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.

That would be a fantastic website/app- a journey planner which tells you where to stand on each leg of the journey.

Find the gap.

Is there one already? Probably.

Thought you probably did, edam :)

king Hackney Free Line is what we used to call Silverlink...back in those heady days when impoverished scruffy teens could still get away with jumping trains...

Tube Exits

That Tube Exits app is awesome, Lily
Thank you \/

OOOOOH lily with this app you are really spoiling us! ;)

I used to have a fantastic knowledge of how to get from one end of the city to the other without barriers (Le Tube Sans Frontieres perhaps?)

Lily, that app is amazing. I'm kind of disappointed that all my knowledge ha ha such as it is is freely available on an iPhone now, though. That took years to acquire.

Sloane Square buffet bar? I think I do vaguely remember that. And sweets and coffee stands generally. Especially on Earls Court platforms ...

Back in the days when we were simple 'passengers' rather than 'customers'.

@CJCregg

Lily, that app is amazing. I'm kind of disappointed that all my knowledge ha ha such as it is is freely available on an iPhone now, though. That took years to acquire.

I know just how you feel. I was absolutely going to publish that knowledge as a tiny booklet too, when I got round to it before apps were invented

Love the name, Olympia

It's the tube traveller's version of The Knowledge, innit? 'Oxford Circus, Victoria Line? Getting out at Stockwell? Two thirds of the way dahn the platform, love, unless it's really full in which case you might wanna walk a bit further at the other end ...'

I remember a book being published pre-internet with details of where to stand to be closest to your exit - someone made a joke about going to get it for me except I wouldn't need it.

The Thameslink line used to be great for free travel - for some reason inspectors at City Thameslink were only allowed to stand at one exit at a time for their own security, so if you suddenly saw lots of people coming back down the escalator into the station you knew to go for the other exit. They had a point - I was going home to Cricklewood once when there were inspectors and the first half dozen passengers off the train beat up the inspectors and everyone else streamed past them.

I do help loads of lost tourists though - particular specialty is establishing whether they really want to go to Oxford or just Oxford Street...

silverpussycat - thanks for the info on Norbury's slopes! They were much appreciated by me before they put the lifts in at Streatham Common. Though SC had much better coffee so it was a choice between caffeine or ease of schlepping the pushchair!

@CJCregg

Love the name, Olympia

It's the tube traveller's version of The Knowledge, innit? 'Oxford Circus, Victoria Line? Getting out at Stockwell? Two thirds of the way dahn the platform, love, unless it's really full in which case you might wanna walk a bit further at the other end ...'

Yy, but it's also knowing when going from stop a to stop b if there are 2 possible routes that although it's fewer stops if you change at y station, that changing at z is less of a pita (e.g. southbound vic and bakerloo at ox circ)

Olympia, YES! I love that. Especially when I've trudged miles and worn out good shoes to obtain that info.

SQUEE!!

Inspired by this thread, I ordered books from Amazon and they arrived this morning:
Neil Gaiman - Neverwhere
Christopher Fowler - Bryant & May: Off The Rails
Christian Wolmar - The Subterranean Railway
Ben Aaranovitch - Rivers Of London & Moon Over Soho

Wooooooo!

Nooo! I can't spend more money on books, can I

Yes, yes you definitely can!

THANK YOU! To whoever it was who recommended the London Transport Museum. We went there yesterday, DD (2.5yo) loved it and spend ages pretending to drive tube trains and buses. We also spent an inordinate amount of time admiring the plastic horse poo under the omnibus

It's a great museum, utter geek heaven, and DH and I agreed that we're going back soon. And we'll probably bankrupt ourselves in the shop on posters!

Neverwhere-readers, it was also made into a series on the BBC. It's on youtube, really good.

Kindlistas, "The Report" by Jessica Kane about the Bethnal Green tragedy is 99p today!

I am feeling all nostalgic reading this thread even though I haven't lived in UK for 25 years now but spent lots of my teenage years riding the underground and walking between the carriages!

Zombie thread but awesome thread