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All aboard: Tube staff wear 1907 dress on the Northern Line's Centenary celebration special trains

Golders Green was one of 15 London Tube stations celebrating the Northern Line's 100th birthday on Friday.

To mark the occasion, Transport for London (TfL) arranged three non-stop, two-hour, £20 trips in original '38 Stock' carriages for train enthusiasts.

The 69-year-old train travelled from Golders Green, around the Kennington Loop, and back.

Passengers were greeted by station staff, dressed in the traditional Edwardian costume of Golders Green, handing out chocolate coins and a book about the line's history.

One of the passengers, Jack Welby, said: "It was a very smooth ride and the train driver allowed people to see into his cab to see how the line works, which is very rare because of health and safety factors.

"The Kennington Loop was also very interesting, as passengers normally never get to experience it."

The Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway, known then as the Hampstead Tube', and now one half of the Northern Line, was opened on June 22, 1907, by David Lloyd George, President to the Board of Trade and later Prime Minister.

It became the Northern Line in 1937. The track was extended to East Finchley in 1939, High Barnet in 1940, and Mill Hill East in 1941.

The line is 36.1 miles long, serves 51 stations and carries more than 650,000 passengers on a weekday.

Almost all of the original stations' street-level buildings were designed by Leslie Green in the Arts and Crafts Classical style, with distinctive terracotta facades and green/cream tiled ticket halls.

Stations had stone-edged concrete platforms, with garden seats and a large-dialled electric clock, many of which have survived.

A TfL spokesman said: "It was quite spectacular, really. The 38 Stock is burgundy red with a wooden interior and is very different from modern trains. It was a great day out for anyone who might have travelled on it in its day."

Joining the celebrations were other Northern Line stations: Charing Cross, Leicester Square, Tottenham Court Road, Goodge Street, Warren Street, Euston, Morning Crescent, Camden Town, Chalk Farm, Belsize Park, Hampstead, Kentish Town, Tufnell Park and Archway.

11:20am Wednesday 27th June 2007

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