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 Inter City 125 On BBC4
There was a documentary last night on BBC4 about the legendary High Speed Diesel Train or Inter City 125. It described how the politics, finances and some clever thinking produced a real icon.
Catch the documentary before it disappears from the BBC iPlayer!
The programme said that they’ll still be running in the 2030s on some routes. I wouldn’t bet on them still being running long after that.
Because of their speed and acceleration, they have proven that they can mix it on lines with both slow and higher speed traffic, so unlike heritage units like steam trains, they don’t cause pathing problems. Since they have now been updated with new engines, they produce a lot less noise and emissions too.
It is still proposed that they will be used for services to the far south west for many years, as electrifying the route from Exeter will be very difficult and expensive. They even did the journey from Plymouth to London in well under three hours recently. I reported it on this post.
But if they did a bit of marketing and perhaps uprated the catering, they could create a line, that would be a must-ride one for all visitors to Cornwall from London.
I have believed for a long time, that these trains will never go quietly. They’ll be like Routemasters and even if they’re not in main line service, they’ll turn up in the most surprising of places. The ghost of Jimmy Saville will see to that!
More CrossRail Green Walls
I visited two more of CrossRail’s green walls today, in Hanover Square and Park Lane.
They certainly seem a good way to improve the look of a building site.
CrossRail’s Living Walls
CrossRail has been using ivy to hide their digging sites in Central London.
This protographs were taken at Finsbury Circus.
There’s more here on the CrossRail web site.
CrossRail On Open House
Whilst finding out about the archaeology, I also found that some CrossRail sites are to be thrown open to the public on the Open House Weekend. Here’s their summary.
On Saturday, 22 and Sunday, 23 September, we will ‘open the doors’ of the Bond Street station work sites, the Canary Wharf station work site and the Tunnelling and Underground Construction Academy (TUCA) to the public as part of the Open House London weekend.
TUCA is an interesting one, as it is a legacy of CrossRail and is effectively a European University of Tunnelling. I have talked about it before.
CrossRail’s Archaeology Exhibition Is Back By Popular Demand
I saw CrossRail’s pop-up archaeology exhibition; Bison to Bedlam, a few month’s ago and it was one of the most interesting exhibitions I’ve ever seen. Especially, as it was put together at short notice.
They have now decided to bring it back by popular demand. Here’s an extract from their press release.
The exhibition will be held at the Crossrail Visitors Information Centre at Tottenham Court Road from 2 October to 27 October on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 11am to 7pm and Saturdays from 10am to 5pm. Crossrail’s Tottenham Court Road Visitor Information Centre is located at 16-18 St Giles High Street, WC2H 8LN.
It will be worth going again.
I suspect this exhibition could run and run.
The CrossRail Site At Limmo
The CrossRail site on the Limmo Peninsular is easy to see, either from the Beckton branch of the DLR or from the Emirates Air-line.
The tunnels will be driven both west towards Canary Wharf and ultimately Farringdon, and east towards the Victoria Dock portal.
Note that the CrossRail site is easily identified by the the white gantries and the three beige towers, which I suspect are for producing concrete. The site is tightly sandwiched between the River Lea to the west (left) and the DLR to the right (east), with the Lower Lea Crossing in front (south), partly hidden by trees. You can get a better idea of the layout on the ground, by looking at this map.
Note that Instone Wharf in the right front, opposite to the two light ships, will be used to take all the spoil from the tunnels away in barges. Spoil will be brought to the wharf by conveyors and then will go to create a new nature reserve at Wallasea Island in Essex.
I suspect that if someone gets in the cable-car with a good camera with a strong telephoto lens, some good pictures could be taken on a clear day. It would be best to take them, whilst travelling from south to north from North Greenwich to Royal Victoria.
Treating The Buried With Respect
In the September 2012 edition of Modern Railways, there is a small article about the reburying of 300 people from old burial grounds discovered during the building of a new rail flyover that carries the trains for Charing Cross over the top of Borough Market.
Apparently, the novelist Thomas Hardy was involved in the removal of bodies, when St. Pancras station was built in the 19th Century.
I think in this day and age, it was good to see that Network Rail ensured that the new burials in a special plot at the new Kemnal Park cemetery were respectful and echoed how funerals were conducted at the time of the original burials. There is a series of photos here.
The Clock At Waterloo Has Got More Comfortable
The balcony at Waterloo station is now more of less complete and there are now some wonderful places to meet people high up in the station. That’s if you have anybody to meet!
I was in Carluccios, which as you can see from the photo, has quite a few seats looking down on the concourse.
in 1962, the BBC showed an episode of Comedy Playhouse, called Sealed With A Loving Kiss. Wikipedia describes the comedy thus.
Arnold, played by Ronald Fraser, and Freda, played by Avril Elgar, have been having a relationship by correspondence and when they meet for the first time they discover neither has been totally truthful.
They meet for the first time under the clock at Waterloo. Or it could have been Victoria! Now they would meet in one of the cafes upstairs. Although today, there seemed to be large numbers of people underneath the clock. Including one proper gentleman with flowers.
Didn’t Anybody Tell GreaterAnglia?
I took this picture of Class 321 EMUs at Ipswich, as I left after the football.
Didn’t Anybody Tell GreaterAnglia?
Red doors have long been associated in East Anglia with bad beer and services. It’s the legacy of Grotneys! Who of course were infamous for Watneys Red Barrel. In my view the worst beer ever made. Although I did have one called Red Centre in Alice Springs out of a tin, that came close.
It’s the red word again.
The Anonymous Widower 