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Post by Colin D on Dec 9, 2016 23:29:53 GMT
Wish I could've made this one, sounds like it's going to be a another fantastic get together. I'll raise a glass or two on this side of the pond at some point through the day🍻 ENJOY.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2016 23:31:33 GMT
Wish I could've made this one, sounds like it's going to be a another fantastic get together. I'll raise a glass or two on this side of the pond at some point through the day🍻 ENJOY. We'll be thinking of you too Colin - I hope your recovery is coming along well!!
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Post by londonstuff on Dec 9, 2016 23:46:36 GMT
I have not received an email am I right to assume Inwill not be going to the event tomorrow? Thanks Nigel PS I still join you all for food and drink whatever the response to my question is! Nigel Hi Nigel, I'm not sure what happened but someone will get back to you.
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Post by Colin D on Dec 10, 2016 0:31:47 GMT
Wish I could've made this one, sounds like it's going to be a another fantastic get together. I'll raise a glass or two on this side of the pond at some point through the day🍻 ENJOY. We'll be thinking of you too Colin - I hope your recovery is coming along well!! Thanks tut, I'm doing really good and feeling better everyday.
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Post by londonstuff on Dec 10, 2016 8:15:16 GMT
Have a great time everyone and see you in the summer.
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Post by whistlekiller2000 on Dec 10, 2016 9:10:46 GMT
Have a great time everyone and see you in the summer.
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Post by londonstuff on Dec 10, 2016 9:28:23 GMT
Have a great time everyone and see you in the summer. I've literally only come here to do a recce for the next DD meet social. The things I do for you lot... Untitled by Michael, on Flickr
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gantshill
I had to change my profile pic!
Posts: 1,341
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Post by gantshill on Dec 10, 2016 10:36:02 GMT
Enjoy Vienna. We were there earlier in the autumn. The U bahn through Stadtpark reminded me of the RER ligne C. Linie U6 has some good views too.
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Post by Chris W on Dec 10, 2016 11:11:27 GMT
So those that were unable to attend the meet and visit can see some images, I was given an escort around the station yesterday. My images can be found on my Flickr site HEREThey include some photos of the mainline station, before I met up with our guide - I hope you like them
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Post by whistlekiller2000 on Dec 10, 2016 12:55:40 GMT
Tut and me in the shadows on the Kings Cross tour.
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Post by humbug on Dec 10, 2016 13:21:38 GMT
In the pub, black leather jacket, glasses, moustache! Someone find me please :-)
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rincew1nd
Administrator
Junior Under-wizzard of quiz
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Post by rincew1nd on Dec 10, 2016 13:42:20 GMT
The group on the morning excursion have just finished their tour of Kings Cross St Pancras, depending on the service level on the Picc we won't be too long!
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Post by seaeagle on Dec 10, 2016 14:58:29 GMT
Got to say thanks to Jack for the excellent tour this morning, was well worth doing, especially for the strange looks we got from some of the punters, (customers in Jack talk!) as we were disappearing behind doors into the darkness. Sorry I couldn't join you in the pub, unfortunately daughter needs dads taxi in a while Looking forward to seeing some pictures in a while
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paulsw2
My Train Runs For Those Who Wait Not Wait For Those That Run
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Post by paulsw2 on Dec 10, 2016 20:29:36 GMT
Simply a wonderful excursion many thanks to Jack and any others who made it possible
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Post by humbug on Dec 10, 2016 22:21:52 GMT
Apparently I need to rename myself "Moustache"! Enjoyed meeting everyone this afternoon, good crowd.
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Post by sawb on Dec 10, 2016 22:35:11 GMT
Great to see everyone again, but am I the only one wondering whether in light of some of the things that went on today we may need an alternative venue, and someone to perhaps reccie the pub a few days or weeks before next year?
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rincew1nd
Administrator
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Post by rincew1nd on Dec 10, 2016 22:35:26 GMT
As you've probably gathered by now, this morning fifteen lucky forum members had a behind-the-scenes tour of the Kings Cross St Pancras station complex. My thanks to all those behind the scenes who were able to make this happen - including the station management. I'm sure over the next few days members will upload and share their many photos, a snippet of mine:
The afternoon social in the Penderel's Oak went equally well, with many forum members taking the time to catch up with old friends whilst also trying to figure out the quiz. The last members departed about 7pm, for the record I've got the remainder of the kitty.
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Post by whistlekiller2000 on Dec 10, 2016 22:57:28 GMT
Well done Jack!
BHB
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Post by xercesfobe on Dec 10, 2016 23:29:01 GMT
Thanks for another great Christmas meeting and it was great to meet up with you all. Hopefully I will be more active on the Forum next year and will arrange trip to the Epping & Ongar Railway next year for the DD members
Thank you also for all you of yours good wishes for Jan after her illness.
Nigel & Jan
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Post by caravelle on Dec 10, 2016 23:56:08 GMT
A very enjoyable forum meet. Just a shame I had to leave early.
In another Southbound tube.
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rtt1928
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Member is Online
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Post by rtt1928 on Dec 11, 2016 13:05:05 GMT
Thank you all for a great day yesterday and it was nice to see all who attended and I wish everyone a thoroughly brilliant Christmas.
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Post by orienteer on Dec 11, 2016 14:00:16 GMT
Just to add my thanks to the organisers and facilitators of the tour, sorry I didn't make it to the pub afterwards.
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DWS
every second count's
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Post by DWS on Dec 11, 2016 16:34:34 GMT
Great to see everyone again, but am I the only one wondering whether in light of some of the things that went on today we may need an alternative venue, and someone to perhaps reccie the pub a few days or weeks before next year? What things went on and how would a reccie help as you could go to a pub one day and it's quiet and go the next week and it's packed out ?
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Chris M
Global Moderator
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Post by Chris M on Dec 11, 2016 21:26:07 GMT
Having just returned from the Penderell's Oak (Wikimedia UK Christmas social), it was significantly less busy than it was yesterday. Anyone doing a reccie last Saturday to see what it was like yesterday would not have seen our sizeable group there for example, nor the French group that followed us (and rather rudely displaced us when they turned up the best part of an hour after the time they had apparently booked for and demanded the table we were using even though they didn't fill the other three or four adjacent empty ones), so would not have got an accurate picture.
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Post by sawb on Dec 11, 2016 21:47:22 GMT
I appreciate that a reccie cannot and will not always be either able to be done or indeed worth while, but, as an example, from speaking to a couple of staff yesterday, the toilet situation (both with the accessible toilet and the main toilets) had been going on for over a week prior to yesterday.
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rtt1928
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Post by rtt1928 on Dec 11, 2016 21:54:00 GMT
Having just returned from the Penderell's Oak (Wikimedia UK Christmas social), it was significantly less busy than it was yesterday. Anyone doing a reccie last Saturday to see what it was like yesterday would not have seen our sizeable group there for example, nor the French group that followed us (and rather rudely displaced us when they turned up the best part of an hour after the time they had apparently booked for and demanded the table we were using even though they didn't fill the other three or four adjacent empty ones), so would not have got an accurate picture. All of which opens up the question of how long the pub holds table bookings for, before re-opening the table(s) for general use?
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Post by londonstuff on Dec 11, 2016 21:59:31 GMT
I appreciate that a reccie cannot and will not always be either able to be done or indeed worth while, but, as an example, from speaking to a couple of staff yesterday, the toilet situation (both with the accessible toilet and the main toilets) had been going on for over a week prior to yesterday. While Forum Staff are always happy to check a location that we use for a Forum Social, I would advise any members with particular concerns also to phone ahead to allay any concerns they may have.
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Post by sawb on Dec 11, 2016 22:00:26 GMT
Having just returned from the Penderell's Oak (Wikimedia UK Christmas social), it was significantly less busy than it was yesterday. Anyone doing a reccie last Saturday to see what it was like yesterday would not have seen our sizeable group there for example, nor the French group that followed us (and rather rudely displaced us when they turned up the best part of an hour after the time they had apparently booked for and demanded the table we were using even though they didn't fill the other three or four adjacent empty ones), so would not have got an accurate picture. That's something else too. Whilst the majority of staff were happy for us to be there, we seemed to be an inconvenience to a minority, particularly when it came to the French group. I feel that more could have been done to find suitable space to accommodate both groups, given that there didn't seem to be anywhere near as many of us as the French group by then. I also got the impression we hadn't planned to depart when we did but our departure was semi-enforced. This is of only my opinions and others will have their own, but in terms of seeing those that came it was an enjoyable meet aside from the issues highlighted.
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Post by antharro on Dec 13, 2016 19:55:42 GMT
I am debating writing to the manager and/or their customer service people. While I do appreciate that we booked the tables very late (1:30pmish), there were only a couple of people sitting at them at that time, and the reserved signs didn't go up until they had left. For the staff to just place reserved signs down for the French group while we were obviously still using the tables I felt was very much out of order and was very much a notice of eviction!
They could have, at least, given us a bit of notice - ideally when I asked to reserve the tables. "You can book the tables but only until xx:xx as we already have an existing booking." Unless the French group also booked very late, in which case I would have expected them to have been told "sorry, those tables are taken by a booked party".
I wonder if next time we should book in advance and reserve the tables until 8pm. The French group (who I'm pretty sure were there last year) will have to find alternative tables!
All that said, it was good to see old faces and to meet a couple of new ones. An afternoon sitting in a pub with good company is rarely a bad thing.
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gantshill
I had to change my profile pic!
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Post by gantshill on Dec 13, 2016 21:00:26 GMT
I think everyone who took part on the outing was impressed with what we saw and very thankful both to Jack and his colleagues who enabled the trip to take place.
What did we do? We started in the northern ticket hall, seeing a couple of rooms connected with the ventilation system. Then we proceeded through the gateline and down some stairs were we saw quite a few rooms – some with no current use and others that ensured that the station was able to operate correctly supporting the air handling and electrics. It was good to see that the station has been designed to allow for expansion. We even saw how the TfL station and the Network Rail station had connections between them even in non-public areas.
Although much of this was spacious, we walked along quite a narrow corridor and regained the public subway between the northern and the original tube ticket hall.
Next we went down onto the Metropolitan platform and gained access through to the siding that was put in for the 1940 rebuilt, but it is thought it was never used. That siding (unelectrified) is now behind two large doors, so there was no danger of us being able to access the live railway. The wall on the left (south) of the siding was a simple metal wall, while the one on the right was the original 1860’s tunnel wall.
We learned that there was a station archive on site, where many records were kept for about five years before being transferred to more permanent archives, although some more significant records remain in the station.
After spending time in the siding tunnel, we then saw a glimpse of the 1940s tiling on the eastbound platform and then saw a short part of a former passenger corridor that used to be part of the subway that nearly encircled the tube ticket hall. One highlight of that tunnel was a sign with the structure number 1863. (A memorable year for all Underground enthusiasts).
We next made our way to the bottom of the Piccadilly line escalators and then as if we were secret agents, went through a grilled door in ones and twos at the top of the Northern line escalators into a dark set of corridors that had some Yerkes style tiling just visible, presumably dating from before the Piccadilly escalators were installed. After time exploring the space and enjoying taking some photos, we then made our way back out into the public area, and back to the Piccadilly line platforms where we saw the art installation “Full Circle”. Perhaps a surprise to many of us, Jack opened a door and we walked through the art work and then walked up a flight of stairs into the old passenger corridor that used to connect the Piccadilly line to the Midland City (later Thameslink) platforms next to the old Metropolitan line station. This is the location of a group photograph.
The end of the corridor saw us again walk through a door back into the passenger side of the station, joining the passageway from the Victoria line towards the Northern ticket hall and the Pentonville Road entrance. Here, we had to go through the door in small groups so as to avoid adding unduly to the crowds. We went through a closed door into the weekday only access to the Pentonville Road ticket hall, where we had access to the public and the staff areas: we were able to enjoy pretending to sell tickets and we saw various items left behind by First Capital Connect when they stopped serving those platforms and moved to the current platforms at the northern end of St Pancras. We returned by the normal public corridors to the Victoria line and then up the Victoria escalators out into daylight by the Euston Road entrance. From there, we gained access to “The Egg” which is one of the egg-shaped (hence the name) ventilation shafts for the northern line. After walking up stairs to an outside level, from which we could see the St Pancras station clock tower, we then returned to ground level and kept walking down, at basement level the staircase stopped and we walked along to a spiral staircase which was in an original shaft that served the City and South London Railway. At the bottom of the staircase, we walked along a corridor and regained the public area right by the Northern Line MIP lift.
We had been told that the highlight of the tour would be at the end. And we were nearing the end of the tour – in groups of five, we once again went through a grilled door and found ourselves at the bottom of a short flight of stairs, we walked up and joined a similar flight of stairs that came up from the northbound platform. These stairs combined into a single flight that continued an upwards journey to a dead end, but it must have continued to an original C&SL entrance. Some of the tiling was still in situ, but quite a lot was fire damaged from the tragic Kings Cross fire of 1987. It was intriguing to see how the fire damage to the tiles was not uniform, and the handrails had survived. It was indeed the highlight of the tour. After this final fling, we returned to the tube ticket hall and again entered staff accommodation where we were able to wash and brush up – some of the older areas were very dusty, and thanked Jack for an amazing and much appreciated trip. Many of us then used the Piccadilly line to get to the pub and try to solve Chris’ quiz.
What did I learn? Well, I am looking at grilled doors in other stations in a very different light now, wondering what lies behind them.
I should let you know that I checked with Jack before posting this. I'll let others point to their photos.
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