40. Goodge Street

Friday 18th April 6.30pm

I didn't actually need to be here but of course I'd have to go through it at some point and a sunny Easter evening was as good a time as any to go out of my way. Turns out that with the Crossrail works going on at Tottenham Court Road for another two years it might actually be a useful alternative. Not that I really need to be in that part of London.

It's not that special a station, just serving one line, but it's actually a good example of this kind of thing, with some nice plain cream tiling and above ground it's clad in those ox blood red tiles that are so distinctive (not that you can tell from all the scaffolding up the front of it). And it has lifts, which is rare enough to still feel like a treat.

Wikipedia entry here.

39. Highbury & Islington

Friday April 11th 10.30pm

When I looked this up on Google maps to see where I was going it looked like it had a really old station building but it turns out that's closed and instead there's a modern building over the road which serves the Tube, the Overground and trains. It's a bland building although it does have one of those lovely blue station names across the front of it.

With all those different services going through it there are a lot of different platforms. The Tube ones are fairly unremarkable - no patterned tiling, not station name in tiles - but I do like the way the roundel sign is in a little alcove and lit up.

Wikipedia entry here.

38. Euston Square

Monday 7th April 6pm

Another station that has a similar name to one nearby but no interchange between them, just to confuse people who aren't locals or who haven't read the Tube map. I was neither, I just got out here because it's within walking distance of King's Cross. Apparently there's a fancy new station on the south side of Euston Road but somehow I ended up on the north side, which to be fair is where I needed to be, where the entrance is a small set of stairs that looks like the entrance to a public lavatory.

Wikipedia entry here.

37. Edgware Road (Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines)

Monday 7th April 5.45pm

So just round the corner from the other Edgware Road station is this one, which turns out to be the original, and it's interesting how two similar things so close together can be so different. It's a stone building, which makes it seem grander, although that impression doesn't last long when you find yourself in a crowded corridor to the barrier. Then it opens up as you find yourself at the top of two flights of stairs, each going to two platforms, but the signage isn't as obvious as it could be and relies on you remembering whether you want to head east or west. I nearly fell down the stairs as I stood pondering it, and I'm sure I must have got in a lot of peoples way. It doesn't help that it serves three lines, even if they do all seem to cover the same ground.

The platforms are all open to the air, and have lines either side of them rather than being either side of the lines, if that makes any sense. Like the other stations on this line they feel crowded and the trains seems less frequent. But then the train arrives and it's one of those new ones that has no doors so you can walk the length of it.

Wikipedia entry here.

36. Edgware Road (Bakerloo Line)

Monday 7th April 5.30pm

I needed to change from the Bakerloo line to something that would get me back to Kings Cross and the other options were all going to be too busy, so I thought I'd investigate the two stations at Edgware Road instead. They're not connected in anyway which is why they're separate stations on the map, and why they count as two separate stations towards the total number. But they are quite close together - just along the road, under a flyover and round the corner. They're probably actually closer than the interchanges between lines at some of the bigger stations (Paddington and Kings Cross spring to mind).

The station itself is a bit run down, just like the area itself. It's obviously used a lot and being right next to a flyover doesn't help. It feels very urban, but in a realistic way, in an every day kind of way. There's no glamour in the city really.

Wikipedia entry here.

35. Maida Vale

Monday 7th April 5.15pm

This is one of those lovely ox-blood red stations, which had an entrance and exit on separate sides of the building (although they only use one now). Inside there are stairs down, and disused stairs coming back up underneath them. At the barrier the member of staff watching over them complimented me on my beard, which made me so flustered I couldn't remember how to use my Oyster card and can now remember nothing else about this station!

Wikipedia entry here.

34. Warwick Avenue

Monday 7th April, 1.15pm

I'd never heard of this station until I got a ticket for something that gave it as the nearest stop. And judging by the additional information on the sign it looks like I'm not the only one. It's right in the middle of a residential area although I missed the bit of it that looked like Venice. That extra wording on the sign though offends me greatly and seems to contradict their standard way of presenting themselves. It makes me shudder.

The station itself is all underground, with no building above ground at all, just steps down from the pavement:

This is fairly common in other countries but it's quite unusual for London, with the obvious exception of Piccadilly Circus. There must have been more room in London for surface buildings, or perhaps it was just easy to knock down existing stuff and put them up. They've become part of the Tube brand, especially all those tiled ones, and loads of them are listed. And I supposed it means you don't have to dig such a big hole if you put your ticket off and stuff above ground.

As I left the platform I saw this:

It's positioned between the platforms so I wonder if it was a ticket booth? It's nice that it's still standing.

Wikipedia entry here.