On 13 Dec, 23:38, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 04:48:36
on Tue, 11 Dec 2012, remarked:
"M25 of the rails" my tail lamp end. Doesn't get the hard working
people of Peckham and Wandsworth in to where they need to get to (i.e
Central London) any quicker - quite the opposite.

That's the point of orbital lines. They don't connect directly to the likes
of Central London. You change where the orbital line intersects with a
radial line for that.

They also don't connect well with radial lines. I thought a trip
yesterday to Shoreditch High St was an ideal opportunity to try out the
Overground, but connections to the Cambridge lines are hopeless.

I see more of a parallel between Overground and the North/South Circular
than with the M25. I read an article a while ago comparing the North
Circular with a big bully who barges his way through everything, and the
South Circular with someone very timid, tiptoeing around "ooh excuse me,
sorry, pardon me". The NLL cuts its own path across all the other routes,
resulting in less good connections. Overground in south London shares most
or all of it's lines with other services, resulting in better connections.
Rather like the North Circular's big dual carriageway barging through, and
the South Circular weaving and winding using parts of lots of other routes.

That probably reflects that true London is north of the Thames. South
of the Thames is a cluster of annexed Surrey and Kentish towns and
villages.