The Hackney Stations Link
The councillor involved in transport has replied that Network Rail and Transport for London are actively pursuing plans for a possible pedestrian link between the two Hackney stations, similar to that, that existed before the Second World War, with the aim of completion in 2014. They included this old photograph, taken in 1928.
The amount of steel in the bridge was probably the reason it was taken down. After all there was a war on!
This could be the same bridge today.
The Bridge Taking The West Anglia Main Line Over The Overground
The track layout is slightly different and there is no trace of the footbridge. Judging by the modern-looking support at the right, it could have been rebuilt.
An Excursion South Of The Sewer
I ventured well past the big sewer this morning, travelling underneath it on the Overground, through the Thames Tunnel to New Cross Gate station. The other side though, was far from dry.
Rain and Few Bus Shelters South of the Sewer
You can tell too, it’s South London, as the bus stops don’t generally have shelters. It also always rains, when I go there.
My destination was the cafe called With Jam and Bread.
With Jam and Bread in Lee Green
It was good and the gluten-free orange, chocolate and almond cake, I had with my coffee was excellent.
From my point of view, the cafe has another advatange. It has its own bus stop both ways, so is easy to get to.
New Lifts At Camden Road
Stannah have been working hard again and new lifts have now been installed at Camden Road station on the Overground.
It couldn’t have been the easiest job, but despite that, the fitting of the lifts into the ground floor, seems to have been done in a manner which shows due respect to the building.
Let’s hope that more and more stations get the Stannah treatment! Especially those dreadful ones down the Lea Valley like Bruce Grove, White Hart Lane, Stoke Newington and many others.
The New Lifts At Hackney Central Station
The lifts at Hackney Central station are now complete and working.
As they are made by Stannah, I hope they’re not just for the elderly?
You’ll notice too, that it wasn’t raining this morning, when I took the pictures. Usually it rains hard, when I catch a train at this station.
Olympic Walking Routes
Yet again last night, I feel victim to the badly laid out walking routes away from Olympic sites.
From the Olympic park, they always assume you want to get away on the Jubilee line to the centre of London, so late at night they always ban you from going to Stratford, where they funnel everybody across the bridge to the station. As I want the Overground out of Stratford, it’s very difficult for me. They want everybody to walk to West Ham. It’s probably quicker and easier to get to Dalston from Welwyn Garden City, than it is from West Ham.
Let’s face it, the Jubilee line is about as useful to me, as a chocolate teapot.
In the end last night, I walked to Eaton Manor Gate and then found I just missed the W15 bus, I needed to get to Hackney Central for any number of welcoming buses home. I should have taken the Victoria Gate and walked through the park for a 277 or 30. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I had a similar problem at ExCel trying to get to the cable-car, where you had to walk twice the length of the Excel building to get going in the right direction. Wasn’t the Emirates Air-Line supposed to be an important part of the Olympic transport network?
I can only assume that Olympic travel routes were drawn up by someone who doesn’t walk or use a bus and probably lives in Houston. They certainly didn’t bring the 488 bus into their thinking, despite the fact that Transport for London said they extended the route to Dalston for Olympic purposes.
They certainly made it difficult for those who live close to the stadium and just a couple of Overground or Underground stops away difficult.
The New Little Waitrose at Highbury and Islington
It opened yesterday and I was impressed.
The only thing I couldn’t find of my staple purchases was the Waitrose goat’s milk. But surprisingly they had the Genius bread and the Genius fruit bread, which is rather difficult to get elsewhere. There was also gluten-free biscuits and cakes.
It will be a great help for me, as often I come out of Highbury and Islington station after coming home on the Victoria line. So at least I won’t starve.
I was impressed, and the average coeliac could do a lot worse round here. If anybody is going to the Olympics on the London Overground, it will be a good place to pick up a picnic. You could even go round the corner and eat it in Highbury Fields, which is rather a smart little park.
Talking up Defiencies
They’ve just had a very one-sided phone-in on BBC Radio 5, with virtually an hour of the dismal Jimmies and Jennies complaining about all the inadequacies.
We’ve just had a volunteer complaining, that they are not being given car parking on the Olympic Park. It sounds to me, that they should have been turned down as a volunteer.
Let’s face it, if you don’t like the conditions, don’t volunteer.
We should be celebrating what we got right.
My field is project management and we should be celebrating the fact that all of the venues and transport links have been constructed on time and generally on budget.
Remember the Olympic Park is built in a marsh and with all the bad weather we’ve been having lately, that has not only caused construction problems, but made the design of the park difficult. Luckily, the main site of the Games is by the River Lea and Joseph Bazalette‘s massive Northern Outfall Sewer, so hopefully we’ll cope, with water and sewage.
I’ve watched the plans unfold and East London has improved beyond all expectations.
When we won the bid the London Overground from New Cross to Dalston and from Stratford to Richmond only partly existed as a set of travelling urinals. now it is a modern railway with new trains, signalling and completely renewed track. The East London Line deserves five stars in its own right, as it was built through Brunel’s Thames Tunnel of 1840 and under the Kingsland Road, without breaking anything.
As the icing, London has now got its magnificent cable-car, which will be the fun legacy of the games.
And now the phone-in is talking about the failure of the O2 mobile phone network. My Nokia 6310i works well on O2 at the moment.
The City At Sunset From Hoxton Station
Coming back from the Emirates Air-Line, I stopped off at Hoxton Station to take these pictures from the Northbound platform.
These are not the first photographs I’ve taken from the station, but the photograph on this post, was taken from the Southbound platform
Hit By a Strike
London’s buses are on strike today.
I can’t remember the last time, I was personally hit by a strike, but I suspect it was the odd Underground strike in the 1970s, when we lived in London.
It doesn’t really affect me much, as I can walk to the end of the road to get the Overground. But I know someone, who is having radiotherapy and the only way they can get to hospital is on a bus.
What annoys me about this strike, is that it appears to have been totally avoidable. Olympic bonuses should have been settled months ago, but I suspect UNITE were waiting to see if Ken got to be London Mayor. And where are Ed Milliband’s statements on this strike. Nowhere! But who funds the Labour Party? UNITE!
On fairness grounds, the bus staff should be getting something. But there is more to this row, than has appeared in the media.
The Anonymous Widower 