Unfortunately the direct train arrives one minute after my connecting train departs. I havent looked into the CP option yet, but will do.

But much more costly than just using mainline services?

Can someone explain if the earlier reference to the closure of the south london line (showtunesgirl) means no trains to Clapham Junction at some point? Or if there are always going to be Clapham J trains from Forest Hill what is their destination going to be?

I think 'South London Line' is the London Bridge/Victoria service via Denmark Hill (not via CP, which is our service).

Which is why the "map of south London train services in 2012" does not show any service to Highbury and Islington. Those 8tph will be the 8tph from Crystal Palace and West Croydon.

We will have two routes to Clapham Junction - one by Crystal Palace, and the other via Surrey Quays.

The outer South London Line (which our service is known as) should be safe until the end of the Southern franchise in 2015, although the new coalition government may choose to extend the franchise to a much longer period as part of their plans for government for the next 5 years.

There is also a possibility that when the Thamesliink franchise is up for renewal, as part of the upgrade at London Bridge, the slow services may be from that provider and not Southern going through to Blackfriars and St Pancras.

As we have no through services to Clapham Jnc on Sunday's, the new connection at Surrey Quays in 2012 is welcome.

This discussion on fares is confusing, so here is what is says on TfL's website:

FH to Charing Cross on National Rail only:
Paper ticket ret - £5.30
Paper ticket sgl - £3.10
Oyster sgl peak - £2.60
Oyster sgl off-pk - £2.00

FH to Charing Cross on Overground and Tube:
Oyster sgl peak - £2.70
Oyster sgl off-pk - £2.40

Therefore as rbmartin said, there is just a 10p extra cost on Oyster at peak time for using Overground and Tube instead of National Rail.

This also means that a monthly National Rail season ticket, at £74.90, now costs the same as 14 days peak return travel (though of course you can only use it on Southern services), and a monthly TfL travelcard, at £116, costs the same as 22 days peak return travel. I.e. there is no point in buying a TfL travelcard unless you do significant travel over and above the normal commute.

...or an extra 80p for an off peak return journey from the other end of Villiers Street.

Indeed - if you do a 'normal' commute of 10 peak journeys a week, you'll pay more if you buy a travel card.

Anyway, I currently pay £19.50 for a 7 day 1-3 travelcard using Southern services only, or £74.90 for 10 peak journeys a week, or 40 peak journeys month. The cheapest I could do 40 journeys a month for on the ELL would be £108 a month.

Somebody can tell me that's wrong now...!

Regardless of the clearly very emotive and important issue of timetable, is anyone else really liking the new trains on the ELL?

Air conditioning and space is a huge improvement on Southern trains and the underground network!

Picked up the new ELL and Southern pocket timetables tonight. A shame one couldn't be published for both as it's a bit of a chore going through both.

After rushing to get the 0026 from London Bridge tonight I was somewhat surprised that the timetable had changed 'tonight' (rather than tomorrow), so I ended up on what I think was the first 0036 train!

Unfortunately it was only 4 carriages long though...

Forest Hill is looking very festive today


TfL are handing out free zone 1-6 travelcards and souvenir tickets (like the old British Rail ones before they went computerised)


Noticed that the display had Rotherhithe on it (twice) and no Wapping, but other than that everything seemed to be running smoothly.

PS Still no Oyster vending facilities at the Ticket Counter - and probably not for a couple more days

NewForester, is the ticket office issuing these free Travelcards?

They were issuing the free travel cards this morning to what I think were the first 500 or 800 passengers. Not sure how long they have or will last?

Went to FH at noon and the gateline supervisior was still dishing out free travelcards in Overground wallets.

Looked up the new train timetable for tomorrow morning. The time between Honor Oak Park and London Bridge by normal train is now showing as taking 16 or 17min instead of 11min. Have them also slowed down the trains?

Where there used to be a 10 min gap between services, this has been reduced to 3 mins between Sydenham and NXG, which means to keep to timetable, there's now an extra minute between stations, which soon adds up.

Incidentally, the Southern services today were only 4 carriages and not the promised 8. Although this may change with the weekday timetable.

The cynics might say that this is to encourage people to travel via Canada Water - according to journeyplanner

Forest Hill - London Bridge (Southern) 17 minutes
Forest Hill - London Bridge (ELL/Jubillee) 18 minutes

Incidentally, I notice that it is no longer called the East London Line on the Tube or Oyster Rail Services map, simply London Overground (as are all the LOROL lines)