London's "Tube", the world's first subway system, first opened for service 150 years ago on Jan 10, 1863.
http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/09/16429205-150-years-old-and-still-running-late-londons-tube-celebrates-landmark-anniversary?lite
London's Tube network was established 150 years ago this week. From its debut in 1863 to providing protection from Nazi bombs and now Oyster cards, ITV's Ria Chatterjee reports on how the world's first subway system has evolved.
LONDON -- Unexplained delays, equipment failures and chronic rush-hour overcrowding are among the reasons Londoners have a love-hate relationship with their remarkable subway system, dubbed the Tube.
But it was day of gratitude for commuters - and tourists - on Wednesday as the creaking London Underground celebrated its 150th birthday.
It is a remarkable milestone for the network, carved from the hot clay beneath London’s streets and which survived the bombs of World War Two.
Abraham Lincoln was President when the world’s first subterranean passenger service opened between Paddington and Farringdon on Jan. 9, 1863.
Most of the original station building is still in use at Farringdon, where passengers on Wednesday reflected on the history of the Tube.
“The old Circle Line carriages could do with being pensioned-off,” Dave Rodgers, 54, told NBC News. “Some of them look like they are 150 years old. Perhaps they are originals.”
The privately funded network grew rapidly, adding new lines and stations as railway entrepreneurs – and tunneling engineers - found there were profits to be made by digging deep under London.
By the time the New York subway opened in 1904, London had six underground lines and was on track to be powered entirely by electricity.
By opening up London’s suburbs to fast, efficient mass transit, the Underground helped shape the way the city grew. New communities grew up around areas connected by the Tube -- as it became known by 1890 in honor of its increasingly deep and narrow tunnels. The network’s expansion at the turn of the 20th century linked the capital’s population with new opportunities for work and leisure.
A record 1.171 billion passenger journeys were made during the 2011-12 financial year, across a city-run network that now covers 249 miles and connects 270 stations on 12 lines – arteries through which London’s lifeblood flows.
London Underground is about the shabbiest, yet most expensive subway system I had the "pleasure" to ride on. You need to be British to enjoy a ride on the Tube. The trains are late, unreliable and smelly, the stations filthy. Even the Paris Metro is much better, not to mention the Moscow system.
Not really a surprising attitude. It seems that most transit riders have a low opinion of their own system, holding out the system in another city as the shining example of how things should be.
Sir Madog, it's a good thing you weren't around to ride the Underground when it was steam powered, it was a smoky hell that no gentleman of means would travel on.
Happy Birthday to 'em anyway!
CSSHEGEWISCH Not really a surprising attitude. It seems that most transit riders have a low opinion of their own system, holding out the system in another city as the shining example of how things should be.
My "own" system is the Hamburg "Hochbahn" (Elevated Line), which in fact is a subway. Stations are clean and pleasant, trains modern, quiet and on time, fares reasonable. London Underground still suffers from a lack of care and maintenance. Passengers put up with just because there is no alternative.
Sir MadogMy "own" system is the Hamburg "Hochbahn" (Elevated Line), which in fact is a subway.
An underground elevated train? How can that be?
Lyon_Wonder By the time the New York subway opened in 1904, London had six underground lines and was on track to be powered entirely by electricity. Actually the first subway in the US was Boston's Green Line. It began in 1897, well after London but before New York. From the very first it was electric. Trolley cars ran on the tracks which were in tunnels within the city but the lines ran on the surface out in the suburbs. Today light rail vehicles are used on the line.
Actually the first subway in the US was Boston's Green Line. It began in 1897, well after London but before New York. From the very first it was electric. Trolley cars ran on the tracks which were in tunnels within the city but the lines ran on the surface out in the suburbs. Today light rail vehicles are used on the line.
John WR Sir MadogMy "own" system is the Hamburg "Hochbahn" (Elevated Line), which in fact is a subway. An underground elevated train? How can that be?
When the Hamburg subway was built in 1911, a short stretch along the harbor was built as an elevated line, as you can see in this old postcard view:
At first Boston's subway had only two stations, still now Boylston St. and Park St. A year later Scolley Square (now Government Center?) Adams (unused now) and Haymarket opened , with a surface station at North Station, then moved to an elevated station and now underground. Now there are 11 underground stations in total (including the two originals), one elevated station (Science Park), and many on-grade stations on PRW. A rememnant of on-street streetcar operation still exists between Francis Circle and the Heath Street Loop on the E Green Line. The A, Watertown line, was abandoned, so the original subway sees 4 lines, B through E. Other abandonments included Tremont Street, City Point, Bunker Hill Street to Sullivan Sq. and Main St. to Sullivan Sq. lines, none of which lasted long enough after WWII to be assigned a letter.
New York's oldest subway station is not on its original subway (IRT), but the station at Essex and Delancy Streets, 1903, still in place and served by the J and M trains, at the west end of the Williamsburg Bridge. But when opened it was simply considered the underground terminal of the Broadway Brooklyn Elevated, and run with gate-car wood elevated trains until about 1920 when steel equipment gradually took over some time after two additional BMT subway stations were added to the line at Canal Street and Chambers Street.
The remains of the adjacent underground terminal for the trolley lines that crossed the bridge on separate track, now auto lanes, can be seen on the right of the J or M train as it leaves Essex Street station heading to the Bridge.
And in Chicago, both the 1943 State St Subway (Red Line) and 1950 Dearborn St Subway (Blue Line), are really part of the "L", as is the short section built from Logan Square north to the Kennedy that opened in 1970.
rcdrye And in Chicago, both the 1943 State St Subway (Red Line) and 1950 Dearborn St Subway (Blue Line), are really part of the "L", as is the short section built from Logan Square north to the Kennedy that opened in 1970.
Also add in the extension of the State St. Subway that was dug in the 1990's at the time of the Rapid Transit reroutes, when the Dan Ryan Line was paired with the North Side Main and the Lake Street Line was paired with the South Side Main.
I don't know what to think of you Ulrich. Don't you guys know up from down?
daveklepper A year later Scolley Square (now Government Center?)
"Charlie's wife goes down to the Scollay Square Staton
Every day at quarter past two
And through the open window she hands Charlie a sandwich
As the train comes rumbling through."
--From Charlie and the MTA
John WR I don't know what to think of you Ulrich. Don't you guys know up from down?
95% of the "Hochbahn" is underground!
Sir Madog95% of the "Hochbahn" is underground!
That sounds like the builders were a little hoch.
I've heard years ago that the reason the Hamburg subway was elevated (on the orders of the Kaiser) was so that the citizens could observe Germany's mighty dreadnoughts in the harbour, soon to set sail against Perfidious Albion!
54light15Perfidious Albion
I guess cleanliness is not next to perfidiousness.
54light15 I've heard years ago that the reason the Hamburg subway was elevated (on the orders of the Kaiser) was so that the citizens could observe Germany's mighty dreadnoughts in the harbour, soon to set sail against Perfidious Albion!
Those mighty dreadnoughts were stationed in Wilhelmshaven, most likely not in the already congested port of Hamburg. There is a simple reason behind this short stretch of elevated line in the Hamburg subway system - sand! Along the water front, the soil is just sand and you would have had to dig really deep to hit bedrock, so it was much cheaper to lift the line up.
Maybe the Kaiser was referring to ocean liners? I also heard that he wanted sea water to spray the carriages of the Hamburg trains. He did build up Germany as more of a seafaring nation, likely jealous of the Brits. I read somewhere else that he toured a British liner, stood on the bridge and told an aide "We've got to get some of these, " and so approved funding for the Imperator, Vaterland and Bismarck.
54light15 Maybe the Kaiser was referring to ocean liners? I also heard that he wanted sea water to spray the carriages of the Hamburg trains. He did build up Germany as more of a seafaring nation, likely jealous of the Brits. I read somewhere else that he toured a British liner, stood on the bridge and told an aide "We've got to get some of these, " and so approved funding for the Imperator, Vaterland and Bismarck.
I am sorry, wrong again
Cuxhaven and Bremerhaven were the key ports for those big ocean liners, as the Hamburg port at that time was not a deep water facility. From the port of Hamburg, it is a100 mile journey until you hit salt water ...
Wrong again?? Oh well, thanks for that.
"I was wrong once, but I was mistaken."
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