Loose_Grip/Pete's photos with the keyword: London

A view looking south down Brompton Road at night with Harrods all lit up at & above street level with maybe Venus lighting up the sky. HWW to everybody. Enjoy the day.

They're Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace. The Old Guard prepares to turn left onto the Mall en route to St James' Palace after the New Guard took over. We were playing tourists in London with our friends visiting from overseas. HFF to all tourists & friends on Ipernity! Have a great weekend.

It's a rainy day (again) in London so maybe no-one is sitting down on a wet bench. HBM to everyone. Have a great start to the new week.

This young lady was carrying a bag of walnuts and the squirrels in St James' Park were going wild. Actually going tame would be better description because they even climbed onto her leg... HFF to everyone. Have a great weekend.

Despite the name the German Gymnasium isn't a school but a restaurant in the now trendy area behind Kings Cross station in London. The roof of St Pancras railway station is just visible far left. It was designed by Edward Gruning and was in fact England's first purpose-built gymnasium, with funding coming solely from London's German community. It was built in 1865 for the German Gymnastics Society and hosted London's first indoor Olympic Games, back in 1866. HWW to everyone. Enjoy the day.

North Woolwich station opened in 1847 as the southern terminus of the Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway from Stratford. The main reason for building the North Woolwich branch was to provide access to the town of Woolwich with it's military arsenal on the south side of the River Thames. The railway ferry ran from North Woolwich pier seen here until 1908 when the Great Eastern Railway withdrew it in the face of competition from the adjacent municipal free ferry. The pier on the south bank was demolished but that on the north bank was retained and until WW2 was used by the LNER as a calling point for river steamers providing a service to Southend and Margate. The free ferry still runs and the two vessels seen here are the Ben Woolacott and the Dame Vera Lynn both built by Remontowa shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, to replace the previous fleet in 2019. They have not been without problems! HFF to everyone. Have a great weekend.

The skyline of Canary Wharf dominates the Docklands of East London. Where once ships from all over the world unloaded The Royal Albert Dock is now quiet, a place to sit and contemplate how quickly things change. HBM to everyone. Have a great start to the new week.

Feeding the birds on the Serpentine in Hyde Park. The Wellington Arch at Hyde Park Corner and the Palace of Westminster seem much closer than they really are but almost 50 years of tree growth has spoilt the view today.

The Tower Millenium Pier on the river Thames with a backdrop of Tower Bridge.

Driving or Flying?? A VW Beetle, a Morris 1000, a Citroen 2CV & a Fiat(?). On the floor is Rover JET1 the first gas turbinepropelled car. All in the Science Museum Kensington.

Spiral. The Monument. Pudding Lane - where the Great Fire of London started in 1666. HFF to everybody. Have a great weekend.

Abbey Wood station Up platform looking west from the footbridge. The 1849 South Eastern & Chatham Railway buildings look a bit grubby. Commuters to London city centre observe the two trackmen at work. Today the station has changed completey out of recognition as Abbey Wood is the eastern terminus of the new Crossrail / Elizabeth line. Phil Sutters has recently posted a great series of shots of the station: www.ipernity.com/doc/philsutters/51793576/in/activity

A Docklands Light Railway electric multiple unit heads round the curve just before Albert Dock station on the DLR line to Becton. Mobile phone cameras are great but not for telephoto shots! The original was getting pretty pixelated so I processed the image to enhance the distortion. Looks like a watercolour now!!

The dockside cranes of the Royal Victoria Dock have become symbols of post-industrial London alongside the newly built Britannia village development. The skyscrapers of Canary Wharf form the backcloth to this view.

The preserved SS Robin moored/mothballed at the Royal Docks in East London. Built in 1890 the Robin is the only complete Victorian steam ship in existence and the only one left fitted with original steam engine and boiler, she is also the last large coastal cargo steam ship surviving of several thousand built around the world between 1850 and 1950. HFF to everyone & have a great weekend.

We were considering turning in ready for the very early start but a night-time shot of BR Standard 4-6-2 70013 Oliver Cromwell in road 6 and LNER Gresley A4 4-6-2 60009 Union of South Africa in road 8 was too much to miss. West Coast Railways Class 47 47237 and Class 37 37518 were thrown in for good measure. 70013 would be departing from Victoria on the Cathedrals Express the next day while 60009 was being prepped for the Dorset Coast Express the day after.

British Railways Standard 4-6-2 70013 Oliver Cromwell at the head of its train at London Liverpool Street station awaits the off, destination Norwich. This was the first time I had taken a train from Liverpool Street since the 1980s and I was shocked by the Birmingham New Street gloom of the country end of the platforms. I knew the station had been rebuilt but the remaining splendid trainshed beyond fooled me into thinking it had not been too badly butchered. Greater Anglia DVT electric 82133 on the left looks more at home in this sterile environment than a Britannia. The wreath was carried in memory of Richard 'Dick' Hardy, a great railwayman, speaker, author and well-respected man who died the previous Sunday at the age of 93.

We weren’t alone in Southall steam shed. British Railways Standard pacific 70013 Oliver Cromwell stands ready for her fitness to run exam prior to working a main line special from London Victoria to Hastings the following day while Stanier Black 5 4-6-0 45212 was cooling down after her main line run earlier that week.