New Track for the London Overground
To connect the Overground from the two Peckham stations; Rye and Queen’s Road to Surrey Quays station, a new length of track has to be laid. These pictures show the Peckham end.
As the pictures were taken by a train going towards London Bridge, the new track is very much in the right background
This post shows the junction at the other end, where it joins the southern branches of the East London line.
Peckham Rye Station – A Station Designed By Several Committees
Peckham Rye station, which is is the next on from Denmark Hill station, looks like a station, that has been designed by several different individuals or committees, who had no idea what a team or a design brief was. All of these pictures were taken there.
It must have started better as the original station was designed by Charles Henry Driver, a noted Victorian architect. But I suspect the myriad companies, who have owned it since didn’t have a clue. Or it could have been a classic British Rail fix it without beauty job.
It’s also got the awful long staircases beloved of station architects until a few years ago.
Denmark Hill Station
Denmark Hill station is the next after Clapham High Street and is the station for Kings College Hospital and is a large four platform station. At the moment, the station is undergoing a major rebuilding as these pictures show.
Note that when it’s finished, the station will have lifts and a pub. Although at the moment, it’s rather a mess of scaffolding.
Incidentally, adding Denmark Hill station to the London Overground, will put a third major hospital on the line, after the Royal Free at Hampstead Heath and the Royal London at Whitechapel.
Clapham High Street Station
From Wandsworth Road station I walked to Clapham High Street station, which looked as if it had once been larger with more platforms and if you read the Wikipedia link it had. It had once even had overhead electric power for the trains. But no more, as these pictures show.
The odd thing is that two of these pictures contain light engines. In one it’s just a single and in the other two are coupled together.
Incidentally, Clapham High Street and Clapham North are considered an interchange on Oyster, so when the London Overground is fully open, it offers a simple way from the southerly parts of the Northern line to Hackney.
Wandsworth Road Station
Wandsworth Road station is a simple two platform station with an overbridge. I took these pictures on my visit.
Note that in the distance towards Battersea Power Station, you can see the junction leading off to the left towards Clapham Junction
From Victoria to Wandsworth Road
Wandsworth Road station is the station on the new South London line closest to the terminus of line at Clapham Junction station.
These pictures were taken on the short route from Victoria to Wandsworth Road.
It is not the best area architecturally of the capital and is dominated by the disused and falling down Battersea Power Station. Whether and how the Northern Line Extension to Battersea is built, should make a difference to the area.
I’m tending to think though that the best thing to do, would be to demolish the Battersea Power Station first. All it seems to do is bankrupt developers these days. You have to remember that power stations built in the early part of the twentieth century were built for a short life span, after which they were demolished. Battersea Power station is proving that rule by falling down on its own.
Lloyds Bank Bonuses and the Greek Bailout
The two main financial stories on the BBC this morning are that Lloyds Bank has taken back a lot of bonuses and that the Greek bailout is to be finalised.
I was just wondering if the bosses of Greek banks got any bonuses.
Food Labelling
They are talking about healthy eating and food labelling on BBC Breakfast this morning.
For many though, it doesn’t matter what you put on tins and packets, as it seems lot of people just eat take-aways like kebabs, burgers and enormous American sandwiches. Are they labelled?
Alistair Campbell on Alcoholism
Alistair Campbell has written a Panorama program on alcoholism, which is shown tonight.
As he was responsible for framing a lot of Nulabor policy, is there any connection to the financial mess that the Blair and Brown governments left us is.
Just looking at various cabinet ministers of the last fifty years or so, you can tell that some don’t have the healthiest of lifestyles.
The Anonymous Widower 