My day out...who says modern railways are uninteresting!

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James
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My day out...who says modern railways are uninteresting!

Post by James »

Today I went to Chatham to see the Dockyard Railway, and in particular Andrew Barclay 0-4-0ST "Annie", a childhood favourite from the Lavender Line that I haven't seen since the late 80s! :shock:

She wasn't in steam which was a bit of a disappointment, but she was in the yard outside the main entrance, so I got lots of close-up pictures in the beautiful sunshine, and even hopped up on the footplate...wouldn't have been able to do that if it was running! ;)

I've seen all kinds of stock today, though sadly no VEPs...it was all plastic today!

Taunton: HST + 158/150/153/153 Wessex combo!
Castle Cary: Wessex 31s, 31454 and "the pink one" I think.
Westbury: Another 31 in the yard.
Swindon: Two lovely blue 47's top-and-tailing Virgin-liveried stock...what was that all about? Also a couple of 08s.
Southall (I think): LMS tender and a Bulleid cab...the latter is probably that of unrestored Merchant Navy 35022 "Holland-America Line", now owned by Jeremy Hosking and destined for scrap :twisted:
Eurostar depot: 37602
Depot near Gravesend: 4x GB Railfreight 73s, 09002 and another 08/09.
near Old Oak Common: 2x 67s top-and-tailing a rake of green and red MKIIs...another tour I missed! :P

Saw lots of 375s (I like them, even if they are new :P), 465s (unrefurbished ones are VERY tatty...and still in Network Southeast colours! :shock: ), various other types of electro-bug and normal-bug (you'd have loved it ;) ) and got a nice long ride on a refurbished District Line train...they're really made a good job of it...apart from the hard seats. Why does everyone in the rail industry think passengers want hard seats??? :? The automatic announcements were a bit haywire too:

"This is South Kensington. Change."

*beep beep beep* Please stand clear of the closing doors. (minute passes) *beep beep beep*

I should mention that the second one happened in the middle of a tunnel :lol: :roll:

Fantastic sunset on the way home, but there's so much rubbish (buildings, trees, overhead wires etc etc) that I couldn't get an unobstructed photo. :(

Ah well, I got some nice pics anyway, and had a great day. Next! :D

Edit: oh yeah, at Chatham I found what looks to be like a derelict incline/funicular railway...never heard of that before. A massive cutting at 45 degrees, with several overbridges, set into a hill pretty near the town centre. I'll go and look for more info :P
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Post by James »

And one more thing...due to engineering works on the Berks & Hants, my train to and from London (HST up, Adelante back) went Taunton, Castle Cary, Westbury...TROWBRIDGE...Swindon, Reading, London :P
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Post by James »

http://mostlyrailways.fotopic.net/c644911.html

I didn't have time to photograph any of the diesels etc...since they were either sat in sidings or going in the opposite direction to me :lol:

But then, the day was all about Annie really :D
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Post by John Ball »

Kent is underestimated. Chatham on a running day (phone them first for dates) offers great photos with the old naval buildings as background. Plenty of other steam at Sittingbourne - again check first for running dates.
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