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Victoria Line turns 42 today. Happy Birthday!

Victoria Line turns 42 today. Happy Birthday!

Huzzah! It’s the Victoria Line’s birthday today, which was opened by the Queen on the 7th March 1969.

The line runs from Walthamstow Central to Brixton – a total of 21km (13.3 miles) – and serves 16 stations, with the Brixton end being laid out as a two-track terminus with a scissors crossover north of the station.

Because stations are further apart than many underground lines, Victoria line trains can reach giddy speeds of up to 50mph, so that on a good day it can take just 32 minutes to traverse the entire line.


(Sept 2000 view of Brixton station before its lengthy – and I mean lengthy – refurbishment)

The first deep-level Underground line to be built across central London since the ‘tube boom’ of 1905-1907, the Victoria line opened in stages between 1968 and 1971.

Brixton station is younger than the northern stations, with the southern extension not being opened by the ever-obliging Queen until July 23, 1971.

Tantalisingly, the line continues for a short distance south of the station platforms where many have dreamt of an extension to Herne Hill or – rather improbably – Streatham, but for now the two tracks are used as sidings for stabling trains overnight.

Read a ton of facts about Brixton station here.

[Tube facts] – [Brixton stats]

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