Underground, Overground
A Passenger's History of the Tube
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Why is the Victoria Line so hot? What is an Electrical Multiple Unit? Is it really possible to ride from King's Cross to King's Cross on the Circle line?
The London Underground is the oldest, most sprawling and illogical metropolitan transport system in the world, the result of a series of botch-jobs and improvisations.Yet it transports over one billion passengers every year - and this figure is rising. It is iconic, recognised the world over, and loved and despised by Londoners in equal measure.
Blending reportage, humour and personal encounters, Andrew Martin embarks on a wonderfully engaging social history of London's underground railway system (which despite its name, is in fact fifty-five per cent overground). Underground, Overground is a highly enjoyable, witty and informative history of everything you need to know about the Tube.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
A comprehensive social history of London’s tube network, this timely read celebrates the underground railway’s 150th year with pleasant and amusing diversions, rather than immense technical detail. Highly readable, the narrative takes you back to the early days when the stations were all covered (some even had bars) and trains hissed through powered by roaring steam. While there’s a romantic edge to this account, it deftly blends in intriguing research, noting details like the fact that steam-hauled maintenance ran until 1971. But really, this is the captivating story of what Martin calls the “Tube Martyrs”—the mavericks from Charles Pearson to Ken Livingstone who made the network what it is today.
