Here's a quick introductory review from a reader from Amazon: "James obviously has an eye for English quirkyness. Even though it says on the cover that it deals with ending stations, there's a lot covered in between. There are pictures of things travellers never see, like the insides of secret tunnels, control rooms, etc. Most pictures have something funny about them, many are simply findings of beauty in the most unexpected places, but they are all interesting. Anyone who's ever been to London will be entertained and enlightened by this book. As you leaf through it, you get the sense that it captures a world that you still can see glimpses of on your Tube travels every day, but that will be gone forever very soon. It's no wonder that Michael Palin, a savvy traveler himself, wrote the foreword - his witty remarks place the pictures in the right context." Now onto the interview:

Going Underground (GU) Thanks for very much for agreeing to be interviewed, Simon.

Firstly, what made you start the project ?

Simon James (SJ) The project itself began almost by accident. As a photographer I travel from job to job around London on the tube. I'm a committed supporter of public transport. A photographer is also always looking for a story: we don't just work on commissioned pieces. I was aware of the London myth that nobody ever goes to the ends of the tube lines and wondered if there might be a story to be told about these strange and mysterious places where the tube lines terminate. You might say the series began out of "not having been to Hainault".

GU Would you call yourself a "train spotter"?

SJ I've always enjoyed travelling on trains but the thing for me is more about the journey. Working on this project however has given a very great respect for the Tube and the people who built it and have run it for the past 150 years.

GU So, why is it called "Mind the Gap"?

SJ Mind the Gap, originating it's said at Embankment, is of course the most famous phrase associated with the Tube. For me as a photographer however, it has a secondary meaning as well, as my landscape work has often been located at the borders of things.

You might say I'm interested in the places where one thing stops and another begins - the tube of course doesn't mark the geographical borders of London but in many ways it might be said to describe its reach, and the 'gap' in this sense might be the indefinable one between that which is London and the start of the place beyond.

GU What is your favourite station at the end of the line?

SJ It would be difficult to speak about a single one as the whole project has been great fun. Some of the really distant stations that closed in the thirties were a real pleasure to visit.

Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire, for example, was a real surprise find. The following day I came across the last working steam engine to travel the Metropolitan Line at the railway heritage centre west of Aylesbury that used to be Quainton Road Station on the Metropolitan Line.

Uxbridge is another favourite for the way the light floods into the knave-like space of the booking hall, the pools of light dropping down through the skylights and the colours projected by the stained glass. It also has a significance for tube architecture in the fact that it was here that Frank Pick and Charles Holden parted company.

GU I used to go to Brunel University so Uxbridge station has very fond and sometimes blurry memories for me - but that's by the by...please continue.

SJ At the inner ends of the lines Aldwych was another real pleasure thanks to Mr Barrie Wilkins who now runs it - I'd also really like to visit British Museum, but suspect it will never happen. Like everybody else I'm restricted to the occasional glance from a Central Line train out of Holborn.

GU And obviously I must now ask, what's your least favourite station?

SJ I don't really have one although there are a few it's difficult to gain an affection for!

GU Did you get any opposition or strange reactions from London Underground staff?

SJ With the exception of a couple of station supervisors, who seemed frightened of senior management, all the tube staff I met were really helpful. At Whitechapel the supervisor was really proud of the station's history and took me all over the station to show me bits of its heritage. Similarly the staff at Cockfosters knew an awful lot more about the history of the tube than I did.

GU So, any strange reactions from passengers?

SJ None whatsoever, but almost all the pictures were made at stations or the places at the ends of the lines

GU Apart from for this project, which is the station you've travelled most to on the end of the line?

SJ Like almost everybody else living in London I don't go to the ends of the lines. My most regular journey is from Finsbury Park to Oxford Circus.

GU How did you manage to get Michael Palin involved with your book?

SJ I don't know Michael Palin personally. We've never met. I have however enjoyed his travel programmes for years and enjoyed his sense of fun. I was also aware that he is a keen campaigner for better public transport and President of Transport 2000. Richard, my editor, wrote to him enclosing a selection of the pictures to ask if he would be interested to write a foreword and we were hugely pleased when he agreed.

GU What advice would you have for people wishing to take pictures of tube trains or stations?

SJ One of the pleasures of photography is that everybody takes different pictures. London Underground however are keen, on behalf of the drivers, that people don't use flash when photographing on the Tube. No flash at all was used in the making of Mind the Gap. The pictures were taken on a Mamiya 7 medium format camera and Fuji Provia 100f transparency film. A tripod was used for almost all the pictures which can be a problem on underground stations so it's a good idea to ask before using one. The pictures on show at the Tom Blau Gallery (21 Queen Elizabeth St Butler's Wharf) until 6th October are digital prints made on an Epson 10000 printer.

GU Which photographer's work do you admire or appreciate the most?

SJ There are many photographers' whose work I admire. As a documentary photographer it would probably have to be Sebastiao Salgado and with my portrait hat on I've always admired Richard Avedon.

GU You were interviewed on Radio 4 how did that go?

SJ I've always been a Radio 4 listener but never thought I would appear on it. Libby Purves was very kind to me and when I listened to the programme afterwards on the "missed programmes " section of the Radio 4 internet site I thought it had gone quite well.

GU What's the most surprising interview you've ever done since the book was published?

SJ I never expected to be interviewed for Going Underground!

GU What plans do you have for your next book?

SJ At the moment I'm still thinking about ideas for the next series of pictures. I do however seem to have caught the travel bug and find myself wondering about the places said to exist beyond the safe confines of that tarmac car park sometimes known as the M25. Slough at the very least seems to beckon........

I’d like to thank Simon for sparing me the time for this interview and for sending me some of the pictures from his book. If you’d like to see more from Simon, see the reviews from Amazon.co.uk and buy the book click here and from Amazon.com do the same here

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