On Mon, 3 Dec 2012 04:35:49 -0800 (PST), bob wrote:

On Dec 3, 3:51*am, CJB wrote:
A secret disused underground station that was used by thousands of
Londoners during the Blitz has been opened up for rare public viewing.

Visitors have been able to take a tour of the Aldwych Tube Station,
one of London's closed underground stations, which included a platform
which stopped operating in 1914.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ghost-Undergro...

In what sense is it secret? The surface building is there for all to
see, and was in regular service until the mid '90s (even if not very
popular). Just about any holywood movie set in London seems to
feature it.

As I recall only one platform was used in latter years with a shuttle
service to Holborn and it is the other platform that is 'secret'.

On Dec 3, 6:09*pm, Anthony Polson wrote:


There is also the aggravating factor of the media's fear of being sued
which encourages caution.

Perhaps uk.railway could set the standard and sue against factual
inaccuracies.

--
Nick

On Dec 3, 3:01*pm, "tim....." wrote:


I can't understand why they don't open this sort of thing as a permanent
museum.


I museum of what ?

Park the few tube cars they've got ? And then what else .............

Result small collection, split away from other relics, accessible
only by a small lift. And, if retained as a part of the working
railway for filming purposes needing to meet Clause 24.

Would run into hundreds of thousand if not millions of £££ and there
are way better things to spend money on in LU .

You;ve also sucessfully broken away tube items from sub-surface items.


--
Nick

In message , Phil Cook
writes

On 03/12/2012 17:40, allantracy wrote:

For those of us, not London based, and whose world view of London owes
mostly (or even only) to the scale afforded by the Tube map, what was
the extent of the inconvenience (if any) that was caused by the
station closing.

In other words, how close is the nearest alternative?

Temple on the District/Circle is only 200m away.

Covent Garden and Holborn on the Picadilly are no more than 700m away.

It's also important to note that Holborn to Aldwych was operated as a
shuttle service (there were no through trains after 1917, and precious
few before then). Passengers therefore often found it quicker to walk
the short distance from Holborn than to change and wait for the shuttle.

The origin of this seeming anomaly lies in the fact that the Piccadilly
line was formed from two separate schemes - the Great Northern and
Strand, which terminated at what later became Aldwych - and the Brompton
and Piccadilly Circus, which terminated at Piccadilly Circus. Both ended
up under the control of Charles Yerkes whose genius lay in realising
that the operational difficulties of two tiny terminii deep under
central London could be avoided by driving a short connecting line from
Piccadilly Circus to Holborn, thus providing a through route. This was
not Yerkes' first plan for extending beyond Piccadilly, but after it was
carried through, it left the Holborn-Aldwych section as a not very
useful appendage.

--
Paul Terry

On 03/12/2012 18:37, D7666 wrote:
On Dec 3, 3:01 pm, "tim....." wrote:


I can't understand why they don't open this sort of thing as a permanent
museum.


I museum of what ?

Park the few tube cars they've got ? And then what else .............

Result small collection, split away from other relics, accessible
only by a small lift. And, if retained as a part of the working
railway for filming purposes needing to meet Clause 24.

Would run into hundreds of thousand if not millions of £££ and there
are way better things to spend money on in LU .

You;ve also sucessfully broken away tube items from sub-surface items.


Not even lift access, only way down is the spiral staircase (not
suitable for anyone with mobility issues) or through the tunnel from
Holborn.

The closed, ex-Thameslink, bits of Moorgate/Barbican would be a far
better location for a museum.
Either that, or let the Museum Depot take over Ealing Common :-)

On Dec 3, 7:38*pm, Spyke wrote:


On 03/12/2012 18:37, D7666 wrote:

, *accessible
only by a small lift.

Would run into hundreds of thousand if not millions of

Not even lift access, only way down is the spiral staircase (not
suitable for anyone with mobility issues) or through the tunnel from
Holborn.

Yes, I know - but the lift was there - one of the reasons the line
closed, but I suggest repairing it / reinstating it would be essential
nay mandatory to make a museum. They'd have to do it for disabled
access.

Thats why it would cost a lot of money.


--
Nick

In message , at 18:09:42 on Mon, 3 Dec
2012, Phil Cook remarked:
For those of us, not London based, and whose world view of London owes
mostly (or even only) to the scale afforded by the Tube map, what was
the extent of the inconvenience (if any) that was caused by the
station closing.

In other words, how close is the nearest alternative?

Temple on the District/Circle is only 200m away.

Although anyone heading for Aldwych would have needed to go via Holborn,
so a diversion to Temple could be quite time consuming.

Covent Garden and Holborn on the Picadilly are no more than 700m away.

You could close Covent Garden if walking 200m (from Leicester Square)
isn't an issue.
--
Roland Perry

wrote in message
...
No reporter can be expected to know the intricacies of every subject
but a good one should have the skill to research and check. More and
more of the upcoming crop seem unable to do so .

The "upcoming crop" could write anything the market demanded,
providing they were given sufficient time to do so. As far as
current management is concerned, there's no point in allowing
staff to waste Company time in researching anything in depth,
when most of their efforts would be over the heads of 95% of
their intended readership.

In the current environment, in both print and broadcasting
the primary requirement is to fill space or time at the lowest
possible cost. And its only those often unpaid trainees who
can fulfil that need most efficiently, and to order, who will
land any permanent jobs that are going.

In the present context Aldwych Station will indeed be
a "secret" to the majority of visitors to the "Mail"
website, most of whom will probably never have visited
London in their lives. While words such as "secret", "ghost",
and "mystery" while clichéd, can still stimulate reader
interest when used in connection with topics such
as the Underground.


michael adams

....

G.Harman

On Mon, 3 Dec 2012 23:40:00 -0000, "michael adams"
wrote:


wrote in message
.. .
No reporter can be expected to know the intricacies of every subject
but a good one should have the skill to research and check. More and
more of the upcoming crop seem unable to do so .

The "upcoming crop" could write anything the market demanded,
providing they were given sufficient time to do so. As far as
current management is concerned, there's no point in allowing
staff to waste Company time in researching anything in depth,
when most of their efforts would be over the heads of 95% of
their intended readership.

In the current environment, in both print and broadcasting
the primary requirement is to fill space or time at the lowest
possible cost. And its only those often unpaid trainees who
can fulfil that need most efficiently, and to order, who will
land any permanent jobs that are going.

In the present context Aldwych Station will indeed be
a "secret" to the majority of visitors to the "Mail"
website, most of whom will probably never have visited
London in their lives. While words such as "secret", "ghost",
and "mystery" while clichéd, can still stimulate reader
interest when used in connection with topics such
as the Underground.

So the word "secret" is defined by reference to the ignorance of Daily
(Hurrah for the Blackshirts!) Mail readers ?

On 04/12/2012 00:07, Charles Ellson wrote:
On Mon, 3 Dec 2012 23:40:00 -0000, "michael adams"
wrote:


wrote in message
...
No reporter can be expected to know the intricacies of every subject
but a good one should have the skill to research and check. More and
more of the upcoming crop seem unable to do so .

The "upcoming crop" could write anything the market demanded,
providing they were given sufficient time to do so. As far as
current management is concerned, there's no point in allowing
staff to waste Company time in researching anything in depth,
when most of their efforts would be over the heads of 95% of
their intended readership.

In the current environment, in both print and broadcasting
the primary requirement is to fill space or time at the lowest
possible cost. And its only those often unpaid trainees who
can fulfil that need most efficiently, and to order, who will
land any permanent jobs that are going.

In the present context Aldwych Station will indeed be
a "secret" to the majority of visitors to the "Mail"
website, most of whom will probably never have visited
London in their lives. While words such as "secret", "ghost",
and "mystery" while clichéd, can still stimulate reader
interest when used in connection with topics such
as the Underground.

So the word "secret" is defined by reference to the ignorance of Daily
(Hurrah for the Blackshirts!) Mail readers ?

Insert tabloid of choice but basically yes.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail