telstarbox
Established Member
Which were the Southern services which used Charing Cross until they were withdrawn in 2008? Were they cut back to the London Bridge bay platforms?
Which were the Southern services which used Charing Cross until they were withdrawn in 2008? Were they cut back to the London Bridge bay platforms?
Historically, through services on the North Downs Line (as it is now) from Reading towards Redhill were generally operated as a result of the formation of the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway, which was closely related to (and latterly, in the most basic of terms, operated by) the South Eastern Railway. The SER was keen to link the GWR with the LBSCR, in what was (for them) perhaps an unusually inspired move, and yet one which did fairly little for railway company relations. Nonetheless, services from Reading and, latterly, Reigate (until 2009) continued to London Charing Cross via some shared infrastructure, and many of the mileages on the NDL are measured from CHX even today. In what is an uncanny and some would say unnerving resemblance to the LBSCR, Southern have previously elected to "dumb down" connections provided between the BML and NDL at Redhill, with what will shortly be a complete lack of coastal BML or Arun Valley services throughout most of the day on Mondays through to Saturdays, and this will be traded off against fast Reigate - London Victoria services and Thameslink connections. This means the old LBSCR has triumphed in preventing the SER from providing some potentially useful links between the central Sussex Coast and their route to Reading, and of course it is highly unlikely in the near future that services (at least off-peak) will ever run from Reigate to Charing Cross. So really we have gone full circle, in a way, with the original railways' competitive intentions...
When all this London Bridge stuff is done, could we see some (if only peak services to keep away from London Bridge, Not that Charing Cross is crying out for more trains I know) Southern services back there? If some SE were being switched to Thameslink services through the core, could space open up? Purely hypothetical, I just like to see more variety in stations. And Southern are my favorite
Definitely not.
Oh that's a shame. But I figured that'd be the case. Southern have the bays at London Bridge so no need for adding additional conflicting movements to get them to Charing Cross simply for the benefit of extra variety there. One day eh
Presumably passengers between Croydon and London Bridge enjoyed having direct trains to the West End, so it wouldn't have been entirely for the benefit of rail enthusiasts
Presumably passengers between Croydon and London Bridge enjoyed having direct trains to the West End, so it wouldn't have been entirely for the benefit of rail enthusiasts
Historically, through services on the North Downs Line (as it is now) from Reading towards Redhill were generally operated as a result of the formation of the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway, which was closely related to (and latterly, in the most basic of terms, operated by) the South Eastern Railway. The SER was keen to link the GWR with the LBSCR, in what was (for them) perhaps an unusually inspired move, and yet one which did fairly little for railway company relations. Nonetheless, services from Reading and, latterly, Reigate (until 2009) continued to London Charing Cross via some shared infrastructure, and many of the mileages on the NDL are measured from CHX even today. In what is an uncanny and some would say unnerving resemblance to the LBSCR, Southern have previously elected to "dumb down" connections provided between the BML and NDL at Redhill, with what will shortly be a complete lack of coastal BML or Arun Valley services throughout most of the day on Mondays through to Saturdays, and this will be traded off against fast Reigate - London Victoria services and Thameslink connections. This means the old LBSCR has triumphed in preventing the SER from providing some potentially useful links between the central Sussex Coast and their route to Reading, and of course it is highly unlikely in the near future that services (at least off-peak) will ever run from Reigate to Charing Cross. So really we have gone full circle, in a way, with the original railways' competitive intentions...