"Robin Mayes" wrote in message ...

BTW, have you ever been in an escalator machine room, do you really realise
how complicated and what a constrained place it is?

I was taken in to see the old 'wooden' escalators at Marylebone, anout
twenty years ago, by an engineer. I suspect hat it's not as easy to
get in today. They were very heavily engineered, I'd like to meet
anybody who could do a major overhaul on one of those in six weeks!

It used to be possible to see into the machine room at Kentish Town by
going down the emergency stairs, and looking in through a window in
the door, if the lights were on, I don't know if it still is. How on
Earth do they get the machinery into there?

Even longer ago I managed to get into the lift machine room at one of
the Elephant and Castle stations, the Northern Line one I think, when
the original Otis machines were still there. Great stuff, I like old
electrical equipment. It's a pity that with all the security and
health and safety these days it's much harder to get visits to
interesting places. Those Otis lifts weren't really designed with
health and safety in mind!