Variety is the spice of life

On Thursday I came over all diseased, so I wasn't able to write anything. Not that there was all that much to write about. Since I wasn't feeling very well, I decided to go to Russell Square - rather than Euston Square. At HOL (Holborn) I boarded an Oakwood train, which is fairly uncommon, although a few of them are timetabled, especially towards the end of the day, when they run straight into Cockfosters depot for the night. The train was actually held in the platform for a fair while, so I dunno if there was a problem, but we were on our way soon enough. The journey back was uneventful and I took Friday off, so there's not much else to add.

This morning, however, was much more interesting. I was actually running quite early (yes, even though I still have a bit of a cold - give the man a medal; anyway) and got the early WOO train from ROV. At WOO I was surprised to see the junction indicator pointing straight on, which meant that the train, having terminated, proceeded out of the station and stopped on the westbound mainline, not in the siding (21 road) (see: Woodford station  (specifically South Woodford via 21 road) for more details). A few minutes later and a WOO train (from SOW (South Woodford)) proceeded up 21 road and terminated in westbound platform 1. I ain't never seen that before, although it's not a huge rarity and it explains why 21 road was left clear (to allow access to platform 1, which can only be reached that way.) So that of course meant that the NOR train which arrived a minute later and which I took into LIS (Liverpool Street) had to go round the WOO train via 21 road. A nice novelty for me, there :P There was also an army of workers who made their way down onto the track, as I was waiting at WOO, from eastbound platform 3. Looked to me like they were doing work on the trees nearby, complementing the efforts of the RAT.

I also noticed a few people standing on the old, disused Thameslink platforms at Barbican on my journey to Euston Square on the H&C. What they were doing I don't know, there hasn't been a train calling there since March 2009 and there's work going on on the tracks leading to the platforms too (I think to do with Crossrail, but don't quote me on it :P). It might have been an exercise of some sort? I can't believe they were actually hoping to catch a train and I had thought the platforms were usually locked, so maybe it was that they were doing something?

On the way back there wasn't much to report. When I arrived at LIS, the first train was to EPP and the one behind was for WOO via HAI. In my experience, getting the EPP train to WOO would leave me waiting there in the cold and dark for 15 mins, so I took it as far as LES and changed for the WOO via HAI. I do believe I actually pulled into ROV just a touch earlier than the HAI train I would've got from WOO, so it was the right decision I think (and the warm one :P). While at LES, I noticed the train in westbound platform 1 headed on to LEY (Leyton) via the crossover (as shown):

The track layout around Leytonstone, showing in blue the route from WB1 (westbound platform 1)
westbound to Leyton via the crossover immediately outside WB1

 This is relatively uncommon, it is far more usual for the train to proceed past this crossover and merge with the track from WB2 as shown:

The track  layout around Leytonstone, showing in blue the usual route from WB1 westbound to Leyton

Why this was not done this evening I don't know, perhaps there was a signal or points failure? Or perhaps there was some less interesting reason, I don't know, but the second route is definitely the more common :P