Topical Tube Photos of the Week

One way or another the London Underground has been in the national news a lot lately. Here's a few Flickr pictures from me and others that represent some of the topics.

Heathrow Terminal 5 Opening

You can't have failed to notice that the press think it's one big FAIL.

My favourite Tube shot related to this is from James Cridland who visited & (I think) flew from there yesterday.


He notes that the font used is also not the official London Underground font.

Tube Film Criticised

The BBC & Channel 4 both report on Mackenzie Crook's new Tube film Three and Out and it has been criticised by ASLEF's union leader for making a comedy out of suicide & portraying Tube staff as "callous self seeking half wits". This was before the Union leader had even seen a shot of the film.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a press preview screening of the Three and Out last week and the film is far from what it's being made out to be. Here's a picture from the press pack.


London Underground do not let any professional film crew on the London Underground without prior approval and I imagine they also had a PR person with them on the entire shoot. I was on Arena a couple of years ago for about five minutes - the shoot took several hours and we were accompanied by a LU PR person for the whole shooting time. Personally, I think the producers of Three and Out handled the suicide issues well.

Taking Photos on the Tube makes you a Terrorist

The Times report on how street photographers face difficulties with public concern rising over terrorism and paedophilia (nice). "In the past year, the photography blogs have buzzed with tales of harassment, even violence.... There's the amateur photographer punched prostrate in the London Tube after refusing to give up his film to a stranger....

"Now, a new poster campaign by the Metropolitan Police is inviting Londoners to call a hotline if they don't like the look of a photographer. 'Thousands of people take photos every day,' runs the text. 'What if one of them seems odd?' The poster states that terrorists use cameras for surveillance. Life with a camera might be about to turn tougher."


Here's a lucky shot by me taking a picture of a guy on the Tube with the said Police campaign in view.

If you've seen or taken a topical Tube picture (or even one that spoofs it) please send to me and comments, as normal, welcome below.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, March 31, 2008 Permalink

Madonna doesn't use the Tube & criticises London Transport

Shock horror Madonna isn't a London Underground commuter. The press are all over Madonna's recent interview in Q magazine where she "hits out at London's transport network".

According to the Press Association: "The star criticised the congestion charge, the Tube and complained that traffic was worse than ever.

Madonna, 49, often spotted cycling around the capital but also using chauffeur-driven limousines, told Q magazine: "I would make it so that young musicians, aspiring musicians wouldn't have to pay the congestion charge or pay taxes."

"Will Ken Livingstone get my vote? No. The traffic in London is worse than ever now. All Red Ken wants is roadworks going on everywhere." She added: "Don't use The Tube; can't use the roads? No. I'll just have to walk I guess."

Jesus wept, the reason she doesn't use the Tube is that she would get mobbed if she did. She's an A list mega star. Just because she doesn't use it is hardly a criticism of it.



It's funny because if Madonna loved the London Underground, why couldn't she even make herself appear with the "kids" in a Tube carriage for the video Hung up?

Londonist said of the video: "And then we see a phenomenon that will be all too familiar to every Londoner: the sassy dance-off on the Tube. We've lost count of the times that rival gangs of urban youth on the Tube train attempt to top each other with their funky moves, only to be put in their place by an even funkier zaftig woman in sequins. Note that the LED display announcing the next stop has been turned off, and all the ads have been removed. The upholstery and layout clearly identifies this as a Jubbly line train of the 1996 type (notice the "perch seats"), but how did they get the yellow handrails replaced with chrome ones?"

And Tube expert SK in a quiz on this blog confirmed this was true "I've just compared this picture from the video, with pictures of other tube stock, and it is absolutely 100% definitely a Jubilee Line 96TS."

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, March 30, 2008 Permalink

London Underground Strike - Dates announced today

Today we find out when the next London Underground Strike will be. Yesterday RMT union members voted by a margin of five to one for strike action in defence of safety on the Tube.


Strike dates will be announced today at a press conference to be held at RMT head office from 11.30am.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "This vote reveals the strength of feeling among our members that the safety and security of the network, for staff and passengers alike, will not be compromised under any conditions."

Yesterday's ballot results open the way for joint action with fellow Tube union TSSA, whose own members voted for strike action earlier this month.

The RMT press release says: "The unions are opposing management attacks on safety standards and the casualisation of safety-critical work."

UPDATE - Thanks to Fimb who commented the dates have been announced. From 6.30pm on Sunday, April 6th 2008 until 6.30pm on Wednesday, April 9th 2008. There's still, I suppose, some hope that the unions & London Underground will come to an agreement before the actual dates come around.

Naturally London Underground has responded calling the strike action "unnecessary". Howard Collins, Deputy COO said: "These issues have nothing whatsoever to do with safety, and not a single job is at risk.

"All of the issues raised by the RMT are already being addressed through the normal negotiating process. Significant progress has already been made and most of the issues have been agreed. The RMT's announcement does not mention the progress that has already been made. There is simply no reason for a strike, or even the threat of one, as all of the issues being raised can be resolved.

"A strike by the RMT would lose staff pay and inconvenience the travelling public to no purpose whatsoever. It is entirely unnecessary and we should get on with sorting out these issues through the normal negotiating process."

UPDATE - The Tube Strike has now been called off.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, March 28, 2008 Permalink

Three and Out - Preview Screening - The Verdict

OK, so last night I was lucky enough to be invited to the preview screening of Mackenzie Crook's new film about a London Underground driver, Three and Out. It had ruffled the feathers of ASLEF general secretary Keith Norman without him even seeing it.

It portrays a Tube driver who learns about the "Three and Out rule". The rule says that if a Tube Driver experiences three people who are hit & killed by their train (a "one under") within a month they get laid off work and receive 10 times their annual salary as a pay off.


Here's the trailer that gives you more of an idea of the film:


So armed with popcorn and having had a free beer, me, LJ Rich, Madame Miaow & Brian Pigeon's PR Agent, Lisa went to watch the film.

Plus points - there are a couple of massive twists that I won't reveal here that make the film quite interesting. London Underground obviously approved all filming and the script, so Keith Norman's worries about the industry being disrespected for their work and being made to look like "callous, self seeking halfwits" seemed not to be a concern to the London Underground.

It doesn't belittle suicide and people who are suicidal or make a joke out of either. The Samaritans were consulted in the making of the film.

My worry is that it was trying to hard to tick a lot of these controversial subjects and ended up being not a comedy, not a film about the complex issues behind suicide and not a film about how far someone might potentially go for their own self gain.

It was about half an hour too long. There was a really embarrassing sex scene between Mackenzie Crook and the new Bond girl Gemma Arterton (I'm not a prude but it made me squirm). Mackenzie Crook, to me, seemed to be going through the motions & not injecting the pathos of The Office's Gareth to the role.


However, Colm Meaney, the suicidal guy that Crook's character eventually found to jump beneath his train to get the big pay off was very good. Anthony Sher camped it up as a French cannibal who Crook's character mistakenly thought might be a potential suicide victim. Kerry Katona was ... er ... Kerry Katona. Mark Benton, was also a little wasted as Vic, Crook's friend and original reporter of the "Three and Out" rule.

People laughed during the film, but not big belly laughs. There was a bit of romance but it wasn't quite believable for Arterton's character to suddenly fall for Crook because he was "different".

The Tube stuff was fine. Nice scene setting with mice running over the lines. Lots of it clearly shot on real Tube trains. It made London Underground staff look fairly normal and far from the "callous self seeking halfwits" which Norman mentioned above.

So no overall verdict from me, try to see it for yourself when it comes out on the 25th April and share your thoughts after you've seen the entire film - it's not as black and white as Mr Norman from ASLEF states. Thanks to the producers for the invite.

UPDATE - well A LOT has happened to the film since this screening - see the premiere pictures of Three and Out & ASLEF's leafletting of the premiere.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, March 28, 2008 Permalink

Boris on the Tube (literally)

Well done to eagle eyed Dan Brown (not the Da Vinci Code one) for spotting Mayoral candidate,Boris Johnson, quietly sitting on the London Underground that clearly didn't look like part of the Mayoral campaigning


Dan said: "Sadly I couldn't see what he was reading".

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 27, 2008 Permalink

Breakfast on Pluto Tube Quiz

I've just finished watching the DVD of Breakast on Pluto which stars one of my favourite actors - the beautiful Cillian Murphy, one of my favourite directors - Neil Jordan (The Crying Game is one of my all time favourite films) and based on the novel by Patrick McCabe one of my favourite Irish authors. What's this got to do with the London Underground? Plenty. How many times can I get favourite into one sentence? Plenty.

The film is based in the 1970's and tells the story of Patrick "Kitten" Braden, growing up in Ireland and how he becomes a transexual, moves to London, gets involved with the IRA, is part of the 1970's Soho pub bombings, is the son of a Catholic priest and is in constant search for his real mother (and none of that's spoiling the plot). While he's in London there are lots of scenes on the London Underground, but it's a Tube of the Seventies, full of flares, platform heels, big taches & mad long hairstyles.


So I thought it might be fun to do a quiz based on the film.

There's are even a few small prizes. There's a surprise prize for each first person to get questions 4 or 6 correct. Plus a little prize for the person who is first to get the most correct.

1. Can you name the Tube Station that Cillian's character, Brendan, is at in the picture above?

2. Brendan is always looking for his real mother. He spots who he thinks is her on the Tube and chases after her but the doors close before he can reach her.

Which station is she getting on at?


3. This shot of Brendan watching his mother disappear is at what point in the YouTube clip of the film below?




4. Here's a selection of books from my favourite Irish authors. Name one (book or author) that is not mentioned somewhere in this blog?


5. Actually, I made a mistake - one of the writers from the picture above was born in Ireland but did not spend most of their life there. Which one was it?

6. Where can you find my favourite Breakfast on Pluto picture? (NB: I'm actually looking for a precise link here)

You have a week to make your guesses and the competition closes at 11.59pm UK time on the evening of the 2nd April 2008. Please remember to leave an email address or at least a blog address if you wish to be in with a chance of winning, as I will need to contact the lucky people to get their prizes to them. Have fun!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 27, 2008 Permalink

Heathrow Terminal 5 opens today - new Piccadilly Line Station

A lot of you will be interested in this. As a local resident who lives well within earshot of Heathrow Airport, I'm not.

If you want to see the pictures of the new station I wrote a post on this a few weeks ago when the Queen opened Terminal 5. Enjoy.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 27, 2008 Permalink

No interchange at Bank and Monument stations

I'm so pleased that I don't have to use Bank station anymore - the whole area around there & Monument was mystifying. You always felt that you were walking forever underground, in the back of your mind knowing that the walk between lines around there might be faster completed above ground.


However I can't pretend to understand what's going on there at the moment and will let Chris tell the story:

"London Underground are shutting the interchanges at the Bank/Monument complex from the 31st of March for over a year. No more interchanges between Bank and Monument at all, and within Bank, interchanges between DLR / Central / Northern / Waterloo & City are severely limited, by the looks of things:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/7763.aspx

This is especially bad for people who use the DLR (like me) - the DLR/Central Line escalators have only just fully reopened after being in restricted service (only an up escalator rather than both directions and so lots of overcrowding) since last summer for maintenance work, so all that was for nothing. And from June 2008 till April 2009 Tower Gateway is shut for expansion works, so Bank will be the only station on the DLR in central London so it'll be even more crowded - and you won't be able to change onto any other line apart from the Northern Line once you get there.

I'm mystified as to why they've timed this like this - it's going to be really inconvenient for anyone trying to come into central London on the DLR without diverting via Canary Wharf & the Jubilee, and I'm especially annoyed we've only been given 11 days notice for what's over a year of disruption.

Anyway, I know maintenance needs to be done but this looks really badly managed from my point of view."

If anyone has any views as to why they've done it that way please make yourself known in the comments.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Permalink

Taking pictures of yourself on the London Underground

Bare flesh alert, Bare flesh alert. Just to be clear I did not take the pictures below astromatt76 did, but I do like them as they illustrate how some people like using the backdrop of the Tube when taking pictures of themselves:


You can see from the pictures that these girls were making quite a thing of fluffing up their hair, adjusting their make-up etc before taking a shot of themselves. I would imagine that the resulting pictures they took ended up on Facebook.


"Us on the Tube getting ready for a gr8 nite out LOL!" as a possible caption.

Thanks to astromatt76 for being so observant although from the reflection in the window I bet the rest of the carriage were watching in amusement too.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, March 26, 2008 Permalink

Ninjas get free Train Rides in Japan Plus Straphanging while you Sleep

Sorry to begin with the "only in Japan" introduction, but seriously where else but in Japan would people who dressed up as Ninjas get free travel on the railway?


Japan Probe report that passengers dressed in ninja costumes will be given free travel along the Iga Tetsudo line from April 1 to May 6 to mark the city's popular ninja festival.

"Each year, the festival is held centered on Iga's main districts, with ninja being the focus. Most events have a ninja theme, including the chance to try out ninja shuriken throwing stars." (I have absolutely no idea what that means but it sounds painful) "One of the more popular attractions at the festival is the practice of lending out ninja costumes and it is quite common to see families with everyone walking around the streets in ninja garb during the festival period."

My eye was drawn to an older related article at end of the Ninja post. "Drunk in the train (video)". I didn't play the drunk one but the video with the poor strap-hanger falling asleep on his feet is truly amazing:


How he manages to not fall flat on his face is totally beyond me. I love the fact that no one tries to wake him up. There's a classic part in the middle where a man keeps looking and looking at him in shock, but still decides not to wake him up. Then the poor guy falls off the strap and uses another seated sleeper's umbrella as prop to keep him upright & the pole to his left. Towards the end, he almost falls on top of the seated sleeping guy (whose umbrella he borrowed) who is nearest to him.

I have been known to sleep in all sorts of places and yes I have actually fallen asleep standing up once (fortunately only once) but I don't think even I could compete with this guy.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, March 25, 2008 Permalink

Happy White Easter from the London Underground

Well it's snowing then.


Looks much prettier without the train


Happy Easter Sunday from my study window.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, March 23, 2008 Permalink

ASLEF not happy with Mackenzie Crook's Tube Driver Film

I first heard about Mackenzie Crook's new "comedy" where he plays a London Underground Train Operator in January. "Three and Out" was due for release this spring. Well it's out next month and appears to have ruffled more than a few feathers with the transport union ASLEF (see the March issue of their journal below):



Keith Norman, their general secretary says: "The plot is almost equally depressing. The driver, it seems, is told about the 'three and out' rule. According to the publicity blurb, 'If you have three fatal accidents within a month, you're out of a job ... but with a huge pay off.' So the 'hero' sets out to find another suicide victim. If he finds one he will be given 'enough cash to pay off his debts and retire to a Scottish idyll'. Have you ever heard such nonsense? Clearly whoever wrote it knows nothing about train drivers and even less about their conditions. I'm mystified why writers choose subjects about which they're entirely ignorant."

I've not seen the film, so can't really comment at the moment on whether Keith Norman's had a sense of humour failure. It may come across as a massive, massive spoof that clearly isn't supposed to be taken remotely seriously. It may make them look like, & to quote Keith Norman, "callous self seeking half wits".

Who knows? Let's just hope they don't go on strike about it.

Update - I've now found the trailer to Three and Out - bear in mind it's a trailer and not the whole film.



UPDATE I was invited to a preview screening of Three and Out and here's my thoughts.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, March 22, 2008 Permalink

Why I really liked yesterday's TimeOut Pub Quiz

A number of people have met me in the flesh and when they do they are very often surprised. I've no real idea why that is. I have a lot of theories as to why that might be, the main two being that I'm not an anorak & that I'm a woman. Despite the majority of these blog posts saying "posted by Annie Mole" you would not believe how many people still think I'm a man.

As last night's quiz proved, I'm not a Tube expert. Seriously. This also surprises people. I am not a trainspotter, I have very little interest in the in's and out's of rolling stock, I don't take pictures of trains for the sake of it, I don't have a favourite Tube station. There's nothing wrong with people who do any of those things - it's just not me.

Anyway, I digress. My friend Rob from Qype (who I've known virtually since 2003 & first met in the flesh in 2004) interviewed Lloyd Davis (my blogging busker friend - I've still not done the notes from my interview & photoshoot with him - d'oh - he is always so nice about this whenever I apologise to him) and this is why I sometimes like meeting people offline.


I like blogging about the Tube. I'm nosy. I'm a people watcher, always have been, always will be. It's the social situations on the London Underground that I am very interested in. If that amounts to being obsessed by the London Underground, then you can say I am obsessed.

A number of my closest friends are people that I "met" initially online. All the companies that I work for know that I blog. They've all respected my wish for anonymity for which I am very grateful. Lately people have been trying to find me on Facebook. I don't update my page there much and don't have Facebook friends. It would simply take up too much time to blog AND maintain an Annie Mole page plus the one for the real me.

I like that my blog has finally started to become interesting to the public transport "establishment" TubeLines, TfL (they read it every day - although have never contacted me officially - I'm not "on message" surprise, surprise), CBS Outdoor (the guys that sell the Tube's advertising), the MD of a Rail Replacement Bus Company, and of course the fab London Transport Museum. The Times (rather surprisingly) list me as one of their best 50 business blogs. The blog allows me to be like "Harry Tuttle" in the video above & operate outside the establishment, bureaucracy & the mainstream media and yet still hopefully have some influence there & get things done.

Internet guru, Clay Shirky said if you talk to someone long enough online, you usually want to meet them in the flesh. He was asked what social tools were good to foster this and said "plane tickets & beer". We didn't need the plane tickets last night but there was plenty of beer.

Meeting people offline is usually great fun for me, but only if they're not going to talk about rolling stock all night!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 20, 2008 Permalink

Mouse on the London Underground Video

I've never been able to get a half way decent picture of Tube mice. The little things are way too fast to shoot (with a camera). So very impressed to see a video by Douglas Benford of a London Underground mouse.


Which reminds me I meant to blog this mouse story sent to me by fellow qyper dmj1962 and fellow West Londoner David, he said:

"Have always been interested in the mouse population on the Underground: I believe that studies have shown that each deep-level tube line has a genetically distinct population, resulting from them being isolated from each other.

My own mouse incident happened at Westminster's fine new Jubilee-District interchange. I was on my way to a seminar for senior managers in my organisation, and had to change from the District to the Jubilee lines in the morning rush hour. It was very busy, but on one of the levels of the new station, there was a petrified mouse stuck in the middle of the floor, trying to reach the edge, but failing due to the large number of people walking past. I felt sorry for the poor thing, and bent down, saying, 'hello - are you lost then?'. A moment later a voice behind me said, 'Good Morning, David!', and to my horror found that one of my senior colleagues had been standing behind me, as I was speaking to the mouse... I muttered an embarrased, 'Good morning' back, and joined him for the rest of the journey.

I hope the mouse was OK.."

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 20, 2008 Permalink

TimeOut - So you think you know London Pub Quiz

We clearly didn't

I'm sorry to say that we really let the blogging side down at the TimeOut London Pub quiz last night. We did well in becoming the team to be best at being pants and we actually came first when it came to having the least points. So I'd like to thank our stellar team for taking part. Regular contributor Jon Justice, James Whatley from Spinvox, Pete from the Londoneer, LondonFilmGeek, and representing fellow TimeOut best 50 listee Brian Pigeon - Lisa - his PR Agent.


Seriously though, when you are up against teams from The Museum of London (bloody intelligent bastards) & The Word Magazine, you know you're in for a hiding.

The Word Magazine's Team

So I thought I'd share with you a photographic & videographic flavour of the night. Our table was waiting for us - oh yeah we agreed on The London Pigeon Collective, as our name.


We first did the usual geeky thing of comparing mobile phones - although mine won for being so retro. James also did a video blog introduction.

Our "lucky" mascot had a go on a phone:


Although we got off to a good start. We didn't hold it. Sadly we couldn't even get top score on the "Victoria Line platform tiles round" for free beers - well actually we did, but lost out on the tiebreaker - "How many passenger journeys does the Victoria Line carry each year?" James Whatley took a video of that moment:

Anyway, I forget to say at the start that the quiz was to promote TimeOut Editor's Michael Hodges standing for London Mayor.

We were all given a stack of TimeOut's and Brian Pigeon's Agent Lisa, is seriously checking out the graphic novel inside, Don Pigeone.

>
Our notes weren't helpful and towards the end we almost gave up. Wonder if you can guess what the questions were if you look at the second picture?


So we thought you'd like to see how you measure up and we took a photo of the picture round. Which means you can take part in the photo round of the quiz from the comfort of your computer screen.


Do you know the answers to the picture round? If so please leave in the comments below.

Many thanks to Tom Ellen at TimeOut for organising such a fab quiz (and for inviting us) and once again thanks to my fellow team members for making the evening a hysterically funny night.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, March 19, 2008 Permalink

European Hit Bus Driver Game to launch in the US

Now I know this isn't London Underground related (move along if you want the Tube stuff) , but a bus driving simulation game called "Bus Driver" (which is apparently a big hit in Europe) will be crossing the shores to the US in May. I wonder if the threatened bendy bus will make it into the game? I suppose if no more are produced if Ken is re-elected or Boris elected, it would give the game that extra "must have" factor.


From the game maker, Meridian 4's press release I learnt the following:

"The game, which is already a success with fans in Europe, will be hitting our shores in May. So everyone behind the yellow line, get to the back of the bus and make sure you have exact change because this is going to be a great ride!"

Their Marketing Director said: "When I first saw the name Bus Driver, I said....really? After playing the game and learning of SCS Software's heritage with games like Deer Hunter II & III and the successful 18 Wheels of Steel series, I knew that Bus Driver would be a hit with the right audience. Bus Driver will catch you off guard and have you obsessed within minutes."

The CEO of SCS Software Pavel Sebor added: "Having successfully launched the game across Europe, we are delighted to partner with Meridian4 to bring Bus Driver to Northern American fans of the game."

There are 12 buses to drive – detailed models inspired by real-world buses, including London's double-decker bus, Europe's low floor buses (I don't know if that includes the bendy bus) America's school bus and many more.


I like the multiple duties you have such as transporting tourists, driving a school bus, sight-seeing tours and even the transportation of prisoners. I wonder what other duties they should fit in if they really wanted to mirror the "skills" & duties of a London bus driver (My brother's a bus driver on London United so I should ask him).

But here's a few suggestions:

1. Waiting for people to run up for the bus and then closing the doors at the last minute
2. Refusing to move the bus until hoodies or trouble makers get off
3. Hitting the Oyster card reader to try to make it work
4. Looking really miserable for most of the day until clocking off time
5. Speeding past a request stop when someone hasn't quite made it to stick out their hand in time (that's a variation on the first point)

Any more? Or if you've played the game what do you think of it?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Permalink

Donate your Oyster card to Charity

No, this isn't some oblique reference to the uber geeky story doing the rounds about "Oyster card hacking" (yes, I've seen it many times thanks), but a nice initiative that I saw at Liverpool Street station when I was on the way to James's Tube Carriage Office.


The idea is that if you've "finished" with your Oyster card you can drop it into this box and your deposit & the remaining amount will go to The Railway Children Charity. The charity supports street children living alone and at risk on the streets. It helps children all over the world, many of whom live in and around railway stations.

Liverpool Street is a good choice for this as it's used by a lot of tourists flying to Stansted Airport who may have bought an Oyster card for their stay and now have no further need for it.

Plus there may be some City types who've travelled down to London for business, are expensing their travel & don't think it's a big deal giving the balance & deposit to charity. I'd guess that most regular commuters wouldn't want to give their Oyster card away.

If anyone knows anything more about this service, I'd be interested in knowing how many cards are donated and how much has been raised for the charity.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Permalink

Bite Me - Discounted Railway Food

So I've just posted the above story about The Railway Children Charity and thought "Ah yes, I must blog about the BiTE discount card". It's a card where you can get 20% off food & drink in some railway station outlets.


In a weird coincidence it turns out that the company behind these cards (ssp.uk.com) is one of the largest supporters of the Railway Children Charity. Last year alone SSP, and their staff, suppliers and customers helped to raise £100,000.

Back to the card - you simply apply for it at this site. It takes a couple of weeks to arrive in the post and then you can use it at mainline railway shops like The Pasty Shop (a life saver to late night train travellers who've had one too many to drink), The Camden Food Co, Ixxy's Bagels going right down the fast food chain to Burger King.

I've used my card at The Pasty Shop loads of times and sometimes their Chicken & Mushroom pasty tastes like the best food in the world. Other times just the smell of one of a hot pasty will make me want to heave - so sorry if it's had that effect on you.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Permalink

Wish us luck in the TimeOut London Pub Quiz

And finally, I've put together a crack team of London bloggers & regular blog contributors to take part in a TimeOut London Pub Quiz, which I was very kindly invited to. Probably off the back of being one of their 50 Best London Websites (still blown away by that, so thanks muchly)

I'm allowed to blog about this one, so the team members are regular contributor Jon Justice, James Whatley from Spinvox, Pete from the Londoneer, LondonFilmGeek, and representing fellow TimeOut best 50 listee Brian Pigeon - Lisa his PR Agent (Hoorah for another chick on the team).



We're still trying to come to an agreement on the name for the team which we've got to give to Tom at TimeOut this morning. So will report back later.

UPDATE for a full report of how we did - in the quiz.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Permalink

Why I hope to never take a replacement bus service again

I wake up this morning to hear that the engineering works that seem to have been taking place every weekend on the District Line for the last month have over-run. What a surprise. Ah (7.45am) I've just seen a District Line heading towards Richmond, so reckon that they've just started running again.

On Saturday after coming home from a wonderful afternoon at the London Transport Museum, I stupidly decided to take the replacement bus services home.

allow an extra 50 minutes to complete your journey - surely some mistake

I got the Piccadilly Line to Hammersmith and a huge amount of people left the platform - this was because the Piccadilly Line also had engineering works and wasn't running between Hammersmith & Acton Town. A replacement bus service was in place to get us to our destinations. I'm skipping a lot here as after waiting around for about twenty minutes for a 391 I managed to get myself to Gunnersbury station through a combination of buses & walking - which took about 25 minutes.

Now I know that some smart alec is going to tell me that London Overground were running trains to Richmond and I should have picked up the train at Gunnersbury. But I forgot. With all the bus stuff going on & announcements about replacement buses I was in bus mode and it was a bus or nothing else to get home.

At Gunnersbury there was one Customer Service guy who appeared to be mute. By rote I jumped onto the replacement bus that was parked there thinking it was going to Kew Gardens. Normally replacement buses heading to Richmond stop at Gunnersbury. Normally replacement buses for the Piccadilly Line don't stop at Gunnersbury. There was NO signage at Gunnersbury bus stop to help.

Transport geeks are going to know what's about to happen now. The replacement bus I was on didn't go to Kew Gardens but sped off towards Acton Town. Quite a significant distance from where I needed to be.


The yellow jackets at Acton Town caught me fuming. I don't normally lose my temper but when I do it's not a pleasant sight. Let's just say they got the worst of me on public transport - I swore, I called them useless, I moaned about the lack of signage, I told them that no one knew what was going on, I said there were too many of them here and not enough at Gunnersbury, I complained with fellow confused passengers, I acted like their worst nightmare.

After a twenty minute wait, I got a replacement bus back to Gunnersbury (obviously I was now going to get the overground train back) and decided to look at the signage there. Nothing outside the station. When I got inside I saw the nicely printed sign below:


At Kew Gardens I saw this:


The ticket office was closed and there would not have been one member of staff to speak to had I wanted to. So never again. I will cut my losses the next weekend the trains aren't running & go and return via Waterloo.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, March 17, 2008 Permalink

Time Travelling with Metro-Land 1930's Housewife

This was my Ashes to Ashes or Life on Mars moment.


On Friday I mentioned that I might pop along to see one of the 1930's period actors that they have at the London Transport Museum. It was part of the longlisted Art Fund Prize nominees "Love your London Museum Day". Thanks to Jane Findlay - the LT Museum's very foresighted community curator for telling me all about it.

Mrs Dilys Muybridge (no idea where the name comes from but I bet it's an anagram) was very polite and well spoken & welcomed us to the stand. It's the weirdest thing talking in depth to someone pretending to be from the 1930's when you know they know you're from the future! Except you're not cos you're all obviously in the same period of time.

We chatted about house prices and she said that her seven bedroom house in Harrow Garden Village (roughly where Rayners Lane Tube is now) was about £700 and obviously not cheap. But for the same price she would have only got something much smaller in central London. Her family would have been looking to spend about £1,000 for a small house or apartment in the centre of town. However, she loved living in Metro-Land, and her husband only took 20 minutes to get to Baker Street and she could spend her days with the children, playing tennis or making the occasional trip to the shops.

She hadn't heard of Derry & Toms (huge old department store just off High Street Ken) when I asked her. It was only just being built in 1932, so that was no surprise. But she was "a most enthusiastic shopper". She didn't have a TV, "bit too expensive", but knew people who did. I used the TV to try to describe the Internet to her, as she was keen to find out why I was soooo interested in her.

I said think of it as a TV but with people from all over the world in it, who you can talk to and they talk back to you. "Wouldn't that be frightfully noisy?" she said. "It's bad enough with me and the children". "But they do it quietly", I laughed, "They're just typing". She looked noticeably relieved.

I then said I wanted to take her photo for the blog. "The what?". Oh gawd, how did I explain a blog - it's hard enough trying to do that to people in the 21st century. "Well it's like a diary". She looked happy: "Oh a journal, yes I keep one of those". "But people from around the world can look at it and they can make comments on it as well". I explained.

"Really, so people from the United States of America might be able to see me?"
"Yep"
"And they can learn about the Museum and where I live?"
"Yes"
"Fascinating, I'll put my best smile on then".

Which she did. I wish my knowledge of 1930's London extended beyond Hercule Poirot (she was a fan of his - he's also been the basis of some quizzes on this blog), but she really knew her stuff and we had a brill time.

Speaking of the Museum, this is just a final reminder to vote for the photos from last month's Flickr MiniMeet at the Museum that you'd like to see on their website. Voting closes at 11.59pm UK time. Ta muchly.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, March 16, 2008 Permalink

Which Tube Line has the Hottest Commuters?

You'd find it hard to miss the bright red box that's appeared on the right panel of my blog. It's promoting a survey that local review site Qype are running. They want to try to find out once & for all which London Underground Line has the best looking passengers. Also they're wondering if you've ever seen anyone you fancy on the Tube and whether you've done anything about it.

The survey seriously will only take you about three minutes to fill out (I did it this morning) and IF you give them your name & email address you could go into a draw to win an iPod Nano. But you don't have to do that part to still take part in the survey.

I definitely think that the Piccadilly Line has the hottest passengers, as you get a lot of trendy looking Soho, arty & theatre types going to Leicester Square & Piccadilly Circus. You further get the double whammy of people going to Holborn - so some quite nice suits in the legal profession, plus some geeky new media types coming from the West & going to Clerkenwell.

The ugliest Line in my opinion is the Waterloo & City Line. I do like some suits but the Waterloo & City ones are really pompous & work mainly in finance which seems to give the blokes a permanent sneer & the women that po faced, sucking a sour lemon look. My apologies if you use that line and don't fit into those wide generalisations.

So have fun completing the survey and Qype will publish the results at a later date.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, March 15, 2008 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

It's Friday and time to look at the TFV's or Tube Fashion Victims. Commuters who are uber trend setting so much that they will follow a trend regardless of how it makes them look.

This week we have our first canine victim and to be honest - it's a bit like with my friend last week in that he knew he was having his photo taken.

First he was a little camera shy


Then I was able to zoom in a little on his trendy camouflage harness.


Then I decided to identify myself to the dog's owner as he just wasn't playing ball or smiling for the camera. "Come on Elvis, this lady wants to take your photo", said his owner. Elvis - what a great name for a dog that permanently looks like it's doing the mother of all lip curls.


I had to find out where Elvis's clothes came from. It was part of the bestselling Orion Harness range from Puppia:


Anyway Elvis was a real sweetie and let me pet him & I'd like to thank his owner for letting me take the shot.

That's it for now. The previous victims can be found here and the complete picture gallery can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, March 14, 2008 Permalink

Olympic Training - Extra Cars on the DLR

Thanks to my work colleague for giving me the heads up on this. Mayor Ken and DLR chairman, Ian Brown launched the new Docklands Light Railway carriages at West India Quay yesterday morning.


The new carriages, have sleeker designs, larger windows and are in a bright red "reminiscent of the old London Underground pre-1960s livery". They'll form a substantial part of the DLR fleet throughout the London 2012 Games. Trains are being lengthened to three carriages to deal with growing passenger numbers from 2010.

However, as my colleague pointed out, the diagram Ken & co are carrying makes it look as though they are just moving from one car to two cars (ie 100% extra capacity). Surely it wouldn't have been difficult to have added an extra car to reflect the real three car situation?

If you'd like to see pictures of the trains actually running Ian has a post and some shots in his Flickr stream.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, March 14, 2008 Permalink

Mrs Metro-Land at the London Transport Museum

One of the good things about the new LT Museum were the people acting in the spirit of the time. This Saturday, the museum has an event where the eccentric "Mrs Dilys Muybridge" will tell visitors what it was like to live in Metro-Land. Or rather the suburban life of the 1930's.


I might try to pop along as it's amazing how well these actors manage to keep in character. The two below initially didn't want me to photograph them together because they are from different historical times.


Speaking of Metro-Land and the London Transport Museum, don't forget you can vote for the pictures from our recent Flickr Mini Meet that you'd like to see on the museum's site. Many thanks.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, March 14, 2008 Permalink

Heathrow Terminal 5 opened today - great

As someone who lives under the runway of Heathrow Airport, I'm not exactly dancing in the streets about Terminal 5's opening. I belong to the Kew Society and in fact have been actively campaigning against some of expansion of the airport and I strongly support HACAN's aims. So you'll have to forgive me for NOT getting my knickers in twist about the great opening by the Queen today.


This release about BAA's broken promises to local residents makes me feel sad and annoyed.

Anyway, I know that a lot of you probably are excited about the opening. Terminal 5's "insider" had been in touch with me some time ago (probably as a result of this post) and invited me & other bloggers I know to visit Terminal 5 in advance of its opening. I declined the invitation but instead asked a number of questions relating to the new London Underground station.

Here are the questions I asked on 11th February & answers I received on the 10th March (I've edited the answers slightly to allow for the insider's English - as English isn't his first language):

So - when will "guinea pigs" or the general public be able to test the new station?

Actually London Transport and BAA officers are already taking the Piccadilly line trains to Terminal 5, even if the station is not opened to public yet. NB - It opens to the public in about two weeks time.

What sort of signage is there in place or being planned around the Tube and where to make changes, where to travel to after you arrive etc, etc

All the signage in the Tube (on the Piccadilly Line) relative to the new T5 station is already in use and has been updated.

Will they be in different languages?

No, signage will be just in English

What about accessibility of the station entrances and exits? Assuming there's going to be space for people carrying large luggage and help for people who are disabled.

To enter and exit the station there are 4 lifts + 6 escalators

4 lifts has meant to allow access to T5 for disabled passengers and big luggage

What's the scheduling and roll out period for getting Terminal 5 added to the Tube car diagrams?

The tube has been already added the car diagrams

Also, the roof of the station has been made with the same material used for the Eden Project in Cornwall. It is a nice one.



So there you go. The full set of pictures of Heathrow Terminal 5 London Underground Station are here. Enjoy!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, March 14, 2008 Permalink

Man wanted over train sex attack

Fortunately this didn't happen on the Tube, but a bit of a cautionary tale for us ladies who fall asleep late at night on public transport (I do this on the London Underground all the time!).



"A woman fell asleep on a train and awoke to find a man sexually assaulting her.

British Transport Police believe the attacker preyed on the 26-year-old as she dozed on a train from Victoria to East Croydon The serious sex attack happened at Victoria station on Saturday, March 1 between 12.15am and 12:35am.

The man was white, slightly overweight, aged 35 to 45 years with light brown cropped receding hair. He had glasses and wore a dark blue Adidas jogging top.

Police believe the man lives in the Battersea area and appeal to anyone who may be able to identify him to contact officers.

Anyone with information should contact the BTP on 0800 40 50 40 or the Witness Appeal Line on 0207 391 5275, quoting background log B4 of 11/3/08."

Thanks to Londonist where I saw this originally.

And yes, before anyone mentions this, I can see the irony of posting this just after a post which sort of moans about how much CCTV we have in the UK. It's a double edged sword and I don't know what the answer is.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 13, 2008 Permalink

Two mobile phones = terrorist, bite back

Not long ago, I blogged about the current Police anti terrorism campaign where things like having two mobile phones or taking photographs on the Tube meant you could be seen as a potential terrorist. The public were told not to worry about wasting the police time, but just report suspicious behaviour anyway - it's no big deal to the police. If you suspect it, report it. End of story as far as they're concerned.

As you might imagine, there's been a bit of a backlash to this campaign. Many of you commented on the err... oddness of this. Many forums discussed it and now thanks to Boing Boing some great parodies or remixes of the ads have been found on Flickr.

Here's one of the originals:


And here's some mash-ups





Enjoy!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 13, 2008 Permalink

Grumpy on the Tube

I managed to take this picture without being accused of terrorism


Must really tricky getting graffiti on the wall there. And I wonder if he or she were referring to another person or just King's Cross station itself? And if so, how can a station be grumpy?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 13, 2008 Permalink

London Underground Strike on the Way

News just in - look's like a Tube Strike is on the way!

One of the main London Underground Unions - TSSA has voted in favour of industrial action.

They said "Strike ballot - a resounding YES!
TSSA members at London Underground have delivered a firm response to LUL's attempts to cut jobs and terms and conditions. Talks are continuing to attempt to achieve our objectives and members will be informed of the outcome of those talks.

Thank you to all our members who voted so convincingly to support their union colleagues. Remember - together we are stronger, if you have a colleague who isn’t a union member ask them to join TSSA."

81% of the members voted for strike action. It will be interesting to see if the other major union the RMT go the same way.

The issues behind this potential industrial action are here.

Watch this space and the news for more as it hits the web.

UPDATE - RMT have also planned industrial action Tube Strike dates announced for April 2008.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Permalink

Nip / Tuck Ad now un-sexy enough for the Tube

You may remember that London Underground would not let the ad below for Nip / Tuck appear on the Tube as it was deemed too sexy. This led to quite a long discussion in the comments:


Now a less sexy (although to my eyes, hardly any different) ad is plastered all over the Tube.


There's a little less flesh from the girl on the right, and the girl on the left has longer stockings on and no suspender belt.

I would have paid good money to have sat in on the approval process for this. I like to think it would have gone along the following lines:

Guy from CBS Outdoor (who sell Transport for London - TfL's advertising) - So TfL as you know there's been a lot of coverage about this ad being banned. The creatives at FX's agency are proposing something new.

TfL Rep - Mmm are the girls wearing more appropriate clothing now? I hear that the Amish do a very nice line in sensible ladies wear.

CBS - Well they've not exactly gone that far.

TfL - So is there still a lot of bare flesh on display?

CBS - Well not exactly a LOT.

TfL - How much flesh? Can we see cleavage and bare midriffs?

CBS - Well some of the midriffs have gone.

TfL - What about the woman in the suspenders? We can't have her. Even though we run lots of ads for Dove with women in their bras and knickers, this is totally different.

CBS - I think we could get them to ditch the suspenders and make the stockings a bit longer.

TfL - So remind me how much were they planning to spend again?

CBS - It's a lot. It's part of a multi million pound campaign and they said they'll give it to the railway and buses if we don't want it.

TfL - Oh go on then, just make sure there's only one bare midriff.

CBS - Anything else?

TfL - Yes, make sure they get rid of that red line at the bottom, that makes it really provocative.

I wonder how far away from the truth that was?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Permalink

Notes from Cooling the Tube Talk - 11th March 2008

A week or so ago I blogged about a talk that was taking place about how London Underground were going to try to cool the Tube. Unfortunately I was out last night and couldn't attend, so said that if anyone wanted to write a guest post, I'd be happy to put it up.


Well both Ian and Pete went above and beyond the call of duty and took excellent notes, which are a bit too long for blog posts, but they are available for download at the end of this post.

Pete did a summary of the evening so you can see just how many people are interested in this issue:

The event took place as part of the "Underground - London's Hidden Infrastructure" exhibition which is taking place at the Building Centre on Store St from 28 Feb to 19 April. During the day there are exhibitions...

The talk was given by Kevin Payne, who has a background as an engineer with British Rail but has worked in various areas for TfL since 1989, and was appointed Director of the 'Cooling the Tube' programme 12 months ago. The room had about 150 (!) people in it, mostly engineering folk and some architects [I had a glass of wine and chatted to some folk from Arup afterwards - "A blog? What's that?" they said ]

Kevin started by talking about the history of the problem, outlining current cooling methods and then looking at what might be done in future.

I've not had the opportunity to read both of their notes in full yet, but look fascinating and it's great that the plans for the future have been shared like this.

Cooling the Tube - Notes from Ianvisits.co.uk

Cooling the Tube - Notes from thelondoneer.blogspot.com

Once again my thanks go out to Ian & Pete for providing the above notes.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Permalink

Visiting Nabokov's Tube Carriage Offices

Yet another example of me screaming "Why didn't you tell me this before?" when a friend nonchalantly mentions in passing something that's London Underground related but so totally in the spirit of this blog. It happened when my friend Lloyd said he'd got his busking license. And now my friend James Grieve, the artistic director of a great little theatre company - Nabokov - said "Oh yeah, did I tell you our new offices were in a Tube carriage".

"No you bloody didn't", I screamed. The poor man wiped the blood away from his ears and said, "Well maybe you'd like to visit one day".


Stupidly I decided to pick a day when there were gale force winds and the rain was soaking me through. But a promise is a promise, and yesterday I made my way over to Great Eastern Street to visit the Tube offices in the sky!

I first blogged about these offices in 2006. They are the brain child of Tom Foxcroft who also has space in the carriage James works in. The old Jubilee Line carriages are made into work spaces for creative start-up businesses in Shoreditch, East London. Village Underground, is Tom's charity which supports new small companies.

Going up what seems like a never ending steep (and at this stage extremely wet) spiral staircase was at first a little scary. But the scariness is worth it.




James's offices were up yet another small flight of stairs and I walked in and recognised Tom. He had longer hair than around 18 months ago and had no idea that I'd blogged about him before (such is the power of this blog).


James showed me around - which was quite easy to do as it was very errr.... open plan. However, the smoking room at the front was interesting.


It was the driver's cab.

Posters for James' plays looked perfect in their Tube car home and the old strap hangers made them look like museum pieces.


The office fan quickly warmed up my soaking feet and we had a great catch up and I plan to see their new play Artefacts at the Bush Theatre next week, the final London week.


I promised to make another visit when the weather was better, as James said the City views were fantastic and you also have a bird's eye view of the building of the new Shoreditch station.

They have a fab angel investor scheme and I plan to become a "cherubim" supporter. If James is amenable I might try to arrange another visit for a few other people as the views were really spectacular and it's possibly the coolest office you can imagine.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Permalink

Ken Livingstone's Transport Manifesto

First Boris, now Ken Livingstone unveils his Transport plans in the Mayoral Elections.

It's a very, err, sedate policy unlike Boris's headline grabbing pledges of last week. And to be honest, I like it for that. I'm not going to spend too long outlining the policies and you can read them here.

Key for me is that Ken actually uses the Tube and not just for spin doctoring photo shoots. I've seen him on it. Other people have seen him on it.


He said "One of the advantages of using public transport every day myself is that I see the transport system as Londoners experience it. This is why ...I have been committed to better public transport for Londoners and why as Mayor; I have devoted so much time and energy to getting the transport improvements Londoners expect."

In a nutshell his plans are to:
• Take over the operation of the Southern trains franchise to complete his plan for an overground rail orbital by linking the extended East London line to Clapham junction via West Croydon; This will extend the Oyster card to suburban overground railways.

• Have a single bus route down Oxford Street and, after 2012, a tram for shoppers;

• Give injured Army veterans free travel;

• Have a major investment in clean vehicle technology by putting 500 hybrid buses on the streets by 2010 and all new buses being hybrid by 2012 at the latest;

• Double the number of countdown signs at bus stops to 4,000 with a new state-of-the-art GPS tracking system and

• Introduce a new congestion charge system so drivers can have payments automatically debited when entering the charging zone, avoiding fines.


A comment feature in the Evening Standard said "Mr Livingstone's record on transport is solid - but his best ideas came early on. He was right to fight Gordon Brown on his disastrous PPP plans for the Tube, and his plan for Transport for London to take over the work of the failed Metronet consortium is probably now the least-bad solution...."

"Mr Livingstone's manifesto is thus a promise of more of the same. With London's traffic slowly seizing up, and little visible improvement to the Tube and suburban rail, that may not be a thrilling prospect. But to date, none of his main rivals have offered any serious alternative."

So is it better the devil you know with Ken? Look forward to seeing your comments.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Permalink

London Transport Museum Flickr Mini Meet - Vote for your favourites

You'll remember that a few weeks ago, the lovely community team from the London Transport Museum gave us some free tickets to visit the newly opened museum and take some pictures - see the video from TrustedPlaces below.


I've blogged about the minimeet a few times already, but now we've reached a difficult stage. 680 pictures were uploaded to the Flickr pool! The museum were highly impressed with the quality and wanted to put some on their official website. But how to choose from almost 700 pictures? Well, they're not going to. You are!

The majority of the photographers who went along have written a blog post and chosen their two favourites from the day and now you have the chance to decide which five will appear on the London Transport Museum's website.

Please visit the Flickr LT Museum Mini Meet page to vote for your favourites. You can vote for as many photographers as you like, but you can only vote for one picture out of each pair.

The polls are open until 11.59pm GMT on Sunday 16th March. The five photos with the most votes will appear on the London Transport Museum's website. In the event of a tie - the following rules & regs apply. So visit the page now, there's no registration required to vote so it's as simple as reading the photographers' blog posts and deciding which ones are your favourites! Thanks.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, March 10, 2008 Permalink

Severe Weather Warnings & Bakerloo Birthday

The London Underground seems to be holding up well - although this may change throughout the day

Check out the TfL Live Travel News before you leave the house, as there's bound to be trees on the line and a LOT of extra surface water. Good luck getting in.

Today's the Bakerloo Line's Birthday (Baker Street to Lambeth North opened on the 10th March 1906). It shares its birthday with Chuck Norris.

Not sure if there's a connection!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, March 10, 2008 Permalink

New Tube Map Sponsored by IKEA

Look out for a brand spanking new London Underground Map that's sponsored by IKEA. Someone I know was at the Acton Depot Open Day on Saturday and spotted an exhibitor with a new Tube Map (dated March 2008). Apparently they picked it up at King's Cross station. That said person then went to King's Cross to see if they could get a copy of the map and mysteriously all the maps had disappeared.

This meant one of two things: IKEA had pulled out of sponsorship (highly unlikely) or TfL wanting to make sure that a press release is in place before they launch the maps (much more likely).


I notice that IKEA are already doing branding on the Motorist's Atlas. Unfortunately, (or fortunately - depending on your viewpoint) this doesn't mean we'll be seeing little IKEA icons at Neasden & Tottenham Hale stations on the actual Tube Map itself. But who knows what the future holds?

It appears that Victoria weren't being so secretive about the map and there are a number on display there.


Not sure when the last sponsored Tube Map was, as Oyster have been taking that back page for quite some time now.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, March 09, 2008 Permalink

London's Transport in Miniature

See the London Transport running like clockwork

This weekend, the London Transport Museum Depot at Acton is holding an exhibit of working model layouts and you will be able to ride on the Museum's miniature railway which features steam and electric trains.


"Sarah Siddons, the last operational Metropolitan Railway electric locomotive, will make a special visit to the Depot for the Open Weekend. Built in 1921 and capable of running on the Underground, the No. 12 'Sarah Siddons' is one of twenty locomotives built by Metropolitan Vickers in 1921. Each was later given names of real or fictitious people associated with the area served by the Metropolitan Railway. 'Sarah' was retained beyond 1961 - when most of the other locomotives were retired for shunting, brake block testing, and latterly for special passenger trains."


Also "large or small, scenes are depicted right down to the finest detail and cover all modes of London travel from Underground trains and trams to cycling and walking."

Opening times: 11.00 - 17.00 (Last admission 16.00). London Transport Museum's Depot is located opposite Acton Town Station at 118 - 120 Gunnersbury Lane, London W3 8BQ. Unfortunately as Crash Calloway points out in a discussion why "TFL/LT/LU in their infinite wisdom would close both the District and Piccadilly Lines up to Acton Town over this weekend". So if travelling by public transport you will need to use the replacement bus service.

Admission (tickets valid both days): Adults £8.00, Concessions & senior citizens £6.50, accompanied children under 16 go free. For full details click here.

Here's a report from the last time I went. Have fun.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, March 07, 2008 Permalink

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

It's Friday and time to get the Susannah & Trinny voices on as it's my look at London Underground Fashion Victims. People who have taken a style and made it their own or people who could be considered victims of fashion by following a trend regardless of how it looks on them.

This week - let's hear it for the boys after we returned from something I'm not allowed to blog about.

Japanese Look


OK, this is one of my friends and not strictly a fashion victim as he knew I was taking the picture for the blog. In normal circumstances I would have been a bit more surreptitious as to how I took the picture, but for this one it was nice to be able to frame him and steady the camera before I shot it.

I love the tin of Roses held casually under his arm (and am only sorry I didn't eat more of them).

This particular friend has a habit of dressing up (almost over dressing) for events. Wearing this Japanese outfit makes him relaxed and I reckon he can carry it off. So he's managed to escape a full guilty sentence from the Fashion Police and it will be interesting to see how you reacted to him.

Sunglasses indoors

Ownership of more than one pair of specs should have you marked as a TFV.



This guy is an out & out fashion victim. Someone's going to come on and say he's probably got cataracts or something which is why he's wearing his shades indoors. I say he's just a victim of fashion and needs to remember you often don't need sunglasses at the beginning of March, specially not when you're indoors.

The Mad Hatter

I have noooo idesa what's going on with this guy. James Cridland took this picture on the Tube on the way into work and said "The jacket's one thing. The hat quite another. Wow."


Wow, indeed, is about the only thing I can say too.

That's it for now. The previous victims can be found here and the complete picture gallery can be seen on the following Flickr set.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Friday, March 07, 2008 Permalink

Livingstone launches new Tube priority seating

Just heard on Heart FM that Ken Livingstone will be launching a new priority seating initiative for pregnant women who use the Tube. Apparently this is happening at lunchtime at High Street Kensington London Underground station.

The current Baby on Board badges

New priority seating stickers will be rolled out throughout the Underground from March 10 to ask passengers to give up their seat for pregnant women, as well as people with disabilities or less able to stand. This is the first time that pregnant women have been included in the signs.


The Tube's research has found that a third of pregnant women travelling on the Tube are never offered a seat, and that mums-to-be can wait for an average of five stops to be offered a seat.

Louise Silverton, deputy general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said: “We welcome this new campaign for priority seating stickers, which now includes pregnant women. By encouraging passengers to give up their seats for pregnant women, the campaign will reduce stress and anxiety levels for pregnant women travelling on public transport.”

Angela Back, the Metropolitan Line's General Manager added:

"Many pregnant women are often reluctant to ask someone to give up their seat, particularly in the early stages of pregnancy. The aim is to help make it easier for pregnant women to get a seat on the Tube at a time when they need it without the embarrassment of needing to ask someone to give up their seat. The onus is now on customers to keep an eye out for anyone in their carriage who might have a greater need for a seat."

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 06, 2008 Permalink

Signs of Tube Strike as Talks Fail

As you may know The Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) and Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) are currently in dispute with the London Underground (LU) over a number of safety issues. Both unions are now saying that LU have reneged on their promise to ensure that all station staff are directly employed and fully trained to LU safety standards.

RMT, leader Bob Crow said yesterday "After finally getting LUL to discuss these matters in the round, our talks team believed that progress was being made, but today LUL told us that it was going back on its promise to stop using agency and security staff on stations".

TSSA senior regional organiser John Page added: "Experienced station supervisors are a cornerstone of Tube safety, because their key role is to oversee safe operation and cope with emergencies, and if you expect any individual to supervise several stations at once that becomes impossible....This dispute boils down to LUL wanting to put casual staff on stations in place of properly trained Tube staff ".

RMT and TSSA are demanding that every station is fully staffed during traffic hours by the appropriate number of customer-service and station assistants, supervised by station supervisors in line with agreements and safety requirements.

From what I can work out, Silverlink stations seem to be at the heart of the dispute. These stations were taken over by London Underground in November last year to form the new London Overground. Apparently LU wants to continue using agency staff on former Silverlink stations, including those used for ticketing and revenue duties. According to the unions they also plan to staff the new Heathrow Terminal 5 station (pictured below) with staff subcontracted from other firms but wearing LU uniforms.


The unions are also not happy that LU are recruiting staff, like train drivers (train operators), externally "turning on its head an agreement that external advertising can take place if there are insufficient internal applications."

The unions want a complete review of the recruitment policy to establish a system that "preserves and encourages a career path for experienced railway staff."

If the talks completely fail there will be ballot to strike by TSSA on March 11th and the RMT is currently serving notice of its ballot. The unions represent 7,500 station staff and drivers and this strike would cause major chaos on the Tube.

A TfL spokesperson said: "All of the issues raised by the unions can and should be addressed through the normal negotiating process.

"That process has not broken down and it would be totally unreasonable to curtail it by threats of strike action which can only lose staff pay and inconvenience the public to no purpose whatsoever."

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 06, 2008 Permalink

Transport Quote of the Week

He's not in love, so don't forget it:


You've just got to love Ken! The Standard call this quote of the day - but I doubt there'll be a better transport quote this week.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Thursday, March 06, 2008 Permalink

Angel Islington on TV tonight

Just before you get excited and think it's a re-run of the Neil Gaiman's brilliant Tube focussed BBC drama Neverwhere - where there was a character called the Angel Islington - it's not (sorry!).


However, for people like me who love soaps, reality TV and TV that viewers can "control", you might be happy. Rock Rivals begins on ITV1 tonight which is basically a spoof / black comedy / drama, of reality TV shows like Pop Idol, American Idol and X-Factor. It stars Michelle Collins (ex EastEnders) and Sean Gallagher (ex Coronation Street) from two of my favourite soaps.

They play husband & wife judges on celebrity talent show (ooh like Fame Academy & The One & Only where judges David & Carrie Grant are really husband & wife). The Guardian love it & report that "It has sex dolls, Ferraris and a character called Angel Islington.....The characters are painted in broad strokes and have suitably daft names - Sundae Gorgeous or Angel Islington, anyone? ."

They could have also had Lily Balham, Whitney Euston and other celebrity London Underground station names that we'd already come up with.

Also "Viewers will be asked to choose their desired ending to the show this spring before the final episode airs. Two endings will be filmed and the UK public will get the chance between the penultimate episode and the final one to decide who wins." Just like reality TV! Genius.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Permalink

Cooling the Tube Lecture - 11th March

One for your diaries if you're interested in finding out what London Underground & TfL are really planning to do about heat, beyond putting up posters like the one below.


"Over 100 years of running electric trains in the London Underground has caused temperatures to rise, especially on the deep-level lines. Heat is generated through the distribution and transmission of electricity, and the motion and operation of the trains - including acceleration and braking. Heat has been absorbed into the earth and clay surrounding the tunnel walls to create the higher temperatures of today.

The Cooling the Tube programme is focused on removing or reducing heat, relocating heat sources and where possible provide cooling solutions to keep customers within safe and comfortable conditions.

The talk on the 11th March at 6.30pm will present the technologies and innovations which London Underground are proposing to adopt, followed by an open discussion. It will be held at The Building Centre, Store Street, London, WC1E 7BT and you can book your place here.

Unfortunately I can't go, as I've got something else on that night, but if anyone does go and wants to write some notes or a guest blog post please let me know. Many thanks.

UPDATE - the post with the notes from the night is here. Thanks to Ian and Pete for making them.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Wednesday, March 05, 2008 Permalink

Boris Johnson's Plans for the Tube

So the work towards the Mayoral Elections is beginning to speed up a notch now and Conservative candidate Boris Johnson made front page of the evening papers last night. His headline grabbing pledges to protect London Underground travellers & also run later trains managed to do exactly that - ie make the headlines.


Boris's transport manifesto unveiled yesterday, included the creation of 50 extra transport police to boost uniformed presence at the worst suburban stations and 440 more PSCO's (no idea what they are - I'm sure someone will be quick to tell me) to patrol buses and the Tube.

Boris plans to pay for the extra officers (in addition to the thousand more promised by Ken Livingstone) by cutting the Mayor's rather large media & marketing budget.

Johnson also plans to stop the closure of Tube ticket offices and pledged to extend the Tube's operating hours from central London until about 1.30am on Friday and Saturday nights. He admitted that this might mean that engineering works, which take place at night, could be delayed.

He also promises to bring in direct debit for Oyster cards and more air conditioning for the Tube.

He said "We too often spend our mornings and evenings in cramped overcrowded carriages.....and we pay the highest fares in Europe".


He would also try to negotiate a deal with unions where, in return for agreeing not to strike, an independent arbiter would rule on pay.

All well and good. But (you knew there was a "but" coming), Lib-Dem candidate Brian Paddick said the plans for transport policing were actually beyond the mayor's remit, which does not cover the BTP (British Transport Police).

London TravelWatch chairman Brian Cooke, pulled out of yesterday's launch claiming that if he were there, it would look as though he were endorsing Boris.

Moving on through The Evening Standard there's a full page feature by Tony Travers (Director of the Greater London Group at the London School of Economics) saying that Johnson's transport plans show depth, but need to go much further to solve London's problems.

He said "Taken together, the Boris transport manifesto is mildly "Right wing" on law and order, in that there will be additional policing, live CCTV and new punishments. But apart from that, it is without political leanings. The contents are designed to convince voters that Johnson has joined the sensible party.

And that's it. The sole commitment on fares is to lobby commuter rail operators to reduce them. There is no detail about the future of Travelcards and Oyster fare levels."

He continues: "The Tories' transport manifesto is aimed squarely at showing Londoners they can vote for Boris without the sky falling in. The document is full of referenced sources, stressing its solidity. Voters are expected to read the plans and feel comforted that they could vote for him without threat to their Tubes, buses or fares. But given the gap in experience between Livingstone's decades at the top of London government and Johnson's newness, the Conservatives need to go further than this document...."

"Frankly, London needs radical action to improve its transport systems. The theoretical promise of Crossrail in 2017 is still a long way off. The outcome of the £30 billion Tube PPP remains almost invisible. Since 2003, £6 or £7 billion has glugged into the Underground's track, signals and stations, but there is no evidence of fewer power failures, train breakdowns and signal glitches."

Travers concludes: "There is a political sting in the tail of these transport plans. Johnson says that the "same old solutions are coming from City Hall, dripping with fatigue". But unless there are convincing new solutions coming from the Conservatives, too, such a criticism could come back, like a boomerang, to hit them. Johnson needs convincing and eye-catching ideas to solve London's transport problems - so let's hear them."

This is a long post and I appreciate you getting this far with it. I'd love to hear your comments and will make my personal views known in the comments too, rather than making this post any longer.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, March 04, 2008 Permalink

Monkhouse's Voice from the Grave wins Tube Ad Competition

An advert featuring dead comedy legend Bob Monkhouse, talking to commuters from the grave has won CBS-Outdoor's Underground Writers Competition. The competition was for advertising people to create a Tube advert that explores an interesting and involving concept in more depth.


I think it's absolutely brill. It's an extension of the last year's TV adverts (which I'd never seen before) where Bob is talking to viewers "after" his death. It's a funny, touching and effective charity campaign for Prostate Cancer. Monkhouse died of the illness 2003 and the campaigns were made with the full support of Bob's family.

The Tube Car ad copy has Monkhouse's cheestastic sense of humour "I went to a specialist who told me to bend over. He said "I'm about to insert a finger". I said "Please insert two, I want a second opinion".

To cut a long story short I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and two years later I was dead (It's a bit like travelling on the Northern Line only quieter)."

Copy from the other winning ad includes: "If you think your underground journey's taking a long time, try being 6ft under for eternity. Count yourself lucky. a few more stops you'll be up the escalator, out in the fresh air and back on with your lives. I on the other hand, am down here permanently, thanks to the prostate cancer that cancelled all my engagements forever in 2003."

A total of 212 campaigns were reviewed by a panel of five industry judges. The winner - The Communications Agency's - was announced last week from a shortlist of forty campaigns. You can view the shortlist & the other ad in the winning campaign at www.underground-writer.com.

CBS Outdoor's Marketing Director, Carol Wolrich, said: "Tube Cards are a great place to have a one to one conversation with people. People enjoy reading them, finding them a welcome distraction from their journey and from having to look at other commuters! The aim of the competition was to encourage creatives to make the most of this relationship using Tube Cards to tell a story about their brand."

Even though some of us have been giving CBS a bit of a bashing lately, they do some good things and I bet TfL are responsible for the more puritanical bans rather than CBS themselves.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Tuesday, March 04, 2008 Permalink

Farringdon - Clearly trying very hard not to be rude

The guys and gals and Farringdon Tube station must have clearly taken to heart the reports that they were the "rudest station on the London Underground".

I've recently started a new job and have a variety of ways of getting in and out now. One of them is Farringdon and on Friday night, after a few after-work bevvies, three of us went back to Farringdon Tube station. I spotted the following in the entrance:


It says: "We have a shiny new ticket machine here at Farringdon. Please feel free to use it. You'll find it has all the features of its larger cousin. But please remember, Exact Money Only."

What can I say? It's such an example of niceness and just makes you feel like cuddling them.

I'll keep an eye out for future messages! Plus any work mates, who use this station more regularly than me, can you keep an eye out too? Ta!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Monday, March 03, 2008 Permalink

Nip / Tuck ad Too Sexy for the Tube

Are we turning into the US? Yet another poster (for FX TV's new season of Nip / Tuck) has been banned from the London Underground for being too sexy. The follows the recent U-turn TfL made on the banning of a 400 year old work of art (although Fat Christ is still banned).


"A supporting cast of lovely ladies has been deemed too racy by Transport for London (TfL), forcing one model to cover up in the amended creative for the six-sheet execution. The 48-sheet creative has now been banned outright......An alternate media plan, to cover the shortfall in outdoor, includes rail and stature sights." said UTalkmarketing.

Seriously, what is wrong with that poster? Or certainly nothing beyond what we see on most lingerie adverts every day.

UPDATE - a newer un-sexy version has now been approved by TfL. See if you can spot the difference.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Sunday, March 02, 2008 Permalink

Breakfast Lectures on Underground London

Early birds amongst you might be pleased to learn that a series of free one hour breakfast lectures are running from the 5th March to the 16th April. They are to coincide with a new exhibition about Underground London. Underground: London's Hidden Infrastructure by The Building Centre will "expose London's inner workings and demonstrate that without a successful underground, what is built on top cannot function". The Guardian have a podcast on the exhibition with Andrew Scoones the Director of The Building Centre.

The first talk (5th March) starting at 8.30am (breakfast & doors open at 8am) is on Crossrail and will be presented by David Anderson, Crossrail's Engineering Director.

Dongtan (yes I had to look it up too) on the 9th April, looks interesting just for the definition of Dongtan itself - "the world's first eco-city, which will be sustainable not just environmentally, but also socially, economically and culturally." Arup the masterplanners & designers of the city in Shanghai, China will be speaking.

There are also lectures on Living Underground, The Archaeology of London, Elephant and Castle Sustainable Community Infrastructure, Trees & Design Action Group and Underground London by Andrew Smith of Subterranea Britannica.

The Lectures and exhibition (which opened on the 28th February) are at New London Architecture, The Building Centre, 26 Store Street, London, WC1E 7BT. To reserve your place at a lecture or lectures, visit the following page.

Thanks to Ian for giving me the heads up on this.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Annie Mole Saturday, March 01, 2008 Permalink