A Cruise To Barking – 13th May 2022
I noticed earlier in the week, that the Thames Clippers now go all the way to Barking Riverside. So I went today.
Note.
- I boarded the boat at the London Bridge City Pier.
- The easiest way to get to this pier is to get a 21, 43 or 141 bus from Moorgate or Bank station. to London Bridge and walk along the South Bank of the river for perhaps a hundred metres. Waking from London Bridge station is a bit tricky.
- I alighted at Barking Riverside Pier, which will be a short walk to the new Barking Riverside station.
The route is a mixture of historic and modern London and places passed include.
- HMS Belfast
- The Tower of London
- Tower Bridge
- Canary Wharf
- Cutty Sark
- The Royal Naval College, Greenwich
- The O2
- The Thames Barrier
- Wooolwich Arsenal
Many have piers for the Thames Clipper.
The Royal Iris
These pictures show what is left of the former Mersey Ferry, the MV Royal Iris, which is rusting in the River at Woolwich.
I remember the ferry, when it was resplendent in green and yellow in the 1960s. I also remember going on one evening party cruise up and down the Mersey.
It’s rather a sad end for ship that has many happy memories for many.
According to Wikipedia, there is a campaign to return the iconic ferry to Liverpool.
London’s CrossFerry
The Thames Clippers keep on going and now at many times, you can go all the way between Barking Riverside and Putney.
It’s not that slow either and in the open waters East of Tower Bridge, my phone was saying that the ferry was cruising at 40 mph.
If it has one problem, it is that the Thames Clippers don’t have an all-day timetable, that is simple.
If it is going to be a pseudo-train line across London, then there needs to be a two boat per hour service across the city. This will be needed more as more housing is built at Barking Riverside.
I know Barking Riverside will be getting the Overground in the Autumn, but unlike the Thames Clippers, that serve Canary Wharf, the City and Westminster, the Overground will serve a swathe of housing, rather than employment, across North London.
Following The Barking Riverside Extension – 20th January 2022
I took this route at Barking Riverside.
- Took a train from from Barking station to Dagenham Dock station.
- Took an EL3 bus to Stern Close.
- Walked to Barking Riverside station.
- Took an EL1 bus to Ilford station.
These are the pictures I took.
It seems to be substantially finished and an Autumn 2022 opening should be possible.
Through Barking To Barking Riverside
The excellent maps from carto metro now show full details of the route of the Barking Riverside Extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line.
This map shows the tracks going through Barking station.
Note.
- The District Line is shown in green.
- The Hammersmith & City Line is shown in mauve.
- The London Overground is shown in orange.
- Where lines are shared, they are shown dotted in both colours.
- The two tracks going North West are the Gospel Oak to Barking Line to the West.
- There is a flyover linking these two tracks to Platforms 7 and 8 on the South side of the station.
All Overground trains currently terminate in Platform 1, which is the Northernmost of the seven platforms.
After services to Barking Riverside start, some or all of the services will use the flyover and share Platforms 7 and 8 with c2c’s half-hourly service between Fenchurch Street and Grays.
- Platform 7 will handle c2c services to Grays and Overground services to Barking Riverside.
- Platform 8 will handle c2c services to Fenchurch Street and Overground services to Gospel Oak.
Passengers who need to reverse direction to perhaps go from Barking Riverside to Purfleet would just walk across the island platform shared by Platforms 7 and 8.
This second map shows the tracks to the East of Barking station.
Note.
- The Overground tracks sit between the existing lines.
- If Renwick Road station is added to the extension, will it have an island platform between the tracks?
This third map shows the route to Barking Riverside station.
Note.
- Barking Riverside station is a two-platform station.
- There is a crossover outside the station to allow both platforms to be used to terminate trains.
Strictly speaking to handle the four trains per hour (tph) that are likely to use the station, one platform could be enough, but it looks like the station has been designed for extension across the river to Abbey Wood and Thamesmead.
UK’s Largest Mobile Crane Swings Into Action In Barking
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Barking And Dagenham Post.
This is the first two paragraphs.
The largest mobile crane in the country has swung into action to help extend a railway line.
The Gottwald AK680 – which has the capacity to lift 1,200 tonnes – installed steel beams for the remaining viaduct spans as part of the Barking Riverside extension (BRE) project.
This crane certainly seems to get about.
I think this picture shows the same crane in action at Bletchley in August. It was certainly claimed as the UK’s largest mobile crane.
Perhaps we need a rail-mounted version!
I always remember, a North Sea Oil project manager telling me, that as cranes got large it eased and speeded up construction.
This article on Vertikal gives more details of the crane in action.
Barking Riverside Extension – 24th June 2019
I took these pictures, where the arking Riverside Extension will turn off to the East of Renwick Road bridge.
It looks like the piles are going in and there is a lot of catenary renewal.
I think that this project could be on time.
TfL Mulls DLR And Overground Extensions To Thamesmead
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on IanVisits.
Overground
TfL’s plan for the Overground would appear to be an extension under or over the River Thames to a single station at Thamesmead and a possible connection to the North Kent Line at Plumstead, Abbey Wood or Belvedere stations.
DLR
The plan for the DLR involves more stations, including a possible one on the North Bank of the Thames. It also serves a proposed massive Peabody housing development, which will provide up to 11,500 new homes.
What Goes East Must Go West
Nothing is said in Ian’s report about train services to Thamesmead.
Overground
On the Overground, there will be four trains per hour (tph) between Gospel Oak and Barking Riverside stations.
There are problems with increasing frequency and capacity, which could be necessary.
- The terminus at Gospel Oak station is only a single platform.
- The Gospel Oak to Barking Line is used by an increasing amount of electrically-haled freight trains.
- There is little space on the line for an additional bay platform to turn trains.
- Trains can’t continue along the North London Line at Gospel Oak, as that line is busy as well.
The only alternative Western terminals are.
- Barking – A bay platform could possibly be squeezed in.
- Enfield Town – Sounds crazy, but there is a chord between Seven Sisters and South Tottenham stations.
- Fenchurch Street – Busy and possibly could be made larger with redevelopment.
- Liverpool Street – Busy and only a slight possibility.
There would also need to be platform lengthening to incorporate trains that are longer than four cars.
Although, it might be possible to run five-car trains using selective door opening on the last car.
DLR
Currently, the DLR has a Peak service of 7.5 tph between Tower Gateway and Becton calling at Shadwell, Limehouse, Westferry, Poplar, Blackwall, East India, Canning Town, Royal Victoria, Custom House, Prince Regent, Royal Albert, Beckton Park, Cyprus, Gallions Reach.
The extension to Thamesmead would branch off around Gallions Reach and the current service has the following connections.
- Shadwell – London Overground
- Canning Town – Jubilee Line
- Royal Victoria – Emirates Air-Line
- Custom House – Crossrail
Will there be enough capacity on this section of the DLR?
- Tower Gateway is a single-platform station and would need to be upgraded to handle more than 7.5 tph.
- Thirty tph run through Shadwell, Limeshouse and Westferry station in the Peak.
- Can stations be lengthened to use longer trains?
It does look to me that the only way to increase capacity would be to extend the DLR to the West, as I outlined in The Bank Station Upgrade And The Western Extension Of The DLR.
This map from TfL shows the possible extension.
What would be the cost of this extension?
Conclusion
The logic and economics of extending either the Overground or the DLR to Thamesmead are sound for that area of South-East London, but does The Mayor have the budget to complete the other end of the transport links?
The Junction Between The Barking Riverside Extension And The Tilbury Line
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the route of the Barking Riverside Extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line and how it connects to the c2c lines between Barking and Tilbury.
One big advantage is that the two c2c lines between Barking and Tilbury, go either side of the Barking Freightliner Terminal.
- The Down Tilbury Line between Platform 7 at Barking station and Dagenham Dock station goes around the Northern side.
- The Up Tilbury Line to Platform 8 at Barking station goes around the Southern side.
This is extremely convenient, as there is plenty of space between c2c’s busy tracks to build the flyover.
If you want to get a better look, click on the map and this will give you a larger image on which you can follow the two tracks from Dagenham Dock station.
This second map from carto.metro.free.fr, shows the complicated tracks to the West of the Freightliner Terminal.
The Renwick Road bridge goes North-South over the tracks. I appears to cross, at the point, where the Stora sidings join the East-West track.
Note how the two new tracks connect the flyover to tracks that connect to Platforms 7 and 8 at Barking station.
This is a Google Map which shows where the Renwick Road bridge crosses the tracks.
The two new tracks will need to be squeezed under Renwick Road.
I took these pictures on a walk down Renwick Road, just to the South of the bridge, that takes the road over the railway lines.
Unfortunately, most of Renwick Road is surrounded by high concrete walls.
But as these pictures show, there is quite a large amount of land crossed by a few sparse railway lines.
I then took a train between Barking and Rainham stations and was able to take a few pictures of work in the area of the proposed viaduct, which will go over the freight terminal.
The red train was parked on theStora sidings at the top of the second map.
The top four pictures were taken going to Rainham station and the bottom four were taken coming back.
Tilbury Down Line Train-By
These pictures were taken from a train going to Grays station on the Tilbury Down Line.
The last two picture show the Renwick Road bridge and the vehicle ramp leading to the freight terminal.
The Design Of The Viaduct
It looks to me, that two new tracks will do the following.
- Start to the West of Renwick Road bridge, with connections that take them to Platforms 7 (Down) and 8 (Up) at Barking station..
- Go through the safeguarded site of the future Renwick Road station and under Renwick Road.
- Climb on a viaduct, that will lift them over the freight terminal and the lines to Tilbury and continue to Barking Riverside.
It could be a spectacular ride.
Renwick Road Station
I walked to the Renwick Road bridge from the Renwick Road bus stop on the 173 bus from Dagenham Heathway station.
It was about four hundred metres along broken pavements and in freezing cold, but dry weather.
So a Renwick Road station will be appreciated by those, who live and/or work in the area.
Wikipedia says this about Renwick Road station.
The station would lie east of the proposed merge / diverge points with the Essex Thameside (Tilbury Loop Line) line along which c2c services operate, so whilst the station would not provide an interchange with the aforementioned c2c services, nor would the station’s construction disrupt those services. The new station could generate 5,000 homes.
This Google Map shows the land to the West of Renwick Road bridge.
Note.
- The Stora siding at the top, where the red train was parked.
- The Down Tilbury Line going West-East towards the top of the map and connected to the sidings.
- The three lines towards the bottom of the map are currently the Down Goods, Up Goods and Up Tilbury
It could be that Network Rail could have decided to put the new Renwick Road station in the ample space between the lines.
The station could be very simple.
- A single island platform between the two tracks.
- The tracks could be generously spaced to allow a wide platform.
- The platform would have shelters and perhaps a coffee stall.
- The platform would be linked by stairs and a lift to Renwick Road.
It could certainly be built without disrupting c2c services.
Travelling Between Fenchurch Street And Renwick Road Stations
According to the Wikipedia extract, I included earlier, Renwick Road station, will not have a direct service to Fenchurch Street station.
Renwick Road station will be served by at least four London Overground trains per hour (tph) all day between Gospel Oak and Barking Riverside stations.
Currently, c2c provide the following services between Fenchurch Street and Grays station.
- Four tph in the Peak
- Two tph in the Off Peak
It is also planned that both services will share Platforms 7 and 8 at Barking station.
So passengers from Renwick Road and Barking Riverside stations wanting to go to London will get off a train on Platform 8 at Barking station and wait for the first c2c service to Fenchurch Street station.
I would also suspect that c2c will increase the Off Peak service to match the frequency of the Gospel Oak to Barking Riverside service.
Beam Park Station
Beam Park station is another new station planned for the area.
- It will be between Dagenham Dock and Rainham stations.
- It will be built to serve three thousand new houses.
This station will make it more likely that c2c will run four tph between Fenchurch Street and Grays stations.
Travelling Between Grays And Barking Riverside Stations
This will require a change at Barking station.
This change would be a walk across the island platform 7/8, which would be step-free.
Conclusion
Train services along the Thames from Barking to Grays are going to get a lot better.
The Anonymous Widower 