contest! invent a tube station for a fictional location
We have a winner! For sheer creativity, Ide Cyan gets the Tube prize pack.
I'm bumping this up in the hopes of getting some more entries in the last few days before the deadline, which is this Thursday, March 19.
Tooting Bec. Ickenham. Barking. Chigwell. Cockfosters. Seven Sisters. Tufnell Park. Gospel Oak. Finchley Road & Frognal. Headstone Lane.
The London tube system is packed with odd, fanciful, and unusual station names. Some of them sound like the clever invention of a witty poet. The names of the tube lines are evocative, too: Bakerloo. Jubilee. Victoria.
Let’s have fun with this.
Here’s the deal:
Invent a tube station and a tube line for a fictional location, preferrably one that’s appeared in a movie or TV. I won’t be strict about that -- your location could be from a book or comic or some other source, but it should be well known enough so that most of us of the pop-culture-aware geek persuasion will recognize it.
For instance, if you wanted to visit Bilbo Baggins, you might take the Shire line to Hobbiton High Street. If you wanted to visit Elizabeth Bennet, you might take the Regiment line to Meryton Green. If you wanted to visit Luke Skywalker, you might take the Imperial line to Mos Eisley and switch to the Anchorhead line to Tosche Station. Those aren’t terribly original examples, and the pickings among the entries would have to be pretty slim for any of them to win, so feel free to come up with a better example for one of the same locations.
The locations don’t have to be in London, obviously. And if do choose one in London, you should still invent a line and station for it. Since the Leaky Cauldron is in London, some actual, existing tube stop will already be closest to it (wherever it is), but you’d have to make up a new one anyway. The point of the contest is to come up with something that reflects the fictional world you’re in as well as sounding tube-ish.
If you need more info about the tube for inspiration, check out these sites:
Transport for London (official)
current tube map (official)
London tube on Wikipedia
The winner will get a few tube souvenirs I picked up in London. Don’t get too excited: it’s nothing big, not a magic Oyster card that magically keeps itself topped up or anything like that. Just some little goodies.
A few rules:
1) Contest is open to anyone, anywhere, as long as you have a mailing address I can send your prizes to. Winners are responsible for any customs duties they may incur if my prize package has to cross borders. (The overall value of the package is only about $10, though, so it’s not much.)
2) One entry per person. You can repeat locations from previous entries, if you want, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t, just so we get as wide a range of inventiveness as possible.
3) Post your entry here as a comment.
4) Deadline is Thursday March 19, 11:59pm Eastern. Any entries posted after that will be enjoyed for their cleverness, but will not be eligible to win.
5) Have fun!
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comments
posted by JoshDM (Tue Mar 03 09, 4:07PM)
Goatswood
posted by MaryAnn (Tue Mar 03 09, 4:35PM)
I thought I was clear, but I guess I wasn't: We need more than that, JoshDM. Tell us what universe you're working in, and give a tube station *and* a tube line. Follow the examples I gave, if you like. ("If you wanted to visit ABC character or XYZ place, take QRS line to DEF station.")
Embellish as much as you want. Remember, this is all about being creative.
posted by the rook (Tue Mar 03 09, 5:25PM)
how about the Inferno Line with stops at Acheron, Styx, Dis, and Malebolgia. the road, of course, is built on good intentions.
posted by Tonio Kruger (Tue Mar 03 09, 10:30PM)
Heh. I actually got this reference. No doubt the station is right outside Brichester. Near Campbell Street, if you want to make it really obvious...
posted by Don Schraier (Wed Mar 04 09, 5:11PM)
I would visit Charlie Parker in the 1940s by taking
the A Train to Harlem.
posted by Deanne (Wed Mar 04 09, 8:53PM)
How about visiting your friend Jacob at Black Rock Green? Take the Swan line to Lockeham station, where you must switch to the Other line. Get out at Shephard's Palm and take the #23 bus past Donkey Wheel to the Oceanic Blvd. stop. Watch the time because the bus only arrives once every 108 minutes.
posted by MaryAnn (Wed Mar 04 09, 9:59PM)
Deanne is getting it. Don Schraier, not so much. (Psst, Dan: The A train to Harlem is real. You're meant to invent something.)
posted by NorthernStar (Thu Mar 05 09, 5:49AM)
To reach the Time War Memorial, please take the Cascade line to Medusa Station.
Please note: due to temporal leaves on the line, a replacement bus service will be in operation between Elysium Gate and Nightmare Child.
posted by C David Dent (Thu Mar 05 09, 9:46AM)
In honor of Phillip Jose Farmer's passing I'd take the Riverworld line to Grailstone Station where I'd chew some dreamgum and remember...
posted by JoshDM (Mon Mar 09 09, 4:41PM)
In order to meet your overweight friend, Sir Topham Hatt, you'd... nah, too easy.
posted by Bill (Tue Mar 10 09, 4:13AM)
Dear Wendy,
If you really want to Meet Dave and there's no way I can talk you into hanging out with me In Bruges, get yourself to Babylon (A,D line will take you there). Transfer to the Sandler Punch line and ride that all the way to Bangkok (Dangerous, but not as bad as it was in the 80's). From there, the Pineapple line runs Express to Razziehamshire. You can get anywhere from there, but remember that Moneyback Station is closed for repairs. FYI - Tube rates have gone up to 10,000 b/c of the quadrillion-dollar deficit.
Love,
Guru
posted by Jurgan (Sun Mar 15 09, 5:54PM)
When in New York, if you're down around Yancy Street you can hop on the Kirby line. It swings past Stark Tower and the Baxter Building, as well as Ravencroft Asylum, before terminating at Ditko International Airport. From there, you could hop a plane to the African nation of Wakanda, or the east European Latveria. And if you get on the Kirby line after 9:00 P.M. but before 6:00 P.M., the route reverses and takes you to the Negative Zone. Watch out, though- this location is a bit dangerous if you're made of matter.
(Hope you like that one- I've never been sure how much a comicbook geek you are.)
posted by Ide Cyan (Mon Mar 16 09, 2:43AM)
There is no Torchwood Station, either in London, Glasgow, or Cardiff, nor are they all on the same Rift Line; the trains do not carry Weevils underground to secondary holding facilities, the conductors do not disappear so often that the engines have to be programmed to run by themselves, in the dark, across vast and secret distances; you cannot buy tickets to Torchwood, nor would you remember riding those passenger cars, if there were such cars, until a howling, fetid, familiar apparition burst onto this exposed, thronged, banal platform, slew the bystanders, and reclaimed you on your routine, final commute.
posted by Dawn Fiske (Thu Mar 19 09, 7:08AM)
Capicra Station. You would take the Galactica line to Starbuck line, grab a frak drink at a coffee shop, then jump on the Adama line. Can not take the Cylon line. That will get you off the wrong track and it is a bumpy ride. The other lines are smoothe and straight as a lazer.
posted by Ide Cyan (Tue Apr 07 09, 4:59PM)
Thank you for the prize pack!