The Monopoly Board: Why Those Stations?

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Patreon: / jagohazzard

[@katbryce]

I think they should have picked one flagship station from each of the big four. Owning all four would mean you had a monopoly on the railways. So my choice would be Kings Cross, Euston, Paddington, and Waterloo.

[@pierremainstone-mitchell8290]

I agree Katrina but good luck to anyone wanting to change it now!

[@nicolasmoodie40]

These days, I'd never want to have to buy Euston.

[@pbrouder]

Yes

[@misterg1157]

@@nicolasmoodie40 I can’t believe they destroyed the Euston Arch when rebuilding the station, and the carbuncle we have now is what they thought was modern and an improvement. There were objections to destroying the Arch but of course they didn’t listen.

[@dambrooks7578]

Burn 🔥 the witch 🧙‍♀️ 🔥

[@63sgjunior]

Monopoly still the only place I can win £10 in a beauty contest.

[@TheNemocharlie]

Sad but true for me as well.... Riotous laughter since I was seven. People can be so very cruel....

[@goldboy150]

Only place £50 gets you out of jail too.

[@hb1338]

@@goldboy150 How is it that you know the going rate ? I think we should be told !

[@goldboy150]

@@hb1338 I should’ve clarified that £50 won’t get you out - unless you’re in Wandsworth. In which case a pair of luggage straps is enough to get you out.

[@peterharris3006]

During the 90s I used to work at Marylebone LU station. Early one Saturday morning a young Australian couple came to me with a British Monopoly board. They were visiting all the places on the board. I stamped the board in the appropriate place with the biggest station stamp I could find and signed it.

[@maddyg3208]

We in Australia only used the British monopoly board. We didn't have our own one (Melb/Syd rivalry wouldn't allow that) and we weren't even aware that it was an American game

[@YukeWeiss]

The only reason I went to Marlyebone Station in London was doing the Monopoly board.

[@davidrenton]

did they also go to Pentonville Jail and an NCP car Park :)

[@platformten5958]

Seeing as we used to deport our criminals to Aus, they probably did visit Pentonville to see where their relatives started their journey; how romantic. 😂

[@michelguevara151]

nice!

[@RJSRdg]

Had I known you were going to make this video, I could have let you have sight of a pre-War Monopoly board with all the stations marked as LNER.

[@highpath4776]

I always read it as Liner , I thought they were stations for the boat -train

[@davidjames579]

@@highpath4776 I thought it was Fabric Softener.

[@norbitonflyer5625]

It may also be significant that, if you get off the train from Leeds at Kings Cross, you are at the junction of Euston Road and Pentonville Road, the latter leading to the Angel, Islington. So, on their fact-finding mission, that was the pale blue squares taken care of

[@chrisrand5185]

I quite like how Marylebone Station has recognised its role on the Monopoly board. A couple of years ago I was travelling from Marylebone and made use of the toilets. Above the wash basins was a big picture of the Monopoly board with 'you are here' marked on the Marylebone Station square. Each of the wc cubicles had one of the silver counters (dog, top hat etc), on it's door. I don't know whether this still exists, but I would be interested to know.

[@highpath4776]

Marylebone I think was HQ not only of the BRB but I think also British Transport Advertising

[@srfurley]

The toilets were refurbished about a couple of years ago and the Monopoly theme has gone. I don’t remember what replaced it.

[@whyyoulidl]

@@srfurley Thx for the update; that's sad (not your update, the fact the monopoly stuff was trashed!)

[@JungleLibrary]

As a non American I only know about Atlantic city through pop culture (and the last reference to it I remember was in Friends) and I was wondering what you mean by Atlantic city has fallen off?

[@blackging3rpool251]

@@JungleLibrary They aren't talking about Atlantic City or anything American ;) They talked about the toilets of the british railwaystation Marleyborne :) Maybe there was a youtube bug that changed the comment threats

[@rjjcms1]

When I was 13 I created an expanded version of Monopoly (based on my home town,Watford). It had 12 property sets,each in its own pretty colour,instead of 8,with 3 on each side of the board instead of 2. The middle sets on the two most middle-range priced sides had 4 properties to collect in them rather than 3. I think it had 5 stations including Bushey & Oxhey,and it had 9 utilities to collect including the familiar Electric Company and Water Works as well as some quite silly ones. In addition to Chance and Community Chest there were a couple of extra sets of cards,one of which you had to take if you landed on a particular square,and one of those was an extra nasty pack called "Crippling Cards" which were red with a skull and crossbones on the back. Games on this version,involving several players,could be long-drawn-out affairs. One of my schoolfriends created his own version too,called Insaneopoly,which had roads with names like Warp Drive and Bend Avenue and was as mad as its name suggests,as you could win or lose almost anything in a thrice. We played both these versions at times,as well as the standard version.

[@highdownmartin]

RIP LEMMY. I spotted that, thanks jago. Interesting tie in fact, Ian Kilmister and some or all of his band were spotted at the Horticultural Halls where the Model Railway Club we’re holding their annual exhibition ( post Central Hall). They spent a long time leaning on the barriers watching trains running at the Gauge One live steam railway

[@whyyoulidl]

I just put "They spent a long time leaning on the barriers watching trains running at the Gauge One live steam railway" as lyrics in my head to 'Ace of Spades' - IT WORKS!

[@highdownmartin]

@@whyyoulidl unexpectedly, it seems to!

[@tallthinkev]

Motorhead, one of the worst bands I've ever seen. Gave them a second chance and they worse!

[@kappaskurlass1301]

@@tallthinkev 😱 followed by 😂

[@bryemycaz]

@@kappaskurlass1301 No Class :D

[@stepheneyles2198]

I often use the term "go directly to ..., do not pass go and do not collect £200" in different situations. People probably think I'm mad, but I don't care! Nice video as always, thank you!

[@barryevans5232]

you are not alone

[@Richardincancale]

We definitely need a series from you covering the other 20-ish street names! I know it’s not really railway/underground or DLR related but you could tie the streets to underground’s or something tenuous?

[@PianoKwanMan]

Sounds like Jago needs to do a walking vlog

[@29brendus]

Does each of the streets have a tube line running underneath and a station nearby? Yes, I daresay. There you go!

[@martinhonor6949]

Several years ago I read a book, "Do Not Pass Go" by Tim Moore, in which he visited all the locations featured on the traditional London Monopoly board. The most difficult was Free Parking. Where can you find that in central London?

[@paulreeves8251]

@@martinhonor6949 Actually, I found it once. There was a short stretch on a street parallel with the Grey's Inn Road that didn't have double yellow lines (or any yellow lines.)

[@rosmeartoo]

Mornington Crescent perhaps ?

[@pacificostudios]

Your LNER - British Monopoly game theory is supported by something else you didn't mention in your video, Jago: The locomotives are green with a black smokebox. That was the standard livery for LNER passenger engines when the British Monopoly game was released. Just look at A1 and A3 locomotives like LNER 4472 Flying Scotsman.

[@MichaelWillis]

Well... it was also true of Southern and Great Western locos at the time. 'LNER' is used on the copy of the game that I inherited from my grandparents.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

The original Monopoly board on the other hand, is based off Atlantic City, NJ (a gambling city that has...fallen off to say the least). Just like Coney Island in neighboring NY, Atlantic City was made a popular seaside destination thanks to rail. Atlantic City was once served by the Atlantic City Railroad which opened in 1889, a Philadelphia and Reading Railway subsidiary that later became part of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines in 1933. Due to the construction of the Atlantic City Expressway where everyone ditched the train in favor of cars, the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines lasted until 1976 where the line taken over by Conrail and was discontinued by the NJDOT in 1981. Rail service to Atlantic City wasn't revived until Amtrak stepped up to the plate and upgraded the line with new stations, this new Atlantic City Express by Amtrak (with routes originating from DC, Harrisburg, Richmond, Springfield Massachusetts, and NYC) via Philadelphia began in 1989. NJ Transit service along the Atlantic City Line from Lindenwold to Atlantic City began in September of that year. To further promote it, Amtrak had a partnership with Midway Airlines for service to Atlantic City from Philadelphia International via SEPTA but this was short-lived as the airline went bankrupt in 1991. This was only the beginning of the end of the Amtrak service The Amtrak service just never hit the passenger levels they were hoping for, even after extending it to Springfield, so the service ceased in 1995. Luckily NJ Transit opted to stay and extended their service from Lindenwold to Philadelphia. A summer seasonal service between NYC and Atlantic City with a stop in between at Newark Penn Station was created by NJ Transit as a partnership with Caesars Entertainment (who owns a couple of the Atlantic City casinos) and began in February 2009 called the Atlantic City Express Service to honor the name of the former Amtrak train (as they called it ACES for short; because gambling of course). They transformed the bi-level cars with first-class seating and a lounge. Like Amtrak's service, this service also reported nothing but losses, with the last service operating in September 2011 and was formally discontinued in March 2012. A connection between the River Line light rail (or tram-train in this case) that runs between Trenton and Camden, which the AC Line goes over in Pennsauken wasn't built until 2013, this was the number one complaint when the River Line opened in 2004. And rather than keeping the line running while they add automatic train control like other NJ Transit lines...NJ Transit shut the WHOLE line down temporarily for over eight months from Sept. 2018 to May 2019. In summary, the line is cursed, the line's future isn't that bright with a station at Atlantic City International Airport that might not even be built, but at least they can say they've tried

[@sixeses]

Wow, thank you for the information

[@kidmohair8151]

land of one of what$i$face-the-twice-impeached's more grandiose failures...other than his occupancy of the WH.... badkid...that'll do donkey

[@srfurley]

Atlantic City was also the location for Donald Trump’s casinos, which also failed and closed. It’s also the location of the world’s largest pipe organ with some 30,000 pipes, a 7 manual main console and a second 5 manual one. The organ fell into disrepair and was unplayable for decades. It is now gradually being restored.

[@markleon411]

@@srfurley and the world's largest tracker action pipe organ being the the Grand Organ in the Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House. Built in 1979.

[@sydnorth5868]

Avery, with info like that you should make a video. Good to see you back, it's been a while since I last saw you commenting on UK railway related videos!

[@57thorns]

The Swedish board is based on Stockholm with the rather unimaginative Central, North, South and East stations. The South station in game is probably the old one (the first station build in Stockholm) and not the current that is under ground. There have been two North station in Stockholm even. West station is not a railway station at all, but a restaurant. 🙂 Central Station is, well, Central station.

[@mysterium368]

So is the German one, ours doesn't have a West station either. Street names of Berlin were used in the 30s edition, however since then, the basic one uses extremely generic names.

[@lassunsschaun6859]

@@mysterium368 German Monopoly seems to deepend by version I got Südbahnhof, Westbahnhof, Nordbahnhof, Hauptbahnhof and Münchner-, Wiener- and Berliener Strasse (therefore cannot be in one of those cities).

[@mysterium368]

@@lassunsschaun6859 Berlin has atleast one Berliner Straße, actually, it was probably named before that place became part of the city. There's even a U-Bahn station with that name.

[@lassunsschaun6859]

@@mysterium368 your right, rather unusual to not change when "eingemeindet" / village got part of the city next to it 🤔

[@thesteelrodent1796]

the Danish board is based on Copenhagen and follow the same naming scheme, West Gate, North Gate, East Gate, and the last station is either Central Station or Svanemøllen depending on which edition of the game you look at. But the thing about those 4-5 stations is that they're all in a straight line through the central city, and West Gate and Central Station are about 100 meters from each other

[@sbv-zs7wz]

This is totally tenuous but there is a TFL version of monopoly (along with other milking the brand such as Paris and David Bowie) which was made a while back. A 'Chance card' in this version says 'advance to the nearest' Overground Station'' etc, many family disputes have occurred given the definition of 'Overground' on the card versus the stations on the board ie only Liverpool St is an 'overground' one if you take the tfl orange map. :)

[@johnfry1011]

Fascinating (as always) I personally would have picked one from each of the big four, so Paddington, Euston, Kings Cross and Waterloo

[@Apollo_Mint]

Good choice, but because Euston and KC are very close I would replace one of those with either Victoria or London Bridge to get a bigger spread.

[@highpath4776]

@@Apollo_Mint But then you would have to replace Waterloo with Liverpool Street

[@Apollo_Mint]

@@highpath4776 Not necessarily. Euston and King’s Cross are half a mile apart, whereas Victoria and Waterloo are two and a half miles apart, so you get a bigger spread. However, Liverpool Street is further away from Paddington than Euston. Plus, if you have two big station from each side of the Thames, whilst still relatively central then perhaps London Bridge could replace Victoria. That would leave Paddington, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, and Waterloo. 🚂🚂🚂🚂

[@physiocrat7143]

The Landlord's Game was invented to illustrate the ideas of the economist Henry George, which you can read about in his book Progress and Poverty.

[@ziggarillo]

How was it different from the "American" game in that respect?

[@physiocrat7143]

@@ziggarillo If I recall, The Landlord's Game did not have the Chance and Community Chest cards. The are several articles on the subject on the Internet, including illustrations of the board.

[@robinpetty3180]

There is a link back to trains here. In that Land Value Capture, a tool that comes from 'Georgist' ideas, is increasingly used to fund public services, like rail extensions and the like.

[@johnburns4017]

@@robinpetty3180 Land Value Tax is not used enough.

[@edwardbrown3721]

@@johnburns4017 that's precisely the point of the landlord's game, it shows why you'd need a LVT

[@dvdvnr]

Another great video, Jago. The Norwich version of Monopoly had to diversify for the "stations" front as, by 1969, we only had one terminus station left and there were only three to start off with! So, they went for "Norwich Station", "Bus Station" (well, close enough, I suppose), "River Wensum" (the river that runs through Norwich on which you can find the Norwich Yacht Station) and, erm, "Bishop Bridge" which is a bridge over the aforementioned Wensum not far from the yacht station - I suspect they were running out of ideas by that point.

[@IamRobotMonkey]

Please tell me Mayfair was the Mustard Museum!

[@dvdvnr]

@@IamRobotMonkey Nah, it was replaced by Norwich Cathedral and Park Lane became Surrey Street (with an Aviva symbol). You can see the whole board here: i.ebayimg.com/images/g/HOMAAOSwZ~1i5UuV/s-l1600.png

[@hannahk1306]

I've played the Manchester version which includes the airport and the ship canal as stations. It also has several squares sponsored by now defunct companies.

[@outoftheburrough]

Having lived in Norwich nearly all my life I would say I really should look at our version of monopoly but it sounds like I'm not missing much.

[@davidjames579]

Surprised they didn't include Ryman's Stationers

[@timsully8958]

Excellent stuff Jago, a real first class exercise in turning a mere mater of curious conjecture into a full on investigation and analysis of the business practices of two British icons, namely Waddingtons and LNER. Amazing what one can unearth and, even more, how one’s own curiosity and imagination can be sparked by the evidence one finds! 😅 Brilliant stuff as ever! Cheers! 👍🍀🍻

[@MichaelWillis]

Excellent. I enjoy speculating about things like this. We have my grandparents' copy of Monopoly from the 30s, and the stations are shown as 'LNER'.

[@railwaydragon]

In my house Monopoly was banned, and doubly banned on Christmas Day & Boxing Day. There were those in the family who took it too seriously.

[@hb1338]

Apologies in advance for dropping names. My family often played Monopoly at Christmas, but we weren't overly competitive. One year, we visited friends of my parents between Christmas and New Year and they produced a monopoly set. We were shocked that the head of their family (who was Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Defence at the time) proceed to rout everyone else in the most brutal manner imaginable. Ever since then, the game of Monopoly has never had quite the same attraction.

[@markmartindale7215]

Wise family indeed

[@alanwrigley3154]

Very interesting! More of these "railway-related but not directly about railways" videos please.

[@rogink]

I can't get my head around the idea that Marylebone was an LNER station. I only know of it as the terminus for commuters from the Chilterns - although I'm aware there are services to Brum. But the Midlands were served by LMS, so all of the Marylebone services were to the west of LMS region! As Jago said, it was part of Great Central, which was amalgamated into LNER, so perhaps was easier just to merge the whole company rather than split it between two. As ever, a fascinating video from JH. I'm sure anyone who has played the London Monopoly board will have wondered "why those stations?" and it seems he has answered it.

[@jasonschubert6828]

In Australia we traditionally used the British Monopoly board, with questionable pronunciations of places we had never heard of at the time! 😂

[@IamRobotMonkey]

"Great detective work, Hazolmes!" "LNER, my dear Watcher!" I always feel they should have vaguely, North, South, East and West termini; with North being Kings Cross, South Waterloo, East Liverpool Street and West Paddington (vaguely gateways to their respective compass point). Cracking video as ever, bwana. Best wishes.

[@phaasch]

When it comes to "kill time on a rainy afternoon, or take things too seriously and alienate your family" those 2 themes are synonymous with Monopoly, at least in our family. Dull Boxing days came to life when, on hand and knee, the family (usually minus one, sulking upstairs), could get together searching the living room for all those cards, banknotes and little plastic houses which had been angrily scattered. So for me, those 4 stations are collectively synonymous with, say, finding the missing top hat under an armchair. There can be no others!

[@iankemp1131]

Was the one sulking upstairs before the game started, or after? Or were there more after it had finished? Angrily scattered pieces sounds about right ... Monopoly just has an amazing ability to bring out the worst in people, and I fear that includes me, remembering one particular episode which wasn't even with family ...

[@phaasch]

@@iankemp1131 Oh, lordy! I can remember a game of Cluedo effectively ruining a weekend, as well, not helped in any way by my uncontrollable laughter.

[@whyyoulidl]

+1!!! I was usually the one sulking upstairs after being bankrupted and made homeless 😞

[@nickryan3417]

Monopoly is one of the worst board games there is and it's only in recent years that playing board games has begun to recover from various victim's playing of monopoly as their introduction to, and subsequent shunning of, playing board games.

[@bellyruffian]

loved this, “get out of jail card …. “ I really thought you would use the Community Chest reward card or something like that. Top work as ever Mr H.

[@danikoel]

Here in Poland the basic Monopoly board is based on Warsaw so the stations are named after the three biggest stations on the cross-city line (Western, Central and Eastern) and the fourth one interestingly is Dworzec Gdański (Gdańsk Station), historically a terminus for trains to and from Gdańsk up until the cross-city tunnel got finished in the 1930s and as such it is now just a minor station on the ring railway handling only agglomerational and regional trains

[@pattheplanter]

According to _Mallard_ by Don Hale (2009, pages 89-90), Waddington produced more than 50 different packs of LNER-themed playing cards between 1925 and 1939. "LNER express drivers became almost as famous as today’s football stars. The company also promoted paperweights, scale models, commemorative plates and playing cards, mostly made by John Waddington of Leeds." Waddington "also produced the Monopoly game and other travelling board games such as snakes and ladders - all based on LNER railway themes. One London store, Gamages, even used LNER platform equipment, posters and uniforms to create a special Christmas display based on the Silver Jubilee in 1935." So it seems the arrangement continued until the outbreak of war, which probably impacted games manufacturers with the paper shortage, etc. Though Monopoly sets with escape equipment hidden in them were apparently produced for prisoners of war.

[@highpath4776]

Would like to see a Monopoly set with a ladder and grapple hook as playing pieces

[@councellingthecouncillors]

As a former Regent/Landmark Hotel staffer it's always nice to see the hotel in your videos.

[@TheMightyOmega-NotTheAlpha]

It’s interesting that on the US board representing Atlantic City, the “Short Line” was not a real railroad. There was the “Shore Fast Line”, which was an interurban trolley line connecting Atlantic City with the other beach towns in the area. Apparently, that was too long to fit in the box on the version of the board that Charles Darrow saw, and so it got mangled down to “Short Line”. Also, the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) railroad never served Atlantic City directly, only via a transfer to the Central Railroad of New Jersey, which the B&O had a controlling interest in at the time. I suppose the B&O was much better known, since it was a major player in the Northeastern US at the time, and CNJ advertising of the time did aggressively push their through connections to places like Chicago and St Louis via the B&O.

[@andyjay729]

Interesting how that game has kept alive the names of long-extinct railroad lines which a lot of people alive today weren't even alive to remember, but were once vital parts of the American transportation network. Of course, seeing how the game's design has basically remained the same since the '30s, that isn't too surprising.

[@de-fault_de-fault]

A short line railroad was (and still is) a kind of railroad...one with short lines. I've always just assumed that's what they were getting at, but then again I'm not sure why that would then be alongside three specific brands, so you could be right. It's also interesting that the other two on the board (Pennsylvania and Reading) had already their operations between Philly and Atlantic City (and in far-South Jersey in general) into the joint venture Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines before the US version debuted.

[@MartinBrenner]

Interesting facts about the British Monopoly board! That made me real curious to check our German edition. The original board version from 1936 took names from Berlin, so as railway stations they used Lehrter Bahnhof (which today is the new Hauptbahnhof), Bahnhof Alexanderplatz, Görlitzer Bahnhof (only remains as a park and U-Bahn station) and Potsdamer Bahnhof (south of Potsdamer Platz, no longer exists, instead there is an underground regional and S-Bahn station Potsdamer Platz today). After WW2 the (Western) German version used generic street and station names, so we have Süd-, West-, Nord- and Hauptbahnhof now.

[@enisra_bowman]

well, it was banded by the Nazis after Göbbels got offended that the Boardwalk Version was so expensive and of course thats where they all lived in their stolen villas, but it's nothing new that those Snowflakes get offended by everything

[@rjjcms1]

Me and my sister played the German version with our cousins in Germany on one of our family visits in the late 70s. I also played the Dutch version with schoolfriends as a Dutch boy there had it.

[@MartinBrenner]

@@xr6lad Actually propaganda minister Goebbels was rumored to have forbidden that version in the same year again because it used as most expensive property the island Schwanenwerder on which Nazi officials had bought properties far below market value. Officially the game didn't fit the anti-Jew agenda of the Nazi government.

[@JohnDoe-gc1pm]

I like that they're all from the LNER - they were made to be regional monopolies, so it makes sense to have them all in a game named monopoly after the grouping into one of the big four.

[@Bunter.948]

Entirely up to your usual excellent standard, Mr H, and most interesting to boot. Thanks. Simon T

[@williamnethercott4364]

The last time I visited Marylebone Station (over 30, maybe even 40 years ago), it was like visiting a time capsule. It was charming and I hope they haven't changed it. As for the other stations on the board, I can't remember ever visiting Fenchurch Street Station but I've been to Liverpool Street Station and King's Cross was my regular terminus when I arrived at or departed from London via the East Coast Mainline.

[@jeanbonnefoy1377]

6:10 much appreciated tribute to the great Motörhead man 🤘

[@eastlancsesteem]

I used to play that board game so many times in primary school. I recognized Old Kent Road on the board, because I went through there so many times.

[@stuarthall6631]

Wonderful "stuff", Mr. Hazzard! I have often wondered exactly the same thing! As a child, I used to play upon a friend's board which belonged to his mum. This was British editioned and had "L.N.E.R." under the station names. This would, I suspect, be quite a collectible board now! (I'll look on eBay.)

[@Rene_Davids]

The part around 8:31 is interesting, because that probably explains why those stations were simply called Station Noord, Oost, Zuid and West in most older Dutch versions of Monopoly. The names of those stations were later dropped, because nowadays there only seem to be pictures of a little locomotive there, but lacking any other good alternatives, the original Dutch names of those stations "North", "East", "South" and "West" were apparently inspired by the names of those railway companies that built those four stations in London.

[@roberthuron9160]

Jago,thanks again for an interesting video,and Monopoly being such a worldwide favorite,and still going strong,it was overdue for a treatment by your eminently versatile historical wit!! Reference to the original game,Atlantic City,literally owed it existence to a railroad! The Camden and Atlantic laid out the city,and that was,again,there was no one there except for the railroad employees! The main street- Atlantic Avenue- had a two track rail line right down the middle,and the railroad provided local horse car services,and later the line was electrified,by Frank Sprague,and to make a long story short,it was all abandoned in 1955! The political powers that were,destroyed the hand that fed them!! As of now,Atlantic City,is a pale shadow of its past glory,and as usual,as Santana said,[paraphrased],"Those who forget their past,are doomed to relive it"!! Thanks again,Jago,and I hope my small contribution will make people ponder,why choices tend to rebound on the most unlikely of people! Basically,politicians don't learn from their mistakes,they just go deeper,and destroy everything they touch! Thank you 😇 😊!

[@davekirk100]

Still got the 50s Monopoly set inherited from my parents, with the metal tokens including Mallard, the houses and hotels are made of wood

[@JagoHazzard]

I have that one! I was thinking of doing a video about the tokens.

[@Redf322]

@@JagoHazzard if have that one too. Would be interested as always in your video.

[@mariogambrelli]

Hello, in the case of the French version, the board refers to genuine Paris stations too, but which are roughly scattered around Paris and which belonged to different pre-1936 (pre-SNCF) stations : gare Montparnasse (state-owned État), gate Saint-Lazare (État also), gare de Lyon (P.L.M.) and gare du Nord (Nord evidently). So, no apparent logic there.

[@richardmattocks]

“RIP Lemmy”. Nice touch 😎

[@whyyoulidl]

You know I'm born to lose, and gambling's for fools

[@timbounds7190]

I was interested that Fenchurch St was an LNER station - yet the trains operating out of it on the former LT&SR were definitely operated by the LMS! How curious!

[@brettpalfrey4665]

Loved the Lemmy reference! Thanks again Jago...

[@MrTonyHeath]

That was fantastic I was born beside Paddington Stn., lived next to Marylebone, worked at King's Cross for The Midland by way of Westinghouse but never even considered the Monopoly question..

[@jjjadeway6975]

Just curious and not being too familiar with London... Since the streets on the board are generally arranged from low to high according to the property value and socio economic status of the area, could this logic have extended to the selection and positioning of the stations as well, i.e., each representative of a neighbourhood type/status, and, by extension, the class of the clientele in 1930's London?

[@anophelesnow3957]

A fair question, but Liverpool Street and Fenchurch Street are only a kilometer distant and both serve the City, that is, the financial district. At least today, that would be the case. Fenchurch Street is a bit of an odd place, it is half proper East End Whitechapel Road, half Tower of London.

[@weerwolfproductions]

In The Netherlands, the monopoly stations are North Station, East Station, South Station and West Station. Other than the first two streets ('the village') and the last two streets (Amsterdam), all streets are groups of three from different large trading cities in The Netherlands. The lay-out and the colouring are the same as the London monopoly board.

[@johnm2012]

At 4:16 "...down the East Coast Main Line to King's Cross." Surely, sir, you mean up!

[@cakemartyr5794]

Well done for mentioning Lemmy! Like others have said, I would go for four big stations representing north, east, south and west, so: Euston, King's Cross, Waterloo and Paddington.

[@MarkDibley]

This reminds me that I only have recollection of Kings Cross and Marylebone Station when I did the Monopoly Board pub crawl. For the life of me I couldn't tell you what Fenchurch Street Station looks like or how I managed to get a drink there and move on to the next pub (which applies to most of the board to be honest).

[@ktipuss]

Fenchurch Street is architecturally a nice compact, even "cute" station. I wonder if it has survived because of association with "Monopoly". Also the first sets of streets also have a rail connection: Old Kent Road, the only "Monopoly" street south of the Thames, still had trams in 1950, as did Islington ("The Angel, Islington"). Pentonville Road also; I'm not sure about that.

[@DoctorTweed]

Also, I wonder whether its inclusion on the Monopoly board prevented Marylebone from being turned into a coach station?

[@brian9731]

Maybe even QUAINT (thank you Geoff and Vicki)?

[@richardbrown9911]

It has survived because it is the terminus of the most reliable railway in the UK, probably also the most profitable

[@Kanbei11]

Pedant's Note: At 4:15 they'd have gone _up_ to London 😱 Great video as ever though Jago 👍

[@cameron856]

2:25 you caught that guy littering, smh.

[@kevanhubbard9673]

Moorgate and Cannon Street, and as was the now defunct Broad Street,are another two/three fairly obscure London terminals.

[@qaphqa]

I like your hypothesis. Far, far more than I like playing Monopoly. ♡

[@Andrewjg_89]

Monopoly is still addictive today. I remember playing it when I was very young with my parents and it was lots of fun. Monopoly will never disappear.

[@duncansnowden6857]

I think you're definitely on to something here. The real giveaway is the fact that they're *stations* at all. In the original American version, these squares are the Reading Railroad, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the B&O, and the (apparently non-existent, or at least mis-named) Short Line. If Waddington's had wanted a direct equivalent, they could easily have used, not the largest London stations, but the Big Four themselves. But, for whatever reason (perhaps, as you say, the difficulty of getting their agreement), they didn't. So it seems reasonable to imagine that they fell back on the pre-existing relationship with the LNER. Which, of course, set the precedent for all future versions of the game. They're always stations (or, in more modern versions, some kind of transport hub, such as an airport) now.

[@mikehebdentrains]

Just a thought - if you were to approach a few major (rival) companies and ask if you could use their name on a game board, it's possible that some might not have answered and others might have wanted money for the use of their names. If so, it would make sense to go with a single company (LNER) and just have the one arrangement in place. After all it's not like the game will still be around many years later ...

[@andyjay729]

Nintendo also got its start making playing cards...in 1889. Somewhere there's an alternate universe where Waddington eventually became one of the titans of the video game industry (and maybe where Parker Brothers, the marketer of the original American Monopoly, is also primarily a video game producer).

[@glen1555]

Waddington got out of board games and concentrated on business paper. I.e. multipart invoices for running through main frame computer printers.

[@likklej8]

Marylebone is my favourite train spotting there in 60s you could spot ex LMS and LNER locos there and could get a train to Lancashire as well as Midlands

[@JRS06]

My number #1 strategy when playing Monopoly with my family is buying only the 4 stations and making bank off them. I've actually won using this strategy a few times. Kings Cross and Liverpool Street are my 2 favourites simply because they were served by two of my all time favourite railways.

[@robelvery]

Another interesting video. I think most of us railway geeks realise the fact that these are all ex LNER stations. Yes I agree it would have made more sense to have the main flagship stations from each of the big four ie. Kings Cross, Euston, Paddington and Waterloo. Also preferred the original more British style locomotive outline on the squares as opposed to the current Americanised loco style.

[@DavidBromage]

4:15 Mr Hazzard I expected better! DOWN the main line to London??? 😁 Actually the up and down of railways would be an interesting video in itself. Where does up become down on cross London lines?

[@mattevans4377]

I'd love a railways series themed monopoly board, with the station names being the ones featured in 'Gordon Goes Foreign'.

[@2112pk]

the "rip lemmy" brought a laugh to me. incidentally, railway trivia for you fact fans: motorhead andtheir managment formed a record label in the 80s called GWR, promoted it with a photoshoot on a GWR 2-8-0, or so i'm told!

[@johnsmodelrailway9448]

I had a smile at the Lemmy reference too.

[@gerardmorvan2232]

In France, Paris is the city used for the french edition of Monopoly, and the four stations are : Gare de Lyon, Gare du Nord, Gare Saint Lazare, et Gare Montparnasse. So, four out of six, Gare de l'Est and Gare d'Austerlitz don't exist for Parker Brothers.

[@garyseymour6319]

Very informative. That Azuma Train in the closing shots could have been travelling to Middlesbrough, they go there once a day!

[@anthonydefreitas6006]

Little known fact when Lemmy got bored of singing the Ace of Spades , he would sing the Eight of spades. To see who would notice.

[@derekmills5394]

In my LAST game of Monopoly, aged 9 (I'm 62 now), I picked up said board and hit my poor mother over the head with it. I have yet to live this down. Mum is still hale and hearty and suffers no physical effects from the assault.

[@glynwelshkarelian3489]

Has she occasionally told the story to everyone you bring along when you visit?

[@hb1338]

@@glynwelshkarelian3489 Every girlfriend he took home, more than likely.

[@adrianbaker5916]

Liverpool Street Station runs trains to Southend too. Old Kent Road is the only property South of the River Thames.

[@dannyboy12244]

Walked passed fenchurch station a few weeks ago with my wife - she didnt even think it was a real station until then. Then she asked this exactly question why pick those 4 monopoly stations out of the whole of London?! Thanks for explanation

[@stephenweston1807]

I would have chosen ones where the lines head in the direction of the four compass points. So maybe Kings Cross (north), Liverpool Street (east), Victoria (south) and Paddington (west).

[@MisterTea74]

You never fail to delight, surprise and amuse me with your remarkable videos. I’d have never imagined that a quick Lemmy gag would pop up in. Although knowing your old mate Yerkes he probably founded Motorhead anyway.

[@hb1338]

He called it Enginehead - it was not a success.

[@hublanderuk]

I am surprised you did not mention the mistake on the Monopoly Board which is Vine Street. When I first did a Monopoly run you had to answer questions to prove you had been to places. Vine Street always had a problem since all was there was a police station and 28 bicycle parking slots. But the last time we did the Monopoly Run with a laminated piece of paper which was our game piece. We only had to take photos of the places and out game piece.

[@rayfisher3921]

Not sure what you mean by "mistake." There IS a mistake on the English version, which I suspect has been there from the start. It concerns Piccadilly. Anyone else spotted it?

[@keithorchard3137]

Fascinating stuff, Jago ! I for one would have liked Waterloo on the board, but then I am an old Southern region, BR Driver !!

[@AshLilburne]

Commenting before I watch - As an Aussie, so many times Ive heard you mention locations I'm only familiar with through knowledge of a Monopoly board and wondered if there was any connection or was I just being Australian.. Either way I'm going to enjoy this one Jaagz mate ;)

[@Colt45hatchback]

Also aussie here, same here, also used jago's video to show mum the pronounciation of marlybone as she had been pronouncing it wrong for 60 years 😂 "marril bone" 🤣

[@Colt45hatchback]

Also thought the england version was the og myself haha

[@maifantasia3650]

@@Colt45hatchback - just what you need in a family game of Monopoly. Another reason to argue.

[@Colt45hatchback]

@@maifantasia3650 haha yeah its all in good fun though

[@Colt45hatchback]

@@maifantasia3650 do i spy a hz 202 in your channel?

[@swiper1818]

Paddington, King's Cross St Pancras, London Bridge and Waterloo or Victoria would have been good choices - however the existing stations are pretty much what one expects to see on the board after so long...

[@mattpotter8725]

Nah, you would think they should be Kings Cross, Waterloo, Paddington, and either Euston or London Bridge (probably London Bridge because then it gives a nice geographical spread of north, south, east, and west). It's funny that we a kid playing this in the 80s I often wondered why the hell such obscure and in some cases small stations that I'd never heard of had been chosen (apart from Kings Cross). This theory Jago puts forward makes a lot of sense imo.

[@highpath4776]

Still Catches people out on quiz shows when asked to name the stations or similar

[@DavidShepheard]

I think there should be a new version of Monopoly where the railway stations are replaced by two Crossrail Stations (Paddington and Liverpool Street) and two Thameslink Stations (St Pancras and London Bridge). Furthermore, I think that all the coloured blocks of streets should be replaced by streets on specific railway lines. This should mostly be London Underground lines, but London Overground lines could also be used if necessary (with the new colours). Given that Metroland was built by the Metropolitan Railway, with stations being used to get people to move into the area, I think that people would understand the idea of Monopoly being a game where a bunch of developers buy up land and build houses and hotels and have their land connected up by electrified underground railways.

[@b17marko]

Don’t know what it was like at the time but Fenchurch Street now spends a lot of its time closed, late evenings and most weekends C2C run into Liverpool Street instead.

[@AngloYorkshire]

Jago. I contacted Phil Orbanes to show him your video which he liked. He knows everything about Monopoly (Google his name) including a lot of the history. His reply was... I think there is actually a more practical explanation, according to what Norman Watson handed down to Victor Watson. Namely, that the railroads selected were not an object of much scrutiny by Victor Watson I. Rather, he and his secretary were focused on identifying street names to use on the Engish board during their one day tour of London. They likely merely jotted down the names of stations passed along the route of their exploration. In the States, neither Darrow or Parker needed to gain permission to use the names of the railroads that appeared on the US game board. Two of these were real and did go to Atlantic City: the Pennsylvania and Reading railroads (which during the Depression merged their Atlantic City services out of desperation.) The B&O was a very famous railroad that never ran to Atlantic City (although ti did eventually take over the New Jersey Central, which did). The Short Line was inspired by a bus company and was never a railroad. So, I question if the names of the English stations required approval for usage. If they did, I would have imagined the permission statement would appear, at least, as a footnote in the rules folder. If Watson and secretary were serious about the railroads, they would surely have included Waterloo and Victoria. and perhaps Paddington (not Marylebone). Note: they definitely arrived at Kings Cross. One final note, as you likely know, the Angel Islington is not a street at all. It is the name of the pub where the two concluded their day and took stock of what they'd come up with. Matthew www.worldofmonopoly.com

[@bobcosmic]

Who is this enigma called Jago Hazzard ? Another great educational video to keep us all on track .

[@neville132bbk]

At this time of night in NZ.. it's a matter of "sleepers awake".🇳🇿

[@zee2012]

Rumour has it he is Geoff Marshall in disguise..😁😅

[@zee2012]

@@JP_TaVeryMuch 😅

[@glynwelshkarelian3489]

Why not do the Monopoly board streets in blocks? Start with Old Kent Road and Whitechapel and see if it generates an interest. You could do transport; history; current state; and modern house prices to see if the browns are still the cheapest and the blues the most expensive.

[@RamsFan93]

The dark blues might still be most expensive

[@katbryce]

@@RamsFan93 The two most expensive streets now are: Kensington Palace Gardens (Kensington) Courtenay Avenue (Highgate)

[@RamsFan93]

@@katbryce I feel like someone should make an updated version

[@billthomas8205]

Fenchurch Street, Baker Street, Broad Street, Cannon Street. All faves of mine.

[@cluthapotboy]

Great vid! When the New zealand version was rereleased in the 1990s I think. My hometown of about 3000 people was added as a station Im not sure why.But I think there was a country wide competition at the time and our town was one of the lucky ones.

[@PsychicLord]

As both a board gamer and a rail enthusiast, I like this. Perhaps in the future, you could consider a series on UK Railway games.

[@andyaccount]

I have a board game made by Gibson Games' which is similar to Monopoly which is called the Great Western Game. Instead of going round the streets of London, you move around a map of the Great Western Railway. I haven't played it for a while so I can't remember the exact rules of the game but I don't think money was the main factor as in Monopoly

[@iankemp1131]

@@andyaccount There is a similar one called "The Great Game of Britain". From a different angle, there is "Ticket to Ride" and its various permutations, which are about building railway routes rather than travelling on them but are equally fascinating.

[@FromtheHerts81]

I always liked the thought I could own whole streets and stations playing Monopoly. Losing was pretty bitter though.

[@ChrisParlett]

First instance of the old excuse, "I was only taking my secretary to London in order to research train stations for a board game."?

[@sblack53]

I’m surprised the British edition turned the “Railroad” spaces of the US version (Baltimore & Ohio or B&O, Pennsylvania, Reading, and Short Line) into stations. Granted in most US Cities of the time, any station that wasn’t a Union Station was named for the railroad who owned and served it (see the Penn Stations in NY, Baltimore, and other Northeastern cities).

[@eattherich9215]

@3:36, looks as if there is going to be standing room only by the time all those passengers have boarded. Sorry, Jago as you were saying ...

[@dancedecker]

Excellent content as usual Jago Interesting that Mr Watson and his secretary absolutely HAD to go to London to er... investigate the street names and stations for a new board game. Yes, that's it. I bet they did. I bet they did....wink wink nudge nudge say no more...say NO more. It's a dirty job eh ? Lol

[@thomasburke2683]

Perhaps they also needed to check some hotels. Thankless job I know, but someone has to do it.

[@dancedecker]

@@thomasburke2683 That's probably it. I'm sure it was all perfectly legitimate. Lol.

[@davidsworld5837]

they did stay in a nice hotel together and spent a whole day in there room working on the board game idea. well that's what they said hehehe.

[@dancedecker]

@@davidsworld5837 indeed. It's a dirty job, but....lol

[@davidjames579]

Maps hadn't been invented then.

[@cristianware1028]

Having lived in London all my life, I did not even know where Fenchurch Street station was until I was about 15 so...

[@andrewclayton4181]

I've long thought the stations were odd. They are lesser known ones. Waterloo, Paddington, Euston, and Kings Cross would have made more sense. Some of the streets are odd too. The Angel Islington is a pub! Mayfair a district, perhaps it should be rationalised.

[@WardyLion]

St. Pancras. 1) That’s the station that my trains to London use 2) It looks stunning post-restoration

[@Janszler]

Interesting video, I never knew monopoly boards took their names from one major city. In the Dutch version, the street names come from EIGHT different cities. Amsterdam getting the two most expensive ones. But also Rotterdam, Groningen, Utrecht, Den Haag, Haarlem, Arnhem. The railway stations are quite boringly just called North, East, South, West..

[@alan-sk7ky]

:-) Our family set IS the Dutch one, we like to mix it up and play Nederlands board and cards with the 50's counters we culled from a set bought in a flea market ;-)

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

I was playing Monopoly with a couple of friends and picked the hat piece, winked, and said... _M'nopoly_ Do you know the Greek version of Monopoly? It's called Monopoulos and you just borrow all the money from the bank. Everyone loses.

[@peskypigeonx]

Playing Monopoly with the communist boys to criticize capitalism, a classic

[@whyyoulidl]

😆

[@aw34565]

Given you go through the stations, shouldn't they all be through stations? One each from the Big Four could give Clapham Junction, Old Oak Common, Willesden junction and Alexandra Palace.

[@peterharris3006]

There has never been a station at Old Oak Common, though one will be built for HS2. I agree with Clapham Jn & Willesden Jn, but I think Ealing Broadway & Stratford would be better.

[@Mortimer50145]

You might include a Thameslink station somewhere as a through station - KX St Pancras, Farringdon or Blackfriars.

[@teecefamilykent]

Sir, once again you have outdone yourself!

[@SouthCoastTrains]

On my London Underground monopoly the stations are Victoria, Paddington, Liverpool Street and Kings Cross St Pancras

[@bretton_woods]

I like how near the start of the video you refer to Fenchurch Street as going to "Essex" and Liverpool Street to various places in East Anglia, you neglect to mention specifically that you can travel to not-so-exciting Southend-on-Sea from either station! So I just thought I'd mention that fun fact.

[@billmmckelvie5188]

Maybe there was a LNER director on the board of John Waddington's. Sadly the *LNER info website* does not list the directors over their 25 years of operation.