Tube Sent to Coventry's Aid

Coventry City's football team had to travel on the Tube to reach their Championship tie with QPR after their team coach became stranded.

According to BBC News, Coventry's manager Micky Adams commented "We were told the bus was stuck in traffic so we decided to get on the tube... We bought 23 single tickets at Hanger Lane station and our unsung hero was Jay Tabb, who knew we had to change at Hammersmith to go to Shepherd's Bush. I feel a bit sorry for him as well, as I did not even put him in the team." Adams added: "We took a bit of stick from West Ham and Fulham fans and got to the ground at 2.20pm."

The trip on the tube to Shepherd's Bush on the Hammersmith and City line obviously did not upset their preparation too much - they went on to win 1-0. You may however class themselves as lucky, as Hammersmith is not on the Central Line - one might assume that they actually started their journey at Park Royal.

London Underground Fashion.......

Not exactly Tube Fashion Victims

Quick post from me as I'm off to Cuba later today and the blog will be left in the capable hands of Neil and Chris while I'm away so be nice to them.

So before I go it's not Friday's "normal" victims but people who've deliberately gone out of their way to look a little unusual on the Tube.

Firstly we have the glam crowd of seventies throwbacks at glamourous Glamoursmith, who possibly could be auditioning for either Brookside or Harry Enfield's The Scousers - Calm down, calm down.


Finally and incredibly well spotted by Andy Green (although he would have been hard to miss), a nice set of buns!



See you in a couple of weeks, I'll be smoking large cigars, sunning myself and hoping that Castro stays well enough so we can see his belated 80th birthday celebrations!

Not on the London Underground

More Roundels from around the World

A bumper pack of roundels today which will keep the Tube's lawyers on a nice winter break.


Firstly two from Ghent in Belgium taken by Andrew. He said "I was staying at a B&B in the suburbs of the city, and nearby was a bar called Speakers' Corner. It's very close to Ghent's modern art museum and in the student area. They were using roundels in the windows, both straight London Underground logos, and one's adapted with the bar's name. I managed to get a couple of photos, but apologies they not that clear. I was struggling to avoid reflections from the glass."

From Belgium to San Sebastian in Northern Spain and Ian had taken the another Underground establishment:


Not exactly sure what it is though!

Now moving further away from London we go East where Jacob "found this one whilst wandering around Budapest near the Moskva Square station near Buda Hill. It looked like it was a cafe using the symbol."


Also looks like someone was using the bin as a toilet!

Finally we go across the Pond. Sharon was in New York and took this near their Chinatown area


"It's the banner of a furniture store, I believe."

And in sunny Southern California, Julia G spotted a hair salon with a very familiar signage:





Perhaps blokes who go in there and ask for a Livingston or a Hendy rather than a number 1 or two. Or for something a bit more bouffanty (is that a word) they could ask for a David Brown.

Thanks to everyone for those and they've been added to the ever growing roundel set. I'm off to Cuba tomorrow so will see if there's anything in Havana. Please email me if you spot any roundels on your travels.

Welcome back Wood Lane

And the Shepherds can go to market

For the first time a brand new station on the Tube will be given a disused station name. Wood Lane will open in 2008 a hundred years after the old Wood Lanes opened in May 1908. There was one on the Central line and the other on the Hammersmith & City line. The new Wood Lane will be back on the Hammersmith & City Line between the new Shepherd's Bush station (Shepherd's Bush Market) and Latimer Road (Thanks to Moley for giving me the heads up here).


The renaming of Shepherd's Bush to Shepherd's Bush Market is to stop the confusion between the two Shepherd's Bush stations that exist. One on the Central Line and one on the Hammersmith & City Line. Mmm like the two old Wood Lanes. Are you still with me on this?

LU Managing Director Tim O'Toole said in a press release: "The new Wood Lane station on the Hammersmith & City line is a very welcome addition to the Underground network.

"The station will play an important role in getting people to and from the new Westfield London development, the major new retail development in the area.

"The other major benefit is that passengers will be able to travel straight to the White City area on the Hammersmith & City line instead of having to change to the Central line." Good news if you work at or are travelling to the BBC.

It came as a surprise to me to learn that the last station name change occurred on the Tube in 1989 when Surrey Docks on the East London line was renamed Surrey Quays. Apparently London Underground received a load of requests to change the names of Tube stations (most recently in the news was the move to change Arsenal back to Gillespie Road) But they very rarely change them.

If you're wondering what the significance of the first picture is to this story, it's from 1970's UK sci-fi TV series The Tomorrow People. They were a group of trendy teleporting teenagers whose base "The Lab" was in a disused Tube station.

"With a hiss and a rumble the underground train moved slowly out of the station, treating its discarded passengers to a low, whining farewell as it disappeared into the tunnel. The assorted throng of theatre-goers and businessmen kept late at the office scurried for the escalators, hardly sparing a glance for the two boys in Hell's Angel jerkins who hung around a chocolate machine at the rear end of the platform. Watching until the attendant was out of sight, they immediately turned back and raised a small trapdoor hidden close to the tunnel entrance. In a moment they were bent low in a sewer-like gallery which ran off at an angle and eventually brought them to that little-known part of the London Underground which was doomed to remain forever sealed off and silent."

That little known part of the Underground was Wood Lane and you can just about make out the A-N-E from the remaining letters in the roundel.

If you want to find out more about Wood Lane, past, present and future check out Hywel Williams' disused Tube Stations site.

Just another (insert M here) Monday

Monday woes on the Tube

Someone is bound to come up with all the reasons as to why Metronet are performing brilliantly and somehow are not to blame for the major delays on the Central, Circle, District and Northern Line yesterday morning which spilled (and I'm being charitable here) over into the evening, so I'm not even going to attempt to to attack them. I'll just sit back and wait for my refund to come from TfL.


What I will do though is help out the Evening Standard and London Lite with some more suitable alliterations for the next time this happens - on a day other than Monday. London Lite's Meltdown Monday was good:


But on balance I preferred the Standard's Monday Mayhem.


Mayhem has a sort of Peter Andre and Jordan seldom heard quaintness about it (remember Marriage & Mayhem the story of their nuptials).

So for other days I'd like to suggest - Tuesday Turmoil, Woeful Wednesday or even Wonky Wednesday. Thursday - Mmmm another T. OK Traumatic Thursday. Friday's alot easier - Frightful Friday, Freaky Friday, Filthy Friday, and Friday Failure slip off the tongue. Metronet can you kindly note that Mondays and Fridays are definitely easier for headline writers, so can we stick to those days please?