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.

MoreBeta especially since it closed in about 1995!

for map fans

It's not that bad MoreBeta - I had to break it to some tourists about 18 months ago that it wasn't in operation anymore. They had read somewhere about it being used as a film set but hadn't put two and two together.

at beta.

Yes I suppose St Johns Wood station has to be glam doesn't it. .

I had NO IDEA that there is a secret door from Westminster tube to Parliament, I will ask my colleagues where it is (if they know).

Feeling a bit mellow and rheumy eyed now!

That is brilliant sillybeard, I love maps anyway, so maps of the tubes are really thrilling.

I used to have a map of Europe in my office which I thieved took from the Logistics department, it has all the postcodes (or their european equivalent) of everywhere in Western Europe.

I only like the tube - I am distinctly underwhelmed by the Paris Metro. I would love to go on the NY subway and Moscow underground though.

The New York subway is distinctly disappointing IME. All up and down and no across!

Paris metro is crap I agree. No atmosphere.

The idea of going on the Moscow metro creeps me out after reading Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky...

I remember having a hangover years ago and travelling up angels escalator.
It was the longest ride ever. I actually thought i must be still drunk as i never seems to get anywhere.

I like the name of the stations.

Blackfriars, Chalk Farm, Angel, Royal Oak.

Better than West 67th Street (or whatever)

The Paris Metro trains make a funny noise

station names book

I have a copy myself :)

I like the names of prisons in this country as well.

There is no limit to my sadness.

But random names seemingly plucked from the middle ages make me laugh - Pucklechurch, Wormwood Scrubs, Strangeways, Belmarsh.

I never knew there was a book! Thank you.

ihate I work in Angel and used to go down those escalators many a Friday. They are terrifying when you're swaying.

I am tempted to take a trip to Angel just to look at these escalators.

I have no need to go anywhere near there so it would be mighty sad of me, I must admit.

I have a large map of every major power station and power transmssion line in Europe. Truely fascinating. Especially the info on East/West European transmission lines that existed before the Berlin Wall came down!

If you want one you can order it here. A bit pricey at 80 Euro but hours of fun with a magnifying glass.

Secret rail lines across the East/West border also existed.

Reeeallly not worth a special trip to Angel GetOrf- just think Canary Wharf, but longer and less daylight.

Oh, yes Angel has a very long set of escalators, according to wikipedia they're the third longest in Europe. It's a pretty grim station though, I find it very depressing. Also odd in that the southbound platform is massive and the northbound platform tiny

I always thought the Canary Wharf escalators were longer, but I suppose that's an illusion due to the scale of the station. It's actually one of my favourite stations, I love the cavernous feel of it. I even have a beautiful photo of the glass canopy over the escalators in my living room

Oh yes, St Johns Wood is vair naice . Although money does not bring neighbourliness with it, apparently

Oh, well I have been to Canary Wharf so I can imagine (those escalators are huge, XP fell down the length of them pissed, the only harm was a small cut on his elbow, 2 weeks later he was in hospital with blood poisoning from it - there is a LESSON there).

That is fascinating about the european power lines maps.

Only four of those books left in stock now... Is it us buying them all?

Canary Wharf is way more impressive, even if it isn't technically as long. I love that bank of escalators rising up into the daylight. Angel is just two big long escalators in a corridor!

I can't believe that escalators used to be made of wood in living memory.

It sounds like something from the 1890s.

Another tube anorak here My dearly departed old neighbour from years ago worked in the Central Line tunnels at Wanstead during WWII for Plessey building bomb and plane parts. The tube tunnels between Leytonstone and Gants Hill had been built but weren't operational so Plessey (who were based in Ilford) had a secret factory underground, mainly staffed by women....

My Nan (also no longer with us) was from the East End and would always cry when talking about Bethnal Green :(

Although not technically part of LU any more, my favourite station is Rotherhithe because of the Thames Tunnel and the fact that it was the first under river tunnel in the world. I love Brunel

I also love Westminster. I go through it every day as I work in Westminster. I often find myself humming the music from the film Metropolis.

Totally aces thread. I am a proud tube geek.

I even had a birthday party at the LT Museum one year. There was a quiz night on, my team won and my prize was loads of LU branded stuff. Fab.

www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2008/08/16/the-last-wooden-escalator/

I like this Ianvisits chap.

Do you reckon there is an online dating agency for geeks like me who are interested in maps, trains, aeroplanes through the ages and submarines?

I am going to die alone, aren't I.