Guy wants to visit all 270 LU stations to cross off bucket l

[melikepie]

Just thought people might find this interesting

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/06/what-will-i-do-when-travel-restrictions-lift-complete-my-odyssey-to-all-270-london-tube-stations

[aslefshrugged]

Adrian Chiles, like an Easter Island head carved from living spam and a brain to match. Possibly the worst football pundit ever, his dullard comments would drive me to shouting obscenities at the TV whenever I was watching England during the 2014 World Cup (and I watched every match down the pub).

[rincew1nd]

At least he's not asking other people to fund his jolly.

[spsmiler]

I wonder... if he uses Oyster PAYG, will it throw a wobbly? Especially with all that leaving and entering the same station in a short period of time plus complications from out of station interchanges.

Maybe a ride-at-will period ticket (weekly? monthly? Travelcard) will make life easier. Then he also won't need to remember to touch-in / out at stations with free-standing card readers instead of physical gates. Just to make sure he has the correct zonal validity for the stations he intends to visit.

[Chris M]

When I visited ever station a few years ago I did it almost entirely using PAYG without any problems. Ok mostly I did it by walking between alternate pairs of stations, but there were some where I exited and re-entered (West Ham and Hillingdon come first to mind for style reason). As long as you are outside for a couple of minutes there are rarely issues these days.

[rincew1nd]

I tended to find doing something outside the barrier with my card helped. Topping up for example.

[londonstuff]

Given my trip to the USA looks increasingly unlikely unless I ingest bleach, I might find myself doing something similar.

I wonder if restrictions allow we could have a forum day just going to various extremities. Have a pint then go somewhere else.

The pic in that article though - Woodside Park Maybe it was meant to be...

[Chris M]

Given all LU stations can be visited in a single day, visiting every terminus must be doable - especially if we use buses between the northern Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly line terminals rather than going in and out Z1, but a pint at each (there are about 25, depending how you count) seems like a rather more significant challenge!

[class411]

A few years ago I thought I'd like to try and photograph the outside of all LU stations - obviously not on the same day.

I started at Ealing Broadway, and got as far as St Paul's (using a travel card).

I gave up, though, because I found that I couldn't get a decent picture that gave an idea of the character of the station because they were:

1) Obscured by vast amounts of street furniture.
2) Obscured by vast amounts of traffic.
3) Obscured by vast amounts of people.
4) Covered in scaffolding and hoardings.
5) Without any discernible character.

Obviously there are many stations that are exceptions, but doing them all seemed to be a somewhat pointless exercise. Possibly a better photographer could do it. Certainly if you were prepared to take your pictures during the summer as the earliest possible time, before the traffic built up.

Has anyone else tried this and had better luck (read: were better photographers) than I did?

[Chris M]

Counting all of LU, LO, DLR and Crossrail there are about 61 62 64 stations that can reasonably be described as a terminus (list below), 34 35 37 of them involve LU. If you only count stations where all TfL services stop there are 34, and there are 17 where all services stop.
All these figures are inclusive about what counts as a single station, e.g. Euston is counted as 1 station which is not a terminus for all TfL services. Victoria is not counted as a terminus as no TfL services terminate there. Which intermediate reversing points count as terminals is subjective.

Trams have another 3 terminals (Wimbledon is counted already) and the Dangleway another 2.
NR terminals with TfL services but which are not TfL terminals add another 9 (Blackfriars, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Greenford, London Bridge, Marylebone, Moorgate, Victoria and West Ealing). If you want to add NR terminals within Greater London that have no TfL services, that's another 8 (or 9 if you haven't counted the trams) (Beckenham Junction, Bromley North, Caterham, Chessington South, Epsom Downs, Fenchurch Street, Hampton Court, Hayes, Orpington).

This gives a grand total of 83 84 86.

Aldgate
Amersham
Baker Street
Bank
Barking
Battersea Park
Beckton
Brixton
Canary Wharf
Canning Town
Chesham
Cheshunt
Chingford
Clapham Junction
Cockfosters
Crystal Palace
Dalston Junction
Ealing Broadway
Edgware
Edgware Road
Elephant and Castle
Enfield Town
Epping
Euston
Finchley Central
Gospel Oak
Hainault
Hammersmith (H&C)
Harrow & Wealdstone
Hayes & Harlington
Heathrow T4
Heathrow T5
High Barnet
High Street Kensington
Highbury & Islington
Kensington Olympia
Lewisham
Liverpool Street
Mill Hill East
Mordan
New Cross
Paddington
Rayners Lane
Reading
Richmond
Romford
Shenfield
Stanmore
Stratford
Stratford International
Tower Gateway
Upminster
Uxbridge
Walthamstow Central
Waterloo
Watford
Watford Junction
West Croydon
West Ruislip
Willesden Junction
Wimbledon
Woodford
Woolwich Arsenal

[Tom]

aslefshrugged, you've made your point previously and it was noted then. If you have nothing to add to the conversation please feel free not to post in it. If you have something to add, play the ball and not the man as the saying goes.

Post (and subsequent post by londoner because it didn't make sense without context) moved to Deleted Threads.

[John Tuthill]

May 10, 2020 13:43:58 GMT londonstuff said:

Given my trip to the USA looks increasingly unlikely unless I ingest bleach, I might find myself doing something similar.

I wonder if restrictions allow we could have a forum day just going to various extremities. Have a pint then go somewhere else.

The pic in that article though - Woodside Park Maybe it was meant to be...

Trump might give you exemption if you tell him you're sponsored by Brobat?

[londoner]

May 10, 2020 17:15:41 GMT Chris M said:

Counting all of LU, LO, DLR and Crossrail there are about 61 stations that can reasonably be described as a terminus (list below), 34 of them involve LU. If you only count stations where all TfL services stop there are 34, and there are 17 where all services stop.
All these figures are inclusive about what counts as a single station, e.g. Euston is counted as 1 station which is not a terminus for all TfL services. Victoria is not counted as a terminus as no TfL services terminate there. Which intermediate reversing points count as terminals is subjective.

Trams have another 3 terminals (Wimbledon is counted already) and the Dangleway another 2.
NR terminals with TfL services but which are not TfL terminals add another 9 (Blackfriars, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Greenford, London Bridge, Marylebone, Moorgate, Victoria and West Ealing). If you want to add NR terminals within Greater London that have no TfL services, that's another 8 (or 9 if you haven't counted the trams) (Beckenham Junction, Bromley North, Caterham, Chessington South, Epsom Downs, Fenchurch Street, Hampton Court, Hayes, Orpington).

This gives a grand total of 83.

<snipped>

Could you add Rayners Lane to that list? 

[Chris M]

May 10, 2020 22:11:27 GMT londoner said:

Could you add Rayners Lane to that list? 

Good spot, yes that does deserve to be on the list. Added.
I've also added Tower Hill and Finchley Central (for the MHE shuttle) to the list as well.

[littlejohn]

May 10, 2020 16:33:04 GMT class411 said:

A few years ago I thought I'd like to try and photograph the outside of all LU stations - obviously not on the same day.

I started at Ealing Broadway, and got as far as St Paul's (using a travel card).

I gave up, though, because I found that I couldn't get a decent picture that gave an idea of the character of the station because they were:

1) Obscured by vast amounts of street furniture.
2) Obscured by vast amounts of traffic.
3) Obscured by vast amounts of people.
4) Covered in scaffolding and hoardings.
5) Without any discernible character.

Obviously there are many stations that are exceptions, but doing them all seemed to be a somewhat pointless exercise. Possibly a better photographer could do it. Certainly if you were prepared to take your pictures during the summer as the earliest possible time, before the traffic built up.

Has anyone else tried this and had better luck (read: were better photographers) than I did?

Have a look for 'London Underground Stations' by Stephen Durnin (Capital Transport, 2010).  It has exterior shots of all UndergrounD stations (or street entrances for those without surface buildings, eg to Bank).

[class411]

May 11, 2020 10:43:08 GMT littlejohn said:

May 10, 2020 16:33:04 GMT class411 said:

A few years ago I thought I'd like to try and photograph the outside of all LU stations - obviously not on the same day.

I started at Ealing Broadway, and got as far as St Paul's (using a travel card).

I gave up, though, because I found that I couldn't get a decent picture that gave an idea of the character of the station because they were:

1) Obscured by vast amounts of street furniture.
2) Obscured by vast amounts of traffic.
3) Obscured by vast amounts of people.
4) Covered in scaffolding and hoardings.
5) Without any discernible character.

Obviously there are many stations that are exceptions, but doing them all seemed to be a somewhat pointless exercise. Possibly a better photographer could do it. Certainly if you were prepared to take your pictures during the summer as the earliest possible time, before the traffic built up.

Has anyone else tried this and had better luck (read: were better photographers) than I did?

Have a look for 'London Underground Stations' by Stephen Durnin (Capital Transport, 2010).  It has exterior shots of all UndergrounD stations (or street entrances for those without surface buildings, eg to Bank).

Thanks so much.

I've ordered it and hope to see if it gives me some ideas to counter the problems I mentioned above.

[littlejohn]

Hope you enjoy it!

[holborncentral]

I read that on Twitter and posted the article. Maybe he should consider the Tube Challenge. Wish I could do it but I don't see myself visiting London this summer

[lensmeister]

It's an interesting idea to try.

Going in and out to get a photo at each underground station means touching in and out. With that in mind what would the cost be of doing it on PAYG ?

[selbiehouse]

When I worked in Publicity I got paid to visit most of the LU stations!

[philthetube]

Am not sure if Chalfont and Latimer needs to be added to the list, there is a terminator from Chesham on a Sunday evening, Rickmansworth does need to be added however, there are quite a few late night terminators when the service is winding down.

[Chris M]

Dec 19, 2020 10:37:16 GMT lensmeister said:

It's an interesting idea to try.

Going in and out to get a photo at each underground station means touching in and out. With that in mind what would the cost be of doing it on PAYG ?

If you did them all in a single day, then a Z1-9 cap. However as that is impossible it will be depend over how many days you did it and your route - you will only need to enter zone 9 on one day for example (unless you live there) and you might not go into Z1 every day (again depending on where you live). Peak and off peak will (depending on route) make a difference on some days too.

[Chris M]

Dec 19, 2020 14:14:51 GMT philthetube said:

Am not sure if Chalfont and Latimer needs to be added to the list, there is a terminator from Chesham on a Sunday evening, Rickmansworth does need to be added however, there are quite a few late night terminators when the service is winding down.

Hmm, I can't remember what my criteria was exactly when compiling that list but it doesn't appear to include stations where trains sometimes reverse - e.g. it doesn't include Debden or Dollis Hill which have reversers throughout the day.

[t697]

Willesden Green rather than Dollis Hill for reversers throughout the day? And in the more rare category, West Hampstead (Jubilee of course, there are so many!)

[philthetube]

Dec 19, 2020 14:20:47 GMT Chris M said:

Dec 19, 2020 14:14:51 GMT philthetube said:

Am not sure if Chalfont and Latimer needs to be added to the list, there is a terminator from Chesham on a Sunday evening, Rickmansworth does need to be added however, there are quite a few late night terminators when the service is winding down.

Hmm, I can't remember what my criteria was exactly when compiling that list but it doesn't appear to include stations where trains sometimes reverse - e.g. it doesn't include Debden or Dollis Hill which have reversers throughout the day.

not nit picking, your list makes interesting reading, however wouldn't that criteria exclude Rayners lane.

It does look as if mid line reversing points were not included, Kennington not being there makes that apparent. 

[zbang]

Given all of the systems (tube, sub-surface, overground, dlr, trams, etc), how many days would it take to stop at each station (let alone exit/reenter each)? If nothing else, you're going to get hit by the train frequency problem. (If my numbers are correct- if a end-to-end route takes 35 minutes and has 14 stops... at 30 tph that's going to be 30 + 2*13 = 56 minutes to cover one direction. Of course, then you're out in the weeds and need to get back to a transfer point. My reasoning may be faulty here.)

Passing through every station, or covering every revenue route, w/o alighting would be a lot faster, although that runs into the pesky once-a-week sort of route knowledge moves. Scheduling this would be more than just a headache.

[Chris M]

I visited every LU, LO, DLR and TfL Rail station in 2017 (the latter was just Liverpool Street to Shenfield then), entering or exiting. It took me 8 months, but I could have done it very significantly quicker had that been my aim (out and back in would be quicker than alternating train and walk between adjacent stations that I did a lot of for example).
If you literally just have to pass through the gateline in at least one direction, then you are definitely looking at several days at absolute minimum. More than that quickly adds up. In ~2011 I did the London Overground circle (Clapham Junction to Clapham Junction via Shepherd's Bush, Highbury & Islington and Canada Water), taking at least one photograph of at least one entrance at every station en-route. I think that took me about 8 hours.

edit: having checked I did the Overground circle in December 2012 and Clapham Junction to Wandsworth Road took 8 hours 10 minutes (a signal failure prevented me from finishing the route)

[philthetube]

Dec 19, 2020 21:54:56 GMT Chris M said:

I visited every LU, LO, DLR and TfL Rail station in 2017 (the latter was just Liverpool Street to Shenfield then), entering or exiting. It took me 8 months, but I could have done it very significantly quicker had that been my aim (out and back in would be quicker than alternating train and walk between adjacent stations that I did a lot of for example).
If you literally just have to pass through the gateline in at least one direction, then you are definitely looking at several days at absolute minimum. More than that quickly adds up. In ~2011 I did the London Overground circle (Clapham Junction to Clapham Junction via Shepherd's Bush, Highbury & Islington and Canada Water), taking at least one photograph of at least one entrance at every station en-route. I think that took me about 8 hours.

edit: having checked I did the Overground circle in December 2012 and Clapham Junction to Wandsworth Road took 8 hours 10 minutes (a signal failure prevented me from finishing the route)

That must have been seriously frustrating.