This edition has been compiled by guest editor Rosie Greene: • Tube train door sounds transcribed (ClassicFM) • London Transport moquette designs in pictures (Guardian) • London Overground offers model for UK rail overhaul (FT-£) …
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Friday Reads – 17 April 2020
• The Social Distancing Machine for pedestrians (PriceTags) • New Zealand first to fund pop-up bike lanes & widened sidewalks (Forbes) • Climate Safe Streets: life without cars in 10 years (TransportXtra) • Rail station …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 10 April 2020
• Survey of city actions to support walking, cycling during COVID (PedBikeInfo) • Coronavirus reveals transit’s true mission (CityLab) • Free rail travel to those fleeing domestic abuse during lockdown (RailDeliveryGroup) • We need to …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 27 March 2020
• Secret passageway discovered in UK House of Commons (NPR) • Grimshaw’s story of designing Waterloo International Terminal (Dezeen) • East Midlands stations win £161m to improve neighbourhoods (BusinessDesk) • Transport & urban form determine …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 21 February 2020
• My Fair Lady – London Bridge station (BeautyOfTransport) • Surprising reason for the Underground’s new heritage signs (IanVisits) • Norwegian dream road tunnels (BldgBlog) • Natural selection of urban public transport (CityLab) • San …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 6 December 2019
• History of Holborn Viaduct (HydeParkNow) • London 1933 Underground, Power and Substations Diagram (TransitMaps) • Repurposed Parisien transport infrastructure (FabricOfParis) • New Berlin airport & rail link to open, finally, October 2020 (IntlRailJ) • …
Continue readingOperation Umbrella: Rebuilding Oxford Circus
As the Victoria line celebrates its 50th birthday, we look at a largely forgotten triumph of transport construction: Operation Umbrella.
Continue readingFriday Reads – 21 December 2018
Welcome to Reconnections’ Friday Reads: • Understanding London’s underground railway infrastructure (NathanDarroch) • Phone data saves London’s transport from chaos (Wired) • Walking high on other side of tracks (Times £) • The case for …
Continue readingUnderstanding London’s underground railway infrastructure – Talk (IHR)
How the past explains the present in London’s crowded underground environment Nathan Darroch, University of Aberdeen Here is one of Nathan’s earlier papers on the same subject. 11 Jan 2018 17:30 to 19:30 Institute of …
Continue readingDiving into the Fleet Part 5: The Canary Wharf Years
Competition between the City and Canary Wharf, Conservative party politics and the rise and fall of one of the world’s largest property developers all helped define the Jubilee line as we know it today. Jonathan …
Continue readingStreamlined Modernity: Frank Pick’s Forgotten Bus Garages
Popular appreciation of London Underground’s 1930s Modernist Tube station buildings has kept them well in the public eye. There was an equivalent programme, however, during the same decade at remote outposts of London Transport’s empire in the counties surrounding London. Thanks to an estate of run-down bus garages, London Transport’s Country Bus department enjoyed a renewal and replacement programme which left it with some Modernist and Streamline Moderne buildings that reflect their common patron – Frank Pick. This is the story of the best London Transport buildings you’ve never heard of – London’s Country Bus garages.
Continue readingFriday Reading List – April 7
This is the next installment of our weekly Friday Reads post – listing some links and articles we’ve been reading at LR Towers. Also check out our Industry News posts, updated every weekday, with the …
Continue readingIt’s Good To Talk
From telegraphs to telephones, cables to Connect, over its 150-year history the London Underground has remained at the forefront of communications technology. We look at the journey from a single telegram line to an integrated …
Continue readingIn Pictures: The Buses of London
It will likely come as a surprise to no-one that the residents of LR Towers are inveterate browsers of second-hand bookshops. Occasionally these dusty forays yield more than obscure texts. Such is the case here, …
Continue readingEmpire of the Air: The Imperial Airship Service
In 1926 artist Montague Black, famous for his work with the White Star Line, created a new piece of art for London Underground. According to the painting in 2026 the city would be dominated by …
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