50 years ago, on Friday 23rd July 1971, the Victoria line finally extended to Brixton. Trains had been operating as far as Victoria since March 1969 but plans for an extension were only granted in 1965 so construction south of the river took a while to catch up. Pimlico station still wasn't open, which means I still have to come back and blog that next September, but in the meantime let's tick off the end of the line.
BRIXTON
Opened: 23 July 1971 Interchange with: Commuter services to Bromley and Orpington, not that you probably would because those trains have come from Victoria anyway, and they're not very frequent, and the station's a fair walk away on a viaduct, and my word the Victoria line was a step up for this part of town. Originally opened: 25 August 1862 Why did the line terminate here? Various early plans considered sending the Victoria line to Wimbledon, Morden or more likely Croydon, but financial constraints halted it much closer to central London. The GLC had concurrent plans to drive an urban motorway through Brixton town centre, in which case this could have been a convenient park and ride dropoff, but thankfully only the tube line got built.
Who opened the extension? Not the Queen because she'd officially opened the line down to Victoria. Instead Princess Alexandra got the job and turned up at Brixton at 11.15am in a jaunty hat. She performed the official ceremony at the foot of the main stairs, then pressed a button to start the escalators, then inspected the ticket office, then glided serenely downwards for a further ceremony in the driver's cab... where she pressed another button to start the first journey north. This terminated at Pimlico where further presentations took place, and then the royal party stepped into the rear carriage of a second train which took them back to Brixton. Here the princess inspected the station operations room, unveiled a commemorative plaque and headed off for lunch at Lambeth Town Hall. London Transport staff were instead treated to luncheon boxes delivered from the depot aboard an empty train. The extension was opened to public service at 3pm. (contemporary typewritten report)
Tile pattern: A visual pun... it's a ton of bricks, by Hans Unger. Five things I saw outside: 1) The largest roundel on the Underground, emblazoned across the glass above the station entrance. 2) A woman attempting to hand out Bible tracts. 3) Blue tape sealing off the site of a stabbing the previous evening. 4) Lots of police officers. 5) A distinct absence of weedpushers (because of 4). Above the steps down: The 'Brixton Header Wall' is regularly used for enormous art commissions. The current painting is Things Held Fast by Helen Johnson and depicts a group of figures at work in a community garden, with underlying echoes of local protest movements and the Mutiny on The Bounty, because art. Ticket hall: A large grey space to trudge through, with an operations room in one corner and a rather nice tropical plant potted alongside. The 'Ticket Shop' doesn't sell tickets but does stock Private Eye and chewing gum (left), The Spectator and chocolate bars (centre), Black Beauty and mints (right) and the Beano (lowest shelf). Descent: Unless you're taking the lift, the way down is via a bank of three escalators. These can be thronged... pre-pandemic Brixton was the tube's 20th busiest station. Station layout: 3D diagram here.
Lower concourse: This being the end of the line, all an arriving passenger really needs to know is "Left-hand or right-hand platform?" A lightbox used to indicate this by means of an illuminated arrow, but that's been switched off in favour of a smaller generic modern display. This lists the next five departing trains (usually five Walthamstow Centrals), and how long until they leave, and from which platform, and a tiny harder-to-see arrow, and someone must've thought this information overload was a genuine improvement. Platforms: This being the end of the line both platforms are equally used, and pretty much identical. Normally only one end is busy because regular travellers know to arrive near the front of the train for a quick exit. At the far end, directly under the station entrance, is the room where drivers hide away while waiting their turn to hop into the cab at the back of an arriving train. This speeds up turnaround times. Passengers don't normally see the far walls because a stationary train blocks line of sight, so what would have been a row of adverts is instead a gallery of empty grey tiled rectangles.
Special roundels: One per platform saying GOING OUT OUT instead of BRIXTON, as part of the Mayor's #LetsDoLondon campaign. Factnugget: The tunnels continue to the southeast, not because of a potential extension but just far enough to leave space to stable two trains overnight ready for morning service. All the photos: Eight, here.
