Underground: How The Tube Shaped London – Book Review

‘Underground: How The Tube Shaped London’ is the latest, and probably most definitive, history of the London Underground to be published to date.

Written by three heavyweights from the London Transport Museum – David Bownes (Head Curator), Sam Mullins (the Museum’s Director) and Oliver Green (Research Fellow) ‘Underground: How The Tube Shaped London’s 280-odd pages take the reader on a journey from the earliest beginnings of the network in the mid 1800s right through to the present day and the era of London Overground and Crossrail.

A foreword by Peter Hendy (Transport for London’s Commissioner) precedes six chapters that look at various aspects of the network. The first, ‘Victorian Underground‘, looks at the work of Charles Pearson, John Fowler and others who were the first to see the need for a subterranean rail network to alleviate the increased overcrowding on London’s streets. This section is illustrated with wonderful photographs of the steam engines that were used to pull carriages in this first incarnation of the tube and, despite the protestations from a writer to the Morning Post that if a rail network was to ‘hurry people through London, or make them travel habitually undrground, what is to become of the shops?’ these early routes were an instant success. Forty thousand visitors travelled on the short stretch between Paddington and Farringdon on its first day of opening alone.

Chapter Two, ‘Down The Tube‘, deals with the inherent problems that the engineers faced when designing this first underground rail network and the solutions that they devised – the tube incorporated the first electric trains and lifts for example. Chapter two also looks as the efforts of Charles Tyson Yerkes, an American entrepreneur, who found the funding to develop the central sections of three of the deep-level lines which we now know today as the Bakerloo, Piccadilly and Northern.

‘The Underground Goes Overground‘ looks at the developments of the ’20s and ’30s – this period saw the tube network starting to grow out into the farmland which would become London’s suburbs – the beautiful tube posters of the period encouraged people to swap the squalid tenements of the East End and Southwark for the leafy delights of ‘Metro-land’ in Finchley, Hendon and the like. This was also the period in which the tube shed its Victorian trappings, and the chapter provides an extensive study of Charles Holden’s daring space-age art deco station designs and Frank Pick’s stylish signage and maps.

Chapter Four, ‘From War To Austerity‘ starts off with an in-depth account of one of the most significant periods in the tube’s history – it’s important role during World War II. It also covers the immediate post-war period which saw many schemes to extend the network permanently shelved, including some that were partway through construction – in fact you can see these remnants all across London if you know where to look…

‘Transport Is Politics‘ features the machinations of the unions and poilticians during the 1960s and ’70s, and the creation of the Victoria and Jubilee Lines. Particular attention is paid to what I think is one of the Victoria Line’s most interesting features – the unique motifs that grace the platforms at each station. The chapter also looks at the features that made the Jubilee Line the most technologically advanced rail system of its time.

The final chapter, ‘Out Of Disaster‘, takes a sensitive look at the two major incidents of the recent past which saw the loss of many lives – the Kings Cross fire (which has just passed it’s 25th anniversary) and 7/7. Ending on a more optimistic and upbeat note, ‘Underground: How The Tube Shaped London’ ends with an account of the recent developments on the network – the extension of the Jubilee Line, the completion of the London Overground ‘orbital’ route and the future impact of Crossrail.

Admittedly, ‘Underground: How The Tube Shaped London’ is a very dense piece of work, but all is not lost if you’re the kind of person who prefers to look at images rather than read reams and reams of text. With the authors’ unparalleled access to the archives, each and every page of the book carries illustrations, photographs, posters and drawings – it’s a visual delight.

‘Underground: How the Tube Shaped London‘ is published by Allen Lane and is widely available. You can pick it up on Amazon for a very reasonable £16 right now – probably the perfect Christmas gift for the tube-obsessed partner or friend in your life.