On Wed, 11 Jul 2012 20:38:22 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:

On Tue, 10 Jul 2012 11:17:04 +0100, Recliner
wrote:

On Mon, 09 Jul 2012 23:34:04 +0100, Paul Corfield
wrote:

On Mon, 09 Jul 2012 21:26:31 +0100, Recliner
wrote:

I don't know if this programme is new to UK TV or a repeat, and even
if it is new, whether any of the content will be new to denizens of
this group, but Channel 5 has a documentary entitled "Building The
London Underground" at 8pm this Wednesday. It's described as, "A
fascinating look at the great engineering leaps that built the London
Underground, the biggest metro system in the world." The picture used
is certainly up-to-date:
http://www.channel5.com/shows/big-bi...on-underground

It's not possible to tell from the blurb about this programme but I
have a sneaking suspicion that is actually a Discovery channel show.
It does have some recent footage if it is the programme I think it is.
I'll say no more to avoid spoiling it for others.

Yes, that's what I suspected. Channel 5 doesn't make its own
programmes, and this isn't the sort of thing it's likely to commission
under Desmond's ownership, so a second-hand Discovery programme seems
the likely origin. Anyway, I've not seen it before, so will watch it
and hope for the best.

It is the programme I expected. Watching it again I was reminded of
the interesting "stock transfer" continuity problem in the programme!

Yes, indeed, but I suppose it made for much better graphics showing
the 1992 W&C stock being carefully craned in at Waterloo, rather than
the 2009 stock we'd seen being built simply arriving on the surface at
Northumberland Park Depot. I also noticed they described the JLE
tunnels as sprayed concrete, but then showed the usual tunnel segments
(some of the stations might be sprayed concrete, however). The early
cut and cover tunnels were shown as being built under Victorian London
streets with horse-drawn traffic running on the right (obviously the
computer graphics were created in the US and therefore tended to
include US cars, etc). They also seemed to suggest that the complex
body panels of the 2009 stock were fabricated from aluminium sheets,
rather than extruded, but perhaps I'm being too picky here.

Nevertheless, overall it was better than I expected, and was made for
Channel 5 in conjunction with National Geographic, rather than just
being a US import. Over-simplified, yes, but not rubbish, and I did
learn stuff about the Paris Metro. Was it previously shown on the
Discovery Channel on Sky?