Hello! Behind me, is a very large roundel which can mean only one thing
yes - i'm about to get on the tube here, at Rayners Lane tube station
as we start another episode, of Secrets of the Underground.
And we start our journey heading south from Rayners Lane
on the Piccadilly line, where there's a small section of abandoned track
So coming up here - just heading south, is an old piece of railway track
just there!
And we're gonna go and see, where that went
And this is how it used to look on a tube-style map, a small branch curving off
except, it never used to carry passenger trains
it used to carry coal trains
Time to go and walk to it, on foot.
So this is it, we've come down to street level, this used to be a track of railway that used to go to the
Harrow and Stanmore gas company, they were formed in 1855
but then of course, the tube and railways came
so they realised that they could run trains here, coal trains would run in
starting in 1910 to deliver all the coal that they would then burn
use, to make gas ... but it closed down
Well - it's fate was sealed in 1993, when the L.P.T.B was formed
that's the London Passenger Transport Board
which brought together the amalgamation of all the Underground lines
and they stopped operating as separate companies
And as one combined system, branches like this were actually shut down
So, the track used to go further but it's taken right back to just this short little stub left
but it's fun to look out of the window, as you're travelling down the Piccadiily line
and see this old line ... that used to go to the gasworks.
Staying with the Piccadilly, if you ever travel on the northen section up to Cockfosters
you'll probably be aware of the long distance between Manor House and Turnpike Lane stations
Normally, tube stations are about two minutes apart
but the travel time between these two is over three minutes
that's because there's no station inbetween to break this distance up
But there could have been, and we've come here to the site today to where that station might have been
we're in N15, Colina Road and just down here there's a building
some of you may have walked past it if you live in the local area
which is built in London Underground style
behind these gates here, and through those red doors in there
That takes you into a ventilations shaft which leads you down to the Piccadilly line
you can see the whole building here, is in classic London Underground style
so here .. in N15 .. in Harringay
is the site of what could have been another tube station .. on the Piccadilly line
Next up, we switched to the Jubilee
and went down to Southwark, where you may already know about the lesser used
exit and entrance to the station which links up with the nearby Waterloo East
this leads to there being a sort of ... no-mans land here
where two competing gatelines stand off against each other
as a bored member of staff watches on with nothing much happening
But what IS interesting about this area
is that if you exit the station, it's actully possible
to see this area from the street
Just take a 60 second walk from the station, turn right into 'Hatfields'
and you get to this point here, a window down this side street, where if you peer through
you can see into that no man's land...
Staying with the Jubilee, and as we love grammatical errors only second to
step-counting in these videos, we want to point out something about St. John's Wood station
on platform signage, it's shown with an apostrophe
And on the in-carriage dot matrix displays ... an apostrophe
and on the tube map .. ? Yes - there's an apostrophe.
And of course, even ... The sign outside the station HAS got an apostrophe
But if you go to the station itself .. head down to platform level
and yet you've guessed it - the one on the platform the roundel, doesn't have an apostrophe
Changing lines again, we got onto the Circle line
Hang on, no .. the Hammersmith & City line, hang on, no ...
really, it's the Metropolitan line
Because until 1990, the H&C didn't exist
this section of the tube between Baker Street down to Hammersmith
was actually part of the Metropolitan Line
the colour of which of course .. is purple
Which is why it's cool here, that at Ladbroke Grove, the railings are in Metropolitan purple!
Now some of our favourite things that people walk past everyday and never spot
are the tiles, and tile patterns on the tube network.
And here at Vauxhall where the exit to the tube comes up into the bus station ...
there's something which you will have missed because it's really hard to spot
And it reminds me of my bathroom
as down here
there are these little tiles, with the tube map on!
How cute is that?
As always, there's almost too many things to squeeze into one video
but there are a few small things that we want to give a quick mention to
Next time you're at Greenford, apart from taking a ride on the incline lift
see if you can spot this erroneous sign that mentions Shepherd's Bush Green station
which doesn't exist!
Make a note to of the fact that the sign at the 'secret' stairwell
at Euston station, says that there's 51 stairs
when there are in fact 64
And also, we mentioned the Hammersmith & CIty Line earlier
taking over from the Metropolitan, well ...
Here at Upton Park - no one's told them
and there's still this old gorgeous lightbox style sign which references the Met
And have you ever realised that the platforms at Liverpool Street
are numbered 1 and 2 for the sub-surface platforms
but 4 and 5 for the Central line platforms
So where is Platform 3?
Well, it used to be a terminating bay platform, up on the sub-surface level as well
Nowadays, it's where this building is
but if you look at this old photo leaving over a wall
it shows you where the track used to be, down below and that's why
there's no longer a platform 3 at Liverpool Street
But for super-nerd value, we think that this is the winner
if you look at any old-style classic Underground logo like this
you'll notice that the diamonds above and below the letters
fall in-between the letters, as separators
Everywhere that is ... except here, at Arsenal
where for some inexplicable reason
they've been evenly spaced instead
Meaning that they don't feel inbetween the letters of the station name
thus breaking the design rule, that is correct everywhere else.
And that brings us to the end of another episode of Secrets of the Underground
And that may not be the end! If we discover more stuff
more stuff in the future that we didn't know, rest assured
we will make ... another episode. Thanks for watching!