Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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...Atonement.html

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

"CJB" wrote in message
...
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...Atonement.html

In the second picture the Station Closed signs partly obscure the letters "A
N"

What word were these letters a part of, I wonder?
--
Brian
"Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman."

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

Secret from who?

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

StrANd.

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

"Brian Watson" wrote

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...Atonement.html

In the second picture the Station Closed signs partly obscure the letters
"A N"

What word were these letters a part of, I wonder?

Strand - the original name of the station. It was changed to Aldwych in
1915.

Marylebone (Bakerloo Line) still has tiles proclaiming its original name -
Great Central.

Peter

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

In message , at
22:52:32 on Sun, 2 Dec 2012, Offramp remarked:

Secret from who?

Ignorant journalists
--
Roland Perry

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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.

BTW anyone know which line was used in the recent Bond? They seemed
to claim that a Tube station served by either '95 or '96 tube stock
was the circle/district.

Robin

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

In message
, at
04:35:49 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012, bob remarked:
BTW anyone know which line was used in the recent Bond? They seemed
to claim that a Tube station served by either '95 or '96 tube stock
was the circle/district.

Charing Cross Jubilee Line for the platforms, and Charing Cross Northern
Line for the concourse shots. The concourse location was filmed
overnight on the 8th December last year.

(Charing Cross Bakerloo is of course the former Trafalgar Square
station.)
--
Roland Perry

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 13:14:13 +0000
wrote:
I gave up buying and reading newspapers years ago,when you see the
rubbish written about things you do know something about, how can you
trust what is written on things you don't know about.

Very true. Though the problem isn't just in print media, you see similar
ignorant rubbish being spouted on radio and to a lesser extent TV.

B2003

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

On Dec 3, 1:49*pm, Roland Perry wrote:
In message
, at
04:35:49 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012, bob remarked:

BTW anyone know which line was used in the recent Bond? *They seemed
to claim that a Tube station served by either '95 or '96 tube stock
was the circle/district.

Charing Cross Jubilee Line for the platforms, and Charing Cross Northern
Line for the concourse shots. The concourse location was filmed
overnight on the 8th December last year.

(Charing Cross Bakerloo is of course the former Trafalgar Square
station.)

Thanks, that makes sense, and presumably it was '96 tube stock in that
case, as it is fairly easy to get there (I didn't pay close enough
attention to catch any of the usual distinguishing features, I was too
busy enjoying the film). In the past I used to ues Charring Cross
quite frequently, so I'm familiar with the station, though in pre-JLE
days rarely had cause to use that line, so don't particularly recall
the platforms.

Robin

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

"Roland Perry" wrote

(Charing Cross Bakerloo is of course the former Trafalgar Square station.)

and Charing Cross Northern was formerly named Strand - it was to avoid
confusion that Strand Piccadilly was renamed Aldwych.

Peter

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

"CJB" wrote in message
...
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...Atonement.html

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

Or perhaps the subset of "mes" who think that it would be nice to visit is
too small

tim

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

On 03/12/2012 15:01, tim..... wrote:

"CJB" wrote in message
...
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...Atonement.html


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

Or perhaps the subset of "mes" who think that it would be nice to visit
is too small


I gather it is quite busy as a training and filming facility.

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

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:30:45 +0000
wrote:
One bimbo who was reporting from the Farnborough Air show having found
the Roll Royce aero engine stand almost wet her knickers in her
anxiety to make a local link," these are made down the road at
Goodwood" or words to that effect. Reckon she had heard of Rolls
Royce cars there and added 2 and 2 and made 6.

Yeah , science or engineering the media are usually hopeless with unless
they've brought in an expert to do a specific show about it. On radio
I think James Whale gets my vote as one of the top ten ignoramuses. While
I agree with a lot of his political views he gets some so much basic stuff
arse about tit that it makes anything he says worthless. And when a caller
picks him up on it he usually can't handle it and cuts them off with some
lame putdown. Still entertaining though :o)

B2003

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

In the second picture the Station Closed signs partly obscure the letters "A
N"


S T R A N D - original name of station

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

On Dec 3, 2:51*pm, "Peter Masson"
wrote:
"Roland Perry" *wrote

(Charing Cross Bakerloo is of course the former Trafalgar Square station..)

and Charing Cross Northern was formerly named Strand - it was to avoid
confusion that Strand Piccadilly was renamed Aldwych.

Another factor behind it being Strand was that the name Charing Cross
was, at that time, already taken by the Circle/District/Northern/
Bakerloo station now known as Embankment.

Robin

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

In message
, at
08:05:29 on Mon, 3 Dec 2012, bob remarked:
(Charing Cross Bakerloo is of course the former Trafalgar Square station.)

and Charing Cross Northern was formerly named Strand - it was to avoid
confusion that Strand Piccadilly was renamed Aldwych.

Another factor behind it being Strand was that the name Charing Cross
was, at that time, already taken by the Circle/District/Northern/
Bakerloo station now known as Embankment.

Is there a Ley-line or something in that part of London that makes them
keep changing (rotating even) the station names?
--
Roland Perry

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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?

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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.
--
Phil Cook

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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'.

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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 :-)

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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 ?

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

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

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

"Charles Ellson" wrote in message
...
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 ?

All words are defined by reference to the assumed knowledge and
preconceptions of the intended readership. Otherwise they won't
be interested in reading what you've written, your website will
get fewer hits, your advertisers will be demanding rate cuts,
and you will go out of business.

Your "Hurrah for the Blackshirts" reference there, is interesting.
The original article was written by Rotheremere the increasing
eccentric surviving Harmsworth brother in 1934. Who was on nodding
terms with both Hitler and Mussolini. Support for Moseley was dropped
in that very same year. As a matter of interest do you think this
change of policy was instigated so as to increase circulation
among the Mail's supposedly BUF supporting readership ?

By and large newspapers along with all media will only prosper
by providing their audience with what they want to read or hear.
Readers don't want to be preached at or hectored and will simply
move elsewhere. The same applied to the original U.K tabloids as
conceived by Harmsworth, the "Daily Mail" and the "Daily Mirror"
the latter changed within a year, as it does to any of Murdoch's
titles. They can only succeed by reflecting the public mood -
inconvenient as this can be, for some people to acknowledge.

Sunny Jim may never have actually uttered the words "Crisis
what Crisis" (Larry Lamb) but it was Sunny Jim, ignoring all
advice who insisted on holding a press conference at Heathrow
regaling the assembled hacks with accounts of being able
to swim for hours on end in the warm waters of Guadaloupe during
the Conference, while those in the UK froze.


michael adams

....

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

On Mon, 03 Dec 2012 18:09:42 +0000
Phil Cook wrote:
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.

A 700m walk through crowded london streets is actually quite a long way.

B2003

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

On Mon, 3 Dec 2012 20:19:14 +0000
Roland Perry wrote:
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.

I suspect if it wasn't for the huge volume of crowds travelling into that
part of town they probably would have long ago. Those lifts can't be cheap
to maintain.

B2003

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

In message , at 09:56:17 on Tue, 4 Dec
2012, d remarked:
You could close Covent Garden if walking 200m (from Leicester Square)
isn't an issue.

I suspect if it wasn't for the huge volume of crowds travelling into that
part of town they probably would have long ago. Those lifts can't be cheap
to maintain.

There are plenty of stations with much less passenger traffic where they
keep the lifts going. Goodge St, for example. It's close enough to both
Warren St and TCR that it's a bit of a luxury.
--
Roland Perry

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 10:33:20 +0000
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:56:17 on Tue, 4 Dec
2012, d remarked:
You could close Covent Garden if walking 200m (from Leicester Square)
isn't an issue.

I suspect if it wasn't for the huge volume of crowds travelling into that
part of town they probably would have long ago. Those lifts can't be cheap
to maintain.

There are plenty of stations with much less passenger traffic where they
keep the lifts going. Goodge St, for example. It's close enough to both
Warren St and TCR that it's a bit of a luxury.

Its a pity the tube doesn't have local and express lines like the new york
subway. I know the met sort of has them but its not really the same thing
since its way out of the centre.

B2003

Aldwych / Strand London Underground
 

On 4 Dec, 11:49, wrote:
On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 10:33:20 +0000

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:56:17 on Tue, 4 Dec
2012, remarked:
You could close Covent Garden if walking 200m (from Leicester Square)
isn't an issue.

I suspect if it wasn't for the huge volume of crowds travelling into that
part of town they probably would have long ago. Those lifts can't be cheap
to maintain.

There are plenty of stations with much less passenger traffic where they
keep the lifts going. Goodge St, for example. It's close enough to both
Warren St and TCR that it's a bit of a luxury.

Its a pity the tube doesn't have local and express lines like the new york
subway. I know the met sort of has them but its not really the same thing
since its way out of the centre.

This is something that could have been considered for Crossrail.
Crossrail could have had more stations, with express trains skipping
the "local" stations.

Of course costs would have risen exponentially.

Aldwych / Strand London Underground
 

On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 03:55:28 -0800 (PST)
77002 wrote:
This is something that could have been considered for Crossrail.
Crossrail could have had more stations, with express trains skipping
the "local" stations.

Of course costs would have risen exponentially.

Crossrail should have gone with double decker trains. The bullet should just
have been bitten and regauge all the pre-existing lines it'll run on to
UIC gauge. It would cost a lot in the short term but the long term gains would
almost certainly make it worth it.

B2003

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

Oddly, ISTR that the daily closings of Aldwych were performed by the
Station Supervisor at St Paul's station.

Aldwych / Strand London Underground
 

On 4 Dec, 12:18, wrote:
On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 03:55:28 -0800 (PST)

77002 wrote:
This is something that could have been considered for Crossrail.
Crossrail could have had more stations, with express trains skipping
the "local" stations.

Of course costs would have risen exponentially.

Crossrail should have gone with double decker trains. The bullet should just
have been bitten and regauge all the pre-existing lines it'll run on to
UIC gauge. It would cost a lot in the short term but the long term gains would
almost certainly make it worth it.

That would probably have lengthened load/unloading times.

Aldwych / Strand Underground
 

In message , at 11:49:09 on Tue, 4 Dec
2012, d remarked:
There are plenty of stations with much less passenger traffic where they
keep the lifts going. Goodge St, for example. It's close enough to both
Warren St and TCR that it's a bit of a luxury.

Its a pity the tube doesn't have local and express lines like the new york
subway. I know the met sort of has them but its not really the same thing
since its way out of the centre.

There was, of course, a pre-war plan to have just such an express line
paralleling the Northern Line. And hence the bunker (in the vacant
station tunnels) at Goodge St.
--
Roland Perry