"ONscotland" wrote in message
ups.com...
Last week I bought a Travelcard and a little camera and went to North
Woolwich.

The line from Canning Town to North Woolwich feels "forgotten",
especially around Silvertown, where the sense of decay is strenghened
by the deep pools of water and broken rails where the second track used
to be.

Silvertown itself lies in the shadow of the Tate & Lyle sugar factory,
itself a bit run down, and other warehouses and delapidated buildings
hold each other up beside the single track. A few hundred metres away
are the works taking place to extend the DLR to London City Airport.

North Woolwich itself is a pleasant enough little station, with a
lovely building which is now a small railway musuem.

But the overall feeling is one of other-worldliness - totally unlike
any other line in London, this line seems to be just passing the time
to closure.

I can't seem to find out what will happen to this section of track when
the DLR opens? I assume it will be closed as you can see the new DLR
section from the train.


Well it's almost certain that that the DLR will take over the line from
Canning Town to Stratford.
The rest of the line from Canning Town to North Woolwich is likely to be
closed.
With the alternatively being the new DLR extension from Canning Town to King
George which runs quite close to the exisiting NLL for much of the way.
I think they (as in successive governments and local authorities) have been
quietly waiting to close down this section of the NLL.
It serves of no strategic importance anymore, there are alternatives (like
the DLR extension) and the number of people using it right now are scant.

However, the whole area is ripe for regeneration. Some of which is already
past planning stage. Just take a trip down there and you'll
see vast areas of riverside land ripe for new homes and offices/warehouses.
It already started with furlong Homes starting their development.
The DLR extension itself will also breathe some life into the area. The area
itself is well connected. Woolwich Ferry over to the south of London,
North and South Circular nearby, M25 and M11 just minutes away. City Airport
is so close. you are minutes from Canary Wharf and not far from The City.

All in all a lot of positives. So if I were the planners, I would keep the
NLL going so when the regeneration does come around they
don't need to replan things and build "new" railways and trams when they
already have a system in place.

but of course it doens't work like that ;-)
A.