railways – Hello Curns

Hidden Holborn

Holborn is the only London Underground station with two hidden closed platforms, unnoticed by passing travelers.

Looking down the illuminated tunnel to Aldwych — Branch line to Aldwych

In 2015, we embarked on our first ‘Hidden London’ tour, exploring the former Jubilee Line platforms at Charing Cross. It was fascinating to see these platforms, now hidden from public use, preserved in a time warp. It felt surreal to stand just beyond a ventilation grille, watching passengers and trains in the active station while feeling both like a spy and an archaeologist. The knowledgeable guides, who shared the rich history of London’s underground, made the experience even more engaging.

Since then, we’ve followed up with tours of other disused stations, such as Aldwych and Down Street, as well as behind-the-scenes visits to LU headquarters at 55 Broadway and unused parts of stations like Euston, Piccadilly Circus, Moorgate, Highgate, and Shepherd’s Bush. During the lockdown, we even took a virtual tour of the former tram tunnels under Kingsway.

During one of these tours, we learned that, at the end of the nineteenth century, London County Council initiated a redevelopment scheme in the Aldwych and Kingsway areas. This project aimed to clear slums, stimulate development, and create broad boulevards, which ultimately led to significant changes in the area. As part of this redevelopment, the Great Northern Railway management extended their planned railway to the Strand, naming it the Great Northern & Strand Railway. However, construction was delayed due to insufficient funds. When the plans finally materialised, Holborn station opened on 15 December 1906 on the Great Northern, Piccadilly, and Brompton Railway. The extension to the Strand came later and was eventually constructed as a branch line rather than a terminating station on what is now known as the Piccadilly Line.

Earlier this year, the London Transport Museum advertised a Hidden London tour of Holborn station, and I eagerly signed up. Today, we met a group of fellow enthusiasts around 10 am outside the station. It seemed everyone in our group had previously been on one of the ‘Hidden’ tours.

During the Aldwych tour, we learned that the branch line closed on 30 September 1994 due to the estimated £7 million upgrade costs, which would have supported just 450 trips a day. As the system was considered to be in managed decline, the expense couldn’t be justified. This closure left two platforms unused, and we had the opportunity to explore them.

A poster featuring a list of Piccadilly Line stations from before World War 2 — Pre-war Wayfinding on the Piccadilly Line

One of the platforms remains recognisable, featuring the sole remaining ‘Holborn (Kingsway)’ roundel attached to the wall. Like other disused platforms we’ve visited, it occasionally serves as a mock-up for experimental equipment and signage. After its closure, it was also used as a filming location, notably for the music video of the 80s classic “New Song” by Howard Jones.

We also learned about an experiment involving water pipes to cool the underground and saw test signage showing a ‘St Paul’s’ platform edge sign above the familiar Holborn roundel. Pre-war Piccadilly Line wayfinding signs were also on display, and we peered down the still-lit line to Aldwych. Sadly, the station’s ‘bird’s nest’ control room, once used for early CCTV tests, is no longer there.

A cloakroom sign on a wooden door. The rooms here were added when the platform closed. — The rooms here were added when the platform closed

The other platform had closed much earlier, as the branch line was underused from the start. Through a flood defence door installed during the war, we saw the crossover lines where trains could be directed down one of two tunnels towards the Strand. Much of this platform had been filled in, and one of the tunnels was repurposed as wartime art storage and never returned to service. The filled-in track bed was used as accommodation and shelter during the Blitz but is now a concrete walkway. A corridor of rooms, once used as a cloakroom and later by a model railway group, remains empty and unused. It’s always fascinating to see how much under-utilised space lies beneath London.

As I wandered through these hidden spaces, I couldn’t help but wonder if a branch line from Strand might have gained popularity as tube usage surged in the current millennium. Could it have been viable with an extension beyond Strand to Waterloo and the south?

There are still unfunded plans for station improvements and a new entrance to ease congestion. Of course, the station has seen upgrades before. It was connected to the Central Line on 25 September 1933, the day after the British Museum station closed. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely there will be a Hidden London tour of that station, as the above-ground facilities have apparently been demolished.

Is Every Railway Project Is The Same?

When it comes to major UK railway projects, everything changes and everything stays the same, huh?

People who occasionally visit here may notice that I talk about transport and trains, in particular, quite a bit. But, I’ve not written anything about the failure of London’s big transport project, Crossrail, to open because, on a day-to-day basis, it does’t impact me. No part of my daily travel would use the new trains. I don’t think Crossrail will remove that many people on my daily commuter route into Waterloo so the only thing I’m unable to do is try riding the new trains (and so, I will wait a while).

I have been following the news about the project and, last week, read the Evening Standard article that began

None of the nine new Crossrail stations are complete and testing of the £1 billion fleet of trains in tunnels has been “paused” due to technical issues, it has been revealed.
London Evening Standard

Today, the Blast From The Past links on this site point to a piece from 2004 in The Guardian titled “The £10bn rail crash” on which I commented. My immediate thought was that it was a piece about Crossrail but, of course, in 2004 Crossrail wasn’t the project it is today. No, this was a piece about the West Coast mainline.

Everything changes and everything stays the same, huh?

Networks & Connections

I don’t know what it is about the railways that fascinates so many people but it does. As I type, there’s a mysterious world of trainspotters taking pictures of Diesel Multiple Units from the far end of station platforms somewhere in the UK. Certainly, it’s an important/large enough passtime for the BBC to have devoted three hours of evening TV hours to Transporting Live a few weeks ago week.

I’ve often wondered if this is only a British phenomenon? I am not sure I understand that although I will admit that, as a child, I crossed out bus registration plates in a book that listed all the vehicles operated by the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive. Bus Spotting: it was Pokémon Go for a 70s childhood.

Perhaps it’s not that hard to explain after all.

However, I do have my own fascination with the networks of the railways. There’s something about the running of an infrastructure that moves thousands of people daily that really interests me. Previously, I’ve highlighted the complexities of the Oyster smart-card system and written about the Hidden London visitor series which can take you to disused parts of the Underground network.

Fellow London commuters frustrated by the levels of service provided by the Southern franchise right now will rightly not be interested in the history of the network or Oyster permutations: after all, what good is a fare if the trains have been removed? But they may be interested in this from the London Reconnection site: “Meltdown Monday: How Southern’s Problems Run Deeper Than Disputes” which provides interesting background on why the current problems are not as simple as an argument about who closes the doors.

People have warned for years that London’s transport system will start to collapse due to the sheer number of people using it. That is unlikely and gentle degradation is a more likely outcome. What consistently seems to get overlooked, however, is the possibility that two or three problems, relatively small and insignificant in themselves, can come together to produce a situation that is hard to unravel and even more difficult to solve.¹

How many of us travelling on the railways understand things such as Dwell time or Sunday Rest Day working?

Basically on large parts of the railway, still, Sunday is not a rostered working day for train crew, and management is reliant on people working rest days to provide a service.²

It’s worth a read if you have the time while staring at the platform display hoping a train will appear.

Footnotes

¹ Meltdown Monday: How Southern’s Problems Run Deeper Than Disputes: London Reconnections
² ibid

Coming Up

I guess I could have tried to make this the first in the 2016 Blog Every Wednesday in August series. However, last Wednesday I said that the quote and link format, although a blog staple, is not the BEWA way. I felt this post would be cheating. I may regret that next week when I have to find something to write about.

Hidden London: Aldwych Underground Station

I took another tour of a hidden London Underground station last weekend. This time it was of Aldwych (formerly, Strand) station which has a fascinating history. Originally planned as the terminus of the Great Northern and Strand Railway, even by the time it opened in 1907 it was a little used spur of – what is today – the Piccadilly Line. Closed in 1994, Aldwych can still be seen in films and TV programmes and, very occasionally, as part of a Hidden London tour.

Fearing that the station would be little used, economy was sought during construction. Only one set of stairs & passages to the platforms were completed. The eastern platform was not used for trains from 1914 onwards. — The eastern platform, shown here, was not used for trains from 1914 onwards, although they were used to store national art treasures during the world wars.

Fearing that the station would be little used, economy was sought during construction. Only one set of stairs & passages to the platforms were completed, and only about half the platform area (at the south end where the short trains would stop) were tiled. The remaining passages were left incomplete and never opened, all passengers using what would have been the exit passages to access platforms and lifts …
The Aldwych branch was never well patronised. Before the time of its closure only 450 people were using the branch each day. From June 1958 the line began operating only in rush hours as off peak traffic was almost non-existent. The line was considered for extension to Waterloo on many occasions throughout its history but due to financial limitations and lack of demand, this extension never came to anything.

There’s a few more pictures in a Flickr album: https://flic.kr/s/aHsksZdTtV

The station was originally called Strand but was renamed Aldwych in 1915 when the nearest Northern Line station became Strand (now, that's Charing Cross) — The station was originally called Strand but was renamed Aldwych in 1915 when the nearest Northern Line station became Strand (now, that’s Charing Cross)

Footnotes

Source: Hidden London: Aldwych Closed Station, © London Transport Museum, p3/p18

Oyster Complexities

Something I learned this week about the complexities of managing London’s smart-card ticketing system,

Starting with 700 stations, Oyster does not know the destination when you tap in. So the system has to hold 700 times 700 possible fares.
Then there are alternative routes, where you have to allow for people doing ‘weird and wonderful things’. As a result Oyster allows for up to 32 different routes between any origin-destination pair.
Then there are peak and off-peak fares. Here Oyster has built in ‘stretch’ which could accommodate up to 16 different time bands over the day.
Add in adult, child plus youth, senior, unemployed and other concessionary fares and the total number of combinations in the system comes to 216 million fares. That is, of course, irrelevant to the customer, who knows that, however he or she travels between Zone 1 and Zone 2, the peak fare will be £2.90.

Source: Modern Railways magazine, March 2016, p73

Powered By Rotting Fruit

The Swedes, god-bless their efficiency, have come up with a train that is, effectively, powered by that rotting fruit.

I don’t know if it is the glorious sunny weather or something else altogether but, right now, commuting life in London seems so much more pleasant than it used to be. I have no idea why that is but my morning battle with overcrowded South West Trains doesn’t feel to bad right now. Perhaps these new trains really are making a difference. Of course, if it is getting better the rail bosses have still managed to stir up controversy again by suggesting further peak-travel charging for using the railways. There’s nothing likely to get people stirred up than a story like this. I mainly feel for the poor people from the rail companies having to justify these statements. Lost in all the furore about this was the news that the Swedes, god-bless their efficiency, have come up with a train that is, effectively, powered by that rotting fruit you throw away each week. What a great idea.

A Pointless Rant About Trains

I am not shocked at the mediocre service. I am not shocked that the staff on board couldn’t care about the confused passengers. What amazes me is that I took two trains and for the majority of both journeys the trains were full.

Today’s illogical rant follows in a moment. Do not be alarmed. An emergency exit is located here and here.

Virgin Trains have made a big deal about the investment in new trains. And the trains were very nice – the airline style at-seat audio was a nice touch. But the service was still below par. On the way north last weekend the train had been changed and so seat reservations were no longer valid (yet our seat numbers were still there). They seems to have removed the at-seat buffet (which is handy on a full-train so you don’t lose your seat) and the train terminated early.

I am not shocked at the mediocre service. I am not shocked that the staff on board couldn’t care about the confused passengers (are you in my seat or not?). What amazes me is that I took two trains and for the majority of both journeys the trains were full. And by full I mean people were sitting in the parts between the carriages, on the floor in the cold, draughty bits (as an aside, how come it can be so draughty and ventilated and the toilets still smell?). Every train I ever take is full. To work in the morning. Home in the evening. North to visit my parents. South to visit PY’s parents. So why do we always hear about the lack of money in the railway system?

Aliens Eat London Commuters

It stunned me that I could walk onto a platform on the Northern Line at Charing Cross station and find it deserted.

I posted this picture over a Flickr tonight as it stunned me that I could walk onto a platform on the Northern Line at Charing Cross station and find it deserted. All the best movies had alien invaders clearing the streets while our lonesome hero wandered the empty streets and echoing buildings. It was very strange indeed and a great relief when somebody else made it to the platform and stood waiting the few minutes for the next train. I’ve spent the day in central London training some customers on our software products and so have been on my feet all day, talking. I find it quite hard to be engaging for six hours of so and do find it very disconcerting when I can see the participants interest wane. I imagine it’s a great relief for all that we make it to the end of the day. I was glad to head of for a meal with friends – which is why I was taking the train!

Britain’s Railways

The whole saga of the upgrading of the west coast main line is outlined in today’s Guardian.

A very interesting item it today’s G2 about the on-going saga of the upgrading of the West Coast Main Line, one of the key railway routes in Britain:

One of the most disturbing facets of the west coast saga is the failure of democratic government that it represents. Not just of a particular party, but the whole system of government.

and later

And yet we cannot accuse our elected representatives of looking the other way. In mid-February and early March of 1995, after the consultants had delivered their report but while Railtrack and the government were still mulling over it, members of the House of Commons transport committee questioned Edmonds, Horton and the heads of some of the big signalling firms about the WCML project … Members of parliament had done what they were elected to do, conscientiously and thoroughly scrutinising a big plan by an unelected organisation with power over the lives and purses of the public. It had pointed out its weaknesses. And nobody paid any attention.

What the article does highlight is that, today, projects of national importance and public good like this one come second to short-term profit, power and – to some extent – ego. I wonder if we will ever see a situation where transport planning is for all our good rather than the few?