Amazing Facts: London Underground

Amazingly the London Underground celebrated its 150th anniversary this week. At Broadford we have been hungrily devouring interesting facts every week in our quest for new knowledge. Consequently we thought it would be good to find out some facts about our underground system. How many of these did you already know?

1. There is only one Tube station which does not have any letters of the word 'mackerel' in it: St John's Wood. 
2. The average speed on the Underground is 20.5 miles per hour including station stops. 
3. During the three-hour morning peak, the busiest Tube station is Waterloo, with around 57,000 people entering. 
4. On the Metropolitan line, trains can reach over 60mph.
5. The shortest distance between two adjacent stations on the underground network is only 260 metres. The tube journey between Leicester Square and Covent Garden on the Piccadilly Line takes only about 20 seconds, but costs £4.30. Yet it still remains the most popular journey with tourists.
6. Many tube stations were used as air-raid shelters during the Second World War, but the Central Line was even converted into a fighter aircraft factory that stretched for over two miles, with its own railway system. Its existence remained an official secret until the 1980s. 
7. Angel has the Underground's longest escalator at 60m/197ft, with a vertical rise of 27.5m.
8. The shortest escalator is Stratford, with a vertical rise of 4.1m.
9. Only 45 per cent of the Underground is actually in tunnels.
10. The longest distance between stations is on the Metropolitan line from Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer: a total of only 3.89 miles. 
11. The longest continuous tunnel is on the Northern line and runs from East Finchley to Morden (via Bank), a total of 17.3 miles. 
12. Aldgate Station, on the Circle and Metropolitan Lines, is built on a massive plague pit, where more than 1,000 bodies are buried. 
13. The longest journey without change is on the Central line from West Ruislip to Epping, and is a total of 34.1 miles. 
14. The deepest station is Hampstead on the Northern line, which runs down to 58.5 metres. 
15. In Central London the deepest station below street level is also the Northern line. It is the DLR concourse at Bank, which is 41.4 metres below.