After a year of stalling, it seems that London might fnally get its Night Tube this August, bringing an all-hours service to the capital on weekends. As a Londoner, I’m thrilled, not least for the chance to proclaim even more loudly the joys of the London Underground. Whisking passengers up and down its 250 mile-long web, it is a logistical marvel for which my love runs deep as the Northern Line.
It’s not just that it’s the easiest, speediest way to get around: like many of the world’s great metro systems, it’s a criminally underrated attraction in its own right. A sprightly 153, the Tube is the oldest of the group. Like most centenarians, it has stories to tell. The first underground train clattered six stops from Paddington to Farringdon in 1863; Churchill and his colleagues holed up in bunkers at disused Down Street to plan the war, and locals used the tunnels as air-raid shelters as the bombs of the Blitz rained down above. There are stops built on Civil War battlefelds, treasure hoards, even plague pits (such as Aldgate station).