please empty your brain below

I know i;ve never been to Heathrow terminal 5 and I can't recall having been any further east than barking on the district line (although I might have been I just can't remember: before I was married I used to extensively use the network to explore far flung places. Now my kids are getting older this will happen again!)There are also large swathes of the DLR I've never done

Just three on the District Line, Southfields, Wimbledon Park and Wimbledon.

I do keeping thinking of doing a "All stations in a day", but where the aim is not to break the time, and would involve *NO* running - just get a group of people to come with me and do them all at a *walking pace* !! If you started on the first train, you could do them all in just over 18 hours. Then you'd be able to say you'd done the whole networkin a day just for the hell of it.

Interested?? email me... DG appears to have provided enough links to my site!

Oddly, even though I live on the Northern Line, I've never been to Morden (although I've been through every other station on the line), I've not been to Heathrow T5 either, or the Jubilee line stations beyond Wembley Park. I think that's pretty much it, though.

I grew up in (outer) London, and used the tube regularly as a kid, then to go to secondary school, then to work, as well as delighting in exploring the capital in a not entirely dissimilar way to the way that you seem to do...and I did use to do the "get the tube to the end of each line and explore what is there" thing too.

Richmond was the final tube station that I visited to complete the set. Not sure why that one, in particular, took so long. (Not least as I'd been to Kew Gardens and Gunnersbury on several occasions before)

Although...oops. I've not been to Heathrow Terminal 5 yet.

But keeping annual lists...that is beyond even me!

I think I'm only missing the Watford branch, Chesham, and Heathrow T5. When I first moved to the city, it was a way of seeing more of it when I had nothing better to do. I always remember that there's horses in fields out at the far ends of the Met. :)

Also interesting would be which bits of the Rail system you've been to. I think I've covered most of south London (there being no alternatives), but I've been over very little of north London's network due to the tube normally being easier.

I have in years gone by boarded and alighted at "Aldersgate Station" now renamed Barbican, "Trafalgar Square" and "Strand Station's" now renamed Charing Cross, "Charing Cross" station now renamed Embankment and "Surrey Docks" station now renamed Surrey Quays. cant think of any others at this time but I think there could have been more.

I am sure I have been to or through all the tube stations, and also many of the suburban train stations within the London zones. Living in West London I don't get to Upminster very often though. Last time I went it was for an open day.
I do not have a car so buses and train are used most of the time. Went to T5 when it opened just to see it, not to fly anywhere. I have also used the Heathrow Express between terminals (that is free), and also into Paddington on those rare days when there has been a problem on the Picadilly line and the Heathrow Express has accepted normal tube tickets.

I've lived in london for 4 years as a kid and 18 as an adult and there are loads, almost all in outer north and east london that I've never been through: North Harrow to Amersham, Watford & Chesham, Kingsbury to Stanmore, Hendon Central-Edgware, West Finchley-High Barnet, Mill Hill East, Bounds Green to Cockfosters, Woodford -Epping & Woodford to Barkingside, Upton Park to Upminster. I've also not been through Wood Lane station, as last time I used that section of the line the station hadn't been built yet.

I remember back in the 1960's going with a Red Rover ticket to Ongar on the Central line. I used to live in Ruislip at the time. In 2004 when I was back in the UK I noticed that Ongar was no longer even on the map.

I'm not sure you can do them all in one day except by running/taking taxis between outer termini etc. Indeed with opening of the JLE and changes (reduction) in frequency to Amersham trains I wonder if it's possible at all? Excluding new lines, ny "last" bit must have been the Bakerloo Line north of Harrow & Wealdstone to Watford Junction, though I'm not sure this really counts! Even all of London Overground in a day would be a bit of a challenge with some doubling-back necessary perhaps at times (anyone suggest the ideal route?).

It took me just under two years to visit every station - three and a half, if you include Aldwych! I started with the Northern Line in April 2007 and wrapped up with the Hammersmith and City in January 2009. Of course if I'd have approached it more ruthlessly and gone out every weekend, I could have concluded it faster. But I quite liked the idea of tackling different bits of different lines on a sporadic basis. It certainly leant the project a bit of an epic feel! I was able to add Aldwych to the list when it had an open day for visitors in September 2010.

Re: Kim's comment above, the links in DG's piece show that is possible to do the tube network in a day, with only public transport allowed (no taxis). Only have to do London Underground stations though, not DLR or London Overground.
Last Sepetember, my nine year old son and I visited all the London Overground stations in 5h 54m 21s, a time which to our knowledge has not been bettered. We started at Watford Junction and finished at Upper Holloway, but I'm not going to disclose the exact route. Route planning is a major part of any challenge, and a successful route is kept as a closely guarded secret!

Definitely haven't been to Heathrow T5, and I don't think I've ever done that bit of the Piccadilly Line that goes up to Uxbridge. Certainly been to Park Royal before, but between there and Rayners Lane draws a blank with me.

I only did the Hainault-Fairlop bit of the Central Line for the first time last year. Never visited Epping-Ongar when it was open, although I used Aldwych a few times.

Otherwise, I've passed through the lot, and mostly actually on the way to/from somewhere too :-)



Imagine doing it on New Year's Eve until the early hours of New Year's Day!

Pity the train services might be too busy and unreliable after 1am.

Passing through the tube network in the slowest possible time would mean to set off as early as possible in life, which leaves you maximum time to finish. Being born on the Bakerloo line seems like an ideal start.

Excellent suggestion, Joachim. I visualise a soon-to-be father shepherding his in-labour wife into a taxi and telling the driver to drive to the nearest Bakerloo line station.

@kim , nigel

I think Kim's point was is it possible if you're not in a hurry to do it, and i say - yes it is!

it would have been much harder to do when the East London Line was still tube, as the 'ultimate' challenge time then was 18hrs 5m. now with the removal of that line it's under the 17 hour mark.

therefore, add back on another hour for doing the normally "running" connections at walking speed or always-wait for the bus, and you could do the whole thing without running in 18 to 18 and half hours. you'd even have half an hour to stop for a cup of tea. you'd have to start on the first train though, it'd be JUST tube station (no London Overgrund), and it would still be a long, tiring day.

have already had three people email me interested! any more takers?

and Nigel; that IS a good time for the London Overground only!

When I was a 'Street Arab' living in Whitecross Street in the 1930's (until being 'bombed out' in 1941) Me and my mates used to get a penny ticket at Old Street station journey to the Angel then hide until the rest of the passengers had gone up in the lift, then we used to sneak up the emergency stairs, and out.
We then walked down City Road, back into Old Street station,and as we hadn't given up our ticket, journeyed once again to the Angel, and repeated the process over again. We did this quite a number of times before we got fed up, but we were back at it a few days later.
I dont know about the record for visiting the most number of Underground Stations,but I bet it was he most efficient way of visiting the least.

Shamed to say that as a life long Londoner, I have stuck mainly to a few select lines including the DLR , and Zone 1-4, with the odd excursion to the end of a line somewhere. I'm planning to do a tour of all the lines but it will be an extremely leisurely one, maybe over the next couple of years...

I remember making it a focal point of a fortnight's holiday in London in 1976 to ride on all lines and through all stations, at a leisurely pace. I was intrigued by the stations that were only open in the rush hour and imagined they would be thronging with people so I'd need to time it right. I was a bit disappointed being the only passenger at Shoreditch during said rush hour. And the same at Aldwych although there were more passengers there.
I still remember the trip to Ongar (repeated in 1988) for the single track and rural landscape. Quite a surreal setting for an urban "underground railway".











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