Kingsway: London's Abandoned Tram Subway

[@adrianbromfild8624]

Sunday wouldn’t be Sunday without a video from Jago!

[@CarolineFord1]

Jago O’Clock!

[@delurkor]

@@CarolineFord1Here in the US we had to set Jago back an hour.

[@CarolineFord1]

@@delurkor UK clocks went back an hour last weekend

[@sea80vicvan]

Same for Wednesday and Friday.

[@simongleaden2864]

Yes. Watching Jago's latest video is part of my Sunday evening routine. I hope he never runs out of subject matter for new videos.

[@simonwinter8839]

I am about to tell you where in London you can see real live tram shed.I am a bus driver,and I'll have you know I've been working on the buses for the past 49 years,currently working for Arriva at their Brixton garage which confusingly is in Streatham.Now if you head south up Brixton hill you come to the south circular road and just before the junction on the left is an annexe of Brixton garage still called the tram shed. Fittingly enough it is now used to charge the electric fleet of buses that operate from Brixton garage and the tram tracks are still there. These can clearly be seen from the road.So there we are, a real live tram shed minus the trams but still garaging electric vehicles .While I'm at it ,anyone want to congratulate me for my years on the buses ? I love adoration !!!

[@MervynPartin]

In response to your request, Congratulations! 49 years driving through London is pretty good. 😇

[@johndaarteest]

Yeah well done, now get that bus out Butler! media.tenor.com/wzV4eY6kgnoAAAAM/blakey-on-the-buses.gif

[@simonwinter8839]

@@MervynPartin Thank you. Only driving since 1979 !! Before that I was a conductor and for six months when I was seventeen until I was old enough to conduct I was a bus operating trainee. Every department I went to it was the same "make the tea Si" !! I can make a great cup of tea !!

[@aegisltd2018]

Thank you for your public service. 🎉👏🏽👏🏽

[@helloEther]

Congratulations from the bottom of my heart! Way to go!

[@daveoftheclanburgess]

Another perfect example of shortsighted transport planning in UK and London in particular. I remember trips to London and peering into the slope on Kingsway thanking 'what a waste' even in the 80s. How very different London looked then in transport terms!

[@OscarOSullivan]

Dublin as well some of our bus routes numbers and their routes are from the days of the old trains but still short sighted the last old tram line was the GNRI hill of Howth. Another stupid decision was Todd Andrew’s decision to close the Harcourt to Bray railway line.

[@suburbia2050]

*Edited as the Cross River Tram scheme was not going to re-use the Holborn underpass, merely follow the old route Not sure about "short-sighted", in hindsight might be a better phrase, at the time the long term "plan" was to de-densify cities, migrating the populations out into "new towns" built around car ownership and modernising housing-stock, thus apeing the successful post-war US economy driven by suburban consumerism. Reducing density reduces the practicality and economic efficiency of frequent mass-transit systems. The tech behind the internal combustion engine with cheap oil was more flexible and cheaper to maintain within the life-span of a vehicle too. I guess in the context of the bubble of the time it seemed like a cunning plan. Obviously the dense city as an eternal economic engine never went away, so there was a failure to understand a fundamental truth there, urban planning was very much a mono-culture of focusing on the physical spatiality of a place as a means for management (e.g. the "garden city" to cure the ills of urban poverty framed by rural health and morals) but even then long distance commuting in the service economy was already a thing in the UK so I dont quite get how anyone imagined that chipping away at the golden goose of the urban centre to build huge car-parks and limitless urban motorway capacity was ever going to work out. In a way the car ownership design coincidentally fore-shadowed the de-industrialisation of the Thames and other industrial cities in the UK which killed off the walk/cycle-to-work uban layout of the late 19th C/early 20th C industrial design. Like investing in the jet plane industry instead of railways or covering every possible street with tarmac, removing the tram network was more the double-edged sword of being a contemporary leading economic and technological power where the ability to make sudden wide-spread changes at scale leaves you gambling all eggs in one basket when it comes to the future. Not really an excuse for not having a decent tram network in the 21st C now though, ultra/light rail is relatively inexpensive and now with all sorts of battery/storage technology options availble, although some need more initial infrastructure investment than others, like Hydrogen. So now it is more a cultural/political blind-spot/short-sightedness where some think that the whims of past political decisions converts into some sort of a human right today, basically what was unleashed in the suburbanist urban design changes was to embed consumerism as an entitlement into the popular psychology. I recall the fiasco of Londons Cross-River tram in the 00s which would have run over and parrallel to the old Holborn underpass, some London boroughs, managed to delay the project because they thought it would impede the car/private vehicle driver, enough to delay the project until the Conservative austerity programme killed it off when Boris became Mayor. Fast forward to today, Ironically, or rather unsurprisingly, even bus use is declining because of congestion, something that would not have impacted a tram network, resulting from a decade of increasing car/private vehicle usage driven by a de-regulated taxi industry, which financially incentivises buying and driving a private vehicle around the streets, and a booming non-centralised, laissez faire delivery industry but the blame instead has been shifted to the bicycle!

[@derekantill3721]

As a kid I remember riding tram routes 31 & 33 through the Kingsway subway, and in later years riding Trolley Bus 1379 with the offside door when it was still in use on route 653. A very good video Jago. ❤

[@rogerkearns8094]

I'm not sure of the route numbers, but I remember riding the tunnel trams as well - and the station stops. I found it even more exciting than trains! Best wishes. :)

[@meijiturtle3814]

Same here, apart from those trolley bus routes. Getting rid of the trams was a crime. Money should have been invested in their modernisation. As to the trolleybuses they were fantastic. A much smoother and quieter ride than diesel buses and much faster acceleration.

[@OscarOSullivan]

Trams should never been ditched in Dublin and Harcourt street to Bray railway line kept open.

[@lordpitnolen2196]

I have fond memories of trams in Dundee, Scotland, and rode them often. The tram depot at Maryfield will shortly be opening as the Dundee Museum of Transport.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

Yup, pretty much every major US city once had trams/streetcars (and some still have them or are building new ones)! These systems had the same rolling stock in the 1930s, thanks to the PCC. The PCC is short for Presidents' Conference Committee, a committee that consisted of representatives of several large operators of urban electric street railways plus potential manufacturers. Their goal was to design a streamlined, comfortable, quiet, and fast accelerating and braking streetcar that would be operated by a seated operator using floor mounted pedal controls to better meet the needs of the street railways and appeal to riders. And the result was the PCC, and thus they became an American icon. Los Angeles for example wasn't always a huge traffic mess! At one point in time, Los Angeles had the largest trolley system in the WORLD! The streetcar system was primarily operated by Pacific Electric (1901-1961) and developed into the largest trolley system in the world by the 1920s. This breadth of scale enabled residents and visitors alike to routinely traverse the Los Angeles region, from Santa Monica to San Bernardino. Many modern communities were built around the streetcar network and retain its influence in their gridded street network and relatively dense form. The system operated for over half a century, and at its peak included over 1,100 miles of track with 900 electric trolley cars!

[@tomburnham5119]

The Tram Subway made at least one appearance in fiction. In Dorothy Sayers' novel "Unnatural Death", published in 1927, Inspector Charles Parker, who had rooms in Bloomsbury, "ran feverishly out of the house and down Lamb’s Conduit Street to catch a diver tram to Westminster" on his way to Scotland Yard. It would still have been a single-deck tram at that date. The expression "diver tram" must have seemed strange to her readers who weren't Londoners, even then.

[@iankemp1131]

My Dad had the book so I had a quick look and found the reference - but ended up reading the whole book for the first time for about 50 years!

[@tomburnham5119]

@@iankemp1131 It's a pretty good story and touches on some themes which were pretty advanced for nearly 100 years ago.

[@iankemp1131]

@@tomburnham5119Like Miss Whittaker and Miss Findlater's friendship, I suppose. It's also interesting that the likely culprit is identified from the start so no real "whodunnit" but there is still plenty of mystery.

[@srtgrayfrance]

Wasn’t it also featured in a Goon Show episode? I think it was The Last Tram (from Clapham)

[@geoffreyhui830]

I was very curious about the entrance in Southhampton Row when I was staying at London House, Mecklenburg Square in 1977. Thank you for this video.

[@citizenlost]

The tunnel was also used during construction of the Elizabeth Line for a Compensation Grout Shaft... To firm up the ground above the tunnels and reduce risk of subsidence etc.

[@curiousmatt]

Ahhh Compensation Grout Shaft - that edgy student rock band. Whatever happened to them ?

[@tonysplodge44]

Brilliant as ever Jago, but my copy of 'Lost London' by Philip Davies, says 'Its claim to be Dickens' Old Curiosity Shop is entirely spurious - the name having been painted on the front to attract business to a dealer in books, paintings and old china in 1868' (the novel dates from 1841).

[@bingbong7316]

Is one of them Shoppe, thereby distinguishing fact from fiction?

[@samovarov1726]

As a fan of old trams, I watched this film with great pleasure. But I especially liked the last 30 seconds. It was unexpected and wonderful! It was just a magical movie! And I immediately liked it!

[@abercass4683]

Thanks for bringing back happy memories. I had the good fortune to visit the Festival of Britain in 1951. The 33 tram ride from Manor House to the Embankment was magical, little did I know as a fourteen year old that they would all be gone the following year. Compared to now they really where the good old days.

[@ktipuss]

Speaking of the Festival of Britain, new tracks were laid around the County Hall in June/October 1950 to accommodate traffic arrangements for the Festival. So new tracks were being laid 20 months before the whole system's closure!

[@OscarOSullivan]

Like Dublin and elsewhere where they were discontinued modernisation of them should have happened

[@julianaylor4351]

Until the bottom half on Wembley High Road was resurfaced in the early 1980s, you could still see ghosts of the tramlines on the tarmac, especially near St John the Evangelist Anglican Parish Church. The 18 bus route was a tram route, that original went from Sudbury to Central London. The original bus route that took over was from Sudbury to London Bridge. The Kingsway Tram Tunnel was used as a location in an episode of Sherlock. You can see a lot of trams and tramlines in World War Two photographs and there is still some colour film of them from the end of their era. With reference to the white tram, London was prone to coal fire smog in those days, so it was probably turning grey. 😁 Bus lanes were the solution to buses being held up in traffic, but to be honest there have never been enough, so to this day London buses hunt in packs. 😁 Ironically the Croydon tram network uses a section of rail line closed by the Beeching Report implementation.

[@HowardMessias-e8z]

Maybe younger? I remember sitting with mum in J.Lyons opposite Wembley Central Station and looking down on the trolley buses.

[@dodgydruid]

My late mother used the 18 from London Bridge to Grays Inn Road when she worked at the Times, useful route connecting Kings X to London Bridge without needing the tube.

[@jackiespeel6343]

The recently Superlooped 607 bus was given that number to commemorate the tram route it replaced. The Brixton Hill Tram Depot survives (and was constructed in 1923 if 'anyone' is looking for a topic).

[@ktipuss]

Not only in London do buses hunt in packs; it's a world wide phenomenon, especially on routes which ought to have higher passenger capacity vehicles than buses...such as trams!

[@julianaylor4351]

@@ktipuss Underground trains on metro lines cannot do it, otherwise they would ram each other.

[@PenryMMJ]

Crich tramway museum makes a cracking day out, especially so if you like trams. Those who don't like trams should probably go somewhere else. I've never been quite sure why it is where it is, but it's central in England, and if we are going to have a museum then it will need to somewhere.

[@johnjephcote7636]

I complained that the brown signs directing one to the Tramway Museum were 'last minute' and few and far between and one needs a map or satnav to negotiate some awkward turns in country roads to get there. The lassie at the Museum said they just have to accept what the Council decides.

[@johnmarkbrailsford24]

The Tramway Museum Society chose this site because the route reused the trackbed of a former mineral railway. Another site near a mill in Bury, Lancashire had also been considered.

[@bulleidboy1]

I remember my dad taking me on a tram in 1950/51 which used the Kingsway tunnel and we ended up on the Embankment, Some years later (1962), I started working in Lincoln's Inn, and as a fifteen year old commuting into Waterloo, remember when they cut into the tunnel to make the Strand Underpass. In the 50's I lived in Muswell Hill, just up the road from Cranley Gardens Station - which I recall you did a video on a while back, Great video as usual.

[@OscarOSullivan]

One other commentator said they were on the tram route through the kingsway tunnel in 1952

[@WardyLion]

An excellent video. I went to see the entrance for myself, inspired by Jay Foreman, but I’ve yet to get inside. I’ve read up on the tunnel but some of the pictures and footage you used were ones I’ve not seen before, so that was a special treat!

[@sockstarnik]

It was that tunnel that is to blame for my general tube neediness! Driving by way back I the day as a small child I asked my dad about it. He remembered it well in use and explained there were platforms down there for trams > I was hooked!

[@simonking7446]

I occasionally work at that "bar" you mentioned where it comes out under the bridge. It is actually a cabaret club, which i think is a more interesting fate for a tram exit than just a regular bar

[@tacfoley4443]

How pleasant it is to listen to a real human voice in familiar English, talking about a feature of London that is very familiar to me. I have vivid memories of turning sharp right off the Embankment and into the tunnel in my young boyhood. Now THAT's a memory that is irreplaceable. Thanks for fleshing it out!

[@MichaelCampin]

Jago then Paul & Rebecca Whitewick. Perfect Sunday

[@petergray3594]

Coming from the midlands, I remember occasionally visiting Crich Tramway Museum. A most rural setting for the most urban of transport. Orange trams from east Berlin rub shoulders with the skinny trams of British cities. Next to farmland. I’m just old enough to remember the last of the trolley buses in Sheffield. Sheffield was one of the first cities to bring Trams back.

[@williammarchant2920]

I’ve walked past this for over 30 years and always wondered what it was. Thanks, great!

[@oc2phish07]

Another great video from Jago and Congratulations on passing the 200K Subscriber mark.

[@raycardy4843]

Great video - I grew up in Luton, they had trams from 1908 until 1932 (before my time!), although some of the tracks were still visible when I was a kid! Then I moved to Milton Keynes - the large 'boulevards' either side of the shopping centre were originally planned to have monorails running down them, but these never materialised!

[@ShedTV]

I thought I already knew quite a lot about this subject, until you said it was originally built single-deck high only. Well I never!

[@MrPete1x]

Thanks Jago. I can vaguely remember the trams when I was a toddler and my late Father often told me of the hazards of a front wheel of a bicycle dropping into the gap formed by tram tracks in the road surface

[@davidsummer8631]

It was also used in the film version of The Avengers and quite frankly every copy of that film should be buried in that subway

[@anthonykoller4459]

It’s fascinating that as a Londoner, I pass by here almost everyday and I never knew the History of the place, thank you for the insight and History lesson of the old London trams.

[@2002barneyf]

Fantastic video Jago, right down my street ( or track should I say) when it comes to my interests. Keep 'em rolling!

[@barrydixon2986]

In 1951 my father took me to the South Bank exhibition. We went on a tram from Holborn through the tunnel to the exhibition. I remember it clearly

[@johnweaire3389]

Born in 1940 I lived on Green Lanes (nr Clissold Park) and as a boy used often to get the tram from Manor House just to go to the embankment via the tunnel. An unusual feature of those trams was the way the back of the seats swiveled so that you could always face forward. I seem to remember that the driver changed ends on return journeys being able to control the tram from either end.

[@alexandraclement1456]

I'm fortunate to live in a city with a streetcar( tram ) network. Yes, it takes a lot of maintenance for the upkeep, but it is well worth the effort.

[@ianhaines2873]

Respectfully I would point out that the Fleet (river, ditch, sewer) doesn’t run through Holborn or near this tramway. The Fleet in fact runs about a mile to the east, north-south under Farringdon Street and Blackfriars Road.

[@desdemoor]

That's my issue with the video too. The Wikipedia entry for the tunnel also mentions the Fleet Sewer, but I suspect both sources are getting it confused with Bazelgette's Victoria Embankment sewer, which runs along the north bank of the Thames, crossing the line of Waterloo Bridge.

[@MartinBrenner]

Tram tunnels are practical and used in European cities where a full Metro would be too expensive. The combination of double deck trams and tunnel was ambitious, thanks for the interesting history lesson!

[@brianartillery]

I had a shufti down there many years ago. It's amazing how far a hard hat, high-vis jacket, clipboard and purposeful stride could get you. The idea of putting the flood control system down there... A literal stones' throw from the river, did strike me as a bit dodgy, and also rather amusing, as if whoever had okayed it, had no idea that the flood would come from the damn great river just across the road from the end of the tunnel. I know it was cut off by the road modernisation, but it would still flood, nonetheless. 🤔🤔🤔😆😆😆

[@fdfsdfsvsfgsg4888]

Didn't happen.

[@brianartillery]

@@fdfsdfsvsfgsg4888 Au Contraire.

[@defender1006]

We used to use the vehicle underpass to avoid Aldwych regularly in the '70's and '80's when returning from my Mothers parents in Lambeth on our way back home. I can remember being told about tram subway complete with stations, although we were very familiar with the Tube/Underground, it seemed a bit bazar that something more akin to a double decker bus used it? Thanks for a great video, definitely worth a visit/revisit.

[@RGC198]

Thanks for an excellent and interesting video. The Kingsway Tram Subway has always been of fascination to me. As far as I know, that was London's only tram subway. I grew up in Sydney Australia and back in the 1950's, there was a tram subway running from Wynyard to the Harbour Bridge. It was one of my favourite places to visit as a child. The London trams ceased running just a month before I was born, though as I lived here in Australia, there wasn't much chance of me seeing them in operation. These days, I live in Melbourne Australia, which currently has a large tram system in operation.

[@john07973]

Fascinating 👍, I remember my Dad who was a Londoner showing and telling me about it in the late 1960s

[@seanbonella]

Sunday story time with JH..... cup of tea is now made

[@douglaskinloch6272]

I've wondered about that tunnel entrance at Holborn on many visits over the years. All becomes clear!

[@timhubbard8895]

Crazy how we go around in circles! Trams are making a comeback in UK cities after ripping them all up. I'm sure that it wasn't so much a pollution or environmental consideration in the past, but trams make sense in the 21st century!

[@dk50b]

2:45 In 1902 only Boston had a tunnel built solely to improve transit service. A year earlier that subway began lending its outer ("wall") tracks to the new Main Line Elevated. This lasted till 1908 when the el built its own Washington St Tunnel. New York's streetcar tunnel originated as a cut through Murray Hill the New York & Harlem RR built in 1837 to allow access to its 27th St Terminal. Enforcement of an earlier steam ban led to horsecar conversion in 1858, by which time the cut had been roofed over. 1901 saw conduit electrification, with abandonment in 1935. Today it's an auto tunnel. Other streetcar tunnels necessitated by topography also existed in Los Angeles and Atlanta. There were 3 tunnels under the Chicago River used by cable cars that saw streetcar service after cable operations ceased in 1906.

[@smada36]

I feel very lucky to have regularly driven a coach through the Aldwych Underpass. The old Plaxton Paramounts went through there with no bother. Used to unease the novice driver and passenger though. Couldn't do that today of course. A bit of excitement taken away.

[@williambecwar7939]

A similar (though blocked off) tunnel survivor is still visible just East of the cathedral in St. Paul, Minnesota. The open cut entrance is even visible on Google Maps north of University Avenue and east of the church.

[@BibTheBoulderTheOriginalOne]

One of my favourite Jago Hazzard videos. Most entertaining. Thank you.

[@plaws0]

Interesting! Thanks! Streetcars in the Boro of Manhattan (it's post-amalgamation name) were also conduit cars and for the same reasons - no one likes wires (sad, that). "Outer Boro" cars had regular overhead lines. I'd have to dig, but I believe there was a point where cars crossing the East River from Brooklyn or maybe Queens had a "pit" where workers under the tracks would engage the conduit collector while the motorman or conductor would pull down the pole so that the same car could operate in Manhattan. NYC did have some streetcar subways, but I don't think they were as extensive as those in Boston (where the first one was dug in 1897) or Philadelphia, the latter two still operating as intended. Great stuff - thanks again!

[@capabilityred3606]

Great video Jago. I went on one of the Hidden London tours of the Kingsway Tram Tunnel back in the summer, a great experience, I would recommend i to al.

[@MartyJackson]

Jago, I recently stumbled across a FB post about the ‘Great Western Railway Operatic Society’. There was an image of a programme for their production of ‘The Yeoman Of The Guard’ at New Scala Theatre, February 1927. I know you’re also a big Theatre fan, a video about this society (and perhaps others like it) would be super cool! ✌🏻

[@delurkor]

In San Francisco the Twin Peaks tunnel saved the street cars in the Forties. The powers that be realized they could not run buses through it.

[@genevincentrocks]

Another great video Jago. I remember being fascinated with the tram tunnel in the early 1970s. Back then my dad used to drive everywhere in London as you could always find somewhere to park. We would often come from the South Bank (my dad was a film buff so we used to go to the NFT) and travel through the Strand underpass. It is only in the last few years that I discovered the original route of the tram tunnel came out under Waterloo bridge. I bet there is a further section of the tunnel left behind that bar up till the road tunnel starts?

[@jackstevens5691]

Bloody loved this! Thank you 😊

[@lawrencelewis2592]

There was a pub in Tooting called "The Tooting Tram" that was an old tram shed-There was one track going in and once inside it fanned out to 3 or four other tracks. I think it's a nightclub now. Here in Toronto, the King Street streetcar stops across the street from my apartment. I ride it often.

[@JagoHazzard]

I used to go for nights out there!

[@amethyst7084]

Thanks Jago. Great video. Having passed by Southampton Row a number of times, the tram tunnel there held an aura of fascination.🚊 Great to see that London has no had a tram revival in the form of the Tramlink running from Wimbledon.

[@norbitonflyer5625]

The Strand Underpass was still in use for public transport until last year, when the single deck route 521 was withdrawn. It came as a surprise to me to read that in the 19 years London Transport ran trams (1933-1952) it did not build a single tram - every single tram in its fleet was inherited from the predecessor private and municipal fleets.

[@hx0d]

Was about to type this. A huge loss, a route which I frequently used.

[@OscarOSullivan]

Single deckers are rare in Dublin

[@OscarOSullivan]

No wonder it was easy to get rid of trams they were older on average than the buses because of penny pinching

[@norbitonflyer5625]

@@OscarOSullivan LPTB was steadily replacing trams with trolleybuses in the 1930s - a programme that woukd have been compeleted by about 1942 had the War not stopped further work.

[@arthurcrown3063]

NewCross Tram Depot was not far from where we lived. Loved the trams and was sorry to see them go. And they used domestic electricity not expensive imported fuel.

[@MrGreatplum]

Excellent stuff as ever, Jago. I wonder if this was the British equivalent of the “premetro” which is a tram system that goes underground (the one in Brussels is interesting.)

[@ratsbath]

Great vid. Missed opportunity to start the first shot of the tunnel with "This! This! This is the entrance to the Kingsway tram tunnel..." a la Jay Foreman 🤭

[@cheesedoff-with4410]

Would modern the modern battery and fuel cell powered buses cope with that gradient? If so, what else might be done to reinstate this route?

[@hx0d]

Yes, they could and did so very regularly. It was route 501 then later 521 from the 1960s and they were frequently using the tunnel. Earlier this year in April, TfL decided that they didn't need the 521 which was already using electric buses for 7 years at that point as no one was using it (cobbles, it was very busy) and cut it.

[@johnledingham852]

Very interesting to reflect on the unfolding of London's transport as it developed to cater for the population growth, and the advancement of technology. Makes one wonder about a hundred years and beyond into the future. It's also good to see how some of these vehicles have found their way into museums so they won't be lost without trace. One thing I would like to know, dear Jago, is the variety of trees that line those London streets. They are pleasing to the eye with lovely shade of green and don't grow excessively large so as to become a nuisance to traffic, and with invasive root systems that cause problems to underground services and building foundations. Thank you for the hours of educational entertainment. You are my instructor incognito.

[@montedaestrada3563]

I have memories of travelling through, or seeing traffic of some sort, travelling through one the underpasses. I was born in 1954, and was very young when my eldest brother (12 years my senior) took me to the City from Chessington for a day out so I'm guessing it was the Strand Tunnel.

[@norbitonflyer5625]

The tunnel closed with the rest of the tram network, in 1952. It re-opened in the mid 60s as a road tunnel, and buses used that until last year.

[@johnfenner347]

An absolutely marvellous, and erudite report. And of of course, shows us, that ineptitude gross bungling, and mismanagement, ruined a great system, including, railways. I despair at the ghastly decisions by alternating Governments, since “Day One” !. What could have been !. And, what do we have now ? !. Many thanks and, Kindest Regards.

[@sapphireseptember]

Having been stuck on a bus in London traffic when the Tube was out of action, trams on a separate route would have been most useful! There's a guided busway locally to me, which saves getting stuck in traffic on the motorway.

[@Ashley_van_Schooneveld]

In many of London's bus depots; rails from the tram era are still affixed onto the floors since they used to be tram depots.

[@Anonymoususer_8823]

Wish it was still around today that would have provided a north-south link for Londoners to travelling straight into Central London. Which now you got the Northern Line, Bakerloo Line, Victoria Line and of course Thameslink.

[@FlyingScud]

I did my degree (1976) at the Central School of Art adjacent to the northern entrance 6:12. My tutor was Douglas Scott designer of the Routemaster.9:08. My office is opposite the 'TramShed' in Rivington Street 0:21 , the old powerstation/Damien Hirst Restaurant and now Vitra Furniture showroom.....

[@dodgydruid]

I got to see in there during the early seventies with my grandfather who was a recently retired executive to the GLC in regards to water and seweraging and had due to his first name being Walter the nickname "Walter Works" prompting my grandfather to use his middle name of Robert from that point on. Anyway he took me down to visit the flood defence cabin which had come under his purview and I got to see the almost pristine condition tram station in all its glory with posters still intact for the most part.

[@desdemoor]

Jago, this is an interesting and entertaining video as always, but I think you're confusing the Fleet with the Victoria Embankment sewer. The Fleet runs some distance to the east, joining the Thames under Blackfriars Bridge.

[@dinkydarko]

Can you say any more about the Fleet running here? It was my understanding the Fleet was quite a bit to the east at Farringdon. Maybe this was a tributary?

[@librarian16]

i once travelled through the subway on a tram from, I think, Archway, to somewhere in South London via Dog Kennel Hill.

[@henrybn14ar]

Northbound trams used to take a rush at the ramp at Theobald's Road.

[@roberthuron9160]

New York's equivalents,and there were two,are 1) The number 7 tunnel from Queens Boro Plaza to Grand Central,as it was built for streetcars,bu never used! 2)The streetcar tunnel from Grand Central Terminal to 30th Street or thereabouts,which put in,during the early 1900's[not to sure of the dating,with apologies],still in place,and used for automobiles 🚘! Of course,there is the Tremont Subway in Boston,thankfully fully active,known as the Green Line,in this day,and many name changes in between! Thank you,Jago,and may the Kingsway be remembered for its traffic reduction on the surface! Thank you 😇 😊!!

[@davidroberts5090]

I worked on Aldwych for 28 years and always wondered what the tunnel was like in its heyday

[@ronnyskaar3737]

Not replaced by buses. But by the dream of the new wonderful word of private cars. At least that was the case in my (norwegian) city.

[@gregduck7455]

Thank you Jago for this informative video, great stuff! I had heard about the tram tunnel, but didn't know much about it. I learned a lot from your video. Very educational.

[@allenwilliams1306]

LCC No 1 was a huge improvement on previous types of tram - totally modern and highly luxurious by comparison to its predecessors. Unfortunately, LPTB came about, run by, basically, people from the Underground Group, which meant, as far as road transport was concerned, ex-London General Omnibus Company folk. Although there was a Tram & Trolleybus Department, where the former LCC people were dominant, this only lasted about 15 years before the bus people took over and electric traction was thereafter doomed.

[@raythomas4812]

It's a fascinating story about a forgotten part of Transport in London . Great Video as always

[@cliveshergold9467]

I remember using the Waterloo Bridge end of the subway in the early eighties - on a bicycle.

[@RichardDKneller]

Always puzzled me when I lived in London. Now I know.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

As someone who took the B line daily in Boston, double deck trams sound good, but part of me thinks having a clearer view of the mice etc would not be conducive to happy living.

[@pmberry]

Fascinating that such a visible piece of Central London transport infrastructure has been waiting for a proper use for over 70 years.

[@highpath4776]

"Duck Under Aldwych" is a lovely dish, best served at Christmas, at The Ritz.

[@fpcoleman57]

Do you know anything about Clapton Bus Garage? As you no doubt know this used to be a tram shed. When it was converted to a bus garage a lot of the surface was left intact. You can still see where the tramlines ran. The location of the turntable can still be found. Other features are still present but I'm not an expert in identifying these. I'm pretty sure you know more about this tram shed than I do, even though I've been a bus driver here for over 25 years. I also was here in 1987 for the last six months of its life as a London Transport bus garage. (I can still remember drivers and conductors crying on the day its closure was announced.)

[@johna9851]

I rode on the Kingsway tram on a church outing in the forties. It was very exciting and there were underground stops.

[@brettpalfrey4665]

Thanks for that! I have always wondered about the tunnel for trams in London, now I know a bit more!

[@Richard.357]

Brilliant, thanks for sharing.

[@robinjones6999]

I worked in Kingsway opposite the tunnel entrance during the 70,s and often saw workmen going in and out

[@michaeldarby3503]

Have you visited Sandtoft bus museum just outside Doncaster, they have a small trolley route. Well worth a visit.

[@metrovick5417]

LCC 1 is just finishing being restored at Crich, and should be in service next year. During strip down, despite the board of trade fireproofing requirements, it was found sawdust had been put between bulkhead panels for sound deadening.

[@egpx]

Fireproof sawdust 🤔

[@Andrewjg_89]

Congratulations on reaching over 200k subscribers. I do like your content and videos and what you talk about pretty much the history of London. As always keep up the good work.

[@lordgemini2376]

Nice to see you in a lot of railway/transoprt related video comment sections Andrew 👍

[@Andrewjg_89]

⁠Thanks

[@keithwesley2471]

I'm lucky in that I remember travelling through the Kingsway tunnel in 1951 at the age of 5. Okay so the memory is a bit sketchy, but I do remember it!

[@gsygsy]

Excellent. Thank you.

[@mrb.5610]

'Flood control' was 3 or 4 Portacabins - Dad was in charge of the radios installed - the aerials were fixed to a lamppost (aerial post ?) above. It did feature in a BBC drama in the 1980's - I think it was called 'When The Lions Drown' (as in the cast bronze lion mooring rings along the embankment) - but I can't find it on KZbin anywhere. Flooding was a real concern before the Thames Barrage was built - Dad would be notified on high risk occasions - and warn my older brother not to go into town on those evenings !!

[@barrycoppock]

For those unable to get on one of the tours I would refer you to The Secret Vault KZbin channel where you will find a video showing the tunnel in extensive detail.

[@shaunwest3612]

Great video jago,got to love a tram, very interesting 👍👌😀

[@highpath4776]

In fairness Red Arrow express single deck bus routes used the northbound Strand Underpass (peak hours at least )which I suppose retained the public transport use of it for many years. Driving it in a car is a bit of an experience , it should be less scary than the Rotherhithe tunnel but the gradient and curve radiuses can make it a fair challenge.

[@norbitonflyer5625]

Riding a bendybus through the tunnel was quite exciting. Part of my regular commute at the time.

[@hx0d]

Absolutely stupid cut.

[@MawieStevens]

Thank you. London. Our beloved Capital City😊😊😊😊😊😊

[@adlam97531]

The underpass was used by Red Arrow Buses for a while, but it always seemed that if you were going to break down then it was inside there, and then have to wait for someone from Waterloo to come along.

[@norbitonflyer5625]

Quite a long while - from opening in the 1960s until last year.

[@crossleydd42]

The vast majority of new post-war buses built for London Transport initially went to replace worn out ones way past their 10 year planned lives. Most damaged in air raids had their chassis repaired and re-bodied, using the 5% of surplus bodies previously used for overhauls. Those totally destroyed were replaced by austerity-built buses built during the war, but with short lives which also had to be replaced, but in the early 1950s.

[@tonys1636]

The RT was built from 1939 to 1950, many receiving wartime austerity bodies from new, later rebodied, finally completely withdrawn late 70's many prewar ones the last to go. Designed jointly by London General (before the LPTB took them over) and AEC.

[@crossleydd42]

@@tonys1636 None of the 150 (out of 151) so-called pre-war RTs was built with austerity bodies, even though the last one was not completed until Feb 1942. The UK did not go to total war until the Fall of France and it's likely that normal materials were available or pre-ordered beforehand. However, production slowed down dramatically after mid 1940, it taking 21 months to finish building the last half dozen! All the rest were post-war, starting in 1947. The last one was withdrawn in April 1979.

[@tonys1636]

@@crossleydd42 The SW London coach operator I was driving for in '73 bought 3 from LT direct, I was one of the drivers sent over to Chiswick to collect them, we were handed the registration docs and told "they're over there, don't take the wrong ones". Whilst checking the numbers one had a date of first registration of July '39, (had been one of the driver training fleet as the rear cab window missing and an L plate on the front and Driver Training sticker on the rear) and two of November '46. The numbers were issued in consecutive batches to LT so could have been months before put on a bus but the date of actual registration would be correct. What was interesting was that showing one previous keeper but the London Passenger Transport Board changed to the London Transport Board in the '60's (remember the new legal writing on the n/s at the time as a teenager) so new docs had to be issued. As they had had a full rebuild every 3 years I doubt if much was still original apart from the main chassis frame as that kept the Reg No., the body keeping the fleet RT No. The chassis rarely getting the same body back after the overhaul.

[@Bondek1996]

When I hear or think of the Kingsway subway I always think of the Goon Show's The Last Tram.

[@CFAbove]

Was at Southampton Row 3 weeks ago and seen this I knew it was the tram tunnel but thanks for the further info.