Holloway And Caledonian Road Stations
In some ways these two stations are a pair, but not in their step-free access.
Holloway Road is a classic two lift station, where you descend to just above the tracks and walk down to the platforms. But there is more to this station than meets the eye. Just look at this picture.
Holloway Road Station
It shows two passenger bridges over the westbound platform. according to Wikipedia, the station was built with two lift shafts and experiments were tried out with a spiral escalator. Perhaps the second one was for this device. The tiles certainly show a second entrance to the platforms. That spiral escalator would have been something if it worked.
If Transport for London could find a solution for step-free access here, they could probably solve the problems at other stations, like Covent Garden and Russell Square.
Caledonian Road shows what might have been. The lifts go down to platform level and you step outside, turn left or right and you’re on the platform. Perhaps they made a mistake somewhere and dug the lift shafts too far. But they did create a truly step-free station. But this is curious.
Where Are Lifts 1 and 2?
I found lifts 3 and 4, but where are 1 and 2?
Glum Faces
Judging by the glum faces on the buses this morning, we’ve all got fed up with this weather.
Respect At Highbury Cormer
This morning I was at Highbury Corner, waiting for a bus.
A funeral cortège passed and several of the men present took off their hats.
An Irreplaceable Winner
Michael Winner who died yesterday, is one of those people you just can’t replace. You can always put him down as another Great British Eccentric like Patrick Moore or Henry Blofeld, but in some ways he was more than that!
He may not be looked upon as a great director of films, but he did make some good ones, although not all were to my taste. I remember the film, West 11, being discussed in the papers in the early sixties. It was one of the first serious roles for that tragic actress; Diana Dors. And then there was Hannibal Brooks, which must surely be one of the most unusual war films ever. But look at the credits and cast lists of his films and he certainly could persuade the best to work with him.
But no-one is saying this morning he didn’t have lots of personal charm.
As to his restaurant reviews, I can always remember C, searching for them in The Sunday Times and then having a good laugh.
I doubt, we will see the like of Michael Winner again!
Tips For New Zopa Users
When you start using Zopa, you’re obviously going to go down a few blind alleys or do things wrong.
Here’s a few tips.
I always keep a record of the interest rates I have set and how much money, I lend out on particular days. Thus, if I find that money is sticking and not being lent, I can drop my rates slightly to see the effect. Zopa’s information helps in this way, but your own records are invaluable. I keep my records in Excel, but there is nothing wrong with an old-fashioned notebook or as my mate, Brian, would say, the back of an old envelope or fag packet. But then he was a real accountant!
I’d also check the minimum amount you are prepared to lend to each borrower. My limit is £100 and I’ve generally found that to be good and fairly safe.
I also don’t have AutoLend switched on. I just transfer the money to the offer, when it comes in. I have in the past found that sometimes having a few hundred pounds in Zopa is faster to get into my bill paying account, than waiting for my pension to come in. With money, timing is everything!
Make sure you have Rapid Return switched on, so that you can accept loans, that other lenders want to cash in. I’ve got seventy loans that way and not one has gone belly up on me. You may not pick up many loans that way, but they’ll generally be good ones.
Doing A Favour For A Friend
Last night, I renewed my friend’s domain name, as I’d originally registered it and it’s easier for me to do.
He then needed to pay me twenty four pounds, so late last night, he sent me a direct transfer to my bank account.
it was duly there this morning, when I checked my bank account.
But all the statement said, was that it was a credit of the requisite amount, labelled as just a credit.
As it was, I obviously knew what it was, so there was no problem. But surely in this day and age of good computer systems, that the banks could add a bit more detail to the statement, as soon as the money arrives.
The banks could actually use fully annotated statements as a marketing and selling point for their services.
But they don’t! No wonder people don’t like banks.
What a wunch of bankers!
Going Back To My Childhood
Well, not really! But this afternoon, I did go back to the northern reaches of the Piccadilly line. The aim was to look at the escalator layout of the stations to see how difficult they would be to upgrade to step-free access, possibly using inclined lifts, as I outlined here.
I joined the line at Manor House station, but didn’t go all the way to Cockfosters, as the last two stations, don’t have escalators. Starting from the end of the line, here’s what I found.
Cockfosters – This station could probably be made step-free by fitting conventional lifts into the structure to access the tunnel under Cockfosters Road. Once in the tunnel, the station is then step-free to the platforms.
Oakwood – Looking at the ends of the various Underground lines, the end station is more often than not step-free. But in the case of the northern end of the Piccadilly line, Oakwood was made step-free rather than Cockfosters.
Southgate – When I mused about fitting an inclined lift at this station in this post, I said it would be a challenging design problem. Southgate is one of the architectural jewels of the line and this picture shows why.
Escalators and Uplighters At Southgate Station
It is a gem of 1930s design and architecture with all that bronze, even if the yellow paint on the stairs in the middle for health and safety reasons, is out of place. The station may not have the original wooden escalators, but someone had the sense to fit modern treads in the old casing, rather than a complete modern escalator.
Escalator At Southgate Station
This station could take an inclined lift in the central space, but it would have to be done with enormous sympathy using similar materials to the original Charles Holden design.
There would be two other problems with an inclined lift.
As the station is now, it could easily be converted into an Underground station of several decades ago for making a film, as it was for The End of The Affair. I remember it was strange seeing a film, that had been shot in a place I knew so well.
The heritage lobby would have a field day trying to stop the installation. After all the station has won awards for its restoration over the last few years and it is a Grade II* Listed Building.
But all that adds to making it the sort of challenge, that a good designer would relish.
Arnos Grove – This is a surface station and could be made step-free with the addition of lifts in the same manner used on several stations on the Undergound and Overground network.
Bounds Green – Like Southgate, this station is a two escalator and one staircase station, where the staircase could be replaced with an inclined lift. But it doesn’t have the heritage problems of Southgate, as the station has modern escalators.
Wood Green – This is a three escalator station and step-free access would probably have to be installed, by digging a traditional lift shaft. I say shaft, as I suspect because the running tunnels are fairly wide apart, there is probably somewhere to slot in a shaft that served both platforms by descending into the platform level lobby or a cross tunnel, as was done at Tottenham Hale station.
Turnpike Lane – The problems here are similar to Wood Green, as it is another three escalator station, where a traditional lift would have to be sunk from the booking office to the platform levels. But another problem is that some form of lift would be needed to descend to the booking office level, which is below ground.
Manor House – This is very similar in layout to Turnpike Lane, but it would need lifts at seven exits to the surface to be fully step-free.
Finsbury Park – This is almost a low-level station with steps up to a pedestrian tunnel. Conventional lifts could probably be added without too much difficulty. There is a lot of development going on at this station and it will be interesting to see if the step-free access improves. The last time I visited access wasn’t good.
I think that the difficulty of making some of these stations completely step-free, shows how much our attitudes to those with difficulties getting about has changed since the stations were built in the 1930s. Charles Holden’s stations either had escalators or a short flight of steps, like Cockfosters or Arnos Grove. Compare the equipment at these stations with those on the Jubilee line extension, where all stations are fully step-free. But to be fair to Charles Holden, the Victoria line built thirty years after the Piccadilly line even now has only three step-free stations, Tottenham Hale, Green Park and Brixton stations. The Victoria line station, that I use the most; Highbury and Islington is a maze of tunnels and little short of a complete rebuild will improve matters.
Having looked at Southgate and Bounds Green, I think that an inclined lift could be a excellent idea at these two stations. You wouldn’t rip out the central escalator at Wood Green, Turnpike Lane and Manor House, as it was put in because the number of passengers needed it. But at least these three stations have larger platform tunnels, which must help the installation of a conventional lift.
However, putting in an inclined lift would not only make it easier for those in wheelchairs, with babies in buggies or heavy cases, but it would add to the station’s capacity. One point about an inclined lift, is parties where some need the lift and others don’t, can effectively travel up and down together at the same time, with those who can walk on the adjoining escalator. So the size of an inclined lift, may actually be smaller for the same capacity. It would probably also go up and down almost continuously.
Will The Co-op Bank Take Over The Lloyds Branches?
There is an article in The Times today, saying that the transfer of 632 branches from Lloyds Banking Group to the Co-op Bank is hitting various problems, mainly it appears conerned with computing.
If I was a customer of one of the branches to be transferred, I would have been off elsewhere by now, as I am one of those dinosaurs, who believe that I choose my bank and not politicians and bureaucrats from Europe.
So I suspect that if the transfer does go through, the Co-op will get some the branches without the customers.
It appears to, that a similar transfer of branches from RBS to Santander has already foundered.
It’s a real mess out there in retail banking.
I’m With Guy De Maupassant
Will Self has written an article about the Shard for the BBC web site. I liked this bit.
It was said of the French writer Guy de Maupassant that he ate dinner in the restaurant of the Eiffel Tower every night of the week, and when asked why, replied, “Because it’s the only place in Paris from where you can’t see the Eiffel Tower.”
I wonder if Guy De Maupassant would agree with me on Europe’s tallest building. It is just too easy to see, as I showed in this article.
On the other hand, I’ve no desire to eat dinner every night in the building, as it will only encourage someone to build something even more intrusive.
The Anonymous Widower 