123. East Finchley

Saturday 2nd April 5.30pm

The most interesting of the Finchley stations, probably because it's near the shops and is a lot less suburban. It's got a bigger, more interesting, station building, and doesn't have a footbridge to the platforms - instead the line is elevated and there are passages and stairs underneath it with signs like this:

Wikipedia entry here.

122. Finchley Central

Saturday 2nd April 4.50pm

At this point I began to realise that there's a lot of Finchley and it's all quite similar, although I'm sure the locals wouldn't thank me for saying so.

Wikipedia entry here.

121. West Finchley

Saturday 2nd April 4.45pm

This is very similar to the last station although it seems to have a slightly more modern, smaller, station building. It also has a footbridge over the tracks and when I crossed it there were two trains in the station so I stopped to take a picture:

Which of course means I missed my train, but amazingly, considering this feels like the middle of nowhere, another train arrived two minutes later.

Wikipedia entry here.

120. Woodside Park

Saturday 2nd April 4.25pm

Now I'm getting to the bits of the underground that hardly seem like underground at all as I get towards the edge of the map. This station started like as a train station before it was brought into the network. With its above ground platforms and platform canopies edged with white board it doesn't look that dissimilar to the rail station at home. And out of the station itself it's very residential - you could be anywhere.

Oh and according to Wikipedia it's alphabetically last on the list of Tube stations. I've never thought to look at a list like that - I must find one.

Wikipedia entry here.

119. Swiss Cottage

Saturday 27th February 10.50am

Another Bakerloo line station that got swapped to the Jubilee line without a makeover:

I really love these little tiles:

I've been wanting to photograph escalators with uplighters for ages and finally this was the place the was quiet enough to do it:

At the top of the escalator there's a roundel guiding you downwards that says "trains" on it, although stupidly I didn't take a picture.

There is no surface building - the whole thing is underground, under a busy junction, so there are five different exits to leave from, all labelled with street names which is of course the most practical way of doing it but completely confusing if you've forgotten the name of the street you're heading for and only have a landmark in mind.

Wikipedia entry here.

118. St Johns Wood

Saturday 27th February 10.45am

Does that need an apostrophe?

Surely the only station on the underground whose ticket building includes a Beatles cafe, because of the station's proximity to Abbey Roads studios. Interestingly it's also got flats built on top of it, which must be a mixed blessing for the owners.

It's a Jubilee line station but it has none of the modern elements to it, and is entirely vintage:

Turns out it used to be on the Bakerloo line and was swapped when the Jubilee line opened. I've got a 1953 Tube map on my landing which shows the Bakerloo line splitting with two lines heading north, the kind of thing that makes it tricky to navigate so it was probably for the best.

The down escalator is currently being replaced and having to walk down the stairs makes you appreciate the escalator more.

Wikipedia entry here.

117. Kilburn Park

Saturday 27th February 10.10am

This made me realise that for years I've been confusing Kentish Town and Kilburn in my head, when actually they're sort of other sides of Hampstead. It's a small, practical station and the best bit about it is the huge window over the escalators which means you ascend to ground level bathed in light even on quite a dull day in February.

Wikipedia entry here.