"Paul Thompson" gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1163937811.482202.137140@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...

I suggest it's probably this:

http://www.ianallanpublishing.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=39026

tim

Simple answer is to take a stroll down to the LT Museum at Covent
Garden and ask for a recommendation.

IIRC one publication in particular is regarded as the poodles dangly
bits by the Museum staff for their own reference purposes, but I'll be
d****d if I can remember what it is ...

In message <1163937811.482202.137140@h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>, Paul
Thompson gmail.com> writes

Since so much has been published on the subject, you are likely to get a
number of diverse suggestions.

For me, the most comprehensive and authoritative historical study is:

Desmond F Croome and Alan A Jackson, Rails through the clay: A
history of London's Tube railways, Capital Transport, 1993.

Be aware, though, that (a) it deals only with the tube system and not
with sub-surface systems such as the District and Met, and (b) it is
currently out of print. Second-hand copies are often *very* expensive,
but it is at least worth getting a copy through your local public
library.

Paul Thompson writes:

You probably want "London's Underground"; see below. And if that
just whets your appetite, proceed next to "Rails Through the Clay".

Here's a mail message I wrote on this subject in 1999, with minor
updates in square brackets. Text quoted below with ">" is from the
person I was replying to then.

*********************************************************************

If you haven't read Clive's Underground Line Guides (CULG), do so.
[That's <http://www.davros.org/rail/culg>]

You probably want "London's Underground"; see below. And if that
just whets your appetite, proceed next to "Rails Through the Clay".

Hi,

Please could someone suggest the best/most definitive book on the
underground? I'm totally new to the subject, and wanted to start with a
book that won't waste my time.

Thanks,
Paul

Paul Thompson wrote:

I'm currently reading "subterranean railway" by Christian Wolmer, aznd
I'm finding it fascinating. I'm not especially interested in trains
for what they are, but the engineering side of things, and the way the
system was built is amazing.

This book details the system from the first plans, through to modern
day (it was published in 2004).

It goes a long way to pointing out just why there are so many problems
with the network as it is.