lonelytraveller wrote in message
.com...
I have two questions about the GN&C

1)
Why were all they Great Northern & City platforms built above the
lifts, so that you had to go up to the platform, when almost all the
other tube stations are the reverse (going down to the platform from
the lift)?

2)
Are they ever going to clean up the stations so that they have proper
lighting and less oppressive paintwork (i.e. rather than the "council
house yellow" designs of network south east) and don't look like a
mugger's paradise?

Concerning the access to the lifts, on the Northern City Line (N.C.L.) being
below platform level this is the case at Old Street and Essex Road.
At Moorgate and Highbury the lifts were above platform level.
I am given to understand that the arrangement to have the lift below the
N.C.L.
platforms at Old Street was to allow a shared subway leading to/from the
lifts
with the Northern Line. The Northern Line is at a lower level beneath the
N.C.L
at Old Street with the tracks running on the same alignment between Old
Street
and Moorgate. The Northern Line platforms at Old Street are nearer Moorgate
than the N.C.L. platforms.
I believe the arrangement at Essex Road was for similar reasons but the tube
line
beneath never got built. It would have been a line similar to the planned
Hackney -
Chelsea tube.

Dave Cockle (work for wagn)