Aldwych tube station

Infobox Closed London station
name=Aldwych


owner=Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway
locale=Aldwych
borough=City of Westminster
platforms=2
start=1907
Closed 1940
Reopened 1946
end=1994
replace=Temple tubestation=yes

Aldwych tube station is a disused station formerly on the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground. It is surrounded on either side by the buildings of King's College London. It was the terminus of a short branch from Holborn, and closed on 30 September 1994. Its well-preserved interior has made it a significant location for design work and filming.

Aldwych tube station should not be confused with the Aldwych tramway station, which was a stop on the Kingsway tramway subway.

History

The station was built on the site of the Royal Strand Theatre, and was intended to be the southern terminus of the "Great Northern and Strand Railway", running from Finsbury Park in the north, under King's Cross station, to a point near The Strand. In the event, the GN&SR was merged with two other proposed tubes to form the "Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway" (now known as the Piccadilly Line), and the section to Strand became a mere branch. Although two tunnels were constructed to Holborn they were connected to the northbound Piccadilly Line only.

The station opened as Strand station on 30 November 1907, and was served only by a shuttle service to Holborn, except for a single late-night service that ran through to Finsbury Park for the benefit of theatre-goers. This was withdrawn in 1908, and by 1912 the two-train shuttle had been reduced to one train. The branch officially became single track in 1918.

The station was renamed "Aldwych" in 1917 so that the name "Strand" could be given to what later became the Northern Line part of Charing Cross tube station. A shuttle service continued to run to Aldwych until 1940, when the branch was closed and the operational platform at the station used as a public air-raid shelter. The second, already disused platform and running tunnel were used to store the Elgin Marbles and other artefacts from the British Museum and other institutions. Service was restored in 1946 and continued until 30 September 1994, when the cost of a lift replacement was considered uneconomic, and the branch was closed.

Over the years the station has been a popular location for film and television companies wanting to film on the Underground. As the branch is entirely self-contained and closed at weekends, its facilities could be put at the disposal of film crews much more easily than those of more active parts of the underground. The station's second platform ("Platform 6") closed in 1917, having been converted into a war-time hostelUnderground History, [http://underground-history.co.uk/holborn.php Hidden Holborn] , retrieved 2008-06-26.] . Since 1994, the branch's remaining platform at Aldwych ("Platform 5") has been used to test mock-up designs for new platform signage and advertising systems.

The closed station still has many of its original 1907 features, including tiling and signage. The surface building is hired out for events, functions and art exhibitions. It is visible from the Strand, opposite St Mary le Strand church. A restoration of the building's façade has revealed the original name of the station.

Despite being closed since 1994 the station still appears on a number of station listings along the Piccadilly line. The trackwork and infrastructure remains in good condition, and a train of ex-Northern Line 1972 tube stock is permanently stabled on the branch [Cravens Heritage Trains, [http://www.cravensheritagetrains.co.uk/aldwychphotos.htm Aldwych November 2003] , retrieved 2008-06-26.] —this train can be driven up and down the branch for filming and to keep the trackwork in good repair. The physical connection with the Piccadilly line Eastbound remains, but requires manual operation. In 2002, a heritage train of 1938 tube stock was used for filming, which required temporary removal of the 1972 unit to Ruislip for the durationCravens Heritage Trains, [http://www.cravensheritagetrains.co.uk/aldwych.htm Filming At Aldwych July 2002] , retrieved 2008-06-26.] .

When the Fleet Line (later to become the Jubilee Line) was being planned in the 1970s, it was envisaged that it would run from Charing Cross via Aldwych and Ludgate Circus and on to East London. The eastwards plan was scrapped, but a few hundred yards of experimental tunnel were dug close to the East London Line at New Cross and the main running tunnels continue much of the way from Charing Cross to Aldwych. This tunnel still exists but is unusedClive Feather, Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides (CLUG), [http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/jubilee.html Jubilee Line, A Modern Tube] , retrieved 2008-06-26.] .

Future

There are occasionally proposals to re-activate the station. One of the more prominent suggestions is its potential use as part of an extension to the Docklands Light Railway from Bank tube station to Charing Cross tube station. The extension would be entirely underground, and would run along the route of the abandoned Fleet Line. It may re-use some of the disused tunnels constructed during the project.

The proposed Cross River Tram has a stop on the Aldwych, which would be located at street-level close to Aldwych station. [http://www.campaignforcrossrail.com/maps/T2025_indicative_tfL_trnsprt.pdf]

Use in films and television programmes

Many films and television productions have been shot at Aldwych, including:
* "Battle of Britain" (1969)
* "Death Line" (1972) – standing in for the interior of Russell Square tube station (exteriors used the real station).
* "Ghost Story" (1974)
* "The Kinks video clip "Do It Again"" (1985)
* "" (1986)
* "The Krays" (1990)
* "Patriot Games" (1992)
* "The Line, the Cross and the Curve" (1993)
* "Honest" (2000)
* "Dead Gorgeous" (2002)
* " Most Haunted" (2003)
* "Creep" (2004)
* "V for Vendetta" (2006) – the name 'Strand' is clearly visible at several points in the film, although in non-original signage added by the film-makers.
* "The Good Shepherd" (2006)
* "Primeval (TV series)" (2007)
* "Atonement" (2007)
* "Rise of the footsoldier" (2007)
* "The Bank Job" (2008)
* "" (2008) In "Patriot Games", a 1992 film starring Harrison Ford, a bookseller leaves his shop in Piccadilly and – rather curiously, given their relative locations – enters Aldwych station, where an announcement is given that a train will call at Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus (the nearest station to where he started) and Oxford Circus. This would have been an impossible sequence from Aldwych and, indeed, from anywhere without changing lines (from the Piccadilly to the Bakerloo) at Piccadilly Circus.

Aldwych tube station also features as a level in the video game Tomb Raider 3.

The station facade was also used as the 'base location' in the BBC Three documentary series "Spy".

The tunnels at Aldwych were also used in the music video for Firestarter by The Prodigy.

Fightstar's "Waste A Moment" video was also shot here.

As a former dead-end on the system Aldwych is a key location in the thriller Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household.

Former services

Abandoned proposals

References

*J. E. Connor, "London's Disused Underground Stations" (2nd edition), Capital Transport, 2001.