New South Quay station

Not long untill it completed and open then

Even if the first CW station doesn't count, the first Stratford station certainly does.

Argh, yes, how could I forget about the Stratford bay platform! It's all boarded up now, though there's been various activity happening there recently - is it just being used as a storage space now?

The heaving and perilously narrow island platform and the rushed turnaround are but (ghostly) memories now!

I recall hearing that TfL/DLR were somewhat less than pleased with Network Rail for closing off the new bridge so quickly. A bit of joined up thinking might have stopped its premature opening happening in the first place!

What about the original Island Gardens? Is there anything of that left now?



Bull & Bush never had any passengers, but it's often cited as a ghost station?

Surely between W/B Central?

Yes, the station has been demolished but the viaduct between there and Mudchute remains.
See Subterranea Britannica - www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/i/island_gardens/index.shtml

My memories of this was that, when the DLR first opened, there was no station or building works going on at all at the point where CW was to be built. However, the trains used to stop momentarily at the location where the station was (and would be) built before moving off again, as they'd already factored it into the system.

The original Heron Quays did have lifts by the Express company. Both in service from opening day. Both out of service 30.09.01 for station rebuilding. Two new lifts in service 14.01.03 by Schindler.

For Canary Wharf I have:
31.07.87 - Demolition of the unopened station commences.
31.08.87 - Initial railway opens to the public (confirming the original station never saw passengers).
21.05.90 - Southbound track diversion.
18.06.90 - Northbound track diversion.
02.04.91 - Station open for contractors only.
12.08.91 - Station opened to the public (centre road available for test trains only).
09.12.91 - Centre track and platforms 2/3 and 4/5 available for use to/from north end and escalators to/from them in service.
09.03.92 - Regular use of centre platforms at Canary Wharf begins.
09.10.92 - Track alterations just south of station commences.
15.04.93 - Access to/from centre platforms south end of station.

Brian, I didn't mean that the stations were meant to be temporary as structures; what I meant was that they seemed to be temporary solutions, or at least by 1999. Remember that by then Heron Quays had become an extremely busy station for people interchanging with the JLE and it just wasn't built for that. Now I remember that there were lifts there but they were out of service nearly all the time. I remember now messages to that effect appearing on the PIDs almost as a matter of routine. And as the docks were still being drained (and correct me if I'm wrong but this undertaking appeared to be suffering setbacks 2 or 3 times - i.e. draining almost completely dry and then a whole new swathe of water appearing again) there were hoardings all over the place and exiting at the station was always a 'keep your wits about you' exercise. From that point of view, you could tell the situation as was must have been 'temporary' as in it was known new buildings and a new station were going to be there sometime, but it just couldn't come soon enough.

Also I wasn't suggesting that the original CW saw passenger service. All I was suggesting was that it was still visible (and that trains still stopped at that point with bits of structure still visible) after opening. The Online Video I'm sure has people aboard a train approaching the old CW station, but of course they could have been 'insider' personnel or it could perhaps have been a press train. Similarly on another shot you see the demolition almost complete with only the concrete slabs left.

As for re-use of original modular parts, I find this a bit difficult to believe - the platform extensions and new canopies are all new as far as I can see - new concrete and new designs of clear, flat canopies rather than the original 'domed' blue plastic arc jobbies. In any case, would parts salvaged from demolished stations really have been kept in a re-usable condition somewhere, for so long? I seriously doubt it!

P.S. I thought the main reason for the rebuilding of South Quays (original station) was due to damage from the IRA bomb, rather than a surge in patronage.

As reganorak has already mentioned above, the original Canary Wharf station had been fully built and was in the process of being *demolished* rather than still under construction when the initial railway opened - it's an easy misconception!

From what I remember Canary Wharf station had been completely demolished by around the end of September 1987, and all the metal parts (canopies, staircases etc) were stored on the South Quay between the DLR viaduct and the (site of the future) Britannia Hotel for several years afterwards.

Thirstquensher: I agree with you entirely that by 1999 that Heron Quays would have looked like a temporary solution given the development that took place - and I suspect the reason that the lifts were out of order so often is because they were overused compared to what they were designed for. It's a big climb up to the platforms from street level here - all those city workers exiled to Docklands didn't have any escalators and didn't want to use the stairs! This was actually the permanent plan for the design however, and it was only events after the plan that made the design inadequate.

To understand why the DLR was built as it was you need to go back to 1981-1985. The Jubilee line extension to Docklands had been officially abandoned, and the plan for redevelopment of the Isle of Dogs was for light industrial and commercial use. Heseltine as Environment Secretary gave the go-ahead for a light railway to be built, at around 1/10th the cost of the Jubilee line extension.

At the time of signing the fixed price contract to build the DLR in 1985 (to cost £77m at 1987 prices) no major development was foreseen. At West India Quay and Canary Wharf the plan was to reuse and rebuild the existing warehouses (3-4 stories high - as the Museum of Docklands has done), and at Heron Quays there would have been a new small office development - only the west end of the quay was actually completed to this design, and those are still there today (the purple triangular designs).

It was only in late 1986 and early 1987, when the initial railway was structurally complete and being fitted out, that the American property developer G Ware Travelstead came along with the idea for a 'Wall Street on Water' at Canary Wharf. As part of this plan the DLR was to be extended to Bank, and Canary Wharf station would be integrated into the new development. Contracts for this were signed in June 1987, and that's why the original Canary Wharf was demolished before passenger service started.

Believe me, the original modular station parts have mostly been reused. There obviously weren't enough parts to extend all the stations, so in the first phases of work some (Limehouse, Westferry, Crossharbour) were extended with new designs, while others had replicas of the original parts and some parts moved from the stations that had new canopies.

After that however, with further rebuildings and demolitions, just about all of the initial railway's platform canopies have been concentrated at Bow Church, Devons Road and All Saints - have a look at these stations next time you're on the branch. I'm not suggesting that concrete slabs have been reused, but much of the steelwork has. There were obviously too many of some parts (e.g. staircases) and a use couldn't be found for the dome from the original Island Gardens!

South Quay station was originally rebuilt in around 1990-2 (don't have the exact date, sorry) because there had been so much development around the station - crowd control with staff was put in place in the evening peak. The rebuild consisted of additional staircases to a new design, and a complete replacement canopy.

The IRA bomb in 1996 mainly caused structural damage to the S-bend of the viaduct over Marsh Wall, the small shopping centre, the South Quay Plaza buildings and the buildings on the south side of Marsh Wall. The station was also damaged, but mainly superficially, and it was just repaired 'as was' (and for a while after reopening, there was a sobering reminder in the form of shrapnel dents in some of the metal panels).

It was a fascinating time to be in Docklands, watching change on a weekly basis - I only wish I had taken more photos of it! Hopefully there is a good local archive of pics for when the history books are written at some point in the future.

Would Schindler have a list of the work they did at Canary Wharf someone could consult to get confirmation of the work they did ?

The Wharf is reporting that DLR hope to open South Quay on Monday week.

It did indeed open, or re-open, depending on your point of view.

www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/4047284880/
www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/4046539599/
www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/4047285400/
www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/4047285910/
www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/4046544495/
www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/4047287746/

A bit too much 'spin' in perhaps TFL's press release by claiming that "An extraordinary feat of engineering on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) has effectively moved a whole station without any disruption to passengers", implying that the whole structure was transported to a new site, and what about the numerous weekend service suspensions for engineering work, isn't that "disruption to passengers"?