Station name roundels come in various sizes. This post is about the small ones.

Typically (but not always) there will be large station name roundels on the platform wall, and small ones opposite / trackside:

Finsbury Park station (Piccadilly line), 2019.

There are more than 4000 small roundels. Most of them are situated in travelcard zones 1 and 2, which makes sense because that’s where you find the majority of LU stations in tunnels, and these stations tend to attract small roundels. The distribution of the large roundels looks different:

Green: Small roundels (per travelcard zone).

Blue: Large roundels.

If you were looking for stations with many small roundels you should visit stations with many platforms (Kennington, Farringdon, Camden Town) or then Gants Hill station where a great number of small roundels (close to 50) can be seen opposite the two platforms.

In terms of design, at some stations the small roundels correspond to the large roundels. At other stations they don’t:

Corresponding designs, 1985 roundel. (Edgware Road station, Bakerloo line, 2019.)

Different designs, more than 50 years apart (c. 1932 and 1985). (Bethnal Green station, 2019.)

There are close to 160 stations that don’t have any small station name roundels:

No small station name roundels. (Hillingdon station, 2019.)

No small station name roundels. (Northwick Park station, 2019.)

This type was introduced c. 1924. I don’t know if there were small roundels corresponding to that type.

This type was introduced c. 1932. It’s not easy to design a small version because the metal frames are likely to look too massive. It seems that several small versions were designed.

The first  version shown above is still present at a number of stations:

This type was introduced c. 1951. It is more or less an update to the ‘PERIVALE’-type made by removing the black lines. Some small roundels were altered in the same way:

This type was introduced c. 1951. I don’t know of any corresponding small roundels.

This type may have been introduced in the early 1950s. There may have been no corresponding small roundel.

Note that there wasn’t a corresponding large roundel to the ‘OXFORD CIRCUS’ type either.

Maybe, for some time, wherever large ‘EUSTON SQUARE’-type roundels were installed, small ‘OXFORD CIRCUS’-type roundels were chosen to go with them. These small roundels are no longer present at stations; the following example is on display at the LTM Acton Depot.

This type was introduced in the 1950s. There were corresponding small roundels. They are no longer present at stations. But lots and lots of them are on display at the LTM Acton Depot.

This type was introduced shortly after 1971. There were corresponding small roundels:

This type was introduced in the mid-1980s. Its proportions are identical to the 1985 ‘UNDERGROUND’ roundel. There are corresponding small roundels. They can be seen at many stations.

This type was probably introduced around 2000 or 2005. There are corresponding small roundels.

This type was introduced in the mid-1980s. I don’t know if there were any small roundels corresponding to that type.

This type may have been introduced in the mid-1980s. It’s very similar to the ‘FINSBURY PARK’ type, but its circle is a bit fatter. There are corresponding small roundels.

These small roundels are fun to spot. They can still be seen at quite a few stations.

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