How extensive is the underground? How much of London and suburbs does it cover?
Any train fans around?
- Thread starter Ar-Pharazon
- Start date
How extensive is the underground? How much of London and suburbs does it cover?
Brightline West is starting to do geological borings and survey for its planned route. So work is actually underway on it. It will be interesting to see when they surpass total miles completed by CHSR whose had a 10 year head start and still hasn't finished environmental studies on some of the critical areas of the first operational segment.
North of the River Thames, the Underground covers a fairly wide area, with some lines going right across from east to west, and others going quite far north. Ironically though, the Northern Line serves the southern-most point of the network.
In central London you can often stumble upon stations, and there are some where it's quicker to walk between them than to catch a train. I think Covent Garden and Leicester Square hold this particular honour. There's tons of connections between lines, and also between Underground, suburban and mainline services.
When it works, it works pretty well. It doesn't always work well! I've generally been fortunate to avoid major delays on it.
do you have any interest in heritage lines in the uk?
I am fascinated by the beautiful steam trains of old, and have been privileged enough to ride on the Strathspey Railway, which runs out of Aviemore in Scotland. As a young meerkat, I also rode the Isle of Wight Steam Railway. There is something gorgeous and romantic about these old, preserved lines and locos, and I have ton of respect for those who work on them.
growing up near the Smoky Mountains, I'd often heard there was a locomotive abandoned somewhere in the park after it derailed. Later on talking to someone who was helping preserve an old Shay locomotive that had been used on the treacherous logging trails, they told me it was a shay and was still there. I just took it at face value that there was a wrecked shay in the park, but people I knew who hiked the park never saw it.
so the other day I finally saw images of it come up in a facebook post of all things, and it wasn't a shay, not remotely. it's not even a locomotive. It seems like the rumor mill passed on bad information more than the correct information that was always out there, but it's still pretty interesting. There is indeed a wrecked steam traction engine deep inside the park, and it's not a mystery or anything, just not somewhere easily accessible: (the video below shows someoen who found a stationary boiler near Kuwohi used to pull logs.
so the other day I finally saw images of it come up in a facebook post of all things, and it wasn't a shay, not remotely. it's not even a locomotive. It seems like the rumor mill passed on bad information more than the correct information that was always out there, but it's still pretty interesting. There is indeed a wrecked steam traction engine deep inside the park, and it's not a mystery or anything, just not somewhere easily accessible: (the video below shows someoen who found a stationary boiler near Kuwohi used to pull logs.