West Ashfield Station - The Underground's Training Facility
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- Опубликовано: 27 янв 2018
- When chatting to TfL recently, they told us about their 'secret' 271st Tube Station on the network - the West Ashfield training facility in Kensington - and as we're doing ALL the stations, and realised this was a station we hadn't been to, we had to go along ... !
Thanks to the the TfL Press Office, and for Pat and Les for showing us around and sharing their expert knowledge with us!
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We didn't all go through Ashfield House. I've never been there. I went to the railway training centre at White City which was demolished when the Westfield shopping centre was built and the model railway there was magnificent, especially when they took the sides off the signal box bits and you could see all the notched brass rods that mechanically locked the signalling system. A work of art and a superb feat of engineering.
How many stairs is it? Is it equivalent to 15 storeys?
proud Yorkshireman congrats, I am your 200th liker!
Europe Trains! Paper models Nah now its me
How did you know?! 15 storeys
100-150 @proud Yorkshireman
This staircase has 2 steps
Equivalent to 15 stories
West Ashfield must be the highest tube station (above sea level) on the Underground and perhaps on any underground system
Ian Murray Amersham or Chesham?
That's correct. If you take the stairs up to West Ashfield, it's the equivalent of climbing a 15 storey building.
David Shepheard nice reference there
> and perhaps on any underground system
You threw down the gauntlet there! The highest subway system in the world is probably in Mexico City - average elevation of the city is 2200 metres.
An underground station on (probably) the 15th floor.
Nice one!!
I noticed the mock-up train was based on a 1983 Stock unit from the Jubilee Line. They always had the moquette the same as Vicki's scarf in those units, and originally in the D Stock on the District as well. The blue seats there were unique to that mock-up unit.
🛂✔🦄
I bet we'll be seeing West Ashfield stickers appear on the S-stock maps courtesy of tube guerrillas. Keep an eye out...
It hasn't happened so far. This fake station has been around since 2010.
The phonetic alphabet (alpha, bravo, charlie, etc) is used anytime you regularly communicate over the radio. The reason for this is to avoid misunderstandings involving similar sounding letters, and to assist if the radio reception isn't strong.
We ham radio operators use it all the time.
@@denelson83 amazing!
Thank you London Underground For Letting All the Station in, Thanks Goeff and Vicky for this Great Film
Was that graffiti on the model trains?? LOL
Very enjoyable video, nice surprise to see a new all the stations video. To anyone from the BBC watching, we want Vicki and Geoff at Walford East!
Geoff: We've visited every single tube station, _except we haven't_
*vsauce music intensifies*
9:30 Somebody's a 'Quatermass and the Pit' fan; one of the model railway stations is called Hobbs End :)
I was hoping I was the first to spot that!
Snap!
I saw it too! Brilliant!
Yes, but my cat is called "Hobbs" and she wasn't too keen to see that her end has already been immortalised as an Underground station ;)
Great video, and loving the return of the theme. Next stop, Walford East? Oh, please try, that would be cool.
Bromley-by-Bow
Super awesome each time the "All the stations" theme song plays! Sending lots of support from Singapore!
:( You didn't measure the platform in VIcki steps
Vickishoes was the measure IIRC
@@cjmillsnun Vickifeet.
Hadn’t realised how much I missed this theme tune! Brings back happy memories from last year.
So is West Ashfield the shortest platform on the underground?
How many Vicki feet is it?
beccabeme Was just about to ask that. 😂
Most likely, although it's technically not on the underground since it's on floor 3 of a building with no actual line connection with the rest of the underground.
8:55
yes
I so love you both doing the videos together,
I did my driver training at Ashfield House back in 2001. I remember the model railway but the Ashfield West station must be a fairly recent addition. Great video!
They were both designed by the same company. Maybe you did your training before they refurbished the floor that they turned into West Ashfield station.
I've seen before and after pictures online. It started off as a corridor with some offices in it.
Well done you two!! This was a great vid and a wonderful visit to a sim 'real life' training facility!
That was fab. Thank you both.
It looks like a lot of fun. It's nice to get a brief insight into how TfL staff are trained.
Is West Ashfield the least used tube station?
21spangles Just beats Roding Valley!
I really liked this video...!!!
You two have great 'chemistry' presenting together!
Both naturals!
hey Anton, thx!
This one is the most fascinating video of your underground series. Thank you for showing us around the training facility.
One of the best videos yet! You two are so lucky to have found each other!
Good to see BTP in one of your videos. I visited west Ashfield during some training with BTP. Very cool to see in person. The mirror in the train got me the first time i saw it too.
This pretty much shows you behind the scenes of the London underground...
Also its like safety works to learn about safety around the tube❤❤❤
All the stations, half stations, and quarter stations!
Another great video keep up the good work love the all the stations theme music
Great video! One for a Hidden London tour maybe?
On another note, I love the facial expression of that guy in the lift!
For Walford East, they have the ticket Hall on set then the platform and the D Stock somewhere else (unknown)
8:45 oh yes, detrained so gracefully. Seriously though, I am so enjoying this video. It is fab.
Since you mentioned the Eastenders station, River City a Scottish soap based in Glasgow has a tube station supposedly on the Glasgow underground. Another one to add to the list.
Great video, and a fab piece of tube-trivia!
Please tell me this was on the 15th floor 🙂
Yet another great video, and I love their attention to detail (esp the fan)
S Mac XD
And by one of THE best matched couples I think I have ever seen - both so lovely, friendly and contented, it really warms the heart.
S Mac i
fulwell1 REALLY DUDE XD
the start of the vid says its on the 3rd floor so rip
I love the 'Quatermass and the pit ' reference. Someone is obviously a fan of those films. Hobb's End 😀😀
Top man that Les! Was one of my trainers at Ashfield House.
I was so excited to see an All the Stations episode! I miss these.
Goodness, I remember overhauling those Drivers Handsets when I worked at the SOS Lillie Bridge (West Ken) 1979-1983. They came in a wooden box in those days which we used
paint with varnish.
absolutely brilliant reconstruction
Oh how I've missed that intro music...
"Hobbs End" station on the training railway is named after the station in "Quatermass and the Pit"!
Came here from comments on Jago's West Ken video. Never knew aboot this West Ashfield 'station' :-)
I used to work from the Underground years ago and they had a training facility very similar to this at 10a Wood Lane, White City which is possibly part of the White City station on the way Hammersmith and City line, now a days. If I remember rightly it was just some track but it didn't have a train on it..
Cool video Geoff and Vicki, nice to see the all the stations theme back.
What do you mean 'back' .. ? It's never gone anywhere, we've always used it.
*confused*
All The Stations No mean that you haven't uploaded since the end of the all the stations.
This is the 14th video they have uploaded since the finished going to all the stations.
Some were on the tail end of the journey, but there were two in December that were not really connected with earlier footage:
ruclips.net/channel/UC7ttKX46nJxUeXZ0aoD4Q5gvideos
David Shepheard Thanks David I haven't been on RUclips much so I forgot about those ones.
I’ve been to West Kensington for my vacation and it was where we would get on everyday from our hotel. I never thought you would mention the very station!
This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen, so TFL
Lovely video Thank You.
This was so interesting, I was hoping you'd made it inside West Ashfield!
1:50... pause it and look at the map, thats an old map cause the olympia service is still full green, not green and white for limited service
Loving the 1983 stock.
Hey guys I am loving this series. I want to do the same here in the New York City metro area. We have a bunch of lines might be fun. Keep up the great work!
Very informative. Again
Great videos
This reminds me of the Longmoor Military Railway, where they had an even more elaborate model railway system to train (principally) their signalmen (although they were called blockmen, to distinguish them from private soldiers in the Royal Corps of Signals).
Very interesting, never heard of this before even when I lived just opposite the building in West Ken. Sure you don't need me to tell you this, but you do a good video, very professional and well made - a lot helped by the relaxed and informal, personable and well informed presentation.
That was a very interesting video.
Good to see me old mate Les Moody getting his 15 minutes of fame 👍
I think there used to be an earlier training model railway, possibly in 0 gauge, used mainly by signals trainees, there would be details in one of the London Transport Magazines.
Great video.
Yes, you should do the Walford station too! 👍
I like how there’s a fan to actually simulate the wind.
This was great to see! I think that is soo cool that they let you guys check that out! The fan, the clock, the bench...everything...only thing missing was a trash bin (unless I missed it). And it was funny to see the small model trains with the graffiti on it. And I agree with Geoff..check out the EastEnders "station".
And question for Geoff..which station has been filmed the most? Movies, tv programmes, videos...
Thanks!
this is awesome ☺
There are some continuity errors on TfL's part, the platform dot matrix indicator says Metropolitan line whereas everything else, as far as I can tell, is District based!
Lewis George and an ex Jubilee Line tube carriage...
And the cast iron effect tunnel segments visible during the de-training demo. 8:42
This is a nice video. thaks.
at 9:29 would that be an S1 Stock? would be good of that exist for Acton Shuttle if that was still around :p
I wish you would have filmed some more of the model rail!
great video
Love the mock up 1983 stock train.
Please, please, please do a "Top 10 Stations in the UK" video from your travels. Can't think of a better 2 people to judge this
Jilbo812 They've not yet been to all the stations in the UK, though.
How About Vauxhall Cross from 007 Die Another Day
That's a 1983 tube stock replica, Vicki's scarf is the correct one for that train.
MrDoblo7 The 83 stock was the tube stock equivalent of the D stock at the time. I think buses then had a similar maquette too.
Toby Summers Yes, that's correct, good memory. Fitted to MCW Metrobus and Leyland Titan's of the period. London Transport seemed to have a thing for that moquette at that time.
MrDoblo7 I remember it from an old video by Thames news explaining a video for youngsters not to vandalise buses. Sadly the moquette in the demonstration was cut to ribbons!
Love how the model tube carriages have model graffiti on.
I was there today on some training
I did slightly cringe at the reading out of the Signal ID (As a PTS Holder and MOD 5 Tester, you use the Phonetic Alphabet on everything, from Signal IDs, to Relay Bases and Wire Terminals). If you were to go to Derby, they have a training centre at Signet, which is full of trackside equipment, such as points, signals, track circuits and even a model Relay Room and Panel. Not exactly a ‘station’ like West Ashfield, but still really interesting if you wanted to learn about trackside equipment.
I think they only use a ticket hall - from memory they used East Finchley once and sometimes use a mock up D stock on EE
Loved the Hobbs End reference!
tinblue Yes indeedy! The tube stop in Quatermass and the Pit
tinblue ikr
How very interesting!
Do you guys have plans to come and film Moscow subway some time?
Get Geoff to make an attempt on the Moscow Metro Challenge record. :-P
That was fascinating! Are you looking forward to Maghull North opening...?
Lol. The first thing I did was download this song. I love it. It’s amazing
Wow, amazing! Do you know if they do tours of this place? It would be amazing to go there
Reyneke Designs designed both West Ashfield Station and the model railway. They used to have three awesome videos on RUclips, which I linked to from the Wikipedia article for this station:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Ashfield_tube_station
Sadly, some killjoy has removed all three videos from RUclips. I was hoping to post all three links so that everyone could have a look at the concept models.
I'm sad that you didn't video the model railway, as the choice of station names is quite interesting. Hobs End (the station that was under construction in a Quatermas story) is the one that most people recognise, but it would have been good to have seen the entire route of the railway and hear the faults that they use it to demonstrate.
It looks very clean for a mock-up station
Upset emoji. This was offered after the Marsh Barton new station video. We all miss Vicki....
My favourite bit is 11:50, Brilliant!
Great video of West Ashfield, just wondering did they let you plat with the model railway while you was there?
You should have asked the tube driver at West Ken. if he was going to stop at West Ashfield!
my brother and i chose those colours for that district line macket . he chose black and brown and i chose being younger yellow and orange . my father had just died . i was 5 and my brother was 7 . he felt very angry at the time . i like the design . was very 70,s .love all your rail and transport vids . brill . thank you with love x.
Tube roleplay ... how deep does this go?
is equal to 15 floors building ;)
Is Aldwych included in the 270/271 you have visited?
I’m reckoning West Ashfield, is really on the Isle of Wight.
Ally Baker but how is he here if he hasn’t been?
This reminded me of some films I have featuring LU stations that don't exist such as Belgravia, Hobb's End and Camden Road. I have been to Ashfield House too, training with LU but don't remember West Ashfield.
One of the intersting instructors there was Irvin Morgan, is he still there?
Pretty sure they have a map outside of Walford East with the station added to the map on the EastEnders set you should definitely go and try to visit it!
So it's the next station after Earl's Court, then? Presumably reached by trains from Platform 9 3/4.
AndreiTupolev 9 3/4 is from Kings Cross not Earls Court. Also that’s not on the Underground at Kings Cross.
Very interesting...
Vicky looking good here, she look tired now, all the early mornings
So as you ascertained West Ashfield is possibly the least used station on the network will around 2,000 passengers passing through each year.
What an interesting place.
Seen you both at NRM York once never realized what the que was for will I walked past to get a photo of the euro star class 373
There's also a Walford west.