This is the 3rd installment of attempting to walk the whole original tube line from Farringdon to Kings Cross. GES238 documents the first 2 parts, Part 1 and Part 2.

N.B. Photos are not the usual standard, as I lost the SD card with my Photos on getting home. FLIP! or a stronger word! Pics included below are archive, from my Phone or from a small action video camera.

Walking the whole length of the original, first and groundbreaking underground train line had been an ambition after I had finished most of the ghost stations and other bits and pieces on the London Underground. One of the things I love about exploring is the history. I knew there was a lot of risk involved, but it lay on a metaphorical drawing board for many years. I went with Kev to do the Farringdon end and up to Kings Cross H&CL (Hammersmith & City Line) Station, and then later we attempted to do the Paddington to Edgware Road section, this being Part 2. 

Doing the remaining stretch would have to be done on a day when there were no trains, there is only one day in the year this happens, Xmas Day. The older you get, the harder it becomes to find excuses to get out and do things on Xmas day you shouldn't. Family commitments and all that. Also doing Xmas at relatives and In-laws around the country makes it harder, as obviously, I'm not in London. 2024 it was decided we would do Xmas at home, and I knew what I'd be doing in the early hours.

Xmas morning came, and I wearily got my things together and tip-toed out the house.  With no public transport and not wanting to use the car, I cycled over to Kings Cross. The streets were predictably quiet, and I passed a few cyclists as well as lots of small groups of Asian tourists, I'm guessing Chinese or Japanese. I got to Kings Cross and locked my bike up, and changed into appropriate clothing. I went to 'the easy way in', that I had checked a fortnight before. Sadly this was no longer the easy way in! So I went for plan B, a little further away and requiring more effort. Even though my efforts were on camera, 3 at least, I'm not aware my actions were spotted by anyone. Onto the disused station platforms, I went up to the old station to rest for a moment. It had changed since I was last there, and the rebuilding of the Lighthouse building that sits West of the old station. Now a breeze block wall sat across the old passage and old hall that used to be there.

There was also more graffiti. 

All sorted out, I set off to the first hurdle, Kings Cross H&CL station. I figured if any station was being watched on Xmas Day, it would be this one. I walked nervously up to the beginning of the station. Here a small area sat with some doors and extractor fans. The tracks ran either side of here for East and Westbound.

I stood and listened on the start of the platform, no noises. "Here we go" I thought, and I walked casually down the platform.

So empty

At the other end as I exited, I felt a wall of relief. I looked back and listened again, no sounds. I walked past the end of the platforms, and a little work-shed type place was on my left, with a bit of track in it. 

The above is a crop from this picture, which is from a test shot I did to see what the light was like. Brilliantly I swapped the card out for the one I lost to do the nice light painted pics. Arghhh!! So I've had to boost the exposure to get the right hand tunnel in. I had come out the lit up tunnel on the right, from Kings Cross H&CL.

A 180 degree turn, and a short walk brought me to the Kings Cross crossovers. They sit in the lit up section in what is sadly the only decent pic I still have from the trip. [wipes away the tears, sniff]

With live power, the crossovers were a bit of a challenge to navigate, thanks for the lights there TfL

This was the sketchiest bit of the walk by the crossovers. You can see all those power cables full of juice, waiting to trip me up. The rail below the camera, nearest the wall, is a live rail. Although I was filming as I walked along, I had my other hand running along the cable at shoulder height on the wall should I trip. A light from my helmet and the wall showing the hazards on the ground. You can also see how the ballast lies all over the places, making it painful under foot. I wasn't wearing my usual tough army boots, but some boots I got off Vinted for a fiver. 

It's about this time that I can be annoying and include a message from my sponsor. "Mountain Dew, the choice of drink to keep you alert while doing Track." - Not really, as if!

After crunching my way Westbound up the tunnel, I came to my first station, Euston Square. It's not an interchange station, so I felt fairly confident wandering up between the platforms. The crunch of the ballast reverberating around the station, like a child munching on popcorn at the cinema.

I don't think I've ever been to this station before, legally or otherwise. The distortion from the lens makes it look like it would take forever to get to the far end, but it was a few minutes plodding at best.

There wasn't much to report between Euston Square and the next station I encountered, the yellow-ey Great Portland Street. I used to come here to visit the HQ of a client. 

The crossover walkway has little windows that make it look like an office above the tracks. Also the use of yellow tiling between the brick. No idea if this is original from 1863, when trains were pulled by steam engines, puffing black soot into the station. A long time before ULEZ zones and clean air acts made breathing a pleasure in London.

This is one of the saddest bits of the fact I lost my memory card with the SLR pics on. This junction was lovely, I lightpainted the wall between the tracks and everything. Also Baker St is one of my favourite stations. The platform colours and design are lovely, and remind me a bit of City Hall abandoned station in NYC across the Pond. I think this was a pic on my phone I happened to have taken, nowhere near as nice as it could have been, and sadly, unlikely to ever be taken better. 

As I approached Baker St platforms after taking a few photos at the split, I heard noises from inside the station somewhere. Odd noises can be something or nothing. An air conditioning or extractor fan starting, stopping etc. However, this was different, and the whistling was certainly human. Someone was in the station. I stood at the point below for a bit, to see if the person would materialise, however they didn't. I looked at the station board with the time showing 10mins past the hour (4 or 5am I think). I said to myself, quietly, I would go for it at 12mins past if I didn't see anyone. At 12mins past I went past the platform gate (these are usually alarmed by the way, so one swings wide around it) and onto the platform. 

As always, I think it's best to just casually walk rather than run and draw attention to yourself. So as I walked off the platform at the other end and looked back (below) I saw no activity, and continued Westwards. 

Next up was Edgware Road, where sadly the nice entrance shot is lying somewhere in Wembley on a SD Card, Grrrr! I walked left as I entered the station, and saw a recess area with some doors and a room with a football in it and nothing else. Then there was a buffer at the end of a track for stabling trains. I walked along the side of the tracks and could see engineering and stores through the glass windows beside me. I was worried I'd be seen, but no one was there.

Just above me at this point was a CCTV Tree, a cluster of dome cctv cameras sat on a pole. I'll mention these later. The exit to the station was just ahead of me at this point. 

I crunched past the junction with the Southbound District line to Earls Court, and finally arrived at my destination, the Paddington H&CL station. The start/terminus of the Original 1863 cut and cover line. I felt euphoric and equally anxious as this was a big station, and one never knew whether I'd been spotted on cctv. As I listened to the occassional announcements "this station is under 24/7 surveillance by CCTV for your safety", I quickly took a few pics. 

I stood on the end of the platform for completion purposes, and also did a selfie celebration photo, now lost, sniff. I didn't see any point raising my risk profile by going fully on the platforms. I had achieved all I wanted. 

I turned around and walked back into the darkness. I really wasn't expecting to make it this far, but I obviously had. I had two options. 1) walk back to Kings Cross and hop on my bike home. 2) Walk to a station in Wandsworth, and nip home. A third option would be to exit somewhere around the Triangle Sidings, but I wasn't thinking that far ahead yet. Most of the area between where I was and Earls Court sits in cuttings, not so easy to get out there. Stations have their emergency escape routes chained up when the station is closed, so they weren't an option. 

I stuck with the plan I had formulated before tonight's adventures started, to walk home on the tracks. Ooooh, wouldn't it be a wheez if I managed that. The biggest hurdle would be the Triangle Sidings between High St Kensington and Earls Court. They were a notorious hot spot for graffers, and as I'd seen from the train many times, heavily covered with CCTV cameras. Should I manage to pass that, Parson's Green had a layup section for trains, and CCTV trees, so also an issue. But I was in a do or die frame of mind, and wanted to see what happened.

As it turned out, I wouldn't have long to wait until I would see what happened. I was about 2 or 3 mins walk from the junction with the Southbound District line to Earls Court, which I intended to follow. When the lights flickered on along the walls. Bum! I had no idea if it was for me, as when doing Museum station, the lights came on, but the BTP cops were chasing graffiti guys further up the line. 

I walked briskly to the junction and saw a spread of around 5 guys across the tracks walking towards me. I figured it was me they were after. Another 5 mins, and I'd have been walking off towards Paddington District Line station, but fate is fate.

I had been excepting of the fact I'd be caught on this adventure, and I was tired, my feet were sore and I wasn't sure I could be bothered to try to run off down the District Line tracks. So I sat and awaited my fate.

I've written a page all about the bust and what happened, results here.

This would be the last time I'd be doing Track. Sniff!