London Banter - View Single Post - TfL's bid to control trains has much going for it

[email protected] · July 23rd 11, 09:30 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
(Nick P) wrote:

wrote in message
...
On 18/07/2011 06:13, TimB wrote:
On Jul 17, 9:17 pm, wrote:
On Jul 17, 12:40 pm, Roland wrote:

In messageRrWdnTjSrIMBqL7TnZ2dnUVZ8hCdn...@brightvie w.co.uk, at
20:18:53 on Sun, 17 Jul 2011, Arthur Figgis
remarked:

The surprising thing is that Epping - Ongar was electrified (this
didn't happen until 1957).

That would have been about when they decided the Kelvedon Hatch
bunker was to be re-purposed (and somewhat rebuilt) from air
traffic control to a regional government HQ. Coincidence?

ISTR there is something in the (very strange) museum there

You may think it's strange, but it captures the Cold War very well.

which more or less claims there was a link between the line
surviving and the bunker.

They do claim that, yes.

But if the bunker was ever needed, wouldn't it have taken ages to
get the 9Fs there from Woodhe4)*(&^%NO CARRIER

If the bunker's needed, people (and lots of supplies) would go there
and be very unlikely to return. One of the "strange things" they'll
tell you
is that the locks on the doors are mainly to keep those inside at
their posts, rather than preventing the somewhat fried people outside
from breaking in.

Clearly, this museum is worth a visit.

Easy to find - there are road signs all over Essex saying 'Secret
Bunker'....

Would one say that Epping-Ongar was a government line, which
allowed civilian use?

If I had the time and resources, I'd look at all the lines closed
post-Cold War and see how many had close links with military sites,
no matter how small the actual usage. Survivors of the Beeching
closure plans would be worth looking at too.
I'd also look at odd stubs where the lines went further to more
useful places. The keeping of Mill Hill East seems odd but there was
a barracks nearby.

More a case of it opening in the first place because of the barracks. Now
it's there it is still used, isn't it?

The only other closure since the end of the cold war would be Aldwych, isn't
it?

--
Colin Rosenstiel