There aren't many good reasons I can think of for setting your alarm for 05:30. If there is one though, it’s to catch the first train of the day from your local station. Actually, the 06:14 isn’t the first train of the day from Mauldeth Road; the real first train is the unbearably early 05:42 to Crewe - which arrives at Manchester Airport in time to catch the first Manchester-bound stopper! The wonders of Northern 323 diagramming… Thankfully it came wheezing and whining its way into the station, on time, and I saw the Guard waiting at the door under the pantograph. I had a pocketful of RTVs and needed a Travelcard as well as a local return, but I know this particular guy and, since I know there's a few Piccadilly Guards on here, I'll just say I thought it'd be best to keep things simple. He did try his best though and after a strange few moments he agreed that the £1 RTV, a 10p and 10 pennies was fair remuneration for my return to Manchester Central Zone. So far so good!
Despite the availability of earlier connections the other way, I'd plumped this day for the 06:35 from Piccadilly (just in with the minimum connection time!) as far as Stoke-on-Trent. Pretty ironic since it’s a Pendolino to Euston, but that’s what you get if you're a cheapo. It can't be said that I didn't try to get something for nothing either, as I did ask the TM at Manchester if he thought it would be OK if I stayed on. His response was redolent of “Why are you asking me? I just work here!” – I wondered if some random had hijacked the real TMs office, because he said “If you don’t get off, you might need to buy a new ticket…” – I really wanted to say “Only if you make me!” but didn't of course. Perhaps there was to be a Crew change? In any case, it was refreshing to see him checking tickets from departure, I've made it all the way to London in the past without a check, even when the final stop was Stoke/Crewe!
Anyway, the London Midland Sale came in rather useful for this leg, so I was relegated to 350s, but at least none were via Northampton and fast Milton Keynes - London. This is a photo of my return train at Euston, actually, is it 350 111? I'm not sure now...
I decided against detouring to the ticket office at Stoke since the LM 350 was sirening its way through next after the Pendolino cleared out. All credit to LMs new timetable on this route, getting off there only lost me about an hour and ten! Spotting the guard at the front set of doors (and plenty of seats in the first carriage) I jumped on quickly and waited for the guard to come down. In the long run, it didn't turn out to be one of my best decisions, getting a Travelcard from an Avantix machine, but he was willing to accept my £3.45 voucher, commenting that he'd only ever seen Virgin ones before and never any from TransPennine Express! Initially, he printed a ticket which said Between: LONDON THAMESLINK & LONDON ZONES1-6 on it, which I would have quite liked as I’ve never seen one before, but he insisted that I’d better take a LONDON TERMINALS & LONDON ZONES1-6 one:
I felt eternally guilty for anyone getting on at Stafford or later (the people from Stafford/Rugeley/Lichfield/Tamworth seem to have accepted that they'll be standing in the aisles all the way to London - is this what the new service has done? It's uncomfortably oversubscribed not just because of cheap advances but also people on LM-only day tickets) but still glad that I'd managed to avoid the queue at Euston by catching the LM Guard for a travelcard while he could still get down the train. We arrived less than 10 minutes late, which compares favourably with past experience, so I arrived at about 10:00. Not sure where Mojo would be to be found at this time (in bed would be the answer for me most Saturday mornings!), I bounced almost pathologically around the Victoria Line, going to Warren Street then back to St Pancras, and Oxford Circus then back to Euston, standing on the platforms, listening to the doors and the announcement voice and revelling in the unparalleled (for the moment) frequency with which one train leaves and the next arrives. Striding through the corridors of Underground stations watching all the tourists flounder is quite good fun in and of itself. One of the things I have noticed about underground (mainly with a small 'u') stations is that I can never really remember them all properly. Even Euston, which I've visited many many times, I would still probably get lost if the took all the signs down. Bit like Clapham Junction really, but I'll come to that later! At King’s Cross again I decided to go for my customary wander around the new concourse and have a look what was in. That new concourse never ceases to take my breath away, no matter how many times I see it. Not much but a GC 180 though, and some disgusting 313s! Oh, a few rowdy football fans too, so I scooted over the road to St Pancras and down to the Thameslink platforms. This has got to be my favourite part of the station, and I noted the new overhead-wires-turned-bars at the end of the platform. There was a man here who asked for directions to Chester, of all places - I thought I'd misheard him! I pointed him the way out (not sure how he'd ended up down there!) and told him to ask for directions to Euston. A Brighton service was due, but darn it was a stupid 319, so I bailed at Farringdon, another 'new' station I really like, for a dash over the bridge to the Circle Line. There's a really funny sign here too I think, written in a font with serifs! Something like: "Don't forget to drop the pantograph!". I’d never been on the eastern side of the Circle Line before, any further than Liverpool Street, so this was a new ride. It often doesn't feel quite right chasing new track on LU, since its often just a look at a slightly different tunnel wall. That's not enough to stop me doing it though and I try to supplement it by bagging new stations! This C-Stock was full of lots of confused punters due to the closure of the District and Hammersmith and City Lines out until West Ham, who all got booted off by the driver at Tower Hill - who was actually very informative! Good on 'em! Thinking a phone signal might be a good idea, I jumped off at Blackfriars, pausing to note the newly refurbished Underground station (that I'd never used before in any case) and, climbing to the deserted northbound Thameslink platform (Bedford service due in 5, ANOTHER bloody 319! Eugh!), I agreed to meet Mojo at Oxford Circus’s exit. It always strikes me as odd that so much work has been done to extend Blackfriars over the bridge and then put a fence up against half the platform! Clearly there's a good reason for it though, plus its all looking MUCH better than the old photos I've seen.
Oxford Circus turned out to be easier said than done though, because I had a blonde moment at King's Cross trying to get down to the Victoria line by putting my ticket in a gate set to Oyster-only. Oops!
It was predictably busy when I got there though and there had been a signal failure on the Central Line. After hanging around and getting a few leaflets (and an all-important Underground map) I spotted Mojo through the crowd and we decided to go to Beckton on the DLR – but avoid using the Central Line. So, after an uncharacteristically long wait for the Victoria Line (again… spotting a pattern here?), about a million announcements: “National Rail services from Tottenham Hale are suspended.” at every station, and some very slow people on the stairs at King’s Cross St Pancras (by London standards, clearly) we made it to Liverpool Street by way of a Metropolitan S Stock. Since the Hammersmith and City Line was being turned around at Moorgate, I also saw my first S7 there 
Woo! Need to get on one now... There was also something interesting about the Circle Line itself, but I've forgotten what now. At Liverpool Street, the reason for inserting that about Tottenham Hale became clear; there had been a person under a train. Sadly, there was a miserable pick of Greater Anglia trains to Stratford. No 360s in sight, first out was a 315 then a 321 – we plumped for the latter, on an Ipswich service despite my not knowing GA even had any 321s *oops* . The 321 was acceptable, and I was surprised by the PIS - it seems out of place. One thing that did make me laugh about the GA fleet though were the colours. White and red aren't really that interesting, but some of the trains were randomly blue! The 321 had green seats (apparently because of First Great Eastern) and some trains had blue doors and others were red.
Turning down the offer of a 360 back to Liverpool Street because of the potential drudgery of getting something else back again, we made it over to the newer DLR platforms for a 7 minute wait, which is apparently a long time. I can't say that I rate the design of Stratford for its usability, canopy coverage nor ease of access, but it’s certainly quirky – and full of quirky people (though that's not how somebody phrased it!). I actually rather like it from an enthusiast’s point of view, especially when you get to see things like 378s, 315/321/360s and ’92 stock in the same shot, or DLR vehicles by the Jubilee line - plus its all firmly above ground! The train to Beckton arrived and we discussed the transformation of the first part of line from something with two 313s an hour and a guard to what’s there now. Sights to see were impressive in a way only the DLR can be, and included Crossrail works, some incredibly substantial stations for ‘Light Rail’ (compare: poor little Metrolink's hovels with bus shelters as well as our ridiculous rules about always going right to the end of the platform, which the DLR doesn't have a problem with), the new head offices of Newham Council and assorted random and colourful buildings seemingly just plonked onto wasteland, attracting not much (?) in the way of infill development. I commented on the oddity of the name ‘Cyprus’ (although stations in a roundabout? How cool is that!) and was branded a ‘foreigner’ as a result! Although I wonder if being from up North is indeed ‘foreign’ to the locals? We switched to a triple unit at a very quiet Beckton, which appeared to have been held due to a late PSA, the front unit was otherwise empty for the first few stops, so we bagged the forward-facing view for the return journey.
There quickly followed a rather latst-minute decision to bail the DLR at Canning Town (another weird sort of hybrid station with bits fused on in odd places, to my eyes at least) for the Jubilee Line to West Ham and c2c to the last terminal station in London that I’d never been to – Fenchurch Street. West Ham was another new station for me which was pretty good I thought. Very narrow island for c2c though. Mojo noted the rare crossover being used by the D-Stock and the prevalence of some staff in an odd place. We never did establish what was happening that day... just football? The ride quality of the c2c 357 was rather a relief after the bouncy nature of the Jubilee Line and certainly the DLR, with its particularly aggravating braking. We saw some 'Battery locos' - if that's right, parked on the District Line that was closed for engineering work. Fenchurch Street, however, was a cramped, dated disappointment. Worse than Canon Street really, the previous one I'd never been to, which seemed to have a staff to passenger ratio of approaching 1:1! There was also an incredibly long walk to Tower Gateway from the front entrance - I'm glad somebody knew the way at least, since I certainly wouldn't have done! The side entrance, which apparently connects better with Tower Hill LU, was busy with lost-looking people who'd been kicked off the Circle Line, trying to get over to West Ham for the District Line, no doubt.
After climbing the exceptionally (painfully!) squeaky escalator at Tower Gateway and catching what must be a tantalising glimpse of the end of Fenchurch Street’s platforms from it's windows, I parted company with Mojo at Shadwell and headed across the road to the London Overground station, to try out the new (to me) conversion from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction. Shadwell was predictably in chaos, given that the East London Line was closed between there and Highbury & Islington, and the NRE app’s departures were hopelessly inaccurate listing one train as “11 minutes early”… Turnaround was, however, brisk, so after telling a number of people that this was NOT the West Croydon train, I took a seat at the rear. I have never liked 378s but always been unable to explain exactly why, perhaps it’s the restricted view? You might say the windows are fairly large, but there’s nowhere to really enjoy them from, given the stupid seating and the lack of much glass in the doors. The new line was interesting and connections were undoubtedly useful… but it seems deficient in stations and the doors take TOO LONG to be released! At least it was well-loaded by the time we got to Clapham Junction.
Thence I popped onto a 458 purely because I saw one and had never been on one before – I was most favourably impressed! Still waiting for a 444 though… Much better than the grotty 455 that took me back to CLJ. The lack of proper unit numbers on these things really fazed me too, but Crossover has cleared that up for me now… I think. Add 45 to the strange 4-digit ones? Also I'll note that every SWT train I was on was VERY dirty! How can they alone get so much litter!? Great announcement too by the SWT guard on the Hounslow train - she was very insistent that she was the GUARD and would be doing a lot of GUARDING and was there if anyone needed her - she would also be found on the platform at EVERY station. I say, good on them
A very poor choice on my part came next, a Caterham stopper on what I assume was a 456? Horrible, hot little 2-car thing, no idea how many there were stuck together. Not been this way before to East Croydon though because last time I went there from the CLJ side we were diverted via Crystal Palace. Hideously slow, but at least I got to open the door at every station
Overtaken by quite a number of 377s zooming through. Do the platforms on the fasts ever get used at these stations? They still look maintained and I think I even saw people waiting at one of them!
I took this of the very unusual departure board:
at East Croydon and solved an interesting point from this thread: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=83287 The name of 'Manchester Piccadilly' seems to follow me around the country!
Contemplating my next move, my decision was withdrawn when a Variobahn tram heading to Elmers End pulled up outside the station front, these things are amazing!
I always think they're loads faster than my local trams, but Metrolink is vastly different – and I think the Croydon equipment is probably a bit more reliable just now that we are going through the upgrade! Still, the keen acceleration and braking of the drivers is exhilarating, until one nearly rams the tram in front which is waiting for the points to change on a segregated section!
After a returning from Elmers End to Church Street I changed back on a CR4000 to Wimbledon. Croydon trams also do not suffer from complete connections information deficit and approach announcements like M5000s do, but perhaps the 'fun facts' (I've stolen that) about touching in and holding on tight are taking it too far? Despite the very speedy journey, I missed a couple of trains back to London just in the wait for the single platform at Wimbledon, but that wasn't too much of a problem until, oh, guess what? I was back at bloody Clapham Junction. I'm sorry to go on, but I'm really just not getting this place! I can't work out where I am when I alight from a train or where I'm supposed to be going there at all! Anyone else have this problem? At first, naturally, it will be all new, and nothing in Manchester is exactly comparable, but all of my changes at CLJ have been chaotic and confusing and I've done quite a few now. I can't work out if I'm at one end or the other. In the SWT bit or the Southern. Near the subway or the Bridge. And if you're just looking for a train to either Waterloo or Victoria, there is a wonderfully handy board, but if you choose the first one it will have gone by the time you reach it! Anyhoo, MORE running (I must have burned a LOT of calories running from one end of CLJ to the other that day) and I was onto the 16:39 to Milton Keynes (but very nearly a Horsham train!) Southern obliged with a nice whining 377. I never would have pictured this hourly service as all that popular, but I couldn't have been more wrong! Bloomin' 'eck it was busy! The decision to go in favour of the Central Line to get back to London at Sheperd’s Bush was, however, my second mistake, rammed and as delayed it was. I forgot to mention that my Travelcard had been junked since Waterloo as far as the barriers were concerned. Does anyone have any advice for preventing them stopping working the barriers like this (get one from a ticket office maybe)? Happens to me all the time! It doesn't matter when you're on a tram, but isn't great when you are at the LU gateline and there is nobody there to ask to let you through!
After that, there wasn't much else to tell - but more Victoria Line (can you tell I like ’09 trains?). I changed from the Central to the Jubilee at Bond Street and then across to the Victoria at Green Park just to shake it up a bit - and to avoid a FOURTH visit to Oxford Circus in a day. I had a gap to fill on the Vic between Victoria and Vauxhall, which I duly covered... but as I said before that sounds great when you do the plan but just looks like the rest of the tunnel from the inside! Not to worry, how can you not love the Victoria Line? I arrived in good time at Euston to find my train, the 18:46 to Crewe, already boarding on platform 6! A full 30 mins in advance of departure, gotta be a record? Got a good seat at least and fabulous acceleration and 110mph running for the Northbound journey, and only about 10 people standing in my carriage at least! Great! First was also declassified, not that that helped much; it would have been better on the way down! If I've learned one thing it’s that 350s do really have killer acceleration though. Perhaps I annoyed those waiting to get off behind me at SOT with a five second delay by kicking the semi-crushed beer cans out of the gap between the door and the step - am I the only one who always removes debris from the bottom of doors? Does it make any difference whatsoever? A filthy, smelly Voyager arrived to take me back to Manchester, the day's only diesel! Much appreciated the efforts of the XC guard though; he was doing all the ticket selling and announcements even this late at night (I know some will be annoyed to note he was selling discounted tickets).
Before I go I'll say that I had a very interesting conversation with a man in orange hi-viz on Piccadilly P13 waiting for the 22:46 to Wilmslow via the Airport, who was seeing his aunt on her way to the Airport hotel. After discussing the station announcer’s echoes, he mentioned the working that might be a pair of pacers, but I knew to the contrary (think that’s the next, and last, one) so I piped up. Nice that we were the only 3 on the platform who weren't drunk really, and he’d been down somewhere on a preserved line, but I can't remember which. He mentioned that he'd also done some volunteering on the ELR and dreaded the retirement of pacers since that'd probably mean they would end up with one! The idea of one going around the bend from Bury Bolton St to Heywood is a bit comical! I wonder if it was anyone off here? Completely slipped my mind to ask…
Anyway, excellent value day out and not even that bad weather-wise, despite rain in Manchester when I left it was all Sunny South London in the afternoon I got home rather late, and left far too early, but that could be fixed by booking a couple of weeks earlier and spending another £2-3 (if you have a railcard, sorry!) on Virgin advances, for this particular journey. I'd say that would be worth it, especially given how stiff you can feel from a Siemens seat. You can tell its been a good day when you still feel like you're on a train when you get home, and have electric ringing in your ears!
In total it cost £0.20 (CDR, MAU-MAN) + £2.45 (Travelcard) + £4.65 (LM ADVANCE, SOT-EUS) + £5.30 (LM ADVANCE, EUS-SOT) = £12.60!!! But that does take advantage of £4.45 in vouchers.
Thanks for reading!!!
PS - Sorry if the pics are not quite right/very good!
Despite the availability of earlier connections the other way, I'd plumped this day for the 06:35 from Piccadilly (just in with the minimum connection time!) as far as Stoke-on-Trent. Pretty ironic since it’s a Pendolino to Euston, but that’s what you get if you're a cheapo. It can't be said that I didn't try to get something for nothing either, as I did ask the TM at Manchester if he thought it would be OK if I stayed on. His response was redolent of “Why are you asking me? I just work here!” – I wondered if some random had hijacked the real TMs office, because he said “If you don’t get off, you might need to buy a new ticket…” – I really wanted to say “Only if you make me!” but didn't of course. Perhaps there was to be a Crew change? In any case, it was refreshing to see him checking tickets from departure, I've made it all the way to London in the past without a check, even when the final stop was Stoke/Crewe!
Anyway, the London Midland Sale came in rather useful for this leg, so I was relegated to 350s, but at least none were via Northampton and fast Milton Keynes - London. This is a photo of my return train at Euston, actually, is it 350 111? I'm not sure now...
I decided against detouring to the ticket office at Stoke since the LM 350 was sirening its way through next after the Pendolino cleared out. All credit to LMs new timetable on this route, getting off there only lost me about an hour and ten! Spotting the guard at the front set of doors (and plenty of seats in the first carriage) I jumped on quickly and waited for the guard to come down. In the long run, it didn't turn out to be one of my best decisions, getting a Travelcard from an Avantix machine, but he was willing to accept my £3.45 voucher, commenting that he'd only ever seen Virgin ones before and never any from TransPennine Express! Initially, he printed a ticket which said Between: LONDON THAMESLINK & LONDON ZONES1-6 on it, which I would have quite liked as I’ve never seen one before, but he insisted that I’d better take a LONDON TERMINALS & LONDON ZONES1-6 one:
I felt eternally guilty for anyone getting on at Stafford or later (the people from Stafford/Rugeley/Lichfield/Tamworth seem to have accepted that they'll be standing in the aisles all the way to London - is this what the new service has done? It's uncomfortably oversubscribed not just because of cheap advances but also people on LM-only day tickets) but still glad that I'd managed to avoid the queue at Euston by catching the LM Guard for a travelcard while he could still get down the train. We arrived less than 10 minutes late, which compares favourably with past experience, so I arrived at about 10:00. Not sure where Mojo would be to be found at this time (in bed would be the answer for me most Saturday mornings!), I bounced almost pathologically around the Victoria Line, going to Warren Street then back to St Pancras, and Oxford Circus then back to Euston, standing on the platforms, listening to the doors and the announcement voice and revelling in the unparalleled (for the moment) frequency with which one train leaves and the next arrives. Striding through the corridors of Underground stations watching all the tourists flounder is quite good fun in and of itself. One of the things I have noticed about underground (mainly with a small 'u') stations is that I can never really remember them all properly. Even Euston, which I've visited many many times, I would still probably get lost if the took all the signs down. Bit like Clapham Junction really, but I'll come to that later! At King’s Cross again I decided to go for my customary wander around the new concourse and have a look what was in. That new concourse never ceases to take my breath away, no matter how many times I see it. Not much but a GC 180 though, and some disgusting 313s! Oh, a few rowdy football fans too, so I scooted over the road to St Pancras and down to the Thameslink platforms. This has got to be my favourite part of the station, and I noted the new overhead-wires-turned-bars at the end of the platform. There was a man here who asked for directions to Chester, of all places - I thought I'd misheard him! I pointed him the way out (not sure how he'd ended up down there!) and told him to ask for directions to Euston. A Brighton service was due, but darn it was a stupid 319, so I bailed at Farringdon, another 'new' station I really like, for a dash over the bridge to the Circle Line. There's a really funny sign here too I think, written in a font with serifs! Something like: "Don't forget to drop the pantograph!". I’d never been on the eastern side of the Circle Line before, any further than Liverpool Street, so this was a new ride. It often doesn't feel quite right chasing new track on LU, since its often just a look at a slightly different tunnel wall. That's not enough to stop me doing it though and I try to supplement it by bagging new stations! This C-Stock was full of lots of confused punters due to the closure of the District and Hammersmith and City Lines out until West Ham, who all got booted off by the driver at Tower Hill - who was actually very informative! Good on 'em! Thinking a phone signal might be a good idea, I jumped off at Blackfriars, pausing to note the newly refurbished Underground station (that I'd never used before in any case) and, climbing to the deserted northbound Thameslink platform (Bedford service due in 5, ANOTHER bloody 319! Eugh!), I agreed to meet Mojo at Oxford Circus’s exit. It always strikes me as odd that so much work has been done to extend Blackfriars over the bridge and then put a fence up against half the platform! Clearly there's a good reason for it though, plus its all looking MUCH better than the old photos I've seen.
Oxford Circus turned out to be easier said than done though, because I had a blonde moment at King's Cross trying to get down to the Victoria line by putting my ticket in a gate set to Oyster-only. Oops!
It was predictably busy when I got there though and there had been a signal failure on the Central Line. After hanging around and getting a few leaflets (and an all-important Underground map) I spotted Mojo through the crowd and we decided to go to Beckton on the DLR – but avoid using the Central Line. So, after an uncharacteristically long wait for the Victoria Line (again… spotting a pattern here?), about a million announcements: “National Rail services from Tottenham Hale are suspended.” at every station, and some very slow people on the stairs at King’s Cross St Pancras (by London standards, clearly) we made it to Liverpool Street by way of a Metropolitan S Stock. Since the Hammersmith and City Line was being turned around at Moorgate, I also saw my first S7 there Woo! Need to get on one now... There was also something interesting about the Circle Line itself, but I've forgotten what now. At Liverpool Street, the reason for inserting that about Tottenham Hale became clear; there had been a person under a train. Sadly, there was a miserable pick of Greater Anglia trains to Stratford. No 360s in sight, first out was a 315 then a 321 – we plumped for the latter, on an Ipswich service despite my not knowing GA even had any 321s *oops* . The 321 was acceptable, and I was surprised by the PIS - it seems out of place. One thing that did make me laugh about the GA fleet though were the colours. White and red aren't really that interesting, but some of the trains were randomly blue! The 321 had green seats (apparently because of First Great Eastern) and some trains had blue doors and others were red. Turning down the offer of a 360 back to Liverpool Street because of the potential drudgery of getting something else back again, we made it over to the newer DLR platforms for a 7 minute wait, which is apparently a long time. I can't say that I rate the design of Stratford for its usability, canopy coverage nor ease of access, but it’s certainly quirky – and full of quirky people (though that's not how somebody phrased it!). I actually rather like it from an enthusiast’s point of view, especially when you get to see things like 378s, 315/321/360s and ’92 stock in the same shot, or DLR vehicles by the Jubilee line - plus its all firmly above ground! The train to Beckton arrived and we discussed the transformation of the first part of line from something with two 313s an hour and a guard to what’s there now. Sights to see were impressive in a way only the DLR can be, and included Crossrail works, some incredibly substantial stations for ‘Light Rail’ (compare: poor little Metrolink's hovels with bus shelters as well as our ridiculous rules about always going right to the end of the platform, which the DLR doesn't have a problem with), the new head offices of Newham Council and assorted random and colourful buildings seemingly just plonked onto wasteland, attracting not much (?) in the way of infill development. I commented on the oddity of the name ‘Cyprus’ (although stations in a roundabout? How cool is that!) and was branded a ‘foreigner’ as a result! Although I wonder if being from up North is indeed ‘foreign’ to the locals? We switched to a triple unit at a very quiet Beckton, which appeared to have been held due to a late PSA, the front unit was otherwise empty for the first few stops, so we bagged the forward-facing view for the return journey.
There quickly followed a rather latst-minute decision to bail the DLR at Canning Town (another weird sort of hybrid station with bits fused on in odd places, to my eyes at least) for the Jubilee Line to West Ham and c2c to the last terminal station in London that I’d never been to – Fenchurch Street. West Ham was another new station for me which was pretty good I thought. Very narrow island for c2c though. Mojo noted the rare crossover being used by the D-Stock and the prevalence of some staff in an odd place. We never did establish what was happening that day... just football? The ride quality of the c2c 357 was rather a relief after the bouncy nature of the Jubilee Line and certainly the DLR, with its particularly aggravating braking. We saw some 'Battery locos' - if that's right, parked on the District Line that was closed for engineering work. Fenchurch Street, however, was a cramped, dated disappointment. Worse than Canon Street really, the previous one I'd never been to, which seemed to have a staff to passenger ratio of approaching 1:1! There was also an incredibly long walk to Tower Gateway from the front entrance - I'm glad somebody knew the way at least, since I certainly wouldn't have done! The side entrance, which apparently connects better with Tower Hill LU, was busy with lost-looking people who'd been kicked off the Circle Line, trying to get over to West Ham for the District Line, no doubt.
After climbing the exceptionally (painfully!) squeaky escalator at Tower Gateway and catching what must be a tantalising glimpse of the end of Fenchurch Street’s platforms from it's windows, I parted company with Mojo at Shadwell and headed across the road to the London Overground station, to try out the new (to me) conversion from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction. Shadwell was predictably in chaos, given that the East London Line was closed between there and Highbury & Islington, and the NRE app’s departures were hopelessly inaccurate listing one train as “11 minutes early”… Turnaround was, however, brisk, so after telling a number of people that this was NOT the West Croydon train, I took a seat at the rear. I have never liked 378s but always been unable to explain exactly why, perhaps it’s the restricted view? You might say the windows are fairly large, but there’s nowhere to really enjoy them from, given the stupid seating and the lack of much glass in the doors. The new line was interesting and connections were undoubtedly useful… but it seems deficient in stations and the doors take TOO LONG to be released! At least it was well-loaded by the time we got to Clapham Junction.
Thence I popped onto a 458 purely because I saw one and had never been on one before – I was most favourably impressed! Still waiting for a 444 though… Much better than the grotty 455 that took me back to CLJ. The lack of proper unit numbers on these things really fazed me too, but Crossover has cleared that up for me now… I think. Add 45 to the strange 4-digit ones? Also I'll note that every SWT train I was on was VERY dirty! How can they alone get so much litter!? Great announcement too by the SWT guard on the Hounslow train - she was very insistent that she was the GUARD and would be doing a lot of GUARDING and was there if anyone needed her - she would also be found on the platform at EVERY station. I say, good on them
A very poor choice on my part came next, a Caterham stopper on what I assume was a 456? Horrible, hot little 2-car thing, no idea how many there were stuck together. Not been this way before to East Croydon though because last time I went there from the CLJ side we were diverted via Crystal Palace. Hideously slow, but at least I got to open the door at every station
Overtaken by quite a number of 377s zooming through. Do the platforms on the fasts ever get used at these stations? They still look maintained and I think I even saw people waiting at one of them!I took this of the very unusual departure board:
at East Croydon and solved an interesting point from this thread: http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=83287 The name of 'Manchester Piccadilly' seems to follow me around the country!
Contemplating my next move, my decision was withdrawn when a Variobahn tram heading to Elmers End pulled up outside the station front, these things are amazing!
I always think they're loads faster than my local trams, but Metrolink is vastly different – and I think the Croydon equipment is probably a bit more reliable just now that we are going through the upgrade! Still, the keen acceleration and braking of the drivers is exhilarating, until one nearly rams the tram in front which is waiting for the points to change on a segregated section!
After a returning from Elmers End to Church Street I changed back on a CR4000 to Wimbledon. Croydon trams also do not suffer from complete connections information deficit and approach announcements like M5000s do, but perhaps the 'fun facts' (I've stolen that) about touching in and holding on tight are taking it too far? Despite the very speedy journey, I missed a couple of trains back to London just in the wait for the single platform at Wimbledon, but that wasn't too much of a problem until, oh, guess what? I was back at bloody Clapham Junction. I'm sorry to go on, but I'm really just not getting this place! I can't work out where I am when I alight from a train or where I'm supposed to be going there at all! Anyone else have this problem? At first, naturally, it will be all new, and nothing in Manchester is exactly comparable, but all of my changes at CLJ have been chaotic and confusing and I've done quite a few now. I can't work out if I'm at one end or the other. In the SWT bit or the Southern. Near the subway or the Bridge. And if you're just looking for a train to either Waterloo or Victoria, there is a wonderfully handy board, but if you choose the first one it will have gone by the time you reach it! Anyhoo, MORE running (I must have burned a LOT of calories running from one end of CLJ to the other that day) and I was onto the 16:39 to Milton Keynes (but very nearly a Horsham train!) Southern obliged with a nice whining 377. I never would have pictured this hourly service as all that popular, but I couldn't have been more wrong! Bloomin' 'eck it was busy! The decision to go in favour of the Central Line to get back to London at Sheperd’s Bush was, however, my second mistake, rammed and as delayed it was. I forgot to mention that my Travelcard had been junked since Waterloo as far as the barriers were concerned. Does anyone have any advice for preventing them stopping working the barriers like this (get one from a ticket office maybe)? Happens to me all the time! It doesn't matter when you're on a tram, but isn't great when you are at the LU gateline and there is nobody there to ask to let you through!
After that, there wasn't much else to tell - but more Victoria Line (can you tell I like ’09 trains?). I changed from the Central to the Jubilee at Bond Street and then across to the Victoria at Green Park just to shake it up a bit - and to avoid a FOURTH visit to Oxford Circus in a day. I had a gap to fill on the Vic between Victoria and Vauxhall, which I duly covered... but as I said before that sounds great when you do the plan but just looks like the rest of the tunnel from the inside! Not to worry, how can you not love the Victoria Line? I arrived in good time at Euston to find my train, the 18:46 to Crewe, already boarding on platform 6! A full 30 mins in advance of departure, gotta be a record? Got a good seat at least and fabulous acceleration and 110mph running for the Northbound journey, and only about 10 people standing in my carriage at least! Great! First was also declassified, not that that helped much; it would have been better on the way down! If I've learned one thing it’s that 350s do really have killer acceleration though. Perhaps I annoyed those waiting to get off behind me at SOT with a five second delay by kicking the semi-crushed beer cans out of the gap between the door and the step - am I the only one who always removes debris from the bottom of doors? Does it make any difference whatsoever? A filthy, smelly Voyager arrived to take me back to Manchester, the day's only diesel! Much appreciated the efforts of the XC guard though; he was doing all the ticket selling and announcements even this late at night (I know some will be annoyed to note he was selling discounted tickets).
Before I go I'll say that I had a very interesting conversation with a man in orange hi-viz on Piccadilly P13 waiting for the 22:46 to Wilmslow via the Airport, who was seeing his aunt on her way to the Airport hotel. After discussing the station announcer’s echoes, he mentioned the working that might be a pair of pacers, but I knew to the contrary (think that’s the next, and last, one) so I piped up. Nice that we were the only 3 on the platform who weren't drunk really, and he’d been down somewhere on a preserved line, but I can't remember which. He mentioned that he'd also done some volunteering on the ELR and dreaded the retirement of pacers since that'd probably mean they would end up with one! The idea of one going around the bend from Bury Bolton St to Heywood is a bit comical! I wonder if it was anyone off here? Completely slipped my mind to ask…
Anyway, excellent value day out and not even that bad weather-wise, despite rain in Manchester when I left it was all Sunny South London in the afternoon
I got home rather late, and left far too early, but that could be fixed by booking a couple of weeks earlier and spending another £2-3 (if you have a railcard, sorry!) on Virgin advances, for this particular journey. I'd say that would be worth it, especially given how stiff you can feel from a Siemens seat. You can tell its been a good day when you still feel like you're on a train when you get home, and have electric ringing in your ears! In total it cost £0.20 (CDR, MAU-MAN) + £2.45 (Travelcard) + £4.65 (LM ADVANCE, SOT-EUS) + £5.30 (LM ADVANCE, EUS-SOT) = £12.60!!! But that does take advantage of £4.45 in vouchers.
Thanks for reading!!!
PS - Sorry if the pics are not quite right/very good!
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