
Why does London's Moorgate tube station have a mix of logo signage? - DanBC
https://twitter.com/MrTimDunn/status/1065880618662313984
======
ljm
Sometimes I don't think we realise or appreciate just how old things are and
how they've survived through consistent and conscious effort. A century is
beyond the lifetime of most people. A lot of similar-style public transport in
the US was practically killed between 1920-1940 with the dawn of the car.

In the UK you might live in a house that is 100 years old, and in London you
take a tube train through a tunnel carved out 120 years ago, or something. But
it rarely registers that you are using what we in tech would consider way
beyond a relic.

Your automated train on the Victoria line was done in the 60s or 70s, the DLR
(similarly automated) a decade later. They were so weird at the time that,
story has it, the drivers couldn't read a paper in the cabin because it
freaked passengers out. Despite the fact they weren't in direct control.
Still, automated is weird and it's half a century old.

So what does this say about other historical events that are slipping beyond
our collective conscious, like the two world wars? Or even something like 9/11
where there is a whole generation who never saw that?

And what does it say about knowledge? What we keep in our awareness and what
we pass on to historians?

~~~
jonaswi
I currently have my office in a building that was built durinf the year 1265.
Still to this date I find this fact fascinating whenever I get reminded about
it.

~~~
osrec
Is that in the UK?

------
DanBC
There are a lot of problems with twitter, but it's great for people who want
to share a short thing like this.

From this thread I particularly enjoyed the video of a steam train in an
underground station.

I don't know why I enjoy twitter threads like this so much. I hate "factoids"
(eg snapple bottle cap real facts), but these twitter threads feel a bit more
truthy.

Here's another thread about a woman who ran across Westminster Bridge in less
than the time it takes for Big Ben to chime midday.
[https://twitter.com/meandmybigmouth/status/10584361322062684...](https://twitter.com/meandmybigmouth/status/1058436132206268416)

That's at least 250 metres (I guess, I don't know where they measure the start
and stop of the bridge) in about 55 seconds.

And here's another about the shape of historical cows: "A serious query: were
cows in nineteenth century Britain as rectangular shaped as painters
envisioned them?"
[https://twitter.com/zeenastarbuck/status/1046563793701163010](https://twitter.com/zeenastarbuck/status/1046563793701163010)

~~~
yholio
What exactly am I to do with the link provided, on the desktop? I click on it
and I get the first part of of the message 1/6\. There is no intuitive way to
continue reading. If I click the replies button, I'm invited to join Twitter.
Why should I do that?

As you can imagine, I have the exact opposite feeling, this is the absolute
worst way to share a story. Pushing the "network effect moat" pedal to the
metal by denying service to non-memebers. Not even evil Facebook takes it to
this level (it used to, though).

~~~
notatoad
it's text, with images interspersed. it's a perfectly usable way to present
information. to read it, you just keep reading - all the information is there
on the page. or are you not seeing something that looks like this:

[https://imgur.com/bba37wW](https://imgur.com/bba37wW)

------
gerjomarty
While the mixed signage in the thread refers to the Metropolitan line part of
Moorgate station, there's a similar mix going on in another part of Moorgate
station, specifically the part that's the terminus for the Northern City line
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_City_Line](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_City_Line)).

It's very anachronistic in terms of London stations - its platform design (and
that of most other stations on the subsurface part of the line) is still in
the "Network South East" colours and fonts, which for reference hasn't
technically existed as a concept since 1994. Just think - a colour scheme now
24 years out of date!

It's a line that isn't on the main Tube Map as it's technically part of the
National Rail network and isn't run by Transport for London, even though if
you wanted to travel from Moorgate direct to, say, Finsbury Park, the Tube Map
would have you believe you need to change at Kings Cross.

(Though mostly this doesn't matter as the vast majority of passengers are
commuters from the northern suburbs into the City anyway.)

There's a nice set of photos comparing old with new here, note especially how
little it's changed and how unloved this part of the station looks compared
with the TfL part.
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/60539035@N02/sets/721577011132...](https://www.flickr.com/photos/60539035@N02/sets/72157701113297064)

~~~
barrkel
I had to take this line (Moorgate to Enfield from platform 9) during a strike
once, and it was the creepiest experience: across all carriages, there was
about two non-white people. For a city as diverse as London, this is pretty
unusual. It made the train look like some kind of white flight express.

~~~
laumars
London has loads of pockets of areas where diversity is low. Not just white
folks, but every ethnicity and religious background will have a pocket of low
diversity in London.

I’m not saying it’s right, but it does happen.

------
Doctor_Fegg
Edward Watkin was amazing. Metropolitan Line? Check. Channel Tunnel? Check.
Great Central Railway, the first inter-city continental-gauge railway in
Britain? Check[1]. Pioneered a difficult ascent up Snowdon, the highest
mountain in Wales? Check[2]. Planned lucrative housing development along
public transport infrastructure, known as Metroland? Check[3].

There's a movie in there somewhere.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Central_Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Central_Railway)

[2] [https://www.markhorrell.com/blog/2012/snowdon-via-the-
watkin...](https://www.markhorrell.com/blog/2012/snowdon-via-the-watkin-path/)

[3] [http://www.crecy.co.uk/a-history-of-the-metropolitan-
railway...](http://www.crecy.co.uk/a-history-of-the-metropolitan-railway-
metro-land)

------
hobo_mark
Reminder to anyone interested in the history of London transport that Geoff
Marshall's channel is all about just that
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd18OhMfRmjMjzSHP7Zrzmw](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd18OhMfRmjMjzSHP7Zrzmw)

~~~
techsupporter
Geoff and Vicki are awesome. I loved Geoff's series on "Secrets of the [name]
line," especially the one that concluded with the Waterloo & City Line where
he revealed the little tidbits that had been hidden in the previous videos.
(And "Secrets of the Cable Car" was hilarious.)

Vicki also makes an excellent presenter. Her "solo" video about Harry Potter
Locations around London, and particularly the tube, was great.

------
the_mitsuhiko
Similar things happened in Vienna. The U6 line is completely different from
the rest because it was originally a Stadtbahn and not a subway. The rolling
stock to this date cannot be used in automated operation at all, has different
electrification (overhead wire and not third rail), has lower platforms and
still retains many of the old signage.

Originally there was a steam operation on that line as well:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/St...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fd/Stadtbahn-
Wien-vor-Elektrifizierung.jpg/2880px-Stadtbahn-Wien-vor-Elektrifizierung.jpg)

Later they made the line even weirder by running mixed tram and stadtbahn
operation: [https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Wien-
wvb...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/64/Wien-wvb-
sl-64-e2-642365.jpg) (tram rolling stock stayed on that line even up to 2008
but were not going into mixed operation any more
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/U6_Hande...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/U6_Handelskai3.JPG))

It's now a proper subway by all accounts but still retains some of its weird
history. For instance there is still a track connecting to the tram network so
you can sometimes see a subway train go on the tram network for maintenance:
[http://www.vormagazin.at/tools/imager/imager.php?file=%2Fmed...](http://www.vormagazin.at/tools/imager/imager.php?file=%2Fmedia%2Fimage%2F1358_1181788731.jpg)

The stations still retain much of the old Stadtbahn architecture and show the
old signage more prominently than the new one:
[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Me...](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Metrostacio_Alser_Stra%C3%9Fe.jpg/2880px-
Metrostacio_Alser_Stra%C3%9Fe.jpg)

I always find it very interesting when some old things stay around and become
integrated into something else and that transition period never really ends.
Many transit networks in Europe have history like this and it's fun to
rediscover this history.

------
pietroglyph
Compiled for easier viewing here:
[https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1065880618662313984.html](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1065880618662313984.html)

------
petepete
Another excellent BBC4 documentary on the subject, Two Types: The Faces of
Britain.

[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0903ppd](https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0903ppd)

------
orf
TIL England tried to copy the Eiffel tower:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watkin%27s_Tower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watkin%27s_Tower)

~~~
petepete
And succeeded at a much smaller scale

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool_Tower](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackpool_Tower)

~~~
twic
Grimsby's tower is more my style:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimsby_Dock_Tower](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimsby_Dock_Tower)

