Elephant & Castle - transfer to Underground

[MotCO]

Can anyone advise if it is easy to transfer from Thameslink trains to the Underground? I'm trying to avoid the Charing Cross blockade!

 

[NSE]

It's not terrible. It's about five minutes I'd say from tube to train and vice versa. Elephant and Castle is all lifts so that can add an extra minute or two. It's a walk through a shopping centre and out the front to the tube station. It's not the nicest area of London so be careful if you're lone/vulnerable etc.

 

[yorkie]

Can anyone advise if it is easy to transfer from Thameslink trains to the Underground? I'm trying to avoid the Charing Cross blockade!

You go through a time warp, which takes you through a shopping centre, you then have to either use a lift (which some would describe as "ram packed") or you can use the spiral staircase (which I think has something like approx. 100 steps but it doesn't seem too bad as long as you're going down them). The Bakerloo line is also part of this time warp, of course

If you are a mobile person and get off at the optimum door location and if you are quick walking down the steps (or you are lucky with the lift), 5 mins is very doable.

 

[MotCO]

Thanks - I'll think I'll change at Farringdon as advised by National Rail!

 

[NSE]

Without knowing your journey, i'd take a change at Farringdon over the Elephant everyday haha.

 

[yorkie]

Thanks - I'll think I'll change at Farringdon as advised by National Rail!

That may be best, but it's worth changing at EPH just once for the novelty factor (forum members like yorksrob would love it!)

 

[yorksrob]

That may be best, but it's worth changing at EPH just once for the novelty factor (forum members like yorksrob would love it!)

I think I have changed there before - only between the Bakerloo and the Northern though !

 

[MotCO]

Without knowing your journey, i'd take a change at Farringdon over the Elephant everyday haha.

Thanks. My complete journey is Orpington to Reading.

 

[GW43125]

That may be best, but it's worth changing at EPH just once for the novelty factor (forum members like yorksrob would love it!)

I did it on Thursday. It was certainly interesting.

Also the stairs up from the bakerloo certainly give your legs a workout when you go up them...

 

[NSE]

Thanks. My complete journey is Orpington to Reading.

My only other suggestion would be Orpington - Victoria - Paddington - Reading. But I dunno if engineering works put paid to that etc.

 

[MotCO]

My only other suggestion would be Orpington - Victoria - Paddington - Reading. But I dunno if engineering works put paid to that etc.

I'm probably thinking that Victoria would be struggling with the diverted trains from Charing Cross, and I think that there are still building works at Victoria. Also the thought of the Circle Line to Paddington.....

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Thanks. My complete journey is Orpington to Reading.

For that I'd definitely prefer to change at Farringdon. Very short distance to walk, and modern circle/H&C line trains to Paddington are miles more comfortable than 19th
[*] century Bakerloo line trains.


[*] Or maybe it's 18th century. I forget precisely when those trains came into service.

 

[yorkie]

Also the thought of the Circle Line to Paddington.....

That's a long way round, and the trains are infrequent.

Far better to take the tube; there's a cross-platform interchange at Oxford Circus!

 

[NSE]

I don't mind the Bakerloo stock. Reminds me of the old Victoria stock of which I was very fond of. I also quite like the sideways seats, always found them quite comfy.

 

[Roast Veg]

Victoria to Oxford Circus is definitely the fastest, but as has been said E&C is the most exciting.

 

[ijmad]

[*] Or maybe it's 18th century. I forget precisely when those trains came into service.

Yes, that's right, the Bakerloo carriage chassis were first laid down in 1770s, 50 years before the invention of the train.

 

[Antman]

Thanks. My complete journey is Orpington to Reading.

What about Orpington to Victoria, Victoria to Clapham Junction and CJ to Reading? No tube at all.

 

[ijmad]

What about Orpington to Victoria, Victoria to Clapham Junction and CJ to Reading? No tube at all.

1h 10mins from CJ to Reading vs ~28 mins from Paddington to Reading.

As someone who goes that way from SE London a fair bit, I rarely think the SWR services to Reading are worth taking, personally.

 

[SparkieLover]

1h 10mins from CJ to Reading vs ~28 mins from Paddington to Reading.

Plus they are frequent from Paddington.

As someone who goes that way from SE London a fair bit, I rarely think the SWR services to Reading are worth taking, personally.

I wouldn't bother.

 

[JamesRowden]

Brixton-OxfordCircus-Paddington also seems a decent route.

 

[Mag_seven]

You go through a time warp, which takes you through a shopping centre, you then have to either use a lift (which some would describe as "ram packed") or you can use the spiral staircase (which I think has something like approx. 100 steps but it doesn't seem too bad as long as you're going down them). The Bakerloo line is also part of this time warp, of course

If you are a mobile person and get off at the optimum door location and if you are quick walking down the steps (or you are lucky with the lift), 5 mins is very doable.

Having read the above last night since I was in London today I thought I'd try it out. You are absolutely right, it is like a time warp. The shopping centre was straight out of the 1970's - I was half expecting to stumble across a branch of Woolworth's in-between a branch of Radio Rentals and a branch of C&A.

As suggested I took the stairs rather then the lift to the Bakerloo line and at the top of the stairs I found lying on the floor, believe it or not, a Paris RER ticket valid between Savigny Sur-Orge and Central Paris (price 4.45 Euros) date stamped TODAY (30th August) at 11:19 (local Paris Time)! This was about 15.30 UK time so the person who dropped it must have arrived not that much earlier.

 

[Busaholic]

Having read the above last night since I was in London today I thought I'd try it out. You are absolutely right, it is like a time warp. The shopping centre was straight out of the 1970's - I was half expecting to stumble across a branch of Woolworth's in-between a branch of Radio Rentals and a branch of C&A.

As suggested I took the stairs rather then the lift to the Bakerloo line and at the top of the stairs I found lying on the floor, believe it or not, a Paris RER ticket valid between Savigny Sur-Orge and Central Paris (price 4.45 Euros) date stamped TODAY (30th August) at 11:19 (local Paris Time)! This was about 15.30 UK time so the person who dropped it must have arrived not that much earlier.

I've not been in it for about forty years, but it's just worth mentioning that this shopping centre was definitely the first of its kind in GB and, quite possibly, Europe when built in the mid 1960s, not long after the huge Barbican development in the City of London. To a S.E. London teenager like myself it all seemed very exciting and 'modern' and it should have a preservation order placed on it, just like Preston Bus Station. I'm, for once, not talking tongue in cheek here.