Historical

By Rail to the Mumbles

Today is the sixtieth anniversary of the closure of South Wales famous electric railway, the Swansea and Mumbles. It was…

Whatever happened to Brunel’s bridge?

The famous (since 2004) bridge was dismantled and taken to Portsmouth where it currently resides at Fort Cumberland in Eastney.…

The Hex River Pass

Trans Karoo express traversing the Hex River vineyards. This week its the 30th anniversary of what was initially Africa’s longest…

Holborn Viaduct

This stupendous Victorian construction has reached its 150th year. The reason for its construction was to enable a completely level…

Rosemary Branch N1

A branch line in London N1 perhaps? Nope. Its a part of London that’s been known by this name since…

Not All The Stations….

Its that time again, station after station, railway after railway. ALL the stations on the Isle of Man episode two…

The Moon 1969

You’ll know what this is about! Its fifty years since humans first set foot on the moon. But first we…

The Post Office Tower

Today is the anniversary of the topping out of the BT (or Telecom) Tower and for some its still known…

Tower Bridge: one thro' five

Tower Bridge’s one-two-five (125th) anniversary is upon us and this post discusses the bridge’s ‘one thro’ five’ – a subject…

The Swansea & Mumbles Railway

In 1889, 1929, 1954 and 1959 there were four important milestones for the railway that ran along Swansea Bay. The…

Crossrail: Its just been announced the line is expected to open between Paddington and Abbey Wood in the summer of 2021. There’s no mention of the Abbey Wood – Heathrow bit that was mentioned at the TfL / GLA committee meeting nor the other dates, described as ‘pessimistic’ were mentioned. Heathrow & Shenfield will be in May 2022. As I wrote, Mike Brown had warned those other dates/information wasn’t iron-cast. Standard.

@elizabethline services through central London expected to commence in summer 2021 – intensive operational testing of the railway will commence later this year#Crossrail press statement in full here: https://t.co/Whua0KTQAj pic.twitter.com/dpoqKcSpKL

— Crossrail Project (@Crossrail) January 10, 2020

Also today is the 157th anniversary of the Metropolitan Railway opening:

Happy anniversary to the Tube which officially opened to the public today in 1863! ✂️🎀 pic.twitter.com/t63iWSKMzQ

— Transport for London (@TfL) January 10, 2020

Westville13 on Whatever happened to Brunel’s bridge?: “Fascinated to see this as I was working at English Heritage at the time and visited the bridge with Steven…” Jan 17, 20:13
alondonblogger on Old tube station reveals itself!: “Probably lit to facilitate access to the substation (assume its accessed via the green door on the South Acton platform.)” Jan 12, 21:35
mike durell on Old tube station reveals itself!: “I noticed that the footbridge and stairs seem to be fully lit with flourescent lamps. Is there a reason for…” Jan 12, 21:19
BRIAN BERKE on A Euston station era ends #2: “Thank you for showing how Network Rail never had good connections to a station cab rank if a passenger had…” Jan 11, 18:51
mike durell on 150 years of the Swiss Cottage line: “Thanks ---still an unexplained mystery then!” Jan 10, 23:06
alondonblogger on 150 years of the Swiss Cottage line: “I dont think it would have been that tunnel. I dont even know if this one actually came out anywhere.…” Jan 9, 17:50