SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Leodian wrote:..............photos I took today (Nov 23 2015) at the LSSE area.................. is from Neville Street and shows a very recently installed metal shutter at the end there of the minor access road that runs from Neville Street to Little Neville Street (a similar shutter has also just been installed at the Little Neville Street end of that minor road).

I may be wrong but I think these shutters have been installed as a consequence of the LSSE not as part of it. The area was used for parking of several cars and due to proximity I am assuming it is for staff at the adjacent Hilton. As all but the first and last cars in the line were trapped by the other cars (no room for passing) I am assuming all the owners knew how to contact each other adding weight to my Hilton theory. When I passed this morning it is the first time since Leodian's post made me aware of the installation that I noticed the Neville Street shutter open. There was a car parked as before. I am therefore wondering if whoever owns this strip of land has installed the barriers to prevent it being used as a thoroughfare for LSSE users.

I did notice yesterday morning two or 3 people using the lock gates as a bridge. While they are designed to allow people to cross the canal with care, I don't think I'd be risking it in working attire at this time of year particularly.

Haven't seen these escalators, but the new ones recently installed at Reading station go very slowly when no-one is on them, but speed up after someone steps on them

Hi tyke bhoy . What you suggest about that strip of land does seem highly likely.

As to people using the lock gates as bridges then if you were there just gone 12:00 on January 20 2016 you would have seen me using one! Not directly relevant to this thread but it was very bright at the time and this is a photo I took at 12:08 showing the Direct Line building near the LSSE. The entry/exit to its below street level car park on Little Neville Street was flooded on the December 26th 2015 flood and the inside is now being gutted out (assuming the whole building is not being vacated).

chemimike wrote:Haven't seen these escalators, but the new ones recently installed at Reading station go very slowly when no-one is on them, but speed up after someone steps on them

Thanks for that, chemimike, I was beginning to think it was my imagination.
Using the escalators in a department store in Spain I was sure it had speeded up when we got on it. In fact it speeded up to the point that it was very fast indeed!

Leodian wrote:
As to people using the lock gates as bridges then if you were there just gone 12:00 on January 20 2016 you would have seen me using one!

Leo, I hope it was the one at the end between the canal and lock, rather than the one between lock and river. I probably should have phrased my statement better. My observations are on the way to and from work so usually just before 8.00am and just before 5.30pm. In the morning that's still nearly half an hour before sunrise and in the evening almost an hour after sunset. Recent mornings it is inconceivable given the proximity of water that the gates wouldn't be at least partially iced over and the light would obviously be much poorer than in your photo.

The extremely tall crane that has long been a feature during the LSSE work has finally been fully dismantled as seen by its absence in the first photo that I took on January 28 2016 from the crane's location off Little Neville Street and very close to the Dark Arches. Some of the crane was still there up to at least a couple or so weeks back and when I was talking to a workman I was told that the final work on the outside of the LSSE could not be done until the crane was removed. The second photo, which I took on October 22 2015, shows the crane in use then.

chemimike wrote:Haven't seen these escalators, but the new ones recently installed at Reading station go very slowly when no-one is on them, but speed up after someone steps on them

The ones on the Hamburg S-Bahn have done that for years!

In posts of mine on February 25 2014, October 2 2015 and December 9 2015 I commented on what seemed like possible erosion under a building on the right bank of the River Aire coming out from under the LSSE. Apart from some soil that was added a while back there seemed to be no change until I noticed on June 14 2018 that some work was being done. I don't know if it is to protect the site from erosion or perhaps it is part of the flood defence work in the area. The 'erosion' has looked an eyesore for a long time so I'm surprised that it has taken so long for some serious work to be done there (there was presumably no cause for concern). I have attached 2 photos I took on June 14 2018 of the work going on and a photo of the site that I took on December 30 2015 a few days after the severe flood.