Before Overground – Hackney Downs
Could Be A Great Station With Imagination – Rating 3/10
Hackney Downs station is rather a dump at present, as the pictures show.
But because it is four platform station with rooms all over the place, it could with imagination be turned into the Crystal Palace station of the North.
The pictures show how the bridge over Dalston Lane has been restored, so at least a good start has been made. As the station has a lot of ironwork, I wonder if a Leadenhall Market solution could be applied. Instead of using expensive painters for all the ironwork, the City of London laid down the scheme and paid art students to do it. Hackney Downs obviously isn’t as grand, but if some of the ironwork in the station and others on the Lea Valley Line were to be properly painted, it might liven up a series of otherwise drab stations.
I also think that the large island platform, may be a suitable place to put a nice bronze sculpture that is deemed to be too valuable to display, as it might get nicked.
The station is a bit like one of those large rambling Victorian houses with umpteen rooms, that are advertised with tremendous potential.
Could London’s Passenger Counting Technology Look For Non-Payers?
I took another trip on a crowded 141 bus today and it had the passenger counting technology on board.
Passengers were fascinated and obviously some were using it to determine whether to go upstairs.
It struck me that as those entering the bus have to touch-in, by correlating this with spaces, it might be possible to determine how many passengers hadn’t touched-in.
It wouldn’t actually identify them individually, but by simple arithmetic it could probably identify routes with the highest levels of non-payers.
So if a particular area on route XX showed a high-level of non-payers, that is obviously where you send your inspectors.
Have The New Car Tax Rules Killed The Congestion Charge/Parking Fiddle?
Some years ago, I was selling an old Ford Escort Estate that was definitely a runner with virtually a year’s car tax and MOT, on eBay.
I only wanted a few hundred and I thought I had a deal.
When the lady who’d bought it and I talked over the phone, she said that she’d give me cash and deal with all the handover paperwork to save me the hassle. I said no to the latter and she then said, that I could forget the sale.
So I then looked at her purchase history on eBay and found that she’d bought about twenty or so clean cars like the Escort. All seemed to have a reasonably long tax and MOT and cost just a few hundred pounds.
I e-mailed the DVLA, as I thought the whole thing stank. They informed me, that the car would be sold to someone, who needed to get around London without paying the congestion charge. All of the fines and charges would obviously go to the previous owner.
They asked if I could forward all of the details to them.
I never heard any more from the lady, but the DVLA informed me a couple of years later, that they had mounted a successful prosecution.
Having looked at the new car tax rules, I think that the days of this type of scam are dead.
Before Overground – London Fields
A Station With an Excellent Bakery/Cafe – Rating 3/10
London Fields station is another station on the Lea Valley Lines with no decent access.
As I arrived a Japanese lady was struggling down the stairs with her three-year-old, a buggy and a scooter.
The reason she was coming was to visit the E5 bakehouse and cafe. It was so full, that I couldn’t get my intended cup of tea.
As you can see from the pictures, Network Rail have done a superb job in creating a series of small workshops in the railway arches.
It’s just a pity, that the access at the station wasn’t fixed at the same time.
As the station has only had a frequent service since 2005. was this one of those stations that British Rail hoped would quietly die?
Before Overground – Stoke Newington
A Dreadful Station To Avoid – Rating 2/10
Stoke Newington station was built when people weren’t disabled, pushed buggies or grew elderly and it shows.
In my view it’s one of those stations, that with a creative surface makeover, lifts and perhaps a light-controlled crossing to access buses going north, could be turned into one of the better stations on the line. The station forecourt has what looks to be a decent cafe, so selective development around the station could probably improve matters.
There’s Work To Do On The Gospel Oak To Barking Line
I went to Harringay Green Lanes station and then took a train on the Gospel Oak To Barking Line to South Tottenham.
There is work to do to get round the years of neglect.
The step-free access at Harringay Green Lanes is derisory and the station buildings aren’t the best, but it does look like something is happening at South Tottenham. This document from the the line’s User Group shows a discussion about what might be happening.
Work has already started on the bridge at South Tottenham to strengthen it for the future, but it looks like the one at Harringay Green Lanes is in no better condition.
Bacon Factory Curve At Work
I took this picture from an Ipswich to Cambridge train.
Freight Trains On The Bacon Factory Curve
It shows how the Bacon Factory Curve is working.
The train on the left is held on the curve itself, whilst the train on the right is proceeding towards Felixstowe.
In contrast to months ago, my train was not delayed and went straight past the junction.
London Takes The Great Leap Forward
From today on all public transport in London, you can use your UK contactless payment card as a ticket. Full details are on the BBC’s web site. Certain mobile phones can also be used.
Some are predicting it’ll all end in tears, but I suspect passengers will take one of two routes; carry on as now with Oyster or a Freedom Pass, or embrace the new technology with enthusiasm and a correct level of mistrust. After all, there doesn’t seem to have been any reports of problems since London’s buses went cashless a few months ago.
As a Freedom Pass user, it won’t effect me directly. But I always carry an Oyster card for the cable car, visitors or emergencies. But there may come a time, when I can leave this out of my wallet.
London is setting a standard here and surely, this should be implemented all over the UK as soon as possible. But I can’t help feeling that some authorities will invent their own totally incompatible systems.
After all, the best way to hack off a visitor to the UK, who perhaps wants to visit people and places in several areas, is to present them in every place with a different ticketing system.
Before Overground – Silver Street
A Disgraceful Station By An Important Hospital – Rating 1/10
These are pictures taken at Silver Street station.
It is not one of the better equipped stations, as it has no lifts, escalators, no open ticket office or cafe.
The stairs are also long and precipitous. They would be impossible for anybody with a baby in a buggy!
What makes this a lot worse, is that the station is close to the North Middlesex hospital. So if you have access problems and are visiting the hospital, steer clear of this station. You’d be better going to Edmonton Green and ordering a taxi.
All hospitals should have very easy step-free access from the nearest transport interchange.
Before Overground – Edmonton Green
A Prototype Station For The Lea Valley Lines – Rating 8/10
This is the first of a series of posts, where I post pictures of the stations on the Lea Valley Lines before the takeover by the London Overground in May next year.
Edmonton Green station is one of the better stations on the line and the lifts that are being installed, should be fully working in a month or so.
I’ve used quite a few stations on the Lea Valley Lines, but this must be one that needs the smallest amount of work to bring it up to a high standard. It’s got lifts, a cafe, tasteful shelters and seats.
It also has good bus connections, so it is one of those stations, where if you were in a wheelchair or pushing a buggy, you might swap your mode of transport.
The Anonymous Widower 