The Coal Line (an elevated green finger above Peckham town centre)

[Jeremy]

I know it does, but to me it just looks like the existing rail line between PR and QRP. And looking at the google satellite view, I cannot see any parallel disused line.

[anonymous_third_part]

A slight issue with this plan is that the line is basically next to live train lines.

Tue high line in New York in the meat packing district was a disused high line railway, completely separate from other rails. From what I can see from Googlemaps this is not a separate line at all.

There is a similar early plan for the disused railway next to Shoreditch High Street- I think that one has more likelihood of success.

I

[donaldr]

Re: The Coal Line (an elevated green finger above Peckham town centre)

Posted by MrBen Yesterday, 09:11PM

The high line in NYC is great and full of bearded strollers and barefoot joggers.

Just to get things in perspective

Agreed-Yes the New York High Line has been a wonderful Urban success, but just to give some 'on the ground' feedback, (and I do speak with some authority) it is NOT full of bearded strollers and barefoot joggers.

[TheCoalLine]

Firstly thank you for the support and feedback regarding this community project.

I will try and answer some of the questions:

1. Will we update on here? YES certainly ? although it will be a slow moving process as we will be working with bodies such as Network Rail and the council so it is unlikely that there will be anything to report for at least a few months but I will certainly relay how we are proceeding.

2. I can?t see the Coal Line / is it even feasible? It is difficult to see the old coal Line on the Google satellite images as the overgrown vegetation does a good job of hiding it. It is easiest to see from the 1835 OS map:

- now you will notice the Coal Line only runs to Gordon Road however today this is the start of Kirkwood Green Space so it is the combination of old and new that make the continuous link possible. Unlike New Yorks Highline the park would run next to live tracks. Network Rail requires 1.25m from the track for train to pass +0.7m as an access corridor for railway maintenance workers. ? Even allowing 2.5 before the new wall/fence dividing the park from the line this would leave between 6m & 10m for the park along the first section (It widens & narrows). Where new footbridges are needed i.e. over Consort Road the path would narrow to 2.5m however in places such at Kirkwood Green Space it would be over 20m wide.

3. What are the details of the design? So we are just at a very early concept stage we have not detailed any designs as we don?t know whether Network Rail are open to the idea. What we are trying to do first is gather local public support for the idea to present a case to Network Rail that this is something that the community would like. We also need to try and persuade them that a public greenway would reduce their need for regular rubbish and tree clearance along what is a predominantly south facing site where the tree growth is prolific. When we do come to design ? this will be community led.

4. How does this link into the wider greenway from Brixton to the Thames? There is a map on the website but to give you an idea. Going WEST from the park entrance at Peckham Rye Station the route could potentially go down Holly Grove linear park then into Warwick Gardens; at the far western end of Warwick Gardens there is again plenty of room adjacent to the rail track to create a link around the back of the houses onto Camberwell Grove, from here walker/cyclists take Windsor Walk around and into Ruskin Park and on to Loughborough Junction. Going EAST the Park ends at the new square at Queens Road Peckham ? from here you need to walk/cycle down Asylum Rd to Bingfield Park ? then its through the park ? over the Old Kent Road and onto the East London Line Greenway which runs car-free almost all the way to Southwark Park from here you can go through Surrey Quays to towards Sustrans new proposed Thames crossing to Canary Wharf or go through Southwark Park to the Rotherhithe Tunnel. On the other side you can join the Limehouse Cut canal, again car free all the way to Stratford and beyond!

Now we need some help from the community. We don?t have any funding as yet but we would like someone who is interested in getting involved voluntarily with this project who has links with the media and can do press releases and begin to bring attention to the project. Please get in touch if this interests you or you know of anyone suitable.

Also it would be great to talk to anyone with any experience of getting similar community projects off the ground.

Thanks again for all your support.

[Medley]

re point 4 - that is ingenious. I see it quite clearly now. Presumably you're in touch with the organisations behind The Green Chain and The Capital Ring walking routes? What a great addition it would make.

Another question then - how can people help/get involved?

[Jeremy]

Thanks for the explanation TCL, I understand now. Best of luck with the project!

[kiera]

CoalLine - where do you envisage the high level park coming down to ground level after the Gordon Rd.bridge? You say that Kirkwood Open Space starts in Gordon Rd, but doesn't it start after the next bridge, in Kirkwood Rd? And it's at ground level.

[PohSuan]

Hi

This project sounds very interested. I am on a committee for a local residents association based near Queens Road Peckham and I think a lot of locals here would be interested in hearing about the proposals and hopefully giving our support. We have our next monthly meeting on Wednesday 10th December and I can PM you the details of the chairman and deputy chairman if you like. (there was a feature on the front page of the Peckham Peculiar a few months ago about our residents association).

Many Thanks

Mel

[TheCoalLine]

Kiera I hope the following map and diagram makes it clearer:

http://i61.tinypic.com/20i6oib.jpg

basically is comes down gradually after Consort Rd and then crosses Gordon at Rd level.

PohSuan - Thank you, yes I'd very much like to come and talk to the residents association. Please PM me all the details and I'll get in touch or you can email me at [email protected]

Thanks,

Nick

[kiera]

Nick - Thank you for that - I now understand the levels you have in mind, and that it will still be necessary to cross Queens Rd at street level. Thanks.

[ellabrunswick]

This is a great idea - please do keep us posted here.

My other dream continuation of this route from Queens Road would be east along Besson St, over the parking in front of New Cross Sainsbury's and right over the railway tracks, using a cycle and pedestrian bridge (like the railway bridge in Cambridge http://tinyurl.com/mvr4m97 )descending by Fordham Park and joining up with existing routes to Deptford and Greenwich.

It would be great to be able to avoid the narrow, busy road outside New Cross Gate station.

[wulfhound]

Looks great! High Line but on a much more intimate scale. I hope there'll be room for street performers or even perhaps micro food stalls as well as the cycle path.

Would also like to flag up the issue of disabled and service access. At the very least it must be accessible to wheelchair users and surface cleaning machines; ideally to Bakfietsen family bikes as well.

[Charles Notice]

I took the train to LB and looked at this proposed route, think it is a pipe dream in someone's imagination. Cannot see how it will be possible.

May look good always on paper but reality is some what different.

Street performers, micro food stores ?

[anonymous_third_part]

@ Charles Notice - I looked too. There is no way you could have a public path that close to a live railway line.

1. Safety - its an electrified mainline used 24 hours a day.

2. Environment - it would be horrendously noisy with screeching trains all the time.

3. Network rail will own the land. Who will pay for it to make this happen?

As I said previously, the high line in Manhattan was a completely separate railway line for the meatpacking district - so feasibly could be turned into a park. This clearly couldn't be.

It is a brilliant idea though and clever people are working on it, it might just happen

[TheCoalLine]

Thank you again for all the comments.

@ Charles Notice & @anonymous_third_part, It?s great you are interested in the project and tried to see it from the train. Let me address some of the points you raised.

1. Physical viability: Unfortunately its not possible to see the coal sidings from the LB train but I promise you that the six of us including two architects would not have spent our time on something impossible. You have to get up to the site to do a physical survey otherwise the most accurate free map can be found at http://maps.southwark.gov.uk/connect/southwark.jsp?tooltip=yes but this doesn?t show enough detail. Finally if you can get access to the roof of the Bussey you can see down partially onto the site and realise the viability. The path would be between 4m & 8m wide along this first stretch.

2. Safety: It is proposed that there would be a 2m dividing wall between the live tracks and the linear park. Leaving 2.5m for network rail engineers and trains (well within NR guidelines), this leaves 4-8m (variable) for the linear park. There are plenty of precedents for segregated paths next to live railways up and down the country. The local East London Line path around Millwall (a continuation of this path) is a good example of this.

3. Environment (Noise): Yes absolutely there would be noise (loud screeching), there would also be bustling market sounds, traffic sounds, mechanics beating out car doors, scaffolding poles being stored, birds tweeting and wind in the trees. The idea is to embrace all theses urban sounds that would change and contrast along the entire length of the path. The views also change ? from views across towards London to a wooded area and a section beneath Victorian arches as well as the highline section.

4. Who owns the land and who will pay for it: NR own the majority of the land, they presently have to spend to maintain it. We are working with Urban Grain Consulting and are also in conversation with Sustrans and Team London Bridge about funding options but funding is very much a next step after we have NR and the council backing the project.

We are working on creating more moving visuals of the route to help everybody understand to concept. Here is a computer animation of the path to show the concept (not design):

If anyone knows a film maker who might be interested in voluntarily helping us make a short clip of the site please get in touch.

Thanks again for your support, Nick.

[edhistory]

What is the proposed gradient between Gordon Road and Consort Road?

[The Dulwich Raider]

Can't wait. And in fact, couldn't wait.

Here's a piece I wrote for Deserter about the Coal Line.

http://deserter.co.uk/2014/12/peckham-walking-the-coal-line/

TDR

[Jakido]

Could you do a drone fly-by to survey the route from above?

http://www.beeaerial.co.uk/aerial-filming-with-uavs-drones/

[James]

What a fantastic idea. And as for the objections to it being next to a live railway line, what about the superb award-winning Hungerford pedestrian bridge in London. It's right next to the main line into Charing Cross.

[grace3]

Takes me back to the 'North Peckham' concept 'in the early seventies, 'milk floats in the sky' all gone now (demolished) replaced by 'gaffs with glass fronts' heading the same way.

[TheCoalLine]

We've got really exciting news about the Peckham Coal Line park's progress which needs your input and can be found in the "lounge" section of the forum: http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?20,1561549,1561549#msg-1561549

[edhistory]

edhistory Wrote:

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> What is the proposed gradient between Gordon Road

> and Consort Road?