London dopers - What do West Brompton and Mornington Crescent have in common?

Factual Questions
1

This has been driving me nuts.

When I moved into my apartment (in America) the previous tenant had left a wall hanging (pic) of a system map of the London Underground hanging above my bathroom mirror. I stare at it while I brush my teeth.

A few months ago, I heard about the Brittish pop culture meme of the game “Mornington Crescent.” (Non Brits, check it out: it’s hilarious.) So, brushing my teeth one morning, I spotted Mornington Crescent on the system map. It has a curious symbol beside it. (pic) It’s a little five-pointed star in a little box, for those who don’t want to open the picture. The symbol does not appear in the legend (pic), so I have no idea what it means. I thought it was the only station on the map with that symbol, but a few days later, I found West Brompton (pic) with the same symbol. I have looked up both stations, but can’t figure out what trait they alone share that would merit a symbol on the map. (The symbol does not appear anywhere on the current tube map (pdf).)

What does it mean?

2

I know that Mornington Crescent was closed for quite some time - perhaps that’s what the star denotes?

3

It means ‘Closed Saturdays & Sundays’.

Your map probably dates from the late 80s - You can tell because it still has the Aldwych stub of the Piccadilly line marked on it. Here is a map from around the right time period with a key to the symbols on it.

4

Snap.

Shoulda asked this months ago. I could have saved myself much grief.

Thanks for the quick reply, bluecanary!

(On a side note, I feel it is my duty to point out that many of the station names are quite silly. There. I said it.)

5

I think we’ve got the same wall hanging (or rather tea towel!) somewhere - check to see if it was bought at the London Transport Museum. It would match with bluecanary’s dating.

6

Me too - I allowed a double play on reverse shunts that should have been invalid, if I’d noticed it.

7

Randy, you’ll be pleased to know that there are “ghost” stations on the underground, some of which haven’t been used since the 1940s - left completely untouched. The trains whoosh through them, and few people know that they’re there.

8

Greyfield’s Challenge would have made the point moot.

Stamford Brook.

9

But they only come into play in period play, or under the leftward variant of Tumpington’s Elevated rules.

10

And ones that never even opened: http://underground-history.co.uk/bullbush.php (warning: don’t start browsing that site if you’re completely geeky about such stuff and need to do anything else today)

11

I know that Hellgate: London was a pretty crappy PC game, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that they included British Museum as part of the underground sysytem.

12

But you still can’t perform a reverse clockwise bounce through them.

13

That’s true only if Krip wasn’t declared to escape a loop in the last three turns, or, of course, if your play implicates Bank and the Waterloo and City line isn’t closed for maintenance.

14

Dammit! I love that site. But I can’t escape it! Everytime I think I’ve managed to get away, something else draws me in :wink: