How about this – a chance to take the tube to the closed Charing Cross tube station – and not just any tube train, but the heritage 1938 stock.

Just had an email from TfL letting me know that there will be another excursion of the heritage train in a few weeks time, but this time along the Jubilee Line – and the trip will include a stop at the disused Charing Cross platforms on the old part of the Jubilee Line.

They say it is likely to be the last time a heritage train can run along the Jubilee Line, as the new signalling system being installed will make future trips impossible. As that new signalling is itself shutting the Jubilee Line most weekends (DiamondGeezer passim), this heritage trip will take place on a Wednesday, not at the weekends as would be normally expected. Specifically, Wednesday 5th August. Still, I’d expect a fair number of tube fans will jump at the chance, especially for the chance to get to the closed tube station (we tube geeks like things like that).

This is part of the Jubilee line’s 30th/10th anniversary celebrations, and likely to be the last opportunity to ride on 38 stock on the Jubilee line before their new signalling is commissioned.

There are two trips:

Trip a) Stratford to West Hampstead, down to Charing Cross and then back to West Hampstead: costs £25 per person
Trip b) West Hampstead to Stratford: costs £10 per person

The train arrives at Stratford, platform 14 at 11:00 and leaves at 11:22 (plenty of time for photo opportunities), there’s also 20 minutes scheduled at Charing Cross disused Jubilee line platforms for more photo opportunities. The train arrives at the end of trip a) at West Hampstead at 13:18.

Trip b) from West Hampstead at 13:48 and arrive back at Stratford at 14:28.

Tickets for both trips are being sold from next week by the London Transport Museum via their website www.ltmuseum.co.uk or their ticket line 020 7565 7298.

Huge cheers to TfL for letting me know about this – and while I have done the heritage run a few times, the sight of the train inside the disused Charing Cross station might make it worth another go. Not to mention the look on the faces of the bankers and financial whizzes when travelling through Canary Wharf station in an ancient tube train

Update:

Tickets now on sale at the London Transport Museum website.

Had a press release come through from TfL gushing about their improved service for film makers and the setting up of a dedicated film office.

Great if you want to make films, but what about the remaining 99.99% of people who want to take still image photos?

Do we get a look in?

Nope.

As usual, the amateur photographer is left in a weird limbo land where there isn’t a clear rule. As DiamondGeezer noted the other day, a photography competition being run by TfL stated that photography on the tube network is FORBIDDEN.

However, chat over on District Dave notes that general photography is not explicitly banned and that a memo was added to the tube staff’s internal newsletter last year which says that general photography is permitted.

Add to that the many signs dotted around the tube network stating that “flash photography” is forbidden – but rarely commenting on other forms of photography. Indeed, by inference, non-flash photography seems to be permitted.

Now, I could buy a £30 monthly photography permit, but that seems to be aimed at student groups or professionals, and regardless of my pretensions, I am most certainly not a professional. You also have to seek permission from the station every time you visit, which is a bit much if you are standing on a platform and see something you want to take a quick snap of.

Regular readers may recall a nasty incident last year at Clapham Common station with photographers.

I understand the problem with flash on the underground, and support the ban on that – but a total ban on photography in general just seems daft. No one at TfL has ever come up with a defensible reason for the ban, and with the contradictory statements on the issue, isn’t it time they put some effort in to liaising with photographers to come up with sensible and usable rules?

I will accept the ban on tripods, although I would be interested to know why TfL thinks a small tripod at the far end of the platform causes more problems than a tourist with two large suitcases blockading the middle of the platform.

So come on TfL – do the same as you did last year with the Bloggers Briefing and pull in some photographers to discuss the problems and come up with a sensible set of rules for us amateur hobbyists.

The Thames river bus service, The Thames Clipper – which zooms past my flat on a very regular basis – has announced that it is to start accepting Oyster PrePay cards from November.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/11479.aspx

Still to be confirmed is whether the total cost will be charged to the PrePay card, or if the existance of a PrePay card will simply allow passengers to claim the “Travelcard holders” discount on the fare which is then paid in cash.

I had slightly given up using the Thames Clipper as I no longer have a monthly travelcard and couldn’t claim the discount. Paying £5 for a trip felt a lot worse than the discounted £3.35 I used to pay.

The boats are a lot, lot nicer than the tube and the seats are more reminsant of travelling on a nice aircraft than on a form of mass public transport. Also, my snobbish side also quite liked getting on board and asking for a ticket “to the Savoy please”

It would have been nice to have had this ready for the summer months though, as that is undeniably the most pleasurable time to take the boat into the West End at weekends.

Somehow missed this, but the DLR has published A Brief History of Time the Docklands as a station by station guide. The booklet, some 28 pages long gives 2-3 paragraphs to the history of the area which each station is located in.

I picked up a copy from the Greenwich Tourist Advice Centre (which I visit reguarly to see if any events are being promoted) and its not a bad little publication. It’s rather light on detail, but it isn’t supposed to be an Encyclopaedic journal after all, so that is acceptable.

From the press release:

For example, did you know that St Anne’s Church, a few minutes from Limehouse station, inspired the Victorians to make tiered wedding cakes?

Yes, that is a very well known story.

Or that The Gun pub, built in the 1700s and now close to Blackwall station, houses a concealed staircase with a spy hole facing the river that was once used to spot revenue inspectors.

No – and I must go to have a look!

It seems that the booklet wont be on general distribution though, as it is being made available though “schools, libraries and visitor attractions”, so you might have to hunt a bit to get a copy. The DLR will post out leaflets though, and when it is available, presumably you can order a copy from their ordering form.

After a group of London bloggers were recently invited to meet with TfL, it is now possible for anyone to quiz the same people we had the chance to chat to. TfL is launching the second (?) of their online Q&A sessions for the commuters to ask those questions which seem as pressing as the crush on the tube came press strangers into each other each evening.

The online quiz session will be held next Tuesday.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate/media/questiontime/coming-soon.html

http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2008/11/27/bloggers-briefing-with-london-transport/