London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

John Rowland wrote:
If you know how many there are, finding most or all of them shouldn't be
that hard. I've found a few, and I wasn't particularly looking for them. I
think the only one which you would never find unless you knew it was there
would be the one inside the Greathead statue on a traffic island in the
middle of Cornhill.

I can think of a fair few which one wouldn't be able to find unless
you knew *exactly* where to look.

A few examples off the top of my head:-
1) Southampton Street
2) one in the middle of a plant depot in Bow
3) one in the middle of a council estate between Stratford and Leyton
4) Elephant & Castle Sidings (in the bowels of the shopping centre)
5) Cambridge Park
6) Bressenden Place
7) Grass Area 14

Et cetera...

And are we sure that the Greathead statue is actually atop a vent
shaft?


BRB Class 465.

London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as Adrian
gently breathed:

Would that it were that simple. The implication is that one can dial
222 1234 within a notional STD code of "0207" AND expect to be
connected. I have heard that there are a handful of exchanges within
London were that does work. However the standard is now eight digit
local numbers within London. Dialing eight digits within STD code
"020" will always work.

Why do people want to only dial part of the number? Why not just dial
the whole thing and be sure it will work from anywhere in the UK,
including mobiles?

Back in the days of electro-mechanical exchange switching and physical
connections number-shortening may have made sense, but surely by now
it's an anachronism?

Or is there a good reason for still doing it - I suppose it makes it
easier for a person with limited hand mobility to dial, though it won't
help them use a mobile or if they're in a different area.

--
- DJ Pyromancer, Black Sheep, Leeds. http://www.sheepish.net
Hard Rock, Leeds http://www.hard-rock.org.uk
Broadband, Dialup, Domains = http://www.wytches.net = The UK's Pagan ISP!
http://www.inkubus-sukkubus.co.uk http://www.revival.stormshadow.com

London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

Pyromancer wrote:
Upon the miasma of midnight, a darkling spirit identified as Adrian
gently breathed:

Would that it were that simple. The implication is that one can
dial 222 1234 within a notional STD code of "0207" AND expect to be
connected. I have heard that there are a handful of exchanges
within London were that does work. However the standard is now
eight digit local numbers within London. Dialing eight digits
within STD code "020" will always work.

Why do people want to only dial part of the number? Why not just
dial the whole thing and be sure it will work from anywhere in the
UK, including mobiles?

If I'm in London using a landline phone, why would I want to dial 11
digits when 8 would do?
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

Steve Fitzgerald wrote:

London never ever had 0207 or 0208 dialling codes. It's some myth put
about by the media every time they have a slow news day and they attempt
to provoke some outrage that Londoners will be confused by these 'new 0203
codes' or somesuch rubbish. London dialling codes went from 01 to 071/081
to 0171/0181 to 020. Nothing more, nothing less.

To be a bit fair the phone code change was not very well advertised in this
form. Rather in 1995 the big message was "it's 1 to remember" aka "phone
codes get an extra 1 added" and in about 2000 the message was more "numbers
beginning 0171 become 0207, 0181 become 0208" than "0171 & 0181 merge back
into a single district of 020 with numbers that used to have the 0171 prefix
now having a 7 added to the start and those with 0181 having an 8 added".

Now I realise the latter is not the easiest message to convey, and splitting
the reorganisation in two would have taken much longer and given everyone
another huge bill to rearrange their hoardings, letterheads etc... but was
any attempt made in the advertising to actually drive home the point that
all of London was becoming a single area? Everything I can recall was a much
simpler "this number becomes that number" or even "the area code changes
again".

London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

In message , Tim Roll-Pickering
writes

London never ever had 0207 or 0208 dialling codes. It's some myth put
about by the media every time they have a slow news day and they attempt
to provoke some outrage that Londoners will be confused by these 'new 0203
codes' or somesuch rubbish. London dialling codes went from 01 to 071/081
to 0171/0181 to 020. Nothing more, nothing less.

To be a bit fair the phone code change was not very well advertised in this
form. Rather in 1995 the big message was "it's 1 to remember" aka "phone
codes get an extra 1 added" and in about 2000 the message was more "numbers
beginning 0171 become 0207, 0181 become 0208" than "0171 & 0181 merge back
into a single district of 020 with numbers that used to have the 0171 prefix
now having a 7 added to the start and those with 0181 having an 8 added".

Now I realise the latter is not the easiest message to convey, and splitting
the reorganisation in two would have taken much longer and given everyone
another huge bill to rearrange their hoardings, letterheads etc... but was
any attempt made in the advertising to actually drive home the point that
all of London was becoming a single area? Everything I can recall was a much
simpler "this number becomes that number" or even "the area code changes
again".

I can't speak for the rest of the world, but I understood it perfectly
at the time and subsequently. I don't ever remember an official message
saying or implying that numbers went from 0171/0181 to 0207/0208.

The only thing that may potentially have confused things was that during
the changeover, there was a period towards the end of the 0171/0181 era
when you could use the new 020 dialling code, but because the numbers
hadn't been converted, the local portion was still 7 digits and you had
to dial the full number. This happened for a few months but was never
officially communicated. I only knew this at the time as I worked for a
company where my job involved dealing with telephone connections and I
had a lot of dealings with BT in those days.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

On Nov 14, 1:09 pm, Mizter T wrote:
Let me be a pedant back at you - there is such a number, the spacing
between the individual digits doesn't change the fact that if one
dialled it it would work - hence it is a valid telephone number.

Yes yes it isn't written in the 'approved' format, but thousands
(millions?) of Londoners do the same and manage just fine.

And many of them get very confused when I tell them my WC1 address and
020 3xxx xxxx number, because to them it's 'not a London number'...

London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

On Nov 14, 6:33 pm, contrex wrote:
On 14 Nov, 13:42, Rob wrote:

Hi

Does anyone know where I can find a comprehensive list of London
Underground ventilation shafts, used and disused? I went to a lecture
recently and they said there were 190 of them in total.

Thanks in advance

Rob Smith

If I were TFL I'd keep quiet about them. You might be a nutter or
terrorist for all we know.

I take your point, though I was just planning to walk some underground
routes overground, using the ventilation shafts as waymarks. Its sad
you cant pay an interest in transport matters these days without
arousing suspicion your a terrorist.

If I was a terrorist I wouldnt do my recce by ringing up TfL or
posting on the internet using my real name either.

Rob Smith

London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

On Nov 14, 8:12 pm, "John Rowland"
wrote:
Rob wrote:
Hi

Does anyone know where I can find a comprehensive list of London
Underground ventilation shafts, used and disused? I went to a lecture
recently and they said there were 190 of them in total.

If you know how many there are, finding most or all of them shouldn't be
that hard. I've found a few, and I wasn't particularly looking for them. I
think the only one which you would never find unless you knew it was there
would be the one inside the Greathead statue on a traffic island in the
middle of Cornhill.

Thanks John

So much has been written about London Underground infrastructure, Im
surprised no ones written a book or website that covers the subject.
Looks like Ill have to research it myself. The Greathead statue one is
interesting. Others Ive heard of -

Pavillion in Park Crescent
One in a building in Cloudsley Sq Islington
Opposite Warren St station
Half way down City Road

Ill keep looking

Thanks for your help

Rob

London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

Steve Fitzgerald wrote:

I can't speak for the rest of the world, but I understood it perfectly at
the time and subsequently.

Erm but your job "involved dealing with telephone connections" - maybe you
had reason to understand the logistics behind it.

I don't ever remember an official message saying or implying that numbers
went from 0171/0181 to 0207/0208.

I was out of London at the time and missed some of the actual BT adverts but
my recollection is that it was certainly summed up as "numbers beginning
this become that" in the media. But putting it the other way round - was the
remerger of the two areas highlighted much?

London Underground Ventilation Shafts
 

Rob wrote:

The Greathead statue one is
interesting. Others Ive heard of -

Pavillion in Park Crescent
One in a building in Cloudsley Sq Islington

Are you sure? I heard there was one in Gibson Sq, which is very close by.

Opposite Warren St station
Half way down City Road

....which is of course the closed City Road Station.

This is definitely one in Rotherhithe Street...
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...9214&encType=1

ISTR this being one, in Downtown Road...
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...2759&encType=1

And ISTR this being one near Culling Circus...
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...5807&encType=1

Definitely one in Netherton Road...
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...7938&encType=1

Two close together at London Bridge...
One aligned north-south (Northern line?)
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...2636&encType=1
One aligned northwest-southeast (Jubilee Line)
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...2636&encType=1
....although I can't think why fanshafts would have structures which indicate
the orientation of the line beneath.


This can't be a fanshaft, I wonder what it is?
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=...5313&encType=1

There are of course various holes in the roof of the Circle Line, such as
the one next to Great Portland Street station.

I'll keep an eye out for more fanshafts and email you when I find them.