Advice on route from ED to Grays (Essex) with pram please!

[Vik]

Evening all,

I need to get from ED (DKH side) to Grays, leaving at about 8.30am on a weekday with a pram + 3 children.

Done lots of research but hoping someone may have some anecdotal knowledge?

My options are:

1. Walk to ED Road/Peckham Rye junction, 78 to Fenchurch Street, Train to Grays.

2. Train from ED to London Bridge, walk to Fenchurch Street...

3. Train from P.Rye to Lewisham, DLR to Limehouse, train to Grays.

Are any of these routes possible with a pram? (I can do stairs at stations it's more the crowds that concern me) or does anyone have any other ideas?

Many, many thanks!

Vik

[Grotty]

Avoid Peckham Rye with a pram - there are 2 flights of stairs up to each platform - its a pain. I'm about to do a similar journey - peckham to Romford, Essex - not with a pram, but i'm 6 months pregnant so want as easy a journey as possible. After much deliberation i decided on the 78 to liverpool st station then train out to Romford - decided that getting on/off trains and up/down stairs in rush hour was going to be too irritating...

[katgod]

the 78 bus is I think the slowest bus in history. For Fenchurch street I'd take the 40 all the way to Aldgate, then walk a short distance to Fenchurch Street. I think I'd do the same for Liverpool Street too - not far down Bishopsgate to Liverpool Street Station. At the least the 40 feels like it is heading in the right direction whereas the 78 is off down all sorts of side roads!

If it was me with my children I think I might go the other way too - bus to Forest Hill, ELL to Canada Water then Jubilee line to Stratford for the Romford train, or Jubilee line to West Ham for the Grays train. Flat access at Forest Hill for the outward journey, lift for the return, and the Jubille line is well served with lifts and escalators.

Will deopend on when you are travelling but even in rush hour the ELL is much less busy at the moment due to holidays, and expect other lines are the same.

[Grotty]

I start work in Romford at 7.30!!! so figured the bus/train combination wouldn't be too bad - its the coming home in rush hour bus that makes me nervous. Hopefully when the overground comes to Peckham next year they'll live up to their promise of putting in access lifts for those who can't manage stairs..

[peterstorm1985]

After 0830 a train from ED shouldn't be packed - unless there's been an earlier cancellation but it's a long walk from LB to Fenchurch street (and you'll have trouble getting onto a bus with anything more than a handbag for that bit of the journey just before 9). The pavements are narrow and uneven in places and full of aggressive business people at all times of day so not a good walk with children.

The 40 from ED is a good bet - it gets you as close as possible and picking it up close to the ends of its route means you shouldn't have trouble getting on, although if you really do mean a pram not pushchair then you may have a problem - I caught the 40 into town at around that time a few weeks back and a wheelchair user got on at E&C. I don't know if he was a regular.

[summerjt]

I'd second what people have said about getting the number 40 bus to Fenchurch Street. By far the best plan. However Borough High Street often seems to have building work/ roadworks/ some reason why the traffic is slow.