk past. As for the guy at Upper Holloway – He was topping up his tan on the sunny side of the station 😅👍
  
  Reply
  1. bushboy
    
    August 25, 2025 at 8:59 am
    
    That’s good to let them know what you’re doing and they can recognise you in the future as a harmless train nut 😂
    It is so horrible that people do that and traumatise the drivers
Dan Antion

August 24, 2025 at 11:34 pm

I love the trains and the colors!

Reply
1. 2e0mca
  
  August 25, 2025 at 7:24 am
  
  Thanks Dan 😎👍
  
  The range of different colours is due to the privatisation of the railways. Different franchises – Different liveries. Sometimes the franchise passes to a new operator and the livery may change. The Class 455’s were painted red by South West Trains. When the franchise changed hands the new owners decided on a full rebrand. Now all the stock that is remaining / entering service has been painted dark blue and grey like the Class 701 at Raynes Park. They also went for a name change to South Western Railway. As the 455’s are going they’ve been left in the old red.
  
  You see the same with Freightliner in the shots above – The original colours are Green and Yellow. Then the company was bought by Genesee & Wyoming and locos are gradually being repainted in their Orange & Black like 59201. G&W were bought out by Brookfield Infrastructure and GIC in 2019 and separated from the Freightliner Group in 2024. But it looks like the orange & black rebrand will continue.
  
  GBRf’s Class 69’s are an anomaly – many of these loco’s having an individual colour-scheme which is often a replica of a past livery carried by other types in BR days. Other than them, GBRf’s locos are usually dark blue and yellow.
  
  The current government is pursuing a renationalisation policy as franchises end. This will slowly bring all the different passenger operators back into government ownership as Great British Railways. The freight operators will remain private and it seems there will still be some open operators permitted in competition on some routes. Whether the renationalisation will see a universal ‘corporate’ livery is something we don’t know as yet.
  
  Sorry for the long-winded reply but I thought you might like some background.
  
  Reply
Clare

August 25, 2025 at 8:17 pm

I agree, Martin. It is sad to see trains going off to the scrapyard, especially after so many years of (loyal) service but, sadly, that is the way of many things and riding on any train that is unsafe is too risky, not only for the travellers, but also for the government. Just imagine the law suits 🤔. Lovely to see your photos though and I laughed at your reference to the (new) rule in the refs handbook 😂(Sorry)

Reply
1. 2e0mca
  
  August 25, 2025 at 9:42 pm
  
  Hi Clare – Glad you liked the post 😎👍
  
  There isn’t really a safety issue with these trains – they’re maintained to the highest standard (Wimbledon depot has won more Golden Spanner awards than any other). It’s more about availability of spares and the fact that modern units will be more efficient and provide new standards of comfort for passengers – Toilets for example! 😅 Much of the rush to send them to scrap now is centred around the need for depot space for the 701’s as they arrive from store to enter service. But that introduces an issue in its own right – how to ensure you have enough of the new and the old to provide the timetabled services with enough spare units to provide cover should one break down.
  
  I just saw a post on Bluesky that tells me 5741 is one of a pair going on their final journey tomorrow 😔I might try to catch that movement somewhere other than Clapham Junction.
  
  Reply
  1. Clare
    
    August 26, 2025 at 10:04 pm
    
    Sorry Martin, I missed your ‘TIme’s Arrow’ post.
  2. 2e0mca
    
    August 26, 2025 at 10:08 pm
    
    np – Hopefully that adds to the context 😎👍