User:Simply south/LU trivia (interesting)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Part of a series of articles on The Tube |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Overview |
|
This article contains information about the London Underground railway which is not of sufficient importance for inclusion in the main article.
Contents |
[edit] Passengers and other inhabitants
- An estimated half a million mice live on the Underground system, about which, TV personality Anthea Turner has written a series of books. London Underground mice. They appear black because their brown fur is covered with dirt, mainly brake-dust from the trains.
- Two people are known to have had their coffins transported on the Underground: William Gladstone and Dr Barnardo.
[edit] Stations
- Regent's Park, Piccadilly Circus, Hyde Park Corner, Bank, Chancery Lane, Manor House and Warwick Avenue stations have no associated buildings at or above ground level, being entirely underground except for access stairs. There were surface buildings at Piccadilly Circus and Hyde Park Corner but these are no longer used by the Underground (both of them are now pizza restaurants).
- Arsenal is the only Underground station named after a football club (it was previously known as Gillespie Road). Watford is named after the area which it serves, as is West Ham. The nearest station to West Ham United Football Club is Upton Park.
- Greenford is the only station that has escalators up from street level to the platforms.
[edit] Linguistic
- St John's Wood is the only station, the name of which contains none of the letters of the word 'mackerel' (the word Saint is not spelt out) and Pimlico is the only station which contains none of the letters of the word 'badger'. Hoxton, proposed to open in 2010, will then be the only station containing none of the letters of either word.
- There are only two Underground stations that have all five vowels at least once in their names;South Ealing and Mansion House. Heathrow Terminal 4 would contain all five vowels, if 4 was spelled out as four.
- Bank is the only station whose name contains only one syllable. Bank and Oval are the only stations whose name contains only four letters.
- Knightsbridge is the only station whose name contains six consecutive consonants.
- There are six alliterative Underground station names - those with two or more words in their names which all begin with the same sound. These are Clapham Common, King's Cross, Sloane Square, Seven Sisters, Golders Green and Bromley-by-Bow. Charing Cross is a visual but not a true alliteration.
- There are four Underground stations whose name contains the colour of the line they are on (as depicted on the tube map) - they are Parsons Green, Redbridge, Stepney Green and Turnham Green.
- There is only one station name containing the letter 'Z' - (Belsize Park); two containing a 'J' - (St James's Park and St John's Wood) and five containing the letter 'X' - (Brixton, Croxley, Oxford Circus, Uxbridge and Vauxhall).
- Temple is the only station name common to the Underground and the Paris Metro, both refer to historic associations of the local area with the Templars
[edit] Miscellany
- Waterloo station has the most escalators - 25.
- The Jubilee Line is the only line that intersects all others. The District Line meets all other lines except the Metropolitan Line; which it misses by approximately 20 m at Aldgate. If, however, the Hammersmith and City Line is considered as part of the Metropolitan, as it once was, then the District qualifies.
- The East London Line is the only line without a station in Zone 1.
- The Waterloo & City Line is the only line to both start and end in Zone 1. The Circle Line never leaves Zone 1, but has neither a beginning nor an end.
- The return journey from King's Cross St Pancras and Euston and back again can be made travelling only in "northbound" trains. The northbound Northern Line runs from King's Cross to Euston and the northbound Victoria Line runs from Euston to King's Cross. It is also possible to make the same trip on "southbound" trains only.
- It is possible to travel through ten stations in a row all beginning with the same letter without changing trains, on the Piccadilly Line, by starting at Hounslow East, travelling towards Heathrow and round the Heathrow loop and returning to Hounslow East again. Intermediate stations are Hounslow Central, Hounslow West, Hatton Cross, Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3, Heathrow Terminal 4, Hatton Cross again, Hounslow West again, Hounslow Central again, returning to Hounslow East.
- The only station on the Underground with London in its name is London Bridge. The station for London City Airport is on the DLR.
