London, The Silver Mainline. (29/12/12)

To start todays trip we decided it would be best to pay for a taxi to get into Redditch in time for the first train of the morning. By having a poor understanding of how fast the taxis are we arrived into Redditch with 30 minutes to spare after collecting tickets (oops) so decided to visit the Red Diamond depot where most the fleet were parked before heading out for the days duties.

A rather poor photo to the left shows 20913, MX57 UPS inside
Redditch Depot, 20913 is a Black Diamond livery
Optare Solo which has been in Redditch for a few weeks

The 06:27 which was formed of 323208 which we used to Birmingham to allow us to make the Chiltern Mainline service to London after a cushy stop for Breakfast. 

323208 is seen photoed at Five Ways on a previous visit to Birmingham

From Birmingham the plan was to use the Chiltern Mainline service to London Marylebone from Birmingham Snow Hill, the service comes from Kidderminster starting there at 07:12 and arriving into Snow Hill at 07:51 where it then goes forward stopping at a small handful of stops along the way, allowing Chiltern to offer a service worthy of competing with Virgin and London Midland. The Chiltern service was formed of 82302 and 67015.

67015 is seen at London Marylebone

From London Marylebone and after meeting Adam Priseman outside we decided to head to London Euston on Stagecoach London's 15117 on the 205 service which runs from Paddington to Bow Church via Marylebone, Euston and Liverpool Street. We stayed here for 20 minutes to photo the variety of buses that serve London Euston station from operators such as First, Arriva, Stagecoach, Go Ahead and Metroline.

Arriva London VLW198, LJ53 BFE is seen outside London 
Euston while waiting for a space to clear

The next move was to head to the busy Oxford Street where several buses serve due to it being a busy shopping location with a variety of shops for everyone, to get here we boarded RATP's London United  SP143 on service 10. These Scania OmniDekka's have an unusual seating arrangement downstairs due to having a standing engine.

Metroline's VP577, LK04 ENE is seen on
Oxford Street with a service 98.

From Oxford Street we left Adam who decided to go and find some Arriva stuff ... He has a thing for them ... So we decided it was time to grab some bikes and get cycling! I wanted to check out a location in the Victoria area of London where it is good for train photos. From Oxford Street we cycled to Marble Arch, then along Park Lane to Hyde Park Corner. With London being rather busier than elsewhere in the country it is worth taking caution when cycling however with bus lanes on most roads this is a far safer option than the open road and most bus drivers will give you a wide space when passing which is always appreciated! From Hyde Park Corner we cycled down Grosvenor Place and up Buckingham Palace Road to the cycle point by Victoria Coach Station. This ride came in at 2.2miles and 9mph average speed.

YourBus 4006, FJ60 EGZ is seen
arriving at Victoria Coach Station

Victoria Coach Station is located just a stones throw away from Victoria Train Station which is connected with the Tube station making it a key interchange with a Bus Station also located just outside the Train Station.

WVL124, LX53 AZT is seen loading at
Victoria Coach Station on a service 11.

From here we cycled to the next point which was located by Ebury Bridge, however we got lost and ended up by The Thames and across the river from the former Battersea Power Station.

Battersea Power Station.

We had missed our turn and ended up cycling an extra mile around a rather large block however we found the back of the Rail Depot located just outside London Victoria.

First Capital Connect 377522 waiting
for its next call of duty.

After we found the right location we parked the bikes at the Cycle Dock and proceeded to the location, 10 paces from the cycle dock which was the entrance to the Network Rail site, which provides a great location for train photography outside Victoria Station.

455820 is seen leaving London Victoria.

From Ebury Bridge we cycled to Pall Mall's St James's Square, where we decided to walk up to Piccadilly Circus to get some more bus photos.

Arriva London's OA332, J332 BSH.

Piccadilly Circus is a busy hub for buses and tubes being one of the tourist hot spots being a key location near Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace, having finished photoing at Piccadilly we decided to use some Tubes to get to Liverpool Street Station.

We used to tube from Embankment to Waterloo then Waterloo to Bank and Bank to Liverpool Street where we headed for a 205 bus to Angel which turned out to be 15101 another Scania OmniDekka!

From Angel we cycled to Oxford Street, down to Victoria and then through Buckingham Gardens and to Marylebone.

From here we ended up on 168217 back to Birmingham Moor Street on the 18:06 service.

168217 waits time at London Marylebone.

From Birmingham we got 323217 back to Redditch on the 20:13 service which was running slightly late so by the time we got back to Redditch we ended up missing the 58 and waiting half an hour for it to get back to do a 57 (These being circular routes following the same route)

323217 is seen at Redditch.

From Redditch we caught 67640, VX54 MRU on the 57 service to Washford, Redditch where we then had to walk back to Studley due to no buses running to Studley after 7.15pm, Welcome to Redditch!

67640 is seen in Redditch on a previous day while running an X3 service.

Thanks for Reading.

The Chiltern Way to London.

The day started with a chilly but fast walk to the bus stop after leaving home late, we made it to the bus stop just in time for 15673, KX10 KTC (A Scania Enviro400) branded for route 28 arrived on the 07:08 26 for the journey from Studley to Redditch. This bus upon return to Stratford Upon Avon goes on to work the 28.

After arriving into Redditch 5 minutes early we were able to buy train tickets and board the 07:27 London Midland Service to Birmingham New Street (It continues to Lichfield) formed of a single Class 323, 323202. This arrived into Birmingham at 08:03 from where we went to get breakfast and meet up with Mr Tom Brant for the second leg of the journey.

After deciding to catch the 08:55 Chiltern service instead of the 08:15 we decided it best to board at Birmingham Snow Hill mainly due to most people alighting there and several people boarding at Birmingham Moor Street which is Chilterns main station in the city.

While waiting for our service to arrive London Midlands Class 172, 172341 was photoed waiting to form a service in platform 2. London Midland placed these in service in 2011 to replace the ageing Class 150 units which were displaced to Northern and First Great Western.

Next service to arrive was our Chiltern Train formed of two Class 168 units, 168108 and 168215. Which we used to London Marylebone.

Upon arrival into London we needed to buy Travelcard's for Zones 1-6 (We always buy 1-6 as with a railcard discount its the same price to buy that as it is to buy a 1-2.) From here we went into the tube system to get a tube to Baker Street, however, after getting confused and boarding the wrong tube we ended up at London Paddington train station. From here i decided it best to use the bus to Notting Hill Gate in the form of route 27. 


Route 27 goes from Chalk Farm to Chiswick via Camden Town, Paddington, Kensington and Hammersmith. We were to use it to Notting Hill Gate after getting a few photos outside Paddington Station. (First London DN39117 is seen outside Paddington while on a service 23 towards Liverpool Street.)





We Boarded SLE43, YN55 NKM on route 27 which took a slightly diverted route out of Paddington due to roadworks. Route 27 is operated by London United (Part of RATP). The main vehicle type on this route are the Scania OmniDekka's. (SLE43 is seen heading for Chiswick on Route 27.)

After arriving around the corner from Notting Hill Gate tube station we decided to get some photos of the buses running through mainly services 94 and 148 from London United and service 31 and 328 from First. Abellio also run through with Enviro 400's.

From here we used the tube to get to Shepherd Bush which has a modern Bus/Tube/OverGround interchange right at the heart of its retail area and only 5 minutes from White City.

Shepherds Bush offers a wide variety of transport options, Class 377 and Class 378 trains run through the OverGround station as well as the odd Freight train. Tubes run at frequent intervals and several bus types are also present. (Metroline's DE952, LK58 CSX is seen loading on the final leg of route 316 towards White City.)

After a 15 minute stay in Shepherds Bush we decided it best to head to White City which is where most routes that were passing through Shepherds Bush seemed to terminate of end up, with a large variety of types at high frequency we chose to use London United's DE107, SN10 CCO on route C1 (Victoria to White City). (DE107 is seen on arrival into Shepherds Bush on the C1 service to White City.)

White City is a modern retail complex located right next door to Shepherds Bush, with public transport located just a stones throw away, the Bus Station is built right outside with its own Barclays Bike rack for those who choose to cycle and also the tube system located around the corner. There is a frequent bus service to Shepherds Bush from several routes, with a combined frequency of every 3ish minutes.


Our main reason for going to Shepherds Bush and White City was to see First Group WM47400, DRZ 6181 which is one of just two Door Forward Streetlites in service in London. (WM47400 is seen arriving into White City Interchange.)


The next move was to head back to Shepherds Bush so we decided to use a 207 run by First Group with 61-plated Scania OmniCity Deckers. SN36043, YR61 RSU was the vehicle destined for Hayes-By-Pass, the 207 was one of the first and last to have BendyBus operation. (SN36043 is seen pictured while laying over at White City.)

From Shepherds Bush we decided to use the train to Wembley Central which was formed of a single Class 377, 377208 which was heading for Milton Keynes Central. From Wembley we decided to head back into London on the tube this time heading for Victoria, we swapped to a Circle line at Paddington, this time boarding the correct tube! ... I typed that wrong too! We actually boarded the wrong tube, luckily we changed at Bayswater to the Circle Line after boarding the District Line by mistake.

We remained at Victoria for around an hour photoing buses just outside the Bus station in the middle of what can only be described as a building site. (MEC37, BD09 ZWC is seen negotiating the building works with a 507 service from Victoria to Waterloo.)

There are frequent services from Victoria Bus Station with buses every few minutes on services 38 and 73 both run by Arriva as well as several other services run by Go ahead and Metroline amongst other operators. Victoria provides a good interchange for Bus, Tube and Train services as well as having Victoria Coach Station located just a 5 minute walk from the Bus Station.

From here we moved on to Piccadilly Circus on a service 38, formed with Arriva's DW230, LJ59 AEZ
which took a lengthy diversion via Oxford Street getting stuck in traffic along the way. After arriving at Piccadilly Circus we decided to head to Waterloo to meet up with Tom again, however with the level of traffic we decided our best option was to hire bikes and so we cycled the 2.3 miles averaging 8mph.

After arriving at London Waterloo we photoed a few Abellio buses on service 211 before heading off back to Victoria (Tom on a 211 and us cycling), this time cycling 1.9miles and averaging 8.5mph, some how we still beat Tom there, although he will dispute that, due to a red light outside Scotland Yard. (Abellio's 9550, SN12 AOX is seen laying over at Waterloo Train Station)

Around the time we arrived at Victoria it was far to dark to photo most buses as majority would be moving and with the high number of pedestrians in the area, anything waiting at red lights would be blocked by pedestrians so from Victoria we used DW209, LJ09 SVD to Hyde Park Corner on route 38. (Arriva's DW209 is seen leaving Victoria earlier in the day)

From Hyde Park Corner we decided to cycle to Tottenham Court Road, after around 10 minutes of searching for a cycle point that worked we had borrowed two more bikes and were on our way negotiating traffic in Central London can be a challenge at the best of times,  however with stuff moving slowly along Oxford Street the main problem was the Pedestrians popping out from behind buses and taxis at any point. This Cycle came in at 3.3miles and average speed of 5.5mph.

After a mess up while cycling (mainly me forgetting Tottenham Court Road and cycling to Trafalgar Square ... oops!) we had to catch a number 12 bus from Trafalgar Square back to Oxford Circus Tube Station in the form of WVL440, LJ61 GWZ.

From here we used a tube back to Paddington on the Bakerloo Line. In time to grab some food and board the Chiltern Service at 19:00 for Birmingham Moor Street. Much nicer than one of London Midlands Class 350 services. We had Class 168, 168216 back to Moor Street where a slow walk across the city (21:13 Redditch service was Cancelled) we boarded the 21:23 Birmingham New Street to Longbridge service as far as Bournville on Class 323, 323210. (A Cross Country Voyager is seen speeding towards Birmingham New Street on a North bound service.)

After a 20 minute wait we boarded Class 323, 323208 to Redditch with the slightly delayed 21:55 service. Upon arrival into Redditch we headed for one of the last buses of the night the 22:32 57 First Midland Red service, with 67639 being the bus VX54 MRO was new to Midland Red in late 2004.

Northern Day Ranger.

Saturday 31st March 2012.

To get to the Northern Rail area we needed to leave Studley early enough to walk to Washford, Redditch to get a 58 to Redditch, this turned out to be 67636 which had recently been on loan to Kidderminster garage, surprisingly for First Midlands West this was on time and a smooth run into Redditch ready for the 06:57 train to Birmingham.

From Redditch we boarded 323205 on the 06:57 2R14 Cross City service to Birmingham run by London Midland with the service running to time throughout this gave us 50ish minutes in Birmingham (best to arrive for an advanced booked journey in plenty of time!) this allowed time for a few bus photos in Birmingham. (To the right is a photo of Perry Barr's 4496, BJ03EWG which is seen on a service 907 from Birmingham to Sutton Coldfield via Perry Barr.)

After a quick walk around town we returned to New Street station ready for the 08:20 Virgin Service to Wigan North Western, i had chosen Wigan as it was a station that could be got to quickly and also has a Northern Rail station located just yards away (Wigan Wallgate), the 08:20 service was formed of a double Super Voyager in the form of 221101 and 221110 for this journey we sat in Coach D on 221110 the leading Voyager, the service ran smoothly with no delays more than a few minutes and 1S44 arrived at Wigan just 2 minutes late.

With an hour scheduled on the plan in Wigan we moved to the Bus Station after a quick stop of at Wigan Wallgate station to pick up Northern tickets, Wigan Bus Station is located just a 5 minute walk from the Train Stations and provides a variety of services from a number of operators such as First Manchester and Arriva Manchester as well as independents South Lanc Travel and Wigan Buses Ltd.
(To the left is an image of First Manchester driver trainer 61351, L204 KSX seen laying over just beside Wigan Bus Station.)


The next move was to get a Northern service to Bolton 2J68 which was 142061 with an on time service to Bolton although the unit heading to Rochdale the previous working was former London Midland unit 150119.

Upon arrival at Bolton we had a 20 minute wait for a service to Blackburn so took the opportunity to look at the Station interchange where several services stop on there way out of Bolton and can also produce a number of vehicle types from several operators, Maytree Travel use Enviro200's on the free centre link service and also Streetlites on local services, where as First and Arriva use standard company vehicles from Volvo and VDL respectively. (Seen in the photo the the right is a Maytree Travel Wright Streetlite with a local service on route 526.)

After a short time in Bolton we boarded 150268 towards Blackburn on 2N59 which was heading for Clitheroe, with Blackburn having a bus station just outside the rail station we took a few quick snaps of the Transdev operation in the town which included Optare Tempo's, Dennis Darts, Volvo B7RLE's amongst other types, with Stagecoach using ALX 400 bodied Tridents on there service 59 and a Plaxton Primo and Alexander Sprinter bodied Merc from the independent operators. (The Mercedes 709D was new to Dennis's of Dunkfield as N592WND and is seen operating for Darwen Coach Services as PLZ5592.)

Having stayed for a brief time in Blackburn the next move was 158753 to Halifax on 1B27 for which we had a 30 minute stay (no where near long enough when i discovered how far walk the bus station is!) Having arrived at the Bus Station we found services run by CentreBus, TJ Walsh's and First as well as the odd Arriva service and also some Ring and Ride style services run by modern Mercedes Low floor vehicles. (A TJ Walsh's Plaxton Primo MX56 ABV is seen passing Halifax bus Station while on service 700.)

From Halifax the next move was a Grand Central service to Bradford Interchange which was formed of 180105 (my first 180 trip, and i must say there not too bad), upon arrival to Bradford Interchange we found it like some sort of Maze, however once we found our way out we found a mostly First Group run operation with Arriva and Transdev running services and some National Express Contracts also running in we found a few unusual vehicles like ex Arriva Sales stock YJ58FFB working for a local independent and also former London First Optare Solos. (Named The Blackpool Tower is FJ60EGD working a National Express service for Stotts.)


After Bradford we moved on to Leeds taking 1B29 operating using 158759 which was running to time and upon arrival to Leeds we were able to photo several units including 170302, 333004 and 155343, the 333/155 being new types for photoing. In Leeds we decided not to walk to the bus station and stayed in the centre by the Train Station where we found several types, Hybrid Gemini's, Optare Spectra's, MCV Evolution's, FTR's amongst other types.
(Hybrid Volvo B5L with Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 bodywork 39202, BJ60BZB named Rob Burrow is seen on a service 7 in Leeds.)


From Leeds we proceded to York but not before a brief meeting with Tom Brant who left 158757 which was running around 20 minutes late (Maybe a sign of things to come?) we arrived into York around 20 minutes late but once we arrived found Adam Priseman waiting from here we decided to photo the vehicles outside the train station which saw a vast variety from Volvo Olympians and Volvo B9TL's from Transdev too Volvo B7RLE's to Mercedes Citaro Arctic on Park and Ride services for First as well as several independents with a mix of modern low floor vehicles. (Seen photoed is Transdev 1015, YD02UMX in the attractive CoastLiner livery on service 844.)


We then went to board the 18:05 Northern service back to Leeds and got as far as Church Fenton before the service was Cancelled due to Copper Wire Theft just south of there and were told that our train 158795 would return to York and replacement Coaches to be found, however this messed up our connections at Sheffield where we were meant to board the 20:27 service to Derby, however with the delays we would not have made it to the booked train so we needed to buy new Tickets from York to Derby (Ouch!) before continuing to Birmingham from there, we boarded the late 19:34 service to Birmingham New Street at 19:41 with 220025 being the train operated by Cross Country with Mr Priseman joining us to Derby. (York Pullman provided some Coaches for Rail Replacement services seen here outside York station are XJI2605 and OJZ1936)


On arrival at Birmingham we had 2 minutes to change platforms and after a quick jog along the concourse just made the 21:43 service to Redditch formed of 323201 run by London Midland.

A quick taxi ride home from Redditch with no buses running after 20:30pm anymore Redditch has to be one of the largest places without such a night service?

Thanks For Reading.