Underground London - Archive Articles

London Open House Weekend – The Thames Tunnel

Lurking not too far from where I live is a subterranean marvel that is considered to be one of the most important locations in engineering history

Heritage Train Trip to the Disused Platforms at Charing Cross

Today was the highly anticipated 1938 tube train run along the modern Jubilee Line extension, and a rare chance to visit the disused platforms at Charing Cross station. Although I have been on the train several times – the last…

London’s Lost Tunnel

While tunnel affectionados will be familiar with the “Waterloo and Whitehall Pneumatic Railway – as part of that, I came across an article in The Windsor Magazine of April 1900. I managed to find a copy, only to find that…

Jubilee Line tunnels under Big Ben

A few months ago, I went to a lecture on tunnelling technologies, given by Professor Robert Mair FREng FRS, and specifically on what is known as compensation grouting.

Churchill’s other Cabinet War Rooms

Another in my periodic series on how to visit little known places. — Whilst well known in subterranean and military lore – there are few members of the general public who are aware that in addition to the infamous Cabinet…

No to the Rotherhithe-Canary Wharf Bridge

A lobby group has been pushing for a pedestrian bridge to be built linking Canary Wharf with Rotherhithe – a route currently serviced by either a ferry service or (via a short walk) the Jubilee Line. It is being reported,…

Two talks on two nights

Been a busy few days – went to talks this evening and yesterday evening. Considering that I normally work in the evenings, these nights out result in coming home and having to put in an extra hour or two before…

More on the Waterloo & Whitehall Railway

Long term readers may recall that I am slowly researching the history of the Waterloo and Whitehall Railway – a short lived attempt to build a pneumatic railway in an iron tube running under the River Thames between Great Scotland…

Another Crossrail lecture

Earlier this year I attended a breakfast lecture at the Building Centre on the topic of

Poster exhibition at the Transport Museum

Last night I (and friend) had tickets to attend the opening evening of the Transport Museum’s latest exhibition – a history of posters on the London Underground. It turns out that London Underground was probably the first transport network to…

WW2 tunnels under London to be sold off

The infamous (amongst tunnel/military aficionados) tunnels under Chancery Lane are to be put up for sale at last. I have been aware that BT were working on decommissioning them for some time, and was trying to find out who was…

I think I just hit the limits on tube geek sadness

Came across this blog via Liberal Conspiracy – and I am sad to say that it was the page header which I found quite noticable. sighs

A tour of Aldwych Station on the London Underground

Earlier this year, I along with a group had a rather rare tour of the disused Aldwych tube station.

Tunnel under the Thames at Battersea

Yesterday, I wandered over to Battersea Power Station for a viewing of the exhibition for the latest (of many) plans to redevelop the huge industrial wasteland - and because we could also then go on a tour of the building itself.

Another 1938 train outing

As you may have read, I went on a trip on a 1938 tube train a few months ago – but today was THE BIG ONE, where the train did a full run along the entire Northern Line from Morden…

A Trip on a 70 Year Old Tube Train

In 1938, a new modern tube train was introduced on London Underground – with the radical change in that it abolished the front locomotive which used to pull tube trains. In 1998, the 1938 stock made its final trip on…

Sub-Brit Lecture at the Building Centre

Was back at the Building Centre in central London this morning for the final of their breakfast talks on subterranean London as part of their current exhibition. This morning’s talk was hosted by Andrew Smith from Subterranea Britannica (sub-brit), an…

Southwark Tube Station

Of all the tube stations which were built for the Jubilee Line extension - my favourite has to be the little-noticed one at Southwark.

Greathead shield at Bank Station

I have been meaning for absolutely ages to take a look at a little bit of London Underground heritage at Bank Station, and total thanks to problems with the Jubilee Line, I happened to be at Bank today and going…

The world’s largest TBM

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, more famous in the UK for owning a football club than being a Russian businessman who did rather well out of some dodgy privatisations has reportedly ordered the world’s largest Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM). At 19…

A tour of Underground Greenwich

Thanks to a tip-off from The Greenwich Phantom, I spent a couple of hours on a pleasant wander round Greenwich learning a bit about the underground history of the area. It was a bitterly cold day and I almost didn’t…

The Post Office Robot Railway

I have this rather old news footage of the famous Post Office railway which ran under central London until it was shut down in 2003.

Banking Crisis

Transport for London has just announced that changing between lines at Bank tube station will not be possible from the end of this month until the middle of next year.

Are Escalators Becoming More Dangerous?

London Underground is littered with escalators, and following the Kings Cross Disaster the old wooden models were replaced with safer, if less aesthetically pleasing versions. So it is with some alarm that I read in one of my science RSS…