UNDERGROUND LINES

The Bakerloo Line

Running from Baker Street to Kennington Road, the Bakerloo Line (1906) was the first north-south underground line.¹ During its launch year it was extended to Elephant & Castle. From Baker Street the service grew westwards to Paddington. In 1915 a service to Queen's Park commenced. This enabled the Line's reach to extend out to Watford via the London & North Western Railway's track.

During the 1930s the New Works Programme enabled a new tunnel to be built between Baker Street and Finchley Road. In 1939 the Metropolitan Line's Stanmore track was transferred to the Bakerloo Line.

In 1979 the Bakerloo Line's Baker Street-Stanmore portion became part of the Jubilee Line. In 1982 the Bakerloo Line retracted its northern reach from Watford back to Queen's Park. In 1989 it extended its north-western range out to Harrow & Wealdstone.

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/bakerloo-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/bakerloo

¹. Now Lambeth North.

The Central Line

The Central Line's original stretch (1900) ran from Bank to Shepherd's Bush. It was built by Sir Benjamin Baker (1840-1907), who had made his reputation as a bridge builder.¹ For the Central Line he created an undulating system. The track would peak at each station, so that the train was able to utilise gravity to save energy when it re-start. The approach gradient was 1 in 60, the departure one 1 in 30 for 300ft.. In 1908 the track was extended to Wood Lane and in 1912 to Liverpool Street. In 1920 the Line started a service out to Ealing Broadway using the Great Western Railway's track.

In the 1930s, as part of the New Works Programme, work was carried out to extend the Line both from North Acton to Ruislip and from Liverpool Street to Leyton. However, the Second World War broke out before its construction had been completed. As a result, the tunnels that had been built were utilised as air raid shelters and as a bomb-proof munitions factory. Following the return of peace, the extension was completed. A further eastward portion out to Epping opened in 1949.

In 1957 the Central Line acquired British Rail's electrified track between Epping and Ongar.

In 2016 London Underground launched its inaugural 24-hour weekend services on the Central Line and the Victoria Line. It was reputed that they had been dubbed the vomit comets .

Podcast: https://art.tfl.gov.uk/feed/podcast/central-line-stories The writer Sarah Butler assembled the material during a six-month residency with the staff of the Central Line.

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/central-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/central

¹. Baker's masterpiece was the Forth Bridge. Its construction had been necessitated by the collapse of the Tay Bridge.

The Circle Line

The creation of the Thames Embankment was linked to sister projects that involved the building of sewage drains, service tunnels, and the Circle Line.¹

The Paddington to South Kensington section (1868) of what is now the Circle Line was constructed by the Metropolitan Railway. The South Kensington to Mansion House portion (1871) was built by the Metropolitan District Railway. The two companies did not have a good relationship with one another. City interests compelled them to finish the Circle Line by building the Mansion House to Aldgate segment (1884). They then both operated trains along the track's full circuit.

The comedy writer Dick Vosbrough (1929-2007) had a full home life. Therefore, he used the Circle Line as his office.

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/circle-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/circle

¹. Queen Victoria Street was cut in 1867-71 in a project that was linked to the construction of the Circle Line.

The District Line

The Metropolitan District Railway was set up to co-operate with the Metropolitan Railway in the creation of the District Line. In 1869 the Metropolitan District opened a spur from South Kensington to Brompton. In 1874 the Line was extended out to Hammersmith and three years later on to Richmond. In 1879 a section between Turnham Green and Ealing opened. The following year a track was built from West Brompton to Putney Bridge. In 1883 a service to Hounslow commenced. In 1884 the Circle Line was completed. Both of the companies ran services along it. The District started operating a service to New Cross. In 1889 the company's track was extended out to Wimbledon and in 1902 a Whitechapel to Upminster service commenced.

In 1964 the District Line's Hounslow track was transferred to the Piccadilly Line.

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/district-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/district

The Docklands Light Railway

The Docklands Light Railway was planned a London Transport group that consisted of Bill Clarke (1934-2015) and three engineers. Within London Underground it became known as Bill's Railway . At the project's commencement, the only equipment they had was a kettle. None of them were able to work out how to use it.

In 2007 the D.L.R. Thames tunnel linking Woolwich Arsenal to City Airport was cut.

Website: https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/dlr www.keolis.co.uk/our-brands/keolisamey-docklands

The Elizabeth Line

In 2007 the Corporation of the City of London agreed to contribute funds towards the CrossRail project. Subsequently, the government announced that construction of the 16bn project would start in 2010 and that the first service would run in 2017. It would link Maidenhead in Buckinghamshire to Shenfield in Essex.

In 2009 construction started. Five years later it was announced that the Crossrail Link was going to be known as the Elizabeth Line when it opened in 2018. The Line opened in 2022.

Website: www.crossrail.co.uk https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/elizabeth-line

James Greathead

The travails that Isambard Kingdom Brunel had experienced while finishing the Thames Tunnel (1843) made engineers wary of projects that involved extensive tunnelling.

In 1864 Peter Barlow patented a new tunnelling shield and started mooting the idea that underground railways might be a way of lessening London's traffic congestion. James Greathead, a South African-born engineer, joined Barlow's practice. The two men worked on improvements to the shield. With the technology proven, Barlow retired. Greathead continued to work as a tunnelling engineer. He made further improvements to the device. In 1886 he started to excavate what became the City & Southwark Subway.¹ This became the world's first electrically-powered underground railway line.

It is fitting that the statue (1994) that commemorates Greathead should be above Bank Underground Station, which is on the Northern Line. In 1987 the London Docklands Light Railway was built to link Docklands with the rest of London, its western terminus being Bank. For ease of construction the D.L.R. platforms were built below the existing infrastructure. When they were connected to it, they made it the deepest station in the London's subterranean transportation system. (Previously, Hampstead Underground Station, which is also on the Northern Line, had held the distinction. However, it had had the advantage of lying below Hampstead Hill.)

Location: Cornhill, EC3V 3LR. The statue's plinth is the top of a Tube ventilation shaft. (orange, purple)

3 St Mary's Grove, Barnes, SW13 0JA. Greathead's home.

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/engineering/james-greathead-and-tunnels-under-london www.ltmuseum.co.uk/visit/museum-guide/digging-deeper

¹. Subsequently, the City & Southwark Subway was renamed the City & South London Railway.

Class and Culture

Carriages were called cars. Unlike the near-surface carriages, the deep cars were not categorised as being first, second, and third. Rather, they were classless. Some people believed that this excessive egalitarianism would have a negative effect upon society. It can be argued that they played a role in helping to make London into more of a middle-class society.

See Also: CLASS

The Hammersmith & City Line

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/hammersmith-city-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/hammersmith-city

The Jubilee Line

The Jubilee Line opened in 1979; the Bakerloo Line's Baker Street to Stanmore¹ track had been transferred to the new Line. A new tunnel had been constructed from Baker Street to Charing Cross. In 1999 a section from Green Park out to Stratford opened.

See Also: DEVELOPMENTS Canary Wharf

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/jubilee-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/jubilee

¹. Until the 1930s the Bakerloo Line's Stanmore track had been part of the Metropolitan Line.

Wheelspin

The Jubilee Line is probably the loudest of the Underground lines to travel on. This derives from the fact that it is automated with technology that is 50+-years-old. This leaves the drivers with minimal discretion about how the vehicle operates. As a result, they are unable to minimise the noise by having its wheels have greater traction with the rails.

The Metropolitan Line

There was a by-law that prohibited the building of railway stations in the centre of London. Therefore, they were constructed along the periphery of its core. The congestion of London was added to by people who arrived by train.

While stuck in a traffic jam, Charles Pearson (1793-1862) the City Solicitor had an idea for trains in drains as a means by which transport between the stations and the City. The Metropolitan Line was built by cut-and-cover. Construction started in 1860. It opened in 1863. The 3 -mile-long structure extended from Paddington Underground Station to Farringdon Street; there were three classes of travel. Initially, the carriages had no windows because they travelling through the dark. Urchins were employed to call out the station names. On its first day 40,000 people used its service. Lord Palmerston, the prime minister, declined to do so. He stated that, at the age of 79, he would prefer to stay above ground for a few more years if he could. It proved to be profitable during its first year of operation. In 1864 the line was extended to Hammersmith and the year after that to Moorgate.

With the emergence of the Underground Group in the early 20^thC, the only Underground company to retain its independence was the Metropolitan Railway. It was unique among the underground railway companies in also being a property development business. It was responsible for the creation of large swathes of London's north-western suburbia.

In 1884 the construction of the Circle Line was completed. The same year the Metropolitan used it to run services to New Cross Gate¹ and Hammersmith. A track from Baker Street to Harrow was constructed. Another one was built out to Rickmansworth. In 1905 a service between Baker Street and Uxbridge commenced. The Metropolitan's Publicity Department devised the concept of Metroland c.1915. In 1932 a line to Stanmore was completed.

In 1933 the Metropolitan Line was acquired by the London Passenger Transport Board. Three years later the Metropolitan system was extended from Whitechapel to Barking. In 1939 this track was transferred to the Bakerloo Line. In 1961 the track from Amersham to Rickmansworth was closed. In 1988 the Metropolitan's Whitechapel to Hammersmith service was placed under the control of the Hammersmith & City Line and its New Cross service under the East London Line.

Location: 55 Broadway, SW1H 0BD. The foundation stone was lain by a Metropolitan District Railway Company employee in 1928. (blue, turquoise)

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/metropolitan-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/metropolitan

¹. The London, Brighton & South Coast Railway had started its New Cross Gate to Wapping service in 1869. This ran through the Brunels Thames Tunnel.

The Northern Line

The Tower Subway of 1869 illustrated the capacity of the recently developed Greathead shield tunnelling techniques to cut deep tunnels. London clay was an excellent material for the technology to be applied to. In 1890 the City of London & Southwark Subway (later the City & South London Railway) opened. It was the first of the tubes (a term that was applied initially to just the deeper tunnels but which subsequently was extended to the shallower, cut-and-cover ones). It ran from King William Street to Stockwell. The Line was constructed beneath streets in order to avail itself of public rights of way. In 1900 it was extended via Bank to Moorgate. By 1907 the Line ran from Euston to Clapham Common. In 1926 the company's system reached Morden.

In 1907 Hampstead Tube¹ started a service that ran from Charing Cross to Golders Green. In 1923 the track was extended out to Hendon Central and the following year to Edgware. In 1935 the New Works Programme furnished the financial means for extensions to High Barnet (1940) and Mill Hill East (1941) to be constructed.

In 1937 the City & South and Hampstead systems were merged to create the Northern Line.

The Northern is known as the misery line .

During the Northern Line's northbound section of track from St Pancras to Euston the track runs southwards.

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/northern-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/northern

¹. Formally, the Charing Cross, Euston, & Hampstead Railway.

The Northern Line Expressway

The Northern Line Expressway was to have run from Clapham to Belsize Park stopping only at three stations en route. Much of its infrastructure was built and still exists.

During the Second World War the Stockwell station was used as an air raid shelter.

Location: The Eisenhower Centre, 5 North Crescent, Chenies Street, WC1E 7ET. The Centre would have been one of the stops.¹ (red, yellow)

¹. During the Second World War the Centre was used as a signals facility by the U.S. Army's Office of Strategic Services.

The Piccadilly Line

The Piccadilly Line's initial section (1906) ran between Hammersmith and Finsbury Park. The following year a spur from Holborn to Strand¹ was opened. In 1933 the Line was extended both northwards to Cockfosters and westwards to Uxbridge.²

In 1964 the District Line's Hounslow section was transferred to the Piccadilly Line. In 1977 this track was extended to Heathrow Central. In 1984 its Heathrow Terminal 4 station opened and in 2008 its Heathrow Terminal 5 one.

It has been claimed that the section between Knightsbridge and South Kensington was constructed so as to surround a series of plague pits that were used in 1665. This claim is highly questionable.

See Also: WATERMEN The Waterman Poet

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/piccadilly-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/piccadilly

¹. Subsequently, Strand was known as Aldwych.

². The architect Charles Holden designed a series of notable Art Deco tube stations for the Piccadilly Line's 1930s extensions.

The Post Office Underground Railway

The Post Office owns a mothballed 10km.-long underground railway system that stretches from Whitechapel in the east to Paddington in the west. This started operation since 1927.

Location: 180-206 Whitechapel Road, E1 1AA (red, brown)

Website: www.postalmuseum.org/collections/story-of-mail-rain www.postalmuseum.org/visit-us/what-to-expect/mail-rail

Sonja

Sonja is the automatic voice that addresses travellers use of trains. Her name derives from - she gets on your nerves.

Steam Trains

In 1961 the last steam train stopped running in the Underground.

Up and Down

Underground tracks are known as roads . There are up roads and down roads .

The Victoria Line

The first section (1968) of the Victoria Line ran between Highbury & Islington and Walthamstow Central. Subsequently, the track was extended southwards to Warren Street (1968), then to Victoria (1969), and finally to Brixton (1971).

It has been claimed that the Line's tunnels were constructed by enlarged existing cable passageways that had been built for a secure communication network that linked a number of security service buildings. It is a reputed that this was part of the reason why M.I.6 chose to move into its Vauxhall Cross building.

In 2016 London Underground launched its inaugural 24-hour weekend services on the Central Line and the Victoria Line. It was reputed that they had been dubbed the vomit comets .

DVD: Experiment Under London B.F.I. (2013). Footage by British Transport Films of the construction of the Victoria Line over the years 1961-9.

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/victoria-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/victoria

The Waterloo & City Line

The Waterloo & City Line (1898) is a short connection that runs between Bank and Waterloo. It is the only underground line that is subterranean throughout its length. It was developed by London & South Western Railway to feed commuters into the City of London.

Website: www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/transport/waterloo-city-line https://tfl.gov.uk/tube/route/waterloo-city

David Backhouse 2024