164. Wembley Park

Thursday 18th January 12.55pm

This is the nearest station to Wembley Stadium but also to Wembley Arena, which means I must have been through it on my way to gigs at the latter but I not really sure I remember it as it is. At some point this century it's had improvements to help cope with the huge amount of people going to the new stadium,hence the fancy new front:

That lettering on the top looks like something they do on the Overground and really should have been blue so it stands out more. And those steps are a bit of a hazard. I can see how they're needed to get lots of people in and out quickly but they're steep and if someone fell it would be like dominoes. On the other hand they'd be great for a line of dancing girls to high-kick their way down.

Wikipedia entry here.

163. Preston Road

Thursday 18th January 12.30pm

This is one of those stations that I'd never heard of before and if you'd told me the name I'd have guessed it was some little stop on a branch line in the middle of suburbia, which I suppose it is only it happens to be on the Tube. Who even knew there was an area of London called Preston? (Although it is basically Wembley.) It's one of those stations that you don't quite notice in a row of shops, which seems practical and appropriate.

Wikipedia entry here.

145. Finchley Road

Wednesday 12th October 3.45pm

This is another one of those stations on a corner in a parade of shops so you don't notice anything about the building as you stumble across it and get sucked down into it.

Wikipedia entry here.

84. Moorgate

Sunday 26th April 10.40am

I'm not sure I'd have been able to find this part of London before I started obsessively looking at the Tube map as there's nothing there to tempt me to visit. Perhaps that's why I found the station so unmemorable. The surface buildings are overwhelmed by the offices built beside and on top of them, and inside it's all tiled - there's nothing really old or really new about it to distinguish it at all. It's one of those stations whose history (and therefore Wikipedia entry) is more interesting than the station itself.

Wikipedia entry here.

64. Farringdon

Saturday 11th October 11.50am

This was my second attempt at Farringdon this year - the first attempt failed as I couldn't actually find the entrance. To be fair the place has been a massive building site in preparation for Crossrail and I did begin to wonder if it was actually shut. But I've been through it since and people have got off so I assume it's just badly signposted and I'm an idiot. So I figured that if I actually arrived at the station I'd have to be total fool to get so lost I couldn't get out.

Turns out it's a rather lovely station, and unbelievably quiet on a Saturday lunchtime. One of the exits was shut so you had to walk along a corridor with windows along one side which blazed with sun, and there's some lovely honey-coloured brickwork too. I think it might be a bit of triumph when it's finally finished, and I'm glad I had an excuse to give it another go.

Wikipedia entry here.

63. Aldgate

Tuesday 2nd October 3pm.

I liked this station as it's the eastern terminus of the Metropolitan line, which means that the west-bound trains sit on the platform ready to depart, but seem in no rush to do so. It also meant that at the time of day I travelled it was quiet and I nearly had a whole carriage to myself. Tube travel isn't meant to be that relaxing.

Wikipedia entry here.

47. Baker Street

Saturday 6th September 10.10am

I have bad memories of this station from my early twenties, changing here from a Tube from Wembley and trying to find the platform to get back to King's Cross after gigs in Wembley Arena. The layout of the station doesn't help - too many lines on too many levels, and I just remember frantically running through it and crossing my fingers I was about to jump on the right train. Thankfully yesterday I wasn't changing so a repeat of that was avoided, although it does seem overly complicated to get out of.

I was on another of those lovely old brick platforms that really do give you a sense of how the Tube looked when it was first built, but it does mean I didn't get to take a picture of the tiles with the head of Sherlock Holmes on them that some of the other platforms have. But I did hum Gerry Rafferty's song of the same name to myself, even though it's about the street more than the station.

Wikipedia entry here.

46. Great Portland Street

Saturday 6th September 10.00am

Another station on that section of Euston Road near to Euston station which has more stations than is strictly necessary. I have a fondness for this one as I once went on a date in Regents Park and we bought a picnic from the Pret a Manger that is part of the station, but until yesterday I'd never been in it. It's a nice building - what's that shape called when it's a square with a semi-circle on either end? Well it's that, on a roundabout in a load of traffic, and although the shops that form part of the building are nothing glamorous I still rather like it.

Down on the platform it's all brick and arches, like the other stations on this section of the Tube, which makes me think it's one of those cut-and-cover ones from before they invented methods of tunnelling. I like the fact that the roundel I took a picture of was a bit dirty and not all new and shiny.

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.

25. Barbican

Saturday 11th January 12.45pm

I love that picture! Now the underground has smartened its act up it feels quite rare to see anything looking tatty. Of course there are bits of it that are a mess because they're being rebuilt, and lots of it is going to look scuffed from use, but this is the first thing like this I've seen and it's right there on platform 1 as the train pulls into the station. Something about that makes me really happy.

The station itself is small with the platforms hardly below ground level, and open to the elements although I guess at one point they had a roof to keep you dry. It only serves one route and I'm starting to think that this type of station: small, no escalators, no endless corridors, just getting local people to where they need to go, is becoming my favourite kind of station.

Wikipedia entry here.

15. Liverpool Street

Thursday 30th May 1.10pm

Way back in the days of slam-door trains and every seat having a table - the 80s, surprisingly - trains from my part of Norfolk used to arrive in London at Liverpool Street. So for a few years, while friends were at college in London, this station would be the one we'd would end up running through in an attempt to catch a train we had no chance of catching. It was also the place where we would dodge fares, although I have no idea how and to be honest the idea makes me shudder with shame! But then the trains switched to King's Cross and I rarely find myself in Liverpool Street any more.

While the train station has been updated with marble and space the Tube station hasn't really and is as pokey and crowded as you'd expect from somewhere serving four different Tube lines. More excitingly I made my journey on one of the new Hammersmith & City trains (I'm resisting the urge to use the phrase "rolling stock" as it's beyond trainspottery) - they're far more spacious than the old trains and instead of having doors at either end of the carriage which you can't actually use they're open to the next carriage so you can see all the way down the train if it gets on a straight bit - this is beyond exciting! (The trains are like this in the Barcelona metro, so we're finally catching up.) They've done something clever inside the carriage so there's a lovely big gap between the seat and I think they're air-conditioned too! Disappointingly the only thing they don't do is tell you which side of the train the doors will open on, which they do on the older Victoria line trains, and which is really useful, although I'm note entirely sure why.

Wikipedia entry here.

1. King's Cross St. Pancras

Saturday 12th January, 9.45am

The first thing that surprised me when I took this photograph is that the station is now called "King's Cross St. Pancras" and, I assume, has been since Eurostar relocated to the rejuvenated St. Pancras a few years ago. But I'd never noticed and habitually call it just "King's Cross".

This is probably the Tube station I have visited the most as, for the last twenty years or so, all trains from my part of Norfolk have terminated at the railway station above it. It's the third busiest Tube station and serves more lines than any other, which is why for a long time I felt no love for it and needed to take a deep breath before throwing myself down those cramped stairs from the departure hall into it.

But things have changed in recent years as they've upgraded it and there are now big wide corridors to get to the trains and the whole thing feels really light and spacious, at least until you get down to the platforms. It's all very grey and concretey, much like the Jubilee line, but instead of looking dull and sad I think it looks modern and almost chic. And more importantly it just works really well (although getting back to the railway station still manages to confuse me).

I guess I like it because arriving there usually means I have something exciting to look forward to or that I'm heading home after a nice day.

Meanwhile upstairs the railway station has been upgraded too and is stunning! It was also the subject of a song by the Pet Shop Boys:

Tracey Thorn also did a version of it (she wants to make an album with them - someone make this happen then I can die a happy man!). They also used it as a location for their video of Rent, which Derek Jarman directed. (I now that has nothing to do with the Tube, but I do like a tangent!)

Wikipedia entry here.