Westcombe Park ...
Got off a SouthEastern train
heading for this footbridge, gonna cross this footbridge
and get onto another footbridge structure which will lead us, to a very ...
faily unique piece of railway infrastructure in London
from the footbridge, you've got trains, cars ...
Dome ... City! it's a good view
(by City i meant Canary Wharf)
*laughs* I knew what i meant!
so i'm crossing the footbridge, and the footbridge
it's get to the other side of the A2, and it gets into this little
spiral whirly thing, already i can the railway line here
and already ... i can see the crossing
aaaaand! the crossing's there
i'm going to rathe contraversially say that it's Londons only foot crossing
it goes up to Angerstein Wharf up there and joins to the SouthEastern network down there
i think it's time ... for a little map
the crossing is near Charlton in South East London between Westcombe Park and Charlton stations
it used to be connected to the mainline
with a junction that faced Blackheath station to the south
but when the nearby A102 road was built nearby cutting through it
a new curve of track was built so that the junction now faces Charlton station instead
ok, now i've come deliberately in the afternoon because ...
the train, according to Real Time Trains is meant to pass through
just checking the times now
one at 16:52, and one at 17:34
but i just checked ...
and i don't think either of them are running today!
however, my friend Roger was here last week
and i just sene him a text message saying "If i train doesn't come ...
... can i use a clip of your video please?"
and he's said 'of course, so ...
if there's any video of the train now it might be from, when Roger was here
last week. Thanks Roger!
so yeah! this is the line to Angerstien wharf
there's an aggregates, and cement company
down that way, leads right onto the Thames
all i know, is what i read on Wikipedia it was built, in the 1850's
by 1852 ... it's a little branch line
but as you saw on the map just then, the junction used go one way
and now it curves the other
so there's only two things to do here really, is that i've come, in the late afternoon
and around four o'clock...
i'm expecting a train to pass through, the other cool thing to see is that i've come
to this location, the slightly less interesting way
with the road, and the ... ... the crazy bridge
but over here there's a tiny little alleyway that looks a lot more fun
and just leads out, onto a very non-descript sideroad
sideroad!
and it comes out here!
this is Fairthorne Road
terraced houses
south east London ...
with a small alleyway, down to
London's only foot crossing
now! when i say, it's London's only foot crossing
i'm sort of telling a white lie
bit of a click-baity title, because
in Episode 4 when i walked the canals and made an epsiode for Londonist
i want to Trumpers Crossing Halt, Halt Crossing?
here's a clip, of what I think is London's only other foot crossing across a railway
The line is still used today for the occasional freight train disposing of waste and sometimes railtours that come down here
And that is the reason why we stared the video on a railway line, because up there is the three bridges, and this is the single unelectrified track that runs to Brentford down there
and i think it's one of the few places in London where there aren't any barrier gates, and you can just walk across, a railway line!
Now the difference there of course is that the branch down to Brentford
is rarely used, here ...
there's a fairly regular, almost daily freight service
so this one is definetely more well used than that other one
but apart from those two, i don't know of any other footcrossings, in London
in the distance, you can see the
the cement works
can you see that?
hold up! this is exciting, Roger's texted me
ah! just checked Real Time Trains for you, the Italic timing has turned normal
that means it's on its way should be with you at ...
sixteen fifty-two
Where ... can i get a tea ...
round here? ... in 45 ... minutes?
Thanks Roger!
he's a good lad.
Sainbury's petrol station, for the hot drink win
i've just realised, over there
that huge IKEA, is the new IKEA that everyone's been banging on about recently
there you go, free plug for IKEA!
back to the trains.
so i've been texting Roger again, and he said that at about 4:45
somebody in an orange hi-vis, walks down the track to kind of
prepare the line? clear the line? apparantly he has to get on
the train with the driver, at the stop board and sure enough
it's sixteen thirty-nine
and in the distance ... i can see a tiny dot of orange!
the man's coming which means the train's coming
and at sixteen fifty-two ...
here comes a train
now if this was the USA
and a railroad track, this would go on ... for like 20 minutes
i'm hoping this will pass in like, 30 seconds
so i think there's another stop board
down there
ok! he's just stopped ... on the crossing
*chuckles* i'm gonna stand back a bit
off to pick up cement
or drop it off
i don't know which way round it is that's it! that's Angerstein Wharf
London' only foot crossing apart from the other one
it's at Westcombe Park ... if you wanna see it