Into a new week and that planned trip to Shenfield – this time it went ahead👍 I started the day by travelling down the Northern Line to Moorgate. This is currently a terminus for Bank Branch trains because there is a major engineering project going on at Bank itself. Trains arrive and depart from platform 8 – the southbound platform. There is temporary signage to advise passengers of this arrangement…
…And here’s a train in the southbound platform ready to depart for High Barnet…
I also visited platforms 9 and 10 where the Great Northern City Line trains from Hertford North and Welwyn Garden City terminate. I had an amusing incident there with a passenger who was confused by the fact that the doors on the train were closed – I had to appraise them of the button that you have to push if you want to get on. Clearly an Underground only level of experience! 😉
Then it was off to Liverpool Street to get on a train to Romford. I actually also need Romford as a terminus for London Overground services but I’ll be covering that route in a few weeks time when I go to Hornchurch for the last football game of the season! Anyway, a quick change there and a TfL Rail train for the rest of the trip out to Shenfield – my pass not being valid for Greater Anglia services beyond Harold Wood. In fact, it doesn’t work on the auto-barrier at Shenfield, so I had to show it to a member of staff to leave and re-enter the station 🤨 Here’s a shot of the TfL Rail platforms…
…And the Train Dispatcher’s point, complete with some flowers!..
Shenfield has a famous resident who is very often photographed – I refer to the Shenfield Shark…
…A couple of young Greater Anglia station staff doing their rounds, and realising that I was an enthusiast, enquired about the ‘ships’ wheels in each end. I was able to explain that this is a Ballast Brake – used to even out fresh ballast prior to manual tamping around the sleepers. The wheels are the lowering mechanism for the plough underneath. Part of an order that entered service in 1956, this Shark has been sitting here slowly decaying for a number of years – its work now almost entirely automated.
Greater Anglia stopping services at Shenfield are operated by Class 720 Aventra’s…
…and Class 321 units…
Fast services to and from Norwich are operated by Class 745 units…
You can tell from the photos that we’re in the grip of a mini-heatwave – sitting under a high-pressure region that is holding down all the muck in the air and making everything look hazy on a clear sunny day 🙄
That’s another 2 locations ticked off. But, it seems that as fast as I complete a couple some more come to light. The total required has now climbed to 103 as I add in some Docklands Light Railway termini that weren’t known to me before. So with 17 completed, I have 86 more to do!🤞😎
Images from Finchley 