Tube quiz (14)Name that tube line - the zone challenge 1) Zone 1 only [Circle, Waterloo & City] 2) Zone 2 only [East London] 3) Zones 1-3 [Victoria] 4) Zones 1-4 [Hammersmith & City] 5) Zones 1-5 [Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern] 6) Zones 1-6 [Central, District, Piccadilly] 7) Zones 1-D [Metropolitan]
Tube geek (14)Going Underground
Only 45% of the London Underground network is actually underground. The earliest underground railways were shallow sub-surface tunnels, dug using the cut and cover method beneath the roads of central London. By the time later lines came to be built there was only room beneath the ground for deep level tubes. But out in the suburbs the trains arrived in advance of the houses, so there was plenty of space on the surface and no tunnels were required. Today London has a total of 113 miles of tube tunnel (20 cut and cover, and 93 deep level) - an underground nirvana which no mobile phone signal can yet penetrate. So, where are these tunnels? Here's my line-by-line guide to subterranean travel (compiled via geoff's special underground map). I hope it's correct, near enough...
Where the Underground goes underground (very roughly) Bakerloo: Harrow & Wealdstone → Queen's Park → Kilburn Park → Elephant & Castle Central: West Ruislip → White City → Shepherd's Bush → Mile End → Stratford → Leyton → Leytonstone → Wanstead → Gants Hill → Newbury Park → Hainault → Woodford → Epping Circle: Edgware Road → Baker Street → King's Cross St Pancras → Farringdon → Barbican → Moorgate → Victoria → Sloane Square → South Kensington → Gloucester Road → High Street Kensington → Notting Hill Gate → Bayswater → Paddington → Edgware Road District: Ealing Broadway & Richmond & Wimbledon → Earl's Court → Gloucester Road → South Kensington → Sloane Square → Victoria → Aldgate East → Whitechapel → Stepney Green → Mile End → Bow Road → Upminster East London: Shoreditch → Whitechapel → Shadwell → Wapping → Canada Water → Surrey Quays → New Cross (Gate) Hammersmith & City: Hammersmith → Paddington → Edgware Road → Baker Street → King's Cross St Pancras → Farringdon → Barbican → Moorgate → Aldgate East → Whitechapel → Stepney Green → Mile End → Bow Road → Barking Jubilee: Stanmore → Finchley Road → Swiss Cottage → North Greenwich → Canning Town → Stratford Metropolitan: Amersham & Watford & Uxbridge → Finchley Road → Baker Street → King's Cross St Pancras → Farringdon → Barbican → Moorgate → Aldgate Northern: Edgware → Golders Green → Hampstead → ... / High Barnet & Mill Hill East → East Finchley → Highgate → South Wimbledon → Morden Piccadilly: Heathrow → Hounslow West → Hounslow Central → Barons Court → Earl's Court → Bounds Green → Arnos Grove → Southgate → Oakwood → Cockfosters Victoria: Walthamstow Central → Brixton Waterloo & City: Waterloo → Bank
Tube watch (13)Bow Road station update
When renovation work on my local tube station began we were promised completion by October. Unfortunately that was October 2004, and the whole project has now dragged on almost a year longer than originally planned. Nothing major's happened for months, but the portakabin out the front of the station remains occupied while repairs and renewals continue intermittently inside. New poster frames are still being erected, old surfaces are being repainted, and only last week several random paving slabs on both platforms were mysteriously replaced. Having been wondering for months why this project has taken so long, I've at last uncovered 'the answer' inside September's edition of Metronet's in-house magazine (downloadable here). And who'd have guessed - it's all somebody else's fault...
Not that this appears to have stopped Metronet from installing huge lengths of new cable at Bow Road. It's been like the spaghetti harvest above some parts of the platforms and stairwells, even if much of the new wiring has now been hidden away inside non-heritage plastic ducting. And as for the 'Section 12' excuse, this relates to special fire safety regulations which apply only to stations which are 'wholly or partly underground'. That's 40% of all the stations on the network, then, including several which Metronet have yet to renovate. But reading elsewhere in the article it seems that an end to the Bow Road upgrade nightmare may (really, genuinely) be nigh.
Tube quiz (14) Name that tube line - the zone challenge
