Could one train travel the entire tube network?

[hopeful traveller]

I’ve had a bit of thought about this and I think there’s only one thing preventing this, W&C aside

Take a 1973 stock Piccadilly line train. It can obviously do the whole Piccadilly line. It can also do the entire Met Line thanks to the Rayners Lane points. Therefore, it can also do the Circle and H&C lines, and also the District Line. Using the crossovers at Finsbury Park it could also do the Victoria line. On the Met, it can cross to the Jubilee line and do all of that line as well, and at Baker Street it can cross over onto the Bakerloo line and do that too.

That only leaves the Central and Northern line. I believe there’s a District / Central crossover at Ealing Broadway, but how would it travel on the Northern Line?

[Iain]

I can't see a crossover at Ealing on here

http://carto.metro.free.fr/cartes/metro-tram-london/

but a District coming up to Gunnersbury could it seems go onto the Overground and then it looks like there's a way to switch to the Northern between Gospel Oak and Tufnell Park. I've no idea about power etc though

[RJSRdg]

There's a connection from the Picc/Met to the Central through Ruislip depot.

Who's going to be the first tube driver member of this forum to attempt it? I hope they remember not to use sub-Surface stock

[greatkingrat]

There has never been a connection to the Northern line at Tufnell Park, it would be a very steep gradient if it existed! There used to be a connection from the Goblin to Kentish Town NR which I think is what you are looking at.

However there is a connection between Northern and Piccadilly at King's Cross (the Kings Cross Loop), so one train could theoretically travel the whole network (except the W&C).

[michael_churchill]

I would recommend "Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides" , click on a line you're interested in and find the "Connections" section.

For the Central line,it says

There used to be a connection between the eastbound Central Line and the District Line platforms at Ealing Broadway, and one to the adjacent National Rail lines at Leyton. Both of these have been lifted.

[dstock17]

Now there's a name I haven't heard for a long time

[tractakid]

You can also link the Tube to the entire National Rail network, which is all interlinked. Waterloo & City excepting. I believe a LU battery loco could go everywhere with enough charge.

[greatkingrat]

It might struggle to reach the Island Line though!

[michael_churchill]

It might struggle to reach the Island Line though!

They already have their own tube trains.

[RJSRdg]

It might struggle to reach the Island Line though!

Or Alderney!

[The Raven]

Would it be possible to "hire" a train or two and do the whole network on Christmas Day! Lol

Would require a lot of backtracking!

[TeamHelsinki]

Would it be possible to "hire" a train or two and do the whole network on Christmas Day! Lol

Would require a lot of backtracking!

The mind boggles at what this would cost. Presumably all the control rooms would have to be manned (at Sunday rates) even if there is no other traffic on the network? And would it even be possible to do this in one day? Because there are so few access points, most lines would need to be travelled back and forth over their entire length. Even if the train would not have to stop at any stations, the sheer mileage is daunting.

-JMan

[RJSRdg]

If only we could find a Tube driver to drive it and a Tube signaller to change the points. Don't know where we'd be able to find them from

[cycysputnik]

There is a small connection for the West Ruislip depot and the met near Ickenham I believe

[Iain]

My first thought was that if they ever timetabled it, it would smash the record, but I've changed my mind. There'd be a ton of doubling back so it might well take considerably longer.