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The Northern Line was an amalgamation of two lines: the City & South London Railway, and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway. Both of the original companies had separate surface buildings at Euston as well as a third shared one in the mainline station. Both of the external station buildings were closed in 1914, leaving only the shared one in the mainline station in use. That the external ones had only opened in 1907 is testament to the waste that direct competition and a lack of a cohesive planning strategy can cause. However, they were built at the insistence of the LNWR in exchange for allowing the shared one to be built on its property (the rationale behind this is somewhat mystifying). The arrival of the Victoria line necessitated a significant remodelling of the station but unfortunately it now has one of the more confusing station layouts on the underground. |
SHARED FACILITIES
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An attempt at a diagram showing the two sets of Northern Line platforms in relation to the shared lifts. The numbers on the diagram show where the photos further down the page were taken from. The platform numbering is how it was before the Victoria Line was opened. To open the diagram in a new window, click here. |
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An in situ period poster dating from 1968, attempting to explain part of the works carried out at the station: - Platform 3, the northbound City branch, was diverted to provide a cross-platform interchange with the northbound platform of the new Victoria line. As the two City Branch platforms were of an island formation, the track bed serving the old platform 3 was filled in to create an extra wide City branch southbound platform (platform 4 in the diagram above - renamed platform 6 after the arrival of the Victoria Line) relieving the dangerous overcrowding that had been occurring on the small island platform (similar works have taken place at Angel and London Bridge). Cross-platform interchange with the Victoria Line's southbound platform was achieved by breaking through the wall next to the old platform 3 track area (it would appear from the poster, that the filling in of the old platform 3 and the making good of the new passageway holes in the tunnel lining next to it, was carried out in one weekend!). - The old ticket hall had served both branches of the Northern Line but the age and high failure rate of the lifts prompted a new ticket hall to be built with escalators that served the Charing Cross branch. This was ostensibly part of the works for the arrival of the new Victoria Line but such was its urgency, it was started before the approval for the new Victoria Line had been granted. Further escalators were added later to serve the City branch and Victoria Line platforms. (photo: 1979) |
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This poster pre-dates the one above it. The new ticket hall was already in service: the old one which once served both branches, is referred to as the City Branch one in this poster. (photo: 1979) |
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This poster pre-dates both the ones above. The passageway from the City Branch island platforms forked: the left fork was a direct level passageway to the Charing Cross branch platforms; the right fork led to the shared lifts. Another passage from the shared lifts looped round to serve the Charing Cross branch (so essentially the passageways formed a triangular shape with one point being the Charing Cross branch, one the City Branch, and the final one, the lifts). The connecting passage referred to here is thus the direct one between the two branches and not either of the ones going via the lifts. It was closed to allow access to the new escalator branch from platform 1 (Charing Cross branch) to be built. (photo: 2009) |
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All that remains of the shared surface level entrance is this concreted-in lift shaft. This is nowhere near the existing tube entrance in the current Euston mainline station concourse, it is located further north at the head of where platforms 2 & 3 are now. The platforms were lengthened during the rebuilding of Euston in the 1960s and the concourse was moved further south. (photo: 2009) |
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A more general view of the lift entrances: The passageway on the left hand side veers sharp left at the end (approximately a 130° turn) and led to the Charing Cross platforms. The passageway to the right leads to the other side of the lifts as well as a new ventilation tunnel built (post-closure) for the Victoria line (see bottom photo on this page). There is another passageway behind the camera's position that led to the City branch platforms. (photo: 2008) |
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In the photo above this one, the end of the passage on the left is where this shot was taken from, facing back toward the camera's position. This view shows the second lift shaft entrance, which is completely bricked up. (photo: 2009) |
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Nice of LUL to install clothes dryers for their staff. (photo: 2009) |
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Pre-closure poster still in situ in 2009. |
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The ventilation passage leading from the old lift shaft to the Victoria Line. (photo: 2008) |
