In 1957, I was at the Met Office's training school at Stanmore but in digs at Preston Road requiring frequent changes at Wembley Park. My home was in Westcliff-on-Sea and I used the old City bus from Wood Green for the journey home. Going back to my digs on a Sunday meant changing onto the terminating platforms at Baker Street and joining the Metropolitan going to Metroland. These trains were electric loco hauled and since there was no connection through to the loco for the guard to give 'right away' there was a pair of wires that ran the length of the platform and the guard would use the brass ferrule on the handle of his flag to short between those wires and this would sound a bell to the driver at the other end of the platform.
Wonderful! I had one of the shops inside the station in the 80’s. I loved the station. It had so many great and quirky characters working there too, especially the newspaper sellers who had been there since the Second World War! There was also a fantastic and lively pub called Moriarty’s too. Many a blurry evening spent in there! I’m assuming that’s all gone by now. Even so, it’s still a jewel of a station in my view. Thanks for the great video!
When you arrive on a Circle or H&C train at the platform which _isn’t_ next to the Met ones, you take a staircase up to the walkway across the original two platforms, turning _Left_ at the top of those stairs to do so… Were one to turn RIGHT, however, you’d leave the station from the very first entrance/exit which the Tube ever had… which is _actually on Baker Street_ rather than the Marylebone Road (it’s located near where the roundel can be seen at 4:38). Long ago my Pa worked near the station and I’d visit him from school, and then we’d both head home together, so I often used this exit, which gives you an idea how far back that was… because for as long as anyone can now remember, it’s been shuttered on the street side; while that staircase top, Right-turn, was barred by a concertina gate. You could still peek through for a long time at the crumbling dank interior of what was likely the very, very oldest part, of the oldest station on the whole network. I’ve very much been waiting for Jago to make a vid on this first station, but highly doubt H.G. Wells ever *really* lived at Chiltern Court, because he’d a whole townhouse just nearby, in one of those grand stucco buildings on the Outer Circle (where there’s a blue plaque - whyever would one move?). There’s also a stone tablet near that Baker Street entrance for Chiltern Court which names the locale as the HQ for the S.O.E. during WWII… meaning that first Underground station was likely the last a great many agents ever entered.
Very good, except the only visible plaque commemorating SOE's activities is not on Baker Street, but at 1 Dorset Square, where the French section was headquartered. Dorset Square (the first Lord's cricket ground), is equidistant between Baker Street and Marylebone, so agents are as likely to have used either station.
@@allenwilliams1306 You sure about that - _they didn’t have multiple offices in that area?_ Though, as mentioned, it’s not since childhood that it was a stomping ground so more than happy to defer.
@@michaeljames4904 They did indeed have multiple offices in that area. I dimly recall 64 Baker Street having been the address of overall SOE HQ at one time, but that would be about a quarter of a mile south of Marylebone Road. Somebody may have stuck a plaque on that, too, by now, I suppose, but the one I alluded to (bear in mind I was talking about only the French Section of SOE) was in stone and unveiled by the Queen Mother in 1957.
@@allenwilliams1306 I feel we may both be correct as a quick Search Engine throws up that the Executive, at the end of 1940, was set up initially in two family apartments off *”Baker Street”* - which itself became one of the many euphemistic terms for the S.O.E. - given that, _’[b]y 1943 the various mansion blocks dotted along Baker Street through to Gloucester Place contained a myriad of SOE offices and HQ's. With over 10,000 people working for the organization (about half of these actually agents in the field) the pressure for working space was ever present.’_
Probably the best part of the last 10 years of my working life, which happily ended on 6th May this year, was waiting in platform 6 each weekday evening for my train home. Since I retired, I keep finding reasons to go to or through Baker Street Station. Even though there is both a Sainsbury's and a Tesco on Ladbroke Grove, I will get on the tube and go to Baker Street Co-op just for the hell of it.
@@JagoHazzard We've only just begun getting "metro" lines here in Sydney. Our underground "City Circle" lines were designed to handle normal trains. I suspect that the current craze of "metro" lines in Sydney is more to do with "jobs for the boys" - big construction companies. Some "brown paper bags" no doubt changing hands.
I believe "metro" doesn't come *directly* from London but is actually an abbreviation first used in Paris to describe their company called the Metropolitan Railway (now the Paris Metro), which took its own name from London's Metropolitan Railway.
Brilliant ! - I gave a little cheer when I saw the title, I spent many years using Baker Street as my stop to go to work. Incidently the earliest Cricket pitch can be found at Dorset Square, a short walk before Marylebone. Oh and never knew about the rubbish train for the homes above ground. ( Wow).
Wonderful video Jago, as someone who grew up in Metroland, Baker Street is easily the station I associate most with my childhood memories of the Underground. I had no idea about the Baker Street East title. As you mentioned it briefly at the end, you may be interested in a 3-part series I’ve just completed on the Glasgow Subway 😉 Stay well and keep up the great work.
A premier tale indeed, Mr H. Like many others, I find your tales intriguing and irresistible. What did we do before we had them to entertain and inform us? Indeed, what did you do before you entertained and informed us? If Baker Street is the premier tube station, Mr H is the premier raconteur. And long may you succeed. Simon T
As you put it as the beginning of underground systems in the world, that's another reason for you British citizens to be proud of your country. I love your stories of London underground
5:50 Great video Jago. Always loved the W H Smith and Luncheon & Tea Room signs that have been kept ❤️ Makes me wish I had a time machine to experience what it was like 100 years ago. I’ve drank in that Whetherspoons pub. It’s lovely inside.
Damn 125k subscribers, I remember when you only had 10k... Haven't watched your videos in ages as I've had lot of stuff to do but I'm back 🤝 see you next video Jago
1:22 when the station was refurbished in the 80s, I recall LT made a big thing about the new lighting in those ventilation shafts being designed to mimic sunlight.
Wow, to hear Gerry echoing Baker Street in Baker Street. I thought the story was the once a week trips into London on Baker Street negotiating with his wifes divorce lawyer, daydreaming about life being single again, irritated by the difficulty finding parking downtown... which is why the video oddly starts with a shot of a parking meter as kind of a metafor or something..... That's the wild story he gave... He was a nutty as Ian Anderson. Loved both of those guys....😁
"I once saw Ringo Starr on Kensington High Street. Or it might have been Topol, that chap from Fiddler on the Roof. He was a long way off, so it could have been either. Or anybody, really".
BAKER STREET will always be my favourite because I lived above it as a kid on the 7th Floor in Chiltern Court TV star "Hughie Green" lived there at that time and he had a train layout too!~
A very nice video, I really enjoyed this, and very touching at the end with the statement Baker Street is where it all started... 🙂 It is a great station...
Thanks for the mention of Harrow-on-the-Hill - I grew up in Harrow (although not on the hill) and Baker Street was the station we always travelled to into London, so this brought back happy memories. Would love to see a Metroland-themed video or two sometime ❤️
My grandad left his walking stick on rhe underground nany years ago .. and went to the Lost Property Office at Baker Street to see if it had been handed in. And as luck would have it, it had been - excep the powers that be weren't too keen on handling it back ... as it wasn't just a walking stick - it was a sword stick !
As a Northerner, Metroland was the indoor amusement Park with a roller-coaster in the Metrocentre in the 1990s/early 2000s. First of me learning about it being used as a term for something else.
I'm from the area and I miss Metroland! Whenever I hear of it on these videos I think of the commuters on the purple roller coaster and the balloon ferris wheel!
That’s funny Lorna - when I was researching Metroland (the North London one) the Internet searches kept showing me this indoor theme park (at the Metrocentre) that I knew nothing about! This must be the real north south divide! 😀
@@Petecope Worth pointing people to Sir John Betjeman's 'Metro-land' (1973 BBC TV documentary) about the railway and its impact on north-west London and surrounding countryside.
Your bringing back bad memories. Being a softie southerner I only went there once. My friends and I being about the only people in there one night in the late 80s. The person controlling the bumper cars made as get off each time, and requeue. The person controlling the roller-coaster took the stance of "I will just keep it running until you want to get off". I think we went around nearly 20 times 🤢
@@MichaelDembinski Wasn’t that excellent. Not only a great documentary about Metroland itself but a fascinating snapshot of that area in 1973. I may be in a minority of one but I’d love to see what all those places look like now, along with all the changes. ‘’Metroland 2 The Next Generation’ anyone?
We were in London on 4 and 5 July during our two week trip to Paris, and I so much wanted to go see the original platforms at Baker Street, we just ended up running out of time. It'll have to be for our next trip. Cheers from Montreal, QC Canada!
Now I don't know if Baker Street has a reputation of being the first underground station, but this is bullshit! The whole line from Paddington to Farrington opened on 10 January 1863, including Baker Street of course. According to Wikipedia anyway, as I clearly wasn't there myself!
@@pvuccino To take a much more recent example, Nine Elms is the newest tube station. Battersea Power Station station runs it close, but opened a couple of minutes earlier. Similar would have happened 158 years ago as happened less than 158 hours ago - that multiple stations opened in a day, but not at the same time during that day. However, it seems odd that Baker St would have been the first in 1863. Perhaps it was the first fully-underground station to open, as the two stations west of there are above ground (Paddington) and in an open cut (Edgware Road). Certainly its the only one that looks like it originally did (save Paddington perhaps, but that's not underground) - Edgware Road was rebuild, Great Portland St and Euston Square were renovated and look much newer, and Kings Cross and Farringdon were re-sited and so aren't original.
I was thinking that, otherwise it would be as useful as the Omsk Metro. But, being the first of the stations on the day to either open its doors or see service makes sense.
The guy in grey who nearly trips over at 5:00 made be giggle. Although I moved away from London year ago due to prices, crime and general mis-management, my heart is always there.
Last time I visited London, I did indeed make a special trip to Baker Street specifically to see and get pictures of the original station platforms. I'm glad that part of the station been so well preserved.
I love the "ligth-eaters" of the platforms, in the past the sun ligth did entrance throught theirs..... It was made with bricks making beautiful archs.... The lightings inside the platforms are beauty too.
Always love passing through this station on the odd chances I need to go to West London. The wooden flights of stairs and the wooden panel always get me.
In the beginning, there was darkness. And then... Baker Street. Boston started in 1897 with Boylston and Park stations, which don't contain any of Baker Street's fanciness.
Baker Street and Great Portland Street's circle/met/H&C platforms definitely give off that "historic" vibe without feeling horribly outdated, and if you don't look too closely, the electric lights in the ventilation portholes do make you feel like daylight is just beyond the confines of that otherwise pretty dark space, which is fitting considering it's cut and cover. I personally think Great Portland Street is a cooler station just because it has a building more or less all to itself, which makes it stand out and look more important from the surface.
I will never forget the first time I alighted at the old platforms. The musty smell and the sense of history made it one of my favourite tube stations instantly. The Wetherspoons is a real good 'un incidentally.
Jago,you have so waxed poetic,that a common,everyday subway station sounds something out of Wonderland! When you consider that the Metropolitan did things well,and they built to last,their legacy is there for all those who discern real greatness! No one,who studies transport history,and not knowing the London Underground,as a pioneer in many areas,and second to none in world wide fame[ deserved],would fault its builders,and architect's,as they put their mark in London,and eventually the world! Still is beautiful,after all the millions who passed through,around,and seeming shows no wear and tear,on its surfaces! Thank you for your diligence and persistence for the beauty of another great video! 👍!!
Here in the S.F. Bay Area we have BART as our subway/suburban railroad. It is edging toward 50 years old. The only station of note that I can think of is Embarquedaro in S.F. It has opening from the mezzanine to the BART platforms at the lowest level.
Excellent stuff, Jago. As I’ve probably mentioned before, I used to work for a travel firm in Dorset square so I spent much time in Baker Street Station (and the Wetherspoons!!)
I wonder if Marylebone could have a new tube station next door so that Circle and Hammersmith and City Lines can serve Marylebone as well the Bakerloo Line that serves Marylebone. Perhaps you could do Marylebone and the history of Marylebone station.
Did you know all so underneath Chiltern court it has its own Rifle Range and a intact Air raid shelter from the 2nd world war . The home all so to SOE part of Churchill secret Army . Great video and brought back some incredible memories used to live in Chilton Court and managed to block in the late 80s for approximately eight years
"It all began with one station" So, on Saturday, 10 January 1863, trains took on passengers - and just sat there? It all began with one line - Baker Street to Farringdon.
Paddington to Farringdon. But a line doesn't open simultaneously. eg Nine Elms is the newest tube station, opening minutes later than Battersea Power Station.
“The Metropolitan considers itself a cut above the other underground lines”. Still feels very true today. You can understand why - they were the first. Great channel, keep them coming.
Great video, loved seeing platform 5 for myself yesterday and Chiltern court too. Was half expecting a steam train to turn up at the platform at one point.
I did enjoy this video. I was impressed with Barker Street station the first time I saw it in 1997. I just said wow to myself, this place is something else. I need to visit the bar. Thanks.
Thank you for this, it's easily my favourite station and railway company. It was all so, as the youth would have it, "suss" or "dodge"! One day I'm going to have a model railway based around the Metropolitan Railway, but set in an alternate universe where a loophole was found and they stayed independent of the LPTB for a few more years
Visited London in winter 2019 and spent some time riding the Tube, it’s fun. I got off at Baker Street to have a glance......I’m amazed how Londoners back then hundred years ago took the underground railway. As a hongkonger, we got newer stations and longer trains, but the Tube is special and historical. And thank you UK for bringing underground railway to Hong Kong during the British-HK era...the good old days.
My Grandad fred fenton started at Paddington but when the met and gwr parted company he decided to go with the metropolitan and went to Baker Street. Over the years I am not sure what he did there but ended his days as a ticket inspector there retirement in the 50s. He rented a house on the metropolitan estate at Neasden where he brought up the fenton family.
Great Video Jago. I studied abroad in the UK years ago and it STILL nags me I missed the 150th Anniversary by a few weeks and I would’ve LOVED to have seen Baker Street for that occasion. I did have the opportunity to pass through Baker Street a few times but would’ve DEFINITELY loved more visits.
Re: Broad Gauge. We have a lot of viaducts down here in Cornwall. That's down to the local topography. But when GWR built them they went for a quick and cheap half brick/half wood construction. Apparently Brunel pointed out they'd need to be replaced as trains got bigger but the financiers said 'we can worry about that later'. Of course they did eventually have to be replaced. So a lot of the existing viaducts have the pillars of the original ones next to them. But as you walk under them, which I do quite a bit, you really notice how much wider the old ones were. The new ones are just standard gauge; but the old ones are the old broad gauge.
The Metropolitan bar; formerly the London Transport recruitment centre, was not just for Underground recruitment, but also the same for the buses. Back in the days when they were both London transport.
Back in the day, I often used to change at Baker Street en route to Wembley to watch an England match at the 'old' stadium or a gig at the Arena. Stevenage to King's Cross to Baker Street to Wembley Park. Therefore I associate it with travelling for leisure rather than commuting.
I was living in london in the 1980's when baker street was restored. There was talk of the shafts being opened up again to let natural light back in. Im assuming later developments after opening meant they would no longer filter light inwards if opened up.
If Baker Street was the first Underground Station, where could you go? My pedantic side says you'd need at least two stations open at the same time to go anywhere.
@@normanstevens4924 For the first seven station, only the middle three (Baker Street, Great Portland Street, Euston Square) were actually underground. The other four (Farringdon, old King's Cross, Edgware Road and Paddington) were in cuttings or downright in the open. The first timetable suggested that the very first trains depart from both sides. Baker Street was the first underground station to be served by one of these two trains, as it's longer to run from Farringdon to Euston Square than from Paddington to Baker Street.
The Metropolitan bar used to be the the LU recruitment centre. That's where I went to in 89 to sign up to be a guard and do the aptitude tests. I think they moved it mid to late 90's
Another fantastic video Jago. Just as a side note the River Tyburn flows above the southern end of the Hammersmith and City/Circle Line platforms. You can see it as a dirty white structure traversing over the tracks in a reinforced cast iron tube.
What did those ventilation shafts look like on the surface? Some kind of chimney in the middle of the pavement? Or is there even a street right above the platforms?
I would presume some kind off grill in the surface of the street. They were built by cut and cover, following roads. At the time the railways weren't allowed under buildings for fear of disturbing the buildings foundations. It wasn't until the deep tube that they were.
@@dT6E7hmja4iXjsJw So do I. A Victorian lady would never show her ankles. That's hardcore pornography, let alone showing her under garments. If she did that, she would be outcast from society for being a Jezebel!😉
Excellent video Jago! Always wondered about the evolution of the Jubilee Line, (having noticed on an old 1960s tube map, that North of Baker Street, the line was Bakerloo at the time); I had not known that prior to that it was part of the Metropolitan Line. I also thought that Kings Cross St. Pancras had more tube platforms than Baker Street, but understand better now. Great stuff yet again. Thanks very much 👏🏾♥️👍🏾
For all those asking for why Baker Street was the _first_ when it opened with the rest of the original Metropolitan Railway, here's my interpretation. For the first seven station, only the middle three (Baker Street, Great Portland Street, Euston Square) were actually underground. The other four (Farringdon, old King's Cross, Edgware Road and Paddington) were in cuttings or downright in the open. The first timetable suggested that the very first trains depart from both termini on 10 January 1863. Baker Street was the first underground station to be served by one of these two trains, as it took longer to run from Farringdon to Euston Square than from Paddington to Baker Street.
Euston Square and Great Portland Street were revamped and look much newer, which helps undermine their claim. (and the original Farringdon isn't the current one, like Kings Cross). Also, while they all opened on the same day, they didn't open at the same time. To take an example from less than 158 hours ago, rather than more than 158 years ago, Nine Elms is newer than Battersea Power Station as it opened minutes later. If the first trains ran from Paddington (as they did BPS) then they'd have reached Baker Street minutes before the other two underground stops, making Baker Street the first underground station to open, even though the other two opened very soon afterwards.
@@sihollett Great Portland Street platforms don't look that different to Baker street ones neither in my memories of London (it has been some time, though) nor in photos I checked. Definetly strong victorian look on that one.
Interesting vid. I've seen countless pictures of the station showing it's huge smoke vents but never seen a photo showing how these came out into the street. Anyone know how this was done?
So glad you've done a video on this station! I was so tired the one and only time I used it that I didn't notice all the great architecture and the meandering way the station appears to me laid out. *sigh* Hopefully by this time next year I can go wandering through here properly.
I love the bin service comment. I remember the restoration in the 80s and Baker Street looks amazing still, my favourite. One thing I always wondered was why does the Whitechapel sign look like it was an afterthought or temporary attachment (@ 6:35).
Whilst the "ventilation shafts" may have served marginally as that, they were intended to allow natural light on to the platform (to reassure passengers), which is why they are now lit to recreate the effect.
In 1957, I was at the Met Office's training school at Stanmore but in digs at Preston Road requiring frequent changes at Wembley Park. My home was in Westcliff-on-Sea and I used the old City bus from Wood Green for the journey home. Going back to my digs on a Sunday meant changing onto the terminating platforms at Baker Street and joining the Metropolitan going to Metroland. These trains were electric loco hauled and since there was no connection through to the loco for the guard to give 'right away' there was a pair of wires that ran the length of the platform and the guard would use the brass ferrule on the handle of his flag to short between those wires and this would sound a bell to the driver at the other end of the platform.
"You know you're rich when your bin has its own train service." And just like that, Jago Hazzard wins the internet yet again.
Such clever writing. You have a great talent for communicating information. Well done sir!
Wonderful! I had one of the shops inside the station in the 80’s. I loved the station. It had so many great and quirky characters working there too, especially the newspaper sellers who had been there since the Second World War! There was also a fantastic and lively pub called Moriarty’s too. Many a blurry evening spent in there! I’m assuming that’s all gone by now. Even so, it’s still a jewel of a station in my view. Thanks for the great video!
When you arrive on a Circle or H&C train at the platform which _isn’t_ next to the Met ones, you take a staircase up to the walkway across the original two platforms, turning _Left_ at the top of those stairs to do so…
Were one to turn RIGHT, however, you’d leave the station from the very first entrance/exit which the Tube ever had… which is _actually on Baker Street_ rather than the Marylebone Road (it’s located near where the roundel can be seen at 4:38).
Long ago my Pa worked near the station and I’d visit him from school, and then we’d both head home together, so I often used this exit, which gives you an idea how far back that was… because for as long as anyone can now remember, it’s been shuttered on the street side; while that staircase top, Right-turn, was barred by a concertina gate. You could still peek through for a long time at the crumbling dank interior of what was likely the very, very oldest part, of the oldest station on the whole network.
I’ve very much been waiting for Jago to make a vid on this first station, but highly doubt H.G. Wells ever *really* lived at Chiltern Court, because he’d a whole townhouse just nearby, in one of those grand stucco buildings on the Outer Circle (where there’s a blue plaque - whyever would one move?).
There’s also a stone tablet near that Baker Street entrance for Chiltern Court which names the locale as the HQ for the S.O.E. during WWII… meaning that first Underground station was likely the last a great many agents ever entered.
Very good, except the only visible plaque commemorating SOE's activities is not on Baker Street, but at 1 Dorset Square, where the French section was headquartered. Dorset Square (the first Lord's cricket ground), is equidistant between Baker Street and Marylebone, so agents are as likely to have used either station.
@@allenwilliams1306 You sure about that - _they didn’t have multiple offices in that area?_ Though, as mentioned, it’s not since childhood that it was a stomping ground so more than happy to defer.
@@michaeljames4904 They did indeed have multiple offices in that area. I dimly recall 64 Baker Street having been the address of overall SOE HQ at one time, but that would be about a quarter of a mile south of Marylebone Road. Somebody may have stuck a plaque on that, too, by now, I suppose, but the one I alluded to (bear in mind I was talking about only the French Section of SOE) was in stone and unveiled by the Queen Mother in 1957.
@@allenwilliams1306 I feel we may both be correct as a quick Search Engine throws up that the Executive, at the end of 1940, was set up initially in two family apartments off *”Baker Street”* - which itself became one of the many euphemistic terms for the S.O.E. - given that, _’[b]y 1943 the various mansion blocks dotted along Baker Street through to Gloucester Place contained a myriad of SOE offices and HQ's. With over 10,000 people working for the organization (about half of these actually agents in the field) the pressure for working space was ever present.’_
Probably the best part of the last 10 years of my working life, which happily ended on 6th May this year, was waiting in platform 6 each weekday evening for my train home. Since I retired, I keep finding reasons to go to or through Baker Street Station. Even though there is both a Sainsbury's and a Tesco on Ladbroke Grove, I will get on the tube and go to Baker Street Co-op just for the hell of it.
Wait: is that why we call underground lines “metro” ? As in Metropolitan line? This is so fascinating! Always enjoy watching your videos. Cheers!
That is indeed the reason.
@@JagoHazzard We've only just begun getting "metro" lines here in Sydney. Our underground "City Circle" lines were designed to handle normal trains. I suspect that the current craze of "metro" lines in Sydney is more to do with "jobs for the boys" - big construction companies. Some "brown paper bags" no doubt changing hands.
I believe "metro" doesn't come *directly* from London but is actually an abbreviation first used in Paris to describe their company called the Metropolitan Railway (now the Paris Metro), which took its own name from London's Metropolitan Railway.
Yet the London Underground system is not called "Metro".
DERP
you are a wonderful communicator. I never knew the Tube's history could be so interesting and weirdly calming in these weird times!
Brilliant ! - I gave a little cheer when I saw the title, I spent many years using Baker Street as my stop to go to work. Incidently the earliest Cricket pitch can be found at Dorset Square, a short walk before Marylebone.
Oh and never knew about the rubbish train for the homes above ground. ( Wow).
Wonderful video Jago, as someone who grew up in Metroland, Baker Street is easily the station I associate most with my childhood memories of the Underground. I had no idea about the Baker Street East title. As you mentioned it briefly at the end, you may be interested in a 3-part series I’ve just completed on the Glasgow Subway 😉 Stay well and keep up the great work.
Same. As someone who grew up in Harrow, Baker Street was always the gateway into Central London for me
@@apx2444 Exactly the same as me ;-)
A premier tale indeed, Mr H. Like many others, I find your tales intriguing and irresistible. What did we do before we had them to entertain and inform us? Indeed, what did you do before you entertained and informed us? If Baker Street is the premier tube station, Mr H is the premier raconteur. And long may you succeed. Simon T
As you put it as the beginning of underground systems in the world, that's another reason for you British citizens to be proud of your country. I love your stories of London underground
5:50 Great video Jago. Always loved the W H Smith and Luncheon & Tea Room signs that have been kept ❤️ Makes me wish I had a time machine to experience what it was like 100 years ago. I’ve drank in that Whetherspoons pub. It’s lovely inside.
Damn 125k subscribers, I remember when you only had 10k... Haven't watched your videos in ages as I've had lot of stuff to do but I'm back 🤝 see you next video Jago
@@marceline3986 my eyes saw 144k, no need to be rude my guy
@@marceline3986 there's really no need for you to comment on this channel if you have nothing nice today... Get a life man
@@marceline3986
There's no need to be GROSS.
Did you see what I did there?
144......gross ,I'm wasted here
I'm so funny.
@@marceline3986 dude are you alright 😂😬
Awesome !! It's a piece of art. I love the ventilation chambers on the side of the walls. Aarre Peltomaa
1:22 when the station was refurbished in the 80s, I recall LT made a big thing about the new lighting in those ventilation shafts being designed to mimic sunlight.
Best video yet Jago! Having moved to north London and recently found myself using Baker Street frequently, it has become my favourite station.
Gerry Raferty wrote Baker Street in homage to all the time he spent busking there.
Yes - and to his horrified surprise that single number made him a millionaire.
Wow, to hear Gerry echoing Baker Street in Baker Street. I thought the story was the once a week trips into London on Baker Street negotiating with his wifes divorce lawyer, daydreaming about life being single again, irritated by the difficulty finding parking downtown... which is why the video oddly starts with a shot of a parking meter as kind of a metafor or something..... That's the wild story he gave... He was a nutty as Ian Anderson. Loved both of those guys....😁
No he didn't.
I met Cat Stevens (or as he then was, Yusuf Islam) on Baker Street station, in my commuting days, he had this aura of calm about him, lovely guy
Yep,"I'm gonna get me a gun".
One of his records.
A real air of calm about him!!
@@simonwinter8839 take a listen to tea for the tillerman or teaser and the firecat
@@jimrodgers6441
Oh God,must I.
"I once saw Ringo Starr on Kensington High Street. Or it might have been Topol, that chap from Fiddler on the Roof. He was a long way off, so it could have been either. Or anybody, really".
@@andrewemery4272
One was a rich man and the other wished he was one.
BAKER STREET will always be my favourite because I lived above it as a kid on the 7th Floor in Chiltern Court TV star "Hughie Green" lived there at that time and he had a train layout too!~
So you lived above your station!
@@rayfisher3921 Yes Seven floors up, and I could get on the roof and watch the Met line from there.
A very nice video, I really enjoyed this, and very touching at the end with the statement Baker Street is where it all started... 🙂 It is a great station...
Thanks for the mention of Harrow-on-the-Hill - I grew up in Harrow (although not on the hill) and Baker Street was the station we always travelled to into London, so this brought back happy memories. Would love to see a Metroland-themed video or two sometime ❤️
This is one of my favorite Tube stations!
My grandad left his walking stick on rhe underground nany years ago .. and went to the Lost Property Office at Baker Street to see if it had been handed in.
And as luck would have it, it had been - excep the powers that be weren't too keen on handling it back ... as it wasn't just a walking stick - it was a sword stick !
As a Northerner, Metroland was the indoor amusement Park with a roller-coaster in the Metrocentre in the 1990s/early 2000s. First of me learning about it being used as a term for something else.
I'm from the area and I miss Metroland! Whenever I hear of it on these videos I think of the commuters on the purple roller coaster and the balloon ferris wheel!
That’s funny Lorna - when I was researching Metroland (the North London one) the Internet searches kept showing me this indoor theme park (at the Metrocentre) that I knew nothing about! This must be the real north south divide! 😀
@@Petecope Worth pointing people to Sir John Betjeman's 'Metro-land' (1973 BBC TV documentary) about the railway and its impact on north-west London and surrounding countryside.
Your bringing back bad memories. Being a softie southerner I only went there once. My friends and I being about the only people in there one night in the late 80s. The person controlling the bumper cars made as get off each time, and requeue. The person controlling the roller-coaster took the stance of "I will just keep it running until you want to get off". I think we went around nearly 20 times 🤢
@@MichaelDembinski Wasn’t that excellent. Not only a great documentary about Metroland itself but a fascinating snapshot of that area in 1973. I may be in a minority of one but I’d love to see what all those places look like now, along with all the changes. ‘’Metroland 2 The Next Generation’ anyone?
We were in London on 4 and 5 July during our two week trip to Paris, and I so much wanted to go see the original platforms at Baker Street, we just ended up running out of time. It'll have to be for our next trip. Cheers from Montreal, QC Canada!
As others have mentioned: How can this be the only station that opened that moment back then? I mean you need at least two stations to run a train...
Given the broad gauge, perhaps the other first station was at Paddington.
Now I don't know if Baker Street has a reputation of being the first underground station, but this is bullshit! The whole line from Paddington to Farrington opened on 10 January 1863, including Baker Street of course. According to Wikipedia anyway, as I clearly wasn't there myself!
@@pvuccino To take a much more recent example, Nine Elms is the newest tube station. Battersea Power Station station runs it close, but opened a couple of minutes earlier. Similar would have happened 158 years ago as happened less than 158 hours ago - that multiple stations opened in a day, but not at the same time during that day.
However, it seems odd that Baker St would have been the first in 1863. Perhaps it was the first fully-underground station to open, as the two stations west of there are above ground (Paddington) and in an open cut (Edgware Road). Certainly its the only one that looks like it originally did (save Paddington perhaps, but that's not underground) - Edgware Road was rebuild, Great Portland St and Euston Square were renovated and look much newer, and Kings Cross and Farringdon were re-sited and so aren't original.
I was thinking that, otherwise it would be as useful as the Omsk Metro. But, being the first of the stations on the day to either open its doors or see service makes sense.
He did say underground. Not the first station.
The guy in grey who nearly trips over at 5:00 made be giggle. Although I moved away from London year ago due to prices, crime and general mis-management, my heart is always there.
Last time I visited London, I did indeed make a special trip to Baker Street specifically to see and get pictures of the original station platforms. I'm glad that part of the station been so well preserved.
Beautiful beautiful Baker Street. If fills the eye with so many beautiful details
I love the "ligth-eaters" of the platforms, in the past the sun ligth did entrance throught theirs..... It was made with bricks making beautiful archs.... The lightings inside the platforms are beauty too.
Golly - what a fine viseo packed with information, so much so, I will need to watch it again to understand it all.
well - I have watched it a second time, this time with a TfL tube on beside it. Even then baker st seems a jumble. Must pay it a visit.
Shame it’s Operated under CBTC ATO now 😢,
interestingly Marylebone on the Bakerloo still has the gap in the tunnel where the cross over used to be!
Get outta here, shoo! The Underground isn't radioactive! At least... I hope it isn't...
Two Internet phenome, phenam, phomomomonen. Two Internet sensations in one video!
CBTC ATO?
London RUclips Mafia in da house!!!!!!
Why's that a shame, PD? He's referring to "Automatic train operation", designed to rule out human error.
Thanks for the detailed history.🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
Baker Street...
Now I gotta listen to some Gerry Rafferty
Hehe, I was already hearing him in my head when I saw the title
(and he's in my recommended on this video, too)
Same here and I’m across the pond reminiscing on my time there while in college.
Always love passing through this station on the odd chances I need to go to West London. The wooden flights of stairs and the wooden panel always get me.
I always like visiting Baker Street, so much history to see. Knowing it’s background makes using it easier!
With the city's hustle and bustle nothing makes me appreciate it more than your videos...Thank you!
A very nice station, and a very nice Wetherspoons too.
In the beginning, there was darkness. And then... Baker Street. Boston started in 1897 with Boylston and Park stations, which don't contain any of Baker Street's fanciness.
Didn't the Boston subway start out as just a tunnel to divert trolleys off the city streets?
The Jago Hazzard channel is like the a never-ending ever game of Mornington Crescent. :-) It never fails to entertain and amuse.
Have had a letter from a Mrs Trellis of North Wales....
@@andrewphillips9391 This thread is getting like singing the words of one song to the tune of another. :-)
That Wetherspoons pub is a nice one. I used to frequent it when I lived and worked on Daventry Street.
I've always wondered though, where did those ventilatiom shafts from the platforms lead to on the surface?
Baker Street and Great Portland Street's circle/met/H&C platforms definitely give off that "historic" vibe without feeling horribly outdated, and if you don't look too closely, the electric lights in the ventilation portholes do make you feel like daylight is just beyond the confines of that otherwise pretty dark space, which is fitting considering it's cut and cover. I personally think Great Portland Street is a cooler station just because it has a building more or less all to itself, which makes it stand out and look more important from the surface.
I will never forget the first time I alighted at the old platforms. The musty smell and the sense of history made it one of my favourite tube stations instantly. The Wetherspoons is a real good 'un incidentally.
Surely there must have been two stations, otherwise for the few years the trains would just go from Baker Street to, errr, Baker Street.
same problem about who they called when the phone was invented.
@@BoyceBailey
And Jane Couch was described as the first woman to gain a professional boxing licence. Did she fight herself?
@@BoyceBailey The first Fax machine
Another one of Jago's videos that make me go "hmmm... I really should visit London again one of these days."
Happy Birthday, Baker Street station! 160 years old today!🚂
Jago,you have so waxed poetic,that a common,everyday subway station sounds something out of Wonderland! When you consider that the Metropolitan did things well,and they built to last,their legacy is there for all those who discern real greatness! No one,who studies transport history,and not knowing the London Underground,as a pioneer in many areas,and second to none in world wide fame[ deserved],would fault its builders,and architect's,as they put their mark in London,and eventually the world! Still is beautiful,after all the millions who passed through,around,and seeming shows no wear and tear,on its surfaces! Thank you for your diligence and persistence for the beauty of another great video! 👍!!
Here in the S.F. Bay Area we have BART as our subway/suburban railroad. It is edging toward 50 years old. The only station of note that I can think of is Embarquedaro in S.F. It has opening from the mezzanine to the BART platforms at the lowest level.
Best sax solo ever!
Bob Holmes didn't play it.
Bugger this spellchecker.
Bob Holness didn't play it.
Not sure.... I love the solo in Hazel O Conner's 'Will You?'.
Love this one so much. Baker Street is legendary and also very interesting.
Excellent stuff, Jago. As I’ve probably mentioned before, I used to work for a travel firm in Dorset square so I spent much time in Baker Street Station (and the Wetherspoons!!)
I wonder if Marylebone could have a new tube station next door so that Circle and Hammersmith and City Lines can serve Marylebone as well the Bakerloo Line that serves Marylebone. Perhaps you could do Marylebone and the history of Marylebone station.
As it happens, I’m planning one on Marylebone. I have the footage, I have the research material, just need to write a script.
Marylebone is such a beautiful station with the remains of Network Southeast.
@@JagoHazzard You could also throw in references to various films and music videos that have used the station !
@@neilthehermit4655 I agree
YES GIMME THAT TRAIN VIDEO DADDY
Did you know all so underneath Chiltern court it has its own Rifle Range and a intact Air raid shelter from the 2nd world war . The home all so to SOE part of Churchill secret Army . Great video and brought back some incredible memories used to live in Chilton Court and managed to block in the late 80s for approximately eight years
It was always a dream to live in Chiltern Court, at least if I won a lottery jackpot.
1980s went to Baker St I was impressed loved the holes for steam. Happy memories 🙂👍
"It all began with one station" So, on Saturday, 10 January 1863, trains took on passengers - and just sat there? It all began with one line - Baker Street to Farringdon.
Paddington to Farringdon. But a line doesn't open simultaneously. eg Nine Elms is the newest tube station, opening minutes later than Battersea Power Station.
“The Metropolitan considers itself a cut above the other underground lines”. Still feels very true today. You can understand why - they were the first.
Great channel, keep them coming.
It was certainly a cut (and cover) above the deep-level tube lines.
Excellent education as always, my thanks to you Sir.
Great video, loved seeing platform 5 for myself yesterday and Chiltern court too. Was half expecting a steam train to turn up at the platform at one point.
I have a London Underground vıdeo. I bet you will love it
I did enjoy this video. I was impressed with Barker Street station the first time I saw it in 1997. I just said wow to myself, this place is something else. I need to visit the bar. Thanks.
The fact it's still there in it's Glory, old but clean just shows it's very history shouldn't be modernised ever....great video Jago
Outstanding video Jago.
Thank you for this, it's easily my favourite station and railway company. It was all so, as the youth would have it, "suss" or "dodge"! One day I'm going to have a model railway based around the Metropolitan Railway, but set in an alternate universe where a loophole was found and they stayed independent of the LPTB for a few more years
You can see Jago's a proper Gentleman. Got all the way through without mentioning Jerry Rafferty..
Ta Jago.
JERRY Rafferty ?????? hmmmmmmmm
I used to think that it'd be so easy, but Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes..
@@martyonline1957 Didn't he play in a band with that Willy Connolly blokie?... Sure it was the same fella...
Ta.
@@Peasmouldia
Indeed he did,with Billy and they were called The Humblebums.
@@Peasmouldia no no no that was Silly Connolly
That was strangely poetic.
Surely worth a visit, thanks for the information!
Visited London in winter 2019 and spent some time riding the Tube, it’s fun. I got off at Baker Street to have a glance......I’m amazed how Londoners back then hundred years ago took the underground railway. As a hongkonger, we got newer stations and longer trains, but the Tube is special and historical. And thank you UK for bringing underground railway to Hong Kong during the British-HK era...the good old days.
My Grandad fred fenton started at Paddington but when the met and gwr parted company he decided to go with the metropolitan and went to Baker Street. Over the years I am not sure what he did there but ended his days as a ticket inspector there retirement in the 50s. He rented a house on the metropolitan estate at Neasden where he brought up the fenton family.
Very interesting story Jago. Thank you :)
Great Video Jago. I studied abroad in the UK years ago and it STILL nags me I missed the 150th Anniversary by a few weeks and I would’ve LOVED to have seen Baker Street for that occasion. I did have the opportunity to pass through Baker Street a few times but would’ve DEFINITELY loved more visits.
One of my favourite stations 👍
Another great video Jago. I’ve used Baker Street so many times and never realised how much history there is there.
Re: Broad Gauge. We have a lot of viaducts down here in Cornwall. That's down to the local topography. But when GWR built them they went for a quick and cheap half brick/half wood construction. Apparently Brunel pointed out they'd need to be replaced as trains got bigger but the financiers said 'we can worry about that later'. Of course they did eventually have to be replaced. So a lot of the existing viaducts have the pillars of the original ones next to them. But as you walk under them, which I do quite a bit, you really notice how much wider the old ones were. The new ones are just standard gauge; but the old ones are the old broad gauge.
The Metropolitan bar; formerly the London Transport recruitment centre, was not just for Underground recruitment, but also the same for the buses. Back in the days when they were both London transport.
Back in the day, I often used to change at Baker Street en route to Wembley to watch an England match at the 'old' stadium or a gig at the Arena. Stevenage to King's Cross to Baker Street to Wembley Park. Therefore I associate it with travelling for leisure rather than commuting.
Always loved Baker St. Have the same feel on James St in Liverpool, i.e. an interesting historical station that just happens o be sub surface. Thanks!
Never realised Baker Street was the very first, thank you.
I was living in london in the 1980's when baker street was restored. There was talk of the shafts being opened up again to let natural light back in. Im assuming later developments after opening meant they would no longer filter light inwards if opened up.
I’ve often wondered about that aspect myself. Where would the ‘holes’ emerge on the surface?
You get/have ALL the likes in my book...! What a pleasant video 🙌
Great story!
If Baker Street was the first Underground Station, where could you go? My pedantic side says you'd need at least two stations open at the same time to go anywhere.
Much in the way that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone but had nobody to call!
Mr Lovelace is no pedant. He is a correctician! One station = a building. Two stations = a railway. #seemples
I was thinking this also. The same with football teams?
He only said that Baker Street was the first *underground* station. Perhaps it connected to an overground station.
@@normanstevens4924 For the first seven station, only the middle three (Baker Street, Great Portland Street, Euston Square) were actually underground. The other four (Farringdon, old King's Cross, Edgware Road and Paddington) were in cuttings or downright in the open. The first timetable suggested that the very first trains depart from both sides. Baker Street was the first underground station to be served by one of these two trains, as it's longer to run from Farringdon to Euston Square than from Paddington to Baker Street.
The Metropolitan bar used to be the the LU recruitment centre. That's where I went to in 89 to sign up to be a guard and do the aptitude tests. I think they moved it mid to late 90's
It's a surprising allocation of prime real estate to put a lost property depot in South Kensington!
Another fantastic video Jago. Just as a side note the River Tyburn flows above the southern end of the Hammersmith and City/Circle Line platforms. You can see it as a dirty white structure traversing over the tracks in a reinforced cast iron tube.
From Paris to Pyongyang! Rolls off the tongue.
What did those ventilation shafts look like on the surface? Some kind of chimney in the middle of the pavement? Or is there even a street right above the platforms?
I would presume some kind off grill in the surface of the street. They were built by cut and cover, following roads. At the time the railways weren't allowed under buildings for fear of disturbing the buildings foundations. It wasn't until the deep tube that they were.
@@roberthill6216 Just a grill? Yeesh. Must have been fun to stand there when a stream train was directly below!
@@dT6E7hmja4iXjsJw I don't know for certain, I'm just presuming!
@@roberthill6216 I like the mental image of surprised Victorians getting an unexpected blast of smoke and steam up the hoop skirts! 😄
@@dT6E7hmja4iXjsJw So do I. A Victorian lady would never show her ankles. That's hardcore pornography, let alone showing her under garments. If she did that, she would be outcast from society for being a Jezebel!😉
My favourite station...the smell alone takes me back to being a small child.
Excellent video Jago! Always wondered about the evolution of the Jubilee Line, (having noticed on an old 1960s tube map, that North of Baker Street, the line was Bakerloo at the time); I had not known that prior to that it was part of the Metropolitan Line. I also thought that Kings Cross St. Pancras had more tube platforms than Baker Street, but understand better now.
Great stuff yet again. Thanks very much 👏🏾♥️👍🏾
For all those asking for why Baker Street was the _first_ when it opened with the rest of the original Metropolitan Railway, here's my interpretation.
For the first seven station, only the middle three (Baker Street, Great Portland Street, Euston Square) were actually underground. The other four (Farringdon, old King's Cross, Edgware Road and Paddington) were in cuttings or downright in the open.
The first timetable suggested that the very first trains depart from both termini on 10 January 1863. Baker Street was the first underground station to be served by one of these two trains, as it took longer to run from Farringdon to Euston Square than from Paddington to Baker Street.
Euston Square and Great Portland Street were revamped and look much newer, which helps undermine their claim. (and the original Farringdon isn't the current one, like Kings Cross).
Also, while they all opened on the same day, they didn't open at the same time. To take an example from less than 158 hours ago, rather than more than 158 years ago, Nine Elms is newer than Battersea Power Station as it opened minutes later. If the first trains ran from Paddington (as they did BPS) then they'd have reached Baker Street minutes before the other two underground stops, making Baker Street the first underground station to open, even though the other two opened very soon afterwards.
@@sihollett Great Portland Street platforms don't look that different to Baker street ones neither in my memories of London (it has been some time, though) nor in photos I checked. Definetly strong victorian look on that one.
Chiltern Court was also housed the London Transport computing centre around the late 1970s..
Interesting vid. I've seen countless pictures of the station showing it's huge smoke vents but never seen a photo showing how these came out into the street. Anyone know how this was done?
Video is spot on. So much going on.
So glad you've done a video on this station! I was so tired the one and only time I used it that I didn't notice all the great architecture and the meandering way the station appears to me laid out. *sigh* Hopefully by this time next year I can go wandering through here properly.
was there today I do like the restored "luncheon and tea room" sign in the main entrance !!
this is yet another great informative video. Thanks :)
I love the bin service comment. I remember the restoration in the 80s and Baker Street looks amazing still, my favourite. One thing I always wondered was why does the Whitechapel sign look like it was an afterthought or temporary attachment (@ 6:35).
Whilst the "ventilation shafts" may have served marginally as that, they were intended to allow natural light on to the platform (to reassure passengers), which is why they are now lit to recreate the effect.
Excellent video as per usual 👌