Thursday, 15 January 2026

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 

Wednesday, 14 January 2026

Replacing The Angel (1)

You Have to be Impressed!

So where are we?
Long ago, we were out in the bucolic country north of London town with the growing suburbs of Tottenham poking in on the above map, bottom left. Note Angel Road station near the top.

Today's aerial view shows where we are now.
There is a line of reservoirs plus industry stretching along the valley of the river Lea. 

Here is the same area on a map.
We can zoom in to the near circular reservoir north of the label "Walthamstow" on the map above. That is Banbury Reservoir ...
... which might form the seaside of Meridian Water. Or maybe it won't as it is surrounded by an embankment.
The reservoir was completed by and for the East London Waterworks Company in 1903, and was subsequently taken over by the newly formed Metropolitan Water Board in 1904. The reservoir is now owned by Thames Water.

The "coastline" appears on this aerial view.
The North Circular (Angel Road) snakes across the top of the picture with the flyover and stations upper left. To the east (right) of the railway we see the roofs of two huge warehouses. The one  closest to the North Circular is ...
... Tesco Extra; the other, even bigger slab is coloured blue ...
... and labelled "Drumsheds" by Google Maps.

Drumsheds is a large-scale nightclub and events venue located in Edmonton in the London Borough of Enfield in the United Kingdom. It is housed in a former IKEA flagship store and has a capacity of 15,000 people.

IKEA operated their Tottenham store at the location from 2005 until August 2022, leaving behind 608,000 sq ft warehouse space. 
So that's why it is blue!

It is the area to the right (east) of ex-Ikea that is where the wodge of Meridian Water housing is being developed.
The two warehouses are in Zone 3.
A structure plan for Meridian Water was published 13 years ago ...
... which included all the usual optimistic pictures of joyous modern living.
Buses trundle happily along the "High Street" ...
... and all is lovely on the banks of the Lea River Navigation canal.
The pictures have been extracted from that 2013 report and are not of the highest quality, but our loyal reader can get an impression of the richness of life that will be delivered by Enfield Council and the developers of Meridian Water.

Currently that triangle of land that will become "The Community" has been totally industrial ...
Y
.. and not at all an attractive site for modern living.
It even includes an Arriva London bus depot!
Mostly, it is all about aspirations!
But, at least, it already has its very own railway station ...
... of which more in tomorrow's blog.

Castles In The Air On The Baseboard
Yesterday, we left the retaining wall; with photocopied patches BUT in a slightly different and noticeable colour.
fbb was not too concerned because, after all, it is only a hobby and the old man will soon be 81 years old.

But here is how the setting will look. The "white" castle forms an outer "bailey" with the original "black" castle ruins as an inner "bailey".
It has potential as a scenic corner filler, albeit too crammed and too small to be very realistic. Castles are usually 
BIG! 

But fbb had to do something about those pale bits. But what?

Then he remembered TV's 'The Repair Shop'. When replacing missing colours on a piece of pottery, the very clever restorer, Kristen Ramsay, used a very very fine brush and added tiny dots which then merged visually into their surroundings.
fbb didn't do that - impossible with an elderly wobbly hand.

But he did scribbled gently over the offending patches with a good old fashioned 'lead' (i.e. graphite) pencil. 
And, Tada ...
... the offending light stone work become invisible against the rest.

A good bodge!

 Next Meridian Water blog : Thurs 15 Jan