Thanks to Virgin's East Coast seat sale, I managed to secure a £10 return to the capital on a Saturday. It was going to be a long day, leaving York at 0600 and returning on the 2100 out of Kings Cross. I actually went to the effort of planning every move although in the end I deviated slightly but the areas covered stayed broadly the same. I figured 30 winners would be a good target, as I only have a handful of London units ticked off, and was not expecting any duds.
My first train of the day was 91103, which became my first loco/unit to tick over 500 miles. Still need five of them, but the milestone made up for it. I slept most of the way, as did most of the other people around me. Woke up around Stevenage and noticed the frost on the pavements and started to regret not bringing gloves and a scarf. Arrival at Kings Cross was just after 0800, phone was on 100% battery and I was ready to go.
Good job I allowed 20 minutes before the first planned move, as I had to walk down to the Underground ticket machines to buy a travelcard as I couldn't find a way to do it on the Virgin ones on the concourse. Felt a bit stupid when I went back upstairs and onto Platform 9 to find another ticket machine right outside the gates selling all tickets. Oh well, one to remember for next time.
First winners of the day and first ever journey on a 365 was had courtesy of 365503 & 365518 which I took to Finsbury Park. I wanted to meet a Moorgate service to get me to Liverpool Street, but instead of waiting at Finsbury Park I had time, in theory, to get to Harringay for a +2 back the other way. Both services were running to time, so I took double winners 313123 and 313122 to winner station Harringay.
313122 Harringay 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
The 20 seconds or so waiting to take that picture gave me a problem, because the second after I fired the shutter the Moorgate train pulled in on the other platform. The footbridge was confusing, when I reached the top of the stairs it looked like a dead end both ways, but it stepped out and back again like a maze and wasn't signposted at all. I even managed to walk past the entry to the other platform, so now I had seconds to get down the stairs. There was a young lady racing down the stairs as well, not too clever in the weather it has to be said but at least they were gritted. The hussle alarm was going on the 313's and I thought it was over but I jumped on by the skin of my teeth. Not the best move I've ever made, won't be trying that again. Minimum +3 for unknown stations is a new rule! The lady looked at me and laughed, though I think she was more pleased to be getting to where she was going sooner, rather than scoring a couple of knackered old EMU's...
I worked out from the carriage number that I was in winner 313038. It wasn't until we got to Moorgate, that I could ID the leading unit as 313033. I'd caught it in such a hurry that I wasn't even sure if I was in the front or rear unit :lol:
From Moorgate I walked to Liverpool Street, with the aim of getting some 321's in the book. I'd allowed a generous amount of time to do the walk and arrived ahead of schedule, so rather than wait about I ended up taking a pair of winner 360's, 360113 & 360107 to Stratford. I then waited for the original service I was going to get from Liverpool Street, which was 321337, which I had to station score Romford. I hadn't realised due to the compression of the tube map how far this was, around 8 miles and the 321 didn't hang about, was a really enjoyable run. Also noteworthy seeing the first Crossrail unit and the black demonstrator 321 on Ilford depot.
I was now on 9 winners and it wasn't even 0930 yet. The 30 target was looking comfortably achievable. I decided to go for a walk in Romford to get a coffee & snack, which meant I could catch the next fast service back towards London rather than get on an all-stop service. It was cold, but my theory of leaving the scarf and gloves was I'd be doing a lot of walking and didn't want to get too hot, and with the sun coming out I was hoping it'd turn out to be a good call. When I got to the Starbucks there was a sign on the counter indicating that festive specials still on - so a large eggnog latte was chosen instead of the usual iced latte, which went some way to making up for the lack of gloves. Also got an almond croissant to keep me going until lunch.
Got back to Romford station in plenty of time for the 0953 from Southend. A few minutes later 321442 & 321327 rolled in, and I decided to go right through to Liverpool Street to pick up another 321 service back to Stratford. This also gave me time to polish off the croissant. I was in the pantograph coach and it was making an absolute racket, a really loud electrical buzzing sound every time the unit took power. I eavesdropped on a conversation about house prices a group of women were having in the seats opposite, quite interesting some of the opinions being exchanged. When I got off at Liverpool Street I got rid of the croissant bag in the bin and realised it was actually the bin lid vibrating that was causing the noise, metal on metal is probably not a good idea in a vehicle that vibrates so much. A small rubber grommet would solve this. Maybe a career change into waste bin design beckons!
I had a choice of the 1013 to Southend or the 1018 to Clacton, the latter being another pair of 360's. In the end I went for 321315 & 321329 on the Southend service. I was done with the GEML now, having got 5 321's and 2x 360's in the book. The plan next was my first ever run on the DLR to West Ham, and I boarded units 127 & 148 (don't usually record light rail but I made an exception!) - however I messed up by catching a service to Canary Wharf which doesn't actually go via West Ham. Should have researched that a bit better. Lesson learned for future, I bailed at Bow Church which was shown as having an interchange with the District line. It did, but it was a good 5-10 minute walk to Bow Road underground station. I eventually got to West Ham more or less at the time I'd planned to be there, so no harm done. Winner for sight, haulage, station & operator here, as c2c's 357028 arrived to take me to London Fenchurch Street.
357028 West Ham 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I enjoyed this journey, the 357's are a lot nicer than I realised. The right hand side views of the buildings around the Gherkin as you approach Fenchurch Street are great as well, especially with the sun out. At Fenchurch Street 357001 and 357007 were about to leave with a Shoeburyness service. I was tempted to do a leap to Limehouse and back, it'd have taken 20 minutes or so. I decided to let them go, and stick to the plan. Fenchurch Street is a lot smaller than I imagined. From the inside it's forgettable but the station building from the outside is really quite nice.
I took a steady walk to London Bridge, taking in the views along the river, before checking out the 'new' station. It's been a while since I was last here, the work is still ongoing but it looks good, spacious and bright. Officially it's also a winner station as I've no recorded move out of here. This was rectified when I took 465027 & 465247 from London Bridge to London Charing Cross.
465247 London Charing Cross 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
From here it was a short hop on the tube from Embankment to Blackfriars, somewhere I've wanted to visit for a while. It's certainly unusual with its platforms spanning the river. I embarked a series of hops on the Thameslink core which were quite fruitful - first up 700101, a nice start and the first 700 I've had, took me to Farringdon. Then it was Southern liveried 377214 back the way I came to City Thameslink. A few minutes here before the following service of 377215 and 377514 took me back to where I started.
377215 & 377514 London Blackfriars 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
The final Thameslink move was on 319446 from Blackfriars to Elephant & Castle. I found a Boots on the walk to the tube station and took the opportunity to get some lunch, originally aiming for a meal deal but coming away with a 50p yellow sticker reduced sandwich, which is always satisfying. I did a short tube hop back to London Bridge, where I caught 377155 to East Croydon, eating the chicken, bacon & avocado sandwich on the way there. Took a couple of shots here before my next move.
700103 East Croydon 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
The sandwich was decent but it was a shapers one, and hadn't quite filled me, so I ate the peanut butter flapjack I'd brought with me from home - an accidental recipie that got adapted after I broke our blender trying to make energy balls and decided to bake the lumpy mixture instead. The result was a lot nicer than it sounds and very filling. The Southern service I planned to get was delayed by around 5 minutes, and the platform was getting really quite busy. The 'formed of 4 coaches' message on the PIS wasn't good news either, so I let the single 377 go and took the service 2 minutes behind which was happily a pair - 377609 & 377615, but still had to stand to Clapham Junction.
I was after some SWT desiros, first up was 444039 & 444027 to Surbiton. I'd only previously had 444006 so I planned to get a good chunk of these in. Had a 12 minute wait here before my first ever 450's arrived on a service from Alton. Was expecting a pair but even better when three showed up - 450032, 450034 & 450093 took me back to Clapham Junction.
450032 Surbiton 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I then went through to Waterloo on another 444 pair, 444021 & 444044. This move broke the 30 winners barrier, and with a good amount of time left before my train home, 50 was starting to look possible. I came straight back out of Waterloo on 450006 & 450100. As we left, I spotted another set of 444's arriving from Weymouth - neither were dud 006 so I decided to do a fill in move at Clapham Junction before picking up the 444's to Surbiton once again. One option was to stay on the 450's to Richmond before doubling back but the connection was iffy. In the end I did 455808 to Battersea Park before coming back on 377117
455808 Clapham Junction 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
377117 Battersea Park 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
Another short wait as the sun started to set, before last in class 444045 & 444030 appeared to take me to Surbiton for the second time of the day.
444045 Clapham Junction 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
This move turned out to be a good decision - I'd changed from my plan slightly but I was rewarded with a pretty spectacular sunset at Surbiton, and a timely non-stop Portsmouth service gave me a focal point for a photo.
Surbiton Sunset by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I'd had enough of SWT now for one day, so I made my way back to Waterloo, first taking 450109, 450082 & 450555 back to Clapham Junction. Annoyingly, the first 5 or so coaches were lightly loaded but the rear unit was full, everyone stood in the wrong part of the platform, so it was standing room only on 450555.
Another short wait at Clapham for my last two 444's of the day. 444025 & 444014 taking me up to 9 in total for the Class - a round 20% completion, and much more respectable than the 1 I started the day with. Took a seat in the rear set in order to get a picture at the terminus. As it turned out, the trio of 450's I'd taken from Surbiton to Clapham were in the next platform on the left of the image.
444014 London Waterloo 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
I had a couple of shops to visit around Piccadilly, so walked over Embankment bridge and through Trafalgar Square, getting slightly lost at one point, and distracted by the (peaceful) anti-Trump protesters around the National Gallery. Most of the posters were quite wordy and unoriginal but there was one which caught my eye which simply said 'F**k Trump' - which amused me. No beating around the bush there (presidential pun intended).
Enough political rambling, after getting where I needed to go (not necessarily by the most efficient route, I'm sure) - I was now at Oxford Circus tube station. I'd now walked around 25000 steps for the day and my feet were getting sore, so I needed a plan B. My plan had a couple of moves out of Euston but I couldn't face the walk back down Euston Road to Kings Cross for my train home, so I abandoned that. The plan was to do some more Thameslink moves to try get over 50 winners for the day (at this point I was on 42). I stayed on the tube to Finsbury Park, to get a mainline service back to Kings Cross and then walk over to St Pancras Thameslink. Didn't realise how many steps were at Finsbury Park tube, should have got off at Kings Cross. There was a 15 minute wait for a train as well, which wasn't helpful with the clock ticking. The was one other man on the platform heading to London. The first train was delayed by around 15 minutes - to the point that the second one would end up in at around the same time. The other chap must have changed platforms around 3-4 times, but eventually settled on the delayed service and I went for the second one, which worked out well as the first was a busy 4-car 365, whereas I got lightly-loaded pair 365512 & 365533.
I made my way over to St Pancras low level platforms and decided to head north rather than do the same stations I'd done earlier. 319003 took me from one station score St Pancras International, to another, West Hampstead Thameslink. It was a fairly quick change for a return to St Pancras, but unfortunately I'd managed to meet dud 377214 from earlier in the day. West Hampstead was a longer run than I'd realised, and not every service stops at intermediate station Kentish Town, so if I was going to hit 50 winners I'd have to abandon station hunting and head back into the city. I went with this option, first up taking 700005 to Farringdon.
700005 Farringdon 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
By now I was just making it up as I went along. Ex-First Capital Connect blue 377510 pulled into the northbound platform so I took it back to St Pancras. I really needed some pairs to take the winners total up, and a pair of 377's had just arrived in the southbound platform. Dashed over but just missed it, but no harm done as the next service was showing as 8 coaches on the PIS. Consecutive numbers for the second time of the day, 319444 & 319445 were taken to City Thameslink. I'd lost count of my total at this point and thought I was on 48, but I was actually on 49. Therefore, 377509 brought up the the big 50 on a short hop back to Farringdon.
377509 Farringdon 21/01/2017 by Flash 3939, on Flickr
The final move before my train home was again showing as 8 coaches, and was expecting a pair to finish but it was actually 8-car 700036. All the 700's I'd been on had a pleasant 'new car smell' about them but this one was particularly strong. It was only when I later checked that I found out it'd only been in service since the previous Monday. A good way to bring up 50 I thought, but it was actually 51!
I'd left enough time to get some food from Crystal Kebab opposite Kings Cross, which someone mentioned in a trip report on here but I can't remember who now (apologies). Most grateful for the tip anyway as I had a superb mixed doner & chips, I can see this becoming a regular ritual before heading home from the capital. Will just have to remember to draw some cash out earlier in the day next time as finding a cash machine around Kings Cross that wasn't guarded by homeless people was quite a challenge.
91127 took me back up north - another high mileage loco although not quite over 500. I had a reserved seat in coach E but every seat had a ticket on it, and I didn't fancy a wedged carriage so I made my way up to C which was totally unreserved. It was about 20 minutes to departure, the kebab was so good it was gone before we even left! I was back home for 2330, very tired (33000 steps was the final total), but had a great day out. Possibly never to be repeated now I've got a few units ticked off, I can't see 50 in a day ever happening again!
Day summary
91103 BN25 82216 YRK-KGX
365503 & 365518 KGX-FPK
313123 & 313122 FPK-HGY
313033 & 313038 HGY-MOG
360113 & 360107 LST-SRA
321337 SRA-RMF
321442 & 321327 RMF-LST
321315 & 321329 LST-SRA
DLR Stratford to Bow Church
Tube Bow Road to West Ham
357028 WEH-FST
465027 & 465247 LBG-CHX
700101 BLK-ZFD
377214 ZFD-CTK
377215 & 377514 CTK-BLK
319446 BLK-EPH
Tube Elephant & Castle to London Bridge
377155 LBG-ECR
377609 & 377615 ECR-CLJ
444039 & 444027 CLJ-SUR
450032, 450034 & 450093 SUR-CLJ
444021 & 444044 CLJ-WAT
450006 & 450100 WAT-CLJ
455808 CLJ-BAK
377117 BAK-CLJ
444045 & 444030 CLJ-SUR
450109, 450082 & 450555 SUR-CLJ
444025 & 444014 CLJ-WAT
Tube Oxford Circus to Finsbury Park
365512 & 365533 FPK-KGX
319003 STP-WHP
377214 WHP-STP
700005 STP-ZFD
377510 ZFD-STP
319444 & 319445 STP-CTK
377509 CTK-ZFD
700036 ZFD-STP
91127 BN01 82207 KGX-YRK
16 new stations (Battersea Park, Blackfriars, City Thameslink, East Croydon, Elephant & Castle, Farringdon, Harringay, London Bridge, London Charing Cross, London Fenchurch Street, Moorgate, Romford, St Pancras International, Surbiton, West Ham, West Hampstead Thameslink)
51 new units (4x 313, 4x 319, 5x 321, 1x 357, 2x 360, 4x 365, 9x 377, 8x 444, 8x 450, 1x 455, 2x 465, 3x 700)
3 dud locos/units (2x 91, 1x 377)