Whenever I zip around London on the subway, I marvel at the engineering behind it. On a recent visit, I leaped at the chance to take a behind-the-scenes tour of Baker Street station. After descending to the current platform, our guide from the London Transport Museum pulled out a set of keys and opened a nondescript brown door. Crossing the threshold, I felt as though I had stepped 160 years back in time. (Image: The original 1863 platform.)
On January 10, 1863, nearly 40,000 people turned up to ride the world’s first underground railway. Built before boring machines came into wide use, the railway wasn’t very deep; instead, the builders dug up the street, laid the tracks, and covered the trench. (Image: Glen surrounded by wiring in one of the secret passageways.)
As the underground grew in popularity, new lines were added. The Metropolitan Railway Company, keen to promote tube travel, ventured into real estate. They built luxury apartments over Baker Street station to entice the affluent to use the underground. As new lines extended to the outskirts of London, the company developed and sold affordable homes to commuters in need of housing and fast transport. (Image: Looking through a ventilation screen onto the current tube line.)
Popularity brought the need for expansion. As we passed through one hidden door after another, we saw remnants of the original station. The walkways and entrances were narrow—too narrow for the growing crowds. The station’s first elevators were also too small to handle demand, and they were later replaced by stairs and escalators. (Baker Street was the site of the first escalator installed in a tube station.) (Image: The back of the luxury apartments and the top of an escalator passage.)
The old elevator shafts were converted into ventilation shafts. The early underground lines used steam engines that filled the tunnels with smoke and heat, making the ride quite uncomfortable. Large, round metal doors were installed to allow ventilation. Standing in the shaft, I felt the wind firsthand as it was pushed or pulled by passing trains through the open doors. (Image: Looking up an old elevator shaft.)
By 1906, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway was fully electrified. While these shafts are still used for ventilation, passengers are no longer subjected to the heat and soot of steam engines. (Image: Stalactites form on the ceiling of one of the unused passageways.)
The development of the tube wasn’t without challenges. At one point, the Metropolitan Railway faced financial difficulties. To secure funding, they turned to Charles Tyson Yerkes, a controversial businessman forced out of Chicago due to his dubious dealings. Despite his reputation, Yerkes knew a thing or two about railways—he had electrified Chicago’s system and helped build the city’s famed “Loop.” (Image: Glen in one of the unused vestibules.)
Not everyone was pleased with Yerkes’s involvement. Since he worked on the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, critics coined the term “Bakerloo” as a jab at him. The name, however, was too catchy to remain an insult. Today, the Bakerloo Line is an essential part of the London Underground. Baker Street station now boasts more platforms than any other tube station, with ten in total, including deep-level platforms for the Bakerloo and Jubilee lines. (Image: Abstract treatment of old wall tiles.)
The Metropolitan Railway also took care of its employees. During the tour, we passed the now-defunct cooking school, where would-be chefs once learned to prepare meals for the employee canteen. The station also housed an employee rifle range, which eventually fell into disuse—much to the relief of those renting the luxury apartments above, who could hear the shots from the sub-basement range. (Image: Light from a ventilation screen illuminates a ventilation door.)
Now, whenever I enter a tube station, I look for those unmarked brown or black doors and wonder what secrets lie behind them. While the London Transport Museum offers tours of other stations, they aren’t always available. Next on my list is Down Street, where Winston Churchill took refuge during World War II. (Image: Abstract treatment of ventilation screen/tube image shown previously.)
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