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Post by stapler on Oct 11, 2016 22:07:00 GMT
I believe I read the Abellio is being dropped from AGA as early as next week. Doubtless we will see some adman's exotic livery appearing on these Aventras when they arrive. In Ilford depot today was a GN class 365 and an unidentified EMU (obscured by another) in some kind of yellow overall vinyls.....
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Post by stapler on Oct 9, 2016 21:06:44 GMT
The Graham Road curve was built (AIRI) solely to facilitate the closure of Broad St, after much humming and hawing. It was planned by BRB HQ from about the mid-70s, I think (all tied up with issue of government office development permits for the site of Broad St). But in 1978 the GLC quietly started a 2 or 3tph service from Camden Rd to Stratford/N Woolwich without at first reopening Hackney NL . Of course, the interchange with BR(E) did not reopen till last year. It strikes me a lot of cash could have been saved on the earthworks for Graham Rd if the interchange had been reopened then (and the exchange BO was then still standing). I once had this explained to me that the LMR did not talk much to the ER, and neither of them ever spoke to the GLC or the BRB HQ!
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Post by stapler on Oct 9, 2016 12:08:44 GMT
Think that's right. I used to see them depart from Liverpool St, but I have to say, they were generally pretty empty. I doubt whether many people would even have thought of getting to Watford, Willesden Junction, H&I etc that way
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Post by stapler on Oct 9, 2016 12:05:25 GMT
There are of course some with no building at ground level, but something really impressive underground, eg Gants Hill. On the other hand, there are some with little on top and little underneath!
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Post by stapler on Oct 8, 2016 9:58:18 GMT
As an officer of the Chingford Line Commuters' Assn, I was at the first consultation meeting when all this was announced. I remember one of the BR officers saying that more passengers arrived on a single a.m. peak 9-car Chingford train (so say, just less than a thousand, they seated 848)than on all the trains that arrived at Broad St in the morning peak. I don't think it'd ever occur to anyone in BR to invert the closure proposals. I also remember one Saturday in July 1969 taking my then new gf to Richmond and Kew via Broad St. I think we were the only passengers on the train. (I probably did not observe lineside features that day as much as usual...)
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Post by stapler on Oct 7, 2016 14:32:34 GMT
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Post by stapler on Oct 7, 2016 7:37:56 GMT
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Post by stapler on Oct 2, 2016 8:49:18 GMT
What's ESUBs?
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Post by stapler on Oct 2, 2016 8:47:04 GMT
I'm sure they won't be, but with an end to the OJ procurement process in sight, we might see more repatriation of this sort of thing anyway. Directly Operated Railways may yet see a resurrection.
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Post by stapler on Sept 28, 2016 21:17:57 GMT
Anyone seen any loading/usage figures, preferably by station?
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Post by stapler on Sept 21, 2016 21:47:42 GMT
I've noticed recently that the LO unit for the Romford-Upminster shuttle now comes from Chingford instead of Ilford. Usually starts from Chingford late the previous evening, stabling overnight at either Liverpool Street or Romford. They've been using 317s or 321s on that shuttle for months. Don't entirely know why you need an outer-suburban unit with a toilet for a eight-minute journey... When you're my age, you might.
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Post by stapler on Sept 21, 2016 21:45:45 GMT
A friend told me he had seen a TFL-Rail liveried 315 in Chingford sidings, but I thought that rather unlikely! Anyone else seen it?
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Post by stapler on Sept 20, 2016 21:07:16 GMT
Not up there, but I've noticed it around Woodford.
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Post by stapler on Sept 19, 2016 15:25:45 GMT
A very nice compilation, if not very evenly spread over the network. How grey, unhurried and uncrowded everything was then, and how much better dressed all and sundry (except gricers). Oxford Circus with a handful of people at 16.40 on ANY day? Couple of points When and why was "train red" replaced by "bus red"? Why were A stock roofs painted purple? How much better the stock looked with London Transport in gold than the in-you-face unlettered roundel (same with the buses...).
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Post by stapler on Sept 19, 2016 6:56:07 GMT
Someone told me (maybe on here?) that Aldersbrook sidings were being decommisioned. Any infor?
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Post by stapler on Sept 17, 2016 9:49:29 GMT
Nice photos. Think the bridge actually came from Churchfields, didn't it, certainly not Woodford station....
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Post by stapler on Sept 17, 2016 7:16:19 GMT
315, it certainly looks very extensive work. Did you find out how routine operations are being accommodated during it? Are more units being stored overnight at eg Gidea Park, Chingford, Stratford?
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Post by stapler on Sept 15, 2016 19:38:43 GMT
Brentwood is unattractive because of the all stops formula and the journey time to London, as well as zone 9 fares. I just don't see massive relief of the Epping branch, at least whilst it's in zone 6.
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Post by stapler on Sept 15, 2016 13:42:47 GMT
Yes, they do. |I've occasionally posted details of "foreign" sets being seen in the complex.
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Post by stapler on Sept 15, 2016 13:38:28 GMT
I think even in ATO days, the Woodford-Hainault was never entirely cut off. I remember one evening when there was a fire at South Woodford when Loughton was served via Hainault, the train reversing at Woodford. A fairly roundabout journey, serving all stations.. As to Ongar, there were always the workings to Loughton and/or Woodford. On the point about waiting at Oxford Circus for an Ongar train, all the describers before DMIs were marked in the central panel "For North Weald, Blake Hall and Ongar, change at Epping" and (a relic of 1948-52) "When no through train is shown, change at Loughton for trains to Epping".
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Post by stapler on Sept 14, 2016 15:37:01 GMT
LT tried to run down Epping-Ongar after Norman Fowler turned down closure in 1980 (but allowed Blake Hall to go). Removal of the loop at N Weald meant one engine in steam (so to speak) and the max frequency 40 mins; service reduced to peaks only. Epping Forest DC financed an off-peak service but although that was moderately successful, they couldn't continue the spend. They protected the line's alignment in their Local Plan, but unfortunately not the extensive yard at Ongar. Whilst a decent bus service to Ongar was maintained by reputable operators, local commuters could cope, but in recent years various fly by night operators have had a go
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Post by stapler on Sept 13, 2016 22:08:03 GMT
Passing the depot today, I noticed very much more track lifting and replacing than heretofore. Does anyone have a succinct summary of what they are doing, how long it'll take, and how maintenance and storage of trains is being dealt with currently, when half the depot must be out of action?
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Post by stapler on Sept 13, 2016 22:04:51 GMT
Today, the hottest September day in London for 100 years, I had to take a trip to my old haunt, Westminster. Having spend about 15min at Tower Hill on an empty S stock keeping cool on the way out, the time came to return just after 2000, with me looking forward to air con all the way to Mile End. D78s 7007+7070 rolled in, much to my horror (and unhappy recollections of sweltering journeys in the early 80s before they were fitted with opening quarterlights) However it was quite nostalgic a trip, and not quite as unpleasant a journey with the refurbed stock to Mile End as I feared. It'll probably be the last time I take a D stock home, and I have almost come to regard them as old friends!
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Post by stapler on Sept 8, 2016 17:39:03 GMT
Will is quite right. Heathrow, all the London termini, Stratford, Oxford Circus etc are in dire need. ASIUI. one of the reasons for their closure was to avoid the cash routine, so they could probably be made card payment only.
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Post by stapler on Sept 8, 2016 7:10:57 GMT
It was a manifesto commitment. It was accidentally revealed at the Assembly T'Port Ctte two months ago that London Travelwatch were likely to be doing the review work. Given they have a long standing commitment to opposing ticket office closures or reductions in hours it will be interesting to see how they do this work. They were also outraged that LU / TfL, no doubt under Mayoral instruction, refused to conduct a public consultation on the TO closure plans so they did their own! Even if LTW do support / propose the reinstatement of ticket offices at some locations I've no idea where the money will come from to unpick the mad dash approach to removing ticket offices from public view. I suspect there may be an "element" within TfL who might quite like to see some ticket offices put back as there is the likely need to swap people's Oyster Cards from the current design to the new one at some point in 2017/18. Trying to do that with roving staff at ticket machines is a hiding to nothing as you need to swap over PAYG balances, registration details, discounts, season tickets etc etc from the old card to the new one and link back to any account. Having a core of ticket offices perhaps supplemented by roving facilities would provide a better basis from which to do the card conversion task. I still think a smallish network of "TfL Shops" that offer a whole range of TfL services including public transport ticketing, information, other payments is a perfectly viable concept and need not just be at tube stations. Snoggle, why are Oystercards having to be changed over, and when will this happen? Likely to cause chaos at KXSP and Heathrow, as tourists turn up with 2006 Oysters unused for a decade.
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Post by stapler on Sept 4, 2016 8:52:03 GMT
I still get my Oystercard out for the ghost barrier line! It must have gone about 2004-5?
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Post by stapler on Sept 3, 2016 15:23:28 GMT
"one of the few lines in London proposed for complete closure by Beeching" It wasn't in London at the time of Beeching. Havering LB was created only in 1965.
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Post by stapler on Aug 22, 2016 21:09:45 GMT
You have to remember that in the 1950s West Ham Manor Road station, as it was then called, was a very unimportant station, serving a largely industrial area that had been severely bombed, with some council housing designed to serve the industrial premises. Its passenger usage must have been small, and it was run by BR-ER even though the LTS platforms had been removed in the?30s. There was no station at all on the Stratford-N Woolwich line. Like many stations in East London, its importance now is out of all proportion to what it was 50 years ago....
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Post by stapler on Aug 22, 2016 12:15:28 GMT
We all marvelled at the automatic trains running Woodford-Hainault in the 60s. We are half a century on from that. Are we not?
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Post by stapler on Aug 21, 2016 7:25:56 GMT
insert code here The references to TSR2 earlier in this thread remind those of us of a certain age of another public project which hardly met with success. The Wikipedia entry on it refers to ever rising costs and inter-service squabbling... familiar? As to naming, Theresa line would be a bit of a mouthful. The May (or May not...) line would be better Still think it's daft not to run 50% of the Heathrow service from Shenfield
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