23. Sandy with Andy-02.04.22

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-2022 > 23. Sandy with Andy-02.04.22

A bright and chilly Saturday morning found Andy and me heading to the Sandy area in order to collect a sofa using my Combo van as the method of transportation! On the way back, complete with said sofa well strapped to the roof bars, we paused just north of Sandy station on the oddly named New Zealand bridge, a favoured spot for many a railway photographer.
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Potton station (closed 01.01.68) From this viewpoint on Potton's, rather unsurprisingly named, Station Road the old station is seen still in use as a private residence. As well as the 1857 structure there are the remains of the two platforms as well as other railway furniture. The line on which the station is located was known as the Varsity line linking Cambridge with Oxford and is off course much favoured for reopening but progress so far on the western end between Bicester and the WCML at Bletchley is painfully slow! Keywords: Potton station
Frontage, Potton station (closed 01.01.68) The typical yellow gault brickwork of the former Potton station looks impressive in the springtime sunshine and is typical of many such structures found in the eastern counties. For a relatively small village, the building is large with it seeing much outward traffic from the surrounding agricultural land during its heydey. Interestingly, it also saw large amounts of manure arriving at a facility near the station courtesy of London Zoo's stables that no doubt did not go unnoticed by the local residents! Located on the Varsity route the station shut along with the line closed on 01.01.68. Whilst this station will not reopen there are grand and ambitious plans to resurrect the line between Oxford and Cambridge but the preferred route appears to go north of Potton so the village looks as though the railway will not return. Keywords: Frontage, Potton station
700152, GN 08.53 Peterborough-Horsham (9J19, 3L), Sandy TL176510 700152 approaches Sandy working the 08.53 Peterborough to Horsham Thameslink service. Whilst many trains on our network are far too short, for example, a two-car unit working a Nottingham to Cardiff train or a four-car unit on a Birmingham to Plymouth run these services have twelve coaches! Whilst I appreciate that they are used on commuter services with the COVID induced changes to working life that seem to be fast coming to the norm it may be that a rebalancing of the approach to how trains are planned and organised will be needed. Keywords: 700152 08.53 Peterborough-Horsham 9J19 Sandy TL176510 Class 700 Thameslink
180107, GC 06.56 Bradford Interchange-London King's Cross (1A59, 2E), Sandy TL176510 Taken from New Zealand bridge just north of Sandy 180107 'Hart of the North' heads south working the 1A59 06.56 Bradford Interchange to King's Cross service. In their earlier lives, these units gained a reputation for unreliability but since Grand Central has been operating them they appear to be doing a lot better. Keywords: 180107 06.56 Bradford Interchange-London King's Cross 1A59 Sandy TL176510 Grand Central Hart of the North
802209, GR 09.06 London King's Cross-York (1N81, 1L), Sandy TL176510 With the buildings of the Middlefield Industrial Estate in the background Azuma 802209 heads northwards away from Sandy working the 09.06 King's Cross to York service. Andy and I were hoping to see a Class 91 leading a Mk.4 set as this was one service restored for such a formation. However, with the continued reduction in services caused by the low post-COVID passenger numbers LNER appear to have surplus Azuma availability. Keywords: 802209 09.06 London King's Cross-York 1N81 Sandy TL176510 LNER Azuma
180112, GC 06.43 Sunderland-London King's Cross (1A60, 1L), Sandy TL176510 The 1A60 06.43 Sunderland to King's Cross Grand Central train approaches Sandy worked by 180112 'James Herriot'; the second named GC unit seen within ten minutes at this location! Notice the large green stripe that has appeared on the flank of the leading car of the unit. This has been applied to celebrate that it is powered exclusively by bio-fuel. I am not at all sure if this means that the whole train is so powered or if it is just the leading one; advise anybody? Keywords: James Herriot 180112 06.43 Sunderland-London King's Cross 1A60 Sandy TL176510 Grand Central
387204 & 387103, GN 09.13 Peterborough-London King's Cross (1P85, 6L), Sandy TL176510 With the familiar smiling faces of the Class 365s now gone from this route (and from the entire network for that matter as they have gone to the scrap man!) the rather boring frontage of the Electrostar now is the norm. Some of the units have been procured from various other operators and not yet repainted into GN's house colours as is the case with the leading set in this photograph. 387204 still wears its former Gatwick Express livery as it approaches Sandy on the up slow line with the 09.13 Peterborough to King's Cross service. In its GN livery, 387103 brings up the rear of the service. Keywords: 387204 387103 09.13 Peterborough-London King's Cross 1P85 Sandy TL176510 Great Northern Electrostar
700103, TL 09.55 Peterborough-Horsham (9J21, 3L), Sandy TL176510 The graffiti vandals have been doing their best to spoil the front of 700103 that is seen approaching Sandy working the 09.55 Peterborough to Horsham service. I am not at all sure if the vandals will have realised the potential danger that they may well have been in being so high up and near to the OLE attacking the cab roof as they have done. Keywords: 700103 09.55 Peterborough-Horsham 9J21 Sandy TL176510
801210, GR 09.30 London King's Cross-Edinburgh Waverley (1S10, RT), Sandy TL176510 After a brilliant bright and cloudless start to the day, the cloud is gathering to the south emphasised by this zoomed photograph. It shows Azuma 801210 speeding past Sandy approaching New Zealand bridge with the 09.30 King's Cross to Edinburgh service. Despite their awful seating and poor levels of on-board facilities, the LNER versions of this design do look far better than the rather drab GWR versions that do appear a little underwhelming in the looks department and there speaks a Great Western lad born and bred! Keywords: 801210 09.30 London King's Cross-Edinburgh Waverley 1S10 Sandy TL176510 LNER Azuma
800202 & 801110, GR 09.33 London King's Cross-Leeds (1D08, 16L), Sandy TL176510 I really am not convinced that running two Azumas together is the most efficient way to operate an express such as the 1D08 09.33 King's Cross to Leeds service. It will need to be double maned with a guard and perhaps a trolley service operating in both sets 800202 and 801110. This is a situation similar to when pairs of Voyagers are joined together either the WCML (Avanti) or on NE/SW services (CrossCountry). Keywords: 800202 801110 09.33 London King's Cross-Leeds 1D08 Sandy TL176510 LNER Azuma
801222, GR 05.48 Edinburgh Waverley-London King's Cross (1E02, 4E), Sandy TL176510 It's not quite an A4, a Deltic or even an IC225 but one cannot really argue that 801222 makes a fine sight as it tears past Sandy's New Zealand bridge working the 05.48 Edinburgh Waverley to King's Cross 1E02 service. Using my zoom lens on the Canon 5D I had to use 1:4000/sec. shutter speed to 'freeze' the action. Close examination reveals that this was successful with the drillings in the wheel brake discs even appearing to be sharp, modern camera technology can be superb! Keywords: 801222 05.48 Edinburgh Waverley-London King's Cross 1E02 Sandy TL176510 LNER Azuma
700122, TL 07.55 Horsham-Peterborough (from Three Bridges) (9J18, 2E), Sandy TL176510 Something had obviously gone wrong earlier in the morning with this Thameslink service as 700122 did not actually commence its journey from Horsham at 07.55 as planned. It actually started from Three Bridges to then run through (or actually under to be precise) Central London arriving at Peterborough two minutes early. With the clouds gathering it was time to get back in the trusty Combo van and make for home complete with a sofa attached to the roof bars that is! Keywords: 700122 07.55 Horsham-Peterborough from Three Bridges 9J18 Sandy TL176510 Thameslink

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