BEG-ing

Another freezing morning this morning, but - in spite of that - it was a really nice journey in. Of course, I could have made the nice journey a little warmer by simply sitting in the waiting room, where it's a bit warmer, but it's pretty cramped in there and I do like standing on a platform perhaps a little more than is normal - but there's something very nice about seeing the railway. It's a good thing I do like it, too, as I've spent many an hour standing around on cold platforms. I think I've only once been colder than standing on a platform at Golders Green one night, waiting for a Charing X train. Anyway, at least I can look at the maps, have a bit of a walk and see the train approaching.

When I finally got on a nice, warm 1992 stock train, we had a short wait for the signal to clear us over WOO junction (heaters worked a charm) and then we were away. Sadly it wasn't long before I was back in the cold at WOO, waiting for the WER train to come and take me into the city. It was worth the cold wait, though, the RAT was out again and this time I even got to hear it's whistle - which is a low toot, unlike the slightly shriller peep of the more modern ones. Anyway, the whistle was for a couple of men who were doing some work on the track - no idea what, but it's pretty common to find somebody out doing something on the open sections - be it inspections, felling trees or any number of things. The T/Op has to whistle for anyone working on the track - so that they are alerted to the approaching train - and then the workers are supposed to acknowledge the train with a wave (usually returned by the T/Op). It's important to make sure everyone stays safe when you've got 630 V nearby and upwards of 160 tonnes of 1992 stock approaching at full line speed (sorry to say I don't know what that is around WOO).

This is a bit of an aside, but - for that reason - it's fairly common to hear a whistle on an open section and you can usually spot someone wearing a hi-vi jacket as you go along. It's not very common to hear a train whistle in a tunnel, though, for you can't work down in the tunnels when the trains are running - there isn't enough room and, anyway, it's too dark. (Very occasionally they might stop a train so that someone can hop down and quickly do some emergency work, or pick something up or something, but that's all. In this situation, the T/Op usually has to hand over his keys and the train will be used as protection. No trains can run past until everyone's safely back on the train and off the tracks.) As such, there shouldn't be anyone to warn with a whistle, instead you only really hear them in the platform if there's a problem (you're only meant to whistle in the platform if you need someone's assistance. For example, I once heard a whistle from the WOO via HAI train when it was waiting to go into 21 road because, though the member of station staff had raised his arm to clear the train, he put it down again pretty quickly and walked away and I don't think the T/Op saw. Anyway, after the whistle, the member of staff raised his arm again and the train pulled into the siding). Anyway, I brought that up because I've twice had the experience of hearing a whistle in a tunnel. One time, I was on an EB (Eastbound) Central line train heading out of London and as we pulled into a platform (I think St Paul's (STP) maybe Bank (BAN)) there was a long blast on the whistle, before the T/Op came over the PA sounding shaken saying "please, please, for your own safety, stand well back from the platform edge." I dunno what happened, but we pulled out of the station with no problems, so nobody was hit, but perhaps a close call :/ The T/Op was jittery, though, he repeated the message further up the line. I hope he hadn't been involved in a one under recently but I have a suspicion that that could've had something to do with it? Another time I was at TCR (Tottenham Court Road) waiting for a Northern line train and I heard the train pulling into the opposite platform give a long blast on the whistle. I hurried on to the adjacent platform to see if there was a problem, but everything seemed fine. Perhaps another close call? Ultimately, a cheesy message to finish with, then: be careful on the platforms, better to get there late than not at all.

Anyway, I boarded the WER train and we had a nice, smooth journey (barring the huge jolt we now get as the track from westbound platform 1 merges with the track from westbound platform 2 on the WB outside of Leytonstone (LES). Although, I noticed the working lights were on in the tunnel on the WB between Mile End (MIE) and Bethnal Green (BEG). Don't know what they'd been doing, but I don't like riding in a tube train with the lights on in the tunnel, not very restful on the eyes. Whenever there's work around LIS (Liverpool Street), they tend to leave them on as well - not very pleasant. Still, I made sure to have a look up the crossover outside BEG as we headed for LIS though. Since I usually get a seat, I don't usually take the opportunity to have a good look at the WB track and, as such, probably don't know it as well. Still, if you like a short piece of track that heads off into the distance, where you can't really see it, it's worth a look :P Hey, I was happy and I noticed the blur of the shunt signal as we sped past it. It may not sound that interesting, but when I've got a phonology class to look forward to, hey, I could stare at shunt signals all day :P

Anyway, that's my segue into BEG, which I really like. Firstly, I think the platforms are really nice:

Bethnal Green eastbound platform. (Image courtesy "Sunil060902" (via Wikipedia))

I really like the red stripe with "Central line" written on it over the roundel and the old fashioned "way out" sign underneath. Also the tiles above this, with the red lines for the Central line and the name separated by roundels is a great effect. Similar styles are also seen at St. John's Wood:

St. John's Wood's roundel. (Image courtesy "Sunil060902" (via Wikipedia))

And Swiss Cottage:

Swiss Cottage's roundel. (Image courtesy "Sunil060902" (via Wikipedia))

Which are both on the Jubilee line (as you can see quite easily :P). A similar effect can also be observed on the Northern line's Highgate, although the colours at Highgate actually put me in mind of WAN (Wanstead).

Well, anyway, that's enough of that. BEG is also a reasonably important station, which sees frequent use (as in the four recent weekends when the east end of the line was suspended because of the work at LES) during engineering works. The crossover in question allows it to be used to terminate trains and BEG is actually the only place I know of where this can be done between the two crucial stations of LIS and LES (Liverpool Street and Leytonstone). Because it's in the tunnel, I can't really show you it, but if you're ever heading EB out of LIS, as you approach BEG you'll notice lights in the tunnel (unlike the lights which were on between MIE and BEG today, these lights are always on and they're meant to be on to help mitigate the risk of an accident occurring at the crossover, by making sure any train using it is clearly visible, I believe) and if you look out of the right hand side of the train, towards the back, you can see it clearly. I've never been over it myself (although I hear some passengers during the engineering works were able to) but I gather it's not much more exciting than this:

The crossover just to the west of Bethnal Green, which would probably be about where the label is in the diagram

 I wasn't going to do this but, briefly, I'll explain what was happening during the closure. The train would arrive on the WB and stop in Westbound platform 1. Usually, a T/Op would actually get on at the back to speed everything up. When everyone was aboard and everything was ready, the train would depart backwards along the WB track (I believe there's a colour light signal at the end of the WB platform at BEG which clears this move and this is one of the conditions for carrying passengers over the crossover). The train would then head over the crossover above and continue EB. As you can see, a train can also arrive on the EB and detrain on Eastbound platform 2. The train would then head out and along the EB track. It would then stop, the T/Op would change ends (unless there's already someone in the back) and the train would then be cleared into Westbound platform 1, over this crossover, by the shunt signal you can see (the one I saw today). I remember last year the line was suspended west of BEG one weekend and this is what would have happened. I, myself, got off at MIE, though, with most people, but you wouldn't believe how many times people had to be told at MIE that the train wouldn't be going any further than BEG. I myself let a few people know further up the line when I overheard them planning their journey, but even if you haven't checked before you've travelled, surely the announcements, the boards displaying the destination on the platforms, the PA, and sonia constantly saying "this is a Central line train to Bethnal Green" are all a bit of a giveaway. Oh well, rant over :P

So, that's BEG for you. We headed out of BEG and made LIS without event. At LIS, though, the doors on my C stock train closed before being reopened and closed again quickly. Presumably someone got something (probably themselves) stuck in the doors. Not a big deal, but as we pulled away, the brakes come on hard, almost immediately, and it took a second attempt to get rolling. I thought at the time that the T/Op might have knocked the emergency brake by mistake. I vaguely remember hearing something about how that could happen and we did stop quite hard, but this is mere speculation and I'm not even sure if it can be done by mistake on a C stock.

Anyway, apart from that, the journey in was uneventful, on the way home, though, there were delays on the Circle (severe delays clockwise (my direction), minor delays anticlockwise I believe) and minor delays on the H&C due to a faulty train. I quite like the way the automated voice on the new S8s can give you this information, real time, on the train, I've never been on a train where that rather funky feature's been used before, but today I was. Anyway, unsurprisingly, my Met line train was pretty slow, particularly west of Moorgate and I wasn't surprised to see a Circle line train in one of the bay platforms at Moorgate (platform 4 today).

The rest of the journey wasn't very eventful, but the Central was quite busy today. I missed a HAI via NEP train at LIS, which closed its doors before I could get on it. I wasn't too fussed, but I also had to let an EPP go because it was so busy. Behind that there was:

1. HAI via NEP
2. EPP
3. WOO via HAI

In my experience, I think it's quite unlikely that that EPP would've allowed me to connect with the HAI train at WOO without a long wait in the cold so, for a nice change, I decided to stick on the HAI via NEP and change for the WOO train at HAI. Sadly, of course, that beautiful section of line is not as impressive in the dark, but you can still see some really nice sights - the pinpricks of lights from houses scattered about the scene is nice and so is the view over a road bridge of the cars making their way home below you - a sea of headlights. I also noticed that it was a beautifully clear night tonight and the stars were out as I headed home from the station.

Not at all a bad day on the Central line, although I must admit, it was busy on the way back and a little uncomfortable west of GAH (Gants Hill). I noticed quite a few older people who weren't being offered seats, too. I know I've already used up my rant, so I'll just allow you to imagine my admonitions for now :P But one thing I can tell you is that, if you perch on the upright sort of ledge seats at the end of the carriage (something I don't usually do as I'm a bit too short) and swivel so that you're looking out of the window at the end of the carriage, you get a pretty good view.

Happy travelling.