The Secret Station - Aldwych

146,000 of us enter the tube network every hour. We read our newspapers, and we read other people's newspapers. We find ways to amuse ourselves because the tube no longer fascinates or excites. It has become over-familiar; we know it simply too well. Or do we...? There are in fact about 40 disused stations on the Tube network. Some have disappeared from existence - vanished without trace. Others are almost intact; time capsules of the era in which they closed. We're going to visit Aldwych. The station opened in 1907 but under the name Strand, which led to much confusion because at that time there was already a station named strand, our modern day Charing Cross. So Strand became Aldwych. The original lifts were in use right up until the station's closure. They were in fact the final nail in the coffin - passenger numbers were already dwindling and then a report deemed the lifts' machinery unsafe by modern-day health and safety standards. And now we descend into darkness. Some of these tunnels were in use right up until 1994. Some have not been used by passengers since 1917, and some were never even opened to the public at all. There are two platforms at Aldwych. Platform A still sees regular use, not by commuters but by film companies. This is largely because trains can still be brought in and out of the platform. Platform B however is lost and forgotten to the world. It only saw 10 years in service but if these walls could talk, what stories they might tell... Or you might hear about the Royal Strand theatre, demolished to make way for the station. Some say the ghost of a young actress still treads the boards here, waiting for her last curtain call. But Aldwych is just one of many secret stations, they exist all over the network So take an interest in the tube - there's more to it than meets the eye!

Channel: NVGS400

Views: 1,792,945

Rating: 4.8511434 out of 5

Keywords: Luke Oliver, Bournemouth University, Minor, Aldwych, London, Underground, Tube, Educational, Disused, Closed, Station, Train Station, Trains, Railway, Train

Id: 6xSzU0oM4mM

Length: 4min 0sec (240 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 12 2010