stove-pipe hats into the air as they are about to pass into a tunnel. When they eventually emerged into the terminus atFarringdon Street, they were greeted by police bands.
On the following day the line was opened to the public.The crowds, waiting for their first journey beneath the surface of the earth, were immense; the trains were filled immediately with the cry of “No room! No room!” echoing through the underground halls. A few casualties were perhaps inevitable; the ventilation atGower Street station was not sufficient, and two people were taken to hospital. A
journalist wrote that “it can be compared to nothing else than the crush at the doors of a theatre on the first night of a pantomime.” It was the first underground railway in the world, a wonder and a spectacle to rival anything upon the stage. Something of its appeal can still be seen on platform five ofBaker Street, now restored to its pristine condition.
The Metropolitan Line was a considerable success, and carried approximately 30,000 passengers each day. So the trains were lengthened, and the intervals between them were reduced; they stopped for twenty seconds at each station before continuing their journey. They were driven by compact steam engines and accommodated three classes of carriage, the first class containing mirrors and carpets. They looked exactly like surface trains suddenly transported into the depths.
Some complaints were of course made about the smoke and smell in the tunnels. The guards and porters sent a petition to the company, requesting that they be given permission to grow beards as a protection against sulphurous deposits. Thelocomotives themselves were given the names of tyrants—
Czar
,
Kaiser
and
Mogul
—or of voraciousinsects such as
Locust
,
Hornet
and
Mosquito
. This was a tribute to their power. One of them was named
Pluto
, the god of the underworld.
The first fatality occurred in the autumn of 1864. A railway guard atPortland Road station noticed a couple at the top of the stairs. He told them to hurry as the train was approaching. “Come on, Kate,” the man said. The couple hurried down the steps. A short while later the body of the dying woman was found on the rails. She had been drinking with her companion, and had apparently fallen onto the line.
The success of the Metropolitan encouraged otherprojectors and financiers to adopt similar schemes. London was consumed with underground fever. Fifty-three projects were put forward. The Great Western and Great Northern and Great Eastern railway companies were eager to move into the capital, while the Metropolitan itself was gradually extended in all directions fromSwiss Cottage toSouth Kensington andHammersmith. TheDistrict Line began constructing its own portion of what became theInner Circle. “The engineering world,” the
City Press
reported in 1864, “is literally frenzied with excitement about new railway schemes. We would as soon enter a lunatic asylum as attend a meeting of the
Institute of Civic Engineers.”
Gustave Doré’s engraving of “the worker’s train,” the Metropolitan Line, from
London: A Pilgrimage
, 1872 (illustration credit Ill.27)
Endless internal battles were fought between the underground companies, over such matters as routes and the width of tracks, but the enterprise of tunnelling beneath London went on. In 1865 Henry Mayhew travelled on an underground train in order to interview the passengers. A labourer told him that he used to walk 6 miles each day, to and from his place of work; now he was spared the inconvenience. He lived inNotting Hill,
“almost in open country,” and thereby saved himself two shillings a week in rent.
The first tunnels to be literally bored beneath the earth, without using the “cut and cover” method, ran fromKing William Street in the City toStockwell in South London. The line opened in 1890, and since the journey was conducted entirely underground, the needfor windows was deemed to be
On the following day the line was opened to the public.The crowds, waiting for their first journey beneath the surface of the earth, were immense; the trains were filled immediately with the cry of “No room! No room!” echoing through the underground halls. A few casualties were perhaps inevitable; the ventilation atGower Street station was not sufficient, and two people were taken to hospital. A
journalist wrote that “it can be compared to nothing else than the crush at the doors of a theatre on the first night of a pantomime.” It was the first underground railway in the world, a wonder and a spectacle to rival anything upon the stage. Something of its appeal can still be seen on platform five ofBaker Street, now restored to its pristine condition.
The Metropolitan Line was a considerable success, and carried approximately 30,000 passengers each day. So the trains were lengthened, and the intervals between them were reduced; they stopped for twenty seconds at each station before continuing their journey. They were driven by compact steam engines and accommodated three classes of carriage, the first class containing mirrors and carpets. They looked exactly like surface trains suddenly transported into the depths.
Some complaints were of course made about the smoke and smell in the tunnels. The guards and porters sent a petition to the company, requesting that they be given permission to grow beards as a protection against sulphurous deposits. Thelocomotives themselves were given the names of tyrants—
Czar
,
Kaiser
and
Mogul
—or of voraciousinsects such as
Locust
,
Hornet
and
Mosquito
. This was a tribute to their power. One of them was named
Pluto
, the god of the underworld.
The first fatality occurred in the autumn of 1864. A railway guard atPortland Road station noticed a couple at the top of the stairs. He told them to hurry as the train was approaching. “Come on, Kate,” the man said. The couple hurried down the steps. A short while later the body of the dying woman was found on the rails. She had been drinking with her companion, and had apparently fallen onto the line.
The success of the Metropolitan encouraged otherprojectors and financiers to adopt similar schemes. London was consumed with underground fever. Fifty-three projects were put forward. The Great Western and Great Northern and Great Eastern railway companies were eager to move into the capital, while the Metropolitan itself was gradually extended in all directions fromSwiss Cottage toSouth Kensington andHammersmith. TheDistrict Line began constructing its own portion of what became theInner Circle. “The engineering world,” the
City Press
reported in 1864, “is literally frenzied with excitement about new railway schemes. We would as soon enter a lunatic asylum as attend a meeting of the
Institute of Civic Engineers.”
Gustave Doré’s engraving of “the worker’s train,” the Metropolitan Line, from
London: A Pilgrimage
, 1872 (illustration credit Ill.27)
Endless internal battles were fought between the underground companies, over such matters as routes and the width of tracks, but the enterprise of tunnelling beneath London went on. In 1865 Henry Mayhew travelled on an underground train in order to interview the passengers. A labourer told him that he used to walk 6 miles each day, to and from his place of work; now he was spared the inconvenience. He lived inNotting Hill,
“almost in open country,” and thereby saved himself two shillings a week in rent.
The first tunnels to be literally bored beneath the earth, without using the “cut and cover” method, ran fromKing William Street in the City toStockwell in South London. The line opened in 1890, and since the journey was conducted entirely underground, the needfor windows was deemed to be
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