Yearly Archives: 2024

Off To Unuversity (4)

Where Is The Gate At West Gate? Currently the West Gate is about as unimpressive as a gate can be. The “gate” itself is very modern … … although fbb guesses that the original gate was here … … where a very scary statue stands guard – actually sits guard – as terrified students creep warily by.  As you all…

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Off To Unuversity (3)

Gateways To Academe There are four “official” gates to provide access to the University Campus, named after the points of the compass. A modern toad entrance can be found on Pritchatts Road at its western end … But he first named entrance is North Gate … … which is, by far, the most spectacular of all the entrances. Old Joe…

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Off To Unuversity (2)

 Commonwealth Games 2022 It was decided that University station would need to be drastically enlarged in time for increased use of the Uni campus for the Games. The station is on a cramped site, hemmed in by the canal on the east and other development including Uni and hospital facilities on the west. So a brand new station was needed…

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Monday’s Friday Reads – 5 February 2024

• Why the hovercraft’s time might have finally arrived (BBC) • Athens Metro to Grow by a Third, Eliminating 53,000 Car Tips a Day (CityLab) • A year on from the East Palestine toxic train derailment, what’s changed? (Podcast) (The Guardian) • The Subway Under the US Capitol: Video (Trains Are Awesome) • Does Hong Kong have the best transport…

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Off To Unuversity (1)

 Sorry : Grovel Grovel. Yet another poor job of proof checking before beddy-byes on Saturday night! Somehow fbb’s boundless enthusiasm for rootling out the errors (?) must have faded. More corrections, but far too many, were left until 0720 yesterday! Must do better! The First Red-Brick Uni! Known affectionately as ‘Old Joe’ the Joseph Chamberlain Memorial Clock Tower dominates the…

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Sunday Variety

Puzzle Picture It was the gondola on the Runcorn transporter bridge! Here it is gondoling! Both the above and below show people in top hats and no vehicles … … so probably the opening or an inspection by the great and good. The toad bridge that replaced it is shown under construction below looking south. And a view looking north…

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Saturday Variety

Sub-Standard Seven-hundred Seats When fbb took his first ride from the new London Bridge station and through the Thameslink tunnels, we was profoundly disappointed in the ambiance of the train. It had “ironing board” sears with no arm rests, no wifi or chargers and no tables of any kind. The seating would have been OK for a whizz round the…

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Friday Reads – 2 February 2024

• London Overground staff to strike over pay (BBC) • Transport-related social exclusion in England (Transport for the North) • Through traffic to be banned from key routes across Edinburgh city centre (Edinburgh News) • The Bizarrely Huge Station at Pudding Mill Lane: Video (Jago Hazzard) • The accessible triple-integrated lift of Battersea Power Station: Video (Proper Engineering) • The…

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Cross-border Service Coming Soon (5)

 Foot In Mouth fbb! In practice fbb is far too f to get his foot in his mouth even if it were theoretically possible. Babies seem to manage it! Why does fbb admit to labial podiatry? He had assumed that through trains no longer ran from Coevorden to Neuenhaus; the latter being the end of the passenger line from Bad…

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