Tuesday 24 September 2024

A Capital weekend!

 At the beginning of the month we had another of the Hidden London tours booked - Holborn this time, a chance to see the opposing end of the Aldwych branch having already done the Aldwych tour a few years ago. A couple of weeks beforehand we got an email through from the LT Museum telling us that  they were running their 1938 stock train on the top end of the metropolitan line that same weekend, and a plan was hatched…

Friday morning saw the usual gathering of like minded individuals lurking around outside Holborn Station on Kingsway. Within a couple of minutes of our arrival our tour guides appeared, and after some minor technical issues involving an iPad not getting a data signal, we were all checked off on a list, issued us with our lanyards and “Visitor” badges, and ushered through the barriers into the station. Around us commuters were heading off to the escalators - while we stepped through a door off to one side of the ticket hall and were faced with our first glimpse of the station’s wonderful tiling…


It never fails to astonish that features like this have just been left untouched even when stations have been refurbished a number of times in the time period since those areas were last used by the public. This tiling continued in various states of repair all the way down the long spiral staircase - such a treat to start us off! 


The main areas for exploring were of course the old Aldwych branch platforms - and there was certainly plenty to see. The photo above was taken just beyond the end of the old platform 5 looking along the running tunnel - you can see how the line changes its route and where the old second tunnel would have run. That platform is now taken up with small office type rooms which have over the years been used for all sorts of things including changing rooms. Indeed several still have signage visible on the doors confirming this…


I love the picture added by the Hidden London team for context, too! The highlight of these rooms was  room 8, for me - because of this…


Yes - another patch of beautifully preserved original tiling - this section clearly showing the station’s unique “chevron” pattern. Originally this would have appeared all along the platform, with the station name also appearing in the tiling too - and in fact in room 8 you can also still see just the “N” of “Holborn” too. 

More of the tiling remains on platform 6 - as well as a real piece of heritage in the shape of this sign…


Yes - the station used to have reference to “Kingsway” in its name! Look carefully around the edges and you can see more of the tiling too  - and elsewhere on the platform are lovely features like the “Exit” sign cartouches 

It’s not only tiling and signs that survive either - by some miracle in one of the old passenger tunnels this little gem can be seen…


Apparently this can be fairly accurately dated to the mid 1930’s - the number of “flights” on the arrow (a Mexican Arrow, for fellow tube geeks!) means it can be narrowed down to a block of pre-war years, but the fact that the line diagram does not show Down Street - closed in 1932 - reduces that window somewhat. In real terms though, somewhere about 90 years old - yet still vibrant and clear! All in all another fabulous tour - and for anyone else considering it trust me, there is plenty to see that I haven’t shown you here! 

Tour complete we - as is now traditional - repaired to the nearest decent pub for a beer and a bit of a debrief and natter about our favourite bits (him - the old running tunnel, me - the tiling of course!) before heading off for lunch, then we set off to be tourists for thr afternoon. MrEH gave me a guided tour of the Royal Courts of Justice - an utterly breathtaking building that it turns out any member of the public can visit - and then I took him to St Clement Danes church which I last visited probably about 40 years ago! We then met a good pal for a quick pint at the end of his working day - I found Neptune Brewery’s “On The Bounty” on the bar in that pub which I was delighted about as a beer that tastes like you are drinking liquidised Bounty bars is a wonderful thing! We wrapped up the evening with a few more beers in another favourite pub - this one was serving Hammerton Brewery’s “Crunch” which tastes like liquidised peanut butter so as you can imagine I was rather pleased about that, too - then headed off to find our bed for the night, at the Travelodge at Wembley. 

The following morning we were out bright and early for breakfast and then the short walk to Wembley Park station to catch the Metropolitan Line out to Amersham. While waiting we got our first glimpse of the reason for the trip, too… 


On the right is the gorgeous 1938 tube stock train from the London Transport Museum, on its way to Amersham to run passenger trips for the day. It stopped in  at Wembley Park on the way to pick up volunteer staff, and was certainly turning heads - even the driver of the current day train alongside was craning his head out of the window for a good look! 

Once at Amersham we browsed the Friends of the Museum stall - acquiring a few quirky oddments of tube history along the way, including a rather wonderful guide to the Victoria Line and the new automatic ticket barriers it was given - dating from 1970. Then it was time to board our chosen carriage- I had opted to book one of the end ones, feeling like we may well get a chance for a look into the cab that way, and we were certainly not disappointed on that…


The trip was from Amersham round to Watford and back - including going round the “North Curve” , a section of line normally only used by a couple of trains a day, very early in the morning and very late at night.  We had a short time stopped at Watford where the train invited lots of interest from passing travellers, before heading back the way we’d come. The 45 minute gave us all plenty of time to enjoy the marvellously comfortable refurbished moquette seating, admire the gorgeous glass lamps, and reflect on all the changes that had occurred since the carriage maps were produced! 


All in all it was an absolutely lovely trip -  the train is fantastic and it’s amazing to not only get to experience such a piece of history, but also to see how other people on the platforms we passed reacted to it as well - and also how some folk were simply so immersed in their phones that in spite of those around them reacting, pointing and smiling they missed it entirely!  Booking the budget hotel room for the night worked well too particularly as the travel back and forth would have cost us about the same - and it was great to have an afternoon of simply being a tourist in my own city as well! Definitely something we would consider doing again. 

Robyn



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