Ian Jelf wrote:
In message .com, John
B writes
Well, it closed because it wasn't very well-used and needed its lifts
replacing with ones that met modern safety standards at a cost of
£millions.

I'd qualify that by saying that Aldwych would have had much higher
loadings if services from it had gone somewhere more useful than just
Holborn (possibly even if train had continued North of Holborn as the
celebrated "Theatre Specials" did in the very earliest days of the
Piccadilly). If Aldwych station had been on an east-West line between
stations at Charing Cross and Ludgate Circus then it would have been a
much busier place, dealing with large numbers of commuters in the week
and taking much-needed pressure off Covent Garden.

As it was, the station was - as has been said elsewhere of very little
use. I always regret this as I seem to spend an inordinate amount of my
life going to and from the Aldwych / Strand area but seldom from
anywhere where the branch would ever have been useful and I suspect I'm
not alone.......

I occasionally have cause to go from the western Central line to the
area around Aldwych, but the frequency of the shuttle would have to be
pretty high to make it quicker than just walking from Holborn - the walk
is only a little over five minutes, so I'd need an average wait of less
than about 3-4 minutes along with a 1-2 minute journey time for it to be
tempting (and that excludes the time it would take to exit using the
lifts at Aldwych rather than the escalators at Holborn).

The branch seems to be at its most useful now - as a film set. It
probably gains far more revenue for LU in its current job than it ever
did as a passenger branch.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London