Panoramas Around Albert & Victoria Docks: More panoramas I made in July 1994 on and around the Beckton Extension of the DLR, getting off the train at each stop, taking a walk around and making a few pictures before boarding the train again
One of the few pictures I made with a deliberate tilt of the camera in order to get the whole circle of the roundabout in the image. As you can see this results in a curved horizon.
The DLR stations on the elevated line often provided a useful viewpoint. Along the horizon here at left you can see the church at Silvertown, then the Silvertown Flyover. Around the centre are the mills on Royal Victoria Dock, then the more distant Canary Wharf and past that the Grade II listed 1881 Connaught Tavern. At right is the Compressor House, built in 1914 as a cold store for the dock.
A view through the front window of a DLR train which shows the Compressor House next to the Royal Albert Dock Station and the long stretch of the Royal Albert Dock. At the left are the houses of West Beckton. At right is London City Airport with a couple of planes.
A view from the side of the train as it goes across Connaught Road looking over the recently built cable stayed swing bridge with reinforced concrete approach viaducts, opened around 1990. It replaced an earlier swing bridge built in 1904 to carry both the road and the North Woolwich Railway across the Connaught Passage between the Royal Victoria and Royal Albert Docks. The small octagonal building to the left of the bridge pumps water from the Connaught Tunnel, originally by hydraulic pumps but now by electric pumps. This was replaced by a larger circular structure when the tunnel was rebuilt for the Crossrail.
The DLR line runs beside Victoria Dock Road and this picture was made from Custom House Station and shows the junction with Freemasons Rd. Further along Victoria Dock Road you can see The Missions to Seaman Institute, Flying Angel House, built in red-brick Art Deco style in 1936. It closed in 1973 and after being used for some time as a college was converted into flats.
The western end of Royal Victoria Dock which closed in 1981. This picture was taken roughlky from where the cable car ride now has its northern terminal. The dockside sheds have been replaced by tall waterside blocks – around 17 storeys. There are still some of the old cranes on the quayside.
More panoramas from 1994 to follow.
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