A Day at Crystal Palace
Yesterday, I went to see Ipswich play at Crystal Palace. I’m not a fan of South London and until the opening of the East London Line getting to Selhurst Park was never that easy. Here‘s what I said when Town lost last year. You will see that I wasn’t too impressed.
So about midday I arrived at Highbury and Islington and took the North London Line to Dalston Kingsland before a short walk to the impressive new station on the East London Line at Dalston Junction.
Dalston Junction Station
From May next year, this short walk will be avoided as a new stretch of track will connect the North and East London Lines. It will be a good thing, as the pavements are rather crowded and it involves a double-crossing of a busy main road.
I took a Crystal Palace train at Dalston Junction, as I was going to visit the famous park at Chrystal Palace before the match. But fans should normally take a West Croydon train to Norwood Junction for Selhurst Park, as it is closer to the stadium.
Travel on the East London Line and you’ll see what an asset to London, it will become. As we sped southwards, you get superb views pf the East of London and pass places such as the Geffrye Museum that for the serious tourist, who properly explores a city, are a must. As this museum is right on the station at Hoxton and it has a restaurant, it might actually become a popular pit stop on the line. After all with an Oystercard it’s just touch-out and touch-in, whenever you want.
The train started to get filled up at Shoreditch High Street, where there is a ten-minute walking interchange to the main London station at Liverpool Street. Several Ipswich fans joined the train here and I’d got my posse for the expedition to the South.
The other fans had made the mistake of taking a train to Crystal Palace, rather than Norwood Junction. Interestingly, I checked Ipswich’s program for the last home game against Burnley and that gave clear instructions not to go to Crystal Palace. But I had other motives.
Crystal Palace station is one of London’s hidden architectural gems.
East London Line Platforms at Crystal Palace
This the view that greets you as you arrive. Many would say that most football fans are morons, but my travelling companions certainly appreciated what the saw.
The station is equally impressive outside.
Crystal Palace Station
You can’t see it in this view, but there is a glass roof that pays tribute to Joseph Paxton‘s design for the building that gave the area its name.
The Crystal Palace is no longer here now as it burned down in 1936. It must have been some fire, as my mother told me, that they could see the flames from where they lived in North London.
A large park of the park now is taken up by the National Sports Centre, with its swimming pool, running track and training facilities.
Crystal Palace Athletics Track
Nowadays this is the only form of racing that takes place at Crystal Palace, but I can remember as a child watching motor racing from there on the television.
As to the Palace itself, all that is left is some ruined terraces and a few statues.
The Remains of the Crystal Palace
It is all very sad really ands very much echoes the feeling at that other Victorian Pleasure Palace; Alexandra Palace. But before I left, I did have a quick walk round the museum, so perhaps there is hope that this once great park, can regain its place as an important attraction with its views on a clear day all over the city. Especially, now that it is so well connected to the rest of London by the new trains of the East London Line.
I evntually got to Selhurst Park by catching a 157 bus from outside the Park. Due to the traffic chaos outside the ground, it was a comfortable, but slow journey delivering me with just a ten minute walk at the end.
I enjoyed the match especially as Ipswich won, but also because the away fans have now been moved to an area of the ground that gives a better view.
I returned by train from Norwood Junction to Shoreditch High Street, with the journey taking about a third of the time it took last year without the East London Line.
I must say that I enjoyed everything a lot better than last year.
An Expedition to the Deep South
London is a city split by the River Thames into two distinctly separate sub-cities.
If you were born and have lived a lot of your life in the north, then you rarely cross the river into the south. I’ve got friends in the south, who feel exactly the same about the north. Although, we would both admit that we might just cross the river to see the attractions just on the other side. I did think that this might be a white middle-class thing, but discussing it with a man of Caribbean extraction, who had lived most of his life in Tottenham, he felt exactly the same.
There are two big differences though between north and south.
The north relies heavily on tubes, such as the Piccadilly, Northern, Central, Victoria, and Jubilee Lines, whereas the south depends largely on the suburban electrics of the old Southern Railway, which wind their way everywhere in a pretty comprehensive manner. But the old Southern Railway never had the Underground’s organisation and welcoming corporate identity!
The north too, has a defined ring road, the North Circular Road, whereas the southern equivalent is just a signposted route on inadequate roads. So northerners going south, always end up getting frustrated and lost. Especially as most from the north only ever go to the south to get through it to go to places like Gatwick or Brighton.
You can also argue that most of the major attractions are in the north. If you take major sports venues, only The Oval and Wimbledon are in the south and both can actually be reached using the Underground, so you don’t have to fathom out how the electric trains work!
So it was with trepidation that I set out from Canary Wharf to visit some friends, who live in the deep south near Croydon. Their nearest station is Anerley, so that would mean taking the DLR to Shadwell and then walking a few yards to the East London Line station of the same name.
Shadwell Station on the East London Line
The new station is functional and pleasant, but suffers slightly because of a cramped site, penned in between Listed buildings and the Thames Tunnel.
Shadwell Station looking North
The platforms looked a bit narrow and they are certainly not as wide as those on the North London Line. But I suppose they are well within safety limits.
I had to wait about twenty minutes for my train to West Croydon, as I had just missed one, but soon I was off south through the Thames Tunnel and on to Annerley.
It was at Annerley that my problems started, as all the old prejudices about the impenetrable jungle of South London kicked in. I misread the map at the station and instead of turning left out of the station approach onto the main road, I turned right and walked a couple of kilometres before I called my friend for rescue. At least he realised what I’d done wrong and thankfully came to get me in his car.
So there was no harm done and a couple of coffees warmed me up and got me ready for the return.
Riding the East London Line
On Wednesday, I rode the East London Line for the first time. Not that I went far, as I didn’t have too much time, but I did get in two quick trips. One was up and back from Whitechapel to Hoxton stations and the other was through the Brunel Tunnel to Canada Water.
It looks good and the trains seem to be well-designed and ride well. Some may argue that there is a lack of seats, but then as I rode around the trains weren’t busy. They will certainly be in the rush hour and then they’ll need all the space you can get. Remember that some stations like Canada Water can only take four car trains.
Note the pictures of Hoxton Station. There are no escalators but lifts. This is probably a good idea, as it gives full step-free access for those who need it and saves cost over having both escalators and lifts.
What surprised me was the enthusiasm of some of the local people I met on the line. They all seemed very pleased with what had been achieved.
The East London Line Opens
I’m glad to see that the teething troubles that delayed the opening of the East London Line have been solved and it is now open. Labour activitists mostly of the Old variety wanted it delayed until after the election, but if you read the comments on The Times report of the opening, I suspect they are in the minority.
If it works and it’s safe, it should be open.
But it should still have been called the Brunel Line.
East London Line Opening
According to this piece in the Hackney Gazette, the opening date of the East London Line is mid-April, but the exact date is being kept under wraps to avoid passenger disappointment.
I am really looking forward to the opening of this railway and will attempt to be there on the first day.
Compare this with the Cambridge Busway. One would appear to a project that has been properly managed and other other is a disaster.
Along the East London Line Embankment
From Shoreditch High Street Station to Dalston Junction, the line runs on the North London Railway embankment. I followed this by a mixture of walking and buses.
Here are some pictures.
The stations seem to need some finishing work, but judging by the number of busy workers in orange vests, I suspect they have things under control.
Not like the Cambridge Busway!
Note the pictures of the Geffrye Museum. The gardens of the museums are being landscaped. Is this in readiness for the opening of Hoxton Station on the East London Line, which is just behind the museum.
If it is, this is good joined-up thinking.
Not like the Cambridge Busway!
Shoreditch High Street on the East London Line
The East London Line will have a station on Shoreditch High Street, just before it turns north to follow the embankment of the old North London Railway that terminated in Broad Street Station to the west of Liverpool Street Station.
These are some pictures from around the station and Shoreditch High Street.
There was a movement to call Shoreditch High Street Station, Banglatown. But then the area has been home to Jews and Huguenots before being colonised by the Bangladeshis.
Who will inhabit this area in thirty years time?
From Whitechapel to Brick Lane
It was a pleasant day compared to some we’ve had lately and I quite enjoyed the walk on surprising quiet and clean streets as I walked down Vallance Road and down Buxton Street to Brick Lane.
These are some pictures of the new East London Line.
Note that the GE19 bridge was the one that fell slightly on installation. There are some more pictures on this London Connections Blog.
On Buxton Road, there is the Spitalfields City Farm. That is a separate post and gallery.
The Royal London Hospital
Whitechapel station looked to be ready for the East London Line, as all the new signs were there pointing to the platforms for the line. But before I started to follow the line, I looked at the famous hospital opposite.
The Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel will always have a special place in my life, as my granddaughter was born there. Actually, not just born there, but operated on for a congenital hernia of the diaphragm at just a couple of days old. She is now eight and no-one would know she is not any normal eight-year-old.
It’s amazing how things have moved on in the forty years since our first son was born. Then in the Middlesex Hospital, the lady in the next bed, lost her baby to exactly the same condition, as that of my granddaughter.
Now the hospital is changing.
The Old Royal London Hospital
This shows the old buildings, with the impressive frontage of the Royal London Hospital.
But times are changing and a new hospital is rising behind the old.
The New Royal London Hospital Rises
One thing of note in the hospital grounds is an impressive statue of Queen Alexandra. She was very much someone who involved herself with the hospital.
The New East London Line
I have always been an advocate of calling the East London Line, the Brunel Line as it goes through the tunnel that father, Marc, and son, Isambard, built under the Thames.
It is now just a few weeks away from reopening the line as a major part of the London Overground, reaching from Highbury and Islington in the north to Crystal Palace and West Croydon in the south. So on Friday, I thought, I walk the line and take some photographs.
I started by taking a train to Whitechapel.
The Anonymous Widower 
