A few tiny things I learned about London Underground today that delighted me, a small thread:
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2. Interestingly (but unsurprisingly) given the “London Underground” name there is a separate map denoting which parts of it are in tunnels, designed to help users with claustrophobia or other anxiety conditions. http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tube-map-with-tunnels.pdf …pic.twitter.com/iDv3igm7WZ
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(The white-within-orange line is called London Overground, and of course also runs underground at times as seen on the map.)
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3. There is a station called Blackfriars that is on the railway bridge crossing Thames, and it’s recently been updated also – making it the longest of the three “solar bridges” in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackfriars_Railway_Bridge …pic.twitter.com/ocjIu39Re1
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4. Harry Beck, the designer of the famous Tube map, lived by Finchley Central Tube station. Today there’s a little plaque inside that station, and also… his early map. (Must have been weird to use a transit map you yourself designed… unless it’s all in your memory?)pic.twitter.com/aGhXmyf00M
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5. When a wife of a late actor who was once the voice of the “Mind the gap” announcements asked for a recording, London Underground temporarily restored it on one station just so she could hear it again.https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-21719848 …
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6. Beck’s diagrammatic map is well known, but apparently there’s also a 1914 map that is credited with saving the entire (then maligned) system. It was fun and very popular, encouraging people to travel more to visit various humorously depicted locations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderground_Map …pic.twitter.com/wUZkyo9Yx2
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There is something enthralling to me about just this *idea,* a map saving a transit system. That’s it! (For now…?)
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7. Some of the platforms and recently refurbished subway trains come with an interesting visual device: “tiger teeth” (or dragon teeth, or alligator teeth) warning patterns to discourage you from putting your fingers or hands in between closing doors.pic.twitter.com/p5RCgOQsqU
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8. Genuinely impressed by the size of the cable wheels powering the Glasgow Subway before electrification. (San Francisco cable cars power station has some big wheels, but they don’t seem nearly as impressive.)pic.twitter.com/3xmZvAQ8NW
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9. (Back to London.) The Barbican tube station has this cute plaque, celebrating a station cat called Pebbles. (And there’s an entire page dedicated to railway and station cats of Great Britain: http://www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/featuring/wk-rail04a.html …)pic.twitter.com/jrt4NDscd9
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