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Westminster is a London Underground station in the City of Westminster, close to the Palace of Westminster and Westminster Abbey. The station is located beneath Portcullis House at the corner of Bridge Street and Victoria Embankment.
The station was opened as Westminster Bridge in 1868 by the District Railway when the company opened the first section of its line from South Kensington.
As part of the Jubilee Line Extension the station was completely reconstructed to designs by Michael Hopkins & Partners. During the reconstruction, a 39 metres (128 ft) deep void was excavated underneath the old station to house the escalators, lifts and stairs to the deep-level Jubilee line platforms. This made it the deepest ever excavation in central London. One of the most difficult problems the engineers faced was to construct the station around the Circle and District line tracks, which continued in service throughout the construction. The tracks had to be lowered by 300 millimetres (0.98 ft), an operation achieved a few millimetres at a time during the few hours each night that the system was closed. Nothing of the old station remains. (Full article...)
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Selected biography
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George Shillibeer (11 August 1797–21 August 1866) was an English coachbuilder and operator of the first omnibus service in London from 1829.
Shillibeer was born in St Marylebone, London, the son of Abraham and Elizabeth Shillibeer. Christened in St Marys Church, St Marylebone on 22 October 1797, Shillibeer worked for the coach company Hatchetts in Long Acre, the coach-building district of the capital. In the 1820s he was offered work in Paris, France where he was commissioned to build some unusually large horse-drawn coaches of "novel design". The aim was to design a coach capable of transporting a whole group of people, perhaps two dozen, at a time.
Shillibeer's design worked, and was very stable. It was introduced into the streets of Paris in 1827 and Shillibeer concluded that operating similar vehicles in London, but for the fare-paying public with multiple stops, would be a paying enterprise, so he returned to his native city. His first London "Omnibus" began service on 4 July 1829 on a route between Paddington (The Yorkshire Stingo) and "Bank" (Bank of England) via the "New Road" (now Marylebone Rd), Somers Town and City Rd. Four services were provided in each direction daily. (Full article...)
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Did you know...
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- ...that the original carriages on the City and South London Railway were nicknamed "padded cells" due to their high backed cushioned seats and very small windows?
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Image 2London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
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Image 3Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
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Image 6The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
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Image 9Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
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Image 11Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
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Image 12Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
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Image 13Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
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Image 14Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
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Image 15Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
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Image 16Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
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Image 17The newly constructed junction of the Westway ( A40) and the West Cross Route ( A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
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Image 18Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
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Image 19TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
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Image 20The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
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Image 21A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
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Image 22The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
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Image 23Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
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Image 24Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
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Image 25Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
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Image 26Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
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Image 27Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
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Image 28Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
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Image 29"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
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Image 31The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
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Image 32Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
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Image 33Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
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Image 35Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
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Image 37The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
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Image 38Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
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Image 39The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
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Image 40Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
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Image 4155 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
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Image 42London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
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Image 46Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
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Image 48View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
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Image 49London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
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