On Thu, 19 May 2016 10:23:45 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:

On Thu, 19 May 2016 09:07:00 +0200, Robin9
wrote:


I've always thought the train service through Leyton
Midland runs at fifteen minute intervals and never goes
further than Barking at one end and Gospel Oak at the
other. I normally use the service only at off-peak periods.
Yesterday I travelled in the rush hour and just missed a
westbound train. I assumed I would have to wait another
fifteen minutes.

Instead I found another train announced: the 08.08 to
Willesden Junction. Clearly this train runs beyond Gospel Oak.
The train was quite full so an additional train is financially
justified. I didn't know spare train sets were available for
extra duties in the peak periods.

I got off at Blackhorse Road. I would have liked to have
stayed on to see how the train negotiated the Gospel Oak
junction.

It doesn't stop at Gospel Oak. It runs on the freight tracks and then
heads to Hampstead Heath. After kensal Rise it dives underneath the
NLL and terminates in the bay platform by the Watford DC platforms.

I intend to have a ride on it before the blockade starts because I
suspect it may not run after the blockade finishes.

I rode on it a couple of years ago. People at stops on the NLL don't
seem to even notice that a two-car diesel has turned up instead od a
four-car (then) 378. The train was crowded for almost the entire
journey but not many stay on for the final leg into Willesden. They
probably know how long it takes to get the road into the low-level
bay.