Meanwhile, someone at TfL headquarters looks at journey patterns: "look, this person took all 3 Battersea Park Overground services in a day" and got told "Oh, that's Geoff Marshall, whenever someone does such random stuff, it's always him".
@@BellePullman on the contrary: there is a special "Geoff Marshall" alert that comes up on the BTP control room computers so they can brief any uninformed uniformed colleagues...
I can add an anecdotal tidbit to this- shortly after the Overground service started, and on unplanned excursions during the day to Battersea Park (when the line to Clapham Junction was shut due to points failures etc.), the onboard tannoy did not appear to have Battersea Park on the list of destinations so the annoucement would go "This is the london overground service to. The next station is."
Geoff should create a playlist for Videos like this called... "Geoff gets up at ridiculous times to go ride sections of railway that almost no-one uses, but that the train operators can't shutdown since it is a pain in the A**e, to put it through Parliament and get the permission to get close it"
@@fetchstixRHD there is a junction on those tracks west of Peckham Rye, where the train could turn left and head down through Dulwich to Tulse Hill. There are also crossovers to the Southeastern line in a couple of places, which would open up lots of destinations.
@@stephenholt4670: You're technically right to be fair, though by "alternative destinations" I meant more like how South of New Cross Gate there's Crystal Palace and West Croydon/Norwood Junction as alternative places you can terminate. Out of the alternatives though, I'd guess turning a set (or 4 per hour) would be a massive disruptive pain for other services? At least with Battersea there's nobody to get in the way of...
I've ended up at Battersea Park on overground a few times... usually if there is an issue only affecting Clapham they divert the service to Battersea Park often to keep the services to Surrey Quays running to schedule.
Yeah I posted the same before I saw your message. Has happened a couple of times to me! The passengers wearing headphones who miss the voice announcement get really confused!
@@BombsGaspan hahaha tbh its caught me out a couple of times! But luckily southern services use a different route into Clapham than the overground so its usually just a case of waiting 5mins and getting one of them to finish the journey.
Parliamentary Trains -- they are so silly, they are brilliant. As for people in zombie state who had no clue where the train was going --- I see this on TfL buses when the driver makes a "Bus on Diversion" announcement. One turns and there's pandemonium. "What's happening? OMG, where are we going?..."
1:55 This train every morning is the one that comes ECS from the depot, crosses over on to the southbound platform at Canada Water then runs ECS to Battersea Park (leaves Canada Water at 0541). There are also quite a few ECS journeys on a Sunday morning that run Dalston to Battersea Park for driver route knowledge retention.
so throwback to me trying to get to my hotel from battersea so I made my way to battersea park to get a southern train to clapham junction and use the overground to clapham high street (the rest doesn’t matter here) and was SHOCKED to see a train to Dalstan Junction! And yes, I took that train. (also this line goes directly above Queenstown Road)
Due to the british law that you have to let run at least a few trains a week to a stations otherwise it will be closed down, there are quite a lot of mini unknown services which are often a bit random. I wish Berlin would have secret services like this too I probably would ride them all. Love your videos Geoff especially when they are over London or other metropolitan areas. So keep up doing so with your awesome entertainment. Thanks.
Battersea Park would never get shut down due to their extremely frequent service on Southern. However, the Overground is required to maintain service to the station as well, so this random little deviation exists for that purpose.
Wow. Battersea Park was one of the two places I commuted home from (The office was pretty much equidistant between that and Queenstown Road), in 2005, and it was always a lottery which platform the first train would be on. I hadn’t realised the platform 1 line had closed.
I remember going to the Wandsworth Road to Kensington Olympia parliamentary train more than ten years ago when it departed around 16:00, I've never got round to doing this one but I've had the track when Southern used to operate it as The South London Line using Class 455s and 456s!
Oddly, it was at Battersea Park that I first heard of the proposed ‘Overground’ from a member of station staff. That must have been a good 15/16 years ago.
It's quite surprising that with all the redevelopment in the area the station has been left as such a relic. A new entrance at the north end could open directly into the new developments and make a connection to the Northern Line much easier.
@@lynnerobinson7038 Don't get me wrong, I love the old station with its odd staircases and passageways and its ingeniously sited main building. Adding new a entrance linking to the far ends of the platforms could in fact make the station fully accessible without damaging the existing fabric. It also occurs to me that if more Overground services are routed to Battersea Park we might see the closed Platform 1 reinstated.
Wandsworth Road is just one of many places where it would be great if the Overground was better connected to other lines in London. It's already an ok network but could be so much more useful if more interchanges were provided
I believe that Battersea Park to Wandsworth Road counts as an Out of Station Interchange. The main problem is that OSIs are not advertised, they don't have posters for them in the OSI stations, they don't have leaflets with the routes and they don't have markings on the pavement to help people find one station, from the other station. So, OSIs have turned into a "you have to be a nerd to know this" secret. That's not good, if we want to encourage people to abandon car dependency and use trains instead. We need a "yellow brick road" route to join them all up.
Very true. Points where the Underground, Overground and National Rail intersect are obvious hubs. Some progress has been made over the years - West Hampstead was one obvious opportunity which was neglected until the 1990s. Sometimes the problem is infrastructure with main line platforms having been removed - West Hampstead, Willesden Junction and Brixton being obvious examples, and it looks as if the same is true here. Clapham High Street would be a more useful interchange than Wandsworth Road as Southeastern passengers could transfer straight on to the Northern Line at Clapham North, as is already possible for the Overground.
I once stayed in an appartment near that station in 2018 and had to take the train from there to Victoria to get to central london. I thought I knew the Tube and Overground network fairly well, so I was utterly confused when I saw a sign saying therer was a limited Overground service. Thank you for clearing up that mistery and making me want to visit London again :)
In British Rail days when all the trains were either Blue or Blue and Grey, you did not have a clue what line they were running on or where they went. There is so much more variety of operators nowadays you would think you would know where you are and where you are going, but no - it is as confusing as ever! Thanks for uploading.
Geoff they had to discontinue the service to Victoria as they built across the junction to lengthen the platforms, I when I was working drove test trains into that platform as it still is a testing requirement, class 73’s but I believe the program which I also did class 37’s!
TfL said that it is likely that it will be shown on the upcoming 🚇Tube Map🗺 as it is within 🚶walking distance of the upcoming Battersea Power Station Northern Line Extension Station terminus & the nearby 🛥Riverboat Pier, and is also due to get ♿️Step-Free access soon!!
@@ttrjw The thing being that TfL said that (especially as the NLE soon opens) TfL will look to increasing passenger services to the Station in the future.
I guess it might well still be faster for people to get that Overground service to Battersea Park and change to go to Clapham than it would be for them to wait for the direct service, depending on the late night service pattern.
Once upon a time, Geoff, you caught this particular morning train (with a smug smile) in an attempt to travel to all the Overground stations in the fastest time possible. That was the most disillusioned I've ever seen you. Glad this was a much, much better experience.
As a kid I grew up round the corner from Clapham Hight St station, in fact we overlooked the goods yard that used to be there, (and saw the Golden Arrow go past at 11.03am every day - it's funny what you remember...). We often used to get the train to Battersea park for the funfair, or through into Victoria. It's a shame to see it so unused now
I used to use this station in the 2000s. I was working in wandsworth borough and often in lewisham borough too. That victoria to london bridge train was dead handy. And when the northern line was out I'd even end up swapping from battersea park to battersea bridge to struggle across south london. The days before all those route planner apps were such fun.
Thanks for the video. Brought memories flooding back. I used the South London Line in the early 70s between East Brixton ( long gone ) and Battersea Park. To be honest the service wasn't much better !! 2 coach clapped out non-corridor trains with single compartments that were dangerous late at night. East Brixton closed at 5:30pm and if your train was late.tough!! You went straight through to Denmark Hill!
Used that station a fair amount 5 years ago when visiting London, short term rentals were very reasonable in the area, and such a convenient hop to Victoria. With all the redevelopment going on then you'd think it'd have the passenger numbers.
Back in the late ‘70’s, l got the Victoria to Battersea Park every morning to go to Westminster College. I can’t even imagine what a pain it is to get there now.
I use to take this line between 2004-2010. There were loads more trains there back then but I use to think it was an odd little station, even back then
Of course, Battersea Park station has become the main terminus for all LO services over a few weekends over the past few years due to engineering work being carried out on the Clapham Junction line from Wandsworth Road. A few years ago, I was out and about in London with a one-day travelcard just to see where I ended up, and from Shadwell Overground station, I did notice a train to Battersea Park so I had to ride it as I think the last time I did that section of line was probably about 35-40 years ago when I was staying with my grandparents who lived in Clapham at the time.
Anyone remember before Overground, the old Victoria to London Bridge services? I did this c.1973, incredibly grubby 2-EPB's with, uniquely for the Southern, bars on the windows so you couldn't stick your head out and get decapitated on gawd knows what. It was the next level of run down and that's saying something for that era.
Used that many times to go from our depot, behind the carriage works and next to the ready mix concrete plant and gas works (old coking plant) to do a driver relief on one of our London sightseeing bus tours from Victoria. It was common for London suburban trains to have bars on the windows as clearances could be tight on some lines.
I got a train from Victoria to London Bridge in the early 70s. I think it was an old 4-SUB unit. In those days, London wasn't the beautiful gentrified city that it is today.
Yes, at one time in the 80's the service was reduced to peak hours only! They decided to "revamp" it with a half-hourly all day service again in around 1989/90,which lasted right up until the Overground conversion, still with 2-car trains a lot of the time, 456's (which later went to SWT/SWR) were often used,(a nod to the old EPB's) although 319's from Thameslink often substituted.
yes, i did it once on a 456, probably in the late 90s. hopefully the South London Line stations are better used now than they were then now they get a decent service. :)
With Battersea Park itself, several river piers and Victoria Station being so close, as well as the new developments at Nine Elms and Battersea power station, I have always thought this service would garner strong passenger numbers if it were frequent, but of course that would mean less services at Clapham Junction and tfl won't be having that any time soon
I remember Battersea Park Station. Regularly travelled from Victoria to Battersea Park (1971-1973) when attending South Bank Polytechnic in Battersea Park Road. Some trains stopped at Platform 1 and continued along the loop to London Bridge. Others stopped at Platform 2 and went joined the line to Clapham Junction and went to various destinations in south-west London
I lived in Battersea in 2002 and worked in Victoria so of course I walked to work (over the bridge- great journey. ) I can recall that the ticket machines refused to let you buy a victoria- battersea Park ticket. I guess dodgy people travelling as far as Brighton would buy one of these tickets just to get through the gate and do a runner at the other end. Really difficult for me when I wanted to travel home with heavy bags
Love this as I used to live (in the 50s and 60s) in the road next to Wandsworth Road Station, the gardens of the houses opposite backed on to the station, but I could see from our first floor lounge the Golden Arrow thundering over the bridge every day, and often took the train to Victoria or to London Bridge ...
In the Netherlands, where I live, used to be a secret station as well which was there but not on the map. The only one in the Netherlands! It was called Leeuwarden Achter de Hoven and there were three trains a day. One in the morning and two in the afternoon, serving the workers of the nearby factories. But due to lack of passengers and the use of longer trains which did not fit te platform size service was stopped in 2018.
I'm assuming that if you wanted to "do" the whole Overground in a day then you would have to factor in one of these three trains (easier to do the morning one and get it out of the way?)
3:42 Trains from London Bridge to London Victoria didn't use platform 1. It was used by trains going the other way. Platform 3 was extended to take longer trains, which blocked off the tracks for platforms 1 and 2 at the Victoria end.
A huge wait in that cafe! Reminds me of the Panama Canal Railway which runs from Panama City to Colon.Only 2 a day in one to Colon and then one back to Panama City.It gets you to Colon at about 0700 and doesn't go back until 1730 and apparently Colon is very dangerous with a high, very high, chance of being mugged if you leave the station so I hope that they have a good cafe in Colon Station!
I was caught out by a Parliamentary train at Sringfield, near Cupar. I was cycling and it was a crap windy day. Fife has lots of narrow busy roads so I was relieved when I stumbled across it as my original plan was to take an unsurfaced track through some woods to Ladybank. It looked half built. I had no idea it existed. There were cleanish coping stones on the platform edge but the rest was pink granite chips. I thought it was an old station in the process of getting reopened. There was a time table on a poster and I discovered there were only two trains a day and I was hours between them.
You're almost psychic. I was planning a journey to and from work a few weeks ago. Because of the floods I had to determine a route from west London to east London and vice-versa using google maps.When I hovered the cursor over Battersea Park it signified it as a National Rail station and also a London Overground station!!! Yet I was sure it was not indicated on any maps. (I do the Evening Standard's Tube Quiz on their puzzle page therefore I am a little familiar). Digging into search engines I discovered it was a limited service station and wondered when I would see a video from yourself explaining it all. Lo and behold.......... Thank you.
My suggestion for the next episode is the Willisden Juction Low Level device to/from the Highbury & Islington section of the Overground, also early morning and late nights
Yes I remember southern trains using those platforms, was the southern class 456 which was formed of 2 cars as I remember on the line. Both platforms then stood disused for a while even implementing signs saying platform not in use! Must of been about 10 years ago like you said. Not traveled to Battersea for a while as I use to work there. Great video :-) all the best
Overground trains are sent to Battersea park during some engineering works and also during some times of disruption. I've been to Battersea park at least twice on an Overground train. Easy enough to get a Sothern service to Clapham Junction.
This is incredible, I am huge Geoff fan and I was only in Battersea Park on Saturday trying to catch an overground train to Whitechapel! The story is we were just completing the Thames Path National Trail having started on 9th August and we diverted off and through exhaustion we just wanted lunch in the Masons Arms (Camra pub over the road) and for the first time on the walk to use public transport to get a train across to where staying in East London. It was only after purchasing the ticket did we realise too late that we had no way of ever getting to our destination and the only trains coming through were Southern ones. In our defence were incredibly fatigued and neither of us had ever used the London overground network.
A similar thing happens at my station in NY. The 5 train has three north bound destinations during rush hours. Sometimes people don't change trains properly or they forgot to check the destination. I see them all confused, they go straight across the lobby back to the downtown side. At least it's an easy fix more or less. The more stubborn people go out the turnstile, realize they are at the wrong station, and try to walk back. Because of the train depot in between, that's not happening. It's close to a mile and half walk for one station.
That happened to me with the 2 & 5 trains but in reverse, I was at Gun Hill Road and was going to take a 2 train, but since it was rush hour a 5 train appeared and I didn’t notice until it was on the opposite side of Manhattan that I wanted to be 😅
was running late for school a couple of weeks ago and I miraculously saw an overground train leaving battersea park at around 8am. My mind instantly flashedd back to this video and I managed to snap a quick photo before heading off to school
Superbly cranky. :) I'd kind of lost sight of that version of the Victoria - London Bridge service having gone missing, and with it the regular use of that section of track, although I knew something wasn't quite right around the Battersea spaghetti these days... didn't realise they'd ripped out a platform line.
One Saturday afternoon around six years ago I was loitering at Peckham Rye and an Overground train pulled into the station. An announcement was made that it was being diverted into Battersea Park. No reason was given as to why. Sadly I was heading elsewhere so I wasn't able to jump aboard. Interestingly the destination wasn't changed on the train's destination blinds (if that is the correct term).
I have an urge for a rural "hidden" stations series/episode but don't believe such stations exist outside urban centres. I just keep coming back for the Geoffisms and shots of rail/urban infrastructure of my former life!
4:25 "I've bailed at Wandsworth Road because there's an excellent breakfast cafe just down there...". Please do tell! In fact, that would make a GREAT video - travelling around the network showing us the best places for breakfast. With all your 5am and 6am starts (THANKS btw!) you must know loads of great places.
If you ever do Secrets Of The Merseyrail, at Bootle New Strand, head over to the end of the platform of Southport way, you can see old tracks and the old 3rd platform, also, Old entrance can be seen under the bridge at Marsh Lane, there is a sign clearly stating that where there is an oval shape entrance, where the station entrance itself is the "new entrance/exit".
At Queenstown Road, there is a bridge to the north of the station with southeastern, a bridge to the south with southern and the middle bridge for LO, as well as the SWML
Always wondered the story behind platform 1, never knew it was used for the south London line! Hopefully the overground will call at Battersea park more when the northern line extension is complete to provide more links if the extension is popular
I have finally done the Parlimentary Saturday only Northern service from Sheffield to Cleethorpes via Brigg. I got on the 1st of 3 services of the day and got off at Habrough as I wanted to ride on the Barton-on-Humber EMR Regional service.
The official name of the old Victoria to London Bridge line via Wandsworth Road is the INNER South London Line, the Victoria to London Bridge line via Crystal Palace is the OUTER South London Line. Before Thameslink took over services via West Sutton back in the 1990s, there was a Victoria to London Bridge line via Selhurst, West Sutton, Wimbledon and East Dulwich called the SUBURBAN South London Line.
We need a Top 5 of "Geoff got up stupidly early for a really early and very late train that's a bit random and looks the most tired"! 😉 Gotta love a paper time table! 😃👍
I stumbled across this on Google Maps where the map showed the Overground roundel next to the National Rail Double Arrow. In the past, they did show the BAK stop on the maps on the Overground trains, I saw this in a RUclips vid, but as Geoff pointed out, it's no longer there.
Lived by Wandsworth Road station and used the South London line into Victoria often. Does not go through now as extension of platform 3 meant removal of the junction at the Victoria end of the station.
The reason it does remain is primarily for what ever happens to the old power station development which when all sorted will likely see it reinstated. Problem with Victoria-Clapham Jnc is it is severely congested and dropping the Park out of the stopping services enables train windows to work efficiently because stuff behind a stopping train is also held back until block clears and Victoria's exit across the bridge is like a clogged artery and it does need another 4 lanes across the water and round and down onto the Clapham-Waterloo section to relieve the clogs, the cost of putting 4 lanes down even with just hanging side bridgework would cost a fortune and NR isn't going to do that anytime soon. There has been examination of the possibility of paring back the embankments on the Brighton side to enable another line or two and same on the Wimbledon side. The only way they can gain new track space between Clapham and Victoria approaches is to "hang" the extensions from the existing viaducting but that old hogs head past the Park won't be easily widened nor will the bridge crossing the Thames either.
there is a a once a day Nottingham to Bournemouth service early in the morning ran by a XC voyager which don't run to Nottingham only on that one service everyday I think I always used to catch that train it was helpful if your not wanting to change service you should try this
Be handy if the South Eastern service stopped at Clapham High Street for all interchanges , like the Northern Line. The Overground service is too infrequent and peaks is busy.
Clapham High Street used to be just plain "Clapham," but was renamed in the early 90's as too many people were confusing it with Clapham Junction! Direct services between the two have only been possible since the Overground service was introduced in 2012.
I was on the first of the re introduced weekly Stalybridge to Stockport service a few years ago and a woman boarded and after a few mins looked rather confused and asked the guard was the train going to Manchester Piccadilly. He smiled and said unfortunately you have boarded the only train of the week that does not go there and the only train for many years in fact up to that point. Bad luck.
I love that the ads that rolled for me were for the Battersea Reunited pet rehoming service., so Google Ads must refer to a video's key words when choosing what ads to roll.
Sorry if this has been mentioned already, but on Sunday 19th September, Battersea Park will be in use all day due to engineering- so you can arrive and depart at ease and during daylight.
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Meanwhile, someone at TfL headquarters looks at journey patterns: "look, this person took all 3 Battersea Park Overground services in a day" and got told "Oh, that's Geoff Marshall, whenever someone does such random stuff, it's always him".
Except that now at least one other person will do it after seeing Geoff's video
I wonder if they've just blocked data collection on his oyster card at this point!
@@geofftech2 Maybe we need your Oyster down in the Transport Museum at Covent Garden
@@hartstukken It should be in a glass cabinet one day.
@@BellePullman
on the contrary: there is a special "Geoff Marshall" alert that comes up on the BTP control room computers so they can brief any uninformed uniformed colleagues...
I can add an anecdotal tidbit to this- shortly after the Overground service started, and on unplanned excursions during the day to Battersea Park (when the line to Clapham Junction was shut due to points failures etc.), the onboard tannoy did not appear to have Battersea Park on the list of destinations so the annoucement would go "This is the london overground service to. The next station is."
Welcome to stage 1 of grief: Denial?
Titbit. Don't use the sad, censored American version.
it was on the announcements somewhere in this video
Timestamp? @@PGATProductions
@@mildlydispleased3221 The American spelling has been around longer than the British spelling, as usual.
I sense another mini series coming on Geoff - Top 10 breakfast cafe’s outside/near overground/underground stations 😁
Eight of them would be Prets ;)
1. Pret
2. Pret
3. Pret
4. Pret
5. Pret
6. Pret
7. Pret
8. Pret
9. Pret
10. You guessed it - Pret
This is the mini-series I crave.
@@hannahsquire2442 All the Prets, all of them...
Worth a try, content is wearing thin
Geoff should create a playlist for Videos like this called...
"Geoff gets up at ridiculous times to go ride sections of railway that almost no-one uses, but that the train operators can't shutdown since it is a pain in the A**e, to put it through Parliament and get the permission to get close it"
Catchy name for a playlist, I like it
@@fetchstixRHD there is a junction on those tracks west of Peckham Rye, where the train could turn left and head down through Dulwich to Tulse Hill. There are also crossovers to the Southeastern line in a couple of places, which would open up lots of destinations.
@@stephenholt4670: You're technically right to be fair, though by "alternative destinations" I meant more like how South of New Cross Gate there's Crystal Palace and West Croydon/Norwood Junction as alternative places you can terminate.
Out of the alternatives though, I'd guess turning a set (or 4 per hour) would be a massive disruptive pain for other services? At least with Battersea there's nobody to get in the way of...
“I’m Geoff Marshall”
“I catch these trains so that you don’t have to”!
Not that we would ever want to!
Would these trains exist if Geoff didn't look for them? That's what I want to know.
@@clangerbasher is this akin to the tree that falls in a forest with no-one around to hear it crash?
If the train co. said they run them, but DIDN'T actually, would anyone know? (Besides Geoff)
@@jillise2942 Yes........ :)
I've ended up at Battersea Park on overground a few times... usually if there is an issue only affecting Clapham they divert the service to Battersea Park often to keep the services to Surrey Quays running to schedule.
Yeah I posted the same before I saw your message. Has happened a couple of times to me! The passengers wearing headphones who miss the voice announcement get really confused!
@@BombsGaspan hahaha tbh its caught me out a couple of times! But luckily southern services use a different route into Clapham than the overground so its usually just a case of waiting 5mins and getting one of them to finish the journey.
Well done Geoff. For getting up really early recently for random train services. Loving the videos
Magic of youtube algorithm. Here I am, never been to London, or UK at all, but watching a guy explore lesser known corners of it's transport system.
Geoff is a true obsessive and I am grateful that he does those secret, little journeys for me to enjoy from the comfort of my computer desk.
Parliamentary Trains -- they are so silly, they are brilliant.
As for people in zombie state who had no clue where the train was going --- I see this on TfL buses when the driver makes a "Bus on Diversion" announcement. One turns and there's pandemonium. "What's happening? OMG, where are we going?..."
I'm just a kiwi learning more of your wonderful train services. Hello from New Zealand.
1:55 This train every morning is the one that comes ECS from the depot, crosses over on to the southbound platform at Canada Water then runs ECS to Battersea Park (leaves Canada Water at 0541). There are also quite a few ECS journeys on a Sunday morning that run Dalston to Battersea Park for driver route knowledge retention.
Absolutely baffles me how you know and remember all these fascinating facts
, really enjoyable to watch
so throwback to me trying to get to my hotel from battersea so I made my way to battersea park to get a southern train to clapham junction and use the overground to clapham high street (the rest doesn’t matter here) and was SHOCKED to see a train to Dalstan Junction! And yes, I took that train. (also this line goes directly above Queenstown Road)
Due to the british law that you have to let run at least a few trains a week to a stations otherwise it will be closed down, there are quite a lot of mini unknown services which are often a bit random. I wish Berlin would have secret services like this too I probably would ride them all. Love your videos Geoff especially when they are over London or other metropolitan areas. So keep up doing so with your awesome entertainment. Thanks.
Battersea Park would never get shut down due to their extremely frequent service on Southern. However, the Overground is required to maintain service to the station as well, so this random little deviation exists for that purpose.
Wow. Battersea Park was one of the two places I commuted home from (The office was pretty much equidistant between that and Queenstown Road), in 2005, and it was always a lottery which platform the first train would be on. I hadn’t realised the platform 1 line had closed.
I remember going to the Wandsworth Road to Kensington Olympia parliamentary train more than ten years ago when it departed around 16:00, I've never got round to doing this one but I've had the track when Southern used to operate it as The South London Line using Class 455s and 456s!
Oddly, it was at Battersea Park that I first heard of the proposed ‘Overground’ from a member of station staff. That must have been a good 15/16 years ago.
I travel via battersea park almost everyday and I never had any idea that the overground went there, great vid by the way
Let's hope that when the Northern line extension opens, Battersea Park might get more Overground services with the OOS interchange!
It's quite surprising that with all the redevelopment in the area the station has been left as such a relic. A new entrance at the north end could open directly into the new developments and make a connection to the Northern Line much easier.
That's a good point, hopefully it might become an OSI with the Northern Line.
@@danielferris7960 Its a listed building
@@lynnerobinson7038 Don't get me wrong, I love the old station with its odd staircases and passageways and its ingeniously sited main building. Adding new a entrance linking to the far ends of the platforms could in fact make the station fully accessible without damaging the existing fabric. It also occurs to me that if more Overground services are routed to Battersea Park we might see the closed Platform 1 reinstated.
That hoody is a Londonist throwback. Something magical about 2014-2016 era YT.
Wandsworth Road is just one of many places where it would be great if the Overground was better connected to other lines in London. It's already an ok network but could be so much more useful if more interchanges were provided
I believe that Battersea Park to Wandsworth Road counts as an Out of Station Interchange.
The main problem is that OSIs are not advertised, they don't have posters for them in the OSI stations, they don't have leaflets with the routes and they don't have markings on the pavement to help people find one station, from the other station.
So, OSIs have turned into a "you have to be a nerd to know this" secret. That's not good, if we want to encourage people to abandon car dependency and use trains instead. We need a "yellow brick road" route to join them all up.
Very true. Points where the Underground, Overground and National Rail intersect are obvious hubs. Some progress has been made over the years - West Hampstead was one obvious opportunity which was neglected until the 1990s. Sometimes the problem is infrastructure with main line platforms having been removed - West Hampstead, Willesden Junction and Brixton being obvious examples, and it looks as if the same is true here. Clapham High Street would be a more useful interchange than Wandsworth Road as Southeastern passengers could transfer straight on to the Northern Line at Clapham North, as is already possible for the Overground.
@@iankemp1131 What if there was a southeastern connection to Clapham Junction?
I once stayed in an appartment near that station in 2018 and had to take the train from there to Victoria to get to central london. I thought I knew the Tube and Overground network fairly well, so I was utterly confused when I saw a sign saying therer was a limited Overground service.
Thank you for clearing up that mistery and making me want to visit London again :)
In British Rail days when all the trains were either Blue or Blue and Grey, you did not have a clue what line they were running on or where they went. There is so much more variety of operators nowadays you would think you would know where you are and where you are going, but no - it is as confusing as ever! Thanks for uploading.
Geoff they had to discontinue the service to Victoria as they built across the junction to lengthen the platforms, I when I was working drove test trains into that platform as it still is a testing requirement, class 73’s but I believe the program which I also did class 37’s!
TfL said that it is likely that it will be shown on the upcoming 🚇Tube Map🗺 as it is within 🚶walking distance of the upcoming Battersea Power Station Northern Line Extension Station terminus & the nearby 🛥Riverboat Pier, and is also due to get ♿️Step-Free access soon!!
Really? With three services a day that's asking for trouble...
@@ttrjw The thing being that TfL said that (especially as the NLE soon opens) TfL will look to increasing passenger services to the Station in the future.
So many emojis jeez
Thank you very much. I would've not understand the comment without the emojis.
I have done this Overground service! I did it in around December 2019, and i took the early service from Battersea to Dalston!
Its these stuff you never know 😀
And epic to see
I guess it might well still be faster for people to get that Overground service to Battersea Park and change to go to Clapham than it would be for them to wait for the direct service, depending on the late night service pattern.
It could be, but many trains from Victoria to Clapham Junction do not stop at Battersea Park.
They might also be wanting to go further than Clapham, on the train that they pick up at Battersea Park.
it used to be but the most recent timetable change means its about a 19 minute wait at battersea (used to be 6 mins before may)
Once upon a time, Geoff, you caught this particular morning train (with a smug smile) in an attempt to travel to all the Overground stations in the fastest time possible. That was the most disillusioned I've ever seen you. Glad this was a much, much better experience.
As a kid I grew up round the corner from Clapham Hight St station, in fact we overlooked the goods yard that used to be there, (and saw the Golden Arrow go past at 11.03am every day - it's funny what you remember...). We often used to get the train to Battersea park for the funfair, or through into Victoria. It's a shame to see it so unused now
I used to use this station in the 2000s. I was working in wandsworth borough and often in lewisham borough too. That victoria to london bridge train was dead handy. And when the northern line was out I'd even end up swapping from battersea park to battersea bridge to struggle across south london. The days before all those route planner apps were such fun.
Thanks for the video. Brought memories flooding back. I used the South London Line in the early 70s between East Brixton ( long gone ) and Battersea Park. To be honest the service wasn't much better !! 2 coach clapped out non-corridor trains with single compartments that were dangerous late at night. East Brixton closed at 5:30pm and if your train was late.tough!! You went straight through to Denmark Hill!
7:24 can we just congratulate Geoff on that amazing transition?! 😜
1:43 good timing Geoff, one take.
Oh boy, before you uttered a word I recognised that is the station I used as a kid in the late 60's onwards.
Used that station a fair amount 5 years ago when visiting London, short term rentals were very reasonable in the area, and such a convenient hop to Victoria. With all the redevelopment going on then you'd think it'd have the passenger numbers.
Back in the late ‘70’s, l got the Victoria to Battersea Park every morning to go to Westminster College.
I can’t even imagine what a pain it is to get there now.
I use to take this line between 2004-2010. There were loads more trains there back then but I use to think it was an odd little station, even back then
Of course, Battersea Park station has become the main terminus for all LO services over a few weekends over the past few years due to engineering work being carried out on the Clapham Junction line from Wandsworth Road. A few years ago, I was out and about in London with a one-day travelcard just to see where I ended up, and from Shadwell Overground station, I did notice a train to Battersea Park so I had to ride it as I think the last time I did that section of line was probably about 35-40 years ago when I was staying with my grandparents who lived in Clapham at the time.
That old South London Line train was quite useful at times when I lived near Battersea Park and Queenstown Road. It was always at platform 1.
Anyone remember before Overground, the old Victoria to London Bridge services? I did this c.1973, incredibly grubby 2-EPB's with, uniquely for the Southern, bars on the windows so you couldn't stick your head out and get decapitated on gawd knows what. It was the next level of run down and that's saying something for that era.
Used that many times to go from our depot, behind the carriage works and next to the ready mix concrete plant and gas works (old coking plant) to do a driver relief on one of our London sightseeing bus tours from Victoria.
It was common for London suburban trains to have bars on the windows as clearances could be tight on some lines.
I got a train from Victoria to London Bridge in the early 70s. I think it was an old 4-SUB unit. In those days, London wasn't the beautiful gentrified city that it is today.
Yes, at one time in the 80's the service was reduced to peak hours only! They decided to "revamp" it with a half-hourly all day service again in around 1989/90,which lasted right up until the Overground conversion, still with 2-car trains a lot of the time, 456's (which later went to SWT/SWR) were often used,(a nod to the old EPB's) although 319's from Thameslink often substituted.
yes, i did it once on a 456, probably in the late 90s. hopefully the South London Line stations are better used now than they were then now they get a decent service. :)
@@NexusFounder Yes, I think the footfall has gone through the roof since the Overground took over!!
With Battersea Park itself, several river piers and Victoria Station being so close, as well as the new developments at Nine Elms and Battersea power station, I have always thought this service would garner strong passenger numbers if it were frequent, but of course that would mean less services at Clapham Junction and tfl won't be having that any time soon
Clapham Junction wouldn’t lose any passengers whatsoever, infact it would increase due to the increased interest in the new developments.
I remember Battersea Park Station. Regularly travelled from Victoria to Battersea Park (1971-1973) when attending South Bank Polytechnic in Battersea Park Road. Some trains stopped at Platform 1 and continued along the loop to London Bridge. Others stopped at Platform 2 and went joined the line to Clapham Junction and went to various destinations in south-west London
I lived in Battersea in 2002 and worked in Victoria so of course I walked to work (over the bridge- great journey. ) I can recall that the ticket machines refused to let you buy a victoria- battersea Park ticket. I guess dodgy people travelling as far as Brighton would buy one of these tickets just to get through the gate and do a runner at the other end. Really difficult for me when I wanted to travel home with heavy bags
Fascinating that these lines are still there and interesting to follow you around
These are fascinating oddities of the railway. Great video Geoff. Keep up the good work.
Love this as I used to live (in the 50s and 60s) in the road next to Wandsworth Road Station, the gardens of the houses opposite backed on to the station, but I could see from our first floor lounge the Golden Arrow thundering over the bridge every day, and often took the train to Victoria or to London Bridge ...
In the Netherlands, where I live, used to be a secret station as well which was there but not on the map. The only one in the Netherlands! It was called Leeuwarden Achter de Hoven and there were three trains a day. One in the morning and two in the afternoon, serving the workers of the nearby factories. But due to lack of passengers and the use of longer trains which did not fit te platform size service was stopped in 2018.
I'm assuming that if you wanted to "do" the whole Overground in a day then you would have to factor in one of these three trains (easier to do the morning one and get it out of the way?)
@Ng John and it's a classic video too, but not in the way you'd expect. ruclips.net/video/oHoLE2srqrQ/видео.html
3:42 Trains from London Bridge to London Victoria didn't use platform 1. It was used by trains going the other way. Platform 3 was extended to take longer trains, which blocked off the tracks for platforms 1 and 2 at the Victoria end.
A huge wait in that cafe! Reminds me of the Panama Canal Railway which runs from Panama City to Colon.Only 2 a day in one to Colon and then one back to Panama City.It gets you to Colon at about 0700 and doesn't go back until 1730 and apparently Colon is very dangerous with a high, very high, chance of being mugged if you leave the station so I hope that they have a good cafe in Colon Station!
I was caught out by a Parliamentary train at Sringfield, near Cupar. I was cycling and it was a crap windy day. Fife has lots of narrow busy roads so I was relieved when I stumbled across it as my original plan was to take an unsurfaced track through some woods to Ladybank. It looked half built. I had no idea it existed. There were cleanish coping stones on the platform edge but the rest was pink granite chips. I thought it was an old station in the process of getting reopened. There was a time table on a poster and I discovered there were only two trains a day and I was hours between them.
You're almost psychic. I was planning a journey to and from work a few weeks ago. Because of the floods I had to determine a route from west London to east London and vice-versa using google maps.When I hovered the cursor over Battersea Park it signified it as a National Rail station and also a London Overground station!!! Yet I was sure it was not indicated on any maps. (I do the Evening Standard's Tube Quiz on their puzzle page therefore I am a little familiar). Digging into search engines I discovered it was a limited service station and wondered when I would see a video from yourself explaining it all. Lo and behold.......... Thank you.
I remember that from the video in londonist 'secrets of the overground part 2'
That breakfast cafe you mention, is the cafe from the Take on Me video. It's my local cafe, I went there regularly pre-covid.
My suggestion for the next episode is the Willisden Juction Low Level device to/from the Highbury & Islington section of the Overground, also early morning and late nights
Yes I remember southern trains using those platforms, was the southern class 456 which was formed of 2 cars as I remember on the line. Both platforms then stood disused for a while even implementing signs saying platform not in use! Must of been about 10 years ago like you said. Not traveled to Battersea for a while as I use to work there. Great video :-) all the best
Loving how Geoff gets meta with the scene transitions 😂
Petition to add this to the Tube Map with appropriate limited-service markings.
Thanks, Geoff. Another excellent video. Your adventures look so fun 😁
Overground trains are sent to Battersea park during some engineering works and also during some times of disruption. I've been to Battersea park at least twice on an Overground train. Easy enough to get a Sothern service to Clapham Junction.
This is incredible, I am huge Geoff fan and I was only in Battersea Park on Saturday trying to catch an overground train to Whitechapel! The story is we were just completing the Thames Path National Trail having started on 9th August and we diverted off and through exhaustion we just wanted lunch in the Masons Arms (Camra pub over the road) and for the first time on the walk to use public transport to get a train across to where staying in East London. It was only after purchasing the ticket did we realise too late that we had no way of ever getting to our destination and the only trains coming through were Southern ones. In our defence were incredibly fatigued and neither of us had ever used the London overground network.
A similar thing happens at my station in NY. The 5 train has three north bound destinations during rush hours. Sometimes people don't change trains properly or they forgot to check the destination. I see them all confused, they go straight across the lobby back to the downtown side. At least it's an easy fix more or less.
The more stubborn people go out the turnstile, realize they are at the wrong station, and try to walk back.
Because of the train depot in between, that's not happening. It's close to a mile and half walk for one station.
That happened to me with the 2 & 5 trains but in reverse, I was at Gun Hill Road and was going to take a 2 train, but since it was rush hour a 5 train appeared and I didn’t notice until it was on the opposite side of Manhattan that I wanted to be 😅
was running late for school a couple of weeks ago and I miraculously saw an overground train leaving battersea park at around 8am. My mind instantly flashedd back to this video and I managed to snap a quick photo before heading off to school
Superbly cranky. :) I'd kind of lost sight of that version of the Victoria - London Bridge service having gone missing, and with it the regular use of that section of track, although I knew something wasn't quite right around the Battersea spaghetti these days... didn't realise they'd ripped out a platform line.
One Saturday afternoon around six years ago I was loitering at Peckham Rye and an Overground train pulled into the station. An announcement was made that it was being diverted into Battersea Park. No reason was given as to why. Sadly I was heading elsewhere so I wasn't able to jump aboard. Interestingly the destination wasn't changed on the train's destination blinds (if that is the correct term).
I think that some more Battersea Park trains are needed, like 1 Battersea train after 3 Clapham trains (peak hours) and 1 after 5 (non-peak).
I have an urge for a rural "hidden" stations series/episode but don't believe such stations exist outside urban centres.
I just keep coming back for the Geoffisms and shots of rail/urban infrastructure of my former life!
4:25 "I've bailed at Wandsworth Road because there's an excellent breakfast cafe just down there...".
Please do tell! In fact, that would make a GREAT video - travelling around the network showing us the best places for breakfast. With all your 5am and 6am starts (THANKS btw!) you must know loads of great places.
This must be the nerdiest channel on RUclips, but I love it! :)
If you ever do Secrets Of The Merseyrail, at Bootle New Strand, head over to the end of the platform of Southport way, you can see old tracks and the old 3rd platform, also, Old entrance can be seen under the bridge at Marsh Lane, there is a sign clearly stating that where there is an oval shape entrance, where the station entrance itself is the "new entrance/exit".
At Queenstown Road, there is a bridge to the north of the station with southeastern, a bridge to the south with southern and the middle bridge for LO, as well as the SWML
I go there everyday for work, and I've been hoping for a video about this ever since 😅
Brilliant video, wouldn’t mind doing that journey on London Overground
To be fair, those Overground trains go everywhere. I once saw one in my local station Caterham in zone 6
Always wondered the story behind platform 1, never knew it was used for the south London line! Hopefully the overground will call at Battersea park more when the northern line extension is complete to provide more links if the extension is popular
I have finally done the Parlimentary Saturday only Northern service from Sheffield to Cleethorpes via Brigg. I got on the 1st of 3 services of the day and got off at Habrough as I wanted to ride on the Barton-on-Humber EMR Regional service.
I love these series of videos, from Kensington Olympia all the way to today
Having only ridden on the Overground once in my life this is still somehow interesting! Great video 👍
The official name of the old Victoria to London Bridge line via Wandsworth Road is the INNER South London Line, the Victoria to London Bridge line via Crystal Palace is the OUTER South London Line. Before Thameslink took over services via West Sutton back in the 1990s, there was a Victoria to London Bridge line via Selhurst, West Sutton, Wimbledon and East Dulwich called the SUBURBAN South London Line.
I love your "angled" shots.
We need a Top 5 of "Geoff got up stupidly early for a really early and very late train that's a bit random and looks the most tired"! 😉
Gotta love a paper time table! 😃👍
I stumbled across this on Google Maps where the map showed the Overground roundel next to the National Rail Double Arrow. In the past, they did show the BAK stop on the maps on the Overground trains, I saw this in a RUclips vid, but as Geoff pointed out, it's no longer there.
Lived by Wandsworth Road station and used the South London line into Victoria often. Does not go through now as extension of platform 3 meant removal of the junction at the Victoria end of the station.
Lots of people used to use that station to get to Battersea Fun Fair.
I used to get on at West Croydon.
A big thankyou, Geoff, for the WHY? explanation.
The reason it does remain is primarily for what ever happens to the old power station development which when all sorted will likely see it reinstated. Problem with Victoria-Clapham Jnc is it is severely congested and dropping the Park out of the stopping services enables train windows to work efficiently because stuff behind a stopping train is also held back until block clears and Victoria's exit across the bridge is like a clogged artery and it does need another 4 lanes across the water and round and down onto the Clapham-Waterloo section to relieve the clogs, the cost of putting 4 lanes down even with just hanging side bridgework would cost a fortune and NR isn't going to do that anytime soon.
There has been examination of the possibility of paring back the embankments on the Brighton side to enable another line or two and same on the Wimbledon side. The only way they can gain new track space between Clapham and Victoria approaches is to "hang" the extensions from the existing viaducting but that old hogs head past the Park won't be easily widened nor will the bridge crossing the Thames either.
there is a a once a day Nottingham to Bournemouth service early in the morning ran by a XC voyager which don't run to Nottingham only on that one service everyday I think I always used to catch that train it was helpful if your not wanting to change service you should try this
I’ve some annual leave coming up and I’m so going to ride those 3 trains. Thanks again for bringing these little known trains to our attention.,
I think this might be current fave GM video. I’m so going to do these “secret “ services very soon and might check out that cafe too .
Be handy if the South Eastern service stopped at Clapham High Street for all interchanges , like the Northern Line. The Overground service is too infrequent and peaks is busy.
3:04 I was wondering what super-secret station Battersea Park was linking to... and then I realised it was a staple.
I used to travel into and out of Battersea Park along the south London line on my way to and from school from 1961 to 1968.
Clapham High Street used to be just plain "Clapham," but was renamed in the early 90's as too many people were confusing it with Clapham Junction! Direct services between the two have only been possible since the Overground service was introduced in 2012.
I was on the first of the re introduced weekly Stalybridge to Stockport service a few years ago and a woman boarded and after a few mins looked rather confused and asked the guard was the train going to Manchester Piccadilly. He smiled and said unfortunately you have boarded the only train of the week that does not go there and the only train for many years in fact up to that point. Bad luck.
OF COURSE I HAD TO GO TO BATTERSEA PARK THE SAME DAY I SAW THIS VIDEO
I love that the ads that rolled for me were for the Battersea Reunited pet rehoming service., so Google Ads must refer to a video's key words when choosing what ads to roll.
Sorry if this has been mentioned already, but on Sunday 19th September, Battersea Park will be in use all day due to engineering- so you can arrive and depart at ease and during daylight.
Thank you for your videos. Really interesting and informative as usual.
Battersea Park Station on a certain web browser's "Maps" service is marked both with the National Rail arrows and an Orange Roundel, interestingly.