The last seeking autumn post shared photos taken in mid to late October. I went out hunting more shots in the first week of November and chose to head south east to Orpington. I’ve only been here a couple of times previously but recalled there being some trees and shrubs at the southern end of the station. The hope was that this would provide some colour.
One of the joys of going Southeastern is that their blue livery will work well against a green and yellow backdrop and so I give you…
…375713 approaching at speed on a Ramsgate to Charing Cross service.
Last time I visited the Buddleia was fully grown and you couldn’t see over it but it has been trimmed during the late summer allowing this shot of 375606…
…operating a Hastings to Charing Cross service that will call at Orpington. There are other shots possible at Orpington but not for our current purpose.
On the trip down I was looking for other potential photographic locations and Elmstead Woods stood out as worth a visit. Here we go, 375702 with a nice background of trees…
…Those trees climb high onto the hillsides above the station as evidenced by this shot of 375818…
It had been a generally grey day until the sun peeked out for just 10 minutes allowing me to catch 465195 arriving on a stopper to Sevenoaks…
Overall a good trip out to get some Autumn colour. From here, I intended to get some lunch and a coffee from Costa at Lewisham but was unpleasantly surprised when I found it closed and being rebuilt! So a trip on the Docklands Light Railway took me to Stratford where Pret was able to provide the required coffee and sustainance. The trip home from there was rather convoluted (as usual) and I wound up at West Hampstead in time to catch 66773 and 66753 passing through…
…Operating the Broxbourne circular leafbuster – A reminder that all those lovely golden leaves are a threat to rail safety!
I was out again on the Friday that week – Sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are opportunities on our doorstep! Here’s two Northern Line 1995 stock trains passing near Church Lane in Finchley…
I was on my way to hunt trains and colourful trees at Kensal Rise. It was a pretty good choice!… Here we see 66603 drifting down the grade with a Dagenham dock to Wembley aggregates train…
…66603 was playing dirty because I wanted to photograph the eastbound Trafford Park to London Gateway intermodal…
…66419 in charge! If this looks like I was close to 66603 on the right, I wasn’t. I acknowledged her driver from close to the yellow line and then stepped back to the fence at the back of the platform for this shot 🙂
Freight trains often clash at Kensal Rise when you’re looking to photograph them. Here’s 66129 running through on the Tilbury to Trostre Works steel train…
while a Wentloog to Felixstowe North intermodal passes on the other platform.
Back to West Hampstead and a reminder that Autumn is just that – Mists, mellow Fruitfulness and probably Rain…
…66596 on a Trafford Park to London Gateway intermodal. Not nice weather for the passengers – 378231 arriving in a subsequent downpour…
…There was a young lady sharing the shelter with me and she rightly decided that staying out of my photo was both polite and also the dry option 😅
With the rain leaving off and time to cook dinner looming it was time to head home and I decided to take Thameslink from the adjacent station. At this point I should tell a story from earlier in the day. West Hampstead has 3 stations as I think I have told you before, all within 500 metres of each other. In the morning, having used Thameslink from Kentish Town I had walked across to this West Hampstead. On arrival I wandered onto the bridge over the platforms to survey my travelling options at which point I was approached by a young lady dressed in a manner I would associate with the Muslim faith. Her question? – “Where is platform 3?” Obviously I immediately knew she had to be at the wrong station! A quick confirmation that she needed Thameslink and it was a simple – “left out the station, left again at the traffic lights and it’s on your right!” If only every lost person issue was so easy 😅 Anyway – Back at Thameslink myself, while waiting for my train back to Kentish Town I photographed East Midlands Railway’s 222023 wandering up the slow lines to Cricklewood depot for a clean and prep. It’s sad to think these will soon be a thing of the past on the line as they give way to replacement multimode units…
…With a stinking cold I missed the following week and so I also missed the last days of Autumn for this year as football once more took control 🙄😅
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