London's Underground Since 1985 - A Journey in Colour

Jim Blake's second volume of his photographs featuring the London Underground cover the period from 1985, shortly after the Thatcher regime's destruction of London Transport and its re-birth as London Underground Ltd., to 2021 when the Northern Line gained its new branch from Kennington to Battersea Power Station. This was a turbulent time in the system's history, encompassing the withdrawal of the last pre-war passenger rolling stock (in 1988) and then the abolition of two-person operated trains at the beginning of 2000. Jim's photographs concentrate on the older types. The contrast between the late 1980s/early 1990s and today's Underground is very clear in Jim's photographs featured here, most previously unpublished. It is unfortunate that further improvements, not to mention long-planned extensions to the system, continue to be frustrated by government spending restrictions at the time of writing.