National Rail Stations: Kemsley - Henley-on-Thames

Urban Exploring: Kemsley - Henley-on-Thames

I hadn't spent a whole lot of time travelling to new stations at this point, as I was very much focused on riding on all of the London bus routes. However, because I had accomplished this now, I could focus a lot more on these trips. Therefore, I went to go and do one in Kent on Southeastern, but I should mention that I've done this trip before. Back in 2010, when I was rather young, a family member had gone to stay on the Isle of Sheppey near Sheerness in a caravan site, and me and some of my family decided to go down and stay with her for a night. I hardly remember that trip at all because it was so long ago when I was rather young, so I decided to check out this branch line out to Sheerness, coming off of Sittingbourne, again. I didn't realise until I found that I still had them old 2010 train tickets to Sheerness in my drawer at home that I had coincidentally gone on the exact same day 8 years later on the 1st of September. Two trains run on this line, creating a half hourly service on this mostly single track railway, and Kemsley Station is where they pass each other. I first got off at Swale Station, as I knew that it was rather secluded and worth a little look around. You get an amazing view of the bridge heading over the River Swale to the Isle of Sheppey, especially as it's rather quiet by the water here, despite the roar of the traffic. Nearby, lying in the middle of a field, of which I climbed over a fence to go have a look at, was the real reason why I decided to come check out Swale, and that is because there's an old railway line that headed off towards the factories nearby. It was brilliant to actually walk along the old tracks, which were still there rusting away, and seeing the old lever that would have divided the tracks leading into the industry grounds. It was such a secluded spot that felt like the middle of nowhere, until you look over towards the stunning, empowering bridges over to the island. Back on the train, I continued to Sheerness, a lovely seaside town, and spent the rest of the day exploring it, slightly remembering small parts of it from my previous trip years ago. I did spend a lot of time on the beach, but I also found what looked to be an abandoned house near the end of a road, and when I went to step into the grounds, of which there was nothing to stop me doing so, I felt like I got squirted by something, and I couldn't tell what it was, but it felt like it was coming from one of the broken windows up above. I liked getting to see Sheerness again, and I would recommend taking the train out to the Isle of Sheppey for a perfect seaside day out , and although I didn't end up going into the abandoned looking house, there would be more opportunities coming up later.

My local railway line is the one out of Moorgate through Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace, where it splits to go up towards Hertford North or Welwyn Garden City. Weirdly though, I never seemed to use the line north of Alexandra Palace. I've only been on the line once from Crews Hill after Route W10, and once from New Barnet after Route 107, as well as catching Route 84 from here, but I had never been north of here on a stopping train. I did though for the very first time through Hadley Wood and Potters Bar to England's first garden city of Welwyn. The trains running here are extremely old, and I think apart from the obvious oldest trains on the Isle of Wight, these were the second oldest running on the network, and you could tell because of the peeling paintwork and the fact the old train company name of First Capital Connect was barely visible underneath the newer logo of Great Northern. There was also a brilliant brickwork logo of Network South East, which I haven't seen anywhere else before, but I did think it used to be at Emerson Park before TFL took over that line. The main intention for this journey to Welwyn Garden City however was to check out the abandoned wheat factory, which you can get a great view of from passing trains, but I thought I'd go catch a closer look, potentially finding a way in. There wasn't an obvious one, so I didn't go in, but I still had a look around the town, even in the drizzling rain, which was quite fun. Because I didn't find a way into the abandoned building, I thought I'd go check out another one I knew of, back in London, and all the way over near to Stratford. This was quite an infamous abandoned building, with a lot of people knowing about it as it's in a rather urban area, but actually had a rather easy way in as people had set up a climb over the wall trying to stop people getting in. The building, I believe used to be some sort of office block, and was completely stripped bare on the inside, with a graffitied lift shaft, the outside steps being completely broken and almost non-existent, and also infested with rats. You did get an amazing view over towards the Olympic Park however, and although very creepy and had to keep ducking away from the windows so people on the street couldn't see in, it was great to actually get in to see an abandoned building. I noticed recently though that this place is no longer abandoned and has been refurbished to look like a new building, either a new office complex or apartments. 

It was time for another trip where I actually went to visit some new stations, so I made my way to Marylebone, heading for the Chilterns. I first got off at South Ruislip though, still within London, as there was a new train service that had just recently started, so I thought I'd give it a shot. There used to be a rare Chiltern service out of Paddington Station, the only one to do so, that ran out towards West Ruislip, but the track it used was to be ripped up as part of works around Old Oak Common, so they instead started a different rare Chiltern service that started here at South Ruislip once a day. It ran from here, fast all the way down the Greenford branch to terminate at West Ealing, waiting there for a while to allow the GWR stopping train from Greenford to come in, and return out, before going back out itself. I was on oyster card up until this point, but because of the weird way I travelled from Marylebone to West Ealing, I couldn't actually touch out as the system assumes that you're going to travel through Paddington to get here, but luckily I didn't get charged any extra, only being charged my original journey into Marylebone, and not out. You can't actually use oyster on the return journey of this rare train as it travels non stop all the way back up the Greenford branch, past South Ruislip and along the main railway line to High Wycombe, outside of London, where it terminates. You can usually use a London Terminals ticket, that I bought earlier at Marylebone, to travel on this train, as a ticket from West Ealing will charge you more as it will try to force you into Paddington and onto the tube to Marylebone. It was my first time heading up the Chiltern Main Line, noticing that through a slit in the front door to the cab of the train, I can see the tracks ahead as it travelled down the line. High Wycombe looked rather interesting because of the fact that there was a heritage sign here signalling that you change for trains to Marlow and Maidenhead, which you can no longer do as the branch line only runs between them two towns, and not up to High Wycombe anymore. This rare train took me towards where I needed to go anyways, so that's why I thought I'd give it a shot, before continuing up the line past Princes Risborough, noticing how there seemed to be an additional platform here for a steam heritage railway, which was interesting. I got off at Little Kimble Station, which has a permit to travel machine, not with an NSE logo for once, although there is one on the car stop marker at the end of the platform, but for the first time, was actually working, so I thought I'd put in a silver coin I had in my bag to have a memorial from my journey here. The intention of getting off here was to actually go to a nearby Chiltern Hill, of which is famous for being an outstanding area of natural beauty. Beacon Hill looked stunning from the bottom as it just jutted up from the landscape, like an extreme version of Northala Fields, and walking up the steep bank to the very top provided amazing views across the countryside. It was a really nice day as well, despite it being December, and was definitely a very magical place that I fell in love with. Descending down the hill, running all the way, I made my way back to Little Kimble, waiting for an Aylesbury bound train. However, because of the nature of it being a single track line, I noticed that I could go one stop back to Monks Risborough, which also had a NSE logo on the car stop marker, where the front of the train stops at, to return on the same train I would have boarded at Little Kimble anyways. A quick explore of the town of Aylesbury followed, noticing yet again that the car stop marker has the same tri colour block logo I've known to love, before heading up one stop the end of the line at Aylesbury Vale Parkway. Weirdly, my ticket from London to Aylesbury Vale Parkway let me out the barrier at Aylesbury, but didn't let me back in, so I just used my return portion instead, which did. I could have just jumped on the train back to London, but of course, I needed to tick off the parkway station, so I made my way there during sunset, to have a quick look around before the train heads back, realising that everything around looked very new from the houses to the car park to the station, as most parkway stations are. Heading back to London, I passed Great Missenden, where I got off before for the Roald Dahl Museum, and I would have loved a quick look around if it wasn't already winter and dark. Going to the Chilterns by train was a lot of fun, and a lovely journey to take, and definitely a place I'd recommend going to.

I had recently become aware of a ferry service that runs over the River Thames from Tilbury to Gravesend, so I decided to head out this way to try it out. My Overground train into Barking was cancelled, so I switched my route to use the tube, luckily having only just enough time to buy my ticket at Upminster and make the same C2C train I would have caught anyways. I may have been on this route before via Ockendon, Grays and Tilbury whilst on the way back from a trip to Southend, rather than the route via Basildon, but I was glad to be back anyways because I do like travelling by C2C. I stayed on the train, by passing Tilbury, to Stanford-le-Hope, the entrance sign having one of them distinctive NSE logos again, where I started a walk down underneath a railway bridge that carries a spur of track that no passenger trains use, as it heads down towards the London Gateway industry area beside the Thames. The walk led me out into amazing sparse fields down towards the Thameside Nature Park, right beside the Thames Estuary, and was a beautiful discovery. Containing a visitor centre, which I always love in a place like this, as they usually have a gift centre attached and always have some interesting gifts in there to buy, and a signpost giving directions to places like Canada and Africa that are thousands of miles away. It was really a pretty place to come to beside the Thames here, and I was glad to make the walk down here before Tilbury, even though I have to then walk all the way back to the station. Back on the train, I jumped off at Tilbury Town to take the walk down some rather industrial roads back to the Thames, spotting the imposing cruise terminal, where I believe you can travel to the Netherlands from. I had enough time to wait for my rather small in comparison ferry that would take me across the Thames the short way to Gravesend. I was thinking of going to have a look at the Tilbury Fort, but I didn't want to go down towards it and risk missing the ferry. It is the easternmost passenger ferry service on the River Thames, despite the fact I believe there is one service that runs once a day to Southend from Gravesend, as well as one into Greenwich, which I guess are more tourist services than a regular passenger one. The service from Gravesend to Greenwich I've been thinking of doing for the longest time, as I think it would be a lot of fun as it passed underneath the Dartford Crossing, Littlebrook Power Station and Erith Pier, places that I love a lot. Although short, the journey across the Thames to Gravesend was a lot of fun, and I was lucky I was on that one as I think the company went on lunch break after that service so there was no more for a couple of hours. I can't help but feel though that it would be very beneficial if there was a railway connection across the Thames from Essex to Kent here. I spent the rest of the day exploring Gravesend for the first time, and my favourite place I discovered was the Riverside Leisure Area which contained the remains of an old fort, and was a very pretty place to relax by the River Thames, even getting a chance to get close to it as there's a stony beach. It was a very fun day exploring areas on the Thames Estuary, and on my way to Gravesend Station, spotting a lovely clock tower, I bought a single ticket back into the oyster zone at Dartford. I could have got the first train out, on platform 0, a rare sight to see, but I specifically waited for the stopping train to Dartford to tick off all the stations along the way, on my final and very fun trip of the year.

My first trip of the new year of 2019, I was also out on the railways, as I was very focused now on these journeys to new stations. Journeying out of Liverpool Street, a beautiful London terminus, on a refurbished Class 321 train, which I always found strange that they had covered up plug sockets, so you couldn't charge anything. The journey wasn't too smooth however, as around Ilford, the train slowed down and stopped for a considerable amount of time, causing a significant delay to my journey. I can't quite remember the reason of the delay, but I think it was to do with a signal failure. Eventually arriving into Wickford to change trains, I didn't mind too much that I was incredibly delayed as the intention was to only go to one place today, so I wouldn't need to make any later connections, and at least I would be getting my ticket money back when I filled in a delay repay form. I noticed at Wickford that there was yet again, a car stop marker with an NSE logo, but even more interesting than that, was a sign advertising the Crouch Valley Line, of which I'll be travelling on, that had an old 'One' logo, the train company name before it was Greater Anglia. I've always found that name to be an interesting as I can only imagine the announcements would have sounded confusing when they were telling you the time of a train, 'The 7:40 One Service To Southminster.' This Crouch Valley Line poster was even old enough that South Woodham Ferrers Station, where I was heading to, was just named Woodham Ferrers, the name switch occuring in 2007. My reason for coming here was that I had researched abandoned places to explore, and had come up with a small list of some, one of them being here in the Crouch Valley. It was an old zoo, which sounded very exciting, and so I walked to it, noticing that the main entrance is fenced off and someone's property is situated on the outside, so too obvious of a way in. However, the field around the back, which you have free roam to walk on, I noticed a gap in a fence that led straight into the grounds. I was excited to be in as it was very interesting to explore, getting to read the information of the animals which would have been in certain pens, actually getting to stand where the animals would have lived, as well as the old pathways that would have looped around the zoo. It was such a desolate feel and somewhere I had never experienced before, as I had never see a zoo line this empty before. There was a gate seperating the other side of the zoo, so I decided to climb over it, and came across something I wasn't expecting to see, and that was actual animals. There was sheep and goats in seperate pens, and birds in cages, and for somewhere that's abandoned, I didn't think they'd still be there. However, I think the property owners kept some animals to look after them, after all the others were sold upon the closure of the zoo. This side of the zoo had a building, which I couldn't find a way in, but was probably the main entrance where there may have been a cafe or where you buy your tickets. It did get slightly spooky at first as I kept hearing someone say hello, so I thought someone was in here with me, but I eventually found out it was a parrot. I was happy that I got in to have a look around, although I wouldn't recommend to do this, as it can be very dangerous, and I managed to get out unscathed and back to the station. If I didn't manage to get in, I would have jumped back on the train and got off at a different station on the line to have a look around, and maybe actually walk down to see the River Crouch, which I think would have been very nice. However, I didn't have the time now as it was starting to get dark already as I suffered the big delay, and spent the whole time exploring the zoo, but I did still go all the way up the line to its terminus of Southminster, which kind of felt like the middle of nowhere, but I'm glad that even though I didn't come here to see anything, I still managed to tick off all the stations if I was here. I was wondering to myself whilst writing this what the outcome of this place is, and apparently they're going to reopen the zoo early next year, with animals starting to come in now. Maybe I should go back and see it in action.

I mentioned earlier that I had never previously been north of New Barnet and Crews Hill on Great Northern services. I had tackled the section north of New Barnet earlier, so it was time to head north of Crews Hill on a rather big trip out of London to new stations. Past Crews Hill, the line passes Hertford North, a place I hadn't been before, and through the interesting sounding station of Watton-at-Stone, before heading back onto the main line, after it split away from it at Alexandra Palace, to terminate at Stevenage. I've been on a few fast trains that's called at Stevenage before, but never got off to have a look around, and that's exactly what I decided to do here. A quick look into the town, whilst I waited for my next train, having a look at the fountain in the square, and buying a sausage roll in Greggs. Switching over to a Thameslink train now, making sure it stops at all stations, as it passes over a large bridge over the East Coast Main Line after Hitchin that I've seen loads of times from LNER services, and felt great to finally travel over. Some interesting station names on this line with Baldock, Ashwell & Morden, reminding me of the southernmost tube station, Royston, Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton, providing some nice views across the countryside and the wildlife park at Shepreth. Terminating at Cambridge, the connection time was rather long for my next train, which provided the perfect opportunity to have a quick look around the city for the first time. I wish I had more time to look around as it's an interesting place, but I only really managed to get up to Parker's Piece, before having to return. Back over to Great Northern now, as I head up on a train which suspiciously looked like it had a Southern interior, through Cambridge North, one of the newest stations on the network, Ely and Littleport, where I got off before to walk to Shippea Hill, so it was great to see it again. This time I would be travelling further up the line, the gaps between the stations becoming ever larger, and the very next stop is where I got off, which when I found out what's there, I was disappointed I didn't go to, before returning to Littleport to walk to Shippea Hill. I was happy to finally get the chance to visit Downham Market though, as I've mentioning NSE logos a lot, and this was the ultimate station to see some of these. That's because they had recently refurbished the station to look exactly like what it would have done during the Network South East era, therefore, there were tons of signs everywhere with the logo from the station names, to platform numbers, to the ticket machine, which hilariously has the almost ironic juxtaposition with the NSE and Great Northern logos both plastered on it. It was so good to see so many fresh NSE logos, as it would have been back in the day, but weirdly, there was no logos on the rather grand entrance of the station building. Even more weirdly though was the fact that despite the station went through a renovation recently and it got all these new NSE signs, on the side of the signal box, there was still one old sign that has the logo of wagn, the company before First Capital Connect that was the company before Great Northern, so it was so bizarre that it was still there. The hourly service trains pass each other here, as it heads into a single track, so I had an hour to have a look around Downham Market and take pictures around the station. This was definitely my favourite station of the day, and even at the end of the line at King's Lynn, where I headed next, it was very similar in the fact that they renovated the station to what it used to look like. However, instead of NSE logos this time, they had old blue British railway signs, which were also really cool to see. I had been to King's Lynn before, but never by train, instead by bus as my nan's local route comes here, and we caught a second bus up towards the seaside town of Hunstanton. I recongnised the bus station on my whistle stop tour of King's Lynn, but I also made sure to go check out the park next to the station that has an old chapel in its grounds. Again, it would have been nice if I had longer as checking out the River Great Ouse probably would have been rather pretty. However, I had to make my way back towards London, changing again at Cambridge. The connection time was rather long again, and I needed to get this train to tick off the final few stations on my return, however, I noticed that I could make an earlier train that ran fast, not stopping at the stations I stopped at earlier that day. This allowed me to instead change at a different station to wait for the stopping train I needed, and that was Letchworth Garden City, the other station to share the last part of its name with Welwyn. Sunset was occuring as I was here, and I was glad to squeeze in one last explore, as I had done quite a few around different towns today, from Stevenage to Cambridge to Downham Market to King's Lynn, and now Letchworth. It looked like a rather pretty place with an attractive broadway and gardens, leading to a fountain, and a pleasant looking town, extremely quiet at this time on a Sunday. For somewhere I wasn't originally intending to explore, it was a nice final touch of the day, before heading back to the station to pick up the train I could have caught from Cambridge to stop at the final stations, Knebworth and Welwyn North, on the other line between Stevenage and Alexandra Palace than the one I travelled on earlier. Although I was on a Thameslink train, Welwyn North was actually my final station I needed to tick off to have been to all of the Great Northern served stations, so it was a monumental moment to clear an entire company. Ultimately, I think that was a very good day on the railways, and was definitely one of the bigger trips I had done in a while to go to more stations, and I had a lot of fun getting to explore so many new towns along the way.

It was time for another trip on a new railway line, with the sole intention of going to an abandoned building. The small branch line that comes off of a side platform at Watford Junction runs on the single track all the way to St Alban's Abbey with 5 stops in between. The rather old Class 319 train had a mix of old First Capital Connect moquette, which must mean it has come from the Thameslink route, and newer green London Midland moquette, which is now split into West Midlands Trains and London North Western Railway. Bricket Wood Station is where I got off first on this line for the nearby abandoned leisure centre. Walking down a country road around the complex of this rather large site, I could see through the trees the actual leisure centre building, and what looked to be some security nearby to it. Therefore, I stayed on the road around, noticing the easiest way into the grounds, and which was surprising to me just how large the site is. There was so many different buildings from a couple of abandoned mansions, none of which you can go in, and a scattering of other buildings which I'm not really sure what the purpose of them was. There was one building you can only get into the ground floor of, but there was a warning of asbestos on the front entrance. There was strangely one grave guarded by a small gate, which was a little creepy. I hadn't got close to the main purpose of this explore yet, the leisure centre, as I thought I'd check out the rest before I made the risk with the security I thought I saw. I circled the building, coming from the back, and when I got around to where I thought I saw the security, at first, there was nobody, but then I did spot somebody. I ducked down into the bushes, hoping they'd walk right by and not see, which was an exciting moment, and I didnt mind if I got caught, just because it felt really exciting to be hiding. However, I eventually realised that it was actually just another group of people exploring this abandoned site, so maybe it was them that I saw earlier, and they directed me to the entrance to the leisure centre. Luckily, they didn't cause any threat and gave me free roam of the leisure centre, noticing a flooded changing room, and the mother room of all abandoned places, the swimming pool. Completely drained and filled with trash, it was an amazing site, especially getting to climb on top of the old lifeguard chair, and the fact that there was a water slide, now completely covered in broken glass. It was definitely one of the best abandoned rooms I had ever been in, and I could genuinely spend a long period of time just sat on the lifeguard chair relaxing. I easily managed to get out of the site, back onto the country road, and back to the station, to continue up the line to its terminus of St Alban's Abbey, luckily being the first train in, as my return train to Watford would have been this one anyways, as I needed to tick off the rest of the stations on the line. It will always be one of the better abandoned places that I got to explore, but unfortunately, I've noticed within that time that the leisure centre no longer exists, being demolished and turned into a new housing development. If I didn't get to go into the leisure centre, I knew that St Alban's would have been worth to look around, or instead back in Watford, with the old railway line towards Croxley Green to explore.

I mentioned earlier that I was very focused on doing these trips to new stations now, and this upcoming one was the 4th and final one in the first month of January, but this time with no abandoned building attached. Starting off at Paddington, one of my favourite London terminuses, I was to catch a train out to Maidenhead, but I noticed that I was early enough to catch a train to Slough, realising there's a NSE logo on the waiting room entrance, and change there instead for the same train to Maidenhead. This allowed me to catch my very first Intercity Express train which will replace all of the classic Intercity 125s. Although these don't have the amazing slide down windows by the door, I do love the ride quality of these new trains and the acceleration is pretty good, but you'll be unlucky if you were sitting in the seats at the end of the carriage that had absolutely no window view at all. I was rather impressed by the new train, and once I made it to Maidenhead, I noticed a statue of a man sat on a bench on one of the platforms, which is a perfect photo opportunity when sitting down next to him. I've come to Maidenhead to ride the Marlow branch, of which I've mentioned earlier used to run all the way up to High Wycombe. However, it now only runs to Bourne End, where the branch line to Marlow used to come off of the line between Maidenhead and High Wycombe. The Marlow line still exists, so trains have to run into Bourne End, to then reverse directions back out the same way to travel up to Marlow. This provided the opportunity to have a really quick look at Bourne End as the driver swaps ends of the train, and in that time, I noticed the waiting room yet again had another NSE logo, and that there was a second platform here. That's because normally the train runs every hour, but in the peak, another train joins the line to provide a half hourly service between Maidenhead and Bourne End, and another half hourly service running a shuttle service from Bourne End to Marlow only, the next and final stop. This shuttle service even has the name of 'The Marlow Donkey', as it just did the 'donkey work' as it only runs one stop back and forth, and there's a pub near to Marlow Station with the same name of the train service. Marlow itself looked like a very pretty town, and I spent some time exploring, seeing a beautiful church, chilling in the meadows beside the River Thames, and crossing over a rather nice looking bridge. I headed back to the station after my town exploration, to travel to Maidenhead, to go one stop along the main line to Twyford, to try out a second branch line that runs up to Henley-on-Thames. Outside of Twyford Station, there was a permit to travel machine with the NSE logo that wasn't working, and this was actually my very last TFL Rail served station, even though this was before this train company ran our here. I had completed the entire eastern TFL Rail section to Shenfield when the new Crossrail trains came into service, and I had already travelled around Heathrow Airport on the western section, which is always rather fun to do, and amazingly has 4G in the tunnels, so all I need to do now is wait for the central section of Crossrail to open. Unlike the Marlow branch, this line always used to run to Henley, and never went any further, and of course, this place is famous for being the home of the Royal Regatta. As the name suggests, I was beside the River Thames again, and it seems that all of these towns near the river here in Berkshire are really pretty. The Thames actually seperates the counties of Berkshire and Oxfordshire here, and I really wanted to go on a little walk along the river here, as I didn't have any plan when visiting these towns apart from just explore them and see what I could find. This small walk actually turned into over a mile along the Thames as it was just unbelievable pretty, and I wanted to see more of it, as I am usually familiar with busy parts of the river in London, and down here, it was so nice and quiet. Taking this riverside walk really made me want to come back here again at some point, and potentially do a full Thames walk all the way from here back over to Marlow, which I kind of wish I had originally thought of doing that for today's trip. Heading back to the town during sunset, I found a brilliant handwritten sign in an entrance to an antique shop that read 'Please don't be shocked by the price of antiques as you stand there in your £150 trainers that are 6 months away from the bin. Thank you.' These Great Western Railway branch lines that come off of the main line between Paddington and Reading down to Greenford, Windsor, Marlow and Henley are all rather fun to travel on, and I knew that I would love to come back down here for some River Thames walks in the future.