Going up the pipe

[Nortube]

The true meaning of going up the pipe!

What looks like a large sewer is in fact the SB Northern line south of London Bridge. The location is the new step-plate junction created for the SB diversion of the Northern line. It's surprising how smooth the outside is when you're used to the tunnel segments inside. Trains continued to run through during the construction. The area around the tunnel was gradually dug away and the bottom of the tunnel supported in sections. From what I recall the tunnel segments were gradually removed at night and the line was only shut for a couple of weekends(?) when the final work was completed and the new diversion joined up with the existing track. Click on the picture to get a bigger version
Apologies for the quality of some of the photos, I could have done with some better lighting



         
1                                               2                                3

1 - south is to the right            2 + 3  Looking towards the narrower south end of the step plate

[Nortube]

Proboards only allows three attachments per post, hence the photos are in separate posts.

         
4                                5                                 6

4 + 5 Going under. Digging out under the existing tunnel
5 - the segments of the new diversion tunnel can just be seen to the left. This was probably the point where the old and new tunnels officially 'joined'
6 - looking south

[Nortube]

         
7                                               8                                               9

7 - A close-up showing how the 70 year old tunnel was supported while below the tunnel was being dug away.
8 - Looking south from the diversion side of the step-plate junction
9 - Looking north towards the station from the diversion side of the step-plate junction. The narrower new diversion tunnel can be seen in the distance. The temporary ventilation pipes at the top of the tunnels go off to the left to through a tunnel which eventually leads to the Jubilee / Northern line works access shaft.

[Ben]

Excellent pictures! They are an interesting comparison to the well known ones of the Pic diversion at Finsbury Park ~35 years beforehand.

Is the redundant stub of the old Southbound used for anything now?

[Nortube]

I'm not sure. There's certainly enough space in places like this if somebody really wanted to use them. At Angel, there was a large rectangular area that had the siding and NB tunnel at one end and the NB track and signal cabin at the other end. Somes, some rooms were added after the NB track was diverted. Further south, at the other end where the siding branched off part of the area was apparently used by PWay for training on the new aluminium conductor rails. There were certainly parts of aluminium rail down there.

At Liverpool St, the old tunnel that used to connect the sub surface line to Liverpool St main line has been used for various things, including an LT canteen where I used to pop in for a cheap meal if I was round that way.

[railtechnician]

I was on the London Bridge job with my team for a few nights diverting comms cables when the track had already been lifted in one platform and the digger was running up and down the tunnel, a bit of a dodgy site and the only job I was ever on where mining tags had to be worn in case we were buried alive, burned alive or otherwise dead and unidentifiable in the event of some catastrophe!

I also diverted cables on the Angel job through the step plate and on the Old Street tunnel relining where it was most odd to see light shining into the tunnel through the odd bolt hole in the segments until the night they started removing them to reveal the new tunnel bored around the existing.

Liverpool Street is well known to me too, I worked there on and off on many many projects from 1977 to 1993 or so, when I first worked there on signals the platforms on the H&C were still made of wood and covered in tarmac. I did cable diversions there in the 1970s, installed ticket hall 'X' ops room during the Broadgate development, was on the T/T recommissioning project after the substation was relocated, diversions for new escalators 7-9, the Crossrail survey in 1995, relocation of Central line PA rack twice, recovery of ticket hall 'A' comms, the Central line sumps and pumps installation, station-station and direct line telephones installation project to name but a few.

I'll never forget the old canteen in the QM tunnel, one of the first I ever used as I was based at Whitechapel. I used to get Mabel to serve me two egg teacakes or double bean royal, while a colleague would always ask for 'a crocodile sandwich and make it snappy'

Lots of memories from way back then!