Battersea's Bullet Train

Shot!

[rupep]

Perhaps the power station should have housed parliament for it's own renovation? It too has 2 halls generating hot air...

[Diptera_Larvae]

The irony of spending money to build a fake built train, and then cut spending on an actual high speed rail is hilarious.

[DeathInTheSnow]

I did enjoy listening to Jago saying "abandoned" with such wild abandon today.

[Julius_Hardware]

I confess I was hoping for "You are the up-market shopping mall to my derelict industrial structure"

[ricequackers]

It gives me real "we have Shinkansen at home" vibes.

[nickbarber]

When the power station closed in 1983, the CEGB (as was) was approached by the Science Museum to buy the building for use for their larger exhibits which were mainly in storage so could not be seen by the general public in ordinary circumstances.
As both were public bodies it was assumed the sale would be at "mates' rates" and negotiations were cordial and well-advanced.
But the then PM (and friend of John Broome) Margaret Thatcher insisted that the site be sold at open market rates to get the best deal for the taxpayer, so the scheme never went ahead...

[highpath]

my mother said I was built to be as attractive as possible, and indeed even today many of my heritage indoor and outdoor features have been conserved

[katrinabryce]

I guess if it had gone ahead the trains would probably have ended up looking more like the Hong Kong MTR trains that go to Disneyland.

[dodgydruid]

It always upset me as a very young kiddie me nan taking us to Battersea park and the old fun fair was derelict and being dismantled :( She was fond of the park as in her youth it had been her local her being a Vauxhall girl from a powerful costamongering family of Cooper's of Vauxhall and passed in 89 at 105. Awesome old matriarch who no doubt saw the dismantlement of her world and thankful perhaps she missed the worst that came...

[benwilliams]

An alternative history of the dereliction of Battersea's 'palace of power' as it was called by its more lyrical fans begins with its closing and a small feeding frenzy amongst London developers. This emboldened Labour Wandsworth Council to listen to local residents and state that they will refuse planning permission for any development involving luxury apartments, hotels or conference facilities. They demanded that the development must be open and community oriented. The feeding frenzy died pretty quickly after that and after a year or so the council, who were keen to regenerate that scruffy working class area started pushing to get something going. There were a bunch of plans involving hotels, conference centres etc with small amounts of retail and leisure and the council were under a bit of pressure to pick the least bad option before the building deteriorated.
When the massive theme park/leisure centre plan came along, answering all their hopes they leapt at it, though plenty of locals were extremely skeptical that it would ever happen. And, sure enough, once the developer had got far enough along that the council couldn't say no, they announced that their original plan was not feasible at they would resubmit plans including a hotel and conference centre with a small leisure arena tacked on. To the credit of the Council the said no. The developer pulled out and abandonned the power station with its roof roof gone and made no attempt to protect the structure.
The building deteriorated.
Eventually, under threat of prosecution for failing to maintain their listed building, the developer was induced to sell it back to the council, who paid for vital remediation work then started trying again to solicit plans for this now much degraded building. Having made so much of their wish for a community oriented development the Council again tried to pick the least bad plan, offering the site (a large, prime site on the river near Central London, remember) essentially for free. The next developer presented a decent plan with shopping and leisure and a small hotel and a few flats. They got to work tearing down the east wall and then announced that their plan wasn't doable and they wanted to expand the hotel and conference centre bit and delete the community areas from their plan. I think that the council (which had flipped from labour to conservative) wanted to agree but the residents were up in arms, after all this time and money to end up with a worse version of what was originally rejected out of hand.
The second developer's bluff was called and they handed back the site to the council again, now completely exposed to the elements. The building deteriorated more.
Years later the now very Conservative Wandsworth council and their much gentrified Battersea (pronounced ba-TER-see-AH) did, I believe try to get developers interested in converting the shell to a facade for a block of luxury flats (the demographic shift meant that the council was too secure to have to listen to the locals who were in any case much more yuppy by now) but the building was considered a money pit and no-one would go near it until the house prices really started to spiral out of control.
It is a matter of great surprise to most locals that the building wasn't conveniently declared unsafe (or even more conveniently burned up) and demolished to make way for yet another brushed steel and glass edifice.
And now we get the cheer and clap at a development of million pound apartments, a hotel and conference facility and a shopping arcade just like we always hoped.

(This is just the gist of the story from memories of local newspaper articles, council reports and gossip from when I lived in Wandsworth. Probably inaccurate, except for the pronounciation of Battersea. I heard new arrivals say it thus, unironically.)

[rayhenwood]

Glad to hear the vocals are back to normal.

[Noah-hbmu]

“The bullet was a misfire” is such a good line lmao

[eddavis]

My recent stay on Emu Road just south of Battersea had me using both bus and tube in this neighborhood. Much better transport connections than originally feared. Thank you for taking the time to post and share…CHEERS!!! 🍻

[jamesgilbart]

It's great that Battersea Power Station has found a new use and the long-derelict site is active again. Shame that the structure itself has been screened on two sides by apartment buildings that obscure the view from trains going in and out of Victoria.

[sunjamm]

So the Battersea's Bullet was going to beat with the idea of windows as screens, Universal Studios with their Hogwarts Express. Great video Jago

[millennialchicken]

Another Battersea fact: the "I wonder where that fish has gone" sketch from Monty Pyrhon's Meaning of Life was filmed in one of Battersea's control rooms

[MattMcIrvin]

This reminds me a bit of the "Hogwarts Express" connecting the two Harry Potter-themed areas at the Universal Orlando theme parks--themed like the train from the books and movies, with projected images on the fake windows and compartment partitions, but it's really a sort of cable-hauled people mover traveling quite a short distance. The main business case for it being that to ride it, you need to buy two-park admission for the day since it connects them.

And the touchscreen business reminds me of the elaborate information/reservation system originally installed at Disney's EPCOT, which apparently had infrared-based touchscreen displays and live operators you could talk to by video chat. You could make restaurant reservations, though only within EPCOT, which sounds like it was a source of frustration for guests who were going to other parks at the resort. Very futuristic for the early 1980s, though.

[Alan_UK]

I was using auto generated captions and "Battersea" was changed to "battery", so I first thought you would be taking about a battery train which seemed odd for central London! Still, an interesting video Jago.

On another thought looking at the redeveloped Battersea Power Station: why do developers get greedy and want to add an additional floor to the top of historic buildings. Bradford on Avon has some historic old mills converted to shops and apartments. It's great to see old buildings repurposed but they now seem architecturally marred to me. It's very common practice. I'm sure they would be economic development without.

[barneypaws]

I remember watching Blue Peter back in the 80's when they were in the process of "transforming" the power station into a theme park. There seemed much excitement at the time but obviously it came to nothing.

[software-architect]

Thanks for this curious could-have-been story.
And the pun in the end is iconic, as usual 😁