Hidden Euston

At the weekend i went on another Hidden London tour of the Underground's secrets, unlike Aldwych in January this new tour was of an operating (and busy) tube station and included obligatory wearing of hi-viz! The tour was of Euston underground station and involved exploring parts of the station now restricted normally to the general public. The tour was wonderful and included walking along a ventilation tunnel where you could see the platforms (and some passengers) through the grills below! You can see my photos here.

The London Underground Electric Train (Crowood)

There are many books on the development of the tube trains of London Underground, quite a few of them really good too and this is another one to add to that list.

This excellent book approaches the subject from a novel direction: instead of a standard history of the LU network and its rolling stock this book instead describes the development of the many technologies that went into the LU train as we know now and how they all fit together. So starting with the earliest electric traction in the first tubes we see how electric motors and control systems, bogies, bodywork, brakes et cetera developed over the decades.

The book is well illustrated throughout, with a number of diagrams that explain how the various systems work. The London Underground was the first deep-level underground system in the world but it owes so much to early developments in the US as well as decades of evolution and different paths (not all of which worked). Much development work is ongoing and the book is very up-to-date with the latest details of the New Tube for London which will finally replace my beloved 1972 Stock in the next decade (perhaps).

Bogies at the LT Museum Depot

London rails and boats

As well as the visit to Aldwych tube station, last weekend i was also able to visit a number of London's many stations and take a lot of photographs. I visited Victoria, Clapham Junction, Peckham Rye and London Bridge and you can see my photos here. If thats not enough i also took a few photos along the Thames Embankment and these can be seen here!

Aldwych

Something i have been waiting for for a number of months now has been a tour of the disused tube station at Aldwych on the Strand. Whenever you have to wait a long time for something you always worry if it will be worth the wait, well no need to worry as it greatly exceeded even my high expectations!

Aldwych closed in 1994 due to low passenger volumes and the need to replace the lifts. The station was kept as it was for a number of reasons including filming tube scenes in films and TV shows but also for emergency services training. The station is a fascinating period piece in many ways though quite a lot of the features are not exactly authentic, some old posters for example may look like they have been left since the closing but are actually later additions for a filming. Aldwych is on a branch of the Piccadilly Line from  Holborn and the branch line is still operational and includes a 1972 Stock tube train.

The tour was very interesting and included both platforms (one was closed in 1917 and includes the oldest remaining track on the underground). But of course as the lifts no longer worked it was a 160 step walk down to the platforms, which is fine... going back up was a different story! You can see my photos here.

London rails again

I went down to London at the weekend, not really to do any shopping (though i did buy a book... on the Underground natch) but to do some rail photography. At Clapham Junction and Waterloo to be exact, the former is the busiest railway junction in Europe it is claimed and i certainly believe it. Its like an early Christmas present to be honest, every time you turn a train is arriving or departing. You can see the photos i took here, i used my iPhone only as i didn't want to take my SLR to the busy city though to be honest some of the photos would have probably turned out quite a bit better if i had. Maybe next year!

Class 487 (Waterloo & City)

The Class 487 Electric Multiple Units were unique on the British Railways / British Rail network in that their revenue service was spent entirely underground. They ran the Waterloo & City Line which nowadays is part of London Underground but originally the 1 and a half mile long line between Waterloo and the City of London was separate and operated by a succession of mainline railway companies until the advent of nationalisation and British Rail. In 1994 the line was transferred to LU to become a "tube" proper.

The O.V.S. Bulleid designed Class 487s were built for the Southern Railway during WW2 and entered service from 1940. The units consisted of driving motor cars (with cabs at both ends - and hence could operate singly) and trailers. In off-peak periods the Waterloo & City Line trains often ran with just a pair of motor cars while in peak times 3 trailers were usually marshalled between 2 motor cars.

They remained in service until being replaced by the Class 482 in 1993 seeing out their final days in Network South East livery no less. The Class 487s operated on 660v DC third rail and spent all of their working lives on their short underground line though they did see sunlight now and then when they needed heavy maintenance and had to be bought up to the surface. For test purposes one driving car operated above ground in the late 1970s for a short period.

One DMBSO driving car has been saved from the scrap man and is being restored at the London Transport Museum. It will be restored to Network South East livery.

Heathrow Express

I've done many things such the relaunch of my interest in railways that i never achieved in my youth when i was just another spotty train spotter including seeing engineering trains and entering a few cabs, but i haven't been to a working depot... until yesterday. The Siemens Heathrow Express Depot at Old Oak Common held an open day in conjunction with the London Transport Museum (of whom i am a friend) and very interesting it was too.

Highlights included another cab visit (and a mainline working train for once, not a preserved one) and also walking along the inspection pit under a raised train. You can see my photos from the depot visit here.

Mail Rail

The ground under London is criss-crossed by countless tunnels and subterranean transport links, one which was little known about by the general public was the underground railway run by the Post Office between Paddington station and Whitechapel. The system ran from 1927 until 2003 with the network's largest station at Mount Pleasant (where my great uncle worked after the War incidentally so he may have come into contact with the system). The driverless electric railway ran efficiently and barely noticed for many years and could carry mail from Paddington to the East End of London in just 26 minutes.

A new museum at Mount Pleasant is going to be opened soon and by 2020 a loop of Mail Rail will be reopened and this time carrying visitors not parcels! I am so going to go on this.

London Transport Museum Depot

I've wanted to go to the London Transport Museum's Depot in Acton for some time, it is where the majority of the collection is held but it is not usually open to the public and i was going to go to the open weekend last month but a bad flu meant i couldn't go. But never mind as i went yesterday instead on a small guided tour and in hindsight it was a much better way to experience this fantastic facility than with lots of people milling about (if you want to take photographs).

The depot exceeded even my high expectations and i think it might be the best heritage visit i've ever made, the wealth of preserved tube stock is amazing and i was able to board a number of historic vehicles plus get up close with a number of unique exhibits. And of course take lots of photographs, which can be seen here!

Hertford Union Canal

The Hertford Union Canal is a short canal in East London which stretches from the Regent's Canal to the Lee Navigation. Like the Limehouse Cut the Hertford Union Canal is intended as a short-cut between the Thames and the Lee Navigation. It was opened in 1830 and later taken over to form part of the Grand Union Canal system.

The canal is completely straight throughout its 1.5km length though does have 3 locks. For much of its length the canal runs alongside Victoria Park. At its Lee Navigation end the canal junction is in view of the Olympic Stadium and Park.

Imperial Wharf and Chelsea Dock

I've spent a lot of time over the last couple of years exploring London's waterways, especially the Thames in Eastern London. On Friday i moved West and visited Imperial Wharf in Battersea as well as Chelsea Dock. This is similar to St Katharine Dock which i've visited a few times in the past, a nice little dock full of expensive yachts and river craft, though also a narrowboat! You can see the photos i took here.

Rails South of the river

I returned to London this week to attend a conference on e-learning, afterwards i had time to do some railway and waterway photography. Now last November i traversed the North and East of London on the Overground travelling from Willesden Junction to Shoreditch. Today i (more or less) completed the circle by travelling across South and West London from Canada Water to Willesden Junction. In doing so i took in Peckham Rye (no sign of Del Boy) and Clapham Junction - the busiest station in the UK, truly the Heathrow of the network with trains arriving and departing whichever way you look!

The most interesting part for me was the chance to see so many (ex-Southern) DC Electric Multiple Units. I've hardly ever seen any before (as they pretty much never come North for any reason) but that has certainly changed now! My railway photos can be seen here.

The Limehouse Cut

The Limehouse Cut is a short canal in East London open since 1769 that connects the Lee Navigation to the Regent's Canal at Limehouse Basin. The canal begins (or ends depending on your point of view) at Bow Locks.

It then travels 2 miles through Tower Hamlets until it meets the Regent's Canal at Limehouse Basin which is where the canal joins the Thames. Originally the Limehouse Cut connected directly onto the Thames but that was changed in 1968 because of the need to replace the river lock. Instead a new short length of canal was built to connect the Limehouse Cut to Limehouse Basin allowing traffic to use the river lock there instead.

Nowadays the canal is used for leisure of course. Part of the Limehouse Cut was used during the final Olympic baton relay in 2012 due to the proximity of the canal to the Olympic stadium. I've visited the canal twice and walked its whole length. You can see my photos here and here.

St Katharine Docks

It was wet in London on Sunday, heavy rain all day in fact but that of course was not enough to stop me standing out in the rain and take photographs of boats. Yes i probably am mad but you can see the photos here, some are a bit murky despite some post-processing in Photoshop but it was that kind of day and i was only using the iPhone anyway. Most photos were taken around the lovely St Katharine Docks.

London rails

Going down to London this last weekend i decided to indulge my love of rail travel and take advantage of my Oyster card with an orgy of local rail travel around the capital. Including tube, DLR, Overground and the trip down to London in the first place i managed 12 separate rail journeys in 1 day which wasn't bad going. I took a lot of photos of course. Highlights were the unexpected amount of freight i was able to see too, and Queen's Park depot which is unique on the London Underground in that in-service trains actually traval through the depot.

Dockyard cranes

Dockyard cranes in the East End of London. Quite a few cranes survive in the old dockland area though most seem purely decorative these days.

George IV

The Friday pub photo, the George IV pub in Central London.

Paddington

Paddington station in West London, still bearing the signs of its former owners the GWR.

Bank

The Eastbound platform of the Central Line at Bank station in London.

Pillars of Hercules, Soho

The Friday pub photo.