DLR+20: The Docklands Light Railway was 20 yearsold yesterday. You know, the magic automated railway with no driver that trundles very slowly around the East End of London. I would have celebrated the anniversary on this blog yesterday, except that I was otherwise engaged. In fact, you narrowly avoided August being a whole month of DLR-related posts, but I decided you'd probably not be interested in 31 days of reports from the likes of Westferry, Beckton Park and Elverson Road. But for those of us who live on the DLR's doorstep, as I do, it's the most marvellous way to get around. Regular, reliable, clean, and one of the few ways to get across the river by public transport. So today I thought I'd bring you 20 (clickable) facts about the DLR, many of them shamelessly cut and pasted from elsewhere. And if you fancy a look inside the August 1987 DLR information leaflet, I've scanned it in here.
• The first journey on the DLR, on 31st August 1987, was from Tower Gateway to Island Gardens. • The DLR originally cost just £77m to build, which wasn't bad for a state-of-the-art network of 15 stations. • The cheap build led to safety issues, however, and the railway had to be closed immediately after the official opening by HM Queen Elizabeth II to allow further testing to be done. • Originally there were two DLR routes - the green route from Tower Gateway to Island Gardens, and the red route from Stratford to Island Gardens. • Construction of the DLR acted as a catalyst for the development of Docklands. Here's a flickery cab video from 1987 of the undeveloped viaduct across West India Docks to Canary Wharf. • The DLR was much more popular than anticipated - a few months after opening the hourly ridership was sometimes exceeding the long-term planned daily numbers. • The DLR was extended to Bank in 1991, Beckton in 1994, Lewisham in 1999 and London City Airport in 2005. The tunnelled extension to Bank cost twice as much as the whole of the original railway. • There's no driver! You can sit right at the front and pretend to drive the train! But sit on the right-hand side, because the train operator sometimes requisitions the left-hand front seat. • The DLR suffers from some not terribly good interchanges with the existing underground network; for example at Tower Gateway (for Tower Hill), Shadwell (for Shadwell), Bow Church (for Bow Road) and Canary Wharf (for Canary Wharf). • Items that may not be carried on the DLR include (non-folding) bicycles, inflammable substances, and "anything that is more than 2 metres long". • The shortest journey between stations is the 200m between West India Quay and Canary Wharf (but if you tried to walk it direct, you'd end up swimming). • Original plans for the DLR included a station at "Carmen Street" between All Saints and Devons Road. That station finally opens this autumn, 20 years late, as LangdonPark. • The DLR's official colour on signage and the tube map is Pantone 326 green. • One of the great things about the DLR is that you can check how the trains are running via the internet before you walk to the station. Here's what the platform indicator boards at Poplar station are saying right now, for example. • Today's DLR links 38 stations along 19 miles of track, and uses 94 two-car articulated vehicles. • This being a bloody successful railway, several extensions are planned - to Woolwich Arsenal (due February 2009), to Stratford International (due mid-2010) and to Dagenham Dock (due 2016). • DLR geeks may be interested in this nigh-impossible quiz competition, with the prize of a Thursday afternoon visit to DLR HQ (competition closes Monday). • Some official DLR info: key facts, historical timeline, route map, development projects, map of development projects. • Want more links? Try Wikipedia, Clive's line guide, a very detailed fansite, Londonist's anniversary tribute, a cab ride from South Quay to Deptford Bridge and the full development history. • I live five minutes walk from a DLR station. And I suspect the rest of you are jealous.
What's on this weekend? St Patrick's Day Parade Sunday 18 March (noon-6)
Irish-themed parade, live music & drunkards in green hats, in Trafalgar Square.
DLR+20: The Docklands Light Railway was 20 years old yesterday. You know, the magic automated railway with no driver that trundles very slowly around the East End of London. I would have celebrated the anniversary on this blog yesterday, except that I was otherwise engaged. In fact, you narrowly avoided August being a whole month of DLR-related posts, but I decided you'd probably not be interested in 31 days of reports from the likes of Westferry, Beckton Park and Elverson Road. But for those of us who live on the DLR's doorstep, as I do, it's the most marvellous way to get around. Regular, reliable, clean, and one of the few ways to get across the river by public transport. So today I thought I'd bring you 20 (clickable) facts about the DLR, many of them shamelessly cut and pasted from elsewhere. And if you fancy a look inside the August 1987 DLR information leaflet, I've scanned it in here.
