(train roaring)
We're at Birkbeck, tram stop and national rail stop.
Birkbeck is actually one of London's least-used stations.
It's in the top 10, bottom 10,
depending how you wanna look at it.
But it's not where we're going today.
We're going one stop up the line that way
to continue our series
of the least-used tube stations in London.
But that's not the end,
because we can do the least-used DLR,
we can do the least-used overground,
and today, we can do the least-used tram stop,
which is Avenue Road.
Avenue Road is in a residential area of Beckenham
with two platforms, and opened in the year 2000
when the Tramlink was constructed.
You'd almost not know it was here
with just this green footbridge
looking the same on either side with no obvious signs,
and only one of the roads to the side is called Avenue Road.
So hello, welcome to Avenue Road.
It's my betting that you've never got out here before.
You might've passed through.
It's interesting to note
that the four least used trams stops,
they are all on the Beckenham junction branch.
Birkbeck, where we just came from,
is actually the second least used,
but Avenue Road, with its 62,000 passengers per year,
is the least used.
Things to say about Avenue Road?
Well, it does have this, this footbridge,
which basically joins the two roads on either side together.
A lot of people use the footbridge not to get the tram
but just because it's a crossover to get over the railway.
From the top, obviously, there's a really good view.
You can see where the tram actually doubles up
at that point. So trams can cross,
but there's the single track of the Southern line.
Now ,what some people think is that
the Southern railway lines were doubled.
They were singled when the tram came along,
but actually it was singled.
I think, you know, from just off the Crystal Palace
down to Beckenham junction,
years before the tram came along,
they just lifted one of the tracks.
And then when they came to get the tram they were like,
now we can use this space to put our tram tracks.
So with that last tram gone,
I really have got the whole station stop to myself.
There's a proper nothing here,
and we often talk about how there's like nothing,
but to either side they're just residential roads.
And there's nothing, there's no shops.
All there is, is the bridge.
(laughing)
In a minute,
we're going to have to find something else.
It should be worth pointing out that the facilities,
such as they are, are what you would expect of a tram stop.
They do have litter bins.
There are obviously a dot matrix displays,
and there are oyster validators, no ticket barriers,
all tram stops work the same as buses,
just a flat fare, hopper fare as well for one pound fifty,
and waiting shelters with seats.
And that's about it.
You really don't get much at a tram stop.
Like, I mean, I would encourage you to come here
just to have a moment of solitude,
as I'm about to have at Avenue Road where nothing happens.
What's 62,000 divided by 365? I didn't do that.
It's 169, nice shade of green.
It's 169 people per day.
I'm going to point out one brilliant fact
you might not have known though
and that is this tactile paving.
You quite often see it on the streets
by pedestrian crossings,
where the raised bumps are in a square pattern.
I think at railway stations
they're in a kind of a diamond slanty fashion,
but here, this oblong shape, the curved rectangle
that specifically represents trams.
I just wanted to find something else nearby to Avenue Road.
So a quick check on Google maps confirmed that nearby
was an old abandoned railway bridge,
which I kind of knew about,
but I'd never been to see before.
Above me, is the rumble of a tram. I've come to a tunnel.
I can't resist a tunnel.
And this footpath, I've been looking on a local map
and I realised that in this area,
remembering that where Avenue Road and Birkbeck
and all that is a national railway line as well.
There's an old, old curve of track
that is quite a sharp, tight thing.
And you can still see it on Google maps
if you're looking from above.
And it was a curve, which meant the trains
coming up through Birkbeck and Avenue Road
could then go left and join
the Orpington Victoria main line at Kent House.
And I just want to see if there's any remains of it.
So what I have discovered are some nice allotments
either side and up ahead,
(laughing)
that is more than I was hoping for.
Look there, there, there, there,
and the railway used to go over the top.
It's just kind of cool to see.
So trains would come up through Birkbeck and Avenue Road,
where we just were,
and then across here on the curve,
and then join the main line up to Victoria at Kent House.
Yeah, I know that's more of a Birkbecky Beckenham thing,
but that's because there's really, really, really, really,
really quite nothing at Avenue Road.
So I've come back to the tram.
I've come down to Beckenham junction,
gonna head home from here,
there's not a lot to Avenue Road.
Let's just very quickly though,
compare it to the other tube lines.
It's really struggling to make an impression,
and it's even more least-used than Roding Valley,
the least-used station on the whole of the underground.
So that's the least-used tram stop squeezed in
with all the tube lines,
which means we can also do least-used TFR rail,
least-used overground stop, that's a good one,
and least-used DLR as well.
See you next time.