Progress On The Great Western Main Line – 22nd October 2015
On my way out from Paddington to Greenford to see the new inclined lift, I took these pictures.
As reported in a lot of news media, progress doesn’t seem to be to fast.
The Inclined Lift In An Improved Greenford Station
I visited Greenford station in January 2012, just after Transport for London announced that the last wooden escalator would be replaced with an inclined lift.
The lift has now been installed.
I rode down and then used the escalator up.
It is impressive and you do wonder how many other stations could have this type of lift installed.
This article on the Crossrail web site, entitled Crossrail and TfL to Install First Incline Lifts in UK Public Transport, says this.
Crossrail and Transport for London (TfL) today awarded a major contract to Kone for around 50 lifts for the new Crossrail stations as well as five lifts for Bank, Greenford and Hammersmith Tube stations.
Crossrail will pioneer the use of incline lifts to deliver step-free access at two of the major central London stations. Four innovative incline lifts will run alongside escalators at Farringdon and Liverpool Street Crossrail stations where it is not possible to install vertical lifts. London Underground will also install an incline lift at Greenford station by 2014.
My gateway to the Victoria Line; Highbury and Islington could be a possibility, but one of the station staff told me, that the space at the bottom of the current set of two escalators and a fixed staircase is very small and fitting a third escalator is impossible.
But it might be possible to squeeze in a much needed inclined lift. Note that the lift doesn’t intrude into the circulation space at the top and bottom of the stairs.
I suspect that Transport for London will be watching the Greenford installation with more than a usual interest.
They’ve certainly got several stations with both an up and down escalator and a stairway between that could be possibilities for conversion to fully step-free by the use of an inclined lift.
The station I could have used more times than any other; Southgate has the required space between the escalators, but as it is a Grade 2* Listed building, I can’t see the heritage lobby allowing even a well-designed and tasteful inclined lift into the Jewel of the Piccadilly Line.
But Bounds Green, Manor House, Turnpike Lane, Walthamstow Central and Wood Green could be ones to upgrade.
From Hull To Sheffield
I escaped from Hull on a train to Sheffield, as on my walk across the city from my hotel to the station, I didn’t pass one welcoming looking cafe or a suitable shop to buy my copy of The Times. I did finally find a cafe in the station called the London Way Cafe, but I’d already bought my ticket and didn’t fancy waiting an hour and a half for the train after the one I was catching.
The route to Sheffield via Goole and Doncaster is across very flat country as the pictures show.
Can I come to any conclusions?
- I think the last time, I did this journey it was in a dreaded Pacer, but this time it was a clean Class 158 train. So some things are getting better!
- Part of Hull station has been turned into a bus station, which is properly integrated with the trains.
- The signposting in the station to local attractions like The Deep and the KC Stadium can’t even be judged on quality, as there isn’t any.
Much of the line is the Hull to Doncaster branch, which effectively connect the two TransPennine routes into Hull and Cleethorpes at Gilberdyke and Thorne. It is not electrified, but given the fact that Doncaster is and Sheffield could be in a few years, this line would be ideal for IPEMUs running a possible half-hourly electric service between Hull and Sheffield via Doncaster.
At present Hull trains from London take two hours thirty minutes for a direct run via Selby and if you change at Doncaster it takes a few minutes under three hours using Virgin East Coast.
So perhaps if the Sheffield to Hull service is improved using IPEMUs and a bit of selective electrification is installed from say Doncaster to Thorne or in Hull station, the service from London with a change at Doncaster could be reduced to almost the two and half hours using the direct train.
But if IPEMUs can do Doncaster to Hull, then surely Hull Trains could use them on the Doncaster route to go to Hull as an all-electric alternative. They could still serve Brough, but Selby would need to use that route.
This simple exercise shows how IPEMUs could change the rail landscape of the UK.
Any Dutch Station By Eurostar From London
I complained to Eurostar about the lack of this ticket after my last trip to The Hague.
I got this reply.
Good morning,
although we currently don’t offer a ticket to “Any Dutch Station” on our UK website this product is available through our call centre on 0844 848 5848. Please specify when booking that you don’t require the “Thalys” trains and that you will be using regular “Classic” trains onwards from, and back to, Brussels, and they will be able to booking the ticket for you.
Although this product was withdrawn from our website around the time that the High Speed link was introduced the position regarding the sale of this ticket on our website is under review. In the meantime, though, please ring our contact centre who are open 0800 to 1900 on Mondays to Fridays and 0900 to 1700 on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Not perfect, but it looks like they’re on the case.
The Camden Town Station Upgrade Exhibition
This afternoon I went to the Camden Town Station Upgrade Exhibition at the Trinity United Reformed Church, Buck Street, Camden Town NW1 8NJ.
It will be on tomorrow and Saturday.
I did get a few questions answered and I have a few comments.
- This capacity upgrade is only concerned with the upgrade to Camden Town station and has nothing to do with improving the routes between this station and Camden Road station.
- I do think that provision should be made for a connection, even if it isn’t made until quite a few years.
- As in the current station, steps will still normally be used to access the two Southbound platforms from the main circulating space.
- For those needing step-free access to and from the surface, there will be a second lift lobby at Southbound platform height, below the main circulating space.
- Anybody crossing between the two Southbound or the two Northbound platforms will have a step-free route across.
I think that it is important that in addition to upgrading the capacity at Camden Town station, that the routes between the two Camden station; Town and Road should be improved for the following reasons.
- Camden Road is a station with full step-free access and if you lived or were staying within easy reach of the North London Line, you might find the route a much better alternative for going to the attractions of Camden Town and Camden Lock. I sometimes go for a coffee with my son, who works in Camden Town by that route from Dalston.
- Camden Lock is five hundred metres from Camden Road station and three-hundred and fifty metres from Camden Town stations and the longer route can be less busy.
- Walking between Camden Road station and Camden Lock has been improved recently, by creating a set of steps down from Camden Road to the Regent’s Canal. This may encourage many to walk to the Camden Lock area along the canal.
- Using Camden Road station or a bus for leaving the area avoids using the long spiral staircase to descend to the Northern Line at Camden Town station, which at times is the only route to the platforms.
- During the building of the capacity upgrade at Camden Town station, any alternative route that takes pressure off the station will be welcomed.
- The current walking route along Camden Road is very crowded and involves two crossings of roads on controlled crossings.
- Access to buses could be better thought out.
I would do the following.
- Improve the Regent’s Canal route between Camden Road station and Camden Lock. At present it is a bit difficult at the Camden Lock end, due to the development of Hawley Wharf.
- Improve the steps from the canal to Kentish Town Road, so that, when the Buck Street entrance to Camden Town station is opened, you have a shorter walk between the two stations.
- The Kentish Town Road steps could also provide a possibly quicker route to Camden Lock and the Roundhouse from the Buck Street entrance.
In addition lots of maps and signposting could point out some of the myriad routes and short-cuts in the area.
Eventually, a second entrance could be built at an expanded Camden Road station in the area of Camden Gardens.
Perhaps, by building much of the entrance in the three empty arches under the railway and using external lifts and escalators as has been done in buildings like the Pompidou Centre, the Lloyd Building or Deansgate-Castlefield tram stop in Manchester.
This Google Map shows the area.
Camden Gardens, Camden Lock And Buck Street
Camden Gardens is at the top right around the viaduct of the North London Line, which runs across the map to Camden Lock. Kentish Town Road goes almost North-South through the area, with Buck Street towards the bottom. The triple building is the school that currently occupies the proposed station site. I would estimate that the distance between Camden Gardens and Buck Street could be little more than two hundred metres.
Perhaps, the Buck Street entrance building, needs a back entrance on Kentish Town Road?
To finish this is a picture of the viaduct across Camden Gardens.
After being rebuilt since the freight train crash of a couple of years ago, I’m sure another good use can be found for it.
Breakfast By The Don
The Meadowhall Shoppin Centre in Shefield sums up what is right and wrong about shopping centres.
To like it has a big Marks and Spencer by the train station, so I can can get gluten-free snacks and sandwiches on my travels. It also has a Carluccio’s for something a bit bigger and like today, I can walk out by the River Don to have my breakfast.
As this is the site of the Tinsley Chord, which is supposed to be built by 2017, there didn’t seem much going on. This article on the BBC says everything is starting to run late.
Other than that there are no maps, so that once they get you inside the doors, you get lost and hopefully for them, you buy something you don’t need.
It just makes me angry and I hate the place with a vengeance.
But then the only reason, I go there is to get fed! Or change trains or between a tram and a train!
The 2017 UK City Of Culture
Hull is going to be the 2017 UK City of Culture
I walked across Hull twice from my supposedly City Centre hotel, which seemed to be almost closer to Grimsby than the railway station.
The first time was in the dark and there were no signs or maps, so I had to climb up on a dual-carriageway bridge, as the direct route across the footbridge was blocked due to demolition. The taxi-driver who brought me to the hotel said that all other routes were dangerous.
Despite the hotel saying it would take twenty minutes to get to football at the KC Stadium, It took me over an hour.
The pictures were taken in the morning and it was very wet, as they show.
I had hoped to find a paper shop to buy my copy of The Times, but in the forty minute walk, I didn’t pass one open shop selling newspapers. They was also no nice cafe for breakfast.
So instead of looking around Hull, I made an executive decision to go to Meadowhall to get some breakfast.
I know it was eight o’clock, but round here in East London, most things start at seven. Even my local Carluccio’s opens at eight in the week and nine at the weekends.
I got lost both times and I couldn’t even find a taxi to take me to the station.
I have never seen a city so badly signposted in my life.
But then to many of these towns and cities, maps are a waste of money, as everybody uses smart phones.
I don’t as my left hand isn’t good enough to hold it steady enough. Also as it was raining, the screen doesn’t appear to be too readable underwater.
UK Capital of Culture 2017?
They’re having a laugh or are they trying to lure visitors into those unsavoury areas my taxi driver warned me about?
I shan’t be going back to Hull again.
The place is an absolute disgrace as regards welcoming visitors, who don’t have cars and prefer or have to walk.
York Station
York station is a busy station as both the East Coast Main Line and Cross Country services pass through. It is also quite large with eleven platforms.
The pictures show how you can look out along the Scarborough Bridge and the bay platform 2, where trains from Scarborough can be turned back.
The last shot is the car park where the three mobile cranes were positioned to lift the bridge into place in Dancing With Cranes And A Bridge With Help From Lego.
It is worth taking a look at this Google Map of the station.
York Station
Note the island platform poking out from under the roof at the top, with Platform 4 on the left and Bay Platform 2 on the right.
There is another simple Bay Platform 1 at the southern end, which serves the line to Hull.
Both platforms 1 and 2 could be electrified, if it was decided to run IPEMU trains to Hull and Scarborough respectively. I think that East Yorkshire services could be electrified in this manner using the power at York, Doncaster and Leeds, with perhaps some form of top-up at Hull and Scarborough.
Scarborough
I’d never been to Scarborough before so I took the opportunity to visit on my way from York to Hull.
Looking back from a few days away, I think that Scarborough, would be a better place to stay than Hull.
I came to Scarborough station on one a Class 185 train and left in a Class 158 train, so I didn’t have to experience a Pacer. According to Wikipedia the Hull to Scarborough Line is usually worked by the very acceptable Class 158 trains, sometimes coupled to something else for more capacity. This is said.
Services are usually worked by Class 158 DMUs. Summer weekends see services operated by a Class 158 coupled to a Class 153 or extra Class 158 providing a 3/4-car unit for additional capacity. Sundays also see a variety of traction traversing the line to retain crew knowledge; this can include Class 153, Class 150, Class 142 and Class 144.
You do wonder how much traffic this route could generate if it was electrified and run by a new four-car electric train.
It would be very expensive to electrify, as until Hull is electrified, it would be a stand-alone system for about forty miles, that was a long way from any other electrification.
But if some means were to be provided to charge the trains at Scarborough and Hull, I suspect that IPEMUs could provide services between Scarborough and Hull and Scarborough and York with ease, given the easy nature of the lines.
This would also allow the TransPennine services from Scarborough to Manchester and Liverpool to be run by high-speed IPEMUs, which could bridge the electrifdication gap between Leeds and Manchester.
In an ideal world, a service should be provided between Scarborough and Whitby, which if there was an improved service around Scarborough would probably be needed to serve the tourism industry.
That area of East Yorkshire needs to be developed with respect to the leisure and tourism opportunities it offers.
A Circular Walk Through York
At York station, I took a circular walk to the City Centre and back to get some lunch.
The return route from the centre was as follows.
- Through the Museum Gardens
- Along the River Ouse.
- Across the Pedestrian Bridge by the York to Scarborough Line
- Directly into the station through the cycle parking.
The installation of the new bridge was talked about in Dancing With Cranes And A Bridge With Help From Lego.
My return route along the river and over the new bridge was a lot easier, as you’re away from the traffic on pavements that are better.
This map shows the area where I walked back to the station.
York Minster To York Station
The Scarborough Bridge is the most westerly one over the River Ouse.
I would also think it’s easier to go this way between the National Railway Museum and York Minster and the City Centre.
For a city that relies on tourism, it is not blessed with decent and numerous, maps and information.
Of the major cities in Yorkshire that I’ve visited only Sheffield seems to have a large number of decent maps. None are up to the standard of Glasgow, Krakow and Preston.
The Anonymous Widower 