Saturday Variety

Meridian Water Proposals

At the moment only two bus services actually serve Meridian Water and then they only reach the station and Tesco. Note that the bus shows Angel Road Superstores, whilst the stop shows ...

... Glover Drive IKEA which no longer exists. To be fair, the stop name may gave changed, although, knowing London Buses desire to avoid dramatic change, it probably hasn't.

But London Buses has a cunning plan to provide Buses that actually make it to the developing estate. The plan is out for consultation (don't  laugh).

Proposal 1

The 341 will be cut back to Northumberland Park whilst the 476, currently terminating at Northumberland Park will be extended to replace the 341. Here is a TfL map.

Just to confuse us all, the night service will still be 341. The proposed 476 will run to Kings Cross not Waterloo. Both N341 and 476 will make it to somewhere in the new estate.

Proposal 2

The 444, which used to whizz past on the North Circular will be diverted via Tesco, the new bit and back out again.

Proposal 3

Another swapsie! The 192, which used to run to Tottenham Hale with now run to Lea Valley Athletics Centre.  Meanwhile, the W8 which used to terminate at Lea Valley will run to, guess where, Northumberland Park. The W8 will serve a bit more of Meridian Water.

To an outsider living well away from the Metropolis, these changes seem odd. Why not simply extend the 341, divert the 192 and leave the 444 as the only major change. 

But who can unravel the tangled knitting that forms the mind of the TfL planners?

Maybe an emerging theory of the human brain may explain their thinking!

fbb read the news item and, of course, has not the foggiest idea what it us all about.

Anything with Quantum in its name is just weird!

And some find the idea of God difficult to understand. fbb can assure his readers that God us far more believable, hugely more understandable and really really helpful compared with anything that has 'quantum' in its name.

If you want to know more, you can find this book on-line.

fbb has a copy, has read it several times and ...

... he still cannot grasp it. Not only that, but there are even more things that involve the quantum than there were c 60 years ago when fbb first tried to grasp Mr Hoffman's oeuvre!

And there's more ...

... coming up is quantum on your 6G mobile phone.

A London Suburban Diagram

We all know Harry Beck's' London Underground map. But other operators pinched the same idea. Here is the pre-nationalisation LMS with its services based on London Euston.

Starting from the north we see that ...

... the branches between Watford and Croxley Green or Rickmansworth have long gone with those communities served exclusively by the Metropolitan line of the Underground.

The branch to Stanmore ...

... was also overtaken by the more frequent Metropolitan branch, later Bakerloo, later Jubilee line.

Services from Willesden ...

... are very much part of the Overground today. The detail has changed a little but the concept us still recogniseable.

Most services in the inner areas still operate ...

... with the exception of the line to Poplar. But the LMS seems to have annexed the Bakerloo Line!

fbb may return to some of these lines in a later blog.

The Transatlantic Tunnel Teaser

Four more daft "news" items have graced this often completely potty news items. Readers may like to wonder at the Appalling Inventedness of the illustrations.

We have a floating train ...

... another underwater train with very strange reflections ...

... and a very unrealistic tunnel.

And how about a tunnel that is too small for anything other than a fairground ride?

And they call it A I, (Amazing Incompetence), which, we are told, is the future of everything.

What To Do ....

.... with the other half of the gateway, its second round (actually octagonal) tower.

Answer ...

... make it into a smaller square tower.

Jackpot idea and a notable bodge!

And A Puzzle Picture

How much would you have to pay for the above, a brand new Hornby locomotive?

Answer tomorrow.

  Next Variety blog : Sunday 18th Jan 

Replacing The Angel (3)

What Started It : The Trains

We were at the now defunct Angel Road station, enjoying (?) its industrial landscape and relishing its total lack of facilities. We saw that this luxurious halt had a very "industrial" train service with peak hour stops north- and south-bound on Mondays to Fridays only.

But now we have Meridian Water ...

... glorious beyond desire compared with its predecessor. It has a covered entrance area with ticket machines ...

... lifts and platform shelters. And, excitingly, it has a bench seat on both platform areas. 

But the station is unstaffed and there is no ticket office. But hang on there, it has a Monday to Sunday timetables, so surely a huge improvement on that at Angel Road.

We need to remember that there is a complex pattern of services on these lines, a mixture of local stopping trains, what used to be called "The Stansted Express", fast trains to Cambridge and the locals to Hertford East.

Here is the faster service pattern ...

... with no stops shown for Meridian Water. Nothing calls between Cheshunt (for the Overground) and Tottenham Hale (for the Victoria Underground line). Note that there are two trains an hour between Bishops Stortford and Stratford, taking a left hand turnat Tottenham Hale.

So we need to look at the stopping service from Hertford East?

Disappointingly we only have a few trains stopping at Meridian Water. The last stop of the morning 'peak' is the 0922 to Stratford.

And that's it!

In fact the service is worse than the original at Angel Road. Seems a very poor timetable for a shiny new station. Maybe it will get better as the development develops.

And look at this:-

There is a brand new (well new-ish) third track between Meridian Water and just short of Lea Bridge on the Stratford line.

A search among the on-line timetables on the Anglia web site we find a full table for local trains from Bishops Stortford.

There is the service to Stratford mentioned above, every 30 minutes but it is joined by an additional 30 minute headway between Meridian Water and Stratford. Seems very lavish for a backwater service; maybe the crowds rush in their train loads to the Westfield shopping heaven at Straford?

This 15 minute frequency calls at Lea Bridge ...

... which appears on Nick Catford's disused stations web site. It closed in 1963.

The station was re-opened with the restoration of trains between Tottenham Hale and Stratford.

The service returned in 2016 with the 'new' Lea Bridge ...

... sadly lacking the character of the original station.

fbb guesses that the Stratford trains use the extra platform as installed at Meridian Water.

fbb is intrigued with that walkway leading from platforms 2 and 3 ...

... with a gate just across the road from Tesco.

Is It an official entrance?

So, apart from a few peak hour trains, the only places you can get to with any frequency are Northumberland Park, Tottenham Hale Lea Bridge and Stratford.

Lets hope the planners devise a better service to be in place as the new housing development actually happens.

STOP PRESS

Thanks to a blog correspondent for informing fbb of some proposals for bus route revisions at Meridian Water. They will feature in tomorrow's  blog

We Have Crenellations!

A very sticky job and not the best results. But castles can be a bit messy in construction after a few years! Well this one is, anyway. There will be foliage to disguise the worst bits. There has already been some lead pencil at work!

Today will allow the grade 1 bodger to begin to fit the new bit of castle to the old bit!

  Next Variety blog : Saturday 17th Jan 

Replacing The Angel (2)

Present Public Transport Provision

Basic Bus?

Often folk complain that bus routes in London have not changed radically since 1934/ It is very much not true, of course, but uis watchers and London Transport lovers tend to focus on the historic remnants of those early days, Above is a chunk of a Mike Harris map from 1970.

Below is the Angel Road station area in Mike's 42nd (current) edition.

The 34 remains and the W3 still runs to Northumberland Park station. Of course, even before the Meridian Water idea was moving from plan to proposal to bricks on the ground there were buses nearby; In fact there is little mention of 'Meridian Water' from London Buses, apart from the railway station.

The 34, readers may recall, was one of the services reduced slightly to make way for the Superloop.

It still runs every 12 minutes ...

... as does the new SL1 ...

... also every 12 minutes.

Both these routes use Angel Road, The North Circular but the SL1 takes the flyovers and misses some local stops, so much so that it doesn't even come close to serving the present Meridian Water, zooming past the wondrous Tesco Extra,

The 34 and the 444 eschew the fly overs  ...

... to serve some local stops,

The 444 runs from Chingford to Turnpike Lane, also every 12.

Obviosly, as Meridian Water is not yet built, we are unlikely to get any buses there. Two routes do serve Tesco, however, the 341 that terminates there.

Note that its blind shows (or at least used to show) Angel Road Superstores. The 341 runs all the way from Watterloo and on its way serves both Angels. It passes The Angel Islington ...

... before wending its way to Angel Road, now bereft of its railway station.

And, guess what? It also runs every 12 minures.

Which just leaves the 192 which had the dubious privilege of serving the entrance to the formed  Angel Road station AND Tesco opposite its replacement, Meridian Water,

The original stop at Glover Drive Tesco was unappealing ...

But a much higher quality stop is now in use opposite ...

... complete with posh paving and (out of shot above) a posh shelter.

The publicity picture showing buses trundling down the High Street ...

... which is, like most pictures of Meridian Water ...

... a tad on the inspirational side. Currently there is no High Street; apart from the building sites there is no Meridian Water. But it will be lovely when it is finished.

Tomorrow we continue with a look at the new station and its train services.

Unless you are "in the know" its all a but of a mystery. But fbb is on the job and, with no safety net as usual, will explain all tomorrow.

It takes a bit of explaining!

Blog Brevity?

Haircut, preparing and cooking evening meal, more work on the Peterville Castle extension and, of course, a good dose of Masters Snooker from Ali Pally; all this meant that blog writing time was reduced; limited by the inadequate number of hours in a day and by the inadequate concentration powers of the old man.

TO BE CONTINUED TOMORROW!

Peterville Castle Progress!

Access to the "black" castle ruins is via the turret on the "white" tower and a broad walkway.

One floor below the rooftop walkway is a door leading to the battlements on the retaining wall. The door needs a trim!

This path is now fully repaired and awaiting its crenellations ...

... but has been paved.

The whole assemblage has been tested in its place on the layout.

There is loads more to do, including a decision on where to implant the second tower.

Crenellations?

That's them for real!

Time for a break?

Seaton Storm Report

Recently, East Devon Council has combined the two "sea front" bus stops into one, now located right next to the sea wall.

What the Council seemed to have forgotten is that a glass bus shelter next to the .sea wall is also next to the sea!

Enter storm Grotti!

It seemed a good idea at the time.

 Next Angel blog : Friday 16 Jan