Kennington tube station

Kennington tube station is a London Underground station in Kennington, on both the Charing Cross and Bank branches of the Northern Line. Its neighbours to the north are Waterloo on the Charing Cross branch and Elephant & Castle on the Bank branch; the next station to the south is Oval. It is in Travelcard Zone 2. (Journeys from National Rail stations to Kennington and Oval via Waterloo are priced as if these destinations were in Travelcard Zone 1; the add-on amounts are called "substandard fares" by NR.)

The station was opened on 18 December 1890 as part of London's first deep-level tube, the City & South London Railway (C&SLR) (now the Bank branch). Two extra platforms were added in 1926 when the connection via Waterloo to Embankment on the former Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (now the Charing Cross branch) was built. At this time the old northbound platform was reconstructed with the track running down the other side of the tunnel (to allow cross-platform interchange), resulting in unusually wide tunnel mouths.

Unlike the other original C&SLR stations at Stockwell, Oval and Elephant & Castle, which were all rebuilt during the 1920s modernisation and despite the major works taking place underground, Kennington's surface building saw little in terms of a physical update at that time. It therefore represents the only station of the C&SLR's original section in a condition close to its original design. The station has now reopened after its first extensive refurbishment in more than eighty years.

Kennington loop

A loop tunnel south of the station enables southbound Charing Cross branch trains to be terminated at Kennington, leave the station in a southward direction and, traversing the loop, enter the northbound Charing Cross branch platform. Because of the arrangement of junctions, trains using the loop cannot reach the northbound Bank branch platform nor can trains from the southbound Bank branch reach the loop. For southbound Charing Cross branch or Bank branch trains to reach the northbound Bank branch platform a reversing siding between the two running tunnels must be used.

Because of the layout, it is almost always southbound Charing Cross branch trains that terminate at Kennington. One of the station's four platforms is thus mainly used by terminating trains and sees relatively few operational departures.

upposed Haunting of Kennington Loop

There is anecdotal evidence of the Kennington loop being haunted. Drivers who have been sitting alone on the train for several minutes have recalled how they would hear the sounds of the doors opening between the carriages, as if someone was walking through the carriages towards them. This phenomenon was reported in the Five documentary, "Ghosts On The Underground," broadcast on 31 October 2006.

External links

*London Transport Museum Photographic Archive
**ltmcollection|38/9890038.jpg|Station in original condition, 1916
**ltmcollection|40/9890040.jpg|Station after 1920s changes
* [http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7069/ltkenn.gifSee How They Run - 1920s illustration of station layout including reversing loop]

Gallery