London Underground Related Sites

London Underground Official Site

London Underground's own site has a great deal to offer - current travel information, long term engineering works, route planner, maps and much more.

Tubeprune

Tubeprune - probably the most informative site anywhere on matters relating to London Underground.

Solidbond's Photo Archive

Another site well worth a visit if your interest is in photos of London Underground is my friend and fellow Instructor Operator 'Solidbond's' site.  Visit his London Underground Archive.

Anorak Heaven

On the topic of signaling, and although I hope to include pages here at some point, this is a great site - lots of photos and information from a real Anorak! Visit Anorak Heaven!

Clive Feather's Underground Line Guides

An excellent site for a great deal of history, information and much more is Clive Feather's Underground Line Guides.  Further exploration of his main site will provide more information about railways in general.

Roger Vigger's UK Railways

For an excellent collection of photos of a historical nature of London Underground, my good friend Roger Viggers has an excellent site. Like this site, it's a continuing project - and features far more than just London Underground!  Visit UK Railways to view!

London's Transport Museum

There is of course to London's Transport Museum - the main Museum being in Covent Garden with the Museum Depot located at Acton Town.  The Museum's website has full details of opening times.

Going Underground

I'd been thinking for a while that I really needed to add a bit of irreverence and humour to these links and had been looking at a number of sites that seemed to fit the bill.  Well, matters were taken out of my hands when I found a very complimentary e-mail from Annie herself (I am not worthy!) in my Inbox this morning! So - without further ado - look no further than 'Going Underground', Annie's award winning site, and her associated web log (blog). Whether you're a member of London Underground's staff (and if you are, I strongly recommend that you read the comments and maybe, just maybe, you might recognise yourself......), a passenger (occasional or regular) or just an interested browser have a look - you'll be diverted for hours!

London Underground by Subwayrail

(Currently suspended - link will be restored when back 'online')

This is a new site which is being compiled by a member of London Underground's Station Staff and gives an insight into both the working of stations and the recruitment process for Station Staff. It seems to have the makings of a great site - have a look!

London's Abandoned Tube Stations

This is a topic which always seems to be of interest, and this is a good site if it's an interest of yours.

My Tube Place

Another fansite, but this time compared by a guy in Belgium who's obviously fascinated by the system.  Loads of facts and figures, photos and much more.  Have a browse!

Squarewheels

An eclectic collection on a wide range of topics in which the writer is interested, but as London Underground's pretty high on this list, it's included in this section!

Mind The Doors!

This is the web site relating to a book of the same title written by Central Line Train Operator Rob Griffiths relating to his 35 years of experiences with London Underground.

The book is a good and informative read and provides much more than just simply anecdotes. Certainly worth adding to your library!

Railway Related Sites

The Beeching Report

Most of the older readers will remember, and the younger ones will, I'm sure, have heard of and about, the drastic changes that occurred to the British Railways system following the infamous Beeching Report of 1963, but how many of us have actually read it?  Here's your opportunity to do so. It's not an bit of light reading so be prepared to spend quite some time and a lot of concentration in tackling it, but it's fascinating reading and an understanding of it greatly helps when considering where the UK's railway system is today!

Isle of Wight Steam Railway

After receiving Tom Corcoran's photos from the Isle of Wight, I found a web site devoted to the Isle of Wight Steam Railway, a preserved railway that looks to be full of character and nostalgia. Have a look at the site, and if you're ever on the island, a visit looks well worthwhile!

David Stevenson's Train Page

A site recently recommended to me is David Stevenson's Train Page.  It was suggested to me mainly in connection with the descriptions by Helena Wojtczak on her recruitment to British Rail as a guard. These stories provide a fascinating insight into the hurdles she faced in what was (and - in truth - still is) a very much male dominated industry. I would urge you to read at least these accounts on this site, but there is much more there of interest too.

The Railway Register

A new site of which I was previously unaware has come to my attention recently - the Railway Register.  Have a look, it's well worth a visit with lots of good railway related stuff.

Chris Adams' Railway photos

My friend and colleague Chris Adams is a fine photographer, and you can visit here to view part of his extensive collection of railway photographs.

Always Touch Out!

A new site that's been brought to my attention is alwaystouchout.com which is aiming to keep a track on all forms of transport projects.  It's very nicely designed and I wish the web master every success in the project. If you're wondering about the title of the site it refers to the new Oyster Card system and the need to 'touch in' and 'touch out' when entering or leaving the transport system - very catchy title!

Toronto Subway System

I'm always delighted to receive correspondence from those who visit this site, and one such correspondent in Toronto, Canada has alerted me to the site about the Toronto Subway System.  I've had a read, and it looks really interesting and I'll certainly be reading it in more detail in the future - do give it a look!  I'm interested to receive other links to 'complimentary' Metro systems too!

Railway Technical Web Page

There is a mass of information contained here - far too much for me to even briefly describe!  But if you're looking for explanations of virtually any railway matter related the operation, planning and maintenance there's a high chance you'll find it here.

The Signal Box

The name really says it all! But this is to do with railway signalling systems within the UK - not just London Underground, though there is a section with a few photographs within the site. Very informative!

Phil Wimbush's Gallery

You may recognise the name as being one of the contributors of photographs and other material to this site.  Phil has his own 'on line' photo gallery and there's an interesting collection of images there. Do go and have a look.

Chris Cobley's Gallery

Again, another of my prolific contributors has his own 'on line' gallery. You'll see that Chris doesn't just limit himself to London Underground - there's pictures from all around the U.K. - and some from abroad too - including trains of just about every type, buses and even the occasional tram!

Anthony Rispoli's Gallery

Another extensive collection of London Underground which encompasses much of the system can be found on this site.

All have been taken form publicly accessible places, so they show well what can be done!

Model Railways

IDSME

IDSME is the Ickenham & District Society of Model Engineers. They have a permanent site in Ickenham running a collection of miniature trains.  Well worth a visit. Visit their site to learn more!

Preservation and Historical

Cravens Heritage Trains

The Cravens Heritage Group, which is devoted to the preservation of, amongst other things, a 1960 Tube Stock unit has its own web site - well worth a visit and much more detail is available about the Group's activities and plans than the overview I've included.

The Great Western Society, Didcot

The Great Western Society can be linked to here.

Great Western Preservation Group

The future of the home of the GWR Preservation Group is sadly under some threat - visit their site to read more.

The Bramley Line

A former member of London Transport's staff has brought this site to my attention, and the efforts being made to restore this piece of the railway system.  They also have a mention on the BBCi service, and this can be viewed here.

Simulations

A number of links specifically on the subject of Flight Simulations can be found on the dedicated section page here.

The District Line for MSTS

If you're interested in keeping up to date with progress on the development of the District Line for MSTS, this is where you can do it! There have been some new screen shots added in the last few days of the latest progress - do have a look, they're very impressive!

SimSig Signalling Simulations

Elsewhere on this site I've mentioned SimSig - have a look!  They're a wonderful (and ever growing) series of really challenging scenarios.  But be warned - they are seriously addictive!

I'd been looking around for a while for a site dedicated to train sims and this one has come to my attention. Not only does it seem to have a great deal to offer itself, there are also a mass of links to other sites. Both the ubiquitous BVE and MSTS are covered in depth.

trainsimcentral.co.uk

This site is aimed entirely at the BVE simulation community.

I have tried BVE in the past, but it's so long ago that it would be unfair of me to make any recommendations on it.  But there are an enormous variety of routes available and - at least looking at screen shots - the quality is improving all the time.

Trainsimmers Against Trespass

On a (sadly) more serious note, between 2000 and 2001 122 people were killed as a direct result of Trespass and Vandalism in England alone. Another 149 were seriously injured (loss of limbs and severe burns). 22 of the people killed were under the age of 16. The figures actually fell in 2001-2002 by 30% this year, owing to a crackdown of crime by British Transport Police (BTP) and the networks train operators.

The rail industry, supported by BTP have opted for zero tolerance. BTP & Civil police officers are patrolling, and travelling on trains in uniform and plain clothes - they are now authorised to travel in the driving cab of trains while a police car shadows the train for an immediate response.

I'm more than happy to lend my support to the Trainsimmers Against Trespassing campaign - visit their site and read more by clicking on this logo.

Discussion Forums

There are a wide variety of forums relating to London Underground and transport matters in general and I'm sure many of you have happened across this site as a result of some of these.

The following are a selection of ones of which I'm aware.  If you know of others, please let me know if you think they would be a useful addition to those included.

My Forum! to read more or go direct to the Forum

*New Version now 'live'!*

As a little 'add on' to this site to give you an opportunity to share questions that you may have around matters raised on this site or London Underground in general. 

Do participate, both in posting questions or in making your own comments and observations.

Another forum with which I have some associations, but which looks at Transport matters from a much wider perspective.

London Underground matters are discussed, but these form only a part of this forum's objectives. Registration is required, but it's a quick process.

You'll find several members there who contribute or who have contributed to this site, so there is plenty of informed discussion.

Have a look - you do not need to sign up to browse.

This site's been around for about three years now, and covers a wealth of topics relating to transport matters.

Additionally there are forums on simulations and more general matters.

Although mainly contributed to and visited by younger enthusiasts, there are some good discussions, although generally the discussions are not so well argued and thought through.  But, that being said, it's still a useful resource.

Again, membership is required to contribute, but reading is free to all.

uk.transport.london

This is a news group, rather than a forum, though the end result is the same!

It's been going for a while, and is probably one of the oldest transport related discussion mediums on the internet.

Not all the contributors are 'enthusiasts', and many seem to see it as a place to slag off everyone and everything to do with London's Transport system. But, that being said, it's a place to see a wide range of opinions voiced.

Browsing does not require membership, but posting does.

Infraco Exchange

A new forum, again under the 'Proboards' server and software, which I recently came across through 'Tubeprune's' site.

It is aimed mainly at staff of either London Underground or the 'Infraco's', but could be an interesting site to visit to keep up to date on developments.

The forum is very much in it's early days. Again membership is required to contribute, but reading is open to all.