Platform Action At Willesden Junction Station
As I came back from Watford, I had a choice of going all the way to Euston or changing onto the North London Line at Willesden Junction.
In the end I chose to do the latter, as I needed the toilet and I know that Willesden has one of the few toilets on the Overground. As ever it was clean and welcoming.
I couldn’t hope noticing though that there seemed to be substantial work in progress on the platform faces on the line through the station.
Platform Action At Willesden Junction Station
Normally, the platform extension work for the five-car trains is much less than this. Checking on Wikipedia, this is said.
In October 2014 the DC line was closed temporarily between Wembley Central and Queens Park reportedly to allow platform 2 to be extended further west as a through platform.
Platform 2 is on the left in the picture.
So it would appear that the Overground/Bakerloo lines to the South are getting an extra platform. Looking at the Google Map view of the area shows the layout.
Note the three platforms for the Bakerloo and Watford DC Lines at the left and the two North London Line platforms at the right. Just above these is the double-track link to the West Coast Main Line.
Could it be that London Overground are just making sure that all the work they are doing to make the Overground ready for five-car trains, they are future proofing as much as they can? This section in Wikipedia talks of a reorganisation of the Bakerloo Line and the Overground DC Line to Watford, so with all the uncertainty and variability around Old Oak Common, this is probably a good approach.
I think the only certainty is that anybody using the Overground or Bakerloo Line through Willesden Junction in ten years time will find the station very different, with probably more connections and longer and more frequent trains.
Looking For The Croxley Rail Link
After my delays at Moor Park station, I eventually got a train and a bus to Croxley station, where I started my walk. The aim was to walk from there into Watford, have a snack lunch at Carluccio’s and then come home on the Overground from Watford High Street station. This Google map shows the general route.
The Metropolitan Line to Watford, which will be closed when the Croxley Rail Link is built is shown in purple, with the Overground in orange and Watford High Street station indicated by the red arrow. Note that the Wikipedia entry for the Rail Link has good schematics and maps.
The Rail Link will leave the route of the current Metropolitan Line around the edge of this map.
The Current Watford Branch
It crosses a bridge there, just behind the Harvester pub. It will then cross the dual carriageway on a viaduct.
The Rail Link Will Cross Near Here
The line will go across somewhere here, where a new Cassiobridge station will be built on the West side of the road. There would appear to be a rail bridge over the Grand Junction Canal, which was used for the old Croxley Green Branch.
Over The Grand Junction Canal
Another Google map, shows the area in more detail.
Note the canal and the bridge in the picture and how the line crosses two roads to continue towards Watford.
I then walked towards the Watford Hospital and the football ground and crossed the line on a bridge on Vicarage Road.
Over The Future Croxley Rail Link
It had been a walk of about an hour between Croxley and Watford High Street stations. Luckily I was on the warm dry train into Central London before the rain started in earnest,
A Wait At Moor Park Station
I was trying to get to Croxley station to look at the area of the new Croxley Rail Link.
Unfortunately, there were signalling problems on the line so I had to wait to get to Rickmansworth for a replacement bus. So I took these pictures.
It is an attractive well-maintained station, but it doesn’t seem to have any regular bus links or step-free access.
Should UKIP Supporters Be Called Kippers?
Matt Ridley has an opinion in The Times entitled Spare me the selfishness of the eco-toffs. It is well worth reading, He says this at one point after looking at the profiles of green and UKIP supporters.
In Downton Abbey terms, Greens are a lady upstairs in the dining room; kippers are a footman downstairs in the servants’ hall.
Does this mean you have to be kippered to vote for UKIP?
Whatever it is, it’s a good choice of a word.
It should help Farage with his choice of neckware!
Who’d Be A Clothes Retailer?
According to the Daily Mail, winter clothes aren’t selling as it’s still warm. Here’s the first paragraph.
Indian summer hits M&S and Next clothes sales: Stores unable to shift winter boots and coats because of warm October temperatures.
It doesn’t bother me, as I wear almost the same clothes all year round. I’m always in a short-sleeved shirt, with or without a cashmere jumper from M & S. I do swap cords for chinos if it gets too hot, but I rarely wear shorts. And for nearly eight months now, I’ve worn the same lightweight bomber jacket, as it keeps me dry and has the right format of pockets.
If I’m going somewhere smart, I might wear a 25-year-old sports jacket, which is so unstylish that it gets admired all the time. I wore it at CERN.
I am finding that I’m spending less and less money on clothes. I did think that I might get some new expensive Daks cords for the winter, but when I went to try them on, I found that trendy designers had ruined the design. The fastenings were so complicated, if you had got taken short, you wouldn’t have been able to get your trousers down quick enough. So I decided to buy another pair from M & S.
Because of this inability to buy clothes, I now tend to be ruthless in taking unwanted ones to Oxfam and then buy a replacement in probably M & S.
The only thing I spend money on are belts and bags. I’m still searching for a perfect one of the latter. The trouble is they’re not designed by real people.
Goodbye Darling!
Or good riddance to the MP, who as Chancellor spent £45billion on a bust bank and then proceeded to ruin another one.
How come someone, who has that disaster on his c.v. is still held in such regard?
I wouldn’t trust the man to run my whelk stall!
But then that is politics for you. The mediocre and the downright incompetent get voted in. I’ve met a few MPs, but I’d trust only two with the bus fare home.
How many people, who’ve done real jobs like a doctor, engineer, scientist or teacher are there in parliament? We’re even short on sportsmen and women at present.
After Sol Campbell’s interview in Saturday’s Times, someone should sign him up!
But think about that wasted £45billion!
It is a £1,000 for every man, woman and child in this country.
It would have paid for the Northern Hub, Crossrail, HS3, Glasgow Crossrail and the upgrading of the Great Western Main Line and left quite a few billions over for other worthwhile projects, like training all the people to work on the projects.
The Anonymous Widower 