Pinner Station Subway

[movingmillion]

Hello all,
Does anyone know of either photographs taken of the former subway between the two platforms at Pinner, or information about it, like what it looked like, for instance?

Thanks,
Movingmillion

[twihlet]

I lived in Pinner until 1963, and the subway was still in use then. If you entered the station thro' the booking hall, turned right and walked until almost the end of the canopy, steps went down for about a dozen steps, you then turned 90 deg left, anther doz steps, then flat across the bottom, then a repeat of the steps up, and then to the left. The only strange feature was that there was a wired glass window at sleeper height (presumably to allow light into the passage), this meant that you could see the wheels passing, and judge the acceleration of the train as it left the platform. the walls were plain cement rendered as I recall, with no posters or notices. Hope this helps

[johnb2]

That brings back memories! I was a Pinner resident too until the early seventies and used the subway regularly, the windows were interesting. The subway roof was just below the tracks and used by the staff as a walkway. I vaguely recall that the conductor rails were gapped there and that the whitewashed edging also stopped at that point. Off topic a bit, I remember the staff refreshing the whitewashed edges with what looked like a yard broom that had about half the bristles chopped short giving an 'L' shaped brush!!

[A60stock]

I can confirm that the subway you are referring to has not been closed as long you may be thinking. If i can remember, it closed around the time the present bridge opened. I think this would have been during 2002.

Does anyone know why they changed the method of exit?

[Chris M]

The bridge was built to provide step-free access. Presumably because this was cheaper than making access to the subway step-free.

[goldenarrow]

I seem to recall that there were some concerns over the structural safety of the subway (buckling roof?), presumably the cost of the civil engineering required to replace/renew infrastructure so close to a live railway would prove to be disruptive enough to just start anew an erect an overhead structure instead.