2012-01-07
post/15443230644
stml:
The red structure is the remains of the original Greathead shield used to tunnel the Waterloo & City. It was left in place in 1898 and rediscovered in 1987.
Nice tube geekery there.
2011-03-04
post/3629423886
Tube upgrade chart 2011 (by Darren)
I quite like this graph of the various upgrade programmes.
2011-02-17
post/3338395505
London Transport - Arsenal station design sketches, August 1930 (by Mikey):
A sketch from the offices London Transport Architects illustrating the proposed reconstruction of the facade of Arsenal station in 1933. This swept away the 1906 Leslie Green facade and delivered this uncompromising ‘moderne’ elevation that largely survives to this day. Given the huge LT roundel on the facade and the two cantilevered versions there’s no doubting it is a tube station!
See also: Holborn station reconstruction sketches, 1933 (by the same uploader).
2011-02-04
post/3104109829
A double-page spread from Railways Under London by Marie Neurath, one of the key exponents of the Isotype Picture Language, as seen at The Science Project: Isotype workshop.
There’s an exhibition about the work on Isotype at the V&A. It’s small but, if you’re in or near London, well worth a visit.
2011-02-03
post/3093253454
The end of the ‘67 stock on the Victoria line is nigh, according to The Status of the Underground Upgrades at London Reconnections. I’m surprised it’s happening so soon: I’d assumed I’d get one last ride the next time I was in London, but unless that’s much sooner than I’m expecting, it seems I’ve already taken my last. Goodbye, faithful chariots.
The article’s worth a read for news on the other lines, too.
2011-01-11
post/2704551207
London Underground tube map, c1911 (by Mikey Ashworth, via diamond geezer).
One of the most interesting things, to me, is how much of the central network was in place by this point. The only tube lines built inside the Circle are the Victoria and Jubilee lines.
It’s definitely worth clicking through for the uploader’s notes on the style and the inclusion of the Brighton Railway’s Elevated Electric services, and for his set of Underground maps, including MacDonald’s Gills minimal/calligraphic sketch map.
2011-01-04
post/2599461738
Jubilant on the Jubilee, based on a survey by YouGov (via iamdanw).
It’s sad to see the Victoria line drop, but they are introducing new rolling stock. I’m not at all surprised to see the H&C and Circle do so badly, though.
(via iamdanw)
2010-12-25
post/2458900439
Ah, the Underground celebrating the holiday in its own inimitable way.
2010-12-13
post/2302170763
Crossrail - Liverpool Street Station design
A 3D diagram of the Crossrail routing under Liverpool Street (and, given the length of the platforms, Moorgate and Finsbury Circus too). Note the Post Office railway tunnel.
2010-11-11
Literature In Transit
A couple of weeks ago, I popped along to the fourth installment of Muni Diaries Live, a series of talks about the San Francisco public transit (to use the American English) system.
I certainly found it interesting, even though the venue was slightly too full to make it really enjoyable. The talks covered the gamut from sex, to violence, community, songs (in the style of a sea shanty), comedy, and even a segment from the outgoing head of PR for the system. All of the speakers (performers?) were fantastic, even the brave members of the public who had a couple of minutes each after the interval.
The whole thing felt deeply, deeply different to anything I’d imagine in London, where the Tube has (with a very few exceptions) attracts what interest it does from, frankly, engineering nerds. (I count myself firmly in this category.) Perhaps it’s because it’s reliable, and covers most of the city more or less comprehensively. Possibly it’s the famous English reserve, where even after a few minutes stuck in a tunnel the most that’s acceptable is a loud tut or sigh. (It’s the done thing to ignore kids with mobile phone speakers, too, no matter how annoying they are.) It might even be that we just price the crazy people out of the system.
In contrast, in SF it sometimes seems notable if a train deigns to turn up. The buses are full of talkative… eccentrics, let’s say, and the cut-back Metro system means they run at capacity more often. The combination of a lack of engineering variety and a more storied life inside the vehicles seems to have left the city with a heritage of talking about the strange thing that happened the last time you dared to set foot on the 14 Mission.
It’s an interesting change for me, as I struggle to learn anything at all about the Breda-built LRVs that took over from Boeing’s awful mid-’70s stock, and all the more odd given the otherwise deeply geeky outlook of parts of the city. Still, file it under “just another difference.”
