Comings And Goings At Cardiff Central Station
Cardiff Central station is a busy station, that is on the main line from London to Swansea and is also a hub for all the local services serving the valleys and other parts of South Wales.
A Platform 0 has been added, which I used to catch my train to Risca, but it is rather tacked on to the station.
A new Platform 8 is also being added, on the other side of the station.
There are plans to upgrade the station and the South Wales Main Line and the Cardiff Valley Lines will be electrified. I hope that when both projects are completed it becomes easy to change from say a train coming in from Ebbw Vale to a fast train for London.
It’s all a bit chaotic at present and I know it’s not politically correct to say so, but showing destination boards in two languages means that travellers like me, who are unfamiliar with the lines and the station find it difficult.
Some things must be done in my view.
1. Have a better Valley Line schedule, where perhaps all trains going one direction use Platform 0 and those going the other use Platform 8. One example of many, is that the Ebbw Vale line has only one train an hour. So supposing you are going to an important event on the line and you’re coming from London, it could be an hour waiting at Cardiff Central. As Network Rail said about East Anglia, all branch lines need at least two trains an hour.
2. Create a much better information system, that doesn’t confuse travellers. Incidentally, I wouldn’t mind if station names were only given in Welsh, as that would simplify things a lot. I would think that most Welsh would understand a visitor, who pronounced a Welsh town like Treorchy or Maesteg in an English manner. After all, Welsh uses just the Roman alphabet like say Italian or Dutch, and is not like Hungarian, Turkish or Greek.
3. Make the access from Platform 0 to the main platforms a lot better.
I think that it’ll all be better when work is completed, judging by the way station rebuilds in the UK have turned out.
Another Garden Station On The North London Line
Hampstead Heath and Key Gardens are two stations, with obvious garden or park credentials on the North London Line. Today, I went to Brondesbury Park station and took these pictures.
I think that London Overground have done a good job at this station, in refurbishing the buildings and the platforms, without destroying the original character.
I suspect that as there is a sign saying Community Garden, that a local group is responsible for the plants and flowers. On searching the Internet I found a site called the Edible Overground about the gardens at Brondesbury Park.
A Rebuilt Station For Guildford
It is has just been posted on Modern Railways, that Guildford station is to be redeveloped. The report is subtitled.
£150m investment at no cost to tax or fare payer
I think we’ll see a lot more developments like this, where everybody wins. In Guildford’s case, this means a new station building, a transport hub, 445 new homes and 1,600 sq. metres of office space. It also claims 300 jobs will be created.
Look at this aerial view of the station.
Guildford Station
The development is to use surplus land around the station. There seems to be a lot of that and a lot of space devoted to car parking.
So an imaginative development would be an improvement. I would like to see homes and offices developed over the station.
Stratford And Its Two Stations
I couldn’t resist looking at the map of Stratford upon Avon and its two stations.
Stratford And Its Stations
Parkway is in the top left and the town centre station is marked by the arrow. The centre of the town is in the bottom right.
All this map does is ask a lot of questions!
I think some will be solved, when the main station is complete and hopefully is getting more trains from London and Birmingham.
But this will need some more Class 172 trains to be rustled up for Chiltern Trains and London Midland.
So the question gets more complex!
Return From Stratford Parkway Station
Because I thought time was short, I decided to take a taxi to Stratford upon Avon Parkway station to come home.
But somewhere I’d got the time wrong and had to wait an hour for my train, in a cold, unwelcoming station without a toilet. And then when I did get on the train, the main toilet was broken!
It is certainly a station that was built down to a cost, that would be unlikely to win any architectural awards.
There should be a rethink about how this station operates.
Birmingham New Street Has Silver Cladding
The new mirror cladding on Birmingham New Street station, just asked to be photographed.
These attempts are only pretty crude, but when it’s finished, professional photographers will be drawn to the station, to get that ultimate picture.
Latimer Road – A Gem Of A Station
The platforms at Latimer Road station had to be rebuilt for the new S Stock trains.
It would be wonderful if all stations had the look and feel of this one. Wikipedia gives a full history of the refurbishment, which contains this gem.
When the wall for the westbound platform was removed, contractors discovered an old bricked-up entrance to the station public house, currently known as The Garden. They also found underneath the platform a very old and possibly Mahogany staircase leading up to the pub entrance. Apart from all the years of dust and grime they also found, amongst other things, a bath, old gun parts and even a vat of acid.
How many other stations have secrets like that?
Oxford Takes A Leaf Out Of Cambridge’s Book
When I visited all of the 92 football clubs in England, Oxford was one of the most difficult to get to. I said this.
Oxford, must surely be one of the most difficult stadia to get to from the town centre, even if you have a car. And if you do, you have to actually drive along the by-pass where there are queues of traffic. Of all the taxis I have taken to get to and from grounds, Oxford was by far the most expensive.
But from 2020, it’ll all be different.
According to the BBC, Chiltern Trains are opening up the Cowley branch to passenger trains, which will stop at the Science and Business Parks. Some reports say this will also handle the football ground.
But it is good to see Oxford following Cambridge and having a station at the Spence Park.
East Croydon Station’s New Entrance And Bridge
At East Croydon station, I used the new bridge and entrance to get to the town centre.
It is much better than the main entrance, where the trains pull-up outside.
Network Rail are certainly getting the designs of their stations more passenger-friendly and welcoming.
Improvements Needed At Essex Road Station
Travelling to Liverpool Street, because of the rush hour, I had to use Essex Road station.
What a dump!
The lifts weren’t working and everybody was having to walk down a deep spiral staircase , which very much felt of Kafka.
The Class 313 trains despite approaching their forties are nowhere near as bad as the station.
The Anonymous Widower 