Aldgate East

Despite Alison 'Crusher' Hall's predeliction to play Aldgate East whenever caught against a mildly difficult shunt, the station may not appear to be very important. Sitting in quadrant 4, sector 3 and zone 2, it does not readily appear to align or diagonalise with other stations. Its colour (grey) and left-handedness may be seen to be disadvantageous when faced with typical level increments across defensive blocks. But there are a number of surprising things about Aldgate East which make it quite a powerful station.

It is the closest station to the zone, quadrant and sector boundaries, by the usual weighted average. Therefore, if faced with boundary problems and forced to use extra faresaver points, it can be very useful to reduce these effects. Likewise, being a neutral colour, it is not affected by line reflection, colour variance or cross-hatching. Being in the upper third of zone 2, its left-handedness gives a neat spin into zone 1 which can be used to double-shunt off most stations inside the Circle line. And, of course, its interchange properties lend it a triple pegging bonus when in spoon or knip.

[PW]

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Categories: A to Z, Station Index