Travelling By Pretendelino
Greater Anglia have hired Virgin’s back-up train or Pretendolino, which is a locomotive-hauled rake of Mark 3 coaches. I travelled to the Ipswich on this train today.
The red roofs are a give-away.
One thing you notice is that the quality is a lot better than most of Greater Anglia’s coaches.
Is Transport Having An Effect?
It’s too early to say for sure, but the LibDems are having a bad time in the North East.
Could the fact that most transport projects seem to be in the North West rather than the North East be having an effect?
Eurostar To Marseilles
On the first of May Eurostar launched its service from London to Lyon, Avignon and Marseilles. Full details are given in this article on the France 24 web site.
Out of curiosity, I tried to see how many seats are available in the coming weeks.
There weren’t many left, so I suspect Eurostar might have a success on their hands.
On the other hand, when I travel up from the South of France or Switzerland, I often break my journey in Paris. So I still might do this, as the food is better than the train.
Cycle Superhighway Construction At Temple
This site seems to feature in a lot of BBC Radio 5 Live’s traffic reports.
You can understand, why various factions are against the Cycle Superhighways.
The Bridges At Blackfriars
There are actually three bridges at Blackfriars; a road bridge, a rail bridge with a station on top and between them the remains of an older rail bridge. This Google Earth image shows the three bridges.
Blackfriars Bridges
From the East or right, they are in order.
1. This is the newer Blackfriars railway bridge, with its station, covered in a solar room, on top.
2. The pairs of dots beside the station are the columns of the older Blackfriars railway bridge, which has been demolished.
3. This is the Blackfriars Bridge.
These pictures were taken as I walked past the bridges from east to west.
Note how the two bridges in use are impressive structures.
I’ve often thought that the redundant piers must have a sensible use. But what?
Crossrail’s Big Hole In The Barbican
Last night, I went to a lecture about Crossrail in the City of London Girl’s School in the Barbican. It is not an area, I visit often, but I did fulfil one of the ambitions C and myself had had since it was built about twenty years ago. That was to have a meal in the Pizza Express in the building called Alban Gate, that is suspended over London Wall.
I was surprised to see this big hole in the plaza that ran south of the Barbican to London Wall.
Crossrail’s Big Hole In The Barbican
Forty years ago, when I lived in the Barbican, I used to walk across this area and take the bridge that then gave access to streets that led down to Bank, where I worked as a consultant on costing software. The buildings in this area were a group of rather unlovely office blocks, that only demolition would improve. I did find this picture taken five years ago, which shows London Wall in a picture set I uploaded, entitled Going Back to the Barbican.
This Google Earth image shows the Barbican.
Barbican Estate
We used to live in Cromwell Tower, which is to the north of the estate. It is a triangular tower to the north-east of the semi-circular building, which is above the Barbican Centre. The dual-carriageway road at the bottom is London Wall, with Alban Gate about halway along and the Myseum of London at the western end.
The hole shown in my picture doesn’t seem to have been created, but is between Alban Gate and the distinctive Moor House, which is near to the stations at Moorgate.
Sometimes, when I look at the Barbican, I wish that I’d moved there five years ago. Especially as now, I tend to live a simple life at home, that needs just one good bed, a kitchen and good television, broadband and transport links.
I suppose I could always move! But I’ve never been one for that! I just prefer and like updating properties.
Whitechapel Station Is Emerging
As I came through Whitechapel station, I took these pictures.
In the next phase of the development the following will happen.
1. The current entrance in the front of the station will be closed for reconstruction and temporary access will be from the rear in Durward Street.
2. The two Metropolitan/District Line platforms will become one with a platform face down each side and it looks like this is happening now. Later escalators will appear in the middle to take passengers up and down to Crossrail.
3. The Overground platforms will be generally accessed from the other end fom the new footbridge.
It also looks like they are in need of a gang or two of high-class brickies.
The Long Way Back From Rayleigh
For various reasons, I go to a dentist in Rayleigh near Southend.
Usually, it is a simple out and back from Stratford.
But today although it was easy getting there, coming back was a long journey, as a man was killed by a train at Harold Wood according to this report in the Romford Recorder.
I was informed that there would be a long wait at Rayleigh, so as a bus arrived, which was going to Southend, I took that as if the Liverpool Street was closed, I could at least get a c2c train to Barking or West Ham.
It is only when you are forced to take a bus in a strange town, that is information-free and nearly all your fellow travellers are wearing head-phones, you realise how most buses are terrible outside London.
I haven’t been to the centre of Southend since the 1960s, so it was only because my phone told me, that I was somewhere near the centre, that I got off at the right stop, near Southend Victoria station.
After buying my ticket and a drink, I was then informed that the trains were still not running. So I decided to walk to Southend Central station for the c2c train. This Google Earth image shows the two stations.
Central Southend
Victoria is at the top and Central is on the railway line that runs across the image.
The walk was easy, if rather windy and after ascertaining that c2c would happily accept my GreaterAnglia ticket, in a few minutes I was on a train to London. These pictures taken on the first part of the journey, illustrate the quality of the weather and how close the line is to the coast.
The weather was certainly worse than I encountered on the Cumbrian Coast.
In the end I changed onto the Metropolitan Line at Barking and then came home my usual way via Whitechapel and Dalston Junction.
Westfield Gets Its Own Overground Station
Shepherd’s Bush, Kensington Olympia, West Brompton and Imperial Wharf stations are the four stations on the West London Line of the Overground, that also served by services between Clapham Junction and Milton Keynes.
Shepherds Bush station has just been updated with longer platforms and a second entrance.
As the pictures show, the new new entrance is by the Westfield shopping centre and there is a light-controlled crossing across the road.
It will be interesting to see how customers take to the new entrance. I go to Westfield occasionally and it is usually because I’m coming back from somewhere in West London and need to buy some food or have lunch. As the centre has a Waitrose and a Carluccio’s in the corner near the station, I would probably use the new entrance to get a train home, as it would be a shorter walk. I doubt I’d use the Overground to go to Westfield, as going by the Central Line is quicker. But for those south of Shepherd’s Bush, it would probably be the exit of choice.
The main reason for the station upgrade would appear to have been a need to accommodate the longer trains on the Milton Keynes services, but I do think that we might see new entrances created at the other end of other Overground stations. I’ve felt for a long time, that Highbury and Islington station could benefit from a second entrance.
I also wonder, if this updating is part of a bigger plan to make more use of the West London Line.
The current Milton Keynes service terminates at its southern end at Clapham Junction, but it used to go through to South Croydon. In fact in November 2014, I used the link to go from Wembley Central to East Croydon. From Clapham Junction, the route was by Wandsworth Common, Balham, Streatham Common, Norbury, Thornton Heath and Selhurst, I would assume the service has been cut back because of Thameslink work, but I do feel that quite a few people could have been inconvenienced by this. I have a friend, who lives in South London, who uses the West London Line to get to matches at Wembley. So he might not be amused by this cutback.
As Clapham Junction is such an important station in South London, perhaps if there was a better connection to Willesden Junction, then the service might find quite a few passengers come out of the woodwork.
If Crossrail builds the threatened station at Old Oak Common, to link to HS2, the current service will be totally inadequate for the demand I’d expect. This is a map of the favoured option at Old Oak Common.
Option C Proposal At Old Oak Common
One of the problems is the number of freight trains that currently use the West London Line. But surely with a good sorting out and after electrification is complete in the area, their level can be reduced.
London Gets A New Garden
The British on the whole love their gardens and London’s new garden over Crossrail Place, the shopping centre on top of the Canary Wharf Crossrail station has now opened under its plastic roof.
It will be interesting to see how this station-cum-shopping centre develops. The cinema opens soon and there’s a floor and a half of shops at least to open before the station opens towards the end of the decade.
The Anonymous Widower 