London's Underground: The Story of the Tube

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Bringing the story to life are intriguing and compelling characters like Inspector Sherwood Peets, the quiet thinker who’s lonely after an unsavory divorce and the independent Carmen Kingsley a stubborn, compulsive and intense academic who’s sensitive to stimuli because of Asperger’s. These characters and others infuse the story with excitement, depth and energy. A chilling adventure beneath the streets of London where WWII-era bombs, government conspiracies, and science—gone very very wrong—collide. The book is really a popular summation of the recent work of the London Transport Museum which may be classed as archaeological, historical and sometimes selectively conservationist although the budgetary implications of full conservation would be too great for the creaking system to bear. Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 16 th November 2021 asking for various London Underground Rule Books.

The History of the London Underground Map takes you through a very accessible history of the London Underground, in addition to the development of its iconic map. This book is an essential addition to anyone interested in the development of London's Underground system and its famous map. NetGalley, David Styles

One could be forgiven for wondering if there was anything new to be said about the London Underground map. However, this excellent and entertaining book takes the whole story of the creation and expansion of the Underground network and shows how maps of the system have had to develop and change as the network became more complex and difficult to understand. A man named Sherwood enters the underground tube: “Riding London’s tube lifts always felt like a thirty-second fall from grace. The ancient machines issued forth a continuous series of ominous sounds, inevitably coming to a halt with a loud clank, as though Lucifer himself were rattling his chains in anticipation of their arrival.” This is the setting for what is to follow. A first class book and highly recommended to not only London Underground enthusiasts but also anyone interested in the history of railways. Peter A. Harding, Branch Line & Light Railway Publications One major theme is the disjointed nature of the various lines as they were planned, grew and were extended. The author conveys the competition and animosity between the various train operators during the early years of building and running various Underground companies. Unsurprisingly travel, fares and connections between the lines was complex. Hence the need to provide the commuter with assistance. Publicity in the form of maps, posters and station information helped with navigating the complexities. The government of the day encouraged mergers and thus integration, resulting in a somewhat coherent system. As the 19th Century closes, various maps had been generated to assist passengers. Still, the iconic map we know today was still decades away.

If you read the book through, you will be able to put the bits of a puzzle into a jigsaw and have a better of idea of London's development than you might from other more plodding and academic chronological surveys. There are ten primary locations and themes covered. The book moves on to the Picadilly Circus complex, Down Street and its role as the wartime railway executive's headquarters and the first of two overground stories with an account of the modernist 55 Broadway headquarters of the underground system built in 1929. A fascinating book, likely to be of interest to anyone travelling on the London Underground. The history and information in this book will enrich passengers journeys and cause some reflection or admiration for how it came to be. And where it may go in the future. I wish the author and publishers all the very best with this wonderful, engaging and informative book. NetGalley, Lachlan Finlayson An earlier subchapter described events during World War II and Hitler’s obsession with biological warfare. A German outpost was established in a village in the north of occupied Norway, intended to develop biological weapons. These weapons with their “payload” were so lethal that the outpost was constructed far from the German homeland. A group from the Norwegian underground tries to blow up the outpost, or at least steal the weaponized bio-missile. But they are too late. It has been put on a railroad flat-car and bound to the south and Germany. Nearly all are still in some sort of use, even if temporary in many cases - for ventilation, storage, as film sets or as service corridors. Others really are ghosts to which access is difficult - in the case of Highgate banned in part not because of the military-industrial complex but to protect rare bats.A book Londoners and anyone interested in design should read." The Society of Model and Experimental Engineers - York Model Engineers Newsletter, March 2023 There are larger themes that run through all these stories. In the early years we have rampant entrepreneurial capitalism speculatively putting risk capital into lines to move workers and incidentally or deliberately creating opportunities for even more profitable property speculation. Carmen Kingsley, in charge of London projects for the British Museum, and Scotland Yard Inspector Sherwood Peets race to unravel the mysteries before the great city succumbs to the English Sweat, a frightening disease from the age of the Henrys.