please empty your brain below
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Adding an extra layer of pedantry to an already pleasingly pedantic post, do your straight lines have to be physical features? Otherwise I would offer the legally-protected sight lines to St Paul’s as a too-clever-by-half option. :)
Radinden | 14.03.22 - 7:29 a.m. | #
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I'm surprised you're considering almost straight to count on this one! I believe pedantry to be wholly justified on this subject.
Al | 14.03.22 - 7:31 a.m. | #
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I have only looked at this on my phone so be gentle. My entry would be the Central line from just past Northolt to just before Hanger Lane
Simon G | 14.03.22 - 7:37 a.m. | #
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Ignore me I have just re read the post
Simon G | 14.03.22 - 7:39 a.m. | #
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If we are being pedantic, these lines are not straight in three Cartesian dimensions, they follow the curvature of the Earth. If a line along the surface remains the same distance from the centre of the Earth, then one end of a 10 mile long line should be significantly lower than the other (by about 66 feet). Or, if both ends are on the surface, a chord of 10 miles would go through a cutting (about 16 feet deep in the middle).
Andrew | 14.03.22 - 7:47 a.m. | #
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If we're adopting the extra constraint added by Andrew there's really only one candidate: The meridian laser beacon.
K. | 14.03.22 - 8:14 a.m. | #
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All the straight lines seem to be going on the towards/away from central London axis. I wonder what is the longest straight line that is perpendicular to central London.
Sarp | 14.03.22 - 8:18 a.m. | #
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Bringing in the vertical dimension complicates it. Not just the curvature of the earth, but also hills. Hills would disqualify Roman roads, which famously ignore them. Sewers and some railways would remain in contention.
Malcolm of Kent | 14.03.22 - 8:18 a.m. | #
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Taking all 3 dimensions into account, I suspect the Heathrow flight path is not straight, but descends in steps
MilesT | 14.03.22 - 8:20 a.m. | #
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As roads go, the A10 and the A24 look pretty straight. And the tube map tells me that most tube lines are dead straight...
Malcolm of Kent | 14.03.22 - 8:46 a.m. | #
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To me the A5 doesn't feel straight when it gets to the top of Shoot-up Hill. Or it may just be that there is no view over the brow.
Ian | 14.03.22 - 8:54 a.m. | #
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I am disappointed that no waterways made the final cut (geddit?) but not I suppose surprised as they have always - particularly the earlier ones - needed to weave around topographical features.
Sarah | Homepage | 14.03.22 - 8:55 a.m. | #
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I'm not sure what you mean about the A13 roundabout. If you mean the A406 interchange then the sewer misses it altogether. The stretch of the sewer path from the A13 almost to the A406 is only half a mile.
paul draper | 14.03.22 - 8:55 a.m. | #
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Looking forward to a future post on the biggest triangle in London.
popartist | 14.03.22 - 9:00 a.m. | #
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How about the Royal Docks? There's a straight line from the Victoria to Albert Docks that's about 2.5 miles.
dg writes: ...but across water. The longest dock edge is just over a mile long.
Eric | 14.03.22 - 9:12 a.m. | #
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The grand Union canal through Southall? An overhead power line somewhere?
Ian | 14.03.22 - 9:15 a.m. | #
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The 51°32'25"N parallel, I think, if my reading of your previous post is correct. Google Maps suggests it's actually located one second further north, but I prefer the Ordnance Survey. The westernmost edge of London is angled such that the longest line is clearly through the corner south of Fen Lane, not the almost as easterly point north of it.
HTFB | 14.03.22 - 9:32 a.m. | #
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Runway 09L/27R at Heathrow is 3,902 metres, or 12,802 feet long. That's 2.42 miles, and I assume arrow straight
Simon | Homepage | 14.03.22 - 10:00 a.m. | #
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There is about a 2.1 mile stretch of the LT&S Railway between Lamson Road, NW of Rainham station and the boundary with Thurrock.
dg writes: Indeed there is... added, thanks.
Fred | 14.03.22 - 10:01 a.m. | #
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Oops. That's what comes from reading before coffee....
Simon | 14.03.22 - 10:04 a.m. | #
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Surprised the DLR alongside the Royal Albert Dock didn't make the cut - or indeed the edge of the dock itself.
The Greenwich Meridian is about 12,000 miles long.
Timbo | 14.03.22 - 10:27 a.m. | #
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While the Edgware Road itself may not be very straight, the St John's Wood-Elstree Deep Cable Tunnel beneath it probably is, and so would be a good contender for a many-mile-long straight.
Medford | 14.03.22 - 10:49 a.m. | #
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If you'll be tolerant enough to accept the A5's full 10 miles then another serious contender must be Staines Road (A30/A315/Hounslow High Street/A3). I measure 5.05 miles, allowing the minor kink at the River Crane crossing. If you'll permit the line to cross the London boundary then it can extend up to 6.98 miles.
dg writes: Kinkier than the A5.
James | 14.03.22 - 11:14 a.m. | #
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Was expecting the A10 from Shoreditch to Stamford Hill to appear, but it seems to be minorly bendy in places
I wonder how straight the Central line is from Holborn to Shepherds Bush
PVR | 14.03.22 - 12:32 p.m. | #
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Meridian Way has a noticeable kink between Salmons Brook and Ardra Road
yerrong | 14.03.22 - 1:55 p.m. | #
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PVR - TfL's property asset register is quite useful for such things.
Gunnersaurus | 14.03.22 - 2:05 p.m. | #
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I presume you have investigated and discounted the A219 Trinity Road, which looks pretty damn straight for 2.1 miles
dg writes: 1.4 miles.
Paul | 14.03.22 - 2:59 p.m. | #
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I'm not sure the millennium meridian laser is still functioning. I live near the meridian in Highams Park but I have never seen this laser.
Dan | 14.03.22 - 3:21 p.m. | #
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Yet another 2.1 mile straight is on the Waterloo to Reading line, running westward from Feltham maintenance depot. According to OSM, the last 0.2 miles run along the border between Greater London and Surrey but not across until after a slight bend.
dg writes: Yup, I think that'd be next on my list.
Joachim | 14.03.22 - 3:54 p.m. | #
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I'd like a post about the wiggliest features. My nominees are Brownswood Road, Corkscrew Hill and Sudbury Hill.
yerrong | 14.03.22 - 4:57 p.m. | #
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Given the comment about triangles I take it you have done London's largest squares (and rectangles, of course). If not, why not?!
But trapezoids, etc., are just for us maths teachers I guess.
Ken | 14.03.22 - 7:15 p.m. | #
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Is Oxford Street from Museum Street to Leinster Terrace straight?
dg writes: Not quite (at the eastern end). Soho Street to Leinster Terrace is 1.7 miles.
Ian | 15.03.22 - 7:29 a.m. | #
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railway south of Raynes Park, to Kingston
tunnelscansufferclosures | 15.03.22 - 12:54 p.m. | #
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