 Hello, thank you for joining me. You can see where we are. We're at Farringdon We are on the Thameslink platforms doesn't seem long ago I was here when the Elizabeth line first opened what we're doing today though We're going to catch a Thameslink train. We're going to go to the newest railway station in England, which opened yesterday That is Brent Cross West So here we are we're on the Thameslink train. We're underground at the moment We're just passing beneath the Metropolitan Amsterdam city lines We'll soon go through the old Kings Cross Thameslink station Then we'll continue on up to the middle of the main line and then we're going to get out at Brent Cross Rest So today is Monday the 11th of December 2023 the station opened yesterday on Sunday the 10th of December 2023. I was thinking about going to visit it There was a couple of other things on that I wanted to go to and generally on the first day They're very crowded. There's a bunch of water mines there So I thought we'll go on the second day when it is still brand new. So we enjoyed the train ride up there We're gonna have a bit of a we'll certainly have a look at the station have a bit of a wander around. By the way I'm currently sat in first class up. This is the old Kings Cross Thameslink station where trains don't stop anymore. It wouldn't fit We're at 319's they fitted all right, but you wouldn't get a 12 car training. This is an 8 car train So yeah, we're in first class I've always got to sit in first class on the So you can charge up your phone or laptop, which they don't have in standard class So that's why I'm saying the first we're now at some action national I'm gonna continue enjoying the ride until we get to Brent Cross West So we are shortly arriving at Brent Cross West. It's a brand new station We're looking forward to taking this one off. We also won a winning unit for me 7056 I checked in my book. I've not traveled on this unit before so winning unit when in station Down there, that's the Dudding Hill line I can appreciate the Sun's very bright that goes down through Dudding Hill down to Acton Wells I've it's not a passenger line, but I've done it on a few charter trains in the past Sometimes railway touring company have done trains which started early Broadway So traveled out there with steam usually up to York Mainline there's also another side of the triangle which is even rarer I did do that once on the Hastings unit. So here we have this is Brent Cross West Look around the station look around the site and then I thought because it's called Brent Cross We'll perhaps just walk up and finish at the shopping centre. So here we are. We're gonna get out our first or This is Brent Cross West Unfortunately our train had had a suffered a bit of a graffiti attack which was So I actually sat on the other side to I'd normally sit on because I couldn't see out the window at all So you So we've got two island platforms So these are the slow line They're the fast line I can't see anyone on those platforms So may well be that they don't let people on those platforms unless there's a train That that's probably a bed for the bright and I always think I should do that journey one day Um, I'd have to do it declassified first class There's another unit as an eight car unit pulling in So let's just have a look so There's a waiting room down here because I can imagine it could be quite cold the people were waiting Inside so it's nice to know it's warm in here if you were to be waiting a while for a train Another door here so come out and have a look at this As I say, it's very bright down there But the line as I've mentioned is because down to Dutton Hill sometimes when I've done steam specials We've actually stopped there to take water And that's been quite fun and we haven't done it at all this year or did we early this I can't remember last time I did one maybe it was a year ago I lasted a steam special up there and I remember seeing this station under construction We were sat down there and you just looked out the window and you could see that Brent Cross West Station was gradually taken shape. There goes this other 10th unit I'm gonna walk now down to the northern ends of the platforms and then we shall as that's a rain and rain So yeah, you got trains going to rain and trains going to Sutton When they go to Sutton, they form like a loop So you'll get some go down via Mitchum Junction and others take what's known as the wall of death route Which goes um Where does it go it goes down from Wimbledon through Wimbledon Chase I remember when I first ever did the Wimbledon Chase route. I'm going off very slight tension here I got off at Wimbledon Chase and I saw a car An old larder and I knocked on the door and they said they were going to scrap it So I bought it. You'll see that in many of my other videos. That's how I got my car from track washing So it looks like the entrance Or is there entries both side we'll find out but that is Over there is certainly probably the main entrance of course Brent Cross shopping centre is over there I did once go to Brent Cross on the northern line and I was a bit surprised because It was quite a walk. You know, I sort of caught off Fairly naively got off and thought oh, yeah Brent Cross. It was I've been in London and We thought we'd just go to John Lewis at Brent Cross. It ended up being quite a long walk But so and it's probably a similar distance from here. I think the shopping centre is just over there So if we look down here, we've got another similar waiting room down there Got quite a lot of area under cover. So if you have got to wait for a train, you've got the waiting room You've also got all of this area here And I'll probably see if any more trains will come through. I'll have to check if there's any Freights through I might if so may well be in our video It's not as exciting as it used to be because you haven't got the HSTs passing through. They were always great fun And when they used to come through here, and this was the last line in London to have HSTs I remember going to see them quite a lot. So Let's now go out There's oh, I see yeah, look there's There's lifts Here, so get you an outstation. This is quite interesting. I've just noticed underneath the stairs There's toilets here. So you've got the ladies men's and The builders toilets If you look on the other side, it's not quite a complete match There are no toilets. I suppose on the Logic that you're less likely to spend time on that platform The fact there is no one on that platform suggests to me That they are, you know, they only open it if there's a stopping train But what they've done, they've just that's just empty platform space whilst on this side They filled all this in I say in the toilets We're not going to go in and have a look because probably Fairly obvious what they're going to be like Let's go out of here now and we should go up the escalator and have a look completely up to it Interestingly, the escalator is only going up. I don't know if the other one was only going down. I suspect they're reverse Anyway, it's quite Should stand still for the blights to stand on this side if I'm not walking Um, even though I seem to have the escalator to myself That's great So if I'd come here yesterday, I think there'd be quite a lot of people Making basically my video always that I will have a look at everyone else's videos as well Because I always find it interesting to see what other people make of the station You often get that the various different people will come to a station when it's open They'll all you know have their own take on things It's quite interesting You know, there may well be things I've missed out Um, etc. So looking over there that looks like that that is the way out And as I said that is looking towards Brent cross west It gets a hit. Oh now look so That's what I was saying about that that is that would be your way down to the other platforms and um You know, it's not open at the moment I suppose a time where it could be used if the slow lines or closure engineering works You may well need to use those platforms and then so you've really got six Six tracks because you've got The slow lines the fast lines you just see a tensic train Going through on on the down fast But then there's the goods lines over there that come from Dougan Hill They run parallel to the main line And they join at silk stream junction. So there's quite a big flyover of junctions It's it's quite interesting when you go up there. You see there's Set of gate lines. I bought a travel card Um, very very glad they kept the travel card because you know travel cards are great for things like this There's the lifts And that escalators coming up as well So it must so maybe it's like in peak times that have some escalators going up some escalators going down I'm not too sure. You've got the lifts Lifts are just behind me there and then here we have set ticket barriers And I have to get my ticket out to get out and then we'll have a look at the outside the station I think the only station now on this line not to have ticket barriers is Harlington, which is further up north. So I'm going to get my ticket out and let's go and exit the station Here we are outside the ticket barriers Just having a look around. That's where you'll buy your tickets You can see the tactile paving for pasture sighted people leads them to the To the ticket machines, although does that mean they have to come all the way Round here to go into the station. I can see That it leads to the wide aisle gate But for me, there should be another set tactile paving to that wide aisle gate anyway There isn't a ticket office here. So it's just ticket machines. You've got ticket barriers there There's two ways out that way goes towards the shopping centre. Let's go out this way To Edgeware Road. Not Edgeware Road tube station, but the road that is Edgeware Road There's some interpretation boards there Saying about the building of the station. So that's pretty quite interesting to have read The train that's not stopping. It's a bit of a shame Because these bridges, this bridge here is over the freight lines and they've It's not even glass. It's like plastic I get yet obviously it needs to be like glass But it's a shame we can't see out there because that would be really, you know The best workings pass through the station. They pass under us and we can't see them So that's a bit of a disappointment You can hear the diesel engine. So that'll be a East Midlands train. Oh, this is quite nice Yes, uh Got this big wall going down there. That's getting nice light in the area. Got these interesting bricks They're longer than normal bricks. I shouldn't have bought a tape measure um And then every now and then You get an expansion joint. See there's like a line all the way up. That's because They could expand. I wonder if this escalator will start to move if I step onto it No, I have to walk So I'll let you have a look down there So it's a really quite big airy Ticket hole at this end. We'll go down here. We'll have a look out and then we'll go back through So that's the other thing I wanted to point out is that you can use this to get through As effectively as a footprint over the railway line So that's quite useful. Also, it keeps you in the drive If you want to walk from one side of the railway to the other You've got an undercover route So looks like there's a few bus routes that stop here. You see a couple of buses have stopped there It's always nice when you come out of stations when they're nice and the only look is a map here um Yeah, so Weird with air the shopping centre's up there Says it's a uh, it's at least a 10 minute walk Perhaps a bit closer than it was from the northern line You could you could go to the shopping centre that way I don't think I will. I'm going to go back into the station for a walk through and out the other side I'm just going to go over here And um, it's an interesting looking oriental building over there I'm not sure if that's a restaurant or quite what it is, but that's quite fascinating I think it's a Chinese tailbuilder interested Look at that. It's Brent Cross West Station. So a really big sort of bold Entrance to the station. I nearly said ticket office or ticket hall, but it's not It's just purely an entrance go upstairs and then say you buy your tickets up there What I think we'll do now we'll go in again and we'll walk through it and we'll see what's over at the other side of the station is also an area here It's where you can park your bikes etc It just seems a shame that we're most exciting trains passing through there. You can't see them So if a steam train was to pass through like I say they're quite often on the um On on the freight lines If you can't get on to the platform nearest you're not going to get a great view, but there's pretty much you can see That's looking up I'm going to Make my way up. We'll go out the other side of the Station obviously can't smell it on screen but it smells all really nice and new another diesel train Going through a class 222 and by East Midlands Railways so they don't stop here They're going to be replaced by new Hitachi built trains and I expect the 222s. Maybe they'll go to cross country To help boost their similar voyager fleet Here we are Back on the bridge again. You can't see out Interesting if anyone watching Could answer a question. Why is it this bit? Is maybe you can't see out of But the next bit up there You can see out of I could understand if there was residential properties They don't want people gawping into their gardens But there isn't so why are we not allowed to see out of there? But we're allowed to see out of here Yeah, I genuinely don't know if anyone does know. Please do comment and tell me Got Matt telling you where to go. Are we on the map? Yeah, look Here we are. Brent Cross West is on the map. Interestingly You get what they call these OSIs Out of station interchanges. So when we use Haringey as an example You could be traveling to Haringey. You could walk from there to Haringey Greenlands Or you could walk from Mana House to Haringey Greenlands all the way between the three So that's an outstation interchange. So basically it's a short walk between stations There isn't one between Brent Cross West and Brent Cross. So that suggests it is quite a long way It's probably maybe not a mile Maybe sort of three-quarters of miles the crow flies could be about a miles walk. Oh, once again, we can't see out of here I'm not quite sure what's going on here because I think there used to be more Railway lines under here So they're about to build a really elongated footbridge at this end and Over whatever was down there. Well, this is nice. We're just coming to another ticket hall And um, actually there's two sets of escalators and it's all quite nice and wooden and I like this. This is nice This the other entrance was kind of big and impressive, but this is really sort of Nice So there's more lifts there. That's quite good for you. Look Get a few you can you can stand here and watch trains if you like 10-20 units So at least at least I've given us this one, but yeah, not that one So that'd be a 10-20 unit heading south Let me go Down there is the de-classified first class, which I like sitting on. There goes a class 360 That's what East Midlands trains use on their electrified routes. They used to work out a Liverpool street All right, let's go down. So what have we got? We've got two escalators So there must be an intermediate level. I wonder why we'll find out at the moment and down first of the escalators Some plants and everything up there nice. I like this. It's all wooden and whilst the other side was sort of brick and brick and glass Okay, interesting There. Oh, that's nice. There's a lot of garden. That's really I like that. I'm very impressed but Why is there An intermediate level on the lift is there going to be one day maybe Surely not another shopping centre. Is there going to be someone going out there? Or out there? It seems unusual. Why does the lift need an intermediate stop? So again, if you're watching please tell me or is it just if you had to use a lift Just purely she can come out here and admire this view because it is a view worth admiring Perhaps what I'll do then so Said that goes down on down there. I've actually have to go down the steps because that escalator has got a What's name cross it If you have a look at these these are for the past decided people since this rent cross town way out I'm going to go down in the lift because I want to walk through that garden Yeah, that is um Really, I like that. You always get this on a new station. So there's a gentleman down there taking pictures It's quite funny because most of the people here today even a station over yesterday Most people here today are just here like I am just to have a look Or which lift we're going to catch I might be that one That'll take us down an outstation And go mezzanine We're boarding the lift at the mezzanine level Doors opening doors opening going down just going down. So we're going down to Street level doors closing footbridge mezzanine So that side is for the footbridge And this side is for The mezzanine I've arrived at the street level in that garden She's doors opening Also, okay. Oh, I see there's another Point cross town or when I was Off camera I heard an announcement and it was Tony Blackburn apparently he does all you know That's interesting. It looks like down there is a possible future way out and then here You've got all the bikes. So not many bikes there yet, but we'll have a look in a minute It looked like they were building very wish new Flats and everything in the apartment. So maybe there'd be more people This way out but we can Get out, but we'll have a look Maybe like I say, it's a developing area. Maybe one day Maybe one day there will be a reason to exit the station here It's quite a good view of the general structure over there off the station Once again, we're under the stairs in this rather large under stairs covered Where you can put your bike if you want to And now we're going to walk out through this garden. So I think what's happening in the area is they're making a load of New flats and everything since it says a new way to live and So I don't know if that's going to go also to the lift and That gentleman's weight is at the wrong lift Anyway, so yeah a new a new way to live. This is all really Quite nice. There'll be all these flats might not be my kind of place to live but Probably is generally quite pleasant to live. I like this garden though. This garden is really nice You know, you could just sit here Just sit here and enjoy. Oh look, there's a picture there That I think is here in a few years time. So I think the idea is they're going to build offices each side So they'll build offices. That's it. And this Won't be kind of quite the free standing structure is it'll be in amongst Various other buildings. So they'll open these offices and that explains The mezzanine level. So that yeah is this is one of those videos where I'm discovering it as I go So I really like them like I've always enjoyed visiting gardens, you know national trust offices So I like how they've bought a bit of the garden into the station. I think it's a really nice feature of The new railway station. We're now going to make our way continuing on to make our way out the station And we'll have a look see what's going on then. I think I'll walk to the Break cross itself. So here we are. We have now exit the station and once again There's some more bus stops that says these bus stops are closed. So developing area I don't really need to wait to even cross the road. There's just no traffic at the moment And there we are. Look at that. That's really impressive So I think if we come here in a few years time be like when we went to barking Riverside when that was brand new It's going to change. There will be buildings each side of the station. So here we are Brent cross west I'm going to wander off down there and go to the shopping center Get a cup of tea So I walked a break and cross shopping center has been a complete maze through older new developments There's quite a nice park called Claremont park, but it's not straightforward That's exactly what I found when I once visited Brent cross shopping center from the northern line We're almost at Brent cross shopping center. There it is um, I'm not you know do the take the video in there because It's going to be has it's always been pretty much. I wanted to point this out. This is the river Brent Which of course is where the area gets its name from it's one of sort of london's not so well known rivers Everyone knows about the river Thames and probably if you ask people to name another river They might say the River Lee river Brent. It's about I think it's nearly 18 miles long It flows from up in the hills up beyond tendon down to Brentford, you know Brentford on the river Thames So this is where Brent and that is Brent cross shopping center. I'm going to go in there now I'm finally get myself tea or coffee after looking all this way. I didn't think it'd be quite as complicated As you can see there are various buses. I think the moral of the story is if you're going to go to Brent cross shopping center It's very much designed that you drive here Although when it was built the traffic wouldn't have been anything like as bad as it is now or you come by bus The station I suppose has a bit of a clue in the name Brent cross west it's west of Brent cross So it is a bit of a walk to get there. Anyway, I am here now. So this is Brent cross shopping center I hope you enjoyed this video. It's always great to see another new railway station open So thank you very much for watching. Please do feel free to like subscribe and comment from Brent cross shopping center by the river Brent. Goodbye