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Post by c5 on Jan 20, 2007 13:43:55 GMT
Having travelled through Oxford Circus station which is being modernised, I must say that it is looking boring in the very bland white tiling that now dominates the platforms. The Snakes and Ladders tiling was much more interesting. I think that this sort of thing should still be preserved in the way that the really old tiling is also kept.
Does every station have to look exactly the same...?
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Post by Chris M on Jan 20, 2007 15:04:10 GMT
I think every station should have its own unique identify.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2007 22:29:59 GMT
One placement of snakes&ladders is being kept on the Central platforms, for posperity... [theres that word again]
It will be cleaned up as best possible...
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Post by Chris M on Jan 20, 2007 23:00:56 GMT
I presume you mean " posterity" (future generations) rather than " prosperity" (being prosperous).
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2007 23:05:43 GMT
Yes, slip of the finger... sorry for the mis-understanding...
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Post by c5 on Feb 28, 2007 22:48:32 GMT
Sorry to revive this thread, but I passed through said station the other day and noticed this sign on the platforms. Obviously Metromess HQ need a dictionary!
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Phil
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Post by Phil on Feb 28, 2007 22:55:31 GMT
That's not just a typo, it's a total brain failure!!! Must've been done near going home time.
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Post by version3point1 on Mar 1, 2007 2:16:52 GMT
We've been down this road many a time before, but as we all know, Metronet just want to get the job done as quickly as possible so that they look like they're on target with their plans to refurb X amount of stations in Y amount of time. Simply trying to clean up, repair and restore the snakes and ladders mosaics would've taken too much time, and time equals money and further inconvenience to the pax. The Tube has always been known for setting standards throughout the world of design. Many a time do I remember my Graphics teacher (who'd graduated as an architect) gassing on about the visual aesthetics and features of many stations. It's a shame that despite this connection and these roots, Metronet are simply allow to chuck half of it away in a skip (only for some salvaged pieces to find themselves up on eBay). It's all very well introducing heritage schemes and whatnot to protect stations during refurbishment as well. There's nothing wrong with half the stuff they rip out - many a roundel I've seen that just needs the brass polished up a bit, and perhaps a bit of rust sorting out, but Metronet opt to be done with the lot and put in these new 'generic' roundels with the tacky grey frames and totally off colours. (LU's all up in arms about colour standards, but any layman can tell that there's a difference between red and red on the Tube, and usually the older stuff seems far more consistent...) I think it'll get to the point where you wont be able to tell some stations apart because of the fact they'd have had all their individual features stripped. Anyway, I digress; I remember last year before they'd re-tiled Oxford Circus, the short walkway from one set of station exits to the other had a range of white tiles put up, ranging from the huge slabs that go in the interchange walkways to the little pretty-much-standard white ones that go on the platform. There was a sign Metronet had put up, explaining, very briefly, that this was for some sort of aesthetics test. Surely, the public should have some sort of say on the overall aesthetics instead of the company's bigwigs? After all, it's us that have to deal with and use the station, while they probably go roaming around in their reasonably priced cars... Oh well. Here's to station refurbs! Sacrificing the Tube's individuality for the sake of 'consistency'... (And here's me wondering what Bethnal Green and Mile End are going to look like when they're done!) Oh goodness. I see I've turned this into a bit of a rant... Ooops.
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Post by connextrain on Mar 1, 2007 5:55:01 GMT
oxford circus station (on my trip) did look pretty dull compard to other stations in the area. Why do they feel the need to modernise stations?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2007 9:06:52 GMT
One should of course avoid lumping Tube Lines in with Metronet - most of their station refurbs are actually quite good, with the sole exception of Buffalo and Rook (which may or may not be a Metronet responsibility on the Bakerloo side).
Stations like Chalk Farm, Tufnell Park, Gloucester Road, Kennington, Borough, St. John's Wood and Swiss Cottage are all beautiful examples of the Right Way To Do It IMNSHO.
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Post by jamesb on Mar 1, 2007 12:03:07 GMT
I agree that Tufnell Park is lovely, except for the lifts, which I got stuck in! Side issue: At the modernized Caledonian Road, how comes they regularly play some automatic platform announcements in different languages? At King's Cross I could understand it (especially when the Eurostar terminal opens) but at Caledonian Road it seems a bit random. At King's Cross, the automatic announcements sound very robotic and a bit strange sometimes. Stations like Chalk Farm, Tufnell Park, Gloucester Road, Kennington, Borough, St. John's Wood and Swiss Cottage are all beautiful examples of the Right Way To Do It IMNSHO.
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Post by version3point1 on Mar 1, 2007 17:47:34 GMT
I do agree very much with TOK. Tube Line's refurbs are spot on. They get on and do all the work that's required to conform to current legislation (tactile strips, yellow paint here and there for the visually impaired, etc.) and whatever else is required of them, but they take the time out to do a good refurb. Sure, Kennington might have taken an eon and we have to put up with the stations looking nastily naked for a while, but at least the time is taken out to do the job properly, without sacrificing each of the stations' individual characters. Now, I'll say one thing (just the one thing) in Metronet's defence: They do have a lot of stations to modernise before their eventual Judgement Day (wheneverr that is), a whole lot more than Tube Lines has to worry about. Having said that, most of the refurbs they've done are just... They might as well have one station they lovingly take the time over (just one, that's all I ask of you, please...) - just the one station that they can be proud of, and that everybody can admire. At King's Cross, the automatic announcements sound very robotic and a bit strange sometimes. How I loathe the shouty man (that's what I call him). It doesn't help when the volume's turned RIGHT up, but then again, I suppose the tourists benefit from that. Those PAs are enough to make me jump though.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2007 18:11:26 GMT
Nooo, that's not the shouty man. The original shouty man did the "Mind the Gap" announcements at Embankment on the Bakerloo Line. Some people even thought it was Robert Dell who made that recording too!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2007 18:40:08 GMT
I thought I add this little snippet. A Metronet contractor, I won't mention their name but lets call them Balflower Betty. They've caused over £20 grand of damage to the newly refurb'd Lancaster Gate. Good news is that the station hasn't been officially signed over so Metronet must sort out the mess.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2007 19:01:23 GMT
What did they damage?
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Post by edb on Mar 1, 2007 19:48:56 GMT
I LOVE shouty man. He's brilliant, actually gets the message across.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2007 20:35:09 GMT
MIND THE GAAP... MIND THE GAAP... MIND THE GAP. STAND CLEAR OF THE DOORS... PLEASE.
There was a shouty man at Leicester Square, Northern Line... This got replaced with a feeble sounding woman, who makes no attempt at sounding authoritive!
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Post by edb on Mar 1, 2007 21:15:36 GMT
MIND THE GAAP... MIND THE GAAP... MIND THE GAP. STAND CLEAR OF THE DOORS... PLEASE. There was a shouty man at Leicester Square, Northern Line... This got replaced with a feeble sounding woman, who makes no attempt at sounding authoritive! Thats the problem. There is no authority (as is soo true all over now)
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2007 22:42:03 GMT
Wall tiles/ floor tiles/ step. General stuff. Is shouty man the same as used to be @ Bank?
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Post by Tom on Mar 1, 2007 23:04:32 GMT
I thought I add this little snippet. A Metronet contractor, I won't mention their name but lets call them Balflower Betty. They've caused over £20 grand of damage to the newly refurb'd Lancaster Gate. Good news is that the station hasn't been officially signed over so Metronet must sort out the mess. I know of contractor with a similar name who did quite a bit of damage whilst the refurb was in progress. The quality of some of the follow up work is laughable - a metal cover over one of the ESPS (hiding the emergency stop label) held on by blu-tack!
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Post by c5 on Mar 1, 2007 23:19:20 GMT
I thought I add this little snippet. A Metronet contractor, I won't mention their name but lets call them Balflower Betty. They've caused over £20 grand of damage to the newly refurb'd Lancaster Gate. Good news is that the station hasn't been officially signed over so Metronet must sort out the mess. I know of contractor with a similar name who did quite a bit of damage whilst the refurb was in progress. The quality of some of the follow up work is laughable - a metal cover over one of the ESPS (hiding the emergency stop label) held on by blu-tack! There was something in Private Eye a few months back about the Bakerloo line centary "plaques" that were put up at stations. A few of them fell off, so Job out and were stuck back on with sticky tape. God knows how much they charged LUL for that!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2007 19:19:51 GMT
I thought I add this little snippet. A Metronet contractor, I won't mention their name but lets call them Balflower Betty. They've caused over £20 grand of damage to the newly refurb'd Lancaster Gate. Good news is that the station hasn't been officially signed over so Metronet must sort out the mess. I know of contractor with a similar name who did quite a bit of damage whilst the refurb was in progress. The quality of some of the follow up work is laughable - a metal cover over one of the ESPS (hiding the emergency stop label) held on by blu-tack! Also from what I've been told the same contractors have been playing with your signals
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Mar 9, 2007 18:26:26 GMT
I couldn't possibly comment. (At least not in public).
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2007 20:48:52 GMT
For posterity, here's the snakes and ladders on the n/b Vic platform. Much more fun than boring white tiles.
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Post by c5 on Mar 9, 2007 20:52:29 GMT
The place looks more like a public toilet now....
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Post by version3point1 on Mar 9, 2007 21:21:59 GMT
The place looks more like a public toilet now.... Having seen it one night last week, I think some people thought the very same thing...
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Post by Chris M on Mar 9, 2007 23:06:03 GMT
Does this sign, that I saw at Uxbridge in January, show the attitude of contractors to stations?
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Post by gavelex on Mar 10, 2007 0:12:30 GMT
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Post by jamesb on Mar 10, 2007 13:05:40 GMT
I've also seen handwriting written on the surface dust of platform walls appearing at one station which could only be accessible from the track - unless there are any customer's with incredibly long arms ;D ;D. It just looks a bit unprofessional.
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