View Full Version : Ode to Eurostar...
teuchter
12-11-2007, 23:40
I've always rather enjoyed the incongruity of the Eurostars humming their way through Brixton, across the bridge at the bottom of Coldharbour lane, above the chaos of the market and over the high street. And around the edge of Brockwell Park.
Sometimes I can even hear them from my place up Brixton Hill.
But on Wednesday, the whole operation transfers to St Pancras and they will cease to run through South London.
So after tomorrow, this scene will be history...
Bye-bye Eurostar!
teuchter
12-11-2007, 23:41
...
Boo hoo! First they took Concorde away and now *this*!
:(
There was nothing better than swimming late in the day in the rec and watching the Eurostar go bye. :(
it was always fantastic to come back to london, zooming past brockwell park & through brixton. got me all emotional it did. where is it going now? will there be a nice river crossing somewhere?
the approach to paris is really shit in comparison, you basically go st-denis - gare du nord in a big concrete canyon.
I still don't get why they put it in Waterloo and then felt it should be moved? :confused:
What will become of the Eurostar terminal @ Waterloo now? All that money wasted!!
teuchter
13-11-2007, 09:15
Most of the approach to st pancras is in a tunnel or concrete canyon, i think. Including crossing the thames.
Most of the approach to st pancras is in a tunnel or concrete canyon, i think. Including crossing the thames.
Yup, its a fuck off tunnel from Stratford to St Pancras
I still don't get why they put it in Waterloo and then felt it should be moved? :confused:
What will become of the Eurostar terminal @ Waterloo now? All that money wasted!!
I've often wondred that myself.
Waterloo was only ever a temporary building - the plan was always for the terminus to be St Pancras.
But what a temporary building, eh!
I'm not that mithered about eurostart not coming sarf anymore - there's been enough times where local trains for local people have had to wait until eurostar has gone past. Pfft!
corporate whore
13-11-2007, 10:59
I lived by the railway for about five years and it used to rattle the radiators!
Yup, its a fuck off tunnel from Stratford to St Pancras
:(
skyscraper101
13-11-2007, 11:20
The track will be converted for local use at Waterloo.
untethered
13-11-2007, 11:23
As much as I enjoy the train, they're rather taking the fun out of it with all these tunnels. I'd rather see the view than save twenty minutes on a London to Paris trip.
kyser_soze
13-11-2007, 11:25
I still don't get why they put it in Waterloo and then felt it should be moved? :confused:
What will become of the Eurostar terminal @ Waterloo now? All that money wasted!!
Nah, will still be in use for local traffic...lovely stations concourse for it...:D
The idea, eventually, is that there will be HS rail from St Pancras going North, so you'll be able to take HS trains from say, Manchester, to Paris direct without having to change at London and stuff.
I was reading because they're using the International B gauge, it's theoretically possible to run HS trains from Germany and Spain on these tracks...now that would be fucking awesome...
teuchter
13-11-2007, 11:30
I still don't get why they put it in Waterloo and then felt it should be moved? :confused:
What will become of the Eurostar terminal @ Waterloo now? All that money wasted!!
It was put into Waterloo because of the high speed link not being ready when the channel tunnel was first completed. There would not have been an easy way to route trains from the tunnel to St Pancras using existing rail lines.
Despite living in Brixton and being sad to see them disappear from view here, I have to admit that St Pancras does make more sense; it's better connected than Waterloo and more convenient for the majority of the rest of Britain in terms of onward connections. And I suspect it might actually going to be quicker to get there from Brixton (direct Victoria line) than messing about on the Northern Line to get to Waterloo.
Not so handy for those early morning departures before the tube opens though; it will mean a rather more lengthy night bus journey.
Of course, at one point we were told that Waterloo would remain open, with some trains terminating there and some at St Pancras but that idea was dropped, unfortunately.
teuchter
13-11-2007, 11:35
The idea, eventually, is that there will be HS rail from St Pancras going North, so you'll be able to take HS trains from say, Manchester, to Paris direct without having to change at London and stuff.
As far as I know, there's no major reason at the moment why you couldn't run Eurostars directly from the continent to certain points North (a spare Eurostar set was in fact in use running from Kings Cross-York for a while).
Nah, will still be in use for local traffic...lovely stations concourse for it...:D
The idea, eventually, is that there will be HS rail from St Pancras going North, so you'll be able to take HS trains from say, Manchester, to Paris direct without having to change at London and stuff.
I was reading because they're using the International B gauge, it's theoretically possible to run HS trains from Germany and Spain on these tracks...now that would be fucking awesome...
Not likely to happen anytime soon with the state of the railways in this country. :mad:
ska invita
13-11-2007, 11:51
Not likely to happen anytime soon with the state of the railways in this country. :mad:
For a critical look at The Eurostar move, and govenments relationship to the railwats check out Christian Wolamr at HOusmans tommorow:
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=226983
Brainaddict
13-11-2007, 11:55
I was reading because they're using the International B gauge, it's theoretically possible to run HS trains from Germany and Spain on these tracks...now that would be fucking awesome...
And it's not just being considered theoretically:
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article2782419.ece
It would cost so many billions to do proper HS trains north. You can't use the existing lines (too curvy, and you can't share with slower trains) so Brand new lines would need to be built, which means buying a lot of land. France can do it because central govt. has greater powers for grabbing land, which is less densely populated than the UK anyway.
hopefully they will use the spare track time to run more trains up from orpington
wouldn't bank on it though :(
teuchter
13-11-2007, 12:07
For a critical look at The Eurostar move, and govenments relationship to the railwats check out Christian Wolamr at HOusmans tommorow:
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=226983
Looks interesting. Where is Housmans?
teuchter
13-11-2007, 12:13
hopefully they will use the spare track time to run more trains up from orpington
wouldn't bank on it though :(
http://www.transportbriefing.co.uk/story.php?id=4514
Brainaddict
13-11-2007, 12:20
Offtopic, but does no one else find Waterloo International kind of ugly? Course it looks nice when you make a sexy photo:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/cancer/the-building/building-architecture/waterloo-thumb.gif
But the mundane blue-girdered reality is better captured here I think:
http://gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/places-and-sights/England-London-Waterloo-international-station-4-DHD.jpg
Kid_Eternity
13-11-2007, 12:22
Boo hoo! First they took Concorde away and now *this*!
:(
Concorde used to fly through Brixton? :confused:
teuchter
13-11-2007, 12:29
Concorde used to fly through Brixton? :confused:
It used to fly over Brixton.
DJWrongspeed
13-11-2007, 12:32
I still don't get why they put it in Waterloo and then felt it should be moved? :confused:
it's great whizzing through Brixton, sure, but being on the main commuting line has always meant heaps of delays for international passangers and local trains alike. Having it's own line will shave 20mins in journey time but will actually remove far more delay time from Folkestone - Waterloo. I had a hellish journey once back from Paris coz of a fire in Bromley.
goldengraham
13-11-2007, 12:37
The track will be converted for local use at Waterloo.
Maybe that means we'll get a Waterloo service to/from Brixton and Herne Hill
kyser_soze
13-11-2007, 12:54
Offtopic, but does no one else find Waterloo International kind of ugly? Course it looks nice when you make a sexy photo:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/cancer/the-building/building-architecture/waterloo-thumb.gif
But the mundane blue-girdered reality is better captured here I think:
http://gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/places-and-sights/England-London-Waterloo-international-station-4-DHD.jpg
It's a great station, not just cos it's a good train shed (which it is...that lovely curved rib with the half glass), but also cos of the way it's designed so passengers can flow through and onto the platforms by their carriages...I'm assuming that SP is the same.
Compare this with GdN in Paris, which has you going up/down/up/down...it's much improved, but you know the UK's done not bad when the head of SNCF says St Pancras is the best station in the world...
Maybe that means we'll get a Waterloo service to/from Brixton and Herne Hill
I think it will end up as the SW platforms for the Reading trains via Putney so they don't spend 15 mins outside Waterloo waiting for a platform.
Brainaddict
13-11-2007, 12:59
but you know the UK's done not bad when the head of SNCF says St Pancras is the best station in the world...
Haven't seen the new St Pancras yet but I saw the new Berlin Central this summer and its going to take some beating.
http://www.socketsite.com/archives/Berlin%20Central%20Station.jpg
kyser_soze
13-11-2007, 13:00
Niiiiiice...
Brainaddict
13-11-2007, 13:03
Niiiiiice...
Very very. I arrived in Berlin there and had to tear myself away to see the rest of the city :D It's a junction station rather than a terminus and the trains going through on different levels is very :cool: - those are platforms on the lowest level as well.
Brainaddict
13-11-2007, 13:09
:eek: Fuck me
I don't think you should go there Crispy - it's not nice to cum in public :p
Well, I'll just go to st pancras and get a semi, then.
hopefully they will use the spare track time to run more trains up from orpington
wouldn't bank on it though :(
4 trains an hour off peak
http://southeastern.go-cms.co.uk/content/doc/pdf/timetables/timetable_60.pdf
Minnie_the_Minx
13-11-2007, 13:26
Maybe that means we'll get a Waterloo service to/from Brixton and Herne Hill
It's absolutely ridiculous that there's only 2 trains per hour to London Victoria :mad:
BlackSpecs
13-11-2007, 13:50
I took the Eurostar to London last week and it might be nice to look at it going through Brixton but looking out of it around the Wandsworth + Battersea area isn't exactly the best first look on the UK for tourists......
Not a Vet
13-11-2007, 13:51
According to the Rail Utilisation Strategy Plan for the next few years, the plan at Herne Hill is to have extended trains (12 carriages) and a doubling of the frequency between Victoria and Orpington/Ashford. The problem at the moment is due to the junction with First Capital Connect trains to Sutton causing a bottleneck. They hope to sought that out but it will take time as there are a lot of other priorities in our region.
Well, I can't imagine Stratford, followed by Kings Cross, makes much of an impression either!
Most people will be going directly to the tube of course.
kyser_soze
13-11-2007, 13:55
I took the Eurostar to London last week and it might be nice to look at it going through Brixton but looking out of it around the Wandsworth + Battersea area isn't exactly the best first look on the UK for tourists......
To be fair, neither is the run in through the train yards outside GdN...
guinnessdrinker
13-11-2007, 15:20
I can't understand the nostalgia of the eurostar going through brixton. I don't live there, but I often go to herne hill. I hear and see it going through sometimes, it's bloody noisy. imagine living next to it! at least the st pancras tunnel (less convenient for me, I'm afraid) is a dedicated line that will bring peace to local residents and stops the mingling of commuter lines with a highspeed service.
William of Walworth
13-11-2007, 15:51
What will become of the Eurostar terminal @ Waterloo now? All that money wasted!!
Paris and Brussels travellers' loss will be Portsmouth/Bournemouth/Weymouth/Southampton travellers' gain ... :p
Looks interesting. Where is Housmans?
About 20 yards up Cally Road on the left hand side.
gaijingirl
13-11-2007, 18:47
I had a hellish journey once back from Paris coz of a fire in Bromley.
Still - at least Bromley was on fire... silving lining and all that... :D
Dubversion
13-11-2007, 18:48
heh :D
BlackSpecs
13-11-2007, 18:58
To be fair, neither is the run in through the train yards outside GdN...
Point taken ! ;) It's just that after a long absence from my beloved London Town I was reminded of the dire situation some people have to live in !!!
Especially the Durrington Tower .... it looks like something out of Children of Men !
http://www.londonarchitecture.co.uk/LACU/Images/Buildings/Lambeth/DurringtonTower-001.jpg
The image doesn't really capture its current state .... :(
Apparently the ex eurostar platforms at Waterloo are going to be left unused for some time. :mad:
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