To mark 10 years of London Transport Museum’s Hidden London tours, they ran tours for visitors on a 1996 Stock Jubilee line train into the old overrun tunnels at Charing Cross on Thursday, 12 June 2025 [1][2].
The Jubilee line first opened with its terminus at Charing Cross in 1979 [3], with a new set of tunnels between Charing Cross and Baker Street, taking over the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line north of Baker Street, and was originally the first of four phases [4]. It was planned to be extended along Fleet Street, through the City of London to Fenchurch Street, and then out towards Lewisham. Shortly before the Jubilee line opened, plans for the extension changed again. After Fenchurch Street, the line would instead continue via the Isle of Dogs, Royal Docks and Woolwich Arsenal to Thamesmead. However, due to funding constraints, no progress was made on these plans.
Plans to extend the line were revived in the late 1980s, prompted by the development of the London Docklands and Canary Wharf. The developers of Canary Wharf, Olympia and York, originally proposed a dedicated railway, the Waterloo & Greenwich Railway [5], from Waterloo through London Bridge to Canary Wharf and then on to Westcombe Park and Greenwich. However, London Transport resisted this, preferring to wait for the results of more studies. One study, the East London Railway study, recommended the extension that we know today to Stratford, and it was approved in 1992 [3]. The extension opened in stages from May to December 1999 [6]. As the extension needed to go via Waterloo, the section to Charing Cross had to be abandoned, as the
The Jubilee line platforms at Charing Cross are still used by Jubilee line trains as sidings to reverse trains. Southbound trains reversing at Charing Cross need to terminate and go out of service at Green Park station before running empty to one of the Charing Cross platforms. The platforms are also used as a filming location, appearing in multiple films such as Skyfall and Thor: The Dark World [7]. The London Transport Museum has been running guided tours of the disused platforms, corridors and the concourse as part of its Hidden London programme, which has been running since June 2015.
The tour started at the ticket hall at Charing Cross station. We went down the escalators and walked through a door into the disused part of the station. We then had a few minutes at the platform level, where exhibits showcased Tube maps, artwork, and film scenes at Charing Cross. We then boarded a 1996 Stock Jubilee line train, where we had talks from different people on the history of the Jubilee line, its original planned extension and the history of Hidden London.
The train departed and proceeded slowly down the overrun tunnel until the buffer stops. Those in the front carriage could take photographs in the cab with the buffer stops in sight.
After a while, the driver walked to the other end of the train and returned us to Charing Cross, where we alighted and returned to the ticket hall.
It was a truly exceptional one-off experience, and it is impressive to see how much the Hidden London tours have grown over the past 10 years.
3 comments
Im old enough….. 😉
That’ll be £200 for 20 mins please, cash or card?
To mark 10 years of London Transport Museum’s Hidden London tours, they ran tours for visitors on a 1996 Stock Jubilee line train into the old overrun tunnels at Charing Cross on Thursday, 12 June 2025 [1][2].
The Jubilee line first opened with its terminus at Charing Cross in 1979 [3], with a new set of tunnels between Charing Cross and Baker Street, taking over the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line north of Baker Street, and was originally the first of four phases [4]. It was planned to be extended along Fleet Street, through the City of London to Fenchurch Street, and then out towards Lewisham. Shortly before the Jubilee line opened, plans for the extension changed again. After Fenchurch Street, the line would instead continue via the Isle of Dogs, Royal Docks and Woolwich Arsenal to Thamesmead. However, due to funding constraints, no progress was made on these plans.
Plans to extend the line were revived in the late 1980s, prompted by the development of the London Docklands and Canary Wharf. The developers of Canary Wharf, Olympia and York, originally proposed a dedicated railway, the Waterloo & Greenwich Railway [5], from Waterloo through London Bridge to Canary Wharf and then on to Westcombe Park and Greenwich. However, London Transport resisted this, preferring to wait for the results of more studies. One study, the East London Railway study, recommended the extension that we know today to Stratford, and it was approved in 1992 [3]. The extension opened in stages from May to December 1999 [6]. As the extension needed to go via Waterloo, the section to Charing Cross had to be abandoned, as the
The Jubilee line platforms at Charing Cross are still used by Jubilee line trains as sidings to reverse trains. Southbound trains reversing at Charing Cross need to terminate and go out of service at Green Park station before running empty to one of the Charing Cross platforms. The platforms are also used as a filming location, appearing in multiple films such as Skyfall and Thor: The Dark World [7]. The London Transport Museum has been running guided tours of the disused platforms, corridors and the concourse as part of its Hidden London programme, which has been running since June 2015.
The tour started at the ticket hall at Charing Cross station. We went down the escalators and walked through a door into the disused part of the station. We then had a few minutes at the platform level, where exhibits showcased Tube maps, artwork, and film scenes at Charing Cross. We then boarded a 1996 Stock Jubilee line train, where we had talks from different people on the history of the Jubilee line, its original planned extension and the history of Hidden London.
The train departed and proceeded slowly down the overrun tunnel until the buffer stops. Those in the front carriage could take photographs in the cab with the buffer stops in sight.
After a while, the driver walked to the other end of the train and returned us to Charing Cross, where we alighted and returned to the ticket hall.
It was a truly exceptional one-off experience, and it is impressive to see how much the Hidden London tours have grown over the past 10 years.
[1] https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/rare-chance-to-travel-into-the-jubilee-line-overrun-tunnels-80991/
[2] https://www.timeout.com/london/news/londoners-will-soon-get-a-rare-chance-to-go-into-disused-jubilee-line-tunnels-051325
[3] https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/jubilee-line
[4] https://tubehistory.uk/jubilee-line.php
[5] https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/diving-fleet-part-5-canary-wharf-years/
[6] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/529006.stm
[7] https://moviemaps.org/locations/249
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