The View From the Train

Inspired by one of my recent reads, The View From the Train, by Patrick Keiller, and accompanied by a couple of moments of good fortune, I managed to take some rather pleasing photos from the train windown last week as it sped me to and from London Paddington.

The first couple capture the sun setting over the Old Oak Common train depot. I remember as a kid that this used to be a very busy place, full of all sorts of locomotives, but alas much of it has been demolished now, and what's remaining is forlorn and empty, with just the odd shunter and locomotive engine that's used to pull the Penzance sleeper. The rest are rather boring looking multiple units.

Sunset over Old Oak Common train depot

Good to see the water tower is still there, but not sure for how long.

Sunset over Old Oak Common train depot

Sunset somewhere between London and Reading

Sometimes the annoyance of having to get up for the early train has its rewards, and not long after leaving Newbury I was greeted by the sun as it rose over misty fields.

Sunrise somewhere between Newbury and Reading

And as if the sunrise on its own was not enough, a hot air balloon started to rise up through the mist.

Sunrise somewhere between Newbury and Reading

The only slight disappointment was that the train windows were dirty in places which spoil the purity of the pictures a little, but on the other hand added something too them.

    

Sunrise over Hyde Park

A strange week just gone by. I found some space that was not what I thought it would be, and also found some space that I'd been to before that was better than I'd expected. So turning first to my disappointment if I can call it that, which was a brief surfacing at Canada Water when changing trains to get out to Canary Wharf. But first of all, why was I at Canada Water anyway? Well, on this particular occasion it was easier for me to travel on the Waterloo line rather than the Paddington line, but rather than going into Waterloo and taking the obvious Jubilee line tune across to Canary Wharf, I decided instead to change at Clapham Junction and take the newly joined-up outer-circle line, or the London Overground as it's really called. I'd not been on this part of the London Overground so it made a pleasant diversion from my normal route, passing through some places I'm pretty sure I've never been to before, so as usual a mental note was made to return at ground level.

To get to Canary Wharf involved a change at Canada Water, and I originally thought I could walk between the two, but alas this was not possible as there was too much of the River Thames in the way. Having not looked around that part of the docklands before I decided to surface above the underground and see what was there. Perhaps I did not explore enough but as far as I could see it was just a retail park, and quite a cold and sterile one at that. It was freezing cold so maybe I caught it on a bad day and it's normally more inspiring, but on that particular day it wasn't for me. Needless to say I took no pictures and was glad to get back underground to continue to my destination.

Later in the week I had an opportunity to walk across Hyde Park to the office. I must have done this walk tens of times before, if not more, but this particular day was special as it was just as the sun was rising on a very cold and crispy winter's morning.

Sunrise over Hyde Park, January 2013

So, it looks like we are going to get some snow after all. I know this is bad news for many people, but I for one absolutely love the snow. I did leave work on time today and headed straight back to West Berkshire on the train as I'd much rather be snowed in at home than at work. Hopefully there will be good opportunities to get some good pictures to share.