London Bridge Is Falling Down
Or at least the roof is leaking!
London Bridge Is Falling Down
There were buckets everywhere.
Around Farringdon Station
Yesterday, I was on a 45 bus going up Farringdon Road, just west of the station and took these pictures.
There does seem to be quite a few sites to develop hotels around the important Central London transport interchange, that Farringdon station will become, as I proposed in my post about London’s Airports.
Trying To Get To Loughborough Junction
Yesterday, I had rather a wasted journey, as I was trying to get to Loughborough Junction station, so that I could see the bridges there for the London Overground. I started by going to St. Pancras station, but Thameslink wasn’t running, so I was advised by staff there to go to London Bridge station. But there were no trains there either, so I just came home and watched the football on the television.
In the evening, I had dinner with my son near Liverpool Street and he had difficulty getting in from Walthamstowe, as the Victoria line wasn’t running. I know engineering work needs to be done, but why is it always on the same day?
Today will be just as bad, so maybe I’ll try on Tuesday!
Pudding Mill Lane Station – 4th May 2012
Pudding Mill Lane station on the DLR is unique in that the platforms can’t take full length trains and the track is only single on the Canary Wharf side of the station. This picture shows the new station being constructed.
The New Pudding Mill Lane DLR Station
Completion date is given as 2013. Towards Stratford, the viaduct that will carry the track is now visible.
The New Viaduct at Pudding Mill Lane DLR Station
The station will be a great improvement on the one it replaces.
The New London Overground Platform at Clapham Junction
The new platform 1 at Clapham Junction station to accomodate both ends of the main circular London Overground route is nearing completion, as these pictures show.
The train in the picture will use the West London Line to get to Stratford.
It would also appear, that when the extension to the East London Line opens in December this year, that there will be a new station entrance.
The New Deptford Station
To me Deptford is summed up by a picture of Peter the Great working in the Royal Dockyard at Deptford, that was in one of the school history texts I read.
I’d never knowingly been until today, when I went to look at the new Deptford station, which is just a few months away from being finished.
To my untrained eye, they have done a good job in creating a station with full step-free access, using ideas and components that could also be used in other places, where new or rebuilt stations are desperately needed.
I particularly liked the treatment of the brickwork in the tunnel under the tracks.
The New Balcony at Waterloo
I went to Waterloo station today to see how the new balcony was progressing.
It will be used for shops and eateries and according to one personable young lad in Marks and Spencer, it should be open by the end of this month.
Stations Reborn As Shopping Destinations
This was a sub-headline in The Times yesterday describing the new policy of Network Rail in transforming stations. Head of Retail at the company is quoted as saying that they want to move away from the likes of McDonalds and Burger King. As a coeliac, I say good riddance to both of them. At the two stations fully redeveloped in London, they’ve got a Leon at Kings Cross and a champagne bar and Carluccio’s in St. Pancras. Both stations have proper pubs too. Next for the treatment in London is Waterloo, with Euston and Birmingham to follow. Both of the latter are terrible.
The Head of Retail also talked about removing the stranglehold of W H Smith, a shop of last resort if ever there was one. A French company, Relay, has been invited to open in Cannon Street.
Stations can’t be improved fast enough, as far as I’m concerned.
What Do You Think Of It Boys?
The picture shows three High Speed Diesel Trains this morning in platforms seven, six and five at Kings Cross station this morning. Note that platform seven is to left.
Three High Speed Diesel Trains at Kings Cross
For those of you, who know Kings Cross station, they started running to the station at the end of the 1970s, which is just about the time, that the disgusting dark green extension was erected.
The irony is that they’ll actually outlive the extension, by several years.
So good old British Rail did get some things right. But not stations! Where should Network Rail’s refurbishment experts strike next in London? After all, they’ve now done or have nearly finished St. Pancras, Stratford, Clapham Junction, Blackfriars, Kings Cross and Paddington. I think London Bridge and Waterloo are being planned. But what about the others!
Vote now and vote often.
We Need More Canning Town Stations
Canning Town station is a major interchange in East London and will be important in getting spectators to the Olympics.
The Jubilee line, two DLR lines and lots of bus routes meet there.
We need more interchanges like this in London and over the whole country for that matter. As I have said before, Hackney Downs and Hackney Central stations should be combined, with a bus station below.
The Anonymous Widower 