Going Underground's Blog

Channel 4 - Confessions from the Underground - New Tube Documentary

2012-01-30T03:34:00.005Z

This Thursday 2nd February 2012 at 10pm, Channel 4 are airing a new documentary of inside stories from London Underground staff - Confesssions from the Underground.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this as I was (kind of) involved in its development. Back in March last year I received an email from the producers of the documentary, Rare Day, part of it said:

"I am working on a drama-documentary for Channel 4 which is looking to investigate the stresses and strains on the transport sector, in particular, the London Underground and the capital's railways. I was very interested to read your blog Going Underground and, in particular the correspondence you have with some Tube drivers themselves.

Our initial focus will be on case studies of the workers themselves, and I would appreciate any help you can give me in locating such individuals who can speak about their experiences working on the Underground. All conversations will be completely confidential and just for background research at the moment."

Photo by Mags H

I was asked not to blog about this at the time, so fired off some emails to some Tube staff I know and asked if they could help. I also pointed the production company in the direction of some forums and other Tube blogs who may have been able to help.

The documentary gives the inside story about parts of the Tube network we don't see. "workers reveal the dilemmas and pressures that they must reconcile to keep this hugely complex and strained system running.

Mark Benton from Tube film Three and Out about suicides on the Tube
Actors voice the precise words of the workers: train drivers, maintenance workers, station staff and controllers. They negotiate the difficulties of storing dead bodies after suicides and the hazards of fixing signal failures within an ageing infrastructure.

They confront aggressive passengers and emergency incidents and try to make sense of a bewildering array of procedures and targets."

I'd like to thank the Tube staff that helped out. You know who you are. It was interesting that Rare Day & Channel 4 chose this approach of using actors to voice the thoughts rather than real staff themselves. I also got a few responses back to my initial email where I really had to reassure the staff that their real names would not be used.

I'm intrigued as to what we will discover. Looks like there will also be an answer to that age old question "Ever wondered why you've heard a 'good service' announcement over the tannoy even when you've been stuck on a train for the past 10 minutes?"

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Dogs on Trains - Find of the Week

2012-01-28T05:52:00.005Z

Dogs on the London Underground. I'm a big fan of dogs and love how they travel on the Tube, they're curious but usually quite calm. The polar opposite of how a cat would be when travelling by train. So I was delighted to discover a new Tumblr blog simply called Dogs on Trains. The premise is simple, if you've seen a dog, whilst on a train, take a photo, send it to Ellen Munro or Tweet her the link at @dogsontrains & she'll put it on her site with a suitable caption.

I tweeted a her a couple of pictures of dogs I'd recently seen on my travels & after a wait in the queue (she's getting tons of submissions so it could take a few days before you see your picture), the following appeared on the site

Worried pug. Do you think it’s those shoes that are bothering him? Seen by @Anniemole on the London Underground - December 2011

I loved this little creature though and couldn't stop giggling at its expression. The pug looked up at me as if to say "Why are you laughing at my face?"

This one was not on the Tube but huge husky type dog I saw on the London Overground.

A lot of huskies out there enjoy train travel, who’d want to pull a sled?! Seen by @Anniemole on the London Overground - November 2011

Here's a couple of others I liked

Och ay the noo! Scottie dog seen by @KyiBoomer on the Hammersmith and City line, London - January 2012

Ready for this one? A DOG IN A PRAM. No, really. Seen by Ann-Marie James on the Victoria Line, London.

The whole site is strangely compelling & if you like dogs (and trains I spose) Dogs on Trains is a lovely place to visit.

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Cheer up the Tube stickers in the Wild

2012-01-27T06:05:00.003Z

Make sure you're polite on the London Underground otherwise the Tube mice will getya. So says a sticker spotted by @Chipwood09 on the Circle Line yesterday:

He asked if there were any more like this. I thought there were. Certainly reminded me of some stickers I saw in "Look Mum No Hands" and a quick(ish) Google search revealed they do indeed have them.

As well as "Danger! Rudeness attracts Tube Mice", there's also Cheer Up Tube stickers for "Frowning on a Friday - Strictly Forbidden", "Fixed Penalty, All Sweeties must be shared & Chocolate" and "Loud music prohibited - Unless you sing along too".

Cheer up The Tube Stickers from Look Mum No Hands

For £2 for a pack of five they're a bobby bargain!

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"Your New Met" Tube Poster from London Transport Museum

2012-01-26T03:59:00.002Z

Not exactly an infographic but interesting historical new poster of the 1960's Metropolitan Line extension from London Transport Museum.

It's a reproduction of a 1960's poster that introduced the newly modernised Metropolitan Line 50 years ago, with the "new" extension. It's £9.95 and available online here.

And for those who are old enough, you might remember the iconic Metropolitan line trains with their high back seats and commodious luggage racks. London Transport Museum have rescued a limited number of these original 1960's luggage racks from decommissioned Metropolitan Line trains. You can buy them online from £150 or at the Museum’s Covent Garden shop from March 2012.

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Miniature Tube Commuters - Tube Photos of the Week

2012-01-25T06:46:00.003Z

During Michal Dziera's visit to London Transport Museum last Friday at the Sense The City Photo exhibition he spent some time photographing the fascinating world of miniature London Underground stations and tiny commuters.

He said: "It all looks rather eerily empty and Alien-like, although if my commute every day was that comfortable, I really wouldn’t mind."

I really like these shots and you can see the full gallery of the mini commuters at bus stops & other parts of the Tube over on Michal's blog

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Jubilee Line not the cause of Big Ben's Lean

2012-01-24T05:56:00.005Z

You might have read a number of reports about the "Leaning Tower of Big Ben" after MPs became concerned that the landmark clock tower is tilting. The 96-metre tall clock tower, which houses the bell, nicknamed Big Ben, leans about 46 cm to the left of its peak.

Obviously it's not leaning this badly - Photo by IainBuchanan
Professor John Burland of Imperial College London said work on the London Underground Jubilee train line in the 1990s had not caused dramatic movement, while a spokesman for The House of Commons commission said the tilt could have existed since its construction in 1859.

The lean is just about visible to the naked eye and as John Burland told Radio 4 Today show yesterday, had "been there for years".

Burland said "When I first started work on the car park it was obvious that it was leaning. It was probably developed at a very early stage because there's no cracking in the cladding and we think it probably leant while they were building it and before they put the cladding on.

"There's no such thing as an old building that isn't cracked. In fact they're beneficial because the building moves thermally more than is caused by the Jubilee Line and the movements concentrated around the cracks and, if they didn't, there'd be cracking elsewhere.

"So these have been there for years and they're certainly not caused by the Jubilee Line or the car park."

Ianvisits has a great blog post from a number of years back about the Jubilee Line tunnels under Big Ben's clock tower.

He wrote "As a Jubilee Line tunnel was tunnelled by the tunnel boring machines (TBM), despite the best efforts of the workers, there is always a slight gap between the tunnel wall and the soil outside, leading to some subsidence at ground level. The gap is only a few millimetres, but when amplified around the entire tunnel diameter, that actually adds up to quite a bit of missing soil, and can cause significant problems. Before work starts on any tunnel now, ground surveys and measurements are taken to calculate the subsidence risks and effects on buildings."

"The big risk, which was gleefully latched onto by the news media was that the tower would start to lean sideways towards the tunnel work and may even start to develop cracks or damage. As the TBM worked its way through Westminster, electronic monitors on the tower checked how far it was starting to topple, and then pumped grouting into the soil to basically push the tower back upright again."

His post has more pictures of the compensation grouting work ( from a talk on tunnelling by the Royal Society) which was only carried out at night. He concludes "Without compensation grouting, it is expected that the tower would have tilted by some 10cm at the top – which would have been obviously unacceptable."

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Downing Street Lord asks Mayor to Replace Tube Escalators with Slides

2012-01-23T04:40:00.003Z

No this isn't a spoof. Lord Toby Harris believes that Boris Johnson should consider a rejected e-petition made to the Government to "improve “the flow of passengers through busy London Underground stations” by installing slides in place of escalators."

Lord Harris (@LordTobySays), who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Policing and is Treasurer of the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee said "The e-petition has been rejected because this is a matter for a devolved authority – in this case the Mayor of London – and therefore it is for the Mayor of London to consider this proposal."

A prototype has already been tried out in Berlin and proved popular with more people choosing the slides than the escalators or stairs.

Also commuters in Holland can take the newly installed "transfer accelerator" to quickly descend the station stairs at Overvecht Station and access platforms.

"At night the slide is said to play music from Bach". That's amazing!

Lord Harris notes the e-petition for the slides in London states that

“Small prizes should be available for those reaching the bottom in the fastest time. These would be paid for out of the savings of not having to maintain and operate down escalators.”

Come on Boris, what are you waiting for?

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TfL say on track for Tube Wi-Fi to be enabled for Olympics

2012-01-23T00:42:00.000Z

Mobile Marketing recently had a conversation with TfL's director of strategy and service development, Gareth Powell, who said that London Underground is on track to deliver wi-fi services at up to 120 stations before the 2012 London Olympics.

Photo by Alexander Boden
“We are in the final stages of the tender process,” Powell told Mobile Marketing. “London Underground is continuing with preparations to install the necessary infrastructure and is on schedule to complete the project as planned. An announcement of the chosen service provider will be made in early Spring, leaving plenty of time for this to be delivered to customers in time for the 2012 Games.”

Wi-fi will be available on platforms, ticket offices and escalators, but not on Tube trains. As yet the cost of the service hasn't been set and will depend on which operator wins the contract to provide the service.

According to the FT, Virgin has also bid for the contracts to provide WiFi services. Last month, it lost out to O2 in an auction to provide WiFi to Westminster council, but it is still participating in the contract to cover the London Underground.

"The news that smartphone users will have access to wi-fi on the Tube is all the more welcome as there will be no mobile coverage on the underground in time for the Games. Last April, the Daily Telegraph carried a report saying that the UK’s four mobile operators had shelved plans to provide mobile coverage in time for the Games, because it was impossible to get it ready in time." said Mobile Marketing

Cellular News said that there had been unconfirmed reports that China's Huawei would offer to build the network infrastructure for mobile coverage on the London Underground free as a "gift" from the former Olympic nation to the next. Apparently £50m worth of technology was offered, representing one third of the estimated £150m cost of the project.

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Next-Gen London Underground on-platform display - Tells how crowded next Tube is

2012-01-22T00:57:00.000Z

Genius new idea for a platform display on the Tube. We've all had those times when we've waited 15 or 20 minutes for a train. Then when the train eventually pulls in, the carriage right in front of you is packed & you have to squeeze yourself in, or wait for the next train, which could be just as full.

Well Dan Taylor @fabricoffolly has designed a mock up of his fantasy Tube platform indicator "which would not only show you exactly where incoming trains were on the line (and update their progress in real time), but also which carriages were more or less crowded (achieved by sensing passenger body heat or possibly carriage weight, to account for all those suitcases). That way, you could increase your chances of boarding and the platform announcers wouldn't have to keep telling new arrivals to move along the platform."

As Dan says "Go on TfL/CBS Outdoor - you've already got the screens..."

Originally seen at World Report

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Sense the City Photo Competition pictures now on display at London Transport Museum

2012-01-22T00:12:00.003Z

Taking inspiration from London Transport Museum's Sense and the City exhibition, Londonist & the museum challenged Londoners to stop a while and "sense the city". They asked for snapshots of a 'smart, connected and on the move' London: a city buzzing with activity 24 hours a day. Over 650 images were submitted and fifty were shortlisted to go on display at London Transport Museum until March 18th.

Tube Story by Danielle Houghton : Larking About
On Friday 20th January, three photographs were selected for special commendation by the competition's advisers: Clive Birch, Visiting Tutor on the Royal College of Art's Vehicle Design Programme and Johanna Empson, Talks and Events Programmer at the Photographers' Gallery. The great picture above by Danielle Houghton of Tube chatterers was one of the three commended.

Of the fifty, the Tube is featured quite strongly and I particularly like the image below

vanishing point by db telford
The fifty photographs will be on display in at London Transport Museum between 21 January - 18 March 2012. You can also see them on Londonist's website.

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Tube App for Harry Potter's iPhone - iFloo

2012-01-21T05:13:00.003Z

Someone's imagined what Harry Potter iPhone screen might look like and good to see that the sorcerer has an App that bears more than a passing resemblance to the London Underground Apps on the market. See the roundel in the bottom right hand corner.

It's for the iFloo network. Geddit. Thanks to @Jemimah_Knight for alerting me to this on 9Gag's website - it's by or was at least found by the user tonypboy516.

Harry probably has an Oyster card magic wand to wave at any Floo Networks to pay for his travels. With a flourish and a cry of Undergroundio he'd be zipping around in no time.

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CBS Outdoor Tube Ad Campaign - "Urban by Nature" - Animals on the Underground, anyone?

2012-01-20T05:54:00.008Z

If you travel on the London Underground you can't have failed to see CBS Outdoor's (the guys responsible for placing ads across London Transport) poster campaign to promote the Tube as a great place for advertising. Their positioning is that they offer advertisers the opportunity to connect with urban audiences.

The ads, which take the form of different animals made up of Londony urban landmarks and icons, apparently are "designed to articulate the importance of the urban audience and the fact that CBS Outdoor are best placed to engage with this valuable and hard to reach group of consumers". Not sure if it's just me but this kind of reminded me of Animals on the Underground - a whole collection of animals that could be "found" by looking in the Tube map!

Anyway look out for some familiar London icons in CBS's campaign. You'll see the O2, Millenium Wheel, Wembley Stadium, St Paul's Cathedral, Big Ben etc etc

The campaign's only in London at the moment but from January 23rd you'll see it being rolled out to Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bristol and Liverpool. So there will be icons featuring Old Trafford Centre for Manchester, The Beatles for Liverpool and the Bullring Bull for Birmingham. The others will have region specific landmarks.

If you visit www.facebook.com/cbsoutdooruk you can see all versions of the London posters. As a secondary element to the campaign they're offering people the chance to win city experiences throughout 2012 by liking them on Facebook & filling in a few extra details like age & region!

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TfL & RMT take note - NYC Subway staff run "Rate My Rat" photo contest

2012-01-18T05:02:00.006Z

If you think we have a lot of mice on the Tube (apparently, an estimated half a million mice live in the London Underground system), spare a thought for our friends across the pond in New York. NYC subway staff angered over what they say is a rat infestation in their workplace are holding a photo contest for the "nastiest" shot of a rodent, with a grand prize of a monthly travel pass.

Mouse at Holborn Tube Station by Annie Mole
Commuters, who frequently see rats on subway platforms and tracks, are asked to upload photos to www.ratfreesubways.com, created by the city's largest transit union, Transport Workers Union Local 100. When visiting the "Rate my Rat" section of the site people can vote on the most repulsive vermin.

"Who the hell wants to work around hundreds of freaking rats?" Jim Gannon, a TWU Local 100 spokesman, said in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday.

"The union is calling for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to clean stations more regularly, place more trash cans on subway platforms, and repair holes in walls and floors.

"The MTA defended its efforts, saying it routinely clears platforms and tracks of trash that would otherwise attract rats, deploys rodent-resistant trash cans in stations, baits nonpublic areas with poison, and reminds riders not to litter.

"Even though rats are an age-old problem, more cleaners can only help," Kevin Ortiz, an MTA spokesman, said "We've enlisted WEP workers (job trainees) to clean stations and are working with the TWU to reduce labor costs so we can put more resources to vital work like cleaning stations and reducing the rat population."

The MTA didn't comment on the union's claim that there had been a spike in rat infestations in recent months, saying it was difficult to measure rat populations.

Thanks to Jon Allen for sending me this story. Although I'm a tad worried that the RMT union might cotton onto this over in London and set up a similar campaign and use as an excuse to strike. Only thing is that Tube mice are such fast little blighters, it's actually very difficult to get a picture of them. Also Rate My Mouse doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Rate My Rat. Unless it was Movie My Mouse & the unions requested videos of mice on the Tube. We could also try Vote for My Vermin. Maybe one day.....

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50 MP's visiting Ghost Tube Station

2012-01-17T02:57:00.003Z

After spending two years building the company that is set to open up London Underground's disused Tube stations, Ajit Chambers of Old London Underground Company, has secured the support of 50 MP's and Ministers who have agreed to attend a site visit into a ‘Ghost Station’ and learn more about the project.

Inside Brompton Road Tube - photos by Annie Mole

Chambers says "The Mayor of London, Ministry of Defence and Transport Commissioner - Peter Hendy, have all been hugely helpful during the build of this project over the past two years and are now enabling MP’s and media teams access to visit one of the sites. TfL's Health and Safety Licensing have already facilitated access to Clapham South, Mayfair, Down Street and consideration to Brompton Road for previous visits by my project teams."

It's encouraging to see that MPs have just as much interest as a huge amount of Londoners in seeing the mysteries of these hidden stations and the visits should give them a first hand opportunity to see what is needed to re-open the stations & drive new income into the tourist industry.

The multi-million pound public and private partnership is set to overhaul and adapt London’s disused Tube stations for a variety of cultural and leisure opportunities. It's hoped that this will create new employment across the city and quench the thirst for exploring hidden London for the rest of us.

Disused passageway with vintage 1959 posters, Notting Hill Gate Tube station © London Underground
Ajit's project has already attracted interest from global news organisations including the BBC, Huffington Post, Bloomberg and most recently a Russian TV organisation with 120 million viewers has secured a site visit.

Last year Chambers, received this pledge from the Mayor of London – Boris Johnson. "My pledge to you, is that we will do it if it doesn’t cost a penny of public money".

The MPs site visit is a major step forward in getting Chambers the political backing he needs & help to secure even more private investment for the project.

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Noise, confusion & epileptic fits - The FT meets The Tube

2012-01-16T04:45:00.005Z

Late last week FT columnist Matthew Engel took a look at the London Underground as one of his irregular series of British Institution features. He wasn't too delighted with what he experienced:

Central Line 235/365 by Blue Square Thing
Firstly the "terrifying" noise at the Bank / Monument interchange "There are three sets of conflicting instructions: from the blokes on the platform herding the cattle-passengers; from the live station announcer over the loudspeakers; and from the computerised message-system blurting out its eternal stream of drivel.......

Central line by Martin Deutsch
Had I stayed any longer, I doubtless would have been told that unattended luggage may be destroyed, that skateboarding is prohibited and possibly, that God is Love and The End is Nigh. Hasn’t London Underground ever heard of the wisdom of crowds? Don’t they know that humans are remarkably adept at sorting out difficult situations if officials just stop yelling instructions?"

Secondly, the "mess" at Paddington on the the Hammersmith & City Line. "The Hammersmith & City station still has direct trains, but it is a diabolical place. There is only one proper ticket machine, which had a long queue when I arrived: my Oyster card, naturally, had chosen this moment to run out. I asked a station man where the ticket office was. “Downstairs,” he said. This was not quite what Shakespeare called “the lie direct” but it was what he called “the lie circumstantial”. The office is indeed downstairs but also several hundred yards away, at the other station.

“You know this station is a disgrace,” I said to one of his colleagues as I finally stomped down the steps to the platform.

“Don’t tell me, mate. You tell the bosses.”

“Well, funnily enough,” I said. “I might just do that...... Because the very next morning I had an appointment with Howard Collins, chief operating officer of London Underground."

Anti-clockwise only owing to staff shortage by dannybirchall
Introducing Collins he said "I still don’t think the Underground is ever entitled to say “there is a good service operating on all lines” when the Circle is never any good. But Collins is a beguiling, soothing interviewee, and a great enthusiast. He is an Underground lifer who joined as a trainee 35 years ago and has done just about every job on the system, including toilet cleaning.”

We've all encountered those "passenger incidents" and "an ambulance is in attendance at whatever station" announcements. Collins revealed an interesting statistic "A single passenger feeling ill can threaten the city as surely as King Kong. As Collins explains: “Four or five people will have epileptic fits on the Tube every day.” Not because they are on the Tube – it’s just a statistical average. “We have to react very quickly to ensure that the good intentions of other passengers and the ambulance crew – lie still, stay on the train – do not overwhelm us. We have to say ‘No, get them off as safely as possible’. And we do all we can to get them on the platform. Otherwise, the capital seizes up.”

Photo by pav.
There's much other interesting stuff in the article with Engel's views on Tube fares & Boris & Ken "both are intent on using their high profile to ensure the Underground is never neglected again"; his meeting with a train driver (sorry), operator on the automated Jubilee line "mostly he sits there, arms folded on his lap, looking sagacious. “These are much better trains,” he insisted (a press officer was listening). “Having said that, I do like it when we have to drive them manually.” and visits Roding Valley the quietest station on the London Underground used by 200,000 passengers a year – as many as use Victoria each day.

The FT article's not all doom and gloom, just about 90% of it, much like the Tube itself really.

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First Corporate names on Tube Map?

2012-01-14T07:50:00.003Z

Is the Emirates Line for the cable car over the river the first time that stops on the Tube map have been named after a company?

I was quite surprised to see these on the map and must admit that I only noticed it when @Jemimah_Knight and myself where sitting in a mock up of the cable car at London Transport Museum last weekend. The northernmost of the three steel pylons that will hold up the cables has already been completed. Once completed the cable car will move 2,500 people per hour (according to TfL figures) between North Greenwich and Royal Victoria. Or rather Emirates Greenwich Pennisula and Emirates Royal Docks.

A lot of stations around the Docklands area have corporate names added to them, but this is more of a use to show which station to use for the arenas & exhibition centres around there. It's not as if Custom House (for ExCel) is called ExCel Custom House. However, as this is the first time (I think) a part of London's Transport infrastructure itself has been sponsored, it makes sense for the stops to be called after the sponsor.

Or does it? How much money would a company need to pour into corporate sponsorship of station to get the station name changed, even if only temporarily?

Last June, TfL were in discussions with a wine brand, Oxford Landing, who wanted to re-name Oxford Circus Tube and run "takeover" advertising throughout the station. The wine brand offered TfL a rather large amount of money in order to do this for a three month period over the summer but, TfL knocked back the idea.

Perhaps the branded London Underground Map shouldn't be just a collection of puns of station names that sound like brands. Maybe in the future there could be a case for brands naming stations in return for a huge investment.

What do you think? Main line railway stations seem to get away with it. On South West Trains I often go through stations that have "The home of rich estate agent" or "The home of large insurance company" on platform signs. Should we have the same for the Tube?

Would you welcome branded stations if the additional investment meant that fares weren't increased every year or there was an improvement to the service?

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Mind the Mohican - Guess Where Tube 14 - Win a Mirror Polished Pocket Tube Map

2012-01-13T03:26:00.004Z

Bumped into Greg who as far as I know is the only London Underground staff member with a Mohican and what a fine Mohican it is too. So thought I would make him the topic of my first "Guess Where Tube" of 2012.

For new visitors unfamiliar with the "Guess Where Tube" game it's where I ask you to guess from exactly where on the London Underground, these pictures in the London Tube Flickr group were taken from.

I have covered Greg on the blog before. But that was before I knew his name. Yesterday, I had a tiny chat with him before getting on the train that you see in the picture. He's still happy to have photos taken and amazingly London Underground still let him get away with this haircut. "At least it's kind of in corporate colours", I joked.

Previously Greg had explained his thoughts on having a Mohican on the Tube and said "London underground do have a Uniform Standard and for hair it states that it must be clean and tidy.

I try to do my job well and to the best of my abilities, which may be why the management have not made any remarks about my hair. I get loads of comments from customers who love the haircut and kids are fascinated by it , best comment I heard from a child was "Mummy why was does that man look like a chicken" only problem was at the time I was assisting a mobility impaired cutomer and we were both desparately trying not to fall down laughing.

It's nice to be an individual to be slighty different from the rest of the crowd especially when you have to wear a uniform. Next time you see me come say hello I don't bite." I did and he doesn't!

As there were no winners on the last Guess Where Tube (where I was offering a prize), I have decided to give a prize for correctly guessing this one:

It's a mirror polished pocket Tube Map, so you can always check the look of your hair while travelling. As I think it's actually quite easy to get this right I'm only giving you until UK time 11.59pm on Monday 16th January 2012 to make guesses. Try not to look at the comments before you when making your guess.

Make your guesses in the comments below and either leave your blog or twitter name or email address so I can get in touch with you if you're the lucky winner. Anyone who just enters as "Guest" with no means of identifying how to contact them, won't be included in the contest. The person who is the most exact will win & if there's more than one person who guesses the same most correct place, I'll put names into a randomizer & select from there.

Have fun and thanks again to Greg for standing out from the crowd on the Tube.

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Guess Where Tube Quiz
Guess Where Tube Quiz Round Two

Why do Engineering Tube Trains have Girls' Names?

2012-01-12T06:24:00.004Z

I rarely get excited about pictures of London Underground trains. Well unless they're full of pink upholstery. That's because I'm a girl and girls aren't really supposed to like trainspotting or want to drive trains when they grow up. Admittedly a number of the women reading this blog probably are Tube drivers or want to drive one. However, I did get snap happy seeing this yellow engineering train coming through Barons Court Tube station yesterday.

I seriously have no idea what it does or why there were lots of little white steering wheels at intervals throughout the cars.

I managed to see that they were called TransPlant, but that still left me none the wiser as to what that meant. I assume it's nothing to do with gardening or surgery.

But I did note that it was named "Clementine", which was kind of sweet yet slightly puzzling. It got me thinking about why trains are often given women's names. Even fairly ugly yellow engineering trains which should probably have names like "DustBuster" or "Transplanter" or "Burt" or "Brad" or something equally butch, are still given pretty names like "Clementine".

As the train left I could see the car on the back was called "Denise" so I reckon that each car was given its own female name.

Anyone know why trains are often named after women? Also if you do know what this TransPlant thing actually does I'd love to hear.

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£2.5 million to show Tube Staff Olympic Park

2012-01-11T08:46:00.006Z

30,000 London Underground staff are having site visits of the Olympic Park over the next six months in a bid to familiarise them with the games. Heart.fm have reported that this will cost £2.5 million pounds and transport critics are already doubting the value.

Image by Jon Justice

One does wonder what sort of a tour they are getting that will cost two and half million quid. Will Seb Coe be personally leading the guided tour? Is Chris Hoy showing them the best way to carry Brompton bikes onto the Tube? The mind boggles.

Update - TfL's press office have emailed me with some more information about the visits:

"London’s Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy said: "This is a big year for London and TfL, with the Diamond Jubilee, 2012 Games and a huge programme of investment, while also continuing to improve the journeys of millions of customers every day. Every member of our 30,000 staff will play an important role in achieving the significant and unique challenges ahead. It is vital that we train all of our staff and explain what is expected of them in 2012, and beyond, to deliver the best possible service to our customers."

Additional information:

- All 30,000 TfL employees will attend

- The entire programme cost is £2.5m, of which TfL is funding £1m. The ODA (Olympic Development Authority) is contributing the remainder of the cost. This works out to £33 per head of TfL money.

- The six month programme, which will be complete by the end of March, includes a 60 minute tour of the Olympic Park to see first hand the scale of the Games and the transport challenges it raises, followed by presentations from senior management and films from our customers and Olympic athletes on what they expect from us

- More than half of the cost is towards the hire and running of the venue for six months – 3 sessions a day to enable TfL to reach all 30,000 members of staff.

A number of staff who read my blog have already said their dates have been allocated and some have promised to report back to me on what the visits are like. I'll be most interested to see.

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Central Line's Pink Branded Tube for the Digital Switchover

2012-01-10T04:40:00.010Z

From 9th January 2012 a pink seated London Underground train will be travelling for 3 months on the Central Line to promote London's impending switchover to digital TV.

Tube Stock at Debden by bowroaduk
The Tube train (1992 stock for those who care - train 91063+91055 to be even more specific) entered service, with the switchover message on every door and features windows that form TV screens. All seats on the train have been given pink "moquette" to further support the initiative.

Digital TV livery on the Central Line by Julian Gajewski

Photo by @iandeeley
Deborah Bain, London manager for Digital UK, said: "There are now less than three months to prepare for switchover. This is an exciting change affecting millions of viewers and we're doing everything we can to avoid people facing a blank screen."

Photo by @njb's cousin!
Some of the seats even had little soft toys on them with the Digital switchover mascot.

Digital TV Tube at Debden by bowroaduk
London Underground rarely have branding where the whole train is taken over. There was some on the Piccadilly Line to promote Platform for Art in 2007. However, the most eyecatching was for 2004's promotion to "Back The Bid" for the 2012 Olympics.

Back the Bid Tube train photo by hithro
This was when London was only a candidate city, so quite a bit of expense to try to prove we were a city worth giving the Olympics to. Looks like it worked though, even though experience on the Tube during the 2012 Olympics certainly won't be worth an award.

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Photos & Video - No Trousers on the Tube Ride 2012

2012-01-09T05:22:00.005Z

Yesterday over 150 people travelled on the London Underground baring their legs as part of the 2012 Global No Pants Subway Ride, which almost 60 cities now compete in. This was the third time No Trousers on the Tube had taken place in London & reactions were as Londony as normal - ie indifference, sly looks, a few raised eyebrows & thankfully some laughter!

Photo by Pete Maclaine
Alfie was in one the teams taking part & said "A very nice turnout for London. I’d guess around 150-200? Anyway, I was on the Marylebone team, which was the smallest. Had a lot of laughter but then all seriousness as the half empty rear two cars pulled in..and we pulled off. A lot of people stifling laughter and taking pictures and one cynic even going 'It’s students. It’s a sociological experiment. It’s students.' Although most took the typical commuter attitude was that of ‘I didn’t see it but I still want to peek.’

Once we got to Paddington we decided the best thing to do would be go all the way down to Elephant & Castle then back to Charing Cross trouserless. Of course, Elephant & Castle being the terminus of the Bakerloo Line, there were about 5 fully clothed people in the car. One got very close to taking his trousers off too".

Funnily enough I bumped into one of the organisers of No Trousers on the Tube Ride 2012, Rammi at King's Cross Station on her way to the event. She tweeted "Finally met @Anniemole, out of every other Londoner, outside King's Cross. She's very good at names and faces! I should buy a lottery ticket!"

Pete Maclaine has a great set of photos of part of the ride on Flickr where the trouserless ones are trying to look as casual as possible while riding the Tube.

Photo by Pete Maclaine
Also Felix Goncalez from You and I Films has already shot and edited a great video of Sunday's event.

No Trousers Tube Ride 2012 (No Pants Subway Ride): London from You and I Films.
Doubtless more photos and reports will appear on the net over the next few days and the best place to watch out for them is over on the Facebook page for the event.

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30 minute wait for Tube trains during 2012 Olympics

2012-01-08T11:39:00.007Z

So it begins or rather continues. The news about the logisitics of the London Olympics. The Press Association have just echoed TfL's warnings about avoiding travelling on public transport in central London unless you really have to. Both they and Evening Standard report that passengers will have to wait longer than 30 minutes to get on trains at the busiest moments.

Max Roberts' 2012 Fictional Tube Map Cover - click to see in full

This predicted wait is in spite of the plan the Olympic Delivery Authority announced in 2007 to cope with the extra passengers on London's transport. It said:

"The implementation of the Transport Plan will ensure that increased demand for transport services during the Games has a minimal impact on existing transport networks and commuters’ regular journeys within London. It will also ensure that spectators can easily get to and from London from across the UK, and to competition venues that are located outside of London, such as the venues for the Football competition."

"As part of the transport strategy, an Olympic Transport Operations Centre (OTOC) will be established to manage all modes of transport for the Games Family, spectators, workforce, and for all those travelling for reasons unconnected with the Games. This will help Transport for London, other transport operators, the police, local authorities and those running the Games to keep London and the UK moving."

Transport for London released a round-up of the probable Olympic effects on some 30 stations, including King's Cross, London Bridge, Baker Street, Oxford Circus and Waterloo (the busiest station in the UK). 35 per cent of London Underground stations are affected. At Bond Street, TfL predicts a wait of 30 minutes or more for a train between 5pm and 7.30pm for the duration of the Games. There's a similar outlook at Bank, where you'll be waiting 30 minutes or more for a train between 5pm and 8.30pm.

Docklands Light Railway station Pudding Mill Lane, which is the next stop to the Olympic venue of Stratford, will be shut during the Olympics.

The Evening Standard said on Friday "In the evening, TfL suggests that you stay in Central London enjoying the attractions of the South Bank or 'having a beer with a colleague'. If everyone takes this advice, you should only face a 30-minute wait for a Tube between 5pm and 7pm. With a £1,200 bonus for working during the Games, at least you can be sure that the Tube drivers will be showing up"

Paul Collins has written a book An Olympic Summer : Transport for London in 1948, based around some fascinating historical photographs. It records the British transport scene during that summer of 1948 when the world travelled to England and the immediate post-war road and rail networks were put to the test.

I wonder how the network will actually cope this year with the anticipated 5.3 million visitors during the Olympic games? Current signs are remarkably unoptimistic.

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Mayor Pledges to Support Disused Tube Station Re-openings

2012-01-07T06:04:00.009Z

Are we a step nearer to seeing abandoned London Underground stations getting re-opened? A number of meetings are taking place very soon, that could certainly help to move the project along. As I have mentioned in the past, I'm voluntarily doing some social media consultancy for the Old London Underground Company who are on a mission to try to re-open a number of disused stations for tours & tourist attractions.

Next week, the company's founder Ajit Chambers is meeting the Mayor's Office to progress dicussions. Above is a video of some of the pledges that Boris has made in support of the project.

Sam Mullins the Director of London Transport Museum who have run a number of very successful tours of the dis-used Aldwych Tube station, is also meeting Ajit in the near future.

Finally, following a phone call with Downing Street, a couple of MPs are going on a site visit to see the potential & scope of what would be needed to open some of the stations.

Filmed by Steve from Art Of The State
Good luck to the team for upcoming meetings & tours and in the meantime here's Part One of some raw video footage of a private tour of Brompton Road Tube station which was uploaded to the Old London Underground Company's blog just before Christmas.

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No Trousers on the Tube Day 2012

2012-01-06T04:21:00.011Z

UPDATE - Photos & a video from Sunday's No Trousers on the Tube Ride 2012 are here.

Early January. It's cold but make a date for the third, annual No Trousers on the Tube Ride which will take place on Sunday 8th January 2012. As part of the Global No Pants Subway Ride, last year over 100 brave travellers made their way around the London Underground sans trousers (three times the amount that took part in 2010). This year over 350 people are already signed up to take part.

No Trousers on the Underground 2011 by Idil Sukan
The requirements are simple:

1) Willingness to take trousers off on the Tube
2) Ablility to keep a straight face about it

Full details are on the Facebook page but in a nutshell the plan is to turn up at Trafalgar Square at 3pm where you will be divided into groups. The aim is to then travel from Charing Cross Tube and go around another seven zone one stops as nonchalantly & casually as possible with no trousers on.

As Rammi one of the organisers says "You can wear fun underwear if you like, but nothing that screams out, “I wore this because I’m doing a silly stunt.” Wear two pairs of underwear if it makes you feel more comfortable. Don’t wear a thong or anything else that might offend people. Our aim is to make people laugh, not piss them off

We want this event to be fun and safe for everyone, so anybody found to be removing more than their trousers will be kicked off the train and reported to the British Transport Police and station authorities. ."

No Trousers on the Underground 2011 by Idil Sukan
The video of last year's event by you and i films shows commuters' reactions. Londoners as usual have stock reactions to unusual Tube encounters - either complete indifference, rolled eyes, sly looks or laughter.

No Trousers Underground/Tube Ride (No Pants Subway Ride) 2011: London.
Here's another video of 2011's event with an interview from Rammi, one of the organisers & other participants

Even if you're not brave (or stupid) enough to take part, the organisers are welcoming people who want to take pictures or blog about the event. If that's you, contact Rammi or any of the organisers listed at TheStiffUpperLipSociety

It's now certain that the No Trousers on the Tube Ride is a permanent fixture of the Global No Pants Subway Ride. There are over 50 cities taking part including Manchester, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, New York (where it all began), Toronto, Sydney so don't feel left out if you're not in London.

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Making Sense of Tube Statistics - London Transport Museum Infographic Posters

2012-01-05T03:31:00.003Z

Some wonderful posters go on display at London Transport Museum from Friday 6th January 2012 as part of their Sense & The City exhibition. In a display called Painting by Numbers it's interesting to see how "infographics" were used in the 1920's and 1930's as "propaganda to tell the public about the excellence of the public transport services being provided". Perhaps something that TfL could currently learn from, as we face New Year's fare increases.

The poster above "What It Takes to Move the Passengers - Problems of the Underground" by Irene Fawkes, reminded passengers about the resources needed to make their journey.

London Transport Musuem said "Often thought of as a 21st century phenomenon, data visualisation – the presentation of information abstracted into a visual form – has been in use since the 2nd century when Egyptian people used tables to organise astronomical information. It was not until the 1920s that the importance and power of data visualisation for examining and making sense of data and information became more widely used".

20 posters will be on display including work by Hans Schleger, Misha Black & David Langdon, Theyre Lee-Elliott, and James Fitton. You can also buy reproductions of some of the posters online. I really love the one above by Charles Shepard.

Passengers in 1938 were just as concerned by fare increases as we are today and "What happens to every £1 of your fares, by Zero (Hans Schleger)", was an attempt to justify those increases.

The poster display complements the Museum’s current temporary exhibition Sense and the City: smart, connected and on the move which explores how emerging technologies are transforming the way we live, work and play in our cities. "As well as looking at modern day and future data visualisation, it poses questions about mobility, society and work in the Capital over the next decade, and compares this with past visions of the future. The exhibition closes on 18 March 2012".

I'll be popping along the Museum over the weekend to see the rest of the posters of this new "Painting by Numbers" collection as I'm intrigued to see which others are included.

Tickets for London Transport Museum are Adults £13:50; Concessions £10 give you unlimited admission to the museum for a 12 month period from date of purchase (probably worth the ticket price alone to see the Sinclair C5 in the flesh too).

Update - I went along on Sunday 8th January and it was good to see the posters in the flesh. Of the ones that haven't been published online, I really liked this section of a 1920's poster of two characters called Zip & Pep who were also trying to explain why fares were increased.

John Citizen is also fairly exasperated on other parts of this poster as Zip & Pep "helpfullly" point out why the fares are good value for money.

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Slow Tube Ticket Machine Upgrades & why we Love Queuing

2012-01-04T06:31:00.001Z

Frustrated reader Julie S sent me a picture referring to the ticket machines waiting to be upgraded at Piccadilly Circus London Underground. She said "There were long queues at the machines that were working, though bizarrely no queue for the ticket window served by an actual person. Any idea why this will take almost TWO weeks to upgrade 13 ticket machines? Are they building them from scratch?"

I agree and since TfL have known about the price increases for months, why is it so hard to program the new prices in from the start?

Also it's a bit weird how we've become so used (or trained) to using machines rather than going to a window with real people.

Are we just getting used to the fact that there will soon be so few ticket office staff, that we're getting into practise for the day that happens?

Is it the British fascination or love of queuing that means when we see a queue we feel duty bound to join it, even though there may be faster options around a corner?

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New Year Fares Rise leads to Mayoral Leafleting

2012-01-03T11:22:00.000Z

New Year, New Fares, New leafleting campaign from Ken Livingstone.

Joel Taylor took the above picture and said "Ken Livingstone's people out leafleting today, taking advantage of commuters' dismay at fare rises".

At least Ken's quick off the mark. Expect to see more leafleting wars this year when the mayoral election campaign begins in earnest.

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Going Underground's Most Visited Posts in 2011

2012-01-02T03:10:00.008Z

I've been blogging for nine years. 2012 sees this blog going into its tenth year, which surprises me as much as anyone else. So, here's my second year of looking at which blog posts received the most views.

Yet again posts on Max Roberts' great curvy Tube map from previous years made it into the top 10 - his original post from June 2007 and a post where he revisited the map in February 2008.

If I take those posts out, here are the most visited posts, written in 2011, in reverse order.

10. Guess Where Tube 13 - Tube Mouse - Win a copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere

With big thanks to Neil Gaiman for Tweeting & ReTweeting about this, my end of year "Guess Where Tube" post, where I asked people to guess where the picture of this Tube mouse was taken, got into the top 10 (which isn't bad for something I only wrote in December - shows the power of a celebrity Tweet & ReTweet - Neil has over 1.6 million followers on Twitter). Amazingly, after all the traffic and guesses, no one got the answer right. It was Holborn!

9. Bob, Angel Tube Cat, gets Book Deal

It's my favourite Tube story of last year and got a lot of publicity from sites like Catster sort of like Facebook for cats. His book is published in March this year, look out for some posts on that.

8. Old Tube Stations could be re-opened

My interview with Ajit Chambers about his plans to re-open disused London Underground Stations. It was one of the first longer interviews with Ajit about his plans. Lots of people Tweeted about it and consequently it got publicity in the wider press, becoming a hugely popular topic which the vast majority of people would like to see realised. Look out for more on Ajit's meetings with TfL and the Mayor this coming year.

7. Old Street Tube in Whiteboard Message Wars

Old Street Tube enter the "battle" between Tube stations to see who has the best messages on white boards. Old Street gave up pretty quickly, so Angel Tube, Caledonian Road, Warwick Avenue, Oval & Shoreditch London Overground can carry on knowing that it was probably just a bit too popularist for a hip station like Old Street to continue.

6. Do Not try to Smoke on the Tube

A cautionary & grisly tale about someone who was smoking on the Tube. A London Undergrond passenger was decapitated when he fell while standing between two carriages trying to have a cigarette.

5. London Underground Map for 2015 and 2019

TfL do some star gazing and attempt to show us London's Tube & Rail Network Map for 2015 and 2019.

4. Limited edition Royal Wedding Oyster cards

As much as we would have liked the Royal Wedding Oyster card to have looked like the above mock up, it didn't.

3. Next planned Tube Strike - June 2011

Sadly Tube Strikes or the threat of them dominate my top three - largely due to a shedload of people searching for news of them. My post on a late June Tube strike was third most visited.

2. Tube Strikes Dates Announced for May and June

My post announcing the May & June Tube strikes

1. Tube Strike Dates Announced for June and July

After all of the air time & strike action in June, the strikes for July were called off.

That's it. Thanks to all the comments, tweets, follows & ReTweets over the year. Thanks to everyone who keeps visiting the blog and has been doing so for the last nine years. And a special thanks to all those who send me fun (and not so fun) London Underground stories, pictures, mash-ups, app news and videos. Please keep them coming. Here's hoping that 2012 will bring as many varied Tube stories. I imagine that posts on the Tube related to the Olympics and the Mayoral elections will feature strongly in the coming year.

Thoughts of Angel Happy New Year Messages

2012-01-01T23:59:00.000Z

Didn't have to use the Tube over the New Year but good to see that the guys and gals at Angel London Underground station decided to open up their whiteboard to everyone travelling through the station, where Thought of the Day was changed to New Year Wishes

The board was a lot more successful than the staff thought it would be with people sometimes queuing up to write messages.

Here's a few photos and you can see the rest at Thoughts of Angel's site

Look seeing to more of their own thoughts throughout 2012 and you can follow @ThoughtsofAngel on Twitter for their daily message.

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Sherlock Holmes look-a-like on the Tube

2011-12-31T02:34:00.002Z

Delighted to see this guy on the London Underground yesterday lunchtime. Not sure if he was going to watch the new Sherlock Holmes film or if this brilliant outfit was his normal clothing.

Either way he just needed a deerstalker hat to complete the look. Actually does the Robert Downey Jnr Holmes wear a deerstalker hat now?

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Tube Strikes in January & February 2012 Suspended

2011-12-30T20:24:00.000Z

The planned strikes from Tube drivers union Aslef are on hold after the union held "meaningful talks" with London Underground today. More discussions are due to take place next week.

General Secretary of Aslef Mick Whelan said, 'This decision has been taken on the basis that meaningful talks will begin next week with LUL management over future staffing arrangements for drivers working on Boxing Days in the future.'

Aslef's members staged a 24 walkout on Boxing Day in a dispute over Bank Holiday pay. Further strikes were planned for 2012 on 16 January, 3 February and 13 February.

London Underground's chief operating officer, Howard Collins, said: "I welcome the constructive approach taken by the leadership of Aslef at our discussions today. I look forward to further constructive talks next week, as we work to resolve this issue."

Let's hope the talks are indeed constructive & we don't face the prospect of strikes in the New Year.

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New Year's Fare Increases - UK Commuters pay almost 10 times more for trains than other Europeans

2011-12-30T02:29:00.001Z

Those back in work will have seen the reminders to try to buy your Travelcards now, not only to avoid the queues in January, but also to avoid the inevitable annual fare increases. At least the staff at Ian Wood's station (pictured below) took a slightly less corporate approach with the fare increase announcement, warning that some "may come as quite a shock", rather than the blander company line signage at my station last year:

As you ready yourself for the increases get set to know that we are already paying almost 10 times more for our season tickets than fellow Europeans. New statistics from the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) show that that rail travellers on the continent are paying far less for their trains.

"The price of a 2011 season ticket from Woking in Surrey to London, including Tube travel in the capital, is £3,268. Yet a similar 22-mile journey from Velletri to Rome costs Italian season ticket holders £336.17" report The Press Association. The 24-mile journey from Ballancourt-sur-Essonne to Paris costs £924.66. While the 21-mile Strausberg to Berlin route is £705.85 and if you're commuting in Spain, the 22-mile Collado-Villalba to Madrid journey costs £653.74.

From January 2nd 2012, UK regulated fares, which include season tickets, are rising by an average of 6%. The overall average rise for all tickets is 5.9%. Fares on TfL's services for 2012 will rise by 5.6% on average.

The Campaign for Better Transport public transport campaigner Sophie Allain said: "When the cost of season tickets is so much higher than other European capitals, the Government's fare rises are starting to affect the UK's competitiveness. That's why if the Government is serious about promoting economic growth it must also look at reducing planned fare rises in 2013 and 2014 as part of a policy to cut fares and make public transport truly affordable."

Fares on TfL's services for 2012 will rise by 5.6 per cent on average and Londonist has the top line increases:

Monthly travelcard zone 1/1-2: £112.20 (5.6% increase)
Monthly travelcard zones 1-3: £131.40 (6.2% increase)
Monthly travelcard zones 1-4: £160.60 (6.1% increase)
Monthly travelcard zones 1-5: £191.30 (6% increase)
Monthly travelcard zones 1-6: £205.10 (5.9% increase)
Monthly bus pass: £72.20 (5.6% increase)

As they say "make sure you buy your travelcard in the next couple of days. It could save you up to £11.50 on a monthly ticket or £120 on an annual (zones 1-6)."

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Video Explaining December Closures around Edgware Road Tube

2011-12-29T05:36:00.006Z

If you're wondering why there are closures on certain parts of the Circle, District, Metropolitan and Hammersmith and City lines up until December 30th 2011, it's to test out the new signalling equipment around Edgware Road London Underground station which has been installed for the new, longer, air-conditioned trains, rolled out on the Tube network next year. The voiceover in TfL's video says of Edgware Road: "Believe it or not the station is still run with 1920's kit" I'd believe it.

The new trains will be 23 metres longer than the old ones. However, as a result of the extra length, the antiquated signalling system has to be modified and now it needs to be all tested out before it can be put in to use.

Apparently this is particularly crucial for the Edgware Road area as it's one of the busiest on the Tube network "the Spaghetti Junction of the Underground" and where the lines mentioned above meet.

TfL said "A replacement bus will be provided which will run from end to end along the closure route. This service will run every 10 minutes and will be monitored and supplemented if necessary." Find out more on TfL's site.

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The BBC Borrowers live in Disused Ghost Tube Station

2011-12-28T07:08:00.004Z

Anyone watch the first episode of new BBC series of "The Borrowers" on Boxing Day evening? It's a wonderful adaptation of much loved childrens' books by Mary Norton starring Christopher Eccleston, Stephen Fry & Victoria Wood. The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted that when the Borrowers (tiny people who live under floorboards) left their home after being discovered, they travelled to The Borrower's 'city' which appears to be below the platform of a disused London Underground Station.

What a brilliant place for them to live, as abandoned Tube stations feature as the secret home for a number of fictional & fairytale characters. Many of the characters in Neil Gaiman's novel Neverwhere live in disused Tube stations and parts of the BBC TV series Neverwhere were filmed at abandoned Down Street Tube and the old Post Office London Underground railway. Back in the 1970's The Tomorrow People had their base "The Lab" in disused Wood Lane station (which re-opened in 2008)

Many thanks to Pete of The Londoneer for letting me know about The Borrowers.

If you're in the UK you can watch the full episode of The Borrowers on iPlayer for the next few days. Look out for the Tube station first seen at 27mins 43 seconds in.

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Ghost Tube Station Infographics

2011-12-27T01:15:00.003Z

Every so often I get an email or a Tweet from someone saying "Have you seen this about the Tube?". In about 90% of cases I have, and have either blogged about it a while back or it was on my radar to blog about in the future. However, in the 10% of cases where I haven't it's usually something lovely or fun or interesting and I'm compelled to share it straight away. I was delighted to hear that Penney Design has created five really cool retro looking illustrations/infographics of "ghost" or abandoned London Underground stations.

Robert Penney said of the stations: "Many remain fairly intact and some even feature time capsule-like qualities, such as WWII propaganda posters hanging from the platform walls."

I love how some of the infographics have little wartime ads on them to "Save Your Scrap" or "Confirm your Confidence in Churchill"

Each of the five infographics has opening and closing dates for the stations and facts about why they were closed and interesting connections relating to their use in the war, whether they were used in film or TV, in music videos or in computer computer games.

You can see the full set here and they're also available as posters. Thanks so much to @ConsultantHead who told me about them when he saw them on Retronaut.

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Boxing Day Tube Strike - What services are running December 26th 2011

2011-12-26T06:18:00.003Z

For the many people that have been asking, unfortunately, yes there is a Tube strike today (December 26th 2011) by Tube drivers. Members of the train drivers' union Aslef are staging a walkout in a row with London Underground over pay.

If you were planning on using the Tube today, you'd be very, very wise to find alternative arrangements. London Overground doesn't run on Boxing Day anyway, so don't think about that as an alternative. However, Bus, DLR, Tramlink and some River services will all run.

TfL have added a section to their initial press release on the services they expect to run. In a nutshell, services on all lines are extremely limited, with very reduced frequency on those lines that are running for a small part of the line. The earliest any trains start appears to be 8.30am (limited shuttle service Ealing Broadway & Acton Town on District Line) other limited services start at in the main at 9.30am.

My advice, walk, get a bus (extra buses will be provided on many bus routes particularly in the central London area) or use a Barclays Bike if you're that central.

For those who are interested, the strike over pay involves the majority of drivers asking for additional payments plus a day off lieu for working on the bank holiday. London Underground are pretty miffed by this as the staff concerned are already earning a premium in their annual salary for working on public holidays. We also have further days of strike action to look forward to in the New Year as Aslef are planning to hold three further strikes in 2012 on 16th January, 3rd and 13th February.

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Festive Tube Pets & Merry Christmas from Bolli

2011-12-25T06:19:00.003Z

Happy Xmas. The one day there is no public transport in London, no Tube, no London Overground, no DLR, generally no buses just a few buses operating from airports. Also remember Boxing Day travel on the London Undeground will be challenge with the Boxing Day Tube Strike.

I thought I'd give you a seasonal greeting from my cat Bolli & other Tube travelling festive pets. As you can see Bolli loves wearing his Santa hat!

A couple of days ago, I spotted a much larger black cat on the Tube

Both the panther and its owner had fairly hypnotic eyes.

Moving onto a slightly less attractive pet, with a mournful looking pug on the Tube.

I loved this little creature though and couldn't stop giggling at its expression. The pug looked up at me as if to say "Why are you laughing at my face?"

Finally, not on the Tube but Christmassy nevertheless was this huge husky type dog I saw on the London Overground.

Unlike last year, there's no snow forecast in London over the Christmas break, so no need for him or her to get involved in any snowy rescue duties!

Enjoy Christmas Day & watch out for latest updates on TfL's site if you were planning on using the Tube on Boxing Day.

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Xmas Buskers & Tube Music - 12 Days of Tube-Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube

2011-12-24T05:43:00.001Z

You'll see & hear your fair share of singing Santas, people singing Christmas Carols for charity and a whole host of other music on the London Underground right now.

I saw this singing busker in the underpass at Green Park Tube the other day, who clearly thought that wearing a Santa hat rather than is normal hat (seen propped on an amplifier) would be a way to bring in the coins. He was right as a number of people stopped to give him cash.

This following two busking Santas from a few years back still remain my personal favourites. The first as he was hugely enthusiastic.

And this one because a busking Henry Hoover with a Santa hat on is weird even for the Tube

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Boxing Day Tube Strike Going Ahead - December 26th 2011

2011-12-23T05:16:00.002Z

Update TfL have published more information on the - Boxing Day Tube Strike - What services are running December 26th 2011 - in nutshell, very few

London Underground has lost a last minute High Court bid to stop the Boxing Day strike on December 26th 2011 by Tube drivers. Members of the union Aslef are staging a walkout in a row with London Underground over pay.

They are after additional payments and a day off lieu of working on the bank holiday. This is despite the staff concerned already earning a premium in their annual salary for working on public holidays. Aslef are also planning to hold three further strikes in 2012 on 16th January, 3rd and 13th February.

London Underground (LU) contested the validity of the Aslef leadership's ballot for strike action, as the union had balloted all of its driver members for action despite only a quarter of LU's total of 3,500 drivers being needed to work on 26 December. However, the court decided that Aslef's ballot was not invalid.

General Secretary of Aslef, Mick Whelan, said "Whilst we’re obviously very pleased with today’s verdict, we feel that two days have been wasted going through the courts when we could have spent that time finding a resolution to this dispute."

Howard Collins, LU's Chief Operating Officer, said: 'The Aslef leadership is calling strike action over an outrageous claim for even more money to work on a day for which their members are already being paid. We have done everything we can to avert this needless action, including reducing the impact of Boxing Day working on staff and, as a last resort, taking legal action.

'We remain ready at any time before these four strike days to work with the union's leadership to resolve this issue through talks, and I urge them to get back around the table.

'We will run as many Tube services as we can and extra buses will operate on the busiest bus routes. However, the action taken by the Aslef leadership is likely to cause serious disruption to Tube services across the network affecting the Christmas holiday plans of many Londoners.'

Caroline Pidgeon, Leader of the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group, said: "This strike is unwelcome as it will harm London’s retailers, disrupt numerous Boxing Day events and lead to more cars on London’s roads – it is the last thing London needs.

"Londoners who are just days away from being hit by large Tube fare rises will find it hard to understand why this strike is really necessary."

She's got a point! What do you think?

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Keeping Tube Colds Away - 12 Days of Tube Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube

2011-12-22T06:57:00.003Z

You know it's Christmas on the London Underground, or at least winter, when the carriage is full of people sniffing, when the minute you cough someone instinctively pulls their scarf up over their face so they don't catch your germs and when you see people (mainly Japanese) wearing "flu masks".

I understand that these are supposed have a double whammy of not only protecting you from other people's germs but also to stop you spreading your own bugs around.

Actually you're on a bit of a hiding to nothing if you try to keep yourself from getting a cold and you travel on public transport, you're likely to get a "Commuting Cough". Even though yesterday's Evening Standard gave advice on avoiding the "Cough-ice". Doctor Christian of the telly, so nicely said "Being squashed together in a packed Tube carriage with the disease-ridden public will guarantee you won't escape uninfected this winter."

However he continued with something I'd agree with "Dramatic gestures such as wearing a face mask are unlikely to help much as most people pick up infections from contaminated surfaces rather than from droplets in the air...

"Struggling into work when you are ill is not valiant and dedicated, it is foolish and will only prolong your own illness and virtually guarantee that colleagues will catch your virus too. Stay home and recuperate."

You'll also see more ads like this one around for nasal sprays and the like

At least this one is Tube related with stops such as "Sniffingham", "Sick-of-being Hill"

My advice is layers, as you'll need to wrap up warm for the outside but remember the Tube is often over heated in the winter. Finally, if you do want a stylish scarf to wrap round your face when the person opposite you has a coughing fit, you might like London Transport Museum's new Routemaster Moquette Design Lambswool Scarves.

Possibly too late to order online for a Xmas pressie (they have them in their Covent Garden shop too), but it's nice for yourself at £24.95.

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Festive Seats - 12 Days of Tube-Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube

2011-12-21T04:59:00.000Z

You know it's Christmas on the London Underground when people start using blind deer as seats. Why? I've no idea! Geddit, No eye deer, boom, boom. With a groan worthy joke that the photographer L J Rich herself would be proud of, I'd love to thank her for sending me this picture:

She tweeted: "Festive improvised tube seat! Bloke sits on deer on London's Central Line"

As we edge closer & closer to Xmas you will see a number of people trying to negotiate their way onto the Tube with very large presents. A favourite of mine from Christmas 2005, which people still seem to like, is a woman carrying a large Eeyore on an escalator

If you happen to see people with large gifts or using other strange things as seats, please us know in the comments.

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Festive Hats - 12 Days of Tube-Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube

2011-12-20T07:27:00.000Z

This week you'll see fewer people travelling in the morning rush hour on the London Undeground, as people are finishing work for the holidays. Yesterday morning in an unusually quiet carriage on the Northern Line, I spotted a guy wearing a Santa hat reading his book.

He wasn't drunk. He wasn't off to a party. There was no sense of "look at me I'm wearing a funny Santa hat". He was just reading his book as though the Santa hat was just the first thing he happened to have to hand to wear that morning.

Obviously there will be a fair few people in more outlandish Christmas outfits or festive headgear, but I liked the casual look of this guy. Below is one of my favourite pictures from a few years back.

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Thoughts of Angel Tube Big in Japan

2011-12-19T01:10:00.001Z

Angel Tube's Thoughts now big in Japan. Not content with being the talk of London (TimeOut recently featured their excuse for Santa being late), the guys and gals at Angel London Underground Station were spotted on the Japanese TV station NHK

I've no idea what the excited anchor man is saying, but I love the slightly Benny Hill'esque background music coupled with the bemused and confused insets of the viewers wondering why Londoners are looking at station whiteboards & smiling.

Well done Thoughts of Angel, for brightening up our days & for flying the flag for Tube humour in Japan.

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Baker Street Tube gets "re-tiled" for new Sherlock Holmes Film

2011-12-18T09:52:00.001Z

Fantastic spot by Lisa Lin who took a photo of Baker Street London Underground station on the Bakerloo line, where some of the lovely Sherlock Holmes tiles have been "re-tiled" for the promotion of the new Sherlock Holmes film with Robert Downey Jr & Jude Law which opened on 16th December 2011.

Obviously these are stickers rather than brand new tiles, but the impression is just as good.

Wonder if we'll be seeing more inventive re-tiling like this on other Tube stations?

To promote the release of the last Sherlock Holmes film in 2009, a wax work of Robert Downey Jnr in his Holmes attire was placed on a number of platforms of Baker Street London Underground stations looking as though he was waiting for a train.

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Xmas & NYE Tube Travel Guide - 12 Days of Tube-Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube

2011-12-18T09:18:00.001Z

One of the biggest signs of Christmas on the London Underground, is TfL's annual poster advertising Xmas & New Year Tube, Rail & Bus operating times and their "timetable".

I initially thought they'd chosen to use this picture of a rocking horse as if the Boxing Day Tube strike goes ahead, trains on Boxing Day will be as rare as the proverbial rocking horse's droppings. But it's supposed to show that if you look at their Christmas & New Year Travel Guide pdf in advance (like this gift wrapped rocking horse) there will be no surprises!

You'll also see signs at your local station with their specific ticket office opening and closing hours over the festive period.

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London Underground: Architecture, Design & History Book Review - 12 Days of Tube-Mas - Books as Xmas Gifts

2011-12-17T06:13:00.009Z

One of the most beautiful books about the London Underground I have ever seen (& trust me, I've seen a lot). This new book London Underground: Architecture, Design & History by David Long with 80 amazing black and white photographs by Jane Magarigal dating back from the 1970's "weaves the story of the Underground - its abundance of characters (some good, some not so good), design firsts and brand identity. From suburban expansion to Blitz bombings and Soviet adulation, this book celebrates what remains a magnificent engineering and aesthetic achievement while providing an affectionate if slightly elegiac portrait of a London which is now gone for good."

That was the book's "blurb" but I was extremely lucky enough to receive a review copy of the book, with the wonderful new book smell adding to the atmospheric "empty London Underground" shots.

I could have spent most of this review focusing on David's hard work documenting the history of the London Underground where he looks at all people who made the Tube look how it does today. That includes its many architects to font designers like Edward Johnston and of course Harry Beck who designed the most popular Tube Map in the 1930's which we still base our current map on.

However, the photography is so stunning that it really becomes the book's hero and as many of you know the allure & spookiness of looking at photographs of an empty Tube, and may be keen photographers yourself, I want to turn my attention to the photography.

The story of how Jane Magarigal came to take this photographs was really fascinating to me as it shows how just an outsider's love of the Tube, photography, hard work & patience can eventually pay off. Jane is American and first came to London in 1976 and was struck by the beauty of the London Underground when she arrived.
"In one of the most beautiful & interesting cities in the world, I became a mole, travelling hundreds of miles exploring one stop after another, never knowing what was above ground. Unless I was running errands or visiting friends, I never left the stations because it would cost to get back in".

As this started off as a personal project, like most amateur photographers, Jane did not buy a license for photography and said: "Other than needing to avoid Tube employees, photographing the Underground had several technical disadvantages such a low lights and crowds. Shooting in this space required that I push the speed of the film to allow for the low light - another reason for shooting architecture rather than people....

"a monopod or tripod is recommended in order to get sharp pictures - dangerous to use in crowds, extremely time consuming and awkward if needing to leave the area quickly. So I stood planted firmly to the earth, elbows tucked tightly to my diaphragm and held my breath, waiting for just the right moment when, for example, all people had vacated the area or when a commuter hit the right spot."

As many of the images were taken in the 1970's they actually look "historical" already. Jane attempted to market her shots but the time wasn't right. She also went back to America but in 2009 returned to London and bought the series back to life with digital photography.

She concluded "I have always considered photography an art form. Consideration of form, design, balance and when to include people are decisions an artist makes. This collection is a metaphor that speaks to our separate and perhaps our lonely existence, among the multitudes, and hence the people in these shots are primarily by themselves: they come, they go, temporarily filling a space and rarely glancing at one another, reading or staring off into space or at maps and posters - they are for the most part in their own worlds

The more architectural shots, void of people, speak of this as well. It is when stations are empty of people that the history of the place comes alive. For without the bustle of people one can feel the energy of by gone days - the Blitz raging overhead, the architects and designers' choices, the souls of plague victims unearthed in the building of the London Underground, the millions of people who have travelled through this miraculous labyrinth; all of this is there".

I'd like to thank The History Press for sending me a copy to review, but also for seeing the possibility of this book and not letting these pictures and David's story remain unseen. The book is available on The History Press's site and also on Amazon. Any lover of photography, history, London and the London Underground would be happy to receive this as a gift.

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Long Copy Xmas Tube Ads - 12 Days of Tube-Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube

2011-12-16T09:37:00.000Z

Another sign of Christmas on the London Underground is the Xmas related long copy cross platform ad. Obviously there are tons of ads for Xmas gifts on the Tube, but these "long copy" ads really stand out.

They are specifically designed for when you're standing around, waiting for your train with nothing else to do but to stare at the ads opposite you. CBS Outdoor (the guys responsible for placing ads across London Transport) have been running campaigns & competitions to encourage more long copy ads, supposedly to improve Tube "ambience" but I imagine also to get more advertising revenue.

Still if it produces a great read like the one from Waterstone's I saw last night for a cook book by one of my favourite TV cooks, Nigel Slater, I'm happy.

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London Transport Related Gifts - 12 Days of Tube-Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube

2011-12-15T03:17:00.001Z

Obvious sign of Xmas on the London Underground is when you start to see TfL or London Transport Musuem's own ads for Christmas Gifts from their shops. I particularly like TfL's in this case with the "Lost property" theme. "Don't get LOST for Gift Ideas this Christmas".

This one features a number of gifts such as Tube seat moquette patterned oven gloves, cushions with Travelcard designs on them, various transport related mugs and the two lovely new umbrellas from London Undercover. I first featured London Undercover Umbrellas a couple of years ago. This was their "Commuter" umbrella

There are now some new ones featuring a retro Green Line Umbrella

Here's how it's described on their blog: Following on from the success of our Commuter Umbrella, we’re proud to introduce our new collaboration with Transport For London, The Green Line Umbrella

The Green Line brand, first established in 1930, was used for coach services linking central London with country towns within a 30-mile radius.The Green Routemasters were used on Green Line routes in outlying country towns, with a central station at Poland Street, Soho.

The Green Line Umbrella is based on a special fleet of Lincoln Green Routemasters. These were built for comfort with extra deep cushions featuring the now iconic Routemaster Seat Moquette. It’s this moquette pattern that makes up the interior of this special London Undercover umbrella and the Lincoln Green & Gold Paintwork, the exterior.

As I saw some lovely shiny Green Line buses on a recent visit to the London Transport Musuem's Acton Depot I'm tempted to get one of these myself.

Boxing Day Tube Strike Planned - 12 Days of Tube-Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube

2011-12-14T15:10:00.008Z

Sadly another sign of Christmas on the London Underground is the threat of a strike. This year (as with last year) Aslef haven't let us down and their members have voted in favour of strike action on Boxing Day.

Boxing Day Strike Action also threatened in 2010 - photo by Martin Deutsch

Aslef said in a statement: "The union balloted its 2,200 Underground drivers and they returned a 92.3% vote in favour of action. The company is currently offering no additional payments for working on Boxing Day. The union says its members require 'substantial incentives' to attend."

Aslef added that further action was scheduled for 16 January, 3 February and 13 February.

London Underground said the vote was not a resounding vote in favour, with only 42% of Aslef's Tube drivers voting for a strike and less than 1,000 members took part in the ballot.

London Underground (LU) claims that Aslef is seeking triple-time pay and an extra day off for members working on Boxing Day. Howard Collins, LU's chief operating officer, said there was a "longstanding" agreement between LU and unions over working on bank holidays.

He added: "It is disgraceful for the Aslef leadership to threaten strike action while we are engaged in continuing discussions on this issue. The threat of strike action will not achieve anything and I urge Aslef to join us in our commitment to resolve this matter through discussions."

Sadly if the action goes ahead, it is likely to bring widespread disruption because the union represents 2,200 out of LU's 3,400 drivers. At the moment the RMT union, which is the second largest driver union at LU, has not balloted its members on the dispute. But one imagines they will support fellow union members and refuse to cross any picket lines.

Update - Boxing Day Tube Strike definitely going ahead for 26th December 2011 as LU's attempt to get High Court to stop it failed.

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New Year's Eve Free Tube Travel Poster - 12 Days of Tube-Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube

2011-12-13T03:10:00.001Z

Day Two of the 12 Days of Tube-Mas & a big sign of Christmas on the London Underground is when you start seeing posters about free New Year's Eve Travel.

As blogged when announced, booze company Diageo are the sponsors of this year's free New Year's Eve travel on buses, Tube, Tram and DLR services from 23.45 - 04.30 and on the London Overground until last train times.

Diageo has signed a three year deal with TfL to sponsor free travel on New Year’s Eve. This first advertising campaign started running from 9 December and will carry on into until the New Year.

I quite like this poster and am pleased it doesn't feature Lewis Hamilton who was in the publicity campaign to kick off the announcement. In their effort to sponsor responsible drinking, Diageo show a group of sharp revellers on the left of the poster in comparison to the rather blurred view & memory you would have of the same party goers on the right if you'd over indulged on alcohol.

Compare this to TfL's own posters about watching what you drink when travelling on the Tube, in an attempt to reduce the amount of alcohol related injuries

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12 Days of Tube-Mas - Signs of Xmas on the Tube - Thoughts of Angel

2011-12-12T15:37:00.000Z

For me seeing a bunch of Santas on the Tube - Santacon is a real sign that Xmas is approaching. So I thought I'd spend the next 12 days with my own 12 Signs of Christmas on the London Underground. Today, it's those wags at Angel London Underground Tube Station with their Thoughts of the Day @ThoughtsofAngel.

You know it's Christmas on the Tube when Thoughts of Angel starts talking about pantomimes.

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Santas on the Tube - Santacon London 2011

2011-12-11T03:23:00.003Z

December 10th 2011: over a 1,000 Santas or Santae congregated in Central London (& other cities around the world) to celebrate Christmas in Santacon. I've blogged about Santacon a number of times in the past, but this was the first year I went along myself, dressed as Santa. It was really pleasing to see that large groups of people could still meet up & move around London without it turning into a riot, getting violent or an excuse for police kettling.

Here's my first sight of Santas en mass leaving Embankment Tube where we headed to Trafalgar Square, the lunchtime meeting point for Santacon.

Walking into Trafalgar Square you were faced with a sea of red with Santae swarming the whole square wearing some imaginative costumes

The atmosphere as like a carnival when we left Trafalgar Square and made our way to Piccadilly Circus. Even with masses of us in streets & when cars, motorbikes and buses were stuck in the Santae Jam, the drivers were good humoured as people gave them mince pies & sweets in the spirit of Christmas.

Highlights around that area included a Santaconga, trying to spot Where's Wally? & meeting Anonymous Santa outside of Boots

The Santa band of drummers were superb and kept everyone moving along, Santaconga'ing, dancing, chanting "What do we want? Christmas. When do we want it? Now! Hohooooooooooooooo!" & singing Xmas Songs like Jingle Bells & Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

The dancing continued into Carnaby Street and moved on to Argyll Street heading towards Oxford Street. We were stopped by a row of linked armed police from going onto Oxford Street, but instead of it turning nasty, we just carried on dancing & eventually turned round to head towards Bloomsbury.

@Jemimah_Knight and myself left at this point as we were freezing, tired and wanted to avoid the crush on the Tube home.

My full set of Flickr pictures from Santacon 2011 London are here & @Jemimah_Knight's here too.

I had a fab time and would certainly go again. Just remember to wrap up well, although a number of scantily clad "Lingerie Santas" were showing how Londoners can brave out the winter weather.

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Guess Where Tube 13 - Tube Mouse - Win Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere

2011-12-09T05:42:00.019Z

Haven't done one of these for a while. It's where I ask you to try to guess from exactly where on the London Underground, the following picture in the London Tube Flickr group was taken from.

With the last Guess Where Tube 12 two people got it right it was the clock at King's Cross Tube station at the top of the Northern Line escalators to be exact.

This week try to guess the exact location of where I spotted this London Underground mouse. It's possibly the best picture of a Tube Mouse, I've taken as the little thing was running right on the platform by my feet.

As it's the festive season and I'm feeling generous and this one IS extremely hard I will give a prize (it helps to know your Tube flooring). I've turned comments & tagging off the Flickr picture and the only way that people can guess or enter is through this blog post. So try not to look at the comments in front of you before making your guess.

Apparently, an estimated half a million mice live in the Tube system so your chances of seeing them should be pretty high.

The prize up for grabs is my favourite Tube book (Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere) which actually features King Rats on the Underground (one's even on the cover of the book), so seems appropriate to link back to their mini cousins! I often see people reading this on the Tube as it's a great book and should be required reading for Tube commuters.

You have until Sunday 18th December 11.59pm (UK time) to enter. Make your guesses by then in the comments below and either leave your blog or twitter name or email address so I can get in touch with you if you're the lucky winner. Anyone who just enters as "Guest" with no means of identifying how to contact them, won't be included in the contest. The person who is the most exact will win & if more than one person guesses the same correct place, I'll put names into a randomizer & select from there.

Good luck!

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Tube Alarm Clock Android App - Wakes you up earlier when Tube Delayed

2011-12-07T00:55:00.013Z

We all know that delays are one of the most common problems that Tube commuters face. There is of course the handy service updates box on the TfL website, which warns you in advance, so you can leave early or take a different route, but in order to check it before you go to work, you would have to get up early every day, even when there are no delays. So wouldn't it be great if you could get an alarm alert only when there are delays without having to check by hand?

Now there's an app for that and for once not an iPhone or iPad is needed! Here's how the developer describes it: "Underground Alarm is an alarm clock for users of the London Underground (including Overground and DLR). In addition to standard alarm clock features, it can be set to automatically wake you up earlier when there are disruptions on any of the lines you use to get to your destination."

It's a nice and simple app that could make your morning commutes a bit less stressful. There's also a nice little feature where the alarm message is read out like a speaking alarm clock.

It's free for Android phones and you can dowload the Underground Alarm Clock App here.

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Look who I was just sitting opposite on the Tube

2011-12-03T09:43:00.004Z

Ken on the Tube

It was on the Jubilee Line I saw him from when I got on at West Hampstead & he got off at Baker Street. Did a quick rushed picture onto Twitpic

Lewis Hamilton Heads up Diageo's Free Tube Travel on New Year's Eve

2011-12-03T02:25:00.008Z

Booze company Diageo, are this year's sponsor of free New Year's Eve trave l on the London Underground. After last year's contraversy with high interest online lending company "Wonga" which some London Assembly members called "shameful" and "a total disgrace", Boris decided to play safe & get everyone's favourite driver Lewis Hamilton to promote the idea that instead of drinking & driving we should use the Tube to travel instead.

Lewis Hamilton said "Whilst we all want to have a good time this party season, a good time will be a better one if you can remember it and get home safely. Diageo sponsoring free travel is going to make it a little easier for us to all get home this New Year’s Eve and this campaign will remind us to drink responsibly for a great night out".

An advertising campaign will run across TfL's network including on Tubes, buses and Tube stations promoting responsible drinking. Tube travellers at selected central London stations will receive "top tips" and free bottles of water on some of the busiest party nights of the year (yeah, water from a booze company, remember Boris banned drinking alcohol on the public transport a few years ago) so Diageo can continue to show you how to have a safer night out.

London Underground's MD Mike Brown said "Tens of thousands of people stand to benefit from the sponsorship deal thanks to the Mayor and Diageo. With so many people choosing to enter the New Year in the Capital, it is important that we are able to provide services that will be running throughout the night to get them home safely".

On an strangely empty platform (the eagle eyed & Tube aficianados will know it's because it was shot at Charing Cross's Jubilee Line platform which is closed to the public & now only used for publicity stunts & film location shots), Lewis casually chats with a London Underground operator about what it's like to drive a Tube train.

He then hops into the carriage to pose with some extras about how fun it is to travel on the London Underground over the New Year. This is probably the only time since Hamilton became famous that he's stepped foot into a Tube carriage.

It's a joy to see how happy he is with his Vodafone mobile clutched in his hand (good luck with WiFi down there Lewis, as not sure what's happening after wifi on the Tube trial) and people smiling happily while drinking their free bottles of water after a fun night out.

Transport for London have been providing free travel for "revellers" on New Year’s Eve since 2001. Diageo has signed a three year deal with TfL to sponsor free travel on New Year’s Eve. This first advertising campaign will run from 9 December until the New Year.

Seriously in my opinion it's a better move to have a drinks company sponsoring free Tube Travel than a bank or online loan company with extremely high interest rates.

What do you think?

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First Female Tube Driver passes away

2011-11-30T18:52:00.003Z

Hannah Dadds, the first female Tube driver on London Underground (LU), passed away on 26th November 2011, aged 70, following a long period of illness.

Opening of London Transport Museum’s exhibition, ‘The Right Heels for the Job’ c1995

Born in the East End of London on 16th October 1941, Hannah originally started out as a ‘railwoman’ in 1969 and went on to work as a ticket collector and guard. In 1978 after a period of training & much ribbing from her male counterparts, she became a Tube driver on the District line. She was later joined by her sister Edna and together they formed the first all women crew on the Underground. I blogged about her pioneering story on International Women's Day last year which proved to be an inspiration to many people.

Hannah left LU in 1993 but her legacy continued and in 2004 she was invited to one of the Queen’s Women of Achievement lunches.

Howard Collins, Chief Operating Officer at London Underground, said: “Hannah Dadds changed the working life of women on the Tube, and the way in which many people viewed Tube drivers.

“I had the great privilege of working with Hannah and her sister in the 1980s, they were a great team, positive and enthusiastic about their role and their pioneering responsibility. She was an esteemed member of our workforce and my condolences go out to her family.”

Hannah is sadly missed by her family, friends and ex-colleagues at London Underground.

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Walking London's Lost Underground & Railway Stations: Do Not Alight Here

2011-11-30T03:36:00.007Z

Ben Pedroche has written a lovely walking guide book for London for anyone with an interest in the Tube, old buildings, urban exploring and London's history. Do Not Alight Here has 12 walking routes, each journey takes the reader past disused & derelict Tube and train stations, hidden structures, abandoned tunnels and lots more.

Ben also maps out a series of Tube journeys that show what can be seen through the darkness of the tunnels, and a series of London's train journeys for a look at trackside remains of many stations covered in the walks.

Ben said "It's been something of a labour of love for me, with months of research
and travels around the city! I've made it a point right from the start to try and make it a subject that appeals to everyone - from the hardcore train specialist, to the keen urban explorer, Tube fanatic, casual reader and everyone in between. It's being published by Capital, who have a long list of successful titles about London's transport history."

Most of the walks are illustrated with recently taken colour photographs. Highlights include a 2 hour walk starting at Green Park and finishing at West Brompton, taking in the remains of Down Street Tube station and bricked-up platforms on the Piccadilly Line that hid Cabinet War Rooms previously used by Churchill and covers Brompton Road Tube (pictured below).

Then there's the "not strictly abandoned but still a hidden gem" of 23/24 Leinster Gardens. A spot on the District & Circle line where in-between Bayswater & Paddington, there had been a cutting made underneath some houses. During construction, two houses had been taken down to allow the cut & cover tunnel to be built beneath, and a false house front had been put back in its place so as to disguise it.

Going to see the Leinster Gardens themselves may be a bit disappointing as it's just a fake house front. But if you go round a corner you can hear the distinctive rattle of a C-stock type train from somewhere down below. If you're tall enough you can peep over the wall and get a picture of the trains going past.

He also covers the Necropolis Railway Station (something I recently blogged about for Completely London in a post on London's Secret Memorials).

Brookwood cemetary is outside of London in Woking but is notable for having a private railway running through it. From 1854 - 1947 it would carry both coffins and mourners, by the London & South Western Railway, to a private Necropolis Terminus just outside of Waterloo Station between York Street and Westminster Bridge Road.

Do Not Alight Here is released on December 5th 2011 but can be pre-ordered on Amazon. Also , to mark the launch of his book, Ben will be holding a book signing at London Transport Museum on Saturday 3rd December 2011 from 2pm - 4pm. For more on Ben & his book, there's a Facebook page which covers his interest in London's Lost Tube & Railway stations.

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Battersea Tube Extension Plans - Backing Expected by Osborne

2011-11-29T08:05:00.002Z

Today's Treasury's Autumn Statement is expected to back the extension of the Northern Line to Battersea as part of a £30bn investment plan.

Approval to build two new London Underground stations on the Northern Line as part of a £5.5bn revamp of Battersea power station was backed by the mayor, last year.

From Stefen Cz's post on Albert Square and Saint Stephen's Association blog

It's part of a multi-billion-pound programme of funding designed to "get Britain's economy moving". Along with the Tube stations will come a redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, which will include shops, office space and leisure facilities. It's expected this will create 25,000 jobs and 16,000 homes.

The BBC report that "The landmark will be restored to generate green energy in the future, but its chimneys will be demolished and rebuilt, as they are "beyond repair". The Grade II listed building opened in 1933 and generated power until 1983."

The pictures above are from a walking tour of Battersea Power Station I did back in July 2008 when the plans were only just being formulated.

Amazing to see that this now looks likely to be completed by 2016.

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Aldwych Underground Station Tours - November & December 2011

2011-11-27T05:05:00.006Z

Well done if you managed to get tickets to London Transport Museum's Tube station tours of closed London Underground station Aldwych which sold out within a few days of going on sale. Such is people's interest & passion for discovering more of hidden London right now, it bodes well for projects like Ajit Chamber's Old London Underground Company which, in consultations with the Mayor of London & TfL, is attempting to re-open closed Tube stations like Old Brompton Road for tours.

IanVisits was one of the first people to go on the new round of Aldwych Tours which started on Friday 25th November and run until Sunday 27th November. Visits from Friday 2nd December to Sunday 4th December are also sold out.

His full set of pictures are on Flickr He said of Aldwych "Although only closed in 1994, it holds a special fascination for most people as it is still visible above ground, and even when open was hardly ever used so even the heaviest of tube travellers are unlikely to have been there.

It is also one of those stations that has a dual hidden history, as even when open, only one of two platforms was in use – so you have one old platform, and one even older one."

Other photographs from pencefn show a view looking south at the Eastern platform and the disused lift shaft.

Alan Perryman's pictures show the popularity of the tours and some of the beautiful old posters still preserved the Tube station walls

More old Posters at Aldwych can be seen on Minifig's set of pictures

And at Copwatchers set

Even the less well preserved posters have a sense of mystery & fascination

Have fun if you are going along today and next weekend.

Through Londonist I discovered a great video of the loast day that Aldwych was in operation back in 1994 "Watch about 40 seconds in as the station attendant casually drops down onto the tracks and clambers all over one of the rails."

More old London Transport videos can be found on Fred Ivey's YouTube Channel

You can keep up to date with The Old London Underground's progress and activities by following them on Twitter @oldunderground, subscribing to their blog or liking their Facebook page.

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Cally Road Tube artist for Remembrance Day

2011-11-26T04:46:00.002Z

Remembrance Day was a couple of weeks back, but just received an email from Sara Coutinho who took this shot of Kim, the lovely station assistant at Caledonian Road London Underground Station who draws brilliant works on announcement boards.

Sara said "Not sure if you have seen the latest work of Kim Lynch, was at Cally Road recently and thought this one was awesome. The theme is the Remembrance day and the drawing is quite detailed."

Really beautiful.

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Katherine Jenkins Busking on the Tube

2011-11-24T06:46:00.005Z

Operatic star Katherine Jenkins went busking in disguise at Leicester Square London Underground Station on Tuesday (22nd November) and managed to make £10 in the process.

The operatic 'diva' and star of last year's Christmas Dr Who special, dressed down in a brown wig, knitted jumper with holes in, ripped jeans and boots. She spent 45 minutes at Leicester Square Tube, performing some of her biggest hits including Time To Say Goodbye.

Beforehand she said to The Evening Standard: "It's a really fun concept and it will be really interesting, but it is probably the gig I've done that's most out of my control. I have no idea how people will respond and most people on the Tube are so in their own world anyway that I don't know if people will respond."

"I get on public transport now and again, I mostly drive though. But I used to get the Tube when I was studying so I know what's it's all about. I always listen to buskers, but I've never busked before."

"We're trying to do something that's so far removed, I've always been quite a glamour girl. I really like my outfit but I've never performed in flat shoes and I'm normally in full on evening dress."

Afterwards, Katherine said: "I was really, really enjoying myself. On the initial first note I thought, ‘Oh God, I don’t know how this is going to work out. It was quite an operatic number and I wasn’t sure how it would be received.

"But by the second number commuters were stopping and some were moved to tears. The people were really lovely. One guy said I had made him late for work."

Katherine plans to donate the money she raised to a homeless charity, added: "It has got a great acoustic down there. I actually didn’t want it to end."

Did you see her perform on Tuesday? It's pretty clear from the video that the disguise didn't work and everyone recognised her. She even managed the amazing feat of actually getting people to pay attention to her on the Tube and not walk by as though having a superstar opera singer on the London Underground was an everyday occurance.

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Tottenham Court Road Tube VIDEO - Northern Line Re-opens soon

2011-11-23T06:03:00.001Z

TfL are gearing up to re-open the Northern line at Tottenham Court Road (TCR) on Monday 28th November after a final closure this weekend. They've produced a video of photos which give people an exclusive behind-the-scenes peek at the work on the Northern line platforms at TCR station over the past few months.

From the pictures you can see the huge scale of the engineering being carried out behind hoardings just inches away from passing trains.

When the platforms closed in April 2011, more than 100 people were working around the clock to complete the works, which involved the removal of 800 tonnes of cast iron segments from the tunnel lining and the installation of more than 1,000 tonnes of new steel tunnel sections.

A full station upgrade which will transform the station by 2016 with increased capacity, new entrances and step free access.

David Waboso, Capital Programmes Director, said: 'We would like to thank passengers for their patience whilst the Northern line platforms have been closed.

'There is still further work to be done behind the scenes at the station and passengers will notice that the platforms only have a temporary render finish on the walls.

'Our priority has been to reopen the platforms as soon as the heavy civil engineering works were completed and they could be used safely by customers.

'As works to upgrade the station continue, we ask passengers to continue to bear with us.'

Will be good to see it finally open again and will be very interesting to see what it looks like when fully upgraded in 2016.

London Underground Poster Diary 2012

2011-11-22T04:04:00.077Z

Was lucky to receive a lovely email asking if I wanted to see a copy of a London Underground Poster Diary for 2012 focussing on Tube posters from the 1930's. As I'd already planned to go on London Transport Museum's Guided Tour of their Tube poster archive, this wasn't a question that needed much thought.

I'm very old school when it comes to diaries and use a fairly chunky Filofax, but I think this is the year when it will be finally be consigned to the drawer marked "you are no longer in the eighties, this is the 21st century".

Here's what the diaries publishers - Frances Lincoln had to say "London Underground is renowned for its poster archive and the Tube has become 'London's longest art gallery'. Historically these eye-catching posters enticed prospective travellers indirectly by focusing on the destination rather than the mode of travel and as the Underground expanded so did its potential destinations - from the inner city, through suburbia and beyond to the rolling countryside. The London Underground Diary 2012 focuses on posters from the 1930s - these are bolder, brighter and more adventurous than those of the 1920s and their imagery varies from traditional naturalistic scenes to more radical geometric and even abstract interpretations of a subject."

The diary is nicely themed so that the posters largely match the seasons in the months they relate to. This goes to show how London Underground posters themselves were produced to encourage travel around seasonal activities.

The diary also features some fun Tube facts and trivia - so you could set up an impromptu London Underground Pub Quiz if you liked.

Under the leadership of Frank Pick, the London Underground were well known for getting famous contemporary designers & artists to produce posters. The diary features work by Abram Games, Fred Taylor, Walter Spadbery, Austin Cooper, Laura Knight, Charles Pears (pictured below), Paul Nash and Man Ray. It also includes early work by up and coming artists such as Edward McKnight Kauffer and Graham Sutherland before they were famous.

If you love the 1930's, art-deco, Poirot, pre-second World War period or just the London Underground in general, this really is a great diary. It normally retails at £12.99 but you can currently buy it on amazon for £7.66.

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Tube Memorials & London Remembers Re-launch

2011-11-21T03:37:00.005Z

Last week I was very kindly invited to a party for the re-launch of the London Remembers website. Quite simply it aims to capture, online, all of London's memorials. The new site has been developed by the guys behind Londonist's site & its editor Matt Brown gave an introduction to the site & how he met Richenda, the lady that runs the project.

I'm a bit of a fan of blue plaques and memorials, so was pleased to see the site was easy to navigate and really liked the "On this day" section and "Puzzle Corner" - both a good inspiration for blog posts & pub quizzes.

It was good to see the memorial for the people who died at Bethnal Green Tube station in the worst civilian disaster of the second world war & the commuters who lost their lives in the King's Cross Tube fire in 1987 and a blue plaque for Frank Pick, London Underground's MD in 1928, who was responsible for commissioning the Tube's classic Johnston font and the man behind much of design we admire so much today - including the Tube Posters where his eye for up & coming artists meant that people like Abram Games, Man Ray, John Nash, Paul Nash & Edward McKnight Kauffer produced some outstanding Tube artworks.

However, it is lacking some other major London Underground Memorials & as Richenda insists on taking all the photographs herself, when I was chatting to her, I nerdily pointed out that she needs to add the following:

The London Bombings Monument in Hyde Park for the 52 people who lost their lives on July 7th 2005

Monument in Hyde Park to the Victims of the London Bombings on July 7 by The Londoneer

Harry Beck - London Underground Tube Map designer who lived in Finchley & died on 18 September 1974 - he also has a plaque at Finchley Central Tube station

There are a number of memorials for Alfred Hitchcock on London Remembers but the amazing mosiacs at Leytonstone Tube Station are missing. Hitchcock, was born in Leytonstone in the East End of London in 1899 and in 2001 a series of 17 mosaics illustrating his life and scenes from films were installed at the Tube Station there.

I'm sure there are a lot of others which could be subject of another whole post and that's not including London railway memorials too.

Richenda has such great reasons as to why the memorials may be missing including "We have the memorial but have not yet published it on the website (known technically as a “back-log” and it’s too darn big). We have not yet searched that area. This applies to a lot of London, but we are working on it."

I wish her every success with the website and if I or she are missing any other Tube related memorials please let us know in the comments.

Tube MD hits back at Driverless Train Job Loss Figures

2011-11-16T04:56:00.004Z

You may have seen reports from the RMT recently who are claiming that TfL's plans to install driverless trains will lead to the loss of 1,500 jobs and leave passengers with almost no staff on trains in an emergency.

Mike Brown, London Underground's MD, spoke to The Financial Times a few days ago to dispute the number.

“I have no idea where they get that figure,” he said “A machine can never properly replace a person. I just need to be able to ensure that people are doing the right roles fit for the future not some role in a ticket office that sits more comfortably with the Railway Children film.”

Steam trains fine as heritage but Railway Children image shouldn't apply to current staff
Mike Brown has been with London Underground for the past 20 years. He started working as a manager of a team of cleaners at Neasden depot in 1990, and made his way up the ranks to become chief operating officer. Brown left in 2008 to run Heathrow Airport but returned to London Underground last year to take the MD role.

(Mike Brown on far left of photo - Photo Credit: Chris Ratcliffe)
Brown admits that he faces a challenge convincing the Tube's 21,000 staff about the possible moves to driver-less trains but is adamant that the changes will not affect interaction with the public.

He claims it would not take much to upgrade the system now to driverless trains and added “what I’m not going to do, because it wouldn’t be the best way to spend public money, is to take a sledgehammer and start knocking down driver’s cabs on existing trains. And that is why this is about the train procurement after the one I am in at the moment.”

This implies that changes will come towards the end of the decade when work starts on upgrading the Piccadilly & Bakerloo Lines. But obviously there is still a lot of work to do before that with 70% of the network due to be modernised, leading to a 33% jump in capacity.

“Look the technology does exist, Paris is running with a fully automatic line, line 14, and line 1 in Paris is being converted as we speak. I was in São Paulo a few weeks ago on a deep tube line that is fully automatic. I don’t believe [driverless trains] are less reliable, I don’t believe they are less safe.

“When the Tube was first invented we had steam trains, we don’t have steam trains any more. Progress happens and nobody would believe me if I said there wasn’t the prospect of change in the future.”

We do have steam trains - just not in regular service!
What do you think? Do you think he's correct about it "not taking much" to upgrade the system, I've heard some people say the cost will be very high - would you like to see this reflected in your fares? Will the RMT have to come kicking and screaming into the 21st Century? Are we likely to face more strike threats as Brown's latest comments acknowledge that driverless Tube trains will happen reasonably soon?

Guided Tours of Tube Poster Artists at Museum Depot Acton

2011-11-14T03:55:00.005Z

Great news for all lovers of London Underground posters & art. London Transport Musuem are running guided tours of their collection at the Museum's Depot in Acton from this Saturday 19th November, with a Q & A session afterwards.

They said: "Over 100 years ago Frank Pick commissioned the first graphic poster (No need to ask a P’liceman, by John Hassall, 1908) for London Underground. Under his guidance London Transport went on to commission works from some of the world’s best known artists including Man Ray, Abram Games and Edward McKnight Kauffer some of which will be seen during the tour.

Abram Games Poster

Some are also on display in the Museum, Covent Garden. In groups no larger than 15, visitors will be guided through a century of art and design. Tours last approximately 75 minutes.

Museum (depot) by darquati
There are two tours each day, with the first starting at 11:00 and the second at 13:00.

Saturday 19 November 2011
Saturday 28 January 2012
Saturday 28 April 2012
Saturday 28 July 2012
Saturday 27 October 2012

Tickets must be pre-booked Online or by telephoning London Transport Museum's Booking Office on 020 7565 7298. Prices: Adults £10; Concessions £8.50. Full details here.

UPDATE - IanVisits, JemimahKnight , BrendanMission and myself went along on Saturday 19th November - it's a really amazing experience & even though photography is not allowed in the store & collection rooms (to protect the posters & original artwork) we were stunned to see such a huge collection of wonderful posters. We were treated to short tour of the Museum Depot afterwards and here a few pictures from that part - that alone would have been worth £10 as the depot is only open to the public a few times a year and is usually heaving. Wonderful to see it so quiet.

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Call of Duty Game Features Tube

2011-11-09T06:30:00.007Z

I know nothing about gaming, but apparently the latest version of some big game called "Call of Duty" came out on Monday. This one's subtitled "Modern Warfare 3" and has picked up a bit of media attention for the fact that it contains a London Underground level.

I'll leave Jon Justice to tell you about the rest:

I've been playing it and I've attached some screenshots. Although I was hurtling through it at speed, I did notice a few odd things

You're in a truck, pursuing a Tube train down a line and you pass through a station. It turns out that it's Westminster, which is a little odd as a few minutes later your driver shouts about how you'll be in Westminster station in a minute.

I do quite like that when you pass through that first station some of the passengers on the platform scatter and run, whereas others are a bit more London about things and stand their ground, completely ignoring the truck full of SAS chaps chasing a Tube train.

I was also slightly puzzled by how a train can go from Westminster station immediately into an above ground section, but seemed odder is that the train has "Westminster" on its destination board. Do trains terminate at Westminster? I don't think I've ever heard of that.

But what is funny is that, despite spending hundreds of millions of dollars on the game's budget, Activision wouldn't pay TfL's fee to use the signage and maps. The station name appears on a black rectangle with nary a roundel in sight. The map looks odd, like they've simply made it up, although I can't quite read what it says.

In fact, there's a curious lack of signage anywhere in the station.

It's just about possible to get a look at the interior of a carriage before it gets blown up. I can't remember what the right moquette is, but is that one correct?

All very curious."

Thanks for all of that Jon, my guess is that games company probably did approach TfL and that TfL told them to get lost as they wouldn't want to endorse a game which involved blowing up loads of their trains. But I could be wrong. What do you think about it all?

Free Talk: The Londoners - The Days and Nights of London Now

2011-11-08T05:52:00.004Z

Author Craig Taylor, has a new book coming out called The Londoners - The Days and Nights of London Now, As Told by Those Who Love It, Hate It, Live It, Left It and Long for It (top title & book cover). On Saturday 19th November at Chipping Barnet Library at 2.30pm he's giving a free talk on his research & writing of the book. He interviewed 80 Londoners over 5 years including the female voice of the Tube, Emma Clarke, and Craig Clark, London Underground's lost property office clerk.

He also interviews people who have come to London for the first time about their experience of negotiating London & their first trips on the Tube.

Rachel Lichtenstein said "In this extraordinary portrait of London, told through the diverse voices of its people, Craig Taylor has taken the pulse of the city. Hope, despair, loathing, love: this passionate city invites passionate responses and 'Londoners' is its song".

Sounds like a fascinating talk for all interested in London & not just the London Underground.

Please phone Chipping Barnet Library on 020 8359 4040 or email ruth.newman@barnet.gov.uk to book your free place. Nearest Tube - High Barnet

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Sense the City Photographic Display; Call for Entries : London Transport Museum & Londonist

2011-11-04T17:41:00.001Z

How would you like to have your photographs on display at London Transport Museum next year? The museum will be running a display of 50 images in conjunction with Londonist to create a gallery that "captures the hustle and bustle of London, and the activity that helps make London flourish and thrive."

50 shortlisted images will be displayed at London Transport Museum from Saturday 21 January to Sunday 18 March 2012. The photos must be contemporary and can be submitted to the Flickr group: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sense_the_city/ by 2nd December 2011. Each person can submit up to three images for consideration.

London Transport Museum added: "A panel of experts will judge the photographs and shortlist the top 50 entries. The shortlisted entrants will be invited to a private view featuring their photographs on Friday 20 January 2012. Three final entries will be will be selected for special commendation by our advisory panel - Clive Birch (Visiting Tutor on the Royal College of Art’s Vehicle Design Programme) and Johanna Empson (Talks and Events Programmer at the Photographers Gallery), and announced at the event."

The photography project was inspired by Sense and the City: one of the best exhibitions I had seen at London Transport Museum. As well as having an excellent collection of images & artefacts from the past about how transport might look in the future, the exhibition also posed questions about mobility, society and work in the London over the next decade, and compared that with past visions of the future.

Mark Ovenden - Great Railway Maps of the World Talk at Stanfords

2011-11-02T11:27:00.002Z

To mark the launch of his new book Great Railway Maps of the World Mark Ovenden is giving a talk tonight at 8pm at Stanfords in Covent Garden. Mark produced the World Urban Metro Map in the style of the London Underground Map, to mark the launch of his previous book - Metro Maps of the World.

Stanfords say of Mark's book: "The first ever collection of the diversity of world railway cartography ever produced, Mark Ovenden's new book is an extraordinary compendium of historical and contemporary railway maps and posters from every corner of the world."

Find out more about Great Railway Maps of the World in Mark's guest blog post for us earlier in the year.

The talk will be held at 8pm at Stanfords Convent Garden store: 12-14 Long Acre Covent Garden, London, WC2E 9LP

Tickets - £5. You can buy tickets online here or call 020 7836 1321 to reserve a place or buy tickets in store.

Happy Tube Halloween from Bolli & Annie Mole

2011-10-31T05:06:00.002Z

My cat Bolli should be in his element today. He's a black cat & should be out tonight jumping on witches' shoulders as they zoom around on broomsticks in the sky. Quite frankly he's a little bored with Halloween, but managed to humour me enough to have this photo taken

The look in his eyes says: "Get this over with quickly, so that I can go back to sleeping".

I quite liked the following "out-take" as he looks kinda spooky.

I'm a little more into Halloween this year than normal and actually got all American & baked a pumpkin pie which I'm taking into the crew at Great British Chefs today.

Over on Facebook this opened up a lot of discussion about whether pumpkin pie should be served hot or cold & other pie related questions.

Halloween Tube by spiritquest
Expect to see more people on the London Underground dressed up as ghouls, goblins, witches, devils & a whole load of other scary things tonight as the Halloween parties come to an end. And as usual as Spiritquest's (@Ketan) great picture above on the Northern Line (taken en route to BarCampLondon) from yesterday shows, expect most Tube travellers to think it's all totally normal & ignore them.

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Old Posters found at Richmond Station

2011-10-28T16:58:00.003+01:00

Not strictly Tube related but because I use Richmond Station a lot, it was great receiving an email from Simon Hickman from English Heritage with the following pictures.

He said "South West Trains is replacing the poster boards on the footbridge stairs, and in removing the old ones has uncovered some historic late '70s / early '80s ones underneath. They're very well preserved. One is a stylised advert for sleeper trains, but my favourite is the one instructing the good burghers of Richmond how to open train doors with a button!"

Love both of them, especially the reminder of the "We're getting there" slogan. Wonder how much longer - getting there takes?

Pleased that photos were taken before they were lost forever.

Bolli with Tube Map Beach Towel for Black Cat Awareness Day

2011-10-27T23:57:00.003+01:00

Bolli posing with my belated birthday pressie of a Tube Map Beach Towel - thanks Trish! We're both proud to support Black Cat Awareness Day - so surprised people think they are unlucky & they are harder to find homes for than other coloured cats - he's top!

Scary Tube Books for All Hallow's Read

2011-10-27T12:09:00.001+01:00

In case you haven't noticed it's Halloween on 31st October. Expect to see the London Underground filled with all sorts of ghouls & goblins over the weekend (well people dressed up as ghouls, goblins & the like on their way to Halloweeen Parties).

I was delighted to discover that one of my favourite authors, Neil Gaiman has come up with a great concept for the day for people who're not into "trick or treating", or sweets or dressing up. It's simply giving or sharing a scary book - All Hallow's Read

Neil wrote the fantastic Neverwhere a dark fantasy with loads of Tube related themes - real Barons at Barons Court, the dark Angels of Islington, people living in an alternative subterranean world partially populated by King Rats and travelling around on those "Special" London Underground trains with the windows blacked out.

The Guardian are totally behind his campaign and are giving a way a free book of short stories this weekend which includes a scary story set on the Piccadilly Line.

Other scary fictional Tube reads that would make brill All Hallows Read gifts or shares include The End of the Line and Barbara Vine's King Soloman's Carpet.

For those who want non fiction spooky Tube Tales there's Underground London by Stephen Smith, Peter Ackroyd's London Under and Railway Ghosts by J A Brooks. Supernatural Steam also by J A Brooks isn't Tube related by if you're a railway enthusiast is is full of strange steam railway sightings (the latter two are super cheap on Amazon as they're pretty old).

I'm sure I've missed other scary Tube, train or London Transport reads and feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments.

RMT in a stew over Driverless Tube Trains by 2021

2011-10-25T05:21:00.004+01:00

The old chestnut about the prospect of driverless London Underground trains is in the news again after the RMT "leaked" a TfL paper stating that driverless trains could run across the network within 10 years.

The Operational Strategy Discussion Paper says that this along with mass ticket office closures and a contactless method of paying for London travel (bye bye Oyster) could save £2 billion by 2018.

The RMT's leader Bob Crow said the plans were "a blueprint for jobs and safety carnage". He continued "Every single ticket office would be closed, stations left unstaffed and drivers would be thrown out of their cabs without a single thought for passenger safety.......RMT will work with our sister Tube unions and passenger groups on a campaign to ensure that this document and its proposals are consigned to the dustbin of history".

London Underground Managing Director, Mike Brown, responded with the following comments to The Evening Standard

"This plan shows how the LU operational model will evolve to meet the changes of the next decade. It delivers taxpayer value through a significant reduction of the cost of operations"

"The Tube is now carrying 1.1 billion passengers a year. Londoners want a modern, safe, economical and efficient Underground. This discussion paper contains some suggestions as to how that might be achieved."

On the front page of The Standard, the story continues inside with thoughts from commuters who seem more than happy with the prospect of driverless Tube trains. The Victoria, Central and Jubilee lines already run in semi-automatic role and apparently little practical change is needed to operate without a driver. The DLR also has driverless trains.

One of the people that The Standard interviewed said "Driverless trains are a fantastic idea. I think Tube drivers are the most overpaid people in London."

Another said: "I am totally behind anything that would make London transport quicker than it already is."

A third agreed: "I think this is an excellent idea, efficiency and effectiveness are necessary. We can put savings to good use."

The jury's still out for me. Sure I get that there are lots of efficiencies to be made, personally, to me, it still feels a little weird not seeing a driver on the DLR (even though I know it's been like that for years and years and there are also people on the train to make sure bags and coats and limbs don't get stuck in closing doors). The RMT's argument is that a lot of drivers also helped passengers during the 7/7 terrorist attacks and there would be no-one to assist in another emergency like that.

Even if there were automated trains it's not likely to stop strike action (this whole thing is definitely a move by Boris Johnson to take away the unions' power to hold the country to ransom over strikes). Someone somewhere still has to operate the computers that operate the trains & the likelihood is that those people will belong to rail unions.

At the moment these are only plans but like it or not, I believe that in time more driverless trains will be rolled out. Smart ways of paying your fares will also be rolled out & unfortunately that means that fewer people will be needed to run ticket offices & get involved with managing the Oyster system.

What are your thoughts? Are you concerned about the safety issues of not having drivers? Do you think that mass ticket office closures will lead to platforms & stations becoming a "paradise" for vandals & muggers as Crow suggests?

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Paris Subway Challenge by Adham Fisher

2011-10-22T05:07:00.005+01:00

299 stations. 16 lines. 133 miles of track. And some "Je ne sais quoi". That is what was involved when Tube Challenger, Adham Fisher, applied the challenges of travelling around each station in the fastest possible time on the London Underground, to the Paris Métro in mid August 2011.

Adham tells his story:

"I had heard of a couple of other attempts at this (http://www.rioleo.org/guinness-world-record-subway.php and http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/3681672.print/). No participant was Parisian or even French. We are used to some Londoners knowing the Tube inside out, being enthusiastic about subterranean travel and therefore being the most likely to try and attain a record there, but if one suggested to the average Paris resident that she or he spend 15 hours on the Métro, one might be banished to the suburbs.

"Le Blog en Commun first broke the news across the Channel and I went to all Métro stations in 13 hours, 37 minutes and 54 seconds.

"Highlights of the expedition were:

- The song, Métro, which we wrote for the occasion. Thanks to Annanem. "Baffling, pointless, therapeutic genius" say the Parisians.

- My companions. Very well done.
- My interview on French radio.

- Meeting the Metro map master himself, Mark Ovenden, whose book, Paris Metro Style In Map And Station Design I had read in preparation. I had an orange juice with him the day before and he offered great words of encouragement and a little metro quiz. His new book, Great Railway Maps Of The World, is out now.

- The family who gave me a pencil after I had lost two pens in as many minutes so I could continue writing. I offered them two euros for it but they said "It's for you."

- I was on a train with an American chap and asked if he knew about the New York Subway record. He replied that he was from North Carolina, and apparently there are no subways there. Nevertheless, he was so intrigued by what I was doing that he insisted on having his picture taken with me.

- The Métro driver who, after hearing what I had done the next day, let me ride in the cab for a few stops. That makes two cities where I have had a driver's eye view.

- The people sleeping on station platforms. I hope they were not disturbed.

- There were many bad points, but none compare to the creperie in the Chatelet area where I bought the team a celebratory round of drinks afterwards. Ten euros for a small vase of cider. That's £9.99!"

Thanks Adham for that great story and you can read more about Adham's Subway Challenges including his Chicago Subway Challenge here.

National Baking Week Tube Map made from Cake

2011-10-18T05:34:00.007+01:00

Next stop Charing Hot Cross Bun. The cooks and even the non cooks amongst you may know that yesterday saw the launch of National Baking Week to celebrate the UK's love of baking. The launch event in London was genius as bunch of cooks went into St Pancras station and made a London Underground Map out of cake (what's not to like about that?).

Photos by Gary Morrisroe

I love the bakery & cake puns on the Tube station names. So above we have Imperial Mint Wharf Cake, But there was also Charing Hot Cross Bun, Victoria Sponge, Wimbledon Parkin, White Chocolate Cheesecake Chapel, Puddington, Swiss Roll Cottage and the more recipe orientated - add 250ml Waterloo.

London landmarks such as Marble Arch, The London Eye, Tate Modern and Big Ben were also made out of cake and placed on the Tube Map.

As a number of you know, I'm an enthusiastic cook and in addition to running Nom Nom Nom, the charity MasterChef contest for bloggers, for the last four years, a few months ago I became Head of Social Media for Great British Chefs (yes, I get paid to eat, cook, talk, blog & Tweet about food - there's worse jobs). Each day, for National Baking Week, we're focussing on some baking goodness on our Facebook page. So I really love this map.

You can see how the Cake Tube Map was put together in the video below:

Kudos to the guys and girls at National Baking Week, they've certainly put the event on the (Tube) map in my eyes.

Any other Tube Station Cake or Baking puns you think they could have considered for the map?

UPDATE - Just discovered through the comments after TRT had suggested Manor House Cake (BTW thanks to all for your great suggestions) that TfL actually have worked with Mr Kipling to make some Tube Station name cakes to cover some stops on the Piccadilly Line. Smoke magazine (the very irregular but amazing London "fanzine") covered this back in Issue 8 and its co-founder Matt Haynes kindly sent the following screengrab of the piece. Love it!

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Nine Thoughts from 9 years of Blogging

2011-10-16T09:47:00.009+01:00

Hard to believe it, but at the end of this year this blog will have been around for nine years. If someone had asked me in 2003 whether I would have still been doing this in nine years time, I'd have probably laughed at them. It's not been an easy nine years. It's had a lot of ups and a shedload of downs.

In those nine years I've split up with my husband, seen a book I did research on get published, witnessed the nightmare of July 7th, had an almost two year relationship with a fellow Tube geek, won a few blogging awards, had a number of jobs, helped to raise a few thousand pounds for some charities (including Tube Relief with Geoff Marshall & Action Against Hunger), interviewed authors I really admire (including Neil Gaiman & Christopher Fowler), been on national TV & radio a few times, run Nom Nom Nom four times, met & had tea with Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy, spoken to a number of celebs including Al Gore, Ken Livingstone, Alistair Campbell, Jon Snow, Piers Morgan, Mr T, Craig out of Big Brother, Roland Gift and Stewart Lee, witnessed some of the worst riots this country has seen and now I'm about to be Social Media Consultant (on a voluntary basis, I'm not giving up my day job) for The Old London Underground Company (some people will stop reading now - I can guess who you are).

What have I learnt in nine years? Hard to say, but here's nine observations that may or may not be of interest.

1. I will give up blogging one day, but only when it becomes much more of a hindrance than fun or I'm too old to travel on the Tube often enough to blog.

2. I've met some AWESOME people who've become good friends through blogging and value their friendship more than I can say.

3. I still get a big kick out of seeing my blogging mates' achievements, whether that's winning Observer Food Monthly's Best Food Blogger (well done Niamh), producing their second album (well done Laura), getting their blog made into a Channel 4 TV Series (well done Brian/Tom), getting books published or about to be published (well done Zoe, Malcolm, Julia, Tom, Londonist guys, Collin & Mark & I'm sure I've left out others), seeing them on TV (L J Rich - you're brill), hearing them present radio shows (Jamillah, Zoe and Chris - always thought provoking, professional & quirky), seeing their writing get made into TV pilots or on stage (well done Mike), seeing them pick up OBEs with their families (Gia - still slightly freaked out by seeing Brian's face on cover of Wired last month) or the many, many, other achievements that would be enough for most people to dine out on for months.

4. I know that I upset a lot of people and I've finally got to the stage where I don't care that much any more. I don't mean that in an arrogant sense, but in the sense that I don't lose sleep over it any more. I used to. I wondered what I'd done to piss off someone so much that they parodied my blog. I used to lose sleep about the comments I got on controversial blog posts. I don't think I'm a fundamentally evil person. I know I can be annoying. Sometimes I can be too honest for my own good. I don't suffer fools gladly. I can get impatient, but generally I try to listen to what people have to say. In conference or seminar situations (unless I'm the speaker) I try to follow the premise of "You have two ears and one mouth, use them in that order". Thanks @sleepydog for being the first person I heard saying that.

5. I know that blogging will be around for a long time and may possibly outlive Twitter and will certainly outlive a lot of other social networks.

6. Getting a cat of my own has been one of the best things to ever happen to me.

7. I don't like numbers when it comes to blogging. Numbers don't really mean much by themselves. Traffic, numbers of followers, numbers of Facebook Fans, number of blog posts a week, word counts. It's all pretty irrelevant unless you have some passion behind it. Don't settle on being average, no one is average, everyone has something unique about themselves, find your uniqueness & enjoy it. This presentation I did in 2008 still has some thoughts on blogging that you might find helpful today.

Blogging Break Down - Bar Camp London 5 & Social Media Camp London

View more presentations from Annie Mole

8. Maybe one day I'll get rid of this retro yellow background & design. Maybe I won't.

9. It is possible to carve out a niche for yourself through blogging. It is possible to get The Mayor to read your blog posts. It is possible to get journalists to read your blog posts & Tweets on a daily basis and look to you as a "news source". It is possible to get TfL and the British Transport Police to keep an eye on your blog. It is possible to be more influential that you possibly realise, and that realisation is always a shock. Because in your heart you know it's just you, a computer and a lot of other people who've trusted you for many years.

To those who have trusted me & the blog and those who will, I'd honestly like to thank you all. I know I'll never meet the vast majority of you in person, but you've changed my life. I owe you a pint.

Guess Where Tube 12 - Slave Clock

2011-10-12T06:00:00.000+01:00

Another in the series where I ask you to try to guess from exactly where on the London Underground, the following picture in the London Tube Flickr group was taken from.

With the last Guess Where Tube 11 most people guessed that it was on the Victoria Line, which was pretty obvious because of the moquette. A number of you thought it was Seven Sisters. But it was in fact at King's Cross on the Southbound platform. Antje got it right, so well done to her.

This week try to guess the exact location of where I spotted this London Underground clock. I really like the detail of the roundel at the bottom of this and would have certainly been a contender for my Unusual London Underground Clocks post. It makes was could have been a very dull station clock and turn it into something that has a slightly art deco feel about it. It doesn't appear to amongst the great set of London Underground Clocks collated by BowRoadUK

Yet again, there's no prizes for getting it right, just the satisfaction of knowing you were right.

Enjoy!

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Tube Drivers Strike Ballot over "Worst Week" of Service

2011-10-07T09:48:00.001+01:00

For once I'm actually with the RMT. Tube drivers are considering a ballot for industrial action over safety in what has been the "worst week" of chaos on the Tube because of signal failures, faulty trains and staffing problems.

The District Line has been absolutely rubbish this week and also last week (see picture above). There's been no other way to describe the delays, gaps between service and track problems on that line. I've been putting in a Customer Charter form for compensation almost every day.

The Evening Standard said "District Line passengers were worst hit with nine severe delays, suspensions and closures, while users of the Circle Line suffered inconvenience following four line suspensions, said Labour, adding that in the last six days the District and Circle lines were both suspended three times and the Victoria, Hammersmith & City Line and Northern Line were all part-suspended once."

Labour's transport spokeswoman Val Shawcross said in The Guardian: "I can't remember a worse week of delays on the Tube. No line has been spared delays this week with severe delays and whole line suspensions causing huge inconvenience to the daily lives of millions of Londoners.

"It's simply not good enough when Londoners tell me that delays are the norm, not the exception, whilst they are paying record high fares to use a Tube service which we cannot rely on.

"While Boris Johnson was boasting about how great London's Tube services were to the Conservative Party conference this week, millions of Londoners were stuck on Tube trains."

Bob Crow, in normal bullish mode said "RMT has demanded an end to the reckless policy of expecting drivers to override door fail-safe systems after a potentially fatal incident in which a passenger jumped from a moving train and another was caught in its open doors.

"Despite that, the 'sensitive edge' procedures, along with a whole bunch of other unsafe procedures, are being bulldozed through in the dash for cuts, and to cover up the impact of reductions in station staff, under the guise of "operational effectiveness".

"It is our members who have to deal with the consequences of these ill-conceived policies. We have tried to get LUL to see sense, but they have continued to put cash and job cuts ahead of passenger safety and we now have no choice but to ballot for action to put a stop to these dangerous proposals being imposed without agreement."

Interestingly I've had no word back from @TfLOfficial on my tweets last week asking why the District Line was so shocking last week. I was particularly galled as TfL were handing out a survey on a day when the service was really, really bad. Perhaps now the unions are threatening to strike they may start to look at why the service was so bad in the last couple of weeks.

Rihanna on the Tube

2011-10-06T09:21:00.003+01:00

Hot on the heels of my post about Tube stations at music arenas, Rihanna took to the London Underground last night to get to her gig at the O2.

Lisa-Marie O'Keeffe who took the photo said : "I met @Rihanna on my way home, told her she was crazy for taking the tube she said 'Dunno how you guys do it' "

The Sun report "The 23-year-old singer astonished passengers by travelling to London's O2 Arena on the Jubilee underground line using her Oyster travel card.

Shocked fans, who the star dubs her "navy", watched as she left a packed Tube train at North Greenwich station."

The story is kind of spoilt to hear that when she left the station, with her security guards she then "jumped into a waiting car which drove her just 100 yards to the backstage area of the huge venue".

The Sun continued and report that a source said: "Fans couldn't believe they were sharing a carriage with a world famous pop star.

"She was just like any other passenger, except accompanied by a huge entourage. She was happy to pose for snaps and talk about the gig. She was so down to earth."

Have you seen anyone famous on the Tube lately?

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Worst Tube Station to Work At?

2011-10-03T08:14:00.002+01:00

What's the worst London Underground station to work at? I reckon that the ones around Wembley are pretty ... err.... challenging for staff. One minute they could be putting up with drunken football fans, the next the platform is invaded by hordes of pre-pubscent girls wearing pink rabbit ears & cowboy hats.

This was the scene I saw at Wembley Central yesterday. The platform was chock a block with all these girls with constant announcements from station staff to "Stand back from the yellow line", to "Move down the platform so we can all fit you on", to "Mind the gap when getting on the train". All the while, having to hear excited chatter, whistles and the general noise that several hundred 9-14 year old fans of The Wanted make when having a trip to London.

Station staff at Wembley Central and Wembley Park, you have my utmost sympathy.

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Late September we need Fan Man on the Tube?

2011-09-30T08:46:00.002+01:00

It's the end of September but we need FanMan.

Photo: David Parry

It might look like FanMan is about elbow the woman in the face, but apparently he has cooling equipment in his sleeves.

The Emmi FanMan, was a six-foot fan-wielding super-hero, using "state of the art technology to blast those around him with a refreshing jet of cool air" . Sadly this was just a summer stunt but we could really do with him today as temperatures are expected to rise to 29 degrees in London.

Emmi FanMan said "I’m just someone who wanted to make a difference. In a world where heat exhaustion, dehydration and profuse sweating are rife I knew I couldn’t just stand by and watch any longer. Commuting is an exhausting business but coupled with the crippling heat of a packed tube carriage it becomes unbearable. I’m there for people in their time of need."

Wonder how the Piccadilly, Northern, Central, Bakerloo and Waterloo and City lines will be faring today? These lines are marked as high risk on a LU "Passenger heat strain" map. They're the lines that are the highest risk to people should they become stuck on a stalled train.

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Annie Mole on Facebook's New Timeline

2011-09-28T05:59:00.003+01:00

You've probably been hearing a ton of press about Facebook's new Timeline and all of the recent changes they've made to the layout of the page. It might surprise some of you to know that I'm even on Facebook (I'm here), as I never really make a big thing about my presence there. However, the new Timeline is making me re-think how I use Facebook.

I watched the live feed of the Facebook F8 Developers conference last week and was seriously impressed. I have to use Facebook a lot for work, so that's why I was in the office until 8pm watching it. Here are my tweets while I was watching F8 at the time.

As "Annie Mole" I could never really see the point of doing much on Facebook. I actually thought it would take page views away from my blog & having my own "real me" Facebook account as well, AND a Twitter account was quite enough. I wanted Facebook to be the only social network that was about the "real me" and everyone I friended on that "real me" account were people I've met and like in real life or people that I've worked with over the years. The only reason I joined Facebook in November 2007 was to Like a few Tube related groups I was interested in.

If you have got the new Facebook Timeline (it rolls out in a few weeks), you'll be able to see my first comments on Facebook were "is wondering about having a Facebook profile" - November 30th 2007 - Some people then found me and wanted to friend me. I didn't really respond as I felt I had enough with the blog & Twitter. By 2008 I thought that was a bit rude, accepted a few friends, but still found it all too much so said "wants you to email her by the usual channels if you want to talk to her"

People still kept finding me on Facebook & tried to friend me. I still kept saying on status updates "I deliberately have no Facebook friends please email me if you wish to talk to me". Still people kept trying to friend me, so I gave up and thought, "OK will just pull in feeds from my blog as notes and that should do it".

That seemed to work for years and I still made the odd status update like "Please note I don't actively use Facebook, so it may take some time before I get back to you if you contact me here! Best to email me - thanks :-)"

Now I am re-thinking. The Facebook Timeline will allow me to very easily build an online scrapbook of Annie Mole's life since conception in 1999 to the present day. Obviously the "real me" is much older (it was my birthday on Saturday - thanks to those who came to my party), and I'm not sure if I can be bothered to scan in baby photos and update every significant event in my life. I'm over 40, that's quite a lot to add.

However, since building my Timeline profile yesterday, I saw that you could actually just start from the day that you joined Facebook and you didn't have to go back to your actual date of birth.

I tweeted at the time of the Facebook Developer's Conference that their VP of Product Management - Chris Cox was to me the most impressive speaker. I still cannot find a video of his speech, so the following badly filmed, and hardly viewed video will have to do - listen to it or watch it - it's only about six minutes long. It explains Facebook's thinking from November 2010 almost a year before they made the announcements about Timeline. They've been thinking about this for a long time, way before Google+ existed.

I studied Sociology at University. I'm a massive people watcher. I socialise a lot. None of these are big secrets or surprises. The internet has massively enabled me to socialise much, much, more than I could ever have done without it. Rather than being a blogger hunched over my computer and never going out it enabled me to meet so many interesting people. People I seriously would have never met without the internet. People who are now some of my best & closest friends.

Yes Richmond College us bloggers don't all look like that.

To me, Facebook Timeline allows you to make the most out of the significant "Third Space" ("Home" & "Work" being the other two) - ie The Third Space is all of the many, many spaces where we socialise & meet people outside of work and home. It allows us to have one online space to store our collective memories of all those things we do with friends, family, colleagues, strangers, and all of our achievements within those spaces. It's entirely up to you how much you decide to display and share - Facebook will cleverly pull in some stuff it thinks is significant, but you can choose to hide those items from your Timeline.

It will certainly mean that when the day comes that I no longer write this blog, when I'm much older and much greyer and not using the Tube, at least I'll be able to look back at one page and say "Yes that's what I did for 10 or twenty years or thirty years". So thanks Facebook, I think I finally owe you one.

Can you answer these little known Tube facts?

2011-09-26T00:52:00.001+01:00

Gentle quiz for Monday, mostly inspired by someone who inspired a post last week (can't give the person's name away yet, otherwise it would make the quiz much easier).

Photo by bowroaduk
1. How many stations have the colour of their line in their name and what are they?
2. What's the eastern most station London Underground station that's entirely below ground?
3. What's unique about Upminster Bridge Station?
4. What's unique about Tottenham Hale Tube Station?
5. How many Tube stations have the word London in their name & what are they?

This is just for fun and there's no prizes for guessing the most correctly. Leave your answers in the comments below and try not to look at the answers before you when you comment. Also try not to look at the Tube map either.

I'll reveal the answers sometime this weekend.

Guess Where Tube 11 - Pink Fairy

2011-09-23T14:51:00.000+01:00

Another in the series where I ask you to try to guess from exactly where on the London Underground, the following picture in the London Tube Flickr group was taken from.

The last Guess Where Tube 9 is still not closed and I'll reveal the answer over the weekend for those who want to guess.

This week try to guess the exact location of where I spotted this lovely pink fairy on the London Underground, earlier in the week. The line is pretty obvious but I need the station and ideally the platform direction. I think it's tough. And try not to look at the comments in front of you before making your guess.

Yet again, there's no prizes for getting it right, just the satisfaction of knowing you were right.

Enjoy!

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Reading Walk The Lines on The Tube

2011-09-22T10:21:00.002+01:00

Last night I sat opposite a woman reading @WalkTheLinesLDN's book Walk the Lines on the London Underground. I love it when I see people reading books that I've read on the Tube and always want to say "look I'm reading this" or "what did you think of XYZ"?

I never do though (OK I did once, but they were sitting right next to me and we were both reading "Wind Up Bird Chronicle" one of my favourite books of all time. Anyone who reads anything by Haruki Murakami rocks in my book).

I really enjoyed seeing this woman reading Walk the Lines (it's about walking the whole of the London Undeground, overground) as I had interviewed the book's author, Mark Mason, for the blog and we had a lovely conversation on the phone about tons of Tube stuff - some of which didn't even get into the book.

The temptation to say "I've interviewed him for blog, he's awesome" was overpowering, but she was so engrossed in the book, I really didn't want to disturb her.

Do you ever give a secret wink or smile inside when you see people on the Tube reading the same book as you?

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Hamsters on the Tube at Pimlico

2011-09-20T03:06:00.000+01:00

Great spot by @byekitty who noticed a weird destination at Pimlico London Underground station. The first train was going to Walthamstow Central, the third was bound for a rather different destination.

This stop wouldn't be too out of place in Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere, home of King Rats on the Tube.

Hat tip to @minty83 who found this Tweet originally.

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Domestics on the Tube

2011-09-19T18:18:00.000+01:00

Love the scene in the video below that IanVisits kindly sent my way. It's for an old ad for Nokia but it was only recently uploaded to Vimeo.

Nokia - Slacker from Sparks.

How often have you seen people having a domestic argument on the London Underground? Obviously it wouldn't be like this, but the people's reaction (or lack of) is interesting.

September's Celebrity Tube Spot / Stalk

2011-09-16T00:26:00.007+01:00

Can you name this man?

It's another time where I'm in the position to spot a celebrity on the London Underground and as with Stewart Lee, this guy kindly let me take his picture, with the air of slight confusion when I say "I write a blog about the Tube".

I don't know what it is about Angel Tube, but that's where I also spotted Stewart Lee. Anyways the story to this, is that I got on at Angel London Underground about to go to a food blogger's event. I had a load of bags and stood by this guy as there were no seats. He very kindly offered me a seat, but I said no thanks, I'm only going one stop.

His face already looked familar to me. His voice made think "Where do I know you from"? He pulled out a little red Moleskin notebook and started writing in it. I'm pretty nosy on the Tube at the best of times, but as I already thought I knew who he might be, I looked for evidence in his notes.

Initially he seemed to have been writing a lot of numbers, then he started writing, sentences with a person's name appearing quite a lot in his notes. He could obviously tell I was studying the notebook in this lap.

So I said "Excuse me but are you XXXXXXX XXXXX?" (this is for those who still want to guess who he is). He said "Yes, I am, who are you? Where do I know you from?" I was quite shocked by that and said "Errr you don't". He said "So how do you know me?" I said "I'm an old fan!". He looked pleased. "What's your name?" he said. "It's Annie, I write a blog about the Tube". "Really?" he replied. "Yes," I said "Do you mind if I take your picture for my blog". "Ummm no, go ahead" he replied with the usual bemusement.

I took his picture. He then asked how would he be able to see it and I hurriedly told him my Twitter name which he noted in his notebook, just before I got off for my stop.

So there you have it. Do you know who is he? If you're of a certain age, you'll probably get it very quickly. I'll reveal the answer later on Friday and in the meantime, have fun guessing.

Update - Well a number of you have got it already. So revealing much earlier than I thought. It was Roland Gift from The Fine Young Cannibals. He was named in People magazine as being one of the 50 Most Beautiful People on the Planet, was on the cover of Rolling Stone and has an AMAZING voice. I was obviously gobsmacked to be having the above conversation with him on the Tube and humbled he was surprised someone recognized him. Roland really hope you see this post and thanks for being so lovely and letting me take your photo for the blog.

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Thought of the Day at Angel Tube - 14th September 2011

2011-09-14T13:16:00.000+01:00

Few words are needed for today's Thought of the Day at Angel London Underground Station:

Guys you have surpassed yourself and gave me the best laugh of the morning.

Thanks @thoughtsofangel you rock!