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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2014 20:21:51 GMT
It's been interesting reading peoples' perception of the DLR over the years.
From your travel experience, how much do you think the DLR has changed since its opening in 1987? Most obviously the network has had substantial growth from its original 15 stations, but have you noticed a significant change in its reliability, users, etc?
I'll never forget the first time passing through Canary Wharf station as a child, I was amazed at the sights.
Do you have a favourite DLR rolling stock and station?
Lastly, do you prefer the original Island Gardens station or the current version?
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Post by rapidtransitman on Nov 17, 2014 20:29:03 GMT
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Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Nov 17, 2014 20:30:27 GMT
I never used the original stock, or the original Mudchute or Island Gardens stations. My only trip before living in London (2008) was one journey in about 1999 or 2000 where I took the first train to it's destination and back again - that turned out to be Gallions Reach (which was my closest station for about 18 months from 2010).
Now Mudchute is my closest station I have to say that the link to Greenwich and Lewisham is very useful, particularly as the foot tunnel lifts aren't especially reliable and there is no cross-river fare on the Thames Clippers so it's over £6 return to Greenwich (the same as to Woolwich or Embankment).
The two current designs of stock are pretty much identical from a passenger experience POV. The new ones are better for sightseeing due to the bigger windows, but that's about the only difference. Even as an enthusiast I don't normally care or pay attention to what shows up.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2014 20:37:42 GMT
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Post by flippyff on Nov 17, 2014 21:11:21 GMT
I was fourteen when it opened and wanted to try and be on the first public train. We had to go via Trafalgar Square to get a night bus to Poplar but late running buses meant we missed that first train. When we did get there I think we were later also issued with one of the first penalty fares as we'd mistakenly bought singles instead of returns I believe. :-(
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Post by motorman on Nov 17, 2014 22:16:36 GMT
I always enjoyed the original viaduct approach to the original Island Gardens terminus. The subsequent link south to Lewisham very essential and useful though.
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Post by rsdworker on Nov 17, 2014 22:54:05 GMT
i remember the orignal tower gateaway had two platforms - its held alot of trains there in event of dirsuption so now its single tracked means trains has go to bank or short turn at shadwell (i prefer they revert the station and connection to bank tunnels meaning if bank branch is shut and trains can't turn back which can end at underground while overground can become secondary temi
but of course the old trains with inward doors was used in bank (some trains with sliding doors started running)
nowdays - all trains are look better and more relabite - no breakdowns or delays up to few days
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Post by davidp on Nov 18, 2014 10:21:56 GMT
I lived in the North East when the DLR first opened, but used to come down to London regularly so managed have a few trips on the original stock with their inward-open doors and their toblerone style blocks hanging from the front windows showing one of the only three destinations, Tower Gateway, Island Gardens or Stratford. For someone unused to London, Stratford sounded too exotic for my tastes so these journeys were confined to the Tower Gateway to Island Gardens section including the original Mudchute station up on stilts from where I could view the wasteland around Millwall Dock that, 12 years later, would become my home.
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Post by theblackferret on Nov 18, 2014 10:48:33 GMT
I lived in the North East when the DLR first opened, but used to come down to London regularly so managed have a few trips on the original stock with their inward-open doors and their toblerone style blocks hanging from the front windows showing one of the only three destinations, Tower Gateway, Island Gardens or Stratford. For someone unused to London, Stratford sounded too exotic for my tastes so these journeys were confined to the Tower Gateway to Island Gardens section including the original Mudchute station up on stilts from where I could view the wasteland around Millwall Dock that, 12 years later, would become my home. I take my hat off to you-the first person to consider Stratford too exotic. Seeing you've been living in Docklands for a few years, did you eventually come to terms with Stratfords' iniquities?  The original Mudchute & Island Gardens stations were rather singular-now the ex London & Blackwall Railway viaduct lies unused again & is historically listed; shame Mudchute I was demolished before it had the chance for listing. Wonder if the toblerone blocks have got preserved somewhere-they were something else indeed! |
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Post by sawb on Nov 18, 2014 21:28:04 GMT
Can remember my first trip on the DLR a few days before my 5th birthday. Stratford to Canary Wharf. I never got to see the original stations at Mudchute or Island Gardens in the flesh, but have been through their replacements on several occasions, particularly during London 2012.
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Post by melikepie on Nov 18, 2014 22:07:05 GMT
I remember visiting the original terminus when I was younger, liking to visit random sites in London. It was quieter that it was now but offered nice views. I still have old memories of the park itself as well. And also going through the Greenwich Foot Tunnel before refurbishment, having an old lift.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 18, 2014 22:09:05 GMT
For someone unused to London, Stratford sounded too exotic for my tastes s I take my hat off to you-the first person to consider Stratford too exotic. Seeing you've been living in Docklands for a few years, did you eventually come to terms with Stratfords' iniquities? Exotic is not exactly a word I'd describe Stratford as  |
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Post by superteacher on Nov 18, 2014 22:53:45 GMT
The DLR has changed beyond recognition since opening. In its early years, it was very much a novelty and didn't actually serve much of a function as most of Docklands was still undeveloped. There was always a mad scramble to get the front seats! Some people would actually sit in the back seats so that they would be un the front seats after the train reversed at the terminus!
Now, it's very much a functional railway embedded into the everyday life of London, although it still draws in a fair number of tourists and visitors. In the early days, a lot of people came just for a ride without actually needing to go anywhere specific.
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Post by davidp on Nov 19, 2014 10:18:41 GMT
I take my hat off to you-the first person to consider Stratford too exotic. Seeing you've been living in Docklands for a few years, did you eventually come to terms with Stratfords' iniquities? Exotic is not exactly a word I'd describe Stratford as My dictionary defines exotic as "characteristic of a distant foreign country". No further comment please! Apart from to say that now I've got to know the area, I actually quite like Stratford. ... Some people would actually sit in the back seats so that they would be un the front seats after the train reversed at the terminus! .... Oh, so I wasn't the only one who did that. I'm far too old to do that these days of course, oh no. |
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Post by Tubeboy on Nov 19, 2014 10:37:56 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2014 11:44:29 GMT
I was at school when the DLR opened in 1987. I had to wait until the holidays in October '87 before I got to ride on it. I had never seen anything like it before. Since then, I've followed it's expansion with changes to rolling stock and extensions. I can't believe it'll soon be 30 years old! In 1989:  Original DLR: Mudchute by DH73., on Flickr  Island Gardens DLR by DH73., on Flickr In 1991:  South Quay by DH73., on Flickr In 2014:  South Quay today by DH73., on Flickr |
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Post by rincew1nd on Nov 19, 2014 12:31:39 GMT
I have a very vague memory of the early days of the DLR, though I can remember Island Gardens being up in the air rather than underground. I also seem to remember the Train Captain inserting a card into the central front dashboard (for want of a better word) to tell the train where it was going.
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Post by snoggle on Nov 19, 2014 12:38:05 GMT
Shameless plug - my DLR photos on Flickr. Includes some early shots of Island Gardens and the line through the docks plus Canary Wharf station being rebuilt. There are also shots of some later developments. |
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Post by revupminster on Nov 19, 2014 15:54:50 GMT
The DLR was built to regenerate the Millwall and the Royal Docks, but did it? Canary Wharf was the real impetus for change in the Millwall Docks and the DLR has been expanded and upgraded to cope. The Royals is still waiting mostly under-developed and with Crossrail being thrown in as the last chance for the area and also cover the abandonment of the Jubilee branch from North Greenwich. It is also significant that the extention to Dagenham Dock has gone in favour of extending the Gospel Oak line to what is mostly housing developments.
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Post by whistlekiller2000 on Nov 19, 2014 16:07:32 GMT
The DLR opened only a short while before I moved out of London so I only vaguely remember emerging on the Central Line at Stratford to see what appeared to be a knackered tram sitting at a platform one day! However its further development enabled my father to wax lyrical on the phone for ages afterwards (including to date) about the old NR lines it was projected over...... "you see son, the ***** in charge of the railways back then were all a bunch of ****ing w******* who couldn't see further than the ends of their *****." were his words of wisdom at the time. By way of mitigation and putting his comments into context he, like me, originates from Walthamstow and wasn't brought up to be too concerned with the finer side of the English Language.  Whilst his jaundiced and profanity drenched opinions do still hold some water it's ironic that had the lines remained as they were, we'd not have the benefit of the mass transit system we have now......or rather what you have now, seeing as I find the London Transport system far nicer and more interesting to view from afar! Snoggle and DavidH: Smashing pictures! I'm going to have a search for more, particularly of the dockside wastelands before the rich people moved in! |
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Post by norbitonflyer on Nov 19, 2014 16:33:04 GMT
The DLR was built to regenerate the Millwall and the Royal Docks, but did it? . Chicken and egg, I suspect. It is unlikely redevelopment of Docklands, and particularly the isle of Dogs, would have taken off at all without better links to the rest of London. That it succceeded beyond its original design parameters doesn't make it a failure. It is doubtful that, in the political environment of the 1980s, an exprensive extension of the Tube would have been sanctioned. |
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Post by theblackferret on Nov 19, 2014 16:59:14 GMT
The DLR was built to regenerate the Millwall and the Royal Docks, but did it? Canary Wharf was the real impetus for change in the Millwall Docks and the DLR has been expanded and upgraded to cope. The Royals is still waiting mostly under-developed and with Crossrail being thrown in as the last chance for the area and also cover the abandonment of the Jubilee branch from North Greenwich. It is also significant that the extention to Dagenham Dock has gone in favour of extending the Gospel Oak line to what is mostly housing developments. The DLR was built to regenerate the Millwall and the Royal Docks, but did it? . Chicken and egg, I suspect. It is unlikely redevelopment of Docklands, and particularly the isle of Dogs, would have taken off at all without better links to the rest of London. That it succceeded beyond its original design parameters doesn't make it a failure. It is doubtful that, in the political environment of the 1980s, an exprensive extension of the Tube would have been sanctioned. Anything to do with transport in London since WWII has been funded by central Government/LCC/GLC/Mayor of London. All political offices, so not surprisingly, decisions made tend to be political, too. Fact. Canary Wharf was the main driver behind the expansions of the DLR, the Jubilee into Docklands and is that behind Crossrail. My recollection is that the overall regeneration of London's Docklands was always expected to be over a number of phases, and that the DLR was bookmarked, if it worked well on phase one, to keep expanding with the rolling program. Canary Wharf came into it later and it was once that secondary attempt at financing it was successful that the transport focus shifted onto it, and getting people into it from outside Docklands. DLR has probably done better than expected in covering travelling needs across Docklands per se, which is no mean feat in itself, to be perfectly fair. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2014 18:13:56 GMT
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Post by Tubeboy on Nov 19, 2014 19:53:11 GMT
Hi Bakerloo, I have that DVD you linked. Recommended. Lots of footage from the early days. Would be a great companion to the DVD in my link.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2014 20:00:42 GMT
Hi Bakerloo, I have that DVD you linked. Recommended. Lots of footage from the early days. Would be a great companion to the DVD in my link. Thanks Tubeboy |
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Post by bicbasher on Nov 21, 2014 0:32:44 GMT
ITV Thames News report from 1987. Features the original Island Gardens station.
And....
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2014 23:09:56 GMT
ITV Thames News report from 1987. Features the original Island Gardens station. And.... Thank you, nice historic footage there. --- Anyone else love travelling through the tunnel from Bank to Shadwell? It has a somewhat similar feel to the Black Mesa Transit System in Half-Life (game). On that topic, also love the underground sections of the Stansted Airport Transit System for the same reason, very cool. |
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Post by flippyff on Nov 22, 2014 15:59:21 GMT
Can you you have 'cab rides' on the DLR? ;-) |
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Post by whistlekiller2000 on Nov 22, 2014 21:11:15 GMT
Can you you have 'cab rides' on the DLR? ;-) Absolutely not flippy! All passengers sitting in the front seats are required by royal decree to wear blindfolds.......  |
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