Canary Wharf’s 1990s model of the DLR

Sitting up high on the 30th floor of the main Canary Wharf tower is a model of the DLR that hasn’t changed since the mid 1990s. It’s actually part of the marketing suite that promotes the space to potential clients, and they will initially be shown a huge scale model of London, not dissimilar to the one in the London Building Centre.

This is very up to date, and even includes Crossrail lines.

In another room though, filled with a massive scale model of Canary Wharf estate, is a rather curious bit of heritage. While the DLR is shown, passing next to the new Crossrail and moderately new Jubilee line, the DLR is stuck in a timewarp.

Older single carriage units still ride across the tracks. The DLR signs still say “Docklands” and the whole thing is just ever so slightly nostalgic.

A model of the Canary Wharf station has a few maps, and careful zooming in shows that it dates to some time between 1994-1999, in that short lived period when the London Arena existed.

The existence of the unmodified DLR in a room full of entirely up to date models was a delightfully curious anomaly.

Hopefully, it’ll never be changed.