London Transport (uk.transport.london) Discussion of all forms of transport in London.

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
  #1   Report Post  
Old January 9th 13, 10:27 PM posted to uk.transport.london
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Dec 2008
Posts: 2,008
Default Daily Telegraph: 150 fascinating Tube facts

The Telegraph has compiled a list of 150 "Tube facts" to go with the
anniversary. Most will be known to the well informed members of this group,
but some may not be, and some are bound to be disputed. Here's their list:

1. There is only one Tube station which does not have any letters of the
word 'mackerel' in it: St John's Wood.
2. The average speed on the Underground is 20.5 miles per hour including
station stops.
3. During the three-hour morning peak, the busiest Tube station is
Waterloo, with around 57,000 people entering.
4. On the Metropolitan line, trains can reach over 60mph.
5. The shortest distance between two adjacent stations on the underground
network is only 260 metres. The tube journey between Leicester Square and
Covent Garden on the Piccadilly Line takes only about 20 seconds, but costs
£4.30. Yet it still remains the most popular journey with tourists.
6. Many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters during the Second
World War, but the Central Line was even converted into a fighter aircraft
factory that stretched for over two miles, with its own railway system. Its
existence remained an official secret until the 1980s.
7. Angel has the Underground's longest escalator at 60m/197ft, with a
vertical rise of 27.5m.
8. The shortest escalator is Stratford, with a vertical rise of 4.1m.
9. Only 45 per cent of the Underground is actually in tunnels.
10. The longest distance between stations is on the Metropolitan line from
Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer: a total of only 3.89 miles.
11. The longest continuous tunnel is on the Northern line and runs from
East Finchley to Morden (via Bank), a total of 17.3 miles.
12. Aldgate Station, on the Circle and Metropolitan Lines, is built on a
massive plague pit, where more than 1,000 bodies are buried.
13. The longest journey without change is on the Central line from West
Ruislip to Epping, and is a total of 34.1 miles.
14. The deepest station is Hampstead on the Northern line, which runs down
to 58.5 metres.
15. In Central London the deepest station below street level is also the
Northern line. It is the DLR concourse at Bank, which is 41.4 metres below.
16. The TARDIS, (Dr Who’s transport) can be found outside Earl’s Court
station. Or at least an old police call box can.
17. The London Underground manages about 10 per cent of all green spaces in
London.
18. Wildlife observed on the Tube network includes woodpeckers, deer,
sparrowhawk, bats, grass snakes, great crested newts, slow worms.
19. Over 47 million litres water are pumped from the Tube each day, enough
to fill a standard leisure centre swimming pool (25 metres x 10 metres)
every quarter of an hour.
20. The London Underground trains were originally steam powered.
21. The station with the most platforms is Baker Street with 10 (Moorgate
also has 10 platforms but only six are used by Tube trains - others are
used by overground trains).
22.The District Line has the most stations: 60.
23.The Waterloo and City Line has the fewest stations (no intermediate
stations)
24.The Underground name first appeared on stations in 1908.
25.London Underground has been known as the Tube since 1890 due to the
shape of the tunnels.
26.The first deep-level electric railway line also opened in 1890.
27.The Tube's logo is known as “the roundel” (a red circle crossed by a
horizontal blue bar)
28.The station with the most escalators is Waterloo with 23.
29.The total number of passengers carried last year was 1,107 million
(1.107 billion).
30.The highest station above sea level is Amersham, at 147 metres.
31.Tube trains travelled 72.4 million train kilometres (45 million miles)
last year.
32.The Northern line has the highest maximum number of trains required for
scheduled peak period service: 91.
33. The Waterloo & City line has the fewest scheduled for peak period
service at just five.
34. The total length of the London Underground network is 249 miles.
35. In 1926, suicide pits were installed beneath tracks due to a rise in
the numbers of passengers throwing themselves in front of trains.
36. The eastern extension of the Jubilee line is the only Underground line
to feature glass screens to deter "jumpers".
37. The earliest trains run from Osterley to Heathrow on the Piccadilly
line, starting at 4.45am.
38. The greatest elevation above the ground level is on the Northern line
at Dollis Brook viaduct over Dollis road, Mill Hill: it rises a total of 18
metres (60ft).
39.One of the early names proposed for the Victoria Line was the Viking
line.
40. In 1924, the first baby was born on the Underground, on a train at
Elephant & Castle on the Bakerloo line.
41. The American talk show host Jerry Springer was born at East Finchley
during the Second World War: his mother had taken shelter in the station
from an air raid.
42. Builders working on the Bakerloo Line are reported to have suffered
from the bends while tunnelling under the Thames.
43.The inaugural journey of the first Central line train in 1900 had the
Prince of Wales and Mark Twain on board.
44.The tunnels beneath the City curve significantly because they follow its
medieval street plan.
45.The Central line introduced the first flat fare when it opened at the
turn of the 20th century. The tuppence fare lasted until the end of June
1907 when a threepenny fare was introduced for longer journeys.
46. Charles Pearson, MP and Solicitor to the City of London, is credited
with successfully campaigning for the introduction of the Underground. He
died in 1862 shortly before the first train ran.
47.The first escalator on the Underground was installed at Earl's Court in
1911.
48. The first crash on the Tube occurred in 1938 when two trains collided
between Waterloo and Charing Cross, injuring 12 passengers.
49. Harry Beck produced the well known Tube map diagram while working as an
engineering draughtsman at the London Underground Signals Office. He was
reportedly paid 10 guineas (£10.50) for his efforts.
50. Harry Beck’s map was considered too big a departure from the norm, but
the public liked it and it became official in 1933.
51. Busking has been licensed on the Tube since 2003.
52. Sting and Paul McCartney are both rumoured to have busked on the
Underground in disguise.
53. The phrase "Mind the gap" dates back to 1968. The recording that is
broadcast on stations was first done by Peter Lodge, who had a recording
company in Bayswater.
54. The Peter Lodge recording of “Mind the Gap” is still in use, but some
lines use recordings by a Manchester voice artist Emma Clarke. On the
Piccadilly line the recording is notable for being the voice of Tim
Bentinck, who plays David Archer in The Archers.
55. The Jubilee Line is the only one to connect with all the other
Underground Lines.
56. Approximately 50 passengers a year kill themselves on the Underground.
57. Fewer than 10 per cent of Tube stations lie south of the Thames.
58. The total number of lifts on the Underground, including four stair
lifts, is 164.
59. Smoking was banned on the Underground as a result of the King's Cross
fire in November 1987 which killed 31 people. A discarded match was thought
to be the cause of that inferno.
60. An estimated half a million mice live in the Underground system.
61.1961 marked the end of steam and electric haulage of passenger trains on
the London Underground.
62. One of the levels in Tomb Raider 3 is set in the disused Aldwych tube
station, featuring scenes of Lara Croft killing rats.
63. In the film Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the Hogwarts
headmaster has a scar that resembles a map of the London Underground on his
knee.
64.There are only two tube station names that contain all five vowels:
Mansion House, and South Ealing.
65. Edward Johnston designed the font for the London Underground in 1916.
The font he came up with is still in use today.
66. Amersham is also the most westerly tube station, as well as the highest
(see above).
67. A macabre statistic is that the most popular tube suicide time is
around 11 am.
68. In January 2005, in an attempt to alleviate a problem with loitering
young people, the London Underground announced it would play classical
music at problem stations.
69. The Underground has the oldest section of underground railway in the
world, which opened in 1863.
70. The first section of the Underground ran between Paddington (Bishop's
Road) and Farringdon Street. The same section now forms part of the Circle,
Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan lines.
71.The Underground was first used for air raid shelters in September 1940.
72. During the Second World War, part of the Piccadilly line (Holborn -
Aldwych branch), was closed and British Museum treasures were stored in the
empty spaces.
73. The London Passenger Transport Board was nationalised and became the
London Transport Executive in 1948.
74. The first Tube tunnel was opened in 1880, running from the Tower of
London to Bermondsey.
75.The Central Line used to be nicknamed as the 'Twopenny Tube' for its
flat fare.
76. Dot matrix train destination indicators were introduced onto London
Underground platforms in 1983.
77. The single worst accident in terms of fatalities on the Underground
occurred on February 28, 1975 at Moorgate, when 42 people died.
78. The Piccadilly line extended to serve Heathrow Terminal 4 in 1986.
79. Penalty fares were only introduced in 1994.
80. The tube carried one billion passengers in a year for the first time in
2007.
81.The last manually operated doors on Tube trains (replaced by
air-operated doors) were phased out in 1929.
82.The Jubilee Line was named to mark Queen Elizabeth II’s Silver Jubilee
in 1977 – but the line did not open until 1979.
83. A census carried out on September 27, 1940 found that 177,500 Londoners
were sleeping in Tube stations.
84. During the war, special supply trains ran, providing seven tonnes of
food and 2,400 gallons of tea and cocoa every night to people staying in
the Tube.
85. Covent Garden is believed to be haunted by the ghost of William Terris
who met an untimely death near the station in 1897.
86. Another station that is believed to be haunted is Farringdon station.
The so-called Screaming Spectre is believed to have been a milliner.
87. The Seven Sisters Underground station is believed to have been named
after a line of elm trees which stood nearby until the 1830s.
88. The fictitious station of Walford East, which features in the
long-running soap opera Eastenders, is supposed to be on the District Line.
89. Every week, Underground escalators travel the equivalent distance of
going twice around the world.
90. According to TFL, London Underground trains travel a total of 1,735
times around the world (or 90 trips to the moon and back).
91. A spiral escalator was installed in 1907 at Holloway Road station, but
linear escalators were favoured for the rest of the network. A small
section of the spiral escalator is in the Acton Depot.
92. A small section of the old London Wall survives in the trackside walls
of Tower Hill station at platform level. One of the largest pieces of the
wall also stands just outside this station.
93. Finsbury Park station has murals that show a pair of duelling pistols,
harking back to a time when men would visit the park after hours to defend
their honour.
94. Last year (2012), the most complained about line was the Jubilee Line.
95. The London Underground is thought to be the third largest metro system
in the world, in terms of miles, after the Beijing Subway and the Shanghai
Metro.
96. The London Underground is the third busiest metro system in Europe,
after Moscow and Paris.
97. The coffin of Dr. Thomas Barnardo was carried in funeral cortege on an
underground train in 1905, one of only two occasions this is known to have
happened.
98.The Underground helped over 200,000 children escape to the countryside
during the Second World War.
99. During the war, some stations (now mostly disused) were converted into
government offices: a station called Down Street was used for meetings of
the Railway Executive Committee, as well as for the War Cabinet before the
Cabinet War Rooms were built.
100. Brompton Road (now disused) on the Piccadilly, Line was apparently
used as a control room for anti-aircraft guns.
101. Only five London Underground stations lie outside the M25 motorway
102. The Underground only runs 24 hours a day at New Year, and on special
events such as for the opening and closing ceremonies of the London
Olympics.
103. According to a 2002 study air quality on the Underground was 73 times
worse than at street level, with 20 minutes on the Northern Line having
"the same effect as smoking a cigarette".
104. The former poet laureate John Betjeman created 'Metroland' series, a
homage to the people and places served by the Metropolitan line in 1973.
105. The Oyster card was introduced in 2003.
106. The worst civilian death toll on the Underground occurred at Bethnal
Green Tube tragedy in 1943, when 173 people died. It is the largest loss of
life in a single incident on the London Underground network.
107. The largest number of people killed by a single wartime bomb was 68 at
Balham Station .
108. The 100th anniversary of the roundel (the Tube Logo) was celebrated in
2008 by TfL commissioning 100 artists to produce works that celebrate the
design.
109. The largest Tube car park is at Epping and has 599 parking spots.
110. The Central Line has the most tube stations with no surface building
(Bank, Bethnal Green, Chancery Lane, Gants Hill, Notting Hill Gate)
111. Of the stations that have stairs, Hampstead Station has the most steps
(320 in total).
112. There are 14 journeys between stations that take less than a minute on
average
113. King's Cross St Pancras tube station is served by more Underground
lines than any other station on the network.
114. Seven London Boroughs are not served by the underground system, six of
them being situated south of the River Thames.
115. The total number of carriages in London Underground's fleet is 4134.
116. The total number of stations served on the network is 270.
117. London Underground transferred from the control of the Government to
Transport for London (TfL) on July 15, 2003.
118. Scenes from the film Sliding Doors were shot at Waterloo station on
the Waterloo & City Line and at Fulham Broadway tube station on the
District Line.
119. Filming on location in the Underground costs £500 per hour (plus VAT)
unless you have a crew of less than five.
120. You can now no longer go around the Circle Line in a full circle. From
2009, the Circle Line terminated at Edgware Road.
121. The only tube station still to use wooden escalators is Greenford on
the Central Line.
122. Arsenal (originally Gillespie Road) on Piccadilly line is the only one
station named after a football team.
123. There are three tube stations on the Monopoly board: Liverpool Street
Station, King’s Cross and Marylebone.
124. The number of stations that only use escalators is 12
125. Nineteen stations just use lifts.
126. The River Westbourne was funnelled above a platform on Sloane Square
in a large iron pipe suspended from girders. It remains in place today.
127. The first tube station to be demolished was Westbourne Park on the
Metropolitan Line. It was re-sited in 1871.
128. There is a mosquito named after the Tube – the London Underground
mosquito, which was found in the London Underground. It was notable for its
assault of Londoners sleeping in the Underground during the Blitz.
129.The London Underground Film Office handles over 200 requests a month.
130. In Alfred Hitchcock’s first feature film The Lodger (1926) featured
the director making a cameo on the Tube.
131. The record for visiting all the stations on the London Underground
network – known as the Tube Challenge – is currently held by Andi James and
Steve Wilson of the United Kingdom, who completed the challenge in 16
hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds on May 27 2011.
132. The Tube Challenge record did not appear in the Guinness book of
records until its eighth edition in 1960, when it stood at 18 hours, 35
minutes
133. An interactive novel has been published, set on the London
Underground. Two five three can be seen he London Underground. “253” can
be read here.
134. In cockney rhyming slang, the London Underground is known as the Oxo
(Cube/ Tube).
135. Around 30,000 passengers went on The Metropolitan Line, its first day
of public business on January 10, 1863
136. There were claims the first baby born on the Underground was called
Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor (so that her initials would have read TUBE)
but this story later proved false – her actual name was Marie Cordery.
137. On August 3 2012, during the Olympic Games, the London Underground had
its most hectic day ever, carrying 4.4 million passengers.
138. St James is the only Underground Station to have Grade-I protected
status. It includes 55 Broadway, the administrative headquarters of
London’s Underground since the 1930s.
139. The most recent Tube baby birth a boy was in 2009.
140. The most common location for filming is Aldwych, a disused station.
141. As Princess Elizabeth, the Queen travelled on the Underground for the
first time in May 1939, when she was 13 years old, with her governess
Marion Crawford and Princess Margaret.
142. Poems on the Underground was launched in 1986, the idea of American
writer Judith Chernaik.
143. A series of animal shapes have also been highlighted in the London
Underground map, first discovered by Paul Middlewick in 1988. They're
created using the tube lines, stations and junctions of the London
Underground map.
144. A fragrance known as Madeleine was trialled at St. James Park, Euston,
and Piccadilly stations in 2001, intended to make the Tube more pleasant.
It was stopped within days after complaints from people saying they felt
ill.
145. There were eight deep-level shelters built under the London
Underground in the Second World War. One of them in Stockwell is decorated
as a war memorial.
146. After the war, the deep level shelter at Clapham South housed
immigrants from the West Indies.
147. A 2011 study suggested 30 per cent of passengers take longer routes
due to the out-of-scale distances on the Tube map.
148. The first ever air-conditioned, walk-through Underground train ran on
the Metropolitan line in 2010.
149. The average distance travelled by each Tube train annually stands at
around 114,500 miles.
150. Alcohol was banned on the Tube – and all London Transport – from June
2008.

From:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/de...ube-facts.html

  #6   Report Post  
Old January 10th 13, 05:48 AM posted to uk.transport.london
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Aug 2012
Posts: 300
Default Daily Telegraph: 150 fascinating Tube facts

On 2013\01\09 22:27, Recliner wrote:

36. The eastern extension of the Jubilee line is the only Underground line
to feature glass screens to deter "jumpers".


No, it's to do with ventilation.

55. The Jubilee Line is the only one to connect with all the other
Underground Lines.


That was the case when the ELL was part of the network. Now Bakerloo,
Central, Circle, Jubilee and Northern lines all connect with all others.

65. Edward Johnston designed the font for the London Underground in 1916.
The font he came up with is still in use today.


No, it's been modified to form New Johnston Font.

110. The Central Line has the most tube stations with no surface building
(Bank, Bethnal Green, Chancery Lane, Gants Hill, Notting Hill Gate)


NHG might not a surface entrance building, but it has a rather large
roof on the circle platforms clearly visible from above.


  #7   Report Post  
Old January 10th 13, 06:48 AM posted to uk.transport.london
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity at LondonBanter: May 2007
Posts: 1,139
Default Daily Telegraph: 150 fascinating Tube facts

On Jan 9, 10:27*pm, Recliner wrote:

6. Many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters during the Second
World War, but the Central Line was even converted into a fighter aircraft
factory that stretched for over two miles, with its own railway system. Its
existence remained an official secret until the 1980s.


Sounds interesting!

10. The longest distance between stations is on the Metropolitan line from
Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer: a total of only 3.89 miles.


Really? Only 3.89?

19. Over 47 million litres water are pumped from the Tube each day, enough
to fill a standard leisure centre swimming pool (25 metres x 10 metres)
every quarter of an hour.


That is a vast amount.

34. The total length of the London Underground network is 249 miles.
116. The total number of stations served on the network is 270.
133. An interactive novel has been published, set on the London
Underground. Two five three can be seen he London Underground. 253 can
be read here.


Are the figures in 34 & 116 still up-to-date? What is the 253 about?

39.One of the early names proposed for the Victoria Line was the Viking
line.


They might have expanded on this: VIctoria-KING's Cross.

69. The Underground has the oldest section of underground railway in the world, which opened in 1863.
74. The first Tube tunnel was opened in 1880, running from the Tower of
London to Bermondsey.


I suppose the first example was cut-and-cover.

79. Penalty fares were only introduced in 1994.


"79. Penalty Fares were introduced as recently as 1994."

103. According to a 2002 study air quality on the Underground was 73 times
worse than at street level, with 20 minutes on the Northern Line having
"the same effect as smoking a cigarette".


I remember this report which seems to have been totally buried.

112. There are 14 journeys between stations that take less than a minute on
average.


I imagine these are all in zone 1.

126. The River Westbourne was funnelled above a platform on Sloane Square
in a large iron pipe suspended from girders. It remains in place today.


I mistakenly thought it was the Tyburn.

134. In cockney rhyming slang, the London Underground is known as the Oxo
(Cube/ Tube).


News to me!

143. A series of animal shapes have also been highlighted in the London
Underground map, first discovered by Paul Middlewick in 1988. They're
created using the tube lines, stations and junctions of the London
Underground map.


Discovered?
  #8   Report Post  
Old January 10th 13, 09:08 AM posted to uk.transport.london
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Aug 2003
Posts: 10,125
Default Daily Telegraph: 150 fascinating Tube facts

5. The shortest distance between two adjacent stations on the underground
network is only 260 metres. The tube journey between Leicester Square and
Covent Garden on the Piccadilly Line takes only about 20 seconds, but costs
4.30. Yet it still remains the most popular journey with tourists.


Cheaper with Oyster, and does this record number of tourists really
catch the train from just Leicester Square to Covent Garden, or is this
conflated with Covent Garden perhaps being the station with the biggest
flow of tourists?

6. Many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters during the Second
World War, but the Central Line was even converted into a fighter aircraft
factory that stretched for over two miles, with its own railway system. Its
existence remained an official secret until the 1980s.


I don't think they "converted" the Central Line, it was under
construction and re-purposed as a factory, and only completed and handed
over as a railways after the war.

8. The shortest escalator is Stratford, with a vertical rise of 4.1m.


"at" Stratford, perhaps.

14. The deepest station is Hampstead on the Northern line, which runs down
to 58.5 metres.
15. In Central London the deepest station below street level is also the
Northern line. It is the DLR concourse at Bank, which is 41.4 metres below.
66. Amersham is also the most westerly tube station, as well as the highest


Another missing factoid is the deepest platforms below sea level.
Possibly Jubilee Line at Waterloo.

21. The station with the most platforms is Baker Street with 10 (Moorgate
also has 10 platforms but only six are used by Tube trains - others are
used by overground trains).


Given that it's not the Overground, perhaps "National Rail" trains would
be a better description. They are also counting the now-closed
Thameslink platforms, which is a bit suspect.

28.The station with the most escalators is Waterloo with 23.


I wonder how that's counted, for example there are two which are
arguably part of the National Rail station, plus another two very close
by, that used to travel up to the Eurostar Concourse.

58. The total number of lifts on the Underground, including four stair
lifts, is 164.


Same question really. How many of the lifts at Kings Cross/St Pancras
are deemed to be "On The Underground" and how many are part of the
National Rail infrastructure.

90. According to TFL, London Underground trains travel a total of 1,735
times around the world (or 90 trips to the moon and back).


How often? Daily, annually...

120. You can now no longer go around the Circle Line in a full circle. From
2009, the Circle Line terminated at Edgware Road.


But you can still travel from Edgware Rd to Edgware Rd, which is a full
circle.

125. Nineteen stations just use lifts.


They have stairs as well.

--
Roland Perry
  #9   Report Post  
Old January 10th 13, 09:48 AM posted to uk.transport.london
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Nov 2011
Posts: 329
Default Daily Telegraph: 150 fascinating Tube facts

6. Many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters during the Second
World War, but the Central Line was even converted into a fighter
aircraft factory that stretched for over two miles, with its own
railway system. Its existence remained an official secret until the
1980s.



"fighter aircraft factory" is hyperbolic (probably courtesy of Wikipedia
+ modern journos' disregard for facts): they produced a wide variety of
components and gear for bombers as well as fighters as well as shell
casings and the like; there were no spitfires appearing from tunnels at
Gants Hill with guns loaded on the lines of Blofeld's secret lair


--
Robin
reply to address is (meant to be) valid


  #10   Report Post  
Old January 10th 13, 11:10 AM posted to uk.transport.london
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Jul 2003
Posts: 309
Default Daily Telegraph: 150 fascinating Tube facts

On Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:08:52 +0000, Roland Perry wrote:
125. Nineteen stations just use lifts.


They have stairs as well.


A list I've been looking for but haven't been able to find is stations,
or platforms really, that don't have publicly accessible stairs.


Reply
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules

Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Has anyone received their tickets for the Tube 150 event? Ken Wheatley London Transport 3 December 19th 12 10:33 PM
The truth about Boris's London cycle hire scheme - Daily Telegraph Bruce[_2_] London Transport 0 August 23rd 10 11:14 PM
[OT] 12 of the worlds most fascinating tunnel networks Tom Anderson London Transport 3 June 14th 09 07:58 PM
Neasden Depot facts and figures? Tim London Transport 2 April 7th 08 09:59 AM
That new station - the facts Paul Scott London Transport 1 November 15th 07 03:38 PM


All times are GMT. The time now is 10:17 AM.

Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright 2004-2024 London Banter.
The comments are property of their posters.
 

About Us

"It's about London Transport"

 

Copyright © 2017