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The Ruislip Lido Railway is a 12-inch (305-mm) gauge miniature railway, running around the popular tourist attraction of 'Ruislip Lido' in Ruislip. The railway runs along a 1.5-mile (2.4-km) track around the lake and through the Ruislip woods. It started operation around 1945, with short trains being hauled by "Prince Edward" an Atlantic type steam locomotive over a line about a third of its current length.
The railway was built by the Grand Union Canal Company as part of the leisure facilities at the Ruislip Lido which is a reservoir for the canal. When the Grand Union was nationalised in 1948 to be part of the British Transport Commission, control of the Lido and its railway passed into the hands of Ruislip-Northwood Urban District Council which, in 1965, became part of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Under local authority control the railway was neglected and, following an accident in 1978, it was closed. In 1980, the volunteer run Ruislip Lido Railway Society Limited reopened the railway using a petrol powered engine and gradually expanded the route around the Lido and added additional rolling stock.
With Pinewood Studios nearby, the Lido has been used as a filming location for scenes in a number of films including The Young Ones starring Cliff Richard. (Full article...)
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James Whitaker Wright (9 February 1846 - 26 January 1904) was an exceptionally wealthy English mining company owner. He became infamous when he committed suicide at the Royal Courts of Justice in London immediately following his conviction for fraud. Born in Stafford, Wright emigrated to Toronto, Canada in 1870, before moving to the United States. Wright began promoting silver-mining companies in Leadville, Colorado and Lake Valley, New Mexico. Although none of the companies made money for the shareholders, Wright made a fortune. After returning to Britain, he continued to promote mining companies in Australia and Canada on the London market and used his expanding fortune to develop a country estate at Witley Park in Surrey.
In the 1890s Wright established the London & Globe Finance Corporation (L&GFC) as a method of financing more mining issues. The L&GFC also took over the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway in 1897. In 1899, Wright manipulated the accounts of various L&GFC companies to conceal large losses by one of its mines. The fraud was discovered in December 1900 and the corporation collapsed. In 1904, Wright was sentence to seven years imprisonment at the Royal Courts of Justice, but committed suicide by swallowing cyanide immediately after the verdict was announced. (Full article...)
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Did you know...
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- ...that the longest continuous tunnel on the London Underground is 27.8 km (17.25 miles) long, between Morden and East Finchley stations?
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Image 3Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
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Image 6Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
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Image 7View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
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Image 8London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
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Image 10Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
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Image 11Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
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Image 1255 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
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Image 13Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
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Image 14The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
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Image 15Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
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Image 19Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
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Image 20The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
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Image 21"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
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Image 22Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
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Image 23Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
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Image 24The newly constructed junction of the Westway ( A40) and the West Cross Route ( A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
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Image 25TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
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Image 26London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
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Image 27Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
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Image 28Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
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Image 31Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
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Image 32Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
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Image 33Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
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Image 34The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
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Image 35The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
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Image 36Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
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Image 37Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
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Image 38Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
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Image 40The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
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Image 41Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
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Image 42London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
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Image 43The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
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Image 44A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
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Image 45Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
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Image 46Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
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Image 48Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
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Image 49Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
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- 15 April
- 1968 – Erected in 1963 to enable the construction of the Underground station concourse below the road junction, the Oxford Circus Umbrella road deck is removed.
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