Aldwych
The main entrance to the station, could be considered a side entrance as it is located in the side street & not the main road. Although the main road has now become pedestrian only.
The main front entrance, gated up & access is only allowed under guided tours.
The main ticket hall, the station used a one way system back when it was operational which. These days the entrances & exits in stations are dynamically controlled basted on foot traffic.
Fire alarm panel located right next to the side entrance which is now used as the main entrance these days.
Stairway leading to the main stair shaft of the station.
The ticket office from the 1980s that was built to the style of the original decorations.
The original OTIS lifts that served the station right up until 1994. These lifts are the only ones of their type to have survived. All the others were scraped & upgraded.
The art deco ventilation grill above the lifts. The London Underground has always used the lift shafts as ventilation, even when the lifts were decommissioned in place of escalators.
Inside on of the old provisioned lift shafts that was never populated with any lifts. It just stayed as a massive void the whole stations life.
The station was positioned at an offshoot of the Piccadilly Line, the line terminated at Aldwych. I like to call the line The Piccawilly Line.
An add ball shaft that was to small to be a lift shaft, might have been planed to be a second stairwell at some point, but this did not come to pass.
At the bottom of the stairs in the lift lobby, looking down towards the once operational lift shafts.
Looking back at the lift lobby from the main tunnel to the platforms.
Stairs to the main platform that served passengers.
Hallway looking back towards the once operational side of the station with a security door back from when this station was used as a secure storage unit during WWII & WWI.
This side of the station was never used for passenger usage, but ended up finding alternate uses over its life time. One of these uses was secure storage for London's museums during the world wars. The other was as a test platform to test tile patterns or station layouts & architecture.
One of the test tile patternsÂ
The track, this track is quite unusual in the underground as it does not have the suicide pit that is in every other station on the network.
Looking down the station half that still has the track in place.
A photo of one of the old sign hinting at even in its early years the station was under used massively.
Another famous station platforms test tile layout. Can you guess which station, here's a clue, its on the same line.
One of the doors that leads out into the train tunnels. These particular tunnels are not used anymore & have not for decades.
The other side had the track covered as in the world wars London's museums stored their most valuable artifacts down here so they did not get obliterated during the blitz. Due to this the site had very high security while items were being stored here, to the point the guards were armed.
The end of the platform, now bricked off but you can see the red elevated crossing at the top of the picture. The ventilation leads to the tunnels beyond.
Some of the wall ripped back to the original segmented cast iron the whole London Underground is made of.
Some old advertisement posters.
An way out old sign, under it you can see some test tile work & the outline of some of the 70s Tottehhan mock setup.
More test tile patterns.
The forbidden door that leads to the rest of the Piccadilly Line network.
Tottenham Stations 70s styling was fist installed here for testing before being implemented after the style was decided on. The station is still used for this to this day.
Some stations still bare the 70s decorations & styling despite having a few upgrades added over the decades.
Looking up the stairs that lead to the once operational side of the station.
The passenger operational end. Only this side was ever used for actually transporting people. Due to Temple Station being next door with two directions to more useful places being available. This station kind of had no place so was barely used though the course of its life. However in death it did fine other uses. The other platform was used for testing different tile layouts & this side was used in a lot of films & shows.
Looking down the platform you can see only half of it was ever fully decorated, even back when it was in operation.
An old "modern intercom", ether 90s or 80s.
An mock sign of a different station, hinting at the stations use these days in film making. The Prodigy's Fire Starter was films down here, V For Vendetta was also filmed down here.
Looking down the platform you can see some more standard features in the London Underground. The station used to have a functional train, but it has since been taken & parted out to keep the ageing Piccadilly Line & Bakerloo Line trains operational as they are both late 60s stock & are the oldest trains currently operational on the Underground. There are plans to upgrade them this decade though.
Looking back at the tunnel into the rest of the network.
You can see a red light down the tunnel as the station is still technically operational, even though the station has no train any more. It could still run them.
Pictures of the stations at various decades of its operational life. You can see in the top right image the station is only half lit up. It was common for the underrated half to be fenced off & the lights on that side switched of. You can also see the green paint work fakes the brick behind the posters. This was for films.
Good old 70s fluorescent lights that are still in situation today. Quite a few of them were flickering & dim due to them starting to fail after god knows how meany decades of service. Also pointing to the neglect the station has seen.
Here you can see lights down the other tunnel that lead to the end of the line. Fun fact Tomb Raider 3 on the original PlayStation had a chapter where you were exploring this station. The layout however does not even closely match the real station.
A closer view looking down the lit up tunnel.
Looking over the elevated walkway, towards the testing & valuables storage platform. In the middle you can make out where the security gates use to be.
The lower gates of the once operational lift. Crazy to think you cool just look out into the darkness of the lift shafts back in the day.
Looking back down the tunnel that leads to the platforms.
Safety sign.
Main stairwell, one of the only ways to gain access to the platform these days.
Closer view of the lift "doors"
On the other side of the unused lift shaft but ventilation shaft you can see the unused lift lobby. This was never put into operation or decorated & thus has lay truly abandoned since it was built. That part of the station is also crumbling away making it a safety hazard for visitors, so we were never taken to that side.
Looking into the main entrance of the main high street.
Old London Underground map.
Really old school toilets, have not seen ones like this for a every long time.
The lift door mechanism, was entirely human operated.
Really old school urinals, don't see these much anymore.
An old lift bell.
The controls the lift operator would have used. As these lifts were installed before any kind of active electronics had been invented they required a lift operator to run. Funny how in 100 years of service they were never upgraded with even a relay logic based control system.
These lifts are no longer operational, although with some loving care could be put back online. However under the cars steel girders have be welded in place so there is no chance they will ever move again. This will at least stop them ever collapsing into the shaft due to any neglect.
The art style of the ceiling clashed with the more modern fluorescent light fittings.
The rear vent grill at the back of the lifts is far less fancy & intricate.
Another old Tube map.
From the one way exit looking back towards the lift shafts. The unused ones sit behind the wall the once operational one sits.