Full Width [alt+shift+f] Shortcuts [alt+shift+k] TRY SIMPLE MODE
Sign Up [alt+shift+s] Log In [alt+shift+l]
43
It is 1961. At Benson Airfield in south Oxfordshire, a test car driver employed by the Roads Research Laboratory is revving the engine of his Morris Oxford and preparing to release the handbrake. With his car (unbalanced atop due to the addition of a large road sign attached to its roof) aiming towards a small […]
over a year ago

Improve your reading experience

Logged in users get linked directly to articles resulting in a better reading experience. Please login for free, it takes less than 1 minute.

More from The Beauty of Transport

A Change of Course – Honing Network Rail’s Wayfinding Guidance

Finding your way around a Network Rail station is becoming another step easier. The publication of the most recent version of Network Rail’s Wayfinding design manual represents the latest step in the company’s quest to design the best possible signage system for stations. Given the ongoing moves towards re-integrating large parts of the railway network […]

2 weeks ago 19 votes
Never(?) Decreasing Circles (Railtrack/Network Rail major station logos, UK (continued))

One of the most enduringly popular articles on this website (at least in terms of clicks and re-posts) is a very early one, from 2013. It concerns the graphic identities created for Railtrack’s major stations by Citigate Lloyd Northover. These ones… Firstly – have I really been writing this website on and off for that […]

8 months ago 99 votes
The Inbetweeners (Ebbsfleet International and Stratford International, UK)

Well then. At the end of the last article I promised to write about the stations on HS2 phase 1 assuming that I hadn’t been too enraged by the political fallout from hopefully soon-to-be-ex-prime minister Rishi Sunak’s cancellation of phase 2 of HS2. Reader, I have been enraged. I have had to have a very […]

a year ago 133 votes
High Speed at High Speed (Tianjin West station, China)

In scale and speed of construction, Tianjin West seems almost impossible – especially when viewed from Britain. It is, therefore, the perfect embodiment of China’s high speed rail network, on which the station can be found. It is also, I am sorry to say, the antithesis of the development of high speed rail in the […]

a year ago 64 votes
Chemical Attraction (Hackney Wick station, London, UK)

It is hard to overstate the impact Hackney Wick station makes on a visitor, as well as the unexpectedness of it doing so. Reopened in 2018 after a complete rebuild, it is one of the most photogenic small stations on the British rail network. Yet somehow, it seems to have slipped somewhat under the radar; […]

a year ago 105 votes

More in architecture

Reading List 08/09/2025

Microplastics in the air, the Blanchard lathe, the report on the OceanGate sub disaster, a plan to visit a black hole, and more.

10 hours ago 2 votes
Tales of an Urban Critic: A Search for the Soul of Cities and Self

Sam Kaplan Hall recounts his wide-ranging life in a new memoir that contains more than a few great personal stories.

2 days ago 4 votes
Archinect City Guide: Unlock Manhattan with Julia Gamolina of Madame Architect

Manhattan: So much to do, so little time! To make New York City's most densely populated borough more accessible for out-of-towners and residents alike, we've asked Julia Gamolina to host today's Archinect City Guide. Beyond her role as the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning Madame Architect platform, she is also an Associate Principal at Ennead Architects' NYC studio and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Pratt Institute. In this City Guide, Gamolina reveals her favorite Manhattan spots for Eastern European treats, tasty cocktails, and the best parks for picnics and walks.  Are you a Manhattan local with your own go-to spots? Or have a city you think we should cover next? Share your thoughts, suggestions, and favorite places in the comments.

3 days ago 8 votes
New York City—the Metropolis Built on Water

A talk with photographer Stanley Greenberg about his new book documenting the vast infrastructure of the city’s water system.

4 days ago 6 votes
Mineral Hurricane

I recently had the pleasure of attending a press preview of the new documentary Architecton, directed by Victor Kossakovsky and released last week by A24. The screening I attended was held inside a Cedars-Sinai medical imaging center in west Los Angeles; seeing this particular film, with its intensely granular focus on the geological underpinnings of … Continue reading "Mineral Hurricane"

5 days ago 9 votes