Venice-Simplon Orient Express
The Venice Simplon-Orient-Express, or VSOE, is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is owned by Belmond Ltd. Belmond operates 45 luxury hotels, tourist trains and river cruises in 24 countries, agreed in December 2018 to be acquired by LVMH in a transaction expected to close in the first half of 2019; these VSOE services are not to be confused with a scheduled train called the Orient Express, which ran nightly between Paris and Bucharest - in the last years of operation cut back to between Strasbourg and Vienna - until 11 December 2009. This latter was a normal EuroNight sleeper train and was the lineal descendant of the regular Orient Express daily departure from Paris to Vienna and the Balkans. While this descendant train was used for every sort of passengers to Central and Eastern Europe, applying only the standard international train fares, the VSOE train is aimed at tourists looking to take a luxury train ride. Fares on the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express are high as the service is intended not as an ordinary rail service, but as a leisure event with five-star dining included.
The train was established in 1982 by James Sherwood of Kentucky, USA. In 1977 he had bought two original carriages at an auction when the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits withdrew from the Orient Express service, passing the service on to the national railways of France and Austria. Over the next few years, Sherwood spent a total of US$16 million purchasing 35 sleeper and Pullman carriages. On 25 May 1982, the first London–Venice run was made; the VSOE has separate restored carriages for use in the UK and for continental Europe, but all of the same vintage. Passengers are conveyed across the English Channel by coach on the Eurotunnel shuttle through the Channel Tunnel. In the UK Pullman carriages are used. VSOE runs services between November; the classical London - Paris - Milan - Venice route via the Simplon Tunnel was altered in 1984 to serve Zürich and Verona through the Brenner Pass. This journey is offered twice a week, depending on other trips. Two or three times a year Prague or Vienna and Budapest are accessed, starting from Venice, returning to Paris and London.
Every September the train travels from London and Paris to Istanbul via Budapest and Bucharest - in the last three cities a sightseeing tour takes place - the return trip on the same route ends in Venice. While the above mentioned routes are available most years, some seasons have included unique destinations, among them Cologne, Florence, the High Tatras, Dresden and Stockholm; such a journey is provided to Berlin. The VSOE continental leg contains 18 carriages - 12 sleeping cars, three dining cars, a bar car and two former sleepers, which provide accommodation for the staff and storage rooms for luggage and supplies as well; the Lx class sleepers have nine double compartments, while the S1 class sleepers accommodate 17 passengers in four double and nine single compartments. As of March 2018 the Grand Suite class was introduced with the refitting of the sleeping car No. 3425. The three suites include double or twin bed layouts and a drawing saloon with a sofa and en-suite bathroom. Most of the coaches were refurbished in Ostend by the CIWL workshops, while the rest at the Hansa carriage works in Bremen.
The renovation was made with some technical modifications, to match today's safety and comfort requests, for example the dining cars were fitted with modern kitchens. They have become air-conditioned, introduced in 2017 in the sleeping cars. In the mid 2000s the original bogies were changed to brand new ones to achieve higher speeds. VSOE operates services within Great Britain separate from its main continental services as an "open access" operator; the Belmond British Pullman consists of former Brighton Belle Pullman coaches. It operates services in the South of England and the Midlands, with York as its most northerly terminus. Operating from Victoria Station in London, specials run throughout the south of London to historic sites, including elaborate dining along the way. On 9 October 2007, the Westfield Group rented the whole train to open its new shopping centre in Derby, departing from the former LNER London King's Cross station; the Belmond Northern Belle is a more extensive day service operating throughout Great Britain, as far north as Inverness and south to Plymouth.
It is composed of more modern British Rail Mark 2 coaches, with British Rail Mark 1 kitchen cars and named to resemble the older Pullman coaches. The haulage is done by Direct Rail Services locomotives two Class 57s. Locomotives 57305 & 57312 have been painted in the Northern Belle livery. Selected services are hauled by preserved steam locomotives; the Royal Scotsman, first introduced in 1985, was taken over by Orient Express in 2005. This overnight luxury train provides journeys through Scotland northbound from Edinburgh and Glasgow with its refitted ECML Mark 1 Pullman carriages. Inspired by this train the Grand Hibernian was made of Irish Mark 3 carriages, entered in service in August 2016 for trips in Ireland and Northern Ireland; the company operate services in South-East Asia and Peru. Between 1998 and
Transport for London
Transport for London is a local government body responsible for the transport system in Greater London, England. Its head office is 55 Broadway in the City of Westminster. TfL has responsibility for London's network of principal road routes, for various rail networks including the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and TfL Rail, it does not control National Rail services in London, but does for London's trams and taxis, for cycling provision, for river services. The underlying services are provided by a mixture of wholly owned subsidiary companies, by private sector franchisees and by licensees. TfL is responsible, jointly with the national Department for Transport, for commissioning the construction of the new Crossrail line, will be responsible for franchising its operation once completed. In 2015 -- 16, TfL had a budget of £ 40 % of which comes from fares; the rest comes from government funding, Congestion Charge and other income and Crossrail funding. TfL was created in 2000 as part of the Greater London Authority by the Greater London Authority Act 1999.
It gained most of its functions from its predecessor London Regional Transport in 2000. The first Commissioner of TfL was Bob Kiley; the first Chair was then-Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, the first Deputy Chair was Dave Wetzel. Livingstone and Wetzel remained in office until the election of Boris Johnson as Mayor in 2008. Johnson took over as chairman, in February 2009 fellow-Conservative Daniel Moylan was appointed as his Deputy. TfL did not take over responsibility for the London Underground until 2003, after the controversial public-private partnership contract for maintenance had been agreed. Management of the Public Carriage Office had been a function of the Metropolitan Police. Transport for London Group Archives holds business records for TfL and its predecessor bodies and transport companies; some early records are held on behalf of TfL Group Archives at the London Metropolitan Archives. After the bombings on the underground and bus systems on 7 July 2005, many staff were recognised in the 2006 New Year honours list for the work they did.
They helped survivors out, removed bodies, got the transport system up and running, to get the millions of commuters back out of London at the end of the work day. Those mentioned include Peter Hendy, at the time Head of Surface Transport division, Tim O'Toole, head of the Underground division, who were both awarded CBEs. Others included Station Supervisor, London Underground. On 1 June 2008, the drinking of alcoholic beverages was banned on Tube and London Overground trains, trams, Docklands Light Railway and all stations operated by TfL across London but not those operated by other rail companies. Carrying open containers of alcohol was banned on public transport operated by TfL; the Mayor of London and TfL announced the ban with the intention of providing a safer and more pleasant experience for passengers. There were "Last Round on the Underground". Passengers refusing to observe the ban may be asked to leave the premises; the Greater London Authority reported in 2011 that assaults on London Underground staff had fallen by 15% since the introduction of the ban.
TfL commissioned a survey in 2013 which showed that 15% of women using public transport in London had been the subject of some form of unwanted sexual behaviour but that 90% of incidents were not reported to the police. In an effort to reduce sexual offences and increase reporting, TfL—in conjunction with the British Transport Police, Metropolitan Police Service, City of London Police—launched Project Guardian. In 2014, Transport for London launched the 100 years of women in transport campaign in partnership with the Department for Transport, Network Rail, Women's Engineering Society and the Women's Transportation Seminar; the programme is a celebration of the significant role that women have played in transport over the past 100 years, following the centennial anniversary of the First World War, when 100,000 women entered the Transport industry to take on the responsibilities held by men who enlisted for military service. TfL is controlled by a board whose members are appointed by the Mayor of London, a position held by Sadiq Khan since May 2016.
The Commissioner of Transport for London reports to the Board and leads a management team with individual functional responsibilities. The body is organised in three main directorates and corporate services, each with responsibility for different aspects and modes of transport; the three main directorates are: London Underground, responsible for running London's underground rail network known as the tube, managing the provision of maintenance services by the private sector. This network is sub-divided into different service delivery units: London Underground BCV: Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City lines. JNP: Jubilee and Piccadilly lines. SSL: Metropolitan, District and Hammersmith & City lines. TfL Rail. Surface Transport, consisting of: Docklands Light Railway: abbreviated DLR, this is the automatically driven light rail network in East London and South London, although actual operation and maintenance is undertaken by a private sector concessionaire. London Buses, responsible for managing the red
West End of London
The West End of London refers to a distinct region of Central London, west of the City of London and north of the River Thames, in which many of the city's major tourist attractions, businesses, government buildings and entertainment venues, including West End theatres, are concentrated. Use of the term began in the early 19th century to describe fashionable areas to the west of Charing Cross; the West End covers part of the boroughs of Camden. While the City of London, or the Square Mile, is the main business and financial district in London, the West End is the main commercial and entertainment centre of the city, it is the largest central business district in the United Kingdom, comparable to Midtown Manhattan in New York City, Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, Shibuya in Tokyo, or the 8th arrondissement in Paris. It is one of the most expensive locations in the world in. Medieval London comprised two adjacent cities – the City of London to the east, the City of Westminster to the west. Over time they came to form the centre of modern London, although each kept its own distinct character and its separate legal identity.
The City of London became a centre for the banking, financial and professional sectors, while Westminster became associated with the leisure, shopping and entertainment sectors, the government, home to universities and embassies. The modern West End is associated with this area of central London. Lying to the west of the historic Roman and medieval City of London, the West End was long favoured by the rich elite as a place of residence because it was upwind of the smoke drifting from the crowded City, it was close to the royal seat of power at the Palace of Westminster, is contained within the City of Westminster. Developed in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, it was built as a series of palaces, expensive town houses, fashionable shops and places of entertainment; the areas closest to the City around Holborn, Seven Dials, Covent Garden contained poorer communities that were cleared and redeveloped in the 19th century. As the West End is a term used colloquially by Londoners and is not an official geographical or municipal definition, its exact constituent parts are up for debate.
Westminster City Council's 2005 report Vision for the West End included the following areas in its definition: Covent Garden, Chinatown, Leicester Square, the shopping streets of Oxford Street, Regent Street and Bond Street, the area encompassing Trafalgar Square, the Strand and Aldwych, the district known as Theatreland. The Edgware Road to the north-west and the Victoria Embankment to the south-east were covered by the document but were treated as "adjacent areas" to the West End. According to Ed Glinert's West End Chronicles the districts falling within the West End are Mayfair, Covent Garden and Marylebone. By this definition, the West End borders Temple and Bloomsbury to the east, Regent's Park to the north, Hyde Park and Knightsbridge to the west, Victoria and Westminster to the south. Other definitions include Bloomsbury within the West End. One of the local government wards within the City of Westminster is called "West End"; this covers a similar area that defined by Glinert: Mayfair and parts of Fitzrovia and Marylebone.
The population of this ward at the 2011 Census was 10,575. Taking a broad definition of the West End, the area contains the main concentrations of most of London's metropolitan activities apart from financial and many types of legal services, which are concentrated in the City of London. There are major concentrations of the following buildings and activities in the West End: Art galleries and museums Company headquarters outside the financial services sector Educational institutions Embassies Government buildings Hotels Institutes, learned societies and think tanks Legal institutions Media establishments Places of entertainment: theatres, cinemas nightclubs, music venues and restaurants ShopsThe annual New Year's Day Parade takes place on the streets of the West End; the West End is laid out with many notable public squares and circuses, the latter being the original name for roundabouts in London. Berkeley Square Cambridge Circus Grosvenor Square Hyde Park Corner Leicester Square Manchester Square Marble Arch Oxford Circus Parliament Square Piccadilly Circus Russell Square Soho Square St Giles Circus Trafalgar Square London Underground stations in the West End include: London West End Things to do General overview of what to do in the West End
Piccadilly line
The Piccadilly line is a London Underground line that runs between Cockfosters in suburban north London and Acton Town in the west, where it divides into two branches: one of these runs to Heathrow Airport and the other to Uxbridge in northwest London, with some services terminating at Rayners Lane. Coloured dark blue on the Tube map, it is the fourth-busiest line on the Underground network with over 210 million passenger journeys in 2011/12, it is a deep-level line, with a number of surface sections in its westernmost parts. It is named after Piccadilly, the street under which it runs between Hyde Park Corner and Piccadilly Circus; some of its stations are shared with the District line and some are shared with the Metropolitan line. It is the second-longest line on the system and runs to the system's second-largest number of stations; the Piccadilly line serves many of London's key tourist attractions, including the British Museum, the numerous museums around South Kensington, Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace, Leicester Square and Covent Garden.
The Piccadilly line began as the Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway, one of several railways controlled by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, whose chief director was Charles Tyson Yerkes, although he died before any of his schemes came to fruition. The GNP&BR was formed from the merger of two earlier, but unbuilt, tube-railway companies taken over in 1901 by Yerkes' consortium: the Great Northern & Strand Railway and the Brompton & Piccadilly Circus Railway; the GN&SR's and B&PCR's separate routes were linked with an additional section between Piccadilly Circus and Holborn. A section of the District Railway's scheme for a deep-level tube line between South Kensington and Earl's Court was added in order to complete the route; when the GNP&BR was formally opened on 15 December 1906, the line ran from the Great Northern Railway's station at Finsbury Park to the District Railway's station at Hammersmith. On 30 November 1907, the short branch from Holborn to the Strand opened.
In 1905, plans were made to extend it the short distance south under the River Thames to Waterloo, but this never happened. Although built with twin tunnels, single-track shuttle operation became the norm on the branch from 1918 on, with the eastern tunnel closed to traffic. On 1 July 1910, the GNP&BR and the other UERL-owned tube railways were merged by private Act of Parliament to become the London Electric Railway Company. On 10 December 1928, a rebuilt Piccadilly Circus station was opened; this included a sub-surface booking hall and eleven escalators, replacing the original lifts, was the start of a renovation of the whole railway, including a comprehensive programme of station enlargement. From the 1920s onwards there had been severe congestion at the line's northern terminus, Finsbury Park, where travellers had to change on to trams, buses, or London and North Eastern Railway main line trains for destinations in north and northeast London. There had been deputations made to Parliament asking for an early extension of the line either toward Tottenham and Edmonton, or toward Wood Green and Palmers Green.
The early 1930s was a time of severe recession, government capital was made available in order to relieve unemployment. The chief features of the scheme were an extension northwards from Finsbury Park to Cockfosters; the design included a long stretch without stations between Manor House and Turnpike Lane. An early twentieth century design had planned an additional stop beneath Harringay railway station that would have bridged this gap. However, this was shelved in the 1930s extension. There was some opposition from the LNER to the line; the extension began from Finsbury Park to a point a little south of Arnos Grove. The total length of the extension is 12 km: it cost £4 million to build and was opened in sections as follows: 19 September 1932: to Arnos Grove 13 March 1933: to Enfield West, in conjunction with the westward extension to Hounslow West 19 July 1933: completion to Cockfosters Powers to link with existing tracks west of Hammersmith were obtained in 1913. A Parliamentary report of 1919 recommended through running to Ealing.
By the end of the 1920s, the priority had shifted to serving the areas around Hounslow and north and west of Ealing. The outcome involved taking over the inner pair of tracks between Hammersmith and Acton Town as a non-stop service, while the Metropolitan District Railway would continue to provide the stopping service on the outer pair of tracks. Construction of the linking sections started in 1930, the services opened as follows. To Uxbridge: the District Railway had operated services to Uxbridge since 1910; the District services were taken over by the Piccadilly line: 4 July 1932: extended from Hammersmith to South Harrow 23 October 1933: to Uxbridge to Hounslow: the line from Acton Town was quadrupled to Northfields on 18 December 1932 and the Piccadilly line was extended: 9 January 1933: to Northfields 13 March 1933: to Hounslow West, in conjunction with the eastern extension to Enfield West. These eastward and westward extensions feature Modernist architecture at their stations, many of them designed by
Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway
The Great Northern and Brompton Railway known as the Piccadilly tube, was a railway company established in 1902 that constructed a deep-level underground "tube" railway in London. The GNP&BR was formed through a merger of two older companies, the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway and the Great Northern and Strand Railway, it incorporated part of a tube route planned by a third company, the District Railway. The combined company was a subsidiary of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London; the B&PCR and the GN&SR were established in 1896 and 1898 but construction of both railways was delayed while funding was sought. In 1902 the UERL, which controlled the DR, took control of both companies and raised the funds from foreign investors. A number of different routes were planned; when it opened in 1906, the GNP&BR's line served 22 stations and ran for 14.17 kilometres between its western terminus at Hammersmith and its northern terminus at Finsbury Park. A short 720-metre branch connected Holborn to the Strand.
Most of the route was in a pair of tunnels, with 1.1 kilometres at the western end constructed above ground. Within the first year of opening it became apparent to the management and investors that the estimated passenger numbers for the GNP&BR and the other UERL lines were over-optimistic. Despite improved integration and cooperation with the other tube railways, the GNP&BR struggled financially. In 1933 it and the rest of the UERL were taken into public ownership. Today, the GNP&BR's tunnels and stations form the core central section of the London Underground's Piccadilly line. In November 1896 notice was published that a private bill was to be presented to Parliament for the construction of the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway; the line was planned to run underground between Air Street near Piccadilly Circus and the south end of Exhibition Road, South Kensington. The route was to run beneath Piccadilly, Brompton Road and Thurloe Place, with intermediate stations at Dover Street, Down Street, Hyde Park Corner and Brompton Road.
A short branch to the east of the South Kensington terminus was planned to a depot south of Brompton Road at the end of Yeoman Row. Electricity to operate the trains was to be provided from a generating station to be built about a mile south of the South Kensington terminus on the north bank of the River Thames at Lots Road, West Brompton. Following parliamentary approval, the bill received royal assent as the Brompton & Piccadilly Circus Railway Act, 1897 on 6 August 1897. Announced in November 1896 was a bill to be presented by the District Railway for a tube railway to be constructed beneath its existing sub-surface line between Gloucester Road and Mansion House stations; the DR operated a steam railway, running in cut and cover tunnels, planned to ease congestion along its used route by constructing an express line with just a single intermediate station at Charing Cross. The express line was to surface west of Gloucester Road and connect to the DR's existing line at Earl's Court. Since, like the B&PCR, the DR's deep tube line would be operated with electric trains, the DR planned to build a generating station adjacent to its Walham Green station.
The bill received assent on 6 August 1897 as the Metropolitan District Railway Act, 1897. In November 1898 the Great Northern and Strand Railway was announced as a tube railway, to run from Wood Green to Stanhope Street, north of the Strand; the GN&SR was backed by the Great Northern Railway, the main line railway operating from King's Cross station. The GNR saw the new company as a means of relieving congestion on its route; the GN&SR was to run beneath the GNR's main line from Wood Green station to Finsbury Park station. It was planned to run south-west through Holloway to King's Cross, south to Bloomsbury and Holborn. Intermediate stations were planned at the GNR's Hornsey and Finsbury Park stations, at Holloway, York Road, King's Cross, Russell Square and Holborn. A power station was planned next to the GNR's tracks at Gillespie Road; when the London County Council planned the construction of Kingsway and Aldwych, Stanhope Street was scheduled for demolition so the southern terminus was relocated to the junction of the two new roads.
The bill was enacted on 1 August 1899 as the Great Northern and Strand Railway Act, 1899. Although the three companies had permission to construct their railways, they still had to raise the capital for the construction works in a competitive market. By 1899, there were five other tube railway companies with permission to construct railways that were raising funds – the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, the Charing Cross and Hampstead Railway, the Great Northern and City Railway, the Central London Railway and the City and Brixton Railway; the operating City & South London Railway was looking for money for extensions to its existing route and numerous other proposed, but unapproved underground railway companies were seeking investors. Foreign investors came to the rescue of the DR, B&PCR and GN&SR: American financier Charles Yerkes, lucratively involved in the development of Chicago's tramway system in the 1880s and 1890s, saw the opportunity to make similar investments in London. In March 1901 he and his backers purchased a majority of the shares of the DR and, in September 1901, took over the B&PCR and the GN&SR.
With the companies under his control, Yerkes established the UERL to raise funds to build the tube railways and to electrify the
Holborn tube station
Holborn is a London Underground station in Holborn, Central London, located at the junction of High Holborn and Kingsway. It is served by the Piccadilly lines. On the Central line the station is between Tottenham Court Chancery Lane stations. Close by are the British Museum, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Red Lion Square, Bloomsbury Square, London School of Economics and Sir John Soane's Museum. Located at the junction of two earlier tube railway schemes, the station was opened in 1906 by the Great Northern and Brompton Railway; the station entrances and below ground circulation were reconstructed for the introduction of escalators and the opening of Central line platforms in 1933, making the station the only interchange between the lines. Before 1994, Holborn was the northern terminus of the short and little-frequented Piccadilly line branch to Aldwych and two platforms used for this service are disused. One of the disused platforms has been used for location filming when a London Underground station platform is needed.
The station was planned by the Great Northern and Strand Railway, which had received parliamentary approval for a route from Wood Green station to Strand in 1899. After the GN&SR was taken over by the Brompton and Piccadilly Circus Railway in September 1901, the two companies came under the control of Charles Yerkes' Metropolitan District Electric Traction Company before being transferred to his new holding company, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London in June 1902. To connect the two companies' planned routes, the UERL obtained permission for new tunnels between Piccadilly Circus and Holborn; the companies were formally merged as the Great Northern and Brompton Railway following parliamentary approval in November 1902. The linking of the GN&SR and B&PCR routes at Holborn meant that the section of the GN&SR south of Holborn became a branch from the main route; the UERL began constructing the main route in July 1902. Progress was rapid, so that it was complete by the Autumn of 1906.
Construction of the branch was delayed while the London County Council carried out slum clearances to construct its new road Kingsway and the tramway subway running beneath it and while the UERL decided how the junction between the main route and the branch would be arranged at Holborn. When planned by the GN&SR, Holborn station was to have just two platforms; the first GNP&BR plan for the station would have seen the two platforms shared by trains on the main route and by the shuttle service on the branch with the junctions between the tunnels south of the station. The interference that shuttle trains would have caused to services on the main route led to a redesign so that two northbound platforms were provided, one for the main line and one for the branch line, with a single southbound platform; the junctions between the two northbound tunnels would have been 75 metres north of the platforms. When powers were sought to build the junction in 1905, the layout was changed again so that four platforms were to be provided.
The southbound tunnel of the main route no longer connected to the branch, to be provided with an additional platform in a dead-end tunnel accessed from a crossover from the northbound branch tunnel. As built, for ease of passenger access, the branch's northbound tunnel ended in a dead-end platform adjacent to the northbound main line platform with the branch's southbound tunnel connected to the northbound main line tunnel. To enable the southbound tunnel of the main route to avoid the branch tunnels, it was constructed at a lower level than the other tunnels and platforms; the tunnel towards Covent Garden passes under the branch tunnels. As with most of the other GNP&BR stations, the station building was designed by Leslie Green, though at Holborn the station frontage was, constructed in stone rather than the standard red glazed terracotta; this was due to planning regulations imposed by the London County Council which required the use of stone for façades in Kingsway. The station entrance and exit sections of the street façade were constructed in granite with the other parts of the ground and first floors in the same style, but using Portland stone.
The rest of the building above first floor level was constructed contemporaneously with the station. Access to the platform levels of the station was provided by trapezium-shaped electric lifts manufactured by Otis in America; these operated in pairs in shared circular shafts, with an escape stair in a separate, smaller shaft. Although the station was constructed where the GNP&BR's tunnels crossed those of the Central London Railway running under High Holborn, no interchange between the two lines was made as the CLR's nearest station, British Museum, was 250 metres to the west. Passengers wishing to interchange between the two stations had to do so at street level; the station opened on 15 December 1906, although the opening of the branch was delayed until 30 November 1907. The street level interchange between the GNP&BR and CLR involving two sets of lifts was considered a weakness in the network. A below ground subway connection was considered in 1907. A proposal to enlarge the CLR's tunnels to create new platforms at Holborn station and to abandon British Museum station was included in a private bill submitted to parliament by the CLR in November 1913, although the First World War prevented any works taking place.
Like many other central London Underground stations, Holborn was modernised in the early 1930s to replace the lifts with escalators. The station frontages on Kingsway a
Mornington Crescent tube station
Mornington Crescent is a London Underground station in Camden Town in north west London, named after the nearby street. The station is on the Charing Cross branch between Euston and Camden Town, it is in Travelcard Zone 2. The station was opened as part of the original route of the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway on 22 June 1907; the surface building was designed by the Underground Electric Railways Company of London's architect Leslie Green. Prior to the station's opening, the name of "Seymour Street" had been proposed. After opening, it was little used. For many years it was open only on weekdays, before 1966 Edgware-bound trains passed through without stopping; the station is situated at the southern end of Camden High Street, where it meets Hampstead Road and Eversholt Street. This junction forms the north-western corner of the boundary of Somers Town, with Camden Town situated to the north and Regent's Park Estate to the south of the station; the station's location on the Northern line is unusual due to the dual-branch nature of that line.
On the Charing Cross branch, Mornington Crescent is between Camden Euston. The City branch runs from Camden Town to Euston, but via tunnels which take an different route to the Charing Cross branch and which do not pass through Mornington Crescent. Although contemporary tube maps show Mornington Crescent to the west of the City branch tunnels, it is in fact to the east of them: the two branches cross over one another at Euston, so that between Euston and Camden Town, the City branch tunnels run to the west of the Charing Cross branch on which Mornington Crescent is situated. Harry Beck's 1933 tube map represented this correctly. On 23 October 1992 the station was shut so that the 85-year-old lifts could be replaced; the intention was to open it within one year. However, the state of neglect meant other work had to be completed, the station was closed until 27 April 1998. A concerted campaign to reopen the station was launched, due to the popular BBC Radio 4 panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
The show features the game Mornington Crescent, which takes its name from the station. The station was reopened on 27 April 1998 by the regular cast of the show and a memorial plaque to the late Willie Rushton, one of the longest-serving panelists, was installed at the station in 2002. During the station's rebuilding, the original distinctive light blue tiling pattern was restored to the station; the ticket hall was reconstructed and the original emergency stairs closed. A second lift shaft was converted into a staircase on one side and a series of station facilities on the other. Since its 1998 reopening, the station has been open at the same times as most other stations, including weekends, in an attempt to relieve the pressure on the busy nearby Camden Town station; the station was used as a location for the anthology film Tube Tales. It was portrayed in the film Honest, although the station used was Aldwych. In Allt flyter, Sara meets her mother outside the station during a Christmas trip to London.
Mornington Crescent is a spoof game, featured since the 1970s in the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel show I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, which satirises complicated strategy games. A Comic Heritage blue plaque honoring Willie Rushton, one of the show's longest-serving panelists, was installed within the station in 2002, it is located behind the ticket barrier at the top of the stairs to the platform. China Miéville mentions this station and its long state of disuse during the 1990s in his novel King Rat using it as scene of a brutal murder by dismemberment via a passing train. In The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross, the secret main entrance to the secret Government establishment which the protagonist Bob Howard works for is situated in the gentlemen's toilets of Mornington Crescent tube station. In Christopher Fowler's "Bryant & May" mysteries, the offices of the Peculiar Crimes Unit are above Mornington Crescent tube station. Mornington Crescent is used by Robert Rankin in many of his novels as the home of the Ministry of Serendipity, a fictional agency whose main activity is to ensure the British Empire rules the globe, via dealings with alien activity and suchlike, the top secret nature of the ministry being the main reason why the station was only open on weekdays and closed for "repairs" for much of the 1990s.
Belle & Sebastian released a song entitled "Mornington Crescent" on their 2006 album, The Life Pursuit. My Life Story's 1995 album Mornington Crescent takes its name from the station, featuring photos in its sleeve notes; the promotional video for "Be There" by Unkle was filmed in this station. London Buses routes 24, 27, 29, 46, 88, 134, 168, 214, 253, 274 and C2 and night routes N5, N20, N28, N29, N31, N253 and N279 serve the station. Mornington Crescent, the 1820s terrace after which the tube station is named London Transport Museum Photographic Archive Station exterior, 1925 Station exterior, 1930 Ticket hall, 1955
21.17 million[1]
17.19 million[1]
London transport portal
.jpg)
London Underground
