English Mess Transportation: What is was like commuting in ’02
[From the archives] It’s Thursday, March 7, 2002, and I’m sitting on a crowded train car, somewhere between London and home. We left the station about 5 minutes late-not so bad on my line. But we only travelled about 10 minutes before coming to a dead stop. In a not-at-a-station place. We are on one of the wagons that has a working PA system, and after being stopped for a few minutes, a voice informed us that the train ahead of us was broken, and that we ‘may be here for a while.’
Most people express disbelief when I try to explain what the rolling stock is like. I have checked, and one of the series of cars does date back to 1957-1961. They call these cars ‘slammer’ cars because they don’t have pneumatic sliding doors (a feature developed on the London Underground shortly before WWI), but instead have narrow doors that are open and closed manually by the passengers. Although they have a lot of wood trim on them, presumably they are made of metal on the inside. They are curved, to match the sides of the wagons, and are hinged at the top and bottom. Such doors do not exactly snick closed with the precise assurance of a Mercedes limousine-they need a running start to close completely. Hence the name ‘slammer’. A series of 8 doors line each side of the car between 10 pairs of facing bench seats, forcing in and outgoing passengers to climb over each other’s legs.
The car I’m on is one of the ones that have no door handle on the inside, which means that exiting passengers must crawl over the knees of sitting passengers, and without losing their balance, pull down the window and reach outside to unlatch the door before the train leaves the platform. It is considered good etiquette on a cold day to close the window on your way out.
One side of the interior of the car has facing pairs of benches with room for 3 skinny people, and the other side has room for 2 skinny people. Each pair of benches has a sturdy wire shelf welded above it for luggage. The seats are covered with a vivid read and orange upholstery, nicely matching the light gray walls, robins egg blue doors, and the charcoal black linoleum floors. Everything is lit with a bilious green fluorescent glow, from the bare open tubes that actually work. Giving up a set at each end of the car to facilitate use of a skinny wooden door leading to the next wagon means that there are a total of 78 seats in each car. This probably explains why they keep the cars in service-because they have such a high seating capacity. Running two 8 car trains an hour ensures an efficient use of the rolling stock, often resulting in standing room only crowds at the London end of the trip.This being a commuter train, there is no food service, which is perhaps desirable when there are no waste baskets (or ‘dust bins’ as they call them here). The long distance trains have very nice plastic waste baskets, but our local is littered with newspapers and old food wrappers.
Mid-day and weekend trips sometimes use newer rolling stock, which has a much more comfortable ride, wider seats, and the heater seems to be able to choose some sort of reasonable compromise between steam and ice. One of my first trips to Waterloo was in a rain storm in a wagon that leaked water into the passenger compartment. Given the constant precipitation in a typical London winter, I was concerned that this would be an every day occurrence, but fortunately, most of the cars seem reasonably water tight. The locals explain that new rolling stock was actually purchased, but when it pulled into the terminating station at the other end, Reading, the trains were too long for the platforms, protruding into the mainline track between Paddington station and Wales. Before the platforms could be changed, the new units were redeployed elsewhere. Southwest Trains has promised that all systems will be upgraded by 2005, though.
My trip from Virginia Water to London Waterloo station is nominally 45 minutes, but this can be extended by circumstances. Today’s trip, which did get underway, should have arrived at my station 8 minutes ago, and I still have about 20 minutes to go.
It is an easy 12 minute walk from our rented house to the Virginia Water train station, with a paved and lighted path cutting through a wooded area and a stream crossing. The train is sometimes crowded, but if I catch the 7:02 train, I’ve found that I can always get a seat, and it is usually on time. If I wait 30 minutes for the following train, it will be crammed with standing passengers by the time it arrives at its ‘final destination’, London Waterloo station.
From Waterloo, I have a 5 minute walk to a 1-mile subway that is affectionately referred to as The Drain. Considered overcrowded in 1905, it remains the commuter’s equivalent of a carnival ride. Wanting to avoid having to pay building owners for right of way, this tube line, which is deep enough that the tunnel could have gone underneath the small Victorian-era buildings between Waterloo and Bank, nevertheless jinks wildly underneath the public streets on its madcap run, endlessly shuffling back and forth between the same two stops. The standing passengers, would be thrown wildly back and forth by the sudden gyrations of the car, except that they are crammed onto the wagons like sardines, propping them upright.
Depending upon the time of day, the day of the week, and the number of incoming trains that were late, the Waterloo & City platform can be so crowded that waiting passengers fill the platform, backing way up the two stairways that feed into it.
After a very uncomfortable, but mercifully short ride, I arrive at Bank Station. From Bank, it takes me about 15 minutes to get to my office, which is located on Golden Lane, at the far northwestern corner of ‘The City’. Referred to as ‘The Square Mile,’ it is the medieval core of London which still maintains a status and government distinct from the rest of the metropolitan area.
My walk to the office takes about 15 minutes, cutting across back alleys, past Guildhall, across Wall Street, and then wending my way through The Barbican.
Referring to a feature of the medieval wall, a few remnants of which are visible, The Barbican is a huge multi-use facility, with apartment towers, artificial lakes, performing arts halls, and class rooms and studios for music students. Built on an area of The City which was leveled in WWII (just north of St. Paul’s), its concrete construction and maze of skyways is no longer considered as interesting and attractive as when it was first build in the mid 60s.
My office is located behind the facade of what was originally The Cripplegate Institute, a late Victorian charity foundation that still exists, although it no longer uses this building, which once housed a public lending library.
On a good day, I can arrive at the office by 8:15, 90 minutes after leaving my house. Most days, the trip lasts longer.
[August 30, 2008 Postscript: SW Trains eventually did replace the 40-year old rolling stock, apparently after many adventures involving both French and German suppliers of more comfortable, yet less reliable, wagons. I didn't enjoy working for a bank, and I moved on in 2004. None of the people in my immediate group are still with the bank. I still love London, but I'm happy not to travel there every working day.]
February 26th, 2009 at 12:28 am
is this the old golden lane theatre building?if it is i used to work in it as a trainee technician 30 years ago.does any of the old interior survive?i had to commute via the fenchurch line so i walked much the same bit.the train i used had the suicidal doors you describe ,i thought they were all obsolete.
February 26th, 2009 at 9:08 am
II was aware that the Cripplegate Institute had been in this site, but I never knew that it had been a theatre. The façade has been maintained, including the clock and the original cornerstone, and a few apparently original features remain of the interior, such as a staircase. The face is only about 1 room wide, and seems to be a thin room at that. My belief is that the remainder of the building is contemporary. It is office space, now.
The forty year old wagons were totally phased out a year or two after I took these shots in 2002. I rode the SW Trains line to Reading, and the new trains were significantly less reliable than the old noisy and uncomfortable ones. They broke down fairly regularly during the first few years, and I ended up stranded between stations once, sitting in hot summer sun for over an hour before they evacuated the train using ladders.
March 3rd, 2009 at 4:03 pm
thanks for the reply.i feel sad about the theatres demise.the main entrance for the theatre was from the golden lane entrance which pretty much lead up to the stairs which ithink were marble. the theatre held about400 folk on 2 levels and had a proper stage with full counterweight flying.at the time i worked there it was run by arts educational schools which taught dance drama and singing to those that could afford it.as far as i can gather the theatre was built within the existing shell in 1932.i keep meaning to go back to have a look but i now live in scotland.