Penny Travels - Page 8 of 12 - Travelling the world, near and far, one step at a time.

Tube Stop Baby: Elm Park

March 27, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

I’m not sure I even knew where Elm Park was until I took a good look at the Eastern end of the District Line on a tube map. Bonn had a job out that side of London and as Tube Stop Baby and I were at a loose end I decided to use it as an opportunity to tick a few more stations off our list. Elm Park jumped out as somewhere to start our adventure for the simple reason that it had step-free access. We manage to lift the pram up most staircases on the tube, but it’s nice not to have to!

I can’t lie about it. Elm Park isn’t exactly the most thrilling station I’ve visited on our tube travels. Opened in 1935 the station is situated between Dagenham East and Hornchurch and is in the London Borough of Havering.

The station has a central island platform, serving one track in each direction. There is then a long slope back up from the platforms to the ticket office (hence the stair-free access), which is on a road bridge over the railway line.

The slope leading down to the District Line platforms.

Outside the station we did spot a sweet addition in the form of The Hobby Shop Special. Looking like it may need a new coat of paint soon, this is the original work of Elm Park Primary School, with additional pictures behind from St Alban’s Catholic Primary School.

And for anyone keeping track of the labyrinths around the tube network, Elm Park hosts number 79, which is very easy to spot as you walk down the slope from the ticket office to the platforms.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Elm Park

Date of visit: 29 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – District

Zone: 6

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Race Across the World – Travel television at its best

March 26, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

I can pinpoint the moment that I was inspired to travel right down to watching one TV programme. It was the episode of Michael Palin’s Around the World in 80 Days (which was of course inspired by the book of the same title by Jules Verne) in which he visited Hong Kong. I can’t explain exactly what it was about that episode that got to me, but something did. From that moment I was determined to visit Hong Kong, see all the hustle and bustle for myself and in particular follow in Michael’s footsteps to the Happy Valley racecourse.

I’m delighted to say that years later I did just that. An old school friend lived in Hong Kong and when my ex-husband and I went out there we met up with her and I explained my possibly strange sounding desire to go to the races. As luck would have it, her and her boyfriend at the time where both members and so off we went to a night at the races. As I stood there in the stands, watching the horses race around and with the Hong Kong skyline behind it was one of those moments where I realised just how wonderful travel can be.

Since then I’ve watched plenty of travel programme on the television, and more recently travel vlogs on YouTube, but nothing has even spoken to me quite as much as Michael Palin did. Until now.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the trailers that you get on BBC iPlayer was for a new BBC 2 programme called Race Across the World. Intrigued, and with plenty of time on my hands sat on the sofa under a feeding baby, I found the first programme and was hooked. It’s rare that I watch live TV these days, but since discovering that we were still in the middle of the series, I’ve been making sure I’m tuned in on a Sunday evening. There’s only one episode left, which I’m gutted about, but I’m now so fired up to dust off my passport and make sure that Bonn and I show Tube Stop Baby the world.

So, what is this programme that I’m making such a song and dance about?

The main premise of Race Across the World, and what probably caught my attention the most, is that it’s about travelling by land and water, rather than by air. Five couples are in a race to travel from London to Singapore. Not flying anywhere, and not spending more than the cost of a single airfare between the two locations. That money has to cover all their travel, accommodation and food. Oh, and they’ve also had their smartphones taken off them!

The logic behind the programme is that Singapore is the furthest place that you can get to via land (ignoring the need to cross the English Channel from the UK to France!) The teams are given a number of checkpoints en-route, which determines a little bit which way they go, but otherwise how they travel is up to them. They can work during their travels to earn some extra money, and can accept any gifts from people they meet, but otherwise things are up to them.

What I’m loving about the programme is how it puts the focus on the journey part of travelling, rather than just the destination. To me, especially as a bit of a train fan, the getting somewhere is just as important as where you’re going. Someone once told me that you get to find out a huge amount about a country or city by using their public transport system. This is exactly the case in this programme. When you see some of the teams on long train journeys, chatting to the people travelling along side them you can see them learning so much more about the local people and their cultures than they would have ever got from just flying over in an aeroplane.

When it comes to the contestants, I have to admit that I don’t really care who wins the race. I just look forward to seeing how they all make their way to the final checkpoint in Singapore and what adventures they have on the way!

The final episode of Race Across The World is this Sunday (31 March 2019) at 9pm. You can currently catch up on all previous episodes on the BBC iPlayer.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links to products that I have previously bought with my own money.

Tube Stop Baby: Kensington (Olympia)

March 17, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Did you know that if you want to do the challenge of visiting all 270 London Underground stations in the shortest time possible, there are only certain days of the year that it is technically possible? This is all due to the slight anomaly that is Kensington (Olympia).

Situated at the end of a tiny little branch on the District line that goes up from Earls Court, Kensington (Olympia) station is situated right next to the Olympia exhibition centre. This is in fact the reason that Tube Stop Baby got to visit the station so early on in the challenge – I was going to Olympia for the Toy Fair as part of my work over on Penny Plays.

These days Kensington (Olympia) is only served by District line trains at the weekend, or when there are certain events on at neighbouring Olympia – the Great British Beer Festival being one of the most noteworthy reasons! This makes it the least served station on the whole of the London Underground. I could probably waffle on here about exactly when it is served, and why, but there’s a tube expert (and former world record holder) who can do that far better than I can!

It does pose a whole tonne of questions about just how long London Underground might keep serving Kensington (Olympia) or whether they might just leave it to the National Rail services that run to the other platforms there.

It’s a bit of a sad decline really for a station that in the early 1970s was planned to be the main London terminus for Channel Tunnel trains! Over the years services have run from there to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The station was served by milk trains and was also part of the Government’s Cold War plans in case of a need to relocate Government away from London. When Eurostar used to run into Waterloo, their trains used to pass through Kensington (Olympia) on their way to the North Pole depot and the station even had basic back up immigration facilities in case of an incoming train having to be diverted away from Waterloo for some reason. Up until 1981 the station was even a terminal for Motorail trains. These moved to Paddington, Euston and Kings Cross before being finally being withdrawn in Summer 2005. There’s still a small reminder of Kensington (Olympia)’s role in this part of British Rail history though as what was the terminal is now a car park and named “Olympia Motorail Car Park P4”.

For the sake of completeness I should note that we arrived and departed Kensington (Olympia) on London Overground seeing as the District line wasn’t running that day!

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Kensington (Olympia)

Date of visit: 22 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – District

Zone: 2

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby: Paddington (Circle and Hammersmith & City)

March 17, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Paddington is another station where there are technically two different stations – in this case located in different parts of the mainline station. Our first visit took us to the section that serves the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines, but there is a separate section serving the District, Circle and Bakerloo lines. You may well get a bit confused seeing the Circle line serving both Paddington underground stations, but this is only the case since the circle line stopped being an actual circle! Confused yet? You’re not the only one!

The station was originally called Paddington Bishop’s Road and was the termini of the original Metropolitan Railway. Its name changed to just Paddington in the 1930s.

Originally the station was just served by what became known as the Hammersmith and City line, but that changed to be the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines in 2009 when the Circle line was changed to include the branch between Edgware Road and Hammersmith. It was rebuilt in 2012 – 2013 so that it could accommodate longer trains and a new entrance into Paddington Basin was also added.

This Paddington Tube station may be a little further away from the main station concourse than the other one is, but if you’re going there and have not previously admired the splendour of this London terminus of the Great Western Railway then you really must. Designed by Brunel it really is a spectacular example of engineering grandeur.

And whilst you’re hanging around Paddington there’s a certain little bear that you really must go and say hello to.

We’ll back another day to venture into this part of Paddington – a whole separate world as far as a London Underground statism count is concerned!

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Paddington (Circle and Hammersmith & City)

Date of visit: 10 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – Circle and Hammersmith & City

Zone: 1

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby – Edgware Road (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City)

March 7, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Edgware Road is a station that catches people out in Zone 1. Mainly because there are actually two completely separate stations with exactly the same name!

In this particular visit with Tube Stop Baby we went to the original Edgware Road station that is on the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines and that formed part of the original Metropolitan Railway. Confusingly, about 150m away, on the opposite side of the Marylebone Road, is a separate Edgware Road station serving the Bakerloo line. There have been various campaigns to change the name of the Bakerloo line station to avoid confusion, but nothing has ever come from these proposals.

Edgware Road (the one we visited here!) is a busy station with four platforms serving the three lines that it is on – Circle, Hammersmith & City and District. It used to be that it was the northern terminus of the District line and Circle and Hammersmith and City line trains would both pass through before diverging as they headed towards Paddington. All that changed though in December 2009 when the circle line stopped being a circle!

In 2009 the Circle line was extended to include the section from Edgware Road to Hammersmith, where just the Hammersmith & City line had served before. This means that trains now start at Hammersmith, go up to Edgware Road, pass through the station heading East towards Kings Cross and then continue around the old circle line loop before terminating when they reach Edgware Road for the second time. And then they do the whole thing in reverse!

It’s as confusing as anything, especially when you try to explain to a tourist that doesn’t speak good English that the circle line is no longer a circle, but the whole thing was done to try to regulate the service more. Never mind anyone that is confused in the process!

Also worth a look whilst you’re visiting Edgware Road is the cladding on the London Underground building next door. Called Wrapper it was commissioned as part of Art on the Underground and certainly brightens up the previously grey view as you was for a train.

Our visit to Edgware Road was only brief with us only staying long enough for a couple of photographs on the platforms. When I was a student in London this was my local station for a year and I remember it fondly. Situated in a cutting rather than a tunnel it always felt a bit like you were tucked away down there and coming out onto the street always felt so in credibly busy and a big contrast to being down at platform level. A second visit to the main part of the station is very likely to happen.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Edgware Road (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City)

Date of visit: 10 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – Circle, Hammersmith & City and District

Zone: 1

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby: Baker Street

March 3, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

It’s impossible to say everything that I want to say about Baker Street station in just one blog post. The place is packed full of London Underground history and as a result is firmly one of my favourite tube stations.

Baker Street was one of the original stations on the Metropolitan Railway and the area around the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Line platforms is packed with reminders of this history. As well as information boards telling people about the original line through the station there are lots of little touches that remind you of its history.

On our visit we only made it as far as these sub-surface lines, but I am hoping that a future trip will take us down to the deep level lines where there is some particularly attractive Sherlock Holmes tiling that I hope I can share with readers.

There are two separate areas to the sub-surface lines at Baker Street. Firstly the through platforms for the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. This is where you find most of the history and this is indeed where the original line continued on to Edgware Road.

Just to the north of these platforms are the area where the Metropolitan Line trains go before heading north. It’s worth pointing out the gorgeous ornate wooden gateway dating from about 1930 that you pass through as you go between the different platform areas. Look up and you’ll see the destinations of the trains from those platform.

Some Met Line services terminate at Baker Street from the north and so there are two terminating platforms as well as two through platforms. The track for these curves round just to the East of the Circle and Hammersmith & City line platforms, allowing Met Line trains to continue through towards Aldgate.

That’s a total of six platforms at the station for the sub-surface lines. Although we didn’t visit them on this trip, there are an additional four platforms at deep level – two each for the Jubilee and Bakerloo lines. That makes a total of ten platforms, making it the station with the most London Underground platforms anywhere in the tube network.

Definitely another station that requires more than one visit as part of our challenge.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Baker Street

Date of visit: 10 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Jubilee and Bakerloo

Zone: 1

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.