017 - Angel
Best known for having the longest escalators on the London Underground (and indeed the whole UK), and a very wide southbound platform - both products of the station's 1990s reconstruction. Angel was the terminus of the City and South London Railway between 1901 and 1907, was upgraded in the 1920s, then entered a long period of decay culminating in the decrepit state beautifully depicted in "Heart of the Angel", the 1989 BBC documentary on the station by Molly Dineen. The 1990s rebuild brought escalators (but sadly not step-free access, lots of red marble and a postmodern office block overhead, which is itself now facing redevelopment. In this episode we also look at plans for Crossrail 2, the disused City Road station to the south (now the Bunhill 2 district heating project), and the unique disused subterranean signal cabin at Weston Street to the north. A full list of references for all sources used for this episode is available here