Freedom Pass Project – Update

I had a moment where I thought about calling this one Knockin’ out Knockholt… I decided that it might cause problems for anyone following the series, so we’ll stick with the update.

On Monday I had intended to go out to Slough but that was based on me being out of the house at around 08:45. Just after 7am Epi asked if I could give her a lift to the station – Most of my readers will know of the ‘Woman getting ready to go out’ delay. It’s one of those differences between the sexes that makes us who we are as humans. It’s something that frustrates me but I also know that some of my things frustrate Epi too. A good relationship is built on acceptance of these different priorities😅 So I fired up the car and took her to the station. The impact on my day is theoretically a 30 min diversion from what I was doing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way and I then get sucked into a time-warp of my own… losing more minutes as I start getting ready myself…

The reason for going to Slough was to try and get some more diverted freight before Network Rail fix the Nuneham Viaduct – which they plan to complete for 10th June. But with a couple of hours knocked out of my day I headed out onto the tracks with no fixed idea of what I was going to do.

As a trainspotter/transport enthusiast, flexibility is important – it goes with the territory. I looked at my outstanding terminal points and decided to head for Knockholt on the Southeastern. So, Northern Line to Kentish Town where I pick up a Thameslink towards Farringdon. When I arrived on Kentish Town Thameslink, there was a Class 222 unit sitting on the northbound mainline so I ventured down onto platform 4 to check out which unit it was. There I found a young lady with 2 children so, having ascertained they were waiting for a train to Mill Hill Broadway, I directed them to Platform 2 (Nothing normally uses Platform 4). She was very grateful. Us trainspotters sometimes get treated poorly by the general populace – we’re a convenient easy joke. But unlike a lot of those people who like to snigger, we usually help people!

Popping down to Knockholt entails getting to London Bridge – So a Stopper from Kentish Town to Farringdon. Normally another train directly from there but I decided to break my journey at Blackfriars to get some shots of the Class 700’s passing through or, in the case of 700058…

…terminating with a service from Sevenoaks.

There is some irony here because, when I got to London Bridge, I would be boarding a train to Sevenoaks. It’s just that there are two different routes involved and Knockholt isn’t served by Thameslink😅 From London Bridge, once I’d taken a short hop from Blackfriars, it was a Southeastern service that took me out to Knockholt.

Knockholt station is, for want of better words, in the middle of nowhere – roughly halfway between Orpington and Sevenoaks. It has a shelter and modern ticket office…

…but no sign of staff on duty at the time I visited (lunchtime). There are bridges to the north and south of the station and I wandered down to the southern bridge which is an occupational crossing for farm traffic and also a footpath. That’s where I took the photo above but I also got to catch a pair of Class 707 units heading into London…

…707013 leading 707006 amid some lovely summer greens😎

There are several trains through Knockholt each hour but only a half-hourly stopping service. Passing fast trains are usually formed of Class 375 units like 375819…

…While the stopping services are worked by class 465 and 466 units…

…466030 leading my train back to Grove Park – The lady at the controls giving a friendly wave as she drifted past👍

Grove Park is a Junction – some of my readers will remember some shots from there before I started my Freedom Pass Project. The reason for leaping off there is the Bromley North Branch. Bromley is served by 2 stations, ‘North and ‘South. I’ve travelled to Bromley South on several occasions for football – Wingate & Finchley vs Cray Wanderers…

…It’s a 30min walk from the station but what the hell😅

The line to Bromley North used to have direct trains from London but is now usually a shuttle service operated on the ‘One train in Steam’ rules. So I travelled from Grove Park and back again on 465172…

…Bromley North is quite a pretty station…

…But unfortunately the bar was closed so I had to make my way into town to find a sandwich…

…Then it was time to make my way home. Two more termini cleared off my Freedom Pass wanted list😎👍

CMMC – May 5th Week – Iris, Ice, Independent or Index Finger

I’m going to have to rely on the archive for this Midweek Madness Challenge…

I think we’ll go in reverse order…

Index Finger – and Middle finger, is all that was between this shot and a goal…

…Gav deflected it onto the crossbar😎

Independent – A term used by bus enthusiasts for any operator outside of corporations, transport executives and the national bus company – In Doncaster you could find lots of South Yorkshire PTE buses and some independent operators…

…Like this Leon’s bus sandwiched between two South Yorkshire PTE vehicles.

Ice – Forming the surface of a pond on Hampstead Heath…

…and a Heron practising its skating skills😅

Iris – What more needs to be said?…

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🤣