Yesterday I had occasion to travel to Heathrow and back to Paddington. It
may only be 15 minutes but unfortunately that is far too long to look if you
are looking out of the window! I would like to propose the route between
Ealing and Paddington as the most ugly of any approach to London. I accept
that most of the routes have their less than salubrious sections, but the
continuous mess of old sidings, decaying buildings, graffiti, rubbish and
concrete underpasses combined with an already boring landscape makes this
route the clear winner. Yes?

Max B.

I accept that most of the routes have their less than salubrious sections
but the continuous mess of old sidings, decaying buildings, graffiti,
rubbish and concrete underpasses combined with an already boring
landscape makes this route the clear winner. Yes?

I got a Eurostar from Waterloo once, made me glad to see the back of
London after it's journey through skankland, perhaps thats why CTRL is
underground from West Kent, don't scare the tourists

Brighton Main line isn't the nicest, but Orpington - London Bridge via
Hither Green etc. isn't too bad.

MaxB wrote:

Yesterday I had occasion to travel to Heathrow and back to Paddington. It
may only be 15 minutes but unfortunately that is far too long to look if you
are looking out of the window! I would like to propose the route between
Ealing and Paddington as the most ugly of any approach to London. I accept
that most of the routes have their less than salubrious sections, but the
continuous mess of old sidings, decaying buildings, graffiti, rubbish and
concrete underpasses combined with an already boring landscape makes this
route the clear winner. Yes?

Few large cities withstand such scrutiny - something is usually on the wrong
side of rail tracks.

M.

marcb wrote:
Yesterday I had occasion to travel to Heathrow and back to Paddington. It
may only be 15 minutes but unfortunately that is far too long to look if you
are looking out of the window! I would like to propose the route between
Ealing and Paddington as the most ugly of any approach to London. I accept
that most of the routes have their less than salubrious sections, but the
continuous mess of old sidings, decaying buildings, graffiti, rubbish and
concrete underpasses combined with an already boring landscape makes this
route the clear winner. Yes?

Few large cities withstand such scrutiny - something is usually on the wrong
side of rail tracks.

The London approaches on the ECML[*] and WCML aren't too bad. The MML
is slightly worse, but still far superior to the GWML or any of the SR
termini.

This reflects North London's innate superiority, naturally...
[*] especially at the moment, when you get the excitement of the CTRL
works and the new Arsenal stadium to look at...

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

Yesterday I had occasion to travel to Heathrow and back to Paddington. It may only be 15 minutes
but unfortunately that is far too long to look if you are looking out of the window! I would like
to propose the route between Ealing and Paddington as the most ugly of any approach to London. I
accept that most of the routes have their less than salubrious sections, but the continuous mess
of old sidings, decaying buildings, graffiti, rubbish and concrete underpasses combined with an
already boring landscape makes this route the clear winner. Yes?

Few districts are arranged in such a way that their best aspects point towards
the railway tracks.

On Thu, 2 Mar 2006 13:12:16 -0000, TKD wrote:

Few districts are arranged in such a way that their best aspects point towards
the railway tracks.

Stansted Express wasn't a bad ride.

--
jhk

John B wrote:

The London approaches on the ECML[*] and WCML aren't too bad. The MML
is slightly worse, but still far superior to the GWML or any of the SR
termini.

This reflects North London's innate superiority, naturally...

Trus, as a north Londoner myself. I was thinking also of places where I've been
recently such as Berlin and Dresden - bombsites by comparison (actually there is a
nice river crossing in Dresden).

M.

"Jarle H Knudsen" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 2 Mar 2006 13:12:16 -0000, TKD wrote:

Few districts are arranged in such a way that
their best aspects point towards the railway tracks.

Stansted Express wasn't a bad ride.

Really? I commuted for a while between Hertford East and Lower Edmonton and
found the route unremittingly awful.

Stansted Express wasn't a bad ride.

My experience of the Stansted Express is it's like a dirty inner-london
bone rattler, nothing compared to Southern Gatwick trains or the
Heathrow Connect let alone Gatwick Express or (presumably) Heathrow
Express.

And that's just the trains.

Paul Weaver wrote:
Stansted Express wasn't a bad ride.

My experience of the Stansted Express is it's like a dirty inner-london
bone rattler, nothing compared to Southern Gatwick trains or the
Heathrow Connect let alone Gatwick Express or (presumably) Heathrow
Express.

And that's just the trains.

Never been on a 4CIG to Brighton, then? More minging than the new
Liberal leader, IMO. Equally, the inside of a StanEx 317 is nicer than
the inside of a Thameslink 319. Doubtless when the 317s are replaced
and the Electrostars are 25 years old, the story will be different.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org