Changing At Clapham Junction On The Overground
Yesterday, when I returned from the New Kings Road, I didn’t come the obvious way of taking a bus to somewhere like Sloane Square or Piccadlly from where I would get the Underground. after all, the last time I did this journey, it took forever. As it was sunny, I decided to walk to Imperial Wharf station on the Overground.
I had three choices there.
- I could go north to Willesden Junction station and then get the North London line to either Dalston Kingsland or Highbury and Islington stations.
- I could also go north on a direct train that eventually ended up at Stratford.
- I could go south to Clapham Junction station and then get the extended East London line to Dalston Junction station.
Dalston Junction station is my preferred destination, as I can walk out of the front and get any of a number of buses to close to my house.
In the end, I let the trains make my decision for me and after looking at the indicators I got on the first one to arrive.
It was a southbound one to Clapham Junction station.
It was the first time I’d done this west to east transfer at the station and it was simple, in that I just walked up the platform and got in the train to Dalston Junction. There was a staff member on the train, so I was able to know what was the front. But on these trains it doesn’t matter as they are walk-through from head to tail.
In some ways it was a surprising way to go from Chelsea to Dalston, but it was painless and probably quicker than the alternative. The view was a lot better too!
The step-free train change at Clapham Junction station was so much better, than those where you have to walk miles between platforms. The decision to split a platform and have one destination at each end, seems to have been an excellent one.
I suspect the only improvement is to have more and longer trains on the Overground. But that will happen!
Travelling To Stansted and Gatwick Compared
In my trip to Majorca, I booked out via Stansted and back via Gatwick. So how did the routes to the two airports compare?
Stansted is easier at present, than it will be in a few months, as the 21 and141 buses actually stop at Liverpool Street station because of the diversions for Crossrail. So I just get the bus and walk the twenty metres or so to the station. In fact on Sunday, as the diversion wasn’t being announced or I missed it, I actually walked from Moorgate, which wasn’t too bad.
One at the station I just got a train direct to the airport at a cost f 14.85 with my Senior Railcard.
A Personal Train
As the picture shows, at seven on a Sunday morning, I got a personal train.
Coming back into Gatwick, I just walked to the station and one of the staff there, said that as I had a Freedom Pass, I just needed to buy a ticket to East Croydon. It was just £3.25.
I came back via Clapham Junction station, where I changed to the Overground to Dalston Junction station.
It was all very easy, but it is probably a bit slower than going to or coming from Stansted. But only by a few minutes.
I did waste some time at Gatwick trying to locate my train and an information board like London Bridge, where all stations are indicated with the next train, time and platform, wouldn’t be a bad idea. One guy told me that it is in hand.
I suppose too, that I could have gone to Victoria and then got a tube, which might have been quicker. But then the Overground is so much easier and if you have a heavy case, it’s all step-free transfers.
So hopefully it’ll all get better.
Richard Morrison On The Overground
Richard Morrison in The Times today has an interesting article on the London Overground. He did a complete circle and wrote about it. I particularly liked this bit.
It’s now possible to make a complete orbit of Outer London by rail. And I have rarely spent a more magical 80 minutes. Well, not on a train, anyway. In sleek air-conditioned carriages, you glide over wharfs and warehouses, dodge between highrises and shimmy past Victorian terraces, trendy penthouses, suburban semis, chic lofts, overgrown gardens and neat allotments. It’s like looking at the capital through the back door.
So if you can get hold of a copy of the Times 2 section today, have a good look at what he says.
You might decide to take a trip to Peckham! A doctor told me that the views from the multi-story car park by Peckham Rye station are spectacular.
Changing At Clapham Junction Station
The one thing that worked well on my trip today, was changing at Clapham Junction station to go south.
If you use the bridge over the tracks, it is fully served with lifts, so if you are wheeling a heavy case to Gatwick Airport, it is probably easier than say getting it off the Underground at Victoria station. There’s also a couple of coffee shops on the bridge and even in the rush hour today, there was somewhere to sit.
I think we should congratulate Network Rail on doing a good design job in bringing an old bridge up to the standard that travellers expect these days.
I would also recommend you buy your tickets before travelling, unless you are prepared to go through the barriers and buy the tickets at the station.
One good thing about changing at Clapham Junction, is that if you use the bridge it is fairly eas to find your ongoing platform. Coming north, it is very easy as you always go to Platform 2.
Hopefully, this will improve as more and more people use Clapham Junction station to change to and from the south. Today, the trains to and from the station on the South London line weren’t very full. But then that was the case when the rest of the Overground opened.
I don’t think it will stay as quiet for long!
Is The New South London Line What Passengers Want?
I ask this question after the report of the demonstration last night and this piece on the South London Line’s opening today. Both reports give the impression, that most South Londoners think the routing is wrong.
I’m not from South London and therefore I have no idea what is best for Peckham and Clapham. But I do know that opening the East London Line to Crystal Palace prompted me to visit, as exploring the electric trains south of the Great Sewer, is something that North Londoners are genetically programmed not to be able to do. They always feel happy on anything that is on Harry Beck‘s iconic Underground map.
The opposition to the routing of the South London Line seems also to be led by a group of anti-Boris politicians, who tend to believe that anything Boris backs is thoroughly bad and driven by his ego, rather than common sense.
What seems to have been forgotten here, is that the new South London Line routing was proposed before Boris became Mayor and that something had to be done for a few years to create extra paths into London Bridge station, whilst it is being rebuilt. Just as I complain about buses being disrupted by Crossrail, in part the South London Line problems are a victim of the London Bridge improvements. I think it is true to say, that Transport for London has an extensive database of journeys by public transport in London, because of the Oyster Card and Freedom Pass information. So they probably know a lot more about where customers actually go, than the customers themselves.
Incidentally, I travelled part of the way this morning to Clapham Junction station with a doctor, who was going on shift at Kings College Hospital by Denmark Hill station from his home in Hoxton. It was certainly an easier journey for him than before the new line opened. So although, there will be some losers because of the changes, there will also be winners. How many other people have moved house or changed job in the last couple of years, in anticipation of the changes? We don’t know, but Transport for London will in a few months, when they analyse the journeys.
Coffee And Pretzels At Clapham Junction
Not for me the pretzels, but the coffee was good in my pit-stop at Knot Pretzels at Clapham Junction station.
I do love their innovative use of an old trunk for the sugar and stirrers.
Closing A Chapter – The New South London Line Opens
In some ways today, I closed a chapter in my life, that started when I moved back to London. Soon after, the rebuilt East London Line of the London Overground opened. I wrote about it here.
Today they opened the last section to Clapham Junction station and I was on the first train there from Highbury and Islington station.
The pictures could have been better, but it was just after seven this morning.
Not Everybody Is In Favour Of The New South London Line
This article on the BBC, shows that at the moment not everybody is in favour of the new South London Line as some of the inner suburban services will be dropped. But politicians will jump on any bandwagon however rickety to try to get one over on their rivals.
However, I think this will blow over, as partly the changes are caused by the rebuilding of London Bridge station.
I have used the inner South London line a few times to get to Victoria, by taking a bus to London Bridge station and then meandering through Peckham. The pictures of Battersea Power Station were taken on such a trip.
I’m just off to catch the first train from Highbury and Islington to Clapham Junction. It’ll take me longer to get round than this video.
Rehearsals At Queens Road Peckham
I took these pictures as a London Overground train did a touch-and-go at Queens Road Peckham station.
On Sunday, they’ll be doing it for real!
But what a lovely day despite it being so cold!
St. George Wharf Tower
St. George Wharf Tower is a residential tower near Vauxhall. Here are a few pictures.
It dominates the landscape as The Shard does. But in my view, it not quite the same blot on the landscape as that tower.
I took the pictures from a London Bridge to Victoria train. These will stop on Saturday with the extension of the Overground.
The Anonymous Widower 