Blog 2022

Westbound Goblin Line Train at Harringay Green Lanes station on 2/2/2022

2/2/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to Barking and return. Barking to Harringay Green Lanes and return.

Back in London again with my work. This time I had to go to Barnet and Edgware. Again I chose to go "overground" rather than underground, so I caught a Great Northern train from Moorgate to New Barnet, and then a bus from there to Barnet High Street. I then decided to catch a taxi from Barnet to Edgware, rather than get a northern line undergfround train into London and out again. The latter option might have been quicker as I had to wait over half an hour for the taxi to come and then the driver didn't know which way to go, so I ended up directing him! I then got a Northern line tube back into London.

16/2/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street. London Marylebone to Oxford via Bicester. Oxford to London Paddington via Reading.

Had a day out in Oxford inspite of the very windy conditions. Manged to get two excellent bargains - Marylebone to Oxford for just £3.55, and Oxford to Paddington for just £3.55 again. This is where having a railcard comes into it own. The Chilterns train was pretty full going, but the Great Western train (from Worcester) was pretty empty.

Had to go  to Grays with my work

Went to see Simply Red at the 02 with my wife. This concert had been rearranged four times due to Covid and lockdown restrictions, so hardly surprising that it was only about two-thirds full. We were so lucky that the day we went to this was a Wednesday and was sandwiched inbetween a strike on the tube network. If the concert had been on the Tuesday or Thursday I really don't know how we would have got there by public transport, probably go all the way to Fenchurch Street, walk to London Bridge and then get a train to Charlton, and then a bus or taxi from there.    

Shipley Railway Station with an Ilkley train 13/4/2022

1/4/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to West Ham and return. Stratford to Harlow. Harlow to Tottenham Hale. Tottenham Hale to Stratford.

Went to Harlow for my work.  For a change I decided not to go into London via Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street.  Instead I found out that there is an houry train which goes direct from Straford. Unfortunately no one told me that it was at the very far end of the  station, so quite a long walk and difficult to find. Next time I will definitely go via Liverpool Street! 

 
11/4/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street. London Kings Cross to Leeds. Leeds to Shipley.

Went away to Yorkshire for an Easter break with my wife, staying at Shipley north of Bradford. For a change everything went smoothly with table seats facing forwards as I asked for. 

12/4/2022 - Shipley to Bradford Forster Square and return. Bradford Interchange to Halifax. Halifax to Hebden Bridge. Hebden Bridge to Bradford Interchange.

In the morning went over to Halifax which involved getting a train to Bradford Forster Square and then walking across Bradford to get the Halifax train  from Bradford Interchange.  The only problem was that at Interchange whilst I was waiting for my train to arrive I accidentally spilt my tea, some of which landed on my foot. Luckily the train was just arriving, so I was able to go into the toilet and put a cold compress on it. At Halifax we got a taxi to take us to Shibden Hall where the TV series, "Gentleman Jack" is filmed. Unfortunately the taxi driver hadn't heard of Shibden Hall and his sat nav ended up taking us to the wrong side of the park where it is situated.  We eventually got there, but he charged us £12 for the privilege.  Coming back we git a differe taxi company with the cab arriving I  just five minutes and we were only charged  £4. In the afternoon we went on another train to Hebden Bridge to look around the town. We found it quite disappointing with graffiti all over the place and not much to see.  

13/4/2022 - Shipley to Keighley. Keighley to Oxenhope and return. Keighley to Saltaire.

The next day we caught a train to Keighley to go on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway. Nice to see that they give a reduction for both over 65s and over 60s who have a senior railcard. As it was the first time for nearly two years that I had travelled behind a steam engine, it was lovely to hear the sound of our steam locomotive pushing uphill from Keighley station. Visited Saltaire on the way back, but disappointed that the canal boat ride wasn't running.

14/4/2022 - Shipley to Leeds. Leeds to London Kings Cross. London Fenchurch Street to Leigh-on-Sea.

Returned back to Essex today. The trai  from Leeds was very busy with lots of people from Yorkshire going down to London for various reasons.

Went to Bristol to stay overnight in readiness for being interviewed by BBC TV Points West about the history of Bristol Parkway station, which is 50 years old tomorrow.

Bristol Parkway station on its 50th anniversary of opening with a Cross Country service to Plymouth. 1/5/2022

https://bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0c05zwr

After my TV interview rather than hand around Bristol Parkway for the next three hours I decided to go to Bristol Temple Meads for a break. Went bioth ways on a Cross Country service. As expected, both trains were pretty crammed with plenty of people standing. Luckily I managed to get a seat both times, but what a difference copming back from BP on a GWR service from Swansea where there were plenty of seats.

16/52022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street. London Paddington to Totnes.

Back at Paddington  after a fortnight, to go down to Devon to visit my uncle there. Lovely journey, especially along the seawall part around Dawlish. Good to see that the seawall improvements are just about finished. 

17/5/2022  - Totnes to Penzance. Penzance to St Erth. St Erth to St Ives and return. St Erth to Totnes.

 Went down to Cornwall for the day to visit Penzance and St Ives. To my surprise we were hauled down there by a GWR HST service which had come from Gloucester, a newish service I believe. I had forgotten how long the journey through Cornwall takes with no less than fourteen stops before we reached Penzance.  The weather had been  OK all the way down, but as soon as we came out of the station at Penzance it bucketed down for the rest of the day. We had lunch in Penzance before getting a train to St Erth and then getting the shuttle service to St Ives. I was pleased to see that there were 4 carriages on our train, but as the weather was so bad it wasn't that well patronised. Also since I last went on this line, the train no longer calls at Lelant Saltings (most of the tine) which was a park and ride station. Thus has now been replaced by St Erth, which has a large car park for the purpose. The rain in St Ives was even heavier, though it did finally  stop when we're leaving. 

18/5/2022 - Totnes to Exeter St Davids. Exeter St Davids to Barnstaple.  Barnstaple to Exeter Central. Exeter Central to Exeter St Davids. Exeter St Davids to London Paddington.  London Fenchu St to Leigh-on-Sea. 

 The next day was glorious sunshine and I went to Barnstaple and Bideford (by bus) to take photos of their bridges for a future book on bridges. As I managed to complete my task much quicker than I planned, I got an earlier through train back to Exeter Central and spent some time visiting the museum there before going back down the hill to Exeter St Davids to catch my train back to Paddington. As usual I had asked for a table seat facing forwards but they gave me a single seat going backwards! As the carriage I was I  was pretty empty I was able to find an empty table seat facing forwards so everything was alright in the end.

27/5/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to West Ham. London Waterloo to Totton.

Went down to the Southampton area to visit some friends staying overnight at their house.  The train was gig from Waterloo was very full with many people going away for the weekend after work. It was interesting to see the ten car trai  divide ar Southamptkn Central with the first five carriages going as an express to Weymouth, whilst the last five carriages which I was in was a stopping train through the New Forest to Poole. 

28/5/2022 - Totton to Poole. Poole to Christchurch. Christchurch to Totton. Redbridge to Southampton.  Southampton to London Waterloo.  Tottenham Court Road to Paddington.  Paddington to Liverpool Street. London  Fenchurch St to Leigh-on-Sea. 

Got the train  at Totton through to Poole where i went to photograph the two road bridges there. Then came back to Christchurch to do the same thing. Then back to Totton to photograph the Redland Causeway Bridge.  I actually walked across the bridge and then caught a train fro  Redbridge Station to Southampton Central. As it was an unstaffed station and I didn't have a ticket I bought a permit to travel ticket from  the machine in the station.  Then only problem was that it didn't say the price of the ticket and you had to put some coins in before it gave you a ticket. So I put £2.50 in guessing that would be the  approximate fare. No one checked my ticket on the train  in  the five minutes it took, so I suppose I could have not bothered.  At Southampton I had a half hourwaug so I had a late lunch of a salad sandwich from WH Smiths and a cup of tea from the station cafe. My train back to London was just as crowded as coming.  In London I took the chance of a ride on the new Elizabeth Line from Tottenham Court Road to Paddington and then back along the line as far as Liverpool Street. It was full of tourists trying it out like me, so still a but of a novelty for many people. It was smooth and quick in this section. I timed the journey from Farringdon to Liverpool  Street and it took just over a minute.  Much quicker than the Circle Line.

 30/5/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street.  London St Pancras to Luton. Luton to St Albans. St Albans to Mill Hill Broadway.  Tottenham Court Road to Abbey Wood.  Abbey Wood to Canary Wharf. West Han to Leigh-on-Sea. 

Had to go to Luton with my work.  I had bought a ticket from St Pancras to Luton as my travel card didn't go that far via the West Midlands website. It was only when I went to pay for it that I realised that I had accidentally bought an e ticket for use on my phone.  I hate these things as I much prefer a simpler card ticket. My fears were justified as I decided to get a West Midlands train which was much quicker than getting a Thameslink  train on the underground platform. When I tried to access the ticket it would just not download and I showed thus to the gate  guard at the East Midlands  railway platforms. He tried and couldnt get it to open, so he ended up giving me a permit to travel note. By the time he'd done this I had just a minute to catch my train and had to run  up the platform with the guard blowing his whistle.  I'm too old for this but did catch it just!  At Luton it still wouldn't work so I had to get a gate inspector to let me through. Coming back to London I came on a Thameslink train so no problems. 

I made use of my time in London to go all the way on the Elizabeth Line to its terminus at Abbey Wood. Like the previous time the trai  was full of tourists trying it out. After Canary Wharf it was pretty empty. At Abbey Wood I took some photos in  and outside of the station. Coming back I realised that I didn't need to go back into Central London as I was going to West Ham. I should have got off at Custom House and changed onto a DLR train, but instead I went to Canary Wharf where I thought I could easily transferring z Jubilee Line train. Not so. They are two separate stations and not an interchange,  so I had to walk about half a mile to get to the Jubilee Line station  and missed a train that I could have easily caught if I'd changed at Custom House. Be warned!

Deltic no 50009 "Alycidon" at Loughborough Central sidings at the Great Central Railway 11/6/22

11/6/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street and return. London St Pancras to Loughborough and return. Loughborough Central to Leicester North and return.

Went up to Loughborough to visit the Great Central Railway for the day with a friend. I was at St Pancras Midland platforms for the second time in two weeks, though this time I made sure I had a paper ticket. The train we were catching was already boarding when we arrived so we made our way to our reserved seats only to find that the signs were showing all seats were unreserved, so we chose to sit in other seats seeing as someone was already in ours. Then after about five minutes the signs changed to reserved status which wasn't very helpful as the carriage and the train was already pretty full due to the previous train to Nottingham having been cancelled. So we decided to stay in our seats which said reserved from Kettering to Nottingham. I took the view that rather than cause a scene asking the other passengers to move out of our seats I would stay put and if the people got on at Kettering came to their seats I would move out, but they never did, so all ok there. The train was dangerously full with many people standing in the aisles. I don't know if there is a maximum capacity for trains, but if there is I'm sure we were pretty near to it. Luckily a lot of people got off at Leicester and it was much more normal after that.

At the Great Central we paid £19 for the privilege of having an adult rover ticket (with no senior concessions available). If we had wanted just a straight forward return that would have been just two pounds cheaper, but that was only available after 2.30pm and then it could be used as a rover ticket anyway! I wasn't sure if the £19 was a little steep for a preserved line of 9 miles, but when I investigated most of the other "big" preserved lines, it was actually quite good value with prices ranging from £25 to £30 in most cases. We ended up going up and down the line a couple of times, once behind D5185 the diesel for the day and once behind 78018, the steam engine for the day. I liked Loughborough Central best as being the station which seemed most like a station from a bygone era. Also we had time to make our way down to the shed where we saw a variety of steam and diesel locos including a beloved Deltic, 55009, Alycidon. Now that would have been good if that had been the diesel for the day. 

LNER Azuma train departs Durham for Edinburgh on 28/7/2022

2/7/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to West Ham. London Waterloo to Clapham Junction. Clapham Junction to Mitcham Junction. Mitcham Junction to Sutton. Sutton to West Croydon. West Croydon to Norwood Junction. Norwood Junction to Crystal Palace. Crystal Palace to Beckenham Junction. Beckenham Junction to Herne Hill. Herne Hill to Loughborough Junction. Loughborough Junction to Elephant & Castle. London Fenchurch Street to Leigh-on-Sea. 

Went on a mini-expedition round some of the various South London lines visiting the various Junction stations which proliferate there. The reason being was to get to some photos for a book on Junction Stations which will be coming out next year. It was an interesting afternoon with teenagers filling up many of the trains I took. I had to have nearly a half hour's break at Crystal Palace  due to connection issues. I asked a train dispatcher there and he said there was a festival going on at Crystal Palace itself, hence the station being overrun with them and a large police presence. I also took the opportunity to get off at Elephant & Castle and take a "round the houses" walk from the railway statsion to the tube station of the same name in order to go on the  Northern Line's newish extension to Battersea Power station. All very new, with wide platforms similar to the Elizabeth Line, but not musch to see at the end of the line, though they are hoping to have all sorts of shops open within the power statsion itself.  

4/7/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street. West Ham to Leigh-on-Sea.

Went with my wife to see Tears For Fears at the Shepherd's Bush Empire. Went via the Central Line going which involved a lot of walking and many steps to climb. Coming back got a Hammersmith & City Line tube from Shepherd's Bush Market all the way through to West Ham which meant we could catch the last through train from Fenchurch Street before engineering works started, which we wouldn't have done had we changed at Liverpool Street and waited for the Circle Line tube following us.

25/7/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street. London Kings Cross to Durham.

Went away with my wife to Durham for a few days. The journey north from Kings Cross was fine, plus we were able to get a table facing forward as requested in our booking.

26/7/2022 - Durham to Chester-le-Street. Chester-le-Street to Newcastle. Newcastle to Durham.

Went to visit the Beamish Living Museum today. This involved getting a train to Chester-le-Street and then a bus from there direct to Beamish. The outward journey was fine with just a short five minute train journey from Durham to Chester-le-Street courtesy of Northern. Coming back was not as straightforward. We arrived at Chester-le-Street expecting to get a 16.20 train back to Durham. Instead the signs said an almost hour wait for the next train to Durham, so the information from the Trainline website was incorrect. Instead we had five minutes to cross the bridge to the other platform and catch a Trans-Pennine servicein to Newcastle. We then had a fifteen minute wait for a LNER service going south which went non-stop to Durham arriving a good twenty minutes earlier than if we waited for the next service south at Chester-le-Street. If you think that this was  catching a train ride or two for free, this is what the various train websites showed to do in their train information. Luckily, we did not have to show our tickets, so the theory couldn't be tested!

28/7/2022 - Durham to London Kings Cross. London Fenchurch Street to Leigh-on-Sea

Our return journey was just as trouble free as the journey up. The only noticeable thing was the number of empty "reserved" seats not taken up, causing some people to have to sit in the aisles. Opposite us were two reserved seats from Edinburgh to Kings Cross which were unused for the whole journey apart from a single guy travelling from Peterborough to Kings Cross. 

Looking south towards the buffers at Barking Riverside station 3/8/22

1/8/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to Barking. Farringdon to Luton. Luton to Mill Hill Broadway. London Fenchurch Street to Leigh-on-Sea.

Went to Barking, Luton and Edgware with my work. At Mill Hill Broadway got on a bus saying it was going to Edgware, which it did, but it went all round the houses rather than the most diorect way. So what should have been a ten minute bus journey turned out to be a half hour bus journey, made worse by temporary traffic lights not being phased very well.

Went to Walthamstow and Harlow with my work. On the way made a quick visit to the new Barking Riverside station. Basically trains on the Goblin Line which previously terminated at Barking now terminate at Barking Riverside. The line is joined to the C2c line by a newly constructed flyover which continues all the way to Riverside station which is about twenty feet above ground. You can certainly see the river Thames from the two platforms but it is not quite next to the station. Whilst the station is not long open there is still a lot of construction work going on outside and many more of the 20,000 new homes still to be built. There is a fifteen minute service throughout the day and although my two trains were pretty empty between Barking and Barking Riverside, west of Barking it was well patronised.

South Devon Railway headquarters at Buckfastleigh

10/9/22 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Liverpool Street and return. London Liverpool Street to London Paddington and return. London Paddington to Totnes and return.

30/9/22 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street and return.

Went to both Edgware and Barnet with my work today. 

Kings Cross train arriving at Letchworth Garden City on 3rd October 2022

3/10/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street and return. London Kings Cross to Stevenage. Stevenage to Letchworth Garden City and return. St Albans to Farringdon.

Had to go to both Stevenage and Letchworth Garden City with my work today. I went to Stevenage first, then took a train to Letchworth Garden City and back to Stevenage. I should have stayed on my train, but was going to get a quicker East Midlands train back to St Pancras. However, there had been a fatality near Wood Green, so all the trains coming from the north were terminating at Stevenage. There were no instructions about what to do  and most people were just sitting waiting for the trains to start up again. After half an hour of waiting I decided that things wouldn't change soon, so I went out of the station hoping to get a taxi to take me to Hertford where I could get a train into Liverpool Street. There was a queue of about twenty people outside the station and no taxis in sight, so I walked back into Stevenage to the taxi rank, but there were no taxis there either, so I reluctantly went back to the station to wait. On my way back I saw a bus station and thought that might be an option. I couldn't see any buses going to Hertford, but there were ones going to St Albans. I got on one on these expecting the journey to take half an hour. In actual fact it took one and half hours! It did stop off at Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield on the way and each time I looked on my phone to see if the trains were back running, but they weren't. So I finally made it to St Albans City station where I caught a train straight away back to Farringdon and then onto Fenchurch Street. I finally arrived home about 7.00pm, instead of the expected 4.30pm! To give LNER their due, I was able to get the cost of my ticket to Stevenage refunded in full. Maybe trains could have gone to a stations in outer London at least such as New Barnet or New Southgate, where passengers could at least get a bus/tube back into London, rather than them just stopping at Stevenage? 

11/10/2022 - Rayleigh to Shenfield and return. Shenfield to Brentwood and return.

Made a quick visit to Brentwood today travelling on the eastern end of the Crossrail line for just one stop.


28/10/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street and return. Harrow & Wealdstone to Hemel Hempstead. Hemel Hempstead to London Euston.

Went to Harrow and Hemel hempstead with my work. No train problems today.

31/10/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenhcurch Street and return. London St Pancras to Luton. Hitchin to Stevenage. Stevenage to Finsbury Park. Tottenham Hale to Harlow Town. Harlow Town to London Liverpool Street.

Had to go to Luton, Stevenage and Harlopw with my work. Got a taxi from Luton to Hitchin and then a train to Stevenage, rather than going all the way into London and back out again. 

Elizabeth Line train arriving at Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 railway station

12/11/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to West Ham. Whitechapel to Heathrow Terminal 4. Heathrow Terminal 5 to Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3. Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 to Liverpool Street. London Fenchurch Street to Leigh-on-Sea.   

Went on the newly opened "straight through link" Elizabeth Line to the three Heathrow Airport railway stations. I was hopeing to go all the way from Stratford through to Heathrow and so cover the two new bits of track that have been opened for throuigh trains, but unfortunately the section bewteen Whitechapel was closed at the weekend, so I made do with going from Whitechapel instead. The train I got from Leigh-on-Sea was pretty full, with a mixture of rugby fans going to see England play at Twickenham, and football fans going to matches at Tottenham and West Ham.  By the time we got to Basildon it was standing room only and only got worse as the journey went on. Perhaps a 12-car train would have been better than the 8-car one c2c provided? 

 Had to go to Slough for my work. This time I was able to go on the "missing link" of the Elizabeth Line from Stratford to Whitechapel on my through train to Slough. Coming back I got another Elizabeth Line train from Slough back into London. The only problem was that the train I was on got stuck just outside Paddington due to a broken down train further along the line which delayed us for about twenty mintutes. It goes to show you that even the most modern of trains can still break down for whatever reason!

1/12/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street and return. London Euston to Hemel Hempstead and return. 

14/12/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street and return. London St Pancras to Luton and return.

28/12/2022 - Leigh-on-Sea to London Fenchurch Street and return.

Went to London to visit St Paul's Cathedral with my wife.