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The London Underground in the 1940's
St. Paul's Cathedral stand in the middle of the bombed City during World WarTwo. The Emblem of London Transport appears across this view. Then, as a train sweeps by, credits. A record of the opening of the Eastern Extension of London Transport's Central Line from Wanstead to Newbury Park.

The camera closely follows a railway line. Above it appear the names of the new Central Line stations opened shortly after the Second World War, each encased in its London Transport logo: Bethnal Green, Mile End, Stratford, Leyton, Leystonstone (in the East) and Hanger Lane, Perivale, Greenford (in the West). A middle-aged man in coat and spectacles reads a speech at a station opening - the Rt. Hon. Alfred J. Barnes, M.P., then Minister of Transport. He declares open the Newbury Park and Woodford extension of the Central Line. He inserts a key into a hole and 'Golden Gates' at the head of the railway line open up. There a train marked 'To Newbury Park' moves away, Around the keyhole a sign reads: 'Opening of the Line from Leystone to Newbury Park 12th December 1947'. The next sequence illustrates the problems and pressures on transport and railways that accentuated the extension of the line. Crowds in the 1930's wait on a very crowded platform. They are waiting for the Eastern railways and LNER trains of the time - then the 'most extensive network of suburban services ever known' (voice-over). A steam train pulls into the station as the packed crowd waits. As the steam train departs an 'electric train' runs alongside - a temporary solution to alleviating overcrowding, 'no more than a breathing space'. Workmen toil with picks and shovels to service the railway line as the voice-over explains the inadequacy of existing services to meet the demand. As he speaks another trains rushes past. When it is gone, pre-war semi-detached houses appear by the railway line.

The camera tracks a large estate of similar houses to show the rapid build-up of the area shortly before the war causing vast pressure on the railway system. Outside a suburban station a queue spills on to the pavement. In an office committee room a group of suited men meet to discuss the situation. It is 1935. The grey-haired chairman of the meeting rises from his chair and points at a large map on the wall. The map shows the routes of the planned extensions of the Central Line to the East and to the West. A station of the period in Arnos Grove style comes on screen. Another train sweeps by; superimposed; tickets are clipped and money changes hands at a ticket office. Advertisements for Bovril, clothes, opticians line an escalator. A controller presses the button to close the doors of a train. This is all intended to convey the hustle and bustle of a dynamic up-to-date railway system. A map of the Eastern extension to the Central Line appears - with two separate branches to Woodford and Newsbury Park. The former required electrification of existing LNER line, the latter the building of a completely new line, some of it in tube. The camera moves through a section of new tube tunnel. But construction was interrupted by the war and the tunnels were converted into 'a huge secret underground arsenal'. A couple of stills show women and men working there under the supervision of firemen. Then women work with hammers, a man uses a lathe, machinery twists round and round and man bashes at a panel with a hammer. Another machine pours out finished ammunition. The scene moves to an office post-war where draughtsmen work on the plans for the new line. On site a bulldozer pushes through mounds of earth. Construction work goes on with cranes lifting concrete, workmen digging, engineers studying plans. A cement mixer whirls around. An engineer peers through a theodolite. A bricklayer is at work. Other workmen hammer away on the electrification poles. Still others dig away on a platform. In the tunnels men work at fitting fireproof panels. The camera descends the fireproof panels. The camera descends the new empty escalator at Wanstead, one of the longest yet built, as far as the entry to the platforms...

Huntley Film Archives is a film library holding tens of thousands of films. The large majority of the films are documentaries. Films cover a wide range of subjects and production dates range from the 1890’s to the 2020’s. As with all libraries we make no judgement on the content of our holdings and make them available for educational purposes for all to see. Films may have content or express opinions some may think inappropriate or offensive, but it is not the work of a library to censor educational resources. Films should be viewed with historical objectivity and within a context relevant to the times in which they were produced

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