Marks And Spencer Now Do Goats Milk
My food shopping, has got a bit easier, as I’ve now found that Marks and Spencer have been stocking goats’ milk for some time.
Marks And Spencer Now Do Goats Milk
This now means that the only staple I buy that is a bit difficult to find is my preferred Breakfast Cereal, which I can get in most Sainsburys’ stores and the excellent Waitrose at Canary Wharf.
So now most of my shopping can be done in one place, either a good Marks and Spencer or a larger Waitrose.
They may be nice people in Waitrose at the Angel, but I shan’t be sad if I don’t visit again, with its difficult to use plastic bags on the self-service tills. If I need to shop at the Angel, there’s always the small Mark and Spencer there, with its gluten free quiches and scotch eggs and excellent bakery products.
Searching For East Putney Station
East Putney station is the first station south of the Thames on the Wimbledon branch of the District Line and it lies within walking distance of the Carluccio’s. But finding it wasn’t easy, as there were no maps or signposts.
When I eventually got to the station I questioned the station man about this and he said it was all a devious plot. Or something like that!
Note that the railway I crossed over is the line between Waterloo and Richmond.
East Putney station is a curious station in that it effectively lies within the junction of two lines, although no passenger services run on the other track.
Over The River For A Tea And An Ice Cream
I walked over the footbridge on Fulham Railway Bridge, where I got a of tea and an icre cream in the Carluccio’s on the south bank.
It’s rather a large cafe and it sits right on the river. Their web site describes it like this.
Located on the riverfront, east of Putney Bridge and a minute from the High Street, the caffé boasts a huge riverfront terrace for sunny days.
I wouldn’t disagree and it would be a good pit stop on a walk by the river in the area. Perhaps, you might start at Putney Bridge station and walk across the railway bridge.
Is This The Last Pill Box In London?
When I went to Wimbledon to trace the Goblin Extension, I noticed that perched on Fulham Railway Bridge was a Second World War pill box.
So I just had to go back and investigate, by taking a trip to Putney Bridge station.
I think this type of defensive structure is pretty rare in London these days.
Note though how Putney Bridge station is on the Fulham side of the river, by a bridge with that name.
Was this all done to confuse invaders, so they didn’t know whether they were coming or going, so they could be picked off easily from the pill box.
Probably not, as the naming was I suspect a cunning plan to confuse those South of the river, if they should venture into the North.
A Routemaster Of My Own
London is very quiet at the moment, as the well-off seem to have gone to Chelsea on Sea and Chiantishire and the plebs to the costas. This bus today was so quiet that I was the only passenger.
It did liven up a bit, when the tail gunner joined, as she was a bubbly Italian girl from Mestre near Venice.
I wonder how her currently good English will be honed on the platform of a new Routemaster?
It’s Amazing What You Can Do With Meccano, Lego And Sheets Of Glass
I happened to go through New Cross Gate station and just had to take some pictures.
Let’s hope that Network Rail and Transport for London, are going to use the system to create a few more modern stations. There certainly seem to be decision makers in these organisations, who are not afraid to do the unconventional.
Let’s face it, London Underground in the 1930s created some of the finest stations of the era, anywhere in the world. When our descendants look at stations like this one at New Cross Gate in a hundred years time, they might just say that we got something right.
Just because it’s only a station, it doesn’t mean the architecture or construction must be second rate.
Should Hackney Send Missionaries To Yorkshire?
One of my Google alerts has found two reports today about New Routemasters being considered for Yorkshire; one in the Huddersfield Examiner and another in the Yorkshire Evening Post.
I live on London bus route 38, which is one the most intense bus services in London, that links Hackney to Victoria via the West End, using a squadron of New Routemasters.
And we love them! So much so, that when we have a choice, as say a bus on a parallel route has arrived together with a 38, we all get on the 38.
I’ve never heard a complaint about these buses, whilst on-board and they are becoming very much part of life in Hackney. They are faster, as they load quickly, everybody seems to be polite and you are certainly more likely to strike up a conversation with a fellow passenger.
So why should only London get the benefits of this superb updating of a humble method of public transport?
Londoners and especially those that live in parts of London, where the routes go, should broadcast their enthusiasm to the rest of the UK and the wider world!
Tracing The Goblin Extension – The Alternative Route From Wimbledon To Peckham Rye
This is what I called the Alternative Route in the post, where I laid out possible routes.
It goes a slightly shorter way and avoids changing direction at Wimbledon.
Incidentally, I found out today that Platform 9 at Wimbledon has trains that stop there running in both directions.
The train I got from there today, actually waited for a few minutes, so it might be a place, where a train could wait if necessary.
The only problem on the route was that I had a Peckham Rye style change at Tulse Hill. I doubt that a couple with a baby in a buggy could negotiate the two staircases easily. Something of course that won’t be necessary with the Goblin Extension, as the trains will just circulate continuously.
The Borders Are Getting A Top Class Railway
The Borders Railway is starting to take shape and according to this article on Global Rail News, the first track has now been laid. This is the first couple of paragraphs.
The first section of track of the new 30-mile Borders Railway has been laid in Bowshank tunnel.
Although the Borders line is a single track railway, the 200-metre tunnel has double track which is part of a 6.4-kilometre dynamic passing loop. In the tunnel clearances are tight due to the requirement for passive provision for electrification. Hence the tunnel has slab track.
The interesting point is that the railway is being built so it can be electrified in the future.
Summary And Conclusions On The Goblin Extension
I’ve now traced all the new sections of the Goblin Extension from Upper Holloway, all the way round to Abbey Wood.
Tracing The Route
I’ll start by listing the sections of the line, where most of the infrastructure is already built.
Norwood Junction To Peckham Rye
Peckham Rye To Bexleyheath And Abbey Wood
The Alternative Route From Wimbledon To Peckham Rye
The Barking To Abbey Wood Tunnel
I’ve said very little about this, except muse about its use.
Infrastructure Needed
There is only one major piece of infrastructure that needs to be built and that is the Barking to Abbey Wood Tunnel.
One other thing that will to be done is to electrify the only part of the route that has not been so equipped; the main Gospel Oak to Barking section of the line.
There will I suspect be some track and signalling work, but probably nothing in addition to what will be done anyway.
Remember that signals will be under the remit of ERTMS and in the cabs, which might help in some places.
Trains Needed
Trains for the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be ordered soon and will probably be Class 378 trains or something very similar.
The only modification needed will be that they must be dual voltage to work all of the line, which of course they are on the North London Line.
Reports say four trains will be needed to work the current Gospel Oak to Barking Line, so as the new line is probably four times as long, something like twenty trains would probably be needed.
How Many Trains Per Hour?
What surprised me on my trip round the Goblin Extension, was how few trains per hour run on some parts of the route.
In many places, there are just two trains an hour, which definitely isn’t good enough for a turn up and go service.
So it shouldn’t be too difficult to accommodate at least another two trains an hour, all the way round the route.
Did The Goblin Extension Start As A South London Project?
Across North London, the current Goblin probably needs bigger trains and electrification, more than it needs more stations and more trains per hour. Although the latter would be nice.
But having travelled across South London a lot during the day, there often seems to be gaps between services and even short journeys need a change of train. I don’t know what it is like in the peak periods, but then extra services are always welcomed.
Connectivity from East to West and all points in between would definitely be improved, especially as from 2018, this line has good links to Crossrail and Thameslink.
Remember too, that driving in South London is much more difficult than in the North and the Underground is not as extensive as it is in the North.
The old South London Circular route from London Bridge to Victoria used to partly fulfil this East-West need and when it was discontinued to allow the East London Line to reach Clapham Junction, there was a lot of complaints that passengers in South London had lost their link to Victoria.
The only people, who know the traffic on the trains are Transport for London, who probably have access to all the statistics of where people enter and leave the network.
So did Transport for London invent the Hounslow to Abbey Wood service in response to a perceived need shown by the traffic statistics. Especially, as they knew there were plenty of train paths across South London and only small infrastructure changes would be required.
But they hit a snag, in that Abbey Wood and Hounslow are not stations, where you can turn a train around. Trains would have to come into the station and then go out the way they came in. I know nothing of operating trains, but surely you don’t want one of your two platforms blocked several times an hour. Especially, where you have high-frequency services wanting to use your platforms.
So someone looked at the places where these services could terminate. At Hounslow, they came up with the plan to go up the North London Line and the Dudding Hill Line to the Gospel Oak to Barking Line. At Abbey Wood, they came up with a plan to build a tunnel to the other end of the line at Barking Riverside, thus completing the circle.
Circular lines are always good for politicians, as they can understand them and sell their perceived benefits to the public.
The Anonymous Widower 