On 7 Dec 2006 10:21:34 -0800, "umpston" wrote:

alex_t wrote:
I wonder, is there any official way to see some closed stations like
Aldwych or destroyed ones like British Museum? (for the purpose of
non-commercial photographing by tube enthusiast ;-)

LT museum used to do occasional tours of Aldwych and Down St. but not
in recent years. Some say this is for 'security' reasons; others have
said it is due to Health & Safety considerations - these places are,
after all, dark dirty and dangerous. So I guess your options are
getting a track/tunnel maintenance job or hiring Aldwych station -
which is frequently used for filming.

The most interesting part of Aldwych station was not the bit you get
if you hire it for filming (since to be honest it just looks like any
other but maybe slightly dated tube platform, which is what filmmakers
want!). No, the other platform that was closed for decades, and the
tunnels to/from it, behind the lift shaft, were much more interesting,
as they were much more "frozen in time" than the more recently closed
parts. There's a few pictures on the sites you linked, showing some of
the areas where they tried out different station finishes, but they
don't really show the whole place. There are some tunnels at Aldwych
which never opened to the public because they just ran out of money,
so they were never fitted out; I think I remember they were had the
lining rings fitted but that was about it. No nice paint, or tiles, or
even lights, and just a barely level floor!

The sites make very little mention of the passageway to Temple, which
I know is there because we walked through it on the tour I did (LT
Museum, years ago), again it was in quite a state of disrepair.

It's a shame that H&S has effectively killed these tours. I would
happily sign a piece of paper to say I'd bear all cost of any injuries
I might suffer for the chance to do the tours again.