Tube Challenge

Tube Stop Baby: Chesham

June 10, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Chesham is the most far flung place you can get to on the London Underground. Located out in Zone 9, the station is actually in the County of Buckinghamshire and it is 25 miles fro Charing Cross. This makes it the furthest station from central London. Chesham is also 3.89 miles from the next station on the line, Chalfont and Latimer, which is the longest distance between adjacent stations on the whole of the Underground network.

The station building is Grade II listed building and it was originally opened in 1889 by the Metropolitan Railway as their temporary northern terminus. The plan had been to extend the line further across the Chilterns towards Tring, to join up with the mainline there. Before work started though an alternative route was chosen going via Aylesbury.

From Chesham you can get a direct Metropolitan Line train into central London every thirty minutes. Services weren’t always that regular though, and up until December 2010 in off-peak times Chesham was only served by a 4-car shuttle service from Chalfont and Latimer.

Today the station has one working platform, but you can see the remains of an old second platform that is now a pretty garden. This platform as closed in November 1970.

When you see the floral arrangements on it today it’s therefore no wonder that the waiting room at the station is full of certificates from the London Underground Station Gardens competition.

There’s also a plaque you can spot outside showing that in 1993 it was the Winning Garden in the Station Garden Competition.

Chesham is also one of the few stations where I’ve seen a Bicycle Store on the platform.

If you’re looking out for interesting details then make sure you spot the station’s 1993 First Class Heritage Award above the suggestions box in the ticket office.

The nearby signal box is also listed and a beautifully kept example of the period.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Chesham

Date of visit: 16 March 2019

Underground Line(s): Metropolitan

Zone: 9

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby: Chalfont and Latimer

June 3, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Chalfont and Latimer just sounds posh as far as tube station names go. Posh and mysterious. That’s certainly what I always thought when I saw it on the list of stops when I was travelling on the Metropolitan Line in some of the lower numbered zones.

The station is actually located in Little Chalfont, and served “the Chalfonts” (that’s Chalfont St Peter, Chalfont St Giles and Little Chalfont) as well as the village of Latimer. Just the idea of a tube station serving a village still seems a bit weird to me. And a million miles from London!

Just like Chorleywood one station before it, Chalfont and Latimer is served by both the Metropolitan Line and Chiltern Railways. One different between the two stations though is that it is the station where Met Line services split to either go to Chesham or Amersham. There are a total of three platforms at the station, but only two of them are generally used.

As is the case at Chorleywood, Chalfont and Latimer was served by steam services up until the electrification off the line north of Rickmansworth in 1960.

If, like me, you’re a bit of a geek for anything vintage and technical then you might be interested to know that whilst at Chalfont and Latimer it is worth looking out for the K8 phone kiosk that sits on one of the platforms.

Housing London Underground telephony, it is painted a nice maroon colour to fit in with the colour scheme at the station. These 1960s phone boxes where obviously more commonly seen in the standard red livery on Britain’s streets, but nowadays they are somewhat rarer. I’m told there are a few more to look out for on the Underground so I will try my best to capture them too. If you want to know a bit more about the K8 Kiosk though this page gives you a good overview of the design that went into them and efforts to preserve them today.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Chalfont and Latimer

Date of visit: 16 March 2019

Underground Line(s): Metropolitan

Zone: 8

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby: Chorleywood

May 30, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

It feels like I’m always saying this, but I’m struggling to keep up with all the tube stops that we’re visiting right now. We’ve a fair number under our belt where I have photos on my phone and notes in my notebook, but making the time to combine those into a blog post seems to keep evading me. A few days with some extra childcare means I’m making a bit of an effort to resolve that. And the first step in doing so is to tell you all about Chorleywood station, which is the first one that we visited on a day of trying to tick off as much as of the outer parts of the Metropolitan Line as possible.

Located out in Hertfordshire, 20 miles from London, the approach to Chorleywood station honestly felt like we were driving through a village in the Yorkshire Moors! I’ve never felt less like I was arriving at a tube station in my life.

Chorleywood (or Chorley Wood as it was then known) was originally opened in 1889 as part of the extension to the Metropolitan Line. The station was formally served by steam hauled locomotives from Aylesbury to London, with an electric loco only being added at Riuckmansworth as they went South. The electrification of the line from Rickmansworth north only happened in 1960, with the steam locomotives finally withdrawn in 1961.

There are just two platforms at Chorleywood station, which both serve both London Underground and Chiltern Train services. The latter running into London Marylebone station.

We might not have spent much time in the surrounding area at Chorleywood, but the small bit that we did see really made me realise just how different all London Underground stations are. From one that feels like a country station like Chorleywood through to a zone 1 station that’s never quiet. I think the variety and the fact that all the stations are connected by a simple train ride is one of the reasons why I am so fascinated by the Underground. Getting to explore all of it as we’re doing with Tube Stop Baby feels like a privilege.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Chorleywood

Date of visit: 16 March 2019

Underground Line(s): Metropolitan

Zone: 7

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby: Hillingdon

May 8, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Compared to the vintage charm just one stop down the line in Uxbridge, Hillingdon station is completely different. The original station was opened in December 1923, but nearly 70 years later the widening of the A40 meant that the station was in the way. Hence in 1992 a new Hillingdon station was opened, all paid for out of the roads budget that covers the A40 widening. This means that Hillingdon is the newest station on the Metropolitan Line.

This new station is a glass structure, letting in huge amounts of light, but giving it a bit of a greenhouse feel. On a hot day it can also feel like you’re in a greenhouse temperature-wise too!

There is also a glazed passageway up to the station from the street and whilst waiting for the lift to take us between the platform and the ticket hall you get a cracking view of the A40 and the traffic on it, as well as a view of the trains as they come into the station from the east. As with many buildings of this type of construction, the station is starting to look a bit tired right now, so I do wonder if there are plans to give it a bit of a clean up at any point.

Those of you keeping a keen eye on the photos I include here will notice that the roundel actually refers to Hillingdon (Swakeleys). This isn’t reflected on the tube map though. I’m trying to find out why that isn’t the case. As far as I understood the official station name was Hillingdon (as show by the sign over the entrance) but I don’t know why the roundel has both names on it.

From the research I have done though it seems that Swakeleys was a part off Hillingdon, named after a local mansion, where a large part of the grounds were turned into housing. There’s a Swakeleys Park still in existence which isn’t that far away from Hillingdon station, but also a Swakeleys School which is actually closer to the centre of Hillingdon.

Hillingdon today is certainly not one of those stops that the tourists will flock to, but in July 2011 it did get added to the London Borough of Hillingdon’s locally listed buildings and just a couple of years after it opened it was Underground Station of the Year too!

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Hillingdon

Date of visit: 15 February 2019

Underground Line(s): Metropolitan and Piccadilly

Zone: 6

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby: Uxbridge

April 30, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

I seem to be working my way through stations that being with the letter “U” at the moment. Hot on the heels of Upminster and Upminster Bridge was our visit to Uxbridge.

Right over the other side of London, Uxbridge is in zone 6, at the end of the Uxbridge branch of both the Piccadilly and Metropolitan Lines and I think it fair to say that it is one of the most splendid stations on the tube network.

Uxbridge station was designed by Charles Holden (who was responsible for designing many Underground stations in the 1920s and 30s, as well as the London Underground Headquarters at 55 Broadway in London) it really is an impressive building. Many people also compare it to the station he designed at Cockfosters, which is at the other end of the Piccadilly Line.

There are so many things to look out for when you visit Uxbridge and it is really worth a trip to the end of the line if you’re a fan of anything tube related. The ticket hall area has some lovely stained glass that catches the light on a sunny day.

You can also spot an old buffet sign in the ticket hall, which leads you to what is now a thoroughly decent cafe that serves a very good all day breakfast and mug of tea.

In addition to old fashioned light up train indicators you should also seek out the preserved old cigarette machines outside what is still a newsagent at the entrance to the ticket hall from the forecourt.

These really are something that you just wouldn’t see today and it’s beautiful to see that they are still there.

After passing through the ticket hall towards the trains, there is a large concrete canopy over the tracks and with the high up windows it gives it almost a cathedral type of feel. It’s no surprise therefore that the station buildings have Grade II listed status.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Uxbridge

Date of visit: 15 February 2019

Underground Line(s): Metropolitan and Piccadilly

Zone: 6

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby: Upminster

April 3, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Remember our plan to take a photograph of Tube Stop Baby with the roundel at each station we visited? Well, our trip to Upminster revealed a bit of a flaw in that plan. It turns out Upminster doesn’t have a roundel. Nor do Barking, Richmond and Wimbledon.

The “problem” is that these stations are all not owned or managed by TfL despite being served by London Underground, hence none of them have the classic TfL roundel signage at them! Yet another example of why I should do my research before we head out with our Oyster cards.

Not realising the lack of London Underground branding until we got there made Upminster seem like a bit of an anticlimax in our day’s travels. After the Art Deco feel at Upminster Bridge, Upminster just felt a bit anonymous if you know what I mean.

If you look carefully, there is one roundel to be found at Upminster though. One the side of the District Line signal box that you can see at eastern end of platform 5.

It’s not really positioned so that we could get a photo of Tube Stop Baby with it, so instead we made do with the roundel at the bus stop outside the station instead.

As well as being at the Eastern end of the District Line, Upminster is served by the c2c trains out of London’s Fenchurch Street (a station that has to be visited purely because it’s on the Monopoly board!) and also is the terminus for the Romford to Upminster part of the London Overground.

If you head up towards the ticket hall, there’s a nice old Lightbox indicator telling you which platform to go to next for an Underground train. There are a total of six platforms at Upminster, with three of them (platforms 3, 4 and 5) used by the District Line.

Despite not being a TfL station there is still a labyrinth to find. Number 76.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Upminster

Date of visit: 29 January 2019

Underground Line(s) – District

Zone: 6

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.