Tube Station Trivia

by Geoff Marshall

In 2003 Geoff Marshall first attempted what is known as the Tube Challenge – where competitors travel through (but don't have to get out at) every Underground station on the system in the fastest time possible. On his seventh attempt in 2004, he set a record time for the then 275 stations of 18 hours, 35 minutes and 43 seconds. The second time Geoff held the record was in 2013, when there were 270 stations, in a time of 16 hours, 20 minutes, 27 seconds.

It was after that second record that Geoff set out to go to, and get out at, every Underground station, picking up pieces of trivia and spotting things that you don’t see when just passing through. This later turned into a YouTube series with over 7 million views, a DVD video, and now this book.

Genres: Travel

112 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2018

Reviews

[Suli Scatchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

fun and pleasant read. a little outdated (see my akkkshually comments below) but also learned a lot. I would have liked more pictures with the facts.

☝🏼☝🏼🤓🤓🤓 as whilst the book says that “Totteridge & Whetstone” has the highest characters for a tube station, as of 2021 this title now belongs to “Battersea Power Station” with 21 characters. Even before this though, “High Street Kensington” and “Heathrow Terminals 2&3” akshually also had 20 characters though, I don’t think these were mentioned in the book (!).

A few facts maybe could have been worded clearer, such as the fact for “Arsenal” being the only station to be named after a football team, which could be confusing as technically “West Ham” shares a name with a London football team, although I think what the entry was trying to convey was the fact that the Arsenal station itself was renamed from Gillespie Road after pressure from the club, whereas I believe West Ham was a station even before the club relocated to the area. A bit of that extra context would have been ideal. That might have been the most virgin-sounding sentence I have ever typed.

[Farha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have liked more pics, but a very fun read

[finn · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent little book, giving a few facts about each station. quite fun read! :]

[Trevor North · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really pleasant little read for anyone who likes railways, the Underground, transport, infrastructure, London, roundels, architecture or the use of well thought out and meaningful tile work!

Geoff’s passion for the topic, as seen in his YouTube videos, comes through in the writing and the pictures are well selected to illustrate some of the most interesting sights.

Well worth dipping into and, I imagine intentionally, a good size for taking for a journey on the Underground and seeing the sights for yourself.

[cass · Rating 4 out of 5]

guys i really think im autistic