Right,nearly there now !! Part 3 of our epic adventure continues along arch 68 to the Buffet and wine stores !!There are three main stores areas under the main section of the station,the first of these are on two levels at the end of the incline tunnel off of the main route..........(see pt 2)
This is the unloading area at the top of the incline tunnel,as you can see it consists of an unloading platform on the LHS whilst to the RHS are a couple of spur tunnels and a dumb waiter,whilst in the middle sits the winch and a trolley (which i pressume replaced the narrow gauge wagons sometime in the 1960's.)
This is the rear view looking back to the incline tunnel.
Whilst this is the view at the end of the landing area looking back to the incline tunnel.-the lights of the main tunnel can be seen beyond-
The rear opening (opposite the winch in the first phot) is,in fact, a dumb waiter which was used to transport goods up to the main stn buffet above on plat 3. This is still the main buffet for the stn !!
The nearest opening to the RHS of the trolley in the first phot is a strange one.
....as can be seen it is one arch divided with a half height wall which then narrows down to a slim passageway
until it reaches a partly unlined section followed by a short section of concrete lining before turning right and ending in a very small room containing only this (which i assume to be a pulley for the dumb waiter)-although to be fair it is rather a distance away !!
The final view of this upper floor is looking back towards the landing area showing the small spur tunnel on the RHS which runs to behind the dumb waiter.
Now back to the lower level and underneath the loading platform are about four arched storage areas for,pressumably,foodstuffs.The first photo shows the small corridor whilst the others show two of these stores areas.
Back into the main tunnel and carrying on finds you nearly at the end of the main passage,this pic shows the emergency exit stairs from plats 5/7.However there are still two more,much larger,storage areas.To the left is a very large set of almost completely empty rooms stretching back for five or six levels.Only one or two of which still retain some heavy duty shelved areas.
The final room in this section is immeadiately under the boiler room for the stn,located at the east end of plats 5/7 which is where we think this ladder ascends to.........we say think because looking at those paper thin rungs i didnt think i'd make it to the top to find out.!!!
And finally the last section,to the right of the exit steps lie the old wine stores,once again five or six sections deep and still containing much racking and shelving ect !!
Whilst checking this image i noticed that one of the two crates in the foreground bore the legend of 'HALL'S BREWERY OXFORD' some further research shows this was closed in 1925
Well,that's it for this part and indeed the main stn (well nearly) but in pt 4 you can see a few goodies loitering around underground in a much older section.!!!
This is the unloading area at the top of the incline tunnel,as you can see it consists of an unloading platform on the LHS whilst to the RHS are a couple of spur tunnels and a dumb waiter,whilst in the middle sits the winch and a trolley (which i pressume replaced the narrow gauge wagons sometime in the 1960's.)
This is the rear view looking back to the incline tunnel.
Whilst this is the view at the end of the landing area looking back to the incline tunnel.-the lights of the main tunnel can be seen beyond-
The rear opening (opposite the winch in the first phot) is,in fact, a dumb waiter which was used to transport goods up to the main stn buffet above on plat 3. This is still the main buffet for the stn !!
The nearest opening to the RHS of the trolley in the first phot is a strange one.
....as can be seen it is one arch divided with a half height wall which then narrows down to a slim passageway
until it reaches a partly unlined section followed by a short section of concrete lining before turning right and ending in a very small room containing only this (which i assume to be a pulley for the dumb waiter)-although to be fair it is rather a distance away !!
The final view of this upper floor is looking back towards the landing area showing the small spur tunnel on the RHS which runs to behind the dumb waiter.
Now back to the lower level and underneath the loading platform are about four arched storage areas for,pressumably,foodstuffs.The first photo shows the small corridor whilst the others show two of these stores areas.
Back into the main tunnel and carrying on finds you nearly at the end of the main passage,this pic shows the emergency exit stairs from plats 5/7.However there are still two more,much larger,storage areas.To the left is a very large set of almost completely empty rooms stretching back for five or six levels.Only one or two of which still retain some heavy duty shelved areas.
The final room in this section is immeadiately under the boiler room for the stn,located at the east end of plats 5/7 which is where we think this ladder ascends to.........we say think because looking at those paper thin rungs i didnt think i'd make it to the top to find out.!!!
And finally the last section,to the right of the exit steps lie the old wine stores,once again five or six sections deep and still containing much racking and shelving ect !!
Whilst checking this image i noticed that one of the two crates in the foreground bore the legend of 'HALL'S BREWERY OXFORD' some further research shows this was closed in 1925
Well,that's it for this part and indeed the main stn (well nearly) but in pt 4 you can see a few goodies loitering around underground in a much older section.!!!
