I didn't even realise at 0:05 you said 'in a second'. Then at 4:50 when you have come full Circle, it's revealed that you're actually talking to yourself! Incredible
Yet another winner here 10/10 - Much better than a lot of stuff shown on TV. Your work on the London Underground needs making into a full length documentary film
Don't they tell you though, for example, "Circle Line train to Edgware Road via Baker Street and King's Cross St. Pancras"? The 'vias' being a rather unambiguous way to tell which way a train is going.
Brilliant call back to the beginning. I played that back a few times to try and work out what was going on before giving up. Made the payoff at the end even better.
Euston Square moved the gateline to include the lift now, but the barriers are often kept open. I love this station, friendly staff, nice, quieter than most.
I like the groundhog day joke, although the first time you said "In a second, it's time to do the secrets of the circle line", whilst the second time you said "in a second, which means it's time to do secrets of the circle line".
As for the question in the i, I have a different solution: - Circle Line every 5' between Hammersmith and Gloucester Road, and then alternately to Edware Road (like today) or Kensington (Olympia) - Hammersmith&City Line is shut down - District line trains in relation Wimbledon - Edgware Road are extended to Barking, along today's H&C Advantages: - passengers get a direct service from around High Street Ken to around King's Cross St. Pancras, similar to the old Circle line - Kensington (Olympia) would get a proper integration into the Underground network, instead of today's limited shuttle service What do you think?
Disadvantages: - It would look rather confusing on the Tube map: you would have both Circle and District lines seemingly going around zone 1 in a circle. Sure, the District line will “break the loop” at Aldgate East and Earl’s Court, while the Circle line won’t, but that doesn’t mean it won’t confuse a lot of people. Remember, many tourists (and even some Londoners!) still get caught out by the two branches of the Northern line - there’s no way these people would find this new sub-surface layout simple. (That is, of course, unless you rebrand and rename that new District line route via Farringdon - Wimbledon & City line perhaps?...) - Your proposal would give a total of 30 trains per hour between Baker Street and Liverpool Street (12 Circle + 12 Metropolitan + 6 Wimbledon & City), as well as 30 trains per hour between Tower Hill and Gloucester Road (12 Circle + 18 District); that’s up from 24 on both sections today. And that’s just during the off-peak - at rush hour that number may be even higher! That kind of frequency sounds great in theory but it’s not practical in reality. No other London Underground line currently runs 30tph in the off-peak, and only some lines just about manage that in the peak. Deep-tube lines like the Central or Victoria line can get away with having such high frequencies because they are entirely self-contained and only have grade-separated junctions. The sub-surface lines, meanwhile, have flat junctions at Baker Street, Gloucester Road, and either side of Aldgate; these junctions would seriously struggle to handle 30tph even at peak times - never mind throughout the day! So in conclusion, this service pattern would be extremely unreliable. - In a similar vein, there would be 30tph running through Earl’s Court station. At least the junctions either side of that station are grade-separated - but the problem here is the track layout. If you study it very carefully, you will notice that going eastbound, none of the 30 trains every hour would be able to arrive/depart Earl’s Court station simultaneously! So essentially you’re again trying to squeeze 30tph onto one bit of track, which drastically reduces reliability. (Weirdly, it wouldn’t be a problem going westbound.) - The single-track section on the Olympia branch is actually pretty long, so if you try to squeeze 6tph (or 1 train every 10 minutes) onto that track, then these trains would have to have ridiculously short turnaround times at Olympia (which causes yet another reliability problem). Sorry if I burst your bubble a little - on paper your plan sounds like a good idea - but unfortunately there are a few technical problems with it 😢.
Aha! I saw that the map you used on ths video still has the Epping-Ongar section of the Central Line shown, the Aldwych branch of the Piccadilly line and the Metropolitan Line which ran up to Brill, Wood Siding and Verney Junction.
I checked a few of them: The more obvious ones are there (like the westbourne at Sloane Square or the 4 platforms at High Street Kensington) are the, but the details (like the missing second s at one sign of St. Jamses's Park) are not there.
love these vids....used to travel the tube all weekend as a kid on a "red rover". unlimited travel for half a crown in old money, mind you there was'nt a jubilee or victoria line in them days, but i was totally facinated.. i feel like an anorak
That was really bugging me that 'in a second' bit, firstly cos i thought it was quite rude that someone would interrupt but secondly that youd left it in... Glad you cleared it up cos i was getting kinda p'd off lol!!!
Edgware is quite possibly my favourite tune station. I just love all the plants and the tiles and how half the station platform is underground and the other half is open to the sky
All the plants? Are you sure that’s not the other Edgware Road station (the one on the Bakerloo line)? Because that station has a “vertical garden” on one of the walls!
***** Length does not seem to impact the view counts on my channel. Long videos, in fact, sometimes get more views, like 15 minutes. There is just no good logic to it in my experience. Day of the week posted, on a holiday, on a Thursday?
Can you do a video of why the circle line is always late, has Engineering works, cancelled trains, trains running on average every 11mins. I honestly hated the central line the most untill I started using the circle line. Fyi - Westminster Station trains have a 4 ft height difference when parked next to one another
such a cool channel...aldgate east - u can see the trains queuing up...also, on the dot matrix board, the hammersmith and city was due in 6 minutes, then suddenly disappeared lol...so got on the train to kc and over the pa, heard that "the dot matrix isn't working properly!...the victoria line was busy (busy station - one escalator!)...oxford circus (victoria line), closed due to overcrowding ...hmm, well one escalator working lol...tottenham court road (where the crossrail is hidden among the signs)...hoburn or piccalilly...lol (where ur videos meet the tourist!)..life on the northern line is fave, keep up the good work!
I spent almost the whole video wondering who had interrupted you at the beginning and why you'd left it in. And then the ending answered everything - completing the circle. Very clever! Certainly more clever than I, seeing as I'm the 12533411589844th person to mention this...
At Moorgate, Circle Line level, there is a one station sign that is not in the standard London Underground font. Yes, it's geeky of me, but does anyone know how this came to be? It was there in August 2017.
Not only did South Ken have Metropolitan lines running through where there is now a platform with no rails, but in the 50s the District ran “fast’ trains running there nonstop from Earls Court to Sloane Square. I can’t remember if they had fast trains the other way though. Anybody know?
You can get the circle line from one platform at Paddington, the ones next to the GWR, stay on it all the way round London and then get off at the sub surface platforms later
Geoff, I will tell you a secret that even YOU don't know about. My uncle Jim used to service the chocolate machines on the underground in the recent past. Have you ever put money in to one of them and got nothing out? Well they used to be serviced by VI, (Vending Industries) and those chocolate machines which didn't function were known as "money boxes". They were used purposely because they didn't work and they used to be emptied of money straight into the pockets of VI operatives! Every tube station used to have a certain number of 'money boxes'. I, myself had fallen foul in the past of these monsters! So now you know! 😂
I went to St James’ Park the other day- the gates had a mind of their own! I saw loads of people who they just opened for, they were open until someone put their ticket in and it closed, it was CRAZY!
I watched every video on this channel, but I only realise now that you're always trying to match your shirt to the color of the line. That's great! Keep up the good work on this series
is there a labyrinth at ALL tube stations? I live next to London and Me and my BF are planning to do a day looking at all the secrets of the tube that we find interesting enough to warrant a trip there haha, I would like to see how many labyrinths we can find!
1) will the metropolitan line be the next one coming up 2) would there also be videos dedicated to the DLR and London Overground as well 3) Taking into account what you said about keeping the videos at 5 minutes, couldn't you also do a deluxe version which has more if not all the footage recorded :-)
Hi Geoff, loved the series, perfect for an ex commuter like me, 20 odd years was enough though. Just a quick question though,before the Edgware start/ finish, where did the trains start and finish ?
I noticed that on the tube map, the part from Hammersmith to Aldgate/Liverpool Street (top half) is a different shade to the bottom half (Aldgate/Liverpool Street to Edgware Road)
I stumbled across you channel a little while ago and I have been loving it so far. Being on the other side of the Atlantic, your videos are currently my only way to explore London and the Underground the way I would like to, looking for the little details that have written the story of the city. I've learned a lot about the fascinating tube system. Looking forward to the next episode! Your enthusiasm is infectous and, if I may add, you're quite handsome too hahaha!
Hi Geoff, Love your videos, but please can you go to Notting Hill Gate? When you did the Circle Line you hopped from High St Ken to Paddington and I was longing to see NHG.
Installing the lift Westbound at Euston Sq seems silly to me. If you installed it Eastbound then the people who need step free access, but need to go Westbound instead, can just take a quick one stop to King’s X where you can just cross the platform (as the tracks aren’t in the middle there unlike most subsurface stations) without any steps to go back westbound. With this westbound setup people who need to go east need to travel west all the way to Royal Oak to cross the platform step-free to go back east again.
Very great ending. It's really a very good series, but I sometimes wish it a bit more slowly filmed and narrated, first to understand it better (for folks with other Mother tongues than Englisch) and second to have more time to digest the many facts mentioned here. PS: How I miss Embankment to change from Northern to Circle and District!
+marcoE424 because they planned to extend the lines further north - by the Metropolitan District Railway company. the other lines that were already there had been built by the Metropolitan Railway company (similar name, confusing!)
I didn't even realise at 0:05 you said 'in a second'. Then at 4:50 when you have come full Circle, it's revealed that you're actually talking to yourself! Incredible
That was very clever! LOL!
GroudonKnight how did he do that?
TheMightyKinkle I went back to check when I noticed
Yes I no it's crazy
TheMightyKinkle next Friday I am
The ending was absolutely spot on. Well done.
Tristan Lee it’s what Douglas Hofstadter would call “a tangled hierarchy”
It was dopeeee
4:20 4 years later, Geoff would have a nerdgasm when he finally arrived at platform 4 in HSK on a district line shuttle
that was clever at the end, When you went "a second" at the begninning i was waiting for something but very clever indeed
haha, I noticed that too
I thought you were being 'assled by someone. Like a Big Issue seller or something.
Me too
Loghan wolfesin is
Loghan wolfesin Very clever indeed
Did Anyone else rewind the video to see if he did talk to himself in the first part aswell?
johnny walmer yes I did.
HE DIDN'T!! i love this vid
johnny walmer paradox
Johnny walmer i did
Yep
Very clever at the end, and the intermission. Gave me a giggle!
This guy is brilliant. He should work for the BBC.
Maybe for BBC London.
Great addition to spectacular series. My tube journeys have never been the same again since I started viewing this series, keep up the good work!
Yet another winner here 10/10 - Much better than a lot of stuff shown on TV. Your work on the London Underground needs making into a full length documentary film
Maybe TfL would fund it, just the thing for them to sell in the LT museum shop. It would be a great souvenir for visitors to London.
David Rogers BECTU wouldn't like it
I do wish the circle was still a circle, it's a pain trying to find you way around
Elaine Higham Edgware Roads a massive pain now
James Smart yes the announcements are confusing
agree
I spent ages trying to navigate the circle when my family lived in london for 6 months
Don't they tell you though, for example, "Circle Line train to Edgware Road via Baker Street and King's Cross St. Pancras"? The 'vias' being a rather unambiguous way to tell which way a train is going.
Brilliant as ever, and a time joke! They never get old. Looking forward to the next one.
Brilliant call back to the beginning. I played that back a few times to try and work out what was going on before giving up. Made the payoff at the end even better.
To this day, a yellow shirted Geoff can still be seen, riding the circle line for eternity and revealing its deepest secrets...
Euston Square moved the gateline to include the lift now, but the barriers are often kept open. I love this station, friendly staff, nice, quieter than most.
I like the groundhog day joke, although the first time you said "In a second, it's time to do the secrets of the circle line", whilst the second time you said "in a second, which means it's time to do secrets of the circle line".
you must be fun at parties
I love how Jeff peeks over the bridges to see the trains at the right time so they come in at the same time
Its like he summons them
Magic of editing :)
Another great installment to the series. Loved the little editing trick at the end to :)
2:17 love the 8 bit going underground
Clever bastard! I love the trick. Excellently presented as always
Very interesting + well presented, as always.
As for the question in the i, I have a different solution:
- Circle Line every 5' between Hammersmith and Gloucester Road, and then alternately to Edware Road (like today) or Kensington (Olympia)
- Hammersmith&City Line is shut down
- District line trains in relation Wimbledon - Edgware Road are extended to Barking, along today's H&C
Advantages:
- passengers get a direct service from around High Street Ken to around King's Cross St. Pancras, similar to the old Circle line
- Kensington (Olympia) would get a proper integration into the Underground network, instead of today's limited shuttle service
What do you think?
Disadvantages:
- It would look rather confusing on the Tube map: you would have both Circle and District lines seemingly going around zone 1 in a circle. Sure, the District line will “break the loop” at Aldgate East and Earl’s Court, while the Circle line won’t, but that doesn’t mean it won’t confuse a lot of people. Remember, many tourists (and even some Londoners!) still get caught out by the two branches of the Northern line - there’s no way these people would find this new sub-surface layout simple. (That is, of course, unless you rebrand and rename that new District line route via Farringdon - Wimbledon & City line perhaps?...)
- Your proposal would give a total of 30 trains per hour between Baker Street and Liverpool Street (12 Circle + 12 Metropolitan + 6 Wimbledon & City), as well as 30 trains per hour between Tower Hill and Gloucester Road (12 Circle + 18 District); that’s up from 24 on both sections today. And that’s just during the off-peak - at rush hour that number may be even higher! That kind of frequency sounds great in theory but it’s not practical in reality. No other London Underground line currently runs 30tph in the off-peak, and only some lines just about manage that in the peak. Deep-tube lines like the Central or Victoria line can get away with having such high frequencies because they are entirely self-contained and only have grade-separated junctions. The sub-surface lines, meanwhile, have flat junctions at Baker Street, Gloucester Road, and either side of Aldgate; these junctions would seriously struggle to handle 30tph even at peak times - never mind throughout the day! So in conclusion, this service pattern would be extremely unreliable.
- In a similar vein, there would be 30tph running through Earl’s Court station. At least the junctions either side of that station are grade-separated - but the problem here is the track layout. If you study it very carefully, you will notice that going eastbound, none of the 30 trains every hour would be able to arrive/depart Earl’s Court station simultaneously! So essentially you’re again trying to squeeze 30tph onto one bit of track, which drastically reduces reliability. (Weirdly, it wouldn’t be a problem going westbound.)
- The single-track section on the Olympia branch is actually pretty long, so if you try to squeeze 6tph (or 1 train every 10 minutes) onto that track, then these trains would have to have ridiculously short turnaround times at Olympia (which causes yet another reliability problem).
Sorry if I burst your bubble a little - on paper your plan sounds like a good idea - but unfortunately there are a few technical problems with it 😢.
Hmmm... so Geoff approves a Yellow hoodie on the Circle Line... I use the Overground, so I need to get an Orange and white stripey T-shirt
Don'tLookOrItTakesYou O.O yes you should.
Note his Yellow Nike shoes as well. Maybe you should get some orange & white nike's lol
i absolutely LOVE these videos. i want to visit london!
Absolutely brilliant and very informative and some very clever editing
That Ending was just Incredible, Well Done Jeff 👏
Always enjoy your Secrets of the Underground videos.
Nice one. I've always loved these videos and I can imagine that the deluxe stuff would interest me just as much as everything else :-)
I love the editing at the end its like going back in time
1:17 you know a train is good when he approves
Wow, this series is so good!
So does anyone live at 5 Thurloe Square? You wouldn't be able to fit a table in!
Aha! I saw that the map you used on ths video still has the Epping-Ongar section of the Central Line shown, the Aldwych branch of the Piccadilly line and the Metropolitan Line which ran up to Brill, Wood Siding and Verney Junction.
Not Brill/Wood Siding/Verney Junction.
I love Geoff for all his little imperfections
I wonder how many of these secrets are re-created in the game, World of Subways 3: London Underground Circle Line.
317
317
I checked a few of them: The more obvious ones are there (like the westbourne at Sloane Square or the 4 platforms at High Street Kensington) are the, but the details (like the missing second s at one sign of St. Jamses's Park) are not there.
Jason Prenga thanks
SgtMays
PPYW
All these videos are Fucking great
Don't forget to type FUCKING. It makes you way cool.
@@thisherecat4black397 I Hate That Word
Mind your language
Grow up you bunch of babies
Very Informative! Noticed matching Yellow Nikes too
Epic video!! The circle line is just so like the metropolitan Line and Hammersmith and city line and even the District line!!!!!
Love the London Underground song in that intermission
Well they were probably playing Going Underground by the Jam
4:53 Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant!
2:17 Ahh "The London Underground Song" I see what you did there ;)
London Underground, London Underground
Or "Going Underground," take your pick
Going Underground
love these vids....used to travel the tube all weekend as a kid on a "red rover". unlimited travel for half a crown in old money, mind you there was'nt a jubilee or victoria line in them days, but i was totally facinated.. i feel like an anorak
Emin7 A red rover was for buses only. What you must have had was a twin rover.
Great info on these remarkable pieces of industrial heritage.
Love these videos. London ♡
That Loop is still awesome! Well done
Question: how do you get charged for your fare if you dont use the barriers on entry, but do on exit?
That was really bugging me that 'in a second' bit, firstly cos i thought it was quite rude that someone would interrupt but secondly that youd left it in... Glad you cleared it up cos i was getting kinda p'd off lol!!!
That was BRILLIANT! Great video. and thank you for the info and tips!
***** Oh yeah....I know....lol. I'm addicted to them....lots of really cool info.
Edgware is quite possibly my favourite tune station. I just love all the plants and the tiles and how half the station platform is underground and the other half is open to the sky
All the plants? Are you sure that’s not the other Edgware Road station (the one on the Bakerloo line)? Because that station has a “vertical garden” on one of the walls!
love the little buffering video and music
Never a dull video. I think you sped this one up after it was all edited. It seems like it was really flying by. It is a good one.
***** Length does not seem to impact the view counts on my channel. Long videos, in fact, sometimes get more views, like 15 minutes. There is just no good logic to it in my experience. Day of the week posted, on a holiday, on a Thursday?
Rail gap indicator at 2:06. :-)
Finally I've found another rail nerd that appreciates knowing stuff!
Have you done a video on exactly why the Circle Line extension to Hammersmith came about? Had a look for one but couldn't see anything.
Can you do a video of why the circle line is always late, has Engineering works, cancelled trains, trains running on average every 11mins. I honestly hated the central line the most untill I started using the circle line. Fyi - Westminster Station trains have a 4 ft height difference when parked next to one another
That ending was superb!
such a cool channel...aldgate east - u can see the trains queuing up...also, on the dot matrix board, the hammersmith and city was due in 6 minutes, then suddenly disappeared lol...so got on the train to kc and over the pa, heard that "the dot matrix isn't working properly!...the victoria line was busy (busy station - one escalator!)...oxford circus (victoria line), closed due to overcrowding ...hmm, well one escalator working lol...tottenham court road (where the crossrail is hidden among the signs)...hoburn or piccalilly...lol (where ur videos meet the tourist!)..life on the northern line is fave, keep up the good work!
That ending was great
Euston Square has the same thing as Liverpool Lime street. A lift, down to the platform that bypasses the guards and the barriers
Casio interlude of Going Underground by The Jam! Love it!
Love the twist at the end!! Very informative video too.
Congrats on 1 MILLION views!
I LOVED peeking over the top in south kens! I loved seeing that when I lived there
1:15 also the front doors on S stock are smaller than the rest!
the windows
I spent almost the whole video wondering who had interrupted you at the beginning and why you'd left it in. And then the ending answered everything - completing the circle. Very clever! Certainly more clever than I, seeing as I'm the 12533411589844th person to mention this...
But why was the circle line "extended" to Hammersmith?
At Moorgate, Circle Line level, there is a one station sign that is not in the standard London Underground font.
Yes, it's geeky of me, but does anyone know how this came to be? It was there in August 2017.
I like Geoff's yellow trainers matching the Circle Line coloured shirt
2:17
Nice _Going Underground_ test card!
Not only did South Ken have Metropolitan lines running through where there is now a platform with no rails, but in the 50s the District ran “fast’ trains running there nonstop from Earls Court to Sloane Square. I can’t remember if they had fast trains the other way though. Anybody know?
Addicted to these amazing videos
You can get the circle line from one platform at Paddington, the ones next to the GWR, stay on it all the way round London and then get off at the sub surface platforms later
no matter how many times i see this i cant help but laugh at the end.
+absentjake123 Yeah
Geoff, I will tell you a secret that even YOU don't know about. My uncle Jim used to service the chocolate machines on the underground in the recent past. Have you ever put money in to one of them and got nothing out? Well they used to be serviced by VI, (Vending Industries) and those chocolate machines which didn't function were known as "money boxes". They were used purposely because they didn't work and they used to be emptied of money straight into the pockets of VI operatives! Every tube station used to have a certain number of 'money boxes'. I, myself had fallen foul in the past of these monsters! So now you know! 😂
Love this vid❤❤
I liked what you did at the beginning and the end. ("in a second...") Didn't even notice when I first watched it - now it's so hard to not notice lel
I went to St James’ Park the other day- the gates had a mind of their own! I saw loads of people who they just opened for, they were open until someone put their ticket in and it closed, it was CRAZY!
I watched every video on this channel, but I only realise now that you're always trying to match your shirt to the color of the line. That's great! Keep up the good work on this series
trainers too !
That was a really good idea at the beginning and end Geoff!! I have to learn to do that end .
It mush have been a chilly day of videoing.
#bitnipply
You just interacted with your past! Paradox!
is there a labyrinth at ALL tube stations? I live next to London and Me and my BF are planning to do a day looking at all the secrets of the tube that we find interesting enough to warrant a trip there haha, I would like to see how many labyrinths we can find!
At every tube station, yup! www.geofftech.co.uk/tube/labyrinth.html
Paige Clifton cool
This entire city's underground system is like a videogame overstuffed with easter eggs.
Been waiting for this one!
Yes
Kool effect at the end! 😁
Lovely throw and catch :)
Hi geoff. Was the music for the resoting service the underground song?
1) will the metropolitan line be the next one coming up
2) would there also be videos dedicated to the DLR and London Overground as well
3) Taking into account what you said about keeping the videos at 5 minutes, couldn't you also do a deluxe version which has more if not all the footage recorded :-)
Hi Geoff, loved the series, perfect for an ex commuter like me, 20 odd years was enough though.
Just a quick question though,before the Edgware start/ finish, where did the trains start and finish ?
I noticed that on the tube map, the part from Hammersmith to Aldgate/Liverpool Street (top half) is a different shade to the bottom half (Aldgate/Liverpool Street to Edgware Road)
Secrets of the underground is both cool and nerdy!!
hey guys,
love these videos :)
just wondering, are you planning to do one's for the DLR, overground & main line lines also??
***** lol... true! I'm sure there's a film to be made covering such unknown and unloved stations like Turkey Street and Seven Kings though... ;o)
I worked on the Underground in the 1980's and the staff used to have a rifle range in Baker Street Station.
I stumbled across you channel a little while ago and I have been loving it so far. Being on the other side of the Atlantic, your videos are currently my only way to explore London and the Underground the way I would like to, looking for the little details that have written the story of the city. I've learned a lot about the fascinating tube system. Looking forward to the next episode! Your enthusiasm is infectous and, if I may add, you're quite handsome too hahaha!
Let me guess...Secrets of the Metropolitan Line and Secrets of the Overground? :P
***** Waterloo and City? From what I understand it's more of a National Rail shuttle than an actual tube line, at least it's what I have been told...
Waterloo and city is too obvious and it will be too short and they will never have an extension for more stations to make it look interresting
Hi Geoff, Love your videos, but please can you go to Notting Hill Gate? When you did the Circle Line you hopped from High St Ken to Paddington and I was longing to see NHG.
h i s t o r y
I remember once walking through a subway which connected Aldgate Station with Aldgate East Station. It's not marked on a tube map anywhere...
I can see you working for the One Show! Nice informative video.
Installing the lift Westbound at Euston Sq seems silly to me. If you installed it Eastbound then the people who need step free access, but need to go Westbound instead, can just take a quick one stop to King’s X where you can just cross the platform (as the tracks aren’t in the middle there unlike most subsurface stations) without any steps to go back westbound. With this westbound setup people who need to go east need to travel west all the way to Royal Oak to cross the platform step-free to go back east again.
lol! loved the "intermission". great video btw
Very great ending.
It's really a very good series, but I sometimes wish it a bit more slowly filmed and narrated, first to understand it better (for folks with other Mother tongues than Englisch) and second to have more time to digest the many facts mentioned here.
PS: How I miss Embankment to change from Northern to Circle and District!
+Londonist Ltd
Did you know? Aldgate Station was built on top of a Plague Pit
I didn't understand why there are those two tunnels at High Street Kensington for the Olympia shuttle.....
+marcoE424 because they planned to extend the lines further north - by the Metropolitan District Railway company. the other lines that were already there had been built by the Metropolitan Railway company (similar name, confusing!)