It’s not spooky, unless you consider a half-lit, dusty platform from the 1930s a bit eerie. A ghost station is simply a former Tube stop that is no longer used by passengers.
Most were closed because they were just too close to another station. Imagine walking to the bus stop, only to find another bus stop twenty paces ahead. That’s what happened to stops like British Museum on the Central Line.
Others closed because the line moved, or they were deemed too expensive to keep open for the handful of people who used them. You can still spot them from your train window, a sudden flash of tiled walls and a forgotten bench as you zoom by in the dark.
Your Daily Commute’s Hidden Secrets
If you take the Piccadilly Line towards Heathrow, you might see a strange, wide platform between Hammersmith and Barons Court. That’s South Kensington’s old platform, now used as a film set. Yes, your morning commute is a movie star.
On the Northern Line, between Camden Town and Kentish Town, look out the window on the left. You’ll catch a glimpse of the sad, empty South Kentish Town station, closed since 1924 after a strike. It’s like seeing a shop on your high street that’s been boarded up for a hundred years.
And if you’re on the Metropolitan Line, between Moorgate and Baker Street, you pass right through Marlborough Road. Its pretty, arched windows are still visible, a reminder of when a journey was a little more leisurely.
