Out Of Charing Cross Station For The First Time
It may seem strange, but yesterday was the first time, I took a train out of Charing Cross station. Here are a few pictures, as the train travelled to London Bridge.
Note the Victorian replica of Charing Cross outside the station,one of the Golden Jubilee footbridges on the Hungerford Railway Bridge and Southwark Cathedral.
Developments At Cheltenham
Cheltenham is a town, I’ve been to several times. Usually, it has been to go to the races, although I did go there on my 92 Club trip. I went by train to Cheltenham Spa station.
This month’s Modern Railways describes a substantial proposed development at the station, which adds extra platforms and capacity. Given that there is a large development being started at Cheltenham Racecourse and getting to the racecourse by road is a nightmare, I think it would be a good idea to expand the station, so that racegoers could at least get to Cheltenham by train. Provision is made in the station scheme for perhaps a light rail system to link to the racecourse station.
But obviously, a heavy rail scheme would be better, so that luxury special trains could run from Paddington direct to the racecourse. First Great Western are now running Pullman Dining services on InterCity 125 trains to Plymouth, so perhaps the soon-to-be redundant trains could be refurbished as luxury go-virtually-anywhere trains to take visitors to special events in style.
There’s a lot to think about!
But the proposed reworking of Cheltenham Spa station, does show how if you think properly, you can improve a mundane station for the benefit of the rail companies and passengers alike.
Here’s a personal example.
With the simplification of movements at Ipswich, due to the new Bacon Factory Curve, will this make possible, some small improvements? It would be much easier for a train from say Cambridge to come in to Ipswich station and then reverse out to either Lowestoft or Felixstowe, as there won’t be freight trains reversing in the yard outside the station.
I hope Network Rail has got their thinking cap on!
They certainly seem to have got it right with new stations at Cambridge Science Park and Lea Bridge, but they seem to have been unlucky with building a Coventry Arena station, and then have Coventry City move away.
But as I indicated in this post, are Network Rail expanding the railway, by doing lots of small high return projects.
Getting Back On A Bike
As it was quiet in the city today, I took a bus to Barbican station and had a short ride of one of the Barclays Bikes.
Barclays Bikes
I didn’t go far and I didn’t have any alarms at all.
But it was good to see that my balance was sound.
Stratford Depot Remembered
This plaque is inside Stratford International station and remembers Stratford TMD, which used to occupy the site.
Stratford Depot Remembered
As a member of a group of children, who were keen train-spotters, I visited the depot a couple of times. In those days it was nearly all steam with a selection of new diesels, which nobody liked much.
There’s more about the plaque and those who worked in the depot, here on the Newham Recorder web site.
Around Stratford International Station
I walked around Stratford International station this morning.
It has always puzzled me, why trains for Europe don’t stop here. perhaps we should create the Trans Manche Metro.
Stratford Is Well-Lithed
I went to Stratford in East London, this morning to take some pictures.
These were two of the many Legible London liths, that make walking easy in the area.
I do wonder if other places are starting to use similar designs. In Ipswich yesterday, there were several as I walked to Portman Road. Ipswich calls it’s system Walk Ipswich and the web site is here.
Both systems in London and Ipswich were designed by Applied, so the similarity may not be a coincidence or plagiarism.
A Use For RBS
It was raining hard as I passed the offices of the Rpyal Bank of UK Taxpayers on Bishopsgate.
A Use For RBS
At least the building kept everybody dry as they walked along or waited for a bus.
London’s Forgotten Route Gets A Hybrid Bus
The 277 is one of London’s forgotten bus routes and runs from Limehouse and Canary Wharf through the East of London to Highbury and Islington station.
London’s Forgotten Route Gets A Hybrid Bus
I photographed this lone hybrid on the route last week.
Why this route is so often neglected by the powers that be, I do not know! I suspect, we’ll never see New Buses for London or in fact any new buses on this route in my lifetime.
How To Beat Car Price Depreciation
The title of this post came from one of the most read stories on the BBC web site. It’s here.
It’s something I don’t suffer from. I don’t have a car any more and don’t miss it one bit.
Take today and Bank Holiday Monday.
I have a list of places, I’d like to visit and every one is an easy journey by public transport, where I’ll probably sit on the top deck of a comfortable bus, enjoying the view and looking for little oddities to photograph. I’m also going to try out a new restaurant, where my son and I, will celebrate his birthday. Parking at one of the places would be impossible, except for a bike, but the bus virtually stops outside.
Cutting the cost of motoring is a bit like cutting the cost of smoking!
Just give it up!
Waterloo’s Disgrace
Behind the Premier Inn at Lambeth are the old Eurostar platforms at Waterloo International station.
They have been virtually derelict since services transferred to St. Pancras in 2007.
I suppose they must be one of most expensive ruins of recent years.
If we were going to move the services to St. Pancras, why did we build such a grand station as an interim measure? Especially, when the French just made do, with what they had at Gare du Nord. And of course, they still do!
The Anonymous Widower 