Metropolitan and Metropolitan District Railways

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This article is about the historical railway. For the present London Underground lines, see Metropolitan Line, Hammersmith & City Line, Circle Line and District Line.

The Metropolitan Railway (MetR) and the Metropolitan District Railway (District) were the first two underground railways to be built in London, creating the world's first metro system. Although separate and independent companies and often fierce rivals, the histories of the MetR and the District are inextricably linked through their joint construction of the Inner Circle (now the Circle Line). These two railways formed the basis of what would later become known as the London Underground network.

Coat of arms of the Metropolitan Railway
Coat of arms of the Metropolitan Railway

Contents

[edit] Metropolitan Railway

Metropolitan Line (Main route)
tSTR
Jubilee Line
tKRZt tABZ3lg
To Circle Line
tSTR TUNNELe
tCPICl CPICr
Baker Street
tSTR TUNNELa
TUNNELe TUNNELe STRrg
London to Aylesbury Line (to Marylebone station)
CPICl CPICr STR
Finchley Road
CPICl CPICr STR
Wembley Park
eABZrg eABZrf STR
KBFe STR STR
Stanmore (1932-1939)
eHST STR
Preston Road (1908-1932)
HST STR
Preston Road (1932-)
HST STR
Northwick Park
CPICl CPICr
Harrow-on-the-Hill
ABZlf KRZo STRlg
STR STR KBFe
Uxbridge (1938-)
HST STR
HST STR
North Harrow
HST STR
Pinner
HST STR
Northwood Hills
BHF STR
Northwood
HST STR
Moor Park
STRrg exABZ rd STR
Watford Curve
HST STR STR
Croxley
HSTe STR STR
Watford
CPICl CPICr
Rickmansworth
CPICl CPICr
Chorleywood
CPICl CPICr
Chalfont & Latimer
STRrg ABZrf STR
HSTe STR STR
Chesham
xCPICle CPICr
Amersham
Dates relate to Metropolitan Railway operations

The first railways to be built in the United Kingdom were constructed in the early 19th century. By 1850 there were 7 separate railway termini located in the London area: London Bridge, Euston, Paddington, King's Cross, Shoreditch, Waterloo and Fenchurch Street. Only Fenchurch Street was located within the City of London itself. London had also seen a large increase in road traffic congestion in this period. This was due in part to the fact that most people travelling to London by rail had to complete their journeys into the city centre by cab or omnibus.

The concept of an underground railway linking the City of London with the mainline termini had first been proposed in the 1830s. But it was not until the 1850s that this idea was taken seriously. Charles Pearson, Solicitor to the City of London, was a leading promoter of several of these schemes. He helped set up the City Terminus Company in 1852 to build such a railway, but neither Parliament nor the City of London Corporation was willing to fund it. The Bayswater, Paddington and Holborn Bridge Railway Company was more successful. In January 1853 it held its first directors' meeting and appointed John Fowler as its engineer.[1] Parliamentary approval for their "North Metropolitan Railway" project was secured in the summer of 1853. They soon acquired the City Terminus Company and came to an agreement with the Great Western Railway whereby the GWR would help fund the scheme provided that a junction was created with its Paddington terminus. In 1854 an Act of Parliament was passed approving the construction of an underground railway between Paddington and Farringdon Street via King's Cross, renaming the line the Metropolitan Railway. Construction finally began in February 1860, by which time Pearson had persuaded the City of London Corporation to give money to the project.

The construction of the line encountered its fair share of problems. Fowler's use of the "cut-and-cover" method caused massive traffic disruption in north London and during the work the Fleet Sewer burst into the diggings and flooded the partially-built tunnels. This is not to mention the number of buildings that had to be demolished on the surface. However the railway eventually opened to the public on 10 January 1863. In its first few months of operation, an average of 26,500 passengers used the line every day.[2] Sadly, Pearson did not live to see the completion of the project. He died in September 1862. But his hard work and perseverance during his lifetime ensured that the Metropolitan Railway would be the start and not an end of underground railway building in London.

Initially the railway was worked using GWR broad-gauge rolling stock. But in August 1863, after massive disagreement between the two companies, the MetR found itself having to work the line. With assistance from the Great Northern Railway this was achieved using standard gauge rolling stock: the broad gauge was removed in 1869.

By the turn of the century the MetR had its foot in both the main-line and in the underground system for London.

[edit] Line openings

[edit] West and Central London

Metropolitan Railway steam locomotive number 23, the only surviving locomotive from the world's first underground railway, is preserved at London's Transport Museum
Metropolitan Railway steam locomotive number 23, the only surviving locomotive from the world's first underground railway, is preserved at London's Transport Museum

The MetR began extending into West London and further into the City:

[edit] "Metro-land"

Shortly after its west and central London extensions MetR began expansion to the north and north-west. Railways always had a great deal of influence on the areas through which they ran, not least in this case. In the 1920s the term Metro-land was coined by the MetR's marketing department: advertisements extolling the benefits of healthy and bracing air and a train service unequalled for frequency and rapidity ... to and from the City without change of carriage appeared; and the railway provided a broad-sheet for House Seekers. Shortly after World War I estates were being laid out (at Neasden, Wembley Park, Pinner and Rickmansworth), and places such as Harrow Garden Village came into existence. John Betjeman was a great follower of this form of suburbia and made a celebrated television documentary called Metro-land in 1973.

  • Progressive line quadrupling
    • Quadrupling of the tracks from Finchey Road first to Preston Road, then in 1900 to Harrow South junction, to accommodate the GCR traffic following the London Extension. In 1906 the extra pair of tracks was formally leased to the GCR for its exclusive use.
    • Extra lines added later from Finchley Road to Harrow. The fast lines were on the eastern side south of Wembley Park and on the western side to Harrow. In 1938 the lines were rearranged with the slow lines on the inside and the fast lines on the outside.[3]
      • 1913, from Finchley Road to Kilburn
      • 1915, to Wembley Park
      • 1932, to Harrow

[edit] Aylesbury-Verney Junction

The Aylesbury and Buckingham Railway (A&BR) between Aylesbury and Verney Junction was incorporated on 6 August 1860 and opened on 23 September 1868. It served intermediate stations at Waddesdon Manor (renamed Waddesdon on 1 October 1920), Quainton Road, Grandborough (renamed Granborough Road on 6 October 1920), and Winslow Road.[4] The A&BR was never extended to Buckingham.

In the late 1880s the MetR had plans to extend its projected Aylesbury line northwards to Moreton Pinkney[5], to make a junction with the East & West Junction Railway. Instead the A&BR was amalgamated with the MetR on 1 July 1891, and it was that line which formed the northward progress of the MetR. The section of line from Moreton Pinkney to just north of Quainton Road railway station was built later as part of the London Extension of the Great Central Railway (GCR), joining the, by then, MetR tracks into London, forming the Great Central Main Line which opened for passenger traffic on 15 March 1899.

In April 1906 the MetR section from Harrow to Verney Junction was leased to a Joint Committee of the MetR and GCR: it was worked on a five-yearly basis alternately by the joint lessees.

Passenger services on the line were withdrawn between Quainton Road and Verney Junction from 6 July 1936, and the intermediate stations of Granborough Road and Winslow Road closed. The last through service, a parcels train from Verney Junction, was on 6 September 1947.

[edit] Brill Tramway

For full information see Brill Tramway.

North of Aylesbury, at Quainton Road, a 6½-mile (10 km) branch railway ran to Brill. It started life as the Wotton Tramway built and run under the auspices of the Duke of Buckingham. The Brill Tramway closed to all traffic on the night of 30 November / 1 December 1935.

[edit] Metropolitan District Railway

The District was incorporated ten years later than the MetR, on 29 July 1864. As noted above, it was set up to complete the "Inner Circle".

[edit] Line openings

The core section of the District commenced at the MetR's South Kensington station and extended in stages to Mansion House. Sections were opened as follows with the District also running westwards over the MetR's tracks to Gloucester Road and High Street Kensington:

From this core, the District began extending branches to reach new population centres, mainly in the west:

This completed the Metropolitan District Railway system.

[edit] Steam locomotives

Concern about smoke and steam in the tunnels led to new designs of locomotive. In 1861 (before the line opened) trials were made with the experimental "hot brick" locomotive nicknamed Fowler's Ghost. This was unsuccessful and the first public trains were hauled by GWR Metropolitan Class condensing 2-4-0 tank engines designed by Daniel Gooch. The above were broad gauge. They were followed by standard gauge Great Northern Railway locomotives and then by the Metropolitan Railway's own standard gauge locomotives:

A Metropolitan Railway F Class locomotive at Neasden
A Metropolitan Railway F Class locomotive at Neasden

[edit] Electrification

Metropolitan Vickers Electric Locomotive Sherlock Holmes at Baker Street, 8 July 1961.
Metropolitan Vickers Electric Locomotive Sherlock Holmes at Baker Street, 8 July 1961.

Electrification had been considered by the MetR as early as the 1880s, but such a method of traction was still in its infancy, and agreement would need to be reached with the District because of the shared ownership of the Inner Circle. Experiments were later carried out on the Earl's Court-High Street Kensington section, and a jointly-owned train of six coaches began a passenger service in 1900. As a result of those tests a MetR/District committee in 1901 recommended overhead AC traction on the Ganz three-phase system. This was accepted by both parties but when an American lead group, the Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (UER), took control of the District there was disagreement. The group was led by Charles Yerkes, whose experience in the United States led him to favour DC, with third-rail pickup similar to that in use on the City & South London Railway and Central London Railway. After arbritration by the Board of Trade the latter system was taken up and the railways began electrifying the routes, using multiple-unit stock.

  • In 1902 the District commenced building the Lots Road Power Station to supply power to their network, which opened in 1905. The MetR built its own power station at Neasden.
  • 1 January 1905: Baker Street - Uxbridge. The line opened in July 1904, and was worked by steam for the first six months
  • 1 July 1905: Aldgate-Whitechapel, initially for the District service
  • 13-24 September 1905: gradual electrification of the Inner Circle
  • 5 November 1905: completion of the electrification of the District lines with the electrification of the Edgware Road-Hammersmith and the Addison Road (now Olympia) branch[6]
  • 1 March 1910: Rayners Lane - South Harrow. This enabled the District to extend its services to Uxbridge
  • 31 March 1913: East London Railway. MetR provided the service.

Services on the "Extension line" in the open remained steam-hauled for some years, necessitating change of locomotives:

Two branches were built with electric traction from the outset:

[edit] Later history

The MetR and District were taken over by the London Passenger Transport Board in 1933, becoming the Metropolitan and District Lines of the London Underground.

The section north of Aylesbury closed in 1936, though services did get to Quainton Road again between 1943 and 1948. In the same year a Metropolitan Line service extension from Whitechapel to Barking was implemented along the District Line tracks.

In 1939 the Bakerloo Line was extended in new deep-level tunnels from Baker Street to the surface at Finchley Road. The Bakerloo then took over the slow lines and stations from Finchley Road to Wembley Park and thence the Stanmore branch, while Metropolitan Line trains ran non-stop on the fast lines to Wembley Park. In its turn that section from Baker Street to Stanmore became the northern section of the Jubilee Line.

Although much of the line was electrified, steam-hauled passenger trains ran beyond Rickmansworth until 1961 and maintenance trains beyond Amersham as late as 1971. In addition, an annual "Steam on the Met" event ran until 2000, when it was suspended prior to the reorganisation of London Underground in readiness for the introduction of the new "Public-Private Partnership" (PPP) maintenance contracts for the network, though the London Underground Railway Safety Case does permit running future specials.

[edit] Preserved Metropolitan Railway carriages

The Vintage Carriages Trust has three preserved MetR Dreadnought carriages.

The Bluebell Railway has four of the older MetR Ashbury and Craven Carriages, and a fifth, built at Neasden, is at London's Transport Museum.

The Spa Valley Railway is home to two later MetR T Stock carriages.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The London Underground - An illustrated history, Oliver Green, pp.3-4 (Ian Allen Ltd., 1987)
  2. ^ Ibid., p.5)
  3. ^ Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides, Metropolitan Line
  4. ^ Dow (1965), p. 191
  5. ^ Dow (1962), p. 210
  6. ^ Wolmar (2004), p. 126
  7. ^ Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides, Metropolitan Line, Dates
  8. ^ Davenport (1991), p. 167

[edit] References

  • Davenport, Neil (1991) Days of Steam, Sparkford : Patrick Stephens Ltd, 192  p., ISBN 1-85260-335-6
  • Dow, George (1962) Great Central; Vol. 2: Dominion of Watkin, 1864-1899, London : Ian Allan, 422 p.
  • Dow, George (1965) Great Central; Vol. 3: Fay sets the pace, 1900-1922, London : Ian Allan, 437 p., ISBN 0-7100-0263-0
  • Wolmar, Christian (2004) The Subterranean Railway : how the London Underground was built and how it changed the city forever, London : Atlantic, 351 p., ISBN 1-84354-022-3

[edit] External links