Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Wood Lane Tube Station sneak peek

Thanks to James for sending me a picture of the new Wood Lane London Underground station. Work is still going on and it's not due for opening yet but some "unwrapping" was done last week.

Wood Lane Unwrapped taken by James E

The new station with an old station name (are you still following this) will be on the Hammersmith & City Line and should be opened later this year. There used to be two Wood Lane Tube stations. The one on the Central line opened 100 years ago in May 1908, but was closed in 1947 and replaced by White City station. The Wood Lane station on the Metropolitan Line also opened in 1908 but closed in 1914.

For more on the new Wood Lane see TfL's pdf " The first new station to be built on an existing London Underground line for more than 70 years. It will connect customers from central London with the new White City development, using the Hammersmith & City line. The state-of-the-art station has been designed to accommodate football match crowds and will benefit people who live and work in the area." There's also more here.

However one of the old Wood Lanes (no idea which one) saw light of day in the 1970's. It was featured in a seventies UK sci-fi TV series The Tomorrow People. The Tomorrow People were a group of trendy teleporting teenagers whose base "The Lab" was in a disused Tube station.


"With a hiss and a rumble the underground train moved slowly out of the station, treating its discarded passengers to a low, whining farewell as it disappeared into the tunnel. The assorted throng of theatre-goers and businessmen kept late at the office scurried for the escalators, hardly sparing a glance for the two boys in Hell's Angel jerkins who hung around a chocolate machine at the rear end of the platform. Watching until the attendant was out of sight, they immediately turned back and raised a small trapdoor hidden close to the tunnel entrance. In a moment they were bent low in a sewer-like gallery which ran off at an angle and eventually brought them to that little-known part of the London Underground which was doomed to remain forever sealed off and silent."

If you want to find out more about the old Wood Lanes, check out Hywel Williams' disused Tube Stations site.

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