City and Brixton Railway

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City & Brixton Railway
Legend King William Street C&SLR to Bank River Thames London Bridge Former C&SLR route Borough (C&SLR) St George's Circus (C&BR) Elephant & Castle (C&SLR) Lambeth Road (C&BR) Kennington (C&SLR) Kennington Cross (C&BR) Oval C&BR Depot (1898) Lorn Road (C&BR) C&SLR Stockwell Depot connection to C&SLR depot (1899) Stockwell (C&SLR) Brixton (C&BR)

The City & Brixton Railway (C&BR) was an authorised but unconstructed underground railway line in London planned to run from King William Street in the City of London under the River Thames to Brixton via The Borough, Lambeth and The Oval. The company was unable to raise funds and the railway was never constructed.

[edit] Plans

The C&BR received Royal Assent in 1898 for a line that would have partially utilised existing but soon-to-be-abandoned tunnels belonging to the City & South London Railway (C&SLR, now the bank branch of the Northern line) between that company's northern terminus at King William Street and a point north of Borough station. The C&SLR was planning a new northern extension to Moorgate and was going to close the poorly positioned King William Street station and sections of its two running tunnels under the River Thames. These were to be replaced with a new pair of tunnels on a better alignment.

The C&BR's plan was to use the C&SLR's tunnels to a point just south of a new station that it would construct at London Bridge (in direct competition with a station planned there by the C&SLR). South of the C&BR's London Bridge station, the C&BR's route was planned to run in new tunnels parallel with the C&SLR's route past the C&SLR's Borough station, but without a station there. The C&BR's line was then to diverge westwards to provide stations at St George's Circus and Lambeth Road, then south to Kennington Cross, before reaching an interchange at The Oval with the C&SLR. The C&BR would then have headed south with a station at Lorn Road before reaching its destination at Brixton.

The precise details of the route north of London Bridge changed over the course of the next ten years, as did the financial arrangements with the C&SLR. The location of the C&BR's rolling stock depot was also revised. In 1898, the depot was planned to be adjacent to New Camberwell Road just south of the Oval station but this was removed in 1899 from the plans and a replaced with a plan for a link to the C&SLR's existing depot at Stockwell.

Despite a series of new bills to revise the scheme, the C&BR was never able to raise enough finance to start construction. In 1902, the C&SLR took over the company with the intention of modifying the plans but the powers remained unused and eventually lapsed. It was roughly 70 years before an Underground train eventually reached Brixton, with the opening of the final section of the Victoria line in 1971.

[edit] References

• Badsey-Ellis, Antony [2005]. London's Lost Tube Schemes. Capital Transport. ISBN 185414-293-3. 
• Holman, Printz P. [1990]. The Amazing Electric Tube. London Transport Museum. ISBN 187182-901-1.