Custom House Station On CrossRail
The construction of Custom House station on CrossRail is due to start soon. Read all about it here in the East London Advertiser. From this paragraph in the article, it seems someone has thought out their design.
The station is being manufactured in sections in Sheffield, then transported 200 miles to Custom House and re-assembled on the construction site in Victoria Dock Road, next to the ExCel complex, to save time and keep disruption to residents and the DLR to a minimum. The roof is being made from transparent plastic, similar to the Eden Project in Cornwall.
After the cable-car trip, I took a few photos, from the overbridges at the DLR stations.
It will be enlightening to watch as the station is constructed over the next few years.
An Incident In Walthamstow
I was walking to Walthamstow Central station yesterday, when I passed the building site, where they are building a new hotel. outside the gate were four builders, in fluorescent jackets and hard hats, chatting to each other. The sort of thing you always see.
one of the group was obviously a woman and then the biggest and oldest man in the group picked hold of her shoulders and gave her a good shaking. This looked to be odd behaviour and possibly inappropriate.
A few seconds later, when I looked back, the woman had grabbed hold of another of the group and was repeating the shaking.
It was only then, that I realised what was happening, as I noted all of the group, were wearing full body harnesses and they were going to go climbing on the tall unfinished building.
Certainly, Health and Safety was being taken very seriously.
Pictures Of Crossrail
This gallery on the BBC shows some good pictures of the Crossrail sites from the air.
Some of my pictures show the view from the ground.
The Old Kings Cross Station Is Nearly Down
The dreaded 1973 extension to Kings Cross station is being finally demolished this Christmas, as there are no trains and passengers.
There are some good pictures here on the BBC of the history of the front of the station.
It is intended that the new public square in front of the station will open in August 2013.
Crossrail Is Not Just About Digging Tunnels
Crossrail in my view is a rather unique project. This report on the BBC shows an archaeological side.
Judging by the large number who turned up at the pop-up exhibition, it would appear to be money well spent.
The Emirates Air-Line Was Surprisingly Busy
There wasn’t much of a queue at the ticket desks on the Emirates Air-Line today, but you had to wait a minute or so to get on and the cabins seemed to be fairly full. Perhaps more people are doing what I do and using their Oyster cards.
I was also able to take this view of the Crossrail site at Limmo and the conveyors taking the spoil to the barges.
The Crossrail Site At Limmo
Considering the weather, the visibility wasn’t too bad.
Ipswich Gets A New Porn Shop
As I walked to Portman Road, I saw a store, I’d not seen before.
Ipswich Gets A New Porn Shop
I’ve no idea how good it is, but it certainly looks the place to get some good engineering pornography.
Ipswich used to have a wonderful shop in Martin and Newby, which was opposite my office in Fore Street, in the early days of Artemis. One memory is the van from Royal Volker Stevin arriving each morning during the construction of the Orwell Bridge. Apparently Martin and Newby made a fortune out of that job, as so many expensive tools were dropped into the river. One suggestion was that they use wooden spirit levels, so that they floated, but they found the current in the river took them out to sea.
Phyllis Is Deep Under Hyde Park, Digging Hard
This article is a good update on how the Crossrail tunnels are progressing.
There doesn’t seem to have been much protesting, so either the company has been lucky or it is doing a good job.
Elizabeth Goes Down The Hole
The weather last night, which was dry and clear enabled CrossRail to lower the first of the pair of tunnel boring machines; Elizabeth and Victoria, into the enormous hole on the Limmo peninsular by Canning Town station.
There are some wonderful pictures here on the CrossRail site.
The pictures have a sort of Kubrickesque feel to them. You could just imagine them being used as a model for some futuristic film set.
London Bridge Is Falling Down
Not the bridge in the nursery rhyme, but the station.
Admittedly with a little help from its friends.
In a few years time, it will be one of the best stations in London. If this impressive computer generated video. is anything to go by.
The Anonymous Widower 