The sight of peckish commuters thumping faulty chocolate dispensers is familiar enough. But from next week the vending machine on the station platform will also cater to those hungry for literature.

The sons of two of Britain's most aristocratic families, the Guinnesses and the Waughs, are launching a system for dispensing short stories on the London Underground.

Alexander Waugh, the grandson of the novelist Evelyn Waugh, and Ned Iveagh, the Guinness heir, will introduce their prototype dispensers to selected stations on the Tube this month before expanding the enterprise across the British rail system.

The stories, published by Travelman, are printed on one sheet of paper and fold up like a map.

Authors available in the collection include P.G. Wodehouse, Dorothy Parker, Oscar Wilde and Katherine Mansfield and the series is edited by writers including Beryl Bainbridge and Martin Amis. Their fellow editors, Dame Muriel Spark and Irish novelist William Trevor, have even written stories especially for the imprint.

The first machines were installed last month on South Kensington station in West London, each book costing £1. The scheme, backed by Lord Iveagh's Trust, will be formally launched on 15 January.

The first vending machine, a sweet dispenser, was introduced to the Underground in 1886.

'Fortunately vending technology and design has moved on!' said a spokeswoman for Lord Iveagh.

The original idea for handy travel literature can be traced back to the turn of the last century when Rudyard Kipling introduced reading sheets to Indian Railways. Iveagh and Waugh have picked their moment well. The delays on British Rail mean commuters will need to buy more than one. The stories are between 7,000 and 12,000 words and will take only around 40 minutes to read.