I heard from Dr Z that this was open and headed down that way. What he didn't tell me about though was the jungle that surrounds it. Ended up getting lost for several days climbing through rhododendron bushes, falling over anti-tank dragon’s teeth (there's a lot of them, unless they were the same ones I kept coming across), going through peoples' gardens (went too far to the east), and kicking the odd fox (teach them to be so bloody odd). Ace work by Soylent Green only taking 2 hours to find it
Deepdene was the wartime HQ of Southern Railway – the four British railways were the key to transporting troops, munitions, and more or less everything around the country, and each of them had emergency HQs (e.g. The Grove for LNER at Watford and Scotland Street for LMS railway in Edinburgh). The underground part was where the command and control was located, though the command part probably spent more time in the more comfortable Deepdene Hotel.
The bunker was built around some existing caves which were extended into the greensand slope and then a vertical shaft was built up to the slope above as an emergency exit via a spiral stair. The current access to the site is through one of the low level entrances (no. 3) which is great – that spiral stair looks a killer.
It had mechanical ventilation and a radiator in each room, and even had Mr and Mrs Fat Controller staying over when there were raids going on. They all liked it so much that they (by then British Rail) were still working done there till the mid 1960’s (didn’t anyone tell them we’d won?). Then it was abandoned for years till some bloody kids started a fire in 1997. It's now said to be asbestos contaminated
Thanks to DrZ for the lead
SubBrit’s plan
The emergency exit with a very classy "beware of the leopard" sign
Switchboard
Room R13, site of the 1997 fire
Room R14
Room R7 (wartime Control Room)
Room R2
Wartime and post-war telephone exchange
Deepdene was the wartime HQ of Southern Railway – the four British railways were the key to transporting troops, munitions, and more or less everything around the country, and each of them had emergency HQs (e.g. The Grove for LNER at Watford and Scotland Street for LMS railway in Edinburgh). The underground part was where the command and control was located, though the command part probably spent more time in the more comfortable Deepdene Hotel.
The bunker was built around some existing caves which were extended into the greensand slope and then a vertical shaft was built up to the slope above as an emergency exit via a spiral stair. The current access to the site is through one of the low level entrances (no. 3) which is great – that spiral stair looks a killer.
It had mechanical ventilation and a radiator in each room, and even had Mr and Mrs Fat Controller staying over when there were raids going on. They all liked it so much that they (by then British Rail) were still working done there till the mid 1960’s (didn’t anyone tell them we’d won?). Then it was abandoned for years till some bloody kids started a fire in 1997. It's now said to be asbestos contaminated
Thanks to DrZ for the lead
SubBrit’s plan
The emergency exit with a very classy "beware of the leopard" sign
Switchboard
Room R13, site of the 1997 fire
Room R14
Room R7 (wartime Control Room)
Room R2
Wartime and post-war telephone exchange
