More Bins Are Appearing On The Underground
I took this picture today at Green Park station.
More Bins Are Appearing On The Underground
I know there are sound reasons for not having bins on the London Underground, but litter also causes its own problem. I also found this article about recycling on the Underground.
So we may be getting there!
Congestion Charge Consultation
I have just filled in the Congestion Charge Consultation on the Transport for London web site.
I am broadly in agreement with the proposals, but the Western Extension of the Zone, needs to be reinstated to make public transport work better in Kensington and Chelsea.
One of my worries about the Congestion Charge Zone, when it first came in years ago, was that the technology wouldn’t work. It did and I think it generally works well.
So I’m rather surprised that other areas of the country don’t use it to cut congestion and pollution.
Labyrinths In The Underground
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, each station is going to get a new artwork from Mark Wallinger. It’s here on the BBC. The first stations were unveiled yesterday.
The first stations to have the design are: Baker Street, Bank, Embankment, Green Park, King’s Cross St Pancras, Oxford Circus, St James’s Park, Tottenham Court Road, Victoria and Westminster.
I shall check them out today.
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- Baker Street – 58
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- Bank – 142
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- Embankment – 63
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- Green Park – 232
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- Kings Cross St. Pancras – 172
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- Oxford Circus – 176
Baker Street was the first I found.
Kids-Free Zones
I can’t see what all the fuss is about! I’ve never ever had a problem on an aircraft with other people’s children, except for two thirteen year olds, who wouldn’t even take notice of the stewardess. But it was Olympic.
Now I’m a widower, who has also lost a son, which means I have no contact with my well-behaved granddaughter.
So don’t knock it! I must admit though, that I do avoid certain restaurants at certain times, but that’s not the kids, it’s the buggies.
Is CrossRail 2 Going To Follow The Palace Gates Line?
The latest plan for CrossRail 2 shows the line going to Alexandra Palace. I assume they mean the main line station although the route is a bit vague. This article seems to think the line will come from Seven Sisters station up the Palace Gates line.
I used to watch the old steam trains on this line in the 1950s, sitting on the ledgers at my father’s print works in Wood Green.
I don’t know whether they could get the trains through, although the main obstacle is probably the shopping centre on the High Road.
Following Crossrail
There are a series of articles on the Crossrail web site.
If Crossrail builds the tunnel as well as it distributes information about the project, we’ll have no worries about the project looking like it says on the tin.
I find it unsurprising that the most viewed article is this one, which shows aerial views of various locations.
Where’s The Plaque Gone?
Although, I can’t ever remember seeing it, it may have cropped up in conversations at home.
But I’ve finally found proof on this page of the British Listed Buildings web site, that there was a plaque at Oakwood station, indicating that the first land you’d hit if you travelled east was the Urals. This is the paragraph from the web site.
The booking hall originally had a plaque claiming that the station occupied ‘the highest point in Europe in a direct line west of the Ural Mountains of Russia’, a reference to the site being 300 feet above sea level.
I would like to see the plaque restored.
The Latest Proposal For Crossrail 2
Crossrail 2 has been around since the early days of the twentieth century, but it is only now that Crossrail is well underway, that a serious proposal for a north-east to south-west cross London railway has been brought forward. It’s here on the BBC.
Crossrail 2 will be a lot easier than Crossrail.
When we were planning North Sea Oil platforms in the 1970s, every few years the cranes, barges and drills would be a lot bigger. So for a start, the tunnelling machines available to Crossrail 2, will be an order of magnitude bigger than those for Crossrail. I suspect if you look at the map for Crossrail 2, the two machines will start at Hackney and come out at Wimbledon or vice-versa, as there is no major junction in the middle like Farringdon, where the machines will have to be extracted or turned.
The project engineers for Crossrail 2, will probably take advantage of all the tricks they have learned on the previous project.
But if they follow the design published yesterday, there is tremendous simplification in the design, with much simpler-to-build stations in Central London. One is the very large double-ended station at Euston-Kings Cross. Why we don’t have more of these, I do not know!
I think, an early start is needed.
Building A Station Like A Caisson
I was at the new CrossRail station at Canary Wharf today and took these pictures.
They show the enormous concrete block of a station and the walkway, that will connect it to the area of Canada Square and its offices.
Note how the main building looks almost like one of the giant caissons used for Mulberry Harbours, that were used in the Second World War to invade Normandy.
These giant Phoenix caissons, were actually built in these docks, after they had been drained and filled with sand. They were then floated out for the invasion. I’ve actually been in several of these amazing concrete structures in The Netherlands, where they were used to fill the last gap in the dykes after the North Sea Flood of 1953. They are now a museum, dedicated to the floods and those who perished.
It’s rather strange how history is repeating itself in a similar manner. I suppose though, that the engineers know that the ground is strong enough to take the weight of the station.
It does look from this web page on the Crossrail web site, that Canary Wharf Crossrail station is going to be worth the wait until 2018, although it will be substantially complete by the end of this summer.
The highlight of spring and summer will be the tunnelling machines passing through on their way to Farringdon station.
The Anonymous Widower 