162. Dollis Hill

Saturday 9th November 10.25am

"Dollis" is an odd word isn't it that makes me smile for no good reason. The station is the exact opposite to the one I'd been to before (Neasden) in that its ticket office is underneath the rail tracks, with a subway to roads on either side. It's only little with two barriers and an office with a window opposite them to keep an eye on what's going on, and it was surprisingly busy when I was there.

Wikipedia entry here.

162 stations is 60% of the stations on the underground (270). This is what that looks like:

There's still a lot to do isn't there? Unbelievably I'm now in my fifth year of this foolishness and I suspect I thought it would all be over by now, but looking at the map and all those stations stretching beyond the M25 I can't help thinking it will take another five!

161. Neasden

Saturday 4th November 10.10am

Unexpectedly for a zone 3 station in the middle of nowhere - it's very adjacent to the North Circular - this is a station I've been through several times before, way back when, and could remember. There's an IKEA within walking distance and I went there several times about 25 years ago when it was one of the few in the country. How time's change!

The station is a small building perched on top of a bridge over the railway itself which really is a very practical way of building stations. I do like the roundels built into the seating, and actually despite its location it's a nice little station.

Wikipedia entry here.

160.Bow Road

Saturday 9th September 6pm

This is a nice little red brick station that's set back from the road so I you can't see it until you're right upon it, which is a bit confusing and was making me start to worry I was lost, especially as I'd just walked under a railway bridge that looked like it was an ideal place for an elevated station, and also a DLR station. The platform is downstairs, half in a tunnel half out.

As I walked her from Bromley-by-Bow I was reminded of the thing about Bow bells and cockneys but apparently that's a different Bow, although this is still proper East End anyway. How confusing.

Wikipedia entry here.

159. Bromley-by-Bow

Saturday 9th September 5.45pm

Another outdoor platform but this one is at ground level. The station building isn't though - it's on the bridge over the tracks, and is currently being refurbished so all you can see of the front is scaffolding, not that you could probably see much anyway as it's right next to a busy main road.

Slightly confused by the name though as I thought Bromley was in Kent.

Wikipedia entry here.

158. Parsons Green

Saturday 9th September 12.05pm

As I approached this it seemed so familiar I thought I'd been there before but I was just confusing it with Turnham Green - similar name, both near a park (green), elevated and with a bridge over the road. But not the same place at all. I like the wooden shelter on the platform.

Wikipedia entry here.

157. Putney Bridge

Saturday 9th September 11.45am

This roundel made me nearly squeal with delight - look at the red edging around the name bar, I've not seen that before! And the gap between the outer black circle and the big red ring. It's painted - enamelled? - onto metal so it's modern rather than vintage, and is therefore an exciting deviation.

As for the station itself, it's one of those elevated ones that there are quite a lot of in West London, which I'm rather fond of although I imagine if it had been wet and cold rather than sunny the exposed platforms would be a bit grim. There's stairs to ground level and a small ticket hall. I didn't pay any attention to the building as I was too busy getting lost.

Wikipedia entry here.

156. Kilburn

Saturday 10th June 10.35am

[How annoying is that sticker on the roundel? I went looking for another one but it looked like someone had been round sticking them to all of them. Hooligans.]

The station after this (Willesden Green) is below street level so you have to climb stairs to get out of it - this is elevated above the street and you climb up to it, and yet the journey between the two doesn't feel like it's going up/down a slope. It also turns out to be very close to Kilburn Park (which I've already been to), on the Bakerloo line - opposite ends of the same street basically - and which of course don't anywhere near each other on the Tube map, which is one of the weaknesses of the map, but it must feel satisfyingly like you know the area when you realise. And it's not Kentish Town, which I insist on muddling it up with.

There are also flower beds on the platform too, which seems ridiculously charming for a huge transport system, and there's a waiting room with a curved glass end to it, very much like West Hampstead which is the next station along.

Wikipedia entry here.

155. Willesden Green

Saturday 10th June 10.10am

This station made me smile as they've got flowerbeds on the platform - this part of the Jubilee line is above ground, and actually used to be a Metropolitan station so it's older. It's also got two types of roundel on the platform, although this one is really badly positioned between the benches:

Apparently there's a very rare clock on the front of the station - I looked at it and wasn't impressed. Oops.

Wikipedia entry here.

154. Blackhorse Road

Saturday 6th May 7.00pm

This is one of those stations on a corner at a junction so you don't see it until you're on top of it, although to be honest the building was nothing special.

The tiling is fairly straightforward:

Wikipedia entry here.

That completes all the station on the Victoria line! I thought it would be the first line I'd complete because it has the least (fewest?) amount of stations on it but it turns out I have no real need to be in east London. I am rather fond of it as a line though, partly because it's a nice blue colour but also because it's has no confusing branches to trick you.

153. Walthamstow Central

Saturday 6th May 6.30pm

I was surprised by how busy the train was when it got to this station although I don't know why I should assume the end of the line would be quiet as this is a really busy area with a market all the way down Walthamstow High Street and bus and train stations very close by. I didn't notice what the station was like, which usually means it's fairly nondescript.

The tiling is slightly baffling - what's this got to do with the local area? I guess that by the end of the line they'd simply run out of inspiration:

Wikipedia entry here.

152. Seven Sisters

Saturday 6th May 10.20am

This seems to have no surface building and you get into it from a subway beside a busy road, which I guess makes it a proper underground station although I do miss an interesting building at street level.

The tiling is a slightly awkward arrangement of seven trees which the area gets its name from:

Earlier in the year the Overground station was briefly all over the internet when someone took a picture of seven nuns on the station next to the name sign but sadly there were none about when I visited and it was actually really quiet.

Wikipedia entry here.

151. Tottenham Hale

Saturday 6th May 10.00am

I've been to the station here before when King's Cross has been shut and mainline services have terminated here. The train station is a modern glass box but the underground station is exactly like you'd expect a Victoria line station to be, and exits onto a slightly windswept plaza next to an industrial estate, which is a bit bleak.

In common with all the stations on the Victoria line - although I haven't always noticed this - it has tiling that specifically relates to the station, although quite how this does escapes me - it reminds me of Moses being abandoned in the bulrushes (lets assume he'sin the basket), but I hadn't realised he was from east London:

Wikipedia entry here.

150. Hampstead

Saturday 8th April 12.00pm

I'd purposefully decided to go south from here as apparently the tiling on the platform still has its old name - Heath Street - but I couldn't spot it and only noticed it right at the end of the platform as I was on the train out! I resisted the urge to get off at the next station and head back just to take pictures of tiles - that would be silly wouldn't it?

I remember using the station years ago and found it easily on a corner although for some reason one of the entrances is permanently shut which might make it a bit of a bottleneck if it were busier. It's also the deepest tube station although you'd never actually know it!

Wikipedia entry here.

149. Golders Green

Saturday 8th April 11.30am

This confused me a bit - you exit the platform down stairs despite it not feeling remotely elevated and only a few hundred yards before the station coming out of a tunnel. But then then as I walked from the station to Hampstead I realised why - there's a great big hill between the two! It's also quite weird to see 'crematoriums' on the signs for local destinations as you leave - I can't imagine that happens anywhere else.

Wikipedia entry here.