Transport for London Get The Cleaners, Painters And Engineers Ready For The Shenfield Metro
There is an article in the Brentwood Gazette, entitled Shenfield to London slow trains to get refresh before end of year, which illustrates how Transport for London aim to hit the ground running, when they take over the Shenfield Metro services in May this year.
1. The Class 315 trains will be refreshed. I took these pictures.
I think that TfL could spend billions on these trains and they wouldn’t be that much better, as in their current state, they do the job they were built for of moving people in and out of London, reliably and with enough comfort for those with seats. So fixing the seat covers, perhaps getting rid of the awful pink colour and asking Aggie and her ilk to give them a good clean, and they’ll last until the Class 345 trains arrive.
2. Staff will be on duty when trains are running.
3. The stations will be fully integrated into TfL’s information and brought up to their standards.
I wonder if their other big acquisition in May;the Lea Valley Line services will get the same treatment.
The Overground And Its Class 378 Trains Turn Up In A Computer Game
My Google Alert picked up this article onPCGames, entitled Train Simulator 2015: hands on with the London Overground train.
It’a well-written article and worth reading.
But I won’t be investing in the game, as I’ve never played a computer game and probably never will.
I certainly wouldn’t play this game, as it seems to be South London-based and doesn’t simulate the iconic East London Line, with the historic Thames Tunnel.
If I want to experience a Class 378 train and the East London Line, all I need to do is walk to Dalston Junction station and take any southbound train.
And with my Freedom Pass, it’s all free! Although the excellent cafes in Dalston aren’t!
Walking To St. Mary’s
St. Mary’s Stadium is not ideally placed for the main Southampton Central station, as this Google Earth view shows.
Southampton Central To St. Mary’s Stadium
It took me about twenty minutes and what slows the walk is the initial hill. If I ever go again, I’ll leave a little bit earlier and then have a cup of tea or a drink on the top.
At least St. Mary’s is one of the few grounds, where the Away supporters’ stand is closest to the train station.
But look at this enlarged Google Earth view of the area around the stadium.
Rail Lines By St. Mary’s Stadium
The South Western Main Line from Basingstoke and London comes into this picture at the top to the left of the two gas holders. Note how the lines curve to the west to go through the Southampton Tunnel under the centre of the city. The portal of the tunnel is just at the edge of the picture.
The rail tracks to the left (west) of the stadium are the route to Southampton Docks and the now closed Southampton Terminus station. Before electrification to Southampton in the 1960s, this station was the main one for Southampton and there was also another station at Northam, which was somewhere in the area to the west of the stadium.
Plans have been put forward in recent years to put a station at the stadium and also one on Southampton Waterfront. Some have been grandiose, but the City Council has safeguarded a route from the Waterfront to Romsey, Halterworth and Chandler’s Ford.
If Southampton Football Club stay in the upper reaches of the Premier League and decide to increase the capacity of the ground, I would not be surprised to see a metro link running on the line, with an interchange at say Eastleigh.
The route would also mean that passengers for cruise ships could get closer to the Cruise Terminals by train, just as they used to in the days of RMS Titantic.
The Site Of The Kings Cross Problems
These pictures show the state of the Canal Tunnels on the Monday after the troubles of the Saturday.
Compare these pictures with the one in this post taken in August, which I have added. All pictures are dated in their descriptions.
The overhead wires now seem to be up for a start. I shall keep trying to get better pictures of these tunnels.
Never On Sunday!
The Northern City Line never normally works on Sunday, but it did today.
Perhaps it was because of yesterday’s troubles at Kings Cross, a decision was made to run the trains into Moorgate.
The Problems At Kings Cross
When I was at Kings Cross station early this morning, I asked a guy from the Information Desk, if the problem was with the Canal Tunnels, which will connect Thameslink to the East Coast Main Line, and which I photographed in this post. He said that the problem was in that area.
Network Rail have said they have had some sort of equipment failure. Where the work is being done, is a very critical area.
Incidentally, once Thameslink opens this will build quite a few alternative routes and destinations into the system. For example, if Kings Cross couldn’t be used for some reason, the Thameslink route could be used to shuttle passengers to Peterborough.
Before Thameslink opens, it strikes me that they could have told passengers to go to Cambridge from Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale, from where they would provide a coach to Peterborough. This option has been used before, when there has been overhead line problems.
In the longer term, I think it is important that as many diversionary routes as possible are electrified and cleared to be able to handle the largest trains. With today’s problems, if Ely to Peterborough had been electrified, GreaterAnglia could have used some of their 12-car Class 379 trains to extend the Liverpool Street to Cambridge service to Peterborough.
Would Extending The Gospel Oak to Barking Line Unlock Land For Development?
If the Gospel Oak To Barking Line (GOBlin) is extended to Hounslow, it looks like it will branch off the current line at Junction Road, to join the Midland Main Line through West Hampstead Thameslink and on to the Dudding Hill Line for Old Oak Common and Acton.
This map shows the lines to the east of Gospel Oak station towards Kentish Town.
Railways Between Gospel Oak and Kentish Town
The GOBlin runs across the top, with the other orange line being the North London Line. Across the bottom of the picture there is the Midland Main Line. The link between the GOBlin and the Midland Main Line is clearly shown., but note that the area to the east of this link is industrial. It is the headquarters and main London site of the Murphy Group.
Think about the area in the triangle defined by the railways to the east of Gospel Oak station and further east towards Kentish Town.
1. In my A-Z, the area is a big white space.
2. When Thameslink is complete, there will probably some release of land near Kentish Town station.
3. An extended and electrified GOBlin could have a station in this area, giving any new developments better transport links. This station could also give an interchange to the North London Line. This would be a better interchange than the current one at Gospel Oak station.
4. One of the reasons given for linking the GOBlin at Junction Road to the Northern Line at Turnell Park tube station, is to link the GOBlin to a North-South route. But an extended GOBlin going through a properly sorted West Hampstead Interchange, gives passengers access to a multiplicity of North-South routes, including Thameslink, Chiltern, North London line and the Underground.
5. Unless it is needed for freight trains, the stub of the line to Gospel Oak might be closed.
6. The northern part of the site could be linked in a sympathetic way to Parliament Hill Fields. There could even be a green walk to the new station, if one is built.
7. There used to be a link to allow trains coming west on the GOBlin to go South on the Midland Main Line. If there was a need for it, then it could be reinstated.
There is every reason to believe in the next few years, Transport for London will extend the GOBlin and if they do, this site’s development potential could be fully unlocked.
Brondesbury Station
Broundesbury station is one of the twenty-six to be given upgraded access.
It’s a pretty clean and tidy station, but the staircases are not the best.
However it is certainly better than Silver Street.
White Vans On The Overground
When I was on the platform at West Hampstead station on the North London Line, a train load of cars and vans came through.
With DB Schenker’s new car import-export depot at Barking, I think we’ll see a lot more trains like this.
Walking From Harringay Station To Harringay Green Lanes Station
This is what Transport for London call an official out-of-station interchange and you can touch-out of one station and touch-in the other without getting charged.
So after visiting Palmers Green, I got on a train, which took me to Harringay station, from where I walked down the hill to Harringay Green Lanes station.
It was an easy walk and this could be a one-way interchange for some people, as the other way you’d walk up the hill.
Harringay is a typical hole-in-the-wall station of which there are many over the UK.
When I got onto Green Lanes, I saw the enormous mural on the bridge for the first time. It is promoting the Big Plan, which is all about improving the area.
As the Gospel Oak to Barking Line is being upgraded, do we have the classic stimulus for improvement of the area? The area has had all sorts of problems, that I can remember.
The Anonymous Widower 