Flash
The Gorge - Flash Bristow's Website

Photos taken on the tour:
The lift shaft at Angel

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Descending a ladder to the platform at Angel

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The old tunnel and siding at Angel

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The leftmost tunnel at Angel, probably a siding

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The rightmost tunnel at Angel, the old track

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The platform at City Road

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David Leboff's handout about City Road and Angel Stations:
Review of the Tour

On Sunday 23rd September 2001, as part of Open House weekend, London Underground offered free tours of both the disused City Road and Angel stations, and of the new North Greenwich station. I opted to go on the disused station tour. Ticket hotlines were advertised in Metro newspaper on Friday 21st, and by the time I could get through on the phoneline all the tickets had gone. There were also tickets available to personal callers at the Transport Museum, so I took a very early lunch and went down to get some tickets.

On the Sunday I turned up for the 330pm tour as booked - the last one of the day - and there were about 25 people, which seemed to be more than LUL were expecting. As a result, what should have been an hour long tour took 2 hours. People did try to join, but I think only booked people were allowed; maybe one or two snuck in.

I hope I recall the following parts correctly...

We walked from the station to the old Angel station and went in through a door in Torrens St. We saw some mess-room type rooms and the extension which had housed the ticket office. We then proceeded to the machine room upstairs, where there was not a lot to see except a crumbled hole in the floor through which you could see to the bottom of the lift shaft. Not one for anyone who doesn't like heights! We went outside onto the balcony to look at the brickwork and compare to old photos on the handout we were given.

We then went down to the bottom of the lift shaft down spiral stairs. The guide's lamp gave out, so I was lucky to have my stick with me and I used it to feel my way like a blind person for much of the way! After viewing the lift shaft we went down a short ladder of about 14 feet and opened a door to appear on the new Angel platform - to the surprise of waiting passengers. This would have been the old island platform, however the platform is now extended to cover the area where the old tracks would have been. We then went along the platform to the other end and through a door there onto the old track.

There were there two tunnels, one possibly a siding (I'm told that
Clive Feather thinks this might have been for locos when they used to terminate there) down which we walked, and the other for the old track - this is now cut off by the new track layout. At the end was a mesh through which we could see trains coming and going on the new track.

We then went back onto the platform (some people got to see the signal box, but we were hurrying and unfortunately I didnt get to see it) and took the escalator out of Angel station.

We walked to City Road and went in the side door, down a short flight of steep stairs (again in pitch dark) and then down a spiral staircase which was well lit. We saw the bottom of the lift shaft, and then went down some more stairs to see what was left of the old platform, through a grill. The platform dropped away and had fallen into disrepair. People pressed their noses to the grill to see - and ended up with a sooty grill pattern on their faces!

Then we left City Road station the way we had come.

The tour ended with applause for David who was helpful and enthusiastic despite having spent all day giving tours. His handout was also interesting with a potted history, old photos and tube map showing the stations, and further reading suggestions.

The whole thing was extremely dark, especially City Road which was in bad repair with the ceiling peeling, the walls and white tiling entirely black, and smelling. However it WAS a fascinating tour.

Although my camera is usually adequate the flash was just absorbed, there is a limit to how much reflection you can get from total matt-blackness!

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Links to other disused station tours

There is more train-related stuff in my trains section.

This page last updated: 01 September 2022



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