The Anonymous Widower

Open House – Crossness

I’ve been to Crossness before, but a guy named Rodney, kindly gave me a lift to one of London”s two cathedrals of sewage, I decided to accept it. The other cathedral is Abbey Mills.

It was heaving with people and the only low point was waiting for the mini-bus in the heavy rain, to get the train home.

September 24, 2012 Posted by | World | , , , , | 10 Comments

London’s Freight Problem

I have hinted in my ramblings around the North London and Gospel Oak to Barking lines, that London has a rail freight problem, which mainly concerns getting large numbers of long heavy freight trains,  to and from London Gateway and the Haven Ports in the east and the West Coast and Great Western Main lines in the north and west.

Without repeating what London Reconnections have done, I would suggest, that before you pontificate down the pub, you read their three part analysis.

Part 1: Reshaping the Network

Part 2:The Freight Must Flow

Part 3: A Quart Into A Pint Pot

The title of part 3 sums up the problem so well.

At the present, all I can see that more and more freight traffic is going to pass through London.

For my own part, I would never buy any house, that was anywhere need the North London or Gospel Oak to Barking lines, as the noise problem is going to get horrific.

The following should also be done as soon as possible.

There should be electrification of the Felixstowe to Nuneaton rail line , so that freight trains from the Haven Ports to the Midlands and the North don’t have to go via London. This would have the benefit of opening up paths on the Great Eastern Main line and also making services from East Anglia to the Midlands electric-hauled.

The Gospel Oak to Barking line should be electrified.  There are always good environmental reasons for electrification, but here the main reason is that replacing noisy diesel engines with quieter electric ones will reduce the noise substantially.

But these will only be stop gap measures and surely in around 2020, the problem of getting the freight through is going to get worse.

Something radical will need to be done.

September 24, 2012 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 3 Comments

Cool Brands

The BBC is also reporting the coolest brands.

Top is Apple, which proves P. T. Barnum‘s statement of “there’s a sucker born every minute”. In fact of the top twenty brands, I only use five; YouTube, Google, BBC iPlayer, Sony and Nikon.

Surely though, the coolest brand in post-Olympic London is Heatherwick, who designed the Olympic flame and the New Bus for London.

Who’d have thought a bus could be cool, but then, who’d have thought that the BBC, would have designed, something that features highly on the list produced by Cool Brands.

September 24, 2012 Posted by | News, World | , , , | Leave a comment

Faith Healers Claim HIV Cure

BBC London is leading with this story this morning and giving it the due respect it deserves.  In other words, saying it’s a load of old religious bunkum and the best thing you can do is take your anti-retroviral drugs. The BBC is also saying that there have been at least three deaths, because people stopped taking their drugs.

 

September 24, 2012 Posted by | Health | , | 1 Comment

Open House – SELCHP

SELCHP or the South East London Combined Heat and Power energy recovery facility, is a refuse incinerator, that generates up to 35 MW of electricity. I went for a look round during the Open House weekend.

It’s a long time since, I’ve been given free rein in an industrial plant. The last one that generated power was probably Cliff Quay or Sizewell A. Or it certainly was in the UK, although I have visited two others in the US; AEP Cook and Beaver Valley.

The site was impressive and I think they do a good job, getting rid of London’s rubbish. For those who object to incinerators on principle, it can’t be that bad, as they have now got resident peregrine falcons to keep down the number of pigeons. All I can find is this in a forum.

There’s also a bird of prey of some sort that nests at SELCHP, the incinerator opposite Millwall football ground. They provide it with special nesting boxes. Apparently, the high, bare walls look like the cliffs that are its natural habitat!

But the building probably looks no different to peregrines as does Tate Modern.

September 23, 2012 Posted by | World | , , , , | 5 Comments

The New Overground Line To Clapham Junction

I took these pictures today, whilst walking from Surrey Quays station to SELCHP.

Note.

  1. How the track for the new branch, runs between SELCHP and the fence along the route I walked.
  2. A couple of trains have been seen travelling along the line. One may have passed me, but I’m not sure.
  3. It would appear that the new bridge over Surrey Canal Road, has been designed to be incorporated into any proposed Surrey Canal Road station. I actually met a guy with his dalmatian by the station and he and/or a neighbour could remember Surrey Canal Road as the Grand Surrey Canal. The neighbour could also remember troop trains going by over the old line, that was dismantled in the 1960s or 1970s.
  4. The proximity of the New Den to the proposed station.
  5. The new line has an out of station interchange at Clapham High Street station with Clapham North station on the Northern line. It would make it easy for anybody in my area to get to the Tooting area, although I think that Clapham North station is not the best.

One thing that would appear to be certain, s that opening the line this year, is not an outrageous boast.

September 23, 2012 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , | 1 Comment

Open House – The Thames Tunnel Revealed

Because it was Open House, the floodlights were left on in the Thames Tunnel today.  I took these two pictures.

I did intend to take some more on my way back, but I was rather delayed.

Perhaps it would be a good idea, if Transport for London, lit up some of the disused stations on the Underground, so they could be seen from passing trains on the Open House weekend.

September 23, 2012 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , | Leave a comment

What A Name For A Shop!

The picture says it all.

hat A Name For A Shop!

They probably do sell good furniture and possibly even make it or get it made!

But it is a name with connotations.

September 23, 2012 Posted by | World | , | Leave a comment

Open House – Is Mine Bigger Than Yours?

This picture was taken at TUCA yesterday.

Is Mine Bigger Than Yours?

The tunnel boring machine is not one of the largest.  But it is probably, the biggest one, where you can have your photo taken.

September 23, 2012 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | Leave a comment

Open House – Crossrail’s Bond Street Station Presentation

This was a presentation, that I wanted to see yesterday. But as you can see it was very popular. At least from the numbers who turned up.

Crossrail’s Bond Street Station Presentation

At least it probably shows, that CrossRail is going to be a success.

September 23, 2012 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , | Leave a comment

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