Nigello

I just read on another post that there are some Overground routes that are useful to know about, because they are quicker than the Tube or connect two places not connected by the Tube. The one mentioned was London Bridge to Charing Cross (ideal for Trafalgar Square, St James' Park, The Mall, Buckingham Palace and the Houses of Parliament/Whitehall) via Waterloo East (all in Zone 1).
Another that is quite useful is Shepherd's Bush to Clapham Junction, which will take about 40 minutes with two changes. This would take about 1.5 hours if you used the Tube, buses and walking.

Also, St Pancras International to Blackfriars is good, but only during the weekday. It will take about 10 minutes maximum and also stops at Farringdon. It's great if you staying near to Kings Cross or Euston, or are arriving via Eurostar and need to get to Tate Modern or the Globe or Tower Bridge, for example. Again, it is Zone 1 for all stations mentioned.

If you want to see the Dulwich Picture Gallery and are in central London, take the train from Charing Cross to North Dulwich (Zone 2) via London Bridge. It'll beat the bus!
These are not likely to be used by hordes of tourists, but might be useful to some.
Please add any others!

PatrickLondon

For all sorts of tedious historical reasons, commuter railways south of the Thames remained predominantly in the hands of the mainline railway companies rather than the tube system. Although a lot of people called them "overground" to distinguish them from the Underground, Transport for London are now using the term specifically for suburban railway lines they have recently taken over (Richmond-Stratford and the Clapham Junction - Willesden line that Nigello refers to).

As well as the Dulwich Picture Gallery, the Horniman Museum requires a suburban train (from London Bridge or Charing Cross to Forest Hill). Richmond, Barnes (for the Wetlands Centre) and Putney (for riverside walks) are also quicker to reach by train from Waterloo than by tube.

http://nationalrail.co.uk/tocs_maps/...onnections.pdf

alanRow

Two obvious ones to know about - Charing Cross to Greenwich & Waterloo to Hampton Court

And not strictly overland but to get to the Charing Cross area from Gatwick you take the train to London Bridge, then wait at the same platform for a few minutes to catch a train to Charing Cross

annhig

alan - you beat me to it - I was going to mention the Hampton court one too.

helen_belsize

One thing for those using Oyster Pay as you go tickets to know is that they don't work on the overground lines which are not part of London Overground (see TfL website) as described above. The stations you are likely to require are in the same zones so you would need to buy a paper travelcard on the days you wanted to use those lines. It is just a communication question within the Oyster system. You would also need to check if it applies to the travelcard mounted on an Oyster card, because I don't know.

I'm a bit dubious about the examples quoted above because you have to get into and out of the rail stations and the trains are not so frequent. You can get the options on the TfL journey planner and check it out for each journey.

One of the best lines to get to Kew and Richmond if you stay in North London is the Richmond-Stratford line. It is c. 20 mins from Hampstead Heath or Finchley Road & Frognal Stations or a couple of minutes more from Camden Road in Camden Town. However with the addiction to central London and Kensington amongst Fodorites may not appeal.

It keeps children quiet who are not used to trains because you go through so many level crossings, see into the back gardens of Pooter type houses and you can even meet "local" people. It is busy in the rush hour with people travelling to and from work and school/college.