The Titanic, Ipswich
This was my nickname for the Odeon cinema in Ipswich which was built in 1991.
I gave it the nickname, as I thought it would never be a success and would sink as the ill-fated liner did. According to this report from the Ipswich Star it lasted until 2005.
C and I only ever saw one film in the cinema.
It’s all very sad!
St. Margaret’s Church In The Late Afternoon Sun
St.Margaret’s Church is another Ipswich’s Grade 1 Listed buildings.
I took the pictures in the late afternoon and I was trying to show how the light in Suffolk can cast interesting colours and shades.
Constable Also Did Portraits
It surprises a lot of people to know that John Constable painted portraits.
Constable Also Did Portraits
I think he painted three of these.
Christchurch Mansion and its art is good value st a free entry museum.
Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich
Christchurch Mansion is another of Ipswich’s Grade 1 Listed buildings.
Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich
One of the highlights of the museum is the paintings by John Constable and Thomas Gainsborough.
In the next few weeks one of the John Constable painting is going to be cleaned publicly. This could be a must-see event.
Is This Building Too Good For A Shop?
The Ancient House is one of Ipswich’s eleven Grade 1 Listed buildings.
The Ancient House, Ipswich
But is it too good to be shop?
The tenant incidentally is Lakeland, so it must be their grandest shop.
Ipswich To Felixstowe Has Improved
Over the last few months, I’ve travelled half a dozen times between Ipswich and Felixstowe by train.
I can’t remember a train being late at all, since the Bacon Factory Curve has been opened.
And here’s why!
A Freight Train Waiting On The Bacon Factory Curve
Note the freight train waiting for our one-coach Class 153 to pass. Before the curve opened the freight train would have had to go into Ipswich yard and the locomotive would have had to run-round to the other end, causing all sorts of disruption to the Great Eastern Main Line and especially the Felixstowe Branch.
Also now I noticed that trains coming out of Felixstowe and going South towards London, now sometimes seem to get their diesel locomotive changed for a Class 90 electric one.
The next improvement will come when more of the Felixstowe branch line is double-tracked and the whole branch is electrified.
It’s all a far cry from when I lived in Felixstowe in the 1960s, where the most reliable way to get between the two towns was to cycle along the A45 or A14 as it is now! There were only a handful of trains every day.
How many other places on the UK network need smaller improvements like the Bacon Factory Curve to be implemented?
First Class On Greater Anglia
I needed to go to my dentist in Felixstowe and then on to the evening’s match at Portman Road, so I took one of Greater Anglia’s Mark 3 services in mid-morning.
The coaches don’t have the style of the new First Great Western First Class, but I did get a large table to lay out my paper, unlike on Saturday’s Virgin to Manchester.
The trolley also came round twice and I had a welcoming cup of tea.
Incidentally, I had bought the First Class Off Peak Return at Dalston Junction from the ticket machine, the previous evening for £35.40.
That is the same as the best Internet price from Greater Anglia’s website. The return half has a validity of a month too, so you get the best value, if perhaps you’re going away for a few days.
We need ticket machines, like the ones on the London Overground all over London and the rest of the UK.
Improvements Needed At Essex Road Station
Travelling to Liverpool Street, because of the rush hour, I had to use Essex Road station.
What a dump!
The lifts weren’t working and everybody was having to walk down a deep spiral staircase , which very much felt of Kafka.
The Class 313 trains despite approaching their forties are nowhere near as bad as the station.
Manchester To Get a Borken or Kenbor?
In my view the London Mayor has been a success. And I don’t just mean one of them!
They have fought for London and have won the battles to get improvements to London’s transport system.
Two years ago, I put forward my reasons why Manchester needs a mayor, with responsibility for the wider area.
Yesterday, George Osborne said he’d agreed that Manchester should have a mayor.
I’ll believe it when it happens!
But it is certainly overdue and also overdue in Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham and Newcastle.
I would also add cities and towns with a large population and transport system and probably major strengths or weaknesses.
So that would include at least Blackpool, Brighton and Cambridge!
Platform Action At Willesden Junction Station
As I came back from Watford, I had a choice of going all the way to Euston or changing onto the North London Line at Willesden Junction.
In the end I chose to do the latter, as I needed the toilet and I know that Willesden has one of the few toilets on the Overground. As ever it was clean and welcoming.
I couldn’t hope noticing though that there seemed to be substantial work in progress on the platform faces on the line through the station.
Platform Action At Willesden Junction Station
Normally, the platform extension work for the five-car trains is much less than this. Checking on Wikipedia, this is said.
In October 2014 the DC line was closed temporarily between Wembley Central and Queens Park reportedly to allow platform 2 to be extended further west as a through platform.
Platform 2 is on the left in the picture.
So it would appear that the Overground/Bakerloo lines to the South are getting an extra platform. Looking at the Google Map view of the area shows the layout.
Note the three platforms for the Bakerloo and Watford DC Lines at the left and the two North London Line platforms at the right. Just above these is the double-track link to the West Coast Main Line.
Could it be that London Overground are just making sure that all the work they are doing to make the Overground ready for five-car trains, they are future proofing as much as they can? This section in Wikipedia talks of a reorganisation of the Bakerloo Line and the Overground DC Line to Watford, so with all the uncertainty and variability around Old Oak Common, this is probably a good approach.
I think the only certainty is that anybody using the Overground or Bakerloo Line through Willesden Junction in ten years time will find the station very different, with probably more connections and longer and more frequent trains.
The Anonymous Widower 