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 Aldwych tube station 1.jpg
Aldwych is a closed London Underground station in the City of Westminster, originally opened as Strand in 1907. The station was the terminus of a short Piccadilly line branch from Holborn. The disused station building is situated close to the junction of Strand and Surrey Street. During its life time, the branch was the subject of a number of unrealised extension proposals that would have seen the tunnels through the station extended southwards, usually to Waterloo. Early plans for the second phase of the Jubilee line included an interchange at Aldwych and in 2005 a review of possible extensions of the Docklands Light Railway to Charing Cross also considered reuse of the station.
Originally built with two platforms and a capacity for up to six lifts, the station was never fully completed. Suffering from low passenger numbers, one platform was taken out of use before the First World War and the station and branch were considered for closure several times, but survived as a weekday peak hours only service until closed in 1994, when the cost of replacing the lifts at Aldwych was considered too high compared to the income generated. The station has long been popular as a filming location and has appeared as itself and as other London Underground stations in a variety of films. ( Full article...All selected articles
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Selected biography
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Sir Edgar Speyer, 1st Baronet (7 September 1862 – 16 February 1932) was an American-born financier and philanthropist. He became a British subject in 1892 and was chairman of Speyer Brothers, the British branch of his family's international finance house, and a partner in the German and American branches. He was chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL, forerunner of the London Underground) from 1906 to 1915, a period during which the company opened three underground railway lines, electrified a fourth and took over two more.
Speyer was a supporter of the musical arts and a friend of several leading composers, including Privy Counsellor in 1909.
After the start of the World War I, he became the subject of anti-German attacks in the Press. In 1915, Speyer offered to resign from the Privy Council and to relinquish his baronetcy, but the Prime Minister turned down the offer. He resigned as chairman of the UERL and went to the United States. In 1921, the British government investigated accusations that Speyer had traded with the enemy during the war, and had participated in other wartime conduct incompatible with his status as a British subject. Speyer denied the charges, but his naturalisation was revoked and he was struck off the list of members of the Privy Council. (Full article...)
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Did you know...
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- ...that the cause of the Moorgate tube crash in February 1975 was never satisfactorily determined?
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Image 1The newly constructed junction of the Westway ( A40) and the West Cross Route ( A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
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Image 2Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
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Image 355 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
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Image 4Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
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Image 5London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
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Image 6Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
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Image 7Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
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Image 8Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
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Image 9Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
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Image 10St Pancras station .
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Image 11Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
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Image 12The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
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Image 13Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
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Image 14Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
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Image 15TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
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Image 16Planes waiting at Terminal 4 .
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Image 19Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
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Image 20View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
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Image 22London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
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Image 25Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
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Image 26Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
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Image 27A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
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Image 28, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
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Image 29Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
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Image 30The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
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Image 31The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
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Image 32Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
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Image 33"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
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Image 38The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
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Image 39Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
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Image 41The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
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Image 42Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
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Image 44Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
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Image 45Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
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Image 46London Underground traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
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Image 47Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
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Image 48Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
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Image 49The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
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Anniversaries
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- 15 April
- 1968 – Erected in 1963 to enable the construction of the Underground station concourse below the road junction, the Oxford Circus Umbrella road deck is removed.
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