These days, a subway is an integral part of a city's heritage and a key feature of the urban landscape used by passengers, but subways are also full of history and art. They reflect a city's personality and its past and future, and are worthy of exploration, even for those not boarding a train. It's safe to say that a great many subways have overcome their past reputation for unpleasant shadiness.
Subways revolutionized urban transport, moving people from crowded streets to efficient underground tunnels. This book has two parts: the first tells the stories of six major subways: London, Paris, Moscow, New York, Berlin, Tokyo. It describes their histories, the circumstances of their construction, and many anecdotes from what were invariably political, financial, engineering and architectural marathons. As well, deadly accidents, scarce funds and corruption set construction off the rails more often than not.
The second half of the book is a stunning photo gallery of some of the most surprising subway stations around the world. They include examples from the six systems covered historically plus stations whose architecture reflects the cities and the people that they serve.
They include:
Szent Gell rt, Budapest -- One of the world's oldest subways, spiral patterns take riders on an intergalactic trip of misleading perspectives and concrete interlacing.
Puhung, Pyongyang, North Korea -- This dictator's showcase is one of only two stations, open but two hours a day, and apparently, a mandatory activity for tourists.
Beitucheng, Beijing -- Echoes of ancient blue and white porcelain are rendered contemporary, even in the subway maps.
R dhuset, Stockholm -- Where Franciscan monks prayed in the 15th century, artist Sitgvard Olsson has created an organic cave, its rough walls lit in red like volcanic magma.
New York City -- The vaulted tile ceiling of New York's City Hall "ghost station" is unfortunately rarely seen.
Toledo, Naples -- Seen on this book's jacket, it is one of Europe's most magnificent stations..
Concorde Station, Paris -- Tiled walls form a word search puzzle of the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
This book beautifully chronicles in photos and text the profound changes that have affected American railroading over the past half-century. In color pictures, this is a joyous tribute to the people and trains that make the steel rails sing.
It is impossible to imagine London without the Tube: the beating heart of the city, the Underground shuttles over a billion passengers each year below its busy streets and across its leafy suburbs. The distinctive roundel, colour-coded maps and Johnston typeface have become design classics, recognised and imitated worldwide.
Opening in 1863, the first sections were operated by steam engines, yet throughout its long history the Tube has been at the forefront of contemporary design, pioneering building techniques, electrical trains and escalators, and business planning. Architects such as Leslie W. Green and Charles Holden developed a distinctively English version of Modernism, and the latest stations for the Jubilee line extension, Overground and Elizabeth line carry this aesthetic forward into the twenty-first century.
In this major work published in association with Transport for London, Tube expert Oliver Green traces the history of the Underground, following its troubles and triumphs, its wartime and peacetime work, and the essential part it has played in shaping London's economy, geography, tourism and identity. Specially commissioned photography by Benjamin Graham (UK Landscape Photographer of the Year 2017) brings the story to life in vivid portraits of London Underground's stations, tunnels and trains.
Thousands of commuters south of the Thames use the railway daily, but how many know the fascinating history of the Southern Railway, created in 1923 from four smaller companies? Colin Maggs, one of the country's foremost railway historians, tells the story of the London & South Western Railway, the London Brighton & South Coast Railway, the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham & Dover Railway (also known as the London, Smash 'em & Turnover Railway due to its poor safety record) in comprehensive detail. In addition to the company's history, he covers the railway's cross-Channel shipping enterprise and the creation of Southampton Docks for ocean-going vessels. From its Victorian beginnings, the golden age of steam, diversification, Edwardian amalgamation through nationalisation and to the present day, Colin Maggs tells the gripping story of one of the country's proudest railway firms. Illustrated with over 100 photographs and period posters, many in colour.
Appealing to more than just railroad fans, this fascinating account of early Japanese efforts to build railways also paints a clear picture of the Meiji era and the historical, cultural and social ramifications of the railway in Japan.
For nearly two centuries, through vast upheavals and enormous change, railroads have remained crucial to North American transportation. And always setting the pace have been the mighty American locomotives in all their ever-evolving forms. This collection traces the development of steam, electric, and diesel locomotives from the early nineteenth century right up to the present. More than 250 photographs are accompanied by detailed captions identifying the locomotives and explaining their roles in the history of American motive power. Together, the photographs depict well over 75 locomotive types and reflect the grand geographic and technological breadth of North American railroading.
