London's Transport Museum

Early History:
London has changed immeasurably since the first days of the Tube but some of the issues
facing the city at the start of the 21st century would be familiar to civic leaders from the Victorian age. Back then, London, as the seat of the British Empire, was the pre-eminent World City, but with that success came problems. London's growth was reaching crisis point and the symptoms were patently visible every day. Traffic was so bad that it was threatening the lifeblood of business. Something had to be done. The plan was simple: a railway beneath the streets that would relieve congestion at a stroke. 

The Metropolitan Railway was the first company off the blocks in the race to build the Tube. The inaugural stretch measured six kilometres (nearly four miles) and ran between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street, creating quick steam train connections from main line overground stations to the City. Streets along the route were dug up, tracks laid in a trench, covered with a brick-lined tunnel and the road surface replaced. Known as the 'cut and cover' method, this was quick and effective but created as many problems as it was designed to solve - causing congestion during construction - and was abandoned towards the end of the 19th century. By then, however, the Metropolitan was stretching ever further outwards: across Middlesex, through Hertfordshire and into Buckinghamshire. 

Following the success of the 'Met' other companies were keen to board the 'gravy train' and by Christmas 1868, the Metropolitan District had opened a line between Westminster and South Kensington. This linked with a branch line from the original 'Met', built at Edgware Road and eastward extensions by both railway companies completed the Circle Line of today but not until 1884. 

Once the system had started there was no stopping it and the search was on for further avenues of expansion. The obvious route was again to the east, where the oldest section of today's Underground was ready and waiting. Twenty years before the 'Met' steamed into history, Sir Marc Brunel and his famous son Isambard, had built the Thames Tunnel between Rotherhithe and Wapping - the first such structure under water anywhere in the world. The method they adopted was similar to coal mining, sinking vertical shafts and then excavating the tunnels from within a metal shield. It is a tribute to the Brunels that major refurbishment to the tunnel was only needed during the 1990s. Originally designed for horse-drawn traffic, it opened in 1843 for pedestrians, became a railway tunnel in 1869 and now carries the East London Line. In 1870, another sub-Thames railway opened, with a cable-hauled line between the Tower of London and Bermondsey. In a reverse of the Thames Tunnel's fortunes, this failed as an Underground line, was converted for pedestrian use after just a few months and closed altogether when Tower Bridge station opened in 1894.



History milestones

KEY DATES 
1843 
Opening of the Thames Tunnel, constructed by Sir Marc Brunel and his son Isambard 

1863 
The Metropolitan Railway opened the world's first underground railway on 10 January between Paddington (Bishop's Road) and Farringdon Street 

1868 
Opening of the first section of the Metropolitan District Railway from South Kensington to Westminster (now part of the District and Circle lines) 

1870 
Opening of the first Tube tunnel, from the Tower of London to Bermondsey 

1884 
Completion of what is now the Circle Line 

1890 
The City and South London Railway opened the world's first deep-level electric railway on 18 December, from King William Street in the City of London, under the River Thames to Stockwell 

1900 
Prince of Wales opens the Central London Railway from Shepherd's Bush to Bank (the "Twopenny Tube", now part of the Central line) 

1902 
Formation of the Underground Electric Railway Company of London (known as the Underground Group). Mergers brought all lines except the Metropolitan into the Group by the First World War 

1905 
District and Circle lines electrified 

1906 
Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (now part of the Bakerloo Line) opened from Baker Street to Kennington Road (now Lambeth North) 

Great Northern, Piccadilly & Brompton Railway (now part of the Piccadilly Line) opened between
Hammersmith and Finsbury Park 

1907 
Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (now part of the Northern Line) opened from Charing Cross to Golders Green and Highgate (now Archway) 

Albert Stanley (later Lord Ashfield) was appointed General Manager of the Underground Electric Railway Company of London Limited 

1908 
The Underground name first appeared on stations Electric ticket-issuing machine introduced 

1911 
First escalators installed, at Earl's Court station 

1913 
First appearance of the famous circle and horizontal bar symbol (the roundel) 

1929 
Last manually operated doors on tube trains replaced by air-operated doors 

1933 
The Underground Group and the Metropolitan Railway become part of the London Passenger Transport Board, taking control of all the capital's railway, bus, tram, trolleybus and coach services 

1933 
First Underground map in diagrammatic form, devised by Harry Beck 

1940 
From September, and until May 1945, Tube station platforms were used as air raid shelters. The Piccadilly
Line Holborn - Aldwych branch was closed and used to store British Museum treasures 

1948 
The London Passenger Transport Board was nationalised and became the London Transport Executive 

1952 
First aluminium train entered service on the District Line 

1961 
End of steam and electric locomotive haulage of London Transport passenger trains 

1963 
The London Transport Executive became the London Transport Board, reporting directly to the Minister of Transport 

1969 
The Queen opens the Victoria line 

1970 
The Underground and the Greater London area bus network passed to the London Transport Executive, reporting to Greater London Council 

1971 
Last steam shunting and freight locomotive withdrawn from service 

The Victoria line extended to Brixton 


1977 
The Queen opens Heathrow Central Station (Terminals 1, 2 and 3) on the Piccadilly Line 

1979 
The Prince of Wales opens the Jubilee Line 

1983 
Dot matrix train destination indicators introduced on platforms 

1984 
London Regional Transport (LRT) created, reporting to the Secretary of State for Transport 

1984 
The Hammersmith & City and the Circle lines converted to one-person operation 

1986 
The Piccadilly Line extended to serve Heathrow Terminal 4 

1987 
Tragic fire at King's Cross killed 31 people 

1989 
New safety and fire regulations introduced following the Fennell Report into the King's Cross fire 

1992 
The London Underground Customer Charter launched 

1993 
£70 million Angel Station reconstruction completed 

Work started on the extended Jubilee Line from Green Park to Stratford 

1994 
Penalty Fares (£10) introduced 

London Underground took over the Waterloo & City Line and responsibility for the stations on the
Wimbledon branch of the District Line from Putney Bridge to Wimbledon Park 

Aldwych Station and the Central Line branch from Epping to Ongar closed 

1999 
London Underground restructured in preparation for Public Private Partnership. Shadow running to test working relations between London Underground and the infrastructure companies began 

1999 
Opening of extended Jubilee line and through services from Stanmore to Stratford 
 

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