Underground to a great new idea

by Steve Cunningham< xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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��Londonstills.com

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As the Industrial Revolution brought more workers to London, more efficient transport was needed.

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The first passenger-carrying railway in the capital was the London and Greenwich Line, opened on 8 February, 1836. Within four years, the line carried nearly six million passengers.

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Because of the high cost of constructing through built-up areas, all the stations were outside the city. Therefore, to get to the inside of London, one had to take the omnibus, a cab, or walk.

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Street congestion grew. Something needed to be done. Then Charles Pearson, the City Corporation's solicitor, had an idea: Why not have a series of main line stations linked by an underground railway

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The idea hit many obstacles, not least Parliament's refusal to support it. But by 1854, an act was passed to allow the start of construction on the Metropolitan Railway. The total cost of �1 million was raised�and the first shafts were sunk the next February 1859.

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The first trial run was on 24 May, 1862. The line opened to the public on 10 January, 1863, with 38,000 people riding the Underground on its first day.�It was the world's first underground railway.

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The Times described the experience of the Underground as, on the whole, pleasant. The lines were free from the annoyances usually experienced in railway tunnels, it reported. The drivers paid greater attention to the working of the engines, and they were careful in the management of their fires. However, a small amount of sulphurous fumes were given off, and some steam had to be discharged into the tunnels.

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Fares ranged from 3d to 6d one way, and 5d to 9d return. It was popular and cheap. What started as an underground railway 3.75 miles long, today covers more than 250 miles.

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The Underground was a triumph for Britain and typical of the Victorian spirit: Facing a problem, they used their ingenuity to get over it. Or in this case, under it.

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Dates in Underground history
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