It's Never too Late ...

... to learn, and also for another 'first' in my life.

The highlight of this week was my third visit to the metropolis in four months.  The first was in January for the 'Tell them of us' event at the National Archives, when I had intended to park at Burnt Oak and take the underground. But I didn't realise that, it being a Friday, there would be nowhere to park so had to drive all the way there.

Then in March, I made my first visit to the Society of Genealogists for some while, to attend a couple of talks.  This time, I thought I'd learn from the experience, and booked a railway ticket online.  This seemed expensive so, thinking I might well be making more such trips, into London or elsewhere, I invested in a Senior Railcard, although it was too late for that trip, of course.  My other mistake was to book to Finsbury Park, so had to make the remainder of the trip via the underground using my Oyster Card.

This week I travelled again to the National Archives, for the lecture on the war in Mesopotamia, which I mentioned here a few weeks ago.  When I'd booked my place for this, I also booked my rail ticket, using the new Railcard.  Unfortunately, I didn't book through the same website and had to pay an additional postage charge and service fee, which soaked up a fair proportion of the saving I'd made with the card.  I did, however, get one ticket for the whole journey from home to Kew.

And so to the journey itself.  It began with a walk to the station in Letchworth.  I arrived just as a train for Moorgate was pulling into the station.  I had planned to hop off a King's Cross train at Finsbury Park and go two stops down the Victoria Line to get onto the London Overground at Highbury & Islington.  When I spotted that this last was one of the stops on the way to Moorgate, I made a quick comparison.  I decided that it might be quicker to go straight to H&I and a single change than having to negotiate two tight changes, not to mention surviving a crowded train as well.

Having checked my ticket - the only route restriction was that I go via Camden Town, in other words by the overground line - I hopped aboard, and enjoyed a carriage that was very sparsely occupied until the very end of my journey, where the Moorgate line is to all appearances like the underground.  In the event, the saving of an earlier departure coupled with the direct journey was offset by the fact that the train had stopped at all stations, including a ten-minute wait at Hertford.  I negotiated the staircase and corridors at H&I and emerged into the open air to find I had to wait only a minute for the Richmond-bound train to arrive.

This was my first ever journey by London Overground.  I believe this is a comparatively recent re-branding of a group of lines that, under British Railways, were loosely referred to as 'London Suburban Services'.  No scruffy national rail surroundings here, though.  The carriages were bright and airy; a five-car set so clear of internal obstruction that you could see from one end to the other if the bends permitted it.  And the ride was smooth as well,  If it weren't for the bright sunshine outside, and the goods train passing on the opposite track, I could have been on the underground (which is itself much smarter now than when I last used it about five years ago!).  I overheard a fellow passenger remark 'I love the overground, it's so much more pleasant than the tube', and I had to agree.

I've now booked another trip to London, and I think I've employed all that the last three months have taught me.  I used the right website so there were no extra charges; I used the railcard so got a discounted fare and I've booked a single journey to my destination so there'll be no additional fares once I get to London.  When I find what I've forgotten this time, I'll let you know!