With engineering works taking place between North Acton and Queensway on the Central line this weekend, there were obviously no trains running through that section. Station Master found itself caught up in the going-ons of it all, and noticed a few interesting things.
Firstly, not all trains going west were terminating at Queensway as you might expect. Instead it seemed that two out of every three trains were terminating at Marble Arch instead, and then every third service going onto Queensway. This is due to there being a reversing siding to the west of March Arch, meaning one train can be turning around whilst another is in the platform.
Central Line reversing points
But at Queensway, there is merely a crossover just before the station (when heading west) leaving just a single platform to reverse trains. This meant that we got to ride the crossover and be on a westbound train that pulled into the eastbound platform.
Queensway is a station with stairs and lifts – except, oops – only one of the lifts was in operation (probably another reason to reverse the majority of trains at Marble Arch instead) meaning a LOT of people backed up on the platform trying to get out of the station.
Queensway Crush
At Covent Garden where there are 194 steps, they actively discourage you to use the stairs. At Queensway (where the sign says there are 123 steps, but actually there are 126), they were actively encouraging you to walk up, rather than wait for and use the one solitary lift that was in operation.