The Evening Standard has reminded Londoners of the chance to explore inside sealed-off Tube stations with additional tours expected from the London Transport Museum.
The Evening Standard writes:
Remarkable photographs show the escalators leading down to the old Jubilee line platform at Charing Cross and an eerily-deserted platform at Aldwych station on the Strand. Aldwych and Charing Cross Jubilee line stations were shut in the 1990s and both had unusual lifespans, says London Transport Museum historian Siddy Holloway.
Aldwych, initially named Strand after the central London street it is located on, opened as a Piccadilly line branch station in 1907. Ms Holloway told the Standard: ‘It’s a typical Leslie Green-designed station, with its oxblood red tiles. It was on a really short branch line, and very infrequently used. By the First World War, it was being used to store the most valuable paintings from the National Gallery….’
Aldwych shut in 1994, with transport bosses deciding it was not worth keeping open. Ms Holloway said: ‘It was a shuttle service from Holborn, but was just a really awkward station. It would have actually been quicker to get off at Holborn and get on a bus….’
A few hundred metres away at Charing Cross station, the Jubilee line platform opened in 1979 – but had an unusually short life. Ms Holloway said: ‘The Jubilee line station was only open for 20 years, which is unusual. The upgrade of the Docklands in the 1980s caused the Jubilee line to divert, and when the Jubilee line was extended, it didn’t make sense to keep it open as the track would have been so steep. It left an enormous volume of valuable real estate. Today, it’s used as a train stable for when there are busy events… It was used for Skyfall, as one example…’
Hidden London also offers tours including abandoned tunnels at Euston and subterranean shelters at Clapham South.
For more information, visit ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/hidden-london
See all available tours and tickets
Sign up to London Transport Museum’s enewsletter to be one of the first to hear about new dates and tours.
