M A RT I N R A N D A L L T R AV E L
Bulletin 9, 2015
London Days
Non-residential events to inform and inspire • These London Days explore the art, architecture and history of the most varied and exciting city in the world. • They are led by carefully chosen experts who provide informative and enlightening commentary. • Meticulously planned with special arrangements and privileged access being significant features. • Radio guides enable lecturers to talk in a normal conversational mode while participants can hear without difficulty. • All are accompanied by an administrator to ensure arrangements run smoothly. • These are active days, often with a lot of walking and standing. Travel is mainly by Underground, sometimes taxi, occasionally by private coach or bus. • See the final page of this booklet for booking details. Trial trip on the Underground Railway in 1863, wood engraving c. 1880.
London’s Underground Railway A History and appreciation of the Tube Thursday 12th March 2015 (lb 263) Thursday 30th April 2015 (lb 304) Lecturer: Andrew Martin Shanghai has more track, Paris and New York have more stations, but London has by a clear margin the oldest urban underground railway in the world: 2013 was its 150th anniversary. It is also by far the most complicated, having started messily as several independent and often competing enterprises; contrary to sensible practice, strategic planning by unitary municipal government came towards the end of the process, not in advance. Modern London was shaped by the Tube rather than vice versa. Motivation and management has been various: commercial and philanthropic, entrepreneurial and Keynesian, expansionist and defeatist. The first ‘cut and cover’ lines, in trenches under existing roads, were vigorously promoted by a socialistic solicitor. The ‘deep level’ tube lines were pushed Book
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through by a maverick American, while the suburban extensions between the wars fulfilled the utopian ideals of a dour Yorkshireman who came bitterly to regret the urban sprawl they spawned. Now, after decades of relative neglect, investment and improvement are on an unprecedented scale. The day is led by Andrew Martin, journalist, novelist, historian and author of Underground Overground: a Passenger’s History of the Tube (2012). During the 1990s he was ‘Tube
“It was a most stimulating and well organised day – a real treat.” Participant on a London Day in 2014
Talk’ columnist for the Evening Standard. He stresses that his approach will not be drily academic or technical but anecdotal and affectionate, highlighting the human stories, the architecture and design, the overlooked detail and the downright odd. Among the places and themes examined are the first ever stations, still in use and little
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changed; the even earlier Brunel tunnel under the Thames, mother of all modern tunnels, opened 1841; the subtle beauties of Leslie Green’s tiled stations of the early 20th century and the revered modernist architecture of the 1930s; and the architectural bravura of the 1990s Jubilee Line Extension. The day is not all spent below ground, and by special arrangement there is a visit to London Transport’s historic headquarters at 55 Broadway. Start: 9.00am at Baker Street Station. Finish: c. 5.00pm at Southwark (a short walk from Waterloo). Fitness: participants need to be able to cope with busy trains and a considerable time on foot; standing or walking. There are a lot of station steps as well as a flight of 100 which are steep and narrow within 55 Broadway. Price: £195 (Freedom Pass holders will be refunded £9). This includes all Tube travel, lunch and refreshments. Group size: maximum 16 participants.
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