From Poplar To Canary Wharf
I walked from Poplar Station to Canary Wharf, taking pictures of the Docklands Light Railway and the building of the Crossrail station at Canary Wharf.
It’s going to be an architectural masterpiece when it’s finished. Or I certainly hope so!
One of the great things about using the Docklands Light Railway is that on a hot day like yesterday, it is a great way to explore the Eastern parts of London. Most of the stations have lifts and give good views of what is going on. The area is steeped in history and some great architecture from the old to the very modern.
The ticketing system is effectively, hop-on and hop-off, so you just use your Oyster once or buy a paper ticket and you’re away.
Someone needs to write a proper tourist guide to the Docklands Light Railway.
Pudding Mill Lane Station – 17th July 2013
From Stratford I moved on to the area around Pudding Mill Lane station to see progress on both the new station and Crossrail.
The pictures show that things are moving on quite well.
Note.
1. According to this entry in Wikipedia, the new station should be finished in 2013.
2. The current station will have to be demolished to allow work to proceed on Crossrail.
3. There is no sign of the tunnelling machines at Pudding Mill Lane, which will drive from there to Stepney Green.
De Beauvoir Town’s Cycle Superhighway
De Beauvoir Town is flat and good cycling terrain. I took these pictures this morning in Lawford Road.
I must get back on my bike, as it’s an easy way to get around and we have a couple of roads like this with little vehicular traffic, as they are blocked by iron posts, which are just visible in some of the pictures.
In some ways because the roads are wide and parked cars aren’t a problem, they can use this approach of putting the cyclists down the middle of the road.
Wouldn’t it have been nice if all of London had been built with wide streets like this part of Hackney.
Did They Build This Hideous Church To Match The Underground Ventilation Shaft?
This church just has to be seen to realise how awful it is.
Perhaps they built it to match the ventilation shaft for Warwick Avenue station?
Are The New Bus for London’s Overheating Problems Fixed?
According to this article in the Standard, Sir Peter Hendy says that the overheating problems on the New Bus for London are fixed.
But don’t just take his word for it.
Today I went with a friend from Trafalgar Square to Warren Street on one of the new buses on Route 24.
It was very pleasant despite it being a very hot day.
I do have a slight reservation about route 24, in that, when the Hackney 8 on route 38 were running double-crewed, the atmosphere did sometimes catch a bit of a party mood. But probably, that’s because Hackney is the East End with all its bustle and humour and Hampstead is a lot more posh and sedate. I’ve even been chatted up by a widow some years older than me on a 38! That certainly wouldn’t happen on a 24!
An Island In All This Heat
Yesterday on my way to and from the Truscott Arms, I took Hammersmith and City branch trains on the Metropolitan line.
I rode both ways in new S Stock trains.
These are fully air-conditioned and it makes life a little better. It would appear there’s only the Circle and District lines left to re-equip.
An Accident On A Bus
I’ve travelled on public transport for something like sixty years and I’d never been involved in any accident until yesterday.
I was on a 6 bus, coming back from the Truscott Arms, when it got hit by a skip lorry.
Does this show that public transport is actually rather safe, as one non-injury accident in sixty years doesn’t seem bad odds.
Crossrail Again Shows How To Be A Good Neighbour
Let’s face it, Crossrail is a large project and in some ways it’s as disruptive as letting several herds of elephants roam Central London unchecked.
I myself don’t get much aggro, except as I indicated here to the various bus routes I sometimes use.
This story though, shows how they are minimising bad publicity, by doing positive things in the community. How many of the kids talked to in this story, will get a better University place or job, because of the experience?
PR often gets a bad press, but used properly it can bring positive benefits to everyone.
GreaterAnglia’s Awful Colour Scheme
I took this picture last night on the way to Walthamstow.
GreaterAnglia’s Awful Colour Scheme
The pink just clashes with everything. But then they also make the mistake of having red doors on their trains.
As with many trains on the Lea Valley Lines, it looks like the windows need a clean.
I think it can probably be said that when these lines come under the control of Transport for London in 2015, the colour scheme will be better. Especially, as these Class 317 trains, will be given a refurbishment, so that they can last another twenty years.
A Sunday Morning Trip
This Sunday, I did my usual trip to see progress at the various Crossrail sites in East London.
My route tends to be the same. I start by getting the DLR to Custon House station and then doubling back to Royal Victoria for the cable-car. After Greenwich, I either go to Canary Wharf for lunch or straight to London Bridge station for a bus home.
The cable car wasn’t that busy, but then neither was anywhere else. Coming back from London Bridge station, I got suckered into changing buses at a closed bus stop, which resulted in a walk, I’d tried to avoid. The sooner Crossrail is finished in the Moorgate area the better.
The Anonymous Widower 