Before the London Overground!? | Failed franchises #20: SilverlinkTrains
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- čas přidán 12. 09. 2024
- Hello & welcome to the twentieth episode of Failed Franchises. In this series I look at train companies that have failed at their franchise agreements or have been criticised by passengers & industry alike to decide whether or not an operator is a failure or not. Today is the also the second episode of my WCML operators mini-series where I look at the local operators of the West Coast Mainline. Today we will look at the National Express operator of the North London Railways franchise: Silverlink!
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Also, a huge thanks to those who have allowed me to use their footage for todays video - whom without this video would not be possible to make;
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I live near Canonbury station. When Silverlink operated the North London Stratford to Richmond line I never used it as it was so infrequent and unreliable. When there is a train scheduled only every 20 minutes Monday to Saturday (every 30 minutes on summer Sundays with no trains on Winter Sundays), and those trains that were scheduled getting frequently cancelled, then fewer and fewer people used the “service”. I walked to Highbury & Islington for the Victoria line instead. Those days Canonbury station was little used despite having the potential to be a useful local transport facility. The transformation under London Overground has been incredible with two lines now serving Canonbury with each line running a train every 8 minutes schedule, and 24 hour operating on Friday and Saturday nights on the East London Line. So many people now use Canonbury that it really needs a bigger station entrance as the current 3 turnstiles struggle to cope with the amount of people entering and exiting the station these days.
A very thorough overview.
One aspect you missed...at least on the NLL...is best illustrated by when they installed ticket-gates at Stratford...people would ask staff to "Let me though,man,I just want to use the free train.."
I could put myself in the pictures in this vid: the whine of those PEP engines, the 'characters' you got on board, the smell of old seat cushions mixed with faint electrical burning and err... "broccoli" shall we say... Silverlink was truly something else. Growing up just outside London in the 00s, those 313s and the stations in particular always send shivers down my spine. The safety issues were no exaggeration - those unstaffed zone 3/4 stations were desolate, dingy places and probably did more than school to teach me not to trust strangers lol. If you're ever in London and wanna get a feel for it try the abandoned North Woolwich terminus, or Kensal Green is pretty much untouched bar the main signage. There was this amazing art exhibition titled 'Silverlink' that showed at the Leica Gallery in Chelsea a few weeks ago and really captured the essence of it - there's also a book with the artworks in limited print by the artist, Simon Wheatley. I'll never understand exactly what the Overground did that "neutralised" it all so much, but it was definitely an improvement for the everyday traveller. And believe me, those stations and trains late at night were SCARY.
Wish I knew about the exhibition as I would've loved to see it!
But yes, as someone who was only very young when Silverlink ceased operations, I can still imagine what it was like at some of those stations, especially at night! TFL have done a great job at improving the feel of stations it must be said!!!
i remember silverlink
awful TOC, run down and dirty trains
livery was cool tho
Definitely one of the more colourful operators we've seen!
It certainly had "atmosphere", didn't it?
@@win7sony yup 🤣
Just a suggestion, if you've not already done it, maybe a video on First North West might be a nice idea
Very good suggestion and one I want to do at some point!
Used to use Silverlink County from Northampton to Euston until end of 2004. I didn't mind them for off-peak weekend travel. Trains were a bit uncomfy due to being 3+2 seating, making them very cramped and narrow. But it was a fast route into London and not too terribly priced.
Proof that nationalised Networks are better
First class broadcast, extremely insightful and well researched. Thank you
Never new silverlink existed until I went to Harrow and Wealdstone and saw that the platfrom way fiinder was had a white sticker over it. You can still see the old Silverlink name under though.
I've used Silverlink and the overground (North London Line/Goblin Line- what are they called now? Nelsom Mandella Line or whatever), my GOD was Silverlink bad. They had old slam doors that were usually open whilst running, trains never showed up, sometimes you would wait on the tracks for hours on broken down trains. I do think the GobLin Line should have been a light rail service - stops are usually just outside town centres and getting to them can take ages by foot with limited direct bus links, and so this adds so much time to each journey in getting to / from the station on the line. This would be alleviated by frequent stop, high frequency, high excelleration rolling stock. I'd have had two termini: Gospel Oak/Kentish Town (there is space on the West side of the bridge for two tracks and a platform, none on the other side) and East Ham (just enough space to reinstate the curve to Woodgrange Park) and Barking. I would hav also considered an extension at Gas Factory Junction (space and spare platform at Ilford) for terminiating trains. This could even runfurther (though expensive) along the now Elizabeth line and then old permanent way used by allotments to the Newbery Park branch of the Central line. Stations that should be made or reopened are Highgate Road (the setting-back of Gospel Oak can add 30 mins to a journey due to train frequencies etc), Junction Road for the Northern Line, Hornsey Rise, Harringey Ladder (easier connection to the National Rail at Harringey, providing a very useful but right now not used link, aboiding a steep uphill OSI), St Annes (bus connections and feeders from this region, saving up to 30 minute connection times), Tottenham Hale South (when the NR station was rebuilt, putting the platforms on the south side of the road would mean the northern end would link to the Victoria line and the Sourthern would link to the GobLin), Bakers arms and more..
I think the GOBLIN works well now with the 720s, especially with Barking riverside and potential Thamesmead expansion - i think light rail would struggle with the demand!
I used Silverlink Metro a lot and the trains were always late!! London Overground is a lot more reliable.
I do remember Silverlink Trains especially Silverlink Metro that operated the North London Line, West London Line, Gospel Oak-Barking line and Euston-Watford Junction.
And Silverlink County operated services to & from London Euston to Birmingham New Street, Milton Keynes Central & Northampton and on the Marston Vale Line (Bletchley-Bedford) and the Watford Junction-St. Albans Abbey line.
I remember occasionally riding the Class 321's on the line through Tring. My mate, being a bit of a trainspotter back in the day, would often drag me to Tring station of a weekend.
Back then, they had a waiting room on the island platform 3/4 with a hot drinks machine. . . Lovely cup of vegetable soup for just 20p on those colder, wet days!!!!
Definitely a failed franchise. London Overground is so much better.
The trains are much slower and there's much less variety in stock
@@Northerner_Transport_Hub I'd always take a slower train with higher operating frequency over a faster train that I have to remember the time for.
@@Northerner_Transport_Hub Spoken like a true gunzel.
Yes definitely a failed franchise. When there were underground strikes early two thousands I had to use Silverlink to get from Stratford to Shepherd’s Bush. I remember the trains being filthy and uncomfortable. The stations were virtually abandoned and left in a terrible state. It reeked of the bad side of rail privatisation. From my point of view the worst operator ever. It seems unthinkable now compared to London Overground.
Oh God I remember the terrible 3 car 313 always packed
Silverlink Metro and Silverlink County did operate some good services for North London and on the West Coast Main Line. Such a shame that they are now longer here and now we got London Overground and London Northwestern Railway. I do remember the Class 150, Class 313, Class 321 and Class 508 in Silverlink Trains livery.
I remember Silverlink Metro. They were absolutely dreadful. Seriously, you can not be wishing for that over the very good London Overground?
Like Silverlink you could say any train system which runs into central London is a failed franchise because if TFL took over south Western Railways or southern Services South Eastern they would get a massive boost of funding from TFL upgrade an all trains all stations the frequency of services. Even though the London Overground is still privately operated they get funding from TFL
If anything the Overground is a failed franchise because TFL invested so much money into it and it still has private owners
Tfl are a public body. London Overground operation is contracted to London Overground Rail Operations Limited (LOROL) and is operated by Arriva Rail London under concession to Transport for London.
@@Beansontoast93911I don’t think that’s how that works
@@axethepenguin it's not. He's failed to realise London Overground is operated under concession to TfL by Arriva Rail London.
@@arsenalfantv1001 so I do get that I think my point was more why on earth has it been privatised there getting funding from TFL still. If it WAS SWT they don't get the funding from TFL they would get that funding from National Rail or the government. Sadiq Khan has spent £6m of TFL money to rename all of these routes which have no benefit to TFL financially. If transport for London is funding a privatised company that is surely a failed franchise because the government doesn't even want to fund them
i went on a class 121 a couple days ago on the colne valley heritage railway it was so much fun
I used Silverlink County and liked it. The only real issue was crowding and punctuality at busy times.
Definately failed, I travelled silverlink from Clapham junction to Kensington Olympia..not grest.
silverlink metro and silverlink county was dire back in the day
If you do London Midland, could you please mention, the ‘new’
Coventry Arena and Bermuda Park stations please?
On the Nuneaton - Bedworth- Coventry line?
Or I used to call it ‘the Beddeth Rattler!”
I live close to that line - it's one I know well!
It is one of my local lines.
How dare you insult the greatest franchise ever
my apologies alex 🙏🙏🙏🙏
😊😊
Queen Park platforms 5 & 6 are only used when the Bakerloo line is not working and WCML trains are making additional stops
( when the Train operators are taking some unpaid leave)
I thought they haven't been in use since 2013?
@@Vanmanyo afik they haven't. They don't even have LNWR Signage so definitely OOU in my book
@@arsenalfantv1001 They were definitely used under LM - there's a video out there on YT about an unadvertised stop. But yes, they have Silverlink branding still iirc
silverlink to richmond rahhh
The strikes were bad.
Silverlink metro went over to TfL not DfT
Ah my bad! I definitely mentioned TFL in the video - just a slip of tounge on the DfT one though - I did know that though don't worry :D
They seem mid
It failed because it was shit
fair enough
Most other older train operators were rubbish and had rubbish trains that kept on breaking down. Even today with new trains as many people have complained about the new trains that breaks down.