Borough station 1985

[goldenarrow]

Stumbled across this 1985 footage of a walk around Borough on the last day of operation for the staff operated Otis lifts at the station.

Click here if link fails to load

[spsmiler]

So these were actually driven by a member of staff inside the lift.  In 1994 filmed a 'human driven' lift at Aldwych just before the station closed.

Did the person driving the lifts ever accidentally try to go too far so that the lift reached the bottom (or top) of the lift shaft? Perhaps because of a distraction by a passenger without a valid ticket.

[rsdworker]

intersting so i wonder if we have video of comparisoon of station showing modern lifts and old lifts

[jimbo]

spsmiler No, I don't think so. There were various forms of control for legacy Otis lifts. Borough obviously had the brass dome with four position switches as seen in video. Aldwych had modernised controls in the 1950s. Some department store lifts were directly driven, so stopping accuracy depended on the lift operator. As I recall, the wall mounted control handle rested at the lowest point and was lifted to left or right for up or down. This engaged the lift drive which then continued until the car automatically stopped at the landing. So once the lift started moving the operator released the handle. Some lifts were wired for landing control at busy times, with an operator at each landing controlling all lifts to coordinate operation rather than an operator in each lift.

[spsmiler]

re: 'landing control' I feel sure that when I was much younger I stood watching a member of staff controlling a bank of lifts from the outside.

I remember the department store lifts which were driven by a member of staff - Harrods still have the controls in at least one group of lifts but I think they are only for show. I actually travelled in one of them last year and remember pushing a button to select the floor I wanted.

[jimbo]

video at 13:03 shows the brass control dome, a period switch case! A steel pin was inserted in the central hole to lock or unlock it by turning the dome 45^o so blocking the four switches from being pulled forward. Similar domes were sited on some lift landings to provide an alternative method of operation.

[antharro]

What a fascinating and well filmed bit of history. As someone with a side interest in old lifts, this brings together two of my favourite things. Thanks for posting this.

[jimbo]

Borough station opened as part of the first deep-level tube line, the City & South London Railway in 1890 with two Armstrong Whitworth hydraulic lifts which lasted 25 years. The Otis electric lifts shown in the video date from about 1915, so served 70 years before withdrawal; not unusual for this batch of lifts. The replacement Wadsworth lifts only lasted around 20 years, being again replaced in 2008. (From the late Jim Wright's lift supplement to March 2009 Underground News)

The direct connection from the lower lift landing to the northbound platform allowed the first rolling stock to be lowered down the shaft this way for reassembly and test running before the planned Stockwell depot access was completed.

[exwatfordian]

The channel itself has recently been posting absolute gems, mainly films of the London Underground from the early 1980s, even if the quality is hit or miss.