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Post by rheostar on Sept 27, 2013 14:03:05 GMT
The LT Museum are giving guided tours of Aldwych station later this year. www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/events/events-calendar#aldwychAldwych Underground Station Tours
Dates: 7 November - 1 December 2013
Deep below the streets of London lie the disused platforms and tunnels the disused Aldwych Underground Station. Usually closed to the public, London Transport Museum has arranged public tours to take place in November 2013.
Aldwych is one of London’s mysterious places, holding secrets and memories of London’s forgotten life and work underground. It opened to the public in 1907 was never heavily used as originally intended and closed nearly 100 years later in 1994.The station has had a varied history; it provided shelter to Londoners during the Blitz and has been used for film shoots including Patriot Game, Mr Selfridge and Atonement.
The tours start on 7 November and will involve groups of up to 40 people being escorted by volunteer tour guides into the ticket hall and then down to the platforms and inter-connecting walkways – including some that have very rarely been seen by the public.
Tickets £25 adult (£20 concession) basket Book Online
Tickets must be booked in advance by booking online or calling 020 7565 7298. All tickets include a free entry to London Transport Museum to be used within one month of the stated Aldwych station tour date.
Important access information
Access to the platform is by staircase only and there is no working lift in operation. 160 stairs connect the ticket hall level to the platform level - there is no step-free access. Visitors should wear sturdy shoes. Guests wearing open toe sandals, shoes or high-heels will be refused entry due to a health and safety requirements.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2013 15:03:28 GMT
Well I'm certainly booking my tickets! Been waiting a long time for this.
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Post by bassmike on Sept 28, 2013 12:17:22 GMT
will this include a tunnel walk like the last time i was down there?
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hobbayne
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Post by hobbayne on Sept 29, 2013 12:44:12 GMT
Is there a discount available for TFL staff? I know there is for the LT museum.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2013 17:52:21 GMT
will this include a tunnel walk like the last time i was down there? Quite possibly, they haven't released the itenary for the tour. Is there a discount available for TFL staff? I know there is for the LT museum. Having seen the booking system I'd say probably not. Another question to anybody who knows, which street level entrance to the station do we meet at?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 2, 2013 18:18:09 GMT
Another question to anybody who knows, which street level entrance to the station do we meet at? Last 2 times I've been, the LTM staff have had people queue at the top (Strand end) of Surrey Street. Then, when the time comes, everyone is led in through the front (Strand) doors. Then at the end we were exited through the Surrey Street doors.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2013 7:45:24 GMT
When I went last December, we had to queue at the top of Surrey Street, on the other side of the road from the station. As 'neutron' says, we were led in from the Strand entrance, before being briefed in the booking hall. At the end of the tour, we left the station via the Surrey Street exit. If my memory serves me correctly, these were the entry/ exit arrangements when the station was in use.
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Post by compsci on Oct 16, 2013 15:19:29 GMT
From the guide notes that I've seen (I'm one of the guides), it looks like the format for this year is a little different to last year, but not by much. The principal difference is that more time is being allowed on Platform 2 compared to Platform 1 as the former is much more interesting. The door at the end of Platform 2 is also being left open so that you can see what is there, but not actually climb the stairs. These are some photos that I took on the staff training day last year, when the door was open: P_20121129_0165 by paul fox, on Flickr P_20121129_0166 by paul fox, on Flickr Extra time is also being allowed at the lift shafts on the way out. It is unclear if this is just to look through the grilles into the lift shafts for a second time, or if any more tunnels or the shafts themselves will be accessible. I should know by the end of next week. No tunnel walk I'm afraid - that's a bit much to cope with with 40 customers and 4 staff per tour.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2013 17:23:36 GMT
No problem.
Do you know if the 1972 set will be present on Platform 1?
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Post by compsci on Oct 17, 2013 7:31:24 GMT
Don't know yet, though it has been on all previous occasions, though inaccessible. Will know by next week.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 23, 2013 17:48:28 GMT
The tours have now all sold out.
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Post by compsci on Oct 24, 2013 13:44:12 GMT
Having been to Aldwych yesterday on a preliminary site visit, I can now confirm that there is no train in Platform 1 as it's been moved to Holborn to keep the tunnel clear for emergency evacuation. However this does mean that it is much easier to see the tunnel than in previous years.
In addition to what has been accessible in previous years, the bottom of the stairs to the never used passage to the back of the lifts on Platform 2 (but not the stairs themselves as they're a bit precarious) will be accessible, as will the near end of the adjacent overrun tunnel, including climbing down a couple of steps to where the track would be if there was any. You may have to go there of your own devices as not everyone can be walked through there as there isn't enough room.
The remainder of the passages to the back of the lifts (up to but not including the stairs mentioned earlier, from the other side) will be accessible later after returning to the bottom of the lift shaft via the entry passage. The back of the lifts won't be accessible as part of the passage is bricked up, meaning that the only way to get there is via the somewhat rickety bridge through one of the shafts.
This is quite a bit more than previous years. To accommodate the extra length of route, the time spent on Platform 1 is being reduced, but this is unlikely to bother most people, especially as there is no train parked there.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2013 8:49:55 GMT
Sad, no train. But I'll manage.
However, I'm not sure how much of a safe evacuation point the platform 1 tunnel will be unless there's service hatches in the tunnel before the junction at Holborn.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2013 9:24:57 GMT
Was a lovely tour yesterday, thoroughly enjoyable!
When the driver (can't remember his name exactly) said that if Ken Livingstone becomes Mayor of London again, he might reopen the branch, I thought it wouldn't attract enough passengers, like it did when it was open before.
So it got me thinking, how viable would a proposal be from the LT Museum to buy/lease the track from London Underground for the purpose of operating a heritage train service on select days of the week (so it can still be used for filming/training) from Aldwych to the abandoned platforms at Holborn?
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Post by railtechnician on Nov 10, 2013 12:52:45 GMT
Not too many years ago it was possible to walk from Holborn Picc platform via the second disused tunnel all the way to the unused platform at Aldwych which was used to mock up station refurbishment finishes for the 1980s station modernisation programme, hence it appeared to be part Central, part Bakerloo etc with sections of proposed tiling and frieze runs for the stations being upgraded on several tube lines. As far as I recall that route was blocked when part of the tunnel became part of a new LEB substation some 20 years ago or so. Like other sites the disused tunnel at the Holborn end was converted to offices/accommodation during WW2 and in the late 1970s and early 1980s we used to use the area to store materials and cable for various upgrade works as did other engineering departments. Aldwych was one of two sites (the other was Edgware Road Bakerloo) where I undertook the training to gain an L&E engineering level lift & escalator permit in the late 1980s. The lifts were original with open copper busbars and circuit breakers in the lift motor room which I believe were installed in 1906 and by then were very worn and due for replacement. AFAIR one of the reasons for the closure of Aldwych was the cost of replacement of the lifts which was deemed to be unjustifiable at the time. I imagine it would be impossible to justify these days not only due to the current economic environment but because Aldwych has passed into being a heritage site and the original lift equipment now has to be one of few examples still in existence. I last worked in the branch in the late 1990s maintaining the signalling, it was still regularly maintained for several years after closure of the line until the point controls (5 lever) at Holborn were permanently secured normal. Thus thereafter a signal lineman was/is required to move a train in and out of the branch as the points have to be thrown manually 'on the ground'. The safety tunnel telephone system was decommissioned sometime around 1999 (IIRC) and that's probably when we stopped maintaining the auto signalling system too (no need for signalling in the branch when trains cannot automatically enter or leave the branch and only one train is allowed in it!) apart from the inlet/outlet signals (PD10 & PD6)and 5s crossover. I last worked at Holborn (Aldwych platform) circa 2004 as I used to maintain the lever frame there.
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Post by crusty54 on Nov 10, 2013 17:52:52 GMT
The cost of the lifts was the reason for closure but there was an offer to provide an alternative exit to Temple station when Kingsway College was rebuilt. This would have not have needed lifts.
This was turned down.
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Post by John Tuthill on Nov 10, 2013 17:59:01 GMT
The cost of the lifts was the reason for closure but there was an offer to provide an alternative exit to Temple station when Kingsway College was rebuilt. This would have not have needed lifts. This was turned down. One wonders what would have happened if one of the original proposals to extend the line to Waterloo would have happened?
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Post by rincew1nd on Nov 10, 2013 18:25:53 GMT
One wonders what would have happened if one of the original proposals to extend the line to Waterloo would have happened? That is a question for the RIPAS board, can we stick to the November visits please?
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Post by John Tuthill on Nov 10, 2013 19:31:40 GMT
One wonders what would have happened if one of the original proposals to extend the line to Waterloo would have happened? That is a question for the RIPAS board, can we stick to the November visits please?I appreciate your comment, but as the lifts have been mentioned would the lifts have been allowed to deteriorate if that extension has happened? Where is the RIPAS board?
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Post by John Tuthill on Nov 10, 2013 19:31:52 GMT
One wonders what would have happened if one of the original proposals to extend the line to Waterloo would have happened? That is a question for the RIPAS board, can we stick to the November visits please?I appreciate your comment, but as the lifts have been mentioned would the lifts have been allowed to deteriorate if that extension has happened? Where is the RIPAS board?
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Post by norbitonflyer on Nov 10, 2013 20:14:35 GMT
If (when) the lifts had deteriorated to the extent they were unusable, two things could have happened: 1. if the station were busy enough (and with traffic from Waterloo as well as Holborn it would have been very much busier) their replacement would have been viable 2. even if replacement was uneconomic, closing an intermediate station does not require the closure of the line it passes through - Mornington Crescent was closed for several years for precisely this reason, and York Road could possibly be cited as another example. Some of the plans for Waterloo extensions included re-siting the station to make interchange with Temple easier. The "RIPAS" (Railway ideas, proposals, and suggestions) board is here Basically the place for any suggestion for improving the network that has no official source. (As distinct from historical schemes that never came to anything, like the "Deep level District" or the Morgan tubes) Not sure of the exact boundary, but I would suggest that discussion of what the GN&PR planned to do in 1910 is historical: a proposal from a contributor to these boards to revive those plans over 100 years later is RIPAS territory.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 23, 2013 22:55:18 GMT
Not too many years ago it was possible to walk from Holborn Picc platform via the second disused tunnel all the way to the unused platform at Aldwych (...) Hi, Rail technician. As far as I remember, the shuttle service to Aldwych used the eastern tunnel from Holborn to the ex-crossover between the two tubes, and the western tube south of it to Aldwych. That's also what Franklin Jarrier's map (cartometro) suggests. If this was right, you trip from the Picc. platform at Holborn (via the dead end disused platform on the shuttle) to Aldwich disused platform had to cross the "live" track in the middle of the tunnel (actually not the middle, rather the first third). Am I right ?
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Post by railtechnician on Nov 24, 2013 11:58:03 GMT
Not too many years ago it was possible to walk from Holborn Picc platform via the second disused tunnel all the way to the unused platform at Aldwych (...) Hi, Rail technician. As far as I remember, the shuttle service to Aldwych used the eastern tunnel from Holborn to the ex-crossover between the two tubes, and the western tube south of it to Aldwych. That's also what Franklin Jarrier's map (cartometro) suggests. If this was right, you trip from the Picc. platform at Holborn (via the dead end disused platform on the shuttle) to Aldwich disused platform had to cross the "live" track in the middle of the tunnel (actually not the middle, rather the first third). Am I right ? Yep but you have to appreciate that in those days we used to cross or walk along live tracks in tunnels quite often! There were many such places where we would do so, Clapham Common, Leicester Square, Embankment, Liverpool Street, Bond Street, Hyde Park Corner, Tottenham Court Road to name but a few places where we needed to access equipment from the track in traffic hours before such work was deemed to be night work/engineering hours access only. Since those days H&S has outlawed many of the practices that were common into the 1980s. As in all things knowing the sites and the frequency of trains in such places was key to working safely, we would literally follow a train into a tunnel to a nearby equipment site and similarly wait for one to pass before immediately returning to the platform knowing that we were protected by the fixed block signalling system 'overlap'as long as we didn't dawdle.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 24, 2013 13:37:33 GMT
(...) we would literally follow a train into a tunnel to a nearby equipment site (...) I guess you were litterally pulled with the air drought in the tube behind the train! Could not imagine that in Paris networks: although the "metro" gauge is smaller than the standard (continental) railway gauge, and there are a few sections with tube-shaped single track tunnels, there is almost always room enough for people alongside the tracks and shelters every 50m. Despite of that, as in the UK, safety regulations have been strengthened and most of the maintenance is nowadays dealt with at night.
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Post by abe on Nov 28, 2013 8:08:40 GMT
Lots of details about the station history, why the tunnels were laid out as they were, the train services, and proposed extensions in "The Aldwych Branch" (Capital Transport 2009).
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