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West Ham
In itself there's nothing particularly remarkable about this station from an operational point of view, but with the extension of the Jubilee Line it has become an increasingly busy location.
In addition with the interchange with the Jubilee Line there are interchanges with the C2C services to and from Fenchurch Street and with Silverlink services.
Despite its name however the station does not serve the football ground; this is serviced by our station of the same name - Upton Park.
When it was redeveloped there was a total redesign of the platforms and it has the most modern appearance of any station on the District Line.
The following photos by Chris Jolly give a good feel for the station.
This is a view of the station starter on the westbound platform, taken from the C2C platform; the stairs leading to the other platforms and services is visible to the right of the safety barrier.
Visible 'above' the same barrier is the mirror which provides the Train Operator with his view of the platform - there are no CCTV monitors for this platform, but the mirror gives a more than adequate view. The small blue sign on the mirror itself (a letter 'A') tells the Train Operator that this is a Category A platform, and that if, for whatever reason, he does not have a clear view from the cab, he must obtain the assistance of station staff before departing the station.
Again, the westbound platform with a Hammersmith and City Line train having just departed. The dot matrix board is indicating the next train is for Richmond.
The train visible to the left is a C2C service from Fenchurch Street.
A D Stock train arriving at West Ham westbound with an eastbound service waiting in the adjacent platform. During the day there are Underground services through this station at intervals of about every five to seven minutes.
The westbound platform, again taken from the C2C platform, but this time looking east down the full length. The relative lack of people is a little misleading; during the morning and evening 'peaks' the platforms are very busy!
This is the east end of the eastbound platform. A D Stock train has just departed, so the signal (which is an automatic) is obviously at Danger. On this side there are both CCTV monitors and a mirror to aid the driver; again this is a Category 'A' platform.
The other yellow 'starred' sign to the right of the 'A' sign warns drivers to be extra vigilant that the station starter has cleared. The reason for this is that the driver isn't looking at both the monitors and the signal, so it reminds the driver to double check the signal's aspect before moving off.
The paper notice beneath the monitor is a request that if the train is to reverse at Plaistow (the next eastbound station) that the driver calls the Barking signaller to remind him of this. The reason for this is that since a cable fire in the Barking area some time ago the train descriptions sent to the next area are not always 100% reliable, and by making a simple phone call a delay of several minutes can be avoided.
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