I have a question about the waterloo & city line.

At waterloo ...you can walk in from the street and just go straight to
the platforms after going down a slope.

At bank, you can either go down the travelator or the sloped steps, to
the platforms, from the street.

But ...there doesnt seem to be any sort of booking hall before you get
there, or anywhere where one could have been.

So what I was wondering was whether when it was built over 100 years
ago, the line was free, or ...?

"A History of London Transport" says that the opening of the line was
delayed by the need to complete the "subsurface booking-hall" at City
(now Bank) station. I guess this means it was at the top of the long
sloping passage, even if there doesn't seem to be a place there now.

I can't find anything about ticket issuing at Waterloo. Given that
the line was mainly intended for passengers connecting from LSWR
services terminating there, who would be using through tickets, it
seems entirely possible to me that the relatively few W&C passengers
originating at Waterloo would have had to buy tickets at the main-
line booking office.

As to ticket checking, there could of course have been a barrier at
any point before the platforms. The main Waterloo station actually
had no barriers until 1910 -- passengers on incoming trains had their
tickets taken at the last stop *before* Waterloo, by staff working on
the platform. But I doubt that ticket collection on the platform would
have been practical for the W&C.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "UNIX ... the essential partner for
| eyespot or rynchosporium control in barley."

My text in this article is in the public domain.