- 2 days ago
Explore the hidden, disused areas and rich architectural history of the iconic Piccadilly Circus station. This is a busy interchange station for the Piccadilly and District lines and the first station in history to install passenger escalators and lifts; its modern walkways have been redesigned to complement the famous glass roof.
皮卡迪利线（Piccadilly line）的特别探索内容，同时也涵盖了该线路沿线车站的历史与工程奥秘.
皮卡迪利线（Piccadilly line）的特别探索内容，同时也涵盖了该线路沿线车站的历史与工程奥秘.
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TravelTranscript
00:00Now here's a pub quiz question for you. What is a passimeter? Well, it's one of these.
00:06It's a little kiosk used for the sale of tickets, found in a booking hall, often with a little turnstile
00:14attached to it as well.
00:15And there used to be lots of them dotted right across the network.
00:20This wooden one was at Golders Green from 1923.
00:24This one with the bronze work was at Queensbury from 1934.
00:28And this green one from 1942 was at Hainault.
00:31Let's look around one, because it's time to explore the secrets of the London Underground.
00:37I'm Tim Dunn, and in this series I'll reveal the tube network as you've never seen it before.
00:44Wow, what a space. That's extraordinary, isn't it?
00:47The secret chambers behind locked doors, each with their own fascinating story to tell.
00:54Well, this is a bit bizarre, isn't it? A ticket office underground.
00:57It is.
00:58My fellow explorer is Siddy Holloway.
01:00It's such a rare find.
01:03Who knows every inch of these abandoned time capsules, and has the keys to open them up and show me
01:09places that have never been seen before.
01:12Nobody would look for a nuclear bunker in the middle of suburban hamsters.
01:16And we'll dive into the history of stations and lines.
01:21I'm going to say it now. It is really spooky.
01:23Using the archives here, at the depot of the London Transport Museum.
01:28Oh, wow.
01:30This is my kind of archive. This is sad.
01:33It's crammed with the secrets of the London Underground.
01:49I love looking around at things like this. It's a piece of living history.
01:53Look, down here on the floor, there are even oil heaters to keep the staff's feet warm.
02:00Over here are the shelves where they kept underground maps and all the information sheets to hand out.
02:06There's things like this that really date it.
02:08The prices on the ticket rack.
02:10Here we go.
02:11£20 for an off-peak travel card.
02:13The prices in this particular kiosk date from 1988, which is when it was withdrawn.
02:18But actually, this is almost identical to one from Piccadilly Circus.
02:23Now, that station has evolved an awful lot over the decade, but it's always been the grandest on the network.
02:39Piccadilly Circus is often considered to be the beating heart of London.
02:44Most of us come here for the bright light and theatre land.
02:50But today, we're interested in the iconic station.
02:54The original building opened in 1906 to a design by the legendary underground architect, Leslie Green.
03:04It's all been remodelled since then, and Piccadilly Circus now serves over 40 million passengers a year.
03:12That's more than double the amount of people the first station building was designed to cope with.
03:18So, how did it evolve?
03:21Sid, what did Piccadilly Circus station look like when it first opened?
03:26Well, it wasn't over there.
03:28It was actually right here.
03:30It had three different entrances, one on German Street, round the corner, one on Haymarket, and one right there.
03:38Wow. What kind of style building was it?
03:40It was a typical Leslie Green station.
03:42So, it had the Oggs blood-red tiles, the semicircular windows, the flat roof, the whole kind of style of
03:48Leslie Green.
03:49Right. And it had eight lifts in total, four to take you down to the Piccadilly line, and four to
03:54take you down to the Bakerloo line.
03:56Right. But why did it change? Because it sounds quite a substantial station.
04:00It was when it first opened, but by 1922, it was completely at capacity.
04:0618 million people were using it every year, and the lift simply couldn't cope.
04:11So, the station had to be completely remodeled right underneath the circus itself.
04:19In 1925, Piccadilly Circus's modernisation began, led by the architect Charles Holden, who turned it into a stylish subterranean marvel.
04:31It was extravagant. It was modern.
04:34There would be no doubt that this was the flagship station of the London Underground.
04:43Ciddy's told me there's a wealth of hidden treasures in Piccadilly's disused tunnels, so I'm itching to get down there.
04:49But before I do, I'm meeting author and historian Anthony Bazielis to find out more about this elaborate station.
04:59And just like tourists on a day trip, we're rendezvousing by what everyone thinks of as the statue of Eros.
05:09Tony, we're sat by this famous statue, but actually we're on top of the station, aren't we?
05:15Absolutely. We are a few feet above the ticket hall.
05:19There's just the slabs here, and a great big metal framework underneath that's holding us up.
05:27How do you go about building a tube station in the centre of the city like this?
05:32With a great deal of difficulty, and a great deal of ingenuity.
05:37So, the statue was originally positioned over there, forming a roundabout that the traffic did use to circulate around.
05:44The statue right at the top was removed, was placed down in the embankment gardens.
05:49The fountain was moved off to an underground depot for safe storage.
05:53And from a small triangular island, they sank a shaft 92 feet deep, 18 feet wide, for which the entire
05:59station was constructed.
06:00So the ground was never broken on top?
06:02Apart from the 18 foot wide hole, they had to keep the junction flowing.
06:07Hey, this is the centre of London. The traffic never stops in Piccadilly Circus.
06:11No.
06:13And there were no closures for engineering works in those days.
06:16So, incredibly, they kept the old station open, maintaining the busy passenger flow from both the Bakerloo and Piccadilly lines,
06:25with minimal disruption.
06:28They managed this by only working on the construction at night.
06:32But even so, this is advanced logistics on an ambitious scale.
06:38The projects took 150 men four years to complete.
06:44The complexity of this station is quite remarkable.
06:47And actually, there's this rather wonderful kind of cutaway diagram that was done at the time.
06:52Which is one of a series that exists, I think, over time, of the different phases.
06:56Indeed.
06:57And so you've got this wonderful elliptical ticket hall at the top.
07:00You've got the vertical shaft with these stairs in it, linking down to the passageways and platforms beneath.
07:06And people could see the intricacy of what had been mined out below the surface.
07:11And it's not just the infrastructure that was key.
07:15In the roaring 20s, the British Empire was at its height, with London at its hub and Piccadilly Circus at
07:21its epicentre.
07:26So, the design of the capital's flagship underground station had to be glamorous, and it had to impress.
07:36At the heart of the opulence was its grand booking hall.
07:42The entire hall was surrounded by travertine marble.
07:46They've got beautiful Art Deco lightning installed.
07:48And the amount of bronze work and woodwork went into the escalators, the telephone booths, all of the display cabinets
07:55for the shops down there.
07:56All of them, high quality, well-designed, representing the best that the underground could do.
08:02And the ticket hall itself was meticulously planned, with the underground going to enormous lengths in the pursuit of perfection.
08:10In fact, a full-sized plywood replica was laid out at Earls Court exhibition ground in order to optimise the
08:18efficiency of the journey through the station.
08:20But perhaps the most advanced innovation was the introduction of escalators to replace the lifts and speed-up passenger flow.
08:36The tube's first escalator was installed at Earls Court station in 1911, and in the early days, they were fairly
08:43primitive wooden contraptions.
08:47They didn't have the slatted steps that we know today.
08:50They were completely flat wooden steps.
08:53And because of that, they were really worried that people could get their feet or fingers and things caught at
08:59the ends.
08:59The people who really had to worry about the escalators, in fact, were the ladies of the time.
09:03The long skirts that were worn did have a bit of a tendency to get caught in the side of
09:06the machinery.
09:07And there were certain ladies who boarded the escalator wearing a long skirt and came off the escalator at the
09:12other end not wearing a long skirt.
09:16One commuter described how passengers fell one on top of the other like a line of skittles on an escalator
09:23at Tottenham Court Road.
09:26But by the late 1920s, when escalators arrived here, better safety measures were in place.
09:33These included clouted steps, which slid under a comb at the top and bottom of the escalator to prevent objects
09:39becoming trapped.
09:40And passengers began to embrace these improved moving staircases.
09:50In December 1928, the new and improved station was ready to be revealed.
09:56And quite rightly, it opened with great pomp and ceremony led by the mayor of Westminster.
10:04He was even presented with an art deco ceremonial lamp to mark the occasion.
10:11The mayor went up to one of the new automatic ticket machines that had been installed, inserted his two-pence
10:16piece, and received an ivory ticket as a souvenir that he could keep.
10:21Well, there's a thing you wouldn't get now.
10:23No.
10:25People are presented with a booklet for the new Piccadilly Circus station.
10:29Is that an original copy?
10:30This is an original copy of the booklet that was created.
10:33Absolutely beautiful inside, lots of drawings and so on.
10:38The mayor pressed a button to start the escalators as part of the ceremony, before the dignitaries could then travel
10:43down to the station and explore the passageways and have a look at the design, the escalators, and so forth.
10:50Absolutely terrific.
10:51And experienced the modernity right in the heart of the city for the first time.
10:56Indeed.
10:56Indeed.
11:20At the London Transport Museum's depot, Assistant Director Chris Nix has a surprise waiting for me.
11:27The incredible ceremonial lamp that was presented to the mayor of Westminster for the opening of Piccadilly Circus on the
11:3410th of December, 1928.
11:38We're really lucky, aren't we, to have that light as seen in that vintage archive still existing today.
11:45I have never, in my 21 years here at the museum, seen this assembled because it's such a, you know,
11:52challenging thing to reassemble and take care of.
11:55So it's a treat for me to have a reason to take it out and show you as well.
11:59Absolutely.
12:00It's made up of this really heavy and, no doubt, extremely expensive marble base, beautiful piece of craftsmanship, but it's
12:09terrifyingly fragile.
12:10These staged layers of frosted and etched and cut glass coming back, and it's one of the objects in our
12:18collection that we're kind of most fearful of getting out because it would be very easy to damage it.
12:23I can imagine, because these ceremonial objects are so rare to have in a wider collection.
12:29Well, you're absolutely right, but what an incredibly grand thing, almost ostentatious, really, isn't it?
12:36But then, such a huge investment in that station, heart of London, heart of the then Empire.
12:42I suppose it's only right to have a grand ceremonial lamp for the grand unveiling and the switching on of
12:49the escalators.
12:52And on that momentous occasion, the lamp would have been illuminated beautifully.
12:58This is so terrifically art deco, isn't it?
13:00With this wonderful marble and this step-back glass, this art deco sunburst.
13:05But there's no light behind here now, is there?
13:08We can use a torch, though, just to show you what it would have looked like.
13:12Oh, terrific.
13:13The underground logo is shining bright through it.
13:16We're very lucky to have this piece, one of those objects that normally might get lost to the sounds of
13:22time.
13:22And it's been lovely.
13:29Inspired by this glimpse of Pitter-Lily Circus's history, I'm excited about delving into the disused tunnels.
13:38We have exclusive access to their concealed secret.
13:42And, as ever, Ciddy holds the key.
13:48We're passing right through the flashy marble ticket hall.
13:53Down those all-important escalators and pass the tiles from a 1980s makeover.
14:05And back in time to the original 1906 station.
14:15Venturing deeper into the tunnels, there's discarded proof that this area has been closed to the public for nearly a
14:22century.
14:23Oh, look at that.
14:24A small fragment of an old poster.
14:28It would be before 1929.
14:31It's quite amazing, really.
14:48This is exciting.
14:50I've passed through Piccadilly Circus so many times.
14:54And never knew these shrouded labyrinthine tunnels were hiding here.
15:00This is quite a tunnel, isn't it?
15:01Yeah, it's long.
15:02It really is.
15:03So imagine when this opened in 1906.
15:06All of those people walking down this corridor, catching brand new tube trains.
15:12That's what these two pathways were for.
15:14Up until 1928, when the new station was opened and these became disused.
15:19And it's been basically this way ever since.
15:22So it really wasn't used for very much up until the Second World War, of course.
15:36Like Aldrich and many other tube stations across London, Piccadilly Circus offered sanctuary from terrifying air raids during the blitz.
15:45It's sheer size and central location meant it was critical for saving many lives.
15:54There were up to about 7,000 people sheltered here every single day.
16:00Imagine all of those people cramped in spaces like this, on platforms, in the corridors, on the escalators, seeking shelters
16:10from the bombs above.
16:11They even sometimes drove a train into Piccadilly Circus and parked it here for the night, so people could sleep
16:18on the train as well as on the platform.
16:22Only 5% of the Piccadilly Circus Blitz community actually lived in central London.
16:29The rest travelled in from the suburbs, specifically to shelter in this station.
16:34At 31 metres below ground, people would have felt quite protected down here.
16:40That's if they could get in.
16:42As one recalls, the constant worry was whether we would find a space for that night.
16:46But we lived only for 4 o'clock when they let us down.
16:52So it's quite different to those deep-level shelters elsewhere.
16:56So there's a ticketed affairs.
16:57Yes.
16:58But this is very much just turn up and find your space if you possibly can.
17:01Well, particularly at the start of the blitz in September of 1940, the underground didn't want people to be staying
17:07on their platform day and night.
17:08They explicitly banned it, in fact.
17:11It was only because the people were so terrified, they took matters in their own hands and wouldn't take no
17:17for an answer.
17:18So shortly after that, the underground kind of conceded and started organising and planning for people to actually stay down
17:25here properly.
17:28But as German bombs continued to destroy London, people employed desperate tactics to secure their place on the platform.
17:37Some people would often arrive at the station quite early on and drop their belongings on the platform in order
17:44to reserve space.
17:46This was really frowned upon.
17:48So when the station was still operating and full of people in the middle of the day?
17:52Absolutely.
17:53So, you know, from as early as 2 p.m., people were dropping their belongings on the platforms in order
17:57to reserve space.
17:58These people were called the droppers.
18:00Sure.
18:00They were not well liked by the wider community of shelters.
18:04And with thousands of people stuck down here for up to 18 hours a day, dodgy etiquette wasn't the only
18:12thing to cause tension.
18:14Now, I've read newspaper reports of a time when they were complaining about the disgusting conditions down here on the
18:21platforms and in the tunnels.
18:23How did they get around that and try and make life better for people?
18:26Well, that's where this corridor comes into play.
18:29They decided to use this as kind of a rudimentary laboratory.
18:32So, in the end of this corridor, in November of 1940, so during the height of the Blitz, they put
18:38in 24 chemical closets, as they were called.
18:43When I say chemical closet, I mean a bucket with a bit of disinfectant in the bottom.
18:49If you caught thousands of people using them, often they would overflow.
18:54And they would overflow onto people trying to shelter.
18:58So, the conditions were grim.
19:00Absolutely.
19:00Really difficult.
19:02As one Londoner remembers only too well.
19:06The stench was unbearable.
19:07The smell was so bad, I don't know how people did not die from suffocation.
19:13So many bodies and no fresh air coming in.
19:16Later on, they actually installed something here called a hopper, which was basically a kind of a mechanism using compressed
19:23air to kind of push all of that waste up to the sewer system above our heads.
19:30Small mercies.
19:31Small mercies.
19:31Exactly.
19:32Well, these things have to be thought about.
19:34You also have to provide people with fresh water.
19:36Well, how do they give people refreshments down here?
19:38Because it's a long way to come down and the lifts have gone by that point.
19:42Exactly.
19:42So, they had something called the tube refreshment specials, basically a train that brought people food both in the evenings
19:49and in the mornings for a small fee.
19:54Before we leave this fascinating place of transport and protection, there's one more thing we're getting a very privileged opportunity
20:02to see.
20:04The inner workings of the fabulous linear world clock.
20:09Now, I should openly declare here and now that I love clocks.
20:14They're one of my passions and this one's a beauty.
20:19Dating from the station's 1920s redesign and tucked away in the ticket hall, this amazing contraption is perhaps Piccadilly Circus'
20:27most overlooked gem.
20:31It's illuminated horizontal timeline running across the centre of the world's continents, moves at the speed of the Earth's rotation
20:39and has just been restored to full working order for the first time in a decade.
20:46Well, Sid, thank you so much for opening up this cupboard for us because I've always wanted to see inside
20:52this.
20:53Yeah, this is amazing.
20:55I don't think I've ever seen another one in all the stations I've been to anything like this.
21:01I mean, the fact that this has survived for all these years is incredible.
21:05How does it actually work, though?
21:08There's all the time on this band that go round.
21:14These are the tensioners to keep it all tight.
21:17And that sound you can hear is an electrical pulse that's kind of just gently making this motor just tick
21:24along a little bit more to show you at the front what time it is we're in the world right
21:30now.
21:32Designed by architect Charles Holden, the man responsible for the station's modernisation, it's completely unique and was the first time
21:41piece of its type in the world.
21:42So essentially the numbers are underneath the map, right?
21:47Yeah.
21:47And from that you can tell the time in London, you can tell the time in Sydney, you can tell
21:52the time in New York.
21:54It would have been completely mind-blowing.
21:56Something that people had never seen before.
21:58It really shows that, you know, that London was the heart of the world.
22:03Yeah, and you're being told you are at the centre of it.
22:27I'm very lucky to be joined at the London Transport Museum's depot by someone who worked at Piccadilly Circus for
22:34the best part of two decades.
22:36And that's Darren Burrows.
22:40Ah, feeling at home in there?
22:42Yes, yes, I've seen that home in there.
22:44Darren, you know Piccadilly Circus pretty well because you worked there for quite some time, didn't you?
22:49Yes, I have. I've worked there for a total of 19 years. I started in May 2002.
22:54I started off as a station supervisor and then I went away as a duty manager and came back as
23:01the area manager for Piccadilly Circus.
23:03You must know it like the back of your hand.
23:05Um, I do. I know the layout of the station very, very well.
23:12One of the things that strikes about the tube, actually, are its staff.
23:15There's a little pride, isn't there, in working for TFL in the underground?
23:18There is, there is. The staff are very proud of the history, the heritage, especially somewhere like Piccadilly Circus.
23:25It's a listed building. You know, when I joined in 2002, there were staff there that were coming towards the
23:32end of their jobs and they'd been on the station like 30, 35 years.
23:37And I remember one of the old supervisors walking me around and explaining to me how to ensure that the
23:44corners of the tiles, where the tiles meet, that it was buffed out properly to make sure all the black
23:51gum and stuff didn't gather up there.
23:54And the station kept immaculate. And he would say, he would always say, this is Piccadilly Circus. It's an icon
24:01for London.
24:02That's it, right? It really is the heart of the underground network, isn't it? And it's got to be kept
24:07in tip-top condition.
24:09Yeah, it is. And what I say to the staff when I have briefings and talk to them, I say,
24:15when people think of London, they think of Piccadilly Circus. And we need to ensure that the station represents that.
24:23Now, tell me, what's your favourite part of the station?
24:26My favourite part of the station? I like the disused. I like, um, I can give you a funny story
24:33about the disused.
24:34I remember when I first went there, everyone used to say the station's haunted. And I said, I don't believe
24:39in ghosts. There's no such thing.
24:42And I would go down into the disused. And sometimes I would just leave the lights off.
24:48So one night shift, I went down there by myself. The vent shaft turned on and there was a white
24:54bag. It started to hover in the air.
24:56And I was like, whoa! And I bolted out of the, um, out of the passageway, back onto the platform.
25:04And I stand on the platform and I go, I'm not scared of ghosts. And I went back down there
25:09and I saw that it was a bag.
25:10And I was like, yeah, I know there's no ghosts down there. But I was really, really, I was petrified.
25:15I bolted at least a thousand yards before I stood up and thought, what are you doing?
25:19But I also like the ticket hall area where it's got the circle because there's not many stations that have
25:26that elliptical ticket hall.
25:28And I like walking around. It's got the brass, the old brass there and the lampshades and the columns and
25:35all the history and the architecture that's in there.
25:39So when it's quiet and there's no one on a night, I like to walk around and take a look
25:43at the station.
25:44You're a lucky man.
25:46Yeah, yeah.
25:47I've got to ask, does Piccadilly Circus live up to that phrase, it's as busy as Piccadilly Circus?
25:53It definitely does. And that was one of the things that drew me to the station and why I stayed
25:57there so long.
25:58Because it is very busy. It's got a very lively atmosphere. You get lots of different characters coming through the
26:04station.
26:05There was one occasion I was there one evening and it was organised chaos.
26:10And this gentleman, I could see him going through the crowd and he came over to me and he said,
26:15what's going on? What's going on here? Why is it so busy?
26:18And I said to him, have you ever heard of the saying, it's like Piccadilly Circus?
26:22And he goes, yeah, yeah, yeah. I said, well, this is where the saying comes from.
26:26And he went, oh.
26:29And we had a laugh and then he walked away with his two bags.
26:32So yeah, that was a funny moment.
26:50In the incredible archives here at the depot, we can see the different eras of the underground evolve
26:56by the very look of the lettering which adorned the signs.
27:01It's changed over time into the unmistakable branding we recognise today.
27:08Ah, look at these, they're even how fat of aren't they?
27:11Ah, yes, the old Victoria line ones.
27:14To guide me through this curious world of typeface design is typography expert Mark Offenton.
27:22Offenton Festival, Covent Garden.
27:24And this one here, this one looks a bit odd.
27:26This is a kind of wooden lock-up of something.
27:29This was quite unusual, wasn't it?
27:30They'd only do one of these, I believe.
27:32I didn't know that.
27:33And this one's got a retro feel with a kind of big U and the small underground.
27:38I think this is a 50s one, you know, with the larger U and D.
27:41Which is the variety of them.
27:43They're just subtle differences, right?
27:44When you see them really up close, all together, you can see how they'll vary.
27:52And this looks like it's a cabinet full of that typeface.
27:58Beautiful.
27:59But where did it come from?
28:00What's the story behind this really, honestly, iconic typeface, Mark?
28:05Well, if you think about what was happening on the underground as the new deep-level tubes opened in 1907,
28:121908, around about that time,
28:14the lettering that was being used was just really whatever was available to the sign makers or the printers.
28:20But it didn't appear uniform.
28:21And Frank Pick was absolutely motivated by making sure everything matched up.
28:26He was great for commissioning commercial artists to make all the posters look the same.
28:31And he realized that in order to make that work properly, he needed to think about the lettering itself.
28:37And that's why he called in Edward Johnston, who was a well-known calligrapher at the time, to come and
28:42do the challenge for him.
28:43I suppose much like the other railway companies, like the LNER and Great Western, they were trying to pull different
28:49companies together.
28:50So this typeface, was it part of the idea of trying to combine everything into one identity?
28:56Very much so.
28:58And Pick wanted to make sure that when the passenger got off a train or when they approached the station,
29:02they knew it was part of the same collective group, the underground.
29:06So how come Johnston was commissioned to do this?
29:09Was it an open competition of some sort?
29:12Wouldn't that have been great?
29:14I'd love to have seen the entries for that.
29:15But no, Frank Pick was really aware of commercial artistic movements in London at the time.
29:22And that's how come he commissioned Johnston to do this new alphabet for the underground.
29:27But Johnston, was he well known?
29:29Yeah.
29:30I mean, his classes at the Central St. Martin School of Art were legendary.
29:34He would spend something like three hours in front of a blackboard, just showing his students how to do the
29:40perfect B.
29:41So it's no accident then, we ended up with this truly iconic typeface that's known for generations.
29:47It's been commissioned from the absolute true master of his art.
29:52He was a calligrapher.
29:53His skill was in making beautiful lettering with a feather and a quill.
29:57The original idea from Pick was to create a monoline letter where the weights were all the same of all
30:04the strokes.
30:05And that's really what Johnston did for him, with a few calligraphic influences here and there.
30:13Mark, exactly what have we got inside this case?
30:17Inside here we have rows and rows of drawers of Johnston wooden blocks.
30:23And these may have been cut as early as 1917, 1918.
30:28And these would have been laid out a bit like these galleys below, with bits of metal in to hold
30:33the type in place.
30:34And after that the ink was applied to the raised level and then paper put on top and squashed over
30:39and then pulled off very gently to make sure you don't get any smudges.
30:43And that's how those early posters were made.
30:45Oh yeah, so you can see that it says here, staff uniforms issue.
30:50So it's been laid out as it would have been.
30:52And down there there's even the roundel giving it that kind of authority.
30:55And what authority this typeface conveyed.
30:58It felt like it was saying we're doing this professionally and properly.
31:02It's modern and efficient.
31:04And that's what you get when you travel on London Transport.
31:07And that's what Johnston's work brought to the whole organisation.
31:24Now Sid, I love this train.
31:27It does say at the front here, no unauthorised person is allowed to remain in this driver's cab.
31:33So what are we doing in here?
31:34Well, we are authorised, of course.
31:36But I just thought it would be nice for us to go and have a look at the driver's cab
31:39of this iconic train, the 38 Stock.
31:41It was built in the late 30s and it connects to the next station I'm going to.
31:46Which one is that?
31:48It's Highgate, but it's not the deep level station that you might know and recognise.
31:53It's the one that's above it.
31:56So the 38 Stock was designed and built to eventually run to Highgate then?
32:01Yeah, well, all over the network.
32:03But in particular, it was going to be launched on the Northern Line.
32:07Now, Highgate, if it was going to connect all of these different parts of North London together,
32:12it would have completely revolutionised transport in that area.
32:17But alas, it wasn't meant to be.
32:19I'm so jealous you've been there.
32:21I can't wait to see this one.
32:29This is not just a story about a secret station.
32:33It's a story of competing transport systems, ambitious expansion plans and the triumph of nature over industry.
32:45I'm on the Parkland Walk in North London, but there are several clues to hint that this wasn't always a
32:53footpath.
32:57Some abandoned platforms.
33:02Some arches.
33:08And the clues have led me here, to Highgate Station.
33:12But today, we are not going underground.
33:16We're going just over there, where we can glimpse something forgotten.
33:28Up on the roof of Highgate Underground Station is this eerily quiet railway relic.
33:36Five and a half million people pass underneath it on their way down to the Northern Line every year.
33:42And most don't have a clue that this high-level heirloom even exists.
33:49It's hard to believe that once upon a time, this deserted mainline station was destined for greatness.
33:57Ahead of me is the abandoned Highgate Station.
34:01And although it might not look like it, I'm actually walking along the old platform,
34:06which has become completely overgrown as nature has slowly taken over.
34:11And if we look at this photograph, I'm currently making my way towards the canopy.
34:18Now, this image is of the original Victorian station, which has changed a lot over time.
34:25Let's go take a closer look.
34:33Opened in 1867, long before the deep-level platforms of today's underground station,
34:39it sat proudly on the Great Northern Railway line from King's Cross to Edgware,
34:44allowing Victorian Londoners a leafy escape from the squalid conditions of the capital's centre.
34:50The tunnels behind me are oval-shaped.
34:54That is because the original locomotives passing through them were steam-hulled.
34:58And passengers travelling through them had a choice of three final destinations,
35:04up to Edgware, High Barnet or Alexandra Palace.
35:12Now you get a real sense of it patiently waiting for a train that will never arrive.
35:18But for the first 40 years of its existence, the station was a real success,
35:23leading to a substantial reconstruction in 1880,
35:27where the two original side platforms were replaced with a larger one in the middle.
35:39I'm now on the central island platform,
35:42and just over there is where the track bed would have been, where the trains would arrive.
35:50It's now the roof of the ticket hall of the underground station, just below our feet.
35:55But walking along this platform, you start to get a sense
35:59that this station could have been something really special.
36:02You see some poster frames over there.
36:09There are skylights in the ceiling.
36:12We're even getting some glimpses of tiles coming through.
36:17And it's amazing to think that this structure could have become
36:21the transport hub of all North London,
36:24with thousands of people travelling through it every day.
36:33But by 1907,
36:35complication from other modes of transport began to cause a problem.
36:39A more frequent electric transervice began to operate up to High Barnet,
36:44offering a cheaper alternative for the thrifty traveller.
36:48And in 1914,
36:50shiny new motor buses started to steal even more passengers away,
36:54and Highgate station's popularity was in decline.
36:59But there was light at the end of the tunnel.
37:03In 1935,
37:05a £40 million improvement plan
37:07was to be delivered by the London Press and Transport Board.
37:13A new tube line was built right underneath the station
37:17as part of a proposed Northern Hives extension,
37:20which would provide better links to Alexandra Palace, Crouch End and beyond.
37:28And with a staircase connecting it to the tube below,
37:31Highgate was at the very centre of the expansion plans,
37:36with a prestigious new role
37:38as an important above-ground interchange station.
37:42Exciting plans were hatched
37:44for the old suburban railway line to be electrified.
37:47So from here, passengers would be able to access rail links
37:51that would enable them to journey to just about anywhere.
37:55Britain was booming,
37:57and the future looked bright.
38:01Now, the structure around us was built in the 1930s,
38:05but behind me is the only remaining building
38:08of the original Victorian station.
38:11It used to be the entrance,
38:13but was later converted into the station master's cottage.
38:19With the cottage,
38:20the only reminder of its Victorian past,
38:23the station was future-ready.
38:25But these ambitious plans were completely scuppered
38:29by the Second World War.
38:32Just months before completion,
38:34the funding for the Northern Heights extension was sacrificed,
38:37needed instead to cover the cost
38:40of repairing London's extensive war damage.
38:43With no money,
38:44the proposed line electrification was scrapped.
38:48And by 1941,
38:50the station was only serving planes
38:52to and from Alexandra Palace,
38:54a journey of just two miles.
38:57The writing was on the wall,
39:00and in 1954,
39:02Highgate High Level Station officially closed.
39:06By 1962,
39:09it was derelict,
39:10unloved,
39:11and forgotten.
39:14But only by people.
39:25When the line closed and the tracks were lifted,
39:28the tunnels became a sanctuary
39:30for protected bats.
39:34But we're not allowed to disturb them
39:36in their roost,
39:38so we can't venture inside the tunnels.
39:43This urban oasis is now home to four different species of bats,
39:49all looked after by Transport for London
39:51and the London Bat Group.
39:57I can't help but feel joy
40:00that this crumbling station
40:02has been given a rare and exciting new chapter,
40:05with its tunnels once used for train travel
40:08now acting as a green corridor
40:10for the free movement of London's city wildlife.
40:21It certainly looked very different
40:23from the other sites,
40:24didn't it?
40:25Yeah, I mean,
40:26covered in vegetation.
40:27It almost felt like a woodland glade.
40:30I know.
40:31Well,
40:31also,
40:32it's got that kind of combination
40:33of the new and the old,
40:35and then nature is basically
40:36just taken over the site.
40:38Now,
40:39one of those people responsible
40:40for looking after this
40:41is Malcolm Payne,
40:42Principal Engineer for TFL.
40:44Malcolm,
40:45you help look after,
40:47as does your team,
40:48so many of these environments.
40:51Don't you?
40:51We do,
40:52yes,
40:52that is part of our job,
40:53and maintaining these green corridors
40:55for the wildlife
40:57that we have on the system.
41:00And our Amazon Way,
41:01we're now seeing the red kites.
41:03Yeah.
41:03At the other end of the central line at Epping,
41:06a couple of weeks ago,
41:07I saw a full antlip stag,
41:10running down the track.
41:12Green corridors allow the wildlife
41:14to get from one part of London to another.
41:17Perhaps they don't have an Oyster card,
41:18but foxes,
41:20badgers,
41:21will use the railway
41:22as a safe way
41:23of getting to their feeding grounds.
41:26Kind of like a path they can take
41:28without having to enter into
41:29the world of humans,
41:31I guess.
41:31Absolutely,
41:32yes,
41:33yes.
41:33And you guys are responsible
41:34for looking after that
41:36and maintaining those.
41:37But also,
41:38when you've got new development,
41:39you have to think about
41:40how that's going to impact
41:41those spaces
41:42and those green places,
41:44right?
41:44Absolutely.
41:45And Transport for London
41:46has put a number of green roofs,
41:48which is encouraging insect life,
41:50and then the insect life
41:51encourages the bird life,
41:53and so you build up this cycle
41:55of wildlife around the network.
41:57We did a recent exercise
41:58out at Upminster Bridge
41:59where we planted
42:01what's called a rain garden
42:02that filters the water
42:04coming off the track
42:05so that the water
42:06going into the river
42:07is actually clean water.
42:09So loads of technological
42:10advancements are making it
42:11a little bit easier
42:12to preserve the environment.
42:14I think about those green corridors
42:15as being a long way out of town.
42:17But there must be
42:18lots of greenery,
42:20flora and fauna
42:20in central London
42:22to look after too.
42:23That there are.
42:24We've had a number
42:25of our vent shafts
42:26that we have started
42:28putting climbing plants on.
42:30Some of the office blocks
42:31have got beehives on them.
42:33We have beekeepers
42:34that use those sites.
42:35Really?
42:35And we look forward
42:36to some TFL branded honey
42:37sometime soon.
42:39I'm looking forward to that.
42:39I'd love that.
42:40I can't guarantee you.
42:46Next time,
42:47we explore the treasures
42:49lurking deep
42:50inside Houston's lost tunnels.
42:53A long-forgotten station
42:55near King's Cross
42:56reveals some truly unique features.
42:59And at the depot,
43:01we discover
43:02of what it really takes
43:03to be a tube signaler.
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