- This topic has 31 replies, 9 voices, and was last updated 9 months, 2 weeks ago by
.
-
Posts
-
Hi everyone.
We will shortly be staying in London, and have some questions that I wondered if someone could answer for us please.
We are planning on visiting the Warner Brothers Harry Potter studios.
According to the information on the Warner Brothers studios website, it mentions that the nearest train station to the studios is Watford Junction, and from Watford Junction, there is a shuttle bus operated by Mullany’s Coaches, which takes approximately 15 minutes from there to the studios.
We would be staying in London, and travelling from London Euston station.
We were wondering which is the easiest train to travel on, from Euston to Watford Junction. From my understanding we could board an Avanti West Coast train or a London North Western train or a London Overground train.
I presume with the London Overground train, we would board this like a London Underground train, and by this I mean, there would be a ticket barrier system in operation for the London Overground platform/s, where we would tap in at Euston, and tap out at Watford Junction (that’s if there is ticket barriers like I’ve mentioned at these stations) ?
I presume both the Avanti West Coast and London North Western trains, would require me to purchase a ticket or E Ticket prior to boarding those trains, and there would not be an option to use the previously mentioned ticket barrier system that I have previously mentioned ?
If this is the case, this could be a bit inconvenient, as we would not know, at what time we would be returning to Watford Junction from the Warner Brothers Studio and from there back to London Euston, and as such our tickets/E Tickets might not be valid on those particular time trains.
I’m unsure of which between the London Overground, Avanti West Coast, London North Western trains, which of these would be the more frequent, less expensive trains to travel on?
Any help would be gratefully appreciated.
Morning,
I can help a little bit here. You won’t be able to use Avanti trains as although they call at Watford Junction it’s a pick up point on journeys from London and set down only on journeys to London.You can use Oyster or contactless on the Overground. There are Oyster readers at both Euston and Watford Junction.
You will need to purchase a ticket to use London North Western trains. They don’t accept Oyster or contactless.
I’m not sure of pricing but I imagine Overground should be the cheapest and you get the benefit of capping.
Chris
Thanks very much Chris for the help, that’s extremely helpful and as certainly cleared up the uncertainty of travelling along the route in question.
I’d never considered the fare capping benefit on the Overground, and never gave it a thought as I’d always associated it exclusively with the Underground.
I suppose the only downside to the London Overground is the journey times from London Euston to Watford Junctions and vice versa, as there is quite a lot of stations on route (from what I can see on the Citi Mapper app there is 18 stops on route and journey time from Euston to Watford Junction of around 50 minutes).
With regards to using the London Overground service from London Euston to Watford, am I correct in thinking that you will see all the next train times on that route on the screens on the main concourse on Euston station (like I have done with the Avanti West Coast trains), and from there you will see the platform the London Overground train will be leaving on, and you would encounter an Oyster/contactless card reader ticket barrier on route down to that particular platform, and I would see a similar Oyster Card/contactless card reader at Watford Junction?
Thanks Chris, but Oyster and contactless definitely are valid on London North Western services. I’ve used them many times.
Hi Talster,
See note above. All trains appear on the departure boards at Euston. London Overground and most LNWR trains leave from the middle 4 platforms which have their own gateline with Oyster pads. If a LNWR train leaves from an unbarriered platform then there will be an Oyster pad to touch along the side of the walkway down to the platform. The exit at Watford Junction is also a gateline with Oyster pads.
Thank you all very much for all the help. It has helped us out a lot, and we now have answers to our questions, prior to travelling.
I forgot to ask earlier, with regards to the London Overground trains.
Are these run pretty frequent from London Euston to Watford Junction and vice versa?
Morning again,
Overground trains run at about 15 minute intervals during the day, 7 days a week between the two stations with a journey time around 52 minutes.Thanks Mike, I didn’t realise there were Oyster readers on the LNWR platforms and I went through there on Tuesday (as you know I like to get around!) – guess they’ve done a “Waterloo” where the reader isn’t in an obvious place like on the Waterloo and City line.
Journey time on the LNWR is much quicker at about 20 minutes.
Chris
Just looking at realtraintimes there are loads of LNWR services from Euston to Watford Junction so easily as frequent as the Overground.
By the way, have you looked at Golden Tours? They do a coach from various pick up points to the Studios including entrance and return trip.
The only downside to that is the coach trip from London is surprisingly quite long but it is then an all in one ticket.Chris
Hi there,
We are planning on doing the same thing: visiting the HP studios, and I am scratching my head trying to figure out the Euston to Watford journey. Do you know if it is possible to pay as you go with Oyster cards? From previous posts, it seems that contactless bank cards are working, but I’m not sure about Oyster. We are a group of 5, with 2 adults having contactless cards and 2 kids with Oyster cards, plus one 7-year-old who travels free (is that correct?). Do you reckon we would be able to pop by Euston station without having bought any train ticket and then just use contactless and Oyster to catch a 20-minute train to Watford (London Northwestern Railways or West Midlands Railway)?
Thanks for your time and help!
Cheers
Julio
Hi Julio,
Contactless and Oyster are both accepted on both LNWR and London Overground. Under 11s travel free with a fare paying adult between Euston and Watford Junction using either LO or LNWR.
Thanks a lot for your reply Mike! Do you know if Westmidlands Railway accept oyster and contactless?
In so far as LNWR is operated by WMR, then yes. There are a couple of new trains in WMR livery running on LNWR services, but they are all LNWR. WMR do not operate into Euston.
OK, thanks. It gets a bit confusing for an outsider (me being Spanish) with all these different companeis of railway. Thanks a lot for your help!
Cheers
Julio
Hi,
Do the Oyster card caps apply to travel from Euston to Warton via LNWR? If I purchase a couple of tickets for the Underground along with a return journey from Euston to Warton, would that amount to £8.10?
Thank you very much for your assistance!
Cheers
£8.10 is the cap applied if all travel is within zones 1 and 2 only. There is a cap for zone 1 to Watford Junction, but you may not reach it. The same cap applies whichever operators trains you use.
The Anytime cap is £28.60 and the off-peak cap (after 0930 weekdays) is £21.30.
Hi, I’m planning to take this trip when I go to London in April. I am starting my journey probably from Paddington Station, I will have a Travelcard for Zones 1-2. How much stored value should I put on my Oyster card to cover my trip to Watford Junction and back to London city center?
As you’re going in April, it’s best to wait until the new fares are announced, which usually increase in March.
Shouldn’t be too long before the new fares are announced. I’m sure they always used to change in January but it’s been March now for at least a couple of years for some reason.
At the moment the extension fares are £4.80 peak (0630-0930) and £2.20 off-peak. I would expect the fares change to add 10-20p to each fare, but details will be confirmed shortly.
Chris: Covid and government incompetence.
Thanks, Mike! Is that the one-way fare from Willesden Junction to Watford Junction? I’m asking so I know how to search for the fare on my own in the future when the new fares are announced.
Per Google Maps, from Euston Station, I must get on a West Midlands Railway bound for Milton Keynes Central with stops at Harrow & Wealdstone and Bushey before getting to Watford Junction. So, please correct me if I am wrong, but even if my train does not stop at Willesden Junction, at the moment the extension fares from Euston to Watford are £4.80 peak (0630-0930) and £2.20 off-peak. Is that right?
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.