Good morning, i'm out in Zone 8 at Chalfont & Latimer
by the no-more-in-use disused bay platform
was last used in 2010
when trains used to shuttle between here
and where i'm going to the end of the line today
at Chesham
And this video is sponsored by SurfShark VPN more on them in a moment
Chesham is on a 3.89 mile long single track branch
that heads north shortly after leaving Chalfont & Latimer
it's the furthest station away from central london, 25 miles
and was actually here in 1889 three years before Amersham was built
as the Metropolitan Railway had plans to head north
and meet with the railway at Tring
but that never happened and a brilliant fact about Chesham is that departing trains have no starting signal
because once the train has entered the branch at Chalfont
nothing else can come onto the line meaning that the train has the track all to itself
and the driver, just uses a clock on the platform to know when to depart
as per the scheduled time in the timetable
* Squeal of brakes *
* Door opening chime *
Welcome ... to the top left
the north, and the west, the most northerly, and the most westerly point
it's Chesham station
here is that clock that i talked about which is how the driver
knows, when to depart
let's get some more common facts out of the way first
and then we'll dig deep and see what we can find
here's the old platform one which is no longer used
the tracks were removed a long time ago
and at the end by where the buffers had been
have been turned into a garden
a winning garden no less, in the 1993 london underground garden competition
there's two Grade II listed structures here
just to really make Chesham feel like it's super quaint
and should still be seeing steam trains and not electric ones
with this, the original water tower which is super impressive
and on the far side where the other platforms used to be
and the track down to the goods yard
there's this original wooden signal box, no longer in use sadly
oh, and you'll note with interest
that it's labyrinth artwork is number one
in the series of 270
and i'm going to explain what these are all about in a future episode
and you can sort of enter the base of the water tower now
because it's been turned into this bike storage facility
if you're travelling from chesham come ride and lock your bike here
up by the buffers at the end of the platform
i'm trying to work out if there's a way round to the signal box
i'm gathering, that the signal box
maybe does have open days or there are times when you can access it
because there's a path that goes down here, along some steps, along and you get it
i'd love to know how you get access
to the signal box, at Chesham
just found something very cool
i think there's only a couple of these left on the system now
Chesham has one of them
this yellow metallic bin, with the blue sticker there
the give away "Used Tickets" from the days of
paper ticketa, before
the barrier gates came in you could deposit your
ticket here, at the end of your journey
really nice to see
so, things to do in Chesham then ... well
as the sign literally says, "walkers are welcome"
and in the Chilterns here
there's loads of places where you can indeed go for a beautiful scenic walk
i found this nearby "Jacob's ladder" set of steps
which leads up to a path
and then this footbridge, with great views down onto the railway
but when the trains aren't rumbling past by, it's very quiet
and very peaceful here, all i could hear were the birds
and the occasion plane, in the sky
Chesham station building is lovely
inside, in the ticketing area
it's so lovely in fact that the place where there's a rack with Tube Maps
also has leaflets for local things to do
and just when you thought it wasn't quaint enough
i found this, an old wooden suggestion box
i definetely can't think of any other tube stations that has one of those, shame
but! has it got the most important of station ameneties
yeah and if you're playing along with the bingo sheet
and why wouldn't you be then you'll be as thrilled and exited as i am
to know that Chesham does indeed, have a car park
it's just a car park, the interesting fact
about Chesham's car park though
is that this used to be where the good yard was, right up until ... well
back in the days of steam, 1960's i think
goods yard, right here, it's now a car park. tick that one off.
Chesham's got a really nice town centre
this is the high street, plenty of independent shops
some chains, but not too many
there's an impressive Clocktower too and they have market here twice a week
it's not the first time i've been here though
the story that i always like to tell people is
that what got me into the Tube and the Underground
was as a small child my older cousins took me
for a ride on the Central line from Epping to Ongar
and that introduced me to the concept of extremeties of the Tube map
and it was in 1988, i was fourteen
with my friend out for the day teenagers hanging out in London
we had our paper travelcards
and i remember turning to my friend and saying
i wonder what's in the extremity in the North West corner
let's just randomly go to Chesham, and so
we did ... we got the Metropolitan Line
A-Stock trains, high back seats, all the way out to here
and all i remember is that there was a newsagents
just over there, and i went in and i got myself
a can of drink, and a pack of crisps
and we sat in the high street
and we ... drank out drink and ate our crisps
and then got the train back, on the way back in
the London Underground member of staff went
"your paper travelcards aren't valid out this far"
but, he let us in anyway
so, yeah ... 1988, was when i first came to Chesham
* Electronic beeps *
That's it? - that's it, thanks
i'm trying to pretend like it's 1988 again, whilst also ...
trying not to think about the fact that that was over thirty years ago
so instead, i thought abut something else and my mind returned
to that suggestion box
and i'm so enamoured by the suggestion box
that i've just been to the shop and bought myself a notepad and pen
and i'm going to leave a suggestion
that actually says ...
"Dear, Tfl"
"please have"
"more"
"suggestion boxes at"
"other"
"stations, thanks"
"Geoff"
I then spoke to a member of staff
who suggested, that i checked out the waiting room
ok, the waiting room
is fabulous, one ...
there's a heater in here so it's warm
on a cold January day
secondly, it's got the station gardens compeititions
winning certificates
from all the years, all throughout the nineties
there's loads, along with a whole bunch of
black and white photos and stuff, showing you
how Chesham station used to look so when you come to Chesham
because you have to come to Chesham
spend five minutes
checking out all the old photos and everything
that's in the waiting room
just time for one quick admirational glance
at the hanging baskets on the platforms
and then, it was time
to get the train back home
so that is Chesham station Episode 10
of this end of the line series
my thanks to Surfshark
for sponsoring this video
their details and links are in the description below
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with all the other episodes
in this series so far see you soon, thanks bye!