h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Gotta go down to the smoke tomorrow.
Going to customer offices near Victoria station, so getting train to Euston and tube to Victoria, looks simple enough, only 4 stops on the Victoria line, but I have a few questions if you would indulge me.

1) Virgin trains reckon tube from Euston to Victoria is 29mins! But thetube.com reckons 13 mins or so. What do you reckon?
2) Will be travelling down to get there between 11 and 12 in the morning so should miss the morning rush hour However, my meetings finish at 4pm so will prob be travelling back from victoria to Euston around 4:30pm, is it worth going then or should I wait till 6pm and go then? I know it will be busy anyway but want to try and miss the evening rush hour and my return time is flexible.

thetube.com is not the most user friendly web site I have ever encountered and returns the below for my query. Does it mean i have to wait 5 mins for a Victoria tube and then it takes 13 mins, or what?

From: EUSTON (CITY BRANCH)
To: VICTORIA

Station Duration Action
Euston (City Branch) Wait for VICTORIA LINE train
Euston (City Branch) 5 mins. Get on train to any of:
BRIXTON or
VICTORIA
Victoria 13 mins. Arrival

Journey Duration: 13 mins.

I'm assuming Euston City Branch is the one actually in Euston station?

Good lord, don't delay leaving until 6pm - you'll hit just about the busiest time!

The tube part of the trip will probably take less than 29 mins, but it depends how long you have to wait for a tube to come in the first place and whether there are any problems on the day. Am not a regular user of the Vicky line so don't know how reliable it is...

"Virgin trains reckon tube from Euston to Victoria is 29mins! But thetube.com reckons 13 mins or so. What do you reckon?"

Providing everything runs smoothly (which it does most of the time ), the Victoria line should take 13 minutes to get from Euston to Victoria.

"will prob be travelling back from victoria to Euston around 4:30pm, is it worth going then or should I wait till 6pm and go then?"

In my experience, it's likely to be less busy at 4.30 than it is at 6pm. If you wanted to completely avoid the rush, you'd have to wait until about 7pm.

"Does it mean i have to wait 5 mins for a Victoria tube and then it takes 13 mins"

Yes!

"I'm assuming Euston City Branch is the one actually in Euston station?"

Hmm... not sure what that's got to do with it! The 'City Branch' is part of the Northern line, not the Victoria line. The exit from the tube (all lines) is within Euston station.

Good luck

cheers K and Danny B, I shall leg it from the meeting as quickly as possible then

The mention of Euston City Branch is because thetube.com doesn't have an underground station called Euston, but it does have Euston Square, Euston (City Branch) and Euston (Charin X Branch), which confoozled poor little country boy me!

Ah. Well the Victoria line goes both to Euston (City Branch) and Euston (Charin X Branch), so you have nothing to worry about

Oh god! Don;t confuse me even more, I'm still half convinced I'll get on the one going the wrong way and end up in the suburbs!

Glad I posted this, they just tried to extend the meeting till 5 and I said no

Get the Victoria line the wrong way from Victoria and you'll end up in Brixton

I take it the platforms are actually labelled or something?

From Victoria: "Northbound" (to Euston) and "Southbound" (to Brixton)

From Euston: "Southbound" (to Victoria) and "Northbound" (to Walthamstow)

Nothing *wrong* with Brixton, mind. Just that you don'tt want to be there instead of at your meeting...

take your pick

I'll take the

And of course there's nothing wrong with Brixton - according to my postcode, I live there

I'll take both your words for that, and feel no need to go investigate for myself.

The Tube use the legs God gave you, you lazy little creature

Oh be fair if you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry, thats not always practical...

It's virtually impossible to get on a Northbound train by accident as there are clear maps on the far wall at each station which clearly shows every stop of the train. Euston to Victoria sounds like a doddle. I get the tube from St Pancras to Victoria on a regular basis and have no problems with it at all.

Indeed!

I made it there and back in one piece! Even got a seat on the tube both ways. The exit from Victoria is a little counter-intuitive but there ya go.

As for walking from Euston to Victoria, no thankyou very much! Doubt I could claim that hour as work time!

I hope you weren't too scarred by your experiences

neither scarred nor scared

Considering my destination was Grosvenor Place and allegedly Buck palace gardens were just over the wall, it was not quite the sumptious surroundings I had envisaged!

Hmm, it is a remarkably shabby area of London just round there, it's true...