Sketchbook project 2 - Central line

I started travelling on the Central line at Oxford Circus at 10:42, and after visiting West Ruislip and Ealing Broadway in the west

and Woodford and Epping in the (north) east

got back to Oxford Circus at 16:42. (That included time for a sandwich and a bit of shopping in Woodford.) From West Ruislip to Roding Valley, the stop a couple of minutes before Woodford, the journey time is 87 continuous minutes; straight to Epping, it's 81 minutes.

The Central line is the longest line - 47 miles - with 49 stations, 20 below ground. It has a complicated history of extension from 1935 to 1957. The Central London Railway, running between Shepherd's Bush and Liverpool Street, opened in 1900; in 1937 it was renamed the Central Line. "One legacy of the line's building is that the sections under the City were built to follow the geography of the streets above, rather than underneath buildings, to take advantage of the free wayleave offered by the government. As a result there are many sharp bends and curves on the track between St. Paul's, Bank and Liverpool Street. At Bank station, the Central line platforms are so tightly curved it is not possible to see one end of the platform from the other and the traditional "mind the gap" message is particularly stressed here."

Sketchbook project 2 - Bakerloo line

For the theme of "Along the Lines" my project is to draw/write each line separately, travelling the length of the line to the end, starting from a point in the middle. (For convenience.)

Each line is preceded by a drawing of it, extracted from the tube map. The Bakerloo line is the first in the alphabetical list. I started at Oxford Circus and went to Elephant and Castle, the southern end of the line -Then to Harrow and Wealdstone -
and back to Oxford Circus -

Another component of the project, though not part of the sketchbook, is photography. Most stations have a chart of train times, including a diagram of journey times - 11 minutes to Oxford Circus, 48 minutes to the end of the line -
Heading south, though, it should take only 47 minutes to get from Harrow & Wealdstone to Elephant & Castle -
Of the 25 stations on the Bakerloo line, 15 are underground. The Baker Street to Lambeth North section of the line was opened in 1906, and it was extended to Elephant & Castle the same year. In 1915 it was extended to Queen's Park. It ran north to Watford Junction until 1982.

The actual route of the line -

Waiting for the bus

Vauxhall. Click to enlarge.

Queen's Park to Oxford Circus

Richmond to Kensal Rise

Barbican to Holloway Road

Peckham Road to Holborn

Camberwell New Road

Taken from the 36 bus (it has an upstairs; sometimes the 436 comes along first - it's a bendy bus, upon which: no comment). Both have announcements of the name of the upcoming bus stop. It's not been long since bus stops had names - once upon a time travelling by bus was a mysterious process, but now there are maps and information all over the place - well done London Transport - oh, that's been renamed: Transport For London.

The photos are small, but don't you get a sense of what a colourful route it is? And now's my chance to find the names of the roads along the route - Kennington Lane, Durham Street, Harleyford Road, Kennington Oval, Harleyford Street, Camberwell New Road, Camberwell Church Street.

The photos were all taken along Camberwell New Road - a turnpike in 1818, it's now the longest Georgian road in England.

Albert Hall to Hyde Park Corner

Rainy day; using zoom, at every bus stop.

Land line

Moorfields Eye Hospital to Old Street station.

Finsbury Park to Vauxhall

"Writing lines" ... writing practice ...

Covent Garden to Finsbury Park