Crystal Palace Station Shines In The Rain
I thought yesterday, that I’d go to see the refurbished Crystal Palace station, then perhaps have a walk in the park and some lunch in the cafe.
But the truly horrendous weather had other ideas, so I took a few pictures and then came back.
We need more sympathetic station refurbishments like this one.
LT12 On Test
I was on Tottenham Court Road today and saw New Bus for London number LT12.
I’m surprised that the registration numbers aren’t in the same sequence as the first nine.
I talked to a lady waiting for a 24 and she was enthusiastic about the arrival of new buses on a route she often used.
Completing Kings Cross
I took these pictures this morning, as they were completing Kings Cross station.
The new Great Northern Hotel looks particularly impressive.
Should Crossrail Go To Reading?
According to this article on the BBC, a Reading councillor is wanting Crossrail to terminate at Reading rather than Maidenhead.
It has always struck me, that Reading as a bigger town might be a better terminus. If Crossrail terminated there, it would also be easier to get to Heathrow from the West Country and Wales, although plans are in place to allow direct trains from the west into Heathrow.
But then I haven’t got access to the passenger numbers and costs.
I suppose you could also make arguments for the terminus of Crossrail to be on a large Park and Ride on the M4.
But then you could probably make arguments for the two eastern terminals to be stations other than Abbey Wood and Shenfield.
The BBC Plugs A Dinosaur
The BBC is doing an outside broadcast from the newly-rebuilt Whiteley Village shopping centre near Fareham.
It may be what market research says what is needed in the area and what the major chains of shops, I don’t use, want, but it is rather a dinosaur, in that after my visits to One New Change and Trinity in Leeds, I believe that something more in tune with the modern world is emerging. The trouble with these two new in-city shopping centres, is they are difficult places to park the 4×4!
But then your life improves substantially, when you ditch your vehicle!
What Effect Will Crossrail Have On The Dartford Crossing?
I asked yesterday, if we needed another crossing of the Thames.
Looking at the Crossrail web site, I see that from Shenfield to Whitechapel will take 39 minutes and Abbey wood to Whitechapel will take 25 minutes. So to do that into London and out again will take 54 minutes plus a couple of minutes for the change of train and direction at Whitechapel. the current journey incidentally takes around 90 minutes, but you can do it in a car in just under 50 minutes, assuming you get a good run over the bridge.
So it would appear that the Crossrail route would be about the same time as a car, which might or might not be enough to persuade travellers to go by rail.
There will also be opportunities to change at Stratford to HS2 to get into Kent. This won’t help the journeys such as Abbey Wood, but it would be a great help to such journeys as Colchester to Canterbury.
All of these options, might cut the number of car journeys over the Dartford Crossing. It would of course be helped by adequate car parking at the Crossrail stations.
Do We Need Another Thames Crossing?
There have been plans released today about building another crossing of the Thames close to or downstream of the current Dartford Crossing. It’s all here on the BBC.
It will be of no use to me, as I think, I’ve only been over the current crossing, once since I moved here and that was because I was getting a lift home from Ipswich by a friend who lives in Kent.
Even my friend going home to the Netherlands on Friday, crossed under the Thames in the Blackwall Tunnel.
It could be one of those questions, where now, we might actually need the new crossing, but in say a couple of years, we might not.
London Gateway will be operational by then and will this cut down the number of truck movements around the M25?
Hopefully, there will be more trains from St. Pancras into Europe to new destinations like Amsterdam, Cologne and Geneva.
Will too, passengers for Gatwick be less likely to use a car to get there, when Thameslink is fully operational?
And who’s going to predict the effect of Crossrail?
It is a very complex problem and perhaps spending £5billion on a new bridge, might have better effect, if it was spent elsewhere?
An Ideal Place For A Clock
In the hotel, they had this clock on the reception desk.
An Ideal Place For A Clock
I’ve never seen one like this before.
Note that it appears to be on a substantial chain!
Clear Naming Of Roads
Nearly every road in Geneva seemed to have a clear sign like this.
Clear Naming Of Roads
Coming from London, which has a similar policy, it annoys me, when I go places, where street names are non-existent.
It certainly made Geneva easy to navigate.
The Anonymous Widower 