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God it was blinking cold!
Back in November someone posted on X (formerly Twitter) that they had pssed through East Farleigh and the station buildings had been repainted. I screen grabbed the post and decided that I would make an effort to go and see the station and take a few photos for this site. I wanted to go out and the oppotunity arose for the 11th Jan. A not too early start was called for.
2B06 Selhurst to West Croydon 377113, 377160 Non winner [1m 21ch].
Up and over the bridge at West Croydon and await the next leg of the trip. Within second of getting on the platform there was announcement that the train was delayed by 6 minutes. It eventually arrived 8 minutes late in to West Croydon.
1K06 West Croydon to London Bridge 377604, 377623 non winners [10m 23ch]
It managed to make up a couple of minutes until it approached London Bridge when it dropped a couple of minutes and got in 11 minutes late. That left me a whole 3 minutes to cross from platform 15 to platform 7. I made it on the triain with literally a minute to spare.
2R14 London Bridge to Paddock Wood 375603 non winner [33m 00ch]
Of course no trip out would be complete if the trains were all on time. This also piked up a delay on the way and arrived in to Paddock Wood some 7 minutes late. It did however get me there intime to catch my planned train.
2T18 Paddock Wood To East Farleigh 375301 winner [8m 08ch]
THis one ran on time and I arrived in to East Farleigh. Nice station on one platform but the other is a bit bland (more here when I write it) Trust me it was VERY cold and there was quite a frst everywhere. I had planned in some other stations as I had used Google maps to have a scout out what other stations were worth a look. And so on to the next one.
2T21 East Farleigh to Aylesford 375308 winner [5m 28ch]
Whilst East Farleigh is a wooden structure, Aylesford is a more substantial structure. (More about Aylesford here when I write it). Whilst it was still cold it was starting to get brighter. And so on to the next station.
2T23 Aylesford to Cuxton 375305 non winner [5m 38ch]
I remember Cuxton from when I was a kid as my Granddad's sister and her daughter lived there. We used to visit them by car so I never used the station so it was always one of the stations I wanted to visit on a personal level. Sadly I was pretty disappointed in it (more on Cuxton here when I write it.)
2T25 Cuxton to Strood 375310 Winner [2m 25ch]
At Strood I had decent connection to head to Chatham and get some food.
9P17 Strood to Chatham 700037 non winner [1m 44ch]
At Chatham I headed down to the Wethersppons. While there I messaged the wife asking if she wanted to meet up for a bite to eat but she was walking arund the shops in Bromley. So I replanned the rest of the trip. A combination of Real Time Trains and a bit of memory and I was then on my way to the Least Used Station in Kent. (more about Swale Station here when I write it)
1S22 Chatham to Sittingbourne 375622, 275901 winners [10m 24ch]
2S33 Sittingbourne to Swale 375306 winner [3m 38ch]
There isn't a lot to Swale station. so once I'd take a few photos I jumped back on the next train to Sittingbourne.
2S34 Swale to Sittingbourne 375306 non winner [3m 38ch]
I made it to Sittingbourne in time to catch the HS1 cl.395 to St Pancras if I had wanted to but I opted to head home via Victoria
1P36 Sittingbournse to Victoria 375904, 375714 1 Winner [44m 49ch]
The trip up to London was really easy going and we arrived bang on time which allowed me just under 10 minutes to get around to Central side and my train back.
2B72 Victoria to Selhurst 377136, 377423 non winners [9m 31ch]
To be honest it was a really enjoyable trip overall, a bit cold but enjoyable.