@@alexball5907 The planned works at South Ken will (hopefully, if they don't stuff it up or have to cut scope too far) bring step-free access to the District & Circle lines. Looks like we'll have to wait and see what happens with the Pic though. Source: tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/south-kensington
Yeah I was starting to worry that the clip of South Kensington station in the sleet might overtake the one of Yerkes in terms of repeated use in Jagos videos but then the old bounder appeared again.
The long underground pedestrian tunnel from the Underground Station to the Science Museum is so overengineered, that as a kid I thought it that must have been a rail line at some stage!
Yes Me too. My first visit to the Science museum ( and on the tube ) had mum taking me (aged 6 I think ) down the tunnel and I was convinced that, despite the lack of track, a train would suddenly appear and we'd have to leap clear !
Yes. The brass letters embedded in the pavement saying something like, (remembering off the top of my head years after) "Wilkes & Co Patented flooring Devonshire Sq. London E" always fascinated me. I don't know who or what Wilkes & Co were, or even if I've got the name right, but that granolithic floor is absolutely excellent top notch piece of work.
I vaguely remember a story I was told as a child about there being werewolves in the foot tunnel. No other members of my family can recall being told this, so it may just be wishful thinking on my part. But isn't it an obvious place for them to live?
I just finished studying at Imperial College and had my graduation in the Albert Hall. This station was my home for the past 5 years and although I'm moving back to London soon, I'm going to miss walking through the area every morning and night
In 1976, the year of the great heat and drought, the tunnel between the station and the museums was probably the coolest place in London. Those of us who knew flocked there!
The acoustics in the foot-tunnel are amazing. I remember a busker in the 90s who had a casio kybd and a guitar phaser knocking out J.M.Jarre to entertain punters going to the Albert hall. Maybe a feature on busking one day - and remind people of those two blokes in cat suits playing Part Time Lover on trumpets.
I haven't been there for years, but some sort of travelator for the foot tunnel to the museums might be a good idea... hopefully they've fixed the dripping water etc and improved the lighting- I always found it a bit spooky, and it is a long way to walk for young children and less mobile people
As someone who lives nearby and is involved in the consultation, I can assure you they won't be affordable houses no! They also knocked back plans for any greening/tree planting. The development is basically predicated on the fact that the street alongside the railway was originally a long row of shops suspended over the railway line (which included the original Laura Ashley store). So according to them they're only 'restoring' the original plan.
When I worked in Central London I passed through this station as part of my daily commute, and only now I am finding out about an abandoned tunnel!!!! Shocking!
The Great Exhibition of 1851 holds an interesting place in British social history. The first key main line railways had been built by then and ran cheap excursion trains to it. For many people, their first ever trip outside their local area was to London for the Great Exhibition. Given all the places we can travel to nowadays, it's amazing to think that up to 200 years ago many people had never travelled much more than 10 miles from their home village, and 60 years ago many people had never been abroad (unless sent for war).
In the 1980s my secondary school, like many others, offered students trips abroad at (what was presumably) great expense. Quite a few parents were adamant that one way or another they would find the money in order to give their kids the opportunity to visit foreign countries that they themselves had never had. And we're not talking about the USA or Australia, we're talking about France, Germany, Spain (beyond the Costas!) and Switzerland. I think a lot of people born into the budget-airline-era would be surprised at how few people had travelled widely outside the UK before then and indeed just how expensive it was to do so whether you flew or went by rail & ferry (or, if you were very adventurous, drove).
It's even mentioned in the Nightmare Song in Gilbert & Sullivan's "Iolanthe": "And you're giving a treat (Penny ice and cold meat) To a party of friends and relations. They're a ravenous horde And they all came on board At Sloane Square and South Kensington Stations."
Grand video with added Yerkes. I usually visit London for the Proms and the orange broom cupboard in Lexham Gardens that I normally stay at because I'm a cheapskate is fairly close to South Kensington. I wish they'd built the subway + tramway all the way to the Albert Hall!
The central London District lines platforms are so attractive because they are open to the sky and have not only daylight but sometimes even sunlight. This is a far greater amenity than some anonymous block of flats. Also TfL, please convert that dusty and unused platform into a herbaceous border, the bees need the work.
Thanks Jago. One of my favourite stations, due to the fact I've used it on many occasions since the 1950's, when visiting the museums; especially the Science Museum. Trouble is, they've changed the exhibits so often, much of the stuff I remember from my childhood, is no longer on display today. There were models of well-known Steam Trains in Glass cases. There was a button you pushed and the wheels would turn and you could see how the connecting rods and other external parts worked. Fascinating for us kids. Shame they aren't available for today's children to see.
The models are probably in the depths of the National Railway Museum ("part of the Science Museum Group")'s stores but not on display because they're not sexy enough and can't be explained in three-to-five words of two syllables or less. The days when museums were intended to educate and interest as well as amuse seem to have long gone. :(
District: Fees to be over the Metropolitan tracks? Oh no! District illegally building their own track: *ANYWAY!* "II wish people would stop making proposals, no one likes them except property developers and they're everything that's wrong with modern London" you can say this about pretty much every city. I mean have you seen the new bland skyscrapers they're building in NYC or stuffing a Caesar's Vegas casino in Times Square? Ah yes, Jago and Yerkes...they go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Yup. They've destroyed parts of Boston too the same way. The Back Bay section of Boston is all brownstone houses, churches, and wide boulevards with shops. Located in the same area was the big Boston and Albany coaching yards for South Station and Back Bay Station. In the 1960s, the Prudential Center went up and wiped all big hunk of that putting the railroad under the parking garage and concreting over a whole neighborhood. Around the same time as the Prudential Center, Government Center was built on what was Scollay Square. In the typical Carthage fashion of the time, there's little left to indicate that the area ever existed. Today, there's talk of redoing this stark, desolate flat mound with the mushroom on it which is Boston's City Hall but not much has been done yet except knockdown the parking garage at Haymarket Square which is located a few blocks away. That area too was subject to the great wipe out of the '60s and 70s. Cities are exciting places, at least to me, and I find with the modernization they've lost their character.
Nice bit of research. Used to live on 14 Pelham street in the mid to late seventies. Could see the trains down below and stil remember the noise they made. Only found out a year ago that there used to be a row of shops across the street. The first Laura Ashley was housed there. They were demolished in the early seventies.
When I was a schoolkid in the late fifties early sixties I remember that some District line trains, especially during rush hour, would run nonstop through Gloucester Rd and South Kensington using the extra pair of outside tracks, bypassing any Circle line stoppers.
Wonderful video thanks: When we were at South Kensington this summer, my family and I became obsessed by that Flatiron building at 8:15 Love that the railway ploughed through it, but they kept every last inch of it at that crazy angle!
When I was young, particularly during the Callaghan Labour government, my family visited London at least twice or three times. Our hotel was only 400 meters away from South Kensington which was our closest tube station. I remember there were two levels for the station, Circle and District on the subsurface level, and the Picadilly on the underground level. Only in January 1997 did I go back on my own, and see what I vaguely remember from my childhood.
The entrance to the station is so modest and out of keeping with all the grandness around it. @4:50, surely there is no need to mention his name any more. Regular viewers recognise him on sight.
The Science Museum and National History Museum were very fun to go to in 2008 when I was 8. I loved the grain machine in the Science Museum. I went to both Museums again in 2009 and 2011.
A great story of the ups and downs of South Kensington station .. and as far as hidden tunnels - over to Siddy Holloway and her friends in LTE 🤣 Thanks for the story telling Jago!
I've always liked small arcades like the one here .... and the rather posh ones around the bottom end of Mayfair. There's a decent art nouveau one in Norwich I visited recently too.... now that could almost be an idea for a series of videos ... . . ..
The decoirative gates advertise the Metropolitan Railway. Before the Circle Line was completed in the 1880s, the original Metropolitan service ran from Farringdon (and later Moorgate) as far as South Kensington, and the District didn't venture beyond High Street Kensington. Nowadays the Met comes no nearer than Baker Street (or Paddington if you include the Hammersmith & City branch)
Thanks Jago; a long-overdue 'have a drink on me' to say thx for genuinely life-enhancing content you've provided us over the years. As they say say in downtown Kingston: More time my brethren 👍🏿
"Again, rather than solve it like adults" ah, so just like the House of Commons...some things never change when it comes to deciding Britain's infrastructure. Building a big memorial for your spouse after their passing and naming an area after them like Albertopolis sounds like something my family would do.
South Kensington station is one I've always found interesting, mostly because of that long passageway. Very fascinating facts about this station in this video. :)
Until the present platform end barriers were installed one could go to the front of the eastbound Piccadilly Line platform, peer into the Stygian gloom and perhaps make out the step plate junction where the proposed District express tunnel would have carried straight on while the Piccadilly turns left through two sixteen chain reverse curves before Passing Brompton Road (which video by JH is worth watching) and reaching Knightsbridge.
On a side note, the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 still exists and awards fellowships and scholarships to further study in the industrial arts. YT won't let me paste the link.
The Metropolitan Line service which ran from South Kensington round to Edgware Road and beyond. Until 1933, the District went no further than High Street Kensington.
@@norbitonflyer5625 Well I think most of us interpret that met route as a circle service ! and just accept the quaintness of old info as long as the maps are clear
@@norbitonflyer5625 From Aldgate Presumably - was there ever a means of getting North of Baker Street then round to Notting Hill Gate for example without crossing platforms at Baker Street ?
When you said 'four to five stories high, in keeping with the area' I at first heard 'forty-five stories high', and thought 'What has happened to that area?!'
Always loved the decorative & informative wrought iron screens above both entrances to the station, they add a genteel aesthetic to the place that lifts your spirit as soon as you see them.
I may be wrong as my memory is becoming more befuddled as I become more ancient but, when I was at school in the late 50s/early 60s, I seem to remember that the District and Circle lines split between Gloucester Road and South Kensington (westbound) and the District used the 3rd platform whilst the Circle used the adjacent westbound part of the island platform. This allowed the District to proceed towards Earls Court without delay if a Circle line train was waiting for an eastbound District line train to cross the tracks in front of it..........but as I said, maybe I'm wrong. Please let me know and put my mind to rest 🤔
It would be lovely if you would make a video for the befuddled tube using tourist. Loads of times tourists use the wrong tube station to visit places eg Regents Park instead of Camden station when visiting to London Zoo 🤷🏼♀️ and I’m sure there are many more examples. Just a thought and I must thank you for your videos, they are great 👍🏻 x fee
Abbey Road station on the DLR apparently gets more than a few tourists looking for the famous recording studios. I watched American 'first visit to London' RUclipsrs make this mistake recently. How I laughed!
As a befuddled tourist some years ago, I yearn for a geographically accurate tube map rather than the Harry Beck design we now have. I had no idea that Bayswater Station on the Circle Line was just around the corner from Queensway station on the Central Line. I needed to get to Euston Square, but instead I ended up on a long, complicated and unnecessary detour only to end up at Euston in a panicked state when I couldn't find the sign for the Gower Street exit. Google Maps would have been useful, if my phone battery wasn't dead from taking too many photos at Buckingham and Kensington Palaces, and I was relying on my memory to get to where I needed to go.
Having binge watched all of your videos over the last few years. I love your writing style and voiceover work. I am convinced that using your narration as a basis for a libreto, a World class opera could be mounted describing the history, tragedy, humor and heartbreak of London public transport. Seriously. I love your work. Please keep posting your fantastic productions
As someone who uses the station daily, I really think the station needs step free access. It’s not uncommon to see families with pushchairs trying to get up the stairs and clogging them up. I do like the feel of the station, but it isn’t adequate as a station serving the museums (and Imperial College, which is actually responsible for the waves of students)
Having used this line whilst on holiday in the area I have also used the pedestrian tunnel to V&A museum and thought at the time what a great idea this is, the train takes you to the area and the tunnel to the museum and you don't get your head wet how good is that. Love the videos Jago, keep up the good work.
Lovely as always. When I was a young lad in the 60’s There used to be shops at road level before the old Piccadilly ticket office. Precariously hanging over the disused platform. I also got chucked through the window of europa foods in the arcade. After a punch up starting in the Hoop and Toy and progressing to the station. Ahhhhhhh the fun of youth.
3:36 I'm not a Londoner, I'm from Cardiff, but indeed, I've loved visiting London since 1990 when I first went there, and I'm really fond of the South Kensington Museums, and of course that tunnel to reach them, which I've been through about two dozen times in my life so far.
Nearly All Underground Lines taken over - presumably this is the W and C that wasnt, the Post Office Railway (which was goods only) , arguably Snow Hill Tunnels , Northern City Service was taken into the LPTB services but (much) later passed to Network Rail / BR for the Eastern Region Electric Services , so while indeed you are correct in the statement the question does arise any other " underground" services - where as a minimum there is a station situated below ground level, that could have been included, but were not ?
Even more than usual this could qualify as a "10 Things you never knew about ..." I certainly hadn't known about or spotted the old Piccadilly station building, or that the Met and District stations were so completely separated. Nice to see the LT Museum Depot at Acton in the background at 6:55 - maybe another subject for a video?
Excellent work! I must've been in and out of this station literally thousands of times, as I went to school in the area for over a decade, and yet I learnt tonnes of new stuff :)
When I was a student at Imperial College, sometime in the last century, it was possible to get into some of the tunnels from the halls of residence and come out in Exhibition Road. There was no access to the tube tunnel because there was the Post Office in the way.
Sorry, J, but I grew up in Kensington and frequented the museum area more times than I've commented on your content (that'll be somewhat more than once or twice then), and never once did I hear of the area being attributed the moniker of Albertopolis.
I think it is both an old name, that went out of use, poss due to the station being called South Kensington giving the area the more solid name, it now seems to have come back into use a bit, possibly due to promotion by Jago Hazzard and others
I do remember going to South Kensington and also stopped off at West Kensington. And yes there was a park nearby. South Kensington is very posh and the tube station is beautiful and massive. Very nice once again Jago. 😊
"This is me in the editing room". I thought we were going to get our first ever picture of the mysterious and unknowable Jago Hazzard at work. Nope. He remains an enigma wrapped in a cloak of secrecy with that suave and persuasive voice. Please sell me a timeshare Mr H. Of course I want the one with the view of the sewage works. Yes. But the addendum was fun.
Great video. Went to school nearby from 1962 to 1972, and used South Kensington station regularly between there and Waterloo in order to get home in West Byfleet then Woking. I remember using the now abandoned platform 1. Happy days!
@@caw25sha Sense of irony here, in Victoria, there is an election with a strong focus on public transport promises and the conservative opposition leader a few years ago got embroiled with organised crime figures at the Lobster Cave seafood joint and was gleefully called by journos as “Lobster With a Mobster”.
Thanks Jago. I agree putting commercial development over railway stations is a thoroughly bad idea. There was a proposal to knock down a third of Paddington Station and build a tower block above it, in the late1990s. At that time I did wonder about submitting a planning application for a raft over Trafalgar Sq with a tower block above!
im pretty sure there was actually a very recent proposal to build a mixed use development over Liverpool street station. i saw some angry comments about it (me included) on twitter.
Also there's all that lovely land surrounding Buckingham Palace, just crying out for development into luxury "affordable" housing! "200,000 quid buys you a 5% share in affordable housing!". Love it!
I love South Ken! I used to go there all the time when I lived near Hammersmith, me and several other gals in frilly dresses would swan around the V&A, a restaurant called Tombo and the bubble tea shop on the corner. Good Times, very good times.
We stayed near here on our last visit to London, but I never used this station because Earl's Court was closer to our hotel and the museums were in easy walking distance. I learned from one of your videos that the Sainsbury's across the street from our hotel had the illicit Cromwell Curve underneath it.
Another great video Jago. Thank you. However, the frightening news in the Addendum has me very worried. Nay, sickened. Has a pressure group been formed to campaign against this proposed act of authorized vandalism? The developer's assertion that the existing station will be preserved 'as much as possible' reassures me not a jot. 😢
Well, property developers are often understood to be a shady bunch, so it might not be a surprise if they want to cast a bit of shade over the South Kensington platforms.... Unfortunately, as it looks like London is poised to continue to keep growing, all that human activity has to go somewhere--which leads to the inescapable question, whose neighborhood is going to change? The top of a tube station isn't the worst place for an office/retail block (assuming more office/retail space is actually needed in that area), especially if it postpones the demand to rebuild some other area that might be deserving of protection... or to slice off another piece of greenbelt. But hopefully they can do something "in character" with the neighborhood and keep the old buildings. As they say, change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
This brings back some memories for me seeing the footage of South Kensington. Back in high school I spent about a week in London as part of a family holiday and South Kensington was the closest underground station to where we were staying.
Jago - I have to berate you for not mentioning that august educational facility located with the Museums and the Royal Albert Hall - Imperial College! (Although you did show briefly 2 direction signs). Imperial (the City & Guilds part of it) is my alma mater - Civil Emgineering, 1963-66, and I received my degree from Dr Beeching himself, in the Albert hall, in October 1966! For my first year I lived in digs in Hammersmith - so I had the choice of bus to Albert Hall (Routes 9 and 73) or Underground (District and Picadilly) to South Ken, and a walk up the tunnel. Second and third years I lived in Selkirk Hall, Prince's Gardens Southside - right opposite the Civ Eng Dept! (Very) happy days - thanks for the memories.
25iah years ago I vacationed in London, I stayed within walking distance of Earls Court, one of the lines was unobtainable at the time due to station repairs. We had another station closer all I can remember was tall hotel, Lillie Rd, something Brompton, and when you left the hotel you hung a right walked a block or two, turned right, got tickets, down stairs to platform, and you watched a higher speed train on parallel tracks but no platform whizz by... back then there was a button on the ticket machine for each of many stations themselves, it had at least two, maybe station attended and a instant photo booth too. I know in the walk to EC Station I passed smaller hotels that advertised a rate better than what I overpaid where I stayed. (I've seen better Motel 6's rooms), these hotels were on less trafficked roads.
The express District Line is an interesting idea, because I had been wondering what it would be like if there was such a line running that way (Crossrail 3 anyone?). Perhaps it could go underground at Ealing Broadway, with intermediate stations at Acton Central, Hammersmith, Earl's Court, South Kensington, Victoria, Westminster and Blackfriars before resurfacing at Fenchurch Street and joining the line out of there. The platforms at Westminster might even be long enough to connect up with Charing Cross/Embankment and the ones at Blackfriars with Cannon Street. Also, Southend is about as far from Central London as Reading is, so if Crossrail 1 can justify going to Reading then services on this line could probably go as far as Southend. EDIT: Just noticed that Acton Central to Hammersmith is quite a long gap (relatively speaking) so there might be a case for a station between them. I looked at where it could possibly go and Wendell Park seems to be the best bet as it's about halfway, although it would probably involve taking a chunk out of the park to build it
I'm sure I read that as part of the latest plan, they would refurbish the booking hall and reinstate one of the abandoned platforms and build a new glass canopy over it. The renders looked quite nice I thought.
Jago another enjoyable video bringing back memories of the echoing sounds along the tunnel to the museums. The 1957 rebuild was part of the work to reduce the conflicting movements of the Circle Line and District Line trains around the Cromwell Curve together with the construction of the West London Air Terminal built over the tracks for BEA. It also provided improved interchange with the Piccadilly Line. Have you thought about a video on Liverpool Street Station (metropolitan) which originally had a direct junction with Platform 1 of the Great eastern Station and has a hidden bay platform and siding used prior to 1960 for the Met Locos on through trains from Rickmansworth? Hence the old signal box.
I really think Charles Yerkes should have his own "leitmotif" on this channel by now, some twanky piano piece such as you might use to introduce the villain of a silent movie.
I've come back from a recent London trip during which I visited 264 stations on the Underground, 243 of them in a single day and it's interesting to note that I still haven't seen everything The separate building for the Piccadilly line is notable because doesn't that mean from a Tube Challenge perspective in years gone by you would have to visit it twice. Once on a Piccadilly train and once on a Circle/District line train
I have a very distant memory of using the lifts at the Piccadilly line station in the early 70s. Must have been just before the rebuilding. I remember the two lift stops for the east/ westbound platforms, such a thing sticks in the mind. They'll roof the station over yet- property developers may be the lowest form of human life, barring Westminster politicians, but, like them, they eventually almost always have their way.
Really fact packed and most interesting. I also enjoyed your inspired closing shot, inside the car with the doors closing and the onboard PA announcing “this is a District Line train,” as picture and sound faded; bravo and thanks!
In 1960's the District ran a few 'semi-fast trains' that ran fast Sloane Sq - Earls Court in the rush hours using the third track .There was also a District line service to Uxbridge.
'Let's just enjoy it for now' is a what me and another lady were saying of Harlesden and Stonebridge yesterday😭. Snap! I just remember too, I've heard plans for St Raph's redevelopment.... apparently they won't be preserving anything🙃.
I use South Kensington on a regular basis and whilst I appreciate it is busy (and probably illegal in some health and safety speak), I love it and wouldn't change a thing. The gardens make me smile and the whole character of the place is unique, including the disused sections. I am no luddite but it should be preserved for what it is. There are several sympathetic improvements I can see that could be made to improve passenger flow but as none of them include retail, business or housing, I don't suppose there would be any interest from the powers that be!
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
"Property Developers are everything thats wrong with London." No truer words ever spoken.
There are traffic jams, air pollution, American candy stores ... what else did the Romans mess up?
100%
“Awful Awful Metropolitan Boys!” is a T-Shirt waiting to happen.
Sounds like a Jam song.
@@caw25sha oddly I thought of Sham 69.
BB Gabor: (Metro) Metropolitan Life
I love the open-air aspect of South Ken station. It would be a shame if they roofed it over with a modern complex.
However, it's not at all accesible for wheelchair users, is unbelievably crowded and really does need some sort of redesign.
@@alexball5907 I'm sure they can fix all that and keep the charm.
@@alexball5907 The planned works at South Ken will (hopefully, if they don't stuff it up or have to cut scope too far) bring step-free access to the District & Circle lines. Looks like we'll have to wait and see what happens with the Pic though.
Source: tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/south-kensington
Hopefully without some "iconic" glass and steel edifice (yawn)
The barriers could be a horrific bottleneck.
I was getting worried - but then Charles Yerkes appeared and the world was back to normal.
Yeah I was starting to worry that the clip of South Kensington station in the sleet might overtake the one of Yerkes in terms of repeated use in Jagos videos but then the old bounder appeared again.
"preserving the station building as much as possible" now that is worryingly worded.
I love the authentic London weather in some of your videos! Lesser creatures would only film when it's sunny.
The long underground pedestrian tunnel from the Underground Station to the Science Museum is so overengineered, that as a kid I thought it that must have been a rail line at some stage!
It's probably worth a video in its own right, as like you I have always found it fascinating and somewhat innovative.
I thought the same
Yes Me too. My first visit to the Science museum ( and on the tube ) had mum taking me (aged 6 I think ) down the tunnel and I was convinced that, despite the lack of track, a train would suddenly appear and we'd have to leap clear !
Yes.
The brass letters embedded in the pavement saying something like, (remembering off the top of my head years after) "Wilkes & Co Patented flooring Devonshire Sq. London E" always fascinated me.
I don't know who or what Wilkes & Co were, or even if I've got the name right, but that granolithic floor is absolutely excellent top notch piece of work.
'From what I was told' it went all the way to Hyde Park until Imperial College decided to co-opt a section.
I used to there often on my visits to the Science Museum in my much younger days. The foot tunnel was much more dark and gloomy when I walked down it.
I vaguely remember a story I was told as a child about there being werewolves in the foot tunnel. No other members of my family can recall being told this, so it may just be wishful thinking on my part. But isn't it an obvious place for them to live?
I think it was too, in the 90s when i used to walk through there to the National Sound Archive. But there were always other people, not too worrying
I just finished studying at Imperial College and had my graduation in the Albert Hall. This station was my home for the past 5 years and although I'm moving back to London soon, I'm going to miss walking through the area every morning and night
I've just started, and I already feel at home at this station 😂
Brings back memories of my time there. The tunnel looks a bit cleaner now than it was in the late eighties!
@@dbracer Or the mid '70s, when I was studying there.
@@orgelmeister2 Me too - 1976-80. Started commuting on CO/CP stock. (the 1973 stock is still going though!)
In 1976, the year of the great heat and drought, the tunnel between the station and the museums was probably the coolest place in London. Those of us who knew flocked there!
Friend worked at Imperial College and there were all sorts of rumours about the foot tunnels extending as far as the College.
Used to live in Kensington during the 90s. Have a special attachment to South Kensington station. Feels like home x
The acoustics in the foot-tunnel are amazing. I remember a busker in the 90s who had a casio kybd and a guitar phaser knocking out J.M.Jarre to entertain punters going to the Albert hall.
Maybe a feature on busking one day - and remind people of those two blokes in cat suits playing Part Time Lover on trumpets.
In the 80's I knew a girl named Caroline who played violin in the foot tunnel. Amazing sound!
The buskers went back to the 60s to my knowledge
@@MrTonyHeath Like Sam Tyler (played by John Simm) in Life on Mars?
The tunnel also leads to the Royal College of Music so some of the musicians playing there in my days of using the tunnel were very talented indeed.
I haven't been there for years, but some sort of travelator for the foot tunnel to the museums might be a good idea... hopefully they've fixed the dripping water etc and improved the lighting- I always found it a bit spooky, and it is a long way to walk for young children and less mobile people
Brill. You’ve still got it, Jago.
Was there any doubt?
@@BroonParker After all these videos I’m still learning things about places I thought I already knew about it!
Oh god, all these buzz phrases. "Sustainable", "affordable", "heritage led", whatever the hell THAT's supposed to mean.
absolutely nothing at all
I think "affordable" is the worst. Everything sold is affordable to someone. It wouldn't be sold otherwise.
As someone who lives nearby and is involved in the consultation, I can assure you they won't be affordable houses no! They also knocked back plans for any greening/tree planting. The development is basically predicated on the fact that the street alongside the railway was originally a long row of shops suspended over the railway line (which included the original Laura Ashley store). So according to them they're only 'restoring' the original plan.
When I worked in Central London I passed through this station as part of my daily commute, and only now I am finding out about an abandoned tunnel!!!! Shocking!
strangely they don't advertise abandoned tunnels to the general public. I can only imagine what such advertising might look like
@@MercenaryPen Ah, a gap in the market perhaps.... Or is that the gap they warn you about on the platform PA? 🤔
One of your best methinks Mr Hazzard!
The Great Exhibition of 1851 holds an interesting place in British social history. The first key main line railways had been built by then and ran cheap excursion trains to it. For many people, their first ever trip outside their local area was to London for the Great Exhibition. Given all the places we can travel to nowadays, it's amazing to think that up to 200 years ago many people had never travelled much more than 10 miles from their home village, and 60 years ago many people had never been abroad (unless sent for war).
In the 1980s my secondary school, like many others, offered students trips abroad at (what was presumably) great expense. Quite a few parents were adamant that one way or another they would find the money in order to give their kids the opportunity to visit foreign countries that they themselves had never had. And we're not talking about the USA or Australia, we're talking about France, Germany, Spain (beyond the Costas!) and Switzerland.
I think a lot of people born into the budget-airline-era would be surprised at how few people had travelled widely outside the UK before then and indeed just how expensive it was to do so whether you flew or went by rail & ferry (or, if you were very adventurous, drove).
My sister went on one of those school trips to France in the early 80s.
It's even mentioned in the Nightmare Song in Gilbert & Sullivan's "Iolanthe":
"And you're giving a treat
(Penny ice and cold meat)
To a party of friends and relations.
They're a ravenous horde
And they all came on board
At Sloane Square and South Kensington Stations."
Grand video with added Yerkes. I usually visit London for the Proms and the orange broom cupboard in Lexham Gardens that I normally stay at because I'm a cheapskate is fairly close to South Kensington. I wish they'd built the subway + tramway all the way to the Albert Hall!
The central London District lines platforms are so attractive because they are open to the sky and have not only daylight but sometimes even sunlight. This is a far greater amenity than some anonymous block of flats. Also TfL, please convert that dusty and unused platform into a herbaceous border, the bees need the work.
09:41 lovely capture of the multi-curvatured walkway soffit; nuff respect to the designers and operatives who made this happen 👍🏿
Thanks Jago. One of my favourite stations, due to the fact I've used it on many occasions since the 1950's, when visiting the museums; especially the Science Museum. Trouble is, they've changed the exhibits so often, much of the stuff I remember from my childhood, is no longer on display today. There were models of well-known Steam Trains in Glass cases. There was a button you pushed and the wheels would turn and you could see how the connecting rods and other external parts worked. Fascinating for us kids. Shame they aren't available for today's children to see.
In the ‘50s known to me a ‘the push button museum’.
The models are probably in the depths of the National Railway Museum ("part of the Science Museum Group")'s stores but not on display because they're not sexy enough and can't be explained in three-to-five words of two syllables or less. The days when museums were intended to educate and interest as well as amuse seem to have long gone. :(
District: Fees to be over the Metropolitan tracks? Oh no!
District illegally building their own track: *ANYWAY!*
"II wish people would stop making proposals, no one likes them except property developers and they're everything that's wrong with modern London" you can say this about pretty much every city. I mean have you seen the new bland skyscrapers they're building in NYC or stuffing a Caesar's Vegas casino in Times Square? Ah yes, Jago and Yerkes...they go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Yup. They've destroyed parts of Boston too the same way. The Back Bay section of Boston is all brownstone houses, churches, and wide boulevards with shops. Located in the same area was the big Boston and Albany coaching yards for South Station and Back Bay Station. In the 1960s, the Prudential Center went up and wiped all big hunk of that putting the railroad under the parking garage and concreting over a whole neighborhood. Around the same time as the Prudential Center, Government Center was built on what was Scollay Square. In the typical Carthage fashion of the time, there's little left to indicate that the area ever existed. Today, there's talk of redoing this stark, desolate flat mound with the mushroom on it which is Boston's City Hall but not much has been done yet except knockdown the parking garage at Haymarket Square which is located a few blocks away. That area too was subject to the great wipe out of the '60s and 70s.
Cities are exciting places, at least to me, and I find with the modernization they've lost their character.
They liked to use the word 'metals' for tracks in this context.
Jam.... It's jam 😋
Nice bit of research.
Used to live on 14 Pelham street in the mid to late seventies. Could see the trains down below and stil remember the noise they made. Only found out a year ago that there used to be a row of shops across the street. The first Laura Ashley was housed there. They were demolished in the early seventies.
When I was a schoolkid in the late fifties early sixties I remember that some District line trains, especially during rush hour, would run nonstop through Gloucester Rd and South Kensington using the extra pair of outside tracks, bypassing any Circle line stoppers.
Wonderful video thanks: When we were at South Kensington this summer, my family and I became obsessed by that Flatiron building at 8:15
Love that the railway ploughed through it, but they kept every last inch of it at that crazy angle!
Just looked it up on Google maps and the flatiron building at 8:14 is actually apparently called Thin House(!)
When I was young, particularly during the Callaghan Labour government, my family visited London at least twice or three times. Our hotel was only 400 meters away from South Kensington which was our closest tube station. I remember there were two levels for the station, Circle and District on the subsurface level, and the Picadilly on the underground level. Only in January 1997 did I go back on my own, and see what I vaguely remember from my childhood.
Just out of interest, what is the relevance of it being in the Callaghan Labour era? Most people would describe it as the mid/late seventies.
The entrance to the station is so modest and out of keeping with all the grandness around it. @4:50, surely there is no need to mention his name any more. Regular viewers recognise him on sight.
‘He-who-must-not-be-named’?
maybe so, but any video is always going to be someone's first video- and letting newcomers in on running jokes is the sporting thing to do
The Science Museum and National History Museum were very fun to go to in 2008 when I was 8. I loved the grain machine in the Science Museum. I went to both Museums again in 2009 and 2011.
A great story of the ups and downs of South Kensington station .. and as far as hidden tunnels - over to Siddy Holloway and her friends in LTE 🤣 Thanks for the story telling Jago!
I've always liked small arcades like the one here .... and the rather posh ones around the bottom end of Mayfair.
There's a decent art nouveau one in Norwich I visited recently too.... now that could almost be an idea for a series of videos ... . . ..
I'm left hanging now! What was the advertised service that hasn't run for decades? A briliant video as ever. Thank you.
The decoirative gates advertise the Metropolitan Railway. Before the Circle Line was completed in the 1880s, the original Metropolitan service ran from Farringdon (and later Moorgate) as far as South Kensington, and the District didn't venture beyond High Street Kensington. Nowadays the Met comes no nearer than Baker Street (or Paddington if you include the Hammersmith & City branch)
Brilliant video sir.
Quote of the Day: “I’m just some guy on RUclips.”
Albertopolis ? Please tell me you made that up ! i was a London Cabbie and never ever did I hear it called that !!!
No, it really was called that. I don't think it's in common use nowadays, and obviously not part of The Knowledge!
Thanks Jago; a long-overdue 'have a drink on me' to say thx for genuinely life-enhancing content you've provided us over the years. As they say say in downtown Kingston: More time my brethren 👍🏿
"Again, rather than solve it like adults" ah, so just like the House of Commons...some things never change when it comes to deciding Britain's infrastructure. Building a big memorial for your spouse after their passing and naming an area after them like Albertopolis sounds like something my family would do.
South Kensington station is one I've always found interesting, mostly because of that long passageway. Very fascinating facts about this station in this video. :)
A really excellent video. Jago triumphs again.
Until the present platform end barriers were installed one could go to the front of the eastbound Piccadilly Line platform, peer into the Stygian gloom and perhaps make out the step plate junction where the proposed District express tunnel would have carried straight on while the Piccadilly turns left through two sixteen chain reverse curves before Passing Brompton Road (which video by JH is worth watching) and reaching Knightsbridge.
The most recent proposal sounds just splendid, what could possibly go wrong 😂
Thanks!
On a side note, the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 still exists and awards fellowships and scholarships to further study in the industrial arts. YT won't let me paste the link.
"It advertises a service that hasn't run for decades"
Was this never explained or did I miss it?
Met ? dont know , cannot think of one - maybe the district running to Southend / Windsor
The Metropolitan Line service which ran from South Kensington round to Edgware Road and beyond. Until 1933, the District went no further than High Street Kensington.
@@norbitonflyer5625 Well I think most of us interpret that met route as a circle service ! and just accept the quaintness of old info as long as the maps are clear
@@highpath4776 Before the Circle was completed, Met trains only ran to South Kensington. Hence the bay platforms.
@@norbitonflyer5625 From Aldgate Presumably - was there ever a means of getting North of Baker Street then round to Notting Hill Gate for example without crossing platforms at Baker Street ?
Thanks
Hi Jago. Competing Tube companies: The terms "Toys" and "Prams" spring to mind.
When you said 'four to five stories high, in keeping with the area' I at first heard 'forty-five stories high', and thought 'What has happened to that area?!'
Perhaps saying "four or five" wd be clearer than "four ter five" :-p
Always loved the decorative & informative wrought iron screens above both entrances to the station, they add a genteel aesthetic to the place that lifts your spirit as soon as you see them.
I may be wrong as my memory is becoming more befuddled as I become more ancient but, when I was at school in the late 50s/early 60s, I seem to remember that the District and Circle lines split between Gloucester Road and South Kensington (westbound) and the District used the 3rd platform whilst the Circle used the adjacent westbound part of the island platform. This allowed the District to proceed towards Earls Court without delay if a Circle line train was waiting for an eastbound District line train to cross the tracks in front of it..........but as I said, maybe I'm wrong. Please let me know and put my mind to rest 🤔
You're right, and what you describe is still the case today.
I do enjoy your exhibitions very much Jago. 😁
As a boy, I was told that the tunnel was used as a hospital ward for soldiers in WWII. Is this true?
It would be lovely if you would make a video for the befuddled tube using tourist. Loads of times tourists use the wrong tube station to visit places eg Regents Park instead of Camden station when visiting to London Zoo 🤷🏼♀️ and I’m sure there are many more examples. Just a thought and I must thank you for your videos, they are great 👍🏻 x fee
Abbey Road station on the DLR apparently gets more than a few tourists looking for the famous recording studios. I watched American 'first visit to London' RUclipsrs make this mistake recently. How I laughed!
As a future befuddled tourist who will be swelling your tube utilizing ranks by one in just a couple of weeks, I second that proposal.
@@frglee could be worse I suppose, traveling to Stratford-upon-Avon instead of Stratford 😂
@@dronespace or vice versa.
As a befuddled tourist some years ago, I yearn for a geographically accurate tube map rather than the Harry Beck design we now have. I had no idea that Bayswater Station on the Circle Line was just around the corner from Queensway station on the Central Line. I needed to get to Euston Square, but instead I ended up on a long, complicated and unnecessary detour only to end up at Euston in a panicked state when I couldn't find the sign for the Gower Street exit. Google Maps would have been useful, if my phone battery wasn't dead from taking too many photos at Buckingham and Kensington Palaces, and I was relying on my memory to get to where I needed to go.
Having binge watched all of your videos over the last few years. I love your writing style and voiceover work. I am convinced that using your narration as a basis for a libreto, a World class opera could be mounted describing the history, tragedy, humor and heartbreak of London public transport.
Seriously. I love your work. Please keep posting your fantastic productions
As someone who uses the station daily, I really think the station needs step free access. It’s not uncommon to see families with pushchairs trying to get up the stairs and clogging them up. I do like the feel of the station, but it isn’t adequate as a station serving the museums (and Imperial College, which is actually responsible for the waves of students)
Having used this line whilst on holiday in the area I have also used the pedestrian tunnel to V&A museum and thought at the time what a great idea this is, the train takes you to the area and the tunnel to the museum and you don't get your head wet how good is that. Love the videos Jago, keep up the good work.
wait ... what ... they chained the train to the tracks !!!
Lovely as always.
When I was a young lad in the 60’s
There used to be shops at road level before the old Piccadilly ticket office.
Precariously hanging over the disused platform. I also got chucked through the window of europa foods in the arcade. After a punch up starting in the Hoop and Toy and progressing to the station. Ahhhhhhh the fun of youth.
3:36 I'm not a Londoner, I'm from Cardiff, but indeed, I've loved visiting London since 1990 when I first went there, and I'm really fond of the South Kensington Museums, and of course that tunnel to reach them, which I've been through about two dozen times in my life so far.
Why is “addendum” such a fun word to say 🤷♂️
It is! (In the same vein as ‘Arboretum’, another of my favourites).
It sounds vaguely rude.
Long word for a short thing ?
Nearly All Underground Lines taken over - presumably this is the W and C that wasnt, the Post Office Railway (which was goods only) , arguably Snow Hill Tunnels , Northern City Service was taken into the LPTB services but (much) later passed to Network Rail / BR for the Eastern Region Electric Services , so while indeed you are correct in the statement the question does arise any other " underground" services - where as a minimum there is a station situated below ground level, that could have been included, but were not ?
Even more than usual this could qualify as a "10 Things you never knew about ..." I certainly hadn't known about or spotted the old Piccadilly station building, or that the Met and District stations were so completely separated. Nice to see the LT Museum Depot at Acton in the background at 6:55 - maybe another subject for a video?
Excellent work! I must've been in and out of this station literally thousands of times, as I went to school in the area for over a decade, and yet I learnt tonnes of new stuff :)
When I was a student at Imperial College, sometime in the last century, it was possible to get into some of the tunnels from the halls of residence and come out in Exhibition Road. There was no access to the tube tunnel because there was the Post Office in the way.
Sorry, J, but I grew up in Kensington and frequented the museum area more times than I've commented on your content (that'll be somewhat more than once or twice then), and never once did I hear of the area being attributed the moniker of Albertopolis.
I think it is both an old name, that went out of use, poss due to the station being called South Kensington giving the area the more solid name, it now seems to have come back into use a bit, possibly due to promotion by Jago Hazzard and others
Neither had I heard of such naming, but a quick dip into the world of the Google and I was amazed! Every day's a school day, eh?
@@jacksomb1 the world of old maps is a revelation
I do remember going to South Kensington and also stopped off at West Kensington. And yes there was a park nearby. South Kensington is very posh and the tube station is beautiful and massive. Very nice once again Jago. 😊
Thanks for this one JH - another blast from the past for me. Good ol' South Ken!!
"This is me in the editing room". I thought we were going to get our first ever picture of the mysterious and unknowable Jago Hazzard at work.
Nope. He remains an enigma wrapped in a cloak of secrecy with that suave and persuasive voice. Please sell me a timeshare Mr H. Of course I want the one with the view of the sewage works. Yes.
But the addendum was fun.
Great video. Went to school nearby from 1962 to 1972, and used South Kensington station regularly between there and Waterloo in order to get home in West Byfleet then Woking. I remember using the now abandoned platform 1. Happy days!
Seems Yerkes gets things done. Even if he was the Victorian Arfur Daley.
If he'd run the Underground Oyster cards would be called Lobster cards.
@@caw25sha Sense of irony here, in Victoria, there is an election with a strong focus on public transport promises and the conservative opposition leader a few years ago got embroiled with organised crime figures at the Lobster Cave seafood joint and was gleefully called by journos as “Lobster With a Mobster”.
Thanks Jago. I agree putting commercial development over railway stations is a thoroughly bad idea. There was a proposal to knock down a third of Paddington Station and build a tower block above it, in the late1990s. At that time I did wonder about submitting a planning application for a raft over Trafalgar Sq with a tower block above!
im pretty sure there was actually a very recent proposal to build a mixed use development over Liverpool street station. i saw some angry comments about it (me included) on twitter.
Also there's all that lovely land surrounding Buckingham Palace, just crying out for development into luxury "affordable" housing!
"200,000 quid buys you a 5% share in affordable housing!". Love it!
Sunday afternoon and a pleasant surprise from Jago Hazzard !
Charging people 1d to use the tunnel might have given them the wrong idea about what they could use it for.
The station also features prominently in the excellent but disturbing Roman Polanski film ‘Repulsion’.
We had not heard about Yerkis in a while.
Well he didnt get to Glasgow or Edinburgh - we have had caley vs north british battles instead for our infotainment
I love South Ken! I used to go there all the time when I lived near Hammersmith, me and several other gals in frilly dresses would swan around the V&A, a restaurant called Tombo and the bubble tea shop on the corner. Good Times, very good times.
We stayed near here on our last visit to London, but I never used this station because Earl's Court was closer to our hotel and the museums were in easy walking distance. I learned from one of your videos that the Sainsbury's across the street from our hotel had the illicit Cromwell Curve underneath it.
Wonderful.
Another great video Jago. Thank you. However, the frightening news in the Addendum has me very worried. Nay, sickened. Has a pressure group been formed to campaign against this proposed act of authorized vandalism? The developer's assertion that the existing station will be preserved 'as much as possible' reassures me not a jot. 😢
Well, property developers are often understood to be a shady bunch, so it might not be a surprise if they want to cast a bit of shade over the South Kensington platforms.... Unfortunately, as it looks like London is poised to continue to keep growing, all that human activity has to go somewhere--which leads to the inescapable question, whose neighborhood is going to change? The top of a tube station isn't the worst place for an office/retail block (assuming more office/retail space is actually needed in that area), especially if it postpones the demand to rebuild some other area that might be deserving of protection... or to slice off another piece of greenbelt. But hopefully they can do something "in character" with the neighborhood and keep the old buildings. As they say, change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
Excellent 👍
The mention of Acton at 6:50 prompted me to look for the "other" London Transport museum top right.
This brings back some memories for me seeing the footage of South Kensington. Back in high school I spent about a week in London as part of a family holiday and South Kensington was the closest underground station to where we were staying.
Jago - I have to berate you for not mentioning that august educational facility located with the Museums and the Royal Albert Hall - Imperial College! (Although you did show briefly 2 direction signs). Imperial (the City & Guilds part of it) is my alma mater - Civil Emgineering, 1963-66, and I received my degree from Dr Beeching himself, in the Albert hall, in October 1966! For my first year I lived in digs in Hammersmith - so I had the choice of bus to Albert Hall (Routes 9 and 73) or Underground (District and Picadilly) to South Ken, and a walk up the tunnel. Second and third years I lived in Selkirk Hall, Prince's Gardens Southside - right opposite the Civ Eng Dept! (Very) happy days - thanks for the memories.
Chem Eng '75 - '76. Ditto, in spades!
Wouldn't be Sunday without Charles Yerkes
Another great video Jago.
25iah years ago I vacationed in London, I stayed within walking distance of Earls Court, one of the lines was unobtainable at the time due to station repairs. We had another station closer all I can remember was tall hotel, Lillie Rd, something Brompton, and when you left the hotel you hung a right walked a block or two, turned right, got tickets, down stairs to platform, and you watched a higher speed train on parallel tracks but no platform whizz by... back then there was a button on the ticket machine for each of many stations themselves, it had at least two, maybe station attended and a instant photo booth too. I know in the walk to EC Station I passed smaller hotels that advertised a rate better than what I overpaid where I stayed. (I've seen better Motel 6's rooms), these hotels were on less trafficked roads.
1:15...Viandas...that reminds me, must order some more wine and cheese for Christmas!
The express District Line is an interesting idea, because I had been wondering what it would be like if there was such a line running that way (Crossrail 3 anyone?). Perhaps it could go underground at Ealing Broadway, with intermediate stations at Acton Central, Hammersmith, Earl's Court, South Kensington, Victoria, Westminster and Blackfriars before resurfacing at Fenchurch Street and joining the line out of there. The platforms at Westminster might even be long enough to connect up with Charing Cross/Embankment and the ones at Blackfriars with Cannon Street. Also, Southend is about as far from Central London as Reading is, so if Crossrail 1 can justify going to Reading then services on this line could probably go as far as Southend.
EDIT: Just noticed that Acton Central to Hammersmith is quite a long gap (relatively speaking) so there might be a case for a station between them. I looked at where it could possibly go and Wendell Park seems to be the best bet as it's about halfway, although it would probably involve taking a chunk out of the park to build it
Fascinating!!🤓👍🏻👍🏻👌🏻
I'm sure I read that as part of the latest plan, they would refurbish the booking hall and reinstate one of the abandoned platforms and build a new glass canopy over it. The renders looked quite nice I thought.
Jago another enjoyable video bringing back memories of the echoing sounds along the tunnel to the museums. The 1957 rebuild was part of the work to reduce the conflicting movements of the Circle Line and District Line trains around the Cromwell Curve together with the construction of the West London Air Terminal built over the tracks for BEA. It also provided improved interchange with the Piccadilly Line. Have you thought about a video on Liverpool Street Station (metropolitan) which originally had a direct junction with Platform 1 of the Great eastern Station and has a hidden bay platform and siding used prior to 1960 for the Met Locos on through trains from Rickmansworth? Hence the old signal box.
This is a whole area of London we never made it to! I guess we'll just have to come visit again!
Nice to see you making a documentary of my local station, it is very busy and touristic indeed! 👍
I really think Charles Yerkes should have his own "leitmotif" on this channel by now, some twanky piano piece such as you might use to introduce the villain of a silent movie.
Or a chorus of Christmas pantomime boos.
Or a fanfare.
twanky ! yes
I've come back from a recent London trip during which I visited 264 stations on the Underground, 243 of them in a single day and it's interesting to note that I still haven't seen everything
The separate building for the Piccadilly line is notable because doesn't that mean from a Tube Challenge perspective in years gone by you would have to visit it twice. Once on a Piccadilly train and once on a Circle/District line train
I have a very distant memory of using the lifts at the Piccadilly line station in the early 70s. Must have been just before the rebuilding. I remember the two lift stops for the east/ westbound platforms, such a thing sticks in the mind.
They'll roof the station over yet- property developers may be the lowest form of human life, barring Westminster politicians, but, like them, they eventually almost always have their way.
Really fact packed and most interesting. I also enjoyed your inspired closing shot, inside the car with the doors closing and the onboard PA announcing “this is a District Line train,” as picture and sound faded; bravo and thanks!
In 1960's the District ran a few 'semi-fast trains' that ran fast Sloane Sq - Earls Court in the rush hours using the third track .There was also a District line service to Uxbridge.
'Let's just enjoy it for now' is a what me and another lady were saying of Harlesden and Stonebridge yesterday😭. Snap! I just remember too, I've heard plans for St Raph's redevelopment.... apparently they won't be preserving anything🙃.
I use South Kensington on a regular basis and whilst I appreciate it is busy (and probably illegal in some health and safety speak), I love it and wouldn't change a thing. The gardens make me smile and the whole character of the place is unique, including the disused sections.
I am no luddite but it should be preserved for what it is. There are several sympathetic improvements I can see that could be made to improve passenger flow but as none of them include retail, business or housing, I don't suppose there would be any interest from the powers that be!