With print copies now starting to land on subscriber doormats it is time to announce that London Reconnections Magazine Issue 2: Angels and Errors is now available to purchase in our online store.
As with Issue 1, it represents a combination of new articles (which will run online at a later date) and best of the web, which this issue includes the cover piece – a look at the 1952 Harrow & Wealdstone rail disaster.
Visually, we have been able to liberate a number of photos from the archives of several newspapers, which we feel really highlight the scale of the disaster both in physical and human terms. We were able to do this thanks to those of you who purchased our first issue, and for that you have our thanks.
Meanwhile, in The DNA of a London Underground Station we continue to look at design on the Underground and where it’s going next. For this, Nicole Badstuber spoke to some of the key figures behind TfL’s new Design Idiom.
Delving into history, author and LR contributor Antony Badsey-Ellis has taken a long look at one of the little-known pieces of London’s freight history in The Forgotten Freight Dreams of Alfred Gattie.
Alongside this, in It’s Arsenal Round Here I explore the close relationship between Gillespie Road station and Arsenal FC. This would ultimately lead to the station’s renaming in 1932 thanks to the forward-thinking Herbert Chapman – football’s equivalent of Frank Pick.
Rounding out our best of the web content are The Warehouse (our look at Crossrail’s subterranean store in deepest Cheshire) and a newly updated version of Bike to the Future: Part 2 by Pedantic of Purley.
Finally, we have an incredible eyewitness account of the Hither Green rail crash. We are proud to print it in the magazine and aid the author’s wish of ensuring his own experiences that night are preserved. Hither Green itself is a topic to which we will return later this month online.
As before, you can purchase your copy of the latest issue in the LR Shop as either a digital download or physical issue.
A last note – we still have a limited number of Issue ones left, and so we’ve added an extra option to the print subscription page which allows you still to start from the first issue should you so wish. One for the completionists who have yet to purchase a subscription, but please be aware that this option will obviously only be available whilst stocks last.
As always, we hope you enjoy the issue – and no doubt it’ll prove a discussion topic at our monthly meetup tomorrow. With computer glitches here in LR Towers now a thing of the past, we also hope you enjoy some of the posts we’ve got coming this month. We look forward to seeing you in the comments…
John Bull
November, 2015
I got my on line edition a few days ago and printed it to read on train journeys. “Very good” doesn’t adequately describe how good a read it is. I find that the print format, and, no doubt, some editing refreshes the “best of the web”. Well done to you all.
Thanks – glad you enjoyed it. Luckily we got it all finished before my epic computer explosions!
I’m happy to admit that what has definitely improved this issue is that, taking onboard feedback from last time, we’ve now got a separate copy-editor.
Means the risk of me polluting it with my occasional Americanisms in spelling and grammar is far lower.
Hi John Bull
I have not received by on-line PDF copy of this issue yet.
Could you please advise.
Super site!
Hello theprinter – having checked, it’s due to some email restrictions you have in place. I’ll contact you directly about it so we can get you reading as soon as possible.
Any chance you could produce an ePub (basic HTML with images) version for reading on smartphones and Kindles, etc?
I’ve forgotten.
How do I “find & open” an online copy?
@Greg – link was sent to all subscribers on Sunday.
@Frankie – it’s possible but to be honest it’s one of those demand vs time it would take things. As it stands, we’re not sure the demand is there.
@JB – received and read avidly this morning! I particularly enjoyed the article on future TfL design standards and whilst I believe their emphasis on lighting and a unified approach are the “natural” ways to go now, and for new works, I couldn’t help wondering how the principles would be applied to the iconic heritage such as the Holden or Black stations.
That Harrow & Wealdstone piece was the article that led me to this site in the first place, and is hard to top as an example of the talents of the regular writers here.
This time, I have the money and have subscribed. Money well spent, I think.
GRYTPYPE-THYNNE: Did you hear that, Moriarty?
MORIARTY: Yes, Grytpype! Money! Moolah! Splonders!
GRYTPYPE: Quite. Now, put your teeth back in and get our best paper plates! Tonight, we eat!
Got mine yesterday! It looks marvellous – such high quality as a product, it really is – and the content is being slowly worked through!
I am still reading and re-reading bits from issue 1 to be honest. Very pleased to have subscribed to this.
Wow! Yes, I can tell that there is a separate copy-editor, I didn’t notice any inconsistencies or errors in typography this time.
I really enjoyed this issue. I think it’s so high quality, it’s a shame your remit is limited to London because honestly I’d love to find a publication this detailed, well-written and well-researched about the national rail network!
Excellent read. Cheers
Agreed that it is a very good read, but talking of copyediting there is some punctuation re direct speech that is rather unusual. They’re not typos in the normal sense, because they are so many of them that the copy editor must have thought that they were OK.
The following examples are all from p67, and in each case the first full stop and following capital letter are not grammatical – the initial sentence actually ends at the second full stop, and includes both the direct speech and the following clause.
“…our thinking.” Explains Mark Evers, Director of Customer Strategy at TfL. “Very simply…”
“…of Holden.” Remembers Jon Hunter, Design and Print Manager at TfL. “And then…”
“… Pick era.” Says Hunter. “If you…”
@Mike – Quite. If I guess correctly, then that dreadful sub-editor often referred to as “Spell Checker” has overridden the original or has been ignored and added the capital letter following the quote with full stop. To take your final example, it should of course read:
” “… Pick era.”, says Hunter. “If you…” ”
or that full stop after “era” should be omitted as well if the original was not at the end of the sentence quoted by Hunter.
Graham H said “…….and whilst I believe their emphasis on lighting and a unified approach are the “natural” ways to go now, and for new works, I couldn’t help wondering how the principles would be applied to the iconic heritage such as the Holden or Black stations…….”
Over my long career with LU, there were various strategic reports and other documents put together on design standards for stations and other visual assets that set “the unified requirements for the future”. Indeed I championed one myself and had to “sell” it to Denis Tunnicliffe. I don’t believe any has lasted more than 10 years or the tenure of the Design Manager of the day. This is probably just as well – who remembers the plan for all exits from tube platforms to be prominently decorated yellow (Original Jubilee line) or the orange, vomit yellow and brown of the interior of the 1983 tube stock. I wonder what his successors will think of JH’s version in 10 years time?
@100and thirty – I agree that many of the last generation or two of tube stations have been either bland or grim (tho’ I find the Startrek JLE designs amusing). It was really with the genuinely architecturally important stuff, especially the Holden stations, that I wonder how – or whether – these new standards should be applied.
We had a similar procession of poor design with BR design advisers; just for amusement, when the Board had its own phase of going through “Hot Orange” and “vomit yellow”, a new design for the interior of the Royal Train, incorporating these colours, was submitted to the Palace. The sketches for the orange curtains were returned with a monarchical addition – a small arrow pointing to the curtains with the added words “V horrid”…
Graham H. It’s amazing how tastes in architecture change over the years. Things that were regarded as “carbuncles” or “the worst excesses of get-rich-quick capitalism” have, 40 years on, been listed as Grade 1 e.g. Centre Point?
@100andthirty – indeed, although I suspect that a discussion on the “PC-ness” of English Heritage’s listers will have us snipped. (Alas) Perhaps one might be allowed to add to your thought, however, that at least the Underground was never cursed with the neo-brutalist school of architecture so beloved of the South Bank (and Mexican prisons) – and now listed,of course. I can’t ever see a day coming when the National Theatre will be regarded as attractive.
100andthirty,
At the risk of having to censor myself for going off-topic, one reason buildings are listed is because of historical interest. This can be a good example of the architecture of that period or the historical significance of a place (e.g . birthplace of …). If the listing is because of this reason then they don’t have to aesthetically appealing. Otherwise how would you get pillboxes listed?
@PoP…And even listing them for ‘historical interest’ may not be enough to protect them *cough*Euston Arch*cough*.
The standard use of punctuation is like this:
Hunter said “I was alive during the Pick Era.”
“I was alive during the Pick Era,” Hunter said.
“I was alive,” Hunter said, “during the Pick Era.”
Where you are quoting something that would naturally end with a full stop, but the quotation does not end the surrounding sentence, the quotation is ended with a comma inside the quotation marks, and never a full stop. Similarly a break in the quotation is given a comma inside the marks, even if the person quoted did not pause there at all.
Blimey – an attack of grammasites (It’s a Jasper Fforde reference for those who have not yet tasted his pleasures).
That is probably enough now about this particular grammar point. No criticism is intended of those who have raised or commented on the matter, the magazine is a quality document, and conforming with accepted best grammatical practice is important. But please let’s move on now.
@ 100 and thirty / Graham H – glad to see I’m not the only one pondering the applicability of the Design Idiom. I haven’t seen the article but I did spend some time visiting the exhibition at the architects’ practice that developed the Idiom with LU. Perhaps I’m just too cynical but I couldn’t align the documentation with the enthusiasm from the sponsors (there were various video clips of LU people). I think Sloane Square is having the “idiom” treatment and when I went through recently the place looked a mess. I suspect the work isn’t finished but even so it didn’t look good. I also struggle with deploying such a limited palette of colours and finishes on such an amazingly diverse estate. There are already too many refurbed stations that resemble NHS hospital wards and I’m not sure that’s a look an “aspiring to world class” Metro system should be deploying.
I will be surprised to see if this latest initiative has any real life to it. It will no doubt adorn the Battersea Extension and Croxley Link stations but beyond that? As 100 and thirty says these things don’t last long until it’s time for the next episode of the “emperor’s new clothes”. I am interested to see what Crossrail dish up architecturally and in terms of finishes and if we can spot the impact of “cost pressures” from a few years back.
@ WW and others
Agreed on the Design Idiom – while it captures l’esprit du temps, I wonder how it will stand up even a few years down the line, so to speak. I look forward to giving it the “Cassiobridge test” in 2020 or thereabouts… 😉
@ JB and the team
An outstanding second issue, thank you. I particularly enjoyed the piece on Arsenal station and Chapman’s supposed influence on its renaming, as it’s my local station (if not my team). If you end up posting it on the LR site I’ll make sure to share the link with the staff there as they’re a friendly and approachable lot and I know they’d be interested. Any plans in that direction?
THC
Graham H
I find the JLE stations remind me of Piranesi’s prisons.
As for “Design Idiom”, the late Brian Haresnape had a lot to say about this, quite a lot of it very critically, too.
IMHO the Sloane Sq re-decorate is a shambles. The previous green tiling & decorations were individual – it told you where you were, without having to read the roundels. Now, it ‘s just another white-tiled Public Convenience ….
@Greg T – Carceri? You’re right about the gigantism (the Wharf especially) but there isn’t the same sense of unknown menace, and the JLE buildings all look too “finished” and machine-made compared with Piranesi’s suggestions of decay and roughness.
Simply as a consumer of the station “product”, I believe the lighting will be key.This was well-recognised before the war with a lot of top lighting for circulation areas (think Southgate or Boston Manor) and indirect but extensive lighting for stairwells in the surface stations, but also the splendid uplighters for escalator shafts and so on in the deep tube. I am less clear this was understood later when we have faced a uniform, flat,tungsten glare. Piranesi would not have liked that.
I also fear the application of gimmicks {I write this having had to sit in judgement on two planning applications from rival petrol stations recently, which were both characterised by a bizarre jargon whose practical impact on the visitng customers would be negligible. For amusement, as an example, the stanchions supporting the canopies over the pumps were to receive little 3-D corporate logos, known affectingly in the design trade as koalas). Note,this is not at all the same things as not attending to detail – think of the care that went into the detail of the 38ts or the Routemaster.
If you end up posting it on the LR site I’ll make sure to share the link with the staff there as they’re a friendly and approachable lot and I know they’d be interested. Any plans in that direction?
Yup – will go online at the beginning of December. I’ll make sure I share it with them – thanks for the tip-off.
Graham H
I’ve always had a soft spot for Gant’s Hill …..
Enjoying the read once again. Excellent job.
@WW @0025 16112015 Z. At Sloane Square late last week, eastbound, I was upset & confused to see “Piccadilly line blue” tiles on a District & Circle platform. YMMV.
@Graham H:
I can’t ever see a day coming when the National Theatre will be regarded as attractive
I have already posted somewhere here John Betjeman’s letter to Denys Lasdun waxing lyrical about the beauty of the National Theatre, so lets just say that tastes vary among people (and not always in ways you would expect), as well as over time. “Attractiveness” is never going to work as a criterion for listing buildings because you will never get agreement on what is attractive.
@Greg T: I’ve always had a soft spot for Gant’s Hill
You’d like Moscow, then…
@Ian J – it’s a fair point although my remarks about the National Theatre were not actually drafted as a critique of listing criteria (the previous sentence was,however, based on the knowledge of the way some former colleagues , when transferred to that part of DOE, set about their duties).
BTW – I assume you meant Moscow suburban housing estates rather than the Metro. (Having lived with Soviet design for a couple of years, the problem was not so much in the concept as the execution and maintenance)
Some of us think that the National Theatre is the finest building in London 🙂
Not sure I am typical though, being an architect…
Having worked on a number of tube station refurbishments, I think that the idea of a ‘Design Idiom’ is necessary, but also it is necessary to periodically review and update it as standards evolve and taste change. Others have suggested that previous design guides were ‘only’ in place for a decade or so, but this seems a more than reasonable length of time given the changing technology, regulations and research that informs their content.
As for its application in existing stations, I suspect that it will be very similar to how the standards and guidelines are enforced at the moment: where a case can be made for not adhering to the modern standards, an application for a ‘Concession’ can be made, setting out the arguments and evidence for it not being appropriate or possible to meet the standard, often suggesting mitigating measures instead. You’ll typically see several Consessions per station, covering the whole range of LUL standards, and from an architect’s point of view, these will often be things like booking halls in older buildings being undersized compared to the present-day passenger numbers, that kind of thing.
I’ve worked on a number of historic and listed stations in the past and many of them have features or decoration that would not meet current standards or guidelines, and in these cases decisions are reached in consultation with LUL, heritage groups and local planners as to the best approach. In most cases historical features will be retained, but where it may cause confusion, (for example heritage signs with incorrect information), they are sometimes removed and taken to the museum and a new sign put in its place. I’d be surprised, and disappointed, if the Design Idiom sees an end to this pragmatic approach.
Marckee: Despite what my comments might have indicated, I’m not against the Design Idiom concept either. What always worries me is that the authors of such documents/strategies always seem to suggest that this is the way forward – with a heavily implied “forever” – whereas history suggests something else.
@ marckee – interesting comments. Having been involved in the development of the Standards regime and processing concessions in the past I’m pretty familiar with what you’re stating. However your comments presuppose that the Design Idiom is / is going to be a Category 1 standard in whole or in part. If that’s true then it’s a bit worrying that the colour palettle is possibly being mandated. Signage design etc I can completely understand but not so sure about interior colour schemes. As you’ll be aware there is a vast array of things that have to be assessed and complied with / concessed. Let’s hope the overall process is less fraught these days than it was in the past.
@100andthirty I’m not so sure – all standards and guidelines are periodically reviewed. I’d like to think that the authors weren’t so arrogant to assume that their document would be any different to the previous, superseded ones. When working on individual stations (or any buildings for that matter) you have to accept that your work may be made obsolete by any number of factors, whether it be through new research, new policies, or new politics. I weep a little when I remember the hours we put into designing and building new ticket offices and fitting them out, only to see them closed up four years later.
@WW I haven’t seen how it’s going to be implemented for existing stations, but I suspect/hope that some aspects of it will fall under the standards categories, but many will fall under the guidelines umbrella. There surely has to be a mechanism for dealing with such a varied estate in a sympathetic way.
Just received my copy of issue two will have a look tomorrow but flicking through looks good, cheers Alan
I read issues 1&2 at a friend’s this weekend, and was impressed by the production quality. Issue 2 had 3 excellent articles, 2 on the rail crashes, but the most fascinating was Gattie’s warehouse plan, I hope we can have more IA/unbuilt London articles in future, perhaps in collaboration with IanVisits
Well Done
Shouldn’t Issue #3 be available Real Soon Now?
Yup. Soon as the print order arrives it’ll be going out. It’s actually late – took far longer to get all the Mayoral stuff in it sorted than we expected.
On the plus side, Issue 4 is already being put together and thus there’ll be a shorter than 2 months gap between 3 and 4 to make up for it.