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Post by abe on Sept 10, 2021 6:44:55 GMT
We could do with a "volume 2" to cover the civils undertaken in the last fifty years.
Take a look at “Building London’s Underground” from Capital Transport.
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Post by abe on Sept 27, 2019 7:10:52 GMT
Would that have been for Jubilee line extension works? It was for the construction of the new southbound Northern line platform. All done in conjunction with the JLE work, to minimize disruption, but the Northern line closure wasn’t specifically for the JLE work.
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Post by abe on Sept 2, 2018 7:04:14 GMT
OT for this thread, but an interesting statement in the linked article about lighting: I haven’t seen mention of this type of system on Crossrail before...
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Post by abe on Apr 29, 2017 8:22:14 GMT
Well, the Standard's "transport" correspondent, Dick Murray (who co-wrote the article), has demonstrated many times that what he knows about the Underground could comfortably be written on the back of a postage stamp...
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Post by abe on Oct 7, 2016 15:01:00 GMT
I've heard a rumour (nothing more!) that Highgate (high level) is being considered.
Oh, and City Road is highly unlikely due to engineering work taking place there - capturing heat from the tunnels for the local district heating system.
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Post by abe on Sept 26, 2016 6:47:23 GMT
On the sub-surface railway, the tunnels between Finchley Road and Baker Street are cut and cover for both the single- and double-track sections. Clerkenwell Tunnel, between King's Cross and Farringdon was hand-mined from the ends and from now-closed shafts sunk from the surface. Campden Hill Tunnel, between Notting Hill Gate and High St Kensington was also mined. Both the latter two tunnels are double track. The parallel tunnels between Gloucester Road and South Kensington are both cut and cover, and wide enough for two tracks, although the northern tunnel only has a single track since the changes in the late 1950s. There are some very short lengths of single-track tunnel elsewhere on the SSR (e.g., King's Cross, Tower Hill, Mansion House, Moorgate, Earl's Court) but these are rather connections between the main double-track tunnels because of the more complex layouts at these locations. For example, the flyunder on the east side of Earl's Court - does this count as a tunnel?
Regarding terminology, only Campden Hill, Clerkenwell, and Croxleyhall Tunnels are true tunnels on the Met/Circle lines. All the rest are technically covered ways, although the LU asset classification system uses TL codes for much of the time. They seem to use CW codes for the larger, flat-topped sections, but it would be interesteing to know the true criteria for this.
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Post by abe on Feb 6, 2016 15:19:12 GMT
Apologies if this has already been covered elsewhere, but I couldn't see it mentioned. An item in the latest TfL Finance & Policy Committee report from January 2016 concerns Metropolitan Line Rail Adhesion Trains. They are planning for the "conversion of 2 x D78 Stock trains to 5-car formations and overhaul to provide an additional 30 years of life", so that they can operate as Sandite trains on the Metropolitan line. The project is due for completion in August 2018. (Not much) more information here, on p10.
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Post by abe on Nov 23, 2015 19:09:41 GMT
Constructing the Underground - a detailed history of the civil engineering.
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Post by abe on Nov 23, 2015 13:44:02 GMT
The shield is still in place (minus the hydraulic systems). There should be a good photo of it in one of Capital Transport's books out next year.
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Post by abe on Nov 23, 2015 8:23:18 GMT
I have a draft copy of the original Environmental Statement, dated c.1996, when the whole extension was costed at £15 million.
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Post by abe on Nov 23, 2015 8:17:50 GMT
Another benefit of the 'humped' profile at many tube stations was that it reduced the depth of the lift shaft, meaning less excavation and (slightly) quicker access.
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Post by abe on Oct 29, 2015 20:40:28 GMT
When was the layout changed to its present arrangement? (with the diveunders) The flyunders and platform alterations were around 1913/14. The west end flyover (from the Wimbledon branch) was commissioned in January 1914. The flyunder (from the High St Kensington line) opened in 1878, around the same time as the new Earl's Court station.
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Post by abe on Oct 11, 2015 15:14:09 GMT
'STOPS HERE' is used in the lightbox indicators at Harrow-on-the-Hill.
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Post by abe on Sept 16, 2015 15:02:23 GMT
The only information from TfL about the dates for ticket office closures was a list giving the month for each station. I have been unable to find out the date that each ticket office closed, apart from a handful where I've received an e-mail from TfL (presumably because my Oyster card history shows that I use the station a reasonable amount). Could forum members use this thread to record closure dates that they know so that we can capture the information in one place? Thanks.
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Post by abe on Sept 16, 2015 10:22:28 GMT
howda62: Agreed; the TfL map isn't very accurate. It's more a map with a geographic base (as opposed to the diagram that is usually seen). Unfortunately, there isn't any single definite source for geographical accuracy in this area, and there isn't anywhere thst records which source is good for each line or section of line. @maurits: that's another good example. I wasn't claiming that the faint grey lines are accurate, rather that the "transit" overlay is appalling!
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Post by abe on Sept 14, 2015 16:22:18 GMT
There's a big difference betwen the lines on the "transit" overlay for Google maps, and the fainter grey lines that they use to show the routes. The latter tend to be more accurate. The transit layer is an abomination - one of the worst bits is between Wembley Park and Finchley Road, where the Met and Jubilee are widely spaced, by the best part of a mile!
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Post by abe on Sept 14, 2015 6:32:05 GMT
Open Street Map is usually pretty accurate for the location of Underground lines.. Emphasis on the usually. Some sections of some lines are very accurate; much of the rest is good; some appears to be a best guess. Having worked from many of the original plans, and compared these with different on-line maps as part of work on a new book, I can say that one should never rely on any of the on-line maps that show the routes of underground lines. In this case, OpenStreetMap is correct through. Shafthead buildings, such as that in Gibson Square, tend to be placed close to the tunnel route to minimize the length of underground connection tunnels.
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Post by abe on Sept 5, 2015 19:59:28 GMT
In fact, to quote: "Amersham (n.) The sneeze which tickles but never comes. (Thought to derive from the Metropolitan line tube station of the same name where the rails always rattle but the train never arrives.)"
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Post by abe on Jul 26, 2015 16:55:21 GMT
Now that is a seriously gorgeous book. I'm sure that £50 is a fair price to cover the printing costs and specialist research, though it puts it out of my immediate reach. Could you please have a look through and see if it lists the year and designer for Leicester Square? All of the original tiling, which is what Tiles of the Unexpected covers, is from 1906 (Bakerloo and Piccadilly) and 1907 (Northern). There is no officially recognized designer; it could have been the architect (Leslie Green), or might have been left to the tiling companies. Leicester Square is the one station for which almost none of the original tiling pattern is known. I'm therefore presuming that you're referring to the current design, which isn't in the book. According to the book Changing Stations, the current 'film' theme was created by Robert Cooper. It isn't clear whether this is just the enamelwork around the access passages, or the tiling as well. The design was installed in 1985.
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Post by abe on Jul 26, 2015 16:49:26 GMT
Paddington NR is issuing these as well - I was a bit surprised when I received them last week, as they combine the ticket and seat reservation on one card.
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Post by abe on Jul 26, 2015 16:42:08 GMT
There's another Night Tube website available at www.nighttube.london. It's aimed at staff, but has been designed for use by the public as well.
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Post by abe on Jul 20, 2015 5:36:01 GMT
I recall from somewhere (possibly a thread on this board) that the tight curvature of the crossover at Queensway was a problem for modern rolling stock, and that at least one train of 1962 TS ended up with a broken stabling light as a result of using it.
Out of interest, Queensway had both a crossover and a reversing siding when it opened, the crossover overlapping with the siding entrance on the WB road.
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Post by abe on Jul 19, 2015 17:46:11 GMT
The sidings at Queensway, Marble Arch, and British Museum all opened with the CLR in 1900.
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Post by abe on Jun 14, 2015 19:45:49 GMT
According to The Engineer (2 June 1911), the shaft and upper and lower concourses at Earl's Court were all excavated specifically for the escalators. The lower concourse was the first part excavated, by breaking through the platform walls and creating a cross-heading at the very start of 1911. Then in February work commenced on the upper concourse by excavating down from the District line platforms. The escalator shaft was then mined downwards to meet a small heading excavated upwards, down which the spoil was deposited for removal.
At Bank, the area between the Central line platforms into which the escalators descend was originally occupied by the lift shafts. There was some careful choreography needed to maintain access whilst the escalator shafts were dug.
Liverpool Street has the claim to fame that it was the first tube station in London to be opened with escalators - hence the space for them between the platforms has always existed.
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Post by abe on Jun 12, 2015 9:14:09 GMT
Much of the tunnel between the original MR station at King's Cross and Farringdon was excavated conventionally (i.e., not cut and cover) due to the depth below ground level. This was the case for both the Metropolitan and Widened lines.
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Post by abe on Apr 26, 2015 18:17:30 GMT
It's been postponed because the associated development scheme (by a third party) has been put on hold.
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Post by abe on Jan 16, 2015 20:35:38 GMT
The platforms were extended in the 1930s; originally they were only very slightly staggered. At the 'north' end of the station (actually west, but I'm basing this on the line being mainly north-south) there was a crossover tunnel, used for reversing trains. It was undesirable for the platforms to be extended into this area - probably in part because it would have meant making an extremely large tunnel for two tracks and two side platforms. The southbound platform was therefore extended at the 'southern' end, obliterating one of the original platform access tunnels.
The northbound platform was more problematic. Immediately south of the station the running tunnel passes close by the access subways to the old lifts and, perhaps more importantly, the Piccadilly line westbound platform tunnel. My belief (I can find nothing in writing to confirm this) is that it was decided that extending the northbound platform into the crossover tunnel was decided to be the 'least worst' option, and that it was just possible to squeeze it in by enlarging part of the crossover tunnel. The shield used to construct the crossover tunnel had been erected in a chamber immediately north of the platforms, and this larger section of tunnel still existed, and thus reduced the amount of enlargement required.
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Post by abe on Jan 16, 2015 19:03:57 GMT
There are a few stub ends of tunnels that will facilitate the construction of connections to the CR2 platforms as and when it is built. In the planning brief (link by snoggle, above), the last two pages show CR2 platforms and proposed connections in faint dotted lines, running north/south through the middle of the station, including the stubs. Presumably this will allow easy access from both the Dean Street (western) and St Giles Circus (eastern) ticket halls.
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Post by abe on Nov 3, 2014 10:45:12 GMT
Several decades ago the acronym was FACT - Fully Automatic Control of Trains. This was an evolution of the Victoria line ATO, I believe.
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Post by abe on Nov 3, 2014 10:27:09 GMT
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