Tiles At South Kensington Station
The tiles at South Kensington station seem to be being cleaned and repaired.
Tiles At South Kensington Station
The station is one of those that needs serious refurbishment and various proposals have been made.
Considering the station’s important location, with respect to the museums and Albertopolis, upgrading can’t come too soon!
Underground Maps By Lego
Five Underground maps have been made in Lego.
They are at South Kensington (1927), Green Park (1968), Piccadilly(1933), Kings Cross (Future) and Stratford 2013) stations.
The only map, that was difficult to find was the one at Stratford, which was at the Eastfield entrance to the station. It was also the only one inside the ticket barriers.
The map at Kings Cross is the first in an Underground station to show Crossrail integrated with the Underground.
A Visit To The World’s Best Therapist
I had a bit of a shock this morning, as the news said that somebody I might know had died in tragic circumstances.
So I decided that I needed to explore some parts of the London Underground. I intended to have breakfast at Leon in Kings Cross station and then I intended to see if I could find the Underground maps in Lego.
I then visited all the maps before I finished up at Stratford, from where I took the Overground home.
As I often do, I met some interesting people, including a young lady accompanied by her charming baby, who with her partner had taken a train all the way back from Istanbul and soon were going to Denmark overland. Where do I find a lady of a compatible age to myself, who likes trains, architecture and football? Especially, to accompany me to Odessa to see the Potemkin Steps, watch England in Kiev and then come home via Warsaw and Berlin.
i certainly felt a lot better, as I say down to watch the cricket. But I still don’t know if I knew the person, who died.
The Stairway To Heaven Memorial At Bethnall Green
The memorial to those killed in the Bethnal Green Underground Disaster is now almost complete.
According to the Stairway To Heaven Memorial Trust website, only the staircase needs completing.
Should Tube Stations Be Sponsored?
It has been proposed that London Underground stations should be sponsored. The story is here in the Standard.
On paper it looks a good idea, but I doubt it would work as well as expected.
Look at the obvious example of Harrods, which effectively has its own entrance into Knightsbridge station. How would Harvey Nicks feel about being served by a station called Harrods?
Perhaps an idea that might work well, but probably would not raise as much money would be to allow the bus or train information system to say something like. “This is Knightsbridge. Alight here for Harrods”
But even then, how do you sort out the Harrods/Harvey Nicholls problem?
An Unusual Transport Interchange
On Friday, I had a small problem. I had a guest, who was going to take a ferry back to The Netherlands and I had to get to Gatwick. To complicate matters, my guest was low on go-juice and they didn’t know the intricacies of East London.
I have never driven since I’ve moved here to Dalston, but felt that the best route would be for my guest to use the Blackwall Tunnel to get on the road to Dover. As there is a large Tesco on the approach to the tunnel, it seemed that might solve the fuel problem and I could jump ship there and get the Underground at the nearby Bromley-by-Bow station.
It all worked very well and fifteen minutes after being dropped, I was on an Overground train to Clapham Junction after changing at Whitechapel.
The interface between drivers and public transport is not good in London. There are few places, where you get an easy drop off point to public transport, a filling station and other services on major roads.
But Tesco at Bow have provided an interchange. The only problem is that the walking route to the Underground is not very salubrious.
At least it wasn’t raining. The link to the store is here.
Lost In Kings Cross Station
The new Kings Cross station may look very good, but the Underground station seems to have been designed as an incomprehensible labyrinth.
Tonight, I got on a Victoria line train at Oxford Circus and needed to change to the Northern line at Kings cross for the Angel. Unfortunately, I tiook the wrong exit from the platform and ended up walking a lot longer than I should down pedestrian tunnels and up and down stairs.
But I eventually made it and got a 38 bus at the Angel to bring me home.
I’ll be glad, when Crossrail is finished, so that I can get home a lot easier.
The Shape Of Trains To Come
The replacement trains for the sub-surface lines of London Underground, show a lot of clever thinking to deliver effectively two different but identical trains.
For the Metropolitan line, an eight car train is needed, with a generous proportion of seats, as the line goes a long way into Metroland.
For the Hammersmith and City, District and Circle lines, a seven car train is needed, with longitudinal seating.
Bombardier came up with the S Class train, which satisfies both these requirements. It is a unique design for the Underground, in that it is through-gangway train, where you can walk from end-to-end.
The replacement trains for the rest of the Underground, will probably borrow heavily on this design.
I travel on these trains about once a week or so and feel they are a great improvement on the previous trains. I first used them, during the Olympics to get back from Wembley Stadium, where they were able to move 1,500 or so people a time away from the stadium, in an air-conditioned train. The A Class trains they replaced had more seats, but a smaller capacity and a ventilation system from the 1960s.
A Bug In The Software
I took this picture on the Southbound platform, at The Angel, this morning.
A Bug In The Software
How could the second train arrive before the first? Do they have an overtaking line to the north of the station?
In the end, it arrived in under three minutes.
Do We Need Big Arrows In Underground Stations?
Last night, as I was coming back from Burnley, I deliberately got to the front of the train and walked straight out through the gates at Kings Cross station. You can see how the square is coming together and soon, you’ll walk straight out and to either the buses or the Underground entrance on Euston Road.
There is a passageway, through the site and I used it to get to the Underground,down the steps and escalator to the Northern line platform for the Angel.
one of the peculiarities of the London Underground, is that unlike many metros in the world, trains don’t necessarily arrive on the platform in the same direction. For example Southbound trains on the Northern line at the Angel, arrive from left to right, whereas those on the Victoria line at Highbury and Islington station, arrive from right to left. I think the Victoria line is the most inconsistent, with Northbound trains at Highbury and Islington station, arriving from left to right.
At Kings Cross yesterday, I wanted to make sure I was in the rear section of the train, as this would mean I didn’t have to walk a long way back down the platform. I walk pretty straight these days, but I do think it is safer to get off the platform as quickly as possible.
There is no indication at Kings Cross to say from which direction the trains will arrive and i think it would be a good idea, if this was indicated on the platforms. Perhaps a big arrow above the adverts or a little sign saying from which direction the trains arrive.
It would have two effects.
Like with me yesterday, you’d probably be more likely to get in the right carriage for your home station.
But also because it would forewarn passengers of the direction of trains, it might be just that bit safer, and we got a few less accidents on the platforms.
Note that Transport for London already announce on the Victoria line, which side the doors open at each station to help passengers, so it wouldn’t be that radical.
The Anonymous Widower 