I wouldn’t need much luggage. A small holdall would probably suffice, containing a notebook and novel as well as a sandwich, scarf and gloves.
The last section of the London Overground rail orbital was
officially opened at the beginning of the week. The orbital makes use of a
group of pre-existing lines a compass would be proud of: the East, South, West
and North London lines. Only one stretch of track of less than a mile in length
was required to be laid, in order to link Queen’s Road Peckham to Surrey Quays.
By my count the route services 35 stations, and passes
through 12 of London’s 32 boroughs. Tentacle-like lines run away from the
orbital using the Gospel Oak-Barking and Watford lines taking the total number
of boroughs called at to 20. The aim was at least three-fold: regenerate some
of London’s poorer suburbs, reduce passenger numbers on congested central
London routes, and create reduced cost transport options. By not entering
London’s very centre – Zone 1 – ticketing costs are lower than alternative
routes across the city. Only time will tell if many of these aims are met.
The new London rail
orbital route. Photo courtesy Transport for London.
The issue on all orbital routes for the adventure traveller
is to know where to begin. It is as correct to begin at a small midway station
like West Hampstead as it is to start at the purpose-built additional platforms
of Clapham Junction, one of the route’s terminal stations.
It is equally troubling to decide whether to travel East or
West, clockwise or anticlockwise. Heading East, trains pass along the South
London line towards Highbury and Islington in the north of London. The tracks
cross the River Thames at Rotherhithe using the Thames Tunnel designed by Marc
Isambard Brunel and his more famous son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was the
first tunnel built beneath a navigable river, designed initially for use by
horse-drawn carts.
The term orbital
suggests a continuous train run which the London orbital is not. From Highbury
and Islington a change of trains is required as the orbital swaps from the East
London line to the North London line. Even the city’s other orbital, the London
Underground’s Circle line, has a need to change trains at Edgeware Road.
Compared by none other as the Mayor of London as the “M25 of
rail”, there are some significant differences. This is not a high-speed rail
line as the comparison to a motorway might suggest. It is promised the line
will not be as slow or congested as the M25 can be either. Nor is it blue. The
livery is orange; the sort of orange impossible to miss even if the entire
planet’s colouration had been stolen by a Bond-style villain.