A Half-Timbered Car!
The funny title is not mine, but it was said by Barry Humphries, when dressed as Dame Edna, he was walking through Stratford-on-Avon.
A Half-Timbered Car!
There aren’t many half-timbered houses around here, with one of the nearest in Walthamstow.
When we first moved to the Barbican, we had a green Morris Minor Traveller, just like this one.
There must be few of my generation, who’ve never owned or driven one of these cars.
Loading Crossrail Spoil At Limmo
I have been trying to get a picture of this for some time and finally did this morning from the Emirates Air-Line cable-car..
Loading Crossrail Spoil At Limmo
You could actually see the spoil pouring off the white conveyor into the ship. It’s obviously an easier way to get rid of all the spoil, than using an armada of trucks.
Flying Solo On The Cable-Car
As I often do on a Sunday, I went over the Emirates Air-Line cable-car and then took the Jubilee line to Canary Wharf to have some late breakfast at Carluccio’s.
I got a gondola to myself, as the pictures show.
I wonder how long it takes before the rubbish recycling underneath the line is moved to a less obvious location.
Is This A Handrail?
At Limehouse station on the DLR, I noticed these rails surrounding the platforms.
Is This A Handrail?
I was unsure as to their purpose. Especially, as there is a similar rail at floor level.
Are they there to just to protect the window, for decoration or are they a handrail that people can hang on to as the trains approach? I did hold it today, as the train came in, but then I have form in this area, as I reported here.
Pyongyang Without The Dystopia
This quote comes from this article on the BBC web site about Canberra.
When C and I flew round Australia some years ago, we didn’t go to the city. I seem to remember some Aussie wag saying there’s nothing to see that would interest a tourist.
Hooton Station
To get to Leahurst I needed to go to Hooton station and get a taxi.
It is a charming little station, with very much a country feel about it.
I had asked the train staff how you get a taxi and they told me to ask in the Booking Office and get one of the girls to do it. Very country! The system worked well!
Although the recently opened new bridge with lifts was not what you would get in rural East Anglia. It was built under Network Rail’s Access for All program.
Liverpool’s Underground Railway
Liverpool has its own Underground railway and I took the Wirral line from Liverpool Central station to get to Liverpool University’s veterinary campus at Leahurst.
Central station has recently been refurbished to a good standard. You do wonder if Manchester’s chaotic transport system would be better, if they’d tunnelled under the city, like they did in Liverpool.
Liverpool’s network has been talked about as a candidate for years and this section in Wikipedia, shows what could and might be done.
Why Doesn’t The New Bus for London Have A Top Hat?
Some of the RT London buses of the 1950s and 1960s had the route number shown at roof level at the front of the bus. This was variously called a lighthouse box, a top box or a top hat. It’s the latter that I prefer and it was a great help when catching a bus, as you could more easily identify if the one in the distance was the bus you wanted.
It’s the one feature, I would have put into the New Bus for London, that Heatherwick didn’t!
A Late Running New Bus for London
It was running to the timetable, but tonight I travelled on a New Bus for London from the Angel to my house, catching the bus at The Angel a few minutes after nine o’clock. It was probably on time, but running later than I’d ever seen one before.
It was surprisingly full for a bus at that time, but I suspect like me, a lot of people got off the following 73 to go to Hackney rather than Stoke Newington. As the New Bus has three doors and the downstairs is more spacious, I think we’re going to see more of this bus-swapping, as for people like me, it gets me to a stop nearer my house and even if I was paying my own fare, I wouldn’t be charged any extra.
This hop-off and hop-on behaviour is one of the advantages of London’s automated Oystercard system. About the only interaction between driver and passenger on a London bus, as most people get on, is either a smile, a gesture or perhaps a quick greeting.
The bus tonight was running in one-person mode, with the driver controlling all three doors at stops.
It’ll be interesting to see, how the actual capacity changes when the next route for the New Bus for London; route 24, is fully operational. There are a lot of factors that will come into play.
1. The middle and rear doors are positioned by their own staircase and they have their own Oyster reader. So many passengers will get on through the more convenient door, touch in and go upstairs.
2. The middle door has a larger lobby than a standard bus and the rear door has the platform, so passengers will get themselves ready to leave the bus earlier. I know I do this on a New Bus for London, especially, if I’m going to jump off the back.
3. Because of the three doors, the front one only becomes an entry point for someone, who has to pay the driver, show a paper ticket bought elsewhere or is using the door as it’s the most convenient.
4. Buggies and wheelchairs usually go in the middle door. On a standard bus, wheelchairs come in the middle door, but buggy pushers generally have to use the front entrance. If they use the middle one, they then have to walk to the front to touch in or pay the driver.
5. The New Bus for London also develops its own unofficial stops. At the Angel, there is a light controlled crossing just before the stops by the station, when going south. I’ve got off at the lights, when they are red several times. Also at the Angel, there is often a queue to get on the bus stops at busy times. Passengers use the rear entry on a New Bus for London to avoid waiting for the bus to get on the stop.
All of these factors mean that the New Buses for London, load and unload passengers much quicker than the standard bus. This can lead to a shorter journey time from one end of the route to the other.
I also think that as passengers use the New Bus for London more, they will modify their behaviour to get a faster journey. There can’t be many people, who don’t like going as fast as possible from A to B.
The Timetable For The New Buses for London On Route 38
This post is for my benefit and it links to a timetable for the New Buses for London operating on Route 38.
The Anonymous Widower 