I had to do an errand Tuesday which meant I could take the brand new Elizabeth line railway (note the official lower case L) rather than a much slower route. (I fib. I rearranged handing over the keys to a late friend’s apartment to the landlord from Monday to Tuesday so I could travel on the line’s opening day.) So I thought I’d make a day of it and the first of the transit photo diaries I threatened.
Well half a day. The morning started with fluffy white clouds in a blue sky. Fluffy became full cover and I ate lunch watching the rain spashing of the Thames forming a mist to obscure the wind-driven waves. By 2 I decided to risk the showers as I had to get the keys back. On at technical note I decided against using my digital SLR, relying on my cellphone;s autofocus and autoexposure, set strictly to 1x zoom to give a standard idea of scale. I will indicate if any photos have been cropped.
I decided to concentrate on the keys first and do the pictures Paddington to Whitechapel on the way back. Plans changed again when I made the rooky mistake of leaping on the first train, going in the wrong direction. Not a real problem as two minutes later I got off at Canary Wharf to cross the platform to the right direction!
It gave me a chance to snap the seats. Least obvious is the seat layout. Virtually all modern London Underground cars use the “metro” layout for maximum capacity. This is where the seats are along the train facing inwards. The Elizabeth line railway carriages have both metro and conventional 2x2 seats in groups of four facing each other on either side. This configuration allows a lot of luggage space under the cantilevered seats. Ideal for families travelling in from Heathrow.
Iconic “Totems” designed for wayfinding and services like uplighting and help points. (Tfl photo)
My old git’s Freedom Pass gives me free travel on most Transport for London services after 9am weekdays, and half price on the Cable Car and Uber boats. It also allows free travel to Heathrow on the Elizabeth line which normally carries a surcharge of £7.20 each way. This prices it between the much slower Picadilly Line Underground train and the more expensive but faster Heathrow Express which also serve the airport terminals. At the moment the Elizabeth line is operating as three sections. The previous TfL (Transport for London) service from the North side of Paddington mainline station remains with through running via the new central London tunnels to the East will come next year.
I noticed that the mixed seating in some carriages has another advantage. The metro seats are in sets of three and the one nearest the 2x2 sets has a large gap beside them for their shopping or briefcase — or to spread out. You may notice the dividers are two-level. These hark back to previous Underground train designs which allow two people sitting beside each other to have an elbow rest.
I have avoided the most obvious feature in the picture, the purple fabric seat covering. Fabric seat coverings in “moquette” are traditional on London passenger vehicles. It is a type of carpet where alternate areas have loop or cut piles. The design disguises these differet areas which are designed to provide durability and stain resistance. Wood or plastic seats do not provide resistant to avoid people slipping around on the old routes and bumpy buses!
Circle Line train track sharing part of the Hammersmith and City Line. This spur off the circle allows for interval balancing and provides extra services along the shared track. The pink color on the opposite platform canopy is the red reflected from the train.
Of course it would not be a British opening without the traditional hiccup. Paddington was evacuated due to a fire alarm going off at 8.30 am. Equally traditional is me making a complete dog’s dinner of finding the quickest unfamiliar route.
Now I had to change to the Hammersmith and City line for a few stops from Paddington. Paddington main line station is large. The Paddington H&C station is at the far west end of those platforms on the north side. The other lines and the Elizabeth line platforms at at the opposite SE side of the main concourse.
I expected a hike but stupidly followed the signs. Despite knowing the station fairly well I stupidly followed the signs. Half a mile later I gave up working out the layout of the rebuilt and hailed an (electic) black cab. Not a good idea financially and the time it took.
Finding the right entry when most of the numbers were obscured by scaffolding didn’t help. At the door it said “appointment only” but I suppose they knew I was coming, just not the time. The security guard was sweet and expressed his sympathies when I explained why I was there. No problems handing in the keys and there was a bus stop outside to go to Westbourne Park for the H&C Line. With the job done I was prepared to tackle Paddington again.
The bus made a pleasant meander through the side streets of West London to Westbourne Park bus garage. Then a walk to the tube station.
This is the view looking back on the long walkway between the H&C station and the Elizabeth line. The curve you see on the right half is the Paddington station engine shed roof.
This is, I suppose, providing “step free access” but steps ie stairs are nothing compared to these steps in the sense of cross-country hike.
I have a feeling that the hoardings on the left will eventually be some sort of taxi or local bus interchange.
As you get closer, you get a clearer view of the glass roof end.
At this point I was becoming convinced that they had moved the H&C line entrance even further away than it used to be, presumably to flatten the incline for wheelchair users. I’ll suspend judgement on that.
One thing that was familiar it the old way with a
high balcony overlooking the main line platforms. I remember many years ago there was an Underground ticket office there. I found it down a side corridor marked “stairs”. The little grey cells are not quite imagining things yet.
On the balcony you are on the other side of that glass wall. Despite the need to carry suitcases down the stairs, I think you will agree that the view is a lot more pleasant than an antiseptic white temporary-ish route.
Either way we end up at the far end of the platforms on the concourse,
It was good to see that large areas had been set aside for bicycle parking.There is a second similar area. This is a lot more secure than the traditional method of chaining your bike to the station railings.
*Note this photo has been processed to fit DailyKos requirements
As we reach the main concourse we can see why the station has such a strangely wide platform. The 19th century station had this entrance and ramp at its SE entrance so passengers could drive their carriage and horses into the station and be safe from the elements.
Later it was used by the Post Office to load the mobile sorting offices on their way to the West Country and taxis picking up passengers.
Taxis also use the carriageway on the west side of the station. Some of the original wood paviors from Brunel’s driveway were found during excavation for the new Elizabeth line station, hence my supposition of them being relocated away from the main roads around the station.
There is another reason for the width of the station. It is actually the second terminus for the Great
Western Railway that Brunel built. The first was temporary and located just to the west end of the current station. Brunel thought big. The grand hotel at the front of the station would let passengers stay before they took his railway to Bristol. There they could board his Great Western steamship to America. He also built big. He used a rail guage of 7 feet between the rails as opposed to Stevenson’s now Standard Guage of 4ft 812 inches or 1435mm, as used on the Elizabeth line.
On the west side of the station there are arches leading to what was the carriageway. Instead it is filled by the station box with its top forming a new plaza going south to the front, following the gentle slope of the old road.
By the way, those clouds are real. Going to drop the keys earlier, it was raining here but by the time I got to the other side of the station, the sun was out. The cellphone camera processing also enhanced these photos to make them look almost CGI.
“Station box” is one method of constructing a station and platforms for tunnelled railways. Instead of boring down to excavate the ticket halls, escalators etc, a huge box is excavated and constructed. The box goes down to tunnel level so trains can run straight through. Massive cross-braces can be needed but the whole effect is open. In this case the entrance to the station itself is through a pavillion under an engraved glass roof.
The effect of this can be seen in the main picture taken at the intermediate “gate line” level. At the top you can see one of those cross-braces and behind a ridiculously blue sky with fluffy clouds. The blue is real, the clouds are not. The glass roof to the plaza is engraved in part to provide exactly this effect. On the intensely bright sunny days (OK hours) we get in London, the light is diffused but penetrates deep into the station. In other weather they brighten up even grey skies. You can also see the glass sided lift shaft that enables accessibility. The yellow counter-weight is at the bottom.
Scale becomes a little difficult to read until you realise the camera has focused on that silver metal band in the middle of the picture. When you see how the columns leading up to it compare to the people, you start to realise how high you are looking. The focus is the reason the people at the gates and the writing on the totem are blurred.
The walls leading down to this level are lined with this brickwork which reflects the next door station. At entry level the buildings are intended to reflect the area while the platforms have a similar design language.
From the gateline level it’s down another escalator, or elevator, to the platforms. The station box constucted stations have a different language from the curvatious white of the tunnelled stations.
There ares still common design elements, the most famous being the TfL roundel, this time expressed in the purple of the line.
The escalators to provide a link to the Bakerloo Line go down further. One of the huge challenges of building the Elizabeth line was threading the tunnels at times feet from other tunnels through the maze of underground infrastructure in central London. You may have noticed that the light changes as you go up or down the escalator. The platforms are lit with warmer light to encourage calm waiting. The passageways and “action” areas like escalators are in lit in colder light to encourage movement.
So that’s Paddington, warts and all. On my way home I actually took a different route than intended so I could follow with another “station box” type construction. So that will be a second part along with my impressions of the journeys.
So Tuesday has been the end of one over 45 year era of association with the apartment and the start of a new era of travelling around London. A day I can remember in two ways.
