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The names and colours for the separated Overground lines are out.
No doubt lots of people will moan about them. So here's my piece on how Tube names happen, collective memory, and why visibility matters. #history #london #transport
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2024/the-big-split-overground-line-names/
@garius Fitting that the Romford Navy's Liberty Line is grey, but why you might ask yourself is the Lioness LIne in Watford colours?
@garius They can call it the suffragette line as much as they want. It will remain the goblin to me.
@garius This is some really cool history! And it's always nice to see a woman's story told properly, cleared of casual sexism. The true story gives her proper credit - she chose turquoise for the line, it wasn't some guy who was a bit too impressed by her choice in attire.
My local subway is BART, the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. It's a smaller network than would be ideal, with some fascinating history as to why it goes where it does (Marin County, famously full of wealthy suburbanites, basically opted out before any stations were even built). The lines have always used the same colors on maps - red, orange, yellow, green, and blue - but these weren't official line names until 2022. Nowadays the platform announcements have been retrofitted to include the color names, they've been added to the platform displays, etc. Makes the system quicker to learn IMO, a little easier for newcomers and no different for locals.
@xelle yeah. i've kind of been looking for an excuse to share that story for a long time, as it's a really good example of casual sexism that robs women of agency in history.
@garius I'm glad you found your excuse! I often send short articles like these to my parents – we were in London this winter, so they'll definitely be interested – but I especially want to send it to my mom.
As someone who started her corporate career in the 80s, she's sadly all-too-familiar with the prevailing attitudes of the time... but listening to her stories, I've found that situations like this aren't uncommon. Internally, women's work was often recognized by their male colleagues but never publicly attributed. The stories passed down over time start out as gossip, where the names of the people involved are quickly lost – and without records to confirm their existence, they become the stuff of legend. Unfortunately, many people still feel comfortable embellishing tales of "a woman I heard about" in ways they'd never do to "Judy, two cubicles over": it's easier to be sexist to an abstract person who might not even be real.
@xelle yup. you see it a lot in tech history (another area i write a lot about).
The expertise gets recognised and valued by their direct colleagues, but the institutional sexism ensures that by the time it filters through layers of awareness, the role of the female team member is either downgraded or erased.
Some people will be more than moaning.
What strikes me about the Boris Johnson story is that anyone might have made the assumption, but even if it is another myth we want to believe that Boris couldn't be corrected.
It's part of the storytelling business that binds us to a reality.
@garius Nice to see you. Very enjoyable article.