Beckenham Junction to West Croydon (and back)
Thursday February 20th 2014
Jo has explained that we had started the day dry and with a
PLAN and finished wet and bailing out due to the peculiar nature of the
trams. Buses they are not, obviously.
They are however very quiet, warm, accessible (each journey had at least two
buggies, wheelchairs etc) and clean. (We watched two cleaners board, pick up
the very little rubbish and get out at the next stop and whilst waiting for the
next tram clean the station, such as it is. The stops are rather miserable, the
shelter is not very sheltering , the seat
mean and wet and the information scanty. Jo will already have explained about
combining Routes 1 & 4 as there seemed to be no way of telling them apart.
(We were looking in the wrong place according to our last
comment!)
Meeting at Beckenham Junction was fine and two trams were
waiting as we arrived, one pulling away almost immediately. We boarded the
second to warm up and spent about five minutes reassuring an infrequent and
somewhat slow traveller that this was indeed the service for Croydon, West
Croydon we said. Apparently our reassurances were not robust enough and he
moved down the tram and started asking some-one else. It seemed fairly clear from the layout that
this first section of track was former railway, running as it did over the
still functioning tracks. The first sight of any significance were the generous
allotments, as being alongside trams and tracks seems to bother the potatoes
not one jot.
Still feeling like a train rather than a tram past Avenue
Road stop there was something of a cutting before we passed the Beckenham Cemetery
and Crematorium located close to Birkbeck stops and stations.
According to Wikipedia this could have been another exciting/confusing junction with the option of a link to to Crystal Palace but that idea died in 2008.
The next bit of the route feels very countrified where, even
at this time of year when the trees are bare, there were no houses visible (thus
far we had peered into people’s back
gardens of mainly post-war homes) but through to Blackhorse Road the tram
seemed to be cutting a swathe through thick blackberry bushes which even if they fruited would not be
accessible for picking from this side. However someone has found a way..
It is a most agreeable green ribbon.
One of the station adverts (there is not exactly much to see
at these stopping points) was a poster announcing ‘Cats have taken over at
Battersea Dogs’ Home’ which Jo said would guarantee her non-support. Blackhorse
Lane was the next stop after the aptly named Woodside and this is not to be
confused with last week’s Whitehorse Lane on the X68. After Addiscombe it was
pretty much standing room only though a voice could be heard asking whether the
tram went to Croydon – still.
Another curve, cutting and junction brought us to some of
the better off and well established parts of Croydon. Some detached homes, mostly semis, and pleasantly modest
height blocks of flats line the route through Addiscombe. What distinguishes this part of the tramline
from most trains (Mortlake springs to mind as an exception) is whizzing across
a road junction while the traffic is held on a red light – most
satisfying. By Lebanon Road stop we were
close enough to the road and pavements to see the daffodils were flowering and
then it was EAST CROYDON station where many folk got off, even more hastily as
they saw an inspector get on. Of course
compared to both buses and trains at most stations access to the Tram stops is
free of ticket controls, so this is the obvious point for them to board and
well – inspect. Having negotiated the
big road crossing at Wellesley /George Streets we continued down, the only
vehicle to do so as the next stretch forms part of ‘pedestrianised Croydon’. It has to be said that having often walked
here the silent tram bearing down on you comes as something of a shock. Going
along Church Street this is very much the older parts of Croydon with what must
have been the shopping streets, including the quite jolly market, before Mr. Hitler reconfigured everything.
We noted that the tram goes more slowly through the built up
areas, giving time to spot shops or notices, and fairly whizzes along once ‘out of town’, especially on the
straight bits, and so it was we retraced our journey, as far as Arena stop by which time it was
definitely raining in an ordinary rather than deluge kind of way. Nearly a full
loop had taken us about 40 minutes of smooth quiet transit, but we did rather
miss the bumps and grinds of the buses.
PS I
expect most of you have by now seen Geoff’s record of our last BUS trip as
launched on the Londonist website; we were pleased with his straightforward
account and grateful for his robust defence
of our travels; certainly one of
our more positive media encounters. It was also great to meet some of our
followers and we are grateful for corrections. I will at some point add some
information from a ‘use of buses’ list.
Hi
ReplyDeleteI about to embark on the same but in Greater Manchester. on 1st March 2013 please follow me on http://learnexploretravel.wordpress.com/2014/02/21/greater-manchester-one-bus-at-a-time-the-project/