Michael, thanks as always. Okay that makes sense. I will look at the guidelines. The idea of a square is great - not sure where exactly it would go given the dreaded A205, but giving the area more of a heart would be ideal. Fingers crossed that TFL is in favour of replacing the station building...

Did anyone use Forest Hill Station over the weekend? The ticket barriers were manned on Saturday and Sunday by London Overground staff.

All well and good, but.....the only engineering/changes-to-train-services posters were on the other side of the barrier. No information in the tickets office or the station veranda.

Two posters - one declared that there were no changes to the train services at FH this weekend; the other told of engineering works and train services not running over the weekend.

I discussed this with the LO guy at the barriers. He thoughtfully read the posters and decided that the two posters did not contradict each other and both were correct. The former was referring to the regular FH timetable. The latter to engineering works. Two different entities.

I was left speechless by his sophistry.

Anyway, he replied that his job was just to man the barriers and he did not know anything about Southern train services or engineering works.

Great. Got more of that to look forward to.

Yes great to see barriers manned , let us hope the fare dodging crims decide to walk.

I hope this will stop 'steaming' (if that's the right word?) of trains on our line.

Funny enough the one time I was mugged on a train was on the Greenwich line and not on ours.

Surely ( steaming ) as you put it is armed robbery with menaces.

Deserve minimum 5 years if caught rather than community service and a box of chocolates as now.

Wikipedia has a better use of the term, apparently it's street slang for a public transport robbery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steaming_(crime)

I finally used the station this evening since the new regime took over the station. There was no guards on the platform 2 gates who left the main buggy/wheelchair gate open and only one guard supervising the Platform 1 gate.

Otherwise it was the usual Southern gubbins, no 19.38 from CX which started from LB, which I missed at 19.44, so ended up on the 19.54 to Victoria.

Anyone have any idea when the replacement footbridge is due to go in?

There is no East London Line extension on the TFL t-shirt 'zoom-in' product offering! http://shop.tfl.gov.uk/RailOrder/tube-map.html

Elizabeth - Do you really expect TfL to produce any product - even a promotional one - with a map of the LU system including a line (the new ELL line) which it isn't due to open for 8 months?

Doesn't seem as if the new TfL regime at FH station has impressed many posters. Why no attend the FH Society AGM on the 15th October at The Hob with speakers from TfL where you can put your complaints/questions directly to a manager from TfL?

I'd rather have a station with a footbridge I can use, and direct trains from Charing Cross in the evening than a T-shirt with a map of the ELL stations on!

I have asked TfL to sort out the problems with emptying the bins in front of Forest Hill Station. I am told that after a 'few teething issues with LOROL?s bin contractor, a robust system is now in place'.

I think I shall wait until the bins are empty and the footbirdge is open before buying the T-Shirt!

I asked at the station this evening how long it would take for the new footbridge/lifts to be completed.

At least two months was the not very joyous answer!
So don't hold your breath...

But it looked like they had finally emptied the bin.

Empty bins won't help us to cross from Platform 1 to Platform 2. The grotty underpass is still rather intimidating for anybody who relies on a stick to walk

Moving the bins to the end of the car park improves the entrance to Forest Hill.

The additional lighting, CCTV, and extra hand rails in the underpass should make it a little more pleasant (though more improvements would be welcome).

The eventual new footbridge will have a lift as well as stairs which will be a significant improvement for people with limited mobility.

If anybody has other ideas for improving Forest Hill and Honor Oak Station please come along to the Forest Hill Society AGM on the 15th October where you can put your suggestions to representatives from TfL.

the extra hand rails in the underpass...

I had no idea these were an 'official' improvement I thought someone with some spare timber had done it in the night!

Lets just hope the new footbridge is not made out of leftover bits of two by one.

Apparently the new footbridge and other improvements at Forest Hill Station will cost ?2.7m
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/...wsAreaID=2

Amazingly, given this budget, they are not putting a gate to the Perry Vale car park.

The new hand rail is hardly in keeping with the soon-to-be-listed Victorian bollards at the top of the underpass, however they might be useful for junegapi.

I seriously can't believe that they can spend 2.7m on a lift/footbridge and cannot manage to: a) to have the lift go down to Perry Vale street level, b) have the footbridge closer to the ticket hall instead of even further away, c) manage to retain the existing footbridge until the new one is installed.

LO(RO*)L
(*really out)

I had a period over a year ago when I was on crutches with no weight bearing on my bad foot - and can safely say that a handrail is so very helpful when it comes to navigating stairs.

Until I became proficient on my sticks, I would take an age to get down stairs that didnt have one.

I did notice some marker pen graffitti the other day in the underpass - so I hope this doesnt get worse..