c2c : Basildon to Upminster

How beautiful Basildon’s railway station looks from the exterior…. It’s a relatively new railway station, opened in 1974 on an existing railway line to deal with the increasing number of people living in the new town of Basildon.

I’ve seen more beautiful railway stations. I couldn’t buy this ticket on-line using GWR, who I usually purchase from (I get Nectar points), it said that the journey wasn’t valid. There must have been some timetabling issues, but I was able to buy a ticket from the machines as Basildon. It’s quite an expensive ticket at over £6 for the short journey, but there’s no other public transport that I can see that made this journey.

The train wasn’t particularly busy and nor was it very clean either, with a fair amount of litter around. I’m entirely reliant on Wikipedia to work out what kind of train this is, but it’s apparently a Bombardier Electrostar Class 357.

And arriving into Upminster on time. The train was getting a little busier by this point, although there were plenty of seats still available. From here, the train goes into London and arrives at Fenchurch Street in the city centre.

Upminster railway station isn’t really the most beautiful in the world either, with this section of the station being added in 1932. The railway station itself though dates from 1885 when it was built by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway.