A Trip On The Island Line
The Island Line on the Isle of Wight, is a unique train line, as these pictures show.
It was just like going back to my childhood and be transported in one of the old 1938 Stock, London Underground trains, that I can just about remember on the Piccadilly line in the 1950s and 1960s.
The Class 483, as they are now called, still have all the same noises and a lot of the wooden features, although the seats and a few other internal features had been updated.
I do wonder whether old London Underground trains, which generally have been immaculately maintained could be used on some of the far flung parts of the network to re-instate old lines.
One of the reasons, they ended up on the Isle of Wight, was that this line has gauge clearance problems and London’s redundant tube trains fit the space available. And of course, third-rail electric trains are easier to install than those with overhead wires.
There is a lot of talk about using new trams or tram-trains on some branch lines, but surely some retired tube trains, would be a lot more affordable and a tourist attraction as well. Over the next few years, there is going to be a lot of these trains, that will be replaced in London.
They deserve better than being scrapped!
All London Underground Ticket Offices To Close
This claim is being made by the trade unions in London and it’s reported here on the BBC.
Except for main line stations, you rarely see anybody at the ticket offices. But then they can be busy, as this post shows.
So just on my personal observation, there seems to be a need for some reorganisation of the ticket offices.
One of these could be making sure that passengers arrive in London with a ticket for the Underground.
Modern Railways this month also had an editorial about the rows that are about to happen, when trains in London go for driver-only operation.
I think there is going to be a lot of argument in the next few years.
But honestly, when was the last time you visited a ticket office on the Underground to buy a ticket?
I think I bought an Oystercard about four years ago. I’ve bought one since and that was from a machine.
The Crossrail Bypass Is Getting There
Over the last few weeks, I’ve travelled quite a few times on the Hammersmith and City branch of the Metropolitan line.
It used to be very much a line, that was past its best, with elderly C-Stock trains and dark and dingy stations.
But it is getting so much better, and I think now half the journeys I do on the line are in the new air-conditioned S Stock trains. In fact in this hot weather, I will use this line to avoid the deep tunnels, just like my father used to do.
We’ve also seen improvements to the stations, especially at Farringdon, Kings Cross and Paddington.
When Crossrail opens, it will link to the Hammersmith and City branch, at Whitechapel, Liverpool Street, Moorgate, Farringdon and Paddington stations, effectively giving Crossrail users, easy one-change access to a lot more stations.
It will truly be a Crossrail by-pass.
Canal Moorings With Their Own Station
When I came back from Reading into Paddington station yesterday, I walked to the back of the Inter City 125 train and took the bridge to the Metropolitan line station. Before catching my train to get home, I ventured outside to look at the new entrance, which has just opened.
As you can see the entrance is by the canal and the Paddington Basin. It’s obviously not finished yet and won’t be until Crossrail opens in a few years.
It is an area, that is crying out for a decent cafe, restaurant or bar.
Getting To The Madejski Stadium At Reading Is Getting Easier
I last went to the Madejski stadium at Reading a couple of years ago and it wasn’t an easy journey!
But today’s trip was a lot easier.
As the new Metropolitan line station at Paddington s now almost complete, I go to Paddington using that line, by getting a bus to either Barbican, Kings Cross or Euston Square stations. It’s then just a matter of walking over the bridge to the requisite platform.
I got a train direct to the new Reading station and then walked a couple of hundred metres to get one of the umpteen buses to the stadium.
The journey will probably get better, as the two stations are completed in a few years time.
Crossrail should also improve the journey, but I’m not sure how at present, as I’ll still have to do part of the journey by bus.
It’ll be interesting to see how I do this journey in a few years.
Barbican Station
I have some happy memories of Barbican Station and on Saturday, I passed through on the way to the Anniversary Games.
Barbican Station
I can particular remember pushing our youngest son in his buggy along the central platform, from where the picture was taken, sometimes with C and our two sons and sometimes without.
Sad to think, that C and the baby in the buggy have both died from cancer.
Is This The Way To Develop Railways?
It has been announced today that the government has fully approved the Croxley Rail Link. This report on the BBC gives full details. Here’s their summary.
An extension to the London Underground’s Metropolitan Line to serve the centre of Watford has been given the final go-ahead.
The government gave the £118m Croxley Rail Link the all-clear through the Transport and Works Act Order.
The line will be extended to Watford Junction via Watford High Street and two new stations will open, including one near the town’s football ground.
This seems to be a scheme that has a lot of merits.
Personally, it will mean that when I go to see Ipswich play football in Watford, I will avoid the long walk across the town. I think that because of this ease of access, Watford FC will be one of the bigger beneficiaries, as ease-of-access always brings in more visitors to any venue.
This fairly small scheme will have all sorts of benefits. This paragraph is lifted from Wikipedia.
When the Croxley Rail Link is built, direct services into Watford Junction from Amersham would also be possible, thus linking the commercial centre of Watford to the new developments in Aylesbury, as well as providing the Chilterns with transport connections, via the Junction, to the North and other destinations.
I’ve always thought that Watford should be more of an interchange when going north to take the pressure off Euston.
i think we can honestly say that the £118 million that this development will cost, will return an awful lot more in benefits.
But then we’ve got a bit more clever with some of the schemes we’ve started recently.
The Hitchin flyover will take a few minutes off the times for trains on the East Coast Main Line for £47 million. It will be fully open in a few weeks.
Improvements to the Felixstowe branch line and its junction with the main line north of Ipswich, aren’t the biggest of developments, but they will take significant numbers of trucks off the road.
If you go to the Network Rail web site, you’ll find lots of these smaller projects.
I think we should complete all of these before we decide on the detailed route of HS2.
The Queues In The Underground At Kings Cross St. Pancras
I came through Kings Cross St. Pancras Underground station on Friday afternoon and the queues at the ticket office, were enormous, as they often are at that time of the week.
The Queues In The Underground At Kings Cross St. Pancras
I suppose one problem is that many people off the Eurostar from Paris or Brussels don’t have any British money or an Oyster card. But as this page says, you can buy Oyster cards on Eurostar.
Did They Build This Hideous Church To Match The Underground Ventilation Shaft?
This church just has to be seen to realise how awful it is.
Perhaps they built it to match the ventilation shaft for Warwick Avenue station?
An Island In All This Heat
Yesterday on my way to and from the Truscott Arms, I took Hammersmith and City branch trains on the Metropolitan line.
I rode both ways in new S Stock trains.
These are fully air-conditioned and it makes life a little better. It would appear there’s only the Circle and District lines left to re-equip.
The Anonymous Widower 