The 270

027/270: #Southwark – The Reverse

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So by now you will have no doubt noticed that I’m giving every station a unique blog title in the format “The <Insert Unique Name Here>.” This is with the exception of South Woodford (001) which is simply called “Home.” Home should be special though shouldn’t it?

Thinking up unique identifiers for each of the remaining 269 stations will no doubt at some stage bite me in the backside, but for now I’m doing OK. The names will originate from a mixture of sources; some might be about the station features itself, some might be about nearby attractions and activities, whilst others will be about my own personal connections with using the station.

Southwark falls into the latter of those categories.

Last year I embarked on the #WalkTheTube challenge, where all 270 stations need to be visited in a single service day. Some may refer to this as “The Tube Challenge”, but ours was for charity and we weren’t trying to break any records. This is of course different to the Map Challenge as for #WalkTheTube we didn’t have to actually get off the train. If you weren’t aware of all this by the way then where have you been?! I’ve banged on about it enough times… If you really haven’t caught up with this episode in my life then do head here.

Anyway what has this got to do with Southwark?

Southwark is one of the likely places Tube Challengers use to ‘double back’ on themselves. This action is often referred to as a “Reverse,” where you arrive at a station in one direction and then change platforms and leave in the other. (The colloquialism also has connotations with timetabled rolling stock manoeuvres).

By the time we reached Southwark, in the evening of that fateful day back in April of 2016, we were severely behind schedule. We’d been struck by the Bermuda Triangle of Aldgate/Aldgate East. Several District Line trains had vanished into the ether and we’d been stranded for 15 minutes at Whitechapel. This caused a knock on affect and come Southwark we were very late and very grumpy.

Unfortunately Southwark always makes for a great #WalkTheTube photo opportunity against the backdrop of it’s cavernous corridors. Never have I seen a collection of people so down in the dumps about taking a group photo. We’d just missed an eastbound Jubilee Line train and I recall being in a particularly bad mood as a result.

Fittingly however, the “Reverse” at Southwark was not only one of a directional nature, it was also one of a change in fortune. The following three connections at London Bridge, Elephant & Castle and Baker Street would put us pack in the game, ultimately allowing us to complete the challenge at Chesham later that night. The picture below is the same place where we waited for that reverse in fortunes to start.

Image copyright A Carter – CallingAllStations.co.uk

026/270: #LondonBridge – The Distraction

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20 days in to the year and this is only my 2nd Zone 1 station. A friend is showing me round Guys campus at Kings College so it also makes this my first naturally collected station beyond my normal commute.

There’s lots we could say about London Bridge… It serves the oldest mainline railway station in the city for example. It’s also the only tube station with “London” in its title. Or, you know, we could just do what everybody does and take a picture of The Shard…


Image copyright A Carter – CallingAllStations.co.uk

025/270: #HeathrowTerminal5 – The Numbers and Dingbats

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Terminal 5 is a different beast again. Another product of 21st century design, but this time done properly with big caverns of glass and metal. It’s unlike East Hounslow (019) that’s for sure.

One of the few tube stations where trains arrive on one platform and then depart from another (via a reversing siding). This means Platform 5 has no regular passenger departures. I can recall this practice occurring at Amersham as well, but I might be wrong?

This station doesn’t really feel like a tube station, everything is a little bit wrong. There’s no blue back-lit station name plate at the entrance (that I could find), there are signs announcing that it’s in “Zone 6” plastered all over the gateline, some of the wayfinders are of airport terminal standard and not TfL… it’s all just wrong.

What’s certain is that Terminal 5, along with the other terminal stations, are the only three on the network to feature numbers. The roundels also feature a neat aeroplane dingbat, purposefully designed in the New Johnston font format.

Image copyright A Carter – CallingAllStations.co.uk

024/270: #HeathrowTerminal123 – The Unreachable

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I’m never sure what to officially call this station, and now Terminal 1 has ceased to exist that’s been made even worse. Is it still Heathrow Terminal 1,2,3 or Heathrow Terminal 1,2&3 or Heathrow Terminal 2,3 or Heathrow Terminal 2&3??…

Well the roundels say 1,2,3 so let’s go with that. Terminal 1,2,3’s claim to fame is that it’s the only tube station not to be accessible by foot. And yes I suppose you could go back to my last post and say neither is Terminal 4 (023) as that’s only accessible through another building, but the building itself is accessible on foot. You could walk up to Terminal 4 and 5 stations from the outside world if you wanted to but that’s something you definitely can’t do here. The only way to access it (other than on the Piccadilly Line of course) would be to get a bus to the bus station or drive in and park via the Bath Road Tunnel.

Below I’m standing outside the Terminal 2 exit. The former Terminal 1 exit is seen through the ticket hall, now boarded up with advertising hoardings. Incidentally, is this the only station not to announce its own name on the entrance? It certainly used to be displayed here but I wonder if they haven’t got round to renaming it properly now Terminal 1 is shut… The ground level exit above is nothing to write home about either. But then it’s an airport isn’t it, functional and clear with no bells and whistles.

Image copyright A Carter – CallingAllStations.co.uk

023/270: #HeathrowTerminal4 – The Freebie

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It’s free to travel between the Heathrow Terminals and Hatton Cross (022) so the next few stations are on TfL. The stations in these parts are full of rarities and oddities. Terminal 4‘s quirks are it’s only one of four stations with only a single platform (the others being Mill Hill East, Olympia and Chesham) and of these four it is the only one to be uni-directional. It’s also the only station, that I can think of, that is only accessible through another building – with it’s only exit leading straight into the terminal. Of course you could be pedantic and argue that both Terminal 1,2,3 (024) and Terminal 5 (025) stations also act in this way, but the former definitely has a street level exit to a bus station, and the later is part of the general station complex of the terminal with it’s own street level exit. Either way, it’s pretty rare.

I expect not many people stop to appreciate the airport stations as I expect their minds are fully focused on not losing any small children, and remembering in which of the 6000 suitcase pockets the passport is located. This is a shame as the octagonal ticket hall is rather pleasant, almost as if it too were mimicking Holden design just like South Ealing (015) at the start of this trip. There’s also an art exhibition in there if you’re passing through (also free)…

Image copyright A Carter – CallingAllStations.co.uk