Berries and Piccadilly

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17945, 24 November 1932, Page 9

Berries and Piccadilly

[ ONDON continues to grow outwards and onwards, but tlio i country is nearer to Piccadilly than ever. Thanks to the underground railways, one can now pick blackberries within 25 minutes of Piccadilly Circus, the busiest and most uproarious spot ;n

Europe! The first train ou the South-. gate extension of the tube .from-Fins-bury Park to Arnos Grove ran recently, and consequently another stretch of virgin landscape will soon bo swallowed up. Meanwhile, however, it is green to the eye and restful to the senses. The new line, which is four and ahalf miles long, is regarded as the finest example of underground rail woik in the world. It has cost £4,500,000, and kept 3500 men employed for two years. A further extension to Cockfosters will be opened next year, and the scheme, ton the time being, will then be complete. Bright with shining bronze and glass, and mellow with indirect lighting, each of the new stations on tho section now operating is a model of cleanliness and eiliciency. Escalators have been speeded up (the lastcst travelling at 180 ft. per minute), and at Manor llouso a comb escalator loader has been installed so that passengers will mount tho stairs in an arrow-head formation of three. This by the way, is only an experiment and will bo removed should it prove dangerous iu practice. Moreover, each station differs from tho .other, Turn-pike-lane, for example, is rectangular, Wood Green elliptical, Bounds Green oetagal, and Arnos Grove circular. Three of the stations have tower vents similar to the . central octagon of the Houses of Parliament. The normal service (until the open spaces begin to fill) will be made up of 347 trains running on the Wood Green and Manor House section at intervals of 2-j minutes, and from Wood Green to Arnos Grove at intervals of 51 minutes, which is not so bad for a • “provincial” route. On most linos, of course, one can catch a. train every minute, but Blackberry Land could scarcely expect to lie, so well served as that. Only when it ceases to be Blackberry Land and degenerates into a thriving suburb will tho “one every minute” procession be arranged.