Hidden gems of the tube

[diffusion]

Are there any interesting things to find on the network.
Things such as disused stations, platforms, disused tunnels and the like which you many be able to get a glimpse of when actually on the tube. One in particular is the disused jubilee tunnel to Charing Cross.
Although I appreciate in the dark might be a little tricky!

[AndrewPSSP]

When I was travelling from Liverpool Street mainline I managed to catch a very brief glimpse of Shoreditch station

[DWS]

The Jubilee Line tunnel to Charing Cross is not disused, trains travel empty from Green Park if it is needed to short trip a train .

[trt]

I've always quite liked the carriage crane point behind Waterloo station, where you can look down into the depot.

[spsmiler]

Sept 14, 2022 13:53:15 GMT trt said:

I've always quite liked the carriage crane point behind Waterloo station, where you can look down into the depot.

I think there is now a barrier to prevent people from getting too close.


This applies to both the tube and subsurface networks

Barons Court station building
Piccadilly line non-stop trains passing District line 'all stations' trains between Hammersmith & Acton Town
Bow Road station being partly in tunnel and partly in open air
The Jubilee line part of Westminster station has metal chequer plate style flooring that creates the ambience of being on a ships' cargo deck

Things like disused platforms are usually sealed off and inaccessible (eg: Aldwych branch platform at Holborn) but unless things have changed very recently the disused platform 5 for the former South Acton branch is still visible from the eastbound District line platform at Acton Town. But note, platform 5 was very short as the branch usually only had a single car train.

If you are interested in notable architecture there is far more of note than I mentioned above.

Simon

[diffusion]

Sept 14, 2022 12:51:23 GMT DWS said:

The Jubilee Line tunnel to Charing Cross is not disused, trains travel empty from Green Park if it is needed to short trip a train .

Ah yes sorry I meant disused as in not in passenger service use.

[selbiehouse]

I recently travelled on the Northern Line southbound from High Barnet.   After Kentish Town it is possible to determine when passing through the site of South Kentish Town station.

[towerman]

There’s quite a few disused stations:York Rd,DownSt & West Brompton on Picc.Bull & Bush,South Kentish Town &City Rd on Northern.Mark Lane(Tower HIll),Aldgate East on District.Lords,Marlborough Rd & Swiss Cottage on Met.Probably more that others may mention.

[DWS]

Sept 14, 2022 13:53:15 GMT trt said:

I've always quite liked the carriage crane point behind Waterloo station, where you can look down into the depot.

The crane is not able to lift the Waterloo & City line cars, when cars need to be removed large road cranes have been used.

[trt]

Indeed. Same hole in'th ground though!

[cudsn15]

There are quite a few youtube video's done by various amateur historians/sleuths/presenters etc which cover these and many more interesting or obscure or just plain trivial nuggets of historical and often idiosyncratic information. You can quite happily wile away a few hours falling down various "Rabbit Holes" as the term is called when you chain watch videos related to the subject you have just been viewing.

[elsombernie]

I believe that the old water tower in still in place between the District and C2C tracks just west of East Ham.

[Dstock7080]

Sept 15, 2022 11:04:40 GMT elsombernie said:

I believe that the old water tower in still in place between the District and C2C tracks just west of East Ham.

only the stem, the tank was removed in 2019

[rapidtransitman]

Sept 15, 2022 8:42:33 GMT cudsn15 said:

There are quite a few youtube video's done by various amateur historians/sleuths/presenters etc which cover these and many more interesting or obscure or just plain trivial nuggets of historical and often idiosyncratic information. You can quite happily wile away a few hours falling down various "Rabbit Holes" as the term is called when you chain watch videos related to the subject you have just been viewing.

Jago Hazzard has informative & entertaining such videos. Also searching for 'ghost underground station London' will provide a number of possibilities. There are even maps of ghost stations around the Underground network on the internet.

[miff]

This site told me a lot about the subject:
underground-history.co.uk/

And this one:
www.abandonedstations.org.uk/

Both’ll give you a good idea of where to peer through the window in the dark.

[spsmiler]

The disused platforms from the former British Museum Central line station can be seen near to Holborn station (on the western side towards Tottenenham Court Road station)

For a different type of 'disused' there are the signs on the westbound platform at East Ham advertising a tea room where a cuppa will cost 2d. Also at this station there is a stairway to a disused passageway over the tracks - you can climb the stairs but at the top are closed doors. Several disused platforms can be seen on the LT&SR side (London Tilbury and Southend Railway) of the station. One of these adjoins the platform used by westbound District line and Hammersmith & City SubSurface trains (which strictly speaking are not tube trains). Also there is a filled-in trackbed for the former island platform used by eastbound trains. This was used by trains to St Pancras via what nowadays is known as the London Overground Gospel Oak - Barking Riverside 'Goblin' service. East Ham is one of the stations where the Southend Corridor Express trains (Ealing Broadway - Southend-On-Sea) used to switch between electric and steam locomotives.

Many stations on the route to Upminster have disused sections of platform. There are two reasons for this:

1) For many years most stations had platforms for both District trains and those of what for simplicity I shall call the 'mainline' railway company that built and owned the route but when British Railways electrified its trains (in 1962) they also stopped serving all stations except Upminster and Barking. Admittedly even before this they very rarely served these platforms. btw, West Ham's platforms used by C2C are 'new build' - the platforms here were destroyed during WW2 and reinstated a few decades ago

2) London Transport trains have almost always been much shorter than mainline trains so portions of the platforms that are no longer served have been sealed off to passengers. Plaistow eastbound is an exception - because of the bay platform.

[stapler]

The very first part of the present Underground network to be commissioned as a railway line was Leyton to Loughton. This stretch contains a lot of antiquities, including in-use 1856 buildings at Snaresbrook and Woodford, and the remarkable station house at Buckhurst Hill, taken out of use as long ago as 1892, and the bay platform at Snaresbrook, not used since WW2.
There's also the trackbed walk from the disused but mothballed Loughton Junction power box 600 yds up to the site of the original Loughton terminus, abandoned 1865.

[stuartroy]

Check out the Hidden London Hangouts series on youtube, put out by the LT museum. Lots of titbits to whet the appetite there.

[zbang]

Geoff Marshall has a book of "Tube Station Trivia"; picked up a copy at the LT museum in Covent Garden.

[orienteer]

There are conducted tours of disused stations, run by the London Transport Museum; see their website for details.