Exploration: The Fallowfield Loop (A Christmas Adventure)

GalleryJanuary 12, 2015October 7, 2017Andy Carter 1 Comment

This Christmas (2014) I was visiting family in South Manchester. Whilst plotting my route for the drive from London I discovered on the map a long strip of empty land near their house that looked suspiciously like an old railway bed…

The Fallowfield Loop formerly provided access to Manchester Central Station from the Hope Valley Line to the east and Sheffield via a 10 mile sweeping detour of the city centre. The line is now an answer to London’s Northern Heights and is a footpath and cycle parkway which even has it’s own website and organisation.

Well of course I had to check it out… My time in Manchester was limited, so fresh from opening presents (most of which were train related of course), we stepped out for a crisp Christmas Day stroll. This was in no way a ruse to check out The Fallowfield Loop…

Full Loop

As it was Christmas Day I felt it was perhaps mean to subject Leah to the full 10 miles, so we just explored a short section in Levenshulme. It’s my intention to one day return to do the full loop so I will save the full history lesson until then, but for now – click on a photo to find out more:

At some point I shall return to complete the other 9 or so miles and visit the other 3 stations on the line. Until then, if you want to check out the loop yourself, here’s the full route:

Changes Announced To Solve London Bridge

January 12, 2015January 12, 2015Andy Carter Leave a comment

How to solve a problem like London Bridge: Who’s to blame? What’s Being Done? Will it fix it?

fromthemurkydepths

Not long now until the first changes to rail services begin on Monday, and some last minute changes are still being announced. TfL have just announced 30 extra buses to help from Monday:

Ten additional double deck buses on Route 21 between London Bridge to Lewisham via New Cross during the evening peak
Ten additional buses on Route 47 between London Bridge (Duke Street Hill) and Lewisham via Bermondsey
Ten additional Route 381 buses acting as a shuttle between London Bridge and Waterloo stations during the morning and evening peaks

This is in addition to an announcement in December of extra shuttle buses between Charlton station and north Greenwich, with buses starting from Charlton station at 7.50am, 8.00am, 8.10am, 8.20am, 8.30am and 8.40am. Extra buses on route 129 to Greenwich town centre were also announced and begun last week.

Much good for SE passengers?

It’s hard to see just how useful the latest…

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CAS Weekly 09/01/15

January 9, 2015August 23, 2016Andy Carter Leave a comment

Image from the BBC & London Green Party

Modelling

A pre-production example of the DJ Models’ J94 has been published by eHattons.

UK Rail

Yet more disruption at one of the capital’s main termini. This time it’s London Bridge…
…TheMurkyDepths also looks at how Southeastern services are about to undergo hidden changes!
Former Transport Secretary calls for TfL to absorb all of South London’s rail network into The Overground brand.
The Department for Transport release a report covering the capacity and demand figures for the East and West Coast Mainlines.
A disused siding could be turned into an elevated parkway in Peckham.
Embankment, Charing Cross, Strand, Trafalgar Square: All used at one point to describe the same station. Geoff Marshall from The Londonist helps to unravel this mess with a helpful video…
…They also tell you when and where your best chances of a guaranteed seat on the tube.
Like Modernist Buildings? Check out this wonderful blog from Daniel Wright on some of London Transport’s finest.
…And The National Railway Museum remembers Winston Churchill’s last journey.

World Rail

Rail Freight enjoys huge growth in the U.S. in 2014…
…and in California construction of a new high-speed line begins.

(Featured Image by MattBuck).

Exploration: Leslie Green Stations Of The Northern Line

GalleryJanuary 3, 2015August 22, 2016Andy Carter 2 Comments

The London Underground maybe a functional and sometimes frustrating piece of infrastructure for some, but for others it’s an architectural gem known the world over. Being over 150 years old, and made up of various former Victorian companies, the Tube has some of the most varied and interesting architectural designs of any mass transit system. None more prominent than the stations of Leslie Green.

In 1903 Leslie Green (born 1875) was appointed chief architect of the newly formed Underground Electric Railways Company of London who were busy in the process of building 3 new lines through the capital: Great Northern, Picadilly & Brompton Railway (Piccadilly Line), The Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (Bakerloo Line) and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (Northern Line – Charing Cross Branch). Leslie Green was tasked with designing the stations for all 3 lines.

Green designed the stations in a bold uniform ‘Arts & Crafts’ style so that they would be instantly recognisable for the UERL’s new customers. Each station was constructed around a steel two story frame, with ox-blood red tiled façades with large semi-circular windows above wide entrance/exit gates. This December (2014) I went to take a closer look at some of the examples surviving on today’s Northern Line.

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CAS Weekly: 02/01/15

January 2, 2015August 23, 2016Andy Carter 1 Comment

Image by Joel Goodman (Manchester Evening News)

UK Rail

A tram delayed the New Year from starting in Manchester by 4 minutes. Watch the full shambles here.
Cock-Ups-a-plenty this week as overrunning engineering works causes festive chaos on the East Coast Mainline…
…Network Rail makes official apology and say their boss will not take a Christmas bonus.
The festive improvement works at London Bridge went much more smoothly. Do you want to see timelapse footage of it? Of course you do.
Fares have gone up 20% under The Coalition…
…but at least train companies will inform you of the cheapest prices in new “code of practice.”
Twitter user @bitoclass creates this Christmas version of the tube map….
London Reconnections explore train frequencies on the tube’s Sub-Surface Lines.
Tottenham Court Road Tube station will be partially closed for a year.
YouTuber, cbalmer001 has decorated his bathroom to mimic a Leslie Green tube station.
An Arriva Trains Wales service was allegedly so crowded, passengers rode in the drivers cab!