Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Railways

  • The Quiet London Underground (Again)

    The Quiet London Underground (Again)

    As can be seen from the front page of the last four issues of the Evening Standard, the quietness of the Underground is causing great concern to many in London. Well, by many I mean those running the system, rather than the users of the network who are likely enjoying the opportunity to get a seat. It’s hard to see how TFL can continue to afford to operate the network in this way for much longer without subsidies.

    These photos are from my travels yesterday and today. There are times of course when the service is a bit busier, but empty carriages are still common-place. At Earl’s Court, I walked down the steps onto the platform just as the tube train doors were closing, but they then re-opened to let me on (I assume it was for me, since I was by the driver’s door and there was no-one else visible). I’m not sure that’s what would usually happen in September in London…..I can’t see things getting much busier over the next few weeks either, the tourist season is fading away and office workers aren’t flocking back.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    This is the third time that I’ve taken the Greater Anglia service from Norwich to London Liverpool Street over the last month, another £10 bargain fare. Although the first train service into London for that price left at 13:00, arriving under two hours later.

    As with my previous journeys, the train was quiet in Norwich. It was also clean and well presented, with all of the power points working well.

    The train became busier towards London, although it was nowhere near packed. There were frequent announcements that made warning that customers might be fined £100 if they didn’t wear a face mask, but I’m not exactly sure who was meant to be doing this enforcement. I haven’t seen any presence from the British Transport Police on any of my recent journeys, so I suspect it’s just said more out of hope than anything else. There was high compliance with the rule though, with customers not moving around the train much.

    The train arrived into London Liverpool Street on time and, unfortunately (or probably fortunately really), it was all rather uneventful. I still think that this new train looks beautiful and graceful, just a slight shame that there are so few people on the bloody thing.

  • London – Still Quiet on the Underground

    London – Still Quiet on the Underground

    I won’t keep posting “it’s quiet on the Underground” as that’s annoying, even for me. But, I was surprised just how quiet it was just after 09:00 on Thursday, not so much at Gloucester Road which isn’t ever the busiest station, but certainly at Victoria. Making for some peaceful journeys though.

  • 4G on the Jubilee Line

    4G on the Jubilee Line

    Another of my random posts, but I’m pleased to have discovered that over the summer months TFL has installed 4G connectivity within the tunnels of the Jubilee Line. I remember using that line a lot and was pleased enough when they installed wi-fi at every station, but now they’ve gone much further.

    It sounds like it has been an expensive project, but there were plans to take it forwards to extend connectivity further. Currently, the 4G is available from Westminster to Canning Town, but with TFL’s current cash crisis that might be as far as it gets for some time….

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    So back off to London, on another £10 fare from Norwich with Greater Anglia and there’s a high availability of this price when travelling off-peak. Unlike my trip last week, the barrier staff are back at Norwich railway station, although most of the food outlets on the concourse are still closed.

    The outbound 10.30 train was the inbound 10.27 train, which meant that there was no time to properly clean it down, although a cleaner came through to collect rubbish. But, the carriages all looked clean and well maintained, but there’s not exactly a huge passenger load on them at the moment.

    The train pulling up onto platform 2 at Norwich railway station. The journey was uneventful as everything worked well and the train arrived at Colchester railway station a few minutes early. It wasn’t a particularly busy service, a handful of customers in each carriage and every customer I noticed was wearing a mask.

    The guards aren’t walking up and down the train due to the current health issue, but there was an announcement mid-way through telling a passenger with a grey t-shirt to get their feet off the seats. I liked that the guards were clearly looking at CCTV, it’s reassuring from a general safety point of view, as well as helping to ensure that the train stays clean and presentable.

    And safely in London Liverpool Street, all on time. It still seems a shame that these new trains are sweeping up and down the country with so few passengers on them, but at least it made for a comfortable journey for me.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    My last train journey was from Chesterfield to York in March 2020 and I didn’t expect it would take until August 2020 for me to make another. Norwich railway station looks different to when I last used it, with the ticket gates now left open and unmanned. There’s now directional signage around the concourse and a couple of the food outlets, West Cornwall Pasty and Starbucks, haven’t re-opened, nor has Marks & Spencer. It felt moderately busy, but nowhere near what I would have usually expected for a Monday morning.

    Waiting at platform 2, the new style train which serves the Norwich to London line.

    There was plenty of space for customers on board, just a handful of passengers in each carriage. The power points and on-board screens worked on the train, although it wasn’t doing a very good job of air conditioning and not for the first time this week I muttered to myself that it was too hot.

    Safely at London Liverpool Street railway station, the train arrived dead on time.

    The barriers were operating as usual at the station, with revenue protection officers and police questioning a couple of people as I walked by. So, although there’s no ticket barrier at Norwich and tickets aren’t checked on board, there are still mechanisms to ensure people have paid their fares. The concourse was relatively quiet and someone asked me how they could get out of the railway station, something I didn’t think was particularly challenging, but there we go. Once outside, it became evident to me just how quiet London currently is….

  • Rail Delivery Group and the Department for Transport

    Rail Delivery Group and the Department for Transport

    As another of my asides, this is an article from Rail magazine this issue, a query regarding rail vouchers which were about to expire. This is the sort of maddening decision which alienates people from the rail network, a decision would have likely been made immediately by the rail operating groups, or indeed the old British Rail, but is caught in a Government department that doesn’t want to answer. Anyway, that’s as political as I’m getting and at least I’m fortunate not to have any rail vouchers.

  • LNER Dining Facilities in 1939

    LNER Dining Facilities in 1939

    I hadn’t seen a list like this before, it details what catering facilities there were available in all of the London and North East Railway (LNER) stations.

    Strange to think that there was a refreshment room at Newmarket railway station, there isn’t even a station building left there now for those passengers passing through.

  • Railway Curiosities – Graig Ddu Quarry

    Railway Curiosities – Graig Ddu Quarry

    The first half of this 1935 video from Pathe shows an interesting way for the quarry workers to get back home after the end of their working day. I think it’s Graig Ddu quarry in North Wales and the devices the workers have built themselves are known as ‘car gwyllt’.

  • Railways and the Coronavirus

    Railways and the Coronavirus

    12 passengers in four hours? Surely it must be worth just using buses for these routes now, that’s on average fewer than one person per train (plus the guard and the driver)….. But impressive that so many people aren’t travelling and are obeying instructions.

    https://twitter.com/BTPEAnglia/status/1246360968919162882