Description
Book SynopsisRevised and updated edition of Christian Wolmar's classic history of the London Underground, with a new chapter on Crossrail.
'I can think of few better ways to while away those elastic periods awaiting the arrival of the next eastbound Circle Line train than by reading [this book].' Tom Fort, Sunday Telegraph
Since the Victorian era, London's Underground has played a vital role in the daily life of generations of Londoners. In The Subterranean Railway, Christian Wolmar celebrates the vision and determination of the nineteenth-century pioneers who made the world's first, and still the largest, underground passenger railway: one of the most impressive engineering achievements in history. From the early days of steam to electrification, via the Underground's contribution to twentieth-century industrial design and its role during two world wars, the story comes right up to the present with a new chapter on the sleek and futuristic Crossrail line. The Subterranean Railway reveals London's hidden wonder in all its glory and shows how the railway beneath the streets helped create the city we know today.
Trade ReviewI can think of few better ways to while away those elastic periods awaiting the arrival of the next eastbound Circle Line train than by reading [this book]. -- Tom Fort * Sunday Telegraph *
The ferocious rivalries, administrative bungles, short-sighted compromises, cost over-runs and delays. Railway politics were ever thus. * Independent *
An excellent history of the London Underground * The Times *
Table of Contents0: Introduction: The Phantom Railway 1: Midwife to the Underground 2: The Underground Arrives 3: London Goes Underground 4: The Line to Nowhere 5: Spreading Out 6: The Sewer Rats 7: Deep under London 8: The Dodgy American 9: Beginning to Make Sense 10: The Underground in the First World War 11: Reaching Out 12: Metroland, the Suburban Paradox 13: The Perfect Organization? 14: The Best Shelters of All 15: Decline - and Revival? 16: London's New Subterranean Railway
