My local council hosts a literary gathering every year at some library or other - the WriteideaFestival. They invite a wide range of authors to give free hour-long talks and last weekend I slipped in to enjoy three of them. One was by John Grindrod, author of Concretopia and Outskirts, who came to talk about his latest book Iconicon. His presentation on 40 years of London architecture included a sequence of modern classics including the Lloyds Building, Gherkin and Bedzed, and I nodded as each appeared on the screen. And then he flashed up Ordnance Road, a social housing project in Enfield, and I didn't recognise that so yesterday I decided to take a closer look.
This is Ordnance Road in Enfield (partway between Hertford Road and Enfield Lock station). And this is a terrace built four years ago by Peter Barber Architects in a style very much at odds to most recent housing. It's 100% brick but not in the usual flat-fronted way, and these aren't flats, they're eleven separate townhouses. London needs a variety of housing tenures and sometimes it's good to build homes with more than two bedrooms and proper front doors.
I had been hoping to get an unobstructed photograph like John had, but it soon became clear this wasn't going to be possible. Traffic was queueing back from the traffic lights almost to the level crossing, so was going nowhere fast, and I did well to get a shot with just a couple of intervening vehicles. Congestion is one reason it's good to build new homes without space for parking, and the other is you can use every scrap of space right up to the pavement.
The terrace is three storeys high making best use of a limited site, and each house has an arched porch stepped back from the street providing a bit of shelter and privacy. A tiny gated area forms a mini-front garden just big enough for storage or a bit of shrubbery. It also ticks the 'outdoor space' box which is why none of these homes have the ubiquitous vernacular balcony. The wall also brings its downsides - the owner of the house beside the bus stop has had to put up a sign telling people not to sit on it.
But if you go round the back it's completely different. Four mews houses have been spaced out along Sparkbrook Way, a cobbled cul-de-sac, each with a trademark Peter Barber giant window. These lowrise pseudo-bungalows are accessed via a backyard through a sidegate, and by being single storey allow direct sunlight to flood into the taller houses behind. The only sour note is that the backstreet is a private road and, oh, that the mews houses do all get their own parking space.
Previously this strip of land contained a 1970s pub, long derelict, and a church that best resembled a temporary church hall. Architecturally it was no great loss, and the townscape's quite mixed round here anyway. A row of classic 1930s semis faces the new development across Ordnance Road, postwar townhouses run up the side and a dreary block of flats looms behind. It all goes to make the new arrivals really stand out - an extraordinary island of modernity in the suburbs where normally homogeneity is king.
And then I read in yesterday's paper about another new Peter Barber project in the borough of Barnet. I should go and visit that too, I thought, completely underestimating how long it'd take to crawl nine miles by bus. Travelling radially across north London is so frustrating. Along the way I changed buses in Palmers Green immediately alongside the New River, and this reminded me I also attended Nick Higham's Writeidea talk on public water supply and that was excellent too.
This is Edgewood Mews in Finchley (immediately alongside the North Circular Road, not far from Henlys Corner). It's a much larger project and technically more challenging given that one side of the development is thunderous traffic. The roadside wall is curved, doorless and again segmented into individual properties. The street level arches are taller this time, providing light to heavily-glazed windows. Little sticky-out boxes provide a fraction more room inside, and the top of the tower provides the best lookout of all.
But step behind this bulwark and it's a totally different proposition. A pedestrianised street rises gently from one end of the development to the other, and also narrows providing some intriguingperspectives. Only the houses on the northern side have large windows which maximises sunlight and privacy. Most front doors open out directly onto the street, while others have recessed front yards on a variety of levels. The one word you really can't use about Edgewood Mews is uniform.
It's quite not finished yet, indeed they've not yet affixed the street name. I passed a number of workmen wielding tools and planks and poking around in storage spaces, and couldn't get past the narrowest section of the mews because it was blocked by a ladder and a cherrypicker. But most of the 97 homes are occupied, to the point where several windows are full of plants and knickknacks and one door already has a despairing message addressed to Amazon delivery drivers.
Previously this strip of roadside was a scrap of scrubby waste too challenging to do much with. But instead it's become a strangely appealing street of diverse properties where traffic noise isn't an issue and you could safely let your kids play outside. Increasing London's housing stock doesn't have to mean squandering the Green Belt, there's a lot you can do with an unpromising patch of brownfield, and it seems you can trust Peter Barber to do something practical and interesting with it.
When I got home and visited the practice's website I discovered I needn't have gone as far as North London to experience his work. He's delivered loads of similar housing projects across London, including in Stratford, Maryland and Stepney. And yes there's even one in Bow, ten minutes from my door, the Mediterranean-inspired Donnybrook Quarter.
The exterior may be white render rather than brick but several of Peter Barber's signature forms are plainly evident. Best of all when I visited for Open House in 2006 it was the architect who stood out front and enthused about the project, so I've actually met the man who created all this. Peter Barber was awarded the Soane Medal at a ceremony last night, and delivered a lecture (available here) to outline his winning philosophy. High density housing doesn't have to lead to a townscape of boxy flats, we can be a lot more imaginative than that.
A new Crossrail connection means a new tube map. It's already available at some stations, posted up on some platforms and updated in some trains. You can also download it as a pdf here, any time between now and next May when they release the next one.
People don't like it. They don't like the mess it's become and the way the information's displayed and the inadequacies of the design and the art on the cover and how it'd have Harry Beck spinning in his grave and how they could do better. They told me on Saturday when I tweeted a snapshot and it all kicked off. But many of the complaints weren't specifically related to the new map, just opinions engrained over time.
King's Cross's clump isn't actually too bad. To combine seven lines into just three blobs is very good going. But Euston is an unruly mess, technically four blobs for three lines (plus an extra finger pointing out to Euston Square). But it's the abomination at Liverpool Street that has the highest clump, a total of five, because this cluster now embraces two stations. Crossrail's platforms link Moorgate and Liverpool Street so we now have two blobs for the former and three for the latter, in a ridiculous spidery mess that's additionally ambiguous as to which station is which.
It doesn't help that there are three different kinds of blob - blue, white and non-step-free. TfL's insistence on distinguishing between three types of accessibility often makes clumpiness greater than it needs to be. Moorgate could easily be one blob otherwise and Liverpool Street two, but instead of three blobs we've ended up with five. Holborn and Warren Street, both with clump=1, are examples of how much simpler things can be when nothing's step-free. Even Bank/Monument (through a bit of judicious juggling) has managed to keep the clump for six lines down to 3.
Clump is also a function of time. Look what they've done to Paddington over the years.
At the turn of the century Paddington had 2 blobs. Ten years ago it had 3 blobs. Last week it had 5 blobs. Today it has 4 blobs.
Trying to depict a complex split-site station like Paddington is never easy. It got harder in 2009 when the Circle line was unlooped and it got harder still in 2018 when TfL Rail arrived on the upper platforms. Peak clump came in May this year with the opening of Crossrail, and clump has in fact decreased this week from 5 to 4 with the dawn of through-running. Again it doesn't help that all three kinds of blob are present, restricting possible combinations. But see how Paddington's long sprawl means the station's only named at one end, indeed anyone tracing along the Bakerloo line could very easily miss it.
And therein lies another problem.
squish: a measure of ambiguity
Looking along the Circle line at the bottom of this snippet, can you instantly say which station Westminster is?
If you know your tube stations you can, but the name 'Westminster' is also positioned immediately above St James's Park so it takes a bit of deduction to decide. Two clues - the bobble at St James's Park is pointing down, not up, and the station on the right only has one name next to it so must be Westminster. It's similar with Embankment and Temple, a moment of decoding is required.
[St James's Park ≈ Westminster] [Embankment ≈ Temple]
But that was the poster version of the map where the designers have more space. The problem of squish is significantly worse on the smaller pocket version.
On the printed map the font size has to be larger compared to the thickness of the lines, so names often nudge even closer to a neighbouring station. Here Embankment and Temple are just as vague as before, but Victoria has now joined the St James's Park/Westminster squish combo.
[Victoria ≈ St James's Park ≈ Westminster] [Embankment ≈ Temple]
The lack of space has also created a triple problem at Piccadilly Circus where Green Park and Leicester Square both squish in. Far worse is the Goodge Street/Tottenham Court Road dilemma. Both names are written equally close to the Crossrail blob, and only the tiny black notch on the left confirms that Goodge Street must be the station above.
[Green Park ≈ Leicester Square ≈ Piccadilly Circus] [Goodge Street ≈ Tottenham Court Road]
Long station names can be particularly hard to locate unambiguously within a web of lines, especially when one of the words has a lot of letters. But even short names can suffer from squish if the designers have overreached themselves.
It's quite something when something as short as 'Bow Road' causes problems, but on the new pocket map it's very easily confused with an unnecessarily clumpy Mile End. The new Crossrail tunnel caused this graphical atrocity, plus slavish adherence to a rigid set of design rules.
[Stepney Green ≈ Mile End ≈ Bow Road ≈ Bow Church]
Trying to name a station on a map should never rely on solving a logic problem, but as more and more information is squeezed onto the tube map so the squish gets inexorably worse.
And there's more.
kink: a measure of unstraightness
On early Beck tube maps one aim was to keep lines as straight as practically possible. Edgware to Morden - straight line. Hounslow to Leicester Square - straight line. Watford Junction to Paddington - straight line. But as more and more has been shoehorned onto the tube map so keeping lines straight has become more problematic and the latest incarnation is the kinkiest yet. Look at the wiggly contortions of the Elizabeth line as it threads across London.
The purple line on the real map isn't as obvious as that, I've thickened it up to make the bendiness more obvious. But on the way from Reading and Heathrow to Abbey Wood and Shenfield the line bends an incredible 22 times!
kink(Elizabeth)=22
It's particularly bad on the stretch through central London where the designers have threaded it through the existing network like drunken embroidery. But the eastern branches also get to meander wildly because the DLR, the Thames and the cablecar keep getting in the way. You wouldn't think this was TfL's flagship railway, not with a kink of 22.
Kink also evolves over time, as here on the central section of the Central line.
The top strip shows the tube map 35 years ago with no bends anywhere from Ealing Broadway to Mile End. The second strip is the map from five years ago with an indentation at Bank. The third strip is from earlier this year with Crossrail forcing another bend at Marble Arch. And the final strip is from the current map with an additional mini-bump at Mile End. That's a lot of gratuitous changes of direction.
The Bakerloo, Metropolitan and Victoria lines still have the same kink as 20 years ago, so that's a win. The Circle line's only kinkier because it's got longer. The Central, District, Jubilee and Waterloo & City lines have only got marginally kinkier. The Hammersmith & City line's kink has actually halved because the designers have made it the baseline of the current map. The two whose kink has significantly increased are the Northern and Piccadilly lines, thanks especially to overmeandering round Hounslow and the chaotic intrusion of Battersea.
But the real change comes from non-tube additions to the tube map. They're really bendy because the designers had to work round what was already here, indeed the Overground and Thameslink contribute over 100 new kinks between them. This is why the tube map looks so messy, not just more stuff crammed on but more ugly distracting bends all over.
kink(2002)=110
kink(2022)=274
So clump has increased, squidge has multiplied and kink has more than doubled, and that's why the tube map's less functional than it used to be. It's not just a subjective opinion, we have the maths to prove it.
Yesterday, after decades of planning and 13 years of construction, Crossrail got properly cross. New tunnels at Paddington and Stratford opened to passenger service after months of additional testing, and what had been three railways finally became one. About time too.
I caught the first train through the Pudding Mill tunnel and the second train through the Royal Oak tunnel, but only because it wasn't possible to catch the first through both. Crossrail's Sunday morning timetable is highly irregular, and being the morning after a cancelled rail strike didn't help either... but wahey, actual through running!
The first Shenfield → Paddington train(7.11am - 8.05am)
I boarded before the train reached Stratford and already there were no free seats. That's partly because it was the first post-strike train, so carrying everyone from outer London who'd been trying to get into town, but also because People Who Like Trains were very much in evidence. Some had been responsible for building the railway and were beaming in suits, purple ties and little roundel pin badges where a poppy might have been. Others had got up very early to be able to say they were here, and in some cases so they could share footage of the journey with an audience elsewhere.
n.b. Trains from Shenfield don't yet go any further than Paddington, that's scheduled for next May. But all the other connections have now been made so technically the line's complete.
At Stratford half the passengers piled off. The regular crew are used to alighting at Stratford to make their way into town faster via the Central or Jubilee lines, so they carried on doing that. It's hard to say how many were ignorant of this morning's change, but judging by the number of headphoned ears and screenfixed eyes I'd say quite a few. A member of staff on the platform announced "This is the first Elizabeth line train to Paddington" and then the doors closed with a beep. Class 345 trains have been running on this line for the last five years, but we were about to become the first passenger service to go to Liverpool Street the long way round.
n.b. Even though the new route to Liverpool Street is one station longer, it's still timetabled as an eight minute journey.
They knocked down Pudding Mill Lane DLR station in 2014 so that the mouth of a purple portal could be built in its place. I've watched its construction over the years, a concrete slot emerging from the earth at a jaunty angle, and now it was finally time to plunge inside. We descended first beneath the ground, then beneath the river Lea and then beneath the A12 dual carriageway. Suddenly we were in my manor, indeed ridiculously close to where I live, but with no nearby station all this investment has passed me by. A couple of gentlemen in Greater Anglia jackets pointed their cameras across the carriage to film the tunnel wall as it sped past, although this is not a video you'd ever want to watch.
n.b. Stratford to Whitechapel is an extremely useful new connection. It's five minutes platform to platform if you're counting, which obviously I was.
Whitechapel has been set up by TfL as The Interchange Station. Passengers could change anywhere between here and Paddington, but best alight here where the platforms are less busy, especially down the end where the escalators aren't. Expect an announcement from the driver to that effect and also a separate nudge on the display screens... anything to stop people clogging up the platforms at Paddington and causing a mission-critical seizure. Excitable folk continued to walk up and down the train, including one in full purple fleece and joggers with an Elizabeth line bag round his neck. I can't see his look catching on.
n.b. Even though you now arrive at Liverpool Street after a similar time, you also arrive underground at least four minutes from the surface, so for some the new path will actually be slower.
I alighted at one of the intermediate stations to await my next train west. Checking the electronic screens above the doors it was exciting to see destinations and scrolling stations that had never been on the display before. Eastbound destinations now alternated between Abbey Wood and Shenfield, and westbound destinations would alternate between Heathrow and Reading/Maidenhead later in the morning once the timetable settled down. And oh how quiet the platforms were, even on a portentous launch morning, because the West End is mostly tumbleweed first thing on a Sunday.
n.b. Bond Street is being set up as the Change Here If You Have Accessibility Needs But Haven't Yet Booked Ahead For Ramped Assistance station.
The first Abbey Wood → Heathrow T4 train(7.44am - 8.52am)
This train had a broader mix of passengers including several with suitcases. As I noticed later in the day, the newly-connected Elizabeth line has become a conduit for the dispersal of heavy luggage across the capital, speeding up homecomings as travellers dispense with all that tedious interchangy stuff. That said I still watched a member of BA cabin crew stand up at Paddington, pat down his hair and exit the train in search of a connecting service that no longer runs from upstairs. He'll learn, indeed I suspect he learned very fast.
n.b. This wasn't the first Heathrow train, only the first to Terminal 4. The first through service to Terminal 5 had passed through towards quarter of an hour earlier.
It was time for my first trip through the other tunnel. But first a wait, or as the driver announced it "a short dwell time on this platform". It turned out to be a five minute wait because stitching together the underground and overground timetables isn't simple. This won't normally be the case - most of the time the gap between services is only four minutes so staff will be focused on shifting trains as swiftly as possible. But Crossrail trains do generally spend a lot of their time sitting in platforms, indeed crossing London would be noticeably zippier if only they'd squeeze out the slack.
n.b. Trains entering Paddington from outside are sometimes scheduled to wait up to seven minutes in the new timetable, and that's really going to annoy the unlucky passengers. But I didn't experience this on Sunday.
It only takes a minute to emerge from the tunnel at Paddington. It's not as exciting a view as at Stratford where you get to see an Olympic Stadium and some allotments, here it's a line of townhouses and the Westway's concrete viaduct. Through the rainy murk I also spotted an empty Shenfield train lined up to enter the portal, and further on at Old Oak Common at least 20 empty purple trains that aren't required on Sunday mornings. And when I finally alighted onto the rain-lashed platform at my chosen station, not a single other passenger followed, because even a £19bn railway sometimes has no takers.
n.b. You may still have been in bed at this point, and it's perfectly possible you were having the better time.
And then I rode the line back again, and indeed again to properly try out the new service. Along the way I unexpectedly spotted several people making videos, an official with a purple 'Value Creation' lanyard, that journalist who doesn't write his own headlines, the mastermind who keeps this blog's comments up and running, several lovely people I haven't seen for ages and an awful lot of small children dragging their parents out for an explore. It proved a memorable trip.
Opening tunnels isn't as visually exciting as opening stations, but arguably it's even more important. What happened yesterday was a seismic shift in how London fits together, at least for those who live or work along the capital's east/west axis. The joined-up benefits of Crossrail are now fully upon us, near enough, after a day some thought might never come.
Today's the day Crossrail finally joins up, creating fresh connections across the capital. Suddenly it's much easier to travel deep into the heart of the West End without changing trains, hurrah! But simultaneously it's also much easier to ride through the new tunnels and explore the outer reaches of the capital. So if you stay on the train beyond Paddington, what delights might await you in the fabled lands of West London? Here's my comprehensive purple guide.
Things to see and do in West London
Acton Main Line(6 mins)
The station: sparse futuristic box Outside the station: muted attempt at public piazza, zebra crossing, mini-roundabout. Place of interest nearest to the station: Harry's Bar Cafe, a wooden cabin improbably topped by a cheeseburger and a sausage on a stick. Also a shady terrace where workers in hi-vis eat cooked breakfasts and perhaps reflect on the fact it used to be sunny here before they started building the flats opposite. Bargain lunches include burger and Coke for £7. Shops near the station: Acton Cafe, Acton Glass, Apple Tree Healthy Foods, Dalpash Bakery, Goblin Motorcycles, Horn Lane Post Office. Best place to eat near the station: Balti House, whose illuminated sign claims this is 'The Best Indian Restaurant In Town', which must be correct because otherwise Trading Standards would have asked them to take it down. Place of interest quite near the station: Acton Railhead (a Deutsche Bahn facility for the transfer of aggregates), immediately alongside Hanson Readymix Concrete, Horn Lane Scrap Metals and Quattro Muck Away. Places of interest a fair walk from the station:i) the swings and roundabouts in Springfield Gardens ii) the cafe the losers are exiled to in The Apprentice, iii) the erupting hellscape that is North Acton. Worth visiting? No, stay on the train.
Ealing Broadway(8 mins)
The station: bland commuter funnel Outside the station: bus stop, an annoying little line of steps, always some kind of roadworks. Shops that are part of the new station building: Dexters estate agents (other units available to rent). Shops that are part of the former station building: Wok Stop, Ladbrokes, Peri Peri Chicken, Heron News. Place of interest nearest to the station: Haven Green, a square patch of preserved common, now diagonally severed by a chain of bus stops. Place of interest nearest to the station if you prefer shopping: The Broadway, a high street and attached mall now somewhat overshadowed by Westfield. Best place to eat near the station: Pick from Subway, Five Guys, Ali's German Doner or Steak-on-the-Green, depending on your budget. Best place to drink near the station: Either The Shanakee Irish freehouse, the Beerkat taproom or The North Star gastropub, depending on your prediliction. Places of interest a fair walk from the station:i) Walpole Park ii) historic Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery (currently with mini robot exhibition) iii) Ealing Studios. Worth visiting? Very much the mainstream choice.
West Ealing(13 mins)
The station: sparse futuristic box Outside the station: row of planters, speed hump, big hole where Peter's Hairdressing Salon, A2Zee's Cafe and the Brookford Launderette used to be (destined to become 18 storey tower). Place of interest nearest to the station: West Ealing Delivery Office (open to collect your undelivered parcel until 10am). Shops in flux opposite the station: What used to be the Kool Kafe dessert parlour has subdivided into a barbers and the local taxi company, Manor Wheels, who have just decamped from their throwback premises two doors down. Shops near the station: Bri Clean Dry Cleaning (express service a speciality), Global Ceilings (phone 081 810 5914), Vogue Kitchens, Ceramics Cafe, a little kiosk that cuts keys. Best place to drink near the station: The Drayton Court Hotel, now a smart Fullers pub, up a leafy sidestreet verging on desirably metropolitan. Supermarket immediately adjacent to the station: A giant Waitrose, but it takes five minutes to walk there because the station entrance is on totally the wrong side. Places of interest a fair walk from the station:i) Drayton Green ii) the shops on West Ealing Broadway iii) Ealing Farmers Market (every Saturday morning at Dean Gardens). Worth visiting? Hard to justify.
Hanwell(15 mins)
The station: gorgeous listed throwback Under the station: arched passageway with steep stairwells up to the platforms, absolutely nowhere to put a gateline, ticket office, member of staff trained to interact with anyone seen taking photos. Outside the station: Queenly suburbs, attempt at a community garden. Place of interest nearest to the station:Conolly Dell, a small refurbished park with pooled water features. Shops near the station: Nothing really, but walk far enough and you'll find Richard Wilde Upholsterers (so olde-worlde its telephone number is painted in gold across wooden shutters) and Rosario's Gentlemen's Hair Fashions (tiny barbers with the look of a time capsule about it). Shops further from the station: Plenty along Hanwell Broadway, including a Rolls Royce dealer and the shop where Jim Marshall sold his first Marshall guitar amp in 1962 (now Hanwell Halal Meat & Groceries). Places of interest a fair walk from the station:i) Hanwell Clocktower (not as old as it sounds) ii) Bunny Park (including zoo and hedge maze) iii) the eight-arched WharncliffeViaduct (Brunel's finest). Worth visiting? Mainly thestationitself, to be honest.
Southall ਸਾਊਥਾਲ (18 mins)
The station: sparse futuristic box Outside the station: roundel, lamppost, bikes chained to railings in the absence of obvious bike racks. Place of interest nearest to the station: 'Southall Castle', a turreted Edwardian water tower converted into a six storey block of flats in 1984. Place of worship nearest to the station: A tie between Shri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara (long, low and orange-topped) and Imambargah Al-Hasan Mosque (not for nothing is Southall nicknamed Little India). Shops near the station: Pagh Vala turban-fitters, Bengal Fish Bazaar, Overseas Immigration Services, several former banks under new management. Signs of regeneration opposite the station: A lone barista-led coffee cart at the entrance to The Green Quarter, a Berkeley-led project inexorably transforming 90 acres of former gasworks into 3750 flats. Best place to eat near the station:Saravanaa Bhavan, an outpost of the world's largest South Indian restaurant chain and self-professed "World's No. 1 Indian Vegetarian Restaurant', located inside the former Glassy Junction pub. Places of interest a fair walk from the station:i) Himalaya Palace shopping centre (inside extraordinary formercinema) ii) Southall Market (assorted themes weekly) iii)Southall Manor House (Southall's oldest building, now businessy event space). Worth visiting? Nowhere else in London is like Southall.
Hayes & Harlington(22 mins)
The station: sparse futuristic box Sounds familiar: They built a lot of sparse futuristic boxes out here, usually bolted onto the side of the existing station rather than above the tracks where the original entrance used to be. Shop nearest to the station: Station Kiosk, purveyors of snacks and drinks, which used to make a much better living before they shifted the station entrance elsewhere. Outside the station: litter bin, bus stop, steps (at one end just a few, at the other end a heck of a lot). Signs of regeneration outside the station: Everybloodywhere, from the hideous orange-panelled StayCity Aparthotel to the anodyne apartments and student hutches rising on all fronts, thankyou Crossrail. Best place to eat near the station:takaa tak, the unlikely-named and culturally-confused restaurant and cocktail bar underneath the Aparthotel, proudly serving "Full English Breakfast, Cocktails & selective Indian Fusion Food Menu". Shops near the station: Rhone Dentures, Hayes Vapes, YMCA charity shop, 24/7 Cabs, Bagel Stop. Places of interest a short walk from the station:i) The Grand Union Canal and its towpath ii) the former Nestle Factory currently being turned into 1500 flogged-abroad flatsiii) a fairly big Asda. Worth visiting? Depressingly skippable.
West Drayton(25 mins)
The station: original brick building leading to unshowy box. Outside the station: bus turning circle, collapsing road surface, a few parking spaces. Place of interest nearest to the station: The Grand Union Canal again, because this has always been a key transport corridor. Shop nearest to the station: Bean There Drank That, a coffee shop that's trying just a little too hard. Shops near the station: Quinn Edwards Hairdressing, Maja Deli, Granny Satchwills Bakery And Sandwich Shop, AJ's Barbers (the Bee's Knees). Chief station quirk:West Drayton is to the south of the railway while the north side is all Yiewsley (but unlike at Hayes and Harlington the two don't get joint billing). Best place to drink near the station: Take your pick from the Railway Arms (Sky Sports etc) in Yiewsley or The De Burgh Arms (Sky Sports etc) in West Drayton. The latter has a party hall for hire, if that swings your decision. Places of interest a fair walk from the station:i) London Loop section 11 ii)St Matthew's church (designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott) iii) Ronnie Wood's childhood home in Whitethorn Avenue. Worth visiting? Not really, but better than going one more stop to Iver.
I'd like to thank the anonymous citizens who send pertinent Freedom of Information requests to TfL, and to the case officers who sometimes reply. You never know what'll be asked, nor whether the response will be a brusque brush-off or a deluge of data. So I was very excited this week to open up a spreadsheet which finally answered this key infrastructural question...
The longest platform on the Underground, it turns out, is this one.
This is platform 2, the eastbound platform at Becontree station. It's 231 metres long and claims the 'longest platform' crown for the outer reaches of the District line. It's 40cm longer than the platforms in joint second place, which are the eastbound platforms at Dagenham East and Hornchurch. It's longer than some Crossrail platforms. What's more a District line train is only 117½m in length so this platform is somehow twice as long. What's going on?
Gale Street station opened in 1928 to serve the new Becontree estate. It was renamed Becontree in 1932 when the line was doubled and electrified, adding two new platforms. All four platforms were long enough to take Southend-bound trains, but these now only stopped at the new platforms and District line trains served the originals. Southend trains no longer stopped after 1962 leaving just the two platforms for the Underground, both with a huge gap up one end.
The far ends of these platforms are now fenced off and overgrown with grass and weeds. Walk up to the barrier and you can see how unkempt they are and just how far they stretch, although most passengers never do because today's trains don't quite stop this far back. A power company has even sponsored a small wildlife garden in the last usable gap on the westbound platform, but it's the eastbound platform opposite that's officially the longest of all.
And Becontree's not alone. All the stations between Barking and Upminster have disused wildernesses at the far end of their platforms, always at the western end and all much longer than necessary. Indeed the 14 longest platforms on the Underground are all to be found at these seven stations, so the far end of the District line totally sweeps the board. But all are part sealed-off so arguably none of them properly count, which begs a further question - what's the longest platform still in use?
The longest platform still in use on the Underground, it turns out, is this one.
This is platform 2, the eastbound platform at Plaistow station. It's 212m long, which is somehow 100m longer than the trains which stop here. It's also 13m longer than the next longest platform, which is platform 3 at Stanmore station. It's the only platform on the tube which could accommodate a Crossrail train. It's been here since the 19th century, indeed it's older than the Underground because again it was built to be long enough for steam trains. It has some gorgeous ironwork. And it's still open because it's adjacent to a bay platform where Hammersmith & City trains sometimes terminate.
The bay platform was originally used for North London Railway services between Chalk Farm and Plaistow, then from 1869 to 1916 a Bow to Plaistow shuttle. It survived the rebuilding of the station in the 1900s and demolition of the adjacent railway depot. It's nowhere near the steps up to the ticket hall, it's a lot further back. And it's now where passengers who'd really rather be going further east get turfed out when a train stops short, only to discover they need to walk much further up the platform if they want to catch another service.
So platform 2 is really long because it extends back far enough to accommodate a terminating train on the adjacent bay platform. By my calculations it's twelve carriages long, the overlap between platform 2 and the bay platform being just two carriages in length. And you can still walk all the way to the far end because the backs of terminating trains stop that far down, making this monster the longest platform still in use on the Underground.
The spreadsheet also allows me to identify the longest platform on each individual tube line.
District: Plaistow (eastbound)[212m] Jubilee: Stanmore (platform 3) [199m] Central: Fairlop (both platforms)[194m] H & City: Paddington (eastbound)[186m] Piccadilly: South Harrow (westbound)[184m] Metropolitan: Watford (platform 1)[183m] Northern: Colindale (southbound)[165m] Victoria: King's Cross St Pancras (northbound)[142m] Bakerloo: Queens Park (northbound)[122m] W & City: Waterloo (both platforms)[95m]
For comparison purposes, no Underground train exceeds 134m in length.
The average tube platform, it turns out, is 132m long.
And finally here are all the tube platforms shorter than 100m.
Bus Route Of The Day 411: Kingston to West Molesey Location: London southwest Length of journey: 5 miles, 20 minutes
Because it's 4th November I've been out riding the 411, because that's the Bus Route Of The Day.
Rest assured I can't run this feature again for the remainder of the month.
Kingston's Cromwell Road bus station is the starting point for several bus routes, a veritable layover hub. As well as 4th November there's also 7th and 11th January, 28th May, 21st June and four other routes which don't translate into proper dates. A lot of buses starting here run to Surrey, including my chosen bus which spends roughly half its time inside the capital and half without. It's very much a feeder service delivering the good folk of Molesey to Kingston in the morning and later taking them home, and it starts from a dedicated bay with austere green seating. Cheer up, you might not have to wait the full 20 minutes.
When the incoming vehicle arrives the underside scrapes the kerb of the bus station with an audible scrunch. Once parked the driver crouches down to check for damage but can't see any - "nothing to show", as he blithely tells the only other passenger. They have a jovial chat, because everyone's a regular on this kind of route, during which I learn the driver's clocking off after three more journeys and the pensioner's still annoyed he can't use his concessionary pass before 9am. You can learn a lot by shutting up and listening.
The 411 used to be the western end of route 131 but was lopped off in 1994 and demoted to single decker working. The bus vibrates as we set off, then joins the queue waiting for the blessed lights to change. The road junction outside Kingston station is a filtered maelstrom seemingly designed to make traffic wait for ages and then not let everyone through. When I return later there'll be a queue of 10 consecutive buses nose to tail waiting to turn into Cromwell Road, wasting the time of dozens of immobile passengers, but thankfully it's a lot quicker getting out. Someone's left a copy of The Sun folded up on the back seat. I leave it there.
We pass round the back of Fenwick, its windows already fir-edged in readiness for Christmas, then stop again alongside John Lewis. Kingston's retail offering remains particularly strong, even if this morning's downpour has dampened footfall. Given we're travelling against the tide I'm impressed we've already picked up half a dozen more passengers. I also note that most of them were phone tappers, including one woman who took ages trying to get the card graphic to appear on her screen. Five minutes down and we're about to cross the Thames into the London borough of Richmond, the bridge providing scenic views of boats, swans and yellowing trees.
The next mile passes between two great parks, with Hampton Court Park on the left and the busier Bushy Park on the right. Our single decker provides a view only into the former, and only briefly, the remainder isolated behind historic brick walls. Few live along this section and so we zip along, although traffic heading the other way is bumper to bumper so I've chosen my direction of travel well. Eventually we pass the main entrance to Hampton Court, watched over by a lion, a unicorn and a security guard, then drop off a young woman at the last stop before the bridge. She's the only one of today's passengers to make a journey entirely within the boundaries of Greater London, confirming that TfL operate the 411 very much for the benefit of the people of Surrey.
Only four London bus routes cross the Thames twice, of which half can be found here on Hampton Court Bridge. The river looks resplendent from mid-span, as you'd expect beside a royal palace, and is dotted with moored white cruisers. Welcome to Molesey, a suburban tongue hemmed in by water and with a considerable social gradient from one end to the other. Here in East Molesey the shops are for schmoozing and moneyed purchases, but by the time we reach the terminus at West Molesey it'll be more convenience stores, bungalows and light industry. Most of the 411's passengers are holding out for later in the journey.
No buses pass down the cliquier end of Bridge Street but we do get back on track in time for the antique shop, the picture framer and the florist. Heaven knows what led the owners of the gift shop to call themselves Arty Elf At The Old Cobblers Shop, but the window display looks almost as twee as the name. At the upcoming mini-roundabout the choice is Esher Road or Walton Road, so we leave the former to the twice-a-day Surrey bus and head out west. Walton Road Garage is proper old school, even down to the prominent 01 phone number which appears to have been deliberately retained to entice scooter buyers and would-be bonnet tinkerers.
Poised between West and East Molesey is a better-balanced shopping centre, stepping up from a Poundland (that used to be a Woolworths) to wine bars and continental kitchen showrooms. A lot of shops call themselves Molesey something because local branding is strong, but other businesses starting with M include Midnight Pumpkin (a full-sleeve tattooist), Musicland East (guitar nirvana) and Michelle's Waist Management (for your weight loss journey). I note that Molesey has more chip shops than chicken shops, and in my book this is not a bad thing.
The bus is fair nipping along and has finally reaches residential Molesey (which had formerly been hiding up adjacent sidestreets). A smart wooden sign on Abbey Green alerts passers-by to the existence of Molesey Library, its supposed attractions 'Books Films WiFi Events', should Hallowe'en biscuit making or a Thursday coffee morning be your thing. Look, the recreation ground has unlocked public toilets, because some non-essential council services have survived a funding squeeze. Also don't the newbuild flats stand out, a single island of redevelopment amid a sea of interwar Molesey stock.
The remainder of my fellow passengers alight when we reach the quaint bit with the parish church and the old pub. Those trees are proper autumnal. Those tennis courts look a bit splashy. And we finish with a brief turn down Central Avenue, which is both awkwardly narrow and geographically badly named. End to end in 20 minutes... bosh! The shopping parade at the terminus boasts Molesey Cellars, Molesey Barbers, Molesey Convenience Store and the oddly named Nice Buns Molesey, which is a sandwich bar and not a gym. Here drivers park up on a grassy crescent and, if more than one bus is present, enjoy some downtime banter.
I decide to explore a little further, threading along the edge of a sprawling industrial estate with units for printers, auto repairs and an artisan bakery. A lone coal tax post nestles in the verge by the crossroads. And then Molesey ends abruptly against a wall of grass, these the dams that hold back a pair of mighty reservoirs. On the right is the Bessborough and on the left the massive Queen Elizabeth II which was opened by Her Maj in 1962. Unless you're an employee or a migrating bird you will not be getting in. Walton-on-Thames lies on the far side but I can't face hiking there, so it's the 411 back to Kingston for me. You'd never introduce such a route today but I'm glad it survives.
True north and grid north have always coincided, that's not special, that's how the National Grid was set up. But thanks to the curvature of the earth they only coincide perfectly along a single line of longitude, namely 2°W, a line which runs up the centre of the country from Swanage to Aberdeen. Live to the west of this line and grid north is a bit to the west of true north. Live to the east of this line and grid north is a bit to the east of true north. Only if you live precisely on the 2°W line, say in West Bromwich, Hebden Bridge or Berwick-upon-Tweed, might the Ordnance Survey's amazing claim apply to you.
If you've ever done any serious mapreading you'll know that compasses point not to the North Pole but to the North Magnetic Pole, which is somewhere else entirely. On maps of my childhood the North Magnetic Pole was always shown to be in the icy wastes of Northern Canada, somewhere in the vicinity of Ellesmere Island. But it's been moving north since then, more recently at a rate of approximately 35 miles per year, and now sits considerably closer to the North Pole. More importantly it's just on the far side of the pole compared to the UK, close to the 180° line of longitude, so at present our compasses are pointing near enough due north.
If you check the edge of an Ordnance Survey map you'll find a graphic designed to help users with compasses to make adjustments. This is the orientation advice on a map of London published 50 years ago when magnetic north was about 9 degrees west of Grid North. It's a lot closer to 0 degrees today.
The difference between true north and magnetic north is called magnetic variation, or 'declination'. This function varies with time as the Earth's magnetic field shifts, in the short-term predictably and in the long-term not. Here's a snapshot from a NOAA map of the world showing declination as it currently stands, and with a slider so you can track back over the centuries and see how it's changed.
The red lines show where magnetic north is east of true north (including London), the blue lines show where magnetic north is west of true north (including Ireland) and the thicker green line is where the two precisely coincide. The green line is officially called the agonic and has been moving across Great Britain since 2017 when it first clipped the coasts of Kent and East Anglia. It reached Greenwich in the summerof 2019, meaning compasses at the observatory briefly pointed due north. And what's just happened is that the green line has finally crossed the 2°W line of longitude over land for the first time. Magnetic north meets true north meets grid north, just outside the Dorset village of Langton Matravers.
As the green line moves across the country over the next few years the point of triple intersection will move slowly north. It's due to hit Poole at Christmas, Hebden Bridge in August 2024, Berwick-Upon-Tweed in August 2025 and Fraserburgh in July 2026. For a magic moment the Ordnance Survey map graphic will have all three arrows in the same place, and then inexorably magnetic north will edge east of true north for the first time.
But not quite "for the first time in history". Magnetic north has always moved around the planet, and the green line last crossed the British Isles in the 1660s. What is true is that the National Grid hadn't been invented at the time, so technically yes, the 2020s are the first time magnetic north, true north and the UK's grid north have aligned.
Of more long term importance than this triple technicality is the switch of magnetic north from 'a bit west' to 'a bit east'. Prior to 2017 it was always the case in Great Britain that magnetic north was a bit west of true north. Currently it's either west or east depending on where you live and by the end of the decade it'll always be a bit east. Confusingly grid north is going in the opposite direction, from 'a bit east' to 'a bit west'. This change started in Cornwall in 2014, reached Cardiff and Glasgow in 2020, hits Leeds and Newcastle in 2025 and won't reach London until spring 2028.
London norths from west to east before 2019: Magnetic north, True north, Grid north 2019 - 2028: True north, Magnetic north, Grid north after 2028: True north, Grid north, Magnetic north
In summary, ten years ago in the UK it was always the case that magnetic north was west of true north and grid north. In ten years time magnetic north will always be east of true north and grid north, at least until some unpredictable future date when the Earth's magnetic field deigns to nudge things back. And for the time being these things are in flux, with complete equivalence currently only for a small patch of the Dorset coast.
One day there'll be a time when your compass tells the truth. If you're in Swanage that's now, if you're in Wales you have a few years to wait and if you're in London sorry, you've missed it.
As Crossrail prepares to join up, what about the London train services that still operate in tiny chunks? These, I think, are the shortest shuttles in the capital.
2 stations
Bank - Waterloo
No London rail service is shuttlier than the Waterloo & City line. The Drain has been nipping back and forth beneath the Thames since 1898 because it wouldn't be easy to skip from Surrey to the Square Mile otherwise. The line's a mile and a half long with no other connections, indeed so disjoint they have to winch the trains in and out when they need repairs. The trains are platform-cloggingly busy in the peaks, in one direction only, and a vacant zippy luxury at other times. Since the pandemic the W&C's been closed at weekends and may never return to 7-day service, but it remains the shuttliest train service of them all.
No longer shuttly: Finchley Central → Mill Hill East, Holborn → Aldwych, Acton Town → South Acton Not in London and no longer shuttly: Chalfont & Latimer → Chesham Not a train: Dangleway North → Dangleway South
3 stations
High Street Kensington - Kensington Olympia
The tube's only three-station shuttle is the District line horseshoe pootling round Kensington. These days it operates a barely worthwhile service on weekdays - early morning and early evening only - and a more useful 20-minute frequency at weekends. It's so insignificant a service that there are signs at Earl's Court recommending you go to Olympia via West Brompton and the Overground instead, and unless there's an exhibition on you can generally count on having half the train to yourself. Long may it linger, although it's hard to argue why it still does.
Romford - Upminster
Ah, it's the Overground's lowliest outpost. All the rest of the orange lines go somewhere useful in an interconnected way, but this lone train just shuttles up and down its single track through the duller parts of Havering. When they close it at weekends for engineering works, which is surprisingly often, they just tell people to take the 370 bus and hardly anyone suffers. Intermediate station Emerson Park is regularly the Overground's least used station, and we love it all the more for that.
Grove Park - Bromley North
This is southeast London's contribution to the shuttle list, a proper spur off the mainline to deliver folk to the less useful side of Bromley town centre. The journey takes five minutes and is generally timed to connect with a fast train to/from London Bridge, because otherwise what would be the point? They run it every 20 minutes in the peaks and sometimes half-hourly inbetween if that connects better, and not at all on Sundays. How grand the entrance to Bromley North looks, and how disappointing what lies beyond.
Paddington - Heathrow Terminal 5
The Heathrow Express is a technically a three-station shuttle. The first stop costs an eyewatering amount and the second stop is free, because that's airport tariffs for you. Tourists and the time-poor pay up happily, but those flying from T4 or T5 discover it's not particularly 'express' once you get to Heathrow, and my god the station architecture is downright depressing throughout. Once Crossrail starts running through central London next week let's hope it dies a slow death.
4 stations
I don't believe there are any four-stop London shuttles. Maybe there never were.
5 stations
Greenford - West Ealing
Here's GWR's west London oddity, lopped off from the rest of their network in 2016 in preparation for Crossrail. It was never well-frequented, this sideshow through the backside of Ealing, and is even less so now you have to change at West Ealing to get any further into town. Things might improve next week when that single change can now deliver you to the West End, but don't count on it.
Woodford - Hainault
The Central line is no longer a full Hainault loop, they separated off the Woodford to Hainault section in January 2020 so they could run four-car trains back and forth. Officially it's only while they upgrade all the Central line rolling stock but that could take ages so expect severedness for some time to come. It's only what used to be the norm back in the 1980s, and probably all that the least section of the Underground deserves. And yes, technically the three intermediate stations are in Essex but the shuttle starts and finishes in Greater London so I've included it in my list anyway.
Meridian Water - Stratford
I wasn't sure whether to include this one either, given that these half-hourly trains are interleaved with services going all the way to Bishops Stortford. But they do rattle back and forth serving just five stations, so let's say yes. It's not been a particularly long list anyway.
Four London locations I stumbled upon recently Four green spaces I'd not previously visited Four places of interest only to local people Four vignettes or go read something else
1)Beeline Way(Kingston/Merton)
I discovered this while trying to cross the Beverley Brook near New Malden, which is quite tricky unless you're driving, on a train or playing golf. I stepped down off a railway bridge onto a lengthy ramp and discovered a broad straight tarmac track stretching off into the distance with woodland to either side. It's got to be a former railway, I thought, and then realised there was an actual mainline railway running parallel through the trees so it couldn't be that. It turns out it's former Thames Water land opened up for public use, and last year was given the name Beeline Way after a local vote. It runs for almost a mile from New Malden station to almost Raynes Park and is a great way to get from one to the other without spending £2.90 on a train ticket.
I passed families out for a ride, patiently padding dogs, shoppers lumbering home with bags and a few small beehive signs confirming I was on the right track. It felt a little remote in places, there being only two access points along the way, one of which was up to the thundering A3 viaduct. Also you can hardly see the Beverley Brook at the point you pass over it which felt like a wildlife opportunity missed. At the eastern end the Beeline Way opens out into Raynes Park Recreation Ground, where I got to chuckle at rugby players performing grunty ball exercises, then disappointingly dissipates into the car park and a residential street. Thus far the Beeline Way website promises much and delivers little, suggesting it's quite new, but the track's very much worth bearing in mind next time you need a direct connection.
2)Hale Field Park(Hillingdon)
I discovered this while walking through Stockley Park, the pioneering business park on a former landfill site north of Heathrow Airport. Stockley Park combines anodyne corporate HQs with contoured landscaping, much of which is golf course but with an arc of public woodland around the northern edge. You'll know it if you've ever walked London Loop section 11, it's the non-canalside bit. I reached the asymmetricalfootbridge over the dual carriageway and then, to dodge the golf balls, wandered off down a lacklustre lane instead. Welcome to Hale Field Park, the sign said, from beneath a veneer of fresh red graffiti. This being Hillingdon the sign was quite informative, revealing that these 26 acres had previously been the site of Colham Green Nurseries and (long) before that part of a field called Hale Field. Fairly obviously.
Hale Field Park is very new, having been opened by the Mayor of Hillingdon and a girl on a pink bicycle in summer 2019. It's also a bit dull. Imagine a site quartered by footpaths which meet in the centre, and each quadrant is a fenced-off meadow or paddock you can generally only walk past. Yes the footpaths are lined by burgeoning saplings, and yes there is a bench, but there's not much to do other than walk in one entrance and walk out another. It's OK for a dogwalk if you live locally but not many do and only really on one side, the other flank being mostly main road, and what I learned is that just because somewhere's called something park doesn't mean it's worth a detour.
3)Spring Brook(Bromley/Lewisham)
I discovered this brief stream in Sundridge down a road called Brook Road, so that was a clue. The name Spring Brook sounds almost poetic until you realise it means a brook rising from a spring which is totally generic. That spring is long lost under the pitch of the Downham & Bellingham Cricket club, but take the shady alley up the side and you'll find the stream crossing Shaftesbury Park. It is, to be frank, the park's only interesting feature. The brook trickles through a deep woody channel (which could be picnicked beside in better weather) while the rest of the space is flat and green with a couple of unkempt benches. Even the playground is somewhat austere, though it was keeping three kids shriekingly happy.
On the other side of Valeswood Road the river flows from Bromley into Lewisham and the surrounding stripe of green becomes Downham Park. It's entirely signless, because some boroughs don't care about that kind of thing, but it does boast a central pavilion to cater for all the football pitches shoehorned along the flood plain. The river now hugs one side with a pleasant but undistinguished tarmac path alongside and the occasional footbridge leading to a patch of studded mud. If you lived round here and liked jogging you'd know it well, perhaps as part of a circuit with Downham Fields and the Woodland Walk, but by the time the brook reaches the main shopping parade it's been relegated to a pipe and there it stays until dribbling into the Ravensbourne behind some blocks of flats.
4)Cheam Park(Sutton)
I discovered this while waiting for a bus on Malden Road. It's a long wait until the next 213, I thought, I have time to nip up Tudor Close and see what Cheam Park looks like. It looks like a big park, it turned out, although on a bit of a slope so the views get better the further you walk. Originally these were the grounds of a big house called Cheam Park (whose outbuildings were roughly where the gardeners' compound is now), but that got hit by a flying bomb during WW2 and was demolished. The most popular building these days is the cafe, or rather Caffè because it's a tad on the pretentious side, proudly offering afternoon tea boxes, pizza and prosecco. Dogs are also very welcome.
The strangest thing about Cheam Park is that it rubs up against a much more famous park, but which is a completely separate entity because it lies on the other side of a county boundary. Nonsuch Park (where Henry VIII once had a palace) hides just beyond a screen of trees called 'The Wood', but the two are only grudgingly connected via a pair of muddy footpaths. This larger neighbour offers better promenading and an alternative eatery, the Nonsuch Pantry, but that's even more up itself so I recommend the cheaper Cheam option. By detouring into Surrey I missed my bus but hey, I thought, I might squeeze two paragraphs out of this.
