Throwing The Baby Out With The Bathwater
I like the New Routemaster and I use them regularly as five of the routes running close to my house use the buses.
So when I saw that Wright SRM buses, which are based on the New Routemaster, were being trialled on Route 183, I had to take a ride.
I went between Golders Green and Kenton stations.
In my view the bus has three major design faults compared to the New Routemaster.
The Floor Is No Longer Flat
The New Routemaster has a completely flat floor, whereas this bus doesn’t.
I suspect that this is because the bus is based on a standard Volvo B5LH chassis to save money, whereas the New Routemaster used a custom design.
Front Entry Only
One of the great features of the New Routemaster is that you can get in at any door, as there are card readers on all doors.
Drivers take advantage of this and often seem to stop the bus, so passengers can board quickly.
This must mean that they keep to the timetable better!
The Bus Is Rather Gloomy Inside
I sat towards the back, as I often do on New Routemasters, but the bus is so gloomy, as there is no windows facing to the rear.
Conclusion
I very much feel that someone needs to design a better bus chassis, as the standard Volvo chassis means that a flat floor and a light and airy interior, which are so important in my view, seem to be impossible.
Wrightbus can do a lot better.
Four Trains Per Hour Between Dalston Junction And Battersea Park Stations
Normally, there is only one train per day in both directions between Dalston Junction and Battersea Park stations.
Wikipedia says this about the service.
Until December 2012, Southern operated a twice-hourly service from London Victoria to London Bridge via Denmark Hill. This ceased when London Overground’s Clapham Junction to Dalston Junction service commenced at that time. However, since December 2012, a skeleton London Overground service has run to/from Battersea Park (instead of Clapham Junction) at the extreme ends of the day to retain a “parliamentary service” between Battersea Park and Clapham High Street.
But today, London Overground were running four trains per hour between Dalston Junction and Battersea Park stations, as there was a track fault, which meant trains couldn’t get between Wandsworth Road and Clapham Junction stations.
I took these pictures on my journey.
It certainly looked, like London Overground weren’t having much trouble, in running four trains per hour between Dalston Junction and Battersea Park stations.
Crossrail Gets A Convenient Hotel
This article on The Urban Developer is entitled London’s Newest Skyscraper Gets Green Light.
This is the first two paragraphs.
London’s Paddington will soon be home to a new 20-storey hotel tower, dubbed The Gateway Building, after planning permission was granted by Westminster council planners.
The Sheldon Square site will house the 113-metre-high hotel designed by architects Carmody Groarke for developer British Land. The hotel will provide access to the area’s new Crossrail station, with the third basement level expected to provide access to the Elizabeth Line — connecting Reading with London and Heathrow.
As they say, location is everything!
- Crossrail will whisk you to and from Heathrow.
- There’s not many hotels with direct access to the station underneath.
- For the businessman who has everything, Bond Street is only one stop away for the trophy wife to spend your hard-earned money.
- The City and Canary Wharf are just a few stops further.
I doubt the hotel will be a Premier Inn.
How many other skyscraper hotels will sprout up along Crossrail?
Each one will be another nail in the coffin of Heathrow Express.
The Reliability Of Online Reviews
Wake Up To Money this morning on BBC Radio 5 was talking about the reliability of on-line reviews.
So I sent in the following text.
As a coeliac, I find if I type “gluten free restaurant” with the city I’m in, I find somewhere good. Perhaps coeliacs don’t want to drop their peers in it!
It wasn’t read out directly, but someone else had said the same thing and the two messages were combined.
The method has certainly found me some very good gluten-free meals.
Are The Geordies Backing The Extended Borders Railway?
This article in the Morpeth Herald is entitled The Positive Impact Of Dr Beeching.
The author reviews what Doctor Beeching did and gives him credit for the good to go with the bad.
This is a paragraph.
It is often thought that Dr Beeching was negative, closing lines and stations, but his positive suggestions resulted in InterCity express trains and high density ‘commuter’ services, while his most dramatic change was to create bulk-load freight services, Freightliners, using containers. These have been really successful.
The author then goes on to give reasons, why the Borders Railway should be extended South, including using the line to bring timber from the maturing Kielder Forest to where it is needed.
He also suggests that the route from St. Boswells to Tweedmouth be reinstated to create an inland diversion route for the East Coast Main Line, which runs close to the sea.
The article makes some very valid points and it all builds a strong case for improved railways in the Borderlands between Edinburgh, Carlisle and Newcastle.
The Bloomberg Building Revealed
The hoardings are now down on the Bloomberg Building.
I have read in today’s Sunday Times, that the free exhibition on the site of the Temple of Mithras and the antiquities found on the site will open on the 14th of November.
The Rigid Overhead Conductor Rails At St. Pancras Thameslink Station
Whilst waiting for a train in St. Pancras Thameslink station, I noticed that the station has been fitted with rigid overhead conductor rails.
I couldn’t remember it being there before. But I don’t often go to the station.
However, I did find this page in Rail Forums, which is entitled Conductor Rail At St. Pancras Thameslink.
Apparently, the change was made at Easter 2013. This is one reply.
Installed over Easter. Known as conductor beam. The contact wire is fixed to the underside. Much more robust than regular OLE, and practically zero maintenance.
It has replaced a tricky tension length of OLE between approx half way along St Pancras LL platforms and the middle of the old KX Thameslink platforms. The curvature, cant and gradient change through this section made the OLE pretty difficult to keep in the right place and had high wear rates.
Likely the conductor beam will be extended north through to Dock Jn and through the new Canal tunnels, not confirmed yet.
Given the robust nature and lower maintenance costs, I think we’ll be seeing lots more of this type of electrification.
What’s The Weather Like In Africa?
This is a difficult question to answer, as Africa only has a limited number of weather stations.
So along comes Kukua, which has designed a low-cost, mobile network-connected, solar-powered weather station.
There’s a report in the latest edition of BBC Click.
It shows how the devices are helping small farmers in Africa.
My Football Routine
I usually arrange my Saturday football around a schedule something like this.
- 09:00 Go to Islington Marks and Spencer, Boots and Chapel Market, as my grandmother would have done over a hundred years ago, to do my weekend shopping.
- 11:00 Listen to Fighting Talk on Radio 5.
- 12:45 Leave home and catch a bus to Liverpool Street.
- 13:30 Catch the train for Ipswich.
- 14:43 Arrive in Ipswich and walk to Portman Road
- 15:00 Watch the match.
- 17:09 Catch the train back from Ipswich.
- 18:30 Arrive back in London
- 19:00 Arrive back home.
Sometimes I vary the routine, by having lunch in Spitalfields before I get the train.
I should say that as I’m a coeliac, I find getting acceptable gluten-free food in Ipswich difficult, so I never eat anything in the town.
You might think what is wrong with my schedule.
It’s the dreaded Rail Replacement Buses, that seem to interrupt many weekends, when there is football at Ipswich.
The time taken by the buses means, I have to allow an extra ninety minutes over the normal rail journey.
I know there is a lot of work to do on the line, but why can’t it be done on days when there is no football. As a widower, who lives alone, I find it tiresome.
I’ve even talked to some Norwich supporters about this and they’re as angry as I am.
An MP Guilty Of Sexual Impropriety
One night many years ago, C and myself had a dinner party. One of the guests brought her husband with her. At the time, the husband may have still been an MP, or he may just have just lost an election.
At dinner, he constantly fiddled with C’s leg, but she had been warned of his probably behaviour, by one her best friends and had worn protection in the shape of a long dress, with layers of petticoats underneath.
Even with permission, it was difficult to find you way in!
C handled herself and anyway, he was the sort of man, she wouldn’t have fancied in a whole century of Sundays.
A few days later on meeting her friend, C related the incident.
Her friend then told her what had happened at a party that she had given. One of her female friends had got rather drunk and had been led upstairs by the MP.
Everything was apparently going well, until the MP got undressed.
On seeing his filthy grey vest that was full of large holes, the lady came to her senses, laughed extremely loudly and long and returned to the party.
The Anonymous Widower 