Carving through centuries of buried secrets, the London Underground is far more than a transit system: it is a 160-year-old subterranean labyrinth. Over the decades, phantom trains, ghost sightings, and strange folklore have spread through its tunnels as relentlessly as the tracks themselves. Some of these enduring tales grew out of misunderstood history, while others were born from pure fiction.
These are just three of the urban legends that haunt the world's oldest tube network.
Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and Dr Thomas Barnardo are recorded as the only two people to ever have their coffins transported via the London Underground,
during their funeral processions.
William Ewart Gladstone (1898): Following his death at Hawarden Castle in North Wales, his coffin travelled by train to Willesden, where it was transferred onto a District line underground train to reach Westminster for his lying in state and state funeral at Westminster Abbey. Gladstone had been on a tour of the world's first underground line with the directors and engineers of the Metropolitan Railway Company and, along with his wife, took part as passengers in a trial ride of the new railway in 1862. He had also been a shareholder in the London Underground since its flotation.
Dr Thomas Barnardo (1905): After the children's charity founder passed away in Surbiton his body lay in state at the Edinburgh Castle, Limehouse, in the East End. His coffin was then processed through the streets to Liverpool Street station, from where his coffin was placed on an underground line train for the final stretch of his journey towards his burial site in Barkingside.
The Central line, which is the only underground line to Barkingside,
didn't take over this part of the line until 1948.
In 1905, the only way to get from Liverpool Street station to Barkingside
was via steam train, operated by Great Eastern Railway.
It was a specially chartered GER train that was used for the journey.
Therefore, William Gladstone is the only person to have their coffin transported on the underground.
The Bakerloo line has sharp curves to avoid a Plague pit.
The London Road Depot houses and services Bakerloo line trains. At the southern end of the depot, there are two distinct tunnels. One connects directly to the active passenger line toward Elephant and Castle station.
The second tunnel is a short, dead-end siding known as a 'shunt neck' or runaway lane. If a train ever loses control or suffers brake failure while moving through the depot, the track points automatically divert the runaway train into this dead-end tunnel to crash safely into a brick wall rather than obstructing the main passenger lines. According to myth, the bricked-off end of that specific runaway tunnel sits directly adjacent to a historic mass grave for South London plague victims.
The legend claims engineers deliberately swerved the Bakerloo line track layout out of fear or respect for the tightly packed bodies in the burial pit. In reality, the track layout was dictated by geology and economics, not ghosts or bones. In the early 1900s, Tube companies were legally required to purchase the rights to any private property they tunnelled beneath. To save money, engineers purposefully laid tracks directly beneath public thoroughfares like London Road. The curves on the Bakerloo line simply mirror the streets above. Nevertheless, builders did unearth some scattered skeletons during construction, though no mass grave was ever found.
So, this is just an urban myth.
The first baby born on the Tube has the initials T.U.B.E.
In May 1924, a baby girl was born on the Bakerloo line and was named Thelma Ursula Beatrice Eleanor, with her initials spelling out TUBE.
So, is this true?
Well, no. In May 1924 a baby girl was born on the Bakerloo line at Elephant & Castle,
but she was named Marie Cordery.
This myth began in the 1950s.
If you are born on the London Underground you get free lifetime travel.
When the first Tube baby, Marie Cordery, was born at Elephant & Castle, London Underground's chairman, Lord Ashfield, became her godfather. He gifted her a commemorative silver cup and free travel until she turned 21, not for life. Over time, this generous gesture was misremembered as a permanent lifetime pass.
The myth gets continuous fuel because other global transit authorities have granted this perk:
- 2013: a baby born on the Mexico City Subway was granted free lifetime travel by the city's mayor.
- 2018: a baby born on the Paris RER commuter rail network was given free travel until the age of 25.
So, is this true?
Well, no. Despite the persistent urban legend, Transport for London has a strict legal policy against it.
All children under 11 travel for free on the Transport for London network anyway,
but once they hit adulthood, they must pay standard fares.
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