Secrets of the Hainault Shuttle

Did you know that the Central Line service between Woodford and Hainault reverted back to being a shuttle in 2020? It felt like it was time to go up to the eastern end of the Central Line, and whilst there see what else I could uncover, as we do .... Secrets of the Hainault Shuttle.
Did you know a fun way of getting indication of how they are is by asking them to hum the Grange Hill theme tune, and see whether they do the version from the 1970s/80s, or the 1990's/00's
Camera by : Runderground Matt / runderground
Recorded in 4K. Check your settings for highest playback quality!
Thanks to Andrew for the 1967 photo at Roding Valley : www.flickr.com...
My website: www.geofftech.....
Twitter at / geofftech

[@rnj117]

I assume those 4 steps are still the equivalent of 15 floors though?

[@yuls_minki]

I guess

[@lisakaz35]

I was going to say that!

[@dennisfitzpatrick5175]

It goes up to the platform, it only goes up those 4 steps so wheelchair users can then go along the passage where they can get another lift up to the platform. Bit misleading commentary

[@BomberFletch31]

TfL should put that sign up as a joke!

[@bm6563]

😅👍

[@nutsnproud6932]

Geoff - in 1979, myself and two friends (all aged 11) once went to Grange Hill station and spent hours looking for Grange Hill school. We ended up getting a really friendly driver to take us to the depot and he showed us around some of it before getting us put back on a train home. Epic day. We wrote to the BBC and we got autographs from Tucker, Benny and Alan.

[@EssJayBee]

Flippin' 'eck!

[@rjjcms1]

That's jolly nice of all of them.

[@Thornaby37]

The three iconic characters of the early series

[@millomweb]

Dare I say it nowadays - did Jimmy fix it for them ?

[@stationguru8496]

bro how u guys bout to act like u over 50 when ur probably 12-14

[@ianbailey4667]

Can't be Grange Hill without a flying sausage

[@raakone]

I don't get it

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

Proper job Geoff. I really find it interesting as a Yankee all these different lines that have callbacks to the old days but yet modern equipment still runs on them!

[@OneKnifeYeHand]

You have those in NYC too. Quite a few subway lines in NYC started out as railroads. And there's also SIR, which is technically still a railroad, but it's operated with subway cars and a subway-style service.

[@NathanSimpsonnathanisbeast]

Every time I think of Grange Hill, The station actually appears in my head along with the 1978 BBC TV series

[@ghc3155]

It’s like I’m watching Londonist again

[@tjwookie]

Excellent use of the Grange Hill sausage and fork....

[@willingshelf]

Please, if you’re gonna keep with this series, make the ruislip branch and the uxbridge branch. Would make me happier to see that you’re still making these

[@michaelorton6947]

Ruislip is on the way to Uxbridge so that could be one long item. Ruislip is an interesting station though. It looks like it once had an avoiding line, or somthing like that. Must be a story there!

[@willingshelf]

@@michaelorton6947 i meant the west ruislip brancj

[@trueriver1950]

... and why they never offered trains from Uxbridge / Rayners Lane to central London taking a short cut via the Central Line. The lines cross in one or two places and there is at least one place where there is already a "curve" linking them that is used for empty stock moves. That diversion would save journey times from Uxbridge into central London.

[@inkyscrolls5193]

1:36 "As the shuttle is every twenty minutes, if you've just missed the train you've got a bit of a wait." Me, a Northerner, with four hours between trains: *wut* Edit: Also, having checked the figures, the idea that even the last used station on the Underground could have 190,000 passengers per year, even during Covid, is astounding - the least used station on my line had just 400 passengers in 2020.

[@PCDelorian]

Have to agree with you there, went down to London a few months back and was amazed at how even a bad day for the Tube is far better than a good day using Northern.

[@TestGearJunkie.]

@@PCDelorian UP to London; in railway parlance, London is always 'up' whatever direction you're coming from.

[@jonty2020]

Excellent video. Good to see you wearing a red shirt to match the line's colour.

[@rhodrage]

Love how you consider 20 minutes a bit of a wait. I'd love to live somewhere where that's a long time.

[@yuls_minki]

Come to the Northern Line. Trains come every 1-4mins and I once considered 6 mins a long time

[@andison627]

In Hong Kong if a bus service is only operating every 30 minutes or more (like 45, 60 or more) it's considered only a basic service, or even a candidate for cancellation if passenger figures are low enough. Coming to England and seeing buses that come up to every 2 hours on a certain route really tells me how spoiled Hong Kongers like myself are in terms of transport.

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

In San Francisco that felt like the usual wait time for anything if you were lucky!

[@Mikeb1001]

In the middle of the first covid lockdown Manchester Metrolink was reduced to a 20 minute service (we normally get 6-12 minutes depending on time of day)

[@SportyMabamba]

Victoria line in the Peak has a train every 90 seconds 🤯

[@davidsummer8631]

The Hainault Shuttle sounds like a dance craze from the very late 1970s which lasted only six months

[@stephensaines7100]

Hainault Shuffle performed by Epic Forest.

[@davidsummer8631]

@@stephensaines7100 Featuring Theydon Bois on guitar

[@andrewhotston983]

Theydon Bois, Theydon Bois, Laced up boots and corduroys... (Sham 69, of course)

[@JackMitchell404]

There is another impressive viaduct over Debden brook, just north of Debden Tube station. Grange Hill, Chigwell and Roding Valley are not just in Essex, they are in the Essex District of Epping Forest where they join the 5 Epping line stations Buckhurst Hill, Loughton, Debden, Theydon Bois and Epping to make up the district's 8 tube stations, down from the 11 it has until 1994 (it lost Blake Hall, North Weald and Ongar on 30/9/1994). The district has just one National Rail station at Roydon. It would be interesting to see a league table of non-Greater-London districts with the most tube stations, I imagine Epping Forest would be near the top (albeit below the City of London)

[@sgthree]

I believe Newbury Park had an identical station building to Chigwell before it was demolished to enable the widening of the Eastern Avenue, and the building of the famous bus shelter that has become such an iconic landmark.

[@CitytransportInfoplus]

Indeed so, and other more recent changes have seen Newbury Park become fully accessible between the street & platform, with one lift to each platform.

[@DeenLight744]

instead that Newbury Park has a bus shelter and Chigwell doesn't

[@sgthree]

@@DeenLight744 I am talking about before the bus shelter was built. The old station building faced Eastern Avenue, and was identical to the one found at Chigwell.

[@DeenLight744]

@@sgthree o

[@sanders2378]

Grange Hill was identical too, until it got blown up in the War.

[@tonypotts1644]

That was a trip down memory lane, I was born at Grange Hill. The line and the far end of the Hainault sidings were over our back fence. In the late fifties there was a steam crane, which 'fell' over and my dad when over to help rescue the driver. I remember when the shuttle was a very dark maroon with small windows and the motorcar had big louvered vents.

[@Thunderer0872]

Loved the Grange Hill sausage on a fork flying into shot just like the original series, nice touch that Geoff.

[@justinsamuels5516]

This is documentary standard, excellent, making such interest from that short piece of tube line most Londoners know nothing about!

[@brianjrichman]

Geoff, got lots to say about this loop. When I was a teen in the early 1970's I went to what was then Loughton College (actually in Debden) and is now called New City College. I chose to use the tube train to get me from Barkingside station around the loop to Woodford and then up to Debden and then back again in the evening. I had two very powerful reasons for going the long (aka, SLOWER) way round the loop and going to Leytonstone and then taking the Epping line was a lot quicker. First, the journey itself was charming, easy and not at all crowded. I was going against the direction of the commuters, after all, and secondly, I had girl friends who lived close to both Woodford and Loughton stations. Ah!!! the memories of ones youth. Thanks for this video.

[@geofftech2]

Great story Brian, thank you! made me smile ;-) The memories of youth indeed ......

[@everlonging3207]

It was Epping College before the new name. Was it called Loughton College in the past?

[@brianjrichman]

@@everlonging3207 Yes. "Loughton College of Further Education" is what it was called and then during a period of substantial rebuilding "Epping Forrest College" and now "New City College in Epping" (or something very close to that). I did my "A" level there.

[@MuzzaHukka]

@@everlonging3207 I thought it was Redbridge College

[@lynetteshaw8332]

@@geofftech2 ap

[@cgimovieman]

Geoff, I’m admittedly a very inept researcher, but I’m blown away by all of the detailed information in your videos. Both historical and current. What resources do you use to find all of this out?

[@mariogeis9558]

i guess him's a train writer. no resources @ all.

[@Callumlambizle]

Walked through that underpass hundreds of times… never once thought it was lovely 😂

[@TheoHiggins]

It's at it's most beautiful during rainy weather when it fills up, floods, and spreads the muck and grime into an even layer on the floor and splashes up the walls.

[@Callumlambizle]

@@TheoHiggins I prefer snow! Then you get this delightfully brown coloured sludge sticking to every surface.

[@TCOphox]

I swear to god I'm not a Londoner, or even a Briton at that. But I love watching British rail videos because it's so complex and has a rich history to them

[@Rorschach.]

Cheers, Geoff - from a vintage Grange Hill fan👌

[@gegamertv1239]

finaly! an update virsion to the secrets of the central line (but only the hainault suttle)

[@OofsTransportCringe]

2:30 Also at Grange Hill, if you exit the station, go left a bit and look through, you can see a siding. Sometimes, trains are stabled there when terminating at Grange Hill and heading to the depot.

[@mrjoneseastend]

You don't park a train, you 'stable' it. Regards, Mr Pedantic.

[@ASLEFshrugged]

There are actually two sidings behind Grange Hill, 70 and 71 Roads known as the "North Neck". Both are reversing sidings, trains do not stable there. Trains terminating at Hainault go through the "wash road" into the North Neck, drivers change ends and go into the depot. From Grange Hill you have to go up the "wash road", change ends, into the North Neck, change ends again and then into the depot. A few years a newly qualified driver stabled their train up the North Neck, walked all the way down to the North Cabin where the shunters told them to go back and bring it into the depot

[@rayfisher3921]

@@ASLEFshrugged Where is No 1 road?

[@ASLEFshrugged]

@@rayfisher3921 White City sidings

[@rayfisher3921]

@@ASLEFshrugged Thanks

[@namenamename390]

There is no way that this short lift in Hainault was the best option. Would a simple ramp not have counted as "fully accessible"?

[@clangerbasher]

It would need a ramp about 15 feet long. We need to mount an expedition to see if there is room!

[@highpath4776]

@@clangerbasher There is a similar lift at Victoria - main line - on the Elizabeth Bridge entrance near Sainsburys

[@normanstevens4924]

Four steps. Isn't that equivalent to a 15 storey building?

[@gymnasiast90]

It would have, but the incline cannot be too steep, so it would take up much more space. I guess that’s why they opted for a lift.

[@bingbong7316]

1 in 12 slope is the regulation limit; 4 steps in tight space probably busts that.

[@alexthomson8892]

Very interesting to see you visit chigwell station. One I use every day!

[@PhilSmith71]

Love the nod to the original Grange Hill series at 2:27 👍

[@lordmuntague]

Fun Fact: The original theme for Grange Hill is called Chicken Man, and was also used for the first series of Give Us A Clue on ITV.

[@dopiaza2006]

When he asks what type of stock it is on the overhead view, the cream coloured building just closer to the camera contains the training simulator. A fully fledged multi screen simulator in a cut down tube train running on Windows XP :)

[@TransportForLuka]

Great to see Geoff finally made a new secrets of video!

[@insignificantaftermathPROJECTS]

The way you say Shuttle reminds of the PA voice used by news anchors in the 80s and 90s.

[@matthew-Williams]

Flippin eck Geoff, loved the sausage on a fork at Grange Hill. You were lucky you were not caught by Mr Baxter.

[@sprint955st]

I never use the Hainault loop, and the Central Line just takes me to work. Still absolutely fascinating. Thanks.

[@SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

A few interesting things you could have mentioned...... like it used to be worked by 4 car units until the mid 1980s. That a 4 car 1967 stock was outbased at Hainault to work the branch alongside the 1960 stock. That the 1960 were the experimental Central Line Standard Stock replacement stock, and only consisted of Driving Motor cars as the plan was to re-use Standard stock trailer cars. And the 1960s stock that worked the shuttles did indeed have Standard stock trailers until they fell apart in the early 1980s. Their replacements were 1938 stock trailers and only one per unit as the 4 car sets became 3 car sets..... Of course the last of these to run was in unit 3906/07 on the Eppping-Ongar branch service. And that the branch was the same as the Victoria line, and was ATO worked although 8 car 1962 stock worked to & from Hainault Depot via Woodford. Plus Hailault train crew depot had a separate ATO roster for the shuttle service.... Such a short line but a massive amount of quirky & oddball things of interest surround it! Perhaps you caould make another film about such things?..... I recall you took notice of my comments on another video and made a film of the GWR Brentford branch......

[@alanlittle4589]

There's a footpath opposite Grange Hill.. Follow through and there's a footbridge halfway between Grange Hill and Chigwell... You could almost see both stations at once... Well not quite, but you can see the acceleration and deceleration for them. I grew up close by (Can't afford to live there now!) And have fond memories of standing there with my dog and waving at drivers and they'd often wave back and whistle... (Born in 80's, so remembering 92 stock whistle). I also remember listening to the whistle of the trains 'going to bed for the night' on summer evenings at Hainault.

[@paulsee8560]

I am a regular user of this end of the central line, getting on at Newbury Park ( fabulous bus station roof ) then travelling to Hainault down the steps ( more than 18 inches) then back up to wait for the shuttle. Never busy a great antidote to a busy working day, brilliant video thank you

[@CCB912]

I'd be happy to head there just to ride that lift... epic

[@mattjackson9859]

Hainault... a great inspiration to Crowded House - "Hainault, Hainault, don't dream it's over..." :-)

[@jezwilde2376]

With the Belgian pronounciation?

[@skithewhitestuff]

That took me back. I lived in Chigwell for eighteen years, traveling on the central line to get to work at Tower Hill. It was nice to see the old sights again. Thanks

[@smokeyeyes__]

My nan has limited mobility and we used to take trips up to london as a family from hainault, I have fond memories of that 18-inch lift 😂

[@GeorgeChoy]

Ah, the Roding Valley, a favorite of walking youtuber John Rodgers.

[@peterkingsbury8502]

A wonderful video- the most comprehensive I have seen on this little known part of the London Underground. I grew up in Hainault in the 1960s and recall the specially built trains commissioned to test automatic train operation (ATO). The 3/4 car units comprised purpose designed driving units sandwiching one or two trailers which by way of contrast were 'left overs' from the recently scrapped 1927 stock. This vintage stock had been replaced in the early 60s on the rest of the Central line by 1962 stock. The oldest and newest rolling stock in a short train! There was a secondary school on Manford Way at that time, 7 minutes walk from Grange Hill station called 'Grange High School' or something similar. This was renamed as Hainault High at a later date but although no more than 50 years old was demolished a decade or two ago and replaced by housing. I doubt if Phil Redmond was aware of the school when originating the TV programme in the 1980s but I recall the headteacher was a Mr Edmonds whose son Noel went on the achieve fame as a radio DJ and TV presenter. He opened the school summer fete one year accompanied by Alan 'Fluff' Freeman.

[@AaronD_]

nostalgia from secrets of the underground! woop

[@MattDavis_BeechingsGhosts]

The first Ongar train of the afternoon left Grange Hill as a 4-car 59/62 stock, straight out of the depot and into service at Grange Hill. At Woodford, it arrived from the north into platform 2, then departed back to the north so it could carry on through Buckhurst Hill to Ongar.

[@Lisbonized]

I remember this from being a signalman at both Epping and Hainault. It used to stable in Loughton between peaks too.

[@trainmaster67158]

THE GREAT RETURN OF THE SHOW

[@finlaylavery8408]

Gutted the first second of the Grange Hill theme tune didn't play when the tube train doors opened to reveal Grange Hill station...

[@ajpdaniels]

We did get the sausage though!

[@MrGreatplum]

Very enjoyable - remarkably quiet - I can see why they only need a shuttle, especially at the moment!

[@richardharrison6993]

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. 👍👍

[@gideon3648]

The flying sausage was a great touch.

[@benjya]

Grange Hill was made in Borehamwood (BBC Elstree) for a lot of its life... regularly saw the actors walking around our local streets.

[@CBeaumontHIGTFY]

Seeing as Grange Hill is always brought up: Alan Hawkshaw, who composed the Grange Hill theme, passed away fairly recently. Here he is with the Band performing the theme live (not my footage): kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKTbg3qtqbihbZY Alan also composed the famous Countdown Theme and Clock Music for Channel 4.

[@amandaslater4183]

Thanks Geoff I love learning about the history of the trains. 👍

[@almuric1baggins337]

How do you know you're watching a Geoff Marshall video? You've hit the like button before the video has started!

[@anianii]

Just last week I rewatched the Secrets of the underground series on Londonist. What a coincidence.

[@nicomonkeyboy]

🎶 Hainault, Hainault, don't dream it's over🎵

[@Quasihamster]

"This staircase has 4 steps." Americans: "This is equivalent to a 15-storey building."

[@bizmarsh4233]

Can't wait. Love his videos. Keep up the good work.

[@IamRobotMonkey]

Geoff Marshall - The only person who could describe an underpass as "lovely".

[@doctorbuck1]

Back in't 70's I was at West Hatch Tech about 3/4mile down the High Road from Chigwell Station. I lived in Loughton and my primary way of getting to school should of been bus, the 254 to Buckhurst Hill Station and change onto the 235 (both London Transport) direct to school door to door, easy. But no, I would walk just under a mile to Loughton Station, change at Woodford, wait for the four coaches to snake out of the siding whilst I read (looked at the pictures in) The Sun, get off at Chigwell and walk the rest. My mate used to beat me home by some margin on his bike which he took down Luxborough Lane under that viaduct and across the fields. That's two options quicker than the train, no wonder I didn't do well at school.

[@davidjewood]

Nice sausage on a fork reference. Grange Hill 👍🏻

[@flyingpanhandle]

"as a shuttle is every 20 mins, if you missed a train you've got a bit of a wait" Say's everything about the transport system in London and outside, we'd love just a 20minute wait between services!

[@idfitter]

Yes, 2 hours here

[@julianaylor4351]

The early 1960s was when London's modern boroughs were formed, sometimes they took parts of other counties like Essex. The London Borough of Havering is an example of that.

[@danielbliss1988]

That lift at Hainault is like a wheelchair lift in an apartment building that would otherwise not be wheelchair accessible!

[@chrismccartney8668]

Behind superb viaduct Fairlop Water. ex Raf Fairlop now a nature reserve and golf course it has station but that is on central line on viaduct but on Epping branch… You used to get a few Hainault via Woodford in evening rush but I have seen couple of Woodford via Hainault which is a very long and interesting run a few years ago I use South Woodford as local and clue to being ex Full size railway is most stations had a large coal yard till many years after tube use and that is what is now used for their car parks South Woodford being rather large. As a child (I’m 68) I can remember seeing steam tanks pulling coal wagons mixed in with tone trains as coal yard were active into 60’ and even when not fed by rail persisted as Coal Yards-fed by road for years afterwards till North Sea Gas and clean air act stopped use of coal..

[@dennisfitzpatrick5175]

The lake behind the viaduct is Luxborough Lane lake, Fairlop water is further round and there's no viaduct there

[@chrismccartney8668]

@@dennisfitzpatrick5175 I used enter fairlop waters by car from the Fairlop station end and walk the in summer when dry along the edge of the fence to the raised section of the line on an embankment with golf course on my left and beyond that was the main lake of Fairlop where windsurfers and dinghies sailed...

[@dennisfitzpatrick5175]

@@chrismccartney8668 yes, but the viaduct in the video is by Roding Valley, it's the Luxborough Lane lake

[@dennisfitzpatrick5175]

It's an embankment by fairlop

[@lewisdefarcher]

Geoff! I am gutted tohave missed you, I live very close to the station and am there most days!

[@mich8050]

Very surprised not to see Amersham in he top 10 least used stations. It's just as much 'middle of nowhere' as Chesham after all and certainly has far fewer trains per day than Ickenham, which is served by both Met and Pic trains.

[@pj100565]

But I guess that Amersham is also served by Chiltern Railways services.

[@sihollett]

Neither Amersham or Chesham are middle of nowhere (arguably Chesham is more urban) - it's just that they involve travelling through nowhere to get to. However Amersham is more useable than Chesham, with its 1000 space long stay car park right next to the station, rather than nowhere to park like Chesham and it's frequency being double Chesham's at peak times, ignoring Chiltern (whose 2 million annual passengers don't seem to be part of the 2.3 million annual tube users at Amersham) which just adds to the ability to not have to consult timetables but instead just turn up and go. Ickenham is quite close to other stations and so the walking (ignoring driving) catchment is less populated than Amersham's. The area around the station is also more middle-of-nowhere leafy suburbia than the Bucks towns and there's not a big traffic generator like a school either, unlike at Amersham.

[@eleanordukes-swyer7570]

I'm on a train, watching a man on a train talk about trains

[@johnstilljohn3181]

Really interesting, as usual. Here's an idea for a theme - stations where you can see straight through a tunnel. Start with Grange Hill and I'll add Riddlesdown...

[@DT-hg7te]

Hadley Wood?

[@Thornaby37]

I think it is possible to see all the way through Hampstead Heath tunnel from Finchley Road & Frognal station

[@johnmurrell3175]

From Canada Water (SB) you can see the platform at Rotherhithe through the tunnel - does that count ?

[@GarethHowell]

Wow, that brought back memories, Geoff. I was born and brought up right next to Hainault station. Our garden backed on to the Embankment on which the station is built. Moreover, I used the loop everyday from age 11 to 18 to get to school. I remember the test trains well, and the occasional 1938 stock red train that ran in the evening and at weekends. As a kid, we used to play in the depot. Probably shouldn't admit it (I reckon the statute of limitations protects me), but we used to shunt trains back and forward on the sidings :-)

[@jezwilde2376]

That's a pretty adventurous childhood!

[@Lisbonized]

Where did you get the 2 train keys needed to do this? Why didn’t the shunters or signalman not notice what you did? 🤔

[@GarethHowell]

@@Lisbonized We didn't seem to need them. We certainly didn't have any. I can't answer for those who should have seen us doing it. We were only ever on the sidings by moor (i.e. where Limes Farm was built in the late 60's) At the time (late 50's early 60's) it was open fields and we rarely saw anybody. If we did, they chased us off.

[@GarethHowell]

Thnking more about it. Maybe the older boys had some (I was 7-8)

[@Lisbonized]

@@GarethHowell it’s possible that the keys needed were left in situ. Highly possible that the shunters at least would have been asleep. 😂Depending on what sidings you were on, it may not have been indicated on the signalman’s diagram.

[@Thornaby37]

Absolutely brilliant video, full of amazing facts 👍

[@RogersRamblings]

The original automatic trains on the shuttle were four car units comprising a 1960 stock driving motor car at each end with two standard stock trailers between.

[@MsSandyBart]

Pls note that the lift you entered and mocked at Hainault station is there specifically to enable anyone with disabilities and young mums with prams . There are a few steps as you go through the gateline. Other than that fantastic x

[@neilburns8869]

The London Underground has become somewhat overgrown I think. Overflowing into the county of Essex, as shown by your video.

[@n1thmusic229]

6:39 it’s funny how Chorleywood 4 years ago was the least used station on the Met but now is firmly placed in 5th

[@martinevans7090]

6:22 - it's a bloody good Mornington Crescent move too!

[@Gwailo54]

Impossible if diagonals are prohibited. Any false move will put the player in nid which is not desirable unless the Orlovsky sub parallel Fairlop rule is invoked.

[@roll1e76]

that lift maybe shallow and pointless to many people and worth a little chuckle, but there are a lot of people that 4 steps may as well be 1000 and this is a very necessary bit of accessibility equipment.

[@wurlyone4685]

😂 the classic sausage Brilliant!

[@we177b]

Nice video, thanks. My first experience of the Underground was at Roding Valley station in 1975 at the age of 7 when we came down from Yorkshire for a week's holiday and stayed at a campsite nearby. I imagined the Underground to be some state-of-the-art futuristic transit thing but when the clapped out old Central line train came in to the platform I was a little bit disappointed...

[@ts051076]

Another great video Geoff

[@mtrmotrio3963]

Thank you Geoff for this great Video. I really enjoy these videos about the tube, like in the oldern times of your channel. I always have a smile on my face when a new one comes out, hopefully this will continue. Also the video frequency was really high in the last weeks, which makes me happy. (pls dont overwork). Looking forward for more videos of this kind, so thank you and greetings from Berlin.

[@alanmartin9207]

When my Dad was a boy he lived a stone's throw from Grange Hill - he was at home when the bomb struck the station. He'd walk home from Woodford along the tracks. Apparently getting caught in the tunnel when a train passed was the worst!

[@shawnz241]

Loved it!

[@LondonWalkbyLondonSocialite]

interesting 🦋🦋🦋 thanks for sharing 🦋🦋🦋

[@georgepitchley3946]

Geoff, you need to do a video on Hainault depot, did you know it was taken over by the US army during the Second World War for making army vehicles?

[@esoxhope8040]

"Camera by : Runderground Matt"... wow, sneaked that in!! Can you take him with you all the time?

[@asdfg169]

Shame you didn't cover the old entrance for Hainault station around the corner on Davids Way. Also isn't it the Fairlop Loop rather than the Hainault loop?

[@fumeze3]

The Grange Hill Sausage 😁😁

[@oscyk]

He's even wearing a red shirt. Brilliant.

[@westlondontransportwildlif5810]

Great video Geoff. As for those preserved trains in the depot at Hainult I would assume that they are 1962 stock that used to operate the Central Line

[@MervynPartin]

Nice one. I was lucky enough to get a cab ride in automatic days. Charming line but somewhat underused.

[@dennisfitzpatrick5175]

It is automatic

[@fuzzynutter8344]

Loved the sausage nod to Grange Hill. I was even expecting the intro theme when the train doors opened 😆.

[@FalandodeAmenidades]

I'm a subway train driver from Brazil and I just found out about your channel! Great videos! Greetings!

[@chrisprobert794]

The 'preserved units' at Hainault don't exactly look 'preserved'? 'Dumped?' 'Abandoned?'

[@christophernoble6810]

The old Great Eastern service lived on into BR days. After the Central Line service packed up for the night there was a service out of Liverpool Street which ran, so far as I can recall, to Epping.

[@hartstukken]

This is what i live for

[@simonf8370]

Great to see the flying sausage 😍😂

[@reptongeek]

I have to confess that despite being old enough to watch Grange Hill in the eighties, I actually prefer the second version of the theme tune, so I will be singing that and not the original one

[@sie4431]

It was much better even though it's a blatant rip off of the Cagney and Lacey theme

[@kaz7953]

I’m very happy to see this series again! Secrets of London Underground is my fav.

[@DKS225]

With the Hainault Loop being used as a test bed for ATO About Four sets of Cravens 1960 stock were equipped

[@euanduthie2333]

Also, I think the Hainault loop was also going to be part of the planned Chelsea-Hackney line, which would have taken the southern part of the loop, and the Wimbledon branch of the district and built another tube line crossing London. That plan was delayed and delayed, until they finally built crossrail instead.

[@davidbanks566]

I’m looking at a tube map that shows the proposed Chelsea-Hackney line. On this map the Central line would retain the entirety of the Hainault Loop to Woodford, while Leytonstone to Epping would become part of the Chelsea-Hackney line.