Hidden London: the secrets of Charing Cross station

I have been travelling on the ‘Tube’, the London Underground, all my life. I’m pretty sure my first journey will have been made before I can remember, while still a baby. Certainly I can recall many journeys from my childhood. As a small child I was scared of the escalators, so my father always had to carry me; a fear I’ve long since left behind me, thankfully!

Walking through the Tube’s many passageways you often pass doors and grilles that are locked shut. Have you ever wondered what is behind them? I recently had a glimpse into this hidden world on a tour that took us into areas of Charing Cross station normally closed to the public. It will make a very different Monday Walk for Jo, I hope.

Jubilee line history

Our tour started as we passed through one of those usually locked doors and found ourselves at the top of some stationary escalators. This was once the access point to the Jubilee line platforms, which are no longer in use. After descending the escalators we gathered for a talk about the history of this part of the station and of the Jubilee line itself. I knew some of this history as I’m old enough to remember when the line was built in the late 1970s, but other parts were new to me.

Our guide explained how it was originally going to be called the Fleet line. Although initially it terminated here at Charing Cross, it was eventually planned to be extended to the City, following the line of Fleet Street. The first phase was due to open in 1977, the year of Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee, and the name was therefore changed to the Jubilee line in her honour. Our guide quipped that the then chairman of London Transport probably hoped to get a knighthood as a result but it seemed the Queen was so uninterested in the new line that she sent her son (then Prince, now King) Charles to open it! That only happened in 1979 as inevitably there were delays.

By the time they could afford the extension, in the 1990s, the financial sector had largely moved from the City to Canary Wharf so it was decided to change the original plan and extend in that direction. It made sense to route the extension via Westminster (according to our guide it was also thought that would encourage Parliament to vote in the funding!), so the line moved away from Charing Cross and the platforms were sealed off.

Disused platforms

We moved on to one of those platforms, where we learned that today they, and the old tunnels, are used for a variety of purposes. They can hold spare trains, for instance when major events at Wembley or the O2 necessitate temporary additional services. They are also used for testing possible new developments. The blister paving at the edge of the platforms that assists partially sighted travellers was first tested here, as were the raised platform sections that provide step-free access to trains. Recently the disused station was used for a military training exercise, but most famously it is used for filming. Films shot here include Paddington and Skyfall, while TV series include Spooks, Sherlock and Killing Eve. The advertising posters we saw were all fakes, put there to create the impression that this was still a working station.

Fake advertising posters on the disused platform

Shooting Skyfall

We were shown a series of clips from these films, including one from Skyfall where Daniel Craig as James Bond slides down the slope between the escalators down which we had accessed the old station. We also saw him running through dark construction tunnels and emerging into a working one. Our guide told us that over 400 cast and crew were involved in the scenes shot here, and they were shooting for four months to produce eight minutes of film!

Looking up at the nearby set of escalators we could see where the raised signs that would normally prevent sliding down had been removed for the film (I’ve highlighted the marks left by the removal of the signs on my righthand photo below).

Disused escalators with missing signs highlighted in righthand shot

We were let into the secret of the filming of that scene. Daniel Craig slid down not on his bottom but on a slim wheeled toboggan that wasn’t visible to the camera, and the sequence was speeded up to look more dramatic. I found a description of the shooting and photo showing the set up here: https://www.007.com/focus-week-skyfall-underground-chase/. You can also see the stage set where they filmed the sequences that couldn’t be shot in the station, including Craig leaping onto the back of a moving train, and a dramatic crash. I also found the complete Underground sequence on YouTube if you’re interested to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe0sPgwAhY0&t=231s.

Other uses of these platforms

On the parallel platform we saw one of the ‘trains’ used for works on the lines. This was a grinder, used to smooth out rough areas of the tracks to give a more comfortable and quieter ride. It can only be used at night when the service is closed, roughly between 1.00 and 5.00 AM, so there is only a small window in which to carry out the work. These abandoned lines make a convenient place to park equipment not currently in use.

Walking back up the stairs our guide pointed out more fake advertising there. A recent addition was a series of posters for Warburtons’ bread. The company had wanted to see how they looked in situ before proceeding to display them on the actual Tube system’s escalators.

Construction tunnel

The second area we were taken to was the actual construction tunnel used in filming Skyfall. It was built mainly using iron rings left over from the construction of the Victoria line, hence the 1960s dates we saw on them. The first part we entered, however, was lined with cheaper concrete slabs. This tunnel was used to remove the spoil dug from the station and Jubilee Line tunnels.

We walked the length of the tunnel which is about a kilometre long. It runs beneath Trafalgar Square and curves to go around the foundations of Nelson’s Column. At the end we reached a wall of concrete behind which is the shaft that was dug down from a pre-existing hole caused by a WW2 bomb. We were standing near the square’s Fourth Plinth; the shaft is now covered by the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery. 

When we emerged from this tunnel into one of the current passageways we were told this was where Daniel Craig also emerged in that scene from Skyfall, so of course several of us in the group had to pose in that entrance!

Ventilation tunnel and shaft

The third area we visited took us to a ventilation grille directly above Northern line trains, from which we could watch trains arriving and departing, and feel how the grille aided the flow of fresh air in the station. We saw passengers alighting on the platforms with no idea that we were peering down on them from above, which was rather cool!

Looking down at the Northern line trains

At the other end of this tunnel we saw the ventilation shaft that provides that fresh air. It is roughly 60 metres (almost 200 feet) deep and has a diameter of about seven metres.

Looking up the ventilation shaft

When we finished the tour and were back at street level we tried to find the top of the shaft, which extends above the street almost as high as Nelson’s Column. We didn’t find it and I realised afterwards that we were looking in completely the wrong place!

I went back a few days later to look for it again. I’d pinpointed it on Google Street View, in Craven Street just next to the mainline station. Knowing now what to look for I found it easily, but it’s not surprising we didn’t spot it the first time as it’s cleverly designed to look like part of the adjoining building.

Ventilation shaft at street level, Craven Street

This tour is one of several offered by the London Transport Museum. I can highly recommend it if you want to see a part of London that few people get to see. Note please that I’m not receiving any reward for my recommendation.