May 24, 2022
The
Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) finally opened today - several years late and a few
quid over budget*.
Of course, I had to try it out. But I didn’t join those who queued at first light singing Purple Train.
*Four billion pounds over. But, as Pete
points out, that’s only 20% over budget which is not unusual for a project such
as this, e.g. Wembley Stadium 200% over; 2012 Olympics 225% over.
Canary
Wharf Elizabeth Line station …
I travelled as far as Heathrow in the west; and Abbey
Wood in the east where nearly all the passengers crossed the platform and
headed straight back into town. But not me. However, having checked out Abbey Wood I can
see their point.
I live in Wanstead, on the Central Line. Before today it was 31 stops to Heathrow, taking around two hours. Now it's 18 stops, forty minutes quicker and much more comfortable, especially with suitcases.
Another plus is the Elizabeth Line Manor Park station is only a short bus ride from my house, providing an easy alternative route home if the 123-year-old Central Line is suspended. Also, if there is a tube strike the Elizabeth Line should not be affected - unless there's a rail strike.
The Elizabeth line carried 62.2 million passengers in the last quarter of 2022, one-sixth of the UK's total rail journeys during that period.
Tip: Because the platforms are so long make sure you take the best exit when disembarking in the central section, especially if it's raining -
Liverpool Street also has a Moorgate exit.
Farringdon also has a Barbican exit.
Tottenham Court road also has a Dean Street exit.
Bond Street also has Hanover Square and Davies Street exits.
Hanover Square is quite close to Oxford Circus, Davies Street is close to Bond Street Station itself.
Update:
In January 2024 I covered the rest of the Elizabeth Line as part of my Freedom Pass Wetherspoons initiative ......
The Back of Beyond and The Hope Tap - Reading
The Back of Beyond has outdoor tables by the River Kennet. It is aptly named as Reading, the western end of the Elizabeth Line, is the farthest I can travel on my Freedom Pass - 60 miles from Wanstead.
Reading's Maiwand Lion in Forbury Gardens commemorates the loss of almost 300 soldiers from the Royal Berkshire Regiment in the 1880 Battle of Maiwand in Afghanistan. Arthur Conan Doyle based Doctor Watson on the regiment's medical officer, Major A F Preston, who was injured in the battle. The lion is one of the world's largest cast iron statues. It features on Reading FC's club badge.
Reading Gaol, which closed in 2014, was where Oscar Wilde was famously imprisoned for two years in 1895 for 'having a relationship with a man'. Whilst there Wilde wrote his letter De Profundis. The execution of Charles Wooldridge whilst he was incarcerated prompted him to later write The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
On the night of February 28 2021 Banksy painted a mural on the prison wall. The typewriter on the end of the knotted bed-sheets is thought to be a reference to Wilde.
The Bear - Maidenhead
At Maidenhead Railway Station there is a statue of Sir Nicholas Winton who lived locally. It was unveiled in 2010 by MP for Maidenhead Theresa May, Outside the NatWest Bank in Maidenhead High Street is a plaque commemorating the place where Charles I saw his children for the last time before his execution in 1647.
The Moon and Spoon - Slough
Come, friendly bombs and fall on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, death!
- John Betjeman, 1937
In 2006, on the centenary of Betjeman's birth, his daughter said her father "regretted having ever written it". But by then the town's reputation as a depressing industrial wasteland had been further damaged by The Office, set in Slough by Reading-born Ricky Gervais. The American version of The Office is located on Slough Avenue, Scranton, Pennsylvania - birthplace of Joe Biden.
And they don't do themselves any favours ....
...... OK Slough, it might be a redevelopment of the old Horlicks factory, but retaining the name is hardly a selling point.
The expression comes from the fact (as some of us will remember) that if you don't closely follow the instructions on the jar you'll end up with a very lumpy malted fruit drink.
Horlicks was conceived in Chicago by English brothers James and William Horlick as a baby food. It never took off in the US but became popular in Britain as a sleep aid.
Having been born in Scunthorpe, which has it's own quota of unfair ridicule, I have some sympathy for the good people of Slough. Having said that, I couldn't find anything of interest to see in Slough - apart from the weird sculpture made entirely of spoons in The Moon and Spoon.
The Botwell Arms - Hayes (Hillingdon)
For a Wetherspoons, The Botwell Arms has quite an unusual art deco feel. But there are still some areas where there is carpeting. Every Spoons has a unique Axminster carpet, partially handmade on old fashioned looms. They have even been the subject of two books.
This pub, once a furniture shop, derives is name from the hamlet of Botwell which once stood in what is now Hayes’ town centre.
The Hawthorns High School in Hayes later became the Fountain House Hotel which is currently being extensively refurbished as the Rosemay Hotel. Let's hope they keep the plaque. Orwell said of Hayes: "one of the most godforsaken places I have ever struck".
Chadwell Heath - The Eva Hart
Really nice pub on two levels named after one of the last Titanic survivors. Eva Hart, aged seven, who survived together with her mother. Her father perished.
Eva Hart died in 1996, aged 91, one of the last survivors of the tragedy. For many years she insisted the
Titanic had broken in half, something that was widely disputed until the wreck was discovered in 1985. More about Eva on
Wikipedia. The pub was once the town’s police station, the original of which was built in 1850, on the site of the old stocks. It was replaced, in 1891–92, by the current building.
The Dairyman - Brentwood
A high street pub which is a bit of an uphill hike from Brentwood station. This is the farthest east I will go - 77 miles from The Back of Beyond in Reading, the most westerly point. Davey's Dairy, demolished in the 1960s, once stood on this site. At the rear of the building was a milk bottling plant and stables for the horses that pulled the milk floats.
The Moon and Stars - Romford
Busy high street pub with a roof terrace - which was not open (it was January).
NB: Reading is the last Elizabeth Line station to the west of London, Shenfield the last to the east. There isn't a 'Spoons' at Shenfield but I went there anyhow.
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