@@perceptoshmegington3371 - He's the Mayor of London. Watford isn't in London. Why should we Londoners contribute towards something for northerners? Tongue is slightly in cheek here.
Devito D But how many stops do you need on a tube journey to recite in your head every station on every line on the underground? I have got it down to 4 stops.
***** bank and Monument are the same station. I don't know why they have different names for it. It even says on the Waterloo and city line "Bank change here for the Central, Circle, District and Northern Lines and the DLA
It's fun watching these old vids because not only has Geoff come in on P4 at High St Ken (Circle Line) but he's also ridden the Norf Kurve at Watford, despite what he said at 2:25
Six summers ago I stayed about a mile from the Croxley station. Took the Metropolitan line every day into London. Some of our group complained about the long commute, but I loved taking the tube!
Tai Thai That video is brilliant, and I see your point, but my point was that you don't have to live in Britain to appreciate the marvel of the London Underground and all of its quirks and history
thanks so much Geoff, loved this one! appreciate your hard work bringing us the series, goes without saying that any more you can do would be well received...'a day in the life of a driver', 'a depot tour', 'a night with the fluffers'
1:28-2:05 update - Mayor of London and TFL after many plans and deliberation actually decided to cancel the upgrades to the Watford line, so we’re stuck taking the bus to the shopping center :(
As I recall, you never got off an electric train, and onto a steam train at Rickmansworth - they merely swapped the locomotives - the stock was the same, six-car Metropolitan "dreadnought" sets.
Chesham is one of my favourite tube stations. Reasons: Gorgeous, Beautiful garden, Beautiful signal box, Beautiful canopy and Beautiful small station building. I love the station a lot.
I love the series. I think ive rewatched most of these two or three times. Brings back memories of living in Dagenham back in the early 90s. When I had a day off I would ride around London on various tube and NSE lines. Similar journeys here in Toronto may be less expensive, but quite dull by comparison.
Try Railmaponline You Can Find Historic Tracks And Old Trams And Underground And High Speed Two And Purposed TracksAnd Wikipedia And New Aldestrop Atlas And Open Street Map And Open Railway Map You Can Find Ambadoned Tracks Too
2:24 GEOFF : 'but I wasn't prepared to get up at 4am to catch the 5am train around the curve to Croxley' *Smashcut to 2021* GEOFF : 'let's go catch catch the 5am train between Richmond and Croxley then wait around until midnight to do the same in reverse.'
The tunnel with Wanstead, Redbridge and Gants Hill is in the London Borough of Redbridge. The Chigwell-Grange Hill tunnel however is in the Essex District of Epping Forest.
3:19 I found some Easter Eggs with the old tube map! The hammersmith & city is in Purple which is the Metropolitan line colour and the Central line on that map goes up to Ongar So this map was before 1990
I rode down the North Curve today at around 4pm because the Metropolitan line was suspended between Watford and Northwood and the train stopped on the northbound platform at Rickmansworth and then reversed and turned into a fast service which went to Moor Park,Harrow On the Hill and Finchley Road and then the usual stations in zone 1
The Chiltern Railways drivers are the only train drivers in the UK to be fully familiar with two different signalling systems - the London Underground signalling as well as the Network Rail signalling as the Chiltern Railways class 165, 166 and 168 DMUs are fitted with a tripcock in order for the units to work over the LUL signalling system between Harrow-on-the-Hill, Rickmansworth, Chorleywood and Amersham as they share the line with the LUL Metropolitan Line.
Too all the people who are here in 2020/2021 the extension from coxley was cancelled due to funding issues and was denied by TFL who owned the line at the time.
Brilliant series of videos, very interesting details and very professionally produced. Any chance on an episode covering the rules of Mornington Crescent perhaps?
I went on the Metropolitan Line when it went as far as Aylesbury. The old slam-shut-door individual compartment carriages were pulled by an electric locomotive from Baker Street to Rickmansworth and then by a steam locomotive to Aylesbury. There was no need to change trains, they just swapped the motive power. Incidentally the map inside the carriage was a topographical map, not a diagram, and the Metropolitan Line was shown in green instead of the usual mauve colour.
Really interesting, I like the presentation style, and camera work, really brings the viewer into the subject. Gonna check out more of this, but it is 2 in the morning and I need some z's
I live in Chesham, and I’ve ALWAYS wondered what the little ‘slip track’ was between Chorleywood and Rickmansworth was for. Now I know! Also I didn’t know the little tower was a water tower!
1:24 People who live near those stations might use them if they ever reopen them. Also, there might be more sprawling in London&why did they close them. I believe at 1 point they reopened up to Aylesbury& then closed them again.
One did not have to de-train at Rickmansworth, the electric loco was removed from the train, and replaced with a steam engine to continue to Ailesbury. I use to bunk of school and watch them do the changeover.
Not sure if anyone realises but the met between farringdon and paddington was Broad Gauge. You can still see the very wide infrastructure. The line was built dual gauge and the three rails can be seen in the painting of Praed Street junction shown on the Metropolitan Railway Wikipedia article. It is also shown at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Praed_Street_Junction,_Metropolitan_Railway_Chromolithograph.jpg.
This question has always been on my mind. So I was wondering if anyone knows this. Which line is faster to Baker Street from Finchley Road? Jubilee or Metropolitan? Because Jubilee is faster but has 2 stops in the middle, and the met line has no stops, but a lot slower.
I actually used a stopwatch to find out and apparently the Jubilee line is actually faster by 1.92 seconds :D. So if you're ever in a situation where you need to get to Baker Street from Finchley Road as fast as possible, take the Jubilee Line.
***** No. What I basically did was start the stopwatch as soon the train started to accelerate from Finchley Road, and kept it running until it made a complete stop at Baker Street.
Excellent series. Your videos have made me see the Underground in a different light. Please consider doing the DLR, Overground and Tramlink in the future.
To J Hughes. I found the story of the London Underground fascinating as a kid. Back then, in the 70s of course, it was much more atmospheric with the older rolling stock, ticket booths, smell of asbestos brakes, clunky ticket dispensers, Christmas tree type train departure indicators (especially at Baker street Met line platform 5 up to about 1990. I remember the original Drain and trains weren't so well insulated. The noises and smells were incredible. The signage, paint schemes were of a magical age. I remember taking some underground steel signs out of a skipful at Harrow waste transfer site. No trouble getting £60 each. I should have taken the lot! Nostalgia is something the British make an art form out of. No one does it like they do. Unfortunately there's so much they take it for granted and, next thing you know it's all gone. The stations are all that's left. They could and should put on the occasional vintage train.
A brilliant video once again. I have visited Watford Met terminus a couple of times, the most recent when the IWA held its festival at Cassiobury Park in 2013.
Used to use the met regularly to go to amersham and on to Wendover for RAF Halton. Used to meet up with others at Moriarty's bar at baker Street station. No longer there I think. Happy days!!
There used to be an old tunnel from Central London which came up just before you get to to Wembley Park which was used as as a fast network in the 70's. Part of the tunnel is still in use from time to time but only to get in to Neasden Depot.
Sadiq Khan had nothing to do with it. He has no say when it comes to infrastructure projects outside of London (Watford is in Hertfordshire, remember?)
Still doesn’t change the fact that he had no say in _this_ infrastructure project. He’s the mayor of LONDON, not TfL or Hertfordshire. He’s literally not allowed to do anything outside of London, all he can do is promote such projects to the public.
In 1935, the Metropolitan Line ended service at the Brill Tramway. In 1936, The Metropolitan Line ended service at Verney Junction and went back to Aylesbury. In 1961, the Metropolitan Line ended at Aylesbury and went back to Amersham and Aylesbury Station has been converted. And Verney Junction is still abandoned.
Regarding changing to steam at Rickmansworth. As I remember, the trains to Aylesbury from Baker street (Liverpool Street in rush hours) were hauled by electric locos, known as "Bugs" as far as Rickmansworth. There, the Bug was detached and switched to the southbound line, and replaced by steam loco which was parked in the side platform. No need to get off the train. After departure, the Bug waited for the southbound steam-hauled train when the whole changover process was reversed. Sounds compicated I know, but if you had seen as many times as I did 50+ years ago, it was very simple. The carriages were compartment type almost identical to the "T" stock which ran on the Met from Baker Street (Aldgate in rush hours) to Watford. The Baker Street (Moorgate in rush hours) to Uxbridge trains were "O/P" stock; a nice red colour rather than the "T" s dirty brown.
I'm not sure if anyone noticed this, but at the end of the video, Geoff says "covered all 11 lines". He's actually covered 10, the last one being the Waterloo and City line, but in fairness, with only 2 stops, it's pretty self explanatory as to why it was missed
I have thoroughly enjoyed every Tube video you have posted! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try to do the other Tube related video(s) you spoke about in this video!
Great video but why did only talk about the stations after the line splits, there’s still Harrow on the Hill, Algate, Finchley road, Preston road, Northwick park etc
This is now 2024 but none of the stations mentioned to be added exist. But these videos are very cool and i love it. Its a bit outdated now, since this is 10 years later, but its still very interesting to see the metropolitan line from the perspective of someone a decade ago
Thank you for the series, Geoff--a fantastic almost-hour's worth of trivia gold but excuse the capital-shouting when I say ABANDONED STATION VIDEO! YES! Yes please.
I've been to Verney Junction! It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, there's maybe two or three properties nearby. In its heyday it was a four way junction, you could get trains to almost every place in the local area. Nowadays the lines running north and south (south being what was the Met) are long gone but the east west alignment still exists, as do the platforms and even a sign telling you to watch for trains! Everything is fully overgrown but the tracks are still there. Fortunately the east west rails will soon be back in use when trains run again between Oxford and Bletchley, but Verney Junction, with its three houses, is most definitely not going to be a reopened station!
When I lived in Oxford I looked on the map for the town of Verney. There isn't one! Apparently the station is named after the farmer that the railway company bought the field from. It's rather difficult to find any reason why the Metropolitan thought it worthwhile to construct a line to it; I suppose it could have given access on to Buckingham, Brackley and Banbury, but I don't think that ever happened.
The station wasn't named after the nearby settlement, it was the other way around: the nearby settlement was named after the station. I'm not sure where the name of the station (or the junction) came from but there is a tiny hamlet called Verney Junction, near the now disused station.
Sir Harry Verney, born Harry Calvert, was a director of both the Buckinghamshire Railway and the Aylesbury & Buckingham Railway, which met at the junction in question. Another station, on the Great Central, was called Calvert after him.
Very late to this but just to add that, when I was working in Amersham a few years ago, and had to go in REALLY early one day, I caught the 4-car shuttle from Wembley Park to Chalfont & Latimer (it was going on to Chesham) - so I think they kept it in the Wembley depot overnight.
I remember travelling on the met from Harrow on the Hill to Baker Street being pulled by an electric locomotive. The locos were painted grey with red stripes, although some were painter maroon. They had name plates,I don’t know if any are preserved. The coach stock was painted like brown timber or might’ve been timber. There was a half buffet car in one coach..
Shame they cancelled the extension through Watford. I wish someone would renovate Harrow-on-the-Hill station. It is a wonderful Art Deco building but has seen better days. I'm sure with all the talent of London at our disposal they could do a wonderful job if the funds were available.
The "secret" rear entrance to Moor Park Station serves Merchant Taylors' School by a footpath which could get muddy in wet weather.. In the 1960s perhaps more than 400 boys would use this path, not so many now with most (???) coming to school by car.
as a current mts student, i can indeed clarify that the spinney does still get extremely muddy and we do still have a good 30-40% of students and a few teachers getting the tube home, myself included
So far as I know, Chesham began with only the one platform. The bay was built much later, making a total of two platforms. The bay was latterly withdrawn from service, and the track removed.
I know this video is a bit old, but at Rickmansworth the Met changed locos, electric to steam and vice versa. Passengers did not disembark and get on a different train. The track layout was set up so that as the loco coming off ran forward, points changed behind it and the replacement loco backed on to the train. The change over took about three minutes, allegedly the fastest loco change in the world at the time.
No, as even when the Bakerloo had running rights over the LNWR line, it was a bit slow, the Overground and Change at Willesden Junction Makes Better Sense, but re-instating the Mainline Willesden Junction Station for 'Southern' Fast trains to Watford would make sense.
Geoff this is what I found about verney junction. Verney Junction was an isolated railway station at a four-way railway junction in Buckinghamshire, open from 1868 to 1968; a junction existed through the site without a station from 1851.
Uxbridge is a Met Station as it was built for the railway in 1904 the District reached Uxbridge in 1910, and taken over by the Piccadilly in 1932 with the District being withdrawn , the currant Uxbridge station was opened in 1938 replacing the old one on Belmont Road.
The stained glass windows at Uxbridge are the coat of arms for the former county of Middlesex (the crown with three scythes) and the county of Buckinghamshire (the white swan) as Uxbridge was in Middlesex up until 1965 with the border with Buckinghamshire being located very close by.
0:40 That's the longest gap between stations on the London Underground? I can give you some transit systems with bigger station gaps, such as the Washington Metro's Silver Line, which has this 4.5 mile distance between East Falls Church and McClean, and a 6 mile gap from Spring Hill to Reston. There's a four mile gap on MARTA's Red Line between Buckhead and Medical Center.
Traveling on the Met . in 1944 , there was no changing of trains at Rickmansworth , it wasn't necessary .The BO BO from Baker St. was replaced by steam ready waiting in the siding , the whole changeover being done very swiftly .The BO BO then used the crossover waiting in the up siding ready for the next Baker St . train , wher the procedure took place in reverse .
It's been 5 years since this video, and Watford station of the metropolitan line is still there XD
The mayor of London cancelled the extension. What an idiot.
@@ben.taylor WHY THE METRO LINE WOULD BE EVEN BETTER
@@ben.taylor Yeah Siddique Khan is a fucking wanklord.
@@perceptoshmegington3371 - He's the Mayor of London. Watford isn't in London. Why should we Londoners contribute towards something for northerners? Tongue is slightly in cheek here.
Percepto Shmegington bruh I’m happy cuz I go to Watford station everyday
He forgot to mention that the Metropolitan Line is the only London Underground Line not to connect with the District Line
Devito D But how many stops do you need on a tube journey to recite in your head every station on every line on the underground? I have got it down to 4 stops.
Devito D Neither does the Waterloo and City line (unless you count Bank and Monument as one station).
***** bank and Monument are the same station. I don't know why they have different names for it. It even says on the Waterloo and city line "Bank change here for the Central, Circle, District and Northern Lines and the DLA
Devito D Yeah, I completely agree, I was just pointing out that some people might disagree with it :)
Devito D He mentioned it in the District Line video ;)
1:41 spoiler alert, as of 2020 its still not been built yet.
But go there anyway as there's a really nice Harvester at that roundabout :)
Yea it’s still not finished XD
It was cancelled
No....NO....NO
Cancelled
The old croxley station makes for some good urban exploration though, if you don't mind walking over a collapsed fence that is...
Whenever I miss London I watch these.
Using an app for cheap tickets. Can share!
me too😢
It's fun watching these old vids because not only has Geoff come in on P4 at High St Ken (Circle Line) but he's also ridden the Norf Kurve at Watford, despite what he said at 2:25
Six summers ago I stayed about a mile from the Croxley station. Took the Metropolitan line every day into London. Some of our group complained about the long commute, but I loved taking the tube!
I don't even live in the UK, why am I watching these
J Hughes because you don't have to be a Londoner or even a Brit to appreciate the Tube ^^
Vectored Thrust Considering the Tube goes out of London see the *Do You Live in London?* video
Tai Thai
That video is brilliant, and I see your point, but my point was that you don't have to live in Britain to appreciate the marvel of the London Underground and all of its quirks and history
same i'm from asian
+Dang Itshere *asia
'A whole bunch of new stations added to the map' adding up to a grand total of 2
Actually, 5.
+KianPlaysMC No, 2. Count the new stations. 1, 2.
GoldenCarrot256 So, what about Watford Vicarage Road? Also, Watford Junction and Watford High Street are now shown with connector blobs.
+KianPlaysMC Watford Vicarage Road, and Cassiobridge. 2 stations. Also, a connector blob does not create a new station.
GoldenCarrot256 Well, it kinda looks like one.....
Watford Junction extension is dead :/
Sean Lecca
@@alankristunas6896 what
Sean Lecca yep
They should extend central line to ickinham so there is less traffic in west ruislip and uxbridge
@@lollil6424 And join Uxbridge to Iver - only four miles of track - to connect with the Lizzy line..:)
thanks so much Geoff, loved this one! appreciate your hard work bringing us the series, goes without saying that any more you can do would be well received...'a day in the life of a driver', 'a depot tour', 'a night with the fluffers'
1:28-2:05 update - Mayor of London and TFL after many plans and deliberation actually decided to cancel the upgrades to the Watford line, so we’re stuck taking the bus to the shopping center :(
Sad this series is coming to an end but ... canals, overground, DLR, abandoned stations all sound like great watching to me. Keep up the great work!
As I recall, you never got off an electric train, and onto a steam train at Rickmansworth - they merely swapped the locomotives - the stock was the same, six-car Metropolitan "dreadnought" sets.
The watford junct extension might have been cancelled.
FewGrain 42 it has Sadiqu Khan cancelled it in 2016
FewGrain 42, it has.
@@jpbdude4223 welp
The overground terminates at Watford junction
ITS BEEN CANCELLED!
Chesham is one of my favourite tube stations. Reasons:
Gorgeous,
Beautiful garden,
Beautiful signal box,
Beautiful canopy and
Beautiful small station building.
I love the station a lot.
"n January 2017, the Watford Observer newspaper confirmed that work had stopped due to an ongoing funding issue." No more Croxley Rail Link ;(
Little Fun Fact: The Metropolitan Line, alongside the Bakerloo, are the only places on the tube where you can sit facing forwards or backwards
We absolutely love this video series, please do more! Thanks in advance.
I love the series. I think ive rewatched most of these two or three times. Brings back memories of living in Dagenham back in the early 90s. When I had a day off I would ride around London on various tube and NSE lines. Similar journeys here in Toronto may be less expensive, but quite dull by comparison.
Me and my dad were well happy getting to meet you and talk to you at Acton Depot the other day.
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Who else goes on Google Maps after these and Lost Railways. I tried to find where the tracks went after Aylesbury
Me
Try Railmaponline You Can Find Historic Tracks And Old Trams And Underground And High Speed Two And Purposed TracksAnd Wikipedia And New Aldestrop Atlas And Open Street Map And Open Railway Map You Can Find Ambadoned Tracks Too
@@bogdanrusu7129
Why Are You Writing Like This It Is Just Strange
Look up Great Central Railway - a sad loss:(
mattloveOHIOST5 I spend way too much time doing this.
Really have enjoyed this series. Shame it has to come to an end but something on the abandoned stations would be great!
I'm from Sydney, Australia, and am finishing school next year. Your videos inspired me to make my own of the Cityrail train network
About bloody time Geoff ;) I have been waiting for this and the Circle line video for ages!!
Nick Higgins He’s done the Circle line.
2:24
GEOFF : 'but I wasn't prepared to get up at 4am to catch the 5am train around the curve to Croxley'
*Smashcut to 2021*
GEOFF : 'let's go catch catch the 5am train between Richmond and Croxley then wait around until midnight to do the same in reverse.'
I have watched every one of these videos. it, in my opinion, has been one of the best things I have seen on youtube in a while. keep up the good work.
Using an app for cheap tickets. Can share!
0.37 'Lunderground network' Haha
0:37
I made this mistake before
Thank god I'm not the only one pissing my self laughing about this 🤣😂
It should be L'underground because you are dropping the "ondon"
Charlie Clapp ur a grammar nazi. Btw u forgot a full stop/period.
2:38 tunnel between Grange Hill and Chigwell and between Wanstead and Newbury Park. ;).
The tunnel with Wanstead, Redbridge and Gants Hill is in the London Borough of Redbridge. The Chigwell-Grange Hill tunnel however is in the Essex District of Epping Forest.
CrouchingBarmaidsHiddenSausage however he did say OUTSIDE of London, hence why I said Grange Hill- Chigwell.
1:24 Verney Junction is a very small town in the UK. There are still train tracks there (on a satellite map) but yeah
3:19 I found some Easter Eggs with the old tube map!
The hammersmith & city is in Purple which is the Metropolitan line colour and the Central line on that map goes up to Ongar
So this map was before 1990
I rode down the North Curve today at around 4pm because the Metropolitan line was suspended between Watford and Northwood and the train stopped on the northbound platform at Rickmansworth and then reversed and turned into a fast service which went to Moor Park,Harrow On the Hill and Finchley Road and then the usual stations in zone 1
The Chiltern Railways drivers are the only train drivers in the UK to be fully familiar with two different signalling systems - the London Underground signalling as well as the Network Rail signalling as the Chiltern Railways class 165, 166 and 168 DMUs are fitted with a tripcock in order for the units to work over the LUL signalling system between Harrow-on-the-Hill, Rickmansworth, Chorleywood and Amersham as they share the line with the LUL Metropolitan Line.
Too all the people who are here in 2020/2021 the extension from coxley was cancelled due to funding issues and was denied by TFL who owned the line at the time.
Love it all, used to live in south Ruislip, swim at south Harrow pool and fish in the canal at Uxbridge. Train was my pleasure.
Thank you
"I'm not going to get up at 4am to ride the 5am train around the secret curve on the northern line"... yes you are! 😀
Brilliant series of videos, very interesting details and very professionally produced. Any chance on an episode covering the rules of Mornington Crescent perhaps?
Excellent! Thank you from Germany!
I went on the Metropolitan Line when it went as far as Aylesbury. The old slam-shut-door individual compartment carriages were pulled by an electric locomotive from Baker Street to Rickmansworth and then by a steam locomotive to Aylesbury. There was no need to change trains, they just swapped the motive power. Incidentally the map inside the carriage was a topographical map, not a diagram, and the Metropolitan Line was shown in green instead of the usual mauve colour.
When did you go there?
Really interesting, I like the presentation style, and camera work, really brings the viewer into the subject. Gonna check out more of this, but it is 2 in the morning and I need some z's
I live in Chesham, and I’ve ALWAYS wondered what the little ‘slip track’ was between Chorleywood and Rickmansworth was for. Now I know! Also I didn’t know the little tower was a water tower!
At Hillingdon at the Eastbound platform if you look at the metropolitan and Piccadilly line signs Aldwych is mentioned on the signs peak hours only!
1:24 People who live near those stations might use them if they ever reopen them. Also, there might be more sprawling in London&why did they close them. I believe at 1 point they reopened up to Aylesbury& then closed them again.
Would be a good idea if Suburbia started expanding towards there....
One did not have to de-train at Rickmansworth, the electric loco was removed from the train, and replaced with a steam engine to continue to Ailesbury. I use to bunk of school and watch them do the changeover.
Not sure if anyone realises but the met between farringdon and paddington was Broad Gauge. You can still see the very wide infrastructure. The line was built dual gauge and the three rails can be seen in the painting of Praed Street junction shown on the Metropolitan Railway Wikipedia article. It is also shown at commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Praed_Street_Junction,_Metropolitan_Railway_Chromolithograph.jpg.
Geoff has since gotten up at 4am and stayed up late to ride both trains on the north curve
The update could include the intended Watford station on the main road (quite obvious once you see it - including the intended window-surrounds).
1:41 it was scrapped
I actually love your london transport vids. Keep em coming!
This question has always been on my mind. So I was wondering if anyone knows this. Which line is faster to Baker Street from Finchley Road? Jubilee or Metropolitan? Because Jubilee is faster but has 2 stops in the middle, and the met line has no stops, but a lot slower.
***** Ah ok, I always thought that the Jubilee line was faster, but not by much.
I actually used a stopwatch to find out and apparently the Jubilee line is actually faster by 1.92 seconds :D. So if you're ever in a situation where you need to get to Baker Street from Finchley Road as fast as possible, take the Jubilee Line.
***** What do you mean?
***** No. What I basically did was start the stopwatch as soon the train started to accelerate from Finchley Road, and kept it running until it made a complete stop at Baker Street.
***** Same here :) Sort of.
The Metropolitan line is my favourite line on the network. Chesham is my favourite station. Brilliant video mate.
0:52 False. Is the Waterloo&City line with 4 cars
you should check the Waterloo & City line vid as he mentions it
Excellent series. Your videos have made me see the Underground in a different light. Please consider doing the DLR, Overground and Tramlink in the future.
To J Hughes. I found the story of the London Underground fascinating as a kid. Back then, in the 70s of course, it was much more atmospheric with the older rolling stock, ticket booths, smell of asbestos brakes, clunky ticket dispensers, Christmas tree type train departure indicators (especially at Baker street Met line platform 5 up to about 1990. I remember the original Drain and trains weren't so well insulated. The noises and smells were incredible. The signage, paint schemes were of a magical age. I remember taking some underground steel signs out of a skipful at Harrow waste transfer site. No trouble getting £60 each. I should have taken the lot! Nostalgia is something the British make an art form out of. No one does it like they do. Unfortunately there's so much they take it for granted and, next thing you know it's all gone. The stations are all that's left. They could and should put on the occasional vintage train.
A brilliant video once again. I have visited Watford Met terminus a couple of times, the most recent when the IWA held its festival at Cassiobury Park in 2013.
Excellent Series..Betjeman Would approve.
Yup this hits my geekiness as well. Wish I had known about Verney Junction when I was at Buckingham
Given that the Bletchley/Bicester line is due to re-open, Verney would be useful again.
Brian Parker when I first went to Buckingham I purposefully took the Bletchley / Biscester line it was still using the old diesel commuter trains.
1:21 So that puzzle in Skyfall WAS accurate as far as Bond guessing that Granborough was a reference to the Metropolitan line.
I see you're a very cultured person
Gisa R. You mean she’s Karen
Always nice to see my little home town in videos. Chesham is a great place. Amersham is too, went through there to go to collage at Aylesbury.
My grandparents used to own the pub at Verney Junction!
Used to use the met regularly to go to amersham and on to Wendover for RAF Halton. Used to meet up with others at Moriarty's bar at baker Street station. No longer there I think. Happy days!!
There used to be an old tunnel from Central London which came up just before you get to to Wembley Park which was used as as a fast network in the 70's. Part of the tunnel is still in use from time to time but only to get in to Neasden Depot.
Sad news four years later... Watford station will still remain because Sadiq Khan cancelled the Met extension to Wat Junc.
At least Watford will stay
It's only suspended due to funding problems
Sadiq Khan had nothing to do with it. He has no say when it comes to infrastructure projects outside of London (Watford is in Hertfordshire, remember?)
@@KasabianFan44 He has plenty of say when it comes to infrastructure projects undertaken by Transport for London.
Still doesn’t change the fact that he had no say in _this_ infrastructure project. He’s the mayor of LONDON, not TfL or Hertfordshire. He’s literally not allowed to do anything outside of London, all he can do is promote such projects to the public.
In 1935, the Metropolitan Line ended service at the Brill Tramway. In 1936, The Metropolitan Line ended service at Verney Junction and went back to Aylesbury. In 1961, the Metropolitan Line ended at Aylesbury and went back to Amersham and Aylesbury Station has been converted. And Verney Junction is still abandoned.
Regarding changing to steam at Rickmansworth.
As I remember, the trains to Aylesbury from Baker street (Liverpool Street in rush hours) were hauled by electric locos, known as "Bugs" as far as Rickmansworth. There, the Bug was detached and switched to the southbound line, and replaced by steam loco which was parked in the side platform. No need to get off the train. After departure, the Bug waited for the southbound steam-hauled train when the whole changover process was reversed. Sounds compicated I know, but if you had seen as many times as I did 50+ years ago, it was very simple.
The carriages were compartment type almost identical to the "T" stock which ran on the Met from Baker Street (Aldgate in rush hours) to Watford. The Baker Street (Moorgate in rush hours) to Uxbridge trains were "O/P" stock; a nice red colour rather than the "T" s dirty brown.
I'm not sure if anyone noticed this, but at the end of the video, Geoff says "covered all 11 lines". He's actually covered 10, the last one being the Waterloo and City line, but in fairness, with only 2 stops, it's pretty self explanatory as to why it was missed
Mattbarson23 they did that one too
Guys, he posted this *4 years ago!*
@@legend_darkstar hahahaha
@@robert1200 wow that was 2 years ago
@@legend_darkstar indeed
I have thoroughly enjoyed every Tube video you have posted! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try to do the other Tube related video(s) you spoke about in this video!
Great video but why did only talk about the stations after the line splits, there’s still Harrow on the Hill, Algate, Finchley road, Preston road, Northwick park etc
Stations in central London tunnels
I was born is Switzerland but now I'm in the UK so I can watch many of these
So here we are in 2020 no met line extension it’s been scraped so u still got time for Watford Met
0:55 SO OBVIOUS!!!!!!! (secrets of W&C)
🤣
This is now 2024 but none of the stations mentioned to be added exist. But these videos are very cool and i love it. Its a bit outdated now, since this is 10 years later, but its still very interesting to see the metropolitan line from the perspective of someone a decade ago
Thank you for the series, Geoff--a fantastic almost-hour's worth of trivia gold but excuse the capital-shouting when I say ABANDONED STATION VIDEO! YES!
Yes please.
I've been to Verney Junction! It is pretty much in the middle of nowhere, there's maybe two or three properties nearby. In its heyday it was a four way junction, you could get trains to almost every place in the local area. Nowadays the lines running north and south (south being what was the Met) are long gone but the east west alignment still exists, as do the platforms and even a sign telling you to watch for trains! Everything is fully overgrown but the tracks are still there.
Fortunately the east west rails will soon be back in use when trains run again between Oxford and Bletchley, but Verney Junction, with its three houses, is most definitely not going to be a reopened station!
When I lived in Oxford I looked on the map for the town of Verney. There isn't one! Apparently the station is named after the farmer that the railway company bought the field from. It's rather difficult to find any reason why the Metropolitan thought it worthwhile to construct a line to it; I suppose it could have given access on to Buckingham, Brackley and Banbury, but I don't think that ever happened.
The station wasn't named after the nearby settlement, it was the other way around: the nearby settlement was named after the station. I'm not sure where the name of the station (or the junction) came from but there is a tiny hamlet called Verney Junction, near the now disused station.
Sir Harry Verney, born Harry Calvert, was a director of both the Buckinghamshire Railway and the Aylesbury & Buckingham Railway, which met at the junction in question. Another station, on the Great Central, was called Calvert after him.
@@JimTLonW6 They wanted people to move to Verney Junction and build properties there! Like how most of London was buildt!
Love the videos. Hope there WILL be more :-)
Very late to this but just to add that, when I was working in Amersham a few years ago, and had to go in REALLY early one day, I caught the 4-car shuttle from Wembley Park to Chalfont & Latimer (it was going on to Chesham) - so I think they kept it in the Wembley depot overnight.
I remember travelling on the met from Harrow on the Hill to Baker Street being pulled by an electric locomotive. The locos were painted grey with red stripes, although some were painter maroon. They had name plates,I don’t know if any are preserved. The coach stock was painted like brown timber or might’ve been timber. There was a half buffet car in one coach..
Shame they cancelled the extension through Watford. I wish someone would renovate Harrow-on-the-Hill station. It is a wonderful Art Deco building but has seen better days. I'm sure with all the talent of London at our disposal they could do a wonderful job if the funds were available.
The "secret" rear entrance to Moor Park Station serves Merchant Taylors' School by a footpath which could get muddy in wet weather.. In the 1960s perhaps more than 400 boys would use this path, not so many now with most (???) coming to school by car.
as a current mts student, i can indeed clarify that the spinney does still get extremely muddy and we do still have a good 30-40% of students and a few teachers getting the tube home, myself included
So far as I know, Chesham began with only the one platform. The bay was built much later, making a total of two platforms. The bay was latterly withdrawn from service, and the track removed.
its been 10 years and they havent made it
I know this video is a bit old, but at Rickmansworth the Met changed locos, electric to steam and vice versa. Passengers did not disembark and get on a different train. The track layout was set up so that as the loco coming off ran forward, points changed behind it and the replacement loco backed on to the train. The change over took about three minutes, allegedly the fastest loco change in the world at the time.
Will they also ever extend the Bakerloo line from Harrow & Wealdstone to Watford Junction again, so the 2 lines can meet at 1 end there?
No, as even when the Bakerloo had running rights over the LNWR line, it was a bit slow, the Overground and Change at Willesden Junction Makes Better Sense, but re-instating the Mainline Willesden Junction Station for 'Southern' Fast trains to Watford would make sense.
Geoff this is what I found about verney junction. Verney Junction was an isolated railway station at a four-way railway junction in Buckinghamshire, open from 1868 to 1968; a junction existed through the site without a station from 1851.
I visited Croxley station today. What a lovely part of town
0:37 Gonna start calling it the Londerground now!
Uxbridge is a Met Station as it was built for the railway in 1904 the District reached Uxbridge in 1910, and taken over by the Piccadilly in 1932 with the District being withdrawn , the currant Uxbridge station was opened in 1938 replacing the old one on Belmont Road.
When are you doing the abandoned station video? Soon, I hope!!!
We did it two years ago, it was available only the DVD that we put out in the run up to Christmas 2014.
Londonist Ltd the only place on the underground 4'car trains run is the Waterloo and city line
Yes they did that intentionally so they could do the W&C line.
Aberdeen Aviation Watch the W&C Line vid
The map that Geoff is holding at 3:18 was printed some time between 1968 and 1971.
Would you ever do a video on the DLR?
Coldclough He has done.
3:49, any updates on the abandoned stations video?
The stained glass windows at Uxbridge are the coat of arms for the former county of Middlesex (the crown with three scythes) and the county of Buckinghamshire (the white swan) as Uxbridge was in Middlesex up until 1965 with the border with Buckinghamshire being located very close by.
I admire your faith in the MLX getting built. How wrong you were.
I get the feeling that this connection might not be built anytime soon...
0:40 That's the longest gap between stations on the London Underground? I can give you some transit systems with bigger station gaps, such as the Washington Metro's Silver Line, which has this 4.5 mile distance between East Falls Church and McClean, and a 6 mile gap from Spring Hill to Reston. There's a four mile gap on MARTA's Red Line between Buckhead and Medical Center.
Geoff...are you going to do an update of your Met Line film? No Croxley Link to Watford Junction.. :-( and it's looking very unlikely!
It’s cancelled.
The Croxley Green to Watford used to be in use when I was at Art College in Watford and it connected to Watford Football Club's stadium.
theres an abandoned station near there
Traveling on the Met . in 1944 , there was no changing of trains at Rickmansworth , it wasn't necessary .The BO BO from Baker St. was replaced by steam ready waiting in the siding , the whole changeover being done very swiftly .The BO BO then used the crossover waiting in the up siding ready for the next Baker St . train , wher the procedure took place in reverse .
I thought Chesham only had 2 platforms. Where did you get the info?
Actually, mattdandex is right. Chesham station used to have three tracks, of which only two formed a platform (the third track was a goods yard).
Wasn't the third also a runaround to allow a steam engine to move from one end of the train to the other?
What’s happening with the rerouting? Would you make another video about the delay.
3:10 used to use that secret entrance every week-day in term time to get to school...
we still use it to this day, nice to see an omt here