Archive for the ‘Trains’ Category
Antwerp Pre-metro
The usual assumption about the Antwerp Pre-metro within the exploring community is that the ‘pre’ represents the fact it hasn’t opened yet. Not correct. The Pre-metro is actually a properly dug and operating metro system, which is just not running metro stock yet. During the IDM weekend, we followed Patch, Site and Jess down into the live network for a look around. Read the rest of this entry »
Charleroi Pre-metro
July 2010
Charleroi has 6km of disused by completed metro line, incorporating 4 stations and connecting to the existing metro. Don’t get too excited however, this isn’t a veiny network of tunnels under the city like Antwerp’s premetro, nor is it a line genuinely under construction. It’s simply a railway that was built in the 1980s, connected to the metro lines and unfeasibly, never opened. Read the rest of this entry »
Budapest Metro – Line 4
October 2011
Line 4 of the Budapest Metro has been under construction for over 5 years now, but consistent delays mean that the opening is still not scheduled until 2014. The train manufacturer has apparently failed to produce the break system in line with the instructions, and as such, there are now 10 stations under various states of construction waiting to proceed. Read the rest of this entry »
Oslo T-Bane
August 2011
John climbed from the graveyard onto the trackside, as the Number 2 sped past towards Østerås. Gary and I followed, and we ran down towards the brightly lit tunnel portal kicking ballast and stumbling across semi-sunk sleepers.
That Parisien Loop
March 2011
With the thrill of Molitor being the presiding memory from our Paris adventure, the desire to tap the keyboard over our night in the 14th arrondissement was nulled perhaps. London was reminded what it was missing in the few days proceeding our return and it seemed like business as usual with visitors such as Steve Duncan, Brick Man and Urban Fox arriving at the Brad:pad War-room to partake , other adventures fading into the memory. Read the rest of this entry »
Cut and Cover #4 – Kings Cross
April 2011
The pursuit of the ‘LU’ continues. Kings Cross was one of the first stations I believe to have been visited by this generation of explorers, but this was before my attentions turned to mass transit – by the time I got involved, the old access had been secured. Read the rest of this entry »
Deep Level #5 – Down St Station
February 2011
When news filtered quickly that a glitch had been identified at Down St station, 5 of us made our way down quickly to inspect. Read the rest of this entry »
Porte Molitor
March 2011
Metro Chien sat patiently while Maitre-Chien chatted with Marc, disbelieving everything he was being told. “You came down the tunnels? Pas possible!” Claire Elise translated although I don’t think any of us believed that 5 minutes of scattergun French could boil down to a single sentence. Myself, Statler, Gary and Patch sat in the tunnels, backs to the wall, confused at everything that was going on. Read the rest of this entry »
Deep Level #6 – Bull and Bush
March 2011
Probably the rawest of experiences on the underground one can undertake, a tunnel run in zero clearance. Gary, Neb and myself met with Otter, who’d taken the run before on a trip with Siologen back in 2009, in those days when we all knew a lot less about the system and how it operates. A few have been back in the last couple of years, and credit is due to all who have done this – it’s definitely a mental exercise rather than a physical one.
Deep Level #4 – South Kentish Town
February 2011
So far this evening we’d played hide and seek with both blue lights and track workers. A curtain twitcher is known to reside in an adjacent property to the access, and has called the police on ocassions. (Robbing the Cash Converters? Don’t make me laugh!) Read the rest of this entry »