Jesse Reno's Magical Staircase (Or, Escalators on the Underground)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ก.ค. 2024
- Escalators are one of the most important and yet unsung elements of the London Underground. Let's go deep into the subject.
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Escalators do not break down. They just morph into stairs.
(Attribution: Mitch Hedburg. 1968-2005)
No...they go into lockstep mode.
IDK, there are some pretty bad videos of Chinese escalators failing (they always are in China too, I suppose they have a lot of escalators though)
I saw somebody fall into the end as a panel wasn't bolted down correctly. They threw their kid to a staff member who was about to inspect the escalator due to a prior report of a loose panel, and she went in...
There was also one where something on an up escalator broke due to overloading and everyone went straight to the bottom rapidly, and made a massive pile of people...
Mainly because someone thinks it funny to hit the emergency stop and hope they are not seen, impossible not bring seen today with the number of CCTV cameras.
Sorry for the convenience.
I WISH that was true here (Boston, MA). It used to be true. Unfortunately, now, usually when an escalator breaks down, it gets cordoned off quickly, so that you can't even use it as stairs, even when it is just sitting there for a long time with nobody is working on it.
Depending upon one's direction of travel a very uplifting story, or one that will get you down
I like your style of humour.
I used to work in the elevator industry, it had its ups and downs though
The spiral escalators will take you round and round, and hopefully they won't desert you.
From your wickedly dry sense of humour, I think you may be the man himself…
*Patrick voice* BOOOOOOO!!!!!
"I assume New York never had a subway ever again"
Ah, what a shame.
Yes, it seems like the sort of place that would benefit from one. Apparently it even has a network of subterranean tunnels, which I assume is where the alligators live.
I understand they do have sandwiches.
Well, it certainly has never been cleaned again.
@@tbjtbj7930 I think there maybe turtles done there.
Sadly, this is actually true for the great majority of cities in the Americas (both North and South), except that they never had one in the first place, but then to make things worse, they also threw away their streetcar/tram systems.
The content on this channel is just.... escalating in quality.
I'm inclined to give you a thumbs up for that.
Ascend you a thumbs up for that too!
That is an uplifting joke (depending on direction).
Well I'm gonna do more than just stop and stair...
Nicely done!
It did escalate quickly.
Watching took me back to being a boy, some 50+ years ago. I was in London with my Dad and on an escalator. I suddenly realised that he hadn't got on it, when I looked back he called that he was waiting for a dog....
There was a sign that said, "Dogs MUST be carried!" 😂
That's like the three guys waiting in front of a lift for the fourth to turn up - sign on the door says "4 people"...
A mistake also made of course by one Paddington Bear.
@@stepheneyles2198 The elevator in the history department building at my alma mater has a sign on it that says "ONLY FOR" and then a graphic of three "universal stick figure" people, two men and a woman. It's such a pain waiting around for the demographics to be right.
Having grown up in Glastonbury, which is just next door to the town of Street (where Clark's shoes come from), I am legally obliged to do a double take whenever I see that "TO STREET" sign.
I love your channel (especially the town-panning ones) but ever considered loosing the mullet?
correction: its not a mullet
There's a fairly good actress that comes from Street. I was going to say something else, but I don't want to make myself a hostage to fortune, despite only having the best intentions.
they should fix the sign so it says "to the street" (the all caps wasn't helping either)
@@petitkruger2175 It's not a mullet. :)
In Ireland we had a station called Street and Rathowen, midway between those two villages. The station closed about 1963.
It's good to see you maintaining tradition with the old Bumper Harris joke.
Some see it as a joke, some are genuinely still wondering about the name...
“Which raises the obvious question: what was the name of his other leg?” 🤣😂😊
Brilliant 😜
The story of Harris always makes me think of my visits to the London Transport museum cos they had a model of him (standing on his unnamed leg) which for some reason stucco in my mind 😄
I still have vivid memories of Kings X happening. I knew the station well having used it many times with my dad and later as a solo passenger, so to see it engulfed was a shock. My Clair (I didn’t know her then of course) worked with a lady who regularly used the station on her commute. There was a birthday drinks do for a work colleague and she had planned to catch a train at about 8pm but was persuaded to stay later. This might well have saved her life or at least meant she avoided getting caught up in it 🙁
Fascinating stuff as ever, cheers! 👍🍀🍻
The reason that the early escalators had a shunt landing was that the escalator comb to separate moving steps from the fixed landing had not been invented. It is also worth pointing out that the brushes at the side of the steps to discourage people from getting caught in the step was a LU invention now used worldwide.
A little known fact is that heavily loaded down escalators actually regenerate electricity.
You have to be careful using the description 'wooden escalator' as people take this to imply the structure was wooden. This was not the case the structure is steel however the cleats on the steps were made of fireproof rock maple the same as the train floors. The panelling on the escalators was made from wood and the many layers of varnish put on over the years together with the unknown at the time trench effect were major reasons for the fire at Kings Cross.
The varnish that was used was button polish
A noteable (but often unreported) factor in the Kings Cross fire was the reduction of daily cleaners, called “fluffers” at the time, meaning there was far more dust and debris contaminating the grease underneath the top-side steps. Thatcher’s penny pinching at the day-to-day level contributed to major incidents and tragedies which ended up costing significantly more in lawsuits, damages and inquiries
If there are five potential plays on words in the set-up part of a sentence, and another five in the pay-off, how many of these delicious linguistic challenges escaped Mr Hazzard's attention?
No pun in ten did.
My dear Jago, you turn the subterranean environment into sublime entertainment; thank you...
On the Sydney rail network there were still four wooden escalators at Wynyard until 2017. They've been preserved as an art installation called "Interloop" hanging above their replacements.
I remember those wooden elevators - I'm surpised they were still opertating in 2017. Many a time I caught my stilleto heels in them and lost the rubber tip from the end of the heel.
I’m from Melbourne and when I read about the London Underground fire, I though “Wow wooden escalators” the I went to Sydney and was surprised to see them there, I forget which station, Town Hall or Wynyard.
@@darylcheshire1618 It was Wynyard station - I got my heels caught in them many times when I used them. I was surprised when moving to Melbourne how steep and how long the escalators were at the underground stations. On another train related subject - moving from Sydney to Melbourne I was surprised about your train doors. They don't open automatically. I still find my self sometimes standing absent mindedly in front of them waiting for them to open - then remembering I have to push the button. At least VIC and NSW now have the same rail gauge so there's no changing at Albury to get on another train.
Actually, casting my mind back a few decades, I think there may have been wooden escalators at Town Hall station as well.
@@lyndamck3446 On the rare occasions (usually trackwork) when V sets use the North Shore Line, people will stare at the doors wondering why they don't open. They don't see the wording next to the door handles "Pull to open" and indeed the fact that there ARE doorhandles!
Once on a Blue Mountains outing someone was supposed to get off at Springwood, and stared at the V set door wondering why it didn't open by itself. She waited too long and got carried on to Hazelbrook.
(Sadly the V sets are about to be replaced by trains designed for English travel conditions and not Australian - but that is another story).
In the 70's, us daring kids with recently snaffled Traveller's Fare plastic trays used to ride the metal casing between the handrails on many a station prompting LT fitting those silly little stanchions to spoil our fun. By time you got to bottom you were doing an insane turn of speed and it was exhilarating fun.
There used to be the odd drunken person doing this in some west end stations in the 80’s. Trying to impress their mates and usually coming a cropper 😉
I love the escalators on Waverley Steps here in Edinburgh.
An idea first mooted during the 1894-97 rebuilding of Edinburgh Waverley, and only took 120 years to actually be installed.
Battersea power station station station. Just had to laugh at that . Thanks Jago 🤣🤣
Well, it was actually two power stations back to back - personally I think Battersea Power Stations Station is more correct.
Well, that escalated quickly
“Lehigh”: pronounced … well, precisely as you pronounced it. Well done.
Except most Americans would take issue to the pronunciation of "patent." So you win some, you lose some.
@@jtsholtod.79 They'd probably call it a "universidy" too.
@@paulabraham2550 you mean "college" (or caw-lidge)? "University" is such hoity-toity speak...
Above the Lehigh River in Bethlehem, PA - founded by Asa Packer to provide engineers (no, not THAT kind) for his Lehigh Railroad.
@@jtsholtod.79 Most Americans are wrong.
A friend who works in the cabinet office has told me that Boris is planning to scrap HS2 and instead build a giant escalator between London and Leeds to help levelling up
Probably has a pal who'll do it for "mate's rates" (i.e., at least 5x the cost).
@@BroonParker That will make it about 500 billion pounds plus vat
@@maryapatterson Yeah, but it'll be a bung so BoJo and his mate will pocket the VAT between them. And then get parliament to change the law to make it OK.
@@atraindriver 😂🤣🤣
You know it is a quality escalator when the handrail moves at exactly the same speed as the stairs....
.... I'm looking at you Kyiv!!
I don’t know what anyone else thinks, but this latest video from Jago has certainly raised me up…
Anyone… hello?…
I’ll get my coat! 😆
That was sooo bad that your coat is forfeit!
Well it certainly didn't let me down
I did not know that I needed to see your vids until one popped up. I have watched a few and now feel so glad I found you! 🇬🇧🇺🇸
When I was a younger lad I was fortunate enough to see the underneath workings of an escalator at Town Hall station in Sydney. Amazing bit of engineering that is very much taken for granted these days but you can see why it would have been greeted with wonder when they first came out.
I can die happy; I've seen the Americus rail carriage both in person & on the delightful Jago channel!
Sigh. We have no railway based escalators over here on the Isle of Wight. But we do now have an hourly train service with the refurbished D stock. Maybe Mr Hazzard will do a video on us? Please? I think we're in zone 36. Keep up the good work.
Zone 36 - love it!!
Are there cross platform transfers?
Even so, the climb is equivalent to 15 floors. ;) th-cam.com/video/pBTvmrRGlbE/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=GeoffMarshall
Tube trip to the moon, anyone? th-cam.com/video/juFnvCyxMMA/w-d-xo.html&ab_channel=GeoffMarshall
@@stepheneyles2198 so you cannot use Oyster as it is incompatible.
Watching a TV movie earlier, Piccadilly Third Stop, and noticed a fictional Belgravia tube station. Wiki has a list of fictional underground stations. There's a shedload. Might be a video somewhere in that lot Jago.
Excellent offering as ever. Elevated my knowledge of escalated stairways. Ta.
Yes, that would make an excellent video.
I've made a list of fictional characters in the TV series Doc Martin.
Wasn't there one on the EastEnders square?
@@ladiorange Walford East. Takes the place of Bromley-by-Bow on their fictional tube map.
My favourite is Hobs End from Quatermass and the pit.
I remember being terrified of the wooden escalators at Leicester Square when I was a child in London. As a short 7 year old, it seemed infinite.
You and me both! I always missed my footing at the top as a little kid - mum or dad had to drag me over top!
I remember first encountering an escalator at the local Woolworths as a little kid in the '70s. I was fascinated, but I always did an exaggerated extra large step to get off at the end.. just in case.
I loved using them and loved the sound they made too!
I loved using them and loved the sound they made too!
I was only terrified of wooden escalators after the Kings Cross Fire. Also the last wooden escalator I remember using was at Embankment station.
I met a Swedish gentleman, Stefan, in the Stockholm Subway system. He was very engaged in the construction of escalators and recommended me a visit to the escalator at the Mariatorget (Maria Square) subway station that is one of a kind by his means. Thank you for a moving video!
1:47 Ah, yes! That was at my old college, Royal Holloway, London University. Every summer when exams are held in the Picture Gallery, the painting which apparently drove said student to suicide during his exam is covered up with a curtain to prevent future recurrences!
Hi Jago, you mentioned my university! Yes you pronounced it right. No wonder the inventor of the escalator came from Lehigh, it's literally on the side of a mountain. It's very annoying when you have to walk from the bottom to the top in only 10 min between classes!
Having mistakenly irrevocably lined up for a stationary escalator at Holborn, I can attest that they are quite long (the ones to street level) and that standing and letting the electric motor take the strain is much easier!
PS another great video.
I miss fixed staircases at least they have flat bits you can rest on. Climbing them was a challenge, now its a chore
Many is the time I have seen people walking up or down an escalator - why bother? Would you step into a lift and proceed to climb up the shaft,or abseil down it? No! Just stand on it and let it take you up or down!
You can get a free shoeshine as well - those little furry things on the sides - you can clean your shoes on them - not recommended if you wear lace-up shoes!
Another good way of getting exercise - works best if nobody is using it - walk up the down escalator or walk down the up escalator! Same with moving pavements - “flat escalators” that you often see at airports!
@@arthurvasey If you're at Tottenham Hale and have 1 minute or less to catch a half-hourly surface train then walking (or trotting) up the up escalator definitely becomes worthwhile.
@@iankemp1131 Problem is that you can sometimes trip - going up is dangerous enough - run down and trip and it will be the last thing you will ever do!
@@arthurvasey It's not just that, the escalator steps are higher and injuries on the sharp edges are common.
These sharp witted puns are on point.
My Mum & Dad (both born in the 30's) always called them moving stairs and it's been hard to get out of the habit!
Oooo Clapham south! Used to work there as a station assistant, absolutely loved that station!
Amusingly the Macy’s in herald square New York still has wooden escalators on the lower floor. It’s a rather unique setup now a days, but it works just fine.
They still have one on the tube in Sydney/Melbourne (can't remember which) I think.
When I was a child 60 years ago a department store called Stix, Baer & Fuller, in St Louis, MO had the wooden type escalators on the upper few floors. They were really loud with a lot of clacking. They scared me have to death.😱
So glad to see that clip from the first train on the Northern line extension, it's a perfect example of escalators going wrong!
Visitors to London should be aware that it is considered to be a virtue for couples to stand fixedly side by side on the escalators so as to obstruct any such scoundrels as try to gain unfair advantage by pushing past.
Ha, this is dastardly - I love it
And how would you feel about someone who stands in the middle with a hand on each rail?
I found it interesting that on the Russia escalators that couples stand on the same side, the leading person would turn round to face the other. Can't recall seeing this too often in London?
Just doing our best to increase efficiency on your backwards habits. No need to thank us.
PS: if I’m using both handrails simultaneously, it’s because my back is killing me, no, I can’t just use one. F off.
@@JasperJanssen
Sorry about your back.
Very uplifting video!
I had to sit down due to the escalating level of excitement.
Loved the mention of Johnny Cash!
Loved the shout out to Greenford and two of its three claims to fame. 👏👏👍😀
You nailed the pronunciation of the university. Thumbs up!
So the Holborn experiment lasted only 3 weeks - I never knew that. I was living in Spain and travelling periodically back to work in the office of a bank in London ... and I now know that, in that week, by dumb luck I was part of that experiment. I just thought it was the new way things were being done on the Underground.
Quiet, dry humour from such a prosaic subject. I like it.
I have seen many escalators that change their direction when I went to Munich. When nobody uses it, it is on standby, and when a person gets onto it on the top or bottom, it will start to move into the direction, the person wants to go, and when it is free again, it will go into standby again. I haven't seen any in London
They are quite common in Germany in metro and railway stations. Logical idea as one would expect!
I think few if any London Underground stations would ever be quiet enough for that to be useful or even viable. There would be far too many conflicting movements, with people trying to go up and down at the same time.
Our escalators are reversible though, which we use to ensure that during maintenance, which renders one escalator unusable, the remaining one is always the up escalator.
Great video ! I always assumed the term "escalator" came from the French verb "escalader" ("to climb") as it makes quite a bit of sense ! Also fun little fact: here in Belgium, the only wooden escalators remaining are in the St Anna pedestrian tunnel in Antwerp, they're preserved as far as I know.
Doesn't the Horta Gallery, an access for Brussels Central station, have a wooden escalator as well, or am I remembering incorrectly?
@@barvdw The sides of the escalator look like they're made out of wood but I'm pretty sure it's just for the looks and not actual wood (I might check by myself just to be sure it is or isn't wood), and the steps are the regular metal steps
Holloway Rd has TWO lifts...and provision for two more...it was here that the experimental spiral thingy was tried out.
I saw a sign saying dogs must be carried on the escalator, it took me half an hour to find one
At Piccadilly when stiletto heels were in fashion, a girl got stuck in the grooves near the top!! 😲 I can't move, she cried, we told her to step out of them quick . The shoes hit the fork bit and flew six feet in the air!!😆
When did they go out of fashion? I think it is a generational thing.
They must have been a pair of court shoes as the heel got 'court' on the escalator tread.
@@trickygoose2 very droll !🙄😆
And I'd just like to leave a couple of small points . . .
I feel uplifted by this splendid presentation
I remember the "stand on both sides at Holborn" thing. Most people ignored it.
it apparently works faster to carry people standing
@@highpath4776 But I feel weird standing still on stairs. I tried it at home once, and I did not like it.
@@highpath4776 Faster to what though? There are only so many barriers and as we haven't found a way to humanely dispose of those who only reach for their Oyster or payment card when stood directly in front of said barrier there is a limit to how many people can exit at once.
Escalators have known to gain sentience and to start playing tricks on passengers, their favorite is speeding up the handrail
so that your top half is faster than your legs.
Yes I was at Marble Arch in the 70s and noticed the handrail moving slower than the stairs. people instinctivle held on to the handrail, which resulted with people tumbling back on each other. Not boasting, but I shouted to people at the bottom to push the emergency stop button to no effect, so jumpped over, to the fixed stairs , ran down and pushed the emergency stop. This happened just after the Ibrox disaster, where many died, after people being crshed on stairs
Apparently the speeding up the handrail thing might be intentional, to keep passengers alert apparently.
www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,,-2094,00.html
A very interesting video Jago. My first acquaintance with escalators was a cigarette card which showed how they work.. My next was at the 1951 Festival of Britain where I and some friends, on a school trip, spent so much time riding the escalator in the Dome of Discovery that we didn't see much else and the required essays next day didn't have much content. I was also enchanted by the Tube and could have written more about that. Now, at age 85 the Tube still fascinates me. Thanks for your videos, much appreciated.
The 'spiral' escalator was, of course, helical. If you got on a spiral escalator you would ascend (or descend) in ever decreasing circles until you disappeared into your own A... station on the Piccadilly line.
Hmm, there should be a good tie-in to Hitchikers or Who but I can't quite see it yet.
I'll just have to keep an eye open for a towel or a scarf.
The main cause of the King's Cross fire was a lack of cleaning resulting from budget cuts.
And no training of staff of how to use the water fog a manual sprinkler system that was installed in the escalator
One good thing that happened due to the tragedy, was the prohibition of smoking in the underground.
@@thomasburke2683 There are many who would disagree that was a good thing. The majority of cars in every train were non-smoking.
@@RogersRamblings But it only takes one dropped match or discarded cigarette ... And it's rather like pubs and restaurants, the sheer pleasure of coming home not having one's clothes and hair smelling of stale smoke.
@@iankemp1131 If proper cleaning is carried out a dropped match is of no consequence.
It was quite easy to avoid the smokers by travelling in a non-smoking car which were in the majority on most trains.
I was train crew for nearly eight years before the ban and I didn't go home smelling of tobacco smoke.
Wow, I am amazed to hear that wooden escalators were still around so recently . The one and only one I recall was in our Eaton's Department Store's Annex Building in Toronto which was closed in the early seventies . I would love to be able to see one once again .
My knowledge: elevated. This vid: LIKE.
As someone from that section of the American state of Pennsylvania, I can tell you that you are spot on with your pronunciation of Lehigh. Lehigh was and still is a noted engineering school, with one well-known alumnus being Lee Iacocca, the father of the American muscle car Mustang and the subsequent head of Chrysler who saved that company from bankruptcy in the 1980s.
What an up lifting video this one is.
BTW the joke about "what was the name of his other leg" probably pre dates wooden escalators
Lehigh was pronounced correctly. When I moved to Boston, Mass, their transport infrastructure was largely worn out having been early adopters of subways and parkways, and then not having money to maintain them. From the Red Line Subway (c.1912) platforms at South Station (1899), there was still a wooden, cleat escalator ... in 1985-86. There were others, too, including one at the original Forest Hills Elevated station (1909 and an "intermodal" station with streetcars beneath) but I think that had "regular" steps of wood vs cleats. All those were replaced by 1990 with the entire Elevated line to Forest Hills replaced by a new line in a trench shared with Intercity and Regional conventional trains.
LOVE your shows!
Always an enjoyable journey. Thank you for taking the time to share it.
This reminded me of my early schooldays long long ago, when there were no obstacles placed in the central space between the up and down escalators. Or maybe it was only in some stations, can't remember exactly. Anyway, we kids had lots of fun sliding down the middle aisle - he who slid farthest won the game. Amazingly there were never any broken bones...
I actually saw someone doing this maybe in the 70's. Didn't live in London but crossed it from time to time. I remember when seeing the obstructions and thinking, aha! Spoilsports.
@@josephturner4047 Health and Safety ruins another British pastime!!
They ought to just install slides. Maybe have a turnstile at the top that locks for a few seconds to give the previous person time to get to the bottom and out of the way... hopefully.
I don't recall doing that or seeing it done, but I do recall being disappointed when I first saw the instructions. XD
Always interesting and informative.
Keep up the good work fella and stay safe.
Another great video! Minor detail: Holloway actually has two lifts next to one another today (although one is frequently out of commission. The shaft for the spiral escalator is in a different location - if you walk down the spiral stairs and look to the right before heading on down the short straight staircase you'll see an access door - the shaft for the spiral escalator is behind there.
Another extremely interesting and very watchable video, Jago. But then, that is just we expect from you. Many thanks and I look forward to the next one.
My eldest brother was an engineer for Otis Elevators his whole working life. When he first started there in the 1950's, it was called Waygood Otis Elevators. Apparently, they dropped the Waygood part of the name soon after. He worked on the London Underground escalators for many years.
Thanks Jago I Just met my self going up the down stairs no wonder everyone was looking at me ? Keep safe
those posters are a safety feature! As someone a bit nervous on escalators, I enjoy the posters to look at but also, it helps stop accidents, as it reminds your brain that you are ON AN INCLINE, and don't lean the wrong way. A badly designed escalator can mess with human brains and cause anxiety.
Very interesting. It's odd just how common and 'normal' escalators now are - to the point where we expect them even in shops and get annoyed if we have to use stairs! But not all escalators are the same... My only frequent experience of escalators abroad is on the Metro in Budapest, where they go much faster than UK ones! This is quite scary at first, but you get used to it, and then London's escalators seem positively pedestrian by comparison (maybe why so many people walk?).
My other memorable escalator moment was in Barcelona, on the way to Parc Guell, which is up a very steep hill. To our amazement, we discovered open-air escalators running up the middle of the street, but - typically Spanish, I thought - they weren't working. So we trudged up the street next to the escalator - only to be surprised when it suddenly started to work and a young woman went sailing past us! At the top of that section, we were even more puzzled to find the escalator once again not working - and the next one up the hill - the very one we'd seen the woman disappear up! Then, at last the penny dropped and we realised they were on standby and only worked when you stood on them!! Had it not been for that young lady, we would have walked all the way up the hill, right next to a perfectly good escalator...
A very uplifting video bringing us to a whole new level, thank you Jago
The escalators at Greenford were unusual as you mentioned as they only went up to the CL platforms . I am not sure why as the station was pretty new . Another interesting fact is that just opposite the facility is a closed off subway that I would imagine served the now closed GWR station ....My wife's Grandfarher used to work there in the 1960s which added to my interest. I also worked in the station newsagents for a short while and sold the magazine Jackie to my future wife each week long before we got together. ...
I take it no other girl got a Look-In. :D
Excellently put together as usual Jago
Another uplifting video again Sir, well done and thank you.
Not afraid of an old gag, Jago. Well done, again.
On good form today with some delightful humour! Enjoyable as ever.
Just brilliant ! Always wondered , now I know , Thankyou jago !
Another really fascinating tale Mr H - cheers ! As someone who's lived in London since 1977, I've used Tube escalators probably as often as I've had hot meals, but until watching this I'd never given much thought to their origins, although I did know about Bumper Harris at Earl's Court.
Seems that this very British institution of the Underground has a lot of American influence. Especially around the turn of the 19th century.
You would not be trying to Yerke someones chain by chance?
@@delurkor no, unless you mean Charles Tyson…? In that case 👍😉
You are amazing as always ☺️
Otis's head office in the UK was in Winnersh, which an area of Reading. Another elevator manufacturer is Schindler, as in Schindler's Lifts.
Thanks for doing the research. It was interesting to learn about.
The comedy in these videos just keeps getting funnier and more frequent. Love your style of presentation, keep it up!
When I was in London as a fresh faced youth in times of yore I annoyed many people by ignoring the stand on the right etiquette and I think I mentioned something to a flatmate and got lecture on how I was doing it wrong.
Only a lecture? You got off very lightly. The statutory punishment is ten years hard labour without parole.
@@caw25sha Indeed, most people have no idea that the escalators are actually powered by people who failed to stand on the right, who now endlessly walk a giant hamster wheel beneath the machine.
@@cargy930 Dammit! You made me spray prawn cracker all over myself! 🤣🤣
It is the worst crime you can commit in London!
having trapped and in my panic, torn free, my long summer dress on the escalator at st. paul’s once, i dread to think of the accidents involving those heavy, cumbersome gowns the ladies used to wear
i lived that dress
* loved that dress
☹️
At about 4:20 in that video there's a clip at a train arriving at a station where a section of platform is raised up to the otherwise absurd height of the carriage door. I have some real mobility issues, so while I can in general deal with the tube when I visit London some aspects can become a tad ... exciting shall we say?
My first thought was "I must look for that next trip, which stations have that feature?" My second was "bugger that, why don't all platforms come level with the door?"
My third and final thought is "Jago, could you do an episode on the history and future of accessibility and London transport?"
that's a Harrington Hump - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrington_Hump - I only know this from Geoff Marshall's videos
Most of the tube stations prior to the Jubilee line extension have a raised section which was added to provide level access to comply with the disability discrimination act. It was not possible to raise the whole problem due to cost and also the difficulties with the height of adits and other doors leading onto the platforms.
@@carolinegreenwell9086 Nah. A Harrington hump is a dodgy-looking wooden thing bolted onto a flat platform, which'll flex up and down with even a bit of weight on it. They're cheap (by railway standards, so bloody expensive by anybody else's), shoddy and are mostly avoided by passengers - at least on the routes I work which have stations fitted with them - who presumably don't trust them not to collapse underfoot.
LUL/TfL do the job properly and actually build a raised section of platform, which is what Network Rail should do except they're forever reducing budgets for actually doing useful things whilst (I assume) increasing budgets for bureaucrats to do bureaucratic things (all that money must be going *somewhere*).
Meanwhile railways in Japan just have a bloke with a folding ramp who comes out to let wheelchairs on or off. But imagine such a common sense and flexible solution in the UK!
@@worldcomicsreview354 For the London 2012 games those ramps were put into several stations - there was a campaign to keep them afterwards although I am not sure that made any more step free stations (since that was only part of the accessibility problem).
I remember those strange public safety videos with a wellington boot being crushed on an escalator. Still makes me wary of them to this day.
I remember being surprised to find wooden escalators on the Underground when I visited in 1986, about a year before the King's Cross fire.
Great upload and one of your funniest 😆
Very enjoyable one Jago. A lot of interesting facts to complement the history of them. I had no idea the ones at Earl's Court (which I often use) were the oldest! If I recall, that experiment of having people side-by-side was actually a success in indicating it would actually help with people flow, no? Keep up the good work as always :)
Good history lesson and as tomorrow after 50 years, I retire from the lift and escalator industry, I learned a lot from this TH-cam vid and refreshed my memory with some of the discussions. Fwiw, I was working as a supervisor for Otis the morning after Kings Cross fire and the press were calling us for a statement or snippets. The fact was that we did not and had not been contracted by LT for years in that service as they had their own direct crews working on the systems. I have my own ideas as to what happened. What I’d not realised is that the matter hadn’t been published. I wonder why or what it discovered ?
loved it, fab video
Well, that was a very *_uplifting_* and *_moving_* tale! It certainly didn't let me *_down!_* Moving _forward_ now, I shall *_step_* on to my next *_escalating_* video! 😂
Great stuff... Very interesting and amusing.
I'm kinda old, and in my youth I lived near an elevated train station in Boston (US) that had an escalator with inclined wooden cleats for steps. I remember it made a distinctive "clip-clop" sound, and it was only wide enough for one person on each step. It was obviously ancient -- I don't think any other station on the transit system still had an escalator like it -- but it worked okay.
Really interesting and informative video, thanks.
I lived in Holborn in 2015 during that escalator trial… it was bizarre, that’s for sure! 😂
That was very moving - thank you :)
When I hear that train coming I hang my head and cry.
There was a wooden escalator here in Toronto until about 10 years ago but was in an old department store, not in the subway. I was in London when the experiment of not walking up the escalator was tried. People did what they did anyway but they did take away the "stand right, walk left" signs.
hi I am an uninformed American but I love the channel, can somebody explain the station station station joke to me please 😂
it's been funny to see previous videos mention developers of Chicago's rail lines as I grew up taking the CTA and the Brown Line, being the oldest route on the L trains, has a number of quirks due to the city being smaller at the time it was built, if you did a video about it that would be super interesting.
The new station is located near to Battersea Power Station, so in effect the tube station itself must be "Battersea Power Station station". The joke kind of takes off from there :)
Green line is older than the brown line.
You know how to start saying “station”, but you don’t know how to stop saying it - think “banananananananananananana” or the former superstore “Debenhamanamanamanamanamanams!”.
I remember being there in 1971 and saw wooden steps in the Tube.
An interesting look at the ups & downs of escalators..