Can any readers enlighten me as to why the platform at which Up trains
now stop has been transferred from the island platform (2, I think) to
the Southernmost platfrom (1, I think)? This latter platform has
third-world facilities: a semi-derelict staircase, no seats, a decrepit
wooden shelter that looks as if it is about to fall down and no
platform canopy for inclement weather. Also, the platform is so short
that only the doors of the first 4 carriages open. And, worse of all,
there is no ticket office there - to buy a ticket, one has to climb all
the way up to Platform 2/3 where the office is, then all the way down
again, through the tunnel and up the stairs to platform 1. Hardly
convenient or sensible!

I realise that the reason for this situation is that the fast and slow
lines have been swapped - but why, and for how long?

Marc.

wrote:
I realise that the reason for this situation is that the fast and slow
lines have been swapped - but why, and for how long?

This was done for the big Dec12 timetable change. At a guess the
change is for ever. It's a shame because the coffee shop within Putney
station is on plat 2/3 and in Jan the chap who works there most of the
time reckoned he was losing a lot of money due to less customers

Indeed - he may even be losing my custom too: when, in the past, there
was no Wandsworth Town train shown leaving Waterloo, I sometimes got
the first train to Putney, and waited on platform 2/3 for a train back
to Wandsworth Town. There's something about the island platforms there
that have always appealed to me! Won't be doing that in a hurry if it
now involves a trek down and up sets of stairs there too!

This seems a retrograde step.

I'd still be interested in knowing what the reason for the swap was.
Having the "fast" lines on the "outside" or "inside" or paired (as in
G.W.R.) makes sense. There is no logical sense now, since the Down
lines have not been similarly swapped.

Marc.

wrote:
I realise that the reason for this situation is that the fast and slow
lines have been swapped - but why, and for how long?

Well, technically, the island platform is on the fast line! I think the
answer to 'why' is that services on the Hounslow loop are all stopping
services, whereas services via Richmond are a mixture of slow and fast.
By putting the slow trains on the northern track of the pair, both up
and down, the number of conflicting moves at Barnes is minimised --
previously, fast up trains from Richmond had to cross paths with slow
up trains from Hounslow and now they don't. Before Eurostar was built
there was some sense to doing the crossing move because the tracks were
then segregated all the way to Waterloo; but now that the Windsor lines
are, for all intents and purposes, two-track between Waterloo and
Clapham Junction, crossing over just for the run between Barnes and
Clapham Junction isn't worth it.

Anyway, there's a ticket machine at the entrance on Old York Road,
isn't there? Certainly was the last time I was there.

Having been to this station the last couple of lunch times to go the
B&Q, why do you need a step ladder to get into the train. I assume
reballasting has increased the height of the track by a foot.

Kevin

Funny you should mention that machine at York Road: I tried to use it
today, to buy a 4-Zone Travelcard. It refused to take my ?10 note so,
(as before) I then intended to buy the ticket at Vauxhall where I had
to change onto the Victoria Line.

Only this time I was met by a simean being who refused to sell me a
Travelcard until I paid her the ?20 penalty fare she said I had
incurred. Not wishing to argue with someone who seemed to bear only
passing resemblance to a human being, I paid my ?20 and will now have
to go through the rigmarole of appealing.


But back to the main point: "By putting the slow trains on the northern
track of the pair, both up and down"

But that is not what they have done: the Up Slow line is on the
Southern of the pair of Up lines and the Down Slow Line is on the
Southern of the pair of Down lines.
Marc.

Actually, Kevin, I don't think that is the case: the side platform has
ALWAYS been very low - as I remember from the 1970s when it was
occasionally used for stopping trains for one reason or another. I
think the platform is about a foot lower than the island platform.

The staircase is a positive health hazard, with edges breaking off, and
some very slipshod attempts at repair. The wooden decking as you arrive
at the top of the stairs appears to be sinking!

Marc.

wrote:
But back to the main point: "By putting the slow trains on the northern
track of the pair, both up and down"

But that is not what they have done: the Up Slow line is on the
Southern of the pair of Up lines and the Down Slow Line is on the
Southern of the pair of Down lines.

I admit that I'm not in London right now, but I'm confused by your
statement. The Up line (towards London) runs from west to east at
Wandsworth Town; the southern track uses the island platform and the
northern track the outer platform. So either the up slow trains use the
island platform or they use the northern pair, and I'm inclined to
think the latter. Am I missing something?

(The last time I was at Wandsworth Town, I caught a slow train from
Feltham via Hounslow to Wandsworth Town in the morning peak, and it did
indeed use the outer platform. That was before the timetable change
though.)

Alistair,

I am SO SORRY! I am so used to looking at Wandsworth Town in my mind's
eye from the Fulham side, that it is ME that has confused North and
South!

You are of course right - my statement should have read: "the Up Slow
line is on the
NORTHERN of the pair of Up lines and the Down Slow Line is on the
NORTHERN of the pair of Down lines.

So, your explanation as originally given is correct, and I see the
point of making the change.

From a personal (and selfish) point of view, this is a great shame
since it has significantly worsened the travelling experience for many
hundreds of Wandsworth Town passengers.

Marc.