30th July: The Central Line

Public services began on the London tube's Central Line on this date in 1900. How much do you know about the Central Line?

1. Back then, the trains only ran from Bank to Shepherd's Bush, and were operated by the Central London Railway. The line was opened by The Prince of Wales (soon to be Edward VII) who made the eighteen minute journey. The author Mark Twain was another early Central Line passenger.
2. Tracks were extended to Wood Lane in 1908, Ealing Broadway in 1920, Greenford in 1947 and West Ruislip in 1948. To the east, services were extended to Liverpool Street in 1912, Stratford in 1946, Woodford and Hainault in 1947, round the Hainault loop in 1948, Epping in 1949 and Ongar in 1957. The Epping to Ongar shuttle closed in 1994. It became known as the Central Line in 1937.
3. It is thanks to the early Central Line that the entire London Underground system as we know it today is referred to as "The Tube." It had a flat fair of 2d, and together with the cylindrical shape of the tunnels it became known as the "Twopenny Tube", later shortened to "The Tube".
4. The Central London Railway was the first underground railway to have the station platforms illuminated with electric lights.
5. Today, the Central Line is the longest tube line at 46 miles (74 km). It has 49 stations and has the longest possible journey between two stations - the 34 miles from West Ruislip to Epping. It's also the busiest with around 260.916 million passengers using it per year.
6. The Central line's official colour is Pantone 485.
7. During the second world war, the as yet unopened Central Line tunnels between Leytonstone and Newbury Park were turned into a two and a half mile long aircraft components factory employing 2000 people.
8. It has the sharpest curve on the tube system, the Caxton Curve, between Shepherds Bush and White City. There are a lot of bends in general, because the line was built to follow the streets rather than going below buildings. This was because it would have been too expensive to purchase wayleave under the private properties on the route. This also has the effect that in places, the east and west bound platforms are on different levels and one line runs above the other.
9. The line has the shortest Escalator on the London Underground system, at Stratford with a rise of 4.1 metres (13 ft). Stratford and Greenford are the only stations where escalators take passengers right up to the trains. Greenford has another escalator claim to fame - until 2014, it had the last remaining escalator with a wooden tread.
10. It is one of only two lines on the London Underground network to cross the Greater London boundary, the other being the Metropolitan.