It's a wonderful Video. I could not imagine to see a steam train in a tube station. And now here they are, the breathtaking pictures of these beautiful restored train set.
I remember the Sarah Siddons type locos in the 1950's pulling the fast Amersham to Aldgate services on the Met line rattling through Preston Road on the fast track...
When the station was first built, it had openings at either end of the platforms (like many Circle line stations still do today) to allow the smoke to vent. By the 1940s when the station was rebuilt, the entire line had been converted to electric traction so the platforms are all enclosed much like a Tube tunnel. You can see why steam was never used on the deep level Tube lines though!
The station platforms seen in this film date from 1941 - it was added to the existing tunnels, which were wholly underground. The original Kings Cross station was nearby and even today is partly in open air. This is a little nearer to Farringdon - you can still see a former platform here, plus some steps up to street level.
Yes, the train was resplendent. But when trying to photograph the train whilst standing on a station platform next to it there were many reflections (of me!) which showed up in the photograph! Whilst at Kings Cross I saw some tourists who had just arrived in London (on a Eurostar train) and now wanted to catch an Underground train to the station near their hotel. I wish I had been able to film their faces (utter disbelief and astonishment) when they saw a real life steam train arriving and almost stopping here ... however I could not film the people as the train was more important!
The Asian bloke's face is a picture. I'm guessing he was just there to catch a tube. Must have come as a bit of a shock to anybody who didn't know about it beforehand...
Wonderfully evocative video and certainly a sight well worth seeing. The train was packed with amazing amounts of people - even on Sarah Siddons! Well constructed from a very crowded platform! Thanks for sharing it. Ken
You should have seen the look on the face of some tourists (when the steam loco arrived) who had probably just arrived from Europe on the Eurostar train and wanted to catch a train to the station near their hotel. Utter astonishment, disbelief, shock. I wish that it could happen again!!!
These platforms at Kings Cross are the only 'tube-style' platforms served by the subsurface trains, and I specially wanted to film here to see the steam train travelling through what looked like a 'tube' station. The effect is surreal - both in 2D (as per this film) and in 3D (as per the other film taken here). The platform was more crowded than I really wanted, but there was little I could do about that.
yes, expensive, yet so many people were prepared to spend that much money that a ballot was needed to reduce the number of people who could buy tickets. if you visit the Bluebell Railway you can travel on some of these passenger carriages at a much lower price!
Apart from chasing LTs around the network up until June 1971 I was once at Kingscross waiting for a Baker Street train, it was a weekday afternoon and to my amazement a BR class 08 shunter with goods train came through.
for many decades goods trains from Paddington used that route to reach goods depot in the Farringdon area and also what we now call the Thameslink route to south London, plus some through GWR passenger trains used it to reach the City area of London - what you saw was one of these goods trains shortly before such services ceased
@@CitytransportInfoplus your right but of course the widened lines were separate metals from the midland and GN to Moorgate and via snow hill and over the Thames. it just surprised me seeing a slow 08 during the day on the circle line
LOL this is exactly what happened, especially at this station - I saw some tourists who had probably just arrived in London on a Eurostar train... I would have liked to have filmed the looks of utter astonishment and bewilderment on their faces but I felt that it would be too intrusive and anyway I wanted to film the steam train as it passed through the station.
1995 stock has been de-rated so that when the line is converted to full automation everyone can equate the automation with faster journeys. I am convinced that because of this journey times are slower than with 1938 tube stock - or even when the High Barnet branch still used steam trains. Of course there is something that worse than slow trains... thats NO trains, such as on the route north of Finsbury Pk to Alexandra Palace / Edgware via Highgate High level
I'm surprised there weren't more people there - I was deterred from turning up by the thought that the crowds would be enormous. Kings X must be the best place to see it as there's no chance of anything modern and electric getting in the way. :-)
Hopefully this means they are going to be doing more 'Steam on the Met' days like they used to do really is a bizarre thing to see a steam train on the underground
One locomotive was electric, the other locomotive was a steam engine - a coal fire heating water etc. The Metropolitan Railway used steam locomotives when it first opened.
And using steam power under ground too! But looks like they did good job minimizing exhaust from the steam engine and looked great the entire consist!😊
How’d these engines not smoke out the whole platform? I could just be overestimating how much smoke and steam these engines produce, but either way, how’d they keep the exhaust from harming the passengers? I guess in those days health and safety weren’t as big anyways, but my point still stands.
In the days of steam trains the locomotives used underground had special condensing equipment which (as I understand it) saw waste gases bubbled through water. But the stations were still very smokey. Wherever possible the stations, tunnels etc., had ventilation portals, this only helped a little plus some horses (and people) would sometimes be startled when a train passing below them caused a lot of sooty smoke to suddenly erupt from a nearby hole (ie: ventilation portal) in the ground. The present-day platforms at Kings Cross St Pancras were only opened in 1941, by when all trains had been converted to electric traction, so they did not need extra ventilation portals. One of the other British cities where steam trains travelled in tunnels was Liverpool - this was below the river Mersey between Liverpool and the Wirral - and the air quality situation became so dire there that only the desperate used the trains. Everyone else still used the ferries - even though they were much slower. In the end the line became bankrupt. However, the liquidators sold the tunnels to people who converted it to electric traction and when it reopened it became a fantastic success. This line is still open today!
They Built the Metropolitan Railways No.1 in 1880 but they used The GREAT WESTERN Locos for the 1863 - 1880 then they used Metropolitan no.1 Also King's Cross St Pancras is the busy station
My first few attempts to film here were aborted as there were too many people! Even in this film there were more people than I really hoped to see (especially near the platform edge, blocking the view).
When time travel circuit glitches and the Doctor isn't around 🤦...definitely beautiful
It's a wonderful Video. I could not imagine to see a steam train in a tube station. And now here they are, the breathtaking pictures of these beautiful restored train set.
I remember the Sarah Siddons type locos in the 1950's pulling the fast Amersham to Aldgate services on the Met line rattling through Preston Road on the fast track...
That’s very cool!!
Toad: “boss where are we and why is it so dark?”
Oliver: idk but lets get going
When the station was first built, it had openings at either end of the platforms (like many Circle line stations still do today) to allow the smoke to vent. By the 1940s when the station was rebuilt, the entire line had been converted to electric traction so the platforms are all enclosed much like a Tube tunnel. You can see why steam was never used on the deep level Tube lines though!
The station platforms seen in this film date from 1941 - it was added to the existing tunnels, which were wholly underground. The original Kings Cross station was nearby and even today is partly in open air. This is a little nearer to Farringdon - you can still see a former platform here, plus some steps up to street level.
Such a beautiful train, it is so shiny that you can see your face in it.
Yes, the train was resplendent. But when trying to photograph the train whilst standing on a station platform next to it there were many reflections (of me!) which showed up in the photograph!
Whilst at Kings Cross I saw some tourists who had just arrived in London (on a Eurostar train) and now wanted to catch an Underground train to the station near their hotel. I wish I had been able to film their faces (utter disbelief and astonishment) when they saw a real life steam train arriving and almost stopping here ... however I could not film the people as the train was more important!
The Asian bloke's face is a picture. I'm guessing he was just there to catch a tube. Must have come as a bit of a shock to anybody who didn't know about it beforehand...
Wonderfully evocative video and certainly a sight well worth seeing. The train was packed with amazing amounts of people - even on Sarah Siddons! Well constructed from a very crowded platform! Thanks for sharing it. Ken
Like one of my weird tube train dreams I have occasionally!
You should have seen the look on the face of some tourists (when the steam loco arrived) who had probably just arrived from Europe on the Eurostar train and wanted to catch a train to the station near their hotel. Utter astonishment, disbelief, shock. I wish that it could happen again!!!
These platforms at Kings Cross are the only 'tube-style' platforms served by the subsurface trains, and I specially wanted to film here to see the steam train travelling through what looked like a 'tube' station.
The effect is surreal - both in 2D (as per this film) and in 3D (as per the other film taken here).
The platform was more crowded than I really wanted, but there was little I could do about that.
yes, expensive, yet so many people were prepared to spend that much money that a ballot was needed to reduce the number of people who could buy tickets.
if you visit the Bluebell Railway you can travel on some of these passenger carriages at a much lower price!
Apart from chasing LTs around the network up until June 1971 I was once at Kingscross waiting for a Baker Street train, it was a weekday afternoon and to my amazement a BR class 08 shunter with goods train came through.
for many decades goods trains from Paddington used that route to reach goods depot in the Farringdon area and also what we now call the Thameslink route to south London, plus some through GWR passenger trains used it to reach the City area of London - what you saw was one of these goods trains shortly before such services ceased
@@CitytransportInfoplus your right but of course the widened lines were separate metals from the midland and GN to Moorgate and via snow hill and over the Thames.
it just surprised me seeing a slow 08 during the day on the circle line
Imagine walking down to get a tube train and then u hear that whistle and see that train, ur thinking wtf
LOL this is exactly what happened, especially at this station - I saw some tourists who had probably just arrived in London on a Eurostar train... I would have liked to have filmed the looks of utter astonishment and bewilderment on their faces but I felt that it would be too intrusive and anyway I wanted to film the steam train as it passed through the station.
1995 stock has been de-rated so that when the line is converted to full automation everyone can equate the automation with faster journeys. I am convinced that because of this journey times are slower than with 1938 tube stock - or even when the High Barnet branch still used steam trains.
Of course there is something that worse than slow trains... thats NO trains, such as on the route north of Finsbury Pk to Alexandra Palace / Edgware via Highgate High level
Need more of this in Australia!
ers1989
I'm surprised there weren't more people there - I was deterred from turning up by the thought that the crowds would be enormous.
Kings X must be the best place to see it as there's no chance of anything modern and electric getting in the way. :-)
That steam engine looks a lot like Whiff and those coaches looks a lot like Annie and Clarabel.
LOL yes, they do look like this!
Total madness,love it
Hopefully this means they are going to be doing more 'Steam on the Met' days like they used to do really is a bizarre thing to see a steam train on the underground
“Is it electric?”
One locomotive was electric, the other locomotive was a steam engine - a coal fire heating water etc. The Metropolitan Railway used steam locomotives when it first opened.
Oh okay
it was supposed to be a thomas joke. but you didnt get it.@@CitytransportInfoplus okay tho.
And using steam power under ground too! But looks like they did good job minimizing exhaust from the steam engine and looked great the entire consist!😊
What's cooking good looking!
hot water - for my cup of tea!!
Brits do the best full size rail model kits
LOL!
good
I could imagine Sheldon Cooper going crazy. 😝
Since when does Sheldon Cooper have an interest in railroading?
@@Dragblacker on some big bang theory episodes he says he likes train
Sieht man nicht jeden Tag!
How’d these engines not smoke out the whole platform? I could just be overestimating how much smoke and steam these engines produce, but either way, how’d they keep the exhaust from harming the passengers? I guess in those days health and safety weren’t as big anyways, but my point still stands.
In the days of steam trains the locomotives used underground had special condensing equipment which (as I understand it) saw waste gases bubbled through water. But the stations were still very smokey. Wherever possible the stations, tunnels etc., had ventilation portals, this only helped a little plus some horses (and people) would sometimes be startled when a train passing below them caused a lot of sooty smoke to suddenly erupt from a nearby hole (ie: ventilation portal) in the ground.
The present-day platforms at Kings Cross St Pancras were only opened in 1941, by when all trains had been converted to electric traction, so they did not need extra ventilation portals.
One of the other British cities where steam trains travelled in tunnels was Liverpool - this was below the river Mersey between Liverpool and the Wirral - and the air quality situation became so dire there that only the desperate used the trains. Everyone else still used the ferries - even though they were much slower. In the end the line became bankrupt. However, the liquidators sold the tunnels to people who converted it to electric traction and when it reopened it became a fantastic success. This line is still open today!
Also I noticed the driver shut off steam and coasted through most of the platform to minimise smoke there.
Awesome
Awesome to catch on video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^_^
Thanks. This was advertised in advance, but it was in the evening on a Sunday.
COOL!
They Built the Metropolitan Railways No.1 in 1880 but they used The GREAT WESTERN Locos for the 1863 - 1880 then they used Metropolitan no.1
Also King's Cross St Pancras is the busy station
My first few attempts to film here were aborted as there were too many people!
Even in this film there were more people than I really hoped to see (especially near the platform edge, blocking the view).
Can I use this video?
Hello,
In what way do you want to use this video?
Include part of this in a video that you make and will be selling to earn money?
Simon
0:35
This was a 'very special' special event, I remember when was I filming this that the train slowed down so much that it might actually stop!
They should do this in new york.
Yes but only on routes which have ventilation because they were originally served by steam trains when they were first opened.
Thomas The Tank
Electric
Probably not
@@8834 Probably, that end motor and the sound from it I think is electric.
At 01:15 u see Katy Perry
Lol
Swish swish bish....