Before Crossrail – Iver
A Quaint Small Station With Bad Access – Rating 4/10
Iver was the last Crossrail station I visited and I didn’t save the best to last.
This is the Google Map of the station.
Iver station – Downloaded 6th July 2015
Iver could become part of the Heathrow Hub in the future, but for Crossrail it will need lifts and updated buildings.
An Aerial Look At West Drayton Station
In my visit to West Drayton station, I also noted a railway line going away from the main line towards the North West.
West Drayton Station
In this aerial view you can clearly see it branching away at the station, which is marked by the red arrow. It then curves round to go under the Great Western Main Line in a Southerly direction, at the far left of the picture.
This is the Staines and West Drayton Railway and the northern section from West Drayton to Colnbrook is still used by freight trains. Some take fuel to a depot near Heathrow.
It seems to me over the last few years, there have been several proposals to improve the links from places like Reading and the West and Waterloo and South London, some of which pass through this area. But none seem to build on and improve this line.
We know that trains will be able to get from Reading and the West to Heathrow, but all projects to Waterloo and South London like Airtrack, seem to have foundered until now.
On the other hand, when Crossrail and Thameslink are fully operational in 2019, it looks like the journey time between East Croydon and Heathrow, changing at Farringdon will be around an hour. Currently, it looks like it’s a couple of minutes over an hour and a half, with two changes. Fast times need a trip on the expensive Heathrow Express.
I think that the only certainty is that in the next ten years or so, Heathrow and Crossrail/Thameslink will have a tremendous influence on railways in the vicinity of West London.
The Clapham Kiss – Where East Meets West
I took these two pictures, as I went from Shepherds Bush to Dalston Junction stations this afternoon on the London Overground.
Normally, I’d take a northbound train at Shepherds Bush direct to Highbury and Islington or Canonbury, where I would use the footbridge to crossover to get on a train for Dalston Junction. The reason I like to end up in Dalston Junction station, is that there are lots of buses down the Balls Pond Road to my house and they mean, I don’t have to cross any roads.
But at Shepherds Bush, this would have meant waiting nearly ten minutes for a northbound train, so I took the first train to Clapham Junction. A factor that influenced my choice was that to change between the two trains, is just a short walk up the platform.
I spoke to the driver, who was very pleased, as they don’t always meet as precisely as this, although that is what’s intended.
But the whole layout at Clapham Junction shows that a little bit of innovative thinking can often make things better for all concerned.
Buses In West London
I have taken quite a few buses in West London in recent days.
A Rather Tired West London Bus
But I can’t help feeling that the quality of some is not what we would put up with in the East.
The single-decker shown seemed rather tired with only an intermittently working information system and it seemed to struggle its way around. Luckily, I knew I wanted to get off at Ealing Hospital, which although it wasn’t announced by the bus, the hospital was obvious, as there wasn’t another large building with numerous ambulances in front.
Before Crossrail – The Wharncliffe Viaduct
Crossrail is a new railway from Reading in the West to Shenfield in the East.
But not everything is going to be brand new!
For example, the Grade 1 listed, Wharncliffe Viaduct, will be used to take the line over the River Brent, just as it has taken the Great Western Main Line since 1837.
Modifications are probably quite small as the current four lines are already electrified. Two of these will be used by Crossrail.
The viaduct ticks all the boxes on everybody’s lists.
- It was designed by IK Brunel
- It is Grade 1 Listed and is part of the submission to get the Great Western Railway declared a World Heritage Site.
- Pevsner said “Few viaducts have such architectural panache” about this viaduct.
- It is inhabited by a colony of bats.
- The electrification of the bridge was carried out in a sympathetic manner.
But above all, it would appear it is up to the job for which it is to be used.
You have to admit, that the Victorians knew how to build with brick!
My Crazy Electricity Meter
My electricity meter is baffling me.
These are my dates and readings.
20-Oct – 37108
14-Oct – 37049
18-Sep – 38777
08-Sep – 38843
15-Aug – 38331
16-Jul – 36764
17-Jun – 35353
I can explain all of the figures until September the 8th, when because of the heat in July and August, I was using the air-conditioning a lot.
But the last few readings indicate to me, that something has gone wrong.
I have phoned my supplier; OVO, and they seem to be worried too. After my previous billing experience with nPower, I’m glad I’ve changed.
Tales From Artemis Times
When I was writing Artemis, I got to meet some very interesting people.
I remember being in Denver at an Artemis Users Conference at the time of the Falklands War. I was talking over drinks with three Americans; a New York banker, the project manager on the US Harrier and the another from Long Beach Naval Shipyard.
The banker with all the naivete of no experience, said that all the Navy needed in the South Atlantic was a big flat-top and some F14s and they’d be able to blow the Argies away.
Then the Harrier guy said that they were getting the weather reports and it was so bad down there, that the only aircraft you could recover to the carrier was a Harrier. The guy from Long Beach compared everything to the Arctic convoys and said it was doubtful which was worst.
The banker didn’t say anything more on the subject.
Another incident was meeting a recently retired US Army or Marine officer. I’m not sure where this was, but it was somewhere in the States. It might even have been at the same conference. On finding I was English, he said that he’d got a lot of respect for the British Army and told this tale.
The Pentagon had wanted to find out how we handled the situation in Northern Ireland from a soldier’s point-of-view and he had been asked to go to the province to observe the British Army at work. So he turned up in Belfast, as a guest of the British Army and was given a briefing by senior officers and a couple of tours around the city in a Land-Rover.
They then asked him, if he’d like to go out on a patrol.
He said he would like to go, so early the next morning he was taken to a barracks and introduced to his patrol. He said that as a white US officer, he was surprised that the patrol would be led by a black corporal. At the time in the US Army, such a patrol would always be led by an officer or at least a sergeant.
They kitted him up, so he looked like the average squaddie and off they went. He didn’t really describe the patrol, except to say that he was impressed by the professionalism and that nothing untoward or unexpected happened.
On returning to barracks and after a good lunch with his patrol, he was taken to a debriefing. There he was shown a film taken by the SAS, who had had a sniper on the roof-tops with a film camera.
He realised that the US forces had a long way to go, if they were to handle urban situations like Northern Ireland.
The Anonymous Widower 