Maybe it was renamed to avoid confusion with Aldgate. I still get confused between Aldgate and Aldgate East despite working a stone's throw away from Aldgate for years. (I had to stop throwing stones at Aldgate Station. They didn't like it.)
I and other commenters have noted that tube maps and London A to Zs just showed plain Aldersgate until the 1960s. The offical sources state it was renamed to "& Barbican" in 1924 but I wonder how many people realised this (I certainly didn't), though a 1957 photo does seem to show Aldersgate and Barbican roundels at the station itself.
I wish Jago had read aloud Betjeman's poem. Strikes me that his lugubrious tones would be just right for 'Snow falls in the buffet of Aldersgate station,/ Toiling and doomed from Moorgate Street puffs the train,/ For us of the steam and the gas-light, the lost generation,/ The new white cliffs of the City are built in vain.'
Your Sunday morning tales usually provide an entertaining start to the day. Today they've cheered-up my hospital lunch, so are particularly appreciated.
the extra tracks at Moorgate are being turned into a train yard/buffer. this will include the section across barbican as well. they will store trains overnight, as well as a location to pull trains from service in the city during disruptions. This is what TFL and LTM staff told me at the Moorgate Hidden London tour a few months ago.
My home station! Thank you Jago! To mark the release of a recent movie, some particularly creative vandals have defaced one of the station roundels with a sticker which has transformed it into 'Barbie can.'
@@DavidWood2 Aha, amazing what you can do with photoshop. Lots of people during lockdown had a good laugh about a sign on a Bristol bus shelter purportedly saying "Safeguard Your Pubic Spaces". It went viral, but was a Photoshop ...
You should have mentioned the memorial plaque to Pebbles, the station cat. He was a sweet little thing, he used to sit on the automatic ticket barriers.
@@davemcnally3627fabulous, thank you Dave. You might expect station cats in the outer parts of the Underground, it’s odd that these two were firmly Zone 1 cats.
The sneaky lift access from the Elizabeth line at Farringdon that takes you to the Barbican platform only really works if you are travelling westbound toward Kings Cross. If you come back the other way you have to walk down the platform and cross over the bridge and then walk all the way down the opposite platform. You may as well hop off at Farringdon and come out of the station, cross over the road and go down the escalator.
Something like the Farringdon/Barbican connection exists in Chicago. On the Blue Line there are several abandoned stations downtown that connect to all the extant stations along Lake Street, enabling you to walk between them on a single, continuous platform. If you’re waiting for a train with good seats and the station looks too busy, just walk to an earlier station.
The ancestors busy as ever built The Manchester Hotel just South of Aldersgate Street Station in the 1870s. It catered for commercial travellers arriving in the City from Leicester, Manchester etc and had numerous rooms that could be used as pop up showrooms. It was damaged beyond repair in the 20/30 December 1940 raid, along with most of the rest of the area. Barbican was used as a street name for part of Chiswell Street/Beech Street until the Barbican redevelopment.
The current abandoned platforms could be brought back into use in the improvement works mentioned for allowing one train to enter as one leaves or stabling trains and being able to turn back early? which could help with timetable resilience
I believe Barbican is getting a platform 3 back to detrain/train passengers if required, but the other one(and both in moorgate) are going to be staff only access for the sidings they're becoming
I understand the entire Widened Lines from a new junction at Farringdon to Moorgate are to be used for train stabling but not for passengers. Double tracks in the tunnels and single through Barbican.
I like your Barbican videos because that place will always be special to me. My first ever trip from North America to Europe was in the early 1980s to attend a scientific meeting that was held at the Barbican Centre. As a young foreigner I had no idea it was controversial, I thought it was cool.
4:26 For just an instant, my eye interpreted that staircase and the odd... trough-looking?... structure between it and the -swamp- water feature as a water slide. Woohoo! Cannonball!
I used to work nearby, so it was interesting to hear some history about the area. The 2014 short film, Mind The Gap was filmed at the Barbican station, based on a true story and worth a watch in my view.
The secret Barbican exit to the highwalks is key to how the Architects actually wanted people to access the Barbican estate. Also those reflecting pools are only a metre deep with the tube running underneath.
Ive always liked barbican. Its so weird seeing the sky let also being basically underground, surrounded by buildings towering over you. Its like a weird cross between the deep underground stations found in central london and the above ground platforms you see further out. I wonder if there are other oddity stations like it.
In the 1980s I helped someone who was getting treatment at Barts. I would collect them after every treatment and take them back to their flat. I got quite familiar with the oddities of that subsurface Tube line, including Barbican. Happily the treatment worked, so it was not an unpleasant association. Given the price of London property, it is somewhat surprising that these uncovered portions of the underground/rail have lasted so long, whether at Barbican or at either end of Farringdon. You'd have thought buildings would have long since been cantilevered over the lines.
This is so beautifully nerdy. I love you. I forwarded one of your videos (the Barnet one) to some friends (from Barnet), and I described you as the perfect antidote to shouty modern TV. They wholeheartedly agreed. Please never stop talking nerdy to me, Jago.
The plan for the old NR lines is a project called Farringdon City Sidings Basically turn the widened lines into a very long siding for trains to use with minimal disruption to the main line. Points just east of Farringdon have been installed for the completion of the project but it's behind schedule for many reasons.
I've just returned from the Railway Museum in York, around which you generally walk at rail level. "Your" picture of the condensing loco (number 23) from the LT Museum makes clear how much easier it is to view rolling stock from platform level. There is no right or wrong, especially since at York you can walk beneath Lode Star and satisfy yourself that it does indeed have 4 cylinders. Proper engineering with no computer anywhere in sight. KUTGW, please.
The City Widened lines is the most facsinating part of the London Underground . Steam engines into the 1960/s ( even electric loco Metropolitan goods trains ! ) thru trains , diesels and goods trains and yards , bankers , multipall companys , last of compartment stock , over and under etc etc .
I do hope the improvement works will include a "wash & brush up". Barbican is such a mish-mash of jarring surfaces and decay with poor wayfinding to boot.
True story back in 1994 groups of us students from Backwell Comprehensive School went on a school trip to London to visit a few museums / exhibitions, I was in a group that visited Barbican last , While trying to get out of the centre down to Silk Street ( Where the coach was parked ) we truly got lost , Somehow i with 2 friends ended up in Barbican Underground Station Booking Office area with the gate lines / barriers, I hope sign posts and signs have improved a lot since that year and no more people have got lost 😀
You know, visiting the Barbican for the first time was one of the high points of my childhood. But it turns out we didn't have a future after all, so there you go. I like that station. Contrasty, I guess.
The plans for the old platforms are to use them for stabling trains to replace the old ones which I think are near Farringdon and are too short for S7 and S8 trains
Thanks, I always wonder about the various bits of unused railway land that you see around the place, it's good to have an explanation for at least one of them.
So there's no more national rail srvice to Moorgate any longer? I worked around the banking area of London in the late 80s and remember the trains going through Barbican and onto Moorgate. I'm sure I did or am I going slightly mad?
@@caw25sha Yeah your correct well the thing is that all day service ended in 2003 where it got reduced to peak times only before they officially closed in 2009. You also got to remember Barbican was only served on the Moorgate direction.
There is a national rail service but via the Northern City Line. The ones that went through Barbican ceased in 2009. I vaguely remember the closure being publicised with the Thameslink Upgrade Program and FCC branding being removed.
@@hx0d I just remember catching the Metro line to Baker St. and seeing the national rail in the bays at Moorgate. Then we'd see them sometimes at Barbican.
I do remember when the those lines into Moorgate were still active and had used them myself. didn't know it was possible to get to the Elizabeth line though! Being home working now and also office moved out of aldersgate, no reason to really go up there now. Thanks for another interesting video.
Eh, Uh, What ? There used to be two NR terminii at Moorgate: one using the old Highbury branch, and the other taking services that would otherwise terminate at Saint Pancras. For a time, these were bith branded WAGN, which was a bit confusing. I may be a bit out of touch: are we saying that the line KC(Midland) to Moorgate has been completely lifted ? I was at Barbican last year, but didn't notice either way.
@@quantisedspace7047 The deep level terminus for what was GNER is still there whatever it's called now - that was the original LU route where the accident happened and it went over to BR afterwards - so Moorgate-Old Street-Essex-Road etc... There's what was the metropolitan terminus (as I remember it in the 70s/80s) that terminated at the just below ground level which is next to the circle line/metropolitan line thru tracks - that's the one that used to go out thru barbican and onwards which I guess is the ones they are looking at doing again. I think those were the ones where the tunnels etc... were then rerouted to become thameslink if my understanding is correct.
@@quantisedspace7047 The BedPan electrification brought commuter trains from St. Pancras to Moorgate. There was no route across to the Thames at Farringdon having been lifted many years ago - there was still an interesting disused underground shunting yard there for the market. It was later that Thameslink was conceived cutting the BedPan services to Moorgate and introducing the cross Thames route from Farringdon which retained the route from St Pancras Hotel Curve & KX Midland. KX Midland (City Widened Lines) station was closed and a new station constructed under St Pancras.
@@barrieshepherd7694there was a period of time after through Thameslink trains had begun that some morning/evening peak trains still ran through to/from Barbican and Moorgate. It was the upgrade to permit 12-car trains that necessitated Farringdon’s platforms to be extended across the junction, causing the former widened lines at Barbican to be orphaned from the network. The NR platforms could not be extended at the other end (towards St Pancras) due to the gradient and space constraints.
Hi Jago, I have an inexplicable fondness for the Widened Lines, and their current parlous state is distressing - please keep us updated on TfL's moves.
I have an Aldersgate head level station sign ... when I bought it had Aldersgate & Barbican paper pasted on it. It's in LT style so the station must have been Aldersgate for a time between 1924 and 1968 before reverting to A&B ... as Betjeman implies ...
Which is in line with loads of tube maps 1920s-1960s which just show the station as Aldersgate. I was dubious about the primary source that claims it was renamed to Aldersgate and Barbican in 1924 and thought it was renamed to this, not from this, in 1968 and then to Barbican a couple of years later, both due to the development of the Barbican Centre. But it seems I was wrong as the LT Museum has photos from 1957 showing Aldersgate and Barbican on station roundels on the platform. But it was definitely Aldersgate on tube maps and A to Zs! And a 1936 photo showed signs "Aldersgate Street for Barbican" but the "Street" had been officially dropped in 1910! It seems this station was totally schizophrenic about its identity.
I had always wondered about the disused platforms (I say “always”, it was probably the last time I alighted at the station that I was alerted to them!) excellent stuff as ever!
In the Doctor Who story The Web of Fear, set on the London Underground in the 1970's (although made in 1968), Barbican is shown on the tube map as Aldersgate..
Agree entirely. See my separate post. Although Wikipedia and other items state the change of title as happening in 1924, it seems it was only done on the station roundels and not on tube maps or A to Zs. I only ever saw it shown as Aldersgate until the 1960s on Underground maps, and various versions at the LT Depot in Acton bear this out!
Well, Sir Jago Hazzard, I *thoroughly* enjoyed tuning into this rather Ruthless 👍 Tale From Da Tube! I hope 🤞 you enjoy 😉 reading 📖 this comment about this _Ruthless But Fascinating 🤨 Tale From Da Tube._ If you did, why not give these comment(s) a ❤️! *Excellent 👍 Barbican Tale From da Tube 🚇, Sir Jago Hazzard and Your Many Tales From Da Tube!* *………….and you, Sir Jago Hazzard, are the “Barbican and Aldersgate” to all of UA-cam!*
I have been off on those now disused platforms (can't remember if I have done it both directions or just one?)when the Thameslink called there to/from Moorgate.
My local. In pre grouping days it would be a colourful busy spot in addition to the passenger lines, GWR trains would use the station to shunt into the sidings under the market. I believe the abandoned lines are to be used as sidings for the Underground, if they are ever brought back into use, which seems unlikely now.
Hi Jago from Spain where it is a little cooler at a mere 33°. To me, it was always Aldersgate since there was no sign of the upstart pip-squeak of Barbican in those days.
That's interesting about the attitudes of the Barbican estate architects about the tube line and station. Very typical of the attitudes of the 1960s, although I guess the separation of the pedestrian and the vehicular is to be applauded. Still, they did create the most appallingly smoggy tunnel under the estate, with access to the car parks. Meanwhile, the Barbican station never feels like it's terribly close to the concert hall/theatre.
There used to be a signal box at the Elizabeth Line end of the platform, but was removed around 2016. For Crossrail they also demolished part of the ex-Thameslink tunnel to gain access to the station box below, and then built the new concrete tunnel.
It has long been the plan to reuse the former TL lines between Farringdon and Moorgate as the extra train storage that will be needed when the SSL automation is fully implemented and allows increased service frequency \m/
Which is in line with loads of tube maps 1920s-1960s which just show the station as Aldersgate. The primary source that claims it was renamed to Aldersgate and Barbican in 1924 seems dubious. I thought it was renamed to this, not from this, in 1968 and then to Barbican a couple of years later, both due to the development of the Barbican Centre.
Having recently been on a Hidden London tour of Moorgate in Spring 2023, I was told the Farringdon-Moorgate section of the widened lines would be used as two sidings for tube trains, allowing faster startup in the morning in the central section, supposedly with room for 12 trains. I assume this is still the plan.
With the former Thameslink platforms at Barbican station. Will these be used as a siding for the S7 and S8 Stocks to use. Since Thameslink used to ran from Moorgate to Bedford and Luton before it was closed in 2009. Or to reopen one disused line to be used for as a shuttle service between Farringdon and Moorgate and for Metropolitan Line or Hammersmith & City Line trains to terminate at Moorgate. And with Farringdon station that was redeveloped with the platforms extended to accommodate the Class 700 8-Car and 12-Car trains which have replaced the Class 319 and Class 387 when they entered service in 2016. Mind you I have been Barbican station before and it is still a very nice station that Thameslink once served.
The Farringdon Barbican exit came in very handy for me when I attended a conference near London Wall. I wish TfL would advertise it more. Maybe they want to reduce foot traffic?
It was meant to be a proper set of escalators + the lift in the original plans, but was one of many "extras" that were cut to save money around a decade ago to try and stop the budget ballooning. Definitely downplayed by TfL to avoid overcrowding - it's not marked on the Tube Map for the same reason.
I don't like the Barbican Estate- it's difficult to find your way out once you're in (it's rumoured that some visitors from its opening day are still looking for an exit). I find it rather cold and soulless.
There is a true story about the early days of the concert hall. One of the LSO players (Douglas Cummings) went 'out front' at the interval of a concert and was unable to find his way back to backstage; he missed the first item in the second half and crept sheepishly onto the stage after it finished.
I always feel a little sad when I see an abandoned or disused section of railway. It is a shame the cannot do something a little more imaginative with the space than turn it over to those with green fingers.
Instead of the Elizabeth Line as such why dont we build one great long train with bell -end loops at say Bristol and Clacton. Two trains then can be cable hauled with stopping - or just slowing down every set distance for people to get on or off, bit like those travelator things
Geoff Marshall did a lap on the infinite loop of Barbican to Farrigndon in his video highlighting the Farringdon purple line station. Kind of silly, but why not?
There's an old episode of The Sweeney that uses the Barbican station at the time when they were rebuilding. I love the Conservatory in the Barbican Centre, like a little piece of Kew's greenhouses.
Did wonder if any plans existed to extend the City Widened Lines further eastwards past Moorgate. Know concerns were raised about it reaching Finsbury Circus, yet that did not stop either the Metropolitan nor later the Elizabeth from running past that way. Surely there must of been some interesting pre-to-post-war extension schemes for the City Widened Lines past Moorgate in place of duplicate Metropolitan type route to Aldgate?
I'm hoping that they re-use the abandoned line to terminate trains at Moorgate, thereby not using the crossovers before Moorgate station which can slow trains down. You can see it on the end of Farringdon station going towards Barbican.
I think Alderagate used to be called Nobber's Bunker at one point but they changed the name in 1932 due to an incident with Queen Mary and a chimpanzee which somewhat tarnished its reputation, according to Diana Mitford.
The station is at the centre of an extremely busy railway historic area: the Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City tracks, the Moorgate branch of Great Northern, the Elisabeth line, stone drop to the Smithfield Market goods station and Snowhill tunnel to the west, City Northern branch terminus at Moorgate to the east, Mount Pleasant post railway to the north and whatever remains of pneumatic Euston railway to the south. Fleet drain and labyrinths of the Barbican estate, the remnants of the Roman Wall, Charter house estate, St Bartholomew the great with a couple of recently mentioned oldest houses, and the emerging halls of Museum of London at Smithfield are all around.
Snow falls in the buffet of Aldersgate station, Soot hangs in the tunnel in clouds of steam. City of London! before the next desecration Let your steepled forest of churches be my theme and so on…. John Betjeman
A section of Merseyrail is from 1840, the Chester to Birkenhead section on the Wirral Line. Also, the Northern Line to Southport from Liverpool dates from 1847. If you count the Merseyrail City Line, clearly 1830, so the oldest. Like Merseyrail the Underground is a collection of separate railways merged together to form one network. The alignments on some of these were from around the 1840s, so I read. So what is the oldest part? Also, what is the oldest section of the Overground?
Awesome. This time last year, my wife and I were on holidays in London from Australia and we stayed with our daughters at their flat nearby. So we used Barbican and Farringdon (Elizabeth Line) stations many times as we traveled around London. It was really cool to see the streets outside, as well as the station itself. It brings back lots of great memories of our holidays there. We even used the access way to go between the Elizabeth line platforms and Barbican.
Commuted to Barbican for nearly a decade. It’s not a very interesting station building, but used to have a large greasy spoon cafe in the booking hall. Plus the signal box on the station platform, by the new entrance to Farringdon Elizabeth line. Those girders at the far of platform 2 seem to. E holding up a six storey office block.
"These premium central London flats have great views of historical interest!"
"There appears to be a 2,000 year-old wall in front of my windows."
"What did the Romans ever do for us?!"
"Prevent break-ins?"
... At no extra cost.
Maybe it was renamed to avoid confusion with Aldgate. I still get confused between Aldgate and Aldgate East despite working a stone's throw away from Aldgate for years. (I had to stop throwing stones at Aldgate Station. They didn't like it.)
I and other commenters have noted that tube maps and London A to Zs just showed plain Aldersgate until the 1960s. The offical sources state it was renamed to "& Barbican" in 1924 but I wonder how many people realised this (I certainly didn't), though a 1957 photo does seem to show Aldersgate and Barbican roundels at the station itself.
There was a campaign to rename Aldgate East to Brick Lane, I always thought that would be a better name
@@Recessio Or Whitechapel West 😆
I love your footnote 😂 hopefully you haven't woken them up yet 😅
@@Recessio Why not Ripper Central? (Bad taste, of course, despite the accuracy.)
I wish Jago had read aloud Betjeman's poem. Strikes me that his lugubrious tones would be just right for 'Snow falls in the buffet of Aldersgate station,/ Toiling and doomed from Moorgate Street puffs the train,/ For us of the steam and the gas-light, the lost generation,/ The new white cliffs of the City are built in vain.'
Your Sunday morning tales usually provide an entertaining start to the day. Today they've cheered-up my hospital lunch, so are particularly appreciated.
Hope you get better soon!
Thank you McKenzie Bryson
@@stephenreardon2698 you’re welcome Stephen.
the extra tracks at Moorgate are being turned into a train yard/buffer. this will include the section across barbican as well. they will store trains overnight, as well as a location to pull trains from service in the city during disruptions. This is what TFL and LTM staff told me at the Moorgate Hidden London tour a few months ago.
My home station! Thank you Jago!
To mark the release of a recent movie, some particularly creative vandals have defaced one of the station roundels with a sticker which has transformed it into 'Barbie can.'
Your local station? Lucky you! Unlike most people in this comments section, I'd love to have a place in the Barbican estate...
My local too!
Used to be my local!
Barbie-can was just a Photoshop, according to the news - there were no actual stickers applied to the roundels.
@@DavidWood2 Aha, amazing what you can do with photoshop. Lots of people during lockdown had a good laugh about a sign on a Bristol bus shelter purportedly saying "Safeguard Your Pubic Spaces". It went viral, but was a Photoshop ...
The Farringdon/Barbican infinite loop has been featured by Geoff Marshall, hasn't it
Yep
Where *HASN'T* been visited/covered by Geoff Marshall?
@@Keithbarber Ramsey is probably not been visited or had a video made about it by Geoff
@@ashleyjiscool If you mean the Isle of Man, then yes he has (3 videos including Ramsey)!
@@batman51sorry I meant he has probably never visited blunham
You should have mentioned the memorial plaque to Pebbles, the station cat. He was a sweet little thing, he used to sit on the automatic ticket barriers.
@@davemcnally3627fabulous, thank you Dave. You might expect station cats in the outer parts of the Underground, it’s odd that these two were firmly Zone 1 cats.
The sneaky lift access from the Elizabeth line at Farringdon that takes you to the Barbican platform only really works if you are travelling westbound toward Kings Cross. If you come back the other way you have to walk down the platform and cross over the bridge and then walk all the way down the opposite platform. You may as well hop off at Farringdon and come out of the station, cross over the road and go down the escalator.
Something like the Farringdon/Barbican connection exists in Chicago. On the Blue Line there are several abandoned stations downtown that connect to all the extant stations along Lake Street, enabling you to walk between them on a single, continuous platform. If you’re waiting for a train with good seats and the station looks too busy, just walk to an earlier station.
The ancestors busy as ever built The Manchester Hotel just South of Aldersgate Street Station in the 1870s. It catered for commercial travellers arriving in the City from Leicester, Manchester etc and had numerous rooms that could be used as pop up showrooms. It was damaged beyond repair in the 20/30 December 1940 raid, along with most of the rest of the area. Barbican was used as a street name for part of Chiswell Street/Beech Street until the Barbican redevelopment.
I saw the ‘Barbie’ movie yesterday but before seeing it, I loved what they did with Barbican Station. It was fab 😂
The question is whether Barbie Can or Barbie Can't?
@@Dave_Sisson Barbie Can
@@Dave_Sisson Barbie-Ken
Barbiecan was faked
@@Dave_Sisson Ken can't, but Barbie can.
Anyone else try to guess what 'you are the x to my y' he says before the end of the video?
The Barbican architects complaining about views are the definition of audacity.
Yes,it looks like the definition of concrete jungle to me.
The current abandoned platforms could be brought back into use in the improvement works mentioned for allowing one train to enter as one leaves or stabling trains and being able to turn back early? which could help with timetable resilience
Totally agree
I believe Barbican is getting a platform 3 back to detrain/train passengers if required, but the other one(and both in moorgate) are going to be staff only access for the sidings they're becoming
@ChilternTransportProductions Moorgate-Barbican Preserved units shuttle would be nice
I understand the entire Widened Lines from a new junction at Farringdon to Moorgate are to be used for train stabling but not for passengers. Double tracks in the tunnels and single through Barbican.
I like your Barbican videos because that place will always be special to me. My first ever trip from North America to Europe was in the early 1980s to attend a scientific meeting that was held at the Barbican Centre. As a young foreigner I had no idea it was controversial, I thought it was cool.
i love the sound of the trains accelerating out of the station. i miss it as the credits roll
Whenever I am in London I enjoy getting off at this station and just walk around looking at the architecture and unique ambiance it has.
Another good 'un, Jago! Let's hope more semi derelict lines find new uses!
4:26 For just an instant, my eye interpreted that staircase and the odd... trough-looking?... structure between it and the -swamp- water feature as a water slide. Woohoo! Cannonball!
I used to work nearby, so it was interesting to hear some history about the area. The 2014 short film, Mind The Gap was filmed at the Barbican station, based on a true story and worth a watch in my view.
The secret Barbican exit to the highwalks is key to how the Architects actually wanted people to access the Barbican estate.
Also those reflecting pools are only a metre deep with the tube running underneath.
Ive always liked barbican. Its so weird seeing the sky let also being basically underground, surrounded by buildings towering over you. Its like a weird cross between the deep underground stations found in central london and the above ground platforms you see further out. I wonder if there are other oddity stations like it.
In the 1980s I helped someone who was getting treatment at Barts. I would collect them after every treatment and take them back to their flat. I got quite familiar with the oddities of that subsurface Tube line, including Barbican. Happily the treatment worked, so it was not an unpleasant association.
Given the price of London property, it is somewhat surprising that these uncovered portions of the underground/rail have lasted so long, whether at Barbican or at either end of Farringdon. You'd have thought buildings would have long since been cantilevered over the lines.
@@cv990a4. Shhhh. 😉 don’t give em ideas …🤫
Edinburgh Waverley station is similar
You can see the sky from the through Metropolitan Line platforms at Baker Street (the ones used by trains to/from Finchley Road through to… Barbican
This is so beautifully nerdy. I love you. I forwarded one of your videos (the Barnet one) to some friends (from Barnet), and I described you as the perfect antidote to shouty modern TV. They wholeheartedly agreed. Please never stop talking nerdy to me, Jago.
Good job jago. I always look forward to watching your videos, and I’m always so excited when you upload a new one. 🇦🇺
The plan for the old NR lines is a project called Farringdon City Sidings
Basically turn the widened lines into a very long siding for trains to use with minimal disruption to the main line.
Points just east of Farringdon have been installed for the completion of the project but it's behind schedule for many reasons.
I've just returned from the Railway Museum in York, around which you generally walk at rail level. "Your" picture of the condensing loco (number 23) from the LT Museum makes clear how much easier it is to view rolling stock from platform level. There is no right or wrong, especially since at York you can walk beneath Lode Star and satisfy yourself that it does indeed have 4 cylinders. Proper engineering with no computer anywhere in sight. KUTGW, please.
The City Widened lines is the most facsinating part of the London Underground . Steam engines into the 1960/s ( even electric loco Metropolitan goods trains ! ) thru trains , diesels and goods trains and yards , bankers , multipall companys , last of compartment stock , over and under etc etc .
I do hope the improvement works will include a "wash & brush up". Barbican is such a mish-mash of jarring surfaces and decay with poor wayfinding to boot.
I actually laughed out loud at the last line of your script!
True story back in 1994 groups of us students from Backwell Comprehensive School went on a school trip to London to visit a few museums / exhibitions, I was in a group that visited Barbican last , While trying to get out of the centre down to Silk Street ( Where the coach was parked ) we truly got lost , Somehow i with 2 friends ended up in Barbican Underground Station Booking Office area with the gate lines / barriers,
I hope sign posts and signs have improved a lot since that year and no more people have got lost 😀
For your next video could you please vist a tube station actually built by the Romans please.
Tower Hill Station had a bit of Roman wall in the fabric of the station. Will that do?
I think the Romans predate the concept of an underground metro system
Temple?
I think all of you need to go back to school and learn the zone 1 to 6 that julie introduced AD57!
The best thing about Barbican station is that you can keep going up the stairs from the station, onto the highwalk across into the Barbican centre.
You know, visiting the Barbican for the first time was one of the high points of my childhood. But it turns out we didn't have a future after all, so there you go.
I like that station. Contrasty, I guess.
The house of a Mr Shakespeare, did he live at No. 2B (or not) Aldersgate Street?
Just asking for a (fictitious) friend.
The plans for the old platforms are to use them for stabling trains to replace the old ones which I think are near Farringdon and are too short for S7 and S8 trains
you could've finished with 'you are the barbie to my ken'. Missed opportunity.
Many moons ago, in the 80's, I had an office overlooking Barbican. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Thanks, I always wonder about the various bits of unused railway land that you see around the place, it's good to have an explanation for at least one of them.
So there's no more national rail srvice to Moorgate any longer? I worked around the banking area of London in the late 80s and remember the trains going through Barbican and onto Moorgate. I'm sure I did or am I going slightly mad?
According to the Wikithing they stopped in 2009.
@@caw25sha Yeah your correct well the thing is that all day service ended in 2003 where it got reduced to peak times only before they officially closed in 2009. You also got to remember Barbican was only served on the Moorgate direction.
There is a national rail service but via the Northern City Line. The ones that went through Barbican ceased in 2009. I vaguely remember the closure being publicised with the Thameslink Upgrade Program and FCC branding being removed.
@@hx0d I just remember catching the Metro line to Baker St. and seeing the national rail in the bays at Moorgate. Then we'd see them sometimes at Barbican.
@@hx0d You mean the copycat Piccadilly Line.
I do remember when the those lines into Moorgate were still active and had used them myself.
didn't know it was possible to get to the Elizabeth line though! Being home working now and also office moved out of aldersgate, no reason to really go up there now.
Thanks for another interesting video.
Eh, Uh, What ? There used to be two NR terminii at Moorgate: one using the old Highbury branch, and the other taking services that would otherwise terminate at Saint Pancras. For a time, these were bith branded WAGN, which was a bit confusing.
I may be a bit out of touch: are we saying that the line KC(Midland) to Moorgate has been completely lifted ? I was at Barbican last year, but didn't notice either way.
@@quantisedspace7047 the curved turnouts out of Farringdon were lifted , as to if rails remain I cannot recall I think they do.
@@quantisedspace7047 The deep level terminus for what was GNER is still there whatever it's called now - that was the original LU route where the accident happened and it went over to BR afterwards - so Moorgate-Old Street-Essex-Road etc...
There's what was the metropolitan terminus (as I remember it in the 70s/80s) that terminated at the just below ground level which is next to the circle line/metropolitan line thru tracks - that's the one that used to go out thru barbican and onwards which I guess is the ones they are looking at doing again. I think those were the ones where the tunnels etc... were then rerouted to become thameslink if my understanding is correct.
@@quantisedspace7047 The BedPan electrification brought commuter trains from St. Pancras to Moorgate. There was no route across to the Thames at Farringdon having been lifted many years ago - there was still an interesting disused underground shunting yard there for the market.
It was later that Thameslink was conceived cutting the BedPan services to Moorgate and introducing the cross Thames route from Farringdon which retained the route from St Pancras Hotel Curve & KX Midland. KX Midland (City Widened Lines) station was closed and a new station constructed under St Pancras.
@@barrieshepherd7694there was a period of time after through Thameslink trains had begun that some morning/evening peak trains still ran through to/from Barbican and Moorgate.
It was the upgrade to permit 12-car trains that necessitated Farringdon’s platforms to be extended across the junction, causing the former widened lines at Barbican to be orphaned from the network. The NR platforms could not be extended at the other end (towards St Pancras) due to the gradient and space constraints.
Abandoned platforms…sounds interesting to anyone who’s into recycling footwear
Hi Jago, I have an inexplicable fondness for the Widened Lines, and their current parlous state is distressing - please keep us updated on TfL's moves.
Barbican..not made of plastic but its fantastic
That's Barbie girl, not Barbican !
The old canopy should be restored at Barbican (and other stations).
Nope, keep the towers in view.
I have an Aldersgate head level station sign ... when I bought it had Aldersgate & Barbican paper pasted on it. It's in LT style so the station must have been Aldersgate for a time between 1924 and 1968 before reverting to A&B ... as Betjeman implies ...
Which is in line with loads of tube maps 1920s-1960s which just show the station as Aldersgate. I was dubious about the primary source that claims it was renamed to Aldersgate and Barbican in 1924 and thought it was renamed to this, not from this, in 1968 and then to Barbican a couple of years later, both due to the development of the Barbican Centre. But it seems I was wrong as the LT Museum has photos from 1957 showing Aldersgate and Barbican on station roundels on the platform. But it was definitely Aldersgate on tube maps and A to Zs! And a 1936 photo showed signs "Aldersgate Street for Barbican" but the "Street" had been officially dropped in 1910! It seems this station was totally schizophrenic about its identity.
I had always wondered about the disused platforms (I say “always”, it was probably the last time I alighted at the station that I was alerted to them!) excellent stuff as ever!
I love the "secret passageway" between Barbican Station and the EL. I use it all time and fanaticise that I'm on some sort high level mission
In the Doctor Who story The Web of Fear, set on the London Underground in the 1970's (although made in 1968), Barbican is shown on the tube map as Aldersgate..
Agree entirely. See my separate post. Although Wikipedia and other items state the change of title as happening in 1924, it seems it was only done on the station roundels and not on tube maps or A to Zs. I only ever saw it shown as Aldersgate until the 1960s on Underground maps, and various versions at the LT Depot in Acton bear this out!
Well, Sir Jago Hazzard, I *thoroughly* enjoyed tuning into this rather Ruthless 👍 Tale From Da Tube! I hope 🤞 you enjoy 😉 reading 📖 this comment about this _Ruthless But Fascinating 🤨 Tale From Da Tube._ If you did, why not give these comment(s) a ❤️!
*Excellent 👍 Barbican Tale From da Tube 🚇, Sir Jago Hazzard and Your Many Tales From Da Tube!*
*………….and you, Sir Jago Hazzard, are the “Barbican and Aldersgate” to all of UA-cam!*
5:06 Well, that's News to me. Barbican Station was re-named one day before I was born.
I have been off on those now disused platforms (can't remember if I have done it both directions or just one?)when the Thameslink called there to/from Moorgate.
My local. In pre grouping days it would be a colourful busy spot in addition to the passenger lines, GWR trains would use the station to shunt into the sidings under the market. I believe the abandoned lines are to be used as sidings for the Underground, if they are ever brought back into use, which seems unlikely now.
In celebration of a recent movie release, they could have temporarily renamed it "Barbie-Ken"
Hi Jago from Spain where it is a little cooler at a mere 33°. To me, it was always Aldersgate since there was no sign of the upstart pip-squeak of Barbican in those days.
That's interesting about the attitudes of the Barbican estate architects about the tube line and station. Very typical of the attitudes of the 1960s, although I guess the separation of the pedestrian and the vehicular is to be applauded. Still, they did create the most appallingly smoggy tunnel under the estate, with access to the car parks. Meanwhile, the Barbican station never feels like it's terribly close to the concert hall/theatre.
Hurray for Sunday Jago videos! Hip-hip...
Great video Jago
There used to be a signal box at the Elizabeth Line end of the platform, but was removed around 2016. For Crossrail they also demolished part of the ex-Thameslink tunnel to gain access to the station box below, and then built the new concrete tunnel.
It has long been the plan to reuse the former TL lines between Farringdon and Moorgate as the extra train storage that will be needed when the SSL automation is fully implemented and allows increased service frequency \m/
I have a feeling of Deja Vu about this video/subject.
I vaguely recall using the station when it was Aldersgate St. but not sure when or why.
Which is in line with loads of tube maps 1920s-1960s which just show the station as Aldersgate. The primary source that claims it was renamed to Aldersgate and Barbican in 1924 seems dubious. I thought it was renamed to this, not from this, in 1968 and then to Barbican a couple of years later, both due to the development of the Barbican Centre.
I do wonder what TfL have in store for the disused sections and why the mystery?
They're being used to stable apparently. When remains to be seen, but they've started to install cable ducting so maybe soon?
Great video thanks Jago
Wasnt Aldersgate one of the Trolleybus terminating points for services from North London ?
A pub/ bar would be nice on the disused platform.
Barbican 3+4 and moorgate 5+6 would be turned into a stabling points for S 7/8 Stock trains. With entrance and exit by the old sidings at Farringdon.
Apparently 3 at Barbican is being turned into a bay platform
Great video as usual, nice to see your back discussing the Barbican once more haha.
Having recently been on a Hidden London tour of Moorgate in Spring 2023, I was told the Farringdon-Moorgate section of the widened lines would be used as two sidings for tube trains, allowing faster startup in the morning in the central section, supposedly with room for 12 trains. I assume this is still the plan.
With the former Thameslink platforms at Barbican station. Will these be used as a siding for the S7 and S8 Stocks to use. Since Thameslink used to ran from Moorgate to Bedford and Luton before it was closed in 2009. Or to reopen one disused line to be used for as a shuttle service between Farringdon and Moorgate and for Metropolitan Line or Hammersmith & City Line trains to terminate at Moorgate.
And with Farringdon station that was redeveloped with the platforms extended to accommodate the Class 700 8-Car and 12-Car trains which have replaced the Class 319 and Class 387 when they entered service in 2016. Mind you I have been Barbican station before and it is still a very nice station that Thameslink once served.
The Farringdon Barbican exit came in very handy for me when I attended a conference near London Wall. I wish TfL would advertise it more. Maybe they want to reduce foot traffic?
If you use TFL journey planner it does direct you that way..
Sometimes!
It's annoying as it doesn't show up on Tube maps either for some reason.
It was meant to be a proper set of escalators + the lift in the original plans, but was one of many "extras" that were cut to save money around a decade ago to try and stop the budget ballooning. Definitely downplayed by TfL to avoid overcrowding - it's not marked on the Tube Map for the same reason.
I wonder how many metropolitan stations could theoretically have their roofs restored, if I had the money and authority, I'd totally do that.
Sloane Square on the District would be an excellent candidate.
I don't like the Barbican Estate- it's difficult to find your way out once you're in (it's rumoured that some visitors from its opening day are still looking for an exit). I find it rather cold and soulless.
Its bloody horrible.
There is a true story about the early days of the concert hall. One of the LSO players (Douglas Cummings) went 'out front' at the interval of a concert and was unable to find his way back to backstage; he missed the first item in the second half and crept sheepishly onto the stage after it finished.
I always feel a little sad when I see an abandoned or disused section of railway. It is a shame the cannot do something a little more imaginative with the space than turn it over to those with green fingers.
A weekend historic service linking museum of London and transport at covent gdn using old stock to Acton.
i just don't know anymore!.......damn you, Ghyerkeeze !
The Barbican is beautiful.
Instead of the Elizabeth Line as such why dont we build one great long train with bell -end loops at say Bristol and Clacton. Two trains then can be cable hauled with stopping - or just slowing down every set distance for people to get on or off, bit like those travelator things
They are known as paternosters, apparently because the cabins travel in a loop, just like rosary beads.
Brilliant, thank you.
Geoff Marshall did a lap on the infinite loop of Barbican to Farrigndon in his video highlighting the Farringdon purple line station. Kind of silly, but why not?
not only did I consider leaving a like and a comment,
I actually did those two things.
There's an old episode of The Sweeney that uses the Barbican station at the time when they were rebuilding.
I love the Conservatory in the Barbican Centre, like a little piece of Kew's greenhouses.
Did wonder if any plans existed to extend the City Widened Lines further eastwards past Moorgate. Know concerns were raised about it reaching Finsbury Circus, yet that did not stop either the Metropolitan nor later the Elizabeth from running past that way. Surely there must of been some interesting pre-to-post-war extension schemes for the City Widened Lines past Moorgate in place of duplicate Metropolitan type route to Aldgate?
I'm hoping that they re-use the abandoned line to terminate trains at Moorgate, thereby not using the crossovers before Moorgate station which can slow trains down. You can see it on the end of Farringdon station going towards Barbican.
My 1956 tube map shows a station at Farringdon and a station at Aldersgate.
I think Alderagate used to be called Nobber's Bunker at one point but they changed the name in 1932 due to an incident with Queen Mary and a chimpanzee which somewhat tarnished its reputation, according to Diana Mitford.
The station is at the centre of an extremely busy railway historic area: the Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City tracks, the Moorgate branch of Great Northern, the Elisabeth line, stone drop to the Smithfield Market goods station and Snowhill tunnel to the west, City Northern branch terminus at Moorgate to the east, Mount Pleasant post railway to the north and whatever remains of pneumatic Euston railway to the south. Fleet drain and labyrinths of the Barbican estate, the remnants of the Roman Wall, Charter house estate, St Bartholomew the great with a couple of recently mentioned oldest houses, and the emerging halls of Museum of London at Smithfield are all around.
And Hercule Poirot's flat! :-)
@@RJSRdg Yes!
Snow falls in the buffet of Aldersgate station,
Soot hangs in the tunnel in clouds of steam.
City of London! before the next desecration
Let your steepled forest of churches be my theme
and so on….
John Betjeman
"Rubber. Bitumen. To Dampen the vibrations and reduce the noise". You really have been round my flat , Jago.
A section of Merseyrail is from 1840, the Chester to Birkenhead section on the Wirral Line. Also, the Northern Line to Southport from Liverpool dates from 1847. If you count the Merseyrail City Line, clearly 1830, so the oldest.
Like Merseyrail the Underground is a collection of separate railways merged together to form one network. The alignments on some of these were from around the 1840s, so I read. So what is the oldest part? Also, what is the oldest section of the Overground?
By that logic, the Thames Tunnel makes London's the oldest still.
When I hear "Barbican" I hear "Barbie can what?"
I hear Lawrie McMenamy touting the stuff as "Beer with the alcohol taken oot."
@@John2Ward It's great man
Barbie can party. "Come on Barbie let's go party."
The timing of this video in July 2023 is very opportune, given that we are all about to find out whether Barbican (and Oppenheimer can't).
6:00 indeed, a new tube service from one end of a station to the other. The best way to put it :D
I love these videos - but it often leaves me confused !
"Let's dive into it" … what no "there's a lot to unpack".
Tongue in cheek. Please don't say it.
They must've been watching the Oppenheimer, since the Barbie-can't (pardon for my bad pun)
Awesome. This time last year, my wife and I were on holidays in London from Australia and we stayed with our daughters at their flat nearby. So we used Barbican and Farringdon (Elizabeth Line) stations many times as we traveled around London. It was really cool to see the streets outside, as well as the station itself. It brings back lots of great memories of our holidays there. We even used the access way to go between the Elizabeth line platforms and Barbican.
All aboard the 12:00 train with none other than Jago Hazzard leaving from Barbican or is it Aldersgate Bridge?
Ah... Sir John Bitumen wasn't happy :)
“The Barbican area was bombed heavily during the Second World War”
Am impressed they found their way there 😂😂
I’m really missing NYC watching this! Although I prefer the LUL by far.
Commuted to Barbican for nearly a decade. It’s not a very interesting station building, but used to have a large greasy spoon cafe in the booking hall. Plus the signal box on the station platform, by the new entrance to Farringdon Elizabeth line. Those girders at the far of platform 2 seem to. E holding up a six storey office block.
That turned into a corner shop, now closed and the shop is empty