London Rail

Tag: railway history

  • King’s Cross tunnels & canal aqueduct #2

    That darned canal aqueduct at King’s Cross is a major factor why the railway layout at this prestige London railway terminus has problems. Its not just that, there’s also the Camden sewer which also caused problems too by being right across the entrance to the three Gasworks tunnels. As we have seen, that sewer was…

  • Alfred County Railway

    The Alfred County Railway was a two foot gauge line from Port Shepstone to Harding in KwaZulu Natal. Running for slightly less than a hundred years, it closed for good about five years or so ago after several attempts to revive its fortunes by way of tourism as well as a better freight service. In…

  • King’s Cross tunnels & canal aqueduct

    The King’s Cross upgrade is a complex project because of the proximity of the adjacent tunnels known as Gasworks to the main line station and its platforms. This is why the layout was hugely rationalised in the seventies – in order to provide more flexibility – however that came with certain caveats which have only…

  • BR & LT decimalisation

    This weekend fifty years ago both British Railways and London Transport began a major task in their ticket offices and ticket machines to embrace the pending national conversion from pounds, shillings, pennies, to the new decimal coinage of pounds and pence. The change was effected on 14 February with the rest of the country following…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line: A history #3

    The third instalment in this comprehensive series on the origins of the Shinkasen! We begin with the notion the new line would be affectionately named Yume no Chōtokkyū – or the ‘Super Dream Express.’ The older (eg 1930s era) and considerably more popular name which many use – ‘Bullet train’ – didn’t gain world wide…

  • The Southwold Railway #2

    The railway’s route from Southwold to Halesworth: From the station itself the line headed across Southwold common and soon entered the largest cutting on the entire route. This present day view on Google Street shows the start of the cutting itself. Its been a public footpath for the last seventy years or so. This footpath was what…

  • Köln – Bonner Eisenbahn

    The Köln-Bonner Eisenbahn’s (KBE – or the Cologne to Bonn Railway) Rheinuferbahn once provided local and express trains between Köln and Bonn. There was a substantial freight operation too with large marshalling yards servicing local industries. The company stayed independent to the very end and it would have been around today had its finances not…

  • Marylebone station anniversary #3

    From the 1990s to the present day. Pair of 115 DMUs at the station. 1990 possibly. Source: London Reconnections A Class 165 in the early days of its use with a pressed steel DMU visible in the old diesel depot. Source: Twitter. (Note: Tweet is suspended, deleted or made private thus an archived image is…

  • Marylebone station anniversary #2

    From the 1950s to the end of the eighties. BR 45292 at Marylebone in April 1948, on what is possibly a Manchester express. Note the lower quadrant signal midway on the platform! It can also be seen in the picture featuring the women porters. Source: PicClick (The page in question has now been deleted and…

  • The Tokyo to Osaka Line: A history #2

    This is the second part of the planning/construction of the Shinaksen. Its straight in to the history! The construction of the Shinkansen would require enormous investment, some thought it would be as much as 200 billion yen. A significant proportion of the funds would have to be raised from banking institutes. In 1959 the Minister…

Search

Latest Posts

Categories

Tags

accessibility america anniversary breach canada canal canals closed railway coasters commuter rail deep level tube elizabeth line europe germany great western main line high speed rail industrial archaeology infrastructure japan london history london underground media metro narrow gauge operational issues paddington publicity quirky rail history railway railway history railway problems railway station roads South Africa station street theme park tokaido line transport tube tube station tunnels underground railway walking