Where To See The Underground From The Street 

Whenever I think about the way the “cut and cover” lines originally worked I try and visualise how it must’ve looked to see great pillars of steam emerging from holes in the ground.

It takes real skill to make a video of onesself playing with Google Street View on one's PC, peering over walls into dark holes in the ground, for ten minutes, and yet make it interesting... Good work Geoff!

5:08 I'm a little surprised that Google didn't blur the pigeon's face to protect its identity.

Geoff, you are the ONLY person I know who can make video of exploring railways on google maps interesting.

And thus a new channel/series was born: Geoff looking at some maps and StreetView. I would watch that.

Quarantine day 169: watching Geoff use google street view

Forgotten station entrances and exits series when London is out of lockdown

Thanks. I drove circle line trains for over 30 years, and some of things we saw what the public never did. I could talk all day on the subject. Cheers Geoff brilliant video.

Geek level: Off the f**king charts! Loving your work, Geoff! When possible, I'm expecting a video of you visiting all these walls!

5:05 "Lucky pigeon," - All of us locked-down railway fans.

Fascinating Geoff! I never thought about this. Love how you mix in satellite & GPS images. Hope you're back on the rails soon!

Memo to MI6: hire this man.

Loved the facts about the subsurface lines! Really enjoyed this one!

Interesting video and I can testify to the Blackfriars story as I got soaked with rain a few months ago when a deluge of rainwater unexpectedly spilled over from up above catching all of us on the platform by surprise 😀 Another great vantage point for trainspotting from ground level is up at Clerkenwell where you can spot the tracks at Farringdon station from the top of a double decker bus!

The triangle near Glouchester Road was the West London Air Terminal for years. You could catch the Airbus out to Heathrow and even check-in for certain British European Airways flights. There was a staircase you could go down and it would let you out by the tracks for the High Street Kensignton to Glouchester Road curve for the Circle Line. I imagine there was some sort of wall but it was almost 50 years ago so I am not sure.

How deep would you say the deep-level lines are? Equal to fifteen floors?

1:08 - I always remember my Mum driving past this on the way to visit my Nan when I was a kid. Loved seeing this again.

Another video full of a slightly manic enthusiasm and yet again, so totally watchable!!! :-) Tx.......

Hi Geoff. Love all the Videos. Long Time Fan. Keep up the Good Work

Hey! Thats very interesting. Im not joking.

I just love hearing your excitement and fascination with London transit. This was very fun to watch 😁

Quite a few streets in London have just the facade of houses as it was the way Georgian developers built houses. One or two show houses would be built to be shown to prospective buyers but only the fronts of the rest of the street would be built to show how the street will look until the plot was sold. The buyer would either hire their own builder or use the developers'. Often the developer would go Bankrupt or die before the rest of the houses were built, with the legal proceedings taking many years to sort out the rest of the houses never got built but the fronts were left to maintain the look of the street and the land behind put to a different use later. This practice continued well into the 19th. Century.

I have to say that I’m really enjoying these lockdown videos - because I can do it too! If I want to go out and about around London, I have your back catalogue at my disposal. Thank you once again.

I LOVE following the line of the many old railways in South Wales by following treelines and strange linear patterns in nature and urban settings. This is the ultra urban version which can show some amazing little things about the history of London. Gwych!

I think that Burger King just has a facade of a multi storey building

Fascinating. Thank you.😊

This video is double the fun. First the video itself, then the delightful comments. Well done Geoff.

Should do a post-corona for this video where you have nice shots from trains actually passing by, or atleast. Encourage people/spotters to see some of these spots. Just because!

My Dad used to have the offices above the now Aberdeen Steak House at Paddington Station on Praed Street. I remember when I was young, going onto the roof and watching the trains and passengers. Thanks Geoff

Cool stuff Geoff. Great source of interest during this lockdown. We all know Leinster Gardens, but I look forward to the day to head back into town to investigate some of the rest!!

The episode that I was waiting for!!! Everytime I travel to London I make a waypoints map to catch and film trains, this help me a lot! Best regards from Argentina!

Will see after quarantine!

Stayed at the Point West Apartments a few years ago. Great view of the trains coming to and leaving Gloucester Rd.

Fascinating video. Thanks Geoff

My favourite example of one of these is when I was on my way to mail rail from Farringdon and I was standing on ray st bridge looking over the wall to watch to H&C, Circle and Metropolitan trains underneath

Loving your work as ever.

Hello Geoff! Keep your videos up! It’s educational for me

The up and over hump on the PIcc from Hounslow to Hatton Cross is my fave!!

Really good one, Geoff! maybe extend the explore-London-railways/underground-via-google-maps theme? - how about 'Ideas for new junction stations', or 'Suggestions for the coming (hopefully) West London Orbital Railway' , or even 'How to sort out Acton's messy railway map'?

Out where I used to live in South Woodford, there are plenty of opportunities to see the Central Line trains running past. Between Gordon Road and Churchfields, there is a pedestrian bridge right over the line, a few hundred yards from my old flat.

Google Maps? We're one step closer to Geoff playing GeoGuessr. There's even an All The Stations map challenge

This would make a pretty cool livestream.. "Geoff scrolling around in Google Maps"

very interesting and entertaining. Thanks for taking the time to make this and posting. Power to your elbow sir

It is nearly impossible to make interesting videos about trains, when stuck inside and yet you managed to do that too. Impressive!

Am I the only one confused by the blurry tree???

Central line Leytonstone, leyton, , Snaresbrook, newbury park, hainult, Fairlop, barkinside, south woodford, Debden Loughton, Buckhurst hill, Chigwell,woodford and for a bonus northern line east Finchley and woodside grove. great vid.

Your enthusiasm does you a lot of credit.

"If I drop the yellow dude there" 😂 Edit: thanks for the likes, I've never had this many likes before

I love Google Earth. Very handy for short- listing AirBnBs after checking out the neighborhoods by wandering around in street-view. Way back when we could travel.

Its actually been nice travelling on trains and buses, so nice and quiet.

Geoff, I can't stand on my dad's shoulders....I'm 30. So yeah, I'm just short, haha.

I loved this video. Thanks.

Another Great Video Geoff

When going South from Notting Hill Gate immediately after leaving the station it goes into tunnel followed by going through the large cutting at Bedford Gardens then a short while later goes through a much smaller cutting which I managed to locate on Google maps (at Campden Grove if I remember correctly). I know locating railway cuttings on Google maps is unexciting for most people but I love it. Very cool and interesting! There's also really small cuttings at Blackfriars, Great Portland Street, East of Temple and two at Victoria

Grateful for proper pigeon representation.

When I was little, every time I went to London, I thought every single place in London had the underground underneath. I just wanted to put my ear to the ground and hear the trains.

I’m a bit late, but in the ‘60s my sister & I had many happy times watching the trains in Sloan Square Station from the top floor of 22 Bourne Street. Alas my grandparents’ lease ended 50+ years ago. 😢

London Road Depot is a good one for spotting deep level trains in the open. Across the river, near Farringdon you can see the subsurface and Thameslink cross over, underneath the Betsey Trotwood pub.

My parents live in east finchley and you can see on the road Church Lane the tube as it goes outside. You can view it from the road which is a bridge and walking path. Its a really nice view and I remember this walk on my way to school. You can view the train easily and its not blocked off like some walls.

My favourite is Ray Street in Clerkenwell where you can see the ‘Ray Street Gridiron’ the flyover structure where the subsurface lines swap sides with the Thameslink tracks.

@3:17 I actually had to rewatch that bit a few times I was so excited,

Do you have many American subscribers? Although visiting London seems unlikely for me, watching your adventures and seeing how the trains fit in to the city is endless fun and fascination.

I love exploring train tracks on Google earth.

I live on that street in Kensington/Notting hill. I can hear the trains especially in the early morning. Quite reassuring actually lol

Hi Geoff As you have a collection tube maps from (if I recall correctly) the 80s until now, could you make a video (after you've scanned them into your computer) that shows the evolution of the tube map as a sorta timelapse

There are some at Spray Street and Royal Docks with Crossrail and Docklands Light Railway

You sir, are a pain and to blame for my crazy-ass post pandemic planning! Have been bingeing on all your vid's including 'All The Stations' and am now formulating a plan to travel- all the stations- in south east Queensland- in 1 DAY. And blog the experience live. On paper it can be done- I've plotted it out- but whether the trains behave and no *cough* police incidents *cough* then it's doable! Just need a few days off work now to do it (I'm still working in an essential service)

I enjoy the glimmer of sunlight you get at Bermindsey on the jubilee line train. I reckon it is the only deep level tube station where you can see sun

I thought I was the only person who did this on streetview. The subsurface lines seem to weave their way through the basements of buildings, appearing and disappearing from view.

Good video! You could have used Google Earth to get the satellite and 3d view.

Geoff, "...the yellow dude..." is called PegMan!

Well done Geoff.

There's a bit of the Green Line in Boston where the trains not only come aboveground, but run in the middle of the street like trolleycars, rather than in a fenced-off right-of-way. This is a somewhat startling thing to encounter for the first time, if you didn't know they did that.

Geoff, if you go in to Satellite view, click the Globe icon on the bottom right of the screen, and then the 3D icon, it'll let you look from above, over the walls. Left ctrl key and hold the left mouse button to drag around left/right/up/down, and the scroll wheel to zoom in closer. Works great in London with the terrain and buildings in 3D, other less built up places aren't quite as "3D".

My favourite spot like this is the Premier Inn London Kensington, which has rooms looking down onto the district and Piccadilly lines, which seem to have been built through people’s back gardens.

I’ve been doing this for the last 6 1/2 weeks. It’s the only thing keeping me sane.

Very creative Geoff well done - what is the deepest tube station / piece of track on the tube map and what is the depth?

Bit of Waterloo and City , I have tip-toed over the crane access pit. Morden Station has either the car park top level or the east side Footpath, and of course the depot is in the open air. Is the Bakerloo Line open near the Lambeth stabling point?

That was awesome.

Various bits of the Circle etc between Kings Cross and Barbican are in the open too, St Chad's Place for example has a good view. Just west of Liverpool Street station there's a small section of open tracks that can't be seen from the street, but can be see from the buildings above the tracks I imagine!

If you go round the back of portobello market near the skate park there is a little T junction road and a pedestrian footbridge which looks over the Hammersmith and city line but also the national rail out of Paddington

Many thanks for another great vlog, was wondering where the national rail surface line that goes past the Kensington Olympia tube station originate or terminate, and do they link up with any other lines?

I was told the underground went underground, i don't know if it's true

Used to stay in a hotel on Norfolk square and you could hear the underground trains

Im a National Express driver and at the end of lane 20 in Victoria Coach Station as it exits to Ebury St there is a open shaft about 3mx3m onto the underground often you see the sparks from the conductor rail at night and certainly hear them

Oh so niche, I loved it!

All the way from The States, I enjoy doing this as a hobby. I use the Google Map Transit Detail so I know exactly where the lines are located. It’s awesome to know that the Victoria line runs right underneath Buckingham Palace.

This is interesting

is there a geographical map of each tube line showing the gradients or an illistration of how the different lines cross over or under each other?do they cross over or under each other?

Looking good

If you go to St Chad's Place, Kings Cross you will see the subsurface track running behind the disused Thameslink Kingscross station. Plus its a long stretch with many bridges to view both railways.

The days of the one at Stamford Bridge could be numbered as part of the planning permission (which is currently paused) for the new ground includes building over the top of it (somehow) so they get more space for the stadium.

You can also North Ealing station from a lovely bridge.

In Lambeth you can find the Bakerloo line depot, which I never realised was there for many years. Think you can glimpse it from the top deck of a bus going along St. George’s Road.

Someone suggested All the Stations blooper reel (maybe in quiz chat?) and I totally concur! Can be done in lockdown! :-) p.s. this is cool :-) my fave is kind of near Paddington

Nice video Geoff you can see the Underground from The car park at LIDL you can peer over a wall and see the Underground the Metropolitan line at Pinner

Many years ago, I saw some tube trains go under the hotel at kings cross st Pancras travelodge. There was a bit of track visible between there and tunnels

I've spent hours doing this with railways all over the country!

Are there tour guides for the tube? Or in person training?

I grew up round the corner from Bouverie Place, Paddington. Those walls used to have large advertising hoardings in front of them up till the 1980s or early 90s.