As Jago explains in the video, the original 1987 Pudding Mill Lane was just a passing siding on the single track between Bow Church and Stratford stations. I was a member of the original team that built the DLR, and it would be imaginative to think that Pudding Mill Lane was originally thought of as a possible future station. The real reason Pudding Mill Lane even existed was train headway, the time between successive trains. The single track section would have resulted in a minimum of 30 minutes between trains at Stratford, allowing each train time to go from Bow Curve to Stratford, dwell there for passengers, and then return to Bow Curve, allowing the next train to make the journey. That long a minimum headway between trains was unacceptable ... a passing siding was needed ... and it's no coincidence that Pudding Mill Lane is almost exactly half-way along the single-track section between Bow Curve and Stratford station, making it the perfect place to reduced minimum headway to an acceptable number. Of course, over the years, things have changed. But it's important to remember why things were originally done on the DLR, originally called "the toy train to nowhere", built for just 77 million pounds (about the cost today to build one or two underground stations). Look how the DLR has matured.
Meanwhile, here in NY, NYC still cannot figure out A. how to connect the airports to the subways and/or light rail AirTrain routes (minus the one from JFK to Jamaica Queens) and B. how to put up light rail or trams in and around Queens-Brooklyn, etc. or other boroughs. It's really sad. And further meanwhile, out here on Long Island, we have the LIRR, which is fine as long as you don't have to go north and south (!), since you can't, LOL, or, you don't mind only maybe 3 trains a day out way east to Suffolk County and the Hamptons, where the service is spotty at best and takes hours.
I am not surprised it was called that. I took the DLR in the 80s before anything was built next to the stations. Station after station with no obvious purpose. Was still fun to sit at the front of course!
It's timing you can't control - or serendipity. My latest video shows a jogger running across one of the scenes, which I had no idea would happen, but I love it!
What would make Pudding Mill Lane far more useful would be a walking and cycling bridge over the river and A12 from the end of Wick Lane that got cut off by the A12 construction. This would make it accessible from the nearby (as the crow flies) Bow Quarter and surrounding area that are much more densely packed with residential developments but are currently cut off from it by the 3 barriers of main line train tracks, the river and the duel carriage way. I don't live there I just think it would be good at providing a nice short cut for cyclist coming into the city along the Green Way.
Literally just submitted my final uni project in urban design, masterplanning the exact bit of land at 1:01... then Jago goes and uploads this about 30mins after I submitted - what a coincidence (I'm kinda scared ngl!!!)
7:30 Jago - mate - Abba songs are some of the most harmonically complex and popular pop songs of all time. Not my favourite form of music, but these guys could write. All the best Jago for the festive season.
I don't remember that station building being there, only something much smaller. Turns out that decades rocket by so fast for me these days that each time I revisit the old stamping grounds of my youth, it seems like I have passed into an alternative universe.
being from east london, ive always had a soft spot for pudding mill lane. sure its definitely too big for its surrounding area at the moment and ive never been there when there was more than five people at once but it can for sure be said to be a necessary stop between the otherwise too large a gap between stratford and bow church. planning for the future must be the reason for its size due to the vast amount of untouched concrete fields surrounding the far sides of the london stadium as I can imagine these all being swallowed up by real estate developers in the coming years. stratfords skyline is starting to mirror canary wharfs skyscraper haven and I'm not sure how much I'm liking it
having just moved to east london and going to sixth form in stratford, the size of stratford station alone was overwhelming... imagine my shock finding out about stratford high st, stratford intl and all that... so much transit... and the massive bus station
The visitors to the station must be grateful that TFL answered Pudding Mill Lane station's call to "take a chance on me", but ultimately it came down to money money money.
Sadly the local council, Newham, has done nothing to maximise the opportunity to showcase the borough to all those visitors. The pavements, gardens, and general amenity is a weed infested dump.Thankfully TFL in this instance "elevates" the transport experience with a relatively attractive DLR station.
My ex-wife used to have a job on Marshgate lane (road next to Pudding Mill) in an import/export company about 40 years ago. The entire area has been leveled and is slowly being rebuilt.
I watched the construction of the new station and tracks to make way for the Elizabeth Line. It was a great piece of engineering to watch on a daily basis
Good to see that you included the fact that the new station is the second Pudding Mill Lane station, and the reason for the rebuild. Also I have been to the Abba Vorgey, and I have noticed that the Holograms are becoming self aware. As they have written a new Abba song, called Pudding Mill Lane How We Miss You.
Thank you for the insights, the vids you're slinging! Thanks for the all the joy they're bringing! 'Who could live without them?', I ask in all honesty. What would life be without a tale from the tube what are we? So I say thank you for the viddies! For giving them to meeeeee....
Yes that area is being redeveloped but, as you say, slowly. You have a gift for understatement that I admire in all your videos. 'Slowly', here, means roughly that it would lose a race against a tortoise trying to climb a down escalator.
It's all being staggered. There's an abundance of development going on around Stratford City already. If they do all the development at the same time, they saturate the market and bring the housing prices down. Developers aren't going to do that.
A friend of mine used to know some people who were squatting the arches under Pudding Mill Lane station some years ago. Those then rented out the rooms for techno parties. The station made the parties very accessible.
It's such a shame that the original Pudding Mill building is lost in the mists of time. Buried in one of my many boxes of books is a copy of the Lost rivers of London that probably references the old water way. It is possible that there is a sketch of the Mill. Anyhoo, seasons' greetings - yes I am one of "those people" - and thank you for another entertaining year.
Sometimes it's a lease thing. The previous owner will still technically own the land but be happy to accept money to level what's on it, then they need to wait for their lease to lapse if they don't want to buy it out. It's cheaper to just flatten it and wait most of the time. There are other reasons too of course, but this is one of many!
Not the only place that happens. Here in Chicago, Grand Central Station was closed and knocked down in 1971...they just started construction on something in that huge vacant space last year.
Pudding Mill Lane is a handy back door to the London Stadium. It's a bit more of a walk but it's far less congested thean Stratford on a match day. Happy Christmas!
Yep, it's a great option for away fans too as you are perfectly placed to get to the DLR station from the away section. The crowd management at Stratford station has always been hideous whenever I've naively tried leaving that way, and once I realised I could use PML, there was no other thought.
@@alangood8190This sentiment exactly, but I tend to use Hackney Wick when going to Stratford on an event day. It makes more sense for me given I live on the WAML.
Merry Christmas, Jago. I hope Santa brings you an appreciation of ABBA; I'm quite surprised that you have laboured through life without knowing the joys of ABBA. Most artistes and groups have maybe two or three great songs along with a lot of mediocre ones . ABBA is different because Bjorn is a wordsmith with great insight into human emotions and Benny is a superb musician. Together they knew the girls voices so well that they could compose songs around the vocal ranges of Agnetha and Anna-frid. Together ABBA were not just a group but a well oiled music machine. They were also pleasant on the eyes, two of them anyway.
I suspect a 'click bite' re the ABBA comment by JH 🤔 ..I'm generally 'Rock & Metal' to the core , but like many followers of the worlds best palindrome , I just get 'em , and so do Metallica [ see their version of 'Dancing Queen 🤘. ]As a side the queues outside PML following 'Voyage were easily swallowed by the station , planners got it right re future use .
Pudding Mill Lane station was tiny, until its rebuild after the Olympics. I used it depending on what part of the Olympic building site I needed to get to, or the Stratford Westfield site.
The original station, roughly on the site now occupied by the tunnel mouths for Crossrail, was a narrow island platform on a passing loop on the single line between Bow Church and Stratford. Given how close it was to the Olympic Park, it was inadequate in terms of platform capacity and train length (it wasn't long enough for the 3 car upgrade from the time even before it closed, before replacement by the current station). It's almost as though the current station is everything its predecessor wasn't, futureproof length, side platforms and completely enclosed from the weather. In some ways, it makes me think of how the original station at Aldgate East was described. Despite having 4 platforms, the original Aldgate East station, which opened in 1884, had a cramped layout, where after electrification it was impossible to accommodate a full length train without fouling the junctions at either end of the site, causing huge disruption. This is why the current station, dating from 1938, is located after Aldgate East Junction and the platforms are as long and expansive as they are (they wanted to head off problems caused by future train length increases)
Abba Voyage employee here..Yes its on a short lease..but given how very successful its been and the hugely positive impact its had (driving money into the local economy and jobs created) i think they are eyeing an extension on that. Its not a 'hologram' show..its super high def LED screens. Merry Christmas Jago.
@@ballyhigh11 Maybe it will become like the London Eye, a temporary attraction for "5 years maximum" for the Millennium. Or indeed the temporary Eiffel Tower for the Paris 1889 Exhibition. And even the Dome was useful in the end.
Must be a very rare instance of a station being built because of a new railway line (the Elizabeth line) that isn't actually on the line that caused it to be built. Maybe it's the only time that has happened? Someone in the comments section will know.
The doubling of tracks was originally to stop their being a bottle neck as the single track/platform at Stratford neede to have a place for incoming DLR trains to wait while the platform was occupied. The who of the Bow flyover area has long been the subject of regeneration plans in terms of housing - When I worked for LU there were proposed plans for a deep level station on the Central to cope with the forcast increase of population and this was before the Olympics was on the cards. Seeveral office blocks had already been convetrted to flast and the luxury flats at the converted Bryant and May matvh factory at Bow was also part of the thinking.
Hi Jago, thanks for covering this one... I'm a long time viewer/ first time commentator: me n' Lizzie passed by this station towards the end of our walk around the Capital Ring. We detoured from the NOSE hoping to find a wee spot (which we did, but not in the station itself...) I'd be very curious to see your take on the Capital Ring and especially the Northern Outfall Sewer Embankment- Yes that is the real acronym... I don't know the name of the engineer/ wag who coined the term, but let's just say LEGEND!!! Here's wishing you and all your viewers a very merry one!!!
Yeah this is my local station! My flat was in a clip, but I’d say it already has been worth its building. It is the easiest action to get to for staff, in particular, on West Ham match days and abba voyage is actually packed out 8 times a week ( even if you don’t like the songs Mr Hazzard!) so it’s very busy pre and post show. Also… it’s just a really nice modern station!
Years ago when I was super poor, I would walk to Pudding Mill Lane station because it was in Zone 2, rather than Zone 3 like Stratford was. Saved be me a bit of money at the time!
I was at Pudding Mill Lane only last week to see Abba Voyage. One of the Abba holograms even makes fun of the station name during the show. It's a nice modern station with large platforms but does feel like it's in the middle of nowhere. Merry Christmas all.
Actually "pudding" is the tradename for butchers' offals, so theGreat Fire of London did not start in a bakery, but in a pudding boiler's factory, devoted to the disposal of butcher's offals.
Merry Christmas Mr Hazzard! It came to me when watching the footage of abba voyage - have the police ever approached you for filming transport infrastructure and tourist sights? Have you earned many subscribers in the flesh explaining?
Would it be funny if in the future, they still need to expand the station to the point of being as big as Fenchurch street station/Waterloo Station, making it bigger and grander... and they still kept it's original name.
Merry Christmas Jago and may all your wishes come true in 2024, thank you for all the hard work in producing this very fine collection of videos; social historians will thank you also in 100 years.
If we can access them, that is ... since technology changes so rapidly. Things that I archived on to 5.25" and 3,5" floppy disks and CD-ROM are now almost inaccessible. Fortunately I kept the versions on old-fashioned technology known as hard-copy printouts, aka paper. Likewise books.
Luckily there are no holograms at the ABBA Arena, just ABBAtars, so you're safe :) But you should give the show a go sometime, even if you're not into ABBA - it's rather impressive. All the land in the area is being sold for housing.
Normally almost deserted but It can get busy. I occasionally cycle or walk to it from Hackney Wick along the Greenway. One Sunday afternoon it was so busy they had marshals restricting entry because the platforms were becoming dangerously full.
"I've seen enough Star Trek to know the dangers of rogue holograms. They might develop self-awareness and attack humans... ...or worse, write more ABBA songs." LOL! Best line of the entire video!
Merry Christmas Jago and thanks for years of humorous yet very informative content! Have been in London two times in my life (in fact, I live in another country) so those videos have not really a practical use for me at the moment, yet I subcribed a long time ago and never regretted it. Keep the content comming good man!
Thanks for all the awesome content in 2023, Jago, and hope you enjoy your Christmas pudding, whether at Pudding Mill, Pudding Lane, or elsewhere. Kind regards and best wishes to you for 2024.
Thank you for this preferred holiday presentation. It is very pretty and a good step forward in a future gentrified area. Excellent station background.
Hi Jago from Spain. A video from you is always welcome, especially when it wanders around areas with which I am familiar. A very merry Chrissy Mouse to you and yours.
Nice to see the old flat I rented at 2.02. I think the landlord is still after me for the hundreds of bedbugs that were left when I moved out. But who can say if I was responsible for them being there in the first place.😄
A typically sharply observed Jago video. Thank you for all your work in 2023. You've kept us amused and informed. Is there anything left for 2024 I wonder?
Don’t know if Lawrence from “Lost in the Pond” has done anything, but pudding is one of those things that are very different in the US as opposed to the UK. Thank you Jason, and happy holidays and merry Christmas and happy new year to all.
Was using it to access Fish Island via the Northern Outfall until the whole area was locked down not long before the Olympics - the walking route through the arches of the Great Eastern viaduct used to change on a regular basis \m/
That's a nice light rail station. I noticed that the station signage there is very similar to the station signage utilized by the MBTA of Boston Massachusetts USA to identify its subway (underground), light rail (tramway), and commuter rail stations.
Alot of apartments went up in the area before the 2012 Olympics. I was renting one in 2009 on Stratford road (on the left at 2:47!), Pudding mill lane was my closest station to get to Stratford. Alway very quite.
PML station will be pretty busy eventually. The land around it you showed already has stuff approved for most of its plots, and including the rest(including where ABBA is) will be 2,000+ homes total. Then on the north side of it where the cement place is I think either Newham or LLDC are currently designing a masterplan for that area too which will probably be another 2,000 homes. Suprised you didn't mention how it's the only station you can arrive to by boat when there's heavy rain(it gets very bad flooding from the rivers, videos on youtube of it)
Oh and it has its DLR frequency almost doubled last year I think. Once the new trains arrive next year it can have the doubled frequency and 3 car long trains so the capacity will be nice and high too.
They should've built the ABBA Voyage arena at Waterloo. It would have been much more apt. Can't see a song called "Pudding Mill Lane" being quite as catchy somehow. lol
It was nice to hear the word 'flat' used as a unit of accommodation rather than the US word, 'apartment', so beloved of estate agents. Let's protect UK English!
It's interesting to see the lack of development in that area. I noticed on my commutes two office buildings in particular that have been derelict for around thirty years. This is an odd thing, I've seen sporadically in London, well connected places derelict for decades. I wonder why.
How could you fail to mention its huge use by a few thousand, as a station to get to the London stadium every couple of weeks? That justifies it's size alone.
When I used to work at that stadium that was always my go to station to use Avoid Stratford and because I lived (still live) in SE London the DLR was also useful lol
@@bighamster2 Wembley Park is the worst lol Well I lied second worst, the worst station next to a stadium in London easily is Twickenham this one will have you regretting going to watch England play lol
Pudding Mill Lane’s huge capacity is not even nearly enough after a West Ham game! Lots of people walk there rather than fighting to get on a DLR at Stratford. Queuing goes on for 10s of metres outside the station and it’s ram packed inside. From personal experience, some train have even stopped at the station, filled up then been cancelled as it was too dangerous to run the service!
I believe away supporters who have watched their team play my beloved Hammers are often corralled there by the local constabulary after a game of Association Football.
As Jago explains in the video, the original 1987 Pudding Mill Lane was just a passing siding on the single track between Bow Church and Stratford stations.
I was a member of the original team that built the DLR, and it would be imaginative to think that Pudding Mill Lane was originally thought of as a possible future station.
The real reason Pudding Mill Lane even existed was train headway, the time between successive trains. The single track section would have resulted in a minimum of 30 minutes between trains at Stratford, allowing each train time to go from Bow Curve to Stratford, dwell there for passengers, and then return to Bow Curve, allowing the next train to make the journey. That long a minimum headway between trains was unacceptable ... a passing siding was needed ... and it's no coincidence that Pudding Mill Lane is almost exactly half-way along the single-track section between Bow Curve and Stratford station, making it the perfect place to reduced minimum headway to an acceptable number.
Of course, over the years, things have changed. But it's important to remember why things were originally done on the DLR, originally called "the toy train to nowhere", built for just 77 million pounds (about the cost today to build one or two underground stations). Look how the DLR has matured.
Meanwhile, here in NY, NYC still cannot figure out A. how to connect the airports to the subways and/or light rail AirTrain routes (minus the one from JFK to Jamaica Queens) and B. how to put up light rail or trams in and around Queens-Brooklyn, etc. or other boroughs. It's really sad. And further meanwhile, out here on Long Island,
we have the LIRR, which is fine as long as you don't have to go north and south (!), since you can't, LOL, or, you don't mind only maybe 3 trains a day out way east
to Suffolk County and the Hamptons, where the service is spotty at best and takes hours.
I am not surprised it was called that. I took the DLR in the 80s before anything was built next to the stations. Station after station with no obvious purpose. Was still fun to sit at the front of course!
Frequency pre 1996 on the "Red Route" was Every 15 minutes I believe
Did it run within budget?
@@paultidd9332 AFIK, the original DLR was very close to completing on budget maybe a few % over.
Why is it so big?
Because the flour reacts with the yeast and releases oxygen, causing the pudding to rise.
And pretty soon the buildings will rise. Commercial, residential or whatever, the location is too valuable to leave vacant for long.
D'ough!
Only TFL would close a station because it was becoming too popular...
CO2 not Oxygen. If we want to become carbon neutral then we have to stop eating bread, drinking beer and spirits.
Yeast eats sugar and releases carbon dioxide, causing dough to rise. Just saying.
I think there are no road signs in that area in case we are invaded and the absence of directions will confuse the enemy. .
Along with the tank traps on the adjacent Greenway.
Its a defence against ABBA holograms, don't forget to wear ear covers.
@@stephenlee5929Fear not, they will meet their Waterloo.
Surely any potential invaders would be unable to get past the M25 car park?
@@stephenlee5929 That's ABBysmal!
It wasn't a mill that made puddings?
My disappointment is immeasurable and I want to blame Charles Yerkes for it somehow.
And nothing to do with the (in)famous Pudding Lane either.
Pretty good place to put the blame tbh
Yerkes probably has his finger in part of that pie....
@@rjjcms1The word pudding meant something quite different to our current usage too. Suffice it to say, a lot more savoury!
Bear in mind that you do use flour to make some puddings, so as it milled flour that might have been used an ingredient in puddings.
The roller skate dude at 3:18-3:20 is awesome. Hire that guy to make cameo appearances on other platforms! Happy Christmas!!
Nope, roller skating on platforms is dangerous, if you want to see anyone do that in anyones videos, a park is a better place for it.
It's timing you can't control - or serendipity. My latest video shows a jogger running across one of the scenes, which I had no idea would happen, but I love it!
Umm... No, I think he is more likely to win a 'Darwin Award'.
It does look fantastically cool
What would make Pudding Mill Lane far more useful would be a walking and cycling bridge over the river and A12 from the end of Wick Lane that got cut off by the A12 construction. This would make it accessible from the nearby (as the crow flies) Bow Quarter and surrounding area that are much more densely packed with residential developments but are currently cut off from it by the 3 barriers of main line train tracks, the river and the duel carriage way. I don't live there I just think it would be good at providing a nice short cut for cyclist coming into the city along the Green Way.
Literally just submitted my final uni project in urban design, masterplanning the exact bit of land at 1:01... then Jago goes and uploads this about 30mins after I submitted - what a coincidence (I'm kinda scared ngl!!!)
And what did you suggest the space be used for? An IMAX cinema showing Jago Hazzard videos in their full glory would be my suggestion.
Jago has access to your computer I take it?
Drop that citation in
7:30 Jago - mate - Abba songs are some of the most harmonically complex and popular pop songs of all time. Not my favourite form of music, but these guys could write.
All the best Jago for the festive season.
At their peak, ABBA made more money than Volvo, and Volvo made a lot money.
@@rogeremberson6464I love to listen to ABBA music in my Volvo.
I don't remember that station building being there, only something much smaller. Turns out that decades rocket by so fast for me these days that each time I revisit the old stamping grounds of my youth, it seems like I have passed into an alternative universe.
being from east london, ive always had a soft spot for pudding mill lane. sure its definitely too big for its surrounding area at the moment and ive never been there when there was more than five people at once but it can for sure be said to be a necessary stop between the otherwise too large a gap between stratford and bow church. planning for the future must be the reason for its size due to the vast amount of untouched concrete fields surrounding the far sides of the london stadium as I can imagine these all being swallowed up by real estate developers in the coming years. stratfords skyline is starting to mirror canary wharfs skyscraper haven and I'm not sure how much I'm liking it
having just moved to east london and going to sixth form in stratford, the size of stratford station alone was overwhelming... imagine my shock finding out about stratford high st, stratford intl and all that... so much transit... and the massive bus station
An it nearly all at capacity. @@Name-iq8te
The visitors to the station must be grateful that TFL answered Pudding Mill Lane station's call to "take a chance on me", but ultimately it came down to money money money.
Sadly the local council, Newham, has done nothing to maximise the opportunity to showcase the borough to all those visitors. The pavements, gardens, and general amenity is a weed infested dump.Thankfully TFL in this instance "elevates" the transport experience with a relatively attractive DLR station.
Its should be called abba voyage cause the show is there
Why isn't just next to Waterloo?@@Sash_abbafanxoxo
@@dondesmond7969 because waterloo is busy enough already
@@Sash_abbafanxoxofr, u couldn’t escape if u wanted to
My ex-wife used to have a job on Marshgate lane (road next to Pudding Mill) in an import/export company about 40 years ago. The entire area has been leveled and is slowly being rebuilt.
@mipmipmipmipmip I'm a man of strong intent...
That sounds like perfect "urban renewal". Level every home, shop and industry in the area and hope someone rebuilds.
@@ahseaton8353About 20 years and the next slum clearance project...
@@brianjrichman And when in doubt, build a freeway through the middle of it.
@@ahseaton8353Must be 8 lanes wide.
I watched the construction of the new station and tracks to make way for the Elizabeth Line. It was a great piece of engineering to watch on a daily basis
Good to see that you included the fact that the new station is the second Pudding Mill Lane station, and the reason for the rebuild. Also I have been to the Abba Vorgey, and I have noticed that the Holograms are becoming self aware. As they have written a new Abba song, called Pudding Mill Lane How We Miss You.
Also Angel could be added to the list of stations with a festive name and a Merry Christmas to you Sir
and Marylebone (St Mary by the Bourne)
Thank you for the insights, the vids you're slinging! Thanks for the all the joy they're bringing! 'Who could live without them?', I ask in all honesty. What would life be without a tale from the tube what are we? So I say thank you for the viddies! For giving them to meeeeee....
Ah yes, thank you for the music.
Very good !!
Yes that area is being redeveloped but, as you say, slowly. You have a gift for understatement that I admire in all your videos. 'Slowly', here, means roughly that it would lose a race against a tortoise trying to climb a down escalator.
It's all being staggered. There's an abundance of development going on around Stratford City already. If they do all the development at the same time, they saturate the market and bring the housing prices down. Developers aren't going to do that.
In context, the City of Manchester Stadium opened in 2002, and the fruits of regeneration are really just starting to come good now, 20 years on
A friend of mine used to know some people who were squatting the arches under Pudding Mill Lane station some years ago. Those then rented out the rooms for techno parties. The station made the parties very accessible.
Between Pudding Mil Lane and Bow Church is the sweeping single track curve, which always feels it’s at the bottom of someone’s back garden.
It's such a shame that the original Pudding Mill building is lost in the mists of time. Buried in one of my many boxes of books is a copy of the Lost rivers of London that probably references the old water way. It is possible that there is a sketch of the Mill. Anyhoo, seasons' greetings - yes I am one of "those people" - and thank you for another entertaining year.
Jago the Journalist and Train Nerd Santa. We appreciate what you do ❤
They're very quick to level parts of a city, and pretty quick once they start building on them, but there always seems to be a long wait in between.
Sometimes it's a lease thing. The previous owner will still technically own the land but be happy to accept money to level what's on it, then they need to wait for their lease to lapse if they don't want to buy it out. It's cheaper to just flatten it and wait most of the time. There are other reasons too of course, but this is one of many!
Not the only place that happens. Here in Chicago, Grand Central Station was closed and knocked down in 1971...they just started construction on something in that huge vacant space last year.
Pudding Mill Lane is a handy back door to the London Stadium. It's a bit more of a walk but it's far less congested thean Stratford on a match day. Happy Christmas!
It WAS less congested. Won't be now. 😉🙂
Merry Christmas to you too. 🙂
Yep, it's a great option for away fans too as you are perfectly placed to get to the DLR station from the away section. The crowd management at Stratford station has always been hideous whenever I've naively tried leaving that way, and once I realised I could use PML, there was no other thought.
@@alangood8190This sentiment exactly, but I tend to use Hackney Wick when going to Stratford on an event day. It makes more sense for me given I live on the WAML.
@@JeSuisReneWAML?!
@@heli-crewhgs5285 West Anglia Main Line
I don't usually like modern architecture but I think that station looks great, very impressive. All the DLR stations should look like that.
Merry Christmas, Jago.
I hope Santa brings you an appreciation of ABBA; I'm quite surprised that you have laboured through life without knowing the joys of ABBA.
Most artistes and groups have maybe two or three great songs along with a lot of mediocre ones . ABBA is different because Bjorn is a wordsmith with great insight into human emotions and Benny is a superb musician. Together they knew the girls voices so well that they could compose songs around the vocal ranges of Agnetha and Anna-frid.
Together ABBA were not just a group but a well oiled music machine.
They were also pleasant on the eyes, two of them anyway.
No one better than ABBA.
@@Andygarrett357 Not even Seekers?
A well oiled cheese-making machine
I suspect a 'click bite' re the ABBA comment by JH 🤔
..I'm generally 'Rock & Metal' to the core , but like many followers of the worlds best palindrome , I just get 'em , and so do Metallica [ see their version of 'Dancing Queen 🤘. ]As a side the queues outside PML following 'Voyage were easily swallowed by the station , planners got it right re future use .
Pudding Mill Lane station was tiny, until its rebuild after the Olympics. I used it depending on what part of the Olympic building site I needed to get to, or the Stratford Westfield site.
The original station, roughly on the site now occupied by the tunnel mouths for Crossrail, was a narrow island platform on a passing loop on the single line between Bow Church and Stratford. Given how close it was to the Olympic Park, it was inadequate in terms of platform capacity and train length (it wasn't long enough for the 3 car upgrade from the time even before it closed, before replacement by the current station).
It's almost as though the current station is everything its predecessor wasn't, futureproof length, side platforms and completely enclosed from the weather. In some ways, it makes me think of how the original station at Aldgate East was described. Despite having 4 platforms, the original Aldgate East station, which opened in 1884, had a cramped layout, where after electrification it was impossible to accommodate a full length train without fouling the junctions at either end of the site, causing huge disruption. This is why the current station, dating from 1938, is located after Aldgate East Junction and the platforms are as long and expansive as they are (they wanted to head off problems caused by future train length increases)
I have many memories of pudding mill Lane as I worked under the old station for a waste management company back in the 1990s....
Merry Christmas to you Jago and thank you for your videos this year
And so say all of us
The capaciousness of Pudding Mill Lane comes in handy on matchdays at the London Stadium, home of West Ham United since 2016.
Yes, I think it's actually the nearest station?
And avoids the infamous stop go signs at Stratford?
Have a very merry Christmas Mr.Hazzard and keep 'em coming in the new year !!
Thanks for keeping us entertained.
Abba Voyage employee here..Yes its on a short lease..but given how very successful its been and the hugely positive impact its had (driving money into the local economy and jobs created) i think they are eyeing an extension on that. Its not a 'hologram' show..its super high def LED screens. Merry Christmas Jago.
Before even seeing the concert I did think the lease would probably be extended, because.... Abba. After seeing it I was certain it would be!
@@ballyhigh11 Maybe it will become like the London Eye, a temporary attraction for "5 years maximum" for the Millennium. Or indeed the temporary Eiffel Tower for the Paris 1889 Exhibition. And even the Dome was useful in the end.
May you enjoy your pudding during the festivities. Merry Christmas and season greetings to Jago and everyone here.
Must be a very rare instance of a station being built because of a new railway line (the Elizabeth line) that isn't actually on the line that caused it to be built. Maybe it's the only time that has happened? Someone in the comments section will know.
I think one should count it was built with Elizabeth Line money and thus reflects the same high standards.
Who else is excited for this years Quizmas by Jago?
The doubling of tracks was originally to stop their being a bottle neck as the single track/platform at Stratford neede to have a place for incoming DLR trains to wait while the platform was occupied.
The who of the Bow flyover area has long been the subject of regeneration plans in terms of housing - When I worked for LU there were proposed plans for a deep level station on the Central to cope with the forcast increase of population and this was before the Olympics was on the cards. Seeveral office blocks had already been convetrted to flast and the luxury flats at the converted Bryant and May matvh factory at Bow was also part of the thinking.
Hi Jago, thanks for covering this one... I'm a long time viewer/ first time commentator: me n' Lizzie passed by this station towards the end of our walk around the Capital Ring. We detoured from the NOSE hoping to find a wee spot (which we did, but not in the station itself...) I'd be very curious to see your take on the Capital Ring and especially the Northern Outfall Sewer Embankment- Yes that is the real acronym... I don't know the name of the engineer/ wag who coined the term, but let's just say LEGEND!!! Here's wishing you and all your viewers a very merry one!!!
Yeah this is my local station! My flat was in a clip, but I’d say it already has been worth its building. It is the easiest action to get to for staff, in particular, on West Ham match days and abba voyage is actually packed out 8 times a week ( even if you don’t like the songs Mr Hazzard!) so it’s very busy pre and post show. Also… it’s just a really nice modern station!
And happy 🎅🍮 to you Jago 🤗
Although I did nearly withdraw the greeting at the diss to ABBA 😕😢
I think Jago needs to see Voyage for himself! You don't even have to like ABBA music to be astounded by the show.
Years ago when I was super poor, I would walk to Pudding Mill Lane station because it was in Zone 2, rather than Zone 3 like Stratford was. Saved be me a bit of money at the time!
and now stratford manages to be in both zones 2 and 3, yay :)
Many thanks for this pudding-based episode! Happy Christmas, Jago. I hope you have a nice rest to recover from all the puns.
Merry Christmas young Mr Hazzard. Thank's for all the wonderful effort you have gone to throughout the year to bring us your wonderful videos.
I was at Pudding Mill Lane only last week to see Abba Voyage. One of the Abba holograms even makes fun of the station name during the show. It's a nice modern station with large platforms but does feel like it's in the middle of nowhere. Merry Christmas all.
Actually "pudding" is the tradename for butchers' offals, so theGreat Fire of London did not start in a bakery, but in a pudding boiler's factory, devoted to the disposal of butcher's offals.
Merry Christmas Mr Hazzard! It came to me when watching the footage of abba voyage - have the police ever approached you for filming transport infrastructure and tourist sights? Have you earned many subscribers in the flesh explaining?
3:17 take a second to appreciate that guys syle!
Thanks for pointing him out! I'd missed him.
I took a second to groan about how he did it in a dangerous location for it.
Would it be funny if in the future, they still need to expand the station to the point of being as big as Fenchurch street station/Waterloo Station, making it bigger and grander... and they still kept it's original name.
Merry Christmas, Jago!! And thank you for keeping us informed and entertained throughout 2023. I'm looking forward to more of the same in 2024.😃🥂
This is brilliant. I’m sure you’ll still the others and I can’t wait to hear more about Turkey Lane.
Merry Christmas Jago and may all your wishes come true in 2024, thank you for all the hard work in producing this very fine collection of videos; social historians will thank you also in 100 years.
If we can access them, that is ... since technology changes so rapidly. Things that I archived on to 5.25" and 3,5" floppy disks and CD-ROM are now almost inaccessible. Fortunately I kept the versions on old-fashioned technology known as hard-copy printouts, aka paper. Likewise books.
“…Or worse, write more ABBA songs” 😂.
Marvellous. Yep, definitely those holograms must be stopped. 😂
Merry Christmas, Jago🎉
Luckily there are no holograms at the ABBA Arena, just ABBAtars, so you're safe :) But you should give the show a go sometime, even if you're not into ABBA - it's rather impressive. All the land in the area is being sold for housing.
Jago is a thespian in another life, so maybe one day he’ll go to the ABBA show then create a video. Maybe he’ll appear as a Jagotar. 🤔
There are no Abba in Star Trek, but there are Borg that sound a bit Swedish :p
@@ianmcarthur3555I would mark your comment 7 of 9 😂
@@KevinTheCaravanner Jago the V-Tuber?
Isn't it a bigger budget version on the Hatsune Miku tech?
Thank you Jago for all the videos this year.
Happy Holidays 🎉
Normally almost deserted but It can get busy. I occasionally cycle or walk to it from Hackney Wick along the Greenway. One Sunday afternoon it was so busy they had marshals restricting entry because the platforms were becoming dangerously full.
Love the throwaway use of "Only time will tell" (Closing Cliche No. 2, after "Remains to be seen"); but one thing is certain, it is no Hasty Pudding.
The best place on the Disco Light Railway for a tune from A to B & back again 😉
Does that train go to Waterloo?
"I've seen enough Star Trek to know the dangers of rogue holograms. They might develop self-awareness and attack humans...
...or worse, write more ABBA songs."
LOL! Best line of the entire video!
I thought he was going to say "or worse, create fake Jago videos".
Merry Christmas Jago and thanks for years of humorous yet very informative content!
Have been in London two times in my life (in fact, I live in another country) so those videos have not really a practical use for me at the moment, yet I subcribed a long time ago and never regretted it. Keep the content comming good man!
Thanks for all the awesome content in 2023, Jago, and hope you enjoy your Christmas pudding, whether at Pudding Mill, Pudding Lane, or elsewhere. Kind regards and best wishes to you for 2024.
Happy Holidays! Also, you had me at ‘Pudding Mill Lane’. The classic nomenclature of British stations.
Festinating as usual many thanks Jago and do have a happy Christmas. Bless you in Jesus name.
Merry Christmas Jago, hope you and the channel have a very prosperous New Year!
Thank you for this preferred holiday presentation. It is very pretty and a good step forward in a future gentrified area. Excellent station background.
Thanks Jago, Merry Christmas to you, you are the rogue hologram to my ' computer, end program '.
Merry Christmas and many thanks for yet another year's worth of great information and videos 🎉
Hi Jago from Spain. A video from you is always welcome, especially when it wanders around areas with which I am familiar. A very merry Chrissy Mouse to you and yours.
Happy Christmas to you, Sir. Thank you for sharing your wonderful videos.
Nice to see the old flat I rented at 2.02. I think the landlord is still after me for the hundreds of bedbugs that were left when I moved out. But who can say if I was responsible for them being there in the first place.😄
A typically sharply observed Jago video. Thank you for all your work in 2023. You've kept us amused and informed. Is there anything left for 2024 I wonder?
I am as disappointed that Pudding Mill did not make pudding(s) as I was to learn that Canning Town isn't called that because it was full of canneries.
Well, don’t leave us hanging. Why is it called that?
@@flp322 In honor of the politician Charles Canning, first (and only) Earl Canning.
The council should consider pudding one in. Delicious.
1:17 thanks , nearly missed that.
Merry Christmas!
Marry Christmas Tom! Keep up the good work!
Don’t know if Lawrence from “Lost in the Pond” has done anything, but pudding is one of those things that are very different in the US as opposed to the UK. Thank you Jason, and happy holidays and merry Christmas and happy new year to all.
Jason ? Of Jason and the Argonauts ?
@@sianwarwick633 Bugger all. Jason = Jago. Ruddy auto-correct.
Was using it to access Fish Island via the Northern Outfall until the whole area was locked down not long before the Olympics - the walking route through the arches of the Great Eastern viaduct used to change on a regular basis \m/
As a huge Star Trek nerd, huge props for the Star Trek reference! I love it!
Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and I'm looking forward to more terrific transport videos in 2024. 🎄🎅🎉
Nice to take a look at the DLR stations and pick up some historical context for them.
Meanwhile, have a fun packed festive fiesta, Jago.
For the record ABBA Voyage is absolutely incredible. ;)
Well done JH.....
And Merry Christmas
That's a nice light rail station. I noticed that the station signage there is very similar to the station signage utilized by the MBTA of Boston Massachusetts USA to identify its subway (underground), light rail (tramway), and commuter rail stations.
Alot of apartments went up in the area before the 2012 Olympics. I was renting one in 2009 on Stratford road (on the left at 2:47!), Pudding mill lane was my closest station to get to Stratford. Alway very quite.
Happy Christmas to you also Jago
Another great video with a festive theme. Merry Christmas Jago and all the best for 2024. Keep making these great videos. 🎉😌✨️
I've used this station Twice this year, Handy for the London Stadium when I went there for the Baseball in June.
Hurrah! A Jago video for Xmas. Merry Christmas and Happy New year (and more videos please)
Merry Christmas Jago! Thanks for this festive video!
PML station will be pretty busy eventually. The land around it you showed already has stuff approved for most of its plots, and including the rest(including where ABBA is) will be 2,000+ homes total. Then on the north side of it where the cement place is I think either Newham or LLDC are currently designing a masterplan for that area too which will probably be another 2,000 homes.
Suprised you didn't mention how it's the only station you can arrive to by boat when there's heavy rain(it gets very bad flooding from the rivers, videos on youtube of it)
Oh and it has its DLR frequency almost doubled last year I think. Once the new trains arrive next year it can have the doubled frequency and 3 car long trains so the capacity will be nice and high too.
They should've built the ABBA Voyage arena at Waterloo. It would have been much more apt. Can't see a song called "Pudding Mill Lane" being quite as catchy somehow. lol
It was nice to hear the word 'flat' used as a unit of accommodation rather than the US word, 'apartment', so beloved of estate agents. Let's protect UK English!
It's interesting to see the lack of development in that area. I noticed on my commutes two office buildings in particular that have been derelict for around thirty years.
This is an odd thing, I've seen sporadically in London, well connected places derelict for decades. I wonder why.
Great video jago the very best of holiday seasons and a happy new year to you as well.
How could you fail to mention its huge use by a few thousand, as a station to get to the London stadium every couple of weeks? That justifies it's size alone.
I was thinking this myself when I saw it’s proximity to the Olympic Stadium
When I used to work at that stadium that was always my go to station to use
Avoid Stratford and because I lived (still live) in SE London the DLR was also useful lol
Indeed, it's similar with Wembley Park (although it still takes about 1-2 hours to escape there).
@@bighamster2 Wembley Park is the worst lol
Well I lied second worst, the worst station next to a stadium in London easily is Twickenham this one will have you regretting going to watch England play lol
Merry Christmas Jago and thanks for all the videos 👍
Merry Christmas Jago.
Attacked by holographic Abba. The best Star Trek NG never made ☹️ A Pudding Mill Lane zombie Abba episode would have topped it mind!!
Thank you Jago.
Seasons Greetings to you as well 👍🏻👍🏻
Pudding Mill Lane’s huge capacity is not even nearly enough after a West Ham game! Lots of people walk there rather than fighting to get on a DLR at Stratford. Queuing goes on for 10s of metres outside the station and it’s ram packed inside. From personal experience, some train have even stopped at the station, filled up then been cancelled as it was too dangerous to run the service!
I believe away supporters who have watched their team play my beloved Hammers are often corralled there by the local constabulary after a game of Association Football.
Merry Christmas Jago. I’m similarly disappointed that the mill had nothing to do with puddings!