A reminder to those interested that our next monthly meeting of 2025 is on Tuesday 13h May at the Crosse Keys pub in the City of London at 7.00 p.m. A reminder we now advertise …
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The Evolution, then Devolution, of Pittsburgh’s Streetcar Network
Only a handful of North American cities have kept their pre-war streetcar networks. Why was Pittsburgh one of them? A city native explains in this guest post. The Roots Pittsburgh is a city whose location …
Continue readingLR Update March 2025 – Interested in Joining Us?
The following is a public service announcement from London Reconnections: During the pandemic London Reconnections basically ran on a skeleton staff basis. But we have slowly rebuilt our capacity to produce long form content on …
Continue readingEnglish Settlement: Devolving Powers to Enable Intermodal Fare Integration: Part 2
“The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed” science fiction author William Gibson famously wrote. This is definitely the case with public transport in the UK. Whilst London’s intermodal fare zones and payment …
Continue readingCrossrail: 4tph to Terminal 5?
We were slightly surprised by a fairly recent article in the Evening Standard suggesting that Andy Lord, TfL Commissioner for Transport, wants to at least double the number of Crossrail trains to Heathrow Terminal 5. …
Continue readingRailway Interiors – Next Generation Fleets Part 2
In The Lost Art of Passenger Comfort & Good Design – Railway Interiors Part 1, we looked at individual components and functionalities of train interiors – from seats, layout, information displays, and storage spaces, down …
Continue readingCrossrail Numbers Rise Again
In November 2024 the Office of Road and Rail (ORR) published its annual count of passenger numbers at National Rail stations. These figures seem to be often treated as a one-day wonder but detailed analysis …
Continue readingChristmas Quiz 2024 Final Score and Winners
Here are the marks for the top scoring contestants in this years Christmas Quiz: Initials or Name Marks out of 57 (+ one possible bonus point) MH 53 djal26 53 JW 53 PGB 52 EP …
Continue readingChristmas Quiz 2024 Answers
Here are the answers. We had an average number of entries but we never know if that is because these are the people that attempted the quiz or that most people who sent in answers …
Continue readingLet’s Get Metaphysical – Patron Saints of Railways & other Transport Modes
Who watches over us from the Heavens when we travel? We take a non-denominational look at the Transport Spirit World. It is now time to look at some divine transport intervention, delving into the beatified …
Continue readingThe 2024 Christmas Collaborative Quiz
Here is a quiz that is a bit different. For anyone looking for our usual Christmas Quiz, it can be found here. The above seasonal message is composed of letters from the logos of past …
Continue readingThe 2024 London Reconnections Christmas Quiz
It’s that time of year and so here is the 2024 London Reconnections Christmas Quiz. 2024 was significant for your quizmaster as it was his first full year of retirement and, also, an increasingly debilitating …
Continue readingThe Shenfield Electrification Scheme: Background
A perennial and fairly meaningless question that is often asked is ‘what are the origins of Crossrail?’ It inevitably depends on how far you want to go back in time but one contender could be …
Continue readingThe Curious Case of Platform 14 at Paddington
If you go to Paddington main line station and follow the signs to platform 14 you eventually end up at short curved platform located almost at the far end of the station. All of Paddington’s …
Continue readingLiz Line Level-Boarding at Old Oak Common?
For some years, a known issue with the station at Old Oak Common currently being built has been that the trains on the Elizabeth line will call, or terminate, there yet there would be no …
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