ty for confirming :)

I hope you are well and stay safe guys

NET2 surely it’s South Tyneside Council not Sunderland

Do people actually think that you would be daft enough to do it during the current isolation situation????

It's neither in Northumberland or County Durham, and the modern day equivalent of those is not Sunderland council (miles off) nor South and North Tyneside councils, it would be entirely in Tyne & Wear

I remember them in London, didn't they get rid of them after the King's Cross fire?

And isn't there one (or at least a part of it) at the London Transport Museum at Covent Garden? In my memories there was a section with a wooden escalator.

I was in London in 1985 and I remember a lot of wooden escalators still in the tube. Specifically Maida Vale near the B&B we were at for a while. Even at the time it seemed a bit dubious to my Canadian eyes.

I didn't even know wooden escalators existed, I'm 18.

The original Macy’s on 34th Street in Manhattan has wooden escalators, though I can’t remember if they replaced the steps with metal ones or not.

I thought I remembered wooden escalators from my time in London. I had been in London for a month when that fire occurred but somehow missed hearing about it. Young me not paying attention, much?

They wern't all removed. Greenford had one until 2014. I think it was only ones that were actually underground that were removed. Unusually at Greenford the Underground platforms are above ground, so the escalators went up from ground level.

I remember all sorts of wooden escalators on the Underground. IIRC the Victoria and Jubilee lines always had metal escalators, but pretty much everything older was wooden before the fire. It was just the treads of the steps that were wooden, not the machinery, of course. I remember the handrails were often an ancient rubber that was probably more flammable than the wood! The landing platforms could be wooden as well as the balustrades (the sides).

They had already been replacing them with metal ones when the wooden ones were life-expired. After the KX fire they simply accelerated the process and replaced all the remaining wooden ones below ground whatever the state of repair.

@@jonathancombe9991 Greenford is also interesting as it has signs to the "British Rail" bay platform. Never changed as it's been a London Transport then London Underground station ever since BR was a thing. I remember when there were two escalators at Greenford and a pedestrian tunnel under the mainline to get to the mainline platforms which were still open in the late 1960's (now long closed of course)

I did this last week

johnny5057. I think you'll find Critall windows were much, much earlier than that. I have been aware of Critall Windows since I was a kid in the late 1940's and early 50's, because some of the houses on our 'estate' in south London had Critall windows, where most of them had wooden window frames. I knew these houses to be ones that were bomb damaged during the war. However, the church hall where I help run a Scout Group (or will, when we are eventually allowed to) was built in 1927 with....Critall Windows. As was my old primary school from 1928 (now rebuilt so none of the original survives.) In fact, as google will tell you, Critall windows have been around since about the mid eighteen - eighties! Like most successful British companies, they got taken over and bought and sold and bought and sold. So, I'm not sure what nationality they are, but they still exist, in roughly the same place they have been for at least a hundred years. They had a factory (which I remember, so up to at least 1965 when I got my driving licence) on a junction/roundabout on the A2 - Foots Cray, I think? - which is still called 'Critall's Corner'.

10,000 steps must be the equivalent to a 15 story building though

That may only apply in London...

If course it's a 15 story building!! Geoff wouldn't have it any other way!!

I was just going to say that

Macy's in New York City still has wooden escalators. I think wooden escalators were banned in Canada (or at least Ontario) after the Kings Cross fire, because the only one I know of in Toronto is walled off.

Suppose you haven't watch their "All The Stations" videos.

The uplighters still exist at Southgate and Tooting Broadway. Sadly most others were lost to "modernisation". Gants Hill was a particularly sad loss, they blended well with the remarkable underground concourse.

@@iankemp1131 Cheers Ian. I should have remembered about Southgate as that station is near where I live in N London ! 😎

@Chris Fosdyke Tyne and Wear is a Ceremonial and metropolitan county... As much a county as Northumberland or Durham. Cleveland was an administrative county... After living in Newcastle for 30 years I can assure you that Newcastle hasn't been part of Northumberland since 1974 and Gateshead not part of Durham since then either...

The historical counties of England still exist and are alive and well in many organisations. Football clubs in Gateshead or South Shields are answerable to the Durham F.A. and churches there are in the Diocese of Durham. These are just 2 examples. Metropolitan Counties were created in the 1970s to amalgamate high density population areas from the edges of adjoining counties for ease of administration but by the mid 90s had become failures. Most of these ‘new’ counties exist now in name only with no administrative power. The local council areas from within these created counties have become Unitary Authorities fulfilling the functions of both local and county councils. Indeed both the post 1974 counties of Durham and Northumberland became single tier Unitary Authorities themselves in 2009. In effect the local authorities from the created counties have become mini counties in their own right as Sunderland, Newcastle, South Tyneside or Hartlepool have the same powers as Northumberland or County Durham. Cleveland have retained Police and Fire Services and Tyne and Wear has retained Fire Services but shares it’s police with Northumberland. In most other respects Cleveland and Tyne and Wear are non functioning lines of an address that even Royal Mail says isn’t needed provided you use a postcode. In retrospect the new counties have been expensive failures and one wonders if it would have been cheaper and easier to continue with our historical counties as administrative units the larger ones with 2 tier governance and the smaller ones as Unitary Authorities?

No getting out more while this Cortana virus is about...

@@trueriver1950 Too true! I'm stuck at home with the kids for three months with my immune-compromised wife :-( Oh well, looks like I'll be watching more videos like this...

The wooden escalators in the tunnel are the longest wooden escalators in the world, fun fact right there.

A Vikki special on the London underground's worst fire would be well received.

Our wooden escalators survived because they hadn't been used for years before the tunnel was closed for renovation. Once the shipyards closed, there was very little traffic through the tunnels. Not many people in Howdon need to get to Jarrow and vice versa, and the 19 bus through the road tunnel is a lot quicker if you're on foot.

Counties are a mess, are we talking ceremonial, historic or local authorities

Yes, after 1974 the whole tunnel is now in the county of Tyne & Wear. I was born in Gateshead on the south bank of the Tyne when it was in County Durham but moved within a week to Wallsend which was in Northumberland. Both of course now in Tyne & wear

I pronounced it more like Ready-uff, although to be honest I rarely actually say it's name. My favourite thing about it is there's no pavement on the northbound road so when you're upstairs on a double decker you look straight down to the Tyne. Many a time have I witnessed drug deals on the quayside from up there!

@@animationcreations42 I once drunkenly walked across the entire length of the Redheugh on the wrong side of the fence. It was really windy and at one point my hat blew off and I saw it spiral down into a speck in the river and all of a sudden I felt very exposed.

I work right next to it, it’s pronounced red-hugh

It’s pronounced rejuf

Tim Daugherty usually Geoff’s videos are longer. Vicki Explores videos are shorter but more interesting.

Paul Devey thought they are banned

None Underground.

I believe their are one or two still in the 'secret' government tunnels at Corsham in Wiltshire. They were borrowed during WW2 to allow the workers access but were never returned. I can't remember the site(s) they were removed from but one may have been St Paul's. So they are still underground but not on The Underground. In fact they are now scheduled monuments see historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1409125 . The BBC site at www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/image_galleries/escalator_c_exit_burlington_site3_gallery.shtml?1 shows some images and also says one at least was destined for Holborn Station.

It's only just been restored ... give it time. :)

Macy's department store on 34th Street in New York City still has quite a few wooden escalators.

Yes, I also thinking of how it compared to Greenwich.

The Kings Cross Tube Station fire, did for wooden escalators in London.

@@niamh_20yep, tottaly!

All gone the last was removed from Greenford in 2014 it was not subject to the Section 12 regulations as Greenford station is above ground so lasted longer than the others. One of the few (only ?) where you get an escalator up to the underground platform.

Never used to be like that prior to the refurbishment

July 2022 ... just seen in the local paper, the glass escalors are still not operational. PATHETIC !!

You're right, the administrative County of Tyne & Wear has since 1974 been on both sides of the River Tyne... I was wondering who else would spot it 😀

@@jeg1972 Tyne & Wear is no more. It was abolished by Mrs Thatcher. Howdon is in the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside, Jarrow is part of the MB of South Tyneside.

@@roderickjoyce6716 That's not strictly true, the County Council was abolished in 1986 but it's still a metropolitan county

@Chris Fosdyke it's still a metropolitan County; en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyne_and_Wear

I was born in 1961 and can’t remember any wooden escalators. (There were a very few escalators near where I lived, none with visible wooden parts.) But I rarely left Illinois as a child and only occasionally went to Chicago.

Surely they aren't putting these back into operation?

@@caw25sha They would be safe now we are no longer allowed to smoke.

@@markiangooley I was referring to the London Underground network.

@@tonys1636 Other things could catch fire, like the insides of the escalator due to friction or malfunction

Longest in the world actually.