On 22 Feb, 23:40, Tom Anderson wrote:
Either way, I'd've appreciated such a train when I was living in
Finsbury Park with a gf in Edinburgh, rather than sailing past my house
at 100mph and then getting home 45 minutes later...

How on earth did it take you 45 minutes to get from King's Cross back to
the Centre of the Universe? Was this before the Victoria line was built,
and when the Piccadilly was still clockwork? Oh - or were you getting back
after the last tube, and relying on the delights of the buses? Did you
consider investing in a bicycle? Or is Mizter on the right track when he
intimates that you might have had quite enough riding by that point?

Lolz. Err, I was thinking 15-ish minutes into KX, 15-ish minutes
waiting for a train, and 15-ish minutes from KX to home - worst-case
rather than normal, but about right for late-ish on a Sunday night.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

On 24 Feb, 20:33, John B wrote:
On 22 Feb, 23:40, Tom Anderson wrote:

Either way, I'd've appreciated such a train when I was living in
Finsbury Park with a gf in Edinburgh, rather than sailing past my house
at 100mph and then getting home 45 minutes later...

How on earth did it take you 45 minutes to get from King's Cross back to
the Centre of the Universe? Was this before the Victoria line was built,
and when the Piccadilly was still clockwork? Oh - or were you getting back
after the last tube, and relying on the delights of the buses? Did you
consider investing in a bicycle? Or is Mizter on the right track when he
intimates that you might have had quite enough riding by that point?

Lolz. Err, I was thinking 15-ish minutes into KX, 15-ish minutes
waiting for a train, and 15-ish minutes from KX to home - worst-case
rather than normal, but about right for late-ish on a Sunday night.


This timing would be indicative of you taking a mainline train back to
Finsbury Park rather than either the Victoria or Piccadilly lines, and
I'd be most surprised to find a weekend when they were both closed
between KX and FP for renewals works. So I'm wondering whether you had
a through ticket from FP "via London" (i.e. KX) to Edinburgh and
back.

However, notionally at least any National Rail tickets "which include
validity [...] between Finsbury Park and London Terminals" are also
valid on the Underground - see page L5 of section L of the NFM (PDF):
http://www.atoc.org/retail/_download...8_Common_L.pdf

Whilst this is straightforward when it comes to an FP to London
Terminals ticket, I can see the potential for things getting a bit
complicated when trying to use the Underground for part of a much
longer journey - to be specific, I can foresee problems in having
unusual National Rail tickets accepted at the gateline at KXSP
Underground station (and I would presume that a 'FP to Edinburgh via
London return' would fall into that category!). After all, are LU
staff really expected to know the ins and outs of permitted routings
on National Rail - a pretty complex subject as many past postings here
attest.

On 25 Feb, 09:27, Mizter T wrote:
On 24 Feb, 20:33, John B wrote:



On 22 Feb, 23:40, Tom Anderson wrote:

Either way, I'd've appreciated such a train when I was living in
Finsbury Park with a gf in Edinburgh, rather than sailing past my house
at 100mph and then getting home 45 minutes later...

How on earth did it take you 45 minutes to get from King's Cross back to
the Centre of the Universe? Was this before the Victoria line was built,
and when the Piccadilly was still clockwork? Oh - or were you getting back
after the last tube, and relying on the delights of the buses? Did you
consider investing in a bicycle? Or is Mizter on the right track when he
intimates that you might have had quite enough riding by that point?

Lolz. Err, I was thinking 15-ish minutes into KX, 15-ish minutes
waiting for a train, and 15-ish minutes from KX to home - worst-case
rather than normal, but about right for late-ish on a Sunday night.

This timing would be indicative of you taking a mainline train back to
Finsbury Park rather than either the Victoria or Piccadilly lines, and
I'd be most surprised to find a weekend when they were both closed
between KX and FP for renewals works. So I'm wondering whether you had
a through ticket from FP "via London" (i.e. KX) to Edinburgh and
back.

No - had a normal London to Edinburgh ticket and also a z12 season
travelcard. I just also had enough luggage and indolence to prefer a
100 metre walk on the flat to several hundred metres through a
building site... (and the frequency isn't all that great on the
Piccadilly late at night, either, although the Victoria is usually
OK).

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

David Biddulph wrote:
"Peter Masson" wrote in message
...
"Martin Edwards" wrote

(Glasgow - Harwich through train)
I think it was a bit too complicated. It involved a switch from
electric engine to diesel at Willesden.

It was electric-hauled throughout. I think it was before the ECML
electrification, so the Edinburgh portion was diesel-hauled to Carstairs.

When was the NLL AC electrification?
--
David Biddulph


I didn't want to start a flame, but I'm sure he's wrong about that.

--
Corporate society looks after everything. All it asks of anyone, all it
has ever asked of anyone, is that they do not interfere with management
decisions. -From “Rollerball”

On 22 Feb, 09:20, Stimpy wrote:
On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:59:22 +0000, Neil Williams wrote



Train travel by night is far more pleasant in the dark. *It's one of
the reasons I mourn the passing of the WCML Mk2s and Mk3s, where there
would often be a coach with failed lighting which was able to provide
me with a relaxing darkened journey with a good view out. *

Mark 1 compartments with the 'bight/dim' switch, corridor blinds and
removable tungsten lightbulbs were the best for long distance nighttime
travel

Ooh! sweet nostalgia! I got one of those- to myself- from Exeter to
New St in 1984.

In article ,
Stephen Allcroft wrote:
On 22 Feb, 09:20, Stimpy wrote:
On Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:59:22 +0000, Neil Williams wrote



Train travel by night is far more pleasant in the dark. *It's one of
the reasons I mourn the passing of the WCML Mk2s and Mk3s, where there
would often be a coach with failed lighting which was able to provide
me with a relaxing darkened journey with a good view out. *

Mark 1 compartments with the 'bight/dim' switch, corridor blinds and
removable tungsten lightbulbs were the best for long distance nighttime
travel

Ooh! sweet nostalgia! I got one of those- to myself- from Exeter to
New St in 1984.

I used to know a gentleman who had one side of a Mark I compartment -
panelling, seats and IIRC luggage rack / lights - in his living room.

Nick
--
Serendipity: http://www.leverton.org/blosxom (last update 17th February 2008)
"The Internet, a sort of ersatz counterfeit of real life"
-- Janet Street-Porter, BBC2, 19th March 1996

On 21 Feb, 20:48, Mizter T wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:

(snip)

Anglia Railways ran a train from the GEML (can't remember where) to
Reading or something, ISTR; that went via the NLL.

*gogols*

London Crosslink, that was it. Chelmsford (or Ipswich, according to some
sources) to Basingstoke, apparently; i would have assumed it was
Basingstoke via Reading, but from the sound of this (from a press
release):

(press release and other stuff snipped)

Anyway, it didn't do well. It wasn't well advertised, and it was also
rather slow, due to the congestion and all that - it interacted with the
GEML, the NLL and the Windsor lines, so it must have been a nightmare to
run reliably.

Still, being able to catch a direct train from High & I to Feltham would
have been handy!

Day release?

I never used the Crossrail service at the time, but I've since read
with great interest many threads concerning it from the archives of
utl and uk.railway.

(snip)

However (and I'm really pleased because I looked for this before and
failed to find it) the Crossrail service came as a pleasant surprise
to a few NLL commuters travelling between West Hampstead, Highbury and
Stratford - as 'underachiever' said at the time...

"A seat. A buffet! fantastic."

Indeed - however good the new London Overground trains might be, I
don't think they can top that!

That's from a July 2002 post on the utl/uk.railway thread about the
withdrawal of Crosslink, and can be read he
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk....owse_frm/threa...

(snip)

For the record - a correction...

Despite my nostalgia it seems I have my mind on the future rather than
the past, given that when I wrote the above I seemed to have Crossrail
on the brain! Either that or I'm just a simple minded soul who gets
easily confused.

All the above references to "Crossrail" should of course have read
"Crosslink" - and that's in spite of a cue from Tom Anderson that
literally spelt out literally the name of Anglia Railway's cross
London service.

Al least I didn't get it confused with the old name for part of what
is now the North London Line service - the splendid mouthful that was
the "Cross Town Link Line"!

On Sun, 2 Mar 2008, Mizter T wrote:

Al least I didn't get it confused with the old name for part of what
is now the North London Line service - the splendid mouthful that was
the "Cross Town Link Line"!

The bridge over Mare Street calls it the 'North London Link' - perhaps a
transitional form?

Anyway, could have been yet worse: you could have called it the Crosstown
Local, which would be the wrong city entirely!

tom

--
All we need now is Jesus the Lord, fine corn liquor and the courage to
think the unthinkable.

On 3 Mar, 00:41, Tom Anderson wrote:

On Sun, 2 Mar 2008, Mizter T wrote:
Al least I didn't get it confused with the old name for part of what
is now the North London Line service - the splendid mouthful that was
the "Cross Town Link Line"!

The bridge over Mare Street calls it the 'North London Link' - perhaps a
transitional form?


OK, my (possibly erroneous) understanding is that the "North London
Link" terminology came along when Network SouthEast (NSE) introduced
route branding - in this sense a 'route' was several individual,
albeit connected lines.

The "North London Lines" (note the plural) 'route' was thus created,
encompassing the Richmond to North Woolwich line aka the North London
Line, GOBLIN and the Euston - Watford DC line (i.e. the stopping
service). My thinking was that so as to avoid confusion between the
collective "North London Lines" and the "North London Line" service
the latter was instead rechristened the "North London Link".

Likewise, south of the river the "South London Lines" 'route' was
created, encompassing all the suburban services out of Victoria and
London Bridge - what today Southern call their 'Metro' routes (though
they do not brand them as such). The same problem thus reared its head
- the Victoria to London Bridge via Peckham Rye service had long been
known as the "South London Line" (and indeed it still is, albeit not
branded as such), so this too was renamed the "South London Link" so
as to avoid confusion with the wider service.

To be honest much of the above is just my supposition - but I supposed
it for the reasons that I outline above. If any knowledgeable people
out there would like to destroy my link/line hypothesis then please
feel free to do so!

Further information about NSE's route branding can be found he
http://www.nsers.org.uk/nse2.htm

Trains had the route's logo and name displayed on the exterior next to
doorways or elsewhere on slamdoor stock, whilst timetables, posters
and other publicity also made use of them. It wasn't a bad idea at the
time - it was all part of NSE's attempts to get themselves out of
their Ivory tower mindset and closer to their customers, the
passengers (and indeed their potential customer - passengers too).


Anyway, could have been yet worse: you could have called it the Crosstown
Local, which would be the wrong city entirely!


If we had to name a London service the "Crosstown Local" what would it
be? NYC's Brooklyn - Queens Crosstown Local (the "G") doesn't enter
Manhatten, so perhaps likewise we need a service that doesn't enter
central London. Dare I say that the NLL is quite a good fit. Or
perhaps the Hammersmith & City line - arguably it skirts the centre
and provides a local service. I'm not quite sure what a "Crosstown
Express" would be - certainly not Thameslink, that's for sure...
possibly the Willesden to Clapham 'two junctions' service, but that's
only half-hourly... it has to be the Victoria line really - Finsbury
Park to Brixton in 24 minutes!

When the ELLX opens that might make a good candidate for the
"Crosstown Local" moniker...

Anyway, we're British, we don't need to be following these strange
yankee naming conventions, we've got good, solid names of our own,
like, er... the Bakerloo line, and Great Uncle Bulgaria's favourite
the Wimbleware line. Well, the latter if utl had its way. Probably
just as well we don't!

In article ,
Nick Leverton wrote:

I used to know a gentleman who had one side of a Mark I compartment -
panelling, seats and IIRC luggage rack / lights - in his living room.

Was he a virgin?