Twenty-Five Years Of London Transport 1949-1974

Twenty-Five Years of London Transport 1949–1974 (2014)
Kevin McCormack – Ian Allan
ISBN: 9780711036994
Condition: Fine (so sharp it probably still smells of diesel nostalgia)
Vendor: Crappy Old Books

This is the story of London Transport during its “proper buses, proper uniforms, proper chaos” years – from the post-war tidy-up to the mid-70s “oh dear, everything’s getting complicated” era.

In Twenty-Five Years of London Transport 1949–1974, Kevin McCormack takes you on a photographic and anecdotal wander through a quarter-century when:

• RTs, RFs and, eventually, Routemasters ruled the roads.

• Trolleybuses gracefully bowed out while the diesel brigade rolled in and refused to leave.

• Bus crews wore caps, carried ticket machines, and occasionally looked as if they’d seen things no inspector would believe.

• Trams disappeared, new ideas arrived, and London stumbled, experimented and reorganised itself repeatedly, all while still trying to get you home for your tea.

Inside this lovingly assembled volume you’ll find:

• Page after page of vintage photographs: terminuses in the drizzle, depots at rest, packed rush-hour scenes, and the odd, gloriously random shot of a bus parked somewhere it probably shouldn’t be.

• A guided tour through changing liveries, destinations, route numbers and vehicle types, as the network modernised, rationalised and occasionally bodged.

• Glimpses of long-lost street scenes: shopfronts, fashions, signage and pedestrians looking faintly puzzled by the camera.

• A gentle, informed commentary that says, “Yes, this looked better,” without shouting about it on the internet.

Think of it as a time machine for transport nerds: no flux capacitor, just a lot of RTs, RMs, garages and traffic scenes that make you strangely emotional about pre-Health & Safety platform riding.

Now, the condition: this copy is graded Fine, which, in the refreshingly blunt language of Crappy Old Books, means:

• The cover is clean, sharp and extremely presentable – no mysterious gouges, no ring-marks from mugs, no “I dropped it once getting off the 73” injuries.

• The spine is straight and uncreased, suggesting this book has been treated with almost suspicious respect. It may have been opened carefully; it has certainly not been flattened savagely on a scanner.

• The pages are crisp, bright and securely bound – no loose leaves, no annotations, no evidence that anyone tried to redesign the bus network in biro on the endpapers.

• If there is any wear at all, it’s so minor you’ll probably miss it while being distracted by a 1950s street scene featuring three buses, two prams and a Morris Minor.

In short: this is the “ex-works” example of a London transport history book – lovingly preserved, barely aged, and ready for a dedicated spot on your shelf.

Perfect for:

• Bus and train enthusiasts who can identify locations from the lampposts alone.

• London nostalgists who think the city looked best when everything was painted in variants of red, cream and grime.

• Transport historians and modellers seeking visual reference for “that exact corner in 1963”.

• Anyone who just enjoys flipping through old photos of London and thinking, “Why did we ever get rid of that?”

Twenty-Five Years of London Transport 1949–1974 is a beautifully produced ramble through a golden age that didn’t know it was golden at the time—it was just trying to keep the buses running and the public vaguely punctual.

Available now from Crappy Old Books, where our interest in London Transport is at least as enduring as a Routemaster chassis, and our grading is as honest as a conductor’s “no more room upstairs, love.”

Keep browsing: See more Transport books Other books by Kevin McCormack