Underground ghosts & Post Office Underground Railway free talks

As part of the 'Secret Subterranean London' event hosted by Illumini, there are two free talks shedding light on some little known underground topics.


In What Lurks Beneath - spirits and spectres of subterranean London - Rosie Murdie, ghost investigator and member of The Ghost Club will tell some of the ghostly tales linked with the city. You'll find out more about the actor that supposedly haunts the tunnels of Covent Garden London Underground station, plus other ghostly tales. That's at 4.30 on Saturday 11th September.

If you miss that, a member of London Underground Staff, will give another talk on Sunday 12th September at 3.30 covering the "baffling mysteries & ghosts in the dark dank recesses of London's Subterranean Tube System".


The VIP carrier on the MailRail Line by David Warwick
Also, Chris Taft, the curator of the British postal museum and Archives, will give a talk on the Post Office miniature underground railway, which was used to carry post through central London. The talk includes rare video footage of the underground railway and the train, which is no longer in service. This will take place on Sunday 12th September at 11am.

All three talks are at The Basement, Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, EC1V 9LT. Please book by emailing illumini@hotmail.co.uk

Update - @CTrouper went along to the Underground Ghosts talk and wrote an insightful guest post for this blog!

Heritage Train Journeys in September

Update - 7th September 2010 - Both 1938 Tube train and Sarah Siddons, whilst having their final maintenance checks*, will be unable to run at the Amersham heritage day this Sunday.

London Transport Museum say: We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by this late cancellation. We are in the process of trying to secure future dates and will publicise these as soon as possible. For those who have bought tickets please be advised that we will be in touch by telephone ASAP. Please do not phone our booking number as it is currently extremely busy and you may not get through.

Shame - here's what you could have seen..... This Sunday 12th September 2010 London Transport Museum are running two special heritage train journeys. I was lucky enough to travel on the art deco 1938 Tube train a few years ago.


"The train has an elegant semi-streamlined exterior with flush fitted windows and air operated sliding doors controlled automatically by the train guard. This was all the last word in modernity in 1938 when most main line passenger trains were still steam hauled with slam door coaches". It's a great journey and was one of the last units to run in regular London Underground service until 1988 (just in case you wonder why there are a lot of 1970's and 1980's ads in the cars). Ticket prices and journey details are below:

£25 – 8:50 Ealing Broadway to Harrow on the Hill

£25 – 10:26 Harrow on the Hill to Amersham (via the North Curve)

£15 – 11:30 Amersham to Watford and back again

£20 – 12:57 Amersham to Harrow on the Hill and back again

£20 – 14:30 Amersham to Harrow on the Hill

All tickets include free travel on Sarah Siddons - the oldest working main line electric locomotive in Britain - subject to availability. You can can travel separately on this train as it makes special trips between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham. "Engine no. 12 , Sarah Siddons, was built in 1922 and is the last operational Metropolitan Railway electric locomotive; the only surviving working engine out of 20 built by Metropolitan Vickers and named after real or fictitious people associated with the area served by the Metropolitan Railway. The engines had a top speed of 65 miles per hour." said London Transport Museum.


Tickets for the Sarah Siddons only are £5.00 for adults and three quid for children.

Tickets must be booked in advance on 020 7565 7298. Full details and the timetable are on London Transport Museum's site.

More cows on the Tube

An orange herd of cows invaded the London Underground a few days ago. It was to bring attention to 'Not In My Cuppa' a campaign by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) against the establishment of a 'battery farm' for cows by Nocton Dairies in Nocton, Lincolnshire




This 'battery farm' would be the first of its kind in the UK, with over 8,000 Holstein cows being cooped up in tiny enclosures 24/7 for at least ten months of the year. Compare this to normal herds with just over 100 cows free to roam the fields. The Londoneer has more on this in his blog post.

Cows seem to be getting a raw deal at the moment if their number of Tube protests is anything to go by. Let me know if you spot any other strange animals on the underground.

Tube Strike Talks Fail

Looking for 28th and 29th November Tube Strike - it's here

Any chances of Monday's London Underground strikes being called off have failed, as the talks with ACAS fell apart today. The RMT stated they had "made it crystal clear that there can be no compromise on safety and safe staffing levels – the failure of LU management to recognise that, and to lift the threat of cuts to allow talks to proceed, sabotaged the ACAS negotiations."

Ex-Metronet (maintenance and engineering) staff will begin their first 24-hour strike at 5pm on Monday September 6, with similar action also scheduled to begin at the same time on Sunday October 3; Tuesday November 2 and Sunday November 28.

All other London Underground workers including station and revenue staff, operational managers, drivers and signallers will start their first 24-hour strike at 9pm on Monday September 6, with similar action also set to start at the same time as the other strikes above.



Union leader Bob Crow who insists the dispute is about safety as well as job cuts said "RMT and TSSA have been presented with a stark choice. We could sit back and wait for a major disaster while safety cuts are bulldozed through turning the tube into a death trap or we can stand up and fight for passenger and staff safety. On Monday we will be making a stand on safety and safe staffing levels on behalf of all Londoners."

At time of writing there has been no statement from TfL over the break down of talks.

All Tube lines will suffer some disruption from delays to full or part suspensions. Before you leave work on Monday night, check TfL's website for the latest on the exact situation and be prepared for continued disruption on Tuesday.

Update - 3rd September - TfL have released their plans as to how they will help travellers during the strike action.

Boris Johnson added "Londoners are a hardy bunch and I am sure a Tube strike will not deter us from getting around. I have asked TfL to pull out all the stops. But we must be clear that the RMT and TSSA plan to inconvenience Londoners for no good reason....this planned action will cause disruption for millions of Londoners and I call on the unions to get round the table and show common sense."

Double Door Opening

From 5th September the new Central Line platform 3a will open at Statford Tube. Not only that, but the train doors will open on both sides. That's something that doesn't normally happen on the London Underground.


An email forwarded to me by London Lass helpfully explains "Westbound Central line train doors will now open on both sides. When facing the direction of travel, you should exit via the right side of the train to change onto London Overground and National Rail services or via the left side of the train to change onto the Jubilee line, DLR or to leave the station." Mmmmm I'm already confused. I wonder how many others will be too? London-Lass was sceptical and at first wondered if the email was an April Fools come early!


Is this going to make the age of problem of people barging onto trains before others have got off even worse? There's bound to be a certain amount of dithering from travellers trying to work out which side they should exit.

It's supposed to reduce "dwell time" at the station as in the past TfL acknoweledge there were issues "with legacy signing in the rail/ underground station creating uncertainty on the Central Line/ mainline rail platforms and capacity increases are beginning to impact on movement in the eastern entrance, beyond the gate line at the foot of the stairs to the mezzanine level."

Time will tell and in the meantime let's hope that the Tube drivers remember to open the doors on both sides.