Between one and about five in the morning, the Underground system is closed and the current is switched off allowing an army of maintenance workers to patrol, check, fix and mend, to ensure that the next day’s services will be punctual and safe.
The unmistakeable frontage of the closed station in Kentish Town Road.
How spooky and atmospheric the labyrinth of tunnels, platforms, stairways, passages, sidings and shunting necks that make up the system must be when not in use. What lurks down there in the dark? Plenty of rats, for sure, but are there other entities, living and some perhaps deceased, that become active when the last passengers have been excluded for the night? Many stations have tunnels and passages that are sealed off from public use. What is behind those doors?
At least the active stations come back to life in the morning to serve the needs of the capital but there are many stations on the underground system that have lain dormant for many years. Among former stations with substantial remaining evidence at street level are Aldwych, York Road, South Kentish Town and Brompton Road. Just visible from passing trains are parts of such stations as St Mary’s (Whitechapel Road), York Road, British Museum and City Road. Passengers may catch glimpses of some abandoned stations as the train passes through them. At least two stations have ghostly associations, Aldwych and British Museum, whilst South Kentish Town is the subject of an atmospheric and creepy short story by Sir John Betjeman (1906–84).