please empty your brain below
Actually I would have loved 31 days of reports from the DLR. Maybe for it's 21st birthday?

Darren | 01.09.07 - 11:11 a.m. | #

I was thinking about doing a 25th anniversary DLR special instead, but I suspect I may have a different theme in August 2012...

diamond geezer | Homepage | 01.09.07 - 11:17 a.m. | #

I love the DLR myself. Had you seen on Going Underground that there's a Facebook book for people who like to sit up front and pretend to drive?

Autolycus | Homepage | 01.09.07 - 11:41 a.m. | #

There's a bridge at West India Quay if you want to walk.

Such a shame that its birthday will always be overshadowed by That Woman. I know which one I think has done more good.

ian | Homepage | 01.09.07 - 11:58 a.m. | #

Oooooh DG.

Nice one, Mister.

Yes, and you live 5 mins from a DLR station.

And you still (?) live near that Metronet success story, Bow Road.

Keep up the good work.

Gimmerugga | 01.09.07 - 12:04 p.m. | #

I was on the very first DLR train journey in public service, at around 5 in the morning!.

But I could have sworn it started at Poplar (where the depot is) and went on to Island Gardens from there, not from Tower Gateway. I could have course be wrong, but it is quite remarkable how very very much the Isle of Dogs has changed in the 20 years hence. (And, all in all, how relatively little regeneration there has been, a few specific projects like excel apart, since the Beckton extension opened).

Although, as a Dagenham native, I find the notion of a station called "Dagenham Vale" on one of the proposed extensions...just a bit preposterous

Venichka | 01.09.07 - 4:06 p.m. | #

Perversely it isn't, or at least wasn't, Canary Wharf (for Canary Wharf) as Herons Quay is/was more convenient for the underground station and is/was advertised as such.

The 200m distance between Canary Wharf and West India Quay will become even shorter when they extend the platforms southwards at the latter station as part of the 3-car project.

I love it too and have been fascinated in seeing it develop from its humble beginnings. I would have loved 31 days of your blogs on it.

Pedantic of Purley | 01.09.07 - 5:00 p.m. | #

It does not seem 20 years ago that I took a journey from TowerGateway to Island Farm Gardens old station, (the present one is at a lower level.
Then how I looked forward to the Bank extension, and riding in the front seat through the deep level tunnel and up and out into the open.
The extension to King George V seems very popular as it serves the London City Airport, but I used to like the Silver Link line to North Woolwich from Richmond, which now terminates at Sratford.The North Woolwich station being replaced by King Geoge V.
Metro Line 14 in Paris is a driverless system, running underground, with no train operator or guard on board.

John

John | Homepage | 02.09.07 - 8:22 a.m. | #

Mudchute was my local. After the italian rails started failing around the country, the volume of north-bound traffic from south of the river increased dramatically. I had to wait for at least 2 trains to pass before I was at the front of the platform and could squeeze onto the train. Most of the travellers got off at Heron Quays to join the jubilee. Other than that, fond memories of the DLR. It's a shame that the Underground isn't Overground, as the views are wonderful.

flashgordonnz | 02.09.07 - 12:51 p.m. | #

Line 14 on the Paris underground is fairly recent but there has been a driver -less Metro line with great roof top views in Lille, Northern France since the 70's - pre Eurostar - so the thrill of sitting up front to "drive" is not new!

Elaine | 02.09.07 - 9:52 p.m. | #

Cross Harbour was my local. Back in the late 80s when it opened I lived in the tenement flats next to the pub. I remember many exciting late night waits for the bus replacement service - I think the trains only ran as far as Poplar after 9pm or something.

Things that I miss from the early days:

1. When did they change the names of the guard-cum-drivers from the poetic 'Train Captains' to the god-awful 'Customer Service Representatives'

2. The fact that on early runs the speed wasn't regulated very well - just of sudden speeds-ups and slow-downs and passengers holding their hands up in the air a la roller-coasters.

3. The way that the trains used to get stuck on dodgy junctions. There's that complex junction near Westferry/Poplar that the trains quite often seem to get stranded in. On more than one occasion they had to send in another train to shunt it off the power dead-spot.

Happy days.

Chris | 02.09.07 - 11:02 p.m. | #

I remember going on daytrips with my dad and sister down to Greenwich, then we'd walk through the foot tunnel and ride the DLR to Bank and back. Just because it was new y'know

I also remember that junction between Westferry and Poplar, often the train wouldn't have the speed to jump the gap between the 3rd rails. I always thought it was great when they brought out a big bit of 2x4 timber to lever the train forward .

Mark | 03.09.07 - 3:06 p.m. | #

Unlike the Underground, which I loved as a child but put up with as an adult, the DLR is still a source of some wonderment to me - its just quite a cool concept and what it does it does very well. Oh - and its very ace indeed at night - quite a light show, it reminds you that the city is exciting.

garax | 03.09.07 - 6:28 p.m. | #

I live 5 minutes from not one but two DLR stations (top that!) and appreciate them even more when there's a tube strike on...the DLR never seems to be affected.

Happy 20th birthday to the DLR, here's to another 20 years of giving people the opportunity to pretend they're driving a train.

s | 05.09.07 - 5:22 p.m. | #

When I moved to London in the early nineties, I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Well, the coolest public transport thing ever.

If only it had went anywhere interesting, I may not have fled back north of the border.

Mr H | Homepage | 14.09.07 - 3:45 p.m. | #











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