Pearly Kings & Queen on the Tube

I don't think I've ever seen a Pearly King or Queen on the London Underground before. So it was quite sad to see them standing & squashed in their glittery finery on a crowded train on Saturday. They're like "London Royalty" aren't they? Surely people should have stood aside or demanded they were given seats! Perhaps Boris should decree them automatic Tube seat rights.


Joking aside, they seemed reasonably happy standing. Although the shot of the man above does look a little melancholy. Unless he was just thinking about his next meal of jellied eels!

They got off at the same stop as me at Holborn and when they were going up the stairs, it was clear people now noticed them. I heard a number people pointing them out to their friends, like a breed of exotic bird had flown into the Underground. Exiting at Holborn, I managed to grab a blurry shot of them on the escalators.


They certainly added a nice bit of sparkly East End glamour to the Tube.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, September 20, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Moquette for London - Design Evening

If you've ever wanted to learn more about the history of London Underground's iconic upholstery (moquette), London Transport Museum are running an evening of talks and a "make & take workshop" on Wednesday 22nd September 2010.


Moquette by londonstuff
London Underground's Design & Heritage Manager Mike Ashworth will look at why London still uses woollen fabric's (almost unique in the subway world) and how this fits into TfL's corporate identity.

You'll also hear from Wallace & Sewell the design duo who created the brand new moquette (pictured above) which will be on used on refurbished Central Line trains from 2011, and other new trains. They will discuss the challenge of designing within very tight parameters - 4 colours - exact repeat size - then working with a mill to translate the design into fabric.


If you look closely into the new design (known officially as Barman) you can see a Londony skyline with the London Eye.

The evening will also include exclusive tours of the Museum's Design for Travel gallery. You can finish off the night with a moquette themed make-and-take workshop with The Make Lounge where you'll be able to design and decorate a set of two moquette patterned drinking glasses.

Tickets are £18 adults; £15 Students; £12.50 Friends / TfL staff / concessions and the event starts from 6.30pm and finishes at 9.30pm. Tickets for this event are limited and can be reserved in advance, so call 020 7565 7298 to book your tickets now.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, September 17, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Win a Limited Edition Routemaster Oyster Card Holder

Remember those lovely looking wooden Oyster card holders I blogged about a year ago? Well, to celebrate this year’s London Design Festival, TfL have got together with design company Tom Dixon & launched a new limited edition Routemaster Oyster Card holder.


Etched with the iconic bus, the wooden holders are £19.95, but you have the chance to get your mitts on one. Look out for the poster below (apparently they're all over London), get a picture of you standing in front to it, send to London Design Festival, tell them where you took it and they'll give a holder to their two favourites.


You've got until Sunday 26th September to get snapping. Full details are here. Good luck!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, September 16, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Open House - London Underground Highlights

Over 700 of London's interesting buildings will open up their doors to the public for free this weekend. Once again you'll get an opportunity to visit Village Underground - or as I like to call them "Tube Offices in the Sky"


They're a collection of old Tube trains hoisted onto a disused viaduct in Shoreditch and have been made into working offices. Here's my post when I was lucky enough to visit them a few years ago as my friend's theatre company was based there.


Tours are taking place on Saturday at 11am, 1pm, 3pm and 4.30pm on a first come first served basis (queuing outside if necessary) - full details here.

They're well worth a visit and you get to see as pretty interesting view of the City from up there.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, September 16, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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The Pope on the Tube

Wonder if there will be an announcement this Friday night about congestion on the London Underground due to a Papal visit? I was quite pleasantly surprised to see advance warning about this. Although maybe Tube stations won't be as busy as TfL think as numerous tickets are said to have gone unsold and event capacities reduced.


There was also something quite weird about seeing the following line in the paragraph on coach visits on TfL's page dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI's visit: "Pilgrims are advised to complete their journeys on public transport."

Just because you might be curious to see the Pope, does that necessarily make you a "pilgrim"? Does the very act travelling by coach automatically turn you into a "pilgrim"?

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, September 15, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/09/pope-on-tube.html

Mysteries and Ghosts of the Tube

Fascinating guest post from @ctrouper who went along Sunday's ghoulish talk on ghostly goings on in the London Underground:

"As part of Illumini’s festival of subterranean London the group were promising Mysteries & ghosts of London Underground a talk by a member of London Underground staff about the ghosts and ghoulish goings on of our ancient Tube system.

Our host told us you wouldn’t hear much about spook stories from the Tube staff as it was a topic they were dissuaded from talking about but despite the hush-hush nature of the stories there were lots to share.

Popular cases such as The Passenger, a ghostly imprint on a CCTV system, the Black Nun of Bank station, the Highgate ghost train and the weeping women and children of Bethnal Green may not have been new to the packed out audience but were much more entertaining told in the crypt of Shoreditch Town Hall. With the idea of death all around us the destruction of crypts, plague pits and mass burial grounds seemed a little bit closer than on the well lit carriages we spend too much of our time on.


"The horribly haunted tales of Kennington Loop, where invisible hands slam the doors between carriages on empty trains; York Road’s rotten meat smells, possibly strengthened by the refusal of many cleaning staff to enter and the start of the Bakerloo line in Elephant and Castle, having a walled off plague pit hidden behind the brick face at the end of the tunnel, were shared. But these stories are not too far hidden from public consumption having been revealed in many subterranean London books and ghost guides of the city and the not so old Channel 5 programme Ghosts on the Underground (which you should definitely watch if you’re interested in ghost stories).

The host’s personal experiences of exploring abandoned stations and boarded up doors on quiet parts of train lines were the real highlight. Having the opportunity to explore the tunnels under Waterloo with a colleague she stumbled upon a locked door that, on removal, surrendered secrets of its previous use as a morgue in WW2. Crumbling ledgers, now housed at the British Library, detailing dead bodies and lost limbs of the victims of the Blitz were lucky to be saved and hint at a hidden history we’re still stumbling on in the dark.

The talk left me with a feeling I should definitely become a Tube driver so I could experience some of the horror first hand and bathe in a secret world of the London we non-Tube working people rarely get a glimpse of but this will most likely manifest into comfort in the knowledge that every now and then there’s a ghost on a carriage with me, or stood silently on the platform only to be ousted as such after hours when only the station guards are there to see."

Thanks Charlotte for sharing that very insightful write up of the event.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, September 14, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/09/mysteries-and-ghosts-of-tube.html

Create your own cross-platform Tube ad

Ever thought you could do a good job with 48 sheets of space on the Tube? In zone one you've probably seen these ads from CBS Outdoor on the Tube. It's a collection of extremely short versions of popular stories. They're challenging creatives to come up with some with some long ad copy based around Londoners, the London Underground or Tube commuters.


Nice for creative types. However, CBS Outdoor have very cleverly made a visualisation tool, so you can have a go at creating your own cross platform ad and see what it would look like in a Tube environment. I took about two minutes to come up with the one below (click to see the full ad in a video). But with more time and imagination you can have some fun designing your own.


If you're a serious creative and want to win £125,000 worth of Tube ads for your client or agency or take away one of four runner up prizes of your entry featured at Oxford Circus Tube for 2 weeks, click here.

The rest of us can have minutes of fun seeing what our faces and swear words and LOL cats would look like on the Tube, with the visualiser.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, September 10, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/09/create-your-own-cross-platform-tube-ad.html

Tube train switched to wrong track

"Signalling irregularity" put two London Underground trains into the paths of each other on the Hammersmith and City Line yesterday morning. A westbound train was wrongly switched to an eastbound track after leaving Plaistow at 8.15am.

Plaistow Station by Nicobobinus
A spokesperson for Transport for London said: "The driver, following London Underground's stringent safety procedures, stopped the train immediately, and our signalling system prevented any eastbound trains from moving towards the stationary train.

"The nearest eastbound train was stationary at red signals almost a kilometre away at West Ham.

"Passenger and staff safety was maintained throughout. The train had three passengers on board, who were all removed from it shortly after 9am. Our engineers are carrying out a full investigation into the cause of this signalling irregularity, and the Rail Accident Investigation Branch and the Office of Rail Regulation have been informed of the incident."

The BBC report that services on the line were suspended for about six hours to allow investigations to take place. Initial findings seem to have have identified a fault with signalling equipment at Plaistow station.

This incident comes less than a month after the runaway train on the Northern Line which is also under investigation with the RAIB.

At time of writing there's been no statement from RMT union leader Bob Crow on this. After the runaway train on the Northern Line he was quick to use the incident to his advantage and said "This horrific failure comes against a background of a systematic reduction in safety-critical jobs and safety procedures as a direct result of TfL's financial cuts programme."

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, September 09, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/09/tube-train-switched-to-wrong-track.html

London Underground in the Blitz blogged

In what looks set to be an interesting set of blog posts, Nick Cooper is writing day by day reports of the Blitz's affect on the Tube. Using Ministry of Home Security Reports and records from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, he'll be building up a daily picture of the London Underground 70 years ago.

Air raid shelterers on a platform at Piccadilly Circus Underground station - September 1940 - London Transport Museum
Also London Transport Museum opened their exhibition on the Blitz - Under Attack - yesterday. "The aerial bombing raids, known in Britain as the Blitz, defined the wartime experience of many European cities. This exhibition tells the story from the perspective of public transport in London, Coventry and Dresden, and illustrates the struggle to keep these cities moving during the Second World War."

Don't forget there may still be tickets left for the tour of Aldwych London Underground Station, where you can see what life was like sheltering in the Tube during the Blitz.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, September 08, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Blitz experience tours of Aldwych Underground station

Very rare opportunity to have a tour of disused Aldwych London Underground Station. London Transport Museum are running tours led by actors portraying 1940s characters - including an ARP warden and a spiv, to give a look at what life was like sheltering in the Tube during the Blitz.


Platform level at Aldwych station by londonstuff
Only a small number of people have been to Aldwych at platform level and it's expected the tickets (£8.50 each) will sell pretty quickly. They're running eleven 45 minute tours each day from Friday 24th September through to Sunday 26th September 2010. Both londonstuff and ianvisits were lucky enough to visit a few years back and took some great photos . However, it's the first time since I've been blogging that public tours have taken place at platform level. A ticket hall exhibition took place earlier this year.

Tickets for this event must be booked in advance and are in limited numbers. This is definitely an occasion when you should "book early to avoid disappointment". Telephone 020 7565 7298 to book your tickets.

Please note you'll need to be reasonably fit to do the tour as there are 160 stairs and no working lift.

Update - the lines are really, really busy but London Transport Museum ask you to be patient. They have just tweeted that tickets for the tours can be purchased at the museum ticket desk if you are able to make it there.


Update - 14th Sept - Weekend tickets all sold out and only tickets for Friday are now available

Update - 27th September - Here's my post of the Aldwych Underground Tour - it was a fascinating & moving experience!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, September 07, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/09/blitz-experience-tours-of-aldwych.html

Tube Strike starts this evening

In case you've been living on the Moon, by now you'll know that 24 hour London Underground strikes will begin from tonight 6th September. In a nutshell Tube maintenance staff begin their strike at 5pm. It's unlikely you'll experience severe disruption at that time, more of a winding down. Drivers who were due to start their evening shifts will not clock on.

Station staff, drivers and signallers will start their strike at 9pm tonight.


It's impossible to predict the impact this will have on the service, but all lines are likely to be affected.

Blog Penalty Fares claim to have internal First Capital Connect memo where London Underground outline predicted service patterns on the lines. However, you should really check TfL's site and live travel news for the latest information.

Meanwhile RMT are up in arms at TfL's attempts to get volunteers to help people's travel plans. TfL's website says these volunteers are "on hand at key stations to give alternative travel options and otherwise assist passengers."

However, the RMT state "In a circular to staff desperately appealing for volunteers to help try and run some skeleton services LU say that those without the required Operational Licences will still be deployed and that those with lapsed licenses can have them renewed without complying with the normal training and updating programme ... the latest safety breaches go to the very heart of the dispute which is all about London Underground hacking back staffing levels and cutting corners on safety in a dash to slash costs regardless of the implications for the travelling public.."


I came across a video produced by the RMT with the union leaders justifying their strike action. Maybe it's just me but there seems to be very little discussion about safety. Bob Crow says towards the end "If you don't fight this you've lost. We'll lose the 800 jobs and they'll turn around at Broadway and say there ain't much fight in that lot". A pretty different Crow to the talks about safety supposedly at the heart of his more recent releases.

Good luck to everyone making their way home tonight and getting around tomorrow. Remember that the staff you see during the strike will be doing their best to help you and deserve your co-operation and support.

Please let us know how you get on with your journeys and how you managed to get on.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, September 06, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/09/tube-strike-starts-this-evening.html

Underground ghosts & Post Office Underground Railway free talks

As part of the 'Secret Subterranean London' event hosted by Illumini, there are two free talks shedding light on some little known underground topics.


In What Lurks Beneath - spirits and spectres of subterranean London - Rosie Murdie, ghost investigator and member of The Ghost Club will tell some of the ghostly tales linked with the city. You'll find out more about the actor that supposedly haunts the tunnels of Covent Garden London Underground station, plus other ghostly tales. That's at 4.30 on Saturday 11th September.

If you miss that, a member of London Underground Staff, will give another talk on Sunday 12th September at 3.30 covering the "baffling mysteries & ghosts in the dark dank recesses of London's Subterranean Tube System".


The VIP carrier on the MailRail Line by David Warwick
Also, Chris Taft, the curator of the British postal museum and Archives, will give a talk on the Post Office miniature underground railway, which was used to carry post through central London. The talk includes rare video footage of the underground railway and the train, which is no longer in service. This will take place on Sunday 12th September at 11am.

All three talks are at The Basement, Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street, EC1V 9LT. Please book by emailing illumini@hotmail.co.uk

Update - @CTrouper went along to the Underground Ghosts talk and wrote an insightful guest post for this blog!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, September 06, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/09/underground-ghosts-post-office.html

Heritage Train Journeys in September

Update - 7th September 2010 - Both 1938 Tube train and Sarah Siddons, whilst having their final maintenance checks*, will be unable to run at the Amersham heritage day this Sunday.

London Transport Museum say: We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused by this late cancellation. We are in the process of trying to secure future dates and will publicise these as soon as possible. For those who have bought tickets please be advised that we will be in touch by telephone ASAP. Please do not phone our booking number as it is currently extremely busy and you may not get through.

Shame - here's what you could have seen..... This Sunday 12th September 2010 London Transport Museum are running two special heritage train journeys. I was lucky enough to travel on the art deco 1938 Tube train a few years ago.


"The train has an elegant semi-streamlined exterior with flush fitted windows and air operated sliding doors controlled automatically by the train guard. This was all the last word in modernity in 1938 when most main line passenger trains were still steam hauled with slam door coaches". It's a great journey and was one of the last units to run in regular London Underground service until 1988 (just in case you wonder why there are a lot of 1970's and 1980's ads in the cars). Ticket prices and journey details are below:

£25 – 8:50 Ealing Broadway to Harrow on the Hill

£25 – 10:26 Harrow on the Hill to Amersham (via the North Curve)

£15 – 11:30 Amersham to Watford and back again

£20 – 12:57 Amersham to Harrow on the Hill and back again

£20 – 14:30 Amersham to Harrow on the Hill

All tickets include free travel on Sarah Siddons - the oldest working main line electric locomotive in Britain - subject to availability. You can can travel separately on this train as it makes special trips between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham. "Engine no. 12 , Sarah Siddons, was built in 1922 and is the last operational Metropolitan Railway electric locomotive; the only surviving working engine out of 20 built by Metropolitan Vickers and named after real or fictitious people associated with the area served by the Metropolitan Railway. The engines had a top speed of 65 miles per hour." said London Transport Museum.


Tickets for the Sarah Siddons only are £5.00 for adults and three quid for children.

Tickets must be booked in advance on 020 7565 7298. Full details and the timetable are on London Transport Museum's site.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, September 06, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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More cows on the Tube

An orange herd of cows invaded the London Underground a few days ago. It was to bring attention to 'Not In My Cuppa' a campaign by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) against the establishment of a 'battery farm' for cows by Nocton Dairies in Nocton, Lincolnshire




This 'battery farm' would be the first of its kind in the UK, with over 8,000 Holstein cows being cooped up in tiny enclosures 24/7 for at least ten months of the year. Compare this to normal herds with just over 100 cows free to roam the fields. The Londoneer has more on this in his blog post.

Cows seem to be getting a raw deal at the moment if their number of Tube protests is anything to go by. Let me know if you spot any other strange animals on the underground.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, September 03, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/09/more-cows-on-tube.html

Tube Strike Talks Fail

Looking for 28th and 29th November Tube Strike - it's here

Any chances of Monday's London Underground strikes being called off have failed, as the talks with ACAS fell apart today. The RMT stated they had "made it crystal clear that there can be no compromise on safety and safe staffing levels – the failure of LU management to recognise that, and to lift the threat of cuts to allow talks to proceed, sabotaged the ACAS negotiations."

Ex-Metronet (maintenance and engineering) staff will begin their first 24-hour strike at 5pm on Monday September 6, with similar action also scheduled to begin at the same time on Sunday October 3; Tuesday November 2 and Sunday November 28.

All other London Underground workers including station and revenue staff, operational managers, drivers and signallers will start their first 24-hour strike at 9pm on Monday September 6, with similar action also set to start at the same time as the other strikes above.



Union leader Bob Crow who insists the dispute is about safety as well as job cuts said "RMT and TSSA have been presented with a stark choice. We could sit back and wait for a major disaster while safety cuts are bulldozed through turning the tube into a death trap or we can stand up and fight for passenger and staff safety. On Monday we will be making a stand on safety and safe staffing levels on behalf of all Londoners."

At time of writing there has been no statement from TfL over the break down of talks.

All Tube lines will suffer some disruption from delays to full or part suspensions. Before you leave work on Monday night, check TfL's website for the latest on the exact situation and be prepared for continued disruption on Tuesday.

Update - 3rd September - TfL have released their plans as to how they will help travellers during the strike action.

Boris Johnson added "Londoners are a hardy bunch and I am sure a Tube strike will not deter us from getting around. I have asked TfL to pull out all the stops. But we must be clear that the RMT and TSSA plan to inconvenience Londoners for no good reason....this planned action will cause disruption for millions of Londoners and I call on the unions to get round the table and show common sense."

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, September 02, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Double Door Opening

From 5th September the new Central Line platform 3a will open at Statford Tube. Not only that, but the train doors will open on both sides. That's something that doesn't normally happen on the London Underground.


An email forwarded to me by London Lass helpfully explains "Westbound Central line train doors will now open on both sides. When facing the direction of travel, you should exit via the right side of the train to change onto London Overground and National Rail services or via the left side of the train to change onto the Jubilee line, DLR or to leave the station." Mmmmm I'm already confused. I wonder how many others will be too? London-Lass was sceptical and at first wondered if the email was an April Fools come early!


Is this going to make the age of problem of people barging onto trains before others have got off even worse? There's bound to be a certain amount of dithering from travellers trying to work out which side they should exit.

It's supposed to reduce "dwell time" at the station as in the past TfL acknoweledge there were issues "with legacy signing in the rail/ underground station creating uncertainty on the Central Line/ mainline rail platforms and capacity increases are beginning to impact on movement in the eastern entrance, beyond the gate line at the foot of the stairs to the mezzanine level."

Time will tell and in the meantime let's hope that the Tube drivers remember to open the doors on both sides.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, September 01, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/09/double-door-opening.html

Underground Maps Unravelled

Tube map fans should be happy as London Underground map expert Max Roberts has another exhibition. "Underground Maps Unravelled: Explorations in Information Design" opens on the 3rd September at The Minories Gallery, 74 High Street, Colchester, Essex.

His exhibition explores the success of Harry Beck's original map and the rules that it adopted, and asks whether today's networks demand fresh approaches.


A collection of Max's own work will be on display. Including maps that break all the rules; maps that are easier to use (eg the Curvy Tube Map above); maps that teach us about good design; maps that challenge our preconceptions; and maps that are purely decorative (like the one below). Whether you are a graphic designer, transport professional, or just a frustrated commuter or tourist, maps will never seem the same again.


The exhibition is free and runs until 24th September 2010.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/08/underground-maps-unravelled.html

Out of Uniform - Tube Staff Art Exhibition

The first ever art exhibition organised by London Underground staff showing their own art work goes on display from 1st Septebmer 2010. 'Out of Uniform' is a unique event displaying paintings, photographs, poets and musicians who when in uniform work as Supervisors, ticket sellers, drivers and gate line staff.


It will run until the 14th September at The 198 Gallery in Brixton Village SW2.

These staff are showing a completely different aspect of their daily working lives. It's often a surprise when we see their hidden talents revealed, as with the Caledonian Road Tube artwork featured earlier this week.

It looks as though this exhibition will uncover some real diversity, from a poetic Supervisor, a musical ticket seller, a photographing station assistant (the very talented Version 3 Point 1 who'll be displaying work from The Slumber Line) to a bonsai-loving train driver. There are also individual websites and a documentary film to view. Everything has been put together by the staff themselves - sadly with no official support from Art on the Underground.

For further details and a list of staff who will be exhibiting, visit Out of Uniform.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, August 27, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/08/out-of-uniform-tube-staff-art.html

Oops upside your Tube - Filming at Temple

Interesting ad shot at Temple London Underground Station. I saw it at the cinema earlier this week, so not sure if it will appear on TV. I love the different perspectives of the Tube shown if your head was flipped around like a Rubik's cube.


Good seeing the Drench ad team shoot at a small working station rather than at the palatial Canary Wharf or the disused Charing Cross platforms. The latter seems to be the station of choice for ads and stunts. Admittedly, it's a very shiny and clean looking Temple Tube, so I'm assuming it was shot pretty early in the morning before ordinary commuters started to arrive.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, August 27, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/08/oops-upside-your-tube-filming-at-temple.html

Tube staff set dates for strike action

Up to 10,000 London Underground workers will walk out in strike action over the next few months. Members of the RMT and TSSA are in a dispute over plans to cut jobs at ticket offices across the network.


The first strike will be on Monday, September 6 2010 from 5pm and last 24 hours and involves maintenance and engineering staff. Then other workers, including train drivers, signallers and station staff, will strike for 24 hours from 9pm on September 6 and this will be followed by walkouts at the same time on October 3, November 2 and November 28.

RMT leader Bob Crow said "London Underground and Mayor Boris Johnson must understand that the cuts they want to impose are unacceptable to our members and will undermine safety and service for the travelling public."

"We have already had potential disasters narrowly averted, with fires at Euston and Oxford Circus and a runaway train on the Northern Line, and Boris Johnson's planned cuts would deal a potentially fatal blow to the ability to deal with emergencies."

In a press release today London Underground responded with the following "We need to change, but we will do so without compromising safety, without compulsory redundancies, and in a way that means all stations will continue to be staffed at all times and all stations with a ticket office will continue to have one.

"The weak mandate for strike action, which saw only around 35 per cent of TSSA members and less than a third of RMT members voting for a walkout, should resonate with the unions' leadership.

"These threatened strikes are in nobody's interest, and should not go ahead."

They claim that some ticket offices now regularly sell fewer than 10 tickets an hour. The quietest ticket offices include North Ealing, which sells less than six tickets per hour, and Latimer Road and Moor Park, which sell only around seven tickets per hour.

There is still potentially time for more talks to happen and the disputes to be called off or postponed, but with both unions announcing a number of dates, it will take some severe negotiations with ACAS for this to happen.

Update - 26th August - Just to make matters worse around 200 workers on the Northern and Jubilee lines will walk out on September 5th for 24 hours from 7pm, and then again on October 2nd, November 1st, and November 27th.

The staff in this case are up in arms about an "insulting" pay rise offer of 2%. Bob Crow said "The deal on offer is worth less than half of those won by other Tube workers this year, and the massive vote for action should tell Alstom all they need to know about our members' determination to win a fair pay deal."

Considering Bob Crow, had a salary rise of 12% this year (he now earns over £90,000), you can see why he thinks 2% is insulting!

Update - 26th November - talks to avert the Tube strikes have failed so the fourth strike takes place on Sunday 28th November and Monday 29th November.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, August 25, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/08/tube-staff-set-dates-for-strike-action.html

Tube Photo of the Week - Caledonian Road Artists

Staff at Caledonian Road London Underground station have been flexing their artistic muscles again, with a lovely start to a Wednesday.


Anna Codrea-Rado spotted it this morning and said "What a great start to the commute! It definitely brought cheer to my day. All Tube stations should feature such messages".

There's a whole collection of Kim's artwork on the service information boards here, taken by Flickr snapper Caledonian Park.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, August 25, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/08/tube-photo-of-week-caledonian-road.html

Fruit and Veg added to Tube Garden competition

Unfortunately, if you don't live or work in the suburbs, many of you will think that a "Tube station garden" is a platform cleared of all its crisp packets, Metros, pizza boxes and pigeon droppings. The nearest thing to a London Underground garden you may have seen is some moss that's grown up between the cracks in the platform or weeds and buddleia trees taking over the sidings. However, it's time for the annual Underground in Bloom Awards.


Pictured above is the winner from Pinner in 1966. So resplandant with its 3,000 plants and flowers you can hardly read the station's name.

The Underground in Bloom awards aim to recognise Tube staff who have gone beyond the call of duty by making stations more attractive in their own time. Just in case you're feeling peckish, there's a new edible food category to support the Mayor’s Capital Growth programme which encourages organisations and communities to grow their own produce.

I'm not entirely sure if the green beans, sweetcorn, bananas, chillies and gooseberries grown at Hampstead, Tottenham Hale, Putney Bridge & North Acton will be shared amongst Tube commuters. Perhaps if you hang around the stations with a sorrowful look, the staff members might take pity on you and hand some out.

Extra points will be given to environmentally friendly gardens that attract wildlife or are water wise. Hopefully, the gardeners are putting their green fingers towards some ingenious uses for last night and this morning's heavy rainfall.

Let me know if you manage to get some shots of your station, if it's one of the 55 taking part and I'll update this post with some entries. The winning stations will be announced on 16th September at City Hall.

Update - Here's Rickmansworth's from Cormac


He said "We're overall title holders, though I'm not massively impressed with the current state of the place. I think the hanging baskets are more impressive than The Tubs (which Ricky also won last year)"

West Kensington Tube - taken by 'Guest'

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, August 23, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Photo of the Week

Great spot by @whatleydude of a service information board at Maida Vale London Underground station. Not content with just writing that the down escalators were err... down, the staff wanted to make things crystal clear.


James said "I love that they drew me a diagram explaining which was was down. Y'know, just in case... :)"

I only hope that no one tried to WALK UP the broken DOWN escalator after all that artistic effort!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, August 20, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Unusual London Underground Clocks

Did you know that the Tube has a variety of unusual clocks on the system? Up until now, the most unusual one I had seen was the one at Bethnal Green London Underground station from the 1940's.




Bethnal Green Tube clock by JazCummins
JazCummins twittered this to me and I thought it was pretty unique. However, far from being the only one on the system, there's a number with the roundel design.

Redbridge Underground station by bowroaduk
Bowroaduk has a whole collection of London Underground Clocks on Flickr including roundels for numbers at Redbridge (above) and Gants Hill.

There are also clocks encased in roundels such as the ones at South Wimbledon Tube and Tooting Broadway

Tooting Broadway Underground station clock by bowroaduk

His collection is well worth a visit and I'd be interested to hear if you've spotting any other unusual clocks on the Tube.


Clock on London Underground 1 by russelljsmith
I wonder if anyone can identify where the photo of this encaged clock was taken? Russell James Smith took it and said "I thought all these cables "growing" around this clock looking kind of interesting. Can't remember which station it was (umm, yes I had been to the pub)."

You might also like

Time Travel on the Central Line - video of very strange timing on platform indicator!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, August 17, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Runaway Train on the Northern Line

I'm sure many of you have heard about the runaway engineering train yesterday morning on the London Underground. At around 6.40am the train became uncoupled as it was towed along between Archway and Warren Street Tube stations. The driverless train ran for nearly four miles before it came to a stop due to a slight incline at Warren Street.

Warren Street by lomomowlem

Passenger trains were diverted to another branch of the Northern Line while trains were cleared from the Charing Cross branch and that part of the line was closed for most of the day.

A passenger on the train in front of the engineering train described the experience to the BBC. Tom Redfern said: "As soon as we pulled away the driver came on the tannoy and said, 'There is an emergency, will everyone move towards the front of the train'. "There was a ripple of panic. I went from half asleep to a big adrenaline rush. I thought, 'Is this it?'"

The train went through all stations until Moorgate trying to keep ahead of the other vehicle.

Mr Redfern said: "We went full speed. We knew the situation was dangerous because we were going fast. Even by the driver's voice, we could tell it was serious."

London Underground are obviously making a full investigation as to how the incident took place and hopefully we will get to hear the results. I'll be keeping watch on the Rail Accident Investigation Branch site which investigates railway accidents and incidents on UK railways to improve safety.

As you may have also heard the RMT are going on strike in a row over staff cuts and safety. They were quite to make a statement after Friday's incident and said: "This horrific failure comes against a background of a systematic reduction in safety-critical jobs and safety procedures as a direct result of TfL's financial cuts programme. In the light of this morning's events it is essential that TfL call a halt to their cuts plans and bring an end to the dilution of Tube safety."

When the votes for strike action went through Bob Crow said its members would not "sit by while the tracks are turned into a death trap".

At the time London Underground's strategy director Richard Parry accused the RMT of "scaremongering". Now this (Friday 13th) accident has come at a time where Bob Crow must be thinking he's right. Whether there'll be any more public sympathy to the strike remains to be seen.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Saturday, August 14, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Chivalry on Public Transport - London Transport Museum Ad

Last week's post on London Underground Seat Etiquette led to lots of discussion on the rights or wrongs of giving up a seat. So I imagine my surprise this week, to see London Transport Museum have an ad on this. @Trixie spotted it on a bus stop in Camden.


Trixie didn't like the poster and said it was "Massively inappropriate & too obscure a joke for the people who'd see it".

London Transport Museum who obviously thought otherwise and questioned this on Twitter "Really?", they asked.

What's your views? Laying aside whether women should or shouldn't be given seats - if you want to join the discussion on that leave a comment on the previous post, what do you think of the ad?

For a promotion for London Transport Museum I personally think it's very brave and I like the ex-King's moquette socks and tie! It's certainly eye catching too. But does it work better as an ad for public transport etiquette rather than a promotion for the Museum?

I'm don't know whether the ad will be placed on the London Underground and railway stations as well. Maybe Trixie's comment about it being "obscure for the people who'd see it" implies that it will be lost on bus travellers. Are rail or Tube travellers more likely to "get it"? Do you think more "appropriate" images for a "romantic age of travel" could have been used?

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, August 13, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Seventies Japanese Subway Etiquette Posters

Looks like the Japanese have a history of being very creative (perhaps sometimes too creative) with their posters on how to behave on the subway.

Thanks to @BlaiseGV, I came across some excellent 'vintage' posters of Tokyo Subway manners.

I'll leave you to try to guess what they are really represent (or you can click through to the link to find out), but here's my initial thoughts:


Warning Ninja Nuns on Board - April 1979


Beware of Charlie Chaplin impersonators - July 1976


Transformers will turn you into monsters if you behave incorrectly.

The last one is actually from 1982 but was my personal favourite.

Compare these to "Please do this at home" campaign from 2008 and you'll see the Japanese have now gone for a more obvious approach. It must be a difficult balance from being clear & literal & maybe a touch patronising, to being so creative & running the risk of few understanding what you're trying to say.

Do you think these would work on the London Underground? Have you seen any posters which you think are too cryptic?

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, August 11, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Oyster Card top up double charges

Watch what you're being charged when you top up your Oyster Card, as TfL has refunded £40,000 so far this year to people who have been over-charged by faulty machines.


Take particular note if you use machines at Victoria, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, and King Cross London Underground stations as these have had the highest number of complaints.

BBC London discovered the amount of refunds from a Freedom of Information request. So far 2,421 complaints have been made on over charging. Don't expect any errors on the machines to be magically refunded to your account as TfL explained that it will not be aware of any over-charging until the issue is reported by a passenger.

However they said "But we constantly check the screens on ticket machines and how the ticket machines are set up to minimise these problems."

Let us know if you've been over-charged recently and how you went about getting your money back.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, August 09, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Measuring Air on the Tube

Good to see this couple on the London Underground this morning measuring air at the foot of escalators at Holborn. The blades in the little "windmill" thing were spinning around like mad, making this area seem positively breezy in comparison to the stuffy air at platform level.


Hopefully, this is a sign that TfL are working on improving the temperature at deep level platforms and trains running through them, despite cooling budget cuts. The Piccadilly, Central, Northern, Bakerloo and Waterloo and City lines were all marked as "high risk" from a heat point of view, if commuters got stuck on a stalled train.

The first air condtioned Tube train was launched earlier this week.

Notes from Cooling the Tube lecture by Director of Engineering at TfL

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, August 06, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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National Railway Museum's Director of Fun

Did you know the National Railway Museum had a seven year old Director of Fun? He was appointed last year after applying to replace the retiring director. Train mad Sam, decided to apply for what would be a dream job, and was pretty surprised to get a role.

Asked what qualified him for the role at the railways museum, he answered: "I've been on loads of trains, including the Eurostar." All we need now is a similar applicant for the London Underground


Anyway, part of Sam's duties appear to searching around for bloggers to send rock too. I was lucky enough to be on his hit-list. I'm a sucker for rock (sorry!) and liked the puntastic "Chew, Choo, Choose, The NRM" label.

I visited the National Railway Museum in York many years ago before the internet existed. But I'd certainly be keen to visit again to see how it's doing under Sam's Directorship.

There's a load of Summer holiday activities for kids and kids at heart, including a sand sculptor making a train from 20 tonnes of sand and the opportunity to climb inside the steam engine "Olton Hall" from the Harry Potter films. Entry is free although is a small charge for some activities.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, August 06, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Bond Street Tube to get £300m facelift

TfL have just awarded the contract to redevelop Bond Street London Underground station to a joint venture between Costain and Laing O'Rourke. Construction is set to be mostly complete by 2016 in time for Crossrail in 2017. However, a £150M risk contingency fund has been added because of fears over inflation during the programme.


Currently over 155,000 people use Bond Street Tube station each day and that's expected to increase to more than 225,000 when Crossrail is finished.

London Underground's work will focus on the north side of Oxford Street in an attempt to increase capacity and create step free access to the station.

A new contract will be awarded by Crossrail in due course. This work will involve constructing two new ticket halls, excavations for two east-west platform tunnels with interconnecting additional access routes and escalator shafts. The western ticket hall at Davis Street (south of Oxford Street) will be built underground. The eastern ticket hall (an artist's impression pictured above) will be in Hanover Square.

The station will also get the benefit of improved pedestrian areas with new seating and lighting.

If you're worried this is going to stop people shopping in the West One centre, don't be. Work is due to start next year and the operations manager of the shopping centre said: "We will remain as we are. They will do the work around us. We are not closing."

For more on the redevelopment see TfL's site.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, August 04, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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First Air Conditioned Tube Train

This morning saw the official launch of the first London Underground train with air conditioning. It will run on the Metropolitan Line and is part of the 191 fleet of new walk through trains. However, many people were around on Saturday when the train made its first appearance at Watford.


First S Stock train in passenger service 31-07-2010 by londonstuff
Londonstuff was one of the first travellers and has a great set of photos and a couple of videos of the ride.


First S Stock train in passenger service 31-07-2010 by londonstuff


The eagle eyed will notice from the video that the doors have buttons. These were disabled on other Tube trains a number of years ago. The driver will have control of the doors, but will close them if the train has to stay on the platform for any length of time, keeping the cool or warm air in. So if that happens new passengers will need to press the button to re-open the door.

More about the air conditioned trains can be found on TfL's website and if you want to see the current one in action it will be running from Wembley Park to Watford from 2nd August. The roll-out on the Metropolitan Line will be complete by 2011. We'll start seeing them on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines from 2011. Then the District line will get the next lot in 2013 and all trains will be on the network from 2015.

Update - the point about door buttons had a number of us wondering why the door buttons were disabled. So I asked TfL who said "LU removed passenger door activation across all lines in 1998 to speed up station dwelling times, as the Underground was getting busier. The new S-Stock doors are opened by the driver but after 45 seconds they close to keep cooled air in during summer, or warm air in during winter. The door can be reopened by pressing the in-carriage button, but ultimately the driver has complete control of the doors and can override them."

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, August 02, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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One Under - Channel 4 Documentary

We've probably all stood at London Underground platforms and heard about delays due to "a person under a train". Most of us don't think too much about them, apart from an irritation about being late, or wondering why the person couldn't have chosen another time or line.


On Friday Channel 4 screened a 30 minute film by Lucy Bennett - called One Under. It looks at Tube drivers who give first-hand accounts of their experiences with the suicides. The interviews are moving and give an insight into the initial shock, anger, attempts at understanding, appearance at Coroner's Court, right through to the permanent marks the suicide left on their lives.

It's certainly a powerful contrast to the comedy film about one-unders - Three & Out - which led to demonstrations by train union ASLEF.

In One Under, you also hear from the widow of man who took his life by jumping under a train and how she tried to make sense of the events. "John no longer has the pain he was dealing with, but so many other people do", she said.

The film can be watched online for the next month on 4OD.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, August 02, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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