Underground

There is a maze of tunnels under London.  Many are disused underground railway tunnels and stations or ventilation shafts.  London Transport Museum run visits to many of these locations which are, of course, normally closed to the public.  Today I visited the "lost tunnels" under Euston main line station.

The tunnels we visited were built for the "Hampstead" tube (The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway) - later to become the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line, and the City and South London Railway which terminated at Euston (and later linked up with the Hampstead Tube and became the City branch of the Northern Line).  The separate companies which built the two railway lines had separate entrances, plus a shared entrance within Euston station and tunnels linking all the entrances together. These tunnels became disused when the Victoria Line was built and new ticket halls and access tunnels were constructed.

The tunnels are used today for storage, to house electrical equipment and - importantly - to provide ventilation.  The tunnel shown in my blip, although the same size as the railway tunnels, was built just for ventilation.   The walls of the passenger access tunnels are still lined with faded, torn advertising posters from the early 1960s.

A fascinating visit to these old. dusty places.  Although it was somewhat cooler in the tunnels than outside at surface level, I still came out quite warm and distinctly grubby. That first glass of beer slid down very easily.