Stations of the London Metropolis - Oliver Green Talk

London Transport Museum's Research Fellow, Oliver Green, will be giving an illustrated talk about London's major stations on November 23rd. Oliver's an extremely knowledgeable and entertaining speaker (I've been to a few of his talks before - see below) and has promised to uncover some of the more unusual historical facts and myths surrounding London stations' history over the past 175 years.


London has more than twice the number of railway stations than any other city in the world. With 13 main line rail terminals, handling over 400 million passenger journeys every year, in the morning rush hours, a train arrives at a London terminus every thirty seconds.

The talk will include a screening of John Schlesinger's award-winning 1961 documentary Terminus, which shows a day in the life of Waterloo station. It shows a glimpse some of the vast array of characters who pass through the station with small stories emerging and reappearing.


Oliver's just published a new guide book 'Discovering London's Railway Stations' which will be on sale on the night.

Of the book, Oliver says, "All of London's great terminal stations were opened in the 19th century and most of them are still in daily use. My book is a pocket size guide to take with you on a tour of the stations and look at the varied history, dramatic architecture and some of the more curious facts and folklore about them. Why, for example, was it claimed that Queen Boudica was buried under platform 10 at Kings Cross and how does this relate to Harry Potter's journey to Hogwarts?"


Platform 9 3/4 by Kat Clay
Tickets can be booked in advance by calling London Transport Museum on 020 7565 7298. They're £8 for adults; £6.00 for seniors and £4 for students. The talk is at the Museum and runs from 6.30pm to 7.45pm.

Private view and talk: Meet the Curators
If you're interested in a look at transport during the second world war, this Tuesday 16th November, there's a private view of London Transport Museum's new exhibition, Under Attack, London, Coventry and Dresden. This will be followed by an illustrated talk from Head Curators Steve Bagley (Coventry Transport Museum), David Bownes (London Transport Museum) and Director Dr. Michael Dünnebier (Dresden Verkehrsmuseum).

It also starts at 6.30pm and lasts around two hours. The ticket price includes a glass of wine, beer or soft drink. Adults £15.00; senior citizens £12.00; students £10.00.

More details for both events can be found on London Transport Museum's site.

Blog Posts on previous Oliver Green Talks:
Transformed by Tube
Frank Pick & Ambrose Heal