Train to Denmark Hill stopping at Bromley only. Twice in 2 months!

[DulwichLondoner]

Yesterday the 19.34 Southeastern train from Victoria to Gillingham did not stop at Denmark Hill as planned; it went straight to beautiful Bromley South. I had checked that the display on the platform and that inside the train both reported Denmark Hill as the first stop. The train was a few minutes late, then ... magically went to Bromley South without any intermediate stops.

I asked the other people in my carriage and they hadn't heard any announcement, either.

This is the second time this happens to me on that line; two months ago I ended up in equally beautiful Lewisham.

Now, while of course Bromley South and Lewisham are terrific locations, possibly the top 2 touristic destinations in London, and I am very happy to visit them whenever I have a chance, ending up 6 to 8 miles far from home, and taking 90 minutes instead of the ca. 13 the Victoria to Denmark Hill journey should take, is not exactly how I prefer to end a working day.

The fact that this crazy **** continues to happen on the commuter lines of the Denmark Hill / East Dulwich area beggars belief.

[Champ]

Seems very unusual, probably a good idea to inform Southeastern about this.

[rendelharris]

Don't want to be patronising but as you say it was a few minutes late, is there a chance you got the wrong train? You see, there's the 19.34 to Gillingham which does stop at Denmark Hill, then the 19.37 to Gillingham which doesn't stop until Bromley - I've jumped on the latter before assuming it was the 19.34 being late...

ETA Looking up a geek train website (too much time on my hands) the 19.34 didn't leave until 19.46 yesterday, 12 minutes late, so if your train was only a few minutes late does look as though you accidentally got on the 19.37.

[DulwichLondoner]

"a few minutes late" may have been 12, not sure, didn't count that.

What I do recall distinctively is that I checked the display on the platform: it did report 'calling at Denmark Hill'. I then checked the display that's inside the train: it reported the same. You're welcome to have doubts of course, I appreciate memory can play tricks, but two clear and vivid memories which are so recent?

I wasn't the only one affected. Other people in my carriage saw the display reporting a stop at Denmark Hill, and they hadn't heard any announcement. I wasn't wearing headsets or headphones, in case you're wondering.

As you might recall from other threads, my contempt for the trains (not) serving the area is huge and I have, in fact, been househunting elsewhere because I have had enough.

Like I said something similar happened 2 months ago.

And also a year ago: the train was supposed to go to Denmark Hill. Then there were two contradicting announcements, one saying the train had been cancelled, the other saying it hadn't. We asked a SouthEastern person on the paltform, she said it would go to Denmark Hill, and we ended up in Herne Hill, where we had to wait about 20 minutes for the efficient bus # 37.

[DulwichLondoner]

rendelharris Wrote:

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>

> ETA Looking up a geek train website (too much time

> on my hands)

What website, out of curiosity?

[uncleglen]

Good luck if you end up living in a region served by Southern!!

[rendelharris]

Think it was www.opentraintimes.com

Not having a go at you, I hope you realise, just offering a possible explanation as it would seem very odd for a train just to skip a scheduled stop - wouldn't it hit the train in front? Maybe a perfect storm of f@$&ups, with the 19.34 leaving later than the 19.37 and someone on the 19.37 pressing the wrong button (if that's what they do) for the onboard info, choosing the via Denmark Hill button?

Just looked at another site which should tell you which train you were on: it doesn't do departure times, but yesterday the 19.34 arrived in Gillingham at 20.48 and the 19.37 arrived at 20.33.

[DulwichLondoner]

No worries, I understand. The fact that I wasn't the only one affected, but that at the same time we weren't an army of people taking the train from Bromley to Denmark Hill might suggest that the displays changed after I had checked them and/or an announcement was made but wasn't heard in the whole train.

Let's just say that yesterday I wanted to buy a punchbag to vent some anger!

[Peckhampam]

A friend of mine from North London seldom ventures South of the river. On one of her rare visits she got on the train at Victoria for Denmark Hill, only to have it not stop there. Other passengers told her it was quite a common occurence.

[Lynne]

Coming the other way, I've known trains not stop between Bromley and Denmark Hill, even if supposed to do so, when they were running late. I didn't mind, as it was a quick run to DH, but I would have been a trifle annoyed had I wanted to get off anywhere in-between

[Ole]

I was in the 19.34 train from Victoria. It did originally plan to stop at Denmark hill but after about 10 minutes delay we were told that the train would not stop at Denmark hill anymore. Unfortunately there were a lot of announcements being made (because of an earlier incident at herne hill causing some trains to be delayed/cancelled), so the in-train announcement about the changed stops could have been drowned out by the louder platform announcements.

[DulwichLondoner]

So someone heard the announcement, someone didn't - it makes sense but doesn't make it any less infuriating.

How were you told? Was it an announcement in the station only? In big stations like Victoria they're not particularly useful. Aren't there loudspeakers on the train themselves, too? Were they used?

[DulwichLondoner]

I can think of a very simple solution: force the railway bosses to eat their own dog food and to commute daily on their trains! I suspect the Southern services would become excellent if the bosses were forced to commute from Brighton to Victoria. Every. Single. Day. :) :)

[JohnL]

I ended up in East Croydon once as I missed an announcement - my fault I usually have my headphones in LOL.

There must be others like me.

[DulwichLondoner]

Aren't we ungrateful for the opportunity to visit such lovely destinations instead of getting home to our loved ones...

[KateFord]

Hi DulwichLondoner, I too was on that same train. There were two announcements from the driver - one was about waiting for a conductor and the incident at Herne Hill, then a later one mentioned the train wasn't stopping at Denmark Hill. I have to say I did strain to hear him as he was very quietly spoken and I was lucky that my carriage was very quiet, otherwise I would have missed it.

The other frustrating element to this is that initially on the National Rail app both the 19.34 and 19.39 were showing as delayed and then later it showed Denmark Hill as cancelled (although I wasn't sure how correct this was as nothing had been said on the train). The 19.39 to Gillingham was actually right next to the 19.34 on platform 6 and that one departed a few mins late but DID stop at Denmark Hill - so I would have got on that one had I known. The driver's announcement only came AFTER the 19.39 had departed but it did show as cancelled on the app before his announcement, so people could have got on the train from platform 6.

I counted four guards huddled by the gates by both trains and it wouldn't have hurt them to go that extra mile and let people on platform 7 know that the train wasn't stopping at Denmark Hill and that they could get the one on platform 6. Victoria is hellish enough at the best of times and I always think the staff/mgt there could do a bit more sometimes (helping people who are obviously struggling with their heavy cases down the stairs etc).

I've also got on trains that were meant to have stopped at Denmark Hill but must have been changed at the last moment and because I've boarded with moments to spare I've missed the driver's announcement.

[DulwichLondoner]

But was the announcement from the loudspeakers in the station, or from those in the train? Because I can guarantee that no one in my carriage heard a thing!

[JohnL]

I remember a time when if there was a change to the timetable, someone would come out to the platform and get everyone around them to make sure everyone knew.

[KateFord]

It was an in-train announcement from the driver. I was actually seated on the train - so don't know if there were any announcements on the loudspeakers. I was on the carriage nearest the station gates and I only heard the driver say the train wasn't stopping at Denmark Hill once. He did mumble it a bit (plus he was very softly spoken) and didn't make a huge loud announcement of it. Obviously a better way of doing it would have been to bellow it and repeat it - not just say it once in a listless manner.

[rendelharris]

Do the drivers/guards have access to the onboard LED (or whatever it is) information boards? Sounds as though a big capital letter "PLEASE NOTE THIS TRAIN WILL NOT STOP AT DENMARK HILL" would have saved DL and others a lot of bother.

[civilservant]

i too have the joy of travelling from Victoria to Denmark Hill and had the same experience as the OP

i'd checked the Trainline app which told me the service was running normally - but fortunately spotted the change to service on the platform display just before I got on the train

i have no idea if the driver made an announcement or not, but do wonder how such an announcement would help inform any of the plugged-in people on the train

a minor inconvenience of course, it only means a few minutes delay to one's journey home, but overall the feeling of being crushed (often literally) and devalued is deeply deeply annoying

[Lynne]

Didn't stop last night at DH coming up from Kent. Went right through to E&C from Shortlands. Adds that little extra something when you're coming home tired. Going down it skipped most of the stations between Bromley and Sevenoaks