Driving the rail replacement down there is quite eye opening too. The bus always ends up sticky and filthy after doing that route, and it’s not even generated by the traffic to the World of Adventures, it’s the locals who ride up and down.
I can imagine(!) The problem with the Chessington branch is there is absolutely no law and order down there. All four stations are ungated, the majority of the work is allocated to metro guards who can't do tickets, and even commercial guards would be hard-pressed to get the wonderful locals of that line to pay up.
To give credit where it's due, revenue protection do venture down there on a semi-regular basis and seem to make a good job of it, but as soon as the sun has set and they've gone home, it's just a free-for-all.
You get gangs of youths riding the train up and down performing all kinds of undesirable behaviours - smoking illegal drugs, vandalising the train, pulling passcoms for "fun" - getting on at places like Chessington North, going down to South and staying onboard during the turnaround, and getting back off at North again.
And they know that nobody can do anything about it. Us poor guards are left to feel helpless witnessing all kinds of horrendous stuff down there, completely unable to do anything with no support and not wanting to risk our own safety.
And it's not just the yobs (although they are a significant part of it) - I've been chased down my own train by aggressive addicts clearly high on drugs, been on the receiving end of some awful threats made very unstable people. A world away from something like the Hampton Court branch, which tends to be rather pleasant.
It's like the Chessington branch just attracts the worst of society. Along with Aldershot to Ascot, it's certainly not a route I'd miss if it were taken off my route card.
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