Darth Vader's Catwalk by Aaron Yeoman

Kings Cross Underground Station, London, England I haven't forgotten about you all here on Flickr, just been so busy, a lot of stuff going on at the moment so my photography has taken a little bit of a back seat. So I thought I would treat you all. Going back a few years ago I visited this awesome new tunnel as part of Kings Cross Underground redevelopment. I spent an age here taking various photos and different POVs. It took me a while to like this one as the way the tunnel curves away makes the floor not flat in the distance. If you have not been to this tunnel well you must! Its great and quite unique to London, I don't know any other tunnel like it in London (correct me if I am wrong). Location Information The first underground station at King's Cross opened as part of the original section of the Metropolitan Railway in 1863 and was rearranged in 1868 and 1926. New platforms for the sub-surface lines of the Underground were opened about 400 m (440 yd) to the west in 1941 to make interchanging between the sub-surface lines and the tube lines easier; the 1868 platforms later became the former King's Cross Thameslink station, which closed on 9 December 2007 when the Thameslink service moved to St Pancras International. One of the platforms may be seen from Underground trains between the present station and Farringdon. The Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR, now part of the Piccadilly line) platforms opened with the rest of the line in December 1906, while the City & South London Railway (C&SLR, now part of the Northern line) arrived in May 1907. The Victoria line platforms came into use on 1 December 1968 with the opening of the second phase of the line. The Victoria line escalators cut through the location of the original Piccadilly line lifts. Memorial plaque to the 1987 fire in the station On 18 November 1987 the station was the scene of a devastating fire that killed 31 people. The cause was attributed to a lit match falling into the space under the escalator, setting fire to the grease and rubbish present there, then to the wooden parts of the escalator. The then-unknown fire phenomenon of the trench effect made the fire develop upwards and finally caused it to explode into the station. As a result, fire safety procedures on the Underground were tightened, staff training was improved and wooden steps on escalators were replaced with metal ones. The existing prohibition of smoking throughout the London Underground network was tightened. Due to the extensive damage caused by the fire, it took over a year to repair and reopen the station; the Northern line platforms and the escalators from the ticket hall to the Piccadilly line remained closed until 5 March 1989. On 7 July 2005, as part of a co-ordinated bomb attack, an explosion in a Piccadilly line train travelling between King's Cross St Pancras and Russell Square resulted in the deaths of 26 people. http://flic.kr/p/UUkD7b