On the Central Line theme, there is an argument (not a great one but an argument nevertheless) that the oldest section of the London Underground is not Paddington (current Hammersmith and City Line platforms) to Farringdon (opened in 1863) but instead near Leyton to near Loughton which was actually opened in 1856, albeit by the Great Eastern Railway and was later (1948) taken over by the Central Line.
There are also a few stations at which the London Underground stops which are much older still, notably Harrow and Wealdstone, Ealing Broadway, Stratford and Wimbledon, though for all of these the current underground platforms while on the same general alignment as the old platforms are unlikely to be on the 1830s lines themselves.
Erie LackawannaThat section of the Underground (the "Northern Line") has really fascinated me on all three of my trips to London (two in the 80s, and this one now).
A few of the stations on that section still retain the Victorian atmosphere, with narrow island platforms, decorative ironwork and tiled tunnel walls - it's fascinating if you know some of the history.
Actually, you can trace the history and evolution of the system from the station architecture - the central parts of the system were built new but a reasonable amount of the suburban sections are 'takeovers' of older surface railways, and some of the stations still have their steam-age design buildings and platform awnings. The far eastern end of the Central Line is a good example of this - 'tube' size trains seem decidedly incongrous calling at a rural, Victorian-era station e.g. Theydon Bois. In other cases expansion of the system in the 1920s-1940s resulted in stations being built or rebuilt in distinctive Art-Deco or modernist styles e.g. Loughton - two stops from Theydon Bois.
At the other end of the scale, some of the modern stations on the recently-built section of the Jubilee Line (1999) are spectacular cathedrals for trains e.g. Canary Wharf
(and the best bit is that if you don't fancy trailing the wife around Selfridges, Harrods etc you can see all this with a cheap, unlimited travel off-peak Travelcard - no expensive tour buses needed....)
Tony
As always, thanks for the GREAT information, Tony.
That section of the Underground (the "Northern Line") has really fascinated me on all three of my trips to London (two in the 80s, and this one now).
Should I get there again, for a longer visit, I would really like to explore the stations on that line a little better than I have. I remember my first time to London, in 1982, when I had ZERO knowledge of the Underground, getting off at one of those stations and just looking around in surprise at the expanse of the station. I have no photographs of the Underground from that trip, having had Kodachrome 64 in my camera (which was great for the tourist shots, but no good for all the train sheds and subsurface railways).
I do have one very nice image I took on the second trip, on 100 ASA print film that I will have to scan. It was 1983 (I think I incorrectly said 1984 in another post), and as I recall, was brand new rolling stock at the time. Probably the same type of equipment being used today.
Erie LackawannaThe subway here is pretty neat... having been built as a steam railroad, it's really as much a cut as a tunnel, and it's so ancient it's like something out of a Jules Verne movie.
Yep, it's one of the oldest parts of the Underground system and hence one of the oldest underground railway lines in the world. The 'sub-surface' lines were all built using 'cut-and-cover' methods (dig a big trench down the street, build the railway, cover it over, replace the roadway). Condensing steam engines were the only practical form of power back then, but the deep-level 'tube' lines (which came later and were tunnelled) have always been electrically-powered - the section of the current 'Northern Line' which runs south from Bank station to Stockwell is the oldest 'tube' section, having been opened as the City & South London Railway in 1890.
The 'sub-surface' and 'tube' networks are effectively two separate systems, with smaller (clearance) trains on the 'tube' network - the 'sub-surface' trains are near to UK mainline size.
For the folks from England and others who liked the view at Paddington, here are two more. First is a shot of one of the smooth riding Heathrow Express Class 332 trains.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=291807
Second is of a C69 stock train on the Circle Line on the Underground. The subway here is pretty neat... having been built as a steam railroad, it's really as much a cut as a tunnel, and it's so ancient it's like something out of a Jules Verne movie.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=291560&nseq=1
Thanks for looking and corrections are always welcome.
Charles Freericks
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