• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Old feel stations

Status
Not open for further replies.
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

Joined
23 May 2018
Messages
25
Baker Street, Great Portland Street and some of the other Met line stations are very 'Victorian' and still have a lot of original features
 

su31

Member
Joined
18 Feb 2015
Messages
71
Location
Romford
Essex Road has always struck me as a strange one as it was realistically an Underground station until 1975 but looks anything-but like a typical Underground station!
 

Mojo

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
7 Aug 2005
Messages
20,382
Location
0035
Essex Road has always struck me as a strange one as it was realistically an Underground station until 1975 but looks anything-but like a typical Underground station!
I’ve always thought that. I’ve also always been quite intrigued by the stairs leading DOWN from the platform to get into the lift to take you back up and also the doors around the staircase that they really don’t seem to want you to use.
 

Hadders

Veteran Member
Associate Staff
Senior Fares Advisor
Joined
27 Apr 2011
Messages
12,978
I’ve always thought that. I’ve also always been quite intrigued by the stairs leading DOWN from the platform to get into the lift to take you back up and also the doors around the staircase that they really don’t seem to want you to use.
I only discovered the doors from the booking hall to the spiral staircase a couple of weeks ago. Very narrow double leaf doors but what a treat if you open them and descend. Totally decrepit, peeling paint etc.
 

bramling

Veteran Member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
17,685
Location
Hertfordshire / Teesdale
I only discovered the doors from the booking hall to the spiral staircase a couple of weeks ago. Very narrow double leaf doors but what a treat if you open them and descend. Totally decrepit, peeling paint etc.

Yes that spiral staircase feels decrepit to the point one is a little apprehensive using it. Even most disused one feel more structurally sound, though the one at Moorgate is "interesting"!
 

urbophile

Established Member
Joined
26 Nov 2015
Messages
2,059
Location
Liverpool
I’ve always thought that. I’ve also always been quite intrigued by the stairs leading DOWN from the platform to get into the lift to take you back up and also the doors around the staircase that they really don’t seem to want you to use.
Almost the opposite of Merseyrail's Moorfields: to get to the station from street level you go up an escalator, then down again to get to the platforms.
 
Joined
9 Dec 2012
Messages
578
Russell Square has a certain charm, in fact it's probably one of the best surviving Leslie Green examples both outside and at at basement level, though the original platform tiling was (I think) tiled over with a near replica in the mid to late 2000s for some reason as it wasn't in bad condition. I think the corridors and stairs still have original 1906 tiles. Ticket hall sympathetically tiled as per platform colours.
 

bramling

Veteran Member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
17,685
Location
Hertfordshire / Teesdale
Russell Square has a certain charm, in fact it's probably one of the best surviving Leslie Green examples both outside and at at basement level, though the original platform tiling was (I think) tiled over with a near replica in the mid to late 2000s for some reason as it wasn't in bad condition. I think the corridors and stairs still have original 1906 tiles. Ticket hall sympathetically tiled as per platform colours.

The re-tile will almost certainly have been something which was contained within the contract. They didn’t do too bad a job with it to be fair, better than Covent Garden which was done around the same time and (IMO) looks rather a mess. The trouble with many of these re-tiles is modern standards dictate thicker lines of grout between the tiles, which simply doesn’t look right. Like putting modern glass in sash windows.

Caledonian Road and Holloway Road are thus the only platforms which retain their tiling in original condition. One can add to that the disused platforms at Holborn, Aldwych, and some surviving at Hyde Park Corner albeit heavily patched up. There’s plenty of fragments remaining in spiral staircase and non-public areas at most stations though, only at Leicester Square has successive refurbishments pretty much banished it.
 
Joined
9 Dec 2012
Messages
578
The re-tile will almost certainly have been something which was contained within the contract. They didn’t do too bad a job with it to be fair, better than Covent Garden which was done around the same time and (IMO) looks rather a mess. The trouble with many of these re-tiles is modern standards dictate thicker lines of grout between the tiles, which simply doesn’t look right. Like putting modern glass in sash windows.

Caledonian Road and Holloway Road are thus the only platforms which retain their tiling in original condition. One can add to that the disused platforms at Holborn, Aldwych, and some surviving at Hyde Park Corner albeit heavily patched up. There’s plenty of fragments remaining in spiral staircase and non-public areas at most stations though, only at Leicester Square has successive refurbishments pretty much banished it.
I'm sure it was Ken Livingstone that sarcastically remarked that there was a programme of retiling the tube at the expense of other things!!
Must have scored highly on ambience in the PPP hence Russelll Square and Covent Garden were done with higher footfall and Holloway Road wasn't.
 

bramling

Veteran Member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
17,685
Location
Hertfordshire / Teesdale
I'm sure it was Ken Livingstone that sarcastically remarked that there was a programme of retiling the tube at the expense of other things!!
Must have scored highly on ambience in the PPP hence Russelll Square and Covent Garden were done with higher footfall and Holloway Road wasn't.

I think that’s exactly the reason, though to be fair a lot of the stations work was driven by replacement (or in some cases installation) of systems like PA, CCTV, help points, lighting, fire detection or other station management subsystems, which in many cases was quite destructive to old finishes, and as such replacement of tiling was probably a small cost in the grand scheme of things.

Up until that point LU had tended to go with a “do what is necessary” ethos, rather than going in with the intention of doing everything whether it was fully necessary or not.

A more measured approach seems to have returned, hence why we’ve again seen some more limited works at some of the stations touched in the last few years, for example Euston Square retaining much of its legacy signage, which wouldn’t have happened under a PPP refurb.

What this leaves us is a quite conspicuous tidemark between various stations in terms of decor. Essentially:
1) Untouched since before PPP (eg Old Street)
2) Full PPP station refurbs (eg Bethnal Green)
3) Post-PPP works (eg Holland Park)

I think it’s generally accepted that Tube Lines works were superior to Metronet. Bethnal Green and Wanstead are a total mess compared to Swiss Cottage and St Johns Wood, though Highgate is a mess too to be fair.
 
Joined
9 Dec 2012
Messages
578
I think that’s exactly the reason, though to be fair a lot of the stations work was driven by replacement (or in some cases installation) of systems like PA, CCTV, help points, lighting, fire detection or other station management subsystems, which in many cases was quite destructive to old finishes, and as such replacement of tiling was probably a small cost in the grand scheme of things.

Up until that point LU had tended to go with a “do what is necessary” ethos, rather than going in with the intention of doing everything whether it was fully necessary or not.

A more measured approach seems to have returned, hence why we’ve again seen some more limited works at some of the stations touched in the last few years, for example Euston Square retaining much of its legacy signage, which wouldn’t have happened under a PPP refurb.

What this leaves us is a quite conspicuous tidemark between various stations in terms of decor. Essentially:
1) Untouched since before PPP (eg Old Street)
2) Full PPP station refurbs (eg Bethnal Green)
3) Post-PPP works (eg Holland Park)

I think it’s generally accepted that Tube Lines works were superior to Metronet. Bethnal Green and Wanstead are a total mess compared to Swiss Cottage and St Johns Wood, though Highgate is a mess too to be fair.
I think it's why Holborn and others at platform level have a sort of half finished quickly wrap it up look as Metronet went bust, i think more extensive work was planned at Holborn at the time but I may be wrong . But you're right that Tube Lines did seem better overall.

PPP was a silly idea but that's another discussion!!
 

bramling

Veteran Member
Joined
5 Mar 2012
Messages
17,685
Location
Hertfordshire / Teesdale
I think it's why Holborn and others at platform level have a sort of half finished quickly wrap it up look as Metronet went bust, i think more extensive work was planned at Holborn at the time but I may be wrong . But you're right that Tube Lines did seem better overall.

PPP was a silly idea but that's another discussion!!

I think you’re right about Holborn. Chancery Lane was another one which got caught up in the Metronet collapse, ISTR some level of work was prioritised there as that station was seriously deficient in terms of some of the features found elsewhere - for example as late as 2009 it had no CCTV in any area apart from the booking hall. It got a half-job rather than the full works which neighbouring St Paul’s had just finished getting.
 

Bedpan

Established Member
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
1,286
Location
Harpenden
There are quite a substantial number of Victorian/Edwardian style station platforms on surface lines that used to be operated by pre grouping companies, where it feels as though the platforms haven't changed at all over the years - unlike their main line counterparts, even though some have had modern shelters added, How many mainline stations with wooden platform buildings like those at East Acton are left on the main line?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top