Listing Details
| ID: | 451 |
| Title: | Going Underground's Blog |
| URL: | http://london-underground.blogspot.com/ |
| Category: | Regional: Best Of British |
| Description: | Annie Mole's irreverent and informative blog about life on the London Underground. |
| Dickens&The London Underground - Did he ever travel on it? - 2012-02-07 06:36:00 |
On this day, two hundred years ago, Charles Dickens was born and there are countless bi-centenial events across the country to celebrate. Dickens died in 1870 only a few years after the first stretch of the London Underground opened in 1863. It's hard to tell whether he ever travelled on the Underground and the majority of his major books were completed before the Metropolitan Line opened. However, he was aware of the massive upheaval the building of the underground was creating and there's a whole chapter on this inDombey and Sonwhich was initally published in monthly instalments from 1846-1848. From London Transport Museum Here's a section which really highlights the mass changes this had to London at the time:"The first shock of a great earthquake had, just at that period, rent the whole neighbourhood to its centre. Traces of its course were visible on every side. Houses were knocked down; streets broken through and stopped; deep pits and trenches dug in the ground; enormous heaps of earth and clay thrown up; buildings that were undermined and shaking, propped by great beams of wood. Here, a chaos of carts, overthrown and jumbled together, lay topsy-turvy at the bottom of a steep unnatural hill; there, confused treasures of iron soaked and rusted in something that had accidentally become a pond.  London Transport Museum - Leinster Gardens photo by failing_angel Everywhere were bridges that led nowhere; thoroughfares that were wholly impassable; Babel towers of chimneys, wanting half their height; temporary wooden houses and enclosures, in the most unlikely situations; carcases of ragged tenements, and fragments of unfinished walls and arches, and piles of scaffolding, and wildernesses of bricks, and giant forms of cranes, and tripods straddling above nothing...... "In short, the yet unfinished and unopened Railroad was in progress; and, from the very core of all this dire disorder, trailed smoothly away, upon its mighty course of civilisation and improvement."  The chapter referred to a visit being made to Staggs's Garden, an area in Camden Town where the railroad was being built: "Staggs's Gardens was regarded by its population as a sacred grove not to be withered by Railroads; and so confident were they generally of its long outliving any such ridiculous inventions, that the master chimney-sweeper at the corner, who was understood to take the lead in the local politics of the Gardens, had publicly declared that on the occasion of the Railroad opening, if ever it did open, two of his boys should ascend the flues of his dwelling, with instructions to hail the failure with derisive cheers from the chimney-pots."  I'd speculate that from his writing in Dombey and Son, Dickens wouldn't have been the greatest fan of the London Underground and like many Victorians may have expressed the same levels of dismay on its opening.  But then again, like most Victorians, he would have got used to it and developed the love hate relationship that most Londoners currently have with the Tube. Related Posts Happy Birthday London Underground Houses near the London Underground - Leinster Gardens Walking London's Lost Underground& Railway Stations: Do Not Alight Here  |
| Jubilee Line Pictures to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee - 2012-02-06 08:44:00 |
It's the Queen's Diamond Jubilee today she has clocked up 60 years on throne. Although official celebrations will be in the summer, I wanted to commemorate this auspicious day with a look at the London Underground's Jubilee Line. It was the last major line to be added to the Tube system to mark the Queen's Silver Jubilee in 1979. Here's some pictures from the lovely Jubbly line you may like: Just in case you haven't guessed from the attire of the ladies delicately tucking into their meals, this picture is from the 1970's. May 1979, in fact one of the many celebrations marking the opening of the Jubilee Line. At Bond Street station passengers were treated to a string quartet and a lovely meal. Ah those were the days.  Jubilee Line drivers' cabs always seem to get VIP's! Prince Charles stood awkwardly in a driver's cab when the Jubilee Line was opened on 30th April 1979. The Jubilee Line is one where you're most likely to find Ken Livingstone, as he lives in Cricklewood. You can often see him on the line wearing his trusty raincoat. Boris also travels on the Jubilee Line, but like Prince Charles was in the train operators cab. If you were travelling on the Jubilee Line around this time last year and thought some of driver's announcements sounded more bumbling than usual, that would have been Boris Johnson's dulcet tones. He said onTwitter"Rode in the driver's cab on the Jubilee this afternoon. It was fab. Amazing in fact. I have seen the future! So much easier for the driver!" Rihanna took to the Jubilee Line last October to get to her gig at the O2.  The Sunreported "The 23-year-old singer astonished passengers by travelling to London's O2 Arena on the Jubilee underground line using her Oyster travel card. Shocked fans, who the star dubs her "navy", watched as she left a packed Tube train at North Greenwich station." The story was kind of spoilt when it was also reported that as she left the station, with her security guards she then "jumped into a waiting car which drove her just 100 yards to the backstage area of the huge venue".  |
| Tube not prepared for "mega" snow - 2012-02-05 08:15:00 |
Right now, I bet Boris& TfL are eating their words about being "ready& prepared for 'mega snow'", as last night the London Underground almost ground to a halt following the first snow in the capital of the year. Hopefully now as the snow is starting to thaw (see the picture from my study) the system will ease back into life. View of Tube in Snow from my study window - 5th February 2012 On Friday Boris Johnsonsaid: "Across all our roads and rails hundreds of workers are on standby to ensure that, should we receive a mega deposit of snow, we are in a position to keep the capital moving "With more than 100,000 tonnes of salt and an army of gritters, de-icers and specially adapted Tube carriages, together we will ensure that coordinated and swift action is taken to keep Londoners on the move." Unfortunately for Boris the snow had other ideas and by 11.30pm last night the situation on the Tube was as below with every single line (apart from the Northern Line) either suspended or suffering from severe delays. Ironically the only two lines that are completely underground (Victoria& Waterloo& City Lines) and should have been running normally had scheduled weekend engineering works and were closed.  Tube comes to halt with first snow of the year by @tariqpanja Hopefully the lines will get back in action and be running normally when most people return to work on Monday. Otherwise we can expect TfL's Fail Whale to resurface from the ice.  Transport for London Fail Whale by @Jonin60 Seconds Related posts Tube& Boris ready& prepared for "mega snow" VIDEO - Victoria Line Closed all Weekend Snow on the Tube London Underground& Snow Snow Day U Turn for Tube Workers  |