TUBE TREASURE TROVE - APPENDIX

 

 TUBE TREASURE TROVE

    Well, that was much more fun than I expected. My initial idea was to check out the 100 most interesting Underground stations on my way to other destinations. But I soon found myself doing the opposite, rapidly visiting 118 stations, some of them quite remote.

   Since completing this enjoyable mission, I've returned to some of the stations to find some interesting features I missed the first time around - adding the following updates to my previous posts:

LIVERPOOL STREET

    The oldest surviving signal box on the Underground can be found at Liverpool Street on the Circle/Hammersmith & City eastbound platform. It was opened in 1875 for an extension of the Metropolitan Railway, then converted in the 1950s to electrically lock a platform out when a train had arrived in it.

HAMMERSMITH (District/Piccadilly)

     Illuminated roundels (unveiled 2024) celebrate the 150th anniversary of the station, not the London Underground as a whole, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2013. And there are some nice 'tube train' planters on the concourse. 

     The Hammersmith clock designs are based on the Underground map ...

   

TURNPIKE LANE

     The platform ventilation grilles by Harold Stabler depict a turnpike toll gate. Stabler also designed the decorative tiles at St John's Wood station.

BANK

     This 'Greathead' type tunnelling shield (1898) was discovered at Bank station in 1987 during construction of the Docklands Light Railway.

WARWICK AVENUE

      Warwick Avenue has no surface building and the station is accessed by two sets of steps to a sub-surface ticket hall. It was one of the first London Underground stations built specifically to use escalators rather than lifts.

      Outside the station, you can see one of London's remaining green cab stands. They were established in Victorian times to provide affordable hot meals to drivers who couldn't leave their horse-drawn cabs unattended. 

     Thirteen shelters survive in London, and all have Grade-II listed status. Most, including this one, continue to serve taxi drivers, although a few have been closed or have restricted opening times. In the age of the GPS, only London cabbies who have mastered The Knowledge are entitled to sit inside. The rest of us can buy a cuppa and a bacon butty through the hatch.

MAIDA VALE

     Although Maida Vale station was designed by Stanley Heaps, it was built using materials from his predecessor Leslie Green, hence the oxblood terracotta exterior. The station retains many original features, including this mosaic sign ...

     In 1915, during the First World War, Maida Vale became the first Tube station to be "manned" entirely by women. However, the station had a male stationmaster - shared with three other stations. The women were paid the same rate as men - more than half a century  before the 1970 Equal Pay Act.

    In the Paddington movies, Maida Vale provides the exteriors of the fictitious Westbourne Oak station.

SOUTH KENSINGTON

    Some houses in nearby Thurloe Square were demolished to make way for the Underground, leaving a narrow wedge of land between the tracks and the square. Local builder William Douglas built the Thin House on this site in the 1880s. It originally contained seven artists’ studios but is now divided into apartments. One end is just six feet wide.

     In an area where a one-bedroom flat can cost over £1 million, you might expect a little more elbow room, especially if you have a cat to swing. In August 2022, a flat in the Thin House sold for £775,000, but that could have been at the ‘fat’ end, which is a more generous 34 feet wide.

ST JAMES'S PARK

     Over time, the station name has appeared with different spelling and punctuation on tube maps: St. James' Park, St. James Park, St. James's Park and currently St James's Park - although the station signage retains the full stop after "St". One of the earlier platform roundels, on the eastbound platform, has been kept for posterity ...

       I can't believe I came back here to photograph a missing S. Anyhow, I've now added 'punctuation' to 'interests' on my dating profile. That will certainly impress the ladies. 

CHISWICK PARK

    These are classic London Transport destination boards from the 1930s-40s. The bold caps for "EASTBOUND" and the lighter weight for the station list is textbook Edward Johnston. The cream background and blue border combo is the pre-WW2 LT enamel style. Also note that before 1967 Tower Hill station was called Mark Lane. 

REDBRIDGE

Redbridge station didn't make my list, but this is worth a mention:

     Uniquely, the colours are reversed on these roundels at Redbridge station. The most likely explanation is that the red bar represents the Red Bridge over the Roding River.

     As previously mentioned, Redbridge station sits on top of the old Plessey shadow factory. After Plessey's Ilford factory was bombed in 1940, they continued to manufacture aircraft parts in  the unfinished Central Line tunnels between Leytonstone and Gants Hill.

     Up to four thousand women, mostly local, were employed there. The factory workers feature on Paul Day's Battle of Britain monument on Victoria Embankment ...

    As I said at the start, I would only cover Underground stations, not the Overground, DLR, trams or rail stations. However, I posted at length on the Elizabeth Line on the day it opened, click here. And I'm adding the London Cable Car for no better reason than I've been waiting for an excuse to feature it ...

        The cable car opened in 2012, touted as an alternative commuter route. But it was reported in 2019 that only four people were using it on a daily basis - and that was before covid encouraged us to work from home.

      But it's still a good 'touristy' thing to do, especially if you are attending an event at the O2 Arena or Excel London on opposite banks of the Thames.  A single cable car trip is currently £7 for adults and half-price for kids. Senior Londoners can also get half-price tickets by presenting their Freedom Passes at the ticket booths.

      The O2 (formerly Millennium Dome) claims to be 'the world's most popular music, entertainment and leisure venue'. Some might argue with that, although Disneyland doesn't have a Wetherspoons. 

     The main arena holds 20,000 and the sound quality is very good. I've been to some great concerts there including The Who, Queen (with Paul Rogers) and Paul McCartney. The O2 also has lots of good eateries, a multiplex cinema, bowling alley, Abba experience and outlet shopping mall. Plus you can climb to the top - but the cable car is much cheaper and requires a lot less effort. 

    Top trivia: The O2 has a diameter of 365 metres, the number of days in a year; 12 supports, the number of months in a year; and a height of 52 metres, the number of weeks in a year. 

The vast Excel London exhibition and international convention centre.

      

    So, finally, here is my personal list of the most interesting 118 (of 272) London Underground stations. If anyone knows of any gems I've missed, please leave a note in the comments and I'll happily go and check them out.

List of Underground stations:

    Places of interest within a 10-minute walk in red.
    Wetherspoons within about 50 metres in blue. Other pubs and cafes are available but few open from 0800 until late. 'Spoons' pubs are particularly good places to meet up, unlike Tube stations which may have more than one entrance (and no beer).
    Additional points of interest in green.

Key to lines: Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan, 

Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria, Waterloo & City.

ACTON TOWN London Transport Museum Depot

ALDWYCH (closed) Somerset House 

AMERSHAM Highest above sea level

ANGEL named after a pub, longest London Underground escalator

ARNOS GROVE Charles Holden classic design

ARSENAL Arsenal FC

BAKER STREET Experience 1863 without the smoke and steam, Madame Tussauds, Sherlock Holmes Museum, Metropolitan Bar 

BALHAM

BANK Royal Exchange, Bank of England Museum

BARKINGSIDE
BARONS COURT Margravine Cemetery
BATTERSEA POWER STATION Only station with 'station' in its name, Battersea Power Station shopping centre

BECONTREE 

BETHNAL GREEN Young V&A

BELSIZE PARK

BLACKHORSE ROAD
BOND STREET Selfridges Oxford Street

BOSTON MANOR Boston Manor House

BROMLEY-BY-BOW Walford East on the Eastenders Tube map

BRENT CROSS Brent Cross Shopping Centre

BRIXTON Largest Underground roundel, Brixton market, Electric Avenue, Beehive

CANADA WATER Brunel Museum
CANARY WHARF Norman Foster masterpiece
CHALK FARM The Roundhouse

CHARING CROSS Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Benjamin Franklin (opens March 2027)

CHESHAM Furthest Underground station from central London (25 miles) 

CHISWICK PARK

CLAPHAM COMMON
CLAPHAM SOUTH
COCKFOSTERS
COLLIERS WOOD The Charles Holden (not a Wetherspoons), named after the Underground architect
COVENT GARDEN Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Market

DOWN STREET (closed) Piccadilly, Mayfair

EALING BROADWAY
EARL'S COURT
EAST FINCHLEY
EASTCOTE
EDGWARE ROAD (Circle/District/Hammersmith & City) The other Edgware Road station is on the Bakerloo line.

EMBANKMENT

EUSTON Wellcome Collection, Captain Flinders

FARRINGDON London Museum (from 28 November 2026, following relocation to Smithfield), Sir John Oldcastle 

FINCHLEY CENTRAL
FINSBURY PARK
FULHAM BROADWAY Chelsea FC Walham Green

GANTS HILL Design influenced by Moscow Metro, Valentines Park

GLOUCESTER ROAD
GREAT PORTLAND STREET Regent's Park

GREENFORD The only station where an escalator takes you up from the ticket hall to the platforms

GREEN PARK Piccadilly, The Ritz, Green Park, Buckingham Palace

HAMMERSMITH (Hammersmith & City/Circle) William Morris

HAMMERSMITH (District/Piccadilly) William Morris

HAMPSTEAD Deepest Underground station below ground level

HATTON CROSS

HEATHROW TERMINALS 2 & 3

HEATHROW TERMINAL 4 Star Light (airside)

HIGHBURY & ISLINGTON

HOLBORN British Museum, Sir John Soane's Museum, Shakespeare's Head

HOLLAND PARK Holland Park 

HOLLOWAY ROAD 
KENNINGTON
KEW GARDENS Kew Gardens, The Tap on the Line (not a Spoons but open from 9am) ⭐

KING'S CROSS ST PANCRAS British Library, Barrel Vault

LEICESTER SQUARE West End, Chinatown, Moon Under Water

LEYTONSTONE

LIVERPOOL STREET Spitalfields, Petticoat Lane, Hamilton Hall

LONDON BRIDGE The Shard, Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral, Shakespeare's Globe, Old Operating Theatre, Sun Wharf

LOUGHTON

MAIDA VALE
MARBLE ARCH Hyde Park (Speaker's Corner)

MOORGATE Barbican Centre
MOOR PARK
MORNINGTON CRESCENT
NEWBURY PARK
NOTTING HILL GATE Portobello Road, the bookshop from the movie

OAKWOOD
OLD STREET Masque Haunt

OSTERLEY

OVAL Kia Oval cricket ground

OXFORD CIRCUS Oxford Street, Carnaby Street

PADDINGTON Mad Bishop & Bear - not a Spoons, but open from 8am (9am Sun)

PARK ROYAL

PERIVALE
PICCADILLY CIRCUS Royal Academy of Arts, Fortnum & Mason, Regent Street

PIMLICO Tate Britain

RAYNERS LANE
RODING VALLEY Quietest Underground station
RUSSELL SQUARE British Museum

ST JAMES'S PARK 55 Broadway (historic Transport for London HQ), Buckingham Palace 

ST JOHN'S WOOD Lord's Cricket Ground, Abbey Road Studios

ST PAUL'S St Bartholomew's Hospital, Postman's Park, St Paul's Cathedral

SEVEN SISTERS Tottenham Hotspur FC

SLOANE SQUARE King's Road, Saatchi Gallery

SOUTH KENSINGTON Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Science Museum, Royal Albert Hall

SOUTHFIELDS Wimbledon All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club

SOUTHGATE

SOUTHWARK Tate Modern, Shakespeare's Globe

STANMORE

STOCKWELL

STRATFORD Olympic Park, West Ham Utd FC, Westfield Stratford Shopping Centre, V&A East, V&A Storehouse

SUDBURY TOWN
THEYDON BOIS
TOOTING BROADWAY J J Moons

TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD Soho, Foyles book shop, Montagu Pyke

TOTTENHAM HALE Walthamstow Wetlands

TURNPIKE LANE

UPMINSTER BRIDGE
UXBRIDGE
VAUXHALL
VICTORIA Wetherspoons (station concourse)

WALTHAMSTOW CENTRAL Walthamstow Street Market (second longest in Europe)

WANSTEAD Wanstead Park, my house
WARREN STREET
WARWICK AVENUE Little Venice

WATERLOO Imperial War Museum, Old Vic, Southbank Centre, London Eye, Graffiti Tunnel, Lion and Unicorn

WEMBLEY PARK Wembley Stadium, Wembley Arena 

WESTMINSTER Stunning steel and concrete cavern, Parliament Square, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Churchill War Rooms, Downing Street

WHITE CITY Westfield London Shopping Centre, BBC TV Centre

WILLESDEN GREEN

Links to Tube Treasure Trove posts: 

Acton Town to Brixton

Canada Water to Down Street

Ealing Broadway to Fulham Broadway

Gants Hill to Green Park

Hammersmith to Holloway Road

Kennington to Loughton

Maida Vale to Oxford Circus

Paddington to Russell Square

St James's Park to South Kensington

Southfields to Sudbury Town

Theydon Bois to Victoria

Walthamstow Central to Willesden Green

     Queues are already forming outside the Benjamin Franklin, Charing Cross (opens March 2027)!

My featured stations are underlined in red. Click or tap on the map for a printable version.

Bonus Tube Trivia:

     The number of Underground stations peaked at 279 when Hatton Cross opened in 1975. There are currently 272, partly because the former East London line became part of the Overground in 2007.

     Fletchings are another name for the feathers on the arrows. Broadly speaking, signs with four fletchings date from the 1920s to 1933, those with three from 1933 to the 1950s, and those with two from the 1960s. From the 1970s onwards, there are one or no fletchings.

     Until late 2009 the Circle line was actually a complete circle. It was a 27-station loop, which is why the legendary Circle Line parties worked - you could hop off at any station to sober (or throw) up, and the same train would roll round again an hour later. Since 13 December 2009 it’s been a teardrop to Hammersmith, not a loop.

     Chiswick Park station is nearer than Turnham Green station to Turnham Green.

     Northwood Hills station is lower than Northwood station.

     Knightsbridge is the only station name with six consecutive consonants.

     There is no charge for travelling between the three Heathrow stations and Hatton Cross (you still have to swipe in and out). 

      Belsize Park is the only station containing the letter Z. Every other letter of the alphabet appears more than once.

    Queensbury became an area of London after its station was named for no other reason than it was the next on the line to Kingsbury. The name had been selected by way of a newspaper competition.

    According to TfL there are over 1.35 billion journeys on the Underground annually.

    The average speed on the Underground - including stops - is 20.5mph.