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The Beauty of Transport

The Beauty of...
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...
8 months ago
88
8 months ago
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....
The Beauty of...
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...
a year ago
64
a year ago
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...
The Beauty of...
Clean Lines and Integrated Transport (Florastrasse transport hub, Adliswil, Switzerland) The thing about Switzerland’s affordable, hyper-reliable, hyper-integrated and hyper-ubiquitous...
a year ago
62
a year ago
The thing about Switzerland’s affordable, hyper-reliable, hyper-integrated and hyper-ubiquitous public transport system is that the regard in which its phenomenal operational expertise is held can overshadow the architectural successes it also demonstrates. Even when transport...
The Beauty of...
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...
2 months ago
54
2 months ago
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...
The Beauty of...
In Search of Perfection: Plato’s Double Arrow (Rail Symbol 2, Nick Job for Network Rail, 2022) It takes some strange mixture of bravery, confidence, and the thickest of skins to take on the job...
over a year ago
37
over a year ago
It takes some strange mixture of bravery, confidence, and the thickest of skins to take on the job of redesigning a national icon. Once again, the rail industry’s “double arrow”, the symbol that has come completely to mean “railway” in Britain, has been given a facelift. Previous...
The Beauty of...
High Speed at High Speed (Tianjin West station, China) In scale and speed of construction, Tianjin West seems almost impossible – especially when viewed...
a year ago
35
a year ago
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...
The Beauty of...
R.I.P. W.C. (1930s Southern Railway toilets, Havant station, Hampshire, UK) So farewell then, Havant station’s 1930s railway toilets. It is doubtful whether many passengers...
over a year ago
32
over a year ago
So farewell then, Havant station’s 1930s railway toilets. It is doubtful whether many passengers will mourn their loss, but they are another piece of railway heritage that has slipped beyond grasp. If you care about the story of our railways, expressed through their built...
The Beauty of...
Cover Story (Workington Bus Station, Workington, Cumbria, UK) Sometimes you seek out transport architecture, at others transport architecture is thrust upon you,...
over a year ago
26
over a year ago
Sometimes you seek out transport architecture, at others transport architecture is thrust upon you, just as it was when I accidentally ended up in Workington a couple of months ago. With poor weather forecast on one of the days of a trip to the Lake District, I spent the day...
The Beauty of...
A Sense of Place (White Hart Lane Station, London, UK) You will remember that my knowledge of football can be transcribed onto the reverse of a postage...
over a year ago
26
over a year ago
You will remember that my knowledge of football can be transcribed onto the reverse of a postage stamp, possibly with room left over, and that what knowledge I do possess is thanks to my other half’s family being Portsmouth FC supporters; an emotional rollercoaster, it has to be...
The Beauty of...
My Favourite Parks Are Car Parks (Worcestershire Parkway, Worcestershire, UK) A very particular kind of hush descends as the 1253 to Worcester Shrub Hill departs. That hush is...
over a year ago
25
over a year ago
A very particular kind of hush descends as the 1253 to Worcester Shrub Hill departs. That hush is the hush of the parkway station between train services, and the station it has just departed from is Worcestershire Parkway. Though one of the best designed parkway stations, and a...
The Beauty of...
Tubular Belle (Køge Nord station, Køge, Denmark) Stuck on the E20 motorway heading for Copenhagen? Køge Nord station very much hopes you are...
over a year ago
The Beauty of...
A Fearsome Beauty (Cambridge North station, Cambridgeshire, UK) When engineering and design company Atkins presented the city of Cambridge with a sparkling gift, it...
over a year ago
22
over a year ago
When engineering and design company Atkins presented the city of Cambridge with a sparkling gift, it must have felt rather pleased. It had simultaneously provided a brand new station and answered the question of how to ensure that same station embodied the character of the local...
The Beauty of...
Silver Machine (Stoke-on-Trent Bus Station, Hanley, Staffordshire, UK) With a horrid shock of recognition, I suddenly realised what Stoke-on-Trent Bus Station reminded me...
over a year ago
21
over a year ago
With a horrid shock of recognition, I suddenly realised what Stoke-on-Trent Bus Station reminded me of. As a one-time public transport officer in a local authority I, like most others, often experienced the depressing feeling of being unable to source enough funding to keep an...
The Beauty of...
How Serifs Lost the Road War but Won the Streets It is 1961. At Benson Airfield in south Oxfordshire, a test car driver employed by the Roads...
over a year ago
21
over a year ago
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...
The Beauty of...
Riding the Steel Breeze (Port Talbot Parkway, Neath Port Talbot, UK) Some stations are born parkways, some achieve parkway status, while yet others have parkway status...
a year ago
15
a year ago
Some stations are born parkways, some achieve parkway status, while yet others have parkway status thrust upon them. Such is the explanation for an arrival at Port Talbot Parkway being such a strange experience. As passengers step out of their trains they find themselves...