The Winchester

‘Union St’ was an underground tram station constructed with the cut and cover techniques pioneered during the building of the District and Circle Lines. Union St served the now defunct Aldwych line, with a combination of electric and battery powered trains. The station was opened by King Edward in 1908 and closed just 31 years later; with the advent of the war it was decided to close the station and turn it into one of the many shelters that served during the blitz.*

Cross service interchange was offered by virtue of stairways to the street, as well as ladder access from the lobbies of several nearby prominent office buildings, notably Adelaide House. The station could cater for 600 passengers at any one time, and several tea rooms opened nearby to serve the waiting passengers.*

One of the problems with Union St is that it didn’t actually exist, it was a tram tunnel.

* [may be bullshit, but you’ll never know. Lap it up.]

We had put the night aside to meet with Zero and Site and have a pleasant meander around the Tyburn and Westbourne, but as we had rain all day, this was both inadvisable and inaccessible. We poked our heads down and the Westbourne was a torrent. The Tyburn was a steady stream, flowing maybe 2 foot higher than usual. As the cricketers say, rain stopped play.