• The Hammersmith & City line was brought into existence on 30th July 1990 when a former branch of the Metropolitan line was rebranded salmon pink.
• The line is 16 miles long and serves 29 stations. It takes about an hour to ride from one end to the other.
• Originally most trains ran no further east than Whitechapel (none at all on Sundays). Since December 2009, when a new turnback facility opened at West Ham, no trains have terminated at Whitechapel. The terminating platform at Plaistow is pretty much dead these days too - nigh every H&C train runs all the way to Barking.
• Only two bits of track are unique to the H&C - a short curve between Liverpool Street and Aldgate East, and the approach to Platform 3 at Barking.
• Most of the trains on the Hammersmith and City line have 6 carriages and were built in either 1969 or 1977 (then refurbished in the early 1990s). By the end of this year they should all have been replaced by 7-carriage air-conditioned S Stock trains.
• Three underground lines run from Hammersmith to the City of London. The Hammersmith and City line starts at Hammersmith and passes through three City stations. The Circle line starts at Hammersmith and passes through eight City stations. The District line passes through Hammersmith and passes through four City stations. Contrarily, the line from Hammersmith that passes through fewest stations in the City is called the Hammersmith & City line.
• The Hammersmith and City line's official colour is Pantone 197
• The Hammersmith & City line contains London's newest Underground station (Wood Lane) and also the last Underground station to change its name (Shepherd's Bush → Shepherd's Bush Market)
• [Your fact here] (because this is a dull line, innit?)
• The Hammersmith & City line includes the oldest stretch of underground railway in the world, opened 150 years ago....
... but I blogged about Paddington → Farringdon in detail back in January, so I'll not be going back there this month. Instead I intend to concentrate on the two ends of the route - from Hammersmith to Paddington, and from Liverpool Street to Barking. Sorry, it's not going to be a vintage month.
HAMMERSMITH & CITY: Ten line facts
