Signalling at Woodford

I'm sorry, this isn't really a proper post. I'm trying to find out a little bit more about Central line signalling and will try to report back any results. For this purpose, I've made a little diagram of the signals and block marker boards on the westbound around Woodford. I thought some of you may be interested to see it and sticking it here also allows me to link to it, which is a bit cheeky, but hey, some of you might enjoy it. This is just what I noted down while at Woodford today.

A diagram showing the signalling at Woodford on the westbound track. The blue boxes represent trains and this diagram is also meant to show the spacing of trains used at Woodford. The numbers are just those that I noted down when I was there and I may have made a mistake, or omitted something

A diagram showing target speeds (in orange) and speed limits (in green) for the blocks at Woodford. These numbers are entirely arbitrary, I made them up merely to exemplify the general principle with some concrete numbers, but I don't know what the actual speeds are

A diagram illustrating a potential problem if a train stops short in platform 2. Note to readers: I'm sure the system is designed to make sure that there is no risk of a collision if a train stops short in platform 2, I'm just interested to know what they are

Strike tales episode III (revenge of the strike?)

Yesterday, I intended to meet a friend for a very brief rendezvous, before meeting a group of people ostensibly for phonetics revision. Well, the second meeting fell through and we decided to meet instead today. Take 2.

I was running a little late, I'm sorry to say, as a consequence of this being my second "early" start in a row. This time, when I arrived at ROV the shuttle was only a little way from ROV - probably about five minutes away. So I got on that; we were away unusually quickly and soon arrived at WOO to terminate. At WOO I noticed there was a train in the sidings - on 26 road to be precise. Not a big surprise. Anyway, when the shuttle had headed off back to HAI the LES arrived and I obviously took that and connected with the MAA. As we were pulling out of LES on the west, we experienced two consecutive interlock losses. Clearly these weren't the first. An exasperated T/Op exclaimed:

"Do not lean on the doors!"

And then:

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your driver speaking. I know it must be busy back there, but please don't lean on the doors, it does disrupt the journey and if it keeps happening I'm gonna take the train out of service."

It didn't happen again :P

After that I think it was pretty much plain sailing, nothing much to report. I noticed that WAN was open again when I was on my way in - not that I went through it. RED was still closed, though, but BEG was also back open. I got the distinct impression, yesterday, that Euston Sq was closed, so I decided to go to HOL instead. There was no Picc through the centre. When I got home and checked, Euston Sq. was definitely open, so there's a good chance this wasn't actually necessary, but it's what I did. STP and CHL were both closed so, presumably, we went through in Coded.

I lost a bit of time getting myself quite lost around HOL. How I managed this I'm not sure, since there were plenty of maps, I've done the walk before and it's almost all straight lines, but I made a mistake and took the wrong road at the start. Ended up taking a while to correct my mistake... :( Eventually, though, I did make it to the meeting. I can't say it was terribly useful, it just made me feel a bit worse about my chances, but it was nice to see people and it was fairly nice doing a bit of work with them.

With the "revision" over, it was time to head home. Since I still hadn't checked whether Euston Sq. was open, I headed back to HOL but this time I found my way around no problem. As I was walking to the platform I heard tell that limited through running (between WER and HAI via NEP) had been established, but I was heading east so I don't know much on that front - I assume it was for the evening peak. I boarded the HAI via NEP, but unfortunately I didn't have the foresight to get on at the back...d'oh! Anyway, that took me off to LES. BEG had closed again by that time and I gather WAN was also closed. On the way I overheard the phone call of someone who seemed pretty convinced that HAI was the only available destination and that she couldn't get "the other line." Happily, the T/Op made a timely announcement halfway through her phonecall (at STR) and then again on the approach to LES. I think she got the message. I didn't wait around to see though and hurried off to platform 2 with the rest of the throng and just about managed to get the next EPP.

Obviously I changed at WOO again (where I arrived quite warm :P) and had a fairly short wait for the shuttle which took me home. The train was still (or back, but I think most likely still) in WOO sidings when I was there.

Strike tales episode II (attack of the strikes?)

Honestly! The fuss they make! Anyone would have thought it was complicated... :P

As expected, the Central line laid on a pretty extensive service today, with trains running from EAB - WHC, WER - NOA, MAA - HAI via NEP, LES - EPP and HAI - WOO. Now, let's start with HAI - WOO. This service was provided by a shuttle like the good old days, trundling endlessly back and forth between HAI and WOO. So, when I arrived at ROV there was about 5 minutes to go until it arrived on the outer rail, bound for HAI. Obviously I chose to get on it, rather than wait for it to get all the way to HAI, reverse, and come back round. It was a nice little trip to HAI, slightly foggy, which was very charming.

At HAI it was, of course, a simple matter of heading over to platform 3 (from platform 1) and hopping onto the next MAA train. This took me all the way to LIS, missing out only RED and BEG along the way. Easy money, no problems at all and nothing to report, apart from the train needing two attempts to get going at FAI. Doors close, slight jolt as we try for forward movement, only to be stopped immediately. Cab door opens, carriage doors open, carriage doors close, cab door closes, off we go.

And that was that, really, I arrived at LIS and was able to change for a Metropolitan line train for all stations to Harrow-on-the-Hill (HOTH). When I arrived at ROV I was informed by the boards and announcements that the Circle line wasn't running at all, that the Met was running Aldgate - HOTH and HOTH-Uxbridge and the H&C was running Egware Road - Barking and Hammersmith to Moorgate. By the time I got to LIS that seemed to have been upgraded to the H&C running Edgware Road - Barking and the Circle running Hammersmith - Aldgate. Actually Aldgate seemed to be accepting a huge number of trains, turn-arounds must've had to be pretty tight. But anyway, since the Circle and H&C are, essentially, operationally one line, the change was almost entirely formal.

Anyway, the Met took me to King's X, skipping out Barbican and that, really, was that. Although, actually, I should say that when we pulled into Moorgate there was a Met line train in platform 3. As we were informed that would be leaving first, I left my train and headed over to that one. Makes a change to leave from the bay platforms.

The journey back was, again, pretty easy and pretty uneventful. I took a Circle line train (Aldgate bound) and changed at LIS. A HAI via NEP train took me to LES, where I connected with an EPP train on platform 2. I obviously dunno who was driving, but I have never experienced driving like it, we must've been in Coded. The stops were unbelievably smooth, if Auto made those, I take everything back, they were silky. As well as that, though, power was applied in a way that's entirely new to me. We would pull away very slowly and gradually, then we'd get a hit more power, then full power. It was applied in what felt like three discrete dollops. Very unusual. After that it'd be ideally smooth all the way to the next stop, very smooth, very nice breaking profile and then a very gradual and delicate stop. Well done sir, is all I can say, although if I were to be very critical I'd like a little more smoothness in my acceleration :P

Anyway, anyway, it was good fun going east off platform 2 and watching the starter turn green. On the way up to WOO, I passed SNA, of course, which has been quite heavily vandalised. Aslef shrugged has also made reference to the graffiti there and I'm sorry to say it was very noticeable when I went through. A shame. SNA's nice.

More novelty was provided at WOO, where the HAI shuttle was being reversed off platform 2. That took me back to ROV. Commuter chaos my arse. Alright, fair enough, I know it can't've been a barrel of laughs in the rush hour and if you live out in, say Watford, or Northwood, you have my sympathy - you probably did have a tough journey in. Most Evening Standard readers, though...

More reversing adventures

This weekend the Circle line is part closed, with no service between Gloucester Road and Aldgate (via Victoria). As a result, Circle line trains are shuttling between Edgware Road and Gloucester Road (via High Street Kensington, of course) and are also running Hammersmith to Aldgate and back. The District line also has no service Aldgate East to Embankment and the Olympia shuttle isn't running. Judging by what I saw at HSK (High Street Ken), the Olympia service isn't running so that trains can reverse in the bay roads. This allows a decent frequency to be kept up west of Earl's Court. Obviously, there is limited capacity for reversing at Embankment, so only so many trains can head up there - even with the Circle line reversing at Gloucester Road. Therefore, trains are also being reversed at HSK and turned back to Richmond and EAB to keep up a decent service. The Wimbleware is essentially unaffected. Anyway, because the platform space is needed at HSK, the Olympia shuttle isn't running.

So anyway, I thought it might be nice to travel down to Gloucester Road, because I've never reversed there and wanted to experience it. I suppose I could also have done Aldgate East as well, but in the end I thought there was really too much I wanted to get done today.

So, out I went and arrived at ROV with only about five mins to go until the WOO train arrived. For some reason many youths seem to like hanging around the station at weekends and during school holidays. I, of course, have been a youth myself and still regularly sport the garb, so I, of course, have nothing against this - although I do wish they wouldn't chuck their empty bottles onto the floor. But, y'know, I'm only little and any large group of strangers hanging around an otherwise wholly deserted station (apart from one quite elderly woman) unnerves me a tad.

But there were, of course, no problems and I took the WOO train and was able to change for a WER service which I took down to NHG. Apart from heavy stops at CHL and HOL after which the doors took some time in opening, there was nothing much to report. I did, however, quite enjoy the journey and made sure to get a look at all of the sidings, crossovers and other sights along the way, as I do.

After arriving at NHG I obviously made my way up to those glorious sub-surface line platforms, where I had a little bit of a wait (no bad thing at NHG). The first train through was a C stock (long time no C - I'm so sorry for that :P) for Wimbledon and actually another one heading to Edgware Road was approaching when my Circle line S7 arrived for Gloucester Road.

Nice, short trip down there, where relative pandemonium reigned as London's brightest (in fairness to them, I'm sure many were tourists and you've gotta sympathise, especially if they don't have any English) tried to make sense of some simple instructions. In spite of regular and perfectly informative PAs, the all singing, all dancing information displays on the S stock, the maps, the signs and everything else - I'm sure none of you will be surprised to hear they struggled.

Now, Gloucester Road. Some of you may remember this diagram from before:

A diagram showing the track layout at Gloucester Road and the complex triangle it forms with HSK and Earl's Court. To the west of the station, outside platform 2, there is what looks like a siding between the District line and Circle line. I think I have previously referred to it as such on this blog. I put the diagram together from maps and, having been down there, I'm pretty sure that it is not, in fact, a siding at all, but simply a trap road - it looks much too short to be a siding. Trap roads and catch points are used to divert trains from dangerous paths, often actually derailing them, and are designed to prevent runaway trains from ending up in dangerous places where they could cause a collision. A trap road is particularly a road leading to some buffer stops or such like, as opposed to catch points, which are two short stumps of track which merely derail a train

A train reversing at Gloucester Road, such as ours, arrives from HSK in eastbound platform 3. It is then reversed out of platform 3 and heads into platform 2 at HSK using that crossover on the Circle line tracks, shown in my diagram just to the right of the triangle sidings. Anyway, I've never been over that and as it can be traversed in passenger service I fancied a go. It was well worth it, too, it may not sound like much, but it was nice to do something new and unusual.

And that was really that, to be honest. I hopped out at NHG, partly 'cause I needed a drink and partly 'cause one has to touch out and start a new journey, otherwise one will end up touching out where one started. This would be dishonest anyway - you'd be stealing two trips if you could get away with it. You can't get away with it though and will end up with a maximum oyster fare, so this is not good.

As I returned to the station, I saw that the next train was a WOO via HAI, which was 4 minutes away. So I hurried down to the platform as that would have been ideal. When I arrived, I saw a train pulling out and thought I'd missed the WOO, but this was actually a LOU - presumably not shown on the screens in the ticket hall as it was too close for people to be able to make it reliably. I should stress I did not hare and tear round the station like a lunatic, I merely walked purposefully and walked on the escalators. Don't run round the stations unless you have very good reason, you'll do yourself an injury and probably others too.

So yeah, the WOO took me round to ROV - beautiful, beautiful journey it was too - and here I am back home. Well it was more fun than trying to get some work done amid the cacophony that was going on here.

Escape

*Noise* *noise* *noise*

So I was up at about 11:00, which probably doesn't seem too bad, but I didn't really have a very good night's sleep and that's still earlier than I would have liked. But I did get up at 11:00 and had been intending to go out fairly early and get some reading done, but in the end I actually took the chance to chat to a friend before heading out. After she went off to make lunch, I continued mucking around on the computer before finally getting myself out the door.

I decided it would be good fun to play a game - I had two chapters left of a book I wanted to read and I thought it'd be a clever game to sit on the tube and read one chapter. I decided I would then go out and explore the area around the next station - whichever it happened to be. As it happened, it took me too long to read the chapter, but this was partly because my attention was diverted.

But anyway, this was the game I had in mind. I hadn't had any breakfast or anything, so I went into a shop on my way to the station and bought a drink and a snack (I know, I'm very unhealthy, I don't recommend this :P). I then ambled over to ROV, not worrying too much about getting there quickly, as I was happy to sit on the platform and read the book, but as I approached I saw that the WOO train was in the platform. I didn't think I'd make it and didn't mind so I didn't really hurry, but it was still there when I touched in and I was able to hop onto it just as it was ready to leave. Not bad. Didn't even have to jog :P

When I arrived at WOO, I noticed a train in WOO sidings and I also noticed that the WER train that pulled in next was in Coded. Keen to investigate, I headed up to the first carriage and decided to sit just behind the cab - it's amazing how much you can hear and feel, all these little clicks. I'm not actually sure exactly what they are, but they seem to correspond to adjustments in power and braking, to my mind. You can hear it as the brakes go on and then you'll hear a few clicks just as its about to stop as the brakes ease off, so that it doesn't come to a stop with a heavy jolt, like the 09's do on the Vic. I was hoping I'd be able to overhear the sound of the ATP chimes through the door, but sadly not. You can catch snatches of radio calls and stuff though, it is rather cool.

Now, of course, I couldn't be sure whether we went through the pipe in Coded, because I couldn't see into the cab, but much of my attention was focused on the driving style and trying to figure out who/what was driving. As I say, I didn't finish the chapter before the end of the line - in part because of this - and ended up at WER. Here, I asked the T/Op whether he'd taken us through the pipe (there could've been a driver change at WHC and he didn't look like the same guy who'd been on the front at WOO) - he had (I'm guessing he may've taken over at LES, or maybe my memory's just not great) - and whether we'd been in Coded. Turns out we were in coded west of NOA. I knew we'd definitely done the last part of the journey in Coded 'cause the cab door was open. He seemed nice, asked me how I knew what the TBC was. I told him I reckoned it'd all be quite good fun, driving a Central line train. Apparently he enjoyed it to begin with, but these days, well, it's a job :P

On the way up to WER, not much happened, although I did notice a train in the siding at WHC. I'm pretty sure I also saw a train pulling into that siding yesterday, on the way back from EAB, but I forgot to mention it. It's not terribly exciting, but I can't remember ever seeing one in there. Not that I go by there very often. We were also held at the signal outside LES again and again pulled into platform 1 from the EPP branch.

I did get out for a bit of a wander around WER. It's quite nice, there were some rather pleasant little residential areas - I imagine it's not a bad little place to live. Not much excitement though where I went. Maybe I should've turned right out of the station...Before I left the station, though, a gentlemen who was new to the network asked for some help with the ticketing, which had him completely confused. This was something I never expected to happen because, as I now know, nobody uses ticket offices and nobody needs to...(Alright, that is a little bit of a cheap shot, but you catch my drift - he was looking hopelessly forlorn and lost and was not impressed by the fact that the ticket office was obviously closed.)

With my good dead done and having had a wander, I touched back in and boarded the next one out, which was going to EPP. We had a platforms and hold call at NHG for a faulty train at BAN, but we were very quickly on our way and there wasn't much else to report. I eventually finished my chapter around LES. I then changed at WOO and the HAI train was just 3 minutes away when arrived. It left 21 road pretty quickly actually and that got me back home to ROV in no time :)

District line wanderings

On and on the work on the kitchen goes. I couldn't stand the drilling any longer and decided to leave the house - but what to do with myself? Well I could've gone into the library, say, to do some work, but I decided, in the end, that I would have a little ride on the District line. Upminster to EAB was the run I had in mind.

So, on a whim (as these things are best done), I headed off to ROV station and arrived just as the HAI train was pulling in, with a minute to go till the WOO arrived. I actually saw it approaching as I headed over the bridge. Perfect timing. If only this would happen when I was in a hurry :P

We made it over WOO junction today and into WOO with no problems. Since my kitchen's a state, I decided to buy "lunch" (a Cherry Bakewell...) and a drink at WOO, before getting on a NOR train. Again I noticed a slightly unusual driving style west of LES (although it was normal between WOO and LES and the train was definitely in Auto when it arrived at WOO), just like last Wednesday. I - and I am but a mere punter - get the feeling that something's new but, who knows, maybe I'm just no longer used to it after weeks in my bedroom :P

Apart from that, there was nothing much to report on the journey to MIE, where I changed for a District line train to Upminster. Before that I decided to see, just for myself, whether - for one reason or another - trains were heading through in Coded - just to see. That was one of my suspicions, you see, but I knew the train arrived at WOO in Auto (mind you, we could've had a change of T/Op at LES, but I don't think so) and that trains don't usually go through the pipe in Coded, so I wanted to see if there had been some kind of dictate that trains should head through in Coded, but nope, the next one was in Auto. Well I shouldn't really speculate anyway, I can't see what's going on in the cab, I just notice what I feel and this was different, or at least I thought it was different. The fact it was different is why I was wondering about whether we were in Coded, by the way, not because it was worse. If anything I'd expect it to be the other way around :P I've said this many a time before, of course, I just wanted to stress it. For a full account of my ill-informed speculation, see the link above :P

Anyway, anyway, enough of that, idle speculation will usually only leave you with egg on your face. Why I do it, I don't know, I don't even like egg...So yes, onto the District line. We stopped - very laboriously after much rocking and general creeping along and adjusting - part way into the platform at Bromley-by-Bow. My car was still on the crossover. I don't know why this happened, we were just told that we'd be on the move shortly, after a suitable apology for the delay. However, now seems like a good time to pick up the speculation where I left it off...What I think may have happened is that someone needed to get down onto the track - a suspicion that was first aroused after I saw people with hi-vis - one on the platform and one leaving the train. Of course, occasionally people wearing hi-vis get off of trains and stand on platforms, but the waves and so forth did make me think that perhaps they had been involved in some routine procedure. One possibility is that something needed retrieving from the track (our train may have been used as protection, having been stopped with a hand lamp), or perhaps they were looking for some fault at track level - which might explain the creeping into the platform, if there was someone in the cab looking for it. They might then have hopped down and fixed it, which is possible, but I would have thought it'd generally take a bit longer. My initial suspicion was that we'd simply been held at a draw-up signal, but I don't know if there is one at Bromley-by-Bow and even if there is, the creeping forward at low speed and longish dwell halfway up the platform really make me think that something was going on at track level.

Enough speculation, I promise. The journey up to Upminster was very nice - it is so pretty between Dagenham East and Elm Park, so pretty. As well as this, there are all of the sights between MIE and Barking to look at. I've mentioned these a couple of times now, so I won't tire you with them again. But today, for the first time in ages, TUT ventured east of Barking and also got to enjoy: Barking sidings (very nice), the bay road and siding at Dagenham East, the crossover at Hornchurch and Upminster. At Upminster you can get a bit of a look at the roads leading to the depot, plus the obvious crossovers and point work allowing access to all three platforms. As well as this fun and games, though, if you go outside of the station you can stand on a bridge and look down at the District line towards Upminster Bridge. It's really nice, I stood there and watched a train leave - er - platform 3 and another arrive at platform 4, before returning to the station.

Now, I thought it'd be nice to go to EAB, so obviously I was hoping for an EAB train on which I could do the full route. Unfortunately, both of the trains in the station at the time were for Wimbledon, so I decided to wait on platform 3. At Upminster, platforms 4 and 5 (where I had been) form an island platform and then platform 3 is separate (and forms an island platform with platform 2 (a C2C platform)) so I headed off, over the bridge, knowing that neither of the trains I could get on from where I was would take me to EAB. At first this looked like a good move, as I got quite a nice view of a train approaching from the depot. I think the train on 4 went - only to be replaced by another Wimbledon - and a train arrived on 3 while I waited, but its eastbound destination wasn't put up immediately. So I waited and the train on platform 5 left and the train from the depot pulled in. As it pulled in, I saw it was up as an EAB, so I headed over to get on it, only to have it pull out almost immediately, before I could get onto it. So back I trudged to see where the one on 3 would be going. But no destination was up still. In the end, an EAB train did arrive on platform 5 and I was just about to give up on the train on 3 and go and get on it, when it was finally put up as an EAB, just before it left. I hopped on it and finally got out of Upminster, where the air, I noticed, isn't all that fresh!

Eventually on my way, I enjoyed a very nice journey. We had a predictable wait at Minories Junction, which is where the Circle line from Aldgate merges with the District from Aldgate East (and diverges in the other direction, of course). But we were eventually on our way and the trip was nice and all generally uneventful as far as Turnham Green. Not that things became eventful after Turnham Green really, but we were - as you would expect - a little slow out of Turnham Green and particularly heading into Acton Town - where there were Picc trains in both westbound platforms. It is so nice around there, though. The views around Chiswick Park in particular are spectacular, but it's also a fascinating area from the perspective of the railway. It's great fun looking out of the window and watching Picc trains heading past you and where we happened to stop afforded great views of the sidings at Acton Town for me, too.

The journey to Ealing Common is also lovely and I got to have a look at the new pointwork that's just been finished. Some of you may have noticed the block closure we had on the Picc and District over Easter - this is what that was for. And then we arrived at our final destination - EAB.

I chose to get the Central back from EAB and boarded an EPP train which took me uneventfully - but, again, very enjoyably - to LES. I'd noticed at LEY that there was a WOO via HAI train behind and I thought it'd be a good idea to get on that. It probably wasn't a very good idea, though - in sharp contradistinction to yesterday's speediness, we were not due to depart HAI for another 10 minutes! I'm sure this is not as per timetable and it's hardly a WOO via HAI train, really, if it essentially terminates at HAI before heading on to WOO on what may as well be a separate trip. But oh well, I shouldn't complain, it was a nice evening, I got to watch a train shunt into the depot and at least we weren't held at GRH this evening :)

Deadlines

So the blissful holidays are over and term 3 has begun. Now, you may be wondering why on earth that should concern me, as I'm sure I might have mentioned that I have no intention of showing up to revision classes. I do have to go to the exams, mind, but the first isn't until the 08/05. No, the problem with all this holiday ending is that it means the essay deadlines are upon me. I have, incredibly, done all of my essays and, in fact, my last ever assignment has now been finished. Sadly one of them had to be handed in on paper so I had to get me here, to university.

As well as that, mother enthroned has sent forth a royal decree that work shall be done on our family kitchen - a complete overhaul. This means noise, so I may well be forced out of the house more often than I would like over the coming days.

So anyway, the workers showed up and started making merry hell at around 10:30 while I stayed ensconced in my bed, eventually rising therefrom at about 13:15. Now, I really don't do workmen. I have nothing against the people who do this for a living, of course, and these two lads seemed perfectly nice. I, though, am not really all that brilliant in certain social situations and, well, having to navigate two complete strangers who're trying to get some work done in your kitchen ain't an ideal start to the day to my mind.

Anyway, it took me two attempts to get to ROV this afternoon. It was a rather nice afternoon actually, the sky was bright blue and only a little cloudy behind me, but in front of me there were ominous rain clouds which were, nevertheless, beautiful, all dark grey streaked with bright yellow from the sun. As I walked along, admiring the sky, it struck me that I had completely neglected to take my essay with me. Full marks there, TUT. So back I went, navigated the workers with a bit of self-deprecation (ain't I a pro? :P) collected my essay and had another go at walking to the station. Fortunately, I don't think I missed any trains and I turned up at a delightful ROV with about 10 mins to wait for the WOO. The trees which grow by the station are looking really nice and the view from the bridge over the tracks was spectacular. Even better that ominous rain cloud only began raining as the WOO train was pulling in, although it did start to rain in earnest.

So I hopped aboard the train and we had a slight dwell, waiting for our correct departure time. The T/Op made the assumption that we were being held for a train from BUH, but nothing went through ahead of us and we got on our way shortly after he made the announcement. And then, when car three was still crossing WOO junction we came to a sharp stop. All very unusual. To my knowledge (and, I must stress, I just sit in he carriages, I can't see out of the front) the block marker board we were presumably stopped at was some way up the road from us. My suspicion is auto fluffed up in the rain, but whatever the cause of our harder-than-normal stop, we got into WOO without further incident.

At WOO I bought myself a drink and had a six minute wait for a WER. The WER duly pulled in, I hopped aboard, and all was normal until we were held outside LES westbound. Now, being held outside LES westbound isn't too surprising, as it's where the two branches converge and it's a busy station, but at that time of day I was a little surprised. Before long we pulled away and headed, unusually, into platform 1. There was a train already in 2 which was presumably the reason for our short wait. Whether or not it was reversing there I couldn't tell you, but it could easily just have been that things were a little out of sequence. In fact, for all I know, my particular train always gets routed into platform 1, but I'd be quite surprised if that turned out to be the case :P

So anyway, we headed out of platform 1 at LES (makes a nice change like I say) and on to LIS. It was good to be back. I decided to have a little look around platform 2, for old time's sake, y'know. Then a Hammersmith train (H&C I think) arrived while I was still down at the "wrong" end of the platform (by which I mean the opposite end of the platform to where the exit is at Euston Square - obviously if I'd stayed down that end of the train I'd've had to hike up the platform at Euston Square - hardly the end of the world, but inefficient). So for the whole trip to Moorgate I was walking up the train to the front - it really is good fun and quite a challenge as the ground is moving under your feet as you walk along. Obviously, as someone who spends a good deal of time giving out about irresponsible commuting, I should probably just point out that you could probably hurt yourself and/or others doing this and should be careful or refrain from copying my rather shoddy example. Good fun though :P

It was back on the H&C for the journey home. Little slow, particularly east of Barbican as usual, but no problems reaching LIS. At LIS the indicator boards were showing:

1. HAI via NEP
2. NEP
3. EPP

Not ideal. I discovered at MIE that train number 4 in this sequence was for WOO via HAI, so I decided to stay on my HAI train.

At LES the SATS held up his baton and the train seemed all ready to go, but go it did not. After a while I went and had a look and the stick was indeed off (signal was not red) and the route was set for HAI as was appropriate. We soon found out that the delay was for a driver change, I guess he got a little held up, but he soon arrived and we were on our way without further ado.

My gosh was it beautiful when we left the tunnel just outside NEP. It really was a lovely evening. I think we might've been in coded as well. In sharp contrast to the shenanigans at WOO junction the stop for the signal controlling the approach into HAI was phenomenally smooth. There was no jolt at all. I was surprised to then find that we were routed into platform 2 and with the long wait at LES, the WOO had caught us up. A lightning fast turn around was required and the T/Op had only just got into the cab when the starter went white and he was off. The WOO then arrived and - for a very nice change - left almost immediately. No dwell at GRH either and I made ROV no problem, after a lovely little trip.

Out to Lunch

Today I got a text from a friend inviting me to lunch in South Kensington. I was also in charge of looking after the cats and had to sort them out this morning. Due to my laziness and general preference of late nights, I was not actually awake when I received the text and eventually had a fairly hurried morning (well, early afternoon actually) getting ready, dealing with my beloved cats and generally getting out of the house.

Still, get out of the house I did, but - unfortunately - the WOO train overtook me as I was crossing the road, still some way from ROV, and the HAI went past shortly afterwards. I was therefore anticipating a considerable wait at ROV and a late arrival at South Ken. Now, as I'm sure you're aware, the WOO train is often held at ROV for a while and, happily, today was no different. Hoping that this would be the case, I kept up a good pace and was able to hurry over the bridge, touch in and board the train with a good 30 s - 1 min to spare.

Before long we arrived at WOO, where I changed for a NOR train.

And now ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you to today's edition of 'Outrageous Speculation,' with me: TUT.

I wish I'd watched the NOR train into the platform, but I failed to, so my speculation is even more tenuous than need be. Anyway, I boarded the train, the doors closed, no movement, the two sets of double doors opened, we tried again, they closed and we were away. All seemed perfectly normal at first, but before long I couldn't help noticing a distinctly unusual driving style - and some very smooth stops. Now, I wasn't in the cab today, so take what I'm about to say with a pinch of salt, but I quickly began to suspect we were in coded. Partly, this is because of the unusual style, but it really felt like we were being driven in response to changes of target speed. We accelerated up to a speed, then you could feel the motors cut (maybe a little bit of braking), as if the target speed had been reached, and then you'd have more of the same as we increased speed. Also, the braking seemed to come in discrete units between stations: braking, coast (maybe even power to keep speed), more braking, more coasting, and so on. The other thing that was very noticeable was we would start slowing down and then the power would be applied and we'd speed up again and then all of a sudden we'd be slowing down again. This, I think, is pretty much in line with what I'd expect to see if the target speed fell (brakes now applied to match the target speed), but then - mid-block - increased (power applied to match the target speed) and then fell again as we entered the next block (brakes now applied to match the target speed).

Now, unfortunately, I don't know a lot about the ins and outs of driving a Central line train in coded, so treat that merely as speculation. Thing is, though, this was the driving style in the tunnel and you ain't supposed to be in coded downstairs unless you're learning or you have a problem. The other thing is, this is not the usual driving style in coded on the Central line as far as I'm aware, T/Ops have good route knowledge and tend to know how to be a little smoother. I've gotta say - and I don't like saying it, I'm generally a big proponent of manual driving - but it got quite uncomfortable after a while. All a bit TBTC if I'm honest :P But that all makes me think our T/Op might've been learning. Or we might've had a fault and an old hand was driving in Coded, just not perfectly smoothly as I doubt Central line ATO encourages a particularly smooth driving style. Or we might've been in Auto and I just don't know what I'm talking about. An unusual journey in, though, to HOL.

So yes, I changed at HOL - needing to remind myself not to head off to Russell Square on auto-pilot - and boarded a Heathrow Terminals 4 & 1,2,3 train which whisked me off to South Kensington, where I arrived within five minutes of my ETA - and that's five minutes early, by the way. I don't think there's too much to say about my journey on the Picc, other than that it made a nice change for me. I tried to look out for the siding located by the old Down Street station, between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner, and for the crossover outside Hyde Park Corner. Trouble is, it's hard to see much out of a busy 1973 stock. Apparently using the siding at Down Street can be a bit of a palaver. If you wanna reverse a train there, it's just like any other siding, but - it being in a tunnel and quite a way from Hyde Park Corner - it's a nuisance stabling a train there. The T/Op who took it in, apparently, would have to walk through the tunnels to Hyde Park Corner (traction current off, obviously - although I think only a short part of the actual trek would be on the mainline and they might not actually bother switching traction current off on the mainline, but no trains would pass through until the T/Op is safely on the platform). Apparently, also, the siding is long enough to accommodate two trains in an emergency. It usually only takes one, with the extra space essentially acting as very generous overrun. There's a trainstop halfway down the siding and normally only one train uses it as I say, but in an emergency, a train could be tripped past that trainstop and stable at the end of the siding, with another train then able to stable behind it. This extremely generous overrun was brought in a long while ago, apparently, after collisions with the end tunnel wall down at Tooting Broadway. Nowadays I would imagine Moorgate control is used on manually driven lines where the siding is only long enough for one train, but back then, it was decided just to simply only allow one train in this siding, even though it could just about take 2.

Anyway, I met my friend, had lunch and soon headed back from South Ken, at rush hour, during the school holidays... It wasn't too bad though and an Arnos Grove train soon had me back at familiar HOL. When I arrived on the Central line platform, there were two trains for HAI via NEP shown, with the EPP behind them both. Not ideal, but I took the first one to LES and changed, eventually getting the EPP up to WOO. There was another EPP behind us, so looks like there was a train out of step. At, I think, SNA on the east, the doors closed, we tried for movement, instantly stopped, waited and then got on our way. Nothing much else of interest after that, though, and we made WOO, but with a long wait for the HAI. The WOO via HAI eventually arrived on the west (which, of course, becomes the HAI train) and ran up the siding, where it had very little time indeed to reverse - could surely only have been 5 minutes, if that. Happened to watch at least one more train head through WOO eastbound in coded as well :P Eventually the HAI arrived and that took me back to ROV to bring to an end a nice tube excursion :)

Friend and foe

Today, I was again meeting a friend. It's been a good couple of days actually and I had a nice time as we wandered around Woodford and then had a bite to eat in a local café. Again, however, I was probably a little complacent and ended up arriving at ROV with nearly 10 mins to go until the WOO arrived. Eventually I made WOO station, where we had decided to meet - although, slightly embarrassingly, I was somewhat later than my friend who had made the journey from the Brixton area.

I decided to join her on her journey home as far as Elephant & Castle tube station, where she changed for the mainline. WOO to BAN was a perfectly pleasant, very smooth journey and the change at BAN to a Morden service was no problem at all, even in the labyrinth that is BAN. Unfortunately, the journey down to Elephant & Castle was, of course, marred by TBTC but I won't tire you with another rant on that foe of mine :P. Getting the chance to look, once again, around pretty Elephant & Castle was nice, however.

On the way back it was pretty much the same story. A High Barnet service took me up to BAN and an EPP train took me beautifully smoothly up to WOO. I really did enjoy the tube trip as it happens and when I got to WOO the HAI train was shown as just 1 min away. It did take more than a minute, though, but all the same - very smooth :)

The Boat Race

Urgh. This morning I was meeting a friend at FAI station. All was going well, but I think - to be honest with you - I'd been a bit complacent with timings this morning and, well, I left the house maybe slightly later than I should've done. As I left, I thought to myself that I should probably have checked everything was off thoroughly, but I felt confident that it was and was in a rush. As I headed towards ROV, I saw the WOO train go by and then the HAI moments later, before I'd even reached the end of my road. In the end, then, I had time to go back, check the house thoroughly, and still had a little time to kill at ROV. ROV, by the way, was truly beautiful in the spring this morning, the blossom on the platform from one of the trees behind it was very quaint.

Eventually the HAI arrived, bound - ultimately - for LIS. The Central line was part closed this weekend between MAA and LIS, you see. At MAA, trains would have used the reversing siding there which I've mentioned before on this blog. The siding itself, though, is located to the west of that station (or, at least, westbound, at the LAG end, whether it is actually west or not I don't know). Let's have another diagram, to make things easier:

A diagram showing the track layout at Marble Arch. The location of the signals may not be accurate

This is actually a bit of a nuisance, because trains were running from the west and reversing east to west. Therefore, trains would have been arriving on the eastbound, would then have had to reverse into the siding, reverse out of the siding into the westbound platform and then reverse and head back out westbound. Ordinarily this would mean the T/Op arriving at MAA on the east, changing ends, taking the train into the siding, changing ends, taking the train into the westbound platform and changing ends again. I think (although I can't be sure) that today, though, "stepping back" would have been employed. In this arrangement, the T/Op takes the train into MAA on the east and then another T/Op gets in the back and drives it into the siding. The T/Op who took the train to MAA then takes the train out of the siding (no need to change ends) and gets out. Now, the T/Op who got in the back at MAA and took the train into the siding can take the train on its journey west. Meanwhile, the T/Op who originally brought the train in on the east and has just left the train can head over ready to get on the next train to arrive and the whole process repeats.

Now, I've also talked a lot about the two reversing sidings and crossover at LIS, but I've never actually given you a diagram. So, a diagram:

A diagram showing the track layout around Liverpool Street station

As you can see, with a crossover at one end and two reversing sidings at the other, LIS is a handy reversing point. Back in the old days, during the weekends I think, before demand outside of central London reached such heights, there used to be a MAA-LIS shuttle - the exact opposite of today in some ways. Every train crew's least favourite duty, that one, I believe :P Nowadays LIS doesn't see a lot of use as a reversing point, but it was, of course, in use this weekend. I imagine the process was the same as at MAA (obviously with the 'east's and 'west's reversed), although with two sidings to play with, they may not even have bothered with stepping back. I doubt they didn't, though, although 2 sidings does give you some breathing space. The crossover may have been used, which would certainly have required less fuss - and could have been really slick with stepping back - but I don't know how far the possession extended.

So anyway, I never got as far as LIS, that's just to let you know what was going on. Back to the story. It was a really nice day on the Central line. There was a return to rain at times after some warm and sunny days more recently, but the clouds in the sky made for a truly beautiful backdrop to one of my favourite bits of the Central line. We made good progress (in coded I think - an aside) and my friend texted me to say she was at FAI when I was at HAI, due to be the next westbound (or "outer rail"). So - all in all - I wasn't too late and it worked out quite well. She was waiting quite far up the platform at FAI though and the train was about to leave before we could meet in the middle, so we both had to hop onto different, adjacent carriages. In the end, then, we met up at BAR :P

Having finally been united, we headed on our way to STR, where we changed for the Jubilee line. I was under the impression, from my last journey, that TBTC on the Jubilee had improved and, to be honest, I think it has, but it's still awful! Awful! Not that nice at all really, but I enjoyed the chance to look at Stratford Market depot and, to be honest, it was nice just to ride on a stretch of line I don't usually visit and in anger - with a destination to get to, not simply on an adventure :P

We alighted at Waterloo and made our way to the national rail station, originally intending to go to Barnes station. To do this, we took the South West trains Shepperton service from London Waterloo. Now, I am TUT, my love and interest is almost entirely devoted to the tube, but the National Rail network is an interesting thing it is. To me, there isn't the magic, it's just not the same, but the journey made a wonderful novelty and I greatly enjoyed looking out for the signals and the track layout, and Waterloo is a  fascinating area, so I did have a lot of fun. It was also nice to have a ride on a mainline train, I think we were on a Class 450 Desiro (stupid name if you ask me :P) and it was certainly a nice change :)

In the end, we decided to get off at Putney station, which is actually quite a nice station; or at least, I imagine it was 125 years ago. These days, it could do with some TLC. Anyway, this decision allowed us to visit a Nando's (very tasty) and a Waterstone's, where we had a good time browsing for books and I ended up buying four of them :P Now, the main reason for the outing was that my friend wanted to watch the boat race and have a bit of a wander and so I was quite happy to let her take charge of where we would go and how we would get there, because I'm not that interested in the boat race and just wanted to meet up. I say this simply to explain why we didn't simply end up on the District line, which would obviously have been my route of choice! :P Also the decision to go to Putney was a late call and really South West trains are a much better option for Barnes. This, of course, meant that after shopping we had a long (2 miles) walk, which I found quite exhausting. Still, although slightly damp, it was actually quite a nice walk - that part of London is beautiful and it was, to be honest, good to be out in the fresh air. We had to use a level crossing too and a train was approaching as we arrived and watching it whoosh by was rather fun.

So anyway, the boat race. Now, as I say, I don't care for it, I don't go to Oxbridge and wasn't interested in trying, I don't like rowing and I don't like "tradition" really. But, it was surprisingly good fun, it really was. We were standing in a pub garden and you don't have a clue what's going on or who's doing what until suddenly they round the corner and then everyone gets all very noisy and it's terribly exciting, because excitement is quite contagious and although I don't much care about rowing, the "atmosphere" was really enjoyable. Then you see them slowly approach, you have a good view for probably about thirty seconds and then they disappear off into the distance again, followed by a fleet of boats - pleasure boats and speed boats and and RNLI boats - that could rival the Spanish armada. But no, it didn't last long, but it was surprisingly good fun and you do sort of feel part of something - it's an experience, because you think - oh, I've seen this on TV, I've heard about this and here I am actually looking at it take place before my eyes. It's also an experience I would never have had otherwise.

But we paid for our fun on the way back. Now, I like to think of myself as a battle-hardened commuter. I have been up and down the tube in all weathers and at all times of day (except very early in the morning and right at the close of traffic) and I've been on it when the service has been absolutely decimated. This, though, was something quite impressive. Now, the nearest station to us was Barnes Bridge and we used it, although that may not really have been the best move. We found our way to the correct platform (no bridge connecting the platforms - I am plainly too used to the luxuries of tube travel) and it really began to fill up, but it wasn't yet LIS at rush hour, so we were cool. We were asked to stand behind the yellow line, which on national rail platforms is very conservative. There's about three quarters of the platform in front of the yellow line, which you're not allowed to use, but there we are, we all shuffled back behind the yellow line. And eventually the train arrived, but the train was a little short, meaning that it actually came to a stop in front of a moderately sizable chunk of the people on the platform. Now it was slightly ahead of us too and I immediately lost all control of where I was shunted as people surged forward - I was squeezed and squished and genuinely quite scared. At one point someone shouted, turning in my direction actually, although I hope she wasn't addressing me in particular, that there was someone on crutches and we really needed to wait. Now, my advice in this situation would be to use a different route and/or station if you're injured, but never mind all of that. I was still trying to be a considerate commuter and I wasn't shoving, I knew I would get on the train and I wasn't gonna barge people out of the way, but I actually couldn't have done if I'd wanted to, it was quite manic. Now sometimes you can get a bit of this going on on the tube (usually, actually, on the lifts at Russell Sq.) but y'know, commuters know the limit, even in service disruption.

Anyway, I eventually ended up on the train and these trains just don't hoover up people in the way that a nice, spacious, well-designed tube train really can and I ended up jammed up against a pane of glass by someone's rucksack which they hadn't thought to take off (also a feature of the tube, admittedly). But somehow, I think the commuters know how it works, they know what they can and can't get on and they know how to make room for each other. I'm not sure I've experienced anything as bad as this on the tube - maybe once during some royal nonsense bank holiday or other when the Central line was up the wall, but apart from that, never as bad as this. And the thing was, it wasn't even that busy. I genuinely think people just didn't have their heads screwed on. But anyway, I only really had to endure that as far as Barnes (one stop) and felicitously my friend was able to move just slightly so that I could breathe freely and didn't need to use my arm to withstand the pressure of the person jamming their rucksack against me so even the journey to Barnes wasn't too bad after that. But yes, after Barnes it really started to empty quickly and we soon both had seats.

After that it was essentially the journey in reverse. Back to Waterloo, Jubilee line to Stratford, Central to HAI via NEP. My friend left at FAI and I had a 10 minute wait for the WOO. There was nothing much of interest until the WOO train pulled into platform 2 and pulled up in a heap probably 3 car lengths from the stopping mark, maybe more. After that it moved slowly the rest of the way in. No idea what happened there, it wasn't even wet. Unless there was a stop code for the final block before the starter and it pulled up at the block marker board, but I cannot for the life of me imagine why that would've happened. (Edit: I've just checked and I don't actually think there is a block marker board within the limits of platform 2 at HAI, so it couldn't have been that.)

I was relieved to get off the South West trains service in one piece, quite frankly, but after that - even with TBTC - I quite enjoyed being back on the tube. Easy trip round to ROV to wind off a very good, very tiring day.

West Kensington

I'm back with a tale of a jaunt I took today (Saturday, although it's already Sunday as I write this) to West Kensington (and a few other places besides.)

Some of you may have noticed that the District line had no service today - Saturday 29 March - between West Kensington and Richmond/Acton Town. This, apparently, was down to track replacement work at Turnham Green. Consequently, the Picc was also part closed, with no service Hammersmith - Ealing Common; although the website does seem to suggest that the Picc will be closed on Sunday as well, but the District won't be. In the likely event that I don't finish this tonight, I'll make sure before I post this :P The Picc was (/is/will be) also part closed between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge. Included in the justification for the Picc closures is point work at Acton Town.

(I do believe the District line continued to be part closed on Sunday. I must apologise for my further tardiness. Something about holidays seems to manage to leave me even more lazy! :P)

So anyway, this is the context. Engineering work gives an excellent chance to go and see rarely used reversing moves, such as reversing west to east at West Kensington. This move is far from unheard of, I'm sure, but I don't believe there are any booked reversals here and, if there are, they aren't common. Usually I don't go and have a look because I can't be bothered really, but also because there's often not much to see, especially if all the 'action' takes place in a siding you can't really see, or a long way down a tunnel. However, I hadn't been on the tube for a while, I had been reading about West Ken only recently and I wanted to go to Foyles bookshop anyway, so I went and had a look.

The other reason to go today was that I was going out to see my grandparents anyway. As a result, I boarded an EAB train at WAN after a nine minute wait having just missed one. Bit of a nuisance at first, but it gave me a nice opportunity to have a good look round WAN, taking in fishplates (relatively substantial blocks of metal on either side of the rails, which hold joints together, making use of four fairly sizeable bolts) and a block marker board and all sorts because I am just that interesting... :P It's a nice station, though, WAN, with lovely tiling and it's really quite bright which just makes it a good place to be:

The rather pleasant WAN station, where I got the opportunity to pass nearly 10 minutes waiting for a train this afternoon. (Image courtesy "Sunil060902" (via Wikipedia))

The EAB took me out into the sunlight at LES (always a nice experience coming out of a tunnel into the bright sunlight, particularly on a day as nice as today) and then onto MIE, where I changed for a District line train to West Kensington. This was shown on the platform indicators as a Wimbledon service, so we must assume that these indicators cannot display West Kensington. I would have thought use could be made of the "check front of train" message instead, though.

As I say, it was a gorgeous day today and a fine one to be on the District line. Along the way, I took the chance to see again the sights I mentioned looking out for on my C stock runs on the Circle and H&C. I could write about the District line all day (and who knows, maybe I just might write more in the future), but I could never do it justice. For now, though, I'll be brief. The first thing to keep an eye out for is the two crossovers at Whitchapel - one to the east and one to the west. The west end one is looking very rusty indeed, I must say.

Back in the day, before Crossrail got going, there used to be four platforms at Whitechapel. H&C line trains were regularly reversed there and the District could be short turned there as well, especially during disruption. In fact, at LIS, the line diagram of the sub-surface lines still shows the H&C as having a limited (possibly peak hours only?) service between Whitechapel and Barking, although that's just an old map they haven't bothered replacing. The old Central line ones are still there too and, as with many locations, the Ongar branch has simply been covered up :P I don't think the H&C has had that limited a service beyond Whitechapel for a while, though, but all the same it used to be a very regularly used reversing point. The old layout is superbly detailed by the late District Dave. I have been reading through his website over the past few days and it really is wonderful. From what little I've been privileged enough to glean from his posts, I think his untimely death has left so many - even those who did not know him - poorer and I wish he were still here to educate and entertain us about his line.

With, though, Crossrail needing the two reversing roads for the space to create an accessible, modern Whitechapel (I think the space is largely to be used for disabled access, although I'm not sure) many of the reversing facilities at Whitechapel, including its siding, have been lost. They have been replaced, of course, by the above-mentioned crossovers and a reversing siding at West Ham, which is also connected to both tracks at the Plaistow end. That siding doesn't really see much use, though, from what I can see, especially with Plaistow just one stop away and the emergency crossovers at Whitechapel.

Next up there is the crossover at Aldgate East and, of course, Minories Junction, where the Circle and District diverge/converge. The District also leaves the H&C behind, of course (at Aldgate East junction), which then converges with the Circle line at Aldgate junction. In the middle of all of this is Aldgate station itself, of course, which is always worth a look and is clearly visible from passing District line trains. Then you've got the bay roads at Tower Hill and Mansion House. This time I did get to see the crossover at Embankment and the one at South Kensington to boot.

Now it was at South Kensington that things began to get really interesting. Some of you may recall from my Wimbleware post that at Gloucester Road there are three platforms. The District line gets westbound platform 1 all to itself:

A diagram showing the track layout at Gloucester Road and the triangle it forms with High Street Kensington and Earl's Court

The Circle line trains cannot use this platform and should they end up here will presumably require an involved shunt procedure to get them back to their own metals. As I have discussed before, LU signals are equipped with junction indicators which let a T/Op know what route has been set and, therefore, where their train will end up if they carry on. If a signal is showing that an incorrect route has been set, the T/Op must stop the train and query the signal by getting on the train radio and contacting the control room. It may be that there has been a change of destination (e.g. a Central line T/Op at LES expecting to go to HAI via NEP may see the route set for EPP and query it, only to be told that there's been a change of plan) or that the train can be put back on its correct path further along the line. In this case, the T/Op will be told to carry on. If, however, a mistake has been made and needs to be corrected, the signaller will "take a release" and the signal will return to danger. The route is then locked for 2 minutes and only then can it be set correctly. Often it's the signalling computer or programme machine that's at fault, but if the route was incorrectly set by the signaller, it will be his responsibility. However, observing the signals is the T/Ops responsibility and if they accept a "wrong route" then that's their responsibility and there will be some trouble. I refer you again to District Dave who wrote a highly entertaining and informative account of such an event which happened to him here.

Anyway, platform 2 at Gloucester Road is usually used by the Circle line, but the District can use it too and will then carry on to Earl's Court using the crossover immediately outside the platform. However, it is much more common for the District to use its own platform and the maps and signs refer to platform 2 only as a Circle line platform.

Now, the District line track to platform 1 branches off to the left not at all far outside South Kensington station and runs alongside the (predominantly) Circle line tracks to Gloucester Road. There is what's called an "advance starter" which is visible from the westbound platform at South Kensington and this is the signal which controls the junction. Usually T/Ops will wait for this to clear with the appropriate route before departing South Kensington. This saves a 2 minute stand at the signal in the tunnel if a release needs to be taken on the route.

It was with some surprise, therefore, that I noticed that we didn't seem to be crossing over to the District line's usual tracks as we left South Kensington and I soon saw that we were heading for platform 2, which confused the destination boards on the platforms as well as a punter or two. The T/Op was very good and made the necessary announcements, but I don't know why we ended up there. It might have been a wrong route, but judging by the absence of an appreciable delay I'm mildly tempted to think that there was some wit and reason behind it, or the irregularity was spotted at South Ken and the T/Op was told to carry on to Gloucester Road and the train could then be quickly and seamlessly routed back onto the District line.

Anyway, after that, we had the fun of passing the point where the Circle line diverges and of passing the triangle sidings and heading on to Earl's Court. At Earl's Court, of course, there was plenty of confusion and I tried my best to point a few people in the right direction before we headed off. London Underground passengers don't listen to announcements you see, let alone check before they travel, they just look at a map, or head off on their normal journey, plug in their headphones and then wonder why they can't get where they want to go. Still, good fun is Earl's Court and I noted "the yard" as we went by, which is essentially just the length of track (shunt signal at one end, limit of shunt sign at the other) sometimes used for mainline shunt moves to reverse east to west.

On the other side of Earl's Court it's always fun heading past West Kensington East junction, where trains for Kensington (Olympia) branch off and then we finally reached West Kensington. West Kensington is surely worth a post all to itself and that's what you'll receive. For now, suffice it to say I got out onto the platform on a beautiful day, watched the train reverse and then took it back to South Ken where I changed for the Picc to Leicester Sq and then took the Northern one stop to TCR.

The Northern line's TBTC is still shockingly awful and it was really noticeable on that trip after the delightfully smooth journeys I had enjoyed on the manually operated District and Picc. This isn't a campaign against ATO and while I would much much prefer a refined, sophisticated ATP system network-wide to ATO (and definitely to UTO), I don't think it's inherently impossible to design a really good, really effective ATO system. Heck, for all of its many many problems, at least when the Central line ATO is working, it's quite a comfortable experience. But anyway, I bring it up mainly to point out that NMA5 (Oval to Morden) is now live, so the whole Northern line apart from Chalk Farm to Edgware (NMA6) is now ATO. NMA6 is, of course, reputed to be the most challenging area and is to come last. As much as I don't like the system, I have to take my hat off to those who've rolled it out. Final testing was scheduled to take place over the whole weekend of the 22nd and 23rd of March, with the line shut down south of Kennington (I believe) for the purpose. It was then due to enter passenger service on the 24th, assuming all went well, or earlier if all went really well. In the end, it entered passenger service at 15:00 on the 22nd and the line was open for the rest of the weekend. This closure is built in as a kind of safety, to make sure that a service isn't promised which then can't be run (memories of the Jubilee line upgrade are still fresh). It's a fine achievement getting it all working, though, in as much as it does work.

Anyway, after a fairly unpleasant, but mercifully short, Northern line journey I arrived at Tottenham Court Road and made my way to Foyles. Whilst there I bought a couple of books and also found a very likely and interesting looking book on cell biology, which I quickly replaced when I discovered it was on sale for over £180! It wasn't even particularly large, or a special edition or anything, it was just a biology textbook! Good job I don't actually do biology, huh?

The journey home saw me just miss a DEB so I took a HAI via NEP to LES and changed for the EPP. It wasn't a particularly eventful journey, but it was nice to get another look at the reversing siding at HOL and the crossover west of LIS. Exiting the tunnels outside STR and LEY was also very nice in the last of the daylight and it was not at all a bad journey to WOO. At WOO I was disappointed to see that there was no train in 21 road and then discovered that the HAI would be reversing off platform 2. I duly made my way over and was delighted to be able to enjoy another novelty. I watched the wrong road starter on platform 2 turn white and then green and then we were on our way over the crossover and off to ROV. Don't know why this train was reversed off 2, though, the usual suspect is late running and that seems fairly likely. At ROV I noticed that the next HAI was 14 minutes behind the one I'd just left, when it's usually more like 19 or 20, so it looks like this train was still 5 down. Still, some of that was probably recovered at HAI, where there is usually a significant dwell.

So, West Ken

One can hardly talk about West Ken without discussing the area around it:

A diagram showing the track layout around West Kensington. The tracks leading towards Lillie Bridge Depot from West Kensington cross above the tracks towards Earl's Court on a bridge

So we return, on this blog, to the hub that is Earl's Court. As I discussed in my post about the Wimbledon-Edgware Road branch, Wimbleware trains from High Street Kensington can head to West Brompton from platform 4. Trains from Gloucester Road, having passed through the city, can also head to West Brompton from platform 3 or 4. Trains for Richmond and Ealing Broadway (and any intermediate destinations where trains can be short-tripped), meanwhile, head on to West Kensington from either platform 3 or 4. These trains will, of course, generally arrive from Gloucester Road, although it's not unheard of for Wimbleware services to be diverted towards Richmond and Ealing Broadway. Back in the old days you would occasionally see a C stock heading that way. Makes a nice change :P The Olympia shuttle (again only very rarely are Olympia trains not from High Street Kensington) will also pull into platform 4 and head to Olympia from there.

Kensington (Olympia) is a curious little station:

Kensington (Olympia)'s single District line bay platform. On the right, you can see the London Overground platforms, which are shared with National Rail. Although not easily visible, there are three tracks on the right, with the outer two used for stopping services and the middle road available for fast trains and freight. (Image courtesy "Sunil060902" (via Wikipedia))

Routing trains for Olympia through the busy Earl's Court is an operational nightmare, which is the main reason why the service is a shuttle which no longer operates during the week. The shuttle is, of course, operated by D stock for now (although S stock will, of course, take over in time) and runs from High Street Kensington - Kensington (Olympia). It is no longer common for C stock to end up at Olympia but, again, they can do. I should have a look at the timetable, I think very early on and very late in the day trains will end up there and I think the S7 still serves it throughout the week, but a regular service is essentially no longer operated during the weekdays. The Olympia branch is also single-track for much of its length (the other factor behind the shuttle service) and I do believe there's no starter, so T/Ops control their own departure from Olympia.

The other key thing to notice about the area is Lillie Bridge Depot. Lillie Bridge used to be the District line's main depot, but it was eventually superseded by Ealing Common at the west end of the line. Little Ilford was also built to serve the east end of the line (Little Ilford has now itself been superseded by Upminster and the Little Ilford site is now used by C2C). When Ealing Common largely replaced Lillie Bridge, it was used for a while by the Piccadilly line, before being largely handed over to the engineering trains. This is its major use today, although I believe some District line trains do still stable at Lillie Bridge and do head to Olympia where they enter service or run empty from there onwards.

Now, after all of that, onto West Kensington itself and isn't it pretty:

West Kensington station. We are looking east (from the westbound platform) and the track to Lillie Bridge depot is visible diverging off to the left immediately after the starter. The shunt signal you can see has, in fact, now been replaced by a fibre-optic shunt signal. (Image courtesy "Sunil060902" (via Wikipedia))

Now, obviously the first thing to point out is that trains can terminate at West Ken and head to Lillie Bridge depot from platform 2, using the track which heads off to the left immediately after the platform.

On Saturday, however, the crossover to the west of the station was employed. Now, on Saturday, trains were being reversed west to east. The trains arrived on the westbound platform, detrained and proceeded out of service to the limit of shunt sign, which is quite far out of the station (presumably due to the length of the S7s which are coming to this part of the line soon). The T/Op then changed ends, waited for the shunt signal to clear and headed back into platform one and on towards the city (I believe my train was going to Barking).

It is, of course, also possible to reverse east to west and there is a wrong-road starter to allow trains to terminate at platform 2 and then head back towards Barons Court. However, even with the D stock, I do believe the trains stop in platform 2 without fully clearing the crossover and the signal. Therefore, trains have to move forwards slightly and stop ahead of where they normally would when continuing east, before the T/Op can change ends and head west.

Back in the day, although this hasn't happened for a while, the Picc used to very occasionally reverse at West Ken (and, obviously it went here frequently when its depot was at Lillie Bridge). I believe that early morning trains and staff trains used to be timetabled to serve West Ken until as late as the '80s (although towards the end, only two trains did so). Nowadays, Picc drivers aren't trained on the route, I believe, but in cases of severe disruption, Picc trains can be diverted to West Ken to reverse, although they'll probably have to have a District line I/Op (Instructor Operator) on the front.

Tubeprune tells a story of a memorable incident in the late 60s. In those days (as now) Picc trains were also a bit too long for West Ken and its crossover and they also had to stop a little way past the usual stopping mark in order to ensure that the train was clear of the crossover. One new Picc T/Op forgot to do this one day, changed ends, and promptly headed back the way he had come, despite not having a clear signal (in fact he couldn't see any  signal when he departed West Ken, since the signal was behind the cab, because of where he had stopped). Since his train had not cleared the points, they could not have been set for westbound and he, of course, did not crossover onto the westbound and instead headed west along the eastbound tracks towards a District line train standing in the eastbound platform at Barons Court. Fortunately, the Picc T/Op eventually noticed his mistake when he saw that the Picc tracks were emerging from the tunnel on the wrong side!