London Overground Spotting Trip

[A340600MAN]

Hi

It is my intention to travel down from Manchester and make a concerted effort to tick off/photo as many London Overground trains as possible in one day.

I'm thinking I may have to visit at least three stations over a 12 hour period so that I have the best chance of seeing the majority of the fleet in one trip.

If those who know the London scene a lot better than myself .... would you agree (3 stations) and where would you suggest to get as many as possible of the fleet?

Kind regards

Len

 

[Horizon22]

Highbury and Islington would be the best one.

Maybe then pick two of Whitechapel (for the East London line), Bethnal Green and Willesden Junction for the others

 

[Peter Sarf]

I would suggest start at Dalston Junction for all the East London Line trains (ideally morning peak).

Next North London Line starting at Willesden Junction for about two hours - until the low level (Euston) stuff starts repeating. Running up and down the steps will keep you warm btw.

Next move to Gospel Oak to get you more North London Line trans and the Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside trains.

Then Bethnal Green to grab the ones out of Liverpool Street (ideally in evening peak making use of the light).

Then a flypast of Ilford and get the lone 710 on the shuttle on the Romford/Upminster.

Thats five locations !.

 

[Kite159]

For the Gospel Oak - Barking line I would probably say Blackhorse Road or Walthamstow Queens Road might be a better location to spot the units as you can get all 7 units within an hour.

The footbridge at Willesden Junction gives good views of the North London line (although trains for Clapham/Richmond can be blocked by Stratford bound trains, you need to keep moving to ID the Watford DC line services due to the side numbers. Plus it has a toilet.

 

[Mr. SW]

Any of the above.
Also Clapham Junction: Go to the London End of Platforms 3/4 or 5/6 to see the LO trains go in and out.
Denmark Hill: Very Pretty Station with a glass-sided footbridge and tunnel interest.
Wapping/Rotherhithe and Surrey Quays are interesting locations.

Stratford has additional Elizabeth Line interest but I haven't been for ages.
Hackney Wick station is shiny and new. I haven't been since the rebuild but there are molecules in the subway.
Barking Riverside. Never been but it looks nice in pictures.

 

[CarrotPie]

The Hackneys. Allows you to get the Lea Valley and the NLL units a short ditance apart.

 

[Meole]

Hackney Downs/Central

 

[A340600MAN]

Thanks to all for their comments.

Kind regards

Len

 

[DelW]

You haven't mentioned ticket types, but just in case you're unaware, you will need a paper Travelcard or similar. Oyster or contactless aren't suitable for this type of trip as they will time-out and record unresolved journeys at maximum fare.

 

[Peter Sarf]

For the Gospel Oak - Barking line I would probably say Blackhorse Road or Walthamstow Queens Road might be a better location to spot the units as you can get all 7 units within an hour.

The footbridge at Willesden Junction gives good views of the North London line (although trains for Clapham/Richmond can be blocked by Stratford bound trains, you need to keep moving to ID the Watford DC line services due to the side numbers. Plus it has a toilet.

I favour Gospel Oak as it bags one some more North London Line trains at the same time. But generally, as you say, the middle of a given route is the most efficient UNLESS it takes too much time to get there of course. That holds true of you are starting from near one end and will travel along the route.

Not too bad missing North London Line services on their way to Clapham/Richmond as they come back soon enough. Worth remembering to pay a visit to the SW bound platform for commanding views of Willesden Depot !.

You haven't mentioned ticket types, but just in case you're unaware, you will need a paper Travelcard or similar. Oyster or contactless aren't suitable for this type of trip as they will time-out and record unresolved journeys at maximum fare.

Very good point. The Oyster pre-pay is not very spotter friendly (or trouble for anyone waiting to meet a passenger). I used to get round it by tapping out and asking to be let back on (surprisingly easy). Then when wanting to move on you have to get let out and then tap back in. TBH I would forget to do the last step quite often which leads to illegal travel !. I found a paper travel card is far far easier.

Nowadays my over 60s Oyster gives me immunity from that malarky except I am probably flagging up a lot of alarms and one day maybe TfL might take my pass away from me.

 

[CarrotPie]

You haven't mentioned ticket types, but just in case you're unaware, you will need a paper Travelcard or similar. Oyster or contactless aren't suitable for this type of trip as they will time-out and record unresolved journeys at maximum fare.

Although if you do the minimum journey (say WAE-LBG-WAE) you'll often get an hour or two at the destination (in this case LBG), but you have to remember to tap out and back in again! An alternative is to accept the minimum fare and claim a refund - you've plenty of photos as proof anyway!

 

[Peter Sarf]

Although if you do the minimum journey (say WAE-LBG-WAE) you'll often get an hour or two at the destination (in this case LBG), but you have to remember to tap out and back in again! An alternative is to accept the minimum fare and claim a refund - you've plenty of photos as proof anyway!

It charges you the maximum fare - often twice as the system views you as having touched in but not touched out and then later touched out but not having touched in !. Also the cap stops working after two fouls so the rest of the day is spent topping up and topping up. I had to feed my card over £40 one day !. I got nearly all of it back but its tedious.

 

[CarrotPie]

It charges you the maximum fare - often twice as the system views you as having touched in but not touched out and then later touched out but not having touched in !.

Which is what I'm saying - if you spend a few hours somewhere you'll get a maximum fare, but that can be refunded. You can avoid that by doing a short journey either side of the spotting session and tapping out and back in halfway through.

A maximum fare is £6.40 off-peak with a standard Oyster in zones 1-9, but less with Zips (and so on).

 

[Mal75756]

Hopefully not off topic as it may help someone and will definately help me. Are you allowed to tap out and then straight back in again, literally seconds after tapping out and will this then reset the 1.5 or 2 hours you have before having to tap out again. Hope that makes sense

 

[CarrotPie]

Hopefully not off topic as it may help someone and will definately help me. Are you allowed to tap out and then straight back in again, literally seconds after tapping out and will this then reset the 1.5 or 2 hours you have before having to tap out again. Hope that makes sense

Yes, I've done it before and I've suggested doing it further upthread. But you have to tap in/out somewhere different (eg tap in at A, tap out and in at B, tap out at A), otherwise it'll charge you four maximum fares overall - pricey!

 

[PeterC]

Yes, I've done it before and I've suggested doing it further upthread. But you have to tap in/out somewhere different (eg tap in at A, tap out and in at B, tap out at A), otherwise it'll charge you four maximum fares overall - pricey!

Plus watch out for OSIs. I was caught out once walking between the two Dalston stations.

 

[Peter Sarf]

I once tapped in at East Croydon and then straight back out. I discovered that led to a charge of over £4 !. Irony was that I was dong that to get my £30 odd credited after breaking my cap weeks before - you have to specify a station and collect the credit within a week but I had no journey to make !. So don't make that mistake.

 

[Kite159]

The easiest way when hanging around stations for sight is to use a Travelcard (or other paper ticket). That way, you don't have to worry about any maximum journey times.

 

[Mal75756]

Thanks for your replies and information, and concur that a paper travelcard will be best and luckily the day one has been continued so I will be ok when i finally get a chance to visit London