150 Years Underground

On 10 January 2013 the Tube (London Underground) celebrates its 150th birthday. The section of today’s Metropolitan line between Paddington and Farringdon opened on 10 Jan 1863 as the world’s first underground railway. We thought we’d take the opportunity of this anniversary to post a few teaching ideas and links relating to the Tube and other mass transport systems around the world.

Curriculum links

Geography – maps, transport History – World War II, London, social Art and Design - art and architecture of stations

This video clip could help introduce your lesson: https://vimeo.com/33794697  

About the Tube

History:

• The Transport for London website has a page showing London Underground ‘milestones’.

Facts:

• Did you know that the London Underground’s 426 escalators travel a distance equivalent to two trips around the world every week? This and more great facts about the Tube can be found on the Britain Magazine website.
• Whilst it’s well known that many Underground stations sheltered people from bombs during World War II, did you know that two miles of the Central Line was actually turned into a huge secret aircraft factory? This wartime secret was only revealed in the 1980s.

Maps:

• The classic diagrammatic map that helps people to find their way around the Tube system is based upon an initial design by Harry Beck. In 2006 it was voted as one of the top three 'iconic' designs of the 20th century in a BBC poll.Exploring the London Tube map can be one way of getting KS3/4 students to learn about different types of map and how to use/interpret them. You could also get students to think about how the map influences their understanding of an area – size, layout etc.For KS4/5 students they could think about how Tube stations have influenced the areas around them – compare the Tube map with other maps, satellite images and other data - what has developed where?For primary, the Tube map could be a good introduction to using map keys – as it is quite simple and used for journey planning. For the very little ones it could be used for learning colours and numbers with the different zones.

• The classic Tube map has become so well known that many people have created their own versions.In 1992 the artist Simon Patterson produced a work called The Great Bear, replacing the station names with the names of famous people such as philosophers, saints and actors. This is one of the best-known examples of the Tube map being played around with, and the ideas behind it are explored in an interesting blog post.Since then, lots of other alternative Tube maps have been created, many of which have been collected on the Londonist website (warning: not all of these are appropriate for use in class!). Interesting/educational examples include:

• • Practical Action’s 'flooded' map of London-on-Sea 2100 - showing the impact of a rise in sea level of 4 metres
  • Life Expectancy at Birth and Child Poverty as a Tube Map - highlighting London's social inequalities
  • Doctor Who Tube Map - each line representing a different Doctor's journey through space-time!
  • The Tate Gallery by Tube - using tubes of paint to create a Tube poster!

Perhaps your students could come up with their own versions of the Tube map?

• Younger students might enjoy Animals on the underground – outlines of lots of different birds and beasties created from the London Tube map. There is also a 'Find the animal' flash game for you to draw your own animal on the map.

Mass Transit Systems around the world

• The Urbanrail website has links to mass transit systems around the world - you can also check out some facts and figures about the world's busiest mass transit (subway) systems.
• There is some lengthy background information here about how subways work.
• South Africa is currently the only sub-saharan African country to have any mass transit systems (in Pretoria, Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town). But there are plans to built a mass transit system in Addis Ababa (Ethopia). There are also similar plans for Lagos (Nigeria).
• Shanghai’s maglev train, which connects the airport to the Shanghai Metro, opened in 2004 and has a top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph), making it the world's fastest train in regular commercial service.
• What fruit is banned from the Singapore Mass Transit System, and why? (Answer: The durian, because it stinks!)

Metro Art and Design

• The metrobits.org Metro Arts and Architecture web pagehas some great pictures and background information about the design and beauty of mass transit systems around the world. Some of the nicest image galleries are:
  • London Tube stations - featuring a range of architectural styles from the very modern back to the iconic stations from the 1940s and '50s as well as late 19th century ones.
  • Paris metro - featuring nice Art Nouveau touches such as the station entrances.
  • Stockholm Tunnelbana – many stations have been left as ‘rock caverns’; also 90% of them feature works of art and the town council has an allocated budget to maintain these.
  • The Moscow metro and St Petersburg metro both feature gorgeous, palace-like stations, complete with chandeliers.
  • The Tashkent metro stations are rather gorgeous too.

The future of mass transit?

There are claims that within the next 10 years a new Maglev vacuum tube system could transport you around the world in just six hours. Find out more on the Digital Trends website. The picture at the top of the page is by Sprengben on Flickr.com and used under a Creative Commons licence.