You need to know little about urban railways’ cartography to know the name Harry Beck, …
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In Video: the Waterloo & City 1940 Stock
For those who have yet to encounter it, the SouthernRailwayFilms channel on Youtube has a veritable treasure-trove of videos related to the history of the old Southern Railway Company. The Waterloo & City line was, …
Continue readingLondon Buses and the Battle for Shoeburyness
On Friday the 18th December 1908, an unknown military force landed on the shores of the river Crouch in Essex. Britain had been invaded. The invading force (the Germans, if the soldiers tasked with responding …
Continue readingIn Pictures: The New Croydon Tram Units
Last year TfL tendered for six new trams for the Croydon Tramlink. These are primarily intended to allow services on the Elmers End branch to be increased by 4tph. The £16.3m contract was won by …
Continue readingChristmas Quiz: Winners and Runners Up
The numbers are in, and as with last year it was incredibly close. Unfortunately, however, there can only be a few winners, and so without further ado these are below. I will be contacting all …
Continue readingIn Pictures: Track Laying on the ELLX2
Ahead of the general freeze on rail work in advance of the Olympics, work continues on the ELLX2. New Overground Signage at Canonbury The Overground As part of the track laying process (and as with …
Continue readingLondon and its Airports Part 1: Putting the ‘Math’ into ‘Aftermath’
It starts most days about five in the morning, as planes begin their final approach to Heathrow. Almost immediately, a queue forms. “Red eye” flights arrive from North America that have taken off just before …
Continue readingThe 2012 Christmas Quiz: The Answers
And so, it’s time to put you all out of your misery. We had a HUGE amount of entrants this year, so it’s going to take us a a few days to work out our …
Continue readingCroxley: Maximum Milk, Minimum Moo
Last Wednesday saw funding confirmed for a project that many had thought would never see the light of day – the Croxley Rail Link. The Croxley Rail Link is a project that London Reconnections has …
Continue readingThe 2012 Christmas Quiz
It’s that time of the year again, and the minds here at LR Towers have been beavering away preparing the most devious of questions for you all. Whether we’ll manage to fox as many people …
Continue readingIn Pictures: The Crossrail TBMs
A gloomy Monday in Germany this week presented us with a rare opportunity – the chance to see the first (and, as it happened also the second) of Crossrail’s Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) close up. …
Continue readingPeeling the Orange: Usage Stats on the London Overground
Last month’s Rail and Underground panel featured an interesting short report that broke down London Overground usage and ridership. It included a look at the East London Line figures since its reopening. We looked in …
Continue readingIn Pictures: Tottenham Court Road Reopens
For almost eight months now, for travellers on the Northern Line’s Charing Cross branch, the next station from Goodge Street has been Leicester Square and from Leicester Square, Goodge Street. Today the Northern line platforms …
Continue readingThe Shape of Things to Come Part 3: The Hard Path to Change
“And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new order of things; for he who …
Continue readingThe Shape of Things to Come Part 2: What the Operational Strategy Discussion Paper Means for the Underground
The word “driverless” does not feature in the Operational Strategy Discussion Paper once. Given the amount of times this word has appeared in the press recently, the above statement may seem rather surprising. What it …
Continue readingThe Shape of Things to Come Part 1: What the Operational Strategy Discussion Paper Means for the Underground
Last week saw the future of the Underground thrust firmly into the light again thanks to the leak, by the RMT, of an internal London Underground Operation Strategy Discussion Paper to selected news sources. The …
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