Trains into Victoria + Victoria line chat

[ska invita]

My new commute takes me into Victoria station on a train and then on to a Victoria line tube

Its a whole new world!

I used to get trains into Victoria as a young teen but generally have avoided the station at all costs since then. Victoria line tube is a novelty as well.

My impressions so far:

The view around Battersea power station and before (basically the stretch from Brixton to Victoria) looks like a bombs gone off... its a weird wasteland... views from trains are often industrial but I think most of this is about to have yuppie flats built on it

Battersea Dogs Home looks very vulnerable...its a spot that mustve been dirt cheap back in the day, surrounded by rail lines, but taht doesnt seem o put off developers these days

I do get to go past my favourite building in London every day though, Bazalgetes Western Pumping Station

Victoria station is still a bit grim...jsut too rammed.

I dont really like the commuters who get on my train (Orpington)...miss my old commuters

The Pullman train looks amazing... it has its own platform in Victoria...

Victoria line is busy but theres a train every single minute! Its amazing! It has to be the single best serviced tube line in London. Yet to wait more than 60 seconds for a train. (apart from when there were some problems the other day)

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Aren't trains brilliant! There's a Victoria line! Brilliant! It goes to Walthamstow! Brilliant!

 

[ska invita]

any interesting Victoria facts @Puddy_Tat?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

any interesting Victoria facts @Puddy_Tat?

umm

how about

There's a Victoria Station in Manchester, and used to be one in Nottingham (Beechinged and now demolished and a crappy shopping centre built on the site )

Victoria Station was built in two halves - broadly speaking, the bit that Southern now go from was London, Brighton & South Coast Railway; the bit that South Eastern go from was London, Chatham & Dover Railway - although the latter's station was initially built jointly with the Great Western Railway who operated through services from Windsor to Victoria via Kensington Olympia and Clapham Junction (bear in mind this was before the circle line offered easier links to / from Paddington) - at that time the GWR still ran 'broad gauge' trains so some platforms at Victoria had mixed gauge track.

The LCDR was perennially skint being in fairly vigorous competition with the South Eastern Railway (the SER's network was the lines in to Charing Cross / Cannon Street) - the two companies entered in to joint management in 1899.

The LCDR had visions for through trains to the continent via a channel tunnel as far back as Victorian times. They had to settle for what became the Southern's most prestigious service, the 'Golden Arrow'

passengers had to transfer to a ship then a connecting train service to Paris.

The 'Night Ferry' from Victoria to Paris had sleeping carriages in which passengers stayed put and the carriages were taken on ship across the channel

Victoria was served by the only electric all Pullman train, the 'Brighton Belle' built by the southern railway in the 1930s - a set is under restoration (more here)

when the Brighton main line was electrified by the SR, the plan was express trains 'London to Brighton every hour, on the hour, in the hour'

What was thought to be Sherlock Holmes' last departure from England was on the continental boat train from Victoria (the journey that took him to the Reichenbach Falls)

the bus station out the front (not to be confused with the coach station down the road) had a control tower built in the 1920s so the chief inspector could keep an eye on things

will that do for now?

 

[ska invita]

will that do for now?

Good for now, but want more later!

*When you go into the tube from the station the ceiling panels are missing and there are wires hanging everywhere...has it been like that for long? I get the feeling it has...doesnt look like its about to be tidied up any time soon...

 

[ska invita]

My train home was cancelled today for "slippery rail conditions"...yet every other train ran, as did the next train on my line. I think they lied.

 

[MrSki]

The Victoria line is the only true underground line (Except the drain but that does not count.)

Pimlico is the only station that is not an interchange.

 

[Crispy]

Good for now, but want more later!

*When you go into the tube from the station the ceiling panels are missing and there are wires hanging everywhere...has it been like that for long? I get the feeling it has...doesnt look like its about to be tidied up any time soon...

The whole underground station is undergoing a major extension and refurb, so it will get tidied up soon.

Victoria - Transport for London

Everything in green in this diagram is new and under construction right now.

 

[ska invita]

ah brilliant - 9 new escalators - at the moment everyone seems funneled onto one - its not much fun...

will look forward to that... ETA: Completes in Summer 2018....only 3 years to go!

 

[19sixtysix]

The Victoria line is the only true underground line (Except the drain but that does not count.)

Why not the drain. It's more underground than the viccy line where the depot is outside.

 

[tim]

Aren't trains brilliant! There's a Victoria line! Brilliant! It goes to Walthamstow! Brilliant!

There will always be a place for you on the Vidtoria line Maurice.

 

[MrSki]

Why not the drain. It's more underground than the viccy line where the depot is outside.

Because it runs trains & not tubes.

 

[ska invita]

The Victoria line is the only true underground line (Except the drain but that does not count.)

Pimlico is the only station that is not an interchange.

according to wiki:
" It is one of two underground lines to run entirely below ground the other is Waterloo & City line"

 

[ska invita]

Re Victoria Line...
"The line has always been operated using automatic train operation, but all trains carry drivers"
does that mean the driver just sits there not doing anything?

 

[MrSki]

Double post

 

[MrSki]

according to wiki:
" It is one of two underground lines to run entirely below ground the other is Waterloo & City line"

As I said before the W & C line ( The drain) does not count cos it run normal trains underground rather than tube trains. It is not really a line either, more of a shuttle.

 

[ska invita]

Why is it called the drain and how are they not tube trains?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Because it runs trains & not tubes.

dunno really.

while the w&c was built by the london & south western railway, and was part of BR until the 90s, the current trains are near enough the same as those on the central line (BR tagged them on to a london underground order), and fairly sure it was built in the same way as the other tube (not to be confused with sub surface) lines



(gratuitous video of the last run of the 1940 trains on the w&c line)

interesting point re the victoria line - all of it was built as 'tube' unlike the others -

the stanmore end of the jubilee line was originally a metropolitan railway branch

the high barnet / mill hill east bits of the northern line were originally part of the great northern railway (i.e. from kings cross)

the bakerloo runs on main line suburban tracks north of queens park

eastern bits of the central line were originally part of the great eastern (i.e. from liverpool street) and bits towards the west were at least jointly great western suburban at one point.

what was (before heathrow) the hounslow west bit of the piccadilly line was part of the district railway

does that mean the driver just sits there not doing anything?

the 'train operator' opens and closes doors at stations, and starts the train. In 1967 (and until the mid 80s) all other Underground lines had guards on trains as well as the driver.

The trains have to be driven manually in depots, and of course the TO is responsible for dealing with anything that goes wrong. Some other underground lines now work on the same system.

 

[tim]

As I said before the W & C line ( The drain) does not count cos it run normal trains underground rather than tube trains.

It runs the same stock as the Central Line, no less tubish than the Victoria lines. Even when itwas run by BR it ran specially designed BR underground trains

 

[teuchter]

Which route does your train take into Victoria? If it stops at Orpington I guess you go via Herne Hill rather than via Denmark Hill?

 

[ska invita]

These are amazing...dont remember these at all...love the eyes on the front

 

[ska invita]

Which route does your train take into Victoria? If it stops at Orpington I guess you go via Herne Hill rather than via Denmark Hill?

yeah penge east, herne hill, victoria...

 

[ska invita]

this is a trip! 4 mins on...

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I have read somewhere that when the drain was part of the London & South Western, train crews were transferred to it as a punishment...

In BR days, I think train crews worked a roster that involved 'big' trains from Waterloo as well and a week at a time down the drain.

If things had gone differently in the early days, Waterloo (main) station would have been an intermediate stop and the LSWR's terminus would have been somewhere near Southwark Bridge, but finding and purchasing the land didn't happen so they decided to build the w&c instead.

(Not to be confused with the single track link from Waterloo (main) to Waterloo East which got closed some time round WW1 but the bridge over Waterloo Road is still in place for...)

 

[MrSki]

The Waterloo & City is colloquially known as the Drain. The origins of this name are somewhat obscure today. One theory is that this arose when the line was operated by train crew in a link that otherwise operated normal surface suburban routes. In comparison with working surface railways, the Waterloo & City consists of underground tube tunnels. Messroom conversation would include discussion of what turn a driver would be working tomorrow, and if it was a Waterloo & City turn of duty, it was an obvious metaphor to say that the driver was working "down the drain". Another theory is that it was given this name by the maintenance staff, because the tunnels, being under the river Thames, leak considerably allowing much water to enter. This water has to be continually pumped out. This water gives rise to a musty smell which provides a third theory for the name.

Uniquely among London's Underground lines, the Waterloo & City runs underground for its entire length, including both stations. (The Victoria Line comes closest to this, with the only non-underground section being that to the depot).

From here. I have not used it since it was British Rail and used to have the logos on the side so I presumed they were trains.

 

[teuchter]

yeah penge east, herne hill, victoria...

In that case you only travel on a short section of the South London Line which was the first main line stretch of railway in the UK to be electrified. It originally had overhead cables (if you look along the trackside you might see the odd chopped-off stump of the gantry structures) but was later converted to 3rd rail system like the rest of the south east.

As you come into Victoria, before passing Battersea Power station have a look to the left of the train and you might see Stewarts Lane Depot, which is where the Orient Express (technically the British Pullman) train, which you will occasionally see sitting in Victoria Station, sleeps.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

and at thread having got diverted due to waterloo so soon...

 

[MrSki]

and at thread having got diverted due to waterloo so soon...

Sorry. So the Victoria line is one of two lines that all the stations are underground & has only one station (Pimlico) that is not an interchange.

 

[ska invita]

Another thing is i really dont like the interior of my new train...no tables, and lots of seats are in 4s and 6s facing other people with very little leg room and lots of knee rubbing....the two seaters are really tight...whole thing is generally crap for people with long legs

 

[ska invita]

As you come into Victoria, before passing Battersea Power station have a look to the left of the train and you might see Stewarts Lane Depot, which is where the Orient Express (technically the British Pullman) train, which you will occasionally see sitting in Victoria Station, sleeps.

Another interesting building around there is this thing
now
Safestore Self Storage Battersea Ingate

Not the best photo... its massive...i wonder what it used to be...