London Reconnections

Further Explorations at Old Oak Common

On 27 June 2011 By Mwmbwls In Crossrail, Heathrow, HS2, National Rail

Once synonymous with Kings, Castles, Halls and Manors and now home to the dedicated Heathrow services, Old Oak Common is now the pivotal interchange in many of London’s rail plans. Our thanks and copyright acknowledgements …

Looking East to the GEML – Not As Simple As It May First Appear

On 25 June 2011 By Pedantic of Purley In Crossrail, National Rail, RUS

At first glance, the Great Eastern Main Line out of Liverpool Street would appear to be a doddle in RUS terms. Mentally, this author had expected to write a short paragraph on the lines out …

North By North West Ruislip

On 20 June 2011 By Mwmbwls In Central line, London Underground, Metropolitan line

Dan Coombs, writing in the “Uxbridge Gazette” reports the aspirations of Hillingdon Council to extend the Central Line from West Ruislip to join the Metropolitan Line to Uxbridge between Ruislip and Ickenham. HILLINGDON Council is …

A Quick S-Stock Roundup

On 16 June 2011 By George Moore In Circle line, District line, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan line, Rolling stock

Regular Metropolitan line customers will have by now likely at least seen (if not travelled on) one of the new S Stock trains. The first of these new trains, classed as S8 (denoting the number …

Siemens’ Desiro City to be New Thameslink Rolling Stock

On 16 June 2011 By John Bull In Crossrail, Rolling stock, Thameslink

Rail Magazine are reporting that Siemens have won the race to supply the new Thameslink Rolling Stock, beating out Bombardier. Both Alstom and Hitachi exited the rolling stock race early, leaving Siemens and Bombardier to …

The Transport Committee: The State of the Underground

On 15 June 2011 By John Bull In Uncategorized

Yesterday saw Mike Brown, Managing Director of London Underground and Isabel Dedring, the new Deputy Mayor (Transport) appear in front of the London Assembly’s Transport Committee. The two-and-a-half hour session looked to explore the current …

Journey To The West: When Will Crossrail Open (And Does it Really Matter)?

On 13 June 2011 By Pedantic of Purley In Crossrail, Network Rail, TfL

With Crossrail now entering a more visually impressive phase, it is easy to forget that there are still some key elements yet to be finalized. This is something that several sources have reminded us of …

Pale Pachyderms and the Dalston Omnibus

On 7 June 2011 By Mwmbwls In Buses, ELL, Overground

On the 8th October 2008, we reported on the work in progress at Dalston Junction together with snatched pictures of the site taken from the top deck of the aforementioned Dalston omnibus. We also included …

Looking North: The Future of Kings Cross and Moorgate

On 6 June 2011 By Pedantic of Purley In Kings Cross, National Rail, RUS

The next stop in our random jaunt around the latest RUS is King’s Cross and the line from Finsbury Park to Moorgate. Historically King’s Cross has had to deal with a lot of terminating trains …

Playing The Waiting Game: Rail’s Future in London’s South East

On 2 June 2011 By Pedantic of Purley In Crossrail, Network Rail, RUS, Thameslink

To complete our round-up of what the London and South East Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) proposes for routes south of the Thames we look at the south eastern sector – essentially the routes into Charing …

In Pictures: Stratford International DLR Extension

On 1 June 2011 By John Bull In Construction projects, DLR, Olympics

Today saw a number of London figures, including the Mayor and Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, participate in a “test run” on the new DLR Extension. Ostensibly to promote the various works being completed in the …

In Pictures: Crossrail Excavations at Canary Wharf

On 1 June 2011 By John Bull In Construction projects, Crossrail

Last week saw an opportunity to head into the North Dock at Canary Wharf in order to get a closer look at the work currently taking place on constructing Canary Wharf Crossrail station. The station …

A Question Of Carriages: Increasing Services on the South West Main Line

On 18 May 2011 By Pedantic of Purley In RUS, South West Trains

One thing that swiftly becomes apparent when looking at the recent London and South East draft RUS is how the proposed solutions to capacity problems are very different for the different lines, which all have …

Thameslink and London Bridge – Background, Progress and Still Some Confusion

On 16 May 2011 By Pedantic of Purley In London Bridge, Thameslink

The original intention with this article was to write a short piece on what is to happen at London Bridge in the next seven years. Unfortunately, for reasons that will become apparent later, this has …

150 Years Of The Metropolitan Line: Exploring the Possibility of Steam

On 16 May 2011 By John Bull In History, London Underground, Metropolitan line

2013 will see London Underground reach a noteworthy landmark – it will mark 150 years since the Metropolitan Railway, the core of the modern Metropolitan line, opened on 10 January 1863. Given the significance of …