The Winchester

We hit Lords. As service ended on the Saturday night we found ourselves on the tracks just close to the abandoned station. This was unlike the other stations that I’ve visited, in that we didn’t enter into the station, we had to walk on the tracks to it. Thankfully not too far, but a new experience nonetheless. It gets the blood pumping, knowing a diesel works train could steam up behind you forcing a hasty walk into a jog or a run for sanctity.

An instruction to adhere to

We spent maybe 15 minutes in Lords, as there really isn’t much to see. The platforms were taken out and only a stub remains, for workers. There’s none of the connecting tunnels like at City Road, and no fading adverts and additional rooms like at Mark Lane. Quite honestly, the station itself was a dissapointment. The tunnels however were excellent fun. Running side by side in the immediate run up to the station, they split as the line carries on to Marlborough Road. Every 40 sleepers, there’s an alcove of sorts, sometimes just a niche to stand in, sometimes a short passage to the tracks running parallel. There appeared to be little order or reason as to when each type should appear, but there appeared to be equal amounts.

Adequate clearance.

Approaching Marlborough Road we stopped to take stock of the situation. Having made quite regular stops to listen out for track workers ahead, and one moment when Brad’s phone went off and shit everybody up, we felt we’d been quite careful to minimise any knowledge of our presence on the lines. Then came the clanks. We could see the tracks joining again in preparation for the platforms of Marlborough Road, and the unmistakable clanks of hammer hitting metal came, and then again. Loud and clear, there were workers there. We headed back up the line and hastily broke into a jog, stopping only at Lords again. This was very frustrating – we were almost there at the second stop of the night and being forced to make a retreat just irritated us.

Platform remains

Once back at Lords, we were a little more confident nobody was coming. A couple of photos more were taken and we prepared to leave. We climbed away from the lines, having narrowly missed a works train coming in the opposite direction. We hid for a few minutes and made a mad suicide dash away. Once again, the timings of the night had saved us.

Before the Lords’ split

Although we didn’t achieve everything we set out to do, we felt as if our evening was a success. We didn’t get caught, we didn’t get seen, but we didn’t finish the job either. As an inaugaral London track walk for 3 of the 4 of us, it could have gone a lot worse, and as such, I feel that all 4 members of the group are confident to return and finish the job.