"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 22 May 2010 23:50:57 -0700 (PDT), Richard Adamfi
wrote:

I got the first Overground train from West Croydon due at 0642. It
actually came at 0649.

Well I was at Dalston at about 0635 but that's just how the buses worked
out to get me there before 0656.

The ticket office was closed so I had to use Oyster for the first
trip.

Unfortunately the station did not open until 0707 when a driver came up
from his train to find the staff. The first train therefore had been and
gone. He released the door from the inside. The station staff were
outside with the passengers waiting for a key to turn up. The platform
displays were showing the wrong train on the wrong platform for some
reason. Needless to say there was no opportunity for the staff to hand
out the freebies as they'd only just made it into the station.

All I can say is "not very good". Thankfully there was only a handful
of people around that early in the day at Dalston.

They didn't preview at this sort of time last weekend then? A shame because
one of the major selling points of LO is the staffed stations - perhaps they
could allow a few more individuals their own keys...

... The passenger
info system there got "its knickers in a twist" about what train was
going from what platform but eventually it sorted itself out. It
initially thought the ELLX was going from the bay platform which is
something of a physical impossibility!

AIUI the ELL trains will normally run through P4 to the new reversing
siding, then return through P2, but I don't think there is any physical
reason why P1 couldn't be used if needed?

There was one chap trying to get to Upton Park so I gave him my ELL
timetable leaflet as that has the new tube map in it. He was trying to
fathom where he was going from what is now an out of date London
Connections map. Just goes to show that some journeys have suddenly got
easier and cheaper.

What I noticed, in relation to route finding, is that they have gone much
further than expected with the platform line diagrams. A recent iteration
of the LO signs standard showed an 'orange' route diagram, with text at the
bottom along the lines of 'National Rail - services to XYZ'.

What I noticed at Forest Hill southbound yesterday though was a fairly
complete diagram of the various suburban routes, round to Victoria, to
Sutton and East Croydon. There are pictures available online - they can be
found in the District Dave forum's current thread about LO/SN station
signage...

I'm quite intrigued by this, because it is basically what I was suggesting
was needed in a discussion here a good few months back - I was concerned
that the helpful 'Overground Network Mark 1' style route diagrams would be
lost to new LO policy...

Paul S