Please don't take up this daft suggestion to contact TfL.

Rust (at least surface rust) is perfectly normal on steel girders. Once exposed to the air, the iron mixes with oxygen to form iron oxide (rust) which quickly coats the surface of the material. Almost any building using a steel superstructure such as girders is brown with rust in the early stages of construction, almost within a few days of being exposed to air.

Unless the girders are being eaten through by rust (an almost unheard of result, otherwise all of New York would now be lying in piles of rubble) there is really nothing to worry about.

Thank you! That sets my mind at rest. I also checked with one of the workmen this morning and they said something similar - they said the structure is meant to be safe for 100 years without any attention/maintenance, so it will be perfectly safe.

I figured there would be a rational explanation - but my mind had started imagining crumbling lift towers and plummeting babies and buggies, so I thought I should at least check!

I agree with the comments on the ticket machine screen colour!

I have been told that the footbridge will not be completed until Christmas.

Today I purchased a ticket from the station to Charing Cross, unlike yesterday when I bought one, the ticket had in bold "SOUTHERN ONLY" which made me a bit dubious about changing at London Bridge to use Southeastern trains onto Charing Cross.

Luckily the gates opened at CX and a ticket inspector didn't come on the SE train, but it is concerning if FH users could stump up a ?20 penalty fare by accident because of these changes to the tickets.

If you have a ticket to Charing Cross then you surely must be OK , although do not most tickets just say London

Brian, the barriers opened fine at Charing Cross, although I did use a rival train company to carry on my journey from London Bridge.

To answer my own question, I asked Southern manager Barry Jones on EDF and he said that you can transfer to other rail services despite saying Southern Only if it's between London Terminals, i.e. Waterloo East, Charing Cross, Cannon Street.

Does anyone know why a section of wall on Platform 2 has been demolished (about level with the station building, not up by the footbridge)? Is it just being rebuilt or is there a chance they're building a shelter on the platform? There seems to be quite a bit of space between the location of the original wall and the advertising hoardings on Perry Vale.

They do their best to make it complicated don't they? Thanks for finding out and letting us know!

No worries. Incidentally, I bought the same cheap day return ticket this morning, after queuing up for 15 mins because all three machines were down and I was sold the normal ticket which says Route 'ANY PERMITTED' on the ticket by the asian ticket clerk who's been there since the Network SouthEast days.

I bought a weekley to London Bridge yesterday and it said 'any permitted' too. Quite how they could sell you a ticket to Charing Cross saying 'Southern only' I don't know. Chance would be a fine thing!

I met with the Project Manager today after leafletting the station and he said that this was part of the platform widening. I don't know if they will site a shelter here

I also raised the matter of the lighting on the stairs for the Perry Vale exit. He promised to return this evening and look at it in the dark with a view to installing some modern, angled lights (similar to those in the underpass).

Speaking of the underpass, is the s106 money from FH Central now spent? Did it only extend as far as whitewashing half of the underpass and putting the handrail on?

And if so, am I the only person feeling slightly disappointed?

From what I remember, there is still work to be done with the s106 money, but Lewisham, Network Raiil, Southern (?), LOROL and TfL were trying to come up with a way for a coordinated maintenance regime so that it doesn't fall into disrepair again.

With so many parties involved, it's hardly surprising that it's taking a while to sort out.

I seem to remember there being a set date when the underpass work must be complete. I believe it was tied into the beginning of FHC construction... which is now near completion.

The underpass is a joke. We should have a sweepstake on how long before the 'new' hand rails look an absolute state, honestly, who on earth thought putting a few strips of timber would suffice?

I was actually under the impression that the timber ones were a temporary thing, making sure there was no cause for being sued while forcing people to use it while the footbridge was closed.

Increased volumes of people using is, caused by the bridge works, if there was an accident, they would get the blame.

Hence I thought they were there for the time being.

I get the impression the works down there will get finished once the bridge is done. Or I sure hope so anyway.

When I arrived at the station on the 18:34 from London Bridge, I noticed that all the gates at Perry Vale were closed and unmanned. As a result there were a few people unable to exit the station. I popped into the main station to inform them, the guy on the barriers seemed to take it very seriously and hopefully the gates were opened shortly after.

Hopefully this was just a single incident of an oversight but if you see the gates closed and unmanned please tell the station staff. There should be somebody at the station (not necessarily on the Perry Vale side) at all times trains are running. And if you do get stuck I think there is an emergency gate opening button to the left of the gates as you exit.

Quite worrying that such an oversight could take place.

Good job done though