• History of British railway freight control from telegraphs to TOPS (NewcomenSoc) • Why some bike shares work & others don’t (BBC) • Graham F’s video pick: Zürich snowplow tram cab ride (ZürichTramVideos) • Locomotive …
Continue readingCategory: History
Friday Reads – 19 February 2021
• Air pollution in US subway systems stuns researchers (Guardian) • Reopening disused King’s Cross Gasworks tunnel for ECML boost (RailEngineer) • Fancy driving an HS1 train? Javelin train simulator launched (IanVisits) • Uncovering history …
Continue readingMilan Part 2: Tram City to Metropolitana City
The post-war tramway shrinks but holds The war years brought severe destruction upon the city, as tracks and thousands of tram cars were destroyed in the bombings. When the city was finally liberated the 25th …
Continue readingThe Empires Return – London and New York City Part 2
The rise of London and New York City as major global cities can be traced in part to investment in high quality transport networks, as we described in Part 1, which helped enable each city …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 21 December 2020
• Road air pollution major factor in London girl’s death rules coroner (Guardian) • Illuminated River project to light up more Thames bridges (NewCivilEng) • Review of Christian Wolmar’s Cathedrals of Steam (OnLondon) • History …
Continue readingMilan: Medieval City to Metropolitana City
As with many other modern cities, the history of Milan, the economic capital of Italy, is tightly tied with the development of its far-reaching and increasingly sophisticated rail networks. And as in many early rail …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 4 December 2020
• A deeper dig into Aldwych (HiddenLondonHangout) • The rise and fall of Broad Street Station (ALondonInheritance) • Climate change hits Chicago cyclist (StreetsBlog) • Toronto Police embarrass themselves with cyclist speed traps – streets …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 30 November 2020
• Restoring a heritage London Underground roundel totem (IanVisits) • Alexandra Palace’s never opened Tube station – video (JagoHazzard) • A conversation with London’s Walking & Cycling Commissioner (StreetsBlog) • Clermont-Ferrand’s one-off monorail tram now …
Continue readingCovenants, Easements & Wayleaves: The Hidden Urban Interfaces Which Shape London Part 1
The Underground isn’t just defined by its infrastructure, but by its interfaces too. We look at the hidden world of asset interface management, and how it affects, and is affected by, urban railway management, and …
Continue readingNew Tracks in the History of Railways Conference, 17-18 September 2020
We’d like to highlight the New Tracks in the History of Railways (NTIHOR) Conference to readers. It is a two-day Twitter conference, open to all, looking at new research and study in the field of …
Continue readingSlavery and the Railways, Part 1: Acknowledging the Past
Britain’s railway exists as a legacy of slavery. In this short series we look at this under-explored aspect of railway history, and talk to Network Rail about how we acknowledge that past and build a better present.
Continue readingLR Answers: The Pre-War ‘Second Works’ Programme
In LR Answers, we take an occasional look at topics that have come up in comments on other articles and are worthy of a bit more attention on their own. Here we look at some …
Continue readingMonday’s Friday Reads – 6 July 2020
• DfT to tone down warnings not to travel by train or bus (RailFuture) • Landmark devolution of transport powers & funding to South Yorkshire (RailBusinessDaily) • Impact on Cycle Hire in London due to …
Continue readingA Tale of Two Systems – London and New York City
Letters from America – Part 1 A potted history of transport in London and New York City (NYLON) Having been born and raised just outside of New York City, but spending most of my professional …
Continue readingFriday Reads – 12 June 2020
• Riding transit hasn’t caused Covid infection in Japan or France (CityLab) • Infographics on the economic benefits of walking & cycling (TfL) • Hidden London’s Down Street station Vlogcast (LondonTransportMuseum) • Walking Tube maps …
Continue reading