Facts & Figures of the Underground

Tube Stations that have no surface buildings

Central Line - Bank, Bethnal Green, Chancery Lane, Gants Hill, Notting Hill Gate
Bakerloo Line - Charing Cross, Marylebone, Regent's Park, Warwick Avenue
Piccadilly Line - Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly Circus, Heathrow 4, Heathrow 5
Metropolitan Line - Barbican
Northern Line - Old Street
Jubilee Line - Southwark, Swiss Cottage
Victoria Line - Pimlico, Vauxhall, Walthamstow Central

Stations ticket offices are not are surface level, but you have to descend down steps before you can get to the point where you can buy a ticket.

Tube Stations that have no exit barriers

And thus, therefore you could enter and exit the system without a ticket ...

Chalfont & Latimer - Northbound platform, side entrance
Chorleywood - Northbound only, there's no barrier
Finchley Central - West side of station, side entrance with no barriers
FInsbury Park - Odd, as it's a big interchange station. But nope, you can walk right in ... (and out)
Kensington Olympia - Oyster 'self touch' in only for District and Overground services
Mill HIll East - One of the networks least used stations, not surprising really it's ungated
Pinner - On the northbound platform, back of the train steps down to another exit
Roding Valley - Has no barriers on either side of the station, either exit/entrance!
South Kenton - No barriers, just 'we trust you' Oyster touch pads.
West Harrow - When travelling westbound only, two 'self touch' Oysters, but no barriers
Woodside Park - But only when going northbound on the Northern Line

Tube Stations that have no escalators and use lifts to get down to the platforms

Central Line
Holland Park, Lancaster Gate, Queensway

Northern Line
Borough, Hampstead, Chalk Farm, Belsize Park, Goodge Street, Mornington Crescent, Tufnell Park, Kennington

Piccadilly Line
Covent Garden, Holloway Road, Russell Square, Caledonian Road

Bakerloo Line
Regent's Park, Elephant & Castle, Edgware Road, Lambeth North

Sidenote: Greenford for a long time used to be the ONLY tube station on the network where you can take an escalator up to platform level, but with recent (2010) rebuilding of Stratford station, there is now a (very short) escalator there to take you up to the Central Line platform level.

Also note that whilst all stations that have lifts have emergency staircases, some that have escalators also have emergency staircases that may be quicker to go down if the escalator is crowded! These stations (amongst those listed below), are Shepherd's Bush, Tottenham Court Road, Old Street and Moorgate

Tube Stations with steps

All stations with lifts also have 'emergency' staircases to access the platforms too, but there are also some stations with escalators (not lifts) that also have stairs. Here's a complete list of them.

Hampstead - 320 steps
Belsize Park - 219 steps
Covent Garden - 193 steps
Russell Square - 175 steps
Goodge Street - 136 steps
Caledonian Road - 134 steps
Moorgate - 131 steps
Bank - 128 steps
Edgware Road - 125 steps
Elephant & Castle - 124 steps
Queensway - 123 steps
Kentish Town - 117 steps
Archway - 113 steps
Elephant & Castle - 111 steps
Tufnell Park - 110 steps
Oval - 104 steps
Borough - 102 steps
Old Street - 100 steps
Camden Town - 96 steps
Regents Park - 96 steps
Holland Park - 92 steps
Gloucester Road - 87 steps
Lambeth North - 84 steps
Earl's Court - 83 steps
Kennington - 79 steps
Lancaster Gate - 78 steps
Moorgate - 72 steps
Clapham North - 71 steps
Shepherd's Bush - 70 steps
Mornington Crescent - 66 steps
Holloway Road - 62 steps
Chalk Farm - 54 steps
Embankment - 54 steps

Tottenham Court Road also has a spiral staircase (Appx 120 stairs) down to the platform level, but is currently closed during rebuilding work of the station.

At Oval station, the sign says there are 80 steps. There are on the spiral staircase only, but there are additional steps before and after that which is bring it to a total of 103.

Aldwych station (disused) has 160 steps on its spiral staircase (+ 21 more steps down to the platforms).

Tube Stations that only have escalators

Some people don't like travelling on escalators, and have asked the question "Which tube stations have steps?". "All tube stations have steps!" is NOT the answer. The follow stations only have escalator access to the platforms:

Angel, Baker Street, Baker Street, Chancery Lane, Bethnal Green, Holborn, South Kensington, Stockwell, Tooting Broadway, Tufnell Park, Vauxhall.

(Admittedly, escalator can sometimes be turned off and not moving and thus become steps, but this cannot be relied upon).

Tube Stations with most escalators

Since the re-development of Kings Cross St. Pancras with the new ticket hall, it now has 20 in total within the LU ticket barrier 'boundary'. There are an additional 2 'tube' escalators that take you from the ticket hall up to St. Pancras station, which would be 22 in total.

Waterloo also has 20 escalators within the official LU barrier, but if you include the ones but the Northern/Bakerloo ticket area that take you up to the National Rail concourse, that's 3 more - a total of 23. It also has two travelators.

Canary Wharf has 20 escalators inside the immense station that it is.

Westminster has an incredible 17 escalators - all of them to get you to and from the Jubilee line.

London Bridge also has 17, the majority of these being for the Jubilee Line.

Bank has 15 escalators in total - as well as the travelator to/from the Waterloo & City line.

Oxford Circus has 14 escalators.

Green Park and Piccadilly Circus both have 11

Embankment, North Greenwich and Canning Town all have 10 escalators

Charing Cross has 10 including 5 that were part of the Jubilee Line (but no longer in regular use).

Euston, Canada Water, Bond Street and Southwark all have 8 escalators

Holborn and Warren Street have 7.

Tube Stations that are 'Right Hand Running'

Tube trains and track normally 'drive' on the left as with roads in the UK .. trains will run on the left hand side. But there are a few exceptions on the London Underground where the tracks are switched and they run on the right instead, they are:

Baker Street, Bank, Euston, King's Cross, London Bridge, Warren Street, White City

Tube Stations with other/alternative names

As part of the name on the roundel:

Burnt Oak, still signed as 'Burnt Oak (Watling)'
Hillingdon, sill signed as 'Hillingdon (Swakeleys)'
SouthWimbledon, still signed as 'South Wimbledon (Merton)' in some places
South Woodford, still signed as 'South Woodford (George Lane)'
Tooting Bec, still signed as 'Tooting Bec (Trinity Road)'
Turnham Green, says 'Turnham Green - For Bedford Park' on the platform signs

Stations that are 'For...' somewhere on the roundel:

Warwick Avenue also says 'For Little Venice'.
Ladbroke Grove also says 'For Portobello Road'
Charing Cross also says 'For Trafalgar Square'

Holborn used to say 'Holborn (Kingsway)', but all these roundel signs have now been replaced (But see Howard Jones music video below)

Previous name of the station written into the tiles on the wall:

Arsenal, still has the name 'Gillespie Road'.
Hampstead, still has the name 'Heath Street'
Marylebone, still has the name 'Grand : Central' at the northern end of the platforms.
Warren Street, still has the name 'Euston Road'

Stations that are less than 60 seconds apart

These are all average timings from multiple journeys made going in both directions.

On the Piccadilly Line, Leicester Square and Covent Garden are the two closest stations together on the network with an average journey time of just 37 seconds.
Southwark to Waterloo on the Jubilee line takes on average 41 seconds.
The time between Charing Cross and Embankment (Northern) is 42 seconds.
Mansion House to Cannon Street (District and Circle) : 46 seconds
Northfields to South Ealing on the Piccadilly are so close to each other you can see the other each from the the other one looking down the line. Journey time is 47 seconds.
The time between Charing Cross and Embankment (Bakerloo) is 48 seconds.
Holborn to Chancery Lane on the Central takes 50 seconds.
On the Central Line, Oxford Circus to Tottenham Court Road takes just 52 seconds
Cannon Street to Momument (District and Circle) : 54 seconds.
Marylebone to Edgware Road on the Bakerloo, 55 seconds.
Bond Street to Oxford CIrcus on the Central takes 56 seconds.
Warren Street to Euston on the Victoria line takes 57 seconds.
Swiss Cottage to FInchley Road on the Jubilee Line is 58 seconds.
Shepherds Bush Market to Goldhawk Road on the Hammersmith & City, Circle Lines takes 58 seconds.

Just missing out on the '60 second' mark:

It takes just over a minute - 62 seconds to do Wood Lane to Shepherds Bush Market, and 65 seconds to go between Latimer Road and Wood Lane.

Also, Fairlop to Hainault on the Central are surprisingly close. On a clear day you can see the the other station when looking straight down the line. Average journey time between is 65 seconds.

Stations that it takes longest to travel between

Chesham to Chalfont & Latimer (Metropolitan) takes 7 minutes, 20 seconds
Wembley Park to Finchley Road (Metropolitan) takes 6 minutes, 50 seconds
Heathrow Terminal 4 to Terminals 123 (Piccadilly - round 'the loop') takes 6 minutes, 20 seconds.
Hammersmith to Acton Town (Piccadilly) takes 5 minutes, 50 seconds.
Baker Street to Finchley Road (Metropolitan) takes 5 minutes, 30 second
Hammersmith to Turnham Green (Piccadilly) takes
Waterloo to Bank (Waterloo & City) is 4 minutes, 25 seconds
Arnos Grove to Southgate (Piccadilly) takes 4 minutes, 5 seconds.
Waterloo to Kennington (Northern) takes 3 minutes, 50 seconds
Rickmansworth to Chorleywood (Metropolitan) takes 3 minutes, 50 seconds
Moor Park to Croxley (Metropolitan) takes 3 minutes, 45 seconds
Turnpike Lane to Manor House (Piccadilly) takes 3 minutes, 45 seconds
Chorleywood to Chalfont & Latimer (Metropolitan) takes 3 minutes, 40 seconds
Chalfont & Latimer to Amersham (Metropolitan) takes 3 minutes, 30 seconds
Hampstead to Golders Green (Northern) takes 3 minutes, 15 seconds
Osterley to Boston Manor (Piccadilly) takes 3 minutes, 10 seconds
Seven Sisters to Finsbury Park (Victoria) is 2 minutes, 55 seconds
Kings Cross to Calendonian Road (Piccadilly) is 2 minutes, 50 seconds
Elm Park to Dagenham East (District) is 2 minutes, 50 seconds
Osterley to Boston Manor (Piccadilly) is 2 minutes, 50 seconds.
Baker Street to St. Johns Wood (Jubilee) is 2 minutes, 40 seconds
Highbury & Islington to Kings Cross (Victoria) is 2 minutes, 35 seconds

Music Videos filmed on the tube

Boris Gardener - I want to wake up with you (1986) at Westbourne Park.
Howard Jones - New Song (1983) at Holborn
Aqua - Turn Back Time at Holborn, the disused Platform 5 to Aldwych
Paul McCartney - Press. Baker Street and Piccadilly Circus
Suede - Saturday Night. Holborn.
Feeder - Suffocate. Monument.
The Kinks - Don't forget to dance. Leicester Square
The Kings - Do it again. Aldwych
Scissor Sisters - Mary. Canary Wharf
Chemical Brothers - Believe. Maida Vale
Soft Cell - Bedsitter. St. Johns Wood
Dolly Rockers - Je Suis Une Dolly (2009) on the Northern Line
Madonna - Hung up (2005) on the Jubilee Line

The Prodigy's 'Fire starter' was famously filmed in the tunnels at Aldwych, but it could be any tunnel really, and not readily identifiable as a tube station.