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TRIVIA: Things you saw travelling on the LU that you don't see today

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philthetube

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I suspect there was selective door opening and staff forgot to use it.

Both 59/72 stock on the Northern line and A Stock on the MET had it. Northern line on the front and rear set of doors, operated by either the driver or guard as appropriate, and on the Met just the rear set of doors.
 
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Lamp man at South Harrow sidings. His sole job was to maintain the oil lamp put on each end of 6 stabled trains.
 

rogercov

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Not what I saw but what I heard, on the southbound Northern Line (City branch) the track noise between Camden Town and Euston was like nothing I'd heard before, a few other passengers were grimacing or putting their fingers in their ears.
It's still like that today..... and getting worse!
 

rogercov

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Thanks for sharing that. I remember quite a few things that you refer to.
The Met Line locomotive parked up in the siding at Liverpool Street all day.
Yes, I used to catch this service as a child on a "Twin Rover" ticket around 1960. Some services ran non-stop from Finchley Road to Moor Park. The Rover ticket worked as far as Rickmansworth so I've watched the loco changeover there too.

Two or three "T" stock trains parked up in Moorgate.
Yes, a few of the Watford services terminated at Moorgate, but most ran through to Aldgate.

The occasional class 31 (D55xx) loco arriving from Kings Cross (York Way) with a commuter train.
These were steam when I first remember them. They must have been replaced by diesels around 1960/61.

Standing on Farringdon Station and watching a steam hauled goods train heading to Snow Hill tunnel from the “Widened Lines”.
Quite a regular occurrence. I remember being on the Met/Circle Westbound platform at Kings Cross St. Pancras in 1960 when one came through. It was hauled by a Western Region pannier tank. I presume it was running through to the Main Line at Paddington.

There was a locomotive siding just outside Farringdon at the North end of the Widened Lines platform. I'm sure I've seen a steam loco there.
 

rogercov

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I guess many of us remember all 4 platforms being in use at South Kensington and Gloucester Road.
This allowed some trains to run non-stop through these stations. Does anyone remember them?
The enamel destination signs with the illuminated arrows had an extra panel with black writing on a yellow background saying "Not stopping at South Kensington and Gloucester Road".
These panels were eventually painted over in blue, but at Earls Court, you could still make out the writing underneath for many years after these services stopped.
Here's a scan of one of my colour slides of South Kensington in 1961 when all platforms were in use (apologies for the quality).
South Kensington 1.jpg
 

bionic

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I guess many of us remember all 4 platforms being in use at South Kensington and Gloucester Road.
This allowed some trains to run non-stop through these stations. Does anyone remember them?
The enamel destination signs with the illuminated arrows had an extra panel with black writing on a yellow background saying "Not stopping at South Kensington and Gloucester Road".
These panels were eventually painted over in blue, but at Earls Court, you could still make out the writing underneath for many years after these services stopped.
Here's a scan of one of my colour slides of South Kensington in 1961 when all platforms were in use (apologies for the quality).
View attachment 67973

Great pic. Thanks for sharing.
 

Busaholic

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I guess many of us remember all 4 platforms being in use at South Kensington and Gloucester Road.
This allowed some trains to run non-stop through these stations. Does anyone remember them?
The enamel destination signs with the illuminated arrows had an extra panel with black writing on a yellow background saying "Not stopping at South Kensington and Gloucester Road".
These panels were eventually painted over in blue, but at Earls Court, you could still make out the writing underneath for many years after these services stopped.
Here's a scan of one of my colour slides of South Kensington in 1961 when all platforms were in use (apologies for the quality).
View attachment 67973
That was a forgotten memory on my part, not being usually on this part of the Underground as a child or teenager, but I did see them.
 

rogercov

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Centre bay platform already out of use in that great photo
Thanks
I hadn't realised that there was a track where the flowerbeds are, but it's obvious now, and I've seen it on the large scale OS map:
https://maps.nls.uk/view/102900916
There is also a siding on the South side which I'm sure I remember.
I'm now trying to think whether I remember the bay platform. I probably saw it (or the remains of it) as a child when my parents took me to the Science Museum.
Wikipedia says that they stopped using the bay platform in 1957. Does anyone know when they filled it in? Were there walkways across it before they filled it in?
 

AY1975

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In the 1970s, at some busy Underground stations in the West End, as you descended to the bottom of the first escalator there was a sign saying "Follow the Lights", together with a series of small illuminated panels with names of BR main-line terminals in different colours.

The idea was that different coloured lights were repeated at crucial points in the maze of underground passageways and you followed the appropriate colour through to the correct platform for the Tube heading towards your station. I'm not sure whether or not the colours corresponded to the required lines on the Tube map.

IIRC, the "Follow the Lights" system was only at Tourist Central stations like Piccadilly Circus or Oxford Circus.
And I think only the long-distance London Terminals were covered - Paddington, Euston, Kings Cross etc.

I also seem to recall that Waterloo Tube station had that system.
 

trebor79

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Bank still has similar lights for those entering or exiting the tube network there. That place is a really confusing rabbit warren.
 

telstarbox

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jumble

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Following on from the long-running thread on things you saw travelling on BR that you don't see today at www.railforums.co.uk/threads/trivia-things-you-saw-travelling-on-br-that-you-dont-see-today.151953/, I thought it would be nice to have a similar thread on things you used to see when travelling on the London Underground that you don't see today.

Here's a few to start you off:

Guards on trains.

Manned ticket collectors' booths.

Wooden slatted escalators.

"Passimeters" (free-standing ticket offices that also doubled as ticket collectors' booths, where you had to buy or show a ticket on your way in and show your pass or give up your used ticket on your way out - I think a few of them are still in situ but no longer used).

Edmondson card-sized tickets, including some green ones and some yellow ones with a chocolatey brown magnetic rear side to operate the old-style (pre-1987ish) automatic ticket gates which had signs on saying "yellow tickets" as you had to have one of those yellow tickets to operate them. Old-style tickets normally just had the fare and station of issue on them.

Free-standing ticket machines with a diagonal illuminated panel at the top indicating the fare for tickets from that machine.

In most of the Met stations the warning to A stock drivers not to open all doors
( There is still such a a sign at one of the stations towards Aldgate but I cannot recall which only 7 years out of date)
 

bluegoblin7

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Quite a few still around, King’s Cross and Moorgate westbound spring to mind. They weren’t provided at every station, just a reminder to cut in/out end doors as appropriate at stations either side.
 

AlbertBeale

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I noticed parts of this still in situ at Piccadilly Circus. Don't think any lights were illuminated, but there is clearly very old signage with different mainline termini listed. Didn't stop to study it.

I think they were at Leicester Square too. Pretty sure that's where I saw them many years back.
 

AlbertBeale

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There is a picture of the later machines at https://www.flickr.com/photos/giantradish/50447994/ . It had various Cadbury bars such as Dairy Milk, Fruit&Nut and Crunchie. They went in 2007 (http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2007/10/disappearing-chocolate-machines.html).

There was a period when the chocolate machine at the north end of the southbound Bakerloo platform at Oxford Circus was such that if you punched in a certain code, or pressed certain buttons (can't remember the exact details now) it would dispense free bars of Cadbury's Fruit & Nut. I'm not personally partial to Cadbury's milk "chocolate", with or without bits in it, but I had friends who were... The situation went on for a long time until the machine was out of order (as I saw it), or working properly as it might be said.
 

Mikey C

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Most people punched those machines after they failed to dispense the expected bar of chocolate they'd paid for :D
 

Belperpete

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I seem to recall a set of frequency dials at St James's Park Station. Are they still there?
I can recall my grandfather saying that there used to be an indicator at St James Park showing where all the trains were on the Circle line. Could he have been referring to these frequency dials? It seemed a bit unlikely to me - what purpose would such a display serve?
 

Mojo

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I can recall my grandfather saying that there used to be an indicator at St James Park showing where all the trains were on the Circle line. Could he have been referring to these frequency dials? It seemed a bit unlikely to me - what purpose would such a display serve?
The HQ clocks are still on display in the foyer of 55 Broadway and you can view these through the doors if you’re in the main ticket hall at St James’s Park station.

http://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/55-Broadway-26.jpg

I’m sure I saw a video somewhere explaining how they work but basically when a train passed a certain point on each line a mark was made on the paper discs on the HQ clock thus showing the headways.

These no longer work and the data is saved electronically.
 

rogercov

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The HQ clocks are still on display in the foyer of 55 Broadway and you can view these through the doors if you’re in the main ticket hall at St James’s Park station.
http://alondoninheritance.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/55-Broadway-26.jpg
I’m sure I saw a video somewhere explaining how they work but basically when a train passed a certain point on each line a mark was made on the paper discs on the HQ clock thus showing the headways.
These no longer work and the data is saved electronically.

Yes, I remember these dials from the days when you could walk through that part of the building. The London Transport Enquiry Office was next to it. I would often go in there in my younger days to collect a complete set of free maps and leaflets.

I seem to recall that there was a similar set of dials in a ticket hall somewhere. Was it in Piccadilly Circus, or is my memory playing up? Is it still there?
 

Terry Tait

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People telling children that gated off areas in the station were secret government installations.
 

urbophile

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I seem to recall that there was a similar set of dials in a ticket hall somewhere. Was it in Piccadilly Circus, or is my memory playing up? Is it still there?

Yes, Piccadilly Circus. I remember it well.

The serried ranks of ticket machines each dispensing a different-priced ticket. The prices were frequently updated but the design didn't seem to be: a rectangular upright metal box with a diagonal, illuminated top, and slots in front to insert money and dispense tickets and change. They used to list the stations available for that fare, but later versions just gave the price. (PS I can't believe it's not been mentioned so it probably has, just that a quick scroll back didn't reveal it).
 

Lucan

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MatthewRead

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Who remembers when Hand worked H stock trains that ran on the Circle line I heard that people use to slide open the doors while the train was moving.
 

stut

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I came here to post about those single-fare ticket machine too! I have an abiding memory of travelling from Havant up to Newcastle with my Gran, using these on the Tube, and having to explain to her about how the Northern Line didn't run all the way through to King's Cross.

The Waterloo & City Line not being an Underground Line. And the tiny windows making it feel even more claustrophobic. Not to mention the famous "Trav-O-Lator" at Bank.

The Sock Shop and Tie Rack slotting themselves in everywhere.

The massive underground complex at Aldgate, linking Aldgate with Aldgate East, with a series of shops lining the underpasses. Always reminded me of Russia.

Does the Northern Line still start/stop short at Tooting Broadway? Used to be a lifesaver in the rush hour, that one.

A cupboard full of emergency Gap jumpers, in case you started to feel a bit cold.

Being mugged by a pair of bovver boys on the way home with an Indian takeaway... Oh no, wait, that was a song.
 

trebor79

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Wooden escalators. I distinctly remember them from a weekend trip to London when I was about 8 years old. Am I imagining that on some of them the treads sort of flipped over at the top comb? Can still hear the distinctive kerchunk kerchunk noise they made.
Sitting on some ancient train on the Northern line and feeling the seat and side wall moving independently of each other.
 

westv

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The massive underground complex at Aldgate, linking Aldgate with Aldgate East, with a series of shops lining the underpasses. Always reminded me of Russia.

.
Aldgate Bars?
 
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