Wadsworth Elephant and Castle Station in the London Underground Network

[faridjabba]

beautyfyul n intereting, i love london and i love redeads, tanks

[cherryguy93]

Isn't that lift at Elephant & Castle Station?

[harrihealey02]

Oh yes, thanks :)

[Cazkumali]

@harrihealey02 That beeps annoying i bet it drove u mad

[schausteller111]

Why they have this big closing door signs and the loud beep there? The door will not close, if anyone stand between it. Here in Germany its unusual.

And why they have this small windows in the doors? We know that here only for lifts, if the outside door is manual to open. Than there is a window, that you can see, if the cabin is allready there to open the door. But when the doors open automatically it is not nechessery.

Sorry for my bad english.

[harrihealey02]

Your english is Good,

The "doors closing" voice and beeping was telling people to mind the doors behind us as they were still boarding and then it said t again meaning the side I was on. But you have a good question with the windows as I don't know why they are there. In the UK about 1 in 50 elevators haveglass windows in them just incase you get stuck or something. All lifts on the Underground use windows as it is th rule to have them but I don't know why.

Thanks for the comment.

[Cazkumali]

@harrihealey02 don`t you have to press the floor buttons in this lift

[harrihealey02]

I still don't know how these lifts work, the only suggestion I can think of is when the call button is pressed outside the lift the lift opens and as it senses people walking through, after a few seconds it beeps to go down and e.c.t

[kurdman12345678]

@harrihealey02 what type of lifts r these do u know and what year were they made in

[harrihealey02]

@kurdman12345678 It is a traction lift made by Wadsworth LTD and I think they were made in 1960s as they did replace the old gated lifts.

[RomJonno15]

That beeping noise, is that a door warning? HAHA that guy made it to the elevator 0:20

[harrihealey02]

Yes the beeping noise is the doors warning sound and that guy just about made it haha.

[1013imanol]

That Elevator Used To Be An OTIS

[harrihealey02]

Really, That's interesting. I think it still is lol, I guessed the name since it wasn't displayed in the video bt I saw a wadsworth lift like this one so I thought it could be wadsworth. Thanks for the comment :)

[1013imanol]

@harrihealey02 no problem

[Meanmanmartin2007]

Does anyone know, would the lifts in underground stations always have had audio commentary or would it have been a recent thing?

[harrihealey02]

All underground lifts have audio commentary and it's been going on since the metal contained lifts like this were installed.

[Meanmanmartin2007]

Thanks for explaining.

If a lift such as this gets stuck midway is there some sort of audio announcement that would come on to explain to passengers whats going on?

[harrihealey02]

Yes, If you get tuck in a lift with out a voice, the display would normally tell you that you are stuck and that they are trying to you them from the lift. If the lift has no voice or display the buttons would flash or the door would open.

I have been stuck 3 times but luckly all have had a bell ;)

[Meanmanmartin2007]

Thanks for explaining.

I rember being in Charing Cross underground station on a day when one of the lift displays wasn't working properly and was displaying "Action Is Being Taken To Free You From This Lift" from the outside.

Fairly recently when I was at Russel Square, the "Emergency Help Point" in one of the lifts was not working so I did not want to get in this lift. I assume the help point was an intercom rather than just a bell.

[harrihealey02]

You're welcome,

If you were stuck in a lift The outter display would say "Action is being taken to free you from this lift"I was supposed to tell you this when you asked me does it display aythng when you are stuck, So yes it would if it has a display. And yes there is a bell and an intercom panel in the lift usually so you can speak to the helpline. That's interestng to hear about that broken lift also :)

[Meanmanmartin2007]

Once again thanks for your help

[Meanmanmartin2007]

Thanks for posting this.

Out of interest, is this station one of those with lift access only. I gather there is an emergency staircase(which no doubt passengers use) but is there an escalator?

[harrihealey02]

your welcome,

And there are some stairs but no escalators and yes most people use the stairs since there costrophoic mabey of lifts lol.

[Meanmanmartin2007]

Thanks for explaining.

The stairs in tube stations are wierd. I've been in some where on platform level you are told they are for emergency use only but going down from street level they are signposted.

[Daninafryingpan]

i think its because going UP the stairs would be quite strenuous, especially in the hot weather London can get. Also maybe to keep a good flow of people, a sort of one way system?

[harrihealey02]

Yes, London needs a very good flow of people so they have 2 elevators and one going down means one coming up lol.

[Meanmanmartin2007]

Some tube stations have more than 2. Russel Square for example has 3

[Meanmanmartin2007]

Thanks for the explanation.

It makes more sense for people to be able to walk down the stairs rather than up and they are quite narrow.

A few years back when I went to London on a busy day during the christmas period, there was a one way system in place at Covent Garden tube station and two lifts were for people traveling upwards and two for people traveling downwards. The stairs were also made unavailable to anyone going downwards.

[jackotis97]

Wow!!! is that Lift automatic as some big ones are I love the voice!!! do you know how Many people these can hold super vid!!!!

[harrihealey02]

Thanks, This lift can hold 50 people and I'm sure double the amount of children under 12 can obviously fit 100 of them lol.

[noshtrilz]

well do you know i was at the science museum on sunday and i saw a massive

kone 66 person elevator serving 8 floors

i took a trip to all the floors in this order:

4,8,3,LG,2,7,G,5,6,1 so 16 more people than that one!! C O O L ! ! !

[Meanmanmartin2007]

I know the one you mean. I haven't been in it but saw it on the last occasion I was there

[mrmattandmrchay]

I've got in my head (from somewhere?!) that some of these early lifts were roped together - when one lift was at the top, the other was at the bottom (the cables go from one lift car, round the machine, then connect to the other lift car).

When one car was full (ready to come down) the other lift at the bottom was empty and ready to come up.

Like this, there was no counterweight.

Sounds strange and I don't quite believe it, so I could be wrong here (can't remember where I got this from)

[leethomas84]

I've read this in a few Tube history books, but think this goes back to the early days of electrically powered lifts on the tube.

At about 0:17 in the video, you can see what looks like a locked door in the side of the lift (behind where a boy is standing). If the lift becomes stuck, the adjacent lift can apparently be "pulled up" alongside, with passengers transferring to the working lift though this door.

[harrihealey02]

yes, They used the same idea in the Evans elevator at st georges hospital. Mabey on all old Big lifts they used that Idea to get out.

[harrihealey02]

well, I acttually think you are right because I was looking through the windows in one lift and I could see the thin net cable and a cable on the other side moving when the lift came down on the side I was looking through came an elevator cab.

[leethomas84]

Have reseached this further and apparently it is still true at a few stations, as adding a counterweight for each lift would require the lift to be smaller, and therefore reduce capacity.

[Quentinmovie]

what ind of lift is it then?

[leethomas84]

These lifts at Bank/Monument are made by Otis. There are also 2 Pickering's to get to the DLR.

[harrihealey02]

I know the brand but I am not sure because I read the panel and I told my gran the brand names and she remembers this one so untill I remember it I'll update it.

[leethomas84]

Although Wadsworth might be right. I have a list here of all Tube lifts and these are credited as Otis but watching your video they do look a lot like Wadsworths.