Below you will find many fascinating, interesting and unbelievable facts
about London's Transport system.
If you know of any trivia that I have missed, or if you spot an error, please, get in touch.
Obviously, with upgrades, new stations, extensions and the ever-changing city, these figures are likely to change, but were correct at the time of writing.
- Acton has the most stations, of any town, with seven: Acton Central (Mildmay), Acton Main Line (Elizabeth), Acton Town (District & Piccadilly), East Acton (Central), North Acton (Central), South Acton (Mildmay), West Acton (Central)
- Acton Town is the first station, alphabetically
- Acton Town was originally called Mill Hill Park
- Albert Gunter 'jumped' his No. 78 bus over Tower Bridge as it was opening, to avoid a catastrophe, in December 1952.
- Alcohol was banned on the network in June 2008
- Aldgate station is built on a plague pit where over 1,000 bodies were buried, in 1665
- Alperton was originally called Perivale-Alperton
- Amersham is the highest station above sea level, at 150 metres (492 feet)
- Angel station has the longest escalators on the network, and in the UK, with a vertical rise of 27 metres (90 feet) and a length of 61 metres (200 feet)
- Archway was originally called Highgate, then Archway (Highgate), then Highgate (Archway)
- Arnos Grove station was inspired by the Stockholm Public Library
- Arsenal was originally called Gillespie Road, then Arsenal (Highbury Hill)
B
- Baker Street has the most platforms, with 10
- Bakerloo line has 25 stations
- Bakerloo line is 23.2 km (14.4 miles) long
- Bakerloo line opened on March 10, 1906
- Balham is the only station on the network that contains none of the letters from the word ‘underground’
- Bank station has two moving walkways
- Bank was originally called City
- Barbican was originally called Aldersgate Street, then Aldersgate, then Aldersgate & Barbican
- Bayswater became Bayswater (Queen's Road) & Westbourne Grove, then Bayswater (Queen's Road), with the suffix gradually dropped
- Becontree was originally called Gale Street
- Boston Manor was originally called Boston Road
- Brent Cross was originally called Brent
- British Museum (disused) sits between Tottenham Court Road and Holborn, but it hasn’t been used since 1932
- Bromley-by-Bow was originally called Bromley
- Burnt Oak became Burnt Oak (for Watling), with the suffix gradually dropped
- Bus route 24 is London's oldest, still running bus route, between Pimlico and Hampstead Heath
C
- Cable Car has 2 stations
- Cable Car is 3,600 ft (1.100 m) long
- Cable Car opened on July 4, 2012
- Canons Park was originally called Canons Park (Edgware)
- Central line has 49 stations
- Central line has the longest single journey, from West Ruislip to Epping, at 54.5 km (34 miles)
- Central line is the longest underground line at 74 km (46 miles) long
- Central line opened on July 30, 1900
- Chalfont & Latimer to Chesham is the longest distance between stations, at 6.3 km (3.9 miles)
- Chalfont & Latimer was originally called Chalfont Road
- Chancery Lane became Chancery Lane (Grays Inn), with the suffix gradually dropped
- Chancery Lane has the shortest escalator, which has only 50 steps
- Charing Cross (Bakerloo line) was originally called Trafalgar Square
- Charing Cross has the most exits to street level, with 13
- Charing Cross was created in 1979, when Trafalgar Square and Strand stations were merged
- Charles Holden took inspiration from the Moscow Metro for his design of Gants Hill station
- Chesham is the furthest station from central London, at 40 km (25 miles)
- Chesham is the most northerly station on the network
- Chesham is the most westerly station on the network
- Chiswick Park was originally called Acton Green, then Chiswick Park & Acton Green
- Chorleywood was originally called Chorley Wood, then Chorley Wood & Chenies, before becoming Chorleywood
- Circle line has 36 stations
- Circle line is 27 km (17 miles) long
- Circle line opened in 1863, but wasn't completed until 1884. It became the Circle line in 1936
- Circle line stopped being a true circle in 2009
- Clapham North was originally called Clapham Road
- Cockney rhyming slang for the Tube is ‘The Oxo’, as in 'Oxo cube'
- Covent Garden to Leicester Square is the shortest journey on the network, with the platforms just 260 metres (853 feet) apart
- Croxley was originally called Croxley Green
D
- Dagenham East was originally called Dagenham
- Dagenham Heathway was originally called Heathway
- Debden was originally called Chigwell Road, then Chigwell Lane
- District line has the most stations, with 60
- District line is 64 km (40 miles) long
- District line opened on December 24, 1868
- District line rail maps were originally published, in the 19th century, with the maxim 'Time is Money' on the cover.
- Docklands Light Railway has 45 stations
- Docklands light Railway is 38 km (24 miles) long
- Docklands Light Railway opened on August 31, 1987
- Down Street station (disused) was used as a bunker, by Winston Churchill, during World War II
