Baker Street tube station
| Baker Street | |
|---|---|
| Location | Marylebone |
| Local authority | Westminster |
| Managed by | London Underground |
| Number of platforms | 10 |
| Other information | |
 London transport portal | |
Baker Street tube station is a station on the London Underground located on Baker Street. The station lies in Travelcard Zone 1 and is served by five different lines. On the Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines it is between Great Portland Street and Edgware Road. On the Metropolitan Line it is between Great Portland Street and Finchley Road. On the Bakerloo Line it is between Regent's Park and Marylebone and on the Jubilee Line it is between Bond Street and St. John's Wood.
History
Baker Street station was opened by the Metropolitan Railway (MR) on 10 January 1863 as one of the original stations on the world's first underground railway - these platforms are now served by the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. On 13 April 1868 the adjacent open platforms, now serving the Metropolitan line, opened as part of a spur to Swiss Cottage station (a closed station different to the current Jubilee Line Swiss Cottage station) which was to be steadily extended to Harrow-on-the-Hill and beyond. Over the next few decades this section of the station saw much rebuilding to provide 4 platforms. The current Metropolitan line layout largely dates from 1925 and the bulk of the surface buildings, designed by the architect Charles Clark, also date from this period.
The Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (BS&WR, now the Bakerloo Line) opened on 10 March 1906, with Baker Street as the initial northern terminus of the line before it was extended to Marylebone station on 27 March 1907. On 20 November 1939, the Bakerloo Line took over the Stanmore branch of the Metropolitan Line (including stopping services between Finchley Road and Wembley Park) following the construction of two additional platforms and connecting tube tunnels between Baker Street and Finchley Road. The Jubilee Line subsequently replaced the Bakerloo Line on the Stanmore branch from its opening on 1 May 1979.
On 23 August 1973, a bomb was found in a carrier bag in the ticket hall. The bomb was defused by the bomb squad. On the 30th of that month, a member of staff found another bomb left on the overbridge. Again, it was defused without any injury.
The station today
Of the MR's original stations, the sub-surface Circle and Hammersmith and City Line platforms are the best-preserved. Plaques along the platform show old plans and photographs of the station.
The station layout is rather complex. The sub-surface station is connected to the open-air Metropolitan Line station. This is a terminus for some Metropolitan Line trains, but there is also a connecting curve that joins to the Circle Line just beyond the platforms that allows Metropolitan line trains to run to Aldgate in the City.
Below this is a deep-level tube station for the Bakerloo and Jubilee Lines. These are arranged in a cross-platform interchange. With ten platforms overall, Baker Street has the most platforms of any Underground station on the network.
Outside the Marylebone Road exits, a large statue of Sherlock Holmes commemorates the fictional detective's association with Baker Street. This statue was featured prominently as a landmark in the American television series The Amazing Race in 2005.
A restoration in the 1980s on the oldest portion of the Baker Street station, brought its appearance back to original 1863 historical accuracy.
See also
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- Oldest Portion of Baker Street Station
- As shown in 1863
- As shown in 2004 (restoration)[1]
