The aim was to take a look at some of the newer services which have been introduced in and around London and also one of the remaining “Parliamentary” services – being run to a limited timetable to provide proof that a line has not closed.
So Farnborough, change at Woking and Clapham Junction. The London Overground covers a range of services provided by Transport for London being former National Rail services, but reworked to cater for outer circular routes around London to a certain extent.
From Clapham Junction there are now various services over the route to Willesden Junction via Kensington Olympia, with those provided by London Overground using the new 378 multiple units. The 378/2 are capable of obtaining power by both third rail and overhead supply and the changeover is made on the move just north of the bridge carrying the A40 Westway, once the new Shepherds Bush Westfield shopping centre has been passed on the left. At Willesden Junction the route is joined by the North London line which once upon a time was a third rail only service from Richmond to Broad Street, but this was altered to terminate at North Woolwich with the closure of Broad Street, then cut back to Stratford in 2006 when the route onwards was closed for conversion for use by the Docklands Light Railway.
I am not going to Stratford just yet however, having reached Willesden Junction I then transferred to the the Bakerloo line on the Underground to go to Paddington Station.
The next train is the one a day Chiltern Railways service from Paddington to Ruislip – not a line I have previously traversed on a service train. Before leaving Paddington the conductor checks with the travellers that we really want to go to Ruislip – the passengers were myself and a mother and baby. How they came to be using this unusual service I have no idea as I am sure most passengers are sent to Marylebone.
The unit heads out of Paddington and we come to a halt alongside North Pole depot which is now being redeveloped to be used by the new Intercity Express being built by Hitachi for the GW Main line. We come to a halt, to wait the passing of an inbound service and then turn right essentially alongside the Central line onto the originally joint GWR/GCR new main line to run to South Ruislip.
Most of the route is parallel to the Central Line past North Acton, Park Royal, Hanger Lane, Greenford, Northolt and then joining the main Chiltern line at South Ruislip, with the train terminating at Ruislip Gardens. Due to problems with points a freight train was unable to cross in front of us on time at Greenford delaying our progress leading to a late arrival at the two Ruislip stations.
Time to abandon trains and undertake a walk to Ruislip on the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines where I wanted the former to take me back towards London and a transfer onto the Jubilee line at Wembley Park where I catch an all stations service to West Hampstead on a train bound for Stratford.
A short walk at West Hampstead re-unites me with the North London line (or London Overground as it is described) and I catch another train bound for Stratford. I disembark at Gospel Oak as I am about to abandon electricity power and use the non-electrified line often known as “GOBLIN”, which is short for Gospel Oak to Barking line. At one time the service was St Pancras (or Kentish Town or even Moorgate) to Barking (but earlier East Ham). The current service was introduced in 1981 when a new connection was provided to Gospel Oak, an earlier one having been closed long ago. Unloved and unappreciated the line was built for heavy passenger use with very long platforms but the unreliable service and use of old diesels lead to a marked decline.
Once under the control of London Overground from 2007 it has received some attention, with an improved service, station refurbishment (although the ends of the longer platforms are weed infested) and most recently new diesel trains (class 172/0 – two car Turbostar) which together with other modernisation work means that there can now be 8 trains an hour – four passenger and four freight services. And now electrification is finally planned. My first trip shows that passenger loadings (at least off peak) seem similar to the North London Line as we head on a curve around North East London.
Once at Barking, having taken some photos, I rejoin the same unit retracing my steps to Blackhorse Road where an easy link exists to the Victoria line. This is merely for one stop to the line’s terminus at Walthamstow Central. A quick cross platform change sees me retracing my steps again back towards Central London as far as Highbury & Islington and the North London Line. It means that I am now certain I have covered the entire length of the Victoria line.
After having earlier been on a number of trains heading to Stratford I now catch a train heading for that destination and travel all the way there! Again this is a 378/2 dual voltage running on the overhead as the third rail has been removed from this section. The whole Stratford area has of course been redeveloped with a new shopping centre and the Olympic Park adjacent plus revised rail and DLR services mentioned earlier. I head back around the NLL again but note that despite the frequent passenger services there is also a heavy freight presence which is typified by 70020 bringing a train through behind the service train I take.
My destination is again Highbury & Islington where the two northernmost tracks have AC electrification whilst the more southerly pair have DC 750v third rail power supply which originally applied to the entire NLL. Joining a 378/1 (DC only) unit at platform 2 my NLL journey restarts in Eastward direction again! This time we pick up the old route through Dalston Junction (same site but new station), Haggerston (new station, north of original station), Hoxton (completely new) and as trains can no longer run into Broad Street we turn left into Shoreditch High Street (on the site of the long closed Bishopsgate station) with a new line has been built in an easterly direction to join up with the former Underground line, the old Shoreditch station closing, so we are now on the East London line and pass through the historic Brunel built tunnel under the Thames.
Formerly this line had two termini south of the river – New Cross and New Cross Gate. London Overground however has extended and the termini are New Cross, Crystal Palace, West Croydon and for me Clapham Junction. This last section was historically the South London line from London Bridge to Victoria and was originally electrified at 6700v AC in 1909. London Bridge is being rebuilt which is one reason the services have been re-directed. However there is clear evidence of demand as the passenger loading into Clapham Junction is high and there is clear evidence that the Overground is bringing much larger passenger numbers into the station.
It is convoluted getting into Clapham Junction, a new link from Surrey Quays to the South London line for Queen’s Road Peckham, running on the southern most pair of tracks to Wandsworth Road, then diverging left at Factory Junction, passing under the main lines out of Victoria, through Longhedge Junction and under the main lines from Waterloo before climbing up, through Ludgate Junction to join platform 2 which is now the southern end of platform 1, whilst the old platform 1 is platform 0 but is completely disused. Access for the train to platform 2 does not affect trains running into or out of platform 1.
And I can now rejoin an SWT service back to Farnborough.