European Railroad Discussion > London Visit Questions

Hello all,

I'll soon be visiting London, and I've got some questions. I'll be arriving from Brussels on the Eurostar, and staying near the Holborn Underground stop.

First, I'm looking for a good railroad book shop. I'm interested in purchasing books/magazines and possibly models. Anything in Central London or within a short train ride?

I'm also looking for a good spot to photo freight trains. While this is a honeymoon trip, I think I can get away from the tourist sites for at least half a day and do a little foaming. I've been looking at Clapham Jct, which seems like a great spot, but I'm not sure about the freight volume. I'll probably have a Monday free if that makes a difference. Also any old/interesting signals or unique junctions/towers in service close to London that may be of interest photographically?

Lastly, how is the London Transport Museum? It looks like it might be worth a visit.

Lots of questions, I know, but I've used the search function on here and can't find much.

Thanks!
Nick S.
Peoria, IL

Nearest hobby store for you is the Ian Allan Bookstore in Upper Ground (that's the street name) which is just south of Waterloo Station. Not stunningly easy to find but worth making the effort. Foyles in Charing Cross Road is a huge general bookshop with a decent railway selection.

Clapham Junction is good for the sheer volume of trains, but not at all good for freight, and those freight trains that do run are at opposite ends of what is a large station. Among the best freight locations are Kensington Olympia or Harrow and Wealdstone. The former channels most trains from south of the Thames northwards, the latter is on the busiest mixed traffic line north out of London. If you have an iphone or the equivalent, or access to a computer, search for Real-Time Trains, put in either station and switch to detailed view. This will tell you what's due through at any particular time.

Do get yourself an Oyster Card as soon as possible (they are sold on the Eurostar). While central London is walkable (and your hotel is quite well situated) the distances can be quite long from say the old financial district (known as the City) to the West End.

If you're in Covent Garden, the London Transport Museum's
gift shop has a large selection of railroad books and DVD's.
Be aware, though, that the DVD's will probably be region "2", and
unplayable back at home unless you have a multi-region player.

If you are able to play DVD's from the UK, look for some of
Fred Dibnoh's stuff. He was quite the character, and did a
number of fascinating videos prior to his death.

Whilst London is big certain sections are very walkable. It's also worth remembering that the London Underground "map" is not a map, it's a diagram. What that means is that stations that seem far apart can be close (and vice versa), get a street map too. Don't buy a sheet, buy one the A-Z books; they fit in a pocket and cover the whole of the city, not just the centre, much easier to read. Even UK residents get caught out; I was with a colleague at a meeting in an hotel about 7 minutes walk from Paddington and I knew he needed Paddington to go home. As we walked out of the hotel he went to go to the Underground which would have meant a 2 stop journey, then change trains (which would have taken 7 minutes!) followed by a three stop journey. I showed him the walking route!

The LT museum in Covent Garden is good but not very big. They have a store in an old depot at Acton http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/museum-depot which is only open sometimes but if it is open go. Transport for London has been running some specials relating to various history celebrations so check through the LT Museum website to see if anything is on whilst you are here.

If you decide to visit Oxford or Bath by train the route for both splits at Didcot Parkway. In the spare space of the junction is http://www.didcotrailwaycentre.org.uk/ which is well worth visiting and the station sees a fair selection of freight at the London end (where the junction is). Further on towards Bath is http://www.steam-museum.org.uk/Pages/Home.aspx which is adjacent to outlet shopping in Swindon although not quite on the scale of somewhere like Kittery!

For freight, I would also recommend Kensington Olympia station. It is a wide open station and the staff are normally railfan friendly. A word of warning regarding using an Oyster card for train watching. By spending a long time on a station, your journey time will expire, and you suffer a premium on the card. Often, a 'zone' ticket is better if you plan on spending a couple of hours on a station. Chris uk.

I enjoyed the London Trasnport Museum. You'll appreciate travel on the Tube from a historic perspective.. The Museum covers many aspects of transport history; how lines developed, growth of suburban London, marketing, architecture, to name some. Enjoy your visit.

Tom Coughlin
Stow, MA

There are very few semaphore signals controlled by local signal boxes (towers) anymore I'm afraid, only on a couple of obscure freight only line in NW London.

In terms of freight 'hot spots' I would add Upper Holloway and Camden Road stations on the London Overground. They are both near underground stations too (Archway and Camden Town respectively). The site www.realtimetrains.co.uk can provide information on what is actually running on the day you choose. Monday can be quiet in the morning, many intermodal trains run Tuesday to Saturday.

I don't know if you are past the cutoff but you can even order a Visitor Oyster Card and have it sent to the USA. I usually am not a fan of identifying myself as a tourist in any way anywhere but the graphics on the Visitor Oyster Card are pretty cool.

http://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/oystercard/product/oyster-card.html

Everyone goes nuts about the tube and walking but, the London bus service is great and goes everywhere. You get to see a lot of the city and in some cases the bus can be faster then the Tube, other times they get bogged down in traffic real bad. You can also find plenty of good more or less scale maps of London. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/maps/bus including Central London http://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/bus-route-maps/central-london-bus-map.pdf

The London Transport Museum is worth a visit (pictures).

Have Fun!

Jim

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