please empty your brain below
I've always liked that crossover too - there are a few other places in the deep tubes, but not at stations, where you can sometimes see one train from another - for example the crossover tunnels outside camden Town and Finsbury Park.

timbo | 02.02.13 - 7:16 a.m. | #

My favourite bit of the Bakerloo is the section just north of Queens Park in the southbound direction, where the train ducks inside the sheds just before reaching the platform. It feels like interloping on the secret siding world of the Underground.

THC | 02.02.13 - 7:22 a.m. | #

I love this bit too! When there is a train on the platform, and another one arrives in the other direction, for a short moment it seems they're gonna crash. But they don't, of course.

Greg | 02.02.13 - 10:14 a.m. | #

Well I never...! I'm always discovering something new here! :)

CornishCockney | 02.02.13 - 12:18 p.m. | #

I do like the Bakerloo line platforms at Piccadilly Circus. It always feels to me as if you're intruding into parts of the tube tunnels you shouldn't be in!

With regards to the remaining Olympic/Paralympic signage, I think there are also one or two signs remaining at Waterloo, on the departure platform of the Waterloo & City line (in fact, their location probably meant that they weren't all that useful even during the Games!). I guess TfL have simply forgotten to remove them…

Andrewh | Homepage | 02.02.13 - 11:55 p.m. | #

Absolutely agree! The asymmetry feels very different from the uniformity of my very own Victoria line. Will always stand down there if I can.

Kings Cross still has quite a few pink signs showing wheelchair routes, with the floor signs including the Olympic London 2012 logo.

Trainsofthoughtlondon | Homepage | 03.02.13 - 12:17 a.m. | #

I love the end of this platform too; Wandering down there to enjoy the unusual view is always a good way to feel like a local in one of the moure touristy of stations. Does anyone know if there is a reason why the platforms are out of sync?

When I was a kid I had a book which was full of these idiosyncrasies that can be found all over the Underground and I'm sure it's one of the reasons I'm still fascinated by the Tube today (though I'm sure that most railway networks have equally unusual features!)

Whiff | 03.02.13 - 3:56 a.m. | #

That combined section of two tunnels was to accomodate a diamond crossover, allowing SB trains to terminate in either platform, and equally depart NB from either platform. Nowadays it's just a single set of points there allowing SB trains to reverse in the SB platform and go NB only.

Kim | 03.02.13 - 1:37 p.m. | #

Thanks Kim,
I wonder how many trains have ever actually terminated at Piccadilly.

Whiff | 04.02.13 - 4:32 a.m. | #

Agreed, almost gives me as much excitment when just south of Finsbury Park you occasionally get the Pic and Vic lines racing alongside next to them.

Flare | 04.02.13 - 8:59 a.m. | #

Very interesting! I must see this for myself.

Dave K | 05.02.13 - 1:37 p.m. | #

Hey - I have experienced this many times, every day in fact! And twice a day actually - because this exact phenomenon occurs in *exactly* the same way on the Bakerloo at Baker Street(in precise alignment with the velocity that you have described and captured in your photo) except on the extreme north end of the Southbound platform.

See the Northbound train before it arrives, during arrival, and after it arrives on the Northbound platform, as viewed from the Southbound platform.

Jag | Homepage | 12.02.13 - 12:50 p.m. | #

Actually - I'll take that back - I was mistaken about the place I took these pictures - for some reason in the haze of the last few days I've got my recall of timings completely messed up when sorting pics in my cameraphone - the above snaps referred do were indeed at Picc Circus - when I mistakenly thought I'd taken them at Baker Street! Doh!

It is quite a spectacle though.

Jag | Homepage | 12.02.13 - 3:33 p.m. | #











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