22 August (Part 2) - Full speed ahead and dead stop
I
said I didn’t feel inclined to get out of bed early this morning to watch the
first train use the new Platform 2 at Abbey Wood but with the front window
slightly ajar I was awoken by the sound of a train going by around 5 a.m.
I assumed it was Southeastern’s preliminary test train so I
threw on some clothes and rushed down to the station which is only a few minutes
walk away. I didn’t even know when the first train was due.
I was lucky, when I got to the station the first train headlights could just about be
seen leaving Plumstead.
The station looks very different and makes Abbey Wood look more important than
it probably is at the moment. There are seats, maybe not as many as one might
have hoped for, and all but one of the departure boards appeared to be working. On
a more technical note, the mid-platform despatch monitors have been brought
into use which means that four coach trains will no longer have you running half way to Plumstead.
A more complete
set of first train pictures is available.
Another forecast I got wrong
was a week ago when referring to the Wilton Road
regeneration. I said that I “understood” that the last untouched shop would have
its front ripped out on Wednesday 17th. That was something of an understatement; I
was in the shop on the Monday when the contractor told the owner when work was due to commence and heard it all.
Nothing happened.
There may have been an excuse on the Wednesday because someone crashed into the
safety barrier on the Dartford Bridge which closed it for most of the day causing
massive congestion at Blackwall too. The contractor comes from North of the
river. Thanks Teresa O’Neill,
how many millions of journeys have you made more difficult?
However no one has ever explained why the contractor failed to show up on
Wednesday 17th and the gift shop owner whose shop front was due for demolition
has not heard a thing since. No work has been done anywhere else in Wilton Road either.
The Food Hall has been anonymous for more than a week.
If the job was a private contract the shop owners could raise Merry Hell but
it’s all arranged through Bexley Council - the Greenwich side is done - so no
one can find out anything.