The Story of a Station — Oxford Circus

THE STORY OF A STATION - OXFORD CIRCUS

INTRODUCTION

When the engineers rebuilding Oxford Circus of unfortunate delays in the opening of the Baker station as part of the Victoria Line project unex- Street and Waterloo Railway. Reconstruction be- pectedly struck tunnel iron they were rightly per- fore a station even opens may not be unique, but plexed. Next to the Bakerloo Line platforms, it it is certainly very unusual. In this instance the appeared to be a disused passenger subway leading evidence remained buried for six decades. sharply downwards, but where to? It was not It is too easy to take today’s Oxford Circus shown on any of the engineering drawings com- station for granted until a minor upset causes piled from recent surveys and a compendium of some inconvenience. The following attempts to early station plans. chart the development of the station since its ear- These engineers could not have realised that liest days, and in particular shows how a large they were in many ways carrying on a tradition Underground station has actually evolved piece- started by their colleagues almost exactly 60 years meal in that time, with hardly a moment when earlier when they, too, were rebuilding Oxford some sort of significant development is going on Circus station. The significance of the earlier occa- there. Perhaps it will bring home that stations, sion was that the station had not yet opened but like people, have a life of their own. the engineers were dealing as expeditiously as pos- sible with what was the latest in a long sequence

THE VICINITY

The name Oxford Street must be known mediately to the south of Oxford Street, the other throughout much of the world as one of London’s road being called King (now Kingley) Street. chief shopping streets, though this fame extends Argyll Street, which was the next street to the back little more than a century. As its title sug- east of Swallow Street, was connected to Oxford gests, Oxford Street acquired its name through Street via a narrow passage about 70 feet long. being part of the former major route between the Argyll Street ran south for about two hundred cities of London and Oxford. However the road is yards before turning to the left to join Great of at least Roman origin, and prior to the pre- Marlborough Street. The northern end of Swallow dominance of the Oxford route formed part of the Street formed the boundary between the parishes main thoroughfare to the West from London via of St James’s (east side) and St Georges (west side). Newgate, Tyburn, Brentford and Staines. The Oxford Street was the northern boundary of both road was commonly known as Tyburn Lane until these parishes, separating them from St Maryle- the eighteenth century. Authorities vary as to the bone. Opposite Swallow Street, on the north side exact name at about this time, the names Tyburn of Oxford Street, subsequent construction pro- Lane, Oxford Road and Oxford Street being used duced a block of buildings bounded by Princes without apparent discrimination. Miecklejohn’s Street, to the west, and Bolsover Street, to the “London, a Short History” (1898) quotes 1729 as east. The latter continued as Edward Street and the first occasion of the use of the name Oxford disappeared into the blocks of buildings rapidly Street. taking up all the available rind to the New Road The area to the West of the Charing Cross (now Marylebone Road). and Tottenham Court Roads was built up rapidly The northern side of Oxford Street in this vi- between about 1720 and 1750, largely on pasture cinity-and indeed much of the land to the north- land. The buildings erected along Oxford Street became part of the estate of Viscount Portland in were largely residential although many of these whose possession the land remains. East of Swal- were subsequently adapted to incorporate shops low Street and to the south of Oxford Street the on the ground floor level. land formerly belonged to the Mercers Company. The only noteworthy roads in the vicinity to Disputes with the monarchy resulted in the land run northwardsC was Tottenham Court Road and changing hands several times, until it was ob- Marylebone Lane. To the south there was a fairly tained by the Maddox family who in due course intense street patterno dividing the innumerable split it ; the portion on which the oldest part of residential blocks which lie between Oxford Street the station was built became part of the Pollen es- and Piccadilly. One pof the through routes was tate. John Kemble, second Duke of Argyll, came known as Swallow Street, this divided almost im- to occupy a house just off King Street in 1706 y and started to acquire many of the leases of nearby r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d properties up to Oxford Street, and in Argyll being officially denoted as “Regent Circus”. The Street, subsequently named after him. prestigious new artery significantly increased the Little changed until under the direction of the importance of the surrounding areas and many Prince Regent (later George IV) the architect John notable shops soon opened. The new businesses Nash created the spacious thoroughfare from Lan- were very successful. In turn, subsequent lease re- caster Place to the New Road, at the same time newals attracted increases in ground rents of the laying out Regent’s Park. The necessary Act of order of nine-fold and inevitably this became a Parliament was obtained in 1813, however short- significant factor in determining the future style of age of cash delayed completion in its entirety until business which would be conducted in the street 1840. The southern portion of the new route be- and its environs. came known as Regent Street. North of Piccadilly Not unsurprisingly, the existence of two loca- it comprised a broad new road on a graceful curve. tions called Regent Circus, both in the same road In due course it intercepted Swallow Street and and only a 10-minutes walk apart, proved ulti- absorbed the course of that road to a point just mately to be inconvenient, if not irksome. In the south of Oxford Street (leaving only a short natural way of things, a method of distinguishing stretch of Swallow Street running between Picca- between them gradually evolved. The exact proc- dilly and Regent Street). Regent Street diverted a ess will probably never be known, but “Wonderful little to the east of the former road to cross Oxford London” (1930) states that, “it was the bus con- Street and then absorbed Bolsover and Edward ductors who first used the present names,” thus Streets where the new route diverted to the west, the northern Circus became “Oxford Circus” and to form the new Langham Place, and then to the the southern one “Piccadilly Circus”. Official rec- north forming the impressive Portland Place. At ognition duly followed, apparently between 1873 the Piccadilly and Oxford Street intersections “cir- and 1889. cuses” were created as architectural niceties, both

A STATION FOR THE CENTRAL LONDON RAILWAY

The traffic using the ancient route from the and Oxford Street, with the longer side of the rec- City via Newgate, Holborn, St Giles Circus, Ox- tangle running along Argyll Street. ford Street and Bayswater Road to Shepherd’s The former restricted access to Argyll Street Bush increased at a phenomenal rate as London had been widened many years previously but the expanded outwards. Traffic was at least to a small demolition required for the new station allowed extent ameliorated by the construction of the Met- for further minor improvement. Existing property ropolitan and District railways “Inner Circle” un- on the site comprised 237 and 239 Oxford Street, derground railway, which ran parallel. However which were respectively Henry White and Sons, the apparent engineering breakthrough of deep booksellers and Willox and Co, chemists. In Ar- level tube electric railways-exemplified by the City gyll Street properties were numbers 15 and 16, and South London Railway (CSLR)-suggested new which contained a multiplicity of minor busi- solutions, and the Central London Railway bill of nesses. 1890 was one of numerous further such schemes. Sub-contractor for the Oxford Circus section The advantage of tube lines was the reduction of of line was Walter Scott and Co, to whom work inconvenience during construction as streets did was let early in 1896. Possession of the station site not need digging up, a matter which would have had been obtained by the time of the June 1896 made new sub-surface construction along a route half yearly report and by the end of that year con- like Oxford Street quite impracticable. siderable progress had been made with shafts and Nevertheless opposition to the Bill came from some tunnelling had been started. At 80 feet, the many quarters and it duly failed. The line was to platform tunnels were fairly deep below street have run from Queens Road to the City, and join level. Access was to be by four lifts (occupying two up with the CSLR at King William Street. How- shafts) and a separate stairway shaft. An 1896 ever the company persisted and after meeting plan (illustrated) shows the proposed platform and many of the objections the royal assent was given passageway layout and the proposed one-way pas- on 5th AugustC 1891, the terminals having been senger flow. This one-way system also appears to adjusted to Shepherd’s Bush in the west and Bank have included the stairway shaft with separate up in the east. Thirteen stations were to be con- and down flights-intertwined in the same shaft-are structed, one of whicho was at Oxford Circus. The indicated. However some modifications-all within Oxford Circus station site was to be situated at the the limits of deviation-were clearly made and an northwest corner of thep junction of Argyll Street inspection of the now disused stairway shaft indi- y cates that a single and not intertwined stairway r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d was installed-though with two access points at the nally charged-the tickets were collected and can- lower level. celled en route to the lifts. The first year’s traffic The station opened on 30th July 1900, at the amounted to one million passengers. same time as the rest of the line. The platforms Not long after the station opened an elaborate were about 325 feet long (enough for six carriages) four-storey red-brick building by Delissa Joseph and were built on a “hump” above ambient tunnel was erected above the station which came to ac- level, to assist braking of approaching and accel- commodate the head offices of the Central London eration of departing trains. All station finishings Railway, provision for access to the superstructure were in glazed white tiling and gave a bright ap- having been incorporated in the design of the sta- pearance with the electric lighting installed. tion when built. Although much of the accommo- The surface station (by Harry Measures) was dation in this building was subsequently finished in brown unglazed terracotta in a style commercially let, the head offices of the Central common to the other stations on the line. Al- Line retained their presence in this building until though a single storey building, provision was 1979 when it removed to Baker Street (though made for subsequent development above the London Underground retained some occupation structure. The entrance to the station was in Ox- subsequently). Various excrescences soon appeared ford Street and the exit-direct from the lifts-was to on the exterior of the building in the interests of Argyll Street. The four lifts were electrically oper- traffic promotion. In particular a glazed canopy ated, with equipment of American origin supplied was erected over the entrance and a huge “TUBE” by Sprague and installed at the bottom of the lift sign attached to the side of the superstructure shafts, in deep lift pits; the lift travel was quoted above the canopy. Neither feature contributed as 75 feet. A basement area directly beneath the much to the overall architectural merit of the ticket hall provided gents lavatory accommodation building, which included a stone cherub sur- and a mess room for the porters ; the ladies lava- mounting a pinnacle above the entrance-until, this tory was at ticket hall level. Three ticket windows too, got in the way of a London Transport “bull- were provided in the ticket office and service must seye” sign in 1952 and had to be removed. have been brisk with the twopenny flat fare origi-

A STATION FOR THE BAKERLOO RAILWAY

The Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (Bak- prove the building line on the other side of Argyll erloo) the was the next arrival at Oxford Circus, Street, but construction was not yet in sight). though setbacks had caused a thirteen year gesta- Five years elapsed before finances allowed a tion period following the passing of its enabling. start of work on the Bakerloo in August 1898. The Bakerloo followed a very much more recent However work commenced in a northwards direc- traffic artery than the Central London. Initially it tion from a shaft in the Thames and, later, from ran from Baker Street (Metropolitan Railway) sta- Baker Street southwards, so little happened at Ox- tion via Park Crescent, Portland Place, Regent ford Circus for a while longer. Street, Haymarket and Northumberland Avenue It is clear that at the latest by the end of 1899 before crossing the river to terminate at Waterloo the Bakerloo had opted in favour of the Argyll (later extended to Elephant and Castle). The Bak- Street site-a very small square plot on the western erloo scheme was first promoted in 1891 but the corner of that street and Oxford Street, and right enabling Act was not secured until 1893, receiv- opposite the Central London Railway station by ing the Royal assent on 28 March. The Oxford now under construction. The tiny site permitted Circus station authorisation was unusual in that the sinking of only two shafts, a single 34 ft shaft the limits of deviation allowed for two possible for the lifts and an 18 ft shaft for stairs. It was, station sites, one situated in Great Castle Street, to frankly, not a very convenient site either in size or the north-west of Oxford Circus, and the other in in relation to the proposed location of the plat- the vicinity of Argyll Street, just to the south-east forms (which were to be north of the Circus, under of the Oxford Circus quadrant. Section 46 of the Regent Street). However the protective clauses in- Act required that in the event of the Argyll Street serted into the Act to satisfy the vested interests of location beingC selected the station would require the Portland Estate made a station building on the to be set back to a new building line to allow the north side of Oxford Street an even more unattrac- width of the street to be made uniform, and im- tive venture. proving the accesso to Oxford Street (removing an The existing occupiers of the station site com- anomaly dating back some hundred and fifty years prised the premises in Oxford Street then num- ; one must bear in mindp the CLR had also to im- bered 241, 243, 245 and 247 which were, y respectively: a London & North Western Railway r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d booking and inquiry office; Everard and Co, to- schemes (these eventually opened as the Charing bacconist; Thomas Millard and Sons, opticians, Cross Euston and Hampstead Railway and the and Cooper, Cooper and Co Ltd, tea merchants. Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Rail- Number 17 Argyll Street, referred to as the ‘Pam- way). The necessary negotiations took several philion’ (which appears to have been some sort of months to complete but the London and Globe’s ale house) was also included. interests in the Bakerloo became vested in the It was a requirement of the 1893 Act that syndicate’s Metropolitan District Electric Traction plans of the of the station be submitted for ap- Company in March 1902, following which pro- proval to the London County Council, and ap- gress on the construction of the Bakerloo was proval was duly sought in a letter of 2nd February again vigorously pursued. A little later the trac- 1900. The LCC’s Building Act Committee noted tion company was renamed the Underground with satisfaction that the station was set back at Electric Railways Company of London Ltd (the an angle to permit the widening of Argyll Street. UERL), which survived until 1933. Nevertheless the plan was thrown out on the In April 1902 the directors were able to re- grounds that the space in the booking hall would port that the 18 foot shaft had been fully sunk be insufficient. The LCC and the company were and the passage connecting it with the up unable to reach agreement on the matter, which (southbound) tunnel had been built. At this time was then referred to arbitration (the LCC were the southbound station tunnels had not actually frequently at loggerheads with the tube railways been started, although by August 1902 it had about their stations, the LCC’s legal position in been completed. By March 1903 the 30 foot lift such matters being open to debate, and the rail- shaft and remaining lower passages were well ad- ways being disinclined to be over-cooperative). vanced and work was in progress on the Under these particular circumstances the Act northbound platforms, all of which work was required the President of the Institution of Civil largely complete by August 1903. Engineers, then Douglas Fox, to appoint an arbi- Various further problems now came to light. trator, and William Shelford M.I.C.E. was duly The Board of Trade was required to approve many appointed. His award was made on 13th June aspects of new railway schemes included amongst 1900 with suitable alterations to internal detail which was the design of underground railway sta- having been made (this was mainly confined to tions. This was a comparatively new requirement moving the ticket office-the exterior walls of the that had not been in force when the Bakerloo was station and the position of the shafts of being un- originally authorised, nevertheless the view was moveable). now taken that any new plans had to be submit- In March 1901 the directors of the Bakerloo ted. In the case of Oxford Circus there was intense stated that they had obtained possession of all the dislike of the low-level layout, which was felt to be property for the station and that the site was be- restrictive to passenger traffic and failed to meet ing cleared with preparations being made for sink- the Board of Trade’s latest minimum criteria, then ing one of shafts. No running tunnels had been under consideration. Restraint on their part had built in the area but good progress towards Ox- been exercised on the basis that the design had ford Circus was being made from both the north originally been authorised by parliament ; never- and the south. However at the end of 1900 the theless the company was left in no doubt that the London and Globe Finance Company which was layout (then under construction) was considered financing the Bakerloo, and with which it shared objectionable. directors, failed as a result of a scandal. Work was To the Bakerloo’s credit the arrangements immediately stopped on the northern portion of were reviewed ; as a result the Company decided the line to save money but work was pursued as a to build a new passage (P8) to minimise the con- more relaxed pace on the southern portion until flicting flows. Apart from the construction of the May 1901 when activities were reduced to little new passage there was the filling in and making more than a token gesture. In consequence, the good of the connections with the original passage Directors reported in August 1901 that progress (P6), leaving, as the only evidence of the previous at Oxford Circus have been confined to underpin- scheme, a short level portion in an otherwise slop- ning property adjacent to the station, and pulling ing subway. down the lastC house on the site in preparation for Meanwhile, a difficulty had arisen at Street sinking the 18 ft shaft which, as yet, had not been level. In the light of experience on the other tube started. Neither had the running tunnels yet lines it was now desired to improve the level of the reached the stationo site. ventilation on the Bakerloo by the use of fans. The Bakerloo was saved by the intervention of This required a fan motor room at street level, an American syndicate,p which had already pur- which could not be accommodated within the lay- chased a controlling interesty in several tube out dictated by the Shelford award. Leslie W r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d Green had been appointed as company architect lands which might have permitted of a more con- and arranged to meet the LCC’s superintending venient arrangement”. architect on 15th December 1903 as a result of The work of erecting the station buildings which the street level layout was completely re- was started at the end of 1904 or early 1905 and vised, the opportunity being taken to remove was completed largely in accordance with the some of Shelford’s impractical proposals as well as plans agreed with the LCC in 1903. In common improving further the area for passengers, within with the other tube stations belonging to the the constraints of the site. By March 1904 the UERL syndicate the station building was steel company was therefore able to report that the sur- framed, two storeys high, and designed around a face site was available for reception of the station series of large arches the curved tops of which in- building but that a short lower level passage re- corporated the first floor windows. The building quired by the Board of Trade still required to be was clad in ruby-red glazed terracotta blocks sup- constructed. plied by Leeds Fireclay. Three lifts would be in- Whether or not any of the additional low- stalled in the single 30 feet shaft, each with a level passage was actually constructed is now not travel of 73 feet, but unlike the CLR lifts over the easy to establish, for even while preliminary work road the machine room was to be installed above must have been in progress a revised plan (dated the lifts, on the first floor level. The equipment December 1903) was forwarded to the Board of was to be supplied by the Otis Elevator Company. Trade at the end of January 1904. The object of Again the lift operator worked from within the the revision of was to replace what was now be- lift, but unlike the CLR lifts he was to be assisted coming a highly inconvenient passageway to the by having the exit gates operated by compressed northbound platform while taking into account air from a lever near his controls at the entrance. the Board of Trade’s objection to the previous ar- Like the CLR station the main entrance was in rangement. The replacement passageway would Oxford Street with the lifts disgorging their load bridge the running tunnels, rising and falling in a into Argyll Street. The only passenger facility pro- 1 in 12 slope whereas the earlier passageway dived vided at ticket hall level was the ticket office itself. underneath the tunnels, presumably to avoid in- Two stairways led to basement level, one to the terfering with the Regent Street sewer, which ran ladies lavatory the other to the stair shaft, gents just above the southbound running tunnel. The lavatory and staff accommodation. Little use was new passage had therefore to squeeze between the made of the basement area actually under the sta- sewer and the running tunnels, a delicate matter. tion building itself, the lavatory and staff rooms One result of substituting slopes for stairways was being installed in the vaulting beneath the pave- that the passage could not be brought to platform ments bequeathed by the earlier buildings on the level at the south headwall but had to run parallel site (those beneath Argyll Street-still there today- with the platform for about 80 feet until the con- reflecting the former building line). nection could be made where the two were at the The station opened on 10th March 1906, at same level. The earlier passage (largely con- the same time as the remainder of the Bakerloo structed) was completely abandoned and at least Railway. Traffic was slow to grow at first although partly filled in. It was the entrance to this long- it rose steadily after the twopenny flat fare system forgotten tunnel which the Victoria Line Engi- initially adopted was replaced with graduated neers encountered sixty years later. fares. The low-level finishings of the station was The resulting station layout-while perhaps similar in general layout to most other stations on better than that proposed-was unusual and the UERL, with a system of white and coloured unlikely to prove at all satisfactory for very long, tiles forming a repeating pattern along the plat- nor did it comply with the Board of Trade general form walls and with coloured tiled bands extend- requirements for a separate access to and exit from ing upwards over the ceiling vault, which (unlike each platform. The board’s Railway Inspectorate the CLR) was otherwise of a plaster finish. The sta- remarked: tion name was repeated in large lettering fired “We admit there is room for criticism of Ox- into the tilework at three places on each platform. ford Street station, but the site here was one of ex- A low level connection was formed with the Cen- ceptional difficulty, as the company had to tral London Railway that required the provision of encounter notC only the Central London Railway, a small interchange ticket office for people chang- which had to be crossed at right angles, but also ing lines, through fares were not initially available. large and important sewers of the LCC which af- An early plan indicates that one of the interchange fected the arrangementso of the passages between passages was for traffic to the Central London and the platforms and the lifts, and further, the com- one from that line. Whether or not the CLR had pany were hampered pby restrictive clauses in the there own interchange ticket office is not known. Act of Parliament preventingy them acquiring r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d

THE ADDITION OF ESCALATORS

There is no evidence to suggest that the Cen- at basement level. Towards the end of 1909 it was tral London Railway station, with its four lifts and clear that in terms of traffic levels the Bakerloo relatively short passageways to the platforms, was station was in real trouble ; bookings had ex- not the early years able to cope quite well with the ceeded 3 million (with another 21/2 million peo- prevailing traffic. This cannot be said of the Bak- ple exchanged with the Central London Railway). erloo station, where events developed rapidly. During the year the company attempted to obtain Instructions dated 1907, transcribed to the parliamentary powers to enlarge the station prem- following table, shows something of the way the ises but the Bill was withdrawn. Bakerloo station was then operating. However a salvation offered itself in the form of escalators. At this time none had been Time No of Ticket No of Lifts in Service tried on a railway system in Britain al- Office Win- though those installed elsewhere showed dows in Service some promise, and a pair of escalators Start until 7.30am 1 2 were in process of installation at Earls 7.30am-10am 1 3 Court station. In consequence, the Baker- 10am-12noon 1 2 loo sought powers (granted on 26th July 12noon-4pm 1 3 1910) to install a pair of escalators linking 4pm-5.30pm 2 2 (from 3.30pm) the existing station site to new low level 5.30pm-8pm 3 3 (from 5pm) subways which would provide a shorter, though not necessarily quicker, route to 8pm-9pm 2 2 the platforms compared with that from 9pm-10pm 1 2 the lower lift landings. 10pm-11.30 2 3 It would be helpful at this point to 11.30pm-Close 1 2 add that another Bill enacted on 26th July 1910 had the effect of amalgamating the The existence of the busy late night theatre Bakerloo Railway with the other two tube railways peak is pronounced. It was noted that with three owned by the Underground Group to form a new lifts a 50-second lift service should have been pos- company called the London Electric Railway sible. The two outer lifts were a little larger than Company (LER), which name will be used hereaf- the centre lift but the average capacity could have ter. The Memorandum distributed to shareholders been only about 66, which would give a total at the time specifically states: hourly flow of less than 5,000 passengers in the “In connection with the consolidation of the peak period-by modern day standards about six three Railways it is proposed to carry out much- well filled train loads. When traffic levels picked needed improvements by additional works at Ox- up congestion must have been serious, and sub- ford Circus, where the present accommodation is stantial use must also have been made of the inadequate for the large amount of local and emergency stairs. through traffic dealt with” Traffic must have been encouraged by the in- The work required was extensive and required troduction of through bookings between the Bak- careful planning, particularly in view of a number erloo and Central London Railways from of highly restrictive clauses in the Act making it Wednesday 18th December 1907. By agreement impossible to break up the surface of Oxford with the Underground Group and the independ- Street (beneath which the escalator shaft started) ent lines it was decided to adopt the word “Un- and confining the working site to the area of No. derground” as a common marketing term from 18 Argyll Street-the “Argyll Hotel”. In fact visual March 1908, including some joint publicity. Soon evidence suggests that the hotel site might not afterwards canopies appeared over the station en- have been used and that all construction was trances bearing the name “Underground” promi- achieved through the railway’s commercial unit on nently. the corner site and through hoardings erected in In MarchC 1909 a system of bells operated by Argyll Street next to the lift exits. approaching trains was introduced, the object be- Work started in November 1912 with the ing to try and connecto the inwards lift service at construction of a 110 ft long, 16 ft 4 in diameter quiet times with the train service both north and shaft from the basement of the station sloping south, the system was palso used at some other sta- down to a point 9 feet above platform level and tions. By this time cloakroom accommodation had 30 feet short of the platform headwall. The escala- also been made available toy passengers presumably tor shaft pierced the existing northbound subway r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d requiring an alternative route to be provided in down the lift installation until the escalators were advance for interchange traffic (P 13). To allow in operation, hence for a while it would be neces- connection to the lower escalator chamber subway sary to operate the station in the basement with a P 11 required reconstructing towards the southern quarter of the area obstructed by the lift shaft end to form, in effect, P 14. Three further pas- passing through, even more inconveniently this sages were added to introduce an element of one- was only a few feet from the ends of the escalators. way working. All this work must have been im- The Board of Trade noted that for a while the only mensely difficult under the prevailing traffic con- way out would be via a temporary passage emerg- ditions, and have required careful planning. ing in Argyll Street, and that some congestion was Part of the new low-level subway system ap- likely at the top the escalators during the busy pears to have been in use by June 1913 when the hours ; the contingency plan required both escala- advantages of the multi-opening passages in dis- tors to be used for ‘down’ traffic and the CLR lifts tributing their load along the platforms was ex- for the ‘up’-of course the ‘up’ escalator was not re- plained. Whilst this work was in progress the versible and would have had to be used as a rather Central London Railway became a part the Un- long fixed stairway. derground Group on 1st January 1913 although it Soon after the escalators opened the railway was not for another year that the interchange asked for Board of Trade approval to make this ticket offices were closed “as serving no useful temporary exit permanent, however Westminster purpose” and until April 1914 when both rail- City Council were understandably unhappy about ways’ ticket offices at Oxford Circus sold tickets a permanent exit partly in the existing carriage- for both railways. This latter move must have par- way and the LER made other plans. tially eased the difficulties of the LER (Bakerloo) The Bakerloo appears to have taken the for- station during rebuilding. mer access to the basement and the emergency The new escalators came into use on 9th May stairs out of use shortly before the escalators were 1914, at which date they were the longest in the introduced, at the same time diverting inwards world. Two machines were provided, one for as- traffic from the main station entrance to a tempo- cending traffic and one for descending, although rary one on the site of a shop entrance, this al- the latter could be operated in the ‘up’ direction if lowed the main entrance to receive a wide staircase the ‘up’ escalator failed. The machines were in- down to the basement to form a new way in, di- stalled by the Otis Elevator Company and later rect from Oxford Street. In the meantime the CLR became known as the ‘A’ type, operating at 90 ft station provided alternative lavatory accommoda- per minute. Unlike subsequent escalator types, the tion and emergency stair access. Once the lifts driving mechanism was not at the top extremity of were dismantled and the top portions of the shafts the machine but at a point near where the vertical demolished, and both old and new ticket hall ar- rise flattened out; the comparatively high rise at eas had been properly floored over, the permanent Oxford Circus required the drive shaft and drive stairway exit to Argyll Street and the ticket offices wheels to be duplicated some way down the ma- were installed and, apparently, completed in July chine, the two being connected together by shaft- 1914. ing. Since “comb” type escalator landings had not The former Argyll Street cellar vaulting was yet been introduced the passengers were required reinstated as staff accommodation while part of to step off the machines sideways, a manoeuvre the former shaft area became a ticket office, this encouraged by the opposite balustrade being an- time with five windows. Two new staircases led gled to pass over the treads and sweep (or shunt) from the ticket hall to an intermediate landing people off if they hadn’t quite got the message. from which a third stairway led up to the new exit Since the nominal ‘down’ escalator was reversible in Argyll Street. Beneath the intermediate landing both machines required shunt type ends at the top a cloakroom was provided. Of course, all this freed landing whereas only the ‘down’ machine had a up valuable space at ground floor level, and the shunt end at the lower landing, the ‘up’ machine entire area not used for the entrance and exit stairs being end loading. The escalators sloped at the was then commercially let. The former emergency curious and as yet unsatisfactorily explained angle stairs were re-instated but were terminated at sub of 26° 23’ 16½”, as with other A type machines; basement level; new stairs and passages connected the balustradingC was all of a heavy wooden panel- them with the new ticket hall near the top of the ling. escalators. The temporary exit in Argyll Street was Since, of necessity, the escalators terminated removed and the roadway made good. at station basemento level it followed that proper Admirable as the works may have been the ire passenger access was required between street and of the LCC was raised when the Underground basement, the older narrowp stairs were quite un- company sent them details of a fire escape from suitable. However it wasy not possible to close the new office block over the LER station. The r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d plans showed part of the Underground station and was conceded that the new arrangements were in some eagle eye noticed that it now bore no rela- fact, better, and the LCC contented themselves tion to the plans authorised in 1903 and that they with telling Underground not to overlook them in had not been consulted about any change. Strong future. protest was made but after some sabre rattling it

MODERNISING THE CENTRAL LONDON STATION

When the Central London Railway was ac- hall, but would encroach into the basement of the quired by the Underground Group in 1913 its op- CLR station, receiving new entrances from that erating practices were soon made to converge with building. From the area beneath Oxford Street a LER practice. While this new approach did not 100 ft long, 17 ft diameter, escalator shaft would specifically affect Oxford Circus, the heavily be driven down to point immediately above the loaded station did benefit from a few of the new westbound platform tunnel, where the lower esca- ideas. A feature which had particular impact was lator chamber would be formed. From here the the equipping of the Central London Railway lift passage would pass to a point above and between ‘exit’ doors with air engines. By implication, this the two platforms, from where stairs would lead indicates that lifts now became ‘cross-flow, with down to cross passages to provide an entrance and passengers leaving from the opposite side to that exit. A feature of the lower escalator landing was which they entered (instead of entering and leav- that the circular tunnel intersected the platform ing at the same end at each landing). In turn this tunnel on which it sat. This required the progres- would mean the passenger flows to and from the sive removal of a length of the upper tunnel seg- lower landing would have been reversed at the ments and their replacement by cross girdering same time (P1 and P3). upon which the equipment of the lower machine Although the CLR station had more or less chamber rested; the ceiling-now flat-being subse- coped with increasing traffic for 14 years the Un- quently made good. derground Group clearly felt that it had now The driving of the escalator shaft was con- reached its capacity and would benefit considera- ducted from a hoarding in Oxford Street and re- bly from the now proven benefits of escalators; quired the extensive diversion of gas, water, traffic at both stations in 1914 amounted to some electric and hydraulic mains. Another hoarding in 14 million passengers, and was continuing to Argyll Street enabled the construction of the grow rapidly. The site was nearly as difficult as ticket hall extension. The work was very delicate that at the LER station, but a scheme was soon and required introduction of a considerable quan- established in principle and authorised by the Cen- tity of supporting girder-work which would sup- tral London Railway Act 1914, receiving the port the streets above and carry the loads of the Royal assent on 8th July. Britain entered World station frontages in Argyll Street and allow the War One on 4th August. Clearly resources were demolition of the supporting walls in the base- now required for war work as the trains were run- ment. ning luxuries such as escalators had to wait. Nev- The new CLR escalators and part of the ex- ertheless traffic growth continued relentlessly and tended ticket call came into use to serve the Cen- 1919, the last year of the war, the annual passen- tral London Railway on 5th July 1925 using a ger usage increased to a phenomenal 36,614,000 temporary arrangement of entrances and exits in (it was the Combine’s third busiest station). the old LER station building. However, the Baker- Whilst this quite exceptional traffic level could loo Line escalators were taken out of use from the not last when peacetime conditions settled down, same date to allow extensive engineering work to the trend was nevertheless an upward one and the take place. Bakerloo traffic was therefore directed escalator project was revived as soon as possible. temporarily to the CLR station building and used During the 1920s a considerable amount of the lifts and interchange subways to get to the nearby redevelopment was threatened, with mod- Bakerloo platforms. The Bakerloo Line escalators ern high capacity offices and shops replacing most are believed to have been reinstated on Sunday of the 18th and 19th century property; this would 16th August 1925 from which date the CLR significantly increaseC peak hour traffic. (temporarily Bakerloo Line) lifts were withdrawn Work on the redeveloped station actually from service and all traffic used the new ticket started in October 1923. The scheme involved the hall. Work then proceeded on dismantling the lift construction of a obroad subway the width of Ar- equipment and part of the top of the northern gyll Street and extending out beneath Oxford shaft to allow the ticket hall expand into CLR sta- Street for about half itsp width. The subway would tion basement area, from which a new staircase to in effect be a huge enlargementy of the LER ticket r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d Oxford Street and two staircases to Argyll Street ford Circus) had had comb landings. One advan- were built. tage of this system was that whatever the nominal The two escalators were supplied by Way- direction of operation all machines were reversible. good-Otis and were of the “L-HD” type, which One of the disused lift shafts was adapted as part rose at 30 degrees to the horizontal. The early “L- of the ventilation scheme for the Central London HD” types had shunt type landings but in 1924 a platforms and a fan was installed. This followed a new installation at Clapham Common had been similar use of the former Bakerloo shaft into which equipped with comb-type landings (end loading a ventilation and “ozone air” plant had been in- and unloading at top and bottom), following stalled, which linked via the new ventilation pas- which all subsequent installations (including Ox- sage to both Bakerloo running tunnels.

EASING THE FLOWS

Apart from the major engineering works de- stand on the right. Some are in a hurry, don’t im- scribed so far, numerous minor steps were taken to pede them”. The announcements were introduced try and improve the flow of passengers and pre- in 1921; like most innovations of this sort little vent congestion. Following the introduction of publicity attended its demise, so it is not known Bakerloo escalators in 1914 the main point of how long the announcements lasted-they probably congestion transferred itself to the Bakerloo Line didn’t survive the completion of the third escalator platform level; here conflict arose between those in 1928. leaving and entering the platforms when trains Further strain was put on the station by the arrived, a particularly bad problem on the gradual lengthening of trains to six cars, the im- northbound side. With this problem in mind a provements in the level of train service and the system used on New York’s Interborough Transit introduction of more modern air-doored stock by System was examined with some interest. It con- 1930 (replacing the last of the “gate stock” trains sisted of an elaborately organised arrangement of with their restricted, manually control gates situ- barriers along the length of the platforms, each ated only at the car ends). Great attention was one set parallel to, but several feet from, the plat- then given to reducing the station stop times to an form edge. Incoming passengers were directed to absolute minimum to keep the service on the wait behind the barriers while those disembarking move. Although the station coped, towards the from the trains had cleared out of the way of the end of the 1930s ever-increasing traffic levels were train’s gates (passing through a number of gaps in again causing difficulties, mainly because of con- the barrier opened up for the purpose). When the gestion caused by opposing flows. Trouble was way was clear the platform attendants slid numer- foreseen. A forthcoming programme of railway ous different set of bars out the way to allow wait- extensions was in the offing that affected both the ing passengers to stream through the gaps and on Central London and the Bakerloo Lines. Trains on to the waiting trains. the latter were to be extended to 7-cars and on the Board of Trade authority was sought in May former to 8-cars, and this would require all four 1917 for a very much less complicated arrange- platforms to be extended. Traffic was likely to in- ment, though based on a similar principle, to be crease appreciably as result. As part of the same erected on the northbound Bakerloo platform, as improvement scheme it was therefore decided to shown on plan?. Passengers were evidently kept offer partial relief to Oxford Circus by installing a behind the barrier until disembarking passengers pair of high-speed lifts in one of the disused Cen- were clear whereupon, presumably, there was a tral London Line shafts in an attempt to clear pas- mad dash for the train. The system must have had sengers from the lower station more quickly. some merit since it was extended to the Central The advent of War delayed inauguration of Line platforms in the following year. The method the new lift service until October 1942. The two was apparently superseded by a more overt system lifts were of the Wadsworth high-speed type with of queuing, also in 1918, but even this seems to a maximum speed of five hundred feet per minute have been short lived. (Queensway was the only other station to received Another ploy to speed up traffic was tried suc- lifts of this type). Installation was unusual. For a cessfully in FebruaryC 1924 by the simple expedi- start it comprised three landing levels, and at each ent of doubling the intensity of the lighting, it one only a single end of the lift was available for having been discovered the passengers’ rate of ingress and egress. Furthermore the installation progress appearedo to be proportional to the was primarily intended for traffic leaving the sta- amount of light. This followed a recorded message tion, though it could help ‘way in’ flows at certain played at passengers usingp the escalators requiring times. Only one of the original CLR lower landing them to “please keep moving.y If you must stand, levels could be used as the other had been appro- r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d priated for ventilation purposes. Another novel * Mode X - lift operates automatically be- feature was the provision of a motor generator set tween lower and street levels. [Useful for for each lift’s power supply; this was placed at clearing lower station quickly] lower landing level although the winding gear was * Mode Y - lift operates automatically be- located above the lifts in the building over the sta- tween lower and ticket hall levels. [Useful tion, now known as Western House (the original auxiliary way in when exiting traffic light] lift motors were below the lifts). A second landing was made at ticket hall level (65 ft above the bot- * Mode Z - lift operates automatically be- tom landing) by making a single entrance in the tween lower and street level, thence to ticket lift shaft, which emerged just off the ticket hall in hall level and returns to low-level. [Useful in the passage leading to the most southerly of the evening peak when both-way flows heavy]. exits to Argyll Street. The top landing was 10 feet In automatic working landing stops were higher up, discharging passengers directly into timed and visual and audible warnings were given Argyll Street. before the doors closed. Whenever the lift oper- Several combinations of lift operation were ated to street level in automatic operation a mem- available. The lifts could be operated manually ber of staff was required at street level to from within the cars to and from any level. An al- discourage anyone from getting in ; where the lift ternative form of manual control was available was used for passengers entering the station they from the bottom landing (to send a lift to ticket were picked up at ticket hall level. Normally, hall level) and from the ticket hall (to send a lift to however, the lifts were used only for outgoing pas- the lower level). A system of automatic operation sengers, the intention being to make it easier to was also available, and this allowed for three dif- clear the Central London platforms in the increas- ferent modes of operation: ingly congested traffic peaks.

THE QUESTION OF MAJOR RECONSTRUCTION

A report by the operating manager into future It may be asked why the problem was as bad traffic development and requirements of the Un- as it was. Regent Street and much of Oxford derground, dated August 1939, states that the Street had been largely rebuilt in the 1920s with reconstruction of Oxford Circus station ‘is becom- grander buildings of more storeys, so not only was ing a matter of some urgency’. It noted that it was the general traffic growth caused by the expansion the physical features of the alignment of the pre- of London a major factor but the expansion of sent station, and the foundations of buildings such shopping and other office facilities locally caused as Peter Robinson and Liberty’s, and the necessity the Oxford Circus area to be much more of a focal to keep traffic moving during alterations, which point. The reduction of inner London housing ac- was putting great difficulties in the way of plan- centuated the one-way commuter flows, but Ox- ning alterations. Several schemes had been con- ford Circus station suffered from heavy evening templated but none of them was very satisfactory. traffic leaving the station for shows, shopping and Traffic at the station was near overwhelming eating out, and this conflicted with the commuters already and was likely to increase very much more trying to get home-a problem magnified on late when the extensions of the Bakerloo Line (to night shopping nights. The problem seemed so Stanmore) and Central Line (to Epping, Hainault intractable that the new Underground lines being and Ruislip) had been completed. At this time planned in the 1930s were forced to avoid Oxford traffic just entering the station annually was Circus to prevent matters being made even worse. 13,550,000, about one million more than that of In fact by planning routes close to adjacent sta- Piccadilly Circus, which had been comprehensively tions such as Tottenham Court Road and Bond rebuilt in 1928. It was noted with little comfort Street some peripheral relief might have resulted that Oxford Circus ranked as the eleventh busiest at Oxford Circus itself, but it was perverse that the station in the world (total traffic including inter- complexity of providing relief at the station itself change was 35,300,000). The report baldly stated: seemed to defy any rational. One might have ‘Oxford Circus is a medley of tortuous subways thought that new tube routes through Oxford and inadequateC ticket concourses founded by Circus would have helped matters, but at that competitive companies 30 years ago at a time time the main constraint was the awkward station when no one was able to visualise the present site itself. growth of Londono or the part which the Under- The Second World War resulted in some ground would have top play in its movement’. So temporary stagnation, but afterwards passenger there we have it. y traffic shot up to peak in about 1950. Some facts r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d and figures are available from 1951-52 and give Stationmen/women 14 some idea of the traffic being dealt with. TOTAL 45

ANNUAL STATION USAGE 1951 TICKET MACHINES Journeys originating and ending Fare denomination Number 28,000,000 Daily Usage Interchanging 12,000,000 2d 5 3352 TOTAL 40,000,000 31/2d 5 3008 5d 5 4525 TRAFFIC MOVEMENT EVENING AVERAGE 7d 4 2061 (Originating) November 1952 81/2d 2 317 5.0-5.15 3696 10d 1 141 5.15-5.30 3591 TOTAL 22 13,404 5.30-5.45 5157 5.45-6.00 3401 BREAKDOWN OF BOOKINGS 6.0-6.15 3077 Ticket Office 53 per cent TOTAL 18,922 Automatic Machines 40 per cent Portable Ticket Machine 7 per cent NUMBER OF TRAINS HANDLED 5.30-6.0pm MONDAY-FRIDAYS CLOAKROOM Bakerloo NB 17 trains 139 cars Daily Deposits 300 items (av) Bakerloo SB 15 trains 105 cars Central EB 16 trains 125 cars Two matters perhaps require some explana- Central WB 16 trains 120 cars tion. The term ‘station control’ is used to describe TOTAL 64 trains 489 cars the deliberate restriction of incoming passengers to prevent dangerous congestion within the sta- FACILITIES AVAILABLE tion. At Oxford Circus the idea would have been Escalators 3 to/from Bakerloo to balance those coming in with those being taken 2 to/from Central away by the trains. Any delay to the train service Lifts 2 operating 8.0 am until 4.0 pm (however minor) could result in the station, in ef- for way out only fect, being closed until it was safe to admit more STATION CONTROL (Restriction on inwards passengers. The second point to note concerns traffic exercised by LT Police 5.0pm to 6.0pm) ticket issuing. Great weight was placed upon the Bakerloo entrance 1 constable use of the automatic ticket machines and by the Central entrance 1 constable early ‘fifties the number of passimeters (booth Argyll Street entrance 1 constable ticket offices) had dwindled from the bank shown Ticket Hall 1 Sergeant and in photo X to just a single office with two win- 1 constable pa- dows. This rearrangement is understood to have trolling taken place around the period 1939 to 1942. However, a man was employed with a ‘TIM’ type STAFF ESTABLISHMENT (not including police) portable machine to sell the more straightforward Senior Station Master 1 tickets to those in the queues-the tickets were Station Master 2 similar to those issued from blank rolls on certain Chief Booking Clerks 1 buses; amazingly this method (involving just one Senior Booking Clerks 2 man) managed to dispense 7 per cent of all tickets Booking Clerks 5 sold. And it was in this fashion that this very im- Station Foremen 2 portant central London station, whose need for Cloakroom Attendants 2 reconstruction was urgent at the dawn of the Sec- Portable Ticket Machine Operator 1 ond World War, struggled on for nearly a quarter Ticket Collectors 15 of a century longer.

C

THE VICTORIA LINE o Pre-war plans for the proposed south to Tottenham Court Road though modified later to north-east tube routep studiously avoided Oxford pass north through Bond Street. The scheme sub- Circus, the route initiallyy passing north through sequently became the proposed “Route 8” of the r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d Railway (London Plan) Committee’s report of ticket hall beneath the Circus, new accesses to the 1946 (which still wanted Bond Street in spite of platforms and complete segregation of ‘way in’ many other alignment modifications). The first and ‘way out’ traffic. Nine new escalators were to proposal for utilising Oxford Circus was an- be provided, with retention of the existing five, nounced in the report of the London Plan Work- which would be updated. A completely new sys- ing Party of 1949, in which the modified route 8 tem of one-way interchange subways between the became the new Route C. Bakerloo/Victoria Lines and the Central Line were The Committee observed that with the re- also to be built. The lifts would be withdrawn. vised routeing through Oxford Circus a heavier The problem was to knit all this into the existing traffic on Route C could be expected (especially subterranean network whilst keeping the over- outside the peaks). It was noted that ‘satisfactory worked station in complete operation throughout; cross-platform interchange at Oxford Circus with added complications were the requirements to the Bakerloo Line can be provided, but only if the avoid upsetting traffic in Oxford Street and Re- new route is worked with a standard size tube gent Street or of causing too many problems to stock, since available space at Oxford Circus is re- the local traders and property owners. stricted’ (this follows an earlier proposal to use The low-level works had to be phased with main line size tube trains in larger tunnels). It ap- great care with construction being executed from pears that by 1949 the engineers felt they could a worksite in Cavendish Square, from which now cope with the Underground obstacle course lengthy access tunnels had to be built. Two 15 ft at Oxford Circus. diameter shafts were sunk from the south side of A paper written about Route C in 1951 refers the square. One of these was 80 ft deep from to Oxford Circus as ‘probably one of the most im- which a 380 feet long 12 ft diameter heading was portant stations on the new Line’. After referring driven to the site of the northbound Victoria Line to the ‘difficulties’ in being able to handle the ex- station tunnel, from which point the station tun- isting traffic it is observed that it was obvious that nel drive commenced. The other shaft was a hun- the existing surface level entrances and basement dred feet deep from which a much longer heading level booking hall would be completely unable to was constructed which led to the site of the Victo- cope, with the result that much more extensive ria Line southbound tunnel. From this heading led rebuilding would be required here than at other a branch turning south to enable the construction stations on the new line. A tentative plan of the of the new Central Line interchange passageways. rebuilding proposals is shown as figure X, but be- In the main new passageways were built and ware of the heavy stylisation. opened in a way which allowed those they re- The fundamental principle adopted was the placed to be closed the next day. For the conven- provision of a complete new ticket hall beneath ience of readers these changes have been grouped the Circus to be used entirely for way in traffic, arbitrarily into 10 phases (A to J) for the purposes with separate new banks of escalators to all lines. of illustration in the accompanying diagrams, The existing escalators and station premises would which are largely self-explanatory. As each phase then be used entirely for way out traffic. On this of the reconstruction proceeded, the new passage- basis parliamentary powers were obtained in 1955 ways gradually eased the cramped and conflicting and in due course the route became known as the conditions. One of the more urgent objectives was Victoria Line. But nothing happened at Oxford to replace the Central to Bakerloo interchange Circus for several more years because finance for passage in the area of the former junction with the the new line was not forthcoming. Bakerloo Line lift landing (then used as the station The line was at last authorised by government masters office) since it was physically in the path on 20th August 1962, and since it was envisaged the southbound Victoria Line tunnel. In fact the the Oxford Circus station reconstruction was likely southbound line passes along the course of the to be the single most time-consuming task within former entrance passage and the running tunnel the whole Victoria Line project preliminary works was connected to the former stair shaft via the started almost immediately. The first task was to original cross passage for draught relief purposes. undertake a huge exploratory survey of the new In connection with the reconstruction of the station site to determine the location of all the station, ventilation arrangements were rearranged mains and servicesC of the statutory undertakings, and a new ventilation plant was built in the for- this could only be done by physically digging for mer Bakerloo lift shaft just below sub-basement them which meant that work had largely to be level. At the bottom of the same shaft (replacing done at night-it tooko six months. the old ventilation plant) a new substation was The fundamental principle of reconstruction constructed for the Bakerloo Line-this was com- was the same as that pconceived in 1951 although missioned on???, and was the first example of a much detail differed. In yessence this was a new r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d substation in such a shaft (a later example was at the circus this was on the western side of Regent Holborn). Street allowing the northeastern quadrant of the The most obvious example of the reconstruc- circus to be used as a working site. A full width tion was inevitably at street level. It had been de- four lane carriageway was provided for Oxford cided that the most practicable way for the work Street traffic, though in a westerly direction only. to proceed without complete traffic diversion North and eastbound traffic was diverted away would be for the whole of the new ticket hall area from the area. to be bridged, so that work could continue be- The result was a steel umbrella deck, 3 ft 6 neath. The bridge consisted of a massive steel deck inches above the original road surface; in being comprising 245 pieces of separate prefabricated completely self-supporting it relieved the existing steel work. The deck plates rested on a system of road of its load. Works then proceeded beneath in steel girders which in turn rested on 25 cylindrical diverting some of the mains services, and support- 3 ft diameter concrete foundations which were ing others from the decking. Included amongst sunk to a depth of between 43 and 73 feet during this work was the diversion of a major Oxford night-time occupation of the road, and temporar- Street water main and some telephone services ily obscured by the road surface. The cylindrical into a new service tunnel built beneath the station piles had to clear the sites of the main and secon- site with branches leading into Regent Street. The dary roof beams of the new ticket hall, the diver- Marylebone sewer (which also ran beneath Oxford sionary tunnels for telephone services and water Street) was diverted around the north side of the mains, the services which were not to be diverted ticket hall site partly through existing, but dis- and various low-level obstructions including sew- used, basement levels of buildings on the northern ers, escalators, connecting passages and of course quadrant of the circus. This done, it was then pos- the Bakerloo and Central Line running tunnels sible to excavate the new ticket hall area and esca- which crossed beneath the Circus. The piles were lator shafts. It became necessary to bring constructed with wide footings to minimise the considerable quantities of materials, including col- risk of overturning-some would have at least 30 umns, girders and concrete into the ticket hall feet exposed at the upper end during the later site. Much of this was done at night and involved stages of ticket hall construction. the temporary removal of certain deck sections to The steelwork was delivered to the main facilitate access. working site in Cavendish Square prior to the Au- To allow construction of the passageway con- gust bank holiday weekend 1963. On the morn- necting the old and new ticket hall sites it was in ing of Saturday 3rd August Westminster City and due course necessary for the umbrella deck to be Marylebone Borough Council staff removed bol- extended eastwards along Oxford Street. This lards and traffic lights from the circus, and hoard- happened during the August bank holiday week- ings were erected; traffic was diverted away from end of 1966. Oxford Street was closed just east- the circus at 1.30 pm. Work then started in erect- wards of the Circus from 2pm on Saturday 27th ing the huge decking structure. Two gangs fitted August when the ramp section outside the former the numbered pieces together to a carefully prede- Bakerloo station was removed. Work then pro- termined plan. Some of the existing road surfacing ceeded on the erection of a 100 ft long decking and curbs required removal first and special fit- extension-31 deck panels-on new girdering resting tings to receive the girderwork had to be attached on additional deck foundations. The original ramp to the uncovered piles. Once the main trusswork sections were then re-utilised at the end of the was in place the decking could be positioned, and new section, just east of the old CLR station. All when this was done the road surface at the ends of was ready for Oxford Street traffic by 06.30 the the 1 in 15 ramps at each end had to be built up- following Tuesday. The ramp extension caused the the decking pieces were already pre-laid with one north end of Argyll Street to be closed to vehicular and a half inches of road surfacing material. All traffic, an arrangement which became permanent. this was finished by 12.15 pm on Monday 5th As all the excavation work proceeded, the August. Numerous other tasks now presented load of the umbrella deck was gradually trans- themselves, ranging from installing appropriate ferred from the temporary piles to new supports signing and road markings, general cleaning up which rested on the completed sections of the new and making Cgood the road surface which would ticket hall roof steelwork; the temporary piles require to be serviceable for some years. At 06.30 were then demolished to leave the ticket hall area on Tuesday morning the traffic diversions were clear. When the roof steelwork was complete the removed and vehicleso were permitted use what permanent roof concrete (and road surface founda- became known as the Oxford Circus ‘umbrella’. A tion) was gradually installed and the umbrella 2-lane carriageway wasp provided along Regent deck load was again transferred, this time from Street in the southbound ydirection only; north of the roof steelwork to the new road surface founda- r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d tion, which was a nominal 4 inches below final branch from the worksite heading to the road level southbound platform site. From this point a pilot Having done its job for five and half years the tunnel was dug just below-but parallel to-the Pe- time came to remove the umbrella decking during ter Robinson foundations. Headings were then the Easter weekend of 1968. The area was closed made from the pilot tunnel beneath the founda- to road traffic at midnight at the start of Good tions to embrace the final area of the raft. A suc- Friday 12th April when work commenced on re- cession of narrow headings were then driven moving some 900 tons of steelwork with a further adjacent to each other beneath the cross headings 300 tons of asphalt. This was all completed the and beneath the foundations; these were filled following day, fully exposing the new road foun- with concrete into which a duct was formed for dation. It was intended to re-open the Circus from the reinforcing cables, which were inserted and 06.30 on the Tuesday morning, but the process of tensioned after what would become the raft had completing the new top surface was completed been completed. Below the raft area itself a weak sufficiently far ahead of schedule to allow traffic to concrete mix was inserted in the form of a “saddle” be resumed several hours earlier. in cross-section. When, in due course, the station The Southbound Victoria Line station tunnel tunnel was driven it passed through the base of presented some interesting challenges. The only this saddle against which the segments were sub- available location was immediately beneath the sequent expanded to take up the final load. On “Peter Robinson” store on the northeast corner of the subject of the Peter Robinson store it is worth the Circus. Many of the footings of the founda- mentioning that an area of the second basement tions of the building lay directly over the site of level was requisitioned for use as the access pas- the tunnel, though details were not precisely sage and upper escalator landing for the single es- known. Plans suggested that the footings were calator leading from the new intermediate about 12 ft square and carrying loads of up to 500 concourse level to the Central Line platforms. tons within a few feet of the proposed tunnel The final work to be executed before the new crown. It was clearly essential that tunnel con- ticket hall opened to the public consisted of con- struction avoided the possibility of settlement in structing the station entrances from the pavement these foundations, and this could not be guaran- in each quadrant of the circus, finishing the instal- teed with conventional tunnelling methods. It was lation of new escalators, and completing the archi- usual to fill up the void between the tunnel-iron tectural finishes in all the new passages and in the and the surrounding clay by injection of cement ticket hall. grouting, but the clay obviously remained unsup- The new ticket hall opened on Sunday 29th ported until the grouting had been injected and September 1968 and everyone (passengers in- had hardened, a method that would be unsatisfac- cluded) heaved a sigh of relief. Quite apart from tory in these circumstances. It was therefore de- the new facilities the complete separation of ‘way cided to use a special design of tunnel segment, in’ and ‘way out’ traffic produced immense bene- which could be expanded directly against the clay fits. Initially only two of the top flight of four new during construction, thus taking up pressure loads escalators were commissioned but even at this immediately. For several reasons, including that of stage the station snatched the record for the larg- absorbing the stresses while being jacked into est number of escalators at one station (12 of the place, the segments were fabricated from mild final 14) from Piccadilly Circus, which had 11. steel instead of cast-iron. Work then started to adapt the old ticket hall area As an additional precaution against settle- for its new role in life of serving ‘way out’ traffic ment it was also decided to construct a pre- only. The main ‘way out’ stairway leading from stressed concrete raft directly beneath Peter Rob- the top of the Bakerloo escalators up to a passage inson’s third basement level prior to driving the which led to Argyll Street was closed off and de- platform tunnel. This would further reduce the molished to make more room, the area at street risks of settlement during the time the tunnel face level becoming available for letting. The remain- was passing beneath and had the added advantage ing entrances were retained as exits. The lifts were of spreading the load from the isolated foundation removed, with their ticket hall entrance sealed off piles more evenly over the tunnel-in effect making and the area at street level floored over and let. the tunnel itselfC the foundation footing. The pre- The ticket office and all machines were removed stressing was required to reduce the chances of the and the area re-laid out with new barrier lines. raft shearing directly above the unsupported The existing lighting was replaced by fluorescent ground behind theo tunnel shield prior to the erec- lighting and all surfaces re-decorated in the Victo- tion of the segment pieces. ria Line style of two-tone grey tiling with stainless To enable the raftp be built a dedicated access steel trim. Two booths were provided for the col- heading had to be built, yitself forming a further lection of excess fares and the issue of excess fare r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d tickets, and six automatic barriers were provided latter Line opened but the money was not then for the collection or examination of the encoded available for more substantial modernisation; the tickets used at Victoria Line stations, although Central Line platforms were largely untouched they were not commissioned in time for the open- and retained their 1900 finish. Once the new ing of the line. Manual barriers were retained for ticket hall had relieved pressure on the old escala- the collection of conventional tickets. tors they were progressively rebuilt with modern The new ticket hall was equipped with a finishings and some new equipment, becoming ticket office directly opposite the bank of upper styled LHD-M. escalators, and a bank of automatic barriers each A concerted effort to modernise and refurbish side, the two banks starting adjacent to the ticket many busy Underground stations during the early office and curving round the ticket hall. At the 1980s took on board many former central London extremities-as far as possible from the ticket office- stations including the platforms at Oxford Circus. were situated manual barriers (the object of this These were resurfaced and the walls completely re- arrangement was to encourage ticket purchasers tiled with ‘biscuit’ coloured ceramic tiles which to use the automatic barriers in preference to the completely obliterated the former CLR ‘seen bet- manual ones). A large number of automatic ticket ter days’ atmosphere. The subways remained fin- machines and a note changer were also provided. ished in the Victoria Line style. When completed, The Victoria Line itself opened on 7 March work then started on modernising the Bakerloo 1969, following which traffic increased very rap- Line platforms in a manner similar to those on idly. The station rose to second in the league table Central Line (but with a snakes-and-ladders for passenger traffic entering and leaving the sta- theme)-the Victoria Line style finish having not tion, and first in the table of busiest stations when proved very satisfactory. The new Bakerloo Line interchange traffic was included. During 1971 finished incorporated patterned tiles based on a traffic entering and leaving amounted to some 31 “snakes and ladders” theme. million rising to a peak in 1980 of 49 million-78 During the Bakerloo modernisation several million when interchange was included. To handle cross-passages were temporarily boarded up for this traffic many new features were provides at the use by the contractors storing materials. During station. the evening of Friday 23rd November 1984 a fire A station operations room was the focal point broke out in one such passage adjacent to the for all station operations. Situated in the centre of northbound Victoria Line platform. The fire even- the ticket hall, but screened off from the public by tually ignited some inflammable material that a one-way mirror, the supervisory staff could see caused it to grow rapidly; flames soon emerged what was going on and communicate with other from grilles in the upper partition, where they staff. The latest communications equipment was lapped against the melamine panels suspended available, including closed circuit television sur- from the tunnel roof. In a relatively short time the veillance and zoned public address facilities. Direct whole of the tunnel roof was ablaze and a huge telephone lines were also provided to various key conflagration resulted with dense black smoke fill- points on station. Special emergency switches were ing many of the passageways and soon belching available to stop the automatic Victoria Line from the station entrances. All three lines were trains, to discharge traction current on Victoria shut down, though fortunately no lives were lost Line tracks, and to stop escalators. Passenger In- and there were no serious injuries. The Central formation points were also provided on Victoria Line resumed the following morning followed by Line platforms, also linked to the Operations the Bakerloo Line later in the day, though not Room. To provide more accommodation this room stopping at the station until 30th November. The was extended in 1982 further into the ticket hall Victoria Line platforms were so badly damaged area, darkened glass windows being used instead that the line was closed between Warren Street of one-way mirrors. At about same time a radiat- and Victoria until 17th December. One of the ing aerial cable was installed around station allow- problems had been that the tunnel crown had ing staff with portable radios to keep in constant been waterproofed with sheets of “cellactite” contact with the operations room. which was material incorporating asbestos on a Once the Victoria Line opened the station set- bitumen base. The bitumen had burnt fiercely in tled in to a stateC of relative stability, although the the fire releasing asbestos into the atmosphere, all automatic barriers were not a great success: the of which required the ceiling of the platforms and ‘way out’ barriers were replaced by manual barri- specialist clearance procedures before remedial ers in 1972 and ‘wayo in’ barriers were simplified in work could even be started. The northbound plat- operation. The Bakerloo Line platforms were re- form tunnel was stripped right back to the tunnel lighted and received pa finish of grey tiling to segments when the line reopened and the work of match the Victoria Line platformsy shortly after the installing new finishings started towards the end r ig h t - n o t to b e p r in te d of 1985, being finished in 1986. The new finish article can only deal with highlights. A busy rail- was closely based on the Victoria Line basis, way station handling hundreds of thousands of though metallic, rather than melamine, panels passengers a day is an eventful place and one full were used for the roof. of difficulties, incidents, crises and humour-all of This broadly brings the story of the station up which have to be dealt with all of which are part to date {as it was in 1989 - what has happened of the history. since}, although it must be appreciated that this

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