Monday, 31 July 2017

30 year anniversary of the Docklands Light Railway


TfL is celebrating the 30 year anniversary of the Docklands Light Railway. (DLR)

Back on the 30th July 1985, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II formally opened the Docklands Light Railway in East London. The purpose of the DLR was to regenerate the Docklands area of East London with an elevated light railway system.

The DLR system was constructed from 1985 till 1987 by GEC Mowlem. The DLR began its first day of operation on 31st August 1987.

Over the years, the DLR expanded from three branches totalling 8 miles (13 km) which served 15 stations. Presently, the DLR serves six branches with the length of system totalling 24 miles (39km) serving 45 stations.

To celebrate the 30 year anniversary of the DLR, I’ll be showing you archive footage and news reports of the DLR when it was first launched.







Here are some of my DLR videos which were recorded from 2015 to the present day.



I’ll finish off the article with a London bus news update from LOTS:

1) The first few of Metroline’s batch (VWH 2285-2305) began service in the past week on route 7, in turn displacing an older batch (VWH 2001-21) to Holloway for route 17. Otherwise, Metroline has been busily shuffling TEs from Edgware to Cricklewood, other TEs from Potters Bar to Edgware and TEHs from Cricklewood to Edgware.

2) Arriva the Shires’ new E20Ds are now in service at High Wycombe (3105-11); a few of the batch for Luton (3112-25) entered service in the past week on route 12, others will go to the 27; and those for Milton Keynes (3126-35) are commencing delivery and are in Sapphire livery.

3) Last Monday 24th July Grant Palmer introduced new route CX from Luton on the Busway to White Lion Park. This is remarkable in that it is worked by former Go-Ahead London WVL236 as the first double-deck to be scheduled to run on the Busway.

4) The closure of Go-Ahead’s Mandela Way (MW) Garage and re-allocation of routes as detailed in July TLB635 page 27, commenced several weeks earlier than expected – from Saturday 29th July. It sees the opening of a new garage at Morden Wharf (MG) at North Greenwich.

As always, I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Google Plus by searching for @CLondoner92

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