It might sound like a rather obscure sort of event that just a few people would be interested in – yet Londoners have leapt at the chance to walk through the Thames Tunnel at Rotherhithe this weekend.

Tickets for the evening and Saturday visits were sold out almost as soon as they were announced – with the phone line and (decrepit) website suffering under the load of requests. People are now begging for tickets almost as if they are trying to attend a pop-concert.

Thames Tunnel Ticket Touts could make a fortune tonight!

This level of interest in our deep subterranean world shouldn’t really surprise people though – as most of us have a weird fascination with the hidden and mysterious. Even the most disinterested person is going to be mildly curious in seeing what lies beyond the dark voids they occasionally see in the tunnels on their daily commute.

I have a long habit of trying to get into subterranean locations – sometimes with success – and also do a little lobbying on trying to get places opened up where I genuinely think it is possible.

That latter part has been singularly the most disappointing though – as people cry that health and safety is a worry (rarely is) or that no one would be interested (oh, boy are they interested!).

It’s even worse when I don’t even get a reply though – as then I can’t be sure if an idea was evaluated and rejected – or simply thrown in the bin without consideration.

An example of the later would be an email I sent to the DLR last year when the Xmas closure of Bank station was announced. The proposal was simple. It is just about possible to walk onto the Bank line from a side road just before it dips into the tunnel, so why not open the tunnel up to the general public to walk down over the Xmas weekend before the engineering works started?

I just knew that hundreds, if not thousands of people would have leapt at such an opportunity. Not because the tunnel is historic, but because the opportunity is rare, and the walk would be a singularly unusual event to take part in.

No reply – not even a “don’t be stupid, don’t you realise there are a hundred and one reasons why that can’t be done!”

The Thames Tunnel tour will also include a recreation of the Funfair element, but that is a mere sideshow for most people who seem to be going down under the river. It is the tunnel that is the main event here, so other opportunities to open tunnels shouldn’t be reliant on being able to put on a big show. The tunnel is the show!

Maybe the huge demand for tickets to the Thames Tunnel will encourage more openings like this where possible?

I do appreciate the problems in opening subterranean venues though – the organisation, the volunteers needed, the inevitable worries about insurance and crowd control – not to mention ensuring there are no trains using the tunnel at the time!

For that reason, despite people expressing hopes that the Thames Tunnel tour will happen again, I suspect that repeats will be unlikely, simply because you are asking train passengers to lose a fairly important cross-river link. We shouldn’t forget in our desire to visit these places that they have a primary function, and being a tourist attraction isn’t it.

I wont mention details in case plans are being plotted, but I did get a “hmm, interesting” from a suitably connected person at London Underground a year ago for a proposal to open up a bit of abandoned station and a tunnel for a weekend in a way that got around most of the health and safety worries that come from having loads of people in sometimes constrained areas.

Fingers crossed that it happens, and even if it doesn’t, at least I know someone read the email and considered the proposal. That simple act is often worth the effort, even if nothing comes of it in the end.

Warning – tickets are SOLD OUT. You can try turning up in the hope that people have spares, but that is about it. The Brunel Museum will however resume their floodlit tunnel train trips in a few months time.

In the meantime, here is my report of my visit to the tunnels.

On the weekend of the 12th-13th March, the world’s first underwater tunnel – at Rotherhithe – will be open to the general public.

Neither the Brunel Museum nor the LT Museum websites have any details – but phone the LT Museum on 020 7565 7298 and grab some tickets.

As it happens, I knew there were plans to do something prior to the line being reopened for trains, but I thought they had been cancelled.

The Brunel Museum used to take a slow tube train through the tunnels with the tunnel lights switched on to show off the structure, but this is presumed to be a walking tour through the tunnels before it is handed over to live trains again.

Woo!

Update: The LT Museum website now has details – and it is indeed a guided walking tour from one end to the other, and back again. Self-evidently, the start/stop point will be the Rotherhithe side as that is where the museum is sited – along with the soon to be refurbished shaft area.

Note – Like turning up to a nightclub wearing trainers, there is a dress code and trainers are not permitted. You need to have sturdy shoes for the tour.

This event is being held at Southend on Sea – but I thought it would interest people in London.

–

An exhibition by Maxwell Roberts

Since revolutionising map design in 1933, Henry Beck’s iconic London Underground diagram has set the standard for the mapping of transport network worldwide.

The exhibition explores the success of the Beck map and the rules that it adopted, and asks whether the increasingly complex networks of today demand fresh approaches.

Roberts presents a collection of his own work: maps that are easier to use; maps that teach us about good design; maps that challenge our preconceptions; and maps that are purely decorative.

Runs: Fri 25th Feb to Mon 8th March.

Mon-Fri: 9am-5pm
Sat: 9am-4:30pm

The artist will be “in residence” on 26 & 27 Feb and 6th March.

Admission: Free

Address: Campus Gallery, South Essex College of Further & Higher Education, Luker Road, Southend on Sea, Essex.

Thanks to London Reconnections for letting me know about this.

An early map

Inspired by the Art Nouveau movement?

A slightly redesigned version of the modern map (note the changes to the Bakerloo and Victoria lines).

Maps from other metro networks will also be on display.

On Sunday morning, the Circle Line uncurled slightly into a spiral, and to commemorate the death of the circle, a small group decided to take the very last ever train to run right round the whole circle line on the prior Saturday night.

Starting at Tower Hill and looping round the network back to Tower Hill about an hour later.

Although I had consulted widely to confirm that the timetable was correct, I popped into Tower Hill earlier that evening to double-check with the staff. I needn’t have bothered as the woman behind the counter seemed completely incapable of understanding the simple question I was asking and kept replying with the same incorrect information about the very last train to leave the station.

Fortunately, the barrier staff understood instantly what I wanted and although not sure of the exact details, agreed that my presumption sounded about right.

A few beers later with friends and over to the station, where we met up with the small contingent of fellow tube geeks who had decided to honour the dying moments of the circle line.

Although the timetable suggested 23:37 was the train to catch, the train indicator was showing delays, so when a train at roughly the right time arrived, we weren’t actually sure if it was the Very Last Train. No announcements or indications that it was The Train.

Taking a risk, we took that train and as we arrived and waited at Aldgate, the station announcer confirmed that this was indeed the Very Last Train. Much excitement!

Slowly round the line we went until we arrived at Baker Street, and took the last circle line train that would ever travel round the track from the East towards Kensington High Street.

Apart from that it was really just a trip on the circle line round to Tower Hill, although I stuck my head out at almost each station to take a photo of the platforms.There was also some amused looks from some of the fellow passengers at our (gasp!) photo snapping antics on the train.

Sadly, considering that it was the last ever trip – apart from the station announcer at Aldgate – not a single mention was made on the train or at any other stations.

Eventually arriving at Tower Hill, as we departed for the last time, a crowd got on to catch the train on its partial loop round to Liverpool St Station – oblivious to the unmarked grave of the circle line they were embarking.

Those of us who turned up were largely there due to messages on Twitter – so a live commentary was provided though the trip.

I managed to take a “souvenir” photo of most of the stations we pasted though – photos at Flickr as usual.

Thanks to everyone who came along as well – it was fun.

As I am betting you are probably aware, the Circle Line is shortly to be uncoiled and turned into something that is still called a circle, but is most certainly not.

As with most changes on the train networks, there is inevitably a moment of handover from old to new.

I’ve been having a thought, and decided that it would be quite fun to catch the very last ever fully circular circle line train (yes, I am that sad).

By my calculations – that is the 23:37 train from Tower Hill on Sat 12th Dec, running anti-clockwise round the network and finishing back at Tower Hill about an hour later. An earlier train at 23:07 is the last clockwise train.

At this moment, there are no plans for engineering works on the line that weekend.

If thinking of getting up early to catch the first less-than-circle circle line train, then be warned that they have already run the trains in that format with passengers, for a trial weekend (diamond geezer passim).

I’ve been on a few last train trip events, and while unofficial so far, I think it might be a laugh to do the same for the Circle Line.

A few more thoughts elsewhere:

Annie Mole worries about what the new line will be called

Dave Hill gets all existentialist about the meaning of circles.

Diamond Geezer fisks the new posters advertising the line.

The Londonist dons its waterproofs and hooks an angler fish – probably by the Westbourne River.