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Description: | This is one of the station platforms two days after a bomb ruptured the tunnel at Balham Underground station on 14 October 1940. In the foreground, the platform is covered with glass and water. In the background, a pile of rubble partially blocks one of the subway entrances and has spilled onto the track.
Four members of London Transport staff and 64 shelterers died, buried alive by the mass of ballast, sand and water that came through the hole in the tunnel ceiling. The blast blocked the exit, and the platform became submerged in the slimy mud from the burst mains and sewer pipes.
However, many of the 600 sheltering in the Underground station that night were able to escape using the emergency hatch, thanks to the efforts of a London Transport motorman.
This bomb attack was one of the worst single incidents of the war, happening on one of the nights of heaviest bombing since the Blitz began. Up to 400 people were killed and 900 seriously injured. It was three months before the line could be reopened. | Format: | image/jpeg | Publisher: | London Transport Museum | Rights holder: | Transport for London | Subjects: | Transport London at War | Temporal: | 16 Oct 1940 | Source: | London Transport Museum | Identifier: | http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/rser... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | image/jpeg | Go to resource |
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