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Oxford Circus is a London Underground station serving Oxford Circus at the junction of Regent Street and Oxford Street, with entrances on all four corners of the intersection. The station is an interchange between the Central, Victoria and Bakerloo lines.
The station was originally opened by the Central London Railway in 1900 and an interchange was provided with the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway when it opened in 1906. The original station buildings are each side of the junction of Oxford Street and Argyll Street. Access to the platforms was originally by separate sets of lifts, but the first sets of escalators were installed in 1914. More escalators were installed in 1923 and 1928, although the lifts continued to be used.
The current arrangement of the station dates from the reconstruction in the 1960s for the Victoria line. A new ticket hall was excavated beneath under the road junction using a temporary bridge structure called the umbrella spanning the works to keep the junction open. New escalators were provided for the Victoria line which was constructed to have a cross platform interchange with the Bakerloo line. The station is third busiest on the London Underground network with almost 73 million passengers entering and exiting the station in 2008. (Full article...)
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Sir Edgar Speyer, 1st Baronet (7 September 1862 – 16 February 1932) was an American-born financier and philanthropist. He became a British subject in 1892 and was chairman of Speyer Brothers, the British branch of his family's international finance house, and a partner in the German and American branches. He was chairman of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL, forerunner of the London Underground) from 1906 to 1915, a period during which the company opened three underground railway lines, electrified a fourth and took over two more.
Speyer was a supporter of the musical arts and a friend of several leading composers, including Edward Elgar, Richard Strauss and Claude Debussy. He was chairman of the Classical Music Society for ten years, and he largely funded the Promenade Concerts between 1902 and 1914. His non-musical charitable activities included being honorary treasurer of the fund for Captain Scott's Antarctic expedition. For his philanthropy he was made a baronet in 1906 and a Privy Counsellor in 1909.
After the start of the World War I, he became the subject of anti-German attacks in the Press. In 1915, Speyer offered to resign from the Privy Council and to relinquish his baronetcy, but the Prime Minister turned down the offer. He resigned as chairman of the UERL and went to the United States. In 1921, the British government investigated accusations that Speyer had traded with the enemy during the war, and had participated in other wartime conduct incompatible with his status as a British subject. Speyer denied the charges, but his naturalisation was revoked and he was struck off the list of members of the Privy Council. (Full article...)
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- ...that at Euston Underground station, a passenger changing between the Victoria line and Northern line Bank branch will find that trains on adjacent platforms travel in opposite directions even though both are either northbound or southbound?
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Image 1The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
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Image 2Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
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Image 3Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
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Image 4Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
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Image 5Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
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Image 6Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
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Image 7Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
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Image 8Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
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Image 9London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
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Image 10Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
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Image 11View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
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Image 12"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
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Image 13Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
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Image 14The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
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Image 15Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
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Image 16London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
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Image 17Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
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Image 18Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
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Image 19The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
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Image 24Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
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Image 25London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
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Image 26TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
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Image 27Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
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Image 29The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
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Image 30The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
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Image 3155 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
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Image 32The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
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Image 33Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
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Image 34Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
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Image 35Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
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Image 37Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
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Image 38Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
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Image 40Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
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Image 45The newly constructed junction of the Westway ( A40) and the West Cross Route ( A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
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Image 46A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
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Image 48Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
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Image 49Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
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