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Amazing engineering now 160 years old !
What’s your favourite line ?
I grew up next to Woodside Park on the Northern Line, many happy summers throwing apples at the trains as they trundled past the back garden. (Late 70s early 80s)
What’s your favourite line of funny stories you have of the underground ?
A friend still to this day still tells his story of getting off a train and going for a poo 💩 on a platform- he was utterly wasted apparently. Before the days of cameras !
Over to you
Dunno if I have a favourite line, but I grew up about a 10min walk from Wembley Central on the Bakerloo line & 15min walk from Wembley Park on the Met line.
Bakerloo line was always rubbish, and Wembley Central station a dank place that never felt very safe. The Bakerloo line always seemed to take ages too, and you'd invariably have to change at Queens Park, which at the time seemed a massive ballache.
The Met line from Wembley Park was always much nicer and it took me all the way to univerity in Uxbridge in one direction (when I wasn't living on campus) or straight into London going the other way. The Jubilee line was always an option heading into London, but had many more stops on the way.
On the way out of London, somewhere around the Neasden depot on the Met line there is a stretch of insanely smooth track. When on that line, I always remember to pay attention for it and enjoy the virtually silent, insanely smooth travel of the train over that short stretch, compared to the rest of the lumpy, wobbly, clanky line.
I love some of the station architecture & if you take the time to slow down and look around, rather than hare around as fast as possible there are some really nice things to see.
I like the quirky stations - what's the one with the really long spiral staircase?
On the flipside, the tube is always too busy in central London, always too hot & the original design meant it is a real headache to resolve a lot of the issues of the system coping with extra passengers/adequate ventilation etc. But, I suppose you can only plan for future growth so far.
In her annual appraisal my wife was suggested to socialize more & improve her networking. At the next work conference she got drunk, tripped and fell down the full height of the escalators at Marble Arch on her way home. This was only a couple of years ago.
Edit: I did a load of survey work on the underground in the late 80s, saw a lot of places most people don't get to see, most of it was pretty grim to be honest, especially with the kings cross fire fresh in our minds at the time.
The Piccadilly Line is clearly the best, specifically the lovely art deco(?) stations on my old turf like Cockfosters, Oakwood, Arnos Grove & Southgate.
An amazing asset and London wouldn't be the same without it.
I like the quirky stations – what’s the one with the really long spiral staircase?
Covent Garden? Just lifts there otherwise.
I'm all for taking the stairs normally, but it's a long old schlep. Used to just get off at Leicester Square instead.
Dunno why they don't put a slide in for those going down.
chakaping
Covent Garden? Just lifts there otherwise.
I cheated & Googled it - Hampstead has 320 steps! The equivalent of a 15 storey building!!
Covent Garden has 193 steps.
First used the Underground in 1999 and my lasting thought of it was "Great at getting you around but oh my god, how grim would it be to use it every day all year!". Every visit since has confirmed that initial impression.
It's an amazing piece of historical infrastructure but it's massively over utilized and a political football. Have no idea about how you would replace it though!
I was really hungry after a run once and found half a packet of biscuits on a Northern Line train, which I ate.
Also once found and ate a yoghurt (unopened), again, on the way home from a running session. I think that was the Piccadilly Line.
Can confirm it's the most horrific place to be suffering a stinking hangover.
Light - dark - light - dark
Sway - sway -sway.
Stop - start
Light - dark - sway
Stop - start
Hot breeze - cold breeze
Sway - sway - 🤢🤮
First used the Underground in 1999 and my lasting thought of it was “Great at getting you around but oh my god, how grim would it be to use it every day all year!”. Every visit since has confirmed that initial impression.
I love it. When I'm in London I quite often just take a trip on the Tube. Not really going anywhere, I just like it. A lot of the stations are fantastic for photography.
Elizabeth Line (yeah yeah, "it's not a proper Tube line", whatever) is stunning although it's a shame that all the stations are identical architecture. The new bits of Jubilee Line are amazing for architecture and I'd like to do.the new Northern Line bit out to Battersea Power Station Station next time I'm in town.
Surely one of the most iconic logo designs ever produced.
I love it. When I’m in London I quite often just take a trip on the Tube. Not really going anywhere, I just like it.
Same here. I really enjoy the novelty of being able to get around an entire city so easily
Art Deco Piccadilly line and the Concorde tiles from the Heathrow extension. I use it fairly often to commute home with a folding bike (full size not allowed on subterranean parts including T123,4 and 5), and ride the last five miles out of the metropolis. Zone 3 to 6 is very cheap travel.
I also miss the REAL Circle Line. We had a few formal parties as a student in London.
If you want a free umbrella, go to Lost Property in Baker Street. "I left my umbrella on the Circle Line, it's black, wooden handle...". You'll have plenty of choice 😉
It’s an amazing piece of historical infrastructure but it’s massively over utilized and a political football. Have no idea about how you would replace it though!
You couldn’t, simple as that. Of course it’s over-utilised, it’s underneath highly populated major metropolitan area, but for all that it’s only really busy at certain times of the day, and sometimes just letting a couple of trains go by will make a difference. I’m not a Londoner, but I’ve been a regular visitor a number of times a year for around thirty years, and my mate and don’t use anything else to get around, other than our feet. Had to use a bus once a year or so ago because a tube line was being worked on - it was ok, but not being a regular user it took a while to just figure out what stop to use, whereas the tube stations are dead easy to find.
Hoping to use the Liz Line this year, going to look at costs travelling in from Reading, using JustPark - there are fewer places available around Hammersmith now, and it would knock twenty-odd miles off the car journey, plus taking us straight into the city.
Compare the Underground with New York’s Metro sometime.
London Underground - A safe place to sleep. Though these days you can no longer jump the barrier without having multiple rail staff/police jump on you.