What We Talk About When We Talk about the Tube: The District Line (Penguin Underground Lines)

A quick, enjoyable read.

The author hit the subject matter on the head. I felt I was living in London again and using the tube

"London as it exists today would not be the same place without the Underground. The Underground is what gave the city its geographical spread, its population growth, its clusters of spaces and places."This brilliant book by John Lanchester, whose most recent novel was the highly praised "Capital", is part of Penguin's Underground Lines series, which celebrates the 150th anniversary of the London Underground. Lanchester's contribution is a superb exploration of the District Line, the Underground as a whole, and the profound effect that the system has had on the growth of the city and the everyday lives of its residents.The District Line, which is aptly described as being like 'an older aunt who has seen better days', originated as the Metropolitan District Railway, and was later known as the District Railway, in order to distinguish it from the Metropolitan Railway, which began underground service in October 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon stations. The District Railway was created to provide a circular subsurface link to the major train stations in London, in order to allow commuters coming from the city's suburbs to quickly travel to their work places without having to navigate the city's congested streets. The first District Line service began operation in December 1868, which carried passengers between the South Kensington and Westminster stations, using steam locomotives to pull wooden carriages. The line has expanded significantly over the subsequent years, providing service to as far west as the posh suburbs of Richmond and Wimbledon, and as far east as Upminster.Lanchester begins his book with a journey on the 4:53 am westbound train to Richmond leaving from Upminster, the first train of the day on the system. He observes his fellow passengers, initially blue collar workers from the East End off to their jobs in the City, who are then replaced by professionals who are employed in the financial district as he approaches central London and makes the return eastbound trip. He comments about the differences and similarities of the social and demographic groups that use the Underground, and the eastward displacement of the working classes, as the City and immediate East End neighborhoods have become less affordable to those earning modest salaries. Lanchester also speaks to Transport for London (TfL) workers throughout the book, who provide him with valuable insights into the Underground and the passengers who use it:"I asked TfL workers about the demographic difference between the two ends of the line. 'Put it like this,' one of them said. 'If they're annoyed about something, at this end of the line' -- we were at Dagenham -- 'they yell at you. You know about it straight away. At the other end,' he said with a shudder, 'they write letters.'"In subsequent chapters Lanchester expands his horizon to view the Underground as a whole, the effect of rapid transit on the development of cities, and the comparison of it to the metros of other cities such as Paris and New York, who created their systems decades afterward. He also discusses the psychology of passengers who ride the system; distinguishes between the terms Underground, which refers to the entire system, and the seemingly synonymous term Tube, which properly refers to the deeper level lines such as the Piccadilly, Northern and Bakerloo lines, and not the subsurface ones such as the Circle, District and Hammersmith and City lines; his personal fear of being in Underground tunnels, particularly when the train is halted between stations; the new air conditioned trains that will soon replace the 30+ year old ones that currently are in service; his experience riding alongside the driver of a train, and how it differs from being a regular passenger; the monotonous work day of an Underground train operator; and the different personas that Londoners assume when they travel underground.The only complaint that I have about this book is that it ended far too soon. I absolutely loved it, and reading it has made me eager to drop everything else and read Lanchester's latest novel as soon as possible.

great read