Notes on photos by Mike Anton, 2025
With the limited plans and primary source info found to date, there must remain some speculation on my interpretations below.
001 View from Trafalgar St looking at SE corner of station
All the visible structures are likely to date from the 1882 extension.
002 Inside Cab Rd looking up tunnel
The 1874 1:500 OS map shows an open space here, so this arch is likely to date from the 1861 expansion work.
003 Inside Cab Road looking towards Trafalgar Street
Looking in the opposite direction you can clearly see the curved wall on the right. This is the original retaining wall for the station concourse plateau. The left hand (eastern) wall would have been constructed with the Cab Rd incline but must have been raised with the 1861 extension work.
004 Looking up the Cab Road
You can see the curved western wall on the left. The cobbled may be from the original surface. On the right blocked up windows suggest there would have been windows when the Cab Road was enclosed.
005 Cab Road arch over the Goods Tunnel
This shallow ring of 5 courses of bricks is much wider than the width of the Goods Tunnel below. The sudden narrowing of the Cab Rd and a 1925 plan suggest this section was constructed to provide a support for columns above. Contemporary plans would be required. to confirm this.
006 Looking up the final slope of the Cab Road
The final ramp after the turn is only 2.4m / 8ft wide. The recesses are also only 2.4m wide.
007 Low level of Goods Tunnel showing sleeper indentations
This image clearly shows sleeper positions through the centre of the tunnel. The tunnel is 6.6m / 21 ft wide and could have accommodated two lines but there is speculation as to whether this ever happened. An 1852 LBSCR report discussed the difficulties of moving trucks across the station and down the goods tunnel either manually or by horse.
008 Goods Tunnel wartime HVAC system
An undated plan describes this room as Air Conditioning Plant. The ducting fed to other rooms but the adjacent room has a separate duct going in the opposite direction. This might suggest it was a later addition.
009 Goods tunnel wartime telephone cabling
The two cables in the lower compartment appear to be two 100 pai r lead cables, which would have been ‘paper core’ requiring a constant air supply to keep the telephone cables dry. This is standard telephone technology from the era and is difficult to date but the size of the cabling does suggest a quite robust system was installed.
010 Entrance into Goods Tunnel area
Constructed as part of the 1882 expansion, the closest girders at the top would be from that era. The white walled building in the centre is a toilet block and is not shown on a 1938 drawing confirming this and the associated girders are all very late 1930s / SWW.
011 High level view of Trafalgar Arches
All the buildings in this view date from the 1882 expansion. There still lots of questions regarding their history and locating contemporary documents would greatly assist in telling their story.
012 Looking at the sealed exit of the Cab Road
This view shows where the Cab Road exit ramp emerged onto platform eight. It is now covered and used for storage.
Mike Anton worked as a volunteer researcher on the Underworld heritage project during 2024 and 2025.
