Winners of Blurb Tube Photo Competition

It was a tough decision but Blurb & their agents chose five winning entries who will get voucher worth £30 to make their own book. Thanks to everyone who entered the competition. London Transport Museum also liked a number of the entries and may well be in touch about getting permission for some to be used in an upcoming exhibit.

But for now, congratulations to the five winners:



Westminster by Threadweavle



Tube Roundel by ianvisits



Jubilee Jam by Chutney Bannister



Under the watchful eye by routemaster_fan



London Underground 002 by brenz1989

Blurb's agent will be in touch by email with the winners & if you manage to create your book before the end of the month, you'll get be able to take advantage of a 20% discount & free postage meaning you get even more with your £30 prize.

London Undercover Moquette Umbrella

Today was the perfect wet day to try out my London Undercover umbrella. I looked like a comedy commuter when I left my house though as I opened it ridiculously quickly & turned it inside out in the wind. This was great for exposing the moquette design to everyone down my street, but not so great for keeping me dry. Luckily, the umbrella is made of really sturdy stuff and I was able to turn it back the correct direction & make it to the station in an unsoggy state.


The "Commuter" umbrella has a double layer of pinstripe design and 1970's London Underground District Line, Circle Line Tube and Bus seat moquette design. It's a collaboration between fashion brand London Undercover & Transport for London (just in case anyone thought TfL were about to sue them for using the design.


London Undercover said: "The perfect canvas for expression, the design aims to encourage people to enjoy and take pride in what is, an indispensable, quintessentially British accessory. In keeping with the British ecological ideology, the umbrella is made using recycled materials."

There's some lovely detail in the handle and on the press stud on the little tag that you wrap the umbrella back with when closed.

At £60 it's not the cheapest umbrella in the world, but if you spend that much on it, you're less likely to leave it on the Tube. It would also make a pretty good Xmas present for the commuter that has everything!

US Interstates as London Underground Map

I love how things can look better if they're re-drawn as a Tube Map. Senex Prime set out to simplify America's Interstate system & thought London's Tube map was the best way to present a lot of information very concisely and clearly.


He said "Drawing my cues from the original and best metro diagram, H.C. Beck's wonderful London Underground diagram, I have rendered the Interstate system in a much simpler form. I have made the "major" highways (those divisible by 5) the framework of the map, with the "minor" highways reduced in importance and rendered as thinner grey lines..... A full key at the bottom indicates clearly where each highway begins and ends."

Thanks to richjm & Carole who both gave me the heads up to this! Tube map aficionados may say it's not exactly in the Beck's style, but Prime says he welcomes comment on the style and any errors or omissions!


It also reminds me of Mark Ovenden's World Metro Map, a "playful diagram" showing "all the cities which have, are building or are planning to construct an urban rail system."

Transformed by the Tube

Oliver Green, London Underground expert, author & London Transport Museum research fellow will be holding a one hour talk at the museum on 17th November 2009 as part of the museum's "Suburbia" season.


"Modernity in Morden, home comforts in Hendon and a spaceship in Southgate. How the Underground brought semi-detached civilisation to London’s new inter-war suburbs. In the 15 years between 1924 and 1939 London's suburbs grew at a rapid pace. Oliver will examine how the arrival of the Tube in open countryside just outside London led to the creation of completely new suburban communities, and how the Underground extensions introduced new architectural styles."

The talk takes place in the Museum's Cubic Theatre and starts at 18.30. Adults £8.00; senior citizens £6.00; students £4.00. More details ans for online & telephone booking details, check out the Museum's website.

Computerised voices on the Tube

Are the London Underground introducing more computerised announcements? We're used to hearing people reading out the vast amount of weekend engineering works. Some of them are getting so long now, that I wonder whether someone thought it would be good to have a computer doing these instead?


Paul Mison heard a very artificial sounding announcement at King's Cross which does sound as though stations were inserted at the last minute.

He said "They use a weirdly artificial sounding voice; if you've ever played Portal it's slightly too much like Glados for comfort.

Anyway, I wouldn't be surprised if they do the same this weekend. Tourists seemed a little confused but I think they got the hang of it in the end."

Has anyone else heard any more computerised voices on the Tube?