Blackfriars closes for over two years

The New Blackfriars Station

A London Underground station on the Circle Line closes from tomorrow (Monday 2nd March 2009) for more than two years for engineering works. Blackfriars will shut until late 2011 as part of the £5.5bn Thameslink upgrade project. The work will improve the station with step-free access, increased capacity and enhancement to interchange facilities with the over ground station.

The shutdown for two and a half years in one of the longest closures of a central London station. Rail chiefs said the Square Mile station would shut in March and not reopen until late in 2011. More than 44,000 daily users of the station face long delays getting to and from work and will be forced to use other stations, lines or the bus.


Blackfriars Underground station

Underground and rail bosses have decided there is no way to do the work except to close the Tube section, and users will have to alight or board at Mansion House or Temple stations - both 10 to 15 minutes walk away.

The mainline rail section of Blackfriars will remain open, but Thameslink and Southeastern commuters wishing to change to the Tube will have to use Farringdon, Elephant & Castle or London Bridge stations instead. It is promised the first phase of the Thameslink programme, which will virtually treble passenger capacity from the current 4,500 an hour to 12,000, will be completed for the 2012 Olympics.


Thameslink System

Network Rail said Blackfriars mainline station will remain open during the course of the work. District and Circle line services will not stop at the station during the engineering work and passengers are advised to use nearby Temple and Mansion House stations. Improvements to the Tube station will also include an enlarged ticket hall and refurbished platforms. The work is part of a £350m project that will see Blackfriars become the first station to span the River Thames. As such it will be a welcome replacement for the current gloomy and awkward Blackfriars Mainline station which was rebuilt cheaply and badly after being bombed during the Second World War.
The Thameslink upgrade will see peak-time trains increase from eight an hour to as many as 24, using 12-carriage services instead of eight. There will also be major improvements to the nearby London Bridge and Farringdon stations. As the Thameslink project was originally called “Thameslink 2000” the more observant blogistas will deduce that these trains have been slightly delayed!


Blackfriars, Thameslink Trains

Thameslink is one of the more interesting transport links in London being the only cross London rail link (contrast this with the 5 RER lines in Paris) and uses the Snow Hill tunnel which was originally opened on 1st January 1866 and intended to link with a future channel tunnel. The Thameslink rail network was created by joining the electrified network south of the Thames with the recently electrified line between Bedford and St. Pancras to the north via the long disused Snow Hill tunnel. It was fully inaugurated in May 1990, two years after services began. Thameslink is the only National Rail service that crosses the centre of London. This reduces the need to use the Underground for cross-London journeys. As a direct result of its inception, journeys between destinations in north and south London that were served by Thameslink services quadrupled after the first year of operation.
A consequent unusual feature of its history is that all through services need to be operated by dual-voltage trains since the original lines south of the river are electrified using a 750 volt third rail and those to the north by the more modern 25kV overhead system. All plans for development as well as day-to-day operation of the line are constrained by this.

For more information on Blackfriars and all the London Circle Line Stations see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-circle-line-journey.html


Blackfriars Station & rail bridge over the Thames today

Blackfriars closes for over two years

The New Blackfriars Station

A London Underground station on the Circle Line closes from tomorrow (Monday 2nd March 2009) for more than two years for engineering works. Blackfriars will shut until late 2011 as part of the £5.5bn Thameslink upgrade project. The work will improve the station with step-free access, increased capacity and enhancement to interchange facilities with the over ground station.

The shutdown for two and a half years in one of the longest closures of a central London station. Rail chiefs said the Square Mile station would shut in March and not reopen until late in 2011. More than 44,000 daily users of the station face long delays getting to and from work and will be forced to use other stations, lines or the bus.


Blackfriars Underground station

Underground and rail bosses have decided there is no way to do the work except to close the Tube section, and users will have to alight or board at Mansion House or Temple stations - both 10 to 15 minutes walk away.

The mainline rail section of Blackfriars will remain open, but Thameslink and Southeastern commuters wishing to change to the Tube will have to use Farringdon, Elephant & Castle or London Bridge stations instead. It is promised the first phase of the Thameslink programme, which will virtually treble passenger capacity from the current 4,500 an hour to 12,000, will be completed for the 2012 Olympics.


Thameslink System

Network Rail said Blackfriars mainline station will remain open during the course of the work. District and Circle line services will not stop at the station during the engineering work and passengers are advised to use nearby Temple and Mansion House stations. Improvements to the Tube station will also include an enlarged ticket hall and refurbished platforms. The work is part of a £350m project that will see Blackfriars become the first station to span the River Thames. As such it will be a welcome replacement for the current gloomy and awkward Blackfriars Mainline station which was rebuilt cheaply and badly after being bombed during the Second World War.
The Thameslink upgrade will see peak-time trains increase from eight an hour to as many as 24, using 12-carriage services instead of eight. There will also be major improvements to the nearby London Bridge and Farringdon stations. As the Thameslink project was originally called “Thameslink 2000” the more observant blogistas will deduce that these trains have been slightly delayed!


Blackfriars, Thameslink Trains

Thameslink is one of the more interesting transport links in London being the only cross London rail link (contrast this with the 5 RER lines in Paris) and uses the Snow Hill tunnel which was originally opened on 1st January 1866 and intended to link with a future channel tunnel. The Thameslink rail network was created by joining the electrified network south of the Thames with the recently electrified line between Bedford and St. Pancras to the north via the long disused Snow Hill tunnel. It was fully inaugurated in May 1990, two years after services began. Thameslink is the only National Rail service that crosses the centre of London. This reduces the need to use the Underground for cross-London journeys. As a direct result of its inception, journeys between destinations in north and south London that were served by Thameslink services quadrupled after the first year of operation.
A consequent unusual feature of its history is that all through services need to be operated by dual-voltage trains since the original lines south of the river are electrified using a 750 volt third rail and those to the north by the more modern 25kV overhead system. All plans for development as well as day-to-day operation of the line are constrained by this.

For more information on Blackfriars and all the London Circle Line Stations see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-circle-line-journey.html


Blackfriars Station & rail bridge over the Thames today

Seats on Feet!

Neanderthal Man

A bane of the regular commuter are the Neanderthal ignoramuses who insist on rudely displaying their genetic inbreeding by using other people’s seats on public transport as a footrest. Indeed due to lack of enforcement by transport operator’s many do this deliberately as a Yob badge of honour normally combined with a “what’s your problem, Mate!” stare as staff major on their “non-confrontational” training and walk on by. I suspect these are the same people who take pride stealing disabled people’s parking spaces normally with their kids in the back seat so they learn by example and the Neanderthal genes are preserved for posterity. Never mind the disrespect to their fellow passengers and the fact that they look stupid (not that they consider this a disadvantage in life!) but analysis of such seat covers generally shows materials not normally found outside forensic science programmes!

Well one enterprising company called TRiP has a new take on this age old problem as it asks its customers to please put seats on feet! The concept is brilliant as London Transport moquette is an iconic fabric and is sold by the London Transport Museum as a successful furniture range.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/11/londons-transport-museum.html

The hard wearing, iconic patterned fabric seems perfect for footwear and we definitely approve Trip’s recycling ethic: "they incorporate recycled tyre rubber in the soles, restored Tube and bus seat textiles in the uppers and re-used leather cheque book wallets in the trim". If the wallets were collected from the Lost Property Office in Baker Street, then even better!


Moquette Furniture from the LTM Collection

Moquette was used on bus and tube seats from the 30s through to the 70s, a tough fabric able to take the wear and tear of constant daily use. But it wasn't just functional - designers were constantly brought in to liven up the fabric, creating looks that are both stylish and very distinct to their eras.

Each Tube design in the “Above+Below London” footwear is named after the line that supplied the fabric - such as District Line - and all the soles are made from 33 per cent bus tyre rubber. Robert Taylor, of Transport Recycling in Partnership (TRiP), said: “We have used good quality materials which would otherwise have ended up in landfill sites or going to an incinerator. I think the shoes have a real cultural, nostalgic feel to them.” They cost £60, and for every pair sold TRiP promises to plant one tree inside the M25.

The collection exclusively incorporates rare, vintage and ultra rare iconic retro textiles from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's reclaimed from seats on London's Underground tube carriages and buses. Realising these visually striking fabrics were genuine relics of London's design heritage, Central Saint Martin's college graduate Robert Taylor and music promoter/film maker Caroline Read collected and preserved them before they were lost to landfill or incineration forever!




Piccadilly

This design was used on Piccadilly Line Tube stock delivered from 1956 to 1967. The black vertical and red horizontal lines of varying thicknesses against a grey background were also found on the Metropolitan, Central, Northern and Victoria lines.

This line was originally called the Great Northern, Piccadilly, and Brompton Railway. It opened in December 1906 between Hammersmith and Finsbury Park. In 1932, extensions allowed passengers to travel north to Cockfosters and west to Hounslow and Uxbridge. The next major extension connected Heathrow Airport with central London in 1977. The loop to Terminal 4 was completed in 1986, and the line now serves the new Terminal 5 from 2008.




Victoria Line

This Victoria Line moquette design was used during the 1993 refurbishment of 1967 stock on the Victoria line. The sample has broad vertical red and blue stripes with a stepped repeating dark blue, white and red geometric 'arrow' motif. It was created by design consultants Jones Garrard and Tilney, Lumsden and Shane and produced in different colours, though they were never used. The refurbishment also included new grab-poles and armrests that were blue, symbolising the Victoria line. The design was influenced by the bright and bold moquette patterns used on London Transport during the 1930s and 1940s.

This brightly coloured District Line design from the late 1970's has a geometric pattern of repeating rows of orange, yellow, brown and black rectangles. When the surface stock cars on the District line were renewed, the mainly grey finishes of the old interiors were replaced by brighter designs. The new interiors were designed by Misha Black Design Research Unit. The internal doors were painted orange and the moquette matched the colour scheme. This pattern was also used on the Metro and Titan buses, which were introduced about the same time as D78 stock.




District Line

Fashion meets public transport in this new range of shoes made of recycled fabric from London Underground and bus seats and this is an idea which deserves to walk! Indeed the Sage may himself purchase a different design for his left and right feet as his avant garde development on cross dressing, let’s hear it for interchange dressing! Give it time and it could be a New Underground Movement!

See (and order!) on TRiP’s website here;

http://www.urbanremade.com/catalog/about_us.php?osCsid=487505787de14d4cd2a7f8e3e98812a1

And here is the link to the Moquette Furniture Collection on the London Transport Museum site;

http://www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/LTM/Furniture-collection/Living.html

Seats on Feet!

Neanderthal Man

A bane of the regular commuter are the Neanderthal ignoramuses who insist on rudely displaying their genetic inbreeding by using other people’s seats on public transport as a footrest. Indeed due to lack of enforcement by transport operator’s many do this deliberately as a Yob badge of honour normally combined with a “what’s your problem, Mate!” stare as staff major on their “non-confrontational” training and walk on by. I suspect these are the same people who take pride stealing disabled people’s parking spaces normally with their kids in the back seat so they learn by example and the Neanderthal genes are preserved for posterity. Never mind the disrespect to their fellow passengers and the fact that they look stupid (not that they consider this a disadvantage in life!) but analysis of such seat covers generally shows materials not normally found outside forensic science programmes!

Well one enterprising company called TRiP has a new take on this age old problem as it asks its customers to please put seats on feet! The concept is brilliant as London Transport moquette is an iconic fabric and is sold by the London Transport Museum as a successful furniture range.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/11/londons-transport-museum.html

The hard wearing, iconic patterned fabric seems perfect for footwear and we definitely approve Trip’s recycling ethic: "they incorporate recycled tyre rubber in the soles, restored Tube and bus seat textiles in the uppers and re-used leather cheque book wallets in the trim". If the wallets were collected from the Lost Property Office in Baker Street, then even better!


Moquette Furniture from the LTM Collection

Moquette was used on bus and tube seats from the 30s through to the 70s, a tough fabric able to take the wear and tear of constant daily use. But it wasn't just functional - designers were constantly brought in to liven up the fabric, creating looks that are both stylish and very distinct to their eras.

Each Tube design in the “Above+Below London” footwear is named after the line that supplied the fabric - such as District Line - and all the soles are made from 33 per cent bus tyre rubber. Robert Taylor, of Transport Recycling in Partnership (TRiP), said: “We have used good quality materials which would otherwise have ended up in landfill sites or going to an incinerator. I think the shoes have a real cultural, nostalgic feel to them.” They cost £60, and for every pair sold TRiP promises to plant one tree inside the M25.

The collection exclusively incorporates rare, vintage and ultra rare iconic retro textiles from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's reclaimed from seats on London's Underground tube carriages and buses. Realising these visually striking fabrics were genuine relics of London's design heritage, Central Saint Martin's college graduate Robert Taylor and music promoter/film maker Caroline Read collected and preserved them before they were lost to landfill or incineration forever!




Piccadilly

This design was used on Piccadilly Line Tube stock delivered from 1956 to 1967. The black vertical and red horizontal lines of varying thicknesses against a grey background were also found on the Metropolitan, Central, Northern and Victoria lines.

This line was originally called the Great Northern, Piccadilly, and Brompton Railway. It opened in December 1906 between Hammersmith and Finsbury Park. In 1932, extensions allowed passengers to travel north to Cockfosters and west to Hounslow and Uxbridge. The next major extension connected Heathrow Airport with central London in 1977. The loop to Terminal 4 was completed in 1986, and the line now serves the new Terminal 5 from 2008.




Victoria Line

This Victoria Line moquette design was used during the 1993 refurbishment of 1967 stock on the Victoria line. The sample has broad vertical red and blue stripes with a stepped repeating dark blue, white and red geometric 'arrow' motif. It was created by design consultants Jones Garrard and Tilney, Lumsden and Shane and produced in different colours, though they were never used. The refurbishment also included new grab-poles and armrests that were blue, symbolising the Victoria line. The design was influenced by the bright and bold moquette patterns used on London Transport during the 1930s and 1940s.

This brightly coloured District Line design from the late 1970's has a geometric pattern of repeating rows of orange, yellow, brown and black rectangles. When the surface stock cars on the District line were renewed, the mainly grey finishes of the old interiors were replaced by brighter designs. The new interiors were designed by Misha Black Design Research Unit. The internal doors were painted orange and the moquette matched the colour scheme. This pattern was also used on the Metro and Titan buses, which were introduced about the same time as D78 stock.




District Line

Fashion meets public transport in this new range of shoes made of recycled fabric from London Underground and bus seats and this is an idea which deserves to walk! Indeed the Sage may himself purchase a different design for his left and right feet as his avant garde development on cross dressing, let’s hear it for interchange dressing! Give it time and it could be a New Underground Movement!

See (and order!) on TRiP’s website here;

http://www.urbanremade.com/catalog/about_us.php?osCsid=487505787de14d4cd2a7f8e3e98812a1

And here is the link to the Moquette Furniture Collection on the London Transport Museum site;

http://www.ltmuseumshop.co.uk/LTM/Furniture-collection/Living.html