Middle of the month and time to join in with Clare’s Share Your Desktop Challenge😎👍
On the Gaming PC this month I have a screenshot from American Truck Simulator. This was taken on a delivery by ‘Chance’, our trusty Mack Anthem, of Utility Poles from Texarkana (TX) to San Francisco (CA)…
…We’re driving Interstate 40 in Arizona, between Flagstaff and Kingman. There are some fierce climbs and descents along this section of I-40 as we pass through the Sonoran Desert. This section of the Interstate forms part of the Historic Route 66. Because of the scale of the maps, the developers make compromises in road layout while trying to provide a convincing feel of what it’s like to drive along. Up ahead is the junction for Ash Fork and Prescott but the developers have ‘lost’ the section of road between here and the next junction – the Crookton Road – and the junction as modelled reflects the next one rather than the actual Ash Fork junction. The old Route 66 diverges from the current interstate at Crookton Road and passes through Seligman.
On the Photo PC we have a view that might eventually be a thing of the past…
…Taken in March, every unit in this photo is a member of Class 455. The Class 455 units that were introduced in the 1980’s were supposed to have been replaced by Class 701 units from 2019. I have written about the ongoing saga before but with 701’s now operating on the Waterloo to Windsor & Eton services, there was an assumption that the rollout would rapidly gather pace and we would see the last operation of services by the venerable 455’s before the end of the year. But, after a fanfare back in January, things seem to have stalled. A 701 is operating a single diagram each day. It is now projected that a full entry into service of the 701’s will take 2 years! I guess we should be thankful that the 455’s are robust machines and not given to tantrums😅
Last week was a quiet one from a trains point of view. I had a medical appointment on Tuesday which ruled out any activity and Wednesday was scheduled for shopping. Then the weather closed in and we were subject to heavy rain for the rest of the week culminating in a very rare event – a Wingate & Finchley home game being called off for ‘Waterlogged Pitch’! So, my train specific outings were limited to Monday and even that was a bit of an odd one.
The initial plan for Monday was a trip on the Underground with the intention of crossing off White City as a terminating point for my Freedom Pass project. So I started with a Northern Line journey down to Tottenham Court Road where I waited on the Central Line platforms in the hope of getting a White City terminating service…
…After a while, with no trains stopping short at White City, I decided it was time to change plans – I’d go to Bond Street and take the Jubilee Line. I was thinking that I could go north to Stanmore and cross that off instead. Instead quickly became the watchword of the day as on arrival at Bond Street I discovered that there was a train going in the other direction that was terminating at North Greenwich – About face and off we go…
North Greenwich is one of those stations on the Jubilee Line extension – It serves the O2 Arena. It was temporarily the terminus of the line before the last section opened to Stratford and it is still a terminating point for some trains. Like most other stations on the extension, the platforms have screens to keep passengers away from the tracks…
…Though it sometimes feels like they’re there to stop enthusiasts photographing the trains🤣 However, they do give other photographic opportunities…
My day was now seriously off course and it was time to do something completely different. Instead of going to Stanmore, I decided to go back to Westminster and possibly pick up the District line from there. I’ve never visited Westminster station since the Jubilee Line was extended so I was seeing the ‘Sci-Fi’ interior for the first time…
…It’s like a set from Doctor Who and I would not have been surprised if I found some Cybermen on the escalators! By the time I got to the surface lines, I decided that perhaps I’d derail my day and go outside to see what the tourists were up to. It was cold and breezy along Victoria Embankment but the the leafless trees meant I could get a good shot of the Elizabeth Tower…
I strolled up to Trafalgar Square where I caught a shot of a Dynes Recovery truck…
…with a damaged Tootbus in tow. The bus was involved in a discussion with an overhanging tree on Holborn earlier in the day. It looks like the tree had leant more over the road after heavy rain and strong winds the previous day – setting a trap for any passing high vehicles. It will probably have to come down.
I found the Routemaster operated section of the 15 was back…
…However, it’s now a tourbus route rather than part of TfL’s services and hop-on-hop-off tickets cost £10 for a day. The rest of the day degenerated into a window-shopping exercise as I contemplated a new hat but never found one I liked. Despite all the ‘insteads’ of the day, I logged 80 sightings of which I needed 8 and I picked up 8 new units for haulage too.
Wednesday evening saw me out on an unplanned trip. Epi was attending the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London with a group of work colleagues. I travelled with her as far as the West Gate where they were meeting. It was an opportunity to get my steps in and to do a little night photography. Here is a view from the grounds of the Tower of London with Tower Place in the foreground and The Shard beyond…
After dropping Epi off, I made my way along the river path as far as Monument before heading up to Bank…
…A shot of the new entrance on Cannon Street that was built as part of the upgrade of the station completed in 2022. I decided to head home using one of my weird routes – Up onto Cannon Street station to catch 376002…
…across the Thames to London Bridge where I caught this shot of 377522…
…before taking Thameslink to Farringdon, Elizabeth Line to Tottenham Court Road and northern Line back home. I logged 28, none of them new and picked up 5 new for haulage.
I made the mistake of going out for a walk on a very wet Thursday and have now developed a heavy cold so I’m taking medication and staying indoors for the time being – As a result, I’m not sure what I will be doing in Week 10.
Middle of the month and time to join in with Clare’s Share Your Desktop Challenge 😎👍
Starting with the Gaming PC and a very current and topical screenshot from Euro Truck Simulator 2…
…I only changed to this shot after completing the annual Valentines event that started on February 6th. We had to deliver 14 loads of gifts in special trailers like the one pictured above. I decided to do all the deliveries in Euro Truck as we’re more plant and supplies oriented in American Truck. As a result, all the work fell to the newest and smallest truck in the fleet – Elene, our DAF XD. Fitted with a 410HP engine, these heavy loads pushed up the fuel consumption a bit but I’m sure we can get it back under control with a few lighter long distance loads now our involvement in the event is done. Elene is a lovely truck to drive, sitting low to the road, with excellent visibility and camera mirrors. She is an example of the current DAF range of distribution and vocational vehicles and is best used on single or two-shift runs. For longer trips, the much larger DAF XG is probably a better choice for driver comfort.
Over on the photo PC and my current desktop was taken during my trainspotting outing last Friday…
…This shot was taken on my new Fujifilm X-H2s which I was testing at the time prior to using it for football on the Saturday. I was waiting at New Cross Gate for a London Overground Class 378 unit with some other passengers when I took this shot of 377103 leading sister unit ‘419 through on the fast lines. She’s operating a Caterham & Tattenham Corner to London Bridge service. The clothing of my fellow passengers tells the tale of a grey damp day although it was drier than the previous two days!
Images from Finchley 