Rumbling on

I'm sorry to have to report that I have mislaid my SD card reader, the thingy that lets me move photos from my camera to my laptop. So that means this post makes no use of my own photos but, instead, is illustrated by much better photos by much more professional photographers than I'll ever be.

I took a ride on one of the Underground's new S-Stock trains out to Watford (don't ask me why I had to go to Watford, alright?). These are the first air-conditioned trains ever to run on the Underground, and they "feature" through-carriages so you can see the entire length of the train:

I have to say, I just don't like that feature. But then, I'm an old fart who was brought up on individual compartments and struggled with the concept of open saloons.

More irritatingly, the seats are getting harder and meaner: gone are the generously sprung cushions of the current Cravens Metropolitan trains (vintage 1962, no less), and instead we have hard-as-planks "cushions" which were making my bum sore after just half an hour (some journeys on these trains take more than an hour).

Still, these trains are at least light and airy, with giant windows (more than can be said for much mainline stock, these days), and that air-conditioning will be very welcome indeed in the fetid summer atmosphere of the Tube. I can't wait for these to spread to the Circle and District lines, too (which they won't do for some years yet, alas, such is the glacial pace of "modernisation" on the Underground).