Part 3 of the Back2Work TUBE TUBE series. Shot at Westminster station, the plot continues to thicken. As always you can find out more from their YouTube channel, Facebook page and twitter account.
Tag: underground
TUBE TUBE Back2Work (2 of 7) – London Underground Short Film Series
The ongoing saga about Back2Work in the TUBE TUBE series continues in video 2 in this 7 part series. You can find out more about the whole project from the TUBE TUBE YouTube channel, Facebook page and twitter account.
TUBE TUBE Back2Work (1 of 7) – London Underground Short Film Series
TUBE TUBE – a short film series set entirely on the London underground – is back. It looks like this time they are doing a 7 part series surrounding Back2Work. To find out what it’s all about watch the video above. You can learn about the series from their YouTube channel, Facebook page and twitter account.
Victoria Line Underground Stations – Facts, Trivia And Impressions
This post is part of my Randomly London v. The Tube Challenge. Get the latest about challenge updates here. Donate to Bowel Cancer UK here.
Given that London has few sunny and warm weekends, especially in September, most Londoners make the most of them when they do happen. I, on the other hand, chose to ride the tube from Brixton to Walthamstow Central along the Victoria line.
The Victoria line is an interesting one for a few reasons: it was the first deep level underground line to be built across central London since 1907, it is the longest line entirely underground (at least for the travelling public), and almost every station has tiled artwork relating to the station itself, or the surrounding area.
I visited each of the 16 stations on the line over the course of approximately 3 hours on the very sunny 8th of September. Here are my impressions and a random fact about each station:
Brixton
Huge London Underground roundel at Brixton station and tiled artwork at platform level playing on the “brick” part of the name.
Impressions: Brixton is among the more interesting areas of London. It has reputation for being somewhat dodgy and dangerous, but in my opinion this view is increasingly outdated. While Brixton remains at present a mixed area, all signs point to rapid gentrification. The most noticeable feature about Brixton station, to my mind, is the huge London Underground roundel over the entrance. It was also extremely busy on the day I visited.
Random Fact: Brixton station opened in 1971, 3 years after the first section of the Victoria line. Tweet This
Stockwell
The entrance to Stockwell Station and the bizarre dazzle inspired tiled artwork at platform level.
Impressions: If Brixton is one of the most interesting areas of London, Stockwell feels like one of the most bland. Stockwell station is one of the ugliest stations on the whole network. The view is not much improved once you leave, as you’re immediately thrust onto busy Clapham Road. The one interesting thing I did notice about the station is that there is no up escalator from the northbound Victoria line platform. I guess not many people go from Brixton to Stockwell by tube. It was also far less busy than Brixton.
Random Fact: Stockwell is the southernmost London underground station that serves more than one line. Tweet This
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Waterloo & City Line – Walk And Tube Station Visits
This post is part of my Randomly London v. The Tube Challenge. Get the latest about challenge updates here. Donate to Bowel Cancer UK here.
The Waterloo & City line is the amuse bouche of my 11 course tube challenge. The line itself is both the youngest* and shortest on the network. At only 1.5 miles (2.5 km) long and consisting of just two stations (Waterloo and Bank), I was able to walk the whole thing in about a half hour. A nice easy start.
However, everything did not quite go according to plan. The original idea was to both ride and walk the line on the same day. I set off on a beautiful sunny Sunday (Aug. 19th, 2012) walking to Waterloo from South Ken. Normally the Waterloo & City Line is closed on Sundays. However, Transport for London (TFL) moved to a 7 day a week schedule for the line during Olympics.
I naively assumed that this applied to the whole period from the opening ceremonies of the Olympics to the closing ceremonies of the Paralympics. Even TFL’s website seemed to indicate the line was going to be open. So I was somewhat surprised to find the whole thing shut down. Really not a big deal, but it meant I had to make a separate trip a few days later to ride the train.
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TUBE TUBE 9 – Escorted – London Underground Short Film Series
The most recent film in the TUBE TUBE series and another great one not shot in English. Things do not seem to be going Eva’s way. A warning to any more sensitive viewers, there are some strong subtitles and implications of adult situations. If you like this one give the rest of the TUBE TUBE series a watch.
Oyster Gives Up Pearls – Mapping Tube Journeys
An interesting short video about how UCL Engineering School is using the data from the Oyster Card system to map out how Londoners use the network. The obvious benefit is that TFL could better invest in problem locations to relieve congestion. The main takeaway is that London is a network of polycentres – meaning there is no one central hub – but a collection of them.
To be honest I’m not sure why the data hasn’t been looked at before. About 3 months ago, I got letter from TFL asking me to record my complete journey history using a pen and paper form. It seemed insanely inefficient and I didn’t bother to complete it. At the time I thought why don’t they just use the information from Oyster Card system, glad to see they now are.
You can learn more about the project from Oyster Give Up It’s Pearls page from the UCL Engineering School.
100 Years Underground (1963) – London Underground Documentary
This is a great 40 minute film about the Tube at 100. Made in 1963 it provides a brief history of the Underground network up to that point. It’s interesting to see that while many things have changed in the last 50 years, many haven’t. For example, the Tube in 1963 looks about as crowded as it is today. Moreover, they were still trying to explain to people to stand right and not crowd the doors. If people haven’t learned these lessons in the past 50, I don’t think there’s a lot of hope in the next.
Some highlights include footage of the yet to be opened Victoria line (next up in my Tube Challenge) being built and the building of what become known as Millbank Tower (originally named Vickers Tower), the Shard of it’s day. There is even mention of driverless trains, something that’s still being talked about 50 years on.
If you have 40 minutes I highly recommend giving it a watch, a great slice of history.
Randomly London v. The Tube – My Personal London Underground Challenge
That’s right, I’m taking on the Tube! Specifically, my goal over the next 12 months is to visit every London Underground station and to walk all the Tube lines above ground. Given that there are 11 underground lines, my aim is to complete about one a month.
This also leaves me with a bit of extra time in case I need it. I’ve walked several of the Tube lines before, but since turning 30 last month, I’ve decided to walk them all systemically. Walking the Tube is a great way to see London and to discover how each community fits together. Coincidentally, the timing of this challenge will overlap with the 150th anniversary of the Tube on 10 January, 2013.
The idea was conceived of as a personal challenge, but I thought it would be a wasted opportunity not to raise money for charity. So, I’ve set a goal of raising £16,013 for Bowel Cancer UK. The number represents £1 for each person who died from bowel cancers in the UK in 2010.
I chose this charity because of a family history with the disease; my Scottish paternal grandmother died of colorectal cancer in her 40s, long before I ever had a chance to meet her. Walking and exercise in general are good ways to prevent bowel and other types of cancers. You can learn more about bowel cancer – including who is at risk, symptoms, where to get screenings, and more – from the Bowel Cancer UK website here.
My plan for the challenge is as follows:
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TUBE TUBE 8 – Masterplan – London Underground Short Film Series
Masterplan is the eighth film in the TUBE TUBE series. It goes outside the normal format of focusing on predominately white stories – instead it focuses on the lives of two immigrants to London. More interesting still is the fact none of the dialogue is in English, but is in Urdu (I think anyway). In my opinion, the format really works and is one of my favourite of the whole series so far. I’m glad too, because I felt the quality of the films may have been slipping a bit recently.
This film stars Hassan Raza and Asif Sayed Mohammed, who both put in great performances. Really hope to see them in some future episodes of the series. As always you can follow @tubetubelondon on twitter, Like them on facebook and most importantly subscribe to their YouTube channel.