Spots ‘n’ Things

The last week of June and the start of July have been a quiet period for my Freedom Pass project. Instead I’ve been doing basic trainspotting and combining that with some other photographic objectives.

In my last Freedom Pass post I mentioned that I had hoped to get my last Class 717 on my way to meet my work colleagues. On that occasion it avoided me so on the 23rd of June with nothing specific planned I decided to pop down to Harringay to get some more photographs including some from the northbound side of the station. On this occasion I found 717024 sitting on Hornsey Depot😎 That’s the 717’s cleared – Here’s sister unit 717023 arriving at Harringay on its way north…

With that task completed I went out to Elstree & Borehamwood for lunch and early afternoon to see if I could pick up some more of the classes working that route (222’s, 360’s and 700’s) Here’s 360113 approaching on the slow lines with Elstree Tunnels behind…

June 30th saw trainspotting combined with a trip out to get photos for Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge and also to get a current photo of the railway line through Earls Court for a friend on Twitter – both to be found in the Kensington area. There are many ways for me to get to Kensington and I opted for taking the Northern Line to Euston so I could do some spotting there – Here’s a shot of Platforms 13 & 14…

Sometimes in our travels we meet with human tragedy – sadly over on platform 1 they were dealing with a serious medical emergency so my camera stayed in the bag. Onwards to High Street Kensington using the Circle Line from Euston Square with a change at Edgware Road.

With my photographs collected for Cee’s challenge I continued walking west through South Kensington along Cromwell Road and on to West Cromwell Road where it crosses over the railway line from Willesden Junction to Clapham junction. Back in 2010 I took this photo there…

…377210 heading towards West Brompton and ultimately Clapham with the Earls Court complex forming the backdrop. In 2013 planning permission was given for the Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre to be demolished for a proposed new housing project. This is the scene 10 years on…

…with demolition complete but the project stalled. It is worth reading the Wikipedia entry about Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre to understand why this has happened. On the right of the image is Lillie Bridge depot and that is also supposed to be closed although the tracks still looked in use to me.

July 1st and a short trip up to High Barnet – I was going to see Wingate & Finchley’s first pre-season match. I knew it was probably going to be mainly triallists playing so I took my usual transport photography equipment with me. Here’s my ride to High Barnet arriving at Finchley Central…

July 3rd and another trip that began with getting a photo for someone – The Tubemapper no less. He had a question about Hendon Central Station and the tunnels at the north end – ‘Can they be photographed from the platform?’ So I hopped on the bus over to Hendon Central and took this shot…

…which confirmed my memory of an equipment room at the end of the platform that would make a shot of both bores difficult from the platform. Sorry for the smudges – dirt on the windows of the station footbridge. Mission accomplished, I then travelled down to Camden Town and walked across to Camden Road station to get some freight photographs like this one of 66021…

…working the Dollands Moor to Scunthorpe Steel empties.

With lunchtime just around the corner, I thought I’d head off to Stratford to get something to eat but along the way I decided instead to get off the train at Hackney Central and use the walkway connection to Hackney Downs station. Hackney Downs is a station I’ve never visited before but one that I have passed through on numerous occasions over the years – Indeed as recently as June 1st😅 I got photos of London Overground (710102)…

…and Greater Anglia (720544)…

…trains passing through before catching a train into Liverpool Street where I finally got my lunch. Then it was time to head home. I wonder where I’ll be going during the rest of July? 😅👍

Freedom Pass Project – Update

Between planned trips to get termini for my Freedom Pass Project, I enjoy days out doing more general trainspotting and photography. I took 5 trips out and about in late February. I twice visited Stratford in East London. Stratford is always busy with regular passenger services to East Anglia and it sees lots of freight services to the ports of Harwich and Felixstowe along with other locations. There are also some unusual workings – one such that I photographed was 47749 ‘City of Truro’ hauling East Midlands Railway unit 360118…

…This was to return the unit, after maintenance and a repaint into EMR colours at the Siemens facility in Northampton, back to EMR’s depot at Cricklewood. A delivery that entails travelling south from Northampton on the Euston mainline to Primrose Hill; traversing the North London Line eastwards to Stratford; picking up the line northwards towards South Tottenham; then joining the Gospel Oak – Barking line westwards to Junction Road Junction in Tufnell Park; finally joining the Midland mainline north to Cricklewood. Quite a tortuous route!

Almost all the Greater Anglia services through Stratford are now in the hands of the Class 720’s Only a few of the old Class 321 units survive now and their days of service are nearly at an end. Here’s 321323 running through platform 10a…

…in tandem with 321313.

Another location that was visited twice in February was Alexandra Palace. I was surprised there, on an early morning visit, by two freight workings – usually there are very few freights and they tend to pass in a cluster around midday. I checked and found that one is a new working related to the HS2 construction work and the other was a variation of the usual timetable. So I decided to revisit and try to and photograph them. The HS2 spoil train didn’t run on the day of my second visit but I caught up with the southbound Peterborough West Yard to Bow service in the hands of DB Schenker’s 66084…

…This is often referred to as the Plasmor service because it carries their specialised building materials down to their depot in Bow.

Alexandra Palace may lack freight services but it makes up for that with a lot of high speed passenger services to the East midlands, the North East and Scotland. Here’s a Hull Trains service picking up speed as it heads out of London…

…This is one of the Hitachi AT-300 units in the ‘800’ series – specifically 802303. The Class 802 version are bi-mode, operating on 25kV and having diesel engines for sections of their route that are not electrified. The future may see the diesel engines replaced by batteries if trials planned by the manufacturer and other operators prove successful.

I often pass through London Bridge – a station served by Thameslink, Southern and Southeastern trains. It is a busy station even in the middle of the day. Here is a Southeastern Class 707 unit…

…on platform 6. There are 30 of these units that were originally delivered to South West Trains. I wrote about the long running saga of the bid to replace the ageing Class 455 units over on South Western Railway as long ago as last February. At the time, around half of the 707 fleet were still being used by South Western rather than being transferred to Southeastern. A year on and nothing has changed! The 455’s still run many of South Western Railway’s suburban services assisted by the remaining 707’s and some Class 450’s. Their replacement Class 701’s? – They’re still sitting on the ‘Naughty Step’…

…701047 and 701028 stored at Clapham Junction.

I could write a lot more but I think that’s enough for this post

Freedom Pass Project – Update

I’ll start this post with a reminder of what this project is about.- I’m trying to visit all the farthest points that I can reach using my pensioner’s Freedom Pass. Here’s the map…

…Additionally, I’m including all the termini for trains. The aim is to be getting out and about to improve my general fitness 👍 You’d be surprised how much leg-work is involved at stations😅

This trip was about clearing off a lone farthest point – on a chilly and cloudy day in north London, I decided to go on a trip out to Elstree & Borehamwood. It may look close to Edgware, but in real time, it isn’t! I can get a bus here from High Barnet, and I can also go to Colindale and Watford but it’s definitely not the same as taking the bus from Mill Hill East to Edgware as I did in a previous Freedom Pass outing. So this was definitely one to do on its own.

The first time I visited this station, the line was not electrified and the old Midland Railway awnings were still in place…

…That was back in 1979. Sadly the awnings were victims of the electrification to Bedford. The current station is a much more modern structure. It lacks the elegance but is possibly more passenger friendly…

…shot taken from the road bridge over the line.

I was talking about the possibility of using buses to go between here and Barnet. Here’s a Metroline 107 service that skirts along the very edge of the TfL zone to get here…

…I’ve ridden the Barnet to Elstree section with Alasdair a few years back but I haven’t done the ongoing trip to Edgware. As for a run across to Watford, that is a non-TfL route. Sullivan Buses operate the 306 route and, in the past, their vehicles were painted in approved TfL red. With the 306 firmly in Hertfordshire, Sullivan’s have now chosen a pseudo London Country Buses green for the vehicles operating that route!..

…Looks Good 😎👍

One thing I missed were the Uno pink and purple buses – Uno seem to have pulled back from serving the railway station and now only run as far as the bus station.

Back on the station and I got some shots of East Midland Railway services along with the ubiquitous class 700’s on Thameslink services. Here’s a selection of shots 😎 Firstly here’s a Class 222 (222020) on a northbound service to Nottingham with the tunnel under Scratchwood behind…

…Scratchwood sits on part of the same ridge that we saw in my Hadley Wood post.

I don’t photo the 222’s very often so here’s 222014 on a southbound service…

…a fast run from Sheffield to London St Pancras – it only calls at Chesterfield, Derby and Leicester on its trip south, which makes it one of the fastest trips of the day though it doesn’t qualify for the epithet ‘Master Cutler’ – that belongs to the earlier 07:25 service from Sheffield.

St Pancras to Corby services are handled by Class 360 units. These are recent transfers from the Clacton and Walton services of Greater Anglia, released following the arrival of the Class 720 units. I think they looked good in their original dark blue but the EMR purple seems to suit them too and I like the detailing around the cab windows. Here’s 360107 leading 360109 northbound…

I guess we should also include a Thameslink service for completeness – 700046 passes through on the relief lines with a St Albans to Sutton service…

…Normally scheduled to stop here, it’s running late due to issues with a failed train in the Farringdon area and will run non-stop to St Pancras. The next, also late running, service was only a few minutes behind so passengers didn’t have to wait too long as Thameslink re-jigged their services 😎

Hope you enjoyed this latest trip out on the rails 😎👍