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BOOM and the day went well.
Bold = Haulage, Red = Winner, All others are sightings.
I needed a day off. I wanted to catch the the parliamentary train from West Ealing to West Ruislip. So I booked the Wednesday off and dragged my backside out of bed.
I'm usually dubious about catching a train from Selhurst early in the morning to Croydon as I've been disappointed in the past but the last two times has proved ok. This morning I caught 2O09 Watford Junction to East Croydon 377215 (non winner). This got me there for a range of different trains.
I caught by chance 9S04 Brighton to Cambridge 700104 (non winner) up to Farringdon. This now allowed me a choice of what Elizabeth Line cl.345 to get.
I took the option of 9Y43 Shenfield to Paddington 345055 (winner). This was a bonus unit as I the plan was to get one all the way through to Heathrow Central.
At Paddington I waited for my original plan of train 9T54 Abbey Wood to Heathrow Terminal 4 345003 (non winner but cleared for 10 miles).
At Heathrow Central I alighted and waited for the next one to Terminal 5. This was a Heathrow Express train 1T38 Paddington to Heathrow Terminal 5 387133, 387132 (both winners).
At Terminal 5 I just hung around to go back on the same units as I needed to clear th le line to Terminal 4 as well. 1Y38 Heathrow Terminal 5 to Paddington took me back.
A leisurely walk to the other platform and I caught 9T68 Abbey Wood to Heathrow Terminal 5 345023 (Winner and cleared for 10 miles).
I returned on the same unit on 9U99 Heathrow Terminal 4 to Abbey Wood.
I took photos of the units at all three stations and I have to say Terminal 5 is OK to get a photo of 387s but the other two I can only describe as dingy and dark. Not impressive if you arrived from abroad and were heading to London.
9U99 got me to West Ealing for 10:06 thus I had an hour to wait for my Parliamentary train. BUT in came a GWR cl.165 and it was going to Greenford! I now had a cunning plan. Go to Greenford and back and still catch the Parliamentary.
A couple of photos and I boarded 2G20 West Ealing to Greenford 165118 (Winner and cleared for 5 miles) and then after some photos of Greenford Station back on 2G21 Greenford to West Ealing.
I was surprised at the number of enthusiasts at West Ealing waiting for the Chiltern DMU.
In came 165002 (winner and cleared for 5 miles). And on we all got. 2M27 left on time and probably had more people on it today then in the past 5 months. It was all good natured. Midland London from twitter passed me with his GoPro camera. Looking forward to his video on his channel soon.
At West Ruislip there was the photo call of 165002. Many went off to pursue other things. I hung about and caught 2G28 Marylebone to Gerrards Cross 165006 (winner and eared for 5 miles).
Gerrard Cross is not a bad little station and I had sometime to take a few photo including the statue of the railway worker.
It was time for my next bit of haulage. 1Y33 Oxford to Marylebone arrived with 168327 (winner and cleared for 5 miles) in charge, a Turbostar (Clubman). In the past I have only had two of them for haulage so this was a little different. Back at Marylebone a swift cross from the country end of platform 2 along, and back up to the country end of platform 3 and on to 2A33 Marylebone to Aylesbury form of two units, 165021, 165023 (both winners and both cleared for 5 miles).
Back at Gerrards Cross I waited for the unit to come out of the sidings. 165030 (winner and cleared for 5 miles) formed 2H44 Gerrards Cross to Marylebone. I had two options open to me. Another return to Gerrards Cross or head to Waterloo and see if I could pick up something to Clapham then to Croydon.
Waterloo won out. Down I went to the Bakerloo line and 3235 took me on my way. At Waterloo I saw one on the "needed" list so I went for 2O41 Waterloo to Teddington 455912, 455906 (455912 winner). It was a good call as I managed a couple of photos of two class 70s (816, 817) sitting at a signal and three 701s in the year.
If I had just caught a train down to Croydon I'd have been way too early to meet the wife for dinner so I went up to Victoria. 2K39 West Croydon to Victoria 377459, 377325, 377320. Thus this allowed me to get 1L44 Victoria to East Grinstead 377117, 377463 to East Croydon.
After collecting her we headed in the Porter & Sorter pub for a meal then on to 2J52 East Croydon to London Bridge 377315, 377318 to Selhurst.
Really great day out and enjoyed it thoroughly.