pdxasflyer

We'll be in London in mid-May and it seems there will be track maintenance on the London Midland rail line that would take us from Euston Rail Station out to Watford Junction. Normally, this appears to be an 18-min journey on the London Midland line (train, not underground), but with the line closed down, the Tube/bus combo now takes that to nearly 1 1/2 hours. The bus transfer from London is showing 2 hours.

Does anyone else know of any better options or alternatives to get from Kensington/Hyde Park out to Warner Bros or Watford?

Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated!

Kettering Northants QC

The track is only closed Friday evening (late) until early Monday (very early) for the one weekend 2nd-5th May. Is it possible to reschedule your trip to the studios, to either the Friday or Monday. This will be a bank holiday weekend so the studio may well be at it's busiest.

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co...ford-1e18.aspx

The London Overground service to Watford junction will still be operational according to Network Rail. This is likely to be the easiest option. There is a direct service from Euston. From elsewhere in London change at Willesden Junction. journey time from Willesden to Watford Junction is 15-20 mins less ( about 35 mins)
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloa...etwork-map.pdf.

From Kensington your nearest options are likely to be Kensington Olympia or West Brompton from where it's a couple of stops to Willesden. Although depending on where exactly you are staying it may be easier to get the tube to Shepards Bush and then walk 1 min to the overground station (well signposted) and virtually next door)

There are about 3 trains an hour to Watford Junction on the Overground Service

Some possible alternatives
1- train to Radlett from Kings Cross then taxi
2 - dedicated coach service to the studio from London (see studio website) £29 transfer only return or £57 inc ticket
3 - tube to Watford then 20 mins walk to Watford junction
4 - taxi from Central London (expensive)
5- tube to Stanmore, where there is a taxi service that could take you there or to Watford Junction

Personally, if it's not possible to reschedule your visit I would go via the the overground service.

Gagravarr

I can only suggest you play around the various options on the TFL Journey Planner, and see what that offers up. Tweak walking speed etc, see the options.

I'm not sure there's any amazingly quick option though, given the closure of the fast lines, but you might find something that works fairly well. Especially if you put in the real destination, there might be a short cut for going where you really want to be, not just the station.

Also, it's perhaps worth checking again in a few months. There may be a rail replacement bus that hasn't been loaded into the system yet

pdxasflyer

Thanks for the very detailed info!

Our preference is the Overground service. We were using the TFL Journey Planner for the possible dates we could go (May 20 or 21), and both dates were giving us very convoluted routes taking nearly 2 hrs. Granted, we were using Watford Junction as our end point since the studios have a bus shuttle from that station to the studios for £2.50. My point being: if the construction schedule is only slated for May 2-5, then why would the TFL planner not give us the most direct route? For comparison, if I select tomorrow as my travel dates, the search returns the Overground train (with an 18 min journey time).

The option you mentioned (which I bolded above) says it will take us 55 mins from the Hyde Park tube station with 2 transfers. I suppose we could just take a taxi from the Watford underground station. That seems to be the best alternative.

All that said: we have been researching other alternatives to the Studio Tour, such as walking tours of filming locations in London proper. It would be very hard to do both in the limited time we have, so for those that have done the Studio Tour: is it worth all of the <potential> hassle getting out there or would doing the walking tour of sites in London be a better experience? Again, all insights and opinions welcomed!

Kettering Northants QC

think a lot of the rail companies change their timetables to their summertime timetable about mid May. So the timetable may not be published yet. If the line is open (and there's no reason based on what I've read) the Euston train service is likely to be the easiest.

Many of the Virgin trains also stop at Watford Junction but these are offically only to pick up passengers northbound and drop them off south bound. You have to be very careful taking this option because (a) I don't think it's officially allowed (b) not all Virgin trains stop at Watford (They don't put it up on the board at Euston) - The Wolverhampton trains usually do.

The Virgin trains do the journey in 10 mins

stut

Do NOT take Virgin trains, unless you want to find yourself paying for a walk-up fare to Coventry!

stifle

Indeed! I suggest getting London Midland rather than London Overground, as London Midland makes fewer stops.

rcspeirs

The tfl journey planner is heavily geared to travel now or in the next few days. They tend to only load new (or engineering variation) timetables a couple of weeks before the event. I simply would not trust it for a May journey when you're checking five months ahead.

WHBM

The Underground Metropolitan Line runs out to Watford. Do not confuse this with the major Watford Junction station, it is a cute cottage-building terminus in residential roads about a mile away. It does have a little cab rank out front, and is no further from the studios (which are on the old Leavesden Airfield site) than the Junction station. Baker Street station is a good place to pick up the Metropolitan Line, and the trains are the speediest on the Underground.

stut

The proper timetables will be published 12 weeks before travel, and I would use the National Rail site to figure out the timings, not TfL.

If you're in West London, bear in mind there is an hourly, direct service to Watford Junction (it's the South Croydon to Milton Keynes train) from West Brompton, Kensington Olympia and Shepherd's Bush. Depending on your location, that can be very convenient.

IIRC Watford Met is not long for this world, as the Croxley branch is being reinstated.

pdxasflyer

I sincerely appreciate everyone's input into the TFL trip planner, etc. and will keep that in mind. We're actually thinking of simply staying in London proper and doing Harry Potter walking tours that take us to the filming sites around London.

We haven't completely ruled out the Studios tour, but it's looking less and less likely. We're finding it hard to justify buying tickets and a tour slot at this point if there's even a possibility of a major rail hiccup in the future (i.e. what if they slip the May 2-5 closure to later in May?).

Changing topics slightly: has anyone out there done both a walking tour of film sites in London and the HP Warner Bros Studio Tour? Is one better than the other (a not-to-be-missed item), and if so, which one? Why?

stifle

Unlikely that the May 2-5 closure will slip one or two weeks as it is a holiday weekend and they are probably counting on having the extra day available.

Kettering Northants QC

There's a Harry Potter shop and a Trolley in the Wall photo opportunity thing at Kings Cross. Not sure it's worth the detour though. Its mainly (if not entirely) a commercial opportunity. Kings Cross has modernised considerably and you can't go onto the platform unless you have a train ticket.

Mizter T

Most unlikely, I'd say - it's a major rail corridor after all. I don't think the OP should worry about this in the slightest if they're travelling in 'mid May'.

stifle

This is not usually correct. The East Coast ticket barriers are very frequently left open.