I know I don’t talk about it very often, but I have a pretty sizeable soft spot for London’s trusty transport network. There are very few things I enjoy more than uncovering one of its weird and wonderful secrets. And with over 160 years of history; there’s rather a lot of fun, fascinating and forgotten facts spanning the 272 stations on the London Underground.
There’s a river running through Sloane Square that barely anybody knows about. There’s a huge crater on Mars named after Tooting Bec. There’s even an abandoned station that’s now home to an escape room. But one of the newest pieces of interesting information comes in the form of four carriage sheds at Queen’s Park station.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. What’s interesting about a few old sheds? And the answer to that is simple. Queen’s Park station is the only Tube stop on the entire London Underground network that allows passengers into those carriage sheds. Don’t get me wrong, you can’t just head on in there on foot for a nosey around. But the Bakerloo Line trains at Queen’s Park journey through the sheds, giving passengers a unique peek inside – something that cannot be experienced at any other station in London.
There are four carriage sheds at Queen’s Park station, numbered from 21 to 24. Two of them are used to store the trains that terminate at Queen’s Park (which around a third of Bakerloo Line trains apparently do), giving them shelter from the weather and a place to rest their weary legs wheels. The other two carriage sheds, however, are frequently travelled through. If you’re heading northbound, you’ll whizz through shed number 21. And if you’re venturing southbound, you’ll journey through shed number 24.
The sheds have a distinctive look; big with large metallic roofs. The carriage sheds at Queen’s Park are located just north of the station where the tracks split. Queen’s Park station has been up and running since 1879, but it wasn’t until 1915 that it earned its comfy spot on the Bakerloo Line, when the line was extended from Kilburn.
You really do learn something new everyday, hey?