please empty your brain below
Unless I've missed one.
I hope I haven't missed one.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 25.04.23 - 7:00 a.m. | #

Are there any other weekday-only stations? Albeit ones with better service.

Nick | 25.04.23 - 9:10 a.m. | #

I’m pretty sure when I worked for Brent 10 years ago the frequency at Wembley Stadium was hourly or less. Most the other low frequency stations in London have been improved I think.

David | 25.04.23 - 9:29 a.m. | #

So pleased you are highlighting this issue. I have tried to use this station a couple of times but train cancellations (and overcrowding) made it a nightmare. Our branch of the Piccadilly line isn't very reliable to put it mildly but at least if a train is cancelled there should be another along in ten minutes or so. No so at Sudbury and Harrow Road. A colleague was thinking of moving to the area, attracted by the station but completely unaware of the lousy timetable. I dissuaded him!

Lucy Garden | 25.04.23 - 10:05 a.m. | #

Thames Television visited fifty years ago when the station was still staffed in the mornings, complete with gas lit booking office. [video]

ap | 25.04.23 - 10:12 a.m. | #

I was really surprised and shocked to read about Riddlesdown and Sanderstead only having an hourly service. On further investigation, whilst you are totally correct, things are not all they seem.

It appears that the period involved is roughly midday to 3 p.m. So in reality only three or four trains missing.

dg writes: five.

There is even a half-hourly evening service. Even more surprising there is a half-hourly service on Sunday as well as Saturday.

This to me seems to point strongly to one or two temporary issues (or both).

It may be the consequence of a slight shortage of drivers and a need to provide meal-reliefs after the morning peak and before the evening peak. Alternatively, it is down to the refurbishment of the current class 387 stock which is taking place and probably requires more stock to be out of service than usual off-peak Monday to Friday.

Pedantic of Purley | 25.04.23 - 10:54 a.m. | #

I lived near Northolt Park station from 1967 to 1972. It then had a service similar to what Sudbury and Harrow Road has now (plus a couple of early morning trains to West Ruislip and a skeleton Saturday service). I used it to commute to the West End, but when that became too limiting I walked to Northolt on the Central Line instead. It's good to see that the service, though sub-TfL standard, is much improved since those days!

Ian | 25.04.23 - 10:57 a.m. | #

The Greenford branch has no Sunday service. Birkbeck station is also closed on Sundays, but still has trams.

greatkingrat | 25.04.23 - 11:21 a.m. | #

That Thames Television clip is fascinating! Thank you for linking to it.

Alan S | 25.04.23 - 12:51 p.m. | #

It certainly is. There will be some envious eyes on those totem signs. Love how he tops up the lamp oil on the signals! I recall gas lights at my local station as late as the end of the '70s: under an overall-roofed platform which there weren't even any rails at any more!

David B | 25.04.23 - 1:53 p.m. | #

From the time of film clip it looks like the station has bee rebuilt with an island platform.

Mike | 25.04.23 - 2:47 p.m. | #

So why does Sudbury and Harrow Road get so many fewer trains than it's neighbouring stations?

cjw714 | 25.04.23 - 3:08 p.m. | #

The middle of the day reduction on East Grinstead branch was brought in during coronavirus timetables as was similar reduction to Coastway to London services too. I can’t recall if the latter have returned.

Sinners | 25.04.23 - 4:47 p.m. | #

One possible explanation for the two Sudbury stations getting such a different service is borough boundaries. Sudbury Hill Harrow is just in Harrow and not far off Ealing (the Piccadilly line is the boundary) whereas Sudbury & Harrow Road is in Brent without an obvious catchment area in other boroughs. It's possible there's been less pressure for a better service from Brent compared to Harrow and/or Ealing.

Tim Roll-Pickering | 25.04.23 - 5:16 p.m. | #

In my opinion, the stations between West Ruislip and Marylebone are completely wasted in their current use, and the line has potential in a future project (CR3?). Currently, it could offer an easy connection between the Central and the Piccadilly, and faster trains into London for all the stations it serves.

One of my personal "crayonista" ideas is...

dg interrupts: not going to happen.

TW | 25.04.23 - 9:01 p.m. | #

I think the difference in service level between the two Sudbury Chiltern stations is ironically because there is no real difference between the two stations. A frequent service to both would slow down trains too much, so better to give one a half decent service than split it between the two and give both a poor service (though Chiltern do that elsewhere, eg W Ruislip and Denham GC). Sudbury Hill has the advantage that it's better placed for changing to/from the Picc line so that maybe tips the balance.

(and Sudbury & Harrow Road did used to have platforms either side of the tracks - originally loops with central fast lines - but the platforms and buildings were I think wooden and the whole thing either rotted or caught fire, resulting in a remodelling of the track and relocated platforms)

Andrew S | 25.04.23 - 9:39 p.m. | #

Apologies for the correction but it should read "although in bad news, neither Sanderstead nor Purley Oaks stations are particularly close to Riddlesdown" rather than Sanderstead again

matthieu1221 | 26.04.23 - 2:48 a.m. | #

matthieu, not so. DG's well-made point is that, just like its long-closed neighbour Selsdon (which at least had the decency to be suffixed by Road originally), Sanderstead station is a long way, involving a significant hill, from the place it purports to serve.

Betterbee | 26.04.23 - 3:12 a.m. | #

Betterbee, now that is clearly why one shouldn't be reading blog posts late at night! Makes sense to me now.

matthieu1221 | 26.04.23 - 12:14 p.m. | #

There should be four trains in the evening back from Marylebone to Sudbury & Harrow Road. The ‘missing’ train is the 1856 from Marylebone which has been temporarily removed from the timetable. This is because Chiltern introduced a temporary weekday timetable on 17-April. This was to increase capacity to / from Oxford due to the closure of the railway between Oxford and Didcot Parkway. Since the Nuneham viaduct was closed at the beginning of the month, many Chiltern services between Oxford and Marylebone have been busier than usual.

Centraluser | 26.04.23 - 10:00 p.m. | #

Much easier to walk to Purley station from Riddlesdown than Kenley.
Sanderstead and Riddlesdown were half-hourly until Covid.

Greg | 27.04.23 - 9:51 p.m. | #











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