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.

tablefor4 - "... in 1989 or 1988, Certainly when I was at primary school.."

I'll have you know young lady that I had been working in London for several years before then!

I am going to visit St Johns Wood station. What is at St Johns Wood though, apart from ridiculously priced houses and (presumably) excrutiating cupcake shops.

Beardy I used topretend I was the driver on the DLR too . I was in my 30's, I had no excuse.

wriggletto a friend of mine was doing the quiz anyway, so we went along. I think you can hire out the cafe area in the evenings.

Maybe we should all go camping in this

Who's with me?

SJW doesn't have wooden escalators any more (sorry peeps). It's been tarted up for the Olympics with new escalators and wide gates

Also - if you're changing between Victoria and Bakerloo Oxford Circus has the easy change thing. You know you're a Proppa Lahndahner when you specifically go to stations where you can change easily, and know where to stand on platforms

If you are ever travelling to Stratford (timely advice) and are on a train which terminates at North Greenwich, do listen to the driver and change at Canary Wharf. Yes it is all one line, yes you can change at North Greenwich, but you will have to go up the escalators and over the concourse. As opposed to just staying on the same platform and waiting for a through train. Annoys me every time on the up escalator!

I would have loved to have worked in London in the 1980s.

I would have had massive hair and shoulder pads to satisfy my Bonfire of the Vanities fantasies.

YY to changing at Baker Street (fnar)

scrambled I am in my 30s and I don't need an excuse!

Brilliant thread! Had no idea about most of this!

DP is obsessed with the underground, so he'll love that site, thank you :)

I LOVE THIS THREAD!

My favourite station for pure scale/vastness is Westminster. I love all the metal, it's so Bladerunner-y! Then for prettiness is West Brompton.

Deffo up for the Circle Line pub crawl!

yellow count me in! Bagsie the driver's cab!

I had a long thread some weeks back when I was desperately trying to shave 5 minutes off my commute getting from Paddington to St James Park because I was sick to the high teeth of the circle line.

Lots of people with lovely tips. Someone did say to walk it (I will one day)

The Oxfam in St John's Wood is pretty good. Loads of designer stuff from what I remember. Abbey Road is nearby. Regents Park & London Zoo is also a short walk. Lords Cricket Ground.

Harry Morgan's is a nice (but overpriced) deli. Good salt beef sandwiches.

Wooden escalators - I stand corrected then!

I bought a lovely old tube map which was pretending to be wrapping paper from Foyles.

It's just lovely.

I just LOVE the tube map.

People used to try and visit every station on the whole Tube in a day back in the 1980s as a challenge. I guess its too big now.

Aw Abs I used to love those escalators at St Johns Wood. They were almost strokeable

circle line pub crawl

Sounds messy!

I love this thread.

If you need to change jubilee to metropolitan line or vice versa change at Finchley Road not Baker Street, that way you can just cross the platform.

I love knowing stuff about public transport. I used to know where to stand at every stage of my old commute for the emptiest bit of train. I also had an encyclopedic knowledge of bus routes. Must take DS to the Transport Museum...

I'd actually quite like to live in a house that overlooks an overland Tube line. My friend lives right by one in Chiswick and when I stay at hers I sit in the window for ages watching the trains disappearing into the tunnel. I find it very therapeutic.

I live in London (though admittedly south east and rarely venture further west than Westminster) and until today I was unaware that the circle line is no longer a circle

Circle line is awful. I hate it with a passion. It's probably the main reason I bought a bike, and am still using it to get around at 23 weeks pregnant.

Someone must love it though?

GetOrfMoiIand I started work in the West End in 1984 aged 16. It was fab. I certainly had the big hair but looked more scruffy 1980s like early Bananarama than anyone from Dynasty or Bonfire of the Vanities :)