The Rail Bridge At Primrose Hill
These pictures show the rail bridge at Primrose Hill.
It is now pedestrianised, but it wasn’t in 1970, when I used to walk across it twice to get to and from work.
There may well be development here, as some plans would mean adding the former Primrose Hill station, which used to be under this bridge, to a rerouted North London line. Wikipedia says this.
It has been proposed to re-open Primrose Hill station by bringing the short stretch of line between South Hampstead and Camden Road stations back into the regular passenger service by incorporating it into the London Overground network.
From this passenger’s point-of-view, it would be a good thing, but it is only part of a bigger plan, that might be needed to get the freight through London.
A Real Station With A Real Cafe – On The Overground!
I’d heard that London Overground had done something special at Crystal Palace. So I went and had a look.
It’s not finished yet and it can only get better and better, as lifts and other features are added.
So is it special? I think so, but I’m a grumpy old pensioner, who gets to the station free. The food was good too!
Take the kids and go there and have a walk in one of London’s most unusual parks and then have a snack or more in the Brown and Green Cafe.
They’ve even got a children’s menu without chips!
The one thing I didn’t like was the orange roundel on the station building. Surely, a Grade II Listed building deserves better!
It will also be interesting to see how use of the booking hall develops. It is a display space, that cries out for something better than run of the mill retail. As the current architectural display shows, it could be used for exhibitions.
But of course don’t go to Crystal Palace station, expecting a short walk to Crystal Palace Football Club. For them, you take the train to Norwood Junction station.
Thinking about Crystal Palace station, London Overground has now created its first true destination station. By that, I mean one where you go because of what is in the station itself, to perhaps meet someone for business or pleasure. St. Pancras is perhaps the best example, but others like Waterloo, Liverpool Lime Street, Liverpool Street and perhaps Norwich Thorpe are getting that way.
London Peace Wall
I saw this in the paper and found it on Wednesday morning.
There’s more about it here. Or there would be if the website worked properly! But it’s not up yet. Although it’s mentioned on the TFL web site here.
The best thing is to do what I did and go and visit it by taking a train to Haggerston station. Walk out of the station towards the Regent’s Canal, and the artwork is under the portal of the bridge that goes across the canal.
December the 9th Is Dalston to Clapham Day
Howard Smith, the CEO for London Rail at Transport for London has let the cat out of the bag in this interview. Here’s some of what he said.
London Railways invested about £3 billion between 2005 and 2011. That’s gone into the East London Line, North London Line upgrade, new trains, the creation of the Overground, all the investment in stations that went into the Overground, creating what from the December 9 when East London Line Phase 2 opens will be the Orbital Network.
December the 9th is a Sunday by the way. Judging by what I saw last Sunday, it would appear that much of it could open now. But it’s only eleven weeks.
The New Overground Line To Clapham Junction
I took these pictures today, whilst walking from Surrey Quays station to SELCHP.
Note.
- How the track for the new branch, runs between SELCHP and the fence along the route I walked.
- A couple of trains have been seen travelling along the line. One may have passed me, but I’m not sure.
- 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.
- The proximity of the New Den to the proposed station.
- 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.
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.
Walking From Manor House To Harringay Green Lanes
According to Wikipedia this is considered to be a walkable interchange between Manor House and Harringay Green Lanes stations between the Piccadilly and Gospel Oak to Barking lines.
Yesterday I walked it from the Manor House end and took these pictures.
It was a reasonably easy walk, as it’s all downhill. It was also very pleasant going into and out of Finsbury Park and past a cafe and a nursery, that sold plants.
Note the Manor House Pub, which was famous in the 1960’s for its rock music.
Coming back, I took a bus from Harringay Green Lanes to the Angel to do some shopping.
Why Are These Containers On the London Overground?
The North London Line of the London Overground is not only a passenger route, but a main freight artery.
Why Are These Containers On the London Overground?
As I waited at Homerton station today, this long train of boxes passed through.
Many of these trains are going to and from the Port of Felixstowe and the West Coast Main line. As the North London line, is the only electrified route between the Great Eastern Main line and the West Coast Main line, there is virtually nowhere else the trains can go.
The main new route will be a more direct line from Felixstowe to Nuneaton. But this route is not complete yet and there are no plans to electrify it, so it may need an engine change or two. It also requires reversing at Ipswich, due to the nature of the track layout, where the Felixstowe branch joins the main line.
There is also an alternative route via the Gospel Oak and Barking line of the London Overground. This takes four freight trains an hour and by-passes eight stations on the North London line. But unlike the North London line, it is not electrified.
This problem is going to get worse when London Gateway, a new port on the Thames east of London starts operating in late 2013. Trains to and from London Gateway will probably feed in directly to the Gospel Oak and Barking line, via the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway.
As to the size and number of trains, read this press release from DB Schenker, who will be handling the rail traffic. Here’s an extract.
The agreement will see DB Schenker Rail introduce at least four rail freight services a day (four in, four out), subject to volumes, and will serve a range of inland terminals including potential new UK locations. Additional rail freight services will be introduced in the future.
DB Schenker Rail will also pursue the development of rail freight services from London Gateway to mainland Europe using the Channel Tunnel.
Something most certainly needs to be done! In the meantime, I certainly wouldn’t buy a house that backed on to either the North London or Gospel Oak to Barking Lines.
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.
The Anonymous Widower 