Adventures in Zone Seven

[hirez]

A couple of years ago, I made up some extra bits of tube-map for reasons adequately explained in the original post.

It's a bit bleedin' previous to discover that LRT has been at that sort of thing for many years.

Also: Pictures of a startlingly twee Highgate station.

Comments

[figg]

And some times they never even open the buggers.

[sinibar]

I have a strange fascination for disused tube stations. I have no idea why. I've spent hours looking at photos.

Of course it's just about impossible to get to them now as terrorism paranoia is at an all time high. Shame.

Another aspect that really interests me are the tinfoil hat type rumours about secret tunnels for use by the government and certain other organisations. Sorting the possible from the plainly daft is *extremely* difficult though and I think I would need to dedicate an unhealthy amount of time to it in order to get any idea of what might actually be down there.

[hirez]

Abandoned stations, redundant bunkers, stubs of motorway junctions, dead malls... They're all solid versions of the idea that the path of history didn't take the route the planners expected. Places where time has ground to a halt.

[lucifein]

Like sinibar, I've drooled over many a photo and even visited unused tube stations. I don't know why I am so fascinated by them either, unless it's an extention of my experiences when inside them as when I am inside castle and cathederal ruins. I'm not psychic or clairvoyent in anyway, but I have some of the most blood stiffening moments in these forgetton tunnels and on defunct platforms.

There was a project, I think it was in the 80's, where a particular couple of men went into stations unused and recorded sounds of what seemed to be distant voices that could not be attached to present day goings on.
Here's a video clip from it. It has audio. I'm not sure if this will work, but I'll try to plant it here.

[lucifein]

As I suspected, the audio is not coming through and worse still the clip seems to have speeded up and been fixed on repeat, so the original wind suck before the train rushes by isn't even imaginable. Bugger. I'll investigate later, if you are interested in the original footage and sound?

[hirez]

Yes, that sounds like an odd thing indeed.

mp3 - Down Street Tour

[lucifein]

The Audio

What you can hear:
0:00 Starting off with silence - a transformer hum can be heard from distant signalling equipment.
0:06 An initial rush of air is heard as air starts being pushed through the baffles in the lift shaft.
0:23 The rush of air becomes a roar, as more air is pumped through the shaft by the piston action of a train running down the tunnels below.
0:42 The wind dies down and a train can be heard passing through the station in the distance. It's a little louder than in real life as the microphones were picking up vibrations through the floor.
0:54 The wind starts again - now it's being sucked back down the shaft as the train moves away down the tunnel.
1:32 Back to silence again.

Between 0:09 and 0:20 you can hear some ghostly whispering and clattering in the distance. This I'm afraid is nothing more than me and my guide in a different part of the station setting up camera equipment. If you're going to listen to this late at night and you're alone, you may want to reconsider - it sounds seriously

[nemesis_to_go]

Zone seven? It'll come. I remember ye olden 80s, when we had to make do with a mere three zones. Hard times, hard times...

Meanwhile, this is good.

[quercus]

If you ever need more displacement writing, there's a Doris Lessing Canopus fanfic needed for "The Marriage Between Zones 3 and 4 (Sundays excluded)"