Nearly half an hour on a journey that takes four minutes. I like it.

"Bakerloo line" came from Baker Street to Waterloo line. So surely Waterloo to Bank should be "Wankerloo line"?

I think this is a new record for total time without mentioning Yerkes

IMHO the tunnelling shield at Bank is one of the coolest things you can see in a station on the underground, it shows really well how small the tunnels are. You don't get many fogs that impressive these days 8:20

It’s nice to see all these anniversaries springing up along with a lovely chronicler in tow.

I often used the Drain on Saturday mornings when it ran a single-car service. The ride was akin to being on a fairground roller-coaster.

When I was about eight years old, I was allowed to drive one of the trains out of the depot at Waterloo onto the platform, supervised of course. I have never forgotten that experience!

As an ex drain user I have fond memories of the daily subterranean adventure. The challenge of getting on as quickly as possible to secure a seat was always at the forefront of my mind.

Years ago when I worked for BR, I was hidden away in the old lamp arch which adjoined onto the lift area for the W&C and sometimes we were marshalled in to help out with lifts and drops as couple times a year a tamper would be squeezed onto the lift and other utility wagons when renewing track and infrastructure. Curious place to work, my "boss" was colloquially known as "Catweazle" as he looked just like that with the frizzed out beard and hair, he used to talk to himself a lot and he was often pie eyed too whether on proper booze or the lamp oil we never knew, chap could knock a bottle of scotch back in one throw and not even burp or show any outward signs and off he would go muttering to himself whilst I did all the stuff like lamp work and trudging up to the platforms with my trolley laden with fresh lamps and next door stores would load me up with train sundries because I was a lowly knowlessman and they were senior to me. To be fair, we gave other BR staff hell, YTS trainees were excellent fun with my favourite wheeze of sending them up to watch incoming trains, measure buffer to buffer stop distance and if it wasn't 2 and half feet they were told to write a ticket out and give it to the driver... the grumpy Welsh Area Manager constantly had us on punishment duty, including hand sweeping with a normal yard broom the whole concourse he nailed on to me several times. We nearly caused a major signalman walkout when using the stores database we "issued" various signalboxes the staff with old 1950's "Weskit" uniforms that were still in storage, signalmen do not wear uniforms ever and so we issued them to London Bridge, Waterloo, Victoria, Clapham Junction, Borough Market, out went these hideous uniforms and my own father went berserk when he was issued his horrible smelly uniform. It was around then I was encouraged to transfer and moved to Norwood TOPs where I rained hell on unsuspecting folks from there like putting EPB's into service for an erroneous "long weight" and wrong colour yellow cab end corrections...

My own Waterloo & City titbit: During the last week of operation of the 1940 stock I found myself alone on the line during off-peak. I noticed the carriages had distinctive air vents at each end forming the words ‘Southern Railway’. On closer inspection I saw that these vent covers were secured by just two or three screws and reflected that if only I had a screwdriver I could have helped myself to a souvenir! (I reasoned that they were going to be scrapped soon anyway).

the thumbnail really made me jump to the conclusion of 125mph running in the tube 😂

See Jerome K. Jerome's " Three Men in a Boat" for a tale of how confused Waterloo's three LSWR stations were prior to rebuilding as one.

Very interesting and more so as I used to work wit the team that maintained the Trav-o-later powered by AC Commutator Motors. We also used to help when the BBC did filming for e.g. Survivors "The Lights Of London". We also maintained the pumps keeping the tunnels dry and the Armstrong Lift including re chaining it and conversion to AC water pump powered when the "London Hydraulic" water stopped. The 1940 stock stopped single car running when one had a brake failure due to some pins being left out after maintenance. The line was also closed twice for other issues for several months, 1. Flooding when a 36" water main burst at "The Cut" turning into a real "Drain". 2. Beetles doing damage to the jarrah railway sleepers.

Fascinating video. You mentioned the power station at Waterloo, to get the coal wagons to the power station a 10ft turntable was installed and there is still one there in the same location (now used for moving bogies and wheelsets out for maintenance), the current one being the third, having been installed in 2021.

“I’m a poet and I’m fully aware of the fact” 😆🤣

I loved those 1940s trains especially the art deco lights, I remember riding on them back in the 1970s with my dad, , Even though the trains and stations were getting a bit tired and shabby by then i still have great memories of them.

As a maths graduate "one point forty-seven" at the start made me wince

I first went on it in 1989. Not knowing how it worked at Waterloo I went on to the platform and was surprised how quiet it was. I got on the train which then trundled off into the sidings. I was a bit anxious until the train reversed into the departure platform. I've always been a track basher so this was an unexpected bonus!

Notoriously called the Waterloo and City Line as they initially wanted to call it the Waterloo and Bank line but the shortening was unfortunate.

It may have been a longer video than usual, but very well explained and easier to understand since it's such a short line. Happy Birthday come Tuesay. Shame it's not been extended to Liverpool Street. Just saying.

I've always been a bit odd... I used the Drain in the 1970s, and I absolutely loved it. I loved the rattley blue trains and the queueing system to get on, and the travelator was a wonderful daily experience. I'm so glad you were able to include the old blue trains in your film. I may have been the only person working in the City at that time who actually relished the commute! Thank you for bringing back so many wonderful memories.

Missed opportunity to say: “I’m here at Waterloo and…OH NOT THIS AGAIN!” 😂

Being Feltham born and bred, now living in Eastleigh, and my old dad having been a life-long Southern Railway man, the LSWR has always been an interest of mine, and the W&C has always been part of it. Short, quirky and yet important in its own way. Thanks for celebrating it here!

Thanks Jago for the wonderful broadcasts that you've been doing.

WOW a LONG Jago! LOVE it!! :) made my morning!

What a very interesting video, Jago. I was fully engaged throughout. Many thanks for making and posting this episode.

I've been commuting on this line for 22 years. I'm watching this video for a reason to hate it less :)

Hello Jago, thank you for all your work to bring us this fascinating tale from “The Drain.” Interestingly the Waterloo & City also had a single car with a cab at each end for off-peak service, as did the District line shuttle for the short line between Acton Town to South Acton. Please keep up the good work. Best wishes from Oxfordshire.

In the BR Days, upto the introduction of the preasant stock and the major rebuilding work the line was controlled by a Signal box, on the platform of the Bank bound platform at Waterloo, just by the end, where the the depot is. Although colour light signals the box still had a lever frame, This controlled the whole line in the off peak. During rush hour there was a very small signalling panel at Bank that could control Bank station, It was located in a tiny space in the building between the two platforms at the Waterloo end of Bank station, accessed from the left hand platform as you faced Waterloo. A unique feature in BR Days was on the tunnel walls rows of three blue lights to indicate the 20 mph speed restrictions on the tight curves.

Thanks I've only travelled on it once, on the 1940 stock in the 80's. The trains were memorable.

I live on the other side of the Pond, so it's unlikely I will take the W&C anytime soon, but I love hearing about all these little quirks and oddities that result from having a transit system with over a century of history

Another nicely-timed video- James Henry Greathead was born on this day in 1844!

A very comprehensive story covering just about everything relating to the Drain. Thanks Jago.

'A strain on the drain' classic Jago 😂

I now have a medley of ABBA songs in my head - couldn't escape if I wanted to, which I don't. It's always ABBA o'clock somewhere in the recesses of my brain and it takes very little to bring it to the fore. Skål!

I like this longer format, but I understand why you don't do more of them.

Sunday videos with the Jago...... And its a half hour one. ❤❤❤❤❤❤

As always an enjoyable video and an interesting one. NY has a version of this though for a different reason its 42nd Street Shuttle. Its history dates back 1904, though not as a shuttle. When the Interbrough Rapid Transit Co's (IRT) first line was built as NYC's first subway (our word for our Underground vs a passage way under the street) it originally made a hard left at Grand Central followed by a hard right at Times Sq and 42nd Street. When the IRT extended the lines north on the East side of Manhattan and South on the West the shuttle was born. For many years it was possible to still run the old route though it never was done, but modern improvements now make that impossible.

No way was this documentary about a two station line thirty minutes long, that went so quick! Nice work btw, very informative 👌🏻

I think the Victoria Line should be considered entirely underground, regardless of having an Overground depot at Northumberland Park.

What a wonderful history this is, thank you for this new video with so much information in it. Watching this and other stories from you, I every time wonder: where in Britain is the producer who makes the 160 years long history of London's public transport subject for a few comedy series? I mean, all the ingredients are there on your doorstep to make it hilarious: characters, drama, humor, fierce competition, failures, successes.

Great video, Jago - lots of information there! I’ve only been on it once when me and a work colleague decided to go on it during a lunch break when we worked at Baker Street! 😀

Well done Jago. You should consider doing more long-form work like this. You're very good at it! I have fond memories of the Drain and riding the old 1940's stock during the off-peak when there was no one much around. It was like a strange mix of being in a working museum from the 2nd WW, and being on my own personal ghost train. Those trains looked awful when they got the NSE livery put on them. It totally ruined the ambiance of the whole experience. Looking forward to your next offering soon. Keep up the good work. 👍

You put a lot of work into this video

I share my birthday with the W&C but happily not quite so many of them.

Superb an comprehensive, Jago. You have truly excelled yourself this time. thank you.

Jago was confined to bed a few weeks ago ( the vids were pre-recorded and time to upload ), he had his depot down below attended to and his canteen moved.

Great little video about a great little tube line , always been an oddity but well loved by all the Londoners that use it.

Love this, always nice to see a new Jago video

If it's of interest, I believe the South Western Circle P4 modelling group has a 4mm finescale model of the station that would have been at London Bridge. I was lucky to see it a decade or so ago when a friend's dad was part of the group. If its still around and they would be happy to allow it, it would make for a fantastic video. I remember the excitement of realistically interlocked signaling and lever frames and train operation! I was an exciting teenager 😅

I happened to travel on the W&C during the first week of operation by the '92 stock which, as Jago remarks is the same as the Central Line stock. On arrival at Bank the automated announcer sprang into life. "Grange Hill, this is Grange Hill. All change please!".

A mammoth effort, well done. I remember travelling as a kid, the trains where a little spooky with the small windows. The travellator was a novelty, now common in shopping malls.

Happy 125th anniversary Waterloo & City! 🚇🩵

Can't be the only one expecting you to start the video in Waterloo, Belgium

Did the very odd trip on it in the late 70s/early 80s. It seemed to 'smell' differently to the usual underground trains as well as looking different !

Great video!

I've walked through that tunnel shield a few times, but it never occured to me what it actually was... 🤣 Happy birthday to the drain!

A satisfying ½-hour discourse on 'The Drain'. Since it is at least 3 times that of your normal offerings, you should now take a two video break. Others have opined that longer is a good idea, however my thoughts on that are that that format should be reserved for specials. For example '125 Years of the Waterloo and City Line'. 😇

A pleasant in depth Sunday excursion. I had no idea it had ever been three rail. The colour photos of the old 1940 stock were nice to see. In the small thumbnail the digits on the car saying 201 look like a yellow dash in the title so it says 1-25. Neat trick.

A great story for the Little Line. 👍

Well done!

A truly comprehensive, if slightly breathless, trundle through the Drain. I admire your ability to do the research let alone find time to make the video.

I really enjoyed that, thank you.

What a great video Jago! I appreciate that you usually make shorter videos and for most subjects that's enough (and also more convenient to watch on the go), but this longer format video was a great watch! I really enjoyed it!

A half hour Jago Hazzard video that was entertaining and informative from beginning to end. Thank you.

I loved the Class 487 cars. When the line was closed prior to the introduction of the Class 482 units I was given a set of the aluminium ventilator covers 'Southern Railway' & 'Southern Region' I suspect that they were the last vehicles carrying Southern Railway insignia in BR service. Last Tuesday I was part of an LCGB party visiting Acton Depot and it was nice to see the surviving Waterloo & City car no 61 looking very smart indeed. As for the excellent Oakwood Press book by John Gilham. It has to be the longest possible book on shortest line! John was a very good friend of mine and over many years I learnt a great deal from him. Thank you for such an informative video.

Happy 125th Birthday Waterloo & City Line. Considering you are the shortest tube line on the London Underground and only has 2 terminus stations-Bank and Waterloo. I have been on the Waterloo & City Line lots of times and it does get very busy all the time. Especially when you get rush hour in the mornings and evenings.

Thankyou Jago. I have lived in in all parts of London (south of the river, north of the river & on the Isle of Dogs) & yet have never used this railway. Never had to. It seems that this railway was only intended for the Surrey stockbrokers commute & yet still operates.🙃

😁This is the sage of the Drain...

I travelled on it several times in the 1960s when it was "Owned" by BR and was running some unpainted stock which looked like a cross between the pre-war stock and the Victoria line kit. If memory serves, this stock also had a combination of reduced sized carriage windows and some peculiar high-level slit windows/vents. . . A bit claustrophobic. I remember we well and truly upset the ticket collector at the Bank end by repeatedly using the line on the same day and presenting our LT Day Rover tickets on exit.

A really interesting video. Thank you

So after many years of various proposals, the work on the line started to get ahead. Dare we say a Greathead.

A most enjoyable & informative video, ffanc iw Mr Hazzard. Most impressive of all though is that you managed to make it to the correct station first time...

I really enjoyed this Jago. If possible, give us more of these longer videos; the regular ones are over sop quickly. You are a mine of knowledge so it's great when you get the chance to go into so much detail.

Twenty minutes per mile! A truly pedestrian video.

As always, thanks for another really informative video mate. Very educational videos! As a London Underground enthusiast and regular user, (I used to live in London and am now living just outside of London, still using the Underground frequently) these videos show the history of LU. This history just helps us to appreciate, even more, the transport system many of us use so regularly to this day! Happy 125th to the W&C!

Thank you for this absolutely absorbing video full of interesting information and wonderful pictures. Given the year when they bored the tunnel under the river it still today is an enormous technical sensation.

I've never used the Drain much, but have happy memories of the previous 1940s trains. While of the same vintage, they're surprisingly different to the Underground stock of the same time.

Congrats waterloo and city line!

An *epic* ‘Half-hour Tale From Da Tube’. A record-breaker of a ‘Tale From Da Tube’, if you ask me!!!!

wonderful,i spent many years working in s.e.1,indeed at 9.15 mins turn the camera round and i used to work in that building,s.e.p.o. post office now the london fire head quarters,

Great video. Sunday mornings wouldn't be the same without your videos Jago as Saturday mornings wouldn't be the same without Steve Marsh's. Long may you both continue.

Thank you for such a long interesting video Long enough for 3 round trips on the w&c

I've used it a bit in the past. I often thought it would've been a whole lot more useful if they'd gone all the way to Liverpool Street. So 3 stops. Liverpool Street, Bank , Waterloo , just keeping it's current shuttle service. But as you say, the Central Line tunnels could get in the way ! With it going to Liverpool Street, it could have taken some passengers off what I found to be one of the most congested bits of LUL. The Central (should I say "Sardintral" ? ) line from Liverpool Street to Bank .

I liked the trains from the 80’s - they had a strange charm and yes the slightly run down feel was comforting - while the seats were like those in a posh club - I really enjoyed the experience even if it could be a bit of a crush.

I remember seeing the 1991 Central Line stock during their development at Acton Town. They had a few test trains their ! I was an apprentice Electrician (for the buildings , not the trains !) on London Underground between 1984 and 1988, and spent quite a bit of time at the Acton Town Apprentice training centre !

What a fab vídeo, so informative! This line was always intriguing for me being so short and closed some days!

I used to frequently travel in the evenings from Waterloo to Liverpool Street and the W&C line was the quickest way. I walked from Bank as ,with the long corridor and the overcrowded Central Line, it was much more pleasant!

'resolved amicably between the LSWR directors and themselves' best line in the whole video

Thanks

Dang. That was a ton of production work for you. Nicely done.

Jago: you are the Waterloo to my Bank. I rode it when I visited, simply just to ride it. Why not? "I rode it because it was there." And Jago, I think we're all cool with this really long video (long for you).

Save the strain and take the train through the drain.

I liked this a lot. thank you for making it.

the Waterloo and City, a railway going between two stations Waterloo and you guessed it, Bank.

So fascinating and you put so much information into each video and love your narrative and how you describe things. I find all your uploads so interesting.

Good lord having an interchange at Blackfriars nowdays would be useful, expecially post pandemic... Really would have been interesting to see it linked to the DLR aswell!

Great work.. as always!

Before watching the video, I'm hoping for some reference to an Inner City 125. I hope you won't disappoint me, Mr H!

🤩🤩🤩✴✴ (Bravo, nice one and happy birthday to the W&C Tube line!)