With print copies now inbound to LR Towers (we’ll send them straight out to subscribers as soon as they appear), London Reconnections Magazine Issue 3: Peace On Our Line? is now available to purchase in our online store.
Firstly, our apologies for the gap between this issue and the last one. This was, to a large part, due to a decision to do something that we have never done before – cover the London mayoral elections.
As with all our content, we decided if we were going to do this then we needed to do so in a way that added genuine value. The outcome was a decision to speak to all of the key candidates, at length, about transport. Our goal, we told them, was not to get a list of policies or conduct a simple interview, but to simply hold a candid, hour-long face-to-face conversation and see where it went – whether that meant talking one topic or ten.
Navigating the constraints of time, topic and political embargo this produced has been interesting – and indeed is not quite over – but we’re happy with the results so far. The first two of those interviews, with Caroline Pidgeon and Sian Berry make up this issue’s timed exclusives. We hope you like them.
In addition to these exclusives, our cover feature this issue is our recent coverage of the TfL devolution announcement, whilst Pedantic’s excellent look at the politics and practicality of Bakerloo line expansion also appears.
Rounding out the issue are two of our most requested pieces to appear in print. Firstly, Pedantic’s detailed look at the history of St Johns station (the second part of which will feature next issue).
And finally, our look at Marc Brunel’s overlooked eighth wonder of the world – the Thames Tunnel.
As before, you can purchase your copy of the latest issue in the LR Shop as either a digital download or physical issue. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it. Rest assured that Issue 4 will be with you sooner than you think, as we’ll be running it closer to this issue than previously planned to keep us on our six-issues-a-year schedule.
A last note – as a result of a custom order, we now have some Issue Ones back in stock. We also have a (decreasing) number of Issue Twos left. So if you are a completionist who has yet to purchase a subscription, then now is likely a good time to do so – simply select the option that allows you to start from Issue One and we’ll send you the full set.
John Bull
March, 2016
Looking forward to getting this. Is this already available for digital subscribers? Haven’t seen a link in my normal or junk inboxes…
I’m updating the subscriber mailing list now, so should be in your inbox shortly.
Gosh, that’s quite a foresight to write this in March 2015 🙂
[Getting the year right never was his strong point! Corrected. PoP]
Thanks. My link arrived at 23:44. Not personally sure about the political stance of the advert on the inside back page, but I imagine that’s just me.
Gosh, that’s quite a foresight to write this in March 2015
The downside of being a time traveller. That and the fact that you’re not surprised when Leicester win the Premier League.
@Briantist – no statement intended.
As those on the mailing list have probably noticed, I’m trying to up our highlighting of events because I think there’s a lot of industry and non-industry stuff which goes on that readers could (and likely would) attend if they were aware they were running. I’m actually intending to go to that road haulage one myself as I’m really interested to find out what the downstream impacts on London are right now (if any) when there are issues at, say, Calais.
Anyway, here is as good as place as any to announce that if all goes to plan I’ll be turning on a new events calendar on the site on Saturday. Plan is then that if readers alert us to an interesting and relevant event of any size – whether it’s a major conference, free talk at an engineering institute or just an enthusiast gathering about, say, model railways in London then we can stick it on the calendar and highlight its existence to those who might be interested.
Excellent, will the calendar be visible on mobile devices also?
Yup. It’s taken a while to find tone that’s decently mobile-friendly (and that still required a few tweaks) but I’ve got it working now.
I really really want these issues in hardcopy, the design is beautiful!
Unfortunately 40 + 48 GBP for 6 issues delivered to Australia (=184 AUD. 38 Big Macs)… it’s more than I can justify spending.
@John Bull 16th March:
Any more info yet on the new events calendar ? I’m searching desperately for a decent one to use on our own village website but not yet found one that works as I want it to – so looking forwardly to see the new LR one !
Another good issue, thanks. I just have two comments/suggestions:
Placing what look like pull quotes – but are actually just emphasised text – in the body of the article is a bit counter intuitive. I instinctively jump over pull quotes when reading an article (having already read them after turning the page) and, with LR, the article then stops making sense and I need to backtrack. Please reconsider this design choice.
The article on St John’s would have really benefited from a map of the area and/or a simple diagram of the station’s layout. I was unfamiliar with the station and didn’t have immediate access to another source, so I had to keep putting effort into visualising what the author was describing. A picture is worth a thousand words, etc.
Keep up the good work!
The St Johns article did have diagrams in the original on-line form:
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2013/accidents-and-islands-a-history-of-st-johns-station-part-1/
and I remember finding it clear and easy to understand when I first read it. When I read it in the magazine recently, without the diagrams, I couldn’t follow it either.
I can understand from a graphic design point of view why they were omitted, but they really did make a huge difference and I don’t think it was the right decision.
I think my only criticism of the magazine is that the St. Johns piece could have done with some captions on the photos. E.g. the photo of the former SER Greenwich Park bridge over the tracks could easily be confused for the St. Johns Vale road overbridge at the opposite end of the station by readers unfamiliar with the area. (There isn’t a lot of context in those older photos as the surroundings have changed substantially since those earlier structures were built.)
I also agree that the diagrams would have been useful, if only because St. Johns has seen so many changes over its lifetime.
It occurred to me that one option is to include a “Further Reading” boxout in each article, with a shortened link to any relevant articles on the LR site. These could be live links in the electronic editions. (Just have each link go to a dedicated landing page on the website. Any links to third party websites could be put there, so if any go dead, you can update / delete as needed without having to touch the original articles.)
Incidentally, that station on Lewisham Road has been quite the survivor. For a cheap clapboard building – albeit atop a much more substantial brick ‘basement’ structure that goes right down to track level – this “disused” station has seen very few structural changes and remains in pretty good condition considering.
Next year, it will have been exactly 100 years since it stopped being a station, a job it held for only 46 years.
One wonders how many other such survivors there are in London. There may even be an article in this.
When are the printed versions going to be sent out?
Anomnibus,
Concerning Lewisham Road station, I would strongly dispute the “in pretty good condition considering” bit.
A photo from the original article shows the sorry state with tarpaulin over the roof. I don’t think any work has been done on it since them although at least the garish display outside has been removed. It is a survivor in the sense that it hasn’t been either knocked down or extensively refurbished with a loss of the original character which is becoming rare for any dilapidated property in London that isn’t listed.
@PoP:
It’s worse than that: those aren’t tarpaulins. They’re (presumably canvas or vinyl) signs, held down by the ridge tiles, some of which are clearly missing. You can see the damage in Google’s Street View.
If memory serves, the station is owned by Network Rail’s property arm and rented to tenants. I sincerely hope NR are aware of the state of the roof. (I can’t imagine TfL are impressed with the clutter on the pavement right next to the bus stop either, but I don’t think it’s actually illegal.)
It has been about 10 years or so since the station was last refurbished – it got a fresh lick of paint and a repaired roof back then, as well as a plaque explaining the building’s history – so it should be about due for another. I can only hope NR are waiting for the tenant’s lease to expire before moving in.
Given the structure of the building – the wooden street-level building sits directly on top of a masonry structure at platform level – it’s unlikely NR could ever sell the site as a freehold in its present form. It would make routine maintenance much too expensive, and the site is an awkward size and shape for apartments.
On the other hand, if NR to throw in ‘air rights’ above the cutting itself as a sweetener, it might be financially viable. There are already some new buildings on, or close to, Loampit Hill down at the Loampit Vale end, with more to come, so that shiny regeneration is already starting to edge its way up the hill. It’ll be many years before it gets to the station, but I suspect Lewisham Road’s future is going to be rather shorter than its past.
I was there a couple of years ago now, looking for something… It was a rainy day and pretty horrible inside! Drips everywhere!
@ Timbeau – JB tweeted a photo of the pile of fully sealed envelopes a few days ago so I assume they are all in the postal system as the man himself has been getting “excited” about aeroplanes and caves in Sweden. 😉
I am a bit puzzled by the reference in the excellent article on Marc Brunel and the Thames Tunnel to “all the problems that had until then prevented large-scale subterranean tunnelling”. Isn’t all tunnelling subterranean, or are you making a distinction from cut and cover? Some quite significant canal tunnels were completed well before the Thames Tunnel was started. For example Braunston Tunnel dates from 1796. The first Standedge Tunnel, opened in 1811, is three miles long. Higham and Strood Tunnels were completed for the Thames and Medway Canal in 1824. Did you mean to say “submarine” or “subfluvial” instead of “subterranean”?
Any sightings of Issue #4? It’s been a few months now, and you did promise an issue every two months!
I can understand the delay if you’re looking to replace the mayoral candidate interviews, but I’m not sure that’s necessary. Events may have overtaken us, but it’ll still be interesting to read what might have been. After all, there will be other mayoral elections in future.
Issue 4 now at printers?
Goes next week, so will stick an announcement post up shortly after that and send digitals to subscribers.
Issue 5 already being written…