I found this book to be really interesting I have read a lot about London underground but there is way more to London than the tube.
Well researched and from carts on roman roads, cars, the development of motoways, buses and the underground.

This book is well illustrated and a great guide for anyone interested in London. Recommended read.

While a rather niche topic and read, this book absolutely provides an excellent historical overview of London's transportation over the last basically two millennia! So, it did what it set out to do. :)

I particularly enjoyed the illustrations, truth be told--I came for the pictures, it's true--but certainly appreciated the historical element, especially seeing what has withstood the test of time and still stands (or can be found) in present day.

Naturally, some eras were more interesting than others for me (and that may vary from reader to reader). I'd be curious to check out some of the additional resources the author noted, orrrr ... perhaps just visit London and appreciate the sights in person! :D London is always a good idea, isn't it?!

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Well, one can honestly say that the title of this book, “London's Transport From Roman Times to the Present Day” by Anthony Burton, gives a very accurate description of what you will find between the covers.

Mr. Burton does indeed cover how people and goods moved around the area that is now London, starting (as most things in this vein do) with the Romans. From Roman roads we move to carts and other horse drawn vehicles, to the emergence of the railroad, to the trams and buses, the ubiquitous Underground, cars and motorways, and finally ending up with modern day airports. We also cover crossing the Thames, both successfully and somewhat less successfully.

I found this book a puzzling mixture of being both too general and too specific at the same time. A lot of the times we are given general history of the development of means of transportation in England, discussing histories of trainlines and automobile developments that weren’t necessarily specific to London. At other times, Mr. Burton was exceedingly (and sometimes painfully) specific about things that would only interest someone who was already very knowledgeable about London’s transport system; for example we follow the construction of an Underground line from station to station, hearing about who built what part and how the different companies competed with each other.

At times enjoyable, at times tedious, at times a mystery for those who aren’t in the heart of London. Read it if you are really interested (as the title says) about the growth of transportation in London.

I requested and received a free advanced electronic copy from Pen & Sword, Pen & Sword Transport via NetGalley. Thank you!

Princess Fuzzypants here: If you are, like me, fascinated by London and its history, particularly its various forms of transportation, you will find this book a treat. It truly does go back and look at how people moved around from Roman times with their roads and advanced engineering to the modern transportation innovations that continue to struggle to move volumes of humanity in, out and around the metropolis. Anyone who has tried to get from point A to point B during the crush of rush hour knows the meaning of gridlock.

I was especially interested in how transportation both catered to the growth of the city and also created the growth. Part of it was by means of making things more accessible to more people and of great interest were the various experiments, both successful and not so successful that accompanied that advancement. Whether it was the railroads that moved masses in primitive conveyances or the advent of the tube, which continues to evolve even today, this book delivers, in enjoyable text, the stories of the people and the innovations that have brought us to where we are today.

Four purrs and two paws up.

The history of transport is a good way to learn about the history of a place and what happened. This well researched and well written book made me learn something and I enjoyed it.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

London's Transport From Roman Times to the Present Day by Anthony Burton covers most forms of transport: cars and buses on roads; trams and trolley-buses; overground and underground railways; and planes. However, I didn’t feel any of the chapters were really focussed on London, other than Chapter 3 about bridges and tunnels crossing the Thames and 6 on the Underground. There is interesting material describing the suspension of early carriages and how steam engines work, but neither topic is specific to London.

I expected a lot more about licencing by the various forms of local and central government and the hostility between London boroughs. The chapter on road transport states “Trevithick made no further attempts to build steam vehicles to run on roads.” However, others did – there’s no mention of Goldsworthy Gurney. There could be a lot more about horse-drawn omnibuses and the battles for custom by competing companies. Overall, I felt that was a lightweight overview of general transport history – there’s nothing wrong with it, but it doesn’t particularly add anything to the historiography and, apart from London bridges and the Underground, it doesn’t tell me much about London. It's a shame the book wasn’t delayed so that the author could cover the Elizabeth Line so at least there would be something new.

The short list of nine books listed in the Further Reading section includes British Transport by Dyos and Aldcroft, published in 1969. I assume that’s their British Transport - an Economic Survey from the Seventeenth Century to the Twentieth. Surprisingly, Burton doesn’t mention Barker and Robbins’ A History of London Transport: two volumes comprising a total of 964 pages – now that’s a detailed history!

#LondonsTransportFromRomanTimestothePresentDay #NetGalley

I was expecting this book to be more academic, but I was pleasantly surprised at how captivating this book was. It's very well written and I think anyone with an interest in history would enjoy this book.

A unique book. I enjoy reading about British history, particularly about the royals and about the capital city, London. Hence me choosing to reading the history of transportation in London. Starting from ancient Roman roads and continuing to present-day hybrid & electric vehicles, Anthony Burton does a wonderful of presenting how transportation has evolved in London. I particularly enjoyed reading about the 'birth' of luxury car leaders such as Daimler and Benz and Bentley. If the men who started these cars could see how far they have come, they would be amazed and proud. It's a good book to read if you're an Anglophile or a history buff in general. You will definitely learn a lot.

I thought this might be a bit dry and academic but not so. It was a really interesting and complete record of transport across our fair capital. My husband (after I kept reading him bits I thought he might be interested in) ,decided to read it after me , and he only reads a very limited range on his favourite subjects. Needless to say that it is keeping him very quiet , thank you Mr. Anthony Burton.