Welcome to the Transport for London Corporate Archives World War II showcase.
Ordinarily, this website will host a wide range of material from the TfL archives collections. From November 2020 until June 2021, however, we are dedicating our online collections portal to the memory of all of our predecessor staff who served during World War II.
22,580 London Passenger Transport Board (TfL’s predecessor company) staff served in the armed forces during WWII. But service to the war effort was not limited to fighting overseas. In London, our staff showed great resilience, determination, and sacrifice to shelter civilians from bombings, keep transport services running during air raids, provide aid to staff and their families who were in need, and undertake manufacturing for the war effort.
This showcase uses material available to staff remotely during the coronavirus pandemic of 2020 to shed light on some of the stories of the London Passenger Transport Board at War. Much more material is available for in-person consultation once we return to offices.
Select a story to view more images relating to that topic and to read a contextual narrative giving you further background. When read in sequence the contexts will form a ‘story’ and it is recommended that the best way of achieving this effect is to view each story in Gallery mode (available once you have clicked into the story). For a consolidated view of the story narratives and accessible videos with audio you can visit the Consolidated War Stories.
Please also feel free to visit as many times as you like – our intention is to make more material available when possible, including videos.
