The Kingsway Tramway Subway in London, 'Modern Tramway'again. ...

[rogerfarnworth]

The Modern Tramway and Light Railway Review of November 1963 carried an article by C.S. Dunbar about the Kingsway Tramway Subway. It seemed an opportune moment to focus on the Subway as the southernmost portion of the tunnel was just about to open to motor traffic as the Strand Underpass.

 

An image in an earlier article about the last few years of London’s tram network prompted some response. .... So, having read his article, I thought that reproducing most of C.S. Dunbar’s article here might be of interest to others. …

 

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2023/08/28/the-kingsway-tram-subway-london/

 

Earlier articles about London's trams can be found here:

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/179740-the-modern-tramway-journal-in-the-mid-20th-century/?do=findComment&comment=5239453

Edited September 2, 2023 by rogerfarnworth

[Wickham Green too]

Worth a visit if you can : - 

31/1/23

[Bernard Lamb]

From around 1920.

 

[Mike_Walker]

Reminds me how Henry Crun and Minnie Banister got stuck down there in the Goons' Last Tram.  Bluebottle got "deaded", naturally.

[stewartingram]

24 minutes ago, Bernard Lamb said:

From around 1920.

 

Climbing out on the wrong line?

[BernardTPM]

Perhaps the conductor as he doesn't have any hands on the controls, standing against the bulkhead.

[Michael Hodgson]

49 minutes ago, stewartingram said:

Climbing out on the wrong line?

Not if it's in Southampton Row going to Aldwych.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Michael Hodgson

[John M Upton]

Presumably before the tunnel was either raised or lowered (not sure if they lifted the roof or lowered the floor) to accommodate double deck trams at some point.

 

Apparently there was a link corridor from the Holborn Tram Stop direct into the adjacent Underground Station but in all the times I passed through the Underground Station over the years, I could never work out where it came in.

[adanapress]

As Michael says, Kingsway going towards  Aldwych, and that ramp is still to be seen today still with trackI used it once and I do recall it was very noisy indeed, waiting on that i platform at the Holborn stop.  

 

[2750Papyrus]

I too can remember travelling through it once. Did we board a no 35 tram in Archway?

 

My Dad's old carpentry shop had a hand-cranked grinding wheel to sharpen chisels and planes, which could be used to create a sound like a tram accelerating.

 

[Wickham Green too]

1 hour ago, John M Upton said:

Presumably before the tunnel was either raised or lowered (not sure if they lifted the roof or lowered the floor) ...

Looks like they removed the arched roof and replaced it with straight beams to get the clearance

[John M Upton]

That ramp has featured in numerous film and television productions over the decades as a exit/entrance ramp to/from some subterranean bunker or MI5 car park!!

[Wickham Green too]

Not just the ramp ....

"The Union Street tube station features in the 2008 film, The Escapist, and was filmed in the disused tram tunnels under Holborn. A fake tube map was produced to go on the walls, suggesting that the tube station is on the Northern line between Borough and Elephant & Castle, close to the position of London’s real Union Street" - from https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/where-are-londons-fictional-tube-stations-22505/

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Wickham Green too
explanation

[KeithHC]

8 hours ago, Mike_Walker said:

Reminds me how Henry Crun and Minnie Banister got stuck down there in the Goons' Last Tram.  Bluebottle got "deaded", naturally.

Ah those lost words “Mine the………..” wasn’t it discovered by Ned Seagoon. At least it was not the dreaded “Batter pudding hurler of Bexhill.”

 

K