The Freedom Pass Explained

My friend, and regular visitor Debra, has asked several questions regards the Freedom Pass and my journeys using it. I decided that to answer those questions and give a full understanding, a post was needed. This is going to get a little complicated in places so please bear with me!

The first question – “Are these short distances you travel between stations?” – is probably the most difficult to answer without context. So to give an overview of the potential distances I think we need to envisage the area covered by the pass. Broadly speaking, this is London and its Suburbs within the M25 Ring Road…

Image from Google Maps

…That yellow line forming a rough circle through the green areas around London. Ignore the smaller circle that you can see inside the built up areas – That is the North and South Circular roads and our pass takes us a lot further out than that!

Now we need to talk about ticketing because that plays a key role in where our pass can take us. There has been a strong desire to get away from paper tickets on public transport for many years. There are many reasons for this ranging from convenience for the travelling public to political machinations. In 2003 Transport for London introduced the Oyster Card for travel within London on Buses, Underground, Tramlink and the Docklands Light Railway. It was subsequently expanded to include travel on national rail services too. Pricing for journeys is based on a system of concentric zones. The area initially covered has expanded over the years – this is the current zone map…

Map courtesy of Transport for London and available on the TfL website

In general the Oyster Zones form the basis of where the Freedom Pass can be used with a few anomalies. This is the simplified map showing the route validity for the Freedom Pass…

Map courtesy of Transport for London and available on the TfL website

Now to answer that question – short distances? In comparison with getting on a train to go to Scotland these are short distances. But to give a sense of scale using some London Overground routes as an example… Watford Junction to London Euston = 17 miles; Stratford to Clapham Junction or Richmond = 17 miles; Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside = 14 miles give or take. A trip from Watford Junction down to East Croydon using London Overground and Southern services would be just over 25 miles.

On any day out I will usually be travelling sections of different routes to get to my destination, so none of the individual distances will be long. Lets do the trip from East Finchley to Harrow & Wealdstone as I did it last Tuesday… Northern Line to Archway = 2 miles. Then London Overground from Upper Holloway to Gospel Oak = 1 mile; Gospel Oak to Willesden Junction = 4.5 miles. Finally, Bakerloo Line from Willesden Junction to Harrow & Wealdstone = 5.75 miles – 13.25 miles total not including walking.

“Are they commuter trains, primarily?” – Yes. Although the term local trains is probably more appropriate to the national rail services I use as they run throughout the day rather than at peak times only. They usually call at all stops along the route.

“Light Rail” – No and Yes 🤣 The Docklands Light Railway speaks for itself…

…The Tramlink is Light Rail too…

…especially when it gets away from the roads😅 I guess you could view the London Underground as a form of Light Rail…

…but in reality it’s the worlds oldest ‘Rapid Transit’ and incorporates companies with mainline pretentions (The Metropolitan Railway for example) 😎👍

Additionally, the pass is valid on all London buses and on local bus routes throughout the UK!

Finally – the anomalies! I can travel to Watford outside of the Oyster Zones because it is served by London Overground (whose trains I must use). The same is true of Cheshunt, Amersham and Epping – all outside the M25 but served by London Overground, the Metropolitan Line and the Central Line respectively. When it opened, The Elizabeth Line introduced the biggest anomaly of all – I can now travel from Shenfield in Essex all the way across central London and out to Reading in Berkshire. That’s over 60 miles!

And in future, who knows? The possibility of Transport for London taking over the Thameslink routes has been mooted before – Cambridge, Bedford and Peterborough through to Brighton would become a possibility were that to happen😅 Never say never🤣

Freedom Pass Project – Update

Circumstances often play a role in what we decide to do on any given day. Wednesday was a strike day on the railways. Friday was also a planned strike day. Thursday looked like a washout from a trainspotting point of view with many routes recovering from the previous day. I looked at the, very handy, Transport for London website to see what was running reliably. Most National Rail services were disrupted with no service first thing. But those lines not being operated by government controlled companies were running a good service. These included London Overground and C2C. I decided that I’d knock out one of the Overground termini in the form of Barking Riverside and then see where the day took me.

I travelled to Barking via the Northern Line to Bank and the Docklands Light Railway to Limehouse. Here’s 357034 arriving at Limehouse with a Fenchurch Street service…

…As you can see it was a grey day and quite chilly. From Limehouse, I caught a Grays train out to Barking.

Barking Riverside opened in July last year and is part of the London Overground network served by trains from Gospel Oak. I rode on 710267 for the short hop to the new station. It makes quite an imposing view in a utilitarian sort of way…

…It sits beside the Thames and connects with river boat services during morning and evening peaks on weekdays and all day at weekends.

When I’m on one of these largely unscripted outings, I sometimes see something that draws me away from the trains for a while – In this case, some trucks along River Road which leads upstream towards Barking Creek. I photographed this nice DAF XG+ belonging to M.J.Griffiths…

…I also took a look downriver and photographed a dredger at Hanson’s Dagenham aggregates facility…

Having cleared off Barking Riverside for my Freedom Pass Project, I now had to choose what to do with the rest of the day. I decided to head back to Liverpool Street and pick up one of the Overground services from there serving Cheshunt, Chingford or Enfield Town – I need all three termini. So it was back on the Overground to Wanstead Park and a short walk across to Forrest Gate to pick up an Elizabeth Line train to Stratford…

…riding a Class 345 unit. I took a short break at Stratford to grab some lunch before continuing my journey into Liverpool Street on a Greater Anglia service. now fate took a hand in the day – I was thinking of going to Chingford but I was just about to miss that train so I decided to take the next Overground service which happened to be going to Enfield Town.

It’s quite a slow trip with lots of stops along the way but I finally made it to Enfield Town station…

…and once more faced a dilemma – go back to Edmonton Green and pick up a Cheshunt Train or go even further back to Bethnal Green for a Chingford service. I did… Neither!

Remembering that I need to knock off Crews Hill on the Great Northern line to Stevenage, I decided instead to walk across Enfield from ‘Town station to ‘Chase station. Anyone who read about my Ewell West to Ewell East adventure might feel a sense of trepidation but Enfield is almost home territory for me and I know exactly where both stations are😎 So I set off across town and took some bus shots along the way…

…as well as photographing this pair of Swans and their Cygnets on The New River…

…This is a man-made watercourse that was built to provide fresh water to London and still serves that purpose.

At Enfield Chase I was lucky enough to catch a late running Stevenage service…

…delayed when the scheduled driver was unable to get to work on time due to the knock on effect of the previous day’s industrial action – The relief driver was apologetic for the late running. For me the effect was less waiting at Crews Hill for a train back. As you can see Crews Hill station is not exactly brimming with interest🤣…

…But if you’re a gardener or looking for pets – it’s ideally located for a host of nurseries and pet vendors! I have shopped here before but I usually come by car😅

Looking north from Crews Hill you can see the trucks on the M25. What’s that coming?..

…It’s 717004, one of the last two of the class that I need to see and my ride back to Alexandra Palace where I’ll get a train to New Southgate before catching a bus home. A very enjoyable trip out and three more termini cleared off my Freedom Pass Project list😎👍

Train Logging – How’s it Going?

I mentioned Trainlogger back in a February Freedom Pass Project post. I started my new train collection mid-month and I have been out on a lot of trips since then. After a good start in February and March, I slacked a bit in April as industrial action took its toll on my enthusiasm. But I’ve bounced back in May and all the chasing trains is really driving me to get out there with my camera and do some exercise into the bargain. The end of May seems like a good time to do a quick resume. Here’s a shot from Trainlogger showing my recent trips…

…As you can see, I’ve pushed on after the slump in April😎

Trainspotting, for those unsure of what the hobby is about, entails trying to see every member of every class of train. That’s a simplification but it serves for now. Clearly there are some boundaries to what is possible – trying to see every train globally would probably be physically and financially impossible, so most spotters will limit their collection to the trains in their own country. I did see all the UK’s locomotives once, a long time ago in what seems like another lifetime! But times change and many of those locomotives have long since gone to the great depot in the sky. I have to take a realistic approach to my modern collection. I doubt that I could see all the current trains – Age is against me in that regard. So I’m concentrating currently on what I can get around the London area. Later this year I hope to expand my search area by going a bit further afield with trips to the Midlands, Southwest and East Anglia. However, I digress. Here’s some highlights so far.

Clearing off a class is something we like to do. I’m frustratingly close with the Class 378’s and 707’s – wanting one of each of those classes respectively. The first class I did clear were the 803’s – I did that on 15th of May at Harringay when 803003 passed through. I was so busy checking progress on the other classes that I didn’t notice until a few days later😅 Here’s 803001 approaching New Southgate on the 11th…

…There are some other classes where I’m close to completion – I need two 717’s and I’m over 90% on the 700’s. The 345’s, 376’s and 450’s are close behind with all three classes being over 80% complete.

Freight trains often attract my camera. If you looked at my photos you could be forgiven for thinking that the only freight loco’s are class 66. It’s fair to say that the other types have become rare in London – some, like the Class 60’s were not common when I first returned to train photography in 2012 and that hasn’t changed – I saw my first one for this new collection when I visited Lewisham…

…60029 sneaking through while I was on another platform – I’ll have to plan a trip to try and catch another one😅 Class 70’s used to be regulars on certain trains but that seems to have changed too. I only saw my first one of those on the 22nd and photographed 70014 heading through Harrow & Wealdstone on Tuesday…

Loco hauled passenger trains are rare in the UK now. A small group of Class 91’s soldier on hauling trains up the East Coast mainline where the Azuma’s (Class 800) now reign. LNER, recognising the historical significance, have recently repainted those not wearing special liveries into a revamped version of their original paint scheme – a dark maroon replacing the dark grey…

…91114 accelerating through New Southgate.

Time doesn’t stand still on the railway – New trains are ordered and eventually enter service. TfL ordered Class 710 Aventra units for London Overground to operate the Goblin line, when that was electrified, and to replace obsolete units on the Cheshunt, Chingford and Enfield Town routes. Some were also ordered for the Euston to Watford Junction services. The last of these, 710379, finally entered service in February – here it is approaching Wembley Central on Tuesday…

West Midlands Railway have also ordered Bombardier (Now Alstom) Aventra units and these have started being tested. I saw and photographed my first pair of these on Tuesday too (730014 & 015)…

…passing through Harrow & Wealdstone. These Class 730 Aventra’s have a very different cab to other versions like the 710 above – I think they look smart and that’s one spectacular paint-job!

Trainspotting sometimes results in unexpected social interactions. Obviously there can be chats with other enthusiasts although I avoided the influx of half-term kids on Tuesday…

…At one point there were a dozen or so on the platforms. They are of a different generation and probably would rather avoid dinosaurs that can remember when Steam Locos were still in service. Of course, if one of them approaches me to chat then that’ll be different. Anyway, back to the main story. It was a sunny day when I arrived at Harrow & Wealdstone and I decided to sit for a while and soak up the rays. I was joined on the bench a little while later by a young Romanian lady with a toddler. We got to talking and she asked if I was there to watch the trains which I confirmed and joked that Epi likes the fact that I have returned to my old hobby because it gets me out of the house and doing some exercise! We had a laugh and she told me they were on their way to visit Grandma but had popped into the station because her son loves to watch the ‘choo-choo’ trains going past. He especially likes freight trains. I know he enjoyed watching this ‘Tesco-Liner’ passing through…

…Who knows – we may meet again on a future visit to Harrow & Wealdstone😎👍 And that goes to show that not every highlight is a new number in the notebook🤣