Kensington Olympia - The Tube's Least Served Station
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- On the District Line branching up from Earl's Court lies Kensington (Olympia) station, which lost its regular weekday service in December 2011.
Now it is just served by 11 trains (to/from) a day on Monday to Friday's, and I went along to ride as many as I could in a day, and see how it actually runs.
London Underground Working Timetable: tfl.gov.uk/cor...
Any staff on shift at either Olympia or Earl's Court that morning must've had the strongest feeling of déjà vu ever.
It also seems fairly likely that this adventure put Geoff on some kind of MI5 watchlist.
cdog252 Britain's greatest threat......the only man in the world who wakes up at 5 in the morning to ride trains from Olympia to Earls Court over and over and over and over and over again.
Geoff should have worn a red n white striped jumper and a bobble hat...
@@beccabeme I actually want to do that now, you're a genius
As well as possibly a bus driver or two if he's made multiple journeys by bus
Geoff's Oyster card history must leave TfL staff scratching their heads thinking there's been some mistake. "It says this guy entered at Olympia and left at Earl's Court... and then entered at Olympia several more times?!"
gbrading it should also track the bus journeys
@@spdfatomicstructure Which only makes it weirder. Guy got on the train at Olympia, got off at Earl's court, took a bus, then... got back on at Olympia? Is he cheating running laps or something?
Would be funny if he phoned them up and said there was a mistake and put it on youtube.
I'm imagining there's some kind of "Tube fan" note for Geoff and people like him. Over at the Wolfram Alpha site, which caters to math and science questions, they noticed a power user who kept submitting questions like "combined mass of all the spiders on Earth" and "list of African lakes sorted by volume" and "average jumping height of lizards." They contacted him and basically asked, "What are you doing?" The answer was simple and obvious in retrospect: "I'm Randall Munroe, I draw xkcd."
Kensington (Olympia)*
I think the District Line controllers were watching Geoff on the CCTV and having fun changing the train service
hahaha
Same controllers at 8:28 "quick, while he's busy with the camera, send a cleaning lady to nab his cup!"
Thermo Man I think the counter terrorist organisations must be! That journey would want me to check your backpack and electronic devices!
@anne lorraine Matthews hahahahahaha
Would've been so funny if they departed from Earl's Court and then controllers like "Oops! We're going to Wimbledon!"😂
Some guard at Kensington must seen you a good dozen times that day and was probably questioning what the hell is going on and if he's stuck in some sort of time loop.
*checks watch again and again
@@PrograError It's Groundhog Day.....
Maybe he has very short memory loss and is like. "Did i went to earls court? I think not"
8th
😆😆😆😆
The bane of a Tube Challenger's existence.
When I did the tube challenge, I had planned the whole day around an evening Earl's Court to Olympia train. We got there with 20 minutes to spare, but when it rolled in, it changed to an Ealing Broadway train, just like it did for Geoff. It was meant to be the last train of the evening, but we had a chat to station staff and he said (after speaking to a few people) that there was another coming out of service from High Street Ken, off to Lillie Bridge depot via Olympia. He said he'd ask to have it in service for us. Waiting a while, it was shown as 'check front of train' on the boards. When it arrived, it wasn't in service. We asked and said the driver hadn't heeded the control room request. That's why I only managed 269/270. 😔
Why not stay at a hotel near Olympia and start your run with a train leaving Olympia? I know it'd mean a long run to and from some of the outer stations...
Well at least you now have the record for 99% of tube stations
Allison Pell There’s no way you’d make it to all of them needing to double back at three of Heathrow, Upminster, Amersham/Chesham and Epping
William Fall is it possible to use the Overground to West Brompton/Shepherd’s Bush though, and change to the District and Central lines respectively from there?
@@spdfatomicstructure no overground for the challenge as well as weekends..
You got to be really dedicated to get up for 5:50 train just for fun. Thats why I love your work!.
It’s also his income really.
@@buksi6342 I remember he said that he lives around Ealing Broadway during a video with the Londonists
@@Jacques1675”and for once I am at my local station” Geoff 2014
Should have titled the video how many times can I go to earls court in one day.
Or Earls Court To High Street Kensington (5 Times)
How many times can i get the driver to change destinations speedrun.
"What a ridiculous thing to do" - I always love when someone realises how silly their hobby is, but does it anyway because they enjoy it.
It is funny to watch how as time goes by "High Street Kensington" turns into "High Street Ken" and then into "HSK"
After that just ” .”
H
HSK sounds like some kind of cheap retail clothing chain ... hmm, perhaps for anoraks? ;)
@@buksi6342 after that ‘ ‘
Welcome to
Hello, Olympia is my station. Thank you for raising awareness and profiling the baffling disaster that is our district line service.
I mean atleast you can say it's got a cool name
I worked at Olympia from 2009 to 2013
What do you think about my idea of extending the District Line to Shepherd's Bush, and then the whole segment from Earl's Court could relieve congestion on the western end of the circle?
@@CinemaDemocratica I think it would cost £100m in consulting, management, geographic surveys and legal fees, then be not cost-effective and the whole idea would be scrapped. Pretty standard practice these days.
@@DefrostTaicho Here's what I genuinely don't understand: When a group of paid consultants put a number in front of elected officials, and the officials vote in favor of the thing based on that number ... how are there zero consequences when the thing costs eleven times as much? How are the people who put the original number in front of the elected officials NOT guilty of something? How do they not go to prison?
Don’t worry Geoff, we all have “Nerdgasms” once in a while. 😜
'Arriving' at platform 4.
@@MarioAtheonio High Street Ken't
I know the feeling.
Arriving at the rarely-used Mudchute Platform 3 on the DLR really had me once!
For me it was when my InterCity train from Lahti arrived on platform 4 at Helsinki Central. InterCity trains usually arrive and depart from platforms 6-13.
@@dylandavies8180 They DO run in there then???? (I've never seen one in there!)
I like to see all these smaller, quieter tube stations in London...!!! 😁👌
DoubleDeckerAnton
Apparently, Roding Valley has more service yet sees fewer riders than Olympia (Roding Valley averaged somewhere between 180K-200K boardings *per year* -- Bank station sees more boardings than that *per day*).
Ugh, Bank. The bane of any commuter using the central or northern lines, DLR too. Always fun to get a free sauna everytime you go to work.
Never seen you here before Anton, love your vids :) we need a collaboration between you two.
Stop following meeee
A Geoff Marshall & Double Decker Anton collaboration on the cards?! 😀 Hope so!€
I'd love to see Geoff's next book as "101 things to do on The London Underground before you die" feel free to come up with a snazzier title or different number.
"69 thing to do on the london underground before you die" for the full nerdgasm
"15 Things to Do" no matter how many items are on the list.
+
No, 270
@@RonniebonGaming Smart.
When you said “that was a slightly erratic taxi ride”
This is what probably happened:
Taxi: So where are you going this early?
Geoff: Oh I’m just gonna go catch a train to Earl’s Court then go back to Olympia and catch every train going back and forth and on the way I’ll arrive at Platform 4 giving myself a #nerdgasm.
Taxi: w h a t t h e f u c k
W H A T T H E F U D G E
Geoff: Don't write Nerdgasm in the comments. ...... You You can write Nerdgasm in the comments
haha
The London Underground is a perfect example that Geothermal energy is a suitable replacement for central heating. Some of those lower lines are incredibly warm with or without other passengers.
I catch the train from Earl's Court quite a lot, and I can verify that the "Great Game" mentioned at 6:28 is very exciting! Generally whichever train pulls in first will get the first green light. I love the suspense though when I don't know whether I'm on the "first" train or not.
Geoff's Oyster Card History for this day is gonna look extremely weird to some number cruncher at TfL.
number cruncher? that's what she said!!! lol
@@alirae1071 oof
This is probably the easiest way to rack up your oyster fares to a travelcard
Just hearing the tube announcements, squealing brakes, revving electric motors, and seeing the signage and District Line stations makes this video a terrific mini-holiday to London. I feel like I was just there. And I just saved US$800 in airfare watching this. Thanks, Geoff! Many more, please.
London is so much more than just the tube. And The UK is much more than just London.
CCTV is he a terrorist, nah it’s just him again
@Mattia Stabile walter
@@bobmiah waltar melon
Over three quarters of a million people have spent a total of around twenty years watching Geoff catch trains from Kensington Olympia.
I’m a South African, so yes, what the hell am I doing here, and why the hell have I been binge watching your videos for the last few years? I don’t know, it’s just the way you put all of the random facts into the videos I guess. I was in London for a few weeks in June / July this year, and I kid you not, I spent about 4 days just riding the tube aimlessly, going off to see all of the things that you had mentioned in your videos
London is full of awesome stuff
Hey, I'm from NYC and have never been to London, so you're good.
I grew up in London and spent my 20s there (in the 1990s - yes, it was as good as they say). So I watch to reminisce about my multiple daily tube journeys. I live in Perth, Australia and there’s not a single underground line in the country!
Dan Ellis-Jones there might not be an underground line in Perth but there is in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, so I don’t know what you’re on about 😂
Alex Spurway I checked and Sydney Metro says it’s the first metro system in Australia. And it’s not open yet.
Geoffs Oyster History:
Kensington Olympia
Earls Court
Kensington Olympia
Earls Court
Kensington Olympia
Earls Court
Kensington Olympia
Earls Court
Kensington Olympia
Earls Court
In the Transport Museum: And this is the Most Used Oyster Card which ever existed:)
You also forgot High Street Kensington
Being at Kensington Olympia at a ridiculous hour in the morning; memories of 'Walk The Tube' 2016....
1 of the many reasons I want to do the full thing!!
My, what a delightful series of videos! I've been living in America for almost 43 years, but I've always loved England. As a graduate of the University of Bucharest, with a major in English, I always thought I would end up in England, but I was fortunate to be sponsored by an American. In an extended tour of your country, with our two boys, the older one said to me, "Dad, in this country, people talk like you!" It was the best compliment anybody could have paid to me! Thank you.
11:00 "The Tube nerd inside just had a mini... nerdgasm"
11:05 "Nerdgasm"
11:06 *immediately after realizing what's about to happen* "Don't write 'Nerdgasm' in the comments"
11:10 *Comes to the conclusion these comments are inevitable* "Yo- you can write 'Nerdgasm' in the comments"
Your videos are so boring but so very entertaining at the same time.
Rick Oneill that's a compliment ... right?
Geoff Marshall definitely!
The Emerson Extraction
Geoff Marshall if someone said do you want to watch trains and abandoned stations...the answer is no. Geoff is doing it...oh right yeah of course.
I'm exactly the same! Literally can't get enough of his videos and have no idea why
Like a remake of Ground Hog Day set on the District Line, in which the hero finds himself constantly getting off at Earls Court and taking a C3 bus, trying to escape...
I can't believe I did something on the tube before Geoff did - I was on a train that arrived at HSK Platform 4 earlier in the year. I also geeked out a little when it happened!
Used to have BR cross-country services from Scotland to Brighton stoping here until 2002. Was quite a handy way to get from one end of the country to the other without having to change termini.
This could as well have been titled "How disorganized is the District Line"
District and Northern lines are a complete mess.. they should really reorganize them... Because now one wrong move on Earl's Court or Camden Town and you gonna end up getting beaten up in a "wrong side of a town" (😁 jk, but it's still irritating really)
I have so much love for the level of enthusiasm you must have to get you out of bed at zero dark thirty in the morning to do these videos. Very good to watch - thanks :))))
It's impossible not to love Geoff and his dedication to the cause. Groundhog Day on the Olympia Line has the potential to be a classic art film!
"I've never arrived at platform 4 before" - that's got to be a euphemism ;)
the blokes monitoring the oyster card activity must be so confused when it pops up on the system that some guy is going rapidly between olympia and earl's court multiple times an hour
@6:38 Wonderful insight into an everyday challenge. The quirks of people's routine are fascinating!
You getting excited about arriving at platform 4 made me so happy, I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets excited over these things 😂
Most of us does not care which platform we are stopping but rare people like you appreciate it even more. Happy to see you looked so excited. :)
Wonderful video. Beautiful presentation and eccentric content and as a retired Underground worker loved every minute.
The line pretty much closed when a huge office block called Charles House just over the bridge shut. At its peak it probably had thousands of workers in it a lot of whom used the Olympia shuttle. I was one of them. Oh and they don't run the shuttle during GBBF, wish they did!
GBBF - I thought they did - I needed to get a friend there who was claustrophobic on the deep tube and it took a while. I suppose it could have been pre-2011.
When I was at GBBF 2017, the only option I thought I had was the Overground (going to Shephards Park for my hotel). I didn't know I had a District Line service that I could use.
Yes, it's very few events at Olympia which get the special service
Makes sense. Government Office for the South East as I recall - DHSS before that? I lived in W14 but worked for GOL - made visits to Charles House occasionally.
I remember going to a DHSS interview at Charles House back in the day. I was signing on at Hammersmith dole office. I still remember the address 200 Shepherds Bush Rd. Our local was the Brook Green Hotel
This is my local tube station! I wish they’d return the weekly all day service 😩
You "arrived" on platform 4. #GeekSpunk
😂
There is a line from Peter Griffin where he says the same expression.
Tfghfnfhy
I think you've just introduced a new word to my vocabulary
Controllers: look it’s Geoff! Let’s mess around with the trains to annoy him and his video will be way longer
While on holiday in London, we had the joy last Tuesday of randomly boarding an Olympia bound train at Westminster! We arrived at 18:37 and the train went out of service. After finding the labyrinth we walked to Barons Court to continue our planned journey to Chiswick Park, photographing the station in the golden hour and finding a nice dinner.
4:52 you said it, not me
Not as ridiculous as watching some bloke do it. 😀
Olympia used to be "Exhibition Service Only".
It was also the terminus of the Motorail service (British Rail) to Cornwall.
We used it for the latter service to get to our holiday destination, back in the 1970s.
The effort you put into these videos Geoff is so appreciated.
I’m glad you noticed this, I was in at London Film and Comic Con in July and I noticed this myself about the Olympia line as my nearest tube was KHS.
Oh yeah, by the way. Thanks for all your informative videos. I was travelling from Ireland on my own for the first time (I usually am with family) and I watched a load of your videos before I left. They were a great help, especially the heat on the tube ones.
Get it right. It’s HIGH STREET KENSINGTON.
your oyster usage data must be the stuff off nightmares - he went to olympia how many times!?!?!
Because of the exposition hall at Olympia, this is likely the tube station that most anyone who works in European book publishing is most familiar with, as the book fair at Olympia is the second largest in Europe and one of the largest in the world. Fun fact!
And possible other particular industries of trade and/or commerce
at 3:05 you we're about to press the button but you forgot that its useless.
Joeyyy Xavier technically it’s not useless. If the train is waiting on the platform for a long time, the door closes but the light at the bottom stays on which means you can press the button to open the doors.
@@whywhy6055 yeah I was going to say, on the District Line the button actually is useful because they often wait at a station for ages (like at Ealing Broadway) so the doors close to keep the inside temp stable
@@Lic021 Same thing with the Met at Baker Street.
I can remember using Olympia going to the boys and Girls Exhibition in 1964. There were daleks on the platform keeping the crowds in order! The line was only used for exhibitions back then.
geoff's card log:
Kensington Olympia - in
Earl's Court - out
Kensington Olympia - in
Earl's Court - out
Kensington Olympia - in
Earl's Court - out
Kensington Olympia - in
Earl's Court - out
Kensington Olympia - in
Earl's Court - out
Kensington Olympia - in
Earl's Court - out
Earl's Court - passed
HSK - out
+ bus fares
.....you do the hokey cokey and you turn around, that's what it's all about!
Nerdgasm! I love it. All ridiculous, but really interesting. I got up early to see the first scheduled London Overground trains arrive at my Local Station, Queens Road Peckham. They came in within a minute of each other. Thanks for posting.
If you are researching for a Tube challenge, you would be well advised to be aware that First and Last trains are published on posters, and so they "have" to run, the rest aren't and are subject to line controller's alterations in the best interests of the service.
Going to and fro between Olympia and Earl's Court is the sort of thing that would happen to me in a nightmare. Yet you did it voluntarily!
Interestingly, it is served more or less every 20 mins by mainline services. At the same time, it is a key strategic route in the London rail network.
Thanks for share it. Nice way to explore London. I ve visited London a couple of week each year since 2012. Greetings from Chile. 🇨🇱🇬🇧
Getting excited about Platform 4 at HSK! You really are a supertrackbasher!
Geoff. It is wonderful how you manage to make a video about journeys, primarily around a single station as entertaining as you do. Thank you.
Geoff kills me. At the 4:50 mark he realized why he should not have left his bed.
@ 6:25 I was in London as a tourist in December and I played this game and guessed right. I wish I knew people used the signals. I used the sounds the train makes when the driver moves the lever to release the brakes. Something I use a lot in Toronto.
I remember the Tube maps used to say "Exhibition Service Only" for this station. But that was long ago, when the District Line service to South Acton was still in being.
In my day I can remember being able to see R, COP, Q and C69 stock all at one time on the 4 Earls Court District platforms. And a battery loco hauled train if you were late going home. Now it is all uniform S stock. Eeee luxury lad !
I've watched this video a few times now. I have to say it's one of my favourites. Many quality moments
3:54 I really like those door chimes
I prefer the alliterative variant 'geek-gasm' (also not to be found in the OED), and I had several watching this and your other videos. Great fun.
The tube's least served station is the one nearest to where you're headed when there's (choose one or more of: repairs, weather problems, industrial action)
It’s amazing that I use the tube almost every other day, but then soo fascinated about his experience on the train and talking about the train..
Do you think the first driver reported in that Geoff was on board and TfL though "let's wind him up?"
That would imply that they had any idea what he was doing.
This is great, Nice seeing small underground stations. I did used to enjoy getting that service just for the hell of it when I was younger.
I don't usually comment but.....
NERDGASM
Geoff, you are delightful! (I'm from California, so I've never seen you before). I just booked what I thought was a nice short-stay flat near Olympia. (Thankfully, it's refundable.) I have been trying to figure out what the green dashes on the tube map mean in terms of service. I finally googled the station name and found your video. Now, I must decide whether to find a better-located place or resign myself to taking the bus to HSK. You have saved me infinite travel aggravation! Thanks.
Brilliant spur to keep the odd train or two that can be called into service wherever needed - like having a siding halfway along the line.
I'm glad Geoff done a video on this service because if it was upto me, i'd have had a lie in and just taken the few buses that go from Kensington High street to Olympia and there would be no video at all. Geoff taking one for the team as usual ; ).
Platform 4 at Northfields/South Ealing is another nerdgasm moment. I took the Piccadilly line everyday for seven years and I think it took me six to finally use it! Was a great day 😂
I remember visiting London and using this station daily; we rented a house nearby for a few weeks. This was 2008, so as mentioned in the video there was still frequent service. Those D stock trains were the emptiest and cleanest ones we saw during the whole trip; it felt like a personal shuttle. A great way to start a day.
This is just a Geoff thing to do haha love it
I will say London’s Tube has a very similar announcement style to New York City’s subway. I am going to be making a comparison video of Londons underground and New York City’s subway, thankyou for your work with these videos! They help a lot.
Another amazing vid!🚉Keep up the good work Geoff👍🏻
I’m sleep deprived just watching this.
I live near to Olympia and when my children were toddlers I used to take them for a train ride on the High Street Kensington shuttle, just to kill some time. (Essentially what Geoff is doing as an adult) They loved it 'cos it was nearly always empty. Happy days. BTW it used to always arrive at platform 4.
I have so much anxiety taking my bag off on the tube and this man goes and talks to a camera when he’s by himself TALK ABOUT BRAVE
Someone at Oyster is wondering "What the...?" with all the tap-ins. :)
Corey Reid their probably going ‘oh it’s Geoff ‘
Pretty much what happens with my travel history whenever i have a travelcard and time to waste 😂
The regular service that terminated in 2011 had not been running forever; when I was a child in the 80s I remember Tube maps that listed Olympia as having "exhibition service only". Olympia was also used by InterCity trains which came up from Brighton and went out to Reading before heading up to Birmingham and the north (I think there had been trains which went straight up the WCML and some that came in from Kent as well, but these had gone by the 90s). There was also a shuttle train from Clapham Junction which was one of the old Thumper trains (diesel) and was very occasional -- it only got popular when someone noticed that you could run the service straight through to Willesden Junction, which they did, and now it's always busy. It's a mystery why, when the West London line was being upgraded and new stations built in the 2000s, the District Line link was little enough used that they could switch it back to weekends and exhibition services only in 2011.
Nerdgasm.
Geoff definitely 'arrived' at platform 4!
When a man declares that the appearance of a District Line train is "Magical" you know he is happy in his hobby.
Used to use the service in the 60s to get to the Boys And Girls exhibition at Olympia. Also the Bertram Mills circus and fair in the winter months!
Yes! In those days days the Tube Map showed a little red triangle next to Olympia - and the legend stated "Exhibition Service Only"
I totally get your excitement about the platform arrival. Platform 1 at Leicester makes me happy when I arrive into it from north as it's predominantly a north bound platform for Sheffield/Nottingham trains or a terminating platform for trains coming from Birmingham and enter from southern end of the station so to get a train from the North into Platform 1 does put a smile on my face as it's a rare move
I have awful memories of doing the Tube Challenge and running into the station just as the last morning train of the day was leaving.
I love your nerdgasmness and tubegasmness as well. It is long ago that I lived in London.
I wish I lived in London so I could go mess around on the tube
Another video about trains I have loved every second of, and I am absolutely not into trains at all. Because you make your videos so well, and they are fascinating. Love this channel.
Check Jay Foreman's recent video on London trams. It's fascinating.
Another brilliant video - the editing is amazing
I love Earl's Court! That was our closest station on my honeymoon. The tardis also sells it!
This was really helpful thanks Geoff, I'm literally planning a Tube Challenge for Young Minds, a great charity which I hold close to my heart as someone who suffers from mental problems. Sadly I'm a uni student so I don't have enough money for even small hotels allowing me to start or finish in obvious places like Chesham or Heathrow, so annoyingly I'll have to start at Ealing Broadway which is naff and finish at Upminster which is slightly les naff but not great as I have family/friends nearby. As a result I can't get to all 270 stations, Olympia is one I'm missing currently but now I could try fit it in. I've managed to fit 268 of 270. I was never going for the record anyway and it's a bit fun that I'm hoping will raise decent money for charity I'm also extremely unfit so running is a minimum for me. Hence why i'm doing the Tube challenge not a marathon! Thanks though this vid has been a massive massive help, infact a lot of your vids are helping with the planning so many many thanks!!!!
"I'm gonna have a little nap"
*13 hours later*
Now that's a mood if I've ever seen one.
Rip Geoff's coffe
Love this station; I used to live (and grew up) just around the corner
I wonder who is more insane, him riding around or me watching it.
When Shepherd's Bush was closed for rebuilding in 2008 I used Olympia a lot. Of course it had a regular daytime service then. Came into platform 4 at HSK quite a few times.