Lived in Woodford until 1974. We didn’t have much money and I loved the tube network. My mother would take me on our ‘underground trips’ where we would buy a ticket to South Woodford then stay on the network all day without leaving any station. At age 11 I knew the complex interchanges like the back of my hand. We took a picnic at one of the more scenic overground stations on the North West Metropolitan line, then headed back to South Woodford some eight hours later to catch the bus home. Good days entertainment for 20 pence. Thanks Mum, I’ll not forget those days.
This is a wonderful story. The thing is that despite all the possible choices in a modern world, my 8yr old boy loves nothing more than spending hours on the London Underground… and so do I! The most enduring thing we leave are memories
I always thought the sparks effect was a phenomenon whereby a competitor might be persuaded not to build a station at a particular locale with the rejoinder "this town ain't big enough for the both of us".
As an toddler in 1967, I used to watch the first automated trains running through Woodford on the Hainault loop, being tested for the upconmg Vic Line. The front of the trains had like an aerial or small receiver on them.
Love this station, my local station as a toddler between 1960 and 1968, when my Dad took me for rides between Woodford and Leytonstone and back, and I fell in love with the tube.
I think the Vic line was going to terminate at Woodford or South Woodford, giving commuters a choice of the Central Line to the City, and the Vic line to the West End and City of Westminster. Presumambly funding became an issue.
As someone who lived nearby, I have to say, it is very frustrating not being able to interchange between the Central and Victoria lines there. Cos they are not very far away from each other at all.
I've started opening my eyes around tube stations much more since discovering this channel, and seeing so many great period features I'd never noticed before.
The "staring of a sexual nature is considered sexual harassment" poster at the station was good information. *Stares intensely at Jago Hazzard's channel*
It's part of the witch hunt of men. In Strathclyde university's book of autistic vox pops, An Ordinary Life Too, 2016, I recorded a compliment to Inverkeithing library in Scotland for its common sense upholding of me. When a young lady with her mum rocked a baby's pram in the peripheral edge of my vision, then accused me of staring for reacting to the distraction. Such a story proves the poster unreasonable + itself a harassment of passengers. Use the story to defend so and tell the tube so.
@@JP_TaVeryMuch I'm in America so I don't know much about the UK laws, but yes I can imagine it ripe for abuse. Does someone really deserve jail time just for being creepy? Am I right that this is something in the wake of Sarah everard? With that said, I have no problem with TFL having strict policies against touching people or flashing at them. As long as the penalties are reasonable and there's due process. But as someone who likes to watch the scenery from a train, I shouldn't be arrested since someone happened to be on my cone of vision and misunderstood
One of my regular drivers worked this line as a fireman pre war. It was a push pull service using Quint art's. He said the brakes were one shot, so if you were stopping short you had to stop and regenerate the brake. This is probably why the trains are stopping so short in your terminus photo. One of the coaches used to be on display at North Woolwich.
@@patrickthomas1035 Used them regularly on the LTS. Don't think they had triple valves. With the westo if you pulled the fuse you would get about 27psi brake cylinder pressure for a second apply instead of the max 52.5 psi for an emergency application first hit. These were literally one hit only they came to a stop with what was in there. The westo, you released the brake as you came to a halt then cross applied. This would give you a holding application and stopped you coming to a halt in a heap with the passengers all getting out of the front door.
They've collected the GER benches from along the Central Line to Woodford, but the number has gradually diminished - the best were a couple of double-sided ones. The most interesting historical part of these stations is at Snaresbrook, the only surviving station with Eastern Counties Railway cast-iron columns.
I occasionally stop of at Woodford on my travels on Central line and just done so a couple weeks ago stop off at Grange Hill to head of to Woodford, one thing i learn that the line use to go round in circle toward Woodford, but now stop according to the driver, As there now only one train per minute go back and forward between stations just like the Waterlloo and City line. Use to regularly visit Woodford when my Grand parants were alive in the 70's and 80's and use to ride on the train from Woodford to Oxford Street to go to the toy store Hamlet, Those were great days.
I was a box boy in the signal cabin at Woodford in 1965, Used to come in early to watch the BR trains shunting coal trucks in the sidings there, As each station still had a coal merchant along that easten section, The run up the gradient to the Hainault loop still has a set of spring operated catch points back in them days as the coal trucks were unfitted, Plus at Leyton you could catch the early morning BR DMU staff train which dropped off news papers to each station
I don't know the area or the station very well, but I always found it satisfyingly fascinating to know that there were eastbound Central line trains that went to Hainault via Woodford and to Woodford via Hainault. Until one day there weren't. :(
I guess it there could have been a connection between Walthamstow Central to one of the Central Line stations for the Victoria line , but it didn't happen , and well there are buses and some LU Overground services that sort of do the same thing !
I am reminded of my favourite cinephile joke: What do you call a man with a tree on his head? Ed Wood. What do you call a man with three trees on his head? Edward Woodward.
lol, tho I can imagine some overseas viewers who don't have a clue what you're on about ;-) ps, what do you call a man with a sword on his head? Lance. ...and a man with multiple swords on his head? Lancelot.
Its very similar to South Woodford, subway and all. I went to school in Woodford, and it's funny I never really used the side of the station that you showed, with the shops... my school was on the other side. and it is striking to see how the railway has sliced the area in half in terms of its aesthetic. The Snakes Lane East side doesn't look as nice
I’ve lived in Woodford Bridge since my birth of 1968 so I know Woodford station so well. If it was opened in 1856 when would broadmead bridge of been built please as it’s been over a year since it’s been closed for work to be done but it’s not even started. But I’m curious to how old the bridge would be? Thanks great vlog.
Possible Victoria line extension: when you mentioned that, I thought Woodford was a bit closer in to central London. When I looked at a map just now, seems like an extension to Leytonstone would make more sense.
You can tell Woodford was not built as Underground station, because of all the period detail that has survived. Its nice to see that, given that some stations, for example on the Euston/Watford Junction line have been either totally rebuilt like Wembley Central or Euston or else denuded of original features like Watford High Street or Watford Junction. I've seen similar destruction of original features on other lines, both in London and elsewhere.
2.28mins, Upper left building is the signal cabin. It was the first cabin l qualified in, to become a Relief Signalman. Happy days there and at Loughton cabin..👍
Must have been amazing, I bet you've got some stories to tell! I was fortunate enough to be able to visit Hammersmith (Met) and Edgware Rd before closure and I pull full size levers for a living, but I always thought the Central had some amazing boxes before resignalling and with Woodford having been my local station for years (I've probably spent days of my life on plat 3 waiting for the Hainault train) I was always fascinated by the cabin. Shame there's so few pictures of it but it looks like it would have been a lot of fun
@@danielpoulson9939 Hi Daniel, It was a really exciting job. I went on to work at the following cabins in this chronological order: Leytonstone, Hainault,Bethnal Green, Marble Arch. The lever frames had been replaced, in all of the cabins by then.All to set up for automated running. Electronic Timetable managers were used for the booking of trains, instead of the paper box sheets. All the cabins are now closed , and the Signalmen long gone now. TTFN.👍 There were quite some characters working in the cabins.
@@paulmccarthy7512 Thanks for that Paul. I thought Hainault retained its frame for the depot right up until closure after control of the main running lines had already transferred to Wood Lane have I got something wrong there?
@@danielpoulson9939 Hello Daniel, All the above cabins, were operated by ELCP's by then. "Emergency Local Control Panels".👍 I was one of the last serving Signalmen at Hainault, with 5 others 🤠
@@paulmccarthy7512 Thanks for clearing that up for me! What was it like operating the ELCPs? During an event celebrating an anniversary at White City a group of us were able to visit the office at White City which now houses the panel. I heard you had to keep the route-setting buttons depressed for quite a while before the route would set?
It's kind of pretty how the additions to Woodford show the zeitgeist of post-war Britain, where funds for any kind of investment were severely drained because of the Blitz and subsequent car craze 'n all. There's a beauty in that too.
I lived in Wanstead from 1950 to 64 and then in South Woodford until 1972, so always particularly enjoy your trips to my old stomping ground. South Woodford also had a level crossing replaced by a subway, but also a sweeping flyover to take the traffic. I always assumed this was due to electrification rather than increased rail usage…?
Here in America the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team has a player named Jake Woodford. Meanwhile, the head coach of the gridiron football team in Arizona (also called the Cardinals, coincidentally) has the name Kliff Kingsbury
Woodford might have ended up on an extension of a new 'Chelney Line' (Chelsea-Hackney) if Crossrail had not been selected. Planning for a Wimbledon-Hainault tube line with various routes goes back to the 1940s. In the 1989 Central London Rail Study, the line was to be a deep tube-gauge line starting at Wimbledon, replacing District services as far as Parson's Green, continuing in a new tunnel alignment through Central London (via King's Road Chelsea, Victoria, Waterloo, Aldwych, Holborn, Farringdon, Old Street, Shoreditch and Dalston) to Leytonstone, then taking over the Central Line to Woodford and Epping, with a depot near Stratford.
Very interesting. Woodford - and the whole of the Central Line eastern end out to Epping, plus the Hainault loop - could certainly do with better links to north and north-east London. Sadly Crossrail 2 seems to be on the back-burner for the present, and I don't think it was ever planned to go as far as Woodford. Yet, for climate, air quality, congestion and other reasons, we urgently need better peripheral public transport links in outer London. I wonder if the easy cross-platform connection at Stratford, on to the Elizabeth Line - once it is properly linked up, and avoids the tedious change at Liverpool Street - will generate a second 'sparks effect' and bring more custom to Woodford - even maybe to that 'least used' section of the Underground along to Hainault?
I was looking at the London Tube map and I was wondering what's the longest distance you can travel without changing train. is there a video you made on this subject?
@@areamusicale Epping to West Ruislip is 42 miles by road, 34 miles by Tube. Still the longest AFAICT -- off the top of my head I would have said Chesham to Aldgate, but that's only 29 miles.
I'm struck by a bit of "alternative history" speculation. If the lines through Woodford hadn't been transferred to the Central Line, they would have remained part of BR, and would probably have been electrified at 25kV along with other lines out of Liverpool Street in the 1950s or 1960s. Then, moving forward to the present day, both lines (via Leyton and via Hainault) would run through Stratford, and so could be accessed from the Crossrail tunnel. We could now have been looking at one or both of these lines as eastern branches of the Elizabeth Line.
4:30 - The poster on the left makes for interesting reading. Is it possible stare ‘intrusively’? Or stare with a ‘sexual nature’? Perhaps I’ve led a sheltered life!
Absolutely great as usual 🙂 I used to date someone who lived there as a teenager I love the information you give on every station every station has a story and you tell it eloquently :) Did you happen to be filming the tram in Morden road ther other day ?
@@ateshhughes5889 I think Jago has plenty of stock footage of trams, but a feature on Morden (Road) (Halt) might be interesting, inc WW2 where first day of Biltz(or v early) Bomb hit the station killing the station master. Mum knew his two daughters, one of whom took it very badly being in and out of mental treatment until she died about 6 years ago, but I suppose a child has a right to feel like that given the circumstances.
That would be a very interesting tale I would certainly be interested in finding out more Jago has quite a way of telling tales that never get told it's great
I think a few stations which entered the LU network around this time had minimal upgrades, when compared to the earlier Holden masterpieces, due to lack of money and materials I imagine.
Maybe you can answer this Jago... Is South Woodford the only station on the underground network that you have to tap out and back in to switch directions (east to westbound and vice versa) I feel pretty sure it is..
When it was electrified, the LNER were joint owners, so (as an accounting excercise) some of the 1938 stock had plates with "property of the LNER" on them.
At least the new entrance at Woodford is in keeping with the use of bricks in the surrounding buildings, unlike the mess that is the new building at Hillingdon.....
....you're being very generous Rob. Having grown up in Woodford I remember the extension being added replacing the olde world booking hall with a discontinuous new one with 80s style smoked glass and naff pillars
To make money the X needed to Y, but in order to Y they needed money. I love how you subtly incorporate critiques of capitalism into your all-round excellent videos! :D
And thusly the capital required to increase efficiency itself ever-increases, driving smaller operators out of the market. It happens everywhere but to give one example, local dialup ISPs gone out of business with broadband, and now the expense of fibre. And that’s already with the highly complex and capital-intensive set of manufacturing and distribution evolved!
Quick question.... Why did the few stations on the Ongar branch close?? I remember parking up there in the 80s free and leaving my car there for the weekend ( seems funny to me these days)
Whilst it might have been nice for Chingford to High Beech to be open, the gradient might have been a tad too steep. But the idea of extending Ongar to Chelmsford or Brentwood would have been interesting.
@@vicsams4431 was never going to happen as it was a loss making spur of the G.E.R. before London transport took over ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JO80sqUcVII.html what I find more interesting is the disused rail line between Braintree & Bishop's Stortford
@@philipfischer1612 The Dunmow Branch had freight to Fyffes Bananas till @ 1972. There was talk of extending Stansted Airport to Witham, via Braintree, and putting in a west to north curve in at Witham, to allow Norwich / Ipswich / Colchester to Stansted Airport trains. But the cost of realignment, to join Stansted to Takeley etc. was too expensive. Plus at Great Dunmow, some of the trackbed is now a road. Sadly Takeley is a bit of a ghost town now, with the flights overhead. I am interested to see Cambridge to Sudbury reopen, or perhaps Kings Lynn to Hunstanton. I have walked Ashdon to Bartlow Junction and Clare station. The stations on the Hunstanton branch remain largely intact, except for the terminus.
Yes, I know I should be concentrating but at 00:26 all I could think of is which pigeon vandalised that netting atop the column, giving the proverbial middle finger to whoever put it up in the first place!
Jago. I used to use Woodford station to get to work in the mornings during the 1980s. One fine morning I arrived at the Westbound platform to see two spaceage concept trains sitting on the two lines on the lefthand side. I can't remember how exactly but they were two concept train stock proposed for the Central Line and they were looking for feedback.from the public. I don't remember much more but I'm pretty sure one of those two concepts did eventually become the new Central Line stock. Perhaps you could do more research into this incident. I'd guess it must have been 1988?
I looked at these on the way home from school! The BREL design was chosen. The red train IIRC as the 92 stock. There were two other two car colour coded units, blue and green. The later is in the Acton Depot of LT Museum
4:34 What is "Intrusive staring of a sexual nature"? Those of in the sticks, soon to be over the Styx, have not encountered this metropolitan problem. As a stare is an observation of reflected photons and therefore cannot be intrusive, it would suggest that Londoners have developed photon emitting eyes.
At platform level Woodford looks like a pretty nice station at least :) I had been wondering why I hadn't seen any of your videos recently and then noticed that naughty youtube had unsubbed :/
There's one at Higham's Park on the Overground. On the Underground, there are some inside places like Acton Works and some of the depots, but they are not public roads.
SW London isn't really my speciality, but I think there are some level crossings to be seen if you get one of the stopping trains to Staines (upon Thames).
SW London isn't really my speciality, but I think there are some level crossings to be seen if you get one of the stopping trains to Staines (upon Thames).
