Always Have A Flat Piece Of Oak Handy
I don’t have access to short lengths of greenheart cutting sticks from his state-of-the-art, made-in-Glasgow Grieg guillotine that my father used to use as padding to stop a hammer damaging softer woods.
Always Have A Flat Piece Of Oak Handy
So I just used a nice piece of oak! I could always go to B & Q and buy a rubber hammer.
Investigating Warrington
Warrington with its two stations at Warrington Bank Quay and Warrington Central was flagged up as possible place for turning back Merseyrail trains on the Northern Line.
So on my way back from Leeds via Liverpool, I decided to visit for the first time.
If you trace these images on a map you’ll see that I walked from Central to Bank Quay and back again.
I was very pleasantly surprised.
Instead of the rather second-rate Lancashire town I’d expected, I found a town that had been enlivened by lots of shops and quite a few restaurants including an Ask and a Nando’s.
It’s also a good idea to look at the two stations with Google Earth images, to see what possibilities exist for turning trains back to Liverpool.
Warrington Central And Bus Stations
This image shows how the bus station is close to Warrington Central station, but as the station is close to the A57,which crosses the town, I doubt there’s any way a tram-train could access the Liverpool to Manchester Line on the viaduct.
Warrington Bank Quay Station
You can clearly see the freight line passing under the West Coast Main Line in this image of Warrington Bank Quay station. A tram stop or low-level station on the freight line could easily be connected into the current high-level station and with lifts it could easily be a step-free interchange.
As I walked through Warrington town centre, I thought that an innovative tramway engineer could probably find a way to turn the tramway northward after Bank Quay station to perhaps finish its journey by Warrington Central station and the bus station. The route would probably be not more complicated than some of those in Manchester that I saw today.
But you could also go for a simple solution. There is probably space at the low-level Bank Quay station for a bay platform, where trains from Liverpool would turn back. That would not solve the problem of transfer passengers between the two rail stations and the bus station. They use a shuttle bus at present, so why not increase the frequency, perhaps power it by batteries and make it more visible!
Warrington got a boost today in that in this report on the Modern Railways web site, it was said that Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington is in the top group of lines that will be electrified.
That will also add to the possibilities of railway and tram-train layout in the Warrington area.
The Saddest Building In London
Others will have their own favourite building vying for this title, but surely Millennium Mills, the derelict flour mill by the Royal Victoria Dock is close to the top of a lot of lists of sad buildings.
For years it has stood there unloved between the dock and the Docklands Light Railway, pleading to be put out of its misery.
One of the problems with the building, is that it is full of asbestos and removal and disposal will cost millions.
But help is at hand according to this article in the Newham Recorder, which details a Government grant to kick-start the development. Here’s an extract.
The former flour factory, which was built in 1905, has been vacant since the early 1980s but will get a new lease of life as a hub for start-up businesses, while homes will be built on the surrounding land..
The £12m, which has come from the government’s Building Foundations for Growth Enterprise Zones capital grant fund, is being used to speed up the redevelopment.
It means work to remove asbestos can get under way much earlier than originally scheduled, speeding up the renovation by five years.
Judging by the picture in the report, it would appear that something positive is at last being done with one of London’s saddest buildings.
An Ideal Place For A New Station
This map shows the development site at Kirkstall Forge in Leeds.
Kirkstall Forge
The site is being developed between the A65 and the River Aire and the Leeds to Bradford rail line in a £400million scheme. This is from the developer’s web site.
Kirkstall Forge will be transformed into a thriving mixed-use community in a wooded riverside setting. Ultimately it will deliver new homes, a high quality office park, shops, restaurants, a gym, crèche and other facilities. The scheme will create in the region of 2,400 new jobs, boosting the local economy by more than £5 million per year.
The DfT will provide a maximum of £10.3m towards the £16.9m needed to deliver railway stations on this site and at Apperley Bridge. The remaining 40% of the cost is made up of a local funding package comprising a private sector contribution of over £5m, supplemented by funding from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.
Surely, this is the type of development that is good for everyone.
It will be interesting to know the extra return that developers get, by having a rail station in their plans. In London, a station is being provided at Barking Riverside for developments there, but stations in new developments seem to be fairly rare.
An Appalling Death Cult
Not my words, but those of David Cameron in this report on the BBC. These are the full words he used.
We all have a role to play in stopping people from having their minds poisoned by this appalling death cult.
I agree entirely.
If Islamic State was something like the movement started by Jim Jones, that ended so tragically in Guyana, we might have taken action earlier.
They say there’s one born every minute and religion certainly takes advantage.
What I find strange about religion, is that it often fleeces the poor of their money and sanity, but although the rich may leave their money to their church, temple or mosque, they generally don’t get fleeced in their lifetime.
Still Remembering Charlie!
I passed through Republic and took these photos in the square, that I visited soon after the atrocities a few weeks ago.
I haven’t changed my stance, that there was nothing that could excuse the murder of the staff of Charlie Hebdo.
Petite France
Petite France is an area of Strasbourg, that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
I walked around for an hour and had lunch there.
Exploring Strasbourg
I didn’t have much time in Strasbourg before I needed to catch the TGV Est, so I used the excellent tram system to explore the city.
The trams are all low floor, which as a Londoner, you appreciate, as all the buses are going that way. The New Rputemasters are totally flat and no-one should have to accept anything less.
Strasbourg’s successful introduction of trams has been credited with helping to start the tram-revolution in France. Like Nottingham, which was an instant success in the UK, both networks are 100% low-floor. This doesn’t apply tro all UK tram networks.
As a Londoner, you appreciate this, as all the London’s buses are going that way. The New Routemasters are totally flat and no-one should have to accept anything less.
Exploring Darmstadt
I love exploring towns and cities in trams or regular buses, as you see the city from an intimate and personal angle. If like I did this in Darmstadt, alighting when I saw something that took my interest. These pictures show a history of my short visit to the city.
I started by going to the main square called Luisenplatz with its column and statue of Ludwig 1. I finally found a cappuccino in a rather pleasant Italian cafe.
I then walked to the castle and then back to another main square by the old town hall. On a better day, it would have been a pleasant walk and there were a couple of museums that seemed to be closed because of rebuilding. At least I found a very good tourist map of the city, which was magnitudes better than anything found in Frankfurt.
I also came across a BT phone-box, which appeared to enclose a working German telephone. Does anybody use them any more? And especially in a smaller city in Germany!
I then went to see Waldspirale, which is one of Friedensreich Hundertwasser amazingly mad buildings. Another in this blog is at Spittelau in Vienna. One other work of his, I must see is the station at Uelzen in Germany. Some might think Hundertwasser completely bonkers, but he certainly created buildings that entertain.
I wonder what it’s like to live in one of those eccentric flats in Darmstadt.
The Anonymous Widower 