Product Description

1 x 45:00 min "The History of the London Underground" is the definitive story of the tube', the world's first underground railway system, an extraordinary and vast network that serves nearly a billion people each year.From its humble beginnings in 1863 when a steam engine made the first run of a new era as the very first subway train to commute beneath London's streets to one of the most extensive subway systems in the world, this fascinating documentary tells the complete story of the 243 mile long subterranean network that keeps London moving. With classic archive footage and interviews with London Underground' historians who trace the developments that transformed the first subway line into the modern marvel that we know today, "The History of the London Underground" is a must have for all Londoners and railway enthusiasts alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10710 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-11-05
• Rating: Exempt
• Format: PAL
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 52 minutes

Synopsis
Fascinating and comprehensive documentary charting the London Underground system from its origins to through to its status today.

Customer Reviews

history of london underground
this a must for any body interested in london s transport system it is brilliant again i have only seen this for sale on AMAZON,

Very interesting
Exaustive but not boring documentary.
In only 45 minutes you can see the history of London underground system.
I love so much the original pictures and movies from 30s and 40s (but even before I believe).

An outing underground
Probably the best asset of London that enabled London to get the 2012 Olympic games against Paris whose public transportation system is archaic and totally pervaded with corporative conflicts between the numerous types of personnel, the worst being the fact that each worker is attached to one line, just like the trains. No unification at all and conflicts that can cripple the whole system by stopping one crucial line, or section of line because some lines may be divided between two different corporations of personnel, here or there. That cannot happen in London. What's more the London Underground has been uplifted and upgraded over the last twenty years in a proportion that has no equivalent in the world, except maybe New York. Automated lines are already representing a fair proportion of the system and this automation is growing steadily. That means speed, security and comfort. But the main interest of this video is the history that is depicted from the very start, the first underground train in the world, to today with some great names attached to the improvements and the fact that this London Underground has always or nearly always been ahead of all other similar networks in the world. It is also interesting to see how this underground system is embedded in the consciousness of Londoners as some vital system and this is based on the fact that it played an essential role in 1940-1941 when London was being destroyed by the German Blitz. Furthermore, the London Underground has become a real touristic attraction in London, and not because London has nothing else to show, but because it is the funniest way of travelling and spending some time in London discovering that underground city and quite a few charming places, quaint and picturesque. And if we have to mind a gap in this underground it is not the gap that exists in some other underground systems between the present and the future. This London Underground is by far ahead of the future, even if some stations still need some improvement, but the connections are absolutely perfect because over the last twenty years the London Transport Authority has concentrated on building catty-corners lines like the Jubilee or the Victoria lines, crisscrossing the other lines and amplifying the effects of the Circle line, a unique mixing line that provides you with shortcuts at every station downtown, and what's more it has run to the far distant suburbs from the very start of its history, and some of these suburban extensions are being extended still. It is unluckily expensive if you pay single trip tickets, but the passes, season tickets and other solutions are so numerous and so much cheaper. Riding the underground is both a sport and an adventure in London and with the proper pass you can use it creatively.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines