On Mar 1, 1:29*am, Jamie Thompson wrote:
On 1 Mar, 01:05, MIG wrote:





And a nightmarish interchange, presumably.

Not at all. *It's a simple stairs-and-corridor link between the two
island platforms, and there are lifts too (step-free according to the
Tube map).

I must have misunderstood. *I was interpreting the plan as reinstating
some kind of platforms on the main lines, which I thought were the
other side of a depot from the current stations.

There isn't a connection from the main lines to the existing stations
south of Watford or north of Chalk Farm.

At Queens Park, the lines are all close and parallel, although a
bridge is involved. *There are un (barely?) used platforms on the main
lines already.

Indeed, I am quite curious as to why you believe the interchange would
be so nightmarish. A quick look at some satellite imagery shows it to
be quite matter of course (hopefully, this works!):http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=...id=10580254048...

The depot is quite some way to the east, and not too great a concern
to this proposal. Admittedly, the platforms already exist at Queens
park, but that shouldn't make too great a obstacle to reinstating the
platforms at Willesden should the benefits justified it.-

Not too far by the looks of it, but I think that all the existing
stairs and entrances are at the far end of the existing stations, so
to create new connections near the main tracks would need a lot of
building work and disruption to services.

At Queens Park the platforms and bridge are already there and woefully
unused. A no-brainer to provide a useful connection from tomorrow, it
seems to me.

On 1 Mar, 01:42, MIG wrote:
The depot is quite some way to the east, and not too great a concern
to this proposal. Admittedly, the platforms already exist at Queens
park, but that shouldn't make too great a obstacle to reinstating the
platforms at Willesden should the benefits justified it.-

Not too far by the looks of it, but I think that all the existing
stairs and entrances are at the far end of the existing stations, so
to create new connections near the main tracks would need a lot of
building work and disruption to services.

At Queens Park the platforms and bridge are already there and woefully
unused. A no-brainer to provide a useful connection from tomorrow, it
seems to me.

The other aspects I've so far neglected to mention are that if
platforms on the fast lines were provided as well, the station would
be able to offer terminating options for Virgin far closer to London
(and with the aforementioned better connections than H&W), should
Euston be blocked. Another thing to consider is that the platforms at
Queens Park have no option for platform loops, whilst there is ample
room for these at Willesden. I have a strong suspicion that you would
have to have some non-stopping services from the outer surburbans as
the trains would simply be too overloaded for pickup at Willesden, and
there would thus be no point blocking the lines and reducing capacity
unnecessarily. But I digress, the loops are a whole other subject
entirely, and I suspect I've derailed this poor fellow's thread quite
enough with my ramblings.

In article ,
(Tom Anderson) wrote:

/me just been shaken by an earthquake. In Bedfordshire. Shocking.

But in London I felt nothing! I was however in a car when it was
supposed to have happened, we were a bit perplexed when suddenly
at a quarter past one we started to hear reports of this tremor on
the
radio.

I also didn't notice it, but i was quite drunk and eating scotch
eggs at the time.

Cue marketing opportunity for Scotch egg manufacturers in the world's
earthquake zones!

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
Tom Anderson wrote:
On Tue, 26 Feb 2008, Mizter T wrote:

On 27 Feb, 01:05, Paul Weaver wrote:

/me just been shaken by an earthquake. In Bedfordshire. Shocking.

But in London I felt nothing! I was however in a car when it was
supposed to have happened, we were a bit perplexed when suddenly at a
quarter past one we started to hear reports of this tremor on the
radio.

I also didn't notice it, but i was quite drunk and eating scotch eggs at
the time.

A likely story ... it was actually you then !

Nick (definitely felt the earth move)
--
Serendipity: http://www.leverton.org/blosxom (last update 17th February 2008)
"The Internet, a sort of ersatz counterfeit of real life"
-- Janet Street-Porter, BBC2, 19th March 1996

On Wed, 27 Feb 2008 01:54:35 -0800 (PST), wrote:

I'd really like to have some way of having my oyster card (or ticket
if you're a season ticket holder) flagged to hold the barrier open for
a few seconds more - five seconds would be all it would take. I know
this _could_ be abused but there's enough regular cyclists who are
using these barriers every day (I see the same 5 or six on my train
every morning) and we're recognised by at least some of the staff as
regular cyclists so it could be something like getting a form and then
getting one of the barrier guards to sign that you are a regular
cyclist and then getting some sort of flag put on your ticket (of
course, this all presupposes that the gates are even capable of having
an extended opening - I know they can stay open with the right ticket
but I don't know about a longer opening.)

I don't think that's how it works. It's not done with a timer; there
are sensors at various points which detect when you've passed through,
and close the gates after you. If you put your ticket through but
don't walk through, they just stay open for ages until you do.

They can't cope with someone carrying a large object though, because
they can't tell the difference between that and someone trying to
tailgate.

"asdf" wrote in message
...

I don't think that's how it works. It's not done with a timer; there
are sensors at various points which detect when you've passed through,
and close the gates after you. If you put your ticket through but
don't walk through, they just stay open for ages until you do.

They can't cope with someone carrying a large object though, because
they can't tell the difference between that and someone trying to
tailgate.

I've been through the gates with a large suitcase, and their hasn't been a
problem in many cases.

On the other hand, I have gone through with a small backpack and it snapped
closed on me.

On Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:05:20 +0000, asdf
wrote:

They can't cope with someone carrying a large object though, because
they can't tell the difference between that and someone trying to
tailgate.

A bicycle won't really fit through the width of the gates. Perhaps it
might be worth leaving your bicycle folded (as indeed I believe you're
meant to) and only unfolding on the other side?

But yes, as a regular user of Euston in the morning peak, the barriers
do slow down exit substantially, though when it gets silly the staff
often just open the lot. The situation could perhaps be improved by
having one side of the barriers for in and one side for out, and being
careful in which platforms the trains are diagrammed into to avoid in
or out happening at both sides at once.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Sun, 02 Mar 2008 22:28:10 GMT, wrote:

I've been through the gates with a large suitcase, and their hasn't been a
problem in many cases.

On the other hand, I have gone through with a small backpack and it snapped
closed on me.

In a quiet station (where I wouldn't hold anyone up by so doing), I've
been known to do coffee down, wallet out, ticket into barrier, ticket
out of barrier, back into wallet, wallet into pocket, coffee up,
through barrier. I don't know how long they'll stay open for, but
it's surprisingly long (10 seconds plus). Perhaps your rucksack was
too high up to activate the sensor?

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On Feb 27, 10:24*pm, "Zen83237" wrote:

There is always empty platfoms at that time so I could never understand why
they didn't put one of the arrivals into theplatformsused by Virgin.

To be fair to them, they often do do exactly that. But yes, there is
a problem, though with the width of the exit I'm not sure what the
solution is, and it is only a problem for a very short amount of time.

Neil

On Feb 28, 1:55*pm, John B wrote:

There's not much difference between "board train at Bushey, get off it
atEuston, fight your way onto Northern Line, get to City" and "board
train at Bushey, get off it at Baker Street or Embankment, fight your
way onto Met/District Line, get to City", except that the Met and
District are less crowded than the Northern.

The Met is *vastly* less crowded. It is entirely possible, if you're
willing to let one or two trains go, to get on an Aldgate-bound Met
Line train at Euston Square in the height of the peak and get a seat;
I've done it regularly. If forced to stand, it's also nice not to
have to duck your head to fit in the loading gauge.

Neil