The tube FROM YESTERDAY TO TODAY People are obsessed with the Underground – this is a fact. Since 1863, the network tunnels and trains that run underneath this historic city has fascinated many, and for quite Whistlestop history a good reason. There are so many things to learn about the underground that the learning never stops. When I was studying for my tour guide badge qualification in Westminster, our It was Charles Pearson in 1845 who had wler was interior building exam was on the Museum. I must admit, I was a little the initial idea, and Sir John Fo the man to the engineering solu- dismayed. Surely, something like the National Portrait Gallery would have been ‘more tions. Sir John Wolfe-Barry designed most interesting’? Boy, was I wrong. Instead, I became fascinated, catching the bug for wanting of the , and Marc Brunel de- to learn even more about the Underground. Years later, I got the opportunity to volunteer signed the ames Tunnel, which is now as a guide for their Hidden London programme and the learning continues for me today. part of the Overground. When it was first being built, the that Proclaiming myself just as obsessed with the Underground as others, here are some of the we know today was a series of separate tun- reasons why it is such a remarkable and interesting subject. nels operated by separate companies. Later an American financier Charles Illustration shows the trench and partially completed cut and cover tunnel close to Kings Cross station, Tyson Yerkes (pronounced to rhyme with Illustrated London News London. The railway eventually opened in 1863. turkeys) came to London in 1900. He had left Chicago following a previous scandal and some questionable methods in raising funds for his projects, he got involved in the transportation developments in London once he saw it. First he established the Underground Electric Railways Company and purchased the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway – now part of the . He then acquired the (now District Line) and the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (now the ), and partially built the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (now the ). All of this raised the eyebrows of banker J.P Morgan but somehow Yerkes kept the mogul at bay. Some financial hic-

20 FOCUS The Magazine July/August 2019 www.focus-info.org z t i l k B c

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cups came along the way but after World electrical circuit board, this was a straight - Underground’, as well as drawing up the War I, the lines were expanded and thus forward map that was approved. Since his first diagrammatic in 1922, de - the foundations of our current system were design, we haven’t had many alterations to picting the network as coloured lines con - in place. the famous London Underground map. nected with the characteristic interchange Today, it is so iconic that shower curtains, symbols. No accident that his brother was Heroes of the stations jewelry, t-shirts and other items are created Eric Gill and trained Edward Johnstone. to celebrate the fabulous and colourful Next time you travel on the Underground design. Is it really underground? and exit the stations, take a closer look at If you have ever traveled to Piccadilly the design of the buildings and platforms. Circus, you might have noticed a massive e Underground was created using sev - One man designed more than 50 stations, roundel (that’s the official name of the eral methods, a shallow process called ‘cut architect Leslie Green was commissioned in round tube sign) in the station with the and cover’ whereby they dug up the 1904 with the mammoth task of creating name illuminated. Pick was in ground and then covered the tunnels with some kind of formality to each location. charge of the London Passenger Transport the leftover dirt. Deeper tunneling was When you next travel to and from a station, Board and it was under his care that the used with a tunneling shield developed by if it has ox blood-coloured tiles on the out - look and feel, or corporate identity, was James Henry Greathead, the process was side with semi-circular archways for en - created. In addition to approving Beck’s deemed a safer method for workers. trances and green and white tiles inside the map, he also introduced the term Tunnels only make up only 45% of the entrance hall, you’ll know you are in a “Underground” as a brand, complete with Underground, with the deepest station Green-designed station. Remember, this is roundels as signs. He hired Edward being Hampstead at 58.5 meters below just before the First World War when liter - , who created the iconic font that surface. acy wasn’t common and the trains were was used on all signs – a sans serif lettering If you like your underground with a bit traveling at quite a fast pace, so Green de - that was easy to read for passengers on the of alcohol, there is a subterranean bar cided to make the interiors of the platform walls unique to each station. Each of his go. Also commissioned by Frank Pick was called Cahoots in Soho. e decor is post- stations had different tile combinations, so Macdonald Gill who began the artistic tra - war 1940s and the drinks are delicious. It’s that if a passenger had missed the sign of dition of the Underground posters, which the perfect way to celebrate London’s fa - the station on the wall, they could identify continues to this day with ‘Art on the mous transport system with a drink in the stop by the colour of the tiles. Green’s stations also have distinct features, includ - ing acanthus flowers or pomegranate tile e r t

decor and flat roofs so that the n e C Underground could later sell the air rights s t r

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that won the day. In 1931 sub - ’ l r l i r a mitted a map and as an electrician and G

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technical drawer himself, he knew that pas - n n i t o a d sengers didn’t really care about accuracy but D - c e a easy to read stops. Basing his design on an r p M

www.focus-info.org FOCUS The Magazine 21 guide for this programme, I am privileged to guide at both Down Street and

r Aldwych. Down Street was closed in 1932 a b

d and there is evidence that Winston n u

o Churchill used it as a secret bunker. g r e Aldwych was used for housing precious art d n

U from the National Gallery and British e h

t Museum during the Blitz; and most re - – cently for sets in different movies and even o h o the Firestarter video by e Prodigy. S

, r a You don’t have to go underground to ex - B s t perience the “tube”. In fact, there are many o o h fans of walking the tube lines above a C ground. ere are websites that are dedi - your hand. Many will recall in June 2008 hours, 20 minutes and 27 seconds. If you cated to the paths that are taken above when then mayor of London Boris fancy the challenge, there’s a map online ground to mimic the routes of the London Johnson banned drinking alcohol in the you can use to get you started. Underground. In 2014, I was one of many guides leading charity walkers around the London Underground, the goal was to cre - In 1942 a book was published with the path of the Circle Line. It took a full eight ate a safer and more comfortable travel ex - lists of trains, also known as rolling stock, hours and incorporated all four corners of perience for all. On the last night before and their carriage numbers. is provoked the city. the ban, Londoners far and wide got on a hobby for young men around the coun - In January, when the weather is cold and the tube with a bottle in hand for a final try to stand at the end of a platform to the sparkle of the holidays has faded, “last call”. Ironically, some people were watch trains go by, once the train was spot - Londoners get bored and need something surprised by the ban, exclaiming, “I never ted they would mark them off in their entertaining to do. No Trousers Day is one even thought about drinking on the tube”. books. A popular hobby long before foot - of those events. Not much to explain here, ball cards, trainspotting aficionados would you ride the tube without trousers. It’s Obsession compare and discuss various trains and worth noting that their make. Underground rolling stock op - has admitted that while floors and poles Have you been to every stop on the erates on a different system to regular are washed regularly, seats are shampooed Underground? Ever wanted to try? Well, trains, as the rails are closer together. is and cleaned after two to three years. it’s officially called the ‘Tube Challenge’ gave spotters another type of train to visu - and the objective is to reach all 270 sta - ally collect. tions in as short of time as possible. has a pro - Join the mania Guinness Book of World Records recog - gramme called Hidden London, this is nised the first challenger in 1960, when where they open six of the disused stations Marc Gawley completed it in 16 hours, for tours. It is a fantastic way to see how One of the best places to begin learning more about the London 44 minutes and 16 seconds. In 2013, these stations operated, see some original Underground is the London YouTuber and Londonist video maker features and even learn how they were used Transport Museum. While visiting Geoff Marshall and his friend Anthony in times of war as shelters, storage or even here you could learn about the Smith completed the challenge in 16 as railway headquarters. As a volunteer many opportunities to see “old L

f rolling stock”, steam trains that T

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u the year. You could also to go to o c

o Embankment and listen to the t o

h voice of Oswald Laurence, who’s P

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recording of “Mind the Gap” was n o i

t preserved on request from his a t S

wife, who often visited stations to h c

y listen to her beloved’s voice long w d l after he died. She was upset with A

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e the introduction of new s u s i announcements, and his voice was d

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a reintroduced. Finally, you might just

g n i want to download one of the many m l i

F smart phone apps that help you navigate the tube quicker and faster. Anyway you size it, it’s hard Amber Raney-Kincade is the American Tour Guide in London, offering walking to live in London and not be tours and private hire to those looking to explore on foot. Find out more at obsessed with the tube. www.americantourguideinlondon.com or follow her on Twitter @AmericanLDN

22 FOCUS The Magazine July/August 2019 www.focus-info.org