Only weeks after my last jaunt, I find myself trudging London streets early in the morning. This weekend hadn't gone as planned, and with the overnight trip which would have meant saving a night's accomodation postponed, I'd wedged myself into a tiny Travelodge room near Kings Cross once again. No pacing the streets of Clerkenwell this time, as I was sick and tired, nursing an annoying cough which I suspect I picked up somewhere on last week's trip. Sleep had been pretty elusive too in this curious but huge hotel, and I had the joy of a different one tonight as I'd planned to be staying near the tour's set down at Clapham Junction. This meant that I had the entire world stuffed into my rucksack, and it was a pretty grim walk to Euston. However, as I crossed Pentonville Road and looked east, a flaming sunrise peeked over the brow of Penton Mound. Momentarily struck by this, I stood like an idiot on a traffic island appreciating London all over again. Top priority at Euston was to find coffee, and with a sensible margin before the tour started I was able to sit back and relax, waiting for my cough to subside before heading for our train. Bumped into the usual crew on route too.
The premise for the day was a 'Buffer Puffer' style dash around South London, taking a top-and-tailed pair of WCRC Class 37s to places they'd never normally go. We set off up Camden Bank before curving away to the West London Lines at Willesden. From here we turned south again for a second pick-up at Clapham Junction. It became clear here that there was a fair few spare seats on the train, and that our neighbour didn't appreciate the chatter and banter. So we moved back into the end of the next coach where some other reprobates were located. From Clapham, we pressed on through the South London suburbs to East Croydon and then to Caterham for a reversal. I had of course been here before with a loco-hauled train, and on that occasion I'd felt pretty unwell too as it turned out. Put the thought that history might be repeating itself out of my mind, and rejoined the train for the next leg. We retraced our steps into London taking subtly different tracks, and gained the South Western route at Wimbledon. From here we had a somewhat speedier run into Guildford via Effingham Junction. Time here for a photo stop, a round of coffees and a chance to briefly enjoy the pleasant sunshine before hopping back on board for the next leg.
Once underway we had another uninterrupted run, this time into London Waterloo via Leatherhead. With the train covering all of the planned track, and taking in some pretty unusual lines and crossovers for the microgricers on board, spirits were high on arrival in the capital. Feeling pretty grim, and waiting for the medication to kick in, so stayed on board for a catch-up with friends until the whistle, when I took to a drop-light for the crossing of Linford Street Viaduct. I've done this bit of rare and disused Eurostar-related track fairly often in the last few years, but it remains and interesting ride over the mainlines. Once we'd descended onto the Chatham Lines we began to pick up pace on the run out to Tonbridge. With lots of unfamiliar Southern region units flying by, I was urged to stay awake and vigilant by the desperate northern crew! Managed to improve my usual record at least I think. A surprising amount of civil engineering activity in the yard at Tonbridge with a fair number of Class 73s stabled. A reversal here and we were soon headed along the straight and rather dull route to Redhill. We'd been carrying just a few minutes delay after the jaunt through Kent and we soon made it up here, with an early arrival for our next reversal. Time to wander on the platform for the first time in years, and to get some further shots of our train. The remaining legs of the trip weren't rare track as such, but they were extremely rare in terms of loco-hauled trains. Setting off via Three Bridges and Horsham, we were soon dashing through the Arun Valley towards the coast. It was warm and I was sleepy, so my unit spotting became erratic and I was forced to volunteer to buy more coffee, since alcohol was out of the question in my condition. After bemusing the locals waiting at Barnham station, we curved towards the sea and entered the once grand terminus at Bognor Regis. In fairness, the station platforms seem to have had a fair bit of attention and it was clean, tidy and very well-kept - certainly better than my last visit which I note was almost exactly seven years ago! Reversing that days moves, we next headed to Littlehampton where a forty minute break saw the passengers from our train scatter rapidly to chip shop, pub and cashpoint. Given that the town had already entered that post-5pm gloom which afflicts most seaside resorts, I suspect experiences were pretty varied.
Back on board with some provisions, and I was feeling much better than I had all day, but pretty sleepy. Settled down for a pleasant evening run back into London with a little bit of light still in the sky. I've written before about how much I love arriving over the rooftops and looking down into the city streets, and this was just about the perfect evening for this activity. Back on time, the Chesterfield contingent prepared to bail out with me at Clapham Junction to make the train back up north - a fairly tight connection. As we arrived at the bottom of the steps in the subway I sent them skittering off to the taxi rank, while I aimed for the much quieter Grant Road exit and the pleasant and familiar evening walk to the Travelodge at Battersea. Not much had changed there either, and just like before I wrote a mental letter of complaint about all the bits of my room that were broken, missing or unpleasant, before deciding I needed to sleep very badly. Despite my aches, pains and annoying coughing today had been a success - the route, complex and challenging to operate, had worked wonderfully and I'd spent the day catching up with a really decent bunch of people too. Settled down to sleep, safe in the knowledge that, this time at least, I hadn't developed swine flu into the bargain!
Lost::MikeGTN
I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.
I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.
