As you may have read, I went on a trip on a 1938 tube train a few months ago - but today was THE BIG ONE, where the train did a full run along the entire Northern Line from Morden to High Barnet and back again as part of the 70th anniversary year. Woo!

Made my way down to Morden and waited to be let on - and they took us down to a separate platform to wait for the train, which duly pulled in and after a short delay - we were off.

Unlike the previous trip, this train was absolutely packed without a single spare seat. I sat opposite a couple + baby who is probably the youngest “tube anorak” ever.

The train positively hurtled through the tunnels, and actually seemed faster than a modern train. I think that was due to the slightly more bouncy journey though. As the train passed through the stations it slowed down as they have to and then accelerated away - only occasionally stopping to wait for clearance ahead on the track.

We were supposed to go via the Bank branch, but thanks to problems in the morning they decided to route us via the West End which was a double treat as we came back via Bank and hence got to go right round the entire line.

As before though, one of the nicer aspects of the trip is sitting on the train as it goes through stations and seeing the looks of shock, puzzlement and delight on the faces of the people on the platform as this strange old train pulled in. Out came a veritable forest of camera phones as people took snaps to show to their friends. What had been just a normal and probably tedious wait for a train had become a matter of delight and something to talk about.

Many expected to get on the train, but the doors never opened.

There were also a fair number of train spotters taking photos at the ends of the platforms as well.

The train proceeded along towards High Barnet - and in probably a first for London Underground - the train actually arrived early, so we all had plenty of time to stretch legs and take photos before the return trip to Morden.

It was a really enjoyable trip to go on and I had an idea to head back to Clapham Common, which has the famous central platform and try to get photos of the second run of the day - hopefully with both the old and a modern train at the station at the same time.

Alas - this was to prove to be a huge disappointment and the events there really spoilt the day for myself, and quite a few other people.

After a coffee and a wander around Clapham, I went back down to the platform to get ready to take some photos. I really wanted to do it at the top of the steps, but that would have caused a blockage so was not really viable. So I wandered along to the near end of the platform and met up with another chap who had been on the previous heritage run - and there were a small group at the far end of the platform also getting ready to take photos.

I took a few sample photos to make sure everything worked, and then the tanoy bellowed out that photography was banned on the Underground. It kept repeating this - and several staff came down to stop the group at the end of the platform taking photos. They were utterly contemptible in their manner in dealing with people and it really annoys me that hundreds of people were taking photos all along the Northern Line - but here at this station, a bunch of jobworths were spoiling the issue.

In the end, I actually caught another train to the next station along, which is similar to Clapham Common but not quite as good - and there took my photos without any trouble whatsoever, although they didn’t come out too well as I didn’t have time to set myself up properly.

Transport for London naturally requires permission for commercial photography, and students can also get a photo-pass, but there is no explicit ban on photography for personal use. Indeed the policy seems to be based entirely on the mood of the station staff, and in this situation it seemed that a small group of people, causing absolutely no obstruction or problems whatsoever was worthy of four station staff descending on them to prevent our hobby.

To have spent over an hour on a special train full of tube staff allowing people to take photos with gay abandon - to then be told that photography is forbidden is inconsistent and frankly put a really sour end to the day.

I’ll be sending a more thoughtful letter to TfL on this issue later in the week.

Was off to the Bank of England this morning for an open day tour of the building. I have wanted to go inside for simply ages, but the main open day during London Open House Weekend comes attached to a horrendous queue around the building which I simply can’t cope with.

Today however, was another open day and not that well publicised. Nonetheless, I got there early and after waiting barely a few minutes, we were ushered by a pink suited doorman inside and through the usual security features of any modern building.

I joined a group of about fifteen and we were taken around by a bubbly lady who has worked in the Bank for around the past 20 odd years. Upon going inside the main doors, we stopped to learn a bit of the history of the founding of the bank - being set up by William and Mary to finance their war against France - and admire a statue of King William III in Roman dress. The guide then gushed that the statue was very valuable and insured for £1.5 million, and my heart sank.

Was this going to be an American style tour where the guide spends more time talking about the insurance value of items and ignoring the far more interesting (for me) history of the item. Fortunately not - this was the first and last time that the financial worth of something was commented on. Phew!

Moving along - whilst being careful to notice the ornate mosaic flooring - we came to a large foyer, which is the main entrance to the Bank for official types and we got to see a very impressive model of the Bank as it was when the original architect, Sir John Sloane had finished. Alas, almost nothing of that original building survives as the entire interior was gutted in the inter-war years and a brand new, but classical designed building was erected in its place. The only thing from the original building is the massive “curtain wall” which surrounds the building and is in places, some 12 feet thick. The wall was designed to be secure, and when they rebuilt the Bank, they decided that frankly it couldn’t be improved on.

Then on to admire a 7 story high staircase (4 floors up and 3 down) - and it was pointed out that a mosaic at the very bottom of the staircase was not modern, but an original Roman one which was found there when the basement was excavated.

Anyhow, through a memorial garden, which is not even open to staff normally and into the Governors’ office. This is the very room where Mervyn King works each day and we were strictly ordered to stay on a protective carpet and not wander. Although the room itself is from the modern redevelopment, it has a huge desk in there which almost every Governor since the Bank was founded has used.

Onwards and upwards to go into the Committee room, which is where the interest rates are debated each month and then into various other fine rooms for meetings and events.

Overall the tour lasted about half an hour - and was worth it, but only if I hadn’t had to queue up for ages.

However, we then went into the museum - which is open to the public during the week normally, and that is quite impressive. Absolutely loads to see there and I spent at least an hour wandering round looking at the exhibits, which range from the history of the Bank to issues of modern financial markets and on to how bank notes are designed and made.

If anything, I think the museum was a better part of the visit than the tour of the building - which is rare indeed.

As a final moment, there is an actual gold bullion bar in a plastic case with a small hole for your hand and you can try to lift the bar - which I just about managed. I knew gold was heavy, but Blimy! it was a lot heavier than I expected.

The Bank will be open for tours on London Open House Weekend, and if you get there very early to avoid the queues, then it is worth the visit.

Alas, absolutely no photography is permitted inside.

Nearly 20 years before Robert Stephenson’s infamous Rocket carried its first railway passengers, there was an earlier train which had for a short while been carrying passengers. It was in July 1908 that a radical locomotive was demonstrated in London - becoming quite possibly the first ever passenger train for the general public to ride on.

While steam trains had existed for a few years, they were mainly still demonstration affairs. Such fearsome beasts were certainly not for the use by people - who would surely die from shock if propelled along at such an ungodly speed of 12 miles per hour - or heavens, even faster!

Anyhow, ever since the invention of the steam engine inventors had laboured with more or less success at the problem of making a vehicle propel itself by steam, but it was reserved for Richard Trevithick, a Cornish engineer of remarkable genius, to solve the mechanical problem at the beginning of the 19th century.

The accepted type of steam engine at that time was Boulton and Watt’s ponderous beam engine, which used very low pressure steam and relied on the vacuum obtained by condensing it in a separate vessel, for which a supply of cold water was required. Trevithick’s idea was to use steam at a high pressure and, neglecting the vacuum, to exhaust it into the atmosphere after it had done its job. He did away with the beam, too, making the engine direct acting, and consequently so compact that it could be put onto a mobile structure - the first train engine.

In 1802. he patented his “puffer engine”, as it was called, and had not long to wait for an opportunity of showing what he could do. Samuel Homphray, proprietor of the Penydarren Iron Works in South Wales, who was aware of Trevithick’s inventions, and made a wager of 500 guineas with Mr. Hill, of the neighbouring Plymouth works, that he could replace horses by steam in drawing loads of iron from the furnaces along the tramway to Navigation House, over nine miles away, and return with the empty trucks.

Therefore, a year later, Mr Trevithick had manufactured a small puffer engine for the trial - which eventually proved satisfactory in spite of a few defects. However, the idea for the steam train did not really take off and it was not until 1812 that any serious attempt was made to create a serious steam engine for use on rails - and not until 1839 did Robert Stephenson’s infamous Rocket complete its passenger run.

However - lurking in the vaults of history is a little known attempt by Mr Trevithick to drum up interest in his puffer engine for conveying passengers, and so he came to London and set up an demonstration railway.

It was a short circular route, more akin to a fairground ride than a railway for carrying passengers from one location to another - and was surrounded by a high fence to prevent non-paying customers just jumping on where they liked.

The “Catch Me Who Can” was built in 1808 by Rastrick and Hazledine at their foundry in Bridgenorth, and was demonstrated to the public at a “steam circus” organized by Trevithick on a circular track in Bloomsbury, just south of the present-day Euston Square tube station in London.

The locomotive reached a top speed of 12 mph - but it proved too heavy, however, for the relatively brittle cast-iron rails then in use and Trevithick closed his exhibition after a broken rail caused a derailment.

The railway failed partly due to the derailment - but also due to being simply circular, the idea of it being anything more than a circus act never really occurred to people. Had it been lain as a route to convey people from, for example - Oxford St to the steam fair - then the concept of rail travel could have occurred a decade or two sooner than it eventually did.

Alas, the history of the “Catch me who can” was almost lost and indeed many started to doubt if it had ever truly existed - until building works at the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at University College London in 2000 found part of the railway and proved that it had indeed existed.

Once almost forgotten - next month will mark the 200th anniversary of this remarkable early attempt at a passenger railway - and it is delightful to know that a replica is under construction at the Severn Valley Railway workshops, initially for Bridgnorth’s Trevithick 200 celebration on 19/20 July 2008.

In 1934, Mr Oliver Stanley, the Minister of Transport unveiled a tablet at University College to commemorate the first steam railway. The sign read: “Close to this place Richard Trevithick, born 1771; died 1833, pioneer of high steam pressure, ran in the year 1808 the first steam locomotive to draw passengers.”

I’ve not been able to locate the sign though - maybe I am looking in the wrong place or it has been lost.

Postscript

As an aside, according to The Times (yes, again) from 28th April 1932, a debate was held by the Newcomen Society for the Study of the History of Engineering and Technology where the controversy of a “brick funnel” was finally laid to rest. It seems that Richard Trevithick had been experimenting with mobile steam engines for several years and a story arose that prior to the early demonstration train that ran some 10 miles from the Penydarrani works down the old tram- road to its junction with Glamorganshire Canal at Abercynon - the original model had a tall funnel made of bricks.

This naturally sounded very odd - considering that such a funnel should by rights be made from cast iron and as such some debate had surrounded the matter. However, a chief engineer who had assisted Trevitlick in his works confirmed that there had indeed been a brick funnel - but only because the cast iron one was late in arriving and Mr Trevithick refused to wait any longer to test his new train.

Hence, the first and probably last time where a stream train had part of its structure made from house bricks.

As soon as the cast iron funnel arrived, the bricks were replaced - and this occurred before the famous run to Abercynon.

Links

Google Map showing the location of the steam fair

Olde map of the same area - the steam fair was probably held in Caerm Square, near the bottom right of the map

Replica of the “Catch Me Who Can” engine

Trevithick 200 - reconstruction of the Catch Me Who Can

The Trevithick Society

There is a general trend to cite the rise of the CCTV (security camera) as an example of the reduction in personal privacy we enjoy in the UK. Certainly as a totem of intrusion, there is no better image than that of a CCTV mounted on a pole watching people like some Orwellian nightmare - it is certainly more media friendly photo than a computer disc with millions of details on it.

However, is the hype really justified?

I am quite sensitive about privacy issues - but as it happens I am not too sure that the CCTV is actually the villain is it painted as. What does the CCTV actually do - well, those which are actually monitored (and most are just video taped and never actually watched) are fed into a room filled with screens and a few people monitoring them.

Basically, three or four people are casually watching a bank of TV screens watching for anything which looks odd. If you are just wandering along the road, then your actions are just what I would call, background noise - and hence totally ignored.

OK - that still sounds intrusive - but think about what the CCTV has replaced. Each CCTV is basically replacing a security guard or policeman on the beat - so they are simply a cheaper way of providing a security presence which would probably be there anyway.

I don’t subscribe to the argument that “if you have nothing to hide, why worry” - as I think that is quite oppressive, and I rather like the idea of being able to walk down the road in whatever manner pleases me without feeling obliged to “conform” with societies norms.

But, which would you prefer - a CCTV which is barely glanced at, or a security guard standing there glaring at you as you walk past him?

Oddly, I think I prefer the CCTV model, as ironically it probably offers more personal privacy than having guards standing on every street corner watching everything I do.

Of course, as technology advances and we get to the point where individuals can be identified in a CCTV image and then tracked all the way around town, then I will be very unhappy as that would be the equivalent of the “bobby on the beat” following me around the place. Add in that my every train journey is logged on a computer - which I am VERY unhappy about - and you have the emerging potential for a surveillance society to emerge.

But until that day - I think the paranoia about CCTVs is a bit overhyped, and worryingly may divert attention from the real privacy problem - the uncontrolled  rise of computer databases used to track our every movement and transaction.

There is a small exhibition over the next few days being held at the showroom for the Pan Peninsula development in Canary Wharf - focusing on future housing developments in the East End of London. I wandered along this morning and was probably one of their first visitors as it only opened about thirty minutes before I arrived.

It is basically a series of poster boards explaining the details of a selection of housing developments which are planed or already underway - including the Leamouth Peninsula development, Woolwich Arsenal and a few others dotted around the area. There are also a few wood block models to help put things in perspective - and the Leamouth model is particularly good.

It is quite small though as an exhibition, and doesn’t really have anything you wouldn’t have already seen if, like me you are a regular visitor to the Building Centre. However, if you are in the Canary Wharf area and have half an hour to spare, this is not bad for a lunchtime venture.

Getting there is a bit of a pain as the Pan Peninsula development has cut off the main access, but wander down Mastmaker Road and it is suitably signposted when you get to the end of the road.

Oh, and it is nice to have an excuse to go inside the Pan Peninsula show room - I just wish they would include a trip on their incredibly smart passenger boat as well
The exhibition is open until 1st July

Future Living in E13 / E14 / E15 / E16 / SE10 (ignore the map on their website, it’s wrong)