On 12 Feb, 14:49, MIG wrote:

(snip)

It's a kind of mixture of good and bad for down my way.

I'm certainly not unsympathetic to concerns about the knock-on changes
that ELLX will bring - though in many ways those changes are actually
the result of other developments (i.e. Thameslink at London Bridge and
Battersea Park's platform lengthening) and ELLX phase 2b broadly fills
the gap that they'll create.


I've only had to go to Battersea Park once, for which I went to
Lewisham and then changed once at Denmark Hill, but the lack of
evening and Sunday service has long scuppered many possibilities.
Normally it would be Victoria via Underground and out again, which
seems a bit ridiculous, but it's what the South Central area has
always been like. *Closes down evenings and Sundays, so people don't
use it, knowing they can't get home. *I hope the ELLX will change
that.

The obvious solution is of course to get the Victoria - Lewisham -
Dartford (via Bexleyheath) service running in the late evenings and on
Sundays too (you say exactly the same in your post). I can't see why
this doesn't or cannot happen - perhaps there's a fear it will become
too popular with people deserting London Bridge and CX etc! It's a
very useful service, slicing across south London to Victoria with a
stop at Peckham Rye for connections to south central territory and at
Denmark Hill for the hospitals.


A couple of times I've needed to go from Putney to Denmark Hill and
changed at the Batterseas, but now I'd change at Clapham Junction.

Ah yes - my feeling is that it can't be much further from the
platforms of Queentown Road Battersea to Battersea Park than it is
from one side of Clapham Jn to the other! Certainly a useful
interchange point - one hopes that people aren't getting off SWT at
Clapham Jn for a Southern train to Battersea Park and then changing
i.e. adding in an unnecessary leg, though I'm sure some are!


The thing that I think will be a real problem is Denmark Hill to
London Bridge, the only route when the Lewisham route is closed, but
used by an awful lot of people according to my observation.

Good point. The best solution is the simple one of course - run the
Victoria - Lewisham - Dartford service all the time. The fact it dies
in the mid evening M-S is just silly. You've said just that many times
before of course!


It depends on how good the connections are at Queens Road Peckham. *I
wouldn't recommend the ****-soaked concrete staircases of Peckham Rye.

You've said this before about Peckham Rye and I never got round to
taking you up on it. The whole station is rather better looked after
these days than it has been in the past. I won't set myself up as a
hostage to fortune and vouch from them being spotless but they don't
stink of **** any more. The station is visibly staffed (not just the
ticket office) for much if not all the day and is quite busy. I agree
that it could do with a proper bit of redevelopment. The one staircase
that is somewhat objectionable is that leading to and from platform 4
- if nothing else it'd be good to have something done to improve it.

Regarding connections at Queen's Road Peckham (QRP) and Peckham Rye -
for reasons unclear to me the new (Dec '08) timetable removed 2tph off-
peak from London Bridge via Peckham Rye, Tulse Hill and West Norwood
to Smitham, reducing the service from 8tph to 6tph. My recollection is
that these ran just in front of of or behind the SLL service, so their
loss from Peckham Rye, QRP and South Bermondsey wasn't a big deal.
However the loss of the SLL service would further reduce this to 4tph
from these stations, unless the SLL trains were replaced by something
else - I imagine that they would be but this is something to look out
for.


I note that there is no mention of an interchange at Brixton, which is
so bleedin obviously needed.

Problem is it's so bleedin expensive, up on stilts towering above
Brixton! I recall the now defunct SLL travellers association
("SoLLTA") pushing for this in the eighties. I can't see it happening
imminently, but the pressure will surely grow as Brixtonians watch the
orange Overground trains passing above them/ passengers watch Brixton
passing them by below.

I've said beforehand that I sort of think that a new East Brixton
station wouldn't be such a bad thing - it wouldn't be a transport
interchange mecca, but it would serve the Brixton nonetheless.


I wonder if the evening and Sunday services (both of which have
existed at different times) between Lewisham and Victoria will be
restored so that there is a full range of connections (and also what
hours the Bellingham service will run).

Any idea when the Lewisham to Victoria via P. Rye services last ran in
the evenings and on Sundays?

I suppose there's still the question of whether the Bellingham service
(aka 'SLL2') will actually happen - I very much hope it does. As well
as acting as a substitute for the withdrawn SLL service it would also
offer a brand new direct 2tph service to Victoria from Bellingham,
Catford and Crofton Park as well as an increased frequency of 4tph to
Victoria from Nunhead as well. One would hope it ran every day, all
day of course!