Leeds to Egham on Wednesday

[Oswyntail]

Sending last child for a university interview this Wednesday. National Rail website is telling her to change off the 08:05 Leeds train at Stevenage, down to Finsbury Park. Tube to Victoria, Victoria to Clapham Junction then on to Egham. Coming back sends her to Staines, then Vauxhall, then tube to the Cross. Is there a problem at Waterloo, or is this just trying to shave a few minutes off the time somewhere?

 

[dan_atki]

Sending last child for a university interview this Wednesday. National Rail website is telling her to change off the 08:05 Leeds train at Stevenage, down to Finsbury Park. Tube to Victoria, Victoria to Clapham Junction then on to Egham. Coming back sends her to Staines, then Vauxhall, then tube to the Cross. Is there a problem at Waterloo, or is this just trying to shave a few minutes off the time somewhere?

Try to save time I assume - biggest problem being that Waterloo to King's Cross requires a change of tube but Vauxhall/Victoria to King's Cross/Finsbury Park does not.

As a sidenote: The best change for King's Cross to Waterloo is at Oxford Circus, where the southbound Bakerloo and Victoria lines are parallel (just across a passage from one another) and likewise for the northbound.

 

[Ivo]

Sending last child for a university interview this Wednesday. National Rail website is telling her to change off the 08:05 Leeds train at Stevenage, down to Finsbury Park. Tube to Victoria, Victoria to Clapham Junction then on to Egham. Coming back sends her to Staines, then Vauxhall, then tube to the Cross. Is there a problem at Waterloo, or is this just trying to shave a few minutes off the time somewhere?

I would suggest ingoring the NR advice on this one. I would say go through to King's Cross, then go to Euston using the Northern or Victoria Line and then go to Waterloo on the Northern Charing Cross branch. The reason I say this instead of using Oxford Circus is that Oxford Circus is too busy for a station with three lines in my opinion. From Waterloo, use a Reading train which is the fastest you will get to Egham. They leave Waterloo at xx:20 and xx:50 and reach Egham at xx:57 and xx:27. As for coming back, they leave Egham at xx:23 and xx:53, arriving into Waterloo at xx:04 and xx:34. Of course, you can use the Weybridge trains, but they run via Hounslow and are much slower.

Having said all this, going via Victoria is probably a but quicker, but I would still go via Waterloo because it avoids a change a Clapham Junction. Oh, and er, at Egham there is a special bus to Royal Holloway (I assume that is the University in question?), but I forget its number. There is also the 471 (I think). I'm sure my dad could give details on the bus there. He's driven it enough...!

 

[Capybara]

Personal favourite would be King's X to Vauxhall on the Victoria Line, Vauxhall to Clapham Jct thence a Reading train from there. For reasons of simplicity, really, as at Vauxhall the tube exit is on the right side of the station for a Clapham Jct train that will drop you at more or less the right place for the Reading train when you get there. Going via Victoria means a trek from the Victoria Line to whichever platform your Clapham Jct train is going from, then another trek across the width of Clapham Junction.