A thread for mumsnet nerds to talk about the history of the London Underground (aka what's your favourite tube station)

[GetOrfMoiIand]

I spent a happy hour looking at this site www.abandonedstations.org.uk/

The history of the tube is fascinating, and I love travelling on it, it is so atmospheric (apart from when I am commuting within London and then I hate it with a vengeance like any normal person reserving special ire for the wanking Circle line).

Some stations feel really evocative - for instance Lambeth North looks as if it hasn't changed since the second world war.

Scrambled the bit with all the cages was a bit rubbish but it still scared the bejesus out of me.

I am frequently freaked out atm also by Boris's tube announcements.

"Don't get caught up!" in his blubbery posh voice. They startle me.

Oh gawd, I remember when Covent Garden got Lloyd Grossman to do the recorded elevator announcements. Nearly stabbed myself in the ears with my Oyster card...

Did the cable car really get stuck? . I'd better not tell DH (doesn't like heights) or I'll never get him on there!

Not been on yet though I go 'under' it every day on the DLR, the cars are looking pretty empty a lot of the time tbh.

Looking forward to Crossrail here too.

Yes the Boris announcements make me jump too!

There should be a geek topic. Then we could all blether on about trains and the tube and underground rivers of london and all manner of exciting topics

It did Ephiny. I'm scared of heights too, but I also love transport. I cried going up the furnicular (sp?) in Budapest. But I still begged to go on it in the first place, even though I knew I'd be scared.

I am a moron basically.

I haven't even seen the cable car yet, want to so badly.

Just had a look to see how long it would take to get from Paddington to Liverpool St now - 25 mins and a change at bakers Street. You would be thrilled if you had to do that every day and the crossrail 9 min journey came in.

I also get annoyed by the announcement on King Edward Street on the 25/8. She doesn't say "King EDward Street" but "King Edward STREET".

It's just deeply irritating.

There should be a dedicated 'urban exploration' topic Olivia

We have topics for everything else!

One of my friends got dropped down the 'gap' when he was a toddler by his mum, luckily another passenger grabbed him. On a lighter note, an ex-bf ran onto a tube as the doors were closing with a bag of shopping and the shopping didn't quite make it. He had the handles on the inside and the shopping on the outside of the doors, only the handles remained by the next stop.

OOH furnicular railways.

I was thrilled to go on one in Switzerland - journey from Zurich to Engelberg with what seemed like a 1 in 4 gradient and all the clunking.

I kept on missing trains in Switzerland - I would stay in the bar turn up vaguely at the correct time and be bemused at all the trains leaving in the SNOW to the second.

And they have double decker trains in Europe

And I love the massive great mile long trains in Canada with their mournful sounding horn.

We could have threads about water towers, abandoned hospitals, old 'asylums' military bases, roc points and abandoned villages!

What's that abandoned village called on Salisbury plain? The army took it over I think, they occasionally do tours

I love this thread. I love it. I love reading about the tube and the arcane knowledge available regarding it. And I'm a claustrophobic mancunian.

I have heard lots of references to ghosts on the underground and the Paranormal database has some good ones. The story about Bethnal Green station is sad though and refers to the accident that HarlotOTara talked about way back up the thread.

"A station master working alone in the station office late at night heard the soft sounds of children crying. As time went by, the cries grew louder and were joined by the screams of women. He ran from the office. One hundred and seventy-three people died in the station in a single accident during World War 2, the vast majority being women and children."

Olympia, I LOVE the idea of Urbex. Love it. But I am too scared to do it because I have a stupid fear of authority figures.

And heights.

Yes, I am aware that I'm coming across as pathetic.

I always think it is slighlty unnerving when you are waiting for a train, and then you look down the tunnel and see its lights glaring at you and it comes hurtling through the tunnel.

It's also a strange feeling when you are in a loo or something in a central london restaurant and you can hear the tubes go by through the walls.

I do love trains. I live near a main railway line (at the bottom of the opposite neighbour's garden iyswim) and I find the sounds of the trains going by really comforting.

Just catching up so I'm a bit behind but - smoking carriages. They were completely yellow, weren't they?

I think this is why I still get a tiny bit excited by the new Met line trains because they are so bright and white.

DS2 has been listening to the radio following today's torch route with an A to Z and a tube map

Olympia - there is an abandoned village called Tyneham on the Bovington tank firing range near Lulworth that has just been reopened to the public.

The village was comandeered during WWII and the villagers were promised they could come back after the war but it never happened.

Apparently, there are old school books with children's writing in the old school house just like they left yesterday.

The whole area is great to visit although not just now as the Olympic sailing is on at Weymouth and very expensive as a result.

Ah, underground rivers! I was talking recently to someone who worked on the new Kings Cross and he told me that the River Fleet (which Fleet Street is named after), now basically a sewage tunnel, runs underneath.

As a child I lived near a main railway line and well remember getting out of bed when I heard the train whistling to watch it go over the viaduct. Hmm, maybe that's where my train problem interest comes from.

this company are trying to get some of the old stations opened up for tours! Worth keeping an eye on.

There IS a geeky stuff topic. It's mostly about phones and iPads, though.

morebeta that's interesting, not seen that one before ( I frequent 28dayslater)

Imber was the one I was thinking of. Village of Imber, quite sad really

YY to being freaked out by Boris. Stop exhorting me, okay?!?

Olympia, I LOVE LOVE LOVE 28dayslater. It makes me weep with joy. Have you seen the thread about this old abandoned house? With all the furniture still inside? It is beautiful.

I love all the old asylums too.