Which station has a cache of hidden gnomes? Where could you find an abandoned spiral escalator? And which station has its own unique font? Geoff Marshall goes in search of the secrets of the Piccadilly Line.
As an ex tube train driver I find the station stuff quite interesting, something I never got to explore. I drove on the Piccadilly, Northern, Jubilee and Bakerloo lines in the 80's. There's so much you see from the front of a train that most people don't know about. Disused stations, tunnels connecting one line to another, disused underground sidings, disused tunnels that nobody knew where they went, secrets, ssshhhhhh.
Hello sir, in 2014, I was in London for few months. I traveled a lot by the trains. I like Harrow on the hill station most. Also I tried fish and chips at different places in London. Will remember those things in life forever. :)
Even though I am Irish I have to admit to having been fascinated for practically all of my life with the London Underground. I am simply LOVING these videos. Please don't ever stop making them :-)
My very observant girlfriend has noticed that you change the colour of your top for every video, in relation to the line. Nice touch! Also, great videos, nice to get some inside info.
Speaking of Hammersmith, the first time I came out of that station I suddenly remembered how Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson used to stare out of a mock-up for the facade of the station shopping centre in the title sequence of Bottom. It think they should put a picture of Richie and Eddie in one of the windows in tribute.
When I was researching my very first trip to London in 2015, I came to RU-vid for information on the tube and the Picadilly Line. This very video was my introduction to Londonist, and of course, Geoff. I haven't looked back.
As a rail fan since childhood I love your videos of the Tube. I can’t wait to ride it one day if I ever get to visit London. I’m amazed at how much smaller the deep tube trains are compared to the larger cut and cover trains. It reminds me of the smaller narrower “IRT” numbered subway lines compared to the larger “BMT/IND” lettered subway lines from my native New York City. Hope you guys are keeping safe these days.
Once again, a fascinating insight into all the amazing things that even seasoned commuters may miss every day... Fantastic work Geoff, looking forward to the next one!
Sudbury Town was my home station for many years and I too love it. I once saw the actor that played Gripper Stebson from Grange Hill, waiting outside the station in a car that had the driver's door missing!
Nice to see that very modest man Charles Holden (he declined a knighthood) honoured with an information display. He also designed Bristol Central Library, London University's Senate House, 55 Broadway, many Commonwealth War Graves buildings and lots more. Hadn't realised Leslie Green's contribution though, another distinctive style.
+Londonist Ltd @ 4:00 you're on the platform at Hammersmith and you showed how the clock replicates the colours of the Piccadilly Line and the District Line. From what I can see on the video, if you look up above where the trains run, the roof is painted blue over the Piccadilly and green over the district. Am I right?
I used to live between Manor House and Turnpike lane, loved the Art Deco stations along the line, and always enjoyed getting out at Cockfosters with it's little flowers display, it felt so rural. Great video.
I enjoy your Vidz Geoff Wish they were longer! As a Canadian that used to live above Baker Street Station in Chiltern Court in the 1970's I truly enjoy seeing how the tube has evolved. I suggest that in future Visits... you Show the types of Tube stock that used the station (and lines) over the decades etc as well as Before and after shots .... stuff like that! It's a brilliant concept you have come up with and works well!
Thanks very much for that.... Sudbury Town happens to be my favourite station too.... I lived there for many years and never failed to appreciate it's beauty when catching a tube or getting off after a long day.... cheers.
I love you videos. They are just amazing. Thanks for sharing your discoveries with us. What will you do when you covered all tube lines? I hope you have plans and continue to do great London videos.
Yeah! I am an ex-Alpertonian! Remember that station well...Went back there recently, after 40 years, and what a change! Popped up to Sudbury Town as well. That was still the same... Shame we cannot just visit all these stations without actually coming out of the station... Glad to see Londonist doing these videos. Well done there! Used to love to sit on the tube and ride it from Alperton to Southgate to a discoteque ( The Royalty ) with Sony Walkman on at full blast just to blockout the noise of rattling tube trains when those carriages were painted grey in colour! The rolling stock today has little character...
Cool! I used to live near Wembley and spent a lot of my youth traveling around on the underground, so this vid & your others, are little gems. Thanks for taking the time & trouble to get out & about - the world needs geeky folk, like you Geoff ! to help us remember stuff that otherwise we'd overlook. I'm off to find your episode on the Metropolitan line :-)
I used to visit someone in Whetstone whose next door neighbour rescued a black tom cat from Arnos Grove tube station and adopted him. He had a habit of sneaking into people's cars when they weren't looking,especially in the winter because they were warm inside,and curling up for a good sleep. More than once I was driving up the road to go home when I've suddenly seen him in my rear view mirror,getting up and arching his back for a stretch inside the back window. I didn't take him home but I did take him to a supermarket once before I realised,when I was parking in an underground car park next to it.
Geoff - you didn't mention the skid pan on the Piccadilly line. If you travel between South Ealing and Acton Town and look at the left hand (northern) track (which is rarely used) you will see raised pipes either side of the track. These have holes in which can are used to squirt water onto the tracks. This is used to test the braking systems on trains.
Actually it's on the eastbound local line and is only used by test trains. Years ago it was positioned on the fast tracks (the two in the middle). The test train use to take possession of the track from the starter at Northfields to a signal just short of Acton Town. It use to do the lot, run in the wrong direction, emergency stops, and of course the skid test. It was full of test equipment. Possession of the fast tracks was usually granted between 11AM and 3PM. During that time all the passenger traffic was sent up the local lines (the two outside lines). If you click on the link below you can see the current sprayers together with the test train in action on the eastbound local. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YViL3Yg11nU.html
I travelled the Piccadilly line; my usual stop was Russell Square. This lead to Mecklenburg Square and The William Goodenough Trust. A place for accommodation specifically benefitting post graduate student. A lovely place.
Up until October 1964 the Piccadilly Line from Acton Town to Hounslow West was also served by the District Line trains, hence the four-track layout between Acton Town and Northfields. The District Line trains used the two outer tracks whilst the Piccadilly Line used (and still uses) the inner tracks. The former District Line tracks on this section are now used for testing stock, now better known as the South Ealing Test Tracks. Hounslow West was the former terminus up until 1975 when the platforms at Hounslow West were diverted into new sub-surface platforms for the extension to Hatton Cross and Heathrow Airport which opened in 1977.
You provide some extremely fascinating videos. This is one of them. How did you learn all this. Did you just spend time cruising around aimlessly on the tube? Or, did you study it somehow from another angle? I wouldn't think this would all be in a book somewhere. Your viewpoint seems to be unique, at least to me over here in the US. Thanks for what you do. Love it. Rob
Yet another FIRST CLASS Video 10/10 5* - You really should be working in Tv full time. Your documentary skills put many so called Tv pro's to shame. looking forward to your next production
From Barons Court the rush into the underground tunnels would often feel like you were going to hell in the 70s. Nowadays they take it a bit slower. I used to live at Sudbury Hill and I often wondered about Cockfosters at the other end of the line. Definitely the best tube line, central London in about 40 minutes and back out again to the suburbs.
I love all the Art Deco era stations. I can't understand why the TfL leave them to rack and ruin. Peeling paint, faded signs, dirty, plaster missing from the walls etc.
Uxbridge new station is very much like Cockfosters with the concrete shed. South Harrow moved along to a new station building with the extension but the original is still there. My grandfather was involved in building the South Harrow arches and Sudbury Town Station as well as Sudbury Hill and Alperton.Don't forget to spy the abandoned branch off the South Harrow arches that took coal wagons from Rayners Lane siding to the gas works.. all great stuff thanks for the hard work you put in.
Excellent as always. Would have been nice to see the Heathrow stations, though - the Concorde symbols on the wall of one of 'em, can't remember which! And the new station at T5. Secrets of London Buses next, starting with route 1 and continuing upwards, that should keep you out of mischief a while longer!!
Fantastic video. I'm so pleased to have discovered your channel. Subscribed. As a long time transit nerd I love stuff like this. London must be the best city in the world for subway/underground enthusiasts. The Toronto transit system is terrible, but we do have a station where the tile work is based on the pi sequence (Downsview station).
Woooooow amazing. I rewind my memories. Exactly 9 yrs before I lived n Harrow and I worked n Barnet. So I get Piccadilly n South Harrow or Raynes lane and go to all the way to Oakwood. nearly 1 hr journey.but I really enjoyed. Many many good things have London Underground.but One think I really apirciate and wanna say thnks to the marvellous creaters 'they make soooo easy to anyone' if u go any other Country 1st time. A big Problem s Traveling. but if u come UK..if u want to go anywhere in London? don't worry abt travelling.just get One Underground Tube Map.its take u where u want to go. Great Great Great....London Undergrounds are always Great.
I used to travel of the Aldwych shuttle going to and from school in the late 60’s / early 70s. I believe it’s possible to visit the station on guided tours and see the other end of the line from Holborn. It has also been used for lots of films.
Another interesting fact is that the Piccadilly line serves both the northern and western most stations with underground platforms in tunnel. With 55% of the network above ground that's good going.
*****, it also looks like the canopies at Hammersmith are also Blue and Green, over the two respective lines. So impressed with all this fab nerdy knowledge :)
There is so much fantastic architecture on the Tube as we are being shown in these great videos. What a shame that the cavernous Canada Water didn't take it's inspiration from the beautiful Tube stations available.
Sure someone's mentioned it but York Road is an unused mystery between the Cally and King's X. You can see some disused stuff/walls as the train passes by. It's about the only stretch of line where drivers let rip (occasionally) on what is a sluggish line. And these vids are great.
Thank you for this. Picadilly line was my line when I was a student at Middlesex University in the early 80s. Check out a fringe cabaret band of that time called Pulse, they sang a cool tribute called 'Last Train to Oakwood'🤗👍😉
Let’s not forget that like Regents Park on the Bakerloo, Manor House on the Piccadilly is also a station that is situated underground with no visible building.
Its quite funny but the thing I was most amazed by, visiting London for the first time, was actually the tube and the stations. xD From all the things you can see in London, but I was always fascinated by trains even as a little kid. I was staying in Richmond so I used the district line and Earl's Court is for some reason my all time favourite station it even inspires the second word of my yt username =D
Interested to see that escalator bricked up at Alperton. Used to use that on the way home from school. Not only is there an escalator there but it's also (as a plaque on the wall said in those days (mid 1970s), the escalator was from the Dome of Discovery at the Festival of Britain. Probably one of the few artifacts from that to survive
On older trains you just hear a rapid beeping sound for the door closing signal, but on modern trains an automated voice says "This train is about to depart. Please mind the doors" and then you hear the beeps and the doors close!
Thanks for a very interesting video. Thinking about Alperton Station, if my memory serves me correctly, the closed escalator came from the Dome of Discovery at the 1951 Festival of Britain on London's South Bank.
