Earl’s Court etc.

An opportunity to visit a number of London Underground locations in the Earl’s Court area arose, so naturally I jumped at the chance.

On the platforms at Earl’s Court the historic departure boards have been restored and are back in use:

The subway connecting the station to the Exhibition Centre has been disused since the Exhibition Centre was closed and demolished, but we were able to walk along it and climb the escalators at the far end:

Our next objective was the top floor of the current western entrance to the station. This was added to the building in the 1960s:

Inside is (or was) the control room for the District and Piccadilly lines:

Almost all of the lines formerly controlled from here have moved on to more modern systems (4LM for the District and PICU for the Piccadilly) hence the signs marking them as out of use.

At the time of our visit one short length of the District line was still being controlled from here with one member of staff on duty. I believe that has since ceased and the place is officially closed.

Where next?

Ashfield House is TfL’s training centre where we had a good look round. Starting with a model railway used to train signallers:

Some nifty computer technology makes the trains run in accordance with the signals – There are different types of signal cabin equipment for the trainees to learn on. We had lots of fun trying to run a service, made difficult by a points failure at Hammersmith Bridge.

On a different floor of the complex is West Ashfield station which is used to teach station staff.

Just down the road from Ashfield House is Lillie Bridge depot, we went there next. Built in 1871 for the District Railway, it was later used for Piccadilly line trains, and then went on to become the depot for engineering trains. This work has now moved away and currently the sidings are used to stable District trains overnight. The depot is expected to close soon, so today was a good opportunity to have a look round.