Kensington (Olympia) - End of the Line Ep.28

There's another End of the Line station, in Zone 2 in the heart of London - it's the strange station where there's a rare District Line service - only a small number of trains per day to go/from Kensington Olympia! So I went along to see actually it's mostly served by Overground trains ...

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[jasonuk]

Travelled to Kensington Olympia three or four times for the Great British Beer Festival. Memories of travelling from there are somewhat

[tomburnham]

I travelled on one of the unadvertised steam trains from Clapham Junction to Olympia in about 1965. The big swings in service provision at Kensington Addison Road/Olympia over the years are mind-boggling!

[ollyshighlightreel]

I read the video title and have fond memories of watching a very old video on this channel. It's a video about how many times Geoff travelled from Kesington Olympia to Earls Court (and vice versa) in one day, and a slightly erratic taxi ride....

[oohkumar]

8 years old, Olympia to Fishguard with the car on the back of the train. Thanks for bringing back those wonderful memories Geoff.

[pnwlion]

I used to work in Hammersmith and live in East Croydon. I used to time my journeys sometimes from Kensington Olympia to get the old Edinburgh Brighton train. Loved having a cuppa in the buffet on the way back home from the gym

[londonerwalks]

When I was a teenager and lived in Wembley, I used to go to Olympia exhibitions from Wembley Park and do the whole Metroplitain/Circle/District line thing which took ages.
Then one day I found out about the service that ran straight from Wembley Central to Olympia. I can't tell you how thrilled I was to find that out!

[thepanamahat]

Used to live on Russell Road, absolutely adored Kensington Olympia station.

[CarloMontana]

I used to visit my cousin in Sinclear Road all the time . Back in the early 2000's when it had several underground trains an hour. Fun fact in those days the foot bridge extended across the street at the side of the exhibition hall. They took it down later on.

[garybutler]

Geoff, I remember as a spotter in the 80s that for most of the early part of that decade (and the 70s no doubt) the only regular normal services (not motorail) were 2 peak hour services from Clapham Junction in the morning and the same in the evening which was know as the 'Kenny Belle'. As there was no tube service at all at the time (except on exhibition days), these were the only services you could catch from there. In 1987 (I think) cross country services running to Brighton and Dover were stopped there, hence the station becoming a InterCity one and tube trains started running to connect to them. I visited the station once to take the tube to Earls Court, though I could have walked there quicker as the tube laid over for 10-15 mins...

[choccytransport]

This one feels more like Secrets of the Underground than End of the Line. That just makes it better. Well done again, Geoff!

[_rlb]

It was nice to meet you last Monday night. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me (Dutch guy) 👍

[HenrysAdventures]

I've always enjoyed going to KennyO as we used to call it, ever since I was a child and the Model Engineering Exhibition was held there. (Going there by tube was all part of the fun!) Talking of some of the other trains which pass through. Last night at approximately 23:00 I passed through on a steam hauled charter train from Cardiff Central to London Victoria hauled by Black 5 No. 44871.

[TSCappuccino]

I’ve been waiting for this episode for ages! Kensington (Olympia) is my home station, and I actually took the district line once to Earl’s Court and headed to Wimbledon.

[depmil]

I remember travelling on one of the Class 47-hauled InterCity trains from Dover Western Docks to Olympia on one of the brilliant Network Southeast Days (anywhere on NSE for a fiver - unbelievable value). Fascinating threading its way through the maze near Clapham Junction. Then there were numerous visits to the GBBF at Olympia by District Line, Silverlink and the Overground.

[andyf]

As a kid in the 1970s i remember family trips to Scotland by Motorail/Inter City Sleeper.
We would leave Kensington Olympia in the evening, arriving at Stirling in the morning.
I think a diesel engine took us to Willesden Junction after which an electric would take over. The beds were made up military style with stiff tartan blankets. We'd leave the little sliding window open and drift off to sleep to sounds of the train. Great memories!

[reptongeek]

Yay, you actually did it! Never clicked on a video so fast

Have the District line services on the Sunday changed?. I managed to get a morning service to the station on the day before my failed Tube Challenge attempt. I was researching platforms at Earls Court and to my surprise and delight I saw one on the board so I immediately got one - at about 11:22 if you're curious

This was my second visit to Kensington (Olympia). The first was the previous week on a Southern train that was packed to the gills because two Overground services had been cancelled

On the subject of Tube Challenge, if you are using Labryinth it's better for you to get a Metropolitan line service from Rayners Lane. This allows you to choose to either arrive or depart from Kensington (Olympia) depending on how your trains fall, because after this station, you do the Hammersmith loop next. In the traditional Labryinth route you can only arrive at the station as your next train is an Overground to Shepherds Bush

[sjbeard]

Back in 2009 you could get a Cross Country train from Olympia, in one direction down to Brighton and in the other up North (can't remember where). I decided to take it one day just for the hell of it and it also gave me an excuse to take the District line there. I'm glad I did!

[customtransport]

I find it so interesting that I live in a London borough which is just three stops away from the least used station served by Underground trains and at least the good thing is, I’ve managed to catch a direct service towards Olympia from my local station which is somewhere within the city, as the District Line trains usually runs there as a small shuttle from High Street Ken

[markstramtrainbuscapades]

Got the District branch in the book some years back, when the service was more regular.

Even further back, in 1987, a friend & I caught one of the short lived Inter City Dover-Manchester trains from Olympia to Birmingham New Street, hauled by Class 47 to Willesden, from where a Class 86 took over!

[anianii]

Been there this year thanks to your video about the limited service! Of course got the district line on a weekday there 😉