Musings on metros (usually THE Metro), urbanism, architecture and design. He/him.
Newcastle upon Tyne
Joined July 2021
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edificity retweeted
We agree cities should be designed around people, not cars.
In Newcastle, we have the chance to transform Blackett & Pilgrim St to a new pedestrian quarter, giving people space to dwell, shop & enjoy the architecture. Maybe the new council administration has the political will?
IMPORTANT EDITORIAL: “Oxford Street’s pedestrianisation: cities should be designed around people, not cars.”
“The transformation of Europe’s busiest shopping street should be a case study in making cities greener, less congested & more inviting places to live.” @guardian
theguardian.com/commentisfre…
edificity retweeted
This bullshit project from Herts County Council isn’t about connectivity: it’s about cost cutting. This crap needs to be challenged. “Trackless trams” are not trams: they’re BUSES. Bouncing bendy buses stuck halfway in traffic; and take away tracks & you take away fixed links.
edificity retweeted
Will you be asking the North East what our public transport network should be called, @KiMcGuinness?
Who decided on ‘the Angel Network’?
edificity retweeted
That a metro system would be built in a northern UK city involving underground tunnels and stations is supposedly an impossible, unrealistic idea from an unserious mind.
Meanwhile, Newcastle with 13km of bored tunnels and 9 underground stations built 13 years after first plans:
ALT view into the dark of a bored circular tunnel, with clean black and white panelling in the passenger part of the platform, and judicious use of Calvert typeface
ALT view through a clean subterranean corridor to the doors of a Metro train
ALT a view down the wee platform, with clean lines, clever design and a decidedly proper look to the system
ALT a view up an escalator shaft giving an idea of the depth of the station - again, this is a proper underground station built in the heart of mining territory just like Leeds
edificity retweeted
Tram builder: Do you want the seats to face front/back or left/right?
Warsaw: Yes. – at Warsaw, Poland
edificity retweeted
The Liverpool City Region has now started bringing its bus services back under public control.
Show your support for the same to happen here in the North East.
You have until 9am on 28 September to have your say. Visit: northeast-ca.gov.uk/consulta…
🚌A new era for buses has arrived in the Liverpool City Region.
The launch of the first publicly controlled bus services in St Helens marks the beginning of a new era for public transport in the Liverpool City Region. 🚍
With more reliable services, better connections and new publicly owned buses, we're building a network that puts passengers first.
This morning's first X3 journey was the start of something much bigger.
#DevolutionDelivers #ChangesYouCanGetOnBoardWith
edificity retweeted
Lads, please can we bring back Northeast - Newcastle’s own airline?
Used to be able to fly from Newcastle to Santander and Basel in one of these bad boys, or even a Vickers Viscount until they merged into British Airways.
That livery is bloody stunning.
edificity retweeted
Today's free Patreon post is on Newcastle's old Grain Warehouse, formerly one of the largest brick buildings in the world.
Grain from Scandinavia and the Baltics was brought here for storage & domestic export. All demolished in the 70s.
Link below!
edificity retweeted
An unusual #ThrowbackThursday this week - this is how planners visualised the Metrolink system when it was just a proposal. Apart from the orange tram, we think it turned out very close!
ALT A drawing or artist's impression shows an orange Metrolink tram leaving the undercroft at Manchester Piccadilly, emerging on to London Road. The drawing is a watercolour and it shows Manchester Piccadilly railway station as well as the tram, plus a pub on the corner of the street.
edificity retweeted
It’s such a retrograde 60s idea to turn valuable land near a Metro station & major bus routes into a car park for 68 cars. This could be a high density mixed use development with much-needed housing & community facilities. Hopefully planners will stand up to developers and say no
edificity retweeted
So a few points; the feasibility study should look at what it hopes to achieve - essentially re-opening the line, as part of local transport infrastructure.
If it focuses on the use of the rolling stock, particularly on the idea of tram-trains? It will likely fail; (1/?)
We're working with @NetworkRailSCOT to carry out a high‑level feasibility study for the potential use of tram-trains on the South Suburban line in Edinburgh.
The study will identify practical challenges and opportunities of reintroducing passenger services.
ALT Close-up view of a railway track. The text below reads: 'Feasibility study: Edinburgh South Suburban line'
edificity retweeted
The BEST railway logos, imo are the British Railways logo or the Netherlands Railways (Nederlandse Spoorwegen) logo
edificity retweeted
Today has effectively been a pilgrimage to see this.
L’Aigle, a Stephenson built locomotive which rolled off the production line at Forth Banks 180 years ago exactly. Made by Geordie hands and one of the earliest locomotives surviving in France.
I have shed a tiny tiny tear
edificity retweeted
We have reviewed the evidence available following a derailment at Piccadilly tram stop in Manchester, 5 April 2026, and determined there is only localised safety learning to be gained.
As a result, we have discontinued our investigation gov.uk/government/news/disco…
#Manchester
ALT A yellow, silver, and black tram stands at a brightly lit platform at a roofed tram stop. The platform is a large, grey tiled area. The tram sits flush alongside the platform edge.
edificity retweeted
If you stood on Briggate at 8am on a weekday in 1957, and stood there again in 2026, in which year could you reach more of the city in half an hour?
Samuel Bancroft has crunched the numbers. Since the 1950s, Leeds has got bigger - but the city has effectively shrunk.
