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.

Oh yes, I used to live near Oval and I loved the 'Thought for the Day'. I assumed it was the work of an enterprising member of staff and was gutted when someone told me there was a central list of thoughts to use :(

OMG you all have no idea how excited this thread makes me I'm such a tube anorak!

I could spend hours googling the tube, did you know near Gloucester Rd there are two fake house fronts built to hide the train tracks!

There is quite a lot of fiction set in the inderground one way and another. I've been meaning to get this by Christopher Fowler for a while now.

Also there are very occasional tour of the disused stations: www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/in-the-know/london-cultural-attractions/9345037/london-underground-tours.html

I always was fascinated by the tiling on the Victoria Line which represented the station. There were 7 trees for Seven Sisters, a cameo of Queen Victoria for Victoria etc

Oval station has a twitter feed

My favourite tube station decoration is (I presume) the pictures depicting the building of the Eleanor Cross at Charing Cross.

www.urban75.org/london/leinster.html fake house fronts

Mooncup, nooooo, don't say that! I thought it was all the work of some jolly employee!

Those fake house fronts are great, there was an article about them in the Observer(?) a while back.

Brilliant thread GetOrf!

Once my knee gets fixed I may have to tap up a contact and see if I can get a tour of down street.

I always used to look out for north Kentish town on northern line journeys and I even went looking for it topside too! Turned out to be a cash converters :(

Bethnal green tube disaster,so sad! Dd is now fascinated and gone off to read up on it, that's her week sorted. She is big on stuff like this, especially with war connection. She is now reading out all the names, ages and family connections of those deceased. Whole families gone just like that.

Yes, it was hushed up and not allowed to be discussed.

I would love to go on a tour of old stations.

I am so pleased I am not alone in finding the tube fascinating.

I moan like hell when I have to travel on it to get to work in the bloody heat and crowds, but I still love it.

My dream job would to be a tube driver.

We should organise an MN tube tour, getorf. It could culminate in a Circle Line pub crawl

Excellent thread.

"The Drain" is now the Waterloo and City Line, it was called that by LT because the tunnels are smaller diameter than the rest of the tube.

One of the perks of my job is getting to go round tube stations and down old tunnels from time to time. I love all that old memorabilia and the old stations with the names tiled on the platform walls. There are a few that get used as film sets.

Mornington Crescent is my favourite old station (because it's so beautifully refurbished) but my favourite new ones are the big open ones on the Jubilee line like Westminster and Southwark. I love the way the architects have left the functional bits like the concrete walls and tunnel lining segments on show.

There is a whole network of Post office tunnels as well; the old "Mail Rail".
It's funny how you can like railways but hate commuting on them!

I'll just get my (orange) anorak...

Is it edgware road station where the gnomes play cricket?

I am unreasonably upset by the Circle line not being a circle any more. It just seems so wrong to me. How could they do this?

Oh I have always wanted to go on the circle line pub crawl.

People couldn't have gone all the way around, surely. That would be about 20 drinks wouldn't it? I would be plastered after the 3rd stop.

That is really interesting re the drain. I also really like Westminster - it is a beautifully designed station, and I like the functionality of it. It is just a sod to navigate in the morning rush hour as it is so big and busy.

I like mainline trains as well. I have a bugger of a commute from Gloucester to London when I go there, but the line from Gloucester to Swindon is beautiful, very high up with amazing views.

I want fossil's job.

Fantastic blog about exploring Mail Rail:

www.silentuk.com/?p=2792

The Holden fans should check out Southgate

When did the circle stop being a complete circle?

Did people used to fall asleep pissed on the train and go round and round?

No you don't, it's 99% spreadsheets, honest!

The Circle Line was changed a few years ago IIRC, wasn't there a big piss-up party on it the last night before it stopped being a circle?

Or was that the last night before they banned alcohol on the Tube?

What a great blog mooncup (I can see hours of my life wasted on there)

ds2 went to Middlesex Uni. He lived in a shared house just by Southgate tube but his campus was close to Oakwood. So I got to enjoy the Holden architecture as part of my visits to him and it was never a tiresome journey up to the wilder reaches of the Picadilly Line.