Tag: Public Transport

London Underground to King’s Lynn?!

A whimsical exercise inspired by a fairly newly constructed path in King’s Lynn, assessing how the real roundel might be brought here.

This is an exercise in purest whimsy, provoked by a recently constructed set of paths in Hardings Pits near King’s Lynn that I have dubbed ‘Roundel Path’ for their collective resemblance to London Underground’s classic symbol. Here is a photograph:

Roundel Path – I hope this photo, taken this morning illustrates the reason I have so named it.

Before moving in to the main body of this post I re-emphasise that this a purely whimsical exercise, and not even I would actually recommend the adoption of these schemes.

TWO POSSIBLE METHODS

These suggestions are listed from most to least fanciful with even the least fanciful still fairly so.

  1. Over a decade ago I did a personal survey of the Piccadilly line, which among other things recommended a northwards extension from Cockfosters to Welwyn Garden City. Welwyn Garden City is a station that trains from London to King’s Lynn pass but do not stop at en route. Extending all the way to Lynn would require a lot of adjustments at every station that the line would stop at – ideal platform heights are very different for surface and tube stocks which is why I consider this possibility even more unrealistic than the other.
  2. The slightly less ridiculous possibility makes use of the fact that the older subsurface London Underground lines are built to standard railway specifications and would at least not require any platform adaptations. It would require one completely new section of track, from King’s Cross St Pancras (Circle, Hammersmith&City and Metropolitan line shared platforms) to Finsbury Park or some point further north, with an intermediate station at Highbury& Islington, giving some useful connections, joining the existing tracks as soon as it is practical for it to come to the surface. That leaves one further question…

WHICH OF LINE SHOULD RUN THE NEW ROUTE?

There are three possibilities:

  1. The Metropolitan line once extended over 50 miles out into the countryside, and is still much more like a mainline railway than other lines. The disadvantage of the Metropolitan getting this route is that from Baker Street onward trains would heading northwest, having come from basically due north (with a tiny fraction of east).
  2. The Hammersmith and City line, which could abandon the Farringdon to Barking part of its route, all of which is served by other lines.
  3. The Wimbledon-Edgware Road section of the District line could add the stations as far as King’s Cross to its existing route and take over the new route.

PHOTOGRAPHS

I state once again that the foregoing has been a piece of whimsy, not anything serious, before applying my usual sign off…

A new bird sighting for me, tentatively identified as a grey wagtail.
This cormorant has evidently developed a taste for this particular tree canopy – I have seen it up there before.
Roundel Path

Cornish Christmas 6: The Journey Home

An account of my return journey from Cornwall to Norfolk, with a photo gallery.

This is my final post about my Christmas in Cornwall, and details the return journey.

A JOURNEY OF MANY PARTS

I was travelling on a Sunday, something I normally try to avoid because it can be problematic. I was booked on the 14:15 from Plymouth, and had various subsequent connections to make. We left Fort Picklecombe at 12:45, and arrived at Plymouth station a little over an hour after that. As I was booked in coach A I had to get to the far end of the platform to be able to get to my booked seat. The train ran a little bit late, but not enough to disarrange my subsequent plans (incidentally GWR have already paid compensation for the problems with my outbound journey). Because I was right at the front of the train I would have had to walk the entire length of the platform at Paddington to get to the bridge that gives access to the Hammersmith and City line platforms, which was never a practical proposition. I therefore went through the ticket gates onto the concourse at my end of the platform, and boarded a circle line train at the Praed Street platforms, changing trains at Edgware Road as required. At King’s Cross I found my way to my next train, a non-stop service to Royston from where I would catch a replacement bus to Cambridge North and then board a train for the last stage of the journey to King’s Lynn. Everything on this stage of the journey went smoothly, and I arrived into King’s Lynn station exactly on schedule at 20:48. It remained only to walk home, a journey of about 20 minutes, and then unpack.

PHOTOGRAPHS

It was of course dark for much of the time I was travelling, but not for the really scenic part of the journey before Exeter, though I was on the wrong side of the train to get the full benefit of that.

The first two pictures in this gallery were taken through the car window on the journey to Plymouth.
Then there were some pictures taken at Plymouth.
Pictures taken in transit from Plynouth start here.
On the Praed Street platforms.
At Edgware Road
Part of the sign indication the Metropolitan line platforms at Baker Street.
This picture should have featured a roundel as well as this, but someone walked right in front of the roundel while I was taking it/
Railway 200 stuff at King’s Cross
The route map on the train to Royston.

A Cornish Christmas 1: A Curate’s Egg Journey Down

An account of a “curate’s egg’ journey from King’s Lynn to Fort Picklecombe. Parts of the journey were indeed excellent, and I got some good photos along the way.

I am in Cornwall for Christmas. I travelled down yesterday, which journey I shall be covering in this post, and will staying until Sunday.

THE GOOD: KING’S LYNN TO PADDINGTON

My itinerary for this journey started with catching the 10:45 from King’s Lynn to Kings Cross, so I set off at 10 o’clock sharp to make sure I got to the station in good time. The train ran precisely as per schedule, and at 12:33 I alighted on to Platform 9 of Kings Cross station. The Hammersmith and City line journey from Kings Cross to Paddington, following the original route of the world’s first passenger carrying underground railway was also uneventful. I consumed a light meal courtesy of a branch of Costa that is structurally part of the station, and then it was necessary to be ready for the next and longest phase of the journey…

THE BAD – A GWR HORROR SHOW

Although today’s Great Western Railway has the same name as the company founded by the legendary Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and serves most of the same routes, I do not think that Brunel would be impressed with his company’s modern day namesake. Actually the current GWR should probably be glad that the dead cannot sue under UK law. As I scanned the departure screen on the bridge linking the various platforms at this iconic station (the photo gallery at the end of this post contains some pictures that should go some way to showing you why this station is rated as one of Europe’s finest) I noticed there were some cancellations, and some delays. My own train was among the delayed, and the estimated time was being pushed back in small increments. Eventually at 2:15, 12 minutes after the scheduled departure time we were finally given the platform information. I managed to get to my booked seat, and a few moments later we were finally underway. However the late departure caused us to end up behind a couple of stopping services between Exeter and Plymouth, so the train arrived very late at Plymouth (once I am back in Lynn the company will be hearing from me as I expect compensation from them for both the stress experienced at Paddington and the very late arrival in Plymouth).

THE FINAL STAGE

My sister met myself and my nephew at Plymouth station (he, due to mishaps associated with another train company, South Western, had ended up on the same train as me), and drove us to our final destination, Fort Picklecombe in Cornwall. Apart from the satnav making a few daft mistakes (at one point telling us to make a u-turn when we actually on the Torpoint ferry!) this part of the journey was thankfully uneventful.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the photographs I took yesterday, plus a couple from this morning:

Ely Cathedral, through a train window approaching the station from the north.
An inspection train, near Ely.
The roof at Kings Cross.
A fine combination of central roundel, map to the left and information poster to the right, with a train on the other platform providing the backdroop.
A close up of the roundel.
This was probably the best picture I got of a roof arch at Paddington station.
A reasonably close picture of a Central line train approaching Ealing Broadway and a much more distant one of another train on the same line leaving that station.
A District line train at Ealing Broadway. It has steeper sides than the rounded Central line stock, and is also larger, the District having been built to mainline spec, while the deep level tube lines are smaller.
This yellow train (see also next picture) is I believe an engineering train.
Newton Abbot station features a standard-issue post box at platform level.
Two pictures of the lighthouse taken through the window of the living room at Fort Picklecombe.

Unhappy Birthday Elon

An account of my involvement in an ‘Unhappy birthday, Elon’ event yesterday, complete with photos.

Yesterday was Elon Musk’s birthday, and activities had been organized in various places to make it an unhappy one for him. I took part in the event in London, outside the Tesla dealership in Park Royal.

THERE AND BACK

I caught the 7:42 train from King’s Lynn to London King’s Cross. I had been speculating over the possibility of travelling on the Metropolitan line to Rayner’s Lane and then going back down the Piccadilly line to Park Royal, but an announcement to the effect that the Metropolitan was experiencing delays saw me change plans and go the direct route along the Piccadilly. I arrived early, and did my best to assist with the setup. I did not stay hugely long, and was back home in time to catch most of the T20I between the England and India women’s teams. Most of the time I was there was spent with a sign urging passing motorists to “HONK IF YOU HATE ELON” – and quite a few did so.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photographs starting at King’s Lynn Station and ending with a distant view of Ely Cathedral on the return train journey…

This arch is part of the remnants of a viaduct that carried what is now the Hammersmith and City line by way of a station named Hammersmith Grove Road to Ravenscourt Park for the run to Richmond.
Part of the display
A giant ‘unhappy birthday card’
The Tesla sign and a protest sign in the same shot.
I was delighted to get this picture of the name ‘Covent Garden’ picked out in tiling.

50th Birthday Holiday 1: The First Stage

An account of a problematic start to this year’s Scottish holdiay, courtesy of LNER. Also a photo gallery of pictures all taken at various stages of the journey.

I am now ensconced in a tiny hamlet named Achosnich in the far west of the Ardnamurchan Peninsula, which is itself the westernmost past of mainland Britain, where I and my parents are having a holiday around my 50th birthday. The day itself is Saturday, for which I have already scheduled a small post which will come out as near as can be scheduled precisely 50 years after my birth. This post would normally have been entitled ‘Getting There’, but as will become clear this process has been somewhat less straightforward than it should have been.

THE BEST LAID PLANS OF MICE AND MEN…

Up until about 11:30AM yesterday, for all that the day of my birthday had meant a Sunday to Sunday holiday booking and thus travel and the most unreliable day for using public transport, I was feeling pleased with how things were progressing. I had booked from Peterborough to Crianlarich, the closest place to our final destination that I could sensibly book to, and to guard against choppy waters in respect of the opening leg of the journey had opted for the safe option of the 9:25 bus from Lynn to Peterborough, rather than the 10:25 which would have had to run very late to get me in trouble, or to not run altogether. A clear run on the bus saw at Peterborough Station with comfortably over an hour until the train on which I was booked was due, so I purchased some light refreshments and killed time in the station cafeteria, before checking the departure information screen, still with masses of time to spare…

…GANG AFT AGLEY

…it was that look at the departure information screen that blew my travel plans sky high. There in big red lettering against the 12:18 to Edinburgh Waverley was the dread word “CANCELLED”, along with a perfunctory line about a faulty train. Fortunately my parents were not by the point irretrievably committed, and we were able to arrange for me to get the 13:18 to Edinburgh, on which I had established that my ticket would still be valid, since the cancellation was entirely the fault of LNER, and they would pick me up there and we would go together in their car to be a place they had booked that was between Edinburgh and our final destination. There were a few problems around Edinburgh, but we got to where we were staying overnight in time for latish supper. The journey to Edinburgh, save for it being a crowded train (Sunday is a light travelling day, but a combination of a cancelled train and the fact that Sunderland had won a play off final and with it promotion to the Premiership on the Saturday meant that space was at a premium) to the extent that I did not get a seat until Newark Northgate. However, by the time of the stretch between York and Edinburgh, which is where all the scenic stuff is I was not merely seated, I was in a window seat, albeit facing against the direction of travel.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here is my photo gallery…

One of the reasons I quite like starting journeys to a holiday destination with the bus trip to Peterborough is that the crossing of the Great Ouse feels like the beginning of the holiday, since save for WNAG committee meetings pretty much all my daily life happens east of that river.
After that the only place on the way to Peterborough that really offers photo ops is Wisbech, self styled “Capital of the Fenlands”.
Peterborough
York station
This page and others like it come from a book that was one of the purchases I made with my birthday present from my friends at WNAG
Darlington, the joint oldest passenger station in the world (the Stockton and Darlington route carried its first passengers in 1825, before when railways had been freight only).
Durham is dominated by two massive buildings, this one…
…and this one.
Newcastle is a city of bridges.
A distant shot of a tram near Newcastle.
A close crop showing only the tram and immediate surround.
This is the town served by Alnmouth station, though the station itself is a tiny bit inland from the town.
This long viaduct is in Berwick Upon Tweed, and it links England and Scotland.
The Tweed will never rival the Tyne for bridges, but these are quite impressive.
Is it possible to shoot a moving target when you yourself are in motion (and at some speed)? Yes, and this is defintive proof (but successes like this are rare).
This is the clock at Edinburgh Waverley station.
This establishment (see also previous picture) is directly opposite the Market Street exit from Waverley Station.
From here on in the pictures were all taken from the back seat (non-drivers side) of my parents car.

Tesla Takedown

An account of my involvement in the first Tesla Takedown event, outside the dealership at Park Royal, London. Features a special section on the magnificent Park Royal station.

Yesterday saw the first Tesla Takedown event take place outside the Tesla dealership at Park Royal in west London. I was one of the participants, and this post describes my day.

PREPARATION AND TRAVEL

The event was scheduled to start at 11AM, which necessitated catching the 7:42 ntrain from King’s Lynn and then changing to the Piccadilly line at King’s Cross. I had agreed to meet my sister at King’s Lynn station for the oublic transport element of the journey. Given the importance of making that train I planned to leave my house in North Lynn at 7AM to be absolutely sure that there was no possibility of missing it. The journey to King’s Cross was smooth, and the weather was so benign that had I been religiousI might have reckoned thAt someone up there was on our side and ipso facto opposed to Elon the Execrable. It prpved to be just as well that we had lots of time for the cross London journey on the Piccadilly lin, as this part of the journey saw us delayed. Ironically the problem area was what is usually the quickest portion of a journey onn the Piccadilly line, the non-stop run from Hammersmith to Acton Town (the District line has intermediate stops at Ravenscourt Park, Stamford Brook, Turnham Green and Chiswick Park, in a reversal of the situation between Baker Street and Wembley Park, where save for a stop at Finchley Road the Metroplitan line runs fast, while the Jubilee line stops everywhere). We had just past Turnham Green when the train stopped, and we were then told after a substantial pause that it would move forward before stopping suddenly and then rpoceeding slowly. There was then another unscheduled stoo before Acton Town, followed by precisely the same rigmarole, which was then followed by an announcement that the train would now terminate at South Harrow rather than going on to Rayners Lane. The last few stops of our journey passed without further incident. Park Royal is such a fine station that I am giving it a sectionof its own later in the post. Before moving on, here are the pictures taken between King’s Lynn and just before arrival at Park Roya…

I haven’t seen many churches with solar panels on the roof.

TAKING DOWN TESLA

The Tesla dealership is actually visible as you step out of Park Royal station, and it is located just off the A40 (the main road between London and Oxford – the Oxford Tube bus service was in evidence – four Oxford bound buses passed on our side, and although I did not observe them all probably as many coming into London came the other way. We garnered plenty of support from passing motorists. The principal organizer was asked to take down his handmade banner because it featured a swastika (no one actually seeing it could have interpreted it as supporting that ideology, and it features in the photo gallery at the end of this section, but apparently some drivers had seen the symbol and looked no further before contacting the police. The police were very friendly about it, and the banner was taken down. I spoke to a couple of media people who were covering the event for their publications. I left a little early, feeling the need to get home…

A version of the official publicity shot using the Tesla sign as background taken with my camera. I am in the red top, holding a placard made by my sister.

PARK ROYAL STATION

I noticed a number of very distinctive elements about Park Royal Station, including an ornamental tower that sits on top of a circular ticket hall, and a covered walkway which links Platform two (eastbound, towards central London) to the rest of the station. At the top of the tower are roundels on three sides with a concrete ‘shadow roundel’ on the fourth side. I have included on ‘rogue’ picture in this section, a picture of a ‘Middlesex shield’ which is not actually anything to do with the station but cannot be put anywhere else in this post. Enjoy this splendid example of station architecture…

A view of the platforms from the street.
A close up of the tower roundel.
A map showing times to each station on the Piccadilly line.

HOMEWARD BOUND

As suggested by the last pictures in the Park Royal gallery the Piccadilly line was srill not back on peak form by the time I was heading back. I did consider heading for Hanger Lane on the Central line, but although it is marked as walkable signage outside Park Royal station is non-existent, and so in the end I settled for Park Royal. By the time an eastbound train arrived it was jam packed, and I alighted at Ealing Common, where there was the possibility of a District line train (and change to the Hammersmith & City at Hammersmith), but in the event the next eastbound train was another Piccadilly line service, and had lots of space on it. I got to King’s Cross with a fair wait until the next train to King’s Lynn, and ate the sandwiches I had prepared in the morning while waiting for the train. The journey back to King’s Lynn was uneventful. Here are my remaining photos from the public transport part of the journey…

Another variation on the roundel theme – here there is a roundel shape in the glass, but it has not been coloured.
A bronze statue of one of the greats of locomotive engineering, Nigel Gresley.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Of course I have been taking my usual kind of photographs as well…

The Boxing Day Test Match So Far

A look at developments in the Boxing Day test match so far and large photo gallery.

At 11:30PM on Christmas Day UK time the Boxing Day test match at the MCG (between India and Australia – the fourth match of a five match series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy – on this occasion) got underway.

DAY ONE

Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. This meant that debutant Sam Konstas, at the age of 19, would not have long to wait for his first bat at the highest level, since he would be opening the innings alongside Usman Khawaja, precisely twice his age, and the biggest age gap between Australian openers since Syd Gregory, induced out of retirement at the age of 42 by a dispute that left Australia without six of its leading players, and Charlie Kellaway padded up together way back in 1912. Konstas selection also meant two other things: he was only the third ever test player known to be of Greek heritage after Xenophon Constantine Balaskas (South Africa) and Athanasios John Traicos (South Africa, and, after a record mid-career hiatus at that level of 22 years, Zimbabwe). Marcus Stoinis, also of Greek ancestry, has played limited overs cricket for Australia, but not test cricket, and Ari Karvelas has played for the land of his ancestors but not as yet for that of his birth, South Africa; and Australia had a top three all born abroad – Konstas (Greece), Khawaja (Pakistan) and Labuschagne (South Africa).

Konstas played a magnificent innings, showing no sign of any nerves. His use of ramp and scoop shots forced India to deploy run-saving fielders directly behind the wicket, which also meant reducing the slip cordon so as not to leave gaps in front of the wicket. Left arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja got him, with, as is so often the case with this bowler, a ball that didn’t actually do anything – it just went straight through and hit a pad in line with the stumps, for a 65 ball 60, which came out of an opening stand of 89. Khawaja completed a much more pedestrian 50, as did Labuschagne, and by the close of day one Steve Smith had also exceeded 50, and it was still there. Bumrah claimed three wickets in the course of the day, and without him Australia would have been well and truly out of sight by the end of this day. A score of 311-6 was still a good effort. Khawaja did not make my all time Ks XI, but his stocks have risen since August 2022, and he would merit consideration now, although I might still stick with Karunaratne. If Konstas’ debut knock was any sort of clue to his future career then he will displace Majid Khan as the right handed opener in that XI before he is done.

DAY TWO

I missed a fair amount of this day’s action due to the inconvenient time of its happening, but I did get to see both India’s best and worst moments of a day that ended with Australia in total control. Australia reached 474, Steve Smith reaching 140, and Pat Cummins boosting the score with a late 49. India lost two wickets fairly early, but then a fine third wicket stand developed between Yashavsi Jaiswal and Virat Kohli. Half an hour before the end of the day it looked fairly evenly poised, and Jaiswal looked set for a century. Then Jaiswal played one towards Cummins, not a fielder whose arm should be challenged, set off for the single, only for Kohli, ball watching, to ignore his partner’s call, which resulted in the end of Jaiswal for 82. Kohli himself then edged Boland to Carey, and nightwatch Akash Deep also failed to survive until the close. Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja were thus together at the end of the day, with India 167-5, still over 100 runs short of avoiding the follow-on. India will have their work cut out to emerge from this with anything other than a defeat, which will mean that only a win in Sydney will see them retain the BGT.

PHOTOGRAPHS

My usual sign off…

There are a lot more pictures from Fakenham than usual in this gallery – I had misread a notice about library opening hours and had a lot of time to kill after work on Tuesday and did so doing a lot of walking.
For all that it has Fakenham in its name this defunct train station is actually just into the adjoining village of Hempton.
The last picture from Fakenham.
This picture and the next were taken on Christmas Day morning – the rest of that gallery will appear in my next post.

Cornwall – The Return Journey

An account of my return journey from my Cornish excursion, including a very large photo gallery.

In this post I bring the account of my Cornish sojourn to a close with an account of the return journey.

TIMING PROBLEMS

I was booked on the train leaving Plymouth at 3:15PM and had to be out of my hotel room by 10:30AM at the latest. My hope was that I could find somewhere to leave my bigger bag and spend much of the intervening time exploring Plymouth, but my hotel was not an option, being a place that did not offer full service, and Plymouth station proved not to offer that option either. Therefore I spent a long time in the vicinity of Plymouth station until I could board the train.

THE JOURNEY ITSELF

The train set off on time. My booked seat was on the wrong side of the train for the very scenic Newton Abbot – Exeter section, but the train was virtually empty, so I moved across temporarily, moving back as we arrived into Exeter St Davids (I don’t think the reservations were actually being enforced, but one can never be sure). The train arrived into Paddington as per schedule, and aside from the inevitable overcrowding my journey on the Hammersmith and City line to King’s Cross was also uneventful. The last potential problem area was Kings Cross train station where platform details are sometimes confirmed at the last minute. Fortunately on this occasion that did not happen, and I was settled in a seat near the front of the train in very good time. I was due to arrive at King’s Lynn at 9:00PM, and the train stuck to schedule. I made it back to my flat in decent time as well.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are my photographs from this day…

The dragonfly sculpture in San Sebastian Square.
The expanse of Armada Way.
It is not quite to my taste, but I can see the architectural merits of this building.
The beginning of the seaside section of the route.

Cornwall – Penzance 3: The Journey Home

An account of my return journey from Penzance to Liskeard to bring the Penzance ‘series within a series’ to a conclusion.

I am writing this post from a hotel room in Plymouth where I am spending the last night of my excursion, due to a mix up over holiday dates (I booked my train tickets based on my parents flying out to Crete tomorrow, whereas they are actually doing so today). I will cover the events of today in considerable detail in a later post. Suffice it to say for the moment that I am happy with my room. For today I complete my coverage of my excursion to Penzance with an account of the return journey.

PENZANCE TO LISKEARD

While I was heading east from Penzance to Liskeard my sisters was heading westwards towards Plymouth, from where she would be picked up. In the event although my train reached Liskeard some while after hers reached Plymouth I was back at Fort Picklecombe first due to the shorter journey from Liskeard as compared to Plymouth. There were two short stoppages on my journey from Penzance to Liskeard, but overall it was a smooth run. I got some good pictures along the way.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here are the photographs from the return journey…

The photos from the return journey start here.
Truro Cathedral in as much of its glory as can be captured through a train window.

Cornwall: Penzance 1 – The Journey There

Starting a series-within-a-series about my trip to Penzance yesterday. This post deals with the train journey there.

The weather here in Cornwall is much improved from Sunday, an improvement which started yesterday afternoon, while I was visiting Penzance. This post is the first of three I shall be producing, covering Liskeard to the just before arrival in Penzance (Penzance station will feature as the starting point of the third post, about the journey back).

A COUPLE OF MINOR IRRITATIONS

My original plan had to been to catch the 10:33 out of St Germans, but unfortunately that had to be readjusted to catching the 11:12 out of Liskeard as we did not have time to get to St Germans for the earlier train. At Liskeard I joined a small queue for the ticket office (I was third in line at that stage, with two more people having joined the queue by the time the first customer had been dealt with, a mere trifle of 17 minutes later). I still had ample time after completing my purchase of a return to Penzance (fortunately the second customer in the queue was quick, as I was) to get down to the platform and take some pictures at platform level before the train came in (Liskeard has a slightly curious layout, with platforms 1 and 2 both being approached by way of a footbridge, while platform 3 which is the terminus of a minor branch line to Looe is approached by a separate footpath and is at 90 degree angle to the other two platforms).

A SMOOTH JOURNEY

The journey from Liskeard to Penzance passed smoothly, though with the usual frustrations for a photographer in motion of failed shots due to misjudging the precise moment at which to click the shutter to capture the target. I arrived into Penzance at about 12:50 and was ready for the next stage of the day, which will covered in my next post.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Here is the picture gallery for this post…

The final approach to Penzance (station building at front of shot).