Yes, another post in my series giving a station by station guide to London. I felt that it was not inappropriate for a series based on British public transport that after none yesterday there should be two in a row today!
A GOOD IDEA DEFLECTED
North Greenwich is one of the stations on the Jubilee line extension finally opened in 1999. North Greenwich serves what is now the O2 arena, having started life as the Millennium Dome. Unlike any of the other stations featured in this series (more available here) this is one that I personally have never used as destination, though I have passed through it a few times.
When the Jubilee line opened in 1979 it was intended that there should be a south eastern extension from the then southern terminus of Charing Cross. Unfortunately, a combination of obsession with the Canary Wharf development and the vanity project of the Millennium Dome caused the original plans to so warped that the new terminus of the Jubilee line is at Stratford, and it no longer serves Charing Cross.
By the way, although as a public transport user I am always keen on improvements to public transport, I do not automatically support. For example I do not consider that a high speed railway that only the wealthy will be able to afford to be something to celebrate, and neither does a cable car link between two minor stations seem especially impressive to me!
This is the latest post in my series providing a station by station guide to London. Previous posts in the series can be viewed on the following link. Enjoy…
THE SOUTH BANK OF THE THAMES
Waterloo has more main line train platforms than any other station in the country, is served by four underground lines (all ‘tube’ rather than ‘surface’). The Waterloo and City line, originally run as part of the London & South West Railway, opened for business in 1898 making it the second oldest of London’s deep level tube lines after the City and South London Railway (now part of the Northern line). The Bakerloo line opened in 1906, the second underground line to serve Waterloo. A southbound extension of the Charing Cross, Euston & Hamsptead line to enable an amalgamation with the City and South London to form today’s Northern line took place in 1926, making it the third underground line to serve Waterloo. Finally, in 1999 the Jubilee line was extended via Waterloo, although the original intent to serve the still under-equipped parts of south east London and west Kent has been warped by a combination of greed and vanity about which more in my next post.
Waterloo is as the above makes clear a major interchange. It is also a superb destination in its own right, being home to The Old Vic theatre, The Royal Festival Hall, The complex of the Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall, The National Film Theatre, The National Theatre, The Museum of the Moving Image, besides serving as a good starting point for a walk along the Thames which depending on how energetic you are feeling could be stop at Southwark (Jubilee line), Blackfriars (District, Circle and main line railways), London Bridge (Northern, Jubilee, main line railways) or even further east.
To end this post here are a couple of pictures for orientation purposes. I have chosen (as will be general policy in this series) to use the Diagrammatic History rather than a current schematic diagram…
As well as my title piece I have some links and pictures (the latter connected with the title piece). Enjoy…
WORKING FOR THE GREAT CENTENARY CHARITY AUCTION
Todat I have been working on some stuff for the Great Centenary Charity Auctioin, the first running of which takes place on June 28th (another auction is planned for March). Most of today’s work was imaging small items, but there was also a poster to create, based on the fact that the Eastern Daily Press gave us almost a whole page in their Monday issue. There was an advert that we did not wish to display in our poster, so I occuipied that space with a picture of Lot 1 and some accompanying text…
Given the size of the newspaper in question this required two scans and then some clever editing to combine them. By the way the chap in red jacket next to the auctioneer is yours truly.The first individual scan.The 2nd scan.
There were some very interesting items to image, including a decorative piece featuring a picture of the Obelisk of Hammurabi (King of Babylon circa 1,700 BCE, creator of a famous code of laws)…
Lot 556 (the ‘Hammurabi’ piece) in fullFocus on the dish itself.An ultra-close up of the inscription.
My remaining links are both connected the same story, somneone who got a work experience placement at Job Centre and has produced a damning expose of the behaviour anbd attitudes of staff there:
This is a blog post of my most frequent type – a title piece, some infographics from various sources, some links and some photographs. Enjoy…
A WET SUNDAY
Although the weather was far from appealing yesterday I did manage to get a decent length walk in en route to my aunt’s house for a birthday meal, and as you will see late there were some good pics to be taken.
The meal was superb, and there was some decent television afterwards.
I got home just in time to catch the final stages of the day’s play in the test match. England are going to need to bat very well to win (and with two days to go a draw is almost out of the question.
INFOGRAPHICS
My first infographic is an important ‘mythbuster’…
The next infographic concerns the requirements that the Tories plan to impose on strike ballots. Bbefore showing it I will say this: I do not think that those who choose not to express an opinion deserve to be taken into account, which is why when talking about the vote gained by the Conservatives at the last election I always refer to the 36.9% of the votes cast that they receive and not the 24% of the electorate that voted for them. Now for the infographic…
My last two infographics are both aimed directly at Mr Cameron…
LINKS
COSMOSOLOGY
Cosmos Up are a very reliable source of interesting material, and today the provide the first two links that I choose to share:
It is no secret that I sign and share a very large number of petitions. This, courtesy of change.org, is a story of a petition that has achieved the desired result, and I am delighted to share the celebration of this success.
PHOTOGRAPHS
I hope that you have all enjoyed this piece, and that you will share it. Here to round it off are some photographs…
This bird is so small that was very difficult to capture it at all.
Not a bad pic of something that is a quarter of a million miles away!
This post is the fifth in a series I am running on this blog providing a station by station guide to London.
HISTORY, ASTRONOMY AND DETECTIVES
Baker Street was one of the original stations that opened in 1863 as The Metropolitan Railway, the world’s first underground public transport system, on January the 10th 1863. Those platforms, two of 10 at that station (the most on the entire system) to be served by underground trains, are still in service today, and have been restored to look as they would have done when first opened. Ironically, they are no longer served by the Metropolitan line, which uses two terminal and two through platforms just to the north of the originals, its tracks joining those of the Hammersmith and City and Circle lines just east of Baker Street. By way of explanation I turn to Douglas Rose’s London Underground: A Diagrammatic History
The other two lines that serve this station are the Bakerloo and Jubilee lines. Baker Street is a division point between the old and new Jubilee lines – south of Baker Street is all new track, northwards old, dating from 1939, when it was opened as a branch of the Bakerloo, taking some of the strain of the Metropolitan by taking over services to Stanmore and assuming sole responsibility for intermediate stops between Baker Street and Finchley Road, and also between Finchley Road and Wembley Park. When the Jubilee opened in 1979 it comprised the old Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo and three stations south of Baker Street.
Reverting temporarily to the Metropolitan, those four platforms at Baker Street, from which trains go to a variety of destinations developed from what started as a single track branch going only as far as Swiss Cottage. It grew out of all recognition during the tenure of Edward Watkin, who saw the Metropolitan as a crucial link in his plan for a railway system to link his three favourite cities, London, Paris and Manchester. At one time, as my next picture shows, the Metropolitan went far beyond it’s current reach…
Baker Street is home to Madame Tussaud’s and the London Planetarium, both of which merit a visit.
Of course, no post about Baker Street would be complete without something about it’s most famous ever resident, Mr Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective.
I am an avid fan of the great detective, having read all the original stories and many modern stories that feature the great detective. As well as owning a respectable collection of my own, I regularly borrow books about this subject from the libraries that I use…
A remarkable recent find.The great originalsSome of my modern Holmes stories.
To end this post, along with my customary hopes that you have enjoyed it and that you will share it, a couple more maps, first a facsimile of the original Beck map of 1933 and then for comparison a facsimile of the 1926 Underground Map…
When Beck first produced a prototype of this map in 1931 his superiors thought that no-one would like it – but eventually they agreed to a trial of it in 1933, and now every public transport system in the world uses schematic diagrams of this type.
This is going to be one of my ‘interesting mixed posts’ as John P Ointon of notesfromthenorth recently described one, featuring my main body piece, links, infographics and photos.
AUCTION AND ITS AFTERMATH
James and Sons had their May auction this Wednesday just gone, at The Maids Head Hotel, Norwich and Thursday was therefore tied up with attending to tasks created by the auction. I made sure that my database was fully updated with details of people who had bid online, produced a word document containing a full list of all of these individuals for our records and also made a start on the press releases.
The auction day was marred by the fact that the venue was far too hot, and for much of the day we could not open any windows due the noise of roadworks going on outside. Nevertheless, there were some good moments, as there should have been given the quality of the stuff we had going under the hammer…
The dog decides to sample the view from the auctioneers chair!
There were two items which stood above all else, and gave the themes for my press releases, lot 218 a gold $20 coin in a sealed plastic box which having been estimated at £1,000 actually went for £1,800, and lot 251 a Waterloo medal, which was estimated at £1,500-2,000 and went for an eye-popping £4,700.
One the Thursday, while prepping the press releases I assembled a composite of all the images I had of the gold coin, and I will conclude this part of the post bu sharing the full gallery with you…
This is the composite image…While this image and the next five are the component parts of that composite.
INFOGRAPHICS AND LINKS
First up, my one stand-alone infographic…
A POST FROM AUTISM MOM
This wonderful post fully deserves a subsection to itself, and comes with some excellent infographics, which I have included here:
I have gained another new follower both for this blog and for my twitter account this morning, and I take this opportunity to share her latest blog post, a wonderful open letter to a fellow parent.
WIND POWER
Take Part Daily provided this superb feature on the possible future of wind power in the United States. As well as links to both the full post and the graphic I include a still of one part of the graphic:
I have three more links to share. First of all, this one from Vox Political on the DWP’s desperate attempts to avoid revealing what they obviously know will be a devastating truth. From Manchester comes this horrible story of a speeding motorist who killed someone, bragged about his speeding, and still only got sentenced to six years in jail. Finally, an important petition: El Salvador has one river still capable of providing it with clean drinking water, which will soon not be the case if one greedy mining company gets its way. I urge all of you to sign and share this petition.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Just before moving on to my final set of photographs I hope you have enjoyed this post, and if you have I urge you to share it. These last pics are all from a display in Fakenham Library…
An account of the now closed Aldwych branch of the Piccadilly line.
INTRODUCTION
This is the third post in a series I have recently started on this blog, covering London station by station. the first one on South Kensington fared well, but the real encouragement came from the second on Tooting Bec, which I had not had any expectations for, but which attracted several likes (more than the place itself ever has then!). Therefore I am making my most ambitious effort of the series so far…
ALDWYCH: A STORY OF FAILURE
Aldwych, on a side branch of the Piccadilly line, south from Holborn, opened in 1907 and closed in 1994. By the end of its life this single track single stop branch had become very run down indeed (I travelled it not long before it closed). The problem was that the station did not serve anywhere the could not be reached conveniently from other stations, and since it ran as a shuttle service between Holborn and Aldwych (although there was a track link to the northbound Piccadilly to Cockfosters).
In the terms set for themselves by the people who made the decision to close this branch for good it had to be done. My argument is that those terms were wrong, viewing it only in terms of what was already there.
Although not especially useful itself, Aldwych could have been made to serve as a starting point because it was very well positioned for an extension into the poorly served areas of South East London and West Kent. This is the failure I refer to in my title: a failure of imagination, a failure to see potential.
Rather than swing the axe, Aldwych could have been changed from being a largely functionless endpoint to being the start point for new development.
Since it does not feature on current London Underground maps, having been closed since 1994, I take the opportunity to share Douglas Rose’s London Underground: A Diagrammatic History, with a shot focussing close in on the Aldwych branch…
The full map, spread out.The key area.
I hope you have enjoyed this post, and I ecnourage you to share it widely.
A personal account of the Lord’s test match, some infographics, links and photographs – enjoy.
INTRODUCTION
I have a selection of infographics, photos and links to share, as well as my main piece.
AN EXTRAORDINARY TEST MATCH
England 30-4 in the first innings. After England recovered from this dismal start to reach 389 early on the second morning New Zealand spent the rest of day 2 compiling 303-2. By the end of day 3 England were two down in their second innings and still nearly a hundred runs in the red. Day four saw the big momentum swing, the creation of three individuals, Cook, Root and especially Stokes. The last named scored the fastest hundred ever in a Lord’s test match. This meant that England closed the day with an already substantial lead. By the time England were all out on the fifth morning (yesterday), New Zealand needed 345 for victory in 77 overs. Two wickets went down without a run, but the really decisive blow came later in the day and was struck by that man Stokes (the most obvious man of the match in test history) who cleaned up Kane Williamson and Brendon McCullum with successive deliveries. Thereafter, although the New Zealand lower order showed plenty of fight it always looked like an England win, and the eventual margin was 125 runs.
I do not withdraw my earlier criticisms of England’s selection policy, and I point out that it was not until deep into day four that the possibility of an England win showed up an anyone’s radar. Also as an aside New Zealand won the toss and chose to put England in, and even though they did take early wickets, as such a course of action requires, they still ended up beaten.
I hope that the second test match lives up to this one (a pity that there are only the two rather than a proper series – ICC please note that two tests DO NOT CONSTITUTE a proper series).This will require England not to adopt a “what we have we hold” approach.
INFOGRAPHICS
I have a variety of infographics to share this time, starting with a couple from people in favour of keeping the hunting ban…
I take a very strong line on disability rights both here and on aspitweets and my next infographic is in keeping with that.
Those of us fortunate enough not to have had to use a food bank may wonder what exactly they provide – check this scary infographic to find out…
My last two infographics both relate to a smear campaign being run by the Daily Mail against Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham (which has naturally influenced me in his favour!)
LINKS
I shall start with an anniversary, courtesy of Faraday’s Candle. The birthday girl is astronaut Sally Ride.
Having started on a science theme, two more links, the first of which introduces the second. The twin themes are asteroid strikes and probability:
I found the result of this referendum very exciting, and I was not the only one, as these two links, one from the Independent and one from Patheos make clear in their different ways:
My last links both refer to important social issues, one to our railways and one to the bedroom tax. First of all, I thank the Liverpool Echo for this article about the much loathed bedroom tax. Secondly, The Mirror provided this marvellous article about Network Rail.
PHOTOGRAPHS AND SHARING
Just before putting up my final few images I would urge you all to share this post or at least the parts of it that appeal to you. My thanks to all of my followers.
These maps all come fron the front of Harry Sidebottom’s “The Caspian Gates” which is a marvellous read and a book I would recommend to anyone.
I saw this picture on twitter and was very struck by it, so here it is.
This is a whimsy on my part. While I was out walking this morning I had an idea come to me about London, specifically as a public transport user covering London on a station-by-station basis (for those not terribly familiar with me, I grew up in London), and the one the came into my mind, partly because one of fellow bloggers is visiting London and will almost certainly be making use of this station was South Kensington. If it works well I will try to come up with others.
South Kensington is served by the District, Circle and Piccadilly lines, the first two since 1868 and the third since 1906. As a destination it means one thing to me: museums. I cannot really say much about the Victoria and Albert, but the others, namely The Natural History Museum and the Science Museum are both old favourites of mine (there used to be a Geological Museum as well, but that has long since been amalgamated with the Natural History). Either would merit a visit, or if you are up for really giving the brain some exercise, you could do one in the morning, have lunch (a picnic in Hyde Park if the weather permits) and then do the second in the afternoon.
There is an underground passageway from the main station concourse to the museums, with clearly marked exits for each museum, or you can do the walk at surface level, passing some decorative wrought ironwork as you leave the station.
To complete the post I have two pictures of recent London Underground maps (actually the same map, but the second picture zeroes in on the central area)…
As well as my main piece this post will include some good links and some photos.
CRICKET AND THINGS
Thanks to two splendid innings (Cook, finally out this morning for 162 and Stokes, an 85-ball century yesterday) England have pulled off a remarkable turnaround putting themselves in a position from which they might actually win this match. Moeen Ali has just gone, leaving England 343 ahead with one second innings wicket standing. If New Zealand are minded to have a crack at the target we could have a superb finish.
The weather is nice enough, though cloudy, to be sitting outside.
Anderson has just been bowled meaning that New Zealand will need 345 to win in 77 overs. The highest ever total in the final innings to win at a test match at Lords is 344 by the West Indies in 1984, so if New Zealand get these they will make history.
On now to some links…
LINKS
To start with, a link to Charlotte Hoather’s latest post.
DWP LINKS
I have three links in this section, one to a post on johnnyvoid, one to a DPAC post and one to an official government:
Two links here, one to an article about the Catholic Church’s response to the Irish referendum on gay marriage and one to a piece from atheist republic about proof:
I have some excellent photographs from in and around King’s Lynn to share with you. Mentioning sharing, i hope that some of you will share some or all of this post…
This beer mat was given to me by a friend in Norwich.
An attempt to capture tadpoles swimming in the upper Purfleet.A close up showing a couple of tadpoles.
aspiblog 
