Just for info there was a sign up saying FH station was closed all of this coming weekend; likely to upset a few travel plans no doubt especially on a Bank Holiday, but there is never a right time"

Is it cynical to think they could provide a service if they wanted to, (closing just one platform), but it is cheaper for them to run a bus service?

When the ellx opens, is it cynical to think that on maintenance weekends, the trains will just terminate at new cross gate? ie we will still be second class citizens on our own line.

If it saved money am I right in thinking some would not care if FH station closed altogether, if a new station was opened within a 20min walk from the old site, (but still in FH Ward)?

Perryman - excellent idea to shut down FH station and rebuild it elsewhere. Perhaps a new "Forest Hill Halt" (or perhaps it more correctly should be called "Sydenham Halt") could be constructed close to the site of the footbridge over the railway close to the German Church:

The main advantages would be:
1. Cost-saving.
2. The current site of FH station could be sold for housing.
3. The new station could be completed quickly - probably by 2011, whereas it's highly unlikely money will be found to improve the existing FH station before 2012.
4. The new station would be closer to the planned Willow Way Swimming Emporium.

As I see it, the new station would be a way of reinvigorating FH by moving the town to a new centre further south. Perhaps a feasibility study could be carried out by LBL into the possibility of also moving the Horniman Museum to the site of the electricity substation next to the footbridge. Then the site of the Horniman Museum plus Horniman Gardens could also be rezoned for housing.

No doubt our friends from the "conservation" lobby will sneer at these plans. When will these people learn that town planning and the provision of services come way down the list of priorities? Money talks in this day and age!

I don't care where a station is sited. I want me and my kids to be able to get on a train as soon as possible without being held up by a lot of do-gooders carry out "essential rail engineering."

"the planned Willow Way Swimming Emporium"
Very funny grasshopper.

But I like maintenance.

However, it is funny why it is always 'essential' rail engineering.
It sounds a bit like it has been left to the last minute to me.

Perhaps if they did a bit more routine maintenance on our rusting institutions then they would not have had to shut the services completely down. Both FH pools (2 pools) and our railway (4 lines) have spare capacity to allow this.

Had a look this morning and confirmed with booking office clerk that they seem to be replacing the fast downside rail. A may of course be wrong
I think we have to accept the closure on occasions like this . We should be happy infrastructure being updated.
I to hate replacement bus services .
As the worst part of the repacement bus service is the time taken from LB to NCG , surprised they do not ask people to get trains to NC and run buses from there. That would cut the time spent on buses quite a lot.Perhaps I should suggest it to them. Would save a lot of money . A few weeks ago when I had to take such a journey thje time taken from LB to NCG was more than the time taken from NCG to FH.

Had to catch the 176 bus back from town this evening due to no trains from Charing X and LB. Anyone find out what the problem was? Never managed to get into Charing X to find out.

Side fire on the line. I waited one hour at Charing Cross and got home at 9pm instead of 8pm. Once we were finally on the move, I could not see any sign of fire though.

The fire was between Waterloo East and London Bridge according to platform staff. I caught the Jubilee to London Bridge and HOP trains were working fine from there.

The new Overground trains have been officially launched - photos at http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/...ound.html. Only 100 seats in the initial 3-car NLL version but plenty of standing room. The ELL version will have 4 cars.

The link in the previous post has a rogue full stop. This should work...

http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/...round.html

Grrr. As per usual there are overhead bars and straps and not enough central poles. If you are like me under 5 foot 3, overhead bars and straps are almost impossible to hold on to.

Does anyone know if the East London line is due to reopen on schedule, ie "by summer 2010"? I can't find any reliable reports of progress on the TFL website.

The June report to TFL board on Overground (including ELL) indicated that all was on schedule for June 2010.

http://londonreconnections.blogspot.com/...-0609.html

Couple of questions on extension when it opens:

Will trains still go to London Bridge?

Connection at Canada Water to Jubilee Line ... will there be crowd control at morning rush hour? Seriously, how's it going to work?

Yes trains will still run to London Bridge:

Have a read of this whole thread:

http://www.se23.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=103&page=1

Yes trains will continue to run to LB after the ELL arrives but all eyes will be on the new Southern timetable when it appears.

Already we know that it's not all good news.

Southern has just announced that trains to and from Charing Cross will be axed in December - all trains will start and terminate at LB. So no more direct late night trains back from the heart of the West End.

Also it looks likely that although peak trains to and from LB will continue to be 6 trains per hour, off peak services will be cut from the current 6 trains per hour to 4 trains per hour later in the year. Doesn't sound too bad until you realise that many commuters especially in the evening, travel on "either side" of the rush hour, before 5pm and after 7pm. Their service - and the one to and from LB during the day - looks as if it will run with one third fewer trains.

Meanwhile the delays over the introduction of Oystercard on suburban stations such as ours drags on. Once again the introduction of OC on our line (promised in September) has been postponed. Early next year may be the best hope we have of seeing an introduction of this much needed upgrade in ticketing.

I have posted a letter from the Forest Hill Society to Southern Railways complaining about the loss of the Charing Cross services. You can read it at http://www.foresthillsociety.com/2009/07...vices.html

Oyster Card type gates. I've just been from Waterloo to Havant with SW Trains. All stations have Oyster style gates, so there is no excuse for Southern not to have installed them already.

Thanks for posting the letter, Michael. It is very concerning to hear we may lose those services. Even more so as the current late-evening trains, once at LB, are so heavily oversubscribed to the point that sometimes people can't get on.

Please keep us updated with any news or with anything we commuters can do to help lobby against this decision.

I use the direct service everyday in the evening. If there is more we can do, (petition, send more letters), let us know.