Stations of the London Metropolis - Oliver Green Talk

London Transport Museum's Research Fellow, Oliver Green, will be giving an illustrated talk about London's major stations on November 23rd. Oliver's an extremely knowledgeable and entertaining speaker (I've been to a few of his talks before - see below) and has promised to uncover some of the more unusual historical facts and myths surrounding London stations' history over the past 175 years.


London has more than twice the number of railway stations than any other city in the world. With 13 main line rail terminals, handling over 400 million passenger journeys every year, in the morning rush hours, a train arrives at a London terminus every thirty seconds.

The talk will include a screening of John Schlesinger's award-winning 1961 documentary Terminus, which shows a day in the life of Waterloo station. It shows a glimpse some of the vast array of characters who pass through the station with small stories emerging and reappearing.


Oliver's just published a new guide book 'Discovering London's Railway Stations' which will be on sale on the night.

Of the book, Oliver says, "All of London's great terminal stations were opened in the 19th century and most of them are still in daily use. My book is a pocket size guide to take with you on a tour of the stations and look at the varied history, dramatic architecture and some of the more curious facts and folklore about them. Why, for example, was it claimed that Queen Boudica was buried under platform 10 at Kings Cross and how does this relate to Harry Potter's journey to Hogwarts?"


Platform 9 3/4 by Kat Clay
Tickets can be booked in advance by calling London Transport Museum on 020 7565 7298. They're £8 for adults; £6.00 for seniors and £4 for students. The talk is at the Museum and runs from 6.30pm to 7.45pm.

Private view and talk: Meet the Curators
If you're interested in a look at transport during the second world war, this Tuesday 16th November, there's a private view of London Transport Museum's new exhibition, Under Attack, London, Coventry and Dresden. This will be followed by an illustrated talk from Head Curators Steve Bagley (Coventry Transport Museum), David Bownes (London Transport Museum) and Director Dr. Michael Dünnebier (Dresden Verkehrsmuseum).

It also starts at 6.30pm and lasts around two hours. The ticket price includes a glass of wine, beer or soft drink. Adults £15.00; senior citizens £12.00; students £10.00.

More details for both events can be found on London Transport Museum's site.

Blog Posts on previous Oliver Green Talks:
Transformed by Tube
Frank Pick & Ambrose Heal

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, November 15, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London Underground Posters Auction - November 15

London Underground posters aren't just for transport geeks, they've warranted an Underground Gallery exhibit at New York's MoMA until January 2011. Now, there's a collection of vintage posters on sale at on November 15 at Swann Galleries .


London at its Brightest, 1934. Estimate: $3,000 to $4,000
The lot includes this promotion for the Tube and Walt Disney. Mickey Mouse was created in 1928, just six years prior to this poster. As you can see from the estimate price, you'll need to have a fair amount of cash to bid for the posters. But the catalogue is full of wonderful images giving a glimpse into the early days of mass transportation.


Rugby League Cup Final, 1933; [estimate: $700 - $1,000]
There's 28 unique posters of the London Underground and tramways from the 1920s to the 1940s.

I love the poster for Wimbledon from 1933. It was created by famous linocut artist Sybil Andrews. Andrews designed nine posters for the London Underground between 1925 and 1935.


Wimbledon, 1933; [estimate: $4,000 - $6,000]
Thanks to Swann Galleries for giving me permission to use the images for the blog.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Saturday, November 13, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Body found in London Underground Tunnel

Reports are coming in that a body has been found on the tracks in a tunnel near Bayswater Tube station by Tube staff at around 2.30am. At the moment the whole of the Circle Line has been suspended while police investigations continue. The District Line has been suspended between Earl's Court and Edgware Road and also between Earl's Court and Kensington Olympia. Plus there are severe delays between Earls Court and Wimbledon. Police are currently treating the death as "unexplained".


Bayswater Tube by *Tom*
Maintenance crew discovered the body between Bayswater and Notting Hill Gate stations. The BBC now have more on this.


In a weird coincidence, only yesterday Londonist posted a story on urban legends involving corpses on the Tube! Now the police have a real mysterious death to investigate.

UPDATE - According to the Evening Standard, the body was a 38 year old man from West London. The Standard claim he was trying to walk home through a Tube tunnel. The last train had gone through 90 minutes before the body was found at 2.25am. Police examined the last three trains through but did not find any evidence of the collision. Although they have said the victim's injuries, "were consistent with having been struck by a train".

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, November 12, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Abandoned NY Subway station now visible to public

There's a "hidden" abandoned subway station in New York that up until recently has been closed to the public. Well, it's still officially closed and has been since 1945, but now using a "trick" people can get to see the beautifully preserved City Hall station.


Photo by John Paul Palescandolo & Eric Kazmirek

Until recently the MTA would force passengers to get off the 6 train when it got the end of the line at Brooklyn Bridge. Now as the trains makes the loop to back uptown passengers are allowed to stay on and can see the station.

John-Paul Palescandolo and Eric Kazmirek have taken some amazing photos which show a very European-looking (or even Russian-looking) station. See the full collection of shots at Huffington Post. Sadly plans from 1995 to restore the station and turn it into part of the NYC Transit Museum were scrapped.

Hat tip to MichalD, MrWeeble and BlueSquareBrig for letting me know about this.

Shame there's no loopholes on the London Underground so that we can "unofficially" see some abandoned Tube stations.

You might also like:
Aldwych Tube Station - Blitz Tour
Re-opening Disused Tube Stations - a step closer?

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, November 11, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube drivers may strike over Boxing Day pay

London Underground drivers are to vote on industrial action in a management disagreement over Boxing Day pay. London Underground claim 26th December is an normal working day and a longstanding agreement has been in place with trade unions over pay. However, train drivers' union Aslef claim they have argued the case for additional payments on Boxing Day at numerous meetings with London Underground (LU). The union are now looking for triple time plus a day in lieu.



Photo by Tom Roper
Terry Wilkinson, the EC member for District 8 from the union said today: "It used to be almost guaranteed that if you worked one bank holiday, you would not work the next. But the increase in service levels has meant this is now no longer possible.

"We are not opposed to additional services for customers. Why should we be? They help to make our employment more secure.... But we believe that there are times when staff need to be appropriately compensated for working at highly unsocial times - and that includes Boxing Day.

"If they get away with this, next year they'll be telling us Christmas Day is a normal day as well!." Unlikely, as the London Underground has always been completely closed on Christmas Day!

TfL say the union are refusing to even talk about this and a spokesperson said: "LU has made every effort to resolve this issue with the Aslef leadership, which has refused to attend talks at Acas to discuss its claim for triple time and a day in lieu for its members."

As you know there have been three Tube strikes over job losses and ticket office closures. The next strike is planned for 28th November 2010 and the RMT & TSSA union leaders had said they had no plans to disrupt services over Christmas and the New Year.

However a memo from Aslef says the recommendation is for strike action over Boxing Day pay to take place on Boxing Day itself.

Update - 13th December 2010 - ASLEF members voted for strike action in a majority of 9-1

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Urban Legends & Ghosts of the London Underground

If you like your Tube tales filled with ghosts, ghouls, secret tunnels and "friendly terrorists" you might be interested in a talk taking place this Thursday November 11th. Writer, Scott Wood will be sharing a billing with Anthony Clayton, author of Subterranean City to share stories about Subterranean London Lore.


The talk (organised by the South East London Folklore Society) takes place at The Old King's Head Pub, Kings Head Yard, 45-49 Borough High St, London, SE1 1NA at 8pm and costs £2.50.

While looking for something to illustrate this post, I came across the fantastic "Slightly Disturbing Tube Map". In the designer's own words, the map: "which took ages to do, by the way - shows where Tube lines have cut through plague pits, former slums and cholera sites, and also where all the ghosts and that hang out. For good measure, it also shows where all the abandoned stations are, and also all the stations that were destroyed and such during the war." In size "it's roughly two Jack Russells by three Jack Russells" and costs £19.99.

Hat tip to IanVisits events calendar for the talk info.

You might also be interested in: Mysteries and Ghosts of the Tube

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, November 09, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Olympics Tube Map Cover we'd like to see

Love this mock up of a 2012 Olympics London Underground Map Cover by Max Roberts. Sadly it's unlikely to see the light of day as a physical Tube map, as the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games are strict about the usage of their rings.


Max says "The logo itself doesn't quite match the way in which the official rings are linked, this is because its actually based on Henry Beck's 60-degree map interchanges of 1940." If you went to Max's exhibition on alternative Tube Maps you would have seen versions on display there.

Max had lots of positive comments about the design at the exhibition but has heard nothing back from Art on the Underground, who he approached with the idea.


photo by Priscila Buschinelli
I'd be surprised if there isn't some version of an Olympic Tube Map cover in 2012 and I bet whatever we get will probably have those stupid mascots in it somewhere.

Max's design is clear, simple and effectively brings the Tube Map and the Olypmics together in an immediately recognisable way.

Last month Londonist published a post on some Olympic Tube posters that were also unlikely to be used officially.


Such a shame we're stuck with Wenlock & Mandeville, when there's a number of talented designers already producing Olympic mock ups which many Londoners clearly like. I'd love to know who sits in on the focus groups to give the thumbs up to the official stuff!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, November 05, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Dealing with the Tube Strike in 1962

Great video footage from Pathe about how Londoners dealt with an unofficial London Underground Strike in 1962.


Very similar footage as to what you'll see today - traffic jams, signs of closed Tube stations - although Boris Bikes were replaced with people on roller skates. Obviously no congestion charge existed then and people could "park almost anywhere". "Buses were packed but hopelessly inadequate. People were realising how much London depends on the Underground", said the voiceover. "Naturally 9 out of ten people were late for work with some arriving at lunchtime".


There's some nice touches with a plucky gent leaving extra early work in his bowler hat and underwear. The film ends with motorists giving lifts to people "Some had quite a load" jokes the voiceover as a surprisingly large amount of people get out of small car, including "second class passengers" in the boot!

Hat tip to Ianvisits for finding this little gem.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, November 03, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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3rd Tube Strike begins this evening

From 9pm tonight - 2nd November the TSSA and RMT unions will start the third of their 24-hour strikes. That's drivers and station staff. Maintenance engineers will be walking out earlier at 7pm.

Remember as with the previous two strikes, the trains don't all suddenly stop at once, as staff continue working until the end of their shift. Plus not everyone who drives a London Underground train or works at a Tube station is a member of the above unions or will be striking.


As before it's best to check with TfL's (now sadly familiar) tube strike page this evening and on Wednesday 3rd November to see what is actually running and what's not (it's been updated to include a list of stations which are expected to be closed). On the last strike in October around 60% - 70% of trains weren't running.


Yesterday Boris Johnson called the strikes pointless and said: 'Londoners have shown that they will not be deterred from their daily business by these pointless strikes.

'The action of the union leaderships may cause some inconvenience but we are determined to keep the Capital moving by providing a plethora of alternatives so that people can get around.

'Whether by bus, boat or bike when Londoners beat the strike for a third time I hope the RMT and TSSA leaderships will face facts and see that their action achieves nothing aside from depriving their members of another day's pay.'


October 4th Tube Strike -- TFL Employee by C. G. P. Grey
Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy, echoed this and said of the unions' grievances over the 800 job reductions: "We have explained that the changes come with no compulsory redundancies and no loss of earnings, and mean that stations will continue to be staffed and every station with a ticket office will continue to have one.

"Despite exhaustive talks over the last week, the union leaderships remain intent on disrupting Londoners."

Both unions blame Boris for breaking his election pledges to keep ticket offices open. RMT leader Bob Crow said "The message is simple: suspend these cuts and we will suspend our action." TSSA General Secretary Gerry Doherty added "Instead of trying to impress the Tory shires with his anti trade union rhetoric, he should be sitting down with us to work out a fair solution to this dispute which no one wants."

Even though "no one wants" the disputes, we should brace ourselves for yet another strike which is due to take place from 7pm on Sunday 28th November. Commuters now seem to be resigned with the strikes, with no resolution in sight and we could easily see these disputes running through to Christmas. Sadly for Bob Crow he won't find Londoners who want to "look across the [English] Channel to the kind of resistance being mobilized by the French trade unions, which enjoys overwhelming public support." These strikes have an overwhelming lack of public support and I can't see this changing any time soon.

Good luck getting to work and home on Wednesday.

In case you missed the web's best London Underground Strike Jokes from the Telegraph! It may help to cheer you up!

Update - Wednesday 3rd November

Very few lines are running a full service and those that are have a number of station closures.


This is the status as of 9.08am on TfL's site, so please check your lines before travel today. Even though the strike ends at 9pm tonight, things are unlikely to get back to normal until Thursday morning. Good luck!

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, November 02, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Regent's Park Tube found consonants

Great spot by @clairemims who noticed that "Regents Park Tube appears to have had an attack of the consonants" on Google Maps.


That's certainly the best spelling of "underground station" I've seen. Unless Google Maps have for some reason decided to employ Norwegians to compose titles for London Underground stations. Flickr seem to have inherited the labelling, leading to some unusual pictures Regent's Park Undergrunnsstasjon too.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, November 01, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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WiFi Test on London Underground starts Monday

A six month trial of WiFi at Charing Cross station covering platforms and the ticket halls of the Northern and Bakerloo line begins this Monday 1st November. BT’s service will piggy-back onto an existing wireless network, currently used by TfL staff, which apparently makes it much cheaper to deploy.


In the trial, designed to gauge customer interest, commuters with a WiFi-enabled smartphone, laptop or other device will be able to read travel information for free. Other services require a subscription to BT’s Openzone network of WiFi hotspots, which is bundled with BT Broadband and mobile contracts with Tesco Mobile, Vodafone, O2 and Orange. More on this from Seek Broadband and TfL's site.

BT Openzone’s WiFi is already available at nine London overground stations, including Liverpool Street, Victoria and Charing Cross. The Cloud, a competitive hotspot network, also provides wireless access at several stations.

Finally we seem to be catching up with other subway networks. Mobile phone coverage works on many other underground systems including Glasgow, Beijing, Stockholm, Washington DC and Moscow. Kulveer Ranger, the mayor’s transport adviser acknowledges the demand in London and said "An ever growing commuter populous has been clamouring to be able to check their e-mails and browse the net whilst on the go".

Boris has pledged to enable wireless service across the whole Tube network in time for the Olympic Games in 2012. A TfL spokesperson said: "Given the current pressures on TfL’s budgets any solution would need to be funded through mobile operators with no cost to fare or taxpayers. Discussions are ongoing."

Hopefully the service will be put through a rigorous test at Charing Cross. It's one of London's busiest stations with passengers making 68,000 journeys every day.

For coverage elsewhere on the network, you might also be interested in our quest to find mobile phone hotspots on the Tube.

Related post: Best London Underground iPhone Apps

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, October 29, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Police appeal for information on Tube Death

Many of you have probably heard about the horrible incident on Monday when a man fell to his death beneath a London Underground train. I was on the Westbound Piccadilly Line train just before this happened and it felt awful to know that if I'd been a few minutes later, I might have seen the accident.


Strangely enough, and I don't think about this often, while I was on the platform that night waiting for the train to come in, I decided to stand "side on" rather then face the train as normal. A friend of mine had told me a nasty story, where a friend of his had been pushed face on into a moving train as it was pulling into the station. I've no idea what made me think about that story then, it wasn't some "Mystic Meg" premonition, just something that strangely popped into my head.

Our driver made an announcement a few stations down that this was the last Piccadilly Line as someone was under a train behind us. He advised people to get on the train if they could as there wouldn't be more trains in either direction for quite some time. Most of us just thought we were lucky to be on it and I gave an idle Tweet when I emerged at Hammersmith, trying to give notice about the line closure.

The next morning news came through that a couple had been "playing around" on the crowded platform and pushing and pulling each other until one fell. I'm sure we've seen teenagers doing this, but the mind boggles as to why a woman in her mid thirties and a man in his fifties were doing this.

It was 6.30pm on a Monday evening, hardly the time for drunken high japes. It's a ridiculously stupid thing to do on an empty platform. But it's even worse doing this on a crowded rush hour platform, when simply by just walking near the yellow line, you feel like you could potentially fall or be bumped into at any minute.


Yesterday the police were in full force at King's Cross and I was handed the leaflet pictured in the first photo. If you saw the incident please call the British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40.

I seriously hope this acts as a cautionary tale for anyone who thinks it's funny to play "chicken" in front of a speeding Tube.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, October 27, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Pumpkin subway map

If you're looking for an unusual pumpkin carving idea for Halloween, why not follow in the footsteps of Elliot who cleverly worked Washington's metro map into his jack-o'-lantern. Zone one of the London Underground map would look pretty cool, shining out in the night.


Hat tip to @Jemimah_knight for letting me know about this. You just need a spare Tube map or download a large one from the net, lay it on your pumpkin and punch some holes into it of selected stations and Bob's your uncle!

If you're looking for spooky Tube Tales, Mags Halliday sent me a link to a round up of ghosts on the Northern Line from London Particulars. Plus don't forget the great guest blog post from CTrouper on Mysteries and Ghosts on the Tube, from a talk last month.

Now you just need a copy of Creep (reviewed here) or if you can stomach Raw Meat aka Deathline (so bad, it's bad) and you're set for ghoulish Tube themed Halloween.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Tuesday, October 26, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Converse takeover Old Street Tube

It probably didn't take Converse too long to think of an appropriate London Underground station to "takeover". While I was on holiday, the footwear brand of any self respecting London hipster took over the escalator panels and much illuminated ad space around the station. In fact, I was surprised not to see "Old Street sponsored by Converse" roundels on the platform walls.


The ads running up (and down) the escalator are pretty striking and I could see a number of young Shoreditchians working out if they had the latest albumns of the musicians displayed. That's assuming they are all musicians and not other hipster icons (to my shame I only recognised Paloma Faith).


The ads also greet you at the barriers, perhaps with the subliminal message that if you're wearing Converses, the gates will magically open before you, or at least it'll make it easier to leap over the barriers.

Converse haven't just left their takeover to Old Street tube, as my friend Michal noticed part of the ad forming a giant mural on wall in Shoreditch:


Shoreditch by MichalD
Perhaps the branded London Underground Map shouldn't be just a collection of puns of station names that sound like brands. If we had cheaper fares as a result of stations being named after brands, would that really be such a terrible thing?


What do you think? There's certainly a number of railway stations that have "The home of rich estate agent" or "The home of large insurance company" on platform signs. Why shouldn't we have the same for the Tube?

You might also like: - Converses on the Tube.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, October 25, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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100 Years of Iconic Tube Posters - 27th October

At Apple Store, Covent Garden London Transport Museum's Senior Curator Claire Dobbin will be giving a fascinating introduction to the London Underground's rich poster history.



The illustrated talk will show highlights from a century of outstanding design, which transformed the Tube into London's longest art gallery. Featured artists include Man Ray, Graham Sutherland, Howard Hodgkin and Sir Peter Blake.

Admission to the event is free. No booking required, so just turn up on Wednesday 27th October at 7pm - Apple Store Covent Garden, No. 1-7 The Piazza, London, WC2E 8HA

As a background, you might also like:

London Underground Art of the Poster Exhibition - celebrating 100 years of poster art.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, October 22, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Fares Rise

Boris couldn't have picked a better to day to announce the annual London Underground and bus fare rises. Yesterday while the public spending review was hogging the headlines, Mayor Boris announced "I am able to confirm an average fares increase at the level we declared it would be last year, the absolute minimum required to secure vital investment in London's transport network and protect frontline services."

The fares will increase in January 2011. Based on July's RPI figures of 4.8%, it represents an average 6.8% fare increase across TfL services and Oyster pay as you go. The Zone 1 Oyster tube fare rises 5.5% which takes it to £1.90.


Mmm, so a increase of inflation + 2% might not seem too high. But delve a bit deeper and you'll see that certain one day travel cards are being scrapped. The zone 2-6 card is being withdrawn. So travellers who bought that card and never had the need to come into zone one, will have to buy a 1-6 card instead. That's a jump from £8.60 to £15 during peak times or an increase of 74%. Even if you buy it off-peak, it's a rise from £5.10 to £8.00 – a jump of 57%.

Caroline Pidgeon, Vice Chair of the London Assembly Transport Committee and Lib Dem Assembly member said today:

"The Mayor was insulting Londoners by burying bad news like this on the day the Comprehensive Spending Review was announced. Boris Johnson was elected promising to stand up for outer London. He specifically promised to make orbital journeys far easier. In practice the Mayor is hitting hardest the people who travel around, rather than into London.

People living in outer London will be badly hit by the scrapping of the Zone 2-6 travelcard. It will force people off public transport and back in to using their cars, just adding to the congestion on our roads."

For more blogger reactions see - 853 and Adam Bienkov.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Thursday, October 21, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
Tweet http://london-underground.blogspot.com/2010/10/tube-fares-rise.html

London Underground boss apologises for track evacuation distress

London Underground apologised after two days of problems on the system which meant that thousands of passengers were stuck on trains and had to walk down tunnels to make their way out.

On Monday, a Jubilee Line power failure meant five train loads of rush-hour passengers had to walk along tunnels to escape. Joan Lockwood one of the passengers described her experience to the Ham & High newspaper: "Being left underground for close to an hour with minimal communication left the people in our carriage anxious and frightened of what was happening. It was very hot, with no air and not knowing what was happening".


Photo by @HitGirlAssassin walking through tunnel on Jubilee Line
Then on the following day 400 had to walk down a tunnel on the Victoria line because of a defective train.

Mike Brown, managing director of London Underground, said: "I know that having to walk along the track through a tunnel is distressing. It is not something our customers should have to expect, and is something we always seek to avoid.

"Nevertheless, on the rare occasions when a train is stuck in a tunnel, as soon as it becomes clear that we will not be able to arrange for it to be moved within a reasonable timescale, the safest and best option is to take customers off of the train."

The RMT were quick to jump on these problems and saying they resulted from the overtime ban and cuts in maintenance schedules. Bob Crow said: "We have warned repeatedly that LU/TfL's cuts plans are playing fast and loose with safety and will turn the tube into a death trap. It is a scandal that the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, and his transport officials have chosen to ignore those warnings. The anger of our members who carry out the safety-critical function of maintaining the Tube fleet at the cuts being imposed from above is reflected in this massive vote for action."

However Mike Brown denied this and said: "Despite claims by the RMT that all of these problems result from their current overtime ban this is not the case, except on the Metropolitan line where a programme of essential maintenance on some trains is indeed being delayed by the current disruptive and unnecessary practices urged by the RMT leadership.

"Our customers deserve much better than the service they have had in recent days and all our energies are focused on delivering a fast, reliable and safe service."

The release with Brown's statement reminds people of the Customer Charter where if you're delayed for more than 15 minutes by disruption on the Tube you can apply for a refund of your fare. To me, it doesn't seem quite right that the standard charter applies in the case of these passengers though. Shouldn't there be a sliding scale involving incidents where you have to be evacuated?

Update - Random Reflections was also stuck on the Jubilee Line and you can read her post about what happened here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, October 20, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Win an Underground Film Map

TfL have teamed up with the London Film Festival to produce the first ever (official) London Underground Film Map. Station names have been changed on the familiar Tube map to represent the past 70 years of films and TV shows shot on location at or near Tube stations. For example, Chalfont and Latimer turns into Lolita , Walthamstow Central becomes An Education and Euston becomes Somers Town.


In some cases the station is named after a famous film star or film maker born near the Underground station. So Rayners Lane in Harrow becomes Dev Patel and Barking turns into Dame Maggie Smith.

Adrian Wootton, chief executive of Film London, said: "On average there are approximately 35 crews shooting on location in the capital every day and that wealth of film-making can be seen in this wonderful Underground Film Map.

"From the obvious titles such as Bourne Ultimatum at Waterloo Station and V for Vendetta blowing up the Houses of Parliament at Westminster, to the more surprising including The Dark Knight's Batcave in Vauxhall and An Education filming in Walthamstow, this map plots out the capital's credentials as one of the world's most popular film cities."

The Underground Film map is on sale from the BFI Film Store at BFI Southbank, London Transport Museum Shop, Covent Garden and online from TfL's shop at £9.95.

There's also 50 posters being given away by TimeOut if you answer the film and Tube related question below, by 28th October:

"Why has TFL replaced 'Leytonstone' with Alfred Hitchcock on their new version of the Tube map?"

I blogged about the Leytonstone & Hitchcock connection a few years ago, if you need a little help!

Thanks to Richjm for letting me know about this & good luck if you enter the competition.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, October 18, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Samsung Galaxy Tab Tube Test

From 18th October, Samsung are offering London Underground commuters, the chance to test drive their new Samsung Galaxy Tab. The device is going head to head with the iPad and Samsung want to prove it's good for using one handed on a morning commute.



The Samsung Galaxy Tab Tube test programme will offer up the device for a 48-hour loan on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week up until the product's official launch on November 1st. To get in on the action, you need to email galaxytab@tubetest.co.uk or just turn up at one of the stations (Ealing Broadway, Liverpool Street, Highbury & Islington or Balham) and talk to a Samsung promotionbot. Full details on T3's site.


Let us know if you test drive, sorry, "test Tube" it. I'll also have a look out for them, although I imagine it will be a while before I see them more frequently on the Tube, like the iPad. Hat tip to Michal for letting me know about the trial.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, October 18, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Thunderbirds on the Underground

I can't help but notice that in the future vision for most sci-fi TV shows, the London Underground is no longer used by humans. Either humans have been wiped out, which sort of justifies why the tube network is derelict, but sometimes it seems that the idea of Londoners in the future still using an underground train is beyond comprehension.

Who would want to spend time travelling underground when air-cars or personal hover bikes are available?

Well, think what the sky would look like if every commuter and traveller wasn't on the road or under the road, but flying above us in personal flying vehicles. Personally I think the skies above us would look awful.

The video clip below is from iconic 60s show, Thunderbirds and shows the characters making a journey through a very dirty Piccadilly Station and ending up at Bank station.


Tube geeks may now debate the route taken.

Did they swap onto the Central Line by travelling through the passenger parts of Holborn station, or carry along the Piccadilly Line towards Kings Cross and then use the King's Cross Loop tunnel that links the Piccadilly Line to the Northern Line, then head down to Bank?

Curious minds want to know!

Hattip for the video clip to District Dave.

This was my last guest post before I hand back to AnnieMole who returns from luxuriating in Bali to the wintry London skies next week. You'll find me returning back in my hole over at IanVisits. Hope you enjoyed, or at least, tolerated the interlude.

London Underground; Tube Posted by IanVisits Friday, October 15, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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More industrial action on the Tube network

I am starting to lose track (pun intended) of how many different bits of industrial action are currently taking place, or being planned on the London Underground. Maybe I should start compiling a spreadsheet?

Anyhow, yet another vote, and yet more industrial action was announced yesterday (on the 13th!) - this time for "action short of a strike".

Pointedly, and for the first time in ages, the statement from the RMT noted that turnout was over the magical 50% mark that Mayor Boris suggests should be the minimum for a ballot to be valid. The RMT used to publish the turnout figures, but some years ago stopped doing so, and when I once asked for the turnout figures got a rather terse reply back from their media office.

Commenting on the current dispute, RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: "RMT members have been forced into a position where they have no choice but to take action on behalf of Londoners who depend daily on a safe transport system.”

Whether Londoners are quite as appreciative of Bob Crow's actions as he thinks when strikes shut down the network next month is possibly a matter for debate.

Fortunately, news media reports yesterday suggest that the talks over staffing cuts in stations might have gone well, and that some sort of resolution could be possible. We might just be able to avoid the strikes next month if that proves to be correct.

London Underground; Tube Posted by IanVisits Thursday, October 14, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Acton Depot Open Weekend

If you have managed to sate your thirst for transport history at the Covent Garden museum, then you might want to visit the overflow site next to Acton Town tube station which is holding one of its periodic open weekends this coming Saturday and Sunday.

The place is rammed full of old trains, buses and the like - plus a large raised area full of memorabilia ripped out of stations that have been refurbished.

There are usually a few extras laid on, such as the usual "train geek" stalls and a miniature railway, plus rides on a heritage bus.

If going, a couple of tips:

Buy tickets in advance - they last all weekend, and avoid the often lengthy queues on the door.

If taking a bag, make it a very small one as larger bags have to be left in the cloakroom. My camera bag just happens to snugly fit in their airport style measuring box - so I don't have to queue up to get my bag back when leaving.

Adults £10; Senior Citizens £8; Concessions/ Friends £6; Accompanied children under 16 / TfL staff free. Book in advance on 020 7565 7298 (or in person at the Covent Garden museum).

London Underground; Tube Posted by IanVisits Wednesday, October 13, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Underground Posters

If like me, you are drawn to the early posters used to advertise the London Underground network, you might be interested to know a batch of them are coming up for sale shortly.

Sadly, they come with the sort of prices that result in my simply looking and not touching. So far.

It was an interest in Transport posters that resulted in my first meeting Annie Mole, at an exhibition at the Transport Museum in Covent Garden.

The good thing is that there website of the auction house is rather good at displaying the wares for sale so the rest of us can at least look at what richer people are buying.

To see the whole lot, click here - and if necessary click "Grid" to make it easier to see the posters.

A few of my favourites...

And not about transport, but in the same auction - erm isn't that Ken Livingstone?

London Underground; Tube Posted by IanVisits Monday, October 11, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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For 2 weeks only - alternative tube maps on display

Imagine for a moment if the familiar tube map didn't have to look the way it does today. How could it look if we sat down and gave it a fundamental rethink?

That question is the long running obsession of psychologist, Dr Max Roberts who has given the familiar tube map a makeover and put on occasional displays of his work.

Although the maps have been on display elsewhere before, for the next couple of weeks they will be making their first ever appearance in London itself, giving Londoners who are terrified of leaving the confines of the M25 a chance to see his ideas up close.

At the heart of the work is subtle, but equally radical - a simplification of the angles that the tube lines follow. The classic schematic map designed by Harry Beck in 1931 insisted that all lines ran either horizontal, vertical or at a 45 degree angle. All very familiar, and still largely followed today.

What happens if you change the angles chosen though? Surprisingly, a simple change as that can make the map seem a lot easier to use, if initially a bit disconcerting.

In addition to the "perfect vision" on display, there are quite a few other maps which are more playful, from the probably fairly famous curvy map...

...to recreations of the modern network if it were laid out in a pre-Becks style.

One map which looks oddly good if totally unusable puts East at the top instead of North. Curving the Northern Line down the side seems to shrink London to a much smaller city and make the tube lines seem more densely packed. It is these oddities that fiddling with the map can sometimes show up.

One map which I thought was very interesting is one where the distances between the stations is reflected more accurately. Although it still scales in the same way as the modern Beck-style map, the stations are reflective of the journey time between them.

A few others, such as the Rennie Mackintosh map are visually pleasing, if impractical in function. Do notice though that the Central Line is in blue - the colour it had between 1908 and 1933 - not red that we are familiar with today.

Another thing to note is the different ways the River is displayed on the maps, from chunky blue lines to more subtle pale threads. Would be interesting to see each map with each different river scheme and see what impact that has on the maps legibility.

The big question that I am sure most people will want to know, is London Underground looking at his maps and thinking about them?

Well, after the fuss caused by the removal of the River Thames from the map last year, would you want to be the person who agrees to a radical redesign of the map layout?

I promised not to say what it is, but there is a mistake on one of the maps that was only noticed last night - so you'll have to spend quite some time to see if you can find it yourself. Assuming he doesn't get a corrected version made up over the weekend.

The exhibition is only a sample of the maps that Dr Roberts has devised, and there is talk of a possible larger exhibition taking place in London, but on the off-chance that doesn't happen, you might kick yourself if you miss this teaser.

A few more photos over here. I didn't photograph every map on display, and a computer screen can show the ones he hasn't brought along with him.

Diamond Geezer was at the event last night as well - he had also visited the exhibition when it was down in Southend on Sea.

The exhibition is FREE, but only open Mon-Fri 10am - 6pm, which is a bit awkward for most people. However, it does have a late night viewing on Thursday till 8pm for those of us who can't get away during the working week.

Your mission is to get to the gallery at Scott Brownrigg, 77 Endell Street, Covent Garden, WC2H 9DZ before Friday 22nd October.

London Underground; Tube Posted by IanVisits Friday, October 08, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London Overground - Scavenger Hunt

Just a quick reminder that the Transport Museum is running one of their occasional "scavenger hunts" on Saturday along the newly extended East London Line.

You need to reserve a free ticket in advance - erm, today. Full details on this earlier blog post by Annie Mole.

Shadwell London Overground station by tubetrain

London Underground; Tube Posted by IanVisits Friday, October 08, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Jailed for spitting and assault on the tube

A man who spat at and punched a Tube passenger in an unprovoked attack at Clapham Common Tube station has been sentenced to 12 weeks in prison after British Transport Police used CCTV images to put him at the scene of the violence.

Clive Collins, 45, spat at the 26 year old man on the platform at Clapham Common and followed him onto a northbound train where he punched him repeatedly. Members of the public separated the pair on board and Collins remained on the train as the victim escaped at Clapham North.

While attacks of this sort are fortunately quite rare on the tube network, they do happen, and although CCTVs are not perfect - in some places, downright controversial - they do at least help to identify the person after the event.

I've been spat at once myself on the tube. A guy was had his bag on the seat next to him - the only one available - and I actually had to ask him to remove it. As I got off the train later he spat at me through the crowded train. A bit urgh, but at least I was spared a assault that the above victim was subjected to.

There was also a quite nasty fight on a rush hour Jubilee Line train at Canary Wharf last year. Didn't see what caused it, but there was a loud "watch it" sort of shout and then the carriage shook as a fight broke out between two rather large looking figures. I presumed someone was trying to barge onto the train without letting people off first. While the reaction was extreme and totally unwarranted, I do sometimes find myself snarling a bit at people who block Jubilee Line doors as I am trying to get off.

Quite why people stand on the Jubilee Line extension platforms right in the centre of the double-doors, and then express surprise that someone on the train might be on the other side and wanting to get off the train still puzzles me.

I keep thinking it would be quite fun sensibly educational to get a load of people with crutches to spend the day using the extension line and hobbling off the trains at each station - maybe people blocking the doors will move sharply out of the way when faced with a person in crutches and plaster cast legs?

Then again, I suspect they might not.

London Underground; Tube Posted by IanVisits Thursday, October 07, 2010 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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