European Railroad Discussion > A Texan's view of England, Part 1 - The Underground

My bride and I have returned from two weeks in England (one in London and one in Manchester)
and after a week to get things back to normal here in Tyler Tex. have these thoughts, mostly train
related, from our trip.

We flew into Heathrow and had a limo take us to St Ermins hotel where our week would be headquartered in London.
Our first encounter with an Englishman, or so we thought, was to be the limo driver, but he could barely speak
the language being from Romania. We found this to be common throughout the trip, when it comes to cabs and limos.
We used Oyster Cards to get around London and that is one fantastic system. One can load ones card using a vending
machine or app on one's smartphone and use the card on any London red bus or Underground. We used the Underground a lot
and its a great system that takes you anywhere within London's core and quite a few places outside the core, and moves
a huge amount of people efficiently. Some of the newer cars are basically one continuous car with no doors between
cars (pic 2) and its neat to watch the car snake through the tube view from the inside. Generally speaking the station
stops are fairly clean and there isn't a lot of beggars and homeless hanging around like one sees in New York or San Francisco
subway stations. Everyone just wants to get where they are going quickly, and the Underground does that. Its kind of
funny how when in the Underground there is an unwritten rule that everyone walks to the left and the flow is good. Once
outside, there is no such rule how to walk the streets. Its a free for all. And speaking of walking the streets, man the
Londoner sure is tied to their smart phone, walking while watching the phone, but not watching where they are going. I bumped into
countless folks, mostly chicks, who were oblivious to others on the street.

Some of the Underground stations are really pleasing, architecturally. Some are generic and uninspiring. I would imagine the older ones
are the ones I really liked. Here is the most awesome Mrs Murphy at a neat station stop, Piccadilly (pic 3). Neither of us ever
felt unsafe or dirty, like we usually do in New York. Its amazing that the trains operate all day on one to two minute intervals
on some lines, 5 minutes on others.

There was relatively few police patrolling the tubes, usually they were present at street level, but rarely down below. All in all, it seems
Londoners are a well behaved lot.

And please, Mind The Gap !

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Tube stations are clearly marked up on street level.

Some stations are really deep underground, with multiple lines crossing over and under each other.
Its a rather complex system.

The Beatles are still a player 50 years later, and rightfully so.

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Here is a nicely timed meet at one of the stations.

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More, More, Mr. M. Mrs. Gibson and wag216 have been a number times in the U.K. We always look forward to see more. wag216

Thanks for posting the photos from London.
Made a number of business trips there 1978-1997.
On one trip in June 1979, during a London "heatwave" I stayed a week at the St. Ermins; it was not air conditioned then. (Maybe it still isn't; I do not know.) All the air conditioned hotels were full when my trip was booked so I was booked there. I really liked it except for the heat; it would have been super great any other time.
Happy you had a great trip and thanks again for sharing the photos.
ALLEN

Was there in London last August. Using the Tube and the Oyster cards was simple. The only thing that I didn't like was the ever present burning electrical smell in the underground stations. That would play havoc with my sinus on a regular basis.

Plus the Londoners were always in a hurry to get somewhere. If you walked too slow they would almost run you over.

I would love to go back, though.

Gary

Posted from iPhone

While Oyster cards are still probably the commonest form of ticketing in the London area contactless credit and debit cards now have a big share. For the customer this means not having to keep your Oyster card topped up (though your bank account must be); for Transport for London this means not producing the cards and not having to pay for as much back office financial reconciliation.

Do you know if any US transit systems have contactless facilities?

WrongWayMurphy Wrote:
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> Its kind of
> funny how when in the Underground there is an
> unwritten rule that everyone walks to the left and
> the flow is good. Once
> outside, there is no such rule how to walk the
> streets. Its a free for all.

Yeah, that's one thing I like about the US: people usually pass to the right.

> There was relatively few police patrolling the
> tubes, usually they were present at street level,
> but rarely down below.

CCTV. Lots of CCTV. You were being watched constantly underground! :)

Thanks for the report. It's interesting to see how Americans view our transport system (from a Brit living near San Diego).

GeoffM Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> WrongWayMurphy Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > Its kind of
> > funny how when in the Underground there is an
> > unwritten rule that everyone walks to the left
> and
> > the flow is good. Once
> > outside, there is no such rule how to walk the
> > streets. Its a free for all.
>
> Yeah, that's one thing I like about the US: people
> usually pass to the right.
>
> > There was relatively few police patrolling the
> > tubes, usually they were present at street
> level,
> > but rarely down below.
>
> CCTV. Lots of CCTV. You were being watched
> constantly underground! :)
>
> Thanks for the report. It's interesting to see how
> Americans view our transport system (from a Brit
> living near San Diego).

You're being watched a lot above ground too! The UK has thousands of CCTV cameras.