Spotting 2024 – Week 17

A quiet start to the week with Monday designated a day of rest and Tuesday allocated to a walk to get some photos for Cee’s Which Way Challenge. Wednesday was the weekly shop, so it fell to Thursday and Friday to provide the Transportainment 😅

A month back I was hoping to photograph The Statesman – A luxury train run by Statesman Rail on excursion trips around the UK (similar to the Belmond British Pullman). On that occasion it was going to be running from Crewe to Windsor and Eton Riverside but it was cancelled. A month later and it was due to run again. I ummed and ahhed about where to go to catch up with this train as it passed through London – Acton Central, Brentford, Feltham all came to mind but in the end I opted for the easy choice – Harrow & Wealdstone. Good old ‘HRW’ has the advantage of freight passing through to add interest while waiting for the special 😎

I took the simple, or so I thought, route down to Euston to catch a London North Western service out. However, at Euston I was greeted by a confused situation. The local platforms were closed and not much was moving. Information about what was going on was a bit sparse probably because whatever had happened had only just happened! Eventually a LNWR service pulled in to platform 8 and after disgorging its passengers, it was announced that this train would form the 09:39 to Milton Keynes. We were allowed to board with the train’s expected departure time being 09:59! Further announcements suggested that the delays were due to a faulty train.

On the run out to Harrow we pass Wembley Yard which often has a number of Locomotives stabled there or on trains awaiting their slot to continue their journey. On this occasion I found 90044+90041 sitting outside on a very short southbound intermodal. I wondered if this was the ‘Faulty train’, now recovered to the safety of the yard. It wasn’t! As our train was approaching Harrow, The announcer began… “This train will no longer be calling at…” I was dreading the words Harrow & Wealdstone – my ticket isn’t valid beyond that stop on LNWR services! Fortunately it turned out that they were curtailing the train at Bletchley to recover time.

I was joined on the platform at HRW by a fellow ‘senior’ spotter – one even older than me😅 – and we had a good chat while waiting. The LNWR services were getting worse, many were being cancelled and all those that were running were delayed. The announcements were quite ambiguous although, in hindsight, correct in a way – “Due to inspection of a faulty train”. Even so, there was enough going on to keep us busy. We photographed a couple of freights while waiting for our special including 66796 on the Dollands Moor to Daventry Vans…

…this loco carries a special livery advertising the green credentials of railfreight and the environmental need for HS2.

Keeping an eye on the Realtime Trains app allowed us to monitor the progress of our southbound special which was also incurring delays. It eventually came through HRW at 11:28, 24 mins late. It was worth the wait with 47712 ‘Lady Diana Spencer’ leading…

…still wearing Scotrail livery recalling her days working the Edinburgh-Glasgow shuttle. Bringing up the rear in readiness for the return run was D1935…

…wearing the two tone green livery that the class 47’s were originally delivered with back in the early 1960’s.

Mission accomplished, I had time to photograph 2 more freights while waiting for a train to Shepherds Bush. I was thinking to do some London Underground spotting after grabbing some lunch but I got a text from Alasdair asking if I was going to be home in the afternoon as he was expecting a delivery. The things parents have to put up with… I guess I’m going home🤣

Totals for the day: 98 logged of which I needed 10 and a got 6 new for haulage.

For the record, the service disruption was caused by a southbound Avanti West Coast unit hitting a lump of wood near Kings Langley – investigations into how that got there and how it also broke the cab window of a northbound service are continuing. The southbound train reportedly limped to Watford where close inspection revealed suspension damage and it was held there. Other services then had to work around the blockage.

Friday and another special on the agenda – The Belmond British Pullman on one of its regular Victoria to Dover runs. But first we had some weirdness on the Northern Line 😅 Epi being first out of the house called Alasdair to warn him that there were issues that might affect his journey into work – Highgate station was closed and there were problems at Camden Town. By the time I set off just after 9am, the Camden Town issue had become a full station closure due to a power failure although the lights were on when we passed through without stopping. I never did find out why Highgate was closed?

I had initially intended going to Ravensbourne to photograph the pullman but somehow got distracted and wound up on London Bridge. In my defence, I did have some other plans going on in my head of which more later. Anyway, having made my way to London bridge I now had to think up an alternative location that I could get to in order to see the pullman – I opted to catch up with it at Peckham Rye. This gave me the chance to pick up a Southern 3-car class 377 unit as these are employed in pairs on the London Bridge to Beckenham Junction services.

I have visited Peckham Rye before but this is the first time I’ve stopped there to take photos. It has a lot of potential and I think I shall be visiting again. Here’s 378144 approaching with a Clapham junction to Dalston Junction Overground service…

…Lots of spring greens on show! I could have moved over to the other platforms to photograph the pullman but decided I’d stay where I was and try for something different…

…67006 ‘Royal Sovereign’ caught between the Buddleia bushes. Being one of the Royal Train locomotives, she’s wearing a colour referred to as ‘Royal Plum’ though it looks almost black in this light. Job done – I can always get a more conventional view of this train on another visit😎

Now back to central London and time to scratch the itch that was rattling around my brain earlier in the day. I have been toying with getting an ‘all day lens’ for a while as I want to have both of my Fujifilm cameras equipped and immediately ready for use. From experience, the X-Pro2 works best fixed focal length lenses as befits a ‘range-finder’ style camera. so I’m thinking of keeping that in my small bag with the 23mm and 35mm lenses and using it on my walks (it did get used on Tuesday for Cee’s challenge). The new lens will go in the trains/football bag with the X-H2s giving me a more flexible approach.

I popped into Park Cameras and amazingly found what I wanted immediately so when the salesman approached me I was able to say – One of those please! We did have a short chat as he wanted to make sure that I was choosing the right lens for my needs but once he was satisfied we went ahead with the purchase. I now own a Fujinon 16-80mm F4 lens – time to test it! Off we go to Stratford😅

There are lots of photo options at Stratford with some tricky lighting conditions, so it’s not a bad choice of locations to test a new lens. Passengers on platform 10 make for interesting subjects…

…Actually, in this instance I can tell you a bit about the bored lady on the right. She is an American tourist. I intercepted her and her husband on platform 10a where they were looking a bit confused and redirected them to 10 for their train to Norwich. I think the husband had popped to the café to get some coffee when I took this shot.

Here’s some train shots with the new lens – 66770 on a Masborough to London Gateway intermodal…

720576 waiting to depart with a service to Bishops Stortford…

And 66307 ‘Ipswich Town’ on a Tilbury to Wakefield intermodal…

Initial impressions are very good. There is a bit of an overlap between this lens and the 55-200mm long telephoto but that should give me a lot of flexibility and reduce how often I have to change lenses when trainspotting. And if I’m flying off on holiday I’ll have a single lens that will handle most situations too 😎👍

Time to head home and also time to help a Spanish tourist and her daughter find their way from Liverpool Street to London Bridge – The London underground can be a confusing place so I was glad to be able to help by escorting them to Bank and putting them on the right platform. I hope they were ok at London Bridge – It’s a big station!

The morning’s troubles on the Northern line had been resolved only for a new issue to raise its head – Tufnell Park was closed by industrial action. I can only assume this was due to some safety issue affecting staff. Anyway, my totals for the day: 166 logged of which I needed 9 and I also picked up 9 new for haulage – and I got a new lens. I’d say that was a good day😅👍

That’s my spotting week. This afternoon is the last football match of the regular season so I’ll be taking photographs at Wingate & Finchley. Then hopefully I’ll be back on the rails again next week – see you then👍