Classic View

It is usually a complete waste of time to even attempt to take a photograph from a moving train, particularly through a window. The image is usually spoilt by dirt on the window, by unwanted reflections, by outside obstructions and a general inability to control most of the factors that contribute to framing a half decent image.

Friday evening saw me traveling on SouthWest Trains from London Waterloo to the Twickenham area using South West Trains.

As I'd had a bit of time to spare I was on a slow train, the one that leaves Waterloo and travels round the Hounslow Loop eventually arriving back at Waterloo. The automated train announcer started off by saying it was the train to Whitton. By the time I got off it was announced as going to Barnes Bridge - I suspect by the time the train had left the next station, it would have been announced as going back to Waterloo. I like the Hounslow Loop, it has a strange quirkiness to it!

Anyway, I digress. Because there weren't many people on the train by the time we were approaching the River Thames, I didn't feel too self conscious in whipping my camera out and snapping this picture. Given all of the aforementioned constraints to taking pictures from trains, I don't think it's come out too bad.

I also ought to mention that South West Trains' timekeeping, at both ends of the day, was impeccable. The trains were clean and the seats comfortable although I imagine that commuters closer in to town than Twickenham must get a bit fed up with never getting a seat.

How to go to Greenford by bus from Hounslow?

Why would you want to?

Hounslow covers a fairly large area to the east of London's Heathrow Airport while Greenford appears to be a poorly defined area (based on state of the public transport infrastructure) in the London Borough of Ealing, neatly bi-sected by the A40 Western Avenue.

While I say 'Why would you want to?', I am not questioning anybody's desire to leave Hounslow, or their desire to get to Greenford. I am simply questioning the rationale for limiting the transport options to bus only as, so far as I can see, there is no direct bus link between the two towns.

While I am no fan of Uncle Ken, the Journey Planner on the TFL website is a useful tool to answer this sort of question.

Now, I am not going to start acting as a travel consultant to the rich & famous (or indeed to anyone else) but, to answer the question:

• Catch a 120 Bus towards Northolt and then, after about 40 minutes change onto an E6 to Greenford.
• Personally I would go at least part of the way by tube- I get really frustrated by the traffic snarl-ups in the Southall area (which is where the 120 bus usually gets stuck).

Too good to be true?

I've done a lot of travelling around this week. By way of example:

1 Day: Central line to Bond Street, Jubilee Line to Waterloo, South West Trains to Portsmouth Harbour, Fast Cat to Ryde, Train down Pier, Train back up Pier, Fast Cat to Portsmouth Harbour, South West Trains to Clapham Junction, South West Trains to sister's house, bus to Hounslow, tube home. On time all day. Fantastic! The reason for the journey was less happy.

2 Day: Bus to Heathrow, Plane to Glasgow, Bus to Glasgow City Centre, Bus back to Glasgow International Airport, Plane to Heathrow (left 20 minutes late, but landed on time), bus home. On time the whole day.

The above were on Wednesday and Thursday. On other days I have been using the Underground, Chiltern Railways and First Great Western Link. All without a single delay or problem all week.

Today I'm off down to Hampshire via Reading and Basingstoke. It usually works well, but I've no doubt just put a jinx on it.

Have a good weekend.

The Cumulative Effect of a Number of 'Minor Delays'

Public transport in London's suburbia is extensive. However, unless you are very lucky, it is highly likely that when traveling any distance you will need to change bus, tube or train at least once to reach your destination.

Sometimes the number of possible route combinations between A and B are so high that choosing how to make any particular journey can be like playing a game of Travel Roulette.

Last night I played.... and lost.

1. Bus towards Hounslow bus garage. Driver: "There's an incident at the Bus Garage and I'm not allowed to go there. I'm only going as far as the Treaty Centre. I got off at the Treaty Centre, walked an extra half mile past the Bus Garage (noting absolutely nothing out of the ordinary) and joined the Piccadilly Line.
2. When a London bound Piccadilly Line train arrived, all seemed fine. The train moved off and then crawled the whole way to Acton Town. The only announcement was made by the driver at Northfields when, after a three minute wait, he said 'I apologise for the delay. This is to allow the train behind us to catch up.' Total of 10 minutes added to timetable train running time.
   
3. At Acton Town the wait for a Rayners Lane train had been so long that I decided to spin the wheel again and take a District Line to Ealing Broadway to catch the Greenford Flyer from there. Twenty minute wait in all.
4. All was well at Ealing Broadway- my timings worked well and I changed onto the Greenford train within a couple of minutes. Then we stopped (presumably at a red signal) for seven or eight minutes before we even got to West Ealing. Other than a signalling failure/ blip I can think of no logical reason for this. No announcement.
5. The interchange at Greenford back onto the Central Line was good- a train arrived within a minute.
6. Ninety minutes door to door. My record on a similar variant to this route is 40 minutes,

It was the first time I had thrown the Greenford Line option into this particular route home. I was unlucky as I wouldn't usually need to consider it. On this occasion, maybe I should simply have caught the 120 Bus from Hounslow- the trouble is I have previously been delayed so much on that route that I only use it as a last resort.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

[Memo to Central User: Find something more positive to say]