Exploring Secret Parts of King's Cross St Pancras Station | Hidden London Hangouts (S05E01)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ก.พ. 2022
- The Hangouts team return for a new series with a visit to one of the oldest stations on the Underground, to discover a wealth of disused and reused hidden spaces.
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I was travelling home from work (Farringdon to Edgware) on the night of the fire. It hadn't taken hold at that point, but there was a definite smell of smoke. Which was nothing unusual in those days. "It's just a smouldering escalator", we were told, as we continued walking through KX. It was only going to be a matter of time before a smoulder became something more serious, and it's a shame that it took such a major fire to make people wake up to the problem.
Love these videos, & the enthusiasm I share! London living isn't for me & I missed the North - but 1 thing I LOVE is the Tube, when it's empty-ish, esp the older stations; beautiful intriguing structures, tiles, history, damp/salt on deep underground plaster, that smell (brake lining?) Mind the Gap voice, tiny mice on the tracks, labyrinths of undulating tunnels, windowed bridges, spiral stairs, glimpses into other places; it fascinates me. if I lived near I'd do tours of hidden /disused areas, this is next best thing! 💜💖💜
All those track plans would have been hand drawn to scale by draughtsmen....they are works of art!.
I think the old kings cross Thames link station you can see, between st Pancras and Farringdon. Look out for the red do not alight signs😊
Love your videos 👍
Great to see you all back - hope that you all had a lovely year end and wishing you all a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous Year of the Tiger! 🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧧🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨🧨👍
Cannot wait for this new season. Welcome back and excited to see Alex, Chris, Laura & Siddy. Yes you guys are awesome. I'm excited to see what you bring this season.
What a programme. Why did I not know about this series..such enthusiasm from the presenter's...I only discovered this programme because I am laid up from work with severe back pain...thanks everyone I will catch up with the previous episodes...dom
WELCOME! WELCOME! WELCOME! Sorry you’re laid up but I’m so glad you found us. See you next Saturday at 6 for some more exploring!
Welcome back. I hope that you have all recharged your batteries and are ready to entertain & inform us once again, over the coming months. I hope you find one of those old chocolate machines in the old parts of the station.
Welcome back team, will be holding my breath to find out what’s hidden at this location ☑️✔️☑️
Welcome back you were missed, awesome start to series 5
There used to be a disused entrance to the Underground in the road between the main line stations; I think it may have been used by staff to remove rubbish. One day many years ago I was in the Underground station, near the exit to St. Pancras and there was a door which had been left open. I wondered if this led to the disused exit. There was nobody else around so I went through the passageway to take a look and sure enough, came out at the disused exit. This exit is shown, and marked as disused, on one of the documents from the fire enquiry.
Something else I remember of the Underground station, close to the exit up to the street was a large metal ring, on the end of a shaft sticking out of the wall at an angle. It looked almost as if it could have been to insert a handle to wind something up and down, but I could see no such thing anywhere nearby.
Returning to flammable substances in Underground Stations I remember reading a story some years ago about a quantity of old nitrate film which had be found in a room at, I think, St. James’s Park Station. I think I read that the film had been sent to the Museum. From time to time I have worked as a cinema projectionist, and have on very rare occasions long ago projected nitrate film. A nitrate fire is not something you would want in an Underground station. The fire precautions which had to be taken in projection rooms and rewind rooms in old cinemas to comply with the requirements of the Cinematograph Act of 1909 were impressive.
My FAVOURITE TEAM ❤️❤️
SO good to have you back! Watched this again in the small hours, away from news and politics. A lovely escape, and as ever, and learning lots of new things about what lurks beneath the surface. I so wanted to get in that tunnel and properly clean those beautiful midnight blue tiles up. So much of it looked intact. I suppose now it's part of the ventilation system, it at least means it remains that way. A very happy new year to you all!
HI TEAM ! great to see you all again, what a amazing show today just love Kings cross station, i did not realize that there was all this disused parts left. THANK YOU LOVELY PEOPLE 💖💖
Started to rewatch Ripper Street last night and there was a reference to the Underground (in 1889) and how it was frightening and had the capacity to change lives on a massive scale.
Really enjoying this so thanks a lot 👍🏻
Another brilliant episode! Season 5 👏 👏 Weekends are now complete again. Welcome back the fab four. You guys rock.
Good to see Series 5 starting. Welcome back!
Lovely to have the gang back again - an absolutely stonking way to kick of Series 5! (where does the time go, eh?!)
I have just caught up with this fabulous episode. Lots of great background information & views as usual, so no dropping in standards! Thanks to you all.
Absolutely fascinating! The next time I use Kings Cross, I will see it in a different light. I will look out for "The Egg" next time I'm there, I must admit, I've never noticed it before!
Loved this! Great to see some of that hidden stuff at a station I used to pass through every day. Did I understand Chris right in that the new Met line station took advantage of the disused tunnel in order to relocate to where it is today? Would have loved to have seen you guys in the old Metropolitan Railway platforms!
Missed you over the past few weeks! Had to watch reruns on Sundays as I got ready for work!
Happy new year! Great seeing you back.
Really enjoyed the episode. Some cool hidden spaces at Kings Cross St Pancras!
Great videos! Thankyou :)
Great to have you back to "X+" the Hidden London's History with us. ;)
Chris Cross or is it Criss?
@@alexgrundon2346 Whm, let me think. If X-mas stands for Christmas, then X+ would be Christcross, I think. ;)
Welcome back ! Some additional information from your episode.
The metropolitan station area at the present station was a bay platform, line going through the middle and platforms on both sides. Ended at the other end where the double barrel ceiling is still there as you change for the other lines.
The Piccadilly passage was the exit passage from the northbound platform with the exit in the head wall of that platform.
The stair passage closed in June 1939 when both the stairs and lifts were replaced with escalators.
Welcome back hope you all had a great Christmas and New Year. I’m really looking forward to the new series of hangouts
20:00 Intriguingly if you like this sort of thing, no mention yet of the filled in and disconnected Great Northern tunnel on this map from the centre to top right. And so on.
Wow. Loving this!
This episode made me realise what to me is so great about the hangouts - they are entirely honest. Alex's reaction to the lift shaft from the top in this case. I'm re-watching all episodes (for the third time) and the same honesty is in series 1 episode 3 "Alex - I didn't get the memo", Siddy's Routemaster Driving narration and, of course, Tooting from Laura to mention just a few. We've never met and therefore we can't be considered friends but the four of you aren't strangers either. I don't have a word for this. Perhaps there isn't one. Whatever it it is very much appreciated. There are, it seems from comments and numbers, hundreds of people in a similar position and therefore you absolutely can't ever stop the hangouts - you have too many hangout-friendships linked to this now.
You actually brought a tear to my eye with this. I love the fact you look at the detail in this. It’s what we do, it’s what we love and it’s what we do for you. Enjoy this series. I pretty much know you will x
Happy new year to you four lovely people. wow what an episode. King Cross / St Pancras is the place I go first after arriving in London from Sheffield.The history of the underground station.is very interesting..I am looking forward to the next episode..thank you very much for showing us where we can,t go. keep safe fantastic four.
Alex G, as Mrs Peel in the Avengers, tied to the tracks again, waiting for Steed to come and rescue her... This episode is so complex.. I will have to replay it again and again..
BINGO
Loved this one! The ventilation shaft at 48:20 reminds me of a miniature version of the Squash Court at Piccadilly Circus.
YES!
@@alexgrundon2346 Everyone can appreciate a rough cast shaft, can’t they?
Great to have you back! But you've gorn an dunnit now, mentioning the City Widened Lines! Lots of interest in these, and who isn't excited by the Ray street Gridiron, not that you could wander around it, in fact I think you have to get on a ladder to get a good view. On the plan you showed you could just see the spur where the banking locos waited to help freights up to Snow Hill, marvellous.
Carry On Underground :)
One Take Dave
It's great to see you all back - and what a wonderful location to start off the new series! I was particularly interested to see that the C&SLR lift shaft is directly under 'The Egg' - so that leads to an obvious question... Is the similar circular drum structure further along the forecourt towards York Way (where 'Black Sheep Coffee' is located) similarly located over the top of the GNP&BR lift shafts? Another quick question if I may... Does the underground passageway that used to link the front of the main line station to the disused Metropolitan Railway station on Kings Cross Bridge still exist? I rather hoped to see you exploring that too in this visit!
Hi all,
I just love your TH-cam channel, I am mad on all things trains I have travelled about various bits of the Underground and watching your videos has made me more enthusiastic about travelling on the tube noticing tiles and the different types building and who built the stations.
LOVE YOU!!!!
Of course at 8:38 was the old eastbound terminus centre bay platform, of which part of it was staff quarters, also had read that coal wagons delivered coal into that siding, this was hoisted to the surface, there was a ticket office also located in that area when there was barriers.
Great video yet again from you all. I noticed that when you were looking down the old lift shaft from on top of the egg, you mentioned that the old booking hall was below ground level. Is that still being used, or is that for another video.
I thought you`d all got locked in a tunnel somewhere and gone awol the last couple of weeks. As usual a superb comeback and what could be better than Kings Cross.. 🚂
I'm trying to work out the geometry of the circle/Met line. Some years ago, before the current rebuild of those platforms, I remember getting to look through a door at the west end of the concourse between them. There was a siding there, that was explained as old stabling for a loco.
I'm trying to work out how that relates to the new bit shown here.
Great to have you back.
Think I've mentioned it before but would you consider a visit to Greenford and the recently rediscovered tunnel to the old mainline station. Plus between N.Acton and Greenford were branches to factory sites.
Totes!
I recognise that time is limited, but a couple of facts which weren't mentioned about the sub-surface platforms at Kings Cross St Pancras and the Widened Lines.
Firstly, steam hauled cattle trains were still running through the sub-surface platforms in the early 1960s on their way from Birkenhead to Smithfield; these transferred onto the Widened Lines at Farringdon.
And secondly, until the start of WW2 some of the trains passing through included Pullman cars in their formations; seems incredible to think that, now that all trains are formed of 'S' stock, its possible that somebody who travelled through Kings Cross St Pancras in a Pullman might still be alive.
Finally, a question; who owns the Widened Lines now?
If you look at photos taken of the Widened Lines in, say, the 1960s, although they were more or less exclusively used by BR trains they were signalled using LT type signals and presumably this meant they were controlled by LT; but since the Widened Lines were electrified as part of BR's BedPan scheme, they have been signalled using BR/Railtrack/Network Rail type signalling and are currently under Network Rail control. So were the Widened Lines owned by LT back in the 1960s and are now owned by Network Rail or are they currently owned by TfL?
Good detail here and thanks for a great question re ownership of the Widened lines. I’m not entirely sure but I think the answer is different along their length. I believe the bits at Moorgate are back with LU but Kings Cross is NR for example.
Great CrossRail moquette cushions!
I made them for the team for their Christmas present! Thank you
The cross-section at K - L is similar to the Denmark Hill railway station on the Kings College Hospital side (Thameslink station). In this case there is a pleasant pub in it.
I love that pub! So quaint
It's so great to have you back - it seemed a very dry January indeed without you. Regarding Kings + (see what I did there?), are there any surviving photos of how the GNPBR and the CSLR stations originally looked at the surface? Did they have surface buildings or just underground ticket halls?
Great question. We have pics of Euston and Angel but we’ll need to see if we can find Kings Cross. Not immediately available for the recording
Happy 2022 from NZ gang! Kings Cross I know well, since 1981. Fallopian Tubes - there you go. Anatomical and so correct. Could've been a punk band.
Ps I was so glad when you ditched the masks. Yay!
Hi Fab 4, welcome back and Happy New Year! I’m doing the Hidden Euston tour tomorrow, am I allowed to know in advance who is leading it?
I worked there in 1986
in one of vids you where in a bomb shelter and you showed some vents. when they where being used during
the blitz what would have happed if the top of those vents where bombed or if a building was close was on
fire and all the smoke get sucked into the vents
I guess we're headed to another Cross TfL ElizzaRail instalment next week. :D
😉
@@alexgrundon2346 Oh, I think I should say "+ TfL ElizzaRail" 😜
Apologies for coming to the party late, but I was looking at the drawings of the tunnels at 25:22 and the right hand drawing seems to show a tunnel to the left with no track in it. Do we know why that might be?
There’s really no need to be scared of heights….. it’s depths that kill you!
🤣🤣🤣
As much as looks can deceive, that track gauge is standard, not broad. Great footage though. Chris's comment on 'used to help construct' the modifications should also give an indication or relative age. Mainline goods wagons would have been used to bring in/out materials via a connection to the then BR.
Hi Stephen. You are quite right that piece of track is very much standard gauge - I was just making the point that when the Metropolitan Railway was originally built through there the tracks were built as dual gauge to allow broad gauge trains to pass through it. This can be seen in early illustrations of the Met that we’ve referenced before. Hope that clears it up.
@@chrisnix6352 Just watching this all again, there's some astounding footage, but one wonders on the maps as to the "unused tunnels" for the Met. Do they/it still exist?
Have you heard the track by the Petshopboys called “kings cross “? Absolutely amazing
Great start to series 5! Quick question: Given the date of construction and historical significance of the buildings and fittings on the underground network, are there parts of the underground that have been assigned listed status from English Heritage?
Thank you. Yes quite a number of Underground buildings have listings - Aldwych, Moorgate and Clapham South deep-level shelter to name a few.
@@chrisnix6352 Thanks Chris 👍
I was on the escalators that court on fire. Flames very close to my feet, I got out and did not think to hang around or talk to fire brigade or police as I should have. so never gave evidence as I should have. A verdict was reached and so I have nothing to add but the one thing I remember before hand was the smell of hot electrical wire. I was studying to be a theatre electrician at the time and I would have said I before notting the flams I could smell what to me was the smell of an over heating wire. There is a difference between the smell of a wire heating and burning from the inside to one that is being burnt from the outside.
From my notes, there was a Northern line building on the corner of Euston Road and what is now York Way, designed by Leslie Green, this connecting to those removed lifts. Also, you mentioned 1863, the original station building by King’s Cross Bridge had sadly been demolished.
I thought the Leslie Green building was Piccadilly line building. Would make sense too given where the platforms are below. They run under York Way. Northern line (CSLR) shafts are much further over towards St P.
@@alexgrundon2346 Could have been a Picc building, seen pictures of it, even some videos online taken other side of the Euston Road, unsure why and when it was demolished?.
Did you go to HOUNSLOW west before it was moved?
Hi Fab 4, welcome back and Happy New Year! I’m doing the Hidden Euston tour tomorrow with my son (my Christmas present) am I allowed to know in advance who is leading it?
Amazing Dave!!! Not sure who it will be but you will love it! Hope life is treating you ok. Big hug from all of us
Brilliant - Why isn't this on TV?
EXACTLY!!! Why aren’t we on tv?! Let’s start a campaign! Thank you for watching! 😉
@@alexgrundon2346 I watched every episode of Hidden Secrets but I do think this would easily transfer to TV.
We do what we can with the budget but the unique thing about us is we have permissions and access granted to the network. We also have all the resources available to us too. Like ripe fruit we just need picking. We come as a four! 😉
I love how intellectual each of you are but then quote the Wannabe video!😊
I am a bit confused with your naming of colours: Chris/Alex named the blue tiles down below as Cobalt Blue, but later Laura named it as Prussian Blue. According to Wiki those are two different types of Blue, and Cobalt is a pretty light colour. But there are also Royal Blue and Navy Blue, which are pretty dark (like the Prussian), too. So which is it?
(Thinking of other of your Hangouts I''ve got the feeling that this wasn't the first time of colour confusion -- if I remember some of the ones I've watched correctly. Maybe it's time for a lesson on Colours, Shades and Names both for you four and us many. -- I would like to through in the question of the -correct- name of the Met line's colour: in an early Londonist video, Geoff Marshall gave it as Purple, but later he referred to it as Magenta. And I think Ken Garland's book on Mr Beck's Map as well as Max Roberts' book on unravelling Underground Maps both stated different colour names, too.)
Well…. I can’t speak for Geoff, although I want to defend him too, actually…. We aren’t colour experts….we don’t know every pantone, the colours aren’t officially named (perhaps as they would be now, for tile reordering purposes etc) so we (us four, Geoff, even Tim D and other presenters/historians) offer our knowledge as best we can. In a funny way, a lesson in colour is for a totally different series - perhaps on art or design - because for us, it would be too much knowledge and offer very little extra. I cleaned the tiles in this ep and they are the same cobalt blue as the pots in my garden. And that’s good enough for me. I’m glad the detail gets you ‘fired’ up (see what I did there) and keep watching the array of films all of us offer you in our own ways. Best wishes 😉
@@alexgrundon2346 That's all fair, especially as there appears to be no official naming (by TfL), which might have ended up differently to the "actual" colours' names even. So we shan't be going there. :))
Happy New year and omg I would Love to spend hours cleaning tiles in those tunnels Is that weird and Alex thank you again for you're really supportive message you me sent at Christmas it definitely got me though a really bad patch 😔 I'm petrified of hights so I had to close my eyes for a couple of seconds PS thank you for another brilliant video love you all and I love poster art
You’re so welcome. This whole series was intended to be a support through bad times of lockdowns and an injection of joy to bring about good times. Grab your wet wipes. You can come and clean tiles with me any day! Stay strong and try and smile at something every day, because one day the stuff that troubles us will be a dim memory. Big hugs from all of us x
@@alexgrundon2346 whole series definitely does the job was intended to do and it's very powerful in that respect. and yes that sounds like a plan Cleaning tiles seems very rewarding And peaceful. Thinking about that I'll let you into a little secret I have a daily goal it's only a small goal But that is to make at least one person smile every day because I believe that smiling like yarning is contagious and so if I can make one person smile they will go on to make another person smile and so on and so one lots of smiling people will make a better life for us all and we may find someone who having a really bad time in there life at the moment we have done something to help them get through it 🙂 please always remember to smile it makes a big difference x thank you once again for your reply it really does make a difference to my day and my week and probably more. Please Keep up the good work you and the rest of the team really do make a big difference to so many people's lives honestly you should all be proud and big hugs back to you all thank you x
Our total pleasure. See you next Saturday at 6.
@@alexgrundon2346 I feed and look afternoon homeless and struggling people on Saturday evenings but I will definitely be watching after I've finished and enjoy the rest of your week.
So you going to get on platform 9 and 3/4
Don't tell the muggles!
Going by the age of the tunnels the quality of the materials used. eg. the tiles. How long will the materials used now last? 🏳🌈
kings cross St Pancras = platform 9 and 3/4!
I'm sure when Siddy refers to an anatomical diagram at about 21:05 she has in mind tubes of a different kind - namely Fallopian - she even has a little smirk. So either you didn't get the same thought or went into "not going there" mode and started talking of blood vessels. I could be wrong!
Someone has to behave, Stephen. Usually it’s not me 🤣🤣
Yes we saw but decided to avoid that particular warning triangle!
@@chrisnix6352 wise!
Sorry guys 🤣😅🤣
Lol 😂😂😂
ft. St Pancras Intl?
I have provided volume control and treble boost knobs from my computer sound, so I can quickly twiddle when there are significant differences between speakers. I really need them on this episode. Very poor treble from Alex's microphone and almost too much from Siddy's. In future could you try to balance them a bit better before an episode goes live?
Good job you have extra knobs. Zoom sorts our levels but I’ll ponder on this as we all use pro mics
Just listening again. In professional radio terms - my levels are - bit low but the treble and indeed bass are both fine to my ear. Sometimes dipped gain makes discerning boom and tizz tricky, because you simply can’t hear it.
@@alexgrundon2346 In the "studio" segments there is a big difference between yours and Siddy's in the amount of treble. If yours is enough hers is too much.
Yeah. I’m on a mic. Hers is a laptop mic but it’s ok. Thanks for the feedback
I am presuming these are 3 out of work actors.
You presume WRONG as per !!! They work for the rail museum 🙄🙄🙄🙄
Steam cleaner might work better
How would Alex go with a glass floor ? 🏳🌈
I live almost next to Kings Cross (Sydney) police station. There cars are marked KX.
Are you guys on Twitter? What are your usernames?
Hiya. We’re insta babes really. Some are on Twitter but it’s not what we use for this.