At 58.5 metres (192 feet) the platforms at Hampstead station (opened 22 June 1907) are the deepest of all the London Underground stations. Hampstead also has the deepest lift shaft on the system at 55.2 metres (181 feet); that’s just 1.2 metres (four feet) less than the height of Nelson’s Column! On 11 April 1954, two new high-speed lifts, which travelled the 55-metre (181-foot) journey in 18 seconds (almost four times as fast as the 1907 lifts they replaced), came into service. They were then the fastest lifts anywhere in the UK.

Not surprisingly the station also has the longest spiral staircase on the system, with a total 310 steps. A notice advises passengers not to use them.

Answered by Caroline Warhurst, London Transport Museum.

One thing to note from the video is that the Earth is a sphere, so on this rectangular map the planes very far North/South appear to move much faster because they are travelling a shorter distance than those at the equator.

The ability of hovercraft to cross dry land as well as water has seen them employed in the military and tourism sectors for many years. Although once billed as the next generation of transportation, they have somewhat decreased in popularity over the last decade. Despite this, their usefulness is still readily apparent.

The core principle of a hovercraft is that the hull of the vehicle is suspended on top of a giant cushion of air, held in place by flexible rubber that allows it to traverse difficult terrain or choppy waves without being torn apart. At the centre of a hovercraft is a huge fan that fi res air downwards, pushing the hull off the ground as high as two metres (6.5 feet). Smaller fans on top of the hull push air backwards, giving the hovercraft forward momentum. Rudders direct this fl ow of horizontal air to allow a hovercraft to change its direction.

Traditional hovercraft have an entirely rubber base that allows for travel on land or sea, but others have rigid sides that, while suited only to water, can have propellers or water-jet engines attached for a quieter craft.

Da Vinci

The first reference to a rotor system is credited to inventor Leonardo da Vinci, who designed an ‘aerial screw’ in 1480. No full-scale variant was constructed during his lifetime.

Steamed

The word ‘helicopter’ was coined by French inventor Gustave de Ponton d’Amécourt, who used it to name his small, steam-powered rotorcraft.

Untethered

The first helicopter to achieve completely untethered flight was the Cornu in 1907, which managed to hover one foot above the ground for 20 seconds.

Fastest

The record for the fastest helicopter in the world is held by the Sikorsky X2 which, during a flyby over Florida, United States, clocked 258mph (416kph).

Phileas

The current world record speed for an eastbound round-the-world helicopter trip is 85 mph (137 kph). The record was set by Edward Kasprowicz in an Augusta A109S Grand.

The iconic red London bus has a long history. In 1907 at a time when there was fierce competition for passengers, and route numbers had only just been introduced, operators still used a variety of colours to indicate where the bus was going. The largest operator, London General Omnibus Company, decided to make its buses stand out. It chose a spoked wheel as a symbol and the colour red for all its vehicles. When London Transport was eventually formed as a single company in 1933, red was already the predominant colour, so all buses in the Greater London area became red.

Answered by Caroline Warhurst, London Transport Museum.

For more information about in-car HUDs and other bright innovations for 2012, check out issue 29 of How It Works, on sale now.

1. Sans cable – Despite still being called cable cars, the majority of modern-day cable cars are not powered by cables at all. Most lines were converted to electric systems in the early 20th century.
2. Hallidie – The cable car was invented by Andrew Smith Hallidie who installed the first system in San Francisco in 1873. The line ran on Sacramento and Clay Streets within the city.
3. Decks – By 1920 cable cars had spread to London, England, where electric varieties operated through the city centre. These cars were usually double-deck rather than single-deck.
4. Abandoned – Unfortunately, due to the rise of automobiles between the Thirties and Fifties, cable cars began to be replaced by buses and cars. By 1955 there were no cable cars left in London.
5. Renaissance – Due to increased fuel prices and population growth, cable car systems have recently made a comeback, with new systems installed in major cities such as Houston and Washington DC.

1. Service – The ULTra Pod system went on trial at Heathrow Airport on 18 April 2011 and put into full service on 16 September 2011. During the trial, the system carried 100,000 passengers.

2. Shuttle – The Heathrow network runs from Terminal 5 to its business parks, and is expected to carry 500,000 passengers a year. This will replace 50,000 shuttle trips.

3. Schedule – It took six years to develop and build the Heathrow ULTra Pod system at a cost of £30 million. Currently, 21 pods are deployed on the 3.8-kilometre (2.4-mile) guideway.

4. Benefits – The pods are 70 per cent more energy efficient than cars and 50 per cent more efficient than buses. The vehicles generate zero local emissions and also reduce congestion.

5. PRT – Personal rapid transit (PRT) systems were conceived in the Fifties. A successful system was built at Morgantown, West Virginia, in 1970 and began operating in 1975.

Ambush, the second hunter-killer submarine in the Astute Class, has successfully completed her first dive; an important milestone in readiness for the boat’s departure on sea trials early next year.

The dive, known to engineers as ‘the Trim and Inclining Experiment’, proves the boat’s safety and stability in the water and measures the submarine’s performance at a depth of 16 metres. The maiden dive took place over two days and involved more than 70 people including BAE Systems’ engineers, Ministry of Defence personnel and Royal Navy Ship’s Staff.

Commander Peter Green, Commanding Officer of Ambush, stated:

“This is a major milestone for Ambush and shows she is firmly on track to exit Barrow early next year in order to commence her sea trials. Nuclear submarines are some of the most complex machines on earth and therefore to see everything come together in order to dive the boat for the first time is very satisfying. It has been a superb team effort between BAE Systems Submarine Solutions, the Ministry of Defence Submarine Project Team and Ambush Ship’s Company.”

The ‘Trim and Inclining Experiment’ proves the safety and stability of the submarine and sets the standards of operation for Ambush’s performance.
The experiment takes place in a dedicated deep area of the dock at Barrow-in-Furness known as the ‘basin’ or ‘dive hole’, where a set sequence of preparations is made, including diving the submarine on its main ballast tanks.

Ambush sea trials are set to commence in 2012.

The famous Routemaster bus was developed by London Transport working with AEC Ltd and Park Royal Vehicles Ltd. It went into service in 1956. Bill Durrant, Eric Ottaway and a team of engineers aimed to produce a standardised design that could be easily maintained. The design was based on engineering principles developed during wartime aircraft production and represented a huge step forward from earlier vehicles. The lightweight aluminium body had no separate chassis and fully interchangeable parts for easy maintenance. Other features included independent front suspension, coil springs, power hydraulic brakes, an automatic gearbox and power-assisted steering.

Offering capacity with comfort in a vehicle designed for London’s streets, it was intended to last 15 years, but carried on for nearly 50. A total of 2,760 vehicles were produced from 1958–68 and they ran in regular services until 2005. You can still travel on a Routemaster in Central London on two Heritage services over parts of routes 9 and 15.