The Tube Journey that's Northbound in Both Directions

Summary

A friend posed a puzzle about two tube stations where you can travel northbound between them in both directions. After contemplating various tube lines, the narrator realized it's possible between Kings Cross St Pancras and Highbury & Islington stations. The older Northern line heads southbound briefly so you can go northbound to the same station. The newer Victoria line provides a direct northbound route. The narrator explains how American terminology like 'northbound' was adopted and the history of the indirect early tube lines versus the straight Victoria line.

Takeaways

• 😀 The video describes an unusual situation where you can take the same northbound train from one station to another, and also take a northbound train back from the second station to the first.
• 🤔 The presenter first thought it might be a circle line situation enabling this paradoxical journey, but realized it was actually between King's Cross St Pancras and Highbury & Islington stations.
• 🚆 It's possible due to both the Victoria line and Northern line running between those two stations, with King's Cross being north on the Victoria line but south on the Northern line.
• 👷‍♂️ The early tube lines were built winding indirect routes to capture passengers, unlike the later Victoria line built as a fast direct north-south route.
• 🎢 The terms 'northbound' and 'southbound' emerged from American engineering influences on the early Underground.
• 😄 Traditionally British railways used 'up' and 'down' to indicate directions relative to London.
• 🕵️‍♂️ The presenter traced the historical development of the two lines involved to explain how the criss-crossing situation arose.
• ⏳ The Northern line from King's Cross to Highbury predates the Victoria line, originally reaching King's Cross in 1901.
• 🗺️ When the Victoria line opened in 1968, its northbound trains went from King's Cross to Highbury and beyond.
• 👍 The presenter hopes the unusual bidirectional tale was an enjoyable bit of tube trivia for viewers.

Q & A

What stations are involved in the puzzle described in the video?

The puzzle involves two London Underground stations - Station A and Station B. Based on the clues in the video, Station A is King's Cross St. Pancras and Station B is Highbury & Islington.

How is it possible to travel northbound from Station A to Station B, and also northbound from Station B to Station A?

This is possible due to the intersecting Victoria and Northern lines between King's Cross St. Pancras and Highbury & Islington. At Highbury & Islington, there is a cross-platform interchange allowing you to switch between the two lines while remaining on a northbound train.

When was the Victoria line opened?

The Victoria line opened in 1968. It was designed to provide a more direct north-south route across central London.

How did the early London Underground lines differ from the Victoria line?

The early Underground lines like the Metropolitan, District, and Piccadilly lines took indirect, winding routes to collect as many fare-paying passengers as possible. The Victoria line was designed to provide a faster, more direct route.

Why does the Northern line dip south between King's Cross St. Pancras and Highbury & Islington?

This is because the Northern line between those stations was built by the City & South London Railway, which originally ran from Stockwell to King William Street. The line was extended northward to Highbury & Islington in stages, accounting for the indirect route.

Where did the terms 'northbound' and 'southbound' come from in the London Underground?

These American terms were introduced on the early tube lines that used American money and engineering expertise, like the Bakerloo, Piccadilly, and Northern lines. They replaced the traditional 'up' and 'down' terminology.

How did the speaker determine the stations involved in the puzzle?

The speaker studied the London Underground map and realized the Victoria and Northern lines intersect between King's Cross St. Pancras and Highbury & Islington in a way that allows traveling northbound in both directions.

What is the purpose of the puzzle described in the video?

The puzzle seems designed to serve as a brain teaser, challenging knowledge of the Underground network by presenting a route that defies intuition about directions.

What tone does the speaker take when describing their thought process?

The speaker takes a humorous, self-deprecating tone, joking about attempting to "burn" their friend for witchcraft and calling themselves "masochistic" for tackling such a convoluted puzzle.

How does the speaker transition into thanking their supporters at the end?

The speaker cleverly links the "illogical line" of the puzzle to thanking supporters who provide the "logical thinking" that helps create their videos.

Outlines

00:00

😀 The Northern Line's Odd Northbound Route Between King's Cross and Euston Stations

The friend posed a brain teaser about two tube stations where you can travel northbound between them in both directions. It refers to the odd northern line route between King's Cross and Euston, where Angel station is north of King's Cross. The early tube lines had indirect routes to maximize fare collection. The more recent Victoria line was built for direct north-south travel.

05:02

😊 Thanking Supporters and Addressing the Attempted Execution Joke

The narrator thanks supporters on Kofi, Patreon and YouTube for enabling the channel. He also jokingly apologizes for attempting to execute his friend over the brain teaser question.

Keywords

💡Tube

The London Underground rail network, commonly referred to as 'the tube'. It is a key part of the transport system in London. The narrator talks extensively about the history and quirks of various tube lines, like the complex North-South routing between King's Cross and Highbury & Islington stations.

💡Northbound

Traveling in a northerly direction on the tube lines. Despite being 'northbound', some lines like the Northern line actually travel southwards between King's Cross and Highbury. This paradoxical routing is a key element of the narrator's puzzle.

💡Victoria Line

A relatively modern tube line built in the 1960s to provide fast north-south connections across London. The narrator contrasts it with older, winding lines like the Northern line. On the Victoria line, 'northbound' trains travel in a consistent northerly direction.

💡Northern Line

One of the oldest tube lines in London, with indirect routing. On the Northern line between King's Cross and Highbury, 'northbound' trains briefly head southwards, creating the narrator's puzzle.

💡King's Cross St Pancras

A major railway and tube station in central London. It is one end of the narrator's puzzle journey, where taking a 'northbound' train can lead south to Highbury & Islington station.

💡Highbury & Islington

A tube station in north London. It is the other end of the narrator's puzzle journey, where a 'northbound' train from King's Cross travels south to reach it.

💡Interchange

Switching between tube lines at a station. The narrator does a cross-platform interchange at Highbury between the Northern and Victoria lines to complete the paradoxical northbound in both directions loop.

💡History

The video provides historical context about the early construction of the Northern line and how its indirect route came about.

💡Puzzle

The friend's question about the strange northbound routing is presented as a puzzle for the narrator to solve. Figuring it out is the main narrative of the video.

💡Routing

The direction trains travel on each underground line. The complex and indirect routing of old lines like the Northern is a central focus, contrasted with the more direct Victoria line.

Highlights

My friend posed a puzzle about traveling between two tube stations in the same direction on a northbound train.

I realized the Victoria and Northern lines between King's Cross St Pancras and Highbury & Islington allow this.

The early tube lines were often indirect, built to collect passengers rather than being direct.

The Victoria line was built in the 1960s as a fast, direct north-south route across central London.

The Victoria line approaches King's Cross from the south, then heads north, allowing the bidirectional northbound journey.

"Up" and "down" were traditional directions on British railways, referring to London.

American engineering brought terms like "northbound" and "southbound" to the early tube lines.

The Northern line between King's Cross and Highbury & Islington dips south slightly, defying geography.

My thought process went from witchcraft accusation to puzzling out the map to make sense of the riddle.

I avoided just looking up the answer online and worked it out from the tube map instead.

The bidirectional northbound journey defies logic and the laws of spacetime.

The old naming of "up" and "down" trains would be confusing on the mostly flat Underground.

The early lines collected passengers in winding indirect routes rather than going directly.

The Victoria line was designed to be fast and direct, unlike the old meandering tube routes.

American engineering and money helped build the early Tube lines like the Northern line.

Transcripts

recently A friend of mine came to me

with a question a little brain teaser

there are two tube stations he said

which we will call station a and station

B it is possible to get from station a

to station B on a Northbound train but

it is also possible to get from station

B to station a on a Northbound train

what is this journey well after

unsuccessfully attempting to burn him

for witchcraft I applied my mind to the

problem the obvious answer would be

something like the circle line but I

don't think that's what whoever set the

puzzle had in mind I wondered if it was

perhaps one of those weird situations

where there's more than one station like

at Hammersmith or Edge wear Road I cast

my eye over the tube map and that's when

it hit me what about the lines between

houon and King's cross St Pancras there

are two lines running between the two

the Victoria line and the northern line

I've often looked at the carriage

diagram and thought it was odd that as

you head north Angel comes before King's

cross St Pancras whereas I always think

of Angel as being the first of the

northern suburbs I'm sure plenty of

people will disagree with me on that

that's just how I think of it now I

could have just Googled this question no

doubt somebody's pointed it out and no

doubt it's been repeated many many times

but I like to make make things difficult

for myself I'm just masochistic like

that so the next day I tried it it was a

Saturday because when you're

self-employed things like weekends and

bank holidays become theoretical

Concepts at King's cross St panras I

took a Northbound train to

Houston at Houston there's a convenient

cross-platform interchange between the

northern and Victoria line platforms and

sure enough the line diagram for the

Victoria line showed that King's cross

St pankas was North so in complete

Defiance of the laws of SpaceTime I was

able to travel in the same direction and

end up back where I started for my next

trick I shall regenerate into Michelle

Gomez the northern line between the two

stations was built by the city in South

London Railway which originally ran from

Stockwell to King William Street near

the present day Bank it was extended in

stages reaching angel in 1901 and then

taking an odd route from there to King's

cross and Houston Houston is slightly

South relative to King's cross so the

Northbound Northern line goes south just

a little bit the early tube lines like

the narration on my videos were often

quite indirect being built to collect as

many Fair paying passengers as possible

the Victoria line is much more recent

being opened in

1968 this was designed as a response to

those early indirect Lines by the second

world war it was clear that London was

being held back by its largely Edwardian

and Victorian underground system whose

trains were slow and

overcrowded the Victoria line was

planned to cut straight across central

London providing a quick route from

north to south and to head into the

northeastern suburbs to take pressure

off the mainline Railways none of this

messing around with dipping South and

winding around all over the place

Northbound meant Northbound the line

approached Houston from Warren Street

then headed to the tube station that was

now known as King's cross St panras then

headed north to hbri and Islington the

term Northbound as well as southbound

Eastbound and Westbound was actually an

American thing the traditional way to

refer to different directions of Railway

in the early 20th century was to say up

and down with up usually referring to to

the direction of London so yes you could

be at Glasgow Central and your train to

London would still be the up train of

course this is a slightly moot point on

the Underground where most of the lines

are entirely within London the early

underground lines particularly the bako

Northern and Picadilly lines were built

using American money and a lot of

American engineering experience and

consequently a lot of American

terminology made its way onto the tube

just as well really would be confusing

to get an up train on the central line

from West ricep only to have it turn

into a down train at

Stratford so anyway that's the journey

that goes Northbound in both directions

impress your

[Music]

friends well I hope you enjoyed this

bidirectional tail from the tube if so

please do leave a like And subscribe for

more if that's your jam I would like as

to thank my donors on Kofi and patreon

and here on YouTube for your support you

are The Logical thinking to my illogical

line also thank you to David for

approaching me with this question sorry

about the attempted execution and I'll

see you all again very soon for another

tale from the

tube

for