Why are there abandoned Tube Stations?

[onedev]

Inspired by the BBC news article today (sorry can't link!) about the number of abandoned Tube Stations & was therefore wondering why there are so many abandoned in the first place? Anyone able to educate me? Also, is there a way to visit them? I'd love to take a tour if it were possible!

Mostly the stations weren't used enough. Some were planned when they still used steam trains so more ventilation was needed so more stops were put in, but soon became clear that people wanted to travel faster with fewer stops. The little branch line to Aldwych stopped being used much once there were more interchanges to reach Temple and Embankment direct, thanks to the Victoria and Jubilee lines.

Open House weekends often have tours round some disused stations but you have to be really quick to get tickets.

Sorry onedev I have since had a baby and packed it all in to be a SAHM.

I think the LT museum used to do a few tours of Aldwych station but they were quite rare.

here

This looks like it might be taken up as a business venture. I'm glad as the Tube has such an amazing history.

I used to work very near to the old British Museum stop and we would often have lunch in a Dutch pancake restaurant. I was told that it was the site of the original station and that there was a disused entrance from the kitchen. This probably isn't true but I was always intrigued by it!

I read online recently (though have no idea how true it is) that one of the district line stations-can't remember which-has a large pipe above one of the platforms that's very obvious-looks like just a large pipe. But it contains an old river that was once above ground and now is just a trickle! Thought that was pretty cool.

Imber is quite dull though

I'm obsessed with stuff like this! I live in Leeds and there's a website dedicated to secret tunnels and abandoned shelters etc. Apparently in some of the old shops in town, if you go down in the basements they all connect up and you can still see some of the old shop fronts from years ago it fascinates me!

Dr Nick Is there anything there or just empty buildings? I know some villages have exhibitions etc.

I always feel sorry for the people who had to leave and weren't allowed back again.

Think there might be a basic one. Church used occasionally. It's very army fied

This is the book you want to read by Bradley Garrett who did his Phd in UrbEx.

That's a bit depressing.

Although I suppose abandoned villages are mostly depressing.

Imber has got more army-fied over the years. When I used to go as a child (GPs lived not too far away and remembered it before it was annexed by the army) it was very obviously the old village, the church was cordoned off (think it still is) and you could see the manor house and several of the old houses and farm buildings etc. As time has gone on they have built more pretend houses to train in, and made it seem less real. The saddest thing I think was that the residents were told it was only temporary. It must have been heartbreaking leaving everything behind.

I saw something on TV last year about Waterloo station that I found fascinating. When they transferred the Eurostar to St Pancras they just closed off the entire area within Waterloo, and left it exactly as it was. I thought they would have re-used the space, but apparently not.

Seen this article? It's been shared on my FB timeline a few times today

They get abandoned because things change, people discover a better way etc. Commercial centres move to different areas making certain stations unviable. When I started working in London < clears throat > years ago, there was nothing in Canary Wharf - it was still a wharf.

The Jubilee Line used to start at Charing Cross, and then the next station was Green Park. Now it doesn't even go through Charing Cross, it goes to Westminster instead. So presumably those miles of tunnels are just not being used. What a waste of money I always think!

Aldwych was a funny little station out on a limb which I always presume was for the "city types." I remember it was only open at peak times during the week. I expect it shut because it just wasn't worth keeping over for the number of customers coming through. Its closure probably also coincided with all the newspapers moving out of Fleet Street into the East of London.

Thanks Balloon. I guess I just imagine that with the volume of people in London, there would be enough demand for all the stations really. I also find it hard to believe that they're just abandoned, without doing more with them in some way or other!

The old Jubilee line tunnels are now used as sidings - a central London train storage facility.

Just read [[http://www.globalrailnews.com/2013/08/14/alliance-looks-to-reopen-all-waterloo-international-platforms/ this] saying that they are looking to reopen Waterloo international for domestic trains.

Grr... meant to post the link like this

What's the line/station that was used for transferring bodies for burial? Read about it on another urbex thread ages ago

London Necropolis Line

Thanks, Pete, for the Heygate Estate link. I think when I read about it, people were still able to access it and wander round. Don't know if that's still the case now.

I've been to Imber and found it a fascinating place to visit! Would love to go to Tyneham, too.

Scarlet I read this article from November last year which says there was only 1 person left on the estate. I'm guessing he has been removed now.

The article made me a bit tbh.

Thanks for the link to the article, Pete.

Although I'm not sure I would have liked living on a sprawling estate like Heygate, and can see the downside of the 'brutalist' architecture, there's something starkly magnificent about it, somehow.

Very sad though, that it couldn't be regenerated in a way that was inclusive of the indigenous community, instead of forcing them out. Ironic that the very same thing happened during the slum clearances that made way for the new housing in the first place. Tight social networks were destroyed and scattered to the four winds.

Must have been a completely surreal existence for Adrian Glasspool holding out for so long and living there on his own! That took some guts, or a lot of anger.

Antoinette that's quite true: it is the Westbourne River, and you can see it at Sloane Square station. It drips a bit, which is slightly alarming. See here.

Angela that IS alarming-hopefully that pile will hold!

Thanks for this. We went past South Kentish Town station the other day and were trying to work out what it used to be called.

I go to a restaurant opposite Brompton Road station and stared at it for ages until I recognised the tiles and realised it used to be a station.

According to the link it's an MoD office. It does look occupied but I've never seen anyone coming or going. I can't even see a way in. Perhaps they use a secret tunnel

And I remember going to Ongar station quite a bit. My friend used to live there. They closed the one next door - Blake Hall - first. There didn't seem to be anything round there, but Ongar's quite populated, so's North Weald, the other one they've shut.

Ongar Station hit the news about 30 years when a colony of scorpions were found there. They were a non-poisonous strain but that was buried way down all the stories. I bet there are millions of the scuttly little things now.