Archive for the ‘Trains’ Category
Deep Level #3 – Northern City Line
February 2011
Sitting in an almost pitch black tunnel stripped of rails and sleepers, the only light we can see is from some tunnel lights barely visible through a doorway a hundred or so metres up the line. Any rustling, kicking of ballast or movement is met with a curt and whispered “shutthefuckup!” We couldn’t sit there forever, we certainly couldn’t wait until the end of the tube service.
Glitches
January 2011
A series of glitches allows the infrastructure of Paris to be accessed through various portals. Along with our ever generous host Marc, I joined Brad and L’Ottoire for some Parisien place hacking, with Dsankt, Mrs Dsankt and Olivier joining us at times across the weekend too. I use the term coined by Brad as I felt that at times we were not exploring as such; the places we were accessing had been previously ‘hacked*’ and we were enjoying the fruits of the hard work of others. On the contrary, at times we immersed ourselves in the unknown and pushed for the new, when Paris’ delights are well known to many.
*To program (a computer [a place]) for pleasure or compulsively; especially, to try to defeat the security systems and gain unauthorized access to a computer [place]. Read the rest of this entry »
Playing on the Railways
December 2010
Upon finishing some Reading recces, I suggest to Gary that as we were at loose ends, we should maybe go play on the railways? The networks of rail across the country offer a lot of potential points of interest, from laid up trains, boneyards, disused tunnels and old stations in cuttings, where better to get stuck in than dicking around on some local tracks with a camera?
Target Cut and Cover #3 – The Met Line Three.
December 2010
A certain unease always sets in when down on London’s underground train lines. Attemping to access the very same set of tracks a week previously had seen us facing a train coming towards us, well after service. Although we we have always been aware of the risks associated with this sort of activity, the unpredictable London Underground network of tubes and cut and cover never lose that ability to unnerve.
Cut and Cover Tunnel
Read the rest of this entry »
Cut and Cover #1 – Mark Lane
April 2010
With the London Underground having been neglected by so many for so long, the ever prolific Siologen’s excellent tales of hitting up the LU began to surface around March 2010. The community began to sit up and take notice of the accessibility of these tunnels and stations, and as such, knowledge about Mark Lane station began to trickle out and around, as if it was the only one out there to see.
Creeping.
Read the rest of this entry »
Cut and Cover #2 – Lords
We hit Lords. As service ended on the Saturday night we found ourselves on the tracks just close to the abandoned station. This was unlike the other stations that I’ve visited, in that we didn’t enter into the station, we had to walk on the tracks to it. Thankfully not too far, but a new experience nonetheless. It gets the blood pumping, knowing a diesel works train could steam up behind you forcing a hasty walk into a jog or a run for sanctity.
‘Union Street’ – August 2010
‘Union St’ was an underground tram station constructed with the cut and cover techniques pioneered during the building of the District and Circle Lines. Union St served the now defunct Aldwych line, with a combination of electric and battery powered trains. The station was opened by King Edward in 1908 and closed just 31 years later; with the advent of the war it was decided to close the station and turn it into one of the many shelters that served during the blitz.*
Deep Level #1 – City Road
Covered in soot and tube dust I emerged elated from City Road tube station, my companion Danny following me out into the cool and quiet London night. The past two hours had been a nervy affair, our first deep level tube line and abandoned station. The site was scoped out a few days prior, the night we returned we were fully prepared and were soon in the tunnels beneath.
