Alperton Station, the Sleeping Giant | Hidden London Hangouts (S07E07)

In this episode, the team explore Alperton, a Charles Holden station that was originally part of the District line - complete with a hidden wooden escalator!
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[@johneisen6341]

Never seen a wooden escalator before. Great to see one as it was in its original location. 👌

[@elainejohnston4968]

I lived at Alperton 1960 - 1975 it was amazing to see the esculator and workings and l love what you 4 do. Thank you so much and please keep at it

[@gew12]

My childhood home area. Great place. I used that escalator countless times.

[@darganx]

For a large chunk of the 1980s I was an 'inmate' of the building next door - Alperton High School. I can say now how fortunate we were to have a direct line to Leicester Square.. great when bunking class 😎 have to say they've given it a nice clean up.

[@WeronikaSzulc-bd7wc]

Alperton The Sleeping Giant

[@Gillian-xl7wb]

Interesting Alperton vid, cool👍

[@peterdowden7694]

The herringbone gears featured on early Citroën cars, which is why they have the logo representing two chevron-shaped gear teeth.

[@TrainDriver1953]

Great edition from the super fab 4

[@TrainDriver1953]

That is what they are

[@jontemple1038]

Used to use Alperton when I first came to London in 1972 when I started college at Ealing...

[@jennythescouser]

Guys, if TFL decide to get rid of the escalator, get it installed in the museum (without the machines). It can be either a display piece or a static staircase. - Great video

[@paulusthegrey]

Wonderful posters at the bottom of the escalator. They date the image quite nicely. 1955 I think.

[@GuyChapman]

Immaculate conduit work. I'm impressed!

[@wescreek3493]

As always Alex and Chris great job I have been learning stuff about the underground I never knew thank you

[@johnhood3172]

Many thanks guys, I lived in Perivale 1959-1996 and used this station thousands and thousands of times, thanks for the memories. Regards JH

[@keithprice5208]

Good to see that the old escalator hasn't been ripped out. I remember the staff of the station were so proud of it when it was introduced. My mum and I were directed to try it out, even though we were going to Uxbridge, and not Hammersmith.

[@taloire43]

Thank you for this video. Your explanation and guided tour of the escalator machinery is a tribute to the engineers who designed and installed it.

[@alexgrundon2346]

❤

[@Nick-13]

Outstanding episode (then aren't they all !)

[@Orforio]

Great to see my local station featured! I knew the escalator was there, but had never seen it before...

[@stephensaines7100]

RE: Conversation as per "originally District Line"...I was studying the map and satellite views of the line, and thinking just that. Thanks for conforming that early in the vid.

[@woodnorton]

Wonderful to see behind the escalator. And also pleased to hear Alex knows his nessels.

[@MrStevetmq]

Also loved the round lights, often above the escalator is the most interesting.

[@richardmellish2371]

I recall wooden escalators remaining in use at Marylebone well after most of them had gone, but I don't remember when they finally did go.

[@dannorth3138]

I remember the Cadbury chocolate machine in Tottenham court road and I remember if you pushed a few numbers on the keypad ( can't remember the code) it would say hello on the LCD display 😂

[@MartinBrenner]

On the weekend I went through London Bridge Station (Jubilee Line) and was totally fascinated by the "Hold the Handrail" posters on the escalators. I saw 2 versions using different colour palettes. It had 45 degree rotated text with a big 'HOLD' with a handrail band going right through the middle of the 'O'. Must be the best safety awareness poster I ever saw. Great episode again! In Germany the escalator exploration would well fit as a "Maus" explainer story.

[@simonbiggs9102]

This episode blows my mind

[@alexgrundon2346]

❤

[@ForTheBirbs]

As an electrical / electronics / instrumentation bloke, what a fascinating and wonderful episode. Cheers all!

[@alexgrundon2346]

❤

[@siobhan.lewis.2968]

Love all your stuff and all four of you.

[@tedcopple101]

Kudos Al for the GazTop reference!

[@alexgrundon2346]

HOW….FOR NOW!!!! X

[@jrwtalbot]

When this started and you were going up and down the stairs I was wondering “where’s the escalator?”. I clearly remembered the surprise of taking the escalator down to street level. So you have confirmed I went there in one of my explore London Saturdays when I was a teenager of 16 or 17. Thanks indeed.

[@petemoss1938]

J and E Hall (Dartford, Kent) Celebrated 100 years as a company in 1977. As well as escalators they manufactured lifts and refrigeration plant! Now part of APV Hall.

[@Extreme_Rice]

As a North-West Londoner, I’ve passed through Alperton thousands of times, but I think I’ve only ever got off once out of curiosity; I walked all the way to Wembley Park. It’s the place to go if you want to buy a sari though. Anyway, these kind of Holden/Heaps designs are what I think of as the classic Tube station.

[@Out_and_About_with_Dave63]

Outstanding video guys, loved the old escalator in the station, I can remember as a kid going on a wooden escalator, love all the shows

[@NapierNimbus]

Fascinating video, seeing the wooden tread escalator and the angled advertising boards on the stairwell of the escalator took me back many years to my childhood of the 60s and trips to Tottenham Court Road underground station for Moorfields Eye Hospital. Great seeing the heavy engineering that make them work.

[@my__socrates__note]

My boss is nicknamed Alperton by his friends because he drunkenly arrived there after a night out and it was one of the few coherent words he could say!

[@TheClockwise770]

You couldn't make that up. I fell asleep on the Picadilly line when I lived at Cockfosters and ended up at Hounslow.

[@AaronOxfordExmouth1989]

Brilliant. I remember these type escalators, they looked so much more classy. I understand why they were replaced or shut down permanently. Simple technology but utterly amazing.

[@ianhalsall-fox]

As a narrowboat owner, Alperton has been the best tube station to enable access to the Grand Union Canal!

[@robertsmall6210]

What an episode, and Chris !! so knowledgeable on all things mechanical. I related to it all having cut my teeth as an agricultural engineer repairing Combines, tractors etc. It was an engineer's dream to watch the programme, the icing on the cake would be a visit but Hey-Ho that's pie in the sky. Once again a fascinating sight into hidden London. Keep up the good work.

[@merbertancriwalli8622]

Probably been mentioned before, but the Citroen logo is based on the herringbone gears, as engineering that sort of thing was where Citroen started out...

[@risingchads]

A 1930s station building with a repurposed 1950s escalator - was the escalator shaft built in the 50s or is it a Holden original? The lightwells look Festival of Britain (think Royal Festival Hall). The oddity to my eyes was the chunky wooden housing either side for the adverts, something you never see in the deep level stations. Greenford has stairs next to the escalator. That amount of wood reminds me of the partitions I saw in ex-CEGB offices built in the 1950s. Nice to see the old wood-cased Escalator itself.

[@cheesymice]

I was lucky enough to ride the wooden escalators on the Tube during my first visit to London in March 1987. In fact I rode the ones at Kings Cross! 😮

[@ianmcclavin]

Yes, I've been up and down the ones to and from the Piccadilly Line at King's Cross a few times. Also at Bethnal Green, Camden Town (which usec to have "uplighters"), Marylebone and St John's Wood. They disappeared after the King's Cross fire almost as quickly as the old wooden lifts with the "lattice" gates, the last one of which was in service at Aldwych, which closed in 1994.

[@ianmcclavin]

Alperton once had just horizontal blue bar signs on its platforms in the 80's (without the red circle part of the roundel, in the unsheltered platform areas, full roundels under the canopies). These were removed when replaced by the present "modern " signs.

[@richardvoogd705]

@@ianmcclavin Your mention of the lifts at Aldwych reminded me of the old lifts I recall seeing at Earls Cout back in 1971.

[@ulazygit]

Brilliant … as you said, on the fringes of Metroland so not one I’ve regularly used but I have had the pleasure when dropping my old jalopy off for a mend (back in the day). That ticket hall is quite reminiscent of Rayner’s Lane (looks and height, not layout) and who’d have thunk that wooden escalator was still there! I have to disagree with Laura and say it isn’t symmetrical … if you look carefully, the boxed-in gap on the left is wider than on the right and the centre-line of the escalator does not line up with the lamps in the ceiling. Also, your comment referencing the poster at the start (showing west London stations) - of course, in 1912 the whole area was Middlesex, not London, so indeed not the London we have come to know and love. Really enjoyed this episode, back to the “old” format … keep it up guys!

[@raycregan431]

Noticed on the early photo of Alperton, there was a Semaphore Signal on the platform, also the live rail was next to platform

[@ExcelsiorGamingUK]

My god i never thought i would see a wooden escalator again!!! thats a blast from the past..... Fantastic video as always guys xx

[@martynthomas7486]

Hi guys! I'm so glad you visited a station I suggested last year and the idea of exploring the wooden escalator. Now I've seen it, it didn't disappoint! I'm struck though that in this era of accessability for all that the escalator shaft can't be put back in to use with a modern appliance. Strange. Also, why only one escalator to the Eastbound side and not the West? This was a perfect episode for me- an amazing site visit followed by a great Zoom chat and archive photos. Your productions continue to inspire and I thoroughly look forward to the next one. Thanks go to you all.

[@alexgrundon2346]

❤

[@tardismole]

The education quotient just went through the roof. Not only a station I've never been to, but an angle of an escalator that I've (thankfully) never seen before. I've learned the difference between gears and sprockets. And I have to admit that I had no idea that the cogs were the teeth. And then the sign telling passengers that they had to carry their dogs. A friend of mine had a St. Bernard. I couldn't imagine someone trying to carry a St. Bernard after it reached the age of three weeks. Very fascinating. Excellent stuff.

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Wasnt it Mr. André Citroen in France who invented and patented those herringbone (double chevron) gears before WW1? Thats why Citoen has those gears as brand logo

[@helenhickman8449]

Another wonderful episode. It was so interesting seeing the workings of an escalator. I lived those “how things worked” programmes Alex. Probably explains my nerdy interests now 😊

[@alexgrundon2346]

❤

[@loydenochs8572]

Great video as always! I recall wooden escalator treads were used in the Boston (US) subway system at the Washington St station, leading up to Chauncey St if my memory reaches back to the early 1970s when I was using them to get to my after school job.

[@timothyp8947]

How intriguing to see the insides of your sleeping giant. Had a rough idea of how an escalator worked, but didn’t quite get the sense of scale before. Great show, team - thanks!

[@Schlipperschlopper]

Nice 1930s Architecture, this is like Bauhaus Dessau in Germany.

[@ianmcclavin]

In the days of the wooden escalators all over the system, they often used to squeak and make funny noises!! There was unfortunately a lot of grease around at the one at King's Cross that caught fire in 1987 replacing them with metal units was a necessary modification which couldn't happen fast enough. At Warren Street, even after the Victoria Line was added, the only metal ones there was from the "lower level" to the Victoria Line, the ones from the ticket hall (and the ones down to the Northern Line) remained wooden for many years. And as we know, the Victoria Line at King's Cross had separate escalators, so the ones to the Piccadilly and Northern Lines remained wooden too, until 1987. The new metal ones there to the Northern Line were replaced again a few years later.

[@dodgyg3697]

Stunning station. Almost like a turbine hall of a power station.

[@carlwilson1772]

I love mercury arc rectifiers, and rectifier tanks. Also it may interest you to know that before Citroen made cars, they made herringbone gears. Hence their logo is a mimic of herringbone gear teeth.

[@DavidMantle139]

I remember the wooden escalators on the underground, i was only 6 at the time but i was gobsmacked by the chunky wooden treads and clattering noise they made. I was used to the more modern metal ones in my home city of Sheffield. They seemed very alien and old.

[@ianmcclavin]

Yes, wooden escalators were common all over the Tube, only the ones built for the construction of the Victoria Line were metal from the outset, others were progressively replaced over the next 25 years or so, accelerated by the aftermath of the King's Cross fire in 1987.

[@merbertancriwalli8622]

In terms of age - when I lived in Sydney Australia between 1997-99 the escalators at Wynyard were still wood, pretty much like the treads in this video. Not been there recently, but assume that they have changed with the Barangaroo changes...

[@stuartpalmer8233]

Another great episode, thank you. Interested by the section on rectfiers, but why do the trains require a DC rather than AC supply?

[@michaelmiller641]

Absolutely fascinating as usual, Team, thankyou very much! I well remember the old wooden staircases with their uplighters! In fact I recently came across one I photographed at , i think, chalk farm in the eighties, together with its uplighters and illuminated roundels!

[@petercompo]

Occasionally the handlebars juddering when synchronising

[@keith800]

We had the pleasure as engineering students of a trip to visit the escalators at Earls court back in the 70's , most impressive was the obsessions of cleanliness as any dust was looked apron as a fire risk.

[@wegladstone1967]

I remember it well. In fact I had not realised it was no longer there! Decades ago I worked by the Hanger Lane and though I usually used Park Royal I did havw occasion to use Alperton occasionally. But that was 50 years ago and I left London in the 1990s.

[@Big.Al.3]

Another great video. Just goes to prove the surface station has just had so much to offer. Hope you're going to do some more surface stations. I would never have known that there was a wooden tread escalator still around .

[@borderlands6606]

Peter's chocolate merged with Nestlé in 1929, but was taken over by another company as early as 1904. So it's a fair guess that the chocolate machine is Victorian.

[@beds139]

I can assure you that the escalator did squeak 😊

[@KeithCambs]

I imagine the escalator may eventually get removed and replaced with an inclinator to add accessibility to the station.

[@bugsby4663]

I remember having to take an escalator out of service at Highbury & Islinton because a section of teeth boke. the rule was (and still may be) that if two teeth in a row broke it was taken out in case something got caught in it.

[@Ghauster]

The Museum of Science in Boston, Mass has a working escalator with clear plastic panels on the outsides. It is very interesting to stand there and watch the machinery working all well people are riding it.

[@Shalott63]

It was great to see this, especially the escalator. I knew (because of nerdiness) that that escalator was there, and I'd always wondered what it looked like, so I was pleased to find out. I think Alperton and Greenford were the only places where you could take an escalator UP from the ticket hall to the platform(s)?

[@1575murray]

You are correct. I don't know if New York has any subway stations where you can do this as many of the elevated stations now have elevators to make them ADA accessible. Some LIRR stations do have similar escalators. My former home station in Valley Stream has one which was more often than not out of order when I used it before I retired.

[@stevenmccolm1531]

Great video, I think Greenford Station was the last wooden escalator to be taken out of service. I don't know if the workings were removed but it was replaced with a travelator. Hanger Lane would be worth a visit and so would Park Royal as there's some remains of the original Station Halt along the track.

[@ianmcclavin]

Yes, Greenford used to have 2 wooden escalators (Alperton being the only other station with "up" escalators TO the trains, until Stratford rebuilding in the late 90's). These days, one of the escalators at Greenford is now a modern metal one (which normally runs up), the other has been converted into an incline lift.

[@barrydevonshire9749]

Capital radio where involved with operation Raleigh. The poster. I remember it well

[@jacksugden8190]

Interesting, as never knew that it had an elevator, only ever went through the station on a handful of occasions, never went outside, on my last visit, some years ago, saw the old Alperton bus garage, unsure whether it’s still there 30 or years on.

[@cardiffian558]

Unfortunately the bus garage has been demolished: it is being replaced by a 28 storey apartment block. I presume that TfL sold it to obtain finance. Alperton (my local station for the past 50 years) never had an elevator, only the one wooden escalator. I have suggested that they should install an inclined lift (as at Greenford) in the escalator shaft, and also install a vertical lift to the westbound platform using the existing tunnel (which is at present a minicab office and barber's shop) for secure access, but TfL have not replied to me.

[@marting4042]

Amazing that just one escalator was installed at the station and only ran until it was obsolete and didn't get replaced. I was expecting to see that lifts had been installed instead, which would have been an interesting turnaround from the days of escalators replacing lifts. At least that escalator is preserved and might one day move again to a museum. I'm shocked at how that tile pull-out was so off-handly dealt with! Wait, what? Bring that back, I want to see more. Tiles often feature as part of these wonderful adventures, it seemed to be sidelined here. Was it a copyright issue? The reference to how the station's design would have, at night, been a beacon in the dark, is probably diminished these days in our light polluted cities. Streets are relatively safer now because of improvements to street lighting, but I can imagine how inviting the station must have looked back in the gloomy and dingy times. I got more out of this episode than I expected and the photographs helped a lot with that. Thank you.

[@lenniet]

I lived in Alperton in the late 1980's and the escalator was still in use. I remember that it was left open, but not in use for sometime after it was decommissioned. At the time I always thought it was odd to have an escalator leading up to only one platform.

[@stephensaines7100]

RE: Discussion on the bricks as a design feature (and I fully agree on the gist), but I have a question, since what makes those bricks there work is an apparent patina on them. Were they baked with that patina, or was it added later like a varnish? W/o that patina, the surface would quickly deteriorate and discolour.

[@ACELog]

Interesting to see the innardz of that old escalator! The newer ones (as shown on Lizzie line construction vids), arrive completely assembled, and are manoeuvred into place. One thing that I've noticed about the HANDRAIL - on some escalators (older ones?) If I stand on the escalator all the way up or down, it seems to slowly slip out of sync. The effect is my hand, if it started off right by my side, may have moved a little in front or behind me. Anyone else noticed this? I guess it's the effect of the handrail belt slipping on the pulley(s).

[@Shalott63]

I certainly used to notice that, but more when I was younger than now. I think they may have improved the technology now?

[@ACELog]

@@Shalott63 yes it may happen on the older escalators.

[@alexgrundon2346]

Yup. I have that happen too

[@longbranchmike7846]

Can you confirm that the curved forebuilding, currently housing Julian's barbershop, was part of Alperton station? It appears to me to be an original part of the station, by the style, and the same coloured brick on the portion before the curved windows.

[@keithjackson8183]

Loving all your Hidden Hangouts videos (discovered after watching the Underground series with Sids on UKTV). I have a couple of questions firstly with the Central Line St Pauls and Chancery Lane have the lines stacked above each other yet at Holborn they are side by side is this frequent throughout deep level tube lines? Also line distances were calculated for the Underground from Ongar, is this still the case or has Epping become the 0/0 point for the whole network?

[@chrisnix6352]

Hi Keith. Welcome aboard. Glad you found us from SOTLU - you’ll be seeing Siddy and I later this year in another series. So Central line platforms: they are not original CLR platforms (those were at British Museum). When the platforms moved just up the road in the 1930s LT configured them as they are today. The way-leave space on the road above is different at Holborn compared with BM. Re Ongar: yes the distances on the Underground are still measured from there despite it no longer being part of the Underground. For a bonus point I have the Original 0.0m marker in our collection - currently on display in the Hidden London exhibition until it comes out next month.

[@keithjackson8183]

@@chrisnix6352 Thanks for the reply Chris and looking forward to more SotLU also hoping to get to the depot discovery tours soon

[@ricstanden]

Lovely video as always. I have a question.. Is there anything that has been permanently lost (destroyed, removed) that the museum wishes was kept? Either in a station or in the museum.

[@alexgrundon2346]

Nix and I disagree on this but I would have loved to see a 1956/59/62 stock tube train, restored like the glorious 38 stock at the museum. Just a personal thing for me, having travelled on them so much as a kid

[@ianmcclavin]

​@@alexgrundon2346 I remember a train announcer at Camden Town announcing the departure of a 1959 Stock train as "the Museum piece to Kennington via Charing Cross" during its last year or so in operation!! Don't forget one example of a 1959 Stock train still exists on Alderney in the Channel Islands (the one that was painted up in maroon and cream livery, most were unpainted). As someone who remembers the 1972 and 1973 Stock when brand new, it seems odd hearing them described as "the oldest trains on the system" now!

[@stuartpalmer8233]

Threre's also 2 cars of 56 or 59 stock (not currently roadworthy) at Mangapps Railway in Essex.

[@alexgrundon2346]

Sadly no 56 stock survives

[@MrStevetmq]

I love the wooden escalators, even though I was on the escalator at Kings Cross with fire at my feet, I would still like to see them in use. One fire in the hole history should not change it. I firmly believe that if there serviced and cleaned right and well the fire would not happen.

[@MrAustinPowers]

I got vibes of a university Challenge team when you introduced the posters. Is it true there used to be a spiral esculator on the tube. Is it possible to do a video about this please

[@stephensaines7100]

lol! Synchronicity in your asking the circa of the elevator pic. I'd just Googled for the movie release date: Initial release: November 22, 1955

[@levigaming-1]

I been to York road but ik you all already did videos on it but I couldn’t bc I left my iPad to charge up

[@rpmillam]

Have you looked at City Road

[@ianmcclavin]

I was on a railtour (in the maroon and cream 1959 Stock train, now on Alderney) which stopped in the tunnel at the site of the old City Road station. They then extinguished the train lights, and shone bright "search lights" on the walls for our benefit, for us to observe. We got to see some of the original tiling. At most disused stations, all you can see from a padding train is a gap in the tunnel walls, an exception is British Museum station on the Central Line, where a substantial amount of tiling is visible.

[@chrisnix6352]

We have indeed: Series 5 Episode 19

[@Daniil0011]

Terribly sorry, but in case anyone was wondering, there's unfortunately no wooden escalators left in Moscow. Most of them are made of metal now, however there are a few (and I mean a FEW) older ones where the tread is made of plastic and the skirting boards are wooden, but that's as close as you can get

[@raphaelnikolaus0486]

Why is it that escalator steps are 21 cm (according to my measurements in Cologne) in contrast to the 17 cm of regular steps (according to the measurements of Geoff M. in London, as well as my own ones in Cologne ones)? Why the extra 4 cm? Makes them uneasy to use as regular stairs, when out of order - which happens rather regularly over here. By the way: *escalator* in German is _Rolltreppe_ -- literally translated as _rolling staircase._ What is a rolling staircase that is not working, i.e. not rolling? ;)

[@doublea06]

Rating: ✴✴🌟🌟🌟

[@simonbiggs9102]

WhIch station has let you down thinking it was going to be better than it was

[@borderlands6606]

No stations look as good as their initial publicity shots. They grow silly accretions over the years, compromising the purity of their design. Lighting changes, windows remain uncleaned and a palimpsest of features and furnishings create unnerving visual chaos.

[@dodo1opps]

GO YOU 'R's!!!

[@peteratkins7383]

Bit of useless info for you in carpentry if you need to lubricate moving wood you use wax. Siddy mentioned the old wooden escalators.

[@doublea06]

33:16 - 35:45 or 35:46 (That's my date of birth!)

[@MrStevetmq]

Why are you always commenting on how neat things are, the tiles on over videos and the escalator on this one? Is it a comment on how sloppy we have got over the years? Back in the years this stations where built there would have been in general a understanding that things should be done right, neat and proper.

[@pb4rton]

Thank you so much. I thought this escalator had been removed and just the "shell" was left! What a find! Speaking of find.... I found a video that I found helpful to explain how an escalator works. I know it is American, but as there are a lot of American influences on the Underground, I hope people don't mind, but I think this video explains it quite well: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Z5vJf3x4qcuKers Clearly a 3D video is not as exciting as seeing a real wooden one in situ!!

[@sarahjoyholden7856]

Cigarette machine