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Ghost Stations of the London Underground 296

PinchDuck writes "Check out this site to get a tour of London Underground stations that have been abandoned during the century+ history of the commuter system. You can apparently still get to some of them! (though not by taking the Tube, obviously). I wish I had found this site 2 weeks ago, when I went to London, but now my geeky explorations must wait until my next visit (having just flown back in to Detroit today)."
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Ghost Stations of the London Underground

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  • by Trusty Penfold ( 615679 ) <jon_edwards@spanners4us.com> on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:09PM (#4835130) Journal

    I win!
    • by Big Sean O ( 317186 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:52PM (#4835297)
      Sorry, that abandoned station is above the diagonal. According to the Hamwich Convention of 1954, moves from abandoned stations to Mornington Crescent have to transit the Central line.

      so there...
    • I think we should really give the US audience a chance to get the hang, and use the simplified version [isihac.co.uk] for now...

      I live on Watling Street, so that amendment stands too. Or indeed the playstation 2 version, considering the media of this discussion...
    • by cscx ( 541332 ) on Sunday December 08, 2002 @06:47PM (#4840526) Homepage
      Jasmina: Anyway, John, you can catch the 11.30 from Hornchurch and be in Basingstoke by one o'clock, oh, and there's a buffet car and... (sees corpse) oh! Daddy!
      John: My hat! Sir Horace!
      Jasmina: (not daring to look) Has he been...
      John: Yes - after breakfast. But that doesn't matter now... he's dead.
      Jasmina: Oh! Poor daddy...
      John: Looks like I shan't be catching the 11.30 now.
      Jasmina: Oh no, John, you mustn't miss your train.
      John: How could I think of catching a train when I should be here helping you?
      Jasmina: Oh, John, thank you... anyway you could always catch the 9.30 tomorrow - it goes via Caterham and Chipstead.
      John: Or the 9.45's even better.
      Jasmina: Oh, but you'd have to change at Lambs Green.
      John: Yes, but there's only a seven-minute wait now.
      Jasmina: Oh, yes, of course, I'd forgotten it was Friday. Oh, who could have done this.
      (Enter Lady Partridge.)
      Lady Partridge: Oh, do hurry Sir Horace, your train leaves in twenty-eight minutes, and if you miss the 10.15 you won't catch the 3.45 which means ... oh!
      John: I'm afraid Sir Horace won't be catching the 10.15, Lady Partridge.
      Lady Partridge: Has he been... ?
      Jasmina: Yes - after breakfast.
      John: Lady Partridge, I'm afraid you can cancel his seat reservation.
      Lady Partridge: Oh, and it was back to the engine - fourth coach along so that he could see the gradient signs outside Swanborough.
      John: Not any more Lady Partridge... the line's been closed.
      Lady Partridge: Closed! Not Swanborough!
      John: I'm afraid so.
      (Enter Inspector Davis.)
      Inspector: All fight, nobody move. I'm Inspector Davis of Scotland Yard.
      John: My word, you were here quickly, inspector.
      Inspector: Yeah, I got the 8.55 Pullman Express from King's Cross and missed that bit around Hornchurch.
      Lady Partridge: It's a very good train.
      All: Excellent, very good, delightful.
      (Tony runs in through the french windows. He wears white flannels and boater and is jolly upper-class.)
      Tony: Hello everyone.
      All: Tony!
      Tony: Where's daddy? (seeing him) Oh golly! Has he been... ?
      John and Jasmina: Yes, after breakfast.
      Tony: Then ... he won't be needing his reservation on the 10.15.
      John: Exactly.
      Tony: And I suppose as his eldest son it must go to me.
      Inspector: Just a minute, Tony There's a small matter of... murder.
      Tony: Oh, but surely he simply shot himself and then hid the gun.
      Lady Partridge: How could anyone shoot himself and then hide the gun without first cancelling his reservation.
      Tony: Ha, ha! Well, I must dash or I'll be late for the 10.15.
      Inspector: I suggest yOu murdered your father for his seat reservation.
      Tony: I may have had the motive, inspector, but I could not have done it, for I have only just arrived from Gillingham on the 8.13 and here's my restaurant car ticket to prove it.
      Jasmina: The 8. 13 from Gillingham doesn't have a restaurant car.
      John: It's a standing buffet only.
      Tony: Oh, er... did I say the 8.13, I meant the 7.58 stopping train.
      Lady Partridge: But the 7.58 stopping train arrived at Swindon at 8.19 owing to annual point maintenance at Wisborough Junction.
      John: So how did you make the connection with the 8. I3 which left six minutes earlier?
      Tony: Oh, er, simple! I caught the 7.16 Football Special arriving at Swindon at 8.09.
      Jasmina: But the 7.16 Football Special only stops at Swindon on alternate Saturdays.
      Lady Partridge: Yes, surely you mean the Holidaymaker Special.
      Tony: Oh, yes! How daft of me. Of course I.came on the Holidaymaker Spedal calling at Bedford, Colmworth, Fen Dinon, Sutton, Wallington and Gillingham.
      Inspector:' That's Sundays only!
      Tony: Damn. All fight, I confess I did it. I killed him for his reservation, but you won't take me alive! I'm going to throw myself under the 10.12 from Reading.
      John: Don't be a fool, Tony, don't do it, the 10.12 has the new narrow traction bogies, you wouldn't stand a chance.
      Tony: Exactly.
  • Very interesting (Score:3, Insightful)

    by unterderbrucke ( 628741 ) <unterderbrucke@yahoo.com> on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:11PM (#4835139)
    Urban decay just fascinates me.
    One step closer to the vision of NYC in AI (the movie by Spielberg)....
    • Re:Very interesting (Score:5, Interesting)

      by coryboehne ( 244614 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:29PM (#4835214)
      Honestly... Urban decay is a fascinating subject, really imagine what New York City would look like after no human inhabitants had been there for five hundred years or more... Or even what would be left of this civilization in three or four thousand years when no-one remembers who the presidents of the United States of America were, or what wars were fought and why... Even more interesting are the conclusions about our society that would be made from the inferences that future researchers may take from any possible small piece of evidence...
      • by Maxwell'sSilverLART ( 596756 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:19PM (#4835384) Homepage

        ...imagine what New York City would look like after no human inhabitants had been there for five hundred years or more...

        So, in about 480 years, then?

      • After New New York is built on the top of the ruins of old new york, old new york will be inhabited by mutants
      • Or even what would be left of this civilization in three or four thousand years when no-one remembers who the presidents of the United States of America were, or what wars were fought and why... Even more interesting are the conclusions about our society that would be made from the inferences that future researchers may take from any possible small piece of evidence...
        Kinda like in Logan's Run [imdb.com] when Logan and Jessica happen upon the ruins of Washington, D.C. in the 23rd century. A memorable quote from the movie:

        Jessica [looking at a tombstone]: "Beloved husband, beloved wife... I wonder what it means?"
      • Or even what would be left of this civilization in three or four thousand years when no-one remembers who the presidents of the United States of America were, or what wars were fought and why...

        We still talk about the leaders of Egypt, and the pyramids are still standing, and that was around 6,000 years ago if I'm not mistaken. Its amazing just how much can be reconstructed from ruins. It'll be more interesting after humans leave the planet (through exodus or extinction) and something discovers our ruins. I bet Disney World gets remembered as the largest place of worship on the planet, and that Mickey Mouse was a god we worshiped by giving little green pieces of paper to his church.
    • Re:Very interesting (Score:5, Interesting)

      by telstar ( 236404 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:43PM (#4835269)
      If you're interested in urban decay and the subterranian life of NYC, I'd highly recommend the documentary Dark Days [darkdays.com] by Marc Singer. It's truly a wonderfully done documentary of the underworld of poverty and despair in the abandoned and not abandoned NYC subway tunnels.
  • by ekrout ( 139379 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:13PM (#4835144) Journal
    The Tube has nearly 256 miles of track and, per the following link, nearly 40 old ghost stations that are no longer in service.

    I found this [thetube.com] old article on The Tube's Web site that really gives a nice overview of things. I actually read that a few weeks ago, so it's kind of ironic that this /. article was just posted.
  • TTC (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:14PM (#4835146)
    Apparently, the TTC has more than one phantom station too. I think the Tea Party filmed a video on a closed off Bay statioon level (?). There's at least one more, but I can't think of it/them offhand.
    • Re:TTC (Score:5, Informative)

      by Neutron Zenith ( 469745 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:49PM (#4835285) Homepage
      For those of you not familiar with the TTC, it's the transit system in Toronto.

      As for the station refered to in the parent, it was called Lower Bay (or Bay Lower) station, and was shutdown after 6 months of use. It's now used mainly as a film set, and for training I believe. Since little to no maintenance is performed on it, it's easy to pass it off as a New York subway station :)

      THIS [infiltration.org] page is a good read about exploring the TTC tunnels (and lower bay), and THIS [toronto.com] page gives a little bit of the history of lower bay.
    • Re:TTC (Score:5, Informative)

      by myov ( 177946 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:20PM (#4835390)
      The TTC has a number of abandoned stations and facilities. http://www.transit.toronto.on.ca/transit.cfm?tt=su bway&id=5006 [toronto.on.ca]

      The most commonly known abandoned station is Lower Bay, the lower level of the Bay station. It was used for a few months when the Bloor-Danforth line first opened, to allow the trains to interline with the Yonge-University line.

      When the Yonge line was planned, it was thought that a streetcar subway would run under Queen Street (rather than the Bloor-Danforth line we have today). A roughed-in platform was built for the streetcars under Queen Station. At Osgoode (Queen St, University line), there is no second platform, although utlities were moved to accomodate a line (should it be built).

      Another abandoned "station" is located at Allen Road, along the cancelled Eglinton line. The station was the first to be built, but the new government at the time cancelled the line and the station was filled in. Work never progressed far enough for it to be called a station though.

      Keele and Woodbine stations on the Bloor line were terminal stations when the Bloor-Danforth line first opened. Special tunnels were built [toronto.on.ca] to make it easier for passengers to transfer to/from the streetcars, but were later abandoned.
  • by nekdut ( 74793 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:14PM (#4835147) Journal
    There are a lot of sites out there with some info on the tunnels:

    http://www.thetube.com/content/metro/01/0110/31/ [thetube.com]
    http://www.londonrailways.net/ghost.htm [londonrailways.net]

    The BBC has a great article here [bbc.co.uk].

    Most older cities have a lot of steam tunnels and abandoned stations like these. Does anyone out there have some interesting exploration stories to share?
    • by Maudib ( 223520 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @10:26PM (#4835599)
      Beneath columbia university and the surrounding area in new york there is a system of tunnels that span several square blocks. Originally I was under the impression that the university just used a few of them for maintenance and hiding the work men from tour groups, however one evening after getting a little stoned a few of us embarked on an expedition to chart them.

      Seems the tunnels do connect a number of Columbia and buildings, but it also links up to the 116th street train station and a number of other non columbia facilities. Whats really odd is the total lack of security and the equipment being housed.

      Most of the power generatos and phone switches for columbia seem to be located down there, and there isnt much keeping one from going from the ny subway system into the tunnels housing Columbia's equipment.

      • I'm extremely skeptical that the Columbia tunnels connect to the subway tunnels. Please provide a few more details. I, um, i mean my friend spent an awful lot of time looking for the fabled "Broadway Passage" that would connect Columbia to Barnard, and the closest i (i mean he) came was finding a pipe that disappeared into a block of concrete with a sign next to it reading "Sulzberger"

        My friend has a very good map of the tunnels. You should email him if you want a copy. See also this excellent site [undercity.org].
    • Re:Paris subway (Score:3, Informative)

      by cymandee ( 196463 )
      Here is a page about the Paris subway ghost stations [teaser.fr] (only eleven, much less than London).

      What is the most amazing to me is that these stations seem to have escaped time: you can see ads from the 50s on the wall. When there was some works done at the Roosevelt station, they removed a part of the wall coverings, revealing the original wall, covered with ads, and a map of the subway as it was in the mid 60s.
  • Place for a rave. (Score:2, Interesting)

    by roseblood ( 631824 )
    Now, wouldn't some of those old tunnels and depots make for an interesting setting for a little party? No 2 hour long drives to get out to the boonies, just a nice underground party. [Cheap pun, I know.]
  • by foobar2k ( 580095 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:21PM (#4835169) Homepage
    ProjectZ [projectz.ath.cx] have undertaken some "unofficial" visits to some of these stations. Specifically Wood Lane [projectz.ath.cx] underground station, and the abandoned part of Holborn Station [projectz.ath.cx] and the adjoining world war two bunker. There are also some other interesting urban explorations on this site.
  • Abandoned London Underground stations play a somewhat major part in several scenes in the new James Bond movie, including being the intro location for the new Bond car (a little disappointing this time around). You also get to find out what happens to old equipment, in one particular abandoned station.
  • urban spelunking (Score:5, Informative)

    by Bowling Moses ( 591924 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:23PM (#4835180) Journal
    This site reminded me strongly of the main train station in east Berlin I visited back in '95...Ostbahnhof? Actually, the stations in this site were in better shape than the Ostbahnhof was then....

    Another site that has similar information about places you're not supposed to go is www.infiltration.org [infiltration.org]. Ah, running around steam tunnels back when I was an undergrad....

    • More on Ostbahnhof (Score:3, Interesting)

      by donutello ( 88309 )
      I visited it in 2000 when I was in Berlin. I took the "guided tour" of the area.

      Ostbahnhof was a station on a line that started in West Berlin, ducked into East Berlin for a little bit, through one station and then went back into West Berlin. The U-Bahn did not stop at Ostbahnhof while the city was divided. However, that did not stop some East Berliners from trying to use that train to escape East Berlin - which resulted in some fatalities until the East German government wised up.

      Later, West Berliners taking the train would be able to see a "ghost" station as the train sped by Ostbahnhof with armed guards patrolling the station to prevent East Berliners from trying to escape.
      • And it was damn spooky. I was lucky(?) enough to make a trip to East Germany in 1989, and came into the country through Checkpoint Charlie. We got there from the airport partly on the U-Bahn, and passed through at least one ghost station. Just the existence of the ghost stations was a bit spooky, but when you realized why they were there it became quite unsettling. It really brought home the reality of the cold war like nothing else I saw (at least until our bus had to wait behind Soviet tanks on maneuvers).

      • Ostbahnhof was close to the wall, but it was on a section of the S-Bahn entirely contained in the East and was never closed.

        After the war, the U-Bahn and the Buses were run by West Berlin and the S-Bahn + Trams were allocated to East Berlin.
        The U in U-Bahn means Underground, although they often run about 30 feet above ground. The U-Bahn runs in the built-up areas.
        The S in S-Bahn means Stadt (city), they went way out into tge surrounding areas.


        There were 4 U-Bahn lines affected by the wall:
        • U1, the station at it's eastern end was Warschauer Brücke and was cut off by the wall and closed.
        • U3, there were 2 seperate ones for years, one in the West (3 stations) and one in the East (12 stations). The 4 stations between them (Nollendorfplatz, Bülowstraße and Gleisdreieck in the W, Potsdamer Platz in the E) were closed. The 3 W stations more-or-less duplicated another line, Bülowstraße was a permanent (!) Flea Market.
        • (The U5 was entirely in the E and ran normally)
        • U6, Runs N to S. 5 Stations in the E (one was called Nordbahnhof) were closed for years, a sixth (Friedrichstraße) was a border crossing. The trains used to slow down a bit in their way through the others and there were armed guards at each one
        • U8, parallel to the U6 had 6 stations closed with armed guards.
        All stations on all U-Bahn lines have now re-opened.

        The S-Bahn was more or less boycotted after the wall was built in 1961. When the staff went on strike around 20 years later, the E-Germans reacted by closing most of the existing lines and stations. All (I believe) are open again.


    • Ostbanhof is now a really nice station (most trains to Paris, Belgium, etc. start from there). Quite a bit of monez has been poured into rebuilding the infrastructure in East Berlin.

      I think, though, that the new Potsdammer Platz and Central Station whill take over for it when they are fully finished.
  • by EnlightenmentFan ( 617608 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:24PM (#4835185) Homepage Journal
    Another very strange site--not that I recommend anyone follow in these guys' footsteps, but the results are fascinating:

    http://triggur.org/silo/site.html [triggur.org]
    World's weirdest site--exploring an abandoned missile silo.

    • There are four of those east of Denver that lie in land that was leased from ranchers when they were dug, and reverted to the ranchers when the Air Force shut them down. They're a continual problem for the county sheriff, because teenagers break into them and hold clandestine parties with predictable results. The ranchers have gone to a lot of trouble to seal them up, but the kids have been remarkably resourceful in defeating them. Cutting torches and hydraulic jacks have been employed at times.

      There was a promoter who claimed to be working up a plan to turn the silos into upscale underground homes for people with off-center tastes in housing, but that never got anywhere. I haven't heard about them in four or five years now, so maybe they've just been filled in.

      rj
    • mmm...nice quote from the intro [triggur.org] page
      we were violating federal trespassing laws by visiting this installation, and we were risking our health/lives in the process.
      we also were caught... this was second degree criminal trespass.
      don't say much more though, wonder if the cops were just waiting for them when they came out or something
    • I can't shake the feeling that some of the photos on that site were photoshopped... The graffiti, for example, looks like it was added on after the fact. This, for example [triggur.org]. Is it just an artifact from the GIF conversion? I suppose someone would have debunked this if it has been around since 1996 and was faked.
  • Is it just me? Or does this this article scrape up visions of hobo's, hermits, and hairless people taking refuge? Where else can these people go, but the London underground?

    --The sex of hobo's and hairless people [tilegarden.com]

  • Detroit is perfect! (Score:5, Informative)

    by kurtkilgor ( 99389 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:26PM (#4835207)
    You need not feel bad that you're going back to Detroit. It has no lack of abandoned structures. Check this out for a start: http://www.forgottendetroit.com/ [forgottendetroit.com]. Also try the Urban Exploration Ring [webring.com] for the website about your area!
  • by Comrade Pikachu ( 467844 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:28PM (#4835211) Homepage
    It's off topic, but since you mentioned it, Detroit is also full of abandoned places to explore.

    Check it out. [detroityes.com]
  • by meringuoid ( 568297 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:31PM (#4835223)

    ... The Government has put a D-notice on the publishers of London Underground maps. There are stations the public aren't supposed to know about out east; they built the Dome to discourage prospective explorers. The Forbidden Line starts near the Thames Barrier then goes 'London Below - Rl'yeh - Pandaemonium'. Another station serves the workers on the underground dragon-breeding project.

    They claimed that those raiders who attacked the Dome with a JCB were aiming to steal diamonds. We know the truth now! They were aiming to break into the main shaft and expose the horrors below... Don't let them lie to you!

  • by mrsam ( 12205 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:37PM (#4835236) Homepage
    For more of the same, here's a great web site about abandoned stations in the New York City subway system [nycsubway.org], including a just gorgeous station directly underneath City Hall [nycsubway.org] that sadly cannot be returned to service due to some minor technical issues (in addition to it being considered a security risk in this day and age).
    • Geeze Sam, beat me to it by 30 seconds, why don't you? :)
    • Boston, too (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MacAndrew ( 463832 )
      I know of one abandoned station on the "T" -- the old Harvard stop -- and think there may be another. It's an odd thing to glimpse in the tunnels. I can only imagine how much dirt, dust, and grime collects over the years. The bus-like Green line, which is a bit like an amusement park ride as it winds it's way under the city, has some very interesting views when, as often happens, the driver has to jump out the door to kick some ancient signal over that's preventing passage.

      Speaking of relics, the big dig (multibillion $ replacement of the main artery with tunnels) brought up all sort of oddities, such as hollowed-out tree trunks used as sewers in the 18th century. The mysteries that stir beneath.

      Surely the Chicago L, Paris Metro, and so on share these features. And, given the nature of the web where one person's trivia is another's lifelong obsession, I'm sure the info is out there, somewhere.

      Thanks for the NYC cite. NYC has all sorts of interesting things buried there.... And I can't help but say there are a lot of public works in the city that are not abandoned -- and should be. :) (A couple of those bridges, for example.)
      • No sooner do I write what I wrote, so I notice that of course there is a page dedicated to Boston [aol.com], cited from the very helpful NYC reference. Should've figured! Other pages for othe cities abound. I only thought this was an obscure interest. :)

        Isn't the net cool? For bringing us information like this that we really, really need? Well, beats watching sitcoms.
    • The train on one of the lines (I forget which one) actually go through the City Hall station every run. They use it to turn around in. If you ask the driver nicely, they will usually let you ride through and look at the station, although you can't get out.
  • by Doktor Memory ( 237313 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:38PM (#4835241) Journal
    If abandoned subway stations are your thing, you can find plenty of them right here in New York City [columbia.edu].

    One of them is even a national historic monument [nycsubway.org].
  • by drmofe ( 523606 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:41PM (#4835255)

    Oh that's just great. Now where are we going to hide out when the machines take over the planet?? The get-out has always been that mankind would take refuge in the abandoned tunnels and sewers. Now that Google has the archive of all the locations, that plan isn't going to work too well.

    Please, be more responsible in the stories that you post on here. Thank You, STF

  • Twenty years from know, slashdot.org website
    will be abandoened, with no links leaving to it
    and we are going to rediscover it.

  • Neverwhere (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 07, 2002 @08:54PM (#4835303)
    Some of these London stations are used to great effect in Neil Gaiman's book "Neverwhere".

    Very cool book, IMHO
    • it really is a great book. (as is everything Neil Gaiman writes)

      I understand that it is based on a series he did for the bbc. I wonder if they used any abandoned stations for location filming.

      Anyone ever seen the series?
  • I would (Score:5, Funny)

    by JanusFury ( 452699 ) <kevin DOT gadd AT gmail DOT com> on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:07PM (#4835342) Homepage Journal
    I would go check some of these out, but I hear they're really dark, and I don't want a grue to eat me. :( There's no place grues like better than dark abandoned underground transit stations.
  • Flooding (Score:2, Interesting)

    by t_allardyce ( 48447 )
    He mentioned that the Bull and Bush station was rumoured to be a control center incase the thames flooded the underground tunnels.. thanks now i have to live with that thought. If you think about it it makes sense.. all the lines are connected at one point or another so everywhere would flood. Can anyone explain what would actually happen, and how it could be stopped?
  • by capnjack41 ( 560306 ) <spam_me@crapola.org> on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:09PM (#4835348)
    Well do they have rivers of pink psychoreactive slime running through them like we have here in New York?

    I didn't think so.

  • by Pig Hogger ( 10379 ) <pig@hogger.gmail@com> on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:13PM (#4835356) Journal
    INFILTRATION [infiltration.org] is a website that specializes in clandestine exploration of subway tunnels, amongst other things.
  • by BLiP2 ( 54296 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:15PM (#4835369)
    Nice site here [columbia.edu] with lots of detail. I've actually seen the old city hall station (although briefly, from a passing train)
  • Sounds a bit like the Seattle Underground Tour (Link [undergroundtour.com]) (Link [ohwy.com]) (Link [seattleinsider.com]) which I took this summer out there. No, they won't tell you any dirty secrets about Microsoft. But for 7.00 it was worth it, and the tour guides were knowledgeable and funny. Apparently the original city planners for the city of Seattle were not all that smart... (if your interested about this part of Seattle there is a book called Sons of the Profits about it)

    Anybody know if there is anything like this in some other big cities?
  • by Newer Guy ( 520108 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:52PM (#4835487)
    A few years ago, I went on a tour of some of the ghost stations in the Boston Subway. It was a great experience and a litle spooky too. Many of these stations are excatly like they were when they were open...they just locked the doors and turned out the lights. I believe that you can take a tour of the Ghost Stations of the New York subway too. Of course, with all the paranoia of: 'Homeland Insecurity', maybe not.... Here are a couple of links: Boston: Http://members.aol.com/eddanamta/abandoned/abansta s.html New York: http://www.cc.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/ Repository of all kinds of interesting stuff like this: http://www.deathrock.net/ariadne/ruins.html
  • Neil Gaimon (Score:3, Informative)

    by Gregoyle ( 122532 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:52PM (#4835488)
    I'm amazed that no one has mentioned the link between this article and a book by popular-with-geeks author Neil Gaiman [neilgaiman.com], Neverwhere (information on Everything [everything2.com]).

    If you've never read it, I recommend it, very reality bending and a good read besides.
  • by John Whorfin ( 19968 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @09:57PM (#4835505) Homepage
    In 1983 I was in Berlin and a reponsible adult (?) took us out on the S-Bahn and for whatever reason on that night the train took a spin through (under) East Berlin and through 3 stations that had been closed for 40 years.

    It was wierd as hell, the stations looked... well... bombed out and there was debris everywhere. At each station there was a lone bare bulb and a lone polizei with an AK-47. The air was extremly stale too. The train wasn't allowed to stop, it just slowed.

    Like a litle tram trip through the Twilight Zone.

    I can only assume that all that is a memory and those stations have been re-built now and are operational, no? Any Berliners care to comment?
  • Which one of the abandoned tubes has a river of mood slime flowing through it?
  • Too bad i dont have a single subwaystation in a 500 mile radius.

    A well, cant win them all.
  • by wackybrit ( 321117 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @10:12PM (#4835555) Homepage Journal
    I'm sure this one was discussed on the UK transport newsgroup a few years ago.. A related discussion (but not the actual one) is linked to here [google.com].

    The Victoria line has a stretch between Victoria and Green Park. The most direct route would go under Buckingham Palace, the Queen's primary residence. However, if you look at 'real' maps of the Underground, a kink is in the line which causes it to skirt the Queen's property.

    Supposedly this is related to security, but also to an atomic shelter located under the Palace.

    If, however, you keep your eyes peeled while looking out of the train between these two stations, you can actually see a very small platform and some dim lights. I've only seen it once, and I -think- it's out of the left hand side of the train when going northbound, but I'm not 100% sure.

    The newsgroup speculation at the time was that this was a way for the Royals to access the Underground in certain 'situations'. Next time you're on that stretch of line, check it out.
    • by mestoph ( 620399 ) on Sunday December 08, 2002 @03:02AM (#4836496)
      I personally have always watched for oddities on the tube network. Ever since i saw the same platform when i was about 10 as we travelled about london. And asked my father what it was, he answered (being a bright man, and knowing where in london we were at the time), oh it must be something to do with the Queen, and it will give you something to look up later. Since those days, i've been many times and travelled up and down the same piece of track to get a better view of it. After much looking, staring and pondering, i got to see quite alot over time. I've seen trains in the platform, lights on and off, and the odd person down there as well. So it for sure is used to some extend. Which now i know why, after now working for a major rail operator for the past 2 years. If they didn't run a train up and down every week or so, the track for rust to the point it would seize the wheels on the first one that tryed. To reopen a section of unused rail is quite a long process, as it usually means laying new track. Also you have the problem of rats in the underground. And wires+rats dont mix :).

      On other stations there is also a station at parliment as well, that is only for use in war situations, that i've seen from time to time. And when they refurbed Embankment i'm sure i notice a line that is not used today. But this seems the best time to find things, when they have to close stations for varying reasons. Take this year when flooding closed large areas of the network in early september. I got to use stairwells that obviously had not seen the human foot of the normal passenger in some time.

  • Disturbing (Score:2, Interesting)

    On the page about Down Street, the station used as a shelter by Churchill, he says this:

    On the splash-guard above the sink I was very surprised to read written recently in the dust "Hywel 2000" - so another person bearing my name has recently visited this complex!

    His name is Hywel. If I had such an uncommon name, and such an uncommon hobby, I would've been scared half to death by this.

    Even the interpretation that he has been there before, but can't remember it, is quite scary.
  • Picadilly Line (Score:5, Informative)

    by LichP ( 549726 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @10:16PM (#4835567) Journal

    Of all the deepcut lines, the Picadilly Line is probably the most fascinating for abandoned stations.

    There are three notable abandonments; Aldwych, Down Street, and Brompton Road. There are also abandoned sections at Hyde Park Corner (which no longer uses it's original surface building, which is now a Pizza Restaurant), Green Park, South Ken (the lift shafts are empty), Caledonian Road, and no doubt several other stations.

    Aldwych is probably the best known of the abandoned stations. It was closed in 1994 as the replacement cost for the lifts was deemed uneconomical, given the usage the station got. Aldwych runs on a branch down from Oldborn, and some tunnel extends further. This is because the Picadilly line was originally two seperate lines, the western section running to Covent Garden, the northern section running to Aldwych. The northern section was intended to run south of the river, hence the extra tunnel. This was never completed though, and the two sections wer joined at Holborn very early on.

    Aldwych also has other random tunnel going to it, as the Jubilee line was built all the way to Aldwych, but never used that far. Now the Charring Cross section of the Jubilee line is completely abandoned as the Jubilee extension takes the line through Westminster instead.

    Down Street was closed in the 1930s along with Brompton Road to thin down the number of Central London stations on the Picadilly line when the line was extended further east and west. Down Street, due to it's proximity to Green Park, was never a particularly busy station, and hence was an easy target. During the war it was converted into a transport command HQ and government bunker.

    Brompton Road was likely chosen for closure due its very high proximity to South Ken - much of the surface building still stands next to the Kensington Oratory, just a few minutes walk away. Brompton Road was also used during the war, although it's uses were entirely military, and somewhat murky. The military still own the shafts, making access from the ground impossible. Several years ago a man died after breaking in and falling down one of the shafts. His remains were not discovered for quite some time!

    Both Brompton Road and Down Street can be spotted from passing tube trains - the platforms were bricked up during their war usage, so you can see where the platforms would be by looking where the tube wall turns into a brick wall. Brompton Road is between South Ken and Knightsbridge, Down Street is between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park. Also look out for the cross-over / passing tunnels between Hyde Park Corner and Down Street :-)

  • by cr@ckwhore ( 165454 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @10:58PM (#4835681) Homepage
    This is a fascinating subject. Some of my favorites...

    http://www.nelsap.org
    http://www.forgotten-ny.c om

    And exactly on the subject of abandoned subway tunnels, here's an index for New York...

    http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/abandoned/

    • Reminds me of my days as a teenager, when I used to go out on many an urban spelunking voyage in Manhatten. I used to explore the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge, the old City Hall station at the end of the IRT #4 line, wandered the subway tunnels at the wee hours when trains ran hourly, and abandoned subway stations, along with the old elevated freight rails on the lower west side, running from W34th St (now a train storage yard for Penn Station) to W14th street.

      Pity that everyone's in anti terror mode now, though, nobody can ever enjoy the sensation of exploring forgotton or abandoned structures in NY (and probably many other states) without getting arrested. That leaves a great loss in metropolitan history for the masses.
  • Those are Maps (Score:3, Insightful)

    by The Ape With No Name ( 213531 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @11:23PM (#4835755) Homepage
    "In order to better understand the location of these stations on today's network, you may wish to download a copy of the world famous underground map (well, technically it's a diagram not a map)"

    Um. Take a trained geographer's word, that's a map. I guess Polynesian wave and star charts are not maps because they don't show geomorphological features in an easily discernible way to Westerners... We are part of the landscape. Get over it.
  • by grub ( 11606 ) <slashdot@grub.net> on Saturday December 07, 2002 @11:39PM (#4835826) Homepage Journal

    There goes /. again. Lots of fluffy pictures but no hard theory as to how to build a beowulf cluster of abandoned subways.

    Man this place is going to the dogs..

  • by jeffy210 ( 214759 ) on Saturday December 07, 2002 @11:56PM (#4835866)
    After seeing Die Another Day, I decided to do some research on the abandoned tube station that Bond went to. The name of the station was "Vauxhall Cross". It turns out, that a Vauxhall Cross station never existed, but it is the offical name of the building better known as MI6 headquarters. [skyscrapers.com] Also here [newlondona...ture.co.uk] are some more pictures of Vauxhall Cross. I'll give them credit for throwing in a little easter egg like that.
  • by WillRobinson ( 159226 ) on Sunday December 08, 2002 @12:28AM (#4835995) Journal
    I have gone down many old gold mines and caves in Colorado. Just wish we had taken a camera, not that they had digital ones back in the day.

    But while the sites are impressive. (taking a good /.ing on a adsl! and great story and pictures. Its just more fun actually doing the exploration with a friend. So now when we are doing a trip, I guess we will do a little net exploration first, to narrow down the candiates.

  • Do you think we can find one of those camouflaging Austens in one of those ghost stations too?
  • ....we have an entire abandoned subway LINE!!! It's called the Sheppard line....

    -psy
  • My move...

    I'm invoking the 1822 revision of the slave release rule and starting with "Embankment"

    .02

    cLive ;-)

  • Northern Heights (Score:3, Informative)

    by 00_NOP ( 559413 ) on Sunday December 08, 2002 @02:52PM (#4838913) Homepage
    The article is slightly inaccuarte. The idea was that the Northern line would terminate at Highgate and the service from Finsbury Park would run on to High Barnet. When I did this walk the first time (about 20 years ago) one could walk through the southern tunnels and right on the Highgate upper level station. The Northern tunnels were closed because they lead straight on to the electrified sidings about 500 metres south of East Finchley station - that spur (from East Finchley to the sidings) is all that remains of the original plan.

    There are still rows round here about rebuilding the line - which would relieve a lot of bus congestion but at the price of the loss of a local amenity (the Parkland Walk nb: not the Woodland walk as stated in the article).

    Of course the Tories (boo hiss) wanted to turn the Parkland Walk into a motorway and only abandoned the plan when they realised they were about to get slaughtered in the 1990 local elections...

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