Annie Mole's, webmaster of Going Underground, daily web log (blog).
If you like this you'll LURVE One Stop Short of Barking, THE fun and informative BOOK about travelling on the London Underground.
But no mere aesthetic concept, it is also a fully functioning radio.
Fortunately, the river is described as part of the electronics, as I doubt
actual water would have been a wise idea.
The layout reminds me of an electronics
toy I had as a kid, which I slightly miss as it comes from the days when
being able to read the colour codes on resisters was considered a valued skill
as opposed to today where it would probably be hipster nerdishness. A bit of hunting around on the web and some luck with google keywords tells
me that the "toy" was the Gakken
EX-System which encourages you to experiment with building electric circuits.
Nostalgia!
Incidentally, the story that Harry Beck based his original map design on the
electronic circuit board is a myth. There is indeed a Beck style circuit board
design tube map in the archives, but it was apparently a joke that was presented
to him long after the tube map had been adopted by London Transport.
The artist in residence programme runs until next January, and the circuit board tube map will also
be on display at the late-night
opening on the 21st September.
"The magic, mystery & sometimes maddening shortcomings of London's Tube are documented with love, enthusiasm & sometimes despair by its unofficial social historian." The Guardian
