How The Tube Lines Got Their Names

There are 11 Tube Lines on the current tube map - how did they get their names? It all started with the Metropolitan District Railways in 1863, and here's a history of all the names since then.

The Tube Map now also includes the Overground, DLR, Trams, Tfl Rail, Thameslink .. and even the Cable Car. All those names are pretty obvious though!

[Voyagerthend]

I just realised that The Northern Line ironically has the Southernmost station on the Tube and also doesn't have the Northernmost Tube station

[allybaker]

I’m suspecting I need to know ALL this for Saturdays Quiz!

[julianporter]

Ref Waterloo Station: The station is named after the bridge.

The bridge is named after the town in Belgium where Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated.

The town is named because it’s where a forest is by a river (water is Middle Dutch for water, loo is Middle Dutch for forest.)

The bridge was under construction in 1815, when the battle happened, and the original intention had been to name it “Strand Bridge” (after the nearby street.) But there was a public call for a bridge to be called “Waterloo Bridge” in honour of the 1815 battle, and the one under construction was chosen.

By the time the railway station opened in 1848, the area had become known as Waterloo after the bridge, and the station was given the name.

[markiangooley]

My Anglophile sister visited London in her teens (I was over 30 my first visit) and told me jokingly that the Bakerloo line was named thus because a key part required the destruction of a Mr. Baker’s loo...

[Ella-jkrq]

Thank you so much for still creating content during lockdown Geoff! I know it’s appreciated by so many of us 😊

[PopeLando]

I'm a Northern Line native, I grew up with Woodside Park as my nearest tube station (throughout my childhood perversely proud that my station was the very last one in the alphabetical list). And I was today years old when I found out that the Northern Heights plan wasn't named after the Northern Line, but rather that the Northern Line was named after the Northern Heights plan! I never knew that!

[GenialHarryGrout]

With the recent extension to the circle, on the map Geoff displayed it looks a bit like a paperclip so the circle line should be renamed paperclip line

[joeymandrews]

3:25 Geoff getting shady now... but it's true, large scale transport projects that don't open on time seem to be somewhat of a tradition. Although it would be such a British thing if the opening of Crossrail got cancelled, and instead we had a "Crossrail Opening Replacement Service" 😂😂😂

[alisonjperry]

Hi, Geoff.
According to my dad, who worked on the project, the Jubilee Line was originally to be called the Fleet line not because it ran along Fleet Street, but because it followed the course of the Fleet River.

[bigjaffa]

1:57 Fun fact - Waterloo station was named as such due to its proximity to Waterloo bridge, not directly named after the battle itself.

[johnpurssey]

I travelled to school from Northwick Park to Baker Street by the Metropolitan Line and sometimes onto Marylebone by the Bakerloo line.
We used to say that the Bakerloo line was a tube line because the trains went underground through tubes, but the Metropolitan Line (like the District Line) was not a tube line because it did not go through tubes even when underground. They were simply part of the London Transport Underground system. I know that they were commonly referred to as the Tube system, but that was because the distinction was not recognised.

[tedcopple]

Nice one Geoff quality 'tent as ever.

[georgestrzemieczny]

well done mate. your passion and knowledge and the time it takes to make one video ( graphs charts visual displays ) and you love it. your true and down to earth, all the best and i hope TFL AND OTHER people see your passion. keep on searching

[barrygower]

I would sometimes use the W&C on Saturday mornings when the service was provided by a single motor car of Southern Railway 1940s stock. It was like riding a rollercoaster.

[PokhrajRoy.]

So, the ‘Jubilee’ line was supposed to be over by the Third Season of ‘The Crown’ and neither was the Crossrail? Interesting.

[tonybaldwin]

Thanks for inclining the ‘Fleet’ line was hoping we would see a snippet on the East London Line (Underground era)

[bishwatntl]

It's funny how the name "tube line" has come to mean both the Sub-surface lines (Met, District and H&C) and the deep tube lines. I suppose it's easier to say than "underground line". How many of us talk about "taking the tube" vs. "taking the underground"?

[antinous]

Sorry Geoff, but Victoria Station is named after the area it’s in (which is named after Victoria Street) and not the Queen.

The line is named after the station though

[PokhrajRoy.]

THIS VIDEO NEEDS MORE HYPE, Y’ALL! I love this channel!

[kruador]

It's funny that every new line seems to get a suggested portmanteau name when there's actually only one example already - Bakerloo. Crossrail's purpose mainly connects Paddington to Liverpool Street - and therefore it should be the PaddlingPool line.