Out and about in London

I chose the above image of a Metropolitan Line tube train at Amersham to illustrate just how far it is possible to travel on the London Underground system. Amersham, is the furthest point west on the Underground although branches also run to Chesham and Watford. Beyond Amersham, Chiltern Railway run to Aylesbury, whereas the Underground runs just a short distance to the turnback sidings, before heading back into Central London.

The day of my London trip was 21 June - the longest day - although any hopes of fine weather were immediately dashed as a drizzle had set in before I left home to catch the 0757 London Midland service from Bletchley to London Euston. Despite the attempts of leaden grey skys which hardly lifted all day and an 'incident' with an officious member of Underground staff at Amersham, I had an enenjoyable day out. What follows is a brief piece on my travels during the day, which took me on an idiosyncratic and varied journey across London using train, tube, tram, DLR and bus.

At Bletchely I noted that Virgin's Pendolino's were using Bletchley Junction just to the south of the station to cross from the down fast to the down slow and conversely from the up slow to the up fast. 390046 Virgin Soldiers and 390014 were both observed snaking their way acros the junction. This is unusual as far as I know as most passenger services using Ledburn Junction further south. Passing through the station ahead of my service was 92001 in its striking EWS livery on southbound containers.

Passing Wembley Central I noted 66207 (light engine) and 92001 (again!), which my train overtook having been routed onto the up fast from Watford Junction. In Wembley Yard noted werre 66140, 90026 and 66051. Others were present but these were the only ones that I can definitely confirm.

Arrival in London was slightly ahead of schedule and seeing as the Caledonian Sleeper was still in Platform 1, I took myself over there to grab a couple of shots of EWS 90018 at the buffers; 90039 was at the ‘country’ end to take the empty stock to Wembley. An 'old friend' 57306 Jeff Tracy was present at Euston, stabled between platforms 16 and 17. 57306 I have seen so many times that I have lost count, whenever I see a Virgin Thunderbird it seems to almost invariably be this one!

Euston itself was very quiet, with only a Virgin Pendolino shuttle operating to Northampton due to closure of the WCML for engineering works at Rugby, in addition to the normal London Midland and London Overground services. From 28 June, Virgin is due to start an hourly service between Euston and Birmingham International using Voyagers routed via Willesden and Greenford onto the Chiltern Line and onwards to Coventry and Birmingham International. There was nothing I could see at Euston to advertise this fact and indeed the PA was advising intending passengers of other routes from London including the Marylebone - Birmingham Moor Street route to avoid the replacement buses from Northampton to Birmingham International.

From Euston my first trip of the day in London was on the 68 bus to Waterloo, a route that I came familiar with during my brief time working in London last year. A brief stop at Ian Allan’s before taking the Bakerloo to Embankment from where it was the District Line out to Earl’s Court. I arrived here just in time for the fire alarm test! The service form Earl’s Court to Kensington (Olympia) – the addition of the brackets I had not noticed before – was not running so it was a brisk walk round to West Brompton to see 220013 heading north on the 0915 Brighton to Birmingham New Street.

I took the London Overground from West Brompton to Willesden Junction (High Level) and then back towards Central London on the Bakerloo (again) to Marylebone. Comfort break here and a chance to get photos of Chiltern’s 165 and 168s plus 67023 and 67025 top and tailing WSMR’s 1215 service to Wrexham. Marylebone was a good deal busier than Euston and I had about half-hour before my train to Harrow-on-the-Hill. I alighted here for a brief leg stretch before getting the Metropolitan Line to Amersham. I took some photos around Amersham before I was told by a rather officious although polite member of LU staff that taking photos on the Underground was prohibitied due to the terrorist threat, utter nonsense as it happens but nevertheless I decided to get the next tube back to Central London.

I crossed down to Victoria to catch the 1420 Southern service to Epsom, which I alighted from at Mitcham Eastfields. This station has only recently opened and in a joint-promotion Southern and First Capital Connect were offering free tickets to selected destinations from here. Finding this out was more by chance, as it only appeared to be advertised on the Southern web site and presumably in the local press; there was certainly no publicity at the station and the ticket machine seemed happy to sell full-priced tickets, although free ones were available from the ticket office adjacent! The station was built to a modular design and looks smart and functional. The lifts on the footbridge were not working and crossing between the two staggered platforms over the very busy Eastfields Road is far from ideal. The best opportunity appears to be waiting for a train and then taking your chances while the gates are down!

A round about trip took me back to London Bridge with a stop in East Croydon for a quick tram ride and some more photos. This was a first for me - the first time that I've taken tram pics. What next buses! From London Bridge it was a short hop on the Northern Line to Bank to pick up the DLR, which took me, via a change at Westferry to Beckton. This is the first time that I have travelled the full length of this leg of the DLR, previously only being as far as Custom House and means that I’ve now completed the whole network, although there will of course be the extension to Woolwich Arsenal, due to open in 2009. Beckton though seems an odd terminus and as far as I could make out it is not close to anything other than an Asda supermarket across the road. The station is one of the more spartan on the network. I was particularly struck by the innovative design Beckton Park and Cyprus DLR stations, which are housed in the centre of roundabouts. A trip back on this line is definitely required to photograph these unusual stations.

From Beckton, another change of mode with the bus taking me to Stratford for the Central Line back to Holborn. My final journey for the day was from Holborn on the bus to Euston in time for the 1854 to Northampton. This was formed of 321420 and 321430. The 321s are beginning to look rather shabby especially as they are shorn of any company identification since London Midland has not applied any branding after removing the Silverlink Trains names. Some still retain Silverlink Trains branding on posters inside although most of these have either been blanked out or replaced with London Midland stickers. The 321s are due to be replaced next year by more 350s with some of the 321s expected to go to First Capital Connect, so they could well be still serving London for a good many years yet.

All this was achieved on an ordinary One Day Travelcard with Oyster pay-as-you-go used for the journeys on the Underground outside of Zone 6. If I’d had more time journeys up the Chesham and Watford branches of the Metropolitan Line would have been done but alas these will have to wait till next time!