London's Underground: Books - History and Equipment

London's Underground

Since the 11th edition of London's Underground was published in 2010 there have been many important changes on the capital's underground system, not least of which is the significant investment has gone into the Underground network, which is now run by Transport for London which has been implementing its Tube Improvement Plan since 2003 to create extra capacity on the crowded system.

Among the many changes to be recorded is the legacy of massive planning and development required by the 2012 London Olympics, the new S Stock that is being introduced on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines, the 2009 Stock on the Victoria Line, and old stock withdrawn, signalling updated on the District and Victorial Lines and air conditioning introduced on the new sub-surface stock. 2013 also saw a number of events on the network to celebrate 150 years of the London Underground.

The new 12th edition brings the work completely up to date with all the changes that have occurred since 2010, and includes a whole new range of illustrations to accompany the text.

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The London Underground Electric Train

Tells the story of the development of electric traction on the London Underground railways. Each chapter combines technical knowledge, historical context and practical experiences from those working on the Underground with many illustrations showing how the basics were developed and what trains looked like through the years of their development.

Features:
- The history of underground lines since the opening of the first deep-level underground rail system in the world in 1890: the City & South London Railway
- Evolution of train design, including power, lighting, heating and design of the Underground cars
- Development of operational, engineering and safety devices on trains.

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London Underground Manual (1853 onwards) - Designing, building and operating the world's oldest underground rail network (Haynes Train Manual)

The London Underground, or Tube, is an icon: it is the world's oldest underground rail network and remains one of its largest and busiest. The Haynes London Underground Manual provides a detailed insight into its design, construction, operation and maintenance, featuring fascinating photographs and drawings from the archives along with essential technical details and an engaging narrative.
Lively presentation and an abundance of colour imagery make this book an essential read for all enthusiasts of the Underground, railways and, indeed, historic London.

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Electrifying the Underground - The Technology That Created London's Tube

It was a public transport revolution. London had led the world in the development of a subterranean railway system. The first sub-surface lines, constructed by the cut-and-cover method, were operated with steam locomotives.
In theory the tunnels and stations were ventilated into the outside air, but in practice they became dingy, miserable, smoke-filled spaces. As one early traveller recorded in his journal, 'I had my first taste of Hades today ...the atmosphere was a mixture of sulphur, coal dust and foul fumes'.

The railway companies desperately needed to clean up their act. It was only with the arrival of exhaust-free electric traction - combined with improvements to the tunnelling shield, pioneered by Sir Marc Brunel - that the engineers were able to tunnel far deeper to create London's 'Tube' system. Graeme Gleaves traces the development of the Underground from the early years and through the introduction and development of the electrified system.

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ABC London Underground Rolling Stock Guide 2014

As many passengers travel daily on London Underground as the rest of the British railway network in its entirety and most passengers will be familiar with the differences between the Underground lines.
What perhaps is less obvious to the travelling public is the difference between the sub-surface stock and the much smaller deep-level tube stock which is constrained by the size of the tunnels. Even within these two main types of stock there are differences between individual lines, depending on density of traffic in central London or the suburbs, special demands of servicing Heathrow airport (the Piccadilly Line) and even differing lengths of platforms.
Stock on the Underground generally has a long life - the earliest sub-surface stock is the C stock from the 1970s and the earliest tube stock still in operation is the 1972 stock on the Bakerloo Line. The most recent is the 2009 stock on the Victoria Line and the S stock introduced on sub-surface lines from 2010.

The introduction to the book gives a historical description of each of the main types of sub-surface stock and deep level tube stock in operation on the Underground today and is accompanied by detailed specifications of each type, with photographs.
The book then provides a complete listing of the stock numbers of each vehicle operating on the Underground lines as well as battery locomotives and maintenance vehicles, with the listing grouped under the individual Underground lines, again accompanied by photographs.

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London Underground at War

Alexander Korda's 1936 film The Shape of Things to Come predicted the nightmare of aerial bombing against London. Even as the storm clouds gathered, the government was woefully slow in protecting its civilian population. Some problems, such as the risk of a catastrophic flooding of the Underground network, were anticipated. But the enduring image of the Blitz is the spontaneous and community driven adoption of the Underground stations as a safe refuge from the raids.
As Londoners settled into their new subterranean routine the government ordered the construction of purpose-built deep shelters and most of these still exist.

In "London Underground at War" Nick Cooper examines the impact of the war on the running of the Tube and the plans to protect the system. He asks what life was like for those who sought safety underground and pays tribute to the many 'shelterers' who lost their lives in the raids.

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