Baker Street tube station

Baker Street tube station is a station on the London Underground located at the junction of Baker Street and the Marylebone Road. The station lies in Travelcard Zone 1 and is served by five different lines. On the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines it is between Great Portland Street and Edgware Road. On the Metropolitan line it is between Great Portland Street and Finchley Road. On the Bakerloo line it is between Regent's Park and Marylebone and on the Jubilee line it is between Bond Street and St. John's Wood. Baker Street station is the oldest station on the Underground network and therefore, considering the London Underground is the oldest Underground service running, the oldest Underground station in the world. It opened in 1863 when the Underground opened.

History

provided expresses to Aylesbury and beyond on the same line.

Over the next few decades this section of the station saw much rebuilding to provide four platforms. The current Metropolitan line layout largely dates from 1925 and the bulk of the surface buildings, designed by the architect Charles Clark, also date from this period.

The Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (BS&WR, now the Bakerloo line) opened on 10 March 1906, with Baker Street as the initial northern terminus of the line before it was extended to Marylebone station on 27 March 1907. On 20 November 1939 the Bakerloo line took over the Stanmore branch of the Metropolitan line (including stopping services between Finchley Road and Wembley Park) following the construction of an additional southbound platform and connecting tube tunnels between Baker Street and Finchley Road. The Jubilee line added an extra northbound platform and subsequently replaced the Bakerloo line on the Stanmore branch from its opening on 1 May 1979.

On 23 August 1973, a bomb was found in a carrier bag in the ticket hall. The bomb was defused by the bomb squad. A week later, on 30 August a member of staff found another bomb left on the over-bridge. Again, it was defused without any injury.

Today

Of the MR's original stations, the sub-surface Circle and Hammersmith and City line platforms are the best-preserved. Plaques along the platform show old plans and photographs of the station.

The station layout is rather complex. The sub-surface station is connected to the open-air Metropolitan line station. This is a terminus for some Metropolitan line trains, but there is also a connecting curve that joins to the Circle line just beyond the platforms that allows Metropolitan line trains to run to Aldgate in the City.

Below this is a deep-level tube station for the Bakerloo and Jubilee lines. These are arranged in a cross-platform interchange, and there are connections between the two lines just to the north of the station. With ten platforms overall, Baker Street has the most London Underground platforms of any station on the network. [Moorgate tube station also has ten platforms, but four of these are used by National Rail services.]

Outside the Marylebone Road exits, a large statue of Sherlock Holmes commemorates the fictional detective's association with Baker Street. A restoration in the 1980s on the oldest portion of the Baker Street station, brought it back to something similar to its 1863 appearance.

The station is operated by the Metropolitan Line management team. Offices of the line are within the vicinity of the station.

Although not suggested as an interchange on tube maps, Baker Street is about 300m from Marylebone station, where there are National Rail services to Aylesbury, Birmingham, and Wrexham. It is often easier to walk to Marylebone from Baker Street rather than going to the deep-level station for the Bakerloo line then returning to surface level again after one stop.

References

ee also

*List of London Underground stations
*Baker Street (song) by Gerry Rafferty
*Oldest Portion of Baker Street Station
** [http://www.scienceandsociety.co.uk/results.asp?
]
** [http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/gb/metro/London_Underground/station/Baker_Street/baker-street-a-jp.jpgAs shown in 2004] (restoration) [http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/gb/metro/London_Underground/station/Baker_Street/pix.html]
* [http://tubephotos.dannycox.me.uk/bakerstreet.html Photograph of the Jubilee Line platform at Baker Street]