Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.
Your guide to London's culture and transport news and events taking place across the city.
TfL bike hire – not available until May 2010 – advertised today
The bike hire scheme being launched next year is one of those transport ideas that I like, a lot. I was looking forward to cycling into the West End, dropping off the bike and staggering home on the tube via…
Vintage Trains at Marylebone Station
I think this is a case of caveat emptor, as while "vintage trains" are promised, they seem to be a footnote to a larger event.
Another trip on a 1938 Tube Train
Busy weekend, but culminated with a trip on a restored 1938 tube train running along the Northern Line, probably for the very last time, as new signalling work later this year will make it impossible to run old trains along the Northern Line.
The RMT – Comic by nature, Comic Sans by letter?
A copy of an (allegedly) genuine letter from the RMT union to its more sensible counterpart at Aslef made me do a double-take. Not for the weird polemic written which I read later, but for the instant question as to…
Railways boost reliability – sort of
A gushing press release from Network Rail has boasted that overland rail reliability is now at its highest ever level.
Vintage Posters from the Golden Age of Transport
I am a bit of a fan of the slightly rose-tinted memory of the so-called “golden age of transport”, and the posters that it inspired – although far too poor to be able to afford to collect them, alas. Like…
The Thames river bus service, The Thames Clipper – which zooms past my flat on a very regular basis – has announced that it is to start accepting Oyster PrePay cards from November. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/11479.aspx Still to be confirmed is whether…
Proposals for Post-Crossrail development at TCR
A brief comment has been released on part of the redevelopment proposals for the land which will be cleared as a result of the Crossrail developments at Tottenham Court Road station. As the buildings on the corner will be completely…
The DLR’s Brief History of The Docklands
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…
The last Thameslink train from Moorgate
Yesterday evening, the very last ever Thameslink train to leave Moorgate station – did indeed leave Moorgate station. Being the last train, loads of train geeks turned up to be able to tell their grandchildren “yes, son – I did…
The last Thameslink train from Moorgate
This Friday, Moorgate station will close to Thameslink trains forever as the track approaching it will be cut off thanks to the Thameslink 2000 – I mean, Thameslink Programme – of network upgrades. Hinted at in this week’s issue of…
Scavenger Hunting @ the Acton Depot
Yesterday was one of the periodic opening at the Acton Depot, which holds tons of kit that can’t be fitted into the Transport Museum’s Covent Garden venue. This weekend was themed around miniatures, so the place was also manned by…
London Transport Museum’s Open Weekend
Just a tip – if heading over to the periodic open weekend at the Acton Depot this weekend, you would be strongly advised to try and get tickets from the Covent Garden museum before heading over to Acton as the…
Railway sleepers to be made from plastic bottles
A press release from Network Rail amused me for the headline grabbing potential, although the press release title was somewhat drier. PLASTIC FANTASTIC: RECYCLED SLEEPERS SET TO ROLL OUT ACROSS THE NETWORK Everyday waste could form part of the railway…
Watching the A1 Tornado Steam Train arrive at King’s Cross
Update: The train will be returning to London on the 15th Sept – details here. — Today I wandered over to Kings Cross to watch the A1 Tornado steam train make its inaugural commercial trip – and into London. Got…
The A1 Tornado Steam Train Arrives in London
Just a heads up that the A1 Tornado, the first steam train to be built in the UK for nearly 50 years will be making its first commercial passenger trip tomorrow (Sat 7th Feb), and will be expected at Kings…
Steam Trains and Road Crossings
A press release from Network Rail the other day made me do a bit of a double-take and a bit of research. The press release itself was nothing special, being a warning that a moribund, but never technically closed (echos…
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…
Steam trains in London this weekend
If you’ve been watching the recent series of TV programs on BBC4 (and some on BBC2) about the ending of steam trains in the country – then you might be interested to learn that this weekend is an excellent one…
Bloggers Briefing with London Transport
On Tuesday, I was invited to join a bunch of other London based scribes to have a lunchtime round-table meeting over at Transport for London’s iconic HQ building office round the corner from their iconic HQ building to get some…
Warning Messages on London Transport
Prompted by a comment on Annie Moles’s blog about sarcastic warning messages on the tube network I was reminded of a thought I had yesterday about the perpetual audio warning messages which pervade the transport system today. I was sitting…
The end of an era on the railways
The East Coast Main Line National Express trains are to stop serving tea in cups and saucers. Apparently passengers in First Class dining cars complain about the noise of spoons rattling about in their saucers, so mugs are replacing cups…
