please empty your brain below
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I passed through Stratford on Saturday night, and saw a fair bit of TfL Rail branding already in place.
As for the hotchpotch of signs that have just gone orange, I think the blue ones were a midpoint between two different varieties of black-and-white ones. Hopefully we won't see another rebrand for a while. And also more signs would be nice - some stations are very hard to differentiate, especially at night.
martin | 01.06.15 - 7:20 a.m. | #
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Theobolds Grove (or more accurately "Feobolds Grove" is accurate phonetically, as often heard.
Gordon | 01.06.15 - 7:55 a.m. | #
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"Theobolds Grove". Love it. The temporary sign spelling curse also happened on the Bakerloo when the stations north of Queens Park passed to London Underground management. I still have a picture at home of a newly-installed roundel reading "Wembey Central".
THC | 01.06.15 - 8:02 a.m. | #
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Although the various station buildings will benefit from being spruced up, the 'knitting' above the tracks and all the steel posts needed to support it will always look untidy, in the same way that a road with telephone wires spreading out from a pole will always look untidier than one with buried cables.
Whatever the technical arguments in favour of 25Kv ac against 700v dc, there is no doubt that third rail (and fourth rail for the underground) makes for tidier stations.
RayL | 01.06.15 - 8:03 a.m. | #
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I wonder what's wrong with the Liverpool St, Tottenham Hale, Cheshunt, Broxbourne route that it isn't part of the overground. Perhaps it's too important!
Julian Bond | Homepage | 01.06.15 - 8:14 a.m. | #
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All this going on on my home turf, and this is the first I knew about it. Interesting post, and good detective work!
Dicky | Homepage | 01.06.15 - 8:19 a.m. | #
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@ Julian B - I think the T Hale line is difficult because the stopping service is mixed in with longer distance / cross boundary trains. Also there aren't trains which actually serve all stops which is the sort of service TfL runs. Try travelling from Northumberland Park to Brimsdown or Waltham Cross off peak - impossible on one train. I think there won't be any separation / devolution of services until the route is 4 tracked as far as Broxbourne and that's probably going to coincide with Crossrail 2 anyway.
The proposed Stratford - Angel Road service will help slightly but doesn't fix the poor connectivity further up the line which could easily support a 4 tph all stations service if only there was the track capacity to allow it.
PC | 01.06.15 - 9:46 a.m. | #
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Isn't anyone checking the spelling on the orders for these signs? A few weeks ago,I got off the bus at Chislehurst station. Last year I had taken a photo there of the local bus map on which the area was marked as Chislehust. It was still there. I suppose we should be grateful that it wasn't spelt as pronounced round here-Chizzallerss! Some good news though, a new sign went up on the bus stops by a local park named in honour of Alderman Crease. The new signs said Grease park. I'm glad to say that the signs where changed in a matter of months - ten!
Jo W | 01.06.15 - 9:50 a.m. | #
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people have alluded to a more frequent service, which would be great, but haven't seen details yet.
what may also be interesting is that until now, daft decisions are sometimes made by greateranglia regarding the liv st-enf town service, giving priority to their other services where there are congestion and other service issues near liverpool street. (e.g. stopping services at hackney downs, or cancelling every other train), since the enfield service is the runt of the litter and probably the least revenue-generating (maybe a few more ticket inspectors at edmonton green might help that issue..).
anyway, will be interested to see how it pans out. edmonton already has a lift. cambridge heath, closest to the childhood museum really needs one. the number of buggies i've helped to carry up those stairs!
barry | 01.06.15 - 9:51 a.m. | #
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I imagine that all the sticky backed plastic station signage was ordered quite some time ago, and it takes a bit of time to get their signage printer to do a new print run. I don't know how they would have got new stickers on Sunday to fix it!
More likely, is clever use of a permanent marker pen to turn the o into an a.
I remember on the ELL that it was all temporary stickers for a while until the shiny roundel signs got installed, alongside shiny new wooden seating and other improvements.
Sykobee | 01.06.15 - 10:54 a.m. | #
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Your Theobalds spelling story has also made it into the Independent.
Boneyboy | 01.06.15 - 11:12 a.m. | #
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I've always wondered why letters 3 to 6 in the name Chislehurst are not pronounced like letters 1 to 4 in Isle of Wight.
Malcolm | 01.06.15 - 11:55 a.m. | #
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To rhyme with Tilehurst?
Gordon | 01.06.15 - 1:23 p.m. | #
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@Malcolm
For the same reason that the pronunciation of "Witham" depends on whether you are in Essex or Lincolnshire. This is the English language we are talking about.
Tear can rhyme with tier or tare
Row or Bow can rhyme with bough or with know
-ough: pronounced quite differently in bough, tough, though, and through
I think it was George Bernard Shaw who suggested spelling "fish" G.H.O.T.I
gh as in rough
o as in women
ti as in station
timbo | 01.06.15 - 1:28 p.m. | #
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East London and North London line stations had to be brought up to a specified Overground standard before they were treated to enamel signs etc. Work included refurbishing ticket halls, looking at unsightly cable piping etc. Trains weren't reliveried. The Overground livery didn't appear until the 378s arrived. There's a picture of a 317 (I think) in Overground livery so are we to believe this idea has now gone out of the window? Will all stations get the new-look without refurbishment?
| 01.06.15 - 2:10 p.m. | #
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Of course when Wandsworth Road was "Overgroundised" a huge roundel sign was put up on the wrong platform. It pointed the wrong way for the way out, so the signs had to be swapped.
It has also happened on the Underground. For years, the town bound platform sign showed "Edgeware Road" as the destination.
ap | 01.06.15 - 3:08 p.m. | #
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Local newspaper the Herts Mercury are on the case:
http://www.hertfordshiremercury.co.uk/London-Overground-accidentally-rename-Theobalds/story-26612429-detail/story.html
When challenged by the Mercury, London Overground director Mike Stubbs laughed off the issue.
"It's the culture isn't it, always looking for something wrong rather than celebrating," he said.
"If that is the only problem we had yesterday then I am quite pleased."
diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.06.15 - 5:30 p.m. | #
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Never mind the new paint job, the ex- Anglia class 315s seem to be getting new seats in Overground Orange. When Silverlink was Overgroundised all the 313s got was a new sticker over the logos.
Is the whole fleet being tarted up? Or just one for show? Are the TfL Rail trains getting new seats too?
(A 313 is very like a 315, except for being one car shorter and having the ability to work on the live rail electric system as well as the overhead)
timbo | 01.06.15 - 5:43 p.m. | #
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To a certain point "they/he" are/is correct. "It's the culture isn't it, always looking for something wrong" ...how many a time has there been comments made and people find point out "wrong"grammar, how many times have people been turned down for a job because they went to the "wrong" school or had credit refused because they live in the "wrong" area, made a "wrong" turning and got fined. It is in the culture. Perhaps should just put hands-up an say it wrong and will try level best to correct it.
Grumpy Anon | 01.06.15 - 5:50 p.m. | #
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@timbo: The whole fleet is getting a repaint, deep clean and new seats.
Upminster has swapped over the timetable info on Platform 6, but the platform signs have yet to change.
Silent Hunter | Homepage | 01.06.15 - 6:10 p.m. | #
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Just to let you know Bbc local news were also using your picture (with appropriate credit)
J | 01.06.15 - 6:41 p.m. | #
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Theobalds minor error now reported on BBC SE news with your photo DG. I hope they, and the Ind/Substandard are paying you a royalty.
I think the mistake gives us a smile and perhaps a sense of relief that it wasn't me that did it !
But we shouldn't let this mask what should turn out to be good news for London in the longer term.
Boneyboy | 01.06.15 - 6:42 p.m. | #
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And the 'Theobolds' sign has made it on to the Beeb London TV news as well (with accreditation).
Do tell us if your hit count rises, as per your recent post about publicity for your excellent blog!
Chris | 01.06.15 - 6:43 p.m. | #
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The Theobolds photo has popped up (briefly) on both BBC and ITN local news this evening. Yes, they both asked first.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.06.15 - 6:46 p.m. | #
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Is this another sign (no pun intended?)of the media classes picking on the workers again...?
Working Class Hero | 01.06.15 - 10:34 p.m. | #
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All stations will be getting a refurbishment, to a similar standard to Enfield. All will be complete by June 2018 - a 2yr programme.
RailWorker | 01.06.15 - 10:44 p.m. | #
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I can't resist adding trough to timbo's list.
Great Aunt Annie | 01.06.15 - 11:22 p.m. | #
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Now to be fair, the Silverlink trains had more than just a sticker applied. They also had seats removed to create more standee seating!
Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 02.06.15 - 10:52 a.m. | #
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Obviously a misspelt sign was a small issue in the midst of the train service problems they had on Sunday. Nonetheless I don't believe DG "went looking" for a mistake - he just saw the error from a passing train. The point, though, is that if you are setting out to be better / more competent / more professional than the previous operator then botched stickers aren't a good start to the new regime. It also doesn't show much skill or quality assurance given a 18 month transition period and surveys having been done in recent months. I expect no one was laughing at TfL or at LOROL or at the signage contractor on Sunday after DG's tweet went "viral".
PC | 02.06.15 - 11:29 a.m. | #
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On the line diagram, why do Edmonton Green, White Hart Lane, Seven Sisters and Hackney Downs get Rail Interchange logos? I understand Cheshunt and Liverpool St having them as you can change to a train to somewhere else there, but the rest are only internal changes...
Steve | 02.06.15 - 12:47 p.m. | #
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Steve. As far as I can work out, other than white hart lane, all the other stations with the rail symbol still get some sort of greater anglia service as well. Maybe white hart lane does on match days.
Lumma | 02.06.15 - 1:51 p.m. | #
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Interesting write up DG.
I trekked around some of the lines only the other month to grab photos before the change and noticed Enfield Town looked 'cleaner'. Failed on the Saturday (when I was last up in the Smoke) to check it out or any of the other stations - curse my laziness!
Dave Kirwin | Homepage | 04.06.15 - 11:08 a.m. | #
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Can I contribute Isleworth to the Chislehurst / Isle of Wight pronunciation debate?
timbo | 04.06.15 - 11:28 a.m. | #
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