Looking north-west over London Bridge station, showing the terminal platforms (left) and through platforms (right). The 1000ft (300m) Shard building is alongside the station, while Cannon Street station can be seen at the end of the second bridge over the Thames from the right, with its roof garden and twin towers. Blackfriars station straddles the Thames two more bridges further west and, not far from Blackfriars on the south bank side, are two buildings that were previously home to The Railway Magazine – the South Bank Tower, formerly King’s Reach Tower, (1991-2007) and the Blue Fin building (2007-2010).
ALL PHOTOS TAKEN BY JACK BOSKETT ON OCTOBER 3.
Network Rail Air Operations helicopter registration G-NTWK ready for take-off at Elstree Airfield. It is a French-built Eurocopter AS355 Twin Squirrel leased from PDG Helicopters. Note the imaging equipment attached to the underside of the fuselage.
Co-pilot Chris Ashworth (left) monitors images of the tracks below as Dave Vasey pilots the helicopter.
LATE summer saw me working as an official photographer at a railway industry event in central London, and I found myself seated next to Network Rail chairman Lord Peter Hendy.
The event began with a video showcasing NR’s Air Operations team, during which Lord Hendy asked if I had ever been up in one of its helicopters. When I answered: “No, but would love to,” he then promised to make it happen.