The Tube, for those who don't know, has eleven lines, spanning a vast chunk of London, but not the south. Only 31 stations are south of the Thames, with there being 272 in all, which means that as a south Londoner, I never really grew up with the Tube. Okay, I did live along the southern stretch of the Northern line for most of my childhood, and I have plenty of fond memories of school trips to central in that time. However, I never really took the Tube; I didn't use it that much, compared to buses or just flat-out walking.
Turns out, most people only get the Tube if they really need to. I'm much the same, except I also happen to enjoy visiting random places as a hobby. Obviously, I only started doing all that when I got older, so it took a while for me to head around the Tube just for the sake of it, but when I did, I embraced it. You can read my blogposts on the Bakerloo for proof - the trips were unremarkable, but I somehow wrangled two different posts from it.
Admittedly, now I have loads of memories from riding the Tube, some of them inextricably linked to the destination itself. Whenever I see the Metropolitan line, I'll always think of coming back late from a Billy Idol concert, as well as heading into the Chess Valley. When I'm on the District, I'll either think about going to uni or going to Kew and Gunnersbury Park. Trips on the Bakerloo evoke memories of those claustrophobic 1970s trains; the Central line brings dread and despondency underneath damp lighting.
Oh, and if you want stats, I've probably been on the Circle, District, or Northern lines the most. By the time I finish uni, it will probably be the Circle or District. As for least used...well, I've only been on the Hammersmith and City line once, to go from Paddington to Edgware Road (I think). The truth is it's overshadowed for most of its length by three other lines, so the chances of me catching a train on a line already far from where I live is pretty slim anyway.
That said, I never made it a mission to go on all the lines. Okay, sometimes I have taken a different route somewhere, just to add some variety to my commute, but often I'll just take the most direct route. That's probably why it took so long, come to think of it. I suppose the only time I took the Tube just to take a specific line was a few days ago, when I took the Waterloo and City line, but even then, it wasn't like I came all the way out to ride it. I was in Waterloo and wanted the Central line, so thought "fuck it".
The Waterloo and City line is comprised of two stations, Waterloo and Bank, and I'm not entirely sure how come it still operates. Historically, it used to be part of British Rail before being transferred to the Tube in 1994, and its only use case is funnelling workers from Waterloo to the City. That said, I'm a bit surprised TfL haven't closed the line due to operating costs, asking people to go the long way round through Tottenham Court Road instead. The line doesn't even run on weekends!
Either way, the whole journey took five minutes and was completely underground. Therefore, I have absolutely nothing else to say about the trip. It took just as long to head over to the Central line platforms, heading through a rather liminal tunnel along the way.
However, the trip did mean one thing: I'd finally travelled on all Tube lines. There wasn't much to be learned from any of this, but I'm not sure if I needed to. Sometimes, travelling is more than enough.
How many have you taken?
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