Special, Like Saturday Night!

Well you say there isn't a hint of NR at this station, so it can't be:

Balham
Elephant and Castle?
London Bridge
Moorgate
Old Street
Kings Cross
Waterloo
Charing Cross
Euston
Kentish Town

The Elephant and Castle has a question mark as there is an NR station there, but on the tube map it is described as being nearby. Clapham North and Embankment also have this.

I'm sure that it's a UERL Northern Line station, i.e. one of the ones built in the 1920s when the C&SLR was extended to Morden.

I only guessed South Wimbledon because of the colour scheme. Having examined it again, I believe it is...

BOROUGH!

I'm gonna say Stockwell before it got turned into the bombsight it is right now, lol.

Dunno why...

But that sign bugs me,
Northern Line, Platform One Southbound...
**Mumbles and studies LU Map Closer**

As promised, here is the full picture of the cross-passage at Borough. Can anyone explain why the passage is so large?

Is this one where they ran out of small tunnel lining sections and had to use running tunnel sections?

I think, without realising it, this quiz and survey section has provided the best history lesson on aspects of the underground ever seen! I've certainly learnt a few things from it.

David commented that there are some unusual features about this passage – there are. It breaks all the rules of the C&SLR and has a link to what is happening right now on the Waterloo & City.
When the line was first planned it was proposed to be cable operated. Because the carriages would never have gone to the surface, there was no need for a depot. The engineer of the railway, James Henry Greathead, was therefore faced with the same problem as the Waterloo & City; how to get heavy equipment and rolling stock into the underground tunnels.
Although there were six stations by the time the line opened, the original plan was for only three. Of these, King William Street was inside an existing building and had restricted access, while Elephant & Castle was situated at one of south London’s busiest road junctions. The Borough was therefore chosen and designed as the access point to the railway. The passage from the northbound platform to the lifts is huge, straight and level. The bottom entrance to the lift-shaft opens directly into this passage and unusually is the same height and width as the passage. Until the new lifts were installed the ‘wall’ at the bottom of the lift-shaft (the newly tiled area at the very back of David’s picture) was made of steel plates that were bolted together and could be removed to provide access to this passage.
What you see in the picture is the very point where, in 1889, the first C&SLR locomotive and experimental carriages arrived underground and were dragged towards the camera position and then on into the northbound station tunnel. They were then placed on the rails to form a train for experimental running.*
In the 1920s, this passage was used as a means of removing spoil during the reconstruction – the station being closed at that time and converted into a working site.
As a matter of interest, access to the southbound platform has always been by an insignificant opening in the side of this passage and down the only flights of stairs to lead to an original C&SLR platform. The entrance to these stairs can be seen in David’s photograph to the right of the enamelled route map. At the other five stations it was possible to enter the stations, and descend to the platforms without going up or down a single step. This is because at stations where the depth of the twin tube tunnels was staggered, the bottom lift landing came in at a depth between the platform levels. Passage between the lifts and platforms was provided by a subway that sloped gently up or down, depending which platform passengers were going to. At the termini, the lift went right down to the level of the island platforms.
There is one rather interesting thought regarding this type of layout. Because Greathead had a thing about stairs, he almost succeeded in the late 1800s in doing what TfL are now struggling with. Without realising it he effectively designed and built a tube railway for disabled passengers! It was only the technical constraint of providing access for equipment that forced him to put in a staircase to one of the Borough platforms. Had he known at the time that he would be building a depot at Stockwell, this layout at the Borough would have been unnecessary.
This passage also has one other design feature. It was the first subway on a tube railway system that cut through the roof of a station tunnel with a passenger bridge (the bridge over the southbound tunnel is in the foreground of David’s photograph at the point where there is a central handrail and flagstones) – this type of bridge subsequently became a feature of the Yerkes lines.

Speculation: Bearing in mind that the passage was used for getting heavy equipment onto the railway, I often wonder what weight limit Greathead placed on the bridge that crossed the southbound line?
I also wonder why he did not do things the other way round. If he had taken the lower lift landing to a slightly deeper level, he would have been able to go directly into the southbound tunnel using a shorter passage and without the need for such a substantial bridge. And, because the northbound tunnel is the farther of the two from the lifts, he would just have had enough space to build an inclined passenger subway without any need for the stairs that he desperately tried to avoid.

* For further details of experimental train operation from the Borough, see this earlier post districtdave.proboards39.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=History&thread=1142008420

If you do go there Tom, it might be worth looking at the passenger bridge. I cannot remember if this is the original Greathead one or if it was replaced during the reconstruction.
Also note the station tunnels. As you enter the platforms, you are still walking into the original brick-built tunnels that were designed to accommodate a locomotive and three carriages. As you pass along the platforms you can clearly see the different shape and size of the cast-iron lined extensions that were added in the 1920s to allow the running of longer trains.
You might also like to take a peek at the very bottom of the emergency stairs. There should be some original C&SLR tiling there, unless it has been covered up. If it has, try the Oval. That emergency staircase is less used and there is a greater likelihood that the tiling is still intact
Note: David has asked if anyone would get some up-to-date pictures of the location. See his request at districtdave.proboards39.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=northern&thread=1144143414

Sorry for the quality of this image, but I thought you might like to see a shot of the subway during the 1920s reconstruction.



Most of the northbound platform had been removed and a siding was put in alongside the running line, partly obscured from passenger view by a screen. Spoil going out, and building supplies coming in, were transferred between the muck wagons and the surface by these hand-operated trucks.
The passenger bridge over the southbound line is clearly visible in the foreground of the passage flanked by handrails.
I am afraid that I cannot oblige with a photo of a locomotive being pushed along this tunnel 33 years earlier.

If you're planning to visit Borough (damn, I would have got it right had I been online as I used to work there!) or any of the original 1890 C&SLR platforms, have a look at the form of the station tunnels. Most tube profiles are round, but these on the C&SLR had a flattened base profile as they were built in brick. This method of construction was changed when the line was extended and cast iron segments were used instead. This was because the ground above the 1890 stations subsided due to their brick construction causing too much damage to dwellings and roadways above. Cast iron rings were found to be much better in this respect which will give a round profile.

Happy hunting

Yeah, the carriages scraped against the tunnel wall when negotiating the 'Arthur Street Curve'
[was just out from KWS]

Must have been scarey to drive too. The drivers had to sometimes back up and try again to get it up the hill if they didnt go fast enough, but if they did go fast enough they hit the sides.

HMRI would have a fit!

Could it be that the BOT were being 'leant on' by HMG to allow the CSLR to develop themselves 'free from hinderence'?

The history of the CSLR is so fascinating, like the plot of a good novel! Keep it coming CSLR