It might sound like a rather obscure sort of event that just a few people would be interested in – yet Londoners have leapt at the chance to walk through the Thames Tunnel at Rotherhithe this weekend.

Tickets for the evening and Saturday visits were sold out almost as soon as they were announced – with the phone line and (decrepit) website suffering under the load of requests. People are now begging for tickets almost as if they are trying to attend a pop-concert.

Thames Tunnel Ticket Touts could make a fortune tonight!

This level of interest in our deep subterranean world shouldn’t really surprise people though – as most of us have a weird fascination with the hidden and mysterious. Even the most disinterested person is going to be mildly curious in seeing what lies beyond the dark voids they occasionally see in the tunnels on their daily commute.

I have a long habit of trying to get into subterranean locations – sometimes with success – and also do a little lobbying on trying to get places opened up where I genuinely think it is possible.

That latter part has been singularly the most disappointing though – as people cry that health and safety is a worry (rarely is) or that no one would be interested (oh, boy are they interested!).

It’s even worse when I don’t even get a reply though – as then I can’t be sure if an idea was evaluated and rejected – or simply thrown in the bin without consideration.

An example of the later would be an email I sent to the DLR last year when the Xmas closure of Bank station was announced. The proposal was simple. It is just about possible to walk onto the Bank line from a side road just before it dips into the tunnel, so why not open the tunnel up to the general public to walk down over the Xmas weekend before the engineering works started?

I just knew that hundreds, if not thousands of people would have leapt at such an opportunity. Not because the tunnel is historic, but because the opportunity is rare, and the walk would be a singularly unusual event to take part in.

No reply – not even a “don’t be stupid, don’t you realise there are a hundred and one reasons why that can’t be done!”

The Thames Tunnel tour will also include a recreation of the Funfair element, but that is a mere sideshow for most people who seem to be going down under the river. It is the tunnel that is the main event here, so other opportunities to open tunnels shouldn’t be reliant on being able to put on a big show. The tunnel is the show!

Maybe the huge demand for tickets to the Thames Tunnel will encourage more openings like this where possible?

I do appreciate the problems in opening subterranean venues though – the organisation, the volunteers needed, the inevitable worries about insurance and crowd control – not to mention ensuring there are no trains using the tunnel at the time!

For that reason, despite people expressing hopes that the Thames Tunnel tour will happen again, I suspect that repeats will be unlikely, simply because you are asking train passengers to lose a fairly important cross-river link. We shouldn’t forget in our desire to visit these places that they have a primary function, and being a tourist attraction isn’t it.

I wont mention details in case plans are being plotted, but I did get a “hmm, interesting” from a suitably connected person at London Underground a year ago for a proposal to open up a bit of abandoned station and a tunnel for a weekend in a way that got around most of the health and safety worries that come from having loads of people in sometimes constrained areas.

Fingers crossed that it happens, and even if it doesn’t, at least I know someone read the email and considered the proposal. That simple act is often worth the effort, even if nothing comes of it in the end.

I am writing about this not because I think the contest is noteworthy due to wondrous prizes, but for the sheer irony of the issues it raises.

Over the years I have lived in the docklands area, I have on many occasions been stopped from taking photos either on the DLR stations, or within the Canary Wharf estate.

Although the Canary Wharf estate management office assures me that, despite the actions of their security guards, my photography is fine, I have never had a reply from the DLR about their official policy.

Flicking through one of the free rags given out in the area, I notice a photo competition.

The terms are simply delicious – they want photos taken from DLR trains or on their stations.

Yes – there we have it! The next time I am stopped from taking photos on the DLR for security or privacy reasons, I shall inform the person that I am entering a competition run by their own company.

Huzzah!

Anyhow – more details here.

This morning, a couple of weeks later than expected, the new South Quay station on the DLR opened to the general public.

There was already a South Quay station, but it couldn’t be extended for the new 3-car length trains, so they built a brand new station a hundred yards or so further along the line.

And a rather nice station it is – and not just because it is clean and still devoid of black chewing gum spots. Being built over a link between two docks, people waiting on the platforms will have very nice views across the water.

The escalators are also low-energy in that they run slowly when no one is using them, then speed up when someone approaches. Seen it before and while a bit weird when you first use them, it is something you get used to quite quickly.

One issue in the design which may be a problem, or not – is that there is a concrete “barrier” right next to the up escalator on the southbound platform – and will surely be jumped over by most passengers. Expect another barrier to be installed there when some idiot hurts themselves, then complains it was the fault of the DLR.

The old station is already being demolished.

The fluff piece from TfL is here.

A few photos:

More photos over at Flickr – and some photos taken the weekend the station was originally expected to open.

Somehow missed this, but the DLR has published A Brief History of Time the Docklands as a station by station guide. The booklet, some 28 pages long gives 2-3 paragraphs to the history of the area which each station is located in.

I picked up a copy from the Greenwich Tourist Advice Centre (which I visit reguarly to see if any events are being promoted) and its not a bad little publication. It’s rather light on detail, but it isn’t supposed to be an Encyclopaedic journal after all, so that is acceptable.

From the press release:

For example, did you know that St Anne’s Church, a few minutes from Limehouse station, inspired the Victorians to make tiered wedding cakes?

Yes, that is a very well known story.

Or that The Gun pub, built in the 1700s and now close to Blackwall station, houses a concealed staircase with a spy hole facing the river that was once used to spot revenue inspectors.

No – and I must go to have a look!

It seems that the booklet wont be on general distribution though, as it is being made available though “schools, libraries and visitor attractions”, so you might have to hunt a bit to get a copy. The DLR will post out leaflets though, and when it is available, presumably you can order a copy from their ordering form.

Today was the completion of a DLR extension project which had taken the light railway down towards City Airport – and after a short hiatus for tunneling work – under the River Thames to Woolwich town centre.

I had planned to be particularly geekish and catch the very first train to Woolwich at about 5:30am, but the temptation to finish off an opened bottle of Port the night before proved too difficult to resist, so with a slightly heavy head I caught the train at a far more reasonable hour.

As we headed out towards King George V station, which had been the temporary end of the line for the extension, the train progressively emptied until we got to the station and there were about 4-5 people on the train. I actually got off here as I wanted to get a photo of a DLR train approaching the station with a display board showing the new destination.

Catching the following train, we drop steeply into the tunnel – which I noticed has a pedestrian walkway along the entire length – and thence to Woolwich. A couple of air vents towards the end give you glimpses of the construction techniques used, and then a very sharp curve brings us to the new station itself.

The station has two exits – one which maintains a clinical grey colour leads to the existing overland station – and the other exit, with somewhat garish artwork leads to the town centre.

The Costa Coffee shop was unfinished as the station opened – someone probably screwed up there, but the station itself was fully completed including all the posters and signs which, ahem – enhance the decor.

As part of the opening day celebrations, a brass band marched through the town centre and the council had set up some trestle tables to promote the regeneration of the area.

When I arrived, the bulk of the few passengers around seemed to be fellow geeks with cameras – and when I left it was a mixture of geeks and locals out to explore the “shiny new thing” with their kids.

There is an interesting historical parallel here.

In 1902, a foot tunnel was opened under the Thames at Greenwich – and in 1999, the DLR dug a tunnel in almost the same spot (just deeper) to run though Greenwich to Lewisham.

Ten years after the original Greenwich foot tunnel was opened, a second almost identical tunnel was opened in Woolwich – and with quite spooky timing, ten years after the DLR opened its Greenwich tunnel – they also opened a tunnel at Woolwich.

Back to the station opening though – and the place was packed full of smiling DLR staff – and the trains themselves seemed to have a lot of staff around. All smiles and helpfulness – except one smiling chap who warned me that photography would only be tolerated on the first day.

Here we go again – yet another damn jobsworth with a photo-phobia.

I presume that as photography is acceptable on Saturday 11th January 2009, but will be frowned upon on Sunday 12th January 2009, that some mysterious change will occur to the building overnight which renders it suddenly a security threat of some sort and hence photography will be banned?

Nope – just damn stupidity from a jobsworth who wants to spoil a harmless hobby.

A bad way to end the morning.

The next “big change” will be the oddly little published opening of an entire new line on the DLR – running between Stratford and Canning Town stations. Before that though, a lot of stations are being upgraded to support 3-car trains which will offer an effective 50% increase in capacity along parts of the line, and a redesigning of the junction by West India Quay to take out a bottleneck at that point.

The ever cynical Diamond Geezer has a sadly accurate report on the delights at Woolwich – and as I used to live nearby, I never failed to marvel at how a town centre can feel like it is perpetually stuck in a wet autumn, even in the height of a hot summer. The town centre has some amazing heritage, but a lot of it is frankly being left to rot. Hopefully, the link to Canary Wharf and the restoration of the Arsenal will bring in the money to improve the town centre and restore those grand old buildings.

I have uploaded the rest of my photos to the usual Flickr location.