Southern wembley to clapham

[Gazza1209]

Hello people 1st time post so hopefully the right place my daughter and I are going to wembley on 29th November just found out our tickets are not via london terminals so been checking return journey and there is a 3 hour gap on southern journeys from wembley to clapham is this normal ? And do I have to use the same company for the return (its an open return ticket) and could anyone please suggest any way of getting back to basingstoke as not having any luck with trainline sorry for the long post

 

[Watershed]

What ticket have you bought (the price would help to identify it) and what is your overall journey - is it from Wembley Central to Clapham Junction, or to Basingstoke?

There's a match at Wembley that evening - England v China women's football, 5:30pm KO - so it looks like the Southern trains aren't stopping at Wembley between 8-10pm, if that's when you're looking. They probably fear their trains would be too busy after the match so it's safer not to stop.

That's probably influenced by the fact that both the Overground and Bakerloo line are replaced by buses that weekend - so Southern would otherwise be running the only trains. You'll therefore have to take the replacement bus to Willesden Junction, followed by an Overground train to Clapham Junction.

 

[Farigiraf]

From Wembley Central on that day, the Overground/Lioness line won't be running at all, and the Bakerloo line will only be running replacement buses. This means the only actual train services will be the hourly Southern service to/from East Croydon and Clapham Junction.

there is a 3 hour gap on southern journeys from wembley to clapham is this normal ?

It's likely due to the event at Wembley resulting in no trains running in that 3-hour gap. I'm not sure why, potentially because the station would get too overcrowded if they ran just the 1 train each hour from there.

And do I have to use the same company for the return (its an open return ticket)

None of the open returns from Basingstoke to Wembley Central seem to restrict you to any operator.

and could anyone please suggest any way of getting back to basingstoke as not having any luck with trainline

The 'not via London' tickets don't have validity on the tube so it wouldn't be valid via Wembley Park and Waterloo. If this option seems much easier than the below routing, you could consider excessing the ticket to a Travelcard.
On a 'not via London' though, this is likely to be the best route:
Wembley Central to Willesden Junction (Bakerloo line replacement bus), Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction (Overground/Mildmay line), then Clapham Junction to Basingstoke on South Western Railway.

 

[Gazza1209]

Thank you for the quick reply
It's an off peak return the return journey would be wembley back to clapham then clapham to basingstoke about 8pm if that helps was thinking just try to get from wembley to waterloo and get a ticket from Waterloo to clapham would that be a better option ?

 

[Farigiraf]

Thank you for the quick reply
It's an off peak return the return journey would be wembley back to clapham then clapham to basingstoke about 8pm if that helps was thinking just try to get from wembley to waterloo and get a ticket from Waterloo to clapham would that be a better option ?

If you don't fancy the replacement bus route via Willesden then that is a good option. Contactless or Oyster from Wembley Park to Waterloo and a Waterloo-Clapham ticket. Will likely work out cheaper than a travelcard too.

 

[Gazza1209]

Cheers for the reply think we will go with they option

 

[Joe Paxton]

If you don't fancy the replacement bus route via Willesden then that is a good option. Contactless or Oyster from Wembley Park to Waterloo and a Waterloo-Clapham ticket. Will likely work out cheaper than a travelcard too.

Or indeed use contactless or Oyster for the Waterloo to Clapham Junction leg too - this is cheaper but note you would need to alight at Clapham Junction to 'touch-out' and so end your contactless/Oyster journey before then boarding your train to Basingstoke. (In other words take any of the many trains from Waterloo to Clapham Jn, alight to 'touch-out' then catch your train on to Basingstoke.)

Whilst this can of course be done by exiting through the gates using your contactless/Oyster card (and then re-entering using your existing ticket to Basingstoke), you may find easier to just use one of the standalone Oyster readers at Clapham Junction - and there are three such readers located on platform 17, one near the stairs up from the subway and two near the stairs down from the overbridge.

(In fact there are also two standalone readers at the far southern (St John's Hill) end of the subway next to a double-door marked 'Emergency Exit', close to the gateline - presumably these have provided in case the door is opened and used for crowd control purposes, rather than with any desire to try and get passengers to touch-out if there actually was an emergency evactuation of the station! The other side of the door leads out onto the very small car park accessed from Falcon Rd and Junction Approach.)

 

[Surreytraveller]

There's a match at Wembley that evening - England v China women's football, 5:30pm KO - so it looks like the Southern trains aren't stopping at Wembley between 8-10pm, if that's when you're looking. They probably fear their trains would be too busy after the match so it's safer not to stop.

It's not Southern, it's London Underground. They manage the station and don't like trains calling there during big events

 

[Farigiraf]

Or indeed use contactless or Oyster for the Waterloo to Clapham Junction leg too - this is cheaper but note you would need to alight at Clapham Junction to 'touch-out' and so end your contactless/Oyster journey before then boarding your train to Basingstoke. (In other words take any of the many trains from Waterloo to Clapham Jn, alight to 'touch-out' then catch your train on to Basingstoke.)

Indeed that is slightly cheaper, but the OP will be travelling with their daughter in the late evening so the detour to save what won't be more than £5 is unlikely to be worth it.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Indeed that is slightly cheaper, but the OP will be travelling with their daughter in the late evening so the detour to save what won't be more than £5 is unlikely to be worth it.

Fair point.

 

[Hadders]

If you don't fancy the replacement bus route via Willesden then that is a good option. Contactless or Oyster from Wembley Park to Waterloo and a Waterloo-Clapham ticket. Will likely work out cheaper than a travelcard too.

Wembley Stadium to Marylebone thence Bakerloo Line to Waterloo is worth considering, depending on which side of stadium you exit from.

 

[OscarH]

It's not Southern, it's London Underground. They manage the station and don't like trains calling there during big events

Wembley Central has often been actively encouraged for people going to/from big events?

 

[Haywain]

Wembley Central has often been actively encouraged for people going to/from big events?

That might well be the case when a full train service is in operation. With an extremely limited service it makes sense to do otherwise.

 

[OscarH]

That might well be the case when a full train service is in operation. With an extremely limited service it makes sense to do otherwise.

Oh absolutely, the post I replied to sounded to me like TfL objected to opening the station in general during big events