How Did They Get The Graffiti Up There?
I took this picture at Dalston Kingsland station.
How Did They Get The Graffiti Up There?
Obviously, they couldn’t have used a ladder, so it must somehow have been painted from the top.
Don’t Trust Your Phone On A Bike
Perhaps that is the moral of this story on the BBC’s web site, about an idiot cyclist, who was cycling along the M25 in Surrey trying to find a quick way home.
I’m not sure, that I could have ever used a smart phone on a bicycle, at any time of my life!
I’ve only ever seen a cyclist once on a motorway and that was a guy of about twenty pedalling furiously up the hard shoulder of the M11 towards Stansted.
The Connection Between The First Tanks And The Classic Routemaster Bus
At first glance, it would appear that there would be little connection between Little Willie, which was one of the prototypes leading to the first tanks of the Great War and the classic Routemaster bus of the 1950s.
But I’ve just read this article on the BBC’s web site about how the tanks were developed in Lincoln. The article talks about the two designers.
The work needed more than technical experience, it needed two very particular men – William Tritton and Lieutenant Walter Wilson.
“Tritton was a brilliant engineer,” says Mr Pullen. “And he was a brilliant leader. He got things done.
“He turned Foster’s around with new ideas and new markets.
“Couple him with Walter Wilson, who was also a good engineer but a genius with things like gearboxes, and they made a brilliant partnership.”
It goes on to describe how they locked themselves in a hotel room and scribbled designs on envelopes and fag packets.
And the rest as they say is history!
Walter Wilson went on to form a company called Self-Changing Gears, that developed pre-selector gearboxes. I never drove a vehicle with one of these gearboxes, but I’ve sat just behind the driver on many a London Transport RT-bus and watched the driver select the gear and then hit the gear change pedal to engage it. The use of this type of transmission, was to make the effort of the constant stopping and starting easier on the driver.
Routemasters , it would appear had a fully-automatic version of the transmission, linking them back to the original tanks.
Osborne Says Redevelop Euston Before HS2
There is an article in the Standard, where George Osborne says priority should be given to the redevelopment of Euston station, before HS2 is constructed.
I use the station several times a year and compared to Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Waterloo, Marylebone and St. Pancras, it is totally inadequate. It is even worse at the moment, than London Bridge, which is currently a building site.
What makes it so bad, is the lack of connection to the Circle line and the endless dingy walks from the other Tube lines to the station. There is no disabled access to the Underground.
There is a lot of scope to do this rebuilding right. These factors should be considered.
- The effect of the Croxley Rail Link to Watford Junction, which should be completed in 2017.
- Any development at Watford Junction, that could ease pressure on Euston.
- Could Willesden Junction be used to take passengers off the West Coast Main Line?
- Should an Old Oak Common station be built?
Properly planned, rebuilding of Euston,. adds a whole new dimension to HS2. It even questions whether HS2 terminates at Euston!
Could George Osborne’s view on Euston station be coloured, by his own personal experience and those of his constituents?
It doesn’t matter to me, as redeveloping Euston station is good sense, for all sorts of reasons!
Life On A 38 Bus
The 38 Bus in London, is probably the route that I use most. I even used its sister the N38 to get to Victoria for the Gatwick Express in the middle of the night. Yesterday, I used the route twice, once to go to the Angel and the other to go to a lecture near the Royal Academy in Piccadilly. But then the Upwestbound stop is just round the corner from my house.
But I haven’t done what a Timeout journalist has and spent twenty-four hours running up and down the route from the romantic Clapton Pond to crowded Victoria. His article is here. This is a typical paragraph.
But there’s more to the London bus than keeping costs down. It’s fascinating about seeing the city from the top deck. Ever bother looking at the buildings above the shops? I’m not talking about nosing into offices and flats (though you wouldn’t believe how many people walk around naked with the curtains open) – it’s the centuries-old architecture pocked with the scars of history, with Victorian inscriptions and scraps of pre-war adverts. Glimpses of London’s former lives.
The 38 may not be one of the glamour routes, that have got a full compliment of New Buses for London, but as a working lifeline for connecting the people of Hackney to the jobs, shops and attractions of the West End, it is invaluable.
Do Security Vans Have A Right To Block Bus Stops?
My journey round London yesterday on the buses, was held up yesterday by security vans blocking bus stops.
Do Security Vans Have A Right To Block Bus Stops?
This picture was taken at the Angel and shows two vans blocking the stop. The driver of my bus wasn’t pleased to say the least. As two buses had already by-passed the stop, I wouldn’t have been pleased if he’d done the same!
A Walk Along Oxford Street
From Portals To The Past, I decided to walk along Oxford Street to Marks and Spencer, to see if they had any short-sleeved shirts.
It is not the easiest of walks and after the exhibition, I wondered what effect Crossrail will have on this walk.
One of the guides at the exhibition had told me, she’d walked one of the new stations a few days ago and because of the 200m length of the Class 345 trains for Crossrail, the stations have very long platforms. So one problem, Crossrail will get when it opens, is that passengers will complain about the endless walks. But as you can walk inside the trains, as they are effectively one coach with lots of segments, you will align yourself with your exit, when you do a regular journey. I do this walking along the train regularly on the Overground, as I’d rather walk in a warm train, than a cold platform.
I do wonder that as Crossrail gets used more and passengers learn how to use it, they will find there best and quickest routes and especially in bad weather will walk underground, thus taking a percentage of walkers away from Oxford Street.
The double-ended stations may also end up as rat-runs for those, who know their London and have Oyster Cards or Freedom Passes to bypass large sections of crowded pavements.
Hopefully too, Crossrail will take passengers from the Central line, so that walkers will use that if going from say Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch.
I did get my short-sleeved shirts and after exiting the shop, the heavens opened with a vengeance.
Summer came on Sunday, as the pictures of the Thames Barrier showed and now it’s gone!
Crossrail’s Portals To The Past Exhibition
Crossrail have opened another exhibition called Portals To The Past, showing the various archaeological discoveries they have made.
It wasn’t as large as last year’s exhibition, but nevertheless, if you’re in the area it’s worth a look.
There was also a knowledgeable engineer answering questions.
Liverpool Comes Third!
But it is third in the list of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2014, according to the Rough Guide.
It was beaten by Rio De Janeiro and Sarajevo.
This news has been ignored very much by the media, except for the Liverpool Echo.
I shall be going in June to see the Mondrian exhibition at the Tate Liverpool.
The Anonymous Widower 