TRIVIA: Things you saw travelling on the LU that you don't see today

[alistairlees]

A bar on the platform at Sloane Square (westbound) - down your pint as the train comes into the platform and jump on just before the doors close! Almost unimaginable now, on all sorts of levels. In fact, I'd almost think I dreamed it if it wasn't confirmed in print.

When was that? I used to commute to Sloane Square in the 90s...

 

[Busaholic]

When was that? I used to commute to Sloane Square in the 90s...

I remember it from exactly fifty years ago! How long after that it lasted, I'd guess only a few years at most.

 

[AlbertBeale]

I remember it from exactly fifty years ago! How long after that it lasted, I'd guess only a few years at most.

I think the bars on some Circle Line platforms probably lasted at least through the '80s? Certainly they existed in the '70s. I remember them fondly. Especially on the south side [was it only Sloane Square on that stretch? - maybe], where the trunk section of the District (plus the Circle), gives so many westbound destinations, that if you got the first service - even if it wasn't yours - you had a chance to leap out and grab a drink and then often catch the train you'd have caught anyway.

 

[peteb]

The "Less Lust Less Protein" placard man in his green drill jacket who had a little satchel with leaflets in. He used to walk up and down Oxford Steet every weekday until the 1990s and who I think travelled in from Northolt on the Central Line??sometimes, although he had a bike when I saw him once! There was a TV item about him when he died.

 

[Jona26]

His name was Stanley Green and he was from Northolt. I can still remember his face clear as day with his cap and round glasses.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

His name was Stanley Green and he was from Northolt. I can still remember his face clear as day with his cap and round glasses.

His iconic banner is in the Museum at Barbican - I recall a piece on him in the Sunday Times magazine. A man with a mission.

 

[AlbertBeale]

His iconic banner is in the Museum at Barbican - I recall a piece on him in the Sunday Times magazine. A man with a mission.

I once bumped into him on the westbound Central Line after he'd finished his stint for the day, a few years before he died. As someone who's spent time on the streets with a placard myself, I thought I'd have a chat - he wasn't at all unfriendly, though not (as I remember) enthusiastically chatty. (But then we were on a tube train, and he did seem very "British"!)

 

[Busaholic]

I once bumped into him on the westbound Central Line after he'd finished his stint for the day, a few years before he died. As someone who's spent time on the streets with a placard myself, I thought I'd have a chat - he wasn't at all unfriendly, though not (as I remember) enthusiastically chatty. (But then we were on a tube train, and he did seem very "British"!)

Anyone remember the elderly tap dancer, a tall, painfully thin man who danced in the West End seemingly every evening in the 1970s and early 1980s? Not sure he travelled in on the tube, but he might well have. After a gap of about three years in the 80s when I didn't come across him, he materialised one late evening on Villiers Street near the side entrance to Charing Cross Stn, looking distinctly unwell, almost ghostlike, but still able to tap. I mentioned him to a station staff member in a nearby pub, who said he was 85 and dependant on wellwishers for his continued survival. I'd never dropped any coins into his hat before, but he got every last penny of my change that evening: never saw him again.

 

[Westcountryman]

The "Less Lust Less Protein" placard man in his green drill jacket who had a little satchel with leaflets in. He used to walk up and down Oxford Steet every weekday until the 1990s and who I think travelled in from Northolt on the Central Line??sometimes, although he had a bike when I saw him once! There was a TV item about him when he died.

Surely 'less protein, less lust'.

 

[Busaholic]

Surely 'less protein, less lust'.

If Boris Johnson ever came across him he obviously didn't take the message on board.

 

[rebmcr]

If Boris Johnson ever came across him

It would explain the placard!!

 

[Springs Branch]

The "Less Lust Less Protein" placard man in his green drill jacket who had a little satchel with leaflets in. He used to walk up and down Oxford Steet every weekday until the 1990s and who I think travelled in from Northolt on the Central Line?? sometimes, although he had a bike when I saw him once! There was a TV item about him when he died.

His name was Stanley Green and he was from Northolt. I can still remember his face clear as day with his cap and round glasses.

There's quite a detailed Wikipedia article on him.

One of the gems (on WP - so it must be true) was that he cooked his lunch each day "...in a warm and secret place near Oxford Street". This place was said (by Green) to be a bench at the far end of one of the platforms at Oxford Circus tube station, using a bunsen burner.

Now that's something you don't see travelling on LU these days!

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

Does one still occasionally see city gents in traditional attire complete with bowler hat?

 

[leytongabriel]

People folding their wet umbrellas and putting them out of the way by the interconnecting doors.
The clouds of brake dust at certain stations, especially on the Northern line.
Children giving up seats to adults.

 

[David Burrows]

Steam push-pull trains between Epping & Ongar, steam (and latterly diesel) hauled freight trains on the eastern end of the Central Line beyond Leyton, and the excursion trains from Loughton to various seaside resorts.

 

[Busaholic]

There's quite a detailed Wikipedia article on him.

One of the gems (on WP - so it must be true) was that he cooked his lunch each day "...in a warm and secret place near Oxford Street". This place was said (by Green) to be a bench at the far end of one of the platforms at Oxford Circus tube station, using a bunsen burner.

Now that's something you don't see travelling on LU these days!

I'm NOT saying that was untrue, but in 1970/1 as part of my traffic management trainee spell with LT I spent a few months working at Central Line control centre housed in the old station buildings on the east side of Argyll Street on the corner with Oxford Street, now part listed by English Heritage I believe. I only ever spent one intensive day on Oxford Circus station seeing how it operated, including the area beneath the escalators, etc etc, and able to see through the windows of the rooms on the concourse disguised as one way mirrors. Green would have been a couple of years into his Oxford Street patrol by that time, but I never heard a rumour of cooking: it's entirely feasible, tho', if he chose his place well 'management' never found out about it, especially if he befriended a member or two of station staff who were sympathetic. The Father of the House of Commons, Peter Bottomley MP always reminds me of Green, although the latter was probably a lot saner!

 

[AlbertBeale]

Steam push-pull trains between Epping & Ongar, steam (and latterly diesel) hauled freight trains on the eastern end of the Central Line beyond Leyton, and the excursion trains from Loughton to various seaside resorts.

Where would trains from Loughton connect to the national network?

 

[nlogax]

Where would trains from Loughton connect to the national network?

Good question, I was going to suggest a reversal after Loughton Branch Junction but that was disconnected in the 70s.

 

[PeterC]

Good question, I was going to suggest a reversal after Loughton Branch Junction but that was disconnected in the 70s.

All the things remembered must have pre-dated that as it was the only connection after the Seven Kings - Newbury Park link was severed, which Wikipedia dates to 1956.

 

[nlogax]

All the things remembered must have pre-dated that as it was the only connection after the Seven Kings - Newbury Park link was severed, which Wikipedia dates to 1956.

I was assuming Essex coast, but everything I've found seems into indicate services would flow Loughton > Leyton Station Junction / Loughton Branch Junction > Liverpool St main line, then reversal towards Shoreditch and the East London Line south to coastal towns in Sussex and Kent.

 

[packermac]

Travelling on a train to High Barnet with a door open whilst a fitter worked on it having removed all the seat cushions on the set of seats opposite to obviously access the mechanism.
Would love to have filmed it to show to one of the H&S staff today!

 

[peteb]

Guards at the rear of Northern line trains, and that nice red 1938 stock with timber floors and little tungsten lights.

 

[urbophile]

Guards at the rear of Northern line trains, and that nice red 1938 stock with timber floors and little tungsten lights.

Get thee to the Isle of Wight pronto!

 

[MatthewRead]

I was on the Northern line yesterday and it made me think of the days when it had more variety of rolling stock 1956, 1959, 1962 and 1972 tube stock anyone remember 3 trains of 1972 Mark 1 tube stock were refurbished and only one 1959 tube stock train was refurbished why was that?

 

[LUYMun]

anyone remember 3 trains of 1972 Mark 1 tube stock were refurbished and only one 1959 tube stock train was refurbished why was that?

During the 1990s, the London Underground experimented with exterior liveries to combat graffiti that had entirely covered their aluminium trains. I believe it was also to promote their corporate colours, and as a response to new health and safety standards, such as full red fronts and no wooden interiors.

Three types of liveries were experimented on the 1959, 1972, C and A stocks:
- Red front, blue doors, white body
- Red front, blue upper half of body, white lower half of body
- Red front, red doors, blue skirts, white body.
The latter was chosen as the current London Underground livery.

I believe the 1972TS units were 3202/3523 (red doors), 3204/3522 (upper blue body) and 3227/3518 (blue doors). The 1959TS units were only done in the current livery, but I can't remember which. Suffice to say, most of the units weren't run as a whole, so they usually ran with other unpainted units.

 

[MatthewRead]

During the 1990s, the London Underground experimented with exterior liveries to combat graffiti that had entirely covered their aluminium trains. I believe it was also to promote their corporate colours, and as a response to new health and safety standards, such as full red fronts and no wooden interiors.

Three types of liveries were experimented on the 1959, 1972, C and A stocks:
- Red front, blue doors, white body
- Red front, blue upper half of body, white lower half of body
- Red front, red doors, blue skirts, white body.
The latter was chosen as the current London Underground livery.

I believe the 1972TS units were 3202/3523 (red doors), 3204/3522 (upper blue body) and 3227/3518 (blue doors). The 1959TS units were only done in the current livery, but I can't remember which. Suffice to say, most of the units weren't run as a whole, so they usually ran with other unpainted units.

Yes I've wondered how long they lasted in service like that?

 

[Lucan]

Three types of liveries were experimented on the 1959, 1972, C and A stocks:
- Red front, blue doors, white body
- Red front, blue upper half of body, white lower half of body
- Red front, red doors, blue skirts, white body.
The latter was chosen as the current London Underground livery.

They could have saved time and money if they had looked at the past experience of other railways - that white or cream colours on the lower part of a coach body soon get grubby and show it badly., much of it due to rust-tinted brake dust. That was part of the logic behind the BR 1950's blood-and-custard, and the chocolate and cream of the GWR.

 

[Deepgreen]

Travelling in 1980 on the last service CO/CP stock train between High St. Ken. and Earl's Court when a couple of sound recorders lifted a floor panel to suspend the mic below - in normal service with other passengers close by!

 

[bramling]

Yes I've wondered how long they lasted in service like that?

The painted A stock units disappeared when the fleet was refurbished, so around 1995-97.

Those 59 and 72 stock units on the Northern remained until the fleets were replaced, so 1998 for the 72 stock (one such train managed to survive a few weeks into 1999, and was in fact the last 72 stock to operate on the Northern) and mid to late 1999 for the 59 stock.

 

[Deepgreen]

I remember it from exactly fifty years ago! How long after that it lasted, I'd guess only a few years at most.

Station establishments which allowed smoking were phased out (after the smoking was immediately banned anyway) after the 1987 King's Cross fire, and the sale of alcohol 'inside' the ticket barriers was also banned in the early 90s. I was the internal LU business 'client' who oversaw the refurbishment of Sloane Square and many other stations in the late '80s and '90s.

From a planning career viewpoint on the Underground, several things have gone (in no special order) -
1. Being with what were then called Area Managers on a series of station planning trips and routinely riding in the cab with them and others, with the AMs taking the controls 'to refresh their driving knowledge' - up to four in a (service train) cab at once.
2. The reinstatement of 'heritage' '38 stock on the Northern line to cover stock shortages in the 1990s.
3. Being in the cab of a Central line service train EB from Stratford in the 80s which was taken at speed by the driver to demonstrate the poor state of the track and scraping the tunnel roof in the process of bouncing over the joints!
4. As others have said, guards in the rear cars of various stock, and the simple metal bar which separated them from the passengers in the car.
5. District line R and CO/CP stock with their flared bodysides and doors which could be (and frequently were) opened at at least walking pace when arriving at stations!
6. Smoking on trains and the filthy state of the designated cars such that their brown windows eassily identified them as they entered platforms.

I'm sure many others will surface as the tears of nostalgia clear!