On 21 Jan, 13:57, Walter Briscoe wrote:
In message of Wed, 16 Jan 2008
17:43:00 in uk.transport.london, Paul Scott
wrote questioning the number of
gateline gates at Liverpool St (sic - the station name is Liverpool
Street).
That is pedantry of the highest order! Using similar logic, one could
well turn round and say that one should in fact state the name of the
station as "Liverpool Street station", so as to avoid confusion with
the street from which the station takes its name.
I recently found myself outside Chalk Farm needing to micturate.
J.D.Wetherspoons provides adequate toilets and coffee and has a web site
where one can search for the nearest shop to a specified post code.
I read that first time round and thought you had misspelled
matriculate! Anyway, that's a new word for my book. Of course Mr
McDonald and Mr King's exotic food outlets also contain such
facilities, as do many supermarkets (though not their convenience
cousins).
I thought I would try to construct a list of London Underground station
addresses for this purpose.
Two unofficial websites might help here...
Tubeplanner's Station Information:
http://www.tubeplanner.com/station/
Info Transport's Rail Station Database:
http://www.infotransport.co.uk/trains/select
The latter has details of stations across London and the South East
(though I can say with certainty that at least one is missing!).
Neither website appears to be maintained or updated any more so the
information could well be out of date - but they do provide station
addresses and postcodes. Though I do have a vague memory that some of
the given addresses might not be quite right.
The Royal Mail postcode finder might also possibly be of help:
http://postcode.royalmail.com
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/contact/default.asp?type=tube contains
an alphabetic list with a few quirks: Kings Cross (sic) and 1 each of
Edgware Road & Shepherds Bush, etc.
It suggests there are 253 London Underground stations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_underground says "The Underground
has 276 stations and runs over 243 miles (408 km) of line" citing
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/modesoftransport/londonunderground/16...
as an authority where 275 is the number shown today.
Can anyone here explain TfL's 275 figure?
Perhaps the difference is between stations managed by LU, and stations
served by LU - i.e. Richmond and Wimbledon are SWT stations, yet are
served by the Underground.
Additionally when it comes to such figures one must bear in mind that
the East London Line is no longer part of the LU empire.
DLR does not explain it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Docklands_Light_Railway says "The DLR
system is undergoing continuing expansion, with currently 39 stations"
without a citation for that 39. I can't be bothered to count to check.
And if you can't be bothered then neither can I - you're not
subcontracting such work to others quite so easily, especially as the
rate of remuneration on offer is so poor!
I found addresses for most of the stations by feeding "London
Underground" into an address translator I regularly use.
I then struck 22 carat gold in the Journey Planner
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en
Select a Tube journey such as from Aldgate to Liverpool Street.
View it and click on "Liverpool Street Underground Station" to arrive at
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/use...guage=en&type=
stop&id=1000138&itdLPxx_sessionID=JP09_13099587&it dLPxx_requestID=1&comma
nd=nop. [That URL works across a reboot. I don't know if it is further
portable or can be shortened.]
There it says (inter alia): "Gates 42".
I think the answer is 52: 12 at Old Broad Street and 20 each in the
Metropolitan and Central Line ticket halls.
The page for Liverpool Street is typical but the data is not consistent.
St. James's Park is said to be at "Petty France London SW1" and no
details are given - "55 Broadway, LONDON, SW1H 0BD" serves.
There is no information for the following (and possibly others): Epping;
Harrow & Wealdstone; Hendon Central; Ickenham; Kenton; Kew Gardens;
King's Cross St. Pancras; North Wembley; Richmond; Shepherd's Bush
(Hammersmith & City); South Kenton; Southfields; Wembley Central and
Willesden Junction.
The information is undated and to be taken with sodium chloride.
Wood Green quotes the non-working post code N22 4HH. N22 8HH serves my
pub-finding purpose. Vauxhall is said to have 2 escalators; I think I
saw 3 yesterday. http://www.davros.org/rail/culg/vdetails.html seems
to confirm my thought.
Vauxhall does indeed have three escalators.
There is a move to reduce station clutter. Many platform 'phones seem to
have disappeared. Photo Booths are also endangered - Moorgate is shown
as having 2. It currently has none.
They're endangered for the simple reason that no-one is using them!
But yes, at stations I have also noted several wall mounted phone
booths that now no longer sport any payphones.
I hope this rather long posting is of interest - the allusion to "The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" is intentional.
--
Walter Briscoe
The Straphanger's Guide to the Underground?