As readers will no doubt have noticed, we have been somewhat quiet lately. This is, in part, because both Lemmo and I have been involved in the process of moving houses (an exercise at which …
Continue readingAuthor: John Bull
John Bull is the Editor of London Reconnections. A transport journalist and historian, his writing often focuses on the political or strategic challenges facing London's transport network and beyond.
Crossrail Gets Its Roundel
For some time now we’ve known, roughly, what Crossrail’s stations will look like on the inside, thanks to a visit to their mockup station back in 2011. One key design question has, however, remained – will Crossrail get a roundel? The image at the top of this article represents the answer. It will, and it will be purple, with a blue bar. Crossrail will also use TfL New Johnston as its primary typeface.
Continue readingA Glimpse Into the Past
Recently, the Financial Times celebrated 125 years of publication and reproduced, by way of remembrance, a copy of its first front page, of 13th February, 1888. The front page makes interesting reading for LR readers, …
Continue readingTfL Make Changes To Bus Transfer Tickets
One of the London Bus Network’s least known features (second, perhaps, only to the fact that there is actually no such a thing as a “compulsory stop”) has long been the existence of the “transfer …
Continue readingHoward Smith to Join Crossrail
Crossrail have announced that Howard Smith, currently Chief Operating Officer at TfL London Rail, will join Crossrail in March as Operations Director: Howard Smith is currently Chief Operating Officer for Rail at Transport for London …
Continue readingThe Hackney Downs – Hackney Central Link
Plans for the Hackney Downs – Hackney Central pedestrian link has been approved by Hackney Council, and full details can now be found online. According to TfL, the link will cost about £5m The two …
Continue readingTfL Announce Beginning of Overground Capacity Work
TfL have released a press release officially confirming that they have begun work on expanding Overground services (where possible) to 5-car services: A programme to introduce five-car trains on all London Overground routes and increase …
Continue readingRoute 24 To Be First Bus Route Fully Served by NBfL
TfL have released a press release confirming that Route 24 (Hampstead Heath – Pimlico) will be the first London bus route to be fully served by the New Bus for London. Although actual timings are …
Continue readingThe Christmas Quiz: The Answers
Apologies for the delay, but you only have yourselves to blame – we had a large number of entries this year and they needed careful marking. Anyway, prizes are now here – we have several …
Continue readingLU150: A Birthday Steam Test
In the early hours of this morning, the final “dress rehearsal” for the upcoming heritage steam runs on the Underground took place. Along with the staff and volunteers were a number of guests, including many of those who have worked hard over recent years to make the steam runs possible.
Continue readingGoogle Commemorates LU150
With coverage of the 150th birthday of the London Underground now beginning to blossom, Google have joined the action by featuring a London Underground themed masthead on their main search page. For posterity, we’ve mirrored …
Continue readingCrossrail Begins to Get Visible – Part 1
To most Londoners, Crossrail remains hidden – at least as long as works aren’t inconveniencing a daily commute. The dock north of Canary Wharf has now been filled in by a beehive of workers, but the serious work of tunnelling and station building is largely hidden out of sight. 2013, however, arguably represents the point at which Crossrail’s visible profile will begin to climb, and so as the year opens this seems a good opportunity to take a look at the project again. In the first part of this series, we will therefore resort to a tried-and-trusted LR staple – the aerial photo
Continue readingThe Christmas Quiz
It’s December and that can only mean one thing here at LR Towers – it is time for the world famous (almost) Christmas Quiz! As always, we’ve tried to make it really hard. As always, …
Continue readingIn Pictures: London Underground Stamps & £2 Coin
Earlier this year, the Post Office confirmed that they would be issuing a number of stamps to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the opening of the Underground. The designs for these stamps have now been …
Continue readingIn Pictures: Crossrail Tunnels, ELL Expands
With Tunnelling now under way (or rather, in the west, resumed), Crossrail have released a new set of photos relating to the commencement of operations on the Limmo peninsular. We’ve looked extensively at the Royal …
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