History UsefulNotes / TheLondonUnderground

'''Ew. So it's dirty?''' Well, yeah -- it's been around for a while. In fact, it's far from uncommon to see rats and mice happily scampering around on the lines (and even sometimes on the platform). They survive on whatever they can find, which often includes food dropped by people passing through. There are also [[UrbanLegends rumours]] of a colony of mosquitoes that's been living in the Tube for so long, they've evolved such that they're now unbreedable with any other kind of mosquito (sort of London's version of the [[BigApplesauce sewer alligator]]).

* ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'' had many scenes set in underground stations, including the long-closed British Museum station. Aldwych station was used for much of the filming. Several of the locations and characters are literalisations of the names of Underground station, such as the Angel called Islington, the monastery of the Black Friars, and the Earl's Court.

* '''District Line''': The District Line has a more complicated arrangement of service patterns. The line originates in far east London in the borough of Upminster, and runs as a single line all the way to Earl's Court. From here, there is a branch that travels south to Wimbledon and a weekends-only branch to Kensington (Olympia).[[note]]Which has the distinction of being one of the few places where a line has more service during off-peak times than peak times. There are only seven daily trains to Kensington (Olympia) on weekdays. On weekends, there's thrice hourly service there, and twice hourly service during exhibition events at Olympia[[/note]] The main route continues west from Earl's Court to Turnham Green after which it divides again into two western branches, to Richmond and Ealing Broadway. The line serves 60 stations over 40 miles of tracks, and with bridges across the River Thames on the Wimbledon and Richmond branches it is the only Underground line to cross the river in this way. From Barking to Aldgate East, it co-operates with the Hammersmith & City line, and between Tower Hill and Gloucester Road and on the Edgware Road branch with the Circle line. From South Kensington to Ealing Common, the District line shares a right of way with the Piccadilly line, though the Piccadilly line does not stop at every station. Ealing Common is one of only two areas where subsurface and deep tube trains stop on the same tracks, as the Ealing Broadway branch briefly interlines with the Uxbridge branch of the Piccadilly line. The Richmond branch shares tracks with the London Overground's North London line. Mile End in the east offers the only below-ground cross-platform transfer between subsurface and deep tube lines, as the District line has a cross-platform transfer to the Central line here.

* '''Northern Line:''' The Northern Line is a bit of a misnomer. It does not serve the northernmost stations on the network, though it does serve the southernmost station, Morden, as well as 16 of the system's 29 stations south of the River Thames. The line originates at Morden in far south London, and travels north along an underground route until Kennington. Here, the line splits into a very complex configuration of service patterns (a product of mergers between several smaller deep tube operators) due to having ''two'' routes through Central London, which reconvene at Camden Town, only to immediately split ''again'' into two northern branches (meaning it's important to look at the train arrival monitors to see which route your train is taking). Through Central London, one line travels via Charing Cross, while the other travels via the financial district and Bank. After reconvening and splitting at Camden Town, the line splits into two northern branches, one heading to Edgware while the other goes to High Barnet (with an additional shuttle spur from Finchley Central to Mill Hill East). In the current service pattern, all trains from the northern branches that go through to Morden travel via the Bank branch, while almost all trains that travel the Charing Cross branch turn back at Kennington on a balloon loop (except during Night Tube hours, when all trains are through-routed from the northern branches to Morden via the Charing Cross branch). Construction is underway to extend the Charing Cross branch to Battersea. The Northern Line uses 1995 Stock trains, which have identical car bodies to the Jubilee Line's 1996 Stock. Both stocks were manufactured by Alstom, but the 1995 Stock is more technologically advanced than the 1996 Stock, have just six cars instead of seven,[[note]]Though the 1996 Stock were originally six car trains until 2005 when a capacity upgrade led to the addition of four extra trainsets of 1996 Stock plus the addition of a seventh car on every existing train[[/note]] and have quieter traction motors than the 1996 Stock.

* '''Victoria Line:''' The Victoria Line bears the distinction of being one of only two lines to run completely below ground, the other being the Waterloo & City Line. It was opened in 1969 to relieve congestion on the adjoining Northern and Piccadilly Lines, running from Walthamstow Central in the north to Brixton in the south. Its role as a congestion reliever can be seen in how every station apart from Pimlico and Blackhorse Road was built as an interchange station, and several existing stations were rearranged to allow for cross-platform interchanges with it (to the Bakerloo Line at Oxford Circus, to the Northern Line Bank Branch at Euston, the Northern City Line at Highbury & Islington, and the Piccadilly Line at Finsbury Park). The Victoria Line uses 2009 Stock.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Maxi-Posters-London-Underground-Map-330829_9071.jpg]]

* '''Hammersmith & City Line:''' The newest of the subsurface lines, technically. For the longest time, this line, which runs from Hammersmith to Barking, was originally marked on the Tube map as a branch of the Metropolitan Line. It was only in 1990 that the line was given its own color designation and separate identity. The entire line shares tracks and stations with other Underground lines: with the Circle Line from Hammersmith to Aldgate, and the District Line from Aldgate East to Barking.

* '''Central Line:''' The longest line on the Underground, the Central Line appropriately is the one that cuts right through the circle at the hub of Central London. The main line runs from West Ruislip to Epping, a distance of over 34 miles, and is the longest journey one can take on the system without changing trains. Not all trains use the main line route, instead originating off a two stop branch that originates at Ealing Broadway[[note]]Though on separate platforms from the District Line. Since there's a cross-platform transfer between the Central and District lines at Mile End, one can use either line to get to that point, although which line is faster may vary depending on the time of day[[/note]] and joins the main line at North Action; and rather than run to Epping, split from the main line at Leytonstone, turn east, and travel around a large loop through Hainault that feeds them back into the mainline heading south into Woodford, where they terminate. Greenford station on the West Ruislip mainline was the last escalator in the system with wooden treads until its replacement with an inclined elevator in March 2014. The Central Line is operated with 1992 Stock.

* '''Central Line:''' The longest line on the Underground, the Central Line appropriately is the one that cuts right through the circle at the hub of Central London. The main line runs from West Ruislip to Epping, a distance of over 46 miles. Not all trains use the main line route, instead originating off a two stop branch that originates at Ealing Broadway[[note]]Though on separate platforms from the District Line. Since there's a cross-platform transfer between the Central and District lines at Mile End, one can use either line to get to that point, although which line is faster may vary depending on the time of day[[/note]] and joins the main line at North Action; and rather than run to Epping, split from the main line at Leytonstone, turn east, and travel around a large loop through Hainault that feeds them back into the mainline heading south into Woodford, where they terminate. Greenford station on the West Ruislip mainline was the last escalator in the system with wooden treads until its replacement with an inclined elevator in March 2014. The Central Line is operated with 1992 Stock.

* '''Jubilee Line:''' Originally planned to be known as the Fleet Line, the Jubilee Line is the newest of the deep tube lines, and is a blend of some of the oldest and newest sections of Underground tracks. The Jubilee Line can trace its roots back to 1932, when the Metropolitan Railway built a branch from their main line at Wembley Park to Stanmore. The line, as with many others in the northwest London area, was designed to absorb commuter traffic from the new and rapidly expanding suburbs. This became a branch of the Bakerloo line in 1932, and operated that way until 1979, when it was split off from the Bakerloo line with a new section of tube track from Baker Street to Charing Cross and given its own identity. The Jubilee Line was named in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, hence the silver color on the Tube map. The line originates at Stanmore in northwest London, and travels along a four stop double-track line until Wembley Park, where it meets the Metropolitan Line. It then runs local along the shared right-of-way to Finchley Road,[[note]]Metropolitan Line trains do not call at the intermediate stations of West Hampstead, Kilburn, Willesden Green, Dollis Hill and Neasden. However, Willesden Green and Neasden stations have platforms on the Metropolitan line tracks, which are used during service disruptions or irregular occasions when local events can cause a heavy increase in use of the stations.[[/note]] where it descends underground. After Baker Street, where nonrevenue track connections to the Bakerloo Line still exist, the Jubilee line enters the 1979 segment and continues south to Green Park, the last stop of the original 1979 section. Here, trains originally turned east to terminate at Charing Cross. This was how the line worked until 1999, when Charing Cross was bypassed by another extension.[[note]]Charing Cross's platforms are kept in use for filming tube scenes with a 21st century setting[[/note]] From here, the Jubilee Line tunnels under the Thames four times as it travels through East London, Canary Wharf, and North Greenwich. After North Greenwich, the line comes above ground near Canning Town and runs parallel to a Docklands Light Railway line the rest of the way to Stratford. The stations on the 1999 section of the Jubilee Line are unique for being the only section of Underground to have platform edge doors.[[note]]They are also truly enormous and cavernous spaces. Canary Wharf has been compared to a cathedral, with it being so spacious that you could fit One Canada Square into it if laid on its side with room to spare. Westminster has a dramatic vertical void nearly 40 m (130 ft) deep, and just digging out the void required propping up Big Ben with tons of concrete underneath to prevent it from falling into the hole. This is always possible in London because it's built on soft clay rather than solid rock, and especially as this is on the bank of the River Thames. It's quite an engineering achievement. Big Ben is monitored in case of further movement. The reasons why these stations are so big is because [=TfL=] was as a response to safety concerns—overcrowding and a lack of exits had been significant factors in the 1987 King's Cross fire—as well as [[CrazyPrepared an attempt to future-proof stations by designing them from the start for a high use]]. These platforms are really only full at the height of rush hour; they all provide step-free access, dual exits at either platform ends, ventilation, as well as fireproof lifts. To ease flow, extra escalators (at least 3 per station)[21] were installed, totalling 115 over the entire extension, increasing the total number of escalators over the entire Underground network by almost half.[[/note]] The Jubilee Line is operated with 1996 Stock.

* '''Bakerloo Line:''' This line runs from Harrow & Wealdstone in suburban northwest London to Elephant & Castle in south London, via the West End. It is so named because it serves ''Baker'' Street and Water''loo''. Most trains only run the underground section from Elephant & Castle to Queen's Park, with only a third of trains going the rest of the way to Harrow & Wealdstone. The above-ground section is shared with the London Overground's Watford DC Line. Originally, the line travelled all the way to Watford Junction, but was cut back to Harrow & Wealdstone in 1982. The line also used to have a second branch to Stanmore, which was severed and redesignated as the Jubilee Line in 1979. The line is equipped with the 1972 Stock, which are the oldest trains in operation on the Underground.

* '''Jubilee Line:''' Originally planned to be known as the Fleet Line, the Jubilee Line is the newest of the deep tube lines, and is a blend of some of the oldest and newest sections of Underground tracks. The Jubilee Line can trace its roots back to 1932, when the Metropolitan Railway built a branch from their main line at Wembley Park to Stanmore. The line, as with many others in the northwest London area, was designed to absorb commuter traffic from the new and rapidly expanding suburbs. This became a branch of the Bakerloo line in 1932, and operated that way until 1979, when it was split off from the Bakerloo line with a new section of tube track from Baker Street to Charing Cross and given its own identity. The Jubilee Line was named in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, hence the silver color on the Tube map. The line originates at Stanmore in northwest London, and travels along a four stop double-track line until Wembley Park, where it meets the Metropolitan Line. It then runs local along the shared right-of-way to Finchley Road,[[note]]Metropolitan Line trains do not call at the intermediate stations of West Hampstead, Kilburn, Willesden Green, Dollis Hill and Neasden. However, Willesden Green and Neasden stations have platforms on the Metropolitan line tracks, which are used during service disruptions or irregular occasions when local events can cause a heavy increase in use of the stations.[[/note]] where it descends underground. After Baker Street, where nonrevenue track connections to the Bakerloo Line still exist, the Jubilee line enters the 1979 segment and continues south to Green Park, the last stop of the original 1979 section. Here, trains originally turned east to terminate at Charing Cross. This was how the line worked until 1999, when Charing Cross was bypassed by another extension.[[note]]Charing Cross's platforms are kept in use for filming tube scenes with a 21st century setting[[/note]] From here, the Jubilee Line tunnels under the Thames four times as it travels through East London, Canary Wharf, and North Greenwich. After North Greenwich, the line comes above ground near Canning Town and runs parallel to a Docklands Light Railway line the rest of the way to Stratford. The 1999 section of the Jubilee Line is unique for being the only section of Underground to have stations with platform edge doors. The Jubilee Line is operated with 1996 Stock.

Confusingly, the modern Tube map includes a lot of lines that aren't technically part of the Underground proper -- the orange lines are "London Overground" lines (former commuter lines that were shifted to be more integral to the system), and the Docklands Light Railway is a sort of mini-train system that's not part of the Underground but really might as well be. On some maps, you might get lucky and see the Croydon Tramway or the "Emirates Air Line" (a cable car across the Thames that was really just a tourist thing for the 2012 Olympics). Lines have shifted a lot over the years -- not only have new ones been built, but some stations have been decommissioned or moved to other lines, so it's not so easy to make the map period-accurate.

Also, thanks to the city's considerable age, you might also come across several stations with wonderfully evocative names, such as East India, Seven Sisters, Elephant & Castle, Tooting Bec, White City, and especially [[InherentlyFunnyWords Cockfosters]]. Try not to coo too much, because it will make you look even more like an obvious tourist.

Four of the eleven London Underground lines are subsurface lines. They are best defined by featuring tunnels just below the surface and of a similar size to those on British main lines. They also all radiate off a circular loop around Central London, sharing tracks with one another. All four subsurface lines share a uniform fleet of trains, the S Stock.

* '''Circle Line''': The Circle Line's name is a misnomer, as the line actually travels in more of a spiral. Initially, the line was a true circle around fare zone 1, but in 2009, the loop was broken as the line was extended over the Hammersmith & City line to Hammersmith, to increase service frequencies on the Hammersmith branch. Trains begin at Hammersmith, join the circle at Edgware Road, then do a circuit around the circle before terminating back at Edgware Road.
* '''District Line''': The District Line has a more complicated arrangement of service patterns. The line originates in far east London in the borough of Upminster, and runs as a single line all the way to Earl's Court. From here, there is a branch that travels south to Wimbledon and a weekends-only branch to Kensington (Olympia). The main route continues west from Earl's Court to Turnham Green after which it divides again into two western branches, to Richmond and Ealing Broadway. The line serves 60 stations over 40 miles of tracks, and with bridges across the River Thames on the Wimbledon and Richmond branches it is the only Underground line to cross the river in this way. From Barking to Aldgate East, it co-operates with the Hammersmith & City line, and between Tower Hill and Gloucester Road and on the Edgware Road branch with the Circle line. From South Kensington to Ealing Common, the District line shares a right of way with the Piccadilly line, though the Piccadilly line does not stop at every station.

The deep tube lines are the lines which give the London Underground its nickname of "the Tube".

* '''Central Line:''' The longest line on the Underground, the Central Line appropriately is the one that cuts right through the circle at the hub of Central London. The main line runs from West Ruislip to Epping, a distance of over 46 miles. Not all trains use the main line route, instead originating off a two stop branch that originates at Ealing Broadway and joins the main line at North Action; and rather than run to Epping, split from the main line at Leytonstone before traveling around a large loop trough Hainault that feeds them back into the mainline heading south into Woodford, where they terminate. Greenford station on the West Ruislip mainline was the last escalator in the system with wooden treads until its replacement with an inclined elevator in March 2014. The Central Line is operated with 1992 Stock.
* '''Jubilee Line:''' Originally planned to be known as the Fleet Line, the Jubilee Line is the newest of the deep tube lines, and is a blend of some of the oldest and newest sections of Underground tracks. The line was created in 1979 from what was originally the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo Line, and was named in honor of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee, hence the silver color on the Tube map. The line originates at Stanmore in northwest London, and travels along a four stop double-track line until Wembley Park, where it meets the Metropolitan Line. It then runs inside the Metropolitan Line's tracks to Finchley Road, where it descends underground. The line continues underground until Green Park, the last stop of the original 1979 section. Here, trains originally turned east to terminate at Charing Cross. This was how the line worked until 1999, when Charing Cross was closed in favor of an extension that travels through East London and North Greenwich, coming above ground near Canning Town before running parallel to a Docklands Light Railway line the rest of the way to Stratford. The 1999 section of the Jubilee Line is unique for being the only section of Underground to have stations with platform edge doors. The Jubilee Line is operated with 1996 Stock.
* '''Northern Line:''' The Northern Line is a bit of a misnomer. It does not serve the northernmost stations on the network, though it does serve the southernmost station, Morden, as well as 16 of the system's 29 stations south of the River Thames. The line originates at Morden in far south London, and travels north along an underground route until Kennington. Here, the line splits into a very complex configuration of service patterns (a product of mergers between several smaller deep tube operators) due to having ''two'' routes through Central London, which reconvene at Camden Town, only to immediately split ''again'' into two northern branches (meaning it's important to look at the train arrival monitors to see which route your train is taking). Through Central London, one line travels via Charing Cross, while the other travels via the financial district and Bank. After reconvening and splitting at Camden Town, the line splits into two northern branches, one heading to Edgware while the other goes to High Barnet (with an additional shuttle spur from Finchley Central to Mill Hill East). In the current service pattern, all trains from the northern branches that go through to Morden travel via the Bank branch, while almost all trains that travel the Charing Cross branch turn back at Kennington on a balloon loop (except during Night Tube hours, when all trains are through-routed from the northern branches to Morden via the Charing Cross branch). Construction is underway to extend the Charing Cross branch to Battersea. The Northern Line uses 1995 Stock, which have identical car bodies to the Jubilee Line's 1996 Stock. Both stocks were manufactured by Alstom, but the 1995 Stock is more technologically advanced than the 1996 Stock, and has quieter traction motors than the 1996 Stock.

* The Underground is so old that it features in the Franchise/SherlockHolmes canon, being a major plot point in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans". In fact, the modern-day Baker Street station in RealLife is decorated with silhouettes of the detective with his iconic deerstalker and pipe. (''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' had to make another station double as Baker Street to avoid a CelebrityParadox.)

** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' has Bond pursuing Silva between Temple and Embankment stations on the Circle and District lines, which are portrayed as deep-level tube in the film; they're cut-and-cover in reality. A plan's codename is also derived from a former Metropolitan Railway station, "incorrectly" described as an old Tube station -- it's well out of London and left the network before London Underground was fully created.
* ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' has most of its Earth sequences set in London, and during the final battle in Greenwich, Thor is unexpectedly teleported to the Underground and has to take the Tube back to the battle. (They [[ArtisticLicense botched the geography as well]] -- he needed just three stops to go from Charing Cross to Greenwich, but there isn't even a direct connection between the two.)

'''Wait, the "Tube"?''' Yep. The Underground is commonly nicknamed the "Tube" because of the tubular shape of its tunnels. It was one of the first underground railways to be built by tunnel-boring machine (''i.e.'' [[ThisIsADrill a big drill]]); this led to the trains travelling in cylindrical tunnels with remarkably little room to spare. The trains themselves are also remarkably cylindrical. The station platforms are housed in bigger tubes, the walkways between them are made of tubes, and even newer stations have the "tube" aesthetic just for tradition. Granted, the ''oldest'' lines were made with the "cut-and-cover" method (''i.e.'' dig up the entire street and cover it up again), and quite a bit of the network (mostly in the suburbs) is out in the open, but its most distinctive sections are tubes.[[note]]This presents a problem -- the "cut-and-cover" lines have larger, boxier trains rather than the tight tube trains, so one way to really [[JustTrainWrong annoy viewers]] is to put one type of train on another type of line.[[/note]]

'''All right then. So does it feature in fiction often?''' Indeed it does -- and sometimes it's the real thing, as [[http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate/media/lufilmoffice/ Transport for London will let you film down there]], as long as you ask for permission first. This allows them to nix anything that's [[FunnyAneurysmMoment a bit too much like a terrorist attack]] (the Tube being a high-profile target and having suffered several over the years). The Tube has its share of closed or disused stations where they'll let you film without risk of disrupting the actual system (most commonly Aldwych for period scenes or the old Jubilee Line platforms of Charing Cross for modern settings). But if that's not good enough, filmmakers have been known to mock up Tube stations (with varying degrees of accuracy).

UsefulNotes/{{London}}'s underground railway system, known as the "London Underground", is the oldest in the world (its oldest section opening in 1863) and one of the best known. As such, it features prominently in BritishMedia.

'''Why's it so prominent?''' Not only is it very old, but it's also London's lifeblood. It reaches most parts of the city, millions of people use it every day, and unless you want to brave London traffic, it's the most reliable way to get around town. If you want to portray typical London life, you're going to be looking at the Tube.

The phrase "Mind the Gap" is commonly repeated on the Underground, and it's become emblematic of the system (partly because the phrasing is just [[IAmVeryBritish so very British]]). It's a frequently-heard announcement to watch out for the space between the train and the platform -- as many stations are curved (but the trains are made of a series of straight lines), you could end up quite a big gap to mind.

It serves a civil defence role, too -- in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, Underground stations doubled as bomb shelters. This wasn't the original plan (the government built all those nice communal shelters for you to use, and you're hopping into the Tube station?), but people preferred them because they were familiar and less scary (and arguably safer). The Tube's worst accident occurred during the war, when 173 people died in a fatal crush at Bethnal Green (the government covered it up so as not to dissuade people from hiding there). This may have inspired later metro systems to be designed to double as bomb shelters[[note]]although the UsefulNotes/MoscowMetro was designed with this in mind before the war, but the Soviets were a little paranoid[[/note]].

'''Okay, so how do I not look like a tourist?''' The standard Londoner behaviour on the Underground is to not look at anybody else. (This is not easy to do, as the seats face each other.) Read a book, read the newspapers people leave on the seats, or else [[BlankStare stare at nothing in particular]]. Part of this may stem from the high value the British place on personal space, which diminishes very quickly in a crowed train car -- it's like a prolonged, sideways UncomfortableElevatorMoment.[[note]]Interestingly, people from OopNorth claim that they can (and often do) easily find each other on a given Tube train -- by looking for anyone else who's acting as if other human beings are present.[[/note]]

* ''Literature/{{Atonement}}'' features Creator/KeiraKnightley and a considerable number of other people [[spoiler:drowning in the real-life bombing of Balham station]].

* The Londonist Website/YouTube channel includes videos of the several attempts (some successful) of channel member Geoff Marshall to claim (or to claim back) his record for visiting all the stations in the shortest amount of time, as well as several videos on things to notice around the network.

'''All right then. So does it feature in fiction often?''' Indeed it does -- and sometimes it's the real thing, as [[http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate/media/lufilmoffice/ Transport for London will let you film down there]], as long as you ask for permission first. This allows them to nix anything that's [[FunnyAneurysmMoment a bit too much like a terrorist attack]] (the Tube being a high-profile target and having suffered several over the years). The Tube has its share of closed or disused stations where they'll let you film without risk of disrupting the actual system (most commonly Aldwych or the old Jubilee Line platforms as Charing Cross). But if that's not good enough, filmmakers have been known to mock up Tube stations (with varying degrees of accuracy).

->''"Mind the Gap!"''

[[Film/AFishCalledWanda Not a political movement.]] UsefulNotes/{{London}}'s underground railway system is the oldest in the world -- the first section opened in 1863 -- and one of the best known. It's also known as The Tube due to the tubular shape of deep level stations and tunnels (the name of a number of TV and radio programmes, only one of which is Underground related). Due to the combination of metal, urine and anxious sweat, it has a smell all its own.

Entire books have been written on the system, so we'll be brief here. The London Underground runs on a four-rail 630V direct current. It has 270 stations at present.[[note]] Until 2007 there were 275 stations, when the East London Line closed. The line reopened in 2010 as part of the Overground network, so its stations are not counted as part of the tube network proper.[[/note]] Not all of the Underground is actually "underground"; much of it is (like many other subway systems) above the surface, over half in this case, with some "underground" stations in the open air [[note]]in an unusual example, the Underground platforms at Whitechapel are ''above'' its Overground platforms[[/note]] (in fact some Underground trains share stations with UsefulNotes/NationalRail services). The Docklands Light Railway is a separate system -- almost entirely above the surface, run by a different company and has a different power system -- but is shown on the tube map and counted as a tube line for ticketing purposes. Many people seem to think it is just another tube line.

In November 2007, Transport for London[[note]]They used to italicise the "''for''"[[/note]] (the company that runs the network, nearly all of the buses and the tram system in Croydon) acquired some National Rail lines, which became "London Overground" (one of these, the Gospel Oak to Barking line, is actually non-electrified and much of the rest is dual voltage). In 2015 this was expanded to cover various lines in North-East London departing from Liverpool Street main line station. [=TfL=] also runs a tram system in the Croydon area, as well as a riverboat service.

In June 2012 (just in time for the Olympics) the latest new transport medium was added to the [=TfL=] network, the [[https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/emirates-air-line/ Emirates Air Line]] (spelled "Air Line" to distinguish it from the Emirates Airline which sponsors it). This isn't a train (it's a cable car), but it's shown on the Underground map with all the above services. It was hyped as the first commuter cable car in Britain, but the actual use (predictably, given the poor connections with the DLR and Underground) turned out to be almost entirely by tourists, leading to criticisms about it having been paid for out of the transport budget.

The city's considerable age has led to several stations having wonderfully evocative names, including East India, Seven Sisters, Elephant & Castle, Tooting Bec, White City and the unintentionally hilarious Cockfosters.[[note]]Though it's worth mentioning most of these stations are named after the places they are based in -- the area names came before their respective stations. The name Cockfosters has been recorded as far back as 1524, and is thought to be either the name of a family, or that of a house which stood on Enfield Chase. One suggestion is that it was "the residence of the cock forester (or chief forester)"[[/note]] Try not to coo too much, though, because it will make your position as a tourist even more obvious. In fact, the best way to act on the Tube is to nonchalantly read a book (or the free papers that end up littering the cars), or else [[ZombieApocalypse stare straight ahead with dead eyes]].[[note]]This is an interesting bit of human behaviour relating to personal space, very closely related to the UncomfortableElevatorMoment -- but much longer, and going sideways. Normally, people -- or at least Brits -- would keep a bit more distance from each other, but that's just not practical in the pack cylinder shaped cars of the tube lines, so instead they retreat into the mind and ignore it.[[/note]] This tendency by London Tubegoers is often referenced in the rest of the country, with [[OopNorth Northerners]] claiming that they can (and do) easily find each other on a given Tube train due to being the only people who act as if there are other human beings present. [[note]]The unique arrangement whereby tube carriages have long bank seats where people are forced to directly face each other across the aisle has often been remarked upon by non-Londoners, used to seats being at right-angles to the direction of travel and therefore meaning you can safely look at the back of the seat in front, or the ''back'' of somebody else's head. Outsiders have been heard to loudly query this quirk of design, which is held to be just asking for trouble. Or at the very least, psychological disturbance.[[/note]]

The stations are all very different, varying from modern-day gleaming loveliness (most notably the new Jubilee line stations) to atmospheric Victorian gloom (Baker Street), with variations frequently occurring in the same station, especially at interchanges. A considerable number of the older stations are of listed building status (subject to preservation orders) and the architecture has been the subject of books. The deepest station is Hampstead, which has platforms 220 feet beneath the ground, largely due to a hill directly above it. It's best to take the lift when using these stations, as the only other option is a ''really long'' spiral staircase.

Most deep-level stations have escalators (the one at Angel is the longest in Western Europe), but obviously at stations five metres below ground level they're just not worth it. The tendency of the early tube operators to switch from lifts (elevators) to escalators when they became available means a large part of the network is inaccessible to wheelchair users -- although sometimes there are stations which would be completely accessible if it weren't for a few steps between the bottom lift level and the platforms. To avoid pointed stares and quiet mutterings do not stand on or put any luggage on the left hand side of the escalator (this side is for people walking up the escalator in a hurry) or stand still at the top/bottom of the escalator. People using the tube are often in a hurry and these faux pas are notorious as tourist behaviour.

During UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, many people sheltered in the underground stations as protection from air raids (the UsefulNotes/MoscowMetro was actually designed with this in mind). It was discouraged at first because the government thought it would bring about a new kind of homelessness (they were also probably kicking themselves for not thinking of it first), but they eventually gave in. Most tended to prefer them to their Andersons or the communal shelters since they were a bit cosier, arguably safer, more familiar and arguably less scary. When a fatal crush occurred at Bethnal Green in 1943 after a false alarm, it was hushed up by the government precisely because people might stop sheltering there.

The lines have their own names and associated colours. They are always referred to by their names though -- say "Green line" instead of "District Line" and people will just be confused. To avoid inconveniencing the working population of London in general, repairs or other work on the lines are typically done on the weekends. The age of the Underground combined with an attempt to get through the upgrading project as fast as possible means that nowadays there are often three or four lines not running as normal at the weekends. It's advisable to check on the [=TfL=] website before travelling.

There are two different sizes of trains (although the gauge is the same), depending on how the original line was constructed. with larger trains being used for the subsurface lines, which use cut-and-cover construction in tunnels, and tube-shaped trains for the deep-level lines bored far underground. And each line has different trains to suit the subtleties of each set of tracks (although the 2010s saw the construction of a new fleet of trains to serve all the sub-surface lines, with only internal seat layout differences).

On most of the network, every train stops at every station, though in two places lines operate alongside one another to provide a fast/local service -- the District line serves some stations not served by Piccadilly line trains, while the Jubilee line serves some stations not served by Metropolitan line trains. The Jubilee itself passes several DLR stations between Canning Town and Stratford. The Met also has "fast" trains that skip more stations further along the line.

The gauge is the same as main line trains,[[note]]Meaning that with some modification, ageing Underground trains can be and are repurposed for surface work; the Island Line on the Isle of Wight uses old deep-level tube stock, and there are now proposals for 1980s District Line trains to be rebuilt with diesel engines for rural National Rail routes[[/note]] and there are some sections of track where the underground shares tracks with other trains. The Crossrail network, currently being built beneath central London (linking two existing National Rail lines), is ''not'' part of the Underground, although inevitably it will share stations with it in the central area.

The network is divided into nine fare zones, and two ancillary sections for Watford Junction and Essex/Kent (formerly six with four ancillary sections, one for Hertfordshire and three for Buckinghamshire), dubbed the Travelcard Zones, because of the ticket type that allows the unlimited use of the whole network and most of the National Rail network in the area for its validity period (a day to a year), except the river boats where you just get a discount. The integrated ticket was introduced by the GLC in 1981 as part of a general price cut. The cut was ruled illegal, but the ticket stayed. Zone 1 is Central London and you will see estate agents (realtors) use "Zone 1" to advertise properties. In recent years the prepaid, scannable "Oyster card" has become very popular among regular Tube users, allowing you to travel without buying a ticket and giving a good discount into the bargain. More recently, the system has been made compatible with contactless debit and credit cards, smoothing things even further.

The most famous quote associated with the system is the above-mentioned "Mind the gap", used on stations with curved platforms (albeit with a lot of stations using BoringButPractical variations on the phrase - though some have announcers that liven things up a little). Based on the experiences of our British Tropers, this is probably [[TheKlutz advice]] [[SlipperySkid worth]] [[DynamicEntry listening to.]]

It is far from uncommon to see rats and mice happily scampering around on the lines and even sometimes on the platform. They survive on the multitude of food dropped by people passing through and anything else they can find. There are also [[UrbanLegends rumors]] of a colony of mosquitoes that got in when the lines were being dug, got trapped, and have now evolved so far as to be unbreedable with any other kind of mosquito -- kind of London's version of [[BigApplesauce alligators in the sewers]].

The Underground logo or Roundel is iconic and much-imitated, but it ''is'' a trademark and [=TfL=] claims to prosecute all unauthorised users.

One of the most striking things about the Underground is its iconic map, which more closely resembles an electrical wiring diagram than a conventional map. Early Underground maps superimposed the stations onto maps of London itself, but as the Underground became a more complex network of lines, it became very difficult to tell from a regular map what changes you had to make in order to get to where you wanted to go. In 1931, technical draughtsman Harry Beck became convinced that Underground users didn't care how far away their destinations actually were; only how to get there. He was inspired by wiring diagrams to design a map that clearly represented which lines were which and how they connected up, but which made no effort to represent how far apart the stations were in real life. He straightened the curves and made stations a uniform distance apart from each other, and the result is a design classic which has been copied so widely that we [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny forget how ground-breaking it was]]. However, the Underground now covers a much greater area than it once did, which means that the current map can mislead users into thinking that their destination is much nearer than it actually is.[[note]]For example, on the Tube map, the distance from Watford station to Marylebone station is roughly the same as the distance from Marylebone station to Tower Hill station. In real life, Marylebone and Tower Hill are about four miles from each other (a Tube journey of about 23 minutes, given that there are a lot of stations in between) but Marylebone and Watford are about 16 miles apart (around 50 minutes.)[[/note]]

The Underground features in fiction quite a bit. Transport for London will let you film down there if you ask permission first. [[http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate/media/lufilmoffice/ They even have a webpage dedicated to filming there]]. They'd happily let you do simple scenes down there, a murder or two at most, but they'd draw the line at a mass shoot-out or a terrorist attack ([[FunnyAneurysmMoment for obvious reasons]]). The places they'll often let you use are Aldwych (a closed station on a closed branch, usually used for historical settings), the closed Jubilee Line platforms at Charing Cross (usually used for contemporary tube scenes) and the closed Down Street station. Some scenes are also filmed on the Waterloo and City Line due to the line closing on Sundays. [[note]] This is why the eponymous Film/SlidingDoors are blue, as the W&C was not managed by the underground at the time so didn't use the standard livery until several years later.[[/note]]

Many filmmakers mock up Tube stations as a result, with varying degrees of accuracy.

!!Tropes as portrayed in fiction:

* SinisterSubway: There is a considerable amount of abandoned or disused infrastructure in the system. [[http://underground-history.co.uk/front.php Underground History]] has details on the vast majority of it. Until quite recently, when its comically Victorian rolling stock was replaced, the Northern Line was noted for its darkness and gloom. Not for nothing was the subway attack in ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'' set in a Northern Line station.
* One Under: The term used when someone goes under a train (fatally or not), be it as a result of attempted or actual suicide, murder or accident. Has turned up in fiction at least twice (as in ''Series/StateOfPlay''). Many drivers who are involved in a "One Under" don't drive a train again. Not exclusive to this system, of course. Many stations have areas under the tracks to stop people doing that sort of thing, known as "suicide pits". These incidents are prevented at the underground stations on the 1999 extension of the Jubilee Line, since they were built with platform screen doors.

----

* In the comic book ''ComicBook/{{Hellblazer}}'', a magician called Map is shown to live in the underground tunnels, happily clearing away the tracks for the London Council, who are quite unaware of his power, which is linked to locations and places (hence his affinity with the city).
* In many of her early appearances (including the cartoon) the ''ComicBook/XMen'' character Jubilee wore earrings shaped like the London Underground symbol for the Jubilee Line.
* In ''ComicBook/TheInvisibles'', Tom O'Bedlam puts Jack Frost through a stage of his initiation in a disused tube station with hallucinogenic "Blue Mould" growing on the walls.
* In ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', the final(?) showdown takes place in Victoria Station.
* The underground gods from ''ComicBook/TheWickedAndTheDivine,'' Morrigan and Baphomet, reside here. Their concerts are here, and people come down to hear them.

* Becomes a significant location in [[Creator/DetsniyOffSkiword Profesor Layton Vs Jack The Raper]], when [[Manga/DeathNote Watari]] takes control of it in order to get the BritishRoyalGuards from [[ArtisticLicenceHistory King Shakespeer]] to guard the entire railway, so Jack The Raper won't be able to get a train.
* In ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'', Loki, Sif and the Warriors Three go down into the Tube system via the Victoria Station during Operation Overlord (the name was intentional) to hunt the ''Veirdrdraugar''.
** About twenty chapters later, it's revealed that [[ComicBook/CaptainBritainAndMI13 [=MI13=]]] under Peter Wisdom's command have taken up residence in some of the old, disused tube stations, using them as a new and [[SinisterSubway somewhat creepy]] HQ following the destruction of their previous one.
** And in chapter 71, [[spoiler: Agent 13]] and two [=MI13=] Agents evacuate the Prime Minister in response to a HYDRA assault via a train leaving from one of these stations and passing through a kind of portal network linking multiple underground lines, while being pursued by the Red Hood and a group of the ''Veidrdraugar.''

* The film ''Film/BillyElliot'', which takes place mostly during the 1984 miners' strike, but has a coda set in the present day. The transition in time between the past and the present is indicated by Billy's family arriving at one of the distinctively modern stations on the Jubilee Line extension.
* ''Film/{{Creep 2004}}''. The poster for this, featuring a woman's bloodied hand against the front of a Tube train, was famously banned from being displayed in the system. A semi [[{{Trainspotter}} rail-fans's]] point on the poster: It features a 1972 stock Northern Line train, withdrawn from service a number of years before ''Creep'' was made.
** The Tube has banned quite a few ads from the network over the years, mostly for being too raunchy, though recent ads such as an admirably blunt one for Vegas, 'come to the place where [[UsefulNotes/BritishAccents your accent]] is an aphrodisiac', suggest that this policy is being relaxed (or it is generally assumed that children won't understand what the word 'aphrodisiac' means).
* The Film/JamesBond film ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' makes the rather big mistake of having a Piccadilly line station south of the river. For those who don't know the system, said line is entirely north of the Thames.
** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' has Bond pursuing Silva between Temple and Embankment stations on the Circle and District lines, which are portrayed as deep-level tube in the film; they're cut-and-cover in reality. The scenes were filmed at the disused Jubilee line platforms at nearby Charing Cross station. A codename for a plan is that of a former Metropolitan Railway station, "incorrectly" described as an old Tube station -- it's well out of London and left the network before London Underground was fully created.
* ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' has most of its Earth sequences set in London and during the final battle in Greenwich, Thor is unexpectedly teleported to the Underground and has to take the Tube back to the battle. (Although this requires ArtisticLicense - he is told that the train at the station is three stops away from Greenwich. There is no tube connection between Charing Cross and Greenwich.)
* A defunct Underground line features prominently towards the end of ''Film/VForVendetta'', where the whole network is closed by the Norsefire Coalition.
* The plot of the film ''Film/SlidingDoors'' diverges at the main character catching/missing her train at Embankment station, setting off events for the rest of the film (which shows us [[AlternateTimeline two parallel lives]] from that point on.) The actual scenes underground were filmed on the Waterloo and City Line.
* The movie ''Film/DeathLine'' features cannibals on the underground who have grown up completely apart from other human contact and can only say "mind the doors". It sounds goofy, but it's a British horror classic.
* ''Literature/{{Atonement}}'' features Keira Knightley and a considerable number of other people [[spoiler:drowning in the real-life bombing of Balham station.]]
* ''[[Film/TwentyEightDaysLater 28 Days Later]]'' was filmed at Canary Wharf. Jim, Serina and Mark walk along the Docklands Light Railway line.
** ''[[Film/TwentyEightWeeksLater 28 Weeks Later]]'' had a whole section of going through the Underground, in the pitch-black.
* In ''Film/AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon'' the titular werewolf committed one of his murders in Tottenham Court Road station. When the dead were advising him to end it all (in a porn cinema in Piccadilly), one of them says, "You could throw yourself in front of the tube".
* Otto in ''Film/AFishCalledWanda'' needs it explained the London Underground is not a political resistance movement.
* ''Three And Out''. Where a guy has two "one unders" in a month and discovers a third gets him 10 years wages' and retirement. He then persuades a suicidal guy to jump under his train. Provoked a massive protest from ASLEF (the trade union for Tube drivers) and the filmmakers taking out ads accusing Underground bosses of opportunism. It got universally panned by the critics, and bombed at the box office.
* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia: Literature/PrinceCaspian'', Strand station becomes the Pevensie children's gateway to Narnia. In the book, this happened at an unnamed countryside train station, rather than in the Underground.[[note]]There have been two Strand stations; one was renamed Aldwych in 1915, so this is likely to be the other, which became part of Charing Cross sration in the 1970s.[[/note]]
* Brian Cox's escape plan in ''Film/TheEscapist'' relies on breaking through a wall near a stormwater drain to get through to an abandoned area of the London Underground (left after World War II), and getting onto a station platform before the tracks start up and electrify.

* ''Film/SplitSecond'', a 1992 film featuring Rutger Hauer [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture in the far future of 2008]] ends with him chasing a creature though the GlobalWarming-flooded Underground tunnels.

* The ''Film/TotalRecall2012'' remake features characters travelling on what is supposed to be the abandoned Underground, with roundels and posters visible, but the trains don't look a thing like the real ones.

* The Underground is so old that it features in the Franchise/SherlockHolmes canon, being a major plot point in "The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans".
** Reciprocating this, in recognition of its association with Holmes the tiling in the modern day Baker Street tube station contains silhouettes of the detective with his iconic deerstalker and pipe. This resulted in a CelebrityParadox for the PresentDay ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' series which is set in a world where the classic Holmes never existed, historically or as a literary character. Consequently series filming at "Baker Street" actually needed to be done in other, plainer, stations.
* In the ''Literature/{{Nightside}}'' novels by Creator/SimonRGreen, the way to the Nightside involves entering the Underground, finding a station sign written in Enochian (the language men use to communicate with angels) and boarding that train.

* As noted in the Live Action TV section, a great deal of Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Literature/{{Neverwhere}}'' is set in these tunnels and other service and sewer tunnels of London, and the fantastical spaces that take their name from (or somehow inspired the name of) stations on the tube network - hence, there really is an Earl who who holds court at Earl's Court, there really are Seven Sisters, there really is an order of Black Friars at Blackfriars, and there really are Shepherds at Shepherd's Bush - but ''pray you never meet them''.

* In the Creator/LenDeighton novel ''SS-GB'' a man attempts to murder Douglas Archer in a Tube station.
* In the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Discworld/{{Thud}}'', dwarven tunnels under Ankh-Morpork are marked with the sign of the Long Dark - described identically to the London Underground logo. At the end of the novel these are gifted to the city - the next novel set there mentions ''The Undertaking'', a government project to convert these to civilian use...

* The Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures novel ''Transit'' by Ben Aaronovitch is set in a future where the Tube has combined with the [[TeleportersAndTransporters T-Mat teleporter network]] from "The Seeds of Death" to form a network of trains that "hop" through teleportation fields, linking all the planets in the solar system. There's even a holographic version of the Beck map, which clearly shows how the subspace tunnels connect by ignoring the planets themselves. The novel is about the attempt to make the first ''interstellar'' link, known as the Stellar Tunnel, or Stunnel (a parody of the Channel Tunnel). King's Cross is still the major interchange for different lines.
* Ben Aaronovitch clearly loves the Underground because the third book in his ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'' series ''Literature/WhispersUnderGround'' (the clue is in the title) not only features the system heavily but all but one of the chapters is named after an Underground station.
* The whole plot of the novel ''Tunnel Vision'' is a bet the main character, Andy, does with his best friend that he can ride the whole system in a day (people have done this). Him being a '{{trainspotter}}', his internal monologue features a lot of useless trivia about the system.

* In ''Literature/ChildOfTheHive'', Will, Ben and Alex attempt to escape from Drew, who is chasing them, by going into the Underground and moving between lines.
* In the non-fiction literature ''Literature/GuinnessWorldRecords'' (formerly ''Guinness Book of Records'') The London Underground is stated as the first underground railway in the world. The shortest amount of time to travel to all the underground stations is always changing so it's probably not worth stating the current record here.
* In ''Literature/RogueMale'' a fight to the death in a deserted tunnel of the now-disused Aldwych London Underground station ends with the "hideous, because domestic, [[HighVoltageDeath sound of sizzling]]."
* The non-fiction book ''Literature/NotesFromASmallIsland'' by Creator/BillBryson suggests a fun game to play with someone who's unfamiliar with London. You challenge them to see who can get from Bank to Mansion House the quicker. They will consult the map (which, it must be remembered, favours clearly showing connections over conveying distance), take the Central Line to Liverpool Street, and then change to the Circle line to get to Mansion House. You, meanwhile, have left the station and walked a little way down Queen Victoria Street. There are several other points where this works.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** Several times, most notably in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E5TheWebOfFear The Web of Fear]]", where the mock-up was so convincing, London Transport thought that their property had been used without permission.
** Marble Arch in "Trial of a Time Lord" ... less so.
* ''Series/{{EastEnders}}'': The show's setting is beside a London Underground Viaduct (despite the name, much of the Underground is elevated) and there is even a fictional station (named Walford East, which replaces Bromley-by-Bow station on the show's fictional tube maps) in the show's setting. A mock up of an elevated station has been built as part of the show's exterior sets to represent Walford East, although this only consists of ground floor level of the station house. There are no platforms as part of this set, and the show very rarely has scenes set at platform level, due to the fact that they would have to shoot these scenes on location at a real station.
* ''Series/{{Primeval}}'', episode two, has giant prehistoric bugs getting into the Underground via time anomaly and killing people. However, said station is very clearly a mock-up, as it doesn't even have the standard station name logos on the side of the tunnel opposite the platform.

** It's probably worth noting that, historically, most of these stops are named after things that actually used to be there -- there was a monastery at Blackfriars, for example. Sadly, The Angel, Islington and Elephant and Castle are just named after old pubs.
*** It should be noted that there is (or was) more than one Elephant and Castle pub in London -- there used to be one by Vauxhall station. The area south of Waterloo is formally called Newington, but '''''nobody''' ever'' calls it that; the pub after which it's named is still there (it may not be the original) and was itself named because the land was owned in the Middle Ages by the Infanta de Castile.
*** The 'Infanta de Castile' etymology is unsubstatiated. There are several versions of the story, but that land was certainly never owned by a Spanish princess!

* In the seventh series finale of ''Series/{{Spooks}}'', Lucas, Ros and Connie use a mix of abandoned and active Underground lines to cross the Thames while trying to get to a nuke at the US Embassy. A Russian hit squad is also down there, trying to chase down and kill them all.
* The "[[Recap/SherlockS03E01TheEmptyHearse The Empty Hearse]]" episode of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' heavily features the London Underground. It was much mocked for '''severe''' confusion between the sub-surface and tube lines, including one pivotal scene in which the train carriage featured is a tube car in the exterior scenes and a full-size sub-surface car when the characters get on board.

* Music/FrankZappa: On the back cover of ''Music/OneSizeFitsAll'' some constellations are named after stations from the London Underground.

** The Music/AmateurTransplants, a comedy duo, also turned The Jam's "Going Underground" into [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHu_cfy33bY London Underground]], a song about the problems of commuting during a strike. [[ClusterFBomb It was rather profane.]]

* There have been British rock bands named The London Underground, Subway Sect, Tubeway Army (led by Music/GaryNuman) and Bakerloo.

* Not the Music/GirlsAloud song "Sound of the Underground".
* Music/{{Madness}} is associated with a roundel for the invented Cairo East station, which appeared on the cover of their second album, ''Music/{{Absolutely}}'' and shows up in concerts and music videos every so often.
* Music/{{Godsmack}} made a song called [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RDZE--LW-o Someone in London]], which consists solely of a sweet guitar riff and sound samples from the Tube, including "Mind the gap!".
* In a similar vein, Music/JudgeDread (no, ''not'' [[ComicBook/JudgeDredd him]]) recorded a reggae song called "Mind the Gap"
* Music/{{Marillion}}'s song "Fugazi" contains references to "Drowning in the liquid seize on the Piccadilly Line" while "Sheathed within the Walkman, wear a halo of distortion/An aural contraceptive aborting pregnant conversation".
* Jay Foreman's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPyg2pK11M Every Tube Station Song]]" is [[ListSong a list]] [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin of every Tube station]] (at the time it was performed).
* Part of the video for Music/{{Madonna}}'s Hung Up involves breakdancing on a Jubilee train.

* Mornington Crescent is a {{Calvinball}} sort of game invented by ''Radio/ImSorryIHaventAClue'' where the "players" name stations off the Underground according to a "complex system of rules and strategies", the first to call "Mornington Crescent" being the winner. [[spoiler:The calling of stations is entirely random and there is no logic to it; the "gameplay" consists of convincing uninformed observers otherwise, or simply being entertaining in your citation of the non-existent rules]].
** [[spoiler: At least, that's what veteran players ''want'' new blood to think, so they can more effectively catch them in an arcane trap]]
** The station Mornington Crescent was apparently chosen because of its erratic opening hours (which have varied between fully open, fully closed, closed Sundays, peak hours only, and exit only during peaks) and the difficulty in getting there by train -- there are two Northern Line routes between Euston and Camden Town, but Mornington Crescent is only on the Charing Cross branch, which leads to a somewhat eccentric service pattern. Bewildered fans can occasionally be found standing on the Northern Line platforms trying to figure it out.
*** Bizarrely, Mornington Crescent is shown on the wrong side on the tube map. However, this is because for simplicity's sake the tube map doesn't show the fact that the Bank and Charing Cross branches ''cross over'' between Euston and Camden Town. Mornington Crescent is on the east side, but at this point the east-side branch is the Charing Cross branch. Do ''not'' mention this fact to a tourist, it will only confuse them.
** If devised nowadays, the game would probably be named after Kensington Olympia, which is said to currently (May 2017) get only two Tube trains a day, except on rare occasions. This makes getting the record for visiting all stations much more difficult than before, since it requires very precise planning ''and'' a measure of luck in avoiding problems elsewhere.
* ''Radio/{{Undone}}''. The episode 'Underground' is set mostly on the tube system.
* ''Radio/TheMuseumOfEverything''. The London Underground features in the last of the 'insanely dangerous ride' sketches.

* In ''On The Underground'', players compete to get points by building Underground lines and having the (yes, there's just one!) passenger ride their trains. One variant ending rule involves ending the game when the passenger token reaches Mornington Crescent.

* ''VideoGame/TombRaiderIII'' has one level set in the abandoned tube station Aldwych, albeit a much larger version than reality. [[ShownTheirWork Still very close to real-life tube stations though.]]
* A ''Franchise/JamesBond'' video game (''The World is Not Enough'') has part of a level set on an underground platform and an underground train.
* A map in the ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' mod ''The Specialists'' takes place in a run-down London Underground station, complete with cheerful "Mind the Gap!" reminders when approaching the (stationary) subway car.
* ''VideoGame/BrokenSword 2'' had a section set in the defunct station underneath the British Museum. There's a ghost. And a train comes even though. (While British Museum is closed, the line it's on is still very much open.)
* ''VideoGame/Uncharted3DrakesDeception'' has the heroes escape from an underground base in London by breaking out into an abandoned tube station.
* One of the levels in ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3'' involves the SAS being drawn into a pickup vs. train chase through an Underground tunnel, then a violent crash and a running gunfight through the station.

* ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' has a subway system. While the Gunnerkrigg Underground is clearly a distinct system (the trains all use magnetic levitation), both the [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=319 sign]] and the general design of the station are unmistakable {{Shout Out}}s to the London Underground.

* Geoff Ryman's hypertext novel [[http://www.ryman-novel.com/ 253]] is a description of all of the passengers on a Bakerloo Line tube train, leading up to a disastrous crash (based on the real-world Moorgate disaster of 1975).

* The Londonist YouTube channel includes videos of the several attempts (some successful) of channel member Geoff Marshall to claim (or to claim back) the record for visiting all the stations, as well as several videos on things to notice around the network.

* ''WesternAnimation/UndergroundErnie'' is a little-kids CGI cartoon starring Gary Lineker (former footy star and now ''Series/MatchOfTheDay'' presenter) as the driver of a train-with-a-face on the fictional "International Underground" which is clearly modeled on the London one, complete with London Transport logo, and the living trains being named after Tube lines.
* ''WesternAnimation/TubeMice'' was a cartoon in the 1990s about a group of mice living in the London Underground. Notable mainly for the villains being played by George Cole and Dennis Waterman, in a clear parody of their ''Series/{{Minder}}'' characters.
* One episode of ''Series/{{Thunderbirds}}'' invovles Scott and Virgil having to use abandoned London Underground Tunnels in order to get into the Bank of England's Vault. This is surprisingly realistic as the Central line in Central London (i.e., from Shepherds Bush to Liverpool Street) features many sharp curves to follow the streets above and avoid the basements of the many buildings already there when the line was built. One of the buildings it curves to avoid is the Bank of England, served by Bank station. Then they go and ruin it by starting at Piccadilly Circus.

* Jay Foreman's "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jPyg2pK11M Every Tube Station Song]]" is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a list of every Tube station]] (at the time it was performed).

* The Londonist YouTube channel includes videos of the several attempts (some successful) of channel member Geoff Marshall to claim (or to claim back) the record for visiting all the stations.

Entire books have been written on the system, so we'll be brief here. The London Underground runs on a four-rail 630V direct current. It has 275 stations at present. Not all of the Underground is actually "underground"; much of it is (like many other subway systems) above the surface, over half in this case, with some "underground" stations in the open air [[note]]in an unusual example, the Underground platforms at Whitechapel are ''above'' its Overground platforms[[/note]] (in fact some Underground trains share stations with UsefulNotes/NationalRail services). The Docklands Light Railway is a separate system -- almost entirely above the surface, run by a different company and has a different power system -- but is shown on the tube map and counted as a tube line for ticketing purposes. Many people seem to think it is just another tube line.

On most of the network, every train stops at every station, though in two places lines operate alongside one another to provide a fast/local service -- the District line serves some stations not served by Piccadilly line trains, while the Jubilee line serves some stations not served by Metropolitan line trains. The Met also has "fast" trains that skip more stations further along the line.

The gauge is the same as main line trains,[[note]]Meaning that with some modification, ageing Underground trains can be and are repurposed for surface work; the Island Line on the Isle of Wight uses old deep-level tube stock, and there are now proposals for 1980s District Line trains to be rebuilt with diesel engines for rural National Rail routes[[/note]] and there are some sections of track where the underground shares tracks with other trains. The Crossrail network, currently being built beneath central London (linking two existing National Rail lines), is ''not'' part of the Underground, although inevitably it will share stations with it.

The Underground features in fiction quite a bit. Transport for London will let you film down there if you ask permission first. [[http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate/media/lufilmoffice/ They even have a webpage dedicated to filming there]]. They'd happily let you do simple scenes down there, a murder or two at most, but they'd draw the line at a mass shoot-out or a terrorist attack ([[FunnyAneurysmMoment for obvious reasons]]). The places they'll often let you use are Aldwych (a closed station on a closed branch, usually used for historical settings), the closed Jubilee Line platforms at Charing Cross (usually used for contemporary tube scenes) and the closed Down Street station.

* ''WesternAnimation/TubeMice'' was a cartoon in the 1990s about a group of mice living in the London Underground. Notable mainly for the villains being played by George Cole and Dennis Waterman, in a clear parody of their ''{{Minder}}'' characters.

* In many of her early appearances (including the cartoon) the ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' character Jubilee wore earrings shaped like the London Underground symbol for the Jubilee Line.

* In ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia: Literature/PrinceCaspian'', Strand station becomes the Pevensie children's gateway to Narnia. In the book, this happened at an unnamed countryside train station, rather than in the Underground.[[note]]In reality Strand station was renamed Aldwych in 1915.[[/note]]

* ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'' has most of its Earth sequences set in London and during the final battle in Greenwich, Thor is unexpectedly teleported to the Underground and has to take the Tube back to the battle.