Improvements Needed At Essex Road Station
Travelling to Liverpool Street, because of the rush hour, I had to use Essex Road station.
What a dump!
The lifts weren’t working and everybody was having to walk down a deep spiral staircase , which very much felt of Kafka.
The Class 313 trains despite approaching their forties are nowhere near as bad as the station.
Manchester To Get a Borken or Kenbor?
In my view the London Mayor has been a success. And I don’t just mean one of them!
They have fought for London and have won the battles to get improvements to London’s transport system.
Two years ago, I put forward my reasons why Manchester needs a mayor, with responsibility for the wider area.
Yesterday, George Osborne said he’d agreed that Manchester should have a mayor.
I’ll believe it when it happens!
But it is certainly overdue and also overdue in Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham and Newcastle.
I would also add cities and towns with a large population and transport system and probably major strengths or weaknesses.
So that would include at least Blackpool, Brighton and Cambridge!
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.
Extending The Blackpool Trams
My ride on the Blackpool trams yesterday, got me thinking.
In the first place, I think that concerning the link to Blackpool North station, a trick has been missed. Opposite the station, Sainsburys have built an impressive store.
Sainsburys Opposite Blackpool North Station
Surely, the whole area should be part of one development with the trams coming up Talbot Road from the North Pier to a covered interchange giving level access to both the station and the superstore. With electric trains arriving direct from Liverpool, London and Manchester, and places farther afield, this would make Blackpool North a true destination station.
When I go to see Ipswich play Blackpool at Bloomfield Road, I sometimes go on the single track railway from Preston via Lytham to Blackpool South station, as it is an easy walk through the car-parks to the ground.
But this means, I have to endure one of Northern Rail’s scrapyard specials and there is nowhere along the walk, to even get a cup of tea. I also walk through masses of car parking for visitors, which like the football ground, are a walk of a couple of hundred yards from the promenade and the tram. This map shows the area.
The football ground is clearly at the top and the red arrow at the bottom indicates Blackpool South station, with the car parks between. The tramway at this point runs between the beach and the road along the front. The two blue dots are the tram stops at Waterloo Road and South Pier.
If you look further south, the rail-line and tramway get closer together.
Near Blackpool airport, Squires Gate station (red rail arrows) is perhaps just a couple of hundred metres from the Starr Gate terminus of the tram (blue dot in top left).
It strikes me that the whole of this could be pulled together.
Applying my naive logic, it strikes me that to extend the Blackpool tramway to Lytham, as is a stated as an aim in Wikipedia, one way to do this would be to convert the Blackpool South line to a tramway as far as Lytham. At the Northern end, it would branch off the existing tramway somewhere slightly North of the football ground and then pass through the car parks to take over the rail line at Blackpool South station.
From what I have read in the latest edition of Modern Railways more electrification centred on Liverpool, Manchester and Preston area, is on the cards after the current schemes are completed.
In some ways making the Blackpool South branch, an extension to the Blackpool tramway takes part of this line out of one expensive large project and into a simple stand-alone project, that extends the tramway.
You might even extend the tramway through Lytham to Kirkham and Wesham station, where the branch diverts from the Blackpool North branch, which is being electrified.
Kirkham and Wesham is a larger station, that could probably easily accommodate a simple turnback platform for the tram. It will also be on an electrified railway to Preston, Liverpool and Manchester, and possibly even London.
I would doubt, that whilst the tramway extension was being built, it would have any effect on the operation of the Blackpool North branch.
One extra saving might be, that sense would probably dictate doing both extensions around the same time, the extra trams needed could probably be ordered together.
Incidentally, I’ve found a report, which says that the Blackpool South branch could be converted to tram-trains.
Tram-trains might be an option, but I’m a great believer in extending what you’ve got, rather than bringing in too many different systems, as this means you have the convenience of a uniform fleet and you don’t confuse the passengers.
Tram-trains and other new systems appeal to governments, as politicians and civil servants get nice paid-for trips to see the systems at work.
My only worry about my analysis is, am I being bold enough.
I believe that an urban transport system should link the railway stations to the main visitor and sporting attractions, shopping centres and public services like the Council Offices and hospital.
Could for example the spur to Blackpool North station profitably serve anywhere else?
Is Blackpool On The Way Up?
In previous visits to Blackpool, I’ve found the place rather depressing and dirty. Generally, I’ve arrived by train, to give myself time to get to the match and then got the first train out afterwards. I have also called Blackpool the most pedestrian-unfriendly resort in the UK.
Also, when I mention I’ve been to Blackpool, like I did once to a lady on a bus in Leeds, I have often got a comment saying no-one goes there now!
But was it the fact that the sun was shining yesterday, that made the place seem so much better. But visitors and residents were adamant that the town had improved in the last few years.
The promenade is so much better and must rate architecturally with some of the best in Europe. Although, I would think that the obvious food offerings, are a bit too gluten-rich for me. If I go again, I might do a bit of searching, to see if anybody can cope.
But living in Dalston, an area of Hackney, that has been transformed by a refreshed North London Line, I would think that Blackpool’s refreshed tramway has done the same for the resort. After all, many of Blackpool’s visitors are like me and not in the best state they could be. Surely, a step-free low-floor tram is one of the best prescriptions, that isn’t available on the NHS.
I think to be fair, we haven’t seen the end of the rise of Blackpool. Just as Liverpool took more than a few years to rise from its nadir, Blackpool won’t get back to the top overnight.
The biggest thing that will happen is connecting the town to the electrified rail network as part of the North West Electrification. Network Rail’s report says this about progress in linking Blackpool to Preston by 2016.
A fully electrified route between Preston and Blackpool will connect the area to the west coast main line, the key rail artery linking the North West with London and Scotland.
We’ve upgraded all 15 bridges whilst carrying out safety improvement work to parapets. Overhead line equipment will be installed in 2015/16.
This electrification should improve the perception of the resort, as refurbished Class 319 trains are so much better and bigger than most of the trains working the line now.
It will also further improve the direct services to Liverpool, Manchester and London.
The tramway should also be linked to Blackpool North station in the next few years, as it should have been years ago. Nothing annoys me more, when I arrive by train in a town or city and find that the buses and/or trams are not connected to the station. Blackpool will rectify this omission, but I hope they get the tram capacity right, as many arriving by train will want to get straight on a tram to perhaps have a sightseeing run up and down the promenade.
One factor affecting the extension of the tramway to Lytham is the Open. Golf has staged its championship four times at Royal Lytham Golf Club in the last twenty-five years. As it last staged an Open in 2012, it should probably be due another. Ansdell and Fairhaven station is close to the course, so if another Open was to be staged at Lytham, then this station would probably play a large part in getting spectators to the event in a carbon-free manner.
I would suspect that Lytham are pushing hard for another Open and they are stressing the 2016-electrification to Preston in their bid. They can probably link an improved train or tram service to the course into the mix as well!
One interesting asset well connected to the trains and the tram is the old Blackpool International Airport, which recently closed. I’m sure that the town will use it to their advantage and I suspect various stakeholders have ideas in mind.
Blackpool has certainly had problems, but I would hope it is now on the rise!
Not The Easiest Journey Home
I’d arranged to come home via Manchester, effectively retracing the steps I’d taken in the morning. There are just three trains from Blackpool which sensibly meet Virgin’s fast services from Glasgow; 17:03, 18:21 and 19:21. Last year, I’d tried to come home on the 18:21 route, but I missed my connection, so as Preston is a gluten-free desert, I went home via Carluccio’s in Manchester Piccadilly rather than wait for an hour in the rain on Preston station.
So I’d thought that I might as well get an Off Peak ticket back from Manchester and if I had time, I’d have supper in Carluccio’s.
But I hadn’t bargained for a long time on the bus getting to Blackpool North station because of the illuminations and then a slow train to Piccadilly, which meant all I had time to do there was pay a visit to the loo and buy some sandwiches in Marks and Spencer. I was surprised they still had some gluten-free sandwiches left and had actually reduced them.
At least the sandwiches tasted fine as I came back to London getting in just after 22:00.
I do hope after the electrification of the Blackpool line, that there is a convenient train direct from the town to London on a Saturday afternoon. Virgin are starting direct services soon and they’ll take a few minutes over three hours, whereas today I was on the train for four hours and twenty minutes.
When I got to Euston, 73 buses were thin on the ground, so I walked to Euston Square station to get a Metropolitan train to Whitechapel for the Overground. And they were rather rare too, so I ended up going to Moorgate for a bus. And guess what? I had to wait twenty minutes for a 76! Where were my preferred rides of a 21 or 141?
Eventually I got in just before 23:00.
Services between Blackpool and London must be improved.
Riding The Blackpool Trams
I’d never ridden the Blackpool trams until this visit, as often these visits seemed to coincide with their rebuilding.
The trams I rode are modern Flexity 2 units, that are essential for providing a complete service in the 21st Century. Supposedly some of the older trams still run at weekends, but I didn’t see any.
The trams have three problems in my mind.
They should link up with the trains at Blackpool North station. Wikipedia says this.
The tramway is to be extended to Blackpool North railway station after Blackpool Council agreed to provide the remaining funding for the project. [11] A study is currently being undertaken by the council about a further extension to Lytham St Annes.
They need information and maps at the tram stops. As the trams have helpful and chatty conductors, this isn’t as pressing as it could be, but why isn’t there an illustrated map showing the route at each stop?
The tram I rode from the North Pier to the South Pier was crowded to say the least. It strikes me that some serious thinking needs to be done about augmenting the fleet, either by adding more new trams or running the heritage trams more. In an ideal world, where money was no object you’d probably build some innovative new double-deck trams. Come to Blackpool Thomas Heatherwick, Blackpool needs you!
Blackpool’s New Maps And Signs
I’ve criticised Blackpool in the past, as lacking maps and information. But they have at least got started on a visitor-friendly information system.
I think it is true to say, that most of the locals and visitors I talked to, said that the town had been getting better in the last couple of years.
These maps and signs should lead to fewer people getting lost.
But there were no signs pointing you to the trams at the station and the tram stops didn’t have any maps or even information about how you use the tram.
The Anonymous Widower 