North London Line

Is it any better since Dross Link went and Ken took it over ?

--
Edward Cowling "Must go - Got to rub lard on the Cat's boil !"

Lew 1 wrote:
>
> Incidentally, I was a little surprised last night to find a video on
> YouTube that praised Silverlink as the country's greatest operator.
> Perhaps I was alone in thinking that it always single-handed ruined
> any journey that involved it and was too lazy even to collect fares
> for its own services!

There was a marked difference between Silverlink Metro (and the attitude of
its staff) and Silverlink County. ;-)

> And they won't be universally popular. Far fewer people will get a
> seat, for instance, due to the Tube-style side-facing seating.

My experience on the NLL was that passengers very rarely filled up all the
seats anyway and most were quite content to stand, generally speaking
passengesr don't spend too long on the train. My objection was that the
313's obviously were not designed with metro services in mind and thus
didn't have as many grab rails and general design tit-bits as they really
needed.

Compare and contrast to longer distance TOC's such as FCC, where every seat
will always get filled up.

Best Wishes,
LEWIS

> Did you ever use the County mainline services? They were very
> professionally-run, though the last few weeks were marred by the
> strikes.

Only once or twice, not enough to really form an opinion. I hadn't thought
that the difference between County and Metro would have been so huge, though
it certainly looks like it was County that was getting the praise. (What was
the Abbey Flyer, County or Metro?)

I find it strangely amusing that one set of passengers would have related
the brand "Silverlink" with the height of railway filth, whilst another set
saw Silverlink as the railway's Knight in Shining Armour. What difference
one word makes!

Best Wishes,
LEWIS

On Jan 12, 6:02 pm, wensleyd...@pacersplace.org.uk (Neil Williams)
wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:57:33 -0000, "Lew 1"
>
> <lewiscox2...@REMOVETHISyahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> >Only once or twice, not enough to really form an opinion. I hadn't thought
> >that the difference between County and Metro would have been so huge, though
> >it certainly looks like it was County that was getting the praise. (What was
> >the Abbey Flyer, County or Metro?)
>
> County, as were the erstwhile London-Brum locals and the
> London-Northampton commuter services that I use daily.
>
> >I find it strangely amusing that one set of passengers would have related
> >the brand "Silverlink" with the height of railway filth, whilst another set
> >saw Silverlink as the railway's Knight in Shining Armour. What difference
> >one word makes!
>
> It is interesting - I personally have very positive views of the old
> Silverlink County, but I agree the old Metro services were disgusting.
>

How does the shared use of rolling stock work out? I assume that
Watford - St Albans shares stock with the NLL and Bedford - Bletchley
shares stock with the GOBLIN, or is that no longer the case?

I decided on an observational survey trip last Wednesday afternoon to
the former BR/Bakerloo Line joint stations "north of Harrow" on the DC
Lines.

Headstone Lane - ticket office closed, no UTS gates, no visible staff.
Hatch End - ticket office open, no UTS gates, no other visible staff.
Carpenders Park (a dreadful early-1950s BR hole accessed through dodgy
local authority aubways) - ticket office open, no UTS gates, no other
visible staff.
Bushey - ticket office open, no UTS gates, no other visible staff.
Watford High Road - ticket office open, UTS gates fitted and in use,
about 4 revenue staff in ticket hall.
Watford Junction - ticket office open, UTS gates fitted and in use,
visible staff but presumably all part of the London Midland operation.

Temporary exterior LO signs at all LO stations except Hatch End which
I suppose might require listed building consent?

Had my ticket checked for the first ever on the former Silverlink
Metro system, the squad on the 3-car train were at least 8-strong!

I'm sure the Mayor's promises regarding ticket office opening and
general staffing is not being met at many LO stations, and even some
of the new Bakerloo Line stations seem deserted much of the time.

On 13 Jan, 03:54, wensleyd...@pacersplace.org.uk (Neil Williams)
wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:34:45 -0800 (PST), Mr Thant
>
> <maha.thray.sithu.u.th...@> wrote:
> >On 12 Jan, 19:57, "Paul Scott" <notvalidpmsc...@> wrote:
> >> How does the shared use of rolling stock work out? =A0I assume that
> >> Watford - St Albans shares stock with the NLL and Bedford - Bletchley
> >> shares stock with the GOBLIN, or is that no longer the case?
>
> >Wikipedia says the St Albans branch normally had a 321, so the split
> >doesn't affect it.
>
> It had a 313 every time I ever used it (not often, I admit).  Someone
> I know who works for LM says it's usually a 321, though.


I always thought they were 313s, but I have no systematic or recent
experience of the line. Under LM, maybe it's now always a 321.

It does occur to me that there ought to be a lot of spare 321s around,
because I can't see that there are that many new electric services
since the introduction of the 350s. Maybe it's been 321s since the
introduction of 350s, even under Silverlink?

On Jan 13, 3:53 am, wensleyd...@pacersplace.org.uk (Neil Williams)
wrote:
> On Sat, 12 Jan 2008 14:49:12 -0800 (PST), bowroa...m wrote:
> >Carpenders Park (a dreadful early-1950s BR hole
>
> Is it really?  It has a very LUL art-deco look to it - like a lot of
> Heathrow-branch Picc Line stations.
>
If remaining as built this might be true, however the subway entrances
have been retiled by the local authority, the ticket hall refurbished
(possibly in the 80s given the NSE red tiling), the supports to the
platform concrete canopy have been retiled, the original high-quality
maroon enamel BR London Midland Region entrance signage and pole-
mounted joint LT/BR totems are long, long, gone and the only original
finish would appear to be the cream tiles in the sloping subway
leading to the ticket hall. The tall retangular window/toplight above
the ticket office, with the east side following the curve of the
booking office counter is the only feature of note, albeit liberally
covered with graffiti to match much of the exterior brickwork. I would
actually find this station, accessed only by unsupervised council
subways, quite intimidating to use at night.
>
> --
> Neil Williams