Welcome back to the London Underground Quiz! Today’s questions are all about the capital’s shortest tube route: the Waterloo & City line.
Despite serving only two stations, this wee line between Waterloo and Bank still has an intriguing history behind it- it was the capital’s second deep tube line after all.
As ever the answers can be found at the bottom of the page. Good luck and stay well.
Waterloo & City line: Questions
Q1. The Waterloo City & line- originally known as the Waterloo & City Railway– was created purely to forge a direct link between the large railway terminus at Waterloo and London’s financial centre.
Prior to that however, there had been an earlier, failed, attempt to create a subterranean link between Waterloo and which other part of London?
Q2
Pictured above is one of the earliest carriages to be used on the Waterloo & City Railway. It was in service between 1898 and 1940.
When the contract for building these trains was awarded in the 1890s, there was considerable controversy as the company chosen were not British! In which country then were they constructed?
Q3.
For many years the Waterloo & City line was something of an oddity as it was operated by British Rail and remained independent from the rest of the tube. London Underground did not take control of the line until 1994.
Pictured above is a train (a Class 487, introduced in 1940) from the British Rail era. The year is 1984, so the carriages are decked out in British Rail Blue. Prior to the 1970s however, what colour were these trains painted?
Q4.
The image above has been distorted… can you guess what the object forms part of? And what is its connection with the Waterloo & City line?
Q5. What is the Waterloo & City line’s rather unflattering nickname?
Q6.
When passing beneath the Thames, the line’s tunnels run beneath the northern point of which bridge?
Q7.
On a black and white tube map, which of the above represents the Waterloo & City line; A, B or C?
Q8.
The clip above is taken from a 1962 film in which the Bank end of the Waterloo & City is depicted.
Who is the comic actor at the centre of the action? And a bonus point if you can name the movie!
Q9.
The Travelator at Bank station was Britain’s first moving walkway. In which decade did it open? A bonus point if you can pinpoint the exact year.
Q10.
A TV location question to finish. From what 1970s BBC drama is the above clip taken?
Answers
Q1: The first underground route from Waterloo was intended to go to Whitehall.
This project- which would’ve been a pneumatic railway- was attempted in the 1860s under the guise of the Waterloo & Whitehall Railway but collapsed due to financial pressures. Had it been successful, the Whitehall terminus would have been located close to Scotland Yard.
Q2: The line’s first cars were built in America- in the State of Delaware- by the Jackson & Sharp Company.
Q3. Before they were painted in British Rail blue in the 1970s, the Waterloo & City’s old trains were coloured dark green.
From the late 1980s until the line’s takeover in 1994, they also sported the ‘Network South-East’ livery as pictured below.
Q4: The mystery object is part of a small crane; specifically the one outside Waterloo station (on Spur Road, close to Baylis Road). It is used, on the rare occasions when necessary, to lift Waterloo & City line carriages up and out of the depot below.
Q5: ‘The Drain’.
Q6: Blackfriars Bridge. The line’s route is pictured below.
Q8: A
Q8: The actor is Norman Wisdom. The film is called ‘On the Beat‘.
Q9: The 1960s: 1960 to be be precise. A video showing the Travelator’s unveiling can be viewed below.
Q10: The scene featured is from Survivors (from the episode Lights of London Part II). Although filmed on the Waterloo and City line, the tube station featured is made out to be Oval on the Northern line!
How did you find that test of the tube’s shortest line? Hope you did well!
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I hope to see you for tomorrow’s quiz- which will be on the Piccadilly line!
If you missed the previous quizzes on the London Underground, be sure to click below to give them a go.
Scored 6 this time, including a couple of lucky guesses.
Got 5 this time I got lucky bring on the Piccadilly line