The Secret Life of The London Underground

I've been learning a lot of weird stuff recently about the Tube:

Circle Line Party: Circle Line Party Advice Sheet - apparently this crowd run periodic parties on Circle line trains. Their main challenge is not what music to play, but how to avoid getting busted by the LT cops. As they explain on their site:

The party happens in the tunnels, IF WE ARE IN A STATION, OR ON A PLATFORM WE ARE SILENT AND LOOKING INNOCENT, if we are in a tunnel we are discotastic.

Given that their last bash ended in a police van, I suspect the ploy is not entirely successful - or adhered to.

On a tamer level, there's also the circle Line Knitting Circle (I promise I am not making this up - honest!)

A lot of this stuff is reported in the vast number of blogs entirely devoted to the art of commuting in central London and to the Tube in particular. This includes recent Bloggie nominee London Underground Tube Diary - Going Underground's Blog. It seems no matter how dreadful your morning commute might be, everyone retains a sneaking affection for the oldest operational underground train system in the world ** and every station has its own story.

It's spawned the world's most famous topographical map (although that's gone through several incarnations) and the real layout looks entirely different. In fact it may change a lot more over the next decade.

Transport for London provides a lot of really useful services on its website. You can plan your journey door-to-door and for some lines you can even check out in real time when your next Tube train will arrive.

I've also just found a really fascinating article about The Underground at War. Most people know that stations doubled as shelters during air raids (growing up in Dagenham, my Dad used the one at Becontree more than once). However not so many know that several of the stations closed not long after the war - and, like little time capsules, they're still down there.

In a slightly different vein, this photographer is gradually working his way above ground along the route of the Circle line, snapping as he goes. Similarly, this group all focus on one location each week, each photographer posting her or her own impressions of it.

It was via the aforementioned Going Underground blog that I found the answer to a question niggling at the back of my mind. Ever been standing on a platform and heard a PA announcement for "Inspector Sands"? He gets around quite a bit doesn't he?

Actually - No, he doesn't

** In case you were wondering the oldest surviving platform is the Hammersmith and City/Circle line platform at Baker street (there's a plaque). What puzzles me is why there's only one platform. I mean, it must have gone somewhere, right?

posted at 11:26 PM
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