Yesterday was a chance to have a look around the site – mainly from a Crossrail perspective, but Network Rail are also keen to show off their efforts on the site as they close down their construction site.

Railway heritage in London can be an often confusing mix of disused lines, renamed lines and stations moving around the place, and frankly, the Farringdon-Barbican-CityThameslink bit is probably one of the most complex bits of that railway heritage around.

And in a few years time, another set of railway lines will appear on the spaghetti junction of a map – for Crossrail.

At Farringdon, the planning permission for the Thameslink upgrade was granted in 2006, but had to be revised when Crossrail was approved in 2008. This involved obvious changes to the new station entrance to ensure it would cope with the higher passenger numbers, lift shafts would need to be deeper than expected, and a lot of services that were to be upgraded would need more upgrades than planned.

So in essence, quite a bit of Crossrail construction at Farringdon has already taken place – but it’s all the hidden stuff that the public never see anyway.

Talking of hidden – the roof of the new building is interesting as it is a “brown roof” in that it will be covered in a couple of inches of soil and planted, not for the staff to enjoy but for wildlife. This one roof represents 20% of the local council’s land reclamation target, and I personally thoroughly approve of such things.

You’ll also be able to see a hint of the hidden stuff next week when an exhibition of the history and upgrade is opened in the old Pharmacy outside the tube station entrance.

An interesting curiosity is that although this is a site used by two different railways, the entire site is owned by London Underground and the Thameslink franchise, First Capital Connect basically rent capacity. However, during the recent refurbishment, it was decided that the new control room would be a joint centre for both tube and Thameslink, and space exists for Crossrail to put their staff in there as well later on.

Should make communications between the teams easier, and it now strikes me as curious that the same thing wasn’t done at the new Blackfriars Station where the two sides sit in separate rooms.

Back to Crossraill…

They have now taken over several building sites in the area, including a huge one right next to the new Farringdon Station building, where they are now starting to dig down to create reception chambers for the Tunnel Boring Machines that should arrive next March on their journey from Paddington.

If you are a tunnel boring machine (TBM), then Farringdon is actually a bit of a pain to drill through.

Remember, this was originally the Fleet river until it was turned into a sewer, so the soil here is different to most of the trip from Paddington, and TBMs prefer their soil to be consistent. Also, there is a fault line running right across the line of the tunnels and the soil on the other side is different again.

Original plans a few years ago were to avoid the use of TBMs altogether, then that was to use a special TBM at this spot – but now they will drill straight through, because it is expected that the staff using them will be sufficiently experienced by next March to deal with any problems that crop up.

Another interesting innovation is how the new buildings are being supported on the deep piles that are driven into the soil. These are double lined steel tubes filled with concrete and the intention is that the building is supported on the inner tube, and when the TBM arrives and shakes up the soil and causes expected subsidence, the outer tube will slip down without affecting the building above.

As you can’t replace the foundations of old buildings, to prevent subsidence elsewhere, they are drilling shafts into the ground then pumping concrete out sideways in a fan shape to compensate for the loss of soil underneath.

Some of these are just a hole in the ground with pipes fanning out – and some are vast structures underneath Finsbury Circus that will leave behind a concrete web that would probably look not that dissimilar to a giant fish backbone swimming in the clay above the railway tunnel.

When Crossrail arrives at Farringdon, it will continue towards Barbican and its route here takes it underneath the historic Smithfield Meat Market, which will need works underneath to stop the TBM causing subsidence.

Fortunately, there is a large set of disused railway tracks right underneath the meat market already, and they make a suitable place to drill down without causing too much interference above ground.

And obviously, a chance for us to go and take a wander through these abandoned railway lines and take photos!

They wont be abandoned forever though for when Crossrail leave the site, it will be handed back to London Underground who plan to convert the site into sidings for tube trains so that there is a more central location to keep them overnight.

Works are taking place under here right now to make it safe for staff to walk around the place, with lighting being installed as we where there. The gloom proving to be a challenge for the camera (really should have brought my floodlight with me) but it does add to the atmosphere!

Entrance portal at Barbican end - Sealed off bit goes to a modern car park that took over part of the site.

Victorian arches - the dots of light are movement sensors reflecting the light of my camera.

Modern brick work upgrades and fireproofing of the old arches

Crossrail staff installing a safe walkway and lighting

The old arches and modern inserts - and graffiti

Way off to one side away from the railway tracks are long abandoned goods yards

Although they didn’t come out in the photos, we could see the remains of the original “holes in the roof” from our perspective, or holes in the floor from the meat market’s perspective that allowed meat to be hoisted up from the railway wagons below straight into the market.

One curiosity to finish with is in a side bit of the brick arches near the Barbican end, and here was originally a rest room for the station staff squashed into a narrow gap. Long abandoned, the chimney is slowly falling down and the original iron cooker is still there, covered in rubble and muck.

As a part of the site it has no use to the builders and will probably be left untouched and maybe in a 100 years time it will still be there imperceptibly decaying in the darkness for one of my successors to take a photo of and write about.

Thanks to the staff at Network Rail, Crossrail and FCC for the site visit, even if they did mange to choose one of the hottest days ever to be wandering around in heavy boots and overalls! Not sure how the builders cope with that throughout the summer months.

The full set of photos can be seen here.

Now the Transport Museum has put on a display of the famous tube map, from its early days through the Becks innovation and onto recent ideas and more arty interpretations.

Contrary to some popular opinion, Harry Beck did not invent the idea of a schematic map, as those had been around on overland railways for some years. However, he did come up with the innovation of enlarging the central section and shrinking the gaps between stations on the suburbs.

This made it possible to print the map in a pocket sized format that didn’t need to be unfolded to be understood.

The ground floor has some of those huge pre-becks maps, and also an array of the more artistic representations from a time when the tube was pushing out into the countryside and selling its service as a way to buy an affordable country cottage and still be able to commute into London.

Of course, those early posters neglected to tell you that the field you are overlooking is itself soon to be a housing estate.

Upstairs, a collection of those early pocket maps is shown and some of the modern maps for comparison, but also a single display by Maxell Roberts.

It’s up here that you can find an updated version of The Great Bear and a few other more arty representations.

My favourite was this cartoon of The Queen demanding the Thames be but back on the tube map — you may recall that controversy. It’s a modern rendering of an old painting of Liz’s predecessor bestriding England.

You are supposed to go into the display on the ground floor then rise upwards to the more modern maps, although I did it backwards and frankly it didn’t bother me in the slightest to be contrary about it.

The exhibition is open until 28 October 2012 and is included in the cost of entry to the museum.

In a couple of weeks time there will be filming along the Thames involving a helicopter.

And it is going to fly THROUGH Tower Bridge on one of the evenings.

The official notice sayth:

• 8th June 2012 10.00 – 20.00 Battersea Rail Bridge to Wappingness at various locations.
• 9th June 2012 10.00 – 22.00 Battersea Rail Bridge to Wappingness including a flight through Tower Bridge (Late evening).

Contingency

• 10th June 2012 06.00 – 20.00 Battersea Rail Bridge to Wappingness at various locations. If required.

I think it is fair to suggest that an awful lot of people will be in the area on that Saturday evening looking out for a helicopter doing something we are unlikely to see again.

I gather this is filming for a James Bond movie, although that is not confirmed. Then again, it does sound very bond-like.

Although rather rare, it’s not the first time that something that flown through Tower Bridge.

In April 1968, to mark the 50th anniversary of the formation of the RAF, Flt Lt Alan Pollock flew his Hawker Hunter FGA.9 jet fighter through the bridge in part in protest against the government and because no one was marking the anniversary anyway.

Rather nicer, I think, was an idea to use flying boats on the Thames with an “airport” next to the Tower of London. It was tried out, but evidently wasn’t developed further.

But this Pathe News film shows the flying boat as it approaches the Bridge then lands on the Thames. I would love to see that recreated.

After a few years of work, the Epping-Ongar Railway will reopen to the public with a weekend of events, including trips on their recently acquired steam trains.

The Epping-Ongar Railway was originally built as part of a mainline service back in 1865, but taken over by London Underground in 1949 and added onto the end of the recently extended Central Line. However, the service, which was never fully upgraded to LU standards had to run mainly as a shuttle service and traffic never took off in the way that had been expected.

Generally, the railway expanded into rural areas and houses built up around them, but that did not seem to catch on here. The line was closed at the end of September 1994.

You can see it on the tube map here from 1970.

A restoration of services by a private company took place between 1998 and 2007, which later sold the line to the current heritage railway.

And so to next week, when services – in steam – resume on the line once more, and will run most weekends thereafter.

To start the service, the railway will hold a Special Gala Weekend, with tickets at £17 per adult (£8.50 per kid, £44.50 for a family, etc) and that includes:

• Heritage bus ride from Epping Tube Station, through Epping High Street to North Weald station.
• A return ride on a steam train between Ongar and North Weald
• Ride on the diesel shuttle train from North Weald through Epping Forest (towards Epping), before arriving back at North Weald

You can travel on each heritage transport more than once, though at peak times a “fare usage policy” applies.

Buy tickets here.

To whet your appetite, I took a visit to the North Weald station last year when they had an open day to mark the restoration of the station building.

If visiting, then a couple of other local attractions which I might suggest are worth looking out for are the North Weald Airfield Museum which is a short walk from North Weald station.

Another which is on my list of “places I really want to visit” is slightly harder to get to, depending on whether you can take the steam train to Ongar and then go off for a wander and catch a different one back (which I think you can based on the 2nd paragraph). If so, then Greensted Church is a decent walk away, but as it is the world’s oldest surviving wooden church, it sounds like it is worth it.

Update: There is a vintage bus route that will go right past the church on the day – included in the price for the event.

Some other attractions highlighted by the EOR Railway. Well, it’s not often that a Londoner leaves the M25, so you might as well make the best of it!

Of course, look out for Steam Trains running along the Metropolitan Line next year as part of its 150th anniversary.

At a mere £95 for a 30 minute trip with a solitary glass of champagne this exclusive opportunity was warmly reviewed by London’s leading social butterfly, Diamond Geezer recently.

However, those seeking a more exclusive opportunity to enjoy the Olympics without the hassles of actually travelling to the venue would be well advised to seek out this exciting new “exclusive pop-up experience” that will be sited amongst the industrial warehouses and gravel stores of the Lea Peninsula.

Excitingly set next to the river Thames, this river-front venue gives you views of the outside of the Dome’s Olympic Arena across the river, and via your luxury binoculars, you can admire the outside of the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

As the company behind this exciting venture says, their luxury venue is set to become the “playground of London’s international clientele” and will be offering breakfast, lunch, dinner and entertainment come rain or shine.

Easily accessible from East India DLR station, guests can walk around the housing estate, up the flyover road and down the side streets to pass London’s last lingering remnants of industrial warehouses before arriving at Trinity Buoy for lunches that start at a mere £225 per person.

For that extra special treat, VIPs can arrive by speed boat to the exclusive pier and then separate themselves from the rest of the fabulous guests by booking the VIP suite, which is a bargain at just £950 per person.

So for that exclusive Olympic experience without going to the actual Olympics, why not spend time surrounded by the best of East London’s industrial warehouses.

It’s the real London experience.

My selection of the London venues is below:

Friday

5:30 pm – 9pm	Banknotes and Bullion
	The Bank of England Museum will offer its visitors a rare opportunity for an evening visit as part of the nationwide Museums at Night campaign.
6pm – 9pm	Lancing the Surgeons (Holborn)
	Talks, activities and archival displays will look at the life of Thomas Wakley, surgeon, Lancet founder and editor and medical crusader.
6pm – 9pm	Apsley House (Picadilly)
	Enjoy highlight talks about the fascinating history and collection as you explore the rooms in the atmospheric half light of the evening. (Cost: £8.20)
6pm – 9pm	Love and Lust (Bloomsbury)
	Follow clues related to seduction in the animal world, look at the work of amorous artists and find romance in the ancient world.
7pm – 9pm	Ghostly guides at Valence House
	Let the spirits of Valence House past guide you around this ancient building, as we go on the hunt for their stories with psychic ghost hunter. (Cost: £15)
7pm – 10pm	Maps Unleashed (Covent Garden)
	Explore the London Transport museum after hours with a glass of wine and enjoy the opening evening of this brand new exhibition – Mind the Map. (Cost: £8)
7pm – 9pm	The Body Adorned (Forest Hill)
	Visit our current exhibition The Body Adorned out of hours, along with talks and demonstrations.
7pm – 9pm	Twilight Tour of Osterley Park House
	An exclusive chance to view such rooms as Osterley’s extraordinary Long Gallery and the opulent Tapestry Room (Cost: £10)
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm	When the shutters shut (Richmond-upon-Thames)
	A special after-hours event as part of ‘Museums at Night’, discover what happens when the visitors have gone home. (Cost: £15)
8:15 pm – 9pm	Candle-lit tours of Dr Johnson’s House (Fleet Street)
	A rare opportunity to see many of the rooms in Johnson’s historic house lit by candlelight in these special curator-led twilight tours (Cost: £12)

Saturday

5pm – 8:30 pm	A Night in Space (Greenwich)
	Evening at the Royal Observatory with planetarium shows, workshops and talks.
6pm – 9pm	Apsley House (Picadilly)
	Enjoy highlight talks about the fascinating history and collection as you explore the rooms in the atmospheric half light of the evening. (Cost: £8.20)
6:30 pm – 11:30 pm	Candle-lit tours of a steam pumping station (Brentford)
	Experience the majesty of Kew Bridge Steam Museum’s giant steam pumping engines working away by candle-light. (Cost: £10)
7pm	The Secrets of Southside House (Wimbledon)
	A talk/guided tour in which you can discover the story of the rescue and restoration of this historic family home (Cost: £15)

Viruses and bacteria can send a person to bed in a ball of misery, but it is The Cough that does the real damage.

No level of discomfort compares to the pounding headache that comes from repeatedly coughing all day – and most of the night. The chest pains that build up and the stomach cramps that come from repeated coughing.

Yes, The Cough has returned, just after I picked up some pills to deal with a lingering but quite mild infection deep in the throat.

Every time I pick up an illness, I wait in dread for the illness to pass, for that is when The Cough will reach out and turn discomfort into pain. A few days of pain transforms into a lingering mild cough that is barely noticeable, but takes weeks to vanish entirely.

The Cough started as a recurring phenomena when I was a teenager, and if recovering from a cold, and coughing, my dad would bang on the bedroom door and demand that I stop coughing. As if I were doing it just to annoy the parents.

A couple of decades later and I still haven’t found a way of switching off The Cough at will.

The Cough is back, and making me feel worse than when I was ill.

When I eventually die, I fully expect that my corpse will squeeze out a final cough. Hopefully during the funeral.

The string of little black pods – when seen from a distance – ties the white pylons together and creates the visual link across the river that had been lacking with just the cables themselves, and the constant rotative movement of the pods is slightly hypnotic to watch.

Sadly, for all the elegance that has gone into the pylons, the terminus buildings look rather disappointing. The plastic appearance of the external walls reminds me more of a cheap greenhouse from the 1970s than a modern transport service.

They really are quite a let down considering the vast budget that has been poured into the development.

One improvement on earlier potential plans though is the signage on the cable car pods themselves. The preview model had a big roundel right in the middle of the main window, which would have been most irksome had it been left there in the live version.

Fortunately they have been removed, ensuring unobstructed views – over the shoulders of the people sitting opposite you – or you can twist around to look out behind you.

The terminus building on the north side looks less finished than its southern counterpart, but both look as if they are within a couple of weeks of completion.

The necessary protections are being added to the bottom of the pylon that sits on land – in the form of high fences to stop naughty people climbing the pylons and some landscaping.

Another area that is being prepared for the Cable Cars though is the nearby DLR station at Royal Victoria. The cable car may be officially designed to link two commercial venues – Excel and the Dome – but they presumably expect people to travel to use the service and not the local venues.

A new entrance is being built on the Western platforms and the old DLR sign has been torn down for the new roundels they seem to prefer. The platform signs have already been updated to point to the new shiny thing.

It’s a guess, but I would suspect that the Cable Car will open to the public in little over a month once final testing is signed off and the terminus buildings are finished.

Some more photos here.

This is the conundrum that resonates throughout a display of some of of Leonardo da Vinci’s studies of the human body that has just opened at The Queen’s Gallery.

That the display is even possible is itself a remarkable story.

Leonardo spent a substantial period of his life dissecting animals and for a while, human bodies and drawing up his researches, probably for a Magnum opus that he hoped to publish, but he died before the work could be completed.

Left to an assistant who struggled to make anything of them, they were sold in 1590 to an Italian Sculptor who is thought to be the person who catalogued them and bound them into a series of books. One of these books made its way to the UK, and turned up somehow in the Royal Collection at Windsor by 1690.

There the book sat, largely unnoticed until 1773 when the surgeon William Hunter studied them and urged their publication. He then also died. It wasn’t until around 1900 that the book was reproduced in Folio form and their significance became more widely understood.

The book was broken up in the 1970s, but this was so that each page could be protected from deterioration.

That brings us to 2012, and many of the drawings have gone on public display for the first time.

The gallery has been divided into zones which follow Leonardo’s researches, starting with animals, on to humans, and finally back to animals when he lost his patron shortly before he himself died.

This is a display that can either be looked at as a collection of 500 year old drawings by an accomplished artist, or as scientific records by a now respected anatomist.

His studies of bone structures and muscles were inspired initially as he felt they would assist in his paintings of the human form. He later found this was not really working, but he was by now sufficiently interested in the topic to carry on regardless.

An early decision he took was to abandon the idea of proportionality in the human form when he realised that the arms are rarely an exact percentage length compared to the head etc. His most famous drawing, the Vitruvian Man pre-dates that decision. The original is in the Accademia art gallery in Venice, but they have reproduced it here, because frankly, you just have to.

One mystery is when the drawings were carried out. Methods for preserving organs did not exist at the time, so either he drew rough notes while carrying out bloody dissections and then redrew them later, or drew them entirely from memory. Which it was is not known.

He also made a number of assumptions about the human body – especially females, of which he probably had fewer bodies to study. Most bodies were executed criminals, and hence tended to be male.

For example, he understood in detail how the womb looks in a Cow, so assumed that was the same in a human – leading to a drawing of a human female torso coming complete with cow reproductive organs.

Another drawing of a human baby is accurate, but again, put inside a womb that owes too much to a cow dissection – shown up by the representation of four placenta, which is correct for cows, but not humans.

Then again, if someone calls a woman a cow, maybe they aren’t being nasty and rude, but making allusions to 16th Century science?

Probably not.

My visit included a tour by the curator as part of a press event, so I didn’t try the audio guide, but it is likely to be necessary if you want to enjoy the exhibition as the description cards are fairly small and you’ll miss the history of his research otherwise.

The exhibition is open until October 2012 and entry is £9.25 per adult.

I picked up a copy of the book that accompanies the exhibition and is detailed with lots of high quality reproductions of his original drawings. There is also an iPad app that offers translations of his texts, and if you can read Medieval Italian, it can reverse his famous mirror writing.