Chesham Station

Chesham Station

The subject of this piece has a connection to the previous one about the first Country House in the Moderne style, High and Over 3 miles away in Amersham-on-the-Hill and Sir John Betjeman’s Metroland as they both featured in that famous documentary. Chesham is at the end of the title sequence for this is where the “Met” train comes to a halt at the end of the opening sequence.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/05/high-and-over-amersham.html

If you're not familiar with the county of Buckinghamshire, it's something of a surprise to arrive at a small country town and find signs for the London Underground - the instantly recognisable roundel, a circle with a line running through it. At Chesham's charming little station you can board a tube train and travel 25 miles (40.2km) to Aldgate in the City of London via places like Finchley Road, Northwood Hills, Wembley Park and Pinner - the heart of Metroland.The Chesham branch of the Metropolitan Line is as far removed from city life as is possible to get on London Underground.


Chesham Town Clock in the Market Square


Chesham High Street

Chesham is a market town in the Chiltern Hills, Buckinghamshire, England. It is located 11 miles south-east of the county town of Aylesbury. Chesham is also a civil parish designated a town council within Chiltern district. It is situated in the Chess Valley and surrounded by farmland, as well as being bordered on one side by Amersham and Chesham Bois. The earliest records of Chesham as a settlement are from the second half of the tenth century although there is archaeological evidence of people in the area from around 8000 BC. The town is known for its four Bs, usually quoted as:- boots, beer, brushes and Baptists, . Chesham's prosperity grew significantly during the 18th and 19th centuries with the development of manufacturing industry. Chesham Building Society, the oldest such society in the world opened for business in 1845.




Along the platform

It is probably true to say that there is no Tube Station on London Underground which its community more closely identifies with for the people of Chesham raised the funds to have the station built into the centre of town. It means that this small Buckinghamshire town straddling the valley of the River Chess which gives it its name is directly connected to the West End and City of London; indeed it has its own direct fast trains, the Chesham Flyers, which run “fast” into the City. Today Chesham has a population of 20,000 and won’t grow any further as it is surrounded by hills which are “Green Belted”, where development is prohibited to maintain green space around London. Indeed, as all the roads into Chesham are steeply sloping there are times in icy winter when the almost 4 miles of the “Chesham Branch” have been its lifeline to the outside world.


Chesham Shuttle formed of 4 carriages of Metroplitan A Stock

The line to Chesham was for a while the terminus of the Metropolitan Railway. When the Met pushed out from Harrow and Rickmansworth in the 1880s, Chesham was the destination. There were proposals to link on from Chesham to the main London Euston to Birmingham line around the Tring area. Indeed, some land north of Chesham station was acquired for this purpose. I wonder if Watkin the then Chairman of the Met had a wry smile to himself when the people of Chesham actually raised funds to locate the station in a more central location as opposed to the proposed station in the Waterside area. If Watkin already had plans to extend beyond Chesham, he must have been delighted to receive the funds from the good folk of Chesham to extend the railway to central Chesham. The line from Chalfont Road (now Chalfont & Latimer) was single track, it being double up to Chalfont. When the main line was diverted through Amersham to Aylesbury, the line to Chesham became a branch line.


London Underground's Metropolitan Line today Click for a larger image

Chesham lies at the end of a branch of the Metropolitan Line, which opened in 1889. Together with nearby Amersham, it's one of London Underground's furthest outposts. Work began on extending what was then known as the St John's Wood Line beyond central London during the latter years of the 19th century. By the mid-1880s the railway had become known as the Metropolitan, running 17½ miles (28km) from Baker Street. The plan was to continue the line all the way to Aylesbury, but financial problems restricted its extension at that time to Chesham. Chesham is in Travelcard Zone 9 (previously zone D). It is situated 25 miles (40.2km) North West of Charing Cross, making it the furthest station out from Central London anywhere on the London Underground network (using Charing Cross as a central point). It is also both the northernmost and westernmost London Underground Station. Chesham replaced Ongar as the farthest station when the latter closed in 1994.


The Ticket Hall

Most of the land for the new sections of railway was acquired from the Duke of Bedford and Lord Chesham, but the land for the final half mile (800m) of the Chesham branch was presented to the railway by local residents to enable a station to be built in the centre of the town instead of on the outskirts, as was originally planned. In May 1889 the people of Chesham were invited to inspect the branch and afterwards entertained to a banquet. Seven weeks later, the line from Rickmansworth to Chesham was opened. For the next three years, until the main line from Chalfont and Latimer Station to Amersham and Aylesbury was opened in 1892, Chesham was the Metropolitan's most northerly terminus.


Chesham Signal Box

There were many plans to link the Town of Chesham with the railway network, including a branch by the LNWR off the main London to Birmingham line from Tring, but all these come to nothing. So it was left Edward Watkin, Chairman of the Metropolitan Railway to deliver the rail connection which the town needed. It also built a branch to Chesham in 1889 an important destination in its own right as well as aiming at an eventual link to the LNWR at Tring. Because of the plans for extension the station and the presence of the goods yard, Chesham used to have no fewer than three tracks (though only two platforms) and all three tracks remained well into the seventies (long after the yard was closed) as rather useless sidings. This three track layout may be clearly seen (in the early seventies) at the end of the opening credits of Metroland. Today there is only one platform and one track, the empty space that used to be platform one has now become a floral display.


Metropolitan Railway tank loco at Chesham

There is no station starter signal at Chesham. A set of co-acting signals are at the start of the Chesham branch. One theory [as to their installation] is that they replaced the single line token and this means only one train at a time is allowed on the Branch. The branch has no intermediate stations and has the longest distance between adjacent stations on the network at 3.89 miles (6.26 km). Chesham station is the least used station on the Metropolitan Line at 429,000 passengers per annum. It is a popular starting station for those participating in the Tube Challenge. Chesham is in Travelcard Zone 9 (previously zone D). It is situated 25 miles (40.2 km) north west of Charing Cross, making it the furthest station out from Central London anywhere on the London.


The Shuttle on the Branch

Chesham takes an inordinate pride in the “Chesham Flyers.” There are two 8-car through trains to Aldgate (during the morning rush hour) and two returning through trains in the evening rush hour but for most of the day a 4-car train operates as a shuttle service to and from Chalfont & Latimer station, on the main line to Amersham and Aylesbury. In February 2009, following a consultation the previous year, Transport for London announced that Chesham would have a regular through service to central London from 2011.

When steam was replaced on the Branch the then new A60 stock formed the rolling stock for the line (although other electric stock made an appearance in the early days of the electric service). A four car unit was used to form the shuttle to and from Chalfont. A new bay platform was built at Chesham to allow the shuttle train to be at Chesham when a through 8 car service was operating in the rush hour. This bay platform has been removed which means that if the through trains are late, the shuttle has to wait at Chalfont for the line to clear.


Leaving Chesham

Today the approach to Chesham is up from the High Street along an unprepossessing Station Road. The station buildings are small with a bench in the sheltered ticket hall and toilets and a bicycle store for commuters. London Underground’s obsession with “Capital” projects rather than staffing can be garnered from this short single platform boasting no less than 11 CCTV cameras. Whilst the station staffing hours are limited the shuttle drivers know many of the locals and have a definite bond with the line and the town. Indeed the friendly driver that day offered me a cab ride down to Chalfont and Latimer which unfortunately I couldn’t take up.

There are many relics of days gone by looking around the station. There are the derelict sandbox buffers on the abandoned bay siding, the water tank recalling when the steam trains filled up here and for a station without signals a very splendid “signal box.” But the eye is drawn down the track to the throat out of the station under a bridge and disappearing around the curve and this holds the secret of Chesham, a charming small town which is good to live in and grow up in connected to the “Big Smoke” by this unique, special, historic and still essential branch line.

The Elephants of Old London Town

Elephant Parade

First time visitors to London may feel it is inhabited by herds of elephants as they get crushed at rush hour on the Tube or trampled underfoot trying to go shopping in Oxford Street. However they can now rub their eyes in disbelief as a colourful herd of 260 life-sized model baby elephants has appeared across London to raise money for charity. Artists including Sacha Jafri and Sam Hacking have decorated each of the 1.5m (4.9ft)-high fibreglass models, which are being displayed in public places from May. Then on 30 June, the charity Elephant Family will auction the models, and hope to raise about £2m to protect India's elephants. The animals will be placed at landmarks including Buckingham Palace.

They will also appear in areas such as Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square and on the South Bank. Jewellery designer Sabine Roemer dressed her elephant with a 700-carat emerald on its forehead. She said it was "amazing" to see her completed work in Trafalgar Square. "We started talking about it a year ago," she said. "I wanted to have a very traditional Indian-looking elephant and to make a jewellery piece."

Artist Sacha Jafri stood next to his gold elephant emblazoned with hearts. "I had the birth of my little baby during all of this so it has these heart motifs," he said. The artworks include three anonymously-decorated 'election elephants' with boxing gloves, representing the Liberal Democrats, Labour and the Conservatives. Elephant parades have already been held in Antwerp and Rotterdam, and after London the elephants will move to New York and Milan. The parade follows the format of Cow Parade, which began in Zurich in 1998 to increase tourism and raise money for charity.










Trafalgar Square

An Elephant Family spokeswoman said: "The elephants will appear overnight to cheer London up and raise some vital funds." Here is their site and explanation of Elephant Parade;


Chinatown

“Elephant Parade is a conservation campaign that shines a multi-coloured spotlight on the urgent crisis faced by the endangered Asian elephant. Brought to you by www.elephantfamily.org , the event sees over 250 brightly painted life-size elephants located over central London this summer.

Each decorated by a different artist or celebrity, the elephants brighten and beautify the city, enhancing every park, street corner and building they grace. Running from May to July 2010, this is London’s biggest outdoor art event on record. With an estimated audience of 25 million, we aim to raise £2 million for the Asian elephant and benefit 20 UK conservation charities.

All of our elephants are for sale by auction and every bid you place is a bid for habitat. Mini elephants are available at Selfridges, 80 Regent St, 36 Carnaby St and Greenwich Central Market or at the elephant parade online shop. Happy elephant spotting!”








Leicester Square

So on this Friday evening these 260 Elephants provoke a great smile from passers by as I stroll through Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Hanover Square and up to Selfridges. There in the Basement there is the Elephant Parade shop selling miniature versions of the Elephants I had just seen. There they have a full sized Elephant called “Heaven’s Haathi” (Haathi is the Hindi / Punjabi word for Elephant) and a full range of miniature elephants including my personal favourite “Bobby Elephant.”


Only 3175 miles to Accra, Ghana

London has always been a city of many cultures and many faiths, with a population from all over the world. Throughout history it has been an important centre for the settlement of immigrants and refugees. Today, over 200 languages are spoken in London. As I wandered through the centre by the wonderful iconic Trafalgar Square with its pedestrianised north side and into Leicester Square and Chinatown the diversity which makes this city so special and such an iconic World City was obvious. In the park in Leicester Square the capitals of the Commonwealth are commemorated in plaques and over all of it beams the statue of England’s greatest playwright, William Shakespeare, whose statue boasts the apt epigram; “There is no darkness but ignorance.”


Great Titchfield Street


Hanover Square

London is a special place and a great World City not because of its place in history or its great monuments, architecture, museum’s and art galleries but because of the special qualities and dynamic it gets from the ethnic diversity of its people living in a free and tolerant society. My regular Blogistas will have denoted a tincture of unhappiness on my part about the recent elections but what is impressive is the way the well oiled wheels of the British State move and how power and authority are transferred; No meetings of “Strong Men” in back rooms take place, no militias on the streets, no protests rather the Civil Service prepare tea and briefing notes for the new ministers. This tolerant and well ordered inclusive society is treasured no more than in this dynamic city whose inhabitants appreciate its interest and variety.
A bit like that remarkable and hugely social animal the Elephant who has been so ill served in the last century by the attentions of mankind. Hopefully the proceeds of Elephant Parade will do something to redress that balance whilst adding greatly to the gaiety of the urban streetscape.




“Heaven’s Haathi”

“No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford." Since Dr Samuel Johnson uttered these words to James Boswell in 1777 opinions have differed on whether being tired of London is just that for obviously there is plenty of life elsewhere but there is no doubt that this is still an iconic World City attracting hordes of visitors and herds of Elephants in the run up to hosting the Olympic Games in 2012.




Bobby Elephant

For a (busy) day seeing this diverse city whilst avoiding the usual tourist traps see;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/09/day-in-london.html



“There is no darkness but ignorance.”

I never voted Tory before ……

New ConDem Cabinet - 23 Millionaires, 23 White, 0 Black, 1 Asian, 26 Men, 4 Women. 70% went to Oxbridge.... Can they really afford a 5% pay cut – the rest of us can’t!

ConDemNation

Farewell to Gordon Brown a decent man never seduced by the trappings of office. We now have the novel ConDemNation headed by a LibCon coalition of opportunism – time will tell how this will fare but at the next election the LibDems will cease to exist – people will never vote Liberal to get Conservative again. The struggle for a Decent Fairer Britain continues and the impetus for this will never come from those with a sense of entitlement born of inherited wealth or position or who live off the labour of others. Never will, never has. La Luta Continua!

Here, in a DC Blog exclusive, is the first exclusive picture of the New Lib Con Pact Cabinet featuring;



Stockbroker’s son David Cameron late of Eton and The Bullingdon Club, Oxford.

Joanna Lumley, Minister for Toothy Grins and skewering little men.

Nick Clegg, Banker’s son, former Young Conservative and aide to Sir. Leon Brittain as European Commissioner. His wife, Miriam González Durántez, is the daughter of a Spanish Senator and was an aide to Chris Patten in Brussels.

Labour MP Stephen Pound summed up the happy LibCon marriage of convenience best;

Lib Dems entering government with the Tories will be

"like vegetarians who've got jobs at McDonald's - they'll be chewed up and spat out."

Oxford Rambles

Ashmolean Museum

Just 18 Miles from our modest hovel lies the city of the "Dreaming Spires", the historic University City of Oxford. The City is famous the world over for its University and place in history. For over 800 years, it has been a home to royalty and scholars, and since the 9th century an established town, although people are known to have lived in the area for thousands of years. So, last Saturday suffering from post election blues and with a meeting in Oxford we headed over for a ramble amongst Academiae Oxoniensia with a visit to the fascinating Museum of Science, a ramble through the lively covered market (an antidote to clone town British High Streets) and a browse and some judicious purchases in Blackwell’s specialist music shop. Then to cap it all over to Jericho for Dinner with friends in the ever reliable Bistro Blanc, the Brasserie chain named after the two Michelin Star French Chef, Raymond Blanc who describes it thus;





“Oxford was my first love, close to the Manoir in a town that I now call home. Two houses in the Jericho area of the city formed the base for the building of what was then called Petit Blanc. Not a classical Brasserie in the true sense of the word, it is split into two main rooms and a small private dining room. This gives it an intimate and bubbly atmosphere. The first room has light from three sides, bathing diners throughout the day whilst the back room has a view on my little garden. This Garden Room is available for private hire and can accommodate up to 110 guests. The small Salon Prive holds about 12 people and it pleases me to see it often used for family celebrations, the noise spilling out into the main restaurant. Most Sundays I have lunch here, chez moi.”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/12/brasserie-blanc.html

I enjoyed an excellent feastie @ Bistro Blanc where everything was just right. To start I had a Leek & potato soup followed by grilled Ocean Perch with prawn potatoes and rosemary butter. All this was then capped by a Kirsch Savarin with poached red fruits and crème fraiche and washed down with an excellent glass of Domaine de la Provequiere VDP Sauvignon Blanc.



This is the “Lunch with wine” menu which is available for £14.95 for three courses and a glass of wine not just at lunchtime but (as for us) in the early evening from 5.30 to 7.30. At this price for this standard of cooking and surroundings it is a rather attractive deal, n’est pas?


Fishmonger in the Covered Market

Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world and lays claim to nine centuries of continuous existence. As an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research, Oxford attracts students and scholars from across the globe, with almost a quarter of the students from overseas. More than 130 nationalities are represented among a student population of over 18,000. Oxford is a collegiate university, with 39 self-governing colleges related to the University in a type of federal system. There are also seven Permanent Private Halls, founded by different Christian denominations. Thirty colleges and all halls admit students for both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Seven other colleges are for graduates only; one has Fellows only, and one specializes in part-time and continuing education. Here is how to tour Oxford in a day whilst avoiding the usual tourist traps on DC’s famous ROT* (* Reduced Oxford Tour)

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/day-in-oxford.html


Sheldonian Theatre

The colleges function more like halls of residence than educational institutions in their own right. Students’ social lives revolve around the colleges in which they are enrolled, but teaching is often organised university-wide. The practical result is a city-wide campus that requires one to watch out for student bikers whizzing by on their way to lectures or classes at different colleges. Also, there seems to be a certain cachet to having the oldest and squeakiest bike possible, and bicycle helmets are unheard of.


The Tower of Magdalen College where at dawn on the 1st May the Choiristers ascend to the top and sing Matins to welcome the summer.

With so much learning going on Oxford contains many homes to the Muses or Museums to give them their more familiar title. There is the Pitts River Museum, The Museum of Oxford, The Museum of the History of Science, The Bates Collection of Musical Instruments, The Christchurch Picture Gallery and The Oxford Museum of Natural History. Oxford's museums and collections are world renowned. They provide an important resource for scholars around the world, and welcome visits from members of the public. More than a million people visit the University’s museums and collections every year. For me from all this abundance of riches one of my favourite places to visit is what has been the somewhat forbidding and eccentric Ashmolean Museum. So we did again today for tea before heading to the original building in High Street beside the Sheldonian Theatre .



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/11/oxfords-ashmolean-museum.html



On this Saturday there was a graduation (or conferring in Oxford Speak) at the Sheldonian and in the Oxford tradition the gown draped students walk (process, in Oxford Speak) from their College with their tutors to receive their degrees after which they can wear the mortar board hats which denote they are graduates. The graduation ceremonies are from each college so they tend to be small scale with the students and families and friends dressed up to the nines for this happy occasion. Oxford is hugely competitive to get into and there is a considerable sense of achievement on these occasions, a contrast to Britain’s worst University in Wolverhampton.


Off to Conferring


Back from Conferring

Here are some shots and reflections on Oxford in the busy run up to Xmas where the streets are more lively than normal with entertainers and evangelists!

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/12/xmas-is-coming.html



The proposition of setting a mathematical thriller in Oxford is interesting and has some previous form. A mathematician and Divine of Christchurch College Oxford, Charles Dodgson published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865, under the pen-name Dodgson had first used some nine years earlier -- Lewis Carroll. The texts of Lewis Carroll’s works are littered with mathematics and probability even if Alice gets some of it wrong!



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/05/oxford-murders.html

On the way back after our early dinner at Bistro Blanc we stopped off at the wonderful Notley Abbey near Thame where the actors Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh spent their happiest years. It still entices with its wonderful languorous and secluded setting surrounded by branches and pools of the River Thame which first enticed monks to build their abbey here in the 12th Century. Vivien & Larry first saw the Abbey in 1943.



It was overgrown and in desperate need of restoration. Larry instantly fell in love with it, especially since he found out that it had been endowed by Henry V. Vivien was sceptical and considered it hopeless. Much of the home could not be viewed from inside because ceilings were caving, floors rotting, and pipes were broken. Nevertheless, the Olivier’s purchased it in February 1945 and immediately began work on it. Vivien, too, soon fell in love with the Abbey. They put all their savings into repairing the Abbey. They focused on the large hall, study, 3 reception rooms, and bedrooms. With the help of decorators Sybil Colfax and John Fowler, Vivien put her personal touch in each room of Notley. Regency stripes were used and large pieces of furniture and artwork were chosen.






Notley Abbey

"I will have everything that I want at Notley – as well as my husband” Vivien Leigh once said.

"Of all the houses I've lived in over the years, Notley is my favourite. It was absolutely enchanting, and it enchanted me. At Notley I had an affair with the past. For me it had mesmeric power; I could easily drown in its atmosphere. I could not leave it alone, I was a child lost in its history. Perhaps I loved it too much, if that is possible." - Laurence Olivier in Confessions of an Actor




Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh at Notley Abbey

Everybody who was anybody in the world of Stage and Screen in the 1950s made their way to Notley where the Oliviers were famed for their hospitality.


The Oxford made Mini in cake in the Covered Market

Home tired yet refreshed. Oxford still casts its spell and seems a unique place in this world. A busy town, a wealthy town whose house prices match London, a working town where the tradition of motor car manufacture pioneered by Morris Garages (MG) is kept alive at the Mini Plant at Cowley. But it is a City with a different demographic, where you can wander through the world’s biggest university bookshop, wander among its 39 Colleges and its Halls with associated libraries, laboratories and playing fields. It is an International City with students, staff, researchers and tourists from across the globe. A cultured city where you can go to six museums or at least 10 classical concerts on any given day.


Situated in Cornmarket is the oldest building in Oxford, dating from 1040. The tower of St Michael at the Northgate is Saxon in origin.

But for all that it is a quintessentially English City with at its heart a Saxon Tower over a thousand years old and where one of its best known writers was a J.R. Tolkien who was a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University. The Anglo-Saxons were the people who ruled England for 600 years, forming the basis of its culture, language and borders and who gave it its name.




Black Tulip at the Ashmolean

The writer Matthew Arnold summed up Oxford’s special sense of place best;

Humid the air! leafless, yet soft as spring,
The tender purple spray on copse and briers!
And that sweet city with her dreaming spires,
She needs not June for beauty's heightening

- Matthew Arnold


All Souls College