h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Does anyone know more about the allegedly hidden underground stations that are apparently dotted all over London? I keep hearing stories and anecdotes about them, but nothing concrete.
Can any 'natives' help

No, there's definitely a lot of concrete down there.

And (deliberate gramatical error) they do exist. You just have to endure funny looks from people as you stare out the window into complete darkness, but you will find them. there's one on the District/Circle line, somewhere near Cannon St. or Mansion House, can't remember precisely. I'm not sure if it was ever a real station; it may just have been some sort of access point for workers, but it's got a platform.

One thing I do know though, the Royal Mail have their own line, which is not open to the public. And (there he goes again) there are miles of unused tunnels in some of the stations that are open.

There is a army base in Kent that has its own line and you can stand on a bridge and watch trains enter from oneside and never come out again.

I once saw a map of the Underground that had all the 'closed' stations still marked on. There's a few that opened in the late 19th century but have since closed for various reasons. They're still there, just unused. I wonder what state they're in. Some haven't been used for 120 years if I remember rightly.

There's definatly one at the strand near waterloo bridge. That's the only one I know for sure.
There are also miles of empty tunnels down there too. One such tunnel stretches from Elephant and castle to Camberwell. There was to be a tube station on camberwell green until it was realised that this is actually a vast burial ground for victims of the great plague.
Some large, empty, undergound buildings connected with the network exist too. Some people I used to know squatted some in Vauxhall and held a series of truly underground raves in them.
As for the post office network, you'd have to be a hobbit to travel on these. The trains are basically a series of cylinders carrying the mail which are blown (or sucked) through small tunnels by air pumps.
I've heard that the ministry of defence also have their own network beneath london. I should imagine that this is for the personal use of 007.
Of course the sewer system is very elaborate and extensive and most of it is really, really old. You wouldn't want to get to work that way. Most of Londons rivers which once flowed freely above ground are incorporated into this system.
Heaven knows what else is beneath our feet when we walk the dark streets of London. Somebody call Dr.Quatermass.

The tube station you are thinking of is Aldwych and it is used for swanky parties. Plus it is the only place film crews are allowed so if you see the Underground on the screen that is where it was filmed.

Good books to read on this are Underground by Tobias Hill and Barbara Vine's King Solomon's Carpet.

When did they close Aldwych then? Must have been in the last ten years.

And there definatly was a station called The Strand, seperate from Aldwych

Aldwych apparently closed in 1994, which incidentally is the earliest underground map I can find on the web.

There most certainly was a Strand station: it was on the Northern Line only and is now the Northern Line part of Charing Cross. It closed in 1973, supposedly for three years' refurbishment, but never reopened under that name. The previous Charing Cross became Embankment, Strand and Trafalgar Square (Bakerloo Line only) were linked and became Charing Cross (with me so far?) That's why it's a long walk from the Bakerloo to the Northern at Charing Cross - it's a newish tunnel between two separate stations.

You know what, this really is an interesting forum. Shame more people aren't getting in on it.

I once had a nasty déja vu experience in Waterloo Underground. Right down the far end of the station there's a ramp that leads down into the Underground station, an alternative to the escalators, I s'pose. Anyway, I wasn't born in London, and don't live in London, but I had a dream about this very place when I was four, in which they were digging the tunnels, building the station or something, and lots of people died.

Never been to London in my life at that age.

I don't even know if that entrance is still there since they built the Eurotunnel terminal, but Waterloo is a veritable labryinth of unused and/or spooky tunnels.

That may be because theres a more recent article:-http://www.h2g2.com/A48502 The ultimate guide to the London Underground