Ask the Tubeman

[spsmiler]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

I was aware of that... But don't forget it was Addison Road Station so technically the Earl's Court to Willesden Junction service never served Kensington Olympia

Ha! Semantics!!!

technically of course you are right, but it was the same station, just with a different name.

I could say that only the Bakerloo Line ever served Trafalgar Square - I would (probably) be right too, except that if you go there now you can also have a long walk through tunnels from the Northern Line. For a while the Jubilee Line also went there (& still does ecs and accidentally with pasengers too) and what I used to do was use the two sets of escalators to shorten the walk. Alas that is no longer possible.

That leads me into the station's modern name, (Charing Cross) which is a station name saga in itself, what with that, Strand, Embankment, etc.

And what about Archway / Highgate? Wood Green, plus others... (though cant think of any right now)

What I find really odd is how there are 2 independant Shepherds Bush stations, yet no-one bats an eyelid - indeed, soon there will be 3 of 'em, although I dont know if the new West London Line station will actually be linked in to either of the other two???

A recipe for confusion...

now off to rest my head in a darkened room

lol


Simon

[Justme]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

Welcome to the world of Public Private Partnership and the most incompetent bunch of cowboy contractors you'll ever encounter

I wouldn't worry too much. We have the same problem with escalators here in Frankfurt. Set's around the main station here have been out of operation so long (years we are talking) that instead of fixing them, they just cover them up now with sheet metal so they don't fall into worse disrepair.

[spsmiler]

Originally Posted by Justme

I wouldn't worry too much. We have the same problem with escalators here in Frankfurt. Set's around the main station here have been out of operation so long (years we are talking) that instead of fixing them, they just cover them up now with sheet metal so they don't fall into worse disrepair.

There is at least one station in London where the same has been done.

It might be Greenford, i dont remember - its on the West Ruislip branch of the central Line, where the stations are all above street level.

Simon

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by spsmiler

There is at least one station in London where the same has been done.

It might be Greenford, i dont remember - its on the West Ruislip branch of the central Line, where the stations are all above street level.

Simon

It would be Greenford, I believe the only escalator from street level UP to the platforms on the Underground!

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by spsmiler

Ha! Semantics!!!

technically of course you are right, but it was the same station, just with a different name.

I could say that only the Bakerloo Line ever served Trafalgar Square - I would (probably) be right too, except that if you go there now you can also have a long walk through tunnels from the Northern Line. For a while the Jubilee Line also went there (& still does ecs and accidentally with pasengers too) and what I used to do was use the two sets of escalators to shorten the walk. Alas that is no longer possible.

That leads me into the station's modern name, (Charing Cross) which is a station name saga in itself, what with that, Strand, Embankment, etc.

And what about Archway / Highgate? Wood Green, plus others... (though cant think of any right now)

What I find really odd is how there are 2 independant Shepherds Bush stations, yet no-one bats an eyelid - indeed, soon there will be 3 of 'em, although I dont know if the new West London Line station will actually be linked in to either of the other two???

A recipe for confusion...

now off to rest my head in a darkened room

lol


Simon

There have been / are / will be 7 separate Shepherd's Bush stations!

I think it must be a record; the most separately-sited stations all holding the exact same name. I'm sure you'd be able to get 5 of them pretty easily, but the other 2 were revelations to me when I found out about them during my book research.

I'll see if you know where they were

[Rational Plan]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

That sucks balls. If the trains are going to take up paths into Paddington anyway, they might as well be advertised and have their capacity fully utilised. Lunacy... Private industry and public servcies shouldn't mix because it causes ludicrous situations like this. "Yes sir, the trains do run to Paddington but I'm not allowed to tell you that, oh and you can't buy a ticket anyway."

But it was only because of BAA we got the line built in the first place. When it was first proposed it was going to be a 70/30 split on funding. But as the government dragged its feet and eventually decided that, sorry no cash available, BAA just bit the bullet and paid for the entire thing itself.

BAA has invested £700 million in Heathrow Express, so of course it wants a return on its investment. The local service should be integrated into the Travel card zone, but no one is prepared to pay BAA for that so in effect there is toll on use on the tunnel, which is why the service is pretty expensive. I think it costs a fiver from Hayes and Harlington alone.

The big question is how are they going to allow acces to Crossrail trains and what the fares will be? There will be huge political pressure for it to be part of the travelcard area. BAA will be using its huge lobby skill to make sure it is compensated propperly.

Now there is a talk of a £5 toll to use the terminal access roads, to help fund the Airtrack scheme to Staines.

[mr_storms]

whats happening with the w&c rerubishment and will it (or does it already) have ato like the central line

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by Rational Plan

But it was only because of BAA we got the line built in the first place. When it was first proposed it was going to be a 70/30 split on funding. But as the government dragged its feet and eventually decided that, sorry no cash available, BAA just bit the bullet and paid for the entire thing itself.

BAA has invested £700 million in Heathrow Express, so of course it wants a return on its investment. The local service should be integrated into the Travel card zone, but no one is prepared to pay BAA for that so in effect there is toll on use on the tunnel, which is why the service is pretty expensive. I think it costs a fiver from Hayes and Harlington alone.

The big question is how are they going to allow acces to Crossrail trains and what the fares will be? There will be huge political pressure for it to be part of the travelcard area. BAA will be using its huge lobby skill to make sure it is compensated propperly.

Now there is a talk of a £5 toll to use the terminal access roads, to help fund the Airtrack scheme to Staines.

Network Rail should buy it off BAA at a reasonable price and in return HEX trains should be able to use the branch to the airport toll free.

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by mr_storms

whats happening with the w&c rerubishment and will it (or does it already) have ato like the central line

Its going ahead, it seems to be closed a lot recently so perhaps these are enabling works. It will shut for 4 months solid next year.

Its currently manual, and I don't think there are plans for auto working but don't quote me on that.

[nick_taylor]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

Its going ahead, it seems to be closed a lot recently so perhaps these are enabling works. It will shut for 4 months solid next year.

Its currently manual, and I don't think there are plans for auto working but don't quote me on that.

Yeah thats what I thought, especially as its the main tube route I take between Waterloo and Liverpool Street. Jubilee, Northern and Central for me then!

[invincible]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

Yes I was aghast to see 'Connex' emblazened on all of the Melbourne trains the last time I was there... They had two franchises on suburban lines in Kent, Sussex and Surrey (South of London) which were taken off them because they were so bad. They're French I believe?

Re: The Indian-Pacific... How did that work, with 5 different gauges?

At each point where it changed was everyone turfed off one train onto another?

The current route is 4352km long and spans three states.

But there used to be 4 breaks of gauge from Sydney to Perth and 5 from Brisbane to Perth to form a route Brisbane - Sydney - Melbourne - Adelaide - Perth and effectively circumnavigating half the continent which was at least better than circling the continent by ship.

If Wikipedia is correct, then at the time of the railway's completion in 1917:
Queensland used 1034mm narrow gauge.
New South Wales used 1435mm standard gauge.
Victoria used 1600mm broad gauge.
South Australia used 1034mm narrow gauge.
Western Australia used 1034mm narrow gauge.
The track across the desert between SA and WA was built by the federal government to standard gauge.

So from Sydney to Perth, you had these gauges: standard - broad - narrow - standard - narrow.

I'm guessing that passengers would just change trains since changing the bogies is probably too much work. There's stories of passengers on the night train between Sydney and Melbourne having to wake up at 4am to change trains.

The problem here isn't even with Connex itself though, it's the government not paying for infrastructure which leaves both gaps in coverage and large bottlenecks in the network. And the infrastructure is still the government's responsibility.

[Justme]

A few years ago, I took an overnight train from Paris to Barcelona. It was when there was still a guage difference between the two countries. The train was quite modern and fast, and while sleeping in Port Bou at the border, the bofies actually widened under the train, so it could continue through to Barcelona with minimal disruption.

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by Justme

A few years ago, I took an overnight train from Paris to Barcelona. It was when there was still a guage difference between the two countries. The train was quite modern and fast, and while sleeping in Port Bou at the border, the bofies actually widened under the train, so it could continue through to Barcelona with minimal disruption.

That's pretty mad... I've never heard of telescopic axles before!

[jonallen1966]

Originally Posted by pricemazda
but you don't find the escalators at Selfridges breaking down every 2 weeks, or the ones at heathrow that require being completely boarded up for 2 years (@Brixton an escalator was out for 2 1/2 years while being fixed)

Originally Posted by Tubeman

Welcome to the world of Public Private Partnership and the most incompetent bunch of cowboy contractors you'll ever encounter

The escalators at Selfridges don't have half as tough a life as the
escalators on the Undergroud.
the TFL site has a few statistics and reasons why it takes so long
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/using/use...escalators.asp
Things are getting better. The 3 at waterloo are being replaced in less than six months.

[CharlieP]

Tubey, what's the latest on the Space Train project?

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by CharlieP

Tubey, what's the latest on the Space Train project?

Disappeared off the radar sadly. The Victoria Line is going to be receiving conventional trains, and it was the Vic that Space Train was mooted for.

[spsmiler]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

Disappeared off the radar sadly. The Victoria Line is going to be receiving conventional trains, and it was the Vic that Space Train was mooted for.

Hi Tubeman, all,

sorry not always able to come during the week (busy), anyway, boss is out this afternoon..

re: the space train, here a pic I took of a model at the 1999 UITP exhibition in Toronto.

Yes its a great shame that its been killed off - privatisation, I suppose, and railcos afraid of what might happen (financially) if several years after introduction there were mechanical problems requiring expensive remedial work. As happened to the Combino(?) trams.

Simon

[spsmiler]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

There have been / are / will be 7 separate Shepherd's Bush stations!

I think it must be a record; the most separately-sited stations all holding the exact same name. I'm sure you'd be able to get 5 of them pretty easily, but the other 2 were revelations to me when I found out about them during my book research.

I'll see if you know where they were

Hi Tubeman.

Nope, no idea - although possibly linked in with TV, Eastenders?

It wasnt Quatermass was it - I thought that used something like "Hobbs Cross"?

Simon

[nick_taylor]

Won't the new sub-surface stock be articulated?

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by nick-taylor

Won't the new sub-surface stock be articulated?

Not that I'm aware of. They'll just be Electrostars with more doorways.

The reason being (I presume) because it will be a universal stock running in 8 (Metropolitan), 7 (District) and 6 (Circle / H&C) Car formations. I suppose then there could be 3 and 4 car units (i.e. either 4+4, 3+4 or 3+3) which could be permanently coupled and therefore articulated, but the entire train couldn't be.