07:30.

I’m on my way to London for the day to catch up with an old friend from Singapore, who’s over in the UK for a few days. I’ve known Nicholas Lim for around 10 years. Having first met up in Thailand we’ve kept in contact through the power of social media. Our last meeting was in Singapore almost exactly a year ago, so it’ll be good to see him again and look at some changes to the capital’s rail network.

Sadly, the wet and grey weather we’re still suffering from in the Pennines is going to be replicated in London. Still, there’ll be plenty to see and do…

Right now I’m on Northern’s 06:53 from Halifax to Leeds to catch my onward connection to London. I was tempted to catch Grand Central’s 07:11 direct service to Kings Cross which is being worked by one of their leased Class 221s today, but this way I get there ahead of it, giving me chance to get pictures of it arriving.

Feel free to pop back later to see how the day unfolds…

07:50.

Of course, there’s another compensation of travelling to London via Leeds rather than direct. My capital bound service is LNER’s 07:41 which originates in Skipton. It’s diagrammed to be worked by one of the company’s loco-hauled sets and true enough (albeit running 7 minutes late) I’m now being pushed to London by this machine. 91111, named ‘For the fallen’. There’s a second bonus. The old Mk4 train sets have a ‘quiet’ coach at the very rear, behind the engine. You can almost always get a table seat here.

09:20.

Today’s not been a vintage one when it comes to timekeeping. We’re currently speeding towards our next stop at Peterborugh 15 minutes later than scheduled as we’ve accrued further delays en-route. Still, the weather’s picked up. There’s sunshine, blue skies and cumulus clouds filling my window – and I have coffee – so I’m not complaining!

18:55.

Well, that was a crap rolling blog, wasn’t it? The day started so well too. Nick and I met up at Kings Cross as soon as I arrived in London. After getting a few pictures the pair of us headed for St Pancras where we caught a Thameslink service to Farringdon in order to board a ‘Lizzie line train Westwards to Ealing. That’s when things started to fall apart. Lizzie line services towards Heathrow were either cancelled or delayed. We decided to make our way to Paddington, then await further instructions. Problem was – the instructions we got after an enquiry at Paddington meant we wasted time. TfL staff directed us up to the mainline station, where a member of GWR staff denied all knowledge of trains to Ealing and brusquely directed us back to the TfL station. That’s when I spotted this.

By the time we returned to the Lizzy line station information (and trains) had been updated, enabling us to get a packed service to West Ealing in deteriorating weather. Then another disappointment kicked in. The battery train wasn’t running. It’d been replaced by a two-car diesel. As Nick had never travelled the route we completed an out and back trip anyway. Bad move! By the time we got back to West Ealing there’d been a power failure which led to many TfL and GWR services being cancelled. After hiding from the rain for 25 mins whilst we weighed up our options a London-bound service arrived from Heathrow, so we made our way back to Paddington. After grabbing a few pictures we swapped to the Underground for the short hop to Euston Square. It was time for lunch, so I took Nick to an old haunt. The ‘Ravi Shankar’ Indian veg restaurant in nearby Drummond St, where we both consumed one of their excellent ‘Mysore thalis’

Suitably stuffed and with the weather brightening up I gave a brief tour and explanation of the stalled HS2 construction work before we headed to Euston so that Nick could exprience the train transition between the ‘old’ Siemens built class 350s and new Alstom built Class 730s – which I consider the best of the company’s new trains.

By now we’d eaten into most of my day so it was time to head to Kings Cross and routes home – until our next meeting…

Right now I’m heading back to Leeds on a packed LNER service whilst Nick’s headed South of the river.

I’ll add the few pictures I’ve managed to get to my Zenfoilo website tomorrow.

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