Monday, November 20, 2017

First 24 hour supermarkets - now 24 hour trains - where are the toilets?

Problem
How do you get home late at night?

Answer
On Friday and Saturday nights from December, a 24-hour service will be running from Friday 15 December on the London Overground between  Dalston and New Cross Gate. (An exception is for Whitechapel station where Renovations are taking place. Services to Whitechapel are expected to resume mid 2018).

What are the stations on that line? If you look on the underground map which you can pick up free at most underground stations, the London Overground is marked on it.

The Dalston station in the index to stations is C7 on the grid in zone 2. This line runs north south on the page from Dalton junction down to New Cross Gate. Intermediate stops are Haggerston, Hoxton, Shoreditch High Street, Whitechapel, Shadwell, Wapping, Canada Water, Surrey Quays and New Cross Gate.

They say this will help people working night shifts, travelling late or early as well as revellers.

On the London Underground Tube map Several of these stations are marked with the wheelchair symbol showing they have step-free access from street to train.

I saw that there was a symbol for toilets. (I noted no toilets at Tottenham Hale station which I visited and wrote about and pictured in a recent blog post. I wondered about toilets.)

I hunted all over the tube line map for toilet symbols and couldn't see any. Then I realised that the toilet symbols come after the name of the stations in the index on the back. I hardly ever look at the index because the print is so tiny.

However, it's worhtwhile looking at the index when you are at home or in the office with a  magnifying glass handy.

Toilets on the underground? Stations include:
Amersham
Baker Street
Canning Town
Canons Park
Canary Wharf
Charing Cross
Clapham Junction
Custom House for ExCel
Earls Court
Eastcote
Euston
Finchley Central and Finchley Road (but not Finchley Road and Frognal)
Golders Green
Green Park
Hanger Lane
Harrow-on-the-Hill
Harrow and Wealdstone
Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3, and 5
Hendon Central
Kensington Olympia
Kilburn
Kew Gardens
Kings Cross St Pancras
Kingsbury
Liverpool Street
London Bridge
Marylebone
Mill Hill East
Monument
Moor Park
North Harrow
Northolt
Northwick Park
Northwood
Northwood Hills
Paddington
Piccadilly
Pinner
Preston Road
Queensbury
Rayners Lane
Rickmansworth
Ruislip
Ruislip Gardens
Ruislip Manor
St Johns Wood
Stanmore
Uxbridge
Victoria
Waterloo
Watford and Watford Junction (But not Watford High Street - dash along to the shopping mall)
Wembley Central
Wembley Park (but not the busy station of Queens Park)
Westminster
Willesden Green
Wimbledon
If you can't see a toilet, look for a shopping mall, an all-night restaurant or a 24-hour supermarket.
You won't find toilets on London underground train but you will find them on the UK inter-city trains.

Useful websites:
tfl.gov.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42050442 (A good photo of modern Dalston station.)
https://www.thetrainline.com/train-times/new-cross-gate-to-dalston-junction This gives train times but not the intermediate stations.
https://www.rome2rio.com/s/Dalston-Junction-Station/New-Cross-Gate-Station A handy comparison of all the ways of travelling between two points, including train, train plus bus, driving, uber and bike, cost and time for all. Good pictures of the smart exterior and interior of the modern trains.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
Please see my other travel blog, which has a specific focus on both luxury and bargains and offers:
 http://luxurytravelforless.co.uk

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