Charing Cross, Cannon Street & London Bridge

Charing Cross, Cannon Street & London Bridge
Description	The three major London termini of Charing Cross, Cannon Street and London Bridge
Country	United Kingdom
Time period	2018
Train Operating Company	Southeastern, Southern, Thameslink, London Overground
Simulation difficulty
Author	Anthony Sheehy
Website	Charing Cross, Cannon Street & London Bridge
Route map London Charing Cross London Waterloo East London Blackfriars London Cannon Street London Bridge South Bermondsey South London Lines Woolwich & Dartford East London Line New Cross Gate Brockley Honor Oak Park Forest Hill East Croydon

These three termini (plus through trains from Blackfriars) connect London to Kent and the South East. Southeastern trains run through London Bridge to North Kent and onwards to Dover, Hastings, Ashford, etc. Thameslink trains also pass through from Blackfriars and exit towards the North Kent East Junction and Sydenham. London Overground run trains up to New Cross and some Southern and Thameslink services terminate at London Bridge.

While this appears at first glance to be quite daunting (there’s eleven tracks between London Bridge and the Blue Anchor junction) it is actually 4 distinct routes with a little crossover (the Rainham/St Pancras for example, and the odd train coming from Sydenham that terminates at London Bridge.) Of course it’s the exceptions that keep you from sleeping on the job!

Timetable

The timetable is taken from May 2018 update for Thameslink, Southeastern, Southern, and the 2017 December London Overground timetable. The May 2018 timetable updates make use of the underpass built as part of the Thameslink 2000 project. Before the underpass, Thameslink trains had to cross the path of Charing Cross trains. The underpass untangles the track and so more services run now through Blackfriars instead of terminating at London Bridge. To cater for the timetable where there is no obvious return train additional Out Of Service trains have been provided that are not in the timetable out of Grove Park (on the North Kent East to Dartford track.)

The standard off-peak service pattern is as follows:

Charing Cross, Cannon Street & London Bridge Services
Train Operating Company	Origin	Destination	Frequency (tph)
Southeastern	London Charing Cross	Hastings	2
		Tunbridge Wells	2
		Dover Priory	1
		Ramsgate	1
		Gravesend	2
		Dartford via Woolwich	2
		Dartford via Bexleyheath	2
		Dartford via Sidcup	2
		Sevenoaks	2
		Hayes	2
	London Cannon Street		2
		London Cannon Street via Woolwich and Sidcup	2
		London Cannon Street via Woolwich and Bexleyheath	2
		Orpington	2
Thameslink	Bedford	Brighton	2
		Gatwick Airport	2
	Peterborough	Horsham	2
	Luton	Rainham	2
Southern	London Bridge	Uckfield	1
		London Victoria	2
		Coulsdon Town	2
		Epsom	2
		Tattenham Corner & Caterham	2
		Caterham	2
		Beckenham Junction	2
London Overground	Highbury & Islington	Crystal Palace	4
		West Croydon	4

Operating Tips

• London Overground New Cross to Sydenham requires no intervention at all. Close all the gaps and watch them run.
• North Kent East Junction operates as follows: 1 – Down from Cannon Street, 2 – Up to Cannon Street, 3 – Reversable: Up to Cannon Street and St Pancras via Blackfriars and down to Rainham, 4 & 5 Down from Charing Cross, 6 Up to Charing Cross.
• All trains at Termini depart one minute after changing services.

Watch out for

• There are two services specifically for Cannon Street Platform 7. These are reversed and backed out to the sidings for recall in the afternoon. If you put them on any other platform you will have fun shunting them about.
• The London Bridge bound Thameslink Service after 10am. Occasionally there are services from Sydenham that terminate at London Bridge.
• The rush hour gets busy – don’t be afraid to stack services at Charing Cross if the service at the platform leaves later. You will have to do that at least twice in the morning to fit everything in. Don’t be afraid of the red signal – check the arrival times and allow some services to sit outside the station while an outgoing service leaves. You can still get it in on time.