Fun fact: the DLR has the deepest station in central London at 41.2 meters below ground at bank station, below all the tube lines. It’s really weird seeing these little trains at the bottom of like 4 escalators aha
@@RMTransit I think they’re bigger actually, I more meant in terms of the fact light rail has such massive infrastructure, it’s kinda strange but pretty cool as well
The cross platform boarding at Greenwich is actually quite useful as it provides direct interchange for people who come from the southeastern suburbs and want to get to canary wharf for work
Just a little missed fact: Limehouse is a *super* useful station that takes great advantage of the alignment to offer a really smart interchange to mainline services running out of Fenchurch Street. The original Tower Gateway terminus really integrated into either the tube or mainline rail (the early parts of the DLR were built on a super low Thatcher era budget with a *lot* of design compromises). As a result, commuters coming in from the east to Canary Wharf would have faced over-shooting their destination by miles *and* a really awkward out-of-station interchange. By taking advantage of the adjacent tracks at Limehouse for an interchange, commuters could get off before central London, have a simple in-station interchange to the DLR heading to Canary Wharf, and also take a much more direct route at the same time. As the DLR as now been extended into Bank, Limehouse has become even more useful as it allows passengers coming into Central London to change to the DLR to Bank, which is much more convenient for most of Central London than Fenchurch Street, and also lets them have direct access to the tube, which from Fenchurch street is a, you guessed it, convoluted out of station interchange. Also, yep, the hunting. It's *really* bad. Again, it's just a legacy of the cheap initial build where some really janky design choices were to try and minimise land purchases and clearing, so insanely tight curves all round. A lot of the newer extensions further out (The Beckon extension, for example) have gentler curves. Unfortunately, because the old (super tight) ones lie at the heart of the system, it condemns all new rolling stock to maintain the crappy wheel geometry.
Yeah hunting seems to plague a ton of automated light metro systems, the Copenhagen Metro which is my local system also suffers quite badly from a lot of hunting oscillation.
Limehouse and Westferry stations are interesting, if only for their names. What is now Limehouse was called Stepney East until just before the DLR opened in 1987 - the original Limehouse Station was located near to St Anne's Church. Westferry is named after... absolutely nothing. There was never a ferry on this stretch of the river. The name probably comes from the nearby Westferry Road which only reached the immediate area in the 1960s. The road's current name comes from being the western end of Ferry Road. The historic name for area served by Westferry Station is Limehouse Hole - I wonder why they didn't choose that? 🤔
I wonder if steerable boogies would solve that. Vancouver Skytrain uses them and had super tight curves, but the trains are smooth at their top speed of 80 km/h.
It is easy to criticise the original Thatcher budget but the return on investment she got was insane and the whole area owes it's development to that project. More expensive projects like Crossrail will never see such a return on investment because the areas it serves are already largely developed. Arguably we should be building more projects with DLR level budgets than fewer projects with Crossrail level budgets for the same money.
Woah, this system is incredible. To think this is a secondary system in London after the Tube, yet would put the primary systems of many cities to shame.
It really does! I was in London for a bit a couple years ago, and the station was less than half a mile from where I was staying. At home, the nearest train station was 3x farther away, and less frequent. Of course, I live in the us, so that might not be high praise. Still, really love this system!
There are even more systems in London. The overground and then a lot of South London relies on national rail on mainline stations (as the tube and other metro systems don't have much tracks and stations south of the river Thames). I am a fortunate fellow in Lewisham, so I have access to DLR and the mainline trains as well. Very nice. And I don't have to go deep underground or try to navigate the byzantine Bank station!
That reminded my my visit to the London Transport Museum. One of my favorite attractions was tube train simulator, which used original driving mechanism from 1930's train cab. And it was mixed with 3D graphic simulation on the screen.
It's incredible how much and how fast the system has expanded, in the first decade of the 2000s they seemed to be opening a new branch every other year. Plus the trains are now 3x the length they were originally.
@@ijmad Other UK cities would massively benefit from a system like the DLR! Relatively low budget, not much tunnelling, using existing/disused rail lines including those scrapped in the Beeching cuts, automation, flexibility, and pragmatic continuous growth...could only dream of it in Birmingham!
@@user-ed7et3pb4oWe should definitely do more things like this across the UK. The thing the DLR had going for it was that the area was basically a disused industrial wasteland, so even the new land needed was cheap. Whereas in most British cities we would want it to serve the productive areas, which would cost a lot more (still worth it in my opinion, though). But of course it was in large part the DLR that transformed the London docklands. Feels like it would be impossible to build something for regeneration today, though. We can't even build HS2 so "Who wants a train to nowhere?!"
I love to see videos from "driver's cabins" of networks all over the world. They are always wonderful. But yours today is special because of all the explanations about the stuff we can see out of the front window, that we wouldn't notice without your guidance. Awesome. For me as a German it's sometimes a bit difficult to follow your other videos because your high speed of talking. But here the train ride determines the speed of commentary. Continue your awesome video footage. Thanks for your efforts and best regards. 🖐👴
@@hens0w Hahaha. Dang. If it's an automatic system then there's no driver of course. So edit my "driver's cabin" into "driver's view if there was a driver" Or "front view" Nevertheless I hope you understood what I meant nevertheless. 🖐👴
Thanks for informing this Londoner some new facts about the DLR even though I did take my young children to ride it on the first weekend it ran. Like me, they always enjoyed it and on her 16th birthday my daughter took her friends for a ride there. These North Londoners were most impressed as no other parents ever took their children around to show the joys of public transport.
I still have the cardboard DLR train from the Island Gardens (or was it Mudchute) shop give away (and flag and uninflated ballon) from the first day of operation.
I was in London lots of times as a tourist and I know the DLR from the very first start in 1987. It's an amazing form of public transport and it had been grown far beyond any expectation. As far as I know new 6-car trainsets have been ordered to be delivered in the next few years to come. A new chapter in this London successtory.
Every Londoner probably says this, but I love the DLR as you can sit in the front and pretend you are driving the train. It also feels like a fairground ride. Love it.
Reece, Thanks for this video. Glad you enjoyed your visit to London, my hometown. As you remark, the original core was built on the cheap, repurposing lines closed and abandoned when the docks closed. (I walked most of the line before building started, and watched it being built.) The philosophy was that the DLR was a giant advertisement for the regeneration and the Canary Wharf development. The original core cost only £77 million which, even in the mid 80s was cheap for a transit system. The subsequent station extensions, new trains, and the new lines cost much more. Not to mention the £billions which the Jubilee and Elizabeth lines cost to properly service the Docklands developments originally made possible by the DLR which was quickly outgrown.
A comment not about the DLR, but about your video: the photography, editing, sound, and superb commentary made this about as good as RUclips gets for me. Thank you.
I haven't used the DLR all the way from Shadwell to Lewisham since 2009 when I went to do shopping there before Stratford Westfield opened fully. Whoever invented the DLR done an amazing job. I use to use it regularly to change to & from Canary Wharf after work too few years back from Jubilee line. There's so many new apartments everywhere now days too! The views outside were never like this over 10 years ago. DLR is also the station where I saw Magneto from the X-Men movies. He was just using it causally one late night reading his newspaper & got off at Westferry. Gave me a nod & said goodnight lol.
I love riding the DLR especially since it’s a great way to see the city thanks to its elevated sections rather than being underground or even ground level.
I love that little section of track with the sharp bend, flyover and junction near Canary Wharf. It really makes the DLR feel like a gentle fairground ride and it's my probably my favourite stretch of railway track I've ever travelled on.
Fantastic video Reece! I love how you mentioned Selective Door operation, as it's relatively prevalent in the UK but seems less common throughout the rest of the world.
This history of train lines in the docklands in London is really interesting - wooden docks and boats were such a fire risk that unusual creative solutions were found to run trains without embers or sparks.
You're also on former railway line at Mudchute too; the system was initially on an old railway viaduct to Island Gardens, before that was rebuilt in a tunnel to allow the system to extend south of the Thames. The brick viaduct is still present next to Island Gardens. Also, the crazy tight corner at 8:08 is the site of the 1996 Docklands bombing by the IRA.
"Crazy tight corner" is also the location of the original South Quay Station which was moved eastwards as they couldn't extend the platforms when longer trains were introduced.
Lost all my financial records that day when my files were at my accountants. The Inland Revenue accepted my estimated figures, I told them if they wanted the reciepts they would have go so sweep up the paper from the ground. (Alas also at ground level was the killed flower seller and newsagent)
Glad you enjoyed your trips on the DLR, Reece! Perhaps my favourite thing about the system is how the way it is constructed has made it comparatively cheap and easy to change and improve the system to deal with new developments and changes in demand. It’s amazing how much it has changes since it was built. I think that’s often an underestimated benefit in considering different transit systems.
People: So are you heavy-rail rapid transit or a light rail? The DLR: *Yes* As grand as that Canary Wharf station looks, it's still not as gorgeous as the murals and chandeliers at the stations on our beloved Pyongyang Metro
I still remember when the DLR was just two lines. I first visited in 87 and rode from Tower Hill to Island Garden. It was the most modern mode of transport compared to the Tubes stock at that time. What the DLR has become is what Ottawa’s O Train and the Scarborough RT in Canada could have been - automated, medium capacity, high level boarding trains operated as a network. Scarborough would have been so well served by transit by now vs the Scarborough Subway extension @reece - love the background music - nice acid jazz flavour!
I really liked this video, there's a nice editing bit at 10:14 where the music slows down as the approaching DLR train decelerates and then the next song starts as our train starts moving, it stuck out to me. Also I'm glad you like our metro system, it completely transformed the area, it used to be a dump!
Indeed, the DLR is a great system. As you said, the hunting issue can be a bit annoying at times, but you have to love any piece of rail infra where you get to sit in the front seat. The Tyne & Wear Metro may be still on that list for now, but not for much longer as the new stock is phased in.
The new Metro stock has no front seats? That's terrible! (Actually there's really good safety reasons why the cab is accessible from the front). In years gone by I used to chat to the drivers with the door open. I think I knew most of the drivers back then. Wouldn't be allowed now.
Great explainer. I rode the DLR about 8 years ago to get from the Tower to Greenwich Observatory. The lack of turnstiles confused me at first. I remember being approached by an Irish girl who was doing a survey of DLR ridership that day. That distracted me from seeing much of the scenery going by or sitting up front - but I knew I had to get off at Cutty Sark to visit the observatory. There was also an amazing record store there near Greenwich - though priced well beyond my humble budget.
16:30 The Bow Curve, to name that section of track, isn't disused as such. It can be used to divert Great Eastern line trains down to Fenchurch Street in case of disruption. You can also see the occasional Elizabeth line train parked there.
During the period in the 1990s when the DLR was experiencing major upgrades from how the system was initially envisioned to something with much higher capacity became super unreliable (breakdowns seemed almost daily or even multiple times a days) and in addition to having to run a shadow service of double deck buses it was nicknamed the DLF - Docklands Light Failway. Happily after the introduction of a new train control system and new trains it became reliable again ... and had gone from strength to strength
Facinating video, great way for you to use your time whilst in London, I did enjoy watching your guest appearance on one of Geoff Marshall's videos! I watched the creation of the DLR network - especially the terminus at Stratford - whilst commuting to school on the Central Line. The DLR (Docklands Light Railway, which I used to nickname "Dinky Little Railway") has certainly come of age and now is large and sophisticated enough to grace any medium sized city in it's own right. It has it's own flat fare structure whilst using the same Oyster "smart" cards for fare payment. The Oyster card can also be used to pay to ride the cable car (that you showed early in in your video) and at a discounted price than otherwise would be paid!
New appreciation for the planners of the TFL (?). I appreciated knowing I could get everywhere without a car when I visited. And the frequency of trains is brilliant. This is an amazing video, The filming and your expertise are so impressive.
Thank you for riding and explaining my favourite section of the DLR! It's a fascinating area of the city, and yeah, the DLR was crucial in its history. I often ride this section of line when I have time off, and have a walk around Greenwich - a truly wonderful part of London.
It was fun to see a different viewpoint (and learn things I didn't know) about a network I've used for oh-so many years. Just to clarify that the tunnel starts after Greenwich but it doesn't go under the Thames until after Cutty Sark. The simple (or cheap, depending on your view) underground station at Cutty Sark is a problem as it can't cope with passenger numbers - it's the most convenient station for tourists to Greenwich. This is due to the peculiar history of the extension from Island Gardens to Lewisham. It was designed, financed and built by a private company called City, Greenwich and Lewisham (CGL) Rail. TfL only gained control of this section of the line in 2021. Pudding Mill Lane is the largest station on the DLR so it can handle crowds going to the London Stadium on the Olympic Park and, as from last month, those going to the new ABBA arena.
I tried the DLR about last week between Cutty Sark and Bank and I can say it is really convenient, as it is frequent, reliable, fast, and it's all automatically operated. An overall great asset for TFL
Nice little video of out little auto-train in London - glad you managed to get out and have a play on it. BTW the disused railway line at Bow Church when the DLR singles, isn't disused...actually provides a link between Stratford and London Fenchurch Street for c2c services which divert at times, but given it's adhoc, mother nature encroaches back across the iron road
@@RMTransit I presume if it is C2C they would run to Stratford from Barking via the Gospel Oak line (as they do twice an hour anyway - for a service into Liverpool Street normally). There would be a scheduled diversion though once a week prob ECM for driver familiarisation .
Another related snippet - there was once planned to be a regular Fenchurch Street - Stratford shuttle service, which never came to be. Two bay platforms were built at Stratford for this, but left unused for several decades, until one became the first DLR platform. This is why there is no platform 7 there.
@@andrewstevenson72 A Fenchurch Street - Stratford-Barking - Barking Creek would have been interesting - the problem early was the level crossing/s in Barking until rebuilt as Bridge , and most workers in Barking would have used trams or buses in cheaper preference
So glad you enjoyed your trip to London and got to ride out on the DLR in the front seat no less! One of the little quirks I love is that the two far Eastern Branches are actually visible from one another for quite some time, such as when arriving into London City Airport station where you can actually see the line to Beckon via Custom House and the Excel Arena....to take a train between the two would take around 10 to 15 minutes with a change at Canning Town, and yet you could probably walk it in 5
Great video Reece. Nice to see you covering the UK :) I always love going on the DLR. It's so different to the rest of the TFL network. Sitting at the front and weaving through the skyscrapers is way cooler than being in a tunnel. Interesting comment about the hunting. I have to say, I've never really noticed it. I will watch out for it next time I'm over that side of town!
What a fascinating little system. I love that it basically serves as a secondary little Metro for London. More cities could use a system like this as connective tissue for places where giant metro trains and stations don't necessarily fit.
The gantry seen on the left just before Greenwich station was a lifting bridge which carries the rail lines over Deptford Creek. It hasn’t opened in many years, and the rails are now continuous across it, so it couldn’t possibly lift now.
As you've noted, it's remarkable how much the DLR has evolved with time. Originally built to attract businesses in to Canary Wharf (which was seen as a failed post-industry/port derelict zone at the time), it was built on an absolute shoe string of a budget - costed at £77m for the original Tower Hill/Isle of Dogs/Stratford Y-Network. Without much optimism around the Canary Wharf development at the time (amazing to say that looking back from 2022), an 8tph service with only 1 unit of those articulated trainsets on each service was sufficient (hence the Y-junction at West India Quay being perfectly sufficient to start with, and hence why several platforms are now too short to accommodate the 3-unit trainsets now operating the services). The rest, as they say, is history, with massive development leading to such success and high employment in Canary Wharf that the DLR had to be continually expanded, and then requiring the assistance of a Jubilee tube line to get people in & out. The whole story is a testament to "get something built, and then improve it instead of going for a gold plated solution to start with", and "provide infrastructure, and developments will follow".
I used to live in that purple housing development at Deptford Bridge. It’s called OneSE8 which is based on the postcode SE8 - which is quite funny as that’s where the marketing suite was but the actual development was in SE13. 😂
I enjoyed this ride very much. Your attention to detail and information was none stop. Pardon the pun. From single tracking to hunting, this video is very informative. It reminded me of the forced single tracking in Vancouver for bridge work. The video was too short. Cheers.
I'm surprised you didn't mention the cross platform transfers between different lines at Poplar where people coming up from Canary Wharf can change onto trains to Canning Town, Beckton, London City Airport and Woolwich Arsenal and people coming down from Stratford and Bow Church can change onto trains to Bank and Tower Gateway.
At 16:40 the overgrown line to the left is still used occasionally for diversions or for running two of the 4 fenchurch street to shoeburyness services per hour via Stratford to serve Westfield, It's also sometimes used to store a spare crossrail unit in peak hours. Also along there is the former station of bow road (which to make everyone's life difficult was not related to Bow road on the district which was built by the GER for competition against the North London Railways station at Bow (Effectively Now Bow Church) with the north London railways line going effectively in a straight line from where the DLR singles to about halfway between Stratford and Homerton. Also the line between Westferry and Shadwell uses the original viaduct of the London and Blackwall railway and there are still a little bit of the original platforms of the ger station on the Limehouse side of Shadwell.. anyways that is probably enough pointless information for one day. It's been a thoroughly good video to watch
Back when I was in london, i use dlr to go from central london to greenwich, and its such a breathtaking experience! It takes a long time, and i somehow misstook my stop!🤣😭😭
Man, I really need to visit London one of these days. Actually, a massive British Rail holiday would be awesome. I'm absolutely obsessed with British rail, Passenger, and freight love it all.
It's not free, you get a reduced fare if you are below 18 or over 65, and you have to pay full price of you are between those ages, if you don't qualify for any fare reductions.
@@caw25sha In Manchester the bus provider had to stop selling one day passes on its app, because fare dodgers were buying them only when inspectors boarded. (With GPS data of course they could still be caught). Also remember if you forget to touch out you get charged maximum fare and only have six weeks to appeal it.
Absolutely excellent video mate, I was riveted. This is a line I have traversed many a time, and it was super nostalgic to ride it again, although a lot has changed since I was last there. I wish you the best for your channel, you have a new subscriber.
17.16 Pudding Mill Lane existed but was rebuilt and moved to make room for the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) and to accommodate the huge number of passengers to use West Ham Stadium previously the Olympic Stadium.
One small correction. The ‘disused’ track shown just after Bow Church station is only partially disused. It very rarely sees passenger trains but it is still used occasionally, I actually took a train over that section a few weeks ago.
Being raised in the midwestern United States, I am a little overwhelmed by all the transit options. Anything beyond car, bus, taxi, or walk, I find a little confusing.
Also one thing the building of DLR platforms at bank station forced the DLR to build new stock in the early 90s as the original ones didn't meet fire proof regulations I believe the original DLR trains have been converted are still in use in Germany in the town of Essen I believe
Man, seeing you pretend to drive the train by being up-front makes me miss the R32s here in NY even more...yeah they were old, but they were a beaut. And despite the name International, Stratford International doesn't actually have any international services (because they felt that it was too soon for Eurostars to stop before/after St Pancras). So there is a joke that the only country you can get to from Stratford International...is Cyprus
Nice video Reece, well explained and you bagged the best seat - I bet so many were jealous of you that day. (I visited the original Pudding Mill Lane before it was closed and the new one opened.)
So good to see you in London. You can certainly see where Translink got it's inspiration for way-finding. And I do think London, and Translink, have the best way-finding of any transit system. I'd be interested in your opinion on that. I hope you get a chance in coming years to head north and see what Manchester is doing with "trams/LRVs, as well as Tyne and Wear Metro, and the heavy rail system under Liverpool. The lines between national trains and metros are blurred all over the UK, making for some interesting infrastructure and services.
2:58 - It's striking how low the pedestrian bridge is, thanks to the train design (no catenary). This is a huge cost/space saver and of course better for people accessing the station too.
12.28 beyond the station is a y shaped HEADSHUNT where the train moves into the bottom of the Y and the can reverse back out in the other platform. The HEADSHUNT can hold a whole train and allow another train to use the headshunt.
I rode the DLR on its first public day. There was a big delay due to a dog getting on the track between Mudchute and Island Gardens. I used it daily getting to work and have seen it grow considerably. When it was built there was nothing at Canary Wharf, just derelict docks.
I absolutely enjoyed my stay in East London (near Shadwell DLR station) thanks in part to the DLR. I also had to then take a flight from London City Airport to Paris Orly (back when BA would fly that route) and loved the trip in the front of the train with its amazing view of Canary Wharf which reminds me of Mexico City's Santa Fe district. Love the videos!
15.40 Langdon Park station is a NEW Station along this otherwise original route, it was opened in 2007 and squeezed in between the two original stations hence why it also looks different from the original blue stations.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
Fun fact: the DLR has the deepest station in central London at 41.2 meters below ground at bank station, below all the tube lines.
It’s really weird seeing these little trains at the bottom of like 4 escalators aha
That explains why it takes about 3 hours to reach the surface and exit the station!
@Transportriangle They all are! Aren't they?
@Transportriangle my fitbit did count it as 15 floors walking up to Monument!
To be fair, they are at least as big as deep level tube trains!
@@RMTransit I think they’re bigger actually, I more meant in terms of the fact light rail has such massive infrastructure, it’s kinda strange but pretty cool as well
The cross platform boarding at Greenwich is actually quite useful as it provides direct interchange for people who come from the southeastern suburbs and want to get to canary wharf for work
Yeah, I got a bit disoriented and forgot Greenwich runs east west not north south!
Isn't the most direct way from the Southeast to Canary Wharf changing from Overground to Jubilee on Canada Water?
@@matthewmatthew638 Depends where youre coming from,
@@matthewmatthew638 now you can change at Abbey Wood for the Elizabeth Line
@@matthewmatthew638 that's how I do it
Just a little missed fact: Limehouse is a *super* useful station that takes great advantage of the alignment to offer a really smart interchange to mainline services running out of Fenchurch Street. The original Tower Gateway terminus really integrated into either the tube or mainline rail (the early parts of the DLR were built on a super low Thatcher era budget with a *lot* of design compromises). As a result, commuters coming in from the east to Canary Wharf would have faced over-shooting their destination by miles *and* a really awkward out-of-station interchange. By taking advantage of the adjacent tracks at Limehouse for an interchange, commuters could get off before central London, have a simple in-station interchange to the DLR heading to Canary Wharf, and also take a much more direct route at the same time. As the DLR as now been extended into Bank, Limehouse has become even more useful as it allows passengers coming into Central London to change to the DLR to Bank, which is much more convenient for most of Central London than Fenchurch Street, and also lets them have direct access to the tube, which from Fenchurch street is a, you guessed it, convoluted out of station interchange.
Also, yep, the hunting. It's *really* bad. Again, it's just a legacy of the cheap initial build where some really janky design choices were to try and minimise land purchases and clearing, so insanely tight curves all round. A lot of the newer extensions further out (The Beckon extension, for example) have gentler curves. Unfortunately, because the old (super tight) ones lie at the heart of the system, it condemns all new rolling stock to maintain the crappy wheel geometry.
Lots of insightful comments here! Indeed it should be interesting to see how things are with the new Caf rolling stock!
Yeah hunting seems to plague a ton of automated light metro systems, the Copenhagen Metro which is my local system also suffers quite badly from a lot of hunting oscillation.
Limehouse and Westferry stations are interesting, if only for their names. What is now Limehouse was called Stepney East until just before the DLR opened in 1987 - the original Limehouse Station was located near to St Anne's Church. Westferry is named after... absolutely nothing. There was never a ferry on this stretch of the river. The name probably comes from the nearby Westferry Road which only reached the immediate area in the 1960s. The road's current name comes from being the western end of Ferry Road. The historic name for area served by Westferry Station is Limehouse Hole - I wonder why they didn't choose that? 🤔
I wonder if steerable boogies would solve that. Vancouver Skytrain uses them and had super tight curves, but the trains are smooth at their top speed of 80 km/h.
It is easy to criticise the original Thatcher budget but the return on investment she got was insane and the whole area owes it's development to that project. More expensive projects like Crossrail will never see such a return on investment because the areas it serves are already largely developed. Arguably we should be building more projects with DLR level budgets than fewer projects with Crossrail level budgets for the same money.
Woah, this system is incredible. To think this is a secondary system in London after the Tube, yet would put the primary systems of many cities to shame.
It really does! I was in London for a bit a couple years ago, and the station was less than half a mile from where I was staying. At home, the nearest train station was 3x farther away, and less frequent. Of course, I live in the us, so that might not be high praise. Still, really love this system!
There are even more systems in London. The overground and then a lot of South London relies on national rail on mainline stations (as the tube and other metro systems don't have much tracks and stations south of the river Thames). I am a fortunate fellow in Lewisham, so I have access to DLR and the mainline trains as well. Very nice. And I don't have to go deep underground or try to navigate the byzantine Bank station!
The DLR isn't even a secondary system, the Overground would take that title. Along with the Trams, it would probably be considered a tertiary system.
If you want to experience the DLR like a real Londoner does, make sure you sit up front and pretend you're driving!
As with any driverless system!!
That reminded my my visit to the London Transport Museum. One of my favorite attractions was tube train simulator, which used original driving mechanism from 1930's train cab. And it was mixed with 3D graphic simulation on the screen.
If you want to sit at the front try and sit on the right hand side as if the operator needs to drive the train they will do it from the left hand side
Even double decker buses, go upstairs and pretend you’re driving the thing.
Due to Covid though you can’t do that anymore (or at least the last time I was there you could not)
The twists and turns of the DLR amaze me! I love the looks of the rolling stock as well
Great vid as always mate
Thanks for watching! It's quite the little network!
Very enjoyable journey(s). Haven't ridden the DLR in decades so it's great to see the changes.
That's One of the other awesome things about systems like this, can see them changing over time!
It's incredible how much and how fast the system has expanded, in the first decade of the 2000s they seemed to be opening a new branch every other year. Plus the trains are now 3x the length they were originally.
@@ijmad Other UK cities would massively benefit from a system like the DLR! Relatively low budget, not much tunnelling, using existing/disused rail lines including those scrapped in the Beeching cuts, automation, flexibility, and pragmatic continuous growth...could only dream of it in Birmingham!
@@user-ed7et3pb4oWe should definitely do more things like this across the UK.
The thing the DLR had going for it was that the area was basically a disused industrial wasteland, so even the new land needed was cheap. Whereas in most British cities we would want it to serve the productive areas, which would cost a lot more (still worth it in my opinion, though).
But of course it was in large part the DLR that transformed the London docklands. Feels like it would be impossible to build something for regeneration today, though. We can't even build HS2 so "Who wants a train to nowhere?!"
I love to see videos from "driver's cabins" of networks all over the world. They are always wonderful.
But yours today is special because of all the explanations about the stuff we can see out of the front window, that we wouldn't notice without your guidance.
Awesome.
For me as a German it's sometimes a bit difficult to follow your other videos because your high speed of talking. But here the train ride determines the speed of commentary.
Continue your awesome video footage.
Thanks for your efforts and best regards.
🖐👴
Thanks so much for watching AND the kind words!
If you hit the cog symbol, in the bottom right corner of the RUclips video, yoou can slow Reece down to 0.75 speed (or slower).
@@DavidShepheard
Lol
Yeah, but the voices often sound awkward then
Thanks for the tip. 🖐👴
There is no cabin on this train the operator would have been to Reece's right or in the center of the train
@@hens0w
Hahaha. Dang.
If it's an automatic system then there's no driver of course.
So edit my "driver's cabin" into
"driver's view if there was a driver"
Or "front view"
Nevertheless I hope you understood what I meant nevertheless.
🖐👴
Thanks for informing this Londoner some new facts about the DLR even though I did take my young children to ride it on the first weekend it ran. Like me, they always enjoyed it and on her 16th birthday my daughter took her friends for a ride there. These North Londoners were most impressed as no other parents ever took their children around to show the joys of public transport.
I still have the cardboard DLR train from the Island Gardens (or was it Mudchute) shop give away (and flag and uninflated ballon) from the first day of operation.
That was quite a ride! I like a lot how DLR network combines both old and new infrastructure.
I was in London lots of times as a tourist and I know the DLR from the very first start in 1987. It's an amazing form of public transport and it had been grown far beyond any expectation. As far as I know new 6-car trainsets have been ordered to be delivered in the next few years to come. A new chapter in this London successtory.
Every Londoner probably says this, but I love the DLR as you can sit in the front and pretend you are driving the train. It also feels like a fairground ride. Love it.
Reece,
Thanks for this video. Glad you enjoyed your visit to London, my hometown.
As you remark, the original core was built on the cheap, repurposing lines closed and abandoned when the docks closed. (I walked most of the line before building started, and watched it being built.) The philosophy was that the DLR was a giant advertisement for the regeneration and the Canary Wharf development. The original core cost only £77 million which, even in the mid 80s was cheap for a transit system.
The subsequent station extensions, new trains, and the new lines cost much more.
Not to mention the £billions which the Jubilee and Elizabeth lines cost to properly service the Docklands developments originally made possible by the DLR which was quickly outgrown.
A comment not about the DLR, but about your video: the photography, editing, sound, and superb commentary made this about as good as RUclips gets for me. Thank you.
I haven't used the DLR all the way from Shadwell to Lewisham since 2009 when I went to do shopping there before Stratford Westfield opened fully. Whoever invented the DLR done an amazing job. I use to use it regularly to change to & from Canary Wharf after work too few years back from Jubilee line. There's so many new apartments everywhere now days too! The views outside were never like this over 10 years ago. DLR is also the station where I saw Magneto from the X-Men movies. He was just using it causally one late night reading his newspaper & got off at Westferry. Gave me a nod & said goodnight lol.
I love riding the DLR especially since it’s a great way to see the city thanks to its elevated sections rather than being underground or even ground level.
I love that little section of track with the sharp bend, flyover and junction near Canary Wharf. It really makes the DLR feel like a gentle fairground ride and it's my probably my favourite stretch of railway track I've ever travelled on.
I love the reflections of the tunnel light, in the center of the screen, like we are collecting coins in a racing game.
Fantastic video Reece! I love how you mentioned Selective Door operation, as it's relatively prevalent in the UK but seems less common throughout the rest of the world.
Been to UK once 21 years ago and never ridden the London underground and it's transit system. This docklands train system is a must ride
This history of train lines in the docklands in London is really interesting - wooden docks and boats were such a fire risk that unusual creative solutions were found to run trains without embers or sparks.
You're also on former railway line at Mudchute too; the system was initially on an old railway viaduct to Island Gardens, before that was rebuilt in a tunnel to allow the system to extend south of the Thames. The brick viaduct is still present next to Island Gardens.
Also, the crazy tight corner at 8:08 is the site of the 1996 Docklands bombing by the IRA.
"Crazy tight corner" is also the location of the original South Quay Station which was moved eastwards as they couldn't extend the platforms when longer trains were introduced.
Lost all my financial records that day when my files were at my accountants. The Inland Revenue accepted my estimated figures, I told them if they wanted the reciepts they would have go so sweep up the paper from the ground. (Alas also at ground level was the killed flower seller and newsagent)
Glad you enjoyed your trips on the DLR, Reece! Perhaps my favourite thing about the system is how the way it is constructed has made it comparatively cheap and easy to change and improve the system to deal with new developments and changes in demand. It’s amazing how much it has changes since it was built. I think that’s often an underestimated benefit in considering different transit systems.
This was super nerdy. I loved it!
Great to hear! I'll have to do more like this!
@@RMTransit Would be very amazing! I think it's one of my favourite videos so far (and I've never even been to London). Keep up the good work!
I would love to see a full length real-time speeded video of your different journeys on the DLR, that would be awesome!
People: So are you heavy-rail rapid transit or a light rail?
The DLR: *Yes*
As grand as that Canary Wharf station looks, it's still not as gorgeous as the murals and chandeliers at the stations on our beloved Pyongyang Metro
You are everywhere Kim
Do you play Elton John's "Rocket Man" over the pa system
in your subway stations?
@@johnwood2448 Funniest comment of the day!
So true. Will you build more of the new stock? The ex-German trains are showing their age a bit. :)
@@hammalamiri12 Second time I've seen him today. The other time was on a years old video.
The DLR is a great system, have even rode it end to end from Bank to Beckton many times before, great video
I still remember when the DLR was just two lines. I first visited in 87 and rode from Tower Hill to Island Garden. It was the most modern mode of transport compared to the Tubes stock at that time.
What the DLR has become is what Ottawa’s O Train and the Scarborough RT in Canada could have been - automated, medium capacity, high level boarding trains operated as a network. Scarborough would have been so well served by transit by now vs the Scarborough Subway extension
@reece - love the background music - nice acid jazz flavour!
I really liked this video, there's a nice editing bit at 10:14 where the music slows down as the approaching DLR train decelerates and then the next song starts as our train starts moving, it stuck out to me.
Also I'm glad you like our metro system, it completely transformed the area, it used to be a dump!
Indeed, the DLR is a great system. As you said, the hunting issue can be a bit annoying at times, but you have to love any piece of rail infra where you get to sit in the front seat. The Tyne & Wear Metro may be still on that list for now, but not for much longer as the new stock is phased in.
Oh absolutely, sitting at the front makes it at least twice as fun haha!
The new Metro stock has no front seats? That's terrible! (Actually there's really good safety reasons why the cab is accessible from the front). In years gone by I used to chat to the drivers with the door open. I think I knew most of the drivers back then. Wouldn't be allowed now.
I hadn't even noticed the hunting, isn't this going to be more of an issue on a train that needs new tyres?
That was way cool! Thank you for this.
Thank YOU for watching!
Thank you, I love the video. Been living in London my whole life and probably only ridden parts of this line 4 or 5 times.
You should get out and ride more of it!
Great explainer. I rode the DLR about 8 years ago to get from the Tower to Greenwich Observatory. The lack of turnstiles confused me at first. I remember being approached by an Irish girl who was doing a survey of DLR ridership that day. That distracted me from seeing much of the scenery going by or sitting up front - but I knew I had to get off at Cutty Sark to visit the observatory. There was also an amazing record store there near Greenwich - though priced well beyond my humble budget.
You can see the ABBA Arena (at the right) at 16:50
16:30 The Bow Curve, to name that section of track, isn't disused as such. It can be used to divert Great Eastern line trains down to Fenchurch Street in case of disruption. You can also see the occasional Elizabeth line train parked there.
It appears no OLE - does it depend on length of train to pick up at each end ?
@@highpath4776 No, it has OLE throughout.
During the period in the 1990s when the DLR was experiencing major upgrades from how the system was initially envisioned to something with much higher capacity became super unreliable (breakdowns seemed almost daily or even multiple times a days) and in addition to having to run a shadow service of double deck buses it was nicknamed the DLF - Docklands Light Failway.
Happily after the introduction of a new train control system and new trains it became reliable again ... and had gone from strength to strength
Facinating video, great way for you to use your time whilst in London, I did enjoy watching your guest appearance on one of Geoff Marshall's videos! I watched the creation of the DLR network - especially the terminus at Stratford - whilst commuting to school on the Central Line. The DLR (Docklands Light Railway, which I used to nickname "Dinky Little Railway") has certainly come of age and now is large and sophisticated enough to grace any medium sized city in it's own right. It has it's own flat fare structure whilst using the same Oyster "smart" cards for fare payment.
The Oyster card can also be used to pay to ride the cable car (that you showed early in in your video) and at a discounted price than otherwise would be paid!
It always bring a smile to my face to see the DLR logo on the trains... Same colors and overall design from afar as the RATP one for some reason.
Probably just because it wasn't really used on an existing service?
New appreciation for the planners of the TFL (?). I appreciated knowing I could get everywhere without a car when I visited. And the frequency of trains is brilliant.
This is an amazing video, The filming and your expertise are so impressive.
Really enjoyed this narrated time lapse journey video. Would like to see similar where possible.
Thank you for riding and explaining my favourite section of the DLR! It's a fascinating area of the city, and yeah, the DLR was crucial in its history. I often ride this section of line when I have time off, and have a walk around Greenwich - a truly wonderful part of London.
Nice to see that C2C got a mention.
I love this “new” format 💕
It was fun to see a different viewpoint (and learn things I didn't know) about a network I've used for oh-so many years. Just to clarify that the tunnel starts after Greenwich but it doesn't go under the Thames until after Cutty Sark. The simple (or cheap, depending on your view) underground station at Cutty Sark is a problem as it can't cope with passenger numbers - it's the most convenient station for tourists to Greenwich. This is due to the peculiar history of the extension from Island Gardens to Lewisham. It was designed, financed and built by a private company called City, Greenwich and Lewisham (CGL) Rail. TfL only gained control of this section of the line in 2021. Pudding Mill Lane is the largest station on the DLR so it can handle crowds going to the London Stadium on the Olympic Park and, as from last month, those going to the new ABBA arena.
I can recall when Pudding Mill Lane served very little apart from a cheap bed warehouse !
An outstanding video! Quite fascinating. Music appropriate too
I tried the DLR about last week between Cutty Sark and Bank and I can say it is really convenient, as it is frequent, reliable, fast, and it's all automatically operated. An overall great asset for TFL
Nice little video of out little auto-train in London - glad you managed to get out and have a play on it. BTW the disused railway line at Bow Church when the DLR singles, isn't disused...actually provides a link between Stratford and London Fenchurch Street for c2c services which divert at times, but given it's adhoc, mother nature encroaches back across the iron road
Mostly disused! It doesn't seem like C2C would have to divert too often haha
@@RMTransit I presume if it is C2C they would run to Stratford from Barking via the Gospel Oak line (as they do twice an hour anyway - for a service into Liverpool Street normally). There would be a scheduled diversion though once a week prob ECM for driver familiarisation .
Another related snippet - there was once planned to be a regular Fenchurch Street - Stratford shuttle service, which never came to be. Two bay platforms were built at Stratford for this, but left unused for several decades, until one became the first DLR platform. This is why there is no platform 7 there.
@@andrewstevenson72 A Fenchurch Street - Stratford-Barking - Barking Creek would have been interesting - the problem early was the level crossing/s in Barking until rebuilt as Bridge , and most workers in Barking would have used trams or buses in cheaper preference
Awesome video Reece.....love all the explainers along the way!
Vancouver by train video is awesome indeed!
A superb video very enjoyable thanks!
Thanks for watching!
So glad you enjoyed your trip to London and got to ride out on the DLR in the front seat no less! One of the little quirks I love is that the two far Eastern Branches are actually visible from one another for quite some time, such as when arriving into London City Airport station where you can actually see the line to Beckon via Custom House and the Excel Arena....to take a train between the two would take around 10 to 15 minutes with a change at Canning Town, and yet you could probably walk it in 5
Great video Reece. Nice to see you covering the UK :) I always love going on the DLR. It's so different to the rest of the TFL network. Sitting at the front and weaving through the skyscrapers is way cooler than being in a tunnel. Interesting comment about the hunting. I have to say, I've never really noticed it. I will watch out for it next time I'm over that side of town!
What a fascinating little system. I love that it basically serves as a secondary little Metro for London. More cities could use a system like this as connective tissue for places where giant metro trains and stations don't necessarily fit.
The gantry seen on the left just before Greenwich station was a lifting bridge which carries the rail lines over Deptford Creek. It hasn’t opened in many years, and the rails are now continuous across it, so it couldn’t possibly lift now.
This is so chill and calm the dlr is kinda a vibe in the evening
As you've noted, it's remarkable how much the DLR has evolved with time. Originally built to attract businesses in to Canary Wharf (which was seen as a failed post-industry/port derelict zone at the time), it was built on an absolute shoe string of a budget - costed at £77m for the original Tower Hill/Isle of Dogs/Stratford Y-Network. Without much optimism around the Canary Wharf development at the time (amazing to say that looking back from 2022), an 8tph service with only 1 unit of those articulated trainsets on each service was sufficient (hence the Y-junction at West India Quay being perfectly sufficient to start with, and hence why several platforms are now too short to accommodate the 3-unit trainsets now operating the services). The rest, as they say, is history, with massive development leading to such success and high employment in Canary Wharf that the DLR had to be continually expanded, and then requiring the assistance of a Jubilee tube line to get people in & out. The whole story is a testament to "get something built, and then improve it instead of going for a gold plated solution to start with", and "provide infrastructure, and developments will follow".
Aw you went past my apartment at Crossharbour. Next time come and have a coffee!
Great to see you being able to travel again. Awesome vid!
Such a cool system. Thanks for the great video.
I used to live in that purple housing development at Deptford Bridge.
It’s called OneSE8 which is based on the postcode SE8 - which is quite funny as that’s where the marketing suite was but the actual development was in SE13. 😂
Outstanding video! It's nifty to get the tour, and I love the technical shoutouts sprinkled in along the way.
amazing, a new video! :)
I agree!
I enjoyed this ride very much. Your attention to detail and information was none stop. Pardon the pun. From single tracking to hunting, this video is very informative. It reminded me of the forced single tracking in Vancouver for bridge work. The video was too short. Cheers.
Best video yet. Always loved looking at track this way.
The section between East India and Poplar, it's basically a cheap rollercoaster ride, laterally and vertically its very bumpy but really fun!
Yep
I'm surprised you didn't mention the cross platform transfers between different lines at Poplar where people coming up from Canary Wharf can change onto trains to Canning Town, Beckton, London City Airport and Woolwich Arsenal and people coming down from Stratford and Bow Church can change onto trains to Bank and Tower Gateway.
2.55 there are gates at Woolwich Arsenal, Bank, Stratford and Canning Town and West Ham Stations.
That c2c service at Stratford is super rare! Nice footage!
At 16:40 the overgrown line to the left is still used occasionally for diversions or for running two of the 4 fenchurch street to shoeburyness services per hour via Stratford to serve Westfield, It's also sometimes used to store a spare crossrail unit in peak hours. Also along there is the former station of bow road (which to make everyone's life difficult was not related to Bow road on the district which was built by the GER for competition against the North London Railways station at Bow (Effectively Now Bow Church) with the north London railways line going effectively in a straight line from where the DLR singles to about halfway between Stratford and Homerton.
Also the line between Westferry and Shadwell uses the original viaduct of the London and Blackwall railway and there are still a little bit of the original platforms of the ger station on the Limehouse side of Shadwell.. anyways that is probably enough pointless information for one day.
It's been a thoroughly good video to watch
Back when I was in london, i use dlr to go from central london to greenwich, and its such a breathtaking experience! It takes a long time, and i somehow misstook my stop!🤣😭😭
Man, I really need to visit London one of these days. Actually, a massive British Rail holiday would be awesome. I'm absolutely obsessed with British rail, Passenger, and freight love it all.
TFL is so generous, making this great system free!
It's not free, you get a reduced fare if you are below 18 or over 65, and you have to pay full price of you are between those ages, if you don't qualify for any fare reductions.
@@SirPoppy OP is joking about how there isn’t fare gates.
@@KhanPiesseONE the staff often check tickets/Oyster Cards so you are unlikely to get away with fare dodging.
@@caw25sha In Manchester the bus provider had to stop selling one day passes on its app, because fare dodgers were buying them only when inspectors boarded. (With GPS data of course they could still be caught).
Also remember if you forget to touch out you get charged maximum fare and only have six weeks to appeal it.
Absolutely excellent video mate, I was riveted. This is a line I have traversed many a time, and it was super nostalgic to ride it again, although a lot has changed since I was last there. I wish you the best for your channel, you have a new subscriber.
I actually just watched the Vancouver vid yesterday before heading to bed what a coincidence haha
Awesome!
Thanks for the trip home Reece, haven't been back to ol' blighty in some time.
17.16 Pudding Mill Lane existed but was rebuilt and moved to make room for the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail) and to accommodate the huge number of passengers to use West Ham Stadium previously the Olympic Stadium.
DLR is brilliant. I always enjoy a ride on the DLR.
Interesting, informative and to the point, as always. Thank you.
This video was amazing. Thanks for sharing your time and talent.
Excellent video.
Cool production 👌
One small correction. The ‘disused’ track shown just after Bow Church station is only partially disused. It very rarely sees passenger trains but it is still used occasionally, I actually took a train over that section a few weeks ago.
Is it one of the links into Fenchurch street ? I could not see OLE on it ?
@@highpath4776 Yes, it connects the Fenchurch street line with the Liverpool Street line. It has OLE.
This is a really interesting video. I thought I knew almost everything about the DLR, but I learned a lot from watching this video.
Being raised in the midwestern United States, I am a little overwhelmed by all the transit options. Anything beyond car, bus, taxi, or walk, I find a little confusing.
Also one thing the building of DLR platforms at bank station forced the DLR to build new stock in the early 90s as the original ones didn't meet fire proof regulations
I believe the original DLR trains have been converted are still in use in Germany in the town of Essen I believe
Man, seeing you pretend to drive the train by being up-front makes me miss the R32s here in NY even more...yeah they were old, but they were a beaut. And despite the name International, Stratford International doesn't actually have any international services (because they felt that it was too soon for Eurostars to stop before/after St Pancras). So there is a joke that the only country you can get to from Stratford International...is Cyprus
Nice video Reece, well explained and you bagged the best seat - I bet so many were jealous of you that day. (I visited the original Pudding Mill Lane before it was closed and the new one opened.)
So good to see you in London. You can certainly see where Translink got it's inspiration for way-finding. And I do think London, and Translink, have the best way-finding of any transit system. I'd be interested in your opinion on that. I hope you get a chance in coming years to head north and see what Manchester is doing with "trams/LRVs, as well as Tyne and Wear Metro, and the heavy rail system under Liverpool. The lines between national trains and metros are blurred all over the UK, making for some interesting infrastructure and services.
Poplar also has the DLR control centre, where the operations are monitored or when necessary manual control, announcements can be made from
2:58 - It's striking how low the pedestrian bridge is, thanks to the train design (no catenary). This is a huge cost/space saver and of course better for people accessing the station too.
Another great video. It was cool riding the DLR to Custom House for the Excel when Destination Star Trek was on last year. Klingons on the DLR! 😂
12.28 beyond the station is a y shaped HEADSHUNT where the train moves into the bottom of the Y and the can reverse back out in the other platform. The HEADSHUNT can hold a whole train and allow another train to use the headshunt.
Your SkyTrain video is one of my favourites! This one was really well made too, it would be great to see more like this in the future
I rode the DLR on its first public day. There was a big delay due to a dog getting on the track between Mudchute and Island Gardens.
I used it daily getting to work and have seen it grow considerably. When it was built there was nothing at Canary Wharf, just derelict docks.
wow what an excellent overview
Nice Underground lightbox, Reece. I bought myself the same one for my birthday last year. Currently have it displaying Piccadilly Circus 🤓
I absolutely enjoyed my stay in East London (near Shadwell DLR station) thanks in part to the DLR. I also had to then take a flight from London City Airport to Paris Orly (back when BA would fly that route) and loved the trip in the front of the train with its amazing view of Canary Wharf which reminds me of Mexico City's Santa Fe district. Love the videos!
Great video. ☺️
15.40 Langdon Park station is a NEW Station along this otherwise original route, it was opened in 2007 and squeezed in between the two original stations hence why it also looks different from the original blue stations.
Great Video, Reece! I love this types of videos and your narration was excellent.