Going Underground's Most Visited Posts in 2011

I've been blogging for nine years. 2012 sees this blog going into its tenth year, which surprises me as much as anyone else. So, here's my second year of looking at which blog posts received the most views.

Yet again posts on Max Roberts' great curvy Tube map from previous years made it into the top 10 - his original post from June 2007 and a post where he revisited the map in February 2008.


If I take those posts out, here are the most visited posts, written in 2011, in reverse order.

10. Guess Where Tube 13 - Tube Mouse - Win a copy of Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere

With big thanks to Neil Gaiman for Tweeting & ReTweeting about this, my end of year "Guess Where Tube" post, where I asked people to guess where the picture of this Tube mouse was taken, got into the top 10 (which isn't bad for something I only wrote in December - shows the power of a celebrity Tweet & ReTweet - Neil has over 1.6 million followers on Twitter). Amazingly, after all the traffic and guesses, no one got the answer right. It was Holborn!


9. Bob, Angel Tube Cat, gets Book Deal

It's my favourite Tube story of last year and got a lot of publicity from sites like Catster sort of like Facebook for cats. His book is published in March this year, look out for some posts on that.

8. Old Tube Stations could be re-opened


My interview with Ajit Chambers about his plans to re-open disused London Underground Stations.  It was one of the first longer interviews with Ajit about his plans. Lots of people Tweeted about it and consequently it got publicity in the wider press, becoming a hugely popular topic which the vast majority of people would like to see realised. Look out for more on Ajit's meetings with TfL and the Mayor this coming year.

7. Old Street Tube in Whiteboard Message Wars

Old Street Tube enter the "battle" between Tube stations to  see who has the best messages on white boards.  Old Street gave up pretty quickly, so Angel Tube, Caledonian Road, Warwick Avenue, Oval & Shoreditch London Overground can carry on knowing that it was probably just a bit too popularist for a hip station like Old Street to continue.

6. Do Not try to Smoke on the Tube

A cautionary & grisly tale about someone who was smoking on the Tube.  A London Undergrond passenger was decapitated when he fell while standing between two carriages trying to have a cigarette.

5. London Underground Map for 2015 and 2019

TfL do some star gazing and attempt to show us London's Tube & Rail Network Map for 2015 and 2019.

4. Limited edition Royal Wedding Oyster cards


As much as we would have liked the Royal Wedding Oyster card to have looked like the above mock up, it didn't.

3. Next planned Tube Strike - June 2011

Sadly Tube Strikes or the threat of them dominate my top three - largely due to a shedload of people searching for news of them. My post on a late June Tube strike was third most visited.

2. Tube Strikes Dates Announced for May and June

My post announcing the May & June Tube strikes


1. Tube Strike Dates Announced for June and July

After all of the air time & strike action in June, the strikes for July were called off.

That's it. Thanks to all the comments, tweets, follows & ReTweets over the year. Thanks to everyone who keeps visiting the blog and has been doing so for the last nine years. And a special thanks to all those who send me fun (and not so fun) London Underground stories, pictures, mash-ups, app news and videos. Please keep them coming. Here's hoping that 2012 will bring as many varied Tube stories. I imagine that posts on the Tube related to the Olympics and the Mayoral elections will feature strongly in the coming year.