Silicon Roundabout – 30th August 2021
I took these pictures today on a 43 bus going from Liverpool Street to the Angel.
Note.
- These pictures were taken around midday today.
- Old Street to the East of the roundabout seems to have been resurfaced.
- There still seems to be work to do on the South-East corner of the roundabout.
- The last two photographs show the new staircase to Subway 1. It needs finishing.
I suspect that if they work all night, the new entrances could be open tomorrow.
Debden Station – 30th August 2021
Debden station is now step-free, so I popped in to have a look on my trip back from Epping.
Note.
- The station has three bridges; an old heritage one, a girder construction in the middle and the new steel one between the lift towers.
- The heritage bridge seems to be the one that most passengers use.
- The station building is typical of the 1970s.
- The station has over two hundred parking spaces. They are also bookable in advance.
The two new lifts are from Otis and they are in a self-contained installation of just two lifts and a bridge with no steps. Although, there does appear to be emergency stairs to one side.
Have Otis Developed A Modular Lift System?
This picture of Wimbledon Park station, is taken from Wimbledon Park Station – 27th August 2021.
The new lift can be seen on the left of the station behind the wall with the posters. It is encased in a dark-grey steel box, with a brick facia on the far side. The lift at Wimbledon Park station is from Otis.
This picture shows the new lifts at Ickenham station.
The lifts appear to have a lot of similarity to those at Debden.
I didn’t check the make of the lifts at Ickenham station, but if they are Otis, it looks like the company could have a modular system for lifts.
As this picture from Wimbledon Park station shows, they can even be given a tasteful facia.
The single lift at Wimbledon Park station could be the prototype for many similar installations.
Debden Station As A Step-Free Park-And-Ride Station
This Google Map shows the location of Debden station.
Note the closeness of the M11 to Debden station.
Unfortunately, the junction only connects Chigwell Lane with London and has no connection with the North and Harlow.
There is an urban myth, that Northbound slip roads weren’t built here, to stop robbers getting away to the countryside if they robbed the De La Rue factory of newly-printed bank notes.
This section in Wikipedia says this about Northbound slip-roads at Junction 5.
An official plan to add north-facing connections at junction 5 in Debden, Loughton was abandoned in 1998.
The sliproads would enable Debden station to be used as a Park-and-Ride station for London using the Central Line.
- Liverpool Street, Bank, St. Pauls and Chancery Lane stations would be served in the City of London.
- Debden and Bank are just over half-an-hour apart.
- Driving would probably take a few minutes longer.
- There would be a step-free cross-platform interchange with Crossrail at Stratford station for the West End, Paddington and Heathrow.
I suspect it would be an expensive scheme to develop a fully step-free Park-and-Ride and it would be more affordable to make Epping station fully step-free.
Epping Station – 30th August 2021
In Essex Councillors Call For Underground Link, I discussed the pros and cons of extending the Central Line from Epping station to Harlow.
As I didn’t have any pictures of Epping station. I went to the station and took these.
This map from cartometro.com shows the track layout at Epping station.
Note.
- There are two platforms both of which are used to terminate trains.
- Platform 2 is step-free, but Platform 1 is only step-free for exit only.
- There is a large car park with 541 spaces including twelve for disabled drivers.
I suspect this means, that someone who has difficulty with the bridge and has parked their car in the car park has a problem.
To my mind there are two obvious solutions.
- Put in a second step-free bridge at the station.
- If no trains go past the ends of the platform, it might be possible to build a level walkway across the two tracks.
It would all depend on the budget and any plans to extend the Central Line to Harlow or on to the tracks of the Epping Ongar Railway.
It would certainly be possible to extend Platform 1 to serve as a platform for the Epping Ongar Railway and have a walkway across the tracks to give step-free access between all three platforms.
- It would make the heritage Epping Ongar Railway into a unique London tourist attraction with direct access from the Underground.
- It might even be possible for the heritage railway to run connection services between Epping and Ongar at times, when they would be financially worthwhile and operationally possible.
There are certainly possibilities.
Does Anybody Recognise This Tunnel?
Someone sent me this picture and asked if I knew where it was.
I don’t But do I know a man or woman who does?
Silicon Roundabout – 29th August 2021
I went back this morning to see what was happening.
I took these pictures walking around the South-Eastern side of the roundabout.
Note.
- I left the station though Subway 1 (North East exit), crossed over Old Street at the lights and then walked to Moorgate station.
- Most of the work I could see, seemed to be concerned with resurfacing the road surface.
- The advertising screen seems to be stuck on Hamilton. Is that an omen for Lewis at Spa or is the play sponsoring the works?
There certainly seems a lot to do before Tuesday morning. Let’s hope the weather holds.
Velocys’ Fischer–Tropsch Tech Picked For E-fuels Project In Japan
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Renewables Now.
Fischer–Tropsch technology has a chequered history, as it has been used by regimes like Nazi Germany and South Africa under apartheid to create the fuel they need.
But now Oxford University spin-out company; Velocys have improved the process, so that it can turn rubbish destined for landfill into sustainable aviation fuel.
This is the last paragraph from the article.
The developer says its FT reactor can enable the production of SAF from household waste and woody biomass. The end product is a high-quality version of existing fuels, requiring no changes to engines or infrastructure, Velocys says on its website.
This is surely a viable alternative to keep airlines flying, until hydrogen-powered planes are developed.
Silicon Roundabout – 28th August 2021
The big push started today to open the new entrance to Old Street Station in Cowper Street.
According to this page on the TfL web site, which is entitled, Old Street Roundabout, these changes will happen on the 31st August 2021.
- The new entrance at Cowper Street will open and will provide direct access for customers to the station.
- Subway 1 (northeast exit) will be permanently closed. Subway 3 (southwest exit) will remain open
- The staircase at Subway 4 (northwest exit), will re-open and the ramp at Subway 4 will permanently close. The green line leading to Moorfields Eye Hospital will be reinstated along the stairs
I took these pictures from a 21 bus, this morning.
Note.
- The first four pictures show the North-West exit, which is Subway 4.
- The sides of the steps at Subway 4 seem just to need application ofsurface finish and handrails.
- In the last picture, it looks like the contractors are getting ready to resurface the South-East corner.
I also took this picture of the Cowper Street entrance yesterday.
The entrance looks to be not far from finished behind the hoarding.
If I get a chance, I’ll go back and have a look sometime in the weekend.
Southall Station – 28th August 2021
Southall station is now another station, that is ready for Elizabeth!
I took these pictures this morning.
Note.
- It appears all four current platforms will be getting step-free access with lifts.
- The leg of the bridge to Platform 1 hasn’t been completed, although the lift tower is in place.
- The station signage is bi-lingual; English and Punjabi.
- A new modern station building has been added to the North of the original station building, which opened in 1839.
- A level walkway runs between the new station building and the footbridge.
This Google Map shows the station.
Note.
- This image was taken during building of the footbridge.
- The new station building and the walkway to the footbridge don’t appear to have been erected at the time of the image.
- The Southern pair of lines are the fast lines that go through Platforms 1 and 2.
- The Northern pair of lines are the slow lines that go through Platforms 3 and 4, which will be used by Crossrail.
- There is a fifth unused platform face, that shares the island and the stairs and future lift with Platform 1.
This map from cartometro.com shows the lines through the station in detail.
Note the single line coming in from the South-East is the freight-only Brentford Branch.
A Passenger Service On The Brentford Branch
It would appear that, when the builders complete the step-free footbridge at Southall station, that there will be a step-free interchange between Crossrail and any future passenger service on the Brentford Branch.
I feel that the Brentford Branch would be ideal for one of Adrian Shooter‘s Pop-Up-Metros, that would use Vivarail‘s Class 230 trains or similar.
In its simplest form a train would just shuttle between Brentford and the unnumbered fifth platform at Southall station.
Could British Land’s Plans For Finsbury Square Car Park Include A Rail Link To The Northern City Line?
This map from cartometro.com shows the railway lines in the area of Liverpool Street, Moorgate and Old Street stations.
Note.
- The four tracks in black are the Northern and Northern City Lines.
- It is planned to install digital signalling on the Northern City Line to increase capacity.
Finsbury Square is to the East of these lines.
The Northern Line is about fifteen metres deeper and underneath the Northern City Line.
This picture shows the escalator between the two lines at Moorgate station.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the Northern City Lines are deep enough to be below the Finsbury Square Car Park.
So would it be possible to run a four-car electric multiple unit into the Finsbury Square Car Park, so that there is no need to shuttle parcels and light freight to Liverpool Street station.
The digital signalling on the Northern City Line will probably allow a few extra trains to travel to a siding in or under the Finsbury Square Car Park, so it wouldn’t effect services into Moorgate.
Between Liverpool Street And Wimbledon Park Stations
This morning, after I’d finished walking to Liverpool Street station, I took the new route to Wimbledon Park station.
- Liverpool Street to Whitechapel on the Hammersmith & City Line.
- Whitechapel to Wimbledon Park on a District Line train.
The change at Whitechapel was just a walk across the wide platform.
I have rarely gone between Whitechapel and Wimbledon on the District Line and this was one of the first times since the 4LM (Four Lines Modernisation) project has been well under way.
The difference showed in the station dwell times, with only four stops taking more than thirty seconds from brakes on to brakes off.
- Victoria, Sloane Square and South Kensington still took under a minute.
- But Earl’s Court took a lengthy six minutes.
This map from cartometro.com shows the stations.
Note.
- The stations are all close together.
- There are some complicated junctions.
- The District Line splits into two to the West of Earl’s Court station.
This section will be challenging to any signalling system.
It works out that the average dwell time between Whitechapel and Wimbledon is around fifty seconds.
The Anonymous Widower 