A brief, quirky yet factual history of the London Underground
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Let’s all take the 'Twopenny Tube' for a 'form of mild torture' in the 'padded cells'.
Sound appealing? Far from it!
Yet these were descriptions of, and slang names for, that which millions have used, still use and will continue to use in the foreseeable future – the London Underground.
By the 1830s the heaving metropolis of London was experiencing much congestion of carts, cabs and omnibuses on its roads.
It was then that a system of underground trains was first proposed.
Charles Pearson – solicitor for the City of London and one of the leading visionaries of the time – proposed the concept of the underground railway. This would link the City of London with the seven railway termini already in existence around the city's urban centre.
Constructed by Sir Marc Brunel and his son Isambard, the Thames Tunnel opened in 1843.
In 1863 London celebrated a world first when the first underground railway – between Paddington (then Bishop’s Road) and Farringdon Street – opened.
The Circle Line was completed in 1884
The Times recorded early users of this line describing it as a ‘form of mild torture’.
It is said that the tunnels on the Circle Line twist and turn as they follow the medieval street pattern of the city.
Five days after it opened in 1900, the Central Line (then the Central London Railway, which ran between Shepherd’s Bush and Bank) was nicknamed the 'Twopenny Tube' by the Daily Mail.
This was owing to the twopence flat rate fare between any two stations.
The claustrophobic carriages, and the novel sensation of travelling below street level, earned the early underground trains the not-so-affectionate nickname of ‘padded cells’.
Sound appealing? Far from it!
Yet these were descriptions of, and slang names for, that which millions have used, still use and will continue to use in the foreseeable future – the London Underground.
By the 1830s the heaving metropolis of London was experiencing much congestion of carts, cabs and omnibuses on its roads.
It was then that a system of underground trains was first proposed.
Charles Pearson – solicitor for the City of London and one of the leading visionaries of the time – proposed the concept of the underground railway. This would link the City of London with the seven railway termini already in existence around the city's urban centre.
Constructed by Sir Marc Brunel and his son Isambard, the Thames Tunnel opened in 1843.
In 1863 London celebrated a world first when the first underground railway – between Paddington (then Bishop’s Road) and Farringdon Street – opened.
The Circle Line was completed in 1884
The Times recorded early users of this line describing it as a ‘form of mild torture’.
It is said that the tunnels on the Circle Line twist and turn as they follow the medieval street pattern of the city.
Five days after it opened in 1900, the Central Line (then the Central London Railway, which ran between Shepherd’s Bush and Bank) was nicknamed the 'Twopenny Tube' by the Daily Mail.
This was owing to the twopence flat rate fare between any two stations.
The claustrophobic carriages, and the novel sensation of travelling below street level, earned the early underground trains the not-so-affectionate nickname of ‘padded cells’.