I Think, Therefore I Amersham

A Metropolitan station that’s a long way from the metropolis.

[AverytheCubanAmerican]

Edward Watkin: British rail should go all the way to Paris.
Brits then: Ha, that's a funny joke, Edward!
Channel Tunnel: is completed in 1994
Edward Watkin's ghost: *Who's laughing now?*

Watkin very much DID want a Channel tunnel to be built early on. He was on the board of Chemins de fer du Nord which was a railway based in Calais, and he even dug a 2, 020 yard-pilot tunnel between 1880 and 1881 at Shakespeare Cliff near Dover (the entrance to said tunnel still exists but is closed). Despite his attempts, Queen Victoria (who called it "objectionable") and Parliament were against it because they feared it would weaken national defense. They thought France would use it to invade them.

[MrFantasnick]

There are many maps in this episode ! One might say….Des cartes 😉

[SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

If it wasn't for Watkin, Wembley wouldn't be so famous. I assure you, Watkin was definitely obsessed with Paris. He wanted to build a tower like the Eiffel Tower that could beat its height called the "Great Tower of London" at Wembley Park. The tower began construction in 1892 but it was never completed and was demolished in 1907. The site of the tower is now occupied by Wembley Stadium. Watkin purchased a tract of land adjacent to the route of the Metropolitan Railway at Wembley with the goal of building an amusement park laid out with boating lakes, a waterfall, ornamental gardens (the park land had previously been landscaped by Humphry Repton and known as Wembley Park in the 18th century), and cricket and football pitches. The crowning icon of this park would've been the tower.

Without Watkin's pleasure gardens and station, it is unlikely that the British Empire Exhibition would have been held at Wembley, which in turn would have prevented Wembley becoming either synonymous with English football or a successful popular music venue. Without Watkin, it is likely that the district would have simply become inter-war semi-detached suburbia like the rest of west London.

[nirgunapa]

Amershamed to say I've never been there, but now I have...

[phaasch]

" In those wet fields, the railway didn't pay- the Metro stops at Amersham today".

[PokhrajRoy.]

You deserve a standing ovation for the title of this video! 👏🏽 #RenéGadeThinking

[michaelwright]

That clock face at 7:12 is very elegant--Swiss railways, eat your modernist heart out.

[MrMontage]

If any of you happen to end up here early morning, please visit the sandwich shop when you turn left out the main doors - they serve a full English breakfast in a bap the size of a dinner plate

[zitzong]

Amersham the station which is only for the bold, valiant souls with enough money for the fare, amongst our society, who dare to travel out to the mysterious area of the tube map of Zone 9.

[paulusthegrey]

Glad to see the Jago pun machine is in good working order.

[highvoltageswitcher]

👍 I remember watching a documentary, I think it was called “Metroland”. It stared Sir John Betjeman waxing lyrical, as only he could, about the possible expansion of the much maligned suburbs.

[gwenever]

I love Amersham Station, my Aunt worked in the ticket office for 40 years before she retired.

[alejandrayalanbowman]

Hi Jago from Spain. My first encounters with the Metropolitan were back in 1957 when I used to travel from Preston Road to Stanmore and back daily, changing at Wembley Park. The Metropolitan carriages, then, were slam-door stock hauled by a loco - many memories.

[tomwilmott]

My grandparents always referred to the MSL as "Mucky, Slow, and Late". fun times in north lincolnshire

[scottpankonin]

It is still far out in the countryside (from my place in the London bubble, anyway). That far out, on the approach they change the next station announcement to include a "Hear-ye, hear-ye..."

[iankemp]

Amersham is in fact the highest point on the line through the Chilterns as the route climbs over a hump between the Chess and Misbourne valleys, so even before the cutback of Aylesbury services it was the highest station on the Metropolitan Railway and London Transport. Most of the bank from Rickmansworth is at 1 in 105 and presented a stiff test in steam days for Met and GC trains alike.

[chrisnmayor]

Come for the pun - stay for the trains...😁

[sarran]

Hello Jago,
Wow.. this takes me back to the '60s, when we would go from Chorleywood to Amersham to visit the BRAND NEW swimming pool.
Cordialement,

[Mgameing]

Amazing video! I used to live in Amersham Old Town and I can tell you. Amersham-On-The-Hill (where the station is) feels seperate from Amersham Old Town still to this day. I used to always catch the route 1 to get to the train station. Honestly Amersham Met Line trains are not busy at all because most passengers take the faster Chiltern service to London but there are still a handful of people taking the All Stations Met Line trains.

[Pinkybum]

Finally I got one: "Locomotives to my wooden coaches!"