We’re back in New England, but not Boston just yet; we’re looking at White River Junction, a town with a railway history, and Burlington, the biggest city in Vermont.

The bus system feeds from Hanover, NH, and is completely free to ride (although it runs weekdays only). The Orange Route serves White River Junction, running every hour. I didn’t get to ride it, unfortunately, but I got pictures of one of its shelters.

Nice shelter.

The map in the shelter.

I have no idea why they have schedules for all the bus routes…

WRJ also has a railroad “museum” and an old locomotive from the Boston and Maine Railroad. The locomotive is in a shelter right near the Amtrak Station. There are stairs leading up to a place where you can look at the controls for the locomotive. There are labels, as well as information about the locomotive.

The locomotive up front.

The caboose.

The inside.

Information on the locomotive.

The railway museum was mainly just a gift shop with a few old artifacts. It was kind of touristy, but interesting. The items on sale were mostly things like wooden train tracks, and there was a relatively creepy statue of a conductor. Through a hallway is another store with other merchandise not related to the railway.

Why did I never hear of this?

Antique railroad crossing.

Antique signal.

That conductor is so creepy.

The Amtrak station is barely anything. All it is is a low paved platform and a lot of freight cars. There’s a ticket office and a baggage area, although neither of them seemed open. Admittedly, a daily service doesn’t need much of a station, but it was still very disappointing.

I don’t think the sign is necessary.

Hello?

Is anyone in there?

Man, this joint is hoppin’.

Burlington: Burlington has a small bus network for itself, with 19 routes: most are local routes, but there are a few “LINK Expresses” that travel to far-flung towns and cities (including Montpelier). I wanted to take a bus there, but considering how stingy my mother is with buses, I decided at first to take the short 11 bus (College Street Shuttle), since it’s free. However, it turns out that the 6 (Shelburne Road) (I don’t know why “Normand” is in the PDF link) goes right by the hotel we were staying at, so we decided to use it to get to downtown Burlington.

The 6 follows a very straightforward route, spending most of the time on Shelburne Road. In Shelburne, it makes a short loop and serves the Shelburne Museum, then heads back up to Burlington. It serves the Vermont Teddy Bear Co. factory part-time, more aimed for workers than shoppers. Of course, we didn’t do all this. Our hotel was about halfway down the route (Harbor View Road on the map), with a nice shelter.

I love the design of the shelter! That wastebasket is overflowing, though.

A convenient schedule inside the shelter, although it would be nice if it showed the arrival times for this particular stop (that goes for you too, MBTA).

Stop! Bus!

It’s hard to see, but there’s a solar panel up there for the light at night.

Interesting view in the back of the shelter.

Another rainy view of the shelter.

Solar!

Not the greatest bus stop design, in my opinion…

The bus runs every half hour Mondays through Saturdays (not bad), but it doesn’t run on Sundays (on Sundays, most local routes are replaced by a large loop called the 18). Fares in Burlington are $1.25 for local routes – exact change only, which is always annoying, although passes can be bought. The inside of the bus had dark green seats and pull chords to request stops. In place of ads, there were posters talking about bus etiquette (without creepy animals, MBTA).

The 6 “TO BURLINGTON.”

The interior of the bus looking frontward.

The interior of the bus toward the back.

Yeah, don’t hog a seat.

The 6 from the side.

This strangely reminds me of the picture of the 350 I took. Perhaps it’s because they were both going to Burlington.

This is the only use of the screen up front.

Important stops are announced by the driver, meaning the screen up front is only to say that a stop was requested. There were only five people on the bus when we got on, which at first made me think it had low ridership since we were halfway down the route already. However, as the bus went toward Burlington, more people fed into the bus and by the time we were downtown, all seat pairs were taken.

The seats are facing away from the road, for some reason.

The 6 at Cherry Street.

An example of the fleet of smaller buses at Cherry Street.

A large wall of bus shelters at Cherry Street. I wonder what that “Free Magazine” is…

The bulk of Cherry Street is just shelters.

The large shelter.

The cluttered ticket booth.

Another area of Cherry Street with just shelters.

Nice clock.

Beautiful electronic information screen!

A large system map on a brick wall.

Some old wires from the line.

A sign about it.

We’ve got some transit oddities (as well as the UK’s Network Rail) in the final post in London. There may be a post after this one with all the pictures I meant to post but didn’t, but it likely won’t be very long. For now, however, let’s go back to London (or at least the UK) for the last time.
NOTE: “P” in photo captions mean the photo was taken by Paul, my mother’s friend. These pictures were on an iPhone, so they’re a little lower quality, but I’m grateful he took pictures because my camera ran out of battery halfway through the trip.

You’re probably wondering why I went to Stevenage, of all places. My mother has a friend up there (who also took some of the pictures in this post), and we went to go visit him and his wife. Network Rail operates a very extensive network all across the United Kingdom (as well as France), and very efficiently. If you’re going to Stevenage (considered a major station), for example, some trains stop at every single stop along the way. Others make one stop at Finsbury Park (with a connection to the London Underground), and then run direct, and still others make no stops on the way to Stevenage, heading out to terminate at a farther destination. I think this is a great way to run a commuter railway, but that’s not the best part. The trains run very, very often, running from every 10 minutes to every half hour, even on Sundays! Simply amazing.

The train to Stevenage leaves from Kings Cross, which is a nice 15 minute walk from Russell Square (where we were staying, if you remember). However, my mother and I decided to take the Piccadilly Line instead, which consisted of getting our tickets, braving large crowds in a tiny elevator, and walking onto the platform just as the train left. Nonetheless, we made it to Kings Cross Station on time. It was a very beautiful station, with the ticket area being very modern and the platforms being a little more old-fashioned (which is not a bad thing).

The LONG walkway from the Piccadilly Line to Kings Cross proper.

The modern ticket hall.

The platform area.

The train we took terminated at Peterborough, which is a relatively far distance, so the only stop between Kings Cross and Stevenage was Finsbury Park.

The train from the front…

…and the side

The interiors of the trains have forward (and backward) facing seats (Hooray!), some in groups of four and some in two. You can walk between cars, something I didn’t have to do on my journey. The trains have door-open buttons (something I love), and every time the train arrives at a station, there’s a “ding” noise, and the buttons light up for the passenger to push. The trains also have automatic announcements saying the current stop name, as well as the list of stops the train makes.

Forward facing seats! Yes!

The doors between cars.

The ride was very nice; it turns very rural soon after leaving London, so the train travels through the country with some nice views along the way.

Stevenage station.

Stevenage station was pretty standard fare, with covered platforms connected by a lobby area, but interestingly enough, the station uses the same fare gates as the London Underground! We were a little confused, so we just gave our tickets to a real human, who gave them back and said we needed them for the return trip. My mother’s friend picked us up, and after tea at his house, we drove off to the Nene Valley Railway in Wansford. Wansford is the hub of the Nene Valley Railway, and it’s also where the yard is located.

I got very nervous when we got there and found out it was “Thomas the Tank Engine weekend.” Turns out that the Nene Valley Railway was the first in the world to have a replica of Thomas the Tank Engine. When we got there, they were about to give Thomas a rehabilitation, so they were letting people see him one last time. We, however, went to buy our tickets.

A locomotive at Wansford.

A Routemaster bus with a face at Wansford. I have no idea what the character’s name is in Thomas.

A newly restored Swedish Rail Bus at Wansford (P).

Thomas at Wansford (P).

Another view of Thomas.

Another train at Wansford.

Click on the map to make it larger.

Tickets are 15 pounds for adults and 8 pounds for children (a bit steep, but such a rural railway is probably expensive to run). Trains run from Wansford to Yarwell Junction (which we didn’t do), then turn around and make the full journey to Peterborough (remember that?). Trains run different schedules, depending on the day, but since it was a gala weekend when we were there, trains were running more often – every 2 hours. Our train came (with a teddy bear face on the front), and we headed off to Peterborough.

This is at Peterborough.

The car we were in had forward and backward facing seats, as well as a lot of screaming kids. The seats were comfortable, at least. However, on the ride back, we rode on a different kind of car with compartments. It was nice being able to shut ourselves into a compartment with four seats and not have to worry about our eardrums imploding. The railway mostly parallels the River Nene. There is a long distance between Wansford and Ferry Meadows (the next station), and then they get closer coming into Peterborough.

The interior of the train.

Some trains on the model railway.

A view of a bridge.

The large model railway.

And again.

Stephenson’s Rocket, the first locomotive ever.

This is amazing. Click on it to make it larger.

A smaller model railway.

A train on the large one.

Ew…

Nice view, though.

Coal on the locomotive (P).

This is where the driver stands (P).

The locomotive itself.

Tiny, isn’t it?

The garage for the trains.

Surprisingly, I managed to persuade my mother to take a few buses in London. Of the four we took, none were from beginning to end, but I was happy that I was able to have the experience of riding a double-decker bus. London’s buses are actually run by different companies. I find that interesting, and I wonder if the network was or plans to become unified.

4 (Archway Station – Waterloo Station): We ended up taking the 4 from the Museum of London to one stop short of Waterloo to see a play (only about a third of the route). London buses run so often that their schedules at shelters often just show the frequency rather than exact times, and the 4 was no exception. It runs about every 10 minutes, which is a fine schedule.

The bus shelter.

The bus eventually came. It was the classic London red double-decker bus. Upon walking in, I was surprised to see that the driver was in his own glass compartment. I didn’t really like that, personally, although I suppose it’s probably for security. I immediately went up the stairs to the second floor and nabbed a seat right up front. It’s amazing being on the second floor of a double-decker bus, especially right up front.

Those darn people got in the way!

The interior of the 4.

Boy, what terrible weather!

A view of all the people from the top of the bus.

On London buses in the city center, people get off at pretty much every single stop, and pretty much every single stop is at a Tube station. Admittedly, the 4 runs parallel with the Circle and Central Lines for our portion of the route, but it’s in the middle of the two and is too far to connect with either of them. However, the bus goes right by such landmarks as St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Royal Courts of Justice. Stops were announced, but there was no display screen (except one that says “stopping” when someone requests a stop). The stop names are mostly streets, and every time the bus opens its doors, there’s a “4 to Waterloo” message.

You see this a lot.

Finally, there was a lovely view as the bus crossed over the Thames. We got off at the stop right after the Waterloo Bridge, but it was a great ride.

Nice view, despite the rain.

An odd angle; it’s a lot harder to take pictures of double-decker buses!

188 (Russell Square Station – North Greenwich Station): I really hate the 188. Sure, it goes right where we were staying (Russell Square), it runs every 8 minutes, and it runs 24 hours a day, but it’s just evil. We were waiting for it at Waterloo after our play, but it just whizzed right by us! My mother insisted on trying to dart through crowded London traffic to reach the bus as it was stuck at a red light, but when we tried to get on, the driver stared at us like we were crazy and we had to dart back to the sidewalk. We ended up having to walk the rest of the way, which really isn’t that bad, but still…

Hmph.

A few days later, we wanted to go to Waterloo again to see the London Eye, and we figured we’d give the 188 a chance. It picked us up this time, luckily, and I nabbed that second-story front seat again. I realize now that we only took the bus less than a fifth of the route, but it was still a nice ride, going over the same bridge as the 4. This time, there was a display screen with stop names, which was nice.

Beautiful!

The interior of the 188 – love those red seats!

Ah, a proper screen.

And again.

Argh, a bad angle.

 24 (Hampstead Heath Station – Pimlico Station): The classic double-decker buses in London were called “Routemasters,” but they aren’t used on city buses anymore. Sure, there are tours that use Routemasters, but it’s not really the same thing:

The classic Routemaster on a tour route.

Well, I had the good fortune of coming to London only a week after they replaced the 24’s bus fleet with new Routemasters. They’re more like “Routemaster 2.0” or something like that, but they have a few similarities with the old buses, most prominently the open back door where a second conductor stands to collect fares.

The 24 at Camden Town.

That conductor in the back looks bored.

Unfortunately, I only took the 24 a measly TWO STOPS. I really can’t say much about the route because I BARELY TOOK IT AT ALL. Sorry, 24.

Nice interior.

27 (Chiswick Business Park – Chalk Farm Station): We picked up this bus from where we got off the 24 to go to the southern part of Regent’s Park. I only took about a fifth of the route (as usual), so I can’t really say much about it. Instead, I’ll just complain about the fact that I could’ve taken the 24 a lot farther and been in walking distance of Regent’s Park. Thanks for nothing, 27!

The 27 from the upper deck of a 27 bus.

Stuck in the back of the bus – darn!

The Rest: Some other pictures I took of buses:

Quite a few buses – I don’t know why there’s a yellow streak across the picture, though.

A single-decker bus? How insulting!

Tesco is a major supermarket chain in London. PRODUCT PLACEMENT!

Another single-decker!

A single-decker bus from a double-decker!

These countdown clocks are convenient.

A bus map in London.

This information is provided at every stop.

That’s it for the London buses! Next time, there’s a few transit oddities that no one’s ever heard of, as well as a Network Rail ride!

The Piccadilly Line (see last Service Change) was the only tube line in London that I took to the end. This post is a showcase on the other tube lines that I took for a few stops.

As usual, you can click on the map to make it larger.

Hammersmith and City Line: The Hammersmith and City Line is one of the most useless lines, in my opinion. Starting at Hammersmith, it follows the Circle Line up to Liverpool Street. Shortly before the next stop, Aldgate, it breaks off and then follows the District Line to Barking. There are no solo portions on the H&C except for the short portion between Liverpool Street and Aldgate East. I only took the line two stops, anyway (from Kings Cross St. Pancreas to Barbican), but it was still an experience because I got to ride on the “S” Stock.

The “S” Stock is the newest train type in London, and its purpose is to give a unified fleet for all of the “subsurface lines.” The H&C, as well as the Circle, District, and Metropolitan Lines are classified as subsurface, meaning their tunnels are wider and shallower than tube lines (whose tunnels are bored into the ground and very narrow). This means that the trains are mercifully wider than on standard tube lines.

Anyway, “S” Stock trains feature air conditioning, better accessibility, and improved customer information. Interestingly, you can also walk through the whole train, and on the inside, it’s practically just one long car. That’s pretty much it for the Hammersmith and City. I didn’t really take it for a long enough distance to judge it properly, so all I can say to the H&C is: sorry.

A Hammersmith and City Line Train at Edgware Road using the older “C” Stock.

The “S” Stock train leaving Barbican.

The interior of an “S” Stock train, looking towards the back.

Central Line: The Central Line is the longest line in London, the longest journey being from Epping to West Ruislip. There are also branches to Hainault (via two different routes) and Ealing Broadway, the branch I was on. If you remember from the last post, I mentioned going to Acton to see the London Transport Museum Depot. Well, since my mother is an avid walker, she wanted to explore Acton. We ended up walking to the center of town, where there were bustling fruit markets and a large fair event. We ended up deciding to walk to a completely different Tube station, as there are a fair amount in Acton. We walked through a lovely suburban part of town before reaching West Acton station on the Central Line (which got terrible signage).

West Acton Station.

Kind of a useless map, isn’t it?

The Central Line uses nice, modern trains on its route. Seeing as the Central Line is a “tube” line, the trains are again quite narrow. It’s above ground until White City, when it sinks below the surface through Central London. We got off at Holborn, where pictures of artifacts at the nearby British Museum adorn the walls.

Three views of Central Line trains at West Acton.

Bakerloo Line: I have no idea what the heck a Bakerloo is. The line serves Baker Street station, so I suppose that could be the origin of its name? Don’t ask me. The Bakerloo Line starts at Elephant and Castle in the south, cuts through Central London, and then parallels with the London Overground line to Harrow and Wealdstone. The line used to go all the way up to Watford Junction, but now the London Overground handles that service. The trains look similar to the Piccadilly on the outside and the inside. However, Bakerloo Line trains don’t have the cute little armrests on the Piccadilly. Instead, they just have weird red protrusions out of the seats which do not give any rest to your arms whatsoever. Kind of annoying, but the trains are nice (and cramped, of course) overall.

A train at Baker Street.

A train at Piccadilly Circus.

Interior of Bakerloo Line train.

A huge gap at Piccadilly Circus station.

Sherlock Holmes design at Baker Street.

 Northern Line: The Northern Line is one of the most complicated lines on the system: trains can run from Morden to Edgware, Mill Hill East, or High Barnet via Waterloo or Bank. The line also has the longest continuous tunnel on the system (East Finchley to Morden via Bank), the deepest station (Hampstead), and the station with the longest escalators (Angel). I only took the line three stops, unfortunately (sorry, Northern Line!), from Kings Cross St. Pancreas to Camden Town. Northern Line trains look very similar to Piccadilly Line trains, but the interior is a little different.

A Northern Line train.

Interior of a Northern Line train.

You can see how busted these doors are if you look closely.

A nice before and after picture from http://metro.co.uk/2009/03/05/a-new-beginning-for-the-circle-line-518126/.

Paddington Station.

I love the font on this countdown clock!

I love this picture!

Quite a bit of…wiring here.

The wide interior of a “C” Stock train.

Baker Street station on the first subway.

Great Portland Street station.

Euston Square station is more modern.

 That’s it for the London Tube, but we’re not leaving London just yet. Next time: London buses!

There are essentially three ways you can get from Heathrow Airport to London (without taking a cab): the public bus (which I don’t even think I’d want to do); the Piccadilly Line; and the Heathrow Express. The Heathrow Express is marketed as “the fastest way between central London and Heathrow.” The ride only takes 15 minutes, however, it costs 20 pounds (around 30 US dollars) just to go one way! There is also a Heathrow Connect, which runs on the same tracks but makes stops along the way. The Heathrow Connect/Express is the easiest way to get around the airport (although there really is no easy way). The problem with using it to get around the airport is that if you want to get from Terminal 4 to Terminal 5, for example, you have to take two trains with a transfer at Terminals 1 and 3.

The stations at the airport are pretty nice.

A countdown clock at the airport.

Annoyingly, before you can board a train, they have to perform a “short security check” for what seems like no apparent reason. Every time, however, there was a person who completely ignored the announcements and tried to barge right into the train, anyway. Luckily, the check only takes a couple minutes.

Two views of trains coming into stations.

The trains are very nice on the inside. The seats are big and fluffy, and they face forward (something I like, as you know). There are also automatic announcements (not that they’re really necessary on such a short ride), as well as “Heathrow Express TV,” which is mostly just a bunch of ads.

Destination board.

These seats look so comfy!

Heathrow Express TV.

These seats don’t look as comfy…

The classic logo at the entrance.

A Piccadilly line train.

A countdown clock on the line.

Very tight.

I think it’s funny how you can put your feet on the seats.

Acton Town Station.

The Depot Building,

The depot entrance.

A sign on the outside.

The fare gates.

A wider fare gate.

A ticket machine.

Covent Garden can get VERY crowded on weekends.

Leicester Square Station.

Piccadilly Circus Station.

Russell Square at platform level.

An alternative to the elevator, I guess?

The exterior of Russell Square.

Hamburg’s subway, like many other German systems, is primarily split up into two parts: the U-Bahn and the S-Bahn. U-Bahn essentially means “underground,” although it still goes above at points away from the city center. S-Bahn has a few different meanings, but the most common is “fast train between cities.” Again, that is not always the case. In Hamburg, the U1 goes farther up north than the S1, for example. Also, like many other German systems, the Hamburg subway revolves around the Hauptbahnhof (central station). All lines stop here, as well as regional trains. There is also a large mall of restaurants within the complex.

(Note, by the way, that this post as well as the subsequent Service Changes will have a lot of pictures, so there’s a jump break)

This is simply a cropped version of a terrible picture I took of the Hamburg subway map. It doesn’t look good, but I couldn’t find any maps on the internet with the U4.

I’m personally not a big fan of the Hamburg system map. It’s a little too angular for my taste, and it looks sort of ugly. However, I am a big fan of the system itself, because it’s so efficient. In Hamburg, door open buttons (used at Bowdoin on the MBTA) are used at every station. Tickets are not collected at all, although there are apparently random checks on occasion. It didn’t matter to us, since the hotel gave us free “Hamburg Cards,” which give you free access to public transit, as well as discounts at tourist attractions. But the best part of the system is the escalators: THEY DON’T MOVE UNLESS SOMEONE IS STANDING ON THEM! I absolutely love that! It’s so efficient!

Anyway, the ride from the airport is almost all above ground. The S1 has a short subway leaving the airport, and then it goes up at Olsdorf. It’s above ground for the rest of the ride, except for a small tunnel at Hauptbahnhof. The S1 trains are very nice both inside and out. They have the door open buttons, as I mentioned before, and on the inside of the trains the seats face forward rather than sideways. The seats face each other in groups, so there are backwards seats as well (uh-oh). The automatic announcements are mostly in German, although they are occasionally translated into English. It seems this only occurs at the important stations, however, such as the Hauptbahnhof or a terminus.

The S1 has maps on the ceiling.

A bit blurry, I guess.

There are also small trash areas between seats. I didn’t put that there.

The  S1 at Hauptbahnhof.

The S1 at the airport.

Admittedly, this sort of layout is probably less efficient than just lining up the seats along the train like we do on, say, the Red Line. However, I much prefer forward seats nonetheless, because they allow me to see out the window without craning my neck.

The S-Bahn’s above ground portion is mostly in an enclosed right-of-way…with LOTS of graffiti. It pretty much covers the entirety of the fences along the tracks. Other than the graffiti, in fact, there isn’t too much to see. You can interpret that however you want.

Get used to seeing this a lot.

It’s a bit blurry, but you can easily see the graffiti plastered right on the front of that train.

On the way to our hotel, we decided to make the transfer to the U4 at the Hauptbahnhof; big mistake. It was about a 10 minute walk to the U4 station, with microscopic signage. I don’t know if we did something wrong, but the trip took forever. When we were going back to the airport, we made the transfer at Jungfernstieg, which was much easier.

The huge Hauptbahnhof station.

A regional rail train.

The U4 is Hamburg’s newest line. It was opened in 2012 to Überseequartier in Hafen City, a massive docklands development. The U4 trains also utilize the door open buttons, and the interiors are pretty much the same as the S1 except for some strange color decisions. However, there are some interesting screens inside the trains that tell you the next station, as well as news. There are also maps on the ceiling, for some reason. The announcements are in both German and English on the U4. Also of note is the fact that if you stand up front, you can see the driver’s position as well as the tunnel beyond quite clearly. Unfortunately, the U4 only uses 4 car trains (the ridership probably isn’t that great yet), so your part of the platform might not get served.

Hauptbahnhof Nord, where the U4 goes.

The U4 at Hauptbahnhof Nord

This map must be very useful for people lying down.

The oddly-colored interior of the U4.

Überseequartier was the terminus of the U4 when we were there, but it turns out the line got extended one stop to HafenCity Universität just three days ago, on July 6th. It looks like a very beautiful station, with amazing lights that change colors over time. However, Überseequartier is also a very nice station. It’s a massive station at platform level, with huge lights in different shades of blue across the wall. Of course, there are no ticket machines, and the escalators are super efficient.

Overall, I liked Hamburg’s system very much. It was very efficient and convenient, although I still think that map is ugly. I’d love to go to some other German system, since Germany knows how to do public transit. But for now, I absolutely loved the Hamburg system, and I would come back here. Here are a few more pictures to wrap up.

Überseequartier is so beautiful!

Looking up into nowhere from Uberseequartier.

A Hamburg bus.

Why couldn’t OUR buses have countdown clocks?