Mystery white room?

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Mystery white room? Sept 17, 2010 15:27:37 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 15:27:37 GMT

Over on the Rail UK Forum I've just read the following story in their "Are our railways haunted?" thread:

My uncle works for Citylink Telecommuncations Ltd and is part of a team responsible for replacing and managing the radio and transmission services for the entire Tube network on the London Underground. One day, whilst performing a routine track inspection along the District line, his team came across as a door inside one of the tunnels which, when opened, revealed a room. The strangest thing about this room was that it was completely white. It had no windows, no secondary exits, nothing. Just a white room.

However, in the centre of this room there was a man dressed in a black suit, sat at a small table with a laptop. My uncle, who had opened the door, dismissed the man, thinking that he either worked for the government or worked for another firm and was perhaps monitoring something on his laptop, so my uncle said "oh, sorry mate" and closed the door again. Shortly after this, his team reached the end of their track inspection and promptly radioed the line manager who asked them to "return to base" so to speak. My uncle happened to mention to the line manager that they had seen a man with a laptop inside a room. The line manager, who had no knowledge of there being a "white room" in the tunnel, replied that they were the only people authorised to be in that section and that nobody else should be down there, so they turned round and walked back towards the door. When they opened the door again, both the table and the man with the laptop had disappeared, without a trace. Confused, the team returned to base and the line manager, having spent a great deal of time making full enquiries to the relevant people, could not find an explanation as to why another person may have been down there. My uncle noted that if the person had left the room, they would have heard the door open or at least seen them walking along the track, as their track inspection had ended only a short distance away from where the door was.

Whether this was a ghost, a secret FBI agent or something else, my uncle will never know. One thing's for sure, the man was never seen again and he would have HAD to head back towards where the line manager was stationed, who had not seen a single person for the duration of the line inspection.

Has anyone ever heard of the mysterious white room before, or heard of the incident mentioned? Or should this tale be taken with a large pinch of salt?

Last Edit: Sept 17, 2010 15:30:25 GMT by Deleted

Deleted Deleted Member Posts: 0	Mystery white room? Sept 17, 2010 15:38:53 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 15:38:53 GMT I have walked the whole line at some point and never came across no white door in the tunnels

Colin Advisor My preserved fire engine! Posts: 11,346	Mystery white room? Sept 17, 2010 15:56:51 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Colin on Sept 17, 2010 15:56:51 GMT Load of cobblers IMO.
	Instructor Operator @ Acton Town (District)

Deleted Deleted Member Posts: 0	Mystery white room? Sept 17, 2010 15:58:40 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 15:58:40 GMT How can we be sure the uncle wasn't hallucinating or something? Perhaps there WAS a white room, but the man, laptop and table might have been a vision?

railtechnician
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Mystery white room? Sept 17, 2010 16:07:47 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 17, 2010 16:07:47 GMT

Sept 17, 2010 15:27:37 GMT burkitt said:

Over on the Rail UK Forum I've just read the following story in their "Are our railways haunted?" thread:

My uncle works for Citylink Telecommuncations Ltd and is part of a team responsible for replacing and managing the radio and transmission services for the entire Tube network on the London Underground. One day, whilst performing a routine track inspection along the District line, his team came across as a door inside one of the tunnels which, when opened, revealed a room. The strangest thing about this room was that it was completely white. It had no windows, no secondary exits, nothing. Just a white room.

However, in the centre of this room there was a man dressed in a black suit, sat at a small table with a laptop. My uncle, who had opened the door, dismissed the man, thinking that he either worked for the government or worked for another firm and was perhaps monitoring something on his laptop, so my uncle said "oh, sorry mate" and closed the door again. Shortly after this, his team reached the end of their track inspection and promptly radioed the line manager who asked them to "return to base" so to speak. My uncle happened to mention to the line manager that they had seen a man with a laptop inside a room. The line manager, who had no knowledge of there being a "white room" in the tunnel, replied that they were the only people authorised to be in that section and that nobody else should be down there, so they turned round and walked back towards the door. When they opened the door again, both the table and the man with the laptop had disappeared, without a trace. Confused, the team returned to base and the line manager, having spent a great deal of time making full enquiries to the relevant people, could not find an explanation as to why another person may have been down there. My uncle noted that if the person had left the room, they would have heard the door open or at least seen them walking along the track, as their track inspection had ended only a short distance away from where the door was.

Whether this was a ghost, a secret FBI agent or something else, my uncle will never know. One thing's for sure, the man was never seen again and he would have HAD to head back towards where the line manager was stationed, who had not seen a single person for the duration of the line inspection.

Has anyone ever heard of the mysterious white room before, or heard of the incident mentioned? Or should this tale be taken with a large pinch of salt?

For that story a large pinch of salt! I have an open mind on ghosts and though I came across many 'strange' things in my Underground career that could have been spiritual in one way or another there was always an almost plausible or rational explanation too. There is no leeway for any rational explanation of that story which is why I don't believe it and I spent many years exploring nooks and crannies on the system that most seldom see.

More than 30 years ago I was with a gang working at Kennington, we had to run some cables in the platform invert and one of the senior wireman was sent below to check out the run. He was gone a long time, well he did have to walk from one end of the invert to the other and back again, but he was gone too long. A second man was sent down to find out if he was okay and a few minutes later the pair returned, the first man appearing shaken and mumbling about seeing a different world. The chargehand sat him down and then asked me to have a look, I saw nothing that I didn't expect to find but there were no lights and we carried Tilley paraffin lamps, there was a couple of inches of water and so there were plenty of reflections from the bright lamp. Did my colleague see something or did he not? He could have had a funny turn or banged his head and not realised (been there and done that myself), might've seen something he couldn't rationalise or perhaps he was playing hookey to get out of a dirty job because he was fine later.

Kennington is known for its ghosts especially in the loop and there are station non-public areas which look somewhat different to what might be expected, narrower tunnels, deeper passageways, stalactites and stalagmites on the rough concrete staircases etc. It's not unknown for those of a nervous disposition to become disoriented and of course the human imagination knows no bounds!

Always a company man, very much a lurker now as I slowly fade away.

railtechnician
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Mystery white room? Sept 17, 2010 16:17:48 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 17, 2010 16:17:48 GMT

Sept 17, 2010 15:38:53 GMT @aetearlscourt said:

I have walked the whole line at some point and never came across no white door in the tunnels

No white doors in tunnels but lots of disused places, for instance the track access through a gap in the tunnel EB cable run and a little climbing to the escalator chamber at Embankment, probably blocked off by now, and the old substation there with its cable shaft to the Northern line invert and the ghostly Page's Walk to the Bakerloo.

Always a company man, very much a lurker now as I slowly fade away.

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Mystery white room? Sept 17, 2010 18:05:24 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 18:05:24 GMT

I keep an open mind but am a quite skeptical.
Isn't Hampstead supposed to be haunted aswell?
Alot of it are questionable though,
looking back on the tube ghost stories documentary, they didn't show one single bit of CCTV from the accounts of the staff which makes it a bit hard to believe.

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Mystery white room? Sept 17, 2010 18:48:31 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 18:48:31 GMT

Sept 17, 2010 15:27:37 GMT burkitt said:

Over on the Rail UK Forum I've just read the following story in their "Are our railways haunted?" thread:

My uncle works for Citylink Telecommuncations Ltd and is part of a team responsible for replacing and managing the radio and transmission services for the entire Tube network on the London Underground. One day, whilst performing a routine track inspection along the District line, his team came across as a door inside one of the tunnels which, when opened, revealed a room. The strangest thing about this room was that it was completely white. It had no windows, no secondary exits, nothing. Just a white room.

However, in the centre of this room there was a man dressed in a black suit, sat at a small table with a laptop. My uncle, who had opened the door, dismissed the man, thinking that he either worked for the government or worked for another firm and was perhaps monitoring something on his laptop, so my uncle said "oh, sorry mate" and closed the door again. Shortly after this, his team reached the end of their track inspection and promptly radioed the line manager who asked them to "return to base" so to speak. My uncle happened to mention to the line manager that they had seen a man with a laptop inside a room. The line manager, who had no knowledge of there being a "white room" in the tunnel, replied that they were the only people authorised to be in that section and that nobody else should be down there, so they turned round and walked back towards the door. When they opened the door again, both the table and the man with the laptop had disappeared, without a trace. Confused, the team returned to base and the line manager, having spent a great deal of time making full enquiries to the relevant people, could not find an explanation as to why another person may have been down there. My uncle noted that if the person had left the room, they would have heard the door open or at least seen them walking along the track, as their track inspection had ended only a short distance away from where the door was.

Whether this was a ghost, a secret FBI agent or something else, my uncle will never know. One thing's for sure, the man was never seen again and he would have HAD to head back towards where the line manager was stationed, who had not seen a single person for the duration of the line inspection.

Has anyone ever heard of the mysterious white room before, or heard of the incident mentioned? Or should this tale be taken with a large pinch of salt?

Just wondering, could they actually mean the white paint on the Central line that was painted on the tunnel to indicate the fan shaft at Old Ford, between Stratford and Mile End?

railtechnician
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Mystery white room? Sept 18, 2010 2:44:37 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 18, 2010 2:44:37 GMT

Sept 17, 2010 18:05:24 GMT @delboy200 said:

I keep an open mind but am a quite skeptical.
Isn't Hampstead supposed to be haunted aswell?
Alot of it are questionable though,
looking back on the tube ghost stories documentary, they didn't show one single bit of CCTV from the accounts of the staff which makes it a bit hard to believe.

Yep there are stories about Hampstead. When I first joined LT in the 1970s we were resignalling the Northern line from Chalk Farm to Golders Green. In those days the stations were predominantly unmanned by operating staff once the last trains had gone. Staff working on the station were thus locked in all night unless let out by a visiting signal supervisor or by finding a way out. The habit was to get out one way or another but generally we used the station emergency key, the drawback was that one person had to replace the key and so remain alone in the locked station until the station supervisor arrived in the morning. We drew lots, tossed coins or took turns for the unlucky post and on one occasion I was the unlucky one and after seeing the lads out and locking the gates I walked back down to the platforms and stretched out on a bench to await the first train which was several hours away. I had heard all sorts of stories about the lifts going up and down on their own, strange figures appearing and disappearing etc but although I heard all sorts of noises I saw nothing untoward. The sounds could all be explained away by echoes from the tunnels, contraction of rails and draught from various quarters.

Always a company man, very much a lurker now as I slowly fade away.

londonse
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Mystery white room? Sept 18, 2010 7:57:30 GMT

Post by londonse on Sept 18, 2010 7:57:30 GMT

Sept 17, 2010 15:27:37 GMT burkitt said:

Over on the Rail UK Forum I've just read the following story in their "Are our railways haunted?" thread:

My uncle works for Citylink Telecommuncations Ltd and is part of a team responsible for replacing and managing the radio and transmission services for the entire Tube network on the London Underground. One day, whilst performing a routine track inspection along the District line, his team came across as a door inside one of the tunnels which, when opened, revealed a room. The strangest thing about this room was that it was completely white. It had no windows, no secondary exits, nothing. Just a white room.

However, in the centre of this room there was a man dressed in a black suit, sat at a small table with a laptop. My uncle, who had opened the door, dismissed the man, thinking that he either worked for the government or worked for another firm and was perhaps monitoring something on his laptop, so my uncle said "oh, sorry mate" and closed the door again. Shortly after this, his team reached the end of their track inspection and promptly radioed the line manager who asked them to "return to base" so to speak. My uncle happened to mention to the line manager that they had seen a man with a laptop inside a room. The line manager, who had no knowledge of there being a "white room" in the tunnel, replied that they were the only people authorised to be in that section and that nobody else should be down there, so they turned round and walked back towards the door. When they opened the door again, both the table and the man with the laptop had disappeared, without a trace. Confused, the team returned to base and the line manager, having spent a great deal of time making full enquiries to the relevant people, could not find an explanation as to why another person may have been down there. My uncle noted that if the person had left the room, they would have heard the door open or at least seen them walking along the track, as their track inspection had ended only a short distance away from where the door was.

Whether this was a ghost, a secret FBI agent or something else, my uncle will never know. One thing's for sure, the man was never seen again and he would have HAD to head back towards where the line manager was stationed, who had not seen a single person for the duration of the line inspection.

Has anyone ever heard of the mysterious white room before, or heard of the incident mentioned? Or should this tale be taken with a large pinch of salt?

What you don't mention is the location of the room, somewhere between Bow Road and Hammersmith/Fulham Bdy/Edgware Road. The real District people on here would be able to confirm or deny the existence.

Paul

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Mystery white room? Sept 18, 2010 10:15:16 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2010 10:15:16 GMT

Having spent more than my fair share on deserted tube stations at night, they are very eerie places. They make unusual noises as well as escalators cool, metals contract. You can hear noises you don't normally hear during the day.

I can recount a "ghost" story I experienced. After the last trains I was filling up a leaflet rack. 2 of my colleagues were convinced the station was haunted. As I was filling up my leaflet rack I heard a deep booming voice. Not one for being scared I ran back to the office pretty sharpish. Concerned that I would be laughed at I went back out to investigate again hearing the deep booming voice. Now as I was running back to the office I was pretty concerned if the fault report centre had the opportunity to call out ghostbusters.

I summed up the courage to go out a third time, armed with the mobile phone presuming that I could capture the first picture of ghostly images and make myself a fortune. The deep voice boomed again, but this time I didn't run but instead waited to listern to what the voice was saying. I waited and waited and finally the deep booming voice said "insert coins and select which type of photograph you want.....". The damn photo-me machine had an upgrade and now was talking to you........

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Mystery white room? Sept 18, 2010 13:21:26 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 18, 2010 13:21:26 GMT

Sept 18, 2010 10:15:16 GMT @centralsimon said:

Having spent more than my fair share on deserted tube stations at night, they are very eerie places. They make unusual noises as well as escalators cool, metals contract. You can hear noises you don't normally hear during the day.

I can recount a "ghost" story I experienced. After the last trains I was filling up a leaflet rack. 2 of my colleagues were convinced the station was haunted. As I was filling up my leaflet rack I heard a deep booming voice. Not one for being scared I ran back to the office pretty sharpish. Concerned that I would be laughed at I went back out to investigate again hearing the deep booming voice. Now as I was running back to the office I was pretty concerned if the fault report centre had the opportunity to call out ghostbusters.

I summed up the courage to go out a third time, armed with the mobile phone presuming that I could capture the first picture of ghostly images and make myself a fortune. The deep voice boomed again, but this time I didn't run but instead waited to listern to what the voice was saying. I waited and waited and finally the deep booming voice said "insert coins and select which type of photograph you want.....". The damn photo-me machine had an upgrade and now was talking to you........

Now that is a great yarn, never heard one quite like that before.

I used to spend a lot of time at Down Street IMR alone doing routine maintenance. Several of my colleagues were worried about doing the same as they heard voices. It is an eerie place when trains are running as the movement of air has an effect on the structure, things rattle and clap and such like but that is normal almost anywhere on the system in the deep tube.
One night I relieved a colleague who had been called to deal with a non-safety failure on the late turn, he returned to depot to book off and I remained alone as I had to clean the lever frame contacts as part of my normal maintenance in engineering hours. A couple of hours into my work I heard voices, not unusual as people could be on the track and noise carries from both Green Park and Hyde Park Corner, but I looked at and saw nobody on either road each way. In doing that I could still hear muffled voices echoing within the site, the odd tapping sound but couldn't really determine what I was hearing. I went to investigate, there are two routes to the platforms from the spiral staircase and most people would follow the one direct to the IMR but the noise was further away than that.
Threading my way through the long disused offices built the length of the platform to the second set of steps the voices became louder and more clear, as I rounded to the base of the stairs and looked up I saw the backs of two cleaners walking away from the landing having mopped the staircase. I had worked there for several years and until then had never been aware that cleaners worked there, after all there is dust everywhere! Another mystery solved but even after that my point fitter wouldn't even enter Down Street from the street unless I went first.

Always a company man, very much a lurker now as I slowly fade away.

Deleted Deleted Member Posts: 0	Mystery white room? Sept 18, 2010 13:36:30 GMT Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2010 13:36:30 GMT IMHO the story in the OP is too perfect.

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Mystery white room? Sept 19, 2010 10:54:38 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2010 10:54:38 GMT

Sept 18, 2010 2:44:37 GMT railtechnician said:

Sept 17, 2010 18:05:24 GMT @delboy200 said:

I keep an open mind but am a quite skeptical.
Isn't Hampstead supposed to be haunted aswell?
Alot of it are questionable though,
looking back on the tube ghost stories documentary, they didn't show one single bit of CCTV from the accounts of the staff which makes it a bit hard to believe.

Yep there are stories about Hampstead. When I first joined LT in the 1970s we were resignalling the Northern line from Chalk Farm to Golders Green. In those days the stations were predominantly unmanned by operating staff once the last trains had gone. Staff working on the station were thus locked in all night unless let out by a visiting signal supervisor or by finding a way out. The habit was to get out one way or another but generally we used the station emergency key, the drawback was that one person had to replace the key and so remain alone in the locked station until the station supervisor arrived in the morning. We drew lots, tossed coins or took turns for the unlucky post and on one occasion I was the unlucky one and after seeing the lads out and locking the gates I walked back down to the platforms and stretched out on a bench to await the first train which was several hours away. I had heard all sorts of stories about the lifts going up and down on their own, strange figures appearing and disappearing etc but although I heard all sorts of noises I saw nothing untoward. The sounds could all be explained away by echoes from the tunnels, contraction of rails and draught from various quarters.

Funnily enough my brother used to work for a firm of contractors who cleaned stations and his allocated station was Hampstead. He loved it because once he cleaned the booking office and other bits at street level, he would take the last lift down to the platforms, do an hours cleaning there and then promptly kip the night away until the lifts started up again in the morning.
He always said that here was no way a supervisor was going to walk down the spiral to check on him and then back up again so he was completely safe!
He did this for about two years and never mentioned any 'ghostly' going on's.

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Mystery white room? Sept 19, 2010 17:36:09 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2010 17:36:09 GMT

Sept 17, 2010 16:07:47 GMT railtechnician said:

Sept 17, 2010 15:27:37 GMT burkitt said:

Over on the Rail UK Forum I've just read the following story in their "Are our railways haunted?" thread:

Kennington is known for its ghosts especially in the loop and there are station non-public areas which look somewhat different to what might be expected, narrower tunnels, deeper passageways, stalactites and stalagmites on the rough concrete staircases etc. It's not unknown for those of a nervous disposition to become disoriented and of course the human imagination knows no bounds!

Its only a copy of the layout at Borough, one floor below the current Kennington lift landings, isn't it? Nothing particularly large or expansive, that you could get massively lost in?

railtechnician
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Mystery white room? Sept 19, 2010 20:17:58 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 19, 2010 20:17:58 GMT

Sept 19, 2010 10:54:38 GMT @177topclass said:

Sept 18, 2010 2:44:37 GMT railtechnician said:

Yep there are stories about Hampstead. When I first joined LT in the 1970s we were resignalling the Northern line from Chalk Farm to Golders Green. In those days the stations were predominantly unmanned by operating staff once the last trains had gone. Staff working on the station were thus locked in all night unless let out by a visiting signal supervisor or by finding a way out. The habit was to get out one way or another but generally we used the station emergency key, the drawback was that one person had to replace the key and so remain alone in the locked station until the station supervisor arrived in the morning. We drew lots, tossed coins or took turns for the unlucky post and on one occasion I was the unlucky one and after seeing the lads out and locking the gates I walked back down to the platforms and stretched out on a bench to await the first train which was several hours away. I had heard all sorts of stories about the lifts going up and down on their own, strange figures appearing and disappearing etc but although I heard all sorts of noises I saw nothing untoward. The sounds could all be explained away by echoes from the tunnels, contraction of rails and draught from various quarters.

Funnily enough my brother used to work for a firm of contractors who cleaned stations and his allocated station was Hampstead. He loved it because once he cleaned the booking office and other bits at street level, he would take the last lift down to the platforms, do an hours cleaning there and then promptly kip the night away until the lifts started up again in the morning.
He always said that here was no way a supervisor was going to walk down the spiral to check on him and then back up again so he was completely safe!
He did this for about two years and never mentioned any 'ghostly' going on's.

You couldn't be more wrong with your last remark! At least one of the Hampstead supervisors on duty when I worked there in the early 1990s made at least one trip down the staircase and back up again each night! I know because I was with him the first time I'd done it in more than 10 years. I was on the station to divert cables at platform level and the first night all I had to carry was myself, the supervisor went off apace and by the time I reached the landing outside his office (the level below the ticket hall) he was waiting for me with a refreshing cup of cooled water. [The last time I had done the trip up the staircase was in 1978 with a signal supervisor, I was carrying full tool bag and Tilley paraffin lamp, we got out of the van at Camden Town walked into the station, down the escalators, through the tunnel to Hampstead and straight up to the ticket hall non-stop and out to the van waiting outside.]

Always a company man, very much a lurker now as I slowly fade away.

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Mystery white room? Sept 19, 2010 20:52:51 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2010 20:52:51 GMT

Sept 19, 2010 20:17:58 GMT railtechnician said:

You couldn't be more wrong with your last remark! At least one of the Hampstead supervisors on duty when I worked there in the early 1990s made at least one trip down the staircase and back up again each night! I know because I was with him the first time I'd done it in more than 10 years. I was on the station to divert cables at platform level and the first night all I had to carry was myself, the supervisor went off apace and by the time I reached the landing outside his office (the level below the ticket hall) he was waiting for me with a refreshing cup of cooled water. [The last time I had done the trip up the staircase was in 1978 with a signal supervisor, I was carrying full tool bag and Tilley paraffin lamp, we got out of the van at Camden Town walked into the station, down the escalators, through the tunnel to Hampstead and straight up to the ticket hall non-stop and out to the van waiting outside.]

Long blummin walk that staircase, Iv'e only done it once, and I'm never doing it again, it seems to go on for an eternity!
And tilley paraffin lamps? why not bardics?

Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 15:27:37 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 15:38:53 GMT

Post by Colin on Sept 17, 2010 15:56:51 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 15:58:40 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 17, 2010 16:07:47 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 17, 2010 16:17:48 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 18:05:24 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 17, 2010 18:48:31 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 18, 2010 2:44:37 GMT

Post by londonse on Sept 18, 2010 7:57:30 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2010 10:15:16 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 18, 2010 13:21:26 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2010 13:36:30 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2010 10:54:38 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2010 17:36:09 GMT

Post by railtechnician on Sept 19, 2010 20:17:58 GMT

Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2010 20:52:51 GMT